Blue Valentine (2010)

A perfect example of everything to adore and fear about the concepts of love.

This is such a refreshing Romance that thankfully grants an example of the real and well made artistic level of a “chick flick” ruined genre. Blue Valentine is equal in some ways to the brilliance of "Before Sunrise" for its intricate portions of personality in an elegantly paced love story.

Although Blue Valentine acts out in two different times of the entire relationship on show, one being its bloom and the other an inevitable withering of love. I mentioned "Before Sunrise" as in some small ways Blue Valentine had made me think of "Before Sunrise" and its sequel being spliced and edited together in a Tarantino way but with many different, far more heartfelt outcomes.

Aside from the utterly poetic visual orgy that Blue Valentines cinematography displays, the thing that really makes this film stand out in a way most overly hyped Romance films seem to lack is an on screen relationship you find yourself being charmed by. Here you can truly understand the reason to love one or both of the relationships characters and despise them as the much as those involved.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams make these characters weave a romance with some real volume behind every miniature act and expression. And for a fair comparison Gosling even though always an actor I enjoy, has gained a romantic fame with "The Note Book" a film that to this date I still see no real aspect of a well-told or well-woven love story with any hint of the said volume to a relationship that Blue Valentine provides.

Hanna (2011)

Being dazzled by the cinematic juxtaposition of visual treats is one of my usual film geek goals when looking out for obscure and often under the radar art films so its always surprising when the spotlight of interest for these qualities falls on something much more up on the surface. HANNA, I can happily say is a great film, in my view it has managed what would have been more expected of an indie/art house film style but with a bit of a deceiving blanket of blockbuster hype. I am very willing to bet that had the cast been without Blanchet playing the role of a Cruella Deville like villain and Erik Bana as a somewhat more real version of Kickass' Big Daddy character that this film may have become a little more on the unknown and obscure borderline of film popularity. That perspective aside you cant not fall totally in love with the odd moments of melodic visuals darting around the screen, that paired with a sinister baddie selection and some beautifully organised scenery should be enough to hook anyone on re-watching this

Enter the Void (Soudain le vide) (2009)

Not for the timid this film it will throw any big film lover Blockbuster, Art house or whatever else into a hallway of twisted mirrors and I credit anyone who comes out the other end without some major deep thoughts on the state of death. It's enjoyable but very provoking in way of a disturbing truth of the nastiness in life and undeniable end that will one day come for us all. On that aspect it can be extremely depressing but that all depends on your outlook on life.

There are some grand spots of beauty in this be it the visual ride and way your guided through the film or the sliding of shocking scenes, its these titbits of beauty that relate the film to its initial theme of life and death. As most of the events seem to be unfortunate ones yet in any of unfortunate situation faced in life, you still manage to find those odd shades of perhaps accidental beauty.

You might think this to be something similarly said with allot of films but "Enter The Void" more than most for me works much like a Jackson Pollock painting in its variety of perspectives it welcomes on the topic covered. With so many different splashes of colour and shape thrown into it, it's likely on return viewings that your first idea on the piece and its content may have changed.

Mr. Nobody (2009)

From the empty dead glance of Jared Leto at the beginning you are then off without signal or warning of what's to come, pushed forcefully into an odyssey of highly intellectual film editing and utterly dazzling story production. But not on one level alone as the smarts of this mind-blending film reach several alternate layers of story skill, all of which swirl out from the basis of variables laid out for us in our life's choices.

This is "an" (if not "the") ultimate "What if" film, the kind that succeeds so well at its aim you can imagine the likes of David Lynch or Michel Gondry getting giddy in their seats.

If like myself you have the imagination and enjoy the notion that there are likely a dozen different versions of you spewing out of one, be it a meaningful or totally miniscule moment. And from each of those alternate roots you also then go through just as many indecisive hurdles resulting in the growing vines from those made choice's reaching out in so many more different ways

.... Well then your going to love this film.

I Saw the Devil (2010)

This film puts me in a place of spine tingly delight.

One of the biggest glories for me with this film was that the roles of the main characters where being taken on by Byung-hun Lee of "A Bitter Sweet Life" and Min-sik Choi of both "Oldboy" and "Lady Vengeance" all of which are equally some of the best revenge tales ever dreamed up in cinema. This however is easily my favourite film yet to give a grotesquely specific example of being in the grip of an inhumane and truly monstrous form of satisfaction. It's not just about the revenge with this piece its also beautifully detailing the horror inside that devilish lust for an unattainable balance of agony.

I advise all who have not done so, to first watch the previously mentioned films in order to fully enjoy the brutal grace of the two actors in this masterfully made vengeance face off.

Confessions (Kokuhaku) (2010)

This film is a great example to give people when you need to emphasise to someone what you mean by Art house or indie world cinema. Its got a grand buffet of tastes for you to feast upon. If you are a big fan of the "Vengeance series" by Park Chan Wook then prepare to enjoy an instalment you never expected to get, however with a kind of visual beauty that you'd expect only from an experimental artist who decided to have a shot at using the camera.

What im trying to say is that aside from the general Vengeance tale being told there are near still life scenes in this film that stick in your head, stills that need to be taken in for there beauty and not just speeded along like any other film might do. Admittedly the fact that theres use of slowing effects on these scenes to the point where they near become still shots may seem a tad overboard at times and make you realise that Zach Snyder films may have sentenced us all to a slow bullet-time doom with future films, but on a high note it also, for me clashes great art film perspectives like Steve McQeens(artist) "Hunger" along with the poetic justice of ChanWooks "Vengeance series".

Unmade Beds (2008)

A pleasing nuance of indie styled cinema with some very poetic even if beautifully simple portions of scene design and dialogue. The comedy is quite varied and odd, I found the romance being more at the helm although the laughs for some people, may be found more in the nostalgia of vacant memories similar to the people and social scenes featured. This is a good film to expect a blissful calm from once your really into it and one id expect to be enjoyed by all night party people and music lovers, who like myself may find a few sounds worth looking up.

Sucker Punch (2011)

Its understandable how this film has gained such a mixture of criticism i am personally one of the very many who was getting very exited about it, even if a little more than aware it was likely that Zach Snyder would soon trip himself up and it looked a little like this was to be that fall in the making.

Despite that fear i still attempted to view this with my original interest intact and i can say i enjoyed it even if with a sly snigger at the absurdity of the piece but thats why its a fairly good watch the total escapism involved.

The story is one of those very good ideas that perhaps would be or could be better if only tamed a little, as the big problem this film has is its over the top point of action.

The plot serves as a visual equivalent to a three course meal, a decent and subtle starter followed with an elegant and well dressed main course and then there is the desert, which is the problem, as the desert acts as if the chef left the kitchen and let a nine year old child go crazy with ice cream, candy canes, liquorice sticks and anything else he could stuff in that would keep your sugar rush going for a good few days.

Sucker Punch is one of those ideas we all secretly want to do, go crazy in the kitchen with but dare not for the obvious fact that its likely to underrate the real skill involved. And those two first portions are the life and blood of this film and if with a different caterer the idea might not have been ever so slightly spoilt.

There is good creative skill with this even if a little daft at times but i still like to think of it as an experimental piece in some ways and if this is the closest to bad that this director gets than it seems he can only improve on his mistakes in future efforts.

My rating with this however is based more on the indecision it leaves me with, I would not shout how good it is from the tree tops but its a fair film that leaves me wanting to watch it again be that for its faults or its allure.

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Lets start with the all to clear and expected negative portions of which you should see coming a mile away just from trailers and clips. The general issue here being the continuity of time period and characters involved, as the only main x-men who are in their right age period are Xavier, Magneto, Mystique and maybe Beast (but at a stretch as originally he does meet Xavier when he is human and Xavier is old) many of the other X-men are just cannon fodder for the plot anyway but it still annoys me that Havok is involved when the story could easily have worked with his "older" Brother Cyclops.

As apposed to previous X films though its only this case that I have found myself interrupting my joy of certain small visuals allot less than id expected. As a big fan of Beast and Magneto and highly fond of Mystique I get my fill of pleasure with some real drama involved with those characters and not to mention the brilliantly acted aspects of god guys and supposedly bad in each.

But as acting goes Im afraid I can't not pick at January Jones' abysmal attempt at Emma Frost who not only lacks an English accent but very much of any real care for being in the role it seems.

All of the bad stuff I cant help but find aside (and a mini shot at the so called "Logan" that Im gonna try and forget) this film was pleasing and as summer movie exploits go I was not hanging my head in shame on exiting the theatre.

What is great with First Class is that it has given a royal injection of hope for the X-men film prospects. Even with the continuity having its bumps the entire story is very neatly wrapped, in some parts perhaps too much so. As the attempts to tie the story nicely together with previous films makes it lesser than it could be. If allowed to spread its wings it would have been far greater and maybe even have been left open for much more raw disagreements between Xavier and Magneto thus giving more power to their eventual parting in friendship (that is made quite short).

Allas That is not the case but it could very easily still manage to pull another film from the events of this and still in this time period, I would actually insist upon it. The best thing about this film as mentioned is that it has renewed the franchise way better than it was to begin with and convinced this X-fan that it can be improved upon and maybe make it feasible for more well structured X-men films to be made.

(Even if it must involve Mckellen or Jackman......sigh)

X2: X-Men United (2003)

I remember being very scared on approaching this. Fortunately the usage of Nightcrawler and a much greater range of mutant characters made it allot more pleasing than its precursor. The team and entire film yet again seem more lead by Wolverine for some totally wrong reason but this time around it does not stop other brilliant portions of character skill to be seen. Again though I cant say I would continue to re-watch this and not laugh at how inaccurate some story details are. And as great as the Magneto and Nightcrawler scenes are, I just cant take Mckellen as a Magneto im at all fond of the same said for Haley Berry who is even farther from a believable version of Storm than Hugh Jackmans Wolverine who in these films has had a sudden growth spurt. Its an obvious issue for a fan of something like this to not put the smack down on all the blatant hiccups with the original material and I have to say I think it was some time after seeing this film that I lost near enough any interest in comic adaptations and realised id be best off just buying the latest issues rather than the recent film. But sometimes with some things as big a deal to me as Xmen I still hope.

X-Men (2000)

First seeing the trailer of this I remember that unbearable excitement as I attempted to identify all the characters and then continuing to do so at each opportunity that followed. So being a well educated youth in the ways of the mutant Marvel tales you can maybe imagine my slight disappointment with this film.

Watching it now I can barley get through the first half without cringing although I do remember getting super childish happy (you know that kind of happy when you need to make a weird sound that dogs from miles away can hear) that first time I saw Mags square up to Logan or Mystique just on a hole being great (though a big gun and the classic white dress woulda been nice also), so its not impossible to enjoy odd moments but credit to any fellow fanboys who can push aside their hate of some totally wrong aspects (personally why is wolverine the main character ...sigh)

However by itself as a film if you put aside some awareness of the source material it's easily pleasing at times. Although I also cannot help but think the only reason for the film happening when it did and having a style as such was due more to the popularity of The Matrix and other films similarly influenced in tight leather.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

I remember getting very hyped about this and looking back at it now my excitement seems more valid. I originally read allot about how this was Quentin Tarantino taking allot from the old "Nick Fury and the Howling Commando's" comics (and due to the recent Marvel film with their involvement I got thinking of this) I can say there are good similarities and apart from the all out Tarantino Violence this is the Commandos made better than Marvel could do I wager.

On my first viewing I was quite unsure on the ending, as it originally seemed all pushed together in a messy speeded resolution and the entire re-writing of history aspect made me annoyed, as I just felt it was not really needed. However that was my original first viewing and I'm happy I did not rush my judgment back then as the ending is only one minor detail of which is rendered unimportant with the major firsts parts of this being so overly entertaining too a point of there being an orgy of pleasurable scenes that I could not honestly pick a favourite from, there are simply too many good quotes and visual delicacies to gorge on.

Without thinking too long about it id probably say this is my favourite war film to date, id at leas go as far to state it easily has the most attractive lead lady in a war film iv seen. I would advise any who dislike it from the first viewing for whatever reason to give it another few looks.

A BITTERSWEET LIFE- 2006

An exhilarating classic exploit of an Asian gangster epic with such a menacing selection of neatly choreographed fight scenes, powerful visuals of harsh torture and a brilliantly haunting aura of prideful duty delivered by the very uniquely quotable dialogue.

If you enjoy well made gangster tales and the odd martial arts film consider this the best of both filtered through a dramatic and thrilling moral on life's deceiving pleasures.

BEFORE SUNRISE

Probably the most accurate idea of real romance that i have ever come across, by itself, Before Sunrise can bring you out of romantic denial and aware of the undeniable lust for perfected union between two people. The general conversations being had in this story lead you to truly believe in the idea of the two characters falling in love within a single nights worth of perfect moments, but also for the not so romantic individual these conversations provide a small assortment of thought provoking perspectives. This paired with its charming sequel (Before Sunset) will grant you a kind of hope that is often lost and unrealistic in usually attempted romantic stories.