The Film Review Blog

The Butterfly Effect

I was curious about this film but because I'd read so many bad reviews I didn't expect much. I actually found it quite gripping and very disturbing. I don't want to give any spoilers away, but I think that people should see it with an open mind. Seeing it with a strong stomach would help as there's some stuff in the storyline that's disturbing and quite awful to watch.

Oscars

It's 5.28am and I've just finished watching the Oscars. This is just a little summing up, as much as my sleep deprived brain will let me!

LOTR:The Return of the King was nominated for 11 Oscars and won them all. I did enjoy the LOTR trilogy and the films hadn't been recognised at previous Academy Awards, however I was really disappointed to see great films like Lost in Translation lose out because of LOTR. I really wanted to see Sofia Coppola win best director, it would have been a great moment.

Another film that liked that did do reasonably well was Mystic River. This is a very emotional film with excellent performances and direction. Tim Robbins and Sean Penn were most deserving of their awards although I would have loved to see Bill Murray win Best Actor.

A film that was sadly left out was American Splendor, nominated for best adapted screenplay it couldn't win against the powerhouse that was LOTR.

I haven't seen Monster but I was glad that Charlize Theron won, she's proved that she's a great character actress so hopefully she won't be limited to "girlfriend" type parts in the future.

Best outfit - Diane Keaton. She didn't compromise and wasn't afraid to just be herself. I thought she looked great!

Something's Gotta Give

I went to this film with a feeling of unease, I wanted to see it and yet I wasn't really looking forward to it. My main reason for seeing it was Jack Nicholson - I've had a huge crush on him since I was 17, I'm now 31. However I'd been warned by reviews and from friends that it was overlong and melodramatic.

So it's a love story about Harry who usually dates younger women but finds himself falling for playwright Erica who's nearer his age. It's a promising idea and it is very funny but it's also far too long. A tighter edit would have helped a lot but I did like it.

Spoilers ahead!

Movie Picks

This blog will hopefully be an online extension of the email and face to face chats I have with people about various films. It won't just be reviews, I'll probably stick in links to interesting articles/sites about upcoming movies, gossip etc. I hope that the guest authors will too! :-)

Films that I really want to see at the moment are -

Bad Santa - Or is it too late in the festive period to see this one?

"Bad Santa" is a demented, twisted, unreasonably funny work of comic kamikaze style, starring Billy Bob Thornton as Santa in a performance that's defiantly uncouth. His character is named Willie T. Soke; W.C. Fields would have liked that. He's a foul-mouthed, unkempt, drunken louse at the beginning of the movie and sticks to that theme all the way through. You expect a happy ending, but the ending is happy in the same sense that a man's doctors tell him he lost his legs but they were able to save his shoes.

Read more from Roger Ebert.

American Splendour - Will the life of a comic book writer be as interesting as comic book creations? I think so.

If comic book writer Harvey Pekar's life is worth a movie, anybody's life is worth a movie. Yet that's precisely what makes "American Splendor," a dramatized recounting of Pekar's life, a special and worthwhile film. It's a humane and witty treatment of an average life that, incidentally, speaks to the worth and inherent drama of average lives.

Read more from Mick LaSalle

Lost in Translation - You might be confused by the trailer but this looks so good! :-)

...with "Lost in Translation," her gorgeous second film, Sofia Coppola forever retires her reputation as a lightweight feeding off the milk of nepotism. A delicate, beautifully observed study of impossible romance, "Lost in Translation" is one of the best films this year -- and a thrilling promise of things to come from an indisputably gifted director.

Read more from Edward Guthmann.

Spider-Man 2 - No review as yet of course, but from the trailer it looks amazing!

Films I really don't want to see

..so far

Stuck on You

Another thin, thought-free comedy from the makers of There's Something About Mary, Stuck On You has been criticised for dissing the disabled, but its biggest offence is that it's not funny.

Read more from Nev Pierce.