Rate the last movie you watched.

[Garp]

Blood: The Last Vampire

6/10

Based on Anime that I've not seen before though will probably make the effort now, this live action film focuses around half-demon Saya.

The plot isn't all that bad, though to try and appeal to a larger market they've added the stereotypical late teens US Army General's daughter, who provides very little real substance to the film other than a convienient hook for plot points.

What is absolutely dire is the CGI. Its low budget and it really, really shows. I swear even Sci-Fi / SyFy originals (like Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus) have better quality CGI than this. It really, really lets the film down which is a shame because the fight sequences would seem so much better if it wasn't for it, but every blood spurt, every sweep of a sword betrays how little they spent on it.


If you can excuse CGI that makes Blade 2 look like the pinnacle of CGI quality, then you'll enjoy it (like I have mostly)

[semi-pro waster]

M

Starring

• Peter Lorre
• Ellen Widmann
• Inge Landgut
• Otto Wernicke

Thriller

8/10 It's a great film and I know that but in some ways it's not an enjoyable film, on a rewatch I may revise the score but probably upwards as I notice more. It is however still powerful and remains relevant for a critique on mob mentality with commentary on what can or should constitute justice and who is capable of enforcing it.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Starring

• Shia LaBoeuf
• Megan Fox
• Josh Duhamel
• Tyrese Gibson

Action/comic-book adaptation film

5/10 From the sublime to the ridiculous to use a cliche. In some ways a good choice to follow M as there's no thinking involved here just good old fashioned bombastic yeehaw, guns, guts and glory although it could really do without the clumsy attempts at a moral at the end of the films. It's not the worst film ever by a long way but at around 2 hours 25 minutes it could have done with a significant amount of editing, yet another film that prizes quantity over quality.

[BBx]

Inception

Finally got round to seeing this now, saw it in IMAX - best film of the year for me so far. I found if I didn't think about it too much I didn't get annoyed

8/10

Surrogates

Its the future, where people don't go out of their houses, they still have jobs, they still have relationships, but through robotic versions of themselves - Surrogates. All the surrogates are attractive, strong - but are they indestructible?

Good story, if a bit predictable. Bit of a no brainer film with echoes of i-robot.

6.5/10

BB x

[semi-pro waster]

Charlie Wilson's War

Starring

• Tom Hanks
• Amy Adams
• Julia Roberts
• Philip Seymour Hoffman

Drama based on real events

8/10 I'll start by saying that for some reason I'm not really a Tom Hanks fan, I was actually discussing this the other night and he's the cinematic equivalent of magnolia paint for me - he goes well with almost everything but I tend to barely notice him (which is probably a sign that he's a great actor). However this is a fantastic film, it's very well written (the screenplay is by Aaron Sorkin who wrote The West Wing too), the performances are universally good, there's quite surprising levels of humour and it tells an intriguing story in a taut running time of just over 100 minutes.

I am undoubtedly being a bit harsh on Mr Hanks, I've enjoyed lots of films that he has been in but unlike with some other actors I never find myself thinking that "ah, he's in it, I'd quite like to watch it then" and I can't put my finger on why that should be.

[Kitten]

Knight and Day

Enjoyable romp. Cameron Diaz is a charm, as always & Tom Cruise is actually quite likeable.

7/10

The Last Airbender 3D

From IMDB: Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, the lone Avatar hash the power to manipulate all four elements and teams up with Katara, a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka to restore balance to their war-torn world.

Some great effects, a really good film for the kids. The baddies are bad, the goodies are somewhat annoying but that's probably just me. The 3D is really good in parts but for the whole, pretty disappointing, I'd probably watch it in 2D and save the expense (you could pretty much watch it without the glasses on except in certain parts where waterbending and firebending was going on.

6/10 - probably 8 or 9/10 for the kids.

Dead Man Walking

From IMDB: A convicted murderer on Death Row and the nun who befriends him. Through the portrayal of finely drawn characters and their interactions as the days, hours, and minutes tick down to the condemned man's execution, powerful emotions are unleashed. While Matthew Poncelet and Sister Prejean desperately try to gain a stay of execution from the governor or the courts, scenes are intercut from the brutal crime, gradually revealing the truth about the events that transpired. In addition to her temporal help, the nun also tries to reach out spiritually and assist as a guide to salvation

I've never caught this film before but have wanted to for some time - and have to admit I was pretty disappointed. Expected much more. It didn't hold my attention and I didn't really care about any of the characters (except the murdered kids' families).

5/10

[BBx]

The Blind Side

Actually really good. Didn't realise it was a true story or what it was about, but altogther really nice movie glad they didn't cast Julia Roberts in the lead, Sandra B was a good choice.

7.5/10

Kick Ass

Not as bad as I thought it would be, fight scenes reminded me a bit of Kill Bill.

McLovin from Superbad is in it... so is Nicolas Cage (not one of his obvious film choices :/). If it wasn't for the little girl I don't think I would have liked it at all.

7/10

BB x

[Desmo]

Toy Story 3 - 3D

3D. It's just a gimmick, right? Well that's what I thought until we went to see TS3 last night. The film itself is typical TS...great fun, a few jokes thrown in without going over the top and amazingly fun characters doing their stuff through the story. It's a brilliant film and probably my favourite out of the TS trilogy. Now for the 3D. Well I was simply blown away. I was expecting a few snippets of 3D through the film and wondered how I'd know when to put the glasses on but the entire film is 3D and it's simply stunning. It's like watching animated models walking around the screen. Some of the adverts before the film were also 3D and they were great and when some sport came on and a rugby ball came flying towards me I looked like

I usually leave the cinema feeling a little let down and disappointed but not this time.

It's Disney, it's fun, it's Toy Story, it's 3D.....it's 10/10

[Garp]

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Michael Cera (urgh)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Kieran Culkin et. al.

9/10

Plot Summary: Scott (Cera) meets Ramona (Winstead), the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately to continue to date her he has to fight to the death her 7 evil exes. Wrapped around that concept is essentially a coming-of-age film, full of funny quotes, and geeky references.

It's pure unadulterated AWESOME, directed by Edgar Wright, the genius behind "Hot Fuzz", "Sean of the Dead", "Spaced" etc, and his fingerprints are all across it which is no bad thing. I'm told it's reasonably close to the source comic books, but with a few necessary changes due to the format and time constraints. I don't care, but I will be keeping an eye out for them for future reading

I found myself with just one criticism at the end. Scott is pretty much Nick, from "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist", and they're basically the same person: Bassist in an unsigned band (that's trying to get noticed), who is still struggling to get over the heartache of the breakup with his last hot girlfriend, until this new girl appears on the scene. Queue awkward stumbling over words, blank/introspective (delete as appropriate) looks into the distance and so on. Whilst I think Michael is perfectly suited for both roles, it initially jars, and I think I'd rather they'd found someone else for it (or that I'd seen this without having seen him as Nick)

[Kitten]

I'm reeeeeally looking forward to this. Should have a freebie viewing in a few days if all is well! \o/

[Kitten]

Going the Distance.

Another week, another freebie

Drew Barrymore (Erin) and Jason thingybob (Garrett) (the one that's not Shia LeBouf) meet in New York just after his girlfriend dumps him. She's 31 and is an intern on a newspaper - she gave up her career prospects to be with a guy way back when (they've since split) and is just getting back on track, and is getting ready to leave NY to go back to San Francisco and do a journalism/reporting course.

She moves back and they do the whole long distance thing. She moves in with her sister (brilliantly played by the gorgeous christina Applegate) and her husband. CA plays the simmering, uptight, Waspish sister absolutely superbly, and I'm amazed it's taken so long for these two to be paired up as siblings, as it just works so well.

Don't be put off by the thought that this is a romcom. It is, but it's a different sort of film because it's very 'grown up'. As M&S would say 'This isn't any normal run of the mill RomCom' It's more the Hangover than Sleepless in Seattle. For one thing, they swear a lot, and although I hate to use the phrase, it's very 'real'. You believe in the characters, they aren't too good to be true and they have flaws. Embarrasing ones sometimes and there is one of the best/worst cringeworthy scenes I have ever seen when he first comes to SF to see her. THere are some VERY rude moments, but they aren't gratuitous (I don't think there's any nudity at all) and some of the conversations had by Garrett and his friends are just superb. It's the first time I've been in the cinema for ages where people were quite literally laughing out loud and struggling to contain their laughter afterwards. THere was a young couple next to us and a handful of 60+'s behind us and they were all screeching laughing at several different points.

Anyway, all in all I loved it. Didn't think I would but I did. And Leo, who really thought he wouldn't like it, loved it too. Go see it.

9/10