IN FOCUS: Film Reviews - Good Films, Bad Films ...and Why
BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971)
Directed by Robert Stevenson. USA: U

HUMDRUM KNOB NEEDS POLISHING
The last hope for wartime British village Pepperinge Eye is apprentice witch Angela Lansbury and her dimension-spanning quest for The Star of Astoroth. Culminating in an epic battle between the German army and a magical medieval force of ghostly knights, the plot sounds too good to screw up...

BEHIND THE SUN (2001)
Directed by Walter Salles. Brazil: 12.

SHINING BRIGHT
Invigorated by a film-making now free of insufficient funding and censorship at the hands of a military dictatorship, Walter Salles’s critical and commercial recognition at home and abroad (including two Oscar nominations) meant he had quickly become Latin-America’s most high-profile director. This 2001 offering from Brazil expresses a tentative optimism, comments on the importance of family and once again casts youthful characters as the lifeblood of the picture.
CENTRAL STATION (1998)
Directed by Walter Salles. Brazil: 15.

SHEER BRAZILIANCE!
The durability of the 1990s Brazilian new democracy was  tested by financial meltdown and political corruption, and as a consequence of inhibitive laws, national film production all but ceased completely. However as the nation started to recover, its cinema experienced something of a renaissance, giving rise to beautiful, slick-looking films that both embraced and challenged Brazil’s unique, though often turbulent culture. Central Station, which arrived in 1998, would prove to be a standout film of its time.
COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011)
Directed by Jon Favreau. USA: 12.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE TURD KIND
When gruesome beings from another world threaten the residents of a small American frontier town in 1873 they call upon James Bond and Indiana Jones to rescue them. Considering the consistent failure of science-fiction / Western genre fusions in film history, (1980’s Heaven’s Gate, 1999’s Wild Wild West), Cowboys & Aliens takes a brave, bold and ambitious stride toward being the first financially successful offering.
DARK KNIGHT RISES, THE (2012)
Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: 12A.

DESCENT INTO BAT GUANO
A direct sequel to both The Dark Knight (2009) and Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight Rises sees the caped crusader eight years into a personally imposed exile, having deliberately taken blame for the murder of admired District Attorney, and one time secret villain, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).  When the militant rogue Bane (Tom Hardy) gathers an army of orphans and convicts to take over Gotham city (no, seriously!) with a stolen nuclear device, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) comes out of retirement to save the day. 
DUE DATE (2010)
Directed by Todd Phillips. USA: 15.

DOWNEY ON A HIGH
On an urgent trip home from Atlanta to be present for his pregnant wife’s due date in Los Angeles, Robert Downey Jr. happens upon eccentric Zach Galifianakis and his French bulldog Sonny. Banned from travelling by air, Downey Jr. finds himself at the mercy of Galifianakis, who despite being subjected to vehement hatred and violent verbal abuse from Downey Jr. offers to drive him to L. A.
FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966)
Directed by François Truffaut. UK: 12.

SLOW BURNER
The 1960s film Fahrenheit 451 carried with it the prospect of an exciting meeting of minds; a story adapted from Ray Bradbury’s excellent fifties dystopian novel of the same name, and directed by the now-legendary French New Wave pioneer François Truffaut (The 400 Blows (1959), Jules and Jim (1962)). It preserves the book’s warning as to the perils of culture “dumbing down”.
FAMILY PLOT (1976)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: PG

HITCHCOCK'S FINAL CHAPTER
It’s far from perfect, but much like the underrated Marnie (1964), Family Plot seems harder to criticise for some of its dated elements so many years down the line, because for all of its contextually odd-sounding dialogue and hairstyles, as well as a staunch reliance on sets as opposed to on-location shoots, it feels like a ‘Hitchcock’ film should.
GODSEND (2004)
Directed by Nick Hamm. USA:15. 

HOLY ABOMINATION
When eight year-old Adam Duncan is run over and killed shortly after his eighth birthday, his parents are understandably grief-stricken. In steps, Dr. Richard Wells (De Niro) suggests the questionable and rather illegal practice of using cloned cells to allow the mother to give birth to the same child. Cue more anguish and soul-searching, followed by the inevitable acceptance from the desperate parents.
HOWARD THE DUCK (1986)
Directed by Willard Huyck. USA: PG.

FOWL ATTEMPT AT HUMOUR
Produced by George Lucas and based on the Marvel comic.
Now a by-word for bad movies, the hype surrounding how awful Howard the Duck is will actually disappoint you as the odd moment sincerely entertains and amuses.
Unintentionally beamed directly from the comfort of his living room on Duckworld, a planet very similar to ours but where ducks have evolved in the place of apes, Howard lands in a Cleveland alleyway and befriends Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson).
INNERSPACE (1987)
Directed by Joe Dante. USA: PG.

LAUGH OUT FUNNY
A government-funded science experiment to shrink a submersible and her hard-drinking pilot to microscopic proportions is attacked by a rival corporation, resulting in wimpy hypochondriac Martin Short becoming its unsuspecting host. After some hilarity where he thinks he is going mad, he realises that the voice within him is the pilot, Dennis Quaid, and the two form an unlikely duo. Cue the hilarity...
KICK-ASS (2010)
Directed by Mathew Vaughn. USA: 15.

BRUTAL PLAY FIGHTING FUN
Despite lacking any superhuman powers, self-proclaimed ‘normal’ kid Aaron Johnson ventures into the world of costumed vigilantism with a wet-suit and some batons. Calling himself Kick-Ass he becomes a media icon and draws the unwanted attention of gangster Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), as well as his masked adversaries Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and eleven year old Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), a murderous father / daughter crime-fighting duo.
KNOWING (2009)
Directed by Alex Proyas. USA/UK/Austrailia: 15.

CAGEY EPIC
What do you get if you mix Nicholas Cage with a science-fiction plot of apocalyptic magnitude and a couple of kids stalked by creepy, enigmatic men in black? A grieving alcoholic who has lost faith while struggling with Armageddon and a pair of children being stalked by mysterious men in black. And its title is Knowing.
KRULL (1983)
Directed by Peter Yates. USA/UK: PG

LOVE FLAME FANTASY DOESN'T WARM HEARTS
Remember that time when New Tricks’ OCD alcoholic Brian Lane, Harry Potter's Hagrid, Mark Fowler and the most forgettable of the Di Marco family members from EastEnders, the tramp-like old man from Emmerdale, the tall bald bloke from the Carry On films, Alan Partridge and list-maker Oskar Schindler ventured on a lads weekend to save a princess from a surreal invading alien force headed by a monstrous beast who inhabits a 1920s German expressionist castle?
LAND OF THE DEAD (2005)
Directed by George A. Romero. USA: 18

ZOMBIES NEED FLESHING OUT
Whilst George A. Romero’s Living Dead series has forever been associated with lengthy interludes, the wait for Land of the Dead (LOTD) was more pronounced than most. A twenty year zombie hiatus, protracted by the scarcity of other Romero projects (and a period in which he would direct only three feature-length pictures), meant LOTD felt as much a rebirth of its iconic director’s career as for the series itself.
LIFEBOAT (1944)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: PG.

CHARACTERS ADRIFT
World War II, a bunch of American survivors adrift in the middle of the ocean after being torpedoed. Add to their number the Nazi responsible and you’ve got the basic ingredients for a tense and absorbing thriller.
ME & ORSON WELLES (2009)
Directed by Richard Linklater. USA/UK: 12.

TRULY ORSON FILM
Set in 1937 New York, bright-eyed aspiring teenage actor Zac Efron becomes a protégé to abusive mentor and stage director Orson Welles (Christian McKay) during the Mercury theatre production of what would become a world famous anti-fascist interpretation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar...
MR & MRS SMITH (1941)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: U.

ROM-COM BOMB
In Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Alfred Hitchcock’s one stab at a romantic, screwball comedy, the Smith’s liberal approach to settling their differences is unusual to say the least. Whenever a quarrel breaks out, they resolve to remain in their room – often for several days at a time – until they reconcile. Brad and Angolina's shoot-em-up this ain't!
SABOTEUR (1942)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: PG

UNDER THE RADAR
Stung by criticism that branded his defection to Hollywood just prior to the outbreak of World War II as unpatriotic, Hitchcock spent the early forties busying himself with a series of films that examined the battle of wits between democracy and fascism, among them 1942s excellent Saboteur, which is a bit like a Hollywood re-imagining of The 39 Steps (1935), or perhaps a proto-North By Northwest (1959).
VACANCY (2007)
Directed by Nimrod Antal. USA: 15.

WORTH CHECKING OUT
Things kick off with troubled couple Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale bickering their way towards an inevitable divorce as they drive through the night in the backwaters of America. Attempting to take a shortcut only succeeds in getting the pair completely lost. When their car picks an inopportune moment to give up the ghost, the troubled couple decide to call it a night, locating a motel off the beaten track...
WHO KILLED PIXOTE? (1996)
Directed by José Joffily. Brazil: 15

WHERE FAME MEETS FATE
Ever wondered what becomes of child actors who achieve fleeting fame? José Joffily's engaging dramatised biopic charts the brief, turbulent life of child star Fernando Ramos da Silva, beginning with the highs of becoming the child lead in acclaimed 1981 movie Pixote, the film follows his subsequent fall from grace and death at the hands of police in 1987, when he was just 19 years old.
ZOMBIE LAKE (1981)
Directed by Jean Rollin. France: 18.

GREEN ZOMBIES OUT OF DEPTH
Set in in the French countryside, Zombie Lake hands us a flashback scene of a group of Nazi soldiers being killed during WWII and having their bodies dumped in the town’s lake. Fast-forward a few years and predictably enough, zombified versions of said soldiers periodically start surfacing, chasing (although, at their speed, perhaps ‘following’ is more accurate), and then munching on the townsfolk.
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