Reviews

It's hard to believe that this film has received such a low user rating on the IMDB. Even the diabolically awful Scream 3 received a higher mark. Have audiences really been reduced to this?

Maybe the world just wasn't ready for a clever, genuinely scary, tense and sophisticated teen horror movie. But there's still no excuse, really.

I'm a massive fan of the horror genre, so I welcome any new horror movie that dares to be different. Jeepers Creepers starts creepy and ends creepier. Although it starts to sag slightly in the middle (a plot thread involving a psychic is so thin you could hang hairs on it), there's enough tension and humour to more than make up for it.

It isn't the best horror movie of the last ten years. That would be Ginger Snaps. But it certainly comes close. The acting is amazing, the beginning (which pays homage to Stephen Speilberg's 'Duel') superb, and if the monster is a little hard to believe (it looks a bit like an overgrown fish), the scenes it is in still drip with fear.

I urge any horror fans not to miss out on this film. It's a welcome addition to the genre.

I have to admit, I was looking forward to seeing this film on evidence of the gag-packed, sometimes hysterically funny trailer. Imagine my dissappointment then, upon seeing the film, when I realised that all the best jokes were the ones already included in the trailer.

Cats and Dogs isn't an awful film, it's just not a particularly good one. Kids under thirteen will love it, so it wasn't an entirely pointless exercise, but for anyone over that age, there is little to captivate. The storyline is uninspired (and in my opinion, a little too complex for the very young), the sentimentality is sickening, and even the much-hyped CG effects are painfully bad in places.

There's solid voicework from the actors, with Tobey Maguire on excellent form as wannabe secret agent Lou, but the human actors (Geoff Goldblum, take a bow) play it straight when they should have gone for laughs.

So will the fur fly? Well, no. But it may moult slightly.

Requiem for a Dream is not a film I will be watching again. Not because I didn't find it absoloutely stunning, both visually and psychologically. I did. It's because of those reasons that I will not be watching it again.

Some films touch you in a way that the standard Hollywood blockbuster yawn-fests can't. They ground you, force you to take a look at your life, and the lives of others around you. They show you what is going on in the world, a world which many of us have been protected from all our lives. Requiem for a Dream is one of these rare movies.

From the claustrophobic opening sequence, to the horrific finale, the film takes you on a journey that you will never completely recover from. It shows us the lives of four addicts who want to become something better, but merely become shadows of their former selves.

The acting is simply breathtaking. At times, it feels like you are watching a documentary because of the impressive casts realistic performances. Jared Leto is fast becoming one of my favourite actors, taking roles which fight against the ordinary. His Hollywood good looks (thankfully hidden in this film) mean that he could become the new Leo Dicaprio or (God Forbid) Ben Affleck if he wanted to, but his roles in Fight Club, American Psycho and now this show his true acting abilities.

Ellen Burstyn is the real revelation, though. She is absoloutely astounding the gameshow-obsessed mother who wants nothing more than to fit into a little red dress for a TV appearence. Her scenes with Jared Leto brought a tear to my eye everytime - the two had a real connection.

If I have one gripe about this film, it's Aronofsky's complex and much-heralded use of camera angles. There is no denying that this man is a technical genius, and there are times when these camera shots are genuinely effective. But most of the time they distract from his amazing cast. The film works much better when he simply takes a break and lets the superb acting take precedence.

Like I said at the start of this review, I will not be watching Requiem for a Dream again. My one viewing of it is enough to last me a life time. But everyone from fifteen upwards should be forced to watch this film once, if only to highlight the awful price of addiction.

Why there are so many bad reviews for this movie is absoloutely baffling. What I have just got back from watching was an incredibly tender, poignant and brilliantly acted film. I simply can't comprehend the critics. Were we watching completely different movies? Was the UK release dramatically different from the US? I doubt it very much. So why do people refuse to give this movie the respect it deserves?

So what if a few liberties were taken with the actual facts of Pearl Harbor? That's the movie world for you. They're not out to educate people on the finer points of war; if you want that, take a History degree. The film was made to entertain, to inform to a certain point, and to commemorate those who died during this awful tragedy, and on those three levels it scores highly.

Pearl Harbor may not rank up there with the classics, even though it would be a lie to say that it doesn't want to. It has it's flaws; the dialogue is incredibly corny throughout, Ewan Bremmner's pilot with a stutter is in bad taste, and the three main characters aren't really given enough material to develop on.

But if you can look past that, and look into the beautiful love story unfolding with a war horror story, you'll see something truely magical. The three leads are all perfectly cast; Kate Beckinsale is both beautiful and believeable as the woman at the centre of the love triangle, with best friends Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett competing for her love.

Likewise, Ben Affleck gives another great performance as the headstrong, loyal Rafe. He's got both the looks and the acting ability to propell him into A-list status that he's long deserved.

But the real find here is Josh Hartnett. Heart-stoppingly beautiful, and an amazing actor, especially considering his age and past film history, he really captures the emotion as sensitive Danny.

Pearl Harbor deserves much more praise than it's getting. If you think about all the hard work and effort that's gone into it, there's no excuse for not giving it a mark at least over six. It was never going to live up to the hype the media created for it, and there was bound to be a backlash as soon as it was released. But if people for once ignore the critics and skeptics, and go to see this with the same expectations you'd go to see a less-hyped film, I garuntee you won't be disappointed.

Take two of Hollywood's biggest earning and, arguably, best stars. Add in a sort-of famous and extremely good TV actor. Pump a relatively small budget in, and set the genre to rom/com/thriller. What do you get? A great love story with some quirky acting and edge of your seat moments? Or a mild mannered comedy that would like to be cool, but falls short by only a few metres? Ladies and gentlemen, the decision is yours.

While there is nothing essentially wrong with The Mexican, it all plays out like a film never quite sure what it would like to be. There are some extremely humorous moments, there are some extremely touching moments, and yes, there are a few edge of your seat moments. But there are not enough stand out moments like this, and instead the action is replaced by too many conversations which are, quite simply, pretentious, and which sound like they was lifted straight from one of Beverly Hills 91210's slightly better episodes.

Brad Pitt has more than proved himself as so much more than a pretty-boy actor. But after films such as Fight Club and Snatch, in which he pushed his acting abilities to the limit, The Mexican is a major step back for him. There's no doubt that he looks gorgeous with his blonde highlights and pseudo skater-wear, but there is simply no room here for him to engage his acting abilities. A sort of good-looking Forrest Gump type character, he stumbles from one incident to the next, looking more than a little bemused by the whole thing.

Likewise, Julia Roberts, possibly the best actress in Hollywood at present, is given a character to play that is actually extremely dislikeable. Watching the film, I found myself hoping her and Brad wouldn't get back together in the end purely because I couldn't think of a worse possible punishment for him than having to listen to her moaning for the rest of his life!

James Gandolfini, however, is a marvel. Having never seen The Sopranos, but aware of the reputation he has as a brilliant actor, I was blown away by his performance as a gay hitman. It is this performance that carries the whole film, and brings it near to being the quirky classic it would like to be.

While The Mexican does have its faults, it's not as bad as some people would like to make out. It's about twenty minutes too long, the ending is slightly confusing (not so much a twist as a new storyline that doesn't really fit in anywhere) and the violence, on a few rare occasions, is unexpected and unwelcome. But if you forget all that and go in expecting nothing, you might have quite a pleasant experience.

Welcome to the world of men. Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

Based on Nick Hornby's best-selling, and rather charming book, this film remains extremely faithful to it, charting the disastrous love life of Rob Gordon, a typical bloke doing typical bloke things. You know, like cheating on his girlfriend, spending the majority of his time with his loser mates and compiling countless top 5 lists on every subject under the sun. The setting has been moved from London to Chicago, but as Nick Horny himself explained, this film is not concerned with geography. What it is concerned with is trying to justify why men act the way they do. And while it doesn't always succeed, it's an entertaining little ride along the way.

John Cusak is brilliant as Rob. Having read the book myself, I can't think of anyone else who could play this part better. It would have been all too easy to cast a better-looking, better-known actor in this role, but had that been the case, I probably wouldn't be writing such a favourable review about the film. Cusak is engaging, playing the part with humour and vitality. And while the character of Rob may not always be likeable, he is certainly always entertaining.

The supporting cast is nearly always strong, with some shameless scene-stealing from Jack Black as Barry, one of Rob's friends who works in the record shop with him. But while all Rob's former girlfriends play their parts well (Catherine Zeta Jones a particular standout as the pretentious Charlie), the actress playing his latest break-up, and the cause for most of his anguish, is slightly static and poorly judged. It didn't come as a surprise to me to find out this was her first film role.

But apart from this little glitch, High Fidelity is almost faultless. A good soundtrack, some extremely funny sequences (Barry playing light-hearted music while Rob seethes, having just broke up with his girlfriend) and excellent acting from almost everyone involved makes this an extremely enjoyable flick. Men will relate to it, and women will enjoy finding out what makes men act this way whenever Rob does something a bit stupid. This is the male equivalent of Bridget Jone's Diary, and it's probably just as funny.

I watched this film at an obscenely late hour the other night, and it was like a breath of fresh-air. As soon as I saw Jason Priestly, I assumed it would be one of those terrible straight to TV movies that involved a cast of C-list celebrities wondering what on earth they were doing making such rubbish.

Not so. As the film progressed I realised, to my utter surprise, that I was actually really enjoying it. The dialogue was funny, the characters interesting and the ending inspired. Priestly was excellent, only ever achieveing such dizzy acting heights in another quirky classic, 'Love and Death on Long Island', and the supporting cast were genuinely talented.

It wasn't perfect; it could have been longer, but it definietly had all the assets of a cult movie.

There was something about this film that I really disliked. Maybe it was the storyline (I've never been a huge fan of conspiricy theories), maybe it was the direction, maybe it was the lazy acting on the lead male's behalf, or maybe it was the poor ending. But there was something about it that really didn't appeal to me.

Michael Douglas seemed bored in his role, proving that he can't really cut it any longer as the lead male in an action thriller. All the other characters were hollow and one-dimensinal, the female sort-of love interest being a noteable offender. The film never really seemed to know where it was going, and it never had the sense of urgency to it that thrillers are meant to have.

All in all, there were some nice ideas and sub-plots that, if followed up, could have led to a much more entertaining film. But in the end, it all just built up to a poorly-judged ending, that didn't seem to relate to anything that had already happened.

For the first half-hour of this, I thought the film was mainly treating us to an extensive advert of the sites of Morrocco. There was absoloutely no story, no intelligent dialogue, and a gratituous shot of Kate Winslet's boobs.

It did get better, but not by a great deal. Nobody can deny the scenery was beautiful, the two little girls were cute (and surprisingly quite good actresses) and Kate Winslet, as ever, gave in a solid performance. But there were parts that were just, well, weird. When she's hitchiking with one of her daughters (Lucy?) what is the deal with that blonde guy? And where were all the sub-plots heading?

It wasn't a bad film. It even got quite interesting about halfway through. But there were no climaxes, and no resolvements.

As a film, I'd only get it five, due to it's poor narrative and lack of a plot. But if I was to judge it on it's cinematography, it gets ten out of ten easily.

I was really, really looking forward to this movie before I went to see it. Jude Law and Matt Damon in one film, an intelligent subject matter, and lush scenes in Italy. And who cares if Paltrow is in it? Not even she can drag it down, right?

Right. Absolutely, positively correct. I have never been so captivated by a film in the opening scene, and I have never watched a film all the way through without my mind wondering once, until this. It was all dealt with perfectly, the cinematography was beautiful, the acting outstanding (Even Paltrow wasn't that bad) and the story-line faultless. Jude Law, absolutely gorgeous, was the highlight of the film, but Matt Damon still managed to carry the title role off with ease. What was so interesting about his character was, by the end we were praying with all our heart that he wouldn't get caught. He might have been a villain, but he was an extremely likeable one.

However, I have knocked points off because of the ending. It was too abrubt, too univited. I for one wanted more, even if it was some kind of assurance that Ripley was heading for something better. That said, the ending did leave a lasting impression on me that's hard to describe; when he was crying I really felt his pain. After all, all of us have felt like an outsider many times in our life, haven't we?

I brought this film yesterday from HMV (£3.99 on sale) having never seen it, but curious about the reputation it has, as a smart film with one hell of a twist ending. I wasn't disappointed.

From the first scene, I just have to watch on until the end, wanting to know who was behind it all. And when I finally found out, well, let's just say it was one of those great cinematic moments that had me jumping up and down with happiness on my sofa.

The sceenplay is excellent, the jokes funny, the characters well thought -out and developed, the acting amazing (Especially from Benincio Del Toro and Kevin Spacy, nach) and the twist at the end is one of the greatest twists that I have ever seen. Almost as good as the Shawshank Redemption.

I only have one dispute, and that was that it was a little too short. But the way the ending was wrapped up can almost justify it. Pure brilliance.

The first time I watched Empire Records, I pressed the rewind button as soon as it finished, and watched the whole thing again, just to let it sink in that I had found a film that I really, really enjoyed.

Empire Records was not a film made to win Oscars, that is not the point of it. What Empire Records succeedes in doing is taking a day in the life of a place that all teenagers can relate to (A music shop), taking a cast of gorgeous, hip young things, playing a brilliant soundtrack throughout, and chucking in some quotes that you can go over again, and again with your friends (me and my friend's personal favourite is Joe and Lucas' 'where's the money gone' conversation, that is as funny now as it was all those many viwings ago).

Anybody who disregards Empire Records as a badly-acted, unrealistic film with a weak story-line, and cliched characters are missing the point entirely. Empire Records is one of those films that you can watch again and again, simply because we know life will never be like that, but hey, it's good fun watching it all the same.