Category: Reviews

Walking into the cinema, I had high hopes for the movie knowing that it had quite a number of nominations to its name, and it was a boxing movie – usually boxing movies win awards right? Look at Rocky and Million Dollar Baby… anyway I digress.

The Fighter is a biopic about Dicky Eklund (Bale), an ex-superstar boxer who has to deal with drug problems and mould his brother, Micky Ward (Wahlberg) into a boxing champion. Despite the movie being about Micky Ward, supporting actor, Bale, stole the whole movie for me.

Christian Bale’s performance as a drug addict/boxing trainer, Dicky, was just brilliant. I knew he could act, but I had never seen this side of him before. Mark Wahlberg was just his usual self, and dished out nothing extraordinary. He is one fit guy though – you can really tell he worked his ass off to play the role of Micky Ward in this movie. Supporting actress Melissa Leo did a great job as the manipulative, power-hungry, over ambitious mother, Alice Ward.

Being based on a true story, I don’t know how accurate it was since I didn’t read up on it, but I heard that the final fight scene was a replica of the original fight that happened. Regardless, the movie was well shot, and I came out of the cinema feeling pumped and keen to pick up boxing as a sport. It was well paced, and there was not a low point in the movie. If I had to complain about anything, it would be there weren’t enough scenes with Christian Bale (for his acting) and Amy Adams (damn, she is fine). The Fighter deserves every award it won at the Oscars this year and it deserves to be on your list of movies to watch this year. The Fighter gets 8/10.

I was told that James Cameron produced this sorry excuse for a movie, and that sort of raised my expectations a bit even though I wasn’t a huge fan of his own movies. I mean with such a big name backing the movie, it must have its merits right? I can tell you straight up – no.

Sanctum fits in the same category of movies I wished I never wasted 2 hours of my life watching. If you’ve seen The Last Airbender and Hisss, this movie would belong in the same pile. There is nothing, absolutely nothing redeeming about this movie. I went in with an open mind (I really had no idea what to expect besides the cave exploration I saw in the vague trailer) and was prepared for anything. I guess I was wrong. I wasn’t prepared for this.

Sanctum tells the story of a bunch of underwater cave divers who want to explore the largest, unexplored cave in the world. A tropical storm causes the cave to flood, and the explorers are trapped inside, looking for an alternative route to freedom. Predictably, they start dying one by one to accidents and one crazed man against the rest of them.

The movie is forced, the characters didn’t show a single shred of emotion, and it was terribly paced. By the end of the movie, I didn’t feel a single connection at all to the protagonist and I wish he’d died along with the rest of them instead so the movie would end sooner. I don’t even remember a single name of any character in the movie. In fact the only character that comes to mind is the tanned skinned dude that had to be euthanized to put him out of his misery near the beginning of the movie. The cast were truly that unmemorable.

Writing this review has infuriated me, and now I’m even annoyed at myself for writing the last three paragraphs when the first one alone would have sufficed. Avoid Sanctum like the plague. I wouldn’t watch again even if I was held at gunpoint. Sanctum gets 1/10.

Being a fan of Slumdog Millionaire, I gotta say I was excited about attending the press screening for 127 Hours. The trailer didn’t reveal much about the movie, and I didn’t really know what I was in for due to me not reading up about the movie before I entered the theater. I came out of the cinema feeling thoroughly satisfied. 127 Hours is one of those movies you just have to watch to experience, someone telling you about it will do no justice to the film. I haven’t read the book so I can’t offer any comparisons, but in this movie, James Franco demonstrates that he’s more than just another pretty face.

127 Hours tells the true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco), an avid adventurer who finds himself in a situation he never thought he’d end up – in the bottom of a canyon with one arm pinned against a wall by a rock too heavy for him to move. It is about the 5 days he spent stuck there.

James Franco gives the performance of his life in this movie. The camera is on him 90% of the time, and it’s just amazing how many different expressions and emotions he can pull off while being stuck in the same place for so long. Ryan Reynolds did something similar last year in Buried, but I gotta say Franco takes the cake. If you thought all he could do was act as an angsty kid playing the Peter Parker’s nemesis, or the stoner/hippy character he’s been doing recently, you’re wrong. This movie will go down as one of Franco’s finest performances to date.

The pacing of the movie was good, it didn’t feel too short or long, and it was pretty straightforward. But the beautiful visuals and great editing makes this movie a feast for the eyes. I don’t have anything bad to say about the movie really, and the brief appearances of Clémence Poésy as his ex-girlfriend in the movie were a pleasant surprise. 127 Hours is definitely one of the movies that you have to watch this year. 127 Hours gets 8/10.