Invictus (2009)

Invictus

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring: Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman

Rating: 8/10

Proudly South African All the way!

In Late 2009 November, the film about an African President struggling to help people in a segregated country came to the big screen directed by the legendary Director/actor who created films such as Million Dollar Baby (2007), Gran Torino (2008) and my all time favorite The Letters to Iwo Jima (2008).

The President was Nelson Mandela a true hero, in the real sense of the word. The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation, which involved the story of the South African Springboks team who were regarded as the worst team and a disgrace to the country.

It was Mandela and Francois Pienaar (captain of the Rugby team) who changed the nations way of thinking and brought the whites and blacks together through the spirit of sport.

A wonderful emotional journey which would make any South African shed a tear-as for avid film watchers a great biographical treat with a few Historical inaccuracies but don't let that ruin it for you. Morgan Freeman has truly brought Mandela to the screen in image and in mind.

Very well done to Clint Eastwood.

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Law Abiding Citizen

Starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx

Rating : 8/10

An adrenaline filled thriller glamorising the theme of vigilantism

Gerard Butler stars in this latest blockbuster as Clyde Shelter, a married man who has an adorable ten year old daughter. He is visited unfortunately by two criminals who make the audience and Clyde forced to watch them torture his family.

A celebrity district attorney (Jamie Foxx) sends only one of them free and the other to death row, which happens ten years later.

Over these ten years, Clyde develops a madness which leads him to become one of the most dangerous vigilantes in the city, teaching the people of justice the real meaning of justice.

The line used throughout the movie is, “It’s not what’s true that matters, is what you can prove in court.”

A great film which keeps the audiences stuck to the screen and at the edge of their seats; the film sets out a message to all people who have suffered crime lecturing us that our government is far too corrupted to make sure that justice is found.

Finally there is a film where violence is needed.

The HAKAR-G (AKA-Dayakar Padayachee)

More reviews can be seen on my site: www.hakar-reviews.webs.com

Avatar (2009)

Avatar

Written and Directed by James Cameron

Review by: The Hakar-G

Rating: 9/10

Unforgettable experience!

The enchanting tale of life in another form is brought to life in the latest film by “Titanic and Terminator series” maestro, James Cameron. Believed to have worked on his latest creation for 12 years, the story of Jake Sullay a man with disabilities in his legs after a battle on Earth is sent on a mission to the planet, Pandora.

Pandora is famously known from the mystical mythological Pandora’s Box which held eternal life. In the film the planet holds eternal beauty and a rock which the humans are after called, “Unoptabian”. The rock is said to be worth 2 million dollars which the humans wish to live on, but here’s the catch, the rock is under the tree of a tribe called The Na’vi.

It is now up to Jake and Grace a scientist to obtain this rock and bring it back to the humans, but they fall in love with the world and the Na’vi tribe and turn their backs on the human world leading them into a monstrous battle.

The film in practicalities seems impossible to make, but James Cameron and his crew have designed a true piece of cinema which will live on forever. Like Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings series we have fallen in love with the characters and will regard them as classics. The true art of the film however is the 3D aspect which explodes before our eyes and mesmerises us with its greatness.

To my dismay however the plot may have some similarities to that of the Wachowski Brother’s production, “The Matrix” and may be regarded as a unoriginal rehash of their work, in respect to James Cameron the film is in a way original as it is the only movie out of Hollywood recently which is not based on a book or is a remake of classics.

Thank you James Cameron, you definitely gave Hollywood a run for its money.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Starring: Jude Law, Rachel Mcadams, Robert Downey Jnr. And Mark Strong

Rating: 8/10

DISCOMBOBULATE!

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer who was born on 22 May 1859 and died 7 July 1930. He was famously known for his classic detective tale, Sherlock Holmes which generally is considered as the innovation in the field of crime fiction and for the adventures of Professor Challenger.

Strangely enough Arthur Doyle was knighted sir before his beloved creation of Sherlock Holmes and had previously created his debonair character as a rough, uptight drunk Englishman who was great at fighting and detecting hard evidence.

Here is the aim for Guy Ritchie’s latest instalment, Sherlock Holmes starring Jude Law as Dr. Watson and Robert Downey Jnr as the lead detective.

The story is loosely based on the books but derives straight from a graphic novel created by screenwriter Michael Robert Johnson who then proposed the idea to his co-writers Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg who pushed it through to Warner Brothers where they got Guy Ritchie, director of “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” to direct the film.

The story begins with Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) who releases an unspeakable force on an innocent girl in a demonic ritual. Stopped by Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes he is arrested and sentenced to death, hereby leaving Dr. Watson who declares him dead. Commander Clarkson alerts Sherlock and Watson that Blackwood has risen from the grave and wants to raise a force which will “twist the very fabrication of nature.” It is up to Sherlock Holmes, his ex-girlfriend Irene Adler (Rachel Mcadams) who holds a dark secret and Dr. Watson to stop Blackwood and investigate the facts from supernatural theory.

With the style of Guy Ritchie’s usual films like his predecessor Rock N’ Rolla (2008) and the great intellectual dialogue of Sir Arthur Doyle, Guy Ritchie has created a film which will appeal to a wide audience. It will appeal to an audience that catch onto quick wit and know a thing or two about Sherlock Holmes’s character.

As a fan of Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jnr I must say it is a rather enjoyable film, but as a fan of Sherlock Holmes material comes a slight disappointing feeling which is so slight that it actually makes it acceptable for me to akin to the film.

Director Guy Ritchie used the soundtrack from the film The Dark Knight by Zimmer as temporary music during editing. Zimmer was pleased when Ritchie asked him to do the score but told him to do something completely different.

Zimmer described his score to Ritchie as the sound of the Pogues joining a Romanian orchestra.

For the musical accompaniment, composer Hans Zimmer used a banjo, cimbalom, squeaky violins, and a "broken pub piano". At first Zimmer had his own piano detuned, but found that it sounded out of tune. He asked his assistant to locate a broken piano.

The first piano they located was passed over as it obviously had been cared for, but the second one was the one they used in the production.

Zimmer said "We rented 20th Century Fox’s underground car park one Sunday and did hideous things to a piano.

If you are like me who loves listening to score for film, do go to a store and by this soundtrack, it truly is a masterpiece.

Here is the soundtrack listing:

1. Discombobulate (2:25)

2. Is It Poison, Nanny? (2:53)

3. I Never Woke Up In Handcuffs Before (1:44)

4. My Mind Rebels At Stagnation (4:31)

5. Data, Data, Data (2:15)

6. He's Killed The Dog Again (3:15)

7. Marital Sabotage (3:44)

8. Not In Blood, But In Bond (2:13)

9. Ah, Putrefaction (1:50)

10. Panic, Sheer Bloody Panic (2:38)

11. Psychological Recovery... 6 Months (18:18)

12. Catatonic (6:44)

The Irish folk song The Rocky Road to Dublin as sung by The Dubliners is used during the boxing match and when Holmes fights with the Frenchman and in the final credits.

The single Unstoppable by E.S. Posthumus is used in the trailers for the film.

Introduction:

Welcome to my review page. My name is The Hakar-G and that's all you need to know :). So here's what my blog consists. It will consist of many reviews all recent films and old. Some will be for cinema, games, score music and latest dvd's.

My love for film is rather extreme-so extreme in fact that it makes me push my information and research on film. So if you like a history lesson-I'll give you one-if you don't I'll think about it.

I do hope you'd appreciate my reviews motivating you to watch the films I review on.

Happy Watching and may the love for the movies always be with you.