Black Swan (2010)

One of the most anticipated films of last year, it follows the beautifully tortuous world of one ballet dancer as she tries to maintain her balance in one of the most pressurized and gruelling industries in the world.

Director Darren Aronofsky is one of the most interesting directors currently on the scene. Having watched his stunning movie The Wrestler (2008) and fallen in love with everything about it, my expectations were extremely high for this follow up.

Natalie Portman plays the talented ballet dancer Nina Sayers, who is on the verge of becoming the newest star in her company’s production of Swan Lake. However, Nina experiences extreme amounts of criticism and pressure from all angles. First of all, her mother who seems to hold an undisguised grudge against her daughter, after she had to give up her career as a dancer to raise Nina. Secondly, the company director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) who constantly harangues Nina for not portraying the black swan perfectly, and who also pushes Nina both professionally and personally. And thirdly, the rest of the company: girls who eagerly compete for the leading role, and who will do anything for success.

However, as the story progresses it becomes clear that not all is what it seems. Nina’s life becomes a confusing regiment of ballet drills, disturbing dreams, and a fellow dancer called Lily (Mila Kunis) who seems determined to scheme against her. The paranoia and hallucinations become more extreme with every development, as the finale approaches.

An expertly made film, one that is uncompromising in its vision and bold in its direction. Aronofsky is unrelenting with his moments of toe-curling horror which contrast well with the film’s cultured context. Portman is astounding in her role, a performance well deserved of its accolades. And both Cassel and Kunis provide excellent support throughout, tackling some extremely difficult scenes with artistic merit.

Not a film for anyone expecting a cheery film about ballet dancing, this is a film delving deep into a troubled mind and a world of anguish. However, if you appreciate filmmaking, directorial brilliance, and amazing performances it is definitely worth a watch.

No 2 on the “List” - COMPLETED

Flight Plan (2005)

Panic Room meets Snakes on a Plane as Jodie Foster has her child stolen whilst aboard a flight from Germany to the U.S.

From the trailers this film intrigued viewers, it has a tense plot, an interesting premise, and a decent cast, but there was a worrying doubt that it would look more like the latter of the films aforementioned. Luckily, this is not the case, Flight Plan is a fast-paced thrilling movie that is full of action and suspense.

The story is of mother bringing the body of her husband back from Berlin for burial. With her is her traumatized daughter who is terrified of everything, especially flying. Once in the air, the mother goes to the bathroom and returns to find her daughter missing. Her pleas to flight staff fall on deaf ears when it is revealed that her daughter is not on the flight’s manifest. And when pilot Sean Bean does some research and discovers that her daughter apparently died with her father, the situation…excuse me…takes off!

A great film that entertains from beginning to end. It does not let off at any point, and Foster is brilliant in her role (albeit very similar to the role she played in Panic Room). The plot is somewhat unbelievable, but they piece it together well.

An enjoyable “journey” for anyone afraid of planes, abduction, bio-terrorism, or ghosts.

Cujo (1983)

At number 28 on my list of films to watch, comes a film based on the Stephen King novel about a rabid dog who terrorizes a small town.

When Cujo, a dog from a nearby farm, contracts rabies from a bat bite, he slowly transforms from a friendly St Bernard, into a demon dog from hell. He kills anyone around him by mauling them to death, and attacks anyone in the nearby vicinity. When an unsuspecting mother and son arrive trying to get their car fixed by the mechanic (who has recently been killed by Cujo), the two end up trapped in their broken down car trying to fend of the ferocious canine.

It is a thriller/horror with a simple story, one which I’m sure would have been really scare in book form, or even watching the film twenty years ago, but now it seems awfully tame. Also, the filming is extremely dated, and does not stand up with modern horror films.

The most impressive part of the film is the dog. Everything is real, there is not CGI, so all the stunts involving the dog were actually performed, giving the film some considerable ammunition. The back story of the family is not really developed in the movie, and the issues about the dad’s business trouble, and the mother’s affair seem relatively undeveloped.

A simple storyline that has failed to impress. With none of the, excuse me for this, “bite” I was expecting, a rather lacklustre start to the 50 Films List.

50 Films I Must Wactch 2011

Dear avid readers,

It is that time of year again where I make a list of 50 films I must watch. This list was born when I was fed up of being in those conversations where people talk about films that I have not seen. So I made a list of a load of films that always seemed to come up, that I had not got round to seeing.

This new list has the same purpose, and has materialized from people's suggestions, my own choices, and those from other top 50 or 100 lists. Over the coming months I will endeavour to watch, and of course review, these films in the hope to expand our collective knowledge of them. ENJOY:

1. Paranormal Activity
2. Black Swan
3. Dances With Wolves
4. The Social Network
5. The English Patient
6. The Passion of the Christ
7. Once Upon a Time In America
8. Aliens
9. Bullitt
10. This Is England
11. The Town
12. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
13. The Hills Have Eyes
14. Requiem For a Dream
15. The Wicker Man
16. Raging Bull
17. The Crying Game
18. The Bridge on the River Kwai
19. Sophie’s Choice
20. Waterwold
21. City Of God
22. Solaris
23. Lord Of War
24. Rosemary’s Baby
25. Rear Window
26. Dawn of the Dead
27. North By Northwest
28. Cujo
29. Metropolis
30. Hostel
31. Mr Smith Goes To Washington
32. Kramer Vs Kramer
33. Rebecca
34. The Killing Fields
35. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
36. The Breakfast Club
37. Trainspotting
38. The Karate Kid
39. Gone With The Wind
40. Chasing Amy
41. The Grapes of Wrath
42. Halloween
43. The Graduate
44. The Evil Dead
45. The Exorcist
46. A Nightmare On Elm Street
47. Ed Wood
48. Ben-Hur
49. Midnight Cowboy
50. The Searchers

The Watchmen (2009)

A cinematic treat based on one of the darkest, and most influential comics of all time.

From director Zack Snyder comes a film that takes the comic-book film genre, and turns the lights off it. The characters are darkly flawed, the city makes Gotham look like Eden, and the story is a complex labyrinth of deceit and corruption.

A group of crime-fighting costume lovers find themselves being hunted by an evil killer, and they must find their pursuer before nuclear war between the USA and the USSR comes to fruition. The film takes place in "modern" America, but one that's whole history has been rewritten. The Watchmen have been their for decades, and changed important events, so now the fate of the world lies in their ability to prevent nuclear war.

The infamous Dr Manhattan, a glowing alien genius is the nuclear deterrent for the Americans, Rorschach is a masked cynic in the Watchmen, Adrian is a business giant, and there are others in the team who are curiously skilled, with extraordinary character profiles. A truly remarkable team of heroes.

The film is an amazing feat of filming prowess that uses modern techniques with vintage effects. The soundtrack is expertly chosen, using some amazing songs from the USA. A vibrancy seems to flow throughout this film, and the colours are part of this impressive collage, which demands a good television set.

Negatives are: it is quite long and a bit complicated, but for the most part it is just an epic film with amazing fight sequences, gripping story telling, and a script worthy of such a treasured graphic novel.

The Hills Have Eyes II (2007)

A sequel, to a remake, of a classic horror film - it was always doomed to fail.

Having watched the first remake quite recently, and enjoying it, it seemed appropriate to watch the follow up film: The Hills Have Eyes II.

It is an unworthy successor to The Hills story and characters, full of unlikeable victims, irrational plot developments, and a script which is downright laughable. The story this time is of a troop of rookie soldiers who go to the infamous sector 16 (the Hills) in order to deliver some equipment to scientists doing work there. Once they arrive, however, there is not a soul in site, apart from a voice over the crackly radio and a light signal in the distance. The troop then split up and go on a search and rescue mission, unaware that it is them who will need rescuing.

Throughout this film, the main characters are annoying. Most viewers will cheer for the disfigured killer beasts of the hills whenever they manage to catch one of these teenage pin-ups and rip their head off. The opening scene, of a woman giving birth to one of these creatures, is particularly gross and scary, but that was as bad as it gets. From then on it was a predictable formula of stupid people doing stupid things, and getting killed as a consequence.

The film lacked the emotional pull that the first remake had with the family. You simply do not care enough about these characters.

Don't waste your time, get a real horror film on the go.

K-PAX (2001)

A man claiming to be an alien from the planet K-PAX breathes a new life into a psychiatric hospital, as he begins to influence the lives of the patients and doctors around him.

Kevin Spacey plays the disarmingly interesting Prot, a man discovered in a train station one day who claims to have travelled there by a beam of light. Without any form of identification, or a realistic story of who he is, Prot is taken to a mental hospital nearby, and placed under the observation of Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges). Initially, Prot's story of visiting Earth from another galaxy on a research mission is greeted with intense disbelief, however, once his charm and extraordinary abilities begin to show, even the most hardiest of disbelievers begin to soften.

It is a beautifully crafted film that captures light and sound with expert precision. The director, Iain Softley, avoids creating a film that is trying to be a action-packed sci-fi adventure with a heart, and rather just makes a film that is a wonderful story without the glorification. Music is absolutely fantastic in this movie, with a soundtrack that is moving, touching, evocative, and used in the most effective places.

A touching film that is unique in its approach, and effective in its delivery.

We Own The Night (2007)

Crime thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendez and Robert Duvall.

Bobby Green (Phoenix) is a popular night club owner, who spends his days drinking, doing drugs, and cavorting with his Puerto Rican girlfriend Amada (Mendez). His brother and father are higher ups in the New York Police Department who spend their time cracking down on the drug trade, which leads them to seek rebel son Bobby's help in order to trap a Russian crime lord. As Green tries to walk the thin line between law and crime, he must make a decision as to who he will side with.

We Own The Night is a good story, with excellent performances. Director James Gray manages to deliver a cop film that seems to ooze the edgy grittiness that films of the seventies seemed to have. A few scenes in the film are particularly impressive, such as a car chase which uses the sounds of windscreen wipers as a thumping heart and slow motion that is truly tense. Phoenix is wonderful as the irresponsible brother, Wahlberg is considerable as the promising detective, and Duvall delivers a great show as the chief. The most impressive performance of all is Mendez, as she offers a character who seems far more than simple eye candy, with a deep and moving portrayal of a woman caught between love and chaos.

Negatives for this film are things like clumsy first half that does not suck you in, and a build up that wants to offer something new to the crime genre, but ends up delivering a very typical story.

On the whole, worth watching if you like crime films, but it will not change your life.

Unstoppable (2010)

A Tony Scott film that is pure adrenaline-fuelled, action entertainment.

The premise is simple: a train carrying tons of highly explosive cargo, is hurtling unmanned through America. As the cops, train workers, and a few unlikely heroes try to prevent a major catastrophe, the train makes its way to an overhead bend in the track, where it will most likely derail, and destroy the town of Stanton.

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine star as a train driver and conductor respectively, who are minding their own business as they take one train and its cargo to the next destination. Pine is new on the job, and Washington is nearing forced retirement (almost similar to their careers), so there is more than a bit of tension between the two stars. Once their path is dangerously crossed by the unmanned train hurtling towards them, they become the only ones who can stop it.

It is a brilliant film for anyone who loves tense action films that are unrelenting in their grip on you, such as Speed (1994) or Enemy of the State (1998). For an hour and a half, you will be stuck to your seat and desperate to know what happens. It uses a multitude of filming techniques to build the suspense, such as news footage, overhead shots, and side on camera cars, creating a layered effect.

The performances make this film stand up against other such action films, Washington is his ever-brilliant self, and Pine gives another great performance (watch the newest Star Trek film if you haven't already!).

It will not make you scratch your head with confusion, but it does manage to take an epic story, throw in some pointed comments about the US economy, and make a film that is thoroughly entertaining.

Red (2010)

More stars than you can shake an AK47 at!

As far as action heroes go, Bruce Willis is probably numero uno. He is a legend amongst the genre, and most of his films deliver when it comes to gun fights, car chases, and blowing stuff up. This latest outing, Red starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Hellen Mirren, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, and many others, is a stylish, quirky action film with plenty of Hollywood royalty, but a plot that seems ridiculous from start to finish.

Frank Moses (Willis) is a retired, extremely dangerous (RED) ex-black ops agent, whose golden years are suddenly interrupted with an attempt on his life. Moses then rescues the unknowing Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), whom he has a phone relationship with, from an attempt on her life, and the two go on the run together. Along the way, Moses runs into some of his old friends and rivals in the black ops business, such as Joe (Freeman) a fellow retiree who hates the quiet life, and Marvin (Malkovich) an ex-agent who once tried to kill Moses, and now spends his time in paranoid wait for anyone trying to kill him. Helen Mirren plays the dangerously brilliant sniper Victoria. All of whom try to assist Moses and Sarah along the way, as they try to find out why they are being hunted.

Unfortunately, this film does fall into the category of more stars than substance. The stylish editing to the film is in keeping with the story's comic book roots (it comes from the DC comic book series), and the stunts and action will keep you entertained for a while. However, the plot is silly, and in places, too confusing.

Malkovich is very funny in the film, definitely the most entertaining performance. Willis is very good, but be warned, this is not Die Hard. You may notice some very obvious similarities, but it does not have the same heart, Red is far more glamorous and squeaky clean. This film is about the comedy, stunts, and stars.

It is a film worth watching, but here is my humble advice: watch this movie with a big group of friends, and play a drinking game. Every time a gun is fired DRINK! I have a feeling that this will make Red the best film you watch this year.