What I've Just Watched: Part 2

I, Monster (1971), from Amicus Productions, and based upon Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, albiet very loosely based. This is a good horror film with a good lead performance, and at a mere 77 minutes long. It doesn't outstay it's welcome either, but it has some genuine scares for it's day. It has wealthy psychologist Dr. Charles Marlowe (Christopher Lee) inventing and experimenting with a new drug that will reveal the inner inhibitions of his patients. The effects are varying, from bringing out their opposite personalities and revealing childhood traumas. However, Marlowe sets about in testing the drug upon himself, and it brings out a mischievious side, as well as an alter ego, Edward Blake. However, his colleagues, Frederick Utterson (Peter Cushing) and Enfield (Mike Raven), begin to worry for the wellbeing of Dr. Marlowe, especially as his will has been rewritten to include Edward Blake. Meanwhile, things have gone from bad to worse for Dr. Marlowe, he's addicted to the drug, and he's become a murderer under the guise of Blake, and the antidote isn't working either. It's quite dark, but it's a good film, maybe one of Amicus' best, and some of it is a bit silly, almost marred by a cat being murdered after being given some of the drug, but Lee relishes the dual role really well. But, it did chicken out of being more faithful to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is a shame. 4/5



Return of the Fly (1959), after the success of The Fly (1958), 20th Century Fox immediately ordered a sequel to go into production. Unlike the first film, this one was in black and white, and done cheaper. But, there's something more effective, and Vincent Price is his usual self, as he was in a lot of other films out around this time. It begins with Phillipe Delambre (Brett Halsey), the son of Andre Delambre, the man whose head was replaced with that of a housefly, wants to carry on his father's legacy and scientific research. However, Phillipe's uncle Francois (Price) is against all this, fearing more tragedy will occur, but Phillipe convinces Francois otherwise. Phillipe hires assistant Alan Hines (David Frankham), who turns out to be an industrial spy called Ronald Holmes, who is also working for a shady man in the Montreal underworld known as Max Barthold (Dan Seymour). However, while 'Alan' is stealing secrets, things go awry when 'Alan' kills a policeman, ends up getting him spliced with a rat, and then Phillipe discovers what's happened and then gets trapped in the teleportation pod, with a fly... Guess what happens next... It's a good film, and despite the fact this one was done cheaper, but it feels more intimate and too the point. It has good performances too, and Price is always good value to a film, and he was in a league of his own. A sequel followed in 1965, then the remake. 4/5

Get Low (1st view) - A great performance from Robert Duvall. How this didn't get him handfuls of awards I have no idea.




Just My Luck (1st view) - For a film starring Lindsay Lohan and McFly, I probably liked this more than I should - 3/5*

Batman (1989), the first proper adaptation of Batman, a world away from the camp 1960's TV series, and it was respectful to the original source material, going back to it's roots and going dark and gritty. It would catapult director Tim Burton to mainstream success, where he's remained ever since. It's still a good piece of comic book action with a complex hero, and an even more complex villain. In the hell that is Gotham City, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) moonlights as masked vigilate Batman, as he's avenged to take on crooks after his parents were murdered as a child by a hoodlum. His actions catch the attention of the police. The city is controlled by crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance), who sends his second in command, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) to raid the Axis Chemicals factory. But, Grissom double-crosses Napier, and turns the police onto him. Batman appears there, and Napier falls into a chemical vat, bleaching his skin white and leaving him with a huge grin, and gets his revenge on Grissom and becomes the new head of Gotham's criminal underworld. Bruce Wayne becomes involved with reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), who The Joker has also taken a liking to, but The Joker has bigger plans for Gotham City. It's still a very good superhero film, a product of the 1980's though, especially with songs by Prince. But, there's a good deal of imagination on display, Keaton makes a good action hero, while Nicholson has the time of his life as the Joker. This set a standard, and other superhero films of the time would follow this as a standard. 4/5



Batman Returns (1992), Tim Burton didn't want to do a sequel to Batman, after Edward Scissorhands (1990), every Hollywood studio wanted him. But, when Warner Bros. promised he could do it his way, Burton was on. The result was a darker, more fantastical vision of Batman, with more offbeat characters, but also dark and unsettling. One Christmas in Gotham City, a gang of circus freaks working for The Penguin (Danny DeVito), who was a deformed baby thrown into the sewers by his parents. He resurfaces as Oswald Cobblepot, wanting a second chance, and he turns to business mogul Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) for help. But, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) suspects he's up to something. Meanwhile, after Shreck attempts to kill his secretary, Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer), but after a long fall, she is resuscitated by a group of cats, and becomes Catwoman. Meanwhile, Wayne's suspicions about The Penguin prove to be right, as the Penguin is planning to kill every first born child in Gotham City, and he also has Catwoman to deal with, who is seeking vengeance on Shreck. It is a different film to the first one, with alot of it looking like what Burton envisioned for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Batman seems like a supporting character in his own film, but DeVito is nightmarish as The Penguin, and Pfeiffer is a seductive, dangerous Catwoman. Burton's imagination shines on this one, but it was all downhill after this. 4/5

The Ballad Of Jack and Rose (1st view) - Decent enough. Day-Lewis is good but it wears thin after a while - 3/5*




X-Men: First Class (1st view) - Some great moments and Bacon was fun to watch. Too many characters, a lot get forgotten about even some of the major ones, and the constant "humans hate mutants" got repetitive halfway through the first film, 4 films later it's just annoying. But a good addition to the franchise - 4/5*

Mars Needs Moms (2011), directed by Simon Wells (The Prince of Egypt (1998) and The Time Machine (2002)) and produced by Robert Zemeckis. This is a motion-capture animation based on Berkeley Breathed's 2007 children's book. The film went down as fourth biggest box-office bomb in film history. But, it's not a bad film at all, certainly not a disaster as it's box-office would suggest. It has 9 year old Milo (Seth Green) wanting a fun summer vacation, but his mother (Joan Cusack) has him working around the house. After a heated argument, Milo's mother is abducted by aliens. Milo goes in pursuit, and stows away on the alien spaceship, which ends up on Mars. Milo's mother is taken away, while Milo himself is left to navigate this planet which has a whole world underneath, and is ruled by the Supervisor (Mindy Sterling), who is using human mothers in a breeding programme to make new alien babies. Milo, with the help of eccentric earthling Gribble (Dan Fogler) and rebelious Martian Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), has to find his mother before she's used by the Supervisor, and to uncover a truth about the history of Mars. This is the most surprising film of the year, despite appearances, it's a good film, not perfect, but the design on display is old-school and it's tone harks back to fantasy films of the 1980's, and the mo-cap is put to good use here. However, it's failure caused Disney to cancel Zemeckis' planned remake of Yellow Submarine, and has thrown mo-cap films into doubt. Pity really. 3.5/5



Nine to Five (1980), the big comedy hit of 1980, and it's one that even nearly 30 years later, stands the test of time, (even if what they had in offices back then is a little dated), the story is one which can work anywhere and at any time. It's got three brilliant female leads, one slimey, show-stealing male lead from a very underrated actor and an unforgetable theme tune too!! Set within the office space of the Consolidated corporation, it follows 3 workers, new girl Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), who is taken under the wing of Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), also on the floor is Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), who is personal secretary to the company's department executive Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman), who is arrogant and sexist, which annoys them, and after a pot induced party, they decide upon getting even with their boss, even if it means accidental attempted murder and imprisonment. It's a very funny film, which is very entertaining and enjoyable. It's sassy and smart, and it probabily sums up how many people feel about working in an office environment, Dabs steals the film with his scheming performance which is brilliant to watch, the three female leads are equally engaging. 4.5/5

Burlesque (1st view) - Should I know who Christina Aguilera is? I get the feeling that I should. Anyway, I really enjoyed this - 4/5*

Role Models (1st view) - Crap - 2/5*




(500) Days of Summer (1st view)
I really liked this, but I'm not sure if I found the last 15 minutes uplifting or depressing. Probably the latter. Still, both leads were on great form and it was often very funny - 4/5*




Paranormal Activity 2 (1st view) - Some effective shocks, but the first was better - 3/5*

Ed Wood (1994), after leaving the Batman franchise, and producing The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Tim Burton opted for something completely different. A true story, but one that would suit Burton's unique gothic vision. The result is one of Burton's best films, with a brilliant cast, and also a look at Z-list monster films of the 1950's. Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Johnny Depp) is a struggling theatre director trying to break into the film industry in early 1950's Hollywood. He suddenly see's a chance when producer George Weiss (Mike Starr) is making a cheap sex-change film called I Changed My Sex! Wood really wants to direct it, but Weiss is unsure, until Wood meets horror legend Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), and gets him in the film. I Changed My Sex! becomes Glen or Glenda, and is a failure. However, Wood carries on with his next film, entitled Bride of the Atom, but finding the money for that one is hard, and he eventually finds money from a meat packaging tycoon. But, Wood's long suffering girlfriend Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker) has had enough of it all, and also because Wood is a transvestite, but he also loves women, plus Wood has to deal with Lugosi's morphine addiction. It's a great film that also has heart and a good sense of humour. Wood isn't the worst director ever, but he did the best with what he had to work with. The cast in this is nicely rounded out with Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones and Bill Murray. 4.5/5



Get Carter (1971), the debut of Mike Hodges, who got his start working for Granada Television and World In Action. He chose for his debut Ted Lewis' 1969 novel Jack's Return Home, and Hodges got one of Britain's biggest actors for the lead. Even to this day, it's still a good, gritty gangster film, with a brilliant location and some quite graphic violence for it's day. It has gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine), who works for British mob boss Gerald Fletcher (Terence Rigby) in London. Carter is returning to his hometown of Newcastle, as his brother Frank was killed in an apparant drink-drive accident. But something isn't right, and Frank's daughter Doreen (Petra Markham) feels it was out of character for Frank to die that way. So, Jack stays around in Newcastle and sets out to investigate. It leads him from local crime kingpin Cyril Kinnear (John Osborne) to temperamental local businessman Cliff Brumby (Bryan Mosley). Although Brumby seems like a red herring, he knows something, but then Jack discovers Doreen was used in a porn film funded by Kinnear, and Jack ends up hunting his brother's killers, and they're hunting him. It's a grim-up-north gangster film, but the locations in Newcastle act as a character throughout the film, and Caine has rarely been as gritty as this. It's violent, but there's something blackly comic about the proceedings too. But, it has a good cast, rounded out by Ian Hendry, Britt Eckland and Alun Armstrong. 5/5

Secret Things (1st view) - French drama about two woman who use sex to advance themselves in their work. Decent enough, but the final third is quite mad - 3/5*




Battle Of Los Angeles (1st view) - Not Battle Los Angeles, as the back of the DVD case states. It's the first of these Asylum mockbusters I've seen. I may have to seek out some more. It's awful. Really, really laughably bad in so many ways, and that of course make its quite watchable - 3/5*

Batman Forever (1995), after Tim Burton left the Batman franchise, the directing reins were handed to Joel Schumacher. He planned to re-energise the series after it all went dark with Batman Returns (1992). It is a different breed of film, but it shows the colour and campness of things to come. In this one, Batman (Val Kilmer) battles with Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), once district attorney, Harvey Dent, disfigured by acid. But, soon there's a new foe in Gotham City, The Riddler (Jim Carrey, stealing the film from everyone else), whose real name is Edward Nygma, who worked for Bruce Wayne as a researcher. But, he turned bad when Wayne rejected his invention which puts TV waves directly into the brain. The Riddler leaves riddles for Bruce Wayne, and teams up with Two-Face. Meanwhile, Wayne becomes romantically involved with criminal psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) who is obsessed with wanting to know who Batman is, and Wayne takes in circus acrobat Dick Grayson (Chris O'Donnell), whose family were killed by Two-Face, and Dick discovers who Bruce Wayne really is. It's a film which is all over the place, going from camp villainry to brooding drama. Kilmer feels like a supporting character in his own film, Tommy Lee Jones hams it up like a pantomime baddie. But, the action is good, but worse was to come. 3.5/5



Batman and Robin (1997), and so it came to this. With Batman Forever becoming a huge world success, director Joel Schumacher went ahead with the next one. Schumacher was told by Warner Bros. to make it more "toyetic", so he took the campness that was in the previous film one or two steps further. Big mistake, this killed the franchise, and it almost killed the comic book film genre. In this, Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell) are up against Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), onces a pioneering scientist called Victor Fries, who after an accident in a cryogenics lab, became the way he is. Meanwhile, in South America, Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) is working for Dr. Jason Woodrue (John Glover) who argue over the use of a new drug. Woodrue nearly kills Isley by having a shelf of toxins fall on her, but she comes back as Poison Ivy. She kills Woodrue, and heads for Gotham City, as Bruce Wayne funded Woodrue's research. While Batman and Robin battle Mr. Freeze, who is in cahoots with Poison Ivy, butler Alfred (Michael Gough) gets a visit from his niece Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone), Alfred is ill, and Barbara learns the truth, and Alfred has a suit prepared for her. This is dreadful, from Arnie's awful ice puns to the bat-suits, with the nipples and butt-shots, it's even more camp than the 1960's TV series, in fact, it's more like a live-action cartoon, complete with sound effects. Schumacher deserved the death threats he got over this, thank god Christopher Nolan came along 8 years later. 1/5

I like Batman and Robin

The Blood Drinkers (1st view) - This is only the second film I've seen from the Philippines. While this isn't quite so bad as the other one (officially the 3rd worst film ever made), it is awful. It's not even so bad it's good. It makes things like Plan 9 From Outer Space look like a masterpiece (which, of course, Plan 9 is, but watching The Blood Drinkers just makes that even more apparent). I have a few more film from this directior in a cult boxset I bought recently. I hope they're better than this - 1/5*




And here's the trailer! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DThtSoK9SLw

Gimli The Pirate wrote:

I like Batman and Robin

Why??

I don't know! It's just stupid fun really!

The Foot Fist Way (1st view) - Absolutely bloody awful - 1/5*

Gimli The Pirate wrote:

I don't know! It's just stupid fun really!

It did for Batman like what Superman IV: The Quest for Peace did for Superman!! Anyways...

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991), directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper with Eleanor Coppola's on-set documentary footage. This is a candid look into the making of the greatest war film ever made, Apocalypse Now (1979), and how it's production was just as eventful and draining as the film itself. It's a fascinating piece, and it should act as a cautionary piece to any aspiring filmmakers out there. It has Francis Ford Coppola, wishing to follow up the success of The Godfather: Part II (1974) with an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, adapted by Coppola's buddy John Milius. Production started in March 1976, and it seemed it would be a quick, painless shoot. What could possibly go wrong, eh?? Everything as it turned out. Harvey Keitel, originally cast as Willard, is replaced with Martin Sheen a week into filming, and Sheen later suffers a near-fatal heart attack. Typhoon Olga destroyed the set, and how filming in the Philippines, when the government needed the helicopters to fight rebels. And there was trouble with Marlon Brando, who turned up overweight and under-rehearsed. From all the trouble you see Coppola and his crew get into, it's a wonder they ever got the film finished, and seeing Coppola pour his heart out over how his production will be a bad film is moving and poignant. It's a pity it didn't focus on the film's post-production, which took 2 years. 4.5/5



Roman Holiday (1953), directed by William Wyler (Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Ben-Hur (1959)), this is a breezy, funny but atmospheric romantic comedy, but also a travelogue set out against one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It's two stars have a good chemistry too. Ann (Audrey Hepburn) is the crown princess of a country that isn't named. But, she's tired with tradition and the demands of her duties as a royal. One night, she runs away from her countries embassy where she's staying, and heads off into Rome, but falls asleep on a bench. and is found by American Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), a reporter working for the Rome office of the Daily American newspaper. He tries to take her home, but she ends up at his place. But, the next day, Joe discovers who the young girl at home really is. He wants to get an interview with her, and hides the fact he's a reporter, and Joe asks his photographer friend, Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), to tag along and take photos while he and Ann enjoy the sights of Rome. But, Ann seems to enjoy her freedom just a little too much, and it isn't before long when officials are out looking all over Rome for her. It's a very well made film, very lavish and rich in local flavour. This was Hepburn's first big film, and she makes quite an impression, while Peck makes a smooth, charismatic lead male to rival Cary Grant. Nearly 60 years on, it still hasn't aged. 4/5

Carry On Spying (1964), the 9th Carry On film, and this time, the team had their eye fixed on spy movies. They shared the same studios as the Bond films, so it was inevitable they'd spoof them. But, they made a very funny film from what they did, and this one marked the first appearance of one of the series' best known regulars. A top secret chemical formula has been stolen by the Society for the Total Extinction of Non-Conforming Humans, known as STENCH. The Chief of the Secret Service (Eric Barker) sends in the only agent availible. The accident prone and snide-toned Agent Desmond Simpkins (Kenneth Williams), and his three trainees, Agent Harold Crump (Bernard Cribbins), Agent Daphne Honeybutt (Barbara Windsor) and Agent Charlie Bind (Charles Hawtrey). They head off to Vienna, where they look for Milchmann (Victor Maddern) who stole the formula, dressed as a milkman. But the formula is now in the hands of The Fat Man (Eric Pohlmann), but they manage to nearly do away with their contact Carstairs (Jim Dale), while Simpkins becomes involved with the mysterious Lila (Dilys Laye). It's very silly entertainment, doing what you would normally expect. It has some brilliant double-entendre's complete with clever wordplay as well, as well as good send ups of spy films, and The Third Man. If only we had more secret agents like this lot. 4/5



X-Men: First Class (2011), a reboot and a prequel of the X-Men franchise, done by Matthew Vaughn, now red hot after Kick-Ass (2010). But, he gave it an almost retro look, like an old James Bond film, but without making it cheesy, but what gives this the edge is a good, smart story with a good cast was well. Plus, there's lots of fun to be had thoughout. In 1962, the film shows how the X-Men came to be, Oxford University graduate Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) who has telepathic powers, is asked by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), who witnessed U.S. Army Colonel Hendry (Glenn Morshower) disappear in Las Vegas with mutants Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Emma Frost (January Jones) and Azazel (Jason Flemyng), for help, or else Shaw will start World War III. When the CIA scoff at Xavier's request for help, they are helped by an unnamed Man in Black (Oliver Platt), who helps Xavier round up mutants, including Angel Salvadore (Zoë Kravitz), Sean Cassidy (Caleb Landry Jones), Alex Summers (Lucas Till) and Dr. Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult). But Xavier finds another, a Holocaust survivor called Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), who has spent his life since 1944 looking for Shaw, and is looking for vengeance. It's a good character piece if anything, and puts it's proceedings against one the darkest hours in the 20th Century. It's got a brilliant ensemble, and it's very old school, but it manages to feel modern at the same time. Even on the basis of this one, I hope for more, and it explains alot of stuff that eventually came in the original films. 4/5

Ip Man (1st view) - 3/5*





Then She Found Me (1st view) - 3/5*

The New York Ripper (1st view) - Video nasty about a killer who brutally kills women in New York. certainly more graphic than than the those of those norious films I saw (The House By The Cemetery) and not as laughable effects-wise. Despite the brutality on display it's not half as in-your-face ghastly as the more realistic slaughterfests in the likes of Saw and Hostel. I'm also wondering what scenes have been cut, because I know the US release is a bit longer - 4/5*

I remember Mark Kermode telling stories on the Film4 website about how when it was first submitted to the BBFC in the 1980's, they not only rejected it, but put it on the first plane out off the country!!

Really? Then again, although it might seem tame nowadays I can't think of anything else from the time I've seen that's quite so brutal

Well, I take it you won't be watching The Human Centipede 2 then?? Well, no-one here can see it. Anyways...

Hallam Foe (2007) directed by David MacKenzie, best known for independent British films like Young Adam (2003) and Asylum (2005), this is an adaptation of Peter Jinks' 2001 novel. This is an offbeat drama, but done with a delicate touch about damaged souls and the coming of age. It has a good cast, and has a dark wit about it. Social outcast Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell) is an eccentric teenager who believes his stepmother Verity (Claire Forlani) killed his mother. She and Hallam's father (Ciarán Hinds) want Hallam to grow up and move on from childish pursuits. So, he moves out of the family house to Edinburgh, and gets a job in the kitchen at the Balmoral Hotel, thanks to an encounter with administrator Kate (Sophia Myles), who bears a slight resemblence to his dead mother. With nowhere to go, Hallam lives in the clock-tower of the hotel, and spies on Kate, and even climbs over roofs in the city of Edinburgh to get near her. However, senior employee Alasdair (Jamie Sives) is having an affair with Kate, and Alasdair discovers Hallam living in the hotel and that he's spying on Kate, leaving Hallam no choice but to take drastic action. It's a very good British film, giving a different view of Edinburgh as well, on the rooftops. But the real ace in the hole with this is Jamie Bell as Hallam, such a brilliant turn from the boy who was once Billy Elliot. It's very offbeat, but also engaging and moving. 4/5



Stardust Memories (1980), after the success of Manhattan (1979), Woody Allen made a witty, knowing homage to Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), although you'd be forgiven for thinking this was autobiographical, it's a surrealist homage about the stresses of filmmaking, studio-interference and how typed directors can rarely do something different. Woody plays acclaimed director Sandy Bates, who specialises in comedies, he attends a retrospective of his films at a seaside hotel where fantasy and reality fuse together. At the same time, the studio making his new film are trying to recut it, as it's not a comedy, but an "art film". Bates recalls his life and the women he loved, including his ex-girlfriend Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling). his current squeeze Isobel (Marie-Christine Barrault), but at the same time, he finds himself attracted to Daisy (Jessica Harper). Bates didn't even want to go to the retrospective, but he puts a brave face on, and answers his fans' questions, even though alot of them prefer his "early, funny films". Some might accuse this of being much more than semi-autobiographical, (which Allen has always denied), it's a satire on what a director has to go through, whether it be their private or public life, but does have some good performances and some very funny one-liners. 4/5

Green Lantern (1st view) - Enjoyable origin story - 4/5*

The Hangover Part II (2011), after The Hangover (2009) made about £500 million worldwide, it was inevitable a sequel would be made, and director Todd Phillips wasted no time in getting one made. Although there are plenty of laughs to be had, it's the same routine as before, maybe the case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" has gone against them this time. 2 years after little indicents and exploits in Las Vegas. Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are off to Thailand for Stu's wedding to Lauren (Jamie Chung), even if Lauren's father's (Nirut Sirijanya) vocally disapproves of his daughter marrying Stu, who he thinks is a joke. No matter, Stu, Phil, Doug and Alan, along with Lauren's brother Teddy (Mason Lee), go to the beach and drink to their health and the future. Then, Stu, Phil and Alan wake up the next morning in a squalid hotel in Bangkok. Alan's hair is shaved off, Stu has a tattoo on his face, and also with them is gangster Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), worse still Teddy has gone missing, but they have to find out what happened the night before. It is funny in places, but the humour is alot more mean-spirited and savage. It's worth it for Zach Galifianakis, who is always funny. But, it's the same old same old, and the surprises are mainly gross-out ones. 3/5



Paul (2011), Simon Pegg and Nick Frost ride again, this time without Edgar Wright (who opted for Scott Pilgrim), but they got Superbad's Greg Mottola to direct this funny sci-fi comedy based on a screenplay what Pegg and Frost wrote. Although it spoofs alot of sci-fi films, deep down, the film is a passionate love letter to Spielberg's classics of old. It has aspiring sci-fi writer Clive Gollings (Frost) and sci-fi artist Graeme Willy (Pegg) attending Comic-Con, then completing their trip to America by taking an RV and going cross country looking up famous UFO spots. On the way, they witness a car accident, at the wheel of the car is an alien called Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), who is a wise-cracking, laid back alien, he immediately bonds with Graeme, while Clive takes time to get used to him. However, hot on Paul's tail is Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman) who is working for "The Big Guy" (Sigourney Weaver). Turns out Paul has escaped from the facility he's been held at for years, as they want to learn about his powers. So, Graeme and Clive, along with bible-basher Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig) to get away from the feds. It's a very silly film, less subtle than Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but it is very enjoyable and very funny with Rogen stealing the film voicing Paul, and some amusing appearances from Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Blythe Danner, John Carroll Lynch and Jeffrey Tambor. Spielberg will be proud of this. 4/5

Murder Ahoy (1964), the fourth and final film in a short yet sweet series of British Miss Marple films produced by MGM during the early 1960's. But, unlike the previous 3 Miss Marple films, this one was an original story, rather than being based upon one of Agatha Christie's original books, as a result, it doesn't work as well as the previous 3 films, but it's enjoyable enough. It has Miss Jane Marple (Margaret Rutherford, wonderful as always), now a trustee of a Navy training vessel, however, one of fellow trustees mysteriously "snuffs" it after his box of snuff was poisoned. Once again, Miss Marple is on the case. It takes her on board the ship she is trustee for, much to the annoyance of the uptight Captain Rhumstone (Lionel Jeffries), but no sooner than Miss Marple is on board the ship, more murders occur, and her faithful companion Jim Stringer (Stringer Davis) and Inspector Craddock (Charles 'Bud' Tingwell) help out. It's a weaker entry to the series, but it is by no means a bad film, it loosely adapts plots and pointers from Christie's other books. Rutherford is as perfect as always, and there is good support from William Mervyn, Francis Matthews, Nicholas Parsons and Derek Nimmo!! 3/5



A View To A Kill (1985), the 14th 007 adventure, and it was also Roger Moore's final outing as James Bond. By this point, he was too old to be playing James Bond, he was 58 going on 88, and it shows. Plus the film relies too much upon it's humour, and the plot is a rehash of all that went on in Goldfinger (1964). This adventure has Bond diving into the world of microchips and why microchips being developed by British and KGB are the same, it takes him to European industrialist Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), who also rigs horse races so that horses bred by him can win. Bond goes from Paris to San Francisco, and discovers that Zorin is planning to monopolise the microchip market by getting rid of the competition, by causing an earthquake which will sink Silicon Valley so he can control the market. Can Bond stop him?? By this point, the franchise was starting to look like a bit of a joke again, and this one resembles a bad 80's action film made by Cannon Films. It does have it's moments, but Moore was too old to be doing stuff like this, seeing him lusting over Tanya Roberts and Grace Jones is creepy. Thank heavens Timothy Dalton came along and blew the cobwebs off the franchise!! 2/5