The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is an eight year old boy and son of a German soldier, (David Thewlis) who is sent to run a concentration camp in the height of the Second World War. Due to this he moves his whole family to a house near one of the camps. After exploring one day Bruno finds a boy called Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) sitting in the camp and makes friends with him. As the film unwinds we see the harsh realities of World War 2 through the eyes of two eight year old boys.

To say this film was awesome is the understatement of the century. It has been a long while since I have seen a film that moved me as much as this one did.

Although there have been many war films, I once heard it said that there is no story that has been done too many times as long as you find a new angle to see it. This film was that, it was harsh, truthful, rough and didn’t pull any punches when talking about the brutality that was used in the concentration camps at that time. But every plot turn we saw was seen through the eyes of Bruno; an eight year old boy who for the main part of the film thinks he’s living next door to a farm whose occupants seem to be wearing strange pyjamas.

With this angle we never see blatant portrayals of the torture that the Jews had to endure but rather subtle hints that leaves you chilled to the bone. It is so beautifully done that I spent two or so hours with my mouth wide open and my body completely tense.

I could not find one thing wrong with this film. With an amazing script, stunning performances from all, inspired directing and an almighty film score I was amazed from beginning to end. I mean this to the point where I almost want to make it my life mission to get every person I know to see it. As far as I’m concerned there is no reason for you not to see this and if there is just one film you see this year, make sure it’s this one. An almighty five faces from me.

Taken

Bryan (Liam Neeson) is a retired spy for the government who has left his job to devote his time to his 17 year old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) who he had been estranged from for the majority of her life. When she goes to Paris with her friend she is kidnapped by human traffickers and Bryan goes on the war path to get his daughter back.

Well this film had an awesome trailer that took a plot line that had been used many times and made me interested.

Unfortunately that was where the intrigue ended. It was a competent film with one of the greats (Neeson) as it's lead and so in my mind was worth seeing at least once. The action was interesting enough to keep me on my toes throughout and the pace of the film was just right to not cause that dragging feeling you can sometimes feel in action films.

This was all it was however. There was nothing amazing about it that made me impressed and balled over. Neeson's acting carried the film though his American accent was little to be desired and quite often he just sounded like a Irish man trying to carry himself off as an American. (Which in all fairness to him is what he is)

The action in the film although fast paced and interesting did leave me and my regular film buddy a little skeptical. Neeson's skills as a spy seemed to be reliant on coincidences in his circumstances rather than any actual clever writing.

And were the reactions the characters had to the situation they found themselves in realistic? Meh. Bad script writers. Bad.

All in all, it wasn't one I regretted seeing but I've pretty much forgotten about it already and I only finished watching it an hour ago. You probably won't hate it, but you probably won't love it either - I guess that means I nothing it....

Neeson's performance gained one more face than this film probably deserved which proves their one golden good choice was in their casting. It gets a (just barely) three faces from me.

Tropic Thunder

Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) is an action actor, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) is the classic funny guy actor and Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr) is the oscar winning method actor who (to quote another of Stillers movies) is 'so hot right now.' All three of them plus some extras are shooting a film about the vietnam war. The director Damian Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is unable to control his pre madonna actors and so has to go to extremes to get a realistic outlook on this film. He takes them out of movie jungle and into the real jungle. From this point on it's every man for themselves as they assume they're still making the movie when in actual fact the troubles they face are real.

This review I think has been my hardest to write as I wanted so much to love it. I love Stiller and I adore Downey Jr so to pan them is a hard thing for me to do. Having said that.... yawn. I was bitterly disappointed with this film, especially when it had been praised by every review I had seen.

For one, the plot. Good idea, and poking fun at actors is always amusing to me but it was brought across in a very long drawn out way showing all the funniest bits in the trailers and leaving the rest of the film as a snooze fest. Now don't get me wrong, I did chuckle, even guffaw at certain jokes in this movie, but if you compared it to the amount of times I checked my watch?? Hmmmm.

For two, the actors. This was the part that upset me the most, if you know me at all I have always praised Ben Stiller for his comic genius (Zoolander, Starsky and Hutch etc) and yes maybe in the recent years I've drifted away from his type of humour.... but I've still seen every film he's been in. This film however, knowing that he starred, produced and directed it came off as dry and very poorly drawn out.

Downey Jr is one that it grieves me to pan ever since I watched him in Ally McBeal and my teenage heart beat wildly for him. Buuuut again I was disappointed. He played someone who had undergone a pigmentation skin operation so that he could play an American black man and being a method actor he played his character 24/7.... bad move. I could not understand a single word he was saying, and it was fine when I thought that was meant to be the general idea but when he's having a conversation with someone and I'm only able to listen to one side of it, it is incredibly annoying. If he was going to play this role then surely he may have learnt how to enunciate!!

And finally Jack Black whose sole purpose (other than to get more bums on seats due to another big name) was to fart and come off drugs, nothing else. Boring and done way too many times before.

Perhaps it was because I expected something better, perhaps it was because this just wasn't my type of humour, but I was unimpressed. (As you may well have gathered) and that's why it gets a mere two faces from me.

Step Brothers

Nancy Huff and Dr Robert Doback are two single parents with a unique problem, they both have 40 something sons still living at home with them. When they meet at a medical conference it was love at first sight and their mutual problem cemented their relationship. They swiftly got married and Nancy's 39 year old son, Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Robert's 40 year old son Dale Doback (John C Reilly)have to learn how to live together and share their parents with others when they're used to being their parents pride and joy.

From the moment I saw Reilly in 'Walk Hard: A Dewey Cox story' I have been dying to see him in a movie with Ferrell. (Talladega Nights does not count as it was such an appauling film) My reasons for this is because his humour is sooo similar to Ferrells and he looks so much like him no matter how much my friends may disagree!! So when I heard that they were both starring in a film where they are playing each others step brothers I actually did a little jig (there were witnesses if you don't believe me) and I gotta say I weren't that disappointed....

This film was every bit I thought it would be, if you're looking for surprise and twists in plot then it goes without saying that this is not the film for you. (Having said that there is a particular scene including Ferrells particulars that I could have gone without seeing) It's storyline is every bit as predictable as you think it's gonna be but the way it takes you there is a delight.

Reilly and Ferrell's comic performances showed them both on top of their game. What with both of them taking on the characteristics of 10 year olds you can see the comedy scenarios that are laid out for us.

When initially I saw this film I did see it as a classic example of my kind of one hit wonder. (for what I mean by that see definition mentioned here) However on the journey home from this film with one of my trusty film pals I found myself quoting the film and laughing. The more I quoted the more I wanted to see it again and I gotta say, I am leaning towards buying the DVD.

I think overall, its not groundbreaking, its not something you leave thinking about for weeks after but then again its not meant to be. It's fun and if you are a fan of Ferrell and Reilly then it is definately a film your gonna love. I would recommend it, you won't be disappointed, as long as you know that the sole purpose of watching is for fun. I've waited for them both to do a decent film and I'm happy with the result!!

Get Smart

Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is Controls best analyst who deperately wants to be a field agent, when his opportunity arrives, himself and his partner Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) go on a mission to disarm and nuclear bomb and save the world.

If I needed a pick me up to restore my faith in movies again then this is it!! Never mind the fact that it has one of the funniest men I've seen as its main character and an actress I've been in love with since Princess Diaries has its leading lady, this film is well written, has amazing energy and has that extra kick to it through it's supporting roles. Roles such as Dwayne Johnson AKA 'The Rock,' Hero's Masi Oka, Anchormans David Koechner and even tiny Cameo roles by the likes of Bill Murray!!

I was dubious to say the least when buying my ticket to this film given the similarities it held to Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson. I did worry if the Americans were just trying to take our ideas and turn them over the top again. But all worries were gone within the first ten minutes and I was hooked for the remainder of the film. In fact due to the stupid amount of people who don't want to see it because of the fear that it's just copying our British humour I don't know why they don't put as a tagline on every billboard isn't 'We're not trying to beat Johnny English'

Aside from one part in the middle where I felt they had removed a scene from the plot and then very awkwardly patched it up I could see very few faults!!

If you want to see a funny film this month then this is the one for you, I don't think I've seen it hyped enough, so I'm doing it now.

Disaster Movie

As I tentatively typed the title disaster movie into google images to get an image for this review I almost shied away from the screen when the results came up. You see there are certain memories that you have you simply don't want to remember.

You know that bank in your brain where you keep everything you've suppressed? This movie is an addition to that bank if you dare venture out to see it.

It's based on every action/disaster movie in the last ten years as well as a few others as well such as Sex and the City and High School Musical but not only were the jokes flat lining, they also played on each and every one of them for like ten minutes each making you wonder where the nearest exit is.

It actually made me appreciate the Trojan's 300 spoof even more, I'm even intrigued to watch it again....

Now we all can stretch our mind backs to that time in our lives where we hear something slightly amusing and laugh at first but then it gets repeated over and over till it's more annoying than funny.... This film had aspects of that throughout. My choice of picture was deliberate because the only two barely decent roles were the princess and Juno. Juno's especially however was short lived and her slightly amusing hand guestures at the beginning made me want to rip them off by the end.

Note how I said there were aspects of funny jokes stretched thin?? That's because the rest of it was worse than that, I've asked you to imagine the funny joke scenario now I want you to remember that time when someone said something they thought was funny then coz no one laughed continued to say it hoping it would magically become funny....

That was the rest of this film.

Meh.

I'm done ranting.

Duchess

Georgiana (Kiera Knightly) the daughter of Lady Spencer is sent off to marry the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes)and produce him a male air. Unfortunately when years has passed and she has only been able to produce daughters the Duke's patience is run thin and Georgiana is forced to deal with a great many struggles for her love for her people.

This story is one of those stories that I venture out to see almost certain I know what to expect before I get there. I wasn't surprised though maybe a little impressed with the way they have told this story.

Yes, the story is compelling, the acting is amazing, (Ralph I tip my hat to you) and as a story on it's own I have found no fault in it. In fact I recommend this one to any of you women out there who like a good weeper/love story, I would even dare to say to you men that this isn't even a bad one to watch with the ladies.

My main problem that for me ruined the whole experience was that Kiera Knightly has well and truly stuck herself in the period drama section for the rest of her career!! If I have to see her in one more huge dress I swear I'm gonna scream!!

Now don't get me wrong, I am as much a Knightly fan as the next person. I belong to the group where I do think she's pretty, (albeit sporting a constant pout) and I think she can act. I will always be the first in line to see a film she's in (I think the fact that I sat through the whole of 'Silk' proves my dedication) but was I can't stand is that if I do wanna see her it has to be period films!!

Come on Knightly, prove your eclectic enough to live in this century!!

The thing is she does them well, so I guess there's the danger of thinking 'well what's the point?' If only she gave a bad performance in one of these then she may move on. Either that or she's keeping going till she has gained an oscar from it, either way bring it on we want to see something new!!

I appreciate not much was said about the film, this is due to the fact that if you want a review go to any other Knightly review, it was a good film and she knows it was.

I laughed
I swooned
I cried
That should sell it enough

Pathology

Ted Grey (Milo Ventimiglia) gets an opportunity to work in the pathology department of a prestigious hospital analysing dead bodies and finding out how exactly they were killed. When he arrives however he finds himself tangled up with a group of doctors playing a deadly game lead by Jake Gallo (Michael Weston). They kill people in impossible ways and then the others have to figure out how it's done. Ted finds himself tangled in the game to the point of no return and when his fiancee Gwen, (Alyssa Milano) joins him at his new home he desperately wants to find a way out, something he realises is a lot harder than it looks without putting the safety of Gwen in jeapordy.


Te he, it was a fun film to watch if you like the slasher type film. I haven't seen a film like this in quite a while, where it's more about the killing than the 'shock scaring' the heck out of its audience.

It looks into the psyche of the people we put our lives in the hands of and I tell you it fills you with confidence, it also makes you wish more than anything that you never become the kind of person that would not be missed if they die, coz if you were .... watch out!!

It's definately a bloke film I can say that, with enough booze, drugs, sex and death to fill you up till next year, but it's fun. Look past the blood and boobs and you can have a good time watching it!! Pretty amazing and shows how twisted the mind is
considering how dark the storyline is. Good performances from all and enough to make you happy you saw it but quickly forget about it the next day. I shall give it a simple 3 faces.

Drillbit Taylor

Wade, Ryan and Jim are three boys who are starting High School for the first time, however within the first day they find themselves the victims of the schools two worst bullies and realise that in order to survive the rest of school they're going to need to employ a bodyguard to protect them from being beaten up. That's where Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson) comes in, he's a homeless army deserter who would do anything for an extra buck and sees an advantage to hanging around with these three naive rich kids posing as a professional bodyguard.

Meh, it was ok I guess, there were plenty enough moments that made me laugh and Wilson is his usual self showing nothing more than his usual jokes. Beginning to think that this is all we're going to see him doing and any thoughts I had that he may do something a little bit more challenging and serious like some of the other comic actors (Jim Carey, Will Ferrel) were thrown away when he completely failed to convincingly act any serious emotions in this film.

It is what I like to call my own kind of 'one hit wonder' which is the type of comic film that makes me laugh the first time but I know I will never watch again without getting incredibly bored. It was also waaaay too long, (I checked my watch a good five or six times) and they seemed to drag the storyline (which is the kind that you know how it's going to end in the first 3 seconds) out for a good half hour longer than they should fitting in a lot of pointless scenes that we really could have done without. And as for the love interest, where do I start?? Unbelievable (even for this 'never would happen' storyline) that just shows a female teacher, Lisa (Leslie Mann) who's clearly pent up for sex and adds an extra story line to the film that's not exactly needed.

All in all, if you wanna watch something mundane yet still worthy of a few giggles then go see this but don't expect much, you'll be disappointed if you do.

Awake

Clay Beresford (Hayden Christiansen) is a 22 year old millionaire who is struggling with A. an ongoing heart problem that puts him on the transplant waiting list and B. balancing between the love of his mother (Lena Olin) and his fiancee Sam Lockwood. (Jessica Alba) Things start to look up for him however when his long wait for a heart (due to his rare blood type) finally comes to an end and one is found. The surgery is to be performed by his best friend Dr Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) and everything seems to be going well. That is until the anaesthesia doesn't work and he finds himself in a paralysed state but fully conscious throughout his operation, culminating in a full awareness of the pain and going on's in the operation room during his transplant.

One thing I need to ask as I felt like screaming this all the way through this film, When are people gonna realise that Hayden Christiansen can't act?? I mean come on!! Star wars was bad enough but I figured they must have realised during those films that he was no good therefore he should have been unable to get work after that contract ran out!! But alas no, on we go to see Christiansen in yet another film where he struggles to show emotion and gets his facial expressions totally confused with what is actually going on in the film. Having said all that this is probably the best I've seen him in (doesn't take much) and he did actually surprise me by exceeding my expectations of his acting skills (again this is not much to do) bringing him up to possibly the same level as the Harry Potter trio's performances.

Jessica Alba however did quite well, even if I did spend the whole film thinking that she was waaay too good looking. (yes I think that there is limit to how good looking you should be and she completely oversteps the line) However, something about her never screams out Oscar material and I don't know what it is that holds her back... (not that I could do any better!!)

The film apart from all the above was actually incredibly riveting, I found myself rooted to the spot throughout its entirety and it offered just enough plot turns and excitement to keep me intrigued as to where it was all going to go. I tell you one thing however, if I was ever scared of having an operation before this film that is tripled now after!! Flippin heck!!

The film has doom written all over it from the opening statistics (Every year 1 out of 300 people stay awake during anaesthesia) and followed by Dr Jack Harpers first line about how his friend just died on the table we get anything but a warm fuzzy feeling as to where this is going to go and it definately left me afterwards with an incredibly odd sensation in the pit of my stomach that I still can't explain.

I liked it, it's not ground breaking and they could have done better with some of the cast choices but the storyline keeps your eyes stuck to the screen regardless, will definately be buying the DVD of this one so I will give it a (almost reluctant due to Christiansen) four faces.

My Girl

DVD you should watch!!

A film based in the 70's and filmed in 1991 shows Veda Sultinfuss (Anna Chlumsky) as a young girl who is dealing with life living in a funeral parlour. With her mother having died giving birth to her she has grown up with only her father, (Dan Aykroyd) her senile grandmother and her best friend Thomas J (Macaulay Culkin) for company. Throughout the film we see her dealing with a new woman in her fathers life (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her desperate cries of attention for her father to listen to her.

This film is amazing, the one movie I cannot understand why no one seems to have seen when it was so ground breaking to me. I fell in love with Veda's hypochondriac ways and struggle with the 'stepmum' dilemma. This showed Chlumsky in her debut role that looked like she'd been doing it all her life and Culkin in a role a little more challenging than 'Oh my gosh, I'm home alone!!'

The synopsis makes it sound like some sweet little drama that doesn't look like it can amount to much but with atonishing performances from actors all round and a witty narrative that draws you in from scene one, it is definately a must have DVD. I've not yet met a person that didn't watch this film and love it. It's got no huge plot twists and zero special effects (which the latter I am glad about coz quite frankly it wouldn't exactly go with the theme of the film) but it is incredibly addictive and guaranteed, male or female, to make you laugh, cry and get angry with the characters involved.

A film that affected my childhood greatly and will always be a classic in the rest of my adult life I have to give this DVD my first astonishing 5 faces.

27 Dresses

Since Jane Nichols (Katherine Heigl) was a young girl all she's ever known to do is look after her family and friends. Now in her 20's she has found herself at her 26th and 27th wedding as chief bridesmaid and ever the optimist is happy to be there. As the film unfolds we see her boss George (Edward Burns) who she had been madly in love with since she started her job fall for her beautiful sister Tess (Malin Akermen)and when they get engaged she is asked to help organise their wedding as well. All the while Kevin Doyle (James Marsden) a local reporter has spotted her at these weddings and has found himself fascinated with her.

Can anyone say awwww?? If you want a sweet chick flick to curl up to with a cup of hot chocolate (do cinema's sell those?) and your favourite stuffed toy then look no further than this one. First off anyone who used to watch Roswell and then went on to fall in love with Grey's Anatomy will agree with me that Katherine Heigl can do no wrong at the moment, everything she is in she makes a success coz for some reason you just have to love her, even if she is too stupidly gorgeous for her own good and seems to have the bubbly perfect personality to match (judging purely on the roles she's played of course, will need to do more research to confirm) we all seem to love her!!

And then James Marsden actually has landed himself a lead role!! Horraay!! No more playing the other man (X Men, The Notebook, Enchanted, Superman Returns, the list goes on) but actually getting to be the man that scores the girl at the end!! Now when I heard he was going to play this man I was unsure as to whether he was up to the task always used to rejection in on screen love and all but I can happily say that he comes across just lovable and sexy enough to always be in his corner throughout the film!!

With a supporting role from the queen of supporting roles Judy Greer (Elizabethtown, 13 going on 30 and The wedding Planner to name a few) who I personally love and sercretly hope will make to leading lady one day, it is a shiner of a film if you're not expecting anything else other than a smiley and feel good moment!!

Probably one for the girls more than the boys, but as I am a girl I give it a very smitten 4 faces!!

Meet the Spartans

When hearing they were doing a spoof of 300 I was dubious about there being actual humour involved. The trailer didn't exactly send shivers down my spine and all reviews I had read (namely Empire magazine) had panned it royally. So when I went, I was not expecting much at all, in fact I was there ready to laugh at the badness of it.

So you can imagine my delight at being pleasantly surprised, now I would like to add that this is not a particularly amazing film, it is also not hilariously funny, but it does have some good moments. With Carmen Electra as per usual playing the slutty female role and then some may remember Eastenders Sean Maguire playing our male lead, who by the way was pretty funny and managed to down play his character so that he kept it from being too over the top humour that spoofs tend to go for.

There were also some performances from what I was told from my internet obsessed friend Dave, sitting next to me were famous youtube stars that were well known for their impressions, one in particular a woman called Lisa someone or other. Having wrote the above however, I went to find this woman and only found Nicole Parker from madTV who played them, so they are either the same person with different alias's (I do remember something being said about that) or Dave's lying to me, I guess people can find that one out for me.

Anywho, I don't wanna fool anyone into thinking this is a laugh out loud funny film, it isn't though it is enjoyable and easily watched. One comment I heard about it probably sums it up best. It's like a really long Youtube video, it's not particularly amusing but your drawn to watch it to the end anyway. Though some jokes are used for too long (dance off and pushing into the pit) the majority is easy going, and if you're a partiulcarly large internet geek like the two guys I went to see this with then there are lots of little gems for you to enjoy while watching that you're neighbour probably won't get which of course adds the smug factor into watching which is always a good one to have.

So all in all, if you're bored and want something light to watch without much hassle then go and see it, if you actually wanna watch something decent and brain stimulating then proabably give this one a miss!! Your call.

10,000 bc

In (would you believe it) 10,000bc we see a tribe in Egypt surviving the only way they know how through hunting and their faiths in the Gods and prophecies of the future. In this clan we see our hero D'Leh (Steven Strait)grow up wanting to gain honour and win the girl he loves, Evolet (Camilla Belle) all at the same time. When 'four legged demons' (men on horses wearing slipknot type masks) arrive and kidnap half of the clan including his one true love, D'leh goes on a mission to find Evolet and save his tribe. The film then goes on to find our hero and heroine saving the day in very different ways as the whole plot unfolds.

When going to see this film I think your opinion of whether you like it or not is going to be thoroughly based on whether or not you've seen Mel Gibson's Apocolypto.

Although well acted and even well written the enjoyment of this film is ruined and thrown to 'how bored am I?' ville by the fact that it has all the same characteristics, storylines and even characters as Apocolypto only without use of subtitles and set in a slightly earlier era.

The innocence of the film and the simple shots makes this a film all the family can enjoy, it's not too gory and they all manage to keep their clothes on unlike Apocolypto so in it's plus side if you were a kid too young to see Apocolypto then you can see this one and get pretty much the same idea.

Having said that, being someone who saw the previous Mel Gibson film, I was dissapointed and slightly bored in quite a few integral parts of this film, and though it did, just, manage to keep my attention for the duration, I would not be able to sit through it again. An idea that would have worked well had it been original with good directing and a well chosen cast I have to say it lost points in the the plotline so only gets a simple 3 faces from me.