Mark's Reviews

Beware, despite the blurb above, this is NOT at 3D Blu-ray. A bit misleading. Amazing dancing though hopefully the 3D one will be here soon.

This came with glowing reviews but was a little disappointing. Much of the blame lies with the clunky translations for the subtitles ("coronated" anyone?!) which made for slow reading. Why can't the subtitles be all place in the black band at the bottom of the screen so you aren't trying to read yellow against white some of the time? And as is increasingly case with the new wave of Chinese cinema, the none too subtle political message at the end grates, ("it doesn't matter that you are a scheming murderous sociopath, Empress Wu, aka 'the party', society needs to be 'held together' and the means justify the ends). I guess we've had the same guff from Hollywood for decades, but it still needs to be pointed out for what it is; propaganda.

Worth it for the camel scene (you'll know it...)

A bit disappointed in this. It had the usual plot line of virtually every boxing movie ever made, and made sadly little use of the musical talents of Tim Minchin (perhaps the discovery that, despite being a musical and comedy genius, he cannot act had something to do with this.) I guess in the end I just find boxing boorish and a dud "sport" - since when is brain damage a worthwhile goal in any undertaking? No amount of dressing up and posturing can change that.

I really wanted to like this movie more but somehow the blend of grotesque corpse dragging, nebulous moralising over US attitudes to immigrants and the intermittent action sequences did not complement each other, meaning none of the above every really achieved anything meaningful. That "other movie" with Tommy Lee Jones about US/Mexico wins by a mile......

Perhaps we watched this a bit to close to completing the books, but some of the unnecessary variations in the story line grated, especially omitting the whole Berger/Blomqvist subplot. Michael Nygvist is just not charismatic enough for the role and Berger is not hot enough. Salander, however, was perfect and the movie was worth seeing for this riveting portrayal alone. And for the record, why get out a foreign film if you don't like subtitles?

Turgid, morose and unable to given even a glimmer of the vitality of either of these monoliths of literature. 40 minutes too long, Gwennie and Dan make a brave fist of it with good performances but, like Sylvia and all too many associated with her, they are doomed.

Emotionally satisfying in a way only Almodovar can achieve, this is a sensational performance from Penelope Cruz and the rest of a nearly all female cast. Almodovar has managed to give us a deeply moving and enriching ending without needing needing to pedantically tie off every idea in the movie, yet leaving nothing half done. Beware: the case says it is 188 minutes long which might be intimidating; it's actually only 110!

You really can't go past Gandalf gone bad....

With ease the worst movie I have seen in the last 5 years. The back of the case claims "sexy black comedy" but it's dismally missing that vital ingredient: being funny! The lead actress was convincing, but that's about the only positive thing it has going for it. The rest was such mindless, grotesque drivel, watching ACA and Today Tonight would be intellectual stimulation in the extreme.It doesn't even manage to outrage, just bore and take 90 minutes of your life away. Now violence, sadism and sex can be funny; very funny if you have a look at some Tarantino etal, but this really aims low and achieves that end perfectly. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

Definitely a cut above the average. A well thickened plot means you really need to be awake for this one as it turns on itself a number of time but there are rewards for paying attention. Hugh Jackman is very believable and Christian Bale's usual woody delivery suits his character well. Probably just pips "The Illusionist" in the battle of the magician movies.

Lacked a lot of the charisma and ironic wit of the first two, and what plot there was was clearly dreamed up in some writers' sweat shop for churning out sequels they know everyone will see regardless of quality. None the less, the animation is stunningly good and there are (just) enough entertaining bits to make this worth a look.

Finally a modern sci fi movie that does what science fiction should; stretch your mind, not put you to sleep with the latest in CGI. I can hear Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov applauding this tale that walks a beautiful line between nebulous threat, opaque mystery and finally epiphany. George is truly excellent and the support cast inhabit their roles too. Don't even start this if you don't want to engage the gray matter.

Seriously talented. Seriously controversial. Seriously funny. Be warned, you will have this stuck in you head for some time afterwards.

Once you recover from being assaulted by the histrionic 1940s soundtrack, and start appreciating this movie like you might classic literature or very expensive wine, you'll begin to understand why it is consistently rated best of all time. You've really got to take the time to notice just how it has been put together. Oh, and Orson Welles has the greatest scowl of all time, as well.

This was a truly dismal effort. Dislikable main characters, incomprehensible plot and action sequences that were so chaotic you really couldn't tell who the baddies and goodies were! It successfully eradicated whatever naive charm the original cartoon may have had, which was fairly limited to start with, and managed to be peurile, bombastic and tedious all at once. Bring back the decent corny block buster ala Independence Day that could be totally over the top but at least laugh at its own pretensions.

Really quite funny, although it does take a while to get going. It's nice to see that poor taste humour can be done in...good taste? Or maybe the dry British accent just lends itself beautifully to mordant if absurd humour, making the unacceptable sound respectable?

Dark, beautiful and terrible.

Beautifully filmed, full of wry humour and human tragedy, this movie is typical of Rolf de Heer in sucking you right in. The cast of mostly non actors were perfect in their nonchalance but the land is the real star.

Still fresh after more than 40 years, Mary Poppins remains probably the best family movie ever made. Always upbeat and positive but never cloying or sentimental, the whimsical story is lifted by great characterisation from two legendary leads. Even the old style special effects and animation lends it a dreamlike quality, sadly missing in so much children's fare. What can you say but....practically perfect!

Wonderfully silly, so full of self-mockery only New Zealanders could have made it. Even the cheap gore fest scenes were dripping, mostly in irony. Bring on the sequel...mutant sheep jump the ditch!?

Although possibly a touch overlong, this is a genuinely moving biopic of the late great Jackie du Pre. It never seeks to deify its subject as so many films bios tend to and Jackie really does come across and a genius with a handful of typical human flaws. Emily Watson and Rachael Griffiths inhabit their roles and get good support from the rest of the cast, who are a bit in their shade. Wonderful sound track, although the Elgar concerto gets a thorough beating!

Profoundly disturbing and yet full of humanity, this movies avoids the usual temptation to tie everything up in terms of "us and them" or "good and bad" and leaves at the end to make up our own minds. The final scenes of urban warfare were intensely real and the distress of those caught up in the maelstrom palpable, but perhaps this scene went on just a bit too long. Clive Owens typically wooden delivery was perfect for this dying world.

Still incredibly fresh after more than 40 years, Mary Poppins has to be one of the best family movies of all time. There is not a negative note in it, yet it somehow is able to refrain from cloying sentimentality that infests some much "family" fare these days. Dick van Dyke is irrepressible, and Julie Andrews is....practically perfect!

One of the best sequels made, this comes awfully close to bettering the first installment. Once again, Pixar has allowed narrative to dominate technique and reaped the rewards. The idea of character development in animated films was a joke before Pixar but TS 2 proves not only that it can be done, but it can put most movies with "real actors" to shame.

One of the more obvious cases of "sequelitis" around. Toby Macguire's gawky half-breaking voice was refreshing in the first one but now just grates. The love triangle between the three friends is now exhausted and even the baddies are confused without any kind of governing raison d'etre. This franchise needs to be retired.

A beautifully gentle film filled with wry humour, irony (Garrison Keillor's character is avowedly against nostalgia, yet the whole movie is permeated with it), and wistful characterisations. Meryl Streep is, as always, the only actress who can match our Cate for possessing a character, and Lily Tomlin's haggard yet still beautiful face echoes the sad decline of the theater and show they all love.

I thought I'd had my fill of Scorsese Mob based bloodbaths but "The Departed" is illuminated by some wonderful performances. Matt Damon is creepily respectable as the bent cop, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin manage to transcend their usual on screen personae and even old Jack manages to rise above his usual standard range of patented Nicholson mannerisms (the man would be nothing without his eyebrows!). However, Leo is the absolute standout, mesmerisingly catching the increasingly doubtful and jaded exhaustion of his constant double life. This one is worth the investment in time.

George Clooney's weary face and black bagged eyes sums up this film's atmosphere of fatigue; fatigue of knowing that the right thing probably won't happen. It manages to hide the typical David vs Goliath tale behind a more subtle exploration of ambition and venality colliding with a lawyer who thought he'd lost his way but find a previously unknown reservoir of ethics.

An interesting premise, not let down by the performances. It was odd not to ever see Hugo Weaving and only have a voice over but Natalie Portman was great. Stephen Fry, as always in this kind of movie, is a complete non sequitur

This still sets the standard for modern animated films. There have been many fine ones since but none have topped it. It makes it clear that the technically wizardry is completely subservient to the narrative; right where it should be and something that a lot of non-animated films could learn from.

This is a visual marvel. Some of the street scenes are so "real" it makes you think hard about what is really going on in a lot of non-animated films. However, I thought something was lacking in the usual joy de verve department that is so often Pixar's forte and, dare I say it, was possibly a touch too serious for a movie about rats taking over a Parisian restaurant!