Reviews

Visited the Horror-on-sea festival last weekend in Southend. They are always promoting independent horror films and especially ones that are made locally. Always have a great time and find a few gems and with this one you get You couldnt get more local as its been made and shot in the area!

I grew up loving the slasher movies of the 70s and 80s and although this has been made on a shoestring budget, i found it a clever throwback to that era. Even in the way its shot as if its on dodgy 35mm film (with lines/scratches across the screen at stages). It tells the story of a young girl Emily, who is looking to find out what happened to her father who worked in a factory on some type of experiment. However as she looks into this, her friends & contacts are one by one being disposed of in gruesome gory glory by a masked killer.

Dont go expecting a big budget horror film with loads of jump scares, but if you like corny acting, lots of in movie jokes and a gory whodunit. Look no further. The team have done a great job and i hope if gets the success it deserves. It certainly went down a treat with the local audience!

Dont know why this film has a low rating.

This true story about a young lawyer who uncovers miscarriages of justice a from discriminating legal system in the deep south, it has a great central performance by Michael B Jordan and is backed up by Jamie Foxx, who surely should be nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar come next year.

The hype around Parasite has been huge, and the more i read about it, the more i wanted to see it. A couple of my friends had seen it and knowing they know what i like, urged me not to wait until Feb for its UK Release, but to try and see a preview. Luckily enough, there was a preview at Curzon Mayfair in London this week with director and lead actor introducing it and i managed get a ticket. I can safely say its the best money i have ever invested in watching a film.

The best way to see this is not to know anything about it and try to avoid the spoilers which i managed to do. The Tag line on the poster "act like you own the place" had me intrigued, but having seen the film, it makes perfect sense.

Its basically a home invasion movie that has a lot of laughs at the start but then turns very dark. The story is very cleverly told and all the cast act their socks off. There are some real surprises/shocks along the way, but all make the film more entertaining.

Can clearly see why it won the Palme D'or at Cannes, ive seen nothing like it, its in my top 3 of the year and i cannot wait to see it again. Have to say its best to see with a big crowd, as the laughs and gasps that come along the way make it even more enjoyable.

This film has been on my hit list for ages, considering the cast and the story, i was waiting in anticipation for it to come out in the UK. Alas, it didnt and when i read about what had happened, i realised why.

It has been classed as one of the worst films ever made and was hardly seen which when you see the huge cast that's in it, is amazing on its own. So bad was it received & reviewed that Amber Heard won a razzie for worst actress. However, that is the "producers" cut. However, when i heard that there was a one off screening of the "directors" cut in London and that Matthew Cullen & Jim Sturgess were going to be there, i had to go.

Yes, its based on a Martin Amis story and is probably the only film you will ever see about love, jealousy, murder & darts but Cullen & Sturgess were here on hand to tell the truth about what actually happened.

The film ran into huge financial difficulties & the producers decided that they didn't want Cullens original cut but they wanted their own version which went for sensationalism over story, and this is the version that got panned. Most of the actors disowned this version & in the case of Heard, she tried to sue the producers for breach of contract, stating what they had made abused her personally with regard to using body doubles for the extra nudity in this version stating that she did it and this was not what she had signed up for. Apparently this producers cut has images that are offensive to everyone with refs to 9/11 etc. So Cullen financed his own directors cut and im told its completely different from the other version.

I can tell you now, that although its not the greatest film ever made, its a really entertaining film. Heard is a great Femme Fatale, oozing sex appeal, Sturgess is very OTT in his role and Johnny Depp has a fun cameo.

Dont think I want to see the producers cut as this is all thats available, but if you get the DVD/Blu Ray, the directors cut is on the extras!

Ive seen a few dodgy reviews for Red Sparrow, but they are all wrong.

If there is one Actress who has improved from film to film it has to be Jennifer Lawrence. She first showed promise in the underrated Winters Bone but then for me went on a downward spiral (with the exception of fantastic Silver Linings Playbook) with the Hunger Games films. However since she made Joy in 2015, the only way has been up with her performances in Passengers, The barking mad Mother! and now Red Sparrow. She seriously deserves another oscar soon.

This film is a no punches pulled thriller about seductive spys in Russia. Lawrences character is forced into recruiting to help save her sick mother and her first target is a US CIA agent, played by Joel Edgerton. Nothing is what it seems however, and as the 2 of them forge a relationship, they discover lots of secrets. The question is Who will betray who?

Its very violent but the film is shot beautifully and for those who like a good thriller, its seriously worth watching.

First up i must tell you that i am a horror and Sci Fi fan and nothing more pleases me than a movie that scares the crap out of everyone. Ive seen many in my time that make me jump, for example the classics like Alien, Poltergiest, The Amityville Horror & Friday the 13th to modern ones like Sinister, the new It and Insidous, but nothing comes anywhere near as close to the tension that you get in A Quiet Place.

The main difference is a simple one. In these classics there are moments that make you jump but here it is relentless for its 85 mins running time. You cannot take your eyes off the screen. And whats even more amazing is that if anyone in the cinema make a noise (like rustling of papers and food, then members of the audience are telling people to be quiet!

Its a simple story, there has been an outbreak all over the world that has caused strange creatures to kill everything. and there are not many survivors. All we know is that the creatures are attracted to sound. We follow one family as they struggle to survive in a silent world. But circumstances arise that cause certain noises which then lead to extreme danger.

Whats great about this film is that although its a horror, there is hardly any gory violence, hardly any bad language (in fact hardly any spoken words at all!) its just pure terror.

The director and cast are superb. Emily Blunt is one of my favourite actresses and she plays the troubled wife really well and the young deaf mute daughter is portrayed perfectly by Millicent Simmonds.

Being a Hitchcock fan, i can only imagine that this is the film he should have made if he was alive today. Its on a par with his tense films.

Check it out, but be prepared to be scared!

Im not a fan of Wes Anderson to be honest, I find his movies just way to weird to follow but being a Dog lover i thought id give this one the benefit of the doubt.

One thing i must say is that this movie is beautifully shot, and i dont think anyone could have done this film apart from Wes Anderson. Its funny and sad in places but overall very enjoyable.

Having grown up in the 80s, and been a computer game nerd for a while, i was keen to see this. Even more so when i found out it was directed by Steven Spielberg because i thought that this might bring him back into the top flight of directors where he had been for so long but recently his last few movies have dropped off. How right i was!

Living in South London, i had to go and see this in 4DX an boy was i not dissapointed. Its like being on a 140 min rollercoaster.

I hadnt read the book and to be honest, from what i am hearing im pleased i havent. I found this film to be the most fun ive had in a cinema for many a year. The story rattles along, and it was made even more entertaining trying to guess the Easter Eggs and references to the other films as well. I stopped when i got to 20!

I dont normally go and see films more than once when they are originally released, but im already planning my return visit!

I have to say i wasnt too sure about going to see this, but one wet Sunday morning i took the plunge and i have to say i was pleasantly surprised.

Good mixture of Animation and Live action scenes with some good old fashioned slapstick added.