Los Abrazos Rotos

A man writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years before, he was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote. In the accident, he not only lost his sight, he also lost Lena, the love of his life.

Performance driven films are always any interesting type of film, a film squarely set on one performance to carry a film. Broken Embraces is such a film. 

Penélope Cruz really does steal the show, and a worthy Oscar winning performance. The actress is undoubtly the strongest female actress at the moment.

With this it’s a shame that the script and pacing never tries to keep up with its lead, and with a series of un interesting characters the film drags, and is'nt that that moving or embracing.
The main problem is that I am not the target audience.

A well made film for the right audience but I feel I am the wrong demographic to give the film full credit.

A Perfect Getaway

Two pairs of lovers (Zahn & Jovovich, Olyphant & Sanchez) on a Hawaiian vacation discover that psychopaths are stalking and murdering tourists on the islands.

'A Perfect Getaway' is really nothing more than a Holiday brochure wrapped up and sold to the cinema ticket buyers as a Hollywood thriller. 

The beautiful scenery, the wonderful locations, the beautiful people, all adds up to pretty much a visual feast but nothing else. When you have a scene of the female lead, telling a story of the first time she slept with the local town bad boy, in which the story leads to the death of the town dog, and you can't keep a straight face you know you are in trouble.

The acting is over the top and all over the place, also forgettable, only Timothy Olyphant holds an interest.

Forget the twist it doesn’t work, and what you left with is a glossy 'Thomas Cook' promo, with murder and sun.

13 game sayawng

Chit is a desperate guy; he has debts, his car has been seized, he’s lost his job and his love life is on the skids. When he receives a call to participate in a dangerous underground game in which he could win enough money to solve all of his problems, how far will Chit go before he draws the line?

Thai cinema is too few between, with not many titles reaching the west, Ong Bak has been the most success of late, and many are martial art films. It comes with regret that 13: Game of Death is a disappointment, the low budget does not help for the high concept premise, and Thai humour is never really that accessible in the UK at least, and is both off key next to the serious nature of the film and childish.

A slow moving non starter of a film, that is not clever enough and ambitious enough either.

Not terrible by any means just bland.

Gaau Ji

A former soap opera actress decides to eat a Mainland woman's special dumplings in her quest to obtain eternal youth. 

There are plenty of visual flourishes in 'Dumplings', the simple routine of eating has never looked as interesting as in this film, but there is something missing, a lack of passion for the characters, and the story leaves the film pretty dull and nowhere to go.

In the end 'Dumplings' is a large portion of style over substance. The film looks interesting and attactive but will leave you hungry for a more substantrail slice of Asian horror cinema.

The Crazies

George Romero's The Crazies involves a biochemical warfare virus code-named Trixie that gets into the water supply of Evans City, Pennsylvania.

'The Crazies' has its normal political comments as with most of Romero's films, the Vietnam Paranoia is evident in a number of scenes based around the fear of the virus spreading thought the small town. There is also plenty of blood and gore for horror fans to enjoy.

There are a few Romero actor favourites to look out for both Richard France as the Doctor and Richard Liberty both from the trilogy of the Dead series and both have fun in there roles.

Still as interesting as the film is, it lacks Romero's normal vicious bite, and out and out chaos which the director does so brilliantly. 

Also somehow the chessy naff 70's pop song at the end with the helicopter pull away shot really works, in a bizarre way.

Green Zone

On March 12, 2010, Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93) re-team for Green Zone. Damon stars as Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, a rogue U.S. Army officer who must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence hidden on foreign soil before war escalates in an unstable region.

It is such the impact of The Bourne films that 'Green Zone' feels like a similar vehicle for Matt Damon, many of the action set pieces are foot chases, and one of the films high lights a great set piece between Damon and Jason Isaacs chasing a known terrorist though the streets of Baghdad is thrilling, but could be straight out of Bourne.

Expectations are always high for directors after big trilogies, Peter Jackson had it with 'The Lord Of The Rings' series, and Jackson disappointed with 'The Lovely Bones'.
Green Zone is by no means as bad as Jackson’s film but, with all the great cinematography, and an always watch able Matt Damon, supported by a good supporting cast, everything was set for a thrilling action thriller and the end result is slightly under whelming, but compared to any of director Paul Greengrass counterparts impressive.

Heartless

Jamie Morgan, a young man with a large heart-shaped birthmark on his face, discovers that there are demons on the streets of East London.

Director Philip Ridley is a director who takes his time when making a film, at a rate of one every ten years or so, so when a film of his is released generally his movies are the type to take note. 'Heartless' is worth the wait (but only just).

The film un evenly drifts from horror to fantasy which is misguided and the romantic sub plot doesn’t work. The film ultimately try’s too hard in it final third, but as originality goes the film works. 

Jim Sturgess is still an interesting young British actor, and although is not as lasting as one would hope, the actor still holds the screen well as is still very watchable.

Standout scenes include a very similar skin peeling scene which will have horror fans see similarities to Hellraiser 2 and the general, story themed of achieving personal desires at any cost is also a Clive Barker trade make.

Solid home grown British performances leading from the front with Sturgess, and edgy gritty camera and gritty film style, slots everything into place nicely.

H2: Halloween II

Picks up at the exact moment the first movie stopped and follow the aftermath of Michael Myers' murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode.

To give a bit of credit to the first Halloween remake the first twenty odd minutes covering the young Michael played by an inversely creepy Daeg Faerch was a success, both original and edgy. Still as the young boy grows older and the film becomes a remake to the classic original there was nothing to give the film any merit.

The remake sequel is an exact follow on to the remade original remake, and apart from a daft piece of fantasy imagery popping in and out involving Michael’s dead mother and a horse! It’s all the same brainless trash.

The twist is no icing on the cake, rather an extra kick in the balls of daftness and the endless boring and pointless set of horror remakes that keep coming out of Hollywood. 

Idi i smotri

A boy is unwillingly thrust into the atrocities of war in WWII Byelorussia, fighting for a hopelessly unequipped resistance movement against the ruthless German forces. Witnessing scenes of abject terror and accidentally surviving horrifying situations he loses his innocence and then his mind.

Gritty, and bizarre in equal measures. 'Come and See' went under the radar on its release, with larger profile Holocaust films such as 'Schindlers List' getting all the praise in the years following its release this small Hungarian film has an even stronger punch to the likes of 'Schindlers List'

The stand out scenes are the moor and the burning of the barn scenes, which are to this day still shocking. The scene of the burning barn and the boy dragged to the floor followed by a picture being taken with a group of German soldiers is such a striking image, it is totally unforgetable.  

The use of face profile thoughout the film are very affective and important, used from scene to scene for pleasure and pain during the coarse of the film, this is one of many stylist methods which will stay with you long after the credits.

Stunning and powerful an image of the Holocaust that could only come from eastern Europe, bravo. 

The Lovely Bones

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. From heaven, Susie keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case.

Even at a good two hours in length 'The Lovely Bones' seems to have large chunks of the story removed, strangely, and what is left is a mix match fragmented film thats not sure what it wants to be, with both emotion and style confused together. On one hand a thriller the next a fantasy film. 

There is a good central performance from Saoirse Ronan but both Susan Sarandon and Rachel Weitz are wasted, as for Mark Wahlberg, the actor doesn’t have the weight to carry the father role.

Surprisly from the guys who brought you the likes of 'The Lord Of The Rings and King Kong the special effects are bad.
The killer has killer written all over him, evil contact lens check, glasses check, parting hair cut check, to almost comic book prepositions, for a serious character and story tread a mistake.

There are scenes of beauty, the rose flower scene and ships in a bottles smashing against the rocks are both standouts. Still a miss step from Peter Jackson after his more serious work success of 'Heavenly Creatures' for example.

The Final Destination

After a teen's premonition of a deadly race-car crash helps saves the lives of his peers, Death sets out to collect those who evaded their end.

The series may have a few tricks left up its sleeve, there is plenty of horror to be drained from the idea of death tracking down people who escape their natural death, with more sequels, but the fourth outing is rather lazy and dull in its execution. 

The acting has hit an all time low, the script is poor and when you don't really care for any of the characters you're in trouble.

Yes the series has always just really been about the odd ball idea of deaths vegenance, and new and fun ways to see each of the characters bite the bullet, but that is no excuse for a bad script and a bunch of bad actors that you will never see again.

Still some of the death scenes are inventive as always, and the sharpe quick slap dash style and the short running time keeps the film full of life and fast paced. 

The in production firth film should be better.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

A biography of Ian Dury who was stricken with polio at a young age and defied expectations by becoming one of the founder of the punk-rock scene in Britain in the 1970s.

'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll' is all about Andy Serkis's performance as Ian Dury which is good. There are a number of interesting visual touches for the musical numbers also, including a nice underwater piece for the famous song 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'. 

A fault of the film maybe in the fact that the film is very focused on Ian Dury and maybe less about the music which is a missed opportunity to understanding the musical influences, especially for people who are not familiar with Ian Dury and the Block heads.

Still a fine performance and a spring in its flash photography and a zippy script is welcome, but a more focused film based around the music would have given the film an extra edge.