Reviews by SJMJ91

I had absolutely no idea of what to expect going into this film. At first, it seemed like a lovely romantic entertaining story but my expectations were neither high nor low. It was surprisingly depressing and I was caught by the drama within the film which is the only reason why I liked this film. The reason why I found this film rather flawed was because the story was a mess and it couldn't exactly get at what is really going on within the film. I felt lost in the first hour of the film but when the real drama got involved, I started to like it. I have to say that The Time Traveler's Wife is one of weirdest films that I have ever watched. It is definitely one of those films that will capture your imagination. I was totally surprised at how depressing this film turned out to be and I feel that it does make you think about things in life that we all should appreciate.


I don't really like Eric Bana very much as an actor but I thought he was actually really good in this film as Henry. Henry is a man who suffered a heartbreaking tragedy when he was a child: his mother's death and since then he started to travel in time. One thing that I do find weird about Henry is that he doesn't know where or when he is going when he travels back in time. It is like he does it by accident. One thing that Henry cannot do is travel the future past his own life where he is in the present time. Rachel McAdams made a real name for herself in popular yet overrated romantic film The Notebook and her performance as Claire in The Time Traveler's Wife was pretty good as well. It was weird seeing her with brown hair as she was blonde in The Notebook. Rachel McAdams is a good actress to pick to star in a romantic drama because both The Notebook and The Time Traveler's Wife have proved that.


The directing was actually really good which impressed and surprised me a lot. It has an underrated yet unexpectedly powerful message that I think people will think about as far as marriage, having children and making decisions is concerned. The script was good but I have heard that the story falls apart when compared to the novel.


Overall, The Time Traveler's Wife is a beautifully-flawed film that I enjoyed watching but wouldn't watch again. I find it to be The Notebook of 2009 and it could be a bit of a popular film.

When I saw the trailer of Terminator Salvation, I did think that I wasn't going to like it very much even though I was looking forward to seeing it. When I saw it at the cinema, I enjoyed it but it could've been better. I have to admit that this film did revive the Terminator series right up again after the bitter disappointment Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines was. It is a new kind of Terminator film because of the original effects and the very hardcore violence involved but I appreciate this one a lot because it is a film with a lot of CGI in a new generation. It was a risky move making this film but I think it turned out a great success. This is like the Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of Crystal Skull of 2009 because that is a film you'll either love or hate just like Terminator Salvation. It's funny because in the first 10 minutes, I was bored and almost wanted the film to be finished by then but after 25 minutes I became very interesting and felt very intense by watching it. The effects are absolutely fantastic! As far as I'm concerned watching the action in Terminator Salvation was like watching both Transformers and Iron Man all over again.


I was unsure about Christian Bale playing John Connor in this film but I was actually really surprised. He turned out to be absolutely fantastic. Bale is now part of two franchises playing main characters. He is obviously better remembered for playing Batman/Bruce Wayne but Connor was a character that I, quite frankly, wasn't expecting Christian to play. He was a good John Connor but I think the one thing that was a bit off was that I could only see Christian Bale as Batman and that's it. He was good as Connor don't get me wrong but there could have been a more different actor to play him. One thing that I was slightly disappointed with that I wasn't really expecting was that the film wasn't really about John Connor but more about Marcus Wright. Sam Worthington's performance as Marcus Wright was a lot different compared to Christian Bale's but despite that, Sam's performance was better than Christian's. Marcus was a more interesting character than John Connor which was really weird and slightly disappointing. I was also disappointed with the amount of time Helena Bonham Carter was in this film. I thought she would have been a really sinister villainous character in it but she was barely in it at all. Arnie does make an appearance in one of the action scenes in this film which was absolutely ace so it was good to see Arnie back as the Terminator again.


McG creates a new kind of Terminator film. He has crafted together a film that will be in my opinion the start of a new Terminator trilogy. McG hasn't really done that many films at all but I do think that Terminator Salvation is his biggest breakthrough film. I just really hope they don't kill Terminator like they almost did with the prequel Star Wars trilogy and the theatrical cartoon version. James Cameron's series has only just survived so lets hope that the future films of the series will too.


Terminator Salvation is a lot better than Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines but not as good as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Terminator. It is like the Indy 4 of 2009. I am excited about seeing a sequel to this one. I found Terminator Salvation to be a very explosive, intense, action-packed thrill ride that I would definitely buy on DVD and watch again.

I was really looking forward to watch this film mostly because Tim Burton is the producer and it is his first work since Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street so my expectations were rather high. 9 surprised me a lot regarding story and the action sequences. 9 is one of those very rare animated films that is darkly filmed and has a dark plot. Only others I can thing of are Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, A Scanner Darkly, Coraline, Persepolis and Monster House. The animated effects on 9 were flawless completely. The humans even looked real and there are not many animated studios that can make humans perfect within animation.


I really liked the characters because they all have simple names although it was quite hard to remember which was what number. This film has a good cast with some great actors in it! Elijah Wood voices 9. 9 is the last creation of the scientist. He awakens from the lifeless world and seems destined to save the future. Fred Tatasciore voices 8. 8 became the purpose to protect the rag doll from the evil machine uprising. Jennifer Connelly voices 7. 7 is the brave and self-sufficiant warrior and is the only female in the group. Crispin Glover voices 6. 6 is the visionary ray doll who has visions of the past and future. John C. Reilly voices 5. 5 is a caring, nurturing engineer. Martin Landau voices 2. 2 is the scientist's 2nd creation. Christopher Plummer voices 1. 1 is the scientist's first creation.


Shane Acker did a fine job as director. It was made beautifully with awesome effects! Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) did briliantly together as producers of this film. I think 9 is a contender for an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Picture alongside Up and Coraline. Ponyo On The Cliff, Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, Monsters Vs. Aliens and Fantastic Mr. Fox are other contenders.


Overall, 9 is a great animated films that I really enjoyed and found to be one of the most creative animated films of all time.

The Damned United is a film that I wasn't really expecting very much from. I didn't think I would like this film but it was actually good. I love football in general but I love most films about football as well. Best football film is and probably always will be Bend It Like Beckham for me. The Damned United is a film that is really funny which I wasn't really expecting. It is a very typical British film because there is lots of swearing involved and because of the swearing we are really good at expressing our films in a black comedy sort of way. There aren't very many bio-pics that are funny but this is one of the rare ones that did so.


Michael Sheen was the best choice for Brian Clough because he looked almost exactly like the real Brian Clough. Timothy Spall was really good as well as Peter Taylor. He was funny and an idiot which was good for that kind of character. The only flaw for me was that there was a light bit of confusion involved between the time changing. It was like one minute it was 1973, then it was 1969, then 1974, then 1968 and so forth.


Overall, The Damned United was a good film that was good just for fun nothing more. It is a film that I don't think I would watch again but am still really glad I did watch it.

I had no interest in seeing this film at all for two reasons: because it was a film about the end of the world in 3 years time and I hate Roland Emmerich for the films he has done in the past. One night very recently, I just decided to watch it because it looked entertaining and I wanted to check out what it would be like if it does end. When I did watch 2012, I was both blown away but also mildly disappointed and sort of relieved as well. The visual effects in the film were absolutely magnificent. The Best Visual Effects category is a tough one this year because there have been a lot of action/science fiction/fantasy films with amazing visual effects and I reckon that 2012 will nominated for it alongside Star Trek and Avatar. It will be absolutely amazing on Blu-ray especially with a big screen. Where I was disappointed was that it didn't have enough specific detail regarding the Mayan Calendar or the Mayan's themselves and because of this, the film lacked the believability. It just felt like a random end to the world. At the start of the film it was very realistic regarding what could happen but when the disasters came in, it fell into the science fiction genre and I fell for the enjoyment of the action within it.


I have never been a big fan of John Cusack but his performance in 2012 was absolutely brilliant! I really liked his character. His character is a lot like Ray Ferrier in War Of The Worlds. Only difference was Cusack was great but Cruise was dreadful. Jackson Curtis is a middle aged man who is divorced from his ex-wife and has a son called Noah and a daughter called Lilly. Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance as Adrian Helmsley was good as well. His performance wasn't as good as John Cusack's but wasn't far off. Amanda Peet wasn't good at all as Kate Curtis. She was a good mum but I didn't think her role was as serious or has heroic as Cusack's or Ejiofor's performances were.


After the ultimate disaster that was 10,000B.C., I had absolute pure hate for Roland Emmerich for making such a crap film. After watching 2012, it is definitely Emmerich's most successful film so far but I still don't like him very much. I still can't forgive him for bringing us 10,000B.C.! 2012 is an absolutely typical Roland Emmerich film. He usually does disaster films and I think that this is pretty much the only disaster film that didn't turn out to be a disaster. The action sequences were brilliantly directed but some of the non-action scenes weren't very good. The script was ok at times but it did have its flaws like a lot of films like this have.
Overall, 2012 is a very enjoyable action-thriller than nobody should be afraid to see because it is totally filled with science fiction action. 2012 is Roland Emmerich's best film so far and he is starting to get back on track with making entertaining films.

Oh God! This film was so hilarious!!! This film cracked me up and I couldn't stop laughing. I was anticipating this film a lot because I absolutely love Borat. It is a very embarassing film to watch with colleagues because of how crude it is. Bruno is a film that can offend almost everybody. Not only was I laughing with laughter because of how funny it was but also of embarassment.


Sacha Baron Cohen is an absolutely brilliant actor who is talented and very funny! Bruno is my favourite character that he has done so far. When watching Sacha playing a gay, you won't even believe that Sacha is straight. Bruno is a gay Austrian whos ambition is to become famous in America but there's one problem: his sexuality. He always ends up doing something that is either really embarassing or really crude. He rips off people who dress like that who are gay.


Larry Charles is a good director of both Borat and Bruno who makes the audience feel like we are taking Bruno's journey as well. Larry Charles is a director that wants us to believe all of the things that go on within the film. The script is absolutely brilliant! It is just like in Borat: an original screenplay that was awesome for the comedy within it. Most comedy scripts aren't very good but the Bruno script is awesome!


Bruno is better than Borat in my opinion. Bruno is the crudest film that I have ever seen. Bruno is probably the funniest film of 2009. This is my favourite Sacha Baron Cohen film. Bruno is a film that I don't think should be watched with parents or siblings. Watch with friends or by yourself! Bruno is the funniest film I have seen in ages.

I was really nervous about seeing this one because the timeline of the story was a bit wrong but it made sense in the end. In real-life, dinosaurs really liked millions of years before the Ice Age. In this film, the dinosaurs still lived but was underneath the Ice Age living underneath in a different world. Also, because I find Ice Age very similar to Shrek. I hated the third Shrek film so I was hoping that I wouldn't hate Ice Age 3. When I saw it, I absolutely loved it!! It stayed in exactly the same place as far as kind of humour is concerned. I have to say that this is the funniest of the trilogy but doesn't have the best story of the trilogy. Ice Age 3 is such a clever film to watch with the very childish dialogue. This film literally made me laugh so much that it really hurt. That feeling is really great and really horrible at the same time. This one had a lot of clever human sceneries in it like the little Ice Age playground and the "mummy" moments when it comes to Sid. This film literally cracked me up! The experience of watching this film in 3D was an absolute delight as was watching Coraline in 3D too.


Manny and the gang are back! Manny and Ellie are having a baby and they have a lot of things against them first for them to be a happy family. Manny is preparing the best he can to be a father but has to get through Sid first. Sid becomes more annoying than ever in this one which makes me laugh the most about him. Sid is almost exactly the same kind of character as Donkey from Shrek. Sid is my favourite character from the film and is one of my favourite animated characters of all time! Diego is in a awkward situation due to Ellie's pregnancy and that he doesn't feel like being part of a family. Scrat is after the nut once again but new character Scraté is after it as well. Scrat becomes involved with Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie etc in quite a few scenes that are part of the story. New character Buck is a weasel who is a lot like Puss In Boots from Shrek. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah and Seann William Scott returned to voice Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie, Crash and Eddie. Simon Pegg joins the cast in the third film as the voice of Buck.


Carlos Saldanha returns as director and did a great job once again as he did in the second film. The humour is just absolutely hilarious that isn't over the top and isn't too childish either. The humour is the one thing that makes Ice Age almost the same as Shrek. This one does teach about family and how powerful friendship and love really is. Ice Age 3 is a combination between two ages of the world that does look like a messed up timeline because the Ice Age was millions of years after the dinosaurs lived but it did make sense.


Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs is the funniest of the trilogy but it isn't the best. I like this one more than the first one but still prefer the second one. I have now decided that Ice Age is better than Shrek because I love all three Ice Age films but only love Shrek 1 and 2 because I hate Shrek The Third. This will be one of the best films of 2009 which doesn't really seem like a great year for cinema. Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs is an absolutely hilarious film that I would watch over and over again when it comes out on DVD.

I was dead excited to see this film after I heard and read the very high reception it received from critics and fans from all around the world. I am not usually a big fan of horror films and I usually don't get excited about watching one but this one was very special. When I watched the trailer of it on youtube, it seemed like one of those films that is a bit creepy but will make you jump. That is the main reason why I wanted to see this film a lot. When I saw Drag Me To Hell, I absolutely loved it!! It is a very unusual film to watch because of the way it is filmed and the plot itself but then again, that's horror films for you. Even in moments where there's no suspenseful moments, you can't help but feel it. Drag Me To Hell blew me away at the start and at the end with a very powerful introduction and very powerful conclusion. I found it scary to watch but I think it is more of a jumpy film. It is a very violent film. There were moments of horrifying violence but there was also violence you could just slightly chuckle at even when you find it disgusting at the same time.


Alison Lohman was absolutely outstanding as Christine Brown! Ellen Page was originally supposed to be playing her but changed to Alison Lohman instead. I mean, I would've been happy whoever was playing Christine. What I think was really amazing about Lohman's performance was how innocent she made Christine. Lohman is a very cute woman and that was perfect for the character. The innocent Christine under the dominance of the deranged and hideously ugly Mrs. Ganush is absolutely terrifying yet extremely powerful to see. That is the reason why I felt sorry for Christine. She was only doing her job. There were a few shots in the film that are rather well known and famous nowadays. Justin Long's performance was lame but he wasn't a very powerful character anyway so I wasn't that bothered about that. Lorna Raver's performance as Mrs. Ganush was absolutely amazing! She is a very scary, dangerous and deranged psycho who is like the female Satan bound in human form. She delivers one of the scariest performances of all time if not the scariest one ever!


Sam Raimi's work on Drag Me To Hell is memorable. He started working on the film even before he started the Spider-Man trilogy. He is a master of horror films. He proved that with The Evil Dead trilogy as well as Drag Me To Hell. What Raimi has created is absolute genius! It was something that can terrify you and can amuse you as well. Raimi made it as true as it really seemed to be. The CGI within this film was flawless as was the make-up. This film will be in my opinion a contender for Best Make-Up, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. The script was absolutely amazing! What I love about Raimi, he always uses his own style of horror to create different stories and characters which is why he always succeeds.


Overall, Drag Me To Hell is an absolutely outstanding horror film that kept me gripped to it from the start until the very end. It is more of a jumpy film than scary film. One of the best of 2009 and one of the best horror films ever made!

Despite having not seen it at the time, I was rather surprised about how good people are saying it is. After hearing this, I had to check it out myself to see what the hype was about this film. Also, Peter Jackson was the producer of this film and he is one of my all-time favourite directors and I love his films particularly Lord Of The Rings. When I saw this film at the cinema, I was blown away by it! There were moments in the film that made my jaw drop due to the amazement of the film. District 9 is obviously one of the most unusual films that I have ever seen but it is one of the most realistic films that I have seen in a long time too. I am really glad that they made this in a documentary-like sort of style because that is the main thing that made it realistic. If it didn't have that, it would have failed just like Cloverfield did and War Of The Worlds slightly did. I was a little worried about the CGI effects on the Prawns in the film but I thought the CGI on them were perfect and flawless. It was very violent as well which is what I loved about the film as well.


Sharlto Copley's performance as Wikus Van De Merke was absolutely amazing! I find it to be one as well as the film itself to be underestimated and turned out to be a massive surprise. Wikus is an ordinary man who loves his family and his job but when he accidentally sprays some Prawn fluid in his own face, that all changes and he becomes a science experiment as well as a fugitive. He becomes half-alien and half-human due to this. I find it to be a tragedy because Wikus inadvertently sprayed himself in the face and then that ruins his whole life and could lead to drastic actions.


Neill Blomkamp's debut is absolutely terrific! He is now a director that has caught my attention. His work on this film feels like it can be an inspiration to people because the way he sends the message out that the way the humans treated the Prawns were like how the white people in Africa treated the black people and it shows that they have equal rights no matter on difference. Peter Jackson did an absolutely fantastic job at producing such an extraordinary yet mindblowing film. I find this film very special because it was made in three different countries of three different continents of the world: USA, South Africa and New Zealand.


Overall, District 9 is an intense, explosive, heart-racing yet gut-retching and gruesome thrill ride that proves itself to be one of the best science fiction films in a long time and one of the best films of 2009.

Wow! I was totally blown away by Coraline. It is a very beautiful film that is packed with creativity, magic and also tension. Coraline is a beautifully filmed masterpiece that truly is one-of-a-kind. It is very similar to Monster House, Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride in the way it was filmed but this is the best one of those four films. I loved this film from start to finish especially because I saw it in 3D at the cinema.


The film follows the story of a little girl called Coraline who moves into the Pink Palace Apartments with her loving but work-consuming parents. Inside the apartment, she finds a door that is filled with bricks but one night it opens up and out comes a new world which changes things around. The way the door opened and the way she went through it reminded me a lot of Alice In Wonderland. Coraline is like DJ in Monster House: brave, courageous, friendly and also very curious. In all of those four films I have mentioned that are similar have very similar personalities but are at different ages and different sexes. The voices provided are just simply amazing! Dakota Fanning has starred in a masterpiece as Coraline and is my favourite film with her in it at the moment. Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David, Robert Bailey Jr. and John Hodgman were really good in the film too.


I think this was absolutely typical of Henry Selick to direct Coraline because it is a very dark story for children and was really odd. Selick's previous works James And The Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas were very oddly yet beautifully filmed in a live action and animated sort of way. They were both connected with Tim Burton but Coraline wasn't and that is a shame but then again it might not have been as good if it was a Tim Burton film. Selick has created a masterpiece that will hopefully be the Best Animated Picture 2009 winner. It is a film that is perfectly aimed at the right people. It is meant to show the adult humour and a dark story for both children and adults. It is meant to show the pure magic and the beauty inside of a young child's imagination even if it's scary or creepy. Some of the animation involved looked real.


Overall, Coraline is an absolutely unbelievable experience to watch! I still prefer Nightmare Before Christmas over this. This may be too old for children who are under 6 years old but I think it is one that I think everybody will love when they watch it. It is a masterpiece! I would recommend that you watch Coraline in 3D at the cinema otherwise you are missing out on a fantastic experience that will blow you away.