The Notebook

The notebook story of an elderly lady’s life is being read to her, by her elderly partner in the hope that she will remember  and conquer her dementia.  Dementia is un-reverseable.  The story of the notebook, Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Alley (Rachel Mcadams) fall in love over a summer, however he is a country boy, and she is a very rich city girl.

A sort of cliche inside a cliche story, done moderately well.  I was extremely keen on the inside story (the notebook), rather than the outside wrapper of Noah overcoming Alley’s old age.  This is in no way a spoiler, it is made quite clear in the first 30 minutes the two elderly’s are Noah and Alley, it does not try to patronise you with a surprise gotchya.

Ryan Gosling a country boy, who works on a lumber made you really feel for him; from asking her to a date to all of his downtimes.  His dream is to get the run down house nearby in sea brook, do it up, and then Alley can paint and drink tea on the porch.  Rachel McAdams was brilliant in fighting off her parents and was rather good at kissing….there is a lot of kissing!  I could not imagine Alley and Noah played by anyone else!

I would have probably enjoyed it more, without the wrapper story of Noah and Alley in their age, however there would be no use for a notebook.  It was slightly ambitious having two cliches, upper class loves lower class, and my love life forgetting our story.  I did eventually have feelings for the wrapper story but it was a little too late.  All of the cinematography was quite amazing, flapping birds in slow-motion and moon shining on the water.   Incomparable to the English Patient.
IMDB The Notebook

Rating 6.6/10

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True Grit

Based on the classic story, a young girl (Hailee Steinfeld) is out to avenge her father’s death.  The girl is headstrong and stubborn, she knows what she wants.  She manages to get some money and a horse.  She finds Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a man who has lost count of the number of people he has shot; he is mean and true grit but he takes a while to get off his horse.  Her room is taken by a texas ranger, la Boeuf , Matt Damon.  She negotiates an agreement with Cogburn and he asks her to set off tomorrow.  She finds that Cogburn has left with la Boeuf.

The adventure takes over when they set off.  Their adventure is endearing and thrilling.  It is a very calm western, with gun slinging action really in the last second half.  La Boeuf wants some respect as a texas ranger and does decide to do his own thing, but gets shot and bites his own tongue.  He acts with a bitten tongue, very cool.  Cogburn and La Boeuf always try to get one over on each other and be the best.

It must have been shot in the wilderness as it is all so realistic and makes you feel like your there. The atmosphere at times is just great.

With an eventful adventure, I could easily watch this again, the story is 1st class and the ending is majestic.

Trailer

Rating 8/10

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SE7EN

In this suspense chilling investigation, two detectives, a veteran, William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and rookie David Mills (Brad Pitt) are investigating a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sin as his modus operandi. This film comes with an incredible chase, huge climax and some uncomfortable moments. The murders are in ways you can not imagine so prepare your self for a heavy crime story.   Gwyneth Paltrow is David Mills’ wife and Kevin Spacey also stars, Kevin Spacey’s name is no where to be seen on my dvd case, nor IMDB first cast page but you won’t miss him!

The chase is incredibly nerving and thrilling. The start may seem slow paced and tame but it is filled with build up of iconic inspection in the dark with torch lights; an inspection of a suspects apartment is very chilling. You want to ask how each murder was done, how did it happen. Soon afterwards you wonder why you asked, and it is the same with each one!  This movie is very clever and well paced.

IMDB se7en

Trailer

Rating 8.2/10

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Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck star in and co-wrote this oscar-nominated and original screen play about a clever young man called William Hunting who works in one of America’s top Universities and is a gifted mathematician – the only difference between him and the other students is that he is merely the cleaner and not only does he not recognise an opportunity when one is handed to him on a plate, he cannot cope emotionally and is a terrible let down for the proud professor who wants to bring his protege to the forefront of mathmatics.  Robin Williams plays the Psychologist in a tailor-made role winning him an oscar.  Worth viewing as first Matt is very young in this and his acting is rather mature and secondly because he co-wrote it and so he must understand a lot more than I gave him credit for!  Rather cheesy American Shmaltz at times but Minnie Driver makes up for that.

Good Will Hunting IMDB

Trailer

Rating: 7.6/10

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The Shawshank Redemption

This is a very clever film that taps into human nature at its best and worst.  Tim Robbins plays the hot shot city banker who is jailed for life in Shawshank Prison for the murders of his wife and her lover.   1940’s America and the prison guards are more corrupt and easily as brutal as the inmates themselves.  Morgan Freeman plays Red, the “Norman Stanley Fletcher” of Shawshank who operates a neat little racket as a smuggler of practically anything you could wish for.  Tim Robbins (Andy Dufresne) becomes indispensable as his banking skills are exploited.  A long film but with plenty of drama, suspense and story telling to help you along the way so getting a toilet break will be difficult.  To sum up, superb particularly the end.

IMDB: The Shawshank Redemption

Trailer

Rating: 8/10

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