Title= The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Score= 4.5 out of 10
Summary= Alexandre Aja takes Wes Craven’s classic and launches it into the new millennium. Adding more gore, freight, characters and story. Fans of the original will be pleased with this treatment and new comers will enjoy this horror coaster full of bloody fun.
Title=The Island
Score=3
Summary=Great plot idea poorly executed in this mindless action movie. There are so many groaning and problematic scenes I really found it hard to enjoy. Coupled with a very poor DVD offering with hidden content that you may well miss, or not as the case may be.
Title=Sky Blue (Wonderful Days)
Score=6
Summary=Wonderful visuals with a superb DTS audio track, just let down by a weaker plot and unexplored characters. If you’re an anime fan though, check out those visuals, they are fantastic, especially the work to place and move the camera in scenes.
Title=Munich
Score=9
Summary=Strong and at times quite brutal, this is a tough and harrowing movie to watch, but ultimately very satisfying. There are a few twee Spielberg moments, and a slight feeling of being a little lost towards the end of the movie, but overall it’s a superb piece of work. Visually it gives the impression of the time, with costume and filming work shining, then there’s the excellent writing and great performances from some of the leads. Well worth watching, but again, not an easy film to watch.
Title=Walk the Line
Score=10
Summary=There’s nothing but praise for this movie, the actors give excellent performances individually and together showing great chemistry, and strongly backed by a very good cast. Then there’s the superb writing and that very satisfying circular story, filled with superbly visualised shots. The music is superb and gives such weight to that opening sequence. This is a stunningly good film, if you weren’t a Cash fan before, watch out.
Title=Match Point
Score=9
Summary=Not liking Woody Allen I was surprised that I liked this movie, and just how good it is. It’s very real with some excellently scripted moments, and the turning point of this movie is a huge surprise, nothing that you’d expect from Allen. Johansson is very strong as is the rest of the British supporting cast, although Rhys-Meyers does disappoint somewhat. Excellent movie though.
Title= Gremlins (1984)
Score= 6
Summary= Steven Spielberg presents this Christmas tale of torment and mischief. Little green monsters terrorize a small town during Christmas, breaking things, killing things, and watching a little Snow White. Zach Galligan, the cute as hell Phoebe Cates, Corey Feldman and we can’t leave out Judge Reinhold, all star in this fun movie.
Title= Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Score= 6
Summary= Ron Howard brings this classic Seuss story to the big screen in a big way. He gets big names like Jim Carrey who plays the Grinch and a list of stars. This light movie is perfect for all ages, and is especially perfect for the Holidays. Howard and his team set the bar for Seuss interpretations with this movie.
Title= Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977)
Score= 5
Summary= This creation of Jim Henson’s is a Christmas treat. A great family movie that the kids will love. Join Kermit and Robin as they tell the story of a young Otter who along with his friends, try to have the best Christmas ever.
Title= The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Score= 7
Summary= One of the best Muppet movies to date, this rendition of Dickens A Christmas Carol will please both Muppet and Dickens fans alike. With Michael Caine playing Scrooge and the rest of the Muppet cast filling in the rest of the parts, this movie is perfect for pumping up the Christmas spirit.
Title= National Lampoon’s – Christmas Vacation (1989)
Score= 8
Summary= The third installment of the Vacation movies, Clark W. Griswold has fantasies of having a good old fasion family Christmas at home. He invites the whole clan to Chicago along with a few unexpected house guests (Eddie). Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis, Doris Roberts, William Hickey and Brian Doyle-Murray give us lots of laughs making Christmas Vacation a stand out from the rest of the franchise. A must see for the Holiday season.
Title= Santa Claus – the movie (1985)
Score= 5
Summary= This 1985 big Christmas production is a blast from the past. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc stars Dudley Moore as an elf who goes to NYC in order to impress his boss Santa. In NY he gets mixed up with an evil toy manufacturer played by John Lithgow. Lithgow want to put Santa out of business and Moore must fight to keep it alive. A great movie for the family and a retrospective of cutting edge movie effects in 1985. A forgotten about movie which makes a great conversation piece for your DVD collection.
Title= Elf (2003)
Score= 6
Summary= Jon Favreau directs the cast of Will Ferrell, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen and Zooey Deschanel in this silly fish out of water Christmas tale. Buddy the elf finds out he is a human and heads to NYC to find his father. There he must learn the ways of the city and earn the love of his new family and friends. Buddy finds himself in a number of situations which lead to falling in love, having a new family and of course saving Christmas. A fun movie with a good cast and filled with physical comedy. A nice light hearted film for the Holidays.