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From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
A romantic, tongue-in-cheek-funny, well-designed poster for Jonathan Levine's Warm Bodies
In a post-apocalyptic future, the daughter of a prominent zombie exterminator gets her boyfriend eaten by a young male zombie, who with the guy's brain in his system assumes his warm memories and thereby falls in love with the girl while slowly improving himself as a zombie.
Warm Bodies is a film mostly for teenagers who have seen other YA [young adult] adaptations of the preceding years, in particular Twilight (2008) and its sequels, which the film nearly spoofs. But only nearly, because it also insists on being a romance and an action-horror in its own right. - That is a far reach for any film, and Warm Bodies seems to attempt to overcome this by using lots of different popular music to mark its many shifts in tone.
If you are over twenty, it may be difficult for you to get really involved with the ludicrous plot of teenage necrophilia that is basically at play here. On the plus side, both Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge (2016)) and Nicholas Hoult (Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)), - who is the cutest-looking zombie I can remember ever seeing, - are good, and John Malkovich (Drunkboat (2010)) is also funny as an obsessive zombie-hater. Warm Bodies is a quirky YA-film. It is written and directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50 (2011)), based on the same-titled 2010 novel by Isaac Marion.
[Warm Bodies premiered January 16 (Rome) and runs 97 minutes. Filming took place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, beginning September 2011. The film opened #1 to a 20.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 4 weeks and grossed 66.3 mil. $ (56.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 7.4 mil. $ (6.3 %) and Russia with 5.9 mil. $ (5 %). Warm Bodies is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Best Digital Effects (lost to Alice in Wonderland)
+ Best Peplum Movie of the Year
An iconic Greek goddess seems to have gotten her snaky head cut off by Sam Worthington on this poster for Louis Leterrier's Clash of the Titans
Perseus is the son of Zeus, a half-god who lost his family to the wrath of the gods. He now becomes the hope of mankind, as he ventures on a dangerous journey to the Kraken, which must be killed! Clash of the Titans is a handsome remake of the great 1981 movie of the same title. It has top-grade CGI, a real sense of adventure, plus it's attractively and excitingly put together. Sam Worthington (Avatar (2009)) is not the world's most charismatic or interesting actor, but he works alright here. Mads Mikkelsen (King Arthur (2004)) and sexy Nicholas Hoult (Dark Places (2015)) pull the film up, and Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener (2005)) and Liam Neeson (Gun Shy (2000)) adorn it with their integrity as veteran actors. Clash of the Titans is written by Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim (2013)), Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi(R.I.P.D. (2013), both) and directed by Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me (2013)). It is surprisingly solid in terms of story and entertainment value.
Cost: 125 mil. $ Box office: 493.2 mil. $ = Big hit [Clash of the Titans was released April 2 and runs 106 minutes. Development began in 2002. Filming took place from April - July 2009 in England, Spain, Iceland and Ethiopia. Leterrier promoted the film's conversion to 3D around its release but in 2013 decried the decision and the film as such, saying: "It was famously rushed and famously horrible. It was absolutely
horrible, the 3D. Nothing was working, it was just a gimmick to steal
money from the audience. I’m a good boy and I rolled with the punches
and everything, but it’s not my movie." The film opened #1, to a 61.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, (staying atop for one more week), where it grossed 163.2 mil. $ (33.1 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 29.2 mil. $ (5.2 %) and Russia with 24.6 mil. $ (5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, equal to its rating here. Clash of the Titans is rotten at 28 % with a 4.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Clash of the Titans?
♥♥♥♥♥ + Best Australian Movie of the Year + Best Comeback of the Year: George Miller
Charlize Theron loudly set on prevailing on this poster for George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road
Australian filmmaker George Miller's debut feature Mad Max (1979), which he followed with sequels in 1981 and 1985, now gets a reboot, by Miller himself, now a 70 year-old man.
In a desolate future, two fierce outcasts join forces to reach a green nirvana with the five wives of the tyrant Immortan Joe, whose small army are on their trail.
Miller has tried to get Fury Road off the ground since he got the idea for it in 1998! The film has been scrapped and pushed back due to several factors: 9/11, the second American Iraq war, Mel Gibson's personal travails, Heath Ledger's 2008 death etc. etc. Now that it's here, it's a glorious, gasoline-pumped beast of a movie; a car chase-action-adventure with some of the most hair-raising action scenes of later years. The film, which was shot on location in the desert of Namibia, Africa, is almost 'just' one long chase, so the action had better work, and it sure does. From the outset, when Max SPOILER eats a two-headed lizard, to the end a couple of hours later, we're strapped onto a hell of a roller coaster ride here. The film is shot by John Seale (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)) in ways that make you grab the handles of your seat time and time again, and scored by Junkie XL (300: Rise of an Empire (2014)) to enhance the experience. The stunt work is eye-popping, and the dystopia so grim that it's hard to watch the film and not think about its implicit portrayal of human nature as destructive, exploitative and brutal. - The punchline to all of this is, of course, that Miller is also the man behind such rosy family movies as Babe: Pig in the City (1998) and Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet 2 (2011).
Many have called Fury Road feminist, which is a strange thing to call it, I think, just because it has a strong female and several good female performances in it. One of the film's many delights is towards its end SPOILER to follow our heroes, who have now banded up with a few old ladies, attack and make their way despite being warred against by a legion of strong males. This may strike some as feminist; I relished it more because it was something I hadn't seen before, and the many people behind the scenario made it seem believable. Tom Hardy (Bronson (2008)) plays Max, and Charlize Theron (Monster (2003)) is Furiosa, who is actually a much more particular and engaging character. This is a problem for a film that is still called Mad Max: Fury Road. Hardy doesn't have Gibson's natural likability and charm (of the previous three movies), and Max's back-story here only gets presented in some frightening but not very informative flash-backs. Miller has chosen in his script, which he has co-written with Brendan McCarthy (ReBoot (1995-96)) and Nick Lathouris, that Max shouldn't say almost anything, and so Hardy has his work cut out for him trying to form a strong hero here. The film's ending is also a little rushed, but all of Fury Road is actually somewhat rushed, so this may be appropriate. These things aside, Theron and British Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man (2009)), who plays a drug-crazed but basically good kid, are great in Fury Road, and Hugh Keays-Burne (Kangaroo (1987)) is incredible as the despicable villain, sure to become iconic, because he is so hard to forget. - Great designs also adorn this surprising summer smash.
Hugh Keays-Burne as Immortan Joe (the villain if you were wondering ...) in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road
Watch the trailer for the film here
Cost: 150 mil. $ Box office: 109.4 mil. $ and counting = Still unsure [But as Fury Road has only been out for three days, it seems certain that it is set to become a big hit: Although it only opened #2 in the US, behind Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), it still made 44.4 mil. $ in its opening weekend there and opened #1 in 40 other countries with critics and audiences welcoming it with the highest level of enthusiasm.] What do you think of Mad Max: Fury Road? And Miller's other films? Do you think he is the mastermind that the trailers crown him?
Stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore look stylish on the poster for Tom Ford's A Single Man
1962: George is struggling with grief after his partner Jim's death. While the Cuba crisis is threatening world peace outside, George wants to shoot himself. But different people get in the way.
A Single Man is written by David Scearce (Measure of a Man (2018)) and debuting great Texan co-writer/director Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals (2016)), adapting the same-titled 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood (Down There on a Visit (1962)).
Firstly, the problems in fashion designer Ford's first entry into the world of filmmaking: Structurally, because we first get to know a great many things about George's loss, which could have been saved for later, to hit us with a larger force; especially since the film is not told in a linear style anyway. The use of color to illustrate life throughout the film seems trite and banal, just as part of the message of A Single Man, (live each day etc.) Finally there's the problem of Ford's aesthetics: Nearly every one in the film comments on how awful George looks, when, in fact, he couldn't look more stylish and spectacular. He is also surrounded by continually wildly attractive supermodel-looking people. These are, of course, the faults of a fashion designer who enters into filmmaking, thinking that his film must be as stylish as his fashion. With A Single Man in some periods you almost get the sense at times that the film serves as a prolonged commercial for Ford's fashion. So what's so good about A Single Man as to make it succeed anyway then? The film is a gay love story told without inhibitions, and without the sexual preference being the central issue in it. There's also some really fine, real scenes between the immersive, Oscar-nominated Colin Firth (The King's Speech (2010)) in the lead and Julianne Moore (The Hours (2002)) showing her very best side as George's old friend. Matthew Goode (Allied (2016)) and Nicholas Hoult (The Weather Man (2005)) are also wholly lovely in the film. A Single Man has a boring end, and it is generally a bit overrated, but I still can't but embrace it in spite of its flaws. Related post:
Cost: 7 mil. $ Box office: 24.9 mil. $ = Big hit (returned 3.55 times its cost)
[A Single Man premiered 11 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 100 minutes. Shooting took 21 days in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #21 to a 217k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 353 theaters (different weeks), grossing 9.1 mil. $ (36.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4 mil. $ (16.1 %) and Germany with 1.6 mil. $ (6.4 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Actor (Firth), lost to Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. It won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, an AFI award, was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards, won 2 prizes in Venice, and was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Ford returned with Nocturnal Animals (2016). Firth returned in A Chrismas Carol (2009); Moore in Chloe (2009). A Single Man is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
