What I've Just Watched: Part 2

Snowtown (1st view) - I'd heard that this was pretty powerful and disturbing. I don't reckon it's either, but it does have a great central performance by Daniel Henshall as serial killer John Bunting - 3/5*




Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (1st view) - Yay for John C. Reilly but it doesn't have that much else going for it. Chris Massoglia might be the most bland, charisma-free actor in history - 3/5*

Dreams That Money Can Buy (1st view) - An experimental, surrealist film in which a man sets up a business in which he sells his clients specific dreams. Mind-bogglingly odd. - 4/5*

Deep End (1st view) - A great, atmospherioc and eerie tale of sexual obsession - 4/5*

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists - 3D (1st view) - An absolute joy. I don't think I've enjoyed myself so much at the cinema since, probably, Curse Of The Wererabbit. A perfect voice cast, brilliantly inventive set-pieces and it's impeccably animated. Almost every scene sees to be chock-full of, gags you need to look out for. A DVD and pause button would be essential to pick up on all the jokes. Mr Bobo and Polly steal the show. I hope for sequels - 5/5*

Trespass (1st view) - I love both Kidman and Cage and will happily watch them in anything and it's only because of them that this gets 2 stars. It really is bad, not even the unintentional comedy can save it - 2/5*

Brighton Rock (1947), Produced and directed by John and Roy Boulting, and written for the screen by Graham Greene and Terence Rattigan, (adapted from Greene's novel), this is a dark, noishish thriller showing a dark side to an otherwise well loved holiday resort. It has a brilliant lead role who was only young then, but showed more maturity than any of his closest contemporaries. Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) is a 17 year old gangster with his own gang which consist of Dallow (William Hartnell), Cubitt (Nigel Stock) and Spicer (Wylie Watson), they're looking for a big break, and is trying to hold his own against Brighton's other gangster rival Colleoni (Charles Goldner). Pinkie's gang have had their eye on Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley), a journalist who has been investigating his gang's activities. After Pinkie takes him out on a ghost train ride, the police find his body, and write it off as a heart attack. However, Pinkie discovers that music hall entertainer Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley), knew he was in danger, and begins her own investigations, which lead her to cafe waitress Rose Brown (Carol Marsh), whom Pinkie has started courting. It's a suspenseful thriller, which is a British film noir, with Attenborough giving an unnerving and hard-edged performance, but it's a good time piece of a Britain now lost in the past. It's topped off with some clever direction and good camerawork by Harry Waxman. 4/5



Drive (2011), from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson (2009)), this is a taut, tight thriler based upon a 2005 book by James Sallis. It's development went from a big blockbuster to a small independent film. It shares themes and similarities with Walter Hill's The Driver (1978), but this has good acting and good characters, and brilliant suspenseful action. It has an unnamed driver (Ryan Gosling) who by day, works as a stuntman in Hollywood films, and as a mechanic for Shannon (Bryan Cranston), but by night, he's a getaway driver for anonymous crooks, he never works for the same people twice, but it's Shannon who puts the Driver in touch with them. He's just become friendly with his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan), whose husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is in jail. Shannon has just become associated with mobster Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks), who is in cahoots with Jewish gangster Nino (Ron Perlman). Things go awry when Standard is released from jail, and goes with the Driver to pay off a debt with notorious gangster Cook (James Biberi), but it all goes wrong, with the Driver now being targeted for death. It's a fast and exciting heist movie, with brilliant car stunts and good camerawork by Newton Thomas Sigel. Gosling plays it very cool, and it's got a good cast of familiar faces, and it's slick and stylish as well, and it'll be good to see where director Winding Refn goes from here. 4/5



The Electric Horseman (1979), directed by Sydney Pollack, (Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Way We Were (1973), Tootsie (1982) and Out of Africa (1985)), this is an amusing and moving romantic adventure that had two of the biggest stars of the day, with some country songs by Willie Nelson, who co-stars. It has a touch of the sort of films Clint Eastwood was doing at that time, but here, it was in the right hands. This tells the story of rodeo star Sonny Steele (Robert Redford), who has won many rodeo championships across America, but after signing a contract to the Ampco Corporation, promoting a brand of breakfast cereal. He finds himself being exploited for all it's worth, and his image being milked for money, and his fame is dwindling. During a Las Vegas promotional appearance, Sonny is scheduled to champion thoroughbred race horse Rising Star, who is worth $12 million, but he's been drugged and injured. So, Sonny makes off across the land with Rising Star to set the horse free, much to the ire of his bosses, but television reporter Hallie Martin (Jane Fonda) follows him. While Sonny doesn't trust her at first, they soon begin a romance. It's a big story with some amusing horseplay (literally), and stunts that wouldn't be seen out of place in Smokey and the Bandit. But, Redford does good with the material, and plays well with Fonda. It has good visuals and is typical of the sort of film that came out around that time. 4/5



Hanna (2011), director Joe Wright had gone from period dramas with Pride & Prejudice (2005) AND Atonement (2007) to Hollywood with The Soloist (2009), now here, Wright made an action thriller, but it's a very unconventional one too, with elements of the Grimm's fairy tales about it, covering it's Bourne-style action sequences. It's good, but quite peculiar too. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a 16 year old girl who lives in the snowy wilderness of Northern Finland with her father Erik Heller (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA operative from Germany. Erik had gone AWOL from the CIA, and escaped into the wilderness with Hanna when she was a baby, and trained her to be an assassin from when she was 2. CIA agent Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) wants to kill Erik and Hanna, as Erik has trained Hanna to kill Marissa. Erik and Hanna are found, Erik escapes and Hanna is captured and held in an underground facility. Hanna escapes, and finds herself in the middle of Morocco, where she ends up with British couple Sebastian (Jason Flemyng) and Rachel (Olivia Williams), who takes her across Spain, France and Germany, with Marissa and her agents in pursuit. It's a good action film, very unconventionally filmed, but it has a mood and atmosphere that sets it aside from other action films. It's a bit of a departure for director Wright, who makes prestigious films usually. But, it has some good performances, and Ronan is shaping up to become one of the best young actresses of our time. 3.5/5



Doctor Zhivago (1965), after the double Oscar success of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Hollywood knocked on David Lean's door, and he answered to MGM with this epic adaptation of Boris Pasternak's 1957 novel, and he spent a year in Spain, Canada and Finland making this film. It's good but it's a bit overblown, and it is quite heavy going as well, it requires patience. Set between 1912 and 1923, it tells of the life of Doctor Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago (Omar Sharif), a physician and poet. Orphaned as a child, Zhivago was taken in by his mother's friend Alexander 'Sasha' Gromeko (Ralph Richardson), who was able to get him in at a prestigious medical college in Moscow. He ends up falling for Lara Antipova (Julie Christie) who is engaged to marry political activist Pasha Antipov (Tom Courtenay), but Lara is also involved with lawyer Victor Ipolitovich Komarovsky (Rod Steiger). However, when the Russian Revolution occurs, Zhivago's poetry is found to run foul of the Soviet censors, so he, Gromeko and Gromeko's daughter Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) flee to Varykino, where Zhivago is reunited with Lara. It is an epic romance, but it is a slog to get through, despite lovely visuals and a good cast also including Alec Guinness, Rita Tushingham and Klaus Kinski. But, it is a bit overblown, and it was films like this what killed off the Hollywood Studio system, but it's still well made, but like with Ryan's Daughter (1970), at half it's length and half it's scale, it would have been twice as good. 3.5/5



And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973), produced by Amicus Productions and directed by the ever reliable Roy Ward Baker (A Night to Remember (1958), The Vampire Lovers (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970) and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)), this is a complex but effective horror film with a good cast, but it does get a bit complex for it's own good, which tends to work against it. Set in rural England in 1795, it starts when young Charles Fengriffen (Ian Ogilvy) marries Catherine (Stephanie Beacham), and they settle down in the family home, but when Catherine becomes obsessed with a painting that has a mysterious, hypnotic quality about it, she starts seeing things, like a dismembered hand crawling across the floor, and on the wedding night, Catherine is sexually assaulted by some unknown entity. When the hallucinations get worse, Charles turns to Dr. Whittle (Patrick Magee), who is at a loss what to do, but he calls in psychologist Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing), who learns the horrible truth about Charles' grandfather Henry (Herbert Lom), and the curse a woodsman called Silas (Geoffrey Whitehead) put upon the name of Fengriffen. It's got it's good moments of bloody scares and what you'd expect from a 70's horror film, it's got good costumes and sets too, and it manages to do a lot with not a lot of money. A bit of work could have gone into the script mind, as it does seem a bit confused and muddled at the end, which feels a bit silly. 4/5



Che: Part 1 (2008), a passion project for nearly 10 years by it's star Benicio Del Toro, who got Steven Soderbergh interested after making Traffic (2000), which they both won Oscars for. The life of Che Guevara was always going to be difficult to put on screen, it's so epic, that Soderbergh and Del Toro made 2 films, this is the first one, epic in scope and done with Soderbergh's usual visual flair. It begins in Mexico City in 1955, where Che Guevara (Del Toro) meets Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir), who plans to lead a movement into Cuba to overthrow the dictatorship of . In March 1957, Guevara travels to Santiago, Cuba as part of the July 26th Movement, to topple the oppressive US-backed government of Fulgencio Batista, who has been abusing his power. It takes nearly 2 years to build up an army and enough support to travel through Cuba, which leads to the Battle of Santa Clara and then, on New Years Day 1959, they over throw Cuba. This is all interspersed with Lisa Howard (Julia Ormond) interviewing Guevara in 1964, before he addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York, against American Imperialism. It's a film which shows how slow a revolution can be, but it's done with an epic sense, especially the push on Santa Clara. Del Toro manages to inject a cool tenacity about Guevara's persona, and it's a good character piece, where Guevara is able to inspire those involved in the revolution to fight together. 4/5



Che: Part 2 (2008), one film was not enough to take in all of Che Guevara's life, so while researching and doing the screenplay, director Steven Soderbergh and star/producer Benicio Del Toro decided to split it up into two films, the first focusing on the Cuban Revolution, and this one to focus on his other attempted revolution, that would also happen to be his downfall. 1965, and Che Guevara (Del Toro) has been missing for a while, even his own family don't know what's become of him. In fact, he's gone incognito into Bolivia, disguised as an old man, with grey hair and bald on top. He meets the men that he hopes will help lead the revolution against General Rene Barrientos (Joaquim de Almeida), he assembled a band of 29 Bolivians, 12 Cubans, and a few foreigners. Despite two successful ambushes in the spring of 1967, Guevara is unable to get enough support for his revolution, and by the summer, he's succumbing to illness including asthma. Despite the best intentions of Guevara's closest, including Tania Bunke (Franka Potente) the game is up, and his location is soon given away to the CIA. It's a slower film than the first part, and it's more downbeat, as what seems like a revolution easier than that in Cuba soon turns into a nightmare. It's still a good film, with grainier cinematography than the first part, and a lot of conflict and claustrophobia, even if it is set in the wilds of Bolivia. 3.5/5



The Cabin In The Woods (2012), directed by Drew Goddard (writer of Cloverfield (2008), and co-written with Joss Whedon, (who produced the film), this is a post-modern horror film that turns the genre upside-down, inside out and back to front, showing stuff you'd never thought you'd see in a horror film. It looks familiar, but then it gets to a point where it's revealed that it just isn't like the rest of them. It begins like any other teen horror film that's gone before, with 5 teenagers Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Marty (Fran Kranz), and Holden (Jesse Williams) driving out to the titular cabin in the woods which is in a remote location, only accessible through a narrow road that goes through a tunnel. They get there, and they begin a weekend of drinking, and other fun and games. But they're being watched, but it's not by any ghoul, spirit or monster. It all kicks off when they go into the basement, and Dana reads an entry from an old diary from 1903, in which a bunch of zombies are set off by two technicians Richard Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Steve Hadley (Bradley Whitford). I won't reveal anything more, to try and explain more would give the game away, but it a film that manages to be entertaining, exciting, scary, clever, funny, suspenseful, jaw-dropping and gripping all at the same time. As I said, there is a moment where you realise this isn't going to be like all other horror films, this one has been well worth the wait 3 years after it was filmed when MGM went bust. But to explain the plot is difficult as it's spoilerific everywhere you turn, but it's the most surprising film of the year. 4.5/5



Deuces Wild (2002), directed by Scott Kalvert (The Basketball Dairies (1995), this is a gritty drama that tries to be a throwback to the old gang films of many years ago, but it does feel a bit lop-sided in places, it comes across as a non-musical version of West Side Story. It does have a big massive and impressive cast, but you can see why not a lot of people have seen this film. Set in the summer of 1958 in Brooklyn, it focuses on two brothers, Leon (Stephen Dorff) and Bobby (Brad Renfro), who are part of a street gang called the Deuces, and they've been having fights with the Vipers, led by Marco (Norman Reedus), who sells drugs and it was his drugs that led to the death of Leon and Bobby's brother Allie. Marco has just come out of prison, and a gang war is looking possible which will tear the neighbourhood apart. But, things get complicated when Bobby falls for Annie (Fairuza Balk), the younger sister of Jimmy "Pockets" (Balthazar Getty), who is Marco's number two man. But, when Marco attacks and rapes Leon's girlfriend Betsy (Drea de Matteo), a full on family feud regarding loyalty and priorities blows up, with the Deuces self-destructing from within. It's a tough film with a hard attitude, but the characters come across as melodramatic, and it ticks every street gang film cliche in the book. It's not as bad as what the critics at the time said, but it could have been better, despite a good cast including Matt Dillon, Frankie Muniz, James Franco, Deborah Harry and Johnny Knoxville. 3/5



J. Edgar (2011), Clint Eastwood shows no sign of stopping or slowing down in his old age, especially here as he take on the life and times of the most controversial American who ever lived. No matter how you did it, it was always going to be a difficult film to adapt, but Eastwood does his best and he uses his brand of unfussy, unflashy direction to good effect with this old fashioned biopic. This follows the life of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio), from 1919 until 1972, showing how he was asked to run the Bureau of Investigation set up by the Justice Department, later to become the FBI. He employs lawyer Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) as his trusted assistant, who sticks by Hoover until his death, his secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) is loyal and faithful to Hoover, despite many of his unorthodox decisions. It shows how Hoover handled the arrests of the public enemies of the Great Depression like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, the ill-fated kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and the aftermath, as well as the fact that Hoover kept his own collection of files on high ranking politicians, even presidents who ran the country at the time, making Hoover untouchable. It's a focused biopic that has it's flaws, but Hoover wasn't a perfect man, so why should the story of his life be perfect?? DiCaprio does wonders as the man of contradictions, a man who poked around in other people's lives, but kept his life very private, but the show is stolen whenever Judi Dench appears as Hoover's Mum, who never minces her words and thinks the world of her son. 4/5



Red State (2011), after selling out to Hollywood with the prophetically titled Cop Out (2010), Kevin Smith wanted to take a step back, now was the time to make the horror film he'd had planned for years. He got together a budget of $4 million, headed to the outskirts of Los Angeles, and filmed it in a few weeks, the result is a good film, with action and bloody gore and a new side and style for Smith. Set in the mid-west town of Cooper's Dell, it has high school boys Travis (Michael Angarano), Jared (Kyle Gallner) and Billy Ray (Nicholas Braun), reading on a sex website about a woman in Cooper's Dell who will have sex with them, so they drive out to meet her. She's Sarah (Melissa Leo), who gives them beers before they begin, but they end up being drugged and they find themselves at the Five Points Trinity Church, led by Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), who plans to execute them before God. But, when Pete (Matt L. Jones) hears gunshots from the church, Sheriff Wynan (Stephen Root) calls up Agent Joseph Keenan (John Goodman), who sends his men to the church, they're shot at and a siege begins. Inspired by the likes of the Waco Siege and the Jonestown Massacre, as well as Race With The Devil (1975), it's a good action-horror film with some good moments of suspense and a powerful performance by Michael Parks. It's a good gear change for Kevin Smith, going back to his roots, and exploring a side of religion that's always caused controversy, it's effective and against the odds, it works. Just. 3.5/5

Apollo 18 (1st view) - A nice idea for a film, footage recovered from a secret, disastrous manned voyage to the moon in the 70s, but it never really lives up to the potential of the setup - 3/5*





Bright Star (1st view) - 3/5*

Zorba The Greek (1964), directed by Greek director Michael Cacoyannis (Stella (1955) and The Trojan Women (1971)) and adapted from the 1946 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, this is a drama with two great performances, but now, the film is a bit dated and overlong as well, as was the case of many films like this then, but it does have good moments in it, but it does drag. It begins when Anglo-Greek writer Basil (Alan Bates) being sent to Greece on family business. His family were Greek, but he was raised in England, and has become stuffy and uptight. However, on a boat to Crete, he meets Alexis Zorba (Anthony Quinn), a gruff yet charismatic musician, and even though Zorba's behaviour appalls Basil at first, he soon falls for Zorba's charm. Basil is off to Crete as his father owned some land there, and on the land is a old lignite mine, which Basil plans to reopen, but it's too unsafe, but Zorba has the brilliant idea of using the timbers from inside the mine to haul wood down from the forest to the sea. Basil agrees, and they get the whole island behind them on the idea, meanwhile Zorba falls for Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova), who runs the local hotel. It does build up to a climax like the sort of thing Werner Herzog does, but it takes it's sweet time in getting there. It does have good moments too, as well as a few good performances, but they're all few and far between in this film. As stated, it's too long, and it could have benefited from being half an hour shorter. 3/5



Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, based upon Edward Albee's 1962 play, produced and written for film by Ernest Lehman and the directorial debut of Mike Nichols. This is a powerful play on film, with some brilliant performances and each of the 4 main performers managing to hold their own against one another while on screen, it's power and controversial themes brought down the Hays Production Code, and ushered in New Hollywood. Set on the campus of a nameless New England college, it has the alcoholic Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) and her husband, history professor George (Richard Burton) coming home at 2am after a party. Martha then announces she's invited a young couple over for a few drinks, Nick (George Segal), who is a sports instructor and his wife Honey (Sandy Dennis). George is peeved that Martha has done this without consulting him first, but they come and despite trying to put on a good appearance, it's Martha's decent into drink and horrendous rants which George joins in with, and it's the alcohol and the presence of Nick and Honey, which George and Martha use to hurl abuse and pain towards one another about their failing marriage. It's heavy going stuff, but it's the brilliant dialogue and performances that help this move along, along with Nichols' tight direction, (he missed out on an Oscar for this, but he got one the following year for The Graduate (1967)), it's dark stuff and it shows what damage alcohol can really do to people. You don't get chamber pieces like this now, but Nichols did something similiar with Closer (2004), oh and Polanski's Carnage (2011). 4/5

Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), directed by Arthur Crabtree (Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) and Fiend Without a Face (1958)), this is a creepy and unsettling horror film cut from similar cloth to what Hammer was doing at the time, (this was done by Anglo-Amalgamated), but it has a good cast in it, and some good scares for it's day, it manages to be quite effective. It's primarily about crippled writer Edmond Bancroft (Michael Gough) assisting the police in their enquiries about murders taking place in London. Something that Police Superintendent Graham (Geoffrey Keen) doesn't like is that whenever there's a murder, Bancroft just happens to write a grisly accurate fictionalisation in his books, but Graham is unable to convict Bancroft, as he has nothing to convict him with. But, Bancroft has a Black Museum under his house, inspired by Scotland Yard's own Black Museum of macabre evidence, Bancroft and his assistant Rick (Graham Curnow) collect old torture weapons for the collection, but there's darker work afoot, and Bancroft has been using Rick, via hypnotism for his own wicked needs and urges. It's a good horror film with some gory set pieces for their day, including a grand finale on a fairground when it all comes out. Gough is brilliant as the wicked old writer, and even though it's plot has no doubt been done before this film and afterwards, it doesn't matter, it's still a good watch. 4/5



Theatre of Death (1967), directed by American Samuel Gallu (The Man Outside (1967)), and written by Ellis Kadison (who later went on to write for The Banana Splits), this is a creepy and surreal horror film that has a dark and nasty performance from it's star, but it manages to be entertaining while it lasts, despite it going all weird about two thirds of the way through. Set in Paris at the Theatre of Death, which presents grisly tales of Grand Guignol, it's hot-headed and firey-tempered director Philippe Darvas (Christopher Lee) pitches an idea for his next production involving the Witches of Salem, which will feature the theatres leading actresses Dani Gireaux (Lelia Goldoni) and Nicole Chapelle (Jenny Till), the latter Darvas is able to hypnotise by using a ring. It ables to turn Nicole into something and someone other-worldly, but Dani's boyfriend, police surgeon Charles Marquis (Julian Glover) is very unnerved by Darvas' way of theatre direction, he's brutal towards his cast members, and when murders start occuring across Paris in ways like out of his plays, the police are soon on Darvas' tail, but then Darvas vanishes without a trace. It's a weird film, despite good colourful cinematography by Gil Taylor. It's a bit all over the place in parts, and Lee vanishes about half-way through, which is a shame, as it's his performance which holds the film together, but it does have good blood and gore on show when it does come. 3/5

Import/Export (2007), from Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, and nominated for the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2007, this is a dark, unsettling drama that has the tone and structure of a horror film, but it shows two parallel stories of people unsatisfied in their lives and how moving on can have polarising consequences. It's dark, quite graphic both in terms of sex and violence, but it's very compelling. It begins in Eastern Ukraine, in a slum hung over from the Soviet era, where nurse Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is unsatisfied in her life, and she doesn't get paid enough as a nurse, being diddled out of pay. So, she turns to internet porn, which is horrible. So, she packs up, and moves out to Vienna, where she gets a job as a cleaner in a hospital, where she falls for senile, geriatric patient Erich Schlager (Erich Finches). Meanwhile in Vienna, hot-headed Pauli trains to be a security guard, but is sacked when he's mugged by Turkish drunkards, penniless, and owing money to his stepfather Michael (Michael Thomas), but they get a job in delivering old videogame machines to the Ukraine, where Pauli's attempt at hiring a prostitute end up with him on his own in the snowy wilderness. It's a dark drama, but very compelling and painting a picture of a world in the Ukraine which is seldom seen on film, but it's showing a real plight many people face when they think moving to another country can hide the fact that they made a hash of things in their homeland. It's almost like a Ken Loach film, only more bleaker, and it's still uncertain by the end if things get better or worse. 4/5



Dogtooth (2009), from Greece, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Kinetta (2005) and Attenberg (2010)), this is a dark almost satirical drama-horror about isolation and brainwashing. Done on a shoe-string budget, all within the grounds of one house, it does have it's gory moments, but you feel sorry for the younger characters and what they must have gone through for years. Set in remote Greece, in a large house with a large garden, it has a father (Christos Stergioglou) and mother (Michelle Valley), who have kept their 3 teenage children in the same house and grounds all their lives. There's an elder daugher (Aggeliki Papoulia) and the younger daughter (Mary Tsoni) and their son (Christos Passalis). Every day, the kids are taught the meanings of words, even if they are false, like Zombies are flowers and Sea is a chair. The father brings in security guard Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou) who has sex with the son and has the elder daughter perform cunnilingus for presents. Under pressure, the presents for the elder daughter are VHS copies of Rocky and Jaws, which the elder daughter watches and starts behaving differently, much to the upset of the father and mother. This has to be the most dysfunctional family ever put on screen, the things the father and mother have the kids do are beyond belief, in fact, there's some parallels between this and what happened with Josef Fritzl. It makes for compelling viewing, it's surreal and moments of comedy, but you won't be laughing, you'll be in shock that Lanthimos got away with a film as provocative as this, plus it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars... 4/5

Five Easy Pieces (1970), after making the Monkees film Head (1968), director Bob Rafelson reunited with Jack Nicholson, who was then red hot from making Easy Rider (1969) for this slow-moving but often explosive drama which explores the angst of being in your mid-30's in a dead end job after you've squandered your best talent. It's a powerful performance indeed with a good cast and tight direction. Robert Eroica Dupea (Nicholson) works in an oil field in rural California, but he came from a family of classical musicians, and Robert was a brilliant child prodigy when it came to playing the piano. But, he threw it all away for a life of drinking, gambling and spending time with his friend Elton (Billy 'Green' Bush). Robert lives with his girlfriend, Rayette (Karen Black), a waitress who isn't very bright. When Robert gets news from his sister Partita (Lois Smith), a renowned composer living in Los Angeles, that their father (William Challee) has suffered a stroke, Robert and Rayette head off for Puget Sound in Washington, there Robert tries to reconnect with his estranged, musical family. It's a dark and moving look at the butt end of 60's America, and the disillusionment that many felt, and the fact that the 70's would be no better. Nicholson is brilliant as Robert, full of angst, pissed off with the world and wanting to disappear all together. It was this and Easy Rider that made him famous, well and truly. 4/5



The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), after Five Easy Pieces (1970) was a big sleeper hit, Columbia Pictures told Bob Rafelson he could direct anything he wanted, and he went with another low-budget drama, even darker than Five Easy Pieces showing a lost world before it's transformation years later. Rafelson reunited with his star from Five Easy Pieces, and got in a few other names as well, all of whom turn in powerful performances. David Staebler (Jack Nicholson) is a disgruntled, depressive late-night-radio talk show host, who lives with his embitted Grandfather (Charles Lavine). David gets a call from his estranged, con-man brother Jason (Bruce Dern), who wants David to come down to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to take part in a real-estate scam he's got going on. David reluctantly comes down, and meets Jason's partner Sally (Ellen Burstyn), and her step-daughter Jessica (Julia Anne Robinson). David has absolutely no faith in what Jason is up to, but Jason scorns David for being so depressive and fed up with life. However, when Atlantic City gangster Lewis (Scatman Crothers) becomes aware of Jason's wheeling dealing, David is drawn in, even though he doesn't want to. It's another dark look at the disillusionment of Nixon's America, set in a ruined Atlantic City. Shot during the winter of 1971-72, this is a power drama where everyone plays well off one another, and Rafelson showed maturity as a director. Even though the brass at Columbia Pictures and film critics hated it at the time, it found an audience, but it's forgotten now. Pity really. 4/5

Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (2011), based on Paul Torday's 2006 novel, adapted by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty (1997), Slumdog Millionaire (2008)), and directed by Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000)). This is a good adaptation of a gently satirical book, but this has some show-stealing performances and a good concept as well, it does deviate from the book a bit, but it still works. Dr. Fred Jones (Ewan McGregor) works as a government fisheries expert, but he receives an email from financial consultant Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), who works for a rich client, who wants to introduce salmon fishing to the Yemen, a country not known for water. Fred dismisses the idea as impossible, but Harriet and her client Sheikh Muhammad (Amr Waked) warm him round to the idea. Meanwhile, the PM's Press Secretary Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) hears about the Sheikh's proposal, she makes it a top priority story, trying to show that not all news coming out of the Middle East is about terrorists. But, Fred and Harriet have a bigger challenge to face, where to find salmon to ship over to the Yemen. It's a feelgood film with some genuine laughs and heart, (Kristin Scott Thomas steals just about every scene she's in with her crackerjack dialogue). It could have done without a few things, and the book's climax has been altered somewhat, but it's a very good film which manages to please and is well worth watching. 4/5



Battleship (2012), after a massive trilogy was made of Transformers, it was inevitable another of Hasbro's game and toy properties would come to the screen, and they found it in the game of Battleship. Although they've taken liberties, it manages to be brainless, enjoyable fun with some good set pieces. In Hawaii, it has slacker Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) getting into trouble with the police while trying to impress Samantha Shane (Brooklyn Decker), daughter of Naval Fleet Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson). Alex's brother Stone (Alexander Skarsgård) gets him to join the Navy to get some direction in his life. A few years later, and while on a naval exercise with the Japanese, 4 alien spaceships crash into the waters surrounding Hawaii, while another one crashes into Hong Kong. Alex and Officer Cora Raikes (Rihanna) are sent to investigate, and the alien ships set off a force field around the Islands of Hawaii and the surrounding ocean, with Admiral Shane on the outside and Alex and 2 of the 3 ships destroyed. He's left in charge and having to think fast to stop further destruction, and work out the weaknesses of the aliens. It's a silly action film, but it's good fun while it lasts, with one sequence just like a game of Battleship as well. Director Peter Berg handles the epic scope well, and it's not as bad as what the critics say. A film like this was never going to be a masterpiece, but it manages to hold your attention for a couple of hours. 3.5/5

Twenty Four Seven (1997), the feature length debut of Shane Meadows, following well made short films like Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1995) and Small Time (1996), both got a double bill cinema release. This is a small-scale but well made comedy-drama showing a side to 90's Britain that is still the same now. Meadows has shown the underbelly of Britain in his films, but they all have a sense of hope and optimism, this kicked it all off. In a working class Midlands town, (maybe Nottingham), it has Alan Darcy (Bob Hoskins), a middle-aged man who is appalled at what is happening to the youth around the town, and because he had experience with youth groups in the past. He ends up pitching an idea to one group, consisting of Tim (Danny Nussbaum), Daz (Darren Campbell), Stuart (Karl Collins), Gadget (Justin Brady), Youngy (Anthony Clarke), Benny (Johann Myers) and Meggy (Jimmy Hynd). Alan plans to start a boxing club, something to do with their lives and build up pride and purpose. It gets coverage and more join, but Alan faces confrontation and abuse from Tim's abusive father (Bruce Jones), but Alan isn't going to go down easily. It's well made and shot in a grainy but effective black and white, it helps to bring out the local colour of the characters. It also showcases a brilliant performance from Bob Hoskins, who brings out a down-to-earth performance as the down-trodden but plucky Alan. Once Meadows started with his brand of filmmaking, he hasn't stopped, and it's been exciting so far. 4/5



Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005), whilst filming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Tim Burton was simultaneously working on a stop motion fantasy, based on a piece of old Russian folklore. It makes for great viewing, and stop-motion brings out the best of Burton's imagination. This has Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) set to marry Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), Victors parents (Paul Whitehouse and Tracey Ullman) are rich merchants, whereas Victoria's parents (Albert Finney and Joanna Lumley) are bankrupt aristocrats. However, the marriage has been arranged by both families. Victor isn't sure about it, and can't even crack a wedding rehearsal. While practicing his vows, he places a ring on what seems like a tree branch, but it's actually the finger of a deceased bride called Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), who comes back to life, and takes Victor to the Land of the Dead, which is alot more colourful and upbeat than the Land of the Living. Meanwhile, with Victor gone missing, Victoria is wooed by the mysterious Lord Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant). It's not a horror film as the title makes it sound, it's actually a very sweet and innocent love story, very touch and with some brilliant moments of imagination on display. Burton should be doing more animations like this, and the vocal cast is good too, rounded out by Christopher Lee, Deep Roy. Jane Horrocks and Michael Gough. 5/5

I love The Corpse Bride, nice to see a positive review with top marks!

It deserves it!!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), based on the 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, and directed by Stephen Daldrey (Billy Elliot (2000) and The Hours (2002)). This is a tricky drama, which might come across as reopening old wounds about a horrendous tragedy, but it's actually an intriguing mystery and a touching adventure as well. It's well made, and it's actually, in a weird roundabout way, a love letter to New York City. Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) is an eccentric boy whose father Thomas (Tom Hanks) is an inventive, excitable jeweller, who inspires his son to live life to the full. However, Thomas is killed in the North Tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. A year passes, and Oskar is still struggling to come to terms with the loss of his father, and his mother Linda (Sandra Bullock) is cold and distant. Oskar finds a key in his father's closet, discovering it belongs to someone called Black, Oskar goes on an epic quest to find who the key belongs to and if it fits a lock. He meets people, and they're touched by his curiousity, and Oskar is aided by a mute stranger (Max Von Sydow), who lives with Oskar's Grandma (Zoe Caldwell). It's certainly not as bad as what the critics say, it's unusually made, and it is upsetting, but it's well made and shows sides to New York that people would never normally see on film. But it's a film about damaged people looking for closure and hope, and the cast also including Jeffrey Wright and John Goodman add depth to the film, and despite what everyone said, it deserved it's Oscar nominations, maybe more. 4/5



Body of Lies (2008), Sir Ridley Scott takes on a film about international espionage and the fight on the war on terror. It's a film with good intentions but it does feel a bit half-hearted, as if it was toned down by force to avoid offence from religious sects and all that. But, Scott's visually eye is flawless as always. It has CIA operative Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio, with a comedy beard), who is based in Iraq, looking for a terrorist mastermind called Al Salim, who is behind terrorist attacks in Manchester and Amsterdam. Ferris is working for Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe, with a fat belly), who seems to have an agenda or two of is own planned. Meanwhile, Ferris is posted to Jordan and finds himself in league with Jordanian Intelligence official Hani Salaam (Mark Strong), who wants Ferris to never lie to him. But, with so much wheeling-dealing doing on, what's true and what isn't?? Ferris finds himself in an awkward position. It's well made, and the lead performances are good, but this would have been more suited to Ridley's brother Tony Scott, (it's crossed between Enemy of the State (1998) and Spy Game (2001)). It could have been better, (Baltimore doubles Manchester well at first, but certain bits give the game away), and you do get the impression alot was cut out of the film, maybe Scott has a director's cut planned. (or does he??), but it's average for now, but when it's good, it is good... 3/5

Drive, He Said (1971), after coming to prominence with Easy Rider (1969) and Five Easy Pieces (1970), Jack Nicholson wanted to direct a film like his friends had, and he got lucky with this adapatation of Jeremy Larner's 1964 film, (Larner did the screenplay with Nicholson, with uncredited additions by Terrence Malick), it's a low-key student drama which shows all the teen angst as the 1960's gave way to the cold, harsh 1970's. Drive, He Said focuses on rising basketball star Hector Bloom (William Tepper) who is a brilliant player for his College basketball team, the Leopards. He's the star amongst his team, and his physical abilities impress Coach Bullion (Bruce Dern). However, he's also a bit of a womaniser, and he's been having an affair with Olive (Karen Black), who is the wife of Professor Conrad (Henry Jaglom), who is Hector's favourite teacher at the college. However, Hector is having problems with his roommate Gabriel (Michael Margotta), who is a rebellious protester, who violently disrupts Hector's basketball games. Then Hector get's caught up in Gabriel's antics, and Gabriel falls for Olive. Nicholson shows great confidence as a director, and everyone had high hopes for this. Sadly, it got booed off the screen at Cannes and Nicholson didn't direct again until Goin' South (1978). But, it's a good low-key drama with good performances that had it's fingers on the pulse of students in America at the time. You can see where Nicholson's love of Basketball lies with this film, as he never misses an LA Lakers game. :: 3.5/5



A Safe Place (1971), Henry Jaglom was a bit actor who was friends with Jack Nicholson. Jaglom had done a play in 1963 called The Uncommon Denominator, and though his connections with Nicholson, he got the opportunity to get it made into a film through BBS Productions. It's maybe the most peculiar film that BBS made, making Head (1968) seem normal, but it's well made though. It focuses on the juxtaposed life pf young woman named Noah (Tuesday Weld), who lives alone in New York, but also hangs out with fellow flower children. She's had some sort of tragedy or trauma in her life, and she's unable to truly grow up. She retreats to her memories, a mish-mash fantasy land where she's a girl named Susan. She spends her time hanging out with a mysterious Yiddish magician (Orson Welles). But, we also see 'Susan' romantically involved with two men from different ends of the spectrum, there's Fred (Phil Proctor), who's a useful man but very dull, and then there's Mitch (Nicholson), who is suave and sexy, the latter is seemingly perfect, but neither Fred nor Mitch are able to satisfy 'Susan' and she grows bored and goes off into her own world. It's a very weird film, almost like a fantasy film but it's grounded in the real world, Jaglom describes it as Fellini meets Cassavettes. True, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere, and there's a sense of pretentiousness about it, despite good intentions. Over 50 hours of footage was shot, maybe there's another more interesting film to be made with that. 2.5/5

Justice (1st view) - Silly but enjoyable enough - 3/5*





The Cabin In The Woods (1st view) - SPOILERS - I hadn't seen the trailer before I went to see this, but I had been told it had a great last half hour. Not sure if that affected by overall enjoyment of the film or not. I was reminded of the Saw films for much of the first half of the film, a heavily rigged from which there is no escape, but it managed to make things more uncomfortable than any of the Saw sequels could do even with the toned down death sequences. Having 5 likeable victims was part of that (I felt bad for each one of them) but also the revelry behind the scenes. It left a bitter taste even with the clues that it wasn't simply being done for amusement. But once the big picture began to reveal itself I found myself enjoying it a lot more, even before the bloodbath of the final sequence (Sacrificing 5 innocent people troubled me but the end of the world? Bring it on!) I was correctly informed, it does have a great last half hour, the sheer variety and scale of that attack is astounding and I loved the final sequence between Connolly and Kranz (it took me an hour to realise he was the doctor guy from Dollhouse, sooooo much better in this) the two survivors and that great last shot. I don't necessarily care about how it deconstructs horror films or plays with audience awareness of the cliches and all that, it's just a very enjoyable film. Acting honours to Jenkins and Whitford. Both ace - 4/5*

The African Queen (1951), John Huston had become disenchanted with America in the early 1950's. His latest film, The Red Badge of Courage (1951) had flopped badly and he was disgusted at the McCarthy Witch-hunts. So he packed up and moved to Europe, and this was his first film made there, both in England and in Uganda and the Congo. It's a good adventure, well made with good rapport from the leads. Rev. Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley) and his sister Rose (Katharine Hepburn), run a missionary in a small village in German East Africa in 1914. Their mail and other supplies are delivered by Canadian boat captain Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), whose coarse mannerisms the Sayers tolerate. However, when war between Britain and Germany breaks out, the German's burn the missionaries home to the ground, Samuel goes mad and dies. So, Charlie takes Rose in his boat The African Queen navigating a dangerous river with deadly rapids to find a safe passage to Kenya. It's a difficult journey, but they hope manage to survive and with faith and tenacity, and against the odds, get past German Forts, crocodile infested lagoons and boggy quagmires. It's a good adventure, you can see where Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo came from. Hepburn shows a toughness and strong willed might whereas Bogart has fun in this role, (he won an Oscar for it), and despite from obvious back projection on the boat, it manages to be fun. 4/5



The Magnificent Seven (1960), after Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) did well in showing technical excellence and good story. Hollywood wanted to try it, and producer-director John Sturges (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Great Escape (1963) and Ice Station Zebra (1968)) had a stab at it. It's a good adventure with a brilliant ensemble with ace locations and a legendary score by Elmer Bernstein. Set somewhere in Northern Mexico, a small village is being repeatedly raided by a band of bandits led by Calvera (Eli Wallach). Some of the villagers find hope in American gunslinger Chris (Yul Brynner), and tell him of what Calvera is doing. Chris decides to recruit 6 more men to sort it out, they are gambler Vin (Steve McQueen), Chris' friend Harry Luck (Brad Dexter), the novice Chico (Horst Buchholz), gunfighter Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), cowpuncher Britt (James Coburn) and escaped criminal Lee (Robert Vaughn). While waiting in the village for Calvera and his men to return, they become acquainted with the villages, even some being a relationship and getting close, but they need to get on with the job sooner or later. It's a good adventure, which in turn spawned a few sequels. It has a good ensemble and they all play well of one another, with Wallach making a good baddie, it could be seen as a practice run for what he did in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and Brynner in Westworld. 4/5

The King And I (1956), directed by Walter Lang, (Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) and There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)), and based upon Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, which in turn was based upon the 1944 biographical book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. This is a good epic musical that might have some quite un-PC stereotyping from today's perspective, but it's so well made with beautiful sets and good songs. Set in Siam in the early 1860's, and widow Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr) comes from Wales with her son Louis (Rex Thompson). Anna has been appointed to teach English to the children of the royal household of King Mongkut (Yul Brynner). However, from the minute Anna and Louis arrive in Bangkok, things go less than smoothly, the King's sinister right-hand man, the Kralahom (Martin Benson) is cold and uninviting, and Anna has the nerve to go up to King, but he likes her openness and honesty, and she gets to teach his children, all 67 of them, and even they grow to her and her teachings. But, then King Mongkut warms to Anna and even though he's stubborn and egotistical, he accepts her teachings of the world. It's a lovely grand old musical with Brynner and Kerr playing well off each other, both giving good performances, (Brynner won an Oscar). The songs are well composed as well, and the costumes are lovely as well. It's a pity you don't get big grand old musicals like this now, as the sets are jaw-dropping and the oriental theatrical staging of Uncle Tom's Cabin is a highlight. 4/5



My Fair Lady (1964), based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and turned into a musical play by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. This big screen musical had alot going for it, and it came from a time when grand epic musicals could do well and win Oscars. This looks beautiful, has two good lead performances and instantly memorable songs. Set in Victorian London, it has Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), who specialised in phonetics, placing a wager with acquaintance, Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White), that he can turn common Cockney flowergirl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) into a duchess for an embassy ball. So begin many weeks of training, and eventually, Eliza's voice goes from Cockney into a very polished, posh English accent. But, not everything goes to plan, Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett) falls for Eliza, unaware for her true background of Covent Garden, and Eliza soon finds out Henry didn't care about what he was creating, or did he?? The direction by George Cukor is grand and colourful, he gets the best from his actors, (also featuring Stanley Holloway and Theodore Bikel), and the music, arranged for the screen by Andre Previn is lush and beautiful. It's a pity you don't get grand musicals like this anymore. But, the leads from Hepburn and Harrison are enjoyable. 5/5

Disclosure (1994), based on Michael Crichton's 1994 novel, which was optioned before while it was still being written. Milos Forman was going to do it, but he dropped out, so it ended up in the capable hands of Barry Levinson, then needing a hit after Toys (1992) and Jimmy Hollywood (1994) both flopped, and he succeeded with this taut, uncomfortable thriller which feels like a less explicit take on Basic Instinct (1992). In Seattle, Tom Sanders (Michael Douglas) is head of manufacturing for computer company DigiCom, and the founder and president Bob Garvin (Donald Sutherland) is retiring, and Tom is the favourite to replace him, but Tom is angry when Bob selects operations executive Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore), whom Tom had a relationship with many years before. On the day Meredith gets the job, she calls Tom into her office, and wants them to resume their relationship, which Tom says no to, so she forces herself upon him and when he refuses, she tell Tom he will pay. The next day, he finds himself slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit against him, and no-one believes Tom, until he gets emails which lead him to Catherine Alvarez (Roma Maffia). It's a good thriller, but it's a bit twisty in place, and there's a bit that seems to take place inside in a computer, which seems a bit out of place in a film like this, Douglas seems to replay the gormless male as he did in Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, while Demi Moore makes a good femme fatale. 3.5/5



The Avengers (2012), it had to happen, after Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and all the teasers during and after the credits of those films, it's finally here. The Avengers manages to be the most fun seen in a film this year, with every character managing to play brilliantly off one another, with some brilliant moments of action and humour. It could have been too many cooks spoil the broth, but it's a contender for best film of the year!! Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his science team have used an energy source called the Tesseract, and they've summoned Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who causes havoc, and brainwashes Agent Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) into helping him. In retaliation, Fury begins the Avengers Initiative, which begins when Agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) recruits Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who has anger problems. :: Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is recruited, as is Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and even Thor (Chris Hemsworth) shows up. They are debriefed on Fury's Helicarrier. But, it's not long before Loki finds them. It's a brilliant action-adventure, and Joss Whedon knows how to have fun with the material, and doing justice to the characters and staging some staggering action sequences. You won't see set pieces like this anywhere else this year, and it's gripping and hilarious. Why can't all comic book films be this fun?? Downey Jr. and Ruffalo are the best, and seeing them all battle Loki in New York is the cinematic highlight of the year. 5/5

Head (1968), after a very successful TV series and 5 successful albums, The Monkees, (Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz), were offered their own film, and they went with something completely different. This was that film, which series co-creator Bob Rafelson directed and co-wrote and co-produced with Jack Nicholson, then hot off writing The Trip (1967), just about says it all really, but you will NEVER see another film like this EVER being made in your lifetime!! To try and describe the film's plot is near impossible as there isn't one, no story either, it's just an unmitigated stream of consciousness, going from one set up to another, all done on a studio backlot somewhere in Hollywood, and it goes from one set-up to another, from Micky blowing up a Coca-Cola machine in the middle of the desert, Davy boxing Sonny Liston, Pete having a meeting with a Swami (Abraham Sofaer) who knows nothing and Michael has a weird and uncomfortable surprise birthday party. But, they find themselves escaping from their surroundings, ending up in a black box more than once and escaping The Big Victor (Victor Mature), who towers over them. It's a very weird film, and it doesn't matter that it doesn't make sense, it's just a very enjoyable and often hilarious piece of pop fluff, the songs are excellent, mixing every movie genre, snuff Vietnam images, Frank Zappa with a talking cow and brilliant psychedelic images. You will never see another one like it, thank God for that. 5/5



Easy Rider (1969), the one little film that did. This was the film, which for a meagre budget of $360,000 which apparantly saw out the old Hollywood regime of dated comedies and big overblown musicals, and the beginning of the well-intended but ultimately ill-fated "New Hollywood" era. It's still a brilliant time piece all these years later, and it sums up the disappointment of the counter-culture generation of that time, like the other productions by BBS showed. This little biker flick is a simple road movie about Wyatt (Peter Fonda) (also known as Captain America) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), who do a spot of drug-smuggling from Mexico, then sell the cocaine to The Connection (Phil Spector). Then, with the money they've earned from the drugs deal, head off across America from California to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker (Luke Askew), who takes them to a hippy commune. Later, after they interrupt a town parade, they're thrown in jail and they encounter and befriend boozy lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson) who, sick of his position in life, comes along with them for the ride. A powerful statement on 60's America, with nice cinematography of the American landscape by László Kovács, with a brilliant soundtrack. Hopper directed and Fonda produced and they both co-wrote with Terry Southern, while Nicholson stole the show with his cameo, and it's still a powerful film now as it was back then. 4/5

Dellamorte Dellamore/Cemetery Man (1st view) - SPOILERS - Rupert Everett stars as Francesco Dellamorte, the caretaker of a small rural cemetery in Italy helped by his assistant, Gnaghi. Together they dispatch the zombies that regularly rise from the graves of the cemetery but things start to go wrong when Francesco falls in love with a beautiful young widow.

At times reminiscent of Re-Animator, The Evil Dead and Braindead this is both accomplished in its gory nature yet also rather endearingly naff at the same time (you can see strings used in some of the effects scenes). Very funny at times, (often wickedly so. Teenage motorcyclists cause a bus carrying scouts to crash. They all die and are duly shot in the head when resurrection occurs). plenty of gore, and for those who want it, sex with zombies. So a winner all round really. It eventually changes from zombie flick when Everett starts on a killing spree, and ends as a sort of psychological drama but the whole things just ace - 4/5*






The Ghost (1st view) - Only took him half a century but Polanski finally made a film that didn't completely suck. Actually, I tell a lie as The Pianist is pretty good too.

The Avengers (1st view) - Possible SPOILERS - Massively enjoyable. Ruffalo makes for the best Bruce Banner yet, Downey Jr is just as good as his two solo outings and the rest are all on top form, though Captain A does seem to be underused. Hiddleston is wonderful as Loki, obviously having a whale of a time. A shame that there had to be a death (and I was really hoping the credits sequence would show it didn't actually happen) but this might be the most fun Marvel movie yet. In my screening this got more laughs than almost any film I've seen in the last decade. Not sure if it's the best in this strand of superhero flicks. I still think the first Iron Man tops them all but the NYC battle is certainly the most impressive sequence in them all, managing to keep all the six characters in the limelight and surround them with impressive action. Really good fun - 4/5

Cowboys and Aliens (2nd view) - Loved it at the cinema, loved it on DVD. Unfairly neglected - 4/5

Nine Months (1995), Chris Columbus was fresh off the success of the first two Home Alone films and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), for his next film he picked a Hollywood version of the French romantic comedy Neuf mois (1994), and Columbus picked the star of a recent British hit to lead the film. It has it's funny moments, but it does drag in places. It nearly flopped, but a little incident on the part of it's star made it a world hit, In San Francisco, child psychologist Samuel Faulkner (Hugh Grant) leads a perfect life, he is in an ideal romance with ballet school teacher Rebecca Taylor (Julianne Moore). Nothing could be better, and then Rebecca announces that she's pregant, which turns Samuel's world upside down. Samuel isn't the father type, and he panics about how this will affect his life and his perfectly knit world. It's not made any better with the advice Samuel gets from overbearing father Marty Dwyer (Tom Arnold) and his wife Gail (Joan Cusack), and their unruly daughters. Advice from Samuel's friend Sean (Jeff Goldblum) doesn't help, but when Samuel see's a video of the ultrasound, he has to get it together for fatherhood, but he and Rebecca's relationship is on the verge of collapse. It does have it's moments, but some of it drags, and Grant does his bumbling Englishman routine again, but Arnold steals the film as the excitable father, and Robin Williams steals the film in an all too brief cameo as the Russian gynecologist Dr. Kosevich, which makes you wish there had been more of him in the film. 3/5



Blood and Wine (1996), the 6th collaboration between director Bob Rafelson and actor Jack Nicholson, in a relation that goes back to the Monkee's film Head (1968). Here, they teamed up with Oscar winning British producer Jeremy Thomas for this modern day film noir which has double-crossing and family loyalty, and it has a brilliant cast who were game to do a small, independent film like this. Miami, and wine merchant Alex Gates (Nicholson) has a good life, living with wife Suzanne (Judy Davis) and stepson Jason (Stephen Dorff). However, all this is a facade, Alex's business is on the rocks and he's in debt badly, and he's having an affair with his Cuban mistress Gabriela (Jennifer Lopez). Years earlier, Alex used to take part in robberies, before he gave it up for the wine business, but he's lured back into the business by old friend and safe cracker Victor Spansky (Michael Caine), where they plan to steal an expensive diamond necklace from one of Alex's wine clients. The heist goes well, but when Suzanne learns of Alex's double dealings, she tries to kill him, and Jason ends up on the run with the necklace, with Alex and Victor in pursuit to get it back. It's a good thriller with a lot of twists and turns throughout. It's surprising that a film with a cast as big as this hardly did any business, Nicholson is his usual self while Caine turns in a brilliant performance that helped put him back on the map after a few flops. Rafelson is one of the great unsung heroes of American cinema, and his work deserves a lot more recognition. 4/5