WARNING: Contains spoilers throughout

Often hailed as one of the greatest science fiction horror films of all time, David Cronenberg’s The Fly is continually held in very high regard, yet is seems to be nothing more than a glorified remake of a classic film with added gore and less substance than the original, ironic due to the state of horror cinema at present.

WARNING: Contains spoilers throughout

Carrie is the ultimate tale of revenge. The titular Carrie White is bullied by her peers, ignored by all but one of her teachers and tortured by her fanatical Bible-bashing mother that locks Carrie in a cupboard with only a model of the crucified Jesus for company. What nobody expects is that she possesses telekinetic powers.

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Directed by John Ford, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” may not be the most exciting western ever made, and certainly not the most grand in scale. It lacks the sheer massive spectacle of the often renowned epics of Sergio Leone. Even in the context of John Ford’s films, it cannot quite compare to the epic story of “The Searchers” or the technical mastery of “Stagecoach”.

Although nowadays, what comes to mind when the spoof genre is discussed is the Scary, Epic, and Superhero Movie franchise, at one time it would be Airplane and Blazing Saddles, Naked Gun and Hot Shots. Black Dynamite taps into this vein of comedy. Like all of the above, it is played totally straight, yet is over the top in its silliness from beginning to end, and it works like a charm.

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane opens with one of the best deaths in slasher film history, a bold statement, I know, but it is incredibly mature in its execution and perfectly sets the tone of the film, making us realise this film is bravely made, and will not back away from the director’s vision.

By many accounts, 2009 was a rather weak year in mainstream American cinema. James Cameron’s epic spectacle Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow’s humanist war drama The Hurt Locker both hogged most of the attention and glory from both audiences and critics alike. Additionally, there was 500 Days of Summer, a film beloved by audiences and hailed as the best romantic-comedy of the year.

Warning: contains possible mild spoilers

Is Monsters Inc a political commentary?

Pixar’s recent films WALL-E (2008) and Up (2009) have impressed critics and audiences with their intellectual and emotional substance which previous computer animations have apparently lacked. WALL-E offered a dystopic vision of Earth abandoned by obese, disconnected humans and presented a thoughtful, if obvious environmental message, while Up’s opening left many grown adults in tears.

"Your style seems a bit slow to me"

Marlon Brando is an epic presence within Cinema. His performances in such actorly masterworks as On the Waterfront and The Godfather make him one of the most beloved actors of any generation. Yet despite this grand status he only directed one film, and that is a film that he did not even set out to direct.

A certain amount of reluctant discretion has to be considered when being critical of an established classic. Perhaps the quality of the work is simply something that you as a viewer have missed. The old maxim that the fault is not with the film but rather with the audience may be an important mitigating factor. However, it is not impossible that a film may be considered to classic but in fact be open to vast amounts of criticism.

WARNING: Contains spoilers throughout.

This is the possibly most influential science fiction movie of all time. It was the first film to blend horror and science fiction and the first ‘realistic’ view of the spacecrafts as grubby, clunky machines that don’t always work. At the time of release, Alien was the first dark science fiction film to reach a wide audience. With the recent success of Star Wars and Star Trek, Alien’s tagline ‘In space, no one can hear you scream’ promised a very different experience.