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.

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.

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.

Why am I reviewing it? Because I realized the other day that it’s actually pretty much one of my favourite films ever made.

I also assumed that all my friends would have seen it already, but when they told me they hadn’t, I just had to intervene.

The few who I know have watched it now thought it was hilarious.

In Anchorman, we see Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) - San Diego’s leading news reporter – fall in and out of love with the new *SHOCK HORROR* female news correspondent at his news station, played by Christina Applegate.

Sounds like any old boring crap, right?

Well all of those who have seen Anchorman will know that the hilarity of it is actually amazing.

Some notable quotes include:

• “This is Ron Burgundy… and Tits McGee!”
• “Ron, I know it sounds harsh, but God does not want her to live.”
• “What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole… wheel of cheese? How’d you do that? Heck, I’m not even mad; that’s amazing.”

It gets funnier when the quotes are actually put into context.

When I tell you that Judd Apatow – producer of Knocked Up, Superbad and Pineapple Express – is also at the helm of this movie, you’ll surely be even more eager to watch it.

Get it done. You won’t be disappointed.

I didn’t really expect to enjoy it: a couple of years ago I was in the stage play of Fame, and I got so sick of it that I thought I’d probably throw myself off a tall building if I heard any of its songs again. However, I was pleasantly surprised, once more.

Other than the main theme, the only song that they kept from the original version was ‘Out Here On My Own.’ I saw this as a good thing, as it was one of the few songs I could listen to without getting awful flashbacks of rehearsing it myself. Of course, you’ll probably disagree if you’re a real Fame-head who was in love with the original.

I’d say the show-stopping performance of the movie was given by newcomer Naturi Naughton. Her vocals reminded me of a young Jennifer Hudson – brassy, sharp and ultimately extremely powerful. I was happy to see Will & Grace’s Megan Mullally star too – she gave a fabulously comedic performance singing ‘You Took Advantage of Me’.

Although I wouldn’t want to watch it again, the remake certainly appealed to a more up-to-date and relevant audience than the original. Definitley two hours well spent.

Overall movie rating: 7 out of 10.

Take my latest theatrical venture: Ricky Gervais’ new film The Invention of Lying.

Now, the reviews were not too kind about his new movie; one British newspaper even labelled the film as a ‘turkey’, a.k.a. ‘the one movie you should purposely avoid seeing.’

Obviously, my hopes for my upcoming cinema experience were not very high. I was expecting to be sat through a 2-hour long movie with very little laughs, an all too obvious plot and acting that was about as dry as a 600 year old prune.

However, I was pleasantly surprised!

There was more humour than expected, a hilarious plot (which involved Ricky imitating Moses and the 10 commandments using ‘Pizza Hut’ boxes as substitute for stone tablets) and some awesome guest stars running alongside!

As Tina Fey is a personal comedic hero of mine, I couldn’t help squealing a little when I saw her. For those of you who don’t know, Fey is the genius behind Mean Girls and TV series 30 Rock. Jennifer Garner (Alias, Juno) and Rob Lowe (The West Wing, Brothers & Sisters) also star. The movie did get a little boring at times, but I’m not really a reliable person to ask – I get bored super easy.

I wouldn’t say ‘lying’ beats Ricky’s debut blockbuster Ghost Town, but I suppose you’re always biased towards the movie you saw first. Like, if I saw American Pie before I saw American Beauty, I’d obviously prefer American Pie. You know?

Taking all this into consideration, it all points to the fact that whether a review either slates or praises a movie, it’s always down to the personal opinion of the writer.

Overall Rating: 7/10.