HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

2008 DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro May Contain Spoilers! There's no doubt that Guillermo del Toro is man of vision and man not to dissimilar from Tim Burton in many respects, though not in a literal one. He has a visual style which lacks compromise when allowed to flourish and here, in the second outing his red…

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

2008 DIRECTOR: Mark Herman NOT A PART OF OUR COLLECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS! READ WITH CAUTION AS MAJOR PLOT DEVEPMENTS WILL BE REVEALED! The title is intriguing. A clever nod as to what is to come. A child's eye view of one of history's most vile periods. 6,000,000 innocent people were murdered in one of the first real…

HELLBOY

2004 DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro May Contain Spoilers! 2004 was at the height of the superhero revolution. From 2000 with X-Men, there was a string of successful films, with Marvel leading the way, taking the genre to stratospheric levels. X-Men 2 raised they bar again, proving that the genre appealed to more than just a…

30 DAYS OF NIGHT

2007 DIRECTOR: David Slade May Contain Spoilers! Director, David Slade would later go onto direct the third of the Twilight films, Eclipse, which would help build his credentials for that project, what this, 30 Days Of Night. Set in Alaska during a period of extended darkness, a group of Vampires assault the small town, leaving…

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

2009 DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood May Contain Spoilers! Gavin Hood should be ashamed of himself. Not just for sullying the good name of the best X-Man, Wolverine, but for directing his film as if it was his first effort at film school, presuming that he ever went. The characterisations are appalling and as vacuous as the…

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

2009 DIRECTOR: Terry Gilliam May Contain Spoilers! Probably better known as Heath Ledger's final film, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus is much more than that. It is a satisfying if not typically off beat Gilliam effort, as we follow a troop of travelling players, as they set their Victorian pitch up in modern-day London, when…

DEJA VU

2006 DIRECTOR: Tony Scott Deja Vu is one of those interesting features which seems to have slipped through the net and it's a crying shame. It seems that more people remember Timecop than this little gem, but still, if you're lucky enough catch it, then this might just surprise you. Tony Scott and Denzel Washington collaborations…

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE

1977 (Theatrical Version (STAR WARS) 1977/1997 (Special Edition) 1977/2004 (Enhanced Special Edition) 1977/2011 (Blu-ray Enhanced Special Edition) DIRECTOR: George Lucas May Contain Spoilers! Is there really much left to say about Star Wars, seriously? This is the most famous Science Fiction film of all time and well deserved too. The simple story of a farm…

A BRIEF & PERSONAL HISTORY OF CINEMA…

OVERTURE Self indulgent though this story may appear, this is surely the purpose of blogging. I normally regale you all with my views on film, and have gone onto comment about issues within the genre which have caught my interest, but this is about as personal as I can get. This is the story of how…

UNITED 93 (2006) – REVIEW

2006 DIRECTOR: Paul Greengrass This is simply an incredible movie. Certainly one of the most moving and intense that I have seen in many years. Now, seventeen years on, this film's poignancy is still as relevant today as it ever was. Casting relative unknowns was the key to this frightening realistic portrayal of the world shattering events of September 11.…