Romulus My Father stars Eric Bana (Munich,Hulk,Troy)Franke Potente(Bourne movies 1-2)Martin Csokas (Lord of the Rings,Bourne Supremacy,Kingdom of Heaven and Kodi Smit -Mcphee.Direction comes from actor and first time director and winner at the AFI by Richard Roxburgh(Van Helsing,Mission Impossible 2,moulin Rouge and screenplay comes from Nick Drake.

This is a very poweful movie indeed which tells the true story of Raimond Gaita’s memoir, from when he was a small boy.Trying to live a balanced life alongside his father Romulus (Bana) and his depressive mother (Potente)this story deals with an unbreakable bond of love between a boy and his father who must also deal with their lives as immigrants in an unknown country.Also when the understanding of medical conditions mainly mental, was very low.

I saw this film and was absolutely blown away by the level of acting.Not only by Bana and Potente but more so from first time actor Smit-Mcphee.His level of natural talent truly shined during each scene and he was able to flawlessly play alongside Bana who once again captivates you with the in depth spark he posesses.Both Bana and Smit-Mcphee won best young and leading actors at the AFI.Romulus is directed by first time director Richard Roxburgh and the screenplay comes from Nick Drake,who together spent many years studying this story and met Raimond Gaita and produced a masterpiece which will truly get your emotions flying up and down.

The set for this film was set in the exact location of Gaita’s childhood.This i found was fascinating and the scenery was extraordinary.You are also shown his real house with many scenes used for this purpose.The music score used,i found really puts  icing on the cake with emotional and sometimes comical scenes.

In my overall opinion if you have not had a chance to see this,then this is a definite.With many aspects of bonds,love and human condition many will be able to relate to this.This is not always depressing,it does have some elements of humor which will be a nice little comforter for you.Having met Richard Roxburgh and Nick Drake who i hope continue working together on many more projects,i feel this is an absolute winner and hope to see again soon.

The Mist stars Thomas Jane known mainly for his roles in (The Punisher,Deep Blue Sea).Also satrring is Marcia Gay Harden  (Into The Wild),Laurie Holden (Fantastic Four,Silent Hill)Andre Braugher(Rise Of The Silver Surfer,Poseidon,Into The Wild)William Sadler(The Green Mile,Shawshank Redemption,Trespass,Bill n Ted’s Bogus Journey,Die Hard 2 and lastly Chris Owen who will be mostly known ffrom the American Pie films as Sherman and in the recent Bank Job.The Mist was directed by three time oscar nominated Frank Darabont who gave us The Green Mile,Executive producer for Colateral,the screenplay for The Fly 2 and The Shawshank Redemption.

Joe Drayton(Jane)is a hollywood artist who whilst finishing his latest picture realises there is a most unusual thunderstorm and as he and his family take a look the house is hit by a tree.The next morning Drayton notices a large mist cloud drawing nearer and nearer to his house and goes round to speak to his next door neighbour about the damage caused and they take a trip into the local supermarket and soon after the whole town hears a loud siren and the mist has covered the whole town and a man arrives screaming, not to go outside into the mist and they bolt the doors closed and wait.As people become more frightened some leave to go home,but never return.Later a group decide to go and find out what is going on in the back room and are attacked by a large tentacle like ceature and a young man is dragged off(Owen)the group try to convine the remaining survivors there is a large tentacled creature outside and again are attacked by new creatures,smaller,but which can fly and poison them.A small group decide to go off and find medical help and come across the original group never to return and are again attacked by even more deadly creatures.After fleeing back to the store,the group begin to believe through a religious woman(Harden) that this is an act of god and he is punishing them.More and more people fall prey to the religious woman beliefs and the few who don’t must make a stand and again decide themselves to go into the mist and find help and then comes the surprise of the most shocking endings.

This film is from the horror mastermind of Stephen King and will terrify you to your very soul.It deals with a lot of issues like religion,paranoia,isolation and human instincts for survival.It is lead by Tom Jane who gives my favourite performance to date And is backed by an extraordinary co-cast and really have you feel for them and want them to survive.The setting is as simple as it can get,with most of shis  being in a superstor gives you the sense of being trapped and people fear and beliefs.The story line was going to  be a worry and you are just waitng for the cheesy one liners and  ending,but these never happen.The script was astonishing because in alot of films similiar to this you only ever get 3-5 people who have good lines,but there were so many varied charcters given to you in this,that you were always anticipating each persons responses throughout.

Another worry for me with this was with the monsters and seeing if they were poorly made.Again never a problem mainly because you only really see the smaller creatures and the bigger ones are teased in now and again but are used for your imaginaion,which for me works best in this really case does and brings the horor factor into play even more so.Director Barabont has made this in a very mature way and uses many everday life factors to bring you a world of fear and paranoia and mixes it with religion and human beliefs.The cgi used for the monsters was sublime and everything mixed perfectly to give you one of the most intense horrors i have and i’m sure many would agree will see.

As you will now know i am an avid horor fan and it takes alot for me to get excited about certain horrors and with all my worries and doubts with this being completely scrapped ,I cannot recommend this film enough.I do believe alot of people will probably find the monsters not to be used enough,but thet are extremely frightening and this i feel adds to the tension and unknown.And again many will feel the religion factor plays too big a part in this,but these are everyday  factors mixed with the unknown.This i am sure will frighten most people and with one of the most surprising endings i have ever seen you will have so many thoughts racing through your mind about what you would have done to do  deal wih the situation.With many films blendid like Cloverfield,Godzilla with a hint of Arachnophobia and Evolution put together with very believable acting and characters,this is a must must see now on sight film.Absolute smasher go see……

Black Water stars Diane Glenn who most will remember her from Neighbours as Shannon Jones,Maeve Dermody,Andy Rodoreda and Ben Oxenbould.Black Water has two directors who have won two awards for Best Directors  and best Cinematography with Black Water,at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival,they are David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki.

Black Water is based on real life events following couple Adam and Grace and her younger sister Lee ,who while on holiday decide to visist a fishing tour ,where they meet guide Jim.Befor long the group decide to move into a mangrove swamp and are attacked by an unknown animal which flips their boat and hurls them into the water.The petrified threesome take shelter up the nearest tree and realise there is a killer croc in the swamp.After waiting for what seems hours and hours the group realise there is nobody out there coming to help,or that noone even knows the boat has gone out ,deciding the croc has gone they must now make a move for the floating upside down boat which they came in on.But soon realise the croc has not gone anywhere and makes his move on the victims.Scared,hungry and tired the group take flight up the tree and must decide on what to do in order to survive the croc.

In all honesty most people would feel that once you have seen one killer croc film,you’ve seen them all.This is not the case here because what struck me most with this is the fact you really are thrown the question,’what would you do in this situation?’The reactions and moves of the group are totally believable and you do actually really feel for the group.Not like in most of these films where you want to see the people getting eaten.The acting was polished to the core and really keeps the viewer guessing what the next moves will be.The script was another bonus in this film aswell as there are no silly cheesy lines thrown at you.

The other factors which come into play with this film being so fresh,are the mixture of real life crocs  footage mixed with cgi crocs.I never noticed the difference and was trying to spot the graphics coming into play.Another film to have done this is Jaws,where it worked perfectly.Direction from Nerlich and Traucki creates a world of complete isolation and fear as they do no more than plunging you into the groups situation and really get you guessing for a next move.The croc was used very well,again not the cheesy hollywood tearing up cities style,but the true nature of a  croc,where they stay hidden and leap high into the air to catch prey.The location was astonishing,with the high water and the thick trees giving you that cut off from the world feeling.

In my overall opinion of this film,i would say with this being based on a true story and the with the use of credible actors,this really is a must see.If you wanto be terrified and made to guess your way out thier situation then check this out.I can easily see why this won the award for best direction,with its no holds barred story and clever mix of real and cgi croc footage,you’ll be made to think again about going fishing in a mangrove swamp.If you just so happen to be near one of course,

Fall Down Dead stars Dominique Swain (Travolta’s daughter in Face Off),David Carradine ( Kill Bill’s -Bill),Udo Kier vampire elder in Blade,Hallowen 2007 remake,and Grindhouse)Co stars are  Mehmet Gunsur,R Keith Harris,Monica Dean,Jennifer Alden and Ausin James.Directed by Jon Keeyes,who won the Grand Jury Prize for best feature film in 2006 with Mad Bad

One night during a blackout in large metropolitian city a killer named the Picasso begins to terrorise the streets.Chrissie Wallace (Swain)the first victim to survive the attacker runs to safety in an office block,where she meets the night security guard (Carradine)and warns him there is a killer on the loose and they call the police.After the police have arrived and four more people are discovered in the building,the Picasso Killer has already found his way into the building.Trying to find the one victim who can identify him,the seven strangers must do what ever they can in order to survive being the next victim of The Picasso Killer.

First things first,i really can’t understand why such a good actor such as David Carradine would do a film like this.The acting is laughable,with an even worse script.I found myself twitching in my chair thinking when will this end.I did however like the idea of the large office block as the setting  because they are lets face it, spooky if you are on your own(or being chased by someone trying to kill you even)I also found the killer (Kier) to be a good baddy,with his large eyes and wierd face,but just the way he kills his victims was just stupid.There was also the classic cliche in this film wth the main victim being attracted to the handsome cop( oh yes) and with everything that is going on around them you just think to your self,this is ridiculous, this just wouldn’t happen

I believe the best feature for this film was the music.The use of the strange noises building to the jumpy bits are used very well i haveto admit.I feel without the good use of creepy music this just would have been tragic.Director Keeyes does all he can with the poor script and the dissapponting performances by all.The storyline is too predictable for words with the here one minute,gone the next extras being killed off to the very poor ending.

In my overall opinion there isn’t much more i can say about this film.Its as bad as the title and worse.It contains all the cliche’s and more.You will probably find it hard to finish this as at some points you are almost shocked by what you are seeing.It does contain one or two jumpy scenes and have a good music background and really the star of this was the location seeting the scene.If you do wach this i warn you know look for something else as this film will not give you the satisfaction. 

Rise Of The Foot Soldier stars Ricci Harnett.Craig Fairbrass and Billy Murray from (Eastenders),Neil Maskell and Roland Manookian(Football Factory) and Terry Stone.Written and directed by Julian Gilbey who was a winner of the Jury Prize in the best uk feature for Rollin With The Nines.

‘it was the end of an era,but before the murders,the toture,the beatings and the ecstacy,before all that,there was football.Football was where the spite and the hatred came from,on those terraces,well,its where it all began for me’With narration coming from Ricci Harnett(Leach),we see his life at a young age,with marriage and football hooliganism.To later working as a bouncer and the supervising of drug deals.Then later becoming a bouncer for a nightclub seeing the early stages of the rave scene.then working his way to the very top.Being involved with one of the most renowned gangs to have terrorised the cities of London and Essex,making him the most well known criminal face of the late 80s -90s.

This film contains some of the best british actors around,who given a powerful and life like script,are able to give meemerising performances.I had never heard of Carlton Leach until after first hearing about this film and the performance given by Harnett absolutely stunned me and showed me how much of an amazing human being Leach is.With the set obviously being London,this was destined to be another british masterpiece.

Director and writer Julian Gilbey manages to throw you into the world of Leach.By giving you the ferocious fighting and torture scenes,this really shows the true potrayal of life back then with the sort of people involved in any way with Leach.The use of photograpghy was another great added effect,sometimes blurring the picture and jerking the camera especially during the fight scenes,almost trying at some points to keep up with it all.

I would haveto say in my overall opinion’wow’and that if you enjoyed similiar previous movies such as Essex Boys,Football Factory and Green Street,then forget all those and go see this film,it rises above them all,with real hardcore british talent being given direction and scripts of the highest order,this will have you talking for days afterwards.

Storm Warning stars Robert Taylor,who some may recognise from The Matrix as Agent  Jones.Nadia fares,who recently starred opposite Jet Li and Jason Statham in The War.John Brumpton,David Lyons and Matthew Wilkinson who can be seen in Ghost Rider,Stealth and MI2.Directed by Jamie Blanks who gave us films such as Valentine and Urban Legend.

Storm Warning is about an everyday late thirties aged couple(Taylor,Fares),who hire a fishing boat for the day.As the day goes on,the weather begins to worsen and the husband decides they should go futher down and explore for a while.As they go get further from their docking site,the weather becomes a terrential storm and they soon find themselves in an unknown swampy area.Thw wife becomes concerned they are lost so they pull up at the river bank and decide to go and look for help.They soon discover an old deserted looking house with a large barn.The husband decides to look around outside for a while and discovers a shed containg a very large amount of mariguana growing inside.As the couple break into the house and look around for a phone,they dicover a picture containing three men and begin to acknowledge the fact thet there are people living here.Soon after breaking in,a truck pulls up outside and the couple come face to face with two young strangers(wilkinson,lyons) , who after asking for their help and a phone realise there is no chance of getting either.The couple are taken hostage.taunted and humilated and then thrown into a barn.After trying to run away the couple are recaptured and come face to face with the third stranger.Poppy(Brumpton).This is when the real terror of their situation begins.After much realisation the couple decide to take matters into their own hands and do whatever it takes to escape their capturers.

I found the set location on this worked very well,giving the ilm an instantanious creepy vibe.Effects used on the gore were cringingly realistic,almost too real in some parts.(warning to the men)I could not see any use of cgi which aded to the realism.I found the lead actors to have a natural on screen chemistry and played smoothly off each other.I haveto admit though i did find the husband annoying at the start,but before long got use to him.All performances given were sublime,probably the best performance was that of John Brumpton.Who gave an effortless performance as being the main bad guy,which really made you believ his charactr to be this evil and twisted.

To me it seems these days,most directors for horror films are just trying to out do each other by focusing more on the gore and  you  get very weak characters,who by the end, you end up not caring what happens to them and with a very forseeable end.But what struck me most with this film,was after hearing about it,thought this would be yet another standard horror flick with nothing new being brought to the table.Was how director Jamie Blanks manages to turn this around,not only making this one of the most unpredictable horror film i have seen giving it  a similiar feel to that of Wrong Turn, but by also not using the typical teenager and using mature actors whose characters develope and you care what happens to them.I can’t think of a horror apart from maybe the Saw franchise which has managed to do this.If you can think of any others please let me know. 

In my overall opinion, i don’t know how many have heard or know of this film,but its really quite simple.If you are wanting a horror with a cool twist then check this out.It has it all.Great pace and suspense  from the beginning build this to  a climatic ending,backed by fantastic mature acting with believable performances and direction from Jamie Blanks not shying away from giving this film a slick mixture of  characte rdevelopment and  story structure with the added scenes of hurrendous gore for the true horror buff make this a guaranteed horror not failing to shock  you.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT STARS JOSH HATNETT, WHO HAS STARRED IN MANY FILMS,BUT IS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORK IN  BLACK HAWK DOWN,LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN AND THE FACULTY.BACKED BY A WHOLE ARRAY OF UP AND COMERS SUCH THE GORGEOUS AND TALENTED MELISSA GEORGE.WHO WILL BY BEST KNOWN IN HER ROLL AS ANGEL FROM HOME AND AWAY AND ROSS AND RACHELS HOT LESBIAN NANNY IN FRIENDS AND CO-STAR TO RYAN REYNOLDS IN THE AMITYVILLE HORROR REMAKE.ALSO CO-SARRING IN THIS MOVIE ARE BEN FOSTER FROM 3.10 TO YUMA AND DANNY HUSTON WHO HAS WON BEST SUPPORING ACTOR IN THE CONSTANT GARDENER.AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST MARK BOONE JUNIOR WHO WILL MOST KNOWN FOR HIS ROLL AS BURT IN MEMENTO.THIS FILM IS DIRECTED BY TWO TIME AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FILM(HARD CANDY)DAVID SLADE,WHO DIRECTED MUSIC VIDEOS FOR THE LIKES OF APEX TWIN.

EBEN (HARTNETT) AND STELLA (GEORGE) OLSEN ARE THE BROKEN UP COUPLE AND ALSO THE TWO SHERIFFS OF A SMALL ISOLATED TOWN SET IN ALASKA.WHICH FOR 30 DAYS A YEAR IS PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS. THIS TIME  HOWEVER ON THE LAST DAY OF LIGHT,STRANGE EVENTS OCCUR,SUCH AS DOGS AND PEOPLE BEING KILLED.DURING THE INVESTIGATION BY SHERIFF OLSEN,A STRANGE UNKNOWN MAN(BEN FOSTER)ENTERS THE TOWN,AND AFTER DAUSING A STIR IN THE LOCAL CAFE,IS THROWN INTO JAIL AND ACCUSED OF THE EARLIER EVENTS.THE STRANGER BEGINS WARNING THE PEOPLE OF A GROUP HEADING THEIR WAY TO BREAK HIM OUT AND KILL EVERYONE IN TOWN.AFTER DISCUSSION AND BEING FREAKED OUT,THE TWO SHERIFFS GO OFF TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT IS GOING ON.BUT SHORTLY ARE THEMSELVES ATTACKED BY SOMETHING AND SOON THE TOWN IS OVERUN BY AN UNKNOWN TERROR.THE GROUP, AFTER KILLING MANY OF THE PEOPLE DRAW NEARER TO THE ONES WHO HAVE HIDDEN AWAY,FRIGHTENED AND  REALISING THEY ARE NOT DEALING WITH HUMANS BUT SOMETHING ELSE.AND MUST NOW DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES IN ORDER TO SURVIVE THROUGH THE LAST NIGHT OF DARKNESS AND TO THE LIGHT OF THE NEXT DAY.

FOR ME THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST VAMPIRE FILMS AROUND FOR A WHILE.WITH ITS UNIQUE BLEND OF MANY CLASSIC HORRORS ROLLED INTO ONE SUCH AS THE THING,SHINING AND INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.WITH A SET GIVING YOU THE SENSE OF ISOLATION AND THAT THERE IS NOBODY AROUND FOR MILES TO HELP,WHICH MOST PEOPLE FEAR.NOT THAT ANYBODY COULD IN THIS CASE.AND ALWAYS THINKING AT ANY MOMENT YOUR NUMBERS UP.THIS COMBINED WITH DEVILISHLY EERIE MUSIC FOR THE BACKGROUND,SIMILIAR TO THAT USED IN TVS LOST GIVE THIS MOVIE THE RIGHT SETTING OF MOOD AND FEAR FROM START TO FINISH.I ALSO ENJOYED THE FACT THAT THE EFFECTS USED TO CREATE THE VAMPIRES LOOK AND STYLE WERE KEPT SIMPLE  BUT VERY EFFECTIVE. WITH MAKEUP USED TO CREATE THE  PALE FACES AND BLACK LIFELESS EYES BUT STILL LEFT WITH AN ALMOST HUMAN FEEL.WHICH FOR ME ADDED TO THE HORROR ASPECT.IN TODAYS WORLD ESPECIALLY WITH THE LEVEL OF CGI AVAILABLE  IF DONE CORRECT AND THIS WAS IS A MASSIVE BONUS.AS FAR AS I AM AWARE CGI WAS ONLY USED FOR THE END.

 DIRECTOR DAVID SLADE AND  PRODUCER SAM RAIMI OF THE GRUDGE FAME HAVE CREATED A ROLLER COASTER OF A MOVIE BLENDED WITH HORROR AND ACTION.THIS MOVIE ALSO STARS MANY ACTORS,WHO TO BE PERFCTLY HONEST I HAD NEVER HEARD OF.WHICH CAN AND INDDED IN THIS CASE PROVE MOST EFFECTIVE.IN SAYING THIS I MAINLY FOUND MYSELF  DRAWN FROM THE START BY BEN FOSTER AS THE STRANGER SCARING THE LOCAL PEOPLE OF NEARBY DANGER BY’DO YOU FEEL THAT?THAT COLD AIN’T THE WEATHER,THATS DEATH APPROACHING’AND ALSO BY DANNY HUSTON THE HEAD VAMPIRE,WITH HIS SCENES OF FOREIGN VAMPIRE LANGUAGE AND HIS MENACING GLARES.THE TWO MAIN LEADS HARTNETT AND GEORGE I FOUND TO BE VERY BELIEVABLE AS THE COUPLE,NOT THAT THERE WAS REALLY ANY LOVE STORY LINE INVOLVED.WHICH IN THE PAST HAS PROVEN TO RUIN FILMS.AND MARK BOONE JUNIOR HAD HIS CHARACTER BUILD UP AND  GIVEN ONE OF THE BEST ACTION SEQUENCES USED IN A VAMPIRE FILM I HAVE SEEN FOR A LONG TIME.

IN MY OVERALL OPINION THIS HAS TO ONE OF THE BEST VAMPIRE HORROR FILMS I HAVE SEEN FOR A WHILE.THIS IS AIMED RIGHT AT THE HORROR FAN AND NOT THE FAINT HEARTED.FILLED WITH JUMPS AND SUSPENSE COMBINED WITH GORE AND ACTION GIVE THIS A FAST AND INTENSE PACE WHICH WILL GET YOU TWITCHIN IN YOUR SEAT AND ALMOST SHOUTING AT THE TV IN SOME SCENES.YOU ALSO NEVER REALLY FIND OUT WHY THE VAMPIRES ARE THERE IN ALASKA,WHICH FOR ME GAVE IT THE EDGE.BACKED BY A FANTASTIC CAST WHO FLAWLESSLY BOUNCE OFF EACH OTHER TO CREATE GIVE THE RIGHT MOOD IN EACH SCENE.MY ONLY LET DOWN ON THIS MOVIE WAS THE END,WHERE I FEEL THEY COULD HAVE TAKEN IT DOWN A NOTHER ROUTE,BUT STILL THIS IS ONLY A MATTER OF OPINION.THIS IS AS HIGHLY RECCOMMENDED A HORROR FILM AS MOST AND WILL DEEPLY SATISFY ANY HARDCORE HORROR FAN AND LEAVE YOU WITH THE SATISFACTION THAT THE GENRE OF THE VAMPIRE IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE.