Fifty years On: Yojimbo

So another new feature idea that I had, why don’t I review films that are fifty years old this year (so films from 1961) to see if they are still good in the 2011! This works out quite nicely because I quite recently watched a film from 1961, Yojimbo, and here are my thoughts on it!

Akira Kurosawa is probably one of the most influential directors in film history, or so it could be argued. It is within the 1950’s that we see most of his most influential works; Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and Hidden Fortress had heavy influences upon western cinema. Either directly, such as The Magnificent Seven, which took its story straight from Seven Samurai, or more subtly, such as the inspirations for Star Wars: A new Hope found within Hidden Fortress. By the beginning of the 1960’s then, Akira had already had all these films under his belt, along with many others, and was already an acclaimed director. However, after the box office failure of his first independent production team production, The Bad Sleep released in 1960, Akira returned from the modern setting to something much more traditional, and hence Yojimbo was born.

Never Let Me Go Review

Breathtakingly beautiful yet pervasively sinister, Never Let Me Go is pure science Fiction entwined beautifully with a tale of love, loss and morality; it should not be missed.

I wasn’t expecting much from this, I have to say. From the trailers there seemed little here but a love triangle with a mere hint of science fiction backdrop. Well it certainly is that, but it is also much, much more. Based upon Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel of the same name, Never Let Me Go is set in a alternative almost utopian future in which disease has been almost eradicated and human life has been extended well beyond a hundred years. To this backdrop, the plot follows the plight of three young people, Kathy ‘H’, played by Carey Mulligan (and by an eerily similar Isobel Meikle-Small as the young Kathy), Ruth, played by Keira Knightley (and by Ella Purnell as the younger version) and finally Tommy, played by Andrew Garfield (and Charlie Rowe), through three distinct periods of their lives.

£3 Film: Colin

I’ve always wondered why some films are so cheap, are they absolute bargains, or low in price for a definite reason? Well now I’m going to be finding out. Each Week I will be finding and writing reviews for films around the £3 price mark (although they could be cheaper than this) to see if they are any good. I will generally be attempting to pick films which are lesser known, (reviewing a cheap film that everyone has probably already seen doesn’t seem interesting) and hopefully I will find some gems, among what I expect will be mostly rough. Well without further ado…Colin!

An interesting premise and an applaudably low budget does not save this zombie film’s bland story and uninteresting characters.

From the DVD Shelf: Timecrimes (or Los cronocrímenes)

A breath of fresh air for the Time-travel genre, this low budget Sci-fi thriller is certainly mind-bending, but in an extremely good way.

At first glance this film seems to have everything going against it. First of all it has a silly name, a poor translation of its original Spanish title, Los cronocrímenes? (I don’t know, I don’t speak Spanish!). Secondly it’s directed by someone you most likely haven’t ever heard of, Nacho Vigalondo, who sounds more like a bad Mexican super-hero than a great director (no offence Nacho!). While finally, at first glance it looks like a poor, low-budget, slasher-flick, with a main antagonist that resembles a trench coat wearing, scissor wielding, Mummy (If you see the DVD cover you’ll know what I’m talking about). Hence, though I had even been recommended this film by other websites and purchased it, it sat sadly on my shelf for months before I finally got round to watching it. Plainly though, this film is demonstrates clearly why you should never judge a book (or in this case DVD) by its cover, for what we have here is something both imaginative, exciting and extremely thought provoking.

The Eagle Review

4/5

Varrus, give me back my…Eagle?

[WARNING]: This review contains explicit and disturbing references to the acting ability of Channing Tatum, parental caution is advised.

To my mind there have been few truly great historical action-adventures in the last couple of years and not since the days of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator over a decade ago now, have we seen anything spectacular in that mould, at least not in a Roman Context. That is not to say that the Eagle is the film to fill that void, but it certain does scratch the same itch, if not to the same extent, and it is definitely better than Centurion.