Year: 2008

"The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming."


Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
Running time: 152 minutes
Country: USA, UK


Even before the sudden and tragic death of Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight was already a blockbuster to look forward to in summer 2008 but when Ledger passed away, the hype of The Dark Knight arose so high that not only is it perhaps the most hyped film of all time but I think most people perhaps were really going to see it because it was Heath's last completed film. I immediately realised that I wasn't going to give in to the hype and not like it, I just went with an open mind and watched it and it was just incredible!


The film continues a year after Batman Begins and believe me, The Dark Knight is a lot better than its predecessor. I guess, like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight is a prequel to Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin because we still see that young Batman and Batman Begins is already a prequel anyway so seeing as The Dark Knight follows straight after, it is still a prequel, I feel. The Dark Knight overall felt more like a crime-gangster film than a film based on the Batman comic book series but despite that, the story felt so real throughout every single second. The film had its similarities with Michael Mann's Heat starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino because of fugitives in a city causing riots and murders within where the police are trying everything they can to stop them.


Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins, Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as the Joker appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent and Rachel Dawes.


The Batman franchise has always been recognized for its breathtaking ensemble cast! Even in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin the cast was pretty awesome, just that the films themselves weren't good. Anyway, Christian Bale was great as Bruce Wayne/Batman! We look more into who Batman really is and what he means to achieve and bring to the people of Gotham and we truly find out who Batman really is which is perhaps the main key factor of that character in this film. One thing that was a bit annoying about Batman is Christian Bale's incredibly annoying Batman voice! Sure, Batman has got to protect his identity but we need to at least completely understand what he is trying to say! As for Bruce, he is still in love with Rachel but because she is dating new District Attorney Harvey Dent, he is hopelessly waiting for her. Bruce's accomplice and mentor Alfred is once again portrayed by the great Sir Michael Caine and he was great once again. It'll be great to see Bale and Caine perform together again in The Dark Knight Rises coming up in summer 2012.


Now, the star of the show: Heath Ledger! I'm not going to go into that mumbo jumbo about how he died. However, his death certainly did have an impact on the film, not only because of production side of the project but also the fact that the film became a lot more hyped and, let's face it, if Heath hadn't died the film wouldn't have earned all the money that it got and maybe even Heath wouldn't have won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Heath's Joker and Jack Nicholson's Joker are more different than similar, not just some appearance features but in terms of personality. Heath's main inspiration for his Joker is Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and Malcolm McDowell's performance as Alexander DeLarge. I have seen the film countless times and I still cannot believe that the Joker is Heath Ledger especially when all his films in the past haven't been anything like this! You know what the Joker does is wrong but you can't help but love his character and find his theory on life both quite scary and interesting. I canHis performance as the Joker is one for the ages and I never thought Jack Nicholson's role would be surpassed but surprisingly, Heath did surpass that! Aaron Eckhart finally has his breakthrough in his career and delivers a fantastic performance as Harvey Dent and almost rises up to the top level of Heath Ledger's performance. Eckhart expressed Harvey as a good, brave man and leader brilliantly but also played Harvey as a broken-hearted, worn-down and out of control especially when he became known as Two-Face. Katie Holmes is replaced as Rachel Dawes by Maggie Gyllenhaal which was a right decision seeing as Holmes gave a weak performance as Rachel but I would've thought they would have found a better actress and maybe even a more attractive one. I am not saying that Maggie wasn't good in this film, she wasn't all what Rachel is out to be. Gary Oldman was very good as Lt. Jim Gordon and so was Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and also we saw a good mild appearance from Eric Roberts too.


After his successful reboot of the Batman franchise with Batman Begins and with other great films he has done in the past, Chris Nolan has now crafted together his best yet and even he thinks no film he will do will be better or, at least, harder to film than The Dark Knight. He is an underrated director when it comes to awards like Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and some of the other great directors were, also. I think perhaps Nolan and his brother went only slightly off tone with The Dark Knight by making it more their own version with their own story and making it more of a gangster/mafia film than it being based on the Batman DC comics yet somehow I do think it is the best Batman film. Nolan has been widely known for writing his own screenplays and this is one of his finest writing achievements (although I preferred his screenplay in Inception).


Overall, The Dark Knight is an absolutely fantastic film that is perhaps a bit (to my taste) overrated and it does have one or two flaws but despite that, I still think it is a magnificent film that I think should have earned Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The ending was sublime and I really cannot wait how The Dark Knight Rises will turn out especially after how The Dark Knight ended! All I know is that I loved The Dark Knight and I'm incredibly excited to see the final installment in Nolan's Batman trilogy.

"My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was agin', I was gettin' younger... all alone. "


Director: David Fincher
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond
Running time: 166 minutes
Country: USA


Ever since I saw the trailer, I literally became addicted to this film and repeatedly watched the trailer to build up to the hype of seeing the film despite knowing that I might be disappointed by it. However, when I watched it, I was blown away by it due to its beautiful production, its beauty and heartbreak and even the comedy within. I won't only remember the first time I watched it but I will also remember when I watched it for the first time. I saw it in the first 2 1/2 hours of 2009 so that makes the film even more special. I think what is so extraordinary about The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is that as we enter Benjamin's life and watch him grow up there is a background of gold and everyone else looking younger than he is when he is really younger but as it gradually gets to the end when Benjamin physically becomes a child but is really a pensioner, we see another new background and it feels like that they are split into two different films when they are really together. In shorter words: like seeing the old days at the start during World War I and World War II with clothings, neighbourhoods and attitudes but seeing modern day life like today as the film progresses.


I think mainly why The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is so awesome is because it is depressing throughout the whole 166 minute duration of the film and it makes it more tragic so therefore it is more powerful and is going to keep a firm hold on the audience. I mean, a lot of people would say that this is a very daft story seeing as it is about a man who ages backwards but as the film progresses and Benjamin gets younger, you begin to realise just how clever this film really is despite the plot being so basic and can be explained in one single sentence. The cinematography was just fantastic! That is another thing about it: it is a film of both dark and beautiful art. It was robbed by Slumdog Millionaire with the Academy Award. The art direction was just fantastic as well and made the audience sink into the film and stick with it all the way through. The make-up was fantastic obviously. Probably the most impressive make-up I have seen on a film. Visual effects were stunning too especially on Brad Pitt as child-pensioner Benjamin.


Time and time again, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button has been compared as like a cousin so to speak to both Robert Zemeckis's Forrest Gump and Tim Burton's Big Fish and that it is 'the Forrest Gump of the noughties' and, to be perfectly honest, I really can see why and how all three are similar. Forrest, Benjamin and Edward tell their life stories with the adventures they experience and their love lives as well. Also, they are unsure about what they want out of life but they live their lives anyway and just see what happens in them. The film received 13 Academy Award nominations and it is one of the three films to have been nominated for the most Academy Awards in one year without winning Best Picture (others are Mary Poppins in 1964, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? in 1966 and The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring in 2001).


Hurricane Katrina is hitting New Orleans and Daisy is on her deathbed in a local hospital with her daughter Caroline by her side. Daisy requests Caroline get out a diary for her to read and it is the story of her life-long friend Benjamin Button. As Caroline reads the diary to Daisy, her voice begins to change to Benjamin's voice. The story of Benjamin begins on the night World War I ended and follows a man named Thomas Button trying to get back home as quickly as possible because his wife is giving birth. When she passes away in childbirth, Thomas looks at the baby in horror and takes him out into the streets and abandons him outside a senior's home and is raised in a nice warm place by a young black woman called Queenie who happens to be the caregiver at the home. A doctor who was there told Queenie that Benjamin's body is failing him before his life has begun so therefore he is going to die soon. As Benjamin grows up into his teenage years but still looking in his early 70s, he meets Daisy who is just a little girl at the time and almost instantly falls in love with her. Her grandmother is a pensioner who lives at the home. As he begins to grow, he begins to realise that he is in fact getting younger so he heads to sea during World War II but that leads him away from Daisy. Despite this, they keep in contact throughout their lives and the tables begin to turn and begin to get more depressing. Julia Ormond's performance as Caroline is very underrated. Again, like with Brad Pitt and Taraji P. Henson, Ormond is playing the daughter of Cate Blanchett's character Daisy and in real-life Julia Ormond is older than Cate Blanchett by


I was surprised by Brad Pitt's performance as Benjamin Button. Brad is usually seen as this tough hunky guy playing criminals, gang leaders, heart-throbs or cops but Benjamin bought out something in Brad that we hadn't seen before. He was absolutely fantastic and he certainly proved in this one that Benjamin really is his very own character and there will never be another film made like this again. Despite that Benjamin was narrating the story, every single time that Brad was on screen, there was always either visual effects or make-up added. I was impressed with Brad's child-pensioner Benjamin voice before he went to war in his teen years. Brad totally deserved the Best Leading Actor Academy Award but I feel he should have won it because not only was the character a breakthrough in cinema but it was also a breakthrough for the actor playing him and the performance itself. Cate Blanchett was fantastic as Daisy! Not only did Daisy and Benjamin make a great couple despite their differences but so did Brad and Cate and I really wish that Cate would keep her hair red because I think she looks absolutely gorgeous with that coloured hair. She was robbed of an Academy Award nomination so that was another crucial mistake from the Academy that year. Taraji P. Henson was really good as Queenie. This is weird but she is playing Queenie who is older than Benjamin seeing as she is his foster mother but Brad Pitt is 7 years older than Taraji P. Henson.


After a career of directing films based on crime and mystery, David Fincher goes somewhere different this time. Not only does the audience go on an extraordinary new adventure but so does the director Fincher doing it seeing as it is perhaps the first drama he has done. Also, the first fantasy film he has done as well. As far as how well he worked on it, I think it was absolutely fantastic direction! He probably did have a lot on his shoulders because viewers would be expecting something extraordinary and new that we hadn't seen before. Fincher, you have given us your masterpiece and unfortunately you didn't receive Best Director or Best Picture for the film itself but I think he'll win Best Director and Best Picture for The Social Network this year anyway. Eric Roth is another reason why Curious Case Of Benjamin Button has its similarities with Forrest Gump because he wrote the scripts for both of these films. His scripts are just fantastic and he is one of my favourite screenwriters.


Overall, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a personal favourite of mine that will stick with me throughout the rest of my life. It is probably the most emotional and tear-jerking film I have ever watched and I can't see how people can watch it without crying. This will probably always remain as my favourite David Fincher film and Brad Pitt performance. One of Cate Blanchett's best as well. If you're looking to go on a journey beyond any other than you will ever see, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is the one you are looking for. It is pretty much a perfect film for me.

"How do I know you didn't try to flush our entire fucking family down the toilet?"


Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon
Running time: 119 minutes
Country: USA, UK


After watching The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button in the first 3 hours of 2009, Revolutionary Road made an even more special 6 hours of 2009 by watching it straight after it. Revolutionary Road is another masterful suburban drama from Sam Mendes. This film brought together quite a few things from American Beauty like the fallouts between husband and wife, the sceneries behind it and what the plot is in general. This is an emotional drama that has a dark outlook on life. This one is darker than American Beauty because American Beauty is a beautiful story as well as depressing. Revolutionary Road is more dramatic. What I truly love about suburban dramas is that there is both beauty and drama within them.


Leonardo DiCaprio was fantastic as Frank Wheeler. Nobody has ever seen him play a character like Frank who is a man at a job he hates and is a family man. We have previously seen DiCaprio play really different characters in the past where he just lives his own life like Jack Dawson, Billy Costigan, Frank Abagnale Jr. and Danny Archer. Despite how different Frank is compared, he has that some used in DiCaprio because Frank is a rather serious character. Kate Winslet's performance was fabulous as April Wheeler. April is a troubled woman who ends up being an actress much to her dismay. To star a new fresh life, she wants to live in Paris with Frank and their son and daughter. Kate has played that mothering kind of character before like she did in her Oscar nominated performance in Little Children. Kate has truly given the best performance of her career even beating Rose in Titanic. April is mixed up and confused about what she wants. Kate has a huge chance of winning two Oscars in the same year: for Revolutionary Road (Leading Actress) and The Reader (Supporting Actress). It's a damn shame that Kate won the Oscar for The Reader instead of Revolutionary Road. Kathy Bates was good as Mrs. Helen Givings in a possible Oscar worthy performance. Michael Shannon made me laugh in this one because John Givings is such an irritating character. It was great seeing Leonardo and Kate in a film together again.


Sam Mendes' direction was fantastic but was very different compared to American Beauty even though the stories in both are quite similar. This film must have been a life changing experience for Mendes because he worked with his wife Kate Winslet, he worked with one of the most popular partnerships of all time which was in Titanic and now Revolutionary Road. Also, because Kate and Leonardo are almost like best friends in real life. I mean, what a fantastic collaboration: Mendes-DiCaprio-Winslet. There are two masterpieces involving cast (including Kathy Bates) with director and story theme and they are Titanic and American Beauty. Mendes is THE fantastic just like American Beauty was.


This is Kate Winslet's best film so far where she has to finally win an Oscar especially working with her husband. Love DiCaprio in this but love his performance in The Departed the most. Sam Mendes' second best after American Beauty and it's my third favourite film of 2008 behind The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Dark Knight. Revolutionary Road is a re-born suburban drama from Mendes. Loved Mendes before but love his work even more now!!

Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it?

A: He cheated
B: He's lucky
C: He's a genius
D: It was written


Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Rejendranath Zutshi
Running time: 120 minutes
Country: UK


Awww...what a beautiful, magical, inspiring and very thoughtful film this is that I really do appreciate for being what it is. Slumdog Millionaire is so magical because of the beautiful technical design of the film especially the breathtaking cinematography and music score. When I first saw Slumdog Millionaire, I liked it but I thought there was something genuinly missing from it but I was unsure what it was but after seeing this masterpiece again, I truly do think it is a breakthrough in not only Danny Boyle's career but also reveals a whole new kind of way of filmmaking for the future. I am going to start loving films that have been made by British filmmakers but starring Asian actors/actresses which is where this is like Bend It Like Beckham because that was rather similar. Slumdog Millionaire is a film that goes beyond words. It is really original when it comes to the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" show but is seems like a very well adapted story when it comes to seeing Jamal grow up from living in the Slums to becoming a famous millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire is one of the 2008 films that have earned a lot of glory and powerful critical reactions to its inspiring and glorious feeling.


Dev Patel's performance as Jamal is absolutely fantastic. This film follows the story from his childhood all the way to his outstanding breakthrough in his life. Because of his success in the show by winning it all it is a big question of whether he cheated, whether he's a genius, whether it was luck or whether it was his destiny. This film tells us the answer of that question as it is goes on. Jamal's character is a deeply interesting one because it felt like he wanted us to know what he was going through in his life. I think the message the character tries to send is that he not only wants us to see what life was for him as a young child but also for people in richer countries to understand what it is like for those people who lives in those kinds of places or who are poor anyway. I became really interested, motivated and inspired my Jamal's personality and the way he was with people throughout his teenage years. He was a very friendly and beautiful boy and he was still like that as an adult during "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"


Boyle's work in Slumdog Millionaire was absolutely superb with a new kind of way of creating films especially ordinary dramas. Boyle's direction of Slumdog Millionaire was so brilliant, it combined two races of human beings into one. Danny Boyle is one of the best filmmakers ever and it's as simple as that. In my opinion, Danny Boyle is the Stanley Kubrick of this generation because he is one of those directors who can create anything in almost every genre. Boyle's done drama, crime, family, horror, science fiction and romance. I'd like to see him do comedy, animation, action, war or western because I seriously think he can pull it off. The script is fantastic! It deserved the script Oscar win despite that I prefer The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.


This is an absolute masterpiece but despite how good this film really is, I still think that the Best Picture glory should have gone to The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Danny Boyle probably deserved his Best Director Oscar because he was long overdue for one anyway and I am so glad that Slumdog Millionaire was the film that he earned one for. It is one of the best films of 2008. It is my third favourite Danny Boyle film after Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. Slumdog Millionaire is a fascinating masterpiece that I really love and appreciate for what it is like most people hopefully do.

"Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges."


Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy
Running time: 107 minutes
Country: UK


I loved this film to bits because I think that it is one of the very few black comedies that made me laugh. It was a comedy that I was thinking wouldnt be that good really because it isnt that common but when I did see it, it was absolutely hilarious. It is one of my favourite comedies of all time. I really thought it was a comedy with a lot of class. There was a lot of very British humour involved and there was a lot of hilarious attitudes with the characters and the country they are in and also one of the characters takes the piss out of midgets. That character reminds me a lot of Otto in A Fish Called Wanda because of the way they both are with the country they are in. Like Otto discriminates the English obviously in a nasty way in his point of view but in our point of view its hilarious even if you are English like I am. Ray has that attitude against the Belgians too. It was a film that I just think is too cool to be true. It isnt only a hilarious kick ass film but it is quite emotional because of why Ray and Ken are in Bruges, Belgium.





I dont really like Colin Farrell as an actor but I really liked him in this one as Ray because he was just bloody hilarious and made me laugh whenever he said anything bad to or about anyone. It is obviously what he says but it is mostly how he says it that made me laugh so much. Brendan Gleeson made me laugh a lot aswell as Ken because he is a typical bitter old man who is just doing his job. Ken is a really hilarious guy too even though he is so bitter. He seems to just use Ray as his job and as they are there in Bruges together they become close friends. Ralph Fiennes was hilarious as gangster boss. Ralph always seems to bring that life force into the villains he portrays. I think that Ralph Fiennes is the best actor at portraying a villain especially Amon Goeth in Schindlers List, Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter series and also Duke of Devonshire.





The direction from Martin McDonagh was really good because there were a lot of clever and different camera uses. I was predicting this film to be quite bad and to be like a rip-off of British black comedies like Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Trainspotting, Snatch and Layer Cake but I was wrong. The writing was really cool because it was so original. I dont think this will earn any Oscar nor Golden Globe nominations. I do honestly think it will rule the BAFTAs though because it is one of the best British films of the year so far with quite a bit of nominations. I am unsure what it could earn yet but it will get at least 1 nomination. I loved Ralph Fiennes in this one but I do like him more in films like Harry Potter, The English Patient, The Duchess and Schindlers List. I liked Colin Farrell in this one even though I dont really like the guy at all. Brendan Gleeson is hilarious too but not as funny as Mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter films. I find In Bruges to be an underrated masterpiece that I think everyone would love. It is a film that I would truly recommend to everybody. One of the best films of 2008.

"Directive."


Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard
Running time: 98 minutes
Country: USA


Quite frankly, despite it being a Pixar Animation Studios film and being a big fan of them, I really had almost no idea what to expect out of this one except a visually impressive and quite a dark adventure. That is exactly what we got but I think with WALL-E, we perhaps got something a little deeper than we have got with any other Pixar film to date (at the time of its release anyway). What I mean by this is that we got a deeper understanding for the world, the Universe, what the future could bring and also for the WALL-E character as well. It had a very strong critical response and it has been named by many critics as 'Pixar's greatest film; even greater than Toy Story'. I am sorry but me on the other hand has to disagree. I mean, yeah WALL-E is a great film to watch and is another fine accomplishment from Pixar but it definitely isn't one of their ultimate ones for me like Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Up and Monsters Inc. are for me.


WALL-E takes us on a journey beyond any other than we've ever experienced. Despite it is quite a dark story and is perhaps the most complex Pixar to date (even though it isn't very complex at all, just the most out of all 11 that have been released so far) but there are a lot of child-friendly and beautiful moments as well such as the beautiful settings and the romance between WALL-E and EVE. Another very good thing about WALL-E is that it expands on the audience's imagination by making us want to thing that there is a giant space ship like that and it is as fun as it looks but it sort of shows the horror as well by showing us what the world could be like in the future either if we damage it too much or what it would be like without the human race in general. The film does have its funny moments but I wouldn't really call it hilarious (like Ratatouille, to be honest). Understandably, Pixar wanted to make something slightly different than anything else they have done but they still managed to stick with what they can do so that's good. You can identify this as a Pixar film despite how different it is to some of the others.


The year is 2700, and planet Earth has long been uninhabitable. For hundreds of years, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), a little robot has been taking out the trash, and collecting precious knick-knacks in order to stave off the boredom of his dreary routine. Little does WALL-E realize that he has recently stumbled onto a secret that could save planet Earth, and once again make the ravaged planet safe for all humankind. When highly advanced search robot EVE lands on Earth to inspect any life on the planet, she meets WALL-E and soon enough become friends but he is looking for something more. However, when her ship returns, But after centuries alone in space, WALL-E can't stand the thought of losing the only friend he's ever known, and eagerly holds onto the ship and follows her into the deepest reaches of space on the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, the friendly trash-collecting robot who has always known what he was made for gradually begins to understand what he was meant for.


I'll tell you something: you could almost instantly fall in love with WALL-E. He resembles a lot of E.T from Steven Spielberg's sci-fi classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial such as voice, the confusion he feels and even the curiosity of things in the world but there are some differences as well: E.T is an alien and WALL-E is a robot, they both experience different adventures. In fact, it is almost like the opposite: WALL-E is from Earth and he goes on a space adventure and E.T is from another planet in space and he goes on an adventure on Earth. So in many ways, I guess you could say that WALL-E is the noughties of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. I loved EVE's character too! She made me laugh and despite that she doesn't really talk very much (and neither does WALL-E, really), the bond between them was so powerful and you just felt that they were meant to be together. The captain of the ship was really good as well. His character was really well developed too. He is a lazy guy but he is doing the worst job for a lazy guy seeing as he has many responsibilities even though he has got HAL 9000-like speech program Auto to work with.


After Andrew Stanton's gigantically successful previous Pixar film Finding Nemo, people perhaps thought that WALL-E wouldn't receive as much critical acclaim as Finding Nemo but it seems like most people preferred WALL-E even though I cannot fully understand why. Stanton does go for something more adult this time but he does take us on another grand adventure but in a different world. There isn't really that much of a script in WALL-E seeing as there is mostly music involved and visually stunning effects but of what we heard of it, it was fantastic! It deserved Best Animated Picture (even though it was a sealed winner anyway) and it was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Score and Best Original Song. If there was 10 nominees for Best Picture in 2008, I am pretty sure that it would be nominated for Best Picture as well (not like it wouldn't deserve it).


Overall, WALL-E is another fantastic Pixar film that takes us onto a whole new level of filmmaking as well as a new level of Pixar. Because it is such a brilliant film and I prefer pretty much every Pixar over this except Cars, I cannot call it 'one of the worst' so think the best way I can say it is 'one of my least favourite Pixar films'. Despite this, it must be watched and you are a moron to have missed out on this! Admittedly, it is a little overrated but I still love it. Bravo, Pixar! Keep up the good work.

"When you live hard and you play hard and burn the candle at both ends... in this life, you can lose everything you love, everything that loves you. Alot of people told me that I'd never wrestle again, they said "he's washed up", "he's finished" , "he's a loser", "he's all through". You know what? The only ones gonna tell me when I'm through doing my thing, is you people here. You people here... you people here. You're my family."


Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis
Running time: 111 minutes
Country: USA, France


The Wrestler has gone way above my expectations. It is a complete masterpiece of sports films. Some people have referred it as the new Raging Bull and the sports film of the decade. I would call it both for these various reasons. It is a very emotional story with a rather heartbreaking storyline, it has very realistic effects and it has absolutely beautiful characters to watch. This film is one of those rare sports films that are actually really serious and have a very powerful meaning. For example, the meaning of the boxing film Cinderella Man is that it is a story or committing yourself for your family because you are poor and are endangered financially. The Wrestler has a very different and very new meaning compared to other sports films that have been made in the past. To me so far, this is the sports film of the decade but not of all time (Raging Bull takes that place). The reason why my expectations weren't very high on The Wrestler was because it was directed by a director that has been extremely bizarre films that have a fantasy of their own (Darren Aronofsky - The Fountain, Requiem For A Dream, Pi). Also, it seemed like an extremely bizarre wrestling film as well but when you watch it, you will discover that it really isn't at all. When you see the name of the title 'The Wrestler' it seems like a rather weak story that doesn't even try and think of a decent name but when you see it, you will see that it didn't even need to try and you would forget about the name of the film, you would just remember what is in it.


Mickey Rourke delivers the best leading male performance of 2008 but not best male performance of 2008. That goes to Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight of course. Mickey Rourke is a perfect match for Randy 'The Ram' Robinson. What I truly loved about Randy's character was that people seem like he rips off or copies the actions of another professional wrestler particularly in the WWE such as Hulk Hogan but he isn't. He is a very different wrestler compared to other wrestlers there are in real life. Also, Mickey Rourke was a professional wrestler in his earlier days of his life and that is probably the main reason why Rourke was the best choice for Randy 'The Ram' Robinson. Mickey Rourke has never really had any proper credit for the films he has been in before apart from Sin City and The Wrestler is the film that guarantees him an Oscar nomination or even a win if not Sean Penn. I never thought I could see Mickey Rourke playing a character with a lot of emotion that you could feel sorry for but he has done it. Mickey is good at playing really hulky characters like Randy and Marv which is another key point I am making of why he was so good as Randy. I don't really know who would be able to portray Randy 'The Ram' Robinson any better than Mickey Rourke did. Well, Sylvester Stallone would have been an option because of the body build especially because of Rambo but he would have only done a really shit job because he is a crap actor and he probably knows it. His acting was literally perfect: his body build, his voice, his style of acting and communicating with people. Before I saw The Wrestler, I was surprised that Marisa Tomei was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes but after seeing it I now realise that it is no surprise that she was nominated for that award in that category. Her performance was very slimy with a slimy attitude in which Cassidy really is like. Cassidy is a stripper who works at a strip club. Marisa was really good because she was obviously an older stripper which is part of Cassidy's character and also because Marisa seems like a really irresistible woman for a 40-year-old which is very rare of a woman at her age. She will be a close favourite for an Oscar nomination this year as well.


Darren Aronofsky directs this film like no other director could. He has done some extremely bizarre fantasy stories in the past but this one totally tops them all like a hammer sticking a nail in a wall. He has created a story that I didn't think would turn out as good as it really did. He has finally created a film that some people won't be bewildered or confused by as he did for Requiem For A Dream, Pi and especially The Fountain. When you see the poster of the film for the first time, I think that it looks like a golden wrestling film with a real fantasy story but it isn't a fantasy at all as I have already said. He has directed a film that will always be remembered as the best wrestling film of all time if not one of the top sports film of all time. This is without a doubt Darren Aronofsky's best film and it is as simple as that. The script was originally written which doesn't really happen very often with sports films. It had very original characters and with a very original plot so it is better that way.


I would love to see Aronofsky make more dramas like this one with a very powerful meaning to it. The Wrestler is certainly Mickey Rourke's best performance which for some reason feels like a breakthrough performance for him even though he must be in his 50s or 60s. I choose Mickey Rourke over Sean Penn for Best Leading Actor definitely. The Wrestler is a rather memorable performance from Marisa Tomei which makes this film the best from her too as well as In The Bedroom. The Wrestler is one of my favourite films of 2008 without a single doubt in my mind. It is the best sports film since Cinderella Man which makes it the fourth best sports film of all time after that film and Cinderella Man and Bend It Like Beckham. I will always remember this film as more than a masterpiece. I would best remember it as a new, creative and artistic film that brings a bright and clever future to its genre both drama and sport.

"Squeal like a pig. So, Squeal."


Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Running time: 115 minutes
Country: Sweden


After seeing bad vampire films in the past, I was about to give this one a miss but seeing as it was receiving so many positive reviews and that it, according to many critics is "one of the best films of 2008". When I saw it, I absolutely loved it! Let The Right One In is the perfect example of how vampire films should be made. In the past, there have been bad vampire films that lack focus on story, have bad script/directing/acting or doesn?t involve any drama, tension or horror. Let The Right One In is basically what Twilight and especially New Moon should have been.


Let The Right One In tells the story of a young 12-year-old boy called Oskar who is going through a bad time in his life at the moment due to bullying from his classmates and spending his evenings imagining revenge against them. His life changes around completely when one night he meets a girl called Eli who reveals herself to be a vampire who is centuries older than Oskar. She just looks the same age as him. Their relationship becomes jeopardised due to this. Kåre Hedebrant's performance as Oskar was absolutely awesome! He was an almost perfect match with the character because he was all sweet and innocent but also in some ways psychologically dangerous. Lina Leandersson was FANTASTIC as Eli! She actually was the perfect match for Eli's character because she also was good at playing the sweet and innocent type but a very dangerous individual too especially when things started to change around and become increasingly dangerous for the public. It is a rather cute story as well as disturbing because it is a love story that involves children. It could've really failed by it being too cute or the story going way out of place by this but thankfully it didn't!


Tomas Alfredson did an absolutely fabulous job! He has basically single handedly grabbed the work of Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz and David Slade in The Twilight films by the throat and ripped them apart! The film is extremely underrated mostly because it?s a foreign film. According to magazines and websites, Let The Right One In is the best Swedish film ever. It isn't only a scary film and romantic film but there is a lesson that is being told in this film which is mostly about bullying and that the bullying victims should stand up against them. The film has a lot of key focuses. Examples are bullying, drugs, paedophilia, prostitution and murder.


Let The Right One In is a beautifully disturbing film that will melt your heart due to relationship between the two kids but will break your heart and grip you due to its horror and violence. Without a doubt one of the best films of 2008, one of the best horror films and one of my favourite foreign language films of all time.

"All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words."


Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco
Running time: 128 minutes
Country: USA


Milk is one of those films that some people wouldn't be interested in because its a film on homosexuals. Yes, it is about that but it is a heroic true life story about a man who leads his people to earn their rights as human beings. For any homosexuals out there when you watch this film, you could feel proud of being that way. Milk is a loving masterpiece for heterosexuals as well just like some other gay films are. Milk inspired me alot because of the commitment Milk made not just for his rights but every gay man or woman around the world. This film was very emotional to watch because of what happened to some of those homosexuals in the 1970s.


Sean Penn gives out his best performance to date. I am not used to seeing him playing a character like Harvey Milk because Penn has that sinister look in his eye and he plays those sorts of characters. However, there is one thing that Harvey Milk's character has in common with Jimmy Markum and Matthew Poncelet is that they are determined with very powerful personalities. Harvey Milk was in my opinion a similar sort of hero as Mahatma Gandhi was. Gandhi led his Asian people to freedom whatsoever the cost was. Milk did this aswell for gay rights. One reason why they are too similar is that they both died in the same way. Harvey Milk was like a general of an army of homosexuals who lead his people to rights and freedom as I said like Gandhi did and also like Moses did with the Hebrews. Josh Brolin was fantastic as Dan White He is in a bit of a crisis with his job. He is a favourite for Best Supporting Actor but I think winner has already been decided. James Franco was phenomenal too as Scott who was Milk's young lover. It's strange because I'm not used to seeing him and an actor like Sean Penn kiss each other. I think he could earn Oscar nomination too.


Gus Van Sant's directing was awesome because he wanted us to feel what it is like to be gay if you are or not. Also, he made us realise that gay rights are very important from all around the world. This is Gus Van Sant's best film so far which makes Milk better than Good Will Hunting. The script is original but it seems like a film that really needs checking through thoroughly with the script.


This is the best Sean Penn film, the best Gus Van Sant film, one of my top biography films and one of the best films of 2008. This film brings together one of the biggest heroes in cinema history in my opinion. This film is beyond words. It is a story which is positive for homosexuals and homosexuality in general. Trust me, if you are gay or not this film will inspire you from start to finish.

"Why do you wear pajamas all day?"


Director: Mark Herman
Starring: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Jack Scanlon
Running time: 94 minutes
Country: UK


This film is one of the most emotional and heartbreaking films that I have ever seen before. This film is really beautiful at the same time because it teaches us that people who are supposed to be enemies can be friends at the same time like normal people can. This film showed us the unusual way of the holocaust because two of the four I have seen are true stories. I mostly thought this was quite unusual compared to the other Holocaust films because it only involves two young kids rather than every single Jew (Schindlers List) and only one person (The Pianist). This film can be such an inspiration to a lot of people around the world. At least, it will be when the film is released around the entire world.


I thought Asa Butterfields performance as Bruno was really good because he is a really nice looking young man who makes the character such a beautiful one and a character that some people would fall in love with. I thought Asas performance was very powerful and very emotional too not only because of his friendship with young Jew Shmuel but also when he is around his mother, father and sister too. I felt sorry for Bruno because he needs a friend in which he finds but they are supposed to be enemies. He worries about what his family would say if they find out. Also, he is a curious young boy and wants to know why there are people in pyjamas, why they are in cages and why there are soldiers around the camp. Also, Bruno has no idea that the camp is a concentration camp where Jews get gassed and burned. I liked David Thewlis as the strict commander of a Nazi concentration camp and father of Bruno and Gretel. David makes him a really nasty and aggressive man but I dont think he is really a fearful character comparing to Amon Goth in Schindlers List. I wasnt really keen on Vera Farmiga as the mother of Bruno and Gretel because I dont think that she has that mother material in a film to be perfectly honest. Dont get me wrong, she is a really nice looking woman but I dont think she is a very good actress. I didn't really like her in The Departed either. I really liked Jack Scanlon as Shmuel because he really looked like an innocent young victim who is sort of confused with what is going on in the camp.


The direction was really good and was really well produced by the BBC. It was really well written too for such a powerful film from a really powerful novel. The few things that disappointed me about this film was that I thought it was quite slow to start with.


I also wished that Brunos father could have been more involved with the deaths of the Jews in the film like other Nazi officers have been like in previous Holocaust/WWII films. Apart from that I think The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is definitely a film of 2008 that people should consider naming one of the best of the year.

"I used to tell Walter, "Never start a fight... but always finish it." I didn't start this fight... but by God, I'm going to finish it."


Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Jason Butler Harner
Running time: 141 minutes
Country: USA


I knew I was going to love Changeling because it seems very powerful and with said phenomenal performance and it is a Clint Eastwood film. This is the most powerful and emotional film of 2008 so far. In fact, it was so powerful and emotional I was literally blown away from it. I was almost crying when Christine was sent to the mental hospital. This film sends a very important message and that is that there are bad people in a business no matter what their profession is. This is a film that alot of parents who have had their children missing could like. Also, it can teach parents particularly single ones what can happen if one is too trusting with someone in which Christine was. I think this is probably one of the most powerful films of the decade and of all time.


Angelina Jolie has been in some crap in the past including a few Razzie nominations and wins but her performance as Christine Collins was absolutely outstanding which made it seem like another breakthrough performance. It is the best performance of her career. Her Oscar winning performance in Girl, Interrupted probably isn't better than Changeling. Angelina bought together a character that is mixed with reality because when the police 'find' her son, she is almost immediately convinced that the boy isn't her son and because she is refusing to accept that her son has been found, the police cruelly put her in a mental house. I bet it must have been hard for her because nobody believed her and especially being sent into a mental home sane and innocent. Angelina makes Christine her own character because of her powerful determination to the character. As far as not understanding why she is in a mental institution, Christine's character is quite similar to Josh Nash in A Beautiful Mind apart from he is mentally ill and she isn't. John Malkovich was really good as Rev. Gustav Briegleb but I preferred his performance in Burn After Reading. Briegleb is his second most powerful character after playing himself in Being John Malkovich.


Clint Eastwood directs this film like no other director could ever have done. He has made Changeling a truly amazing and powerful masterpiece. To me, this is THE perfect Clint Eastwood (as director) film which is why I would call Changeling his best film. The script made Clint Eastwood's reputation as director of this film even better.


It was powerful, emotional and quite thrilling too. This is the third best Clint Eastwood film after Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby. This is also Angelina Jolie's best role too. Please bring us masterful performances, Angelina, instead of being part of some shit. Changeling is a masterpiece that most people would remember as a film with a lot of true and powerful messages. This is one of my top drama films, one of the top of 2008, one of the best music scores and one of the best true story films too. I recommend it to every single living person on Earth which shows how much I love Changeling.

"Oh my fuck... I just killed a fucking spook!"


Director: Joel + Ethan Coen
Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton
Running time: 96 minutes
Country: USA, UK, France


I find Burn After Reading absolutely hilarious. All of the characters involved are just brilliant. It is a film that is like really original of the genre comedy but in a really dark way which is obviously called a black comedy. Other ones like Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Trainspotting, Fargo and Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. I find it to be the black comedy of the year so far and is a contender of a few Oscar nominations next February. This film really made me laugh not really because of what the characters were like but what was said by the characters said. Mostly John Malkovich made me laugh because he kept saying "fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck" all the time which is obviously rude but is bloody hilarious. So, when I watched Burn After Reading, I told her that it wasnt crap at all and deserves a lot of credit. But the one thing that did disappoint me a bit with this one was that I dont think that it was as well adapted as I had hoped because it was quite confusing and quite complex too.



George Clooney's performance was quite good because Harry is a complete slimeball because of his having an affair with a married Katie Cox. That is what is so good about Clooney at times because he is like an irresistable man in his films by playing a charming and irrestable character. He did make me laugh in some ways because of how much of an arsehole he is and the awkward position he gets himself into when he accidentally does something. Also, the situation where he is seeing two women by cheating on both of them with the other. Basically, two-timing them both. Frances McDormand makes me laugh as an actress not just as some of the characters she portrays. Her performance is really quite bizarre really because she wants to be in a relationship with a man and "get laid". She mostly makes me laugh by the desperate measures she takes by sleeping with any man. Frances does have those sorts of looks to look like a middle aged woman who wants a relationship. John Malkovich delivers in my opinion the best performance of the whole film and also one of the best performances of the year. He makes me laugh so much because he swears so much and says some things that he shouldnt really be saying to the people he is talking to. He is a bit of a slimeball aswell as Harry. I am predicting Malkovich for an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor but not a win. Winner for me will obviously be the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Tilda Swinton is really good as Katie Cox because Katie is like a cold character which is like her character Karen Crowder in her recent Oscar winning performance in Michael Clayton. Brad Pitt was hilarious in this film. I couldn't stop laughing at him in this one. Brad doesn't really mix with comedies but he did in this one.



The Coens did another good job in this film. They made it a very original film with a big meaning. It is the Coens funniest film since The Big Lebowski. I did really like how they both pulled off a masterpiece No Country For Old Men and they pulled off another awesome follow-up but not a masterpiece. This film was well written by the Coen Brothers because it was really original and really quite masterful which is what the Coens are really like. But No Country For Old Men wasnt really an original story, it was more of a really hard thinking adapting story. Cleverly written scenes especially involving Osbourne Cox.



This is my least favourite Coen Brothers film even though I really enjoyed it. Like films like Fargo, The Big Lebowski and especially No Country For Old Men more. This is my favourite George Clooney of the films I have seen so far from him even though I dont really like him at all. Frances McDormand didnt dissapoint me but she is better in her Oscar winning performance in Fargo than in Burn After Reading. Burn After Reading is a film that should be considered as one of the must-see films of 2008.

"Do you make sweaters, or do you kill people?"


Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Kretschmann
Running time: 110 minutes
Country: USA


This film really thrilled me because of the absolutely amazing action scenes. I was laughing because of the superb action and the extremely dangerous stunts that are taken in this film from both the characters and actors. The characters made me feel really tense too because I could feel the chemistry and tension between the characters between the characters.


James McAvoy delivers a good performance as Wesley Gibson but personally I think there could have been a better actor to portray the character. Angelina Jolie was awesome as Fox because she made a really good assassin and action packed character. Angelina is like this in Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Foxs tattoos looked really good on Angelina. Morgan Freeman delivers in my opinion a poor performance as Sloan because Morgan didnt quite make Sloan a powerful man whereas a different actor might have pulled it off. I liked Thomas Kretschmann aswell as Cross who tries to assassinate Wesley after he did assassinate his father.


Timur Bekmambetov has not made any well known films until Wanted was released. So, I dont know what to say about this section. The action is absolutely fantastic. Like I said, I laughed at it because it was so good. The slow-motion action is just like The Matrix visual effects. Apart from that, it is nothing like The Matrix. The make-up was simply awesome too. The art direction was good but could have sort of improved, the same with the costumes. The cinematography was awesome too. The sound was awesome too.


If I had to decide the Oscar nominations, I would say Wanted is a nominee for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound. If it doesnt become a nominee for neither award then I will be really disappointed. Mind you there is Iron Man, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight to bear in mind. The only thing that sort of disappointed me was James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman apart from that a successful and awesome blockbuster that will be remembered for a long time. Bring us new awesome films Timur Bekmambetov!

"Give me a scotch. I'm starving."


Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard
Running time: 126 minutes
Country: USA


Iron Man truly is one of the coolest comic book adaptations of all time. I personally think that it is a film that is just kick ass and a film that people wouldnt take that seriously but would take it as a completely fun thrill ride. It was a story that wasnt as emotional and powerful as the Spider-Man trilogy and X-Men trilogy but it really was a story that adapted really well and was a really good example of a MARVEL comic film that would be suitable for young kids. It just thought that this film was a film that was almost a perfect comic book adaptation (for me that is) because I liked the main character, I really liked the story and pretty much all of the qualities that it holds. I think that the reason why I love this film so much is because of the way it is filmed and how awesome the qualities in this film was.


Robert Downey Jr. is absolutely amazing in this film as Tony Stark because I was really admired by his performance. I think it was mostly because I really liked his character. It was a really heroic character and at the same time it was a character that does sort of deserve a smack around the face because he is an arrogant character but in a hilarious way. I havent seen Robert Downey Jr in any other film before but this is a good start for him so far. I am desperate to see Zodiac, Chaplin, Tropic Thunder and a few others. Tony Stark is an awesome character with a lot of brains because at the start of the film, Tony builds a high-tech suit in a cave with little bits and after that he creates another one all alone, he makes fictional gadgets that are really creative and clever. Also, Stark has that HAL 9000 like computer to help him with his inventions. Robert Downey Jrs character is probably the coolest character out of all of MARVEL comic book adaptations. I liked Jeff Bridges in this film as Obadiah Stane because he is a really mean character but Obadiah is still a very powerful character. I thought Jeff Bridges was an outstanding choice for the character because Jeff is good at playing a villain and also a cool guy especially when he was The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Luckily, I thought that Obadiah was both evil and cool which fits Bridges almost perfect for the character. He was really good as that cold type and who is lusting for power. I think that Gwyneth Paltrow was a bad choice for Pepper Potts because I think that all the lines that Gwyneth had to say in this film were all say in a incorrect way. I have seen her in better films in the past. However, I do think that she made Pepper a beautiful and sexy character. Pepper is just like an innocent character who inadvertently gets involved in Starks Iron Man business. I mean she is an Oscar winner. There should have been an actress who isnt as well known as Gwyneth Paltrow but is around the same age as her though. I sort of liked Terrence Howard in this film as Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodey Rhodes too because he was like a young rookie cop who wants to be like Tony Stark and wants to be another Iron Man along with Stark. Rhodes is a really good friend of Starks who sort of helps Iron Man with the terrorising and despite that at first he goes after Iron Man and tries to kill him (that was before he knew Iron Man was Stark). The direction from Jon Favreau was good because he needed to focus this film mostly on Stark than the other characters because there couldnt be any Iron Man film without concentrating mostly on Tony Stark. I liked the script but there was quite a few flaws and there was some scenes that werent really that good but overall was good. Tony Starks character is very different compared to other MARVEL heroes like Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra and more because Iron Man is in my opinion the most realistic MARVEL film. It has the types of characters that use their heads and think about what they are doing.


Director Jon Favreau has done some good films so far and he has mostly focused on science fiction films. He also did Zathura aswell as Iron Man. This is my favourite Jon Favreau film so far even though I do love Zathura. The only thing that disappointed me about this film was the bad acting from Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard. Apart from that an outstanding blockbuster of summer 2008 and is a MARVEL masterpiece.

"I have no sympathy for you. I know you are invulnerable to true regret."


Director: John Patrick Shanley
Starring: Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis
Running time: 104 minutes
Country: USA



Wow! This film was bloody amazing! Doubt is a story that brings light familiarity to 2006's Notes On A Scandal. The only difference is that it involves nuns and priests instead of teachers. Doubt turned out rather similar to the 81st Academy Awards like Notes On A Scandal did at the 79th what with the nominations. Doubt is probably one of the most powerful films of 2008 alongside Changeling, Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Because I couldn't find any showings at the cinema and the Oscar ceremony is less than a month away, I had no choice but to watch it online. Doubt is a film that really grabs your attention and holds you while you're watching it. Doubt is an amazing film but it is a very predictable film. The story had a very motivating and moving tone but it is quite delayed within the first 20 minutes because it is only until Sister Beauvier begins to suspect Father Flynn of child abuse within the school on a young black boy. It takes a very light twist but not a really shocking one though. The cast of Doubt is really well ensemble with all four actors earning Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.


Meryl Streep delivers her best performance in years as Sister Aloysius Beauvier. Meryl looked really grumpy, bitter and strict for that character's personality. Personally, it was about time Meryl played this type of character. Sister Beauvier is the principal of the attached school of the Bronx Catholic Church. I was blown away by how powerful she made every single scene be in this film. Sister Beauvier is very bitter and very firm with her students. She behaves a lot like Barbara in Notes On A Scandal. Phillip Seymour Hoffman in my honest opinion gives the performance of his career thus far as Father Brendan Flynn. Yes, better than palying Truman Capote. He was an amazing choice because Phillip does seem like that scheming and slimy type to play this sort of character. Also, he seems that typical type of actor to play a priest. Father Flynn is a priest in the Catholic church but is a sports teacher in the school. His career changes around when both Sister Beauvier and Sister James accuse him of child abuse. After seeing Enchanted, Amy Adams performance looked very good in Doubt and when I did see Doubt, her performance in my opinion is the best female supporting performance of 2008 so far. I really admire Amy even more as a person now as well as an actress. In the past 2 years she has portrayed characters that are totally different: a beautiful, charming and bright princess in 2007 and a young nun who is a teacher in 2008. Even at her young age, Amy revealed she is an actress to be reckoned with and is not to be underestimated. Viola Davis' performance was really amazing as Mrs. Miller who is the mother of accused victim Donald Miller. Mrs. Miller is a very mysterious woman and is questioned about what sort of mother she really is by Sister Beauvier of all people. Viola wasn't in the film for very long but she was really powerful and emotional in every single second of her two only scenes she was involved in. This film is the one film of 2008 that features the best performances from the entire cast.


John Patrick Shanley directs this film from his own novel and he certainly didn't disappoint at all. There have been some novels that have been made into films that were directed and published by the same person that have been bad but this is absolutely awesome. Writing a script can be rather easy from a novel but it is harder from a true life story in which I stated in one of my reviews. I think it was my Zodiac review.


Doubt is my favourite Phillip Seymour Hoffman film so far. Doubt is Meryl Streep's best performance since Sophie's Choice. It is Amy Adam's best performance so far. She has been in two masterpieces as far as I'm concerned. Doubt is a very powerful film but Changeling is the most powerful film of 2008. I liked Doubt more than Changeling. Doubt is another snub for Best Picture with The Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road, Changeling, WALL-E and The Wrestler.

"Damn, I thought that was closer..."


Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LeBeouf, Karen Allen
Running time: 123 minutes
Country: USA


When I heard that there was going to be a fourth Indiana Jones film I was thinking to myself: "Cool, but wonder how good or how bad it could be". I thought this film was bloody brilliant because it is very original with really cool characters apart from Mutt. Personally, I think Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull became just as successful and has earned very similar sorts of reviews as Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace did. Also because it was a new film to a franchise that was released over 10 years previously which connects Indiana Jones so well with Star Wars. Also because of George Lucas' involvement. I admit that the story wasn't as powerful as Raiders Of The Lost Ark nor Last Crusade but it was just as thrilling as them with same type of action. It felt like a family comedy because there were some humorous scenes particularly about Indy's age.


Harrison Ford brings Indiana Jones back into action in a huge way. Because of the story, Indy was funnier in this one than the other three. I don't think Harrison Ford liked Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull because he said "I didn't hate Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, I just thought it was disappointing." I really liked Cate Blanchett as villainous Col. Dr. Irina Spalko. She pulls off a good Russian accent and does look evil even though it is her first attempt at playing a villain. It was about bloody time that Cate was working with a director like Spielberg. I would love to see her in more of his films. I hated Shia Lebeouf as Mutt Williams. I thought his character and personality was absolutely pathetic. I mean, a biker in an Indiana Jones film. Come on! I really loved Karen Allen's return as Indy's old flame Marion Ravenwood who was in the first film: Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Ray Winstone plays Indy's friend Mac. Ray always makes his characters interesting because he plays, looks and sounds like Ray Winstone every time no matter what characters he plays. John Hurt was really weird as Professor Harold 'Ox' Oxley who is an old friend of Indy's. Jim Broadbent makes an appearance too as Dean Charles Stanforth who is another teacher in the school Indy teaches at.


I don't know whether Steven Spielberg was keen on Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull or not because I remember reading an article on IMDB about Ford and Spielberg not accepting the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull storyling that George Lucas thought of. Well, if they didn't like the story why can't they have thought of a different one. Despite this, I am sure Spielberg and Ford wanted to make Indiana Jones the original hero like he was before but I totally agree that they did do that with this fourth film. The story wasn't quite as realistic because there were aliens involved which is one very light but not very effective disappointment with Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Indy's relationship with Mutt was a lot like working together hard but working with a lot of impatience. There is a revelation of how Mutt is related to Indy in the film which you will just have to wait and see. Marion's relationship with Indy brought back memories of Raiders Of The Lost Ark. They both squabbled and argued over things in that film but they still did that in Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull but not as hard. It was Indy and Marion's first reunion in 27 years. Mac and Indy's relationship sort of confused me because one minute Mac was with Indy then he was against him. I guarantee that confused quite a lot of other people who have watched this film before. The sound effects were outstanding just like in pretty much all action films. The art direction brought us back down memory lane to the Temple Of Doom because Indy enters tombs, graveyards and churches in Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull which is very original of Indy to do that. Also, there are dead corpses found so that brings originality into it. Indy wears the same costume once again. Mutt's boots, gelled hair, leather jacket etc is just inappropriate. I mean, he could be the new Indiana Jones. It doesn't bring his taste to the missions. I loved Cate Blanchett's black haired wig she wore. It really suited her. The make-up and visual effects were just so stunning.


It sort of turned out like The Phantom Menace did in the Star Wars franchise regarding satisfaction within it. Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is a fantastic action-packed family comedy thrill ride which I loved. One of the best summer blockbusters of 2008. I wouldn't call the whole film disappointing at all but it did have very light flaws I thought. Out of the four films there have been, Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is my 2nd favourite of 4th with Raiders Of The Lost Ark - 1st, Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - 2nd, Last Crusade - 3rd and Temple Of Doom - 4th. Welcome back, Indiana Jones. Please bring us some more Indy action but with a decent storyline. Thank you Ford, Lucas and Spielberg!

"Nothing is impossible, what we all have done is impossible!"


Director: Edward Zwick
Starring: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Mia Wasikowska
Running time: 137 minutes
Country: USA


What an absolutely incredible film! I was really surprised how good it turned out to be. I knew I was going to like it anyway but I wasn't really predicting it to be amazing. I loved this film a lot because the story is really interesting and is very gripping to me. I was attracted to all of the characters and the way it was filmed. Defiance is an absolutely fantastic action film as well as a true story and bio-pic. The action involved is really hard-hitting and sudden. The action is almost the same kind but I loved it that way because the action was non-stop and very entertaining. To me, Defiance is a film that is really well told for a true story as I'm sure the novel is too. This is a film that is full of drama but it is full of desirable pride and courage to stand up to the bad people in the world.


After the disappointing Quantum Of Solace, Daniel Craig has brought my attention to him again now after seeing Defiance because it was great seeing him in action again with at least a decent story this time. Craig portrays Tuvai Bielski with a terrific performance. Tuvai is the oldest of the four Bielski brothers and because he started to build up the group of Jews living in the woods he became the leader of the group as well. Daniel Craig's accent was okay but did quite a tiny bit annoying at times. It was really weird hearing a British man speak an Eastern European accent and I haven't heard him speak like that before in a film. Liev Schreiber was good as Zus Bielski but he was the most troublemaking one of the brothers because he was always fighting with Tuvai over the problems regarding the large amount of Jews in the woods may cause. Jamie Bell is really awesome as well as Asrael who is the third Bielski brother. Bell portrays a man who died rather young during a battle in WWII just after the events that occurred in this film. This film introduced Mia Wasikowska as Chaya who was the love interest of Asael Bielski. Wasikowska is going to make an even bigger name for herself in the upcoming Tim Burton film Alice In Wonderland when she portrays Alice.


Edward Zwick is a director that I have always admired for making epic war stories true or untrue. His work in Defiance was a lot like how he directed The Last Samurai but it is more realistic in Defiance and I found the storyline more exciting. Zwick has created an absolutely marvelous epic that I loved from start to finish and found impactful throughout every seond of it. The script was adapted into two different things in two brilliant ways: the novel and the true life story of the characters. For the past three Zwick films, he has had three actors playing three different kinds of characters: Tom Cruise (The Last Samurai), Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond) and Daniel Craig (Defiance).


This film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Music Original Score but lost to Slumdog Millionaire. It was nomianted for that same award at the Golden Globes but lost to Slumdog Millionaire. Defiance is an absolutely fantastic film that I find to be the best film of 2009 so far. This film has risen my hopes up for great films in 2009 after the extremely disappointing Watchmen. It is Daniel Craig's best performance since Casino Royale. Mia Wasikowska was introduced really well in this film as Chaya. Can't wait to see her in Alice In Wonderland!! I am unsure what the best Edward Zwick film is between Defiance and Blood Diamond but one thing for sure is that they're both fantastic achievements.

"Over the years I have acted in ways that you have judged... harsh. Well, I do not wish for you to undergo any further suffering."


Director: Saul Dibb
Starring: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper
Running time: 110 minutes
Country: UK, Italy, France


I knew I would like this film but I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. There are many reasons for this. I really loved the story of this one because it was very powerful with a lot of raw emotion and also a lot of amazing qualities within it. It made me feel really quite upset for Georgina because she doesnt deserve anything she gets from her husband and her best friend. I find it an amazing and powerfulstory that is a true story but has a lot of moments in the film that do happen in real life even now. It was a real feel good film because of the beautiful sceneries within it and what beauty can be brought out in this world. There are more reasons why I love this film so much. I love period dramas like this and history films and this is one of my favourite history films.


Keira Knightleys performance is in my opinion the best performance of her career so far because I think she has portrayed the most powerful character yet in her young career. I am starting to love Keira in this period dramas with rich costumes and rich families just like she is in Atonement. I loved her performance in Atonement but loved her performance even more in The Duchess. I think that this performance from Keira can be close to a possible nominee for Best Actress Oscars. She is certainly on my list for that award. Keira is an actress that some people would expect the same from her. I do see the same with her in some films because she looks the same pretty much every time she is in a film but she portrays different characters in her young career. She has only disappointed me once and that was her performance as Domino Harvey in Domino. Please, Keira, bring us some more awesome period dramas. Ralph Fiennes performance is awesome aswell as the Duke Of Devonshire because he brings together once again a powerful character with a hard and cold heart. He is a really strict character in this one because he acts like Henry VIII. He is a character that expects a male heir even though it isnt him nor Georgina to decide, it was just fate. His abusive attitudes with women are really bad. It is bad that he still expects them to do as he says. I find Ralph Fiennes to be good at that as he always has been as a villain. If there was a film involving Henry VIII like The Other Boleyn Girl, I do think he would be amazing for that role. He is like a really controlling psycho. He leads Georgina into a no way out situation which causes problems for other characters within the film too.


I really liked Saul Dibbs direction in this film. It was a lot like the way a director like Joe Wright would direct it especially after he directed Pride And Prejudice and Atonement which previously starred Keira Knightley. Dibb hasnt done any films that are well known until this one. So, it sort of seemed like a start to him and it was an absolutely awesome start. There was a lot of different types of angles used in this film.


It is one of Keira Knightleys best films. I did love her in Atonement, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Bend It Like Beckham and King Arthur. One of Ralph Fiennes best films too but love him more in Schindlers List and Harry Potter. It is an underrated film so far but does have a really good chance at the Oscars 2009.

"Any of you boys want to shoot, now's the time. There isn't one of us that doesn't want to be someplace else. But this is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something. Your call."


Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish
Running time: 93 minutes
Country: USA


I can see why people hate the Rambo franchise because Sylvester Stallone is one of the worst living actors but he is really good for the Rambo character as far as appearance is concerned. Also because it has light lack of story and characters (other than Rambo) but at the end of the day, Rambo is a film full of action with a very enjoyable story. It actually like the Rambo series. None of the stories in all four films aren't that powerful but Rambo 1 and 4 made a lot of tense to me whereas 2 and 3 didn't. It was a very violent film like they all are. The violence is very realistic because a weapon comes at someone so quickly and sudden. Most violent of all of Rambo films so far with a lot of blood and guts. Rambo's more violent than ever. If there is going to be a Rambo V, then I could be rather excited about it. Weird that there is completely thrilling action and then once it finishes, the film ends pretty quickly. I was thinking that it would be a disappointment especially after a Rambo film hadn't been seen in 20 years but it turned out to be a success.


Stallone shines up Rambo after his disasterous and awful performance in Rocky Balboa (Rocky VI). Stallone brings a new Rambo. I saw a heard, deadly Rambo but also saw a Rambo that has a nice helpful side. Rambo has always worked alone in previous three films but works with a group in this one which makes him slightly different. Still typical Rambo appearance but voice is a lot deeper and Stallone makes Rambo a more bulging and a bigger build. He looks fatter aswell. Rambo has slightly less use of knives but used guns and arrows more now. He never seems to stop. He continues to save people and kill the people responsible. I really used to hate Sylvester Stallone but I sort of like him as Rambo. I couldn't believe how different Rambo looks in the fourth compared to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd film.


Sylvester Stallone directed this film pretty well. It is the only Rambo film that he directed and he showed he can do it. The script was definitely the best written of all four. It was very well handled and there weren't many flaws at all really which in a way surprised me. As I said the violence was very realistic to watch and was very comical aswell as real effective blood. Villains capture women and throw them into crowds for them to be either raped or just killed. Action is outstanding with lots of great cinema effects. Music score sound the same as it always did. Theme played at end of film. It ended like it was the end for Rambo and ended like he could be back for more action. A lot like Indy 4 as far as fourth in a franchise and third in franchise was almost 20 years earlier is concerned.


The fourth Rambo is the best of all four. I was especially pleased with this one because Rambo III was awful and it rose up again. Should be considered on the list of top action films of 2008.

"Last time I saw your mother she said she never wanted to see me again."


Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Starring: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgard
Running time: 108 minutes
Country: UK, USA, Germany


When I first heard about it I thought to myself, "I am not gonna bother with this because I will probably hate it because the 2007 summer musical blockbuster Hairspray remake was awful". Then one day I changed my mind because it has a good cast especially Meryl Streep. When I did see Mamma Mia, I thought it was one of the best musicals I have ever seen. It was a really delightful story that really attracted fans and almost everyone on Earth. This is one of those musicals that is funny, romantic and dramatic that you could watch over and over again. That is something that I could do. I was blown away by how much of a success Mamma Mia turned out to be even though it already was a stage musical. This is like Best Picture Oscar winner compared to Hairspray. What I truly loved about Mamma Mia was that it had a lot of adult humour and a lot of kid humour which makes an almost perfect family film.


At first I was unsure about Meryl Streep being in a film like this because she is clearly the greatest actress of all time even better than the ones who are now deceased and she has never been in a musical before. I was unsure about her singing aswell. Meryl Streep delivers one of her best performances to date. I underestimated her at first because of the singing and the genre but her singing surprised me a lot and she greatly succeeded. She is probably the perfect choice for Donna. Aside from her singing, her acting was very good. Meryl looked really young for her age in Mamma Mia. She looks 40 in the film but Streep is really in her late 50s/early 60s. Two of Meryl Streep's films that have been released this year have given her two of her best performances and also two Golden Globe nominations. Why Pierce Brosnan was actually in this film I have no idea at all. There are many reasons why he was totally miscast for this film: 1. He was a James Bond actor (Former Bond actor in a musical don't exactly match), 2. Awful singer, 3. Bad acting and 4. Didnt make character very believable. Amanda Seyfried was an excellent choice for Sophie because she had every part of Sophie's personality: sweet, beautiful, sexy, hot and charming and also she looks a bit like Meryl Streep. It is weird because plot is about a girl trying to discover who her father is out of the three men she invites to her wedding but the film focuses more on Donna. Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski were all hilarious as well.


It was directed far better than I was expecting. The director didn't make it too rude for kids and she didn't make it too childish either. When comparing 2008's summer blockbuster Mamma Mia and 2007's summer blockbuster Hairspray, Mamma Mia has a storyline with strong characters. There were a lot of songs but they didn't go on for too long and they actually were part of the story. During some of the songs, I think that some were in the character's imagination just like it was in Chicago.


This is the best musical of 2008, it is one of my top Meryl Streep films and one of my top films of 2008. It is one of my favourite musicals but I love Sweeney Todd, Grease, Singin' In The Rain, The Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady and The Wizard Of Oz more. Mamma Mia is a masterpiece that I'm sure everyone will at least like.

"Welcome to Australia!"


Director: Bazz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown
Running time: 165 minutes
Country: Australia, USA


Australia is a good epic romantic film that does deserve a chance at the cinema but it has a few flaws. This film was well made but it didn't quite show how important this film was to the director. Both actors were good but I couldn't feel very much love between them because there was a light lack of romance within. This has had weird rumours that it is this decade's Gone With The Wind and it is refered as the next Gone With The Wind. I just find that really quite silly because there won't be another romantic epic like Gone With The Wind. Besides, the story in Australia is a completely different to Gone With The Wind. Apart from that it was a film that I really enjoyed.


Nicole Kidman turned out to be really good as Lady Sarah Ashley but at the start she was quite irritating and made the audience feel like she was one of those nobody-gives-a-shit-about-you sort of person but when she meets Drover, Nicole's performance builded up and gradually got better. When I saw Nicole as Lady Ashley, it showed how young Nicole Kidman really looks for her age. She made Lady Ashley a very beautiful and sexy woman who in most people's cases including mine almost irresistable. Why she didn't earn Golden Globe nomination I have no idea. I am going to start liking Nicole Kidman in some more epic films in the future. I liked Hugh Jackman too as Drover because he was more of an action-packed hero and charmer. Heath Ledger was going to portray Drover but did The Dark Knight instead for a damn good reason. Besides, I don't think Ledger would have been very good anyway because he was about 10 years too young for romance with Nicole Kidman. Anyway about Hugh Jackman, he had a really big build and looked like a really big man which isn't his normal build. His normal body build is films like The Prestige and The Fountain. His size in Australia was a lot like his size as Wolverine in the X-Men trilogy. His acting was awesome .He doesn't deliver any bad performances apart from Van Helsing despite what sort of character plays. Australia is his closest chance at the high awards. Brandon Walters was really good as Nullah because he showed that Nullah is a very effective little boy but with a big desire and a big and brave heart.


Baz Luhrmann directs this film quite similarly to how David Lean did for Lawrence Of Arabia as far as camera angles in a desert area is concerned which doesn't really surprise me why it took 2 years for Luhrmann to make this film. The way he handled the direction of the characters was very good with the scenes within the film but could have been a bit better. The script was very original which is almost a first time from an epic film. It was very well written for a film that sort of tries to beat or be compared to a film like Gone With The Wind.

This isn't my favourite of neither Hugh Jackman nor Nicole Kidman. It is a really good romantic epic that does have a few disappointments but it is a piece of entertainment after all which makes it a good piece of art that was worth watching, worth paid to see and worth made. It isn't Baz Luhrmann's best film neither. I prefered Moulin Rouge! Australia is a really good film that does deserve a chance at the cinema and a few Oscar nominations as far as cinema qualities is concerned.

"We're not gonna let that happen! We're gonna make 'em choke!"


Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon
Running time: 122 minutes
Country: USA, UK, France


Frost/Nixon is a film that I really enjoyed from start to finish. I am not a strong admirer or political films at all but this is one I actually enjoyed. It is a film that I don't think could have been better told than it was in this film. Frost/Nixon is one of those films that I don't think that many people would appreciate because of the political dialogue or they might find it uninteresting and boring. I really enjoyed this film and I don't think there was anything wrong with it. Sometimes, with political films I can't really explain what flaws one has but there aren't any in this film.


Frank Langella's performance as Richard Nixon was absolutely fantastic! He made a brilliant impression of Nixon. He has like a Darth Vader-like voice which is very deep and croaky but can understand. I was totally gripped of Nixon's relationship with Frost. Langella deserved Oscar nomination but Pitt, Penn and especially Rourke were better in my opinion. Langella will probably be better than Hopkins as Nixon but Langella portrays Nixon almost like he really was Nixon. Michael Sheen is a really good actor. His performance as David Frost was very good. He was snubbed for Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 81st Academy Awards. If he wasn't in it, I don't think I would have felt the close combination between Nixon and Frost in this film.


Ron Howard's direction of Frost/Nixon is very different from every other film he has done. Howard has always been a director of creating films of a similar sort of feeling. Well, inspiring and heartwarming in his case (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, How The Grinch Stole Christmas). The script was absolutely fantastic! Best Adapted Screenplay was a hard award to give this year I think because I loved the script in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon.


I have now seen all five Oscar Best Picture 2008 nominees and overall I think that it shouldn't have been nominated Best Picture. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire and WALL-E should have been the nominees in my opinion. Frost/Nixon isn't my favourite political film but is a very enjoyable film. Highly recommended!

"I'm a lead farmer, motherfucker!"


Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise
Running time: 107 minutes
Country: USA, Germany


This film was really good because it is a comedy that tries to spoof a lot of classic comedy films. It is one of those films that a lot of people love because of its comedy and the actors involved but some might not because it rips off war films. It is a really good rip off though. It is really clever like the real life personality of actors with the director, producer and even the Academy Awards. This film made me laugh quite a bit but there were some bits that werent really funny.


Ben Stiller delivers an average performance as Tugg Speedman. I tihnk it is a performance that Stiller tries to outwit with other classic war films. But he does this in a really clever and exciting way. He made Speedman a really likeable character but also a character which is just plain stupid which is just so entertaining about this film. I do prefer Ben Stiller in Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers and Night At The Museum. Jack Blacks performance is just so pathetic and stupid. Jack annoys me in almost every film he has ever been in apart from School Of Rock. His character is a mixture of some of the characters that Black has portrayed in the past and also tries to rip off talented actors who have portrayed overweight characters in the past who needs to be active. Robert Downey Jrs performance is the best from the whole film because it is a really strong character and a character who is a complete idiot. Downey Jr. portrays a black dude with a certain type of voice that some do have particularly if they are from Africa or the Caribbean. It was a really good voice and personality from a white man to a black man. His make-up was really awesome. It looked like real skin not make up. Downey Jr has now become an extremely well known actor. Especially when he starred in Iron Man in summer 2008. Tom Cruise made a supporting appearance as producer Les Grossman. He looked really weird with a bald head and glasses but he was really funny and made me laugh a lot because he is a bit of a cold character which Tom is really good at. But this time, it is in a really funny way.


Ben Stiller directed this film really well by making this film like a real war film while shooting their own movie. The script was descent obviously because of how clever the story is and also of how new it really is. It is a story that nobody has ever seen before. I can probably say that this is a slightly ruder and older version of Son Of Rambow apart from that Tropic Thunder is with adults but Son Of Rambow involves kids. The only way this film is similar to Zoolander is mostly because it is directed by Ben Stiller aswell as him taking the leading role in the film. This film ripped off a lot of action war films like Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and particularly Platoon. Mostly from that moment where Tugg in the film he is in was on his knees with his arms in the air with guns, men and trees in the background rips off a great war film. But it was a good rip-off because it really looked real. This film was really violent with graphic comic violence. It is very bloody and quite gory in some ways. But quiet a bit of it was fake in the film because they were filming it and it was fake blood.


The few things that disappointed me with this film was that it was quite slow and it didn't move fast enough and the acting from Jack Black was absolutely dreadful. I dont think it was as action packed as I was hoping it would be and also it wasnt as funny either as it was. But apart from that, Tropic Thunder is a really fun action-comedy that deserves a chance and needs to be watched before you dont get the chance to watch it.

"A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his."


Director: David Frankel
Starring: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner
Running time: 115 minutes
Country: USA


I had absolutely no desire to see Marley & Me at all because I can't stand either of the two leading actors in this film but after deciding to watch it with some family, I am really glad I saw it! Marley & Me is a true story that teaches many lessons of how much of a difference pets make in a family particularly the children. Marley & Me has now become one of the very rare films that have literally made me cry. I mean, I hardly ever cry in films but seeing as I despise both Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, I was never expecting up but I was wrong. It wasn't so much for the characters but was more for the dog and what an effect he became.


Marley & Me tells the story of a newlyweds John and Jenny Grogan (Wilson and Aniston) who plan to have babies. Instead, John gives Jenny a puppy. Marley becomes the worlds worst dog but his untameable spirit uplifts the Grogans at difficult moments. Owen Wilson is a pain in the arse actor as far as I am concerned and he was the main reason why I wanted to skip this film to start with but his performance in Marley & Me was satisfactory. To be honest, where is acting was quite flawed was that he didn't really seem like that family man kind of actor. Jennifer Aniston is the second actor in the film that I can't stand but her performance was satisfactory too. She was better than Owen Wilson though seeing as she was a good parent in this film and she isn't a parent in real life at all.


David Frankel has made a film that people would love for its beauty regarding the family and the dog and would make people cry for its tragic ending. However, it isn't the greatest film to watch as far as acting, direction or writing is concerned.


Overall, Marley & Me is a surprisingly brilliant film that broke my heart and made me shed a tear! Perhaps not one of the best films of 2009 but it is the most tear jerking film that I have watched since The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

"Okay cocksucker. Fuck with me, and we'll see who shits on the sidewalk."


Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane, Tyrese Gibson
Running time: 98 minutes
Country: USA, Germany, UK



I was expecting this film to be pure entertainment and that is what it was. Death Race is definitely an explosive, intense thrill ride that kept me gripped from start to finish. Watching Death Race was like watching video games like Burnout and Need For Speed but on the TV. The visual design in this film were absolutely brilliant with amazing CGI effects, great art direction and awesome cinematography. One thing that did surprise me a lot about Death Race and that was how emotional it turned out to be.


Jason Statham's performance as Jensen Ames was absolutely awesome! Jason is an amazing actor for that particular genre and I thought he was perfectly cast in this one because it didn't only show how good Jason is in action but also how emotional he can be when playing a character. Jensen is a family man who is framed for his wife's murder and his daughter has been taken away from him. He has been forced to participate in five Death Races to replace someone who died and if he completes the task, he is free out of the prison. Joan Allen's performance as Hennessey was really good as well. She is the sadistic prison warden. Only having to look at the character, I could easily tell that she is evil and is a scheming woman who always has something up her sleeve. She pretends to try to help Jensen but she's only using him for ratings which is wrong and he eventually realises this and it has severe consequences.


Overall, Death Race is a really good, intense, action-packed, explosive thrill ride that looked like you were watching a video game on DVD but a lot more explosive and realistic. One of the most entertaining films of 2008.

"I left my new torch in Narnia."


Director: Andrew Adamson
Starring: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Ben Barnes
Running time: 143 minutes
Country: UK, USA


After a very entertaining first film in the Narnia series, expectations were high for its sequel. Unfortunately, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian didn't fully satisfy me and it was a disappointment. I mean, as far as production, it has everything that its predecessor has and reached up to that standard but in reality, the film's weaknesses didn't make it as awesome as the filming of it did. I will also admit that it was darker than The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe but there were moments involved that made it a lot cheesier and, quite frankly, more chaotic too.


The flaws that Prince Caspian has is that acting was crap from most of the actors, the character development wasn't very good and some of them were pretty annoying, plot became quite chaotic on occasions and I was slowly dying witnessing the 'love' between Susan and Caspian. I mean, romance involved in a film like this is just a 'no, no' and simply doesn't belong in it! I did like the action scenes a lot such as the attack on the castle, the battle in the field near the end and the sword fight between Peter and King Miraz. It may have been darker than the first film but I am afraid to say that it lost most of the magic that the predecessor had.


The four Pevensie children return to Narnia, only to discover that hundreds of years have passed since they ruled there and come back to notice that most of the places in Narnia where they had ruled had either been destroyed or attacked (such as Cair Paravel). The evil King Miraz of the Telmarines has taken charge and seeks to kill the real heir to the throne: Prince Caspian. Miraz is really the younger brother of the real king Caspian IX who was killed by Miraz in order to have the throne. Upon discovering this, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy alongside with the Narnians, Prince Caspian (who is really a Telmarine but seeks to give the Narnians their land back) and the Great Cat Aslan (and former King of Narnia), set out to overthrow the King and be rid of the Telmarines in Narnia forever.


William Moseley, how you disappoint me! For the second consecutive time in a row, you don't bring a heroic or brave side to Peter in any way whatsoever. You have simply made him a muppet who just needs to die. Thank God he isn't not gonna be in Voyage Of The Dawn Treader! Anna Popplewell was just as awful as Moseley was. She was no hero either and she acted like she just wanted the filming to be over and so she won't have to return again. Good job we won't be seeing her in the third film so they are a couple of reasons why that might be better than both of them. Ben Barnes was just so stupid as Prince Caspian! I mean, if he wasn't cast as Prince Caspian, they might as well have cast Robert Pattinson because his acting is about as wooden and plain as Barnes is as Caspian! Shame he's in the third one but at least 2/3 of the pain has gone. Georgie Henley has grown up so quickly after 3 years and she shows once again she is the best actor of the young actors in the franchise. Skandar Keynes slightly disappointed me in this one because Edmund didn't have very much involvement and when he was in a scene, didn't bring out that heroic side to him either so don't think there was any hero in this (except Aslan by the bridge).


Andrew Adamson returns as director and again clearly tries to make another Lord Of The Rings but fails. I mean, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy is one on its own and nothing can replace that so you're gonna make it awful by taking a lot from it. However, despite this I'm not saying it was badly filmed. It was filmed pretty well but just took too much from Peter Jackson. Well, tried to anyway. The script was even cheesier than the first one and this one was even longer than its predecessor anyway but I felt that the film should've been cut by about half an hour.


Overall, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a disappointing sequel to its predecessor but it does have its moments of entertainment and charm such as the great effects and make-up, costumes and settings. This is of the Narnia franchise the Attack Of The Clones of the Star Wars franchise and Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince of the Harry Potter franchise: not awful, not amazing, in fact not very good, just disappointing. Hope Voyage Of The Dawn Treader will make up for this one.

"Get off my lawn!"


Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her
Running time: 116 minutes
Country: USA, Australia


When I saw the poster of this film I knew I was going to see a new Clint Eastwood bad-ass character and I certainly did. This film was very good with a lot of very good characters, with a very powerful way it was filmed and it was a funny film but in a black comedy sort of way. I knew I was going to like this film because it is a Clint Eastwood film (both actor and director) and also the story seems real kick-ass and so does all of the characters within it. What made me laugh in some scenes was the character Clint was playing because he had a lot of moments where they were just too cool to be seeing that character. Gran Torino is a really good fun thrill ride.


Clint Eastwood delivers a performance that should have earned him an Oscar nomination this year. He was robbed of it and it's as simple as that. He gave rebirth towards what sort of actor he was in the past. He relives that personality and cool attitude such as The Man With No Name and Harry Callahan. Clint has always had a good talent at playing really kick-ass characters that are heroes but with a rather cold heart. Walt Kowalski is a grumpy, lonely old man who wants a really wonderful neighbourhood. He is a disgruntled veteran Korean war vet. As far as his privacy is concerned with his lawn and his house, he behaves a lot like Mr. Knebbercracker from Monster House apart from that he holds a shotgun while he is telling the neighbours and Knebbercracker just yells at them which made me laugh a lot. He meets this young Hmong neighbour of his called Thao. He is bullied and abused by his older cousin Spider who is head of a hispanic gang. Walt tries to help Thao stand up to them and teaches him to try and achieve the best things he can get out of life. Walt discovers that he can help Thao by being more loyal to him as the film goes on. This is a better performance from Clint than Million Dollar Baby.


He directs this film like he wants it to be a real kick-ass story that brings back the characters of his career that were in the past. For the past four films he has done, he has done emotional films and with a lot of violence involved: Changeling, Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags Of Our Fathers and Million Dollar Baby. Clint has directed not his best work but a piece of work that he will be remembered for and I am proud to say that.


This is a really good Clint Eastwood film. I liked his other film in 2008 Changeling a lot more which is his best film to date. I liked Mystic River and Letters From Iwo Jima more than Gran Torino. Clint Eastwood has made an excellent return to the screen for the first time since Million Dollar Baby which was 5 years ago now. Gran Torino is a very good film that should be watched and checked out.

"We're still falling!"


Director: Eric Brevig
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Seth Meyers
Running time: 93 minutes
Country: USA


I only wanted to see this film because it just looked so entertaining. The title of this film explains, basically, the whole plot of the film. I didnt know that this was a remake at first but I have to say that is a really fun film to watch. Journey To The Center Of The Earth has absolutely awesome visual effects but there were some that seemed unrealistic such as the dinosaur. It seemed like a very different kind of T-Rex. The visual effects and camera work was really good in this film. The make-up and art direction was awesome inside the center of the Earth. Entering the center of the Earth was like Davy Jones' Locker in Pirates Of The Caribbean.


Brendan Fraser is an actor who you either love or hate. He's good when it comes to entertainment and being funny but when playing a serious character, he is really bad at it. So, I would say that his performance in this film was average because Professor Trevor Anderson was a serious and funny character. I am not a fan of Brendan Fraser but I do like him in some entertaining films though. Josh Hutcherson is one of my favourite child actors and Journey To The Center Of The Earth proves this once again. He was awesome in Zathura and Bridge To Terabithia too. Hutcherson as Sean is a typical character because he is arrogant and rude yet funny and dramatic as well which is what Josh was like in Zathura. Anita Briem was hot in this film obviously but I don't think her acting was very good. I was actually surprised at how emotional this film did become. I would feel sorry for the characters but not cry because of the drama especially for Sean.


The directing was good in this film but it did flaw a few times because it focused more on the entertaining side of things rather than the way the actors were playing the characters. I mean, most entertaining films are like that. If you want to make an entertaining film the acting on the film should be focused on as well. The script was good but there were some scenes that there didn't even need to be a scene like when they were falling through the massive hole and they were talking. That was irrelevant in my opinion.


Journey To The Center Of The Earth is one of the most entertaining films of 2008 that has one of the best visual effects and make-up despite some of the visual effects weren't very good. Brendan Fraser gives another entertaining performance as does Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Overall, Journey To The Center Of The Earth is just another fun film to watch and that's it.

"What? Han Solo ain't never had no sex with Princess Leia in the Star War."


Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes
Running time: 101 minutes
Country: USA


Hahahahaha! What a really funny film this is. It is a film that I don't think people will appreciate because of the silly story and the title name. Some people might get the wrong impression of the film because of the title name. No, it isn't a porn film but it is a film about porn where they make a porn film. It is a very crude film. Probably the crudest film I've ever watched as far as sexual language is concerned. This is a film that I think a teenager shouldn't watch with parents or siblings because of the embarassment. It is probably better watching it with friends so you can follow story and joke with them about the dialogue of the film. It is a very dirty film but it is a deep, affectionate film as well because the two friends who are the lead in their porn film start to fall in love.

Seth Rogen is probably the best comedian of his age. He has become an actor with making a comedy of seriousness. His performance as Zack was hilarious and serious at the same time. Zack is obviously a complete idiot but a really nice guy as well. Elizabeth Banks was good as Miri as well because she's really good for her character. It is brilliant chemistry between all of the characters. It reminds me a lot of the way Ben Stone and Alison Scott were in Knocked Up. They do something that affects their relationship and then they start to fall in love which is what Zack and Miri end up doing.

Overall, Zack And Miri Make A Porno is a funny film that I enjoyed but is just for entertainment nothing else. Seth Rogen has become a very interesting actor for me now because I loved Knocked Up and I really enjoyed this. Zack And Miri Make A Porno is probably the crudest film I've ever watched. It isn't the funniest film of 2008 but it is one of the best comedies of 2008. It is a very enjoyable film that I could watch again at some point in the future.

"I broke your iPod!"


Director: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Starring: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith
Running time: 89 minutes
Country: USA


I really wanted to see this one at the cinema but I saw it on DVD but after watching it, I learned that it was worth the wait. It actually surprised me a lot because there are some animated sequels that aren't very good but this is a very enjoyable one. It isn't as good as the first one but still a really good film. The second one has more characters but wasn't as funny as the first one.


Ben Stiller's voice is obviously really good but he sounds too much like himself in this film when it comes to hearing him in other films he has been in the past. Alex is a father to his young son who is taken away from him. Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria decide to return to New York but accidentally get cast away into Africa once again. They meet more than they did before. Alex finds his biological mother and father in the African jungle. Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Boran Cohen provided brilliant voice acting performances too.


DreamWorks have created animated films that have been awesome (Shrek 1 and 2, two Madagascar films, Over The Hedge, Kung Fu Panda) but have been crap as well (Shark Tale, Antz, Shrek The Third). I have to say I was surprised how good this film was because I have read a lot of bad comments about it but I don't think there was anything seriously wrong with it.


Overall, Madagascar Escape 2 Africa is a really good film that I really enjoyed. I think that this film should have replaced Bolt as the third film to be nominated for Best Animated Picture alongside WALL-E and Kung Fu Panda just as the first one should have been along side Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit and Robots in 2005. Madagascar 2 isn't as good as the first one but it is one of the best animated films of 2008 and the best animated film I've seen since WALL-E.

"It's okay, 99. Big people feel pain, too."


Director: Peter Seagal
Starring: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin
Running time: 110 minutes
Country: USA, Russia, Canada


At first, I was telling myself that I wouldn't really like this film. That totally changed when I saw it I thought that this film was actually pretty good. It was very funny with alot of witty jokes and wacky characters. It has that style that some people do like and some people don't like which is one of the main reasons why I really like Get Smart and love Johnny English. Both films are very similar. I found it to be an action packed fun piece of entertainment. It has that British humour involved which is what not many people who are from a British sort of country wouldn't really understand.


Steve Carell's performance is absolutely brilliant. His character Max is alot like Johnny English because he is an experienced agent but is quite stupid and makes mistakes that he shouldn't have made. Max tells everybody including Agent 99 who is better at her job but is less experienced. Max makes really ridiculous mistakes and cocks things up really easily which are like Charlie Chaplin slapstick sort of moments. I had mixed feelings about Anne Hathaway in this one. No doubt she was hot in it and was hot enough for the character's appearance. She was good in this film. She wasn't as bad as Natalie Imbruglia was in Johnny English. Why the fuck was The Rock in this film?! I loved The Rock in the WWE. Don't like him at all anymore because he is one of the worst living actors. It is weird because most actors have looks for their characters but don't have the acting talent for it which is quite annoying. I liked Alan Arkin in this one. This is the second film that he has been alongside Steve Carell in a film. Alan and Steve's partnership in this one is like Rowan Atkinson and Tim Piggot-Smith's partnership in Johnny English. I was ever so surprised that James Caan was in this film especially when is in probably the greatest film of all time The Godfather but not my favourite.


The direction did alot of what Johnny English director did. It seemed like a debut director but it wasn't. Peter Segal previously did The Longest Yard (remake), Anger Management, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and also 50 First Dates. It is his best work so far. I haven't seen any of his other films. The script was very witty with alot of humourous scenes and yet some with some quite ridiculous ones too.


I love Steve Carell's films but don't think it is my favourite from him. I like him most in Little Miss Sunshine. I did like him in The 40-Year-Old Virgin too and Evan Almighty too. I love Steve Carell's films. He is one of the best comedy actors of all time. I love Robin Williams the most. I love Charles Chaplin, John Cleese, Ben Stiller, Hugh Grant, Will Smith, Nathan Lane, Sacha Boran Cohen and Kevin Kline. But Steve Carell is on that list of top comedy actors. Anne Hathaway is good in this film but I did love her in Brokeback Mountain. All I can say about Get Smart is that it isn't a serious Oscar worthy film but it is a film that is just pure entertainment for the summer. It is a delight to watch and it is a film for the family just like Johnny English.

"Nobody ever listens to me, then when they do... we're gonna die..."

Director: Matt Reeves
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David
Running time: 85 minutes
Country: USA


Cloverfield is one of the silliest films that I have ever seen in my whole life but it is one of the best filmed films of all time. I think it is only the visual effects that are good in this film and that are it. The story is very stupid and very badly thought film but it was amazingly filmed which is why I have an average rating and review for this film. I found this film hard to watch because of the way it was filmed. Don't get me wrong, it is filmed brilliantly but I think it is a film that can make some people feel quite sick particularly in the cinema because it is like watching a video from a video camera. I did like how the actors, director and producers wanted the audience to approach it. It was like they wanted the audience to feel thrilled to feel like they were really there. It is a good film but is bad as well. The ending of this film seems like there is going to be a sequel.


The acting was pretty bad to be honest because I found some of them so annoying I wanted them to be killed off by the monster. Not knowing what the monster is and what it looks like is a terrifying mystery but problem is that the character never added any spice to the quality of the story. Yes, it is a pretty stupid film but the acting should be good at least but this film failed at the acting.


This film was brilliantly directed which was the best quality of this film. It was directed like it was really happening but I think the lack of believability within the film was the biggest flaw within the film due to its realistic filmmaking. The script was pretty lame and that was another thing that made Cloverfield a very unrealistic film.


The visual effects on the film were the only good thing in this film and the filmmaking itself was good too but wasn't a very realistic film to watch. Cloverfield was a film that received 5-stars only because of the filmmaking but not on the actual story, acting and screenplay of the film which is where this film is overrated. I don't like it any less because of that. I neither hated nor liked this film really. I would only recommend it to people who look films that are tense and scary but if you're looking for a masterpiece with fantastic filmmaking and fine qualities you might not be in luck because the acting and screenplay doesn't mix with the excellent direction at all. It is one of the most disappointing films of 2008.

"It doesn't matter what I feel. It doesn't matter what I think. The dead are still dead."


Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Alexandra Maria Lara
Running time: 124 minutes
Country: USA, Germany, UK


After seeing The Reader becoming an Oscar Best Picture contender but probably the least favourite to win, my expectations were fairly high because I thought it had to be as good as Slumdog Millionaire and Milk. When I did see The Reader, I thought it was a good film but I was mildly disappointed because I don't really think that The Reader exactly made me feel any emotion for Michael Berg because I personally think that kind of character has been used too many times in a film where characters have just drooled over another one. One thing that every film must have is music but I think that there was a little too much particularly within the first 30 minutes of the film. Don't get me wrong it was well directed, written and produced but I wasn't really that fond of the story. I don't really get what the meaning of the tagline is: "Unlock the mystery." I knew that she was on trial for crime but the problem was I was predicting that there was a deeper mystery within the film that could have made a twist. Also, I was pretty disappointed with the ending of the film. It was a good film but I don't think it deserved a Best Picture nomination. It should have gone to in my opinion Revolutionary Road. Others might have included The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Doubt, Changeling and The Wrestler.


The acting in this film was the best thing about The Reader. Kate Winslet's performance as Hanna Schmitz was an oustanding one but I don't think she should have won the Oscar for that film. She should have won the Oscar for Revolutionary Road instead. I was going with Kate in my predictions for the Oscars before I even saw The Reader but out of the 5 nominees, Meryl Streep was the best. Kate delivers the best female leading performance of the year and of her career in Revolutionary Road. I liked her in that more than Meryl Streep. Since Titanic, Kate Winslet hasn't really shown any real nudity on-screen and realistic sex but in The Reader she becomes more crude than she has ever been. She appeared naked from the top quite regularly especially with the sex scenes in which there were quite a lot of. There aren't many actresses who are willing to expose nudity in a film and Kate Winslet is one of those rare actresses who don't let their naked body bother them while on-screen in front of directors, producers, cinematographers etc. It was rather strange regarding the awards for Kate because she won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in this film but won the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Leading Actress for this film. Well, it is a leading film but I think it was Kate Winslet vs. Kate Winslet because it was like a battle between her performance in The Reader and Revolutionary Road. I liked David Kross as young Michael Berg. He was very brave in this film because he appeared totally naked front and back in sex scenes and while Kate Winslet was naked as well. It was really good acting from both of them because Kate knew he was a man who is 15 years younger than her and Kross is 15 years younger than Kate. I think his acting in the love making scenes and the ways he was being with his family were really good but I couldn't feel very much sympathy or heartbreak within him because of Hanna. The great Ralph Fiennes gave me a better impression of the character and I felt sorry for Michael then because Ralph Fiennes is an actor who never disappoints and can draw real emotion as well as fear regarding other characters he has played in the past. He has been in 3 films in 2008 and he isn't in that many really. He was in In Bruges, The Duchess and The Reader and they were all awesome performances from him.


The directing from Stephen Daldry was good but I am not that fond of him as a director because I absolutely hated The Queen (apart from Helen Mirren's ace performance as our present queen and the disaster that struck Britain hard). He is an actor who tries to get us focused and deep into the character's personalities. In The Reader, I think that Daldry tries to give the audience impressions that they would grow really deep into the film itself and to make the characters lovable and deeply interesting. The script was good but I have seen better scripts. At first after reading the story, I thought it was an original script but after seeing and hearing that it's a novel, I then knew that it was an adapted script.


Overall, The Reader is a good film that in my opinion is rather flawed. My reasons are in my review. The Reader features another outstanding performance from Kate Winslet. The best leading actress performance of the year and of Kate's career is still Revolutionary Road. Out of the 5 Best Leading Actress Oscar nominees, Meryl Streep is the best even though I went for Kate Winslet before I saw the film and before the Oscar ceremony. Ralph Fiennes was good as always and now David Kross has become a force to be reckoned with because of his brave exposure of nudity and his young talent. His performance was good but not amazing. The Reader is a film that is good and disappointing that in my opinion didn't deserve the Best Picture nomination. It robbed it off Revolutionary Road. If not that film then should have been The Dark Knight, WALL-E, The Wrestler, Doubt or Changeling.

"I'll go to your room, but you'll have to seduce me."


Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz
Running time: 96 minutes
Country: Spain, USA


By viewing the poster of this film, you might get the impression that it 's a chick flick but when you watch it, it isn't one at all. This film has that taste that makes it like a romantic comedy in which it has but has a slight piece of drama and tension involved between the characters. Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a humourous film but I wouldn't call it an ultimate laugh-out-loud hilarious comedy. It seems more of a black comedy to me which is why I find it to be quite a dark comedy because there is a man who loves three different women at the same time. I wouldn't call it one of the best films of 2008 nor the best comedy but it is the best romantic-comedy of 2008. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an enjoyable film but what disappointed me a bit was that Penélope Cruz wasn't in it as much as I thought she would be.

These past two years have been very different for Javier Bardem. He portrayed a cold-hearted, murdering monster in an Oscar winning performance in Coen's No Country For Old Men and then playing a man with mixed tastes for women. We see Bardem behave like he would with his real friends and family regarding his Spanish accent and speaking lots of Spanish. His acting wasn't Oscar worthy but it was a very enjoyable performance with a really interesting character. This film does have an absolutely awesome cast. As much as I love Scarlett Johansson and her films, I would call her performance as Cristina a slightly flawed one because Cristina was in love with Juan Antonio Gonzalo and I couldn't really understand her feelings but the one thing I must say is that she was HOT as always. Rebecca Hall was better as Vicky. Vicky travelled to Barcelona with her friend Cristina where they both meet Juan Antonio Gonzalo. Hall's performance was better than Scarlett Johansson's. Penélope Cruz was amazing as Maria Elena because she made her character very dangerous, selfish,, an ultimate bitch, irresistible and a slightly kind caring woman. Cruz worked hard when portraying Maria because of using a lot of Spanish with Javier Bardem in front of their American/British co-stars.

Woody Allen is a really good director for making romantic comedies and that is something not many directors are good at. He makes this film seem like a chick flick but it isn't at all as I said. Allen has created Oscar winning films such as Annie Hall but films like Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point are films that are just really entertaining. The way this film was written was very original with a lot of special moments between the characters and the absolutely beautiful sceneries of the buildings, inside the houses, the markets etc.

This film won and was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Supporting Actress (Penélope Cruz) beating Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson and Marisa Tomei. It won 1 Golden Globe out of 4 nominations. It won Best Picture Musical/Comedy beating Burn After Reading, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges and Mamma Mia!. It was nominated for Best Actor Musical/Comedy (Javier Bardem) but lost to Colin Farrell in In Bruges, Best Actress Musical/Comedy (Rebecca Hall) but lost to Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky and Best Supporting Actress (Penélope Cruz) but lost to Kate Winslet in The Reader.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn't one of the best films of 2008 but it is a very enjoyable film nothing more. Cruz's performance is amazing and very much deserved the Oscar award. It is the most disappointing Scarlett Johansson performance so far. Woody Allen's least best film so far after Match Point and Annie Hall. It is a really good film that I could only watch once just like maybe some other people could.

"Pay attention, pay attention to everything, everything you see. Notice what no one else notice, and you'll see what no one else knows, What you get is what you get, what you do with what you get, that's more the point."


Director: Gil Kenan
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Bill Murray, Mackenzie Crook
Running time: 95 minutes
Country: USA


To be perfectly honest, I was unsure of what to expect out of this film. All I could say is that it would be a bit like The Golden Compass which is what it did turn out to be. The only difference is that The Golden Compass was a lot better. City Of Ember is one of those films that are visually amazing but doesn't greatly focus on the plot and characters. I enjoyed it for its effects but as far as the story and characters are concerned it isn't good. It is a really fun film for the family but nothing else. The visual effects are absolutely amazing!! As far as I'm concerned, it is The Golden Compass of 2008.


Despite it only been 1 year after Atonement, Saoirse Ronan seems almost like a totally different person because she has grown so much. She was good in this film but it seems a little out of her league so to speak because I prefer her in dramas. She was outstanding in Atonement which lead to her first Oscar nomination and I am excited about seeing her in Peter Jackson's upcoming film The Lovely Bones. Bill Murray is a fantastic actor and I think he was miscast in this one too. Tim Robbins made an appearance in this film. Despite he wasn't in that many scenes of the film he still was miscast just like everybody in this film was.


Gil Kenan is a director of extraordinary visual effects in his own way. His work in Monster House is awesome! However, his work in City Of Ember wasn't as good this time because the film was way more focused on the effects more than the actual story and characters within the film. Sometimes, this kind of thing works but it doesn't quite work in this film. For example, it did in The Golden Compass because the story was very interesting and kept me going all the way through whereas this one didn't very much at all.


Overall, City Of Ember is an average film that I loved for the effects but hated for the story and characters within it. It isn't a bad film and it isn't a good film either. It is a good film for the family but I don't think everyone within it will like this one. I wouldn't recommend it and I wouldn't say it's a film you should avoid either.

"And we were dressed from head to toe in love... the only label that never goes out of style."


Director: Michael Patrick King
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon
Running time: 145 minutes
Country: USA


Even though I have never seen the TV series, I had neither high nor low expectations for this because not only hadn't I seen the series but nobody in my family and not many of my friends have seen the Sex And The City series. I needed to watch this film because it was a summer blockbuster and try it out. Before I saw it and when it was already released, I have recieved mixed opinions from alot of people. Particularly whether I needed to see the series before I saw the film. When I watched it, I must say that you don't need to see the series before the film. As far as I'm concerned it is just another romantic-comedy blockbuster. 2007 was an amazing year for films. Probably the best year for films this decade but it had a fairly weak share of summer blockbusters apart from Ratatouille, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, Simpsons Movie, Transformers and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End. But in 2008, there haven't been any blockbusters that have disappointed me that badly. This film made me laugh because of the bringing together between the characters or the breaking down between the characters. I did think that it was a bit too long. I think that they could have cut a few scenes in it which could have cut at least 15 minutes. It was still a really good and clever film to watch. Most of the time, when a film is adapted from a TV series is quite bad but this isn't one of them. Will look forward to the sequel.


I liked Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw because at over 40 years old, she still has that gorgeous, sexy and irresistable charm. She still has that so she can get with different men and have sex with them. It is pretty much the same with her other friends. Parker's performance is one that people would expect to be the same because of the TV series and she would be used to the character by now since 1996 when the TV started and ended in 2004.


The direction made this film like a TV programme more than a film because of the type of comedy involved which is why I find Sex And The City like comedy show Friends. It is like an long episode from the TV series. It was written like a TV series writer would write it. It had very light flaws but most of it was awesome. All I can say to finish this review is that this is a fun comedy that everybody should at least try. It isn't no masterpiece but it is a fun piece of entertainment.

"The decision is made."


Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, Kathy Bates
Running time: 103 minutes
Country: Canada, USA, Australia


I sort of knew that I wasn't going to like this film because it's a remake of a classic sci fi film, it is one of a few sci fi films that have been piles of crap in 2008 like The Happening, Awake and this. This film doesn't have a decent director neither. It is a film that didn't even try and surpass the original version. I wasn't that keen on the original film really but I still liked it of course. 2008 has released quite a lot of shit blockbusters like this, Max Payne, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 10,000 B.C. and Hancock. The story was very powerful only by reading it but when you watch it, it isn't at all.


Surprisingly, this film has a good cast (apart from Keanu Reeves) which includes Academy Award winners Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates. I have never liked Keanu Reeves at all because he is rather poor with the characters he plays. He plays an alien visistor/messenger to Earth which sounds like a good character to play but unfortunately from a bad actor like Keanu Reeves. He didn't show any enthusiasm at all and doesn't make me fear for the Earth at all. Jennifer Connelly is a really good actress and can do so much better than be in a film like this. Her character was unrealistic, weak and unfearful for the Earth. Will Smith's young son Jaden Smith was quite good in this film. Sometimes I find that children are sometimes better actors than adults are. Kathy Bates was rather weak because Kathy is a very powerful actress and she didn't even bring any power towards Regina Jackson's personality which is part of it. I don't think John Cleese was in this film for very long but he was decent.


The director had no clue how to direct a film like this. I mean, its supposed to be a remake of a classic but didn't feel that way. The script was lazy, dumb and very stupid. The Day The Earth Stood Still isn't the worst film of 2008 but it is one of them. Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese and Kathy Bates can do so much better than this. This film is probably best to avoid. Good effects involving sound and visual effects and that's it. It isn't as good as the original version.

"Nobody's innocent in this shit."


Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani
Running time: 128 minutes
Country: USA


Body Of Lies is a minor disappointment. It is decent but it could have been a lot better. What was flawed about this film was that the plot wasn't as realistic as I was hoping. Also, I thought that the action wasn't as intense or exciting as I was anticipating. Personally, the title "Body Of Lies" didn't really give me a brief description of what the title meant to the story. The action felt sort of rushed and too short for my liking. I thought the torture scene was interesting and that is it.


Leonardo DiCaprio was totally miscast for this film. I really love his films but I think it was because of him that I didn't feel the powerful realism of the story. Also, I don't think he fits very well with the action genre. Yes, he was in Blood Diamond but that was more of a deep-thought story than an intense action thrill ride. Russell Crowe's collaboration with Ridley Scott is absolutely brilliant! Out of the 4 films together that I've seen and that have been made, it is the worst of them. I hope Robin Hood becomes a breakthrough and improves their collaboration and determination for great films.


Ridley Scott is a director who can improvise a film at any kind of genre. Sometimes, he can pull it off but sometimes he can't. Films like Body Of Lies, Hannibal and Kingdom Of Heaven are his three films that he unfortunately was unable to pull off and suceed. All three of them could have been better but unfortunately weren't.


Ridley Scott was certainly the wrong director to direct Body Of Lies. A director like Michael Bay might have pulled it off better than Ridley Scott did. Body Of Lies is a disappointing film that I was really hoping would be good but now after reading negative reviews about and being shocked about it first, I now realise what they mean. Come on, Ridley Scott! Make Robin Hood a lot better than this!

"You can serve Germany, or the Fuhrer. Not both!"


Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson
Running time: 115 minutes
Country: USA, Germany


My God! What a disappointment! This film was done completely wrong! This is an American film that is meant to be all Germany!! This film should have been a German film with the German language. This didn't even feel like it was a true story at all. To be honest, the only bit of credit I can give this film is that it had great cinematography and art direction.


This is a true story on the 20th July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of Germany. Before the plot, Wehrmacht Colonel Claus Von Straffenberg is severely wounded during a RAF air raid in Tunisia. He looses his left eye, his right hand and two fingers on his left hand. When he returns back to his home in Germany, it isn't long until he is ordered to assassinate both Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. Now onto the acting; not only was Tom Cruise miscast for this film, he didn't even try to pull off a German accent when he was playing a German. In fact, none of the actors did. One thing, though: Cruise did look like the real Claus Von Straffenberg. One thing I did notice: there were quite a few actors from the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy in this film. They were Bill Nighy, Kevin McNally, David Schofield and Tom Hollander. I thought it was daft that they were all cast together in this film because you think to yourself "Hey, that's blah-blah from Pirates Of The Caribbean!" To be honest, it wasn't just that this film was American that was annoying but the fact that the actors couldn't even try and pull off German accents to make the characters in the film more real, that was bad! The worst thing of all was the Hitler in this film! One: the guy playing him didn't look anything like him except the obvious moustache but the fact he spoke English and didn't have a German accent at all was really bloody annoying!


Bryan Singer, what were you thinking?! I mean, he is the director the first two X-Men's and The Usual Suspects! I thought he was better than this! A German director should have directed this instead. To be honest, Valkyrie was a very bad move for Singer. Not only because the film was shit but also because it was something different than he has ever done before except perhaps Apt Pupil.


Overall, Valkyrie is one of the biggest disappointments of all time. I really disliked this film a lot but the only good things about this film were the cinematography and art direction.

"She is the love of my life. And I am her spirit."


Director: Frank Miller
Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes
Running time: 102 minutes
Country: USA


I had very high expectations for The Spirit because it is Frank Miller graphic novel, it has a good cast and I adored 300 and Sin City. The Spirit was very different to both because story was weirder and characters were similar to characters from other films. I was disappointed but not greatly. I don't think it is as bad as some people say it is. It had that kick-ass sort of taste to it but has a rather lame story. It takes and copies from quite a few films. For example, The Crow and The Dark Knight. The story of The Spirit is very similar if not precisely the same as The Crow.


Gabriel Macht was rubbish as The Spirit/Denny Colt. I don't think it showed how effective the character was to Central City. Also, it doesn't show what type of person he really is. His character rips off Eric Draven and Batman not only because Spirit is a dark hero as well but because of how he behaves with people around the city. I mean, he's a good character but not THAT good. Samuel L. Jackson was good as Octopus because it shows how much of a psycho he can be playing a villainous character. Octopus is a stupid name really for a villain but he did have that kick-ass sort of style for the character but the negative thing about his performance was that I couldn't completely understand what Octopus was actually doing within the city. I thought to myself at first "About time that Samuel L. Jackson has been in a film like this. Michael Clarke Duncan was awesome as Manute in Sin City but Samuel L. Jackson would have been better I think." When isn't Scarlett Johansson good? It was very strange seeing her play a villain because she never has done. I was blown away by how hot she looked as Silken Floss (not like she doesn't anyway). She would have been good in Sin City as well as either Nancy or Shellie. From how Silken was dressed she seemed a bit like a stripper or a prostitute. Eva Mendes was good but not brilliant as Sand Saref. Yes, she was sexy enough for the characters but she wasn't exactly talented enough to play that type of character.


Frank Miller has directed a film that is just entertaining nothing more. It was well done but it is the weakest of the Frank Miller novels so far. I don't think any Frank Miller film will ever beat Sin City because that is just a masterpiece that I think everybody loves. I found the script to be rather lame because it had some pointless and inappropriate scenes and there wasn?t any kick-ass line from characters which is what we would expect from Frank Miller.


Overall, The Spirit is a film that focuses more on the art of how it was filmed rather than the story and the characters. The Spirit is a bad film that was watchable. It was just a piece of entertainment nothing more. It is like a Razzie Worst Picture win compared to 300 and particularly Sin City. I would only recommend The Spirit to people who just look for action-packed entertainment. If you are one of those who are looking for just that then you will probably like it but if not and you're looking for a decent story then you probably won't like it.

"I don't believe in Heaven. I believe in Pain. I believe in Fear. I believe in Death."


Director: John Moore
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris O'Donnell
Running time: 100 minutes
Country: USA


Max Payne is a film that I was predicting to be a bit crap but I wanted to watch it to see what it was like. When I did see it, it didnt surprise nor disappoint me. Also, a good friend of mine told me about it aswell about how bad it was. So, I took her review into consideration when I saw it. I did think that the story of Max Payne in this film didnt really feel like a story in the game. To me, I find the film a bad example of a great game like Max Payne. It is like a rip off of it. I love the Max Payne game but was deeply disappointed with this one. I used to play the game a lot when I was a kid. To be perfectly honest, I wouldnt call this film good and I wouldnt call it awful neither. I was hoping that it was going to be a complete action packed thrill ride but I dont think it was really. The action was really good but wasnt a thrilling film at all really. I find it to be a film that has all bad qualities apart from sound and visual effects.


Mark Wahlberg delivers a really bad performance as Max Payne. I do think that he had that body and facial type for the character but didnt really seem that acting type for the character. I find his performance as Max Payne like Nicolas Cages performance as Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider. I didnt feel any emotional drama for Max at all. I feel that Max Payne was a different character with Mark Wahlberg when comparing the game to the film. It felt like Max Payne was reborn but into a different person but with the same name. I think that Wahlberg will earn a Razzie nomination or even a win for Worst Actor. For a moment, I thought to myself, if Mark Wahlberg was British and was charming with women he would have been a good James Bond but after watching Max Payne, I guess I was totally wrong. The rest of the cast including Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris O'Donnell and Donal Logue were all absolutely appauling too. I thought the direction was absolutely dreadful too because it seemed to me like the director didnt have a clue what he was doing. I thought to myself after hoping that it would be as original as the game was: "Has the director ever seen, played or even heard of the Max Payne game before?". I would consider John Moore for Worst Director Razzie award too. The script was pretty dreadful aswell which didn?t really connect with what the game is like. This film in my opinion tries to take the reputation of visual effects from Sin City because of the dark colours and yet really colourful colours used in the film too but it failed miserably. The Max Payne character is like a real assassin or a bad cop so to speak but I dont think he felt like a cop at all. This was a lot like a science fiction film because of obviously the bird thing and also because of the stupid blue solution used too.


I couldnt feel any chemistry between any of the characters at all within the film. All I could feell was that Max Payne was getting revenge for his film. I couldnt really feel anything for Max and his involvement with the characters at all. The setting was really good I have to say with a Sin City or Sweeney Todd like dark colours. The same with the cinematography and costume design. The sound effects were awesome but were a bit booming at times which were a bit over the top. The visual effects were good aswell. This film rips-off a lot of Sin City in my opinion and probably in most peoples opinion.


This is my least favourite Mark Wahlberg film and is one of most disappointing films of 2008 so far. It isnt on list of one of best and one of worst neither. It was a bad film really that could have been better like any film can be. I dont think there will be a sequel to Max Payne and if there will be one, that will be even worse.

"Can you believe how crappy people are?"


Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez
Running time: 91 minutes
Country: USA, India


My first impression of The Happening was just another film about a place where the people living there are being terrorised by a natural cause and/or a group of aliens so basically, I thought this looked like a cheesier version of War Of The Worlds. I was going to skip it but it was on DVD that a relative of mine had and I decided to watch it out of boredom and now I really wish I hadn't watched it at all now. There was nothing realistic about this film at all especially the fact that this airborne virus so to speak makes people commit suicide! That is quite possibly one of the dumbest ideas I have even heard of in my entire life!


After its very negative critical response and after its Golden Raspberry Award nominations, I really can understand why it was nominated for those awards. Despite, I haven't seen it yet, I can see Skyline receiving the same fate as The Happening did in terms of critical response, reviews and comments. I think the only way where people could like this film is the effects and the settings, not for the making of the film, the writing and definitely not the acting and unfortunately there are a lot of people who care more about how a film looks more than what it tries to bring out and express to the viewers and I'm afraid I can't give the makers credit for that.


Elliot Moore is a high school science teacher who quizzes his class one day about an article in the New York Times. It's about the sudden, mysterious disappearance of bees. Yet again Nature is doing something inexplicable, and whatever science has to say about it will be, in the end, only a theory. Scientists will bring out more theories, but no explanations, when a more urgent dilemma hits the planet. It begins in Central Park. Suddenly and inexplicably, the behaviour of everyone in the park changes in a most bizarre and horrible way. Soon, the strange behaviour spreads throughout the city and beyond. Elliot, his wife, Alma, and Jess, the young daughter of a friend, will only have theories to guide them where to run and where to hide. But theories may not be enough.


Mark Wahlberg, what in the hell has happened to you?! I thought you were an actor of selecting great films but obviously I was wrong. First you chose Max Payne which I let you off on but then you be part of a film that is even worse than that! You deserved that Razzie nomination and probably should have won it. That was more like a kick up the backside to open his eyes to be part of real films, not stupid crappy ones like this! I'm sorry but Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher? Just didn't work in the slightest. I did find Zooey Deschanel an underrated and quite talented actress until now. No, she isn't a serious actress like Mark Wahlberg is (well, actor) but it is common sense when a performer decides to be part of something that is actually interesting and took a lot of hard work. I do like John Leguizamo as the voice of Sid in the Ice Age trilogy but as far as acting goes in live-action films, he doesn't greatly satisfy especially in this one so he didn't exactly help the reputation of the film.


I'm sorry but Shyamalan really needs to wake up and make films that are actually tense and catches the audience's attention from start to finish, not boring them and making them fall asleep like he was achieving with The Happening and most recently did with The Last Airbender. I mean, for all we know, this could have been a dream that M. Night Shyamalan randomly had one night and decided to write a script for. Yes, there are some directors who do experience that but at least they actually make great films out of dreams they have. Examples are Tim Burton and Edward Scissorhands, James Cameron and Avatar and a few others. When I first read about the film, I instantly thought that the title 'The Happening' was absolutely dreadful and that made the film even more dreadful than it already is. The script was incredibly dull and it makes its mark as one of the cheesiest and most lame screenplays that I have listened to while watching a film.


Overall, The Happening is an absolutely shit film that Shyamalan can mark as another disappointment on his filmography. He's on a role at being a failure and, as I said, continued with The Last Airbender so lets hope that whatever project he will do next, he will show us what he really is great at (like another film as good as The Sixth Sense).

"The hunt is his obsession. He's never gonna stop!"



Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene
Running time: 122 minutes
Country: USA




I didn't really want to see this film at first because I'm not really a big fan of vampire films. I was really surprised and curious of why this film was so popular and overrated at the same time which is the only reason why I watched it. I thought that Twilight was going to be an absolutely awful film but I thought it was an enjoyable film with flaws. It is a silly story but is a fun one to watch. I have to say that Twilight is one of the most over-hyped films ever. I think it's because of the popularity of the books and also of Robert Pattison being in the film especially when he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. To me, Twilight feels like the 2008 Golden Compass. Reasons are because both are popular winter blockbusters, both are the first of a series of novels and films and both are films that people love or hate. I think I am going to try and watch the next films of the Twilight series.



Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen was a decent character but I think that Pattinson only attracted young girls for looks not playing the character. He is an over-hyped actor already after appearing in two blockbusters and still being only in his early 20s. Edward is a nice character but is a rather silly one like the whole film is anyway. Kristen Stewart is already a Hollywood actress even though she's only 18 (only 1 year older than me) after Panic Room, Zathura and Into The Wild but Twilight is a good performance from her but I wouldn't call it a brilliant one though. I could feel the love she had for Edward and what she would do for him despite the consequences of him being a vampire.



This is one of the very rare films that has been directed by a woman. I think only this and Lost In Translation are the only films that I have seen that have been directed by a woman. I think this would have been a good Andrew Adamson film because of the two Narnia films. I hope that they stick with the same director as this one for New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn otherwise it will ultimately fail.



Overall, Twilight is a good film that has some bad qualities that I am glad I watched but probably wouldn't watch again. I don't see why people rave about it so much. It's the same thing with High School Musical apart from that is ultimate crap and Harry Potter and I love the films in that franchise. There haven't been hardly any winter blockbusters at all in 2008 but I'm embarassingly saying that Twilight is best winter film.

"It'd be a pretty cold bastard who didn't want revenge for the death of someone he loved."


Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric
Running time: 106 minutes
Country: UK, USA


What the hell is this?!?!?! I was dreadfully disappointed with Quantum Of Solace because it didn't have any Bond originality to it whatsoever. It didn't feel like a Bond film at all. This film has a story that is an incredible mess that doesn't even explain the title of the film. I think the main flaw that this film had which really annoyed me was that there was no "Bond, James Bond" or "vodka martini, shaken not stirred". Also, where the hell is a cool Bond car? A bit of black-comedy from "Bond" and Moneypenny and R? I wasn't expecting it in Casino Royale because Bond wasn't officially 007 whereas at the end of Casino Royale and the start of Quantum Of Solace. Also, the stupid Goldfinger rip-off too is something that really annoyed me. Instead of gold paint it was black oil and it was a naked woman on a bed. That is pathetic and pointless because it rips off a film from it's own series. Quantum is apparently the organization which we don't know enough about even after watching this and also what the hell does "solace" mean anyway? The action scenes were the only decent things in this film but I admit that most of those scenes were a bit too explosive for a Bond film. I mean it's a Bond film not a gory Crank/Rambo film that has very fast pased action. I think the biggest flaw was that when you see the big running time of Casino Royale (longest Bond ever: 144 minutes long) and the very gripping dialogue that it has and then you see its sequel Quantum Of Solace which is only 1 hour 40 minutes which is the shortest Bond film yet. In some of those scenes when one shot on the screen came up it suddenly changed to something else. I think the best impactful action scene was the boat chase.


Daniel Craig's acting is absolutely brilliant but he wasn't portraying James Bond. He was portraying a different character. The way Daniel Craig portrayed "James Bond" was good as far as the action is concerned and the ways with the women but the story and the script made it a rather embarassing film to the James Bond series. Olga Kurylenko made a pretty lame Bond girl because I was almost laughing at her awful performance. She didn't show any seriousness to her character in any way whatsoever. Mathieu Amalric was an average villain. He seemed like that slimy type of actor to play that kind of character but if the villain in Quantum Of Solace was more powerful, threatening and fearful he would have given a better performance.


Marc Forster had no clue in this film and that's final. I think he must have watched the Bourne trilogy over and over again to get an idea of how to create an action film which is probably why Quantum Of Solace and particularly The Bourne Supremacy are very much alike. Also, seeing "Bond's" moments of revenge for Vesper was like Bourne with his girlfriend Marie. Forster sort of rushed the action sequences in this film. It felt like he was forced into making it. I think he was copying other directors with action films like Michael Bay, Paul Greengrass and Martin Campbell. I heard rumours that Danny Boyle was going to do the 23rd James Bond film and it is a damn shame he rejected it because I think he would have definitely shown a true James Bond film.


I am now going to pretend that Quantum Of Solace was never made and there was only Casino Royale and no sequel to it. The only connection Quantum Of Solace had with Casino Royale regarding the story was only the few mentions about Vesper. Other than that, it was like Craig was in a different action film playing a Bourne-like character. Despite there was action scenes involved, I was bored within the first 20 minutes and wanted it to just finish. I am speaking for most Bond fans here and for most people who have seen this film: Quantum Of Solace has killed James Bond. The 23rd James Bond film better not be as bad as this one. It's a coincidence because Casino Royale is my favourite James Bond film and Quantum Of Solace its sequel is the worst James Bond film. If it is I shall never watch Bond films again. I want Mr. Bond back!

"This isn't a race; it's a showdown."


Director: Andy & Larry Wachowski
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon
Running time: 135 minutes
Country: USA, Germany


I have to say that I think that Speed Racer is one of the worst films of the year so far if not of all time and there are many reasons for this. Reason number one: the acting was absolutely dreadful apart from John Goodman. Reason number two: The direction was really bad but was quite decent in racing scenes, the plot was appauling and so was the writing of the film. I have to say that this film has one of the weakest plots that I have ever seen and reason number three: because it felt like it didnt mean anything to anyone involved in it. I was really hoping that this film would be great but I was disappointed with it. In fact, I was devestated because I was really hoping to like it but I didnt at all. I mean, what a stupid name Speed Racer is! Who would call their son that? It is embarassing for him to have a name like that and also because of the names of his parents: Pop Racer and Mom Racer. How pathetic is that! Its like being named Brill Player or something like that in football haha! Pathetic I know but needed to say it.


I cant believe Emile Hirsch was in a masterpiece like Into The Wild and was then in a terrible film like this. I have always admired Christina Ricci in her films but I dont really like her as much now because she was in this film. I loved her performances in Sleepy Hollow and Monster but she is being in some rubbish films. I am presuming that Penelopé will be awful too even though I havent seen it yet. John Goodman was quite funny in a slight way but was quite a stupid character. But mostly I cant believe an Oscar winning actress and a great actress like Susan Sarandon was in a film like this. She wasnt really very good either. She acted like she had no clue what she was doing.


The direction from the Wachowski Brothers was pretty bad really because after doing The Matrix trilogy, they are losing their taste in the films that they are doing. I think the only films that they have directed are The Matrix films, Speed Racer and a film called Bound. On the other hand, I did think the directing during the action scenes were quite good. It was badly written by the Wachowski Brothers. I was really hoping that it will be well written just like The Matrix films are but was greatly disappointed. There are a few believeable qualities that this film does have and that is because of the racing car moments. It is obviously a fantasy film but can be a loving film for little kids because of this. I mean, I love kids films but this one was too kiddie and comical for me. Also, kids will love it too because of its comic uses with cars and their fast speed and what type and colour they are. The visual effects were realistic indeed which I was certainly expecting. I couldnt feel any love between Speed and Trixie at all because both acting was terrible. Even though the words were love, it felt like they were brother and sister more than anything and also because Trixie was in a lot of scenes with Speeds parents, I got the impression that Speeds girlfriend lived with them.The sound effects are absolutely amazing in this film which is one of the few things that I loved and pretty much sums up the one star in this film along with the visual effects.


I could not believe it is directed by the two guys who created one of the most popular franchises of all time that is The Matrix. It makes the Matrix seem quite bad because the people who made it is the same as the awful film that is Speed Racer. Almost hit one of the worst films of all time list.

"The desert is merciless. It takes everything from you."


Director: Dave Filoni
Starring: Matt Lanter, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker
Running time: 98 minutes
Country: USA


Why was this released at the cinema? In fact, let me rephrase that, why was this made at all? Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an absolute disgrace and embarassment to the masterful franchise. This film was absolutely pointless because it had absolutely nothing to do with Attack Of The Clones nor Revenge Of The Sith which is when the film is set. It is sometimes refered as Episode 2.5 but it shouldn't even be part of the series. If people think that the prequel trilogy is bad, wait till you see this. It is an absolutely dreadful film that I was almost vomiting at but also laughing at because it was so shit.


Anakin Skywalker as a master in this film? When the hell did he mention he was one in Revenge Of The Sith. Like Mace Windu said in Episode III "You're on this council but we do not grant you the rank of master." Quite frankly, Anakin Skywalker would have been a lame master anyway. Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee made appearances and reprised their roles as Mace Windu and Count Dooku but it was their voices this time not seeing themselves on the screen. What annoyed me about this film was that there was no real story, it was just a mindless action animated film that didn't deserve any credit at all. Why Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull won the Razzie for Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake or Rip-Off instead of this. That film kicked ass! I think it's a fact that Star Wars: The Clone Wars should have won that Razzie instead of Indy 4. That shouldn't have been nominated let alone winning it.


Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the worst animated films ever made. It is an embarassment to the Star Wars franchise and I wish George Lucas never thought of this film. Good job he didn't direct it though. After seeing this film, I think that George Lucas is starting to kill Star Wars. Judging by some people, he only just survived the prequel trilogy but if he does another awful animated film he will have ultimately failed. Well, if there's another animated Star Wars theatrical film that's part of the series, I will not be watching it because I am a huge Star Wars fan who likes all six of the live-action films. Should not have been made and easily forgettable! Simple as that!

"Don't look at me with that tone of voice or I will punch you in the shirt!"


Director: Marco Schnabel
Starring: Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, Verne Troyer, Justin Timberlake
Running time: 87 minutes
Country: USA, UK, Germany


What an absolutely dreadful film! I did the same with this as I did with Meet The Spartans: gave up on it within 30 minutes because couldn't stand it any longer. There's one thing that this film didn't do but Meet The Spartans did was make me laugh on one scene but I laughed AT Meet The Spartans though. The Love Guru has good settings but they don't have a purpose at all because it was like a waste. So, basically, every single thing about this fim was absolutely awful! It had absolutely nothing which does and doesn't surprise me.


Mike Myers, what the f*** were you thinking?!?! He delivers his worst performance yet and is one of the worst leading male performances ever if not the worst. I think Mike tries to make audiences seriously laugh like with Wayne's World, Shrek and especially Austin Powers but it ends up ruining his talent. If he makes another awful performance whether it's just as bad or even worse, his career will be going downfall just like Nicolas Cage's is now. Mike Myers deserved the Worst Actor Razzie win to make him wake up for how awful this film is. Everything else should have gone to Meet The Spartans instead. Jessica Alba is a shit actress and deserved to be in this film. Verne Troyer or Justin Timberlake didn't make it any better either.


Awfully directed and written! Why bother making such crap?!?! Whatever likes this is absolutely mad and should be locked up in an asylum. Stupid story, stupid characters, stupid EVERYTHING. This is one of the worst films of all time as well as of 2008. Totally regret watching this!

"He is not a god!"


Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Steven Strait, Camill Belle, Cliff Curtis, Joel Virgil
Running time: 109 minutes
Country: USA


When I saw the trailer for this film I thought "Wow. This film looks pretty good actually." However when I saw it at the cinema in March 2008, it became one of the few films that I actually regretted watching and wasting my money on. I was going to walk out of the cinema after 40 minutes of the film but I wanted to carry on with it to see if it would improve but it wasn't to be. What was so bad about it was that it didn't even try and make us actually make it feel enjoyable. The story was really lame which ripped off three great masterpieces: Dances With Wolves, Apocalypto and 300. I was really annoyed with that. 10,000 BC is a film that could have been made into a really amazing film if there was a different director and also if the plot was adapted a bit better. As far as I'm concerned any film critic who thought this film was good should be fired. It was so bad I wouldn't even call 10,000 BC entertaining. It made me feel like I was in a coma for weeks because the film lasted forever and I couldn't get into it at all. On a slight change of heart here but the one thing that this film did have was good visual effects. I found D'Leh a really stupid character that is just a complete waste of space because I couldn't feel him being a hero at all really. D'Leh is a mammoth hunter and is like the leader of the group Yagahls.


The actor Steven Strait was charming enough for the character but it rips off too much of Gerard Butler's King Leonidas because of his so-called heroic style and also because of the types of clothes he wears as well. Also, The Almighty rips off Xerxes and also of what happens to The Almighty is the same as what happened to Xerxes in 300 which really annoyed me as well.


I truly hate Roland Emmerich now because he has made lots of piles of crap over the years. The only good film he has done is The Day After Tomorrow. I am not going to watch 2012 which is his upcoming film because I know I will have wasted my money and valuable time watching a film that will be a waste.


10,000 BC is a film that is unfortunately poorly directed. I personally think Emmerich tries to make this film like a comic book film just like 300. Emmerich has a so-called talent on making films about disasters and unfortunate events but this one was new to him and he became very mis-directed with this one. As far as I'm concerned, Emmerich is a director that likes to humiliate and make other directors feel crumbled by their great works such as Mel Gibson and Zack Snyder. I feel quite embarrassed to say that but might as well be honest. Why this film didn't earn any Razzie nominations, I am totally stunned by. Emmerich should earn glory for making such a shit film. It is a masterpiece of awful films. This is for me the worst film of 2008 with Be Kind Rewind just behind it. It is a real spoof and I absolutely HATE spoofs. It is Roland Emmerich's worst film to date. This film made him become in my opinion the worst filmmaker of all time. Overall, 10,000BC is an ultimate disaster of cinema that has hit one of my 10 worst films of all time. I would never recommend this film to anybody on Earth but if you want to go and spend wasteful money and time then that's up to you. If you are just looking for so-called entertainment then you could find this enjoyable. It is a very awful film that I deeply regret watching. It showed me a very horrid side towards cinema and I hate Roland Emmerich for that!!

"No mayo? This is bullshit!"


Director: Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer
Starring: Sean Maguire, Carmen Electra, Ken Davitian, Kevin Sorbo
Running time: 84 minutes
Country: USA


I sort of felt guilty about watching this film. I wanted to turn this film off within only 5 minutes but I left it a bit longer to see how crap it was going to get. I didn't even watch the whole film. I turned it off after 30 minutes especially with the dancing battle instead of the fighting one. Meet The Spartans is so hilarious because it is so crap!! It is one of those films that you would want to beat the living life out of. I was laughing AT the film not with it. I was holding my head in shame most of the time because it was so embarassing. I love 300 and I can't believe it was ripped off so badly. I felt like gagging a few times too. There was one bit that I did like though. People who love or even like this film aren't even alive or human at all. I wanted to watch this film to see how crap it was even though I knew it was going to be anyway.


The "acting" in this film is worst than painful. It's "acting" where all the "actors" need to be shot for the good of cinema. I can't believe I even saw bits of it in which I did let alone the whole film.


The directing was awful! It is probably the worst directed film I think I've ever seen. It mocks Zack Snyder's great work on 300. The script was pretty much the same as 300 that follows the same story but there are a lot of moments where there are spoofs and ridiculous moments. How this film didn't win Worst Picture instead of The Love Guru I don't think I'll ever know. Mind you, The Love Guru was just as awful.


Meet The Spartans is an absolutely appaling "film" that serves no purpose in being made at all. It is the worst film of 2008 but not quite worst film of all time but it does deserve to be ONE of the worst ever. Fact: Meet The Spartans is a disgrace to be called a "film" and it should have had everybody who made it and who were in it be killed immediately.