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oliver9184 · 02-12-2010, 04:36 AM

Edge of Darkness 8/10 has been slagged off by some critics but not me. It's a very old fashioned and conservative film but the story engrosses and Mel Gibson is perfect playing this sort of character. The extent of my knowledge about this film, and my sole reason for watching it, was that Gisbon starred and I was entirely satisfied. (Grancey: The ending definately was for me! Spoiler: A tear came to my eye!)

Youth In Revolt 7/10 was able to dispell slightly, and probably temporarily, my for Michael Cera. Here he's being slightly daring taking on two roles: main character, and a physical manifestation of main character's id. As expected the id gets him into all sorts of trouble and scrapes and shit we wish we had the balls to do when we were younger.

Jumper 5/10 is a turkey that leads me to think, sadly, that Hayden Christensen, has no future outside of Star Wars. I liked him as angry Anakin Skywalker and I liked him a lot in Shattered Glass. There's a particularly narrow niche of indignant, infantile, pseudo-righteous frustration that he does very well indeed but little of that is displayed in this surprisingly earnest, but brainless, bunkum.

The Eiger Sanction 7/10 is a mid seventies Clint Eastwood (directed by and starring) film in which he stars as a spy-turned-professor: a pair of spectacles is all that's needed, and just like Indiana Jones all the hot young students want a piece of him (but he doesn't pick on students or drunks. Which, he says, is why he didn't "boff that little quiff".) Climbing fans will point to this film for its spectacular and real-life mountaineering scenes but these take an hour and a half to get to and the film's pretty slow until then.

Kalifornia 5/10 is a thoroughly stupid and unpleasant "thriller" from the early 90s starring Brad Pitt as a thigh-slapping lank-haired beer-swilling serial-killing yokel and the endlessly dislikeable Juliette Lewis as his childlike, babbling, pitifully retarded girlfriend. David Duchovny and some stuck-up bitch decide to take a road trip across America stopping at sites of famous serial killings (why not!), and unwisely take along aforementioned actual killers (ironic!)

The Bank Job 8/10 is a surprisingly good British crime thriller starring Jason Statham and lots of other British people you'll recognise but not know the names of if you watch British TV. The story is bigger and wider than is usual for the crime caper (sub-) genre, and is based on a real life incident that happened in 1970 but was instantly hushed-up because of supposed National Defense reasons and/or MI5 involvement. Some of the dialogue is pretty awful and some of the content is very dark considering how light the tone of the film is, but the photography's unusually nice for a film of this sort and there's some good action.

Syriana 8/10 is a big, complex and detailed geopolitical thriller with four or five different interlinking stories and a big ensemble cast that includes George Clooney and Matt Damon. It's like Traffic but about oil instead of cocaine, and it was written and directed by the writer of Traffic. It's fiction but based on the memoirs of a real ex-CIA man who was based somewhere in the Middle East.

The Mosquito Coast 6/10 apparently is the only Harrison Ford film to have made a loss at the B.O. He was never one of my favourites and as of 2010 he's a complete joke but back in 1986 he was probably at the peak of his stardom. He's acceptable and believable in this story of a genius but unreasonable and unhinged father who tires of the USA and takes his family to live in the jungles of Honduras - he couldn't have gotten any bigger, acting wise, in the role without becoming ridiculous but this film needs a monster and I think in 1986 there were actors who could have made it work, and made the film work better: Jack Nicholson (who turned it down), Michael Douglas, Jon Voight? Anyway as it is with Ford it doesn't really do the novel justice though River Phoenix is great as Ford's son.

The Wolfman 6/10 had some very good moments but something was not right somewhere deep in the story mechanics. It's only about an hour and a half but I felt extraordinarily restless in all of the non-action and non-Anthony Hopkins scenes. I couldn't care a jot for the female lead or her relationship with Del Toro and I'm not really sure that I was supposed to considering the scant amount of attention she and it got. The film had a troubled pre and post production so I expect a lot of romantic stuff may have been cut. The best scenes in this film are when the American werewolf is in London but it doesn't come close to the classic film An American Werewolf in London.

02-12-2010, 04:36 AM	#3745 (permalink)
oliver9184 Psycho	Edge of Darkness 8/10 has been slagged off by some critics but not me. It's a very old fashioned and conservative film but the story engrosses and Mel Gibson is perfect playing this sort of character. The extent of my knowledge about this film, and my sole reason for watching it, was that Gisbon starred and I was entirely satisfied. (Grancey: The ending definately was for me! Spoiler: A tear came to my eye!) Youth In Revolt 7/10 was able to dispell slightly, and probably temporarily, my for Michael Cera. Here he's being slightly daring taking on two roles: main character, and a physical manifestation of main character's id. As expected the id gets him into all sorts of trouble and scrapes and shit we wish we had the balls to do when we were younger. Jumper 5/10 is a turkey that leads me to think, sadly, that Hayden Christensen, has no future outside of Star Wars. I liked him as angry Anakin Skywalker and I liked him a lot in Shattered Glass. There's a particularly narrow niche of indignant, infantile, pseudo-righteous frustration that he does very well indeed but little of that is displayed in this surprisingly earnest, but brainless, bunkum. The Eiger Sanction 7/10 is a mid seventies Clint Eastwood (directed by and starring) film in which he stars as a spy-turned-professor: a pair of spectacles is all that's needed, and just like Indiana Jones all the hot young students want a piece of him (but he doesn't pick on students or drunks. Which, he says, is why he didn't "boff that little quiff".) Climbing fans will point to this film for its spectacular and real-life mountaineering scenes but these take an hour and a half to get to and the film's pretty slow until then. Kalifornia 5/10 is a thoroughly stupid and unpleasant "thriller" from the early 90s starring Brad Pitt as a thigh-slapping lank-haired beer-swilling serial-killing yokel and the endlessly dislikeable Juliette Lewis as his childlike, babbling, pitifully retarded girlfriend. David Duchovny and some stuck-up bitch decide to take a road trip across America stopping at sites of famous serial killings (why not!), and unwisely take along aforementioned actual killers (ironic!) The Bank Job 8/10 is a surprisingly good British crime thriller starring Jason Statham and lots of other British people you'll recognise but not know the names of if you watch British TV. The story is bigger and wider than is usual for the crime caper (sub-) genre, and is based on a real life incident that happened in 1970 but was instantly hushed-up because of supposed National Defense reasons and/or MI5 involvement. Some of the dialogue is pretty awful and some of the content is very dark considering how light the tone of the film is, but the photography's unusually nice for a film of this sort and there's some good action. Syriana 8/10 is a big, complex and detailed geopolitical thriller with four or five different interlinking stories and a big ensemble cast that includes George Clooney and Matt Damon. It's like Traffic but about oil instead of cocaine, and it was written and directed by the writer of Traffic. It's fiction but based on the memoirs of a real ex-CIA man who was based somewhere in the Middle East. The Mosquito Coast 6/10 apparently is the only Harrison Ford film to have made a loss at the B.O. He was never one of my favourites and as of 2010 he's a complete joke but back in 1986 he was probably at the peak of his stardom. He's acceptable and believable in this story of a genius but unreasonable and unhinged father who tires of the USA and takes his family to live in the jungles of Honduras - he couldn't have gotten any bigger, acting wise, in the role without becoming ridiculous but this film needs a monster and I think in 1986 there were actors who could have made it work, and made the film work better: Jack Nicholson (who turned it down), Michael Douglas, Jon Voight? Anyway as it is with Ford it doesn't really do the novel justice though River Phoenix is great as Ford's son. The Wolfman 6/10 had some very good moments but something was not right somewhere deep in the story mechanics. It's only about an hour and a half but I felt extraordinarily restless in all of the non-action and non-Anthony Hopkins scenes. I couldn't care a jot for the female lead or her relationship with Del Toro and I'm not really sure that I was supposed to considering the scant amount of attention she and it got. The film had a troubled pre and post production so I expect a lot of romantic stuff may have been cut. The best scenes in this film are when the American werewolf is in London but it doesn't come close to the classic film An American Werewolf in London.