Reviews by SJMJ91

At first, I was telling myself that I wouldn't really like this film. That totally changed when I saw it I thought that this film was actually pretty good. It was very funny with alot of witty jokes and wacky characters. It has that style that some people do like and some people don't like which is one of the main reasons why I really like Get Smart and love Johnny English. Both films are very similar. I found it to be an action packed fun piece of entertainment. It has that British humour involved which is what not many people who are from a British sort of country wouldn't really understand.


Steve Carell's performance is absolutely brilliant. His character Max is alot like Johnny English because he is an experienced agent but is quite stupid and makes mistakes that he shouldn't have made. Max tells everybody including Agent 99 who is better at her job but is less experienced. Max makes really ridiculous mistakes and cocks things up really easily which are like Charlie Chaplin slapstick sort of moments. I had mixed feelings about Anne Hathaway in this one. No doubt she was hot in it and was hot enough for the character's appearance. She was good in this film. She wasn't as bad as Natalie Imbruglia was in Johnny English. Why the fuck was The Rock in this film?! I loved The Rock in the WWE. Don't like him at all anymore because he is one of the worst living actors. It is weird because most actors have looks for their characters but don't have the acting talent for it which is quite annoying. I liked Alan Arkin in this one. This is the second film that he has been alongside Steve Carell in a film. Alan and Steve's partnership in this one is like Rowan Atkinson and Tim Piggot-Smith's partnership in Johnny English. I was ever so surprised that James Caan was in this film especially when is in probably the greatest film of all time The Godfather but not my favourite.


The direction did alot of what Johnny English director did. It seemed like a debut director but it wasn't. Peter Segal previously did The Longest Yard (remake), Anger Management, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and also 50 First Dates. It is his best work so far. I haven't seen any of his other films. The script was very witty with alot of humourous scenes and yet some with some quite ridiculous ones too.


I love Steve Carell's films but don't think it is my favourite from him. I like him most in Little Miss Sunshine. I did like him in The 40-Year-Old Virgin too and Evan Almighty too. I love Steve Carell's films. He is one of the best comedy actors of all time. I love Robin Williams the most. I love Charles Chaplin, John Cleese, Ben Stiller, Hugh Grant, Will Smith, Nathan Lane, Sacha Boran Cohen and Kevin Kline. But Steve Carell is on that list of top comedy actors. Anne Hathaway is good in this film but I did love her in Brokeback Mountain. All I can say about Get Smart is that it isn't a serious Oscar worthy film but it is a film that is just pure entertainment for the summer. It is a delight to watch and it is a film for the family just like Johnny English.

I really wanted to see this one at the cinema but I saw it on DVD but after watching it, I learned that it was worth the wait. It actually surprised me a lot because there are some animated sequels that aren't very good but this is a very enjoyable one. It isn't as good as the first one but still a really good film. The second one has more characters but wasn't as funny as the first one.


Ben Stiller's voice is obviously really good but he sounds too much like himself in this film when it comes to hearing him in other films he has been in the past. Alex is a father to his young son who is taken away from him. Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria decide to return to New York but accidentally get cast away into Africa once again. They meet more than they did before. Alex finds his biological mother and father in the African jungle. Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Boran Cohen provided brilliant voice acting performances too.


DreamWorks have created animated films that have been awesome (Shrek 1 and 2, two Madagascar films, Over The Hedge, Kung Fu Panda) but have been crap as well (Shark Tale, Antz, Shrek The Third). I have to say I was surprised how good this film was because I have read a lot of bad comments about it but I don't think there was anything seriously wrong with it.


Overall, Madagascar Escape 2 Africa is a really good film that I really enjoyed. I think that this film should have replaced Bolt as the third film to be nominated for Best Animated Picture alongside WALL-E and Kung Fu Panda just as the first one should have been along side Wallace And Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit and Robots in 2005. Madagascar 2 isn't as good as the first one but it is one of the best animated films of 2008 and the best animated film I've seen since WALL-E.

Hahahahaha! What a really funny film this is. It is a film that I don't think people will appreciate because of the silly story and the title name. Some people might get the wrong impression of the film because of the title name. No, it isn't a porn film but it is a film about porn where they make a porn film. It is a very crude film. Probably the crudest film I've ever watched as far as sexual language is concerned. This is a film that I think a teenager shouldn't watch with parents or siblings because of the embarassment. It is probably better watching it with friends so you can follow story and joke with them about the dialogue of the film. It is a very dirty film but it is a deep, affectionate film as well because the two friends who are the lead in their porn film start to fall in love.


Seth Rogen is probably the best comedian of his age. He has become an actor with making a comedy of seriousness. His performance as Zack was hilarious and serious at the same time. Zack is obviously a complete idiot but a really nice guy as well. Elizabeth Banks was good as Miri as well because she's really good for her character. It is brilliant chemistry between all of the characters. It reminds me a lot of the way Ben Stone and Alison Scott were in Knocked Up. They do something that affects their relationship and then they start to fall in love which is what Zack and Miri end up doing.


Overall, Zack And Miri Make A Porno is a funny film that I enjoyed but is just for entertainment nothing else. Seth Rogen has become a very interesting actor for me now because I loved Knocked Up and I really enjoyed this. Zack And Miri Make A Porno is probably the crudest film I've ever watched. It isn't the funniest film of 2008 but it is one of the best comedies of 2008. It is a very enjoyable film that I could watch again at some point in the future.

I only wanted to see this film because it just looked so entertaining. The title of this film explains, basically, the whole plot of the film. I didnt know that this was a remake at first but I have to say that is a really fun film to watch. Journey To The Center Of The Earth has absolutely awesome visual effects but there were some that seemed unrealistic such as the dinosaur. It seemed like a very different kind of T-Rex. The visual effects and camera work was really good in this film. The make-up and art direction was awesome inside the center of the Earth. Entering the center of the Earth was like Davy Jones' Locker in Pirates Of The Caribbean.


Brendan Fraser is an actor who you either love or hate. He's good when it comes to entertainment and being funny but when playing a serious character, he is really bad at it. So, I would say that his performance in this film was average because Professor Trevor Anderson was a serious and funny character. I am not a fan of Brendan Fraser but I do like him in some entertaining films though. Josh Hutcherson is one of my favourite child actors and Journey To The Center Of The Earth proves this once again. He was awesome in Zathura and Bridge To Terabithia too. Hutcherson as Sean is a typical character because he is arrogant and rude yet funny and dramatic as well which is what Josh was like in Zathura. Anita Briem was hot in this film obviously but I don't think her acting was very good. I was actually surprised at how emotional this film did become. I would feel sorry for the characters but not cry because of the drama especially for Sean.


The directing was good in this film but it did flaw a few times because it focused more on the entertaining side of things rather than the way the actors were playing the characters. I mean, most entertaining films are like that. If you want to make an entertaining film the acting on the film should be focused on as well. The script was good but there were some scenes that there didn't even need to be a scene like when they were falling through the massive hole and they were talking. That was irrelevant in my opinion.


Journey To The Center Of The Earth is one of the most entertaining films of 2008 that has one of the best visual effects and make-up despite some of the visual effects weren't very good. Brendan Fraser gives another entertaining performance as does Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Overall, Journey To The Center Of The Earth is just another fun film to watch and that's it.

When I saw the poster of this film I knew I was going to see a new Clint Eastwood bad-ass character and I certainly did. This film was very good with a lot of very good characters, with a very powerful way it was filmed and it was a funny film but in a black comedy sort of way. I knew I was going to like this film because it is a Clint Eastwood film (both actor and director) and also the story seems real kick-ass and so does all of the characters within it. What made me laugh in some scenes was the character Clint was playing because he had a lot of moments where they were just too cool to be seeing that character. Gran Torino is a really good fun thrill ride.


Clint Eastwood delivers a performance that should have earned him an Oscar nomination this year. He was robbed of it and it's as simple as that. He gave rebirth towards what sort of actor he was in the past. He relives that personality and cool attitude such as The Man With No Name and Harry Callahan. Clint has always had a good talent at playing really kick-ass characters that are heroes but with a rather cold heart. Walt Kowalski is a grumpy, lonely old man who wants a really wonderful neighbourhood. He is a disgruntled veteran Korean war vet. As far as his privacy is concerned with his lawn and his house, he behaves a lot like Mr. Knebbercracker from Monster House apart from that he holds a shotgun while he is telling the neighbours and Knebbercracker just yells at them which made me laugh a lot. He meets this young Hmong neighbour of his called Thao. He is bullied and abused by his older cousin Spider who is head of a hispanic gang. Walt tries to help Thao stand up to them and teaches him to try and achieve the best things he can get out of life. Walt discovers that he can help Thao by being more loyal to him as the film goes on. This is a better performance from Clint than Million Dollar Baby.


He directs this film like he wants it to be a real kick-ass story that brings back the characters of his career that were in the past. For the past four films he has done, he has done emotional films and with a lot of violence involved: Changeling, Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags Of Our Fathers and Million Dollar Baby. Clint has directed not his best work but a piece of work that he will be remembered for and I am proud to say that.


This is a really good Clint Eastwood film. I liked his other film in 2008 Changeling a lot more which is his best film to date. I liked Mystic River and Letters From Iwo Jima more than Gran Torino. Clint Eastwood has made an excellent return to the screen for the first time since Million Dollar Baby which was 5 years ago now. Gran Torino is a very good film that should be watched and checked out.

I was expecting this film to be pure entertainment and that is what it was. Death Race is definitely an explosive, intense thrill ride that kept me gripped from start to finish. Watching Death Race was like watching video games like Burnout and Need For Speed but on the TV. The visual design in this film were absolutely brilliant with amazing CGI effects, great art direction and awesome cinematography. One thing that did surprise me a lot about Death Race and that was how emotional it turned out to be.


Jason Statham's performance as Jensen Ames was absolutely awesome! Jason is an amazing actor for that particular genre and I thought he was perfectly cast in this one because it didn't only show how good Jason is in action but also how emotional he can be when playing a character. Jensen is a family man who is framed for his wife's murder and his daughter has been taken away from him. He has been forced to participate in five Death Races to replace someone who died and if he completes the task, he is free out of the prison. Joan Allen's performance as Hennessey was really good as well. She is the sadistic prison warden. Only having to look at the character, I could easily tell that she is evil and is a scheming woman who always has something up her sleeve. She pretends to try to help Jensen but she's only using him for ratings which is wrong and he eventually realises this and it has severe consequences.


Overall, Death Race is a really good, intense, action-packed, explosive thrill ride that looked like you were watching a video game on DVD but a lot more explosive and realistic. One of the most entertaining films of 2008.

This film was really good because it is a comedy that tries to spoof a lot of classic comedy films. It is one of those films that a lot of people love because of its comedy and the actors involved but some might not because it rips off war films. It is a really good rip off though. It is really clever like the real life personality of actors with the director, producer and even the Academy Awards. This film made me laugh quite a bit but there were some bits that werent really funny.


Ben Stiller delivers an average performance as Tugg Speedman. I think it is a performance that Stiller tries to outwit with other classic war films. But he does this in a really clever and exciting way. He made Speedman a really likeable character but also a character which is just plain stupid which is just so entertaining about this film. I do prefer Ben Stiller in Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers and Night At The Museum. Jack Blacks performance is just so pathetic and stupid. Jack annoys me in almost every film he has ever been in apart from School Of Rock. His character is a mixture of some of the characters that Black has portrayed in the past and also tries to rip off talented actors who have portrayed overweight characters in the past who needs to be active. Robert Downey Jrs performance is the best from the whole film because it is a really strong character and a character who is a complete idiot. Downey Jr. portrays a black dude with a certain type of voice that some do have particularly if they are from Africa or the Caribbean. It was a really good voice and personality from a white man to a black man. His make-up was really awesome. It looked like real skin not make up. Downey Jr has now become an extremely well known actor. Especially when he starred in Iron Man in summer 2008. Tom Cruise made a supporting appearance as producer Les Grossman. He looked really weird with a bald head and glasses but he was really funny and made me laugh a lot because he is a bit of a cold character which Tom is really good at. But this time, it is in a really funny way.


Ben Stiller directed this film really well by making this film like a real war film while shooting their own movie. The script was descent obviously because of how clever the story is and also of how new it really is. It is a story that nobody has ever seen before. I can probably say that this is a slightly ruder and older version of Son Of Rambow apart from that Tropic Thunder is with adults but Son Of Rambow involves kids. The only way this film is similar to Zoolander is mostly because it is directed by Ben Stiller aswell as him taking the leading role in the film. This film ripped off a lot of action war films like Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and particularly Platoon. Mostly from that moment where Tugg in the film he is in was on his knees with his arms in the air with guns, men and trees in the background rips off a great war film. But it was a good rip-off because it really looked real. This film was really violent with graphic comic violence. It is very bloody and quite gory in some ways. But quiet a bit of it was fake in the film because they were filming it and it was fake blood.



The few things that disappointed me with this film was that it was quite slow and it didn't move fast enough and the acting from Jack Black was absolutely dreadful. I dont think it was as action packed as I was hoping it would be and also it wasnt as funny either as it was. But apart from that, Tropic Thunder is a really fun action-comedy that deserves a chance and needs to be watched before you dont get the chance to watch it.

Frost/Nixon is a film that I really enjoyed from start to finish. I am not a strong admirer or political films at all but this is one I actually enjoyed. It is a film that I don't think could have been better told than it was in this film. Frost/Nixon is one of those films that I don't think that many people would appreciate because of the political dialogue or they might find it uninteresting and boring. I really enjoyed this film and I don't think there was anything wrong with it. Sometimes, with political films I can't really explain what flaws one has but there aren't any in this film.


Frank Langella's performance as Richard Nixon was absolutely fantastic! He made a brilliant impression of Nixon. He has like a Darth Vader-like voice which is very deep and croaky but can understand. I was totally gripped of Nixon's relationship with Frost. Langella deserved Oscar nomination but Pitt, Penn and especially Rourke were better in my opinion. Langella will probably be better than Hopkins as Nixon but Langella portrays Nixon almost like he really was Nixon. Michael Sheen is a really good actor. His performance as David Frost was very good. He was snubbed for Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 81st Academy Awards. If he wasn't in it, I don't think I would have felt the close combination between Nixon and Frost in this film.


Ron Howard's direction of Frost/Nixon is very different from every other film he has done. Howard has always been a director of creating films of a similar sort of feeling. Well, inspiring and heartwarming in his case (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, How The Grinch Stole Christmas). The script was absolutely fantastic! Best Adapted Screenplay was a hard award to give this year I think because I loved the script in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire and Frost/Nixon.


I have now seen all five Oscar Best Picture 2008 nominees and overall I think that it shouldn't have been nominated Best Picture. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire and WALL-E should have been the nominees in my opinion. Frost/Nixon isn't my favourite political film but is a very enjoyable film. Highly recommended!

Australia is a good epic romantic film that does deserve a chance at the cinema but it has a few flaws. This film was well made but it didn't quite show how important this film was to the director. Both actors were good but I couldn't feel very much love between them because there was a light lack of romance within. This has had weird rumours that it is this decade's Gone With The Wind and it is refered as the next Gone With The Wind. I just find that really quite silly because there won't be another romantic epic like Gone With The Wind. Besides, the story in Australia is a completely different to Gone With The Wind. Apart from that it was a film that I really enjoyed.


Nicole Kidman turned out to be really good as Lady Sarah Ashley but at the start she was quite irritating and made the audience feel like she was one of those nobody-gives-a-shit-about-you sort of person but when she meets Drover, Nicole's performance builded up and gradually got better. When I saw Nicole as Lady Ashley, it showed how young Nicole Kidman really looks for her age. She made Lady Ashley a very beautiful and sexy woman who in most people's cases including mine almost irresistable. Why she didn't earn Golden Globe nomination I have no idea. I am going to start liking Nicole Kidman in some more epic films in the future. I liked Hugh Jackman too as Drover because he was more of an action-packed hero and charmer. Heath Ledger was going to portray Drover but did The Dark Knight instead for a damn good reason. Besides, I don't think Ledger would have been very good anyway because he was about 10 years too young for romance with Nicole Kidman. Anyway about Hugh Jackman, he had a really big build and looked like a really big man which isn't his normal build. His normal body build is films like The Prestige and The Fountain. His size in Australia was a lot like his size as Wolverine in the X-Men trilogy. His acting was awesome .He doesn't deliver any bad performances apart from Van Helsing despite what sort of character plays. Australia is his closest chance at the high awards. Brandon Walters was really good as Nullah because he showed that Nullah is a very effective little boy but with a big desire and a big and brave heart.


Baz Luhrmann directs this film quite similarly to how David Lean did for Lawrence Of Arabia as far as camera angles in a desert area is concerned which doesn't really surprise me why it took 2 years for Luhrmann to make this film. The way he handled the direction of the characters was very good with the scenes within the film but could have been a bit better. The script was very original which is almost a first time from an epic film. It was very well written for a film that sort of tries to beat or be compared to a film like Gone With The Wind.


This isn't my favourite of neither Hugh Jackman nor Nicole Kidman. It is a really good romantic epic that does have a few disappointments but it is a piece of entertainment after all which makes it a good piece of art that was worth watching, worth paid to see and worth made. It isn't Baz Luhrmann's best film neither. I prefered Moulin Rouge! Australia is a really good film that does deserve a chance at the cinema and a few Oscar nominations as far as cinema qualities is concerned.

When I first heard about it I thought to myself, "I am not gonna bother with this because I will probably hate it because the 2007 summer musical blockbuster Hairspray remake was awful". Then one day I changed my mind because it has a good cast especially Meryl Streep. When I did see Mamma Mia, I thought it was one of the best musicals I have ever seen. It was a really delightful story that really attracted fans and almost everyone on Earth. This is one of those musicals that is funny, romantic and dramatic that you could watch over and over again. That is something that I could do. I was blown away by how much of a success Mamma Mia turned out to be even though it already was a stage musical. This is like Best Picture Oscar winner compared to Hairspray. What I truly loved about Mamma Mia was that it had a lot of adult humour and a lot of kid humour which makes an almost perfect family film.


At first I was unsure about Meryl Streep being in a film like this because she is clearly the greatest actress of all time even better than the ones who are now deceased and she has never been in a musical before. I was unsure about her singing aswell. Meryl Streep delivers one of her best performances to date. I underestimated her at first because of the singing and the genre but her singing surprised me a lot and she greatly succeeded. She is probably the perfect choice for Donna. Aside from her singing, her acting was very good. Meryl looked really young for her age in Mamma Mia. She looks 40 in the film but Streep is really in her late 50s/early 60s. Two of Meryl Streep's films that have been released this year have given her two of her best performances and also two Golden Globe nominations. Why Pierce Brosnan was actually in this film I have no idea at all. There are many reasons why he was totally miscast for this film: 1. He was a James Bond actor (Former Bond actor in a musical don't exactly match), 2. Awful singer, 3. Bad acting and 4. Didnt make character very believable. Amanda Seyfried was an excellent choice for Sophie because she had every part of Sophie's personality: sweet, beautiful, sexy, hot and charming and also she looks a bit like Meryl Streep. It is weird because plot is about a girl trying to discover who her father is out of the three men she invites to her wedding but the film focuses more on Donna. Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski were all hilarious as well.


It was directed far better than I was expecting. The director didn't make it too rude for kids and she didn't make it too childish either. When comparing 2008's summer blockbuster Mamma Mia and 2007's summer blockbuster Hairspray, Mamma Mia has a storyline with strong characters. There were a lot of songs but they didn't go on for too long and they actually were part of the story. During some of the songs, I think that some were in the character's imagination just like it was in Chicago.


This is the best musical of 2008, it is one of my top Meryl Streep films and one of my top films of 2008. It is one of my favourite musicals but I love Sweeney Todd, Grease, Singin' In The Rain, The Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady and The Wizard Of Oz more. Mamma Mia is a masterpiece that I'm sure everyone will at least like.