The Magnificent Seven (1960) - John Sturges

This film is a classic, but it didn't entertain me in the slightest. I couldn't concentrate and genuinely though it was boring. It is not deserving of its 7.8 rating on IMDb sadly. It was a disappointment.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

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?

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The ABCs of Death (2012) - Too Many to List

The directors I enjoyed the most were: Adrian Garcia Bogliano (B), Helens Cattet (O), Thomas Cappelen Malling (H), Marcel Sarmiento (D) and Jake West (S).
It's kind of difficult to analyse this collection of short films as a whole. IMDb seems to have the right idea, giving it exactly half. Some segments were good. Others were terrible. A lot of them didn't fit correctly together, and were too arty or dramatic in between very goofy ones, but I suppose that's the kind of thing that the producers wanted. I'd like to see more films of this type, possibly with the same director doing all of the segments, to give the audience many stories, but in the same vein of storytelling. It was very inventive, so I'll give it a:

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Lincoln (2012) - Steven Spielberg

Long and drawn out, but worth a watch. I think it would have made more of a mark on me, if I was American or black, but alas, I am neither. However, when I check these years on imdb, it seems they give the year of the American release date, so I'll stick with them, particularly when it's an American made film.

 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

SPOILERS Halloween (2007) - Rob Zombie SPOILERS

Before I write this review, I'd like to get one thing clear: I know it's not THE original! Right, to business...
This film was good, it did what it was meant to. I liked the early life of Michael Myers, it made him more human, and therefore more brutal, when he grew up and started killing every fucker, even the nice guy, played by Danny Trejo; that part shocked me! I liked the gore too, and how different that was from the original, directed by John Carpenter.
As good as John Carpenter's seems to be, I've never really been enthralled by it. Sure, it's worth watching, but only for the countless other films it spawned, as well as the copycat outfits kids wear on Halloween. (I don't even think most of the kids are old enough to watch the film.) What I really can't seem to get a hold of, is a DVD copy of Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - Tommy Lee Wallace, but it never comes into work (I work in a DVD store, by the way) and I haven't ever seen it in HMV (probably won't ever, if the news is to be believed). Even though reviews I've seen haven't been great, scoring 4.1 on IMDb, I think it'd be more interesting than another Michael Myers killing frenzy.
Anyway, watching this purely as a viewer, I'd give it an OK rating, not a blockbuster or piece of art, but certainly a film to make us think twice about the original from 1978.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Frenzy (1972) - Alfred Hitchcock

This film is not Alfred Hitchcock's best. I haven't seen all of them, but I expect it isn't his worst. It's dialogue is good, not realistically British (as I am), but I enjoyed the witty repertoire between Chief Inspector Oxford and his wife in particular. However, those scenes did seem a trifle unnecessary. The subplot of the wife's awful cooking did little to furthur the plot, and whilst I respect Alfred Hitchcock's humour at poking fun at a couple, who are on the verge of a murder enquiry, I do not see the need to (if you'll pardon the pun) murder the point.

Barry Foster as Robert Rusk reminded me so much of another certain British actor around in the 1970s,  so I did some research - checked the Imdb Trivia page for the film - and apparently Michael Caine was offered this part, and turned it down. Sure, he'll do Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) - Jay Roach but a certified Hitchcock classic, that's a no-no. (I think this is the only review in the world to compare those two films.)

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆