Wow, what a movie. So rarely do I get speechless at the end of a film nowadays and UP did it for me.
Up (the new Pixar masterpiece) tells the story of and lonely, elderly gentleman named Carl, who decides to fulfill his and his late wife's dream of going to Paradise Falls in South America, he does so by tying thousand of balloons to his house and up and away he goes to adventure. Tagging along is a young boy scout Russell.
This review is going to stay short, this film is perfect, superb story, characters, an amazing score, the 3D did annoy me slightly but the movie was so good that i wasn't particularly bothered, if you can see it in normal theatres, do so, you're not missing out.
Not one frame of this movie was wasted, not one iota at all, perfect dialogue, rich with subtext and humor, it had me nearly balling my eyes out in the first 10 minutes and i was held right till the very end. If there is one film you see this first half of the year, make it UP, pure and simple.
Complete and utter perfection, one of the best films I have seen in a long time - 10/10
This debut movie by director Neil Blomkamp is being hailed as "the best movie of the year" I however beg to differ. The story follows 20 years after the arrival of aliens in Johannesburg who were quickly moved to a camp of sorts called District 9, a Government organization operative who was originally given the job of evicting all the "prawns" to a new place, finds himself on the other end of the barrel when he is infected with alien genes. Though this is definitely not the worst movie of the year, it is the most overrated yet, it was alright, but it was just that...alright.
To begin with there were far too many plot holes, I had my sister asking me questions throughout the movie and she never normally talks in films. It was a short film stretched way too far and this stretching has created many, many holes. For spoilers sake I will not discuss them here but one major one is the ship, supposedly it crash landed, on earth and had no fuel, yet somehow is still able to levitate what, how many tonnes for 20 years!!!!
Structurally it was faulty too the film rested on it's exposition for three quarters then the third act only then started to move forward I thought it would get good but then it just turned into generic sci-fi action nonsense corny lines and all. This is not to mention some characterization was awful, the wife of the main character (when he gets infected) says she can't love him anymore, but then she does, but then she doesn't, then she does, it get's confusing. And on top of this throughout the entire film the protagonist is a genuinely unlikeable character (a good performance by the actor though) and the real villains are incredibly 2 dimensional with bad lines to boot.
But the thing that annoyed me most about this movie is how subconcoiusly racist this filmmaking is, for an Apartheid allegory (or so they say) For the native people of darker skin, everything they said In English was subtitled, even though it was crystal clear. But when white people with accents, or Kiwis (as Johannesburg is apparently a city in New Zealand) speak, no subtitles are required. And then when Native people speak their own language, the subtitling happens to have bad grammar....
But the special effects!! for only 30 million the effects in this film were amazing so props for that.
I went in expecting Hot stuff and got mild chili instead. 5/10 - the special effects were the only thing that really dazzled me.
What a refreshing movie, something different amidst alot of the same thing. Tarantino's 10-year-in-the-working film comes to theatres to give audiences a taste of what the war should have been like.
Quentin Tarantino's darkly comical war movie following deathproof tells the stories of small groups of people that, during the events of WW2, aim to end the ongoing war. These include the Basterds, a group of Nazi killing solders, Shoshanna Dreyfus a Jewish escapee who now lives under the guise of a french Cinema owner, and Bridget vonHammersmark a German actress batting for the other side.
To begin with, let it be noted that out of all Tarantino's films, Inglorious Basterds is technically his most tame, there are no really long tracking shots, obscure camera movements or edits, so in fact, this may be Quentin's most original.
The film's dialogue did however tend to drag on a bit even though the monologues were cut short, but nonetheless the film still moved at a reasonable pace with a slight lag in the second quarter.
Acting-wise, there are some superb performances from Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa, Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna and Diane Kruger as Hammersmark, especially from Laurent, I personally felt that her story was the most endearing, her story opens the film and gives it it's "Cinematic" ending.
*edit, on a second viewing of this film explodes in cinema exuberance and the whole film works as a whole.
Hilarious, dramatic, and refreshing storytelling from a master of his art - 10/10
Sam Raimi's return to horror with this film about a Young woman who, after denying a Gypsy lady an extension on her loan (and shaming her in a room full of people) and is cursed and in 3 days she'll be taken to hell by the Lamia spirit.
First of all: filmically, this movie is a very solid horror flick, with well placed scares and some unexpected ones thrown in too. Sam Raimi is a man who knows where to put the camera (no sexual connotations there :P) when the spirits attack Christie he very nicely slides into a Dutch tilt which works very well. Sam pulls some good performances out of the actors and the visual effects are well placed and used to further the story.
With some nice Evil dead-like gruesome moments (vomiting, blood noses spraying everywhere) Sam has taken us back to the good old days of horror movies where it wasn't about how much sex and limb removals you could get in 5 seconds*coughHOSTELcough*
It might be interesting to note that Sam Raimi chose a very odd film stock, which reminisced of the 80's to 90's (he also uses the 80's Universal logo to open the movie) it gave the movie just the right type of retro feel to finally take it away from the crap horror of today *coughREMAKEScough* the ending however works and doesn't at the same time its left me with mixed feelings i dint know whether to feel sorry for Christie or the old Gypsy so the last 3 minutes didn't work for me but a good effort on behalf of all the filmmakers and its alot better than the crap horror fare of today.
SPOILER
*edit* there is a scene I forgot about and with review I do belive i have made a mistake, the ending fits the movie (there is a scene near the end where the protagonist buys a jacket, proving that she is still selfish)
Coraline is about a rowdy girl, ignored by her parents, who finds a magic doorway that leads to a Topsy-turvy world where everyone loves Coraline and even pronounce her name right! But as the story unfolds, things might not be as good as she first thought. Henry Selick is a true master of his art! After seeing his long-awaited follow up to the Nightmare Before Christmas (which many people think Buton directed) Henry Selick pulls off an equally as good film.
I'll first talk about the 3D, I have only seen one other 3D film and was not impressed however for Coraline, it worked to fantastic effect. It is all due to the fact that Coraline is clay-maytion. Because all the set is actually real the 3D gives the vibrant world of the story a really nice depth that works when the filmmakers do focus pulls, dolly's and cranes that pull the audience further into the film.
The story (based off a Niel Gaiman [stardust, American Gods] children's novel) is rather simple and almost fairytale-like in it's moralistic structure but nonetheless it still drags you in and holds you till it's triple-hit climax. Also it might pay to mention that the story gets a little dark and scary but it it DEFINITELY FOR ALL AGES, anyone can watch this and it's the PC parents who force their children to avoid this movie and their kids consequently learn zero morals LET YOUR CHILDREN WATCH THESE MOVIES, you won't regret it.
Fantastic cast, brilliant direction and an enthralling story - 9/10
If you can get past the corny dialogue this film actually isn't half bad (and certainly not as bad as recent action screw ups *couh transformers cough*)
Apparently the script was rushed to beat the writers strike and it kind of shows, there was serious need for a rewrite but its still has its moments and even a good thematic statement of Emotion vs Logic.
Acting is average, but considering the corny dialogue they pull it off semi realistically and the high concept allows for some leverage in the corniness of the whole thing.
It might also pay to mention the brilliant Cinematography on the filmmakers's part, there were some really interesting shots in the movie that took me back a few times.
My one dispute is backstory. In this movie, they have flashbacks of practically every character, but then they have the characters talk about it in dialogue and the audience is sitting there bored because we know already! Some more editing was definitely required and a lot could have been cut out but again, the whole corniness kind of works
A reasonable action/popcorn flick and so corny it kind of works (and it is still better than transformers 2) 5/10
R.I.P. John Hughes
After suffering a Heart attack the 59 year old ICONIC film director is now in the history books of the great directors. As the maker of the most influential films of the 80's (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, Pretty in Pink), we will mourn the loss and celebrate the work of John Hughes, may your spirit live on in your work.
New Trailer!!!- The Lovely Bones
The new video for Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings)'s new suburban 70's almost epic. My personal favourite novel of all time, this film is sure not to disappoint with a powerhouse cast (including OscarnominatedSaoirseRonan a newcomer who shall rock the industry, and Stanley Tucci of insurmountable critical acclaim) and unbelievable source material, this movie is a surefire Oscar Sweeper and destined to be in my (and other critics) top movies of 2009.
First Oscar Predictions
With the announcement of the 10(rather than 5) best picture nominations returning to the prestigious ceremony, I thought i should take a crack at the crystal ball.
1) The Lovely Bones - Dir: Peter Jackson, Cast: SaoirseRonan, mark Whalberg, Susan sarandon, Stanley Tucci (see above)
2) Shutter Island - Dir: Martin Scorsese, Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo (though not a personal fan of his work, it's Scorsese, a master of his art)
3) Avatar - Dir: James Cameron, Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver (An odd choice i know but there is no question that James Cameron of Titanic fame has the abillity to revolutionise 3D with this, I only hope it does not dissapoint, however the thematics of his idea seem very solid indeed.)
4) UP - Dir: Peter Docter & Bob Peterson, Cast:Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai (I haven't seen this year as I am still waiting for an Aus release [so bloody far away from the American one :( ] the reviews from audiences and critics alike are nothing but praise, and despite it's early release it will still get best Animated if not in this category)
5) Where The Wild Things Are - Dir: Spike Jonze, Cast: Max Records, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker (this is one from the blue, but if Spike has anything to say about it this will be a sleeper hit with critics and audiences alike, and the trailer looks fantastic)
6) Nine - Dir: Rob Marshall, Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz (Musicals have always had their place at the Oscars, and being an adaptation of the Fellini masterpiece 8 1/2, and considering the success of Chicago, Rob Marshall may be on the money)
7) Invictus - Dir: Clint Eastwood, Cast: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon (come on, it's Clint Eastwood and Morgan freeman doing a biopic on Mandella, an easy shoe-in, that's not to say it won't be a masterpiece
8) The Hurt Locker - Dir: Kathryn Bigelow, Cast: Jeremy Renner, Guy Pierce, Rolph Fiennes (though it has an early release, there are non-stop rave reviews about this extremely different war movie and a very engaging plot if i do say so myself)
9) Precious - Dir: Lee Daniels, Cast: Gabby Sidibe, Mo'Nique (again, rave reviews and an intense dramatic plot put this one up here for now)
10) I am saving this spot for that independent movie that always seems to come out of nowhere 3 months before the Oscars as we saw with Juno and Slumdog Millionaire and Little Miss Sunshine, they almost always get at least a few nominations.
Well, i won tickets to a pre-screening and boy was i impressed with how they handled this latest in the Potter series of movies. Being a Potter fanatic myself (having followed the stories for 10 years now) my view was not hampered by ever comparing it to the book. However, they did a brilliant adaptation.
The story pretty much follows through with the book and moves at a good pace throughout. In the beginning though, they were taking lines straight from the book and this began to worry me as they do not translate directly to film, however, when the trio arrive back at Hogwarts for their 6th year this straight-from-the-book nonsense was fixed and i quite enjoyed myself for the whole movie.
To counteract the immensely dark overtones of the book, the filmmakers coupled the main story with the romantic sub-plots, however these do not overshadow the main plot and the balance is almost perfect enough to keep the story flowing.
My only single discrepancy with the movie lies in how they dealt with the character of Ron. In the book Ron's character goes from being an oblivious dunderhead to a reasonable person with the advent of a certain incident of which we will not speak :P however in the book, Ron's character felt like it was only used to aid the comic-relief plots within the movie and he never really gets involved with the rest of the story.
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!!!! (not that anyone doesn't already know it) Actually i did have one other discepancy, though this may only be due to my film making style). I did not like how the editing of Dumbledore's death went. When Snape goes to kill Dumbledore,there is no music and I would have thought that a lack of music would help bring out the emotion of the event, however as Dumbledore falls (of which there is only a brief shot) they pipe up the really long notes on strings in minor chords a cop out if you ask me!
All in all though I was really impressed with this movie and think it was well adapted, I can now add it to the very small list of decent movies of 2009
8 and a half/10 - Brilliant adaptation, but some minor character flaws.
Do not get me wrong here, I loved the action sequences in Michael Bay's follow up to his surprise hit of 2007. However, this film lacked the soul of the first one...let me explain.
The first movie had in it very realistic and funny dialogue moments ("Sam's happy time") which are missing from the new one. The characters also came across two dimensional, owing to the missing dialogue and a lack of a journey for them to take. And Isobel Lucas... an absolutely pointless character, i don't even know why she was in it (Megan Fox was enough eye candy :P) It seemed that this movie lacked that extra bit to make it as good as/ better than the first one.
The effects however were unbelievable, and props to the effects houses (who were robbed by the slaughtering of the golden compass for the effects Oscar in 2007). TRIVIA: for the 5 imax scenes it took 5 days of rendering for 1 frame!!!.
Other than the effects this movie kind of blows (the Proposal was better!) but i think it is due to: A; Script problems and story Problems and B; Michael Bay letting the success of Transformers 1 get to his head.
The year one was lame, it was advertised as a semi idiotic comedy, and it doesn't even meet that. All the funny jokes are in the 500 trailers you've already seen, the only exceptions being Michael Cera pissing over his face and Jack Black eating poo.
What a disappointment because i liked both these actors in previous films but man... I didn't even have one extremely funny moment that gets me laughing to tears (I saw a Scorsese impression in a transformers special feature that was better than this whole movie) there was only one funny moment near the beginning with the witch doctor that's all.
Her are some 1 sentence reviews of some movies Ive seen:
Angels & Demons: A very good solid thriller from Ron howard with good performances, another win for the goos movies amidst these really shitty "blockbusters" 7/10
I Love you, Man Some good funny moments but drags out waaaaay too long and could have been 90 minutes instead of 120. 5/10
Night at the museum 2 A good solid family move some good laughs and a good ensemble, a bit predictable though. 6/10
The new Star Trek, a breath of fresh air and finall a movie that dosen't suck, unlike all the movies so far in the line up of this year's blockbusters *cough*wolverine*cough*. This review will be rather short.
Having never been a fan of the original series/movies, I can say this movie was thoroughly enjoyable, the characters were believable and the jokes were even understandable for a non-trekkie like myself. Needless to say the visuals are outstanding, the effects are breathtaking and the cinematography is brilliant (utilising the shaky cam to good effect).
J.J. has pulled of a brilliant re-imagining and props to him for a clever way to justify a new plot (you know what I mean). A thoroughly enjoyable, action, popcorn flick, I give it 7/10.
Wow, there's bad film making then there's just a waste of celluloid.
Let's start with the dialogue. No subtext whatsoever it lacked originality and i found myself quoting before the actors even said their lines...so predictable. And what was with the digital shots. I cannot press enough how much I hate the digital picture look and the filmmakers kept inter cutting digital shots with film!!!!! And the effects, for some reason the makers decided to use so much budget on everything but wolverine's claws. They looked so fake and even moved around on his hand. Most of the acting was sloppy barr Ryan Reynolds and the Asian guy whom i cant remember at this point. The plot was dumb and I spent the first 3 quarters of the movie waiting for it to become interesting, it never did. And this is not even mentioning the plot hole between this and the other, far superior X-men films. 2/10 one point for Ryan Reynolds the other for the Asian guy and only their beginning scenes .
This is an ad my brother made for a Doritos commercial, could anyone who reads this blog pleas give it views as well as when it gets put on the site (ill let you know when that happens) please vote!
Wow I was suprised when I saw this film. From the trialers, I was expecting som good ol' teen comedy but I got quite a suprise when i found this movie to be highly entertaining.
The premise is simple, 2 jocks decide to go to cheer camp in order to hook up with the some 300 girls that go there. However, it is what the cast and crew have done with the premise that makes the story so entertaining.The two main leads (Nicholas D'Agosto & Eric Christian Olsen) work very well together and have brilliant back and forths which (I assume from the blooper reel) it seems were improvised. Actually the blooper reel indicated that alot of the funny lines were improvised.
The supporting cast also do a fantastic job without detracting the audience from the main story. One in particular is Juliette Goglia who plays Poppy, the sister of one of the leads. She pulls of a fantastic role of an over-mature girl in a world surrounded by 'morons' and she too pulls some hilarious lines, some of which appeared improvised.
All in all the movie is a nice turn of events from the current teen flick genre (see Twilight [read: rubbish] ). Fired Up! provides some very good laughs entertaining characters and a nice story.
What a rubbish movie, i used a free ticket and still feel like i was ripped off. the Fourth installment in the F&F franchise finally sees Paul Walker and Vin Diesel reunite since the first one in a plot that involves drug trafficking across the border in order to get revenge on the murder of a close one (to Vin's character, Paul kinda just tags along for cop issues).
The movie opens with an oil ("liquid gold" *rolleyes*) truck heist, which never comes up again in the whole film, what a wastes of the budget!The exposition was sloppy with dialogue giving it all away (Big no no). And on top of all of this it is not made for those who haven't seen the others, with references and plot points flying everywhere. The acting was mediocre at best and the cars didn't really feature all that much, it was more about Vin's character getting revenge which completely throws away a lot of the original concept.
Had it not been nighttime and my transport wanting to see the whole film, I would have walked out. 1/10
Just saw the trailers for My Sisters Keeper and the new Harry Potter trailer AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH
heres the My Sister's Keeper trailer:
What is with all the negative opinions surrounding this movie. I read the book and I believe that if adapted right, it could very well be an Oscar tender (especially for the acting of the two child leads). And there is talk that the ending has been changed which I don't believe, after the ending of The Mist (another Darabont masterpiece) we can see that nothing is really taboo as an ending (I won't ruin it here).
And here is the link to the Harry Potter trailer (I cant find it on youtube it's the 'trailer 4a' in the link).
Monsters vs Aliens is a prime example that the fable of the heroes journey ALWAYS works. MvA is a story of a woman who gets transformed into a massive (that's tall) 'monster' called Ginormica. She soon discovers that the government has a small group of monsters gathered over the years to keep from the public eye. But when an alien comes to earth for an invasion it is now up to Susan/Ginormica and the others to save the world.
The story follows the traditional heroes journey and it was exceptionally good. The movie also cleverly incorporates many pop-culture references into the mix from An Inconvenient Truth to Close encounters of the third kind. The humor is also very well placed and even is used as a 'pope in the pool' (a screenwriting technique to distract from exposition) to fantastic effect (the conference scene).
Now the 3D. It was my first viewing of the new 3D business however, all it does is really distract from the plot and i probably would have preferred to watch it normally (which i still might do). the 3D seems to be just a ploy to get larger audiences into theatres but what producers cannot see is that in times of economic crisis people flood to theatres and so this new technology isn't needed. But ah well, it was an experience.
Monsters vs aliens is a fantastic animated movie that very effectively homages those vs films that we so often make fun of. 8/10.
Last Night i had the great honour of watching the director's cut of Dark City. Dark city is one of the most brilliant science fiction movies ever made in my opinion. It is the story of a man apparently named John Murdoch who wakes up to a world he doesn't remember. This world is the Dark City where, at midnight every night, strange figures called the 'Strangers' use the power of Tuning to rearrange the city and its inhabitants as an experiment to search for something. The Strangers.
Have it be known that this movie was made before the Matrix. The theme revolves around that philosophy where we don't really know if what is around us is real or not and challenges our memories to their limit. The theme questions perceived realities and relationships and whether their existence contains any meaning or is it just someone else's experiment.
Visually, this film is extravagant. Taking motifs from Film Noir and German expressionism, Dark City makes for a brilliant genre mash-up. Film Noirinfluences are seen in the detective sub-plot with the over hanging lights, the fog and the cynical jokes. While the German expressionism comes in the shape of the Tuning, when the Strangers alter the city the buildings become deformed and out of shape, exposing the falseties of the world that these people believe is their home. and as a final touch, Dark city incorporates a MacGuffin: (an object that drives the story) the elusive Shell Beach that everyone knows but cant remember how to get there.
Not to mention the special effects, which for a 90's movie at some points puts current movies to shame. The tuning ability, the changing city and the ever night are some awesome sights to behold from this movie and i cannot press enough that more films that are special effects heavy need to be more like this: where the effects compliment the story and not the other way around. STORY comes first in any film.
I bought the movie for my brother as a Birthday present because he had seen it as part of a Uni assignment and wouldn't stop raving about it. And when he showed it to me i was simply blown away.Though not the greatest film I have ever seen, Dark City was fantastic and I give it 9/10.
I just found out there is another blog called twenty four frames per second!!!!!! i shall try to contact them and apologize but i hope we could maybe join forces or something to that effect.
Race to witch mountain..... stuff producers. The movie has a reasonable premise: a taxi driver suddenly gets thrust into a race against time to return 2 alien children with superpowers to their spaceship to stop an imminent invasion of earth whilst also outrunning the evil Feds and an alien Bounty Hunter.
We get some good performances from Annasophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig who play the children but the rest of the cast simply suck. it felt as if the Rock was only there for a contractual agreement with Disney and anyone could have played the female role of Dr. Alex. The story followed common conventions (characters making decisions under pressure etc) however the writer set up a subplot involving these Gang(?) members who were bullying the Rock's character and i fully expected the movie to end with him overcoming them and therefore completing his character's journey.... DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!!!
I know as a writer that those details of the subplot wouldn't have been put in there if they were an idiot so the writers (Matt Lopez and Mark Bombak) intended to finish that little story. However i am assuming that idiot Disney Producers/MPAA people assumed that gangs were not appropriate for the story and therefore cut it. This was possibly the worst mistake for the move and it RUINED it.
I am not going to really bore you with the details of the rest of the story because there are too many holes cut out for them to even matter. I give this movie a 4/10 and the points go to the kids (that's 2 each) they were the only thing that kept me from walking out.
So for my first post I will review the movie Inkheart.
Inkheart stars the well known Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany and Helen Mirren. But next to this star-studded cast is little known Eliza Bennett who, at some times, outshines her well paid co stars.
Inkheart is about a father who has the ability to bring things (people, money...weather) from books by reading aloud (they are called silvertongues). 12 years ago he read from a book called Inkheart and as a result the villains have come to our world with the intent of world domination, along with his daughter, one of the 40 thieves and a character from the Inkheart book, He must save the world from the clutches of the evil Capricorn played brilliantly by Andy Serkis.
All in all the film is executed very well with some very good cinematography and reasonably good performances and with a strong story to hold it up, the film does very well. My only issue i had within the film is that while Brendan Fraser has an American accent, his daughter has a British one (and since in the story the mother left when she was 3 this doesn't really work) however, aside from that i really enjoyed the film and was pleasantlysurprised that there were no 2 minute monologues to solve the problems at the end of the film.
Okay so i've never done this before, so we're just gonna take it slow.... so i think ill just introduce what this blog is gonna have and a bit about me.
Me: My name is Shane and I'm from Down Under though I have always believed I was born in the wrong country (American at heart) and i am a film student. My passion in life is film (writing/directing) and i wouldn't do anything else for all the money in the world. I like a vast many others have a bit of a dark childhood which i would probably preferr not to share (then i dont know why i bought i up...ah well).
My Blog: My plan for this blog is mainly me and movies i will review/rant/rave and explain all aspects of the film industry that i know about, including my ideas for films.
So there you go, not a really long post but it shall suffice.
Wow, what a movie. So rarely do I get speechless at the end of a film nowadays and UP did it for me.
The Strangers.
