Now this may be a little controversial, but this is perhaps Scorcese's best film since Casino, maybe even perhaps Goodfella's, controversial i know, but there i've said it.
the whole film has an eerie unsettling feel to it, which is perfect as it is an eerie unsettling story, from the opening shots and sequences your never quite sure what is what leaving you in a state of constant edginess.
it is hard to go into the story without giving too much away, Di Caprio plays a US marshal sent to Shutter Island, which is an island completely cut off from the outside world and is home to an asylum for the criminally insane. i'll leave it there, as half the enjoyment of the film is the not knowing.
the flair of the direction and the style of the cinematography is sublime, not too subtle but subtle enough it has large reference to the Shawshank Redemption and The Shining, which is a compliment to the film as it is not copying the style of those films but there are certainly aspects which it has used to great effect. the score works wonderfully well with what you are seeing also, and for me played a large and solid part in the film. a wonderful cast fill all the roles perfectly, with special mentino to our very own Ben Kingsly.
great stuff
4.5 stars
Monday, 15 March 2010
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Green Zone
put simply this is a brilliant film. On the one hand it is a stylishly shot, brilliant action packed film. on top of that it is a taught dissection of how America and Britain completely fucked Iraq.
Matt Damon plays Millar, a member of the US army with the specific job of going to the sites identified as places where WMD are and finding them. obviously we all know that there are none, and he starts to ask questions. What he uncovers is political in fighting wthin the US government, leading washington officials who have lied about information in order to bring war.
of course we kind of all know that from the news bulletins. this film however brings it right down to the grass roots level. the brave soldiers on the front line who are trying to do the right thing and just trying to survive in this completely out of control situation. it is brilliantly played on all sides, from Damon's Millar to Khalid Abdalla's freddy.
Greengrass delivers the action at breakneck pace and you an feel your adrenaline levels rising with the characters on screen and the breaks in the action are genuinely needed, in these breaks though there is more than enough of the plot and story to keep everything bubbling along at a terrific pace.
A brilliant film, and will leave you even more frustrated with the governments that took us to War for no reason whatsoever. this deserved to be seen by everyone (and its better than the hurt locker).
5 stars
Matt Damon plays Millar, a member of the US army with the specific job of going to the sites identified as places where WMD are and finding them. obviously we all know that there are none, and he starts to ask questions. What he uncovers is political in fighting wthin the US government, leading washington officials who have lied about information in order to bring war.
of course we kind of all know that from the news bulletins. this film however brings it right down to the grass roots level. the brave soldiers on the front line who are trying to do the right thing and just trying to survive in this completely out of control situation. it is brilliantly played on all sides, from Damon's Millar to Khalid Abdalla's freddy.
Greengrass delivers the action at breakneck pace and you an feel your adrenaline levels rising with the characters on screen and the breaks in the action are genuinely needed, in these breaks though there is more than enough of the plot and story to keep everything bubbling along at a terrific pace.
A brilliant film, and will leave you even more frustrated with the governments that took us to War for no reason whatsoever. this deserved to be seen by everyone (and its better than the hurt locker).
5 stars
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 3D
The idea of making a sequel to Alice in Wonderland is a great idea (calling it the same name not so great) or making a 2nd sequel since Alice Through the Looking Glass already exists. The problem with Tim Burton's film is that it's not very good... in fact it's bad. Nothing that interesting happens in it, set 12 years after the original, Alice is about to be forced into being engaged, unsure of what to do she runs off, following the white rabbit once again down the hole into Wonderland. The film then rehashes introducing the various characters featured in the original with the adding to the story that Alice has to defeat the jabberwocky and in doing so will get rid of the evil red queen, who replaced the good white queen (who is obviously good because she is dress all in white). They made the Mad Hatter pretty much the main character, when he's originally just a side character, I know you've got Johnny Depp playing him but it just didn't work. There was also a weird romantic sexual tension between Alice and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) which was really not needed (because of the huge age differences). This film brings nothing new to the Alice mythos, the animation and world is poorly done, the cut sequences in the final fantasy games on the PlayStation one are better than any of the poorly done graphics in this film.
The 3D is the worst 3D film I have seen... I don't understand why they even made it 3D, it brought absolutely nothing to the film. (On a side note I watched abit of Colaline on a new 3D TV in a virgin media store the other day and it was pretty impressive as I didn't really believe a 3D TV would work or be as effective.)
Not one of Tim Burtons finest films. 1 Star
On another note Inglourious Basterds [DVD] [2009] is £5.99 on DVD on Amazon.co.uk
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Drag Me to Hell [DVD] [2009] is £5 on DVD on Amazon.co.uk and £9.99 on blueray.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
The Crazies
This looks like its going to be some B-movie trashy zombie flick, of which we have seen many. what it actually is, is a well constructed thriller.
David Dutton is a sherif in a small american town, and when a military plane carrying a bio-weapon crashes in the local river and leaks its contents into the town drinking supply causing them to go mental and kill people.
the lead characters are nicely moulded and you care about them and their community and this is the main reason why this film succeeds and also why the jumpy moments become so effective. they are built up so subtly around the story and the characters you don't notice them until you are jumping out of your seat, and they are not overused, they are strategically placed in perfect moments throughout the film.
for all my praise, this is still only a very basic thriller/horror story and there is nothing that clever about it, it is all just executed in a very good simple clean way.
job well done
3 stars
David Dutton is a sherif in a small american town, and when a military plane carrying a bio-weapon crashes in the local river and leaks its contents into the town drinking supply causing them to go mental and kill people.
the lead characters are nicely moulded and you care about them and their community and this is the main reason why this film succeeds and also why the jumpy moments become so effective. they are built up so subtly around the story and the characters you don't notice them until you are jumping out of your seat, and they are not overused, they are strategically placed in perfect moments throughout the film.
for all my praise, this is still only a very basic thriller/horror story and there is nothing that clever about it, it is all just executed in a very good simple clean way.
job well done
3 stars
Crazy Heart
i. love. jeff bridges.
he is immense in this film. this was the part he was born to play, and he plays it to perfection. a bummed out loser country singer touring the country playing to bars and shagging the aging roadies. until he meets Gyllenhalls Jean and her son, and love ensues.
Bridges performance of an aging alcoholic is so closely observed and nuanced it is beyond sublime, never once does being drunk or alcohol take the centre spotlight, but instead it is the alcoholism that is central to the part. so delicatley dealt with that you almost forget that is being shown in the film, until you see the devastating affects it can have on people and relationships.
a beautiful film, and an acting masterclass from Bridges.
5 stars
From Paris with Love
with the first 15 minutes i was ready to walk out. Rhys-Meyers trying to be a secret agent in completely unbelievable circumstances was absolutely dire. what an arrogant twat.
but then travolta explodes onto the screen, and boy does the film get fun from there. now dont get me wrong, he plays a completely over the top special agent, in Paris to track down a terrorist unit by way of a chinese drug trafficking unit, all the while killing anyone and anyone that gets in his way. it is gloriously over the top, but travolta is clearly having an absolute blast playing this gun happy renegade and we enjoy watching him.
Rhys-Meyers does his best to keep up, but he is not helped by the fact he plays a complete wimpy loser in the face of Travolta's "Charlie Wax" (what a great name).
it is tongue in cheek and over the top, travolta is clealy not in the shape to be performing some of the moves his character is suppossed to be, and i found fun in trying to spot when it was a stuntman and when not. there is also a hilarious if a little odd reference to a classic part played Travolta with they discuss a Royale with Cheese.
Brilliant fun
3 stars
but then travolta explodes onto the screen, and boy does the film get fun from there. now dont get me wrong, he plays a completely over the top special agent, in Paris to track down a terrorist unit by way of a chinese drug trafficking unit, all the while killing anyone and anyone that gets in his way. it is gloriously over the top, but travolta is clearly having an absolute blast playing this gun happy renegade and we enjoy watching him.
Rhys-Meyers does his best to keep up, but he is not helped by the fact he plays a complete wimpy loser in the face of Travolta's "Charlie Wax" (what a great name).
it is tongue in cheek and over the top, travolta is clealy not in the shape to be performing some of the moves his character is suppossed to be, and i found fun in trying to spot when it was a stuntman and when not. there is also a hilarious if a little odd reference to a classic part played Travolta with they discuss a Royale with Cheese.
Brilliant fun
3 stars
Leap Year
top of the morning to ya, oi'm from oireland. this is just an example of the sort of accent you will hear in this film, a fake ye olde worlde accent that has been bastardised by Hollywood, i found it deeply offensive and i am not Irish.
now on paper this should be horrific, a high flying business american woman full of blackberry and internet tries to travel to dublin to propose to her equally business minded fiance. She gets stranded in southern ireland and has to make a "hilarious" trip across ireland. Matthew Goode plays Declan an irish lad who helps her journey. the film is full of irish cliches and te jokes and comedy are average at the very best and why Declan sticks with her on he journey is beyond me, actually he is probably just trying to get laid.
somehow though, i managed to enjoy this film. why i don't know, it was a simplistic affair, and Amy Adams is very charming as the lead girl and although the script and direction does its best to limit her she still manages to make the character enjoyable watch.
so simple and banal, but somehow a guilty enjoyable watch.
2 stars
now on paper this should be horrific, a high flying business american woman full of blackberry and internet tries to travel to dublin to propose to her equally business minded fiance. She gets stranded in southern ireland and has to make a "hilarious" trip across ireland. Matthew Goode plays Declan an irish lad who helps her journey. the film is full of irish cliches and te jokes and comedy are average at the very best and why Declan sticks with her on he journey is beyond me, actually he is probably just trying to get laid.
somehow though, i managed to enjoy this film. why i don't know, it was a simplistic affair, and Amy Adams is very charming as the lead girl and although the script and direction does its best to limit her she still manages to make the character enjoyable watch.
so simple and banal, but somehow a guilty enjoyable watch.
2 stars
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