Mac's Movies

As 2019 comes to a close and a new decade begins, I wanted to look back at each year's best movie from the past decade. In this instance, I have only ranked movies that I have seen. 2010 . Despicable Me 2011 . Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 2012 . Avengers Assemble 2013. Now You See Me 2014 . Captain America: Winter Soldier 2015 . Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2016 . Deadpool 2017 . Logan 2018 . Avengers: Infinity War 2019 . Avengers: Endgame Avengers Endgame has to be my favourite movie of the decade. I will never forget the experience of seeing it on the opening weekend, with all the associated hype. I clapped, cheered, smiled and cried, all in the space of three hours. Goosebumps. Hopefully the next decade will be just as good for movies. Look out for my most anticipated movies of 2020 blog post in the next couple of days.

UK Release Date: 6 April 1947 Certification: U Director: Frank Capra Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Donna Reed, James Stewart, Henry Travers Rating: 94% "Every time a bell rings an angel gets it's wings". Review: As you can see from the attached image It's a Wonderful Life is a Christmas tradition in my family. Each Christmas Eve we go to the Glasgow Film Theatre to watch a screening of It's a Wonderful Life , so although I will try to keep the review honest, I have to admit going to the cinema on Christmas Eve certainly does add to the experience.  Director Frank Capra made his name with a series of movies celebrating the common man and the triumph of the underdog - It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and You Can't Take It With You (1938). It's a Wonderful Life was the first movie Frank Capra released following the end of World War II. An archetypal Capra movie, It's a Wonderful Life tells the stor...

UK Release Date: 3 February 1989 Certification: 15 Director: John McTiernan Cast: Bonnie Bedelia, Hart Botchner, Paul Gleason, Alexander Godunov, Alan Rickman, James Shigeta, Reginald VelJohnson, De'voreaux White, Bruce Willis Rating: 85% Reports of shots fired at Nakatomi Plaza. Review: The plot of Die Hard is simple - A group of terrorists lay siege to a building in Los Angeles. But t he setting is very clever, having the action take place in a skyscraper meant that the movie could have fight scenes take place in different settings on different floors. Die Hard is an iconic movie largely due to Bruce Willis. His character John McClane has so many memorable one liners and great action set pieces. Until Die Hard , I had only ever seen Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter franchise and now I see why he was cast as Professor Snape. Rickman's character, Hans Gruber, was an unhinged, impulsive and maniacal villain. And the supporting cast were equally as good. Regina...

Amidst the multitude of gifts from family and friends, I was fortunate to receive a number of movie related books this year. These were: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die . Steven Jay Schneider. Published by White Lion Publishing (2019). ISBN 9781438050751. Movie Geek . Simon Brew. Published by Cassell (2017). ISBN 9781844039357. The Tao of Bill Murray . Gavin Edwards. Published by Century Books (2016). ISBN 9781780894362. The World According to Tom Hanks . Gavin Edwards. Published by Grand Central Publishing (2018). ISBN 9781538712207. I can't wait to read these books and perhaps share my thoughts on them. 

UK Release Date: 25 June 2004 Certification: 15 Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Cast: Irma P. Hall, Tom Hanks, Ryan Hurst, Tzi Ma, J.K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans Rating: 63 % The Ladykillers is the first Coen brothers movie I have seen. I'd like to see more. Review: The Coen brothers' The Ladykillers is a dark comedy based on the 1955 Ealing comedy starring Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. The modern adaptation sees Tom Hanks cast in the lead role, and of course he delivers a masterful performance. The well written dialogue allowed Hanks to chew up the scenery with many notable lines, and many unintelligible, to impress the audience with.  However in my opinion the best and funniest character is Gaiwan MacSam terrifically played by Marlon Wayans. The character's style of humour is brilliant, if a wee bit adult and pushes the movie's 15 certification as far as possible. I also thought that J.K. Simmons' character, Garth Pancake, was funny and enjoy...

UK Release Date: 19 December 2019 Certification: 12A Director: J.J. Abrams Cast: John Boyega, Anthony Daniels, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, Ian McDiarmid, Daisy Ridley, Joonas Suotamo, Billy Dee Williams Rating:   60 % "This will be the final word in the story of Skywalker." Review In 1977, a low budget science fiction movie made by a then relatively unknown director, George Lucas was released. 42 years later The Skywalker Saga comes to an end. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a great movie. I cannot review Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker without spoiling aspects of the movie, so be warned there are spoilers ahead. My favourite element of the movie, was the returning cast members. Harrison Ford, Sir Alec Guinness, Mark Hamill, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Frank Oz and Andy Serkus amongst many others all returned for small roles. These appearances and in some instances one line cameos helped bring The Skywal...

UK Release Date: 28 November 2014 Certification: PG Director: Paul King Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Peter Capaldi, Michael Gambon, Madeleine Harris, Sally Hawkins, Samuel Joslin, Nicole Kidman, Imelda Staunton, Julie Walters, Ben Whishaw Rating:   89 % Please look after this bear. Review: The casting of Ben Whishaw as Paddington is a masterstroke . The  sense of naivety and innocence in Whishaw's voice personifies the character brilliantly. Michael Gambon and Imelda Staunton's voice work was also very good and equally suited the characters of Uncle Pastuzo and Aunt Lucy.  Alongside the CGI bears the live actors were excellent. Hugh Bonneville was hilarious as Henry Brown. He carried a huge amount of charisma and the perfect amount of stubbornness to the softer, more caring, Mary Brown (played by Sally Hawkins). The housekeeper, Mrs Bird's (played by Julie Walters) running gag of knowing what was going to happen because of her knees was great. I loved it. But t...

For the past wee while, I haven't been as active on my blog as I would like, due to the pressure of school work. However I will get back into my blog over the festive season. I will be able to binge watch movies on a daily basis over the holiday period. Needless to say some of these movies will be Christmas movies. I absolutely love Christmas movies. Here are my 10 favourites to date: 10. Nativity 09. Dr Seuss' The Grinch 08. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 07. Daddy's Home 06. The Muppet Christmas Carol 05.   The Nightmare Before Christmas 04. It's a Wonderful Life 03. Elf 02 . How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) 01. Home Alone Home Alone , part of a family Christmas Eve tradition. Home Alone , directed by Christopher Columbus, is simply the greatest ever Christmas movie. With a breakout performance from Macaulay Culkin that is world class and two extremely comedic characters in the form of Harry and Marv (The Wet Bandits), brilliant...