Rurouni Kenshin

This adaptation of a Japanese manga comic is really very good. Unlike many films of this genre, Rurouni Kenshin takes its time and builds up a decent story rather than just throwing us into an endless bloodbath.

In fact, there isn't all that much fighting in the film. What there is though is excellently choreographed and actually contributes to the story, rather than feeling like it was thrown in because it was time for another battle.

I do have one niggle though. The bad guy Jin-e has this special technique (which he goes out of his way to explain is not magic) that is just silly... it just doesn't fit with the whole tone of the rest of the film. Maybe the ruthless "businessman" running the opium trade is a bit over the top too... although that was quite funny in places and lifted the mood when it could have slipped into being too dark.

Niggles aside though, this quite long film (135 minutes) delivers the goods on many levels. It is interesting and exciting. A true hero facing up to his past choices and trying to do the right thing.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

There's not a lot of point in reviewing huge blockbuster action films like X-Men: Days of Future Past because there is so much written about them anyway. Usually my expectations are so high that I'm often a bit disappointed by the first viewing and only come to appreciate them later. That's less the case with this one, probably because of the number of new characters that were thrown at me.

I vaguely remembered Bishop from the comics, but had completely forgotten Sunspot and Quicksilver (who was my favourite in this film). The list goes on as this film racks up a large array of X-Men from all corners of the various comic archives. The story is quite good too.

In the future, the Sentinels are really quite scary. You have to roll with the story a bit once the time-travelling starts and the paradox potential ramps up... but on the whole it worked for me. It is quite a long film at 130 minutes and I was a bit worried that it might lose the younger members of my party in the longer actionless scenes but it didn't.

What else? I'm sure I missed a lot. Plenty of time to see it again when the DVD comes out.

Oh, in case you were wondering, the guy at the end of the credits is En Sabah Nur (aka Apocalypse).

Like Someone In Love

How an Iranian director came to direct a Japanese film is quite a story in itself. The result is quite hard to describe, but let me say up front that I liked Abbas Kiarostami's film Like Someone In Love a lot.

It is hard to describe because it is a little bit baffling at first. I love films that don't try and explain themselves; and this one doesn't explain anything; you just have to watch and take what you get. For example, in the first few minutes you hear someone talking and don't even see her or who she's talking to. Wonderful.

The situation does gradually reveal itself. And it is worth the wait. The small number of characters are complex and vibrant. You watch, intrigued, as they inadvertently dance themselves into a tangle of misunderstandings and crossed wires.

This isn't a fast-moving film, to say the least. But it is interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking.

Eden

You can tell that Eden was made by people passionate about raising awareness of the horrors of human trafficking. For that reason alone you have to applaud them, because it really is a tragedy that this sort of thing still goes on today. After watching the film I really wanted to try and do something myself to help... but I don't know what I can do.

There's no way that you can make an entertaining film about trafficking. It is grim all the way after the girl is kidnapped. There is no let-up, no humour at all, not even black humour. So it's a tough watch. You only keep watching because it seems realistic and you almost feel like it would be disrespectful to the survivors to give up on the film, even though you want to.

I don't know if it was part of the original true story or a plot device, but I liked the fact that it wasn't just "a few bad old men" doing horrible things to young girls. There were men of all ages and even some older women complicit in the operation to hold and mistreat the girls.

Many people to blame for trafficking and prostitution. Obviously the traffickers are the worst offenders, but the men who buy the "services" are almost as bad, and anyone who turns a blind eye is equally culpable.

La Haine

La Haine (Hate) is a black-and-white French film about 3 male youths living on a housing estate in Paris in the aftermath of riots. It didn't ring true to me. I wasn't convinced. There were patches that were better, but not much. The ending looked like it was going to be reasonable and then it went for a dumb option instead.

Of course, it might have just gone over my head. What do I know. At least it was short.

PS I saw this on Blu-ray; it is black and white and only 94 minutes long; so there was plenty of space on the disc for some extras... but there's not a single thing. Is that mean, or lazy, or both?

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

I was a bit sceptical about The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones as I thought it might be yet another teen awakening to supernatural power film. And it is. But it's a good one.

Since I haven't read any of the books (I'm nearly 43) I can't comment on the accuracy, but judging by author Cassandra Clare's comments in interviews, she seemed pretty happy with it.

The thing I liked about the film the most was that it didn't feel rushed. There is plenty of uncertainty about who is who, you never know who the heroine should be trusting, everyone seems to have their own agenda, people lie and deceive all the time. It's great, you have to keep on your toes until the end... and even then you're not quite sure who is who.

And yes, the action and effects are good too. Well done Harald Zwart on putting all the pieces together so well.

I thought all the actors were excellent. Robert Sheehan stood out somewhat because I thought I recognised him from something but couldn't place him (he was Nathan in the brilliant Misfits, which nosedived after he left IMHO).

Why the film got such bad reviews in the US is beyond me. I liked it; and the kids I watched it with liked it too.

Skyline

There is a lot wrong with Skyline, but somehow it's not terrible. The special effects are so good that they drag the film up from the depths of awfulness to being just about OK.

But I can't just ignore the bad parts. The script and the acting are rubbish. At the beginning we see the alien invasion start... then we get taken back 15 hours to see the human characters and get to love them for what they are. Except that all the men are selfish pricks and all the women are vain harpies. Why would I care about these characters? Maybe I am supposed to hate them so that I think it is good when they die? But I don't really hate them either. They are just rubbish characters.

Fortunately the special effects from the first couple of minutes are enough to carry you through the flashback and keep you watching. After that you still get some rubbish dialog and dreadful hammy acting, but the action takes over and the characters soon get thinned out.

I think the film would have been a lot better if the characters had just been left to develop slowly through the film. We don't really need to know much about them. The less the better to be honest. There's really only 2 characters who matter at all anyway... and the things that matter about them could easily be expressed much more subtly.

One aspect of the plot that is good, is the lack of information we have about the aliens. Who are they? Why are they here? We just don't know and that is intriguing. By the end it doesn't even matter that the whole film seems to have been a huge set-up for a sequel. In fact, it's quite a cool ending.

Would I watch a sequel? Probably, if the effects were as good. But I'd like to see a bit more effort on the characters too.

PS the directors are the Brothers Strause who were also responsible for Aliens vs Predator: Requiem which was a real stinker; so this is a big improvement.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I remember seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey a long time ago and thinking it was both amazing and weird. So it was fascinating to watch it again (on Blu-Ray this time... must have been VHS before).

Firstly, it is hard to believe that this film was made in 1968! Wow, the space effects still look good now, so imagine what people thought back then. Also, remember that in the 20th century the year 2000 was always the future. What's the future now? Seems like we are too busy to think about it any more.

Anyway, the film is still amazing. It is still a bit weird, but less so than I remember. I think it mostly makes sense. You have to make your own mind up about what the end means, and what the obelisk thing is... but that's good.

Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke were geniuses.

The Kings Of Summer

For some reason I thought that The Kings of Summer was a European film... but it is American, which is a shame because I'm really not a fan of modern American comedy.

Even stranger, the comedy is actually quite European in flavour, with a strong emphasis on irony. But even so, I still didn't find it very funny. Or very interesting. Or anything much.

Fortunately it is quite short.

Top 10 Recommendations

Just in case you don't have time to read all my film articles, here are the 10 films that I would really recommend from the ones I've seen in the last few months. The order isn't very significant, I just put numbers in to check that there really were 10...

1. Bullhead
2. Broken
3. Petty Romance
4. Kelly + Victor
5. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
6. Warm Bodies
7. All Superheroes Must Die
8. Livid
9. Dark Skies
X. Filth

Insidious

I confess that I initially picked up the film Insidious purely on the strength of it featuring Rose Byrne. And she definitely doesn't disappoint as the terrified mother in this excellent Haunted House horror film. Boy, she really does terrified brilliantly.

Credit must also go to Patrick Wilson as the hapless father and Lin Shaye as the creepy psychic (with her 2 comic helpers).

The real strength of the film though is in the direction and writing of James Wan and Leigh Whannell. There is all the cleverness of Saw without the gore. I loved the intro in the style of Hammer House of Horror and the numerous nods to old Hitchcock movies. The pacing is brilliant; there are just the right number of jumps! in just the right places. And there are plenty of surprises.

I also really liked the avoidance of most of the traditional horror clichés like people walking backwards towards the bad things and tripping over nothing so the monster can catch up with them.

All in all, a very good horror suspense thriller movie... with Rose Byrne too.

The Divide

In the opening scene of The Divide we see a nuke hit New York. I guess it must have actually been quite a way from the city because some people have enough time to run down lots of stairs to the basement of their building.

OK. So far, so good. I thought the film might actually be an interesting look at how people cope with confinement and stuff. But it isn't. I think the writers read Lord of the Flies and thought "hey, we can do this in a bunker after a nuke hits NY!".

It's really rubbish. Just an excuse to try and show people doing terrible things to other people. It doesn't even have any of the surprise-factor of decent horror films. You can see it all coming.

The music is quite nice in places...

Prisoners

I feel so cheated after watching Prisoners. It really is the worst kind of film; one that promises so much for so long and then totally disappoints by not delivering. At 153 minutes it is long. After about 100 minutes I was a bit niggled by some of the flaws, but there was nothing unforgivable; from the 2 hour mark onwards it just hurtles down hill to a useless ending.

You can't really blame the actors, other than for taking on the film in the first place. Jake Gyllenhaal does best with the weak material he's given, producing an interesting detective. Hugh Jackman tries hard to portray the father, but his character is so badly written that the inconsistencies are shameful. All the other characters are largely inconsequential, even the parents of the other girl, which is another major fault.

The plot is so full of holes. Police procedures are laughable. Jackman's character boasts about being prepared for anything and then confronts the baddie with his back turned. Cue a gun and a long monologue to explain the whole history because the writers couldn't think of a better way to explain what had happened... even though it was pretty obvious at that point.

There are such big questions being posed by this film that it is a travesty that the treatment is so poor. To what extent would a parent take the law into their own hands if they believed their child's life was at stake? What are the consequences of doing terrible things "for the greater good"? Even the baddies motivation is simplified to moronic levels.

Ultimately, like the French film 7 Days, this is another failed attempt to examine parents' reactions to a crisis involving their own children. And unfortunately, Prisoners is much the poorer effort of the two.