Category Archives: Reviews

The King’s Speech Review

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‘The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.‘

I think this movie was a victim of its own hype. I had heard so many rave reviews about it that I finished the film feeling slightly let down. I still enjoyed the movie, but it wasn’t the amazing piece of cinema that everyone had been raving about. I’m glad that I watched it, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to see it again anytime soon.

The opening to the movie was brilliant, I really felt for Prince Albert (Colin Firth) as he was standing in front Continue reading →

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Review

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‘A couple undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.‘

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has been on my must watch list for a number of years, and now that I’ve finally seen it I find myself both happy that it exceeded all my expectations and sad that I won’t get to watch it for the first time again. I think this is a rather appropriate reaction to a movie that deals so well with the nature of memory as both a gift and a curse.

What are we without our memories? Wouldn’t life be so much simpler if we could erase all the painful moments from our lives, those embarrassing Continue reading →

The French Connection Review

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‘A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.‘

The French Connection is a perfect example of how tension can make a movie. From the very beginning this movie is one big chase, with detectives Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) hounding heroin smuggler Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) at every turn until they can bring him down. The movie never delves too deeply into its characters, it’s all about the chase.

The various chase scenes that make up the majority of the movie are masterfully crafted. Whether it’s Popeye trailing Continue reading →

L.A. Noire Review

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‘Amid the post-war boom of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Cole Phelps is an LAPD detective thrown headfirst into a city drowning in its own success. Corruption is rampant, the drug trade is exploding, and murder rates are at an all-time high. In his fight to climb the ranks and do what’s right, Phelps must unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, racketeering conspiracies and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of his own department to uncover a secret that could shake the city to its rotten core.‘

I must admit that I’ve never been the biggest fan of Rockstar Games (although I’ve never played Red Dead: Redemption). While the Grand Theft Auto series can be fun at times I quickly find myself getting bored with them. So it was with mixed feelings that I approached L.A. Noire. Thankfully, L.A. Noire is a very different game, and I hope that we get more like it in the future.

One of the best aspects of the game is the wonderful atmosphere it creates. L.A. in the 40’s is recreated in loving detail and the characters Continue reading →

Mad Men – Marriage of Figaro Review

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‘Pete returns from his honeymoon, excited about his new marriage, but conflicted about his past encounter with Peggy. After his business relationship with Rachel takes an unforeseen turn, Don attends a party which further illuminates his increasing dissatisfaction with his present life.‘

Don and Rachel

This episode opens with some new hints about Don’s mysterious past when a man on the train recognises Don as ‘Dick Whitman’. Rather than correcting the man, Don takes his business card and noncommittally agrees to catch up soon. The writers are doing a great job with dropping bread crumbs on this story, I’m looking forward to discovering what Don is hiding. One thing that he certainly isn’t doing a great job of hiding is his attraction to strong business woman Rachel Menken. These two have a real chemistry and I’m sure that we’re going to see a lot more of this impossible romance in future episodes.

Don Draper wannabe Pete returns in this episode, but the scenes in Continue reading →

Doctor Who – The Doctor’s Wife Review

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‘The Doctor receives a distress signal from an old friend. Could there really be another living Time Lord out there? Hopes raised, he follows the signal to a junkyard planet sitting upon a mysterious asteroid in a Bubble universe, populated by a very strange family.‘

I’d been looking forward to this episode ever since I heard that Neil Gaiman was writing it. Letting that twisted mind play in the universe of Doctor Who is a recipe for brilliance. And Gaiman certainly didn’t disappoint with this episode. This is the best episode of Doctor Who that I have seen in a long time.

From the very beginning, Gaiman’s touch on the episode is obvious – many of the scenes Continue reading →

Super 8 Review

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‘After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon.‘

After being let down by the lack of any real tension watching X-Men – First Class the night before, Super 8 was a welcome relief. This movie uses classic jump moments very well, but it doesn’t rely on them. It is a movie that knows how to take its time in building the characters and tension so that when everything goes to hell, we really care about what’s happening.

The movie opens with a brilliant sequence set several months before the main story. While using almost Continue reading →

The Borgias – Season 1 Review

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‘The Borgias is the sordid saga of one of the most remarkable and legendary families in history. Set in 15th century Italy at the height of the Renaissance, The Borgias chronicles the corrupt rise of patriarch Rodrigo Borgia to the papacy, where he proceeds to commit every sin in the book to amass and retain power, influence and enormous wealth for himself and his family. The Borgia family changed the face of Italy and Catholicism, and inspired works like Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Mario Puzo’s The Godfather.‘

The Borgias

The Borgias was created for Showtime by writer/director Neil Jordan, a well-known figure in the film industry probably best known for films such as The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire. He had spent nine years trying to get The Borgias going as a movie when Showtime approached him to make a series. The Canadian-Irish-Hungarian co-production was filmed at the Korda Film Studios in Hungary in five massive soundstages, and cost a whopping $40 million to film the 9 episode run. The series proved to be one of Showtime’s biggest hits this year averaging 3.3 million weekly viewers and outperforming the highest-rated season of The Tudors by 20% (season four, 2.7 million).

Being a historical drama, The Borgias is largely aimed at an older audience, slightly more skewed towards female viewers. But with their campaign to Continue reading →

X-Men – First Class Review

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‘In 1962, Charles Xavier starts up a school and later a team, for humans with superhuman abilities. Among them is Erik Lensherr, his best friend… and future archenemy.‘

After the disastrous last two X-Men movies (X3 & Origins: Wolverine) I went into this movie with very low expectations. Thankfully, the movie was much better than I expected – but it doesn’t really compare to the first two X-Men movies. And the fact that this movie is a prequel is a large part of the problem. We all know where these characters are going to end up, and many of the movie’s finer moments lack tension because they seem to be ticking the necessary boxes to fit into the established timeline.

Actually, the movie seemed to be missing any real tension throughout. The characters tell us that Continue reading →