Reviews

In my opinion better than TDK, this is the Batman film i've been waiting for! Nolan really has pulled out all the stops here with a Batman film that has emotion, spectacle and suspense.

Beautifully put together with a stellar cast, this really did have me on the edge of my seat for the last 30 minutes! It has a momentum that TDK lacked and is very well paced.

I'm glad i knew next to nothing about the plot when i saw it, as everything came as a surprise. Bane's character was very well handled and well played by Tom Hardy, as was the Gordon Levitt character. Gary Oldman is as usual an excellent Gordon, and of course Bale is a great Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Can't wait to see it on Bluray!

So glad i recorded this when it was on a few years ago. This is a really good documentary about England footballs greatest ever captain, Bobby Moore. Wonderfully narrated by Ray Winstone, this puts scenes shot with actors (thankfully short), rare home movies footage and football clips. Also featuring interviews with those who knew him best. Harry Redknapp, Jimmy Tarbuck, Tina Moore, Bobby Charlton etc.

Moore's contribution to winning England their only world cup isn't taken lightly here and features some rare footage of that incredible day.That he managed it after secretly beating cancer is what makes his story such a courageous and inspiring one.

A wonderful documentary that delves into things you never knew about the great man and will leave you moved to tears by the end.

After the superbly scary 'The Descent' director Marshall seems to have taken a step back with this mish mash of Escape From NY and Mad Max 2. There's not an ounce of originality in this as Marshall nicks quite shamelessly the plot of Escape From NY, and populates the exclusion zone with outdated punk designed rejects from The Mad Max films. Our heroine Rhona Mitra even sports an eye patch at certain moments! Having said that, there is much to enjoy in Doomsday. Laughing along at the silly plot the film moves at a relentless pace and its never boring.

The action set-pieces are very good and the mayhem is very violent and gory. There's even a medieval sequence that is the films one surprising moment that includes a brutal duel between our heroine and a huge bloke in armour! Rhona Mitra makes a fine action heroine and knocks the anorexic looking Jolie into a cocked hat. The dialog she's given is pretty bad but she delivers the lines with a straight face while keeping her tongue firmly in her cheek. The physical action she handles very well and the tight black outfit she wears for most of the film is very easy on the eye!

This is a well made film and Marshall is obviously a very talented filmmaker, but hopefully his next film will be something original, now that he's got his 'homage' film out of the way. Although he's obviously a big John Carpenter fan which is fair enough. So ignore the moronic plot developments and enjoy the action and you'll find Doomsday passes a couple of hours very agreeably.

Zach Snyder was never going to please everybody with his adaptation of the dense, labyrinth novel. But he can definitely feel he's done justice to what couldn't have been an easy thing to adapt. Whats surprising is how faithful the film is to the novel, with whole pages seemingly ripped from the book right up there on the screen! From a fans point of view i got a big kick out of seeing my favourite scenes and characters finally come to life on the big screen. One of the most important aspects in the films success is having the right actors for the film. Thankfully Snyder gets this right. Patrick Wilson nails Night Owl 2 perfectly, Billy Crudup brings Dr Manhattan to life in a way thats tortured and moving, Matthew Goode brings the right amount of cool and arrogance to Veidt, becoming especially effective in the third act. Malin Akerman has been underrated for her Silk Spectre 2 performance, but i think she is excellent in probably the hardest part to pull off. Best of all is Jackie Earle Haley as Rorshach. This guy owns the whole film and its electric whenever he's on screen.

The film looks great and the effects are all top notch. Dr Manhattan is a joy to behold the way he is presented in the film. The Mars scenes are stunning and its great that the smiley face on Mars panel from the novel has been reproduced on film. The Owl ship also looks great and its flying scenes are beautifully shot.

The songs used in the film work surprisingly well, from Dylan, Nat King Cole and Hendrix etc, and the score from Tyler Bates is very good.

Snyder wisely ups the action quota from the novel, and its well shot with no confusing editing ( unlike TDK) and its also very violent and bloody.

Watchmen won't be for everyone of course and the film will take 2 or more viewings to sink in, but i think thats a good sign of the films quality and longevity.

I look forward to the extended cut on DVD when it comes out because i think this film will benefit from repeated viewing and will become a huge cult classic in the same way as Blade Runner did. Go watch the Watchmen. : )

With 'Eastern Promises' David Cronenberg once again proves he is one of the most consistently talented directors around. I dread to think what a hash some other directors would have made of this challenging script. This is a tightly paced film, with not a single shot wasted, and as usual with Cronenberg you are left wanting more. Fans of the director will be pleased that he invests the film with his usual off-kilter reality, and it works beautifully. The London locations are used well, but it isn't the usual tourist fare we get here. Its a London uninviting and bleak which suits the story. Excellent performances right across the board help this to be a riveting 90 odd minutes, there is some silliness involving tattoos and a twist that doesn't quite work, but these are minor niggles compared to the rest of the quality on show here. Beautifully shot, especially some of the restaurant scenes, it also has a memorable sequence in a Turkish Baths that is not for the faint hearted. Once again, Cronenberg has ventured into new areas and delivered admirably. Well worth seeing.

Miles better and sexier than most soft porn out there, this is a beautiful looking film, with some stunning actresses and fantastic clothes! As this is a french production it is completely different to all those American soft porn clones, and is actually erotic. The 'story' as it is, involves the trivial ins and outs of the upper class Parisians sex lives. There's plenty of bare flesh on show and quite a few impressive sex scenes. I loved the scene where the older women helps her younger female friend to masturbate as they both sit in a sports car! Also good is a lengthy music and snogging interlude at a lesbian nightclub. If you fancy a soft porn where you aren't continually pressing the picture search button on your remote then this is worth checking out.

The Descent is the best horror film in ages, a horror film that gets it right by going back to basics. Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers was an assured debut but this is better, a confident and serious approach to the subject. With nods to films such as Alien, Deliverance, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and even The Shining, The Descent delivers on every level.

With a slow assured build up after the opening shock moment, as the group of girls venture deep into caves, director Marshall waits for exactly the right moment to deliver a shock moment that is guarantee'd to have you leaping out of your seats! From then on the action never lets up as the plucky females battle for their lives against the hideous and vicious creatures dwelling in the caves. With lashings of gore, violence and some nail-biting suspense, The Descent really delivers the goods.

The relatively unknown all female cast are very good, especially Natalie Mendoza who plays the awesome Juno, and we do actually care for them thanks to the slow build up.

So if you like your horror straight and serious, you simply must see The Descent. Check it out!

First of all lets get this films major flaw out of the way. There's no-one in this film to root for! Is the audience supposed to side with the cruel sadistic psycho family? And if so, why? They humiliate and torture an innocent family of Banjo players, and then when the sheriff does the same to them, we're supposed give them sympathy! Yeah right.

The film starts brilliantly with the opening shootout between the psycho gang and the cops, unfortunately it can't keep up the momentum for the duration. Director Zombie hasn't a clue about pacing and as a result the film kind of limps to its conclusion. What should have been a heart-racing final 20 minutes (chainsaw anyone?) is swapped for a rushed and silly climax. Also the film stops to many times for Tarantino-lite dialogue. Conversations about Chicken f*****g, Princess Leia fantasies, and Groucho Marks are all very well, but not when they grind the film to a halt.

Zombie certainly likes to riff on his favourite horror movies.There's plenty of similarity with TCM, Last House on the Left, and The Hills Have Eyes. The film IS very violent and some of the more sadistic scenes will have some viewers heading for the exit. One scene in particular has the character of Baby forcing two women to hit each other for her amusement. Its a nasty and distasteful scene, one that this particular viewer found quite sickening.

On a plus note the film looks great, with a washed out gritty look to the photography. Zombie really captures the 70's horror vibe, making it rather frustrating as its obvious the film could have been so much better.

The acting in the film is superb considering the content, with William Forsythe stealing the film as the God-fearing sheriff on a rampage. Director Zombie can obviously handle actors well, and his film looks great, its just a shame the rest isn't up to scratch. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with for his 3rd movie.

Sin City won't be for everyone, no doubt about it. Its far to different to be appreciated by the masses, but if its on your wavelength, prepare to be thrilled!

When the film begins it takes a while to get used to the radical style of film-making on show here, but its not long before you become immersed in the fantastic fantasy noir world that Rodriguez and Miller have created. Never before has a graphic novel been so faithfully and lovingly put on screen, you may find yourself wondering as i did, why can't all comic book movies be made like this?

Visually, Sin City is quite simply awesome. Gorgeous black and white splattered with moments of devastating colour. The action is jaw droppingly executed and is hideously violent with lashings of black humour, witness the scene where the hero has a conversation with a dude who was dispatched in the scene before!

As for the cast, well, what a line up! Its true Mickey Rourke steals the film as Marv, but the rest of the cast are well up to the job, even Clive Owen gives a good performance! And wait till you see Elijah Wood's terrifying incarnation!

Films like this come along all to rarely. Something that dares to be different, and doing it so amazingly well. With the way women are portrayed in the film some may argue its just a male wet fantasy, and they're probably right, but thats all the film is, a fantasy, not to be taken seriously.

But do yourself a favor and visit Sin City. The best time to be had in the cinema this year so far. Cooler than cool!

Basically an updated sex version of 'Picture of Dorian Grey', this isn't bad, and has enough erotica to satisfy male and female viewers. The erotic scenes are imaginatively done which is more that can be said about most films of this type!

My fave scene is the strip club bit where the two female characters are watching a pole dancer and both becoming aroused. One puts her hand between the others legs out of sight under the table, and strokes her to ecstasy! Check it out!

There's also some good stuff involving hot wax, a blindfold, and black stockings that could get the pulse racing! Acting is variable, but no worse than any other film of this kind.

The Hulk is far from perfect, but it does seem to get a rough ride from a lot of people. And as for people calling it, "the worst movie ever made", oh please, it's not even close.

I'd commend Hulk for being an ambitious film. At least director Ang Lee has tried to do something different with a 'summer blockbuster', and for all it's faults there are a lot of pluses.

Yes the film is to long with far to many 'character development' scenes that slow the film down. A lot of these scenes could have been cut without damaging the film. In fact the film is probably a half hour to long. I think if the film were 1 hour 40 minutes it would have been a much better movie. How about a shorter directors cut!

I find the action scenes with The Hulk very enjoyable, and straight out of the comic book. The sequences where Hulk battles the army are the best in the film, and i loved the bit where he clings to the fighter jet! The climax is a huge disappointment as well as being confusing and at a time when the film has run it's course. It's never clear what Nick Nolte's character becomes or what he's trying to achieve.

Still, worth checking out for all it's faults, and probably worth seeing again if you've only seen it once. The comic panel editing though skillfully done can get annoying, but the film does look superb and has a good score by Danny Elfman.

Very faithful to Joe R Lansdale's weird and wonderful short story, this film is a real gem. The gist of the story is that Elvis (Bruce Campbell) didn't die (it was an impersonator he swapped places with who popped his clogs),and is spending the rest of his days in a Texas rest home, with a busted hip and a growth on the end of his pecker,and he's none to happy. That is until a soul sucking mummy turns up at the rest home and Elvis is forced into action to defend his home and it's residents. Teaming up with another resident, an elderly black man who thinks he's JFK (Ossie Davis) they decide to take care of business and defeat Bubba Ho-Tep.

If that sounds weird, it is, it's also very funny, hugely entertaining and oddly moving. It also has THE best performance of The King that this Elvis fan has ever seen! Bruce Campbell, i salute you!

So check this baby out. And if you like it you could do worse than check out the original story by Joe R Lansdale. This guy is some storyteller.