How do people make these films? I didn't get it. Possibly the worst film I've seen in years. Am I missing something? Is it me?

That's an hour and a half of my life I'm not getting back. I just didn't get why it was supposed to be funny.

Hi to everybody...has anybody seen 'Hancock' yet with Will Smith? Ray and I are thinking of going during our hols next week, but just wondered whether anybody had seen it yet...it looks funny and we both like Will Smith, but is it worth going to the cinema to see or better to wait until it comes on TV?
Have a good evening...

Hi to everybody....sat and watched a lovely film yesterday evening called 'Secondhand Lions' starring Michael Caine and Robert Duval as two ageing adventurers now retired and living in a rundown house. Their nephew, played by Haley Joel Osment, is dumped on them by his mother who goes off and leaves him there until she returns...
It's a real family film with comedy, pathos, fun and a running mystery as to whether or not these two old timers have millions of dollars hidden somewhere on their land, and relatives and salesmen who want to get hold of some or all of it...Michael Caine and Robert Duval are excellent as the two old men, with Michael Caine relating the story of their lives to Haley Joel, who starts off being shy and lost and gradually comes to love living with them...
I can highly recommend it as a very watchable and enjoyable yarn...hope you do manage to see it sometime, it's well worth it....

Once upon a time long age in a small town just outside of London called Potters Bar a boy of 16 was watching a New TV program from the states. All that young teenager could think was ‘what great sex scenes’,as I got older Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes became guides to sexual behaviour. I spent most of my time doing A-levels and much of my university life watching Sex and the City. It was any fitting at the end of my university life the series came to an end. In fact it was ironic the film version came out just as I restarted education doing the GDL. So I was very much looking forward to seeing the film version of sex and the city.

However as Samantha Jones would say ‘ where is the beef?’. I have to confess at this point from series 3 onwards I've always believed that sex and the city was downhill all the way. I was always a fan of the earlier series they were edgier they even had aside when Carrie would say monologue form what she was really thinking. However by the start of the third series this had been dropped. After seeing the film two thoughts crossed my mind almost instantly one why did I spend (and I will be fairly soon as I've got a date this weekend) my own money watching this film. It reminded me of Notting Hill on steroids but set in New York. The film almost looked like a chocolate box of New York but as my recollections of the original series came into play I remembered that near the end that sex and the city had also become like some vivid dream. I love the edgy idea of a city of strangers where it's hard to meet someone. The original character who Carrie was based on was an English born reporter living in New York. The very first episode has character who is in fact very much like.
How I miss the four main characters just talking about their sex lives and not love I've always been a strong believer that the main characters should never age. Like James Bond looking his own age if James Bond was portrayed in the films his own realistic age he would now be in his mid-80s maybe late 90s. It seems that the actresses who play the four leading characters have like the inmates of an asylum taken over. The result is the characters age like the people playing them you find that there is no enjoyable experience. The basic problem is all people age like some bad TV film in 20 years I imagine maybe two or three sequels later it will be remade like a TV film it will be like when you see Cagney and Alesi. I've always hated tripe like this unlike Star Trek which was done fairly well as a film version (on second thoughts I can think of that least three Star Trek films which were awful so maybe that was not a good example). I've read that the columns were darker and more cynical" than the "gentler" series that Star produced. To me it seems obvious that there's an opportunity here why not do a real sex and the city take the source material and make a more closely based series.

Personally there was one good thing about the later series of sex and the city and I can describe it in one word ‘Harry’. You may ask why? I'm not gay (I am actually as straight as they come) and I certainly didn't plan to become a lawyer till around a year ago. Well Harry Goldenblatt is in many ways the character that is closest to me in personality. It's not actually that we both Jewish or we are both very challenged in the hair department but its our personalities. We are both very tolerant very romantic and as his lover soon found out we are not people who will take fools gladly. There is however one other thing about both of us and we don't mind wearing good clothes.

So what do I recommend? is sex and the city a good film to see this weekend? Well if you never see Notting Hill it is almost certainly will be a great movie to see! But if you see in other films in this area then all I can say is put your arm around your other half and hope you get a good snog...

and I get some food and Drink!

Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Burt Lancaster (Deliverance), John Hurt (Alien) and Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet) star in director Sam Peckinpah's last film completed before he died aged 59 in 1984. With a cast like that what could go wrong?

I really think this is one film where context is important to understanding why it does what it does the way it does, so here goes...

Peckinpah was an acclaimed director after hits like The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs; when news spread he was working on The Osterman Weekend stars lined up to audition for the role with those starring in the film working for far less than their usual rate - just to get to work with such an esteemed man of such reputation. Yet that was also his downfall: reputation. he was an angry, bitter man who battled drugs and alcoholism and who was very ill during the film's shoot. Furthermore he was a tyrant, he was notoriously mean to actors and rarely got on with any producers so, much like Pat Garret And Billy The Kid, The Osterman Weekend was re-edited after Peckinpah's cut was shown to a test audience with a generally poor response. He came into this film several years after Convoy during which the pariah had stooped so artistically low as to shoot music videos and only really got back into film making after a 1st unit job for Don Siegel, his close friend. As it happens, Peckinpah made TOW within time and budget but it wasn't enough to restore his reputation amongst critics - mainly because of the convoluted plot. Then again, that's hardly surprising considering the re-edit, and the multiple versions of the script - none of which anyone involved seems to have been wholly happy with. And Peckinpah hated the book the film was based on, which is always going to be a bad start.

Anyway, with hazy context in place, what of the film? Well, i really can't say it's brilliant because it just isn't. There are moments that showcase Peckinpah's acute attention to detail, the brutality of his violence and come of his more canny editing techniques - not to mention drawing out one incredible performance from Craig T. Nelson as the titular Osterman. There's some great photography dotted amongst the dense narrative, rife with crosses and double crosses to the point that at the end it's really quite difficult to work out quite who was scamming who and why. But the film is good, make no doubt, and contains enough brilliance to make it not only worthwhile viewing once but probably a second or third time too.

In short, it's Network with Chuck Norris thrown in for good measure.

Sorry I've been gone for a bit. The movies I've watched recently were so very bad, they did not warrant a review. The latest, "The Other Boleyn Girl" just finished.

The book I purchased on a whim lies somewhere in my bedroom unfinished. I should have remembered that. I've never seen history move faster and possibly with more embellishment than tonight. The relationships were not allowed to develop and one could only see good vs evil in the most simplistic of forms. Scarlett Johannson was actually convincing as Mary Boleyn, though doubtful Henry would have passed her over for Anne had Mary really looked that good. Anne, played by the squeakly Natalie Portman was not nearly as appealing and was made to look like conniving wench from the start.

Henry was made to look noble, as seems to be the trend these days, given he probably was a selfish spoiled boy who made the changes he did only because he sought to gain from them. Sorry if I'm a bit harsh there. I've been watching the Tudors as well where he is made to look like the latest and greatest of hot guys that all the girls wanted so desperately. Eric Bana at least makes you want to believe it, though his want of women and the lack of choice they had is portrayed a bit more accurately here.

It's fine if you want an off brand Cliff Notes version of history along with pretty costumes and some not too bad acting. Don't leave the room without pausing the movie however, as you'll be surprised how fast time flies.

Hi to everybody...I've just sat and watched a French thriller called 'Tell no one' on Sky Premiere...I can recommend it highly to anybody who enjoys a fast moving, twisting, turning story of murder, intrigue and mayhem...
I won't spoil it by telling you the plot because even to tell you that would give something away...
Watch it and see an excellent film with excellent acting on the part of all concerned...
Great big hugs...

There was quite a bit of hype regarding Untraceable.

Many people were dissapointed by the film, me included.

The idea wasn't bad, however it isn't entirely new, and can easily be compared with Saw. Lots have people have said that the film is highly similar to an episode of the tv show, Millenium, named "Mikado." The episode comprises of a serial killer broadcasting his killings over the internet. An episode of the tv show Without a Trace named "Party Girl" shows similarities too. The episode is about a party girl being kidnapped and a video of her, tied up and crying, is posted on the internet. There is a poll asking whether she should be killed or not.

The genre of this film is crime/thriller, however it isn't entirely thrilling.

The film plot revolves around a psyscho serial killer setting up a website and posting live streams of people being tortured in different scenarios that will ultimately end in death. The more hits on the website that there are, the faster the person will die. A group of FBI agents are trying to solve the case, but the man is untraceable, and the internet site unstoppable, and it is only a matter of time before the agents themselves are being targeted.

Okay, so I made it sound as exciting as possible, but it really isn't. The film kind of drags along and has a complete anti-climax. The torture scenes are vulgar, and they kind of turn the movie into a pointless torture film.

As for this film being a crime one, it is rather dissapointing because you aren't surprised when the killer is revealed, and I wasn't even bothered how it all ended.

For some, this film may be a good watch, for its slight entertainment value, and I also suggest watching this in company, as this may make it a bit bareable.

The only positive thing I can say about this film is the incredible acting of Diane Lane, who yet again delivers perfect acting skills.

Any comments on your opinion of Untraceable will be highly appreciated.

Laila x

Originally intended as an uncut production, the version recorded/televised lost fewer than 500 lines from the original text running in at 3 and a half hours. Jacobi, an older Hamlet, plays the character shrewdly combining the wisdom of age with the madness of an interrupted youth (brought about by the death of the king). Stewart is an older Claudius, virile, calculating, confident yet etched in his face is the tension brewing underneath, the guilt of incest and murder. Eric Porter excels as Polonius, playing him humane, intelligent if slightly eccentric. If you ask me i think Horatio comes across as a bit gay.

The direction, as can reasonably be expected, is workmanlike - letting the material speak for itself amidst uncluttered sets/stages letting the actors act without distraction. The 80s tv cinematography is dull, with the rendering of bright light (eg flame) distinctly poor although these occasions are fleeting.

All round i've got to say i thought it was brilliant - understandable, entertaining and intriguing.

8 screenshots here

Hi to everybody...sat and watched 'Enchanted' tonight on SKY Box office....saw clips from it at the cinema and thought it looked amusing...
What it turned out to be was excellent family entertainment. Made by Walt Disney where fantasy characters come to life in New York and turn the world of those they meet upside down...nothing is unsuitable for kids so great for a wet weekend...
I've got nothing more to add to this...LOL...don't want to spoil it so spend an hour and a half going back to your childhood with your kids...young kids I mean...
Have a good night and sweet dreams to one and all...

Hi to everybody...as there was nothing else to watch, I decided to watch 'Sunshine' directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting fame with, among others most relatively unknown, Cillian Murphy.
Here's a quote from Capa played by Murphy...Our sun is dying. Mankind faces extinction. Seven years ago the Icarus project sent a mission to restart the sun but that mission was lost before it reached the star. Sixteen months ago, I, Robert Capa, and a crew of seven left earth frozen in a solar winter. Our payload a stellar bomb with a mass equivalent to Manhattan Island. Our purpose to create a star within a star....
This gives you some idea of the purpose of the film, but, before too long, this starts to go wrong as they do in all these type of films...and why is there always somebody on board going around sabotaging everything?...surely, the crew would have been vetted to the point where absolutely nothing wouldn't be known about their stability of temperament and ability to stay sane under extreme stress...seems not...okay, somebody makes a massive mistake...one man is left alone to work out some vitally important changes of course and nobody double checks he's got them all right and hey presto, everything gets completely screwed up...
Then they discover the previous mission's space ship floating only fifteen thousand miles away so after disaster after disaster has happened due to this one man's error on their ship, which could have been deliberate, they decide to veer off course and check it out...
Okay, fair enough...everything goes wrong over there too...by now I had the feeling that somebody in the script room had taken a ladle and decided to throw in everything but the kitchen sink...I was wrong...the kitchen sink did go in...in the form of the insane Captain of the doomed ship who hitched a lift with them when three of them were forced to do a high speed space trip from one ship to the other with only Murphy in a space suit??? - the saboteur decided to jettison the old space ship, so before it drifted too far away, the men on board it had to get back to their ship. Nobody explained how a naked burned and totally insane man was missed when they arrived back in their ship minus one of the men because he'd missed the ship and was floating off into space. Anyway, he decided he was going to sabotage this ship too and set off on a killing spree.
Here it got damned confusing because Murphy survived and one other woman, still being chased by this insane Captain who declared that he had been speaking to God for seven years??? Oh, yes, nobody thought to ask him what God said...but there we go...and finally to complete what had now become all but a farce, Murphy along with the girl who somehow gets on to the bomb and the insane Captain too, and it has to be detonated to save the world...pan in to massive explosion and Murphy stretching out his hand for at least a minute or two to touch the burning fiery conflagration...what!
Then back to earth and it's frozen and his two children and his wife are playing on the frozen landscape when suddenly the sun glows and sunlight spreads across the scene....the end!
Damn it...I love a good sci-fi film but this was so full of holes you could use it as a sieve...hmmm...I would only recommend it if you had absolutely nothing else to do and wanted to waste an hour and three quarters...great big hugs to one and all...