"Training Day" is the best of the bad cop dramas that I have seen. Both Denzel Washington as the psychopathic bad cop, Alonzo, and Ethan Hawke as the idealistic rookie, Jake, were amaizing. Denzel Washington won the Best Actor Oscar for...
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"Training Day" is the best of the bad cop dramas that I have seen. Both Denzel Washington as the psychopathic bad cop, Alonzo, and Ethan Hawke as the idealistic rookie, Jake, were amaizing. Denzel Washington won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, and Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The direction by Antoine Fuqua was superb. Before seeing this movie, my impression of Denzel Washington as an actor wasn't especially high. Not to say that he isn't talented, just that ever since Crimson Tide he appeared to be slotted neatly into every stern hero in every serious political thriller to be trotted off the studio assembly line for years. But then came Training Day and his role as Alonzo Harris and all that changed. Shrugging off the overly serious good guy image once and for all, Washington here is a revelation; a barking, ranting maelstrom of police brutality who believes that maintaining order on the crime ridden streets of LA means being even more ruthless than the drug dealers he faces on a day to day basis. His performance elevates the film from standard thriller fare into an exemplary story that has quite rightly become one of my favourite films of all time.

Set over the course of twenty four hours, the film whisks Ethan Hawke's naive young police officer onto an introductory day of Narcotics work under Alonzo's tutelage. As the hours go by, Hawke is subjected to more and more violence as the heat and paranoia of suburban Los Angeles combined with his loose cannon superior officer play a heavy toll on his nerves. Consequently, the film is very much a two man story with Hawke and Washington playing off against each other expertly as polar opposites. One young, inexperienced and a firm believer in the rule book, the other older, more cynical and twisted by all his years on the streets into a bull-headed monster.

The story itself is fraught with tension. Alonzo forcing his young protégé to smoke PCP at gunpoint is just the start and from there on the pulse pounding never stops. The execution scene where Hawke realises just how far gone his partner is for example is one of nail-biting pressure and shortly after, his encounter with a trio of Mexican gang members is jaw dropping, working as the exact moment you realise how much hot water he has found himself in.

The end result is nothing less than a brilliant thriller. Hawke and Washington make for a phenomenal double act and the pace only occasionally lets up to allow the characters time to breathe and establish the depth that makes you care for them more. Highly, highly recommended so long as you're prepared to be abso lutely terrified of Denzel Washington for years to come.

Sweeping all five major Academy Awards ("Oscars" for Best Movie, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) is quite an accomplishment. Doing it nearly a year after a film was released is a miracle considering the notoriously short attention...
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Sweeping all five major Academy Awards ("Oscars" for Best Movie, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) is quite an accomplishment. Doing it nearly a year after a film was released is a miracle considering the notoriously short attention span of Oscar voters. It is a powerful example of how great a movie can be when superb writers, directors, actors, and others work at the top of their craft.

With Silence of the Lambs comes some much needed recognition for the horror genre. It is a first-rate production all around. It boasts a witty and suspenseful script based on the Thomas Harris novel, full of great lines. It has marvelous direction from Demme. Demme creates suspense very well throughout and uses some great directorial shots such as the twin frames of Clarice ringing a doorbell and the FBI men breaking into a home. The two lead actors won oscars for their performances...each deserved. Foster is very good in her role, but it is Anthony Hopkins that literally lights up the screen with his complex portrayal of a complex serial killer. The psychological path of Hannibal is hard to trace. He is so odd a mixture of intelligence, cruelty, insanity, grace and charisma. In the depth, fledgling FBI trainee Clarice is no match of him. She is still naive yet very ambitious. On the trail of the serial killer Buffalo Bill, she's sent to interview him, a psychiatrist-turned-cannibal. Hannibal is willing to provide clues to finding the killer but only in return for personal information about Clarice herself. He calls it Quid Pro Quo. In those mind games, the two dance backward and forward between cannibal and FBI agent, mentor and student, psychiatrist and patient, father and daughter. It is Clarice who breathes life into the multidimensional sophisticated psychopath and Hannibal who nudges the aspiring student FBI agent and helps her achieve her first success in a world of Y chromosome where her guru Crawford uses her, embarrasses her, excludes her; Doctor Chilton regards her no more than a simple-minded woman and tries to flirt with her.Foster's performance is absolutely brilliant. While Anthony Hopkins receives most of the (well-deserved) praise for his chilling portrayal of incarcerated serial killer `Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lector', it is Foster's performance that holds the movie together. The fear she shows just behind her eyes makes Clarice's outward courage all the more interesting and vulnerable. This is the perfect way to play the part because it explains Lector's interest in Clarice. Her only bargaining chip in getting Lector's help is to let him `feed' on her innermost secrets and fears in exchange for his brilliant insights into the psychotic mind. The title of the movie comes from these exchanges and is very poignant.

The rest of the cast is also quite good with Anthony Heald a standout as a unethical, petty doctor in charge of Hopkins. Of course the story of the other killer is very very chilling as well. A quality film in all aspects! It is a creepy and taken-by-storm experience with the film, background music is darker than the film itself and too ominous, plot is brilliantly constructed, conversations are thought-provocative, to crown the whole, Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkin are the cream. A fascinating display of direction is in a scene that shows an intense and grisly escape that Lector plotted by making a deal which was a transfer to another cell in exchange to provide Clarence more insight into a serial killer's profile. Jonathan Demme has done an amazing job at skilfully presenting here some edgy psychological material with depth that amplifies tension and maturity. The Silence of the Lambs is clearly a favourite as it ingeniously combines various facets of film-making to please mainstream and most art-house film lovers. Do not miss this movie. The movie is incredibly suspenseful and an absolute must see.

Based on Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," "10 Things I Hate About You" offers a refreshing revival of the "good" teen films, as compared to the "typical" teen films. It may not surprise you in terms of...
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Based on Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," "10 Things I Hate About You" offers a refreshing revival of the "good" teen films, as compared to the "typical" teen films. It may not surprise you in terms of who gets which girl and it's fairly predictable in a romantic comedy type way but that's not it. Heath Ledger & Julia Stiles make a great couple and his rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" was one of the highlights. We have the highschool stereotypes of the cool kids nobody messes with, the wannabe's that try too hard to be something they're not, the geeks everyone picks on and the rebels everyone is afraid of. In other words, there's a character in this film everyone can relate to. The stand out performances are Heath Ledger as Patrick, the rebellious, feared and elusive bad guy who wins the heart of Kat Stratford played to perfection by fine actress Julia Stiles who has no interest in the opposite sex and is perceived to come from the planet 'Loser' while her more sociable, boy crazy sister Bianca (Larissa Oleynik) hails from planet 'Look at Me, Look at Me'. Her good looks catch the eye of the smooth, suave and egotistical Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) who is a male model, and fights for the affections of the prettiest Stratford sister with Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) the highschool geek, with a big heart and a big crush on Bianca. The hilarious Larry Miller stars as Walter Stratford-the kind of father who puts his girls on a short leash and desperately tries to shield them from the horrors of sex, drugs and rock and roll, and of course, boys. A typical teenage comedy, but its witty dialogue, goofy, sexy, cool characters, and enjoyable storyline set it apart from all the rest. There's plenty of memorable moments, romance, and clever and ****c lines, all leading up to a predictable but perfectly good ending that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling about teenage love.

Seven years after barely surviving events on board the Nostromo in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror ALIEN, Sigourney Weaver reprised her role as Warrant Officer Ripley for one of the most compelling and critically-acclaimed sequels of all time. When...
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Seven years after barely surviving events on board the Nostromo in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror ALIEN, Sigourney Weaver reprised her role as Warrant Officer Ripley for one of the most compelling and critically-acclaimed sequels of all time. When Ripley is rescued from drifting aimlessly through deep space, she is horrified to learn that not only has she been asleep for 57 years, but the planet on which she had encountered the original alien all that time ago has since been colonized. At first no-one will heed her warnings or completely believe the story she gives at an official enquiry as to what happened to her and her fellow Nostromo crew members. But then contact is lost with LV-426, and despite initially throwing Ripley "to the wolves" (as she herself puts in), The Company, through representative Carter J. Burke (Paul Reiser), suddenly finds itself in a position of having to ask Ripley for help, finally persuading her to return to the planet that still consumes her every nightmare, as an advisor to a motley group of very tough colonial marines expecting this to be just another run-of-the-mill "bug-hunt". But how wrong that assumption turns out to be!

I believe that Aliens far surpasses its celebrated predecessor in almost every aspect. Obviously the sheer spectacle of what is basically a Vietnam war movie in space is particularly awe-inspiring - the impressive sets, the many excitingly-staged combat sequences, the aliens themselves. Part of what makes the monsters so effective is that we're not told too much about them. We only get glimpses into their physiology's, their behavioral patterns and their intelligence. James Cameron gives us just enough to become wrapped up in the film, but not so much that we become overly familiar with the aliens, or start to question the logic behind the film. He also smartly carries over some devices from the first film that were abandoned to an extent, such as the acidic blood of the aliens, and he supplies answers to the few questions that the first film raised, such as why the blood doesn't corrode instruments and objects when a dead alien is examined.

The best performance of the movie is easily that given by Sigourney Weaver. The fact that in 1987 a performance in a sci-fi/action movie should be nominated for an Oscar is testament enough to the quality of her acting. The mother-daughter bond that grows between Ripley and Newt is central to the movie, and one that allows Weaver to develop her character even further. Of course Cameron cannot resist mirroring this with the maternal instincts of the Alien Queen. These themes of motherhood and the nature of the difference between the two species are continued in the next two movies, although never as subtly. Cameron fashioned Aliens into a grand arc where Ripley's actions at the end of the film have much more meaning as she's not only fighting monsters, but also fighting to retain a semblance of something she lost due to her 57-year hyper sleep. As in the first film, she is still the most intelligent, courageous and resourceful member of the crew, but she has much more colorful company.

Amongst the talented supporting players are Cameron regulars Michael Biehn (THE TERMINATOR, THE ABYSS) and Bill Paxton (bit part in THE TERMINATOR, TRUE LIES, TITANIC). Both Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen turn in wonderfully over-the-top performances, at their diametrically opposed ends of the emotional spectrum - Paxton as the spastic surfer/redneck and Henriksen as the intense, moody sage, with a surprising reality and an even more surprising conscience to go along with it. We also get a cigar-chomping Sergeant, a crazy, butch Private, and a complex, pensive Corporal as main characters, and a mysterious, bright young girl (played in a terrific performance by Carrie Henn). Much of the center section of the film hinges on the interrelationships of these characters, despite the action trappings going on around them.

Nominated for 7 Oscars, the film went on to win for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects Editing. Further, almost inevitable sequels followed in 1992 and 1997, but I prefer to think of the terrifying perils of Ellen Ripley as ending on this high note. Cameron carries over the crypt/labyrinth motif of the first film, and adds a metaphorical descent into the bowels of hell in the climax. The action throughout is suspenseful. Cameron is able to clearly convey the logistics of very complex sets, so that viewers remain on the edges of their seats. Everything about this movie is sheer ****and it is rightly considered one of the best of its type ever made. If you don't like this movie then the problem is your taste in films, not the film itself. If you have not seen it, not only am I surprised, I recommend you do so when you're in the mood to have a roller-coaster ride but Blackpool is too far away.