I came into this film not knowing what to expect from it, and came out not knowing what to think of it. The Talented Mr Ripley isn't a startlingly original film, but it has a very odd feel to it. The story is quite pulpy, yet the film is shot sumptuously in Rome and various other exotic locations around Italy. The cast is good, Matt Damon creates an interesting character, and the rest do their duties satisfactorily. It's a bit messy in parts though, some loose ends are sort of left lying around, and the end is very peculiar. Also many scenes where Ripley's sexuality is questioned are very uncomfortable, and often confusing, as he shows interest in a lot of the female leads as well as the male ones. I couldn't help but feel at times that I was watching a well made film, but at other times I felt as though I was watching an average film. It's too long as well. 6/10
Without James Cameron on board and after the last few Arnie films the future looked bleak for Terminator 3. However, in my opinion its actually pretty good. Of course its not as dark and tense as the first film and isn't as spectacular as the second, but it was never going to quite reach the levels of those two films. This third installment takes itself less seriously than the other films (until towards the end anyway) and this works in its favour considering the shadows it is standing under. I found myself laughing quite a lot through the film (and not for the wrong reasons), which made for an enjoyable experience where it could have been disasterous. It does have its serious side when the plot develops a bit more in the second half, and the plot here is fairly good too, although it treads some ground already familiar in the previous outings. The end was quite surprising though, but I won't give anything away. Arnie does what he does best (acts like a robot) quite well here, helping at least me gain more respect for his 'twilight years' and the rest of the cast are reasonable too, although it doesn't seem quite right without Linda Hamilton. The effects are great, although there's nothing as gobsmackingly new as some of the stuff in T2. The action scenes are well pulled off though and the running time is short enough to keep it exciting throughout too, although with a few extra minutes they could have built on the plot a bit more. All in all, its a surprisingly effective sequel, but not a groundbreakingly great one. 7/10
This ludicrously stylish action/black-comedy is one of the first films to tackle the Gulf War as a proper 'war film'. Okay, so its set after the war, and the main plot is about stealing gold and not the war itself, but its the first film to question that war and look at the aftermath of it. Previous 'Gulf War movies' have chiefly been just thrillers set in it (e.g. Courage Under Fire). This film isn't a Thin Red Line style meditation on war either though. It's often exciting, often hilarious, and often disturbing, and is always shot with a great energy and style; The camera is sent into peoples bodies, film is bleached to create a washed out look, gunfights are shown in bullet-by-bullet slow motion etc...... It's worth seeing just for this, but there is more to it than most action films, maybe not as much to it as conventional war films, or satires like M*A*S*H*, but it is a very enjoyable and cool film. 8/10
Titan AE is a mixture of groundbreaking new ideas in animation with a hugely cliched story, very bad hackneyed dialogue and some terrible musical montage sequences. The whole film plays like a computer game, with fast paced action throughout, alongside it's minimal plot. The film mostly looks quite impressive, especially in the action sequences (a showdown in an ice-minefield is particularly good), but some of the handrawn character work is a bit shoddy at times, and the bad guys look a little simple and 'computery'. The use of computer animation alongside handrawn work allows the film to move more freely which is great for action as I said earlier, but also gives the 'camera' some freedom in other scenes, giving the whole film a great kinetic style. However, as mentioned at the start, the plot and dialogue has been recycled from so many other films (some lines of dialogue are just lifted straight out of Star Wars, listen for a couple of "here they come"'s), that Titan AE just ends up being a very basic sci-fi adventure that looks nice at times, but feels so familiar, you just don't care, which is a shame, as it could have been so much better. 4/10
(From Insomniac Reviews)
Touching the Void combines dramatic reconstruction and interviews with the real life protagonists to tell the story of two climbers on a disasterous expedition in the Peruvian Andes. Its a gruelling journey of survival and loneliness which is utterly gripping throughout. The interviews work well in reminding us that the hardships that are portrayed in the dramatization actually happened, and alongside Spellbound and several other recent films goes to prove that documentaries can be equally as tense or exciting as any effects led blockbuster. Definately worthy of its Best British Film BAFTA this year, and well worth watching. Be warned though, it was more gruelling than I expected, so its the not the lightest of films. 8/10
I was told great things about this film, and it took me a while to get round to watching it, causing my expectations to get very high, which usually leads to dissapointment. However, when I walked out of the cinema, I had a huge smile plastered to my face, and I felt like a kid again. Joining the small class of sequels-to-excellent-films-that-are-as-good-or-better-than-the-originals (Godfather pt 2, Aliens, Empire Strikes Back), Toy Story 2 takes the original concept and adds much more depth, and just as much enjoyment. Thoroughly entertaining from start to finish (Bugs Life style out-takes are at the end), this excellent film made me almost get my old toys out of the loft to play with them one last time. P.S. Ditch the sickeningly high pitched ballad next time, but keep the cabaret singing penguin. 9/10
Using the 'tapestry of storylines' style of John Sayles' City of Hope and Lone Star, mixed with plot and camera use similar to The Insider, Traffic falls somewhere in between these films, but never quite as good as any of them. After reading the terrific reviews this film got, I do think it was slightly over-rated. It is very good, but suffers from a lack of strength (despite the controvertial theme), a limp ending, a couple of ridiculous turns in the plot, and a slight overdose of schmaltz. However, this is a very well put-together film, with some great cinematography, good fluid direction and a couple of decent performances (especially Benicio Del Torro). Also, despite its length, it doesn't seem over long or boring at all. Overall, this is good stuff, but ignore the over-hyping the film is getting in the media, or you'll be dissapointed. 8/10
When most acclaimed foreign directors move to Hollywood the quality of their work goes into decline, but not Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who broke onto the scene a few years ago with the excellent Amores Perros. In my opinion 21 Grams is actually an improvement on his previous film. This may be mainly due to not having to watch it with subtitles, but chiefly I think its the fact that this film is leaner (in length), packing just as much punch into a smaller space (Amores Perros' 153 minutes made it a bit too much of a struggle). Anyway, to break away from comparison, 21 Grams is a fine piece of filmmaking, a gritty and grim, but at times touching story of how three lives intertwine around a devastating car crash (which we never actually see, allowing its impact on other peoples lives to take centre stage). The three central performances from Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn are absolutely stunning, allowing all three strands to feel as equally powerful as the other. The cut-up time jumping structure of the film is very effectively used too, and rather than feeling gimicky helped keep you interested and drove the pace of the film in my opinion. The ending maybe wasn't quite as powerful as I'd hoped (which may possibly be due to the jigsaw-like structure), but I don't think a big showstopping climax would have worked in such an intimate yet frequently powerful film. This is brilliant stuff, and shouldn't be missed. 9/10
