--2008 films watched, 5,4 and 3,star films

all actors are a good watch, halle bery in a emotional role, and benicio del toro, also, a film about grief and a frienship that grows from that, english language debut from susanne bier, director of the exellent after the wedding

another japanes horror very much like the grudge, the ring, shutter and many others, quite scary in places, and creepy, not a great film, but watch it before hollywood oviously will remake it just like all the others

william h macy will never top his roles in the likes of fargo boogie nights and magnolia but hes found a place in tv movies, door to door,,a slight case of murder,, panic,, and focus being notable aceptions, and heres another, in which he co wrote as a mute, who comes into contact with a homeless girl, and takes her in, trying his best to get a secure home, as always macy is a acting talent, no words but ful of emotion, a story that never rises above tv movie status, but a enjoyable piece

another adition to pixar and a great story with both charm, emotion and fun, the first half both epic and spielbergian, and the 2nd kid friendly monsters inc style, so family entertainment all round

3 english girls meet 4 english lads in spain and are taken for a great time on a yaught, but things turn for the worse when one of the girls is killed during a sex act, by one of the guys, a so called donkey punch, now with the girls stuck there with the guys what could go down is any bodys business, will sides be taken, a nice little thriller, putting abunch of people on a boat and watch the results when a little murder is thrown in the mix, sides are imediatly drawn, due to the friendships, and fear strikes in, as to what is the best thing to do, with the body and aftermath, things get very paranoid to say the least, a good set up here, all charactors are well covered, the girls showing range in sexuality and eventual distress, while the lads showing a edge but simpathy, all great performances as well, and considering the location, the story and circumstances come off well, some nice deaths also,

true life acount of a rampage by a gunman in a small new zealand town called aramoana, the incident caused around 13 deaths which included 3 children of very young ages, shot to death, the film grittinly tells the lead up and eventual rampage and police hunt amunst the dead of night, the film is straight and to the point, does not give a easy time for the real life charactor who went crazy, and, and the shootings them selves are given reality which is needed, no heros here and no cowardly vivtims for the sake of it, all seems genuin, a simple but inportant aproach to a real and devastating story

remember shawn of the dead and the news story at end, where zombies end up doing ordinary dull jobs, well here we see a example of this, set in 50s america, theres been a zombie war, and america won,and lost and in the aftermath,new towns maintained, by zomcom a security compan, dealing in control and destruction of zombies, who are now slaves to the general public, with this 50s set life theres a new everday zombie dealings to deal with, zombies are a everyday normal ocurence, kids learn weapon skills, and from 12 can carry a gun, a great look at how crazy life can be, we follow one family as they get a new zombie, and learn to love it, as he also loves back, and when things go bad, great comedic set pieces involving out of control zombies eating people and general mayhem, all done within a inocent or communist 50s setting depending hgow you loook at it, some exellent horror moments although not outright disgusting, very familier to shaun of the dead fans, and im sure george romero of the dead series will chuckle at this, and any fans, of the romero films. a great concept handled well, had me chuckling out loud quite a few times

odd film set in paris australia, concerening a strange town, and there dealings towards cars, as travellers who travel through, mysteriously get killed, in there cars, and locals, being part of that, one guy settles in after one acident, and starts or trys to startv a new life there, but town may be on verge of collapse, a interesting first effort from peter weir, which has many faults amoung great moments

fasinating drama set in cut throat world of tv, one of the best films of 1976 after taxi drive of course, and a great 70s film, a great esemble cast, peter finch gets things rolling as a unsucessfull newsreader who goes a bit mad on air, and becomes a hit then a failure and back again,and ubs news stations key people played by robert duvall, and producer faye dunaways dealings with in the organisation, and trying to run the sucess of show, while jugging other projects, a fine cast do a great job, all stories are great to watch, and really gets inside a tv stations dirty deeds, and again another 70s classic from sydney lumet, a great example in direction, and style how a 70s film works, oh and a major influence n p.t anderson

pierce brosnan, hounds gerald butler and maria bello, who play a married couple, hes kidnapped there kid, and wants to mess with there head, doing various tasks that will ruin there lives as he has there daughter, brosnan is a bit muddled here, i think hes irish in this i cant tell, and butler is ok, but bello shines as the wife, some nice twists throuth the end half, as per usual with this type of film, but its kept interesting throughout

FOR RADIOHEAD FANS ONLY. a doc recorded on there 1997 ok computer world tour, capturing the highs after the release of the universally praised album, to the bands dealings with media and touring countrys, whats great about this doc is the style, it perfdectly compliments the bands album there promoting, with loads of images of band next to modern trappings of travel and foreign settings, whilst tour goes on, with talking heads from the band capturing there mood, it also gives a glimpse as to why they went the direction they did with amnesiac and kid a there follow ups in this decade, wanting to not be stuck down and conform to standerd, this is a glimpse of a band at a time when they were the greatest around and who knows which way they would head, and todayb still the best band on the planet,,and i love r.e.m

a good relationship drama, with a nice turn from greg kinnear, and a wise old man role from freeman, as usuall, some interesting stories amounst the main stories going on

amber tamlin is a schoolgirl unknowingly pregnant, killing it in shock, when it suddenly miscarriges and shes delt holding it in a toilet, and tilda swinton as a physcologoist dealing with her to determin in court if she was in a capable state, focusing on the teens pre pregnant state and aftermath, and swintons own personal demons with her own life. some great performaces from the two, a typical indie american effort, quite edgy looking, and a story although not focusing on eventual trial, is engageing enough

harrowng tale daling with the last days of holocaust, and a nazi death camp, and prisoners who are put to work helping deal and organise the deaths of incoming people from various countrys, and there knowingly fesar that there time is limited and once war over or no longer needed, they will die them selves, showing in authentic ways the procedure f there work, and emotions getting in way, or not in some cases, showing the obserdedy of war in all its glory

stephen king hated stanley kubricks version of his shining novel, throwing away most of back story and incidents, kubrick crafted a stylish and clautaphobic, haunting film, and a clasic it was. king directing here and writing tv play, is more faithful, and quite sucessful at adating novel, but poor in comparism to kubrick vision, but as a mini series, entertaining it is, although acting is rubbish, and production design not up to standerd, and every moment spelled out by actors them selves, cant get past tv setting, so kubricks still the best version, but this certainly best adaption

haditha in irak, and a lead up to a patrol of american marines about to get bombd and eventualoutcome of many inocents getting slaughtered, due to pure emotions of marines, and was there a valued point for the outcome, a well made effort from nick bloomfield, a documentery filmmaker, some great action thrown in, and interesting stories from all concerned

keira knightley does welsh as a childhod friend and former lover of welsh poet dylan thomas,superbly played by mathew rhys, exellently portraying thomas as a brooding drunken, arogant playboy, with a nice turn from sienna miller nd cillian murthy, as kieras lover, not liking what he sees, as dylan fancys a bit of everything wether its one women or the other, not the classic atonement was, but in same veign, and setting, with a nice story going through it, and aparently the first of a few dylan thomas films currently getting a release

the dixie chics prove in this documentary that americans dont have free speech, even if its about a arsehole like george bush, with many citizens and media of america getting there say about the dixie chics not being patriotic, i guess there allowed to have a go at the chics, double standerds eh,,,, a insightful doc not only on the media frenzy but there comeback a fewyears later, and how remarks almost ruined them. if your not a fan like me, dont worry, watch it fr madness of a minority of dumb americans, and i dont mean the dixie chics

watch this for amy adams in a terrific performance as a disney princess stuck in modern day newyork, finding out about modern day romance.

a well made animated film, with jack black perfectly cast as a overweight panda chosen as the one in the ways of kung fu, some great animation and action scenes taking full advantage a animated film can do

a well made summer blockbuster, and a little darker than trailor suggests, with will smith nicely cast as a everyday superhero, whos lost his way and jason bateman as a public relations guy in a task to turn him around, some great moments throughout, action sequences done really well, and a story down to earth, and fits well, smith a good watch

a good follow up, from lion witch wardrobe, and more action and darker moments all round, still has annoying older brother, but some great new charactors

action fantasy, very matrix, not as influential, but certainly entertaining enough, with some great action sequences throughout, a silly premise, but done in a entertaining way, macavoy comes off great, entertaining to watch as a everyman, leading a new life, some funny moments throughout, and angie jolie stunning as usuall, in a good role showing her hard arse women,

best horror 2008 so far, well made and very creepy, uses its single location setting very well, and plants and weeds as the villain movie monster a good move, stupid asmerican youngsters, visit a ruin in mexico, and its cursed, the locals. keep them quarantined because they dont want them leaving and spreading it, things turn yucky when any cuts theyve recieved start to turn plant like, and a few d.i.y maintenance by trainee doctor gets to work, they need to get off the ruins but cant, and slowly pplant life is getting to there brains, very creepy, and also gory, especially any seqwuences involving open wounds, doesent look nice, a scary moment down inside ruins also adds to exitment, makes you look at plant life in a whole new way

great american indie effort, conceerning a young student called dawn, who is very into no sex till married and resists the urge for so long, but when her and a fellow follower go for it, something happens, and dawn goes on a personal journey to discover her feelings on the matter, and maybe deal with a few issues on the way, not a all out horror film, but a study of a womens sexual awakening and the very few males who get in the way, some horrific shots a guy will never want to see, and like hard candy a wake up call to males everywhere

brian cox in a exellent role as a old geezer in prison, seeing a possible escape plan coming into place and the guys he needs to get the plan done, a exellent prison film, the structure is great also, going forward in time to actuall escape, back to plan in planning stages, the obstacles inway, and fellow prisoners spoiling plans, brian cox in role that naturally would have gone to a younger man, shines in this, as do others, direction is well handled, and snappy, and a special mention to the score, a great use to move story forward, and in the final act a nice little twist that fits well and makes it more humen

interesting follow up from kidulthood dealing with london teens, now in there early 20s, the film catches up with most of original cast, and especially, one who was banged up for 6 six years after result of murder in the first and is now out, and theres a price on his head, all actors give great performances, perfectly getting back into charactor, and a good story going on, and a nice cameo from danny dyer playing,,,you guessed it a cocky geezer

a mans look back at his time as a kid during afghanistans fight with russia and eventual escape to a better life in america, and his friendship with a servent boy, and his guilt in the outcome of boys life, a well acted tale, of friendship, in a harsh world

guillermo del torro directs before pans labyrinth and heelboy made him a ell known name, a tytpical film for him, a gothic tale of possessed souls and demons, a interesting spanish/english language, with regular ron pearlman making a interesting mark

sequel to pot luck, following twenty somethings after the events in first film, and where they have moved onto, xavier again being main focus, as he catches up with rest of gang, nice follow up and engageing story

a dogme 95 film, a young couples lives are damaged when the man is paralised in a road acident, through atwist of fate, the women responsible is marrried with a child to a doctor at hospital, where the injured man is taken, and through guilt the mother lets her doctor husband get close and to help the girlfriend of patient, where after awhile a bond developes, and a eventual affair, a well handled drama, with great performances all round, as its the dogma mannifesto, which means all natural settings, and various rules, its a very gritty and, grounded, a great look at relationships, from both sides, the husband and wife,, and the paralised guy and girlfriend., and everything that happens, a niced little debut from susan bier, who also made thre exellent after the wedding

another charming performance from audrey tautau, even though shes a money grabbing man seducing schemer, but lets face it, its tautau, i wouldent say no, she works the south of france getting the rich older man, until a encounter witrh barman played by jean, played bygad elmaleh, turns bad, and the older guy dumps her, but jean is smitten with her, and she doesent like him as hes pennyless, so he plays her at her own game, and becomes a younger man for a rich women, and with her help, get as much as he can, while she does the same, but are they suited together. a well crafted french film, with 2 charming main leads, the story a typical french farce, with lots of ducking in and out of rooms, is funny, and great to watch, tautau, again has star quality,

audrey tautau is good in this film about relationships in paris and getting a bit religious to be happy,, showing what peoople will do for love, wether there up for it or not,

another first person shot, using camcorders and hidden cameras, as colin hanks is a strange young man who after picking a victim played by alex boling, sets up hidden cameras in her house, and through knowledge of her, gets to know her, but with first inpressions looking good, he has to work a bit harder to get her afections, interesting use of shots, of victim at work and home, but also hanks as he films himself, and a film bringing up issues with todays society, and the perfectly legal business of home survelence and spy products on offer, all performances are good to watch, and style never gets boring, a interesting look at the crazy world of today

another shyalaman atempt at a genre, and what hes done here is a b movie paranoia film from the 50s, transplanted to modern day post 911 america, and for me it works to a degree, its also very funny, wether intentional, or not, some funny moments here, warlberg amoung the most jokes going on, the concept, wind making people killing them selves is ridiculas but comes off bettere than it should, in a typical shyamalan way, like the village, lady in the water, and signs his lesser efforts, its a twist on the genre, not a massive summer blockbuster effects film, more charator based, with trees blowing, and it works, another good, not exellent efort from shyalaman

more a typical summer blockbuster than the 2003 ang lee version, with some great set pieces, but another average c.g,i version of the hulk on show, edward norton makes a great bruce banner, giving him some depth, and was a good choice, but tim roth steals the show here, in the scenes hes in, just acting people ofthe screen, and a fanboys dream at the end, which will eventually result in a crap film, if it ever gets made

a fasinating look at boston and a case where a little girl goes missing, and the involvment of a private detective played by casey afleck, getting hired to find her, amounst the hysteria of media, and police, a confident and really good first directing efort from big brother ben afleck, showing, he may hve gone bad in his acting career, but has something special, when it comes to directing, boston natives, the aflecks have from what has been said captured the spirit of the city and its people, see also the exellent good wil hunting, the story is fasinating, and moves along nicely, moving on to the next piece in story, bringing in a new bit f story that adds freshness, some genuin, shocks along the way, and a last act and ending, which will bring up a interesting debate, as to wether this should be done, and certainly got me thinking, from the author of the similer mystic river, a well crafted film, with great acting all round, along with afleck, lets not forget, ed harris, who brings in another great supporting performance, looking forward to bens next efort, if he decides this is what he wants to do

edward furlong and racheal bella, are two lovers living there life, going through the highs and lows, they love each other, and will do things for each other that really tests relationship, whats special about this is, its all shot through a hand held camera controlled by either two leads, so unlike other films of this nature, blair witch project, cloverfield, a indie drama, has been made, which is very interesting, furlong and bella are good to watch with finally some nice acting moments for furlong, showing he can actually act, story and events are done in a realistic way, and watching, you know things can turn out really bad for them

a great film noir again following young actor joseph gordon levitt, after the exellent brick, here he plays a long suffering young man with no prospects after a car crash while in high school, and now 4 years later trying to cope with issues in his life,cleans the local bank, and a oportunity arises as he befriends some people wanting to take advantage of his situation in bank, very stylish, great performances all round especially gordon levitt, lots to play with, interesting story, leading to a conclusion, seen many times before, but bringing something a little fresh,

a mentally chalenged son, feels he can look after his ill mother, butr eliant on many medicatians, and predictably it all goes wrong, looks good, a setting at a crumbling english mansion, with some cool direction throughout,

a good teaming of two great english actors, gary oldman, and paddy considine, as two guys with there wives/girl friends off to see oldmans cabin in the woods in rural spain, and get in a spot of bother when they discover something, and the local men, dont like it, and pay them a visit, its not hard to see what film this is inspired by, straw dogs starring dustin hoffman, both films are a foreigner in another county, both about, locals doing things there own way, and, a women being part problem, and violence and revenge in mind, it is slickly directed, with a nifty opening, bringing us in, it doesent hang around in getting set up started, and with the two leads , a great watch, some interesting situations coming into play, great to see oldman back, apart from when hes helping batman out of course