Watch it Yourself! ;-)
Everyone in the US, and Europe, should watch this film.
Great comedy, as you would expect from Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock, laugh out loud romantic comedy. From start to finish you will be smiling as Ryan Reynolds character gets his own back on his evil boss and in the end they end up falling for each other. The film was done with tongue in cheek but you are left believing it could happen for real.
High powered executive is threatened with deportation back to Canada but she plots to stay by marrying her assistant, she starts to soften and fall for her assistant.
One of the finest singer/songwriters of this or any other generation. This 2 disc set gives some idea of what it's like to witness Martyn Joseph live. His exquisite songs are made all the more powerful when combined with the passionate and heart-rending performances he gives on stage.
For anyone who appreciates the craft of songwriting and the capacity that live music has elevate the listener, I implore you to order this DVD. Martyn has released many albums over the years which I would also recommend to you AND he's currently producing the best material of his 25 year career with a new album coming out in October 2010 entitled 'Under Lemonade Skies'. I cannot stress enough how much you should buy this DVD, order yourself some CDs and then catch him on tour - there's nothing quite like it.
This is not a film you want to watch for a few laughs and light hearted enterainment. The subject matter of the film involves unrelenting misery in the wake of the apocolypse, which has turned many of the remaining humans on earth to canibalism. Despite the depressing subject matter, it is compelling viewing as you watch the daily struggle of father and son to survive. There are heart stopping scenes and also heart warming ones as you see the love that they have for each other. I really enjoyed the film but will need to prepare myself to feel quite sad if I watch it again as I did have a good blub at the end of this one.
Brilliant, consistently funny satire on the trials and tribulations of independent filmmaking: Steve Buscemi, in his best performance since 'Reservoir Dogs', stars as stressed director Nick Reve, whose trying his damndest to complete his film whilst having to contend with a cast and crew of demanding oddballs, an emotional leading lady, an arrogant actor, a dwindling budget, scheduling problems and an angry dwarf! Written and directed by Tom DiCillo, 'Living In Oblivion' also features excellent performances from Dermot Mulroney as a pretentious, eye path wearing DP named Wolf, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage, Danielle von Zerneck and James LeGros. One of the great, underrated, independent movies of the 1990s. A must see.
The slow-mo train wreck that is Kevin Smith's directorial career continues unabated with the aptly entitled 'Cop Out'. Now we forgave him 'Jersey Girl', overlooked the pangs of desperation that produced 'Clerks 2' and smiled politely at the hit n' miss (mostly miss) shenanigans of 'Zack and Miri Make A Porno' all the while wondering what'd happened to the maverick Gen X auteur who penned an enjoyable quintet of cult classics (i.e. 'Chasing Amy', 'Clerks', 'Mallrats', 'Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back' and 'Dogma') before collapsing into a creative heap.
'Cop Out' follows buddy-cops Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis, as they attempt to recover a priceless Baseball card only to stumble upon the nefarious schemes of some Mexican drug cartel. Its starts off quite well; with Morgan's movie quote / homage interrogation scene, in which he proceeds to harass a hapless suspect with one liners from increasingly inappropriate films ranging from 'Heat' and 'Scarface' to 'Dirty Dancing' and 'The Colour Purple'. He even utters the line "Yippee-ki-yay motherf****er" to which a puzzled Bruce Willis wryly replies: "I don't think I've even seen that one". So it's not entirely laugh-free, but not nearly enough mirth for a comedy.
Bruce Willis is pretty much on autopilot here and just gets by on charisma, Tracy Morgan has some good gags at his disposal but tends to over act at any every given opportunity, Sean William Scott makes a chucklesome cameo as an annoying cat burglar whilst the lovely Ana de la Reguera sets Hispanic actors back by a decade with a thankless, clichéd role that even Carmen Miranda might've deemed insulting. The gist of it is that her character can't speak English...and that's it; we're supposed to laugh when she says "hi" instead of bye. Yes, its that bad. If you want to see this genre done well then seek out Shane Black's 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (2005): It's faster, funnier and generally better than this bloated, haphazard timewaster. Back to the drawing board Smith!
Over 10 years after his arguably most famous role in Titanic, DiCaprio is surprisingly reaching his peak in 2010. 'Shutter Island' is one of two stunning performances (the other being Christopher Nolan's 'Inception') given by DiCaprio, both far crys from anything Jack Dawson ever brought to the table.
As close to a film noir thriller as you can get in the 21st century, 'Shutter Island' is based on based on a fantastic novel by Dennis Lehane about U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels (DiCaprio) visiting the island to investigate a patient who has disappeared from Ashecliff Hospital - a psychiatric facility which presents a fantastically tense and unnerving setting for the story that unfolds before us.
To give away too much is to ruin the opportunity to go along for the ride. All any movie fan needs to know is that 'Shutter Island' is directed by Martin Scorsese, stars DiCaprio alongside other stalwarts of Hollywood including Sir Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Mark Ruffalo, and is one of the most suspenseful tales to be put on-screen in recent memory.
Go in without any pre-conceived notion of what to expect, and just genuinely enjoy the ride. I cannot recommend this movie enough.
Another stunning Leonardo DiCaprio performance ..
this is seriusly weird, if you can understand why there is an aarvark in it then good luck. it is one of steven kings worst films and i am a big fan i own all the books and films but this is bad
strange hospital semi horror
I have seen Avatar on Blu ray disc and let me tell you it was magnificent. The colours on the screen were so vibrant and the mixture of techniques was second to none. The story line was so well written and the characters so well matched with the actors. I give this five stars and I would watch it again!
'Allo Allo' is set during WWII, in a small French town. Most of the action takes place in Renee's cafe,(played by Gorden Kaye). The cafe is frequented by the French, Germans and the Resistance. Renee lives with his wife and his ailing, bedridden mother in law. Reluctantly he is persuaded to help the resistance to hide British Air men whilst trying to keep on good terms with the Germans.
It's been years since I have watched this and on a whim, I purchased Series 1 & 2.
I haven't stopped smiling since.
The whole thing is ludicrous and farcical, but works brilliantly.
If you need a good laugh, I highly recommend this series.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Best Director award at Cannes for this ambitious and intelligent drama about how a single event can send ripples across the whole world. The film also contains messages about misery, love and family (although occasionally these are sometimes - perhaps deliberately - blurred), and uses a series of events that occur around the same time to convey these messages. In a way, Babel is very similar to Paul Haggis's uneasy Oscar-winning picture Crash, where difficult themes are put onto the backs of "token-ordinary-people" to show how universal these themes are.
It's very easy to get cynical about this type of cinema. Films that adopt a "we are all human, lets join hands and unite" message do so at their peril, as it is very easy to end up patronising the audience and simplifying issues that should never be dumbed down. On some levels, Crash felt like it was talking down to its viewers, spoon-feeding them the "real" truths about racism in America. One of Babel's strengths is that it never assumes its audience is stupid, and offers them a cinematic experience that can be interpreted in a number of ways, allowing for differences in opinion. It's also important to note that, even though the film has big things to say, it never forgets to do its job: to entertain. Nearly every scene in the movie is compelling, visually rich, shocking, funny, exciting, vibrant or moving.
The opening of the film sees two poor Moroccan boys playing on the mountains near their home. They fire a gun that their father has received as a gift on the instruction to shoot predators that could be a threat to their animals. But one of the bullets fired by the boys shoots a woman on a tourist coach at the bottom of the mountain. This woman and her husband (played by Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt, respectively) seek refuge in a small dusty village, miles from a hospital, and have to get the local veterinary surgeon to sew up her bullet wound. The film's globe-spanning plot also concerns a deaf girl in Japan and two American children at a Mexican wedding. Links between these characters are slowly realised as the film progresses - some of them not until the closing scenes - but the moment when everything falls into place is tremendously effective.
It's not perfect. Babel has some serious problems buried in its filmic DNA. With its continent-hopping narrative threads, the drama never really gets to settle, and as soon as we have identified or connected with one set of characters, off we fly again to a different part of the world. The casting of Brad Pitt as the frantic husband, desperate to save his wife from bleeding to death, was a surprising but commendable decision as it gives him the chance to play a role less commercially gimmicky than his past efforts. However, Blanchett as the wounded wife does little more than lie on the floor gushing blood. Her talents are wasted, and although Pitt isn't bad, she's twice the actor he'll ever be.
Babel serves as both a sad lament about the breakdown of communication between cultures and as a sentimental drama about human emotion. It has enough to offer for us to forgive its weaknesses, and cinema of this scope and power should be embraced rather than sneered at. It may not offer all the answers, but it certainly raises some important questions.
This boring 2005 horror thriller is a remake of the 1953 Vincent Price film of the same name. Serving as an introduction to gory horror for teenagers who don't know they're being fed derivative trash, House of Wax is deliberately tasteless and unintentionally dull. The cast is populated by beautiful 20-somethings whose acting skills make the Tweenies look like a Stanislavski masterclass. The exception is Chad Michael Murray, the One Tree Hill-star who's too good for this nonsense.
I was also deeply unnerved at the fact that this gruesomely violent film received a 15 certificate. Containing scenes which show, in horrible detail, injury, pain, terrorisation and suffering, it would feel out of place at any category other than 18.
The flimsy plot concerns a creepy museum made entirely of wax; the nasty twist being that all the wax models are, or were, human beings incarcerated in a wax shell. When the college-kids discover the "House of Wax", they are captured and tortured, with the sadistic residents attempting to add them to their sick collection of living wax-works.
Apart from a visually effective finale, the whole affair is tedious in the extreme. It's a shame, because with all the CGI and modern camera trickery available, this could have been a riveting scare fest. But the result is all blood and gore but nothing very satisfying. If you haven't already seen it, best give it a miss.
Another great series of the Sarah Jane adventures! Starring the amazing actress Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen), the spin-off Doctor Who was so successful, it brought out a second series. The second series explodes off with the Sontarans which has been in numerous Doctor Who adventures and during the 'The Last Sontaran', we say farewell to Maria Jackson, but as we say good bye to the trusted companion, they welcome aboard Rani Chandler to the gang who moves into Maria's old house. They set off to new dangers to be fought! Seeing a range of new faces and also some familiar faces, and the wait to see the explosive, jam packed finale!
Amazing second series of sarah jane adventures!
Michael Cera could read from a newspaper for 90 minutes, direct-to-camera, and it would be funny and charming.
Whilst the young Canadian has begun to run the risk of resentment, having been typecast as the unlikely and awkward romantic lead, he continues to give endearing and genuinely funny performances.
New to DVD and Blu-Ray is Youth in Revolt, based on Michael C Payne's novel of the same name, and sees Cera given an opportunity to deliver his trademark deadpan style whilst flexing his acting muscle as lead character Nick Twisp's alter-ego Francois Dillinger.
For the uninitiated, Youth In Revolt follows the misadventures of Nick Twist and his quest for love (or more likely, lust.)
Whilst Nick is a typically sex-obsessed teenage boy, he is a hopeless romantic - evidenced by his love of Frank Sinatra records.
When he meets an attractive, wise-beyond-her years, girl in a trailer park after he and his mother are forced to skip town, he immediately falls in love/lust.
His adolescent attempts on her heart/bedroom fall short however, and he realises that a girl like Sheeni Saunders will never go for someone as unsophisticated as him.
So, Nick creates the alter-ego of Francois Dillinger, a la 'Fight Club', ticking all of Sheeni's boxes.
The lengths to which Francois makes Nick go , and the chaos that ensues drive the majority of the film, providing laughs from both Francois' one-liners and his hi-jinks.
The film has indie-charm written all over it, from its soundtrack to its animated sequence in the first act.
The film's yellow hues look great on Blu-Ray and are the perfect pick-me-up given the rainy summer we are suffering.
A great adaptation of the novel, offering laugh-out-loud moments and a great performance by Michael Cera
In the third DVD release of Doctor Who Series 5, we see the episodes Amy's Choice, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood. Amy's Choice is a colourful romp in a world of which is literally a dream and the real world, both involving life threatening dilemmas. The Doctor, Amy and Rory must decide which is real; the world where the Tardis is hurdling into a cold star, or the world with a heavily pregnant Amy and Rory styling a very interesting hairstyle and some very suspicious and deadly elderly neighbours. Contrasting this to the much dark and sinister two-parter 'The Hungry Earth' and 'Cold Blood' which reintroduces the Silurians for the first time in twenty six years. Although a very energised and emotional two-parter, it lacks the detail and at times, seems too rushed, especially when it reaches its emotional climax. When considering this volume as a whole I would say it is one of the weaker volumes of the new series and sadly a bad reintroduction for a classic race.
This film really is a modern great. The very first time I saw it I was blown away by the intricacies of the plot at the depths of each of the characters. To this day I still can't fully grasp all of the details which is what makes me want to watch this film again and again. As with every rewatch I learn something new.
I would recommend this film to all ages from teen to adult. Younger generations would enjoy it as an early Bryan Singer (X-Men/Superman) film, older generations would enjoy it for the plot complexities and the film noir nuances.
Intricate crime drama
This was an excellent cartoon, me and my son enjoy Doctor Who very much and I was pleased that they did a couple of cartoons. It was also very nice to have the original actors, David Tennant and Freema Agryman, voice their characters. Anthony Head voiced the brilliant but psychotic Balthasar with his usual smooth and panache way. All in all I am a 33 year old Mom of a 4 year old son and I still enjoyed it as much as the proper episodes.
Doctor Who and Martha go on a quest for the infinite, a strange being, that can give you your hearts desire.
Having recently fallen in love all over again with John Dahl's cult 90's flick "Rounders", I could be excused for thinking it fate that I'd unintentionally stumbled upon another film that bases its plot around the most popular card game on the planet, Texas hold'em poker. "All In" stars Dominique Swain, Michael Madsen and Academy Award winner Louis Gosset Jr, all of whom had impressed me enough at some point in their respective careers to disregard the film's feeble premise and take the risk for a measly £3. In hindsight, I should have "laid it down".
***
Alicia "Ace" Anderson (Swain) seemingly has the world at her feet as she sits at final table of the "All In Poker Tournament", with a cool $5 million in prize money awarded to the winner. Rewind 15 years and life was very much different for the Anderson family. Alicia's deadbeat father, Seal (Madsen) - as in 'Navy Seal', not 'Kiss from a Rose' Seal - walks out on his family after a heated argument with his overly religious wife, who has grown tired of his drinking and gambling. He soon finds himself in debt to a local mobster after losing an "All In" poker game and, unable to pay the debt, he is driven to suicide, by way of his car and a cliff.
Fast forward to the present day and happy-clappy Alicia heads off to med-school, where she befriends a couple of stereotypically horny college guys - one of whom leaves even the most open-minded of viewers in no doubt that he is indeed a raving sex pest - and unleashes them on her predictably gorgeous female flatmates. The group quickly bond and delude themselves into believing that Alicia's victory in a game of strip poker is no fluke and that she is, in fact, a great poker player worthy of gambling away their entire life savings in the hopes that it will pay off their student debts.
Not content with the thrills provided at a med school that allows first year students - still being quizzed on how many bones there are in the human body - to operate on patients at the local hospital combined with the discovery that its chief resident Dr. Pennington is extorting the immigrant patients, Alicia resorts gambling with her friend's money as she plays more with reckless abandonment than strategy - the kind of stuff reserved for a Saturday night online freeroll. In true movie fashion, Alicia continually wins on the last turn of every last card thus clawing her way to a final table consisting of an eclectic mix of real life poker personalities, her not-so-dead father, his long-time friend Caps (Gosset Jr.) and evil Dr. Pennington - a moonlighting card sharp, we are expected to believe. With so many distractions at the table, can Alicia hold her nerve and take it down?
***
"All In" is such an abysmal attempt at filmmaking, it's hard to know where to begin with its faults. The plot is so convoluted with ludicrous developments, clichés and hand after hand of unlikely poker outcomes, the idea that it took four people to write this train wreck of a screenplay is beyond belief - let alone the fact that it was financed with a whopping $3.5m budget, screened at prestigious film festivals and subsequently secured a distribution deal.
It's an injustice that anyone has been paid for writing this horrendous script, containing some of the most cringe-worthy lines you'll ever hear in a film; "Seal, I always liked you. You fought for your country, a Navy Seal" and "I used the body of a homeless man who died the same day. I got it from Woody, at the morgue". For a film that doesn't know whether it wants to be a family drama or an episode of 'Doctors', perhaps because it draws so much on the latter to pad out the screen time, it's fair to say the film fails on just about every level.
The credits read as an exhaustive list of people who can't do their job properly; from a casting director that thinks she's casting for a blue movie to a makeup and costume department that neglect to age Alicia's mother in a scene transition that lasts 15 years. However, the award for most incompetent crew member must surely go to DoP Jeff Baustert. So intent is he on blinding the viewer with his atrocious attempts at lighting each scene, not even closing your eyes and counting to ten can prevent you from channelling the merciless tongue of Christian Bale.
As for the cast, I've seen more believable character portrayals with better dialogue and delivery in porn movies. Dominique Swain is completely out of her comfort zone as a lead actress. Overwhelmed by reaction shots, she resorts to pulling stupid faces and generally makes you loathe her existence both on-screen and as an actress. Michael Madsen fails to convince, not only as an amateur poker player and estranged father but as a human being. Most laughable of all is Louis Gosset Jr.'s vision of his character as he continually repeats his catchphrase, "is you in or is you out", in a manner that can best be described as a jive-talking stroke victim.
A large proportion of the blame for this incompetent film should be reserved for director/producer Nick Vallelonga. Budding filmmakers the world over should view this film as a learning tool for how not to make a film. If he had any credibility as a director, he would never have allowed a majority of scenes in this film to suffer from shaky camera work, rigid scene transitions and visual & sound editing that could surely be rivalled by those people that lurk around the Apple Store for free tutorials in Final Cut Pro.
"All In" isn't just a losing bet in the B movie wheel of fortune, it's an "I've lost all of my money, the keys to my car, the clothes on my back. and now I've got to walk home naked in blizzard conditions" experience that will leave you scarred for life and in need of a warm shower.
I was looking forward to going to the cinema to watch Clash Of The Titans in 3D, I came out disappointed, but I think that was more to do with the so-called 3D rather than the film itself.
Firstly let me just say that if you like a plot with your action films then this is probably not the film for you. It's a big budget, effects laden blockbuster that is aimed solely at your eyes. The special effects are top notch and the acting is excellent, especially from Sam Worthington as Perseus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades and Gemma Arterton as Io.
The film tells the story of Perseus (Sam Worthington) who discovers he is the mortal son of the powerful God Zeus (Liam Neeson). Perseus must stop the God of the underworld Hades (Ralph Fiennes) from trying to take control of mankind. Perseus must battle demons and beasts, including Medusa and the Kraken, with a little help from Io (Gemma Arterton), Ixas (Hans Matheson), Kucuk (Mouloud Archour) and Sheikh Suleiman (Ian Whyte).
So sit back, switch off your brain for 2 hours and enjoy. I know I did.
John Hillcoat's The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy's book, is likely to be everything you heard it was; a relentlessly bleak, post-apocalyptic story with no actual apocalypse shown and a non-existent plot. You might quite rightly ask yourself, why should I put myself through this for two hours? Well, you should because it is an unusual and brilliant drama, yet not depressing and strangely life-affirming instead.
This is not the Roland Emmerich school of apocalypse (Independence Day, 2012, etc), where the human element is simply fodder for whatever grand and terrible fate has befallen us. It is a simple tale of survival for the sake of living, an ode to human spirit and the relationship between a father and his son. There are no aliens to regroup against and fight; no Nirvana of a hippy commune to get to; no magical key to kick start the Earth. No, the planet is dead and clearly hopeless. The man and his son just keep moving (heading for the coast is their loose aim), scavenging for food wherever they can and avoiding the gangs of cannibals who are brutal and ruthless. For a film that is so much a drama, there are several scenes of shocking, raw horror. It should be expected from Hillcoat who also directed McCarthy's The Proposition, with bloody and stark honesty.
But there still has to be a point and it really is as simple as concentrating on the little things we take for granted and seeing them enrich the awful existence of the man and the boy. Things like savouring what is probably the last can of Coca-Cola in the world, or finding a bath and being able to use shampoo. Both a hollow-eyed, ragged Viggo Mortensen and shell-shocked Kodi Smit-McPhee give stunning performances and the only thing better is their relation to one another. On the road, they shed the detritus of their former lives and Viggo is particularly heartbreaking as he tries to let go of the haunting memories of his wife (Charlize Theron). A moment on a bridge in particular is astonishing. When they meet old and vulnerable Ely (Robert Duvall), the elegant dialogue finally reveals the beating heart of the film; it is almost too obvious really and borders on sentimental optimism, a huge contrast with the overly cynical premise.
Duvall is superb in his scene and others make the most of their brief moments too, especially Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire) and Guy Pearce proves why he is one of the best actors of his generation too. Charlize Theron is sharply effective in flashbacks as the wife and mother, though hers is a confused character. But it is to the benefit of the screenplay and they are all played with an impressive realism. That's the order of the day: no other film has so authentically realised an apocalypse like this one.
Hillcoat's direction with Javier Aguirresarobe's photography nails home that realism and what little of America is left is horrifyingly believable. It might seem a bland palette, but his use of light is frequently beautiful and on Blu-Ray the depth and contrast comes to life. The sound is fantastic too, with occasional earthquakes and falling trees putting any decent sound system through its paces.
The Road is powerful and affecting. Some dismiss it as depressing, but they were probably depressed because they couldn't see past the lack of plot and set-pieces to find the genuine and substantial human drama within. Ok, it isn't as much fun as Independence Day, but it has much more value. It's about growing old, death and what we leave behind, but it's also about family and innocence. It's not as profound as it could be and even borders on being a bit dumb. Depressing? No. Transformers 2 is depressing! Let's keep the perspective.
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