When 10 year old Sophie witnesses a real life giant sneaking about in her village during the early hours of the night, she is taken by this huge creature to his home! But soon the young girl realizes that the giant is actually quite gentle and charming.

As their friendship grows, Sophie's presence attracts the unwanted attention of other giants. Rather unpleasant ones and Sophie and her new friend travel to see the queen in the hopes of setting a plan to rid the land of these no gooders.

I read the BFG many years ago and could hardly remember the story so comparing it to the book would prove pointless.

But I honestly thought that Spielberg did a marvelous job of recreating this story with subtle yet wonderful themes by John Williams (As usual). And of course the stars! Mark Rylance was incredible as the BFG. It's atmospheric, funny and well made. It gets 4 stars from me!

As fearful as i was, we decided to finally get around to watching the new Ghostbusters movie this weekend.

This time round, an all female cast driven mostly by Kristen Wiig's character who is inadvertently placed in a most unusual position when she is drawn into a possible haunting investigation which ultimately ruins her professional career.

From there she meets up with Abby Yates played by McCarthy & colleague Jillian Holtzmann to start research which becomes a business.

The story follows the original movie very closely in terms of plot, story line and homage but sorely lacks two major things.
1. There is no real known villain in the movie. The first had Zuul. The second had Vigo. The third? A guy called Rowan North. Yup.
2. The cast are just not that believable at playing their respective roles. I could believe Egon was a scientist. I could believe Venkman was a washout and a ladies man. Unfortunately i didn't get anything from the new cast.

The story could have been a little more scary with the use of good humor similar to what the original offered. This one seems to be a little sillier and less on the scare factor. Even the overuse of CGI made it less believable.

There was little to drive the plot and you have instances where the characters end up in the mayors office under no plausible reason. "Saving the day" had no city residents cheering and it felt awkward.

Even the music was lackluster compared to the magical score from the original by genius Bernstein.

It is a huge pity that they did not carefully make this movie to appeal to a wider audience. And of course that a lot of the parodies could have been avoided because it ultimately injured this movies reputation.

Was it all that bad? No, In fact it was an okay watch. But it could have been MUUUUUUCCCH better.

I give it 3 stars.

I saw Disclosure for the first time. Michael Douglas really seemed like the to-go-to-guy when it comes to erotic thrillers in the 90's and 80's with Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct on his resumé. This one however was more of a thriller than an erotic one despite one scene. But a good one none-the-less. Douglas always give good performances and Demi Moore was attractive and dangerous. What I like the most about the movie was the honest play of the situation. Despite foul play on DigiCom's side as portrayed in the movie. Douglas and his lawyers play the game quite honestly. And his wife in the movie remained supportive while definitely not liking what he did which was getting seduced by Moore but resisted in the end. She presses charges against him and when he founds out why, he presses charges against her and the game is on. Another nice touch was cutting the subject on virtual reality, which was a nice sequence when Douglas goes to look for evidence in the program. This movie is 22 years old and virtual reality is become more and more known lately. It's like what Crichton wrote becomes real. Maybe there is a way to bring back live dinosaurs too.

Anyway, the movie was really good.

Double Jeopardy starring Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Greenwood and Jay Brazeau. Judd plays a mother who's convicted of killing her husband. After six years she's released from jail and starts looking for her son whom she left in the care of a close friend. However after one month in jail, she never hears or see them again. When she is released on parole, she starts to look for them and is followed by her parole officer who tries to bring her back in. A few nice action sequences and twists.

Dead Calm with Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. Sam Neill is an Aussie? After a tragic car accident in which their son died Neill and Kidman are going sailing in the pacific trying to get over the tragedy. During their journey they meet Zane who is completely out of it after he saw his passengers die of foodpoisoning on a ship nearby. Neill is suspicious of his story and decided to check the ship out, leaving Kidman with Zane. The next moment, Zane taking over the sailboat and holding Kidman prisoner while Neill ends up trapped on a slowly sinking ship and finds out what really happened. Now he has to find a way back to Kidman and take care of Zane.

Videodrome. An insanely menacing movie from the deranged mind of David Cronenberg. Might not be everyone's cup of tea. Note: Leslie Carlson (Sparky and Mac's doctor in Passages) plays a role in this movie but dies a very gruesome death.

After a decade from disappearing, Jason Bourne is drawn out in the public once again when the CIA director hires a hacker to find him, by tracking former operative Nicky Parsons who coincidentally is also looking for him. It's a nother Bourne movie which veers away from the novels and starts to become a little monotonous. The action is great, the casting, the editing. It's good stuff to watch but "treading" on the same plot is starting to get old. 3 stars from me.

I don't know why but I never ever liked Matt Damon.

Last seen movies: Unknown. A great action movie with Liam Neeson, who ends up in a car accident, knocking him into a four day coma. When he regains consciousness, nothing is anymore what it seems. He was supposed to be in Berlin for a congress, but it turns out he was there for other reasons and his wife does not recognise him anymore.

The Fly. I think David Cronenbergs best movie. Not for weak souls but in some way also a love story. This movie has one of the most tragic endings ever.

Trailer of the new Power Rangers movie is online at least on Facebook. It looks really great.

"Amadeus" is based on the play of the same name by Peter Shaffer. It portrays a fictionalized account of the life of famous classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, emphasizing an intense rivalry between him and composer Antonio Salieri. The film creates a great sense of period with lavish sets and elegant costumes.

Tom Hulce leads the cast as Mozart with high energy, and he creates a memorable character. Mozart is portrayed as a man whose vices and juvenile conduct are only exceeded by his genius in creating music. My favorite performance of the film, however, is F. Murray Abraham's skillful performance as Mozart's rival, Antonio Salieri. He convincingly creates a Salieri that narrates the story as a conniving and bitter man but manages to elicit sympathy when he laments that he can never be as prolific or well-known as Mozart. There are excellent supporting performances in the film, too, including Elizabeth Berridge as Mozart's submissive wife Constanze and Jeffrey Jones as Emperor Joseph II with a matter-of-fact manner.

The rivalry between Mozart and Salieri is well-developed, and the film never becomes monotonous despite its length. In addition to the characterizations, the film appropriately includes dazzling segments of classical music and representations of staged operas. The end narration of Salieri is very well-written and touching. Truly F. Murray Abraham's Salieri is a champion for mediocrity.

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A lucky weekend for me and the chance to catch up on two oldies.

The first was I.Q.


Released back in 1994, the story tells the tale of Mechanic Ed Walters played by Tim Robbins who falls in love with Princeton Student Catherine Boyd played by Meg Ryan and tries to find a way to impress her with the help of her uncle. A certain man known as Albert Einstein!

It is a delightful tale which carries a lot of humor and is a fun watch. 3 stars from me.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of this science fiction milestone, we decided to watch the Special Edition of Aliens.


By now, i assume most of you have seen this Cameron classic. But if you haven't, it is the direct sequel to the 1979 movie Alien directed by Ridley Scott. Set 57 years after the events of the first movie, Ripley's shuttle is discovered by a salvage team who at first disbelieve Ripley's encounter after convincing her that a colony of Terraformers have been occupying the planet she encountered the aliens for the past 20 years. But after losing contact with the colonists, the company convince Ripley to return with heavily armed colonial marines to destroy the threat.

The special edition contains at least 17 minutes of extra footage that was not seen before and includes a great scene where you discover the fate of Ripley's daughter. (Yes she had one).

It is a movie that still holds up to this day and is almost as perfect as you can get for this type of movie. 5 stars.

Aliens! Good choice!

Third in the entry of the rebooted franchise, Beyond takes the crew to the outer reaches of space where by surprise attack, send the Enterprise hurtling down a strange planet and into the clutches of an evil villain known as Krall.

Teaming up with an alien female, Kirk & Spock counter a plan to battle their new found enemy.

It was nice to see this entry trying to make it on its own without the need of assistance from the original crew however it barely made it through the cracks. It is a fun movie to watch with loads of visual effects to blow you away yet watching this entry made me think to myself, "Nothing beats the originals".

3 & a half stars from me.

I shall have to catch up Denizen, I still haven't made it to seeing number 2 of the new ST franchise - up to that point the only one I had missed of the whole ST movie franchise at the cinema. I did quite enjoy number 1 though. I've never seen Aliens though, I'm not keen on scary things and that's always sounded a bit on the scary side!

Im sure you will enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed the second Star Trek movie (Into Darkness). Third was also good. Just, not great. IMO.

As for Aliens, yes, it is a science fiction classic and one to certainly watch. It is creepy but also has some good performances by its cast including Weaver who was nominated for an Oscar for best actress in a leading role (No kidding!).

You are probably thinking, i am not really a premiere kind of guy. And you're right!

I usually wait for the heat to die down.

Well, we finally saw Suicide Squad. And based on the comic book i used to vaguely read ages ago (Like back in 1990), the story is about a group of known villains who are thrown into the mix by an intelligence agent in the hopes of using their unique skills to protect humanity from the next possible threat. Getting along is about as difficult as being reformed back to humanity's ways but we soon realize they are all aware of their sins and feel pity.

So far I have not really enjoyed Man of Steel nor Batman Vs Superman. Yet I found this to be more entertaining than the others. Ben Affleck makes a few cameos in this movie as Batman including the new Flash (Movie version). I still personally dislike Affleck as Batman but tried swallowing my pride for this movie.

Overall, its quite good. But its also not great. I give it 3 & half stars.

Last seen movies: Don't Breathe at the theatre and The Others at home.

Don't Breathe was a great and not your-normal-run-of-the-mill horror movie. Maybe not original but definitely refreshing in the genre. Three kids try to rob a blind man from his money which is about three hundred grant. Getting in isn't easy but getting out is even more difficult. Looks like the blind man is a more formidable opponent than you might think. It was good but I have never had such an irritating audience as that time. They just couldn't shut up.

The Others was another great one. Seen it before and remembered pretty much but the ending sure took me. Nicole Kidman was as usual great in her role as a devout religious and strict mother. Sometimes it's not about gore or blood but simply moods and sounds. I did notice a younger Michelle Fairley (Catalyn Stark, Game of Thrones) in a small supporting role at the end though.

And is it me or are Spanish directors better in making horror movies than others? Fede Alvarez and Alejandro Amnŕbar both directed these movies and they score pretty good. Also Guilllermo Del Toro comes to mind.

Seen a few this week.

I've seen La Horde and High Lane. Two French horror movies. I can tell you one thing about French horror movies. They are brutal. La Horde was sort of a mix of The Raid and Resident Evil. A police raid turns into a zombie fest. Both criminals and cops have to work together to survive the night.

High Lane is the English given title for the French movie Vertige probably to avoid confusion with Vertigo. It's more of a nod to movies like Wrong Turn. Bunch of friends end up in the woods and they enter the hunting territory of a cannibal of some sort. Also very brutal. I actually like the thing they were doing in the movie. They go into the Croatian mountains but they're not really mountain climbers. They're like mountain hikers. There's a bit of climbing involved but all they got to do is to follow the course along the way. There are like cables strapped along the mountains in which you can hook up to and than just follow the cables. It seemed like fun and easy. Of course be careful for any woodsmen.

Third, I've seen was actually a Belgian movie called The Prime Minister. Belgian movies became quite interesting in the past 13 years. Before De Zaak Alzheimer or Memories of a Killer, the last thing I wanted to see was Belgian movie. But they're getting better especially in the thriller genre or comedy genre. The Prime Minister belongs in the thriller genre and has to my opinion the best Belgian actor in it Koen De Bouw. Even though Mathias Schoenaerts has an international career. But nearly every major Belgian movie stars Koen De Bouw. Anyway the plot of the movie was that The Prime Minister was being forced to kill the President of the United States, if not they would kill his family. Maybe not very original, if you have seen movies like Firewall for instance, but to Belgian standards this is a pretty big movie.

Looking good! Kinda reminds me of the Old Wolverine comics

So my daughter wanted to see Bridget Jones' Baby. Well I've never been a BJ fan, but I ended up there on Wednesday. I don't think it was her best run out. They are all looking far too old, esp. Colin Firth. She is still just as infuriating as she ever was. A lot of the visual 'comedy' was somewhat predictable, and I only really laughed about 10 minutes from the end. I won't give away the plot, but I suppose it was OK to sit through. All things considered I guess I will give it 6 out of 10.

I think those are the real chick-flicks. If you want a good one with Renee Zellweger, I'd suggest Cold Mountain.

If I am being honest I've never really been a fan of Renee Zellweger. I wasn't into her in either of the other two films and she was no better in this one.

Cold Mountain is an excellent flick. Beautifully filmed ..... and much of it in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania - believe it or not! Ground breaking in that it was edited on Apple's Final Cut Pro - a sub $1000 software package.

OK, I'll look out for it. I'll give most things a go!

Last night we decided that our Halloween choice of horror movie would be the Haunting (1999).

A remake of the 1963 original, Nell, Theo & Luke are invited to Hill House by Dr. David Marrow in the hope to study the effects of insomnia, when in actual fact he is secretly planning on investigating fear in his subjects with a couple of plans he has. Unfortunately however, little to Dr Marrow's knowledge, the house he has invited them to is actually haunted!

Released in 1999 and directed by Jan De Bont of Speed & Twister fame, this was unfortunately De Bont's second miss (After Speed 2) which subsequently ruined his career. The original has always been regarded as far superior to that of this remake however it has grown on me over the years and although it is anything but scary, makes for a good old ghost story. An impressive cast too including Catherine Zeta Jones, Liam Neeson, Owen Wilson Virginia Madsen & Lili Taylor.

3 stars from me.

Neeson is cool, Zeta-Jones is hot. I've seen this one once but it was indeed not good and it ended De Bont's career.

Last seen four movies.

The Lion King. Great 90 minutes but I pass on the unnecessary songs. That's what turns me off the most on Disney Classics. I don't know what it's good for. It distracts me of the movie and slows everything down. But great voice especially Scar, the great Jeremy Irons. It is one reason to watch animation movies and do the identify the voice game. There was Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones (great choice for Mufasa), Rowan Atkinson and Whoopi Goldberg. There was also a great slow motion battle with Simba and Scar in the end. Even a first I think for a Disney film.

Secondly, I have seen First Knight. A movie I heard a lot about as a kid but never saw it. I knew the title and Sean Connery and Richard Gere but that was about it. Maybe a tad long but not that bad. The movie was acted quite earnest by both men. The openness Connery shows as King Arthur towards Lancelot is rarely seen I think in movies. There was also the ever beautiful Julia Ormond. There were a couple of great action sequences, attacks and battles. I think Lancelot was a great character. He would cease every moment or danger and face it no matter what, he has nothing to lose and seems to enjoy it. Maybe this would've been a great alternate title for Good Knight MacGyver. And I've seen things that I could see Mac do like rescue Guinevere. In all it was a good movie but there was still something missing or lacking to be make it the big movie it could've been but it was decent attempt on the story.

Thirdly, Hideaway. A decent but not so great horrorfilm with Jeff Goldblum shot in British Columbia. Could've sworn that background we see in the introduction is the same we see when Passages starts. Also the finale seems to take place in a very familiar place. The amusements park from Brainwashed. I'm not sure if it's that amusements park but the old rollercoaster sure looked familiar. Anyway, the movie is about a man who died in a car accident and came back to life. But afterwards he's beginning to see things through a killers eyes... hmmm. Through The Eyes of A Killer, anyone? Somehow when he came back to life, he got connected to a serial killer who seems to be going after his daughter. Despite a decent beginning and a great car accident the movie is not so great. Just a little poorly written, I think. There could've been so much more to it.

And lastly, F.I.S.T. One of Stallone oldest films (the one after the first Rocky). A bit on the long side and obvious 70's movie. But not a bad attempt to make a movie on the form of unions and on how Sly's character Johnny Novak who was once a worker during the Great Depression becomes a wealthy and powerful person in the 50's. I did get the idea that some scenes when things got going got cut off which makes the most intense moments too short to really enjoy them though. But the movie shows that Stallone can actually act despite what everyone thinks. Maybe not on a De Niro level, never but he can act on his own level. Interesting is though this movie was loosely based on Jimmy Hoffa's life. A guy who formed unions with possible ties to the Mafia and one day just ended up missing.

Friday night i finally got around to watching.....


Yes, i know what most of you are thinking. This is the reboot to the old Van Damme classic of the 1980's. Except this time around Van Damme plays the teacher instead of the apprentice role.

Eric Sloane, an honorable kickboxing fighter is lured into an underground fight in Thailand with infamous fighter Tong-Po played by Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame. But when the ruthless fighter brutally ends his life, his younger brother Kurt devotes himself to training with his brother's master in a quest for redemption and revenge.

There are a feast of cameos in this movie from the likes of a lot of well-known fighters including Gina Carano and most of the stars try to play their parts as faithful to the original as possible. It certainly isnt an Oscar winner but it had a little heart in it which made for a fun 3 star watch. And if you like these sort of movies, this wasn't bad.

Vengeance is apparently the first in a trilogy of movies. (Part 2 has already been filmed and due for release next year) Apparently Van Damme will star in all 3.

I remember seeing the second Kickboxer with Sasha Mitchell years ago. I even had it on VHS but it just ended up forgotten in my collection.

In all honesty, the sequels were terrible in my opinion. The new movie feels a cut above those. I heard a rumor that Sasha will make an appearance in one of the reboots but not sure which one and i don't remember seeing him in Vengeance.

That's probably why it ended up forgotten I think.

Last seen movie: After.Life

After.Life starring Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long. Anna (Ricci) and Paul (Long) are playing a troubled couple trying to get out of their dragging relationship but each time they end up argueing. After an attempt to reconcilitation in which Paul wants to give her a ring and ask to move out with him, Anna angrily leaves the restaurant thinking he's breaking up with her. Paul running after her trying to explain. She takes off in her car and has a car crash afterwards. When she regains consciousness, she sees that she's in a morgue with a mortician saying she's officially dead. However she's not convinced she is. The question is, is she dead or alive? If she's dead, can the mortician speak with the dead and if she's alive, is he than a serial killer?

The movie is meant to keep the viewer guessing without being or wanting to be an intelligent film. But just enough to make you help wonder what's real and what's not and whether she is indeed still alive or dead.

Last seen movies:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Among fans probably a classic and despite a very promising start, the film is a bit too lengthy and Richard Dreyfuss is too much of a geek. Of course that's the whole point but I think I'd want my lead character a little more solid. I wasn't really disappointed, I think it's a shame to movie couldn't hold his grip that it had in it's first half hour to forty minutes. Later it's mostly about peoples watching stuff. I watched the director's cut which was the longest version though. Despite the positive message the movie couldn't please me in the end. Maybe I was just waiting for that guy who would open up a can of Zwan sausages in that old commercial during the landing and they would share Zwan sausages with the aliens and everybody would start to dance.

The Condemned.

A WWE movie with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones. Practically a Battle Royale rip-off. Ten prisoners who are on death row are chosen to participate in a tournament set on a remote island. The idea is to kill everyone else, the one who remains is the winner, gets a fat paycheck and freedom. But does everything go according the rules? Not the first time I've seen this movie. First time I thought it was bad because it's a Battle Royale rip-off. Now I took a bigger liking to Steve Austin and above all the movie is written by Rob Hedden. To me it was more than enough reason to give it another shot. And above all it's a brainless violent action movie, exactly what I needed last night.