(Vintage Film Reviews) - Blood & Chocolate

This film is based on a Novel of the same name. It stars Agnes Bruckner as Vivian, a young woman living in Romania after her parents were killed when she was a little girl. She stays with her Aunt and does a spot of, what seems to be 'Free-running' and makes Chocolate.
Her Aunt was a mate of the wolf pack's leader, Gabriel. They had a Son called Rafe and due to pack law, Gabriel has to find a new mate every 7 years. Also, there is a prophecy that a female loup-garou will lead all loup-garou into the age of hope and Gabriel thinks this wolf will be Vivian, and for this reason he wants to marry her.

To add to the story, an artist called Aiden who writes graphic novels, falls in love with Vivian after bumping into her in a church they had both broken into at different times, one night for different reasons. He so happens to be studying the loup-garou for his novels and is intrigued by Vivian's beauty and follows her for days before they start to see each other. They end up meeting secretly until Vivian's cousin Rafe catches them with his gang and tells Gabriel who then orders him and his gang to get Aiden out of the city, even if they have to kill him as he is obviously a distraction to the master plan.

After a bit of a scrap, Aiden accidentally kills Rafe in self defense in which leads to the entire wolf pack out to kill him and Vivian to the rescue to save the man she loves.

I did very well to get this far in this review. At least i gave you guys a review, because this film is so poor, i only stayed to watch the film to the very end to see how cheesy it was going to get. You can watch cheese and be like, 'ok, that was cheesy', when you think that can't be beaten for the pure unadulterated cheddar cheese that it was, this film proves you wrong, time and time again.
Although this is meant to be a romantic film, possibly soppy to some people, i have seen better romantic films. This film was just whack. Don't even read the title out loud when you see it. The film isn't even worth that. The film could have been much better and what made it worst, from the same people who brought us Underworld, how did this film manage to have such poor special effects.
There is a part where these wolf people turn into wolves and it was like someone flashed a torch and the person changed from human appearance to wolf creature.

Rubbish
10 May 2007 at 08:47am

(Vintage Film Reviews) - Spiderman 3

Spider-Man - Up to speed.

Spider-Man is about a young nerdy student called Peter Parker, who gets bitten by a genetically modified super spider, who then inherits spider-like credentials. He has super human strength, is able to spin/form webs from his hands, stick to walls and has a 'spider-sense' that warns him from forthcoming danger.

After his Uncle dies in an attack Peter feels responsible for, he vows to use his powers for the good of mankind.


Spider-Man 1

The first film explores Peter as being a complete nerd and discovering his new powers, trying to deal with a childhood crush and dealing with his Uncle Ben's death. Moreover, with the arrival of the Green Goblin, terrorising the city and just laughing about it, Spider-Man has to find a way to deal with him along with his new powers.

With great power, comes great responsibility.


Spider-Man 2

This film explores the maturity of Peter Parker and his skills as a web-slinger and super hero. Now that Peter Parker is a hero, he also has to juggle that with education, living alone and trying to cope with everything all rolled into one, including a love for his childhood crush. With all this going on for Peter Parker, it's something he can just about bare with until he starts to loose faith in being a Hero.

The New villain this time around is one of Peter Parker's idols who accidentally merge tentacles to his back in a failed experiment that leaves him eight-limbed, crazy and a name called 'Doctor Octopus'.

Coincidently, this all happens when Spider-Man has "Retired" from being the friendly neighbourhood super hero. It is then up to Peter Parker to restore his faith, bring back the hero and save the city along with the girl in one huge swing.


Spider-Man 3

This is most likely the final from the Spider-Man films. However, in saying that.....They have managed to do a Die Hard 4 and it looks good. But you can only go so far, right?

This film has Peter loving and flourishing off the fame that spider-man has. Every man, woman and child of New York love spidey and they do a parade for him to honour his achievements. Whilst this is happening, Sandman, an escaped convict who accidentally got caught in a sand experiment, disrupts everything. Unless I wasn't paying attention, but the sand experiment was never explained in the film and seem to only serve the purpose of turning Marko Flint into a man of sand.

After battling the Sandman, Spidey becomes host to an alien symbiote which falls from the sky in which engulfs him, giving him a black suit and unleashes the darker and non-tolerant side of Peter Parker. His attitude is then flamboyant and vengeful to whomever upsets him, he would seek revenge in ways Peter Parker wouldn't have even dreamed of.

If that wasn't enough, Spidey has to deal with the New Goblin who wants Spider-Man dead and the new Alien Symbiote's host, Venom.



This film touches on a lot of things. Revenge, Love, Pain, Hate, anguish....EVERYTHING! The fighting scenes are seamless, fast and leave you in awe in anticipation on a 'how Spidey will get out of this one?' thought. However, in places, the action is slightly too fast in some places fully follow.



They had made Spider-Man 3 a more emotional story. Throughout the film a man or 12 is crying over something or the other and if that wasn't enough, there are some real cheesy bits in the film. Near the end where Spider-Man is swinging to the final few scenes and there is chaos happening and the people of New York are cheering for Spider-Man who then manages to swing and land in front of an American Flag which is basically behind him but takes up the whole background giving off this whole 'All American Hero' vibe which was so much cheddar cheese for me I thought someone was eating Wotsits or Cheetos.



All in all, Spider-Man 3 is a good watch in which, if you caught the opening Credits, you wouldn't need to see part 1 and part 2 before this as the images tell you the story so far. Fans of Venom would be slightly disappointed as his role was small in comparison to the other characters and could have easily have been edited out, for a Spider-Man 4 called Maximum Carnage. Bring in Venom and Carnage and we would have a worthy 4th film.

10 May 2007 at 06:50am

(Vintage Film Reviews) - The Departed

This film stars 6 big actors from past to present. We have (1)Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, who has most definitely left his whipped attitude from Titanic to the exact opposite.

We also have a (2) Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan who plays a streets smart, straight 'A' student who has graduated from the Cadet Police Academy.
Once graduated from the Cadets, Colin went to join the police force among many other Cadets, however, things aren't what they seem to be. Billy also goes to join the police force, but for what reason, as he was kicked out of the Cadets?

With such a clean history Colin, the straight 'A' student, joins the force as well as Billy. However, Billy has a turbulent and troublesome history so to think he wants to serve and protect is somewhat a joke! Nevertheless he is hired and then "fired" from the police force to then serve time in prison.

The villain is (3) Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello, who is the Irish Mafia Mob head honcho.



Can you imagine a ruthless Irish Mafia Mob boss who runs the city with an iron grip?
Can you imagine this happening over a long period of time and the police trying to bringing the mob down but no avail?
Can you imagine moles working in both units till things start to become apparent, that each unit has an enemy in it?
Which mole will discover the other mole first?
Which mole will have to Depart?



This is where everything gets tricky.

A mole is working for the police, but the police also have a mole in their Special Investigations Unit led by (4) Alec Baldwin as Ellerby, who is watching Costello's every move. This means, Costello is watching those who are watching him. Ellerby's boss is (5)Martin Sheen as Captain Queenan, who has contact with Costello's henchmen.

With both moles working deep undercover, both moles start to feel the pressure of living a double identity. As one climbs up the ladder in the Police force, the other starts to struggle with his job and how he hasn't had much help, so both moles jobs and lives are at risk.

Things get slightly more interesting and intriguing when Colin starts to date this psychiatrist then she moves in with him, but then when Colin is torn between work, loyalty and his girlfriend, Billy then comes into the picture and starts to see said psychiatrist for counselling.



It is a film of cat and mouse, Loyalty, Power, Decisions & Deception. The film has more twists than a telephone cord and some elements to the film make you think, "so, hold on a Minute!?!". I felt the story did drag a little in the middle to justify the longevity of the "Get Costello" project, but it is well written, smart and edgy and will definitely keep you entertained throughout, especially, the final scenes.

All starring actors which also includes a very very very aggy (6)Mark Walburg as Dignam, Queenan right hand man with a permanent chip on his shoulder, play their parts very well.

29th November 2006 12:14am