Michael Caine is Harry Brown, and he is a hardass. Watching this movie, I was quite simply enthralled and couldn’t get enough of this thriller.

The movie feels like a UK version of Death Wish → and Gran Torino → rolled into one. Well, on the technical side – I guess it is.

Harry Brown is a veteran who has lived to see his community descend into crime and violence. He sees it night and day, but chooses to simply mind his own business. Early on in the film, his wife passes away in Hospital and he is left a widower. The only person who is left in Harry’s life is now his close friend, Leonard who is brutally murdered by the teenage gang occupying the estate in which Harry lives.

With the Police failing to get anywhere with the murder of his friend Leonard, Harry eventually decides to take matters into his own hands and becomes a vigilante. Here we eventually learn that he previously served in the Royal Marines. Harry starts picking off the drug dealers and surveilling the gang members, trying to find out who really murdered his friend..

I guess I don’t need to elaborate much further as you can see where this is all going. If a vigilante/drama/thriller is your type of movie, definitely check out Harry Brown – it’s well worth it.

Check out the trailer →

When I first saw the previews for Sherlock Holmes I got rather excited for some reason. Not that I’m a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, but this movie looked to have a bit of everything in it.

So, I decided to go and watch it the other night and I must say, I wasn’t disappointed. A lot of ‘Sherlock Holmes purists’ seem to have detested the movie and it has received a lot of negative reviews, I’m not sure why. I thought Robert Downey Jr played the role of an eccentric Sherlock Holmes rather well, even down to the accent. The chemistry between Holmes and Watson (played by Jude Law) seemed to work quite well – there were lots of little humorous exchanges between the two throughout the movie.

There were some good action/fight scenes. Lets be honest, if they weren’t there in the movie, it would be boring as shit. The purists need to pull their heads out. Overall, I think the touch of Guy Ritchie, the action sequences, humorous exchanges and chemistry between the lead and supporting roles all mixed in quite well. I’m looking forward to the sequel..

After seeing some previews on TV, I cannot believe people actually found this attempt at a drama/thriller movie scary, let alone credible. I may sound pessimistic, but this shit was retarded.

The movie centres around on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. The movie is presented using found footage from the camera set up by the couple to capture what is haunting them. It starts of with the sounds of footsteps, loud noises, lights going on and off, doors opening and being shut.. to which eventually Katie is actually dragged out of her room. In the story line, she has apparently been haunted by this supernatural presence for years – yet it only decided to physically do anything to her now? Okay..

If you are literally bored shitless, high off weed or just want to watch a movie that your girlfriend might cling onto you with, then this is for you. Otherwise, save 1.5 hours of your life.

I’m not exactly sure why I spent an hour and a half watching this movie. My better judgement should have told me it was going to be rubbish after seeing the trailer on TV.

But what did I do? I watched it anyway. I remember as a young kid, even as an early teenager imagining how and when my favourite toys would end up as movies. I was a big G.I.JOE fan, had lots of the figurines and vehicles – every weekend there would be an epic battle between the ‘Joe and Cobra (Snake Eyes always saved the day).

I thought the movie would resemble the theme(s) from the 80′s cartoons, but it didn’t. The only similarities are the names. Everything else is retarded, I can’t put it any other way. Take a look at this G.I.JOE 80′s cartoon intro → and tell me what is similar? Nothing. None of the cool aircraft, weapons or machinery that I grew up loving and that made G.I.JOE what it was were carried over into this movie. Instead, we’ve been presented with some absurd pulse guns which obliterate everything, highly technological suits which enhance human performance and other junk. All this is topped off by I think some of the worst CGI I’ve ever seen, almost as if it was done on budget.

I really can’t do anything but express my frustration and disappointment, one of my childhood favourites has been raped. IMDb ratings has it at 5.9/10, almost says it all doesn’t it?

Initially watching the first 20 minutes or so of District 9, I was left thinking why the hell does this look and feel like a budget movie? But once the plot started to unfold, my outlook changed.

The movie takes an interesting and unique approach in the form of a documentary format with fictional interviews, eyewitness accounts mixed in with live action. District 9 is the focus of the movie, a “slum” where the aliens are sanctioned off into after their large craft comes to a halt over Johannesburg, South Africa.

Early on we are introduced to Wikus van de Merwe, a field operative from the MNU assigned to lead the relocation of the aliens to a new district and Christopher Johnson, who is seemingly an important figure within the alien race. Through a mixture of circumstances and events, both characters eventually partner and work together in order to fulfill their own separate goals.

Unfortunately, District 9 is not immune from having a few holes, things that didn’t make sense and “But, they could have just..” moments in the storyline.

At face value, the average movie watcher may not appreciate the film for what it truly is. Overall, the movie is wonderfully crafted and ingenious in itself. It also deals with various underlying issues such as xenophobia and segregation of social groups which seemingly fly below the radar. Another bonus which made this movie unique for me was the fact it wasn’t molested by Hollywood.

Check out the HD trailer → on YouTube. I would definitely recommend watching this one if you’re into Sci-Fi.

Last night I watched Love The Beast, a documentary by actor Eric Bana which is based around his passion for motorsport and his beloved 1974 XB Ford Falcon Coupe.

The film documents Eric’s journey with his first car, an ownership that spans 25 years. More importantly, it tells of the friendship that he has developed with it and how it has been the centre piece that has brought himself and his friends together, time after time. After years of working on the car in his own garage, Eric decides to do a complete rebuild and restoration of The Beast, which he then enters into the 2007 Targa Tasmania Rally, which is one of the most challenging, grueling and possibly most dangerous racing events in Australia.

On the fourth day of competition, whilst taking a corner, tragedy strikes and Eric unfortunately crashes into a group of trees. Whilst both himself and co-driver are fine, The Beast did not come out as lucky, It suffered severe front end and chassis damage. Looking back on the crash, one scene shows Eric just standing there, with an expressionless face. I can only relate to it so much, having being in an accident myself. It really is disheartening experience, especially when you have a strong bond with your car.

The documentary also has cameo appearances from Jay Leno, Jeremy Clarkson and funnily enough Dr. Phil. The first two cameo’s make sense, Jay Leno is a very big enthusiast of things automotive, you simply need to look at his list of cars →. And Jeremy Clarkson, well we all know who he is. Now, when I first saw Dr. Phil was in this documentary I couldn’t help but giggle a bit. My first question was, why is he in this documentary? The reasoning is eventually revealed, Eric tries to seek out understanding and comprehension of his devotion to this car. Whilst speaking with Jeremy Clarkson and Dr. Phil, some interesting points are raised.

I think to truly understand and appreciate what this documentary is about, you need to be a true car enthusiast yourself. I don’t think the general public understand how bonds, friendships and devotion are developed for cars. To us, they are more than just pieces of metal with four wheels that get us from Point A to Point B.

The last scene of the movie was a bit of a teary moment. Eric and his friends got his dads Thunderbird operational again and seeing the huge smile on his fathers face whilst driving the car for the first time in a matter of years was priceless. If you’re a car enthusiast yourself, definitely check out this movie. Take a glimpse of the trailer →

I’m not quite sure how I stumbled upon Waltz with Bashir, but I’m glad I did. This powerful, animated documentary film about the 1982 Lebanon War to put simply, was superb.

Waltz with Bashir depicts the lost memories of writer and director Ari Folman from the 1982 Lebanon War. The movie starts of with a scene that has fierce looking dogs running through the city, eventually they all stop at their location and gaze up to someone in a window of a building. The dogs in fact are a nightmare of a friend which stem back to his experiences from the Lebanon War.

As Folman is sitting in a bar listening to his friend talk about this nightmare, he is surprised that he cannot recall his own memories and events from that period. He eventually seeks out friends who he served with and other people who were also there in order to understand what really happened and piece together his memory.

Presenting the documentary in an animated form is a unique approach and gives it an entirely different feel to your standard type of documentary films. Along with the soundtrack, I can’t say anything else but how wonderfully crafted it is. The film has a certain perspective to it, it feels more like a collective of short stories from individuals which are finally puzzled together at the end of the film with Folman’s personal journey as the underlining to it all.

At the end of the film, it transitions from animation to real video footage of the aftermath from the Sabra and Shatila massacre. They were very powerful scenes indeed.

Be sure to watch this one, check out the trailer →.

Last night I watched Legendary Assassin which stars Martial Arts superstar Wu Jing.

Wu Jing plays Bo, a laid back, quiet kind of guy who actually is an assassin for justice. There is no real signs or evidence of him being an assassin apart from the beginning of the movie, where we can only assume he has done much more from the dialogue in a conversation he has.

The story takes place on a remote island where Bo fights and beheads a crime boss. His task then? getting off the island. Unfortunately for Bo, a typhoon is about to hit, so he is forced to stay. He develops a friendship with a female Police Officer, Hiu (Celina Jade – damn she’s cute) and eventually makes friends with the local police unit who help him find a place to stay.

Thankfully, there are some light comedic bits which I found funny, because the only other thing that really saves the movie somewhat are the fight sequences. Wu simply plays too much of a laid back, humbly quiet character. Then again, this is an action movie.

Legendary Assassin is a fairly decent choice if you want to watch a Martial Arts flick over beer and pizza with the boys.

I’ve always been into watching foreign movies. But recently, I’ve found a new love for films that originate from Hong Kong and the Asian cinema in general. When I read the plot outline for Mad Detective, I thought.. this sounds pretty interesting, I’ll check it out.

The story is about Bun (Lau Ching Wan), a legendary police detective during his prime who has unusual, but effective methods of cracking cases that no one else could seem to. Everyone simply accepted his odd behaviour until the day the Police Chief at the time retired and Bun cut off his right ear as a going away present (yes, what the..)

We are then introduced to Ho (Andy On) who has been tasked to investigate a case of a Police Officer who has been missing for 18 months. Ho finds it difficult to get anywhere in the case and eventually seeks out the assistance of Bun. After some convincing, Ho gets Bun in on the case and this is where the movie kicks off. Certain scenes are filmed through the eyes of both Bun and Ho, both with completely different results. We are then given the twist, Bun claims he can see peoples “inner personalities” and then it all starts to make sense. With Bun’s ability to see peoples inner personalities and the only possible method of solving the case, Ho comes to learn that Bun stopped taking his prescribed medication long ago, leaving him rather unpredictable, irrational and erratic in his behaviour and actions.

Definitely a movie worth checking out.

Epic movie was epic. Excuse the nerd wording, but if you want to see a great Kung Fu film that is better than half the crap that has come out of Hollywood in recent years, do yourself a favour and check out Ip Man.

I read the plot briefly and thought the movie sounded pretty interesting so I choose to check it out. I hadn’t even jumped on YouTube to check out the movies trailer as I usually would. To say the least, I was not disappointed. I hadn’t even realised the movie was a semi-biographical account based on the life of Ip Man, who is the celebrated martial arts master of Bruce Lee.

This movie is a bit light at the start as we are introduced to the characters, their lives and how they all forge the community. After the Japanese invade China, that is when the real action kicks in with some awesome fight scenes. Beyond all the awesome fighting scenes (did I say awesome again?), we see how closely knit small communities were back in those times. True bonds between friends, mutual respect for all people.. something rare these days in our own communities.

Don’t forget to check out the trailer → to get a taste of the action. I certainly know this is one movie that I will be adding to my DVD collection. In fact, it’s already been purchased.