T2 The Movie

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on October 17, 2008
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Like Aliens did after Alien, the second Terminator film went bigger, faster, louder and (arguably) better.

The special effects were groundbreaking in their day. The atmospheric score accurately captures the feeling of menace and impending doom. Also, like Aliens, there is a vein of humour running through the movie - especially sending up certain aspects of the first film. And whatever you say about the acting talents of ‘Arnie’ he is perfectly suited to playing the Terminator.

The often under-rated Linda Hamilton returns to portrays just the right amount of strength and vulnerability as Sarah Connor: the woman who has the weight of the world’s future on her shoulders, and who must balance her love for her son with the need to prepare him for his destiny as a leader against the machines.

And this is what really makes this film so great - the fact that it is more than an effects laden excuse for CGI magic. It’s about the drama of being human: the struggle of providing a decent future for your children. It is also a coming of age drama; as the young John Connor grows up and faces his destiny as the saviour of the human race.

The film wouldn’t be nearly as interesting or loved if it wasn’t for these extra, human, dramatic features. Special effects and action set pieces just don’t work in isolation without a decent story behind them - as we have seen in far too many movies.

This modern classic is a must for any film watcher who likes a strong story as well as mind blowing action.

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Download King Arthur

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on October 14, 2008
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This film looks good and has some well realised and shot fight sequences, but the plot seems arbitrary and doesn’t hang together at all well. There are many scenes that really shouldn’t have made the cut as they do nothing to further the plot and only distract attention from it.

As far as the King Arthur thing goes, it seems to me that they took a basic fantasy medieval battle film plot and then at the last minute tweaked it and decided to call it King Arthur in the hopes of increasing its box office. It really has nothing to do with the Arthur legend, although it is an interesting vision of how England might have been when the Romans were pulling out. The Saxons are suitably nasty, and it amused me that they were American.

Some of the snow effects are laughable - it’s like somebody burst a pillow. I found myself watching the clock on the DVD player and working out how much longer I’d have to sit and watch before it was over - but I never actually stopped, so something held me there. Perhaps the look of the film, which is strong. Not the acting or the plot. I think the version I saw was a directors cut which may explain the unnecessary scenes.

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Published
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on October 10, 2008
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Five stories set in and around Naples, where the residents’ lives are dominated by organised crime outfit, the Camorra. Based on the best-selling non-fiction book by Roberto Saviano

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Gomorrah is a compelling re-invention of the Italian mafia movie. Adapted from Roberto Saviano’s book of the same name, which sold over 1.2 million copies in Italy alone, Matteo Garrone’s film is the very antithesis of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy. While the opening scene, a multiple hit in a tanning salon, may suggest otherwise, this is a film that does not set out to glamourise the lives of gangsters.
The film oscillates between five separate stories all touched by the shadowy world of the Camorra, the mafia-like crime organisation which originated in the Naples region. Totò (Abruzzese) is a 13 year-old boy who delivers groceries and becomes enticed by the world of crime after he finds a gun and stash and returns the illicit contraband to the rightful owner. Likewise, Marco (Macor) and Ciro (Petrone) are two foolish young lads with ambitions to take on a boozy local Camorra boss.

Meanwhile, a tailor named Pasquale (Cantalupo) in a mob-funded fashion business secretly goes to work for rival Chinese manufacturers, to give them “lessons” in his craft. A businessman, Franco (Servillo) arranges for toxic waste to be dumped on mob-owned land, while he offers university graduate Roberto (Paternoster) a chance to work for him. Finally ageing mob soldier Don Ciro (Imparato), who delivers money to the families of prisoners affiliated with his clan, finds himself in a wilderness as his bosses lose control.

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Mutant Chronicles

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on October 10, 2008
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In 2002, one of the older contestants on Channel 4’s Big Brother - Sandy, a department store “personal shopper” from Scotland - startled viewers by finally going into a strange emotional condition, at once catatonic and agitated with rage.

Before making various attempts to escape by climbing over the wall, he announced in his torpid-resentful manner, that he had gone into a state “beyond boredom”. I entered precisely that state after just five or 10 minutes of this film, a cranium-pulverisingly dull and badly acted sci-fi action non-thriller.

The only brain activity it could possibly stimulate would be a pondering of the question: who actually likes this stuff?

To whom will it shift DVD units in sufficient quantities to cover the production budget? Single guys who live with their parents, and who are, in John Peel’s immortal description of his own fanbase, nearing the end of their eligibility for Club 18-30 holidays?

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The House Bunny

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on October 10, 2008
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Scary Movie stalwart Anna Faris gets to topline a movie of her own - a Legally Blonde knockoff produced by Adam Sandler, whose robust influence is everywhere apparent. Faris plays Shelley, a Playboy bunny and resident of the notorious Hugh Hefner mansion, who, on the morning after her 27th birthday party, receives a letter curtly informing her that she is now too old and must leave.

Shelley finally gets a job as “House Bunny” in a terminally unpopular college sorority, filled with nerds, shut-ins and even feminists, of all the absurd things. It is her mission to give this lacklustre community a Playboy-style makeover. Hugh Hefner, 82 years young, has a creepy wooden cameo. Less than awesome.

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Film review: W

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on October 10, 2008
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Oliver Stone has said he wanted to understand, not to hurt, George W Bush and to give a fair and true portrait of the man. And with W, the filmmaker - who stirred a firestorm of controversy with JFK and Nixon - has presented a relatively even-handed and entertaining portrait of the current US president, although it is sure to raise White House hackles, nevertheless.

W covers Bush’s life from the age of 21 up to his invasion of Iraq, portraying him as both an arrogant, egotistical bully and a confused, sad and almost tragic figure manipulated by his aides and helplessly unable to come up with an exit strategy for Iraq.

Stone made the film in a quickfire 48 days on a £15 million budget to have it ready for release in the US before the November 4 presidential election, but the production values are excellent and there are no obvious signs of it having been a rush job.

As the title character who is in almost every scene, Josh Brolin has done his homework well and offers a convincing interpretation of George W, effectively capturing his mannerisms and style of speech. Thoroughly researched and based mainly on available documentation, W opens with a post-9/11 cabinet meeting in the Oval Office.

In a series of flashbacks, we then follow Bush’s early days as a hard-drinking, rambunctious womaniser and ne’er-do-well, his conversion, at the age of 40, to born-again Christianity, his sobriety and his career in politics.

Stone and writer Stanley Weiser, who also collaborated on Wall Street, place a great deal of emphasis on the father-son relationship, taking the position that George H Bush (James Cromwell) favoured his younger son Jeb and considered George W the black sheep.

Consequently George W is shown as constantly striving to demonstrate he is stronger than his father, castigating him for not finishing the job and taking out Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War and for losing the 1992 election by running a poor campaign.

Among the mainly excellent supporting cast, Richard Dreyfuss is downright scary as Richard Cheney, Britain’s Toby Jones is outstanding as Karl Rove and Stacy Keach has some good scenes as the preacher who aids W’s conversion.

Thandie Newton, with little to do, bears a startling resemblance to Condoleezza Rice and Ioan Gruffudd makes a brief appearance as Tony Blair.

Inevitably, because the story of the George W Bush administration is still being written, the film’s ending is ambiguous.

Poignantly, the smug and self-righteous president is seen struggling at a White House press conference to define what he thinks his legacy will be.

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Terminator 2 Mini Review

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on October 10, 2008
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Like Aliens did after Alien, the second Terminator film went bigger, faster, louder and (arguably) better.

The special effects were groundbreaking in their day. The atmospheric score accurately captures the feeling of menace and impending doom. Also, like Aliens, there is a vein of humour running through the movie - especially sending up certain aspects of the first film. And whatever you say about the acting talents of ‘Arnie’ he is perfectly suited to playing the Terminator.

The often under-rated Linda Hamilton returns to portrays just the right amount of strength and vulnerability as Sarah Connor: the woman who has the weight of the world’s future on her shoulders, and who must balance her love for her son with the need to prepare him for his destiny as a leader against the machines.

And this is what really makes this film so great - the fact that it is more than an effects laden excuse for CGI magic. It’s about the drama of being human: the struggle of providing a decent future for your children. It is also a coming of age drama; as the young John Connor grows up and faces his destiny as the saviour of the human race.

The film wouldn’t be nearly as interesting or loved if it wasn’t for these extra, human, dramatic features. Special effects and action set pieces just don’t work in isolation without a decent story behind them - as we have seen in far too many movies.

This modern classic is a must for any film watcher who likes a strong story as well as mind blowing action.

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Terminator 2 Quick Review

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on October 10, 2008
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Arguably the best film of the trilogy. Arnold Schwarzenegger is sublime. In the year 2029, a computer called Skynet is fighting against a human resistance, after having nearly destroyed the rest of humanity in 1997. Skynet has found a way to send some of it’s warriors, called Terminators, back in time. This is the story of the Terminator sent to kill the resistance leader in 1995, while he is still a child. The resistance sends a reprogrammed Terminator back to 1995 to protect the young man. The question is, can they survive against the new prototype liquid metal Terminator while preventing the creation of Skynet?

T2 as it is affectionately referred to on merchandising is breathtaking in its apocalyptic vision of the machine vs. human future. The film is accompanied by a powerful score by Brad Fiedal that will have you on the edge of your seat in anticipation. Linda Hamilton?s acting, when she spots Arnie for the first time, is one of those moments that will etch in your mind for a long time.

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Lost and Delerious

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on October 9, 2008
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The story of three roommates at a private school for girls, LOST AND DELIRIOUS centers on Mary (Mischa Barton), who is shy and lonely, having spun on a downward spiral ever since the death of her mother three years before. But when she arrives at prep school and meets her new roommates, Pauline (Piper Perabo) and Tory (Jessica Pare)–fun, happy girls–Mary begins to open up.

But just as Mary begins to come out of her shell, she discovers that her roommates are lovers, and, not knowing how to talk about it, she bites her tongue and is left feeling more isolated and alone than ever before. To complicate matters, Pauline and Tory break up. Tory insists that she likes boys. And Pauline becomes an emotional wreck–acting out and changing into a dangerously fragile time bomb. With its complicated plot, delicate issues, and convincing adolescent characters, LOST AND DELIRIOUS is a powerful and disturbing look at first love. The first English-language film from director Lea Pool, the film is based on the novel THE WIVES OF BATH by Susan Swan.

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My Review of Music And Lyrics

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on August 11, 2008
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I had heard mixed reviews about this film so expectation were low, however they were greatly surpassed all the same. From the ’80’s Revival’ introduction onwards their was a continuous source of humour and laughs. The story is as strong as you can expect from this genre of film, and although Hugh Grant plays his usual character, this is one of his better outings.

Drew Barrymore is a delight to watch and the rest of the cast supports well. If you remember the eighties, this will be right up your street and you will find yourselves reminicing about those A-ha, Wham and Duran Duran days. And if you dont remember the 80’s then you need to see this film anyway.

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