Reviews

The one complaint I have relating to this movie is the way it was marketed. In watching the trailer it comes across like a love story. Which in a way it is. But it was very likely to draw the wrong audience being presented this way, and perhaps this is why the film has drawn a fair amount of criticism.

It is not an easy movie to watch, especially the first half an hour of the movie where you witness the events of Evan's childhood that he has blocked out. They are shocking and disturbing to watch. However this is necessary for the movie to have its' desired affect, and for you to understand why Evan is so desperate and willing to go to any lengths to change the past.

I watched this movie 2 months ago and am still thinking about it to this day. Despite the occasional plot flaw it is essentially a fascinating movie that delivers a profound message that what you do in life, even the small things can have a huge impact on not just your life, but the lives of the people you love.

This movie has been labelled ‘not your average teen movie' and I'm glad to say it isn't. It follows the story of Cady who arrives in America for high school after spending her formative years being home schooled while travelling through Africa with her parents. And this is where the fun begins…..

The school Cady attends look like something typical to a teen comedy from ‘the plastics' (the beautiful popular people) to the nerds and outcasts, and Cady sets out to learn about the rules of surviving high school. But this is no – ‘everyone learns a good morale lesson, nice teen movie', the comedy is bitingly satirical and even when it seems to have a sweet ending it is very much tongue in cheek. I personally found the intelligence of the humour greatly rewarding in comparison to most movies of this genre, and I wish black comedies like this would come around more often.

This movie was in my top 3 of 2003. It is a captivating story of a girl trying to find her identity as she is shipped between foster homes after her mother is jailed for killing her boyfriend. The plot line sounds depressing but this is far from a depressing movie.

It is not often enough that a movie has truly interesting and three dimensional characters. This is probably because it is based on a well written book (that has been beautifully translated onto the screen).

This movie would not have worked had it not been for the brilliant performances of Michelle Phiefer (haunting as the tortured artist) and newcomer Alison Lohman who is completely convincing in her role, she is definitely an actress to be watched.

I would highly recommend this movie.

It is always going to be a challenge to take a classic novel and turn it into be a movie that will satisfy everyone, especially when the story is being changed and adapted to fit a modern setting. If what you want to find from this movie is an exact translation of the book you will be unimpressed.

I personally loved this movie, it is completely stylish thanks to a brilliant soundtrack and the gorgeous leads Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow (who is cast perfectly as the beautiful ice queen). They are helped along by a strong supporting cast of Anne Bancroft (wonderfully eccentric as Ms. Nora Dinsmoor), Chris Cooper and Robert DiNero.

The problem, however, is that in trying to fit a story as long and complicated as ‘Great expectations' into a 90 minute movie you loose a lot of the development of the characters necessary to identify and have an emotional reaction to them.

Rather than linger on these issues Alfonso Cuaron concentrated on the visual aspect of the movie and the result is a movie that is great to watch!

Many of Disney's animated movies have enough adult humour to keep parents entertained. And movies such as 'Find Nemo' found an audience across all age groups. But never has a movie been so successful in doing so as 'Shrek' and I am pleased to say that 'Shrek 2' is just as good (if not better) than the first.

A great addition to the cast of characters is 'Puss in Boots' excellently voiced by Antonio Banderas who's performance is a very tongue in cheek version of his character in 'The mask of Zorro'. Other great additions cast voicing the characters include Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everet and Jennifer Saunders. Eddie Murphy is brilliant again as Donkey (in my mind his best role to date).

A great soundtrack also helps the story gain pace. And even though everything is very neatly tied together in a fairly predictable ending it is a fairytale after all. If you don't walk out of the cinema with a smile on your face after this movie there is definitely something wrong with you!

'The whole nine yards' was an entertaining movie but certainly not one for which you would expect a sequel. Considering sequels are usually disappointing the fact that the first movie was hardly a masterpiece actually helps.

Matthew Perry does not help here as he has been so type cast as the neurotic funny guy that you feel like you are watching Chandler from Friends. Bruce Willis does a fair job of playing the crazy hit-man, and Amanda Peet is always brilliant (even though her talents are wasted in movies such as this).

Although there are many far funnier spoofs of mafia family situations, and you certainly won't think about this movie for long afterwards, if a bowl of popcorn and easily forgettable entertainment are what you are looking for this might just be your movie.

I understand what this movie was trying to portray. How the old are often ignored and treated like a bother, which means they end up feeling unappreciated and like their lives are empty.

I do not have a problem with this message, but I just feel that it could have been put across in a way that is not so painful to watch. I enjoy a good art movie but when a movie becomes too self-consciously arty (as in this case) the result is often frustrating. Including shots of a person packing a suitcase slowly that take 5 minutes try to make a point but just end up annoying the audience.

The female characters are very weak and you end up wanting to just tell them to pull it together. This is a movie you feel you should enjoy or rate highly and certainly has its' merits but I was just too frustrated watching it to ever recommend it to someone else. It might have a deeper message than other Roger Michell movies (for example: 'Notting Hill') but at least that was a movie you could enjoy watching.

I hesitate to label this movie 'heart-warming' as terms such as this would put me off a movie, but it is definitely a word that comes to mind. It is a story of parents dealing with the grief of losing their youngest child but at the same time trying to keep things together for the sake of their two daughters who have also been deeply affected by the loss.

They immigrate to America from Ireland as a way of escaping their past and starting over. Using the elder of the two daughters to tell the story gives the movie a interesting angle as she observes the way her parents deal with the tragedy.

Excellent performances all round turn what could be melodrama into a genuinely moving story. I especially enjoyed the fact that they did not use 'the American dream' of a new life as the solution to this family's problem, but rather made the point that you can change your circumstances but you can't run away from your problems.

The first time I saw 'Vanilla Sky' I found it a combination of exciting and mind boggling. But this is a movie that needs to be seen more than once. With a repeat viewing when you are not caught up in the feeling of "what is happening" you can see the powerful message the movie is putting across. After watching 'Vanilla Sky' I rented the original Spanish version and I think it is unfair to compare the two because they are very different movies aiming for different end results. Cameron Crowe has taken the story of the original and made his own movie, and in my mind it works far better than any other attempts at crossing Sci-fi with a love story that I have seen (for example: 'Solaris' and 'The Butterfly effect'). It is definitely a movie that brings out strong reactions, you will love or hate it - and isn't that the best kind of movie?