Tag: Movie

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Yes Man (2008) Review

Ben

I was worried about Yes Man being a decent adaptation of the book from the trailer alone. I love the Danny Wallace autobiographical book about his experiences when he said yes to every opportunity that arose for one year. It was funny, sad, unbelievable but at the same time rooted in realism and tragedy that it worked. Even if Wallace had embellished aspects of the story, it all stayed very believable and wasn’t so silly and so extreme that you ever thought he may actually be making it up. I then saw the trailer with Jim Carrey. The fact that … Continue reading Yes Man (2008) Review

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Bridesmaids (2011) Review

Ben

Any film should be very careful about associating itself with a successful film from the past. You always see on posters things like “from the makers of” or “from the producers of” or in the case of Bridesmaids “Better than…” The last one is usually from a critic, a small soundbite from someone who liked the film. That isn’t something the filmmakers can control but then again, they don’t have to put it on the cover of the DVD box. It’s the biggest part of the Bridesmaids DVD box. Right at the top, “Better than the Hangover.” This was actually from Cosmopolitan magazine … Continue reading Bridesmaids (2011) Review

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Lord of the Flies (1963) Review

Ben

The problem some films are going to have is that they are a victim of the time they were made. Some films are classed as timeless because they tell a story that means you can overlook a film’s shortcomings or the film is made in such a way that it still holds up as watchable today. Most films will be a victim of the limitations of the time. The production will be full of dodgy cuts, shocking effects or terrible acting but will be let through because at the time, it was seen as a suitable or acceptable way to … Continue reading Lord of the Flies (1963) Review

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Dark Star (1974) Review

Ben

For me to enjoy a film, something has to happen! For me to really enjoy it, that something has to be amazing or interesting, keeping me intrigued enough throughout. I’ve seen a couple of films recently that have managed this, Avengers Assemble, Source Code, Street Kings – just click on the “Ratings List” tab to see which films have kept me entertained. Dark Star won’t even touch the top 20. I know that the idea of nothing happening is sort of the point but the idea of isolation and being alone has been done brilliantly before. Castaway is a perfect example … Continue reading Dark Star (1974) Review

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Bad Teacher (2011) Review

Ben

The best thing about Horrible Bosses were the Horrible Bosses! This was because whoever cast that film made the genius move of casting three actors and making them play against type, doing and saying things you wouldn’t usually associate with that actor. This worked best with Jennifer Aniston because she was usually seen to play “the girl next door” romantic interest type so seeing her acting overly sexual was funny (and sexy!) I even went as far to say that the film suffered from the fact that it didn’t focus enough on the horrible boss characters and relied too heavily on … Continue reading Bad Teacher (2011) Review

Re-View4 Comments

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) Re-View

Ben

I’ve spoken before about how high expectations have ruined films that I probably would have liked, but I’ve never gone back to a film and had my opinion fall so much as it did with Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. There are films I’m sure I wouldn’t appreciate as much as I did when I was a kid, other than for nostalgic reasons, like Hulk Hogan’s Suburban Commando or the Kevin and Perry film but it wasn’t that long ago that I’d seen Nick and Norah. I guess expectation was the cause of the problem at the first viewing. I remember … Continue reading Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) Re-View

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Hall Pass (2011) Review

Ben

The Farrelly Brothers peaked very early in their movie-making career(s). I still consider Dumb and Dumber a proper comedy classic. It has the perfect mix of great, goofy, likable characters, played brilliantly by Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, mixed with a story that kept these two great characters getting involved in chaos, danger and general, hilarious situations. It has scenes I can still remember, word for word, even now, as well as loads I have forgotten about until I catch this repeated on TV sometimes. There’s Something About Mary and Me, Myself and Irene were the only ones to come close to repeating … Continue reading Hall Pass (2011) Review

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Avengers Assemble (2012) Review

Ben

Think of what you wanted from this film – picture it on-screen, actually happening! Now open your eyes and see it because everything I wanted this film to include and hoped to see actual actors perform on-screen is included! Everything! This review is going to be so positive that I don’t actually know where to begin! A couple of months ago I posted an article that compared the three big superhero films this year and weighed up their pros and cons. Avengers had me worried because it was a film that brought together superheros that struggled to tell their own … Continue reading Avengers Assemble (2012) Review

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Easy A (2010) Review

Ben

There are some actors that just get catapulted into the spotlight, with everyone knowing who they are immediately, either for the right or wrong reasons. We’ve seen this in the recent past with Shia Lebeouf who found himself included in two popular franchises (Transformers and Indiana Jones) and also, more understandably, Michael Fassbender, who chose amazing films to star in, beginning with X-Men: First Class and continuing with A Dangerous Method and Shame and adding more credence to his name by appearing in this summers Prometheus. On the other side of that are the people who are delivering great performance after great performance but … Continue reading Easy A (2010) Review

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Raging Bull (1980) Review

Ben

If you are going to make a film about someone, particularly a sports film, don’t they have to have achieved something or have something unique/interesting about their life? Most sports films I have watched, particularly boxing films, have some sort of key element to the story that affects the main characters attempts at doing their sport. In Rocky it was that he was the ultimate underdog, in The Fighter it was the relationship with his brother and in Cinderella Man it was his age. I could understand the desire to create films of these people’s lives, even if the boxing was almost a distraction from … Continue reading Raging Bull (1980) Review