nicole's Talk

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

100 Feet

panic room, with a touch of disturbia,then add a bit of sam raimi influence, janssen is a convicted murderer out of prison and living back in the house where she killed her husband a few years before, but as she settles in she finds there is a presence in the house,nd its her dead husband out for a little revenge, his ghostly spirit being pretty violent with her. this film i dident expect much from,so it was a nice suprise to watch,jansenn is a good watch, and moments throughout very watchable, a great death scene a highlight, yes some effects are dodgy, but the film usesthe plot and devices well

Transsiberian

emily mortimer andwoody harrelson are 2 american travellers, travelling by train from china to russia,and get involved with drug dealers, a well made thriller, which never goes the way you expect,keeps you guessing till the end, with situations that thrill you. mortimer is exellent as the wife who gets herself in a situation, and kingsley is always great, the harsh winter of russia adds something, and the train setting used for most of the film is used well

Rivals (Les Liens du sang)

1970s setting french drama following 2 brothers, one a cop, the other a criminal freshly released from jail, the cop gets on with his brother and helps him get started again, but with life on the outside hard, will it be a matter of time when his own ways start again. the 70s setting is authentic, with a great soundtrack throughout, and the story while at times conveniant and a lot of events linked, engageing, the two leads are worth watching,while the rest of the cast are too. a good little french crime film

The Crew

a entertaining british gangland film, as a crew are contemplating the next heist while rumbles in the gang, and loyalties splitting along with a local gangboss murder, coming to the forefrontsome cracking scenes and acting, and a good crime story

Defiance

a very interesting acount of events during world war 2, as jews take to the forests,and hide out, while around them, germans and locals hunting any jewish people, taking to the woods in both summer and harsh winter, building shelter and going out on patrols for food and weapons, led by a young man whos own family were killed played by daniel craig, with morale low,and constant threayts of death, a well made look at events i dident know about, the drama is exellent,with nice turns from craig, and other leads,some nice action, throughout, edward zwick, doing good work, after the last samuri,

Punch-Drunk Love

paul thomas anderson, what can i say, this guy is a genius, hard eight, nice little debut, boogie nights, is in my top 5, magnolia, suberb multicharactor drama, what will he donext i thought, oh no a adam sandler film, things wernt looking good, this guy cant act, i thought, p.t, what are you doing, then watched the film, was blown away, not just his direction, but sandler, this guy can act, just give him a good script, exellent director, hes got it this story could be straight out of magnolia, set in l.a, sandler plays barry a lonely bachelor who runs a nice little business, but gets involved with a lady, superbly played by emily watson, while at the same, time a misunderstanding, with a phone sex companywhilst trying to take advantage of a pudding offer, it all fits together pretty well, looks great, for me, p.t is a directorwith amazing style, and odd music which fits perfectly, a great watch, oh and i hate it when so called sandler fans, havent seen this or dont want to see it, because they heard its a drama, whats that about.n are you a sandler fan, what you think,

Drag Me to Hell

remember spiderman 2 when doc oc attacks the surgeons trying to save him, sam raimi directed like he was back on the evil dead set, it was what we loved about raimi, well now hes back to doing that, no bruce campbell here, but alison lohman takes his place as a movie punchbag, playing a young bank assistant, who gets on the wrong side of a poor old gypsy women, who puts on her a curse, in which consists ofthree days of torment, then finallybeing dragged to hell, a frightening opening set in the past demonstrates this at work, and sets up well whats in store, as the torment starts, lohman is tossed punched, thrown up on, and all manner of funny and disturbing images, from sick getting into her mouth to being thrown bruce campbell style across the room, raimi has great fun here, the film is full of shocks, and a great charactor in the gypsy women doing her business, raimi certainly knows where to put the jumps and great use of sound,and even silence, the film certainly has a sence of horrors from the past, and at times a roger corman vibe. the film never realy drags, although some acting bis a bit off, but i think thats intentional. heres hoping raimi likes it here and maybe a sequel or two, before he gets back to spiderman

Up

***WARNING: DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE IF YOU SUFFER FROM OR CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH DEPRESSION***

Where does Pixar come up with these ideas? I have yet to see one of their movies I did not like. I will admit the concept of an old man flying away by means of helium ballons attached to his home does not appeal to me; but the eye for detail the animators put into the movie certainly brings out the wow factor. Why do other animation companies even bother?

If there is one thing about this movie that steers it away from the other films it is depressing. There are a lot of moments that would make you cry and feel for the characters. If that's the case then the movie has achieved the primary goal of filmmaking.

There is some humour in the film such as Doug the dog and Wilderness Explorer Russell. Both act as a foil to the movies hero, Karl. Russell is everything Karl use to be full of optimisim and adventure. With his current battle with old age Karl wants to fufill a dream he and his late wife had since they were kids. Adventure is across the hemisphere where Karl meets his childhood hero who has become a psychopath obsessed with catching a rare bird. It doesn't take long to figure out the past is the past and we need to move on towards the future.

We have not seen the last of Karl and company, no I'm not talking sequel I am talking the inevitable Oscar nominations, and the big DVD promotional release. Pixar struck gold yet again will the streak continue with next year's Toy Story 3?