Wrecked (2010) - Michael Greenspan

What started off as a sort of wannabe Buried (also 2010) - Rodrigo Cortes became something slightly different after about half an hour. Whether this is better depends entirely on whichever actor you find more appealing: Ryan Reynolds or Adrien Brody. I liked it, but not enough to concentrate completely. There wasn't enough dialogue or sound effects to make that side of the film particularly fun, but when one tries to, the twist is entirely worthwhile.

★ ★ ★  ☆ ☆

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003) - Peter Jackson

I'll keep this short, unlike this four hour extended edition: you can understand why it's only been done the once. It needs never doing again, as Mr Jackson did it perfectly. And then dragged the ending on for a tad too long and unnecessarily. The cinematic release, I believe, had slightly less waffle, but even so...

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

El Laberinto del Fauno (2006) - Guillermo del Toro

I don't get why all the pages cite this as Pan's Labyrinth. We should use its real title. The whole film is in Spanish, and the Spanish translation isn't even Pan's Labyrinth. That's just the title to try and grab a Western market, more familiar with the idea of Greek god of wilderness, Pan, than they are with the concept of a faun. We've all read about Mr Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (and seen him played by James McAvoy in that 2005 film, directed by Andrew Adamson), so we should just call a spade a faun, or something.
Anyway, that being put aside, this film is a fairytale for the adult, for the modern, and for those that like their films. Basically, this film is a fairytale for me. Yay. I loved it, and I love that del Toro didn't do it in English, as I feel that a subtitled film kept it elegant and not childlike, which perfectly fitted the scares and gore that appears more frequently than one such as me first assumed it would have. I found myself not remembering anything from my first viewing, little over two years ago, and instead remarking on how scary the eye demon thing HANDS! was. But yeah, this isn't one for the kiddies, so watch alone all you parents.

☆ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Evil Dead (1981) - Sam Raimi

A genuinely scary film, and possibly one of the best on a shoe string budget. This film made Bruce Campbell and the director's career. I preferred Spider-Man (2002), which also has a cameo by Campbell, but Evil Dead will always remain a favourite for horror fans all over the world.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Letter (1940) - William Wyler

We are doing about stars in our American Cinema History class, namely Bette Davis. From this film, she seems like a whore, one that none of the audience seemed particularly caring about. Whether this was intentional on the studio's part, as she was demanding about her contract, asking about upgrades from that of a usual actress, is anyone's guess. It is a possibility though.

 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) - John Moore

This film was a bit obvious, there weren't many shocks. Even the "twist" seemed too obvious.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

30 Minutes or Less (2011) - Ruben Fleischer

Not as good as Zombieland (2009), but a good collaboration between Jesse Eisenberg and this director. I look forward to their (hopefully) next project: Zombieland 2. Also Aziz Ansari makes this film. He's the best thing in it.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆