Big Fish

Big Fish

A wonderfully stylish and slick Tim Burton film, one that I simply adore. It is not as macabre and dark as some of his works, but it is simply magnificent. Laura did not agree with me on this view and found it slightly tiresome, but it is a marvellous story. It takes you on weird and wonderful adventures that films these days don't often do.

Each of the characters are excellent, from Ewan McGregor's Young Ed Bloom, to Albert Finney's older version, Alison Lohman's young Sandra Bloom to Jessica Lange's older version. Lots of different characters which are all wonderfully written.

It melds the bizarreness of Burton with a touching family drama. All in all a fantastic film, which leads me to give it...

★★★★☆

Big

Big

So here goes new style...The film stars Tom Hanks, and that is really the only actor of any note now. This is a seminal film for me, one that has lots of memories and I still love it. It is one of those films I start to watch and think, Oh no not this again, but then when I get into it I love it and thoroughly enjoy it.

It has some cinematic gold in this film, for instance Josh (Hanks) and his boss playing on a floor piano in the middle of a store for all the world to see. It is a piece of genius and is such a memorable scene. This film for me has it all, it's funny, heart-warming and shows one of the many brilliant acting sides of Tom Hanks. In our collection we have a set of Tom Hanks films, Laura bought it last year, and the first one in that set to come up will be Castaway, and I have to say watching a whole load of classic Tom Hanks films is something that I am thoroughly looking forward to.

The wit of the script is what carries this film and I utterly love it. If only there were more gems of this calibre that came out of the 80's.

★★★★★

Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me To Hell (2009) starring Alison Lohman, Dileep Rao, Lorna Raver and Justin Long.

Before...I had heard very good things about this film. Said to be one of the scariest films ever and in reading the back I had to agree. All about curses and spiritual stuff...it made me scared of What Lies Beneath! So i was looking forward to hiding behind a pillow for this one, quite apart from the fact that it's a new horror film from the legendary Sam Raimi!

A loan officer (Lohman) ordered to evict an old woman (Raver) from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse, which turns her life into a living hell. Desperate, she turns to a seer (Rao) to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.

My wife's view...she did not have one as she cleverly left me and a friend to watch this one!!

Where to start...before I begin this review I feel it is necessary to let the reader know that I am not one of those "quiet horror movie viewers". I don't sit there in silence and take the film in. I will talk to the TV set. I will say to the characters (some people have said I shout) "Don't go in there" or "Don't open that door" or as was used last night effectively "NOOOOOOOO". Already from this piece of information you will realise that this definitely was a scary film. It wasn't pant changing in it's scariness like What lies Beneath but it was up there. Anyway onto the review...

As Julie Andrews once said "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start". What Raimi is really good at is building up tension. Fiercesomely and violently he plunges straight into the horror with a brilliant sequence of a small boy being dragged to Hell. Then after the opening credits we are quickly introduced to Christine Brown and soon before we know it she is cursed. The great thing about this film is that it is tense and keeps you tense for 93minutes.

You are fearful about what is to come and yet at times it flies off into a comedic vein. I know Raimi's past films with the Evil Dead franchise had comedy but it was not until this morning in reading the reviews for Drag me to Hell that i realised that this too was supposed to be a comedy horror film.

It is such a rarity in the film world for someone who can balance pure horror with such hilarity. Yesterday when watching it I feared that Raimi had lost the plot and there was too much cliché and silliness in it, however this morning, in doing my research for the film I found that these comedic elements are very deliberate on his part. Looking back I realise that it is an excellent device to lull the viewer into a false sense of comfort only to scare you half to death a second later.

The performances are chilling and you definitely sympathise with both Lohman and Long (her boyfriend in the film). The woman is horrifying and I hope she doesn't haunt me in my dreams, last night I was free of her and I hope it stays that way! Last night I was going to give this film 3 stars, but armed with the information that Raimi's comedy genre is deliberate I cannot help but have a more compassionate view of this film. It makes me like it more...and so I am going to give this...

★★★★☆

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice (1988) starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, and Jeffrey Jones.

Before...I can't remember a time before this film. But I think it was one of the first films I watched when I was slightly older. It is a film that is close to my heart, but I haven't seen it in a while, so I hope it doesn't spoil my memories!

This is the story of Adam (Baldwin) and Barbara (Davis) who live in a beautiful house in New England. One day while driving home they are involved in a terrible auto accident. They manage to walk home only to discover later that they have died and now haunt their house. When their house is purchased by an out of state family (O'Hara, Jones and Ryder), they feel their home is threatened by the over-the-top artists wife and real-estate idea-man husband. Their only relief is the Gothic daughter of the family. Their attempts at scaring the family out of the house are ignored or laughed at. Finally they fall to the temptation to use the people-exorcizer Beetle Juice (Keaton). When they find his tactics too dangerous, they attempt to contain him and save the family they were trying to boot.

My wife's view..."Worse than I remembered (which is saying something). Won't be watching it again anytime soon. Really dated, acting was poor. ★☆☆☆☆"

Where to start...well, to put it bluntly, my memories were shattered. It just hasn't aged well since I last saw it, as it's definitely stuck firmly in the 1980's! From the haircuts to the clothes, all of it screams the 80's, unfortunately not in a good way.

The one thing that lifts this films from the doldrums for me is Keaton, he is fantastic in the titular role of Beetlejuice...which leads me onto one of the most confusing elements of the movie. Why, o why, did they alter the name of the movie. In the film Keaton's characters name is written down numerous times, and it is written as "Beetlegeuse". It confuses me to no end.

Anyway, as I said...rewatching this film disheartened me. It made me realise that some films are best left as memories, which is why I am giving this film...

★★☆☆☆

Bad Boys II

Bad Boys 2 (2003) starring Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Gabrielle Union, Jordi Mollà and Joe Pantoliano.

Before...I honestly can't remember what I felt about it before watching it. This time, however, I was hoping for the same kind of fun and enjoyment I expect from Michael Bay films, I was hoping that it wouldn't be one of those films that I would watch again and be disappointed about re-watching!

Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence), who are part of the Miami PD's Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), still don't always get along, and now they're keeping secrets from each other. Mike's secret is that he's been seeing Marcus' sister, Sydney "Syd" Burnett (Union), a reported paper pusher for the DEA's New York office. Marcus's secret is that he has asked for a transfer, because he wants to spend more time with his family, and less time with Mike. That's all set aside when their boss, Captain Howard (Pantoliano), assigns them to stop the flow of record amounts of ecstasy into the city. This puts Mike and Marcus on the trail of the most dangerous enemy that they have ever faced...Cuban drug kingpin Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia (Molia), who wants to take control of the entire ecstasy trade in the USA, and is working with local dealers and club owners such as Russian mafia boss Alexei. Every time the Miami PD has ever arrested Tapia, Tapia has sued the Miami PD for false arrest, and won millions of dollars. This has caused the department to back off and not go after Tapia. Well, everyone has backed off except for Mike and Marcus, who have never faced Tapia before. Now, it seems that Tapia is using a mortuary as a cover for his operations, smuggling ecstacy hidden inside dead bodies, while sending his money to Cuba in hidden compartments in the coffins. While Mike and Marcus try to bring Tapia down, they also deal with the discovery that Syd is actually working undercover for the DEA to bring down a money laundering operation run by Alexei, and as part of her undercover job, Syd is in deep with Tapia. When Haitian gangsters try to steal Tapia's money and kill Syd, the two investigations cross paths. Syd's cover is later blown, and she is kidnapped by Tapia, who takes her to his compound in Cuba. With the unofficial help of people from the CIA, the Miami PD, and anti-Castro forces in Cuba, Mike and Marcus head out to rescue Syd, and bring Tapia down. How far will Tapia go to keep his drug empire? And how far will Marcus and Mike go to rescue Syd?

My wife says "Thrills and spills. It was designed for boys but that doesn't mean girls can't enjoy it too. A bit complicated for a film that is essentially car chases, gun fights and pretty women. There was some very silly boyish jokes. Generally enjoyable. Probably more enjoyable next time as I will know what the plot is and who the characters are. ★★★☆☆"

Where to start...The film, even after all these many action films, still manages, for me, to stand the test of time and be one of the most enjoyable and ridiculously fun movies out there. Mindless fun is how to describe it really. No the film has no definitive aim, other than wanting to blow things up really and that is what we get, especially from the first car chase. The first car chase is utterly stunning, the way it is filmed and the construct of it all is brilliant.

For me Smith and Lawrence are a perfect partnership. They both play off each other brilliantly and their comic backgrounds are evident from watching this film, especially when it comes to the guys interogating Lawrences' onscreen daughter. The issues for me come up when the film starts to go down a slightly sicker route, e.g. corpse tossing.

The issues really come to a head when the film passed the 2 hour mark...a good action movie, unless it has a fantastic plot, should not under any circumstances pass the 2 hour mark. Bay has created a film that has all elements of a perfect action, the problem is that he has added a bit too many explosions, a few too many car chases and a few too many bad gags (and if you know me the fact that I think there are too many is definitely saying something)!! So all in all there is a bit of a mixed bag here. Great in some parts, awful in others! Which leads me to give this film...

★★★☆☆