Jurassic World (2015) - ★★★½

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Writers: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly

Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, BD Wong

Jurassic World is one of the most financially successful films of all time. The sheer spectacle of having dinosaurs battle it out while humans become food is a good enough reason to push people out of their living-rooms and into the cinemas. The intense action and visual grandeur of the film were fantastic, but some of the characters were piss-poor time-wasters. They really let this film down. 

I rolled my eyes a lot during this film, but there are some truly great elements in it. I saw Jurassic Park as a young boy, yet even then it didn't make me feel as tense as Jurassic World. What Jurassic Park lacked, Jurassic World fixed. However, Jurassic World lacked what made Jurassic Park a legendary film. 

Divergent (2014) - ★★★½

Director: Neil Burger
Writers: Evan Daugherty, Vanessa Taylor (Screenplay), Veronica Roth (Novel)
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet

I've seen so many YA (young-adult) films in the past 6 years, that they're all starting to blend in together and fade out of my memory. I disliked almost every modern YA movie I've seen during this period of time, because they're more silly than entertaining, they're poorly acted, poorly written, poorly produced, and quite frankly, poor excuses for films. While there are a few exceptions, like The Hunger Games (2012), this whole genre, whether they be book or film, stinks to high heaven with a lack of originality.

Divergent is a silly film.  Yet, I find its characters are interesting, the cast is brilliant, the soundtrack is unique, the set-production/cinematography is good, and most importantly, it's consistently entertaining. These critiques alone make Divergent stand as one of the best YA films made in recent years.

Hercules (1997) - ★★★★

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Voice Actors: Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Rip Torn

It's official! Even after 10 years, Hercules is still one of my all time favourite animated movies! Visually and musically, Hercules is just so different to all the other films Disney has ever made, sporting a great use of 3D monsters, and also wonderfully catchy soul-music. I was pleasantly surprised at just how emotional the film made me. It doesn't quite reach the same league as Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King though, due to its lack of beautiful dialogue, powerful scenes, and most importantly, originality. Some of the jokes are a bit too cheesy and childlike for me, but I used to find them hilarious when I was younger, so I can forgive that. As a child, Hercules would have been one of my top 10 favourite movies to watch over and over on video-tape. To this day, the powerful wave of nostalgia makes me love it all the more.

Mulan (1998) - ★★★★★

Director: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
Voices: Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer, Lea Salonga, Harvey Fierstein, Donny Osmond, June Foray, James Hong, Miriam Margolyes, Pat Morita, George Takei

Mulan has been my undisputed favourite Disney movie since I was a child. It's an absolutely phenomenal film that brings so much more than any Disney princess movie before it. Its soundtrack is one of the greatest I've ever heard, the animation is stunningly beautiful, the character's are hilarious and interesting, and the story is just so grand in scale. There are two things in this movie that make it stand as one of the all time greats of animation. One is its leading character Mulan, who goes through what I consider the greatest challenge any female Disney character has ever had to face. The other is her mentor and friend, Mushu, who is by far the funniest Disney character I've ever seen. This exquisitely crafted film deserves to be praised as one of the all time greats of animation.

Blades of Blood (2010) - ★★★½

Director: Joon-Ik Lee
Writers: Seok-Hwan Choi, Cheol-Hyeon Jo, Oh Seung-Hyeon
Stars: Jeong-min Hwang, Seung-won Cha, Ji-hye Han, Seong-hyeon Baek, Chang-wan Kim

Blades of Blood is simply a really good action movie. It doesn't delve right into Korean history, or give us anything substantial to learn from. It gives us entertaining characters, a riveting story, some great sword-fighting scenes, and beautiful cinematography. It's not a film to go out of your way to see, but it's definitely a movie worth seeing. It's the very first South Korean action movie I've ever seen (I don't count Oldboy), and it was a perfect introduction to their action-film industry for me. Its greatest moments are from Jeong-min Hwang, who played a blind man/masterful swordsman with a wicked sense of humour.

Oldboy (2003) - ★★★★★

Director: Park Chan-Wook
Writers: Lim Chun-hyeong, Park Chan-Wook, Hwang Jo-yun
Stars: Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, Ji Da-han

"Woah. Wow. What the f#ck?" 

That was my initial reaction to Oldboy. I loved this movie. LOVED IT! It's one of the craziest, mind bending movies I've ever seen. It also happens to be funny, charming, exciting, thrilling, and filled with cringe-inducing moments. I adored everything about this film. From the chillingly beautiful score to the stunning cinematography, I just found Oldboy to be a masterpiece from head to toe. The performances are just remarkable, as is the story. The twists and turns made my jaw hit the floor in shock, and they just kept coming! If there's one word to describe this film, it's "engrossing." I couldn't take my eyes away from the screen. To me, Oldboy will always stand up there with the very best movies cinema has to offer.

Elysium (2013) - ★★

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writer: Neill Blomkamp
Stars: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Wagner Moura, Diego Luna, William Fichtner, Emma Tremblay

Elysium is easily one of the most boring sci-fi / action movies I've ever seen. It just moves at a glacial pace, and I've seen the same formula done better... many times. The performances are nothing remarkable... in fact, Jodie Foster couldn't keep her accent from dabbling between American and English. In some ways, you can draw parallels between the story in Elysium, and actual asylum seekers today. That's the most genius thing about this film, and probably the purpose of the story. However, I was ready to leave the cinema after about 45 minutes. The sounds, the sights... everything was irritating to the senses. Not once did I feel suspense, or even a remote sense of urgency. There's just nothing noteworthy about this film. Not even the special effects.

The Ten Commandments (1956) - ★★

Director: Cecil B. Demille
Writers: Twas a large collaboration
Stars: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price

I think critics forgive a lot of faults when it comes to epic movies. In particular, Cecil B. Demille epics. The Ten Commandments is a movie so grand in scale that people don't sweat the little stuff, and focus on the amazing special effects and cinematography. As for me, I found there were too many unforgivable problems to call this a good movie. The acting was atrocious by almost the entire cast, and the dialogue was highly laughable (for it was a terrible mixture of Hollywood cheese and Bible-esque speech). The story itself is highly interesting, but it drags on so long in this movie that I lost almost all interest in the film. The only thing that kept me going was the hope for an epic 'plagues of Egypt' sequence.

Disney Movie Blogathon!

That's right guys! It's time for my first ever Movie Blogathon! I thought to myself, what haven't I seen in a while that would be awesome to watch non-stop for a few days? A few things came to mind: Horror, Quentin Tarantino, Akira Kurosawa, Film Noir, Spaceship Flicks... in the end, I chose one of my favorite movie companies: Disney! Hopefully you'll join me in watching these movies, I look forward to discussing them with you all.

It's a long list, but I have a feeling that the time will just fly by!

• Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937) | Watched on 22nd May, 2013 | ★★★★½
• Pinocchio (1940)
• Fantasia (1940)
• Dumbo (1941)
• Bambi (1942)
• Cinderella (1950)
• Alice in Wonderland (1951) | Watched on 23rd May, 2013 | ★★★★
• Peter Pan (1953) | Watched on 24th May, 2013 | ★★★★
• Lady and the Tramp (1955) | Watched on 8th June | ★★★½
• Sleeping Beauty (1959) | Watched on 21st May, 2013. | ★★★★½
• 101 Dalmations (1960)
• The Jungle Book (1967)
• The AristoCats (1970) | 26th May, 2013 | ★★½
• Robin Hood (1973)
• The Rescuers (1977)
• The Fox and The Hound (1981)
• The Black Cauldron (1985)
• Basil - The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
• Oliver and Company (1988)
• The Little Mermaid (1989)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991) | Watched on 24th May, 2013 | ★★★★★
• Aladdin (1992)
• The Lion King (1994) | Watched on 26th May, 2013 | ★★★★★
• Pocahontas (1995) | Watched on 5th June, 2013 | ★★★
• Toy Story (1995) | Watched on 24th May, 2013 | ★★★½
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
• Hercules (1997)
• Mulan (1998)
• A Bugs Life (1998)
• Tarzan (1999)
• Dinosaur (2000)
• The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
• Monster's Inc (2001)
• Lilo and Stitch (2002)
• Treasure Planet (2002)
• Brother Bear (2003)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• Valiant (2005)
• Chicken Little (2005)
• Cars (2006)
• Ratatouille (2007) | Watched on 27th May, 2013 | ★★★★
• Meet the Robinsons (2007)
• WALL.E (2008) | Watched on 24th June, 2013 | ★★★★★
• Up (2009)
• Tangled (2010)
• Mars Needs Moms (2011)
• Frankenweenie (2012)
• Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
• Brave (2012)

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) – ★★★★

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writers: Mark Boal
Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle

Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that Osama Bin Laden was the man behind the terrorist attack on 9/11. This is a movie that aims to reveal the long and arduous task that was to find and kill Bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty is absolutely brilliant. It’s so thrilling that I found myself forgetting to breathe at times. It is meticulously acted by the stellar Jessica Chastain, with brilliant supporting performances. The cinematography in this film rivals Bigelow’s masterpiece, ‘The Hurt Locker.’ I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film, yet there were questions that weren’t answered.

High Noon (1952) – ★★★★★

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Writers: Carl Foreman (screenplay), John W. Cunningham (story)
Stars: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Katy Jurado, Lloyd Bridges, Thomas Mitchell

High Noon is the Citizen Kane of Western cinema. It is, simply put, a masterpiece. Every aspect of the film screams precision. The acting, the music, the set, the dialogue, the camerawork, is all perfection. Gary Cooper is flawless in this film, and it will always go down as the greatest role he ever played.

The Hobbit (2012) - ★★★★

Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: J.R.R. Tolkien (novel), Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro (screenplay)
Stars: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, Sylvester McCoy

Wow. This movie absolutely blew me away. I must admit, I had my doubts after reading many negative reviews of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit.' There were some valid points made, but nothing could stop this from being the most entertaining film of the year. I myself have read the book. I don't believe the movie does it justice. It adds way too much into the simple story, trying to turn it into another Lord of the Rings film.