8 Months Later…

 

First off, I’d like to start with an apology to anyone who actually reads this page, judging by the lack of comments, I’d suggest that apology isn’t needed. But in-case anyone does actually care… I haven’t gone off film in the past few months, either, I’ve had more important things to pursue, or I just couldn’t be bothered to write about the films that I’ve watched. But now I’d like to think that it’s going to be a return to form.

This week I began the catch up on 2007, the first film i stuck my teeth into was ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ which was a great finish to a great series of films, I also watched the latest Cronenberg flick ‘Eastern Promises’ which was also really enjoyable… not quite a great film, but very close and better than ‘A History of Violence’ in my opinion. Today though, I finally got around to David Fincher’s ‘Zodiac’ which has left me nursing an absolutely massive boner. The reason that I’d held off watching ‘Zodiac’ was it’s two hour ,thirty seven minutes running time, but let me assure anyone that the film flew by as if it was only ninety minutes. I’m not quite sure how to describe ‘Zodiac’, it’s some where in between Thriller, Horror and Drama, it follows the life of cartoonist ‘Robert Greysmith’ while he juggles his time between drawing for the San Francisco chronicle and trying to solve the Zodiac murder case. The film features an epic story line lasting over twenty years from when the zodiac murders began in the late sixties to the late eighties. Great performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey jr. and Mark Ruffalo hold the film together while David Fincher’s beautiful direction is just a wonder to watch.

Both ‘Zodiac’ and ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ have managed to force Danny Boyle’s ‘Sunshine’ further down the list of my favourite movies from 2007. Anyway, if you are the sort of person who enjoys, murder mystery, thriller, horror or drama of any sort, then take it from me ‘You could do a lot worse than Zodiac!’ watch it now,now,now…

 P.S Films rock in HD! 

A Week In Film

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post, so I thought I’d better get crackin’. Since it’s exam time, I wasn’t really expecting to have any time to watch films. Never the less, since Thursday I managed to squeeze in three.

 28 Weeks Later

The first feature I dived into was 28 weeks later, sequel to 28 days later, one of the best horror films of the past decade. The film begins at the time of the original outbreak, Robert Carlyle and his wife are holding up in a farmhouse with a few other survivors. A few minutes later a child arrives at the door, and soon reveals that he is being pursued by ‘the infected’ who promptly beak into the house attacking Carlyle and his family. After he escapes, without his wife and we fast-forward to 28 weeks later, where a safe zone has been formed by the American military on the Isle of Dogs . Basically in the next 30mins or so, the shit hits the fan and the infected soon run rampant.

I don’t really want to say too much about 28 weeks later, I thought it was a fun film, not great though. To be honest 28 days later is a pretty big act to follow, and this effort from Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo recaptures the style and feeling of the first film. 28 weeks later is most definately worth a watch and I’d encourage anyone to check it out, especially the Dawn of the Dead helicopter blades homage. 

 Once upon a time in Mexico

I’m a big fan of Robert Rodriguez and when i saw that the third installment in the ‘el mariachi’ trilogy was screening soon on Five US, I thought I’d check it out. The film stars Johnny Depp, Willem Defoe and Antonio Banderas.

I really enjoyed Once upon a time in Mexico, it was a really fun action romp, yet again I wouldn’t say it was a great film, but it was a fun time. Depp is once again hillarious with Banderas and Defoe playing their parts very well.

The Wicker Man

Previously I’ve only seen bits, bobs and quotes from The Wicker Man, and have never watched it the whole way through. The plot arises when Sgt. Howey (Edward Woodward) is sent to the remote Summerisle off the coast of Scotland to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. When Howey arrives he discoverers a world where Pagan rituals are still part and parcel.

The Wicker Man was fantastic, everything in this low budget thriller works perfectly. After watching this I’ve become so out of favour with the Nicolas Cage remake, which i have still yet to see (and probably never will). By moving the location to some redneck American setting, you must surely lose everything, being that the plot centers completely around Summerisle’s Pagan traditions.

Alien 3

 

This week my shiny new Alien Quadrilogy turned up, this  was a box set which had received wonderful reviews. But the reason i bought it was the ‘Assembly Cut’ of Alien 3, this is the edition of the film which is as close to a directors cut that we will ever see because David Fincher has condemned it.

The theatrical release is 108mins long compared to the 138mins assembly cut, and this does end up making a noticeable difference… where as I enjoyed the original cut of Alien 3, I simply loved the assembly cut, it’s a fucking good movie. Fincher’s artistic talent is so visible in the assembly cut, something which the studio removed a lot of in post-production. 

In the new cut, many elements of the film are developed over a much longer period of time.  The relationship between Charles Dance’s character and Ripley is far stronger than in the theatrical release, and the relationship between Dillon and Ripley seems more distant than in that release. But the best bit is the ending… SPOILER ALERT, instead of the whole, clutching the newborn queen Alien as she falls into the fire. We do not see Ripley being ‘Chestburst’ which feels like a far more satisfying ending. It would seem that the studio really wanted the ‘human chest-burst’ scene which had become familiar with the franchise.

All in all, the assembly cut of Alien 3 is a far, far better film than the original cut, and with all the extra features, plus the other 4 films the Quadrilogy box-set is a great addition to any DVD collection.

Renaissance

Renaissance was recently released on DVD here in the UK after a lukewarm reception at theatres. It’s one of a growing number of films, including Sin City and 300 to be filmed entirely on green screen. The film took 6 years to produce due to the use of motion capture characters on the green screen background.

I will not argue… Renaissance is a visually stunning film, infact it’s one of the best looking films I’ve ever seen. The secret is that for 99% of the film, there is no colour (not even grey) every picture is a harsh contrast between black and white.

The Story however, is not so great and I found the narrative incredibly fractured, and not in a Lynch way. Like Spiderman 3, the film seemed to be a number of very cool set peices, loosely strung together with a weak plot. This meant that, as hard as I tried to enjoy this film, I simply couldn’t. Renaissance is probably worth it just for the striking visual styles.

Dead Man’s Shoes

Before I cast my godly opinion over Dead Man’s Shoes I’d like to say that I bought Mulholland Drive for £18 (curse you HMV), watched it last night, and it was awesome… the only thing that stopped it being one of the best films I’ve ever seen, is that i don’t have a fucking clue what the hell went on in the last third.

Dead Man’s Shoes is a British revenge film from Shane Meadows and I suppose equally Paddy Considine. Considine plays ‘Richard’, an ex-army man who returns from war to take revenge on a group of people for the pain they incurred on his brother ‘Anthony’.

The relationship between Richard and Anthony is heartwarming. It helps us understand why the lead character is so fucked off for the majority of the film. Dead Man’s Shoes is filled to the brim with brutality and graphic violence, and rightly deserves its’ 18 rating.

The film screams of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver for the majority of the 90min running time, and like Travis Bickle, the character of Richard deserves recognition as one of the best characters in any revenge film. By all means check it out, and also take a look at some of Shane Meadows’s other work.

Spiderman 3

I’m gonna start by saying that, from now on reviews on this site will not be credited with a rating. This is purely because i feel it’s harsh to give films a rating, especially when i have not made anything of the calibre… yet.

Spiderman 3 is the first of this years summer blockbusters, staring Tobey Maguire, Kirstin Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Hayden-Church and Topher Grace as the leads, with director Sam Raimi back behind the camera… I guess your thinking ‘What could possibly go wrong’ well, i might dissapoint you by saying that Spiderman 3 will not be the best film of the year, and i don’t think it’s the best film of the year so far. May i also add at this point that the film was not helped by Cineworlds annoyingly out of focus projector, which marred much of the films spectacular visuals.

The film begins, and everything seems to be going really well for Spiderman, the public love him and his relationship with MJ is progressing perfectly. But as usual, this is not the case for long. The shit hits the fan and we are introduced to the Hob Goblin, the Sandman and Spidermans interesting new suit, which iIwill not go into as I do not wish to spoil the plot.

Unfortunately, rather than being a complete feature (although the 3rd act is pretty awesome if your’re into set peices with explosions) Spiderman 3 ends up feeling more like a patchwork piece. I have absoultely no doubt that Sony will milk the franchise as much as they possibly can, and am still looking foward to the 4th installment. Also watch out for the cameo from Bruce Campbell.

Flushed Away

I really wasn’t expecting much from Flushed Away and had recently tried to avoid it. But a few weeks ago it was a featured review on the (Cool) Shite on the tube podcast, and was given a fairly positive review. This is the new production from Aardman animation, who are famous for the Wallace and Gromit series.

Rodey is a pet rat who is flushed down the toilet when his house is invaded by Sid, a sewer rat. The story centers around Rodeys attempt to return from the sewer to his ‘up-top’ home. The Aardman factor is present throughout the film, for example when Rodey is browsing through his outfits he pulls out a Wallace costume.

Flushed Away is an incredibly enjoyable experience, and though it is aimed at children it is also fun for adults. Its’ main problem is that, it’s a CGi film by Aardman, instead of the usual clay, stop-motion visuals associated with the company. By all means check out Flushed Away if you’re into the whole kids animation films thing.

Rating 3/5

Smith

I know that Smith is not a movie, but i cannot recommend this series to you enough. Ray Liotta (best actor ever) plays a clever thief (not in the conventional sense) more like a hustler, with a team of crooks to help him carry out his dirty work. Unfortunately Smith was canned in the U.S after just nine episodes, but from what I have seen from the first seven or so, there should have been more. Check it out the ITV4 or use your initiative and find a torrent (cough,cough, absolving myself of any responsibility)

The Thing

John Carpenters The Thing is a 1982 remake of 1951’s The Thing from another world. This is one of my all time favourite films, and in my mind, this is the film that best defines the horror genre. Made with a meagre budget of just $10,000,000 dollars (compare that to this years summer blockbuster : Spiderman 3 has a budget of $258,000,000) you can really appreciate what Carpenter and his crew achieved 25 years ago.

As the film opens we see a flying saucer spinning wildly out of control as it descends through the atmosphere towards Antarctica. We then cut to see a dog running across the ice while being persuade by a helicopter full of Norwegians, attempting to shoot the animal. The dog is quickly rescued by a group of 8 American scientists. Later that night when the dog is placed in the kennels it mutates into a creature which attacks the other animals within the pen. The scientists soon realise that they have a shape-shifting alien amongst their ranks with the ability to imitate any living creature.

Kurt Russell’s performance as MacReady really helps the impact The Thing has on its audience, he is simply awesome, with the rest of the cast put in very believable performances. Carpenters direction is flawless, though nothing could have been achieved without the phenomenal script written by Bill Lancaster, based on the novel Who goes there? by John W. Campbell.

The Thing is not Alien, and it is not the most perfect film ever made, but its damn close in my opinion. This film is one of the best survival horrors ever made and perfectly utilises the tension and fear associated with the genre.

Rating 5/5 (if you could have 6/5, damn it would be)

Grave of the Fireflies

Grave of the Fireflies is a 1988 japanese animated film from director Isao Takahata. This is a film which had slipped under my radar and I only heard of it when it became the featured review on one of my favourite podcasts ‘cinemaslave‘. Grave of the Fireflies tells the story of two children who have been orphaned in the final days of World War 2, and how they try their best to survive in whatever way possible.

This is one of the most beautiful, though also most haunting films you will ever see, the relationship between Seita and Setsuko is created in a realistic way, so that you can really try to understand the pain they feel (of course, there is no way, in which i can imagine the pain and suffering the characters endure). This is the reason that Grave of the Fireflies drops in at number 191 in the IMDB top 250 films of all time.

If there is one film that i must urge you to see in the coming months more than anything else, Grave of the Fireflies is that film.

Rating 5/5