Reviews by SJMJ91

12 Angry Men is one of those films that you just have to call a classic no matter whether you like it or not. It is a story of great mystery and great power because of what could happen to the convict of the film and that the 12 jurors have the power to decide that. 12 Angry Men is a classic that isn't a very long running one but the main thing is that it is a classic that is really easily remembered as well as the actors within the film particularly the legendary Henry Fonda. Watching 12 Angry Men is a lot like playing the Cluedo board game. If you've ever played the game, you will see what I mean. It is a film with adventure because it takes you into depth within the case and the decision of whether the convict is guilty or innocent. It shows a greatly artistic design of what the courts were like in those days and also about how serious they were with the investigation because almost all of the jurors fell out with each other.


What I also really loved about 12 Angry Men is that we never knew any of the 12 jurors real names. Not even juror 8 who is the main character in the film who was portrayed by Henry Fonda. Juror 8 was the most curious juror out of all 12 because he was sort of really keen to cover everything within the investigation. Each of the 12 jurors are very different people really. Juror 1 is an Assistant High-School Football coach, juror 2 is a meek and unpretentious bank clerk, juror 3 is a businessman and an emotionally distraught father, opinionated and stubborn with a streak of sadism, juror 4 is a rational stock broker, unflappable and self-assured, juror 5 is a young man from a violent slum, a Baltimore Orioles fan, juror 6 is a house painter, tough but principled and respectful, juror 7 is a salesman, sports fan, superficial and indifferent to the deliberations, juror 8 is an architect, the lone dissenter (in the beginning), juror 9 is a wise and observant elderly man, juror 10 is a garage owner; a pushy loudmouthed bigot, juror 11 is an immigrant watchmaker, proud to be a naturalized American citizen and juror 12 is an indecisive advertising executive. In the 1997 remake of this film another legendary actor portrayed juror 8 and that was Jack Lemmon.


Sidney Lumet's directing was really good in this film. He makes it seem so realistic that the murder investigation was real and almost everything else was real. Most court dramas are set in the same place but they all investigate different cases. Sidney Lumet has created probably his most famous film first. His directing debut started with a bang and in a huge way. The script was just amazing that is really well written and didn't flaw once.


This is a masterpiece from Henry Fonda but I don't think it's his best film though. I preferred his acting and character in The Grapes Of Wrath. It is one of the best classics to have ever come on screen in cinema history. It is a classic that has been remade and has failed greatly. 12 Angry Men is an amazing film but my favourite courtroom drama is still To Kill A Mockingbird. 12 Angry Men is one of the greatest films of the 1950s and is one of the best if not the most famous mystery film of all time.

There have been epics in the 50s and 60s that have been absolutely fantastic! I was interested in seeing this one because I did see The Ten Commandments and absolutely loved it so needed to see a biblical film in the 50s or 60s that tells the stories of the Bible in the beginning. When I watched it, The Bible: In The Beginning… turned out to be out of the most disappointing films I have ever seen. It was very dull and after a while, the storylines were getting uninteresting and unrealistic. I mean, they were either too long or not long enough. The film lacked emotion, tension and excitement.


The acting from everyone in the cast was poor except for George C. Scott as Noah. Michael Parks and Ulla Bergryd portrayed Adam and Eve. Where I was disappointed in that storyline was that the creation of the Earth was too long but the parts with the apple and the snake went on too quickly and felt rushed. I was mostly disappointed with the Cain and Abel storyline because I was excited to see that because I didn't really have very much knowledge of that story and the story was very rushed and went WAY too quickly! The only storyline I was satisfied with was the story of Noah. Peter O'Toole stars in another epic film but to be honest his performance in Lawrence Of Arabia is too memorable to make his character believable in this one.


John Huston, what were you thinking?! I mean, the man is the director of The Treasure Of Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen and Prizzi's Honor!! Huston has unfortunately created the first classic that I hated. I think him as well as most of the actors in the film tried to recreate what Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston created in The Ten Commandments and when you try and recreate a classic no matter the cast, it always backfires! I thought it was badly filmed! The picture in it was awful! It was very dark and you could hardly see what was happening. This mostly occurred during the Adam and Eve story. I mean, it made it look like they used a cheap filmmaking camera.


Overall, The Bible: In The Beginning… is a very disappointing biblical film that very plain, boring and dull. Avoid it!

Vanilla Sky is a dark psychologically disturbing film that reminds me of films like Eyes Wide Shut, The Fountain, Mulholland Drive and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind but all in different ways. Of the people I have spoken and the reviews I have read about this film, personally I think that Vanilla Sky is a very enjoyable film. I mean, I love psychological films that just get inside your head and you get gripped all the way through. It has a very dark twist and with a shocking and powerful climax which I couldn't believe!


To be fair, I think Tom Cruise was the best choice to be in this film because David Aames is his kind of character especially the way Tom is with women in real life. In fact, this film led to his marriage separation with Nicole Kidman because he had an affair with co-star Penélope Cruz. David Aames is a young man who recently became the owner of his late father's publishing company. One night, David meets a young woman called Sofia Serrano through his best friend Brian Shelby and David's ex girlfriend Juliana Gianni starts to become jealous when she discovers this. After that, the tables begin to turn and it starts to become more personal. Cameron Diaz's performance as Juliana was really awesome too. Diaz did surprise me as Juliana because I don't think she would've been very good at playing a dangerous character but I was wrong, she did a fabulous job! Juliana is a very sexy woman who can pull all the men she wants to but she is a very dangerous woman when it comes to David talking to any other woman. Penélope Cruz was awesome too as Sofia Serrano. Cruz reprised her role as Sofia in Vanilla Sky when she starred in original Spanish version Open Your Eyes so Vanilla Sky is, in fact, a remake of that film. Why Penélope Cruz received a Razzie nomination for her role in Vanilla Sky, I have absolutely no idea!


Cameron Crowe creates something that he did a very good job at but I feel Vanilla Sky would've been a better film from a director like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, David Lynch or even the late Stanley Kubrick because this film does suit the style of all four of those directors mentioned. Crowe managed to make something disturbing, thought-provoking, shocking and very emotional.


Overall, Vanilla Sky is a very enjoyable psychological thriller that I believe should've earned more credit than it got.

All Quiet On The Western Front has always been a landmark of cinema. It was one of the very first sound films and one of the first Best Picture winners so I couldn't afford to miss this one! When I watched it, I absolutely loved it! It was filmed amazingly for its time and the special effects in the action scenes were awesome too! I mean, compared to action war films nowadays like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, the effects are quite cheesy but still very good obviously. I was impressed that they managed to film it because it was only 12 years after World War I and 9 years before World War II. It is a very dark war film that I think I would call a psychological war film because it tells the story of one's struggles in World War I when in combat and when seeing those suffer out of combat.


This is an English language film (made in America) adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality. Louis Wolheim delivers a great performance as Paul Bäumer.


Lewis Milestone directed this film really well! His work changed the world of cinema. It is probably one of the first action films that have ever been made. Despite Lewis Milestone creating a film that changed cinema, he is nowadays an extremely underrated director!


Overall, All Quiet On The Western Front is a very dark war film that is a landmark of cinema. True accomplishment that became one of the very first sound films ever!

Magnolia didn't really satisfy me when I first saw it but after rewatching it, I loved it! It is a very dark, thought-provoking film that keeps you glued to your TV and chair all the way through the film. It is a film set in one day and I love films like that anyway! I think the main thing I loved about Magnolia is that I saw men and women in almost all categories of struggles in life. Every storyline has its powerful climax where almost all of them join together.


There are a lot of incredibly talented actors in this film! The cast includes John C. Reilly, Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Jeremy Blackman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters, Philip Baker Hall, Jason Robards, Felicity Huffman and Alfred Molina. The best performance of the film is definitely Tom Cruise who portrays Frank T.J. Mackey. Frank is a man who is like a guide for men to "tame" women. I'm not really a big fan of Tom Cruise but his performance in this one absolutely blew my mind! I mean, Cruise was probably the best choice because Frank is a slimy character and he's good at playing characters like that but also he surprisingly shows a very heartfelt emotional side to the character. After Cruise, the best performance, in my opinion, was from Julianne Moore as Linda Partridge. Linda is a woman who is trying to deal with her much older husband Earl Partridge's teriminal illness and feeling guilty of adultery. She is also Frank T.J. Mackey's stepmother. Magnolia is up there with The Godfather, Gone With The Wind, Closer, The Dark Knight, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and A Fish Called Wanda on the list of best performances from the entire cast.


Paul Thomas Anderson is a director of creating dark films in the modern world. He gave us Boogie Nights and most recently gave us There Will Be Blood. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how one man can write a script for a film that is over 3 hours long. I mean, that is talent!! He has a great gift as a great director and screenwriter. I just wish he would make more films. The script is a bit like a Quentin Tarantino sort of script but a bit darker. I think the Tarantino film script I would compare with the Magnolia script is Inglourious Basterds. Magnolia earned only 3 Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Tom Cruise), Best Original Song ("Save Me") and Best Original Screenplay but didn't win any of them. However, Tom Cruise did win the Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999.


Overall, Magnolia is a fantastic, extremely underrated and dark drama with a great ensemble cast! Anderson is a genius!

First of all, it is a film from a director who I really admire and it seemed a tad bit different from what he's done previously. I actually enjoyed it which did surprise me. I mean, I really liked how they mixed the modern day era with the Ancient Greek era featuring the mythical creatures and gods. The effects were obviously FANTASTIC especially the snakes on Medusa's head. Percy Jackson is a film that is beautifully entertaining that has its fair share of laughs and its moments of expanding imagination and witnessing mythical creatures and entering different worlds.


Logan Lerman delivers a surprisingly satisfying performance as Percy Jackson. Percy is a demi-god (which is half-god who has one immortal parent and one mortal parent). He is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea and mortal woman Sally Jackson. Percy is a well-natured, friendly, brave and is often willing to risk his life to save his friends and strangers. However, he is a troubled 12-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with dyslexia and has been kicked out of every school he has attended. Alexandra Daddario was decent as well as Annabeth Chase. She is also a demi-god like Percy apart from her father is mortal and her mother is a goddess. She becomes close friends with Percy in the film but as the film goes on, she becomes his love interest. Brandon T. Jackson was humorous yet quite annoying as Grover Underwood. Grover is Percy's best friend who is a satyr which is half goat and half human (like a Faun in the Narnia books and films). This film has a lot of famous actors in this film to make the cast even better like Sean Bean, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Catherine Keener.


Chris Columbus is a director of this generation that I really do admire!! Percy Jackson is another very entertaining film of his that he can add as a success in his career. I was mostly excited about seeing this one because it is from the director of Home Alone 1 and 2, Mrs. Doubtfire and most notably Harry Potter 1 and 2. Despite that it isn't as good as either of them, it is still another good Columbus film. Columbus brings something that we did see in Harry Potter 1 and 2: moments of visual magic and in some scenes: intense action. The script was a bit of a flop on some occasions but I wasn't too fussed about that because, after all, it is just for entertainment.


Overall, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a very fun film to watch. 2010 has started well with a fresh action/comedy fantasy film that combines Ancient Greece with modern life.

I saw the trailer a couple of times in the cinema last year and I didn't think I would like it. I wasn't ever that fond of the book as a child but what caught my attention to this film was that it received many positive reviews from magazines and websites and it has been a favourite of Best Animated Picture and a few other Oscar categories. Also, it has been called a film that has "revived original stop-motion". So I changed my mind about watching it. However, when I did watch it, I absolutely loved it!! Fantastic Mr. Fox is based on the loved novel with the same name by Roald Dahl. It became the first stop-motion film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox.


Fantastic Mr. Fox had a fantastic cast! It featured the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe and Owen Wilson. Clooney provides the voice of Mr. Fox. He is a sneaky character who just wants to feed his family. He enjoys stealing chickens from the not-so-wise farmers. Meryl Streep is the voice of Mrs. Fox. She is the loving, caring yet very suspicious wife who is, obviously, the wife of Mr. Fox. Cate Blanchett was the originally the voice of Mrs. Fox was was replaced by Meryl Streep.


Wes Anderson has created a film that has revived old traditional stop-motion animation. I have been told that it is a crap film because of its cheesy animated effects and that is basically the point! You know, I don't think it would've been half as good if it was a computer generated film from DreamWorks like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda or 20th Century Fox like Ice Age and Robots. The development on Fantastic Mr. Fox began in 2004. Henry Selick was going to work with Wes Anderson like in The life Of Steve Zissou but Selick left to direct Coraline instead. I seriously doubt that Fantastic Mr. Fox will win Best Animated Picture instead of Up but out of the other four nominated I would pick Fantastic Mr. Fox as the runner-up.


Overall, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a clever, funny and charming children's film that has proven itself to be one of the best accomplished animated films that have ever been made.

After three years of anticipation ever since I finished watching Sweeney Todd, I couldn't wait to see it! I was obsessed with this film like I was with Sweeney Todd and The Dark Knight. Despite my hype of the film, I was worried that because this film is an extension of the two Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass picture, there could be a mess in the plot. To be fair, I didn't find the film a mess at all and I thought the story actually worked out pretty well as the film itself did. It is one of the few films that combines live action and animation together. Obviously, the visual effects were absolutely stunning but I felt that the filming was rushed. No doubt the film'll be a contender for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects in next years Oscars.


This definitely has the best ensemble cast ever in a Tim Burton film! We obviously know that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter would be in the film being best friend (Depp) and real-life spouse (Bonham Carter) so besides them are Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Crispin Glover, Martin Sheen and Mia Wasikowska as Alice. I was expecting to see a wooden Alice in this one but Wasikowska surprised me. She not only made Alice a hero but an attractive young woman too which is good for the character because she is around that age. This will probably be the one film she'll be best known for. Johnny Depp is making his 7th and latest collaboration with best friend Tim Burton and he once again plays a creepy and crazy character. Johnny's performance as the Mad Hatter was really good but unfortunately he didn't make the Mad Hatter his own character like he did with Captain Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka. In fact, the Mad Hatter was just a mixed character between them. The Mad Hatter is Johnny Depp's creepiest performance in a Tim Burton film so far. Helena Bonham Carter's performance as the Red Queen sorta disappointed me because I don't think she was as terrifying as I was expecting because the Red Queen is a very threatening character. Supporting characters Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas and Crispin Glover all deliver good performances with voice roles including Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Martin Sheen and Barbara Windsor.


It is an absolutely typical Tim Burton film that he has crafted from children's novels into something that is his normal style as well as making it a child-friendly film. Also, it is a film from Disney and Disney are normally films that are light-hearted and perfect for the family. Tim Burton previously worked with Disney on The Nightmare Before Christmas back in 1993 and that has been acclaimed by many to be one of the best Disney's. Alice In Wonderland is a children's book but Tim Burton creates something dark to this classic tale like he does in every film he has done.


Overall, Alice In Wonderland is a visually stunning film that must be seen in 3D otherwise you'll be missing a great experience. It is neither one of Tim Burton's best films nor one of his worst either. Same with Johnny Depp. My most anticipating film of 2010 turns out to be a very enjoyable piece of entertaining magic that does have some disappointing moments.

To start off my Invictus review the first thing I must say is: Why… the… FUCK wasn't this film nominated for Best Picture?!?! Invictus is a film that I have been excited about from the very moment I read that it was going to be Clint Eastwood's next film. It was originally called The Human Factor. The word "Invictus" is Latin for "invincible". A lot of people would call this an underdog sport film like Rocky. When I saw it, it turned out to be a very moving and inspiring story about courage and peace between two races in a country where that seemed impossible. It was like black and white South Africans all joined together to create a breakthrough so to speak for their country. I loved this message Invictus sent because it wasn't only very powerful and thought-provoking but it was very straightforward as well. It was a favourite for Best Picture in early 2009 but it has been robbed a place in that category.


Invictus tells the story of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa during the 1995 Rugby World Cup. That was 5 years after his release from prison and into his second year as President. I was ever so pleased when Morgan Freeman was confirmed for the role of Mandela but there were a few things that I was worried about. Key points like because Freeman has been in films over the past 15 years which is very well-known for such as The Shawshank Redemption, Bruce Almighty, Seven and The Dark Knight, he was playing a man who is still alive, who changed the world and is still one of the greatest and most respected men that have ever lived. In very little moments of this film, watching Freeman as Mandela was just like Morgan Freeman with an accent. However, in everything else, he played the character perfectly! Morgan Freeman was probably the best choice because I think he is almost the only actor who looks like Mandela and also Freeman being a long time friend of the real Nelson Mandela, Mandela wanted Freeman to play him. Freeman did deserve his Oscar nomination but his chances of getting past Jeff Bridges and George Clooney to win the Best Actor Oscar this year are, in my mind, very thin. Now, Matt Damon absolutely blew me away Francois Pienaar! In every scene, I couldn't believe it was the same actor who plays Jason Bourne! I was unsure what I was going to make of Matt Damon in this film before I saw it so now I realise that I underestimated him. It was weird enough seeing him have blonde hair but it was even weirder seeing him as a rugby player with a South African accent! No, he wasn't like Francois Pienaar like Freeman was like Mandela due to the fact that Matt Damon stands at 5 feet 10 inches and the real Francois Pienaar stands at 6 feet 3 inches. Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman worked really well together to create one of my favourite on-screen partnerships of all time.


I was thrilled when Clint Eastwood was set to direct Invictus. Filming began in March 2009 in Cape Town and the filming ended in May 2009. During the filming, Clint Eastwood started to become a fan of rugby. In fact, while in South Africa, he would watch hours of rugby every night and would talk about the games with the actors in the film every day. Invictus could have turned out like Valkyrie did with American actors and American director set in a foreign country playing foreign people but it didn't fail at all because Freeman and Damon pulled off great South African and delivered outstanding performances and also Clint Eastwood pulled it off amazingly!! When you watch it, you would not believe how a 79 year old man could direct such a film especially in the rugby matches, mainly the World Cup final against New Zealand. Matt Damon's average height was a problem for Eastwood but because of his structuring set-ups and camera angles, he made Damon really look about Pienaar's height.


Overall, Invictus is a very exhilarating, moving and powerful bio-pic with a powerful message and rightfully deserves to be one of the best films of 2009. It is also definitely one of Clint Eastwood's best films but it isn't quite as sophisticated as Mystic River. Loved it!! Highly recommended!!

After reading mixed reviews of The Lovely Bones, I was expecting it to be either a really good film or a really shit film. I am a massive Peter Jackson fan and love his works on Lord Of The Rings and King Kong so my expectations were high on his work on the film. When I saw it, I actually really enjoyed it!! I mean, yeah, it did sort of drag on a bit towards the actual murder of the girl but it was still a delight to watch. I thought in the first hour of the film, it was like normal, modern life but in the last hour and a half, it felt like that normal, modern life had been split into two different worlds: reality and fiction. It had a lot of very intense suspense in the aftermath of the murder and the effects were visually stunning when Susie was in the in-between world.


The story tells of a young 14 year old girl called Susie Salmon who's life couldn't be better at this point in time. She is in love, had a new film camera and her ambition is to become a photographer and most of all, she has loving parents. One day, she is brutally murdered by her neighbour George Harvey. Then she just enters a world that is neither heaven nor earth so therefore she can still see things from Earth. Because of this, she can help her parents track down the man who killed him. Saoirse Ronan's performance as Susie Salmon was absolutely INCREDIBLE!! Her Oscar nominated performance in Atonement was incredible so my expectations were very high on her performance. Where I think Ronan was probably the best choice for Susie was she showed the true innocence of a little girl and because she has been on top form over the recent years, her performance was very moving and powerful. I think she was robbed of a Best Leading Actress Oscar nomination this year. To be honest, I think she is currently the best child actress of this generation. Stanley Tucci's performance as George Harvey was amazing as well!! He is now an actor to be reckoned with when it comes to playing a character like Harvey. Tucci definitely deserved his Oscar nomination but his chances of winning it instead of Christoph Waltz are very thin! Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon and Rachel Weisz deliver great performances in this film too!


I have waited to see this film for 5 years now ever since King Kong. It is a very different film that Peter Jackson had done since before he did The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Despite that, my expectations were really high! Some things about this film showed that it is old school Peter Jackson but in other ways, it is something new from Peter. Old school ways like dark, disturbing and horrific but in new ways like visual style that is quite different to what he did in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong.


Overall, The Lovely Bones is a very enjoyable film that brings something that is obviously a myth but a beautiful one. It isn't one of the best films of 2009 but it isn't far off. Doesn't like up to Lord Of The Rings or King Kong but it is still another really good Peter Jackson film.