My Favorite Movies

Seth Green and Macauly Culkin do so well in here! With Marilyn Manson and Dylan McDermott, Natasha Lyon and Chloe Sevingny as well, interesting to see this plot be played out on the silver screen after happening in real life. The life of Michael Alig and the New York Club Kids is certainly not boring.

I fucken love this movie. Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto, Meat Loaf...such an amazing cast to bring Chuck Palahniuk's world to life.

Very well done.

I finally watched this film and I swear that it hit me square in the solar plexus. It was such a powerful, gripping story that deals with a subject that has been addressed countless times...except this one shows that hate can be decreased, or maybe even obliterated, or replaced with something else.

It amazing to see conscience sneak up upon such a character, and although it's a hard road...he basically learns that maybe it's not the way one should be thinking in the first place.

The two siblings do a fantastic job learning from each other and whatever it is that they and their family face in result of the incidents that occur.

Wow, I'm actually still shaken up over how potent the effect of this film was.

The cinematography in here was also used to an advantage, drawing certains scenes into perspective by playing with the colour schemes of the screens. The music also added effect with the various pictures portrayed throughout the film; memories for one.

I would recommend this to anyone, and perhaps if you're interested The Believer may also be a good film to check out.

Definitely one of my faves.

WOW, how have I not seen this before? Bloody incredible. Review TBA.

This was a really magical film that takes music and literally personifies it and gives it a very optimistic way of looking at it when things in life aren't as they exactly plan them to be.

A story about a little boy, who in unfortunate circumstances finds himself in a boarding house. And always has this inner hope that wherever his parents are, he'll find them.

It shows us that if you really want something, you can make it happen. It's an interesting turn of events that the little boy eventually ventures into New York City and is misled by 'Wizard' who takes him in, but with a price.

At the same time, his mother learns about his existence and desperately goes looking for him where she runs into the social worker who's in charge of Evan [August's] case.

A really magical film that is quite endearing, I'd recommend it to anyone who has a fondness for music.

I can't believe it took me so long to watch this movie but I am fully glad I got a chance to finally see this, originally wanted to see it over the summer but guess what? All the little theatres here stopped playing it days ago...anyways and away to the review!

So, let's get this straight hardly ANYONE I know has seen let alone heard of this film and it's a damn shame. Probably, because there are few well-known actors in the cast including Cilian Murphy, Chris Evans and Michelle Yeoh. Regardless, I felt that the performances from all these actors, Cliff Curtis, Rose Byrne and Troy Garity were just phenomenal.

The story goes as always it's fifty years into the future and the sun is dying, ergot the sun dies...we die. So the last hope that humanity has is to send a spaceship with a handful of crew members to carry a device which will give 'life' to the dying star.

Yet, as their journey progresses and as they get closer to their destination obstacles must be crossed and ethics will be put to the test. Moral boundaries clash and one's personal beliefs/thoughts are questioned or even ridiculed. But, they learn to put their own fears aside and remember why they were there. They're going to save humanity, obviously it's not as easy as it looks.

As they lose contact with Earth the idea of the mission itself gets questioned and if that's not enough they suffer through a terrible accident and are forced to make rash decisions. Lots of ethical philosophies involved in this one, fans of philosophia would probably greatly enjoy it. This is the second ship, the first was lost and the crew went missing and yet as they reach their destination they hear the distress beacon. Once again a vote is cast, but 'this is not a democracy' so the one decision falls upon the crew member with the most knowledge of the device they carry.

A decision is made, and then someone messes up...in the end things go terribly, terribly awry. As the mission wears on and spirits are broken the crew have to fight for their own lives, the lives of all of humanity and their own ability to cope with their sanity.

There are some really strong arguements here which I won't go into because I don't want to ruin the part of the movie but it is riddled heavily with philosophy and we can't help but ponder these very arguements throughout and after the movie.

The cinematography in here is to die for, literally to be that close to the sun and in space it really sets the atmosphere and gives us the various perspectives of the thoughts running through the characters' minds.


It's very thought-provoking and not what you would expect of a 'typical' sci-fi movie [then again, in my eyes]. Recommend to all you sci-fi geeks and any that would like to ponder some really profound questions.

I cannot wait to see this movie, I have been waiting for YEARS.

Phillip Pullman is an amazing story teller and I want to see how they bring his stories to life.

******

I wrote that weeks ago, and when I was sitting in the theater I had a mantra of going into it with a neutral thoughtbase and in the end it went above and beyond my expectations. What a wonderful retelling of one of time's amazing trilogies.

It starts out by introducing us to a world that is unlike our own, where peoples' souls live outside their bodies called daemons. Then, we meet Lyra Belacqua who under the authority of her Uncle, Lord Asriel living at Oxford's Jordan College while he goes on various expeditions. Within this film we see the parallels of our own world, where the govermental/religious institution of the Magisterium fearing that people will learn of the Dust and become corrupt try and do all necessary to create a Utopia that many don't understand the consequences of.

Then, by the appearance of Mrs Coulter a stunning glamorous and powerful woman who can get whatever she wants Lyra gets whisked away up north to Norway. But, before departing from the capable hands of the head master he gives to her a truth measureer, 'the altheiometer' which allows the one reading it to see the truth of things. Along the way she learns of the hidden agenda Mrs Coulter and the rest of Magisterium has and with the help of Ice Bears, Witches, and Gyptians they journey north to save the lost children.

The rendition of such a marvelous and stunning world as absolutely beautiful, and the various characters we're introduced to are very well suited for their roles. Not to mention all the characters' daemons that provide an insight as to what it would be like to have a magical, talking companion that was a part of you.

Nicole Kidman, as Mrs Coutler at first I was a little hesistant but one can see how flawlessly she portrayed such a frightening person.

Daniel Craig is exactly that defiant and learned scholar who craves to prove to their world that there is more than what they know.

Newcomer Dakota Blue Richards does a wonderful job of being that inquisitive, mischievous Lyra who remains defiant even in the throes of nature as in the novel.

Ian McKellen as Iorek Byrnison that unforgettable Ice Bear with a vengenance, Sam Ellliot as that loveable cowboy-esque persona of an aeronaut and Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala as that mysterious and ellusive witch who also plays an important role in such a plot. And Freddie Highmore as my favourite daemon of them all, Pantalaimon.

Altogether, I'd recommend this movie to anyone who has read the book/who hasn't read the book.

Take a look, this world is worth the look.
=)

Amazing visuals, sounds and just the entire idea...was just pretty trippy.

;]

[better review tbc]

Review TBA.
=)

WOW.

[better review tbc]

An interesting tale that begins when a young man (Elijah), Jonathan S. Foer takes up the past time of collecting things belonging to family members. His grandmother gives him a photograph from his recently departed grandfather for his 'collection'. The photograph is a picture of his grandfather with a mysterious woman before WWII.

This amazing addition to his collection takes him overseas from the comfort of America to Odessa, Ukraine. Where he meets a family whose business is to show Jewish families where their family members once resided.

Alex, an unorthodox young Ukrainian goes on a trip with his grandfather to escort the young american to find out who the woman in the photograph is. The language barrier is enough to keep one in stitches, and the way 'the prime translator' translates everything literally is quite hilarious.

Alex seems shallow, and is distant with his grandfather and all it takes is one young american to help them realize there is more to life. Alex learns more about life that exists outside of the time period he's living in Ukraine, and perhaps they all learn something from each other.

The cinematography is amazing, the light plays on everything. The Ukrainian country side is absolutely beautiful and the story itself is enlightening and endearing.

A beautiful story, that I recommend to everyone.

Bloody witty and equally entertaining.

When a rather unorthodox crime touches the border between Ontario and Quebec, police squads in each province are forced to work together.

Two cops - as the title suggests, one 'bad' and the other 'good'. Throughout the movie they learn to annoy the crap out of each other, watch each other get beat up, learn a few things from one another and somehow even how to co-operate together.

In between all that the dialogue is just severely hilarious, showing the obvious differences between the two.

However, as the movie progresses each one seems to adopt a bit of the other's style.

Cinematography prepares us for a crazy 'cut to the chase' kind of movie, sometimes even eerie at times whereas hearing the two bicker back and forth at each other...you become completely engrossed in the story.

Over-the-top ludicrous but damn clever. Was most enjoyable!

So, I heard about this movie and since it sounded so intriguing I had to find out why. What's the story, you say? This dude who's going to Harvard gets expelled from Harvard. Runs away to England where his sister lives and then incidentally meets his brother-in-law's brother and is basically flung into his world.

This world revolves around football and what many do to honour their teams. Matt [the yank who fled to Englang] was never a fighter but byt befriending Pete and his crew learns how to stand up for himself and becomes more confident.

I found the story quite compelling, and quite intriguing. The various events that trigger from Matt's first fight leads into another sequence of events which just make the story more gripping. It also has the characters coming to terms with their friendship, who to trust, and who they would fight for.

The fighting scenes I found were very well done, each having a different sound to back up the emotions that iniated the conflict in the first place. Elijah Wood is pretty decent in here, as is Charlie Hunnam and Leo Gregory. All in all the acting is quite good, and definitely a film I would want to own someday.

Another triumph by Miyazaki, as this film is older the animation is slightly different however still enjoyable nonetheless.

A wonderful story that tells of the destruction of the planet and how we must live in harmony if we want to co-exist peacefully with the plants and animals.

Told through a story about a battle between a Princess that protects the animal gods and a village that is using their land for mining.

Simply stunning.

This was a rather fun and interesting story of a little girl named Chihiro and her family who are moving to another town...and on the way to the house the father takes a wrong turn which brings them to an abandoned themepark. Which then opens into a hidden world, throughout this story the little girl must face various incidents and fulfill many favours in order to return back to reality.

Miyazaki is amazing, every bit of his imagination is displaying splendidly throughout this film. The most intricate of details are paid the upmost attention and some scenes are even reminscent of water colour painting almost.

What a treat for all the senses. Simply wonderful!

So after not being able to see the full thing, I was finally able to and was completely delighted by the entire movie. It not only gives one an inside look into the whole Punk Generation, but it also lends some perspective as to how one would view the entire topic.

Sometimes, even punks need to grow up.
Fantastic film, peppered with humour, sarcasm and wit.

What a beautiful story, the invention of Peter Pan...and it was really lovely to watch.

Depp, as usual was a very good quirky Barry. Freddie Highmore is proving his abilities to act. Kate Winslet was very good in here as well.

Stunning.

I loved this film!

I need to watch it again.

***

Watched it again...and now I remember why I love it this much.
Real review...TBC [if the monkeys don
't get invovled...that is!]

One of those really good eighties movies I just can't get sick of watching.

Loved this always and forever.
Philiosophy in such a different light...take the red or blue pill?

Amazing, own this.
Philosophy gets a twist with the most unlikely of antiheros.
Wow, I cannot get tired of this one either.

Amazing. Stunning story telling and cinematography was well done.

Loved this, own it.
Wow, Frank Miller and just simply stunning. The cinematography was genius.

I absolutely adored this movie, it's kind of a coming of age story of a family trying desperately to get their daughter to a beauty pagent. The whole family is literally, insane. Almost Douglas Coupland's All families are Psychotic-ish.

Great cast and they work very well together. It's funny to find such humour in the lowest of life's tribulations.

Droogie, thanks for the recc...it was completely ludicrous and just so hilariously bizarre!

This movie completely engrossed me, I haven't seen anything this emotionally rivetting in a really long time. It's one of those films that if it can hit the mark, it does...without mercy.

Of course, those of you who detest subtitles....beware! 'cause it's another foreign film, this time it's Russian.

I've not heard of any of these actors before, and this review is probably fricken' biased...but who cares...let's get on with the story!

It's about a little boy, Ivan [affectionately Vayna for short] Solnestev who is one of the numerous children in a little orphanage in some little town in Russia [I'm presuming]. Anyways, so the film begins with a nice young Italian couple coming by to check out this little boy deciding on whether or not they would like to adopt him and give him a fulfilling life in Italy.

Regardless of this fantastic offer, the little six-year-old is still in a dilemma as after his good friend Alesha Mushkin is carted off to another family a short while before...finally, his birth mother shows up distraught looking for him fervently. Instead, the director of the orphanage kicks her out and threatens to kill her. After drinking too much vodka sitting at the bus stop she waits until Vayna, his friend Anton and an older girl Natasha who went shopping come back and asks little Ivan to sit and talk to her about Alesha.

Later on we learn that 'allegedly' Mushkin's real mother threw herself onto the train tracks...although the older kids swear she just drank too much and fell and that starts Vanya thinking. 'What if when I'm in Italy and my real mother comes looking for me?' As his friend Anton says, 'Once they change your name, that's it. There's no hope of them for ever finding you again.'

Determined to find out about his birth mother Vanya takes on a lot of very brave, and sometimes quite foolish tasks that included breaking into the director's safe for personal files, stealing from Nikolai [who being one of the older kids takes advantage of the younger ones by having them work for him and give him all their money], and eventually leaving the chances of Italy far behind him.

The hardships that he faces seem a little bit surreal and unrealistic for a six-year-old to deal with but once engrossed by this film we stop and wonder 'how the hell do we know what we would do in that situation?'

The amazing quest that Vanya sets out on is something of a dream which he struggles to make a reality, facing various [dangerous] obstacles, kind people, neglect, apathy, escaping the authorities and so forth. Eventually he learns that the world isn't altogether necessarily a safe and happy place and that sometimes although the brain is yelling at us to stop our heart beats on stronger and louder drowning out any warnings that the brain utters.

I caught this purely incidentally after a long day at work it was the perfect movie to get away from reality for a bit. This is what happens when a little girl's mother dies of an overdose and her dad takes her on a journey to the old house her grandmother lived in.

She is friends with several dolls' heads, and the friends she makes in the country when she discovers an interesting realm.

The pure innocence and naivety of a child's wonder at the world.

Based on a book, too by Mitch Cullin apparently.

The whole film had a bit of that Big Fish charm by Burton...though it's definitely Gilliam behind the camera.

Jodelle Ferland seemed perfect for this part after always playing that eerie little girl. Jeff Bridges seemed to fit quite naturally and Brendan Fletcher was amazing as Dickens.

Well, so I read this book just a few months ago and loved it. And guess what? It stayed very true to the book, I mean they cut out some parts but the story in its entirety was there. The characters were simply perfect and the dialogue was still as hilarious as it bit through the misery the family went through.

Robert Carlyle played the part of the drunken father with good intentions so well and Emily Watson just seemed to fit Angela perfectly.

Granted, the little children at the beginning of the movie were well how children usually are in movies. Yet, as they brought the older actors it showed how well they could portray such a difficult era in history.

I laughed, and cried. And would recommend this movie to anyone interested in the depression of Ireland or anyone who has read the book. Quite enjoyable, considering the author was heavily involved in the creation of this film.

Simply stunning!

This movie was bloody fun to watch, I'd call this a cross between Shaun of the Dead/Scream and all those actions flicks where the good guys kick ass.

The story goes that Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is the best cop in all of London with an arrest record of 400% higher than everyone on the force. One day he gets called into the chief's office to find out he's been promoted to Sergeant...in a little village called Sandford. Outraged he asks to speak to all authorities and the rest of the force, clearly loving his job in the city however he quickly finds out that everyone resents him for making them look back.

Hence, he's sent packing to the sleepy little town which has a 'community that cares'. Once he gets there, right away he takes the law into his own hands and arrests whole group of miscreants the day before he starts at the precinct.

Once there, he befriends the son of the chief whom doesn't seem to be the brightest police officer. With respect and admiration for the big city cop PC Danny Butterman (Frost) soon falls under his wing and learns a thing or two about being a good cop. He lives off of action flicks with cops that run car chases and shoots guns at people, naturally he's drawn to such a cop believing him to be the embodiment of such characters.

The days seem exactly the same, monotony takes over and the Sgt just itches to set things right giving tickets to [terrible] aspiring actors and arresting shoplifters. Yet, all of a sudden he gets a call in the middle of the night and finds out the terrible actors have been in a terrible accident. After this occurs, several other incidents arise which leave Sgt. Angel skeptical about this being just a simple 'accident'.

After recollecting his thoughts, and observing things very closely in the comatose village he soon notices things aren't exactly what they happen to be...and then Danny's desires of being a gun-wielding cop instilling fear into those disobeying the law just very well may come true.

****

It's absolutely hilarious at parts, I found myself laughing so hard that I was crying...and with a completely light mood around the whole 'good' cop, 'bad cop' scenario including even the 'cop who doesn't care and would rather mow his lawn'.

The idea is an evolved version of your typical adrenaline-packed movies, making it out to be parody but then switching over to something completely different. It was a really engrossing movie that even had me on my seat wondering what would happen next.

The 'grisly accidents' were reminscent of slasher flicks and the situations reminded me of the Shaun of the Dead scenes. The cinematography in here was so dramatic, and abstract to the point it got muddled and then cleared everything up again. Brilliant sequeways from one scene to the next.

The perfect movie if you're looking for something fun and will keep you on the edge of your seat. A total must for Shaun of the Dead/Simon Pegg & Nick Frost fans!
=)

This is such a stunning film, into my faves you go..and thorough review TBA.

Wow, seriously I'm kicking myself in the head for not seeing this sooner...and in the theatre like a normal person. Seeing as the first time I sat down to watch this, it was with a friend of mine after we consumed large amounts of sushi and were slowly drifting to sleep...so we had to call it quits. Watching this completely awake definitely, definitely made me appreciate it 1000 times more. Where to begin?

The story itself is just incredible and moving as it is gripping and frightening at the same time. Although, in terms of actors there are few known ones they do make a lasting impression even after the movie is over. I wonder what the family thinks of their portrayal of their ancestors?

How does this story begin you may ask, well this takes place in Belarussia where brothers hide and try to seek shelter not knowing that their family's lives lie ever closer to death. They return and find their younger brother hiding out with some other people and discover their father has been slain. Intent on survival, they run to the forest where accidentally they come upon their older brother.

They realize that in order to survive in the wilderness they will require ammunition and something to get them started. So, they go and find a man who was a good friend of their father's. His disapproving wife watches as he provides them with a rifle and some sustenance. All of a sudden, the police show up at his house as Tuvia [played by Daniel Craig - the older brother] is leaving. He hides out in some makeshift shelter up in the canopy with some other disgruntled Jews. From there he watches as the old man converses with the police and learns that it is in fact one of the men who are responsible for his father's death.

Later, we see Tuvia taking things into his own hands and then he returns with more scared people to shelter. His brother, Zus [played by Liev Schreiber] is not impressed but is soon shut down as Tuvia convinces him to feed these people too. As time progresses, they come across an assortment of people [all hiding from the Nazis or learning of this great Bielski who'll protect them]...and other things come to light, things that make men do stupid things.

They learn how to co-exist amongst nature and sometimes it starts to be more than some can bear, but then again they are dealt with and community continues to grow. These ordinary people are persecuted and become part of the wilderness that surrounds them, yet time and time again someone must remind them 'we will live as human beings'.

I don't really say any more than this, except that this is the story of how four brothers escape Poland where Nazis have taken over and take refuge in the forest. In the forest they come across lots of 'resistance fighters' and other such beings that join their 'army' to defy what has happened to them.

Absolutely, I'd have to tell you lot about how bloody powerful the music is throughout this entire movie. I bet without it, it'd work...but the same rhythm floating over and over in a variety of assortments really add to this overall piece.

What I really enjoyed the most, perhaps was the amazing chemistry between the brothers. Tuvia, Zus, Asael (Jamie Bell) and even little Aron (played by George MacKay) had something to say after quite some time. Especially, with Zus and Tuvia who are forever competing with each that even gets pretty lethal and leads to a severance of a bond, even. It was just so believable, brothers fighting...and yet they're fighting the Germans as well. Who's gonna lead whom? Who decides what is right and what is wrong, it is Tuvia's wise decisions that ultimately decide this...unless Asael has something to add.

Okay, I lied...a close second is all of the wit that's written between these lines...no seriously...watch out I'm gonna write some rather wordy questions. I'm ready for the hatemail. ;]

And, for those of you wondering how accurate the accents and junk were...I'd give Mr Craig a A-, as he's worked on the russian since the Archangel disaster. You'll notice when he gets mad or really passionate about something, you can hear the Brit in his voice...but it's not that off-putting. And don't you lot worry...these subtitles are some of the most accurate I've ever seen.

So what're you doing? Go watch this movie! You won't be sorry.
;]

Yay.

Pretty nifty and fucking hilarious.
:D

Review...TBC...