Politic-A-Thon: You've Been Trumped Review

I think it's about time to talk about a documentary in the Politic-a-Thon and the first documentary I've chosen is one that hasn't received nearly as much attention as it should get and is probably the film that has made me the most angry in recent years, simply through the subject of the film, Donald Trump's golf course in Aberdeen.

Politic-A-Thon: The Great Dictator Review

So continuing the Politic-A-Thon, I think it's time to cover a film focusing on the extremist politics of the 1930's and 40's and what better film to talk about than The Great Dictator.  Yes, Chaplin's extremely over-the-top satire of Nazism that even Chaplin admits wouldn't have been made had he known about The Holocaust. It's completely politically incorrect, and utterly hilarious.

Politic-A-Thon: A Royal Affair Review

Thought I'd do something a little bit different in this part of the Politic-A-Thon and go with a film looking at the older political struggles in a country and to that end I've chosen A Royal Affair. Now on the surface, A Royal Affair looks like a stuffy costume drama but when you watch it, you see a deeply political thriller based in the 18th Century Danish court and all of this works incredibly well in the film.

Politic-A-Thon: The Campaign Review

Continuing with the Politic-A-Thon, I think it's time to talk about a political comedy and I think I've chosen right. There are a lot of comedic possibilities that can be created from a US Congressional Election and The Campaign makes good use of these different elements. From baby kissing to Communist bashing, all aspects of a campaign are shown in this film. I only wish the film was funnier.

Politic-A-Thon: In The Loop Review

So to kick off my first blog-a-thon, I decided to do a film that I think deserves to be seen by much more people and is one of the best political films made, Armando Ianucci's In The Loop. Now I feel that this is one of the funniest films ever made but not enough people have seen it so I think it's time for me to introduce some more people to this film.

Wrong Review - CineKatz Not-So-Secret-Santa in July Project

So as part of the Cinematic Katzenjammer's Not-So-Secret-Santa project, I got assigned the film Wrong and boy is was hard to watch. There are 2 reasons why it was so hard, firstly, it was hard for me to actually find the film since it hasn't been released in the UK yet, this is probably the only time that I've had to watch a film on YouTube. Secondly is that the film is incredibly boring, trying to be all artsy but completely failing.

The World's End Review

Ever since it was announced I've been highly anticipating The World's End, hell at the start of the year I named it my most anticipated film over films like Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, Kick-Ass 2, Pacific Rim and Elysium. Now it's been released and I can say that my anticipation was worth it, The World's End is a brilliant film and a fitting conclusion to the Three Colours Cornetto Trilogy.

Fruitvale Station Review

Last week, I went to Washington DC on holiday (had a great time by the way) and I decided to go and see a film that probably wouldn't be released in the UK for a while. After hearing some good things about it I decided to go and see Fruitvale Station, then the George Zimmerman verdict happened and suddenly this film became incredibly timely and a big cultural event. Outside of the relevance though, what did I think of Fruitvale Station? It is a masterpiece.

Finally

Today, it has been announced by Robin Hardy that the original print of The Wicker Man, which many though to be lost and which StudioCanal has been trying to find for the past year, has now been found and is being restored for a UK cinema release followed by a DVD/BluRay release. Considering that The Wicker Man is one of my all time favourite films, I am eagerly awaiting this restoration so I can see what stuff has not been released before. Remember, the last time The Wicker Man was restored, a number of songs were restored which helped contribute to the brilliantly creepy atmosphere of the film. I really hope that more stuff like that will be in this new restoration.

Pacific Rim Review

For the past few months I've really been looking forward to Pacific Rim. Guillermo Del Toro is one of the best directors currently working and seeing him just go all out in a robots v. monsters film just sounds amazing. Good to report then that Pacific Rim more than meets the extremely high expectations I had and that I think it's the best pure action film released this year.

This Is The End Review

On the surface I should hate This Is The End, a stoner apocalypse comedy about a group of actors all playing themselves trying to ride it out. It shouldn't work but it does, This Is The End is a really funny film because of just how insane everything gets and how far the film takes the premise of all the actors stuck together.

Best of 2013 Halfway Through The Year

It's that time of year again where I give my brief thoughts on all the films I've seen halfway through the year in the traditional categories of best films, performances and scenes, along with stating what my most anticipated films for the rest of the year are, all of this based on the UK release dates for films so expect to see some films in the lists that you would have seen in best of lists from the end of last year. Let's start these multiple lists off with:

More Dragons

When it was first released, How To Train Your Dragon was one of the biggest surprises from 2010. I went in expecting to have just a fun little time and came out having seen a really heartfelt, action-packed and, especially during the flying scenes, beautiful film. Now the teaser trailer for the sequel has been released and I'm really excited.

Now You See Me Review

When the year started, I hadn't heard of Now You See Me, had no intention of watching it, wasn't even interested. A few weeks ago though, I watched a trailer for the film and I got intrigued, I'm interested in the whole magic scene and it has a brilliant cast. My thoughts on the film, I really enjoyed it, but there are some flaws.

A Field In England Review

Now this is a hard one. This film is so insane and messed up that I don't know if I will be able to properly review it without spoiling a few important elements of the film so consider this a spoiler warning. Now I've been looking forward to A Field In England for a while now for 2 reasons. Firstly, Ben Wheatley directing as I'm really interested in seeing what this guy would do after the brilliance of last years Sightseers. Secondly is the release of the film, this is the first film to be released in cinemas, on DVD/Blu-Ray, on VOD and shown on TV at the same time (by the way, I watched this film on TV). After watching the film, I have no idea what to think about it.

The East Review

At the start of the year I had not heard of this film, had no idea what it was about and had no intention of seeing it. A few weeks ago though, when I went to see The Iceman, there was a trailer for The East before the film and I was amazed that I hadn't heard about this film earlier. I mean it's a thriller about a group of terrorists punishing companies for their crimes against the environment, it is my ideal film and the film itself really impressed me with just how smart it was, making me feel stupid for having not heard about it earlier.