Spirited Away - 2008 **** 1/2

I have never had the slightest interest in Japanese animation which is strange really because I love Disney and Pixar stuff.

However this was in my 1001 movies to see book, so I thought I would give it a go.

I have never seen anything so weird and wonderful in my life.

However I totally loved it and was gripped the whole way through except when my DVD skipped!

You can always count on Japanese movies to be totally bizarre. It was like watching a dream unfold before me and seeing all the strange make believe characters that you might imagine existed when you were younger.

The story is of a young girl who is in the process of moving to a new place with her parents, however after their car breaks down things start to go very weird and her parents, after gorging themselves on some food they find in an empty restaurant turn into pigs, leaving the girl to enter a strange world of spirits and monsters in an effort to save them. I cannot help but reiterate how amazingly weird it is, and I urge people to see it. It's a fable I guess, about living in the real world and escaping into a fantasy? Maybe Japanese people interpret it differently, but I certainly saw it that way, and it only added to my enjoyment. It's convinced me that I have to watch all the other Japanese anime movies I have noticed but never really taken much notice of.

The Bad and The Beautiful - 1952 **

This movie in my opinion was seriously let down by Kirk Douglas. And I'm trying really hard to like watching Lana Turner but she just comes across as rather too arrogant for her own good in most films I have seen her in. She's stunning, but thatdoesn't mean she can actually act. Same as Greta Garbo.

The story revolves around an actress, a screen writer and a director who have all fallen out with Kirk Douglas for individual reasons relating to each of their careers. They are approached by a movie producer who begs them all to reconsider helping Douglas out, and then we are shown a series of flashbacks as to how the situation has got this far. I did think it was probably quite a faithful example of the movie business of the 1950s, but it still didn't grip me in the way I had been so sure it would.

Maybe it will be another film like 'The Thin Man' which I watched and hated the first time, andthen watched and adored the seconds, but I doubt it.

(HORROR) Surviving Evil - 2009 *

Billy Zane's acting career has completely crashed. A totally stupid film. Hideous acting, I don't even want to write a proper review except to say a load of people running around and having sex in a remote forest whilst being chased by a make believe shape-shifter is hardly a good plot device for a horror movie. I'm glad I could delete it off my computer afterwards. Billy Zane should just take up gardening and give up acting.

How Stella Got her Groove Back - 1998 ****

I'd heard great things of this movie but only just finished watching it. I thought it was really amazing. Angela Bassett looks amazing for her ages (I have no idea how close to 40 she actually is in this but she looks lovely anyway).

She stars as a 40 year old woman who has lost all interest in romance and love, and it's only on a whim that she grabs best friend Whoopi Goldberg and takes her off to Jamaica for a break. Both women have totally different ideas of what they want from the holiday, but before long Stella has met a gorgeous young man named Winston who seems utterly besotted by her despite being 20 years younger than her.

This is a pleasing film, although I know some people see the idea of an older woman and a younger man almost bordering on illegal, but to me age shouldn't matter as long as you are compatible. No one ever slags off a Hugh Hefner wannabe snagging a young girl.

Anyway, a great film, a happy film, an upbeat film, showing you that love usually comes along when you least expect it. Plus some great songs.

Beauty Shop - 2005 ****

I really like Queen Latifah, she's the epitome of a strong, independant and larger than life woman.

In this movie she plays Gina, who decides to open up her own salon when she quits her old job working for Jorge (Kevin Bacon) who constantly puts her down and insults her work.

Starting up the new place is tough, but with the help of her friends, her relatives and a lovely man upstairs she soon has the whole place buzzing and full to the brim with customers. Jorge is disgusted, and sets out to ruin her plans.

A really good cast, an upbeat movie with a feel-good factor.

Buried - 2009 *****

I'll be honest, I put off watching this film for a really long time because I had seen the first five minutes or so and though that Ryan Reynolds was pretty rubbish.

When my best friend came over I decided it was time to dust it off and press play, and I must say I was completely gripped by his acting, and think this is one of the most controversial and powerful movies of the year.

Reynolds plays an American truck driver stationed out in Iraq, who wakes up to find himself buried in a coffin with only a handful of things such as a phone to help him before his oxygen supply runs out.

The first thing he tries to do is establish how and why he is in the situation and then tries to ascertain how best to get himself out. Throughout the film there is only Reynolds, (there are voices on the phone but no other bodies) he carries the whole movie effectively by himself in this small, concealed area, and I think his acting is pretty darn amazing. He has totally gone up in my estimations as an actor.

Many people will probably wonder how you can make a whole film based around this topic, but it can be done, and done to the bet of it's ability. Plus an ending I really didn't expect. A film that will leave you shocked and shaking for ages afterwards.

Smiley Face - 2007 ****

This was utterly hilarious. I actually fell off my chair at one point because I was laughing so much.

Anna Faris really is one very funny actor, and in this she plays a layabout stoner who eats her room-mate's hash cupcakes by accident and ends up running all over town trying to get attend an audition, find some money and hide from a less than happy drug dealer who she owes dosh - all in one very long acid-trip day.

Some scenes really had me in stitches, and the whole film seems like it would be even funnier if you were drunk or at the very least high on red bull.

One I will want to see again.

(HORROR) Homecoming - 2009 **

My best friend came over the other weekend and we decided to watch a couple of horror films.

I must say that I was hoping this was going to be far better than it was. It seemed to be a mix of 'Misery' and 'Single White Female' but with none of the really good bits.

Mischa Barton, whom I last saw playing a wimpy non-descript character in the OC totally came out of her shell in this to play a psychologically disturbed young woman who decides to seek revenge when the ex love of her life comes back home for the holidays with his new girlfriend.

On the surface she is happy and supportive of his new relationship, but underneath she is angry beyond compare, and we soon learn that she is hiding some terrifying secrets from her past.

Some scenes are horrifying (there was one scene reminiscent of 'Misery' that made us grimace and have to look away), some are totally ridiculous, and others (including a scene with a mammouth plate of ham) had us rolling on the floor.

Not one I would recommend, instead I would tell people to see the two films mentioned above, but on a plus side Barton's acting was pretty good.