(HORROR) Tamara - 2005 **

Pretty laughable horror film about a girl named Tamara who is picked on by her classmates and tragically buried alive by them one evening. The next morning she is shockingly back at school, but this time looking completely different and utterly irresistible to all men. It's just a bit of a stupid movie.

Pervert! - 2005 **

A very ridiculous and over the top movie. Lots of breast shots and pointless nudity. Quite funny in parts, but overall just bad. Don't bother. 

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo - 2005 ***

Another quite funny offering from Rob Schneider.This takes on an almost identical form to the last movie, although this time it's set in Amsterdam. Schneider is good in small doses, but I'm glad I've exhausted his films for the time being.

(HORROR) Gnaw - 2008 *

A stupid, disgusting film that no one should watch or even attempt to google search. Cannibalism in films can only come across properly if the background and events leading up to it are perfect, and this was such a farcical experience that it did nothing to set any type of cannibal tone whatsoever. Avoid at all costs.

(HORROR) The Dinner Party - 2005 **

This looks amazing. Like the type of horror film you really want to see. Something utterly bizarre but horrifically simple as well. (Don't be fooled by the DVD cover because it's nothing like that). A group of friends all gather together for a meal. The host Angela is mentally unstable and adamant that tonight she will be ending her life. She also believes that her boyfriend (who is about to leave her for someone else) is equally keen to die. She thinks that she can have a farewell dinner with all  her favourite people and decides to let drop the reason for the party as she invites everyone.
For one, this is an absurd idea, as who in their right mind would want to sit back and watch either a double suicide or a suicide/murder pact take place in front of their chicken chow mein?
Secondly, Angela's best friend Maddie, seems totally oblivious to the fact that her pal may be dead by the morning, and rushes out eagerly to buy some more heroin for her so that 'she will have enough for the both of them.'
Arthouse cinema is correct, but classy it is not. It's unique, but that's as far as it goes, and the whole thing sort of melts into a bit of a despicable mess after about 1 hour.

Conversations with Other Women - 2005 ****

Short but effective. I love these films where you are introduced to only one or two main characters and then throughout the course of the film, you come to know their stories and their motives for their actions.
Eckhart was better than I imagined he would be, meeting Bonham Carter at a wedding (that of his sister, and her as the 7th bridesmaid). Throughout the evening they flirt, laugh, smile and reminisce about the past. Things take a drastic turn as the wedding winds down for the night, and they both must decide whether to go to bed together, or stay faithful to their respected other halves.
Very well acted. Gripping from start to finish and painfully realistic.

(HORROR) Venom - 2005 *

Awful film. Badly acted. Yawn. Teenagers running around and screaming. God it was boring.

(HORROR) The Final Patient - 2005 **

 

I can't say I thought much either way about this film until towards the end when it just terrified me. For a low-budget movie it creeped me out a lot in the last few scenes. I thought the guy who played the doctor was quite good, but none of the others were, and he pretty much carried the whole film on his back. There is obviously a reason why this film isn't more widely known. Basically because it's awfully done. End of.

(HORROR) Whispering Corridors: Voice - 2005 **

I think I've seen one of the Whispering Corridor movies and wasn't hugely impressed with that. I also appear to be watching them in the wrong order which isn't helping. Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of these Japanese horror films that I'm becoming less and less impressed with the quality of them. The story for this was a bit ridiculous. A girl in the first scene dies after having her throat cut by a sheet of music.. something symbolic there I imagine. We then learn that the girl is dead but knows that she is and only her best friend can hear her when she sings because she has such a beautiful voice (although she really doesn't. It's a bit like a cat trapped in a washing machine.) She wanders around the school in an ethereal state while the rest of her classmates don't seem to care a bit that she's dead. It's very odd. I can't say I enjoyed it, and it dragged a heck of a lot.

Thank You For Smoking - 2005 *

For a film with such a good cast (oh and look, there's Katie Holmes again equally as riveting) this was a surprisingly bad film. A bit like 'I Heart Huckabees' which I hated, this was a mess of a film, with Aaron Eckhart trying to be everything he wasn't. He works for the tobacco industry and the whole film is based around him trying to make out that tobacco is good for the nation. He comes up with numbers and statistics to show that this is the case and even goes on talk shows head to head with Lung Cancer specialists etc, so confident is he that his choice is correct. In my opinion (as a non-smoker) a pointless and uninteresting film. Even smokers will be bored.

Chromophobia - 2005 **

One of those awfully bleak films where everything is going wrong for all the main characters and you don't know whether to feel sorry for them or to despise them for the ridicculous choices they make. Kristen Scott Thomas acts like she's utterly deranged and Penelope Cruz is a deeply unpleasant human being. I liked the soundtrack (The Thieving Magpie in particular) but I can't find anything credible about this movie. In short, one of those films where you finish watching it and find yourself in the slough of despond.

(HORROR) Noriko's Dinner Table - 2005 **

I'm not quite sure why this is called a sequel to 'Suicide Club' because if anything it is a prequel to the events leading up to the mass suicide under the train at the beginning of the latter. It's extremely confusing, but what I got from it was that a young girl named Noriko who doesn't feel like she belongs in her family and her current life, runs away to Tokyo to meet the founder of a teenage chat room whom she has been speaking to. It turns out that every person who committed suicide under the train was also a member. Sort of a place for lost souls to go who 'don't fit in'. However, the girl she meets turns out to be a very peculiar being who, along with her family delights in playing strange mind games with Noriko and telling her lies about how she was brought up. She succeeds in 'brainwashing' Noriko into believing that she has no family and that she lives there with her.
It's all very odd, a bit more in the vein of 'Strange Circus' than 'Suicide Club' but also seems to deal more with Tokyo culture and how teenage girls get sucked into an artificial world of celebrity.

The White Countess - 2005 ***

I always find it very sad to watch Natasha Richardson in anything nowadays since her tragic death in 2009. Mainly because she was such a beautiful and talented actress with a tremendously wide acting range.
Set in 1930's Shanghai, the Merchant Ivory film follows the exploits of a woman named Sofia (aka Countess Belinskya) who has found work as a dancer in a sleazy club after escaping from the Russian revolution. There she meets Fiennes, a former official who has lost both his wife and children in 2 separate terrorist bombings. The result of this has left him blind, (I actually didn't even notice until about half way into the film!) After opening a luxurious nightclub he convinces Sofia to start working for him and in her honour, names the club 'The White Countess.'
This film did drag a bit, but was beautifully done with sumptuous acting from both stars.

The Red Shoes - 2005 ****

This was a very confusing Tartan Asia film. (I'm back on my TAE buzz). It was good, and my god it was creepy, terrifying in fact, but there was a lot of it that I didn't understand which therefore would probably render a re-watch sometime.

The red shoes are in fact pink, although there is a specific reason why the title says 'Red' but I haven't been able to find it out.

The shoes are cursed (as usual there is a long story that goes into why), and claim anyone who dares to pick them up and try them on. This usually means a painful death or in other cases, the person having their legs cut off. The 'victims' also become sort of manic and psychotic around others when faced with losing the shoes and usually there is also a girl with long black hair down her face near the scene of the crime. I think it's quite a good storyline, and the Asians are so talented at weaving bizarre plots around bizarre objects that they do it like no other, (added to which, the black haired girl is now their sort of 'gimmick' which is darn effective no matter how many times it's seen). However there was a lot that I missed in this film despite paying attention, and I can only guess that that is because I will need to see it again (which is not a bad thing!).

Prime - 2005 ****

This film was good actually, mainly because it didn't follow the typical 'chick flick' formula that so many romcoms these days do.

It was more of a film about growing and maturing as an individual and in a relationship and had a good motto as well, added to which, it's ending was a bit like 'The Break -Up' in that it wasn't a particularly happy ending, or an ending that the audience may want to see, but it certainly taught you a lot.

A divorced 37 year old business woman (Thurman) becomes entangled with a 23 year old painter (Greenberg)who just happens to be the son of her psychoanalyst (Streep). Pretty soon she is telling her analyst all her feelings and worries regarding the relationship and the analyst is instructing her to do certain things that she would never dream of suggesting if she knew that her son was involved. However that is all to change for the better and the worse.

A nice film, and a real film about real life and real relationships which is somewhat refreshing in today's predictable American market where you always expect a happy ending.

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.