East is East is an enjoyable comedy drama about an Asian family living in Manchester in the 70's. It is very well written and played (especially Omi Puri, who plays the overbearing father). It touches on issues of culture differences, racism etc. without getting too bogged down with them, which if they were allowed to would ruin the light-heartedness of the film. That said though, some later scenes of unnexpected domestic violence do stumble into the film, and don't quite fit. Also, the theatrical roots of the film do show a little too much, as we rarely go further than their back yard, except for an amusing trip to Bradford. 7/10
In a similar vein to Tremors, this is a B-movie given a modern makeover and a modest budget. Although not quite as good as the previously mentioned cult favourite, this is still a very fast-paced and likeable film. It has all your halmark cheesy romantic and small town problem subplots, which annoy at times, but its just there to give it a little more structure I suppose. The spiders are what are important here though, and they look and act reasonably realistically, even having characters of their own at times. There are a number of different types on show too, which educates us a little as we find out the different methods spiders use of catching and killing their prey - here being small-town folk, some livestock and pets too. Its all pretty daft, very predictable, and not a great film, but its fun, so you've got to give it credit where its due. Also look out for plenty of references to other monster and horror movies including Dawn of the Dead and the Birds. 6/10
End of Days isn't your average arnie film. Although it's action packed and violent, it tries to be dark and serious too. It doesn't have the same enjoyable tongue in cheek feel to his other 'works'. Some people may think, 'great, he's trying something new', but to tell you the truth, it doesn't really work. Arnholdt is given some pretty tough acting to do (for him, anyway), and, although I respect the guy (who doesn't), he can't pull it off. When we see him cry, and pray to God for help, its laughable, but not enough to make the film entertaining. With a different lead though, this film could have been a little better. 4/10
Writer Charlie Kaufman strikes again with another intelligent, warped fantasy that proves (fairly) mainstream cinema can be original and interesting too. This time round there's more heart, with the plot taking place mostly inside Jim Carrey's character's mind as he erases the memories of his ex-girlfriend (Kate Winslet). The visual techniques director Michael Gondry employs to show the deleting process are very effective and not overblown. In one scene if you watch the background carefully you'll notice the spines of the books in a shop fade to white one by one, and in other scenes its more obvious when characters faces are obscured or when a whole building dissintegrates around Carrey and Winslet. The two leads are great, with Winslet throwing off her period drama shackles with the greatest of ease, and managing to 'out-zany' Jim Carrey, which is not mean feat. Carrey is actually much more subdued in this film than usual, but he still manages to deliver the goods, further proving that he's more than just the rubber faced comedy actor from films like Ace Ventura and the Mask. Its got less humour than Being John Malcovich and Adaptation, but its emotionally more powerful, and feels more complete and rounded. Its a wonderful film that everyone should see, but its not the feel good comedy it seems to be marketed as, and its certainly not a date movie. 9/10
Being a big Ghostbusters fan, I was expecting a little more from this, which is from the same director and basically has a similar style (ie. silly humour mixed with up to date effects). Evolution is very entertaining, but doesn't really have that edge to make it a classic (which I regard Ghostbusters as being in its own way). Its funny, but not hilarious. A few too many gags involve people falling over or into things, and I wasn't too sure about the finale, which I won't spoil for anyone. The cast are fun to watch though, Duchovny and Jones were surprisingly good, working quite well together as a comedy double act, Dan Ackroyd should have been given more use though. The effects are top notch too, with CGI and models mixing pretty seamlessly. All in all this is a good laugh, but could have been that little bit better, especially with the cast they had. 5/10
