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Well, this is going to be hard. How to tell you what I thought of Duplicity without giving away vital clues and plot twists. This film bends and turns like a cliff-side highway during the rainy season; centred around the conceit that a cosmetic company has begun production on a fabulous new project sends it chief rival into a frenzy of commercial piracy. Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play the two agents working for each of the competing companies as they try and one-up each other to obtain the secret code to a new line of cosmetics worth billions of dollars. Doesn’t sound like a great film so far, right? Cosmetics? Can’t they come up with something else? Sure, they could, but the real story isn’t who is going after the “secret code”, but how and why. Duplicity isn’t a straightforward film, and it’s certainly not designed for people of limited intellect or cookie-cutter film-making: this is highbrow spy versus spy stuff that makes Oceans 11 look like a trip to Santa’s Cave. With the twisty-turny plot of this film meaning that almost any information I give out is spoiler-worthy, I think it only prudent to say now, before the main review section, that I’ll be giving things away a little as I go. So if you want to be surprised, don’t read on. Consider this your warning.

Get into the twists of Duplicity by clicking here!! SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

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After the success of his previous film Taken, starring Liam Neeson (reviewed here on the site), a film which we absolutely loved to bits, we had high hopes for Frenchman Pierre Morel’s next project, starring the always reliable John Travolta and the curious choice of Jonathan Rhys Meyers: From Paris With Love. Given his tutelage under uber-Frenchman Luc Besson, Morel had the challenge of somehow rising above the b-movie listings some of his contemporaries had struggled with, people like Chris Nason and Xavier Gens. Taken affirmed his breakout status among the Western mainstream, following on from the hilarity and energetic action flick (in his native French) District 13, another film we’ve already reviewed here. So with From Paris, we’d come to expect a little of the extroverted, a little high-octane violence and adrenaline, if not always an entirely cohesive script. We got exactly what we asked for.

Get some guns and dive into this glorious film with us!!! Click here to read on!!!

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There are two moments in Apocalypse Now that have entered the pop-culture zeitgeist, moments that are spoofed, parodied and played upon whenever somebody wants a historical touchstone for war, or the madness of it. Robert Duvall’s oft-quoted line about loving the smell of napalm, and the epic helicopter attack utilising the score for Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries. However, ask anybody under the age of around 25 what films they come from, or indeed anything else about that film, and you’ll probably receive a blank look. Which is a shame, because Apocalypse Now is a film worthy of inclusion into whatever pantheon of Great War Films you seek to fill. Director Francis Ford Coppola suffered a nervous breakdown whilst filming this monster, star Martin Sheen had a heart attack, and Marlon Brando…. well, behaved exactly like Marlon Brando would; yet for all its famed production troubles (and I use the term “troubles” in the lightest sense, because this was an apocryphal film to make) Apocalypse Now remains an enduring icon in Hollywood’s history. Today, we take a look back at the film itself, look beyond the anecdotes and myths, to see if it really does hold up after all these years.

Delve deeper into the redux, here!!!

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This review is based on the extended Director’s Cut version of Aliens, long thought by fans to be the definitive version of the film. Key story elements removed for the theatrical version, such as setting up the LV426 colony at the opening of the film, additional character development for Ripley during the opening act and various other narrative enhancers throughout which add to the story.

If it was possible to exceed what Ridley Scott did with Alien, then James Cameron did so with Aliens. In what can only be described as a tour de force of science fiction, James Cameron cemented his place as a genuine A-list director, following his breakout mainstream debut with Terminator, with the follow-up to Alien. Set some time after the events in Alien, with Ellen Ripley being found drifting in the remains of the Nostromo’s escape pod, some 52 years after she blew the Alien Queen out the door, Aliens manages to return our heroine to the planet she never wanted to return to. Aliens is not your typical action-sci-fi fare, however, in that it takes its time setting up the scenario, the characters, and the plot. Avoiding Ridley Scott’s original noir-ish tone from film 1, Cameron eschews the more traditional scary movie feel for a gung-ho, testosterone injected thrill ride, balancing both character development and hard-core thrills in equal measure. To say Aliens is a masterpiece is an understatement of an order of magnitude. What Cameron achieved set the benchmark for science fiction (and the Alien franchise) film and, until he revised that benchmark again in Terminator 2, would never be bettered.

Flick it of safety and come for a ride with us! Click here to ready the rest of this article!!!

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If you were to count down the most influential science fictions films made over the last half century, somewhere towards the top of that list would be a couple of  Ridley Scott films, namely Blade Runner and Alien. Scott almost single-handedly revolutionised hard sci-fi during the period between 1979 and 85, kicking things off with the noirish, gritty space thriller, Alien. Little did he realise at the time just what he was unleashing upon cinema audiences, with the Alien saga ballooning into a major franchise for 20th Century Fox. The edgy, non-politically correct nature of Alien, with it’s realistic narrative and believable look into future tech, caused a minor sensation with audiences upon its release to audiences in 1979. Sparing use of the film’s main villain, coupled with a brooding, atmospheric tone, and believable characters, gave audiences a real jolt of adrenaline, effectively introducing one of cinema’s greatest screen villains. It also introduced one of cinema’s great female screen icons, Ellen Ripley; a character which would even have Sigourney Weaver nominated for an Oscar in the role in the mega-sequel, Aliens.

Scare yourself silly by reading the rest of this review!!! Click here to enter the Nostromo and be chased by an alien!!

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I went into this film with almost no expectations save one: lead actress Carey Mulligan (Pride & Prejudice (2005), And When Did You Last See Your Father?, Public Enemies) was nominated for an Oscar in a leading role for her performance here, so I was watching her with great interest. Mulligan aside, I knew almost nothing about this film, as it had never really interested me. An Education seemed more or less and art-house kind of film, a character study that looked as magnificently boring as it looked magnificently shot. I am pleased to announce, then, that I misjudged this film completely. Not only is is a magnificently shot character study, but it’s a really well acted one, and certainly worth your while to watch. It’s always good to watch a film that exceeds your expectations, even if those expectations were to be sleeping through the last half. Thankfully, though, An Education has more going for it than a simple art-house mentality. It’s a confounding film in its simplicity, and in execution succeeds tremendously. I know, I know, I’m gushing rampant praise upon it without qualifying my remarks, but the truth is that I’m more impressed with a less promoted aspect of the film. I call you out to witness the wonderful acting of one Alfred Molina. More on him in a moment.

Click here for more education!

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I’ve had a few days to think about this film now, since I watched it, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Surrogates is an opportunity missed. I was initially impressed, I’ll admit, but after soaking up what Surrogates had to say, I think it’s a film which is, sadly,  more style over substance. The concept of humanity using avatars to get through life has been covered before, many times, including recent films like Gamer and Avatar, is one that I think has become more pertinent in recent years with the predominance of the internet and iPhones, Facebook and MySpace. Surrogates combines the robotic stylings of I, Robot and the human/machine interactivity of Gamer, and gives us a brave new world where human interaction is limited to synthetic human-looking robots  linked to their real users, “surrogate” humans, if you will.

Find out if we enjoyed this film: Click here for more…!!!

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Okay, I’ll bite. I’m not a major computer game player. I dabbled a little with Doom, Quake and more recently some of the Halo products, but I’ve never been “into” games like many are: those addicted to the screen, the lives they inhabit online and on their computers seems to be a little insane to me. Nothing wrong with a rainy day third-person shooter to get you through the boredom, but to spend 24 hours a day on level 5 isn’t conducive to a normal social life. Plus, the wife gets a little testy with an hour or so in front of the screen on a weekend.

Click here to continue with our Gamer review… if you dare!!!

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There are classic films. And then, there are classic films. The truly classic film defy both time and tide, surmount the detrimental jibes of critics, and remain an enduring legacy of a time when the world was innocent, and film-making accordingly thus. The Wizard of Oz, recently released on remastered BluRay disc, is one of those rare films that transcends both time and place, remaining in the firmament of genuinely classic films, and will remain so as long as humans stride the surface of this planet. The back-story of The Wizard of Oz is as enthralling a saga as the film itself, filled with the intrigue of actors ending up in hospital and receiving second degree burns. Troubles behind the scenes, however, hardly seem to touch this timeless classic, and it’s a testament to director Victor Fleming that the whole thing comes together as it does.

To follow the Yellow Brick Road and read more of our thoughts on the Wizards world, click here!!!

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Surprisingly cool action flick from the director of Taken and From Paris With Love, Pierre Morel, District 13 (retitled District B13 in some markets, due to the “b” referring to the French use of the word “Banlieue” to designate a suburb) features the amazing art of “free running”, or as it’s known in France, Parkour, as it’s centrepiece, a concept which was showcased at the beginning of recent Bond flick Casino Royale. Initially, I thought a film with this as its main audience draw might seem a tenuous way to make a film, but amazingly (for me), it works! Filmed in Paris, in French (subtitles for those of you who can’t speak French!) and with a slick, high gloss production ethic, District 13 is one of those films you never hear of except through word of mouth, and generally enjoy in spite of yourself. So it is with great pleasure that I regale you with the beauty that is this film.

Run and jump further into this review: Click here to continue….

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As much I wanted to enjoy this film, I don’t think I’ve hated a film like this so much in recent memory. Devoid of any film-making talent whatsoever, Wild Child represents the nadir of teen based chic modern comedy, an update on the Clueless model that gave vacuous girls and their fashion sense more of a platform than ever in Hollywood. With a plot that could be written on the back of a postage stamp, characters so utterly lacking in actual character it’s like watching plastic mannequins come to life, Wild Child is so utterly un-compelling as a film I feel cheated to have wasted 90 minutes of my life.

To witness more of this stupidity, click your mouse on this text!!!

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It’s funny, but in the week I watched this film, I also perused the other major Jason Segel comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in a kind of cinematic symmetry that was unexpected. If you’ve read my review on that film, you’ll know I didn’t find it all that funny. At least, not in the way I was probably supposed to. So when I finally got around to sticking this DVD into the player for a spin, I wasn’t expecting anything great. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that I Love You, Man is actually pretty funny. It still suffers from a somewhat predictable narrative, in terms of it’s Hollywood clichéd comedy style, but the winning performances from Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, as well as realistic performances from Rashida Jones and a wonderful Jon Favreau, make this film a hearty little comedy with plenty of laughs.

Get into this film a whole lot more by clicking here!!!

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It’s perhaps a sad fact of life that these days, vulgarity and crudity seem to be the order of the day in the majority of Hollywood films these days. Comedies, in particular, appear to be the most affected, with a subtle (or not so subtle, if you’re watching carefully!) increase in crude humour being injected into even the most benign of stories to amp up the “edgy” factor. Most of this is a result of the resurgence in crude humour brought on by American Pie and it’s ilk, and film-makers seem content to make more and more raunchy films to draw in the teen boy demographic. Your tolerance for this kind of film will depend on whether you find jokes about sex, farts and animals acceptable, and by that I mean whether concepts such as eating your own poo are socially okay.

Click here for more of the delectable Jessica Alba.. and some others.. in this film…

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Judd Apatow does nothing for me. I’ll admit it. I’m not a raving fan of his works, particularly stuff he’s “produced” rather than directed specifically. I enjoyed 40 Year Old Virgin, and there were a couple of laughs in Knocked Up, but generally, I don’t really find his films hysterically amusing. Maybe it’s just me. In fact, it probably is just me, because the rest of the world thinks the sun shines out his backside. So I’m going against the raging flood, I know, but I’ll swing my hat out and state that while moments in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which Apatow produced, were amusing, and overall the film was better than bad, it still wasn’t the mind blowing awesome that some people said it was. I like to think my sense of humour is fairly broad, you know. I believe that I have an appealing taste in comedic cinema, ranging from the slapstick insanity of Monty Python to the teen-sex romps such as American Pie and it’s ilk. I also enjoy the more ribald comedy at times, although I have to pick my audience with those. But as with Knocked Up and Virgin, as well as the astonishingly unfunny Superbad (which was, as it’s name suggest, super-bad!) I didn’t find Forgetting Sarah Marshall the intellectually stimulating comedy the front cover suggested. And you know what? I can’t for the life of me figure out why!

Get more into Sarah Marshall by clicking here!!

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In the aftermath of the debacle that was The Lost World, Steven Spielberg relinquished his role as director on the franchise and handed the reins over to his protegé, Joe Johnson. Johnson’s flair for filmmaking, shown in his debut film Jumanji, would come in handy in trying to take the seemingly stale dinosaur franchise in a different direction; indeed, Johnson succeeds substantially here.

A couple’s son is lost on one of the Jurassic Park islands while paragliding on an adventure holiday, and in desperation they persuade Alan Grant (now somehow struggling for research money) to take on the challenge of tagging along on the rescue mission as an “expert”. When the light aircraft reaches the island, the couple want to land to search for their son, something Grant acknowledges early on as an incredibly stupid idea. As you’d expect, the dinosaurs on the island soon realise that more prey has arrived, and before you know it, the human rescue team is stranded on the island and themselves in need of rescue. The requisite running and screaming ensue, allowing Grant to both flex his knowledge of the dinosaurs that live on, defying the original films mantra that they have a short life-span to regulate their existence, and work up a sweat in the process.

Will we survive this onslaught of dino carnage? Click here to read on!!!