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When director Edward Zwick saw this script come across his desk, he must have licked his lips and thought to himself that perhaps, now, was time for some Oscar glory. After years in the award season wilderness, Zwick surely saw within Defiance a chance to grab another Best Picture gong, perhaps even a Best Director one. A heroic story, set within World War II, featuring a quartet of Jew determined not to become road-kill under the tyres of the Nazi “Final Solution”, and a story of bravery above all common sense, Defiance is ostensibly a film designed to garner appreciation and praise.

I’ve always enjoyed Zwick’s film: yes, even The Last Samurai, a film I felt was slightly undone by the inclusion of Tom Cruise. Blood Diamond, reviewed here at fernbyfilms.com, is among the best films I’ve been privileged to witness. Zwick is a director of significant substance, with his films often requiring a couple of viewings to truly appreciate. Layers of narrative that only come to light after the inital shock of the film wears off, Zwick doesn’t dumb down to the dim-witted: he a film-maker I’ve a lot of time for, and admire him greatly for his choices of stories that he chooses to tell.

To continue reading our Defiance review, click here!!

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The fifth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise takes us into darker and darker places than anything that’s come before it. When Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors from Azkaban, Harry saves him from certain death by using his magic: something which is forbidden in the real world by the Ministry Of Magic. Placed on trial, and defended by Dumbledore, political motivations running deeper within the Ministry seem to indicate a change of power balance at Hogwarts in on the cards.

To continue reading about The Order Of The Phoenix, click here!!!

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Somewhere in this story, there’s something about a large multi-national bank funding terrorism, which leads Interpol agent Salinger (Clive Owen) and Assistant DA in New York Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) to try and bring it down. Subterfuge, assassinations, covert operations, and a fantastic shoot-out in the Guggenheim Museum: The International has all the hallmarks of being a great film.

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Ruined by over-watching, Ever After is a great film that slowly gets worse the more your flatmates girlfriend wants to watch it. There’s a story. And the rating of this film hinges on that story. So be prepared.

Many years ago, when I was living in an apartment with my brother and a friend, Nick, we were three single boys living footloose and fancy free. Nick, however, went and got himself a girlfriend (who shall henceforth be named Maude to protect her identity). Maude, bless her, was your typical girly-girl, a romcom loving princess who enjoyed a good chick flick. Maude would often be found, cuddled up with Nick on our couch, sitting back watching whatever romantic film she’d decided to watch out of my collection (which, I’ll admit, wasn’t as enormous back then as it is now). As an avid DVD collector, I’d usually purchase whatever film was released on disc in that particular week: I wasn’t really choosy, I did enjoy the (at the time) new format with my home cinema. So it came to pass that I purchased a copy of Fox’s Ever After, and it was picked up by Maude in her musings at some stage. Maude, being the girly-girl she was, enjoyed Ever After a lot. A whole lot. In fact, she enjoyed it so much it was the only DVD in my collection she wanted to watch. Ever. Often, I’d come home from a hard days work, to find Nick and Maude cuddling on the couch, Ever After playing on the big screen, usually about half and hour in. Now, this didn’t happen once every month or so, no sir. This occurred almost every second day. For a year. Imagine, watching Ever After four or five times a week for 12 months.

It’s the cinematic equivalent of loving chocolate, then one day eating too much and getting sick, and never being able to eat it again. I am unable, through natural mental gag reflex, to watch Ever After again.

That doesn’t stop me from being able to write a review on it. I can recite the film practically word-for-word, a talent I also have for Armageddon and Starship Troopers. So, after being requested, here is my review of Ever After, a great film ruined by over-exposure.

To see if can stomach watching Ever After again after all this time, click here to read on!!!

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Guy Ritchie is an enigma. When he first burst onto the scene with his breakout crime caper Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, great things were predicted to come from him. Indeed, his follow-up film, Snatch, seemed to indicate a stylish, creative force was on the way up. Then came the dreary dog of a film, Swept Away, which teamed Ritchie and his new wife Madonna, only for it to be swept onto the rocky reef of critical derision and Razzie awards. A pause, lasting years, came and went, before Ritchie unleashed on us all Rock’n'Rolla, before his first true “blockbuster”, Sherlock Holmes, came to cinema screens earlier this year.

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Tabloid television is full of stories about neighbours at war. Most of us can relate to having somebody living next door that pisses us off, or holds some bizarre vendetta against us. We’ve all seen the garbage TV shows displaying this trashy rubbish for all to see, and most of us wonder just how things can spiral out of control so badly. People installing night vision security cameras and sensors to guard against the folks from next door. So it came as no surprise to see a film like Lakeview Terrace arriving in the new release section of my local video rental. Films about neighbourhood violence aren’t plentiful these days; at least, the intelligent ones aren’t.

Get more info on Lakeview Terrace by clicking here!!!

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Okay, I’ll bite. Nic Cage’s presence in a film is almost a kiss of death. How he’s gone from stratosphere busting super-stardom and Oscar winning ingenue, to appearing in mish-mash crap like Ghost Rider and now, The Knowing. Alex Proyas, the director such awesome acclaimed fare like Dark City and I Robot, has finally put a foot wrong.  Knowing is a glum, conceited affair riddled with lacklustre performances and half-baked concepts; and one of the silliest endings I’ve seen in a very long time.

To say the film is complete garbage is to do it a disservice; Knowing is not that bad, overall. But some of Proyas’s choices as director leave a lot to be desired. And some of them undo any of the good work that Proyas and his team have done to get this film into the mainstream. Casting Nic Cage is the first big mistake. I’m sorry, but the man looks like he’s perpetually depressed, and often, his acting reflects this. As an Oscar winner, you’d think his range would be a little wider. Nope, it’s the single-note Cage again, the same performance he has done in every film since the halcyon days of Face/Off, his last truly awesome movie.

To see into the future and discover how this review ends, click here now!!!