Big (1988)

Director: Penny Marshall
Starring: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
Certificate: 12
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Awards: None

Josh Baskin (David Moscow) has always been irritated  by the disadvantages he has by being a child, and so when he sees a mysterious machine at a circus which can grant wishes, he wishes that he was "big". This leads to hi becoming a full grown man (Hanks) in the morning. After he flees from his home - as he is thought to have kidnapped Josh- he finds a job at a toy company. While he's there people start to realise that he doesn't act like an adult.

Big is funny with a good story. It's not really wacky like Steve Martin or Jim Carrey films. It touches more on the innocence of children and how they are better than adults in many ways. Tom Hanks plays a good fish out of water role and the rest of the cast do their job well.

****Good

Big Trailer

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Eddie Bunker, Quentin Tarantino
Certificate: 18
Genre: Heist, Gangster, Crime
Awards: None

Reservoir Dogs is Tarantino's debut film, shot on a very low budget.  Six strangers have agreed to pull a diamond heist for Joe Cabot (Tierney) an his son Eddie (Penn). Mr White (Keitel): A friend of Joe's; Mr Pink (Buscemi): The fast thinker; Mr Blonde (Madsen): The Psycho; Mr Orange (Roth): The Rookie; Mr Blue (Bunker) and Mr Brown (Tarantino). Once the heist goes wrong, the survivors try to find out which one of them is the undercover cop.

Reservoir Dogs is really original and leaves a big impact. The film is mostly dialogue, but it is the witty dialogue that Tarantino has become famous for. The plot is all over the place (as in non-linear) but it's quite easy to understand and the four main characters are all brilliant to watch. My personal favourite is Mr Pink. He works things out quicker than the others.

This film is one of those that you wish was longer. It makes you want more on the characters and the effect they had. Reservoir Dogs is my favourite film that I've seen so far. I feel that it is better than pulp fiction although they are both top class films. I hope Tarantino keeps making films for a long time...

******Genius

Reservoir Dogs trailer

Bridesmaids (2011)

Director: Paul Fieg
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Chris O'Dowd, Melissa McCarthy
Certificate: 15
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Awards: None

Bridesmaids is a comedy about the preparation of a marriage. The main character is Annie Walker (Wiig), who's best friend is getting married. Unfortunately, rivalry starts to brim into the group of bridesmaids who are given charge of the Hen night. Annie's life is also falling out of control. She has money and social problems that she doesn't want anyone to know about.

Bridesmaids is an extremely funny film. The things that happen to the characters are outrageous while their personalities keep it fresh. It's also quite cool to see the I.T. Crowed star Chris O'Dowd making his way into the film industry as well. Altogether, It's a pretty unique comedy that can be enjoyed by both sexes.

****Good

Bridesmaids Trailer

The Great Escape (1963)

Director: John Sturges
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton, James Donald, Angus Lennie
Certificate: PG
Genre: War, Adventure, Drama
Awards: None

The Great Escape is a war film where a group of British and American soldiers are held in a maximum security prison of war camp. The inmates then plan to dig their way out and get as many out as possible.

The film is similar to The Dirty Dozen by having most of the film set during the planning stage. We see how some men thrive under the conditions and how some people break. It has elements of both comedy and great tragedy entwined in it. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it hit you even harder. It may not be as emotional as modern films such as Saving Private Ryan but it still shocks the audience.

All the main characters are three dimensional. They are all different in personality and react in different ways. The other characters however, serve as extras and you don't really learn much about them.

This film is a perfect film for it's time and it's no surprise that the scenes and the music have become iconic in the film industry. All the characters are great to watch and the story is great.

*****Brilliant 

The Great Escape Trailer

Into The Wild (2007)

Director: Sean Penn
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Jena Malone, William Hurt
Certificate: 15
Genre: Drama
Awards: None

Into The Wild follows the travels of Christopher McCandless:  A bright graduate who has different views about the world to everybody else. After abandoning society, he meets people on the way to Alaska where he sets camp.

Into The Wild is a touching film that creates mixed opinions. Some people will think that the main character is a bit of an idiot and that he is overreacting to how he was treated as a child. Others will think that he made a good move. The acting is superb and the music is brilliant. Like The Tree Of Life, it is very poetical and contains a lot of symbolism, but unlike Tree, Wild has a story that can also be enjoyed rather than being one big mess.

****Good

Into the Wild Trailer

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, John Vernon
Certificate: 15
Genre: Western
Awards: None

As the title says, Josey Wales (Eastwood) is an outlaw being pursued by the recently victorious American Union. As the union slaughtered his family, Josey doesn't really want to surrender to them and so flees with his wounded friend.

The Outlaw Josey Wales is an enjoyable film if you like westerns. It's classic Clint Eastwood. It's violent, funny and the bad guys are downright evil. It's not Eastwood's best (Unforgiven and The Good The Bad and The Ugly are both superior), but it's fun.

****Good

The Outlaw Josey Wales Trailer

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis
Certificate: 18
Genre: Gangster, Horror, crime, action
Awards: None

From Dusk Till Dawn is almost two completely different films. The first half is a crime film you would expect from Tarantino (he wrote the film), then the film turns around completely and turns into a horror film with vampire strippers who start killing everyone at the strip club the characters hole up in (videogames such as Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption will later do the same thing). Main characters die and becomes a game of survival.

All the characters in From Dusk Till Dawn are brilliant. George Clooney's robber Seth Gecko is the true meaning of cool, his brother (Tarantino) is a psycho who likes to kill and rape. We also have an ex preacher (Keitel), his two kids, a vietnam veteran and a man with a pop out gun on his groin. The story is funny and awesome. This is a fun horror film to watch.

****Good

From Dusk Till Dawn Trailer

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

Director: John Madden
Starring: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup
Certificate: 12
Genre: Comedy
Awards: None

Eight british pensioners with their own sad stories find an advertisement for a newly restored hotel in India. They all go for different reasons. When they get there, the place is completely different. The broken down building led by the badly organised Sonny (Patel) becomes their new home. Some characters adapt while others refuse to change.

Marigold Hotel has a clever dialogue that adds a lot of humour. It's never laugh out loud, but it gets a few chuckles.  The characters are all different, some are likeable while others deserve a strangling. This is a fun film which I would usually watch on DVD. It's not really a cinema film.

****Good

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Trailer