Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Another Oscar winning film, this time from 1991 starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, directed by Jonathan Demme. You follow Clarice Starling played by Jodie Foster as a young unqualified FBI agent who working with Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford ends up on the Buffalo Bill case and through a series of events gets to go and interview Dr Hannibal Lecter played brilliantly by Anthony Hopkins in what is probably his most famous role.

This film is brilliant, it is creepy, tense and there are flashes of sheer violence that while at the same time grotesque are not gory and are timed to perfection. Anthony Hopkins plays Dr Lector perfectly while manipulative and cunning he plays him so that you feel compassion for him. Like a lot of the great bad guys in cinema you almost start to root for him, then you swing back against him and possibly at the end you are back on his side, while you know he is vicious you respect him.

I have seen this film before but this is the first time that I have ever really enjoyed it, I am now at the point in my film watching that I am starting to really understand what the films are saying and trying to convey. Overall this is a strong 8 out of 10, not dated by being over 20 years old and a few plot holes on her speaking to Lecter alone you still get drawn in by the story and the awesome acting.

Deep Rising (1998)

This is another film that has become a regular guilty pleasure for me to watch, the story of the cruise liner that is attacked by the small underwater worms and the boat captain played by Treat Williams and the crew of robbers he takes to where the ship is and what they have to do to try and escape. This is a fairly basic by the numbers monster film with an enclosed location with a difficulty in having to escape and a story line that keeps them there. You have the bad guys and the monster and the thoughts of what is worse. 

The acting in this is fun if a bit campy from Treat Williams and Famke Jansen and the comic relief is given by Kevin J O'Connor who you might recognise from The Mummy as Benni. Overall the effects in this film are not brilliant but they are a lot better than some nonsense I have sat through and they do not detract from what is a fun ride and some excellent scenes. 

As this falls in to the guilty pleasure category I am going to give it 4 stars, it will not appeal to everybody but I cannot wait until the next time I choose to watch it.