King Arthur

It's all just a bit dull really.

Yup. Just dull, fortunatly I watched this on Sky, so it didn't have to pay £3-£6 to see it, in fact as it's not even my Sky, it didn't cost me anything, which is just as well really, cos this is one DULL film!

You'd think being Jerry Bruckhiemer produced it'd have at least some spectacular set pieces, but the set big action sequences aren't exactly heart-stopping, the bit on the ice is ok, but just ok.

Sod it, I can't even think of anything really notable to write about old Arturious. Don't bother with this one.

King Arthur - 3/10

The Devil's Rejects

Two words... "Kinda" and "Dissapointing"

The press clip on the cover states something along the lines of "The sickest, goriest film ever", no the first one (House of 1000 Corpses) was probably that, but not this one.

The reason it's kinda dissapointing is that, well the press clip on the front and the fact that I've seen the prequel, I was ready and willing for "The sickest, goriest film ever", what I (and Vicky) got was a very clever, beautifully shot, funny, and quite original and entertaining, if a little slow, road movie. Not what we were expecting.

The film is supposedly set after the events of the first (unfortunatly I was unable to recap myself) and kicks off with a blazing shootout at the Firefly's home, after this some of the clan escape and go on the run, chased by the sadistic, revenge seeking sherrif.

Once again the film is one big homage to the 70's horror classics, even features Michael Berryman in a small supporting role. Sylistically (god knows on spelling there, I should type this all up in Word first!), it's a beautiful film, the opening sequence is a joy and sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the movie. All the performances are top, nobody's gonna win an oscar here, but each one suits the role and is performed with conviction.

I certainly hope Mr Zombie continues to make great films, as the horror genre is on the bounce back, with many sub-genres(?) floating about with directors like Mr Zombie, Ely Roth and Neil Marshall making their own films and not just Hollywood ripping off the Japanese ;)

I'd've liked more guts n gore, maybe even a bit of cringing on my part but still, watch this and be surprised.

The Devil's Rejects - 7/10

Shiri

Yet another damn good movie to come out of Korea, I don't think I've seen a bad one yet, although I haven't heard good things about The Quiet Family (upon which Miike's The Happiness Of The Katakuris is based).

The Empire quote on the front of the DVD case is "A mix of Nikita and Die Hard", it's been a long time since I've seen either, I can remember Die Hard clearer and it's nothing like that, except for maybe the explosives. A slightly closer comparison would be to Heat; the blazing gun fights in the street, the close meetings between two key pro' and antagonists. Directed by Je-gyu Kang this is a very different film from the other of his I've watched, Brotherhood. This is a reasonably fast paced, contemporary terrorism thriller, set predominantly in Seoul, South Korea and using the re-unification efforts as it's backdrop, think "24", but Korean and better.

There you go, that's my quote "A mix of Heat and 24" ;)

Once again, Min-Sik Choi delivers a brilliant performance, and although (as you'd expect), there have been some negative comments on the IMDB board, I found the plot gripping and extremely clever. Make no mistake, this is an action movie, a clever one, but an action movie nonetheless.

When I saw the trailer for Shiri, I thought I'd avoid it like the plague, but after watching Brotherhood and discovering that it was by the same director, I took a chance on it. I'm glad I did, the only negative for this? The sound mix, you get used to it, but it's not the best and can be a tad distracting at times, despite that, another must watch Korean movie!

Shiri - 8/10

Poseidon [DMR]

OK, for starters, this film is NOT Citizen Kane. Now I don't mean that in a derogitory sense, I'm stating it for the benefit of cinema goers who, it seems, expect way too much from blockbuster movies nowadays.

This remake of the 1972, Ronald Neame film "The Poseidon Adventure" has taken a lot of flak from the critics, mainly for it's lack of character development, which "means" you don't really care if they live or die. Comments have been that there's not enough of a build up, they're all thrust into the disaster side of things before you really get to know them. This is not something I had an issue with, except for one character, that of Dylan (Josh Lucas), I wanted to know just a tad more about how come he was so gung-ho and knew so much.

As the credits rolled, I caught a couple of comments from other viewers, expressing their dissapointment and also "How American it was" (NB: American produced blockbuster!!), me? I loved it. (The Film) It was everything I wanted, a big dumb disaster movie, cheers. Plus, as you may have noticed the "[DMR]" on the title of this post, I saw this at the BFI IMAX at Waterloo, thus MASSIVE SCREEN, this does a couple of things.

Firstly, once I settled into watching such a MASSIVE screen, I really enjoyed the super-size version. The opening sequence was a bit iffy, lots of camera tracking and motion, means you really notice the strobing on such a large screen. Secondly, and this is a note to filmmakers who are thinking about getting their 35mm piece blown up to IMAX, it really shows up the mistakes, like during the scene on the ship's bridge, a glaring focus error, and some of the CG during the titles is a little shoddy. That said, this was a million times better than Troy, Wolfgang Peterson's last "disaster" movie!

Anyway, overall I really enjoyed this film, it's the first time I've been to the cinema for some months now (too many!), and the first re-mastered film I've seen at the IMAX (saw Ghosts Of The Abyss there before tho), Josh Lucas chews things up a bit, Kurt Russell is on top form and Kevin Dillon adds some clever light relief. Personally I heartily reccommend it, just don't expect Citizen Kane!!

Poseidon - 8/10

Man-Thing

So, it's been a couple of weeks since I've watched a "proper" movie, and god knows where Harv & Russ' reviews have got to but hey.

Man-Thing, immediatly the title suggests that you're gonna be watching a low calibre movie doesn't it? Say it..Man-Thing..make sure you say it in a "voice-over-man" type voice, "Man-Thing".

Anyways, if you expect to watch a cruddy, throw away B-movie, this will do the job...just. The acting is rubbish, the direction is nothing special, occasionally the director will show his admiration for Michael Bay, and the rest of the time, it's bog-standard, uninventive camera work.

Apparently, (according the the opening stings), it's based on a Marvel comic, but believe me this aint no Spider-Man, if anything Man-Thing is a poor man's Swamp Thing, a very poor man. If you want to watch it, wait til it goes into the 7-days for a pound bin if you must.

Man-Thing - 2/10

Hopefully seeing Poseidon on Weds btw :D