jonnyabomb

When David Peace set himself the task of writing The Damned United he envisioned telling the story of Don Revie's Leeds united, not the 44 days of Ol' Big 'Ead. In Peace's own words, he did not choose Brian Clough, 'Brian Clough chose himself.' This is perhaps an indictment of the kind of man Clough was: his enthusiasm was unparalleled; his warmth and kindness was legendary - as was his temper; he was a man of many sides and arguably the perfect subject for a football biopic.

Football movies have often been tongue-in-cheek or gimmicky; Mike Basset and Bend it Like Beckham have done little in recent years to dispel this tradition. I didn't hold out much hope for The Damned United, particularly based on some of the Brit-flick style early trailers. However, I am pleased to announce that the beautiful game now has a cinematic interpretation worthy of its tradition. Sheen's version of Clough is well-drawn and insightful. There is little in the way of caricature - no mean feat when you consider the outlandish nature of the subject matter. It's all there: the passion, the excitement, the obsession; never has football seemed so important.

At the heart of this film is the relationship between Clough and Taylor - a relationship that borders on a full blown Bromance at times, yet is never overstated to the point of absurdity. We all know the Brian Clough we saw on the television and in the newspapers; the bold outlandish character, a press junket's dream. But what The Damned United teaches us is that greatness is not inherited, it is earned. Clough's redemption is one of humility and acceptance, and a realisation that no-one is infallible.

I will say one thing, however. Having read the novel, I can't claim that the movie captures some of the darker elements of the character. Why on Earth they did not show the scene where Brian sets fire to Revie's office? It was a standout moment in the book that truly emphasised the dichotomy of the character. After all, genius and insanity are not so distant to one-another.

Great movie, but read the novel as well.

Nothing sparks controversy like child-abuse. Even in Her Majesty's prison service, the paedophile is considered the lowest of the low; the dirge to all that is wrong with contemporary humanity. Where I live, in the U.K., stories of sex-offenders moving in next door to schools are common-place. The national press enjoys a good witch-hunt because it echoes the voice of the people; a people who want to believe that the natural order of good versus evil is balanced in favour of the upstanding citizen. Little Children is therefore a brave movie; the paedophile in question is presented as a human-being with issues - a man who hates who he is and what he has done, yet knows that any form of redemption will come via a tough private sacrifice. This film teaches us that humanity can be recognised in even the most unlikely of places, and none more profound that the sex-offender who loves his mummy.

Perhaps typical of American cinema, the bleakness of this film's ethos is played out against the backdrop of mundane suburbia; take a closer look and you might even see the odd picket-fence dotted around. Everyone seems to have a secret, a need for redemption - all except the paedophile, of course, who is absolved of such impossibility right up until the movie's climax. Winslet's character is presented as a justly tragic figure - the epitome of wrecked dreams and misplaced innocence. At times, when given the task of caring for her daughter, she appears almost incapable of accepting her responsibility; she never wanted these children, and was never meant to be a mother; it was yet one more stage in her descent into a tangled suburban nightmare.

The direction is tight, focused and thoughtful. There is rarely a dull moment, yet the sense of disquiet that the film produces is palpable. A fantastic piece of modern cinema.

Thanks for reading.

I'm not sure why George A Romero gets so much attention for being the king of zombie cinema, because from what i saw in this movie he also rules the vamp genre too. OK, this being his only foray into the world of blood-suckers rather than flesh-eaters, that might be simply an over zealous reaction from a huge Romero fan. Never-the-less, this film is an absolute treat. What it lacks in budget it makes up for in atmosphere and intensity. John Amplas delivers to us a bad guy that pulls at our heart strings. Whether he is a vampire or not, i felt no sort of hatred towards him for what he did during the film. He carried off that innocence so well that during some scenes we almost forget that he is a murderer. He is just a messed up kid in need of severe help, and that is what is scary about this movie. Not all villains lurk in shadows and laugh manaically. Like with his zombies, Romero has produced an on-screen bad guy that is just like us. That is what makes this movie so terrifying.

Admittedly in the period between making Night of the living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, Romero produced some stinkers. The Crazies is overly cut, and badly acted for instance. This is perhaps why this movie has fallen by the wayside somewhat compared to his post 'Dawn' work. Don't be fooled! This is an absolute gem of a film.

Without doubt Die Hard with a Vengeance is the most action packed movie of all time. It begins with a hot day in the city, people are milling around and its seems like this is going to be a fun summer movie. Then BANG! The cheesy music stops and the action begins courtesy of a terrorist group led by a man called Simon; but we'll come to him in a moment. From that point onwards it is never ending roller coaster ride through the streets of Manhattan. Defusing bombs, taking out bad guys and driving a taxi cab at a hundred miles an hour through central park are just some of the great action sequences that break up the even more action packed sequences that lye in wait.

You can sense I am writing this with a certain amount of excitement, and that is exactly the kind of adrenaline rush that this movie produces. I like the Die Hard movies in general but this picture reached a whole new level. The claustrophobia of the first film is eclipsed by the scope of the setting in Vengeance. It's as though the director thought 'New York looks like a good playground for John McClane, how much damage can he do?'. And it truly is the perfect setting, not just in terms of size but the fact that it is McClane's home town and for once he is no longer a fish out of water. It's his job, and he's going to do it the way he wants too…even if he is nursing the hangover from hell.

But of course there are other action movies out there and in the modern world of CGI it seems the movie was limited to what it was able to blow up. Lets face it filming in the busy streets of downtown New York couldn't have been an easy task. But the film succeeds on more than just explosions due to the dynamic relationship between Willis and his co Star Samuel L Jackson (Zeus). The idea of two guys put in a position where they have to work together despite their initial grievances towards each other always conjures up a degree of comedy and drama. Similarly, unlike most action heroes McClane is far from perfect. He drinks, he smokes, and he's a terrible husband and father, yet still kicks ass in the most insane way when it comes to terrorism.

Now I said I would get to the role of Simon, the new nemesis of McClane. As we do not find out whom he is at first I will not ruin it, but needless to say Jeremy Irons puts in a great display as Simon. He is the perfect puppet master and it is nice to see a Die Hard bad guy that is actually capable of outsmarting John a little bit.

All in all this is a great summer blockbuster and an example to all of how a sequel should be done. Up the action, up the stakes and keep the explosions coming.

Awesome 10/10

For some reason or another, certain movies achieve a reputation as being worse than they actually are. Rocky V is one such film that is affected by the – as I call it – Phantom Menace syndrome. This refers to Movies that are interesting in their own way but fail to live up to the hype or expectation of previous instalments, or simply do not follow the formula that everyone derided for being too predictable anyway. For me, Rocky V is the best of the sequels to the 1976 original, as it does not follow in the Rocky tradition of simply having a bigger guy to fight than in the previous film. Rocky IV was a great spectacle but it was more comical than anything to think that an entire Russian government could be funding one over-sized boxer who could kill a man with one flurry of punches, not to mention turn a blind eye to illegal doping. The fifth instalment in the anthology goes back to the more personal story of the character, and deals much more realistically with the aftermath of loss and the twisted nature of professional prize fighting.

Stallone recruited his own son for the role of Robert (Rocky's son) and the result is one of the best father son relationships ever committed to celluloid. The scene where Rocky realises that he has been a negligent father and must make his peace with the boy is affectionate and heartfelt and could never been as realistic without the real life history behind these two people.

OK, there are some flaws and I am not too naive to suggest this movie is worthy of an Oscar. The casting of Tommy 'The Machine' Gunn could have been better as real life boxer Tommy Morrison sometimes appears wooden and is never really threatening enough to Rocky for the final fight to have any tangible tension. Similarly, aside from the final tune of Elton John's 'The measure of a man' the music does not measure up to the awesome and inspirational anthems that have accompanied previous instalments. Any Flick in the early nineties that used rap music as its primary soundtrack has ultimately dated for a modern audience.

My advice would be to watch this movie in full before you judge it. There are some sad moments in this fall from grace story as well as few goofs in terms of weak acting. But it's not as bad as people say and as the sixth instalment nears completion it's about time everyone got back into the Rocky spirit for one more round.

A good film. 7/10

In an era when the overblown action thriller was king, 'Day of the Dead' slipped unassumingly under the radar. Aliens, Predator and the like proved that the 80's moviegoer wanted action and swashbuckling by the bucket load, with little or no room left for anything that tried to be atmospheric or dramatic in its tone. Neither did it help that the prequel to this film was a rip-roaring smash and grab of a movie that has become, not only a cult classic, but a watermark for how fun the movie making business can truly be with the wonderfully crude gore of Tom Savini and the zombie slapping antics that went on throughout. Anyone who loved 'Dawn of the Dead' was therefore disappointed by this movie. Despite the fact that it has become a cult classic amongst the hordes of zombie fans it is still the least recognised of all the Romero zombie flicks.

But the film's newly founded cult status is one that is rightly deserved. It did not try to be a direct sequel to 'Dawn' but rather portray a more apocalyptic view of the zombie attack. It is a claustrophobic movie, showing the effects of isolation and Paranoia and closely resembles the Cold War tensions of years gone by; another example of George A Romero elevating the genre beyond a simple gore fest. The zombies are constantly referred to but have little impact until the movies climax and it is more an exercise in the effects of isolation and the subsequent conflict that irises from people compelled to live and work together in a confined space.

In this movie the truly fearful characters are the humans that are trapped in the bunker. No more so than Dr Logan or 'Frankenstein' as he is affectionately dubbed. We are led to believe that he is conducting experiments on the zombies; even managing to tame one to not want to tear his guts out anymore, an accomplishment that is actually more endearing than it sounds. In fact Logan's creation 'Bub' steals the show in many respects. You actually end up rooting for him to survive over the living residents. He strikes a somewhat tragic image, and brings back into full light the fact that these dead guys are the true victims that should be given sympathy as well as feared. As things ultimately fall apart, it is the characters that destroy themselves with typical Romero style. For some this leaves a sour taste, as we do not feel a tangible degree of pathos for a group of people that were not all that likable in the first place. However, as the film states it is 'The darkest day of horror the world has ever seen' and rightly a fitting end to this trilogy.

I wonder what Bill Murray made of this script when it landed on his doorstep. Surely it was going to be a winner as the Murray/Ramis partnership had been one that had bared fruit on a number of occasions already with titles such as Caddyshack, stripes and Ghostbusters all lodged firmly in the minds of movie goers as classic Murray fests. However, I sincerely doubt that he could have ever envisioned the success and popularity that this tale of a local weatherman reliving the same day over and over would go on to achieve at the box office and with fans alike. Murray is the best in the business at world weary cynicism and Phil Connors trial by time is at heart a simple story of a man forced to realise that in a place where nothing changes but himself that this is the only difference that truly matters. The Director Ramis claims to have received letters from people of all religions who have seen this movie and understand the message as one of their own following. In essence this is much more than a simple comedy and as Connors himself reminds us not to underestimate the significance of Groundhog Day.

However I would never like to deter anyone from seeing this film on the basis that it may be too convoluted in its message. Every scene is packed with hilarious antics and typically astute Murray one liners. The film is brilliantly cast and Andie Macdowells's innocence and integrity provide a useful contrast to Murray's downbeat yet brilliant humour. She represents the ultimate female companion for Connors and gives the film its real heart as she is the person to which he attains to. There's something quite tragic about reaching out to someone and never being able to have that affection returned. The idea of human loneliness was dealt with great elegance in arguably Murray's finest work 'Lost in Translation' but the comic element of Groundhog Day does not detract from the similar pathos we feel for his isolation in a world where he can touch but never change.

This movie has something for everyone. If you're after a deep message, a great love story or are just looking to laugh your ass off then this will be a winner on all fronts.

When this film ended my friends and I gave a rapturous round of applause to the cinema screen for the hour and half of fun we had just gleefully received. We were not alone as the rest of the cinema-going public gradually and steadily began to join in our appreciation of what we had just seen. Many of them may have been doing so with a sense of irony or relief. Simply pleased to have made it through such a lacklustre piece of Hollywood bilge. But not us. Oh no! this is a film that we have talked about - not only in the long car journey back to our humble small town - but on numerous occasions at our local, college and with others who have yet to see this delightful feast of zombism.

It is to my shame that I can only claim to have seen this film once as firstly I did not wish to view it again at the multiplex for fear it would not make me laugh with such a relish as in my first sitting and secondly due to a lack of a DVD release date. Get it sorted executive types!! this is cult classic in the making.

You may have seen this film and hated it. My advice to you is forget everything you know about what makes a good movie and sit back, relax and enjoy a slice of Gratuitous over acting, pointless nudity and unapologetic ripoffs of all your favourite action films. The Wachowski brother had better get their lawyers ready for this one as it mimics the matrix's moves with unbelievable incompetence

A sense of humour is required and rewarded! oh by the way its not a comedy but who cares? FUNNY IS FUNNY!

For sheer unadulterated cheese combined with sublimely funny renegade antics this is surly the film. I loved it from start to finish with the highly notable first scene being the stand out centrepiece. Everything that is good about the male action hero is summed up this 20-minute bloodbath, little care is taken to dialogue and the one liner is king. From the moment when Stallone gives his crime wave countdown monologue you know this is a no thinking required action fest with plenty of violence to boot. However, watching this film is at times like one of the police chase shows. You know its simple chaos but you just can't take your eyes off it. Please watch this film...but leave your brain at home.