280 Solomon Kane 2009

★★★★


A very solid entry into the sword n slasher genre, and much better than I remember it. James Purefoy is a great Solomon Kane, very stabby and dynamic, and the action is well choreographed and implemented. The only flaws in it is some of the CGI blood is obvious, and the story element involving Kane's father, in particular its resolution, doesn't really make sense - there were better ways to do that.

Very, very enjoyable, it should have sequels.

281 Undercover Brother 2002

★★★½


Wasn't expecting too much, but this delivered. I laughed out loud at least 3 times, maybe more, and chuckled consistently throughout. Favourite part was Neil Patrick Harris losing it when someone calls him a cissy.

282 Guardians of the Galaxy 2014

★★★★


This is a very enjoyable movie with dialogue that amuses and never settles for predictable (well, it does, but in the best kind of way), a plot that lost me at first in the scifi babble, but easily scooped me up again, and some great characters. Its major flaw was the bad guys were VERY one-dimensional, and introducing the Thanos thing early made you feel the bad guy was a second-rater from the beginning.

I really enjoyed the star-wars-style space battles too.

283 That Sinking Feeling 1980

★★★½


Cute whimsical comedy about Glaswegian scallywags doing a very low-profit comedy caper. Whimsical, a little surreal in places, and ticks over nicely. If you're not from Britain, be prepared to put on the subtitles.

Forsyth went on to at least two great movies after this, Gregory's Girl (much the same cast) and his masterpiece, Local Hero.

284 Gamera vs. Barugon 1966

★★


Rather poor Kaiju, and the title is a bit misleading - they really only properly fight for 5 minutes, tops. I never thought I'd say this, but the movie was not improved by losing the weird kid from the first Gamera movie.

I did enjoy a thief getting tongued by Barugon, but the creature design of Bagugon was terrible. His powers (ice breath, rainbow death ray) were fun though.

The best thing about this version, from a technical point of view, was the American dubbing was very good. Shame the rest of the movie wasn't up to that quality.

285 Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956

★★★★

Fine old classic, still delivers, with Kevin McCarthy giving a tour-de-force performance. I don't like the upbeat bookends showing our hero being believed, but it is done with style and works well anyway.

286 Scary Movie 2000

★★★

Reasonably amusing comedy, though some of the jokes are very specific pop culture references which haven't aged well at all. It maintains a level of crassness and bad taste that makes it still enjoyable though, and has a lot of energy.

287 The Matrix 1999

★★★★½


Amazing movie, and probably the most influential scifi movie of the last 20 years. Great premise, action, casting, acting, visuals and music, with the only weakness being the script is a little clichéd/stilted.

Hugo Weaving and Lawrence Fishbourne really dominate the proceedings, and give the film a gravitas not often seen (attempted, but not seen) in many other scifi movies in the last 20 years. The parent of many, many copies both in tone and in approach to stuntwork (Inception just forces you to remember The Matrix, for example), and a cracking movie in its own right.

288 How to Train your Dragon

★★★★

This is a second watch, and I really appreciated this movie a lot more this time around. Strong script, music, voice acting, animation, and direction, this one builds and builds into a very satisfying climax. A rather fine movie.

I should have said 4.5/5 for that btw.

289 The Faculty 1998

★★★½

Fun update of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, played with gleeful abandon by the possessed adults, with the likes of Robert Patrick and Famke Janssen. and whilst not scary, it has enough action, funny lines and gross nonsense to keep it chugging along nicely.

Avoid it you hate massive logic holes though.

290 Maximum Overdrive 1986

★★★

Ridiculous, ridiculously-80s, fun clunker of a movie. There's a lot of destruction in this one, right from the get-go (I never thought a water melon would make such a big impact), with trucks exploding, demolishing building and garages, with my personal favourite having the face of the Green Goblin on its grill.

Stephen King was mostly coked out when he directed this... I think it helped make it more entertaining, to be honest. A lot of the dialogue is dreadful and the scenes are not well planned out, but, hey, it was fun.

How the hell did they get AC/DC on the soundtrack?

291 How to Train Your Dragon 2

★★★★

Whilst not as emotionally involving or satisfying as the original, this is nonetheless a worthy sequel to its great precursor. There's no retread of the original story, but an expansion into a more epic (though less emotionally intimate) story, bringing in all sorts of new ideas and issues that naturally blend into the first story.

There are some major plot holes and logic issues, and there's maybe one too many plot points jammed in, and possibly the odd emotional moment a bit too laboured.

However, still a terrific and enjoyable movie that can sit alongside the original.

292 Trucks 1997

★

Trucks is a quite dreadful version of the story that also spawned Maximum Overdrive. But imagine Maximum Overdrive without the crazy (no rocket launchers, AC/DC, King himself directing, psycho-theme-copying or massive car-carnage), and done as a piece of serious business.

Sound bad, doesn't it?

It is.

There was one guy who I thought was good, playing an airforce guy on vacation with his daughter. He had a touch of the Liev Schreiber about him.

Only watch if you're an OCD completist, like me.

293 The Animatrix 2003

★★★½

Rather fine, though not entirely satisfying set of short stories set in the universe of the Matrix. Some are just superb to look at, some tell you much, much more about the Matrix than all 3 movies, and some are just goofy.

Definitely worth a rewatch, and my suggested Machete version to watch all the Matrix movies are Matrix, Animatrix, Reloaded, Revolutions.

294 Willow Creek

★★★

I want to give this film more, because I recognise there's some really quality film making here, with excellent acting/casting, proper building tension, and a rather fine one-shot sequence of 15 minutes where two people act scared in a tent - and it's not boring, it enthralls.

But, man, it just seems a real total beat-for-beat copy of Blair Witch Project, with a witch being replaced with a sasquatch.

The final ending is both disappointing and points to a darker reason for the events, so I'm conflicted to be honest.

295 The Matrix Reloaded 2003

★★★½

Basil Exposition should have been a main character in this.

Damn them Wachowskis, delivering a movie that's a mix of mind-bendingly great action set pieces, in with some of the stodgiest, claptrapiest exposition you'd hear outside of a parliamentary debate about farming quotas.

SHOW, DONT TELL!

BAD WACHOWSKIS! BAD!

I forgive you though, cos of the first Matrix, and Speed Racer.

And even with a terrible explanations of what and why, it still gets 3.5/5. That's how good the action stuff is. IF they could have chopped out 30 minutes of exposition (keep the Oracle stuff, that was good) this could have been 4.5/5

296 Enemy Mine 1985

★★★

Rather good, well written and played scifi version of Hell in the Pacific. Quaid is always likeable (damn, Bill Paxton reminds me of Dennis Quaid these days), and Lou Gossett Jr gives a great performance through the rather fine makeup as an alien being.

Not big on the action (though there is fighting and violence), but more a personal drama of beings at war who have to learn to work together, and slowly become friends.

297 Cat’s Eye 1985

★★★½

I really liked this anthology movie. Quitters Inc is actually played as a light comedy segment (I lolled when 'Every Breath you Take' came on the soundtrack), and James Woods and the cast are pretty good, and The Ledge is a cool version of the original story too. The final, original segment 'General' involved the cat that was meandering through the rest of the movie, had some great practical effects with a little goblin trying to steal breath, and the cat coming to the rescue, like Gelert (google 'Gelert's Grave' if you don't know that particular story). It was cool to see James Naughton, who I really liked in the Planet of the Apes TV show, in something else.

Also, it contained references to Cujo, Christine, Dead Zone, and Pet Semetary, and maybe even more King (Drew Barrymore was in Firestarter, for example).

298 Frozen 2013

★★★

Fun Disney with some cute songs and a reasonably original story, but somewhat forgettable once done. I did like the emphasis on sisters rather than the usual boy/girl dynamic

299 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 1988

★★★½

In the past, I've tried to watch this movie and given up about 20 minutes in. It just seems too disparate, disconnected and meandering. However, I thought I'd really give it a go this time.

For the first hour or so, I really found it hard to be engaged, it just felt a mess. Then, the moon section actually started to engage me. By the time we got to Oliver Reed, I was properly enjoying it. By the end, I really liked it.

If you've tried it and wasn't sure, give it another go. It's full of disconnected stuff, certainly, but full of brilliance and bravura filmmaking too.

A nice ending to the Gilliam fantasy trilogy, started with Time Bandits and Brazil.

Saw this again last night. For a second viewing it did well to keep me watching till 1am. So, on that basis alone, it is worth 3 stars...It is a long way below the original in my view ----> 3.5 is the upper limit.
Shame about the bizarro Brandoesque interlude - which kind brought up a plot problem I had with it.

Watching Star Trek - with Chris Pine and Eric Bana as the baddy right now.

Is the Roddenberry vision of the future that of a futuristic pretty cruisey military junta dominating human government? Or is it more than that?

#300 300: Rise of an Empire

★★★½

It has a number of flaws for a swordporn fluff piece - An uncharismatic lead protagonist, the rather good action set pieces completely undermined by rather poor blood CGI, and a script that relies on set-piece-one-liners that are a little shonky. You really miss Gerard Butler a little way in.

But the action itself is fun, and Eva Green is mind-blowingly good. She is pure charisma, badassery, sexiness and avenging angel all rolled into one, and the reason to see this movie, and earns at least 2 of the 3.5/5.

#301 Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster 1966

★★★


Goofy kaiju that takes forever to get going (apart from surprisingly nasty Ebirah action, taking out a fishing boat), but once it does, you feel okay about the wait. Godzilla really, REALLY messes up Ebirah, Mothra doesn't do much until right at the end when he saves the day, and there's a funny bit where Godzilla taps the side of his nose when he takes out an annoying giant bird in a spectacular fashion.

Fun.

#302, Earth Girls Are Easy 1989

★★½


A complete mess, with everything thrown in the blender and none of it feeling like a flowing movie, except perhaps the last act. That said, it does have some charms (I think it works better if you watch it 10 minutes at a time), the rather beautiful Geena Davis spending much of the movie in lingerie or bikinis, and some good chemistry between the cool Jeff Goldblum and Geena works well.

Enjoyable, affectionate fluff.

Favourite part: "I'm a Blonde"