Reviews by SJMJ91

He's done it again! This is another absolutely brilliant film from masterful director Danny Boyle. Millions is a magical, heartwarming and deeply effective film that is brilliantly suited for adults and for kids. It is weird when it comes to millions of cash ending up in a bag. Well, in the young kids case coming from God falling from the sky. Millions is a beautifully made film that shows pure magic which is typical for kids but is humourous for adults. Millions is a family film that is a mild psychological story because we do sort of see inside a child's head and what his personal troubles are.


Alex Etel was really good as Damian Cunningham. Damian is a very mixed up and confused little boy. I think he became the way he was because of his mother's death and probably because he moved house with his dad and brother. I really liked Lewis McGibbon too as Anthony Cunningham. It is a very powerful movitating mixture between two young actors who play characters with such cute attitudes and with very big ambitious hearts of what to do with the money they have. Both brothers want to do different things with the money which causes them to squabble and fight quite regularly.


Danny Boyle is a genius! He is one of the best directors ever and that is a fact. He never seems to disappoint. I hope he never does in his future projects. To be perfectly honest, I hope Boyle doesn't do anymore live-action family films. He would do a good job at an animated film but depends what kind of animated film though.


Millions is another well accomplished film from Danny Boyle that he should be proud of. He is an absolute genius! Millions isn't one of the best family films ever but it isn't that far off from reaching that position. It is a fun, heartwarming and quite dramatic film that I really enjoyed from start to finish.

Million Dollar Baby is an absolutely fantastic masterpiece that actually did surprised me in a few ways mostly because it is about a female boxer but now I wish I hadn't underestimated it now because I figured after I watched it, there was nothing to discriminate. Million Dollar Baby is a fantastic masterpiece that is probably the most emotional boxing film ever made. Cinderella Man trails just behind it. Most sport films are emotional but Million Dollar Baby is the one sport film which I didn't expect all the heartbreak to come together so sadly. The main keywords to describe Million Dollar Baby are friendship, commitment and love. Million Dollar Baby is a film that I thought to be rather extraordinary at first because there has never been a film about a female boxer before. I absolutely loved this film from start to finish and I am glad to say this. I loved this the second most of the 5 Best Picture nominees but I think it took the Best Picture Oscar from Finding Neverland.


Clint Eastwood's performance as Frankie Dunn was absolutely brilliant. I could see two new different kinds of Eastwood and the way he was playing the character. He was a bitter old man which was typical but I wasn't used to seeing Clint play that emotional and heartfelt kind of actor but he did absolutely fantasticly in this one. Hilary Swank's performance was absolutely fantastic. She is a fantastic actress especially that she has earned two Oscars within 6 years. Her performance as Maggie Fitzgerald was absolutely brilliant because she made Maggie really look like a poor young woman who was desperate for a breakthrough in her life and boxing was her solution. However, something happens and the whole course of the story becomes twisty and will become deeply effective of your viewing. Morgan Freeman's performance as Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris was absolutely phenomenal. It was typical Freeman because he has always been good at playing soft-hearted characters who are friendly people. He did deliver an Oscar winning performance but I think Clive Owen should have won instead for Closer.


Clint Eastwood is a fine filmmaker. Mystic River made me love his films but Million Dollar Baby makes me love his films even more now. Clint is a really well known actor but I would remember him better as a director because to be honest that's what I prefer him to be. The Human Factor seems an awesome film about sport but Million Dollar Baby is his ultimate sport film. The script was absolutely brilliant and was written with a little taste of originality. I don't know why but I just saw it that way at times as I was watching it.


Million Dollar Baby is Clint Eastwood's (as director) second best film after Mystic River. It is Clint Eastwood's (as actor) second best after The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Hilary Swank's best performance is still phenomenal masterpiece Boys Don't Cry and Morgan Freeman's best performance is still The Shawshank Redemption but this is his second best after it. Million Dollar Baby is one of the best sport films ever made. It is one of the best films of 2004 as well. Million Dollar Baby is a fantastic masterpiece that I have watched quite a few times and have loved every time I've watched it. Such a fantastic masterpiece! It is a highly recommendable film to anybody even non-sport fans.

This is an absolutely hilarious comedy that made me laugh from the very start to the very end! Meet The Parents is one of those rare comedies that are really clever and brilliantly crafted together. This is a comedy that shows young people in real-life of what could happen if you're under pressure when meeting your lover's parents especially when one of the parents is a strict man who worked in the CIA. This film became a great success and earned quite a few Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture Musical/Comedy and Best Actor Musical/Comedy for Robert De Niro.


Robert De Niro's performance as Jack Byrnes is without a doubt one of his best performances ever. Jack is a very strict rich man who lives with his wife Dina. He has three children: Pam, Debbie and Denny. Jack seems like a nice person on the outside around his family but on the inside and when he trying to work Greg's intentions, he starts to be a bit dangerous psychologically not physically. Robert De Niro's performance as Jack is his best performance of the 2000s so far. Robert De Niro is named in numerous magazines and websites as the greatest actor of all time. Even though he started in a comedy, it actually worked really well because Jack Byrnes is typical De Niro. Ben Stiller wasn't really a well-known actor before Meet The Parents (apart from There's Something About Mary). His acting as Greg Focker was absolutely fantastic! He should have had a Golden Globe nomination alongside Robert De Niro for Best Actor Musical/Comedy. What is so good about the chemistry between Jack and Greg is that you can laugh at it but also you just feel really sorry for Greg because he feels like he has to impress Jack. Also, he is a male nurse which makes things a little worse for him because Jack and some other people make fun of Greg because of his occupation. Teri Polo was good as Pam Byrnes. I don't think she was that beautiful in Meet The Parents but she was gorgeous in Meet The Fockers.


Jay Raoch made himself famous by directing the Austin Powers trilogy but he is even more famous now after directing both Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers. He reminds me a lot of Chris Colombus because they are both directors who stick to one genre and they do two or even three films of a particular series. For example, Raoch did all three Austin Powers films and Meet The Parents/Fockers; Colombus directed the first two Home Alone and Harry Potter films. The script in Meet The Parents was very original with a lot of hilarious quotes.


Overall, Meet The Parents is a hilarious dramedy (comedy-drama) that I loved every second of and would want to watch if I was in the mood for a laugh just as I think everybody should!

I saw this sequel before its previous film so I didn't really know what to expect going into this film. Meet The Fockers is a comedy that I loved throughout every second. Meet The Fockers has a hilarious yet extremely crude title name which could put people off the film. I find this absolutely ridiculous because it should be tried. It is a film that is full of laughs and disasters that are lying ahead that will crack you up! It is a very crude film that would teach teenagers a lot of lessons about sex and the humour about it as well.


Robert De Niro is one of the greatest actors ever and there's not denying that if not the best ever! His performance as Jack Byrnes is absolutely awesome once again! What I really love about Jack's character is that he is a real psycho in a psychological and emotional way but not in a physical way. I mean, he does love his daughter but he thinks about his feelings for Greg before hers which is really bad. Because of Jack's large amount of pressure that is laid on top of Greg, Greg starts messing up and starts to push everyone else especially his parents to impress him. When Greg gets in embarrassing and awkward situations, you would feel really sorry for him but at the same time you would just laugh your head off so you sort of feel two kinds of feelings at the same time in the same situation. Dustin Hoffman was amazing as Bernie Focker. Dustin is an actor who always knows what he is doing in a romantic comedy no matter the kind of character he plays especially when he made his famous debut as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate back in 1967. Bernie is an idiot but a very loving, well-intentioned and caring father who loves his son but being himself at times gets Greg under a lot of pressure to satisfy Jack. Barbra Streisands performance as Roz Focker was really awesome as well! She was the perfect choice to be alongside Hoffman as Gregs parents because they both together show their love for their son as well as each other yet their stubbornness of being themselves as far as sex is concerned. Teri Polo was a lot better this film as Pam Byrnes. I dont think she was very attractive in Meet The Parents but she was gorgeous in Meet The Fockers which is a big improvement for my liking for the character.


Jay Roach is a genius at creating hilarious comedies! He certainly proved that with the Austin Powers trilogy but he did even more so with both Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers. I think he wanted the audience to see the more personal side to what was going on between the characters and also the cruder side of things helped that and went a lot deeper.


Overall, Meet The Fockers is an absolutely hilarious comedy that I loved first time I saw it and still love it now after seeing it so many times. Meet The Fockers is a lot cruder, funnier, crazier and more dramatic and romantic than the previous film was which is why I prefer Meet The Fockers over Meet The Parents. I cannot wait for third film coming out called Little Fockers!

Meet Me In St. Louis is definitely one of the most lovable family musicals of all time. This film brings that The Sound Of Music/It's A Wonderful Life sort of feeling to it because of the adorable family songs and with being close to family around Christmas time. This film really climbed up high on my expectations for it. It was an almost perfect musical which is very rare for me. I love musicals but there are only seven musicals (including Meet Me In St. Louis) that I would refer as almost perfect. The story was just like a real pleasure to watch. It is a very heartwarming story that has events within it that takes deep consequences. The feeling of watching Meet Me In St. Louis made me not only watch more classic musicals but to also try and become a fan of Judy Garland.


Judy Garland delivers a performance that takes its rightful place on one of my top musical performances. Judy has always been awesome in musicals but I think this is her best one. She was a lot different as Esther Smith than she was as Dorothy Gale because Judy was really striking in Meet Me In St. Louis in which she was anyway. Some people find her really weird looking and I do sort of understand what they mean about that. Her performance was bright, lively, delightful and even inspiring to witness in which she was all four of them to me. She was also very charming which brings a lot of spice towards the character. Esther is a young 17 year old girl who lives with her mother, father, grandfather and three sisters in a detached house in St. Louis. When she first sees her next door neighbour John Truett the romance begins. Their love and how and where they met reminded me a lot of Holly and Fred's love in Breakfast At Tiffany's. I thought this film was better than The Wizard Of Oz which makes Meet Me In St. Louis Judy Garland's best film of the ones that I have seen so far.


Vincent Minnelli directed Meet Me In St. Louis a lot like how George Cukor directed My Fair Lady. Vincent not only made this a beautiful inspiring musical but also a beautiful Christmas film because most of it is set around Christmas days. It is more of a film based around Christmas not a film about Christmas. The songs were written really well with a creative style. They were dancing songs not only just singing songs. Some of the songs lyrics would be awesome sing-alongs.


This is one of my favourite musicals of all time. Singin' In The Rain is still the musical of the 1950s. This is one of my favourite films of the 1950s. It is my favourite Judy Garland film from the ones I have seen from her thus far. I enjoyed the Wizard Of Oz more but Garlands acting is better in Meet Me In St. Louis. Meet Me In St. Louis is a really beautiful musical masterpiece that is a certain recommendation to those who love classic films.

I had mixed average expectations for this film but it blew me away completely far more than I expected. It was a very powerful film and the amount of power that was in the film surprised me a lot too. Matchstick Men is a powerful film that was almost like a thriller. What I reall love about this film is it's a life-teaching film like being a con man/woman or being a victim of being conned. Matchstick Men is a film that does have quite a complex dialogue but it kept me glued to the screen all the way through it. Matchstick Men becomes more and more personal as it goes on because it teaches how to fix a man's relationship with his daughter especially if he is either a bad father or an inexperienced father.


Nicolas Cage is a crap actor now but Matchstick Men is a film that proves he used to be absolutely fantastic. Adaptation, The Weather Man and Leaving Las Vegas are others that proved him as a fantastic actor. His acting as Roy made me think "you bastard!" for being a con artist yet I felt sorry for him too because of his medical condition and with his relationship with his daughter Angela. Sam Rockwell is an actor I am really starting to like. He was awesome as Frank. Frank is an very kind and helpful protége to Roy but all isn't all as it seems. It's weird seeing Sam play a character like Frank only when 4 years before he was in The Green Mile playing William 'Wild Bill' Wharton. How in the hell is Alison Lohman 23 years old in real life to play a 14 year old? She really does look like a young kid in this one. Her age fooled me in this film because I didn't know she was 23 before I saw this film but when I looked about her on Wikipedia, I couldn't believe her age! However, about her performance as Angela: she was absolutely fantastic! It is by far the best performance of the film. She reminds me a lot of Emma Watson. 2003 was a great breakthrough year for Alison not only for Matchstick Men but for starring in Tim Burton's masterpiece Big Fish. Angela is a very beautiful character but there is something about her that is a bit off and can be quite threatening at times especially when she's helping her father Roy con people.


Ridley Scott goes to a different kind of film after his epics Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. He directs this really well in a very new kind of way. Ridley Scott is a pure genius at this film. He directs this film like no other film he has ever done which at first became a bit of a risk to do a film like this. After watching this, I found it to be a great success from Ridley Scott and he has now achieved one of his best films.


Overall, Matchstick Men is one of the best films of 2003 and that was an awesome year for film. It is Ridley Scott's third best film after Gladiator and Thelma & Louise. Matchstick Men has one of the most underrated yet one of the best, most powerful and most unexpected film plot twists of all time that will leave you totally shocked at the end. It is a masterpiece that I could watch a lot! Love it!

This film touched me a lot mostly because of the pure beauty of it. The Mary Poppins character is just a beautiful character that makes her a really sweet young woman and yet quite a demanding character too. Also, despite of how naughty the little kids are, they are quite beautiful characters too because they really like Mary Poppins a lot. Julie Andrews delivers an absolutely outstanding performance as Mary Poppins. Julie uses a typical British voice for Mary Poppins which she doesnt really use in some of her other films. She makes Mary Poppins a really attractive nanny too. Desptite of how good I think Julie Andrews was as Mary Poppins, I prefered her in The Sound Of Music.


Julie Andrews acting career starts with a bang. She won the Best Actress Oscar after only her third film ever. Dick Van Dyke delivers a really good performance as Bert. His character was sort of loopy and a bit of a nut but obviously in a funny way. He deserved his Golden Globe nomination. Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber were good as Jane and Michael Banks too. Robert Stevenson directs this film really well and makes it a true Disney Classic phenomenon and one of the greatest family films of all time by using beautiful and clever camera angles and also the clever photography that is used. I liked this film a lot more than Nanny McPhee (even though I still really liked Nanny McPhee). Julie Andrews makes a better nanny than Emma Thompson. This film teaches especially kids to have fun as a child no matter what happens and also if a kid has bad problems with either parent then they should at least try and mend it together again.


Mary Poppins is a truly loving musical but I am afraid to say that it isnt one of the best musicals ever. I prefered musicals like Sweeney Todd, Singin In The Rain, Grease, The Wizard Of Oz, The Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady, Beauty And The Beast, Moulin Rouge! and Enchanted. Despite that Mary Poppins is still an adorable film that will always be remembered as a loving musical, loving family film and most importantly a film from the creation of the late legendary Walt Disney.

This is an absolutely brilliant film! I was surprised that I liked this more than Annie Hall. I think the reason I did was because it was funnier and more magical. The way Manhattan was in the 1970s and the way the city was filmed was absolutely incredible. It was so incredible that it really looked magical. I think the reason for that was because it was filmed in black-and-white because if it was in colour it would have just looked like ordinary New York City. Manhattan is a very light hearted film that I think is definitely one of the best romantic comedies of all time.


Seeing Woody Allen and Diane Keaton as the two leading roles again in a romantic comedy makes it look like some sort of sequel to Annie Hall but it isn't like it at all because the plot is totally different and so are all of the characters. Manhattan is a darker film than Annie Hall but more magical when it comes to its filming. I think Manhattan is Woody Allen's only black-and-white film and I think that he should have made some more black-and-white films because Manhattan proved that he can do it. Woody Allen is really good at playing a character with a big heart but can be a bit of a dorky idiot which he is in both Manhattan and Annie Hall. Diane Keaton is an absolutely brilliant actress anyway but her performance in Manhattan made her even better than she already was. Meryl Streep makes a short supporting appearance as Isaac's ex-wife Jill Davis who has turned lesbian and left him for a woman.


Allen has been the best director of romantic-comedies and it is as simple as that. He is an absolutely astonishing filmmaker with a talent for making films that involve love and comedy. Manhattan is a really good black-and-white romantic comedies that deserves to be one of the best of that genre.

I had high expectations for Love Actually because of it having a large ensemble cast that has a lot of talented British actors and actresses. When I saw Love Actually, I absolutely loved it!! I thought this film was absolutely hilarious with such brilliant jokes and funny moments within the film. It is a film that has many different stories that combine together perfectly to bring a beautiful, heartwarming and almost tearjerking conclusion. There are a lot of romantic comedies that I have seen in the past that have either really annoyed me due to its soppy romance that are packed with sex scenes and graphic nudity that hardly have any drama in it at all but this one amongst a few others aren't like that. I love romantic comedies that obviously have romance and comedy in it but drama too just like this one has. This isn't just watching a romantic comedy, it's like in a dream where you would see different people's lives effected and what the beauty of them are and seeing a beautiful ending like you're in some sort of fantasy world. It was like watching a soap opera on TV as well because of the storylines in the film.


Every single actor did an absolutely fantastic job in this film with moving and funny performances but I have to say that I think the funniest performance was Hugh Grant as the British Prime Minister and the most emotional was Liam Neeson as Daniel. There are 10 storylines within Love Actually. They are: Billy Mack and Joe (Bill Nighy and Gregor Fisher), Juliet, Peter and Mark (Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Andrew Lincoln), Jamie and Aurélia (Colin Firth and Lúcia Moniz), Harry, Karen and Mia (Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson and Heike Makatsch), David and Natalie (Hugh Grant and Martine McCutcheon), Daniel, Sam and Joanna (Liam Neeson, Thomas Sangster and Olivia Olsen), Sarah and Karl (Laura Linney and Rodrigo Santoro), Colin, Tony and the Wisconsin girls (Kris Marshall, Adbul Salis, Ivana Milicevic, January Jones, Elisha Cuthbert, Shannon Elizabeth and Denise Richards), John and Judy (Martin Freeman and Joanna Page) and Rufus (Rowan Atkinson). My favourite storyline is David and Natalie because it is very powerful, emotional and funny that becomes very peaceful. What I love the most about this film is that all of these actors join together to send a very important message: Christmas is spent and is about being with loved ones as well as the birth of Jesus Christ.


The directing was absolutely perfect!! I could very easily notice the determination and hard work that was put into this film not only with the acting and writing but also of what the backgrounds sceneries were like. Richard Curtis is a good director who shouldn't be underestimated. He has produced, written and directed other romantic comedies like Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary. The writing was absolutely fantastic! This film was written in a perfect way due to the genres that it is part of.


Love Actually is one of the most beautiful films that I have ever watched in my life! It is filled with pure pleasure that brings delight to your heart. I have seen quite a lot of romantic-comedies but I have to say that Love Actually is the best romantic comedy ever made; simple as. It is my third favourite Christmas film ever after Its A Wonderful Life and Home Alone. Also, it is one of the greatest films of 2003 and has one of the greatest ensemble casts of all time too.

loved this film to bits because it is just so beautiful and is such an inspiration. It is a film that has a beautiful meaning to life. It is a film that truly teaches us about love family and hope. It is also about commitment with what is best for the ones you love no matter what situation you are in. It made me feel all emotional because Guido, his wife and son were in the Holocaust camps. It is beauty of family that keeps them together. Despite of how funny this film is, it is a very emotional story that will touch people in both a funny way and a really emotional way too. Roberto Benigni delivers an absolutely outstanding performance as Guido. His character is really powerful because it is a mixture of two different personalities that connect really well.


I loved Benignis hilarious attitude towards the characters within the film. He is a Pee Wee like sort of character because he is a hyper character and also he wears like nerdy clothes. His performance brought delight towards the horror that was the Holocaust which can be offensive to people but can be quite good aswell because he wont let the Nazis let him live in fear for the rest of his life. I liked Nicoletta Braschi in this film as Guidos wife Dora. I really liked Giorgio Cantarini in this film too as their son Giosué Orefice. Cantarini has made another appearance in another Oscar winning film that won Best Actor. He portrayed the son of Maximus in Ridley Scotts Gladiator. And Russell Crowe also won an Academy Award for Best Actor aswell as Roberto Benigni did in Life Is Beautiful.


The direction from Roberto Benigni was really good because it was really peaceful and it was very depressing at the same time which is quite unusual but not bad though. I personally thought that the script was really well adapted because of the different point of view with the Holocaust. It was really well adapted because this film is neither a true story nor a novel by an author. This film is a sort of comedy point of view of the Holocaust because Guido has a hyper and beautiful personality with a very powerful sense of humour.


I dont think anything disappointed me with this film. I loved this film a lot but I have to say that I prefer films about the Holocaust that are more depressing and emotional because they are more powerful stories. I am not saying that this film isnt powerful at all. It is a very powerful film but others like Schindlers List and The Pianist are more powerful films about the Holocaust. This is my favourite Benigni film so far and is without a doubt one of the greatest foreign language films of all time. All I can finish my review of saying is that this film is a perfect example of hope, love and friendship. One of the best films of 1998. It is my favourite Italian film so far. It's a masterpiece!!