Trading Places (1983)

Director: John Landis
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphey, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Jamie Lee Curtis
Certificate: 15
Genre: Comedy
Awards: None

Trading places focuses on a bet between two owners of a company who bet that if they employ a con artist on the streets and destroy the life of the man who works for them at the moment, they will swap attitudes. So, Lewis Winthorpe III (Aykoyd) and Billy Ray Valantine (Murphey) trade places...

Trading Places is indeed very funny. Eddie Murphey is the best thing in this film. He becomes the character that most of us can relate to (Winthorpe is too snobbish, even when he has been thrown into the deep end). The writing is clever and imaginative while the villains are despicably superior.

****Good

Trading Places Trailer

Up (2009)

Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Starring: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson
Certificate: U
Genre: Animation, adventure, comedy
Awards: Best Music, Best animation

Up was the last disney pixar film that was not a sequel and it is without a doubt better than it's two predecessors. The story follows a widowed, grumpy old man named Carl Fredrickson (Asner) who used to be a balloon salesman. He and his wife had had a lifelong dream to go to paradise falls - a place discovered by their hero, Charles Muntz (Plummer). When Carl is told that he now has to live in a retirement home, he attaches thousands of balloons to his chimney and sets forth to accomplish his dream. But obstacles soon get in the way. Kevin (Nagai), a boy scout, was on Carl's porch when they took off and as they travel together they meet talking dogs, giant birds and Carl's lifelong hero - charles Muntz.

Up is Pixar at it's finest. The colours, the characters, the humour: it's all perfect. The dogs are probably my favourite characters in the film as they add comic relief to the films tale of loneliness.  This is by far the most depressing film Pixar has done, but it does the adventure part justice as well. Overall, this is a very strong film and I would much rather Disney Pixar made more original stories such as this than Cars 2.

****Good

Up Trailer

The Muppets (2011)

Director: James Bobin
Starring: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper
Certificate: U
Genre: Comedy
Awards: Best song

Seeing as the only muppets I have seen before is the christmas Carol film and a few internet music videos, this review is through the eyes of someone almost completely new to the muppets.

The story is clever. Basically, muppet Walter is a big fan of the Muppets. So when his brother Gary (Segal) and girlfriend (Adams)go to Los Angeles for the tenth anniversary, he tags along to see the old muppet studio. While their he finds that an evil rich man named- named Tex Richman (Cooper) funnily enough - is planing to buy and drill the muppet studio for oil. Now the Muppets have to get back together to put on a show and make ten million dollars before the deadline.

The Muppets is definitely a happy film, so if you're a die hard fan of There Will Be Blood, this probably isn't the film for you. The film often makes fun of itself along with commonly used film gimmicks which makes it seem modest and not as if it's trying to force the emotion down our throats. In the cinema I was in, both adults and children seemed to be enjoying themselves. That's a hard thing for a film to do. In conclusion, The Muppets is a nostalgia fest for most adults while it still appeals to kids of 2012. Jim Henson had invented something timeless when he first thought of these wonderful characters.

****Good

The Muppets Trailer

Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Director: George Lucas
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewen McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ahmed Best, Samuel L Jackson, Ray Park, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker
Certificate: U
Genre: Sci Fi
Awards: None

It's a strange feeling when you watch something you have seen before in a cinema, it just doesn't feel right. Anyway, Star wars episode 1. It might be surprising but I like The Phantom Menace. It has some of the best actors of the series such as Liam Neeson as Obi-Wan Kenobi's (McGregor) master and Ray Park as the Sith Lord Darth Maul. The Pod Racer sequence and the final fight are some of the highlights of the whole saga.

These things are however shadowed -in most people's eyes- by two monstrosities. One is of course Ja- Ja Binks (Best). One of the most irritating characters in the history of film, this alien creature is given way too much screen time. But the worst thing in the film - even worse than Ja-Ja- is Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker. This has got to be one of the worse examples of child acting ever. Apparently, The Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osment auditioned for the role but was turned down. He would have been a much better choice for a 9 year old Darth Vader.

The 3D effects in the cinema for Phantom Menace are about average. It's not Avatar. 3D is once again just being used as a gimmick to get an old film back into the cinemas. I didn't really notice it that much either. It's nothing special.

Overall, Phantom Menace is probably the best Star Wars in the modern trilogy. The main actors are awesome, and although the story has now become more political, it is still enjoyable. I would advise however, that you watch the original star wars first and watch the series in the order they are made. Otherwise all the twists are spoilt for you.


****Good

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Trailer

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T.  Jackson
certificate: 15
Genre: Comedy, war, action
Awards: None

Five actors shooting a war film get a bit more than they were expecting when their director takes them to a jungle and then steps on a land mine. Tugg Speedman (Stiller) is an action hero who has been mocked for his most recent film where he played a disabled man; Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr) is the oscar award winning actor who even has a an operation to change his skin colour in order to play the role, and Jeff Portnoy (Black) is the comedic actor who is known for taking drugs and going crazy. These men must elude a gang of drug runners and find their way back home, before they attack each others throats.

This film is brilliantly written. It makes a mockery of actors and basically the whole film industry. Tom Cruise is also really good as the producer Les Grossman. All the acting is fantastic, particularly Downey Jr who does each accent he does so well. All of the characters are fleshed out, so the supporting cast are identifiable with too. Tropic Thunder is a film to watch

*****Brilliant

Tropic Thunder Trailer

Stand By Me (1986)

Director: Rob Reiner
Starring: Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland
Certificate: 15
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Awards: None

Stand By Me is based on the book "The Body" by Stephen King and follows four boys who try and find the body of a teenager who has been hit by a train. There's Gordie (Wheaton), who has drifted away from his parents since his brothers death. He is also the narrater; Chris (Phoenix), who is from a family of rejects and is treated likewise by adults; Teddy (Feldman), a psycho who has a mentally disturbed father who often attacks him; and Vern (O'Connell), a gullible boy who the others pick on a lot.

I found Stand By Me to be really moving. This is probably the best set of child actors ever set up.  It's funny, but not in a stupid way. All the actors are utterly brilliant and the story is just beautiful. All of the characters feel really real, which is why the film leaves you feeling so sad. I love this film.

*****Brilliant

Stand by Me Trailer

Fearless (2006)

Director: Ronny Yu
Starring: Jet Li, Shidô Nakamura, Betty Sun
Certificate: 15
Genre: Kung Fu, Action
Awards: None

Fearless is the biography of Huo Yuanjia (Li), a martial arts expert who starts off as an arrogant and unlikable man who . After his family is killed, he spends some years in a small village learning of patience and other skills. When he returns, he finds that his town is now occupied by Japan. He then enters a competition against American and japanese to prove that the Chinese are more than just an oppressed civilisation.

Fearless has a lot in common with Ip Man, and although I understand it was made after this film, Ip Man delivers it better. In Fearless, you don't actually like the character in the beginning and Ip Man develops the supporting characters a lot more. Altogether, it's quite good mind.

****Good

Fearless trailer

The Jerk (1979)

Director: Carl Reiner
Starring: Steve Matin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams
Certificate: 15
Genre: Comedy
Awards: None

The Jerk follows a complete and utter doofus called Navin (Martin). After he finds out that his black family may have adopted him, he decides to see the world. On his way, he meets madmen, crazy dogs, and two loves of his life; becomes rich and poor over and over again and even tries to capture some criminals to hilarious effect.

The first half of the film is a lot stronger than the second half, with unpredictable things happening and Steve Martin producing a performance that may remind you of Jim Carey. In the second half, it all calms down to produce more chemistry between the characters. It's hilarious and will leave you cracking up a lot. I prefer Martin's later films such as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Man With Two Brains but it is still one of his classic films. It's tons better than It's Complicated!

****Good

The Jerk Trailer