American Teen

'American Teen' follows the lives of five teenagers a jock, a popular girl, a heartthrob, an artsy girl and a geek in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school, all real.

The film is not a hard hitting account of teen life in America. General run of the mill falling outs between friends, pressure of one teenager to do well in his local basketball team, also pressure in the boy to get a college sponsorship, are what follows.

Out of all the Teenagers Hannah is the stand out as the girl who wants to move to Hollywood and make it big. A girl out of place in the drama of college boys and basketball life, she is the light at the end of the tunnel, and arguably the one teen you care about.

This is all pretty entertaining, but with rumours of a number of staged moments of the film the whole original idea can be lost. It is also noticeable that director Nanette Burstein plays out alot of the scenes as what seems to be scripted film drama, rather than the more off the cuff realistic drama.

Exorcist II - The Heretic

Four Years after the events of Georgetown, Regan has not full recovered from her Exorcism. The church is also looking for answers to the death of Father Merrin who died while performing an exorcism on Regan.

The sequel to William Friedkin horror master work was trashed on release.
The script of African demons is both odd and does'nt work, also the use of mind reading technology is also silly.

Richard Burton puts on a bizarre performance, neither straight nor tongue in cheek. Linda Blair is though again convincing as both the charming and creepy Regan.

Still this is nowhere near as bad as you have been told. There is alot of original horror on show here. The exorcism being taken place half way up a mountain is affective for example and a highlight. 
Ennio Morricone's score is very affective and produces a lovely regan main theme.

The film is a disaster in horror terms on a number of levels. Also the original is too much of a ground breaker to follow. Still you have to give credit to director John Boorman in producing not a straight copy of the original masterpiece and looking for new ideas.

Dead Presidents

A young group of guys from New York's Bronx struggle with 1960s/70s life and join the Vietnam war to fight for their country, which have consequences that change their lives forever.

Dead Presidents has become the forgotten great black new wave film of the 90's. During the 1990's directors such as Spike Lee and John Singleton were being tipped as the directors who would throw black cinema into the for front of Hollywood cinema. No one saw the emergence of the Hughes brothers though. Although their debut film Menace 2 society would be their breakthrough 'DP' is arguably the film to judge the brothers skills by.
The Film is an impressive comment on black equality and the social impact on various classes involvements in the controversial Vietnam War.

Held together by an impressively directed film. At times visually stylish, the brothers also take a few leaves out of Martin Scorsese's earlier work visually.

The centre performance of Anthony played by Larenz Tate is spot on, and overall the Hughes brothers get an impressive set of performances from all of the cast. Including the one and only good performance from a one Chris Tucker, who is great here.

The film is sadly rushed after the impressively staged climatic heist in the closing act of the film.

Still overall this is stylish film which raises enough food for thought and is thrilling thought out.

This Is It

'This is it' covers the final days of rehearsing for the 50 date Michael Jackson show which would have taken place in London's O2 arena.

The first thing that must be said about this film is that it is a hard piece of entertainment to pigeon hole. 'This Is It' can not be labelled as a documentary. The piece of entertainment does not present a point of view or a story narrative; it is also not a film, because it does not present a story in it traditional sense. So what is 'This Is It'? In its crudest sense it is a well edited put together series of what the live DVD of TIT would ranked as extras/behind the scenes.

There is no doubting the show itself would have been an epic and amazing visual treat. There are moments in the footage of a true pop genius, and it is amazing to see how strong his voice, dancing and stage presence still was, even in rehearsals. Reports after MJs death indicated that Jackson didn't want to do the shows.

If this footage is to show anything it shows that this was not the case. Michael Jackson seems thrilled to perform and his attention to detail was amazing.
On the other hand there are also moments of watching a very fragile ex king of pop, who was struggling with his young backing dancers and the pressure of doing the shows.

Overall hardcore Michael fans will lap this up, and this is as good as it could get to show how the shows would of played out.
To be fair the live shows would have been pretty amazing.
Still this is a choppy stop and start affair of the songs; some don't even get to the end, which is ultimately unsatisfying as a whole.

Also if you watch the DVD check out the feature on the costumes that would have been worn by Michael Jackson, now they are something else.

Summer Scars

Six fourteen year old kids skip school to play in the woods, but some hot rodding on a stolen moped changes the fate of their day.

The latest popular horror film genre which has exploited youth terror, is nicely flipped on its head in this film from a bunch of tear aways causing terror and mayhem in a wood to a young couple in the way of the bigger budget 'Eden Lake', to the adults getting their own back, with terror inflicted on themselves, in the manner of a drifter actor Kevin Howarth, in 'Summer Scars'.

Summer Scars has been tipped as a mixture of 'Stand by Me' and 'Eden Lake' and although not up to those to films standards, it is an easy comparison.

The film is low key and generally not that thrilling.

The film does though have good performances from its leads and doesn't out stay its welcome with a running time just under and hour and twenty minutes.

Pandorum

Two astronauts, Bower (Foster) and Payton (Quaid), wake up from suspended animation to find themselves alone, with no memory of who and were they are, they both soon discover that they are members of crew or a ship taken over by fleshing eating, mutant humans.

Despite a number of film reviews calling the film a rip off of other genre type films ranging from aliens etc, this may not be the problem with Pandorum.
The problem lies in the fact that the film is lacking suspense. There are so many scenes you can watch, of people being chased by alien type characters, and get bored of this endless style. These aliens looking not unlike the beasts in the recent masterpiece 'The Descent' chase after chase.

The acting is ok Ben Foster is fine as the hero, but Dennis Quaid who I am a big fan of has little to do.

The set design is impressive and does keep you visually impressed. Still the lighting is so so dark it is really hard to work out what is going on in the opening section of the film.

Overall the film had a great idea and has a rewarding twist ending.

Still it seems an age getting to the final reveal, and ultimately the movie is just not exciting nor thrilling enough when the big payoff comes.

Crazy Eights

Six people are brought together by the death of a friend. Which leads to a discovery of a time capsule unleashing evil from there childhood home.

Crazy eights is the most confusing badly directed, badly scripted not scary horror film in a number of years.
The plot is interesting and in more accomplished hands this film would have been better.

Open ended by bad acting and script. The cast are pretty much the D list of actors, you have seen them all in at least one film, and that film was years ago and either the film was just ok, or the film was good and they were the most un interesting part in it. Also a note to make is the soundtrack which seemed to have been completed by a number of composers, it is intrusive and distracting.

The whole film wraps up making little sense, with the worse offender being why was the ghost killing the characters.

Overall the film comes and goes so quickly you will forget most of it by the end of the credits.

Le Pacte Des Loups

18th century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent by the King to the Gevaudan province to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.

Brotherhood of the Wolf is a glorious looking drama, which begins with a impressive opening scene and solid first twenty minutes, setting up the characters and showing what the hunted beast is capable of. The film pretty much drops off the radar from then on. The film is slow and un-involving, and falls into a self absorbing mess losing sight of the wolf story and runs away with social dramas with the characters, that are never really that interesting.

Husband and wife duo Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel star, but not quite sure why. Bellucci plays a weird prostitute character that doesn't really have any use apart from look gorgeous and wondering around aimlessly, and Cassel as an over the top crazed hunter.

Overal the film looks great, but is poorly executed and dull.

Pontypool

A deadly virus infects a small Ontario town, a tiny town radio station team try to piece together what is going on from their studio, as the situation gets worse and worse.

The virus theme is growing popular in modern cinema from the 28 days series to the resident evil series, but Pontypool is a more original take on this genre.
The film is almost entirely set in the radio station with a skeleton crew of three people, the first half build up is excellent, with panic ranging only kilometres away from the studio director Bruce McDonald really cranks up the tension with radio interviews, that may remind views of the Orson Welles radio 'war of the World adaptation in the 1930's.

Everything is held together by a good cast and a great turn from the films lead Stephen McHattie, as the unhinged DJ.

It almost falls flat in the final third of the film, with the release of the tension with the reveal of what the virus is and the appearance of the zombies, although the origins are very clever.
At this point the film falls slightly zombie generic in its execution.
The film works better when you don't see the zombies, the pure radio scenes are greatly acted and written.

Another point is the comedy which is hit and miss, with more added to the final third of the film, taking the edge off the movie.

Pontypool is a very original horror film worth seeking out.

Role Models

Wild behaviour forces a pair of energy drink reps to enrol in a Big Brother program.

Paul Rudd is fast becoming the comedy man of the moment starring in a number of Hollywood comedies recently.

There are a few laughs in 'Role Model', Seann William Scott is an established comedy actor, and a funny turn from the young actor Bobb'e J. Thompson, both these actors steal the show from its lead Rudd, with a number of nice character bonding scenes, giving the film a bit of weigh when needed.

'Role Models' aims its target audience firmly in the teen market, which means many people over the age of 16, may not find this film funny because of this.

Sadly the film all ends to the predictable solution of mates on a redeeming voyage formula, used already in so many Hollywood films, you can see this a mile off.

These films like the popular 'Superbad' and Rudd's follow up film to 'Role Model' 'I love you man' are sticking to the American Pie crude comedy formula. The first American Pie was funny, but this type of copy cat comedy is fading fast.

Zatoichi

Zatoichi is a 19th century blind nomad who makes his living as a gambler and masseur. Stumbling onto a small town he gets involved with a number of gangs who wish to take over the town, also a pair a geishas who have vengeance on their agenda.

Director Takeshi Kitano has become a legend over the eleven films he has made in his home country of Japan; with many of his earlier films being rather abstract, Kitano has said that Zatoichi is a more in the way of his words 'an 'entertainment type of film'.

References can be seen within Zatoichi to many of the 1960s Italian westerns, such as the Dollar's trilogy. The wondering loner, the two gangs fighting for power over a town, and a number of stand offs that will involve long group shots that lead to swift action set pieces.
Still Zatoichi is one of the most original Japanese western you will see.

The performances are great. The director himself leads the pack as the blind masseur on fine form, Daigorô Tachibana as the leader of the Geisha is good, and Tadanobu Asano of 'Ichi the killer' fame produces a fine performance.

The action, which although brief are impressive, the opening and closing blood feast are stand outs.

The film also manages to have time for a bit of comedy, which is mostly un funny, still the training scene of a couple of young samaris getting a rubbish training lession, hits the spot.
The music and its integration is also a worthy point. Most Hollywood films would not integrate a show stopping action set piece closer with a dance routine, Kitano somehow gets away with it.

Redbelt

Mike Terry is a retired American solider, who now runs his own self-defence studio in Los Angeles.
A series of events force the ex Jiu-jitsu master to get back into the ring for a $50,000 prize.

David Mamet script is as usual pitch perfect, although not as quotable as a number of his past movies, the film is still an extremely well written piece.

The real prize for the film is the casting and performances, Chiwetel Ejiofor as the lead Mike Terry is exceptional, with ever scene showing a building of the character as events around him get more and more tense, and he feels that the control he teaches to his students could crack.
The support is also great including a worthy performance by Joe Mantegna and also an impressive and much understated performance by Tim Allen. Bravo to Mamet as a director, as well as a good script writer he can draw good performances from his cast.

If there are floors in the film it is possibly that there are too many plot ties for Mike Terry to have make that force him to take part in the competition. There are around three in total. Which although the films climax is satisfying allot of these story threads are left.

Still great performances from the lead and a great supporting case makes RedBelt an intelligent piece of cinema which you now come to expect from one of Hollywoods best screen writers.

Bruno

Sacha Baron Cohen brings yet another one of his popular TV creations to the big screen. Bruno the gay Austria fashionista/TV reporter looking for fame in the USA.

At his best Cohen is genius, and Borat was one of the funniest comedies of the year. Still it was evident at the time that the very style of the Borat comedy would be hard to replicate, and this is evident in 'Bruno'

The main issue is that many of the scenes that looked so real in Borat, the scenes which relied on pocking fun at un knowing people, which worked so well in 'Borat' look as times staged in 'Bruno'.

The plot is also too similar to the previous film, and could almost be Borat part 2 with just a different character.

Brunos gay sub plot is at times very crude, a simulated rimming scene for example falls flat, and the majority of these styled jokes are just unpleasant. Much of all the good laughs are the non gay jokes in the film.

Still there are strokes of the genius here, the whole baby scenes, and mocked up photographs are brilliant. Also the interviews still work, and are funny.

Overall we have seen Cohen do this better with Borat.

If he does create another Borat/Bruno type comedy such as this, you feel he will need to try another idea to get the laughs flowing harder.

Taken

A former spy relies on his old skills to save his daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade whilst on her trip to France.

Liam Neeson is fine despite the accent wondering, there are moments where you could argue that Neeson could of done James bond ten or so years ago.

With regards to the rest of the cast it is pretty much a one man show, the only other exception is Famke Janssen as the mother, who does'nt have much to do but gives a bit of weight in the opening act of the film. The later part of the film, everyone just becomes cannon fonder.

The film was disliked by pretty much every film critic on its release, mostly for the racism claims, and that is an issue the French and Albanians are not represented well.

Still this is an action film that races along well, with a couple of good action set pieces, there is also a warmth between the father and daughter that makes you care for the outcome.

Book of Blood

'Book of Blood' is set around a paranormal expert, who attempts to investigate a supposedly haunted house with the help of 'medium' Simon.

The Book of Blood series has been the holly grail for horrors fans of writer Clive Barker for years. The series has produced hits such as Candyman and most recently Midnight Meat Train. Book of Blood adapts from two novellas "The Book of Blood" and "On Jerusalem Street".

As with a number of Clive Barkers adaptations the films are more about the well crafted writing. Book of Blood is not a terrifying jump out of your seat type of film, although there are a number of shocks and tension to be had, and there is at least one good scare. Many viewers may find the film slow and plodding if expecting the likes of hellraiser 3 for example, the action is to a low and the film builds to an interesting reveal of such.
Other merits must go to the performances, which are pretty solid, with a stand out from the young Armstrong, who may be a British actor to look out for in the future.

Clive Barkers usual themes are here, a mixture of Sadomasochism and sex to enrich the story, a strong female lead and naive male lead, will remind some of the hell raiser original (written around the same time as 'The Book of Blood and "On Jerusalem Street")

As a whole the film doesn't reach the brilliant of Barkers most famous work. Still as always impressive horror writing by Clive Barker rises this horror along way above the standard Hollywood horror film being made today. With Barker originality and impressive knowledge of the horror genre second to none.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

An armed gang hijack a New York subway and take hostages for ransom. If there ransom is not delivered within the hour then the gang lead, by a espically over the top Ryder (John Travolta) will start shooting the hostages.

It can be argued that over the last couple of years the Hollywood blockbuster machine is in a slight state of 911 with original ideas, and the remake seems to be the norm at present. This is more noticeable with the horror genre, still main stream genres such as action thrillers are targeted. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 was a original hit in 1974 and in 2009 the film got the Scott brothers treatment.

Tony Scott brings his tried and tested action hero Denzil Washington last used by Scott in Deja Vu, to play ordinary man subway dispatcher Walter Garber, with the villain duties going to John Travolta.

The performances from the two leads are fine, Washington is likeable, still Travolta doesn't quite have the menace he use to have in say 'Face Off' to pull off bad guys anymore, and is rather over the top flat.

Overall the film is stylishly slick, as with all of Tony Scotts films, you have to give the director credit, dispite being in the business for many years, he can still cut a slick film together from any material, directors like Michael Bay should take note.

An impressive opening credits set up, is worthy of a note, and overall the film all rides along with a solid interesting pace.

Still when all is over, the film leaves the impression of a film which is empty, forgettable and ultimately unsatisfied.

Sin Nombre

'Sin Nombre' centres around two young South Americas who are brought together whilst hitching a train ride to America, one is a male gang member the other is a young female who is part of a family travelling to make a new life in the U.S.A.

Director Cary Fukunaga has produced a fluid short drama, with an involving script and good performances. If you have seen 'City Of God' you pretty much know what to expect with many of the films opening gang scenes being very much the same. The gang ritual scene for the young member of the group a boy called 'smiley' is a similar scene to 'City of God', but still done extremely well and pulls a powerful punch.

Another plus is the impressive cinematography. The South America landscape is beautifully captured as well as the more run down rural areas, throwing the view into each scene.

The film ends in a a rather formulaic way, you can see how the main characters will end up from the closing section of the film before it happens.

With a promising opening act and strong performances from its leads, a very good Edgar Flores as Casper and convincingly nasty Tenoch Huerta Meija as the gang's leader, director Cary Fukunaga should be a name to watch in the future.

Koroshiya 1

Inspired from Hideo Yamamoto's manga book series. The material seems to have been lifted straight from paper to film.

The films follows a Japanese gang searching for its missing leader. The gang are also after a faceless killer who seems to be hunting down many gang members and killing them in gruesome ways. The gang is lead by its sadistic leader, actor 'Tadanobu Asano'

Asian extreme cinema is famous for its use of intense horror and shocking imagery, still Koroshiya 1 goes some. The torture is full on and the at times its comic book violence makes the likes of 'Sin City' look tame, no part of the human body is left un mutilated, be warned.

Still this is no Hostel style fantasy and a well written script and fine performances keep the interest outside the violence.

This film as with most of director Takashi Miike work will split audiences no doubt, but the film is never dull, and has a totally unique style of filming making.

Gamer

'Gamer' is set in a near future where gaming has developed into a society where gamers can control humans. In the case of our hero, he is in a game named 'slayer' where ex cons are being controlled in a series of bloody mass scale video game shootouts.

The frantic camera work and full on blood and gore mirrors a number of video games such as 'tour of duty' rather well, the first person views and hunch like physic, as seen in all video games of type are impressive.

The film can be seen as 21st up date of the 1980's action film 'Running Man', but is more at home with the recent 'Death Race' remake in execution.

Mark Neveldine is best know for his crank series, and although 'Gamer' is nowhere near as frantic and stupid as that series, the problem lies with the relentless pace of a film, that can't keep still. So much is thrown at the viewer at times, not just the action but also other parts of the visual that it can become too much.

That is the problem with this film it is too high concept and visually hectic, a classic case of style of substance. A good example of this is the closing half the film where a fight sequence is proceeded by a dance routine, a kind of style which director John Woo would of done in the mid 90's but looks odd and out of place in 'Gamer', Butler expression at the end of this scene says it all, a look of slight disbelief.

The actors don't seem to have room to act, Gerard has proven that he can act and do action in '300'. If the director had paused for breath and layered a bit more on character development around him then 'Gamer' which has a good idea could of been a more satisfying film.

Gerald is in danger of moving over to becoming a mundane Jason Statham type action actor.

Still the actor as shown in doing other roles can act, unlike his action English counterpart, and here's hoping he can get to work with some high end action directors such as John Woo rather than Woo wanabees such as Neveldine.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

The first Night at the Museum, although was'nt the greatest family film of the year, made enough money for the makers to make the sequel, and as most sequels, Night at the Museum 2 is bigger, but no better or worse than the original. The original was a stand alone film that could work on its own, the sequel although fun is at the end of the day a money spinner, when you look at it.

The film follows the same cast, as they are all moved to a large museum complex, hell breaks lose there, and our hero Larry sets off on another adventure to rescue Owen Wilson and the gang.

As mentioned everything is bigger. Larger scale action set pieces, with more things coming to life, note an impressive new use of artwork art coming to life.

One of the aspects which the film makers have improved on are the villains. The first film never really had a good central villain and they have nailed it this time with Hank Azaria as the egyptian bady, who wants to rule the world etc etc, a show stealing performance. Azaria chews up all the scene space around when he is on, and gives the film extra merit.

Still at the end of the day 'Night at the museum' is what it is, the film doesn't set out to be a family classic, the film and the series probably won't hold up in about ten years, but for a genre piece it is fun.

What is there not to like about monkeys smacking Ben Stiller, and one of the best comedy villains in a number of years.

The International

Clive Owen plays Louis an Interpol agent, who attempts to expose a German financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring.

The International is a very handsome looking film, with a number of wonderful countries to exploit visually and for this the film is good.

Sadly one of the problems for the film is the pacing which is at times extremely pedestrian to a point where the film comes to a complete stand still almost. Another fault is a clunky script, which can be in parts over complicated, to a point that plot points are explained a number of times just to make sure the audience are following ok.

These faults can be aimed partly at the casting, Owen is always watch able, but Naomi Watts seems to have nothing to do and is both wasted and places and forgettable performance.

Still there are highlights, the impressive travel photography, and the centrepiece of the picture, an action sequence shoot out, at the Guggenheim gallery which is impressive.

Overall an ok thriller, which seems to be clever and interesting at its core, but just falls short of an exciting or engaging picture.

For some of Tom Tykwer's better work check at the impressive Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

Day Of The Dead

The success of the rather good 'Dawn of the Dead' remake, must have had some influence on this, yet another horror remade from the trilogy of the dead set of horror films by director George A. Romero.

This version of the film only really takes ideas from the original source, for example the soldier element, scientist a use of an underground bunker, and the recantation of 'Bud' the caring zombie. This remake only touches on the original material and decides to run a standard zombie flick and looks and feels more like a resident evil fllm.

This remake even has a false start as such, with the film opening more like a Friday 13th or Halloween remake, with a group of teenagers making out in some disused bunker, you kind of expect Jason to appear and hack them all to pieces, very odd.

The film is not as bad as you would expect, but the now legendary George A. Romero original sub subject matter, examples of at class division etc are gone, leaving a rather all too familiar zombie picture, which will get even more slack because of its originals status.

lI Divo

II Divo is a biopic of such, of corrupt Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, which leads to a trail tying Andreotti to murders and involvement with the Italian Mafia amongst others.

For a film carrying so much material and weight there are surprisly not that many memorable set piece scenes, the introductions to the various characters as they arrive in various cars and captions is well done, and an opening stand off with a cat between Andreotti and a white cat in a large hall, is great and sets a tone for the rest of the film. The tone is somewhat comical in places, with the use of bizarre musical pieces for assassinations for example, this gives the film and interesting edge.

There are a number of solid performances but it is safe to say that Toni Servillo steels the show. The actor gives a stone faced perfect performance as Giulio Andreotti, a performance that seems, to be part cartoonist part bizarre, but at it core very impressive.

There is no doubting the originality and power of this film, but something left me cold with its closing. This could be down to the lack of knowledge of Italian politics and not enough knowledge of Giulio Andreotti.

The Horsemen

The Biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, four murders, four gruesome deaths, that’s all you need to know in this, The Horsemen is Se7en meets Saw.

The acting is driven by the lead Dennis Quaid who is as always value for money and keeps this film a float. A special mention must go to the wonderful Ziyi Zhang who is not seen in many Hollywood films, but is hopelessly wasted in this and some of her dialogue is so dire, she maybe back to the far east, sooner than she may of hoped.

In what is really only another Michael Bay ultra violent side project, the film is nowhere as bad as the terrible Texas Chainsaw remakes prequels. There is some ok stuff in here as the film hits it stride in the middle section.

The ending is a mystery. Looking at the running time the film clocks in at 86 minutes. Still the film just stops, leaving so many opens ends its not sure what to do with yourself, and your stunned not in fear or wonder, just confusion.

With reports of a longer version trimmed for release, and editing to the story this maybe the reason, but it is still a shame a film has to have such a dropped ending.

Still Michael Bay is a man to avoid even when he is not directing, even though this is if slightly better than his normal films.

Coffin Rock

The film follows a small fishing community and a couple who are despite to conceive a child, one drunken night the female lead (Jessie) sleeps with a young stranger. This is no run of the mill thriller as the 'from the producers of wolf creek' should give away.
The young Irish stranger has a few screws loose, which is illustrated earlier with a rather nasty killing of a young kangaroo, in one of the boys various 'I am mental episodes' the film makers throw at the viewer, to keep reminding you he is mad and in an attempt to rack up the tension.

Produced by the guys who brought the popular 'Wolf Creek'. Coffin Rock is an altogether different kind of beast.

The idea of the couple trying to conceive and the problems it is causing, including a sub plot of a fellow worker causing trouble is interesting, and it could have made an interesting thriller, but the director bottles it and decides to just go for shock value to many times rather than tension.

There are some good scenes of the crazy lead. A scene of the boy blowing on a window and drawing a heart shape to a scared Jessie is a nice touch, and the acting is fine, but the predictable over the top climax is just a disappointment.

The film had a great idea, and if it had just held its bottle and got a bit leaner, then Coffin Rock would have been a much more of a surprise.