Reviews

Leave it up to Unchained Melody, Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze to make pottery making into a cinematic statement screaming beauty, love and suggestive undertones. If there has ever been a more romantic scene in either film or real life, than I certainly haven't seen it! Ghost is giant melting pot of romance, thriller, suspense, comedy and a hint of the supernatural and with the loudmouth medium Whoopi Goldberg added to the roller coaster ride, you know it also has the vibrant and colourful cast to match.

A young couple move into their first apartment together; she's an artist and he's the corporate type. But once again love sees no class because these young kids are deeply in love, aww how sweet, I think I might need a tissue. However soon tragedy strikes as Patrick's character Sam Wheat is murdered but what seems at first at the hands of a low life street mugger. But this is Ghost and love is so powerful and eternal that not even the afterlife can keep these two apart as Patrick spirit returns. How unfortunately the only person who can see or hear him is medium Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), so the pair must work together in a race against time to save Demi's character Molly Jensen's life when it to comes under threat.

When I say the power of love, you say; Pretty Women, Dirty Dancing, an Office and a gentleman and the Notebook, but for me the true heavyweight in the world of romance is Ghost, the very epitome of love conquering all. You can't spell forever without love.

Only once in a decade do you feel that a film has truly opened its soul to you; we have had the likes of Apocalypse Now in the 70's and its brutal honesty about the destructive power of war. Shindlers List in the 90's and its personification of mans remarkable ability to change and self sacrifice. Now in the 2010's we have 12 Years a Slave, which I consider to be a Pandora Box story at its centre, showing that hope can often be the only thing left strong enough to guide you through some of the most unspeakable cruelties.

Director Steve McQueen's 12 Years of a Slave is a historical drama based on real life accounts of Solomon Northup, a Free African American family man with a beautiful musical gift (Chitwetel Ejiofor) who in 1841 who was wrongly sold into slavery for 12 years. During that long struggle, his every turn was fraught with pain of being kept away from his family and the pain of watching his fellow people subjugated to stomach turning horror. But unlike on TV, when the horror gets too scary and real, you can't change channels. During those years of being sold and moved, he encounters a wide spectrum of different people and masters; on one side he comes under the ownership of Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch) one the very few slave masters who seem to have some semblances of a moral compass as he tries in vain to keep a family together instead of allowing them to be sold separately. Then later on we have a cameo from Brad Pitt playing Samuel Bass, a builder who seems to be the only white person in the film who voices adamant objections to the treatment of the slaves. While on the offer more sinister side there is Tibeats Paul Dano a man who is clearly threatened by the far more intelligent Solomon who is fast becoming a favourite of Ford, which causes Tibeat to seek to humiliate Solomon and punish him at his every whim. But the real villain is Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender) who starts off as the most ambiguous of the other slave masters encountered. In the beginning he seems passive and submissive to his wife, but as the film progresses he grows more and more deranged and insane fueled by his predilection bordering on obsession with Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), a cotton picking slave girl. This truth infuriates his wife (Sarah Paulson), causing tension between the two of them, especially when the wife is faced with the crushing blow that she will always play second fiddle to Patsey. Just to play devils advocate, from four amazing actors who brought you Tyler Durden, Eli Sunday, Magneto and Sherlock, one of my few criticisms on 12 Year of Slave is that I would have wanted to see a little more of these fine actors and the characters I felt remained largely unexplored in the film. On a film diet consisting of emotional drenched Marlon Brando ramblings and big resounding Al Pacino speeches, initially it perplexed me how Nyong'o's and Ejiofor 's more subtle and less extravagant performances were able to garner a Oscar win and nomination. However upon reflection I realized that the performances were perfectly suitable to express both characters systematic beating down, the time and era and the emotional stress each was under throughout. And because Nyong'o and Ejiofor were able to evoke and encompass such difficult hardship in natural understated manners, it showed their deep understandings of the text as a whole and the unique turmoil of each character.

In terms of an overall response to 12 Years of a Slave; I initially didn't know much about this subject because back in school I always felt that the slave trade was a segment of history that was always underexplored. But this film sought to correct that, as it offered a great educational experience teaching me a lot about the plight and hardship unfairly thrust on to these innocent people.12 Years also reminded me again that cinema has the ability to transcend from shackles of just being about entertainment and the spectacle, when in fact it can be so much more than that. It can be a way to hold to our society a mirror reflecting only unflinching sincerity exposing the truth of humanity, from our compassionate nature too our darkest and sinister capacity for evil. While at other times a single film can teach you a lot more than an entire library of textbooks, because while a good book asks you to engage your mind, a great film asks you to engage your entire being and soul . Another thing about 12 Years that I enjoyed was Patricia Norris's good enough to put Downton Abbey to shame costume design certainly which caught my eye. At times it was like watching a beautiful 1900's painting of the bourgeoisie coming to life. 12 Years of Slave remain on the fine light between the arguments of; is it is important to constantly remind ourselves of the past so to ensure that it never happens again? Or does such reflection only ensure that the past is repeated because by continuing to look at the despicable atrocity of the history, you only succeed in adding more timbre to the blaze of hostility and breed more mistrust. But my stance on the subject is rather cleaner cut; by ignoring of the past is denying the essences of these good people the solace of allowing their suffering to act as a reminder to all future generations of how not to treat people, because whilst the slaves lost their bodies to the slave trade, the masters and owners lost more in the way of their souls and humanity.

Written and Directed by Sofia Co Coppola, Somewhere is pretty much a hollowed out remake of Lost in Translation. With all its melancholy heart and that cold wintery isolation that you could empathise with from the main characters completely stripped out. Similar to Murray in LT, our main character Johnny (Stephen Dorff) is an actor living from hotel room to hotel room, whilst emotionally and consciously withdrawn from all the various awards ceremonies and press junkets he is made to do. Annoyingly from the gecko we are left completely indifferent to the main character, partly due to the face that his motives and desire throughout the whole film consistently remain ambiguous and dubious. When certain thinks do break the monotony of his existence, they still have no real implications on Jonny, for example in the opening sequence he breaks his hand, but as the film progresses it never has any affect on his life. Isn't the guy an actor, wouldn't a broken hand be bad for business? Then later in the film Jonny witnesses a car crash involving a sport car very similar to his own, but instead of contemplating the frivolity of material wealth in the face of death, he just carries on driving by as if he saw a plastic bag floating in the wind instead.

The only smallest flicker of emotion we ever do see emanating from our main character is when his daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) is dumped on his door step by his ex wife. Although the moments they share together are sweet and endearing, particularly in a scene where Jonny is watching his daughter ice skating through with his eyes filled with affection - ice skating is an activity Cleo plainly is really good at and highly enjoys doing. Ultimately I find the inclusion of the daughter rather strange, this is a guy who spends his time randomly sleeping with women, drinking profusely and gambling, yet the sudden emergence of his daughter has little effect on his destructive lifestyle. While on the daughters part even when she joined at the breakfast table by her father's most recent female conquest, Cleo doesn't even seem to mind that this woman out of nowhere has barged in and disrupted the little cocoon she has with her father.

However what I do applaud, in a sea of impossibly fast actions scenes that rip past your eyes in seconds found in so many American films nowadays; I enjoyed Sofia use of long takes that focus on the in between, non sensationalised moments in life. In particular a scene in which Jonny has to wait as the prosthetic glue on his face has dried, even when all the make men has gone out of lunch. At first I felt it was on screen for beat too long, but then I realized in was a rather poignant way of showing the not so glamorous and often tedious side of acting – getting special effects make up put on. It's not all red carpets, adoring fans and fat pay cheques you know!

I understand that the theme is showing the numbing effect of fame, that can leave you as an empty vessel just going with the motions, but it is the fact that nothing really is resolved in Somewhere or evoked with any real meaning and with the fact the main character never physically experiences implication on his life based on his actions, instead just takes everything in his stride with cool nonchalance. This leaves the film reminiscent of an empty shell being dragged in the wind, with no real direction or meaning to its existence. "Somewhere," won the Golden Lion at the 2010 Venice Film Festival, all I can say, I never knew that a national Italian pastime was watching paint dry.

WARNIG! Don't watch Casablanca because you will regret it, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

The biggest travesty and atrocity a kid could ever be inflected with, is when you're given the crushing blow that Santa is not real. Well take that dreadful feeling and then multiply it by a thousand, and you might just be able understand the heart wrenching pain that I felt after so many years of eager anticipation to watch supposedly one of the greatest films of all time, only to find out the hard way upon watching Casablanca, that the film doesn't live up to anywhere close to all the hype surrounding it. Trust me finding that Rudolf, the elves and Santa workshop didn't exist was a walk in the park compared to this!

1941 was in the grips of a deadly second world war, but while the rest of Europe was going up in flames, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) was living it up in the sun, sea and sand of Morocco where he remained entirely neutral whilst cozying it up in a nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca. But trouble is at foot as the Germans come looking for a famous Czech Resistance fugitive leader by the name of Victor Lazio. But then to shovel another tone onto Ricks plate; "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." The love of his life Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) that once broke his heart returns to cause trouble again.

Okay so what's wrong with it, gosh there is so much to point out, I'm going dizzy just thinking about it. Now I'm sat down, let me make it easier for myself, what's good about it...umm well? I'm stumped, I've literally scratched my head so much, I think I've left myself with a bald patch. The first blatant criticism is the rotten acting that leaves a wretched smell in the air and horrible unsavoury taste in the mouth. Like come on if I wanted to see such wooden performance I would go to a Shakespeare in the park where all the character are played by actual trees! Imagine how many times in the entire film did Rick ever show even a flicker of emotion in the film, the answer is (drum roll please) zero, cero and null. But this ain't an episode of who wants to be a millionaire and I'm not Terry Crews, so don't be expecting any cash prizes. Instead from Rick all you get is one long continuous monotone delivery of each and every line, which unfortunately to my ears sounds similar to a heart monitor flat lining. But don't think for a moment that Ilsa will resuscitate the morbid desolation that becomes of Casablanca at the hands of Rick. Because Ilsa has the habit of always turning smiles upside down, her character has no backbone and merely sways back and forth between both Lazio (Husband) and Rick like she were a hula skirt in the wind anytime she sees fit. In the entire film I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a single thought in the film that doesn't involve either one of the two men.

However on a good note, while the acting was crummy, the words coming from their mouths were surprisingly rather good. I've used quite a few quotes from the film in my review because the dialogue in Casablanca was clever, witty and enjoyable to hear and thus quite right the scriptwriter pair of the Epstein brothers and Howard Koch received Oscar recognition for their exploits. Also what I do applaud is the way Michael Curtiz weaves into the film the ethos of always having the courage to resist and triumphing against whatever evil the world may try to put in your way. Anytime you see inside of Rick's bar it is constantly brimming with joy and happiness, which is a refreshing sight to witness when you consider that above all their heads is suffocating Nazi shaped black cloud. The best illustration of this is in the scene where Victor he spurs the customers in Rick's cafe to a deifying yet beautiful rendition of Marseillaise, effectively drowning out the chorus of Nazis singing. But don't confuse my compliments with me softening up to Casablanca, the film still sucks!

The word 'auteur' is French for 'author', essential the idea behind auteur theory is that a filmmaker exercises an authorship over his/her work as if they were a novelist. This results in their work always consisting of a stylistic, technical or narrative signature that is unique to them, allowing the audience when watching a film to instantly be able know who directed it. Since the dawn of cinema, we have had the pleasure of witnessing many auteur's doing what they do best, which is making films that are unique and inherently them; may it be Hitchcock and his ever present big twists or Tarantino and his hyper violent nonlinear narratives. But in this modern day, only one filmmaker working do I really feel optimisers the word auteur the best, which is Wes Anderson and if you read my Moonlight Kingdom review you will know I'm a massive fan. Forget Moonlight Kingdom or Royal Tenenbaums, because Rushmore in particular ranks as my all time favourite Anderson film.

Every school has them, that one kid who seems to have at least 40 hours a day, while the rest of us mere mortals only have 24 to wrestle with. Then not just seemingly having more hours than the rest of us, this one kid is also able to achieve and do so much more in a week then most people do in a life time. Rushmore has one and his name is Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), an obnoxious, precocious 15 year old who is just about involved in every extracurricular clubs known to man; it could be as dull as competitive box packing club, as pointless as a hopping backwards whilst blindfolded club or even as impossible as a synchronised diving whilst playing the violin club. If there is a club, I can guarantee that not only is Max Fischer the president of that club, but was probably the found of it to. But you're thinking with all that extracurricular activity, how would he have time to do well academically also? Well even the extraordinary Max Fischer can't be a part of all those clubs and still get straight A's, his failing and is in the danger of being kicked of Rushmore, which promises to make a lot of people happy, including the head teacher himself, the school bully and his once pint sized friend now turned bitter enemy . Then when you thought that was harsh on him, to top it all off, he has to compete for the affection of the beautiful yet quaint teacher Rosemary (Olivia Williams), with his much older, idol and best friend Herman Blume (Bill Murray), who also just happens to be a millionaire too. Sounds like trying to sink the Titanic with an ice cube or trying to accurately measure how tall Mount Everest is with a 6 inch ruler; basically what I'm trying to say is things seem pretty impossible for Max to able to both win the girl and stay at Rushmore too. But this is Max Fischer we're talking about! He can't even spell the word failure – no literally he can't, he flunked English too.

Being only Anderson's second feature after Bottle Rocket, you can forgive Rushmore hasn't quite got the same Picasso-esk cinematography, that with its rich, vibrant and bright textures is so effortlessly able to set each scene a blaze with colour, that is beautifully demonstrated in his later films like Moonrise or The Grand Budapest Hotel. However Rushmore still possesses Andersons flair for creating seemingly perfect and coherent characters on the surface, but when you actually venture under the glossy finishes, you realise they are more mad, crazy and dysfunctional then you could ever imagine. And it's for that very reason why I loved the characters of Herman and Max so adamantly, who while on the surface seem so dissimilar; Max being so pronounced and well put together while Herman on other hand is always a car crash waiting to happen, but deep down they are just lonely souls seeking the honest feeling of love and acceptance. My favourite sequence of theirs was when they were trying to sabotage each other; Max by putting bees in Herman's hotel room and then Herman in retaliation destroying Max's bike. The sequence was so imaginative and provided a shed load of many great laughs, reminding me greatly of Tom and Jerry. What I also love about Wes Anderson, is that he never gets lazy when it comes to characterising his supporting characters, they are always so dynamic, unique and if we were to follow their lives instead, it will also make for a great movie. When it comes to picking the best supporting characters, it's so difficult because they all have such compelling personalities and idiosyncrasies, there is Max's father who is a barber but is always strangely mistaken for a neurosurgeon, there is the bully with the really thick Scottish accent and then there is Dirk who is so adorable that he puts Macaulay Culkin in Home alone to shame. Empire was right when it ranked Rushmore in the top 200 films of all time, because I'm in no doubt that Wes Anderson's banger should be on everyone's bucket lists of films to watch.

Love! In one stances can be the most beautiful of human experiences that change a life, and bring a person whole oceans full of happiness. But at the same time, it can make people go their entire life searching for it, risking heart ache, pain and rejection and yet still never really finding it in the end. Then when you do find it, it makes you do crazy and stupid things, and when it comes to February the 14th, you're left with an empty wallet and remortgaged house just so you can put a smile on her face and a ring on it. So why go through all of it? Why, I'll tell you why, because its love, it's that unbelievable, confusing yet exiting sensation that no amount of words in the entire world could ever have a hope for defining. While Hollywood sucks at sequels and remakes, it seems these three godfathers of romantic films in the shape of When Harry met Sally, The Note Book and Titanic, has shown that Hollywood has had better success in the area of love and I feel that with release of Marc Webb's sensational depute 500 days of Summer is certainly a film that on merits, as time goes by will certainly join the before mention ranks.

Don't you find the same old boy meet girl story rather boring and contrived? And don't you absolutely hate the word romance films? First of all the title is not at all guy friendly, and certainly not a word you want to be throwing around in the guys changing rooms. But 500 Days of Summer is as far removed from a conventional and predictable romance film, as Saw is from a Disney family film. Why? Well when you think Romance films you think about fairy tales and happily ever after's, but in 500 Days of Summer it doesn't try to delude its audience, instead its franc, realistic and extremely relatable. Then secondly it's not just your standard boy meets girl, then they fall madly in love and finally get married in that same order time and time again, instead what writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (Fault in our Stars) did so ingeniously was rip up the boring old blue print, and put it back together in a fresh new and wacky way; think Romeo and Juliet meets Christopher Nolan's Memento.

Meet Tom (Gordon-Levitt), an aspiring architect stuck in a dead end job working for a card greeting company, that does nothing but inspire boredom from him. He's one of life's go- getters, internal optimist and a real glass half full type of guy. Oh and in a interesting roles reversal, he is absolutely obsessed with the notion of true love and soul mates, while on other hand we have the fresh faced, definition of cute secretary Summer (Zoe Deschanel) who doesn't buy the whole love thing, and would rather remain single than allowing it to consume her life. I can guess what you're thinking; you couldn't get any more diametrically opposed than if you brought chalk and cheese or day and night together. However sparks do fly between them and through a nonlinear sequence of events we jump, back and forth to various points of their relationships; from the highs to the lows, funny to the serious and the comedy to the drama as their differences make their relationship very difficult.

If you wanted me to list all the superlatives I have for 500 days of Summer for you, you would be spend days reading my review, after I had spent weeks writing it because the truth it, I loved the film from beginning to end. First the whole concept of the nonlinear telling of the story was both imaginative and interesting and certainly stands out above most of today's romance films with its inspired innovation. The script was phenomenal all the way through, provided a barrel of laughs whilst also injecting a sense of depth to the film that really made you pause and rethink things, and the fact the story was based on actually real world relationship experiences that the writers had, was probably why the film was able to resonate so deeply with its audiences upon release. If you were already a fan of the TV show New Girl staring Zoe Deschanel and you thought that she was really funny in the show, then watching her in this will send you to the hospital for literally bursting out laughing. But that is no disservice to my man Levitt, who offers a light hearted relief to his stone cold, lifeless performances in the Dark Knight Rises and Looper.

I was also particular impressed with Marc Webb's directing, especially seeing that this was his debut film, which I would rank up there with the likes of Mendes with American Beauty and Tarantino with Resiviour Dogs in terms of best depute film exploits. All in all, I would highly recommended film to all manly men, pessimists or horror fans, because it a lot more than just a romance film, it's a film about real life that I feel we can all learn a great deal from.

Leonardo Da Vinci created awe inspiring paintings, Beethoven composed genius symphonies and Woody Allen writes the best dialogue on the planet, each man is a god in their field, but only one of them can boast 14 Oscar script nominations to his name. You talk about the Last Supper, I talk about Annie Hall and Hannah and her Sisters. Woody Allen's perennial love affair with Ingmar Bergman once again manifests itself in one of his films; Hannah and her Sister can draw great parallels with Bergman's seminal Fanny and Alexander, both films provide a turbulent decent into the lives of a dysfunctional family over the course of couple of years bookend by family gatherings, here in the shape of Thanksgiving while in Fanny and Alexander it is Christmas. In Hannah and her Sister we focus primary on the characters of three sisters Hannah, Holly and Lee, all connected by blood but in terms of personalities and success in life they are all diametrically opposed. Hannah (Mia Farrow) is the oldest, most successful and strong willed; while Holly (Dianne Wiest) on the other hand is in constant flux in life, never begin able to find her true calling, while Lee (Barbara Hershey) the youngest is an ex-alcoholic, student who always wears her heart on her sleeve.

The film opens up during Thanksgiving dinner, on the surface everything seems upbeat and festive, however Elliot (Michael Caine) the husband too Hannah finds himself deeply infatuated with her sister Lee "God she is Beautiful" are very first words spoken in the film, however even when we do find out that Lee harbors similar desires towards him in return and thus begins a secret love affair. It is never made abundantly clear where her feelings are true or if she is merely using Elliot as a stop gap for the whole left in her life during the decaying of her own relationship to Fredrick a self absorbed painter. But it isn't only Lee whose life is experiencing upheaval. Holly who never seems to be able to quite find herself, has lived in the shadow of her much more successful older sister Hannah, causing major underlining tension between the two characters. This tension eventually boils to the surface in probably the most distinct scene in the film where all three sisters sit down in a restaurant; with the main topic of discussion being Holly's need money from Hannah for what seems like the 100th time to fund her latest career path. Despite Hannah obligingly agreeing to do so, Holly still finds an excuse to play the victim stating that her sister only ever saw her as a "Loser". What I love the most about this scene, is that it deviates greatly from Allen's traditional technical approach to filmmaking, which is always subvert and naturalistic and rarely drawing attention to itself, however in this scene the camera slowly rotates around all three sisters as if circling the event horizon in a black hole before being engulfed by the dark abyss that is these sisters relationship. Unfortunately the only ever time Allen display this type of flare is in Annie Hall as we have the pleasure of seeing split screens, subtitles of the subtext of scenes and even breaking the fourth wall, which uses all these components so effectively and innovatively something regularly lacking in his work.

The last major plot element of the film features Woody Allen making his usual appearance in his own productions, playing here Hannah's ex-husband Mickey, a hypochondriac TV producer who finds himself in an existential life crises concerning the point and meaning of life, during his latest health scare. Unfortunately whilst his usual appearances are effective such as is Manhattan and in Play it Again Sam, which he delivers wonderful performances which are integral for each particular films, yet in Hannah and her Sisters I found his narrative arc to being rather to preachy, self-righteous and ultimately unnecessary because it would have served better to have delved even deeper into the sister dynamics, and we need to see a lot more from Hannah who appeared to be more of a boot sale ornament in each scene rather than an actual character.

When you consider Hannah and her Sister was attributed with two three of the big Oscars; both supporting Oscars a fete only equated by The fighter and Julia, whilst also receiving the Oscar for best original screenplay, it really defines Wood Allen as a director and writer, he's a fantastic actor's director who can illicit some of the most wonderful performances from his actors, and working with him is always a career highlight, just ask Penelope Cruz and Mariel Hemingway. Then you just have to look at the fact that he has been nominated 14 times for best screenplay to show adept he is at writing dialogue, however while Hannah and her Sister demonstrates his fantastic acting directing and sensational writing, for me the film doesn't break into my all time five best Allen pictures. This is mainly due to his inclusion into the story, which played to Allen's usual hypochondriac role that we have seen him playing way to many times before. I also felt his story also greatly subtracted from the time we should have been spending with the three main actresses, and despite drawing the film out to a mind numbing 2 hours +, I never felt we were ever able to see enough of them Hannah and her Sister ironically.

Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn and Frank Sinatra, fame is associated with glitz and glamour, big parties, more money than you can ever could dream off and millions of adoring fans all screaming your name. But what they don't tell you is that fame can also be associated with a world of no trust, self loathing, and drug abuse, loss of a perspective or reality and heart break. For every rags to riches story, is a slow painful descent from the heavens and the stars into a hell were you constantly face the dark side of humanity. For every Beyonce there is a Marilyn Monroe, for every Clint eastwood there is a Kurt Cobain and for every Jerry Seinfeld there is a Michael Jackson. Fame has the beautiful, yet macabre ability to change some people's lives, and destroy others. So why do we risk so much and seek it so adamantly? Everyone has their own reason for wanting fame, but the most common is our quest for acceptance, and when you're a young teenager in the most populated city on earth, you can still feel more isolated than if you were the only person there.

1980 was the very forefront of the massive boom in coming of age films, which details the lives of young people and their trials and tribulations of the difficult and confusing transition into adulthood whilst trying to recover from pain of watching their childhood end. But whilst later films like Dazed and Confused and American Pie took more of a light hearted and humorous tone, it was Alan Parker who brought us a more realistic, gritty and niche magnifying glass into the lives of teens in New York City. They come from all walks of life, from the poor Bronx to the right upper eastside of Manhattan, however what they all have in common is a whole lot of ambition, dreams and talent and insatiable hunger for fame, but the world is cruel and not everyone has what it takes to make it. Over the course of; Auditions, freshman, sophomore, junior and senior year we follow the lives of; Leroy (Gene Anthony Ray) the hot headed naturally gifted dancer who can't read, Montgomery (Paul McCrane) a ultra serious thespian struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality, Ralph a street wise compulsive liar, Bruno (Lee Curreri) who is by far ahead of his time and lastly Doris a personality less shrinking violet who soon learns to blossom. Besides Doris who seems forced by her mother to pursue a life in the creative arts, the exact motivations for each of the main characters reasons for wanting fame is generally unclear and the film never really explicitly defines them, but as the audience we don't care because in each of these kids we see a little bit of ourselves, and thus will them to success with all our hearts.

Similar to a Robert Altman film we weave effortlessly through the ensembles lives, experiencing their uplifting highs as well as their crushing lows as if we were actually standing right next to them throughout. Warning don't expect any fairy tales and happily ever afters in Fame; there is abortion, exploitation, attempted suicide, racial divides, death and drug abuse in Christopher Gore script that never stops shocking you and sending you on an emotional roller-coaster, as you immerse yourselves in the lives of these teens, laughing and crying as they do and eventually falling in love with them.

Working so expertly with such a young cast of relatively unknowns and producing such a excellent piece of filmmaking, wasn't a flash in the pan or fluke by Alan Parker, because you just have to look back to the toe tapping all kids gangster musical Bugsy Malone as a further demonstration of Parkers ability to work so well and nurture young talent into giving such breath taking performance. In particular the one that stood out to me the most in Fame was Barry Miller as Ralph we was able to pull of the most dynamic and layered character with ease and charm, but never being afraid to lay out his entire soul to the audience. You just have to look at the scene he shares with his mother, sister and preacher in church as an example, a scene absolutely dripping with raw emotion.

I personally was one of those people to fall in love not just with the characters but with the film as a whole because it has the grace of ballerina, the power of a Ballard and the ability to provoke thought like a Shakespearean actor. Fame stands fearless, toe to toe with controversy and bat an eye lid, but it's not serious all the time there is a swimming pool full of fun gushing into every scene; the boys in the toilets trying to see into the girls changing rooms and the spontaneous soul-drenched dance numbers, that gallivanted a whole generation of New Yorkers to risk a beat down and try to pirouette on top of a taxi if you haven't already laughed enough.

Bring him a well deserved BAFTA nomination, Fame sits aptly next Mississippi Burning and American Express as some of Alan's greatest crowning achievements, which helped him win BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the highest honour the British Film Academy can give any filmmaker in 2013. While the immediate legacy of Fame was the double Oscar Winning sing- along inspiring song named 'Fame' named after the film which won the film an Oscar for best original score and a Oscar for best song for Michael Gore. But what really stands out was the films ability to influence later coming of age films in the likes of Footloose and The Breakfast Club, however it should come as great surprise to know that the film only ranked at #42 on Entertainment Weekly's 2006 list of the "50 Best High School Movies". Shocking!

Is it a bird, no it's a plane, no it's the Incredibles…Imagine if one crazed scientist had a colossal sized blender and put the love and affection of The Modern Family in it, then sprinkled some dysfunctional madness of Malcolm in the Middle and then added superpowers to the mix, I guarantee that what comes out still won't be a match for the crazy, adorable, high octane and utter zaniness that are the Incredibles. The dad is supper strong, the mother can stretch like taffy, and the teenage girl can become invisible and throw up force fields and the 10 year old is lightening fast, which is quiet lucky when they must come up against the rich, genius of the villainous Syndrome, who seeks to destroy the hero he once worshipped in Mr. Incredible and an the whole city along with him. Despite the film being an animation featuring a story line that was extremely fantastical, not once did I remember it was a movie. The actions scenes were spell bounding and highly imaginative. But most importantly, I really believed in these characters that spat witty sharp dialogue at each other at a furious pace, not just because they were funny, but because the characters were so believable and relatable. Subsequently it should come as to no surprise that film was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar, which is a rarity for an animated film, but this ain't just your average animated film, it's an Incredible animated film

What do Midnight Cowboy, Kramer vs Kramer and the Graduate have in common, if you don't know already because you haven't seen any of those films, and then you my friend are in bad need of Netflix, otherwise as you are going to go through life always feeling like that there is a small part of you missing. What those films all have in common is the fantastic, electrifying and unpredictable acting juggernaut that is Dustin Hoffman. Claiming to love cinema and at the same time not having seen a Hoffman film, would be like going to Disney land and not seeing Mickey Mouse or meeting the President of America and not asking him if area 51 exits, because it simply means you're missing put on the best part!

The multitalented Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa) directs this transvestite-tastic comedy caper about a talented actor called Michael (Dustin Hoffman) who lives in new York, but despite his years of experience still can't land a gig because he thinks he knows better than everyone else, so one day to boost his chances of success he decides to adopts an identity as a women to gain a role in a local TV soap opera, oh damn I mean day time drama, going by the name of Dorothy, much to the bemusement of his house mate Jeff (Bill Murray) and his agent George (Sidney Pollack). Things start of great, Dorothy proves to be an instant hit on the show; she is loud, confident and vivacious, much to enjoyment of all the female fans of the show, whilst being to the annoyance of her womanising director Ron. But things quickly get a whole lot more complicated as a massive love triangle, with his fellow cast members and best friend soon manifests itself with the potential of creating a lot of broken hearts.

Clearly in the same mould as Some Like it Hot, where cross dressing is involved, but while SLH nailed the love triangles with such humorous precision, I felt the ones in Tootsie were far too complicated and drawn out as if the writers ran out of material and used them as filler for dead space. I also didn't like how the most entertaining characters were marginalised, they had a great comedic weapon in Bill Murray yet they refused to exploit for all its laugh inducing potential and I would have preferred to have seen a whole lot more of Sandy. Ultimately I felt the film was just another imitator of SLH, although competent in its own right, it just didn't give you anything fresh and unique. Not the best of Hoffman's CV, but certainly way above the worst (cough, cough Meet the Fockers and Runaway Jury)

You ever had the strange sensation when watching a film so bad, that you thought at anytime Aston Kutcher will jump out from behind your sofa and shout, "you have just been puncked". That's how I felt watching Top Gun, quite possibly the Godfather of long, cheesy, bore fests of bad films, actually it's an insult even to place the Godfather even the same sentence as Tony Scott's action drama, minus the action and minus the drama. Meet Maverick (Tom Cruise) a pompous air force pilot who thinks his god's gift to the world and his partner Goose, and his just, well he's just Goose. Together they compete against other pilots, mainly Ice (Val Kilmer) for the prestigious title of Top Gun. Well I guess that is pretty much all the story that's in Top Gun, they practise flying planes during the day times and then in the evening they play topless beach volley ball with each other, or yeah there is a pointless romance revolving around Maverick and a flight instructor called Charlie (Kelly mcgillis), put in place by Tony as a pitiful attempt at attracting a larger female audiences (as if that's all women want in a film!).

The reason I don't like the romance is because first all Tom Cruise had to do was sing her a song and he had her , then as it progresses it adds virtually nothing to the plot, and finally it didn't change Maverick at all, so why have it?! Another problem with the film was they didn't play with the rivalry between Ice and Maverick enough, so there was never any real tension in the film to keep you hooked. I felt the flying scenes were far too long especially considering they were all simulations and weren't in real battle, so Maverick was never in any real danger, further dousing any fading glimmer of suspense. However the soundtracks complemented the scene perfectly and cinematography was beautiful, particularly during the aerial shots. But from a guy who brought your Risky Business and Born on the Fourth of July, I'm extremely disappointed in you Tom, shame on you.

"What good is sitting alone in your room, come and hear the music play. Life is a cabaret my chum, come to the cabaret" which of course is the heart of the glitter covered, sequin wearing, toe tapping wonder emporium that is the Kit Kat Klub, packed up to the rafters with high notes, transvestites and raucous laughter. Between the choices of all that and my room, I know I would rather be on a Saturday night, because 1932 Germany is the place to be! But I warn you to get there fast, because what is waiting on the horizon will defiantly ruin the party.

Oh forgot my manners, allow me to introduce to you Miss Salley Bowles (Liza Minnelli), husband richest man in the world and of course a future acting superstar, a creature of true divine decadence as she would better put it. At a glance her eyes may be full of youthful exuberance and naivety, but when you look deeper, you realize it's all just a ploy, a false bravado to keep her fragile spirits from being damaged. But the only person who knows this is also a person you would describe as the exact opposite, Brain (Michael York) who is a uptight, straight laced, bisexual Englishman, the absolute antithesis of everything that is Sally. Yet the signs of a beautiful romance begins to blossom between them. But life is never that easy, because the malicious Nazi party waits around the corner and a love triangle with Maximilain threatens to thrust the romance into inescapable turmoil.

The 1972 Academy Awards was the battlefield of two almighty giants that waged war against each other for the rights of their place on the cinematic throne for that year. The battle was of course won by Godfather when it took home Best Picture, but with a mammoth total of 8 Oscar nodes, including a Best director for Bob Fosse and best actress for Minnelli, I doubt Cabaret will be feeling to down after the event. You realize why Cabaret did so well with each repeat viewing gives you something completely different; may it be songs for yours next karaoke night, a celebration of weird quirks or must importantly a chance to awe at Minnelli's delightful performance as Salley all over again.

I would be the first to admit I was nether much of a fan of musicals, I found them to be plot less, lacking in any character depth and just generally derivative. So film like Chicago, Moulin Rouge and high school music's never really appealed to me, I just shudder at the thought of being in a world where people would randomly start breaking out in song and dance for no real apparent reason. But then I saw Cabaret, I wouldn't even say it's entirely a music, it more a film with musical numbers in it and certainly not derivative on contrary it's multilayered and brimming with subversive themes that are as relevant to 1932 Germany, right into 1972 America and forward to worldwide today.

There are very few directors currently working in Hollywood today that you will describe as unequivocal auteur of their own films. The few examples you could point to would be Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson, whose every film almost seems to have been single handily sculpted by their own very bare hands, adorning each with their signature and flare. But as good as those two are, for me the grandmaster of auteur directors in our modern day world of film is indisputably Tim Burton; known for such classics as Edward Scissor Hands and Alice in Wonderland, is the very godfather of black comedies, quirky characters and zany plot lines, three characteristics that I could also use to describe Beetle Juice. An imaginative, eccentric macabre extravaganza that paradoxically inspires both fear and humour in its audience as they sit down entranced by every outlandish, skittle coloured nightmarish frame that Tim Burton wonders us with.

Beetle Juice tells of unfortunate tale of a newlywed couple Barbara and Adam Maitland, (Alex Bald and Geena Davis) find themselves trapped amongst the dead after a fateful accident involving a dog, a river and a bridge. But the mere fact that they are dead, which is quiet hard for them to come to terms with it at first. But that just the good news, the actual worst bit of their predicament is that they find themselves trapped in their house with the excruciatingly irritating Delia Deetz wonderfully played by Catherine O'Hara, who is so annoying she makes all younger brothers and sister the world over look like delightful saints. Delia comes accompanied by her husband Charles (Jeffrey Jones) and their eccentric daughter Lydia, who looks like she could be queen of the Goths as well as a long lost relative of the Adams family all at once, but she turns out to be an actually nice person - I guess you should never judge a book by its cover. But after a lot of failed attempts to scare the Deetz family out of the house, involving such pathetic fêtes as using a bed sheet with eye holes cut out, something that even Casper the friendly ghost would be embarrassed by. The couple admit defeat and turn to the foul mouthed, belching, farting and idiotic self proclaimed "bio-exorcist" known as "Beetle Juice" played expertly, hilariously and with ferocious abandon by Michael Keaton (Batman). But unlucky for everyone, the deceitful and rotten Beetle Juice is not a person to be trusted...

Warren Skaaren and Michael McDowell screenplay is full of laugh out loud moments brought upon by dastardly, demonic one liners that always promise to pack a punch, couple that with Tim Burtons ingeniously choreographed special effects, set designs and make up and styling which they rightly earned Beetle Juice a Oscar for and topped of with perfectly crafted offbeat, wacky performances from the entire cast, all of which help make Beetle Juice a electrifying, exhilaratingly fantastic watch best served with the lights switched off and the volume turned up.

It certainly doesn't possess the witty repartee of a Woody Allen, or does raise big philosophical questions like a Stanley Kubrick and doesn't even possess the technique or score genies of a Sergio Leone, but what Independence Day lacks in those areas, it more than makes up for it in; special effects wizardry, slick, epic fast paced action sequences and fun, humours performances, that once assembled, combine to make Independence Day a film that is a eye catching, heart pounding, awe inspiring Saturday night extravaganza that will never fail to entertain.

Almost from the start it's clear to see that Roland Emmerich burrows extensively from all godfathers of Alien encounter films that came before; from the way the Alien space craft arrives in the sky surrounded in a plume of stormy clouds like scenes from the remake of War of the Worlds, the very look of the Aliens themselves clearly draw comparisons with Ridley Scots 'Alien', then you have the possible extinction of the human race to deal with, similar to The Day the Earth Stood Still. Some may say this is a signal of lack of imagination and originality on writer Dean Devlin part, but the way I look at it, imitation is the sincerity form of flattery, and I see Independence Day as more of a allusion or a homage of the highest respects to those past greats, rather than a mere cheap carbon copy (Well costing at 75million and grossing over 800 million, more like a very expensive and successful carbon copy).

Being a typical big budget Hollywood film the premise is as simple as ever, a massive fleet of alien space ships arrive on earth after travelling billions of light years, but there isn't a ET amongst them, these guys mean business! And they didn't come to earth for friendly game of stuck in the mud or a casual stroll in the park whilst sightseeing; instead they are came here to destroy it and everyone on it. But once again, with this being an American Hollywood feature, the only guys equipped to save the world is the president (Bill Pullman), a computer genius (Jeff Goldblum) and a highly skilled jet pilot (Will Smith). Queue the waving of the flag, handing out of American pie and an Elvis Presley greatest hits album. But there nothing wrong with a little bit of patriotism, but Bill Pullman gives the customary great American speech about unity and courage, and the rebranding of an American holiday into a global holiday, Independence Day does take patriotism to a palpable extreme, often venturing into the irritating and ridiculous as it makes every other country seem incapable of coping without out their help. But I digress, after the US army seems incapable of penetrating through the Aliens shield, with all their bullets and bombs, Jeff Goldblum being the computer genies that he is has the genius idea of simply disarming the shields – wow give the Einstein an Nobel Prize right? Well one problem, to administer the computer virus that will infect the mother ship that will in turn disarm all the other ship's shields for around two minutes, they have to get up close and personal to do so – queue loud mouth, charismatic Will smith.

To say that Independence Day was high concept film would be a massive understatement; it would be the same as saying Beetles were just a rock band. But I feel films that get labelled as high concept always get such a bad rep. What's wrong with appealing to all four quadrants of the film market, isn't watching films supposed to be an inclusive, communal experience. A film can bring together different; races, religions, genders and ages, surely that something that should be celebrated and encompasses everything that makes cinema so magical. And watching Independence Day was truly a magical experience; you just have to look at the performances, well the performance of Will Smith, who stands heads and shoulder above everyone else, in a film that made him an eventual global superstar. Like I said, he was loud and charismatic, making his character so enticing and exciting to watch. I simply love the scene when the Alien crash lands and tries to get out of its ship, only to be punched in the face by Will Smith, "Well come to earth" which would probably go down as one of my all time favourite move scenes and quotes ever. His performance was almost as big and spectacular as the special effects even though they are from 1996, I feel they easily outdo some modern day big budget films such as the embarrassingly bad Olympus has Fallen. Independence Day is a truly enjoyable fantastic film that rightly deserved all its finical success; defiantly looking forward to seeing it again.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly produced in Italy and Spain in 1966, is to western fans and cinephiles, as Harry styles is to teenage girls; as soon as we hear one note of the sensational score and catch one glimpse of our heroes squint of an eye. Instantly our pulses quicken, heart races and we must try our hardest to suppress a squeal of joy.

Following on from two film predecessors; A Fist full of Dollars and For a few Dollars more, in a inherently Sergio Leon way, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly opens up with a series of intercutting close ups of sun beaten faces looking out towards the horizon, and wide shot of the setting, which appears to be an old rundown little town. But just as you would expect from the spaghetti western master, we are given very little information from the start. We don't know who these men are at first or what their intentions are, but from the looks of them, they don't seem all that two friendly. But what the opening shots do reveal, in particular Leon predilection for wide and close up paring, is that Leon was avid art collector; the close ups where reminiscent of Goya, while the vast unyielding landscapes where an allusion to surrealist painting style Leon was a fan off.

As the men make their way down into what appears to be a salon, we don't follow them in instead we hear a shoot out occurring, then all of a sudden the camera pans to focus on a window in which 'The Ugly' leaps out with wine in one hand and a half eaten pigs leg in the other, this is Tuco (Eli Wallach), and those two items some him up best, he is a bear drinking, untrustworthy swine. But on the other hand he does phenomenally inject a whole lot of humour and wild edge to the film. Next we find ourselves with a little boy riding a donkey; he looks to the distance where he sees a lone man riding a horse towards him, we then passes him with little regard. Little does that boy know that man will go on to mercilessly shoot and kill both his brother and father, for that man is 'The Bad' also known as Angel eyes (Lee Van Cleef from John Ford's High-noon). Then last but not least, we return again to The Ugly we find himself in a tricky situation, involving three gun slingers. But cue the introduction of the man with no name (Technically he does have a name, its Blondie in the film and Clint Eastwood in real life) who saves Tuco only to return him to a nearby town to cash in on his bounty, justifying his title 'The Good' . But not everything is what it seems, it soon turns out the both men are in collusion and turning Tuco in is merely a trick to get the bounty, save Tuco from getting hanged and then gets the heck out of there. The plan is so genius that they could continue getting away with the same trick, oh wait they completely hate each other and can trust each other as far as they can throw. The relationship between the leads make for a great stand up duo; Tuco the loud mouth and Blondie the silent brooding one, similar to famous magicians Pen and Teller. Eventually for the rest of the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly must unite in search for $200,000 loot stashed inside a person's grave, but only The Ugly knows where the grave site is, while The Good only knows which name it is buried under, but of course they can't trust each other with that information.

While other western director like to cut to the chase and draw out the scenes violence such as Howard Hawks and Sam Penkinpah, instead on the other hand , something I particularly love most about Leon is how he always extends all precursors before a shot out or a act of violence which eventually end rather quickly . It's better that why, because we invest ourselves deeper into the characters, whilst also allowing the tension in the scene to build up to almost excruciating levels even before the first bullet is fire.

What I also love about The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is the moral ambiguity that runs thick throughout the film, never are the lines between good and bad really competently drawn through. I guess that it down to the decision to keep back stories and exposition rather low. But what it does offer you is the freedom to choose what side you cheer for because there isn't any real distinct good guy in the film, which makes it all the more exciting.

At a lengthy 2hrs and 50 minutes, GBU is almost David Lean and Lawrence Arabia-esk in terms if scope and grandeur, and you can also drew comparisons between the two films in the deployment of the incessant use of panoramic shoots of the vast scenery and man insignificant compared to it. As long as GBU is, not once to I find the film meandering or tedious, despite its length it was able to move a furious pace, so it felt that we the audience were ourselves almost sucked into the action by an almighty whirl wind. But in a largely dead genre, we can look back to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with great nostalgia and affection, for it a shinnying beckon of what great film making is.

The mere sound of the most infamous film score in cinema history; sends dogs cowering back into their kennels, cats clambering up trees for dear life and children's hiding under their covers, fearing the worse.

"I was always thought that film should be an emotional experience; it should make you laugh, cry or be scared. But it should also inspire and provoke you and make you reflect."

And that's exactly what Williams Friedkin's The Exorcist does, it both scares the audience witless, but most importantly it posses the intelligence to provoke and ask questions. When we think about the battle between good and evil, we looked to heaven and hell, too the superhero comics, too the war field of opposing countries. What we cease to forget the most prevalent battled between good and evil, is the one we all have to deal with on daily bases. For the greatest battles occurs on a more personal plane, the struggle we all face as we must choose between what is right or wrong, or the struggle of one's decision to accept region or two turn their back on it. The Exorcist is a film that seeks to unravel the mystery around faith, and the chilling truth between what we deem to be evil. And it's the ability of The Exorcist in to delve such an honest and uncompromising subject that has been neglected by cinema for so long, in exchange for the big budget spectacles, rather than focusing on the more important, the human condition. That has meant over 40 years later, its messages and themes, are still as relevant and potent as they were in 1973. But most importantly, after all those years as effortlessly retained its ability to frighten, and should be no surprise that no matter if you watched The Exorcist when it first came out or 40 years later, it still takes you on a bone chilling journey into your deep darkest nightmares. And guess what! It's all based on a true story, 1949 in Silver Spring Maryland to be exact.

William Friedkin's takes both William Peter Blatty's novel and screenplay and weaves frightening real life tale of a movie stars who fights to determine the reason behind her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) violent mood swings, retreating health, and rotating head. She seeks medical, physiological and finally spiritual help to determine whether it is a deep seeded mental and physiological issue or is she truly being inhabited by a malevolent entity. The cinematography in The Exorcist is probably the best in horror film history; the delicate balance between light and dark fashioned by Owen Roizmans complements the piece superbly, acting almost as the perfect metaphor between the delicate balance between good and evil. You just have to look at the scene that has rightly been used on every advertising campaign and poster for the film, the one where Father Merrin steps out of the taxi in a fog filled street, only partially lit by one solitary light, It was both artistically stunning yet goose bump inducing chilly. The inspiration of the composition came to Friedkin from the portrait Empire of Light by Rene Magritte, which I felt suited the film perfectly. Another aspect of the film I enjoyed the most, where ironically performances of the two actors void of any acting experience before hand. Linda Blair was practically forced to audition for the roll by her mother and Jason Miller who played Damien Karras, wasn't even a trained actor and was in fact a play write and was studying to a real life priest. But looking back I suppose it was the lack of experience that brought so much fresh energy and vigour to the roll, because they weren't so self-conscious and preoccupied with how they were acting and pleasing Friedkin, but instead focused on actually being present in the scene, feeling all the same emotions the characters would be feeling.

"Over the years I have discovered that most people take out of The Exorcist what they bring in to it"

So if you throw your entire being into the film and are willing to suspend your disbelief, then I guarantee The Exorcist will scare you in such away, that it will permanently leave a mark on your deepest subconscious, whilst shaking you to the very core of your being. So if you're ready, then I suggest you turn down lights. Turn up the sound and enjoy The Exorcist.

Have you ever tried Sudoku, Brain Training on the Nintendo DS and watching Countdown all at the same time? Sounds like a difficult task right? Well that's exactly the level of head scratching, thought provoking, sweat inducing experience I had while watching Donnie Darko. I have literally watched the film three times and I still don't understand one iota of the mind bending Rubik cubeness of this film. What does it all mean? Because I literally don't have a clue! Donnie Darko is one of those few films that I have found completely impossible to distinguish whether it is so far out the box that it is actually the box itself type of master piece, like Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey or Shane Carruth's Primer or is merely utter rubbish masquerading itself as an intelligent and unique film, such as Minority Report and Oblivion – Ummm I wonder what both films have in common?

From what I can decipher from Richard Kelly's (director/writer) story line, is it is based around this character Donnie Darko – sound like a superhero right? Well that character is played by Jake Gyllenhaal, which I'm pretty sure every mother, daughter and girlfriend already knows who he is. The guy has been know to have demonstrated time and time again that he posses a lot of range as an actor, appearing in films such as Zodiac and Brokeback Mountain. But in this particular film he once again plays against all heartthrob type casting by playing a genius teenager who knows everything there is to know about the Smurfs – make him President right? But at the same time he is a very troubled young man, one of these troubles manifests itself in a 6ft tall bunny named Frank who tells him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and twelve seconds. So for the rest of the film he tries to unravel the mystery around the strange occurrences plaguing his life. Along the way the bunny that only he can see, keeps popping out of now and telling him to do stuff such a flooding the school and setting someone's house on fire. But don't worry it's not all doom and gloom, there is some really cool science stuff revolving around time travel and all its possibilities for you SCI-FI enthusiasts and there is also a love interest in the form of Gretchen and beautiful girl whose life is riddled with misery for all you romantic types. The film is also riddled with a abundance of acting stars, such as local author Patrick Swayze, cool and mysterious teacher Drew Barrymore and high achieving older sister Maggie Gyllenhaal – and yes they are related in real life.

Okay now we got that out of the way, what works in the film? Well the acting performance are all subtle, no one is playing to outperform anyone else's, instead the main cast all remain true to their idiosyncratic odd ball characters which makes them all so endearing and likable. My favourite performance was Jena Malone's, who was able to build a character that at the drop of the hat can be strong and fierce one moment, then sweet and fragile the next, which was why it was always a delight to see her come on screen. Another aspect of the film that I loved, was the way the film never wants limited itself to just the one genre, instead it was constantly evolving and changing; one minute its wacky and funny shown best in the family meal scenes, the next its sci-fi awesomeness in the scenes between Donnie and the sciences teacher and it suddenly becomes sweet and lovely, illustrated best anytime Gretchen and Donne are together. but what I didn't like in the film was the way they had such captivating and interesting characters, mainly being Drew Barrymore's teacher character who I felt could have added so much to the narrative yet was given such a passive inconsequential role. I also felt that Richard Kelly should have added a lot more in depth meaning to the piece, because it seemed all to shallow and lacking in any real direction and strong ideals to convey.

Okay sure I still don't know if I loved or hated it, so all I can say for certain was that I enjoyed watching the film and would strongly recommended anyone who is in the mood for something unique and off beat and with plenty of amazing acting gold.

If by now you still don't know where the quote 'Vote for Pedro' means on the shirt of every hipster in the history of mustache sporting, ironic tee wearing and obscure band that no one's has ever heard of listening hipster. Or if you still mistake the name Napoleon for a 4ft French guy, then you my friend have not lived life. So instead of you thinking of going out; sky diving, riding on the back of an elephant or falling in love, I strongly suggest to place watching Napoleon dynamite as number one on your bucket list or things to do before you die list. And if you don't immerse yourself in this Wes Anderson fused with David Lynch dysfunctional misfits paradise; your missing out on laughs galore, immensely cringe moments, catchy dialogue and the most impressive dance number in history of film, like ever; Flash Dance and Footloose you should be ashamed!

Growing up can be a very awkward and difficult experience, combine with this you have to navigate yourself through the superficial merciless social jungle that is high school, where around every corner a pimple, the school bully or a rejection from the popular girl in school threaten destroy the very last thread of cool you have any hopes of clinging on too for dear life; being a teenager can be hell at times! Then you have Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) who is so uncool even to the extent he is oblivious to everyone's meaning of cool, he almost seems cool. Actually the guy likes Lamar's, eats tater tots from his pocket and draws Ligers all day long, on second thoughts just forget what I said. But unlike American pie or the Big bang theory, to him he is the coolest guy on earth, and it's the cluelessness which makes him and his band of weirdo's such cult icons, hanging out with them would be like hanging out with a cross between living with the Adams family and the Simpsons; you have Debbie a painfully awkward teenage girl with an obsession with Napoleon, Pedro a new student from Mexico, whose thick bushy mustache makes him look more like a teacher than a student, Kip who has a love affair with a girl he meet online and then you have uncle Rico who will take any opportunity to turn useless junk into a money making scheme; a time machine made of tin foil? Yeah right!

Upon release, Napoleon Dynamite was monster hit, a modern day Rocky; made on just $400,000 but despite this modest budget, went on to gross well over $40 million dollars. Inspiring stories like this goes to show that the little guy might still have a chance of coming out on top in this multi million dollar blockbuster world. All of this in the hands of first time directors Jared and Jerusha Hess fresh out of university. Just like film like Ghost World, Clerks and Royal Tenenbaums the characters are off the wall crazy, and the jokes are weird and strange, but it's this cult magic that never fails to put a smile on my face.

Wicker Man is Robin Hardy's 1973 original, chronicling the tale of a police officer Neil Howie as he ventures into the remote Island or Hebridean, Summerisle, in hopes of discovering the whereabouts of a little girl among an island of freakish individuals, to say the least.

Although usually physiological thrillers, may lack the jump out of your seat moments, but they make up for it by leaving you with a bone chilling sensation that haunts you to you down to the core, such in the likes of Silence of the Lambs and Rosemary's baby, but in this film it offer you neither jump out of your seat moments or bone chilling sensations, instead all it offers you is a snail's paced building climax, along the way filling your ears with pointless sing and dance numbers that even High School Musical would be embarrassed to have, although the only aspect I did find terrifying was the way the town folk where so heavily brainwashed that they lost all sense of individual thought or morality and behaved almost zombie like. Although the twist at the end wasn't actually that bad and slightly makes up for the boring precursor. What I also found annoying in The Wicker Man was the outrageously, sinfully bad dubbing that was extremely distracting and cringe inducing. The main character was also rather infuriating, I found him irritating and difficult to empathise with; although rather gallant in the face of a group of people seem to not to care about the disappearance of a little girl. What annoyed me most about him was the fact that during the earlier parts of the film, he rides into town he has never been before, upon his high horse and believing just because he is part of the law he automatically achieves almost god like status among the town folk, and uses it as an excuse to constantly speak to them through snide remarks and impatient demands.

It seems the internet is filled with admirers of this horror flick, but I cease to find the charm in this lacklustre bore fest. I strongly beg you not to waste your time watching it; you will probably find more scares in an episode of Goose bumps, than you would in this mess. But on a positive note, at least it's better than the American 2006 remake.

It's the end high school, life is pregnant with new adventures and the whole world is your hoister; what do you do first? Go travelling around the world? Go to college to study for your dream career? Get a job and save up for that new winter coat you wanted so bad? Or just sit around random bars and coffee shops and pock fun at everything and everybody, who has the unfortunate displeasure of stepping in your path. "You just hate every guy on the face of the earth", "That's not true; I just hate all these extroverted, pseudo bohemian losers". In that one quote alone you can almost summarise all that is Enid Coleslaw, one head of the two head pseudo intellectual, cynical, misfit heroines of Ghost World. Enid Coleslaw is a walking talking cliché, who the more we get to know her the more realise that she is the very thing she hates them most, and is the epitome of what the quote says, except swap bohemian for punk wannabe and you have her down to a tee. Then you have Rebecca Dopplemeyer played by Scarlett Johansson, who also indulges in mocking all of the mere mortals in the unnamed town, but unlike Enid she has possess a lot more maturity and a better grasp who she truly is, as well as the attention from most of the guys, which is a fact Enid secretly can't stomach and most always step in to crush any possibility from love ever blossoming – what are friends for right?. The two together act as the villains of the film, slowly but surely making everyone's life as misery, even sweet old Seymour (who has a strong resemblance to Gollum from LOTR) who is the hero of this little story, which is pretty big fete seeing that Steven Buscemi who played a crazed lunatic serial killer in Con Air could be made to look like a good guy, just shows who you're dealing with in concerns to these terrible twosome. Even their first meeting was purely down to one of their mean pranks, as they coax Seymour into a 1950's inspired dinner that - plays nothing but hip hop, claiming to be the women he was searching for in the lonely hearts sections of a newspaper, only for him to turn up and find her not there – poor Seymour. But Enid doesn't count on soon becoming obsessed ( maybe even falling in love) with this weird little man and his weird little world; swamped in old vinyl's, useless junk and old pictures of racist fast food mascots he can't get rid off – which I'm pretty sure makes Seymour a hoarder. Whilst at the mean time the rest of Enid's life seems to be crumbling around her, and even the special friendship she shared with Rebecca isn't safe, as it slowly begins to disintegrate as their lives move in entirely different directions. But this the sort of rich characterisation that makes Daniel Clowes script such a walking paradox, mixing cult humour with mainstream charm, which appears as a even more impressive of fete when you realise that the film was based on Daniels originally created underground comic book sensation, under the same name, then with the help of director/ co writer Terry Zwigoff, known best for Bad Santa, they were then able to adapt the work into a commercially and critically successful piece of cinema, that effortlessly stands out by itself as a masterpiece on its own merits, completely separate from its comic book source. I loved the film so much, probably one of my favourite cult comedies; up there with the likes of Wayne's World, Big Lebwoski and Clerks. My favourite aspect were the two main characters, who made it almost difficult to hate them for two long, because as much as it may seem too easy and warranted dislike both Enid and Rebecca, but the more you dive deeper inside the minds of both girls, the more you find them endearing and lovable, because at the end of the day they are just too young girls trying to find out who they are and where they fit in this big wide world – aren't we all deep really? But as good as Scarlett Johansson (also known for Lost In Translation and Her) was at playing Rebecca when considering especially that at the time of shooting she was only 16; which I find very difficult to wrap my head around, because she played the role with so much maturity meaning that not once did she over act in any of her scenes, thus making her performance seem every time to appear so natural and thus that little bit more believable. At the end of the day I still preferred Thora Birch as Enid, because I feel Thora despite playing a similar type of cynical character as she did so well in American Beauty, in Ghost World you can really tell that she had developed well and greatly improved as an actress; bring a fresh new perspective and exuberance to her acting arsenal. If you are a fan of larger than life characters, a gripping coming of age tale and laughs galore; then sitting on your sofa on a Friday night, with Ghost World playing on your TV, would quiet possibly the single greatest achievement of your life. A must see all cool kids and misfits alike.

It was a powerful enriching experience to be exposed to this eastern style masterpiece, as we lay in awe to the plight of two star crossed lovers, fighting for both their lives and for love in a lavish 895 AD martial arts drama, set in a China rife with corruption. The film is littered with so many double agents and plot twists; you would have thought it was a film straight from the filmography of M. night Shamalan. House of Flying Daggers was a commercial and finical powerhouse that finally signalled the wakening of a film nation with the potential to become a giant and finally break America's strong hold on the international scene.

Long ago have I fallen in love with eastern storytelling, which has grown to possess so much vibrancy and wonderfully uniqueness, that is almost completely void of any western influence; which for me is a important thing for the future of storytelling and filmmaking to consistently have a voice representative of so many distinctive cultures and traditions from all over the world, who each have something different to say on; love, life and death. As great as the west is at producing stunning films, it would be ashamed if the world only accepted this style of filmmaking and storytelling to be the only way to go about it, which will cause the art to become homogenised thus losing its allure or maybe even its claim to being considered a art form. Art is freedom of expression and in House of Flying Daggers, director Yhang Yimou as expressed his artistic re-interpretation on love and war in the one of most beautiful ways imaginable.

On the large Daggers possessed amazing fight sequence that were wonderful blends of heart rate quickening, immaculate choreographed piece similar the works of Bruce Lee at his best, yet mixed with the mind bending stunt sequences from the Matrix. But occasionally a minority of the fight scenes were a little over choreographed and contrived, leaving what should have been fantastic set pieces, deduced into fake and sometimes ludicrous spectacles. For example I'm pretty sure that even in 895 AD they still had something called gravity, but the way those dagger soared through the air, you would have thought that gravity was just a newly invented app for the Iphone, so its affects didn't apply to ancient China. Another problem I had with the film, was that some of the plot twist came to often in such short amount of times, leaving me in the wilderness of confusion for a good 20 minutes as I tried to work out who was on who's side, and who had doubled crossed who?; I hadn't had such a brain work out since the last time I had a go on brain training on the DS.

But despite this short amount of confusion, the rest of the film proved to be a magical experience as I grew to love the two main characters, who surely gave the performance of a life time, and if someone's said to me that they had been preparing for these since birth, I wouldn't be so surprised, because they captured both the tenderness of the fairy tale aspect of the story, as well as the tragic side, with never once seaming as if they were acting, instead we truly believed in them and in the story. Which was also helped a lot with a harmonious sound track that provided a smooth, thought-provoking and calmness to balance out the nonstop high octane action, the two elements juxtaposition up against each other was very effective. House of Flying Daggers is a game changing classic that I strongly urge you to treat yourself too.

2014 will go down in history as one of the greatest single year for films; it has proved to be a year that truly offers a spectacular selection of talent and genius, laid out before us for our film enthusiast ravenous consumption of each and every one of them. With the likes of; the historical epic set in the times of slavery in 12 Years of a slave, Gravity a monstrous journey into the far reaches of space and Dallas Buyers Club a welcome return to the silver screen for Matthew Mconaughey. Each of them, are absolutely excellent and will thus make the race for the Best Picture Oscar an undeniably thrilling, compulsive watch, but for me the only true stand out competitor for Best Picture is Her written/directed by Spike Jones, a fantastic exploration of love in the future, but really behind the futuristic gadget and gizmo's, it is really a film that shines a satirical mirror against our very own society wedged in between a war involving love and computers in a fight for a place in our hearts.

Her tells the story of introverted writer (Joaquin Phoenix) of love card and letters, which is ironic when you consider his life is void of all love, but that soon changes in the most extraordinary of circumstances when he falls in love with his computer's highly advanced operating system voiced by Scarlet Johansson, yet your left wondering if the tin man can actually have a heart, as they grow closer and closer together; but is she really reciprocating the same feelings like a human being would or is that simply just in her or it's programming?

While other reviews I simply had to use my mind and finger tips to write, whereas on the other hand; reviewing Her for me is like opening my heart and soul and allowing it to do the writing for me, because to simply put it, how Joaquin Phoenix feel in love with his computer is how I have fallen in love with Her. A beautiful multi-layered story, that operates on so many different levels; it appeals to your heart via the marvellously sculpted characters and the performance behind them (there gotta be Oscar for voice over work right?), the way it has so much to say about our modern world and whether this over reliance on the digital phenomena is actually good for humanity in the long run. Finally, it is filled with Oscar nominated stunning set pieces and production design, as well as dazzling cinematography that almost makes you feel as if you fell as sleep and work up in the middle of a Picasso gallery, but I wonder if the drenching of the colour orange in the film was intentional or by accident. But the one drawback I couldn't help ignoring, was that I felt the story was to linear and didn't offer much subplot in the way of Amy Adams who plays Joaquin Phoenix best friend, because I felt it would have been really interesting to see how her relationship with the operating system developed and how her marriage degraded, which I felt what of added more emotional richness to the Her palette.

The eighteenth-century English poet Samuel Taylor, once made a statement declaring, that anytime someone experiences a work of art, they must leave their ideas of reality at the door and see the work of art on its own merits – he called it 'the willing suspension of disbelief'. But unfortunately that statement can't be applied to Young Frankenstein; first of all it is not art! it is monstrosity with very little merits to its name, and because over the top performances, used to compensate for poor characters, a plot that often finds itself tripping over with its pants around its ankles and ultimately a movie with no real identity; is it a horror or is it a comedy? Well during the entire duration of the film, I neither jumped nor did I laugh, therefore it is neither and thus should be tossed in the bin! I'm not expecting another Casablanca or a Godfather, but at least have a plot line that makes sense.

Years after the famed exploits of a crazed doctor Frankenstein and his monster, his great, great grandson finds himself as a lecturer at a university also studying the human body funny enough, expect that is where the similarities end, because the great grandson played by Gene Wilder, wants nothing to do with his great Grandfather doggies dealings, so detaches himself from the infamous man by requesting that everyone refers to him as 'Dr.FrankenSTIEN'. But unluckily for him, he soon finds out that he inherited the Granddad's castle and he accepts and goes to the castle – wait! If the guy wants nothing to do with his grandfather, then why not turn down the inheritance? Then as he turns up to the castle, he finds a book with his uncles tricks of reanimation and repeats the experiments? Didn't the guy change his name slightly just to remove any attachment to his Grandfather, yet 10 seconds later he does the exact same thing?

The rest of the film barely deserves mention, but to cut a long story short; it is a lot of forced, contrived and unimaginative humour, which made me rather disappointed at Gene Wilder, especially when I love his other performances in Blazing Saddles and Charlie and the chocolate factory so much. Bad Gene, naughty step for you!