Film Reviews by RL

This is one of the most gripping films I've watched in a long time, although I'm not sure why. The story is ridiculously simple, none of the characters are that great, the score wasn't memorable. And it's a rip off of one of my top three films of all time "Hanna". However, I enjoyed every minute of it and frankly could have watched it for many more hours. Bemusing!

With the cast being as it is I was expecting something if not life changing then at least intelligent. Sadly, unless you have the sense of humour of a 12 year old you'll find nothing from this empty, vapid, pointless waste of a disk. There are many films and TV shows that you can do rude and be funny. This isn't it, it doesn't shock as such, it isn't funny and it doesn't make you think. Aside from Rose Byrne, who's character I quite like and is about the only human one in it it's a whitewash of trash.

This is a beautifully made film based on the classic Swiss tale of the young girl Heidi. Maybe I'm going soft in my old age but it's one of the cutest films I've ever watched. The scenery is stunning, the story line is simple but entertaining, the score is actually pretty darn good and Heidi is as cute as a button. The only one downside is that the dubbing is sometimes ever so slightly forced for some of the characters but it's a tiny point that in no way detracts from what is really a fantastic film. Even better I imagine if you have children you can watch it with.

What I like about this one is that it has the feel of a indie flick but has established names in Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard as well as great breakout roles from Isabelle Fuhrman and Aryana Engineer. It starts off as a straight family drama then slowly gets creepy, then downright evil, before coming to a satisfying and not overdrawn conclusion. Excellent acting and good atmosphere. Worth a watch.

The idea behind it is vaguely interesting but it cannot decide if it is a sci-fi film, a romance, a drama, a comedy or what. In the end it's a bit of a mess of everything. None of the characters are very likeable or real and the back story which gets it up to the present day is flimsy. Avoid.

Some of the camera work, the shots of Pripyat and Duga are great. The line up of interviewees is good and it does show the power that the Soviet Union still has over those who worked for it.

However the central premise of the documentary is at best confused and at worst insane. Fedor is portrayed as some sort of quasi-prophet character, despite the fact he looks drunk or wired half the time. The strange, although thankfully rare, interspersion of his "artistic" work is out of place. He doesn't really seem to get any evidence of Chernobyl being a Duga cover up, he just makes old Soviets look shifty. I've done a lot of reading and visited the site and my two guides were very anti-Soviet and they don't think it was on purpose, let alone making a weird link to Duga.

What we have here are a group of young men unhappy with the way Russia is trying to take over Ukraine. I've always been pro-Ukraine, especially since I visited there. But I fear this documentary makes Fedor and those of his ilk look mad, ill informed and a little dangerous. Using the Chernobyl disaster to promote anti-Russian feeling is not a new concept but it shouldn't be done so sloppily by someone who should know better.

It's funny, it's entertaining, it's a little bit mad. Rented this a couple of years back but have just purchased it as I want my friends to be able to see it. Fans of Wes Anderson will enjoy as it's a *bit* similar to his stuff.

The film could have been quite good has it not been for the silly way all the characters behaved. Moore ended up looking like a bit of a whore, Harrellson a deranged cuckold and Redford some perverted stalker weirdo. It's not a clever, funny, action packed or romantic film, it's a bit of a weird mess. The best bit is Roy Orbison singing at the end

To me, one of the better space disaster films out there. Unlike many on here I did care about the characters and were rooting for them throughout. I thought it was a very well put together film, it was interesting, evenly paced, tense and a little bit scary. I didn't think the ending was predictable either, although others seem to think it was.

Weirdest thing in it? Choice of song over the closing credits!

I've not read the books so cannot compare them but I thought it was a good fun film. I didn't really laugh that much but I smiled a lot. A few well known faces appear so keep an eye out. Just the right length at an hour, kept me entertained. Apparently there is a sequel!

Scandinavian authors and film makers have created some absolute top draw horror/suspense fiction and I am a MASSIVE fan of many of the books and flicks they have produced.

This however is a twisted tale too far. There was a spate of suicides in the small(ish) Welsh town of Bridgend about ten years ago, this much is true. It was tragic and it must have affected those living there deeply. The director of this film (Jeppe Ronde) however seems to want to make a bit of cash out of the death of other peoples children. Most, if they had to to earn a crust, would put together a well researched documentary. This guy however, simply seeing a Welsh town as a cash cow, decided to vilify a grieving town and it's youth to get his name in lights.

The truth of the story is probably sad, inevitable and tragically inane, youths caught in a valley town at the start of an economic recession. Instead we see drunken yobs off their faces howling to their dead friends, stripping off their clothes and skinny dipping, no doubt to get more viewers, and somehow at the end all swimming naked towards a burning forest like the Satan worshippers Ronde would have them be. I've not found any evidence that most of what he's said happened, I've just been to Bridgend a few times (the first in 2008) and seen what it's actually like.

He also throws in a "damsel in distress" who moves to the village and tries to kill herself almost immediately, an abusive cop and wedges in (badly) a priest character to ham up the "hell" aspect of the film.

Positives? Steven Waddington and Hannah Murray. Quite what possessed these two very good actors to get involved in this is beyond me, but hey they were good, albeit Murray's performance was a bit 1D as Ronde made her into the angel that had to be corrupted by the evil town. Also, for all it's fakeness and exploitation the camera work and soundtrack really did well to uphold the myth.

I have watched MANY apocalyptic films and seen countless many ways that different groups of people may or may not live or die when something major goes off. However this one is one of the best there is. Both Rice, and especially Phillips, give a real human feel to the catastrophe, and not a sappy overblown Hollywood feel.

The relatively low budget, zero effects (until the end, you'll see what I mean) and excellent writing make it about as real as the end of the world will ever hopefully be. It's an incredibly bleak film as everyone will die, that's not a spoiler, it makes it clear from the start, so everything done in the film lacks the "maybe they'll escape" and takes on a poignancy of it's own.

It's bleak and it's miserable but sometimes it shines with beauty. True, some of the scenes at the party descend a little to boring type but on the whole it's a stunning film that Zak Hilditch (writer and director) should be extremely proud of, and one that you won't forget anything soon.