Reviews by PvtCaboose91

The film industry has witnessed its fair share of low-budget independent movies that yielded embarrassingly bad results. Once is a blueprint example of an extraordinarily rare event when an independent filmmaker has created a product far superior to incalculable quantities of Hollywood blockbuster rubbish dominating the market that have too long been getting the green light. Writer/director John Carney proves that a straightforward concept can generate groundbreaking results if a clever script is at its core. He also proves that the requirements for a good movie do not include a big budget, a renowned group of actors and some lavish special effects - at the end of the day, it's the script that carries everything and a quality script fundamentally ensures a product to cherish.

Contemporary movie musicals are an interesting subject to explore. Audiences have observed the thriving individualism in musical cinema, from adaptations of successful Broadway musicals (The Producers, Sweeney Todd), cheesy teenage flicks (High School Musical) or even the unique biography of Dreamgirls: there is no single musical style that has dominated the box office. Once is from an entirely different spectrum; a unique Irish "modern musical" that has proved to be among the best date films of all time. This film is wonderful, touching, charming, sincere and very romantic. This is not your typical musical at all: the characters do not sing as a form of dialogue...the characters are musicians who write deeply poetic lyrics. In essence, the lyrics mirror the emotions of the characters: as the characters are developed and the story progresses, the fascinating lyrics increase in their poignancy and relevance.

Once is a mature musical aimed at a target audience of mostly adults who are mature and can fully comprehend the themes and potency. While adolescents predominantly prefer the blockbusters, it's comforting to know that the film industry also produces these magnificent magnum opuses. These great films are limited for sure, but wholly worth it no matter how rare they appear. Essentially, this masterpiece feels like a captured moment of life - a slice of kismet where you just happen to be in the right place at the right time to observe a spectacle of nature, a feat of compassion, or a stream of light bequeathing its benediction on a landscape you pass every day but otherwise fail to notice.

Once uncovers a soft, romantic side of Dublin. Most of the characters have not been named, and this is pivotal as the characters merely symbolise just another person off the street. Each character represents a facet of the culture, and the film explores the inner emotional journey that the respective characters undertake. Above all, it's also an examination of the human spirit and the determination to reach a desired ambition.

The film is a simple story about a struggling Irish musician only known as 'the Guy' (Hansard). He makes his money by helping his dad run a repair shop for vacuum cleaners, and in his free time he's on the streets participating in the strum trade by playing songs he wrote himself about the girlfriend that broke his heart. The Guy yearns for recognition and wishes for a lucrative contract in the music business. He lacks the drive to take his career to the next level as he has never dared to give it a shot. It seems like a simple day when the Guy is approached by the Girl (Irglova): a poverty-stricken Czechoslovakian immigrant with a small child. She is emotionally struck by the moving lyricism of the Guy's songs. The two are lost souls, and begin intimately bonding. This bond only becomes stronger when the Guy discovers that the Girl is also a musician specialising in playing classical piano, and he is equally as moved when he hears her music. Thus begins a clever and wholly unconventional love story.

Once was made on a meagre budget and shot over the course of 17 days. When one compares it to the blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean or Transformers you can tell which is going to come out on top at the Box Office. However the revenue does not reflect the quality, as Once only took in a modest amount of money but is superior to both aforementioned films. This is true art and an example of an incredible movie...and I would watch this film any day in lieu of clichéd big-budget action flicks.

The atmosphere truly captures realism in its depiction of the locations. Writer/director John Carney opted to shoot the film in a realistic fashion: almost to the point that it feels more like documentary footage than a staged movie! This obviously reflects the transcendent direction that is continually stunning. The script is solid. Some people have complained about the constant swearing. Yes, they swear a lot. This happens in real life! I've studied the background of Irish history, and after the way they were treated it's hardly surprising that they use such foul language. Don't let the watered-down, inaccurate Hollywood clichés taint your image of everyday Irish dialogue.

I doubt anyone had set any expectations for this movie as I hadn't - all I knew was that it's a musical love story. However after the first five minutes I was already under a powerful, transfixing spell. The exuberant performers also deserve loads of credit. As this is an independent film made on a small budget, the cast was filled by mainly non-actors. Glen Hansard is frequently stunning: while drama is filling the screen he's marvellous, and when he opens his mouth to project his riveting lyrics there are no faults in his determination. Hansard's character is your typical, lonely everyday Irishman trying to make a living. Marketa Irglova delivers a performance that really hits home. She is constantly extremely beautiful and is blessed with a charming screen presence. She was only 17 when this movie entered production. That is a reflection of her talent while she was a mere teenager.

The music throughout the movie is gorgeously written and brought to life faultlessly by the two talented protagonists. You will not forget the spellbinding songs that the filmmakers have produced. Quite simply, you will be absolutely mesmerised whenever a song is being performed.

Overall, Once is a little film that went a long way. No-one ever expected this film to score so wonderfully. In a nutshell this is a charming film that manages to avoid the conventions that too long have plagued the screenplays of Hollywood movies. This film is potent and poignant: a moving, realistic, unexaggerated portrait of characters. Upon theatrical release, this lovely independent movie captured the hearts of many. The enjoyment of this movie is not only dependent on the soulful music, but also the realistic portrayals of an array of un-stereotyped characters.

Once is a warm, tender and revealing journey that's 60% music and 40% slice-of-life. The small cast are wonderful despite no prior acting experience, and the director is intelligent enough to realise he's created a strong story that can practically tell itself. Alas, he stands back and allows the string of events to unfold. The product is a contemporary fairy tale that confronts our perception of happy endings.

9.2/10

In Hollywood, adapting graphic novels for the big screen will always yield some fascinating results. In recent years, filmmakers have achieved impressive success with films like Sin City and 300: graphic novels transferred into visually astounding films. The best part with most films using a graphic novel as its foundation is that even if you aren't familiar with the source material, there is room to help you find your footing. Not only that, they are great additions to the respective genre.

30 Days of Night is a visually astounding vampire horror flick. But only visually...in terms of script this is golden crap! This film cannot get close to matching the good preceding films based on graphic novels. Now, look, if you're expecting sheer brilliance like Nosferatu or the original Bela Lugosi Dracula then you've come to the wrong place. 30 Days of Night is not a groundbreaking portion of the horror genre by any stretch of the imagination: this is purely and simply a Hollywood blockbuster hack-job!

The film is set in an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for an entire month each year. Most of the town's population vacate the area to escape the darkness: only the boldest remain to suffer through 30 days of night. We are soon introduced to the central character: Sheriff Eben Oleson (Hartnett). When the sun sinks below the horizon to signify the commencement of the 30 days of night, it seems like business as usual. However, a stranger (Foster) wanders into the town speaking crazy talk and begins frightening the locals. Before you know it, the small town is now under siege by a horde of blood-thirsty vampires who establish their new hunting ground. In a short period of time, most of the town's population has fallen prey to the vampires. In a manner quite similar to most zombie/vampire/creature flicks, a small group of survivors band together in the hope of escaping the malicious creatures.

The material that the filmmakers had to work with is simply killer - almost to the point that one must wonder why a film like this has never been tackled before. The originality of the graphic novel now preserved on film is something simply incredible.

Also, because the film is based on a graphic novel we must expect brilliance in the visuals. The filmmakers deliver in that department. The visual effects are nothing short of amazing! This is the sort of stuff we can expect when a movie is filmed in New Zealand, and then the post-production period is spent with Peter Jackson's crew! I also adored the blood effects. Loads of people are killed in explicit, creative ways with geysers of blood staining the surrounding area. Whenever a character wanders into a dark room and discovers puddles of blood, it looks outstanding. These blood and prosthetic effects cannot be faulted...and the visual style is a marvel to behold! On top of this, the design for the vampires is outstanding!

Okay, now that I've spent some time outlining the strengths...time to move onto the weaknesses. Take a seat folks, as this will take a while. With such killer material, I must wonder why the script is so appalling! All the characters are cardboard and one-dimensional. Each character is as conventional as the next! The characters as a whole are clichéd to death! There's the hero, the one that gives them away, the dumb characters who disagree with the group and get themselves killed, the diversions...it's giving me a headache just comprehending it all! I was embarrassed to see so many stereotypes emerging. Also, with a group of characters being bundled together for a month you'd expect it to bring out the best and worst in them and to flesh out back stories. If done right, this could equal some awesome results. Instead there is no character development and nothing to care about...no interesting dialogue apart from stating the blooming obvious, but the worst has yet to come: we don't even see the characters mentally coping with the situation. Instead we see the events of one day, then cut to about two weeks later and see more events...and quite frankly, from the stupidity exhibited by these characters I wonder how they even survived those days that the filmmakers didn't show. How did they manage to evade the vampires?!

30 Days of Night naturally succumbs to Hollywood's worst recent obsession: shaky cam. The choppy editing doesn't help this either. Instead of creating suspense and tension, there's gore and some poorly framed shots that seem like a monkey was actually holding the camera. The first "scare" of the movie is a blurred figure moving around in the distance while the audio flares. Then there's just a body count rise and frankly, there isn't any point! The vampires spew nonsensical gibberish with subtitles that confirm the vampire speech is approximately as dumb and contrived as the dialogue delivered in English.

30 Days of Night is thousands of examples of how not to make a movie all rolled into one. The only redeeming features are the visual style and the satisfying amount of blood and gore. This is the sole reason why someone would want to approach this movie: to see some blood being splattered around...and it looks spectacular! I truly wish that a better bunch of screen-writers were brought aboard to tackle the subject matter. As I said before, the source material and concept are utterly killer. There was lots of potential for this to be the best vampire flick since Nosferatu. Unfortunately, this is just another Hollywood hack-job that I would expect to see from Uwe Boll. If you're bored and need to get high on gore, go rent this. It's vastly disappointing but will keep the "gore instead of suspense" horror buffs happy for sure. A bona fide wasted opportunity!

4.0/10

Nick Love's Outlaw is a fair British crime film that packs one heck of a punch and sends its message home explicitly. Films exported from Britain are usually irresistibly atmospheric and of a high standard (I loved Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, for example). I watched this film purely because of the presence of Sean Bean. In my opinion, Sean is one of the greatest actors currently working in contemporary cinema. He is also a versatile performer with a knack for establishing an atmosphere of malice and dread. Outlaw is a provocative, thought-provoking contemporary thriller that explores the roots of people's shattered lives and reveals the consequences and outcomes when victims of crime seek revenge by taking the law into their own hands. This is an outstanding concept with a promising marketing campaign. The cover and poster were especially good and tempted me to eventually give it a shot (Sean Bean's named in the cast initially sparked my interest, though).

The central characters are mainly victims of a decaying society that has abandoned them. War veteran Danny Bryant (Bean) is court marshalled and sent home. After this incident he has lost all sense of purpose and is fed up with the current state of his home. The plot expands as we are introduced to a bunch of other characters that have had enough of suffering through present society. The law has failed them. This assortment of disconsolate individuals form a modern-day outlaw posse with the intention of enforcing their own brand of justice by punishing the criminal underworld.

One of the taglines for the film reads "when order fails violence prevails" and this essentially sums up the quest that the group undertakes. The group were once disregarded by all, but in their quest they gain notoriety and become public icons. The media are having a field day with the updated information they are constantly fed about the group and their latest escapades. It's only when their personage exceeds their success that the legacy of the group is threatened.

Outlaw was met with mainly a congregation of criticism, which was one factor to consider when I comprehended my urge to watch the film. Currently, I believe this film to be severely underrated. Its themes are powerful and its message is delivered unforgettably. This fact alone deserves recognition as opposed to criticism. The production not only shows that possibility of revenge but also the reluctance and hesitation to engage in vengeful acts. Director Nick Love presents an interesting view of British society: home life, office life and country life as well as displaying other facets we expect from the culture.

Outlaw does deliver a meaningful message, but there are a number of flaws to be pointed out. One of the film's major drawbacks is the blurred style of the film: it's both an intimate examination of the vulgar British underworld as well as a crude vigilante flick. The film has transitory moments of true power, but unfortunately there is not much substance, causing interest to steadily dissipate during the middle section. The brisk running time of about 100 minutes also seemed far too brief. Although the film bogged during the middle section, I felt that there was definitely room to get engaged in the characters more effectively. Instead we move from one event to the other without much of a chance to breathe...and with little character development, we don't care and thus grow bored. If Outlaw dedicated its running time to more absorbing drama to flesh out each character, the results would have been superior.

I must also mention the style of cinematography that the filmmakers utilised. From the first few shots, it looks like a low-budget picture. It looks like it was filmed using cameras you can purchase for less than a thousand dollars. Sure, it adds to the atmosphere; however it's very detracting. The shaky cam during the action and punch-ups is despicable. This has taken shaky cam way too far. It's not effective as we have no idea which characters have been killed, which are still standing...and why these events are actually occurring. The shaky cam is also grossly overused, not to mention that the audio quality was sometimes poor. The dialogue is frequently hard to make out simply because the actors aren't enunciating correctly. This also reflects the directing, which is pretty poor throughout.

Sean Bean's performance as the depressed war veteran is stunning. His emotions come through profoundly, with dialogue delivery always convincing. His facial expressions are overwhelmingly powerful as well. This is one of the roles that the actor was simply born to play. Bean is the only actor who seemingly put in an effort to make his lines understandable as well. The other actors are merely average. Some of the actors have great moments, but not so much in other instances.

Overall, Outlaw is a missed opportunity and a waste of potential. It's underrated for sure due to its poignant message; however the filmmakers had a concept that could have been executed a lot better. The film is quite flawed, although it does make for decent entertainment.

6.1/10

The success of the 1999 teen sex comedy American Pie confirmed that a sequel would be necessary. In this case, most of the original cast reteam for American Pie 2 that was made purely and genuinely for the money and the hope of more money. Hollywood sequels are an intriguing beast. There are some films that were made to have sequels (like the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and there are other films that require no sequel at all (The Matrix, The Mummy, etc). For the latter, Hollywood studios fund a sequel in the hope of another hit. In the case of American Pie, the original is a textbook example of a brainless teen sex comedy: nudity, heavy coarse language, sexual references...the works! So with the sequel the idea was simply to recycle the content present in its forerunner, reunite the original cast and voila - crowds will come and the money will flood in. Although the quality isn't outstanding, the studio achieved its goal.

Similar to its predecessor, I doubt anyone would start watching a film of this calibre expecting some sort of masterpiece. The series thus far has been nothing more but Box Office fluff: there are laughs, admittedly there are some clever characters, plus lots of sexual references and nothing further to move it out of the "brainless sex comedy" category. To its credit, the first film at least had some sort of a message. It's a coming-of-age comedy that also contained a relatable plot and some relevant characters. In all honesty, I think the humour encompassed in this series is more for an American audience. I thought the gags were sometimes funny and I certainly chuckled several times, but the filmmakers rely solely on creating comedy from the pratfalls and awkward situations. This really isn't my type of humour, I guess.

American Pie 2 reunites five of the main characters from the first film: Jim (Biggs), Chris (Klein), Kevin (Nicholas), Finch (Thomas) and Stifler (Scott). Their first year of college has ended and now it's the summer break. As usual, the guys have only one single thing on their minds: sex! The four guys move to Lake Michigan to spend their summer. However they can't afford the place on their own wallet, so they invite Stifler to stay with them as he will also contribute to the cost of the place. The typical, predictable series of events occur in the lead up to a massive party they plan to host. The guys also get a summer job as painters, but this is scarcely explored (or even touched on)...instead focusing primarily on the occupants that are presumed to be a pair of lesbians. Aside from that, Jim learns that foreign student Nadia (Elizabeth) will be visiting Jim...expecting a sexual experience. Jim is horrified that it will be a complete disaster like his last encounter with her (that was broadcast over the internet), so he seeks advice from his first time lover Michelle (Hannigan).

American Pie 2 is definitely worse than the film preceding it, although only marginally. Most of the gags are pretty sick and insensitive. I quickly got sick of the dialogue that was mainly profanity as opposed to witty remarks. The only witty dialogue is a rarity, to be honest. I didn't care for most of the moments that were supposed to make you laugh.

The cast are all pretty standard for the teen sex comedy genre. The five central protagonists are charming at times; however their lines leave a lot to be desired. I was especially fond of Eddie Kaye Thomas as Finch. I also adored Alyson Hannigan. She's very cute and has an appealing screen presence. She's my favourite. Seann William Scott's rude comments got tedious pretty quickly.

At the end of the day, American Pie 2 was made for the sole purpose of money. The guys return, but many of the girls from the original cast are limited to cameos and minor roles. This probably proves that the script wasn't good enough for the original female cast-members, instead only wanting a minor inclusion. The first American Pie is nothing groundbreaking and this statement is certainly true of the sequel.

6.3/10

The only reason someone would decide to view Fool's Gold is because it looks like a simple, bright, light-hearted romantic comedy with a sense of adventure. In a sense, this is the 2008 answer to films like Indiana Jones or Romancing the Stone...except this film never even gets close to matching its genre forerunners. This is a straightforward attempt to resurrect the good old-fashioned romantic-comedy adventures that were so successful during the 1980s. However the filmmakers never quite achieve their goal...Fool's Gold is more silly than romantic, more frantic than comedic, and more busy than adventurous. Nevertheless it's an admirable attempt at the genre that features an appealing cast and results in a flimsy slice of fun. You do want to be entertained, right? If you're prepared to overlook the sleazy elements, gaping plot holes and a few major illogical downfalls...you should enjoy watching this one.

Fool's Gold features Matthew McConaughey as Benjamin "Finn" Finnegan. In a nutshell, Finn is a good-natured man with a passion for treasure hunting. However Finn is also an irresponsible hoodlum who borrows money from investors to fund treasure hunts...then conveniently forgets to pay them back. Finn has more enemies than friends, and in the first 10 minutes it's established that his wife Tess (Hudson) is divorcing him. Although Finn appears to be unaware about why Tess is leaving him, it becomes pretty clear in the first few minutes: plain and simply, he's a complete moron! During their short-lived marriage (that was basically formed on great sex) they adopted an obsession for some exotic treasure lost in the 18th century by the Spaniards. In the lead up to the official divorce, Tess begins rebuilding her life by working for the wealthy Nigel Honeycutt (Sutherland) aboard his luxury yacht as a stewardess with plans to use the money to get back to the US and gain a Ph.D. However as Tess begins executing this plan, Finn discovers a vital clue that could lead to the discovery of the legendary treasure they are so obsessed with. After the divorce is finalised by default...Finn manoeuvres himself onto the yacht of Nigel Honeycutt who is currently in the company of his spoilt, ditzy daughter Gemma (Dziena). Using his good-natured charm, he convinces Nigel to fund his expedition in search of the treasure he has been so obsessed with.

So there you have it: Finn is passionately pursuing treasure and endeavouring to get his ex-wife back. Meanwhile, his ex-wife Tess is trying to get as far away from Finn as possible...obviously not succeeding or we wouldn't have a romance in this romantic comedy. The adventure also confounds Nigel, but he's such a good sport so he goes along with Finn's romantic dreams anyway. And then there's Gemma...she's frankly too much of an airhead for anything to perplex her. There's a garbage sub-plot about Nigel and his daughter that is far too superficial and superfluous, and supplies us with nothing to even remotely care about. Moe Fitch (Winstone) is Finn's rival in the story but never an enemy. Also, even though Bigg Bunny (Hart) is the film's principal bad guy, he's too much of a comic villain to be a genuine threat.

Fool's Gold at least has a decent entertainment value. This is not absolute, though, because from the outset we can predict how it will end. As a scene establishes itself, we can predict how things will pan out. It's what you expect from the genre, I suppose. The film's shortcomings are also in the script. I will admit that I chuckled a few times at the hysterical dialogue. There is a good supply of laughs to be found here: be it in the dialogue or in the over-the-top stunts. Unfortunately, the laughs are quite non-existent upon a second screening. The script is just typical genre fluff for the most part.

Even despite all these faults, the film is at least extremely attractive to look at. It was filmed in the beautiful locations of Australia and more marginally in the Bahamas (interestingly, the whole film is set in the Bahamas but prominently filmed in Queensland, Australia). The colour scheme is always bright and atmospheric. The mood of the beautiful waters of the Bahamas is perfectly captured here.

Matthew McConaughey is not exactly a great actor through my eyes. He has never done anything that's anywhere near Oscar-worthy. Here there is plenty of opportunity for McConaughey to display his new physique. He's been working out, and he wants people to be aware of it. Alas, about 800 times for McConaughey to take off the shirt and show the audience his muscles. Kate Hudson has some good chemistry with McConaughey. Both of them will never produce Oscar material of course. Despite this, there's a lovely romance sizzling here. Also in the cast there's a very funny Ewen Bremner, as well as an admirable supporting cast with names like Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone and Kevin Hart. Alexis Dziena in particular is a stand out. Looking for someone to perfectly represent the ditsy, stupid young spoiled rich girl? You've come to the right place! Her dialogue is the most memorable.

Overall, the critics detested Fool's Gold but I have to be part of the minority that enjoyed it. In terms of production values, impressive stunts and dazzling locations...the film stocks an astronomical supply! The action is also high energy and enjoyable. It has its downfalls and major flaws, but by no means is this a terrible movie. Average at best...not terrible! The film puts forth a bundle of energy and it builds up to an interesting climax. At the end of the day it just tries too hard with too little; extending sequences that aren't very good to begin with before piling on more. Lord knows, it wants us to like it, and maybe that's enough.

Film's most notable moment: a group of zoned-out, bizarre young folk on a speed boat worshipping an unusual form of drink.

5.9/10

Rob Zombie's film directing debut, House of 1000 Corpses, was quite frankly nothing but inexorable torture porn with no heart holding everything together. That film received extremely mixed reviews and there is little wonder why. I can't stress this enough: Rob Zombie may be able to produce some decent music but his movies leave a lot to be desired. When Rob's House of 1000 Corpses finally got a distributor (the original distributor pulled out at the last second) it was a cult hit and of course inspired a sequel. Alas, ladies and gentlemen...lo and behold The Devil's Rejects. This sequel is essentially another slab of relentless torture porn. All the gory mutilations, killings, sex scenes and filthy dialogue are simply present to get a rise out of its audience. Everything has been inflated to almost hyperbolic proportions! Many of the same flaws that surfaced in the first movie make a customary return in the sequel.

The Devil's Rejects opens with news reports filled with information about a police raiding of the house that inhabited the psychotics that we were introduced to in House of 1000 Corpses. All the corpses they used to blemish the premises have been found rotting by the police. After a prolonged action scene to introduce the film, we find Baby Firefly (Zombie), Captain Spaulding (Haig) and Otis (Moseley) on the run subsequent to a manhunt being commenced by the police. While trying to evade the hordes of Texas policemen that are pursuing them, the troublesome trio of sadistic serial killers hit the road...leaving an enormous trail of corpses behind them. Because of the nature and callousness of the heinous crimes the trio have committed, Sheriff Wydell (Forsythe) aims to bring them to justice. But this quest slowly questions his sanity as he begins going above the law to bring what he feels is a necessary level of justice to the serial killing family that the media have labelled "The Devil's Rejects" (logically enough, therein lies the title).

Okay, I will admit that it's definitely an original and un-clichéd idea to follow the bad guys in a horror movie, in this case an unsavoury bunch of bastards. The key problem is that the heroes and the villains are blurred tremendously. We're supposed to empathise with some sick psychos who kill people for pleasure? On the other side of the law, we're expected to cheer for an unstable sheriff who turns out to be just as worse as the people he is pursuing?

Director Rob Zombie casually tosses away the subtle horror film homages that were a prominent element in House of 1000 Corpses. Now the film is nothing but violence and gore with a detestable bunch of characters. It's also really predictable as well as becoming increasingly boring. Essentially what you have here is a film that just wants to shock with violence and unlikable characters. Once you're desensitised to the violence or gratuity of it all, this isn't really enough to keep a film going. In the similar vein of gore-fests like Hostel, the film supplies nothing but mindless torture porn.

Another massive complaint about this movie is the despicable screenplay! Rob Zombie also penned the screenplay himself. There are no lines of dialogue that attempt to sound witty. This is typical Rob Zombie dialogue: swearing, swearing, swearing, heavy profanity and of course more swearing! The number of f-words that are constantly utilised can easily set a record! At the end of the day, Rob's aim was not to place the f-word here and there when it's most appropriate...instead he places the word in almost every sentence to the point that it sounds unrealistic and almost plain offensive! Rob also wants the film to dig down into the lives of these serial killers. Aside from the obvious motive of character development that horror films usually fail at, there doesn't seem to be much point at all. These people are disconcerting psychotics and they expect that fleshing out their story will help the movie?

This pathetic screenplay is not exactly assisted by the actors. Just like the first film, the actors are a bunch of losers. Sid Haig was very underused in the first film and this disappointed me. I was hoping that the second film would show more of the eccentric clown. I actually got that! But not what I was expecting...you see I wanted clever dialogue that he frequently delivered in the first film. Here we are just fed a bunch of profanity and a revolting background. Sheri Moon Zombie is only here because she is the wife of director Rob Zombie. Rob just wants to flaunt his wife and hopefully make people think that he's a lucky man. But his wife cannot act! She's an annoying jabber-jaw with a knack for making the dialogue sound even worse. I thought my ears were going to explode! Bill Moseley is more of the same.

The filmmaking is everything we've come to expect from director Rob Zombie: terrible editing and bad cinematography mixed with fast, jumpy edits and loud rock music. I could barely stand it. The only redeeming features include some of the satisfying gore, and there are a number of laughs. Aside from that it's also mildly entertaining for the first half an hour before trailing off into the universe of monotonous, pointless storytelling.

Overall, The Devil's Rejects may be marginally better than its predecessor, but that still isn't saying much. The horror scenes don't have much depth and aren't suspenseful. It seems the director wants to create gore, not horror scenes. The worst part is that the songs employed by the filmmakers may be good music, but are used inappropriately in my opinion. The script tries to shock with vulgarity in the dialogue that ultimately backfires completely.

This film strives to reference the horror films of the early days of the genre that were relentless and satisfying. Rob relies on people who like that sort of stuff. In a sense he found his target audiences because a lot of moviegoers liked it. Well, they are entitled to their own opinion I guess. The target audience must be too foolish to realise they are just watching a bunch of garbage. Most of the sequences in the film are stretched out and forced. The hotel hostage situation kept dragging on and on...there was never any freaking point! The biggest detractor and insult is luring the audiences into empathising with the murderous family that the film follows. The lines between good and bad are so blurred that you just don't really care and you are never given a reason to care!

5.1/10

In the 1980s and 90s, Rob Zombie emerged as a successful musician equally as a solo performer and as a component of his heavy metal band, White Zombie. The man was born Robert Cummings, later changed to Robert Straker. In Rob's early days he dwelled on a diet of comics, heavy metal music, low-budget horror and science fiction. Low-budget horror was observably his foremost influence when he completed his directorial debut.

House of 1000 Corpses is irrefutably the work of Rob Zombie as his prime inspirations are palpably noticeable while examining the film's style. Rob's extraordinary and unique visual style is instantaneously identifiable and this film indubitably exhibits a number of the elements he has employed in the past. Writer/director Rob Zombie aimed to return horror back to its low-budget roots: back to the glorious halcyon days.

The film opens on the date of October 30th (Halloween), 1977. Local news communiqués are dominated with reports in relation to five missing cheerleaders who are presumed dead. Their disappearance was under suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile, it's a dark, cold and rainy night as two young couples are travelling together: driving to random locations with the intention of noting and researching roadside attractions for a book they are determined to publish. Practically out of petrol (aren't we all used to that in this day and age...) the four stop at the bizarre, curious establishment of "Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Madmen". Upon arrival, they discover that it is extremely to their liking and style: the kind of peculiar roadside attractions that they are out searching for. They are openly greeted by the enthusiastic, quirky and eccentric Captain Spaulding (Haig). Much to the dismay of their female companions, the guys indulge themselves in the wacky attractions on offer. Spaulding then tells the group of the local legend of Doctor Satan, and the guys believe that it would be a splendid subject to cover in their book. As they continue their travels that are welcomed by an unusual family who turn out to be an insane horde of psychotics. The four are set upon by these psychotics, and are now forced to endure the horrors of the house of 1000 corpses and its dark secrets.

As a first-time director, Rob has succeeded in generating an authentic and credible comedy-thriller, with an undeniable 70s feel throughout the film's duration. To his credit, House of 1000 Corpses flaunts a virtuoso filmmaking debut for Rob that wears its influences on its sleeve and makes no secret of the fact that it is paying tribute to a genre that is in urgent need of resurrection.

Although there are a number of admirable traits on exhibition, there is also an abundance of unneeded elements. For example, Rob splices the footage he's shot with footage from old horror movies. There are also a lot of titles created in true 1970s style: the kind of thing you'd expect to see at the drive-in cinema. Even some of the footage Rob had filmed has been made to look dated and grainy to add to the established authenticity. Unfortunately, these edits are jumpy and fast; ultimately leaving the audience with a sense of gross disorientation. The editing is particularly abysmal as a whole. Rob could have achieved something much more if his cinematography techniques more closely followed its inspirations. Low-budget horror films of the 1970s contained steady and concentrated cinematography that allows the audience to understand what is going on.

Rob's cinematography is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre style (shaky cam) mixed into the MTV-quick-cut style of the contemporary horror genre. With this fatal trait in place, the film becomes nothing more than an excuse to showcase some appallingly gory scenes of torture and mutilation that have been filmed dreadfully! These gory scenes will have you closer to vomiting because the shaky cam and fast cutting will make you feel queasy, while the torture on display will make you violently hurl everything in your stomach. The prosthetic effects are disturbingly effective. The editing flaws could have been a lot worse, but with these implemented flaws the film cannot reach the standard that Rob was probably aiming for.

House of 1000 Corpses is also radically dissimilar to all other horror films due to the distinct lack of likable characters. It's impossible to empathise with any of the characters as they are all despicable. On that note, the script is a dismal piece of material. Rob Zombie also penned the screenplay himself. There is a short supply of witty dialogue; instead going for disgusting dialogue mainly consisting of profanity and people using embarrassing terms.

The performances are mainly quite hollow and sometimes the actors will actually hurt your ears! As this is a homage to the early low-budget horror movies, bad acting can be forgiven. But this is another thing that detracts from the overall film value. The only performance I found good was Sid Haig as the suitably quirky clown who owns the bizarre roadside attraction. Unfortunately, Haig is criminally underused. This is the single good actor in the whole film...and he receives roughly 20 minutes of screen-time! Most of the females are there to squeal and swear. Sometimes their feisty nature is a little disturbing.

As director Rob Zombie's early days were in the music industry, we must expect an interesting array of music on display. It's hard to describe the music. It's catchy but occasionally unsuitable. I guess it supplies the film with an almost laughable atmosphere at times. There are a few shootings that occur to typical redneck music while events unfold in slow motion...this is just one example of the peculiar music employed heavily by the filmmakers. Some of the music is moody enough to suit the film; however at other times...not so much.

Overall, House of 1000 Corpses is an interesting directing debut from one of the music industry's most popular names. Rob Zombie proves that with a modest budget he can create a slab of unique torture porn that will be happily devoured by horror fans. If you enjoy low-budget horror of the 1970s, this film is probably for you. The film is unsettling and atmospheric, and to be frank it's quite excruciating during the final act. The film sets up an interesting host of characters that are also very disconcerting. Rob Zombie is seemingly determined and creates a visually engaging production. Apart from being torture porn with a bit of catchy music and interesting characters, the film is nothing more. Currently this film balances comfortably on the fine line of "barely watchable". I'm happy I saw it, but I'm in no rush to revisit. Followed by The Devil's Rejects.

4.9/10

Immaculately sticking the landing, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King solidifies Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as arguably the greatest cinematic achievement in history; an involving, visually striking saga that continues to endure over twenty years after its release. Saving the best for last, The Return of the King is a masterpiece beyond comprehension - it is the best movie of 2003 and Jackson's crowning achievement, surpassing even the most optimistic of expectations. With an enormous running time exceeding three hours, The Return of the King closes the esteemed trilogy without even the slightest drop in quality, as the writing, direction, editing, visual effects and score remain first-rate. In adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's final novel, Jackson (who again co-wrote the screenplay with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) takes certain liberties with the source material, making it clear that this is an adaptation instead of a slavish page-to-screen translation, but the resulting movie is an emotionally resonant, dramatically satisfying crowd-pleaser, making it hard to imagine a better concluding chapter. Although Jackson again increases the story's scope and scale, he never loses sight of the material's humanity, which elevates The Lord of the Rings above lesser fantasy movies. After the Academy Awards only recognised the previous films for their technical accomplishments, The Return of the King took home eleven Oscars, including Best Picture, with the film winning in every category for which it was nominated.

Without any recap or flashbacks, The Return of the King dives straight into the story, making it essential for viewers to be familiar with the earlier instalments. Picking up soon after The Two Towers, hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Samwise (Sean Astin) continue their journey to Mordor to destroy the treacherous One Ring, guided by Gollum (Andy Serkis). Gollum still greatly desires the ring and plans to reclaim it after betraying the hobbits, while Sam's unshakable distrust for the emaciated creature continues to grow. Meanwhile, after the sacking of Isengard and the Battle for Helm's Deep, hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) reunite with Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), returning to Edoras with King Théoden (Bernard Hill). Upon deducing that Sauron's forces intend to strike Gondor's capital of Minas Tirith, Gandalf rides to the city to warn the corrupt steward, Denethor (John Noble), of the impending attack. With Gondor's forces including Boromir's (Sean Bean) brother, Faramir (David Wenham), Gandalf begins encouraging the city to prepare their defences, and he signals for Rohan's assistance. However, Denethor staunchly opposes Théoden's arrival as it will bring the return of Aragorn, who is Isildur's heir and the rightful King of Gondor.

Reminiscent of The Two Towers, The Return of the King cross-cuts between several narrative strands and groups of characters that eventually coalesce throughout the movie, and the editing remains smooth and fluid, maintaining momentum while building to an astonishingly emotional conclusion. With a different editor overseeing each instalment, The Return of the King reunites Jackson with long-time editorial collaborator Jamie Selkirk (Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Dead Alive, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners), and the cross-cutting remains astute. When the Battle of the Pelennor Fields begins, the movie rarely lets up, leading to relentless combat while never neglecting the all-important human element. Despite an intimidating running time of over three hours, The Return of the King does not feel torturously overlong or fatiguing. With Jackson working through ample narrative material, and with Jackson and Selkirk working to impeccably shape the final cut, the film possesses a storytelling economy not often glimpsed in movies of this length. The extended edition adds another 50 minutes to the experience, with the film clocking in at just over four hours, not including credits. Although Jackson prefers the theatrical cut, the extended edition adds a few beats that are crucial for narrative coherency, including a final confrontation with Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Gríma Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), plus the Witch-king breaking Gandalf's staff during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. For my money, the extended edition better serves the sprawling story, and it is the definitive way to experience The Return of the King.

Jackson amplifies the stakes with each instalment as the conflicts grow increasingly larger, and The Return of the King continues this. The Return of the King is an all-out war movie, with all remaining factions of men banding together against the armies of Mordor to prevent Middle-earth from falling into darkness. There was a tremendous sense of loss throughout the Battle for Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, but the losses throughout The Return of the King are devastating, with Sauron's forces ruthlessly slaughtering hundreds of soldiers from Gondor and Rohan, making viewers wonder if any free people will remain after Sauron's defeat. With important characters dying during the course of the trilogy, a nail-biting sense of tension permeates the battles, as it is unclear who will survive. Within the restrictions of a PG-13 rating, Jackson conveys the horrors of battle and conflict with an astonishing body count and incredible intensity. The extended edition adds more violence to the combat sequences, and it never feels like Jackson is pulling any punches for the sake of the MPAA. The Siege of Minas Tirith and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, which occur one after the other, represent the movie's action centrepiece, and Jackson pulls out all the stops with a mind-blowing sequence that tops the scope of Helm's Deep while remaining focused on the characters. In addition to providing emotional stimulation, the eye candy is unbelievable, with Mordor's assault including armoured trolls, catapults, gigantic elephant-like creatures, and Ringwraiths riding on large, winged fell beasts that assault the city from the air. Jackson even indulges his horror sensibilities when the Orcs launch decapitated heads at Minas Tirith. However, the action is more than just bombastic noise and death, as the battles involve strategy and intelligence, and they coherently progress while providing key narrative developments.

Although the first two Lord of the Rings films contain countless standout moments, Jackson inarguably tops everything with the Ride of the Rohirrim, which endures as one of the best film scenes in cinema history. From Théoden's inspiring, fearless speech (delivered with stirring zeal by the note-perfect Bernard Hill) to Howard Shore's evocative, exhilarating music, plus the technical execution, the sequence is a sensational crowd-pleaser, with the riders showing outstanding courage in the face of indescribable danger. Théoden riding down the line of riders and tapping each spear with his sword results in a tremendous emotional swell and an overwhelming sense of honour. Similarly, Aragorn's speech at the Black Gate also triggers immediate goosebumps as he leads a last alliance of men against the forces of Mordor to draw Sauron's gaze away from Frodo. One cannot overstate the power of Shore's music, as the composer turns seemingly unremarkable moments into triumphant and exciting sequences with his orchestral accompaniments, such as the lighting of the beacons that signal Rohan to ride to Gondor's aid. Shore's score is note-perfect, alternating between ethereal and exciting, with the music becoming as synonymous with Middle-earth as the New Zealand locations.

Blockbusters with gigantic budgets were not uncommon in 2003, with films like Waterworld, Titanic and Armageddon each approaching the $200 million mark. Consequently, it is all the more miraculous that The Return of the King only cost a comparatively modest $94 million, as the technical presentation is impeccable. Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie again captures the breathtaking New Zealand scenery with visual elegance, incorporating sweeping aerial shots to emphasise the production's incredible scale (see the Nazgul descending on Minas Tirith from the air) while also coherently capturing the frenetic battles. The director of photography consistently finds stunning screen artistry, even in minor scenes. Although a visual continuity runs throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy, each instalment still feels like a distinct and proper film with a recognisable aesthetic identity. Indeed, the scenery and colour palette change to reflect the overarching story as each film introduces us to new cities and locations around Middle-earth. Nevertheless, it is hard to approach the movies as separate entities; instead, they represent three pieces of an exquisite whole that add up to more than the sum of its immaculate parts.

With the events of The Return of the King taking place in vast locations, most notably the white city of Minas Tirith, the combination of practical sets and digital extensions is flawless. Jackson primarily uses enormous miniatures (or "bigatures") and forced perspective techniques instead of outright CGI, resulting in a tangible aesthetic that helps everything feel real and lived-in. Although there is ample green and blue-screen work (such as the Mount Doom interiors), a vast portion of The Return of the King was filmed on location. Not all of the compositing stands up to contemporary scrutiny (in a wide shot during Aragorn's coronation, green-screen is visible around the edges of several extras), but it nevertheless remains sufficiently convincing, with no shots detracting from the film's sheer magic or emotional power. Indeed, despite considerable advancements in special effects technology over the last two decades, the Lord of the Rings trilogy still looks fantastic, especially with CGI often wildly varying in quality in 2024 due to unfeasible demand and insufficient time.

Gollum remains an outstanding CGI miracle: he's a fully digital character with soul and emotion, convincingly overcoming the "uncanny valley" feeling that was prevalent at the time and for many years afterwards. With Serkis again delivering an extraordinary motion-capture performance as the haunting yet endearing creature, the subtle expressions and movements make Gollum feel more authentic, and it is often difficult to believe the character is entirely computer-generated. The prologue details Sméagol's transformation into Gollum, and it is hard to ascertain the precise moment when the digital character replaces Serkis in prosthetic makeup. Equally effective is the grotesque, digitally-created Shelob, a giant spider that lives in Cirith Ungol and feasts on anything unfortunate enough to cross her path. Even by 2024 standards, the CGI Shelob looks enormously convincing, while the scenes of Frodo navigating her unsettling lair are genuinely chilling and feel like something from a horror film. The Return of the King features more special effects shots than any of its predecessors (in fact, it has nearly twice as many VFX shots as The Two Towers), but large parts of the film receive no computer assistance, with the intricate costumes, incredible sets and elaborate makeup enflaming our imaginations. 

With the characters continuing to grow and progress over the trilogy, the ensemble cast remains ideal, effortlessly handling the nuances and requirements of their respective roles. There is a distinct cadence and a beautiful poeticism to the dialogue, and, thanks to the performers, it all sounds wholly natural instead of contrived. Front and centre here are Elijah Wood and Sean Astin as Frodo and Sam. The Return of the King powerfully portrays the physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion of their journey - as they approach Mount Doom, all vestiges of cleanliness, happiness and energy are gone, replaced with intense fatigue and haggard faces. The resultant emotion is overpowering, and the actors are up to the task, never setting a foot wrong. Gandalf, meanwhile, plays a more prominent role in these proceedings, and McKellen (who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in The Fellowship of the Ring) emanates gravitas, warmth and a sense of regal authority as the great wizard. The Return of the King also gives Gandalf more to do on the battlefield, where he leads Gondor's army and fights the Orcs using his sword and staff instead of mere magic. Mortensen also takes on more responsibility as Aragorn, and he remains a perfect embodiment of the reluctant king, who is a skilled warrior and a humble ruler.

Bloom and Rhys-Davies continue to impress as the duo of Legolas and Gimli, and it is difficult to hold back tears as the competitive pair at long last vocalise their friendship in the face of almost certain death. The actions of all the characters carry more weight and significance here because of the amount of time we have spent with them in the preceding films, making it even more poignant to see Merry and Pippin express their desire to fight despite their small stature, or Eowyn bravely stand up against the intimidating Witch-king of Angmar to protect Théoden. Boyd makes a huge impression as Pippin, with The Return of the King introducing more nuance and emotion as the burden of the adventure finally takes its toll on the hobbit. Boyd even shows off his remarkable vocal talent in one scene as Pippin sings for the selfish, short-sighted Denethor while Faramir leads a squad of Gondorian soldiers in a fruitless attempt to reclaim Osgiliath. Speaking of Denethor, Australian actor John Noble is terrific in the role, seemingly teetering on the edge of insanity while unable to face the reality of the situation facing him.

The Return of the King's prolonged epilogue has become a pop culture joke (see 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), but Jackson needed time to properly wrap up the story, especially with such a vast ensemble of characters and many narrative strands to resolve. In Tolkien's The Return of the King novel, over 100 pages remain after the ring's destruction, which would translate to over an hour of screen time. The elongated epilogue once again reiterates that The Lord of the Rings is a story more about people than fantasy or action, and the ensuing catharsis is overwhelming. Additionally, one of the film's underlying themes relates to the loss of innocence, and the ending of The Return of the King explores the ostensible impossibility of returning to one's old life after a traumatic adventure. Although Sam's last words of dialogue in the movie's final scene seem insignificant, his proclamation of, "Well, I'm back" refers to his metaphorical and physical return to the Shire, whereas the mental adjustment was not as easy for Frodo. This material reflects the experiences of war veterans whose lives were irrevocably changed by the battlefield, which is unsurprising considering that Tolkien fought in the First World War. If anything, the epilogue is not long enough (more scenes were shot but remain unreleased). Indeed, the appearance of the end credits triggers an immediate sense of melancholy as they signify the end of an amazing adventure. Annie Lennox's original song Into the West accompanies the credits, and it adds even more emotional weight to the beautiful illustrations of the actors (drawn by the trilogy's conceptual designer, Alan Lee) during the all-important curtain call.

With each passing year, it becomes clearer that The Lord of the Rings represents the pinnacle of cinema, with the industry growing increasingly worse in subsequent years as digital technology took over and agendas hijacked production integrity. The Lord of the Rings was produced at just the right time when CGI was one tool in an endless arsenal of filmmaking techniques, shooting on celluloid was still commonplace, and before Hollywood became obsessed with subverting expectations and reimagining source material using diversity checklists. Jackson and his crew were merely concerned with creating the most coherent, dramatically satisfying and exciting adaptation of Tolkien's works, retaining his spirit and tone without relinquishing artistic integrity or inserting additional messages or themes. After all, Tolkien despised allegory. Simply labelling The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as a film feels like an injustice; it is an experience that practically transcends the medium, delivering awe-inspiring visual spectacle, grandiose imagination and overwhelming emotion, and the fact that it still remains at the forefront of pop culture consciousness is a testament to the trilogy's unmatched staying power. Indeed, for many fans, The Lord of the Rings is more of a spiritual experience than just a movie. Although this reviewer is a fan of Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, it does not come close to recapturing the magic of The Lord of the Rings. It is doubtful that anything ever will.

10/10

Following the critical and commercial success of 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an intimidating prospect for any filmmaker, even with existing source material to guide the narrative. Fortunately, 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers lives up to and even surpasses expectations, representing another magnificent epic with tremendous visual splendour and overwhelming emotional power, immaculately bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's novel to life. Once again helmed by Peter Jackson, who co-wrote the script with Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Stephen Sinclair, The Two Towers equals The Fellowship of the Ring from a writing and technical aspect, as this follow-up retains its predecessor's boundless positives while increasing the stakes and expanding the scope of Middle-earth. Naturally, with The Two Towers representing the trilogy's middle chapter, viewers must be familiar with The Fellowship of the Ring before viewing, as the first instalment establishes the overarching story and the mythology surrounding Sauron's One Ring.

After the Skirmish at Amon Hen, the Fellowship is fragmented, with Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) continuing their journey to Mordor to destroy the treacherous One Ring. Without a guide, the two hobbits struggle to make progress through the labyrinthine hills of Emyn Muil, seemingly going in circles. With the obsessive former ring bearer, Gollum (Andy Serkis), tracking their movements, Frodo and Sam capture the emaciated creature and allow him to serve as their guide into Mordor. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) set out to save their hobbit companions, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), from a band of Uruk-hai. After Merry and Pippin manage to escape their captors, they flee into Fangorn Forest where they encounter Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies), an Ent who acts as a shepherd of the forest. Learning that Merry and Pippin are safe, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli encounter Gandalf (Ian McKellen), who is reborn as Gandalf the White, returning to help save Middle-earth from the threat of Sauron. The four travel to Rohan's capital, Edoras, where Gandalf frees King Théoden (Bernard Hill) from Saruman's (Christopher Lee) control. With the armies of Mordor closing in on Rohan, Théoden chooses to evacuate the city, leading his people to the fortress stronghold of Helm's Deep.

Tolkien's novel concentrates on a single narrative strand at a time, but such an approach would not work in a cinematic setting. Accordingly, this film adaptation consistently crosses between locations and characters, building to the climactic third act involving the Battle of Helm's Deep, the attack on Isengard, and the siege of Osgiliath. Although the novel continues beyond these events, they represent a perfect closure point for this film, with Jackson saving the remainder of the book's events for The Return of the King. Thanks to the astute editing by Michael J. Horton (Once Were Warriors), the cross-cutting is astonishingly effective instead of frustrating, with ample momentum as the movie builds to its dramatic crescendo. As with The Fellowship of the Ring, the screenplay takes liberties with the source material to streamline the story's events, but The Two Towers remains true to the spirit and tone of Tolkien's works, retaining the broad strokes while changing some of the fine details to ensure a coherent, engaging and dramatically satisfying motion picture. It is crucial to perceive Jackson's trilogy as an adaptation instead of a page-by-page regurgitation.

Like its predecessor, The Two Towers is an emotionally resonant story about people, with themes of friendship and heroism, while the fantasy elements seem almost incidental. The film's poignancy is impossible to overstate; it is difficult to hold back tears as Théoden mourns the loss of his son or Sam reminds a disillusioned Frodo of the remaining good in Middle-earth that is worth fighting for. Strong, well-developed characters make it possible to feel empathy for the ensemble and care during each action sequence, adding a layer of intensity that most blockbusters fail to match. The crowd-pleasing moments are exhilarating, from Gandalf the White emerging to the shock of his friends to the climactic moments at Helm's Deep as the devastating battle reaches its rousing conclusion. The extended edition of The Two Towers restores 45 minutes of excised footage, adding more dramatic scenes, intimate character moments (including a flashback featuring Sean Bean as Boromir), and action beats, including a few additional dismemberments at Helm's Deep. The extended edition is the definitive way to experience The Two Towers, as the experience feels more complete, but Jackson's theatrical cut nevertheless remains a masterpiece and does not lose anything truly essential to the narrative.

Returning cinematographer Andrew Lesnie beautifully captures the breathtaking New Zealand vistas and intricate sets, with intermittent aerial shots augmenting the movie's impressive scope. From the first frame, Jackson convincingly transports us to Middle-earth, a place that feels lived-in and authentically real instead of a generic fantasyland. With Jackson and his team filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy back-to-back, there's palpable visual continuity to the locations, production design and special effects. The Two Towers thankfully relies on extensive location filming, vast sets, miniatures, forced perspective, intricate prosthetics, and many other old-school techniques to create Middle-earth, while digital effects further enhance the visuals. The height difference between the hobbits, dwarves and humans seems effortless, as the crew used scale doubles, trick photography, and compositing to convincingly sell the illusion. But the most notable special effects accomplishment is the character of Gollum. The notion of a fully digital character seems quaint in the 2020s, but the technology was still in its infancy in 2002. The computer-generated Gollum represents a landmark in special effects, helping to earn the movie a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Especially with the 35mm photography giving the film a tangible aesthetic, Gollum looks thoroughly convincing, and the illusion still stands over twenty years later. In addition to Gollum, The Two Towers features other digital creations. Treebeard is another special effects miracle, though parts of the character were achieved practically, especially during close-ups when Jackson's crew only used CGI to animate the face. The Wargs are slightly less convincing, but this is a minor imperfection.

Whereas The Fellowship of the Ring involves smaller, more intimate conflicts between the Fellowship and the armies of Mordor, The Two Towers expands the scope of Middle-earth, portraying larger battles with higher stakes. Jackson continues to demonstrate a superb flair for action, staging intense and violent set pieces that are visually distinct. Tolkien's prose does not outline the battles in great detail, leaving Jackson and his team to creatively interpret the material, devising battle sequences that make narrative and visual sense. Among the highlights is a sensational skirmish between Rohan's soldiers and a group of Warg-riding Orcs, but the movie's centrepiece is the Battle of Helm's Deep, which is one of the most magnificent battle sequences in cinema history, a masterclass in fight choreography, immaculate special effects, nail-biting tension, and affecting heartbreak. The battle lasts for the best part of an hour, yet it progresses coherently while maintaining interest, never devolving into a numbing, soulless, or nihilistic collection of drab combat beats. With the battle featuring thousands of combatants in singular shots, the special effects team designed a groundbreaking software program called Massive, which generates thousands of artificially intelligent characters. Instead of individually animating every digital soldier, Massive dramatically simplified the process, and the technology is still in use over twenty years later. The digitally-created long shots showing hundreds of Uruk-hai and men look borderline photorealistic and seamlessly cut in with the live-action photography, allowing Jackson to spatially establish critical parts of the battle before putting us in the thick of the visceral combat alongside the characters. Additionally, composer Howard Shore continues to demonstrate his unmatched talents here, making it hard to imagine The Lord of the Rings being the same without his truly impeccable music. Shore builds upon the motifs established in The Fellowship of the Ring, developing more cues and distinct themes for locations and characters. This is most deeply felt in the distinctive Rohan theme, which gives the city and its people a strong aural personality. Shore's original score enhances the film's emotionality and sense of exhilaration, delivering far more than mere background noise.

A pitch-perfect selection of new and returning actors fill out the enormous ensemble. It is genuinely impossible to imagine any other performers playing these roles, to the extent that the actors have become synonymous with their respective characters. With the One Ring starting to take its toll on Frodo and impact his mental state, Elijah Wood demonstrates more dimension and emotion here, while Sean Astin remains thoroughly likeable and human as the noble, heroic Samwise, who refuses to let anything happen to his companion, and brings Frodo back from the brink in several scenes. Meanwhile, although Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies showed ample personality in The Fellowship of the Ring, the pair truly come into their own throughout The Two Towers, trading banter and showing their competitive sides, adding humour and levity to augment the story's humanity. Alongside them, Viggo Mortensen remains an impeccable Aragorn, fully embodying the character and appearing fearless during combat. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan once again provide worthwhile comedic relief as Pippin and Merry, but they also handle weightier material here, with Monaghan, in particular, showing more dramatic range.

Liv Tyler also deserves a mention as Arwen Evenstar, an elf in love with Aragorn. After her introduction in The Fellowship of the Ring, Tyler has more to do here, submitting a nuanced performance with profound emotion. Miraculously, Tyler's Arwen is strong and brave but also beautiful and innately feminine, and she convincingly plays a world-weary elf who is thousands of years old despite being in her early 20s here. Out of the newcomers, Andy Serkis makes the biggest impression as Gollum. Using groundbreaking motion-capture technology, Serkis's facial performance wholly translates to the digital creature, and the results are breathtaking. Thanks to Serkis, we feel pity for this tragic and conflicted figure who is fundamentally a villain but receives more dimension and depth than expected. Through clever editing and Serkis's nuanced performance, Jackson brilliantly sells the duality between Gollum and Sméagol. Also joining the ensemble is Bernard Hill, who plays an authoritative and engaging King Théoden, while Miranda Otto is strong and regal as Théoden's niece, Eowyn. Like Arwen, Eowyn is endearingly feminine but also wants to fight for her loved ones, coming across as courageous and determined. Additionally, Otto shares several wonderful moments with Mortensen, and the two share wonderful chemistry. Meanwhile, Karl Urban appears as Éomer, a steely and ruthless warrior who leads a band of Rohirrim cavalry. Despite his limited screen time, Urban makes a terrific impression. In the villainous role of the slimy Grima Wormtongue, Brad Dourif (the voice of Chucky) superbly plays alongside Christopher Lee, who remains an ideal Saruman.

Inevitably, since The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the trilogy's middle instalment, it only continues the story instead of starting or finishing it, but it is still a distinctive motion picture that builds to a satisfying conclusion, finding a logical closure point as opposed to a frustrating cliffhanger. In other words, it still feels like a proper film. Complaints that the movie does not contribute anything worthwhile are frankly puzzling, as each narrative thread in The Two Towers receives a resolution, from Théoden successfully defending his people against the thousands of Uruk-hai sent to destroy Rohan, to Merry and Pippin managing to take an active role in the war against Sauron, setting the stage for the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Under Jackson's careful directorial eye, The Two Towers is full of astonishing spectacle and tremendous action set pieces, but he never lets the special effects overwhelm the story's humanity or emotional core. Like its predecessor, this is another award-worthy production that does not feel like tepid homework.

10/10

Four Brothers is a gripping, gritty, brutal, emotionally powerful action-packed urban drama from Oscar-nominated director John Singleton (who reached success with his debut drama Boyz n the Hood). Unfortunately, upon release I judged the book by its cover and awarded this film the dismissive cold shoulder with little intention of approaching it. I didn't know much about the plot, but nonetheless the poster looked stale and didn't flare an interest in my mind at all. As it turns out, Four Brothers is an exceptional crowd-pleaser that surpassed all my expectations.

The film is a testosterone-fuelled drama with an equal mix of humour, action and drama. This is the furthest thing from your typical fluffy action film that boasts someone like Van Damme or Steven Seagal as the film's primary acting talent. There is violent action aplenty (one of the film's primary action scenes I already want to see again), but what makes this film so excellent is that it's not just a string of continuous action scenes. The filmmakers also boast an impressive amount of emotionally-driven moments that are fuelled by the powerhouse performances. From a simple plot synopsis, one would probably think that this is a straightforward, predictable clichéd-ridden story of achieving retribution. On the contrary, the results are simply stunning: director John Singleton has great skills when behind the camera, bringing this action-packed drama to life with visually remarkable consequences. The film is well-paced, taut, stylised and violent - the filmmakers never attempt to hold back on displaying heavy violence and bloodshed.

In essence, Four Brothers is a modern-day Western. But this is not your ordinary Western: this is an urban-infused, Western-style drama set in the inner city of snow-gripped Detroit. The typical spaghetti Westerns would portray a lone gunman riding into town to face the bad guys head-on. In this case, the film trades in the single gunman approach and instead places four men as an alternative. The four central protagonists are the adopted Mercer brothers: two white, two black - Bobby (Wahlberg), Angel (Gibson), Jeremiah (Benjamin) and Jack (Hedlund). After the brothers lived through their childhood, they all went their separate ways. Their mother is a much respected elderly citizen named Evelyn Mercer (Flanagan). Evelyn is a well-liked lady with a penchant for helping the lives of troublesome young kids. One night, Evelyn's tranquil life is disrupted when an apparent grocery store robbery results in her being gunned down in cold blood. Her funeral attracts the four brothers who hadn't been together since their childhood period concluded. These estranged brothers reunite and seek revenge on whoever is responsible for the murder of their mother. The police don't appear to be doing anything to solve the case, so the brothers take the law into their own hands and commence their pursuit for justice.

As the plot thickens and the investigation lengthens, it becomes apparent that the "accidental death" of their mother might not have been unintentional after all.

Four Brothers is visceral filmmaking that satisfied my every requirement for entertainment. Like I stated previously, the film has lots of action but it's not a ludicrous string of action with no heart. At the core of the film there is heart and an important sense of camaraderie. Running at approximately 100 minutes, the film successfully packs one heck of a wallop! It's tightly edited and encompasses a lot to examine underneath while not spending an overwhelming amount of time on unnecessary drama. To establish the characters there's no extensive dialogue scene; instead they are introduced when they are being reunited at the funeral and the cops discuss the history behind each individual. Without being corny or poorly written, this is an extremely creative way to feed the audience everything they need to know before proceeding into the nitty gritty.

I was especially fond of the atmosphere the film creates. The use of carefully-chosen music (mainly hip-hop) gives the unmistakable impression of an unsavoury neighbourhood. Leave it up to John Singleton: a man who completely understands the style, genre and background. You can also expect a thread of unpredictability: the audience will be lead down a continuous path of red herrings until the film's wholly satisfying conclusion. Another completely admirable element is that the filmmakers are not afraid to be relentless. One character is treated with about as much sentimentality as the next. They're never afraid of the consequences when one man is killed off.

One of the main qualities of the film is the strong sense of companionship and solidarity between the four lead characters. Mark Wahlberg is an outstanding actor who infuses a sense of brutality and conviction in his portrayal. So to speak, his role is that of the older brother who feels compelled to be an authority figure for his younger siblings. Wahlberg's character Bobby is able to endeavour an older-brother-type take-charge attitude that helps bring his three brothers together in their search for their adoptive mother's killers through the callous streets of Detroit. This is a veteran Hollywood actor amidst a fundamental cast of unknowns who mainly have a background in the music industry (a notable fact is that Wahlberg also has a past in the music business). Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and young Garrett Hedlund are the other three brothers who appear to be equally as concentrated as Wahlberg. All four actors deliver amazing performances and fall squarely into the "anti-hero" category. The excellent chemistry between the four leads adds to the feel of the film. Altogether they are the Western-style lone gunman out to execute the guilty party. Terrence Howard and Josh Charles are both quite extraordinary as the cops who aren't willing to allow the four brothers to exercise their own form of street justice.

Overall, Four Brothers is a film one would never expect to be so excellent. At the end of the day it's only flawed faintly in the script department in the sense of over-length and a few hollow lines of dialogue. Okay, I know what you must be thinking. Rappers being actors...doesn't sound too promising does it? Before I watched the movie I must admit I was afraid of this and the thought that the film might be drowning in hip-hop music that will make you want to slice your ear-drums out! You don't need to worry at all, as Four Brothers does not submit to these anticipated flaws. The film is a compelling drama permeated with an equal dosage of humour, drama and action. To quote a reviewer, this is a "gritty urban drama". Bottom line: an excellent Friday night at the movies!

8.2/10