tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34908984005015195602012-01-24T13:41:10.568-08:00I decided, from the start of 2009, to write a review for every single film I went to see at the cinema. This site is the result of that decision. (Guaranteed Spoiler-Free!)AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.comBlogger1101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-53420754427415967852012-01-16T04:19:00.001-08:002012-01-16T12:56:18.075-08:00

Before you ask, no, I’ve not read the book. But, to my credit, I have seen the original Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and, to be honest, that created a reservation about going seeing this remake. However, this was David Fincher directing and not holding back on the strong, adult material he was marshalling, so that and the interest in seeing how it was handled differently

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-83358472898192266392012-01-07T12:30:00.000-08:002012-01-07T12:51:01.861-08:00

Controversial as it may or may not sound, I was of the opinion that Mission: Impossible 3 was the best instalment of the franchise. Furthermore, I also rated it as one of the best set-piece action movies of recent times. The opening rescue becoming a helicopter chase to the bridge-exploding kidnap to the skyscraper plummeting, it was a custom-built, excellent action movie. Full stop. So whilst

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-78737400689180359842011-12-30T03:39:00.000-08:002011-12-30T03:57:55.155-08:00

I need to explain the circumstances under which I watched this film. I need to clarify the preconceptions I had before I saw it. I need to do these things because I’m going to go on to tell you that Hugo was extremely disappointing, practically boring and undeserving of the critical praise it appears to have garnered. Fact is, my circumstances and preconceptions were hugely responsible for how

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-27050648369943126652011-11-01T12:34:00.000-07:002011-11-01T12:49:56.241-07:00

Curiously, a lot of the fuss and interest this movie generated for me is not because of the subject matter (Tin Tin is a comic character that has utterly passed me by) but because of the presence of Steven Spielberg collaborating with Peter Jackson. The deal, apparently, is that Spielberg took up directing duties for this movie and Jackson was producing, and for a sequel (should The Secret Of The

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-87544187236280150072011-10-24T11:50:00.000-07:002011-10-24T12:05:48.356-07:00

Consider it a non-sensational, high concept thriller. Consider it the anti-blockbuster. Contagion takes the rather well-worn notion of a deadly virus being unleashed upon the world to devastating effect, following stories of people just trying to survive in their homes when panic and public disorder is rampant and tracing the efforts of scientists trying to maintain order and, more pertinently,

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-61198081204447574782011-10-05T12:55:00.000-07:002011-10-05T13:03:04.222-07:00

This is what you call a serious film. Serious, steady and stern. It centres on men who do serious work and take what they do very seriously. I cannot emphasise this enough: it’s serious. As a consequence, such austerity isn’t for the faint-hearted cinema-goer. Or, for that matter, isn’t exactly ideal movie material after you’ve just had a large Sunday roast dinner and a couple of glasses of wine,

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-65770179942047379452011-09-26T12:36:00.000-07:002011-09-26T12:54:34.384-07:00

There’s every chance you’ve got the wrong impression about this movie, if you’ve seen or heard anything about it. The promos and trailers and even the poster might have you think this is something of a formulaic rom-com. If you’ve seen the trailer you will have seen the synopsis of Steve Carell’s ultra-unhip office worker Cal Weaver get divorced and then run into womanising legend Jacob Palmer (

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-39252776492385938902011-08-30T13:49:00.000-07:002011-08-30T14:00:12.948-07:00

It would seem that franchises don’t strictly get remade, anymore. Or, in the case of Planet Of The Apes, “reimagined”. Tim Burton’s rather terrible entry into the canon was negligible by its limp execution and dumber than bag of bananas ending that in no way logically made any sense. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, however, has taken the series to a time before the original Planet Of The Apes.

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-44036086633337991722011-08-22T12:10:00.000-07:002011-08-22T12:22:39.376-07:00

For the uninitiated, The Inbetweeners is a British sit-com centred on four teenage schoolfriends – inbetween boyhood and manhood, hence the title – who, over the course of three series, have gone through all manner of embarrassment and awkward situation in pursuit of girls, drinks, parties and general social acceptance. It’s profoundly rude, defiantly unsubtle and invariably those who watched

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-49260077784205035752011-08-16T12:04:00.000-07:002011-08-16T12:23:14.389-07:00

Probably my most anticipated movie of the summer on account of J.J. Abrams writing and directing and due to the brilliant trailer that previewed the intriguing set-up of a train derailing and something big and powerful escaping from the wreck into the small town of Lilian nearby. Steven Spielberg is also attached to Super 8, ostensibly on producing duties, but make no mistake that his trademark

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-50571227383560691652011-08-10T11:41:00.000-07:002011-08-10T11:54:37.296-07:00

An all-female lead, and a very pink poster campaign, doesn’t immediately sell Bridesmaids as being anything other than a massive chick flick. Yet, beneath the feminine veneer, this comedy wants to be considered a woman-oriented version of a movie like The Hangover, and as such try and appeal to both genders (and, naturally, a larger audience share!). Like most comedies, the plot is slight.

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-86201309345917136062011-07-30T10:55:00.000-07:002011-07-30T11:33:26.240-07:00

I wasn’t impressed by how the final instalment of Harry Potter had been split into two films – I thought it was very much a detrimental element in Part 1 of The Deathly Hallows given that it made the movie feel elongated and padded out, and provided a hugely anticlimactic ending. Whilst I’ll still stand by my conviction that it wasn’t a necessary split, the good news is that Part 2 is a far

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-33536039653350551892011-06-24T04:07:00.000-07:002011-06-29T12:39:39.474-07:00

I’d never heard of Green Lantern as a comic book superhero before. No big surprise there, I’m not a particularly avid fan of the genre. I know about superheroes that have made it to the big screen, but I don’t know their comic book counterparts. In the pre-release articles and interviews half the time I’d get confused with this and The Green Hornet. I can’t say I was hyped, and the trailers did

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-53443993243258290252011-06-11T11:29:00.000-07:002011-06-11T11:45:26.530-07:00

The universe of the X-Men has already had one attempt at tackling a strand of a prequel narrative with the Wolverine movie they made a couple of years ago. That movie was something of a clunker. Arguably X-Men: First Class is treading similar ground only this time the ‘origin’ story focuses on Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and how it is the former came to create the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-66559896541095055982011-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:002011-05-03T10:58:33.089-07:00

Can you remember when the Scream franchise was cool? If you can, if you were there for those heady horror days circa 1997, then this ought to largely determine your level of interest in this resurrected fourth instalment. Reuniting all the key players, from stalwart cast members Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, to writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven, once more fans of

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-2656293241801703692011-04-06T12:40:00.000-07:002011-04-06T12:55:20.756-07:00

Probably not too many years back the most interesting thing about Duncan Jones to the casual person on the street was that he was David Bowie’s son and that he had changed his name from ‘Zowie’. (Zowie Bowie - thanks, dad!) But then Jones turned up trumps with his directorial debut, the old-school, sci-fi, chin-stroker that was Moon and suddenly a major movie talent announced itself. I loved Moon

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-64586172338758401092011-03-30T11:28:00.000-07:002011-03-30T11:55:07.351-07:00

It’s no Taken, if that’s what you were hoping for. The glorious revenge-tastic sleeper hit of yesteryear that launched Liam Neeson as an unlikely leading action man does get brought to mind here, not least because of its European setting (Berlin) and Neeson (as amnesia-riddled doctor Martin Harris) on a one-man mission to put right the injustices served against him. But Unknown is not Taken 2 and

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-37636145474181536712011-03-21T13:56:00.000-07:002011-03-21T14:10:34.712-07:00

They weren’t likely to get a more ‘on side’ audience member than someone like me. Sure, possibly they’d have preferred me to have slightly fewer brain cells, and perhaps having never seen the likes of Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down would have made this movie pack way more punch. But, for everyone involved in Battle: Los Angeles, they had in me someone who went into the cinema willing it

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-81686425094012627892011-03-03T13:20:00.000-08:002011-03-03T13:30:05.359-08:00

The UK’s great big shining Oscar hope, The King’s Speech came out of nowhere with its story of a King’s struggle that no one had really heard of and, on paper at least, not one that seemed particularly suited into enticing crowds into their local multiplex. Oscar buzz can do a lot for a movie, and the host of awards The King’s Speech had already garnered certainly helped it at the box office.

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-81993864540157474592011-02-24T13:19:00.000-08:002011-02-24T13:34:20.540-08:00

There’s a matter that ought to be just cast aside before getting into reviewing Paul. Despite this being a collaboration between long term friends and colleagues Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, just like in Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, this is not the same tone or type of film. The third musketeer (in the shape of director Edgar Wright) had nothing to do with Paul, and instead Greg Mottola (not

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-11905196412921430882011-02-21T13:21:00.000-08:002011-02-21T13:30:38.959-08:00

You’ve seen a boxing movie before. Even if it’s just a Rocky somewhere along the line. They all tend to have a similar theme; boxing used a metaphor as an underdog triumphing against the odds inside the ring in parallel to adversity outside of it (be that poverty, racism, personal demons, etc). And so up steps the latest contender, The Fighter, to stand in the ring and prove it’s got more than a

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-13762992485242422222011-02-10T13:10:00.000-08:002011-02-10T13:19:47.286-08:00

Parallels with this and The Wrestler, director Aronofsky’s previous, have been mentioned in the pre-release publicity. And whilst superficially wrestling and ballet look like they occupy different worlds, there is a definite unity. Both movies concern a central protagonist and are depicted in a documentary-style, over-the-shoulder, handheld vein. And both movies show an individual striving for

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-36438245700075036032011-01-15T06:15:00.000-08:002011-01-15T06:30:59.703-08:00

Divulging the plot for most movies as completely as the awareness of what happens in 127 Hours is widely known would generally hamper a film’s success. There are exceptions. Everyone knew what would happen to Titanic, for example, but at least with that film the exact fates of Jack and Rose and other characters remained unknown. Within 127 Hours there aren’t other characters, just one: Aron

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-79081191635802087292011-01-05T13:26:00.000-08:002011-01-05T13:39:47.363-08:00

I watched Tron when I was a kid. I remember it having a couple of ‘good bits’ but a lot of other boring stuff that I didn’t understand. But I was a kid then. Now I’m an adult – an intelligent, more patient and accepting person – and so I sat down to watch the sort of sequel to Tron, Tron Legacy. Once it was finished my conclusion was that it had a couple of ‘good bits’ but a lot of other boring

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-70922172384554959132010-12-28T05:44:00.000-08:002010-12-28T05:57:14.752-08:00

Monsters is not a monster movie. With that statement made, allow me to surmise the plot. Set in a world where extraterrestrial life came to Earth, central America has become home to assorted giant, alien creatures that have labelled the area a no-go ‘infected zone’. Ambitious photographer Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) is on location to capture the devastation the creatures have left and, with any luck,

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-14850269104349760952010-11-28T12:32:00.000-08:002010-11-28T12:53:36.958-08:00

Should it be Harry Potter and the Double Dip Profiteering? The decision to bisect the final instalment of the series into two movies was a move initially considered a cynical move to milk the cash cow for all it was worth whilst it still could. Now, having seen ‘Part 1’ of the Deathly Hallows for myself, I can only concur that such cynicism was well and truly warranted. This isn’t a movie. It’s

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-14681660139970573512010-11-10T13:33:00.000-08:002010-11-10T13:45:17.979-08:00

They’ve called it Saw 3D but this is still a continuation of the franchise, the seventh episode of the series, and despite ditching the numeral this is still going to lose anyone that’s not been following the movies from the beginning regardless of the recap sequences before the titles. The Saw soap opera continues, and if you’ve seen the others then you’ve got a good idea about what to expect

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-28222969914458425562010-10-08T09:50:00.000-07:002010-10-08T10:06:51.057-07:00

M. Night Shyamalan has certainly gone down in my estimations in recent years. The Lady In The Water was an indulgent farce and The Happening was solid gold dumb turkey of bad acting and bad ideas. I didn’t even bother with The Last Airbender. The one thing Devil had in its favour, then, was that ‘Night’ wasn’t behind the camera.The first in the line of the proposed ‘Night Chronicles’, Devil is a

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-88179210760148217282010-10-03T13:31:00.000-07:002010-10-03T13:48:07.764-07:00

The Town. Charlestown to be more specific. A town in Boston notoriously prolific for the high rate of bank robberies that occur there – a generation-spanning practice handed down from father to son. But if that inspires ideas of nobility, of honour among thieves, then The Town is out to dispel that notion and poke at the grimy underbelly of this hotbed of crime mainly though the eyes of Doug

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-44609931648249056342010-09-11T12:35:00.000-07:002010-09-11T12:53:54.896-07:00

It sometimes feels lazy to make an obvious comparison, but here goes anyway. The Last Exorcism is a lot like The Blair Witch Project. If that alone isn’t quite all you needed to know, allow me to add: It’s not as good. Those two pieces of information are basis enough for you to perhaps form a pre-conceived idea of whether you’ll like the movie or not. Those that like more reasoning behind a

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-57734791208457773822010-09-02T12:26:00.000-07:002010-09-02T12:45:22.257-07:00

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a tricky film to characterise. It’s a movie with videogame sensibilities, based on a comic book! Littered with midi-themes, electronic pings, on-screen status bars and hyper-real events – it plays like the real world is formed around the world of videogames, but whilst everyone appears to accept what happens as perfectly normal it would seem that Scott Pilgrim

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-28639902584475539692010-08-30T10:24:00.000-07:002010-08-30T10:40:19.769-07:00

Dependent on your point of view, Piranha is either the wildest, insanely uncompromising B-movie to come around for a long time, or it’s an atrocious, senseless mess of juvenile crassness. The truth of the matter is it’s neither – it’s just a good bad movie, but arriving on the crest of hype and added 3D thrills it’s managed to push itself into multiplexes where otherwise a film of this calibre

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-52110926859604940752010-08-23T09:52:00.001-07:002010-08-23T10:04:41.741-07:00

Angelina Jolie is Evelyn Salt. It wasn’t always going to be this way, mind. Originally: Tom Cruise is Edwin Salt, but he passed up the role and then either Angelina expressed interest first and a re-write and re-sexual orientation was ushered in, or the re-write and re-sexual orientation happened first and this piqued Angelina Jolie’s interest. Either way the net result: Angelina Jolie is Evelyn

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-40912866283650293572010-08-18T11:58:00.001-07:002010-08-18T12:11:08.556-07:00

So one of the most iconic TV shows from the 80s makes the transition to the big screen. Apparently it’s a project that has had numerous prior attempts at coming to fruition and it’s fair to say that all kinds of revisionist ideas could have been employed. Would it be a spoof, like Starsky & Hutch? Or a more serious reimagining, like Miami Vice? As it is, the movie version of The A-Team has wisely

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-27933515509646499112010-08-08T11:58:00.000-07:002010-08-08T12:14:55.607-07:00

Fifteen years. It’s strange to consider it, but it’s been fifteen years since Toy Story burst onto the scene as the first feature length CGI-movie and ushered in a whole new genre of animation. Fifteen years for the likes of Woody and Buzz and the gang to filter into our consciousness; their quirks and traits and mannerisms have become familiar and enjoyable. It's worth acknowledging the length

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-24650513991255487072010-07-19T13:35:00.001-07:002010-07-19T13:50:45.384-07:00

Something rare and pleasing occurred whilst I was watching Inception. Just passed the halfway point, when Joseph Gordon-Levitt was involved in a zero gravity fight in a capsizing hotel that was drop dead amazing to behold, a thought crept into my mind, unbidden: this movie was one of the best films I’ll ever see. It doesn’t happen often, that kind of unprompted notion, but I had a good feeling it

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-9460954162304657482010-07-13T12:57:00.001-07:002010-07-13T13:08:22.837-07:00

Coming out of the blocks like the focused horror offspring of The People Under The Stairs, the Saw movies and Switchblade Romance, the only thing The Collector really gets wrong is in the central construct of its big bad villain’s reason for doing the unspeakably terrible things he does. If you can get past the reason why and just deliver yourself over to the what then the events that unfurl in

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-63227651512083631622010-07-05T14:01:00.000-07:002010-07-05T14:22:53.071-07:00

The first [REC] retains a distinction in my DVD collection as one of the few films I purchased to own sight unseen. I had heard good things about this Spanish zombie horror movie captured in amateur footage style and, having been unable to find a cinema near me screening it, took the plunge and bought it when released on DVD. I was glad I did. The low-key and low-budget, unassuming, under the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-38766236330602100352010-06-20T11:05:00.000-07:002010-06-20T11:15:37.623-07:00

It’s a curious facet that the Hollywood summer season invariably provokes two films to be released that share striking similarities to one another – be it in content or subject matter. The Losers, in setting up a tale of a small band of military men who are framed for a crime they didn’t commit and then go rogue contains clear parallels with forthcoming The A Team. Indeed, the mixture of action

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-44213721964330223222010-05-31T04:09:00.000-07:002010-05-31T04:25:49.551-07:00

The first thing to get past about Ridley Scott’s latest effort to bring Robin Hood to the big screen is that it isn’t really a ‘Robin Hood’ film. The well-worn, well-known tale of the outlaw living in the forest with his merry men, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, is not present here. In fact, the film ends pretty much setting up the situation where Robin Hood could be an outlaw living

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-27721451391336915122010-05-13T09:43:00.000-07:002010-05-13T10:02:14.727-07:00

Chris Morris is better-known (for better or for worse) as the man behind some of the more daring comedy productions in Britain over the past decade and more. Along the way such daring has garnered controversy but, importantly, his intelligence and integrity remain intact. And now he arrives as co-writer and director of Four Lions and it’s fair to say that his move to film has lost none of the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-78954993831261277422010-05-10T09:59:00.002-07:002010-05-13T10:01:55.531-07:00

The opening of Iron Man 2 sees Tony Stark preening on stage at his own expo, basking in the glory of Iron Man and proclaiming himself single-handed bringer of world peace. Whilst Robert Downey Jnr’s Stark lapped up the applause and let his ego swell it occurred to me that his character would actually be more fitting as a villain than a hero. Indeed, in counterpoint, Sam Rockwell’s power-hungry

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-79248158520506205452010-04-20T09:10:00.000-07:002010-04-20T09:20:01.407-07:00

There’s something of a parallel to be drawn between life and content of Cemetery Junction for writer-directors Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The pair made their name and fortune in the UK and abroad with TV sit-com The Office, following that up with Extras. Their first (joint) break into the movies, Cemetery Junction, is ostensibly the story of young men shaking off their humble roots and

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-57605392132988614992010-04-11T11:05:00.001-07:002010-04-11T11:13:31.162-07:00

Based on a true story. Words to strike fear into the heart of cineplex popcorn-munchers all over the world. The Blind Side doesn’t actually announce its ‘based on a true story’ credentials until the end credits (when we actually get to see the people in real life as opposed to the actors that played them, which was a nice touch) but the spectre of reality hovers over proceedings.Cynical reality

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-72461380436964062812010-04-05T02:57:00.000-07:002010-04-05T03:15:27.145-07:00

I was certainly a fan of Clash Of The Titans when I was a youngster – with the swords ‘n’ sandals, man versus monsters action it was right up my street (it didn't have as many monsters as Jason And The Argonauts or The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad mind!). However, as an adult, I haven’t retained such affection for the original so as to consider this remake an abomination or sacrilege. I didn’t go to

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-50924633044391597742010-03-29T09:10:00.000-07:002010-03-29T12:56:35.464-07:00

If initial reactions to Kick-Ass are going to come with negativity it’s probably one of an audience suffering from comic book fatigue. Another film with people dressing up in costumes doing heroic deeds? I can understand why, on surface inspection, this new unknown superhero movie on the block might induce dismissal in audiences. Unfortunately for anyone that looked the other way they’d be

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-68779968537453841342010-03-27T03:21:00.001-07:002010-03-27T03:28:42.826-07:00

The Green Zone is the term given to a 10-mile square area within Baghdad where the allied forces of the UN stationed themselves to co-ordinate the efforts to restore control and democracy to Iraq after the invasion and removal of Saddam Hussein. As such, symbolically for this movie, it is a place where apparent good intentions are beset on all sides by opposition and, in the murky politics of the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-11504685359382651742010-03-20T08:45:00.001-07:002010-03-20T08:57:28.338-07:00

A ship emerges from the mist. Onboard two FBI agents. They approach Shutter Island – a mental institute for the most dangerous criminals declared insane. They hand their guns over and enter the foreboding premises (accompanied by overly-dramatic music and tracking shots, like The Shining) and investigate a curious case of a missing woman – vanished from her locked cell. And that’s just the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-90412985386928884712010-03-08T12:25:00.001-08:002010-03-08T12:32:05.586-08:00

Another movie at the cinema, another remake of a 70s horror. No big surprises here. Although this remake does have more immediate value than say, Halloween, in that it’s a new version of an old film that wasn’t particularly well-remembered, well-known nor fondly cherished. The story of a small desert town having its water poisoned by a mysterious chemical that slowly turns them crazy and

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-65636901321610310812010-03-02T09:46:00.001-08:002010-03-02T09:55:51.798-08:00

Peter Jackson needs to get his balls back. The overly-sentimental elements of The Lord Of The Rings movies, and the somewhat overwrought King Kong remake have shown a steady decline in his shrewd edge. Now, with The Lovely Bones, director Peter Jackson has clearly been spending too much time with his wife and friend, co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, and the result feels like a waste of

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-44150744750782831542010-02-20T01:05:00.000-08:002010-02-20T01:09:57.870-08:00

Timing is everything. It was a Sunday – generally a busy day for cinemas. It was also Valentine’s Day, a day for romance and couples out doing things. So there’s all these romantic couples, heading to the cinema on a Sunday, and what’s showing? Valentine’s Day. Nestling down at the cinema with a very thrilled Mrs. Comet beside me, I look around the auditorium and see all kinds of the same thing:

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-13964961612386935452010-02-15T08:31:00.001-08:002010-02-20T05:25:28.381-08:00

It’s been a long time since Mel Gibson was back in front of the camera. After The Passion Of The Christ and Apocalypto, not to mention the less-than-flattering stories regarding drunk driving and anti-Semitic rants (allegedly), it’s curious what so drew him to Edge Of Darkness that he needed to return to the limelight. If anything I can’t help but wonder if Gibson’s appearance is one of the very

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-37256835293627959732010-02-12T08:42:00.000-08:002010-02-12T08:49:58.290-08:00

There’s probably a lot of intelligent and meaningful things to say on a socio-political level about A Prophet. The story of a teenage French Arab imprisoned and forging for himself a status of high power in the years he spends there has many connotations with a conflict between Corsicans and Arabs in France.Trouble is, I didn’t know anything about this political topic going into the movie and I

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-60654117428781217672010-01-26T11:52:00.001-08:002010-01-26T12:02:20.971-08:00

It’s always a pleasant surprise when a movie you have little prior expectation for turns out better than anticipated. Invariably this doesn’t happen often but Daybreakers managed this feat. The set-up: in the near-future the world has become populated by vampires (explained briefly as a disease that spread) and what humans are left are farmed for their blood – only the humans are dwindling and

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-85419282095126029942010-01-20T10:53:00.000-08:002010-01-20T11:19:32.842-08:00

In the light of the current economic downtown, with redundancies and downsizing on the increase, Up In The Air could not have landed at a more pertinent time. Originally conceived as a brighter and breezier movie, the recent change and social mood saw the matter of people losing their jobs taken more seriously, treated quite rightly as the devastating blow to esteem and livelihood that it is.

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-28293305678947583502010-01-12T10:31:00.001-08:002010-01-12T10:38:40.956-08:00

In the end, not much happens. There is a man (Viggo Mortenson) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), journeying together several years after the world has come to an end. The film never explains the apocalypse – we only see the result; wasteland, empty husks of buildings, trees cracking and splintering as the last vestiges of vigour depart. Food is scarce. The human race has turned cannibal or

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-62549340070229829272010-01-02T03:23:00.000-08:002010-01-02T03:31:35.874-08:00

For many the abiding image of Sherlock Holmes is of the deerstalker hat and pipe; an old man with a fiendish streak of logic solving Victorian murder mysteries. Whilst Guy Ritchie’s take on this iconic character retains some of these qualities there is much more freshness, youth and exuberance around this Sherlock Holmes.Robert Downey Jnr takes on the mantle of Sherlock Holmes with a successful

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-35854356933406582222009-12-28T06:21:00.000-08:002009-12-28T06:32:37.654-08:00

So this was the big one. The movie that was going to usher in a new precedent in three-dimensional cinema. I figured it was only right and proper that I treated myself to the full experience, and so went to see Avatar in IMAX, in 3D. I’ll say upfront that I wasn’t disappointed.Avatar tells a story of a wheelchair-bound marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who finds himself recruited for a

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-67587665962245419032009-12-17T10:09:00.001-08:002009-12-17T10:15:47.706-08:00

I’ve got a soft spot for an intriguing premise. Movies that take a crazy notion, or a high-concept, or a grand idea tend to get my attention. Trouble is that many of these movies fail to back-up the intrigue with sufficient payoff. For every Moon that gets it right there’s a The Forgotten to make a mess of things. Enter The Box, with its intriguing premise: a couple are given a box, within which

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-52029140073223159072009-12-06T12:00:00.001-08:002009-12-06T12:34:22.167-08:00

The larger spectre hanging around this film is not the demonic presence that terrorises couple Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat (actors playing characters with the same names) but The Blair Witch Project to which it will invariably be compared and contrasted against. Both use 'found footage', amateur, proposing to be real. Both are mired in horror, low-key and low-fi. And both were made on a

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-84825430647337812742009-11-20T00:59:00.000-08:002009-11-20T01:06:50.355-08:00

Michael Caine is Harry Brown. It states it on the opening credits. I don’t know why, but the two names together feel like a film that’s already been made. As though ‘Harry Brown’ is already an existing Michael Caine character from another film, being revisited here. That’s not the case, mind! This Harry Brown sees Caine as a retired marine, widowed and lonely, living on a gloomy block of flats

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-69510230522108151782009-11-17T09:56:00.001-08:002009-11-17T10:05:24.766-08:00

2012. That’s when the word will end. “The Mayans knew about it,” apparently. They knew that the sun would send out an extra burst of neutrinos that would serve as a giant microwave that would heat up our planet from the inside and dislodge continents. Luckily a few scientists have seen what’s coming as well, and so the world’s governments have to unite and somehow provision for how they save

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-83233061701821495312009-11-07T05:38:00.000-08:002009-11-07T05:43:46.549-08:00

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a story that requires little introduction. It’s a story that’s been interpreted on screen through traditional live action, to cartoons to muppets. And so up steps Robert Zemeckis, following on from his 3D CGI forays of The Polar Express and Beowulf, to take a run at this classic festive tale in his preferred medium.Robert Zemeckis doesn’t use straight CGI (

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-51229829608156744772009-11-02T10:15:00.000-08:002009-11-02T10:42:24.488-08:00

You can’t accuse Pixar of resting on their laurels. The powerhouse animation success story of the past 15 years, they follow last year’s Wall-E (lone robot on a desolate planet) with a cantankerous old man as their central protagonist. And yet these brave choices are what make Pixar strong – unafraid to defy demographics and simply go with emotional heft and killer ideas. Up, make no mistake, has

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-10886020140785803012009-10-28T09:14:00.001-07:002009-10-28T09:18:31.921-07:00

Despite never feeling simple the fundamental plot set-up of Triangle is rather basic. Ostensibly a group of friends are joined by Jess (Melissa George), a rundown mother of an autistic son taking a guilty break away on a sailboat jaunt. (The boat’s called Triangle, and they sail into Bermuda Triangle territory, but really the title is derived from the three-way structure of the premise that I

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-50510565967256873562009-10-25T11:33:00.000-07:002009-10-25T11:54:42.600-07:00

Every October for the past six years a Saw movie has (dis)graced the cinema. It’s moved on from the edgy, nasty horror that originally shocked and awed audiences to slowly morph into the biggest horror franchise in town to the point where each new instalment is barely a standalone film, rather a continuation of the series.Saw VI spares no mercy for anyone that may have rolled up unaware of the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-47383463424918723722009-10-13T07:36:00.000-07:002009-10-13T08:26:23.045-07:00

It’s called Zombieland. It’s set in a world not too long after a virus has transformed all mankind into flesh-eating, rampaging zombies and civilisation is all but gone. And yet despite this Zombieland pulls off the amazing trick of making you forget this is a film about zombies at all.Although that’s not to say there aren’t zombies in it providing zombie-related thrills.Our narrator and lead is

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-59501203057466954362009-10-07T08:44:00.000-07:002009-10-07T09:15:05.436-07:00

Pandorum has an intriguing set-up. In the future Earth and its bloated population has used up all the natural resources and has so sent a large spaceship out to find another planet to settle on. Two men – Peyton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster) – wake up from a deep cryogenic sleep with little memory of who they are and what they are doing on the ship. More pressingly, they can find scarce

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-69920637004258505352009-09-28T08:28:00.000-07:002009-09-28T08:33:17.014-07:00

I must confess some ignorance. I went into this movie thinking it was the latest from Cameron Crowe. You know, the guy that did Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire and stuff. I understood this was his latest – a scaled-back, indie-type project probably evoking that same air of romance and emotional debate Crowe’s films are characterised by, all set to a cool pop soundtrack.And you know what? Until the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-9513339552639835612009-09-22T09:26:00.000-07:002009-09-22T09:31:01.985-07:00

There’s an enjoyable effortlessness about films like Adventureland. Coming-of-age stories with little plot. Films that focus on a small band of characters over a short period of time, generally with the unspoken point that, whilst the characters themselves may not realise it, what they are experiencing is the most formative and pivotal time of their lives. Jesse Eisenberg plays James Brennan.

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-58471917988116708422009-09-17T08:42:00.000-07:002009-09-17T08:48:06.426-07:00

I’ve not read the book. I heard it’s good but it seemed a bit girly for me, so I wasn’t interested. To be honest I wasn’t particularly interested in the film for the same reason, but there’s a cine-enthusiast in the shape of Mrs. Comet that likes to drag me away from special-effects laden action fests every once in a while. So The Time Traveler’s Wife it was. Eric Bana is the titular time

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-23529491205516132252009-09-13T10:54:00.000-07:002009-09-13T11:24:38.442-07:00

Quentin Tarantino couldn’t care less, but it’s fair to say that I was on the outs with him. I thought Kill Bill, due to it’s flabby second part, could have easily been pruned down to one great film, and his part of the Grindhouse project, Death Proof, was nothing short of self-indulgent garbage. If Inglourious Basterds turned out to be another introspective, naval-gazing exercise then Tarantino

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-82094500374637438162009-09-11T07:37:00.001-07:002009-09-11T08:42:43.637-07:00

It’s easy to be dismissive of the rom-com genre. They appeal to a certain type of easily-pleased audience, cost peanuts to make, and generally work with an inoffensive, dim-witted formulaic format. So enter (500) Days Of Summer. It’s a rom-com, ostensibly. And the tagline hook is boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn’t. So it sounds like a bit of a twist on the usual concept but otherwise

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-51027896762143055262009-09-07T10:53:00.001-07:002009-09-07T13:44:50.200-07:00

It’s not usually pertinent, nor interesting, to discuss the origins of a movie’s creation, but District 9 does deserve some introduction. Director Neil Blomkamp was originally working with Peter Jackson to direct a movie of the game Halo. Big budget movie and a big break for the new director – only the plug got pulled and the project died. Peter Jackson, feeling mildly guilty, backed Blomkamp to

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-32873607673205905832009-09-04T09:52:00.000-07:002009-09-04T09:59:09.365-07:00

War-torn Iraq, downtown Baghdad. The bomb disposable unit, EOD, are a three-man team called into action whenever there is the slightest possibility that an unexploded bomb threat (IED) exists. One-man goes in to diffuse the bomb, the other two advise and keep watch for any potential triggers or threats. Living on nerves and adrenaline, either cracking up under the strain or becoming warped by the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-23154443966378142622009-08-31T08:26:00.000-07:002009-09-30T10:51:06.284-07:00

So is this the final Final Destination? Calling it The Final Destination rather than Final Destination 4 (which is what it is) suggests as much. The title sequence happily does x-ray versions of highlight deaths from the franchise's earlier films, and there’s various easter egg references to former movies (more than I spotted, I suspect) and even a cheeky “de ja vue” joke that repeats the series’

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-26499995974213474162009-08-26T08:37:00.000-07:002009-08-26T08:44:26.433-07:00

A creepily shocking opening sequence reveals the mindset of mother-of-two, Kate. Forced to deliver a stillborn baby, the grief for the child she and her husband, John, never had (and the presumable incapacity to produce further children) prompts them to turn to adoption – notably the adoption of an older child from a convent orphanage. It is here they first meet Esther. Brought up in Russia,

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-85473546133773461682009-08-18T10:17:00.000-07:002009-08-18T10:24:25.764-07:00

Ugly is right. Ugly is the rom-com that provokes no sense of ‘rom’ and little in the way of ‘com’. Enter The Ugly Truth to keep the genre mired in concepts from yesteryear and to peg back the sexual liberation from stereotypes for both men and women back even further.Katherine Heigl plays Abby – a television producer for a breakfast news show struggling to get ratings as much as she struggles to

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-19556739000262539322009-08-12T08:33:00.000-07:002009-08-12T08:40:49.103-07:00

On the surface on the Moon in an undefined future, Sam Bell works alone on a space station, harvesting energy for use back on Earth. Coming to the end of a three-year stint, he yearns to go home back to his wife and child who he has only communicated with via recorded videos back and forth. His head hurts. He’s tired of talking to himself. Occasionally he catches glimpses of people that aren’t

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-33108927524690644952009-08-10T11:56:00.000-07:002009-08-10T12:00:47.947-07:00

Mrs. Comet loves these types of movie. Chick flicks. Rom-coms. And being a big fan of Ryan Reynolds, and not exactly un-partial to Sandra Bullock, The Proposal had the hallmarks of being a big winner with her. She really wanted to see it and, in the interest of fairness (to offset dragging her along to see, say, Transformers or Public Enemies), off we went. I didn’t expect much. I got what I

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-13001841951009350712009-07-17T02:30:00.000-07:002009-07-17T08:34:01.118-07:00

Harry Potter films, rather like James Bond movies, have practically become their own genre. They have their own pacing and feel and style which set them apart from anything else and make comparisons difficult, if not futile. I believe there are two criteria by which to judge a Harry Potter film now. One, how it plays for people who have read the book against people who haven’t. Two, how this

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-38227623642338215752009-07-11T06:50:00.001-07:002009-07-11T06:57:25.365-07:00

Bruno is going to be compared to Borat. There’s no avoiding it. Both being alter-ego creations of Sacha Baron Cohen, and both making a transition from the small-screen to the big-screen, and both famous for unleashing themselves on an unsuspecting public (celebrity or otherwise) for simultaneous humour and shock value. Bruno follows a similar template style to Borat (why not, it worked

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-34370359597557490322009-07-06T06:56:00.000-07:002009-07-07T10:32:16.254-07:00

There’s an inherent dichotomy about this movie that is noticeable from the title itself. Take a look at it. It’s not Transformers 2. No. It’s the more grandiose Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. Heaven forbid that this film present itself as merely a sequel to a special-effects blockbuster based on toys that were huge in the 80s. No, Transformers attempts to take itself seriously, which is

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-87692517440787325552009-07-03T09:20:00.000-07:002009-07-03T09:32:30.969-07:00

There’s really no getting away from what’s around the corner, Public Enemies strikes up such similarities with the movie Heat comparisons are inevitable. That both were co-written and directed by Michael Mann is the source of such direct comparison, but even if that weren’t the case it would still be a matter of contention. So let’s get the obvious question out of the way first: Is Public Enemies

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-44005697240417852572009-06-24T08:04:00.000-07:002009-06-24T08:15:15.512-07:00

The Hangover, for me, gets things wrong with its very first scene. We’re in the middle of nowhere and we see Phil (Bradley Cooper), looking worse for wear, call up the bride-to-be and inform her that he’s lost the groom and that the wedding is not going to happen. Immediately we then go to 48 hours earlier, and find out how things got to this state.Bridegroom Doug (Justin Bartha, predictably

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-85630662683335545992009-06-08T09:35:00.000-07:002009-06-08T09:52:48.486-07:00

The resurrection of the Terminator franchise wasn’t one to imbue anyone with hope. Terminator 3 had been considered an unnecessary follow-up, abandoned by creator James Cameron, and so a fourth outing didn’t bode well. Add in that Charlie’s Angels director (and ridiculously-named) McG was at the helm then doubts and concerns were to be invited.Terminator: Salvation felt like more than a film

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-74011342982680943892009-05-30T03:49:00.000-07:002009-05-30T04:03:43.449-07:00

The posters and marketing for Drag Me To Hell may emphasise that this is the new movie from Sam Spider-Man Raimi, but those that know their horror realise this film marks the return of this director to the genre that made his name. Sam Raimi unleashed The Evil Dead and its sequels and it was with these movies did he endear himself to a generation of horror movie lovers. And now, with Drag Me To

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-24491370035379624462009-05-21T09:38:00.000-07:002009-05-21T09:44:40.793-07:00

Many of the reviews I had read about Angels & Demons before I saw it ran as follows: It’s better than The Da Vinci Code but it’s still not very good. Other reviews have gone further, some quite aggressively. I was intrigued to see the movie purely just to make my own mind up. And, frankly, my conclusion is that it is better than The Da Vinci Code (a snooze-a-thon if ever there was one) but it’s

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-75297283755578841862009-05-17T11:47:00.000-07:002009-05-17T11:58:43.283-07:00

As with most concept comedies, there’s a good idea at the kernel of the movie – it’s just sometimes frustrated by lame gags or stupid plotting. I Love You, Man is one such movie. It’s subject matter concerns Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd), all set to marry his fiancée Zooey (Rashida Jones) when it comes to light that he is very much a man without much in the way of male friends.One overheard

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-65359246544445023502009-05-12T10:39:00.001-07:002009-05-12T10:48:42.360-07:00

Director J.J. Abrams has been happily talking up the fact that he was far more of a Star Wars fan than Star Trek. In that, Abrams and I have something in common. As such I had no qualms or concerns about seeing this franchise be rebooted into something more mainstream and blockbuster-friendly. The nerds – Trekkies – may have been worried about all kinds of details to do with the film remaining

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-45889063129966163182009-05-08T09:49:00.001-07:002009-09-30T10:51:38.632-07:00

Perhaps the first response concerned adults will have, after seeing this children’s film, is whether or not it’s too scary for kids. The quick response is: It’s not. Coraline is a scary film, but its nightmarish intensity is held fast in the realm of the terrors imbued in all good fairytales. Rarely does a film come along that understands this. I watched the movie in an auditorium full of kids –

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-22043719619342892322009-05-03T04:10:00.000-07:002009-05-03T04:29:53.259-07:00

With the prefix of ‘X-Men Origins’, this Wolverine instalment is obviously intended to be the first part in a franchise that may turn to the likes of Magneto or Professor X or any of the other X-Men characters. Much will depend on the success of this Wolverine instalment, though – because if the figurehead of the X-Men franchise can’t cut his teeth with cinema-goers then the whole enterprise may

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-65738864565331782892009-04-26T13:33:00.000-07:002009-04-26T13:40:21.902-07:00

Let The Right One In is a vampire movie and the title refers to one of the ‘rules’ for vampires, about how they need to be invited in to someone’s home before they can enter. (For the record, you get to find out what happens if they enter without being invited in.) But the title also works on the level of letting the right one not only in to your home, but in to your life, into your affections.

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-40965674356178698882009-04-12T12:44:00.000-07:002009-09-30T10:51:56.460-07:00

So you’ve got a computer generated film. And you’ve got the capacity to present it in 3D. Your movie concept is based entirely on the premise of monsters versus aliens. You’ve basically got license to run riot and make a movie that can not so much entertain an audience as it can knock them to Mars and back.When I strapped into my cinema seat, I was expecting full-on thrills and spills. A melding

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-24236610924850729662009-04-05T02:44:00.001-07:002009-04-06T00:29:39.200-07:00

I can pretty much guarantee what the reaction of most people who go and see Knowing will be and it doesn't mean I have psychic powers of predicting the future. I experienced the same reaction most people will take away with them during the last ten minutes, and yet I tried to accept the film on its own terms, and thought back to all of what I had seen, and was willing to appreciate it more.I can

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-43473261862415585802009-03-31T09:24:00.000-07:002009-03-31T09:28:07.929-07:00

Brian Clough eventually came to be considered the greatest manager the England football team never had. The Damned United, however, isn’t overly-interested in portraying Brian Clough as football’s messianic nearly-man. Instead it’s a film about a man with a flair for the spotlight, and ego that could drive a steam train and a sharp wit with a big mouth to go with it. Selecting a focused period

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-12155373806252231812009-03-25T14:46:00.000-07:002009-03-25T14:52:50.948-07:00

Duplicity has the look and feel and style of a film you’ve seen before. Obvious comparison is The Thomas Crown Affair, for example. A romantic crime caper aimed squarely at adults. Getting sophisticated leads like Clive Owen and Julia Roberts (last seen together in the far more adult Closer) only adds to the quality.Yet somehow the film manages to make mis-steps that blight the whole thing. It’s

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-43716673090121612212009-03-20T16:03:00.000-07:002009-03-20T16:10:40.232-07:00

On paper this doesn’t sound like a good movie. Paul Blart (Kevin James) is a sad-sack security guard at a mall – a job he takes very seriously, probably to compensate for the absolute deadness of his love life. Then one day, when he’s busy trying to woo Amy, a new stall girl, criminals seize control of the mall and Paul is the only man running loose to stop them.It sounds like Die Hard in a mall,

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-9306761676980810122009-03-15T10:17:00.000-07:002009-03-15T10:27:32.065-07:00

The premise is simple. Zakes (Will Ash) has a job driving to motorway service stations, changing the posters there. One rainy night, Zakes has brought his girlfriend Beth along. He doesn’t realise that Beth is trying to pluck up the courage to admit being unfaithful and the two of them bicker along their journey. And then, driving, a truck narrowly misses them and the back shutter briefly opens

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490898400501519560.post-31478472633189478462009-03-08T10:18:00.000-07:002009-03-08T10:36:02.304-07:00

Watchmen has taken a long, long time to get to the big screen. An acclaimed graphic novel (not just a comic book) it has been handled by various developers and all found the thing too unwieldy, to large in scope and depth, to translate accurately. Even the writer, Alan Moore, had no faith it could be done and famously fell out with all of Hollywood over other screen adaptations of his work to the

AngeloComethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303083576143373383noreply@blogger.com1