Provoked: A True Story

So, there wasn't much on at the cinema last night really. But that didn't stop me. it was time for something different anyway.

So I saw Provoked: A True Story.

It is a true story (no, really it is - look at the title) about a woman who sets fire to her husband after he has physically and sexually abused her for ten years.

If you just go with the flow, it does the job.

Not bad for a low-budget indie crossover flic.

I'm gonna check out some proper Bollywood stuff soon - the trailer for Ta Ra Rum Pum looked like it should be good for a laugh.

The Phil Mitchell playing a Policeman bit was hilarious! 5/10

Fracture

Fracture is a good, solid, old fashioned dialogue based drama where it is obvious how the film will end, but you have no idea how it will manage to get there.

And it is a lot of fun watching the plot threads fall into place.


They don't make them like this very often anymore...

7/10

Curse Of The Golden Flower

After Hero and The House of the Flying Daggers, comes Curse of the Golden flower. Sumptuous in its intricately detailed pink and yellow sets and costumes, Curse of the Golden Flower is very pretty, and has some very good set-pieces, but none of the heart of the films mentioned above.

5/10

The Messengers

The Pang brother's breakout film, The Eye, is one of my favourite films. I remember seeing it in the UGC(now cineworld) in Glasgow with the volume turned up full and being absolutely terrified.

Crazily terrified.

The Eye (especially loud) is creepy as hell.

So, what about The Messengers?

It was ok, and was efficiently scary, but predictable.

My advice is that if you haven't seen it already, go and rent The Eye (the original one).

And then sleep with your light on.

The Messengers gets 5/10 - mainly for the cool spidery-type guy. If the Avril Lavigne girly had been killed, it might have got seven.

Amazing Grace

This is a film that deserves to be seen - and as such it was a shame that the cinema was empty.

Amazing Grace is about William Wilberforce and his battle to abolish slavery.

It is a story that everyone should know about and proves that, with determination, you can make the world a better place.

8/10

Sunshine

In space, it seems, people go mad, kill each other or get devoured by aliens.

There are no aliens in Sunshine, so you can guess what happens...

Sunshine is about the Astronauts of Icarus 2 - the second mission to reignite the dying Sun after the crew of the Icarus 1 failed their mission.

The film starts as the Icarus 2 is approaching Mercury on the final phase of their mission.

And then the mission begins to go wrong...

Sunshine is a proper science fiction film - there is some action in it - but this is a film about Man and it is almost truly great.

The sound and visual effects are spectacular (even more so as this was a low budget film) and the tempo and scariness really draw you into the film, the ending is bizarre though as so many serious, adult sci-fi films are.

9/10

The Namesake

This is about a family from Calcutta who move to New York and who try to balance the conflicts between their different cultures. The film is mainly seen through the eyes of the son, who by a series of events, is named Gogol.

I really liked this - especially as the last few films I have seen haven't exactly been fantastic.

8/10

Becoming Jane

I was hoping for something snappier then this, the dialogue was great, but there was too many times when nothing happened in this film. It was a waste of very fine actors.

I'm disappointed.

5/10