I liked it. It was fun and easy to watch. A little like thirty somethings acting like 20 year olds but still good.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, this is one of those films that leaves you questioning the meaning of the ending and, like many films before it, unfortunately you might be left just not caring. The first half of the film draws you in to DiCaprio's past, how it is affecting him and what exactly is going on on Shutter Island - a mental institution. Gripped at this point I'm afraid the film goes rapidly down hill, asking the viewer to make too many leaps of faith. It's always enjoyable to see Ben Kingsley playing a baddy, so a shame to contemplate that he might in fact be the good guy! In conclusion, watch for interest and twists and turns but if won't have you losing any sleep.
SOMETIMES the old ways are the best. From Adele's award winning Shirley Bassey-esque title song to the film paying homage to the 22 previous films for the 50th anniversary simply by being a great, old-school Bond film. Throw in Bardem who is the perfect Bond villain: both charismatic and just enough humanity to offset the pure evil.
Director Sam Mendes has done a masterful job of pulling this story together. Skyfall might run for nearly two and a half hours, but the tightly edited film only feels like 90 minutes. Enjoy!
A great musical with a fantastic soundtrack. You'll laugh at the great songs (Officer Krupke, I'm So Pretty); and you'll cry (There's A Place For Us). I recommend putting the 'Pop' mode on, which gives you an insight from some of the choreographers and dancers from the film and present day, of the dance sequences.
A look at the turmoils between two rival street gangs in New York - the Jets and The Sharks - and a Romeo and Juliet-style love story between rival faction members with it's inenvitable conclusion.
This has to be the funniest film i have ever watched with tons of laughs combined with the action that offers gripping tension, actors Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are extremely funny and compliment each other in the roles they play, this film will have you rolling around the floor in fits of laughter from start to finish, all round great film for a great night in with your friends.
This is super fun for any age. I went to the cinema with the kids and really enjoyed it. The plot may be complicated for younger viewers. My 7 year old niece did get scared at one point of the film. Lots of funny statements, overall an enjoyable viewing.
If you love Jim Carey you will love this! I found it hilarious throughout with a good mixture of laughs and seriousness.
This is brilliant for any age although I'd recommend watching this with your kids if they are under 7. Some scenes can be quite disturbing for adults let alone children. I found it quite freaky and almost frightening in parts.
I have watched plenty of horror films but nothing comes close to this. There is no gore or gruesome scenes but you will be sat on the edge of your seat (or bed) wondering what will happen next. I was biting my nails and my heart was racing. Brilliant film from start to finish. Well worth the watch.
A well written film with a good solid plot, better suited for older children probably 8+ as it is quite scary at times for young children, a couple of adult innuendos that were unnecessary, good effects and different from the usual children's movies at the moment
Great way to spend a few hours brought back loads of memories very funny and something we will never see on tv again
A fantastic family film, lots of comedy for both young and old. A definite watch!
Five American teenagers take a trip to a remote forest cabin for a weekend of sex, drugs and general bad behaviour. But they get more than they bargained for when, one-by-one, they start getting picked off by mysterious and deadly monsters who are driven by a dark power beyond their wildest imaginings.
Sounds like the setup for any number of tired old slasher B-movies you could name, right? But whilst 'Cabin in the Woods' takes this broad outline as its starting point, its final destination is very different to anything you've ever seen in a horror movie before.
Beginning with some scenes that briskly introduce you to the film's key players, there's immediately a sense of things feeling a little bit unusual when the sequences involving the party-hungry teenagers are interspersed with glimpses of an enigmatic industrial facility in which two shirt-and-tie-wearing employees chat casually about a mysterious task that they've got to complete. And as the movie progresses, you begin to realise that their banal banter is linked with the journey being undertaken by the kids - but not in a way that's immediately obvious.
It's the gradual peeling-back of this mystery that forms the heart of the movie's first act, giving you subtle little pointers as to what's going on before making it clear that the attacks on the kids are slightly more contrived and controlled than they first appeared. But whilst some movies might choose to leave things there - making that twist the climax of the movie - 'Cabin in the Woods' instead uses its high-concept as a mere starting point for a different kind of adventure that's as concerned with subverting the horror genre and poking fun at its rules and conventions as it is with scaring the pants off you.
That's not to say that there aren't some genuine scares here: there are a few 'shock' moments and a fair share of blood and gore that should satisfy slasher fans, and the entire first act of the movie does well to create a genuine sense of suspense and foreboding. But whilst there's a certain amount of enjoyment to be gleaned from the movie's more conventional elements, it's the quirky, unpredictable and subversive nature of the story that proves to be its greatest strength.
Because without giving too much away, this is a movie about horror movies as much as anything else. That it accomplishes this dissection of the genre whilst also being a horror movie itself is no mean feat - even if it's not the first time such a thing has been attempted. In fact, the vibe of the film is not unlike the combination of real horror and parody that 'Scream' and its sequels pulled off so well, all those years ago. But 'Cabin in the Woods' goes a step further by adopting a slightly smarter and more sophisticated plot that manages to provide a framework within which all other horror movies could feasibly co-exist, tying all of the stories of the genre into a single idea that could conceivably underpin them all.
But like I say, 'Cabin in the Woods' manages to do this whilst being pretty scary in its own right, mixing a whole host of fantastical horror-movie creatures with a more removed and pseudo-intellectual tone - but, crucially, in a manner that doesn't invalidate either of those two approaches. Admittedly, there's occasionally a sense that the movie is trying to have its cake and eat it - for example, a commentary on gratuitous nudity in horror movies involves a topless scene that itself feels, frankly, gratuitous - but for the most part the smart, funny stuff sits alongside the bloody, scary stuff surprisingly well.
That's probably due in no small part to the presence of writer Joss Whedon (of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' fame) and his frequent collaborator, director Drew Goddard, who never insult the audience's intelligence but always manage to stay a couple of steps ahead of us, enabling them to pull off some fun shocks and scares. It's also worth noting the decent performances from the film's strong cast, which includes heart-throb-of-the-moment Chris Hemsworth (it was on the strength of his performance here that Whedon recommended him to be cast as Kenneth Branagh's 'Thor' - and he cropped up as the same character in Whedon's own 'Avengers Assemble') as well as Fran Kranz from Whedon's Dollhouse, who plays a similarly jittery and nervy character here. And I'd love to let you in on the film's late surprise cameo, but it'd only spoil the surprise.
Talking of which, hopefully I've managed to give you a flavour of this film without really spilling any of its secrets - because so much of the movie's power lies in its ability to spring unexpected twists and turns on you. All I'll say in my conclusion is that this is a smart, funny and intelligent film that plays fair by the rules of horror movies whilst also subverting them beautifully. For fans of horror, this is a love-letter of sorts to your favourite films - and for those who aren't quite so keen on scary movies, you'll likely revel in seeing how much fun 'Cabin in the Woods' has in deconstructing the genre.
Paul Eddington (hapless Jerry in the Good Life) plays MP James 'Jim' Hacker in this classic political satire.
Jim starts out with quite honourable ambitions but is slowly embittered and increasingly jaded by the processes, the machinations and protocols of political life.
Derek Fowlds is Bernard Woolley and Nigel Hawthorne in a career defining role as crafty advisor Sir Humphrey Appleby who always seems to steer the situation to his own end.
This is classic comedy. Intelligently written and superbly acted. The themes explored are as relevant today as they were when first broadcast. It is not a surprise that the show has recently been revived, on British digital channel Dave, but unfortunately the biggest problem the new show has is it isn't this. Put into context you would need to imagine a remake of 'Black Adder' or 'Only Fools and Horses' and populate it with new actors each with different quirks and a new take on the characters they play, you only have to look to Shakepeare for examples of how diverse and indeed polarising interpretations can be.
It is no wonder that both these shows are voted in the polls of top British sitcoms of all-time year after year and will remain doing so long after the remake has been forgotten.
This box set contains the whole 38 episodes of both series 1-3 of Yes Minister which was broadcast between 1980 and 1984 and series 1-2 of Yes Prime Minister which ran from 1986-1988.
Following the exploits of kindly and honourable MP Jim Hacker,- his crafty permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby and the amiable Bernard Woolley as they struggle to cope with government bureaucracy.
Currently in witness protection, Yul Perkins, now known as Charlie Bronson (Dax Shepard) lives in the small town of Milton in California. His girlfriend Annie Bean (Kristen Bell) is a Professor at the local college teaching Non-Violent Conflict Resolution. She gets an interview for her dream job but it is in Los Angeles. The problem being that if Charlie goes with her to LA there is a good chance that he is going to be found by his former 'friend' Alexander Dmitri (Bradley Cooper) who he is currently trying to avoid after testifying against him.
Hit & Run as the title and poster suggest is a high octane chase movie, starring, written and directed by Dax Shepard. It's a chase movie with comedy in the tradition of Smokey and the Bandit. Shepard drives cars in the movie from his own private collection, most notably a 700BHP, '67 Lincoln Continental. Shepard did all of his own driving and stunts.
Hit & Run is a testosterone driven riot, with fast cars doing what they do best - high speed chasing, off-roading, jumping, doing donuts, peeling out and crashing! But it's not just car chases, there are fights and blood. It's a guys dream film - made by a guy for guys.
That said it opens with a beautiful and touching scene between Shepard and Kristen and it does have a strong love-story element to it as well - focussing on putting the past behind you and moving forward in life and relationships. We can't change the past. We can only choose to accept it and move on, or end the relationship. The road trip is metaphorical for the changes in life that they are experiencing. In that sense it's weirdly romantic. And of course there is, perhaps unsurprisingly, good chemistry between the leads as Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are real-life partners. They are engaged and Bell is pregnant, but the pair has refused to get married until same-sex marriage is legalised in California - something I applaud.
In many ways what I want to tell you about this film - the story behind the story if you will - is more about the real life relationship between Shepard and Bell and the effort Shepard has put into making this film - clearly a dream for him. Shepard has chosen all of the elements that make the film very carefully. He has given roles to his fiancée, friends (Bradley Cooper and Jason Bateman) and even his own sister and used all of his own cars as well as scripting and directing himself.
Hit & Run doesn't necessarily feel like a major cinema release. You can tell it is low budget ($2m), but not in the way that it looks, more the way it feels. It's very well made with high production values and strong direction. Maybe it's because it's a road movie, a chase movie, that feels as though it's been shot guerrilla-style.
Also despite the combined major star power of Bradley Cooper, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, plus a great ensemble back-up cast and a brief, but enjoyable cameo by Jason Bateman, it still feels like an undiscovered gem, as though it's a film no one else has seen.
Make sure you watch it!
Gripping Prohibition era drama based on the lives of the Bondurant brothers; Southern bootleggers who fought tooth and nail to defend their distillery racquet from corrupt cops, New York gangsters and the villainous FBI. Director John Hillcoat ('The Proposition') captures every detail of the visually rich state of Virginia; from the lush, wet greens and golds of the forest to the dusty streets and wooden interiors of the bars and homes in Franklin Country. Hillcoat creates fleshed out, believable characters adapted from Matt Bondurant's historical novel 'The Wettest County in the World' and continues to build upon themes he covered in acclaimed Australian western 'The Proposition' (i.e. brotherhood, loyalty and revenge).
The Proposition's hero Guy Pearce returns for 'Lawless', this time as an irredeemably sadistic and smarmy FBI agent assigned to wipe out the Bondurant gang, Jessica Chastain plays a sultry, out-of-town barmaid working in the Bondurant tavern. Shia LeBeouf isn't as annoying as he usually is and puts in a decent performance as the ferrety, youngest Bondurant sibling. Gary Oldman makes a brief appearance as N.Y gangster Floyd Banner but its Tom Hardy who steals the show as the eldest Bondurant brother: His scarred, monosyllabic, muscle-bound outlaw is a brilliantly unnerving blend of Southern hospitality with the underlying potential for ultra violence; Hardy embraces this memorable, gem of a role and plays it to the absolute hilt. 'Lawless' is a well acted, well directed film with an interesting, albeit familiar, storyline, I would've liked to have seen more of Gary Oldman's character and perhaps a little less of Shia LeBeouf. Jessica Chastain doesn't really serve much of a purpose either for 'Lawless' is all about Tom Hardy, and he makes the film what it is; on a par with 'The Proposition' and an understated, entertaining addition to the prohibition genre.
Outstanding storylines and fantastic acting throughout for the loveable and hard working rogues getting into various different scrapes and situations. Jimmy Nail in his first acting role is so raw but so perfect for the role. Timothy Spall has always been good, and even at this early stage of his career you can see this is true. Series 1, set mainly on a German building site introduces you to all the characters and you quickly get to know them. Series 2 has more variety, firstly all the lads getting back together to do up Barry's house in the West Midland, then to a refurb of an old stately home, then onto sunny Spain. Easily one of the best series of the 80's, and since in my view, never tire of watching the episodes again from time to time. This was an Central TV production (ITV). Series 3 and 4 went to the BBC, they were ok, but nowhere near as good as these. Series 1/2 is an absolute essential for any quality DVD collection and you would never regret spending the money on these classics.
Superb seriesfrom the 80's
this dvd is amazing, theres a reason its called ultimate because this has everything a harry potter could want. extended versions along with blu ray and dvd, documentarys, interviews, this is amazing value for money and a must-have for your dvd/blu ray collection
If I had to sum up "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" in a single sentence, I'd probably call it Love Actually for old people - a "Love Geriatrically", if you will. Following the intertwined stories of several UK pensioners who decide (for various reasons) to leave the UK and retire to a ramshackle old hotel in India, it's a gentle comedy-drama comprised of separate vignettes that cross over and connect in numerous ways. And, as with Love Actually, some of these vignettes are more successful than others.
The ensemble cast is made up of pretty much every elderly UK actor you can imagine. Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson rub shoulders with Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith, whilst Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup round out the group of seven. (I can only assume that Jim Broadbent, Michael Caine and Helen Mirren had prior engagements, or this film would have had the whole set of ageing British thespians!).
Whilst all of them are given some kind of individual story of their own, it's Dench and Wilkinson who get the film's meatiest dramatic roles. Dench plays a recently-bereaved wife who's trying to find her feet and get back out in the world now that she's on her own, whilst Wilkinson plays a gay man who's trying to track down an Indian ex-boyfriend with whom he once had a torrid affair years ago. Both storylines are treated with a certain amount of dignity and class, and director John Madden never pushes things so far that they feel overly sentimental. Instead, we simply get to see these two characters try to achieve goals that have become increasingly important to them as they reach the end of their lives. And whilst there aren't many shocks, twists or turns in their stories, they're perfectly well-told, and the characters are portrayed more than adequately by actors who both carry a certain amount of gravitas.
Meanwhile, Nighy and Wilton play a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, having been left virtually penniless after a bad investment robs them of their retirement fund. It's a story that doesn't really go anywhere until towards the end of the movie, truth be told - although it's reasonably interesting to see how the wedge is gradually driven further between them in earlier scenes, with Nighy's character embracing Indian culture at the same time as his wife becomes increasingly insular and disconnected. There's an amusing subplot involving Wilton's character trying to romance Wilkinson's (being oblivious to his sexuality), but it's more of a throwaway recurring gag than a distinctive story in its own right.
And there's a certain amount of lightness added to the movie by Imrie and Pickup, both of whom play characters that are looking for love - or at least a bit of fun - in their autumn years. The two actors bounce off each other well, and it's amusing to witness their goofy octogenarian escapades play out (Imrie's character tries to pass herself off as a minor royal to join a local high-class club; whilst Pickup portrays a randy old dog, and one who makes up with enthusiasm what he lacks in subtlety).
So far, so good. Even if it's all a bit predicatable and safe, these vignettes are reasonably enjoyable and inoffensive. And if the film was restricted to these sections alone, it'd be perfectly watchable.
Unfortunately, it's the film's handling of the Indian side of things that lets it down a little. Dev Patel (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) plays the hotel's young proprietor. He's a guy who's presumably meant to be a sympathetic everyman, but he's depicted in such a two-dimensional way that he struggles to really assert himself as a genuine character in his own right. Sadly, Patel is lumbered with playing the kind of stereotyped, hapless-and-subservient Indian supporting character that you'd be surprised to see in a 1970s sitcom, let alone a modern movie. And his troubles - which include trying to make ends meet at the hotel, as well as building a relationship with a girl of whom his mother doesn't approve - are painted in such simplistic, broad strokes that it's difficult to ever really connect with them.
And things don't improve when it comes to Maggie Smith's story, which sees a racist pensioner - who's in need of an urgent medical operation - learn the lesson that (shock!) Indians can be decent people too. This crass and borderline-insulting message would be bad enough, but it's exacerbated by the fact that Smith's character only seems to reach this conclusion because she meets Indian people who go out of their way to help her, whether it's the doctors performing her operation or the servant-girl with whom she develops a friendship. There's never any sense of comeuppance or redress for the vile racist views that Smith's character spouts in the film's opening scenes, and so her redemption by the end of the movie never feels truly earned.
Ultimately, this film is a hodgepodge of elements, some of which are enjoyable in their own right and some of which don't work at all. Most disappointingly, though, the structure of interconnecting vignettes isn't really used in a particularly clever way: there's no real indication that Madden is building a bigger picture out of the individual elements, and there equally isn't any sense that the film's many sub-stories have anything profound or interesting to say about the relationship between Britain and India, or about the challenges of old age.
Whilst it's nice to see the film industry start to realise that there's an older audience out there that is relatively uncatered for (although that's changing, with more and films being released that are aimed at older viewers - like Dustin Hoffman's recent movie, Quartet), I can't help but feel that elderly viewers deserve better than this. In the end, when it boils down to it, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is just a bunch of old, established British actors running around and having some fun in India. But if that sounds like your idea of a great movie, then you're sure to enjoy this.
Disaster movies are always scarier when they're about something that could realistically happen to you. Contagion is one such movie, tracing the global outbreak of a deadly super-virus, and detailing the ways in which humanity might react to such an epidemic. Whilst it's a scenario that's been explored in film before - 1995's Outbreak springs to mind - I've never seen it handled with quite the level of realism and believability that director Steven Soderbergh brings to the table here. Which makes it one of the scariest and most chilling disaster movies I've ever seen.
With a story that touches on the lives of all kinds of different people who are affected by the virus as it spreads, this is a film that manages to be epic in scale whilst still managing to focus on the smaller details of individual people's day-to-day lives - which is important if we're to really care about what's going on. It's quite a tall order to combine the large-scale with the intimate like this, but Soderbergh pulls it off with flair, making good use of his trademark "hyperlink cinema" approach. Just like his earlier film Traffic, the movie is built around individual storylines that stand alone as separate vignettes, but which together form a larger web of interconnected characters (albeit sometimes only tenuously linked), coalescing to gradually give you a sense of the bigger picture.
This collage of smaller-scale moments allows Soderbergh to make use of a large cast, filled with familiar names and great actors (to the extent that my husband and I spent the first twenty minutes of the film constantly saying "oh, I didn't know (s)he was in it too!"). The list includes - but is not limited to - Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Laurence Fishburne and Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Bryan Cranston and Jude Law. Amazingly, each of these excellent actors is well-used, even if some of them only get a few scenes - and all of them get at least one great moment to shine in the movie.
Damon is particularly good as a grieving father and husband, whose wife (Paltrow) and son are among the first victims of the deadly bug. Law is excellent as an online blogger with corrupt motives, who constantly questions the government's explanations for the epidemic and their attempts to control it, and instead promotes a homeopathic remedy that he claims will cure the disease. And Fishburne and Winslet inject real humanity into their roles as part of the official US response to the outbreak, providing an on-screen take on the scientific community that's worlds away from the clichéd white-coated lab-geeks that you'd see in most Hollywood blockbusters.
And it's this refreshingly un-Hollywood take on the concept that's probably Contagion's greatest strength. Whilst the stakes are just as high as you'd see in a lot of disaster movies, the film never falls into the obvious traps of (say) over-egging the speed with which a virus might spread, or creating contrived and artificial do-or-die situations in which people's lives hang in the balance. Instead, the movie derives its drama from the realistic implications of what is an all-too-familiar scenario, especially in the wake of similar public health scares in recent years like bird flu, swine flu and SARS.
By never pushing things beyond the realistic, the movie manages to make its story infinitely more credible than most slick disaster thrillers. That's not to say that there isn't a sense of pressure and excitement, though. Indeed, the movie is driven forwards by a constant sense of escalation as the virus becomes more and more widespread. But this is all pulled off in a completely plausible way: you have the smartest people in the country asking all of the intelligent questions that need to be asked, and answering them in a realistic fashion.
And by showing these smart people making logical choices - rather than acting stupidly to push the plot forward, as in so many disaster and horror movies - the movie ends up feeling even more disturbing as it nears its climax. Because it turns out that even the most sensible and level-headed choices can end up taking society to a tipping point of riots and social breakdown.
Without giving too much away, as the movie begins to draw to a close it manages to create a suspenseful, scary and worryingly-plausible nightmare scenario that'll stay with you long after the film has ended. And then, to cap it all off, the story jumps back in time and reveals how the virus first got started: a twist which is all the more powerful because it's rooted in such mundane, everyday circumstances.
Contagion is a proper, serious thriller for adults, and one that's far more thought-provoking than 99% of the movies you'll see. Since watching this film, I've found myself constantly washing my hands, avoiding touching my face, and spotting all sorts of potential risks for transmitting or catching coughs and colds - simply as a result of having seen the worst-case scenario play out in an all-too-real disaster movie. That's a sure sign that Contagion tells a powerful story, and one that's capable of really affecting your views about something (in this case, disease-transmission and hygiene), rather than simply being a disposable, fluffy piece of Hollywood entertainment. I highly recommend it.
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