The Act Of Killing (2012)

Joshua Oppenheimer & Christine Cynn alongside a mostly anonymous crew demonstrate the genuine true power of well made cinema. 'The Act Of Killing' is simply draw dropping cinema. 8 years in the making, it's profoundly surreal, disturbing, terrorfying and upsetting yet always compelling and challenging. In its most simplistic synopsis the documentary lets former leaders of Indonesian Death Squads reinact the killings of millions of Communists after the government was overpowered by the military in 1965. All the extras which include Joshua talking through the scenes and how the film has been received are also essential viewing. Overall, this really is essential cinema.

10/10 

Incidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Directed by James Wan who also directed the equally disapointing 'The Conjuring' and with the same cast as it's predecessor, part two continues this supernatural thriller of a tormented family plagued by an evil spirit. With obvious knods to both 'The Shining' and 'Poltegeist' it fails to really be scary in any real sense, and although it seems to follow on nicely from the first film with no obvious plot floors, it unfortunately, like 'The Conjuring' comes across as 'a bit silly'. Reasonably fun, but ultimately to throw away to remain in ones conscious for more than a day, if not a few hours. 

4/10

Gravity (2013)

Everyone's been going on about this movie so I bought it from Sainsburys of all places on 3D blue ray. So the basic plot surrounds a group of astronaughts doing a routine space walk and some repair work on their shuttle. Suddenly disaster strikes as the ship is all but destroyed by a wave of debris floating through space. Events continue to worsen and the main character fights for her life to return to earth. Visually it's fantastic in 3D and ultimatelty this distracts you from the weak plot and ridiculous script. By the time your two thirds in you really start noticing this and the unbelievability factor gets ramped up to ten. It's good in 3D don't get me wrong but a moment in time film rather than a timeless classic. 

5/10

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

North Norfolk digital gets bought by a multi media conglomerate resulting in one DJ getting the elbow. Alan Partridge finds himself at the forefront of the resulting siege and laps up the worldwide media interest. Being a fan for many many years I feared the worst for this inevitable blockbuster. Good British comedies tend to suffer when put on the big screen and unfortunately this is no exception. It's not bad but that's the point... It's good in places and sadly not so good in others and overall seems to loose all of the subtleties the series encapsulated so well. Overall it's just not as gritty or funny, but it was never going to be. Average but not a future classic. 

5/10

Trash Humpers (2009)

Harmony Korine challenges the audience with this plotless somewhat pointless montage of degraded VHS 'found footage' of a degenerate group of Nashville OAPs, who fill their day with drinking, mindless vandalism, trash humping, dancing and general weird peeping tomism! In places it acts like a new breed of horror, but has too many floors to make it genuinely creepy. The fact you can tell its young actors are wearing old people masks doesn't help. The feeling of old people being so debauturous is unsettling and gives the feeling of unforefilled lives and broken dreams, but overall this could have been a lot better and made more atmospheric if more time was spent on it. The last 20 mins or so is unsettling, but in general it drags. Good film but I get the feeling it thinks its weirder than it is. Could have been so much better but worth a watch. 

4/10

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

Flint gets a chance to work for his dream company but soon finds himself retrieving one of his old machines that has started producing animal food mutations. Great animation and characters including a killer cheeseburger. Great 3D.
6.5/10

Django Unchained (2013)

Quentin Tarintino continues his genre re-sculpting, this time settling on a Spaghetti Western. A German bounty hunter sets a slave free to embark on a search for his missing wife. The chase leads to a plantation in Mississippi where Django unleashes some bloody vengeance. Although rated by most people I found this a little too confused, mixing over the top stylized genre elements together. Comedy mixes with elements of 70s blacksploitation. Its fun don't get me wrong and the film doesn't take itself too seriously, however overall it wasn't convincing enough and with a running time of over 2.5 hours, was far too long! Not really for me this one!
5.5/10