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Notorious (2009) Review

Ben

The issue with biopics is that in some cases, they will only appeal to a handful of people. The same can probably be said about all films, but for biopics in particular because it is a rare case that someone will want to know more about the individual’s life being put on film if they haven’t got some idea of who that person is and why they are interesting. I suppose you then have to make the judgement as to whether you are making the film for the general public or just for the fans who you know will flock to … Continue reading Notorious (2009) Review

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Iron Man (2008) Re-View

Ben

Iron Man had to be amazing. It had so much riding on its shoulders that it had to be both critically approved and audience approved to stand a chance of fulfilling what Marvel was planning. Luckily, it was exactly that. It was a perfect superhero origin film and even though we’ve seen the formula plenty of times before, it felt fresh because Iron Man, to the general public at least, was a relatively unknown character. That’s why DC’s take on Green Lantern was so infuriating because Marvel has shown, three times now, how to present a character that the general … Continue reading Iron Man (2008) Re-View

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Green Lantern (2011) Review

Ben

DC made Green Lantern about six years too late. Rather than make a superhero film at the beginning of the superhero craze, alongside Raimi’s Spiderman, Fantastic Four and even Iron Man, they decided to throw their contribution amongst the others when we were at the height of the genre. The problem with doing this is that if you are going to make a film that belongs to genre that is already highly saturated, you have to do it with something original… and Green Lantern isn’t original! It could have been though. DC have Superman and Batman and with those two characters they … Continue reading Green Lantern (2011) Review

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Stop making unnecessary sequels!

Ben

Peas, cards that mark occasions (birthdays, anniversaries etc), Daniel Bedingfield, Liverpool Football Club and Unnecessary Sequels – I hate them all! Before I can go any further, I need to clarify what an unnecessary sequel is. In my opinion, an unnecessary sequel is any sequel to a film that is originally self-contained with a story that is finished. Usually the film is much more story or event-driven than character driven so superhero films and horror films don’t have unnecessary sequels but an event-driven film like Speed does! These sequels are usually straight to DVD rubbish that is clearly some studio executive seeing the popularity of … Continue reading Stop making unnecessary sequels!

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Good Luck Chuck (2007) Review

Ben

Some films have great ideas but unfortunately just miss a certain spark. That spark can be anything, the script, the characters, parts of the story, the dialogue, the special effects. Sometimes a film is really good, bordering on brilliant but is just let down by one element which doesn’t fit with everything else. Good Luck Chuck suffers from this problem. The spark its missing is that it didn’t really cast the right actors. I’m not saying that the actors are terrible. Dane Cook does a decent enough job, as does Dan Fogler as his best friend but I was watching the … Continue reading Good Luck Chuck (2007) Review

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Limitless (2011) Review

Ben

Bradley Cooper is becoming an actor to keep your eye on. He has already proved that he can hold his own amongst an ensemble of very cool actors like Liam Neeson and Sharlto Copley in The A-Team and to a lesser extent, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms in the Hangover. I hadn’t really seen him hold his own and carry a film himself, until I watched Limitless. Bradley Cooper does a great job of carrying this film. He has shown he isn’t a lightweight, good-looking, comedy actor but someone who can play a part that requires a performance which is slightly more dramatic. … Continue reading Limitless (2011) Review

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Skyline (2010) Review

Ben

A key part of any film has got to be good acting and a good script but is there any chance that putting all your money and effort into a different area of the film, making sure that is amazing, can actually redeem the first two elements being poor? I don’t think this would work with any other type of film but Skyline seems to manage it. It has poor acting, poor dialogue and the first act of the film is tedious at best but when the action kicks in and the aliens start appearing, this film just seems to transform itself. Skyline was always fighting … Continue reading Skyline (2010) Review

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Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) Review

Ben

Tom Hanks is the quintessential “intelligent actor.” What I mean by that is I don’t know the last time I saw Tom Hanks in a bad film. Tom Hanks probably wouldn’t be on the top of anyone’s “best ever actors list.” He would certainly be near the top, maybe making top five and I’d argue always top ten but hardly ever number one but if you look at some of the people put in higher regard, some of their film choices are a bit dodgy. The classic duo is Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. There is no doubt that these two are … Continue reading Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) Review

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Don’t use two films to tell a story when one will do!

Ben

Die Hard, Indiana Jones and Toy Story, three pretty perfect trilogies. In my opinion there isn’t one film in any of these series that has a huge, detrimental effect on the others. This is because every single one of those films is a single story, not trying to carry over any plot-threads, unanswered questions or huge story arcs from any previous film and what’s more, the first film didn’t try to set up the sequels before it had even finished! This has been a ridiculous trend in films that I don’t think ever really works. Recently I watched the worst possible case … Continue reading Don’t use two films to tell a story when one will do!

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The Three Musketeers (2011) Review

Ben

There are some stories and characters that if you just adapt and stick to the bare bones of what has made them timeless classics, you can always, with very little effort or talent, make a half-decent, watchable film. I’m not talking about a masterpiece everytime but just a film that when you leave the cinema or turn off the DVD, you nod, your happy with the last two hours you’ve spent and you move on. If you have any skill or talent at all, you can take those timeless and amazing characters and make something brilliant. The kind of characters I’m … Continue reading The Three Musketeers (2011) Review