Anyway, this horror/thriller, starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (perhaps best known for period drama series The Tudors), tells the story of a mental patient with multiple personalities.

Moore’s character Cara is a forensic psychiatrist who doesn’t believe the disorder exists. Unfortunately, she gets more than she bargained for when David (Meyers) begins to put members of her family in danger.

I watched this film with one of my best friends, who is adamant it is one of ‘the best films she’s seen in ages!’

I’m not so convinced.

The acting ability within the film is definitely high. Meyers succeeds in playing a variety of different characters and changing their accents accordingly. Moore does just as well, with more minor characters being acted expertly.

I have an issue with horror movies in general, though: they’re just never original.

We always get some dark, seedy setting, like an abandoned lake house or a disused hospital and the plot usually just consists of each of the characters being murdered, with the main character being the only survivor.

This is pretty much what ‘Shelter’ was like.

There were some elements of originality to the film: the idea of ancient witchcraft affecting the dynamic of the main plot and its combination with mental illness gives it at least some positives.

Horror films also rarely make me ‘jump’. But there were some points in which my heart literally felt like it had stopped.

Overall, I think the film was too long. It must have been around 2 and a half to 3 hours, which I felt dragged.

If you’re a fan of great acting, watch this film. If you’re not a fan of obvious plot lines and the usual horror ‘obvious’ outcomes, don’t watch it.

Honestly, I won’t be watching it again, but I do understand why some would enjoy this film.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10.

Well I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of this movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, because of the glittering reviews it’s been receiving. And this movie is one to believe everything you hear about it. (Unless those things are bad, of course.)

Inception is a story of one man’s life and how he has dabbled in ‘intercepting’ people’s dreams. He figures out a way of stepping into people’s dreams and even forming his own, with the help of a few colleagues.

This movie sees Cobb (DiCaprio) undergoing a job for his boss, who wants to find out a secret through the art of dreaming.

Helping him along his way are Ariadne (Ellen Page – who gives a stunningly contrasting performance to the one she so expertly played in indie comedy Juno) and his best friend Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt), along with a few others. Each of his ‘team’ plays a vital role in ensuring that the job is done and that the inception runs like clockwork.

Marion Cotillard also stars as Cobb’s disturbed wife, adding a touch of class to the cast list.

There are scenes within this movie that are packed with stunning action sequences and the whole film is literally based on intelligent ideas, theories and a complex, yet relatively easily understandable, plot.

This is possibly the best film I’ve seen in theatres for years – there are twists, turns and moments that will have you clinging to the edge of your seat.

Not to be missed.

Overall Rating: 10 out of 10.

That’s what I thought about Toy Story 2, in short.

But what about Toy Story 3? Could it live up to the legacy the first 2 films carried with them?

Honestly? I think it does.

Toy Story 3 sees the toys move to a kindergarten, in which they don’t enjoy their stay. I won’t say anything more about it, other than their escape plan is literally genius.

There are also a few new additions to the clan, including huggable toy bear, Lotso, and the extremely cutely named ‘Mr. Pricklepants’. (He’s a hedgehog. It’s not as weird when you know this fact.)

Of course, this film was packed with hilarity. I always say the best animated films come with jokes that entertain both the children and the adults and this movie definitely does both.

The animation, as always, was flawless. Only thing I wasn’t sure about was the fact that it was 3D. To me, nothing was really added visually because of it, and it would have been just as good in good old-fashioned 2D.

The only thing I thought wasn’t so strong was the storyline.

There are a couple of tear-jerking moments, but in comparison to Toy Story 2, it seems much less fleshy. Like there could have been a few more twists and turns.

However, that’s just me being critical.

I really did enjoy it.

I’m not sure it surpasses Toy Story 2 – my favourite –  but it is definitely worthy of its ‘Toy Story’ title.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10.

Wait, that was last year?! Jesus, that time flew by.

And did they do better than last time?

Well before seeing the movie myself, I read in several places that this movie was supposedly better than the first 2 combined. So, I went into the theatre expecting a pretty good movie.

The best thing about this time round was that it was a little humorous. The script was slightly comedic in places, and the funny lines were delivered mainly by Bella’s Dad, Charlie, and quite surprisingly, Jacob, played by Taylor Lautner.

This was a vast improvement on the last movie, which focused mainly on a depressive, emo Bella Swan, and was quite frankly very boring.

Acting-wise, Dakota Fanning still steals the show. It’s that piercing stare and baby-like, haunting smile Fanning is able to turn on and off like a light switch when she plays Jane that makes her the most under-used yet most talented actor in the saga.

Otherwise, it’s hard to find anything good about the film. The plot sorta sucks when it’s not in book form – nothing much really happens. I could have probably written a more interesting plotline myself, if I’m honest.

Again, it was too long. I often find myself thinking “I want this to end now” when watching movies and this was definitely no exception. I got bored. Verrrrry bored.

I wouldn’t watch this again, let alone buy the DVD. I think if I had to watch it the 2nd time round, I’d be reading the book at the same time instead. And let’s face it, it’s long enough for me to finish the bloody book before the film finishes.

So for any of you who believed what the reviews said in that this was the best movie so far, they lied. Just letting you know.

Don’t see it unless you’re a serious Twi-Hard.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 10.

Well, I saw this film with 3 of my best friends and my girlfriend. The odd thing is, they all seemed to enjoy it. However, I had a completely different opinion.

In the film, we see Aldous Snow, (played by Russell Brand), an out of control rock star, who has a tendency to do anything and everything that he’s not supposed to. Music escort Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) is given the job of getting Snow to ‘The Greek’ hotel for a comeback concert and we watch his struggle to do so.

Positives about the film include the rockin’ music and the legend that is Jonah Hill.

And uh, that’s about it.

To be honest, Russell Brand isn’t as gorgeous as some appear to think and he really isn’t up to much acting-wise.

The movie itself took far too long to get started, and pretty much every character except for Aaron and his girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss) is ill-developed and difficult to relate to.

Sure there’s the odd laugh, for example, the slapstick song at the end about furry walls, but this isn’t going to be remembered as ‘comedy of the century’. The amount of cameo appearances is impressive, it’s just a shame that the plot isn’t thick enough for any real acting talent to come through.

On the whole, I’d steer clear of this film. It’s definitely not worth the 6 or 7 quid you’ll be paying to see it.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 10. (3 for Jonah, 1 for his wife.)

You see, the reason for this is because my 3 girlfriends and I are so similar to the four main characters in Sex & the City, it’s almost like someone stepped into our lives and based them on us. (Click here if you want a more detailed explanation.)

Of course, the actresses are looking a little worse for wear, but they are definitely ageing gracefully. Kim Cattrall, who plays Samantha, is clearly the oldest of the group – her laughter lines stand out more than any of the others.

But what I love is no matter the age, the 4 women don’t stop.

My favourite scenes include a drunken conversation between Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) & Charlotte (Kristen Davis), in which they humorously discuss the woes of Motherhood.

Things aren’t all plain and simple for Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) either. When the 4 friends visit Abu-Dhabi, she runs into an ex, sending her whole life spinning in the wrong direction. But what happens? I’ll let you see it first.

Well actually, I’d recommend this movie; something which other reviewers have been reluctant to do. In fact, I’ll recommend the movie to all girly girls, and some boyish girls, who can relate to the dramas of these girls. Any woman who looks at this movie with disgust appears to me to be extremely un-feminist and any man? Well, they’re just men really. I wouldn’t expect them to even half understand.

So, 2 different ratings.

For Women: 9 out of 10.

For Men: 3 out of 10.

So when I saw that the DVD was on sale in HMV for £8 last week, I snapped it up straight away.

I’d generally heard that it was beautiful, funny and original, but I never really thought it’d be that good. I mean, it was gonna be a typical story of ‘boy meets girl’, right?

Oh, how I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

I’ve always been a fan of Zooey Deschanel. For anyone who doesn’t know, Zooey is an icon of the independent film, the sister of the talented Emily Deschanel and also lead singer of indie music duo ‘She & Him’. All that and she’s gorgeous. They were onto a winner when they cast her.

Playing the boy who falls in love with Miss Deschanel who plays Summer in the movie is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. My cousin constantly talks about him and his beauty. (Never about his talent though, how shallow…) Anyway, I’ll always remember Mr. Gordon-Levitt from 90s smash sitcom ‘3rd Rock From the Sun’ and I always loved him then, so this pair as the lead roles pretty much wins.

I know what you’re thinking: rom-coms are generally always the same; boys meets girl, they fall in love, boy does something stupid to lose girl, boy does something even more stupid to try and win her back, boy succeeds and they live happily ever after. However, this rom-com is definitely an exception.

I won’t tell you what happens in the film, but the tagline is ‘Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t.’ Make from that what you will.

Aside from the plot, some of the ideas for the filming of this movie is simply poetic. For example, one segment shows a split screen. One screen is titled ‘Expectation’ and the other is titled ‘Reality’. You then see a situation unfold differently, according to their titles. Sounds stupid, but it is incredibly original and definitely one of the highlights.

I’m always a fan of visuals in films. (Remember my review of musical movie ‘Nine’?) This film, although it is set in the 21st century, has a look and feel of the 1960s about it. A lot of it is filtered with undertones of a light brown light and the beauty of Deschanel resembles that of only the most beautiful classic actress.

Supporting this old-age look is the impossibly brilliant soundtrack, with tracks from The Smiths, Regina Spektor and even from Zooey’s little folk band ‘She & Him’. You may not be into this music, but if you class yourself as a bit of an indie kid, then you’ll love it.

So yeah, if I did have to describe this film, it would be with the words ‘beautiful’, ‘funny’ and ‘original’, just like those fans previously said. Damn, I hate being proved wrong.

Overall Rating:

10 out of 10.

Home's title card stands for almost everything it embodies.

When I first stumbled upon Home I wasn’t enthused to go and watch it. On the contrary, I was pretty sure that Home would just be another ‘The Earth is dying and it’s YOUR fault’ movie. The fact is that ‘Global Warming’ has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars for the film industry just as much as it has Western governments and my drive to go and get told why I’m fucking up my own planet, quite frankly, was not how I wanted to spend my Wednesday evening. Thankfully, I had gotten Home quite wrong.

To begin, Home opens with a curious clip of all of the child brands of the PPR Group (the organization that sponsored Home to cover all of their extra costs) swirling around, merging together into the title card for the film. For a film that whiffs of environmentalism even before you begin, it almost puts you off balance of what’s going on: have they uploaded the wrong video? Has some crazy 4chan corporation swapped the video? Sadly, this rather unsightly entry into Home leaves you with low expectations. And even more thankfully, these are then blown out of the water several seconds later with the actual beginning of Home.

After the title card swoops in, the film begins; this is the point where you will either crap your pants in awe or wonder if your eyes just got a Hi-Def-blu-ray-omg-wtf-bbq upgrade. As every shot in Home was filmed in extremely high-definition, the entire sequence of footage flows excellently and produces a real masterpiece of cinematography.

The narrator (Glenn Close) suddenly stars her voiceover. “Listen to me, please,” she begins, “you’re like me.” Her soft, almost raspy voice lends well to the overall feel of Home, and as she’s one of the two entire components of the film, rightfully so. Whilst others might assume someone like Morgan Freeman would fit the role for such a large undertaking, Close delivers something far more ethereal — and far more perfect — in Home. There’s a humility in Close’s voice and it fits just perfectly with what Home is all about; our common humanity is shown well, and whilst her scripting no doubt has a large part to play in this, there’s an excellence spun into Home from the very first, to the very last, words that Close speaks.

Whilst Home is an environmental film, the truth is that Home features far more on the humanity of life on Earth than the impact we’re having. Indeed, only the latter portion of the entire film is about climate change, and even this is given an unexpected twist near the end — contrasted against the usual ‘The world is ending. Run to the hills’ attitude — Home manages to balance ecological awareness with historical and scientific facts.

Indeed, the message of Home is almost a little paradoxical than expected. Where usually I would see some expectation forced on the viewer for them to suddenly become an eco-warrior, there is encouragement of moderation, intelligence and personal responsibility for a greater whole. Rather than trying to push me into the pocket of environmentalism, Home concludes with positivity, hope and real kindness. This, to me, is what makes Home truly striking. They push past the front beauty of the footage presented and really open up the deep mechanisms behind it all; the giant web of life that exists all around us. The role of the consumer. Above everything, the bigger picture in all of our lives, without the bullying nature of general ecological films.

However, there are some real kinks in Home which really make me wonder about to what extent Home is anything more than a voiceover and some fancy cinematography. As you see right from the start, Home was sponsored by the PPR group. PPR contains brands such as Gucci, Puma and YvesSaintLaurent, all of which, just like any other corporations and their respective brands, are based upon consumerism and, ultimately, damage the planet. Whilst I can understand that the PPR group may have simply wanted exposure, the question remains how unadulterated Home really is in all of this.

Nonetheless, Home has a lot to offer to everyone, regardless of age or personal opinion. We see the world, from the mass greenhouses of Spain to the Ganges in India and bush fires in Australia, in the true frame which exists around all of humanity. It’s hard to really quantify Home, and trying to pull it together now holds true to that. I would watch Home again, if not for its message but for the jaw-droppingly stunning beauty of the film. Whilst some parts do feel a little bit “Let’s save the planet from global warming otherwise we’re all going to die”, ultimately there exists a compassion about Home that makes it gentle even for the most cynical of us. For that, I award Home a delicious

9 out of 10 stars

Home is free to watch on the HomeProject channel.

Hell, what am I talking about? There are seriously no mainstream movies about gays out there. Except for Brokeback Mountain.

This time round, the pretty gay couple is played by the ridiculously funny Jim Carrey and a sweet little blonde guy named Ewan McGregor. I’m guessing you’ve heard of them.

Before I went to see I Love You Phillip Morris, I wasn’t expecting much. I’ll be honest. But I was really pleasantly surprised.

I thought it was going to be a sad story in which there were a few laughs but the gay con man would be subject to homophobia and rape and God knows what else.

How I was wrong.

I’m not going to tell you what happens, because it’ll spoil it. And I’m not going to tell you whether it’s a happy ending or a sad one, because I think you should go see this for yourselves.

Carrey plays Steven Russell, a real life gay con man, really rather expertly. He plays gay surprisingly well and somehow incorporates that hilarity that he exudes into a really serious storyline. Always a winner.

McGregor also plays his lover, Phillip, quite well also. He brings a sensitive, innocent character to the film, which is much needed against the sly, craziness of Russell.

Whilst watching, you will feel a sense of sadness, guilt, humour and peace all rolled into one. You forget that the story is actually a real life one, but when you think about it again, you realize that the story is actually quite heart-breaking, yet sickly sweet at the same time. In a good way.

I’m pretty sure if the lead was played by anyone other than Carrey, there’d be nowhere near as much humour. You can sort of tell that some of the jokes were improvised and totally his idea. I enjoy most of Carrey’s work in this way. Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty and The Truman Show are all great examples of his effortless comedic talent and I appreciate him wholly for that.

Plus, he has a hot, hot wife. In real life, of course.

Overall Rating:

Number One

It’s a Martin Scorsese film- Marty is the man! He has been directing since 1959 so knows what he is doing. Gangs of New York, The Departed and Goodfellas are modern classics. These films have pulled in the awards including Best Director for the Departed. Why should this change? Shutter Island is brilliantly directed and the essence of the 1950s is captured superbly.

 Number 2

It’s based on a Dennis LeHane novel- Dennis LaHane films have started appearing in the cinema and past experience tells me that this should be good too. Gone Baby Gone is the most recent film adaptation. Similar to Shutter Island, it is an emotion driven film with a twist at the end. It is a film that I also recommend.

 Number 3

It’s unpredictable- when you enter the cinema you expect the film just to be about a federal investigation of a missing prisoner of Ashecliffe mental asylum. However it involves into so much more. The twist at the end you don’t see coming initially when you see a sea sick DiCaprio on a boat.

 Number 4

It’s filled with great performances- Leonardo DiCaprio’s emotion driven performance makes you feel for him throughout. Ben Kingsley’s complex character of brilliantly portrayed and this all adds to the eventual twist. Mark Ruffalo seemingly insignificant character is brilliantly performed but plays a vital part in this film. In my opinion it is a shame that Mark Ruffalo is not an A Lister yet. He is a suberb actor which is evident in his other work such as Zodiac.

 Number 5

You will leave the cinema in a state of confusion- some films are easy to understand as they spoon feed you information and doesn’t make you think. In contrast, you leave the cinema and you think, “what the hell just happened?” Then you think about it for a few hours about different scenarios. When was the last time you did that at the cinema?

 Number 6

It’s set in the 1950s- One of my favourite films Back to the Future is based in the 1950s. It seems such a nice era to live. However, Shutter Island paints a darker picture of this era. It pulls in themes such as World War Two, Communism and Music of the time which contribute to the dark feel of the film.

 Number 7

It has over the top music- The score for Shutter Island is so loud and bold that it partly made me giggle. It is not something that you would expect in such a film more like at a classical music concert. Why spend so much money on going to a concert when you can see a film which is more entertaining for a fiver? It seems like this is a good value for money event. Plus, this film has all the twists and turns that makes a more entertaining watch than a Mozart concert.

 Number 8

There’s nothing better to watch released this weekend- you can go and see I Love You Philip Morris which will probably be a drawn out mess with the odd laugh in it. Or you can see a film that that will make you think and stay in your mind for the rest of the weekend. The only logical thing to do is spend that fiver on a classic film from a legendary director.

Number 9

It’s on the IMDB 250 best films ever list- don’t just take my word for it; moviegoers from around the world have rated this film as one of the 250 films of all time. Its currently 216 in the 250 films. Check it out on http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

Number 10

A 4 star film- Overall, I give this film 4 stars. A complex and thrilling film that actually makes you think. It is filled with emotion driven performances and it seems so realistic. However the 138 running time may be a little long such a film and at times it does seem to drag on. However, I think that you should see such a film as it is a worth while watch.