On the Waterfront (1954)

Director: Eli Kazan
Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J Cobb, Eva Marie Saint
Certificate: PG
Genre: Crime
Awards: Best actor (Brando), Best actress (Saint), Best director, Best art direction, best cinematography, Best editing, Best Picture, Best screenplay

It's been a while since I wrote my last blog as all the ones from this year so far were saved and written in 2010. On the Waterfront stars Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy who witnesses the murder of  Joey Doyle. He then gets interested in his the victims sister, Edie (Saint) who tries to make him tell the truth about the murder. But The murderer is Terry's boss: John Friendly (Cobb) who has had everybody else who told Father Barry (Malden) anything about the murder killed.

On The Waterfront is dated but it is still a good film. I got confused with the plot a bit but by the end I knew what was going on.

***Okay

On the Waterfront Trailer

Walk the line (2005)

Director: James Mangold
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reece Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick
Certificate: 12
Genre: Music
Awards: best actress (Witherspoon)

As I was away last week here is another review

Walk The Line is a film portraying the life of Johnny Cash (Phoenix), from when he was terrorised by his father (Patrick), to when he met his first wife (Goodwin) to when he gets on tour and meets the woman of his dreams June Carter (Witherspoon). It also has special appearances of Elvis and Buddy Holly.

Walk The Line shows how bad Cash's life got and how he overcame it. Phoenix did an amazing job at singing the hit songs such as Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues and  Cocaine Blues and should have got an Oscar as well as Witherspoon.

****Good

Walk the Line trailer

Elizabeth (1998)

Director: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough, Daniel Craig
Certificate: 15
Genre:  History
Awards: Best Make-up

Elizabeth the first (Blanchett) has just become queen and is under threat from catholic high powered people such as the Lord of Norfolk (Eccleston) and servants of the pope (Craig). She falls in love with Lord Dudley Robert (Fiennes) but is kept being told by her advisor William Cecil (Attenborough) that he is not suitable. But not all is lost thanks to sir Francais Walsingham (Rush) who is an assassin loyal to the queen.

Elizabeth is a good film but it has boring parts in it. It consists of mostly political warfare that is not everybody's favourite film. I like political films such as Valkyre but Elizabeth is not as good. Overall it is a good film but not one of the best. But Hey any film with Galdrial, Doctor Who, Barbossa and James Bond Can't be bad right?

****Good

Elizabeth Trailer

Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)

Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards
Certificate: 15
Genre: Western
Awards: None

Once Upon A Time The West is about 3 gunmen and one lady. Jill McBain (Cardinale)  had a husband and stepchildren but they were killed by the outlaw Frank (Fonda). The blame is switched onto another outlaw named Cheyenne (Robards) who then wants to take his revenge on Frank and his gang and protect the widowed McBain. Also a Mysterius stranger with a harmonica (Bronson) wants to kill Frank for his own reasons.

OUATITW has one of the greatest soundtracks of them all (One type of music for each character). The story of Harmonica is brilliant and it shows Henry Fonda as a bad guy. The only thing that makes it bad is that it is too long but I would watch it again just for the music.

*****Brilliant
Oh and there will be no posts on Thursday as i won't be around this  week.

Once Upon A Time In The West Trailer

Iron Man (2008)

Director: John Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey JR, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard, Jeff Bridges!
Certificate: 12
Genre: Superhero
Awards: None

Last week I reviewed Iron Man 2 and after seeing it I saw the first one on TV and decided to review this one as well. Iron Man shows how Tony Stark (Downey JR) changes his ways from making weapons and starts bringing  peace to the world by making a suit with weapons that could wipe out an army (I don't really see how this will help  the world's problems).

But there has to be a bad guy so Obadiah Stane (Bridges!), Tony's business partner decides to kill him and build a new robot suit of his own and kill people. Stark, His best friend Colonel Rhodes (Howard) and his secretary Pepper Potts (Paltrow) have to stop him.

Iron Man is different to other superhero films which makes it stand out. The story is good and the actors are great.

****Good

Iron Man Trailer

The Holiday (2006)

Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Back
Certificate:12
Genre: comedy Romance
Awards: None

The Holiday is about two women, Amanda Woods (Diaz) who lives in Los Angelies and Iris Simpkins (Winslet) who lives in the English country. They are both trying to get away from a man who had broke their heart so they swapped houses for 2 weeks. Amanda meets Iris's brother Graham (Law) and falls in love while Iris meets Miles (Black) who is a musician and they come together to help Arthur Abbot (Wallach), a screenwriter to meet his fans.

The Holiday was an enjoyable film that was quite funny (Mostly Jack Black). It's not my typical type of genre but it suprised me. Oh and look out for Dustin Hoffman's cameo role.

****Good

The Holiday Trailer

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Director:  Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey JR, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell and Samuel L Jackson
Certificate: 12
Genre: Superhero
Awards: None

Iron Man is a superhero with an ego. Unlike other superheroes everybody knows he is Tony Stark (Downey JR). Unfortunately because Stark is a bit annoying he has made a few political enemies that want to take his suit and use it for the government. The bad guys in this film are Justin Hammer (Rockwell), an opponent in the arms industry that wants to create more Iron men so he employed Ivan Vanko (Rourke) who has tried to kill stark before and was going to be killed.

But Tony Stark has another problem, he is dying as the energy that replaced his heart is killing him so he makes his secretary Pepper Potts (Paltrow) the leader of Stark Industries. He has some fights with his best friend Colonel James Rhodes (Cheadle-new actor) and meets Nick Furry (Jackson) who wants him to join The Avengers.

Iron Man 2 is a good film and has some good fights and I can't wait to see The Avengers but i would have preferred Terence Howard to play Rhodey again. If you change the actor it confuses people.

****Good

Iron Man 2 Trailer

The King's Speech (2010)

Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
Certificate:12
Genre: History
Awards: Best director, Best Picture, Best Actor (Firth), Best screenplay

Before George VI (Firth) was king he used to stutter and could not give speeches to the people so his wife- Queen Elizabeth (Carter)- Goes to see Lionel Logue (Rush) who helps George. But George needs more than just a teacher, he needs a friend.

The Kings Speech is my second favourite film of 2010 after Inception. It is funny but serious at the different times and is an enjoyable film to watch. All the acting is brilliant and the story is brilliantly told. Firth and Rush's Oscars are in the bag.

*****Brilliant

The Kings Speech Trailer