Favourite movies 2000s

I am going to see Prometheus (finally!) tomorrow and I started thinking of what films have really stood out for me in the last 10 years, well since 2000! It was hard to choose but here are some of my favs in no particular order!

500 Days of Summer - 2009

 This has no become a bit of a cult film, but it is just such a good movie. Its a romantic/drama/comedy that works for men and women, its not too soppy and can be so heart-wrenching at times. It went against the typical romantic films and made the film a point of view from the mens perspective and showing that its not always the woman who gets hurt or heart broken but men too!

Zooey Deschanel and Jospeh Gorden-Levitt are perfect and you cannot imagine anyone else playing their charactors.

The soundtrack is also brilliant and has some classic smiths and pixies playing at different times during the movie. One particular scene which is really funny, where Tom (Goreden-Levitt) is drunk singing karoke of  the pixies song 'Here comes your man'.


Black Swan - 2010

I think these days it can be hard to get real emotional feelings when watching a movie, unless its a documentary or really hard hitting drama. I think Black Swan reall surprised people, I certainly felt over whelmed after watching it for the first time and did not expect to feel that way at all!
It is very dark, has supernatural undertones in some ways, and can really creep you out by getting into the mind of the charactor of Nina played by Natalie Portman. The ballet scenes are filmed beautifully and realistically too, which is very important I think. I did ballet when I was a kid and had all my aunties ballet books/annuals from the 1950s and 1960s and so I think I was always going to like this movie anyway, but I really think Darren Aronofsky did a brilliant job here and really showed just how great a director he really is!

Natalie Portman apparently worked really hard for 3 years leading to this role and it really does show! she became a professional ballet dancer in order for the dancing to come across as real as possible and she really did deserve her Oscar win for best actress.

28 days later - 2002

Obviously this started off ( along with shaun of the dead) the re-birth of the zombie movie into popular culture once again and if it hadnt been such a great movie then that possibly might not have happened. This british movie made by Danny Boyle went global and everyone went zombie mad!
It is not just a great zombie film but also a post-apocalyptic movie too! The London scenes are just amazing and I still really don't know how they did that, just made one of the worlds biggest cities seem totally empty!
It also made one of my favourite actors a star and that would be Cillian Murphy.

I think this is def my favourite zombie movie of the last 10 years, I did also like 28 weeks later, the remake of dawn of the dead, shaun of the dead, REC (original), zombieland and the tv series The Walking Dead, but nothing comes close the 28 days later in my opinion.

Atonement - 2007

I think this is the most beautiful film of the last 10 years and I just adore it! Not only does it look beautiful, it has amazing acting from all the main cast and a brillaint but sad storyline at the heart of it all. It also has a stand out score, using typewriter tapping sounds through out which of course is nodding towards the fact this film is based on a best selling book, but also the charactor who is at the centre of the whole twisted story is also a novelist herself, Briony (Played by Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave at different ages) and writes a book about her experiences as a child and then as an adult with her sister Cecilia (Keira Knightly) and Cecilia's boyfriend Robbie (James McAvoy).

Zodiac - 2007

This is, in my opinion David Finchers best movie! I absolutly love Se7en, fightclub, the social network and his reworking of the girl with the dragon tattoo. But, to me this is his best work. And I think it could also be due to the fact the story is so enthralling, with the Zodiac killer never having been caught to this day still which makes it such an intrigueing watch. Also The acting is superb and I think it is definatly one of the best roles ever for Robert Downey Jnr.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind - 2004

Probably watched Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind about 30 times now! There is nothing else like this, even today there still has been no other movie that has come close to the weird world of Joel and Clementine when it comes to romantic comedys/dramas. I love it!

Obviously there are alot of others that I havent mentioned here such as The Dark Knight, No country for old men, There will be blood, American Psycho and alot more, but these are just some that I wanted to pick out today!

Thanks for reading! =]


xoxox

Empie cover July 2012 The Dark Knight Rises

Im so glad I got this cover, there was only the choice between two, Batman or Catwoman, no Bane cover but I have a subscription so I didnt know what cover I would have and I am really pleased.

This issue also comes with a free Dark Knight Rises poster.

I have been buying Empire now for 12 years and also bought a box full of old issues for £5 quite some time ago so my collection is huge now, need to get some proper shelving put in just for my empires!

Movies I am looking forward to in June

I know we are already in May and alot of must see movies have already been released, such as The Hunger Games and The Avengers, but I thought I would share with you the films that have yet to be released that I am looking forward to the most that both happen to be released next month -

Prometheus

I am looking forward to this the most out of all the movies released. I just think it is going to be a very special film and I am a huge fan of the Alien movies, even the 3rd and 4th. I also love Ridley Scott and its so exciting to see a new sci-fi movie by him as he has only ever done Alien and Blade Runner.

I read an interview with him recently in which he said how he was surprised the other film makers who did the other 3 Alien movies didnt pick up on hints he had put in Alien such as the space jockey and so thats going to be put into the prometheus storyline.

Another reason why I am excited about it, is the cast! Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron are three of the most exciting actors around at the moment and so it just adds to the excitement, it just feels like its going to be the movie of the year for me.

The Dark Knight Rises

This is another obvious one, but I cant see how anyone could not be excited about this. I am unsure as to whether is will be better than the Dark Knight as I dont really think that it is possible but I will be happy if it is just as good.

If there is anyone reading who doesnt know (there might be some out there) this is the 3rd and last installment of the Chris Nolan Batman movies. The first was Batman Begins, the second was The Dark Knight and this is the last.

All the trailers, especially the most recent one have blown me away and I just know its going to be super impressive.

This time the villains are Bane, played by the brilliant Tom Hardy and Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway which I think is going to bring alot more tension having both of these famous charactors in the movie together.

It also stars Marion Cottilard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and of course Christian Bale playing Batman for the thrid time.

Stand by me bluray

I purchased Stand by me on bluray recently, I bought the 25th anniversary edition with the lovely gold and white slipcase.

First of all I would like to say that I absolutly adore this movie, I had it on DVD too and have watched it so many times it is just such a lovely film about childhood and friendship, and also has themes of bullying and obiously shows off the innocence of the 1950s.

The bluray is really done beautifully, the colours are so vibrant and cystal clear. The sound is clear without being done over the top, just gently cleaned up a bit. It looks like it was filmed yesterday! It is definatly worth purchasing on bluray, I know sometimes you can get them and the HD upscaling just hasnt worked right. This really is one of the best I have seen.

It has some great features including a in screen commentary with Rob Reiner, Will Wheaton and Corey Feldman and a mini documentary looking back at the filming.

Thanks for reading!!

xoxox

Reviews of films I have seen recently

Paranormal activity 3

Although this is not as good as the original movie, and the movies have now lost what made the original truly scary, I still think this 3rd instalment is a lot better than the second movie.
The main criticism I had was that there were too many almost moments of terror. The scares were really scary, but proceeding them were too many times when you thought there was going to be a scare, but then failed to give anything.
One of the best parts of the movie I would say, was when the step dad and his filming buddy decide to take apart a fan and use it to stick a home camcorder to, so that the camera can rotate back and fore all by itself. Also need to point out this movie is set in 1988, and so this made what they came up with what would have been inventive at the time for home movie making. And also helped to give a new perspective for the viewer of the movie too.
I thought all the acting was really good, and was impressed with the little girls playing the younger versions of the women in the first 2 movies. I noticed a lot of other movies are homaged in this one too, poltergeist is the most obvious one - there is even a scene where the mum and dad are smoking a spliff in their bedroom after the kids have been put to bed, which is also a scene in Poltergeist. Also back to the future is mentioned, the Blair witch project is also homaged during the end (not sure if this was intentional) and also I could see a bit of Rosemary's baby there too. All in all it was definitely an improvement on paranormal activity 2, but the magic has been lost from the first movie. Still worth a watch if you like your horror/ghost story movies.

Fright Night

I should of saw this at Empire's movie con back in August 2011 as part of my weekend ticket at the 02 Arena. It was the premiere with David Tennant and instead I decided that as it was the end of the weekend I would just leave early before all the crowds and felt that I really didn't think I would enjoy this film. I was SO wrong! I wish I had stayed as I have now seen this movie and I really enjoyed it!!!!
I thought Colin Farrell played a really mean and believable villain as the vampire Jerry, Anton Yelchin was a good lead character as he wasn't a pretty boy but not too geeky, a bit of both and likable. Toni Collette could of done with some extra screen time, David Tennant was awesome and I was happy to see him play a different character to what we are all used to....and finally my favourite character was Ed played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, he is just so funny in everything hes been in and plays an awesome character here. The only character I wasn't fussed on was Amy played by Imogen Poots, it seems when it comes to these characters in movies where the geek gets the girl (transformers, disturbia) the casting usually goes to a girl who is pretty but has no substance. Where are the Natalie Portmans and Keira knightleys? However I did think she was OK and at least she can act.
 I loved the vampire effects, very 30 days of night and very scary!!!! And these days with so many movies being made about Vampires ( I won't name them but I am sure you all know the main culprits) it is good to see a truly terrifying scary Vamp!
I also loved the end credits which also seemed to homage 30 days of night!!! I would definitely watch this again, and would definitely suggest to anyone who likes horror-comedy, vampire movies or even just comedies in general to check this one out!

The Blu ray bandwagon

Blu-ray have been around for a long time now, I remember the first time I ever saw a friend with blu rays and feeling a bit bemused as to why they would spend so much on discs, when they could get the same movies on DVD for half the price. That was back in 2007, when blu ray was a lot more expensive than they are now. For a long time I just thought of them as not worth the money for what you actually got.

Then 3D tv came along in recent times, again I wasnt too sure on if it would be worth the money, afterall when HD tv's and DVD players first came out years ago they were alot more expensive than they are now and we just had to wait a little while until they were more affordable. I was happy for a long time with just watching my DVD's on a nice HD ready LCD tv.

Now the blu ray's and blu ray players have been reduced by alot compared to what they were and theres now alot more effort going in to the discs themselves that I had found it hard to resist. The first time I noticed something about blu ray that made me want them over DVD (and be happy to pay the extra cash) was when I saw the dawn of the dead blu ray. 

I couldnt believe how much effort had gone in. You got different covers to choose from for example that you can swap and change when you feel like it. Lots of special features, aswell as the better quality picture and sound, you also get a poster.

Ever since then I had it going around my head that I really thought it was now the time to cross over from the DVD age into blu ray. Something recently that pushed me further into actually going ahead and purchasing a player and blu ray discs was seeing that nowadays most blu rays also come with a DVD and digital copy known as triple plays, or just a DVD known as double play. There are also more and more steelbook editions, some of which are now hard to get hold of as they were special edition and sold out straight away. Such as the back to the future tin which contained all sorts of cool stuff such as a copy of the sports almanac featured in Back to the future 2.

 So I am jumping onto the blu ray bandwagon! The player I have chosen is the Panasonic BDT210 which I have yet to purchase but shall write a review of it once I do at the end of this month. I have chosen it because although it is £140 on amazon, it is actually alot more expensive in other stores, I have read up on other players and extensivley about this particular player to make sure it was a good buy. It has everything I am looking for, wi-fi ready, connection to youtube etc, 2D to 3D conversion which interested me quite alot and will be great when we finally purchase a 3D tv (going to be saving up for that, the prices arent as pretty for them just yet), HDMI and USB connectivety, fast load up, and generally a great player for a great price. If you want further info on this player here is a link -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004QWY7RU/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

So, seeing as I will be buying a blu ray player in 2 weeks time I thought I should probably get a few blu ray movies to watch on it. So I have picked 6 that I thought I would really enjoy seeing in the much better quality picture and the ones that seemed good quality for the money (steelbook editions, extras). So here they are (reviews will come once they have arrived in the post) :

Scarface steelbook triple play blu ray, already have this on DVD however I am now updating and will be giving the DVD away to family or sell it on ebay.

The wizard of oz: 70th anniversary edition 3 disc combi pack, an old favourite again iv updated from my DVD boxset. I am keeping my 3 disc boxset though as its just too nice to give away or sell for cheap.

Magnolia, this is just the one blu ray disc no other extra discs, however I love this movie so much and its such a beautifully made film that I really did need to watch it on blu ray. Especially the falling frog scenes. Again this is an upgrade from DVD.

The big lebowski 2 disc blu ray + DVD set limited edition digibook for the 10th anniversary of the movie. This is a movie I have wanted for a long time on DVD and almost bought on quite a few occasions, but there were never very good special features and although I loved the movie I always thought "Il get it another time". Im so glad I waited as I now am able to get this instead. It looks so beautiful and I have watched videos on youtube to see what its like in reality, and I have to say it looks like its worth every penny! very excited for this to arrive.

Apocolypse now 3 disc edition - This is another movie I always wanted to add to my DVD collection and just never did, here I am able to add it to my new blu ray collection with extensive special features and in a really lovely set.

And finally a movie that I havent actually seen, Akira, has been on my 'to watch' list for a long time, more so after it appeared in the Empire magazine's top 500 movies issue back in 2008. This new steelbook has been released recently and I saw this as a perfect oppurtunity to not only see this anime for the first time, but in the best possible way too. I have bought the collectors edition steelbook blu ray + DVD.

I will be back to review each blu ray once they have arrived and I have bought my player. 

I will leave you with a famous scarface quote:

"Lesson number one: Don't underestimate the other guy's greed! 

Lesson number two: Don't get high on your own supply."

Welcome to my movie blog

I just wanted to say if you have come to read my blog, then welcome to my views and how I view cinema. I may not always have an opinion you agree with, but it is my own personal view. I am happy to reply to comments if you want to discuss what I have written I always enjoy hearing other views and that is why I not only write but read other blogs too.
I have written on blogs previously to this, but I am intending this to be my main movie blog where movies are the only focus. I also write reviews on flickster, however they are not full reviews just a mini statement on my immediate thoughts after seeing a film.
I hope you enjoy reading and look forward to hearing from you.