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Showing all reviews beginning with Br
Brain Dead
When Lionel's overpowering mother is bitten by an exotic rat monkey and subsequently turns into a zombie, Lionel tries to cover it up, but as other members of the town are bitten by her and also become zombies his secret becomes increasingly hard to hide. Add to this a story of forbidden love, lots of blood, more gore than you can shake the soggy end of a severed limb at and a Kung Fu priest ('I kick Arse for the Lord!') and you have one of the best comedy horror films ever. Directed by Bad Taste director Peter Jackson before he was known as Peter 'Lord of the Rings' Jackson, this film is, like the Evil Dead films, a fine example of how much fun low budget comedy horror films can be. The film is very gorey towards the end and if you don't like blood or zombies being impaled and cut up then you probably shouldn't watch, for the rest of you I highly recommend you watch this film.
Brother
Another film written, directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano/Beat Takeshi, Brother tells the story of Yamamoto, a Yakuza who leaves Japan for America after his family is taken over by another family who want him dead because he is too dangerous.
Once in America, Yamamoto meets up with his little brother who is a small time drug dealer, Yamamoto goes on a crusade to establish the Yakuza as the number one gang in the area, recruiting more and more until the attract the attention of the Mafia. Beat Takeshi plays his usual role of the hard ass guy who says very little but kicks a lot of butts. This film is full of action and violence and is a great Gangster/Yakuza movie. Any fan of Takeshi Kitano's other films will enjoy this.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Admittedly this is not my usual type of viewing, but there was nothing else on and well sometimes a reviewer has to go see films they don't really want to. Although the subtitle The Edge of Reason has a cheesy action movie ring to it, this film is far from that, being as it is a typically English Romantic Comedy, complete with Hugh Grant
The film starts 4 weeks after the first film (which incidentaly I haven't seen) left off, with Bridget (Renée Zellweger) in her new relationship with her lawyer boyfriend Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Almost straight away her insecurities get the better of her and things stop going as planned.
We are then treated to 100 or so minutes of Bridget getting her self into her usual (I assume) clumsy situations, including a disastrous skiing holiday and a trip to Thailand which doesn't go to plan either.
As far as films go, The Edge of Reason is by no means unwatchable, in fact I have to admit much of the jokes and comedy in the film were actually quite funny and all in all it was a reasonable film. I've seen far worse romantic comedies in my time, and at least it wasn't another Shriek or Jason X.
Broken Flowers
Don Johnstone (Bill Murray) is a rich playboy who has gone from woman to woman throughout his life, one day he receives an unsigned letter from an ex-lover warning him that he has a son he doesn't know about who has gone looking for him. His best friend Winston convinces him to make a list of women it could be and after narrowing it down to 5, he is given the itinerary for a trip which will see him visit each of the women in an effort to find his son.
Broken Flowers sees Bill Murray spend most of the movie silent with a bemused look on his face, as he travels between each of the women from his past he ends up in situations which border on bizarre and he ends up as an observer as the events play out.
This format to the movie makes for a quite slow movie where not much happens, fans of Bill Murray's more recent films will no doubt enjoy it as it is kind of like a whole movie made up of the Bill Murray parts of Lost in Translation.
Overall, Broken Flowers is a little slow and quite unsatisfying.
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Set in France in the 1700's Brotherhood of the Wolf tells the story of Grégoire de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani. In a province of France a strange beast is said to roam which eats women and children and holds the country people in a tight grip of fear. Fronsac and Mani attempt to track down the beast but it might just be that there is a secret behind it which it would be dangerous to unearth.
Brotherhood of the Wolf is an excellent action suspense with a great cast which also consists of Monica Belluci and Vincent Cassel.
Brokeback Mountain
Set against the backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two young men who meet once summer. Taking work as helpers on a sheep ranch, they must spend the summer alone in the mountains looking after the sheep. What begins as friendship develops into a love which they cannot continue after they return to their lives.
4 years after their experience on Brokeback, Both of the young men, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) are married with children but their passion is rekindled when Jack seeks to meet up again.
Being referred to mainly as "that gay cowboy movie", Brokeback Mountain is so more than that, the whole movie is beautifully shot, the scenery of the mountains is stunning on a hugely grand scale. The story of forbidden love between Jack and Ennis is both sad and joyful at the same time and while I found the movie is a little slow paced towards the end, the character development is engaging and intruiging.
Brokeback Mountain is a movie which (in this country at least) is probably a little ahead of its time, a scene involving Ennis' wife witnessing the two men kissing was met with laughter rather than the shock or sadness which it should have received if it had been a wife discovering her husband was cheating with another woman.
Overall, Brokeback Mountain is a beautifully made movie which may well come to be an important event in cinema history.
The Break Up
Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston star in The Break Up, a comedy about the break up of a couple. After argument, Gary (Vaughn) and Brooke (Aniston) decide that they no longer wish to be together and split the house into two leading to mildy humourous consequences. When Brooke realises she has made a mistake, can she get Gary back?
The film isn't really as funny as it is made out to be, but having said that, there are a few laughs in there. There is a lot of shouting, some arguments uncomfortable to watch and while there isn't a lot to the plot, it does defy expectations at the least. Aniston and Vaughn are good enough in their roles, but all in all, there isn't too much there to impress.
Bring it On
It's the start of a new term and Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) has just been announced as the new head cheerleader charged with taking the award winning team to the final of the National Cheerleading championships. Things don't start of well for Torrance when one of the team injures herself and they need to get a replacement. New girl, Missy (Eliza Dushku) steps in with some intial friction but once one problem is seemingly solved, Torrance finds another when Missy reveals to her, all their cheers are ripped off from an opposing team, Torrance has only a few weeks before the Regionals to create and learn a new routine.
Bring it On is a completely trashy teen movie, but for some reason is enjoyable to watch. The plot isn't exactly complex and the acting is as to be expected but there is something to the movie which means you can just chill out, not think about anything and just enjoy the cheerleading.
Brick
Brick is an intriguing "who done it" mystery film, the story follows Brendan, a High School Student who receives a panicked and cryptic call from his ex-girlfriend. When he tries to contact her she warns him to stay away but soons turns up dead. Brendan is determined to find the killer and must infiltrate a local crime ring in order to do so.
Brick is a refreshing change from most American High School movies; the dialogue has a unique feel to it, with each character starting their sentence with little pause after the previous line, a lot of Noir slang is thrown in which adds another level to the dialogue.
The plot is well written with a good balance of action and storytelling and the main players act their characters well. The film is also well directed and presented with bold bright colours in the outdoor shots.
Overall, brick is something a little different and a little refreshing, well worth a watch.
Brotherhood
In June of 1950, the North Korean Army started an attack on the South which plunged the penisula into war. Two brothers Jin-tae Lee and Jin-seok Lee from the South are drafted to fight against their will. Jin-tae, the elder brother wishes to protect his younger brother so volunteers for the most dangerous missions he can, having cut a deal with his commanding officer that his brother can go home should he win a medal.
Jin-seok begins to notice that after becoming somewhat of a hero his elder brother has changed and his kind manner has been replaced with someone obsessed with fighting the war. The war which split the two countries finally splits the bond between the two brothers.
Stunningly shot, an action packed, Brotherhood is unrelenting in it's depiction of the horrors of war. Very little of the movie is set away from the battlefield with a large part of the movie containing epic scenes of fighting. The plot is top notch and the acting from the two leads excellent as the relationship between the brothers disintegrates.
Brotherhood is an excellent war film set during a conflict which is perhaps less famous than others of the time.
Breath
When a bored housewife sees a story on the nightly news about a prisoner on death row who tried to commit suicide, she goes to visit him in jail. Taking with her a variety of props to try to help him come to terms with his impending death.
Breath is stunningly well paced and shot, compared to Kim's other work it is relatively less brutal and sadistic and at times even starts to become sweet and charming. Having said that, the theme of the movie is still dark as we see a prisoner on death row at the end of his tether. Like many of Kim's other works there is very little dialogue with the inmate not speaking at all and the housewife not speaking to her family.
Overall, another great movie from Kim Ki-Duk.
Broken Wings
Broken Wings follows a mother and her 4 children 8 months after the death of the father of the family. The mother has to work nights as a midwife to provide for the family which leaves the eldest child, 17 year old Maya with more than her fair share of family responsibilities. To make things worse, her teenage brother is dropping out of school and her youngest brother and sister are struggling with the lack of the maternal attention.
The film follows the family of a period of only a couple of days as a family emergency brings them together at a time when they are each struggling to be their own person. Acted brilliantly by the entire cast, including some of the younger child actors, Broken Wings is a bittersweet story which is at times sad but still instils a sense of hope in the viewer.
The family and events are completely believable which makes the film even more poignant. Definitely one worth watching.
The Brave One
Jodie Foster stars in this Vigilante themed thriller as radio talk show host Erica Bain who suffers at the hands of a violent unprovoked attack as her and her fiancee are walking their dog in the park. With her fiancee killed in the attack, Erica buys a gun with a view to protecting herself, but soon finds herself dishing out Vigilante justice on criminals. As she becomes involved with a policeman (Terrence Howard) the truth looks like it might come out.
The Brave One is not a bad movie, Howard and Foster are decent in their roles and the film is well shot and presented, but there are some points which just don't work too well. Her talk show is terrible for one thing and the lawless New York portrayed in the film seems a little over the top.
Overall, a reasonable watch for entertainment but with the subject matter a plot outline, it could have been more engaging.
Brief Encounter
A housewife recalls the tale of how she has spent the past weeks lusting over a doctor she met in town and has been seeing unbeknownst to her husband. Told for the most part as a flashback confessional of the events, Laura Jesson tells the viewer of how she came to meet and fall in love with another man.
Brief Encounter is well shot and the acting reasonable, but the story of a bored 1940's housewife and her romantic drama wasn't really my cup of tea. There are a couple of humourous moments, but for the most part the film is pretty boring.
Bringing Up Baby
Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is zoologist for a natural history museum, the only complications in his life are the arrival of a bone he needs to complete the museum's brontosaurus skeleton, the prospect of getting a million dollars funding and his impending marriage; that is until he meets Susan (Katharine Hepburn) within minutes of meeting her she has ruined his golf game and crashed his car before driving off in it. But this is just where his problems start as she drags him into a cross country errand to dispose of a Leopard her brother has her from Brazil (The "Baby" of the title). This threatens to destroy everything important to Dr. Huxley.
Bringing Up Baby is a great madcap comedy, fusing bizarre situations and slapstick together. It still feels fresh and retains its comedy well, 70 years later. Both Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are excellent in their roles as the put upon professor and the slightly insane Susan respectively. With a pace that sees one comic situation after another delivered to the viewer in quick successions, there is certainly no time to get bored.
Overall, very funny, witty and still highly watchable.
Bride of Frankenstein
After a brief intro where we join Lord Byron and Mary Shelley talking about Shelley's story of Frankenstein, we are thrown straight back in where the first film left off as Shelley picks up the plot. This sees us learn that the Monster has survived the burning windmill after hiding in its water-logged basement while Dr. Henry Frankenstein is too still alive after being thrown from the windmill.
After these relevations it's back to much of the same, the monster is still running around being misunderstood and scaring people, although now has a limited vocabulary and Dr. Frankenstein, never one to learn a lesson, teams up with, the also more than slightly crazy, Dr. Pretorius in a bid to create a female mate for the Monster.
The Bride of Frankenstein gets in some good special effects for its time, the most effective of which are tiny little people in jars that Dr. Pretorius has created. The dialogue is full of over the top drama and there is still a hint that the monster may not be all bad and is infact just misunderstood, the point hammered home when he meets a blind man who takes him in and feeds him.
Overall, another classic movie which is still good despite its age.
Bringing Down the House
Bringing Down the House tells the dramatised story of a group of card counters from MIT who make money on their weekends by hitting large Vegas casinos. The book intersperses the story with information about how card counting teams operate and how they can beat the casino.
The book is written in a trashy style which is very easy to read and contains enough glitz and glamour on top of the plot to keep the reader hooked. While entertaining and based on an interesting story, the book is a little overly dramatic.
All in all, interesting, entertaining but still trash, the literary equivalent of a big budget hollywood action movie.
Breathless
Breathless follows a small time thug and debt collector, Sang-Hoon who is employed as muscle to disrupt student rallies etc. as well as to beat up those who owe him and his business partner money. No one is exempt from his brutal violence and foul mouth. The film follows Sang-Hoon as he makes an unlikely friend in a young high-school girl, Yeon-Hue, brought together by a mutual history of domestic violence.
Breathless is grim, bleak and very violent. For most of the 2hr plus run-time, we witness Sang-Hoon swearing and attacking those who get in his way, both at work and in his personal life. But we also witness another side to him, along with an explanation of how he came to be the man he is. While the start shows him as a reprehensible small time gangster, this becomes much more ambiguous as the movie makes its way towards its harrowing ending.
Often difficult to watch and not for those of the feint of heart, Breathless is a gangster movie with none of the glitz and glamour often given to violent criminals on the big screen, but more than that, it is a shocking look at domestic violence and its effects on society.
A well made and powerful film from a first time director who is also the writer and star, this debut makes Yang Ik-Joon a director to look out for in the future.
Brothers
Tin Tam, a triad boss has two sons, Shun and Yiu. When he is given a bad omen regarding his sons future, he ships Shun off to America and brings up Yiu along with his adopted son Ghostie to run the family crime empire. When a power struggle erupts in the syndicate, Tin is killed and Shun returns from America to grieve for his father, but Yiu soon pulls him into the family business.
The film follows the brothers in their lives as well as Inspector Lau Andy Lau of the Hong Kong police who is trying his best to put a stop to the bloodshed.
Brothers is a pretty average Hong Kong triad action film, the plot is pretty standard and there are at least 4 or 5 other Andy Lau movies that have similar plots. There is a fair amount of action, especially in some sequences set in Thailand which are completely different in tone to the rest of the film. Acting is reasonable and the plot fairly predicatable.
Overall, an alright Triad movie, but nothing too special.
A Bronx Tale
The American mafia tale from New York follows a young man, Calogero growing up in the Bronx. Calogero's father (Robert Deniro) is a bus driver and a man with strong morals, when Calogero witnesses mob-boss Sonny shooting a man right in front of his house, he keeps his mouth shut which earns him Sonny's respect.
As he grows older, Sonny becomes more of a father figure to him than his own father and he soon becomes part of their gang. While the setup seems like an obvious good vs evil plot with the righteous father facing off against the gangster, A Bronx Tale is much more than this.
The plot explores many other themes and makes for interesting viewing. Most of the main cast are excellent in their roles and captivating whilst on screen.
All in all, well made and a film which leaves the viewer with something to think about.
Brazil
Like a darkly comic version of Orwell's 1984, Brazil follows the life of Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) who works in the Governments Ministry of Information. When his work brings him into contact with a woman resembling a woman who has appeared in his dreams, he seeks to meet up with the woman, accepting a promotion to the department of Information Retreival to find out more information on her. It's not long before his quest to get the girl soon begins to get him in trouble with the authorities.
The film has a retro-futuristic feel to it and has a wry sense of humour mixed in with some completely off the wall ideas. The plot and characters are strong and there are some good performances from a wide ranging cast which sees minors parts for Robert DeNiro, Bob Hoskins and Michael Palin amongst others. The comedy aspects are amusing although they peter out as the film goes on and becomes slightly darker. The surreal moments are also entertaining, one highlight is DeNiro's turn as a kind of black ops heating engineer who breaks into Lowry's apartment to fix his air-con.
Overall, a highly entertaining and original movie which has aged well.
Brain Dead
Director:
Peter Jackson
Year: 1992
Language: English
Country: New Zealand
When Lionel's overpowering mother is bitten by an exotic rat monkey and subsequently turns into a zombie, Lionel tries to cover it up, but as other members of the town are bitten by her and also become zombies his secret becomes increasingly hard to hide. Add to this a story of forbidden love, lots of blood, more gore than you can shake the soggy end of a severed limb at and a Kung Fu priest ('I kick Arse for the Lord!') and you have one of the best comedy horror films ever. Directed by Bad Taste director Peter Jackson before he was known as Peter 'Lord of the Rings' Jackson, this film is, like the Evil Dead films, a fine example of how much fun low budget comedy horror films can be. The film is very gorey towards the end and if you don't like blood or zombies being impaled and cut up then you probably shouldn't watch, for the rest of you I highly recommend you watch this film.
Dave W - 23rd December, 2003 - 23:04
Director:
Takeshi Kitano
Year: 2000
Language: Japanese
Country: 日本 (Japan)
Another film written, directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano/Beat Takeshi, Brother tells the story of Yamamoto, a Yakuza who leaves Japan for America after his family is taken over by another family who want him dead because he is too dangerous.
Once in America, Yamamoto meets up with his little brother who is a small time drug dealer, Yamamoto goes on a crusade to establish the Yakuza as the number one gang in the area, recruiting more and more until the attract the attention of the Mafia. Beat Takeshi plays his usual role of the hard ass guy who says very little but kicks a lot of butts. This film is full of action and violence and is a great Gangster/Yakuza movie. Any fan of Takeshi Kitano's other films will enjoy this.
Dave W - 15th August, 2004 - 17:28
Director:
Beeban Kidron
Year: 2004
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Admittedly this is not my usual type of viewing, but there was nothing else on and well sometimes a reviewer has to go see films they don't really want to. Although the subtitle The Edge of Reason has a cheesy action movie ring to it, this film is far from that, being as it is a typically English Romantic Comedy, complete with Hugh Grant
The film starts 4 weeks after the first film (which incidentaly I haven't seen) left off, with Bridget (Renée Zellweger) in her new relationship with her lawyer boyfriend Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Almost straight away her insecurities get the better of her and things stop going as planned.
We are then treated to 100 or so minutes of Bridget getting her self into her usual (I assume) clumsy situations, including a disastrous skiing holiday and a trip to Thailand which doesn't go to plan either.
As far as films go, The Edge of Reason is by no means unwatchable, in fact I have to admit much of the jokes and comedy in the film were actually quite funny and all in all it was a reasonable film. I've seen far worse romantic comedies in my time, and at least it wasn't another Shriek or Jason X.
Dave W - 28th November, 2004 - 12:55
Director:
Jim Jarmusch
Year: 2005
Language: English
Country: America
Don Johnstone (Bill Murray) is a rich playboy who has gone from woman to woman throughout his life, one day he receives an unsigned letter from an ex-lover warning him that he has a son he doesn't know about who has gone looking for him. His best friend Winston convinces him to make a list of women it could be and after narrowing it down to 5, he is given the itinerary for a trip which will see him visit each of the women in an effort to find his son.
Broken Flowers sees Bill Murray spend most of the movie silent with a bemused look on his face, as he travels between each of the women from his past he ends up in situations which border on bizarre and he ends up as an observer as the events play out.
This format to the movie makes for a quite slow movie where not much happens, fans of Bill Murray's more recent films will no doubt enjoy it as it is kind of like a whole movie made up of the Bill Murray parts of Lost in Translation.
Overall, Broken Flowers is a little slow and quite unsatisfying.
Dave W - 9th November, 2005 - 13:23
Director:
Christophe Gans
Year: 2001
Language: French (English Sub)
Country: France
Set in France in the 1700's Brotherhood of the Wolf tells the story of Grégoire de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani. In a province of France a strange beast is said to roam which eats women and children and holds the country people in a tight grip of fear. Fronsac and Mani attempt to track down the beast but it might just be that there is a secret behind it which it would be dangerous to unearth.
Brotherhood of the Wolf is an excellent action suspense with a great cast which also consists of Monica Belluci and Vincent Cassel.
Dave W - 29th December, 2005 - 12:00
Set against the backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two young men who meet once summer. Taking work as helpers on a sheep ranch, they must spend the summer alone in the mountains looking after the sheep. What begins as friendship develops into a love which they cannot continue after they return to their lives.
4 years after their experience on Brokeback, Both of the young men, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) are married with children but their passion is rekindled when Jack seeks to meet up again.
Being referred to mainly as "that gay cowboy movie", Brokeback Mountain is so more than that, the whole movie is beautifully shot, the scenery of the mountains is stunning on a hugely grand scale. The story of forbidden love between Jack and Ennis is both sad and joyful at the same time and while I found the movie is a little slow paced towards the end, the character development is engaging and intruiging.
Brokeback Mountain is a movie which (in this country at least) is probably a little ahead of its time, a scene involving Ennis' wife witnessing the two men kissing was met with laughter rather than the shock or sadness which it should have received if it had been a wife discovering her husband was cheating with another woman.
Overall, Brokeback Mountain is a beautifully made movie which may well come to be an important event in cinema history.
Dave W - 11th January, 2006 - 13:29
Director:
Peyton Reed
Year: 2006
Language: English
Country: America
Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston star in The Break Up, a comedy about the break up of a couple. After argument, Gary (Vaughn) and Brooke (Aniston) decide that they no longer wish to be together and split the house into two leading to mildy humourous consequences. When Brooke realises she has made a mistake, can she get Gary back?
The film isn't really as funny as it is made out to be, but having said that, there are a few laughs in there. There is a lot of shouting, some arguments uncomfortable to watch and while there isn't a lot to the plot, it does defy expectations at the least. Aniston and Vaughn are good enough in their roles, but all in all, there isn't too much there to impress.
Dave W - 25th July, 2006 - 13:24
Director:
Peyton Reed
Year: 2000
Language: English
Country: America
It's the start of a new term and Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) has just been announced as the new head cheerleader charged with taking the award winning team to the final of the National Cheerleading championships. Things don't start of well for Torrance when one of the team injures herself and they need to get a replacement. New girl, Missy (Eliza Dushku) steps in with some intial friction but once one problem is seemingly solved, Torrance finds another when Missy reveals to her, all their cheers are ripped off from an opposing team, Torrance has only a few weeks before the Regionals to create and learn a new routine.
Bring it On is a completely trashy teen movie, but for some reason is enjoyable to watch. The plot isn't exactly complex and the acting is as to be expected but there is something to the movie which means you can just chill out, not think about anything and just enjoy the cheerleading.
Dave W - 30th July, 2006 - 14:19
Director:
Rian Johnson
Year: 2005
Language: English
Country: America
Brick is an intriguing "who done it" mystery film, the story follows Brendan, a High School Student who receives a panicked and cryptic call from his ex-girlfriend. When he tries to contact her she warns him to stay away but soons turns up dead. Brendan is determined to find the killer and must infiltrate a local crime ring in order to do so.
Brick is a refreshing change from most American High School movies; the dialogue has a unique feel to it, with each character starting their sentence with little pause after the previous line, a lot of Noir slang is thrown in which adds another level to the dialogue.
The plot is well written with a good balance of action and storytelling and the main players act their characters well. The film is also well directed and presented with bold bright colours in the outdoor shots.
Overall, brick is something a little different and a little refreshing, well worth a watch.
Dave W - 9th October, 2006 - 12:51
Director:
Je-gyu Kang
Year: 2004
Language: Korean (English Sub)
Country: South Korea
In June of 1950, the North Korean Army started an attack on the South which plunged the penisula into war. Two brothers Jin-tae Lee and Jin-seok Lee from the South are drafted to fight against their will. Jin-tae, the elder brother wishes to protect his younger brother so volunteers for the most dangerous missions he can, having cut a deal with his commanding officer that his brother can go home should he win a medal.
Jin-seok begins to notice that after becoming somewhat of a hero his elder brother has changed and his kind manner has been replaced with someone obsessed with fighting the war. The war which split the two countries finally splits the bond between the two brothers.
Stunningly shot, an action packed, Brotherhood is unrelenting in it's depiction of the horrors of war. Very little of the movie is set away from the battlefield with a large part of the movie containing epic scenes of fighting. The plot is top notch and the acting from the two leads excellent as the relationship between the brothers disintegrates.
Brotherhood is an excellent war film set during a conflict which is perhaps less famous than others of the time.
Dave W - 31st January, 2007 - 18:11
Director:
Ki-duk Kim
Year: 2007
Language: Korean (English Sub)
Country: South Korea
When a bored housewife sees a story on the nightly news about a prisoner on death row who tried to commit suicide, she goes to visit him in jail. Taking with her a variety of props to try to help him come to terms with his impending death.
Breath is stunningly well paced and shot, compared to Kim's other work it is relatively less brutal and sadistic and at times even starts to become sweet and charming. Having said that, the theme of the movie is still dark as we see a prisoner on death row at the end of his tether. Like many of Kim's other works there is very little dialogue with the inmate not speaking at all and the housewife not speaking to her family.
Overall, another great movie from Kim Ki-Duk.
Dave W - 21st August, 2007 - 12:37
Director:
Nir Bergman
Year: 2002
Language: Hebrew (English Sub)
Country: Isreal
Broken Wings follows a mother and her 4 children 8 months after the death of the father of the family. The mother has to work nights as a midwife to provide for the family which leaves the eldest child, 17 year old Maya with more than her fair share of family responsibilities. To make things worse, her teenage brother is dropping out of school and her youngest brother and sister are struggling with the lack of the maternal attention.
The film follows the family of a period of only a couple of days as a family emergency brings them together at a time when they are each struggling to be their own person. Acted brilliantly by the entire cast, including some of the younger child actors, Broken Wings is a bittersweet story which is at times sad but still instils a sense of hope in the viewer.
The family and events are completely believable which makes the film even more poignant. Definitely one worth watching.
Dave W - 1st November, 2007 - 13:13
Director:
Neil Jordan
Year: 2007
Language: English
Country: America
Jodie Foster stars in this Vigilante themed thriller as radio talk show host Erica Bain who suffers at the hands of a violent unprovoked attack as her and her fiancee are walking their dog in the park. With her fiancee killed in the attack, Erica buys a gun with a view to protecting herself, but soon finds herself dishing out Vigilante justice on criminals. As she becomes involved with a policeman (Terrence Howard) the truth looks like it might come out.
The Brave One is not a bad movie, Howard and Foster are decent in their roles and the film is well shot and presented, but there are some points which just don't work too well. Her talk show is terrible for one thing and the lawless New York portrayed in the film seems a little over the top.
Overall, a reasonable watch for entertainment but with the subject matter a plot outline, it could have been more engaging.
Dave W - 21st June, 2008 - 17:19
Director:
David Lean
Year: 1945
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
A housewife recalls the tale of how she has spent the past weeks lusting over a doctor she met in town and has been seeing unbeknownst to her husband. Told for the most part as a flashback confessional of the events, Laura Jesson tells the viewer of how she came to meet and fall in love with another man.
Brief Encounter is well shot and the acting reasonable, but the story of a bored 1940's housewife and her romantic drama wasn't really my cup of tea. There are a couple of humourous moments, but for the most part the film is pretty boring.
Dave W - 24th June, 2008 - 13:11
Director:
Howard Hawks
Year: 1938
Language: English
Country: America
Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is zoologist for a natural history museum, the only complications in his life are the arrival of a bone he needs to complete the museum's brontosaurus skeleton, the prospect of getting a million dollars funding and his impending marriage; that is until he meets Susan (Katharine Hepburn) within minutes of meeting her she has ruined his golf game and crashed his car before driving off in it. But this is just where his problems start as she drags him into a cross country errand to dispose of a Leopard her brother has her from Brazil (The "Baby" of the title). This threatens to destroy everything important to Dr. Huxley.
Bringing Up Baby is a great madcap comedy, fusing bizarre situations and slapstick together. It still feels fresh and retains its comedy well, 70 years later. Both Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are excellent in their roles as the put upon professor and the slightly insane Susan respectively. With a pace that sees one comic situation after another delivered to the viewer in quick successions, there is certainly no time to get bored.
Overall, very funny, witty and still highly watchable.
Dave W - 26th October, 2008 - 10:02
Director:
James Whale
Year: 1935
Language: English
Country: America
After a brief intro where we join Lord Byron and Mary Shelley talking about Shelley's story of Frankenstein, we are thrown straight back in where the first film left off as Shelley picks up the plot. This sees us learn that the Monster has survived the burning windmill after hiding in its water-logged basement while Dr. Henry Frankenstein is too still alive after being thrown from the windmill.
After these relevations it's back to much of the same, the monster is still running around being misunderstood and scaring people, although now has a limited vocabulary and Dr. Frankenstein, never one to learn a lesson, teams up with, the also more than slightly crazy, Dr. Pretorius in a bid to create a female mate for the Monster.
The Bride of Frankenstein gets in some good special effects for its time, the most effective of which are tiny little people in jars that Dr. Pretorius has created. The dialogue is full of over the top drama and there is still a hint that the monster may not be all bad and is infact just misunderstood, the point hammered home when he meets a blind man who takes him in and feeds him.
Overall, another classic movie which is still good despite its age.
Dave W - 27th October, 2008 - 12:00
Author:
Ben Mezrich
Year: 2003
Bringing Down the House tells the dramatised story of a group of card counters from MIT who make money on their weekends by hitting large Vegas casinos. The book intersperses the story with information about how card counting teams operate and how they can beat the casino.
The book is written in a trashy style which is very easy to read and contains enough glitz and glamour on top of the plot to keep the reader hooked. While entertaining and based on an interesting story, the book is a little overly dramatic.
All in all, interesting, entertaining but still trash, the literary equivalent of a big budget hollywood action movie.
Dave W - 7th April, 2009 - 20:16
Director:
Yang Ik-Joon
Year: 2009
Language: Korean (English Sub)
Country: South Korea
Breathless follows a small time thug and debt collector, Sang-Hoon who is employed as muscle to disrupt student rallies etc. as well as to beat up those who owe him and his business partner money. No one is exempt from his brutal violence and foul mouth. The film follows Sang-Hoon as he makes an unlikely friend in a young high-school girl, Yeon-Hue, brought together by a mutual history of domestic violence.
Breathless is grim, bleak and very violent. For most of the 2hr plus run-time, we witness Sang-Hoon swearing and attacking those who get in his way, both at work and in his personal life. But we also witness another side to him, along with an explanation of how he came to be the man he is. While the start shows him as a reprehensible small time gangster, this becomes much more ambiguous as the movie makes its way towards its harrowing ending.
Often difficult to watch and not for those of the feint of heart, Breathless is a gangster movie with none of the glitz and glamour often given to violent criminals on the big screen, but more than that, it is a shocking look at domestic violence and its effects on society.
A well made and powerful film from a first time director who is also the writer and star, this debut makes Yang Ik-Joon a director to look out for in the future.
Dave W - 26th June, 2009 - 13:57
Director:
Sung Kee Chiu
Year: 2007
Language: Cantonese (English Sub)
Country: Hong-Kong
Tin Tam, a triad boss has two sons, Shun and Yiu. When he is given a bad omen regarding his sons future, he ships Shun off to America and brings up Yiu along with his adopted son Ghostie to run the family crime empire. When a power struggle erupts in the syndicate, Tin is killed and Shun returns from America to grieve for his father, but Yiu soon pulls him into the family business.
The film follows the brothers in their lives as well as Inspector Lau Andy Lau of the Hong Kong police who is trying his best to put a stop to the bloodshed.
Brothers is a pretty average Hong Kong triad action film, the plot is pretty standard and there are at least 4 or 5 other Andy Lau movies that have similar plots. There is a fair amount of action, especially in some sequences set in Thailand which are completely different in tone to the rest of the film. Acting is reasonable and the plot fairly predicatable.
Overall, an alright Triad movie, but nothing too special.
Dave W - 16th August, 2009 - 22:50
Director:
Robert De Niro
Year: 1993
Language: English
Country: America
The American mafia tale from New York follows a young man, Calogero growing up in the Bronx. Calogero's father (Robert Deniro) is a bus driver and a man with strong morals, when Calogero witnesses mob-boss Sonny shooting a man right in front of his house, he keeps his mouth shut which earns him Sonny's respect.
As he grows older, Sonny becomes more of a father figure to him than his own father and he soon becomes part of their gang. While the setup seems like an obvious good vs evil plot with the righteous father facing off against the gangster, A Bronx Tale is much more than this.
The plot explores many other themes and makes for interesting viewing. Most of the main cast are excellent in their roles and captivating whilst on screen.
All in all, well made and a film which leaves the viewer with something to think about.
Dave W - 30th April, 2010 - 20:21
Director:
Terry Gilliam
Year: 1985
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Like a darkly comic version of Orwell's 1984, Brazil follows the life of Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) who works in the Governments Ministry of Information. When his work brings him into contact with a woman resembling a woman who has appeared in his dreams, he seeks to meet up with the woman, accepting a promotion to the department of Information Retreival to find out more information on her. It's not long before his quest to get the girl soon begins to get him in trouble with the authorities.
The film has a retro-futuristic feel to it and has a wry sense of humour mixed in with some completely off the wall ideas. The plot and characters are strong and there are some good performances from a wide ranging cast which sees minors parts for Robert DeNiro, Bob Hoskins and Michael Palin amongst others. The comedy aspects are amusing although they peter out as the film goes on and becomes slightly darker. The surreal moments are also entertaining, one highlight is DeNiro's turn as a kind of black ops heating engineer who breaks into Lowry's apartment to fix his air-con.
Overall, a highly entertaining and original movie which has aged well.
Dave W - 17th July, 2010 - 13:06
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