Film Review - The Hidden (1987)

The Hidden stars Kyle McLachlan as Lloyd Gallagher, an FBI agent from Seattle who comes to LA to work with a local cop to investigate a series of bizarre murders happening in the area, but things are so much more than what they seem.

The Hidden is a highly entertaining and very exciting sci-fi action film, with its story being a spin on the classic Body Snatchers, the action here is extremely well handled, starting with a fantastic opening chase and going from there to several bloody gun fights, and yet none of it feels overdone or overlong, just short, sweet and right to the point.

You know, as I was watching this two things kept coming to mind, one was how everything felt real and not done on some green screen or blue screen stage and the other was that it reminded me of just how shitty today's action films really are, if you can find a copy of this one to watch, I highly suggest you do so, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The King's Speech (2010)

The King's Speech stars Colin Firth as George, who is next in line to become the king of England after his father dies and his elder brother is forced to abdicate the throne following an illegitimate marriage, but this new King has a rather big problem: He bloody well stammers so his wife played by Helena Bonham Carter goes to a speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush but war with Germany is looming and the nation will await the King to address them.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the King's Speech as I didn't think that I will enjoy but the film's trailer made me laugh and became slowly convinced to check it out but it's recent victory at the last Academy Awards for best Picture made me change my mind but I watched it anyway so how did I like it.

Surprisingly I did enjoy it, mainly for it's warm and touching qualities as well as it's very funny humour between Firth and Rush using every slang term in the book to help the King overcome his stammer but my favourite performance is by Bonham Carter, an actress who normally doesn't do roles like this but this film makes me wish she would do more of them as she is warm and tender in a way that shows off how good of an actress she can be.

So overall, a good film worth the time and money, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Paul (2011)

Paul reunites Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from 2007's Hot Fuzz, this time as two budding Sci-Fi fans from England who journey to America to attend the San Diego Comic Con, but one day while driving through the midwest, they encounter a strange person in the desert nearby, or is it?

While watching Paul I thought to myself that it was an absolute pleasure to see Pegg and Frost together again having missed them in Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World from last year, they work very well together and have great chemistry and comedic timing.

Not only that I also enjoyed the performances by Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Sigourney Weaver who does the Dr. Claw type role for most of the movie and Seth Rogen as Paul himself who almost ended up stealing the show from all the others.

If there is a fault I have with the film it's that the jokes don't quite work, one being the joke about the green Alien woman with the three tits despite the characters not knowing that was done in 1990's Total Recall, I wish someone had pointed that out at some stage as it stuck out like a sore thumb and Hot Fuzz didn't have that problem, but hey that's just nitpicking and that isn't the subject of this review.

What is the subject of this review was that I was entertained by some of the jokes and the performances I mentioned above and as a moviegoer, can you ask anything more than for a movie to leave you feeling entertained after it's over, this did and I was happy to say it here, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Morning Glory (2010)

Morning Glory stars Rachel McAdams as Becky Fueller, a producer on a morning TV show called Daybreak which is struggling with low ratings and mixed match hosts, but Becky has an idea to recruit veteran news reporter Mike Pomeroy played by Harrison Ford onto the show, but her boss played by Jeff Goldblum has doubts she can turn things around.

Morning Glory is at times a quite funny comedy, with pretty much the whole film carried on Rachel McAdams' shoulders who does so effortlessly with her unbridled energy, optimism and manic talking though she's also supported very much by Ford, Diane Keaton and Patrick Wilson who pretty much gets the 'there there' role.

Ford however is quite good, as he pretty much does the whole film as if he's half asleep and because of McAdams and Keaton he succeeds but for all of the good this movie tries to create it also has some pretty big faults mainly due to the shift from comedy to sincerity, quite frankly it doesn't work and it almost kills the movie there and then.

But you know, I did laugh but it just didn't quite hit the mark in the end, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Tangled (2010)

Tangled is Disney's 50th Animated Feature and is based off the classic story of Rapunzel, the girl with the long hair locked in a tower, but this time a thief named Flynn Rider voiced by Zachary Levi from Chuck finds her and agrees to take her out into the world, but not if her evil stepmother voiced by Donna Murphy has anything to do with it.

You know while I thought there was some mild enjoyment in that I enjoyed some of the songs, some of the jokes and some parts of the film on the whole I felt that the film failed for pretty much the same reason I felt Thor didn't pass muster.

Yes it's the old weak villain routine and I have a ruling that Disney movies share the same philosophy as an action picture in that they are defined by the strength of their villain and while Murphy is a fabulous actress and singer she didn't really give it the energy that someone like Jonathan Freeman did when he voiced Jafar in 1992's Aladdin, a film far superior to this one it's beyond a joke and though I didn't wish for Jafar to appear in this film as I wanted for Kratos to do so in Thor, a presence like his was sorely missed.

But my other key problem is this: the film's tone at times it plays out like an old fashioned Disney fairytale but also it tries to be a post modern Shrek like movie and the two styles didn't mesh together, it should have gone in one way or the other, not try to mould both.

All in all, though I did like some of it, to me it fell short of satisfaction so just a 1 and a half out of 5.