The Good & The Bad - Movies Watched In 2017

Roger Moore stars as an eccentric British officer called Ffolkes with a disdain for women and a fondness for cats. He is called into action by the British Government when a group of foreign terrorists hijack a North Sea oil rig and demand a huge ransom of money. If they are not given the money, the oil rig is to be blown up.

Moore was still performing as 007 during this time so to see him play such a strange character who likes to knit was interesting to say the least. Although billed as an action thriller, it is only during the last 20 mins or so that things start to heat up as Ffolkes and his crack underwater diving commando unit storm the oil rig. The movie builds steadily, keeping tension throughout while retaining a strong sense of humour. Anthony Perkins and James Mason give great performances alongside Moore. A fun movie to watch.

This movie is very similar to its predecessor. The introduction of Mel Gibson and John Lithgow as the grandfathers just takes the opposite dads concept to the extreme as they are even farther out versions of the Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell characters. Mel Gibson brought the best comedic moments, largely because his character was really playing his tough guy persona and it felt more natural than the rest. The ending was stretching the limits of believably, even for a ridiculous comedy, but all in all it was solid ideal entertainment. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like the second.

Peter Sellers plays a Welsh librarian who is bored of his humdrum life at home with his wife and 2 kids. He likes to flirt with female customers at the library. He starts an affair with a very attractive woman who can make sure he gets a better job with more money at the library. The story tries to say something about working-class marriages and lives stuck in a rut, but screenwriter Bryan Forbes can't seem to work big laughs into the plot, and as a result the movie isn't more than faintly amusing. It's hard to care about Sellers' character as he's selfish. Sellers is supported by John Le Mesurier, Virginia Maskell, Mai Zetterling and even an uncredited cameo by Desmond Llewelyn. It's not bad of a movie but don't expect a bundle of laughs when watching it.

It's a well known fact by medical professionals that the so-called Western diet is making us ill and causing record number of deaths by cancer and heart disease. This excellent documentary clarifies the truth about the relationship of the food we eat and our health. What we eat matters immensely to our health, and unfortunately, people has been duped by the food industry, governments and misinformed by health professionals regarding what a truly "healthy" diet consists of. It gives a very convincing case of dropping meat and milk from our diet and moving on to a plant based one instead. For somebody that loves meat this isn't something you want to hear but you can't deny the facts. Even if you have no inclination to become vegan (and I certainly won't!) you will still find this documentary highly entertaining and memorable.

aka Cone Of Silence. Based on real life events that took place centering around the DeHavilland Comet plane, this movie is a great drama about an ageing pilot who is blamed for a crash of a passenger jet even though he could do nothing about it. Bernard Lee is Captain Gort who tries to clear his name and does so after passing flight tests until another similar crash claims his life. Peter Cushing plays another airline pilot who is rather devious in trying to actively pin the plane crash on Captain Gort as human error. It's up to a young pilot in Hugh Dallas played by Michael Craig to see that something else was responsible for the crash - basically a design fault. It wasn't expecting this drama to be so gripping but it held my attention from start to finish. A forgotten British drama that needs to be seen more.

A wonderful adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical. It is visually stunning in that the sets and costumes are as extravagant as the music itself. The chosen cast are also fantastic and in Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum they have a pair of perfect leads. Butler makes for a sympathetic performance as The Phantom and Emmy Rossum is simply beautiful as Christine and her voice is divine. People might have thought that having Joel Schumacher as director was a big mistake but he pulls it off and handled the storyline with care. If you've seen the stage version of Phantom, you should see this movie. You might enjoy it just as much as what you saw on stage.

Sion Sono likes to push the boundaries and he does that with this critique on male domination and sex in Japanese society. The movie's opening act centres on Kyoko who likes to call herself an award winning whore and enjoys dominating and humiliating her older assistant. Just as the viewer has seen enough of Kyoko going all demented with her rants, there's a big twist as the roles are reversed as everything seen so far is a part of a movie set. To be quite honest, a lot of people are going to be baffled and bewildered with what's going on in this movie but if you know how Sono's mind works you'll probably understand what he is trying to say. This movie isn't for the easily offended. It's another odd mind-bender from a maverick director who never shies away from controversial subjects.

A brilliant satire on the class system in Britain during the early 60's starring the always great Peter Sellers as a prison vicar who is given a parish by mistake due to having the same name as another vicar. The Rev Smallwood inadvertently stirs up a crisis that involves the Prime Minister when he tries to be too kind to his parishioners. Everything falls apart though in the final 15 mins with a rather strange ending. The comedy has a fantastic cast such as Eric Sykes, Irene Handl, Ian Carmichael and Roy Kinnear. It's odd that this Sellers comedy is largely forgotten about.

The 3rd Thor movie is probably the most succesful of the trilogy so far but it's definitely not the best. The tone is also different in tone from the other two thanks to director Taika Waititi who brings in more humour to proceedings. I can't say it works too well if I'm being honest. Yes, some humour is necessary in superhero movies but it just goes overboard here. I fear Marvel is trying to get away from serious movies to comedy ones. Even though I prefer dark and serious superhero movies, there's still a lot to like here. The much anticipated team up between Thor and The Hulk is great. The main cast in Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Rufallo were brilliant. Cate Blanchett made for a cool villain. Overall, it may not be my favourite Thor movie but it still has a lot riding on it and MCU fans will love it.

Another classic anime by Makoto Shinkai. It is superb in every way. The story is about 2 lonely souls finding solace in each other through a chance meeting at Tokyo's Shinjuku Gyoen when it rained and then seeing each other regularly at the same location. There is some controversy about the story as the 2 people are a 15 year old boy Takao and a 27 year old female teacher Yukino (she teaches at the same school as him). No need to worry as everything is done tastefully and there's no hint that anything sexual is going on between them. The artwork is exceptional and every scene is wonderful. Just watch the detail of the art especially when you see raindrops fall on the ground. It builds to an emotional climax that you can see coming a mile off but it is still brilliantly done. Makoto Shinkai's movies are always well worth watching and this is no exception. Sit back, relax and savour it all.

A faithful adaptation of the brilliant anime and manga series in which young student Kaneki is attacked one night by a ghoul - a super-powered human who feeds on human flesh. Although he survives the attack, he has been turned into part ghoul part human and must learn the ways of the ghoul world if he has any chance of staying alive.

This movie has been done extremely well. The characters are exactly the same as the anime and the cast playing them are brilliant. Masataka Kubota and Fumika Shimizu are perfect as Kaneki and Touka. The storyline just follows one arc from the series which is good as trying to cram everything into one movie would have been a mistake. The only gripe I have is the poor CGI at times. I'm hoping there'll be a sequel although they'll have to recast the role of Touka seeing as Shimizu has quit the showbiz world and joined a cult which saddens me as she's a good actress. Tokyo Ghoul is a superb movie and if you're a fan of the manga/anime then you should watch it.

A renegade cop, Jack goes to one of the Caribbean islands, to find his lost brother, who has been turned into a cyborg by a charismatic bad guy, Kessel (played by John Rhys-Davies in perhaps one of his best roles ever). It's an entertaining low-rent beat 'em up with a sci-fi twist. A classic piece of b-movie fare, featuring all the usual elements we've come to expect: a muscled, posturing hero in David Bradley, a slightly camp villain, lovely locations and great action scenes. The story has hints of Robocop but those expecting to see a robot dishing out justice on the streets, as the title would imply, are in for disappointment! It might be a brainless actioner but it's a good one nevertheless.

An escaped laboratory genetic mutant who kills people for their spinal column fluid by using it's reptillian tongue is hunted by an ex-cop after his girlfriend is attacked by the creature. It's a typical b-movie creature feature which has it's moments. The acting is not that bad from a bunch of nobodies with a pretty charming and gawky heroine and a geeky male lead. A very gritty and grim atmosphere is found throughout the movie, with a lot of it taking place in dark and dim lighting. The violence is very tame (a few spatterings of blood), not really scary and the random act of attacks by the creature to nameless victim is few and far between. The creature design is pretty cool, but also nothing more than a man in a rubber suit. The climax finds the pair being chased by the mutant through the sewers and into an old abandoned factory. It's not too bad a movie but the title is pretty stupid.

A terrible monster movie set on one of the Greek Islands. A diver disturbs an ancient creature which has been bricked up inside a cave. The creature goes on a killing rampage. This is such a dull and forgettable movie and it takes half of the running time before the creature is set loose. What a wasted opportunity as the story sounded promising but the extremely flat and uninspired execution lets it down badly. The creature isn't even shown fully and when you do get to see it you better be quick as it'a a blink or you'll miss it shot. I can hardly blame the filmmakers for hiding it as it's pretty unconvincing - the best I can describe it is something like the Creature From The Black Lagoon. The only good thing about the movie is the beautiful Greek island location. An absolute waste of time and not worth bothering about.

This is one of those movies that has "rip-off" all over it and in this case it's The Thing. A group of deep-sea miners come across a wrecked Soviet ship and after plundering what they can they end up with more than they bargained for. Enter the plot of deep-sea miners under attack from a creepy tentacled monster. The movie crams as many creature feature clichés in as it can get away with, and sure enough the jump scare moments are not in short supply. It's got a good cast in Peter Weller, Ernie Hudson and Richard Crenna. The special effects by Stan Winston are great. Overall I found it to be a fun movie and it's better than Deepstar Six which came out in the same year.

I made a mistake of not knowing this was a continuation of a Japanese drama series but it didn't dent my enjoyment of this movie. It's about a girls high school mahjong team who compete against 3 other schools at a tournament to determine who goes to the all national finals. There's no introduction to the characters at all as it dives straight into the tournament. I will admit to having no idea behind the rules of mahjong and how one can win at the game so it was a learning curve for myself to see how points are won by players. I liked the characters from each team and the female cast were great in their roles. I would recommend that you see the series first (I will be watching it soon) before watching this movie. It'll probably make your viewing experience more enjoyable that way.

A fantastic action movie directed by Martin Campbell which is like a mix of Lord of the Flies meets Fortress. Ray Liotta is Robbins, a former soldier sent to an island prison where, due to lack of supervision, the inmates have formed two tribes. The peaceful tribe is led by the great Lance Henriksen, while Stuart Wilson enjoys himself delivering cheesy one liners as the main bad guy. Liotta is strong, silent and nasty when provoked and makes a great antihero. If it's action set pieces you want then you get it a lot here and there's never a dull moment. This movie is a marvel of a gem.

After a gap of many years, Jigsaw the 8th installment in the Saw series is back and is just as good as before. OK, so there's nothing new or different from the other entries (i.e devious games and gory deaths) but that's what fans of the series want to see. What I liked about this movie is that it gives the impression that Jigsaw is still alive even though he is supposed to be dead and the payoff behind this illusion is neatly done. The deaths aren't too bad apart from the final one which is really cool involving lasers. I wouldn't say the games are half as deadly as they were in previous entries. Still, it's a solid and entertaining horror movie and fans of Saw should enjoy it.

Jackie Chan's best movie in many years! JC plays Quan, a London Chinese restaurant owner whose daughter is killed in a bomb planted by Irish terrorists. He swears revenge and goes all out to find the terrorists who destroyed his family.

This is such an exciting action drama and although JC shows his age here, he can still perform in top notch martial arts scenes. Pierce Brosnan is also brilliant as a suspicious NI politician whose past in the paramilitary comes back to haunt him. Director Martin Campbell has picked himself up from the disaster that was The Green Lantern and given the viewer a gripping tour-de-force thriller. There's not really that much else I can say apart from this movie will keep you mesmerised from start to finish. For those that think JC is now over the hill, this movie will make you change your mind. Go and see.

This is an alternate retelling of the anime series which I've yet to see. It's about a young man Yukito who comes to a seaside town to find out more about a legend about a winged maiden and makes friends with a girl Misuzu and her mother. Yukito then discovers that Misuzu is slowly dying and that her condition is linked to a story about a princess that lived in the past named Kanna who has a 1000 year old curse placed on her. The movie goes back and forth between the two different tales which are beautifully interwoven together. The ending though tragic felt a bit rushed but then again it is difficult to compress a 12 episode anime series into a movie. Overall, it has made me want to check out the series to see how different it is to the movie.

The President of an all girls school Literature Club Itsumi Shiraishi is found dead clutching a lily of the valley flower in her hands. It is said she has been murdered and the rumour flying around is that somebody from the club killed her. Each member of the club relates a story during one of their meetings of how they got to know the President and the events leading up to her death. Each one accuses one another of being involved in her murder. But which one is actually telling the truth?

This was quite an interesting and intriguing tale and each story by a member uncovering another layer to the President's death. It keeps you guessing to the end who is behind her murder and there is a twist to the tale. To me, it was obvious from the beginning who the murderer was. It also seems that each member of the club has a dark secret they want to keep hidden. The young female cast are great in their roles. This is a movie that will keep you glued to the screen as the mystery behind Itsumi's death is finally revealed in the climax. I enjoyed it very much.

An interesting concept, in a world where nearly everyone has a timer that tells them when they are going to meet their soul mate. It counts down and will beep once you make eye contact with them. But only when your soul mate gets a timer does yours start counting down. The main character Oona's timer has yet to start and kind of countdown. Her sister's timer says that she won't meet her soul mate until she is 40 years old. This movie has a storyline that is unique and entertaining. It's a fun movie to watch when you just want something simple and pleasant. I liked Emma Caulfield as the lead. I've only seen her before in Buffy The Vampire Slayer so she was great in this movie. Well worth taking a look.

This is an interesting movie with a great storyline. It also happens to be well-executed, for the most part. The LA of the future (well, future back when it was released in 1995) is quite dystopian in nature, and the movie manages to present all facets of that using Taxi Driver-influenced car rides through the city while observing the chaos on the streets. The plot is intriguing, and it flows quite smoothly. A lot of the dialogue is really quite interesting and gives the movie a nice feel (not to mention the actors do a pretty good job with the material). The characters are three-dimensional and interesting. While the beginning parts were somewhat disjointed (at least in terms of plot), they did serve as an excellent setup. The movie is at it's best during the middle section and sadly it then goes downhill resorting to awfully cliche ideas complete with plot elements seen a million times before. While Strange Days is still a fascinating movie, it just isn't as superb as it could have been. Nonetheless, it does succeed on many levels and is well worth watching.

Hands down the worst Star Wars movie ever made. Thanks Disney for ruining the franchise. The Force Awakens and Rogue One were both very good but this one is a complete disaster. It's an incoherent lazy mess with a poor plot and clunky dialogue. Nothing in this movie seems to serve a purpose. New dull and uninteresting characters are introduced and what really brings this movie down is the pathetic forced humour which is so out of place. In my opinion this movie wasn't written by people who really care or know a lot about Star Wars, but solely by the influence of producers and marketing people who are only after a fast buck. I absolutely hate what they did to my childhood hero in Luke Skywalker. I'm so disappointed and heartbroken in this movie and I can only hope that JJ Abrams can get the franchise back on track with Episode 9.

On paper it sounds like a simple tale - that of a group of Japanese soldiers and an ageing hunter trying to kill the last known tiger in Korea but there's more to this than meets the eye. The tiger is a symbol associated with Korean people and their resilience to keep their culture, identity and values alive despite the hardships the people have gone through and is still going through today. The screenplay is written perfectly and narration is astounding but the movie is a little long and some of the scenes could have been chopped easily to make it flow better. The cinematography is exhilarating and each scene has been captured beautifully. Min-sik Choi is fantastic as the old hunter who has a connection to the tiger as he let it stay alive when it was a cub instead of killing it. Very enjoyable.

The Villainess could have been one of this year's greatest movies. The first-person action choreography is absolutely stunning, the characters are interesting to profound and the story is filled with numerous twists and turns. However, the movie loses its potential due to a messy script. Instead of telling us the story of the main character in chronological order, the movie starts in the middle of nowhere, shows us numerous flashbacks in random order and meanders in such a vivid manner that more than one viewer will get lost trying to keep track of characters and events. The storytelling tries to be as much over the top as the action sequences when it should be the exact opposite for a balanced experience. Those who are looking for pitiless action sequences have to sit through an hour and a half of romantic slices of life interwoven with random flashbacks. I'm rather disappointed if I'm being honest.

This movie has already been torn to shreds by most critics and rightly so. It is a mess of epic proportions and features some outright bizarre creative and technical choices. The structure and plot of the movie is predictably generic and par for the course as far as team up superhero movies go. A superhero team comes together, superhero team fights big bad, superhero team eventually defeats big bad and saves the world. In this case the team consists of Bruce Wayne/Batman and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman who are looking to assemble a team of people with special abilities to combat a huge alien threat that had been alluded to by Lex Luthor. As far as the performances go everyone is fine and give serviceable turns apart from Ezra Miller who eventually becomes annoying and almost cringe worthy in his role as Barry Allen. However this isn't entirely his fault. In fact the writing of his character is the main culprit as most of his screen time is comprised of forced jokes and childish humour. In conclusion, if you can tolerate the scattershot comedy, the often distracting CGI and the rather weak villain in Steppenwolf, you might have some fun with this movie.

Yet another teen romance/weepie about a young man diagnosed with a serious illness and unless he is operated on he will die within a year. He starts dating a clumsy girl who is being bullied at school with her only friend being her pet parakeet called Sensei.

Japan keeps churning out these type of movies with the same recycled plot in the majority of them and whilst you will know from the beginning how it will all turn out in the end, it's still worth watching due to the great performances from the young cast.

So and so Australian adventure movie set during WWII about an ace pilot and his crew whose plane gets pulled into another dimension whilst transporting a mysterious stone tablet that glows yellow. This tries so hard to be like an Indiana Jones movie but fails on so many levels. Some sequences are even copied. Despite the low budget, some parts of the movie come off quite well but other parts are terrible. The acting of the cast come across as wooden. The poor ending doesn't help things either. I wouldn't say this movie is worth seeking out.

Diana Dors in her first dramatic role as a woman who guns down her lover in broad daylight and is sentenced to death. The story has obvious similarities to the real life drama of Ruth Ellis, the last women ever to be hanged in Britain. The movie obviously draws upon the controversial issue of capital punishment. Not only do we see the effect it has on Dors' family but also we get an insight of the wardesses who are with her for her final days. There is no doubt that, despite us witnessing her murder in cold blood, our sympathies are meant to lie with Dors' character. She is brilliant for her emotional performance as a woman awaiting the fate of the hangman's noose. This movie is a powerful piece of work.

Patrick Swayze starred with his wife in this post apocalyptic action movie in which his character with no name helps a small community to fight against a tyrant and his small army. Considering that Swayze was a big star at the time, this was just an average vehicle for him. There are some OK swordfights and a few good fistfights, and a thin story that gives enough material and motivation to work with between the fights. But there isn't much more. Steel Dawn will be of interest mainly to Swayze's die hard fans and those who like the post apocalyptic genre as a whole. If you're not in either of these categories I wouldn't really bother with this movie.

Stardust is the continuing story of young Jim Maclaine from "That'll Be The Day" and is a great sequel. The story not only portrays the development of Maclaine's aspiring musical ambitions, but is a very insightful depiction of how the music business can be unpredictably cruel and coarse. It follows 3 years on from the previous movie and is a roller-coaster ride of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll 60's style. The nature of the story calls for another strong supporting cast and this is achieved with not only David Essex maturing very well in the lead role, but with the addition of 60's pop idol Adam Faith and future "Dallas" star Larry Hagman. A grim, gritty, hard hitting movie with a tragic ending. Definitely one to see.

Set in 1987, this is a harrowing Australian drama about a teenage girl that's kidnapped by a psychotic couple and chained to a bed in their suburban home. She is abused and tortured by the man. The only way for her to escape is to try and drive a wedge between the couple.

Quite a grim and difficult movie to watch which keeps you on the edge of your seat. The story is partly inspired by a real life case which took place in Australia. A lot of the violence happens off camera and the movie relies on atmosphere and engagement with the characters rather than shock factor to keep the viewer hooked. It also moves at a brisk pace, never allowing your mind to wander too far from the here and now. Ashleigh Cummings is convincing in the role of the kidnapped girl. Stephen Curry does a good job as the kidnapper who loves to victimise those weaker than himself. This is not a movie that you watch to particularly enjoy or be entertained by, but it is gripping nevertheless.

A 5 year old boy is killed during a cross fire between a yakuza gang and an American crime family. The mother who is heartbroken vows to find and kill the Japanese man that fired the fateful shot that killed her son. The only clue driving her is the glimpse of a tattoo of a blue tiger across the killer's chest.

Not quite the great action b-movie I thought it would be. The story isn't that well written and the action scenes are rather bland. I expected Virginia Madsen's character to be going all out on revenge but she only kills 1 person. You can see the so-called twist about her Japanese lover being her son's killer coming a mile off. Harry Dean Stanton is probably the best actor in the whole production. Apart from the good shoot-out near the end, this is a boring and dull movie.

Inspired by a true story, this is a zeroes to heroes story of a group of Japanese cheerleaders that flies to America to take part in the All-American Championship at Los Angeles. OK, so you may have seen a similar story about cheerleaders in Bring It On but this engaging tale with it's likable characters will grow on you as it did with me. The movie is led by the wonderful Hirose Suzu as Hikari who joins a cheerleading squad and learns about the importance of teamwork and discipline during the trials and tribulations surrounding the team. You'll come to will the team on in their ultimate goal of reaching LA. The only thing that brings this movie down is the cringeworthy acting and dialogue of 2 American judges near the climax. Their scenes should have been cut completely! Apart from that, this movie is fantastic and has a great feel-good factor to it. Definitely well worth taking a look.

Based on a manga and anime, this is an ultra violent and gory action movie about a cyborg woman who is betrayed by the organisation she works for as a spy and goes on the run - all the while trying to regain her past memories. Forget about any character development or meaningful plot in this movie, this is all about the heroine hero Mylene Hoffman kicking ass as she meets various villains. The action scenes are done very well. The gore content gets ramped up during the second half with blood being sprayed everywhere. The CG effects is poor to say the least although that is to be expected with a low budget movie. The cast don't have too much to work with material-wise. Performances are stereotypical all round, but the stunning Mayuko Iwasa fits right at home as cyborg 009-1. She brings the right temperament to her character, as her humane compassion starts to break away that ice-cold killing machine instinct. I enjoyed this movie for what it was - a mindless actioner.

Yuki Hase falls for a girl at school that's always alone and has no friends. He tries to be nice to her and asks if he can be her friend but she coldly turns him down. Yuki though persists in trying to befriend her and finds out the truth as to why she wants to be alone. Every Monday morning, Kaori's memories disappear and the only people she remembers is her parents. A traumatic incident in the past has triggered a memory block. Undetered, Yuki tries another approach - to have a diary exchange with Kaori which will ensure she remembers what took place in the previous 7 days.

This is a Japanese teen drama movie with a plot you've probably seen before countless times but it is the characters that makes this a movie you should see. Kento Yamazaki and Haruna Kawaguchi are very charming and likeable together and the rest of the ensemble cast push the storyline forward. Naturally with all plots that start well and you think things are going just too well for the pair and that the rest of their school days together are going to be happy, something has to happen to break them up and in this case it's a boy from Kaori's past. Both leads play their teen roles well even though they are in their early 20's. If you're in the mood to watch something light and bubbly yet a bit cheesy too with a not so perfect boy and a girl with some serious memory issues, then One Week Friends is a great weekend movie for you and your friends.

This is an unintentionally hilarious and shameless Italian Star Wars rip-off that's perfect for shouting jokes at the screen with friends. It's a kitsch comic book sci-fi adventure that delivers some of the worst direction, special effects, acting and design ever to grace the screen, and as a result, it is a gem for connoisseurs of the truly awful. It's also unmissable if you're a fan of the delightful (and buxom) Caroline Munro, since she sports a range of sexy space-attire throughout the movie. You'll also see one of the earliest roles for David Hasselhoff. Obviously, Starcrash is absolute crap, but it's entertaining crap. And should you tire of stop-motion effects that would make Ray Harryhausen wince or spaceships made from household waste and air-fix kits, then there's always lightly-oiled Caroline in her thigh high boots and PVC bikini to make you smile!

Starting with an interesting political idea (Texas breaking away from the US) which is immediately forgotten, we are left to follow the two heroes in a very generic action flick about a populace successfully resisting an actual military force. There are so many missed opportunities there that it would be pointless to list them all, although I'm sure the writers envisioned many of them and knowingly discarded them for some reason, presumably thinking that their core market just wanted firefights. Dave Bautista is probably the best thing in this movie. In conclusion, it's not a boring movie as such but it could have been a great movie which it certainly isn't.

Yuri is a young prostitute who is made aware of a mobile phone app which lets you communicate with the dead. She is desperate to talk to her younger brother Satoshi who tragically died whilst in her care years ago.

I thought that this might be an interesting Japanese movie but unfortunately it fails. The director is unsure whether to lump this as a horror or a drama movie. There is only a slight horror element to the story and it is devoid of any real scares. The lame drama and a thread about a reporter trying to find out about the mobile app which goes nowhere add to the mixed bag this movie is. Whatever interest you might have had in the first half of the movie quickly disappears in the last 30 mins. The ending is particularly bad which sums up this movie to a tee. All in all, a very disappointing movie which given it's premise should have been good.

For once, Hollywood delivers a remake with heart and inspiration - and good screen writing. Bill Skarsgård is truly frightening as Pennywise. Director Andy Muschietti and his team have created that magical Spielberg-Zemeckis adventurous 80's feeling, also reminding of the classic "Stand by Me". The fine performances by the young cast, the quick, funny and good writing, the nice score by rising Benjamin Wallfisch and the cinematography by skilled South Korean Chung Chung-hoon all help in making "It" a well-working and enjoyable movie.

Roger Corman does a cheap Aliens rip-off in this movie! A bunch of male and female mercenaries, are hired to investigate what has happened in a government facility where they were experimenting with dinosaur DNA. There they meet a teenager, who happens to be the only survivor. The story is almost exactly like Aliens and it's ridiculous how much has been copied. The dinosaurs look just as plastic and fake as before. The acting, atmosphere, script, special effects (especially gore and dinosaur effects), are just plain funny. Overall it's a rather lame monster horror movie.

The movie undoubtedly had great visuals with an amazing universe to get into, but the promising characters and plot turned out to be a major disappointment. The plot itself could have been amazing and very thrilling, but instead it felt rushed and underdeveloped with many plot-holes and unanswered questions. There were countless scenes that felt unnecessary and over-dramatic as well. The characters weren't much better. The two main characters could have also been interesting and engaging, but turned out to be hypocritical and awkward. Their relationship and dialogue was very forced, cheesy, and predictable. Even most of the background characters turned out to be wasted or unnecessary. The movie left me feeling irritated and confused, but the world-building, action, and visuals are the only saving graces.

This has been called one of the worst movies ever made and I can see why as well. It is total garbage and zilch to recommend about it. It's a cheap ripoff of Robocop. I could spend hours detailing all the problems I have with this movie, but I'll just list them. The special effects are dreadful, the dialogue is silly and nonsensical, the music is beyond annoying, the actors have zero charisma, the acting is painful to watch, the few attempts at comedy are cringeworthy, the ending is totally ridiculous, and the whole thing is a boring mess. The list is endless. Don't waste 90 mins of your life watching this crap, find another better movie instead!

What an absolutely stunning anime movie this is and yet another fine example of Japanese creativity and talent to make a heart warming story. A young girl named Hotaru gets lost in the woods during a summer vacation in her uncle's mountain lodge. Just when she starts to fear no one would find her, a young man with a mask covering his face appears and shows the way home. But there's something mysterious about Gin, and as it seems, he may even be a forest god in a human form. This movie draws heavily on Japanese tradition and mythology about the yokai - mysterious and playful spirits that inhabit the forests of Japan. All in all, this is a superb anime tale that will tug at the heartstrings.

I don't think anyone expected the original 'Kingsman' to be as big and enjoyable as it was and now the sequel has come along for a fun if familiar journey. New plot theme, cool humour, and some crazy fast paced loud action. It may not be as fun as the first movie but it is entertaining. This movie offers some crazy insane action sequences from the opening car chase to the snowy mountain fight. The fight scenes are fast and can be brutal. Julianne Moore was a great addition as the villain. Having her own fortress in the middle of the forest named Poppy Land which has a look of the 1950s town with robotic dogs and guards. The 3 main leads in Taron Egerton, Mark Strong and Colin Firth are fantastic and bounce off each other brilliantly. I was surprised how funny Elton John was as Poppy's hostage. Overall, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a very entertaining action spy movie. It has some creative loud action but it can be overbearing with the cheesy CGI. Definitely well worth watching if you loved the first one.

Following on from the original was always going to be difficult, but I think 2049 pulls it off in a way that is satisfying to old-time fans, and people watching without having seen the original. The movie retains the atmosphere of its predecessor, partly due to the magnificent score of Hans Zimmer, partly due to the excellent visuals and overall theme of hope. Jared Leto was good as Niander Wallace, who is trying to create replicants who are happily subservient and it's a shame he didn't get more screen time. Ryan Gosling proves he is a capable actor by carrying the movie as K, and Harrison Ford, while old, still retains his old acting charm. It did go on for far too long and should have been 30 mins shorter but apart from that this was a very good sci-fi movie.

This movie is unexpected and an experience like you've never had in your life. This is exactly why I enjoy Darren Aronofsky's work, you get to see stuff you've never seen before. It's a difficult watch in parts I won't lie about that. It's suspenseful, shocking, some will absolutely love it and others will despise it. I enjoyed it because it comes at you like a ton of bricks - it grabs you and doesn't let go. Its a cerebral thrill ride, a mystery of epic proportions until the end, at which point your brain is scrambled eggs. Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem were incredibly good together. I'd be lying if I said the movie didn't have its issues because it does, but I still really enjoyed it. Go and watch this with an open mind.

This is a horror-comedy that very knowingly takes the core conceit of Bill Murray's Groundhog Day and smashes it together with the slasher genre as one girl desperately tries to find out how to stop herself being murdered or she is doomed to replay the same day forever. It's surprisingly fun and effective, with the right balance of humour, scares and character development. The mystery of the killer's identity is another part of the fun. The movie introduces a bunch of characters in the first loop, many whom are red herrings for the audience to suspect. In the end I failed to guess the killer since the movie deployed multiple misdirection to make sure the secret is preserved. Overall, Happy Death Day is a pretty enjoyable horror flick with an interesting concept and a very good performance from the lead actress. I was not bored for even a second because of how fun it was. Yes it is absolutely implausible, bonkers and silly, but if you are looking some cheap thrills and a reason to crack a smile, this movie does its job pretty damn well.

A British sex comedy so bad that even one of it's stars in Joanna Lumley is embarrassed about it! Two brothel Madams place a bet against each other that their top girl is better than the other in a series of challenges in which they have to try and seduce the unseducables. For a sex comedy it really is tame stuff. Only right at the beginning do you see any nudity. The comedy (if that's what you can call it) is piss poor and the less said about the acting the better. Penny Brahms is beautiful to look at but her acting skills is terrible. This movie is definitely bottom of the barrel stuff and as such should be avoided.