My Soul To Take (2010) - Wes Craven should just give up. This was ****ing woeful, glad I only rented the Blu-ray instead of buying it. Basically, some nutter called the Riverton Ripper disappears whilst being transported and was never found, but presumed dead. On that same fateful night, 7 local kids are born prematurely. Urban legend has it that the 7 kids each represent a facet of the Ripper's personality. But when someone starts bumping off all the kids, they change their minds and decide that the soul of the Ripper must have entered just one of them. Complete rubbish.
Gamer (2009) - Gerard Butler is Kable, a player in a real-live game and can only do what his 'gamer' will allow him to - which isn't always good in the heat of a war zone! This was actually loads of fun, if more than a little derivative. Still, it's worth a look, I reckon, being from the team that gave us
Crank.
Crazy Heart (2010) - Jeff Bridges is washed up, ageing country rock star Bad Blake. But when he meets a younger woman he starts to become inspired to change his drunken, womanising ways and clean up and return to his former glory. This wasn't bad, far better than I thought it would be and Bridges is on top form as the belligerent and constantly drunk Bad Blake. I'd recommend this, give it a go.
Tron Legacy (2010) - I'm a fan of the original, so I was unsure how they'd pull this sequel off. But they do, brilliantly. Sam Flynn finds his way into the grid and is surprised to find his father in there. But things have gone awry and one of Kevin Flynn's creations has taken over the virtual world and now father and son must fight back. It's entertaining and done with such brilliance and creativity that I just sat with a big grin all the way through it. The retro-feel 80's soundtrack is exceptional. Perfect. 10 out of 10 from me.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) - An SS General (David Thewlis) is relocated to a Jewish concentration camp, which spells trouble for the future of his family. His son becomes fixated by the camp, thinking it's a farm run by people wearing striped pyjamas and befriends a young lad in the camp. Things move towards a very powerful and shocking climax.
Lawman (1971) - When a group of rowdy cowboys shoot up a town as part of their drunken high jinx, they unknowingly shoot an old man dead. But lawman Jared Maddox (Burt Lancaster) is on their trail and determined to bring the men to justice. It boasts a great cast and Michael Winner directs with a surprisingly sure hand and ensures the film never gets boring. Really enjoyed revisiting this one again.
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009) - With Tamer Hassan in the lead role you just know from the outset this just isn't going to work. He's useless in any material that doesn't involve being a London thug/hooligan. Basically, a group of prisoners being transferred to another facility find themselves run off the road - and they break free. Only trouble is they're in hillbilly cannibal country, which is never a good thing. The convicts run about a lot, getting killed, shouting at each other, finding some loot, and Hassan spouts some of the most idiotic dialogue I've heard in a long time. Rubbish, really.
The Karate Kid (2010) - Had this on a Blu-ray rental, as I was curious to see this remake. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's the same story, but transposed to China, which was an interesting move. As a consequence, the film resembles more of an HK action flick, rather than a Hollywood movie. When Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his mother relocate to China following the death of his father, he soon finds himself the subject of bullying. Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) takes him under his wing and trains him to enter a martial arts competition where he can face his bullies. Overall it wasn't bad, certainly not unlikeable.
A Prophet (2009) - Interesting French prison drama chronicling the life of inmate Malik. Malik is an Arab, but finds himself under the protection of the Corsicans - this puts him in a hard situation, the Corsicans look down on him and treat him as a slave, whilst the Arabs hate him because they feel bertrayed. But Malik mamipulates every available opportunity and soon begins to build a criminal empire. Brilliant and riveting, I recommend this highly.
Wake Wood (2011) - Grieving parents move to a remote English village where they discover the villagers have the power to bring back the dead - but only if they've been dead less than a year and they can only be brought back for 3 days. But the parents aren't honest about how long their child has been dead and when they bring her back something's just not right. An interesting idea, but I found that it looked a bit amateurish and it tended to drag at times. Not a bad effort from the new Hammer studio, but I've seen better.
Jonah Hex (2010) - Another comic strip gets the Hollywood treatment - and they **** it up royally. What the **** happened? It's as if huge chunks are missing from the story and that the whole thing was thrown together haphazardly. Josh Brolin is Hex, a gunslinger hunting down the man responsible for killing his family. He also has the ability to make the dead talk to him, but this was never fully explained and was simply baffling. Not sure what happened here, but it seems like something went badly wrong and was finished in a hurry. Bit crap, really. The Blu-ray looks nice and that's about the best thing I can say about it, unfortunately.
Splice (2009) - Two bio-physicists are doing groundbreaking research by splicing together the DNA from different species to create hybrid creatures that can produce enzymes to treat human conditions. But they take things one step too far when they splice togther the DNA of a human with an animal, with predictably catastrophic consequences. It's not bad, overall, with some interesting ideas, but did seem to rip off other films, such as
Species. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but the film did seem to lack a bit of sparkle to make it a bit more lively.
Robin Hood - Director's Cut (2010) - I can't quite put my finger on it, but I don't think Crowe is anywhere near as good as he thinks he is (I'll never forget his comments regarding Laurence Olivier). However, it's not a bad reinvention of the Robin Hood legend and Ridley Scott drives things along at a healthy pace. The outside shots of castles and the like are bit CGI-obvious though. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed it, even if it does take a few liberties with history and geographically is a bit all over the place. Well, this is Hollywood, after all.
The Horseman (2008) - A father is grieving the loss of his daughter to drink and drugs, she died choking on her own vomit. As if that wasn't bad enough, he's sent a porn video she made just before she died. This makes him very angry and he's out for revenge. It's brutal as hell and even me, the jaded viewer that I am, found some of it extremely violent! Definitely recommended. This is proper hard man cinema from the land down under. Give it a go!
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) - A simply magnificent piece of cinema from the mighty Sergio Leone. Epic doesn't even begin to cover it. It follows a group of young hoodlums as they travel through life on a career of crime, through their lives and loves, and how things turn sour. It's absolutely brilliant and one of my favourite films of all-time. Leone captures old time New York perfectly and some of the shots are breathtaking. Couple this with Morricone's heart-rending score and it's pure movie magic. Unmissable.
The Cassandra Crossing (1976) - Activists break into the biological lab at the UN and get caught in a firefight - only one activist survives and escapes, but he's infected with a disease! And he's on a train, so the authorities quarantine the train and send it hurtling towards the Cassandra Crossing, an old bridge they know will collapse! It's tense and exciting and there's a wonderful cast assembled (I even spotted Ray Lovelock!). It's great fun and a typical example of 'virus on the rampage' films that were so popular in the 70's. It's a shame the UK DVD has a non-anamorphic print, but it didn't look too shabby. Recommended.
A Challenge for Robin Hood (1968) - A departure from Hammer's usual gothic horror offerings, this still has all the tell-tale signs of a Hammer production, and is all the better for it. When Robin is accused of murder by his greedy and corrupt cousin, he runs off to the woods and forms a band of Merry Men and proceeds to cause havoc and disruption to his cousin and the Sheriff of Nottingham. It's loads of fun and I had a thoroughly good time. Excellent!
The Joneses (2009) - A family moves into an American suburb and are living the American Dream. However, they're not a real family, they're sales people and the aim is to make the neighbourhood want what they have. It raises some interesting questions about consumer culture and the politics of envy.
The Last Station (2009) - Drama focusing on the last days of Russian writer and political activist, Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer). It's interesting stuff as we see him put upon by so many different people - everybody wants something from him. There are the Tolstoyans who want him to sign over his copyright to his books to the Russian people, whilst his wife (Helen Mirren) wants to retain the copyright so that she can continue receiving royalties after his death. Lots of intriguiing side stories and its a fascinating look at his life. Nice Blu-ray too. Well worth a look.
Saw 7 (or Saw 3D) (2010) - Another muddled entry in the long-running series and it really is running out of steam by this point. There's some inventive traps and it's as equally gruesome as previous entries, but it all seemed a bit rushed and didn't really go anywhere. They also reintroduce a character from the first film, just to confuse things even more. I've lost track of who's who and what the story is about. Anyone else as baffled as me? Still, it was alright, I suppose. I watched the 2D version, but I can't imagine the 3D making it any better.
The Captain's Paradise (1953) - Alec Guinness is Captain Henry St. James, a man who believes he has found the recipe for perfect happiness. He has two women on the go - one a domesticated housewife and the other a frivolous party animal and in between, whilst on ship, he enjoys the intellectual company of men. However, this bliss wasn't going to last, and the women start to become dissatisfied (and each one is blissfully unaware of the other). It's loads of fun and Guinness is superb, as usual. The dialogue at times had me laughing out loud at its sheer sexism. Like when his wife is over the moon at receiving a vacuum cleaner.
