The People Under the Stairs (1991)

From Wes Craven you follow Fool played by Brandon Quintin Adams as he is roped into a robbery by Ving Rhames and Jeremy Roberts. They decide they are going to rob the home of Everett McGill and Wendy Robie who are living in a huge house as Mother and Father. They think there has to be a lot of money in the house due to the locks and bars.

I love this film, from the first time I saw it, the people under the stairs are held within the house and they come into play further into the film. With Sean Whalen as Roach with  Wayne Daniels and Michael Kopelow. The effects that are used are good enough and the characters of Fool and Alice played by A J Langer are thrown together and they develop a positive bond that I think is very visible.

This is one of these films that comes under horror without the real gruesome gore or the real violence but there is a dark edge to a film that has some levels of comedy. This film has its flaws but I have a real soft spot for it and will always watch it given the opportunity so a 4 star recommend for me.

Mission Impossible III (2006)

The third film in the Mission Impossible franchise sees Ethan Hunt played by Tom Cruise and directed by J J Abrams trying to protect his girlfriend from a sadistic arms dealer played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. You have the usual stellar supporting cast with Michelle Monaghan as Julia, Ethan’s Fiancee, Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q as his support team with Simon Pegg as Benji in the laboratory supporting the team.

This is the usual Mission Impossible fayre with guns, explosions, improbable circumstances and cool gadgets. Overall the story is big enough to keep you interested and small enough that you care, from the start that brings Ethan back to the IMF you do care about the fact that he is just trying to live a normal life. The effects are believable but with Abrams at the helm you know that there are going to be twists and turns and a couple you can see coming if you have seen enough of this sort of film.

I found this film as enjoyable as the others without being anything special the simple fact is if you found anything enjoyable within the first two films then you will surely enjoy this venture, I give this a hearty 3 stars, worth seeing if you like the action spy films. 

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Film of 2012 #49

The 1994 film from Quentin Tarantino that launched his career, that launched Uma Thurman and re-launched the career of John Travolta. This film is a genre setting film that showed what Tarantino wanted to show on film and made everybody think about what they could and should see in film. The film is non-linear which must have been quite jarring to see when it came out and it said "people you do not have to do what is expected in film."

The film is a series of vignets that inter link and cross over, you have The Coffee Shop scene, Jules Winnfield played by Samuel L Jackson, Vincent Vega played by John Travolta as gangsters who are going to collect something for Marsellus Wallace played by Ving Rhames. And you have the boxer storyline with Bruce Willis as Butch Coolidge. These storys cross over and you have some excellent smaller parts playe by Amanda Plummer, Tim Roth, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette and Harvey Keitel as the Wolf the ultimate cool Mofo. There are a lot of the scenes in this film that are iconic for their time from Uma Thurman and John Travolta dancing to the gimp in the shop.

I enjoy this film, I think it is a peice of cinema history and can almost be a landmark for 1994, it is however a very styilized film that will not appeal to everybody I would say that if you want to watch modern classics then this is definetley one that you should watch, I give this a solid 3 star film, worth seeing.

Piranha (2010)

Film of 2012 #42

The 3D spectacular from Alexandre Aja that sees a remake of the 1978 fish horror film that I previously reviewed here. They take the basic idea of the Piranha in the water and use it as a natural monster spectacular. This film is basically your fun horror movie dark comedy with bloody gore and boobies used to comedic effect and it could be considered a bit campy but it really is enjoyable fayre. While the original film worked on the principle that the fish were genetic creations and were released in to the water, this idea works as the prehistoric fish have been living below a lake and a natural earthquake releases these fish into the water.

Your main cast is Elizabeth Shue as the sheriff, she is looking might fine in this film, you have her son played by Steven R McQueen who is on a different story line with Jerry O'Connell, Kelly Brook and porn star Riley Steele. You have a seismologist played by Adam Scott and Christopher Lloyd playing the expert, the characters are a means to an end and are not that well developed. There is no back story for any of them and really you do not need a back story you are simply watching this for the gore effects and the cool kills. You also have Richard Dreyfuss and Ving Rhames making appearances and you have several Jaws references which were really fun to spot.

Overall this film is not for everyone, there are scenes that are quite disgusting and are very gory, there is one sex scene that is in there simply for the sex scene. However that aside if you enjoy the campier, comedic side of gory horror then this films, this will be right up your street, it does not need to be seen in 3D however if you have the opportunity to see it in 3D then they use the gimmick of the 3D to good effect. A B movie worth seeing and a 4 star recommend for me, this is actually one of my films of 2011.

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol (2011)

Film of 2012 #6
No Spoilers

The biggest thing about me seeing the latest sequel to the Mission Impossible franchise was that I got to see it in IMAX, very impressive not really worth the money at nearly £13 a ticket you have to be really sure of the film and trust the makers to use the technology. I look forward to seeing the new Christopher Nolan Batman film as I believe he knows what he is doing with the technology. But to the film, I have no idea what happened in the last 3 although I have seen them, perhaps an excuse to re-watch the action packed 'Impossible Missions' that are shown on screen but its starts with a prison break. Tom Cruise escapes with a passanger and then straight away has a mission that involves infiltrating the Kremlin.

Overall this film was highly enjoyable possible because of the IMAX experience but teh action scenes were over the top exciting and executed brilliantly, there was a nce level of comedy I do think that Simon Pegg went to far with some of it but overall any fans of action films with a bit of espionage thrown in will really enjoy this film.

I am going to give my experience 4 stars and would say that the film is worth seeing it will be interesting to view it on DVD and see if it holds up to repeat showings on a lower level.

Shark Night (2011) Trailer

So watched this trailer wondering what it was going to be about and the trailer sets up your standard group of teenagers going to the lake for the weekend and then the shark attacks, really what can go wrong with this type of film.

It looks a little bit more than some form of Jaws knock off so hopefully it will be good I will definitely be looking forward to this at the cinema when it comes out.

UK Release Date - 30th September 2011

Death Race 2 (2010)

The sequel to the Jason Statham film which in itself was a re-imaging of the Sylvester Stallone Death Race 2000, and it turns out it was a prequel as well so I was not holding out much optimism but I had enjoyed the original Jason Statham film so thought why not. Now to start with they get a Jason Statham look a like in Luke Goss but it is a totally different character so you do not need a look a like and the story they have for no apparent reason is very similar so it is Death Race lite, the beginning.

The story itself without the original film would have been interesting but as it keeps trying to fit back into the first film you can see where it is going. There are some nice little points that they do very well but I kept thinking that well they have to get to this point and how they get there is sort of tacked on.

This is only 2 stars, if it was a stand alone film then it would be 3 but as it has to try and tie in to the original not worth seeing unless you like low end violence and driving fast cars.