S. Darko (2009)

Director: Chris Fisher
Rating: **

Donnie Darko is one of my favourite films. Sadly, I cannot say the same for the sequel, and understand why the director of the original (Richard Kelly) refused to be involved in any way with the making of a sequel.

To explain - Donnie Darko is an extremely well thought out film, with everything seamlessly tied together at the end. And although it is also complicated, it does make complete sense to those who ponder endlessly over it. Everything is perfect. Sadly, this is not the case with S. Darko.

It seems Fisher has taken the basic elements from the original film - time travel, a complicated plot, and the future trails - and exploited them.

Let's take the future trails: he uses them more often than he should, and makes it seem on a couple of occasions that they are alive (they react to the person). Although it is fine to interpret these things differently, as a viewer, I did not think it worked.

The whole thing seems yet another film about a misunderstood, mopey teenager, which we have seen enough of in Twilight. Although Donnie in the original film was mopey, the audience were also led to believe he was slightly mad. In this film, the main character is simply dislikeable.

One final flaw - the special effects resemble something out of Smallville. They make the film so much less believeable, and prevent the viewer from becoming lost in the universe, as they were in the original.

If you are a huge Donnie Darko fan, I highly suggest you skip the sequel altogether.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

Director: David Slade
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rating: **

The third film in the film series based on the novels by Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse will be enough to please the many teenage fans of the films (and Edward and Jacob), but will most likely do nothing to please those more sceptical and aware of the poor quality of the first two films.

In this installment, Bella (Stewart) is forced to choose between dead brooding vampire Edward (Pattinson), and "I'm hotter than you" werewolf Jacob (Lautner), whilst overcoming an attack from old red-head enemy Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her army of newborn vampires.

Although this film is by far the best from the series so far, Stewart's acting simply refuses to improve, and we are still stuck with her universal facial expression that conveys boredness rather than anything else. Lautner's acting is no better, although it must be said that he does deliver his couple of comedic lines pretty well. In fact, it is evident that the only decent actor of the main three is Pattinson, seeming to easily portray Edward's pain and making the best scene of the movie work single-handedly - this scene is when he explains to Bella what he would have done if she had been alive when he was, and talking about courtship.

Acting aside, the script of the film has improved since the previous installment, although there were too many excruciating flashbacks, two of which were so terrible it was unbearable to watch. The only one worthwhile of being in the film was Rosalie's (Nikki Reed), and she as a character deserved more screen-time, as did the entire Cullen family. For example, Esme (Elizabeth Reaser) only had two lines in the entire film.

One of the faults in the entire of the film series, and even the book series, is that the characters are so young. For example, Jacob is meant to be sixteen, and he is already professing his undying love for Bella. Being sixteen, it is hard to believe he actually knows what love is, and it just gets annoying to hear his constant whining. This is similar with Bella (although being 18 she just about pulls it off. Or she would if she moved her eyebrows around a bit).

Speaking of constant whining though, it actually seems like the whole film is made of that, and mumbling. It does get tedious to be unable to hear what the characters are actually saying.

The painful screams of Riley (Xavier Samuel) must be commended.

Overall, a much better film than the others, but it still has a long way to go before it hits the bar of being anything more than an average film.

1408 (2007)

Director: Mikael Håfström
Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack
Genre: horror
Certificate: 15
Rating: **

Although adapted from what is probably a great Stephen King novel (I cannot say for sure, having not actually yet read it), 1408 displays little of the charm of King's writing.

Cusack's acting is the centre of the film - without him, I doubt I would have even given it two stars. His delightfully cynical and seemingly carefree character gives all the laughs available.

1408 definitely does have its chilling moments, but these generally occur when he first enters the room. Towards the end, the scares seem to become forced rather than being natural, causing them to have much less of an effect.

Overall, although it has its moments, this film comes across as slightly silly - especially the ending, which could have been much more clear.

All the Real Girls (2003)

Title: All the Real Girls
Year: 2003
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Shea Whigham, Patricia Clarkson
Genre: Romantic drama
Certificate: 15
Rating: **

I decided to watch this film after seeing Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer, and, fancying a romance, this seemed like the film to watch.

Although the plot (and script) of the film is interesting, the way in which it is presented just does not work. I hasten to add that the second-half of the film is much better than the first, however it seems like some scenes are only put in there to make the films seem more beautiful, and have nothing to do with driving the plot forwards. The characters are hard to understand, and, although probably a more realistic take on love than a lot of films, they tend to be slightly boring.

I'm not saying the whole film is bad - the second half, and the acting, is good, it's just the way the film is that makes it not work.