Movie reviews

This is a strangely enjoyable sci-fi movie. I half expected it to be similar to Jumper, and Wanted with james McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, and the plot does get a little convoluted.

It stars the lovely Dakota Fanning(The secret lives of Bees, I believe that was her sister in Phoebe in Wonderland) as Cassie Holmes and Chris Evans(Street Kings, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four) as Nick Gant. Two Americans who have found themselves in Hong Kong, in a race against time to find another girl Kira Bird played by the lovely Camille Belle( you might find something about her eyes being strangely familiar, ofcourse she was Evolet in 10,000 BC) in the hope to bring down the secret agency that has been hunting them down, and making their lives and those of their families hell.

They all have special abilities, and this is where it can get a little confusing, Pushers can push thoughts into people making them believe what they want, and do what they want, Movers can move objects, Watchers can predict the future(ofcourse the future is subject to change), Stitchers can stitch people back together that have been injured even those injured by Bleeders, who have the ability to echo high auditory screams that can smash glasses, damage ear drums, blood vessels, and literally move objects and people, Sniffers can literally find anyone just from touching their belongings, just like a dog, Wipers can wipe memories, Shifters can move patterns of light around objects to change the shape and appearance, we get to meet a shifter played by the fantastic Cliff "The Chameleon" Curtis as Hook Waters, and Shadows can prevent people by being found by Sniffers.

From the all action beginning where the young Nick Gant has to run away from the antagonist Henry Carver played by Djimon Hounsou(Amistad, Never Back Down), to the confrontations between Nick and Victor Budarin played by Neil Jackson(Quantun of Solace, Blade: The series), it is a non-stop action flick, with interesting plot twists many are sure to enjoy.

Labels: Action, Camille Belle, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis, Dakota fanning, Djimon Hounsou, drama, film reviews, films, Movie Reviews, movies, Neil Harris, psychokinesis, Push, sci-fi, science fiction

You can see immediately why this movie was an international hit, it is a romantic story many teenagers will identify with even though it has some horror themes as the inevitable subject deals with vampires, but it is in effect a love story.

It stars Kristen Stewart unrecognisable from The Cake Eaters, as Bella Swan anxious to get away from her erratic hovering mother and new boyfriend as they go on tour, while she moves to a new school as she stays with her father the local sheriff Charlie Swan played by Billy Burke(Untraceable, 24, Party of Five).

We immediately get the father daughter type of relationship Bella has with her father, as Bella voice-overs "The great thing about Charlie is he doesn't hover" as he shows her her room. In her new school she is introduced to as the new plaything, since she is joining half way through term, and quickly makes friends with amongst others the lovely Jessica Stanley played by Anna Kendrick(her smile is enough to brighten up any room).

As Bella settles in her new surroundings she gets reacquainted with some friends she knew when she was younger and stayed with her father, one being the charming Billy Black played by Gil Birmingham(Body and Soul), there is a particular funny scene where Bella's father buys an old vehicle from him for her, at first Bella looks at it as a worthless piece of junk, but then realises the potential it could have, and can't wait to test drive it, while Billy Black mentions to Charlie "I'm down with the kids".

A few days into her new school she sees the Cullens, and takes a particular fancy to Edward Cullen played wonderfully by Robert Pattison(Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). There is a particular charming scene when they first meet in a class lab, many angst ridden teenager will identify with, having to get along even though they maybe a little bit embarrassed, that particular scene of their first encounter is beautiful shot, and is probably a major reason why many teenagers identify with it.

She finds out there are some rumours going on about the Cullens, and her curiosity gets the better of her, leading to some unexpected consequences.

It is a charming movie right down to the infectious opening soundtrack, and I can't wait for the sequel.

Labels: film reviews, films, Kristen Stewart, Movie Reviews, movies, Robert Pattison, Twilight

This is a strange film regarding depicting abduction of Westerners and terrorism, it plays all the cards of the nightmare of Westerners being abducted for no apparent reason, taken to a dingy location, blindfolded of course and told to give them information which the foreigner pleads does not know what on earth they are talking about.

It stars Ryan Phillipe(Crash) as the seemingly good natured Dutchman Martijn(his dutch accent is flawless) with a Moroccan girlfriend Saadia played by Touriya Haoud going to Morocco to setup a food aide programme, to help her people.
Along with Gavin played by Colm Meaney(Star Trek The Next Generation) as his happy-go-lucky tour guide, instead of making the necessary contacts to setup his food programme, they are unceremoniously abducted in a bus in Morocco, drugged, and when Ryan Philippe wakes up, he is confronted by Ahmat played by the magnificent Laurence Fishburne(Morpheous in the Matrix), who proceeds at first to toy with him by having him play chess before going to other means to extract his information. His African accent is spot on, and along with his associate Aicha played by Gina Torres(Firefly), with an equally impressive African accent, they proceed to go about extracting information by the uneasy methods of the film title.

The acting is brilliant, and you feel for the poor dutch fellow who has been abducted unnecessarily when he was only looking to start up a food programme to help the people of Morocco, the torture scenes are not for the faint hearted, and you will wince in a few scenes, and you can no doubt guess from the title that each appendage has in store for it some gruesome scenes.

Labels: abduction, Colm Meaney, drama, film reviews, films, Five fingers, Gina Torres, Laurence Fishburne, Movie Reviews, movies, Ryan Phillipe, terrorism

This installment aims to give a little bit of background to the first X Men movie.

It stars as usual Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Liev Schrieber(Scream, Defiance, looks very much like Balthazar Getty from Brothers and Sisters, for a short while in Series 3 of Brothers and Ssisters Balthazar Getty took a short break, I was thinking for a second maybe he took a short break to make this movie) as his sadistic brother Victor/Sabretooth.

Danny Huston(How to lose friends and alienate people) as the younger William Stryker. Will i Am (the lead singer from the Black Eye Peas, looks very much like Edi Gathegi from Twilight) as John Wraith, the lovely Lynn Collins with her mesmerising blue eyes as Kayla Silverfox, Kevin Durand(Martin Keamy in Lost) as the powerful Fred Dukes. Dominic Monaghan (Charlie Pace in Lost, Merry in Lord of the Rings) as the electronic whizz kid Bolt, Taylor Kitsch as the legendary Remy LeBeau/Gambit. Daniel Henney as the super accurate Agent Zero, and Ryan Reynolds(Blade Trinity) as lightning fast Wade Wilson(all the movies I have seen him in so far he never stops talking, theres a funny scene where this is hinted at).

Wolverine and his brother are recruited into an elite military team sent to Africa for an artefact, and in the process we get introduced to the other mutants and their powers.


The legendary Stan Lee is the executive producer and as any Marvel production the action is non stop.

There is a little scene reminiscent of Superman where Logan is found in a barn by an elderly couple.

Ofcourse we also meet some of the Marvel characters one of my favorites and the one of the least talked about Gambit, played by Taylor Kitsch I for one hope he gets his own spinoff, the action scenes where he polarises objects in his encounter with Wolverine is superb.

Hopefully there will be a further two installments and I can't wait for more origins for the other Marvel comic characters.

Labels: Daniel Henney, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, film reviews, films, Hugh Jackman, Kevin Durand, Liev Schrieber, Lynn Collins, Movie Reviews, movies, Taylor Kitsch, Will i Am, X-Men Origins Wolverine

This is another hilarious sequel with the same main star Steve Martin in regular fine form.

This time round there is a super thief in sight called "The Tornado" who has stolen amongst other things the Imperial sword of Japan, the Pope's ring and has his sights set on the Pink Panther diamond.

It stars as usual the hilarious Steve Martin as the bumbling detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and the lovely Nicole played by Emily Mortimer(Match point, The 51st state she reminds me of a younger Caroline Ahern[The Mrs Merton show]), "drab and disgusting" she is not, with Jean Reno(Léon, Ronin) once again as Gendarme Gilbert Ponton.

It also has an assortment of stars from Aishwarya Rai(Bollywood superstar and wife of Abhishek Bashan, the son of the legendary Amitabh Bachan) as Sonia Solandres(always impressed by her upper class english accent). Andy Garcia as the latin romeo Vicenzo, John Cleese as Chief Inspector Dreyfus, Jeremy Irons as Avallaneda and the hilarious Lily Tomlin as Mrs Berenger.

The plot is as follows: Inorder to catch the Tornado or "Il Tornado" a dream team of super sleuths has been assembled, headed by non other than Inspector Clouseau much to the chagrin of Chief Dreyfus.


The antiques of Clouseau as usual are an embarassment to all around him, but this time round he manages to hurt the feelings of the lovely Nicole(by calling her "Drab and disgusting") when fighting for her affections with Vicenzo.

It is a great-fun film, and there are some classic moments, especially the scenes with Clouseau and Mrs Berenger, these are going down as classics.

Labels: Aishwarya Rai, Andy Garcia, Clouseau, Emily Mortimer, film reviews, films, Jean Reno, Jeremy Irons, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Movie Reviews, movies, Pink Panther 2, Pink Panther two, Steve Martin