Brothers

With their massive blue eyes and weird mouths, Tobey and Jake at least look like real brothers.

Tobey Maguire is a a captain (!) in the marines and is off to Afghanistan for a second tour. Jake Gyllenhaal is his brother who just out of jail, looks after Tobey's family when he goes missing presumed dead.

This is a remake of a film originally made in 2004 by Danish director Susanne Bier, this time directed by Jim Sheriden who made In America and like that film uses real sisters to play his young female siblings.

He really gets amazing performances out of them and they are by far the best actors in this film - naturalistic, warm and truthful, they come across way better than the stricken oscar baiting performance of Tobey Maguire or the wooden Natalie Portman. Jakes fine.

Everything looks and feels icy and calculated and ultimately disappointing, I'm off to find the original.

NO - should be called "Sisters" for the wonderful Isabelle and Maggie Cahill. 

Where the Wild Things Are

I'm not a fan of the much loved children's book this is based on, I'm a fan of Spike Jonze and wanted to see what kind of world he creates with this and it is a beautiful one; forest next to ocean next to desert, wooden forts and a forever sunset light.

Max's parents are divorced and after getting into a fight with his mum he runs aways and ends up amongst the wild things who are essentially his personality split into different aspects. The wild things are looking for a king (parent) and Max takes on this role or tries to, it's hard being a parent.

A mixture of puppet and CG, the wild things are dirty, snotty, a bit ugly and a lot childish which helps Max in his transition to young adult. Max makes the important discovery that the world doesn't actually resolve around him.

The downers are the shitty soundtrack by Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the choice of voice actors for the wild things. I can never understand why directors choose actors with such well known voices for their none human characters. I can in a disney film where it somehow makes them more $ but this is art house and I don't want to see Tony Soprano coming out of a big puppet face.

YES - this is adults only.

Deadly Blessing

Little watched Wes Craven film about country couple Martha and John, whose neighbours are Hitite (not the amish but dressed like the amish and using horse carriages like the amish)

Some weird shit goes down in the barn and the Hitites are muttering about an Incubus. Marthas city friends (including a young saucy Sharon Stone) come and stay with her but this doesn't stop the stabbings, weird dreams and snake in the bath.

Is a person responsible or something else...

This is a strange one almost saved by a completely ridiculous out of nowhere ending that no one would see coming, its the type of ending that comes out of desperation, after all the and then, and thens you just go fuck it - It was all a dream.

NO - what the hell is going on? 

Whip It

Straight to DVD.

How come? It's not that bad and the 2 main characters of Bliss and Pash are the most realistic 17 year old best friends I've ever seen on screen.

Excellent Ellen Page is Bliss who discovers Roller Derby but has to keep it secret from her beauty pageant pushing mother.

I was really getting into the 90’s setting when Bliss' father looks up her team on the internet and I thought hold on a minute if this is 1995 then how come they have a computer and internet in their house? so I don’t actually know when this is set but I enjoyed it more thinking it was the 90s.

Directed by Drew Barrymore it reminds me of Karate Kid that type of training, fighting the villain and falling for someone along the way film. Oh and don't forget the special move which in this film is the "whip it"

NO - I’m sure that real life roller derby players will be horrified. I wouldn't say get it out however if you end up watching it on tv for some reason you'll watch it through to the end.

Black Rain

This terrible film is actually awesome!

Michael is Nick Conklin (Conklin?) an American cop who is escorting a gang member back to Osaka to be arrested but fucks up the hand over and the gang member escapes.

Michael is rude, inept, doesn't even try and speak Japanese or respect the police he's working with and is a massive dick. Along with his partner Andy Garcia, they attempt to hunt down the gang member with or without the help of the Japanese police.

Directed by Ridley Scott, it features all his favourite tricks - lights, smoke and fans. Weirdly he also recreates the smoking silhouette scene from Bladerunner exactly, this time with gaijin hostess Joyce. He also re uses some no doubt expensive wall tile blocks from Bladerunner for good measure (well he couldn't exactly use them in Legend could he?)

YES - motorbikes, smoking, swords, karaoke, lots of cheese but still stylish and enjoyable however I wonder what people from Osaka actually think of this.

Brazil

When I was 17 some friends asked me for movie recommendations, I said I don't know but DONT GET OUT BRAZIL. Somehow they heard this as get out Brazil it's the best movie I've ever seen and like me couldn't watch it all because it's long and boring and they ended up thinking I have terrible taste.

15 years later I thought I'd give it another go....

It is still too long but entertaining enough. A satire on our bureaucratic, youth obsessed society. Civil servant Sam Lowry attempts to correct a paperwork error that sees a Mr Buttle being arrested instead of  Mr Tuttle (an out of place Robert De Niro as a freelance terrorist air conditioner repairman) and ends up becoming an enemy of the state along the way.

Some great buildings and nice design ideas are let down by some shonky effects.

Great scene where Sam attends a funeral for the friend of his plastic surgery obsessed mother. The body has been so destroyed by surgery that the coffin is all that's holding it together and when Sam opens it the body flows out into a meaty puddle of guts (this is much funnier than it sounds)

NO - visually interesting but I'm still saying don't get it out.