November 2009 Archives

James Cameron has proven before that he can do great things with sci-fi. With the 'Terminator' series, he dreamt up a fascinating dystopian future, while his 'Alien' sequel, 'Aliens', embellished upon and complemented the original so much that the two films now feel like they were always meant to be two halves of the same film.

I'll admit that I haven't seen much from animation house Studio Ghibli. Apart from watching half of 'My Neighbour Totoro' and the entirety of 'Princess Mononoke' in fragments, the interest had never really taken me to watch much of what is widely said to be the Japanese version of Walt Disney Studios.

That was until the Leeds International Film Festival announced it would be screening Studio Ghibli's new feature, 'Ponyo', on its final day. Discovering it wouldn't be on general release in Britain until February of next year, I jumped at the chance to see it. I was pleasantly surprised.

It's less than a month to go now until its cinema release and yet it still seems that not a day goes by that I don't giddily watch the trailer for 'Where The Wild Things Are', one of my most anticipated films of the year.

I saw Michael Caine's new film, 'Harry Brown' last Friday (you can see my review previously on the blog) and it got me to thinking: Caine has reached a stage now where, if I hear he's in a film, I will immediately be interested in seeing it.

HARRY Brown, in which Michael Caine plays the titular pensioner who seeks revenge when thugs kill his best friend, gets off to a great start.

NOW in its 23rd year, this month sees the return of the Leeds International Film Festival.
From November 4 to 22, you can see a host of mainstream feature films and documentaries, as well as more experimental work and short films, showing at locations across the city.