MissMarauder

I began watching this film with great interest due to the genre and the 2 lead actresses. I was told it was the French 6th Sense. I only wish my 6th sense had been working and told me not to waste my time watching it. only got to the end by playing games on my computer at the same time. as it had subtitles I had to keep looking for a while but soon there wasn't much dialogue and all I could hear was Monica Belluci gasping and panting as she struggled to survive a series of shocks and physical feats that would have put Bruce WIllis under a lot of pressure. Catherine Deneuve must have had a laugh making some of the scenes and had a frozen blank for most of it ( trying not to giggle perhaps)? The camera concentrates on close ups of Monicas face a lot too and as she appears to be in shock and gasping for air for a large part of the film it becomes very annoying. Yes there are a few spots that keep you watching for the special effects and but mostly these sort of scenes have been in many other films. If you get to the end well done!

Suffering from severe flu I did not care what was on the DVD last night.Finding Neverland was a movie I knew little about and only the fact that two of my favourite actors, Johhnny Depp and Kate Winslet, starred in it led me to have any interest.Of course I knew well the Story of Peter Pan and had read the book myself and to my own children.But of J.M. Barrie I knew almost nothing. After the first fifteen to twenty minutes that it took me to settle into the world of James Barry comfortably, learn that he had a Scottish accent, accept that he slipped between the real and imaginary worlds with ease, and I was transported to another place.A gentle world that brought back to me my own childhood experiences and flights of fancy. I am no expert just a lover of movies and watch as many as I can.I cant remember a better film, a better performance than Johnny Depps and the young boy who played Peter.How on earth could a young child have the insight and intensity to convey what he did.Truly an amazing performance. No violence no sex no bad language.Wonderful sets and costumes, finely written dialogue brilliant acting cameos in the minor roles.I have no criticisms.It just got better and better. As for the last half an hour.I had stopped coughing for the first time in two days as I watched spellbound, but the tears that flowed as I felt so many tender and sad and wonderful things nearly choked me. Don't miss this film.Stay with it for the first 15 to 20 minutes and let yourself relax into a gentler time and the world of Never land. I'm going to watch it again today , and tomorrow....

Being a big fan of The Matrix Series I was prepared to feel Equilibrium was a cheap copy with its Clerics wearing long coats and slicked back hair styles etc.

However the high class acting in this movie dominated, with so much being expressed in a way we can understand without big special effects..This movie is in a different league than bigger budget films about future life systems and philosophies.The script is intelligent and allows real knowledge of the lead characters and philosophies of the ruling system. Communication between characters is often non verbal with subtle feelings expressed in a look or focus of the camera. Objects such as a book or perfume bottle are used to convey strong values. When special effects are used, for example in the scenes where the Cleric goes in to kill groups of Sense Offenders,they have a bigger impact for being used sparingly and are just as amazing to to watch.We do not lose our belief that the performer of these feats is really human. The ending scenes where the main character enters the head office of The Father and destroys large numbers of troups and finally his main protagonist with his combination of gun skills and physical combat is riveting. There is no over load of effects to make this divorced from reality.

The idea that humans can live a life deprived of the evil consequences of their emotions leading to world peace, is an interesting one.No more war or murder, none of the bad things that humans have done to each other will continue.However the establishment of a German Reich style society controlled by enforced self administration of a powerful drug and policed by troups heavily armed is terrifying from the beginning.THe extent of this inability to feel is gradually revealed and culminates in the lead character discovering he actually stood passively by while his wife was condemned and sent for incineration for Sense Offence.At the time he felt nothing at all when the woman he loved was removed and murdered by the society he defended.When he stops taking the drug he gradually discovers the the ability to feel, even the sense of touch when sliding his hand along a railing on a stair case is an amazing revelation.The way he feels when he finally rips the covering off a window in his sterile apartment, and sees rain trickling down the window and views the city he lives in for the first time unveiled, moves him to tears.

In the end the triumph of the reality of humanity with all its weaknesses, over the totally drug controlled state is a satisfying conclusion. People with emotions are not perfect but the total lack of the ability to feel anything leads to death of the things that make life worth living at all.