Review: Edge Of Tomorrow

The films of Tom Cruise have not conjured up many successes in the last 5 years or so.
The only film that received a lot of great reviews was the latest Mission Impossible film.

Last year saw him star in Oblivion which I thought was a pretty solid sci-fi. But most people saw it as o.k, but very unoriginal.

Edge Of Tomorrow sees Cruise back in the sci-fi genre, but with what seems a more complex plot and a bigger budget. Directed by Doug Liman who has had a pretty hit-and-miss career as a director. With successes such as Swingers and The Bourne Identity to cheesy failures such as Mr. And Mrs. Smith and Jumper, it is about time Liman got back to what he used to do.

For me Liman could well have made the summer film of 2014. With a decent opening of character development, we definitely get a feeling where these characters will go. After that, it goes at a romping pace with a story line that despite it being used before, it is wonderfully structured to give its own uniqueness.
I was never bored throughout and was loving trying to work everything out and laughing a lot more then I expected which was a great bonus.

As a belter of a song during the credits was being played, I was just thinking how much you have to respect Tom Cruise. He may be known for his films from about 20 years or so, but he still manages to be involved with decent movies and is rarely in a stinker compared to other Hollywood a-listers.
From his opening scene to the end, you can see Cruise as usual giving it 100 percent with a character we do care for more and more as the action goes on.
Even with those positives, the star of the show is Emily Blunt. Brilliantly bad-ass in her first real action film and she gives us a performance pretty similar to Linda Hamilton's in the Terminator franchise. This will definitely open a few doors to more films for Blunt to do in her career.
Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson gives us great supporting performances, and I feel I should give an honorable mention to Jonas Armstring who I am pleased to see him on the big screen.

Liman has a created a time period that looks quite slick with great CGI that blends well with the live action. I have to mention the action again as it it just relentless and exhilarating. If you read the synopsis, you may think you could get bored. But Liman and his crew managed to keep you interested and just loving every minute of it.
What I think gives it its edge over the rest of the summer blockbusters is that even with the high quality of action, there is great character development. With the additions of a surprisingly witty and inventive script and sharp editing, it is given us a big fun popcorn flick that I have not seen from a summer film in just over two years.

I thought Edge Of Tomorrow was brilliant and it shows what a summer film should be. It may show us top level action and pacing, but gives us an interesting story with great characters whether they be leading or supporting and mixes some funny moments.
It was gripping from start to finish and I had a big grin of my face all the way through. I really hope this gets a very good box office as it deserves to. With it not being part of a franchise or a re-make, that is respect enough for people to go and see this.

Rating: 8/10

My Top 10: Tom Cruise Films

We all know Tom Cruise. The ultimate action actor, does his own stunts and is in some of the most action packed films of all-time. His is quite literally, Mr. Action Man.

From epics, interesting sci-fi's, gripping thrillers to emotional dramas, Tom Cruise has done them all. From the mid 1980's to now, Cruise has become one of the biggest A-listers and heart-throbs in modern Hollywood.

I have to one film an honorable mention that just missed out on my top 10, and this 'Mission: Impossible III'. Part three of the franchise that has made Cruise into the action hero that has defined his career. Directed by J.J Abrams, this installment really elevated the franchise into ways many could not have imagined. Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt who comes into conflict with a dangerous arms dealer. His mission will great take great risk and has the possibility of him losing his fiancee.

Despite not seeing all of his works, I reckon this top 10 is quite an impressive one. Out of all of his 44 films, I have seen 38 of them. I will rank all of the films that I have seen as well as a short review for each of my top 10:

38) Knight And Day
37) Days Of Thunder
36) The Mummy
35) Rock Of Ages
34) Cocktail
33) Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
32) Legend
31) Top Gun
30) Mission: Impossible II
28) The Firm
28) The Color Of Money
27) Far And Away
26) Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

25) Lions For Lambs

24) A Few Good Men
23) Valkyrie
22) American Made
21) Oblivion

20) Tropic Thunder
19) Jack Reacher
18) Top Gun: Maverick

17) Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
16) Mission: Impossible

15) Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
14) Mission: Impossible - Fallout
13) Eyes Wide Shut
12) War Of The Worlds
11) Mission: Impossible III

10) Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles - A really interesting and enjoyable vampire story that is told through a number of ages of human history.

With Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater alongside Cruise, this has a great mix of love and betrayal that kept me hooked throughout.

9) Edge Of Tomorrow - Cruise's latest venture in this smart popcorn summer blockbuster.
As a cowardly army major, Cruise is sent into the frontline as punishment and suddenly is given a strange gift he must find the origins of to end this war with an alien race.

It also features a terrific performance by Emily Blunt.

8) Minority Report - Cruise teams up with Spielberg again. This time for a complex gripping sci-fi as we are sent to a future where the police can arrest murderers for crimes before they happen.

However, Cruise's character finds himself accused of a future murder. The chase is now on.

7) Jerry Maguire - A huge hit from the 1990's that won an Oscar and got nominated for Best Picture.

This wonderfully written rom-com sees Cruise plays a sports agent that gets fired, but continues to fight on his own with the only athlete that stayed with him.

Watch out for probably the best performance in Cuba Gooding Jnr's career.

6) The Last Samurai - Cruise is involved in what is simply a modern epic.

While there is a great blend of terrific landscapes, awesome costume and period setting and gripping battle scenes. The on-screen relationship with Cruise and Ken Watanabe is what makes this film great.

Cruise holds his own and makes one of the biggest and best films of 2003.

5) Collateral - Nominated for 2 Oscars, this edge of your seat thriller really grips you from the start.

But if your struggling, then as soon as Cruise enters the screen, I guarantee you will be hooked on to his complex character.

There is also a memorable performance by Jamie Foxx.

4) Vanilla Sky - Despite getting mixed reviews from the cinema-goers and mainly negative comments from the critics, there is some love for this complex and mysterious story.

Cruise plays a successful publisher that sees his life take a turn for the worst.
I found it thoroughly fascinating and contained terrific imagination.
There is also a surprising performance by Cameron Diaz.

3) Born On The Fourth Of July - Director Oliver
Stone gives us another controversial subject, this time on the after effects of the Vietnam War for a certain soldier.

After feeling betrayed by his country, Cruise's character join the anti-war protests to get justice back from the country he fought for.

2) Magnolia - A highly regarded late 90's drama that I have only recently seen.

Paul Thomas Anderson's inter-twining drama sees the best of every aspect in film-making take place. There are so many strong performances with memorable characters and the whole experience is tense throughout in its 3hrs run time.

Cruise plays a motivational speaker with a hidden past, and Cruise might well be the biggest stand-out in this.

1) Rain Man - After his father dieing, Cruise's selfish character expects a handsome stash.
What he gets instead is a journey with someone from a previous life of his.

It is an impressive feat of story telling and is always emotional to watch.
Watch out for a mesmeric performance by Dustin Hoffman.

Review: Maleficent

We know the story from the Disney classic from the 1950's.
But lately, Disney have transformed a few of their old tales, turned them into live action and given them a bit of a Gothic twist to them.

We had Alice In Wonderland in 2010, Snow White And The Huntsman in 2012 and now Maleficent.

When I first heard the announcement of this, I was quite intrigued by the idea and the casting choices. But as we got nearer to the release date, I was thinking this could be another Alice In Wonderland. I started seeing CGI battles just to please modern audiences in the trailer, but I was still hopeful of an interesting take on the Sleeping Beauty tale.

The only performance that you really need to mention is Angelina Jolie. She did a pretty good job with the main character. There is good development to Maleficent and you do feel for her throughout. The only other performance that was worth mentioning was Imelda Staunton's, who reminds us how good she was in the Harry Potter franchise as Umbridge.
Other good positives were the visual effects. It is what you expect from summer blockbusters these days.

For the negatives, there is nothing massively bad, just a few frustrating moments. The pace of the movie is pretty solid and perfectly fine throughout. But the second half of the film starts to let itself down. It contained some odd scenes which seemed to jump away from the overall tone of the movie. Also, I felt the ending to be rushed.
There were a lot of important characters heavily under-used. It was a shame to see that as we could have seen more interesting character development. One that was not under-used but I felt to be badly done was Aurora's character. The performance by Elle Fanning was fine, but I felt her character was shown in the wrong way.

Despite the obvious multiple flaws, I felt it be not that bad and quite pleasant viewing. I admired its attempt to modernise the tale, but I was hoping for the tone to be scarier and darker. But with it being a PG certificate it felt too kid friendly for me.
Jolie is definitely the star attraction. She does give us an in-depth view on Maleficent and played the role quite well. Angelina definitely made this movie.
All of the other performances were o.k but were never scene-stealers apart from maybe Imelda Staunton. A few important characters were definitely under-used which was very disappointing.

You could easily make a trilogy with Alice In Wonderland and Snow White And The Hunstman in terms of modern re-makes of the classic tales that are o.k and generally disappointing.
But I would stick to the originals as they still do the trick after many decades from its original release.

Rating: 7/10

My Top 10: Angelina Jolie Films

When people think of Angelina Jolie, they think of her being the wife of Brad Pitt and being in films that are action packed and not that impressive. Most notably, the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider films.

Lately, Angelina has approached a few more serious looking films and has managed to be involved in the major awards. She is becoming a director and could be involved in the next awards season.

I must be honest, this is not one of my most impressive top 10 lists. That does not necessarily mean Jolie is a sub-standard actress, it maybe that she is in films that are not spectacular in my opinion. Thankfully, none of the films here I would consider bad, they are all pretty solid films and there are a few that I would recommend.

Out of her 43 films, I have seen 23 of them. I will rank all of my films and give a short review for each of my top 10:

23) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
22) Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life
21) Shark Tale
20) Alexander
19) The Tourist
18) Life Or Something Like It
17) Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil
16) Those Who Wish Me Dead

15) Maleficent
14) The Bone Collector
13) Beowulf
12) Mr. & Mr.s Smith
11) Salt

10) Kung Fu Panda 2 - New territory for Jolie and she is voicing an animated character in the sequel of Kung Fu Panda 2.

With a new villain trying to conquer China, it is up to Po and his friends to stop that from happening.

9) Gone In Sixty Seconds - Angelina's breakthrough performance that made her become the star she is today.

This is a highly enjoyable action flick about a master car thief coming out of retirement to pull off the ultimate heist and steal 50 particular cars in one night to save his brother's life.

8) Wanted - A pretty stylish looking action blockbuster.

It stars James McAvoy is a normal office worker who learns he is the son of a professional assassin.

Jolie plays as a member of the fraternity who are a dangerous group of assassins who train McAvoy's character to bend the bullet.

7) Kung Fu Panda 3 - Jolie jumps back into the voice of Tigress in the always enjoyable Kung Fu Panda series.

It sees lead character Po face two different threats whilst also searching for himself. Like with all Kung Fu Panda films, the visuals are terrific, the story flows nicely and has great kung-fu action. They are great family films and I will never get tired of seeing these.

6) Eternals - Jolie's latest venture, and it is into the world of the MCU in Eternals as the mighty warrior Thena.

It sees a group immortal beings reunite as the awakening of a celestial being could destroy the planet they helped build.

5) Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow - A film that I like a lot more then the majority.
It is fun action adventure story that is beautiful visual effects and has a great classic film-noir look to it in terms of the costumes.

There is a lot of imagination and has a great pace to it that I can watch again and again.

4) A Mighty Heart - Based on the true story of Mariane Pearl as she is the path to finding her lost husband who has gone missing in Pakistan.

It is an emotional story and Jolie plays the role really well.

You instantly feel for her character and it is quite a journey to witness.

3) Girl, Interrupted - An impactful drama about a writer's account of life in a mental hospital in the late 1960's.

In a nutshell, it is seen as a poor mans 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. But there is high-quality in James Mangold's feature.

The strongest aspect being Jolie's performance that earned a well deserved Oscar win.

2) Changeling - Probably Jolie's most successful films in terms of the major awards.

Nominated for 3 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes and 9 BAFTA's, this an impressive story that is wonderfully directed by Clint Eastwood.
Jolie plays a mother living in Hollywood searching for her lost son and is threatening to take on the LAPD for their incompetence.

1) Kung Fu Panda - Remember this being a huge surprise hit.

One of DreamWorks Animation's most successful films, it is a visually stunning, fun, action packed and surprisingly intelligent family film.

Jolie plays Tigress who is part of a martials arts clan finding peace in China.

The master of their clan brings in a Panda who he believes is the chosen one, but is a complete novice to the art of kung fu.

Review: X-Men: Days Of The Future Past

The X-Men franchise has had quite a troubled timeline.
We begin with the first two pretty good features from Bryan Singer who has returned as director for Days Of Future Past.
Sadly, he did not direct X-Men: The Last Stand. Instead it was given to Brett Ratner, who gave us a disappointing finale to the trilogy that was looking pretty solid.

After a poor showing from Last Stand, it was the beginning of the origin films. We began with X-Men Origins: Wolverine which I thought was better then most people say.
A couple of years later, we got the highly enjoyable X-Men: First Class directed by Matthew Vaughn who has a good track record of summer blockbusters. It takes place after Origins and before the first X-Men. This is my favorite of the franchise.
With those prequels done, it is back to the previous timeline with The Wolverine. This takes place after events of The Last Stand and felt it to be o.k, but nothing special.

With Days Of Future Past originally going to be directed by Vaughn I was quite excited by this. But then Vaughn pulled out of the project and we got the return of Singer which still gave me hope that we can get another enjoyable X-Men film.

As I type this, I am still trying to digest everything and see if it all worked. There is a lot to get through, but through this we get many enjoyable set-pieces and solid performances.
The story is a good one to use, but I just felt exhausted rather than feeling like that I had a lot of fun. I am starting to think that this could be the hardest film to sum up into a few paragraphs.
One thing is for sure is that, I liked it. But I am not just not sure how much yet. I think maybe the complexities of the story might stop it from being great in my rankings.

As for the performances, I felt it was the characters from First Class that shone above the original cast. The relationship between McAvoy and Fassbender is still terrific to watch. Fassbender plays the anti-hero so beautifully and he continues to create a great screen presence. I felt Lawrence was perfectly fine. But I think there was too much air time for her which gave lesser time for story development. Jackman continues to make Wolverine his own. But I think his best days as Logan are over.
For the original cast, Stewart was pretty solid. McKellan felt under-used and the rest of them was given enough screen-time to be noticed and have just about enough contribution to the main story.
As for the rest of the mutants. There were many nice reprisals and some npleasant introductions of new characters. One I particularly liked and I think a lot of people including myself will feel to be the fun part of the movie.

The visual effects are what we expect them to be. The settings looked great and you can easily get sucked into the time periods shown.
One part of the film that is frustrating me is the pacing. As soon as gets going, it suddenly slows down and does something which felt unnecessary. It does it far too often for me and sadly made me annoyed at times.
Despite that, I did like it. There is a great idea in there, but the pacing just let it down enough not be a great film. I really wanted this to be the hit of the summer. Sadly, not in my books.
But I must remind you that there is a lot in there to like, but it just did not suck me in like First Class and X2 did.

With the next X-Men film taking place straight after the events in the past section of Days Of Future Past, it will be interesting to see how long it will take before we are back on one timeline. I certainly hope it is quick, just so we can back to fun X-Men movies, rather then just tying up loose ends.

As this is a Marvel film, there is the usual bonus scenes in the credits. In this one, there is a post-credit scene which at first I thought was quite interesting. But after reading up on some info on the internet, I got it completely wrong, and it is actually not that surprising. It will excite you nonetheless, but it is nothing new as to what is coming up next in the film franchise.

Rating: 7/10

My Top 10: Sequels/Prequels

Some people may believe sequels and prequels are a new concept to story-telling. But to be honest, they have been with us since the beginning of story-telling in any format.
Sequels are best known for not being as good as its predecessor. But every now and then, there is the odd exception to this theory and it sometimes creates a terrific and highly successful film franchise.

As for prequels, they have a more recent history. From as early as the 1950's, the phrase prequel has slowly come into the mainstream society. From the late 1970's, prequels were becoming more commonly used in film franchises. But since the start of the 21st century, it has become more of annual occurrence. With film franchises like Star Wars, Alien, X-Men, Wizard Of Oz, Planet Of The Apes, Hannibal Lecter, Monsters, Inc, The Hobbit, Infernal Affairs, Underworld and many others doing prequels, I think it is safe that these forms of story-telling will not be leaving us anytime soon.

As for my top 10, they consist of eight sequels and one prequel. The one prequel will probably surprise you of it being a sequel.
One film that I must give an honorable mention to is Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom which sadly missed out. It may come as a surprise to you that this is actually a prequel to Raiders Of The Lost Ark. When you actually see the film, the year that this takes place is actually before the first Indiana Jones film.

With that missing out on the top 10, you can probably imagine that this is a high-calibre list. Here is my top 10:

10) For A Few Dollars More - After his adventures in A Fistful Of Dollars, 'The Man With No Name' played by Clint Eastwood returns.

However, whilst on the trial of a notorious outlaw. A bounty hunter is on the same trial. Will they team up?

9) Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Associated with many people as the greatest sequel, director James Cameron managed to surpass his own efforts with the first Terminator film.

After failing in his efforts in the first movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back and is now looking for a different target.

8) Return To Oz - For regular followers to my blog, this was always going to feature.

Despite not being a direct sequel i.e. made by the same studio, it still follows on from the events in The Wizard Of Oz.

Six months after the tornado, Dorothy is back in Oz with a enemy to face. There is also some new allies at her side for what is a very dark take on the land of Oz by director Walter Murch.

7) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Believe it or not, this is a prequel to A Fistful Of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More.

We found out the beginning adventures of The Man With No Name as he and two others on in a race to track down buried gold. Expect a lot of unlikely alliances, and backstabbing.

6) The Dark Knight - Seen by many as the greatest film of our time, Batman is back, as him and the police launch an attack on the entire Gotham City mob scum.

But one mysterious character arrives with the intention of turning Gotham on Batman and causing complete chaos.

5) Aliens - Director James Cameron is back after the success of Alien.

With the alien planet now colonized but losing all contact, a team of soldiers and the lone survivor from the incident in Alien come to the rescue.

This time, it's war.

4) Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - After destroying the Death Star.

Luke Skywalker decides to go on his Jedi training whilst the rest of his friends battle to escape from Darth Vader and the surviving armies of the Empire.

3) Toy Story 3 - With Andy growing up and heading off to college, the toys are in a dilemma.
With they be thrown out, kept in the attic or given to kids who cannot afford toys?

Woody, Buzz and the gang have an adventure of a lifetime and meet some new friends along the way.

2) The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers - With the fellowship now split, Frodo and Sam continue onto Mordor with the help of a former owner of the ring.

Whilst, the rest help gather an army against Sauron's new ally, the evil Saruman and his army from Isengard.

1) The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King - With Frodo and Sam getting ever close to destroying the ring.

The surviving colonies of Men take one final stand against Sauron's orc army in a battle to save Middle Earth from falling into darkness.

Winner of an unprecedented 11 Oscars, this is one grand finale to the perfect trilogy.

Review: The Two Faces Of January

I do not usually get intrigued by something like this when going to the cinema.
But I felt the people involved with this got me wanting to know the story.

Based on a novel by the same writer who wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley, it was obvious that we were going to get something similar to that.

Already five minutes in and I could already see some interesting characters with troubled pasts.
As the plot was thickening, the intensity of the story and the environment of their surroundings was making it a tense watch.
There were clever twist and turns, but also some predictable ones. Thankfully, in the final act I did not lose its way and I felt it was a satisfying ending that completed the story nicely.

After being screenwriter for films such as Drive, I felt debut director Hossein Amini proved that he can continue to show off his film-making skills without just writing the script.
He definitely presented with some complex characters, made the whole experience thrilling, presented us with tremendous landscapes with blended nicely with the intensity of the plot.

As for the performances, Viggo Mortensen was a big asset in the film. With a troubled figure to play, I felt constantly interested with what he was going to do next. Oscar Isaac's role in this interested me the most after seeing him in Inside Llewyn Davis. He bounced off Mortensen really well and I can see him grabbing a few awards in the future. The more I see him, I get even more excited for his role in the new Star Wars film.
As for Kirsten Dunst, it was going to be pretty hard battling with Mortensen and Isaac whilst on-screen. But I feel she played her part to the fullest and gave us a nice mix of character development.

Overall, I felt it a pleasant viewing. The plot and general tone of it may be unoriginal, but it does all the right things that a thriller should be. It was puzzling, it had suspense and some nice twists. But like I said, it gets marked down for being unoriginal and too generic. Sadly the performances of all the main characters was a big plus and I feel Amini did a great job as director. His choices of location really added to the suspense levels.
There is obvious rooms for improvement. But if anyone made this as their debut as director, then I would give him praise and be on the look out for his next project.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Godzilla

It has been 60 years since the first Godzilla film. Since then, it has become one of the most recognizable fictional creatures alongside the likes of Mickey Mouse.

The many movies from Japan about the monster have always had an human element to it along with action of monster vs. monster.
Sadly in 1998, Roland Emmerich not only made Godzilla look like trash. But it felt like he was basically making a rip-off of Jurassic Park with awful acting.

Since then, we have had some disappointing, and some pretty damn good monster movies. One big one I would mention is Cloverfield. Another one with a lot of potential was Pacific Rim. One monster movie that I should mention is Monsters, which is what director Gareth Edwards did a few years ago which surely made him a contender to direct this blockbuster.

After making the visual effects for Monsters in his bedroom, he has made a film that involved 'The King Of The Monsters'. After seeing it, I have felt Edwards has definitely wanted to make it as human as the 1954 version. It has a great blend of monster action, a human story and a nice addition to using its atomic roots of the story.
There are great moments of homage to the history of the Godzilla franchise and his monster enemies. The design and size of Godzilla himself is quite impressive and you just have to go "wow, that is huge". It reminded of when I saw the machines and creatures of Pacific Rim. The scale of both these films just impressed me and it seems quite a few others.

As for the performances. Most of them are perfectly fine. Bryan Cranston does a great performance, but I think he was given the most interesting character. The only person that I would question about is Sally Hawkins who seemed to be forgotten after her screen arrival.

People who expect Emmerich's version will be quite surprised with this one. There is a great monster action, but it beautifully teases you throughout until it is unnecessary for Godzilla to take centre stage. But there is also a story that does not forget itself in the final act compared to others that just resorts to unnecessary explosions.

Overall, I felt it was a highly enjoyable experience that met my expectations, but not in the way that I expected. I absolutely love the look of Godzilla and you feel the size and scale of the design that Gareth Edwards and his team have made. You can see that they love the source material and gave it a great homage to the start of the Godzilla franchise from the 50's and 60's.
There is that Edwards touch from Monsters where you can feel for the creatures on screen as much as the humans involved. I think the characters could have been improved, but I am probably being greedy and wanting more from this.
Despite that, there is so much to like and I can see this being the first big hit of what could be a memorable summer. I also have to mention that the soundtrack is very good and probably the best I have heard this year.

And finally, it is more than a country mile better then Roland Emmerich's version.

Rating: 7/10

My Top 10: Monster Movies

Since the early 1930's, the sub-genre of monster movies has managed to keep going and forever breaking new grounds in film technology.
These types of films do not regularly gives amazing new successes, but every so often we get an absolute gem that will never be forgotten.

Monster movies come fro many sources. Some from famous novels, some loosely based from previous events in time. But many come from the brilliant minds of our film-makers.

My top 10 might confuse you as what classifies as a monster movie. To me, a monster movie features one creatures or maybe a certain species. Whether they are dangerous or nice, they are a monster nonetheless.

One movie that missed out but must get an honorable mention is, Cloverfield. The 2008 hit that saw producer J.J Abrams become known to mainstream audiences with this terrific found-footage based thriller.

Here are my top 10, enjoy:

10) The Iron Giant - Like I said in the preview at the top, not all of these monsters will be the villainous type.
An absolute gem of a film from 1999, directed by Brad Bird who has now directed a few of Pixar's greatest features.

9) King Kong (1933) - The first big hit of the monster genre.

It has a film crew that goes to a tropical island for a location shoot where they end up discovering something they did not expect.

I would also recommend the 2005 version of this story.

8) The Terminator - Even robots can be monsters. One of the most popular films from the 1980's, director James Cameron creates a futuristic world looking to be avoided by travelling back in time.

This is where actor Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes a global superstar over-night.
For its time, The Terminator was quite a ground-breaking sci-fi action epic and has hardly dated.

7) Terminator 2: Judgment Day - One of the few exceptions to the sequel rule.

Arnie is back as the dreaded Terminator, but this time he is not alone. For the machines, the search for the people that rebelled against the machines must be stopped at all cost.

6) Jurassic Park - Winner of 3 Oscars and one of the most successful films of the 1990's, director

Steven Spielberg gives us a world where dinosaurs have been reborn into the modern age.

When one man's dream is to make a theme park out of it, a preview day goes slightly wrong.

5) Alien - A massive ground-breaker for both the monster and sci-fi genres.

When a vessel receives a distress signal from an unknown planet, the crew do not realise what they will encounter. Until, one of the most gruesome scenes in film history shows the crew what they are now up against.

4) Aliens - This impressive sequel to the Alien franchise sees the only survivor  of the incident in Alien come back to help a colony who have come under attack against the same species that attacked her crew.

An absolute thriller that is cranked up several notches from its original.

3) Monsters, Inc. - A movie with LOADS of monsters could not have been ignored.

One of Pixar's most successful animated epics. In a world where monsters scare kids to power their electricity, one kid manages to enter the monster world. It is up one of the top scarers in the industry.

2) E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial - He is a monster, but there is not a bad bone in this monster's body.

When an alien gets stranded on Earth, it is up to one family kid's to get him back home.

1) Jaws - Winner of 3 Oscars and one of the highest-grossing films of all-time.

The film that put Steven Spielberg on the map, Jaws is also one of the best thrillers in film history.

When a giant great white shark starts to feed on the locals of a small island, a team of locals set out to kill it.

Review: The Wind Rises

There was a point where director Hayao Miyazaki said he was retiring. Since then he has come back with some new ideas and has expanded his Studio Ghibli empire.
But this time, I think this is the actual retirement for one of the very few directors in the film industry today that can attract people to go just by hearing his name.

With by far his most personal film to date. Miyazaki is going out with the film he wanted to make, but thought would not be as successful compared to the rest of his back catalogue.

From the opening minute, you do get a sense that this will not be your typical Miyazaki in terms of the story. But when you see the animation, you still feel in awe of what is being presented on screen.
It did feel a bit more subdued then his previous work. It felt it was giving you time to settle in and understand what the director wanted when making this.
Even with the film having a particular famous incident in 1920's Japan, Miyazaki is concentrating more about this little story that other directors would just ignore. By the end of it, I felt sad that I would be walking out from a Miyazaki film for the last time, but also of the emotional ending to the film that felt quite fitting to what was a touching story.

There has been some controversy with this film saying that it is about a man who helped design a warplane that killed many people. But it really does not talk about that. It is simply about a man's love for designing and inspiring to be as successful as his hero. We do get moments with German businessmen that talk about them creating machines for war. But the main character remains passionate about his work and determination to take the industry to the next level of engineering.

In the end, I felt The Wind Rises to be a such a touching story. It has a great inspiring feel to it along with an emotional love story to give it that variety. It is quite a hard task making people feel emotional about animated characters. But when you do, it has to be a success. The animation is just unreal, and no matter how many times I see Miyazaki's films, it just amazes me as there is nothing else like it. One point I noticed was how they did the noises of the planes which amused me and felt quite fitting. There is one particular moment in the first half of the film that will surely amaze you. Just for a moment, it will feel like your back into his fantasy worlds.

If anyone is reading this without the knowledge of Miyazaki, then you are in a terrific position. You have almost 40 years of work to catch up on and I guarantee you will be amazed at Miyazaki's ambition, imagination and beautiful story-telling that certainly makes Disney films quite simplistic.

I know I will definitely miss seeing Miyazaki as I know he cannot do anything wrong. But I think he has done enough to make himself a cinematic titan in the film industry. With Studio Ghibli's other directors getting better with their projects, it will be interesting to see who steps up to the plate to create the next fantasy themed feature as I feel the studio seems fine with doing more drama based films.

Love live Miyazaki, and thank you.

Rating: 8/10

Profile: Hayao Miyazaki

Seen as a cinematic titan in Japan, and over time has become much loved around the world.
Animation film director Hayao Miyazaki is soon to be bowing out with his eleventh and final feature film, The Wind Rises.

After a promising success in 1979 with The Castle Of Cagliostro and huge hit in 1984 with Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, Miyazaki founded Studio Ghibli. Located on the edge of Tokyo, the Studio Ghibli museum and studio has become quite an attraction for many tourists. It may not be like Disneyland, but there is still a certain magic in the air that just fills everyone with happiness.

With nine of Miyazaki's films being part of Studio Ghibli, eleven others have contributed to the efforts of this highly successful studio. But in terms of box-office and awards success, Miyazaki's films are the reason for Studio Ghibli being a worldwide phenomenon. With four of his films in my top 100 of all-time and couple of others narrowly missing out, he is as successful as Spielberg, Scorsese and Cameron.

With multiple box-office number ones in Japan, many cult groups around the world and a few major awards including an Oscar, Miyazaki will be sorely missed and everyone is wondering if the team in Tokyo can find another man like him.
With his love and dedication to hand drawn animation, his stories having a complex morality compared to the rest of major family blockbusters. I am not sure if we will get someone like him ever again.

Despite his love for fantasy, his final installment 'The Wind Rises' is based on a true story and is a bit more personal. It is based on the life Jiro Horikoshi who invented the Zero fighter. It got nominated for Best Animated film at this years Oscars and it seems to have more of an adult tone and is a bit light on the fantasy level which could put the lovers of fantasy off, but the themes are still like all his previous work. I think just to see Miyazaki's swansong is enough for the hardcore fans to attend this wondrous event.

Here are my reviews of his entire feature film collection:

The Castle Of Cagliostro - The story about a gang known for their heists get caught up in saving a princess from a castle that holds a treasure, where she is the key to get to.
I found it quite wacky, but really fast-paced and has nice witty humor. Nothing like any of Miyazaki's other back catalog, but a good solid animated caper.

Rating: 7/10

Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind - The first breath-taking fantasy epic which has as a pacifist called Nausicaa who is trying to prevent two clans from destroying each other and possibly, the planet.
This film really struck on what you could do with animation and can easily appeal to adults.

Rating: 9/10

Laputa: Castle In The Sky - A highly enjoyable swashbuckling fantasy adventure about a boy and girl racing against pirates to find the last of the legendary floating castles. It is definitely the type of film Hollywood would have made a franchise out of.

Rating: 8/10

My Neighbor Totoro - A lot of peoples personal favorite. When two girls move to the country with their father, they discover a number of forest spirits and go on numerous adventures.
Great animation, wonderful set-pieces, fascinating characters and has such an emotional tone.

Rating: 9/10

Kiki's Delivery Service - Not as much as a phenomenon as Totoro, but still a really impressive feature. It features a young witch beginning her independent life and decides to help out a small community.
It is probably more kid friendly, but as enjoyable as the rest of Miyazaki's work.

Rating: 8/10

Porco Rosso - A terrific mix of vintage Miyazaki weirdness and old fashioned romance story.

It stars a fight pilot in the 1930's who has been cursed to look like a pig.

Rating: 8/10

Princess Mononoke - Some people call this the 'Star War's of animation. It involves wars, forest gods, many other mythical creatures.

This could very well be the most imaginative and the scareist of Miyazaki's works.

Rating: 9/10

Spirited Away - Universally known as Miyazaki's masterpiece and my favorite. During a journey to a new home, a 10-year old wanders into a world ruled by gods and spirits.

Not only it is an amazing creation, it's artistry gives that extra praise from not jut the fans, but people who have never experience Miyazaki before.

Rating: 10/10

Howl's Moving Castle - This is probably the one that gets better and better with each viewing.

When a young woman is cursed with an old body by an evil witch, she then embarks on a journey to a wizard to break the spell.

Rating: 9/10

Ponyo - Basically a re-telling of The Little Mermaid.

Miyazaki's portrayal involves a five-year boy and his relationship with his goldfish that wants to be human.

Rating: 8/10

The Wind Rises - Such a touching story to cap off his career.

This story portrays the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes in World War II

It has a great inspiring feel to it along with an emotional love story to give it that variety.

Rating: 8/10



So with Miyazaki leaving, what will happen now? His son Goro has made some promising films with From Up On Poppy Hill being his most recent project. But I cannot see any major heir to the Studio Ghibli throne. It is like if Nick Park departed the Wallace and Gromit franchise or John Lasseter left Pixar.
One thing is for certain, the magic will be missed and I will be very interested to see where Studio Ghibli go from here. But for the time being, let us all remember the great man that is Hayao Miyazaki. If you do not know him, then make people feels envious of you and watch his entire collection this week.