Alien

Brilliant, first time I'd seen it and had such a creepy and eerie atmosphere to it and was just so impressed with it eeking out how scary and chlastrophrobic it would be, really enjoyed it.

8/10

My Beautiful Launderette

Heard a lot about this, how it was an influential British film and everything but tbh it doesn't hold up as a film structurally, by the end it was a complete mess, making not much sense and trying too hard to be political and socially important. It aimed to address racism, sexuality, bigotry, Thatcherism and a whole load of other stuff but it didn't reach its aims.

4/10

Billy Elliot

How charming and touching is this film? Strong story and realistic setting with real and engrossing characters.

9/10

House of Wax - i picked this up for about £6 in ASDA a few weeks back, i wasn't expecting much but picked it up anyways, hot damn i was surprised... this movie was pretty fucking awesome. This was just a cool idea for a film, the whole gang of kids getting slayed has been done a 1000 times, but this was better than most...the wax town was great, the visual effects were also real good, the final scene with the melting house was brilliant.

Definatly not the kinda movie that'll please hard-nosed critics, but fuck them this film was just great entertainment...

Last night I watched One day in September, it’s a documentary of the events from the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, where a group of Israeli athletes were held hostage by an extreme Palestinian group know as the Black September group.
The documentary uses news footage and eye witness reports of the day, and even contains one of the actually terrorists documentation his events in the siege.
Now, even though I knew what happened on that day, I was not prepared for the detail the documentary goes into. It leaves nothing to the imagination and several very disturbing scenes. That said the film is absolutely fantastic and really captures the whole drama of the events.
I highly recommend this great documentary.

I watched a copy of Hostel today (well half yesterday and half today). The first hour or so is like Eli Roth's homage to Eurotrip (and is poor), while I liked some of the last half an hour (when Roth decided he was going to actually have something happen!). It reminded me of Wolf Creek in pacing and style, with the first hour being poor (and boring), and the last 30-minutes having something happen (when the "action" occurs). When the highlight of the film is an appearence by Takeshi Miike then you know something is wrong! You feel no sympathy for any of the characters either (and with only 3 main characters, IMO there are not enough of them). There are some good twisted scenes and gore in the last 30-minutes, but on the whole the film is pretty poor and boring (if not for the last half hour, the film would have been one of the worst (horror movies) I have watched in some time!). The copy I watched was pretty dark so it is difficult to give full judgement of the film, but if films like this and Wolf Creek are the future of the horror genre then the horror genre is on the decline and in real trouble!
(*)

Mean Creek

AWESOME ! AWESOME ! AWESOME ! Honestly, for me, a candidate for film of the decade so far.

Maybe I missed something (or was watching a different film), but I thought Mean Creek was mildly entertaining and interesting at times, but had no real impact for the most part, the acting ranged from acceptable to poor, and on the whole it was predictable and dull.

i thought it was a pretty powerful and disturbing movie...

as for the acting, i thought they were all pretty awesome, especially the fat kid.

Sin City (Region 1)
A great film, which looks amazing, and has a great cast, a good soundtrack, 4 interesting and entertaining stories, and some great characters. The movie is full of dark humour, looks and feels like a comic book, and is wonderfully violent. Also the thought and effort that has gone into converting Frank Miller’s Sin City comics/graphic novels into a live-action film is amazing. On the acting side of things, Mickey Rourke stand out as being great (and perfectly cast) as Marv, Bruce Willis plays Hartigan well, Clive Owen is mostly good as Dwight, and the rest of the cast are just as good and up to the task in their roles (in fact most of the characters in the Sin City comics are brought to life very well, and the right actors and actresses were chosen to play each part). Sin City was the best film of 2005, and also one of the best movies I have seen in the past few years!

The menu screens on the Region 1 DVD are great, and are some of the best I have ever seen on a DVD release!
(*****)


Amelie
A wonderful film, which is very entertaining, looks great, and is funny throughout. Audrey Tautou is perfectly cast as Amelie, while the rest of the cast are all good in their roles as well. There is also great emotion to the film, and some great and interesting characters. Highly recommended viewing.
(*****)

I finally saw 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' on Saturday. We watched the first 10 mins a few months ago but were too tired to watch it all.

Anyway, the wife gave in about 25 mins in and went to bed, but I watched it.

It was OK, I was intrigued by it. I wouldn't watch it again. Was a very strange film, original I suppose, and not too difficult to keep track of. The sequences with the 'brain clearing' were fantastic. I only felt a little let dow by the flat ending. i think it tries hard to steer away from the overused RomCom ending but I didn't think it worked.

Carrey was excellent. First time I've seen him play anything but the clown in a film. Winslet was also very good as the mixed up girl. I hate Elijah Wood, ugly wooden gimp. Dunst and Wilkinson were well cast in their roles.

Anyone seen it? Very strange film.

Eternal Sunshine is magnificent. Considering how the film plays out i think the ending works perfectly. I'd struggle to find many a better way to finish the film. A desicive finish isn't required and quite frankly wouldn't have worked at all.

I insist you watch it again. You'll appreciate it a whole lot more upon second viewing.

Really, it's fantastic. I'm not one for giving ratings, but this is 5* without a doubt.

Another mean creek fan here! I agree with previous comments that this is a powerful movie. All the kids cast in this movie were great especially Josh Peck (George) who gave an awesome performance in this film. Josh Peck is better known for his role as Josh in Nickelodeon show Drake and Josh.

I highly recommend this movie.

Evil Woman

I loved this. It's daft, with an outrageous plot, but brilliant if not taken seriously.

I don't know how popular this is, it's got Jack Black and Jason Biggs in it, so I would have thought it would be pretty popular. It came out not too long after the American Pie success.

8/10 for me.

Hey, so I watched Brokeback Mountain last night. And it’s actually really good.

I normally hate the movie that people know will win the Oscars. It’s like being told you will enjoy something. But this was actually fantastic. A deft touch of polemic from Ang Lee (Although that Wyoming scenery really directs itself) lifts your heart up with the mountains, whilst the lead performances (Especially Ledger, who was superb) keep you grounded with the story, not the panoramics.

The sense of impending doom is palpable throughout, in much the same way as in Of Mice And Men. And when the end comes, even though you knew it wouldn’t end well, you can’t help but be crushed. The person I saw it with claimed her life was ruined.

My only (Slight) criticism of the movie was some subtle changes from the story. Most of it is intact, but I feel an effort was made to draw a line between the tenderness of the relationship and the, let’s face it, rough anal sex. Hollywood, it seems, is still not ready for the concept of two men having sex being a loving act.

All in all, a great film and recommended.

everyone i have asked have refused to go see brokeback mountain due to the fact that its about gay cowboys...despite the fact that its recieved ***** reviews in every tabloid going, they still refuse.

so they go and watch underworld II instead

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark if anyones seen it. It's fairly shit, but not bad enough that you dont enjoy some aspects of it.

Sleepy Hollow

I'm the only person I know who did not like this film. Maybe it was my fault, tbh I didn't fully grasp exactly what was going on during the film and the story that was going on through it. I'm not sure if that's my fault though or the films fault. The cinematography and aesthetics were very cool to look at but after that I was bored.

5/10

Munich

Spielberg's new one about the response to the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich olympic games. The film is brilliant and probably the darkest thing he's ever done. The violence is shocking, cold, abrupt and deeply unapologetic. Also, it being Spielberg you're expecting his typical Hollywood happy ending and schmaltzy sentiment, but for once you don't get it, and the film is all the more important for it.

Essential.

Jacob's Ladder

Pretty good, weird as fuck, some creepy imagery and a crazy ending which I didn't see coming. But I felt it was missing something. Maybe it was just my hatred of Tim Robbins in anything other than Shawshank.

Jacob's Ladder

Pretty good, weird as fuck, some creepy imagery and a crazy ending which I didn't see coming. But I felt it was missing something. Maybe it was just my hatred of Tim Robbins in anything other than Shawshank.

The Firm

Short and sharp, like a jab to the face. This was very good, real realistic although I'm sure if it was on TV now there wouldn't be such a brouhaha about the film. Worth watching for the amazing performance by Gary Oldman in this film, and a young Phil Mitchell. But definitely worth watching and buying.

8/10

Munich

I was very excited about seeing this film but unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations, I didn't quite understand what was going on. I wasn't up on the whole Munich thing before I watched the film and I thought that it would be explained during the film without sacrifice to story (being Spielberg) but it wasn't and I was bored throughout a lot of the film. I think I'd like it a lot more if I was more clued up on the subject but for right now, not for me.

5/10

You didn't like Munich because you couldn't follow it and you were bored?

Jesus.

I watched The Omen for the first time this evening.

Really? Aren't you like, 60 or something?

Did you like it then?

Prob going to go the pictures tomorrow, can't decide whether to see Brokeback mountain or Munich.

And to stay on topic - Watched The Thing recently (80's version). Liked it, but wasn't as creepy as i'd imagined it to be. The animatronics were great though.

Seriously, you want to see Brokeback Mountain. It's fucking good and stuff.

Don't listen to him, Munich is incredible.

ahh i'll leave the option then to the wife.

(already know which one she'll pick)

I was the only bloke in the cinema for Brokeback Mountain.

Yeh wont regret it.

yup, told some mates in college - not trying to make a sweeping generalisation here, but all the lads from N. Ireland virtually ostricised me for the afternoon for mentioning that I wanted to see it!!!!

the last dvd i just watched was nwa rnas hard justace im now watchin family guy

My brother went, but then again he's gay.


I'm kidding (not about my brother), I know it's much more than "that gay cowboy movie" and I do intend to see it, but Munich is also excellent...

It has boobs in too.

I think as a movie-going person we should support films that are a little bit more 'out-there'. Otherwise we are going to end up with more films like stelath ad infinitum.

Watched "Deliverance" last night.

That bit where the mountain-men strip Ned Beatty to his underwear and rape him while Beatty is squealing like a pig is harsh, very harsh.

I've had the DVD for ages but never got round to watching it. I thought it was very good and shall probably watch II and III at some point in the next few years.

Tonight I watched Red Eye which was going along quite nicely until Cillian Murphy turned into Mr Fucking Magoo. If you rent this stop it as soon as the plane lands and you'll probably like it more than if you watch it through to the end.

Yes, the ending of Red Eye lets it down, but I really enjoyed the film and paticuarly Murphy's performance.

Yes. That's normally enough for me to not like a film.

I'm willing to be educated and see it again however, seeing as everyone I've spoken to who's seen it thinks its ace.

Murphy on the plane ~

Murphy as Inspector Clouseau during the finale ````

The ending just really chaffed by balls as it was a decent little film until then. Wasn't terrible overall, but it could have been so much better

Requim for a Dream

Wow, Wow, Wow, Wow. Incredible. The story is based on four connected people from Brooklyn who each have a different addiction or dependency. All four characters are touching, shocking and realistic. You feel what they feel as the characters go through their spiralling addictions and the ending of the film reaches a heartstopping climax. Brilliant.

10/10

Mile High series 1
A fine buy this week. Trash, with nudity, casual drug use, implausible plots, and badly acted. But loads and loads of fun.

Super Troopers: Broken Lizard's 2nd movie, very funny .. I’ve seen this flick many times and it never gets old. Basically follows a bunch of highway patrol state troopers who love to pull pranks on each other and mess about on the job.

Broken Lizard is also responsible for Club Dread a spoof of your typical teen slasher flick which gives you all the elements you love and expect from a slasher flick.. Sex, drugs, & blood mixed with some great humor. Also highly recommended.

I have yet to see Broken Lizards first movie Puddle Cruiser as there is not yet a region 2 release but I shall be ordering this on region 1 soon.

Check Out Broken Lizard!!

I thought it was okay.

I don't think it's heartstopping, what's going to happen to the characters is obvious. The message of the story is very weak and while it's worth a watch it isn't unmissable.

Hmmm, I guess looking at it you could say it was vastly style over substance but when it's that good I don't think it matters. For me, I was on the edge of my seat, wide eyed at the ending.

My Left Foot

Really good, worth it purely for the incredible performance of Daniel Day Lewis who plays a writer and painter with cerebal pawlsy and his tale from childhood to adulthood. A feel good film about the triumph of human spirit.

7.5/10

Life is Sweet

A Mike Leigh film about a normal family in North London, the actors in the film improvise a lot of the material and developed the characters themselves and that is the strength of the film, in the wonderfully real and recognisable characters. Watched it with a smile on my face for the majority of the film and didn't get overly sentimental, it was just kept real.

8/10

I also watched the first 1/2 hour and last 1/2 hour of Wicker Man the other day, but fell asleep in the middle part so I shan't comment.

Groundhog Day

I was thinking of a film to watch to drift of too last night and Groundhog Day stuck out. Its my favourite film of all time and whilst I was watching it (started at 1am this morning) it dawned on me that I was watching Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day, 2nd February today. Huh? Dumb luck. Anyway, my favourite film ever. Bill Murray is great and the story is so clever and layered that I just freaking love it.

10/10

Nightmaster
Old action flick starring a young Nicole Kidman that I picked up in The Works to make up the 4 for a fiver deal and has sat on my shelf for the best part of a year.

It's not actually that bad. It's a bit dated looking, and I can't decide whether it's supposed to be set in the future, or if Australia had really dodgy fashions going on when it was made.
I quite liked the music in it too.

"28 Days Later" was decent. Cillian Murphy is awesome in a non-gay way. Now I'm onto the mondo classic "Shocking Asia 2: The Last Tabboos". Pray for me.

Walkabout

A Nic Roeg film set in the Australian outback where a brother and sister are left stranded once their father kills himself and sets fire to his vehicle. Whilst they are walking about (which is what the film is, them walking about) they meet an auberiginie (sp?) who guides them on there way, killing for them, finding water and shelter. A very beautiful film with some nice looking visuals about how West meets the nature and the pure beauty of nature. However, after 90 minutes it becomes a little tiresome. Worth a look if you're interested.

6/10

After a long period of no film watching, I watched many films in the last week or so, which I will rate in a Meltzer stylee:

Stroszek: ***3/4
Grizzly Man: ****1/4
Friday Night Lights: ***3/4
Transamerica: **
Junebug: ****1/2
Brokeback Mountain: *****

W00t.

I totally don't know whether "W00t" means that I rule, or that I suck.

I feel so old.

Fight Club

Borrowed it off a friend as I hadn't seen it and settled down to watch it and was engrossed and entertained from beginning to end. I loved the satirical little bits on modern culture and modern society and the intended irony of having the biggest movie star in the world say those lines.