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13 Assassins. Takashi Miike does Kurosawa; a big, very violent historical drama about a small troop of samurai setting out to take down a very well-armed warlord who, technically, can do anything he wants without legal sanction but is threatening to throw the entire country into civil war. Builds slowly to an amazing climax, a 40-minute action scene with more swordplay and distinctly non-honourable fighting than you can shake a katana at. A bit predictable, but impressive. :star4:

The Ward. John Carpenter does... John Carpenter. It's his first proper horror movie in a very long time, his first relatively successful one since In The Mouth Of Madness 16 years ago, and it's set in... a mental hospital! Not that it's all that great; Amber Heard makes a good horror movie heroine (if not as good as she was in the brilliant All The Boys Love Mandy Lane), Carpenter knows how to build a creepy setting in his sleep, and there's some really nice reversals of classic Carpenter themes (bits of it are essentially bits of Halloween through the looking glass). But the plot is vague and often a bit annoying until the twist at the end - which is nicely done, but doesn't make the first 80 minutes any better. :star3: is about right.
 
Mina No Ie -:star4:

Japanese comedy-drama. A story of a young couple who are building their first home, and the pains and anguishes (and comedy) of dealing with designer and contractor who don't get on, and who have different views of how the house should be built. Touching, humorous and full of charm.
 
The Descent and Part 2 .
Plot Part 1 - Six women who get trapped badly inside an unmapped cave system and with another danger, subterranean monsters .
I enjoyed the technical part of caving and our tools !! Such as : Carabiners, Quickdraws, Friends and Ice axe... ( Although, the last tool had an use so exaggerated !! )
In fact, Ice axe is not a typical tool in the Speleology discipline, it's typical in mountaineering, at least in France.
Anyway, :star3: .
 
Walk On Water - A gripping and fascinating Israeli film from director Eytan Fox about a cold-blooded Mossad assassin, Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi), and as the main protagonist his total transformation. The script is brilliant and it features some splendid location filming, including a very modern Tel Aviv, along with Istanbul and Berlin.
 
I watched Beastly a few nights ago. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, but it was something to watch, at least. It was just a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Nothing special, I'd say.
 
Welcome Back, Mr.McDonald - :star4: - Another Koki Mitani film. Really funny. Like his other films, Uchoten Hotel and Minna No Ie, centered around an almost farcial set of circumstances that unwind as professionals in an environment vie to control often chaotic unravelling of events.

In this case, an amateur screen-writer's debut work is butchered in a live performance, due to a chain of events kicked off by a selfish actress unhappy with her character's name. Then the name doesn't match the career the writer had given that character, so that too must change, and on and on it goes. Really enjoyable comedy-drama.
 
Paul. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have tackled sitcoms (Spaced), zombies (Shaun Of The Dead), cop movies (Hot Fuzz) and now turn their eye to science fiction. But if you've always wanted to hear a country & western version of the Star Wars cantina theme, it's hard to give this one a miss. :star4:

I just saw Paul this evening. I give it :star3: It is very good in places, and by the end of the film I was really enjoying it, but my problem was the first half of the film was so slow, and the comedy pacing so very uneven until it passes that half-way mark. I found Paul (the alien) really took some getting used to as a successful comedy vehicle.

As mentioned, toward the end it really got good, but that first half of the movie was quite dull.
 
Just watched a remake of Flight of the Phoenix where they crash in the desert and they build a plane out of the crashed one and materials in the cargo bay by following the directions of a young man who builds only model planes. Just as good the second time around. The man who is Dr. House on the TV series was in the cast. Really entertaining and good suspense (even though I knew what was going to happen).
 
Unknown - very good and interesting though slow at beginning to build story.

Transformers 3 - awful. A guy behind us said the best part of the movie was the soundtrack. :lol:

True Grit - great acting by Bridges and the little girl though the story was predictable but still a great movie.
 
Run Lola Run. Somehow I'd managed to not see this before. My loss, as it's anyone else's who doesn't watch this; it's absolutely brilliant. Fast-paced, stylish, full of little details to make you feel clever, and surprisingly emotional. Loved it to the point where I found myself wanting to pop it in again 10 minutes later and rewatch it. :star5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbs-CEVUX5E&feature=related
 
Kill The Irishman :star1:
It should be illegal to post a review on the cover of a DVD that says "The best mob movie since Goodfellas". I mean, I knew it wasn't but I still felt obligated to rent it. Wish I hadn't.
 
The Magic Hour- :star4: - This is Koki Mitani's latest film, following from the successful The Uchoten Hotel. Really enjoyable again, and a funny comedy/drama. This is the least realistic of all of Mitani's films (granted, they're all quite farcical at times), but nonetheless still lots of fun.

Again the focus is around workplace/job/relationships, but this time it's so much more 'crazy' with the involvement of organised crime and the movie business. A case of wilful mistaken identity leads to all sorts of escapades for an actor who thinks he's playing the role of a legendary hitman, and his director who has to lead him through this dangerous 'film'.
 
Happy Tears. Parker Posey and Demi Moore play two sisters who care for their dementia-riddled father (Rip Torn). Good acting from all three, but I didn't like the trite "quirky indie" feel of the film. Oh yeah, the dream sequences were so unnecessary. I would have liked the movie more if they were edited out.
 
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