Boys Don't Cry (1999) - Kimberly Peirce

I was not expecting it to be this dark. I think it broke my Hilary Swank virginity. I had never seen a film with her in it, until this one. It was a very good film, truly deserving its one Oscar for Swank's performance, which was mesmerising. Absolutely stunning.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - Stanley Kubrick

This film was the perfect political movie, mixed with a healthy brand of comedy. Peter Sellers was brilliant in his three roles, the best being Dr Strangelove naturally, but the President's phone call was a highlight of the movie for me.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Tropic Thunder (2008) - Ben Stiller

An OK action film. An OK comedy film. Not great, but Robert Downey Jr's banter with Brandon T Jackson's character about race is worth watching out for.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

A Haunted House (2013) - Michael Tiddes

Better than most of the Scary Movie franchise. One can't help but think that if the Wayans brothers had been in charge of the sequels, they would have been a lot funnier.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Dark Shadows (2012) - Tim Burton

This gothic remake of the television show is one of Tim Burton's best collaborations with Johnny Depp since the glory days of Sleepy Hollow (1999) - Tim Burton, which is my favourite Burton film. An all star cast doesn't hinder Dark Shadows, only making it better.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Lorax (2012) - Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda

Still a laughably brilliant, and a reminder of looking after the Earth and whatnot. Plus, I do love the cute animals and the reminders they hold.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Psycho (1960) - Alfred "Hitchety Hitch" Hitchcock

This film is about my life.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

PS It's not actually. It's a classic horror, and possibly one of the best slasher films ever made. Hitchcock is the man when it comes to making films, everyone knows that. There was some scepticism, when he first approached making a film of the novel, about his role as a serious director, but he proved anything is possible, and paved the way for new and inspiring filmmakers, and continues doing that to this day.

Mr Deeds (2002) - Steven Brill

One of Adam Sandler's better films. I haven't seen the original, but I imagine that it is slightly more serious than this off beat comedy that truly fits Sandler's style. A movie I can watch time and again.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Man of Steel (2013) - Zack Snyder

It's everything I expected. Slightly more Russell Crowe than I saw coming, but that was a definite positive, as he was very good in it. Henry Cavill was very good, but does not seem to suit the Clark Kent part we see glimpses of as much as he does Superman.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Now You See Me (2013) - Louis Leterrier

This film was the surprise unlimited screening at Cineworld St Helens, so I had no idea what to expect. It was a simple film, with a complicated plot. It was entertaining throughout, and the ending, whilst a little slow, did answer all the questions we as a viewer asked ourselves. At the beginning, make sure you look at the cards and see one, because if it works like it did for me, then that truly is what magic is after all. It really made me want to practise some more tricks.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Steven Soderbergh

Liberace is fabulous. Michael Douglas is creepily eerie as he should be and Matt Damon shines as his much younger lover. Neither character is really likeable, but both are humanised to the point of emotive feeling.
Soderbergh seems to be one of the few directors able to churn out good films on a nearly yearly basis. It's the story that is this movie's downfall. Parts just aren't as interesting when you know what's coming, even if you don't know which protagonists fault it is.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Sheffield Documentary Festival

What a lovely week in Sheffield. All the reviews of the festival of films I watched are on here now. I may post more as I watch them.
The best of the event was Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (2013) - Marina Zenovich.
It was closely followed by the most emotion rearing piece Blackfish (2013) Gabriela Cowperthwaite.
All of the others were good as well. There was not one bad film shown at the festival, and hopefully by the time the next one comes around, I will have submitted my own film.

Blackfish (2013) - Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Another brilliant documentary. This is possibly the only one from Sheffield Documentary Festival that would make me change the way I think and act. It's strong message was reinforced with some brilliant archive footage, which really demonstrated everything that the interviewees were saying. However, its only downfall was as a result of Sea World refusing to comment or allow current employees to be interviewed. This documentary was truly worth a masterpiece rating.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

PS I have a fear of fish and deep sea creatures, so the clips from Orca (1977) - Michael Anderson made me jump a little, and my friend laughed.

A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power and Jayson Blair at the New York Times (2012) - Samantha Grant

As interesting as it was, one can see the difference between British and American standards in newspaper print. Jayson Blair comes off as unlikeable, and that's possibly why the documentary isn't as interesting to me. If he had been given some kind of other side, apart from the fact he is a bad person, perhaps the documentary would have been more appealing.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow (2012) - John Dower

One wonders when watching this, would it be as good a documentary, if Wiggins had not come first in the Tour de France and won the Olympic gold in the same year?
Yes, we do have the same second name. No, we are sadly not related.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Walter Murch

Not strictly a documentary, or at all. He delivered a very interesting and in depth talk on editing in picture and sound. He also delved very in depth into his own life and it was a very sapid talk.
The question and answer session was also very eye-opening. Apparently Francis Ford Coppola describes himself as a very spontaneous editor, whereas Murch is apparently very thoughtful about each individual scene and cut in a film. "That being said," the interviewer asked, "Why did you propose to your wife, Aggie, after only knowing her two weeks?" This question had the audience laughing, but Walter Murch was unabashed.
He is a genuinely lovely gentleman, and a very endearing speaker. Furthering on from this talk, I will be purchasing a copy of Murch's book, In the Blink of an Eye, due to some of the ideas in the talk being expanded upon in there.

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (2013) - Marina Zenovich

This was the best documentary at the festival. It was beautifully done, and a brilliant insight into Pryor's home life, and full of shocking twists. All the archive footage of his performances kept the audience entertained and amused, even when the storyline took a darker turn.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist (1997) - Nick Freand Jones

Any film about The Exorcist (1973) - William Friedkin is bound to be fraught with trivia and clips of those oh-so-naughty scenes. And it was. Someone walked out of the screening when the scene of Linda Blair as Regan masturbating with a crucifix came on. What were they expecting?

Mark Kermode was in attendance (as pictured here with director/producer Nick Freand Jones); he presents the documentary itself and was a very interesting speaker, giving us much more insight into the film than he could in the documentary itself. Speaking of, the film itself was good, giving us a varied point from all of the main cast and directors and writers. I think if it had been left any later than 1997, many of the older cast members would no longer be with us to be interviewed (dead, basically).

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Here Was Cuba (2013) - John Murray and Emer Reynolds

I enjoyed this film and the sense of atmosphere it really showed in such a simple documentary. That being said, the documentary was extremely well researched, and many of the interviewees were top level protagonists in the event.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Apocalypse Now (1979) - Francis Ford Coppola

Guess who turned up to this film? Only Walter friggin' Murch! The editor and sound engineer on this film was in full attendance. (He also gave a talk on editing later on in the festival - more on this later.)
The film itself, as most already know, is brilliant. The only reason I didn't give this the hallowed five star masterpiece rating was because of the ridiculously slow paced ending with Marlon Brando, a fantastic actor, sadly ruining what was otherwise a brilliant movie.
That shot of Martin Sheen rising from the water is gorgeous, especially when watched on the big screen. More classics should be re-released purely for this reason.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Secret Life of Uri Geller - Psychic Spy? (2013) - Vikram Jayanti

For some reason, this film doesn't have an imdb page, which makes its contents even more compelling and interesting. Here is a picture of me and the subject; yes, Uri Geller himself showed up!

Jayanti was also in attendance at the festival, and took some very (to use his own phrase) "asshole questions" before the film had even begun. Once it had, people did leave, but I felt, as I'm sure most of the people who stayed until the end did, that it was a very well told narrative.
Whether Geller has any gifts or not is debatable, but Uri is not thick. He claims he is a performer, and even acknowledges how ridiculous powers would or could be. Geller is a mysterious man, and yet, one cannot deny he has a definite charm about him that makes him such an interesting choice of subject. The evidence of his life is all there, and this film well documents it all, and gives us a clear argument both for and against the titling question: was Uri Geller a psychic spy during the Cold War?

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Mirage Men (2013) - John Lundberg, Roland Denning, Kypros Kyprianou

I do have a vague interest in the subject matter, that is of UFOs and the like, particularly Roswell. This film extended my interest for a short while, but after some time, particularly when most of the interesting stories were not elaborated upon, the film began to wear on me.
The ending is spoiled when what everyone knows and has suspected about Richard Doty (a very interesting and well researched choice for a film) is confirmed, with seemingly no twist or difference in opinion. Doty makes a good interviewee, but it is clear that he can't carry a film all on his own.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Valentine Road (2013) - Marta Cunningham

I did enjoy this film, and thought its subject matter made it important to everyone, no matter what their sexuality.
Marta Cunningham, the director, was present at the screening and made a very good point when asked why she didn't speak to the killer himself, Brandon: "He [Brandon] silenced Larry King's [the victim] voice when he shot him, so I didn't feel his deserved his own heard." However, Brandon McInerney was eager to be interviewed, which made her also feel uncomfortable.
A good start to the festival, even if it was a little too dark to be called entertaining, and the students interviewed all seemed to be very grouped to one lot of people.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Sheffield Documentary Festival

This begins tomorrow. I am going there. I will regale you with stories of my travels when I come back.

Little Nicky (2000) - Steven Brill

No matter how many times I watch this movie, I always laugh. It is probably Adam Sandler's best film. I really love it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Last Exorcism Part II (2013) - Ed Gass-Donnelly

I saw the original with an ex, and can't really remember it too well to be honest. I remember the basic plot, and I don't particularly think one had to have seen it to understand what was going on in this one: a girl is possessed; she needs to get over it and no one believes her anyway. Cue more possession and shiz.
It wasn't too bad, and the ending was a bit different to the usual kind of possession film. However, the fact that the first one was a hand held camera feel gave this one the same kind of feel, and I'm not sure it really worked in this single camera format. However, it got a little less distracting as the film went on.
A few jumps, as is to be expected, but nothing too different from other films in the genre.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

After Earth (2013) - M. Night Shyamalan

Too much Jaden, not enough Will. I think it could become a massive franchise, as it seems to be planned to be. However, the ending was wrapped up way too quickly. There were some shots I really liked, for example, the flying part was genuinely well done, but a lot of this film was just too easy. I expect more from the next instalment.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SPOILERS Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - George Miller and George Ogilvie SPOILERS

I did enjoy this one, but not as much as I did the second. It was too Americanised and cheesy. Plus there were way too many loose ends, like the ending: why would they not go to the rest of the kids waiting at the plane? Poor things are probably gonna end up dead properly.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) - George Miller

The best in the Mad Max trilogy. After the disappointment of the first film, they really kicked up the notch on the apocalypse theme.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

RocknRolla (2008) - Guy Ritchie

I swear to God this better get a sequel. It's a really interesting film and one of my favourite Ritchie films. As we know, many of the actors in it are now Hollywood big shots, and Guy Ritchie himself makes more renowned films for Warner Bros, so whether they have time or not is a different story. I hope so.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Break-Up (2006) - Peyton Reed

Maybe it's because I've just come out of a break up but this film is really accurate to real life, well as accurate to real life that a film can be, and much better than I remember it being upon first watch.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Purge (2013) - James DeMonaco

A very brilliant idea and the film itself wasn't too bad either. Reminded me of another Ethan Hawke film, Daybreakers (2009) - Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, in the way it was a different version of the modern world in the near future. The villain of the piece, credited as Polite Stranger, played by Rhys Wakefield (very good looking in a Matt Smith kind of way), was a brilliant invention, and superbly played. Very menacing and creepy.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆