True Grit (1969)

The original True Grit saw John Wayne win an Oscar for his performance. This film sees 'The Duke' help a little girl seek revenge on the person who killed her father. I have got the 2010 remake on my to watch list and to be honest I hope its better than this film. There is a fair amount to like in this film but for me the main problem is John Wayne. In a Wayne vs Eastwood battle, I reckon Clint would walk it.

The story is fairly good but it lacks a killer punch. I'm told that Wayne did better films and hopefully they will turn up because on this form I cant quite figure out how Wayne has reached the level of popularity that he has. Elsewhere in the film there was a nice performance from Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall.

District 9 (2009)

Disrict 9 comes from producer Peter Jackson though how much of his creativity went into this film is unknown. It sees an alien spaceship hovering over Johannesburg. The story is about how these aliens have set up home in District 9 and are in the process of being evicted but the guy leading this gets infected and the story then moves onto his transformation from human to alien.

I liked this film a lot. It has some flaws such as dragging in the early stages and the moment where the guy gets the liquid all over his face you just think he's a tool and deserves everything he gets. That said the film does pick up from this moment. The final part of this film is very well done as you think that the father alien is going to be left behind instead of the human whereas its the other way around. I liked the idea that he became an alien and they showed that he had left the flower for his wife/girlfriend by showing him making a flower thus leaving us in no doubt that he had mutated.

I think that there should be a District 9 2 (or District 10 maybe) because there is something about this film that like Monsters is very fresh and quite different from what we have seen in previous alien movies.

J Edgar (2012)

I have heard mixed things about this film which tells the life of J Edgar Hoover who was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Leonardo Di Caprio plays Hoover and this film is directed by Clint Eastwood. This story does a lot to try and be fair to J Edgar, the problem is that at the end of it there was no clear opinion that we are suppose to take away from it. The performance of Di Caprio is quite good and like Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, the performance is better than the film.

Another problem that I had with the film was the prosthetics. In an attempt to make Di Caprio and Hammer look older, they have to appear older and it just doesnt work for me. It is better on Di Caprio than Hammer but neither could be considered a success. That said it was a better film than I was expecting and I dont know what the exact running time was but at no point did it drag. The performances from Di Caprio and Hammer were solid and it was nice to see Judi Dench and was happy that she got more than a fleeting appearance like she did in Pirate 4.

J Edgar is not a bad film but I was hoping for something a bit more from it. I will be getting it when it comes out on DVD.

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

It’s A Wonderful Life is considered to be one of the greatest films. It didn’t do well at the box office at the time but as it usually turns out, just because it didn’t do well at the box office doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a greater life on VHS or DVD. This is the earliest film in the ’52 in 2012’ list but whilst others are wax lyrical about it, I have to admit that I’m not so hot on it. The main problem for me is that they spend way too long getting to the part where Bailey (Stewart) is about to commit suicide. I also think that it doesn’t try hard enough to convince Bailey he has a purpose and no sooner has he seen this part of the world then he realises his mistake and comes back. On the plus side I did find that moment when he comes back to the end of the film and several other scenes to be very interesting and I cant deny that I found him touching. Despite being a few weeks past Christmas, it still struck a cord.

I haven’t seen many films with James Stewart in but I thought he was the best thing about this. He steals several scenes and does a good job in showing us what a nice character Bailey is. I also thought that Donna Reed was a suitable leading lady, just doing enough to be noticeable but not in the way of Stewart.

It’s A Wonderful Life is a good film. I wouldn’t say it’s the greatest film ever but there are somethings in it that are impossible to dislike.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

The second Sherlock film is better than the first one even though I do like it. This film has Moriaty and the more importantly it has Stephen Fry in it. The story follows the same sort of format as the first but what we have is the infamous Moriaty. I have to be honest and say that I'm not a massive fan of this character because I just think that the character is slightly unmenacing. However this doesn’t detract from one of the best scenes in the film where Moriaty and Holmes are playing Chess whilst all the action is going on before both going over the balcony. Considering I had just seen the same thing on TV, I felt that Richie did a better job.

Robert Downey Jr continues to be very good as Sherlock. I still cant figure out who is better, Downey or Benedict Cumberbatch. Whilst I try and figure that one out everytime that he is on screen the film is exciting. Jude Law is a curious individual. I still don’t rate him highly as an actor but as Watson he is tolerable but I think he is the weaker one out of the pair.

Another Guy Richie film that is quite good is not something that I would expect to say. My friends don’t think that this is better than the first but I completely disagree. I hope that there is a third one because there is potential for this to turn out to be a very good franchise.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

As I get ready to watch the second Sherlock Holmes film, I thought now would be the best time to watch the first film. I was quite worried that a film by Guy Richie would descend into guys and geezer stuff like most of the drivel he has directed over the years. I also was worried with Jude Law because I find him rather annoying and find him a bit soppy. I'm also not a massive fan of Robert Downey Jr so this film has all the trappings of a terrible film.

To be honest, this film is actually quite good. Visually it beautiful as several scenes of London are on show including the scenes on the unbuilt Tower Bridge. The theme of the film was dealing with an apparent man who could not die (Strong) but it was all a set up. Downey Jr was very good as Holmes and compared to Benedict Cumberbatch he isnt as good as the TV version but still good. Law is bearable in this film but to be honest I think he is so wet that it takes a lot to get me to like him but I was perfectly happy to watch him in this.

Sherlock Holmes is a very good film and Guy Richie has directed a very good film that moves along at a fast pace, has a good story and also looks fantastic. SH2 is out now and I am looking forward to see it.

The Amityville Haunting (2011)

I have never seen the Amityville films, either the 1979 version or the 2005 Michael Bay hash-job. It was a surprise then that we sat down to watch this ‘found footage’ film which has about as much terror in it as an episode of Pingu. The film starts off with this group of annoying teenagers who break into the house and start getting ‘friendly’ with each other before something happens to them.

Fast forward and a family moves in and the strange things happen. Every so often there would be a strange figure that would appear for a second and whilst the story moves on the dad goes extremely crazy. He refuses to ask his annoying son who keeps asking questions and doesn’t go anywhere without his camcorder. After a while the family gets killed in various ways but the little girl who has befriended a ghost. The problem is that due to the dads performance it has gone from being a horror film to a comedy because he just goes totally OTT in a way which is distracting. Once it starts going into Paranormal Activity territory I just found myself starting to lose patience with it.

At the end of the film I just felt that if I was rating it out of 10 then it would be 5 and that is being generous. The acting is borderline poor and its rare that a film has so many annoying characters but this film does.