Good Will Hunting

What to do when I have the house entirely to myself.... I could have a party... or play really loud music to annoy the neighbors that are busy making lots of noise but instead i decided to watch Good Will Hunting.
My mum brought this film back with her after staying with my sister and she kinda kept going on about it so I put it on the list so that I could say that I had seen it.
Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting- the brilliant mathematician that is actually a janitor at MIT. The Sweedish guy from Pirates of the Caribbean and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo stars as the math professor, Ben Afleck is Will's friend that drives him everywhere and Robin Williams is the genius in the film.
Robin Williams is absolutely amazing and Matt Damon at that age is much better than how he was in Oceans Eleven. Some people say that Matt Damon is overrated but I don't think that he is. Yeah he makes some films better than others but so does everyone... he's not like most actors that make a whole bunch of terrible films and only a few good ones in their career.
Ben Afleck and Matt Damon wrote the script for the film and I have to say that I really enjoyed the film. I don't think much of Ben Afleck- I have really only liked him in Daredevil and this ( Armageddon he was ok in but nothing more and lets not go back to Argo) so it is nice to watch a film with him in that isn't complete rubbish.

The film also has Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street which if any of you are saxophonists you will know has a brilliant saxophone riff throughout that most of us love to play.

I actually really liked this film. It's not comedy or action or even particularly funny, it's just got all the right things in it at the right point.
I always have to be careful about the films that my sister recommends... some of them, like the madness musical have been really awful but this one was another to go on the list of good recommendations.

American Psycho

I'll be totally honest... I watched this film because of the Fallout boy album American Beauty/ American Psycho. Last year I watched American Beauty and so this year i decided to add American Psycho onto the list.
Both are very weird films. Kevin Spacey stars in American Beauty as a slightly perverted man that wants to sleep with his daughters friend and Christian Bale stars in American Psycho as the man that likes to kill people... especially women after having sex with them and filming it all.

I don't know what to make of this film. Christian Bale was magnificent as Patrick Bateman and played the psychopath very well... I would have believed that it was real if the case had not said Christian Bale on the front. Reese Witherspoon I didn't even notice in the film. I honestly can't remember who she played because i didn't recognise her at all... she was magnificent.

I wouldn't watch this film again... probably not ever because i remember it all. It's weird enough and in its own way disturbing enough for me to remember it and never want to watch it again. This is a personal thing and i'm sure that a lot of people like this film and would probably watch it more than once but for me... it's not my type of film and once was enough.

The worlds greatest martial arts film

The first thing that I will say is that I watched this film in Chinese so I actually have no idea about the plot other than it involves martial arts.

I watched Ip man: the legend is born before watching this so I kinda have an idea what it is about or at least some background knowledge into it but no clear understanding of what was going on.

My brother has been going on about Ip man and how i should see it. Generally he does seem to be the oracle on martial arts films so it is worth me taking his advice.

I can only comment on the martial arts sequences as i can't comment on the plot or the acting as i didn't understand the plot. The martial arts is superb. Sometimes we see these sequences that have time for spins and a lot of somewhat ridiculous stuff in it that just seems all flashy and not actually necessary but not with this film. I loved the part where he pushes himself back up to his feet in a jump and manages to block the attack with his feet as he goes... style and maybe a little unlikely but you never can tell what those guys are like.

I've seen a few martial arts films- the Forbidden Kingdom, Kung Fu Hustle, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Bullet Proof Monk are a few to name and whilst i love crouching tiger hidden dragon and kung fu hustle is genius, this beats them all.

If you can find a version in English then buy it and watch it and it will probably be one that you keep for a long time.

Hitchcock

So I think that i've now reviewed five of his films over the last year that this challenge has been going on for. This is the review of the film that they made about him and that was almost solely about the making of Psycho.

Anthony Hopkins attempts to present himself as Hitchcock. If there is anyone that studies film and reads this blog then it would be great to get your opinion on his performance. As someone that has absolutely no idea whether it is truly an accurate presentation or not, i was very impressed with Mr. Hopkins. The character that he took on wasn't always an easy one to play and I have become used to seeing him in The Silence of the Lamb and a few other weird-er films like that. I don't think that i can recall seeing him in a role like this. He is superb in this role.

Supported excellently by Helen Mirren, who really deserved an award for her performance, they create a unique team that manages to make a fantastic movie that is always drawing emotion out of you. I don't think that i ever felt the same thing twice in this film as every scene gave me something different. I don't recall seeing a film like this before and this makes me very happy.
Helen Mirren is playing the determined and very able wife of a man that everyone knows. A man that for some reason the public didn't like when he made vertigo (I thought it was wonderful). I know that Alfred Hitchcock made a lot of films and having seen a few of the less well known ones i would be able to see their point if they had been referring to one of those films but i completely disagree with vertigo... it was fantastic. I didn't know that he had a woman that was actually better at directing than him and her part at the end of the film is something to admire.

I remember seeing the adverts for this film in one of the odd and very few times that i went to the cinema and immediately saying that i wanted to see it. At this point i hadn't seen a single Hitchcock film but i was desperate to see Anthony Hopkins as the man that was so famous. I was glad that this film didn't disapoint.
If you are a Hitchcock lover like me then i would recommend that you watch this film and most importantly, comment and let me know what you thought of it!

The Imitation Game

This is the truth about the man who cracked the enigma code in the second world war, causing it to end two years earlier than otherwise and saving fourteen million lives.
This is the film that should have won a lot of awards but was beaten by the theory of everything for every award it was nominated for. I have yet to watch the theory of everything but when I do I will compare them to see if it was a deserved winner.

Benedict Cumberbatch is Alan Turing, an Autistic mathematical genius. No one knows much about Alan Turing except that he was educated at Cambridge, bullied in school and built the Turing machines that we now call computers.

It is very difficult for someone without ASD to accurately portray someone with it, especially as each person with autism is different. Psychologists like to say that we are all on the spectrum and it's true, we are however for most of us, we cant see that our actions are any different from the actions classified as the norm and society has enough other labels to categorize us before we get further onto the spectrum.
Prior to this I have only seen one actor effectively portray an autistic child and that was Leonardo Di Caprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
That was a different type of autism, a more serious behavioural form of autism. Cumberbatch shows a different, more mild form of autism and is neck and neck with Di Caprio on his performance.

Had this film not been released around the same time as The Theory of Everything then I am confident that best picture and best actor would have been claimed by this awesome array of talent from Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Charles Dance and dare I even say it Keira Knightly. I am not a fan of hers and this is the first film that i have seen her in and liked her in to the point that I hardly noticed her inability to close her mouth.

This is a film that goes on the pile of greats, alongside the Spielberg films!

I missed the trailer for it so I have included it below in case any of you did as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5CjKEFb-sM

Sabrina

I wasn't aware that i had put this on the list but I am not complaining. Jojo lent it to me and as with all Audrey Hepburn films, it was wonderful. My uneventful day turned into a lovely, relaxing evening by watching Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart star in this black and white classic romance film.

Featuring the song La Vie En Rose and sung beautifully by Hepburn, the somewhat relief of being able to watch an old film that wasn't a musical is fantastic. Her voice is beautiful, there should be no doubt about it but I think that she has proved that she can be out powered when singing with others.

Bogart and William Holden are both older men in this story and Hepburn is the daughter of the Chauffeur that has been in love with Holden since forever. After spending a few years in Paris she comes back to America as a lady and both brothers fall in love with her.

There are some comical moments involving champagne glasses and some lovely moments involving cooking but most of all this is a feel good, classic romance film that has everything in it. I am quickly becoming a Audrey Hepburn fan.

Schindler's list

Steven Spielberg really will be leaving a legacy behind when he dies. There is no other film maker out there like him in the world at the moment. No one makes films with as much meaning and as much passion as he does.

Schindler's list won every award going at the time, it is a film that everyone accepts to be: moving, passionate and above all else utterly brilliant. Liam Neeson stars as Schindler and this is the story of how one man saves 1100 Jews during the second world war. The performance from Neeson is absolutely world class. Normally when i watch these type of films I struggle with them and have to find many other things to do but with this one, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I didn't know what to expect in any scene. I was amazed by his performance. Recently it has become something of a custom for Neeson to be holding a gun and to at least kill one person yet in this film he didn't kill a single person.
Ben Kingsley as his accountant was superb, so much so that after a while i forgot that it was Ben Kingsley. I've never been as impressed with him in any previous role that i have seen him in as i was with him in this film.

It may be three hours long but that isn't three hours that drags on - this is three hours of possibly one of the best films ever made. I would watch this film again, I could watch it again because it didn't have me crying and wanting to vomit. It was sensitive but not completely horrific as the damaging moments were few and far between.

WOW

The Wolverine

So, just to round off the collection so far we turn our gaze towards a solely Hugh Jackman based film. Most of us will have seen X-men Origins:Wolverine and most of us will agree that it really wasn't worth the effort, so where could they go with this film? It's still not as good as the first x-men film but it is much better than the prequel of the trilogy.
Explaining something else from his past that until now had never been mentioned but was probably in the comics, Wolverine takes a trip to Tokyo and there the entire film (pretty much) is shot.
The scenery is wonderful, it does kinda make you want to go to Tokyo, unfortunately it is a place that i will never venture out to.
The introduction of Viper is brilliant. A relatively unknown Russian woman pulls off being american very easily. From the moment she entered the film i turned to my brother and said... she's evil and i wasn't wrong- i just couldn't guess what her powers were going to be.
Her costume reminds you very much of Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy in the Batman and Robin with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In fact, if she was modelling herself on Poison Ivy that she did a really good job. The characters can be compared in several ways and personally i don't think that this is a bad thing.

This film was more simple than the first one. It had a plot and it stuck to it. It had characters and it stuck to it- nothing complicated, just well written but not confusing in any way. The simplicity is what makes it a good film. Nothing fancy was done with the cameras and nothing fancy was done in the directing of the film, strip it down to the bone and let it be what it is which is very refreshing to see.

Rating- much better than the first one and even better than Days of Future Past.

Once Upon A Time In The West

So maybe not the best film i've ever seen but it was pretty typical of a western.
The constant Harmonica theme is one that i can't decide whether it's a great theme or just really irritating.
An hour in and i was still trying to work out if anything was really going to happen in the film. A bunch of people pointing guns at each other from time to time and riding around on horses doesn't make a good film, just a boring one. I found this film really dull.

I do have to admire the main female role in the film. She was brilliant and not just a pathetic damsel in distress. The way that she delivered some of her lines with passion and managed to fire a gun was awesome and lovely to see in a typical western. Resistance is great to see and not something that is expected in this genre.

Made in 1968 and definitely showing it, a pleasant rebellion against the norms of 1968 but nothing more than that.

What did you think?

Stand by Me

At the moment i just seem to be picking films with a negative ending or tone to them so I'm going to put off Schindlers list for a while.
Stand by Me is the film that made Will Wheaton's name and those of us that have seen his episodes in the big bang theory possibly may have thought that Sheldon's hatred of him was unjust but i don't think so. This film is hugely overrated.
I'm still trying to work out how this film got so much recognition. I look through the cast list and apart from River Phoenix, none of them went on to make anything half decent.

Normally i would comment on the ability to act but i'm not really sure that any of them could. Corey Feldman manages to play the part exactly as he looks.
I guess what is most disappointing is that the Ben E King's Stand by Me is hardly featured in the film.
I am also angry that what is supposed to be a bunch of young kids spend all their time smoking. Surely that's not healthy or legal... unless all the actors were about 5 years older than what they were supposed to be.

What did you think?

Shadowlands

As tribute to Lord Richard Attenborough I borrowed this film from Jojo and watched a magical production of some of the life of C.S Lewis.

Anthony Hopkins is once again both moving and sublime in his performance as Lewis. Opposite Debra Winger (whom i didn't know of until now), the audience is reduced to tears towards the end of the film and are constantly sitting with their fingers in their mouths.
It's wonderful to watch a film about love and not just about sex and lust. Love just as love is powerful and wonderful and this film brings back a reminder about how powerful love is.

This film won the BAFTA for film of the year and it thoroughly deserves the award. Richard Attenborough directs a film that is a reminder of what the film industry really is and what it can be. It has the power to bring about emotion in no other way.

This film is perfect from beginning to end. There are some fantastic moments when i burst out laughing and moments when i wanted to cry. This film has everything in it and most importantly it is a reminder to keep reading C.S. Lewis and not just the Chronicles of Narnia.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

A very unexpected film.
I had always raised my eyebrows to the suggestion that both Emma Watson and Logan Lerman could in fact act. Logan Lerman i know for Percy Jackson and Emma Watson is obviously known for Harry Potter and i was very skeptical of this film.

I loved it. We all feel nervous about going to a new school, making friends and some of us find it harder than others. Ezra Miller is outstanding and his character is genius. The dancing is fantastic and reminds me very much not only of friends when Ross and Monica do the routine but of my own family and our type of dancing.

I'll give it to them. Logan Lerman and Emma Watson are both fantastic in this film. Logan Lerman has really shown the world that he can actually act, even if he chooses to make bad films. Emma Watson has cast off the stereotype that she gained from her role as Hermione Granger and also her part in Ballet Shoes. Showing a nice and rather wonderful side is lovely and makes you smile. I almost forgot that it was Emma Watson in this film as her ability to transform roles is perfect.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is both lovely and moving at the same time and makes a really easy film to watch that captures you at the right level and in the right way. I wasn't totally absorbed by the film but i could follow it all the way through with no problem. I couldn't predict the end and that makes it even more enjoyable.
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FROM HELL!

From hell is the film that I have always wanted to watch. The hit graphic novel by Alan Moore has to be awesome but weirdly depressing and featuring a lot of death.

Ian Holm stars with Johnny Depp, Robbie Coltrane, Sir Ian Richardson and Heather Graham. If you haven't read the book then you probably should know that this film is about jack the ripper and now you should know everything that you need to know about it.

The filming is top draw, the theme of red and black with the upper class costume is perfect. Depp's east end accent doesn't always hold, in fact we did spend most of the film trying to work out what accent it actually is.

I take my hat off to Ian Holm, his acting is world class and something to be admired. I was stunned by his ability to perform that role.

An Insight into the Freemasons is something wonderful. I never really knew much about them but when you watch Morse, Endeavor and Lewis  you start to get a very brief outline of what this society is like but nothing more. This film is great if you want to learn anything more about them.

Not the most pleasant film and not one to watch if your going to bed but definitely educational.

Rated 18 for a reason, a fair amount of sex and a lot of blood and murder- if you're someone who normally ignores ratings then pay attention to it this time!

X-men: Days of Future Past

The moment I have been waiting for! Now that its Easter break I can have movie days and I have a few films to help fill up my week.

Lets start the day with x-men: Days of future past and of course a special thanks to yo-yo for providing the film and location this time.

Recently Bryan singer has taken to making rubbish films followed by slightly ok films. Nothing has been as good as the first x-men films. This was an ok film, nothing more and nothing less. The inability to connect all the films in a sensible way is not only irritating but very confusing. Sometimes things link and other times they just don't at all.

The most irritating part of all has to be when the writers couldn't manage to look back over the previous scripts and get line of 'go fuck yourself' (the actual line from first class) correct instead of 'fuck off' which is the line they used in this film.

I dislike how high Jackman can hardly feature in these films and keep his clothes on. I disliked that James McAvoy had a beard and no powers... Intact I didn't really like much of it. To many times they have crossed the boundaries in this film, jumped time and space and all that rubbish.

No laughable moments and a few angry moments but nothing that really justifies spending more than about £2 on the film. If you have to wait for a year before you can get it at that price then fine, its not the end of the world and its not worth  paying any more than that for.

OK, but nothing more. A desperate attempt to make up for a lack of toward thinking towards how successful these films were going to be. As the sound of music says:'lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start'. These words should have been taken when they sat down to make the first film years ago. It is much easier to go toward than it is to jump back and forwards all the time.

Bryan singer should know when to quit. Things are going to be very confusing if they keep making more films and they did leave it open to make at least one more.

Watching this film made me feel like I was watching inception again. It was all a dream within a dream until the end became very unclear. Tinker tailor soldier spy was easier to follow than this and so was memento!

We both agreed that at least half of the budget must have been spent on the opening sciency sequence that has nothing to do with the film bit is shot in such a way that you have to sit there and admire it.

The filming was great... Story line was rubbish.

To Kill A Mockingbird

If you haven't read Harper Lee's book then you must before you watch this film!

The Book itself if incredibly moving. A sensitive issue of Race is discussed effectively in this book, drawing attention to the extreme prejudice that we as human beings can develop. I remember reading this book at GCSE level and absolutely loving it. I've never been moved by a book as much as i was by this one and so i had reserved feelings about the film- could it do the same as the book?
Yes.

Gregory Peck is unbelievable in the role of Atticus Finch. The film is almost exactly as i remember the book and in many way is exactly what i expected from reading the book. Helped by the general feeling around the issue that was created by the book, this film is definitely one that you have to watch before you die.

I do think that if you haven't read the book then you probably wont agree with my opinion of this film. You would probably say that it was a mediocre black and white film and nothing more but that is only because you don't truly understand the power of the topic and brilliance of Harper Lee's writing.

READ IT
then WATCH IT.

The Film that all the children were talking about... in 2011

How to Train your Dragon is the film that all the kids were talking about. Book sales must have risen spectacularly thanks to the production of that film. Children would talk dragoneese and class teachers would read it to the children at the end of the day before home time and when i was working in the classroom i had to admit that i had never seen the film and had no idea what they were talking about.

A few years on and i have decided to see what they hype was all about. I have to admit that i loved the film, it had a 'brave' feel to it in more than just the accents. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for toothless, he really won me over.

I actually really enjoyed it. The film flowed a lot more than i have come to expect with animated films and more importantly, it didn't have any songs in it!
I found it easier to watch than Brave, more enjoyable and i would probably say that this film is actually better than Brave but i know that there are so many people out there that would disagree with me, however, it was a really nice way to start the morning off.

They made a sequel to it and part of me is hoping that it will be like despicable me and despicable me 2 which are the only animated films so far that have managed to both be really good and almost on a par with another.

Frost/Nixon

A fascinating insight into the exchanges between tv presenter and entertainment David Frost and President Richard Nixon.
For someone like me that never really knew much about Nixon, this film teaches you a lot. The scandals, the controversy and the truth behind the man that American's voted as their President.
David Frost attempts to extradite the truth behind the biggest scandal of Nixon's presidency, the scandal that triggered his resignation and got millions of American's calling for his trial, a scandal called waters gate.
Frank Langella and his quite amazing voice goes up against Michael Sheen. Frank Langella is someone that i didn't know until this film but Michael Sheen I knew from Underworld, Alice in Wonderland, Tron Legacy and Blood Diamond and I knew that this was going to be an interesting match up. A voice can work wonders in films but then so can versatility.

Supported by Kevin Bacon and Matthew McFaden respectively, it is almost like watching a boxing match with words, going fist to fist and blow to blow- it's awesome.

Yes it's biographical but it's still one of the best films of it's type! Jeremy Paxman should watch this film and learn how to conduct an interview, it might make news round much easier to watch and much more interesting.

The Incredible Hulk

I feel that i should just point out for those loyal followers that I actually watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy yesterday and so I haven't actually watched 4 films today- i do have other things to do with my life than just watch films and blog about them.

I turned my eye on The Incredible Hulk to complete the Marvel trilogy of the Avengers. This film was originally done with Eric Banna and it is that version that i had seen. I wanted to see who was better- Ed Norton or Eric Banna. I know that really we are all waiting for them to start making Hulk films with Mark Ruffalo but until they do that then I will just have to review this film.

My siblings aren't huge fans of it. I don't know what their problem with it is. I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk, yes there was this feeling from the start that you could predict what was going to happen at the end and that you could predict most of the story but being predictable isn't always a bad thing- it's how you handle being predictable that makes or breaks a film.
Personally i felt that they had handled it well. I have slightly reserved feelings towards Liv Tyler but I was genuinely impressed with her in this film. I have a tendency to think of her only as the damsel in distress but this was not entirely a role like that for her. Her father is the general and refused to listen to her but she was hardly the damsel, more just a side character that pulled the strings and kept things ticking over nicely.
Edward Norton plays the part well, maybe not as well as Mark Ruffalo but still very well. He doesn't quite look as fierce as Ruffalo but even so, he has more of a doctor look about him. When the film starts he has already had his accident and yet it's hard to believe that someone that skinny can pull off turning into something so huge but even so, the transformation looks fairly realistic even if you never quite see it because they cover the shot with smoke or something of the like.

There's action enough in the film and science enough in the film. I don't know why people don't like it. It's not gripping but it ticks over nicely and explains why it is the Hulk ends up far away and learning to control his anger etc. This film explains enough if you are like me and watched the Avengers Assemble before the Incredible Hulk.

Wolf of Wall Street

I have to be honest- I turned this film off after five minutes. Five minutes told me what this film was going to contain. I don't want to spend my time watching porn and things like that so i will not continue to watch it.

If you have no idea what it is about then read this and don't watch it. Unless you spend your time watching porn , you wont enjoy it and spare yourself the effort.

It starts off introducing Leonardo Di Caprio's character and telling us how he made his money and how he had a perfect life. As we all know, the perfect business life comes with a lot of women, a lot of sex, drugs, alcohol and a lot of money that ultimately ends in a huge downfall.
Given that the name is the wolf of wall street, i think that you can guess what the downfall is in this case.

I hated the film- it is something that i will never ever watch again.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

A star cast to deliver what was voted the best film of the year and many thanks to Jojo for letting me borrow this film and watch it!

So as Gary Oldman lets try to work out who the spy is.
Garry Oldman is phenomenal in his role as George, the man that gets called out of retirement to discover the identity of the spy leaking government secrets to the Russians.

Mark Strong is dazzling as his character keeps you in the dark until the end. Character development is what makes the film and from start to finish the characters are still being developed, especially his.
John Hurt stars as control and plays the commanding role that we have already seen him take on at least once when he stars in V for Vendetta. This time his character is nicer and easier to understand. His screen time may be short but it is vital for the film that those precious minutes were found and produced to perfection the way that only John Hurt knows how to deliver them.
Benedict Cumberbatch also stars throughout the movie and his character is just as clever as the others. Not once do you ever suspect that he could possible ever betray his country and lets be honest, it is nice to see him blond instead of the usual brown hair that we have become accustom to seeing in Sherlock.
Colin Firth also plays a huge part, as does Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is worth every award that it won, every recommendation that it has been given and every positive review that it earnt.

I don't understand why some people find it so difficult to understand or to follow. If you actually sit down and watch the film instead of talking over it and doing other things as well then it is very self explanatory and not over complicated.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is awesome!