Quick update.

I haven't been watching a lot of movies recently. I know, shock horror. I plan to start cracking my DVDs open and also heading down to the cinema more often this year. As we all know, 2012 looks to be the best year for movies for a long time. I have a whole list of movies I must see.

However, last year, if you read my blog back then, you'll remember I reviewed all of the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies. This year I will try to the same thing. I'm waiting for the nominations in the hope that I've seen at least two or three of the movies. I will have just over a month to get through all of the ten nominations. To prepare, I've been looking at the BAFTA and Golden Globes nominations to get an idea of what I must see.

So basically prepare for a lot of, probably very sleep deprived, reviews of the Oscar nominated movies from the 26th onwards.

See you soon.

The Sexiest Female Characters in Film?

So Empire Magazine are currently holding a poll for the Sexiest Movie Characters. Now, as a film blog, I thought it was important that I raised some thoughts on the matter. I'll stick to female characters since my love of Brad Pitt and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will over run my male choices. I've added links to any reviews I've done of the movies and I've included some favourite scenes. Do read older reviews, they're rather funny. But here's the thing: I can only pick 5. My short list is open to change but here's my current short list and reasoning IN NO ORDER:

 #1: Alison Lohman as Christine Brown in Drag Me To Hell.

Why Christine Brown? In the movie, all sorts of disgusting things happen to her. Things that should be (and are) very un-sexy. However, that being said, when nobody is being sick on her or something similar, she has a cracking dress sense and always looks very attractive. 'So do most actresses!' I hear you cry. Here's where Christine Brown differs from other, typical horror movie pretty girls: The grave scene. As shown above, Christine digs up a grave and hops on in. Cue pouring rain, wet t shirt, angry shouting, and getting dirty. How could one not find that sexy? Especially considering I kinda like a girl with a bit of a bad attitude. You'll hear me say that a few times. One of my favourite scenes in a horror movie... Ever.

2# Cameron Diaz as Tina Carlyle in The Mask

When she first walks in the door, all the characters on camera turn and stare at her. She just has that effect. This is young Cameron Diaz. Before she was extremely skinny, back when she was hot. Why is Tina Carlyle so sexy? All sorts of reasons: She's trouble, she sings, she dances, she looks like that. She's brilliant in every way and she was the first time I felt the urge to wolf whistle the screen. And when she sings, I have the same reaction as Jim Carrey in this scene. 

3# Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan in Sin City

I suppose Nancy Callahan is a bit of a cheat considering she's an exotic dancer/stripper. Her job is to be sexy. Good thing is, she succeeds. But what makes Nancy even better? She's got a heart of gold. She's a complete sweetheart. A beautiful, sexy stripper who would do anything to help her friend. Now that is sexy. Plus, when she dances like this, not much else matters.

#4 Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond in V For Vendetta

If you've followed this blog for a while, you'll know Natalie Portman is one of my favourite actresses and I find her extremely attractive. So attractive in fact, that I almost just posted five different roles of hers as the five sexiest characters. But I decided that's not fair, so instead I narrowed my options down. I found it hard to choose between three of her roles: Evey, Nina (Black Swan), and Sam (Garden State). I decided that Sam's innocence made her less sexy, as did Nina's insanity. Evey on the other hand, is incredible. She is very attractive but not only that. She's loyal, strong, independent, beautiful, and very, very cool. Plus, she is the only women to look just as attractive with hair and without. I think she's extremely sexy. 

Nina

Sam

#5 Emma Stone as Wichita in Zombieland 

Oh, what about her isn't sexy? Hot brunette girl with a gun. Who is also a complete badass. And also a sweetheart. And also super hot. And has a bad attitude, and we've already said that I like that. She just looks so cool all the time and whether she's flirting or being a complete bitch, the words just roll off her tongue. Admittedly, Emma Stone is another actress I find beautiful all the time (See her as Olive in Easy A) but there's something especially sexy about Wichita. Maybe it's the mystery surrounding her or the fact that she could kick your ass and you'd still think she's perfect. And she comes with just a hint of danger... She doesn't even have to speak... Just look at her.

Olive

Below, I've included a load of others that just didn't make the list. In order of how close they came to being in the top five.

Mila Kunis as Lily in Black Swan

Zooey Deschanel as Summer in [500] Days of Summer

Ellen Page as Bliss in Whip It!

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann in
 Pirates of The  Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge!

Lyndsy Fonseca as Katie in Kick Ass

Brie Larson as Envy Adams
in Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers
in Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Oldeuboi

There is nothing cryptic about today's title, it is simply the original Korean title for the movie we're looking at. This movie has been hailed as one of the greatest international movies ever made and it stands at number 92 on IMDb's Top 250 films. It's considered the best film in the loosely connected 'Vengeance Trilogy'. So is it up to the hype that surrounds it? We'll see. Today, we're reviewing Oldboy.

The movie opens with a mysterious man dangling another man over the edge of a building by his tie. When asked what his name is we cut away to Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi) in a police station, very drunk and out of control. He is picked up by No Joo-hwan (Dae-han Ji) but soon lost at a phone booth. Dae-su Oh wakes up in a room. He has no idea who has trapped him here and he has no idea why. He spends the next fifteen years trapped in his little room with only a tv for company. He begins to train, build up his strength, and find a way to escape. He swears vengeance on whoever trapped him and when he is finally out of the room he goes on a journey to find the truth. With help from Joo-hwan and Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang) he begins to unravel the mystery surrounding his capture.

The low prices at Oldboy hotel literally had people fighting for rooms.

All performances in the movie are outstanding. Min-sik Choi is outstanding as Dae-su. His emotions are gritty and raw. It's absolutely captivating to watch him from start to finish. Not only is his tantrum in the police station one of the funnier scenes I've seen for a long time, his brutality which verges on insanity is horrible to watch yet impossible to look away from. At some points you'll like him, some points you won't, and some you'll just be shocked by him. It's brilliant. As an antagonist, Ji-tae Yu is fantastic as Woo-jin Lee. He has a perfect balance between psychotic and plain evil. He's got enough of a human side to develop a tiny bit of sympathy for him but  mainly he's crazy and cruel.

What really stood out for me in this movie was the technical side of things. Chan-wook Park really knows what he's doing as a director. Everything is perfectly timed. Everything looks perfect. Everything is perfect as far as the technical aspects are concerned.  The fight scenes, particularly the long corridor fight, are spectacularly shot. The corridor fight scene involves a huge number of guards against one man. The first camera shot shows us how small the corridor actually is. The next one is a an extremely long single shot that follows the fight down the side of the corridor. It's incredible to watch. The use of sound in the film is also brilliant. Often music (or more often silence) will juxtapose what's happening on screen. It creates a really eerie atmosphere that works wonderfully with the explicit nature of the film.

Some people thought Dae-su had a fear of lifts. He didn't He was scared of women.

Overall, this film is definitely not for the faint hearted. While it has funny moments, they are completely outweighed. There's even a tooth-pulling scene, something that really makes me wince. However, it is a great movie and well worth a watch... if you can stand it. And pay attention. It twists more than a roller coaster.

Best Bit? It has to be the corridor fight scene. Cinematic brilliance as well as wonderfully choreographed.

P.S. It looks like a western adaption of this has been announced. Spike Lee is set to direct and Josh Brolin to star. While I know not all adaptions and remakes are terrible (Infernal Affairs - The Departed) I still don't like how many of modern films are remakes or western adaptions or reboots of already great movies or franchises. But then again, it may be awesome. We'll see. Perhaps it'll look something like this:

Josh Brolin as Dae-su?

I Am The English Psycho...

Hello Blogging type people. It has come to my attention today that there is an American Psycho remake currently being considered by Lionsgate. Now, it's not 100% official as the script still hasn't got the go-ahead. However, I would like to take a moment to discuss/ slate this idea.

Let's start with the defense of the possible remake. The movie is different to the book. Many supporters of the remake claiming that the previous movie didn't do the book justice. It is far more likely that this new movie will be more explicit (like the book) and less funny. It's also being pushed forward by Noble Jones, a director who has worked with David Fincher a few times. But now we'll take a look/ rant about why it's a terrible idea:

Firstly, the original movie is brilliant as it is. I can't understand how someone can look at it and say, I could make that so much better. Whether you're David Fincher's prodigy or not, it would be nigh impossible to improve on the movie enough to warrant a full remake. No film is perfect... Even my favourite movies have their flaws. Also, Jones want's to shift the plot into the modern day rather the 80s. Considering the book is a satire of the 80s business world, I can't see how fans can defend the hope of the new remake being closer to the film. And is anyone really going to play Patrick Bateman better than Christian Bale? It's become such an iconic role. The pure psychotic nature of Bateman is something that will be incredibly difficult to re-capture without stealing of Christian Bale's performance.

A friend of mine is very wise with these matters. He suggests that, if a film company want to make money off an old idea, re-release a film. Re-master it. Release some new box set. Don't remake the entire film when their are better and more original ideas out there. If this Noble Jones is going to be some great director, he should show us something new and cement his place in the film industry rather than present an old idea and for it to not live up to it's previous versions. I don't want a micro-budget American Psycho, I want new films that take my breath away.

/Rant over/

Die Hard. Again. And Again. And Again. (Part 2)

Here's the second part of my Die Hard reviews. The first part is here. Five years after the second Die Hard was released, a third installment came out. Then it'd be another 12 years before we'd see anything Die Hard related in the cinemas. How did they keep a franchise going despite the massive gap in time? How did they adjust? Lets have a look, starting with Die Hard: With A Vengeance.

John McClane, (Willis) now almost a full-blown alcoholic, is on suspension from the NYPD. However, when a bomb goes off in a department store and the police are stuck for answers, a mysterious man named Simon (Jeremy Irons/ Graham Greene) phones and asks for McClane. He states that if the police want answers, McClane has to complete the tasks Simon tells him to. Task one: Wearing a rather offensive sign in the rough part of town. Fortunately for McClane, Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) steps in to protect him from a group of thugs. Not so fortunately for Zeus, this means he is now involved in Simon's games. Simon gets McClane and Zeus to run around town trying to stop bombs that he has rigged. However, Simon is planning a little more than he's letting on.

Both McClane and Zeus were extremely suspicious of the phone.

Despite being an alcoholic, being suspended and having not spoken to his wife, McClane continues to prove how cool he really is. By adopting a slightly more I-don't-care attitude, Willis provides a better performance than his second outing as the character. He brings the same wit and bad ass-ness that he's brought for the first two movies but this time they it comes with a fresh dowsing of pessimism. However, the stand out  performance of the movie comes from Samuel Jackson as Zeus. Continuing Die Hard's theme of having a handy black sidekick is presented with a twist this time around. Zeus is strong willed, sassy and powerful. He's very funny, if not very racist. The antagonists, Jeremy Irons and Graham Greene are superbly dark and smart. Their plots provide more twists than either of the first two movies and they create such a tense atmosphere which makes the film extremely exciting.

The Die Hard science begins to get a little bit out of control in this movie. There's ridiculously high and yet survivable falls, surfing on giant dump trucks, and goons with even worse aim than ever before.  But all of this only helps to make the movie all the more fun to watch. My least favourite aspect of the movie is not the slowly sinking realism but the incredibly annoying choice of music. Throughout dramatic moments of the movie, we are treated to an instrumental version of 'The animals went in two by two hurrah hurrah'. (Technically known as When Johnny Comes Marching Home). Something about it doesn't fit.

Overall, another good movie. Not as good as the first, slightly better than the second. Good fun and definitely worth a watch.

Best Bit? Personally, I have a soft spot for the dump truck chase in an underground system of water tunnels.

And finally we come to the fourth and (currently) the final installment in the series: Die Hard 4.0 (Or Live Free Or Die Hard)

So the plot of the last movie is slightly more nerdy than the others. This time, the terrorists are hackers and they're developing a system that can systematically shut down the entirety of the United States, one bit at a time. McClane (Willis) gets involved after he is sent to bring internet hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) to Washington. Soon after he arrives at Matt's apartment though, unknown assailents begin shooting at Matt and McClane. After getting him out safely, McClane turns to Matt to gain some insight from his hacking knowledge and together they plan to bring down mastermind Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) and his assistant Mai Linh (Maggie Q). Unfortunately for McClane (and in some ways, fortunate for Farrell), Lucy Gennaro McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), John's daughter, gets caught up the whole ordeal and despite her disliking of her father and his attitudes to things, she relies and trusts in him to stop the terrorists.

Thomas Gabriel never understood the idea of
 going on a date and showing one's guns.

In the twelve years that John was absent from our cinema screens, a lot changed in his life. He lost all his hair, stopped talking to his ex wife and daughters, became a much angrier and older man. Willis continues to develop and adapt the character we've grown to love but still sticks to his roots. The years have aged him, and he shows us that. Also a brilliant performance from Justin Long. Admittedly it's a role that he plays more than any other, the awkward nerdy teenager. But the contrast between Willis and Long is so perfect it makes the movie great fun to watch.

Die Hard science goes to a whole new level in this movie. Death seems to become a thing of the past, or at least all of the characters have developed super strength. Cars are driven into helicopters, people are run over but able to continue fighting and fighter jets will destroy half a city on a very vague order.  However, being a more modern movie, the special effects, camera work, and general appearance of the entire film is a league above the other three movies. Probably the most silly out of all four movies but also one of the easiest to watch. There's lots of action and lots of explosions to keep your eyes busy.

In my personal opinion it's the weakest of the four films but compared to a lot of action films released nowadays, it's still of a better quality. It's fun and it's everything we love from Die Hard, if not a bit more exaggerated and silly.

Best Bit? The fight scene between Mai Linh, John McClane, and Matt Farrell. A whole new level of fight scene with use of cars, elevator shafts and a combination of them both. Or extremely tense tunnel scene when cars are flying all over the place.


A great set of movies. All worth a watch. And don't forget, yippee ki-yay, motherfuckers.

A Boy, His Dog, A Drunk, and Some Treasure

This is not your normal comic book adaption. There are no super heroes, no amazing gadgets, and no Marvel or DC. Just a boy, his dog, and a drunken sailor. Finally it's time to see Hergé's classic comic on the big screen and with such a fine cast and crew behind it, what could go wrong. Let's talk about The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn. (Woah, mouthful!)

Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his dog Snowy innocently buy a model boat at a street stall. Suddenly, the boat receives a lot of interest from a couple of mysterious men. Intrigued, Tintin keeps a close eye on the boat... Until Snowy knocks it to the floor. Inside the mast is a secret message. A clue. Clearly this is what one of the mysterious men was after as the flat is broken into but the clue remains safe. Tintin teams up with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and foolish inspectors Thompson and Thomson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost respectively) To unveil the secret of the Unicorn before Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig).

There's no witty caption here. Just look at how wonderful that CG is.

Now this cast would be outstanding in any live action movie, and it’s just as spectacular in Motion Capture. It is important to remember that this is motion capture and not animation.  They’re not just voice actors, they’re actually acting. And yet, not a single character seems too much like the actor playing them. If you weren't aware which actors were in the film, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Try to tell the difference between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, I dare you. Daniel Craig is also superb. At no point did I realise that it was him who played Ivanovich Sakharine. Andy Serkis is absolutely hilarious as Captain Haddock. Only once did his comedy seem to dip into ‘dumb humour’, (Burping into a plane engine in order to keep it flying.) but that's a writing issue... I literally have no complaints about the acting in this movie.

Visually, this film caused my jaw to drop like no film has since Avatar. The very first shot of a person’s face caused a communal intake of air from every person in the cinema. It was simply breathtaking. And the transitions between scenes were completely flawless. Not only that, they were stunning. I've never been so captivated by a scene change. Even the opening sequence was a treat for the eyes. A miniature Tintin adventure as the creative teams names float around the screen. On top of all these things, the movie contains action sequences that rival any big scale blockbuster and they'll also make you laugh until it hurts. The first of two notable examples is a city wide chase sequence. There are bazookas, tanks, floods and a hell of a lot of chaos, and all in a single shot! The camera never cuts away from the action. The second incredible action sequence comes in the form of a flashback to the days of pirates. The story of the unicorn. A battle involving two ships with action on a scale to match, and beat, battle scenes in any Pirates Of The Caribbean films. I was in awe of this scene. The fire jumped off the screen, perhaps due to the 3D, and every single gun shot or cannon fire made me hold the edge of my seat. The whole scene is cleverly re-enacted later using cranes. You'll understand. I don't want to put any spoilers. And all that with just over half the budget for Avatar.

Captain Haddock thought he was in his favourite movie, North by Northwest and was overjoyed

Directed by a man considered a legend in the film making world and produced by an man of equal stature. Both Oscar winners, Steven Spielberg (director) and Peter Jackson (producer) know what they're doing. Hegre was even quoted to say that he believed on Spielberg could do Tintin justice. Personally, I have very few criticisms of this movie. My only big one being that it was too short (even at 107 minutes). Fortunately, there is going to be two more movies, so that's good. I laughed my socks off and was completely hypnotized by the picture. Sometimes, jokes did fall flat and admittedly, snowy was a better detective than Tintin at points, but the movie is a major achievement. I highly suggest it. However, I can't find myself able to give it the full five stars. It misses something. I'm not sure what.

Best bit? Personally, the battle between the two boats was just so outstandingly done I have to say that. It was simply stunning as well as incredibly exciting. 

Die Hard. Again. And Again. And Again. (Part 1)

Since I've been gone for a while, and you guys definitely miss me, I thought I'd treat you. Four movie reviews, two post. Why do I suddenly seem drawn to the idea of these four movies? Well I watched them all today, in one sitting, with my totally legit sports team. What do these movies share in common? They all contain two words: Die Hard.

So I'll try to keep these reviews fairly short. Movie one: Die Hard. Officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) leaves New York to spend Christmas with his family in LA. However, soon after arriving at his wife's work, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) takes over the building with a group of terrorists and seals off all contact with the outside world. Holding the workers hostage, he plans to steal $640 million stored in the buildings vault. McClane manages to get into maintenance areas of the building and tries to alert the police about the situation. The police, apart from Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson), are useless.

McClane, I bought you a woman for Christmas.

This is Bruce Willis at his very best. He is the epitome of cool. He has the pout, the never ending ammo and the ability to talk coherently with a cigarette perched between his teeth. Action-wise, this movie is outstanding. It is the perfect genre film. If you were introducing someone to action, start here. Something I'll refer to a lot in this post is Die Hard Science. It is essentially the science that exists in the world of Die Hard, but not in reality. For example, one man may be shot in the head and just crumple, another's head may explode. Rickman was also superb. He's such a perfect antagonist. He's creepy but isn't aggressive unless he really needs to be. He's menacing and powerful without being loud or violent. This is perfect for the villain of this movie.

One thing that I particularly love about this movie is the location. A single location, but a massive location. Despite the film only taking place in one building, this is a forty story building; there's more room in a forty story building than in a wood. This allows for the sense of claustrophobia, but still has the ability to create grand scale action. Bombs, tanks and abseiling with a hose pipe. This movie has it all.

A great start to a great franchise. Witty, action packed and plain cool.

Best Bit? There's something extremely touching about the bromantic hug between McClane and Al but the best bit has to go toMcClane using a hose pipe to lower himself down the building.

Movie Two! Die Hard 2, aptly tag lined 'Die Harder.' Often criticised for being a simple rehash of the first one. Well in some ways it is, but more about that in a moment. Firstly, the plot.

John McClane, once again wishing to spend Christmas with his wife, is waiting for her plane at the airport when he notices some suspicious behavior. Upon investigating, he gets shot at, destroys a mans head, and almost gets arrested. The complete lack of help from airport security leads him to turn to his old pal Al Powell (via a new creation called 'a fax machine') who informs him that one of the men that shot at him, was dead according to records. Somethings afoot. Cue evil plan to keep plane's circling until the demands of the terrorists' have been met, despite all aircraft being low on fuel. Oh, they also take over all the planes' computers and communication so that they can crash them at their will. McClane steps into save the day.

Nobody was happier in an ejector seat than John McClane

Once again, Willis proves that he is the coolest man alive. More pouting whilst shooting, more talking with a cigarette, and more throwing metal painting towers over. He even plays chicken with a plane! Once again, he's helped out by a friendly black guy, Leslie Barnes (Art Evans), who is great fun. Exactly what John McClane needs, a wise cracking, good willed, black guy that stands up to his superiors in order to help McClane. And the antagonists of this film are brilliant. I don't just mean the outstanding Col. Stuart (William Sadler), I also mean the not-quite-baddies-but-you-really-want-to-punch-them baddies. This includes Capt. Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz), in charge of airport security who tries to over power McClane at every turn and, reprising his roll as the selfish and ignorant journalist, William Atherton is brilliant as Richard Thornburg.

Like the first movie, the film takes place in primarily one location, the airport. And again, there's that feeling of claustrophobia despite being in a large area. This is a typical sequel. It's bigger and more ridiculous. That Die Hard Science we mentioned earlier plays a huge part in this film. Plane's crash, with no fuel, and yet explode into an unbelievable fireball. The brilliant aiming of the bad guys suddenly disappears when they shoot at McClane. Several planes can fit onto a very small runway despite it being covered completely in snow. This film does require complete suspension of disbelief. That being said, it's still great fun and 100% worth watching, especially with a good crowd of friends.

Extremely similar to the first movie, but not in a bad way (not like Hangover Part II). It's a bit sillier, a lot bigger, and twice as action packed, with twice as many plot twists. Not quite as good either, but still a great, fun movie

Best Bit? The cool as snow (Gettit?) ending. John McClane proves he's a BAMF all over again after fighting on the wing of a plane and then simply using a lighter as a form of attack.