1995
Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman
Henri Young (Bacon) is put into Alcatraz for the petty crime of stealing £5. After a foiled escape attempt he is put into solitary confinement and beaten and tortured by the horrendously violent warden Milton Glenn (Oldman). After Henri snaps and murders another inmate, the young lawer James Stamphill (Slater) is brought in to defend him....but uncovers some horrible secrets which will be the fall of Alcatraz.
Kevin Bacon was absolutly fantastic as the abused and emotionally disturbed Henri. Why he was not nominated for an Oscar i will never know. Reminds me of the effort put in by Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Very intense and difficult character to play, but he does it perfectly.
Oldman does what he does best, an evil prick.....and although he is not in it for very long, you absolutly hate him. Reminds me of Warden Norton in Shawshank.
The music is fantastic and again is very like Shawshank. Alcatraz is disturbing and forboding. Would have been horrendous to have been there.
Fantastic underrated film.
10/10
"WHAT WE DO IN LIFE ECHOES IN ETERNITY"
Tuesday 31 January 2012
Monday 30 January 2012
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011
Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch
When a goverment Mi5 agent is brutally murdered in a mission gone wrong in Istanbul, George Smiley (Oldman) is brought out of retirement to help Control (Hurt) put the pieces together.......however, the deeper Smiley gets to the truth, the more he realises it is right in front of his nose.
Now, i have never seen the original series so i am purely going by the performances in this film. I thought it was bloody brilliant, and a pure credit to British acting and filmaking......why they don't make more like this i will never know. Oldman truely deserves his Oscar and Bafta nominations.....and i hope he wins, i really do! Understated cinema perfected!
10/10
Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch
When a goverment Mi5 agent is brutally murdered in a mission gone wrong in Istanbul, George Smiley (Oldman) is brought out of retirement to help Control (Hurt) put the pieces together.......however, the deeper Smiley gets to the truth, the more he realises it is right in front of his nose.
Now, i have never seen the original series so i am purely going by the performances in this film. I thought it was bloody brilliant, and a pure credit to British acting and filmaking......why they don't make more like this i will never know. Oldman truely deserves his Oscar and Bafta nominations.....and i hope he wins, i really do! Understated cinema perfected!
10/10
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Shame
(Contains scenes of a very sexual nature)
2011
Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan
Brandon Sullivan (Fassbender)live in New York and has his own flat, a great job and a seemingly perfect life. He has a dark secret addiction which controls everything he does. His sexual desires lead him to the seediest parts of life that most people stay away from. He seems unconcerned about these aspects of his life until his younger sister Sissy (Mulligan) comes to stay. With this unwanted burden spoiling his need for sexual gratification and bringing up unwanted memories of an abusive childhood, Brandon's life slips out of control.
I had never seen Fassbender in anything until now, actually, i had never seen Mulligan in anything either, so their chemistry on screen was a lovely surprise :) They were both absolutly fantastic and Carey's "New York, New York" scene was heartbreaking. The cinematography is fantastic and the scenes of New York are beautiful. It should win an award for its musical score as it really captures the moment.
Only gripe i had were that Carey's singing scene was a little drawn out....and it had a bit of a oh, thats it? type ending. Other than that loved it. :)
9/10
2011
Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan
Brandon Sullivan (Fassbender)live in New York and has his own flat, a great job and a seemingly perfect life. He has a dark secret addiction which controls everything he does. His sexual desires lead him to the seediest parts of life that most people stay away from. He seems unconcerned about these aspects of his life until his younger sister Sissy (Mulligan) comes to stay. With this unwanted burden spoiling his need for sexual gratification and bringing up unwanted memories of an abusive childhood, Brandon's life slips out of control.
I had never seen Fassbender in anything until now, actually, i had never seen Mulligan in anything either, so their chemistry on screen was a lovely surprise :) They were both absolutly fantastic and Carey's "New York, New York" scene was heartbreaking. The cinematography is fantastic and the scenes of New York are beautiful. It should win an award for its musical score as it really captures the moment.
Only gripe i had were that Carey's singing scene was a little drawn out....and it had a bit of a oh, thats it? type ending. Other than that loved it. :)
9/10
Sunday 15 January 2012
Barney's Version
2010
Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman
Barney (Giamatti) is old, worn out and very very bitter.As a book is published on his friends disapearence about 20 years ago (which he was blamed for murdering him), we see him reliving his past experiences and 3 failed marriages and wondering where it all went so wrong.
This is a lovely film, but very sad and very depressing. Sometimes we make the wrong choices in life and then realise that it is to late to make everything as it was, but you can still make amends..Hoffman was brilliant as Barney's very Jewish dad....i want him at my wedding, he would be a great laugh.
8/10
Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman
Barney (Giamatti) is old, worn out and very very bitter.As a book is published on his friends disapearence about 20 years ago (which he was blamed for murdering him), we see him reliving his past experiences and 3 failed marriages and wondering where it all went so wrong.
This is a lovely film, but very sad and very depressing. Sometimes we make the wrong choices in life and then realise that it is to late to make everything as it was, but you can still make amends..Hoffman was brilliant as Barney's very Jewish dad....i want him at my wedding, he would be a great laugh.
8/10
Thursday 12 January 2012
Limitless
(2011)
Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel
Eddie Morra (Cooper) is a down and out wannabe writer who just needs his big break but is to lazy and unmotivated to seek it out. He soon finds his break in the form of his ex brother in law who fits him up with a wonder drug called NZT. This allows Eddie to access all the parts of his brain which he couldn't get to before. However, NZT, like any other drugs, has a major come down.
When i went to see Unknown, the trailer for Limitless was shown. I was excited, but never got round to seeing it on the big screen. Im glad i didn't waste the cinema ticket. It really didnt live up to my expectations. The acting was good. The idea behind NZT and addiction was good. The actual playing out of the storyline was so contrived beyond belief and made the drug addict out to be the good guy. It was full of stupid stupid plotholes and unbelievable scenarios, when on NZT, just wouldnt have happened. De Niro was the best thing but was wasted and thrown to the side in a ridiculous ending.
All in all, music good, setting good, acting good.......script and storyline. bloody awful. Which is a shame........as it had SO much potential.
6/10
Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel
Eddie Morra (Cooper) is a down and out wannabe writer who just needs his big break but is to lazy and unmotivated to seek it out. He soon finds his break in the form of his ex brother in law who fits him up with a wonder drug called NZT. This allows Eddie to access all the parts of his brain which he couldn't get to before. However, NZT, like any other drugs, has a major come down.
When i went to see Unknown, the trailer for Limitless was shown. I was excited, but never got round to seeing it on the big screen. Im glad i didn't waste the cinema ticket. It really didnt live up to my expectations. The acting was good. The idea behind NZT and addiction was good. The actual playing out of the storyline was so contrived beyond belief and made the drug addict out to be the good guy. It was full of stupid stupid plotholes and unbelievable scenarios, when on NZT, just wouldnt have happened. De Niro was the best thing but was wasted and thrown to the side in a ridiculous ending.
All in all, music good, setting good, acting good.......script and storyline. bloody awful. Which is a shame........as it had SO much potential.
6/10
Tuesday 3 January 2012
Source Code
(2011)
Jake Gyllenhaal, Michele Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffery Wright, Michael Arden
Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a Chicago bound commuter train, across from a beautiful woman called Christina (Monaghan), and is being called by completely different name and is a completely different person in the mirror. Just as he is trying to get to the bottom of what is going on, there is a massive explosion and Stevens wakes up in a strange pod with noone telling him why he is there or who he is!
Its actually impossible to review this without giving the whole storyline away but all the performances are fantastic and it really does mess with your head.
9/10
Jake Gyllenhaal, Michele Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffery Wright, Michael Arden
Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a Chicago bound commuter train, across from a beautiful woman called Christina (Monaghan), and is being called by completely different name and is a completely different person in the mirror. Just as he is trying to get to the bottom of what is going on, there is a massive explosion and Stevens wakes up in a strange pod with noone telling him why he is there or who he is!
Its actually impossible to review this without giving the whole storyline away but all the performances are fantastic and it really does mess with your head.
9/10
Red Riding Hood
(2011)
Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie
Valerie (Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman who lives in a medieval villiage which is being plagued by a werewolf. If that isnt enough to deal with, she is torn between her childhood love Peter (Fernandez) who is the bad boy every girl falls for and the goody two shoes, Henry (Irons) whom she cannot see herself ever loving. When the wolf kills her sister, it sets the villiage off on a game of whodunnit and like the Crucible creates an air of blame and suspicion. In comes the famous wolf hunter Father Solomon(Oldman) who will do anything (and i mean anything) to avenge the death of his wife, who had been plagued by a werewolf some years ago.
I only really wanted to see this because of Oldman, but i found myself actually quite enjoying it so much more than Catherine Hardwickes previous attempt Twilight (read the books, so much better). It is dark, quite eery at some points and kept me guessing until the end.
Bad points were the stupid use of modern music.....why? it was not needed and just seemed like a silly attempt to make the film cooler. Second bad point is Max Irons, surely with Jeremy Irons before you, there should be more than one expression in your ability.
That said, enjoy it for what it is. The scenery and colours are beautiful.
7/10
Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie
Valerie (Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman who lives in a medieval villiage which is being plagued by a werewolf. If that isnt enough to deal with, she is torn between her childhood love Peter (Fernandez) who is the bad boy every girl falls for and the goody two shoes, Henry (Irons) whom she cannot see herself ever loving. When the wolf kills her sister, it sets the villiage off on a game of whodunnit and like the Crucible creates an air of blame and suspicion. In comes the famous wolf hunter Father Solomon(Oldman) who will do anything (and i mean anything) to avenge the death of his wife, who had been plagued by a werewolf some years ago.
I only really wanted to see this because of Oldman, but i found myself actually quite enjoying it so much more than Catherine Hardwickes previous attempt Twilight (read the books, so much better). It is dark, quite eery at some points and kept me guessing until the end.
Bad points were the stupid use of modern music.....why? it was not needed and just seemed like a silly attempt to make the film cooler. Second bad point is Max Irons, surely with Jeremy Irons before you, there should be more than one expression in your ability.
That said, enjoy it for what it is. The scenery and colours are beautiful.
7/10
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