3rd time seeing this and it's still a cracker. 4/5

It is indeed. Love that film.

One laugh out loud moment and made me jump a few times 4/10 7/10

Chumscrubber Run of the mill Donnie Darko wanabee starring Jamie Bell, Justin Chatwin, Camilla Belle and a host of older pros including Ralph Fiennes and Glenn Close. It was ok but nothing special. 5/10

City of Ember (2008), from Gil Kenan, whose debut film Monster House (2006) won him critical acclaim, comes this retro-futuristic fantasy film, based on a novel by Jeanne Duprau. Over 200 years after an unknown disaster, an underground city called Ember was built as a shelter to protect the people from an unknown disaster. Now, 200 years have passed, and the generator that is powering this entire city is dying, and people are looking for an answer to try and survive, no-one, not even the city's Mayor (Bill Murray), know what's causing it. Then, two friends, messenger Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and pipe worker Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway), come across a box owned by previous mayors, which holds the answer to the people's survival. Visually, it's a very good film, and it owes alot to the future distopias created by Jeunet and Caro, and even Terry Gilliam in Brazil and Twelve Monkeys, but the story does feel a bit confused and it's all over too soon, (it feels as if alot was cut out), but in the long-term, it makes for a pleasant 90 minutes or so. It was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the old shipyards where the Titanic was built, and the supporting cast includes Martin Landau, Toby Jones, Mackenzie Crook, Liz Smith and Tim Robbins!! :D 4/5 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), a technical marvel, probabily one of the few films which successful mixed real humans and cartoon characters together, but it's also a detective story which owes alot to film-noir. Set in Hollywood in 1947, it's a world where cartoons are real next to humans and they all live in one big town called Toontown on the edge of LA. The film has burnt-out private eye Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), who hates 'toons', investigating if cartoon star Roger Rabbit's wife Jessica is cheating on him, then, Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye), who has been seeing Jessica, is found dead, and all fingers point to Roger, who is asking for Eddie to prove his innocence, otherwise he faces being 'dipped' by the deadly and mysterious Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd). Any criticisms anyone has about this film are unimportant, it's a love-letter to the Golden Age of Cartoons and the old film-noirs. Kids loved Roger Rabbit (brilliantly voiced by Charles Fleischer), adults fell for Jessica Rabbit, (voiced by Kathleen Turner) and everyone was amazed by how director Robert Zemeckis, and animation whiz Richard Williams were able to make both worlds go together near-seemlessly, alot of films have tried, (and unsurprisingly failed), to emulate the same technique. The fact of the matter is, the film was in the right place at the right time. It does make you wish Zemeckis would return to films like this, (never mind bloody Beowulf!!) It's time we had a sequel as well!! But, it's worth it to see Donald Duck and Daffy Duck on screen together in a duelling piano's con-*test*-('")!! :D 5/5

6/10

Constantine (2005), the character of John Constantine was created by Alan Moore for Swamp Thing, then he was given his own comic book for Vertigo Comics, and done by Jamie Delano and Garth Ennis. A film was made, the comic book was perfect film material, but the film version falls a bit flat. It has Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, a chain-smoking occult detective/exorcist who is asked by Police Detective Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz), to investigate into the alleged suicide of her twin sister Isabel, (also Weisz), who was a devout Catholic, and would never have taken her own life, and asks Constantine to investigate, who himself is fighting against lung cancer. The comic book had everything set up for them to film, why did they feel the need to go and change it?? :-| (In the comic book, he was a blonde Scouser, here, he's American.) True, it does have its moments of creepiness and suspense, and the depiction of Hell looks great, but everything else just seems a bit, well, half-hearted. They should have done it properly, and cameos by like likes of Djimon Hounsou, Peter Stormare, Tilda Swinton and poor Shia LaBeouf are wasted and misjudged. :-| 2/5

7/10

Youth Without Youth (2007), Francis Ford Coppola returned to directing for the first time since The Rainmaker (1997), to direct what he called "the student film I never made", and it's a very weird piece indeed, and Coppola does let his pretentious operatics get the better of him. Based upon a novella by Mircea Eliade, the film tells the story of 70 year old professor Dominic Matei (Tim Roth), who is struck by lightning on Easter Sunday 1938, and it makes him younger. Doctors, including Professor Stanciulescu (Bruno Ganz), are left baffled, and the Nazi's want to experiment on him. So, Matei makes refuge in neutral Switzerland, and years later, he meets and falls for Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara), who was also struck by lightning, and talks in dead languages. It's good to have Coppola return to cinema after too long away, and whilst it is a beautiful film with some very good performances, it is confusing and it is a bit preachy with it's philosophies, (some of them still don't make sense), but it is well made, Coppola captures the era well, but something more could have come from it. 3/5 Monster House (2006), produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, this is a charming and spooky little animation is done using motion capture, the same technology used by Zemeckis for The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007). The film is set around Halloween, and it follows 3 kids, DJ (Mitchel Musso), Chowder (Sam Lerner) and Jenny (Spencer Locke), who notice strange goings on at the house across the street, owned by the grumpy old Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi), only the house is alive, and something is causing it. A great family film, with good scares and even some good wit for a kid's film. The motion-capture suits a film like this, it's not trying to look real (like Polar Express or Beowulf), it's being a cartoon, and it better for being one. It's also got a brilliant supporting (digital) cast including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, John Heder, Kathleen Turner, Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard!! It's also a loving throwback to something like The Goonies or other 80's kid's adventure films too!! :P 4/5

The Deal (1st view) – Political thriller that stars Christian Slater as a businessman tasked with looking into the validity of a merger between two oil companies. He teams up with Selma Blair’s environmentalist and together they got caught up in government conspiracies and Russian mafia hits. It’s all incredibly dreary, lacking any tension or cohesion within the story, and features some terrifically dodgy acting – 2/5 Take The Lead (1st view) – You know the drill in this kind of film. Impoverished school kids in a rundown area of a big US city all give grief to the newcomer who wants to try and teach them something worthwhile, and gradually they come to accept these teachings and learn to be better people in the process. In this case, they are learning to dance under the tutelage of Antonia Banderas. There’s nothing new here whatsoever, practically every character is a walking cliché and the outcome is predictable from the very first minute. Yet I couldn’t help but get swept along by it all. Despite the fact that the ending was a given, I was urging them to succeed. I hate the term guilty pleasure, (why be guilty of something you like?) but if I were ever going to have such a film, this would be it – 4/5 The Dark Is Rising (1st view) – An adaptation of the second book in a five film series, published during the 1970s. How faithful to the book it is I have no idea, but the film managed to remind of Night Watch, Narnia, Harry Potter and Lord Of the Rings, often within seconds of each other yet never managing to be as exciting or engrossing. Fine actors such as Ian McShane and Frances Conroy are left spouting mumbo-jumbo, and the film is left in the hands Alexander Ludwig, one of the most annoying child performances this side of Anakin Skywalker – 2/5 16 Blocks (2nd view) – Alcoholic, deadbeat cop Bruce Willis has a little under two hours to take prisoner Mos Def the 16 block for a court appearance. However, Def is about to -*test*-('")ify against some corrupt cops and they don’t want him getting there alive. So begins an (almost) real-time thriller through the streets of New York. Willis is as watchable as ever, and surprisingly believable as man well past his prime. Mos Def however gets to be on the wrong side of annoying, rarely shutting up and sporting a truly ear-piercing accent. David Morse is the chief bad guy of the piece and makes for a smooth villain. Richard Donner handles the action with ease, and seems to make New York itself another character in the film – 3/5 Taken (1st view) – When Liam Neeson’s daughter get kidnapped by sex-traffickers in Paris, he goes on a one-man mission to get her back. As an ex-CIA, he’s proficient in gunplay, hand-to-hand combat and torture. It’s the kind of film where you have to suspend belief. Neeson leaves a trail of destruction and death across Paris, yet seems to come away clean, not having to answer to anyone. It’s a Steven Segal flick with an A-list actor, and the film is best when you forget the lurid storyline and watch Neeson in action as the rock hard, take-no-prisoners “preventer” – 3/5 Mystery Of The Wax Museum (1st view) – Michael Curtiz directs this 1933 horror/mystery. Lionel Atwill stars as Ivan Igor, a sculptor who owns a London gallery of wax figures. Once his hands are injured and left wheelchair-bound and following a fire, he moves to New York and has assistants create the sculptures for him. Reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) begins to suspect foul play when new sculpture looks remarkably like a body that has recently been stolen from a morgue, and Far Wray pops up as a damsel in distress. After Wray’s horrible performance in King Kong, I never thought I’d see a film in which see wasn’t he worst female performer on show, but Farrell manages to take that prize. Irritating beyond words. Still, despite this, some huge leaps in logic and great big plot holes, the film’s a winner overall, Curtiz cranking up the tension in a number of scenes, and the muted tones of early Technicolor make this a nice comparison to the more atmospheric black and white horror films of the time – 4/5

8/10

Burn After Reading I was very disappointed , I liked little bits of the film (mostly Brad Pitt) but it was a very average dull fare for me and its another one of those film where all the best bits are in the trailer. 5/10 Eagle Eye Surprised by this. Although it has been seen before, its a mix of 2001 Space Odyssey, I Robot and Enemy of the State. It has a crazy plot with some great action set pieces. Overrall its a late summer popcorn flick which is well worth seeing in the cinema. 8/10

Burn After Reading (2008), The Coen Brothers return after their big Oscar win with No Country for Old Men, and they return to comedy, which is what they do best!! Their la-*test*-('") offering is no exception, it's their take on the well worn spy genre. It has CIA analyst Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), fired from his job for alcoholism, and his marriage to his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is on the rocks, she's having an affair with Treasury agent Pfarrer (George Clooney). In a fit of dispair, Cox hastily writes up his memoirs. Through difficult to explain circumstances, a disc containing his memoirs ends up in the hands of ne'er-do-well gym employees Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). Linda wants cosmetic surgery, so Chad decides to blackmail Cox, who is non-plussed about this, and Harry falls for Linda through internet dating. Confused?? You will be!! But, what else could you expect from the Coen Brothers?? :P It owes alot to the multi-layered storytelling from the films of Robert Altman, but it also owes alot to the paranoid spy thrillers of the 1970's. True, the film isn't a patch on the likes of Fargo (1996) or The Big Lebowski (1998), but it does make for very enjoyable viewing, it grows on you as well, the cast (including Richard Jenkins and JK Simmons) are perfect. It's mad and very silly indeed, but it's what we've come to expect from the Coens, and it's their finest comedy since O Brother!! Let's just say James Bond has just found a bit of competition from a bunch of idiots!! :D 4/5

Burn After Reading - It became apparent watching this that everyone involved had fun making this film. Unfortunately, this sentiment did not trespass onto its viewing public. It pains me to say this is an example of self indulgence that is unacceptable from a talent such as that of the Cohen’s. It has its moments but is ultimately one to watch on dvd.