Max Payne

First of all I'd just like to point out that I haven't played any of the Max Payne games and so my review of Max Payne looks at it as a stand alone film.

Lets get the bad out the way. There were only three things in this film that I didn't like. The first was when Max Payne was fighting this guy and when ever the guy hit Max Payne the screen flashed red. Even though I haven't played the games, I can guess that this is a game reference, because in a lot of games the screen does flash red when the character that you play loses health. The second was a shot that was simply held on screen for too long, and the third was another shot. It was one of those shots where the character moves either from A to B or round in a circle and the character remains in the same place on the screen (usually framed in a mid shot) whilst the background moves. There is a special name for this type of shot, but unfortunately I can't remember it. Anyway it usually involves the actor wearing a special device under their clothes to hold the camera, or the actor just simply has to hold a pole in front of them with the camera on the end. I'm not usually a fan of these shots but in this film it did actually work quite well. The only bad thing about it was that it looked as though Mark Wahlberg was actually holding the pole that the camera was on.

However, these three things are just if I am being picky. Otherwise I couldn't fault the film. I loved it in every way. It had a great story and a great look to it. The cinematography, visual effects and use of colour were particularly good, and they gave the film what I thought to be a slight film noir feel to it.

And before I deconstruct the film any more, all I'm going to say is that I loved this film.

James Bond: Quantum Of Solace

When I first watched Casino Royale I didn't really like it. But after a while it grew on me and whilst it isn't my favourite James Bond film I do now like it.

Quantum Of Solace is kind of the opposite. Initially I came out of the cinema and thought, "Wow. That was cool." But after I actually started thinking about it I couldn't really figure out what the story was past James Bond killing lots of people for revenge.

The action sequences were amazing and some of them were mind blowing. The story however, I felt was too complicated and I think I would need to watch it again (after first watching Casino Royale because it does follow on from it) in order to understand what was going on properly. In all honesty though, I had to watch Casino Royale a few times as well to fully understand it.

If you are able to understand the story though then sure, this is a great film. But is it a great Bond film? No.

Casino Royale was a restart to the Bond franchise, but it still had all the Bond elements. Quantum Of Solace seems to be trying to restart the franchise again, but this time they are trying to make it something else, and it seems to have stripped all the Bond elements from it. Many people have said that the film tries to be more like the Jason Bourne films. But sadly the more like Bourne it tries to get the less like Bond it actually is.

Now I agree that some of the Bond films go way over the top in terms of the gadgets they have, but even Casino Royale managed to include a couple of gadgets. There wasn't a single one that I'm aware of in this film.

The thing that most annoyed me though was the music. David Arnold has done a great job with the music. But this is a James Bond film. Where is the James Bond music? Sure he's included the odd trumpet blast and soaring strings here and there. But what about the James Bond themes. I see why they didn't use the themes in Casino Royale because that film was about how James Bond came to be who we know him to be and therefore he hadn't earned his theme until the end of the film. But it seemed as though the same thing happened with the music in this film. Only when the end credits started did we hear the James Bond theme and by this point it was too little too late.

I've heard rumours already that the next James Bond film will follow on from this one as this one did from Casino Royale. I only hope that it will actually be loyal to the James Bond franchise and not just another reinvention of Bond. We weren't all fans of the first 20 or so films for nothing.

Saw V

If you are familiar with the Saw films then you will know that each one has a cliff hanger at the end and that the next one follows on from the previous one. I myself have only seen Saw IV and Saw (in that order) and so I found it a little hard to follow. But I managed to get the general jist of it. And whilst it's not the best Saw film that I've seen, it is still just as clever as the rest.

If you've seen Saw, Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV then this is a must. However, if you haven't then avoid this film like the plague because you simply won't understand it.

Burn After Reading

I went in expecting to see a really funny film. After seeing the trailer it looked like a very good comedy and after I found out my friend was going to see it at the cinema for a second time I thought, "Okay well now I've got to go."

The film definitely has some funny moments in it, but it wasn't really laugh out loud material, more like chuckle quietly to yourself. It seems to me like the film is trying to be funny the whole time. Now I don't tend to watch a lot of comedies simply because when I watch a comedy, I want to be rolling around in stitches on the floor (like with Bruce Almighty), and of the comedies I've watched 90% of them are very disappointing because this just doesn't happen (e.g. 40 Year Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Along Came Polly). They just make you chuckle, which is what this film does. Sadly this isn't what I'm looking for in a comedy. I've laughed harder playing an episode of Friends back in my head.

Now I think one of the reasons for this film not being all that funny is because of the writing. If you find a lot of today's modern comedies funny then I'm sure you'll find Burn After Reading funnier than I did. But the writing wasn't my biggest problem with the comedy, it was the music.

The music in this film really is amazing, but the trouble is, half the time it doesn't fit the scene. I'm expecting music that is a little lighter and funnier to be playing, in order to go with the jokes, but instead we are given dark and twisted music that is beautiful but inappropriate. It is almost like the music is scoring the subplot, while the characters laugh and joke about what is actually going on. The music makes you concentrate more on the subplot and so distracts you from the comedy making the film less funny then it already is.

Now you might be thinking that this is what the film is trying to do, and it probably is because I can think of no other reason why the film would be scored as it is. But for me this combination just didn't work and I was really put off by it. The trouble is the music is so good that it almost makes me want to go and write a dark film in order for the music to have something that matches it.

If this film was rewritten and had the comedy taken out of it I think it would be an excellent film, because the story really is quite dark and interesting. But because it is a comedy I have to say whilst I wanted to like the film, in actual fact I must be honest with myself and say that I didn't really like it that much. But hey, my friend went to see it twice so I guess it depends what films you really like. I'm just telling my side of the story.

Frost / Nixon Score Preview

There are now 4 tracks from Hans Zimmer's score to Frost / Nixon that you can listen to in full. Just go to http://www.universalpicturesawards.com/ then click on Frost / Nixon, and then score.