No Country For Old Men
A crime thriller and chase movie I guess. Lots of weird and interesting characters. It's a Coen Brothers film, and probably one of the best and the most accessible I've seen - not quite as crazy as some others, and with a plot that is easy to follow. The best thing about the film are the characters and how they are portrayed, and there are some great performances. Highly recommended, but it is quite brutal and also quite dark - don't expect the film to cheer you up :)
The Golden Compass
Both Steph and I have read the trilogy of books - His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - so we were looking forward to the movie. I was kind of disappointed though. Despite an excellent cast and good special effects, something about the film just didn't engage me. I found a lot of the characters unsympathetic, and so did not care too much about what happened to them. I wasn't emotionally involved like I was when reading the book. I've heard the movie didn't do so well, but I hope they continue to make the other books as movies - perhaps they'll do a better job on the next one.
Atonement
Steph read the book a while ago, and loved it, so she practically dragged me to this film. I knew little or nothing about it. Keira Knightley annoyed me as usual - I think she's overrated - but generally the performances were very good, especially Romola Garai. The story told in the film was engaging and exceptionally sad. It was a really good film though.
I Am Legend
I'm a big fan of the book by Richard Matheson, so I was interested to see how the film would be handled. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. The film makes a number of changes, but they all seem to work to make it more exciting to watch - a movie made straight from the book would have been nowhere near as much fun. The special effects were excellent, and reminded me a lot of I, Robot, which was no surprise when I checked and found it was the same effects company. The movie relies a lot more on scary jumps than I expected, rather than being a straightforward action film. I think that may have spoilt it for Steph a little. Also, there is a completely unnecessary car advert sequence at the beginning of the film that spoils the first ten minutes and makes no sense at all. Just stick with it, wipe the start from your mind, and everything will be fine. I wouldn't recommend the movie to everyone, but if you like sci-fi or horror I think you'd like this.
Cloverfield
I was quite excited about this film ever since I saw the teaser trailer. I liked the fact that I didn't know much about the film before I saw it - I think that added to the fun. Yes, there is far too much shaky-cam - don't sit anywhere near the front of the cinema or you will be sick. The characters are rather self-absorbed and not particularly likeable, but I think that's the point to some extent. What the film does really well is put you in the midst of a crazy disaster movie, where you never know what is going to happen next. It was a real thrill ride, with some scary moments (like the subway bit). I've heard varying opinions about this movie, but I think if you like sci-fi or monster films then you'll probably like this a lot. Oh yeah, and the special effects are fantastic - seamless and completely believable.
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