Reviews

I am a big fan of Asian movies and this film definitely captures the Japanese film vibe with the slow engaging dramatical pace and beautiful cinematography. The story is a fictional account told from the perspective of the 'Lost Girl', played by Alex Daddario, who wears a sort of constant rabbit in headlights expression (or is it more channeling Lon Chaney Jr :-)

So Alex's love interest is a rather graceful Yakuza brother who's a bit of the strong and silent type, although inexplicably he does cry a bit like a 90's new man and also likes to wear black.

Alex is working in Japan as an expat and likes a tab and bevy after work with her mates. Staggering home on the way back one evening, Alex and the gangster stare each other down on the street and subsequently bump into each other in the hustle and bustle of downtown Tokyo's passion hotels.

As with most romantic dramas, there's the obligatory boy loses girl, boy gets girl.... and they both get lost on a train somewhere. Unusually for a Japanese movie, there are only 3 acts instead of 4 and this is where the film loses focus. The story is engaging throughout and the denouement appears rather abruptly and doesn't quite fit the narrative that has preceded.

Intrigued by the film, I subsequently read the novel which confirmed that the original story's ending had been changed. This also shed Alex's character in a new grittier light and this had obviously been toned down in the film in order for her character to be more universally likeable. The novel is more like an expanded short story which I found thoroughly enjoyable, and I believe that the novel could be further expanded to make a more engaging 4 act film and maybe even shed some light on the bad boy character with some action scenes.

Pros Engaging performances from Alex Daddario and Takehiro Hira Beautiful cinematography and sound Intriguing story Amazing novel and screenplay

Cons The film opening scene is masterfully done and draws the viewer but some of the pieces of film don't quite fit together The ending reminded me of Mulholland Drive which I don't think was intentional

Overall Would make a great triple bill with Shall We Dance and Go Find a Psychic or maybe a great triple bill with Himeanole and Man Woman and the Wall

She's Out Of My League is a slightly over the top romantic comedy with a big heart.

An hour into the film I looked at my watch! That however is a good thing because I didn't want it to end. Then 3/4 into it the inevitable happened, the obligatory boy loses girl.

So really it should be a solid 7 or 8/10. However instead of a tacked on ending, we get to enjoy a great finale which turns it right round.

The main characters are a rather weak looking and pathetically 'nice' Jay Baruchel with a rather pretty and adorable Alice Eve. Supporting Jay are a motley crew of pals who try their best to remote control him and get the girl who is most definitely out of his league!

Supporting Alice is the straight talking Krysten Ritter, who doesn't have much to work with but sparkles. The same also applies to Nate Torrence who was great!

Jay and his crew work in airport security whilst Alice is a party planner who is frisked through by Jay. Chaos and order ensues!

Pros - Sweet, Funny, Rude, Bootlace

Cons - Too short!

Overall - 11 out of 10

2 minutes into this film, my mother said 2 interesting things:

This doesn't look like it's filmed in India!

What does Agneepath mean!

Desistan is becoming quite sophisticated judging by Agneepath. Take our hero, Krrish. Throughout 99% of the film we endure the pain of this loser.

Traumatised by his father's suicide, Krrish abandons his mother and sister/daughter by pursuing a life of crime, as advised by his father just before he handed Kanchee the rope with which to hang himself!

Still Bhagubhai has blessed Krrish in equal measure by making him Raj of a commune, consort of the lovely Priyanka and handsome to boot. Krrish however is not satisfied, as evident by the constipated and Filmfare winning expression that's graffiti'd on his face.

Meanwhile Akhbar, from Amar Akhbar Anthony, makes an appearance. Akhbar has moved to the dark side and is now peddling girls instead of cinema tickets on the black market. Othwerwise Akhbar is the same old lovable rogue! He even does another Kawali in this film!

KatrinaBen makes an appearance in the 2nd half of the film, mainly to keep the spirits up of any 11 year old boys still watching. However in the film Katrina is used by Kanchee to see if Krrish likes either girls, or boys, or dogs! Krrish passes because Kanchee finds out that Krrish is a Don, just like him, and so is worthy of a proper fight.

After trying to put off the inevitable showdown for 3 hours, Krrish loses patience with his destiny and decides to go back and 'avenge' his father's suicide. At this point the film turns into total farce as Kanchee uses Krrish as a real life voodoo doll. Then everyone starts crying, except Krrish who will be having sharab with Karan.

Pros - Holi and Ganesh Pooja celebrated with real claret

Cons - It's 3 hours long, just like Heat

Overall - Forgettable

Passion is like a blended smoothie, concocted of decaffeinated Hitchcock, Verhoeven, Lynch and De Palma!

Being a Brian De Palma film, its not too surprising that there are: some references to Hitchcock, a bit of voyeurism, the odd kink here or there and some satire.

The plot consists of some corporate executives working for a marketing company called 'Koch' in Berlin. The film accurately portrays the politics involved in climbing the corporate ladder ie prostitution and pimping! It's certainly a cut throat, bitch eat bitch world out there!

Some of the funniest things in the movie are Paul Anderson acting very sleazy, the Youtube upload going stratospheric in the space of a few hours, and Rachel McAdams being sexually assaulted!

The film is split into two sections, a short film (which seems a little lightweight) plus an epilogue inspired by a famous cartoon dog detective.

Overall there are some great touches by De Palma. However I didn't laugh as much as I'd like!

Pros - Production, Characters, The ballet sequence

Cons - Vertigo

Overall - Disappointed by the dessert

Basic Instinct 2 is essentially a vehicle for Sharon Stone to reprise her infamous role as Catherine Tramell. Tramell is now an even more intelligent, controlled, menacing, mature character and just as sexually deviant as before. Stone obliges with a better performance than Basic Instinct 1.

The original film had an over the top style stamped upon it by Verhoeven. This film has a subtler almost film noir style and is shot in London. The music score from the original is referenced and gives the film a genuine feel of the sequel. The tongue in cheek humour from the original is also retained and given some British spin!

Basic Instinct 2 uses a very similar structure to Basic Instinct and as such is not original. This however is no bad thing as everything that was enjoyable before is also enjoyable here with an added twist. For example instead of Shooter there is Glass, and instead of Beth there is Washburn. This film is an ambiguous, twisting, slightly thrilling, whodunit. Only the suspense and controversy from the original film seem to be lacking.

David Morrisey plays Dr Glass who is a stiff upper lipped, control freak, psychiatric consultant and is assigned by London's Police to evaluate Tramell. Tramell keeps throwing bait at Glass who keeps biting until subsequently losing control and turning into Tramell's puppet. David Thewlis plays corrupt London detective Washburn who is determined to convict Tramell.

Two slight drawbacks of the film consist of weaknesses in the characters of Dr Glass and Detective Washburn. Glass initially appears as a strong willed professional, but then seems to involve himself in a game he doesn't control and turns into an adolescent stalker! Everyone knows that London Met Police don't do corruption. Now if Tramell had parked her Spyder on a yellow instead of Docklands, or demonstrated in the G20 I'm sure Washburn would have interrogated her for a few days, and arrested her for smoking.

Pros - Catherine Tramell, Humour, London

Cons - Glass and Washburn

Overall - Duck Of The Century!

The humour in this film was great. The beginning with footballer Franks dogging at 100mph with Tramell. Stan is definitely the man.

Also Tramell in Soho, cocking her leg and flashing her ... well soliciting 'Dickie Pep' (lol) and offering him cash!!!!!

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Here's my take on who was responsible for the murders in the movie.

Cheslov's wife was most likely murdered by Cheslov who was involved with drugs. It's suggested that Washburn did it due to corruption however this scenario seems less likely.

Franks - accidentally on purpose

Tramell is likely to have befriended, manipulated and murdered Towers. Tramell indirectly tells Glass of the intention beforehand. Her Big Ben lighter was left at the crime scene for Glass. She also admitted the murder later.

Denise - Tramell most likely arranged this in order to have an alibi. No-one else would have a motive for this. Tramell subsequently frees Glass on a technicality.

Pep - The style of the execution coupled with the risk addiction would imply Tramell arranged it. Washburn planted the bottle and syringe at the scene!

Washburn - Tramell set it up in a similar manner to Basic Instinct 1. Glass trying to prevent a murder before it happens ended up setting himself up.

Freeway is a black comic take on Little Red Riding Hood.

Reese Witherspoon plays a rather sweet and innocent looking young woman off to find her grandmother. Kiefer Sutherland plays a psychological serial killer, although not a fully paid up one but the free or Lite version.

The film's strengths are the performance by Witherspoon who brings the character to life, and the screenplay which is funny in the extreme. Indeed I would be surprised if Witherspoon had not been nominated for an award in the role.

Freeway is not a very politically correct film and is all the more enjoyable for it! This aspect of it could cause offence and as such has probably hindered it's publicity.

Pros - Twisted, Dark, Comic Tale

Cons - None come to mind

Overall - Baddass

Basic Instinct was notorious upon release due to a combination of it's graphic sex scenes, along with an infamous close up shot of Sharon Stone.

The film is an entertaining thriller with plenty of suspense. For a Hollywood film it seemed to break some barriers in terms of the portrayal of it's sexual content. Together this makes a film that wouldn't be out of place had it been directed by Hitchcock. In fact Verhoeven purposely included touches from Hitchcock's Vertigo!

Michael Douglas plays Nick 'Shooter' Curran, a cigarette smoking, liquor drinking, cocaine sniffing cop who has accidentally killed 2 members of the public on duty. This incident was duly covered up.

Stone plays Catherine Tramell, a blunt, seemingly care free, book author whose current 'buddy' has been murdered whilst participating in a crazed sexual orgy. Shooter proceeds to investigate the case and keeps biting at bait thrown down to him by Tramell.

Upon release I watched this film twice at the cinema as it's visuals, musical score, plot and overall thrills were enthralling. 18 years onward the film has morphed into a clever comedy thriller!

Stone's acting at the beginning of the film seems to portray Tramell as some sort of souless replicant/robot. This along with several odd one liners were funny. Also the sex scene involving Douglas and Tripplehorn was hilarious. Even one of Las Vegas's finest actors would probably struggle to find the target as accurately as Shooter's exocet missile!

Basic Instinct's plot is deliberately ambiguous leaving it up to the audience to draw their conclusions. This coupled with an implausible plot has drawn much criticism for the film. However it is certainly no documentary and the plot encourages several alternate scenarios which made an enjoyable viewing for the film in 2010.

Pros - Sexy suspense thriller

Cons - Characters not really very likable

Overall - The Sex Bomb

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Here's my take on who was responsible for the murders in the movie.

Garner's death by Shooter is an accident. Clearly Tramell set up the situation as Shooter had been shown the latest printout from the book. As this printout was yet to be published, a likely scenario would have been to subsequently destroy it with the intention of messing with Shooter's head.

Garner was still at the scene after the last murder had taken place meaning that the chances of being caught were high! Therefore it could be concluded that Tramell did the murder, leaving Garner at the scene with a highly implausible alibi. Also Tramell had arranged for further evidence to be planted in Garner's apartment. Had Garner committed the crimes, she surely would not have dumped the gun behind a cupboard in her unlocked apartment!

The murder of Garner's husband could have been arranged by Tramell. Subsequently either Garner killed the rock star at the beginning to implicate Tramell, or more likely Tramell was high on cocaine and enacted her book.

Nielsen must have interviewed Tramell whilst investigating the murder of Garner's husband. Tramell may have arranged for Nielsen to be paid off to halt any further investigations, whilst simultaneously providing information for her new book. After Shooter alerted Garner that Tramell was aware of his file, Tramell arranged for Nielsen to be shot dead to mess with Shooter's head.

AkshayBhai is currently playing roles where he's the hero but also a complete clown. He pulled this role off well in Namastay London but seems to be sinking lower and lower in each successive film. Can it get worse? Well his character is urinated upon in this film.

Deepika is imaginatively assigned a double role in this and succeeds well. Both her characters appear distinguishably different although this is probably due to the costume and make-up rather than strength of her characters.

The premise has potential, however the script appears to have been cobbled together. This film would probably disappoint it's audience because they'd be expecting popcorn and actually be fed peanut soup. Overall it's a farcical film made watchable by the dumb antics of AkshayBhai, eye candy of Deepika, and some fine kung foolery by Mithun.

Pros - Different to the usual Bollywood fare! Soundtrack has 1 great song...

Cons - Odd continuity glitch, plot-holes, swear words!?

Overall - runs out of steam just before credits role

Grant plays a victimised burglar, who is on the receiving end of harassment from his friends, the Police, an insurance investigator, a market stall holder and even Grace Kelly!

Everything about this Hitchcock film hits the mark. There's some beautifully shot scenes in the French Riviera, a funny screenplay and a fair sprinkling of magic. The scene where the band gives up the ghost is a case in point!

Positives - Everything

Drawbacks - Too similar to his later work Psycho

Overall - Masterpiece