I haven't written a proper film review in quite some time, so I'm well overdue to write one. This is as good a film as any to get back on track with them.

Mark

It's no Planet Terror, but since that's quite simply awesome, that's no great insult. Easily one of the better movies of last year for me.

I didn't know what to expect when I first sat down to watch it - so was quite taken back by the sobreity of the first half - which nowhere near as emotionally charged as UP! - still made me a choke a little. Both are easily must sees.

I finally watched this last night.
I really enjoyed it. I'd go for a 4 out of 5 - there's really nothing that sticks out as marring my enjoyment, but equally it wasn't like, the greatest film EVAR!
Also, she looks a lot like my ex.

I'd call you a lucky sod, but you're no longer together, so I won't.
No, it's not the greatest films evah, but in my opinion there's not much stopping it from being so damn good that it's flaws are inconsequential to my enjoyment of it.
Only the best film that I've ever seen will get a 5 out of 5, and I'll not be able to say what that is until I'm no longer going to see any more films in my lifetime.

Mark

Yeah, I agree, it's a cracking bit of story telling, proper monstery monsters but they're not laboured to death.

And yes, I was a lucky sod.

Alright man, no need to rub it in …

Mark

... said the Actress to the Bishop.

TRON: Legacy

Just watched this at the cinema in 3D. As a visual and aural experience, it was amazing. The 3D worked better than in Toy Story 3. The uber-cool style of the whole film was fantastic. The score by Daft Punk was fantastic. I've never bothered much with OSTs before (the main exceptions being Fight Club and Merlin), but this is definitely one OST that I would download.

There are a couple of hotties in this film too.

******S P O I L E R S******

The storyline. The entire thing felt like a cross between the Matrix and Star Wars but without the awesomeness. Flynn Sr felt like a Neo-esque Obi-Wan-Kenobi. I didn't watch the original film recently. I wish I had as then I could at least make an attempt at comparisons but I only vaguely remember the original story. It started off relatively coherent but as the film progressed, some things made less sense. There wasn't enough dialogue IMO to explain more about things, to develop the characters further.


******S P O I L E R S******

In short, if you watch it in 3D, it's worth the £9 or whatever it cost (we went to a Showcase Deluxe cinema - something I will now actively seek out). EDIT: The 3D didn't cause me as much of a headache as Toy Story did but it was still a little uncomfortable.

Knight and Day apparently had 12 writers in it's time - let's just say I have even less confidence in that monkeys-typewriters-Shakespeare theory now...

I switched it off after half an hour, what's the point if it's got stilted dialogue and you couldn't care about the leads never mind anyone else?

Seriously, how hard is it these days to make a film that doesn't feel like it was beamed down from another planet?

The Green Hornet (in 3D).


* * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * *

Watched it today. Don't bother with the 3D bit - it's not as good as in Toy Story 3 or Tron 2. Lots of action and "set pieces". Lots of slapstick type "humour". The main character sounded like Kermit right the way through and I felt it made a negative impact on the acceptance of the main character - it made him look more buffoonish.

I've never seen the TV series, so have very little idea. In fact, I'd have no idea whatsoever if I hadn't seen clips of the show from Bruce Lee shows. Britt Reid, the main guy seems so silly. Like he doesn't have any "common sense" whatsoever, despite being the son of a multi-millionaire. I felt it ruined the movie, which was more "spoof" than "straight" (something apparently the original series tried to stay away from). Kato was much better and very much felt an action person, but his role was made ridiculously silly by the action (which I'll cover later). I did like his stunts, his artwork etc. But his "technology" was just too OTT - especially towards the end with a ridiculous number of weapons for such a car. Still, I preferred Kato's work over Reid.

Cameron Diaz - once the jewel of actresses, so hot, she'd make me horny when she was in the red dress in The Mask. Yet not once did she make me twitch. She plays a 31-year old, but looks more like she's in her mid-forties. Things like crow's feet, wrinkles here and there - she's ageing more than her years. Hell, the Asian girls in the smaller scenes were hotter (and probably younger!). Seemed otherwise reasonable in her acting.

The baddie - again, seemed like forced humour was at work rather than any real menace. Thought he could have been more "bad" or villainous. The ever-so-slight twist was remotely interesting and definitely added to the story IMO, though the action was a bit too long.

The 3D was completely useless - you could see it but I don't think it added anything to the film at any point. It was merely a selling point and not worth going for. Definitely watch it on a bigscreen though - it's that kind of film that seems ridiculously OTT, more spoof than story. Hell, you could add the "KPOW!" and "WHUMP!" stuff from the 1960s Batman TV series and it wouldn't have felt out of place!

I'd give it three out of five wolves.

Resident Evil : Afterlife

Fourth film in the Resident Evil series and I guess most of you will already know if you're going to bother seeing it. Following on from the events of Resident Evil : Extinction, part four begins with an attack on the japanese headquarters of the Umbrella Corporation by Alice (Milla Jovovich) ably assisted by her clones. Having dealt with that business, Alice heads for Alaska to find Arcadia, the last stronghold of uninfected humanity in the USA.

With Paul W.S. Anderson directing again, Afterlife has more of the feel and look of part one about it. The action scenes are well-staged for the most part and the film looks good, but there are so many borrowings from other movies it's ridiculous. There are some shameless lifts from The Matrix along the way and in terms of the story, Dawn of the dead (both original and remake), The Thing and Blade 2 (amongst others) are borrowed from. Let's hope that part 5 (oh yes ) will be a bit more original. I must say that I've not played any of the Resident Evil games so I don't know how closely they correlate, if at all.

Overall, Afterlife is exactly what you'd expect if you've seen any of the others. It's entertaining but not actually exciting or scary. I think it would have worked better on the big screen in 3D. They used James Cameron's 3D system for filming (instead of doing it in post production) and I can imagine that some scenes would have been quite impressive.

A quick note about the soundtrack (created by Tomandandy), which is really good. It combines the eerie quality of Marilyn Manson's work on the first film with the electro-industrial sound of the Tetsuo films. The opening theme - Tokyo - is worth a listen at high volume.

5.5 out of 10

Dreamcatcher

Just caught up with this 2003 adaptation of a Stephen King novel. It's so awful I felt it was my duty to warn off anyone who might consider viewing it. The first 30 mins or so might lull you into thinking you're at least going to be entertained but it goes rapidly downhill from there.

2 out of 10

How to Train Your Dragon

Just watched this. It is a family film about a viking who befriends an injured dragon and through looking after this dragon learns how to deal with dragons without killing it in Dragon Slaying classes. I saw it in 2D though there is a 3D version. Nominated for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score and Best Animated Feature Film of the Year at the 2011 Oscars. It was highly entertaining and well worthy the 8.2 score on IMDB. There are a few scenes that might benefit from 3D but overall it does not need it. Very Good and highly entertaining.

8/10

anyone into war films has checked amazon? just bought about 15, lost count war films, all foreign subtitled for about £2-3 each theyre good ones too, russian french israli which is all filmed in a tank,

new wwII one called "the final sacrifice" its in tesco 3 words AVOID AVOID AVOID

Faster, starring The Rock... just watch anything else. Think a modern take on the sort of revenge flicks Charles Bronson used to make, only with even less acting from all concerned. Well, unless you consider Billy Bob Thornton doing a Nic Cage impersonation 'acting'

Oh, and for a film called Faster that makes a big deal of showing you the curves of the car, telling you The Rock is an excellent driver etc, there's one limp car chase. Set in traffic. On what looks like an American B-road