Just got the new issue of Empire - and it's got a feature of The Escapist! Empire talks of it being 'indie movie heaven' and I can't wait.
The plot involves a guy trying to break out of prison to visit his ill daughter and assembles a crew of guys to tackle the major obstacle of getting out. With Brian Cox leading the way as Frank Perry and co-starring Joseph Fiennes, Damien Lewis, Dominic Cooper, Liam Cunningham and Seu Jorge, to name a few and it's set be a classic!

The debut of British director Rupert Wyatt is highly anticipated - especially by me.

Out June 20th. Roll on.

Hi to everybody....I've just watched my new DVD A History of Violence with Viggo Mortensen....I've already seen it before but wanted a copy of my own.
Second time around was just as good as the first time. I've no idea why I liked the film so much, because it was extremely violent in parts, but in context...I hate violence in a film out of context when it seems to be put there just to shock...none of the violence in this film shocked me because in all the cases, Tom Stall was defending himself...he being the character Mortensen was playing...
It was basically about a man trying to escape his past and had done successfully for many years until an incident brought back his old and very violent self, and the consequences of that action upon him and his family.
I can recommend this film as a well made and well paced movie, which might disturb some people who can't stand seeing any violence in a film in context or out of context, but, if you have a fairly strong stomach, you should find this a good film. Big hugs to one and all...

I was sad to hear about the recent death of Richard Widmark, mind you at 93 he had had a good innings. A great actor who was in person, I understand, the total opposite to his on screen tough guy persona.

I suggest tonight ladies and gents we all raise a glass to the old fella and wish him well wherever he may have gone

Beowulf (2007)

Don't listen to the historians. Vikings really were hard and liked hitting things in the head with axes.

Well, I'd been wanting to see this one for a while, and glad I got to see it. A gripping ride of monster slashing and general hardness throughout with some great performances by the cast. Hubster thought that Ray Winstone was miscast, but mainly I thnk that he was the only one whose 'performance capture' (ie, animated) character was (and not to be unkind) a little different from himself. However, I think it was an excellent choice, the gangster and hard man voice coming out '...I'm gonna catch yoooor mooonstarrr'.

Ray Winstone works out for his latest film role. No, hang on - he didn't.

You don't get a chance to get the backstory (it becomes fairly obvious halfway through if you're not familiar with it already) before Grendel comes bounding in, biting off heads and generally being - well, a monster. John Malkovich is a little underused, Anthony Hopkins on top form playing his typical authority figure as the King with sweeping hand gestures and grand speeches. Don't know how strict they were with the original text, but as a film could have done with the filling in of a few gaps as there is a huge timejump about two thirds of the way through, but it still gels together OK.

Well, would you do anything for the last demon in the world? Brad says yes!

All in all, an excellent film. The 'animation' or 'performance capture' doesn't put you off at all. You can tell that sometimes (and I may be mistaken in this) they deliberatley made this less than realistic (as in live action) to emphasise the point that it was not live action, if that makes sense. But its excellently done.

Best quote: Could it be anything else? 'I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I AM BEOWULF! '

Scariest moment: Grendel's second attack, just before Beowulf is wondering how to go for him and Grendel (whilst chomping on his mate's head and clearly thinking that Beowulf doesn't stand a chance) gives him a rather horrible monster smile.

Hi to everybody...I decided to sit and watch...against my better judgement I might add but because I had nothing better to do this afternoon...the Curse of the Golden Flower...and I now resent furiously wasting 2 hours of my time watching what I can only call the most lavish film I've ever seen with the most unsatisfactory ending of any film I've ever seen as well...all the way through the damned film you're rooting for the Empress who is slowly being poisoned by her bastard of a husband, who used her originally to become Emperor...she decides to do something about her predicament and sets about hatching a plan, which she then allows to be betrayed and you are left wondering what the hell the film was all about when everybody dies and the damned Emperor survives and she's utterly defeated...so you are left with no feel good factor just a foul taste in your mouth and wondering why they bothered to make such a bloody depressing film in the first place...it's story line was so slender as to be non-existent, and this is what I have discovered with all of this new genre of very, lavish Chinese films made for the American market...shallow crap basically...and it really annoys me because, after seeing Flying flea, Leaping Toad and the other two whose names thankfully escape me, I gave up ever wanting to see another but gave in this afternoon...and I'm furious that I did....
As you can gather...not a happy bunny...big hugs to one and all...and I do not recommend this film to anybody...

Hi to everybody...just a quick post to commemorate the passing of Paul Scofield, one of our finest actors, who died today of leukemia at the age of 86. He consistently refused a knighthood, which is admirable in itself, but he brought gravitas to all the parts he played throughout his long and illustrious career...and had a wonderful twinkle in his eye when signifying humour subtly...he will be sorely missed.
Big hugs to one and all...

I saw this on Saturday with only the initial knowledge that it was a film about a video store, that it starred Jack Black and that he'd accidently wiped all the videos after becoming magnetised..

Promising premise for a film? I must say I did enjoy it.. it wasn't consistently funny.. some bits were even a little tedious (some of the beginning for example, as you patiently wait for the momentum to pick up). In the end however, it was actually quite a sweet story.. Once the story actually started properly, it was funny (laugh out loud on about 4 occasions) and exciting but Jack Black sort of remained relatively ridiculous the whole way through which I found a bit irritating to be honest.

Go and see it by all means, especially if you need cheering up or an easy watch. Seeing as I prefer art house films usually, the fact that I enjoyed this shows that maybe it's got a little more heart than usual..!

Hi to everybody...managed to see the second half of my '300' DVD last night...the first DVD had a fault in it and I had to return it, and HMV took weeks to send it back, but eventually did get it replaced...
I did enjoy this film very much...actually not sure whether 'enjoy' is the right word...I thought it was a very well made film in a style quite unique to it, and it worked. It moved me deeply and strange to say I found the violence and bloodshed in it was not over the top at all, because it was in context...what was even more interesting was the fact that the 300 existed and the battle did take place, and, if it had not, and Xerxes had won, the whole of our Western history would have taken a completely different path...
Frank Miller wrote it and it was taken from one of his stories and he always studies the history behind his characters in depth first...I understand honour and valour and the willingness to die for what you truly believe in, even though in the core of my being I am a pacifist...I wish, with everything I am, human beings did not believe it was right to slaughter each other...but it seems at times in our history, certain human beings are called to lay down their lives for their fellow countrymen and women and their country...and this film with its vivid graphics and powerful imagery was all about that stand...The only criticism I have and it's just a matter of historical licence and that was the portrayal of Xerxes in it was very inaccurate...he was a highly educated man from a technologically advanced empire and not a power crazed god/king, but I guess I can forgive Frank Miller or the makers of the film for that exaggeration...the army the 300 plus 6700 land troops faced was massive, some 300,000 though it was said to be 1.2 million, but that is doubtful. However many there were, the Spartans and the land troops were severely outnumbered. In the end, the land troops retreated, leaving Leonides and the remaining Spartans to face Xerxes, and were finally all killed. It was, however, actually another Spartan, Thermistocles, who led the Spartan fleet, who turned the war around and finally helped defeat Xerxes that time around, but not to defeat him entirely...
For anybody interested...here's a site to give a run down of the history...
http://raf.heavengames.com/history/civilization/greek/page4

I saw it first on the big screen and now I have the DVD and you do not lose the impact of the film on a small screen which says a lot for it I think....
One thing I find rather strange is that there are a quite a few people in the USA who think that this film is propaganda for war against Iran??? I didn't know the USA was planning a war in Iran as well as Iraq and Afghanistan? Did you?
I think you can read so much into a film rather than just take it for what it was a comic strip made into a film and leave it at that...that's it for now...big hugs...

Hi to everybody...tonight I decided to watch a film on Sky Indie called 'Nelly and Mr. Arnaud' with Michel Serrault and Emmanuelle Beart. It was made in 1995, and directed by Claude Sautet.
It's a gentle film, more like a play almost, about a relationship between an older man and a young woman who comes to help him prepare a book he has written for publication...it lasted for 1 hour 50 minutes and didn't drag once...very nicely paced, not dated, and very French.
I can recommend it if you want to see something with no blood, violence, sex or bad language...LOL...it's very well scripted and the characters very believable...so, if you get a chance to see it, please take the time, I don't think you'll regret it.
That's it for tonight...I've recorded Boston Legal after it, because there is no way I would miss that for any film... Have a restful night, sweet dreams, my friends, and big hugs to you all....

Hi to everybody...just in case any of these three films have been missed by all you fans out there...next week has all three being shown and I can recommend every one of them

Sky Arts...Red Angel...A Yasuzo MASUMURA film of 1966...Tuesday, 11th March...brilliant...
Sky Indie...Volver...A Pedro Aldomovar Film of 2007...Wednesday, 12th March...also brilliant...Penelope Cruz's acts her socks off and is marvellous in it...
Sky Sci-fi...
V for Vendetta...A James McTeigue Film of 2005...12th March...also very well made indeed and thought provoking as well...taken from Alan Moore comic strip...

The last two clash in times but both will be on again, and both are worth seeing...

Big hugs to one and all...

Hi to everybody...I watched 'Eastern Promises' tonight. It's David Cronenberg's latest offering with Viggo Mortensen, Victor Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Naomi Watts. There's no other way to describe it other than unrelentingly grim, but then the subject being tackled - that of the Russian criminal underworld in London - is not a pretty one...I presume Cronenberg was not merely making this film as entertainment but, perhaps, to call attention to the plight of very young girls being lured from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and any other ex-Soviet Union country where extreme poverty exists to what is explained to them as a better life in the West. They are only about fourteen years old and what is done to them is appalling, and we can only hope somebody somewhere is doing something to try to stop child prostitution going on in this country, which it, undoubtedly, is.
Can I recommend it? Yes, it's a very well made film. Entirely lacking in sentimentality to the point that you wonder how such a level of inhumanity to the helpless can exist in human beings, but I must accept does. It showed also the body tattoos of the Russian Mafia and the meaning of them, and the climb to gain acceptance by earning a star on the knee and on the shoulder...the one on the knee signifies that you kneel to nobody...once you have earned them, you become one of the family...
I won't go into the plot any further, because I find it intensely annoying when somebody tells me almost everything about a film in a review, which sometimes makes me say well, in that case, I won't bother, because it's just been spoiled for me...
If you haven't seen, I would suggest you try to avoid reading in depth reviews of it before seeing it and let the film unfold to reveal previously unknown factors in it...
Big hugs to one and all...