The tagline says ‘Blood Will Run’ and in Ironclad, it runs by the bucket load.

Monday the 11th of July sees the release DVD and Blu-ray release of Ironclad which is an action fueled gory medieval drama based on true events with a whole load of added made up fiction thrown in to give it more cinematic appeal. From director Jonathan English and starring James Purefoy, Paul Giamatti and Brian Cox, this is Ironclad.

The story is set in the 13th Century and is about the bloody siege of Rochester Castle by King John (Giamatti) and his minions against a Templar knight named Marshall (Purefoy), Baron Albany (Cox) and his stubborn, battle hardened group of warrior buddies. This collective group of warriors hold out for months against the unrelenting onslaught from King John’s rebel army whose one goal is to take the Keep of Rochester that will lead King John to rule the southeast of Britain.

The film sticks to a simple idea: A few-against-many plot, decapitations and graphic gore whenever possible, enjoyable characters you root for that probably end up dying by the end and King John enjoyably ranting throughout. Together it all works nicely with the bunch of ragtag fighters fending of the attacks of King John’s army using tactics rather than strength. The gore comes constantly in the battle scenes and in impressively graphic ways with heads flying off and limbs being hacked free and bodies being split in half with huge broad swords which adds to the enjoyment. The bunch of fighters all have your generic mix of personalities with a slightly crazy one, an huge hard arse warrior type, a young inexperienced lad, a loud mouthed killing machine etc and then there’s King John played sublimely by the excellent Paul Giamatti. But is this enough to make the film succeed? Not really, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun and well worth a watch.

The problem with the film is that there are some very slow moments in between some of the battles and these moments mainly involve the utter nonsense of including a love interest for the Knight Templar Marshall with the irritating and rather pointless Lady Isabel (Kate Mara). Their romance seemed so false and wedged in to try add a bit of femininity to the story and almost ruins the momentum that was so excellently created by the battle scenes. This problem was infuriatingly equaled by the irritating over use of the dreaded shaky cam technique to try and make the battle scenes more ‘realistic’ with a documentary stylisation to add “real sense of action” to the fights. It unfortunately ruins some tense moments and just made me want to shake my head around rapidly to try and synchronize with the movement on screen to try make sense of all the excellent fight choreography that deserved a clearer presentation on screen.

Praise does have to be given to Paul Giamatti, who apparently filmed all his scenes in just 7 days, he is easily the most enjoyable aspect in the movie as he delivers some cracking lines and a truly despicable character. Brian Cox also delivers a creditable performance and stands out amongst the good guys, especially towards the end of the film in a very disturbing moment that was equally difficult to watch as it was powerful.

The DVD quality is of a good standard and I can only imagine that the Blu-ray version would show off the gore in even more clearer detail but apart from that there are no extras of any kind unless you need to add subtitles to the film. Very disappointing.

Ironclad is released on DVD and Blu-ray today.

Film ***~~ (3/5)

DVD ~~~~~ (0/5)

I love stumbling across film trailers I’ve not seen before and this little doozy has now got my full attention for the release of the movie, in fact it had my attention at seeing the word Zombie in its description.

Latino Review released the exclusive trailer and posted some interesting news about the development of the project on their site, namely that director Alejandro Bruges did some ridiculous things to get the film made in Cuba.

Juan of the Dead or to give it its native name ‘Juan de los Muertos’ is a film that looks like it’s in the similar vein to Shaun of the Dead and going for comedy mixed with some Zombie killing formula. It looks brilliant from first glimpse, quite fresh and a hell of a lot of fun.

“In the film, Havana is overrun by Zombies while’s Cuba’s Commie leaders insist it’s just a plot by US-backed dissidents to bring down the government. It is up to the hero Juan to rid the island of the undead for money. But as the zombie outbreak begins to spread, he is left with no choice but to fight for his own survival.”

So “Cubu’s first Horror film” is taking shape nicely but with no release date set we will have to wait a little longer to see this potential cult classic.

Bring on the gore! check out the trailer and teaser clips below.

This is a topic that is very close to my heart and one that is so very important to the community of Walthamstow in East London and to many film and heritage lovers beyond its borders.

The wonderful site savewalthamstowcinema.org has been helping fight a battle, along with many others including the McGuffin Film and Television Society, which has been raging on for over 7 years to save our stunning and historically rich EMD Granda Cinema. The building has been in the middle of a bitter fight to save its existence after being bought by the Universal Church of The Kingdom of God (UCKG) way back in 2003. Check out their site for excellent coverage of all the ups and downs of the long battle to get the listed cinema back to showing films again.

There are other wonderful articles on their site about the past and fabulous history of the venue, a place where Alfred Hitchcock was rumored to have attended and also where The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Scott Walker, The Who, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison all performed.

And so to further raise the profile of this excellent cause and to help dig out some old memories of previous visitors to the famous venue, Save Walthamstow Cinema wants you to submit your stories, tales and memories of your time at the Cinema so they can be shared and treasured as part of the E17 Art Trail.

See below for a run down of the idea or visit their site for more details, printable flyer and stories.

A fantastic new project has begun that will gather and preserve the innumerable stories and memories that people, especially local people, have of the building. Whether it was then the EMD, the Granada or the ABC, the Storytelling project seeks written or recorded voxpops of your opinions and personal anecdotes, as well as photos, music and drawings. If you have special memories of childhood matinees, first dates, first kiss(!), wild nights at concerts or just a warm feeling about the place, please get in touch.

Your stories and pictures can be emailed to storytelling@savewalthamstowcinema.org or sent by post to Save Walthamstow Cinema, 39-41 High St, London E17 7AD.

For more details about the project see the SWC Facebook page. Regular updates will also be posted on Twitter.

I for one have many fond memories of going to the Cinema with fellow Heyuguys writer and founder of the site Jon Lyus. We saw many films throughout our early years with close friends and for me some of my favorite personal memories were in 1982 having to choose between ET or Tron and choosing to see Tron with my father whilst my Sister chose ET with my mother, I loved sharing stories with my sister after wards about the two films and was happy that I chose Light Cycles over a soppy Alien story.

I saw Return of Jedi as a Star Wars obsessed 5 year old and loving every second of it. I fondly remember seeing Dark Crystal and jumping out of my seat when Fizzgig jumped out of the hole, a moment that still haunts me when I watch the film. I saw and was blown away by The Matrix and I sadly also spent four straight days seeing the Phantom Menace because I really really wanted to like it and died a little inside each day I sat through the Lucas childhood destroying abomination developing a sickening addiction to the toffee butterkist popcorn in the process, but at just over £2 a ticket I didn’t feel I put too much in George’s pocket.

This little Cinema in Walthamstow created my love for film, From the age of 3 almost every film I watched at a cinema, I watched in this wonderful memory filled place and it will hopefully be the Cinema I continue to see films in and take my kids to see them in the future.

Please share your memories and be part of E17 Trail.

Cedar Rapids is a cracking little comedy from director Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Youth and Revolt) and it stars two of my favorite comedy actors around at the moment in Ed Helms and John C. Reilly.

The film is very sweet and charming at times, a trait which is equaled by its crudeness and funny visual gags. It all comes together to form a well rounded but slightly flawed comedy which benefits from a very solid all round cast performance.

The story is of Tim Lippe (Helms), a naive native of a small town called Brown Valley. He’s never ventured past its borders, knows little of the world and is pre-engaged to his 7th grade teacher Millie Vanderhei (Sigourney Weaver). Tim works for the successful Brown Star Insurance company, winner of the coveted Two Diamond award three years running thanks to the company’s golden boy Roger Lemke.

However, when Roger is found dead after “accidentally” choking himself with his belt, Tim is sent to Cedar Rapids to represent the company at an annual insurance convention and to bring home the Two Diamond award for the fourth time.

The film is then a journey of discovery for Tim as he comes under the guidance of three convention veterans: foul mouthed party animal Dean Ziegler (Reilly), seductive Joan Ostrowski-Fox (Anne Heche) and straight talking nice guy Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock Jr). As the film progresses Tim starts to bond with his new friends, discovers the pros and cons of alcohol, drugs and prostitutes and learns the ‘way of the convention’.

There are laughs a-plenty mixed up in the inevitable life lessons learned where Tim grows as a human being as well as a professional in the insurance business, but it all comes to a head when he is forced to face the reality of what he has to do – to bring home the Two Diamond Award for Brown Star.

There are some brilliant moments in Cedar Rapids. If you want some hilarious visual comedy – you got it, if you want some crude jokes and shock humor there’s some of that too, but the joy of the film is watching Tim truly understand not only the ‘way of the convention’ but also the importance of growing as a person. There are a lot of laughs, and a lot of heart too. Cedar Rapids worked very well for me and although it will inevitably take a back seat to the likes of Hangover 2 in terms of popularity and box office takings, it will offer more charm and charisma than most comedy films released this year.

I’m a huge fan of Ed Helms, his turn in The Hangover is legendary and his hilarious performances in the outstanding ‘The Office’ (the American version) are always incredibly memorable and one of the main reasons I keep watching it. In Cedar Rapids, Helms shows again what brilliant comic timing and delivery he has to make a character worth rooting for. The only issue I had with his performance is that at times Tim Lippe came across as being a mentally challenged and that he was a man with a child’s brain instead of someone lacking in life experience which is more a script issue than a performance one.

John C Reilly seemed to have the most fun in the film delivering some very (enjoyable) crude jokes and sight gags that worked for a majority of the film but wore thin as time went on. His character of Dean Zeigler lives for the Convention and has no ambition of gaining the Two Diamond award and that gave Reilly some freedom to just let loose and be the devil on Tim’s shoulder throughout  – delivering a  vast amount of the laughs in the film.

Given that Ed Helms and John C Reilly are the main focus of the film it gives the brilliant Isiah Whitlock Jr a chance to steal a few scenes from them. He hilariously references “HBO’s The Wire” (of which he starred in) and mimics the iconic Omar from the show to get his friends out of a fix. His gentle and harmless demeanor was the perfect counterbalance to John C Reilly’s outrageous behavior and allowed the film to change pace quickly depending on who Tim was hanging out with. The final member of the convention gang is Joan Ostrowski-Fox played by Anne Heche. Her character was surprisingly complex as she uses the conventions to escape her reality of having a family and is the source of attention for the guys, especially for Pre-engaged Tim.

Overall Miguel Arteta has delivered a fine comedy movie, It shows a great deal of heart and offers plenty of laughs from some very enjoyable characters. It’s better than Youth and Revolt and fans of Helms and Reilly will be rewarded greatly.

Cedar Rapids is out on 29th April and with the hideous Royal Wedding coming up on the same day and like me you need somewhere to escape it, then I encourage you to go spend 90 minutes of the day watching Cedar Rapids.

***½~ (3.5/5)

The Stephen King Dark Tower franchise machine is starting to build up some exciting momentum with the recent news that Javier Bardem is very close to signing on for the project as the iconic lead character of the series, Roland Deschain. This mixed but widely approved casting news has now been followed up with the very positive sounding announcement from Deadline.com that Mark Verheiden has joined the solid looking talent forming behind the camera and will Co-Write and Executive Produce alongside Akiva Goldsman.

Mark Verheiden is a very talented and experienced writer with a proven track record for strong TV series contributions, it’s what the Dark Tower films and TV series need to give a voice to the stunning and complex source material that will hopefully stay true or as close to the seven Dark Tower books that the fans will expect. Verheiden has previously written and Executive Produced the likes of Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Timecop, The Mask and the upcoming Dreamworks show Falling Skies. Its quite a decent CV and one that has given me optimism for the Dark Tower’s future.

As previously reported, Ron Howard is directing the first film as well as the first TV series which is bridging the gap between the first and second films. Depending on the critical reception it receives, the box office takings and that the TV series avoids the dreaded Death Slot in the States, the franchise will become hot property and will then allow Howard, Goldsman, Verheiden and Universal to attract some further talented directors and actors to continue the journey to the Dark Tower and allow it to reach its stunning finale. Time will tell.

What fans need now is the casting news/rumours to really start flowing and give us Dark Tower followers something to debate over until the films release. In my opinion the selection of staff and casting for the Dark Tower will be as big and as important to the success of the adaption of the seven Books of the Dark Tower as when Peter Jackson and friends had to dauntingly select the right crew, actors and actresses for The Lord of the Rings films. It’s so important to get this right and signing Verheiden and Bardem is a great step towards success.
I’ll start my casting wish list by asking that if Aaron Paul or Michael Pitt are available, then get either of them signed as Eddie Dean now.

Would love to hear your thoughts on anything Dark Tower s comment below.

Roll on May 27th 2013 which is the intended start date for the first film.

There have been a great deal of trailers released so far this year showcasing the good and bad of films of 2011 and so far nothing has really caught my eye and engaged my eagerness as much as this Video Game trailer for the upcoming Zombie game “Dead Island”.

As far as trailers go, Dead Island offers far more than most movie trailers have delivered in 2011 and many years before. It offers a stunningly unique, truly captivating and emotionally hitting example of how to sell a product and really highlights the quality that can be delivered from the gaming sector. The music, the brief snippets of screams and growls and the dire events really make a memorable impact, it’s stunning.

As a self confessed Zombie fanatic, The Dead Island trailer gives you a perfect example of what Zombie rules should be followed. Kids and Bellboys are not immune from being turned into walking dead, don’t try be a hero, do not perv at bikini clad Z’s and give us some gore…lots of gore. The game appears to be a first person shooter and gives you the chance to pick up almost any kind of item to use as a weapon to stay alive, there is no release date yet but when it does come out I’ll be sure to grab a copy to get my Zombie killing fix.

Check out the trailer below, be warned it is very gory and some may find it disturbing. also below is the trailer in chronological order which isn’t as effective but it’s none the less enjoyable.

The Next Three days is the new Russell Crowe film about a man resorting to desperate measures to save the woman he loves.

Written and directed by Paul Haggis (Crash, Valley of Elah) it is a film that has split my opinions on whether it’s brilliant entertainment, an absurd mess or a crazy love child of the two.

John Brennan (Crowe) is a mild mannered school teacher whose wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks), is suddenly arrested and imprisoned for a killing her boss; with a clear motive, an eye witness placing her at the scene and the victim’s blood on her coat the evidence is stacked against her. John knows his wife could not have killed and so attempts to prove Lara’s innocence only to be halted by the compelling evidence and the legal system and so he resorts to a concocting a plan to break her out of prison.

The film then heads into how John plans the heist for his wife whilst trying to keep his family together as their son starts to distance himself from his mother. John begins learning criminal skills through the internet and getting guidance from Damon Pennington (a very brief cameo by Liam Neeson), renowned for his ability for carrying out prison breaks, who warns him that the hard part isn’t the escape but the after effects of when the hunt is on.

This is the film’s most interesting part as you watch this regular guy, with hints of Gladiator, enter the criminal underworld to get false ID, weapons and money and then develop a plan that is rushed into action with the news Lara is due to be moved in three days to the local penitentiary giving him one chance to get her before she’s transferred from county jail.

My main issues with the film, apart from the implausible plot, is that the opening doesn’t give enough time to add a solid enough foundation to John and Lara’s relationship. Before ten minutes have passed, Lara is arrested and carted off to jail for murder, which is fine as it adds an immediate impact to the films plot, but we’ve only witnessed a little romance between the couple which didn’t give enough character development for me to care for Lara or her predicament, it is just a part of the plot at that point. Lara is then only seen in jail being depressed and with the aid of deceiving flashbacks of the murdering incident, you’re given the impression she may well have been guilty so your sympathy towards her plight is further removed.

When the Wife Heist finally takes place I couldn’t help thinking that the FBI hunt should have come a lot sooner in the film and lasted for longer; the whole movie is a build of planning and tension that explodes in the final half hour which all feels rushed, unsatisfying and it contains the film’s most ridiculous moments compared to the taught atmosphere created before it. It is an action packed part of the film and well crafted but I can’t help thinking that it’s lacking something to make it on par with the rest of the film.

So what do you end up with? The Next Three Days is a competent thriller but it is let down by some bad creative decisions, implausible moments and some horribly underused throw away characters. However, I found myself highly entertained by it all and at times riveted by the events that took place as John ventures deeper into his plan and there is no doubt many other viewers will thoroughly enjoy It too. Russell Crowe is good, very watchable and carries the film nicely along but Elizabeth Banks felt wasted.

The Next Three Days is out today, the first big film of 2011 and it’s definitely worth having watch. Check out the trailer here.

***~~ (3/5)

The Dark Tower is finally being developed for the screen with Universal leading the multi-platform release of Stephen King’s incredible Seven novel fantasy adventure series. Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman are already onboard to create the first film and the following first season, with Howard Directing and Akiva Goldsman writing, this will be part of a planned Trilogy of films and a TV series that link the films together. Now that the production has well and truly started, the inevitable casting rumours have begun.

Indiewire.com has brought us the news of some suitable and some very unsuitable casting rumours, and they are incredibly creative rumours at this point, for the lead character of the Dark Tower series called Roland Deschain; the last Gunslinger on a life long journey to reach the mysterious Dark Tower and to save the world.

Those that don’t know about the character of Roland, ideally he needs to be an weathered man of about 40-50 with striking blue eyes and able to look bloody cool with two big irons on his hip, Stephen King compared Roland to ‘the man with no name’ as played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s films. Now having said that, Ron Howard recently spoke freely with the LA Times about who could play Roland and the names mentioned were Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Jon Hamm and Dark Tower fansite Roland of choice, Viggo Mortensen. Although Ron Howard didn’t confirm if they had actually started casting he did say that he doubted the named stars would commit to such a project due to other commitments. A fair point, the Dark Tower would end up being at least 7 years of someone’s career unless they condense the books and choose to ignore parts of the plot, and if it fails to make a financial gain at the boxoffice, the cost of tying one of these A-List actors down for the duration of the franchise would be a financial risk straight away.

This could mean that a lesser known actor could be chosen to fill the gunslingers boots which is slightly worrying as the film will need a big name to get the box office draw it needs to launch the Dark Tower to more than the fans of the books, however Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman would be terrible choices for the role and could never offer enough character to suit Roland’s personality, Viggo would be absolutely perfect but I agree he would unlikely commit to such a large franchise and Jon Hamm is likely to be committed to Madmen for a few more years, but of course these are just rumours but as rumours for castings go, The Dark Tower characters are the ones that interest more than any other film on the horizon.

I’ve just finished reading the Dark Tower series over a three year spell and it is one of the most engaging and incredible stories I’ve ever experienced and I, like many fans, expect the source material to be followed as closely as possible which would mean an adult rating has to be maintained to get the most out of Roland and his Ka-Tet’s adventures through parallel worlds and time travel. The look of the production and casting has to be completely right or instantly the fans will react negatively which is what the adaptation does not need.

Love to hear your thoughts on who you think should be cast, use the comments below.

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest Internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.

This is our 40th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.

No. 145 – Ran (1985) – Rating 8.1

Kurosawa has been one of the highlights of the project with consistently strong films throughout that have all been an incredible experience to watch. Ran is no different and it’s by far the most visually stunning film from his entries in the IMDb250 list.

Ran is Kurosawa’s re-imagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear set in sixteenth century Japan. Grand in scope, it’s Kurosawa’s final masterpiece from a glorious career and it’s a stunning examination of the madness of war and the collapse of a family due to betrayal, greed, and the thirst for power.

Overlord Hidetora Ichimonji is the King Lear figure who starts as a powerful and dominant character with everything and ends with nothing. Swapping the king’s three daughters from the Shakespeare version, Kurosawa has instead gone for three warlord sons who eventually destroy his legacy and bring down the family, it’s a stunning choice that works perfectly. The journey of Hidetora is remarkable, first he banishes one son for warning him that splitting the kingdom between his three sons after his retirement will not work and with the ensuing wars between the brothers ends up with them all dead and Hideatora wandering the land as a madman distraught by the events of his humiliation and betrayal of his family.

There is plenty that stands out from Ran, the visual feast is what hits you first with the beautiful colour filling the screen when, if like me, you’re accustomed to Kurosawa’s black & white classic films. It’s absolutely stunning to watch especially when each clan is symbolised with a different coloured flag, particularly during the immense battle scenes, there is no doubt it assists to the films unforgettable qualities. Matched to this is the before mentioned battle scenes, they are quite possibly some of the most incredibly crafted battle scenes in movie history, not just for their direction but for the sheer scope of them where literally thousands of extras/actors were used to create truly unforgettable action and drama in huge and dynamic locations.

The performances of everyone involved is also worth mentioning with Tatsuya Nakadai being the standout as the broken Hidetora Ichimonji. His change from warlord leader to madman is unforgettable and heartbreaking as his sons betray him and his family is brought to collapse and one of the main protagonists of the down fall is his daughter-in-law Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada) who encourages her husband to take sole control of the clan and creates a destructive rift between Hidetora and his son that starts the collapse of the family. Mieko Harada’s performance is as the evil daughter-in-law is stunning and as instrumental to the films story as any other character and easily one of the more enjoyable roles of the film, especially with her horrific demise. There are so many other characters to mention that all add so much to the film and there is no doubt without all of them the film could never tell the story it does, you just have to see it to fully appreciate the stunning effort gone into making this epic masterpiece.

No. 201 – Dial M for Murder (1954) – Rating 8.0

Another Hitchcock film and another director who has delivered nothing but brilliant entertainment for me in the project.

Dial M for Murder is another Hitchcock film based on a successful stage play. Almost entirely set in a London flat, it’s the home of Tony and Margot Wendice, Tony (Ray Milland) is a former tennis star now working for a living and is after his wife’s money  and plots to kill her. The reason for his need to off his wife is because Margot (Grace Kelly) has long since lost interest in Tony and has fallen in love with another man, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), who is an American writer of successful television crime shows. Tony finds out about the affair and that she is about to leave him leaving him to fend for himself financially and so concocts a plan, a plan involving MURDER (In 3D apparently, which I wished I could have seen).

Tony is too clever to do the deed himself so his plan to take out his wife involves blackmailing an old friend, a small time petty crook called Charles Swan (Anthony Dawson), to carry out the murder for him. Things almost work to perfection but she doesn’t end up dead, Charles Swan does, and so to cover his murderous plot Tony attempts to set up his wife as having an ulterior motive for killing Swan and still walk away with her money. Alas genius detective John Williams (a Hitchcock regular) is the classic Scotland Yard Chief Inspector looking into the case and starts to identify some irregularities and suspects that Margot isn’t the guilty party.

The film is classic Hitchcock and for me rates as one of his best but it’s still behind Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt and especially Rear Window but it’s certainly a special movie on its own. The single setting works as wonderfully as it would have done on the stage and maintaining the audiences attention is key to the films success and Hitchcock pulls that off as only Hitchcock could probably do at the time. The plot is entirely engaging and the twist where the murderer is killed off and Tony’s game plan changes is unexpected and is executed to perfection. The small group of strong characters carry the plot from creation to payoff exceptionally, Ray Milland’s performance as a very pleasant villain is my favourite by far and there is never a moment where you cant enjoy watching Grace Kelly on screen is there? The ever enjoyable John Williams as the detective who pieces it all together is equally as entertaining to watch and plays off brilliantly against the calm intelligent Ray Milland in a glorious battle of wits. It’s Hitchcock, it’s genius and it’s timeless.

Check out some of the 3D version below, will need old red/green glasses to see.

No. 75 – Singing in the Rain (1952) – Rating 8.3

I never expected to like Singing in the Rain, I have nothing but bad memories of it when I last saw it many many years ago and I pretty much hate all musicals, but Singing in the Rain is a shining example of the genre as it just oozes magic from start to finish and that’s completely down to the brilliant cast and the perfect merge of music, comedy, dancing and a wonderful story.

The story is all about Hollywood and opens just before the dawn of talkies. Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a dapper, smug and romantic silent film star and along with his glamorous blonde screen partner called Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) they are expected by the studios to act as a couple to keep the fans coming despite Lockwood despising her. After the rise of talkies the pair are forced to change their latest silent romantic drama movie ‘The Duelling Cavalier’ and make their first sound picture, now renamed The Dancing Cavalier.

The problems start as soon as Lina Lamont opens her mouth as she squeals out a high pitched voice that doesn’t suit her persona or the era of talkies. Lockwood’s best friend and old dance partner Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) proposes to turn the certain failure film into a successful musical and suggests that Don enlists his new girlfriend and aspiring actress/dancer Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) to dub in her singing voice for the monstrosity vocals of Lamont including going behind the scenes and lip-syncing Lina when appearing live. Conflicts and egos bloom and as Don and Cosmo plot to bring the real leading lady’s voice to the audiences we get the happy ending you know was coming, and it’s wonderful.

There really is something amazing watching an actor like Gene Kelly performing, whether it’s dancing incredibly complex routines, singing unforgettable tunes or laying on suave lines and wooing the ladies, there is no doubt he is a one in a million performer with the looks and the talent to be a true Hollywood Legend. Donald O’Connor also stands out despite being in the shadow of Kelly, his performance is one of huge character and personality  filled with so much humour and talent he at times steals the film away from Kelly with ease. The dancing is something that really stands out whilst you watch the film, O’Connor and Kelly team up in some spectacular routines together and alone and it’s when alone that two of the best moments of the film occur. The first one being Donald O’Connor’s rendition of “Make em Laugh” where he almost defies gravity in a one take dance routine that is as much funny as it is stunningly performed. The second routine is obviously Gene Kelly’s legendary “Singing in the Rain” dance, from the opening hum of the tune you get lifted to a happy feeling as Kelly dances and sings one of the most famous musical numbers ever performed (and the most famous spoof comedy take off too) which is the films highlight and it cements itself as a classic for all time.

Overall a magical feel good movie that has catapulted itself into my film collection with ease and fully deserves its place on the IMDb list.

No. 146 – It Happened One Night (1934) – Rating 8.1

I’ve never seen this film before and I doubt I will ever see it again, not because it’s rubbish or lacking anything to make it a classic but because it’s not really my cup of tea, but despite that ‘It Happened One Night’ is a very enjoyable brilliant romantic comedy and one that you know has been the blueprint for many films to follow.

Secretly married and spoiled Claudette Colbert (Ellie Andrews) is a runaway heiress trying to escape the clutches of her father after she is taken away from her new husband by her father to his yacht, she escapes and heads back to her love by boarding a bus headed for New York. Unemployed newshound Peter Warne (Clark Gable) smells a career-making scoop and follows her making her a deal to help her on her journey in exchange for a story and the promise not to blow the whistle on her location. The ensuing road trip the pair take is where their unexpected love starts to blossom and where some of the finest romantic comedy takes place and it all comes together nicely as the pair realise what real love they have found with each other before they make the mistake of losing it.

It Happened One Night was the first film to win all five major Academy Awards, Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay, which is a feat that wouldn’t be matched until One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). It fully deserves the accolades it received and there is no doubt why it’s held in such high regard and even today, almost 80 years later. Unfortunately it does remind you of the shocking lack of witty humour and romantic comedy that fills so many films released these days which probably contributes to why I find it hard to thoroughly enjoy these types of movies. Leap Year is a fine example of this with its very similar story yet it lacks anywhere near 1% of the quality of It Happened one Night and that’s all down to stunning Capra direction, Clark Gable and Ellie Andrews putting absolutely everything into the film and a story and script that doesn’t patronise in the slightest. Take note Hollywood!

Clark Gable again proves what a brilliant leading man he is with an infectious charm that just surrounds the man and I doubt the film would have worked as well without him as the leading man. The story is perfectly flowing and as a road movie it works nicely as the couple go from scene to scene building the bitter tension between the couple as well as their blossoming relationship with some excellent moments and situations. It’s nice, it’s charming and it is funny. Worthy of the IMDb best 250 list? of course. Would it go on my own personal list? Probably not.

No. 6 – Schindler’s List (1993 ) – Rating 8.8

Schindler’s List is a film sitting at No.6 in our list and there is no doubt it fully deserves its place in the top 10 and will no doubt hold its place in the top 10 for many years to come. It’s a truly remarkable, emotional and incredibly made film that will surely be Spielberg’s greatest achievement as director.

The true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who during second world war in Poland was a war profiteer, a Nazi party member and a man responsible for saving the lives of over 1000 Jews in the Holocaust. From the start of the film Schindler’s business fully exploits the Jewish community and it shows Schindler as an unlikely saviour but as the film progresses and the horror of war takes over the film turns. It’s when Schindler witnesses the brutal and bloody elimination of the Warsaw Ghetto that he begins to work subversively against the Germans to protect and save the Jewish people he had working for him.

Schindlers List has so many scenes that stick with you long afterwards, whether it’s the horrific invasion of Krakow ghetto which unfolds like a nightmare of brutality and foreboding or the horrible Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) sniping Jews for fun from his mansion overlooking the camp, the removal of children from the Jewish camp, the women being lead into what appears to be a gas chamber and the most affecting scene where ash rains down around the city as the bodies of hundreds of Jews are burned, they all just hit you so hard on so many levels and for me there has never been a film so emotionally affecting. It’s filmed in haunting black & white apart from one visually emotive moment where just a hint of colour is used in a striking subtle way as Oskar watches a young girl in a red coat walking through the war torn town amongst the black and white visuals of soldiers executing anyone refusing to move and when Schindler sees the girl again later shes resting on top of a pile of bodies and its a defining moment for his characters motives, it’s incredibly powerful.

The entire cast are exceptional and utterly believable. Neeson is stunning as Schindler and adds so much to the character delivering a faultless performance that’s both touching and emotionally charged. Ben Kingsley also excels as Itzhak Stern, Schindler’s accountant for his business and helped write the list saving hundreds of Jews, he takes his character through an affecting pivotal journey, at times coming close to death in some heart stopping moments and is easily the most likable character in the film. However it’s Ralph Fiennes portrayal as the truly frightening SS Officer Amon Goeth that is the standout performance, never do you feel at ease when he’s on the screen and his unpredictable nature and callous murder just caused me a constant feeling of sickness and anxiety and that’s a rare emotion for me to have from watching a movie and how Tommy Lee Jones got best supporting actor for ‘The Fugitive’ over Fiennes will always be a mystery, who talks about his role in The Fugitive anymore?

A strange thing happened just before I started watching Schindler’s List, my sister had been researching our family tree and identified that my family has Jewish connections and it really made an emotional impact on me whilst watching the film, the horrific reality of the events will shock and it will always carry an incredibly powerful message. Stunning movie and it will hold it’s place in the top 10 for many many years.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/baz_mannand  http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips

Halloween is becoming one of my favourite times of the year as I get to put myself through some extreme movie watching experiences as well as seeing some of the best/worst horror films and characters ever created.

Last Halloween I watched all the films featuring the horror legends of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, I recorded their kill counts as well as doing a face off competition to decide who was the ultimate movie villain of the three legends with Jason Voorhees and the Friday the 13th Movies being the overall winner. You can see my blood-soaked venture here.

This year I went for a test of endurance, my plan was to watch as many Zombie movies consecutively until sleep deprivation turned me into something closely resembling a Zombie. I had 20 films lined up for the experiment and managed to get through 10 films over approximately 19 hours from 8pm to 3pm the following day. To add an obstacle to my challenge I did a full days work , waking up at 6am so in total I was awake for around a ridiculous 39 straight hours and I’m happy to say I succeeded in reaching a Zombie like quality that would have got me cast as a brain eating, blood thirsty walking dead in a Romero movie. I was at times imagining noises from the films I was watching were coming from outside my house and actually went to investigate on one occasion, I was talking in broken English and forgetting simple words when talking to my wife, who also took part for a respectable 7 hours of the challenge, and if I walked the streets towards the end I would no doubt have been dragging my feet and walking in a Zombie like fashion searching for meat (brains) and would have deservedly received a head shot from a shotgun from someone who has read the Zombie Survival guide and noticed the signs.

Despite the extreme tiredness and slightly delusional state I achieved, the experience was fantastic as I got to watch some very entertaining Zombie movies. Some were funny, some were action packed, some were incredibly insane but all were gloriously gore filled with the Zombie enemy a wonderfully utilized element of the same basic story, The Dead start coming back to life and survivors struggle to stay alive.

After watching the 10 films for this experiment and with a well experienced history of watching Zombie films, it’s clear to now say that Zombie movies are my favourite horror genre and my collection will now grow especially for some eye catching films I failed to see. However there is a danger that it’s becoming a saturated market, when doing my research into Zombie films you start to notice a lot of poorly made films with some tired story lines like Resident Evil or crappy remakes or quasi-sequels to Romero’s Zombie movies, but every now and again a new classic is born and that’s what keeps me watching. A thing I’m becoming a fan of is when a Zombie film completely ignores the origin of the virus and ploughs straight into the story letting you just accept it’s the problem and let the walking dead take centre stage.

There is no doubt that the Zombie monster has grown into a very popular product to market as it has spawned a very cool looking TV series called the Walking Dead which is based on the comic of same name, which is starting soon and has already gained excellent reviews. Developed by the brilliant Frank Darabont, who directed the stunning horror film ‘The Mist’ and wonderful Shawshank Redemption, it really does look a wonderful prospect. The trailer hints at something very traditional yet a modern take and extremely exciting, I cannot wait to get my Zombie fix in series form.

There are also a number of excellent Zombie video games to get your own fix for killing Zombies with the legendary Resident Evil games that produced some of the first video games scares in some genuinely terrifying moments (dogs through windows anyone?), there is also the stunning Left4Dead game on the PC which was a similar experience to taking part in the worlds of Dawn of the Dead remake or 28 days later where you fight swarms of Zombies, it’s a magnificent character to utilize and that’s because the Zombie is probably the most exhilarating when running at full pace.

Zombies have also infected the written word with some wonderful books on the shelves with my picks being World War Z (Screen rights with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment), The excellent Zombie Survival guide, Stephen King’s Cell, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Handling of the Undead which is by the writer of Let the Right One In and is brilliant. What ever format Zombies are in I’ll probably end up buying it.

Film No. 1 – Shaun of the Dead

Widely regarded as one of the best Zombie films ever made, Shaun of the Dead was definitely the standout movie in terms of storyline, strong characters, humour, gore and following the traditional Zombie rules. The story of Shaun trying to win back his girlfriend and get his life in order during the background story of a Zombie Apocalypse is perfect and wonderfully handled by director Edgar Wright and the excellent comedy duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

What I love about Shaun of the Dead is the subtle hints of the Zombie rising going on around Shaun as he struggles with his life. The quick glimpses at news stories, the background characters showing signs of illness and the oblivious nature of Shaun and Ed’s friendship as the world is falling apart around them with a clear Zombie problem occurring is exceptional and very original in Zombie story telling. This is until a Zombie turns up in their garden which brings them into the reality of the situation and they enter into the world of removing the head or destroying the brain to stay alive. As they journey to their idea of a safe place, the Winchester pub, stopping off to save Shaun’s mum and his now ex girlfriend, they bring us some of the funniest Zombie moments put on screen with killing to the music of Queen, using a swing ball as a weapon, pretending to be a Zombie to get past them and killing them with the British weapon of choice, a cricket bat.

There are some emotional moments where friends and family get turned into Zombies and the dilemma of having to kill the ones you love to stay alive is handled very well and quite emotionally but are instantly followed up with a joke and it all comes together wonderfully. I never get bored of seeing Shaun of the Dead and every time I see it I notice something new, it’s a wonderful example of blending horror and comedy and its probably one of the best examples and one of the most fun you can have watching a Zombie film.

Film No. 2 – Return of the Living Dead

Return of the Living Dead is one of my oldest memories of watching Zombie films. The acting is at times appalling and the story is as generic as they come but there is something about it that endears itself to me and it continues to be one of my favourite ever Zombie movies. The reason I love it so much is partly down to the two main characters the story is evolved around called Frank and Freddy, played with the most comical idiocracy and over enthusiasm by the wonderful James Karen and Thron Mathews (who coincidentally brought Jason Voorhees back to life into as a supernatural killing machine Zombie in Friday 13th 6: Jason Lives).

Whilst working in a medical supply warehouse they accidentally open a government barrel containing mummified remains from a U.S. army experiment and release a gas that makes dead things come back to life, infecting themselves in the process and also releasing a Zombie who famously coined the word “BRAINS!” as the staple diet of Zombies.

As things start to come back to life Frank, Freddy and their boss Burt kill a reanimated corpse and incinerate it to destroy it but as the smoke reaches the clouds it starts to rain bringing the toxic substance back to earth and conveniently onto the local cemetery bringing the dead back to life. At the same time some punk gang are nearby and along with Frank, Freddy, Burt and a local mortician called Ernie (the brilliant Don Calfa) they spend the night trying to survive the Zombie invasion.

The thing that makes these Zombies different from the similar Zombie movies is their intelligence and pace. They run like maniacs doing rugby tackles on fleeing victims and also get on the police radio to say “Send more cops” to keep the food source coming, it’s ridiculous but very, very funny and works for the alternative Zombie film.

The film has nice references to Romero’s Night of Living Dead and is a wonderful partner to the classic 60′s movie. The characters  never take things too seriously and the gore effects range from graphic to dated but either way it’s an entertaining ride with a brilliant ending. Return of the Living Dead was followed by a similar and equally enjoyable sequel staring the brilliant James Karen and Thron Mathews again in similar roles and a third part which was failed to deliver as many laughs but added more gore which was a bonus.

Two films down and things were are going very well.

Film No. 3 – La Horde

La Horde is a Zombie film from the French with a twist, it’s marketed as a Zombie Gangster movie with a tagline of Die Hard meets 28 days later. It offers something a little different from a majority of  Zombie movies I’ve seen although it ends up being chaotic and cliched, it still offered a bit of fun and some decent action.

The film is about a group of cops who go out on a covert mission to get revenge on a gang of criminals who killed their partner. The gang have taken over a tower block and when the cops storm the block they eventually get captured and are all about to be executed. Things then start to take a nasty turn when one of their already executed colleagues comes back to life and kills a few bad guys before having his head blown off. Through all the confusion with the unexplained dead coming back to life the cops and criminals team up in an uneasy partnership and fight to stay alive in the claustrophobic and run down tower block.

The film has some decent characters, particularly the handlebar moustached Ouessem (Jean-Pierre Martins) who has the greatest scene in the film as he faces off against hundreds of Zombies in a fight to the death, it’s visually stunning and very well filmed giving a brilliant view of the legions of undead surrounding a car as Ouessem stands on top with guns and a big machete, it’s worth the price of the DVD alone.

There is also an elderly killing machine who eventually tags along with the survivors who picks up a huge machine gun along the way and proceeds to kill hundreds of Zombies which adds a fun side to the tension of the movie. The heart of the story though is the relationship between the cops and the criminals and as they struggle to stay alive the tension between the two groups starts to divide there own factions and right up to the pretty decent ending you are kept guessing if they can survive each other let alone the blood thirsty Zombies.

There was one moment I really liked when our survivors reach the top of the tower block and witness the change in the world from the one they entered the block in. The Paris landscape has changed with flames and destruction but that is all we see as they leave the area intent on surviving this ordeal first. La Horde has some strange moments as individual characters have random hand to hand fights with numerous Zombies, i wasn’t sure if it was fun or stupid as they punch kick and headbutt the bloodthirsty undead but it was original which can’t be bad and as it was getting late it was a much needed thrill to keep me alert for the coming early hours.

La Horde missed an opportunity to explore the friend and foe relationship under extreme stress of survival, characters had little emotional backstory and you don’t really distinguish between who are the good or bad guys from the start making caring for who lives or dies difficult. La Horde wasn’t brilliant but it is a great entry into the Zombie movie genre.

Film No. 4 – Braindead

Braindead is easily the most gory movie from the films I watched during the course of the challenge; with some of the greatest, most imaginative and graphic kills, Braindead stands top of the list of Zombie movies if you want to see some gore. The real positive to Braindead is that it’s not just a gory film, it has a wonderfully entertaining story and a brilliant sense of humour to go with the splattering blood.

Directed and written by team Peter Jackson, it shows early signs of what was to come from Jackson with use of miniature sets, false perspective shots and on a shoestring budget shot in New Zealand. It’s an absolute triumph from start to finish.

The story is about mothers boy Lionel Cosgrove who falls in love with local shop girl Paquita. During a date to the Zoo Lionel’s stalking mother is bitten by disease carrying Sumatran rat-monkey, she becomes ill and eventually dies and becomes a Zombie. This is where the film takes a different turn from the normal Zombie movie as Lionel tries to clear up the mess his mother leaves behind after she leaves her grave killing a nurse, a martial arts trained vicar and a rebellious gang member and turning them into Zombies. He takes them all back to his home and tries to keep them quiet so they don’t kill anyone else, he has them sitting round a table feeding them dinner, tries to stop Nurse McTavish and Father McGruder from making love and tries to stop Paquita and his Uncle Les from finding out his new secret of keeping Zombies in his basement.

Lionel’s uncle finds out he has his mother’s body in the basement and threatens to expose him unless he gives him his inheritance, Lionel agrees and Les celebrates by having a huge house party. Not long afterwards -  the inevitable happens and the Zombies escape the basement to turn everyone into Zombies in some of the most brilliantly devised gory ways. It’s down to Lionel to rescue Paquita and to kill the Zombies, mainly with a lawnmower, and to then face his demonised mother. What a great film!

There are so many hilarious quotable lines and scenes from the film which is the reason why it’s so well regarded by so many, the picks being “Your Mother ate my dog”, “Well not all of it”, or when Lionel takes the fantastic Zombie offspring baby of the nurse and the vicar to the park and proceeds to fight with it aggressively before saying “Hyperactive child” to the other horrified onlooking parents. The fantastic script assists the film’s incredibly convincing special effects, created by a brilliant team that includes Richard Taylor who went onto do some stunning work in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

There can be only one absolute favourite moment from Braindead and it’s included in the below montage. Father McGruder gives the Zombies a lesson as he “Kicks arse for the Lord” showing some martial art skills to decapitate and dismember the Zombie attackers, it’s classic Braindead and one of my favourite scenes from this whole event.

Film No. 5 – Wild Zero

The Zombie movie that stole the night for me. Wild Zero is the most insane, Rock’n'Roll, visually incredible and loud Zombie film ever made, I have never seen or heard anything like it and probably wont for a long time to come.

The film is hard to fully explain, especially from someone who by the time of watching this had spent about 24 hours awake. From what I understand it was about a wannabe Rock star called Ace whose on his way to see his favourite (and now one of mine) band’s latest gig, the band is real life garage punk rock band Guitar Wolf. Ace gets caught up in a bloody dispute between Guitar Wolf and the manager of the club called ‘The Captain’ (the best character of the film) who loses two fingers in the hilarious argument and swears revenge.

For some reason I’m not quite sure of, Ace becomes blood brothers with lead singer Guitar Wolf and is given a whistle he can blow to call on Guitar Wolf and his band, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf when in danger. It’s insane isn’t it? It gets better.

The next day Aliens invade Earth and start to turn people into Zombies whilst Ace is travelling to the next Guitar Wolf gig where on route he meets a girl called Tobio who he saves, falls in love with who then turns out to be a guy. The Captain is heading to the gig to get revenge for his missing fingers whilst Guitar Wolf are completely Rocking out. Other characters get involved in the story but I kind of lost track of who they all were but they are no less enjoyable with nakedness, comedy and complete insanity oozing from every one of them despite how bizarre they were.

The story plays out with Zombie fights, cheap but perfectly suiting special fx and a conclusion between Guitar Wolf and the Captain that is just incredible. Never have I seen anything like it as explosions, guitars, power chords and super powers start filling the screen to the awesome music (LOUD) from Guitar Wolf. You’re left in awe and you’re left completely dumbstruck by a truly original and completely bonkers film that is so unique it just has to be seen.

Wild Zero is a one of a kind Zombie film and will now always hold a place in my collection. The story is crazy but the way the cast deliver lines and perform against each other in an almost comic book fashion is an utter joy to watch.

Film No. 6 – Night of Living Dead

“They’re coming to get you Barbara”.

The classic Zombie film from Romero and the film that set the standard for every Zombie film to proceed it. Romero delivers a brilliant Zombie movie that is atmospheric, creepy and disturbing and, for a 1968 film, considered extremely explicit. It was one of the first horror films to feature graphic kills and realistic gore and it works wonderfully.

The film follows Ben (Duane Jones) as the lead character, Barbra (Judith O’Dea) who flees to a isolated house after being chased by a crazy man in a cemetery and five others initially hidden in the basement of the house. They attempt to survive the night while the house is being attacked by the mysterious Zombies. As with many of the best Zombie movies the story is strengthened by the excellent relationship that develops between the survivors rather than with giving cheap kills and scares by the hands of the walking dead. The characters fight and debate about the best place to stay alive and doubts grow about Ben’s motives and actions which bring the film to a horrible conclusion that never fails to shock.

There is something incredibly scary about the film and a lot of that comes down to the grainy black and white 35mm film, it adds a real sense of fear that mixes perfectly with the thought provoking situation. Duane Jones is a real standout as the lead character, his actions are never really that of a hero especially when he starts hitting Barbara or killing his fellow lodgers in acts of survival but nevertheless he is someone you can really get behind. His journey is a shocking one and has gone down in movie history as one of the most instantly recognizable.

The film is simple, cheaply made for just over $100,000 and superbly carried off by Romero. it’s a movie that I would call one of the most influential horror movies ever made and one that is just pure Zombie heaven.

Film No. 7 – Dawn of the Dead

As the zombie apocalypse continues to take over the world, a gang of survivors flee to a huge shopping mall, sealing the doors and creating a zombie free hideout. The group consists of a TV reporter Fran (Gaylen Ross), Stephen, her helicopter pilot boyfriend (David Emge) and two Zombie SWAT soldiers Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger). They start to make themselves at home in the mall, shooting all the Zombies and making a self contained place to be safe. But the isolation and the realisation that despite having endless access to expensive clothes, money, furniture and food the novelty soon wears thin, as well as there being nothing on TV anymore as the last broadcasts soon disappear they decide it’s time to move on and focus on finding survivors.

George A. Romero’s seminal follow up to Night of the Living Dead is a brilliant biting consumer satire, the focus on the characters rather than the Zombies is an inspired choice as the Zombies are just a background hazard with their blue faces, slow movement and purpose to visit the mall out of habit being a fantastic addition to the storyline. The four survivors all have their own storyline with Fran and Stephen battling their relationship problems, a pregnancy and survival and the two Swat soldiers loving the freedom to kill the walking dead but also become bored of the routine of the Mall and when Roger gets bitten the knowing of what is to come haunts the pairs friendship as Peter will have to pull the trigger to kill his friend.

In the background of the film is the amateur produced TV Broadcasts they watch which debate about how to solve the crisis that dominates the world and the inability of the so called people in charge to do anything about it. It’s a brilliant way to show what is happening outside the Mall and contributes to the emotional downturn of our survivors. Overall Dawn of the Dead is a stunning Zombie movie that despite the dated effects and makeup offers so much in terms of story and satire that it holds up today as strongly as it did in 1978. Romero at his Zombie creating best.

The film delivers one of the best lines of the evening too as Peter tells his friends that ” When there’s no room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth”. It’s one of the most brilliant lines and for me the ultimate explanation of why Zombies walk the earth.

Film No. 8 – Dawn of the Dead (2004)

This is how you do a remake of a classic horror film. Dawn of the Dead by Romero is a classic horror film and Zack Snyder took the concept of the original and made his own movie that stands on its own as a brilliant Zombie movie. Adding bloody fast sprinting Zombies to the location of the mall adds tension and excitement and again the film deals with consumerism and survival with more of an emphasis on action this time round.

The film opens with a brilliant beginning as Nurse Ana (Sarah Polley) arrives home from a strangely busy night with subtle hints of a bigger problem occurring around her. She awakes with her husband to next door’s daughter standing in their room with blood coming from her mouth, the girl suddenly goes for her husband eating him and turning him into a Zombie. Ana flees in a car seeing the panic and destruction around her from a wonderful bird’s eye view tracking shot. She eventually teams up with cop Kenneth (Ving Rhames), and other survivors before heading to the Mall where a majority of the film takes place. Other survivors join the Mall’s safety and together they try to survive fighting off Zombies and taking full advantage of the Mall’s shops and luxuries.

After some of the survivors have to be killed off due to turning and relationships are formed between the nicer characters of the bunch they soon realise they can’t stay in the Mall and they create two armoured vehicles to escape to the docks and sail away to safety. This part of the film is where action takes over in typical Snyder fashion as swarms of Zombies chase the trucks and the crew strive to fight them off having to stop in a heart stopping sequence to save the other vehicle’s passengers amidst the chaos around them and it’s a great moment to pick up the pace from the slow building momentum from the mall.

There are some great moments here. Kenneth plays a game of shoot the famous look-a-like with Andy the gun shop owner from across the road, Kenneth picks a Zombie who looks like a celebrity (Jay Leno) and writes the name on a board and Andy has to find them among the mass of Zombies in the carpark and shoot their head with his sniper rifle. It is morbid and highly entertaining. Dawn of the Dead is definitely an enjoyable movie with a satisfying ending, it has a great mix of action, drama and scares and with a story that works with a strong female lead in Polley a tough male lead in Rhames and a great heroic character by Jake Weber as Michael who forms emotional link with Ana. The special effects are great with the gore very graphic with Zombies being hacked, heads exploded, run over, chainsawed and exploded in superbly realistic fashion.

Film No. 9 – Day of the Dead

I love the opening to Day of the Dead, it has one of my all time favourite movie openings as it merges a wonderful musical theme tune with the on screen action (which was sampled in the Gorillaz song M1A1). It’s the best opening to any of the films here and it always brings a smile to my face as it sets the scene wonderfully.

The world is overrun with Zombies and survivors are limited and it’s down to a group of scientists and soldiers to try and find a cure or to find a method to control them.

This, of course, doesn’t work out successfully as the confined space and tensions amongst each of the factions and the underestimating of the Zombies brings the horde into their secure base and inevitably to their downfall. The part that makes Day of the Dead standout is the ethics of the testing on the Zombies and in particular the iconic Zombie called Bub (played to perfection by Sherman Howard) where tests prove that they can be controlled. It’s an interesting idea that was never fully explored, mainly due to budgeting issues and a script that needed to be rewritten that was far more ambitious than the film delivered, which is a huge shame. Overall the Day of the Dead is one of my favourite Zombie films and one that has been poorly received after the stunning Night and Dawn of the dead films.

The special effects created by horror legend Tom Savini and his team are absolutely stunning and still look good today, using real animal organs to add realism to the zombie killings and the experiments, providing a level of gore you want from a zombie movie. The Zombie experiments are where the biggest impact is made with some wonderful scenes of headless bodies being reanimated and other gruesome autopsy scenes that just look incredible.

The thing lacking from the third installment of Romero’s Zombie movies is humour, or intentional humour. The whole film is very gloomy and claustrophobic set in the underground base with dimly lit corridors with hardly a comic relief character among the survivors, apart from the accidentally funny stereotypical Irish guy who says “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” numerous times with comical aplomb. The Bub scenes are amusing, mainly for its almost slapstick Zombie humour where he learns to use a walkman and enjoy music but apart from that it’s all death, shouting angry words at each other and the walking dead, but that’s not a bad thing at all.

Thoroughly enjoyable and my personal favourite Romero film of the original trilogy.

Film No. 10 – Rec

This was a big surprise Zombie film when it was released and was the scariest of the ten movies I watched by a mile despite my now shattered state.

The film is about a tv documentary crew filming a regular night with the fire department and when they get a call to a local apartment block things start to go very very wrong when the dead start to come back to life and the whole apartment gets quarantined by the police/army to prevent escape. Lucky then that the film crew capture all the events that take place despite being chased by blood thirsty Zombies.

The film is excellently paced with the tension slowly building as the problems grow firstly with the dead coming back to life into very fast running Zombie form and then the survivors having to cope with the quarantine imposed on them by the authorities that produces another source of danger with the shoot on site instructions preventing escape for the troubled group.

The way the Zombies chase the victims in the enclosed building is what adds the scares, the small stairways and narrow corridors of the rooms that are all darkly lit and filled with snarls and loud footsteps is terrifying , wonderfully atmospheric and provides some heart stopping moments which was a real joy to experience. The film reaches a really satisfying ending that explains the source of the problem and delivers one final moment of brown pant entertainment as the lone survivor has only their camera on nightmode and you witness only what they see which is visually one of the most scary horror movie moments i can remember, especially when feeling a bit crazy from sleep deprivation.

The film was sadly quickly remade for the American audience and it was crap, so if you get a chance to see the film make sure you go for Rec and not the remake called Quarantine.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2010/11/04/zombies-vs-me-the-movie-marathon-of-the-dead/feed/ 0 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2010/10/16/heyuguys-imdb250-project-%e2%80%93-week-38/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2010/10/16/heyuguys-imdb250-project-%e2%80%93-week-38/#comments Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:00:05 +0000 Gary Phillips http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=44448

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest Internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.

This is our 38th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.

No. 118 – Fargo (1996) – Rating 8.2

The Coen Brothers make another appearance in the list with one of their greatest films from their wonderful collection of movies and it was Fargo that started my love affair with the Coen Brothers over 14 years ago. Fargo is one of those films that hits all the right buttons for me as a viewer, the story is sublime, it’s perfectly performed by a truly wonderful cast, the dialogue is glorious, the characters are so memorable and when ever I watch it I always feel completely satisfied with it. It’s a masterpiece.

The basic story is about Jerry Lundegaard (William H Macy) who arranges for his wife to be kidnapped by some hired third party guys, ones kinda funny looking and all goes to plan to begin with. The ransom is to be paid by his wealthy father-in-law and Lundegaard then plans to take the money himself to invest and split a percentage to the kidnappers. However things start to get out of hand when his henchmen start to bungle things up and when three dead people appear on a main road the police, lead by the pregnant Marge Gunderson (an Oscar winning performance by Frances McDormand), start to investigate which eventually leads her to Jerry and eventually to the kidnappers hideout where a bloody mess is being made out of the kinda funny looking one. It’s a wonderful story of a crime gone wrong and it’s never been done better.

The film opens by saying the story is based on events that actually took place which instantly casts a spell over you, of course it’s a red herring and they didn’t really occur but the claim it does is enough to get you emotionally hooked from the start when watching for the first time. The film plays out at a wonderful pace with wonderful exchanges of dialogue mainly between Marge and the people she meets and between Carl Showalter and his kidnapping colleague Gaear Grimsrud played by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare respectively, their deteriorating friendship is the key to the downturn in events in the kidnapping saga and it’s also one of the many highlights of the film as Stormare blankly stares as Buscemi’s rants and slowly descends into madness and what a way to cap off the insanity than to fill a wood chipper with Steve Buscemi, a timeless classic scene.

There is just so much to love about Fargo from the wonderful score, the dark humour, the visually stunning photography, the way that Frances McDormand and her husband are always eating or lying in bed when they are in a scene together, the way William H Macy stutters his way through scenes with the brilliant American-Swedish accent and the way people still apparently hunt for the suitcase full of money buried in the snow thinking its really there. Fargo is an absolute joy to watch and in my opinion deserves a higher place in the list.

No. 192 – Ed Wood (1994) – Rating 8.0

The Oscar winning performance from Martin Landau is so damn good as Bela Lugosi, Johnny Depp captures the essence of Ed Wood perfectly and Tim Burton directs my favourite film of his as he recreates scenes from Ed Wood’s films with stunning accuracy, this is the story of the worst film director in history and it’s an absolute triumph.

Those that don’t know who Ed Wood was, Edward Davis Wood Jr was a screenwriting, director, producer, actor, author, and editor most notably during the 1950′s where he made what is regarded as the worst films in movie history that led to him being award the Golden Turkey award for Worst Director of all time. He befriended a ageing drug addicted Bela Lugosi who helped give his films some success and Ed Wood was a heterosexual cross dresser to add extra substance to an incredible story.

The film covers the period regarding Wood’s relationship with Lugosi and his creation of his most notorious films and it’s the relationship between Wood and Lugosi that steals the film. Landau really does put in a stunning performance as Lugosi and straight after watching the film I YouTubed Lugosi’s films that featured in Ed Wood to compare the performances and it really is worthy of the Oscar he received. What also has to mentioned is the perfect production of matching scenes and props from the original films which also assist Landau’s performance and those that were angered as to why Samuel L Jackson didn’t get the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Pulp Fiction will understand why after watching Ed Wood.

The supporting cast are also perfectly matched to their real life characters with Bill Murray, Jeffrey Jones, George Steele and Lisa Marie standing out. Murray and Jones in particular stealing scenes they appear in with Murray as Bunny Breckinridge, Wood’s openly gay friend who performed in his films and suffered a failed sex reassignment therapy and Jeffrey Jones flawlessly captures The Amazing Criswell a psychic Tv entertainer, actor and producer of Wood’s films. There are other notable performances from Patricia Arquette as Wood’s girlfriend then wife Kathy O’Hara and Sarah Jessica Parker in a decent turn as Wood’s first girlfriend Dolores Fuller who failed to accept Wood’s transvestism and delivers a classic line of “Do I really have a face like a horse” after a scathing review. It’s a wonderful assemble cast that adds so much to a truly great film and it’s a film that fully deserves its place on the IMDb250 list.

No. 49 – The Shining (1980) – Rating 8.5

I watched The Shining with big sound reducing headphones and it was quite possibly one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.

Jack Nicholson stars as Jack, a writer who takes a job as caretaker at the Colorado Overlook Hotel for the winter. He is warned by the hotel’s manager that  winters in the mountains are dangerous and that heavy snowfall closes up the roads for months. Jack along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) are left alone at the huge empty hotel and as  weeks go by the snow grows heavier and Jack begins to get a bad case of writer’s block, slowly begins to go crazy.

It becomes apparent that the hotel is haunted and as Danny rides his bike through the iconic corridors he starts to get really freaky visions like an elevator opening up to a tidal wave of blood, the most terrifying set of twins (who completely freak me out) that keep appearing to Danny and also his really strange imaginary friend Tony and that “Red Rum” scene. The reality of he situation starts to reveal itself and things start getting worse for the family as Jack starts to loose it until he picks up an axe and goes about stalking his family to kill them, “Here’s Johnny”, the maze scene and the reveal that Jack’s soul always returns to the hotel to caretake and murder is a wonderful conclusion to the film and proves itself as easily one of the scariest movies ever.

“The Shining” is a brilliantly paced, incredibly creepy and at times a truly horrifying film. Watching it alone with my headphones turned up quite loud added a remarkable atmospheric experience I have never experienced before watching a film and when possible I’ve used my headphones to watch as many films since. The haunting instrumental music score by Herbert Von Karajan was one of the reasons for the frights I suffered and it fits the film so well. Nicholson’s performance is probably his best, his change in character is nothing short of stunning as he stares blankly over his typewriter as his mental state deteriorates, it’s all in about his voice and eyebrows and the change of facial expressions he can pull off to look like a bloody crazy man!. Shelley Duvall is also excellent as the sympathetic wife, she’s a proper movie screamer when she has to be and this really helps particularly during the films climax. Scatman Crothers also performed exceptionally as the cook of the hotel, he tells Danny that he has the “shine,” which is the ability to see the future and also comes face to face with Jacks axe towards the end. His voice is captivating (he voiced Jazz in the animated Transformers and Hong Kong Phooey) and his performance is really underrated.

Overall The Shining is a stunning film. Kubrick is an utter genius delivering everything you could want from a horror film with slowly building and rather unsettling momentum, psychological scares mixed with some of the most visually stunning shock moments in horror movie history that have been forever parodied or copied. The Shining fully deserves its place in the Top 50 films from the IMDb250 and will no doubt hold its place for many years to come.

No. 92 – The Elephant Man (1980) – Rating 8.3

I didn’t like Mulholland Drive, which is also on the IMDb250 list, and I’m not a big fan of David Lynch and his films so it’s fair to say I wasn’t looking forward to seeing the Elephant Man again for the first time in many many years when I was at an age I didn’t really understand films too much. However this is one of Lynch’s more accessible films, it’s a very moving and incredibly well made film with some of the finest performances, astounding makeup and glorious black & white cinematography from the IMDb films so far.

The Elephant Man stars John Hurt as John Merrick, a victim of a disease that has left him grotesquely deformed whose spent most of his life travelling in a carnival freak show. Eventually Merrick comes under the care of Dr. Treves (outstandingly played by Anthony Hopkins), who locates Merrick into his hospital where he studies him, helps him to conquer a restrictive speech impediment, and gives him back his human dignity. Treves introduces Merrick to culture, finery and things he’s only dreamed of experiencing but the question is he exploiting his friend for personal gain torments him.

Word about Merrick’s existence starts to spread and Bytes (Freddie Jones) his former owner at the freak show, the press and curious locals all try to get a piece of him and exploit his affliction. This eventually leads to Merrick being kidnapped and taken to France by Bytes and put on show again as The Elephant Man and even though his escape back to England is triumphant it leads to the final days of John Merrick. He visits the theater with Treves and his wife where the performance dedicated to him and then that night he discards all pillows from his bed and is determined to lie down like everyone else to sleep and he does for the final time.

The Elephant Man is a stunning film. The makeup is incredible and was taken from casts of the real John Merrick and adds an incredible sense of realism to the look of the character that is equalled by John Hurt’s perfect performance that was cruelly not given the Oscar it deserved although you can say that Robert De Niro’s Raging Bull is equally as impressive, I feel Hurt’s performance is far more complex and worthy of more recognition. The black & white photography shows Victorian England in remarkable stark realism

No. 182 – The Killing (1956) – Rating 8.0

Another first time viewing film for me and another one that has cemented its place my personal favourite movie list. This the second Kubrick film I watched for this week’s reviews and it couldn’t be more different. Kubrick  has directed such a wide genre of movies with various degrees of success with Sci-Fi, Horror, War, Action Romance and many have made an appearance on the IMDb 250 list and The Killing is his earliest film to have made it and this one is a heist movie.

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a veteran criminal planning one last heist before settling down and marrying girlfriend Fay (Coleen Gray). His target is the money counting room at a racetrack during a featured race and to steal two million dollars in the process. He recruits his team consisting of corrupt cop Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia); track cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.); sharpshooter Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey) whose to shoot the race favorite horse during the race causing a distraction, a wrestler called Maurice who provides a distraction for the police by starting a fight at the track bar, and the race course bartender (Joe Sawyer). The heist goes pretty much as planned but it’s the aftermath that creates a problem with double crossings, revenge killings, death, a little dog and a old suitcase full of money that isn’t quite strong enough to withstand a bump and then the whole plan is ruined.

Kubrick shows what a wonderful eye he had for film making early on in his career, the film noir feels right and look amazing with some wonderful scenes (see above) where just a bunch of guys, great dialogue, loads of cigarettes and a darkly lit room is all you need to make a scene work incredibly. The heist is carried out with wonderful precision and intelligence and with Sterling Hayden as the lead character everything about the film works like a charm as he gives orders and leads the team with assured authority making everything seem believable and precise. It’s a shame Kubrick didn’t make more films like this in his later years.

Overall The Killing is a wonderful movie, slow paced but excellently executed with a cast that all performed magnificently delivering one of my favourite films from the list.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/baz_mann and  http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips

Despicable Me is the new animated movie from Universal Studios and the same producer who was behind the Ice age movies. It’s a film that has promised the same quality level set by Pixar and also to offer  some really interesting characters with the introduction of the ‘Minions’ that are no doubt going to be very popular with young and old.

In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences and  flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of Minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universal’s new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me. Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.The world’s greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes

Despicable Me is an excellent film for both children and adults. I was thoroughly entertained with the story, the characters, the animation, the 3D and the humour and it is by far the closest any studio has come to matching the quality of Pixar films and if it wasn’t for Toy Story 3, Despicable Me would be my choice for best animated movie in 2010 and it’s a film that probably put some of the biggest smiles on my face this year.

The humor of Despicable Me ranges from silly, very funny, subtle and darkly adult orientated. All are going to love the Minions humour with their slapstick and banter they have with each other, kids are going to enjoy the sillier jokes and fart gags and adults are going to enjoy the adult themed quips like one aimed at the Lehman bank or background jokes which are not obvious but are incredibly funny whn noticed, it adds a real sense of humour to the story and added to my enjoyment of it.

The vocal casting is spot on with the talents of Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig and Danny McBride. All deliver wonderful lines from an entertaining script and it never felt like the stars were hired for their name rather than their ability.

Despicable has got it so right. Steve Carrell’s Gru is delivered with almost effortless deadpan humor and villainy, the young girls are voiced without annoyance, Gru’s nemesis and younger upcoming villain called Vector, voiced by Jason Segel, is wonderfully energetic, Russel Brand lends his voice to Gru’s invention creating partner Dr. Nefario perfectly and the brilliant Will Arnett voices Mr. Perkins whose the President of The Bank of Evil that funds anything to do with evil plans in the world. All the characters work well together and I found them all highly entertaining which really benefits the movie.

At the films heart is the three young girls who are taken in by Gru and their story is important to give an emotional anchor to balance out the films zany events of Gru trying to conquer the world as the greatest ever villain. The girls anguish of living in a horrid orphanage and trying to find a family who will take them in and give them love is emotionally charged and with Gru being the latest to adopt them for his own benefit it adds an enjoyable relationship story to the proceedings. Despite being clueless at parenting and having numerous dangerous objects littered around his house (as well as his vast hidden lair under his home!), the bond that grows between the unlikely family is touching and is well handled as Gru slowly learns that the girls mean more to him than succeeding as a villain and the conclusion will no doubt bring a tear to some eyes.

The thing everyone will love from Despicable Me is the Minions, they are some of the greatest character creations i’ve enjoyed in many years and you could probably watch another 90 minutes of the little yellow guys in a film on their own. They are likely to get a bigger role in the planned sequel coming in 2013 or get their own spin off, it’s inevitable. Despite saying very little they have more personality than the new labour leader and provide more laughs than most comedy films I’ve seen this year.

The 3D is used to perfection, I would say it showed some of the best examples of 3D I’ve seen this year with notable scenes being a roller-coaster ride that Gru and the girls take during their bonding session. It’s shown in first person perspective so you get the feeling your riding it and with the added effect of 3D it elevates the scene into something beautifully crafted and enthralling as scenery flashes past you as you dive into the screen and twist around upside down and it really works well. The 3D is used effectively throughout giving layers of depth and to every scene and adds another plus to the quality of the film. A scene showing the size of Gru’s secret lair is a great example of the layers of depth as the camera pans downward showing the journey of Gru traveling down in his lift, its that shows all the activity taking place around him with minions working in different sections and its a real show off of the technology and skill of the animators.

Another exceptional use of 3D was during the closing credits so make sure you stick around for them. The glorious Minions get their own moment as they play a little game of “Who can come furthest out of the screen”, with the aid of a measuring tape they take turns in using a variety of items to leap off the screen in 3D coming further and further out at you, it’s so incredibly effective and hilarious and worth the entrance fee alone and if there are any 3D doubters who have yet to be convinced, I think Despicable Me may well be the film that converts you as to what 3D can offer.

Overall it’s not perfect but it’s an excellent example of adult/child friendly animation that works very very well. Funny, enjoyable and an utter success.

Despicable Me is out on 15th October.

THE MINIONS!

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.

This is our 36th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find last week’s update here.

No. 33 – North by Northwest (1959) – Rating 8.6

Hitchcock again for the project and so far I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every single film I’ve watched of his. North By Northwest is easily up there with the best he’s made and it’s probably his most accessible movie for newcomers to the great director.

Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, a charming ad executive who is mistaken for a US agent by a menacing group led by Phillip Vandamm (the excellent James Mason). Thornhill is set up for a murder he didn’t commit and is then chased across America in some of the most enjoyable set pieces in movie history.

I believe this was only the second time I’ve seen the film and the first time is now a very distant memory so it all felt very fresh watching the film play out that gave me surprises and a whole heap of enjoyment from every scene. North By Northwest has a wonderful feel to it with the ultra charming Cary Grant leading us from start to finish with wit, surprising physicality and a at times a rather intense performance as his character grows in statue. The films standout scenes add to its magnetism with the forced booze drinking scene followed by Thornhill’s escape in the opening of the film setting the way for all to come from the crop dusting plane chase to the scaling of Mount Rushmore. All of these magic moment make North By Northwest a true masterpiece in film making

Cary Grant slightly overplays it in scenes, particularly the drunken car escape, but he is so dam good and without him the film would never have the same appeal for me, the villains of the film are equally as irreplaceable with James Mason and Martin Landau delivering enjoyable roles alongside their heavies who constantly harass Thornhill throughout and of course there’s the Hitchcock Blonde bombshell, Eva Marie Saint as the femme fatale Eve Kendall, who gives Cary Grant a welcome distraction from his misadventures but who ends up getting him deeper in it.

Hitchcock again proves what a master of film he is and also what a vital contribution to cinema he has provided. Quality cast, brilliant film, macguffin and suspense. What more could you want.

No. 213 – Mystic River (2003) – Rating 8.0

Another regular contributor to our IMDb film list is Clint Eastwood who in my opinion delivers his best films from his catalogue in Mystic River.

The story is about three childhood friends (played by Penn, Bacon and Robbins) who grew up together in Boston and grew apart when Dave Boyle (Robbins) was abducted by pedophiles as the boys played in front of their homes. Thirty year’s later, the men are reunited when the murder of Jimmy Markum’s (Penn) daughter leads detective Sean Devine (Bacon) back to his old neighbourhood and due to evidence indicates Boyle as the prime suspect. As tempers begin to flair and secrets start to be revealed, Jimmy starts to take the law into his own hands acting as judge, jury and executioner for an incredible emotional conclusion.

The film has a brilliant all round cast that were rightly recognised for their performances in Mystic River, with Tim Robbins and Sean Penn both winning the Oscars for best supporting actor and best actor respectively and Marcia Gay Harden getting a nomination for best supporting actress. It’s a film that delivers a memorable story that takes you into a hard hitting, emotional and bleak direction as the film picks up pace. You get a horrible feeling in your stomach long before the unsettling ending occurs as you know what’s coming and although you never know for sure if Dave Boyle is an innocent man or guilty murderer until late on you feel sympathy for Boyle due to Robbins marvelous performance.

Sean Penn also delivers some of his finest work with a terrifying performance of anger, control and dominance. He powers his way through the script and when he learns his daughter is dead and has to be restrained by half a dozen cops you start to really believe in his character and from then on he is a man to fear. Kevin Bacon offers a whole lot less than Robbins and Penn do as his character hasn’t got the substance Jimmy and Dave have, but his detective character links the trio together emotionally and his understanding of the situation makes his job a race against time to uncover the truth before Jimmy and his guys act on their interpretation of the facts for a quicker retribution.

Eastwood has directed a hard hitting and well made film that fully deserves to be on the IMDb 250 list, more so than Million Dollar Baby and Changeling, and it’s a film that never fails to hit me emotionally when I watch it.

No. 90 –  Once Upon a Time in America (1984) – Rating 8.3

Another appearance in the IMDb250 project for Sergio Leone and this was the  last ever movie he made. To be honest its got nothing on his classic western movies and it feels like a film from a director who hadn’t directed a movie for around ten years but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a place in the IMDb list.

Once Upon a Time in America is an epic story that chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto kids who rise to power in New York City’s world of organized crime. The film centres on David ‘Noodles’ Aaronson (Robert De Niro) whose life is shown in three points of his life, a young rebellious youth, a prison toughened member of a crime gang and finally a old man living with the regrets of his life.

The film shows the decisions and choices he makes starting with making friends with his future gang members as a kid going on to stab a rival gang member after he kills his friend. Ending up in prison Noodles is freed years later where he joins up with his friends again and goes on to be a part of a successful organized crime gang and after a run of money making schemes and destroying friendships with loved ones, things get too much for him and when best friend and gang leader Maximilian ‘Max’ Bercovicz (James Woods) wants to rob the federal bank, Noodles tips off the police leaving him filled with regret when news of the death of Max and friends during the robbery so he flees from New York. Many years later Noodles returns to New York as an old man after receiving a letter from a mysterious person and on returning he faces his bitter past.

The telling of the different periods through the 40 years of the lives of the boys growing up to old age is the films strength, the attention to detail to the aging city is the glorious background for the maturing boys and it’s an utter to joy to watch. The performances of De Niro and Woods are brilliant and the makeup works very well to show the aging. The young actors who portray the characters of Noodles, Max and their gang in the early years are also excellently cast and well acted and it gives you a great insight into the characters adding depth and motive to their actions later in life.

Their are some deeply uncomfortable moments, namely a scene where Noodles rapes his childhood love when they finally go on a date together as adults, it’s probably one of the most unsettling scenes I’ve seen in film and although it sums up Noodles real character as a mean, selfish character it really does hits hard. The film overall is a masterpiece, you cant deny the magical spell it puts on you while you watch it despite its slow paced three and a half hour running time and with Ennio Morricone again providing an incredible score with what many say is his finest work, Once Upon a Time in America delivers one of the finest gangster movies ever made and one that will be in the IMDb list for years to come.

No. 62 – The Third Man (1949) – Rating 8.4

What a wonderful film The Third Man is. You can ask a lot of people, who stars in The Third man? and a majority of them will instantly say “Orson Welles”. It’s strange to accept that Welles is not the star of the film despite stealing it in a small role of what is a large part of the truly excellent film and it is of course one of the greatest character reveals of any film ever made.

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) travels to a post war Vienna that has been divided into zones by the victorious allies. Martins arrives at the invitation of Harry Lime (Welles), an ex-school friend, who has offered him a job in the city. However when he reaches Vienna he discovers that Harry Lime has recently died in a strange traffic accident and after talking to Lime’s friends, neighbours and associates Martins realises the stories are inconsistent and sets about to investigate what really happened to Harry Lime.

The Third Man gives you a wonderful slow revealing plot with excellent performances throughout, the score is delivered mainly by a zither and adds one of the most self repeated tunes from the IMDb list so far (I was whistling it for the rest of the day afterwards). The black and white film is glorious and is no time better than in the final chase through the sewers where the light and dark is shown off gloriously to give an absolutely gorgeous look. There camera work is also stunning with dutch angles being used effectively to give the film further appeal in style but everything always comes back to the reveal of Harry Lime for the first time, the moment the light comes on in the street to show Lime standing there in a doorway with a smirk that can only belong to Welles is utter magic on celluloid and one of my favourite scenes ever.

No. 65 – Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948) – Rating 8.4

“Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”

I’ve never seen or heard much about The Treasure of Sierra Madre before watching it for the project it, now I’m glad to say it’s in my own top 50 films of all time. It’s an incredible film from John Huston with an even more tremendous performance from Humphrey Bogart as a paranoid and vicious gold prospector which was really the opposite to the roles Bogart normally plays, it’s scandalous he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.

Fred C. Dobbs (Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard (Walter Huston) and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, paranoia and greed threaten to turn their success into disaster.

Walter Huston puts in an outstanding performance and won best supporting actor for his role as Howard, the old prospector. John Huston won two statues for writing and directing and the film clearly shows why the film received so much praise. The characters are all superbly written with Bogart seriously unappreciated as the bad guy. His level of paranoia and unpredictability is amazing and his entire performance is stunning, multi-layered and so bloody watchable. It’s one of my favourite roles from the IMDb list.

Huston adds so much to the film with a sublime looking black & white that looked gorgeous on my TV and as it was shot almost entirely on location it felt authentic. The script takes the story through scenes of high adventure, action, melodrama and to compelling character moments that define the film with the three actors playing off each other wonderfully whether they are plotting together or having moments alone debating each others true intentions, it works so well and the paranoia that manifests from Dobbs mind takes the film to its dark inevitable conclusion,

Those who haven’t seen The Treasure Sierra Madre have to check this film out, along with 12 Angry Men it’s one that has really impressed me and will forever be one of my favourite movies.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at http://twitter.com/baz_mann and http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips

The film where Ryan Reynolds is stuck in a box for 90 minutes – this is all Buried offers as a concept and it’s a concept that on paper shouldn’t really work for a feature length film. Somehow though Buried succeeds in every way and has proven to be one of the most refreshing and original movies of 2010, as well as being one of the most claustrophobic and tense movies ever made.

Paul Conroy (Reynolds) is a U.S. contractor working in Iraq, after an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.

In the opening few minutes of the film you witness a blank screen and hear nothing more than some muffled breathing which grows into a panicked frenzy as the realisation of his situation dawns on Paul. He eventually finds a lighter to give you a glimpse into to his prison and you are instantly drawn into the tight space with him and from this moment on, you will only feel comfortable when  you step out of the cinema into open space.

It’s when Paul is introduced to a previously unseen mobile phone that his story really starts to unfold, he communicates with his captor and the reasons why he is in his predicament are revealed and the race to get rescued begins.

Paul speaks to numerous other people throughout the film including 911 in a first desperate attempt to get help, his employers (in a particularly horrible moment), a man who works for a team that specialises in hostage negotiations which plays a bigger role as the film progresses and also he speaks to loved ones trying to connect with someone as his air runs out and his phone battery begins to die.

The tension this plays into the film is enough to make you suffer along with him and it’s a brilliant inclusion in the story. It’s amazing how much actually takes place in the small box, the situations that play out are well thought out and the change in mood as the film progresses is incredible and never have I felt so short of breath or so on the edge of my seat as I did watching Buried.

There are so many reasons why this movie succeeds. Firstly the acting from Reynolds is exemplary and it needs to be to help us take this horrific journey with him for 90 minutes through the torrent of emotions. As Reynolds is the only person we see throughout the film it needs a strong actor to carry this off and Reynolds deserves a lot of credit for his performance.

Secondly, The lighting for the film is so clever, provided solely from a lighter and the glare from his mobile phone it gives two separate coloured lighting to the inside of the box, it adds a horrible sense of claustrophobia and fear that helps build tension throughout.

Thirdly, Rodrigo Cortes utilizes the setting amazingly well with excellent use of the camera to assist the feel of limited space with one scene in particular standing out where the camera rotates 360 degrees from inside the box that is wonderfully inventive and never do you feel it’s not a real box buried deep underground.

Lastly, the invention and economy of the plot is well told through Paul’s conversations on the phone, and it builds further tension to the already strained situation. It only allows you to know what Paul knows right until the end of the film and it never gives you a clue where it’s heading. It’s a real triumph.

Director Rodigo Cortes has delivered  a wonderful movie that successfully sets a 90 minute film in one small location with one actor. With an incredible atmosphere, pacing and fascinating story, Buried is easily one of my favourite movies  of 2010.

Buried is out on 29th September.

The Town is the second stint in the director’s chair for Ben Affleck and on the strength of the excellent trailer (see it here) it was one of my most anticipated movies of 2010.

The Town is set in a Boston suburb called Charlestown which in real life has produced more bank robbers and armored truck thieves than anywhere else in the world. It’s a place where robbery has become a trade passed down from father to son and the film centres on one of its citizens named Doug MacRay (Affleck) who, along with best friend Jim (Jeremy Renner) and two other accomplices, perform the most perfectly executed theft operations in town.

On their latest heist things take an unexpected turn as Jim takes a hostage who turns out to be a resident of Charlestown, and one who could identify them if they were to release her. Doug offers to check what Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) knows but he begins to fall for her.

This draws attention from the gang as to Doug’s intentions, of both his heist career and the prospects of their money making future, specifically from the Fergie ‘Florist’ Colm (Postlethwaite), the guy who runs things and identifies the heists for the gang. At the same time FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is closing in on the crew, watching their every move.

Doug realises it’s time to get out of Charlestown after one more imposed last job to save Claire’s life and to save him from being forever held in the grasp of The Town.

The Town is an utter triumph, it’s a film of excitement, tense action, gripping crime drama and very LOUD gunfire. I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting too and it’s by far the best thing Affleck has done in a recently improving career. The three well crafted heists are played out very intelligently with a keen attention to detail and with great pace, making them stand out on their own without taking too much away from the character development and the different relationships of Doug and his heist crew and his conflicted relationship with Claire.

Ben Affleck has created an a familiar feeling film with Heat and Point Break instantly coming to mind when watching it, but don’t let that put you off – it has enough of its own personality to set it apart It’s easily one of the better films I’ve seen this year and  will no doubt be greeted by a decent box office taking.

The Town delivers some very well written characters from an excellent script by Affleck and Peter Craig encompassing superbly crafted action scenes with a pacing that works exceptionally to let you rest after each exciting set piece and allow characters to exchange great dialogue before we head face first into another explosive bank heist. It’s an absolute joy and as satisfying as any crime thriller this year or many years before it.

The acting from the entire cast is also  worth mentioning as each actor is in really impressive form with Affleck putting in a solid performance that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Partnered alongside the excellent Jeremy Renner who was a mean and unpredictable guy bordering on psychotic, they proved to be a brilliant pairing wit a wonderful chemistry.

Blake Lively was a particular standout as Krista, who is a long time on/off girlfriend to Doug and plays a key part in the film’s climax. She delivers a brilliant and broken performance that should have directors taking note and after her role in Green Lantern look out for her taking on some big roles.

Jon Hamm is also pleasing to watch as the bitter Agent trying desperately to get a successful arrest and he clearly has what it takes to lead on the big screen as brilliantly as he does in the TV series Mad Men. Rebecca Hall delivers everything but the kitchen sink as her character goes through the toughest emotional ride of any character in the film and she delivers it beautifully.

There are so many other positives from the film including a nice role for the legend Pete Postlethwaite as a tough guy and especially a small role from Chris Cooper as Doug’s father who gives a short but memorable scene from inside the joint that explains the harshness of Charlestown perfectly. It’s a lot of actors and characters to mention in a review but they all fully deserve praise for an ensemble cast that deliver a great, great film.

Overall ‘The Town’ is a glorious film that delivers everything you could want from a crime thriller movie. It’s by far the best film released this week so go check it out.

The Town is out on 24th September.

Joe Dante has oozed quality family/horror productions for 30 years with the likes of Gremlins, The Explorers, Inner Space, Piranha, The Burbs, Small soldiers and the excellent TV series Eerie Indiana on his wonderful CV.

After a seven year gap since his last film (The horrible Looney Tunes: Back in Action) has Dante returned to form? Read on to find out.

The story of The Hole is about brothers Dane and Lucas Thompson (Chris Massoglia and Nathan Gamble) who have just moved house again in a long line of moves. Along with next door neighbour Julie (Haley Bennett) they discover a heavily locked hatched in their basement which they open to reveal a seemingly harmless yet strangely bottomless hole. The hole however contains something that haunts each of them and brings their own personal fears to life.

The Hole is a very refreshing film from Dante, using all his experience to create a decent and enjoyable film that delves into the fears and secrets of our heroes using some interesting ideas that provide jumps, scares, young creepy dead kids with tears of blood and evil little clowns.

The concept of fears manifesting themselves from a seemingly endless and unexplained hole in their basement is worked nicely and kept me engaged for most of the film and when it reaches its dark and chilling climax, as Dane enters the Hole to face his greatest fear, the film excels with a very strong ending that has really excellent use of 3D. It left me totally satisfied with Dante’s return to the big screen.

Another positive about The Hole is the cast, they are all entirely likable. Not once did I feel annoyed by the young actors or think they were too childish or overplaying it, which is a real credit to how Dante directs his youthful performers and something that normally lets down these family horror films when kids are too annoying to give a damn about.

Chris Massoglia played the older brother Dane Thompson well and charms the hell out of the film and the young Nathan Gamble is proving to be a fine actor with another really strong performance that follows on from great parts in The Dark Knight and another excellent horror film The Mist.

Haley Bennett added the feminine touch to the group and was the love interest as well as a main focal point for the story line with her own demons being revealed in the films most scary scenes, altogether they had good banter and chemistry which really assists to the film’s enjoyability.

There are a few problems with the film, namely a pacing issue in the middle part and with what felt like rushed plot conclusions with some of the characters story arcs or plot points that could have benefited with more explanation and closure. An example is with the original owner of the house, a slightly neurotic man who the kids hunt down to try get some answers about the hole and he’s used minimally and ineffectively which is a shame as it hinted at an interesting storyline.

Also the film seemed to suffer under a tight budget, made tighter presumably by the use of 3D, and it feels rushed in places and some scenes felt incomplete but all credit must go to Dante and his experience with small funds and delivering results regardless that he has made it work.

It was worrying to have the title called “In 3D” as it lead me too believe it was an after thought post production addition to get a few more bums on seats and not just that there was 2001 film with the same name so they added it in to distinguish the two films. The 3D in fact was excellently used, it’s some of the most well utilised 3D I’ve seen this year.

There are wonderful perspective shots from within the hole looking up as our young stars attempt to see whats in the holes depths by lowing things down and there are many moments of subtle depth which did not seem extraneous, which is just what I want from my 3D films.

Overall The Hole is a fine film but there isn’t much for the horror fan with its lack of gore or big frights but it does offer an original idea and a fun story that entertains. Joe Dante definitely knows how to make a family film that scares and excites and although it maybe a little to scary for really young kids it’s not going to leave you with nightmares unless your freaked out by evil little clowns.

The Hole in 3D is out Wednesday 22nd September.

“Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” “Because it’s There”.

For those that don’t know their history, George Mallory was a British mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s and who was last seen just a few hundred metres from the summit. This was 30 years before Hillary and Tenzing conquered it for the first recorded time.

The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest is a truly awe-inspiring documentary about the final venture to conquer Mount Everest by the climber George Mallory who never returned from his last attempt to scale it and whose body was never found until 1999. The man who found Mallory’s body, Conrad Anker, goes on his own journey to attempt the same recorded route to see if Mallory did actually reach the summit or whether he died trying as previously thought.

The film intersects two stories as we follow Conrad Anker’s climb with camera crew and director Anthony Geffen following Mallory’s route where Anker and his young climbing companion Leo Houlding use similar equipment as Mallory would have used in 1920′s and we follow the story of Mallory’s own personally life and his incredible climb and battle to be the first man to conquer Everest. It’s incredibly fascinating, an extraordinary story and a visually stunning piece of filming that has stuck with me long after seeing the film.

The film is narrated by Liam Neeson and the actual letters and transcripts written by Mallory, his wife Ruth Mallory, Mallory’s climbing companion Andew Irvine and exhibition camera man Noel Odell are read and voiced by Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Hugh Dancy and Alan Rickman respectively to add a haunting and emotional impact to the incredible actual video footage, photos that add a real impacting meaning to what Mallory and his companions were going through both emotionally and mentally to climb the impossible mountain.

The side story of Conrad Anker starts off uninspiring as he feels like someone cashing in on his new found fame for finding the body of George Mallory, but he is a remarkable person and his story quickly grows into an equally interesting journey as his life clearly starts to mirror the passion and selfishness of Mallory in regards to putting his life on the line to conquer the mountain leaving family and loved ones detached and second choice in their love triangle with Mount Everest. The film reaches it’s climax as Anker and Houlding reach a 90ft sheer rock face known as the second steep which is only accessible by a ladder that they remove to recreate the conditions that Mallory would have faced in 1924 and to free climb the second step would possibly answer if Mallory could have reached the summit.

Geffen has created a phenomenal documentary, we feel the cold and hear the bitter wind as Anker and Houlden suffer and explain their pain in trying to reach the top of the world. The images of the mountain are just stunning and as the film develops the Mountain becomes a character itself, it’s completely unforgiving but beautiful at the same time and Geffen captures it perfectly. Overall The Wildest Dream is a truly remarkable story and there is no doubt Mallory was a truly incredible man with a truly incredible life which is revealed in one of the most fascinating documentaries I’ve ever seen.

The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest is released on 24th September.

Good Sunday everyone, this is The Sunday Lunch, HeyUGuys’ excuse to let down our Movie News blogging hair and enjoy the lighter side of movies.

This week’s Sunday Lunch funny comes from a clip that Jon Lyus sent me which put the biggest smile on my face.

It shows Jim Henson, being voiced by Kermit the frog, showing how to make puppets out of anything and then giving them more of a personality than those muppets from Big Brother.

It’s 15 minutes long and is just wonderful to see Jim Henson in action, he’s a true genius. Check it out below.

The clip of Jim Henson working his magic gave me a taste for anything Muppet so I’ve hunted down some of the best Muppet clips for your viewing pleasure and it proves what a brilliant and universally loved program the Muppet Show was.

Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody, Genius

Swedish Chef, Animal and Beaker sing Danny Boy, this is very very funny.

One of the funniest jokes ever told by Seymour and Pepe (the King Prawn) from the short lived Muppets Tonight series. This makes me laugh so much.

Fozzie Bear, funnier than the average bear.

Another musical number from the Muppets, it’s all about their expressions and personalities that make such a simple concept work.

When Muppets and Star Wars collide…

No Muppet compilation would be complete without the Swedish Chef.

That’s the Sunday Lunch. Don’t forget, if you find something funny email us at: thesundaylunch@heyuguys.co.uk

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest Internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.

This is our 34th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.

No. 171 – Twelve Monkeys (1995) – Rating 8.1

Terry Gilliam’s unconventional film about time travel is a masterful and wonderful film that again shows the director as one of the greatest there has ever been.

In 1996, a deadly plague kills 99% of the human population forcing the other one percent to take refuge underground. We open the film in 2035 where convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) becomes a hesitant volunteer for an experiment to travel back in time to gather information about the origins of the lethal virus and a group known as “The Army of the 12 Monkeys” that were believed to be responsible for its release.

Initially arriving at the wrong time, Cole is imprisoned and institutionalized due to appearing insane with his ideas and behaviour. Cole meets Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and fellow inmate Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) sharing his stories about their future eventually convincing Railly of his quest. In a race against time, he and Kathryn try to stop the plague from occurring whilst Cole deals with his own sanity.

Twelve Monkeys is a wonderful film with short glimpses into Gilliam’s mind of visual creation with the bleak future shown with the typical Gilliam industrial run down look that always appeals to my tastes. The acting from Willis is strong and he leads the film well from scene to scene; it’s one of his finest roles and most memorable. Brad Pitt puts in a performance that earned him an Oscar nod which came shortly after his turn in Seven that made him one of the best actors of 1995, his crazed performance as Jefferey Goines inhabit some of the standout scenes in Twelve Monkeys, despite being relatively low on screen time, he aids the story by dangling a huge red herring for us throughout.

Madeleine Stowe was ok as the Doctor dragged into Cole’s journey but seemed to lack a substantial role worth caring about and was more of a needed level headedness to Cole’s decreasing sanity but it does all work very well to provide a typical magic Gilliam masterpiece that’s well worth a place on the list.

No. 194 – King Kong (1933) – Rating 8.0

King Kong is one of those films that just inspires and that’s mainly down to Willis O’Brien’s contribution of stop motion animation. It brings an incredible look and feel to the classic 1933 movie.

The story is so well known and King Kong is one of the most loved movies of all time and deserves to be higher in the list in my opinion. The film follows Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) who agrees to star in a film directed by Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) and they sail to a mysterious island where along the way Ann falls in love with Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot).

The natives of the island capture Ann and offer her in a sacrifice to Kong and Driscoll, Denham and the crew head off to rescue Ann but with an ulterior motive to also capture the beast and return with him to New York.

When Kong is revealed to the New York audience he escapes, captures Ann again and scales the Empire State building where he memorably fights for his life before falling to his death. Its movie magic at its best.

The film is so well made for its time with some incredible character design and stop motion that although is now dated, has enough charm and quality to hold up to make it one of the greatest movies ever made. The fights of Kong and the T-Rex’s are some of the best moments in the film and heart wrenching finale on top of the tower is stunningly played out and easily one of the most well known scenes in movie history. The cast really perform well together and it’s incredible trying to appreciate how difficult it must have been filming a movie like this, a film that had never been attempted in the huge scale of King Kong with such ambitious special effects and storyline, it’s remarkable.

The rumour of the notorious spiderpit sequence cut from the film still hangs over King Kong which hopefully will surface someday soon, the thought of giant spiders, crabs and other bugs devouring the crew is something I’m dying to see, the fact it was cut due to being too scary is part of wonderful film lore and that it’s apparently lying somewhere waiting to be found makes it more exciting. Peter Jackson revived the idea in his remake which worked really well but nothing beats wanting to see the original scene.

No. 226 – The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) – Rating 8.0

Errol Flynn stars in one of the greatest, most colorful, bold costume adventure films in film history, this is Technicolor on drugs.

The film is the classic Robin Hood tale with Errol Flynn as the legend in tights who steals from the rich to give to the poor and it has everything you could want from a Robin Hood story.

Check list: the pivitol shooting of the King’s deer, Robin’s first meetings with Little John (Alan Hale) and Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette), the classic archery contest trap with a cunningly disguised Robin winning by splitting his opponent’s arrow, Maid Marian romancing and the return of King Richard (Ian Hunter) from the Crusades and it is quite possibly still the best telling of the Robin Hood story.

Errol Flynn is just wonderful as the swashbuckling hero and it’s easily my favourite incarnation of the legend. He leaps, climbs, fights, charms, swings, pounces and flips to deliver everything you could want from an action hero with such great enthusiasm that makes the film more enjoyable at times that it probably should be. The look is outrageous in design thanks to the use of the three-strip Technicolor process that added a bold and bright colour to the costumes and scenery that is way over the top but another charm to the film.

The supporting cast are all equally enjoyable with Basil Rathbone as the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne standing out and being someone I really enjoyed watching and of course the comedy from Little John and Friar Tuck adding some welcome laughs to even out the action and romance. It’s a classic film, it fully deserves its place on the list and will always hold a place in my favourite films.

No. 157 – Gone With the Wind (1939) – Rating 8.1

I’ve never been a fan of Gone with the Wind and after seeing it from start to finish for only the second time in my life I’m now more of a fan than I was before but I still struggle to enjoy the film for its story, however I am completely in awe of its production.

The film’s story is basically about Scarlett O’Hara’s love and life in the Old South around the time of the civil war. She works her way through men, gets married a few times, gets land, loses land, gets caught up in civil war and gets told where to go by one of the most charming actors of all time. all in a long four hour period with a musical intermission half way through.

The problem I have with the film is despite its long running time I take little from it that sticks with me apart from a few scenes and moments, mainly the wonderful pullback shot that reveals the devastation of the war which fills the screen which is just sublime, the ears of build up to the “Frankly my dear i don’t give a damn” scene is classic and any scene with Clark Gable is noteworthy.

Apart from that I hold little love for the film’s story or performances or even the often dull dialogue that fills it from start to finish from mostly forgettable performances in a truly remarkably designed and produced film, it’s a shame as I always expect so much more from it.

Maybe I’m missing something but for me a four hour film needs a lot more to hold my attention and to be honest I find it a strain to watch. Deserving of its place on the IMDb list? absolutely, but not for the film itself but for how much of an impact it had and how staggering its production is.

No. 248 – Blood Diamond (2006) – Rating 7.9

I could watch Leonardo DiCaprio films all day, for me he is the greatest actor of his generation and I can’t name a film I haven’t enjoyed him in. Whether it’s his early films of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? or Quick and the Dead to recent hits such as Inception or The Departed, he’s the main draw to these films for me and Blood Diamond is no different, but overall I’m not sure it deserves a place on this list.

DiCaprio stars as South African Danny Archer, a diamond smuggler from Zimbabwe who’s on the trail of a rock that’s worth a fortune. On the other side of the story is the diamond’s discoverer, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), whose family has been seized in the brutal 1990s Sierra Leone civil war and sent to a refugee camp. The story teams the unlikely pair and plays out a simple plot of locating the diamond with Danny promising to help free his family.

Two sub-plots develop from this story of Archer’s relationship, with the moral compass of the movie, investigative reporter Maddy (Jennifer Connelly) who is desperate for a contact to expose diamond companies from the West for having blood on their hands by exporting the blood diamonds.

The second sub plot is more emotional and hard hitting as it that tells of Solomon’s son being taken, trained and brainwashed by rebels as he is turned into a child soldier. The film loses its balls towards the end as it goes for a Hollywood ending when going for the jugular at the start with a powerful politcal message about the need for diamonds which fades away to just a diamond hunt action movie which is a shame, but still it offers a fine movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The performances were on the whole good, Jennifer Connelly was pretty unconvincing as the reporter and was my least favourite character of the film but Hounsou played is conflicted character brilliantly and his on screen chemistry with DiCaprio is the heart of film and very engaging. The standout though is DiCaprio, he puts in a really outstanding performance with a decent and convincing accent and providing an interesting character I gave a damn about, fully deserving of his Oscar nomination.

Not bad but not one of the best 250 films of all time.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at http://twitter.com/baz_mannand http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips

Winter’s Bone was the winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Dramatic award in 2010. It is also a film that has received a lot of praise from its screening at this years Edinburgh International Film Festival so I was very excited to see what director Deborah Granik has got everyone so enthusiastic about with her adaption of the Daniel Woodrell novel.

The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as seventeen year old Ree Dolly who sets out on a mission to locate her father after he uses their family house as a way of securing his bail and then disappears without a trace. Faced with the probability of losing her home and her young brother and sister, Ree challenges the code of silence of her relatives and risks her life to save her family in finding her elusive father. Ree suffers through the lies, evasions and threats from her relatives and struggles to piece together the truth and bring her father in before her house is taken.

The first thing that stands out from watching Winter’s Bone is the performance from Jennifer Lawrence. If I could choose the best female actress Oscar right now I would give her the statue without a second thought. Lawrence completely makes the film, she takes Ree on an emotional journey that is absolutely fascinating to watch and elevates Winter’s Bone from being a gritty thriller to an incredible coming of age film that delves into the poverty of people and the relationships of family in the bleak and miserable mountains of Southern Missouri. I’ve never seen a film like it or witnessed such a strong, unexpected performance that made me believe in everything I was seeing.

John Hawkes also shines with his performance as Teardrop, Ree’s Uncle. His character is used to perfection with notable key contributions in Ree’s search. He seems to know more than he lets on but also seems to have a hidden agenda as to what is going on within the family and it plays out magnificently. Using his truly terrifying stare and persona that has you on edge, one particular scene, a stand off with a local cop at night only making eye contact through his wing mirror of his car, is incredibly tense and just so good; subtly revealing his true character which never gets fully explored as this is Ree’s story, but which makes him even more fascinating and for such a short amount of screen time his character has a real sense of depth and back story.

The pacing of the film is quite slow and will bore some and no doubt irritate others with its low budget production, however those that can appreciate the film’s gritty, realistic and slow burning bleak story will be in for a treat. Patience is required for the film to reveal where it’s going and it takes time introducing the key characters of the film, characters that made me feel uncomfortable watching if not by what they say then by their physical appearance and their horrible contribution to Ree’s frustrating and dangerous search. They all add a real sense of frustration, menace and obstacle to her finding her father in time.

Winter’s Bone has a very natural feel which comes from being shot on location in a town called Branson in Missouri and features local people (apparently playing themselves) mixed with actors that gives it an almost documentary feel to it. The characters all feel chillingly genuine and look the part with meth usage being central to the story there is a heavy presence of its usage to their features and behaviour (fans of Breaking Bad will recognise Dale Dickey being a bit typecast) so don’t expect anything too pretty to attract the eye.

When the film reaches its chilling climax , with one of the most satisfying and unexpected conclusions of a film I’ve seen in years, you realise what a journey you’ve been on as everything fits into place and characters motives are revealed. It works perfectly.

It’s a stunning film for all the right reasons but I doubt it will get the promotion it deserves to give it the audience it deserves but I really do encourage everyone to see this film, there’s certainly nothing else out this week in the cinemas better than Winter’s Bone, and there will be few films out this year to top it. Highly recommended.

Winter’s Bone is released on Friday 17th September.