THIS PAGE WILL HOLD ARCHIVED MOVIE REVIEWS FOR FILMS BEGINNING WITH D - F. IF YOU HAVE SEEN A FILM AND WOULD LIKE TO SUBMIT A REVIEW THEN SEND IT TO Thecamstar@musicwithtc.co.uk
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The Dark Knight
Batman, what an icon, most people in the world have heard of Batman, whether that is comics, TV shows, movies or even folklore, but he is an icon of being a hero, even though he is a bit of a vigilante.
A few years ago they had the film Batman Returns and Christian Bale who at the time had been in a film called Equilibrium played the heroic bat. People were in doubt as to whether it would any good, and in my opinion it was one of the best films that year, especially as they went more down the graphic novel route and stuck to what and who Batman was and did the film how they should have done it when the likes of Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney played the Bat. At the end of that film Bale’s Batman was given a playing card with the picture of the Joker on it, and straight away I had fears they were going to make Bale Batman film and churn out someone who just couldn’t play the Joker as well as Jack Nicholson did in the Bat film with Keaton.
Well I can safely say I didn’t have to worry, though I was concerned when I first heard the late Heath Ledger had been cast as The Joker I was had a few reservations, but I have to say Heath did Bale what Nicholson did to Keaton, he stole the show… the film should have been called The Joker, man he was good. Unlike Lex Luthor of Superman The Joker like Lex is to Superman, is the Bat’s biggest nemesis, bit like ying and yang… but whereas Lex is brilliant because he is clever, the Joker is brilliant because he is totally mad, and you get a sense of his madness when at some point in the film he falls off a building and instead of screaming his is laughing hysterically, Ledger like Nicholson was an inspired choice for the Joker
The premise of the film is that with the help of soon to be Commissioner Gordon, Batman is putting the squeeze on the organised crime gangs, by planting marked money into the gangs hands and tracing them to banks so they can find out what banks the gangs are using, in the shadows out steps a young District Attorney called Harvey Dent, yes to all you comic book fans you read the name correctly, Harvey Dent who as we comic book fans know, went on to become the coin tossing Two Face, as played by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever. Mr Dent is on a mission to rid Gotham of the organised crime and he steps up to the plate and takes the baton from the Bat and takes down a fair chunk of the criminals in one fell swoop. The Joker then steps in and strikes a deal with the crime families that for a slice of their money he would take down Batman. The Joker and The Batman go head to head with many many people at risk or losing their lives. The question is can Batman win the day without becoming like The Joker and breaking his one un-written rule.
I know I’ve spent most of this review singing Ledger’s praises, but a cheers goes out to one and all in the film, who all played their roles superbly. With Bale switching between the softly spoken Mr Wayne and the “I need a lozenge” gruff voice of Batman. Morgan Freeman as he always does is fantastic, in fact has Morgan Freeman ever done a bad job in a film. Aaron Eckhart as Mr Dent and Mr Face did a really good job and how can I nearly forgot Mr Michael Caine as Alfred.
Would I see this film again, most def, in fact I hope to see it again soon, what a really really good film, and despite being well over two hours long, it was a good long film. If I had to pick out anything bad about the film it was possibly that at time Mr Bale overplayed the gruff voice and made it difficult at times to understand what he was saying.
Do I plan to get this film on Blu-Ray, absolutely, I will be adding this film to my collection for sure and out of 10, this film gets a solid 9…. Great film and a must see even if you’re not a comic book fan.
Deja Vu... http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/dejavu/theatrical_med.html
Denzel Washington, he has come a long way since the film Glory I saw a long long time ago, whilst in this galaxy… not LA… Denzel was very very good in The Inside Man, and everyone raves about Training Day, but I never got to see that, because I bought the DVD, and pal of mine called David “Cor Blimey Barry give me a chance” Andrews (yep name and shame I say) borrowed it and lost it before I got to see it and as yet hasn’t replaced it…. Anyway I digress… yes, this film, Denzel was very very good. The premise of the film is that there is a terrorist act and the government has a special team led by Val Kilmer’s character, who have found a way of folding back time by four days and six hours. Their aim is to use this technology to find and record criminals in the act of their crimes, then track them down and make an arrest…. Denzel’s character gets drafted into the team after the terrorist act as he is seen an agent with a special skill for detection. The film has many twists and turns and is pretty fast moving.
When you have films that have time being manipulated you often see hole after hole after hole, what this film does well is that it doesn’t give you enough time to dwell on whether something is plausible and this is one of the things that makes this film so good in my eyes.
Denzel is good and leading lady Paula Patton was pretty good too.
Would I watch this film again, probably yes, would I get the DVD, probably yes, though I might as Mr Andrews to get it for me as a replacement for Training Day…
The Devil Wear Prada… I got an acquaintance who recently started a job working for Ralph Lauren in Watford, after seeing this film I fear for her. This film gives you an insight into the fashion industry, but from the view point of a fashion magazine, but like Sentinel which gave an insight into the security of the US President, how much of this insight is fact and how much is artistic licence I don’t know. But as a run of the mil film is was fun, but it also address a few things in life, like office bitchiness, brown nosing, being career minded, work life balance, how important your real friends are and conforming with the society you live. I can already see clips from this film being used in various company training courses; bit like Clockwork was used in many course I went on in my younger day. I enjoyed this film, and for me it was a film of guess what shoe that person has done before, with actors from Entourage, Rescue Me, Cold Case (three of my fav shows), playing reasonably important roles in the film. Would I buy this film on DVD... doubt it, as it is not the kind of film I’d watch again and again. But it is worth a watch, as you will come out thinking “I got a couple of pals who are similar to some of those people.” One thing learned, no matter what job you do keep your beliefs and keep you integrity as they are what defines, you as a person.
The Departed… When I saw the trailer for this film, I was thought, ‘Oh that looks good’ especially with all the big names like Baldwin, Nicholson, DiCaprio, Damon, Winstone, Sheen and Wahlberg… but then memories of Harlem Nights come flooding back when you had Pryor (Richard). Murphy (Eddie), Hall (Arsenio) and the film turned out to be a wash out. All these big names are going to want descent airtime, so my hopes for a good film dwindled. Well suffice to say, making the film 151 minutes long definelty covered all the stars getting airtime, but I have to say all the airtime given was relevant and was nothing but quality. I enjoyed the film immensely, though a little long. It was gory but not as gory as it could have been. Storyline was pretty solid and all the star proved why they are A list film stars, even Winstone was up there with a great performance, but if I had to pick the best out of all of them, Mr Jack Nicholson was the ‘Don’ so to speak. Back to his Joker, The Shining, Cuckoo’s Nest best. This film is not particularly a cinema film in terms of special effects, but to avoid spoilers from people telling you what happens, I would say go and definelty see this film as soon as possible. The film was done with a mix of flashback and present day, but it was done very well, not quite as well as ‘Inside Man’, but still pretty well.
Die hard 4.0… http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/livefreeordiehard/t2_medium.html
Woah what a film… won’t win any Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA’s or any other major accolades apart from the quote “This is truly a Summer Blockbuster”… If you were to look in the Oxford English Dictionary for the word “Escapism”… there should be a picture of Officer John McClane smiling back…. Yes this film is the fourth film in the life of John McClane, the officer who seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time… but I’d go as far to say this film was equal to if not better than the first film. the phrase “A case of whoop ass just got delivered” is an understatement… the premise of the film is a disgruntled ex employee of Uncle Sam’s homeland security decides to execute a three pronged attack called a “Firecell” against Uncle Sam and to bring the country to it’s knees, but whilst trying to kill various people who have become surplus to requirements his crew happen to try and kill a computer hacker that John McClane has been dispatched to bring to the FBI HQ in Washington, in the process they upset Mr McClane… which quite frankly isn’t a good idea, as the film progresses the fight becomes very personal between McClane and the main antagonist.
Yes in the film lots and lots of unbelievable things happen but surely that is what going to the cinema is all about... fantasy, dreams, aspirations and desires… epic battles between good and evil… creating a hero that one can look up to. Loved the whole banter between John McClane and the villain… does the good guy win in the day… not sure if he did, but he sure saved the day… Would I buy this film on DVD, not sure if I would but probably yes… you ask why I have my doubts… well in my opinion there is only one place to be watching this film and that is on a 50foot wide, 20 foot high Silver Screen.. you can’t be seeing this film on a 21inch PC monitor or a 32 inch Widescreen TV... this is as I said before “A Summer Blockbuster”…. Out of 10 I’d give this film 9… just because this film takes you back to what going to the cinema was all about when the likes of Star Wars, Alien and Indiana Jones were originally released…. Escapism….
District 13 … Have to say this film surprised me no end, I left the theatre and I could feel myself visibly smiling, a cracking film. In my opinion like ‘Crash’ last year, this was a little gem of a film. This is a French film subtitles an all, but if you ever saw Jump London, imagine that with martial arts thrown in for flavour…and to boot the storyline was pretty solid the term, “Some people got a arsing” comes to mind, and the bad guy, damn he was a bad guy…. Though maybe he should remember the saying... “Be careful who you step on, on your way up as you never know who you will meet on the way down”….. I would say a def must see film…unless of course you hate martial art films, though would say this film was more than just martial arts
Eragon... http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/eragon/traileri/
The premise of this film was a young boy, finds a stone, which turns out to be an egg from a Dragon. The egg doesn’t hatch unless it feels comfy in the presence of a particular person, once hatched the creature (a Dragon) that comes out, mind melds with this comfy person and that person becomes that Dragon’s rider.
I really didn’t want to say this about Eragon, after so many people had said the very same thing. This film though quite entertaining, came across as a poor mans derivative of either Harry Potter’s franchise or the Lord of the Rings franchise. It is good to a see a young author’s film being made in to a movie and hopefully inspiring a new generation of authors into the realm of Dungeons and Dragons and Fantasy writing… but alas this was no Tolkien or Gemmell novel. The film had the look and feel of Lord of the Rings, though a pretty bad feel, especially the final battle scene. Though very good in its own right, it had nothing at all on any of the battle scenes in Lord of the Rings. The story threw in a bit of magic, making out that the main character Eragon, once linked with the Dragon could perform magic…. Now I’m not a Harry Potter fan but….. Eragon’s magic again didn’t even come close to Mr Potter.
Despite what I’ve said about the film so far, I did actually enjoy the film, it’s just, after seeing LOTR, Harry Potter and the Light Sabre fight between Darth Maul and the two Jedi in Star Wars Episode 1, you are kinda spoilt. In Eragon the two main villains were played by two actors I quite like John Malkovich and Robert Carlisle… John didn’t get much air play, but he has potential as I would guess there is going to be a second film. Robert for me was superb, when you see a good bad guy; you want to be sitting there saying to yourself... “Why would anyone want to work for him”... I got that vibe with Robert’s character. As a Saturday afternoon family film, this was a good film... as a ground breaking Dungeons, Dragons and Fantasy film, it was ok, but nothing really stood out for me.
Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer… http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer/trailer-medium.html
Having seen the poor first film of the Fan 4, I was not looking forward to this film, but then I saw the trailer of The Torch chasing the Silver Surfer through the city, I got quite excited and was having good feeling, but did hold back cos often trailers only ever show the best parts of the film. Well I have to say, I was not disappointed with this film. The premise of the film is Richard Reed and Susan Storm’s weeding gets interrupted when an Alien on a Surfboard arrives on Earth and starts destroying things as he prepares the World for destruction from Galaxtous who goes around munching on whole planets… as you do… and of course it is down to the Fantastic 4 to save the day, with a slight hindrance from an old nemesis… As a film a this was a cracking fast paced full blown tongue in cheek film, I loved it, escapism at its best. Acting was poor and storyline was full of holes but it was fun fun fun, really enjoyed. It had some great scenes, like Stan Lee’s cameo, also one line that had me smiling went something like… “Yeah that’s right I never played ball, just had my head in books like a good little geek... but look at me now, one of the best brains in the world, going out with the hottest girl on the planet… and Mr Quarterback is standing in front of me asking for my help, which he won’t get unless he listens to what I’m saying”… what a quality line... to the quarterback I found myself thinking that great quote of Marcellus Wallace…. “Step aside butch”… Would I buy this film on DVD, more than likely yes and not just of the obvious extras they will have on there about Marvel Comic Books. Out of 10 this film gets a high 8 out of 10 cos it was such a fun film which never took itself seriously at all.
FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
I have to say when I heard about this film, I was quite excited, similar to when I first heard about Harlem Nights... back in 1989. The opportunity to see two of the biggest comedy actors out there, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.... and what a let down that film was, so though I was excited I didn’t get too excited.
Why was I excited, well this film starred to of the modern days greats when it comes to Martial Arts films, Je t Li and Jackie Chan and from all accounts it was going to be Rush Hour Jackie Chan but Police Story Jackie Chan… and I have to say bottom line, I wasn’t disappointed on the martial arts side of things.
The premise of the film is, a young kid who is obsessed with subtitled Kung Fu films, discovers a Kung Fu fighting staff and whilst preventing it from falling into the wrong hands, he finds himself being transported into ancient China, where he discovers the staff belongs to a magical Monkey King who has been imprisoned by a Warlord. This young hooks up with three martial art experts in a quest to free the Monkey King and return to him his staff.
As a film, I have to say it wasn’t the best by any stretch of the imagination. At times the kid who was into Kung Fu, became quite annoying and in hindsight I have to say this film very much reminded me of a blue movie, in that the storyline was just and excuse to string a whole load of action sequences together.
Now I love an old style King Fu film, classic late night Saturday viewing films like “Thundering Mantis”, “Legend of the Drunken Master” and “Police Story” to name but a few, classic dub films and lots of martial arts and mad Kung Fu moves and battles and in that department this film delivered 10 out of 10. If you like your old style Kung Fu films then this is a must see film, this isn’t going to win any Oscars for screenplay, best acting or best supporting acting.
One of the best scenes of the film and in my opinion was worth the price of admission alone was the fight scene between Jackie Chan and Jet Li, what a fight, every much like Star Wars Eps1… the light sabre fight between Darth Maul and the 2 Jedi… or Matrix Revolutions when Neo fought Seraph… ironically, the person who played Seraph was also in Forbidden Planet and he has a fight scene with Jet Li and again, what a fight.
Would I see this film again… only if it was a summary film as in, it was just the fight scenes, because the bits between the fights were quite tedious, as for getting this film on DVD, I seriously think I may well get this on DVD, because in terms of a modern day Kung Fu film bringing back memories of old Kung Fu films this has got to be right up there.
This film had the potential to score a high 9 but alas due to the poor links between fight scenes I’m gonna give it an 8 out of 10.