The Bucket List ( 2007 )

               Two terminally ill men make a list

Starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman



Written by Justin Zackham



                                       Directed by Rob Reiner

This is a great film. Plenty of laughs and drama mixed together with some top class acting. Once in a while a movie comes along which grabs you by the ghoulies. One minute you are laughing and the next minute tears are streaming down your face. There's not a lot to dislike about this one. In fact I have no negative comments whatsoever.



This is a great film. Easy to watch and not easy to forget.

10/10

The Happiest Days Of Your Life ( 1950 )

A boy's school receives some very unwelcome visitors

Starring Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford


Screenplay by Frank Launder and John Dighton




                         Directed by Frank Launder

For an old movie this is a fun runaround.



It's short and witty and a great way to pass just over an hour of your time. It's silly and easy to watch and passes really quickly so that says something about it.

If you fancy a laugh without too much of a plot headache, give it a shot.




7.5/10

The Deer Hunter ( 1978 )

     

           One marriage, one party, one war looming

Starring Robert De Niro, John Savage and Christopher Walken


Written by Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K Redeker

                 Directed by Michael Cimino







This is a great film.




It's pretty long at around three hours so you need to have a bit of spare time and patience, unless, like me, you watch it over a few separate sittings. And it's slow to get going so you will have to stick with it. But it's worth it.

Everything about this movie is brilliant. From the acting to the story development to the cinematography. It's a clever movie with lots of hidden meanings and depth and you probably need to watch it a few times to appreciate everything it has to offer.


The acting is top notch, especially Christopher Walken.



Superb.

On a side note I recognized the theme music from a kids TV show in the eighties ( Take Hart) and I finally get the Revels Advert from TV!

10/10

Sleepers ( 1996 )

Sometimes revenge is the only answer

Starring Robert De Nero, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt and Dustin Hoffman




Based on a book by Lorenzo Carcaterra

                        Directed by and Screenplay by Barry Levinson

This is another example of something that could have been so much better.




I was sat watching this thinking to myself, ' I bet the book is better than this.'

There are so many big names in this film and it even has a soundtrack by John Williams, it should have worked but it didn't. There is something that just doesn't work. It felt like the whole movie was crammed together and didn't have room to breathe. We don't get time to get our heads around the story or the individual characters, I spent most of the movie trying to work out which character was which. And just when I was starting to get a grip, we are shoved thirteen years into the future and have to try and work it all out again.

Considering the star studded line up, for me it was Dustin Hoffman that came out on top even though he only played a small role. He played to alcohol lawyer with perfection, it's a pity we didn't see any stand out performances by any of the others. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe this movie would have been better served with a different production team or a different director.

As for the story itself, it's allegedly based on a true story but that is another story.






Watchable but frustratingly disappointing.



7/10

Coraline ( 2009 )

A girl discovers a universe where her parents treat her like a Queen but all is not as it seems

Voiced by Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, John Hodgman and Robert Bailey Jr

Written by Neil Gaiman (Novel) 

Screenplay written by and also directed by Henry Selick

At last a great movie!

The whole thing is just incredible from the story to the voice actors to the unbelievably good animation. Right from the beginning credits ( which are superb by the way) this movie sucks you in and it doesn't matter how old you are. Neil Gaiman is gaining a top class reputation as a writer and this has all the hallmarks of his imagination. I haven't read the book or most of his books, so I don't know how it compares to the novel, but this works brilliantly as a movie in it's own right.

I am in my forties but I enjoyed this movie just as much as any kid would. In my opinion it manages to create a magical world within a magical world much better than anything I've seen from the hands of Tim Burton or anybody else.



It's fun and totally hypnotizing.


10/10

Erin Brockovich ( 2000 )

          A woman's fight against water pollution

Starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney and Aaron Echhart

Written by Susannah Grant

                         Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

When I read the tagline for this one I wasn't overly excited and I wasn't wrong.



This is average at best. Everything about it spells the word average. Average story, average acting and an overall average production. I've seen much better courtroom drama's than this and I'm not really a fan of court room dramas.

The story just about kept my interest but the whole movie seemed to drag and I was literally struggling to keep my eyes open. My son went to bed.

Julia Roberts was better than I thought she would be but there are no Oscar winning performances in this one. Probably the most interesting thing about this film is that it's based on a true story and I will probably google it.

6.5/10

The Sweeney ( 2012 )

The Return of London's Flying Squad 

Starring Ray Winstone and Ben Drew

Written by Nick Love and John Hodge

                                   


                                     Directed by Nick Love






 

I was a bit too young to watch the original TV show although I know a bit about it. So I'm not too blind sighted by any memories of the original series. I recorded this a few months ago but never really fancied it but I was wrong. It's a decent movie. The script is really good and the acting and whole production is superb.

It contains lots of great action sequences and sharp, witty dialogue. Ray Winstone was born to play this role! There's nothing original to be found here, just a fun, lively movie with something for everybody. I was scratching me head a little bit towards the end because I always have trouble keeping up with these action movie plots but I think I more or less got to grips with it.

Overall a fun movie with nothing too deep or complex. Just a movie to enjoy. And I did.

A safe 8/10