Movies

Dive into the gritty world of 'Full Metal Jacket,' where filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's lens captures the haunting transformation of men into soldiers, leaving innocence behind. With a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it has been dubbed one of Netflix’s best war films.Kubrick’s Vietnam War tale follows Private "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine), quickly nicknamed by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant (R. Lee Ermey), and the hapless Private Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio), called "Gomer Pyle," as they’re transformed from civilians into hardened soldiers, capturing innocence lost and the evolution from recruit to killer.Jay Scott, a film critic, says: “Full Metal Jacket is violent, caustic, ironic, and cold, an amoral object formed from a camera gliding majestically across slow-motion carnage while refu...

A popular war drama starring Mark Wahlberg has returned to Netflix this month and some have even called it 'perfect' and the 'best war movie ever made'. Released in 2013 and written and directed by Peter Berg, the film is based on the 2007 nonfiction book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson which tells the true story of a Navy SEAL team sent on a high-stakes mission in Afghanistan during the war. The film shows the unsuccessful Operation Red Wings in 2005, a United States Navy SEAL mission in which a four-man reconnaissance and surveillance team was tasked with locating and capturing Taliban commander Ahmad Shah.When the team is spotted, their mission quickly descends into a desperate fight for survival. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Eric...

A "masterpiece" movie based on a Stephen King book is frequently hailed as the greatest of all time. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) tells Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins), a banker who is convicted for murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to life imprisonment at the notorious Shawshank State Penitentiary, despite maintaining his innocence.Inside he befriends Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), a fellow prisoner, who tries to help Andy come to terms with his new reality, in an environment riven with brutality and institutional corruption. The film wasn't a commercial success initially, something Freeman quipped was due to its title, saying many cinemagoers left the theatre blown away by the story but couldn't remember the name and spread the word.But it's since establis...

A "masterpiece" film that's regularly named among the greatest ever is streaming now in the UK. Titanic (1997) is a historical romance based on accounts of the real-life sinking of the British luxury liner, which sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage, in a tragedy that claimed the lives of some 1,500 people. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as Jack and Rose, two passengers divided by class who fall for each other in the lead up to the disaster. The ensemble cast also includes Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane, Bernard Hill, Frances Fisher, Danny Nucci, Jonathan Hyde, and David Warner. The film, which incorporates real and fictional elements, was written and directed by iconic American filmmaker James Cameron, known for blockbuster franchises including Alien, Terminator and the...

Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men (Image: Paramount Pictures (International))A modern Western thriller hailed as a cinematic tour de force has landed on Netflix - and viewers are still proclaiming it among the finest films ever made.No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers' Oscar-winning take on Cormac McCarthy's novel, continues to draw plaudits for its unflinching portrayal of violence, morality, and fate in a world spiralling into chaos.The 2007 picture marked a defining moment in the Coens' illustrious career.Josh Brolin stars as Llewelyn Moss, a welder and Vietnam veteran who discovers the scene of a failed drugs deal in the wilds of West Texas and makes off with a case containing $2 million.That choice sets off a deadly chain of events, with Moss hunted by Anton Chigurh, ...

Braveheart, the 1995 epic historical war drama directed by and starring Mel Gibson, chronicles the story of Scottish hero Sir William Wallace. The film follows Wallace as the medieval Scottish patriot driven to rebellion against English rule following the brutal murder of his beloved. Commanding his forces through battles that escalate into full-scale warfare, his campaign into England poses a direct threat to King Edward I's crown before his eventual capture and execution – yet, not before becoming an enduring symbol of Scottish independence.More than three decades since its release, the film continues to be celebrated as a "masterpiece" by devotees, boasting an impressive 76 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes alongside numerous five-star testimonials from film enthusiasts. One reviewer...

Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003) (Image: Sunday Mirror)A "masterpiece" romantic-comedy drama that left viewers in tears is streaming in the UK. Lost in Translation (2003) tells the story of two strangers, faded film star Bob Harris (played by Bill Murray) and recent graduate Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), who meet in a bar in Tokyo. While visiting the Japanese capital, the two disillusioned travellers "find solace in each other's company", the Netflix description reads.The film was written and directed by Sofia Coppola, who began writing it after spending time in Tokyo and falling in love with the city. Lost in Translation was critically acclaimed, with Coppola winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Mur...

The synopsis on Rotten Tomatoes reads: "The amazing true story of Billy Moore, an English boxer incarcerated in Thailand's most notorious prison. Thrown into a world of drugs and violence, he finds his best chance to escape is to fight his way out in Muay Thai tournaments."The film starring Joe Cole premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival before being released on DirecTV Cinema in the UK in July 2018.The film, which has moved both critics and viewers, has been praised for the way that it manages to move audiences while showing "such horrible human brutality".Bangkok Post wrote: "A Prayer Before Dawn is remarkable in its brutalist mode, in sketching the grainy lives of these jailbirds...to see how far the body, and in effect the soul, could endure the inhuman hellhole that is their ev...

Censor (Image: undefined)An indie horror film that's been dubbed 'outstanding' and 'hard to shake' airs on Film4 this evening.Censor, which arrived in cinemas in 2021, is a British psychological horror set amidst the 1980s "video nasty" controversy.The story centres on Enid, a fastidious film censor haunted by remorse over her sister's vanishing during their youth, who becomes fixated on a harrowing horror production that echoes her own history.Her investigation sees the boundaries between reality and fiction becoming increasingly indistinct.The cast features Niamh Algar, joined by Nicholas Burns, Vincent Franklin, Sophia La Porta and Michael Smiley. Adrian Schiller also appears in what would prove to be his last screen role.Censor has fans gripped (Image: undefined)Set during the 1985 ...

Adam Sandler was 32 when he starred in Big Daddy (Image: Jim Smeal, Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)A "wonderfully heartwarming" film is departing Netflix on February 1, making it essential viewing before its removal.Comedy legend Adam Sandler portrays Sonny Koufax, a 32-year-old law graduate recently jilted by his girlfriend (Joey Lauren Adams) for a more mature suitor.Determined to prove his readiness for responsibility, he takes in five-year-old Julian (played by Dylan Sprouse), only to discover that parenthood presents unexpected challenges."Watched Big Daddy this year," one Rotten Tomatoes reviewer wrote. "This is a hilarious comedy movie with Adam Sandler... everything goes wrong."Reviewer Charlie added: "The storytelling is wonderfully heartwarming... a movie with Adam Sa...