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Tom Cruise in Collateral - Film Review

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:40:02 GMT

Tom Cruise as a bad guy? I guess he had to try it eventually and although he is still playing just a variation on his normal persona, he does convey a sense of menace in his portrayal of contract killer Vincent in director Michael Mann's suspense thriller, "Collateral". It's intriguing to see a big film star take on such a dark role and Tom Cruise slips in to it quite well. He is amicably assisted by co-star Jamie Foxx as the shy taxi driver Max who unwittingly takes Vincent as one of his passengers, only to realise he will be used as a courier while Vincent goes around executing his targets.

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Polished Stones Etiquette Series - Movie Manners

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:00:03 GMT

I guess you could say that I am an old fashion girl. I love a good movie and dinner date. I love being escorted to the movies by my husband and standing back while he pays for the tickets. Yes, it can be fun cuddling at home on the sofa while watching a movie, but there is something to be said from having your man take you to the theatre, hold your hands and make over you. It just makes me feel like we are dating again. However, lately, it has become difficult to enjoy a good movie with all the disruption.

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Atonement Movie Review

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:15:02 GMT

BOTTOM LINE: Long-winded and mis-directed period drama which despite its best intentions, great acting and solid ideas, never really comes together to drive its point home. THE GOOD: Atonement starts off with the titles being literally typed on screen by a typewriter. This plays in to the main theme of the supposedly central character of Briony Tallis who is writing her first play. Through the first act, 13-year old Briony tells an astonishing lie (fuelled by jealously because of an unrealised crush) that their house-keeper's son Robbie (James McAvoy) raped her cousin in the bushes one night when in fact it was the rich friend of her brother.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 Review

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:40:02 GMT

Buffy is a typical teenage girl who just happens to also be a vampire slayer - the vampire slayer, actually. As the voiceover at the start of each episode recites, each generation there is one chosen girl who must fight against the forces of darkness. Buffy's the current slayer, but she's a bit different from those who came before her. Season 1 consists of the first twelve episodes of the season. This first season focuses on Buffy's struggle with teenage life and her heroic destiny. Fans of fantasy dramas will surely enjoy this show, and there's no better place to start than the first season which introduces the show's cast of characters and mythologies carried throughout the show's seven seasons.

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Into the Wild

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:15:02 GMT

I just completed watching the movie "Into The Wild" filmed by Sean Penn. It's a movie based on the best-selling book of the same title by Jon Krakauer. A biography of sorts of young Christopher Johnson McCandless, it shows the gradual journey of Chris into the wild, both mentally and physically. Beautifully shot with almost aesthetic renditions of various locations in Alaska, Arizona and Dakota, it's close to being a cinematic phenom. No jarring special effects to mar the sensibilities of Chris's foray into the unknown, away from securities and love, something's special.

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The X Factor - Here We Go Again

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:10:02 GMT

At the beginning of series 5 of the X Factor I can't help wondering why some contestants put themselves through excruciating auditions. Some are embarrassingly bad and I can only think that they are either suffering from delusions or they know just how bad they are but still think it worth the embarrassment to appear on TV. This year the popular UK TV music talent contest has attracted over 180, 000 contestants at auditions up and down the UK. All of them dream about hitting the big time and winning a lucrative record contract.

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A Guide to the Career of Sylvester Stallone

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:00:02 GMT

Sly Stallone hit the big 62 this year, coinciding with the release of Rambo which comes 26 years after the release of First Blood. The Stallone career has spanned four decades and he started out in the gritty melting pot that was post-war Hells Kitchen in New York. He was adamant about becoming an actor and after some small bit appearances he managed to find his big break alongside Henry Winkler in a film called Lords of Flatbush. It was not only acting that he was interested in and he started banding around ideas for scripts and in 1975 Stallone saw the Ali vs Wepner fight which set his creative juices flowing.

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Disney Princess Spotlight - Snow White

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:25:02 GMT

Snow White is one of the dearest Disney Princess characters and was the first Disney Princess when she first appeared in Walt Disney's animated fairytale, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' that premiered on December 21, 1937 was later released to theatres on February 4, 1938. The film was the first animated feature film in history. Like many of Disney's successful animated feature films, the story of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' was originally based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm titled 'Snow White'.

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Will Smith in I Am Legend - Film Review

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:15:02 GMT

BOTTOM LINE: The film tries really hard to be different to the standard zombie flick, but it just meanders along, lacking tension thanks to unconvincing CGI. Not even Will Smith's most impressive performance to date can raise this film above its poorer qualities. THE GOOD: "I Am Legend" has a premise which will be familiar to any zombie fan; a human-created virus wipes out most of the population on the planet. Those that don't die are turned in to zombie-like monsters, with only a select few immune.

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Aliens Vs Predator Requiem - Film Review

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:40:02 GMT

BOTTOM LINE: A superior attempt to recreate what was so good about the original "Alien" and "Predator" films, but it's so mean and nasty to the point of ruin, making the film completely distasteful and unenjoyable. THE GOOD: One of the main problems with the first AVP film was that it didn't fit well with the the standalone 'Alien' and 'Predator' films. Many of the rules established in the respective universes of each franchise were broken when inconvenient to the plot, the characters were just crap, the sub-plot pertaining to the Predators creating ancient civilisations on Earth with pyramids etc was contrived, but worst of all, there was only one five minute sequence in the entire film that lived up to the title;

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