Reviews

I've only seen three films twice during their theatrical release. First was Star Wars. The second was Serenity. The third… obvious given that it was me who brought the subject up, but after seeing many reviews, I felt I had to see this projected in IMax.

Recent war films have tended to fall into "war porn", over- sentimental mush or, in the case of 'Saving Private Ryan', both. That's not necessarily a bad thing as modern audiences, in the main isolated from the actualité of war, do seem to need a hook to get engaged and going for the obvious tropes to shortcut the process doesn't harm a film as long as it is well made.

In this respect, much of the criticism levelled at Dunkirk seems centred on the lack of characters' back story. Counter-intuitively this, I believe, is this film's major strength. I totally buy Nolan's premise that he didn't want to give the audience any more information than the protagonists have. The only exposition comes from Kenneth Branagh's character, but this is used sparingly and no more than is required to advance the story.

I also wonder whether the fact that Nolan's army protagonist is named Tommy has been missed by non-British critics - 'Tommy' being the nickname given to the rank and file infantryman of the British Army, or as Commando comics would put it: "For you Tommy, the war is over." It reinforces the idea that Nolan was creating ciphers for the audience to place themselves into and wonder: "what would I do?"

One overlooked detail is that whether Mole, Sea or Air, our every- man protagonists make major either/or decisions which have crucial bearing on the plot. I won't detail them here as I don't want to introduce any spoilers, but it pulls together the idea that an individual caught up in a moment will make split second decisions, which on their own perhaps mean nothing, but when chained together can alter history. I liked that. It made the split time-line narrative all the more powerful, as any one of these decisions reversed would have doomed the film's outcome.

It's been gratifying to see US audiences embrace this "British movie (with) an America budget", as Nolan put it. Hopefully it will mean that major studios will see that there is a market for intelligent big budget summer block-busters, made with care.

Can't leave this without mentioning Hans Zimmer's score. It is such a phenomenal soundscape.

And if I'm being honest, I think I preferred the wide-screen version!

I've not played the game (I was more of a Doom sort of person when it came to shooting zombies) so I don't really care about how faithful the series has been to the game. However, (disclosure) I have bought all the previous films' DVDs and I have been a fan of the film franchise from the start.

Mr Jovavich's Event Horizon remains his best film by some margin and perhaps there's no coincidence that it's also one he didn't write.

The Final Chapter does suffer from too much dialogue when just the visuals would have sufficed. Just one example among many. "Target her." (Guns conspicuously target Alice.) "Fire." There is also a tendency for the over used cliché where characters put themselves in danger just for the sake of creating an excuse for an action scene or advancing the plot.

But… that's forgivable because, I really like his action directing. No, really. Those bits of the film were terrific and he pulled the story around just in time and, in the final 20 minutes, turned me from "it's okay", to "I liked it".

I suspect if you haven't seen any of the franchise before, it'll not stand up to scrutiny, but as closure for Ms Jovivich's tenure, I found it thoroughly entertaining.

I was nearly put off going to see this after reading a few sneering reviews, which in retrospect appear to have been more an attempt by the critic to show off about their having read the novel than having actually anything to do with what's on screen.

Yes, the narration is a little heavy handed at times but ultimately necessary and the incongruous "When it comes to war you really find out what people are really like" early on felt like it was being trowelled out so we didn't miss it. Sure, it's not perfect but these are minor niggles not major flaws.

Thankfully, it isn't a boy invades village; girl falls in love; boy isn't as beastly as first thought kind of story. Life's more complicated than that. Where the film excels is that what you think of a character changes as the film progresses. There is no good German. There is no black and white collaboration. There are just people confronted with circumstances and how they react to them.

Michelle Williams brilliantly underplays her role which counteracts the clumsiness of the script in places, Matthias Schoenaerts is superb as the sensitive and conflicted man of war and the supporting cast excellent.

It's a little gem.

"I think we probably have another reptile loose on the premises."

My mistake in approaching this film was to start watching it as a serious horror film. I blame that on having just seen a good documentary about Bram Stoker and it appearing on the Horror Channel.

As a horror film it's pretty poor: terrible acting; dated video effects inserted into film; cliché ridden plot...

...but once you twig that it was Ken Russell having a laugh, it became very entertaining. The acting is all part of the joke; the video effects provide over the top kitsch; the cliché ridden plot is deliberate and the script full of fnarr fnarr moments to make you giggle.

The cast clearly were in on the joke. Amanda Donohoe is deliciously camp; Hugh Grant can be seen honing that stiff upper lip that would make his fortune and Peter Capaldi hit the Scottish stereotype perfectly twirling a reel on bagpipes for no real reason other than to give you a sly wink as to the true nature of the film.

It makes a fine companion piece to 'Carry on Screaming' in the British comedy horror genre.

I've rated it 5/10 as a film because that is how I unfortunately had watched most of it, but it has far higher entertainment value... as long as you start in the right frame of mind.

I love this film series. No really. I saw the first film for want of something better to do and have now seen them all at the cinema rather than at home and bought all the DVDs.

From offending fanboys of the game, to upsetting the sensibilities of film snobs, there is much to commend it!

Leave your brains at the door. Let them be eaten by zombies and marvel at the superb take on the genre.

That action stands up to most over the top examples but where it wins are the in jokes and sly nods to the previous films.

I'm not being trite. I loved it.

And Mrs Anderson has never looked better.

The supporting characters are straight out of the Hollywood pitching school of one dimensional stereotypes, the "plot" is weak to say the least and the pre-amble to the main event makes you dread what the script writers are planning to throw at you in the final two thirds. Do not be afraid, it's right out of the "Private Benjamin" school of guilty pleasures. You know you should hate it, but you can't stop smiling. It's not perfect, but Michael Caine and Sandra Bullock make this film work and William Shatner's pastiche is over the top enough to make you realise that you really shouldn't be taking it too seriously. It's fabulous darling!

Early on I discovered John Wyndham and the off-message school of British science fiction which never rested easy with the Hollywood Cold War science-fiction remakes which is how many now seem to remember their stories. "Village of the Damned", Day of the Triffids" and the 1950's "War Of The Worlds" are good examples of how thought provoking stories were warped into a delete "Ruskies" insert "Aliens" mindset. So after buying the original BBC broadcast on DVD and as a warm up to watching it, I thought I'd revisit the film which I remember being scared off when I was younger as a reference point. Even then Hammer weren't known for their fidelity to the source material.

Strewth! They don't make films like "Quatermass and the Pit" anymore. It's nearly 40 years old and although a few sequences could be improved with modern special effects, I can't see how the tautness of the script and direction could be bettered. It touches on racism, xenophobia, the manipulation of the masses and genocide in a way which you can only imagine modern directors trampling on in "Hob" nailed boots.

I just hope I'm not disappointed by the original TV play when I finally get to watch it!

Although the title makes it sound like an Enid Blyton book, if you've seen the Channel Four film covering the same story, don't be afraid to watch this as well. The documentary approach, helped along by some stunning landscapes, original footage and modern reconstruction makes this well worth seeing, filling in the gaps which the drama did not cover in full. It would be worth watching even if it wasn't an IMAX presentation.

The cast list promises more than is delivered, but that said the performances are good, the direction has its moments and for whiling away a rainy day it is good value for money. However, it can't go without mentioning that it also features the worst attempt at a cockney accent and patois since Dick Van Dyke "Chim-chimineed" his way through Mary Poppins. Truly awful! It made Keanu Reeves attempt in Dracula look positively spiffing!!!

It's sad, but I've seen this film over 100 times! Favourite scenes: The fight in the bus garage: "Watch it, he's got a broken milk carton"! The bar, where the pianist sings "Six Months To Live" to the terminally ill passenger! The Bi-Centennial dinner scene, where Dan denies eating 180 passengers, but admits to eating a foot: "Eat one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal"! The cliff-hanger ending: "I know it looked like I fell, but it was all part of my plan"! All in all brilliant.