Satans_Husband

Martyrs Finally got around to watching this. The first half was pretty damned good and I liked the way the plot was developing. The gore was extreme but it worked with the drama of it all. And then the big twist came. I'm never really a fan of that kind of development and I found everything after that to be a bore. By the time it got to the end all I was thinking about was what a wasted opportunity the whole thing had been. I know a lot of people on here liked it but I can only regard it as half a film. 4/10

Red State I really don't rate Kevin Smith as a filmmaker, or as a personality. Decided to check this out to see if he really had turned some kind of corner. It was reasonable to a degree up until near the halfway point, even though I didn't like the direction or the editing. After that, it became monotonous and felt way longer than the 87 minutes it is. There's nothing of any great interest here and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. 3/10

I knew you meant the opening credits, I was only joshing you. They're not quite identical but it's clearly meant to be associated with it. He lifted the actual Cannibal Holocaust theme for his superb 16 minute short Treevenge which can be seen in full on youtube. It's a great piece of music.

Not that similar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGUNZXZirMo

Racoons it is. A nod to the fact they're both Canadian productions I think.

I'm surprised at the critical panning this has taken. To me, it's by far the best of the sequels and close in spirit to the first one.

Tucker & Dale Vs Evil Very much a one gag movie that unfortunately shows too many of the good bits in the trailer. BUT, it's a hoot and a good way to spend a silly 89 minutes. There're far, far worse films to spend your money on. If you can see it without having seen the trailer beforehand you'll find it way funnier. 6.5/10

Drive Saw a preview this morning and it's great entertainment. The opening scene is sure to be mentioned in the future amongst cinema classics as it's simply superb. Ryan Gosling also elevates his already lofty status as an actor with an absolutely brilliant performance. It may be a relatively formulaic set up but I was unsure as to how the whole thing would pan out and I'd recommend not reading many (or any) spoilers if you can. For about the first hour the 18 certificate seems surprising, until some moments of wild violence kick in. It's not perfect but I reckon some people on here will love this film. I'd be happy watching it again very soon and I might just do that. 8/10

A Gunfight Johnny Cash in his second movie role squares up to Kirk Douglas as two hard-up gunfighters arrange a big pay day by letting a town bet on the outcome before they meet for a showdown in a bull ring. It's a brilliant premise and I'm surprised it hasn't been remade. I hadn't seen it for a couple of decades so it's a bit shoddier than I remembered. The direction ain't very good, the editing is poor and the DVD transfer isn't great quality with not even a trailer to be found as an extra. But the acting is superb from the two leads, as is an appearance form Keith Carradine, in possibly his first role, as a warped young gunslinger. It's only about 90 minutes and well worth a watch, especially for how wild Johnny Cash's hair gets at one point. 7.5/10

Fans of Hobo With A Shotgun should check out the short by the director - Treevenge. A bit ropey at the start but worth watching to the end for the 'treevenge'. Genre fans will spot that the theme music is lifted from Cannibal Holocaust (and sounds very similar to the Hobo With A Shotgun theme music). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vaiv7kAXBzM

Kill List I'd largely ignored the hype but was still intrigued enough to see this British 'horror' on the opening night. It didn't start off very well and, despite myself, I gradually got into it. If it had finished after about an hour I may even have considered giving it an over-genrous five without much justification. But when the whole surprising/scary end segment kicks in I felt like walking out. Unimaginative bollocks is the fairest way to put it. As soon as masked people start appearing with burning torches and some of them are completely naked you know it's all going very cult freakish and TEDIOUS. Oooh how weird, disturbing and scary - I don't think so. 2/10

That's part of his character. He says a lot of things that you assume he knows are plain dumb. I can't remember the precise quote but Don Cheadle says to him that he can't work out if he's really dumb or really smart and that's a key part to the whole plot. I can't remember if I've rated it on here but I'd probably make it a 5 or 6/10. It's got some good parts and could have been a much better film but it's a bit of a mess and ultimately not very satisfying. I haven't seen In Bruge yet so I couldn't say if the claims that it's 'In Bruge light' are accurate or not.

That surprises me. I'm a big fan of the original and everything about the new one looks pish.

I'm in complete disagreement. Scream 4 is terrible and Hobo With A Shotgun is simply miles better than Machete which is a bore. Each to to their own though.

Damn right. It's an all-time classic line. Beautifully judged and makes a huge impact.

Mark Kermode flagged this up the other day. It's quite incredible that the biggest spoiler possible is the cover.

Potiche French farce set in the late seventies starring Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu, adapted from a stage play. By rights I should loathe just about everything to do with this film, but I liked it. Maybe it was the mood I was in or the fact that the audience (of which many clearly spoke French) loved it and laughed throughout. Whatever the reason, it was an amusing way to spend 1hr 45mins. 7/10

Devil Curiosity got the better of me and I watched this fanciful, fairytale bollocks. An hour or even a half hour on television would have been ample to cover this storyline. 2/10

Cell 211 Spanish prison riot/siege based around the story of a prison guard on his first day who is trapped with the cons and pretends he's one of them in order to survive. Pretty good as far as these things go. Tense in parts and some reasonable social commentary. 6.5/10

It's got a limited release in cinemas from today. It was also on at the Glasgow Film Festival a while back though I didn't catch it there. There's a basic morality that bad people deserve to be killed but, other than that, it's full on bum with gun. Some classic newspaper headlines in it - 'Tramp Stops Begging, Demands Change' and 'Parents Smile While Bodies Pile'. A guy walks onto a school bus with a flamethrower, say no more.

Hobo With A Shotgun The second film developed from one of the fake trailers featured in Grindhouse (the other being Machete which I thought was a bore and would rate at 3/10). It's full-on virtually from the off and barely lets up throughout the 86mins. It's very authentic as an exploitation film - gaudy colours, soundtrack often too loud, acting not great, one star name etc - and works well for it. The gore is impressive and hilarious with a few set pieces that are very memorable. The often used 'hospital gurney battering through corridor doors' scene is my highlight of the movie as the sight of Rutger Hauer astride his friend and trying to treat the wound with a mixture of vodka and gaffa tape is a sight to behold. It's by no means perfect. Like a lot of apocalyptic visions of society, it gets a bit close to Mad Max territory on occasion and the addition of a couple of demonic characters (aka The Plague) was unnecessary and adds nothing to the story. It's a hoot. 7/10

Bridesmaids I can only assume that a lot of people that really like this have had to sit through many rom-coms and chick flicks to which this compares favourably. It was mildly amusing for a bit and I did laugh a few times but it's way too long, not nearly as interesting as I'd hoped and the ending was close to making me spew. 3/10

The Tree of Life I'm a fan of Terrence Malick BUT, even though I was prepared for a slow moving meditation on life, this bored me rigid. The scenes of outer space were spectacular and the cinematography was magnificent but the rest of it was philosophical meandering at its worst. And watching the kids messing around doing this and that may have amused some of the parents in the audience but, for me, it was tedious in the extreme. The near final scene is something that's been done many times before and is devoid of imagination. The notorious dinosaur scene was pointless. 3/10

Senna I had hoped this would be similar to When We Were Kings in that the story was powerful enough to involve people not really interested in the sport and so it turned out to be. Remarkable behind the scenes footage combined with amazing real events make this a very enjoyable and emotional watch. I found it a bit disappointing that there were no retrospective commentaries from the likes of Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell or Jackie Stewart but, with all the politics and personal interests involved, it would probably have been difficult to get them on board. It's well worth seeing whether you like motor racing or not. 8/10

That's absolutely brilliant. Possibly my favourite Hitchcock film.