Heather is a fan of horror films so last night we decided to watch Hostel. Although IMDB didn’t have it rated very highly we weren’t looking for a masterpiece so figured it would be an OK way to spend the evening.

Sadly this was not the case. The plot was non-existent and what little of the film you could call a plot you could figure out in five minutes or less. The violence was senseless and irrelevant. It was supposed to be a horror film but instead it just presented its self as an opportunity to watch senseless violence. There was no horror in the violence, just disgust at how the film makers could ever have though people would enjoy this type of “horror” movie.

We didn’t even finish it. We reached about half way through and then looked at each other and said words to the effect of “Do we really want to watch this?” and with a resounding no we hit the eject button.

In short we both thought the movie was complete and utter crap and isn’t worth watching whatever the reason given. Personally I think watching paint dry would be more worthwhile use of your time.

It’s been talked about a lot in the press and received a lot of criticism from die hard James Bond fans, but on Friday night I finally got my chance to view and in turn give my opinion on the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale.

At the start I was pleased. It had the characteristic beginnings of a bond film; an opening scene, colourful and well designed credits with animations and then a straight up start to the main feature. As the film went on I realised that despite my reservations about the slightly updated format and the new actor, Daniel Craig, in the staring role I was really enjoying it. Those mad crazy and yet still amusing moments remained and as ever the gadgets and high-tech stuff made many of the scenes that little bit cooler if I may be permitted to use such a word.

One slight disappointment was the notable absence of any character pertaining to be Q. A bond film just isn’t quite right without someone to dole out all the gadgets and such, not to mention the quips that always went along with the process. Without dwelling on this though there were some good character inclusions, the one most notable of which being Felix. A film isn’t the same without James’ CIA friend and it was great to see him in the movie playing the assisting role so well.

There was one point not too far from the end when I thought it was all going a little too close to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. He was getting rather close to the girl and for a bond film thats just not right. Luckily though (at least for Bond tradition, although it was a sad moment) she didn’t make it to the end of the movie, making way for Bond’s endless string of brief encounters with various women in future films which is always important.

The plot line was different enough to fit the slightly changed format but retained enough of the old style James Bond I have come to love to make me happy. While I don’t think Daniel Craig was the best choice for James Bond by a long chalk I think he carried off the role surprisingly well. It’s a difficult thing to do being Bond, and I think considering how favored the great Bond actors are amongst fans of the film I think Daniel made a valiant effort.

All in all Casino Royale exceeded my expectations and as such I’d recommend you see it. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed.

I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest last night as I hadn’t been to the cinema in a while so thought it would be a good laugh. I don’t want to write an in depth review about it but thought I would pop a few words onto the blog.

Firstly it was a great film, the hillarious scenes from the first one are not lost in this installment and Kiera Knightley was hot as ever (sorry, couldn’t resist that comment). As ever with the second film in a series of 3 it got a bit darker in places. While the first film was far from a joke, the theme was very much out for having a laugh with a bit of plot to hold it all together. This didn’t seem to be true for Dead Mans Chest; the plot was most of it with a bit of humour thrown in. All the characters were that little more selfish I think is the best way of desribing it.

Still, this slight change of heart didn’t detract from the film as a whole, and I was still laughing just as hard throughout most of it. Incidents like when Jack Sparrow shoots his way out of a casket he has escaped in blowing away a crow with it and the sword fight in/on a water wheel as it careered down the hill making its occupants ever more dizzy by the minute. Truely priceless moments they really were.

Then of course we come to the ending. Now I’m not going to blow it for those folk who haven’t seen it, but not because I don’t want to, because its impossible to do so. The ending I’m afraid was exactly what happened at the end of Matrix : Reloaded. They simply set the scene for the 3rd film, there wasn’t really an ending in its own right. It was wishy-washy at best and left a lot of things unfinished and the audience feeling as if they had missed out on something even though they had been glued to the screen the whole time. I don’t doubt that with the 3rd film it will pick up and we will all praise the series, but I think that like many others that have come before it the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy will be one best watched back to back on DVD round your friends house with a large keg of beer and some microwave popcorn.