Tag: Review

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Source Code (2011) Review

Ben

I loved Quantum Leap. It was the perfect mix of both sci-fi and drama. I was only about ten years old when I first got into it and though I didn’t hugely appreciate the drama aspects of the show, the moment where he jumped into the person’s body at the beginning and the end of the show was enough to keep me watching. If he punched someone during the episode, that was even better. As I got older I began to appreciate the actual story of the show and what he had to do each week. Even now I’ll find myself watching a whole … Continue reading Source Code (2011) Review

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Your Highness (2011) Review

Ben

If I watch a comedy and really like some of the action pieces and cooler parts to the story, but don’t find it that funny, does that make it a bad film? I made this argument in my review for The Switch. This wasn’t necessarily a bad film but marketing it as a romantic comedy meant it didn’t really do what romantic comedies do. It was a great drama but not very romantic or funny. Your Highness suffers from the same sort of problem. As a concept it’s great. A medieval stoner prince and his impressive, hero brother go on a quest to rescue a … Continue reading Your Highness (2011) Review

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Salt (2010) Review

Ben

We need a female action star. Not necessarily the actress but a new, kick-ass female action character. Someone to carry a series of films that have the same excitement around them as Bond and Bourne. The closest we have so far is Milla Jovovich’s Alice from the Resident Evil series and I avoid those films like the plague after they took a clear, amazing game and film concept and ruined it beyond belief. Angelina Jolie has had a go at this before with Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider movies. They weren’t bad but they fall into the same pit as the Resident Evil movies, … Continue reading Salt (2010) Review

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Rubber (2010) Review

Ben

When you hear the concept for some films, you have to believe that the creators were drunk, high or daring each other when they came up with it. Usually you can see the logic to where a film has come from and where its origins lay but with Rubber, I can’t even imagine the start of the conversation. To create a 90 minute film about a killer tyre that make people’s heads explode using psychic powers is either stupid or genius. I was really hoping for the second. It could have been genius. I’m not saying that the idea is … Continue reading Rubber (2010) Review

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Attack the Block (2011) Review

Ben

Britain do quirky, gritty and indie films better than any other country. We were the country that gave the world Shaun of the Dead, Trainspotting and Dead Man’s Shoes. We have the gritty Hunger and Tyrannosaur and now Shame to add to our collection of brilliant British films. The British film industry gets recognised for romantic comedies, Richard Curtis being a huge part of that, and every year we can effectively produce a period drama but we are also good for clever comedy or gritty, real, modern drama. This leads me to Attack the Block. The perfect example of a new type … Continue reading Attack the Block (2011) Review

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Doubt (2008) Review

Ben

Some of the greatest scenes in film have been when two actors, both brilliant at what they do, get to have a conversation. This can be a simple, mundane conversation, a heavyweight meeting of power or a dark, intense, engrossing encounter. Alongside the brilliant “McDonalds” conversation Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta have in Pulp Fiction and the long anticipated cafe scene between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat comes Meryl Streep vs Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt. There is scene, practically the end of the film, where the two actors confront each other. The accused trying to find out … Continue reading Doubt (2008) Review

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Sylvia (2003) Review

Ben

I watched Sylvia with one question going through my head – Why does Sylvia Plath get a biopic? It was about a month ago that I watched The Iron Lady, a film about the first female Prime Minister and a time in British history when society was in turmoil and a hugely divisive person ruled the country. Though it had its faults, it was for the most part a very good film and I never, not once, wondered why anyone was making a film about Margaret Thatcher. I understood why this woman warranted an hour and half of my life. … Continue reading Sylvia (2003) Review

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The Switch (2010) Review

Ben

The Switch is the perfect example of what is wrong with trying to place films in a category. The Switch was advertised as a romantic comedy. The trailer showed some pretty funny moments but overall a quite interesting concept. It was the concept and the main actor that actually peaked my interest and made me want to watch the film. The story is quite interesting. What happens when through a quite implausible turn of events, a man donates his sperm to his female best friend without her (or him) realising. The story introduces us to the two main characters and the usual, “comedy” peripheral friends, … Continue reading The Switch (2010) Review

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The Woman in Black (2012) Review

Ben

How scared you actually want to be by this film should determine whether you go to see it at the cinema or not. You will be scared. That goes without saying. Huge sections of this film are set in a creepy Victorian house, with little or no lighting and you are set up to jump and scream at every opportune moment. What I am talking about is whether you want to be unnerved or terrified! At the cinema the best you can hope for is unnerved. There will be a tense silence over everyone in the large room as Daniel Radcliffe … Continue reading The Woman in Black (2012) Review

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Street Kings (2008) Review

Ben

I’m in two minds about Keanu Reeves. He has a somewhat deserved reputation as being someone who can’t act. He can come across in roles as wooden, repeating his lines with little or no emotion, regardless of what is going on in the scene. On the flipside of this, he has starred in some of the coolest films of all time. You can’t argue with what he does in The Matrix and before that he was even holding his own as a fully fledged action hero in the incredible Speed. Granted, neither of these films require him to pull out the … Continue reading Street Kings (2008) Review