Shutter Island (2010)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the fourth film he has worked with Director Martin Scorsese, this film has Leo depicting a US Marshall as he and his partner played by Mark Ruffalo go to Shutter Island which houses a prison for the criminally insane. They have been sent to investigate the disappearance of one of the female inmates but is there more going on there than meets the eye? You follow Leo as he tries to figure out what has happened at the prison and what might be hidden there.

The first time I saw this film the impact of the twist was awesome, I was a bit distracted as it appeared that it was going to be a random reason for a disappearance and while I could see something was going on from what I could see I did not expect or see what was coming and it blew my mind. I have heard that some people guessed what was happening but for me it was out of the blue other than the knowledge that something had to be happening. Overall if you can see this knowing there is a twist but not what it is I think that you will appreciate the acting with Leo and Mark Ruffalo you have Sir Ben Kingsly, Max Von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley and Emily Mortimer all playing excellent characters.

This is a film that I recommend, especially if you enjoy mysteries and thrillers, you will appreciate this and if you can spot the twist let me know, I would love to hear how you came to the right conclusion without it being a guess. Based on the early nods you are supposed to guess that something is up and even on second watch I still appreciated this film and would recommend you see it, this is a strong 9 out of 10 for me.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Film of 2012 #68


From director Mike Hodges and the comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond comes a hero to save us all....FLASH ahhh saved everyone of us!! Starring Sam J Jordon as star Football player Flash Gordon, Melody Anderson as Dale Arden jounalist and Topol as Dr Hans Zarkov. They travel to the planet Mong and face off against Ming the Merciless this is a family battle with the Music of Queen to stir the heart. Dr Zarkov recoignises that recent strange weather effects on Earth are being caused from the planet Mong and he kidnapps Flash Gordon and Dale Arden and takes them with him to help solve the issue. Then you have the story as the figure out what is happening and what they have to do to fix the issue.

The acting is campy and the outfits are totally cheesy and this is very child friendly, you have Timothy Dalton and Brian Blessed as bad guys? With Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless, this film is a lot of fun but is very dated and very simple with a lot happening but not a lot of it that meaningful to me. The best part of the whole film is the sound track provided by Queen. With some great music including the title rack Flash Gordon and I will listen to this in the future however not that sure I will watch the film again.

Overall this film is an 80's campy classic but overall it is not that great and not worth seeing in my opinion, it is 2 stars and only worth seeing for nostalgia and if you want to see how comic book films were done in the 80's and late 70's.

The Exorcist (1973)

Film of 2012 #15
Some Spoilers


The William Friedkin Film based upon the William Blatty novel of the same name and is considered by many film fans as one of the best films of all time and at least the best Horror film of all time. I have actually had the opportunity to listen to an audio commentary by fans and a thorough analysis of the film scene by scene and this film holds up under direct scrutiny, yes like any film based on strange and unbelievable events there are holes if you look and prod hard enough but overall you can see past them quite easily. This film has also been described as perfect by some people in the film industry and I would not go that far but I think that the stories surrounding the production from how Friedkin got the end performance from Father Dwyer by slapping the actor just before shouting action to the fact that Ellen Burstyn complains about a bad back from being violently dragged about on a harness at the directors instruction and that the final scenes were filmed in a Freezer to get the effect of the cold atmosphere. Surrounding this film are so many legends that it is hard to remember that it is only a film and that the hype surrounding it can get to carried away. 

So I was lucky enough to see this film in the cinema for the first time when it was re-released, possibly for the 25th anniversary in 1998 and I went with the knowledge that this film was the most shocking film and was banned for years. I was slightly disappointed as my expectations were to high but nearly 15 years later watching this film with more knowledge of film I have to say that I was drawn into it and was looking for the flaws and struggled and was pulled along with the belief that this little girl had gone from being a rosy cheeked child at play to a foul mouthed shocking creature due to the fact that some sort of demonic possession was taking place. I think the performances from Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn are fantastic and Father Karris captured what the film needed to from the Mother lost and alone having to turn to the church the last place she expected any help and getting a Father Karas a man whose faith was being tested to the max by the goings on in his private life. The titular character The Exorcist, Father Merrin played by Max Von Sydow is strange as you see him at the start but he only comes back right at the end but you can see he has faced the demon before and the little you get makes you want to see what happened before, from what I have heard none of the films that were prequels seem to touch what this film hinted at. 

Overall I would not say that this film is perfect, I think as a horror film if you have any love of horror then you will watch this and be creeped out by it, the only people are those that cannot suspend their disbelief and enjoy a film for what it is. I rate this film as 5 stars it is a film that will be revisited in the future and I look forward to discussing it with people and hearing the other stories around the production and lore of the Exorcist.

Solomon Kane (2009)

When this film came to the cinema I was interested in seeing it but never got a chance and actually never knew anything about it, it is the story of Solomon Kane who starts the film escaping the devil and goes to the church to try and redeem his soul. When he gets sent away from the church he ends up going home and discovers an evil in his family home. The story itself is quite interesting and the effects are actually done really well and the acting with Solomon Kane played by James Purefoy, Pete Postlethwaite as Meredith's father and Max Von Sydow as Solomon's father are all very good.

There is just something missing from it, considering where Solomon comes from and his unwillingness at the start to go back to that he embraces it very quickly and the story seems to jump from point to point with actually very little point in it to me. The effects are glitzy and overall the characters were not explained well to begin with so you did not care about them, when Solomon went from brigand to holy man I was like whatever and the saddest part was that he should have reacted quicker which might have saved the whole film as he would have been a hero but he lost me about half way through.

Overall the performances were fine the effects were good and the idea was interesting but was poorly executed in my humble opinion so 2 stars for this and I would not recommend it.