My Top 10: Ron Howard Films

After beginning as a well accomplished actor in things such as the Happy Days tv series and films such as American Graffiti, Ron Howard has evolved into quite a successful actor.

Winner of two Oscars as director and one Golden Globe as an actor, Howard has been a noble member of this industry for the 50 years.

My top 10 list has a great mix of his early work into fantasy and his more well known pieces on stories based on true events.

A couple of honorable mentions go to Splash and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The former is a guilty pleasure for many, not so much for me. But I still find it a good watch. This is mainly thanks to Tom Hanks and John Candy who can never do wrong.
A live-action love story between a human and a mermaid may sound odd. But that 80's vibe it has, gives enough magic to make this good fun.

As for the latter, I remember the budget for this film being stupidly high at the time of its release in 2000. It sees Jim Carrey play the iconic Grinch that set-outs to ruin Christmas for the entire population of Whoville. Carrey definitely carries this film and helps this from becoming an over-budgeted mess.

Out of his 34 films, I have seen 20 of them. I will rank all of the films I have seen and give a short review for each of my top 10:

20) The Dilemma
19) Willow
18) Angels & Demons
17) Inferno
16) Ransom
15) Cocoon
14) In The Heart Of The Sea
13) Solo: A Star Wars Story
12) Splash
11) How The Grinch Stole Christmas

10) Far And Away - This solid romantic melodrama sees Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman begin as two people from different sides of society, embark on an epic journey from Ireland to the American frontier.

While it is far too long, it is nice little drama to sit back and watch.

9) The Da Vinci Code - Despite some poor writing from the actual novel that for some reason Ron Howard kept, this is still a tense thriller.

It sees a symbologist investigate a murder that slowly uncovers a deep and dark truth.

While it got panned by critics, some sets of fans still enjoyed it. I'm one of them.

8) Hillbilly Elegy - Howard's latest release is based on a biography from a Yale graduate bought up in Ohio with his family roots coming up Kentucky.

This is a solid watch with good performances and the type of story that can appeal to many demographics.

Most of the characters may not be likable. But the story kept me engaged and reminded me of some of those award-winning 90's drama's about living the American dream.

7) The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years - Even for hardcore Beatles fans, Howard and his team have managed to find unseen content that will please them.

This is a thorough and highly entertaining film documentary that covers a pivotal time during the career of probably the biggest music pioneers of all-time.

6) Parenthood - Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen are the parents of a family dealing with many problems.

Nominated for two Academy Awards, it has that perfect mix of comedy and drama.

It warmness and subtlety a surprising enjoyable film with a high amount of great performances.

5) Rush - We don't see many motor racing films, but this 2013 hit could well be the best of the lot.

It tells the story of the rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (played by Daniel Bruhl).

It's wonderfully drama, has some tense racing sequences and the usual romping score by Hans Zimmer.

4) Cinderella Man - This boxing drama tells the true story James Braddock who is aiming to make a come back and inspire a generation.

Lead by Russell Crowe, it is a brilliantly executed story that manages to still be refreshing in a supposedly worn out sub-genre.

3) Apollo 13 - Tom Hanks returns to this list, this time in probably Ron Howard's most popular feature. It tells the true story of the crew on the Apollo 13 mission.

I remember not knowing how this mission went and I think the lesser you know the better.

It is certainly deserving of its two wins in the Academy Awards.

2) Frost/Nixon - A dramatic and tense re-telling of the famous televised interview with David Frost and recently former president Richard Nixon about the Watergate incident.

With two powerful performances by leads Michael Sheen and Frank Langela, this is certainly one thrilling ride that is really well told.

1) A Beautiful Mind - The film that got Ron Howard four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

It sees Russell Crowe play an awesome lead as mathematician John Nash, who accepts secret work in cryptography. However, his life gets turned into a nightmare.

This sees Crowe and Howard at the top of their game.

Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The most anticipated film of the year, probably the decade and quite possibly of this century. Whether it is or not, the release of the seventh episode of this franchise has become more of an event then just another film release.

For almost the last 40 years, the Star Wars saga has captured the imagination across the world. Whether you are a casual fan or have made this a religion, this space opera has become something that everyone needs to experience at least once their life.

After the disappointment of the prequels, many people including myself were not sure if we were ever going to see another Star Wars film whilst George Lucas still had the rights. But with Disney now in control, and J.J Abrams at the helm of the first of many more episodes to come, I knew this was in safe hands.

However, I did obviously have my doubts. Is this over-hyped? Has the release of the merchandise months before the film worn out our interest?

But with Abrams' successes as a director and producer for many hits such as Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible III, Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, Morning Glory, Super 8 and Star Trek and Into Darkness, he has become my kind of director. His style reminds me of a young Steven Spielberg and for him to be now part of the Star Wars legacy, this couldn't be another Phantom Menace,.....could it?

Well, after initially wanting to do my review immediately after seeing it, I feel that I needed to sleep on it after the midnight screening I attended.

Firstly, I must say that it was only until the day before I saw this is only the second Star Wars film that I have seen on the big screen. For someone such as myself who has seen over 100 films at the cinema, it was hard to comprehend that only one of them had been a Star Wars.

It was an amazing feeling seeing the atmosphere in the cinema and in my screen. In an age where we are all on our devices and losing touch with physical interaction. Being part of an event like this can still bring people together has to be commended. It is something like Star Wars that shows meeting new people with similar interests is still a magical thing.

Right, now the movie. This could well be the toughest review I have had to do. I don't know whether it is because of me now reviewing films, I have become more critical of them. But for me, I felt The Force Awakens was good, but nothing more than that.

Now before you start your message of hate towards me, I hope my review of it can help me defend myself.

Seeing that opening scrawling text was one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had. The mixture of excitement of seeing a new episode, but also that feeling of stepping into the unknown.

The first half of the film opens up really well with some interesting and believable characters. We see the story develop into something quite familiar, and yet it is still moving along nicely. The action sequences are really well directed and constructed and we are now building up to where these new generation of characters fit into the saga.
As for the second half, it goes in directions that definitely had me excited and I was loving a lot of the new characters and enjoyed them every time they were on screen. However, the final act did not feel exhilarating for me and I was not wanting to punch the air in delight. One part of it felt too satisfactory. But the other was quite enjoyable including one moment that gave me goosebumps. Sadly, that was the only time when I felt like that. And finally, all I'll say for the final scene is that they could have definitely done something better than what I saw.

I want to go straight to the characters, as I have a lot to talk about them all. I have to start with Daisy Ridley as I loved her. She definitely gives us the strongest performance. I honestly did have my doubts at times during the first half of the film. But they were quickly eradicated and I was totally invested in her character and I will root for her till the very end.
As for John Boyega. He is good with Ridley with some solid comedy. But he also looks so excited to be part of the film and seems to forget to act at times. But he does have his moments that are great to watch.
Adam Driver as our main villain was the most interesting. His appearance may seem like another Darth Vadar, but this troubled character gives us a new type of villain that I want to understand more.
I was not sure about Oscar Isaac's character by the end of it. He started really well and I wanted to know more about him. But he seemed to lose his development in the few times we see him in the second half.

One risky new character was the new droid, BB-8. For what we saw of the droid in the trailers, I like many had my doubts as this could have been the Jar Jar Binks of the film. He isn't annoying whatsoever. He is cute and funny and I will be happy seeing parents buy this from toy shops from now on, as it is worth the money to own such a lovable character.

Other minor roles that I liked and wanted to know about were Max Von Sydow's and Lupita Nyong'o's. I also want to give a quick shout to Iko Uwais, Yaya Ruhian and Arif Rahman who made a very small role in this film, It was great seeing some of the main actors from The Raid be part of this.
One new character I found troublesome was Domhnall Gleeson's. He really camps up his performance and felt out of place with the tone. Another disappointment, but in a different sense was Gwendoline Christie's character. She has a character that I was looking forward to. But she is hardly on screen. It was a shame as it sounded like a character that could have been quite memorable in a Boba Fett way.

Now to the characters we all know. By far the best was Harrison Ford as Han Solo. For most of the time, I felt I was actually watching Solo rather than Ford. He is a big part of the film and gives the new characters some nice guidance. His comedic moments works for the most part also.
Carrie Fisher did not feel like the Leia we all know and the role she had in this film did not seem believable. Despite not being in the film for that long, C-3PO for the few scenes he was in was actually annoying and felt like just saying things just to remind people that he was there. As for Mark Hamill. Is he in it? Yes. I'm afraid that's as far as I can go with that one.

Despite me liking a lot of it, the main part of my rating goes on my general feeling of it. As much as I was willing myself to match it with some of this years best films, I just couldn't due to the problems I had with it. Thankfully, they are all minor problems.

I think the big problem of it is that the story felt too similar. We know J.J Abrams has history as his Star Trek films seem quite similar to some of the previous ones. But he managed to still have an interesting idea to give Star Trek that perfect mix of nostalgia and bringing this franchise into the modern age.
Has Abrams done that? Yes, but only the latter.

I could even be brave and call it a safe film. It felt more like a re-boot rather than a continuation.

The humor that didn't work for me reminded me when I saw Avenges: Age Of Ultron. It felt like everyone was trying to compete for the best comedic moment and with most of them not working.

The antagonists in the main battle station was massively under-developed in my opinion. Seeing it in full operation was impressive and made my jaw drop. But I did not feel fear for the characters involved. I think that it is mainly due to the people running the battle station not feeling threatening enough for me to care. Apart from Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers, the others felt cowardly and weak rather than threatening. It felt just like something for the protagonists to fight as there was nothing else to do battle with.

As for the other things I want to mention. The practical effects was a big attraction for a lot of the fans. It is obviously great to see everything real and there for the actors to work with. The variety of creatures was great to see. I might be being picky here, but I think at times they were just shoving creatures designs in our face to show that they are doing practical effects. The visual effects were brilliant, the cinematography was vintage J.J Abrams, the score by John Williams has that great mix of the old pieces with many new additions including a couple of pieces of music for Ridley's character that are just gorgeous to listen to and I feel the production and costume design deserves Oscar nominations.
This next bit could be seen as a spoiler. But I feel that after seeing it, it will not ruin the overall experience. The way the force is used is definitely new, different and is portrayed really well, especially the first time we see it.

Is it better then all the prequels? Most definitely. It is more interesting, better written and has many characters we can invest in.
Does it match any of the original trilogy? Don't think so. The good stuff is not strong enough and it has too many problems, especially with the story being too familiar.

For people who are only reading this review out of all my others because it is Star Wars, you can have problems with even the best movies of all-time.

But rest assured, I would definitely watch it again, I was never bored and it definitely has that Star Wars magic that the prequels barely had. It was just missing something to make the story different from the rest. If I was pointing fingers, it would probably fall onto the writing department.

I do feel at times that I should hate myself for not liking it more as it is Star Wars and it was a huge part of my childhood. But I have to stick to my guns and go with what I honestly think it is. All the signs and mood of the audience after the screening seemed to fit in with what I'm saying.
Maybe I need to warm to it a bit more. But I have not had to do that with any other film and I can't see this being an exception.

I hope I have explained myself and welcome any comments like I do with all my other reviews.

Rating: 7/10

Nostalgic Review: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi

!SOME MINOR SPOILERS!

The final chapter of one of the most iconic trilogies of all-time has everything set up for a dramatic finale.

We see a lot of our characters have dramatically changed since the events of The Empire Strikes Back.

The Empire is on a high and almost completing construction of their new battle station. There is so much confidence in the Imperial forces, that we are going to finally see The Emperor.

Meanwhile, our heroes are battling on Tatooine. It was nice to see the planet from A New Hope again. However, we are here to finally see Jabba The Hutt after only getting mentions in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The creature design of Jabba is quite impressive as is the high amount of other creatures within his palace. It must have been a nightmare for the makers to get everything working. In the middle of these creatures is Princess Leia in an outfit that has become so popular that it is worn by a lot of cosplayers at various Comic Con events for the last 30 years.

The rest of the film gradually builds up to three battles in locations fairly close to each other. It is well developed and the action is constantly exciting, tense and exhilarating.
We see Luke Skywalker looking to fulfill his destiny and the Rebels aiming to wipe the Empire out once and for all.

This is clearly Skywalker's film. The first time we see him, he has become a powerful Jedi and feels quite imposing on screen. His final interaction with Yoda is heart-breaking as the old generation of Jedi is slowly fading away. Skywalker is given the final bits of information before going to join back with the Rebels.

But also stealing a lot of scenes is Ian McDiarmid as The Emperor. From his sinister entrance, McDiarmid's performance fits in with his characters persona perfectly.

We also see a new planet (technically, it's a moon) that our characters land on. The use of the forests of northern California was a good choice in creating the environment. We also get straight into the action with an amazing chase scene. It will instantly want you to be on one of the vehicles in the scene and try it out.
We also get an introduction to the natives of the planet. Over-time they gradually divide people. Some people use them as an excuse to compare this film to Muppets In Space. I agree, they have problems in terms of the way that they can be a match for the Stormtroopers during the big battle scene on Endor. But I and many others would see it as an entertaining alternative whilst the Rebels are on that moon. You still feel for the characters, particularly in one emotional scene.

The performances are all good. We are more than familiar with them and none of them seem to go down paths that would look peculiar for them to go down. Mark Hamill completes his trilogy with a well rounded display that sees his character fulfill his destiny and discover his past.
McDairmid as I said becomes quite a presence as the main villain ahead of Darth Vadar for this episode. The combination of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher as Hans Solo and Princess Leia has great chemistry for the scenes on Endor especially.

John Williams' score remains as good as the others. However if I was being picky, I would say this was his weakest. But it still has that Star Wars feel to it and has nice individual pieces. The battle scenes still look good and enjoyable despite a few moments looking quite dated.
There is not much light-sabre action. But when there is some, it has that great combination of being emotional in both the fighting skills and acting.

Despite it being the weakest of the original trilogy, director Richard Marquand has made a great film, has a lot of strong elements and gives us a well-rounded trilogy.
It does have its problems, mainly with the natives of Endor matching the Stormtroopers in their battle on Endor which I have already mentioned. It has some highly emotional scenes that have become as memorable as the best scenes from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

For the third and final time, I decided to go for the original cut. Despite some nice additions to the scenes at Jabba's palace and the alternative music for the final scene, there is one addition at the very end that I just cannot stand. People who have seen this film will completely understand my reason for not watching the latest edition.

Rating: 8/10

Nostalgic Review: Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

!SOME MINOR SPOILERS!

For people who grew up during when Star Wars first came onto the big screen, they had to wait three years for the highly-anticipated sequel.

I personally struggle to remember the first time I watched 'The Empire Strikes Back'. However, I now see it as one of the greatest films of all-time along with A New Hope.
I know a lot of people have this as the best of the series, but I wouldn't. However, it still deserve to rank among the best in film history.

The opening sees go straight into the action and are in a completely new environment, space battles during the daytime and in a snowy landscape.
Back then, that was very risky and usually action set-pieces using models have a dark background to mask the strings used. But with everything in white, that was definitely a risk that paid off as we have one of the most popular battle scenes ever.

Throughout the film, you do slowly feel the Imperial forces are slowly gaining momentum. This includes getting an introduction to the iconic Imperial March music piece by John Williams. By the time the gripping last 30 minutes comes around, our jaws are now being dragged along the floor. With darker forces getting the upper-hand, we also of course get the biggest plot twist in film history. What I would give to be a screening back then to experience the atmosphere of people's reactions to that moment.

The performances continue to shine in all departments. Mark Hamill's character Luke Skywalker goes on an emotional journey that gives us something different to all the action that is going on elsewhere. The most interesting characters in this episode are Harrison Ford's and Carrie Fisher's as Hans Solo and Princess Leia. Solo has been given more depth into his care for Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and his other new friends. We also get to see great development with Solo and Leia as their hate for each other ends up being sexual tension.
Darth Vadar as the main villain manages to becomes his most sinister and ruthless. You can see the fear in the Imperial soldiers anytime he walks by or talks to them. His contribution to the climatic battle scene sees him at his most evil.

There are a lot of new characters that certainly make an impact. The introduction of Yoda was definitely a risk at the time as he was puppet and taking a puppet seriously takes great skill. However, unlike Jar Jar Binks, Yoda has become a pivotal character in the Star Wars saga. His wise and noble presence gives the film a wider scope. The scene that confirms that he is a great character is the scene that shows his impressive power with the force that shocked Skywalker and all of us.
We also see the introduction of what is mine and many others favourite character, Boba Fett. This ruthless bounty hunter becomes an interesting minor character. Billy Dee Williams also gives us a great character in Lando Calrissian who bounces off really well with Hans Solo.

The only questionable moment I have with it is the one scene that does divide people on first viewing that involves Skywalker and Yoda. But re-watching will make you understand it, as it is nice piece that shows what could have happened in Return Of The Jedi.

This sequel manages to bend the rule-book and be as good as A New Hope. Director Irvin Kershner gave Star Wars a refreshing new look and still managed to keep the ball rolling. I honestly would not think this would have done well if it came now as it probably would have been over-hyped.
The writing is probably the best of the series. When re-watching this, I did not realise that there is a surprising amount of arguing in this film throughout and yet the script makes it highly entertaining whether it be emotional or highly amusing.
And finally, the action is non-stop. The combination of the chase scenes in space between the Millenium Falcon and the Star Destroyers and the witty dialogue are pure entertainment. And finally, the tension of the light-sabre battle between Skywalker and Vadar is great and emphasizes the fight itself which has that feel have genuine fight rather than being over-choreographed.

Like with A New Hope, I decided to watch the original cut. However, a lot of additions George Lucas do make the film look a lot more complete. Sadly, there are two changes he makes for the worse at important moments and it was enough for me to go back to the cut that everyone saw at the cinemas in 1980.

Rating: 9/10

Review: Room

After hearing the buzz it got from the Toronto Film Festival, I decided to go into this cold. So I saw no trailers and knew very little about it.

This seemed to be the ideal route to take as I think this is where you will get the most enjoyment out of it.

The first half of the film wonderfully displays the environment are main characters are in and we gradually understand the situation.
The mid-point of the film is definitely the strongest part and now that you are completely aware and engrossed in these two characters. It even had me welling up a bit. After that, we get something quite different and yet keeps control of the story to an emotional ending.

For a such small independent film, it is quite amazing the amount of attention it got. It is thanks to how great screenplay, acting and its story development for this to become a strong story driven drama that can compete with the major studios picks for awards season.
Room delivers on all of these. You what makes you tug your heartstrings and this completely did that for me and is doing that to many others.

Holding this film together is Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. Their performances in near faultless. Together on screen, you truly experience their highs and lows whilst being very different environment in each halves of the film.
Both deserve awards nominations, but Tremblay will get the most reaction from this. The child actor who was 8 years old at the time of filming is perfectly directed. You really feel what he's feeling throughout and it makes you remember those moments you had when you were a child.

Despite being impressed by all this, I did have a few problems with some elements of the story in the first half. But after reflecting on it afterwards, I feel I have resolved them in some shape. Plus with it being a novel, it will lose the subtext so I can see why some of it is hard to understand.

I have to give huge credit to director Lenny Abrahamson. His task of making sure Tremblay is a believable character that can carry this film to become the success it is. After seeing it, he is clearly someone who can write a child character. Seeing into a kids psychology is great to watch as an adult. They ask questions, they are confused about the bigger world and the analogy's are wonderfully imaginative.

This is definitely one that needs to be seen and deserves a lot of takings at the box office. Abrahamson has a tough task in keeping us engaged, especially in the second half when we are transported to somewhere completely different to the first half. He comfortably succeeded.
Once again, Larson and Tremblay are amazing together and were the key to making this engrossing viewing and they do this tremendously. This is an emotional journey. It has strong story-telling and acting. The overall experience is thoroughly satisfying and is one of the few films this year that I would happily buy on DVD. If you want an alternative to the big budget films tackling for the awards, then escape to this experience that is one you will not forget.

Rating: 9/10

Nostalgic Review: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

!SOME MINOR SPOILERS!

1977 managed to become a year of a worldwide phenomenon in the form of Star Wars.
A ground-breaking sci-fi extravaganza that gave the genre a swashbuckling style that had such a universal appeal. Star Wars has become more of a religion than just one of the, if not the biggest landmark in the film industry.

From the opening shot that gives you such awe, you can see how special this is going to be. It really sets the tone on how big director George Lucas and his team are going with this project.

For the rest of the film, we get blistering gun fights, introductions to iconic characters that are both heroic and sinister. We also get accustomed to unusual characters that the makers decided to be the most important part of the opening third of this film. The romping pace never gives you time to breathe in this brand new world. You just have to let in all in, go with it and you are engaged with some of the best characters you will ever meet.

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker gives us a great hero that doesn't know he is becoming one. His whiny beginning may seem annoying. But it is essential as we get the development of a young hero who has a destiny to fulfill.
Alec Guinness was superb as Obi-Wan Kenobi. From the infamous introduction to his character and the rest of the film, his comforting personality always made you feel at ease and became a powerful supporting role. Harrison Ford was given the role that made him become a star after doing this role and it is clear to see how his maverick character gave Ford great material to work with. His execution is right on the money as we see a cowardly mercenary who eventually shows that he has heart and finds a group of friends that can travel with him. His scene with a character called Greedo shortly after his introduction not only epitomizes himself but is my favorite scene of the entire movie.
Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia gives us a female character with a lot of sass that gives great variety to our band of heroes. Her interactions with Leia and Solo becomes great fun to watch as they seem to initially hate each other and show hints of a romance.
With the combination of David Prowse's physical performance and James Earl Jones' terrifying voice, the character of Darth Vadar becomes the most sinister villain of all-time. Other noteworthy performances go to Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker for amusing performances as the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, and also Peter Cushing who does what he does best

The technical side of the film is the most impressive part. The visual effects, production design, sound design, making of the creatures and droids and unforgettable soundtrack by John Williams is simply perfect and well deserving of its six Oscars.

It is hard to give it anymore praise. I remember the first time I saw Star Wars when I got it on video for my 7th birthday. I bought the toys and played the film so many times whilst recreating the scenes with the toys. Sci-Fi might not appeal to everyone. But the traditional good versus evil plot gives that wonderful universal appeal whilst also showing similarities to a typical Western.

When re-watching it I decided to watch the original cut as a few changes by George Lucas in the current edition I disapprove of. Such as Greedo shooting first instead of Hans Solo in their altercation, the scene containing Jabba The Hutt as that puts a dampener of his intro in Return of The Jedi and the silly extended intro to Mos Eisley. However, some of it I liked including adding the deleted scene of Luke Skywalker talking to Biggs before the X-Wings take off and the some of additional action scenes in the final battle as the originals look a bit dated now.
One thing that does slightly bug me, is the final scene. After re-watching it so many times, it does not seem to make sense with the people involved in the scene. Luke and Hans Solo get medals and the other surviving pilots like Wedge Antilles don't. Thankfully I was happy to mildy shrug this off as it is still a great ending scene.

One thing many people always look at these days, is where the prequels managed to merge it into the original trilogy seamlessly. Some of it doesn't quite fit together and most of it does. Examples are C-3PO not knowing who Obi-Wan Kenobi and the planet Tatooine is and Kenobi not knowing who R2-D2 is. You could get away with it by saying C-3PO must have had his memory erased between episodes three and four. But I don't think Kenobi not remembering R2-D2 can be resolved.

Despite that, Star Wars is a masterpiece and brought light back into cinemas as the 70's films were going for dark tones and grittiness. It has constant breathless moments. We get to see first class design work as we are greeted with fascinating looking creatures, amazing architecture in each environment we are sent to and the most ground-breaking visuals imaginable and some classic action set-pieces that we just cannot get enough of.
I am amazed that this remained a U rating despite it containing a couple of un-nerving scenes. But I am also glad that the rating is a universal one as you can get started at any age. It will forever be a timeless classic and that moment when you get older, have kids of your own and introduce them to this, it will really make you appreciate the legacy it has left for many other generations to experience.

Rating: 10/10

Nostalgic Review: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith

!SOME MAJOR SPOILERS!

The release of episode three of the most popular saga of all-time was released ten years ago.
For some time, we have believed this to be the last Star Wars film to be released.

Despite the beginning being the weakest part of the film, it still manages become the strongest episode within the prequel trilogy by some distance.
The opening 20 minute action set-piece may have great visuals. But it has awful cheesy moments with amateur slap-stick comedy that does not give it a promising start by any means. Even the light-sabre battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Count Dooku has awful dialogue and the on-looking Senator Palpatine makes unusual facial expressions that don't make sense of that character. There is a comedic sub-lot during the battle with R2-D2 and the battle droids. The voice of the battle droids have changed for the worst. It sounds like a bad children's cartoon on a Saturday morning. The comedy is un-watchable.

Thankfully, everything after that is a pretty solid and entertaining watch. The visuals are still good to watch, especially during the scenes at night. Ben Burtt's sound design remains of high-quality and will always gives us that childhood reminiscence of the original trilogy.
The addition of new villain General Grievous gives us something new. The design of the creature is great. His battle with Obi-Wan Kenobi is a strong part of the film I felt.
One great thing for the fans throughout is seeing everything slowly take shape that will eventually merge into the original trilogy seamlessly. I enjoyed seeing the gradual destruction of the Jedi's as I felt that that was well executed and I felt it to be a heart-breaking moment.
Being the big attraction was always going to be the final battle between Kenobi and Skywalker. The build-up is solidly executed and most of the light-sabre battle is great to watch except for a few unnecessary moves that were done just for show. One nice surprise was what video game fans called a 'boss battle'. The nice flow between both fights made for an exciting finale.

The performances were not exceptional, but luckily not terrible. Hayden Christiansen shows improvement from Attack Of The Clones, but is still nothing to shout about. His transformation into Darth Vadar is key to the success of this film and I feel it was done fairly well.
His talks with Palpatine were becoming quite dark, especially during one scene that felt really sinister. His eventual change into Darth Vadar is a well made scene in the final act and yet it still manages to ruin it with the unnecessary "noooooo!" moment.
Natalie Portman was quite unremarkable. However, there is a surprisingly good moment between hers and Christiansen's characters. Even though they are far apart, there is a wonderful scene that makes them feel connected.
Ewen McGregor was fine, but Ian McDairmid I felt started to falter. A lot of McDairmid's scenes felt awkward and yet he still has some strong scenes. The scene that uncovered Palpatine to be a Sith Lord felt uncomfortable to watch for the most part. McDairmid just can't do light-sabre skills and the execution of hiding that flaw is awkwardly done. Some parts had potential, but overall I was expected more for such an important scene.
One supporting role I managed to enjoy and that came from Jimmy Smits' performance as Senator Organa.

The big negatives are still the same ones from its predecessors. I still don't believe Anakin and Padme's love throughout. Every scene with them together looks forced and never seems believable. The dialogue has improved, but still has steady moments of down-grading the quality of everything else on screen.
Despite these films explaining the events before the original trilogy, they managed to rush a lot of important moments. Rushing important events from three films seems quite disappointing. I think extending events from Revenge Of The Sith into Attack Of The Clones would be a good idea, as it would also make episode two more enjoyable.

Seeing this makes you feel proud to be a Star Wars fan again and it gives some redemption to the prequel trilogy. It is helped by gradually hinting a references to the original trilogy. Some of it felt forced and unnecessary, but most of it was nice to eventually both trilogies merge into one saga.
The final act will be the most memorable part of this film. The way we see Anakin become Vadar and the birth of Luke and Leia happening at the same time felt as poetic as the choice for the final shot of this film.
The prequel trilogy may have a tough ride, but seeing this made us rememeber enough of why Star Wars is special.

Rating: 7/10

Nostalgic Review: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

!SOME MINOR SPOILERS!

Three years after The Phantom Menace, and fans were beginning to realise that the prequels might not be the success they originally hoped.

This is where we expect to see the beginning of Anakin's transformation into Darth Vadar and his love for Padme begins. We end up what is universally seen as the weakest of the franchise. But thankfully, there are still some pleasing parts to part two of the space saga. However, I think some of you reading else might see this as me clutching at straws. I can see why as the fan in me might just be a sucker for the material. But I honestly still feel entertained enough when re-watching this.

Most of the problems are pretty much the same from Phantom Menace. The dialogue is its biggest negative and it just gets worse as the film goes on. The woodenness looks like a high school play and the batches of cheesiness would fit in nicely to a Roger Moore Bond film.
This is where we see the first of the two films that pretty much all on green screen. It does lost some value in its visuals and it just generally makes it lazy film-making. But with George Lucas running the show, you would not be surprised at all.
However, the night scenes still manage to have my attention as they look so nice.

I am afraid there were only two good performances, Ian McDairmid and Christopher Lee. Lee does what he does best despite the corny dialogue. His voice remains ever powerful that anything he says can still sound sinister. McDairmid continues to be the strongest performance throughout the prequel trilogy. You can definitely feel his big part to play within this franchise is slowing getting nearer.
Ewen McGregor disappoints. But that is mainly because of the dialogue that was given to him.
I forgot how annoying Hayden Christiansen was. I don't mind that he is purposely trying to mirror the whiny kid Luke Skywalker initially was in A New Hope. But he just can't seem to make it pleasing viewing for the audience. We just can't seem to route for him. However, his scenes on Tatooine are pretty solid throughout as we begin to see Anakin's hate and I always like the moment when Anakin is on a speeder bike whilst the suns are setting in the desert. A very picture-esque moment, even though it is all on green screen, The only part that I feel shows Christiansen's potential was his heart-breaking scene with his character's mother. Only there I felt true development in the beginning of his change into Darth Vader.
As for the scenes with R2-D2 and C-3PO, it was excruciatingly bad that I feel they were trying to be bad on purpose. When they're together in the original trilogy, it is silly but entertaining and I enjoyed their old married couple style of arguing. But their scenes together in this one makes me embarrassed to watch them and I actually cover my eyes.

The scenes on Naboo is the weakest part of the film. The scenes feel boring, the dialogue stays the same low quality throughout. Thankfully, the visuals are still nice to look at. The love interest between Christiansen and Natalie Portman's characters on Naboo is supposed to be the big part of this film. But the dialogue they are given is poor and it never makes you believe that their love is real. It feels as genuine as the Twilight love story which I did not want to compare it to, but it's the best comparison I could think of.

Thankfully, most of the action set-pieces are good to watch and do enough to keep me going for the rest of the film. The chase scene near the beginning at Coruscant, the battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Django Fett (the best part of the film), the battle within the Coliseum (despite some flaws in the physics of characters moments and horribly cheesy moments) and the final battle. There is one light-sabre fight and it is a questionable one. The choreography starts promising, but in the end becomes sub-standard. It was cool seeing Yoda use a light-sabre, but I always thought Yoda was beyond using a light-sabre and always used the Force. I felt sorry for Christopher Lee as his age detracted him from having a high-level choreography in his fights. Instead we get a lot of close-ups of them just waving their light-sabres close to their faces which looked silly.

The technical parts of the film are still a huge strength. The designs of the creatures and architecture of each city and planet are as creative as ever. The score by John Williams still manages to even make the bad things look average.

In the end it may contain a fair amount of cringe-worthy moments, but it still has redeeming features to make this passable viewing. I enjoyed Obi-Wan Kenobi's investigation part of the film that eventually leads up the best part of the film, his battle with Django Fett.
The technical team did a great job. But sadly, the script is the worst in the franchise and the performances sadly does not detract us from the writing.
I think the fact that it is Star Wars and that this is part of a bigger story does make me give it some sympathy to it. But I cannot ignore the poor writing despite the action set-pieces keeping it going during the parts where we grind to a halt.

Rating: 7/10

Nostalgic Review: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

!MINOR SPOILERS!

Re-watching this just brings it all back. The ridiculous amount of buzz it got all around the world. People cuing for days to see this and trying to kid themselves that it was as good as the previous three.

It is funny seeing everyone's initial reactions. But over-time, we eventually noticed that it was massively inferior to the rest.

I somehow never saw it at the cinema. I wanted to, but my parents never took me, despite them going to see it themselves.

For me before re-watching, I do agree that it is massively weaker than the original trilogy. But I wouldn't exactly say it is terrible. There are moments of greatness in this, and I think the main reason why the fans hate on this is that comparing this to episodes 4, 5 and 6 is like seeing a Premier League team play a League Two side in Football.
But if you actually put it up against mediocre films, The Phantom Menace actually doesn't look so bad after all.

The films biggest strengths and saving graces is the pod race sequence and the light-sabre fight towards the end.
When re-watching the pod-race, it may be have gone for a bit too long. But that is mainly due to the unnecessary additions Lucas made after the original cut. The noise of the racers by sound designer Ben Burtt is un-paralleled. His work for Star Wars and many other sci-fi films makes him the best in his trade.

As for the light-sabre battle, it gives us a memorable finale. At times, it may look over-choreographed, but it is still impressive viewing. Ray Park really chews-up the screen beautifully with his skills and Neeson and McGregor looked to have trained hard for this set-piece. And finally, how could I not forget the stellar work by composer John Williams for his piece of music used for this called 'Duel Of The Fates'. It is probably the biggest strength to the prequel trilogy.

One positive that could have been developed better was the relationship with the Emperor and Darth Maul. It was for only one scene and it was quite intriguing and well executed.

Not many of the performances are worth mentioning. Liam Neeson and Ewen McGregor gives us believable performances as Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They really help carry this film during even the most cringe-worthy parts of the film. Ian McDairmid as the Emperor of the Sith gets better every time I watch it. His tone is what we were expecting from everyone else. Another performance that was good to watch was Ray Park's physical part of Darth Maul. Despite having someone else do his one dialogue scene, Park gives us a masterful display in his light-sabre battle towards the end.

The type of negatives I'm afraid is what is becoming common with George Lucas' directing. The script is poor and that does help many of the inexperienced actors as Lucas is never known for helping his workers. Apparently the director for The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile Frank Darabont did send a script but George Lucas rejected it. I am not surprised as Lucas is not known for his story-telling and probably couldn't tell what a good story is even if it slapped him in the face.
Jake Lloydas Anakin Skywalker was mixed and pretty much all the child actors were poor for the most part and it did not help that Lucas never gave them much aid. It is also quite creepy seeing him and Natalie Portman's character together in scenes as we all know that they the love interest for the next two films and that the age difference in The Phantom Menace is quite disturbing. I think it would have been better if we first saw Anakin as a teenager or make Portman's character younger.

It is well known that the character of Jar Jar Binks is an annoying one. It was going to be as much of a risk as Yoda was in The Empire Strikes back. Sadly this one, does not work. The comedic tone to him just makes him a constant nuisance throughout, and the racial stereotype dialogue does not help either.
Another annoying part to the film were the battle droids for the Trade Federation. Like Jar Jar and and the Gungan's, they were given a comedic tone. It just did not work at all. The childish toilet humor down-graded anything else that was on screen with them. So that therefore meant the battle between the Gungan's and battle droids felt like a poor sketch from a sit-com.

From a technical standpoint, it is worthy of its 3 Oscar nominations. The design of the cities and most of the creatures and droids (especially the destroyer droids) are as good as any other Star Wars feature. The visual effects are ground-breaking for its time of its release in 1999, and some of it still holds up well.

In the end, I think George Lucas may have been thinking more about selling merchandise rather than telling a good story, which he does admit to. But it is still is solid watch that is mainly thanks to the two big action set-pieces that save this from being a disaster.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Victor Frankenstein

The history of Frankenstein in films has been going on for over 100 years now, and yet there are still studios out there wanting to tell the famous story by Mary Shelley. The best adaptations include the Boris Karloff classics from 1931 and 1935, the popular 1957 feature from Hammer Productions and the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy version. The most recent ones worth mentioning were probably Kenneth Branagh's version from 1994 and Van Helsing from 2004.

Any new Frankenstein is always intriguing. However, it still needs to contain a capable team in giving us a new approach to this story. In this one, we have director Paul McGuigan who lately has been doing work in television. However, he has directed films such as Lucky Number Slevin. We also have a star studded line-up lead by James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe in only his second film that I have seen of him outside of Harry Potter (the other being The Woman In Black).

I had heard some bad box office numbers from America and not impressive reviews. So I was going in with lowish expectations. Even with that the knowledge of that, I was still going in not sure what to expect.

Despite it being far from perfect, there managed to be enough to surprise me, entertain me and make it fun viewing that made me ignore the majority of its flaws. There was a lot of sub-lots that gave this film legs. Not all of them worked, but I liked that they went in various directions.

Definitely the big attraction for this is James McAvoy. He really does 'ham up' the role, but in a good way in the opening half. For the rest of the film, it becomes more grounded and well developed. We definitely see a passionate character and how his genius could be mistaken for madness.
Daniel Radcliffe gave a refreshing performance that compete well with McAvoy. It was inevitable that Radcliffe would struggle to get out of the shadow of Harry Potter. But from where I am standing, he is definitely doing a decent job of gradually moving away from the magical franchise.

A few of the supporting roles were worth mentioning. Andrew Scott gave us an interesting character that gave the story much needed depth. His intensity and mystery made him a watchable presence. Another one was Freddie Fox, who always plays this slimy upper class character that always gets his way.

One positive that I never thought I would mention for Victor Frankenstein would be the script. I found to be quite good. I noticed during the credits that the writing was actually done by Max Landis. I am familiar of his work, especially as he makes occasional appearances of a couple of YouTube movie review channels that I subscribe to. So I am aware of his vision for his films and the quality of this script is completely understandable now.

From a technical standpoint, the set-design looked impressive. With the visual accompanying the sets, the final product was definitely pleasing to the eye. The costumes also had a nice mix of fitting in with the period and being slightly glamourised. One costume design that I really liked was for Frankenstein's Monster. It genuinely looked terrifying, and the person playing the creature (Spencer Wilding) played a valuable part in the finale.

Most of the negatives are to do with the story, and general feel of it. It was never going to be a strong story, as it most of the story itself had been over-used enough. Some of the film felt a bit weak, especially in the opening segments and I did get bored at times.

Despite the review highlighting more on the positives, the film remains to be a satisfying watch at best. There are problems with it at a basic level and that is why it is nothing exceptional. It will not win any awards, but for what it is, it's definitely worth watching. However, I would not watch this on the big screen. I feel you can the most enjoyment if you rent it or wait till it is on TV.

I liked the on-screen partnership McAvoy and Radcliffe. You can feel for their characters that they were continuing to push the boundaries of Science. Its visuals were better then I expected and even soundtrack works when needed.

Despite it exceeding my expectations, I am still confident that the box office will be a bad one. I do hope I am proved wrong as with Radcliffe being in it could give it a respectable taking.

Rating: 7/10