Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in a science fiction based love story, where a couple fall in love, fall out of love. They have each other erased from their memories and as they step back through those memories they realise what they had and what they are giving up.

With Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo in the cast, this really is a wonderful piece of film making. The ideas behind the film are simple, would you erase someone from your life if you had the opportunity? It explores the idea around what would you do if you made a rash decision that you could not go back on. It also asks the questions around should we have any control and we not love and lose people for a reason even if that reason is painful at times.

Another film that when I first heard about it did not tickle my fancy, however I started watching it and was captivated and there are a nice couple of twists that make it interesting and intriguing. This is a 4 star recommend from me, it covers the romantic film and science fiction also makes you appreciate what you have and why it is good to remember as you learn from life.

The Full Monty (1997)

Starring Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson and Paul Addy this smash hit UK comedy from 1997 sees 6 out of work men from Sheffield, they see the chance to make some money by forming a male stripper act and performing at the local working man's club. It follows them through their lives as Gaz played by Robert Carlyle fights to keep seeing his son, Dave played by Mark Addy wrestles with his weight and the fact that he does not think his wife finds him attractive. Gerald played by Tom Wilkinson tries to hide the fact that he is not working from his wife and Lomper and Guy played by Steve Huison and Hugo Speer find love trying to make some money.


This film was massive in the 90's probably being the biggest UK film of the decade as it hit all the right notes, the cast are fantastic and hit the right tone with the comedy none of it is malicious and some of it is played perfectly and you believe everything they say and do. The setting is bleak and their desperation is so great that they understand and know they need to fulfil what they set out just to get the money to survive. I love this film, the comedy is hilarious from the well known scene in the Job centre to the finale where they go the Full Monty.


This film is a classic of it's time and is well worth seeing and I think that everybody should give it a go, you have a few swear words but considering it is a film about stripping there is nothing untoward about this film. I give this a solid 4 stars and think that if you have not seen it and you understand the northern sense of humour then it is well worth a watch.

If Only (2004)

Film of 2012 #39

A British based romantic comedy from 2004 starring Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Paul Nicholls, who is known to me from a role in Eastenders. The story follows Sam and Ian through one day where a lot happens mostly wrong and it ends with the Death of Sam and Ian somehow gets the chance to experience the day again and to make a difference. This is billed as a romantic comedy and the there is some comedy but it is more romance, there is a super natural element with the chance to relive the day and the Taxi driver played by Tom Wilkinson who seems to know an awful lot about what is happening.

I have to say that with no real expectations regarding this film and I really enjoyed it, it is not mind blowing or fantastically done but it is is enjoyable. The main characters are likeable and well played by Jennifer Love-Hewitt who was in her popular cute look phase and I think that this was a vehicle for her and she does have a producer credit on it. There are a couple of gaping plot holes that are fairly obvious such as times and a couple of decisions that I think in real life would have gotten a totally different reaction and the ending goes somewhere that I did not expect and it ends the film on a different note from the fluff that you think it is.

I have to give this a very strong 3 star recommend, it is not for everyone and the plot holes could easily take you out of the film but for some good entertaining fun then it is very much worth a watch.

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.

The Debt (2011)

My latest foray to the cinema was to see the new film starring Helen Mirren, I had very little knowledge of the story going or who else was actually in this film. It is based upon a true story but as I do not know the story it was pretty intriguing going in and by the end I had a good idea what was going to happen so there is no real surprises. However it does play with you a couple of times and keeps you wanting to see the conclusion.

This is the story of 3 Mossad agents, the covert intelligence agency in Israel, their mission is to capture a German war criminal played by Jesper Christensen, the agents are played by 2 actors one while they are young and older actors when the film starts 30 years later. Rachel is played by Jessica Chastain and Helen Mirren, David is played by Sam Worthington and Ciaran Hinds and Stefan is played by Martin Csokas and Tom Wilkinson. There are 2 stories the 1965 mission and 1997, which is present day in the film. The 1965 story is good old fashioned espionage with the 3 agents behind enemy lines getting to know each other and follow out their mission. Then there is present day when there is some fall out from the mission 30 years previously.

This is an entertaining film based upon a 2007 Israeli film of the same name and is actually well worth a watch, Helen Mirren is as Impressive as ever and apart from some issues with the older male characters and who they represented I really enjoyed this. Go and see it, I give it 4 solid stars.

The Green Hornet (2011)

I actually chose to watch this film even though like seemingly quite a lot of people something about Seth Rogen just puts me off, his voice performance in Paul was great but this is the only good thing I have heard him do. He just has this way of being annoying, which worked in this film as a he was supposed to be annoying. So your story is Seth Rogen is the son of a Paper Mogul, played by Tom Wilkinson they do not get on and he has to take over the paper when his father dies. He hooks up with Kato his fathers mechanic and they decide randomly to become crime fighters and ingratiate themselves with the bad guys so they can bring them down and using the newspaper they start their campaign of crime against the criminals.

Now as a premise it works quite nicely, the biggest flaws in this film is the humour does not work properly as there seems to be something missing. I think that it is the crossover between slapstick and intelligent and it fails to work. Also I did not believe the relationship between Seth Rogen and Jay Chou who plays Kato and when you throw Cameron Diaz in to the mix the chemistry is just not there between the trio. Christoph Waltz plays an excellent bad guy and with James Franco getting a cameo the cast of this film was actually really good, Edward James Olmos also shows off his chops as the editor of the paper.

Overall I had low expectations and they were barely met, this is a 2 star avoid unless you like Seth Rogen a lot. Will give him credit he does look like he has lost a bit of weight but his style just does not work for me at all in this film or any of the others I have seen him in.

Burke and Hare (2010)

So I had no real want to see this film but it was there so I watched it and it was actually really funny, Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg with Jessica Hynes and Isla Fisher made an interesting couple of couples and the rest of the cast are a who's who of British comedy and acting with parts for Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Merchant, Tim Curry, Paul Whitehouse, Bill Bailey, Christopher Lee and Ronnie Corbett all come together under John Landis direction to actually make a positive fun film of a really dark subject matter.

The story itself is based on the true tale of Burke and Hare the Grave robbers turned murderers in Edinburgh and how they provide cadavers for the medical profession in Edinburgh back in the 19th century. I have to say that when I heard it was going to be a comedy I was put off immediately because why would you want to feel sorry for a couple of people who murder people for profit but John Landis makes you like them. I think a lot of that is to do with the fact that Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis are just so nice you enjoy there performances and therefore like the characters.

I will say 4 stars for this, it is worth seeing and as long as you watch it as a comedy and not as a historically accurate piece it is a lot of fun.