Lisa's Talk

Hansel & Gretel

not the fairytale you know or love, more inspired id say, you certainly can see the storys influence, a young man has a car crash, and ends up at this house in the woods, and once meeting the seeminly perfect family, cant get away, he tries, but the forest traps him in, and theres more to family than meets the eye, a great little chiller from the east, some nice touches and moments, and great performances, especially the three kids vital to story, it looks great, very tim burton at times

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

anvil were to make it big in the eighties,with the likes of bon jovi, metallica and many others, but never did, making over 13 records to this day, but certainly not raking it in and here we see them doing there day jobs,and a spinal tap like tour around europe, we see the highs and very lows of this troubled band, its very entertaining to watch them live the dream, or what there is of it, and looking to the future wit a new album. there passionate about there music and especially being in anvil

American Teen

what apears to be a documentary on a group of teens in warsaw a middle america town, but clues give it away this is actually actors or non actors, working under a loose script, or thought out actions before hand, but what ever it is, its entertaining, as we follow the kids through there last year of high school,and thinking about college, the highs and lows of high school life, the actors/real life people, whatever they are are genuin, and not like you see in hollywood movie, this is part of the charm as you watch the whinny kids go about there day, some are annoying, some just sad,and some,,bitches, all the events you get in hollywood highschool films make it in here, but with authenticity, if this is fiction of course, if not,ainteresting doc

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex)

a interesting look at a group of radicals during 1960s germany, protesting out against americas involvment in vietnam,and especially there ocupation in germany as bases for there preparation,what starts as protests to the streets turns into bombings and murder, they were germanys most wanted, the film with great detail takes us through a groups beginnings and getting in too deep, showing the 1960s through to the 70s where events became bigger and bigger, and inprisonment for most of the people, the story is well told, lots crammed in its two and a half hours, and lots of action, bombs being set of as part of there attack, all performances are good especially moritz bleibtreu,as the guy in control, another filmabout germanys past that isnt nazis and killing jews

Blood: The Last Vampire

this would get a nice 4 star rating, but two action sequences where a vampire monster atacks our two girls is awfully done the effects are really bad,and notwell executed, oncewas bad enough but when it came back, i was disgusted, the story it self is very stylish concerning a vampire good girl, exellently played by jeon ji-hyeon, killing for goverment spooks her fellow monster,whilewaiting for the showdown with the foe who kiled her father, some exellent fight scenes, throughout, full of samuri swordplay, jeon ji hyeon, loks great in her sailor outfit, giving a look thats maybe iconic,the film is wel directed giving the 1970s seting authenticity,especially army base school scenes, while the fight scenes, production looks great, also settingb up for more adventures, hopefully this will happen, as its based on a anime cartoon, theres lots of places to go, but please next time save some money for monster effects

Sunshine Cleaning

from the creatures of little miss sunshine, a filmsharing many elements,and of course the word sunshine, amy adams puts in another winning role, if a bit whinny, and alanarkin has good stuff in a role quite similer to his little miss sunshine performance, but yet again, its emily blunt, who steels the show, great to watch, both humorous and emotional, as the down on her luck sister. the story is enjoyable as they set off on there new venture, and situations great to watch,

The Outlaw Josey Wales

along wth the good the bad and the ugly, best western ever made, aND really moody but very interesting, not a action western but certainly films like unforgiven got there edge from films like this, eastwood a great presence and directing talent

L.I.E.

a young paul dano performance, remember him the brother in little miss sunshine, and exellent as eli in there will be blood. hes exellent here too as a young lad living around the long island expressway, the lie of the title, when he gets i with another troubled kid again exellently played by billy kay, robbery is on the cards,but also some sexual awakenings, but to hisfriend not women. when some guns are stolen on one of there heists, he is turned in by his buddy to the owner again played exellently by brian cox, but this guy is a bit of a kiddy fiddler and gives him options, with his best friend now runaway, he strikes up afriendship with the dirtry old man. exellent performances all round fkay danoandcox are superb. and the direction from michael cuesta is very indie, and looksgreat, great music also,a great teen film dealing with inportant issues

Quarantine

a quick remake of 2007 spanish film REC, relocated to los angelesl, a faithful remake keeping and capturing the original, from the handheld camera set up, to the location, its all faithfully retold, with some nice touches in extra scenes that although not adding anything vital, it is a little added scares. the acting although not as memorable as original, there all good, the only downside here being for fans of original, theres no shocks involved, thats how faithful i see it, andfor people who havent seen REC, and snobby about not wanting to watch subtitles, its okay for now, but seriously, check out the original

Chugyeogja (The Chaser)

another great korean film, as a call girl boss, is loosing his girls, he suspects a young client, a big barny in the street has both men arested,and young man confessing to killing 12 girls a case they are on, so the call girl boss goes ona frantic hunt to track his girl down while young man is in custody, a well made thriller, some good moments, throughout, some humour and action thrown in to good effect

The Last House on the Left

ive not seen wes cravens original 70s shocker, but it was good to see he had a producers hand in this remake, the hills have eyes turned out to be a great remake, and this is pretty good too, a great first act where we see 2 girls in danger, somehorrific and graphic scenes follow, then on to the house of the title,for some tense moments and squeemish moments, as the bad guys of the first act meet people in common with the girls. a well made film, when theres a lot of crap out there

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

okay sequel, some great effects on show,and action but also it all gets down to robots hitting each other, which gets a little tyresome at times and the plot, not that great, the score as in most of bays films is pretty dull which did get on my nerves, to much going on here

Chocolate

exellent marcial art fight scenes here, and a terrific find in the young lady in the lead, here she p[lays a gifted child brought up by a former gangster lady. taught as a child to develope her skills, and when her mother is taken ill, with her cousin, seek out money for medicine, coming upon a book of debts her mother hasent collected, they set out to collect, and the young girls skills come full out when trouble arises, eventually old bosses taking notice, the fight scenes are ferocious and mayhem ensures, asian fights at its best, she certainly is a find. and watch out for the last set piece, seriously its like a platform gamer adaption, if they ever did one,

A Simple Plan

love this film, and another reason why billy bob is a genius. 2 brothers and a mate find money and a abandond plane, after much debate they decide to keep it, but wait a while, so from this point we watch as the money and the thought of spending it plays on these guys mind, it doesent help when the friend is a loose cannon and needs money, so we watch as the three go about there life, and if events will catch up with them, a great drama here bill paxton getting a great main role, and hes very good, bridget fonda as his pregnant wife, who sort of takes over making decisions, is great, interestinly directed by sam raimi(evil dead spiderman) and shows a different side to his work, and watching billy bob create another charactor, is great, he loves his props, and a very pittyful charactor, and what happens at the end is heartbraking, the plot although slow paced, grabs you and with a nice change in the 3rd act, quite gripping, if you liked fargo, quite similer but oviously not as funny

The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom)

a south korean film very much inspired by the classic the good the bad and the ugly, with some great eastern action, leading the story of a bandit robbing a train and a map to buried treasure just as a ruthless gang are to rob that exact map,and a bounty hunter on his trail, what follows is a entertaining action adventure, great stunts and set pieces,and a little comedy value, all leads are both charming and ruthless, and great to watch

Looking for Eric

a terrific performance from steve everts as eric a over the hill postman and avid man united fan, especially for one of there greatest players[eric cantona] life is getting him down, what with contact with his ex, and his son getting involved with crime, he needs a hero, and thats what happens cantona, all in erics mindcomesgive him guideance, a cracking drama from ken loach, full of authentic acting from all concerned, and nice moments with the two erics. atypical kitchen sink drama from the u.k, somesolid drama, but also in some escenes nice comedy

The Hangover

a brilliant comedy, and something diferent and done well, full of outrages moments, crude humour throughout and situations done exellently,and also exellent casting,with the comedy from the guys coming across well, whats great about this film is the fact that apart frommaybe one security video, we dont see the events of the night before and all the situations on show are the aftermath, you are certsainly in with the guys as to whats gone on, and the situations that arise are very funny, this could have been badly done but todd phillips the director has done something special

Doghouse

exellent black comedy horror, certainly influenced by shaunof the dead, but adds so much more on its own, a bunch of lads led by ever reliable danny diar head off to a small town to help pal played by this is englands stephen graham, get over his divorce, but once there all is not what they expected, and before long a crazed bunch of zombies are trying to kill them, the diference here is, its all women, a fun film, with lots of zombie slapstick, the guys are great together,some great gore and horror moments, very tounge in cheek, a film certainly commenting on the way ladys liketo control there men, andmen just need there space, certainly a lot more going on under the service, danny dyer once again showing his act is a great watch.

Red Cliff (Chi Bi)

john woo goes back to his homeland after hollywood disapointments, and a career not showing his talents to direct the reported most expencive chinese production in history, and you see ths expence up there on the screen, a stunning specticle and great story,as a ruler from the north vows to concour the southlands, and the southlands rulers banding together to stop the warlord in his quest, hugh and entertaining battles makethis a winner on the big screen, stunning set pieces displaying the asian way to do action set pieces, is displayed exellently, the tortoise defence and the climatic battle two exellent examples, the story of the battle field is well told and engageing, at around two and a half hours its never dull, even away from the action, and with great effects to show the power and size of forces involved, it helps a lot, this has aparently been cut down froma aparently four and a half hour cut, and i am willing to sit through this to see if its any better, john woo has finally lived up to his reputation as one of the best action directors, and showing hard boiled and the killer were no flukes, johnwoo,,,,stay in asia

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (À la folie... pas du tout)

audrey tautau, is great in a film that sees two sides to a story, and makes the other charactor in each story turn out diferent, and twisted, great to watch, and keeps you guessing throughout, very french in its story and filmmaking