What I Just Watched?

I just watched The Return. Some lame horror flick starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was simply awful. Picture your nan realising she's late for a bake sale at the community hall and throwing all the ingredients in a rush into a bowl and coming up with something beyond edible. This is the movie equivalent of baking gone wrong. The wrong mix of elements, a messy narrative structure and SMG in her most lacklustre performance to date. Painful :sad:

Munich - Spielberg at his best. Robbed of oscars at the 2006 awards, this is Spielbergs best film since Saving Private Ryan (and considering the quality of those inbetween, that's saying something). Reminiscent in both style and tone to many conspiracy and crime thrillers from the seventies, but I'm having a hard time thinking of any film from that era with sequences that are as tense, intense or thrilling is those in Munich. Eric Bana is splendid in tbe lead and he leads a fine cast. Nail-biting stuff from a true cinema master - 5/5

Watched Insomnia which I bought today for seven quid. I've got all Chris Nolan's films now. And before that went to see Death Proof this afternoon.

Disturbia (2007), an unofficial remake of Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954). This tale has troubled teen Kale (Shia LaBeouf), who is under house-arrest for the summer for assaulting his Spanish teacher. Unable to leave the house, he begins observing the neighbourhood around him. Then, he starts to doubt his neighbour, Robert Turner (David Morse), believing he might be a serial killer. This is quite a surprising good and quite suspensful thriller, which has some genuine scares and even good performances for a film of it's kind. Director D.J. Caruso and LaBeouf are definitely talents to keep an eye on!! ;-) 4/5

3.10 To Yuma - Great stuff, one of the films of the year - 4/5

Real Women Have Curves. What a fantastic film! Heart warming, funny and truely funny. A must for any female who has had problems with their weight. 5/5

Death Proof (2007), Quentin Tarantino's half of the ill-fated Grindhouse experience. His half is like an authentic 70's B-Movie, and has psychotic stunt-driver Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), who stalks foul-mouthed, but good lookin' ladies in Austin Texas and rural Tennessee in his Death Proof car. However, a few of them decide to get revenge on him. It's a slow-burning character piece, but one Stuntman Mike revs into action, it becomes scary!! It looks and feels like a film from the 1970's, complete with a great soundtrack and a damaged print, just a pity we couldn't see it as Grindhouse. 4/5

The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), one of the grea-*test*-('") comedy franchases of the 1960's, is revived for the 1970's. Peter Sellers returns as Inspector Clouseau, bumbling his way around Europe in search of the Pink Panther diamond, which has once again, been stolen. Blake Edwards directs some great set pieces in here, from a fight or two with Kato (Burt Kwouk), or Clouseau's stressed boss Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). For reference, this is the one with the 'minkey', and the vacuum cleaner incident. 4/5

Music & Lyrics - 3/5 Deja Vu - 4/5 Fahrenheit 9/11 - 4/5

Death Proof

Positives 1. Great 70's cinema feel in the cinematography and art direction, shot in 35mm it has intentional scratches, burns and that ever elusive missing reel. 2. Real likable and hatable characters who add some depth to the story. 3. The gore was shot beautifully as well as the driving and chase scenes. 4. Great cast of female characters, especially Sydney Poitier as Jungle Julia. 5. Mary Elizabeth Winstead looking cute in her cheerleader outfit.

Negatives 1. Too much unnecessary dialogue throughout the entire film. Tarantino counted way too much on his writing to carry much of the movie. 2. Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike, is weak from the start and his characterization becomes ridiculously stupid towards the end. 3. Mary Elizabeth Winstead doesn't have enough scenes and gets wasted come the 3rd act 4. Some of the supporting characters like the one played by Eli Roth were annoying to watch and were miscast (yea, i know they are friends and the whole thing). 5. The abrupt end becomes even more dissapointing because the action to dialogue ratio is unbalanced which makes you crave more action. Final Verdict .......3/5..... I enjoyed the visceral quality of the film, the story was decent, just the execution was missing something, perhaps less sitting around in the beginning and more action in the end. Don't get me wrong there are some scenes that will definately take you for a ride....no pun intended. It was a little too much Tarantino (if that's possible) and less 'Grindhouse'. But still worth watching. _____________________________

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