Saturday 30 June 2007

Severance - Dir: Christopher Smith


A slasher in the woods after a group of people in the wrong place at the wrong time is hardly an original plot, but to be fair this movie does inject some orignality into the proceedings with some nicely placed comedy laughs. Danny Dyer does the usual Danny Dyer performance and Tim Mcinnerny (Darling in Blackadder) is perfect as the stressed out leader of a team gone to a remote cottage for a group building exercise. Some nice scares, gore, tension and build up. Better than you might expect. This is a JM SUCK IT AND SEE.

Friday 29 June 2007

The Death of Mr Lazarescu - Dir: Cristi Puiu


Alarm bells! You think you might be in for one of the most morbid and boring journeys ever put to celluloid, especially when you factor in that it's over two and half hours long and subtitled. This however is exactly the opposite. It's a fascinating watch. You watched transfixed as you see a very special night in the life of Mr Lazarescu as he seeks help from the Romanian medical system. You think the NHS system is messed up, you ain't seen nothing yet! This is a JM RECOMMENDS.

Thursday 28 June 2007

Scenes of a Sexual Nature - Dir: Ed Blum


With a title like that, you can expect one of two things - that it's going to be a bonkathon or is hiding a carnival of sins. Unfortunately here it is the latter. As the opening credit rolls you see a plethora of names you recognise and sort of recognise which looks promising. The actual movie turns out to be a series of sort of interlinked scenes about love and sex. It's a solid basis for an interesting movie in theory. Unfortunately the script is pretty wooden, as are some of the performances, and even Ewan Mcgregor doesn't put any real effort in. Catherine Tate is in too but you feel she is about one notch away from being an acceptable actress. This is a JM THUMBS DOWN.

Wednesday 27 June 2007

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - Dir: Tim Story


This is definitely a case of 'flame on' for this sequel, but that wouldn't have been hard compared to the first dirge movie. The Silver Surfer is ace and literally steals the show, and he hardly says a word! I'm still not feeling that the actors for the Fantastic Four were the right choice (apart from Michael Chiklis - who else apart from The Shield's Vic Mackey could be Ben Grimm?!) as they all seem a bit lightweight. Dr Doom isn't half the villain he is supposed to be, and really for an action movie, it all seems a bit action-lite tm. Overrall it's ok and passes the time - so it's a JM SUCK IT AND SEE rating.

Tuesday 26 June 2007

An Inconvenient Truth


One of those films that you don't really want to watch, but feel like you have to to tick the box. I was wrong. This is a must watch. You think it is going to be boring and complicated, but AL Gore lays in down in simple, fascinating but shocking facts. The Earth is f**cked unless we do something quickly. This is a JM RECOMMENDS.

Monday 25 June 2007

The Black Dahlia - Dir: Brian De Palma


Really loved the book, love the director and like Hartnett and Johansson. Just didn't really like this. It looks great and seems okayly written in places, but the story never really seems to gel. It felt like it had all the elements to be a fantastic movie based on the infamous Black Dahlia 1940s murder in Los Angeles but never really gets there. JM THUMBS DOWN

The Death of a Porn Star


This was on More 4 the other night. A documentary and investigation in to the life and death of Lolo Ferrari, the pornstar with the massive boobies! Remember her off Eurotrash? She died in 2000, not from suffocation as you might imagine, but from an overdose. After a 2nd recent autopsy it transpires that there are suspicions she may have been murdered by her husband. The husband came across as a creepy chap and Lolo came across as mentally confused. It's an interesting watch that in reality puts blame for her sorry life at the door of many people. It's a JM SUCK IT AND SEE rating.