Puppets mastered

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Directed by Mamoru Oshii this anime also known as “Mobile Armored Riot Police” is based on the manga of the same name. In the near future a cybernetically enhanced police officer tries to track down an elusive hacker.

Coming with a fairly large reputation as one of the inspirations of The Matrix (1999) this film certainly lives up to it's billing. The main themes of the film are the future of man kind and role technology may play in our evolution. While the script is good it could go a little further into explaining some of the technology used in the film as I did find myself having to make guesses at what stuff was a fair amount of the time.

4/5

Control

The Stepford Wives (1975)

Directed by Bryan Forbes this film based on the novel of the same name stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson and Nanette Newman. A family moves from the big city to a small town where something strange is happening to the wives of the community.

Clearly this film is about men's attempts to control women and the plot works as a good metaphor for this. The slow moving thriller nature works well but at times it does feel like the male characters, the protagonists husband in particular, do not have their motivations explored fully enough. There are some really good performances from the female cast, especially when it comes to portraying the changed women.

5/5

A snake in nun's clothing

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

Directed by Don Siegel this film stars Shirely MacLaine, Clint Eastwood and Manolo Fabregas. During the French intervention in Mexico an unlikely team of a mercenary and a nun help the revolutionaries.

This is an entertaining western and one of a number of good collaborations between Siegel and Eastwood. There are some good moments between the two leads but the film really much depth beyond the basic plot. Filming in Mexico gives the movie some good back drops and a touch of authenticity which is a nice change from Spanish filmed westerns.

3/5

Chronic

Chronicle (2012)

Directed by Josh Trank this film stars Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan. Three teenage boys suddenly gain the power of telekinesis and it changes their lives.

The plot of this film is fairly standard with super powers allowing teenagers to act out their problems on a grand scale but I am not really sure the films offers much depth. In truth it seems like the film is more a combination of gimmicks that are largely unmotivated. Presenting the film as found footage (which is broken from once) seems to add little to the film other than someone probably having thought it was a cool idea.

3/5

Yar

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Directed by George Cukor this film based on the play of the same name stars Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart and Ruth Hussey. A socialite is planning to remarry but her wedding plans are complicated by her ex-husband and two reporters.

While this film has a good cast the best part is the script which is witty through out and manages to survive despite having to use a few contrivances to get round the production code of the time. The underlying themes of the film also work well with it's anti-class bias message. About the only disappointment of the film is that the relationship between the two reporters seems under developed as it gets little screen time.

5/5

Not so lucky viewers

The Lucky One (2012)

Directed by Scott Hicks this film based on the novel of the same name stars Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling and Blythe Danner. A US Marine returns from war to find a girl from a picture he picked up.

If you have seen any other films based on Nicholas Sparks novels then you pretty much know what you are in for here. The plot is a fairly cynically constructed romance full of one dimensional characters and the usual clichés you can see coming a mile off. While there is actually some pretty good photography of the Louisiana setting for this film you probably need a lobotomy to sit through the mind numbing story.

2/5

Darkness in our midst

M (1931)

Directed and co-written by Fritz Lang this German film stars Peter Lorre. The people of a town in Germany hunt the child murderer in their midst.

As with many of his films Lang makes excellent use of expressionism here but this is his first sound film and it did seem like there are portions of the film that lack some sound. The plot does a really good job of handling the subject in a mature manner and asks all the relevant questions as to what society should do with such a killer. Given when the film was made and some of the subject matter it is hard not to view the film with half an eye on how the Nazi party would come to rule Germany but I think this might be a little more hindsight than intention.

5/5