Monday, August 13, 2007

Film Review 

Title: STARDUST

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Comedy

Released in Cyprus: 21/09/07

 Synopsis: In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm.

 In Detail: We haven’t seen this kind of film for a long time now, not since “THE PRINCESS BRIDE” which goes all the way back to 1987 and it sure is a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre. Fantasy films of the last five years or so have all tried to walk the path of THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies but it’s starting to get tiring. “STARDUST” is based on acclaimed writers, Neil Gaiman, book of the same name and it is in its heart a story about love and chasing your dreams beyond any obstacles.

The director, Matthew Vaughn, comes fresh out of his magnificent debut, LAYER CAKE (a British crime film), and throws himself in a completely different genre that many were afraid wouldn’t match his sensibilities. The director proves that he can be stellar at anything he comes across. The film is pure entertainment and promises two hours of wild imagination.

To tell you anything about the plot will spoil half of the fun as it follows the novels story, which is based on, very strictly. Neil Gaiman is considered to be one of the genius writers of our times and the filmmakers give him full respect.

Starring as the films heroes are Charlie Cox (the young man madly in love) and Claire Danes (the love interest) who give their fairytale characters a third dimension much needed in fantasy films of the kind. The rest of the cast is made up from some sweet surprises, which include Robert De Niro, Peter O’Toole, Mark Strong, Michelle Pfeiffer and Ian McKellen as the stories narrator.

Fantasy films and comic book adaptations are the blockbusters of our times and I am happy to see some films that fall in the category bringing something new and well made in the mix. “STARDUST” is this summer’s best feel good film and don’t let it wait to come out on DVD.

Highly recommended for a great night out at the cinema; full of pure fantasy entertainment, high brow comedy and exciting adventure thrills.

thx777b rating:

****1/2 out of ***** dyslexic stars!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Film Review

Title: THE HITCHER

Director: Dave Meyers

Starring: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Neal McDonough

Released in Cyprus: 27/7/2007

 Synopsis: A road trip takes a deadly turn when a young couple is tormented by a psychotic hitchhiker who forces them to face their fears head-on.

In Detail: Another movie in a series of classic thriller/horror film remakes which seem to be the fashion these days. This one based on the 1986 cult classic THE HITCHER directed by Robert Harmon and starring as the extremely dangerous Hitcher, Rutger Hauer of BLADE RUNNER fame.

In the 2007 remake the part of manic serial killer goes to Sean Bean who has put his own stamp in the character and manages to mostly succeed. As for the rest of the cast they have a hard time keeping up to Bean’s amazing acting abilities and are just a few of the negatives in the whole of the  movie.

Director, Dave Meyers, who is doing a full feature film for the first time comes from the music videos part of the industry but thankfully keeps most of the movies style straightforward with as less flashy/quick-paste editing as possible.

Never the less all the things that were original in the first film, the mixture of the psychological and metaphysical elements, seem to have disappeared and now in its place stands a very stripped down version of the story which makes the film nothing more than a simple slasher in the likes of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. 

In the end it isn’t as bad as it sounds; People who are new to the story will find it interesting but for everyone else who has seen the original film there is nothing new here or merely worthy of your time other than Sean Beans performance.

Recommended only for people unfamiliar with the original movie!

thx777b rating:

**1/2 out of ***** dyslexic stars!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Film Review

Title: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

Director: David Silverman

Starring: Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria

 Synopsis: Homer accidentally causes a radioactive leak from the Nuclear Power Plant into the river, is Springfield condemned forever? Can the inhabitants of the quirky town ever return? Springfield's usual characters all turn up in the first ever movie length version of the hit TV show, THE SIMPSONS.

In Detail: The longest running cartoon sitcom in television history makes its debut in movie theatres worldwide. And of course everybody is expecting a masterpiece. The creators behind the series have been waiting long for the right time to bring the most famous cartoon of the last two generations to the big screen and early word says it doesn’t disappoint.

Bringing THE SIMPSONS to multiplexes around the world doesn’t mean that the usual style of the series for the past 15 years or so will be sacrificed for a big budget make over with computer generated enhancements all over. Instead the makers wisely decided to keep the original artwork and 2-D animation intact with only a few additions to justify the transformation to the big screen.

The movie adaptation is estimated to break box office records in the U.S and U.K where THE SIMPSONS have been part of the general pop culture conscience for more than a decade. But I am quite doubtful on the success in Europe for the simple reason that the cartoon series has never been as big as some other cartoons.

In the movie guest starring, with their voices of course, is a huge list of television and movie stars like Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) and Hank Azaria (Mystery Men). Returning to the film is also all the usual voice cast through out the history of THE SIMPSONS. Directing the film is a long time SIMSPONS contributor David Silverman who also co-directed the Pixar/Disney mega-hit Monsters, Inc. Script is by series creators and comedic masterminds Matt Groening and James L. Brooks (As Good As it Gets).

The great think about THE SIMPSONS is how it manages to appeal to both children and adults without sacrificing the intelligence of either one. It will probably be one of the few movies this year which you could take your little ones to the cinema and hesitate at doing frequent visits to the toilet or kiosk.  If you are a huge SIMPSONS fan you will be standing in line before anyone else, as for all the other people this may be your chance to join THE SIMPSONS mania.

Highly recommended for fans of good comedy.

thx777b rating:

****1/2 out of ***** dyslexic stars!

Monday, March 5, 2007

Best films of 2006 list.

Now that the OSCARS are done and Moriarty's (from aintitcool.com) top films of 2006 list are finished, I feel free to post my 10 most favorite films of the passing year in no particular order:

PAN'S LABYRINTH: for mixing fantasy and realism in such a brilliant way

BRICK: for reviving noir filmmaking in an original unexplored territory

THE DEPARTED: for proving that remakes can be as good as the original, if not better, IF done right!

TOTSI: ( I saw it in 2006): for showing the world that great films about africa can be made by africans!

KISS KISS BANG BANG: for being the most entertaining film in the particular genre in ages...

CHILDREN OF MEN:  for sending a message to us that war on terrorism is more grey than black and that sci-fi can be as "realistic" as any award winning "drama"

UNITED 93: for the best "based in real life events" film that you can get in a million years... and for giving you the closest feeling of flying in plane without actually flying in one! 

V FOR VENDETTA: for  becoming a lesson to people on how to make "comic book" films... and for just being a hell of a good movie in general! 

 APOCALYPTO: for having the biggest balls in town... making a horror movie about the last days of Jesus is one one thing BUT making an action film set in Mayan times with CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST inspirations is much more!!! 

THE PRESTIGE: for making the 10 year old inside of me believe in magic again... in reality i am about 8.

AND THE AWARD FOR BEST FILM OF 2006 I HAVEN'T YET SEEN GOES TO: THE FOUNTAIN.,,,

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Happy New Year!:) 

...because you know; I was waiting for the Chinese New Years to Pass to wish at people...  

Thursday, November 9, 2006

DAISY (2006)

DAISY is Wai Keung Lau's latest crime drama and in an ironic move it opened down here (Cyprus) in the cinemas the same week as THE DEPARTED (a remake of Lau's INFERNAL AFAIRS).

The movie took me by suprise as I have heard very little of it and went in mostly blind of anything outside the basic plot. The story talks about two men in the opposide sides of the law who fall in love with the same woman. Thats enough said tho as I am not a big fan of spoilers and this is a movie which as little as you go in the best expirience you will have.

The movie takes place in European Amsterdam with a mostly Asian cast. I loved most of the actors but for me Lee Sung-jae who plays the "good" guy stands out with his quite performance.

DAISY other than the endless presence of flowers on screen has some of the best cinematography (by Man-Ching Ng & the director himself) i have seen in a while. The film in general tries to mix and match the stylized action of Honk Kong with the beautiful sublted photgraphed drama of Korea. It's not by mistake that the director is from Honk Kong and the screenwriter (Jae-young Kwak) from Korea either.

My only negative critisicm tohards DAISY is that most of the running time, from the total of two hours, was devoted in the romantic plot ruther than the action oriented part of the script. I would really love to see more of the way Interpol works and more hitman action, hehehe...

If Wai Keung Lau cut out some of the flower scenes (my mother has a flowershop and In my whole lifetime havent even seen so many daisies!) & some of the romantic scenes and gave some more focus on the thriller side this would have been a masterpiece but as it is its just a very good hell of a movie.

Daisy directed by Wai Keung Lau (the new John Woo) still has no U.S. release date...

thx777b rating:

****1/2 out of ***** dyslexic stars!

Sunday, November 5, 2006

  Remember, remember the 5th of November! For all of us "real" Anarchists it is our New Years, our Christmas's, our  Buddha day! 

Whatever ... 

Anyway I have to update with a few reviews so lets go; 

GOTHIC  (1986)

I grew up on horror films so it's always my biggest pleasure reviewing one, especially from the 80's which is my favorite horror decade for reasons very apparent for anyone who was a child at the period. Renting out GOTHIC from the Video Club was pure instinct as I have been trying to catch up on legendary Ken Russel's work for ages. 

The promise to GOTHIC is very simple at first and in my opinion could have opened the door to something very fascinating but unfortunately or not what we have here is a good movie more of an experiment than anything. It is a mixture of Louis Buneuls surrealism with the Gothic appeal of Clive Barkers. 

The plot is about real life events that took place at Lord Byron's mansion and it is told that threw these incidents Mary Shelley came up with the basic promise of FRANKENSTEIN! 

All the major players give magnificent performances with Gabriel Byrne as the part of Lord Byron in full tilt! Natasha Richardson's Mary Shelley as the "hero" of our story gives a good enough performance but it is my believe that she could have given a lot more to do. As it is the film is a pure exercise in visual attacks. Ken Russel as always plays with the minds eye rather than focusing in script. 

GOTHIC is a good film but dont go in expecting ALTERED STATES!

GOTHIC directed by  Ken Russel

thx777b Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

Friday, October 27, 2006

Shit it seems that i can't even keep my promises anymore! When I created this blog for daily updates i thought "f*ck, it can't be that hard" but it sure f*cking iS!!! Anyway right here, right now i am not going to promise anything new YET, but i am going to start updating more often... hope so... here comes the first;

CARS (BIG SCREEN review)

Not much I can say about CARS really. It's your stantard PIXAR movie with all the good things that comes with it but in the end nothing new or special overall. It's fun, energetic and for the whole family, what else you want? It's no TOY STORY 2 but at least these guys are trying (compared to other cgi studios out there).

Paul Newman is a sweet geeky suprise and some other "racing" guest stars will make every fan's body hair out there stand mighty high! Did I just say that? Shit i am not that really good at this am i? Heehehehehe.

To sum up this mini review John Lasseters (official cgi movie god) & Joe RAnft who makes here a strong directional debut created the ROCKY/KARATE KID for cute computer animated cars. Cheerio!   

CARS directed by  John Lasseter, Joe Ranft

thx777b RAting: **** out of *****

Tuesday,  June 20, 2006

My god I did nothing on this blog for about 3 months, shame on me. As you may remember I was part of the organizing team of the first big Cyprus Film Festival which lets just say it didn't go so bloody well for a lot of bloody reasons. That thing totaly sucked the energy out of me completly and I have only managed to get my self back on my feet recently. But you don't want to hear all that boring stuff so above you will find various reviews of some good, bad and ugly films I've seen in this past few months!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I haven't update for ages since I am working voluntearly at the First Annual Cyprus International Film Festival which will take place during the 24th and 27th of March. It's not SUNDANCE but everybody working for the festival surely hope that some day will be the SUNDANCE of the Mediteranean or even why not the little sister of bloody freaking CANNES!

Check it out over at www.ciff2006.com . I am responsible for the programing of the festival and the cordination during the showings. Blah Blah Blah... I promise I am going to update with reviews and my news from the festival very soon. So dudes bare with me and you will be reworded. Till my next update GOODBYE AND GOODLUCK!:)

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

HOSTEL 

Yesterday ironicly I was browsing the internet over Hostel prices and train tickets around Europe because I was really thinking of  going at a backpacking adventure/holliday sometime this year or the next. Well when a movie makes you change your mind about a a subject or intention then it must be doing something really good!  

I saw HOSTEL today and I gatta tell you everything you heard about it is almost "true". While quite qorry for a mainstream release what really makes hOSTEL stand out is Eli Roth's direction. While I enjoyed CABIN FEVER I always felt that there was something missing and Eli Roth seems to have found it in HOSTEL! 

The first half of the film is an early 20-year olds wet dream while Roth slowly builds up the tention to the second halfs ultimate superb conclusion. HOSTEL is definetly last years best American Horror/Thriller release and my second favorite horror film of that year after Neil Marshall's THE DESCENT!.  

It's no wonder why Tarantino choose to put his name above the title. I am predicting that in a few years HOSTEL will become a cult favorite among Horror buffs and Film Geeks like my self. We get so few "good" American "scary" movies lately that movies like this one are moer than welcomed.

HOSTEL is also full of "little" homages to Eli Roth's inspirations like "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON", "AUDITION", Tarantino and a bunch of David Lynch (Roth was Lynch's prodigy)! But beyond all the visible influences HOSTEL remains quite original all the way through with the last 20 or 30 minutes being the highlight. the last scenes of HOSTEL are a work of a future master film-maker. Can't wait for Mr.Roth's next one!   

HOSTEL directed by Eli Roth

P.S.Spot Takashi Miike in the movie and win a free lollypop!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 

 Just a few days now till "THE OSCARS" and I am really getting excited... Ok now talking honestly; Are the OSCARS getting boring year after year or is it just me? Anyway we are going to talk about "THE OSCARS" shortly before the actualy "EVENT". For now I am going to take a ride down 80's nostalgia high way with a review of Mr.Mom (1983)!

MR.MOM (CABLE)

I woke up this morning feeling quite bored because I had to edited some stuff for some video I was making for some school I was helping(long story)... I had to wait for a few hours till freaking PINNACLE STUDIO was rendering my 48min final cut so I had tme to spare and headed over the living room to see what was on the stupid box! Going through the chanels I found my self watching this really young Michael Keaton "Acting"! I said cool and sat to watch it! At first I couldn't remember what movie it was up till the part he has to take care of his kids for the first time. I know, right then, I was watching the John Hughes scripted Mr.Mum! 

This early 80's "clasic" comedy has been played on TV about a million times down here but I haven't watched it for about a decate and let me tell you something it's still as funny as it was when it was first released back in the year of "THE RETURN OF THE JEDI". Sure some scenes look "dated" and "cliched" today but Michael Keaton as Jack Butler carries the movie proudly over his shoulders. The famous "nightmare" scene is my favorite of the movie and it's a pure surealistic joy! It's amazing listening to that great John Hughes script coming to life and I really get depressed that he is not directing for some time now. Anyway all and all Mr.Mom is one of those great 80's comedies that if you happen to come across on TV you better not miss it!! 

MR.MOM directed by Stan Dragoti

thx777b RAting: ****1/2 out of *****

Adios for now mates!:) 

Monday, February 27, 2006

It seems we are on a good start here. The "blog" hasn't been up for a half a day yet and I got my first dyslexic review in just for you guys.

LAYER CAKE REVIEW (R2 DVD)

I have been meaning to watch LAYER CAKE since it first came out last year. I even rented the damn thing about 2 times and I don't know what in hell's fucking cold hands happened I never got around at watching it. Today I've managed to do it. And god I loved it. Amazing film by Mr.Madonas producer on "TWO SMOKING..." & "SNATCH" turn director, Mr.Matthew Vaughn. The plot moves quickly enough for a person pumped with "Charlie" not to understand a bit of it. So you have to keep your eyes shaped on the screen. MR. Vaughn "rents" a few tricks from Ritchie but his direction never feels "copied" if you know what I mean. Visually the film is one of the best looking ones that came out in 2004 and till today I think it's the best British film overall since then with THE DESCENT coming pretty close. 

What makes the film even more special it's not just the overall amazing acting but how Daniel Craig steals literarily the show. I can see why he's been chosen as the new Bond and I hope the creative team around him in that Bond picture does his statute respect. All of you who haven't seen it yet I urge you to run to your nearest 24hour Auto-DVD-Store (they seem to be the new fashion these days) and rent this one S.A.P! Heard me mate? Closing I would like to also add to all you "backup-ers" out there that the DVD disc of LAYER CAKE a mean bastard and don't even try... A friend who does these ": things" told me so! Adios Amigo’s!

LAYER CAKE directed by  Matthew Vaughn

thx777b RAting: ***** out of ***** 

Monday, Febraury 27, 2006

 Welcome to my daily blog diary. Here I am going to post my thoughts about everything and anythings but especialy films, filmfs and more films. I have decited to write my "critic" on everything I watch every day. Well almost, anyway. I believe that watching Films is like tasting wine. You have your good wine and your bad wine. And like all things artsy there must be someone to bitch about it. About a million people do this every bloody second in the Internet and I plan to be one morE!

Goodbye and Goodluck!:)