(From Insomniac Mania)
Bandits is an enjoyable crime caper from the writer/director Barry Levinson who was behind the excellent Diner, which shows here in some nice touches in the dialogue. However, the film was a little bit too long for its content, and I felt the love triangle story was dragged out a bit too much. Also, the 'twist' ending could be seen coming a mile off right from near the start. This is because of a prime example of being told some pointless information about a character at the beginning, that surprise surprise comes out to be useful at the end. Billy Bob Thornton is very good as usual, and Cate Blanchet and Bruce Willis are likeable, if not quite up to Thornton's standards. This is a better film than I first expected though (the trailer doesn't really leave you drooling), but its still not as good as Levinson's debut. 6/10
The Beach is a stylish attempt at a Lord of the Flies with/for twenty-somethings with dashes of Heart of Darkness thrown in for good measure. It's well shot, the performances are fine (Leo wasn't as annoying as I'd have thought, and Robert Carlyle was excellent in the small amount of screentime he got), and the film has one or two decent moments (the fantasy computer game sequence was a nice touch), but it never reaches the levels of the fore-mentioned inspirations, or even the book it was based on. A huge amount from the book has been cut or changed, which loses a lot of the messages apparent in there, and most of the more powerful scenes in the novel have been taken out, which results in a weak film. There are times later on when it starts to look to be getting more interesting, but eventually opts out for a bit of a dissapointingly soft ending. Its quite good, but I'd stick with the book. 6/10
From reading about this film I thought it sounded quite odd. However nothing prepared me for what I witnessed. Last night I watched the most original, peculiar and downright ridiculous film in my entire life. This isn't a bad thing though. Being John Malkovich is a very funny, but often intelligent film touching on many issues including immortality, voyeurism, the power obsessed etc. I could go on for ages. Strangely enough, coming from a famous music-video director (Spike Jones), the film is shot in a down to earth, sometimes documentary style, which brilliantly contrasts the complete fantasy the film dwells in. However, be warned, this film is certainly not for everyone; you either get it and love it, or don't get it and find it just plain stupid.
P.S. Its got some damn good puppeteering in it. 10/10
An (almost) silent French animated film might not sound like the sort of film your average film-goer would rush out to see, but Belleville Rendez-Vous is a beautifully crafted, funny and unique film that given the chance, people of any age would enjoy. A very strange plot revolving around an old lady, her grandson, the mafia and the Tour-De-France, this film delights with its well designed characters who are given plenty of life through some wonderfully disproportionate physical attributes and plenty of loveable little tics and idiosyncracies. Its old-fashioned drawing style is used very effectively to create the eccentric but beautiful looking world of the film and perfectly compliments the quirky, yet old-fashioned feeling slapstick humour of it. It meanders a little in the middle, but on the whole this is great stuff, especially if you're an animation fan, but even if you're not, there is plenty to enjoy here. Bizare, but loveably so. 8/10
From the makers (bar Rob Reiner and Harry Shearer) of Spinal Tap, this is quite a similar film, copying the 'mockumentary' style of the original. It isn't as good as it's predecessor (what is?!), but this is still very funny. The fun poked at dog shows here isn't quite as biting (sorry) as that of rock stars in Tap, you can tell the makers are secretly great admirers of the subject, although they do take the piss out of certain aspects. The characters are mostly very funny and well played by a great comic cast who seem to enjoy themselves. I especially liked the show commentator (I'm not sure who he was played by). I wasn't hugely satisfied by the end I have to say though, but its always hard to end a film about a competition with so many characters. I liked the final post-competition clips though. Overall, its a lot of fun, and fans of Spinal Tap style films will love it, but its not as fresh a concept as it used to be, and its not got quite the same satirical edge as other examples. 8/10
Big Fish is an enjoyable and imaginative story about tall tales, which is great at times, but like a lot of Tim Burton's films just feels as though its lacking something to really lift it above the rest. My main gripe is with the 'real life' elements away from the stories, which just felt too flat. That may be the point I suppose, but I was underwhelmed by Billy Crudup's performance as storyteller Edward Bloom's (Albert Finney/Ewan McGregor) son. Albert Finney is very good though as is McGregor playing the same character in his stories. There is still plenty to like about the film though. As is expected from Tim Burton there are plenty of colourful characters and settings, and the quirkiness of everything is what draws you into the film. There is plenty of humour too, coming mainly from the absurdities of Bloom's stories, and the supporting cast is very good, especially Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito. The visual style is very strong and draws from most of Burton's earlier films mixing colourful circus scenes with spooky forests and 50's style suburbs and so on. The ending, whilst fairly predictable and sentimental, works surprisingly well too. All in all I can remember a lot of good things about Big Fish and I certainly enjoyed it, but there's just something missing which stops it from being really great. 7/10
If I were to review this film based on plot, dialogue, acting etc. it would get a terrible mark, but this is Blade 2, I went to watch this film to have a laugh and watch vampires get massacred with various weapons and fighting styles. And I wasn't totally dissapointed. The film opens very promisingly in Prague with some great kinetic action sequences, and the first glimpse of the new 'reaper' bad guys, that are very cool (think predator meets alien meets a vampire). However, as cool as these bad guys are, they could only be killed with light, which for me spoiled a lot of the action in the film that followed. You go to see a film like this to see bad guys get a beating, not a flash with a torch. It is still an entertaining film, but mainly because of the previous fact, it relies too heavily on special effects, which are hit and miss here - the reapers look amazing, but some of the exploding vampires look a bit dodgy, as do the long shots of 'humans' flying around. Also, there are some pointless plot twists near the end that aren't that amazing, and just detract from what you're watching. The final battle is great though, and fans of the first film won't be dissapointed, although I did prefer the predecessor myself. 6/10
More trashy vampire killing antics with Blade and some new friends. Now I must admit after the critical mauling this film received it wasn't as bad as everyone made out, but saying that this is still pretty bad. Most of the added characters are either rubbish (i.e. a blind woman and her daughter) or just a bit annoying (i.e. Ryan Reynolds), although Jessica Biel's presence kept me interested. The villain this time round was way too campy as well and made it all a little too much like a pantomime. Action wise its just the usual, nothing groundbreaking or heart-stopping, but enough to stop action-junkies from getting bored. There's not much more to say really, especially seen as I'm writing this review a couple of months after I saw it. It obviously is quite poor because I'm struggling to remember much about it at all. Not recommended as a purchase then, but if you want a no-brainer rental you could probably do worse. 4/10
This is a pretty formulaic spy/amnesia/thriller movie surprisingly enough from the director of Swingers and Go. As formulaic and predictable as it is however, this is a very enjoyable and well made film. The most impressive aspect for me was the quality of the action scenes. These didn't rely on Matrix style effects or John Woo style over the top slow mo camera work - this was just hard-as-nails realistic fighting and nail biting chases etc. This, mixed with overall solid acting and direction as well as a cracking pace make this film perfect entertainment for those not seeking anything too demanding. Matt Damon makes a pretty good action hero and Franke Potente is good, if underused in a very stereotypical love interest role. It does have its problems though. It wimpers out a bit towards the end with a slightly slushy and predictable finale. It also doesn't really do enough with the amnesia angle - we pretty much always know what he doesn't know - it could have been more suspensful and interesting had we been kept more in the dark as he is. Overall I certainly enjoyed it and would recommend it to most people, but don't expect anything fresh or original. 7/10
Much like the first Bourne film/remake, The Bourne Supremacy has taken a standard spy/thriller plot and turned it into an exciting, gritty film. Boasting an unexpected early twist to get things moving, this is a sort of dirtier, more viscous spin on a Bond film, giving the latest from that franchise a run for their money. With some fantasticaly tense and realistic car chases and stunts this really makes you grow fond for the days when action movies didn't rely on green screens and computer generated 'stunt-men'. The car chase finale especially is astounding - you're made to really feel every sharp corner and collision, and its guaranteed to leave you breathless. The shaky handheld camera work, although it takes a few minutes to adjust to, is very nicely done too, managing to look grittily 'realistic' but aesthetically pleasing at the same time, as well as making the action scenes more effective. Matt Damon makes for a good action lead again, and the rest of the cast are solid enough. Like the first film though, this is very conventional at times, and the plot loses steam towards the end. All together its an exhilarating ride but nothing amazingly fresh or original. 7/10
Bowling For Columbine is a disturbing and damning, but at the same time very entertaining documentary exploring the possible reasons behind America's obsession with its seemingly inherent gun culture and why events such as those at Columbine took place. Coming from famed expose documentary maker Michael Moore this is quite a one-sided argument, never really giving intelligent arguments from the side of those involved in America's gun culture. People from this group are interviewed, but they always come across as being very ignorant. This could be because most of them are though, who's to say. The one-sidedness aside (no pun intended) this is a very powerful piece. The humour throughout the film simultaneously makes the disturbing facts easier to digest, whilst also in a way helps them come through more powerfully and the fact that some of what we see is funny just makes it seem more painful. Although as I said this is pretty one-sided, Moore does explore a huge number of avenues, leaving few stones of American culture unturned, and I came out of the cinema feeling very angry at American society in general (and I'm half American!). Theres much more I could say about the film, but to keep it brief I'll simply urge you all to watch it. 9/10
Bruce Almighty sees Jim Carey returning to his more over the top comedy beginnings, and as with most of his earlier films (bar maybe The Mask and Ace Ventura 1), its very funny at times but starts to fall flat towards the end as 'the morals' kick in and the schmaltz starts to take over. This reminded me a lot of Liar Liar (by the same director), where a high concept idea provides an excellent forum for Carey's high-jinx, but loses its way in the final third or so. I felt that here they could have possibly done more with the concept though. The consequences of Bruce's (Carey's character) misuse of his god-powers aren't really dwelled upon quite as much as they could have been, although that would have made for a very dark film, and wouldn't have worked at all I suppose (for a moment towards the end it seems as though they're about to turn it that way though). All of these problems aside, I still enjoyed most of the film though. When Bruce is messing about with his powers and using them to get promoted its great fun, and makes you glad that Carey has gone back to his roots. As with most of Hollywood films nowadays though they just have to spoil it towards the end with some schmaltzy/patriotic/moralistic rubbish. 6/10
Its hard for me to review this, as I have seen very few feature length documentaries, in fact I don't think I've seen any. However, I know that I enjoyed this, and was even a little moved at times. The film follows Ry Cooder in his re-grouping of the band he put together in 1996 from some of the greatest Cuban musicians of the twentieth century, which resulted in the grammy-award winning album, Buena Vista Social Club. All of the members of the band are in their 80's or 90's, and were long forgotten before the album was put together, and its fantastic to see these wonderful characters get the success and respect that they deserve. The film is a little slow at the start, but as the music gets more lively, and you get to know more about the musicians, it grows on you, and you walk out of the cinema humming their tunes with a big grin on your face. You probably need to be a musician though to fully appreciate this film, as some of the best moments are just watching these amazing artists at work. Overall, Its a lovingly crafted piece, with a fantastic soundtrack. 8/10
A darkly humorous film about Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix, on top form), a US soldier based in West Germany who spends his army life dealing drugs and stolen arms, Buffalo Soldiers makes a refreshing change from all the pro-military over-patriotic propaganda that Hollywood has been churning out since September 11th. For all the essentially nasty goings-on in the film, it's surprisingly likeable, mainly due to the sharp script and some fine and nicely varied performances. Pheonix is great as the anti-hero Elwood, Scott Glenn is memorably sadistic as a sergeant out to put a stop to his misadventures, and Ed Harris is very enjoyable as an incompetent but loveable officer. The love-story element doesn't really ignite the screen and the finale is slightly ridiculous, but most of the time this is a very entertaining and biting satire that makes a welcome change to most modern war films, instead looking back to films like M*A*S*H for inspiration. Sign up now! (Sorry, terrible pun) 8/10
