Apocalypto - nothing more than a chase flick with high production values and an interesting setting, and it never really tries to be anything more, but its very well made. Yes it's violent, and because it's not a mob movie or a "horror" movie or a Tarantino movie, that's apparently unacceptable and wrong. Seriously speaking, it's gratuitous every now and then, but given that it was set in a society that was built around sacrifice and survival, it is not out of place.

Anyway, enough with the ranting. Its suspenseful, exciting, has characters that you can connect with and transports you to the ancient Mayan world, and later on into the jungle, pretty commendably. I also quite liked the music and sound design.

Having said all of that, there are a couple of eye rolling moments and for what it is, its also slightly overlong. And the ending is interesting.

7.5/10


Shooter - its movies like this that make the Bourne films, good as they are, look like masterpieces. Completely banal, predictable as clockwork, may as well have been acted by correspondence and poorly shot. And to top it all off it seems to think its an intelligent film because it makes a few statements about the current state of the world, right before Mark Wahlberg says another corny line and continues on his vigilante spree.

3/10


Scandal (1950) - minor early Kurosawa that doesn�t quite work, you can see he is still trying to find his feet, but its still quite an interesting watch because moments of genius still shine through and its theme of celebrity obsession and media attention are inescapable today.

Toshiro Mifune puts in another great turn as a famous painter who is inadvertently snapped by paparazzi in the company of a famous female singer but is unwilling to be exploited by the media without a fight. The opening is brilliant, Kurosawa setting up proceedings very efficiently, but things start to get a bit overly melodramatic when Takeshi Shimura's morally dubious attorney turns up to defend Mifune's character.

I am not quite sure the scenes with Shimura's character work and in this case it probably would have been better if Kurosawa stuck with making a film that focused solely on the main plot.

6/10 

Die Hard 4.0
^ Yeah that's the UK title, I guess they conjectured that Live Free or Die Hard would cause British people to vomit uncontrollably, and rightly so. I wasn't expecting great things as I hadn't heard almost anything about it, and almost no one in the UK went to see it I think, but this is one fucking awesome action flick. Pure entertainment in the exact same vein as the first 3 films, but better than all of them combined.

Granted, the scheme being executed by the bad guys is absolutely retarded, and the main bad dude is certainly no Alan Rickman, but the action and stunts are good enough that it just doesn't matter. The computer hacking stuff is hilarious, literally up there with 'Hackers' for sheer unfeasibility. In the Die Hard 4 world, you could use your mobile phone to hack into your neighbour's microwave so that it overheated their pizza, no problem.

I don't want to over-analyse this film, but it's probably more entertaining than you think it'll be... the 'Mac' kid from the apple adverts isn't bad at all, and McClane has a hot daughter. That is all.


Enchanted
Completely deserved what I got for going to see this. Horrible even if you can handle and enjoy most Disney. Also, why is the Disney cartoon girl such a hottie, but when she comes into the real world she's a 7 at best? 

I think they have been doing the marketing campaign for this movie too far ahead of time, but most of what they've released makes the movie look awesome. I just hope they have the Joker do _really_ fucked up stuff, not the usual comic book villain "rob banks, fight police, take hero's girlfriend hostage." (which 1989 Joker did too) I'm talking Hannibal Lecter stuff, torture and so forth, the character needs to be disturbing, he is a psychopath not a dastardly evildoer. 

looks great. 

I saw it too, while I sort of agree with starbucks review I cant believe he rates it above die hard 1, which is undoubtedly the best in the series by far!

Yes the whole hacking thing in 4 is hilarious, made more funny by the old lady sitting behind me asking her grand daughter if people can really do all this stuff with computers, the reply was a disturbing "of course!" ...

And mmmmm dark knight trailer, looks fantastic! 

Klute (1971)<b/> - a little dated now in some aspects, I'm sure it was quite frank and provocative when it came out, and as a mystery/thriller it's pretty average.

But what it does have is some well done characterisation that is brought to life by some excellent acting from Jane Fonda (and to a lesser extent Donald Sutherland even though his character is underwritten) and some highly impressive cinematography by the great Gordon Willis (its not pretty or anything just very effective and suitable). The end result is a reasonably good film that although predictable excels in its character moments.

6.5-7/10 

the dark knight trailer looks pretty cool. never liked the 90's batman films, but i did like the design on the penguin batman one.

anyway, this one looks like i'll be pretty cool stuff. :)

still, if its out in june, i agree they are showing this stuff too early. 

proper comments later along with other stuff I have seen recently, but the hype's true, No Country For Old Men is instant classic material. 

seen a lot lately, some reviews :

Atonement - I wasnt a huge fan of Pride and Prejudice, mainly because of the leads' performances, but you could tell Joe Wright had talent. That talent's on full display for pretty much the entirety of his followup, which is an excellent film (even Keira Knightley puts in an above average performance).

The first half period drama is much better than the second half at war, even though the second half is established with that astonishing tracking shot. Its almost as if Wright manages to say all that he needs to say with that 5 min shot at the start of the second half and ends up repeating rather than adding to what he managed to achieve with that shot.

However, the ending manages to overcome the not quite so potent second half, with Vanessa Redgrave outacting anything in sight with her face. The four-five minute closeup of her is as good and makes just as much an impact as the Dunkirk tracking shot.

7.5/10


The Darjeeling Limited - Wes Anderson bounces back after the abysmal Life Aquatic and even though its not really any different to his previous stuff, its still a funny and well etched character comedy.

The 8 min short before the film that sets up Jason Schwartzman's character is also quite good and is pretty much necessary viewing because otherwise Schwartzman's character comes off as fairly one dimensional.

Owen Wilson and Schwartzman do well, even though its kind of repetitive as they've done this sort of stuff before with Anderson. But Adrien Brody surprises, showing deft comic timing and a sense of dry laconin humour.

Anderson provides some nice touches too, such as the cabin epilogue at the end, but I thought he got a little too cute at times especially towards the end.

7.5/10


No Country for Old Men - Easily the best film of the year and the jewel in Joel and Ethan Coen's filmography I think. They've made some excellent stuff over the years but this is a highpoint.

At first glance, it seems to be a very non-Coen movie, lacking the quirky characters and humour that are the staple of pretty much all their films. But on closer inspection, the film style is basically a more refined version of what they did in Blood Simple.

For close to two hours, its a perfectly executed suspense film, with no scene or shot out of place. Then it flips itself over in the last ten minutes to become a different beast, and I think its those last 10 min make it great and yet, at the same time, are also the movie's slightly weak point.

Its not the content of those last 10 min, thats great, but the manner in which the themes of the film are turned on their head is a bit jarring. I dont think the last ten minutes should have been changed or omitted, they are perfectly done, but th transition could perhaps have been slightly better executed.

Still, instant classic.

8.5/10


More to come. 

more :

The Bicycle Thieves (1948) - genuine classic from Vittorio de Sica about a poor man (and his son) in post-war Rome looking for his stolen bicycle on which his livelihood depends.

Extremely simple in almost every aspect but very very effective. Its almost as if De Sica simply stumbled upon the man on the street and decided to shoot around him during this part of his life.

Essential viewing if you are at all into films.

8.5/10


Brief Encounter (1945) - another classic from David Lean, this is very unlike his later epics but is still an extremely well made melodrama set in post war middle class Britain. The performances are great and the direction is delicate, focusing on small gestures that say a lot.

Stays with you well after the end.

8.5/10


Breach - above average followup to Shattered Glass by Billy Ray. It takes a while to really become interesting and even then its better when it focuses on the relationship between Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe's characters than the standard thriller cliches.

6.5/10


The Bourne Ultimatum - the weakest of the three but still quite a good film. Lacks the character moments of the first two films, which is really what separated them from your usual crap action movie, but the pacing is fast enough for that to not be a huge concern. Still not a fan of the shooting style, but having said that, I enjoyed most of the action set pieces.

7/10


The Cider House Rules - very unfocused and oversentimental, two aspects that usually ruin a film for me, but this time it works. I dont know why, the direction is nothing great, the performances are ok. It may have been the story venturing into areas that I wasnt expecting every now and then.

6.5/10 

Broken Flowers (2005) - It's slow paced but theres plenty on offer for those looking for something a bit different. The performances are quite good and the writing is top notch, carefully revealing details about Bill Murray's main character thrugh each encounter with one of his previous lovers.

Theres also some nice dry humour throughout.

7/10


Cries and Whispers (1972) - when he's not on song, watching an Ingmar Bergman movie is still interesting but not all that satisfying or engaging. When he is going, they are *very* emotionally involving and thats certainly the case here in this swedish period piece about two sisters looking after a thrid sister that is close to death.

It's probably one of the most painful movies I have ever seen (although I should add that its not necessarily depressing) and contains some incredible acting and stunning cinematography.

8-8.5/10


Full Metal Jacket - rewatch after many years and I still think its terrible.

Sure there's things to like, mainly on a technical level, but I found the tone to be way off. More importantly, this is probably the most disconnected I have felt with any movie I have seen.

A lot of people like at least the initial training half, but I find even that to be fairly weak and unconvincing in its execution.

4.5/10 

I LOVE that film!

I remember January 1st 2000 - I was suffering from alcohol poisoning from the night before, sat at a friends house being sick repeatedly into a bucket, watching that film!! I'll never forget it, truly amazing performances specifically by the person who played Pvt Gober Pile and the Drill Sargent, but also (I should know his name) Pvt Joker at the end - a true sense of the reality of the horrors of war. The message for me was that, when left wandering what the point of it all was, there is no real point to war... 

well if thats what you got out of it, great, because that's definitely what it was going for.

With me though, it just left me saying hmm... 

Are you a film critic by profession? I'm astounded by the number of films you manage to watch :)

Or are you just trying to watch every film ever made before you die? (sorry if that's the case :) 

I guess he is watching the movies in "fast forward" mode :P Otherwize, how could he have time to watch them all ? 

I watched Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta (1992)) on the weekend. It is a Studio Ghibli movie and as it seems the other, famous Ghibli titles quite "overshine" this one.

It is hard for me to write about it, English is not strong in me today. :P

It has easily became my new favorite Ghibli movie. I just love "bitter and sarcastic lonely guy talks about the happenings in inner voice" (Hello, Sin City!) but I guess one has to be a bit like that oneself.

Highly recommended if you are a Ghibli fan or just a movie lover who does not think of Anime as soulless childish crap. 

I Am Legend - bah what a missed opportunity, and it started out so promising. Up to the halfway mark it had been a really good, atmospheric "last man on earth" film that really drew you in - then the Zompires turned up in all their cartoonish shittily-CG-rendered "glory" and it turned into a pretty boring, formulaic and contrived shoot-em-up with bad graphics. It finished pretty abruptly too - as if the director just hit the 90-minute mark, went "Fuck it" and stormed off set to spend the rest of the production schedule (and money) buggering prostitutes. 

no, just a hobby like gaming.

I'm just lucky enough to have a job that leaves me plenty of spare time:) Plus at the moment I'm on holidays. 

i am legend -- left me saying "meh" also, I think because though it was well done, it seemed to be entirely composed of ideas that are well-worn, familiar, and not at all suprising. I know the book was written decades ago, but it's possible to inject new details into a book conversion even if the book is old.

sweeny todd -- kind of nice; music didn't do much for me, but some early-on plot twists felt fresh. I guess another meh, but like i am legend, had some quality going on but didn't really satisfy me.

death proof -- finally saw this, really enjoyed it; tarantino seems to really understand what he is doing with each movie. I agree with nitin about the elements of self-indulgence, but I think he brings enough positive stuff to a movie to make it worth watching anyway.

blade runner final cut -- not much is different here, other than Zorba shooting first. It seems to be basically the director's cut with a tiny amount of new footage (like 5 seconds here or there) and some digital cleanup. I still like the movie, and it was interesting to see that on the big screen, the special effects are more obvious than on my old VHS copy.

i think i've run out of mehs, so i'll stop now. 

they changes the ending for I am Legend from what I understand, and that's a shame because the book had a good one.

And death proof would have been great if it stopped after the first hlf :) 

New Ghibli film? But is it better or worse - you say overshined by the previous' but your new favourite - ? 

Hangover Square (1945) - B grade 40's horror/thriller almost given A grade treatment by John Brahm. Its moody, looks superb and is reasonably well acted. The plot on the other hand is not quite up to scratch and lets it down quite a bit.

5.5/10


The Last King of Scotland - excellent film from documentary maker Kevin Macdonald. The first 90 min are spot on, the movie managing to capture the different tones and moods of its different characters quite distinctively. There is also an uneasy buildup of tension throughout. Performances are top notch with Whitaker, James McAvoy and Gillian Anderson producing some very fine work.

The last 20 min or so arent quite up to scratch though with the movie descending into routine thriller material.

7.5/10


East of Eden (1955) - Not a fan of Rebel Without a Cause, and after having seen this, this is really the one James Dean should be remembered for.

This is almost a great film, a weak ending IMHO drags it down, and Elia Kazan can take much of the credit for its quality. But it really is James Dean's central performance that makes it what it is, he is a very a mannered performer, but its no less magnetic because of it.

Some of the scenes in this are as great as anything ever made.

7.5/10


Rescue Dawn (2006) - Christian Bale is on some sort of roll at the moment, he can do no wrong. He puts in another fine performance and combined with Werner Herzog's fetish for authenticity makes this film about the story of vietnamese POW Dieter Dengler a very personal experience for the viewer.

It's quite slow and some of the other actors are a bit annoying with their performances but if you can get past those issues this is well worth watching.

7/10 

porco rosso is an old ghibli film, 1992 like spirit says.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews20/porco_rosso_dvd_review.htm 

"overshined" not by quality but by not being mentioned like the others. I stumbled over it randomly.

I suggest not reading/watching that review, it gives away quite a lot. I hate when reviews or trailers or samples do that. "I know that scene has to come somewhen, I saw it already". Bah! 

Probably why I hadn't heard of it then. My favourite of the bunch is probably Spirited away still, rather than Princess Mononoke.

It's kind of Disney style but skewed and a bit more grim, as their name says - a fresh wind.