Reviews by Kyle Ellis

Network was likely to have been conceived by writer Paddy Chayefsky as a cynically satirical film about corporate television companies. They so long had to carry the news departments as a loss leader.

In Network the corporation could imagine a world where news makes money. It does not have to be reporting events, facts or the truth. You just need a demagogue to tell you to be angry.

Network ended up being prophetic. Nowadays you get rich white people on the internet, cable news and shock radio giving you all the reasons to be angry about and they get even richer. Heck they send the maid out to get their illegal drugs because they cannot be bothered!

Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is not angry. He is mad because he is having a breakdown. A news anchor facing declining ratings and a personal life that led him to the booze bottle.

Beale is told by his long-term friend and news boss, Max Schumacher (William Holden) that it is over. The network are firing him. Beale response is to tell the live television audience that he plans to kill himself live on television.

In a later appearance he has a rant which causes ratings to shoot up. Programming boss Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) sees potential to do a new type of television show with Beale. She even signs up a domestic terrorist organisation to front their own show such as filming their own illegal activities.

Corporate Executive Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) is all for it if the news division makes money. Hackett is the ultimate bean counter.

Network was an adult movie when it was released with frank language. People are used and discarded. Beale is only of use if he brings in the ratings.

Eventually his rants will affect the corporate bottom line or his ratings will decline.

Christensen has an affair with the veteran Schumacher because he is a powerful old man with knowledge of the world and the news division. To Schumacher she is a beautiful young woman, a last chance to fall in love again and have fun.

Over 40 years later, Network still delivers because its message is relevant. It is also so well acted. British actor Peter Finch did not live to collect his best actor Oscar. He won it posthumously. Ned Beatty almost matched him in his short cameo appearance.

Warning: Spoilers
Being a recent addition to the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book I got the opportunity to see this film and I wasn't going miss it, especially it being directed by actor Sean Penn. Based on the true story, twenty-two year old Christoper 'Chris' McCandless (Lords of Dogtown's Emile Hirsch) has just graduated from Emory University as a top student and athlete, but he abandons his normal lifestyle. He leaves behind his family, mother Billie (Pollock's Marcia Gay Harden), father Walt (William Hurt) and sister Carine (Donnie Darko's Jena Malone), all his possessions, and gave his entire $24,000 savings to charity. His life in twenty months becomes a series of endless walking and hitchhikes, like a drifter, under the new name "Alexander Supertramp", to reach his destination, the wilderness of Alaska. The story flashes forward occasional to where the place he has found to find self-discovery, appreciate the world around him and reflect on the "unreal" existence with his family. This location is situated in the middle of the Alaskan woods, inside an abandoned camper van, or "bus", and while we see him find new ways to hunt down animals for food and make it through the winter, it flashes back to see his life on the road. Along the way he meets various characters who shape his life ins their own individual ways, whether it be offering him a lift, passing on the road or river, or meeting him while stopping somewhere. These people include hippie couple Jan Burres (Being John Malkovich's Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian H. Dierker), harvest company owner Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn), teenager Tracy Tatro (Panic Room's Kristen Stewart), and possibly most significant, lonely retired leather worker Ron Franz (Oscar nominated Hal Holbrook). Despite surviving the winter, he finds the river he crossed is raging and he seems trapped, so with no way to get to animals he is forced to eat berries and fauna. He is devastated to discover from his book that what he has eaten is poisonous, and it causes not only nausea but starvation and exhaustion, and eventually he died isolated inside the bus, the text says he was found by hunters. Also starring the real Jim Gallien, the last person to see McCandless alive and The Hangover's Zach Galifianakis as Kevin. Hirsch gives a boyish but intuitive performance, Harden and Hurt do pretty well in their brief roles, the landscapes throughout make for great viewing, and the sense of wonder and sympathy for the lead character really resonate, a moving and certainly must see biographical adventure drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Editing, it won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "Guaranteed", and it was nominated for Best Original Score for Michael Brook, Kaki King and Eddie Vedder. Very good!

I enjoyed this film. Eastwood is about as snarly as I've ever seen him. He has taken Archie Bunker to the next level. He terrorizes his neighbors, is hateful to his children, and incredibly intolerant of a changing world. With that said, this is a story about redemption. It comes in small increments and the charm is not in what happens eventually, but what happens in each small doses. His slow developing relationship with the Hmong family next door. Because he steps in in a crisis situation, their culture sees him as a hero and sets out to reward him. They bring him endless presents and food. Because he leads such a lonely existence, he is slowly, but surely, pulled in. He keeps a balance of hatred for the punks he sees with a true love for those who have befriended him.l

The whole thing kind of slides off into predictability toward the end, but it's a good story and had to end some way, especially with Kowalski's self realizations and his rendezvous with death. The other thing is just watching a masterful actor take on this role and squeeze every last drop out of it.

I have never particularly enjoyed NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, as it's not a genre that I particularly care for--after all, if you've seen one brain-eating zombie film, you've seen them all. However, I strongly commend this film for helping to create the genre as well as getting one of the best examples of an inexpensively produced and excellent film that made a fortune (some others being CARNIVAL OF SOULS and the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS). Now I won't go so far as to give the movie a hugely inflated rating like some, after all the acting was at times pretty shabby (particularly by that stupid blonde). But it did have a simple but clever script, good special effects given the budget and time in which it was made, decent direction and scared the crap out of audiences--something many horror films fail to do. If you love the genre, then this is a must. Otherwise, it's not a must-see unless you are making a study of excellent bare-bones film making.

With many fine actors, a remarkable subject matter and the number of accolades it received, '12 Years a Slave' was watched by me with high expectations.

For me, '12 Years a Slave' is not quite as good as the hype and isn't one of my favourite Best Picture winners. It could have been truly extraordinary, but it wasn't quite despite having individual elements that were that adjective. Can see though why it has been so well received, while also seeing where those who didn't like it are coming from in their reservations (though not sharing the vitriolic way they've been expressed by some). It may not be perfect, but from personal opinion, and quite a big number of others, it was tremendously powerful and very brave,

'12 Years A Slave' may have some one-sided and conveniently black and white characterisation. It may not say anything new about the subject.

Some of the cast, like Paul Giamatti and Benedict Cumberbatch (though they are excellent still), are underused. And Brad Pitt and his dialogue did feel out of place and the dialogue additionally coming over as heavy-handed.

On the other hand, to tell the story from the viewpoint of the enslaved was a brave decision in an industry where few films have done it, and it comes over very well on the whole. The treatment of the slaves is not for the faint-hearted, they are shockingly harrowing and not comfortable to watch but they don't feel that gratuitous. There are some emotionally devastating moments, such as the ending and the long shot of Northup singing.

Steve McQueen was the right director for the film, a film that needed to be told in a brutal and honest way and being a director with that directing style McQueen brings that out perfectly in a bravura directing job. '12 Years a Slave' is very impressive visually and technically, and Hans Zimmer's score is suitably stirring.

John Ridley's script adapts Northup's memoir with tautness, honesty and sincerity, not subtly mind you but it's not a subtle subject. It only falters with Pitt's dialogue.

The acting is superb, with Chiwetel Ejiofor's powerfully restrained and sincere performance wholly deserving of its acclaim. Lupita N'Yong'o, very moving, and Michael Fassbender, at his most frightening, are more than up to his level, as are Sarah Paulson and Paul Dano.

Overall, extraordinary it isn't but an emotionally impactful film it certainly is. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Warning: Spoilers
A slow-burning and intense Danish drama featuring a typically electrifying turn from Mads Mikkelsen as an intensely sympathetic nursery worker falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit. Shades of Hitchcock's 'wronged man' genre here, except this is much more of a realistic character study rather than twisty, action-fuelled thriller. The acting, writing and direction are all on form, and despite the harrowing subject matter this is an engrossing drama in which the realism is key above everything else.

Warning: Spoilers
Written by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, RAIDERS of the LOST ARK is a template for success in the genre. Indiana Jones(Harrison Ford)is a man's man, professor, acclaimed archaeologist and international adventurer that is hired by the US Government to locate the mystical Ark of the Covenant. Indy will need the aid of his ex-flame Marion Ravenwood(Karen Allen), no stranger to archeology or adventure, as he embarks on a thrill filled quest for the Ark. He must make his discovery before a team of Nazis do. There is poison, snakes and plenty of traps as obstacles in the adventurous trek that leads to Nepal, marketplaces in Cairo, treacherous jungles in South America and a top-secret Nazis submarine base. In the end Indy and Marion witness the glorious unleashed power of the Lost Ark before the US Authorities have their way with the Biblical treasure. Others in this apt cast: John Rhys-Davies, Paul Freeman, Alfred Molina, Ronald Lacey and Wolf Kahler. This grand story of bravery, persistence and determination is glued together with the outstanding musical score by John Williams. This is the start of something good.

In 1963, in Haddonfield, Illinois, the six-year-old Michael Myers stabs his sister to death in the Halloween night and is confined in a mental institution. In 1978, Michael Myers flees from the institution on the Halloween Eve carjacking his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) and heading to his hometown. On the next morning, Michael stalks the high school student and babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) that has a sixth sense that is followed. However, her best friends Annie Brackett (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda Van der Kiok (P.J. Soles) mock her. Meanwhile Dr. Loomis arrives in Haddonfield looking for his patient.

John Carpenter's "Halloween" is maybe the most successful slasher of the cinema history tha became a classic. With the budget of only US$ 320,000, this film surprised with the world with about 47 million-dollar box office only in USA and introducing Jamie Lee Curtis to her fans. Further the franchise, remake, video game, toys, and many other attractions. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Halloween: A Noite do Terror" ("Halloween: The Night of Horror")

A group of friends (including Johnny Depp) all have the same nightmare: a man with claws and a Christmas sweater is trying to kill them. Unfortunately, the man is not just some bad dream: he is Freddy Krueger, and if you die asleep, you die forever.

This is Wes Craven's big break. His earlier films, particularly "Last House on the Left", may have been better, but this is the one that grabbed everyone's attention and today even those who haven't seen a single "Nightmare" film know who Freddy Krueger is: this film made Craven a master, and established a horror movie icon.

With one exception at the end, the special effects are also top notch for the time period. Bodies thrown into the ceiling, blood geysers spraying like mad. The makeup and costuming isn't bad, either... Freddy's burnt face gets even nastier when he starts to bleed maggots.

Mike Mayo is a bit cynical when he says, "Because his powers are so elastic, this little moneymaker can be killed and resurrected as long as he stays in the black." This is, of course, very true... at this point Krueger seems limitless, and even his origin is vague. Exactly how much sway this had over producers, I do not know. I can't see Craven in the office arguing that the film has sequel potential, especially since this was New Line's first major release.

If you see only one Wes Craven film, I guess I have to say make it this one. "Last House on the Left" and "Hills Have Eyes" are stronger, more edgy films, but they have not had half the cultural impact as "Nightmare". It is no exaggeration to say this film is a part of American history.

Warning: Spoilers
MEMORIES OF MURDER is much more than just another serial killer story; this South Korean thriller is a movie of real depth, a genre-transcending tale that shines a light on social and political issues as well as presenting that country's police force in a typically unflattering light. The main story of the tale is also interesting, as is the complex back story, and although slow-paced this is one of those films that creeps up on you to become gripping by the end. Song Kang-ho leads a great cast, but the real star here is director Bong Joon Ho, who followed this up with the equally great THE HOST and SNOWPIERCER.