RED.

Neither Fish Nor Fowl.
That's how I found this movie (and I can't bring myself to call it a film!!!!!) It's a flash actioner with what it sees as a wry sense of humour, but for me it just didn't work. Nowhere near funny enough to be a comedy, but had the sly winks to avoid the thriller category too. Much as I enjoy the leads in this movie (Malkovich and Mirren particularly), dare I say it, Knight And Day nailed it better with Tom Cruises million dollar smile and Diaz charming her way through. But we're not here for them. We are here at the behest of Robert Schwentke. The tried and tested director of such fare as "Flightplan", "The Time Travellers Wife" and......well, that's about it!

 It just seems so unoriginal, old agents, coming out of retirement when their lives come under threat. And I like my action flicks to have a bit of pzazz a bit of flair and other than the efforts of Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox and Big Boy Bruce, this flick had little to offer me. Even the shot *ahem* at pathos at the end fell flat!
 Think I would have rather watched Brian Cox's film from 2008 called "Red", maybe I will next time!

Endless Summer.

As far as surfing movies go, I’m not a big fan……but there is the odd exception. I watched Endless Summer II a few years ago and really enjoyed it. It recreated the events of the first film, three decades later in which a couple of surfers travel the world, following the summer season as it traverses the globe and looking for the best surf sites and the perfect wave, across the continents.

 It was a while ago when I saw the sequel, so the details I do not remember, what I do remember is that I surprised myself at the amount of pleasure I got from it. The original is a quality piece of filmmaking. A simple documentary, shot on cinefilm (and thus having no close in sound, if at all) and charting the exploits of our intrepid surfers across the world. It’s a touching travelogue, looking into the culture of surfing and the bond that joins it’s adherents. The anecdotes it reveals are poignant at times and humorous in the main. Bruce Browns sardonic wit and deadpan delivery of the narration reveal a love, not just of the sport of surfing itself but also of the message it carries.

127 Hours (Boyle, Danny 2011)

Having gone to see this at the Cinema on a free ticket the missus won in a competition, I can fairly say it was a complete waste of a complimentary entry. “127” is the sort of film I would pay DOUBLE the ticket price to see. Utterly engrossing and certainly not the monologue that many feared, James Franco excels in the lead role as Aron the extreme sportsman trapped in a remote gully with no hope of rescue.....but that is not all. His right arm is crushed tight against the wall by an immovable boulder leaving him with limited movement and few resources.

 You may know the story, but the intrigue into how you can stretch a limited scope into a full feature is just part of the draw. Danny Boyle's particular style is stamped on the movie from the outset and I almost felt the ghost of trainspotting tapping on my shoulder. The directors choice of shots and camera motion make the story fantastic and watchable and with just three or four scenes I was utterly absorbed and taken into the film, carrying me through the rest of the fascinating but slightly more pedestrian screenplay. The moments of intensity though were just that, enrapturing and engaging to an extreme, and for me, it's those scenes which grip you at your very heart which make a movie. Yes they are there to entertain or educate, films are there to thrill you, make you laugh or strike fear into your soul. But when a film reaches inside you moves you and almost changes your being......THAT's what it is all about, that is why we have buildings called 'cinemas' and that is why as an art form it will never die. Just so long as we produce regular Gran Torinos, Once Were Warriors and 127's over and above your Harry Potters and Pirates of the Caribbean.

 A remarkable film (and that from someone who wasn't overly impressed with “Slumdog”) one to keep the flame of cinema burning and one which left this viewer with the singular thought that simply swapping Hayden Christenssen with James Franco would have saved Star Wars II and III.

Exorcist II: The Heretic.

Such a disappointment. If they have to make unnecessary sequels, they could at least do it well. This was both unnecessary and poorly delivered. The story revolves a repressed sixteen year old Regan, a ludicrous invention joining peoples minds and warped origins of the Demon Pazuzu. But it’s laughable. Not least the dual hypnotisingmindbonding machine. James Earl Jones is embarrassing, Richard Burton is poor, the directorial tricks are straight out of a GCSE handbook and there isn’t actually a hint of horror in here. Add to that a complete lack of tension and you really can wonder what the point of it was…..Oh yes. Money. $14m to make and it took just over double that. Shame really, it simply doesn’t deserve it.

The Exorcist

Remarkable how time can affect the way you reflect on something and film is no exception. My remembrance of “The Exorcist” was of a film that, rather than scaring the pants of me or disturbing me to my core, struck me with awe at the quality of the film. I remember the shocks and a feeling of complete absorption first time around and at the end, a sense of “Woah! That was something special.

 This time….the gaps were filled in. The story (as I remembered it) was fleshed out and the characters made their way back to the front, easing the shocking scenes of the exorcism itself into the darker recesses. And it had just the same effect. Gripping and taught, the narrative is compelling and the performances on screen deliver a stand out performance. The film has stood the test of time, not just in popular culture, it has a reputation it is worthy of, but on repeat viewings, it looses none of it’s impact, back then, or now.

 The film is renowned for the shock stories it generated on it’s first release and has been parodied and lampooned on many occasions. Amongst all that, the fact that there are deep characterisations and a smooth, slow burn development is often forgotten. It is a remarkable film and certainly one of a limited amount that can be classified as a “Classic”.

Bubble Boy

Pure genius in a bubble…….out of the blue I was blind sided by this cracking comedy. Truly laugh out loud funny it descends into slapstick at times but you really. Don’t. Care. Centering around a teenage lad (Gyllenhall) who has spent his life in a plastic bubble in his house due to a lack of immunity, he decides to get mobile when the love of his life is to marry another, wholly unsuitable individual. Contrived to an extreme at times and with an ending you could smell about ten minutes in, again it really doesn’t matter. The film is fun to an extreme, to a point where I found it difficult to remember when a film had made me feel as happy as that last…….