Making friends makes you better

The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)

Directed by Rob Reiner this film stars Morgan Freeman, Virginia Madsen, Emma Fuhrmann and Madeline Carroll. A widowed author spends the summer in a lake side house and makes friends with the family next door.

This is a fairly easy watch that covers a pretty simple plot at a gentle pace. At times the plot threatens to get a little over sentimental but is generally well handled, for the story to work really well I think the protagonist would have had to start with much darker behaviour to make his journey have more impact but the story still works. There is a decent cast but much like the plot not a lot stands out in a film which has plenty of similar compatriots.

3/5

Getting taught

The English Teacher (2013)

Directed by Craig Zisk this film stars Julianne Moore, Michael Angarano, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins and Nathan Lane. A small town high school English teacher runs into a former pupil and determines to help him succeed as a playwright.

What is good about this film is while it starts with a number of obvious elements it rarely goes where you would expect but does not really go anywhere remarkable either. There are occasionally funny moments with in the film but for what is billed as a comedy there is not a huge amount to work with. In the lead role Julianne Moore does her best but there is never anything to really write home about here in either direction.

3/5

Satanists next door

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Directed by Roman Polanski this film based on the novel of the same name stars Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer. Is a young woman slowly buckling under the mental and physical pressure of being pregnant or is there an evil plot to steal her baby?

It appears that the film does a good job of sticking to the plot of the novel and the story works well using the supernatural as a metaphor for mental difficulties a woman suffer from around having a child. What I like most about the film is that it leaves the audience to draw it's own conclusions for a long time before the protagonist actually verbalises what her fears are. Where I was less impressed was with the direction as the film was neither unsettling, scary or really ever tense in my opinion.

4/5

A host of bad things

The Host (2013)

Directed by Andrew Niccol this film based on the novel of the same name stars Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons, William Hurt and Diane Kruger. Earth has been invaded by parasitic aliens and few humans remain free.

There are some interesting concepts in this film but none of them are ever explored and in general the characters seem poorly thought out. The story relies on the usual ideas of humans being different or better than all races out there which is pretty arrogant and not an especially interesting way to take the story anyway. I have always been a big fan of Andrew Niccol but what he is doing here is beyond me as this is way below the level of his other work.

2/5

Fire with fizzle

Fire with Fire (2012)

Directed by David Barrett this film stars Josh Duhamel, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis and Vincent D'Onofrio. After a fireman is the only surviving witness to a double murder he is put into protective custody while the bad guys try to hunt him down.

Despite having a good cast this is actually a really weak effort that went straight to video/dvd. Every time it looks like the plot is about to do something unusual it ditches that possibility to return to the same old stuff you have seen before and like many vigilante/revenge films has no cost for the protagonist when he goes outside the system. With little going for the script the cast does not have much to work with and the sound track is also weak.

2/5  

Filming a version of the legend

Jesse James (1939)

Directed by Henry King this film loosely based on real events stars Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly and Randolph Scott. Two brothers go to war with the railroad company and become outlaws.

As with many films about the famous outlaw large swathes of history get thrown out the window for the plot of this film which makes the protagonist a much more sympathetic figure. As a piece of entertainment this is not a bad film but for historical purposes it is pretty bad. There is plenty of star power here and this is one of the first colour films so the colour does seem a little off at times.

2/5

More Williams Woes

This Property is Condemned (1966)

Directed by Sydney Pollack this film based on the play of the same name stars Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Kate Reid and Mary Badham. During the depression the railroad sends a man to lay off workers in a small town here he falls in love with the daughter of a boarding house owner.

The plot of this film is classic Tennessee Williams set in the South with a young person trying to escape an over bearing mother. Generally this is a really interesting story but it does stretch a little too long and towards the end the pieces moving towards a contrived ending are a little obvious. There are good performances from the cast but Natalie Wood stands out in particular.

4/5