Brilliant Films You Haven't Seen: Starter For 10 (2006)

After finishing a late-night shift at my video store, I was in the mood to rent a DVD. I had heard about this little British comedy called Starter For 10 in EMPIRE magazine when they were promoting James McAvoy's Role in Atonement, but I had yet to see it. I took the film home and popped it in the player as I ate my dinner.

The next 90 minutes were absolute bliss! Starter For 10 is a brilliant film. The film follows Brian Jackson (McAvoy) in his quest to gain knowledge at university as well as compete on his university's team for the television quiz show University Challenge. I know the premise does not sound all that intriguing, but the realistic depictions of Brian's relationships with his mother (Catherine Tate), and his two female friends Alice (Alice Eve) and Rebecca (the excellent Rebecca Hall) make this comedy ring much truer than others. James McAvoy is an infinitely talented actor who has never given a disappointing performance, and his work here is no exception. Both McAvoy and Rebecca Hall are two wonderful young actors who are now beginning to get the recognition they deserve; McAvoy for Atonement and Hall for Woody Allen's new film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

I recommend that everyone see Starter For 10. it is one of those rare comedies that manages to be extremely funny while at the same time being convincing in the dramatic department. A brilliant film and one of my personal favourites. Highly recommended.

Lightning Review: The Orphanage (2007)

I love a good horror film. My favourite horror film of all time is The Others starring Nicole Kidman. That is one of the rare films that is terrifyingly scary, yet at the same time has an emotional element that most dramatic films would strive for. Juan Antonio Bayona's Spanish-language film The Orphanage (or El Orfanato) sits comfortably in this exclusive genre. I was of course drawn to it by the presence of producer Guillermo del Toro.

The film follows Laura (Belén Rueda), a woman who spent her childhood in an orphanage. As an adult, Laura moves back into the now abandoned orphanage, planning to re-open it to house a group of disabled children. While there, Laura's son Simon (Roger Príncep), begins a friendship with an invisible friend name Tomas. On the day of the orphanage's grand re-opening, Simon goes missing. The film then chronicles the next year of Laura's life as her and her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) attempt to relocate their son. The investigation leads Laura to believe that Simon's imaginary friend may be anything but.

The less one knows about the story the better, as the film twists and turns in unexpected ways of which it is best to become aware of as the film progresses. The standout sequence in the film is a night vision sequence in which a medium Laura has hired attempts to make contact with the orphanages invisible inhabitants. The sequence is one of the most thrilling and frightening I have ever seen. Special mention must go to Belén Rueda's performance as Laura and Roger Príncep's performance as Simon. I eagerly await the next film from Juan Antonio Bayona, as The Orphanage shows him to be an extremely promising director.

5 stars.

Thriving With the Wind

Last week saw the release of Baz Luhrmann's Aussie epic, AUSTRALIA. I personally cannot wait to see the film. It has been heralded as an Australian Gone With the Wind (1939).

It suddenly came to my attention that even though I knew alot about Gone With the Wind, even to the extent that I felt I had seen it before, I had actually never seen it. It is often called the greatest film of all time (it's certainly one of the longest), so my expectations were quite high, although at the same time I was quite sure that the film would bore the heck out of me. So with my spare afternoon yesterday, I decided to sit down and watch the film.

3 hours and 40 minutes later, I turned the DVD player off. All I could say was "Wow!". Yes, that's right. I completely thrived on Gone With the Wind! It is one of the most brilliant films I have ever seen. Regardless of it being almost 70 years old, I still found it thrilling, hilarious, inspirational and emotional. I really can't say enough good things about this film. No wonder it is considered as such a classic!

Everyone who has not seen this film should go out to their video store and rent it now. It should be essential for every single person to watch this film. It is that good. This is storytelling at its finest.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara: Wow! I never realised how amazing Leigh is. I normally rave about Grace Kelly being the most beautiful actress who ever lived, but Leigh comes mighty close in second place. Her performance is one of the best I've seen: she completely carries the whole film. Even though Scarlett is most often a completely horrible person, you can't help but sympathise with her, not to mention being unable to take your eyes away from the screen when she's on it. It is truly one of the greatest performances of all time.

Clark Gable as Rhett Butler: I was not convinced by Gable until about half way through the film. It felt to me like he was only in the film because he was Clark Gable, and his smirk really irritated me. But by the film's end I really appreciated the performance. While not as good as Leigh's performance, Gable certainly impresses.

However, my favourite performance in the film is Olivia de Havilland as Scarlett's friend Melanie Hamilton. I've never seen de Havilland in anything else before, but I was completely captivated by her. Her character's incredible kindness and goodness radiated from the screen. I honestly can't praise her performance enough.

So there you have it: I completelythrived on a film that was made 50 years before I was born. Wowsa!

Verdict: Gone With the Wind is a masterpiece in every sense of the word!

Lightning Review: Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Bridge to Terabithia is an absolutely awesome fantasy/coming of age film that everyone can enjoy. I absolutely thrive on this film!

Worth noting are the two brilliant lead performance from teenage actors Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb.

See it now. You'll love it! 5 stars.

Alex is Thriving On... #1

• Kids by MGMT
  


• Carbonara pasta and Coke Zero
  


• British gangster movies, such as Layer Cake
  


• Long distance driving
  


• The new Killers album Day & Age
  


• The fact that it's only 2 weeks until The Dark Knight is released on DVD

Hang loose brother goose.

DVD Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Anyone who knows me knows that I love C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. To be fair, I haven't always been a fan. Back in 2005, I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and was extremely disappointed. I had as a child been a fan of the now terribly dated BBC mini-series and I was looking forward to seeing what modern technology could do for the film. The recent successes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter films also lead me to raise my expectations for the film. I ultimately left the cinema with a "Meh.." feeling.

Three years went by, and my care factor for the Narnia series was well and truly at zero. Then in June this year, one week before the cinematic release of Prince Caspian, I found that LWW was going to be on television that night. I had nothing else to do, so I stayed in and watched the film. Against my prior expectations, I absolutely loved it! I loved every second of it, and the film instantly became one of my favourites. Perhaps it was the three previous years of hating the film that lowered my expectations so much that I was always bound to enjoy it more the second time round, but I don't care. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an incredibly good film. Worth particular mention is the brilliantly epic score by Harry Gregson-Williams, but more on that later.

Needless to say I was at the cinema on opening day to see Prince Caspian, and I absolutely thrived on it. I came out of the cinema thinking that in all honesty, the film was the closest thing any film had been to the epic nature and fantasy flavour of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I enjoyed it that much. I rated it 5 stars (much to the disgust of my friend Simon.)

Fly forward five months and I am slipping the Prince Caspian DVD into my player. I knew I was going to enjoy it and I'm guessing by now you know I did enjoy it, so I'll just rave about it for a while.

Prince Caspian picks up with the four Pevensie Children - Peter (William Mosely), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) - one year after they returned to England from the magical world of Narnia at the end of the previous film. While waiting at a train station, the children are magically transported back to Narnia, albeit 1300 years later in Narnian time. They find that they have been summoned by Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) the rightful King of the Telmarines, a race of people currently being led by his evil Uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). The Telmarines have taken over the land that once belonged to the creatures of Narnia, and Caspian takes it upon himself (with some help from the Pevensies) to defeat Miraz and restore Narnia to its rightful inhabitants. Also in the mix is the all-powerful lion Aslan (voice of Liam Neeson), the Lord and protector of Narnia.

In typical Lewis form, the plot is thin, leaving room for the film-makers imaginations to run wild. As with the previous film, the director here is Andrew Adamson (Shrek and Shrek 2), and Adamson has once again given viewers two and a half hours of pure escapism and spectacle. If I don't try to structure this review, I'm just going to ramble on, so here we go.

The acting in the film is average, but these films aren't about performance. Don't get me wrong, the whole cast does a fine job, but let's face it, there ain't gonna be any acting Oscars for Prince Caspian. The standout of the cast is once again Georgie Henley as Lucy. Henley was brilliant in the previous film at only 8 years of age, and she is developing into a talented young actress. The most important addition to the cast is Ben Barnes as Caspian, but Barnes struggles to convey anything through his painful Spanish accent. I will admit that Barnes' performance has grown on me since my first viewing of the film, so perhaps I should stop my critique of his performance here. Sergio Castellitto does a great job as villain Miraz, but his character has neither the menace or subtlety of Tilda Swinton's LWW villain The White Witch.

The special effects in the film are state of the art. CGI is only used where completely necessary, and even full-CGI characters are completely believable, especially warrior-mouse Reepicheep (voice of Eddie Izzard). The only special effects nitpick I have is that the animation of Aslan was much more convincing in LWW, although the work here is still head and shoulders above the CGI in most other films. By now everyone knows that Lewis wrote Aslan as a metaphor/allusion to Jesus, and this connection particularly gives Christian viewers an added depth to the film.

The score by Harry Gregson-Williams is once again awe-inspiring. Gregson-Williams expertly revisits the excellent themes from the previous film, while also building upon them with music ranging from many different cultures, to portray how Narnia has diversified over the centuries. It is disappointing to note that Gregson-Williams will not be composing the next Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and will be replaced by Bond composer David Arnold. Although Arnold is an accomplished composer, here's hoping that he is wise enough to keep Gregson-Williams established themes in place, as I for one would be highly disappointed if those themes did not appear.

Standout sequences are a night-time raid on Miraz castle, depicting the creatures of Narnia laying siege to a gothic fortress. This sequence was not in the original text, but it is a welcome addition. Another brilliant scene is the final battle between the Narnians and the Telmarines, beginning with a one-on-one duel between Peter and Miraz, and ending with the appearance of a Poseidon-like water spirit. Both these sequences prove that Adamson has improved upon his already impressive abilites as an action director. Unfortunately Adamson will not be directing the next sequel, and directing duties will fall upon Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough). Luckily Adamson will remain on a producer, so perhaps some of his interpretation of Narnia will remain. I for one am very much looking forward to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I am incredibly thankful for the two Narnia films that Adamson has given us. Long live Aslan!

VERDICT:

A brilliant film which can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It's fun, it's thrilling, it's entertaining, it's funny; it's everything you could want from a film. See it now!

RATING:

5 out of 5

Movie Review: Quantum of Solace (2008)

My love for the James Bond series began back in 1995 when, at 5 years of age, my Dad took me to see Pierce Brosnan's first outing as Bond in GoldenEye. Needless to say, I was completely blown away by the film, and GoldenEye still to this day ranks as my second favourite Bond film, just behind equal firsts Casino Royale and From Russia With Love.

Soon after seeing the film, a friend of my Dad's gave us the entire series (at that point up to License to Kill) on VHS. Over the next few years I watched all the films and grew to love the whole franchise.

The Brosnan films that followed GoldenEye (Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough) were enjoyable enough to keep my Bond fanship alive. But then came the release of 2002's Die Another Day, the 20th official Bond film and unfortunately, Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film. As most Bond fans will know, the film is a shocker. Being 12 at the time, I actually quite enjoyed the film, but after repeat viewings, the film, in my opinion, ranks as one of the worst Bond films.

The series needed a shake-up after the ridiculous sci-fi flavour of Die Another Day (an invisible car???). A few years later, it was announced that the producers had decided to re-start the Bond series, showing Bond on his first mission as a double-O agent, in a similar fashion to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. This concept excited me greatly. It was announced that the film would be an adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, and that Pierce Brosnan would be replaced by a younger actor. That actor was Daniel Craig. The announcement was met with a huge backlash against the casting of the blonde Craig, which lasted all the way up to the films' release in November 0f 2006. The rest is history, and Craig blew everyone away, leading most people to name him as the best Bond since Connery, and some even going as far as saying that Craig was better than Connery. I am in the latter group, and I firmly believe Craig is the best Bond. He was even nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actor! Casino Royale was a worldwide hit and now sits among many fans favourite Bond films.

So, anyone who was going to take over after Casino Royale director Martin Campbell decided not to return to direct the sequel had their work cut out for them. Director Roger Michell was originally chosen to direct the then unnamed sequel, but ultimately left the project after the studio announced a release date for the film before the script was even written. The producers then settled on German director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball). Forster had never directed an action film before, and therefore was a very odd choice to helm a Bond film. Nonetheless, production began on the 22nd Bond film, script polisher Paul Haggis apparently finishing the script mere hours before the infamous writer's strike began. The title was then released into the press: QUANTUM of SOLACE.

So, after this detailed Bond history, let's move onto my review of QofS.

The first thing that should be said is QofS is not Casino Royale, so anyone expecting more of the same will be disappointed. The film picks up shortly after the previous film. James Bond (Craig) and his boss, M (Judi Dench) are interrogating Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), the secondary villain from Casino Royale. They attempt to obtain information about the organisation that Mr. White and the recently deceased LeChiffre are members of, while also leading Bond to the people responsible for the death of his love Vesper Lynd in the previous film. This leads Bond to environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and Bolivian secret service agent Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Bond then gathers information regarding Greene's plan to assist a Bolivian General to obtain control over the country and its water supply. Along the way, Bond gets assistance from his former contact, Mathis (Giancarlo Giannnini), CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Mi6 Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton).

If it sounds like there isn't a whole lot of plot in QofS, it's because there isn't. As it is the Bond series' first direct sequel, the film feels like a tacked on ending for Casino Royale, rather than a film in its own right. Having said that, the film is actually quite enjoyable once the viewer accepts that it is neither a traditional Bond film or Casino Royale. The film is actually more akin to a mixture of the Bourne films and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel. The Bourne connection has irritated many Bond fans, but the filmmakers can hardly be blamed for trying to imitate the Bourne films, as the gritty and realistic tone of those films in what modern film-goers have come to expect from their action films.

Daniel Craig once again shines as Bond, even though he has a lot less to do emotionally than in the previous film. Olga Kurylenko slightly disappoints at first, mainly due to the difficult task of filling the shoes of Casino Royale's Eva Green as Vesper Lynd. However, Kurylenko's performance does grow on the viewer, especially after repat viewings. Amalric does his best with the thinly written role of Dominic Greene, and Wright and Arterton have very little to do as Felix and Fileds repectively, apart from the latter being involved in an obvious reference to early Bond film Goldfinger. The pleasantly surprising performance in the film is Giancarlo Giannini as Rene Mathis. Ginannini is not in a large amount of the film, but his few scenes are perfectly executed, particularly his final scene with Criag. The always amazing Judi Dench also gives an excellent performance as M, and is much more involved in Bond's mission than in previous installments.

The action level has certainly been upped in this installment, and while director Forster is not as talented at handling these scenes as his predecessor, he does a commendable job. An early rooftop chase is thrilling, and a dogfight involving Bond and Camille in an old plane is impressive. The film's theme song, Another Way to Die (sung by Alicia Keys and Jack White) is not a classic Bond tune, and actually works much better as a standalone single, rather than the heavily edited version that appears in the film. The opening credits sequence is refreshingly modern, yet also reminds of the classic credit sequences of previous films.

After viewing Qof S, I felt like an opportunity had been wasted. The end of Casino Royale perfectly set up a powerful organisation behind all of the villain's dealings, similar to SPECTRE in the original films, and this concept excites me extremely. However, I feel that more could have been done to establish this organisation, and I hope that Bond 23 will return to the epic style of Casino Royale. It is suggested that this organisation, reveled to be name QUANTUM, will be involved in the next few Bond films, and I greatly look forward to the rest of Craig's appearances as Bond.

VERDICT:

While not as good as the previous film, Quantum of Solace is an enjoyable entry into the series and is not the disaster it could have easily been. The film improves after repeat viewings, and will ensure that the enthusiasm for the Bond series continues for many years to come.

RATING:

4 out of 5

Alex's Top 10 Films

My friend (codename DimSim) and I are constantly updating our Top 10 Films list. Phrases such as "That almost cracked my Top 10" or "That film could actually compete for my number 3 spot" are quite often heard in our post-film conversations.

So here is my Top 10 Film List:

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - yes it counts as one film in my books.
2. Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo del Toro is brilliant!
3. Hot Fuzz - I am an unashamed Simon Pegg fan, more on that and SPACED later.
4. Braveheart - Mel Gibson gets bad press these days, but this is an incredible epic.
5. V for Vendetta - Has the most inspiring ending ever, and Natalie Portman helps.
6. There Will Be Blood - Daniel Day Lewis!
7. The Darjeeling Limited - Wes Anderson's best film.
8. Children of Men - Made me tolerate Clive Owen.
9. Casino Royale - more on this later...
10. Starter For 10 - A little-seen British comedy with James McAvoy; hilarious!

So there is my current Top 10 Film list. I will post alterations as they occur.

Until next time, hang loose brother goose.

Welcome to Alex's Labyrinth

Greetings and welcome to Alex's Labyrinth.

I'm an 18 year old guy living in Adelaide, Australia. I'm a Christadelphian (try wikipedia) and I love films and music.

This blog is going to be a place for me to voice my opinions of films, albums, TV shows etc.

I understand that I will get very few people reading this blog, but I'm going to thrive on writing it anyway.

So until next time, hang loose brother goose.