Fans of the UK TV show should not need to read this review, they should just get straight to the cinema, because if you like the show you will like the movie which simply continues the story of these four friends post high school but before making those big life decisions like going to uni or working. It's lewd, crude and rude. For those who are not familiar with the show, here is a quick guide to whether you should see this movie:
1) Are you a boy aged over 13 and under 20? If yes, then you will definitely relate to this movie and it is a must-see to give you hope.
2) Are you a male of any age? If yes, then it is likely you can remember what it was like to be 17 and trying to get in with the chicks and you will find this movie funny.
3) Are you a female and able to turn off a natural tendency to be offended by sex obsessed teen boy speak? If yes then you should find this movie funny.
4) Are you able to handle male nudity? Strangely there is more male nudity in this movie than female nudity.
5) Are you a parent of a teenage or soon to be teenage girl? If yes, do NOT go and see this movie or you may never let your daughter date.
Plotwise there ain't much - our four heroes Jay, Simon, Will and Neil head to the Greek isle of Malia for a post high school holiday where the plan is to get drunk and score with the ladies. They quickly meet some out of their league lovelies and proceed with the plan, except for Simon who is obsessed with his ex Carly who is also in Malia (thanks to a not very surprising coincidence). Everything culminates at the big boat party on their last day.
There really isn't any analysis to do on this movie - either you will like it or hate it. Follow the guide above. I found it hilarious and highly entertaining throughout as you waited for the boys to do their next idiotic thing. Of which there are plenty. Ideal holiday viewing.
Friday 30 December 2011
Tuesday 27 December 2011
#31 Movie - Drive
From one mood piece (Melancholia) to another! Drive is a moody character study disguised as an action movie. And the main character that we get to study doesn't even have a name! He is simply known as Driver.
Driver is a Hollywood stunt driver by day who appears to live a quiet and possibly lonely existence in his small apartment. This is occasionally broken up by the odd getaway driver job organised by his agent (played well by Bryan Cranston of TV fame for Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle). When he meets an attractive young woman with a young son in his apartment building and begins to care about them both, he gets involved in some criminal goings-on when her husband returns home from jail. Owing protection money, Standard needs to do one last job to get off the hook and Driver offers to help. Nothing goes to plan from here on in.
So far so typical Hollywood action movie right? Wrong. Driver is buff (as played by Ryan Gosling fresh off his Crazy Stupid Love "airbrushed" look) but he is no action man in the style of Arnie, the Rock or Jason Statham. He is just a generally good hearted young guy with a talent for driving who happens to have a slightly "off" moral compass. Ryan Gosling apparently had a lot of input into his character and chose to play him as the strong, silent and complex type. Emphasis on complex. This is a guy who can literally explode from nothing to violence in the name of protecting someone he cares about. I found the strong violence quite confronting (as did those around me judging by the oohs we were all making) but thankfully infrequent, but the motivation behind it is even more confronting. How far should you go for those you love? Hmmmm, good question.
One of the best things about the film other than Gosling's amazing yet understated portrayal of Driver is the overall design and cinematography. The film has a slight 80s style bluish sheen without being set in any particular year. The driving scenes and car chase are excellent and the soundtrack contributes to the 80s feel being slightly electronic and robotic. I've had one song in particular in my head for over a week now. A perfect match for Driver then.
The supporting cast are all okay, with Ron Perlman (everyone's fave Son of Anarchy) and Albert Brooks as the LA gangsters that Driver gets caught up with, and Carey Mulligan as out of reach love interest Irene. However all of them really take a back seat (pardon the pun) to Driver as we follow his twisted quest for justice.
I really liked this movie but it is a bit of a downer I think.
I'm sorry to only review this one now, as it appears to no longer be in cinemas. I can only say that I saw it late in its run, but you should definitely catch up with this on DVD if you like the sound of it.
Driver is a Hollywood stunt driver by day who appears to live a quiet and possibly lonely existence in his small apartment. This is occasionally broken up by the odd getaway driver job organised by his agent (played well by Bryan Cranston of TV fame for Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle). When he meets an attractive young woman with a young son in his apartment building and begins to care about them both, he gets involved in some criminal goings-on when her husband returns home from jail. Owing protection money, Standard needs to do one last job to get off the hook and Driver offers to help. Nothing goes to plan from here on in.
So far so typical Hollywood action movie right? Wrong. Driver is buff (as played by Ryan Gosling fresh off his Crazy Stupid Love "airbrushed" look) but he is no action man in the style of Arnie, the Rock or Jason Statham. He is just a generally good hearted young guy with a talent for driving who happens to have a slightly "off" moral compass. Ryan Gosling apparently had a lot of input into his character and chose to play him as the strong, silent and complex type. Emphasis on complex. This is a guy who can literally explode from nothing to violence in the name of protecting someone he cares about. I found the strong violence quite confronting (as did those around me judging by the oohs we were all making) but thankfully infrequent, but the motivation behind it is even more confronting. How far should you go for those you love? Hmmmm, good question.
One of the best things about the film other than Gosling's amazing yet understated portrayal of Driver is the overall design and cinematography. The film has a slight 80s style bluish sheen without being set in any particular year. The driving scenes and car chase are excellent and the soundtrack contributes to the 80s feel being slightly electronic and robotic. I've had one song in particular in my head for over a week now. A perfect match for Driver then.
The supporting cast are all okay, with Ron Perlman (everyone's fave Son of Anarchy) and Albert Brooks as the LA gangsters that Driver gets caught up with, and Carey Mulligan as out of reach love interest Irene. However all of them really take a back seat (pardon the pun) to Driver as we follow his twisted quest for justice.
I really liked this movie but it is a bit of a downer I think.
I'm sorry to only review this one now, as it appears to no longer be in cinemas. I can only say that I saw it late in its run, but you should definitely catch up with this on DVD if you like the sound of it.
#30 Movie - Melancholia
I'm really not sure what to say about this movie. It's a movie about some really big concepts and ideas, but one where nothing really happens for most of the running time. Even though it was a little slow, I would definitely say it has been haunting me since I saw it. I was a first-time viewer of a Lars von Trier picture, while my friend L who accompanied me is a big fan of his movies.
The movie is split into two halves revolving around two sisters. The first part concentrates on Justine, played by Kirsten Dunst, on her wedding day to her charming hubby played by Alexander Skaarsgard (yep Eric Northman hisself). The wedding reception is held at her sister Claire's country B&B owned with her rich husband played by Kiefer Sutherland. Although Part 1 begins comedically as they arrive for their reception, as the evening unfolds Justine goes into a downward spiral as her depression and self-centredness can no longer be suppressed. L's description to me of Mr von Trier as the "master of awkward" certainly came true in the first part as Justine and her family stumble from awkward situation to disaster to debacle as the long evening wears on.
The character of Justine is very interesting, as most movies try to make the lead actress as likeable and sympathetic as possible. Justine is almost the opposite, with even members of her own family and her wedding planner not wanting to talk to her by the end of the night. It's an extraordinary performance from Kirsten Dunst, portraying her depression expertly but just giving enough charm that you can see why the wedding would have taken place. This is borne out by the relationship with her sister Claire, who often tells Justine how much she hates her for her selfish acts and words, but always forgives her and picks up the pieces. L thought that Kirsten's facial expressions were fantastic at showing the inner thoughts of Justine, as there is little dialogue in places. How sad for Kirsten that she has not been nominated for a Golden Globe award and is therefore pretty unlikely for a chance at an Oscar.
The link between the two parts of this movie is Justine's fascination with a bright star in the sky on her wedding night, which turns out to be a planet called Melancholia which is potentially on a collision course with Earth. The second part of the movie focuses on Claire, as she covers her anxiety over Melancholia's potential trajectory by busying herself with the B&B, caring for Justine who has slid further into depression and trying to balance out her husband's excitement over Melancholia. Claire is all happiness and sunshine compared to Justine, but this creates its own problems as her desire to cling to her perfect life makes her fret over the impending doom if the scientists have made a mistake and Melancholia doesn't pass by.
As Melancholia approaches Earth it is fascinating to contrast Justine, Claire and Claire's husband's reactions. And also afterwards to think about how you would react. One chooses not to face it, one faces it bravely and one faces it with denial. I won't say who is who. I won't say which one I could empathise with either.
The movie starts and ends with 2 incredible scenes which are worth the price of admission alone. The beginning is an amazing scene close to 10 minutes of slow motion art, which gives you a glimpse of what is to come and what is going through the mind of Justine. The end is also literally jaw dropping and a fantastic use of sound and music. Everything in between is beautifully shot and those familiar with Lars von Trier's "Dogme" films should know that this is so not one of those. It breaks almost every rule he set for Dogme 95 (check out their movie making Vow of Chastity here) in fairly spectacular fashion, particularly that they not create genre cinema. This is most definitely joining the cannon of science fiction movies I've enjoyed this year.
I'm not sure if I've made a point about this movie or not. I think it is just something you have to experience and if you do, I'm sure you'll be thinking about it for a long time afterwards like I did. It contains all round great performances from the cast, it is a beautiful piece of art and it makes you think about life and how you participate in it. But be warned it can be slow and painful at times - it's definitely a mood piece.
The movie is split into two halves revolving around two sisters. The first part concentrates on Justine, played by Kirsten Dunst, on her wedding day to her charming hubby played by Alexander Skaarsgard (yep Eric Northman hisself). The wedding reception is held at her sister Claire's country B&B owned with her rich husband played by Kiefer Sutherland. Although Part 1 begins comedically as they arrive for their reception, as the evening unfolds Justine goes into a downward spiral as her depression and self-centredness can no longer be suppressed. L's description to me of Mr von Trier as the "master of awkward" certainly came true in the first part as Justine and her family stumble from awkward situation to disaster to debacle as the long evening wears on.
The character of Justine is very interesting, as most movies try to make the lead actress as likeable and sympathetic as possible. Justine is almost the opposite, with even members of her own family and her wedding planner not wanting to talk to her by the end of the night. It's an extraordinary performance from Kirsten Dunst, portraying her depression expertly but just giving enough charm that you can see why the wedding would have taken place. This is borne out by the relationship with her sister Claire, who often tells Justine how much she hates her for her selfish acts and words, but always forgives her and picks up the pieces. L thought that Kirsten's facial expressions were fantastic at showing the inner thoughts of Justine, as there is little dialogue in places. How sad for Kirsten that she has not been nominated for a Golden Globe award and is therefore pretty unlikely for a chance at an Oscar.
The link between the two parts of this movie is Justine's fascination with a bright star in the sky on her wedding night, which turns out to be a planet called Melancholia which is potentially on a collision course with Earth. The second part of the movie focuses on Claire, as she covers her anxiety over Melancholia's potential trajectory by busying herself with the B&B, caring for Justine who has slid further into depression and trying to balance out her husband's excitement over Melancholia. Claire is all happiness and sunshine compared to Justine, but this creates its own problems as her desire to cling to her perfect life makes her fret over the impending doom if the scientists have made a mistake and Melancholia doesn't pass by.
As Melancholia approaches Earth it is fascinating to contrast Justine, Claire and Claire's husband's reactions. And also afterwards to think about how you would react. One chooses not to face it, one faces it bravely and one faces it with denial. I won't say who is who. I won't say which one I could empathise with either.
The movie starts and ends with 2 incredible scenes which are worth the price of admission alone. The beginning is an amazing scene close to 10 minutes of slow motion art, which gives you a glimpse of what is to come and what is going through the mind of Justine. The end is also literally jaw dropping and a fantastic use of sound and music. Everything in between is beautifully shot and those familiar with Lars von Trier's "Dogme" films should know that this is so not one of those. It breaks almost every rule he set for Dogme 95 (check out their movie making Vow of Chastity here) in fairly spectacular fashion, particularly that they not create genre cinema. This is most definitely joining the cannon of science fiction movies I've enjoyed this year.
I'm not sure if I've made a point about this movie or not. I think it is just something you have to experience and if you do, I'm sure you'll be thinking about it for a long time afterwards like I did. It contains all round great performances from the cast, it is a beautiful piece of art and it makes you think about life and how you participate in it. But be warned it can be slow and painful at times - it's definitely a mood piece.
Saturday 17 December 2011
Christmas at the flicks
Sorry to those looking for current movie releases, I haven't posted for several weeks. New releases have slowed down as the movie distributors look to hold back their films for the big Boxing Day crunch.
The big ones that have come out are Puss in Boots (normal and 3D versions) and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Both of these have good word of mouth coming through. My friend E said that Puss in Boots was the best film she'd seen this year. With one caveat: she doesn't go out to the movies much, most of the movies she watches are old classics from the 40s, 50s and 60s thanks to her husband's taste in movies. So it's the best of a small list, but that is still high praise. Mission Impossible is probably going to do what is expected: have good action, Tom Cruise and a few laughs (mainly from my main funnyman Simon Pegg). Both of these will also probably be long holiday juggernauts.
New Years Eve is available for those who want a light fluffy ensemble movie which will probably be exactly the same as the widely panned Valentine's Day a few years ago. If your brain has gone on holiday already, this might be a good option. Takings will no doubt get a boost on 31 December.
Dolphin Tale is a family film showing in normal and 3D versions and is based on the true story of a dolphin who has its injured fin replaced with a prosthetic. Early reviews are positive for those looking for something for the tweens. Morgan Freeman should add some gravitas for the parents.
Melancholia has also opened this week at Dendy Portside only so far. This is the new Lars von Trier starring Kirsten Dunst. It's very good, weird and not for everyone but is definitely a genuine alternative to summer blockbusters and kid flicks. My review is coming very soon - stay tuned.
Moonlight Cinema has also started for summer at various locations around Queensland (and probably other states). This week the New Farm park version has the first preview of the new Alvin & The Chipmunks movie for the kiddies tonight, tomorrow is Crazy, Stupid Love, Wednesday they have Drive and Thursday is the animated Arthur Christmas for the kids again. Chec out http://www.moonlight.com.au/ for full program and details. Rent a beanbag and kick back with a catering pack.
So that is what's out now but what about what is coming for your holidays? This week there is unlikely to be any new releases, maybe just "Contraband" which is a new action flick starring Mark Wahlberg and Giovanni Ribisi. The arthouse fans will also be excited for "The Skin I Live In" which is the new movie from Spanish direct Pedro Almodavar and starring Antonio Banderas as a surgeon creating an experimental material to replace human skin. Only trouble is he's practising on a beautiful young woman he keeps prisoner in his home. Psycho thriller games expected.
Boxing Day is going to be the big one this year with so many choices on offer I don't know how they will fit it all in, especially the non multiplex houses. The most anticipated film will definitely be The Adventures of Tintin which will have a whole generation of people my age heading to the cinema to see if Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg can recreate the magic of the novels. This will be one movie to see in 3D even if you don't normally like 3D - it is the absolute cutting edge of motion capture and 3D technology.
Families have some hard choices to make. Steven Spielberg has a big day with the release of his WW1 epic Warhorse, about a young man joining the army primarily to be reunited with his heroic horse. Happy Feet 2 will likely pull in a big family crowd to see more of those singin', dancin' penguins. There is also We Bought A Zoo, starring Matt Damon as a father who has lost his wife and decides to buy a zoo. The zoo comes complete with Scarlett Johansson playing dowdy (as if) as the head vet who may just heal his broken heart. If this sounds corny, just remember it is directed by Cameron Crowe who gave us Almost Famous so it should be sweet but solid.
Adults and arthouse fans will have the choice of Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close's pet project) about a woman in the 19th Century who disguises herself as a male butler to make a living. Not a comedy in the vein of Adam Sandler's recent cross-dressing turn, this is more of a dramatic tale of gender relations. Or they could choose The Iron Lady, in which Meryl Streep plays the former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Meryl is very likely to be nominated for an Oscar for this based on past form.
Finally for the comedy fans there is Tower Heist. Big ensemble comedy led by Ben Stiller as the manager who leads a group of disgruntled employees to steal back their money from crooked former boss Alan Alda. A little bit funny, a little bit of action. From the trailer, I'd say the best bit of this will be the return to form by Eddie Murphy as an ex-con running his mouth. No fat suits or PG comedy.
If I see any of these over the next few weeks I will try to put up reviews as soon as possible. Feel free to leave your own reviews by commenting below, or just tell me which movie you're most excited to see.
The big ones that have come out are Puss in Boots (normal and 3D versions) and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Both of these have good word of mouth coming through. My friend E said that Puss in Boots was the best film she'd seen this year. With one caveat: she doesn't go out to the movies much, most of the movies she watches are old classics from the 40s, 50s and 60s thanks to her husband's taste in movies. So it's the best of a small list, but that is still high praise. Mission Impossible is probably going to do what is expected: have good action, Tom Cruise and a few laughs (mainly from my main funnyman Simon Pegg). Both of these will also probably be long holiday juggernauts.
New Years Eve is available for those who want a light fluffy ensemble movie which will probably be exactly the same as the widely panned Valentine's Day a few years ago. If your brain has gone on holiday already, this might be a good option. Takings will no doubt get a boost on 31 December.
Dolphin Tale is a family film showing in normal and 3D versions and is based on the true story of a dolphin who has its injured fin replaced with a prosthetic. Early reviews are positive for those looking for something for the tweens. Morgan Freeman should add some gravitas for the parents.
Melancholia has also opened this week at Dendy Portside only so far. This is the new Lars von Trier starring Kirsten Dunst. It's very good, weird and not for everyone but is definitely a genuine alternative to summer blockbusters and kid flicks. My review is coming very soon - stay tuned.
Moonlight Cinema has also started for summer at various locations around Queensland (and probably other states). This week the New Farm park version has the first preview of the new Alvin & The Chipmunks movie for the kiddies tonight, tomorrow is Crazy, Stupid Love, Wednesday they have Drive and Thursday is the animated Arthur Christmas for the kids again. Chec out http://www.moonlight.com.au/ for full program and details. Rent a beanbag and kick back with a catering pack.
So that is what's out now but what about what is coming for your holidays? This week there is unlikely to be any new releases, maybe just "Contraband" which is a new action flick starring Mark Wahlberg and Giovanni Ribisi. The arthouse fans will also be excited for "The Skin I Live In" which is the new movie from Spanish direct Pedro Almodavar and starring Antonio Banderas as a surgeon creating an experimental material to replace human skin. Only trouble is he's practising on a beautiful young woman he keeps prisoner in his home. Psycho thriller games expected.
Boxing Day is going to be the big one this year with so many choices on offer I don't know how they will fit it all in, especially the non multiplex houses. The most anticipated film will definitely be The Adventures of Tintin which will have a whole generation of people my age heading to the cinema to see if Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg can recreate the magic of the novels. This will be one movie to see in 3D even if you don't normally like 3D - it is the absolute cutting edge of motion capture and 3D technology.
Families have some hard choices to make. Steven Spielberg has a big day with the release of his WW1 epic Warhorse, about a young man joining the army primarily to be reunited with his heroic horse. Happy Feet 2 will likely pull in a big family crowd to see more of those singin', dancin' penguins. There is also We Bought A Zoo, starring Matt Damon as a father who has lost his wife and decides to buy a zoo. The zoo comes complete with Scarlett Johansson playing dowdy (as if) as the head vet who may just heal his broken heart. If this sounds corny, just remember it is directed by Cameron Crowe who gave us Almost Famous so it should be sweet but solid.
Adults and arthouse fans will have the choice of Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close's pet project) about a woman in the 19th Century who disguises herself as a male butler to make a living. Not a comedy in the vein of Adam Sandler's recent cross-dressing turn, this is more of a dramatic tale of gender relations. Or they could choose The Iron Lady, in which Meryl Streep plays the former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Meryl is very likely to be nominated for an Oscar for this based on past form.
Finally for the comedy fans there is Tower Heist. Big ensemble comedy led by Ben Stiller as the manager who leads a group of disgruntled employees to steal back their money from crooked former boss Alan Alda. A little bit funny, a little bit of action. From the trailer, I'd say the best bit of this will be the return to form by Eddie Murphy as an ex-con running his mouth. No fat suits or PG comedy.
If I see any of these over the next few weeks I will try to put up reviews as soon as possible. Feel free to leave your own reviews by commenting below, or just tell me which movie you're most excited to see.
Saturday 10 December 2011
DVD Review - X-Men First Class
As my movie going has been slowed down by festive season tomfoolery, here is a DVD review for your pleasure.
X-Men First Class absolutely lives up to its title even though that's not what it meant. First class. This series really needed a top quality prequel, and it got it. During the X-Men trilogy you understood that Professor X and Magneto had been friends in their younger days before becoming arch enemies on the front of mutant vs human relations. However, what I, and I'm sure many others, have wondered is how did they go from being close friends to enemies? What could have gone so wrong when they should be on the same side? Well this film will very satisfactorily answer that question.
The first thing the producers did right was the choice of director. Matthew Vaughn has had a short but stellar directing career. On a percentage basis of how many of their movies I thought were excellent, I'd have to say Mr Vaugh gets 100% from me so far. Layer Cake (low key UK crim caper), Stardust (fairytale action with De Niro in a dress gets my vote), Kick Ass (no need to explain) and now X-Men. He handles this really well, giving it a fantastic 60s setting and smooth action scenes.
The second thing they did right was casting James McAvoy as Charles Xavier (future Professor X) and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lenssher (future Magneto). Both actors are very skilled and not distracting because they aren't big stars despite being in some pretty good movies before. They have great chemistry and McAvoy is particularly good as X, it's so fun to see him as a ladies man in his younger days.
The third thing they did right was not mess up the story. The discovery of mutants, the genesis of the establishment of a mutant force by the government to combat the Russian nuclear threat (which soon turns out to be the wrong enemy with a wild mutant Kevin Bacon running amok trying to dominate the world), and the training of the young mutants into their powers prove to be storylines that are both thought provoking and hugely entertaining.
The two young actors playing the future Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and The Beast (Nicholas Hoult) are especially good as well, bringing a bit of playful romance into the story. These insights into the younger versions of the characters you know so well are great and nothing that they do doesn't fit with the later movies. A few knowing winks to the future are thrown in as well.
The whole thing was just a very classy action movie, I found it captured my attention the whole team and was really fun. Definitely see this if you are a fan of the X-Men characters or movies (you don't have to have seen the previous trilogy at all but it might make it a little more enjoyable if you did).
X-Men First Class absolutely lives up to its title even though that's not what it meant. First class. This series really needed a top quality prequel, and it got it. During the X-Men trilogy you understood that Professor X and Magneto had been friends in their younger days before becoming arch enemies on the front of mutant vs human relations. However, what I, and I'm sure many others, have wondered is how did they go from being close friends to enemies? What could have gone so wrong when they should be on the same side? Well this film will very satisfactorily answer that question.
The first thing the producers did right was the choice of director. Matthew Vaughn has had a short but stellar directing career. On a percentage basis of how many of their movies I thought were excellent, I'd have to say Mr Vaugh gets 100% from me so far. Layer Cake (low key UK crim caper), Stardust (fairytale action with De Niro in a dress gets my vote), Kick Ass (no need to explain) and now X-Men. He handles this really well, giving it a fantastic 60s setting and smooth action scenes.
The second thing they did right was casting James McAvoy as Charles Xavier (future Professor X) and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lenssher (future Magneto). Both actors are very skilled and not distracting because they aren't big stars despite being in some pretty good movies before. They have great chemistry and McAvoy is particularly good as X, it's so fun to see him as a ladies man in his younger days.
The third thing they did right was not mess up the story. The discovery of mutants, the genesis of the establishment of a mutant force by the government to combat the Russian nuclear threat (which soon turns out to be the wrong enemy with a wild mutant Kevin Bacon running amok trying to dominate the world), and the training of the young mutants into their powers prove to be storylines that are both thought provoking and hugely entertaining.
The two young actors playing the future Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and The Beast (Nicholas Hoult) are especially good as well, bringing a bit of playful romance into the story. These insights into the younger versions of the characters you know so well are great and nothing that they do doesn't fit with the later movies. A few knowing winks to the future are thrown in as well.
The whole thing was just a very classy action movie, I found it captured my attention the whole team and was really fun. Definitely see this if you are a fan of the X-Men characters or movies (you don't have to have seen the previous trilogy at all but it might make it a little more enjoyable if you did).
Saturday 3 December 2011
This week's releases 1 December
Another mixed bag this week, led by what is sure to be a stinker "Jack and Jill". This is the new Adam Sandler movie in which he plays both Jack and, hilariously, his twin sister Jill! If you are an Adam Sandler fan (as we are I admit) or just thinking about going to see this movie, I have some advice for you: just watch the trailer. It just doesn't look funny. And then read some of the reviews, even by people who don't just love arthouse movies. You have been warned!
The good movie this week should be Attack the Block. A British comedy/action thriller about aliens who decide to invade Earth, landing in a lower class English suburb with a lot of housing commission buildings. A group of teen hoodlums defend their territory. This has a lot of pluses going for it: it's from the producers of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim, it was chosen to be the opening night film at the Brisbane Int'l Film Festival recently, the BIFF audience voting placed it in the Top 10 films of the whole festival, it has supporting acting by Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz etc) to help the unknown cast. I don't want to hype it up too much but this should be a great Xmas holidays movie for geeks and families.
Restless is another BIFF selection that starts at Palace Centro this week. One for the indie fans, this is about a guy whose hobby is crashing strangers' funerals and a girl who has a terminal illness. They meet at a funeral and a romance, against the odds, begins. Starring Aussie actress making good Mia Wasikowska (Alice from Tim Burton's recent Alice in Wonderland) this might be worth a look if you like movies where not much happens.
We Have a Pope is also showing at selected cinemas. Not a documentary, but an imagined take on issues within the Vatican from acclaimed Italian filmmaker Nani Moretti. A new pope has a bit of a mental meltdown over his sudden rise to one of the most prominent positions in the world. On the eve of the new pope being introduced to the world on the balcony of St Peters, the Vatican brings in an atheist psychiatrist to try to help him so that he can perform his duties. This sounds like it would explore some interesting ideas and give you a peek into a world we would never normally see (although not the real Vatican) but probably only for the believers.
The good movie this week should be Attack the Block. A British comedy/action thriller about aliens who decide to invade Earth, landing in a lower class English suburb with a lot of housing commission buildings. A group of teen hoodlums defend their territory. This has a lot of pluses going for it: it's from the producers of Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim, it was chosen to be the opening night film at the Brisbane Int'l Film Festival recently, the BIFF audience voting placed it in the Top 10 films of the whole festival, it has supporting acting by Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz etc) to help the unknown cast. I don't want to hype it up too much but this should be a great Xmas holidays movie for geeks and families.
Restless is another BIFF selection that starts at Palace Centro this week. One for the indie fans, this is about a guy whose hobby is crashing strangers' funerals and a girl who has a terminal illness. They meet at a funeral and a romance, against the odds, begins. Starring Aussie actress making good Mia Wasikowska (Alice from Tim Burton's recent Alice in Wonderland) this might be worth a look if you like movies where not much happens.
We Have a Pope is also showing at selected cinemas. Not a documentary, but an imagined take on issues within the Vatican from acclaimed Italian filmmaker Nani Moretti. A new pope has a bit of a mental meltdown over his sudden rise to one of the most prominent positions in the world. On the eve of the new pope being introduced to the world on the balcony of St Peters, the Vatican brings in an atheist psychiatrist to try to help him so that he can perform his duties. This sounds like it would explore some interesting ideas and give you a peek into a world we would never normally see (although not the real Vatican) but probably only for the believers.
Monday 28 November 2011
#29 Movie - Moneyball
What is the perfect movie for a quiet Saturday night? We chose Moneyball. It turned out to be a fine choice - calm, high quality, engaging and interesting. And not a lot of baseball.
Moneyball is based on a true story. The story of a former ball player, Billy Beane, who never quite lived up to his potential and ends up as the General Manager of a top level baseball team. Billy is struggling with the economics of the game - his team, the Oakland Athletics, has around $40 million to spend compared to the over $100 million of the big teams such as the New York Yankees. With so much less money, Billy can't attract the top-flight talent and the team hasn't been able to win a championship. With 3 of their best players recruited by other teams for the following season, the team loses the elimination series and misses out again. Setting up for the following year, Billy discovers an underling for the opposing team (played by Jonah Hill) who seems to have a lot of influence. He's not even a baseball player or expert, he's an economics graduate with a talent for statistical analysis and predictions. Billy and Peter team up to try a new method of putting together a team within their budget and we get to follow the results.
This movie really doesn't have a lot to do with baseball. It's about a number of things in my opinion. About a man trying to leave a legacy behind. About the struggle of trying to change a system from within. About how we value people. And having the courage to do what you believe is right. Sounds corny right? But somehow they manage to make it very un-corny. I think the credit for this can largely be placed at the feet of one Brad Pitt. He has matured, and it suits him. He plays this character perfectly and you really want him to achieve his goal. Jonah Hill provides great support by barely acting, just being there and not trying to be funny at all. And there's absolutely no gross-out.
Everything about this movie is quality. The acting is good (even with a lot of non-acting baseball people in the scouting and playing scenes), the script and dialogue better, the ending unexpected. There is quite a bit of humour laced in and it's smart stuff. Although there is a lot of statistics, it's not boring even though it was totally over my head. There are some great insights into the real game, I had no idea that there are so MANY games played in a season. No wonder these guys don't last very long!
Don't dismiss Moneyball as a sports film or a cliched sports film. It is so not a sports film in the traditional sense. It's a gentle drama with a touch of humour and a couple of sporting moments, which is about sticking it to the man and changing the game for good.
Moneyball is based on a true story. The story of a former ball player, Billy Beane, who never quite lived up to his potential and ends up as the General Manager of a top level baseball team. Billy is struggling with the economics of the game - his team, the Oakland Athletics, has around $40 million to spend compared to the over $100 million of the big teams such as the New York Yankees. With so much less money, Billy can't attract the top-flight talent and the team hasn't been able to win a championship. With 3 of their best players recruited by other teams for the following season, the team loses the elimination series and misses out again. Setting up for the following year, Billy discovers an underling for the opposing team (played by Jonah Hill) who seems to have a lot of influence. He's not even a baseball player or expert, he's an economics graduate with a talent for statistical analysis and predictions. Billy and Peter team up to try a new method of putting together a team within their budget and we get to follow the results.
This movie really doesn't have a lot to do with baseball. It's about a number of things in my opinion. About a man trying to leave a legacy behind. About the struggle of trying to change a system from within. About how we value people. And having the courage to do what you believe is right. Sounds corny right? But somehow they manage to make it very un-corny. I think the credit for this can largely be placed at the feet of one Brad Pitt. He has matured, and it suits him. He plays this character perfectly and you really want him to achieve his goal. Jonah Hill provides great support by barely acting, just being there and not trying to be funny at all. And there's absolutely no gross-out.
Everything about this movie is quality. The acting is good (even with a lot of non-acting baseball people in the scouting and playing scenes), the script and dialogue better, the ending unexpected. There is quite a bit of humour laced in and it's smart stuff. Although there is a lot of statistics, it's not boring even though it was totally over my head. There are some great insights into the real game, I had no idea that there are so MANY games played in a season. No wonder these guys don't last very long!
Don't dismiss Moneyball as a sports film or a cliched sports film. It is so not a sports film in the traditional sense. It's a gentle drama with a touch of humour and a couple of sporting moments, which is about sticking it to the man and changing the game for good.
Thursday 24 November 2011
Everything Rolls On
The Hollywood machine rolls on indefinitely so this week we again have a large number of new movies. The Twilight movie took over $12,000,000 in its first week but (unsurprisingly to me who knew it would be the weakest link in the series) it is still below the 3rd movie's opening figures. It seems you all took my lead and went to see something else!
This week you have choices of the new George Clooney/Ryan Gosling political thriller "The Ides of March" which explores the machinations of the party behind a politician campaigning to be the presidential candidate. If that's too much beefcake and thinking for you, how about "The Inbetweeners Movie" which follows four average, spotty teens as they leave high school and go on a party trip to a Greek island. If you know the TV show, which is one of the funniest shows around at the moment, then I'm sure you'll already be planning to see the movie extension.
Prefer a sword and sandals epic mixed with Greek mythology? Go for "Immortals" which is showing in 3D, from the producers of "300". Zeus and Theseus both appeared in Clash of the Titans a year back but who cares if you want to see a bit of bloody sword battle and sweaty men yelling at each other? Micky Rourke as King Hyperion? Weird...
For the arthouse lovers there is "Ages of Love" which appears to be an Italian ensemble rom-com starring Robert de Niro and Monica Belluci. Palace are promoting this as a big hit at the Italian Film Festival a few months back. Also "Bill Cunningham New York" which is a documentary on the guy who fills his New York Times pages with photographs of people's fashion on the streets of New York. He still rides a bike around taking snaps at the age of about 80 years old!
For all our Dads, they might like the movie "Codgers" which is showing only at the Regal Twin at Graceville. It's an Aussie film based on the stage play about five old Aussie codgers who meet at the gym each week for a chinwag and good laugh. Here's a link to the website:
http://www.codgersthemovie.com/
Another Aussie movie only showing at the Schonell Theatre at UQ is "X". This played at the BIFF and is based around a prostitute in Sydney who is retiring and has only one night left on the job. She meets a young girl who is hoping to get through her first night on the job. However it is one hell of a night after they accidentally witness a murder and go on the run.
There really is something for everyone right there! Hopefully I will have some new reviews for you shortly, life has just been a little bit crazy of late.
This week you have choices of the new George Clooney/Ryan Gosling political thriller "The Ides of March" which explores the machinations of the party behind a politician campaigning to be the presidential candidate. If that's too much beefcake and thinking for you, how about "The Inbetweeners Movie" which follows four average, spotty teens as they leave high school and go on a party trip to a Greek island. If you know the TV show, which is one of the funniest shows around at the moment, then I'm sure you'll already be planning to see the movie extension.
Prefer a sword and sandals epic mixed with Greek mythology? Go for "Immortals" which is showing in 3D, from the producers of "300". Zeus and Theseus both appeared in Clash of the Titans a year back but who cares if you want to see a bit of bloody sword battle and sweaty men yelling at each other? Micky Rourke as King Hyperion? Weird...
For the arthouse lovers there is "Ages of Love" which appears to be an Italian ensemble rom-com starring Robert de Niro and Monica Belluci. Palace are promoting this as a big hit at the Italian Film Festival a few months back. Also "Bill Cunningham New York" which is a documentary on the guy who fills his New York Times pages with photographs of people's fashion on the streets of New York. He still rides a bike around taking snaps at the age of about 80 years old!
For all our Dads, they might like the movie "Codgers" which is showing only at the Regal Twin at Graceville. It's an Aussie film based on the stage play about five old Aussie codgers who meet at the gym each week for a chinwag and good laugh. Here's a link to the website:
http://www.codgersthemovie.com/
Another Aussie movie only showing at the Schonell Theatre at UQ is "X". This played at the BIFF and is based around a prostitute in Sydney who is retiring and has only one night left on the job. She meets a young girl who is hoping to get through her first night on the job. However it is one hell of a night after they accidentally witness a murder and go on the run.
There really is something for everyone right there! Hopefully I will have some new reviews for you shortly, life has just been a little bit crazy of late.
Thursday 17 November 2011
New movies - Alternatives to Twilight
Well my prediction from last week that Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 would rampage across all the screens and kick out most movies did not quite come true, but it is certainly dominating. However, there are a number of alternatives with Moneyball, Contagion, I Don't Know How She Does It, The Debt, In Time, Drive and Paranormal Activity 3 still have a lot of sessions. New movie choices include We Need to Talk about Kevin (family drama starring Tilda Swinton as a mother whose relationship with her son has broken down) and The Burning Man (Aussie production about a British chef living and working in Sydney and his troubled past and relationships with various women).
Lots of docos out this week too. The Tall Man is a documentary on the Cameron Doomadgee death in custody case from Palm Island a few years ago. Tabloid is showing at Dendy exclusively, which is a documentary about a fomer Miss Wyoming who became obsessed with a Mormon missionary and was charged with abduction and imprisonment. She was apparently a very weird individual. I'm not doing it justice I'm sure, maybe research it a bit if you might be interested - the director Errol Morris is well known for entertaining documentaries apparently. This is Not a Film is an Iranian documentary about a filmmaker banned by his Government from making movies because of his criticism of the state, this doco follows his time imprisoned in his own home (this movie's footage was smuggled out of Iran in a cake so it could be released!). This is showing at Dendy too but it may just be previews, there might be more sessions next week. Would be quite fascinating. There is also The First Grader, which I'm unsure if it is actually a documentary or a drama based on a true story, of an 84 year old Kenyan man who decides to go to school to learn to read and write. What makes this worthy of a film is the fact that he used to be a freedom fighter and went through the Mau Mau uprising, and this causes controversy when the media and public learn he is mixing with primar school children.
And finally, Submarine is back on our screens at the Schonell Theatre at UQ. I might get to see it this time!
So there are plenty of choices if you know what else is out there, you don't have to sit through Bella marrying Edward, going on honeymoon, having apparently M rated sex, getting pregnant and sulking through the difficult pregnancy. There you go, I've summarised the whole movie for you right there. All the action happens in the second half of the book, which some bozo decided would be a second movie rather than just filming the book as one movie. Actually I probably should be thanking them, as now I get to skip the boring bits and just go see the second film for the more interesting ending.
Lots of docos out this week too. The Tall Man is a documentary on the Cameron Doomadgee death in custody case from Palm Island a few years ago. Tabloid is showing at Dendy exclusively, which is a documentary about a fomer Miss Wyoming who became obsessed with a Mormon missionary and was charged with abduction and imprisonment. She was apparently a very weird individual. I'm not doing it justice I'm sure, maybe research it a bit if you might be interested - the director Errol Morris is well known for entertaining documentaries apparently. This is Not a Film is an Iranian documentary about a filmmaker banned by his Government from making movies because of his criticism of the state, this doco follows his time imprisoned in his own home (this movie's footage was smuggled out of Iran in a cake so it could be released!). This is showing at Dendy too but it may just be previews, there might be more sessions next week. Would be quite fascinating. There is also The First Grader, which I'm unsure if it is actually a documentary or a drama based on a true story, of an 84 year old Kenyan man who decides to go to school to learn to read and write. What makes this worthy of a film is the fact that he used to be a freedom fighter and went through the Mau Mau uprising, and this causes controversy when the media and public learn he is mixing with primar school children.
And finally, Submarine is back on our screens at the Schonell Theatre at UQ. I might get to see it this time!
So there are plenty of choices if you know what else is out there, you don't have to sit through Bella marrying Edward, going on honeymoon, having apparently M rated sex, getting pregnant and sulking through the difficult pregnancy. There you go, I've summarised the whole movie for you right there. All the action happens in the second half of the book, which some bozo decided would be a second movie rather than just filming the book as one movie. Actually I probably should be thanking them, as now I get to skip the boring bits and just go see the second film for the more interesting ending.
Monday 14 November 2011
BIFF Wrap Up - 17 movies in 10 days!
It's now Monday and my BIFF adventure is over for another year. I closed out the 10 days with two movies yesterday, both of which continued the strong quality for this year.
Movie #16 was "Policeman" which was an Israeli film that the guide said was going to explore the tensions in Israel between the elite anti-terrorism cops and the wealthy young rebels committing terrorist acts within their own state. However I didn't really feel that it did explore those tensions very well - the movie was essentially two halves, the first following the police but not really getting into why they do what they do, and the second following the young Jewish terrorists which at least did cover their motivations. When the two come together, the expected happens. I think it could have been a lot more political but what was on screen was still very interesting and compelling. The struggles that these terrorists were fighting against are obviously no different from events going on in many parts of the world - very similar to the "Occupy..." protests, which makes it easier to sympathise, but still their actions are criminal and they leave the police very little option.
Movie #17 to cap off this big week was the crazy "Trollhunter" from Norway. This was a parody of those movies featuring handheld, self-filmed first person experience of monsters or scary events. Such as Cloverfield or Blair Witch. I can't really explain very well how it was a parody, but it was very funny and it did have a knowing gleam in its eye the whole time. A group of college kids filming a doco on bear hunters find a more interesting subject in a mysterious individual who disappears into the forest at night and sleeps all day, with a truck covered in bear claw marks. When they start following him, they accidentally become embroiled in troll hunting. In this movie, trolls are very real and very scary creatures which the Norwegian government is trying to hide the existence of from the citizens. Hans is the government's main weapon in this fight, going out at night to neutralize trolls who have stepped out of their normal territory. This movie was just out and out fun and cool, with the troll mythology being something fresh in a world oversaturated by vampires, werewolves and zombies. If this comes out, definitely check it out!
So at the end of 10 days and 19 movies (I saw 2 others outside the film festival) I can honestly say I don't have square eyes and I never got sick of it. The quality this year was very high and there were so many others I could have seen without budget constraints and if I could clone myself to be in two places at once. I didn't see anything that I didn't like this year, everything was either good, great or awesome! My top 3 movies would have been Comic-Con, Medianeras and Manborg. One of the things I also enjoyed was spotting the same people over and over again in the audience, so that I knew I'm not so crazy, there are others who take a week off to sit in a darkened cinema and be surprised over and over. See you next year film buffs!
Movie #16 was "Policeman" which was an Israeli film that the guide said was going to explore the tensions in Israel between the elite anti-terrorism cops and the wealthy young rebels committing terrorist acts within their own state. However I didn't really feel that it did explore those tensions very well - the movie was essentially two halves, the first following the police but not really getting into why they do what they do, and the second following the young Jewish terrorists which at least did cover their motivations. When the two come together, the expected happens. I think it could have been a lot more political but what was on screen was still very interesting and compelling. The struggles that these terrorists were fighting against are obviously no different from events going on in many parts of the world - very similar to the "Occupy..." protests, which makes it easier to sympathise, but still their actions are criminal and they leave the police very little option.
Movie #17 to cap off this big week was the crazy "Trollhunter" from Norway. This was a parody of those movies featuring handheld, self-filmed first person experience of monsters or scary events. Such as Cloverfield or Blair Witch. I can't really explain very well how it was a parody, but it was very funny and it did have a knowing gleam in its eye the whole time. A group of college kids filming a doco on bear hunters find a more interesting subject in a mysterious individual who disappears into the forest at night and sleeps all day, with a truck covered in bear claw marks. When they start following him, they accidentally become embroiled in troll hunting. In this movie, trolls are very real and very scary creatures which the Norwegian government is trying to hide the existence of from the citizens. Hans is the government's main weapon in this fight, going out at night to neutralize trolls who have stepped out of their normal territory. This movie was just out and out fun and cool, with the troll mythology being something fresh in a world oversaturated by vampires, werewolves and zombies. If this comes out, definitely check it out!
So at the end of 10 days and 19 movies (I saw 2 others outside the film festival) I can honestly say I don't have square eyes and I never got sick of it. The quality this year was very high and there were so many others I could have seen without budget constraints and if I could clone myself to be in two places at once. I didn't see anything that I didn't like this year, everything was either good, great or awesome! My top 3 movies would have been Comic-Con, Medianeras and Manborg. One of the things I also enjoyed was spotting the same people over and over again in the audience, so that I knew I'm not so crazy, there are others who take a week off to sit in a darkened cinema and be surprised over and over. See you next year film buffs!
Sunday 13 November 2011
BIFF Update #6
Woah, been so busy the days of my holiday have flown by and I've missed updating for a few days. I saw two movies on Friday. "Medianeras" was a rather excellent rom-com from Argentina, with two quirky but relateable leads who you knew would be perfect for each other if they could just get out of their apartments and meet each other somehow. A fantastic commentary on modern society where we could just live on the internet if we choose to, but still we do need human interaction. I loved this movie's structure, characters, script and scenery (I did get a lot of looks at Buenos Aires in this one) and I reckon it is ripe for a Hollywood remake. The lead actress had a touch of Anne Hathaway and I could just see her in the role in any remake, then I'd put Jesse Eisenberg in as the male lead as a nice spin from playing Mark Zuckerburg (being the prisoner of an online society rather than the creator of the internet prison in The Social Network). Loved this one.
Second movie was "Cairo 678" which was a fictional account of women's issues in modern Egyptian society. Although fictional you could tell it was based on very real issues even if the exact events were not true. It was a real eye-opener too. Although the city of Cairo appeared fairly modernised, and people are allowed to get divorced, it seems that women were still second-class citizens when it came to a culture of sexual harrassment. The movie seemed to indicate that men harrassing women (either verbally, by pressing against them on buses, grabbing them on the street and assault) was a very common thing, but also more disturbingly that it was never reported because it was shameful to the woman and her family. The scandal to her family would be so deep that nobody ever had the courage to press charges. So is it common because the men are just pigs or because they know they can get away with it? This movie dealt with a trio of women trying to confront what happens in different ways and how societal change can occur. It ended up with the first court case against a man for sexual harrassment which was successful, resulting in Egypt soon passing laws to criminalise sexual assault. I don't know what year this was set in but if it was pretty recent, it is pretty disturbing to think this was happening until only recently. I thought the movie was a bit controversial because towards the end, one of the females who has taken action against the harrassers speaks against the other women coming forward, saying that their immodest dress, Westernised hair and makeup etc was encouraging the men in their actions and that they should take some responsibility. I found this to be a pretty shocking point of view (the old "they asked for it" argument that still gets trotted out from time to time) but at least it was condemned on screen as the type of old fashioned thinking that was contributing to what was happening to the women. But then the same character that condemned it cut her hair and started wearing wraps over her clothes! Dammit! Well I guess it was just a movie and at least there was some progress made by the end.
Saturday and a prior engagement meant I had to skip the Tribal Trivia Night and Horror Movie Marathon. Would love to hear how that was and if people stayed awake - the two later movies during the wee hours were not the fastest paced movies I've ever seen, although still pretty good. But I did make it to the movie "Another Earth" which was a US film and could see a small release here so I won't give too much away. I enjoyed this a lot and could liken it a bit to the movie "Moon" in that it used a very low-tech sci-fi setting but was primarily a character drama. A young girl hoping to become an astrophysicist is about to go to uni when she decides to drive home drunk from a party. Listening to the radio she hears about the exciting discovery of a new planet which is similar to Earth and could sustain life. Gazing out the window to see the new planet, she loses focus on the road and hits a car, resulting in the man going into a coma and the pregnant wife and young son being killed. After 4 years in prison, the girl is released and tries to begin a normal life but she is intrigued by the discovery that Earth 2 is populated by people who are the mirror image of ourselves, entering a competition to go on a spaceship bound for Earth 2. She also goes to apologise to the man whose life she destroyed, but she loses her nerve and ends up becoming friends with him (without him knowing who she is). What happens from here I won't say but it is a beautifully shot story of redemption mixed in with a bit of philosophical stuff about whether there are other "us"s and what we would say to ourselves if we met our other?
Two more movies today to wrap up this year's BIFF for me. Israel's "Policeman" and Norway's "Trollhunter". Trollhunter (3pm) in particular has a bit of hype as it is a bit of a parody of the "first person hand-held camera monster movies" such as Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project. I think this is going to get a release in Australia so I will review it afterwards.
Second movie was "Cairo 678" which was a fictional account of women's issues in modern Egyptian society. Although fictional you could tell it was based on very real issues even if the exact events were not true. It was a real eye-opener too. Although the city of Cairo appeared fairly modernised, and people are allowed to get divorced, it seems that women were still second-class citizens when it came to a culture of sexual harrassment. The movie seemed to indicate that men harrassing women (either verbally, by pressing against them on buses, grabbing them on the street and assault) was a very common thing, but also more disturbingly that it was never reported because it was shameful to the woman and her family. The scandal to her family would be so deep that nobody ever had the courage to press charges. So is it common because the men are just pigs or because they know they can get away with it? This movie dealt with a trio of women trying to confront what happens in different ways and how societal change can occur. It ended up with the first court case against a man for sexual harrassment which was successful, resulting in Egypt soon passing laws to criminalise sexual assault. I don't know what year this was set in but if it was pretty recent, it is pretty disturbing to think this was happening until only recently. I thought the movie was a bit controversial because towards the end, one of the females who has taken action against the harrassers speaks against the other women coming forward, saying that their immodest dress, Westernised hair and makeup etc was encouraging the men in their actions and that they should take some responsibility. I found this to be a pretty shocking point of view (the old "they asked for it" argument that still gets trotted out from time to time) but at least it was condemned on screen as the type of old fashioned thinking that was contributing to what was happening to the women. But then the same character that condemned it cut her hair and started wearing wraps over her clothes! Dammit! Well I guess it was just a movie and at least there was some progress made by the end.
Saturday and a prior engagement meant I had to skip the Tribal Trivia Night and Horror Movie Marathon. Would love to hear how that was and if people stayed awake - the two later movies during the wee hours were not the fastest paced movies I've ever seen, although still pretty good. But I did make it to the movie "Another Earth" which was a US film and could see a small release here so I won't give too much away. I enjoyed this a lot and could liken it a bit to the movie "Moon" in that it used a very low-tech sci-fi setting but was primarily a character drama. A young girl hoping to become an astrophysicist is about to go to uni when she decides to drive home drunk from a party. Listening to the radio she hears about the exciting discovery of a new planet which is similar to Earth and could sustain life. Gazing out the window to see the new planet, she loses focus on the road and hits a car, resulting in the man going into a coma and the pregnant wife and young son being killed. After 4 years in prison, the girl is released and tries to begin a normal life but she is intrigued by the discovery that Earth 2 is populated by people who are the mirror image of ourselves, entering a competition to go on a spaceship bound for Earth 2. She also goes to apologise to the man whose life she destroyed, but she loses her nerve and ends up becoming friends with him (without him knowing who she is). What happens from here I won't say but it is a beautifully shot story of redemption mixed in with a bit of philosophical stuff about whether there are other "us"s and what we would say to ourselves if we met our other?
Two more movies today to wrap up this year's BIFF for me. Israel's "Policeman" and Norway's "Trollhunter". Trollhunter (3pm) in particular has a bit of hype as it is a bit of a parody of the "first person hand-held camera monster movies" such as Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project. I think this is going to get a release in Australia so I will review it afterwards.
Friday 11 November 2011
BIFF Update # 5
Only 1 movie yesterday, a very light relaxing day all up. The movie was "Penumbra", a perplexing thriller with a last minute supernatural element. Being set in Buenos Aires, I was hoping to see some of this city but the action completely occurred within an apartment building and on the street outside. A young and fiesty Spanish lawyer is in town for business and is trying to rent out an apartment she and her sister have inherited from their parents. When the agent is running late, Margarita heads upstairs, only to find the agent waiting for her at the door. Or so she thinks.... From the get go, you realise that something is not right with the "agent" and the suspicious behaviour builds up slowly, creating a lot of tension because you only find out what is happening as Margarita does. I would describe this as a slow burn thriller, as you are constantly worried about what the strangers arriving at the apartment are going to do but you have no real clue about what's happening. Never boring (and I didn't feel sleepy once depite the almost 10:30pm start time - nothing ever runs on time with the BIFF{my only real complaint about the festival}) it had a strange power to draw you in, because really Margarita was quite an unpleasant individual and yet I still feared for what was coming. The ending left me pretty mystified and I hoped there would be an after credits explanation, but there wasn't. Chatting to a guy that walked out at the same time as me though revealed his theory which proved far more satisfactory than what I was thinking, so I came home feeling good that I knew what had happened. And relieved it was not a "boo" scary movie so I could feel comfortable walking to the car and letting myself in at home..... The events also took place during the day of a solar eclipse, which explains the name of the film which I googled today to discover its meaning is that part of the shadow where the light is partially blocked, but interestingly it also has a meaning in legal terminology of being a "grey area". The ending certainly was a grey area for me so it was well named! The funny thing about this movie was also the atrocious English subtitling and misspelling of words, hopefully it gets better treatment if it is ever released on DVD here.
Two more movies today - "Medianeras" what is hopefully going to be a gentle romantic comedy again set in Buenos Aires, and I think I might get to see a bit more of it this time. And then Cairo678 which will be an eye opener on Egyptian culture and women's struggle there to overcome sexual harrassment. Another interesting day ahead, possibly ending tonight with a repeat viewing of Bridesmaids on DVD which I think has been the funniest movie this year.
Two more movies today - "Medianeras" what is hopefully going to be a gentle romantic comedy again set in Buenos Aires, and I think I might get to see a bit more of it this time. And then Cairo678 which will be an eye opener on Egyptian culture and women's struggle there to overcome sexual harrassment. Another interesting day ahead, possibly ending tonight with a repeat viewing of Bridesmaids on DVD which I think has been the funniest movie this year.
Thursday 10 November 2011
What's New 10 November
OK guys, if there are any movies you've been meaning to see for a few weeks, you better get along in the next 6 days because next Thursday sees the release of Breaking Dawn, the next Twilight movie, and I expect this is going to monopolise screens and see the end of any smaller films still hanging around.
This week sees the release of several new movies. Moneyball is the new film starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, about a struggling baseball team who decide to try a completely different style of putting a team together. Based around a true story, the management team decide to "shock, horror" build a team based on actual performance statistics, rather than reputation, money and sponsorship. This looks like it could be an interesting sports movie that is not based on the old sports movie cliche of the big triumphant finale to redeem the washed up, former star athlete.
Fighting Fear is a new doco on surfing mates from Sydney who get in a bit of trouble until the redemptive power of the ocean puts them back on track. Early reports say it is a bit of a retread of the same territory, but no "Bra Boys".
The Debt is a new drama/thriller centred around a trio of Mossad agents (Israel's top spy agency) who are the toast of Israel for their Nazi-hunting exploits in Germany in the 1960s. The movie explores the current day, and flashes back to the past to cover the lead up to and execution of their crazy mission. High quality acting talent in this one - Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds as the present day versions and Sam Worthington (Aussie boys are doing well at the moment), Martins Csokas and Jessica Chastain as the younger versions. But were they truly heroes? You will have to see to find out.
Revheads will be pleased to see the movie "Fastest" which is a documentary covering the MotoGP season of 2010 and a bit of 2011. This is the latest from the guy who did "Faster" a few years ago and also "The Tornado, the Doctor and the Kentucky Kid" all covering similar ground of the elite motorcycling championship in the world. Even if you're not a follower of the MotoGP regularly, this movie will be interesting for the insight into the 2009 reigning champ Valentino Rossi's struggle against the new young superstars and the problems he's experienced in 2011 on switching to Ducati (which would only get worse as the season continued which is not covered here but could be a fascinating future topic). This movie is only showing at cinemas for 4 days starting today, so get in quick as there are limited sessions.
Santa's Apprentice is a new animated kids flick that is an Aussie/French co-production. A story of a young boy recruited to be the next Santa, this should have some fun in picking the Aussie actors voicing the characters. No 3D or slick Pixar styles, this is probably worth a look if you have young kids and are looking to hype them up early for Christmas. Strange release date!
Courageous is showing in selected suburban cinemas. I can't find out much about this, whether it's a documentary or a fictional movie but it centres around firefighters who have to reevaluate what's important after a family tragedy. Made by a US Christian production company this might be a bit sugary and might feature God a bit.
My guess would be that any movie that only has 1-3 showings per day in your movie listings is likely to go to make screens for Twilight, so this weekend may be your last chance to see those at the cinema. Have a fun weekend everyone!
This week sees the release of several new movies. Moneyball is the new film starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, about a struggling baseball team who decide to try a completely different style of putting a team together. Based around a true story, the management team decide to "shock, horror" build a team based on actual performance statistics, rather than reputation, money and sponsorship. This looks like it could be an interesting sports movie that is not based on the old sports movie cliche of the big triumphant finale to redeem the washed up, former star athlete.
Fighting Fear is a new doco on surfing mates from Sydney who get in a bit of trouble until the redemptive power of the ocean puts them back on track. Early reports say it is a bit of a retread of the same territory, but no "Bra Boys".
The Debt is a new drama/thriller centred around a trio of Mossad agents (Israel's top spy agency) who are the toast of Israel for their Nazi-hunting exploits in Germany in the 1960s. The movie explores the current day, and flashes back to the past to cover the lead up to and execution of their crazy mission. High quality acting talent in this one - Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds as the present day versions and Sam Worthington (Aussie boys are doing well at the moment), Martins Csokas and Jessica Chastain as the younger versions. But were they truly heroes? You will have to see to find out.
Revheads will be pleased to see the movie "Fastest" which is a documentary covering the MotoGP season of 2010 and a bit of 2011. This is the latest from the guy who did "Faster" a few years ago and also "The Tornado, the Doctor and the Kentucky Kid" all covering similar ground of the elite motorcycling championship in the world. Even if you're not a follower of the MotoGP regularly, this movie will be interesting for the insight into the 2009 reigning champ Valentino Rossi's struggle against the new young superstars and the problems he's experienced in 2011 on switching to Ducati (which would only get worse as the season continued which is not covered here but could be a fascinating future topic). This movie is only showing at cinemas for 4 days starting today, so get in quick as there are limited sessions.
Santa's Apprentice is a new animated kids flick that is an Aussie/French co-production. A story of a young boy recruited to be the next Santa, this should have some fun in picking the Aussie actors voicing the characters. No 3D or slick Pixar styles, this is probably worth a look if you have young kids and are looking to hype them up early for Christmas. Strange release date!
Courageous is showing in selected suburban cinemas. I can't find out much about this, whether it's a documentary or a fictional movie but it centres around firefighters who have to reevaluate what's important after a family tragedy. Made by a US Christian production company this might be a bit sugary and might feature God a bit.
My guess would be that any movie that only has 1-3 showings per day in your movie listings is likely to go to make screens for Twilight, so this weekend may be your last chance to see those at the cinema. Have a fun weekend everyone!
Wednesday 9 November 2011
BIFF Update #4
The last 2 days at BIFF have been a cinematic world tour. Started in Venzuela, then to France, then to China and then Spain. That would be quite a funky trip if it was real!
The Venezuelan entry, "The Zero Hour" was a kinetic crime drama about a thuggish hitman taking over a hospital and forcing the staff to help a pregnant woman who's been shot, when all the doctors in the country are on strike. Quite a few twists in the tale and a poignant message that it's never too late to change.
Onto France, where the movie "See How they Fall" was being screened as part of the Cannes' Critic's Week sidebar of BIFF. This was introduced by an actual French critic who selects the movies for the Critic's Week section. The interesting part of this was that the 5 or 6 critics responsible for selecting the movies to show, they watch about 900 movies in the 3-4 months before the festival!! If they all had to watch all the movies, that would be 10 a day!!! But I don't think they all watch them all, the guy who was there last night was responsible for Australian, New Zealand and Asia. So he probably watches about 5 movies a day for several months....
The movie was quite good, it was the debut feature by Jacques Audiard, who is well known for the movie "A Prophet" which was released last year to great critical acclaim. According to the film critic it is a new style for French filmmaking and I have to say it was a new spin on film noir from what I've seen. I thought it was a fairly straight take on a mystery/revenge thriller, but then towards the end I realised that the storytelling had been completely non-linear and then the ending threw up another curveball. Good acting all round kept this on track but it didn't totally blow my mind. Will have to rent A Prophet and see what the fuss is about.
Today I was accompanied by Ben to China for the Fantastic Fest entry "Revenge: A Love Story". It's good to have someone to discuss the movies with aftewards! The guide had said that this was a pretty violent movie and I came out and said to Ben "It wasn't really THAT violent" but he quickly disagreed and reminded me of a few things. We agreed it was fairly violent but it was more of an emotionally violent thing than graphic gory violence. I am a little concerned though that I've been desensitised to violence with all the crazy movies we watch...... will think about that a bit more.
The movie was another that cut up the storytelling so you didn't quite know where you were in the series of events. This made it more enjoyable than if they'd just showed the start of the events and then the guy getting revenge on all the people who'd wronged him. I really liked how it was told as it made me switch alliances from thinking "this guy's a total monster" to "this guy is justified" but then again the movie was trying to make a point about forgiveness being superior revenge. Which is probably right, but hard in some circumstances.
Last but not least was "Cronos", another selection from the Cannes Critic's Week. This was the debut for Guillermo del Toro as a director that I've been meaning to chase down for some time, as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth are two of my favourite films. He's been a bit quiet of late, focusing on producing, and had gone out of my mind a little bit, but he's rocketed back to #1 with this movie. It's a combo of Spanish and English language as he has done in some of his movies, and it has a lot of his trademark elements: mechanical bibs and bobs, brave little girls, little bit of humour, Ron Perlman.
A 16th century alchemist creates a device which can grant the user eternal life, which comes to light in modern times in a statue in the antiques shop of Jesus Gris, an older man who looks after his young granddaughter since her parents are not around (never explained). When a wealthy businessman searching for the device sends his nephew (Perlman) to purchase the statue, the three get tangled up in the quest. Jesus has accidentally used the device and his immortality comes with some unpleasant side effects.
The movie was fairly slow paced but quite intriguing and a great alternative on the typical vampire mythology. Spotting all the Guillermo elements was fun and he definitely had a good grip on his style from the very beginning.
So I have now seen 12 movies since Friday, of many different styles and origins, but I'm still not sick of it. There are now 5 to go for the rest of the week until Sunday and I don't see myself getting sick of it. Every one has been entertaining even if it hasn't been totally amazing. But I've seen some pretty amazing things too and fingers crossed there is more amazement ahead.
The Venezuelan entry, "The Zero Hour" was a kinetic crime drama about a thuggish hitman taking over a hospital and forcing the staff to help a pregnant woman who's been shot, when all the doctors in the country are on strike. Quite a few twists in the tale and a poignant message that it's never too late to change.
Onto France, where the movie "See How they Fall" was being screened as part of the Cannes' Critic's Week sidebar of BIFF. This was introduced by an actual French critic who selects the movies for the Critic's Week section. The interesting part of this was that the 5 or 6 critics responsible for selecting the movies to show, they watch about 900 movies in the 3-4 months before the festival!! If they all had to watch all the movies, that would be 10 a day!!! But I don't think they all watch them all, the guy who was there last night was responsible for Australian, New Zealand and Asia. So he probably watches about 5 movies a day for several months....
The movie was quite good, it was the debut feature by Jacques Audiard, who is well known for the movie "A Prophet" which was released last year to great critical acclaim. According to the film critic it is a new style for French filmmaking and I have to say it was a new spin on film noir from what I've seen. I thought it was a fairly straight take on a mystery/revenge thriller, but then towards the end I realised that the storytelling had been completely non-linear and then the ending threw up another curveball. Good acting all round kept this on track but it didn't totally blow my mind. Will have to rent A Prophet and see what the fuss is about.
Today I was accompanied by Ben to China for the Fantastic Fest entry "Revenge: A Love Story". It's good to have someone to discuss the movies with aftewards! The guide had said that this was a pretty violent movie and I came out and said to Ben "It wasn't really THAT violent" but he quickly disagreed and reminded me of a few things. We agreed it was fairly violent but it was more of an emotionally violent thing than graphic gory violence. I am a little concerned though that I've been desensitised to violence with all the crazy movies we watch...... will think about that a bit more.
The movie was another that cut up the storytelling so you didn't quite know where you were in the series of events. This made it more enjoyable than if they'd just showed the start of the events and then the guy getting revenge on all the people who'd wronged him. I really liked how it was told as it made me switch alliances from thinking "this guy's a total monster" to "this guy is justified" but then again the movie was trying to make a point about forgiveness being superior revenge. Which is probably right, but hard in some circumstances.
Last but not least was "Cronos", another selection from the Cannes Critic's Week. This was the debut for Guillermo del Toro as a director that I've been meaning to chase down for some time, as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth are two of my favourite films. He's been a bit quiet of late, focusing on producing, and had gone out of my mind a little bit, but he's rocketed back to #1 with this movie. It's a combo of Spanish and English language as he has done in some of his movies, and it has a lot of his trademark elements: mechanical bibs and bobs, brave little girls, little bit of humour, Ron Perlman.
A 16th century alchemist creates a device which can grant the user eternal life, which comes to light in modern times in a statue in the antiques shop of Jesus Gris, an older man who looks after his young granddaughter since her parents are not around (never explained). When a wealthy businessman searching for the device sends his nephew (Perlman) to purchase the statue, the three get tangled up in the quest. Jesus has accidentally used the device and his immortality comes with some unpleasant side effects.
The movie was fairly slow paced but quite intriguing and a great alternative on the typical vampire mythology. Spotting all the Guillermo elements was fun and he definitely had a good grip on his style from the very beginning.
So I have now seen 12 movies since Friday, of many different styles and origins, but I'm still not sick of it. There are now 5 to go for the rest of the week until Sunday and I don't see myself getting sick of it. Every one has been entertaining even if it hasn't been totally amazing. But I've seen some pretty amazing things too and fingers crossed there is more amazement ahead.
Monday 7 November 2011
#28 Movie - Midnight in Paris
Today was a day off from the film festival so I thought, what better way to spend the day than going to see a movie? Ha ha I'm probably going to regret that by next Sunday... It was my mum's day off so I thought we would go and see Midnight in Paris, the latest Woody Allen movie.
The best way to describe this movie would probably be either "delightful" or "best advertisement for Paris since Paris Je Taime was released". The entire movie is just beautifully shot and casts a soft, romantic light on the city of love. I really, really wanted to go there after seeing the first 3 minutes, and the rest of the movie did nothing to dissuade me.
Owen Wilson is the character that Woody would've played in his younger days. A writer whose original novel is suffering from a lack of inspiration while he spends time on his work as a hired Hollywood hack, pumping out scripts for blockbuster movies. His fiancee is beautiful and smart but from the get go you realise these two don't have much in common and you wonder why Gil continues with the relationship, but he seems incapable of seeing the reality of the situation. He just seems to be a bit lost. Tagging along with her parents on a trip to Paris, Gil is keen to avoid the stereotypical sightseeing (and the disapproving parents in law) and explore the nostalgia and find his muse. But Ines' agenda is very different and eventually Gil gets away on his own. This triggers a strange occurrence whereby Gil magically travels back in time to the 1920s at the stroke of midnight. Here he miraculously meets his literary and artistic heroes and finally begins to enjoy himself.
Warning - the below does contain a bit of a spoiler about the ending of this movie so don't read any further if you don't want to know. If you like gentle, mature comedies or are a Woody Allen fan, you should see this movie.
Once this gets going, the whole thing is just delightful. Working out who the icons are (and who they're played by!) is fun and the music, costumes and scenery just all blend into a magical whole. For me though the best part was the underlying message of the movie, which is something I've been musing on a little bit of late (see earlier posts on nostalgia). We all look back fondly on the past, and a lot of the time there can be a tendency to think that "things were better back then" or wish that you were still living a certain type of life. But if we actually did go back and live in that time or space, it probably wouldn't live up to the fantasy. The theory of this movie is that it is because life itself is unsatisfactory, so we would rather live in any other time where we feel more comfortable or satisfied. But if we can realise this, we really are better off in the present time and making the most of where we are now. I really agree with this, I liked it and I recommend it.
The best way to describe this movie would probably be either "delightful" or "best advertisement for Paris since Paris Je Taime was released". The entire movie is just beautifully shot and casts a soft, romantic light on the city of love. I really, really wanted to go there after seeing the first 3 minutes, and the rest of the movie did nothing to dissuade me.
Owen Wilson is the character that Woody would've played in his younger days. A writer whose original novel is suffering from a lack of inspiration while he spends time on his work as a hired Hollywood hack, pumping out scripts for blockbuster movies. His fiancee is beautiful and smart but from the get go you realise these two don't have much in common and you wonder why Gil continues with the relationship, but he seems incapable of seeing the reality of the situation. He just seems to be a bit lost. Tagging along with her parents on a trip to Paris, Gil is keen to avoid the stereotypical sightseeing (and the disapproving parents in law) and explore the nostalgia and find his muse. But Ines' agenda is very different and eventually Gil gets away on his own. This triggers a strange occurrence whereby Gil magically travels back in time to the 1920s at the stroke of midnight. Here he miraculously meets his literary and artistic heroes and finally begins to enjoy himself.
Warning - the below does contain a bit of a spoiler about the ending of this movie so don't read any further if you don't want to know. If you like gentle, mature comedies or are a Woody Allen fan, you should see this movie.
Once this gets going, the whole thing is just delightful. Working out who the icons are (and who they're played by!) is fun and the music, costumes and scenery just all blend into a magical whole. For me though the best part was the underlying message of the movie, which is something I've been musing on a little bit of late (see earlier posts on nostalgia). We all look back fondly on the past, and a lot of the time there can be a tendency to think that "things were better back then" or wish that you were still living a certain type of life. But if we actually did go back and live in that time or space, it probably wouldn't live up to the fantasy. The theory of this movie is that it is because life itself is unsatisfactory, so we would rather live in any other time where we feel more comfortable or satisfied. But if we can realise this, we really are better off in the present time and making the most of where we are now. I really agree with this, I liked it and I recommend it.
BIFF Update #3 - Fantastic Fantastic Fest
Sunday: Day 3 of BIFF and I was going for movie no 6 & 7. Movie no 6 was the lengthily titled "Drive in Delirium Presents: Trailerpalooza and 50 Best Kills". And the greatest thing about this movie was that it actually felt like I was seeing heaps of movies. Trailerpalooza was an incredible 75 minutes of trailers for some of the weirdest, crappest or mondo bizarro cult movies of all time, sandwiched between a fabulous introduction from the drive-in (including instructions for the drive in and an ad for the snack bar) and an intermission complete with craptastic ad for Export Cola. The movies covered ranged from exploitation flicks to bad home-made sci-fi to giant creature movies to drug warning movies, but nothing past about 1983. It was surprising to see some big Hollywood stars of yesteryear slumming it in these low budget movies - I'm particularly keen to find Dean Martin and Ann Margret's super spy flick Murderer's Row (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060728/). Titles I'm keen to catch up on include The Jezabels, Trog, Slumber Party Massacre and Mega Force (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084316/). Titles I'm keen to never, ever see include Sadomania (the trailer for this was truly awful, sexist and ridiculous), The Big Cube, and Chastity (Cher as a dropout chick who according to the voiceover is "an experience").
Following this was 50 Best Kills. Put together by Lars Nilson, the guy behind Fantastic Fest in the US which has created a mini-program for this year's festival, it was basically 25 minutes of the best death scenes, or at least the ones that Lars isn't sick of yet after 100 Best Kills became an annual institution at his festival. This started off with the fantastic scene from Meet Joe Black (which we definitely watched more than once on slow mo when we saw this movie) and then went through what I counted as 41 different movies, containing what Lars counted as 55 different deaths. Most of these deaths were either weird or brutal or gross and it was a lot of fun revisiting some old faves and seeing some new ones. Lars was on the mic giving a running commentary on the movie titles and a few funny asides, so I don't know how this going to come across when they screen this again later in the week at the pop-up drive in at Hamilton, as this and the audience participation (cheers, laughs) really made the experience. He didn't include one of my favourites, the lawnmower death in Braindead, but hey, they didn't show a lot of really great ones and ultimately it's just personal taste. Lot of laughs in this for those with a twisted sense of humour.
I followed up the trashfest with Canadian supernatural thriller The Corridor, also from Fantastic Fest. This one followed a group of friends who head out to a deserted cabin in the woods after one of their number (Tyler) has recovered from a mental breakdown over the death of his mother. He also attacked said friends with a knife at the same time, so their consent to go to a remote cabin with the guy seems a little weird at first. But they are all trying to mend fences and get their lives back on track, so why not? It's not long before Tyler comes across something supernatural in the frozen woods near the cabin and a wild ride begins. I'll not say more because this one could make it over here, but it was quite chilling and definitely one of those "was that real or just in the mind" kind of movies. If anyone was there last night and has a theory, please come and post a comment (no spoilers if possible - maybe message me instead), as I'm keen to see what other people thought.
It certainly created a very effective chilling atmosphere, because I had to keep looking over my shoulder while walking by myself to the car afterwards as it was an especially cool, windy evening in the city. I don't know why I always do something to scare myself after seeing a scary movie (The Silent House followed by camping last year) but I had to drop into work afterwards and boy I never knew an office building could be so creepy and make so many strange noises late at night. Silly me! Unfortunately the next screening of this is as part of the horror/genre movie marathon next Saturday night at Tribal, showing at 4:30am, so most people probably won't see it, but if you can last all night (or get up really really early), it is worth seeing.
Thanks Fantastic Fest for a good weekend of movies. I still have their Penumbra (Thursday 10pm) and Revenge: A Love Story (Wed 4pm or Sat 12 4pm) to go so I'm really looking forward to those.
Following this was 50 Best Kills. Put together by Lars Nilson, the guy behind Fantastic Fest in the US which has created a mini-program for this year's festival, it was basically 25 minutes of the best death scenes, or at least the ones that Lars isn't sick of yet after 100 Best Kills became an annual institution at his festival. This started off with the fantastic scene from Meet Joe Black (which we definitely watched more than once on slow mo when we saw this movie) and then went through what I counted as 41 different movies, containing what Lars counted as 55 different deaths. Most of these deaths were either weird or brutal or gross and it was a lot of fun revisiting some old faves and seeing some new ones. Lars was on the mic giving a running commentary on the movie titles and a few funny asides, so I don't know how this going to come across when they screen this again later in the week at the pop-up drive in at Hamilton, as this and the audience participation (cheers, laughs) really made the experience. He didn't include one of my favourites, the lawnmower death in Braindead, but hey, they didn't show a lot of really great ones and ultimately it's just personal taste. Lot of laughs in this for those with a twisted sense of humour.
I followed up the trashfest with Canadian supernatural thriller The Corridor, also from Fantastic Fest. This one followed a group of friends who head out to a deserted cabin in the woods after one of their number (Tyler) has recovered from a mental breakdown over the death of his mother. He also attacked said friends with a knife at the same time, so their consent to go to a remote cabin with the guy seems a little weird at first. But they are all trying to mend fences and get their lives back on track, so why not? It's not long before Tyler comes across something supernatural in the frozen woods near the cabin and a wild ride begins. I'll not say more because this one could make it over here, but it was quite chilling and definitely one of those "was that real or just in the mind" kind of movies. If anyone was there last night and has a theory, please come and post a comment (no spoilers if possible - maybe message me instead), as I'm keen to see what other people thought.
It certainly created a very effective chilling atmosphere, because I had to keep looking over my shoulder while walking by myself to the car afterwards as it was an especially cool, windy evening in the city. I don't know why I always do something to scare myself after seeing a scary movie (The Silent House followed by camping last year) but I had to drop into work afterwards and boy I never knew an office building could be so creepy and make so many strange noises late at night. Silly me! Unfortunately the next screening of this is as part of the horror/genre movie marathon next Saturday night at Tribal, showing at 4:30am, so most people probably won't see it, but if you can last all night (or get up really really early), it is worth seeing.
Thanks Fantastic Fest for a good weekend of movies. I still have their Penumbra (Thursday 10pm) and Revenge: A Love Story (Wed 4pm or Sat 12 4pm) to go so I'm really looking forward to those.
Sunday 6 November 2011
BIFF Update #2 - Homemade Craziness
Day 2 began with a bang in "Let the Bullets Fly" even though I didn't see the expected martial arts. A very entertaining Chinese western set in the early 20s where a bandit, wannabe governor and gangster play a very dangerous game to find out who will rule over Goose Town. The speed at which the dialogue flew (subtitled) and the amount of double- and triple-crossing going on meant that I really had to concentrate on the subtitles to keep up with what was happening. And I must admit at times I was thinking "what just happened" while trying to keep with the next ploy. But it was quite funny and entertaining and Chow Yun Fat put in a great turn as a deliciously sly gangster warlord.
The evening brought two home-made treasures which really put a smile on my face. Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, for me, did not quite live up to the awesomeness of it's title. It was good and there were a lot of giggles but I'm just not sure what the point of it was - any larger meaning was lost on me. However, it was a great example of what a person with an idea and some craptastic special effects can do and for that I applaud them.
Manborg really puts the "home" in homemade. Imagine what would happen if you and a couple of your mates decided to make a movie about a half man-half cyborg in the future battling evil Nazi vampires to kill the leader who has literally brought hell to earth. Shot on video, the effects were a great mix of drawing some electric rays over the action, stopmotion and turning the sound effects up really loud. Think something more primitive than Tron crossed with 80s action/robot movies. It was really really funny and corny. I really loved this. It has another screening so go check it out.
The evening for me was a celebration of a little bit of ingenuity and big ideas, placed onto a much bigger stage than the creators probably ever dreamed would be possible. Sure, it was ridiculous and you could see the cracks, but boy I admire anyone who can make their own versions of what they see on the big screen, and make it funny, endearing entertainment. Kudos to you guys! And Fantastic Fest for giving them exposure and bringing it to Brisbane.
The evening brought two home-made treasures which really put a smile on my face. Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, for me, did not quite live up to the awesomeness of it's title. It was good and there were a lot of giggles but I'm just not sure what the point of it was - any larger meaning was lost on me. However, it was a great example of what a person with an idea and some craptastic special effects can do and for that I applaud them.
Manborg really puts the "home" in homemade. Imagine what would happen if you and a couple of your mates decided to make a movie about a half man-half cyborg in the future battling evil Nazi vampires to kill the leader who has literally brought hell to earth. Shot on video, the effects were a great mix of drawing some electric rays over the action, stopmotion and turning the sound effects up really loud. Think something more primitive than Tron crossed with 80s action/robot movies. It was really really funny and corny. I really loved this. It has another screening so go check it out.
The evening for me was a celebration of a little bit of ingenuity and big ideas, placed onto a much bigger stage than the creators probably ever dreamed would be possible. Sure, it was ridiculous and you could see the cracks, but boy I admire anyone who can make their own versions of what they see on the big screen, and make it funny, endearing entertainment. Kudos to you guys! And Fantastic Fest for giving them exposure and bringing it to Brisbane.
Saturday 5 November 2011
BIFF Update #1 - Geekiness/Craziness
Oh dear. The bar for this year's BIFF has been set very high following my first day of movies - how can the rest of the week top Friday, day 1?
If you have ever been a comic book fan or sci-fi TV show geek, I strongly suggest you check out the documentary "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" either at the next screening (Sunday 13 November 12pm) or if it ever comes out here at the cinema or on DVD. The latest doco by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) is a brilliant encapsulation of the different "tribes" who attend the annual geekfest in San Diego. It was wonderful to see the "talking heads" including such luminaries from my teenage comic reading years as Frank Miller, Todd McFarlane, Stan Lee and movie geeks like Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon and Eli Roth. This was intercut with footage following five different individuals over the 3 day festival - 2 amateur comic book artists trying to get their portfolios reviewed by their heroes and maybe a job, a girl who designs costumes based on video games who wants to appear in the annual masquerade parade, a comic book salesman lamenting the slow death of physical book reading, and a young geek couple where the guy wants to propose to his girlfriend at the Kevin Smith panel. Plus footage from the floor and snippets with other attendees. This movie was really really funny and sweet and it has definitely made me want to go out and buy more comic books!
We then followed up the geekiness with some utter craziness in the form of midnight movie Helldriver. The film's director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, was in attendance to introduce his movie, which he described as we were going to be on a rollercoaster. I wouldn't quite describe it that way as there wasn't much in the way of a storyline, it was more just all out crazy fight scenes with a few slow bits in between to let you catch your breath. The film is about a young girl whose mother and uncle are completely mad and torture and kill her father. After which time the mother is hit with a meteorite which tears a hole through her chest, which doesn't stop her as she rips the heart out of her daughter to place inside her chest, after which she is devoured by some kind of alien presence which shoots out an ash cloud that infects the citizens of Japan and turns them into zombies. A wall goes up to contain the infected and the battle betwee humans and zombies begins, with the daughter alive and looking for vengeance with her heart replaced by some kind of chainsaw engine with a wicked chainsaw sword. A massively bloody, all out wacky and funny adventure then explodes across the screen.
Nishimura is a writer, director and special effects makeup artist extraordinaire. He directed the totally crazy likes of Tokyo Gore Police (a favourite of ours from the festival a few years back) and was involved with the effects or co-directing for Machine Girl, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, Mutant Girls Squad. All of his movies feature strong, warrior like women, and buckets of blood and gore. There was a Q&A session with the director after the movie which we stayed for, and he was a very funny guy. My question was "The actors in your movies get sprayed with blood including in their mouths, is the blood made from something really delicious?". He seemed to like my question but the answer was it is just water and food colouring, as he likes maximum spray he doesn't like it too thick like in other movies that use a syrupy mixture. He said they went through 4 tonnes of blood on this movie (in a 2 week shooting schedule!) and we could definitely see how. He also said the actresses faces became stained by the mixture and that the whites of their eyeballs became redder as the movie shoot progressed from the food colouring. Crazy stuff! He also revealed that his next movie is going to be a kids movie - don't think I'll be taking my nephew to see that somehow.
This one doesn't have another screening at the festival, but is likely to be released on DVD and Bluray in Australia in the near future as there seems to be a bit of a market for these movies - all of the ones I've mentioned above are available in Australia I think. So keep an eye out for this if you like totally OTT nutty blood soaked Japanese horror.
Today I will have 3 movies - Chow Yun Fat doing his best martial arts/comedy thing in Let the Bullets Fly (which has a special offer today to buy tickets for $12.50 if you quote the promotional code "BIFF11" when buying your ticket online), Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, and Manborg. I'm on my own for these three, so if you have nothing better to do tonight - get along to these for a dose of craziness.
If you have ever been a comic book fan or sci-fi TV show geek, I strongly suggest you check out the documentary "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" either at the next screening (Sunday 13 November 12pm) or if it ever comes out here at the cinema or on DVD. The latest doco by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) is a brilliant encapsulation of the different "tribes" who attend the annual geekfest in San Diego. It was wonderful to see the "talking heads" including such luminaries from my teenage comic reading years as Frank Miller, Todd McFarlane, Stan Lee and movie geeks like Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon and Eli Roth. This was intercut with footage following five different individuals over the 3 day festival - 2 amateur comic book artists trying to get their portfolios reviewed by their heroes and maybe a job, a girl who designs costumes based on video games who wants to appear in the annual masquerade parade, a comic book salesman lamenting the slow death of physical book reading, and a young geek couple where the guy wants to propose to his girlfriend at the Kevin Smith panel. Plus footage from the floor and snippets with other attendees. This movie was really really funny and sweet and it has definitely made me want to go out and buy more comic books!
We then followed up the geekiness with some utter craziness in the form of midnight movie Helldriver. The film's director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, was in attendance to introduce his movie, which he described as we were going to be on a rollercoaster. I wouldn't quite describe it that way as there wasn't much in the way of a storyline, it was more just all out crazy fight scenes with a few slow bits in between to let you catch your breath. The film is about a young girl whose mother and uncle are completely mad and torture and kill her father. After which time the mother is hit with a meteorite which tears a hole through her chest, which doesn't stop her as she rips the heart out of her daughter to place inside her chest, after which she is devoured by some kind of alien presence which shoots out an ash cloud that infects the citizens of Japan and turns them into zombies. A wall goes up to contain the infected and the battle betwee humans and zombies begins, with the daughter alive and looking for vengeance with her heart replaced by some kind of chainsaw engine with a wicked chainsaw sword. A massively bloody, all out wacky and funny adventure then explodes across the screen.
Nishimura is a writer, director and special effects makeup artist extraordinaire. He directed the totally crazy likes of Tokyo Gore Police (a favourite of ours from the festival a few years back) and was involved with the effects or co-directing for Machine Girl, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, Mutant Girls Squad. All of his movies feature strong, warrior like women, and buckets of blood and gore. There was a Q&A session with the director after the movie which we stayed for, and he was a very funny guy. My question was "The actors in your movies get sprayed with blood including in their mouths, is the blood made from something really delicious?". He seemed to like my question but the answer was it is just water and food colouring, as he likes maximum spray he doesn't like it too thick like in other movies that use a syrupy mixture. He said they went through 4 tonnes of blood on this movie (in a 2 week shooting schedule!) and we could definitely see how. He also said the actresses faces became stained by the mixture and that the whites of their eyeballs became redder as the movie shoot progressed from the food colouring. Crazy stuff! He also revealed that his next movie is going to be a kids movie - don't think I'll be taking my nephew to see that somehow.
This one doesn't have another screening at the festival, but is likely to be released on DVD and Bluray in Australia in the near future as there seems to be a bit of a market for these movies - all of the ones I've mentioned above are available in Australia I think. So keep an eye out for this if you like totally OTT nutty blood soaked Japanese horror.
Today I will have 3 movies - Chow Yun Fat doing his best martial arts/comedy thing in Let the Bullets Fly (which has a special offer today to buy tickets for $12.50 if you quote the promotional code "BIFF11" when buying your ticket online), Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, and Manborg. I'm on my own for these three, so if you have nothing better to do tonight - get along to these for a dose of craziness.
Friday 4 November 2011
Life Outside the BIFF
Sorry for being so lax and not posting what movies were out last week, I've been too busy poring over my BIFF guide. But there's a lot happening outside the BIFF as well, so here is a wrap up of what's come out at the cinemas the last two Thursdays for those of you not venturing to the film festival:
I Don't Know How She Does It - some (bound to be) tosh about Sarah Jessica Parker being a superwoman juggling kids, career and husband. Might have been a tad more interesting had the character not been some super high earning executive who can afford a personal assistant, nanny and amazing wardrobe and was more like a real supermum who does it on her own (there's plenty of 'em).
In Time - some (bound to be) tosh about Justin Timberlake being a poor bloke in a world where everyone has their remaining time on earth written on their arm, and time can either be earned through working or bought by the rich. JT gets a crazy idea to "steal" time from the rich. Shame, as the guy behind this movie did the quite good "Gattaca" but the word on this universally seems to be "great idea wasted".
Anonymous - some (bound to be) tosh - oh damn, I think I've run out of movies that are bound to be tosh already. This is a movie of the conspiracy theory that Shakespeare was a fake and all of his plays were written by another author who never got the credit. Starring Rhys Ifans and some hot new talent, this could be good period drama and debauchery.
Warrior - the Oscars campaigns are beginning already for this movie, starring you beaut Aussie bloke Joel Edgerton and talented Brit Tom Hardy as two estranged American (!) brothers who end up having to fight each other in the final of an MMA (mixed martial arts) tournament. Probably a bit TOO much MMA in this one to get me along, but others will probably love the mix of action and family drama. Go Joel, we love ya mate.
Don't be Afraid of the Dark - new chiller that should have been released for Halloween but didn't quite make it. This looks to be an enjoyable spin on the "possessed house" storyline, produced by Guillermo del Toro who loved the original (yes it's a remake but at least the original was obscure enough that we can ignore that fact) and directed by a newcomer who happens to be a friend of a friend of mine. So get along and support this Aussie made production starring Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes.
Drive - A lot of hype over this one, starring Ryan Gosling as "The Driver". The Driver is a Hollywood stunt driver by day, getaway driver for crooks by night. When he mets his lovely young neighbour (Carey Mulligan) he gets involved in her business with her loser husband. Don't go expecting a huge action movie, this is more of a character driven drama.
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer - inoffensive tweeny stuff.
Our Idiot Brother - more family dysfunction with Paul Rudd as a "loser" hippie dude who starts off a bunch of family trouble after getting busted selling pot to a cop in uniform. He takes turns staying with his mother and each of his 3 sisters (Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer and Ben's fave Zooey Deschanel) while the film slowly turns the tables on who is the most dysfunctional. Could be the year's smartest comedy?
Autoluminescent - a documentary about the Australian musician Rowland S Howard, the lesser known member of Aussie band The Birthday Party (compared to Nick Cave) who sadly passed away this year. One for the indie and goth kids.
Phew - I won't leave it 2 weeks again! If you see anything good in this batch, let me know as my mission over the next week is to see 16 movies at the film fest, but I can always be tempted by a good movie!
I Don't Know How She Does It - some (bound to be) tosh about Sarah Jessica Parker being a superwoman juggling kids, career and husband. Might have been a tad more interesting had the character not been some super high earning executive who can afford a personal assistant, nanny and amazing wardrobe and was more like a real supermum who does it on her own (there's plenty of 'em).
In Time - some (bound to be) tosh about Justin Timberlake being a poor bloke in a world where everyone has their remaining time on earth written on their arm, and time can either be earned through working or bought by the rich. JT gets a crazy idea to "steal" time from the rich. Shame, as the guy behind this movie did the quite good "Gattaca" but the word on this universally seems to be "great idea wasted".
Anonymous - some (bound to be) tosh - oh damn, I think I've run out of movies that are bound to be tosh already. This is a movie of the conspiracy theory that Shakespeare was a fake and all of his plays were written by another author who never got the credit. Starring Rhys Ifans and some hot new talent, this could be good period drama and debauchery.
Warrior - the Oscars campaigns are beginning already for this movie, starring you beaut Aussie bloke Joel Edgerton and talented Brit Tom Hardy as two estranged American (!) brothers who end up having to fight each other in the final of an MMA (mixed martial arts) tournament. Probably a bit TOO much MMA in this one to get me along, but others will probably love the mix of action and family drama. Go Joel, we love ya mate.
Don't be Afraid of the Dark - new chiller that should have been released for Halloween but didn't quite make it. This looks to be an enjoyable spin on the "possessed house" storyline, produced by Guillermo del Toro who loved the original (yes it's a remake but at least the original was obscure enough that we can ignore that fact) and directed by a newcomer who happens to be a friend of a friend of mine. So get along and support this Aussie made production starring Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes.
Drive - A lot of hype over this one, starring Ryan Gosling as "The Driver". The Driver is a Hollywood stunt driver by day, getaway driver for crooks by night. When he mets his lovely young neighbour (Carey Mulligan) he gets involved in her business with her loser husband. Don't go expecting a huge action movie, this is more of a character driven drama.
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer - inoffensive tweeny stuff.
Our Idiot Brother - more family dysfunction with Paul Rudd as a "loser" hippie dude who starts off a bunch of family trouble after getting busted selling pot to a cop in uniform. He takes turns staying with his mother and each of his 3 sisters (Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer and Ben's fave Zooey Deschanel) while the film slowly turns the tables on who is the most dysfunctional. Could be the year's smartest comedy?
Autoluminescent - a documentary about the Australian musician Rowland S Howard, the lesser known member of Aussie band The Birthday Party (compared to Nick Cave) who sadly passed away this year. One for the indie and goth kids.
Phew - I won't leave it 2 weeks again! If you see anything good in this batch, let me know as my mission over the next week is to see 16 movies at the film fest, but I can always be tempted by a good movie!
Wednesday 26 October 2011
One week until the BIFF!
The BIFF starts in just over a week and I am soooo excited. No I am not talking about any kind of fighting. It's the 20th year of the Brisbane International Film Festival, a 10 day long haven for movie buffs. I've been going on and off for around 15 of those years and every year without fail I see something that amazes me and usually there is at least one movie that bores me or I openly dislike. The thing about the BIFF is that it showcases a whole bunch of movies that you haven't heard of and probably will never see anywhere else, but therein lies the fun of it! You take the risk that the movie you've been drawn in to see by one little paragraph you've read, turns out to be something totally different than you expected. And usually it is different, sometimes wonderful, sometimes not. It's a glorious experiment.
Last year I was completely sickened by one of the movies I saw and wanted to walk out but didn't (never have left a movie yet) but I actually wish I did. It's the worst movie I ever saw by a mile. But I've also seen some movies that have become deadset faves, and the great thing about the modern age is that you can usually find them on DVD somewhere in the world to be revisited with friends in the future. I really encourage everyone to try to attend at least 1 or 2 movies at the BIFF each year. Even if not something from the "world cinema" or "shock corridor" selections, even if just a local or arthouse movie having its premiere at the festival before it appears in our cinemas next year. Just get along and soak up the atmosphere. And make sure you participate in the BIFF tradition of rating the movies as you leave (tear the sheet against your rating) as they keep track and let you know at the end what were the most popular movies. For some reason they never seem to be the ones I go to, year in year out. I must pick wrong!
The website for the BIFF is http://www.biff.com.au/ - it contains a description of every movie that is being shown (except 1 which is being labelled a mystery movie - you just have to go with it) plus details of ticket options. Spend a bit of time exploring to see what you might be interested in. Or, if you have been liking my film reviews so far you may like the same movies as me, so the guide to what I'm seeing below might be of interest.
This year my eye has been caught by the categories of films from the "La Mirada" spanish language film festival, and the "Fantastic Fest" mini festival from the guy who directs the largest genre film festival in the United States (fantasy, horror, weird action movies). My initial list of movies I really wanted to see or were strong "maybes" ran to 27 this year! I've narrowed it down to about 20, so I need people to come and see 5 movies with me to make it worthwhile to get a "Take 25 Pass". Here's what I'm seeing - look these up on the site.
Opening Night: Attack the Block - cool UK genre film produced by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim) with BMX teens fighting off aliens attacking their council estate. Opening night party includes drinks and some BMX tricks!
Friday 4 Nov: Comic-Con Episode IV A Fan's Hope - doco on Comic-Con geeks could be the closest I get to the legendary sci-fi and fantasy convention.
Friday 4 Nov: Helldriver - totally OTT Japanese weirdness in store and the director will be doing an intro! The director made the crazy "Tokyo Gore Police" a few years back which we loved.
Saturday 5 Nov: Let the Bullets Fly - chop socky with Chow Yun Fat
Saturday 5 Nov: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same - how can you go past that for the best movie title ever! B-grade awesomeness expected.
Saturday 5 Nov: Manborg - second best title of the festival, short but hopefully not sweet!
Sunday 6 Nov: Trailerpalooza + 50 Best Kills - this double bill pretty much does what it says on the packet.
Sunday 6 Nov: The Corridor - spooky cabin in the woods goings on?
Tuesday 8 Nov: The Zero Hour - Venezualan crime thriller intensity.
Tues 8 Nov: See How they Fall - French thriller
Wed 9 Nov: Revenge: A Love Story - violent Hong Kong genre cinema
Wed 9 Nov: Cronos - the directorial debut of Guillermo del Toro, who you may know from such classics as Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy. Where it all began for him, a vampire story.
Thurs 10 Nov: Penumbra - Argentinian creepiness, another pick from the Fantastic Fest section.
Friday 11 Nov: Medianeras - a romantic comedy set in Buenos Aires.
Friday 11 Nov: Cairo 678 - Egyptian drama highlighting the level of sexual harrassment experienced by women in that country. Not a doco.
Sat 12 Nov: Another Earth - what if there was another planet like Earth where your exact duplicate lived? The guide refers to this as a redemptive drama and low-tech science fiction.
Sat 12 Nov: Tribal Cinema Trivia Night - I'm hoping I can make it along to this trivia night starting at 6pm and get a team together. However I have tickets to a concert that night so depending on the start time of that I may not be able to make it.
Sun 13 Nov: Policeman - should be a gripping look at the racial and class tensions in Israel via this cop drama.
Sun 13 Nov: TrollHunter - Norwegian fake doco in which film students following a guy on a bear hunt realise he's not really hunting bears, he's hunting trolls. Could be very weird and interesting.
Let me know if any of these interest you and you want company. Most movies have at least 2 screenings so if these dates/times don't appeal it may be on at a more convenient time. Best thing to do is grab a hard copy of the guide which should be available at the BIFF box office at the old Regent Cinema site in the mall. Wish the Regent was still with us, as traipsing around the Palace Barracks and Centro cinemas, plus Tribal Cinema, is a bit of a pain.
So yeah and after that I'm gonna be totally movie-d out for a while so don't expect any other film reviews around that time! Last year I think I saw 9 or 10 so this will be a big task.
Last year I was completely sickened by one of the movies I saw and wanted to walk out but didn't (never have left a movie yet) but I actually wish I did. It's the worst movie I ever saw by a mile. But I've also seen some movies that have become deadset faves, and the great thing about the modern age is that you can usually find them on DVD somewhere in the world to be revisited with friends in the future. I really encourage everyone to try to attend at least 1 or 2 movies at the BIFF each year. Even if not something from the "world cinema" or "shock corridor" selections, even if just a local or arthouse movie having its premiere at the festival before it appears in our cinemas next year. Just get along and soak up the atmosphere. And make sure you participate in the BIFF tradition of rating the movies as you leave (tear the sheet against your rating) as they keep track and let you know at the end what were the most popular movies. For some reason they never seem to be the ones I go to, year in year out. I must pick wrong!
The website for the BIFF is http://www.biff.com.au/ - it contains a description of every movie that is being shown (except 1 which is being labelled a mystery movie - you just have to go with it) plus details of ticket options. Spend a bit of time exploring to see what you might be interested in. Or, if you have been liking my film reviews so far you may like the same movies as me, so the guide to what I'm seeing below might be of interest.
This year my eye has been caught by the categories of films from the "La Mirada" spanish language film festival, and the "Fantastic Fest" mini festival from the guy who directs the largest genre film festival in the United States (fantasy, horror, weird action movies). My initial list of movies I really wanted to see or were strong "maybes" ran to 27 this year! I've narrowed it down to about 20, so I need people to come and see 5 movies with me to make it worthwhile to get a "Take 25 Pass". Here's what I'm seeing - look these up on the site.
Opening Night: Attack the Block - cool UK genre film produced by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim) with BMX teens fighting off aliens attacking their council estate. Opening night party includes drinks and some BMX tricks!
Friday 4 Nov: Comic-Con Episode IV A Fan's Hope - doco on Comic-Con geeks could be the closest I get to the legendary sci-fi and fantasy convention.
Friday 4 Nov: Helldriver - totally OTT Japanese weirdness in store and the director will be doing an intro! The director made the crazy "Tokyo Gore Police" a few years back which we loved.
Saturday 5 Nov: Let the Bullets Fly - chop socky with Chow Yun Fat
Saturday 5 Nov: Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same - how can you go past that for the best movie title ever! B-grade awesomeness expected.
Saturday 5 Nov: Manborg - second best title of the festival, short but hopefully not sweet!
Sunday 6 Nov: Trailerpalooza + 50 Best Kills - this double bill pretty much does what it says on the packet.
Sunday 6 Nov: The Corridor - spooky cabin in the woods goings on?
Tuesday 8 Nov: The Zero Hour - Venezualan crime thriller intensity.
Tues 8 Nov: See How they Fall - French thriller
Wed 9 Nov: Revenge: A Love Story - violent Hong Kong genre cinema
Wed 9 Nov: Cronos - the directorial debut of Guillermo del Toro, who you may know from such classics as Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy. Where it all began for him, a vampire story.
Thurs 10 Nov: Penumbra - Argentinian creepiness, another pick from the Fantastic Fest section.
Friday 11 Nov: Medianeras - a romantic comedy set in Buenos Aires.
Friday 11 Nov: Cairo 678 - Egyptian drama highlighting the level of sexual harrassment experienced by women in that country. Not a doco.
Sat 12 Nov: Another Earth - what if there was another planet like Earth where your exact duplicate lived? The guide refers to this as a redemptive drama and low-tech science fiction.
Sat 12 Nov: Tribal Cinema Trivia Night - I'm hoping I can make it along to this trivia night starting at 6pm and get a team together. However I have tickets to a concert that night so depending on the start time of that I may not be able to make it.
Sun 13 Nov: Policeman - should be a gripping look at the racial and class tensions in Israel via this cop drama.
Sun 13 Nov: TrollHunter - Norwegian fake doco in which film students following a guy on a bear hunt realise he's not really hunting bears, he's hunting trolls. Could be very weird and interesting.
Let me know if any of these interest you and you want company. Most movies have at least 2 screenings so if these dates/times don't appeal it may be on at a more convenient time. Best thing to do is grab a hard copy of the guide which should be available at the BIFF box office at the old Regent Cinema site in the mall. Wish the Regent was still with us, as traipsing around the Palace Barracks and Centro cinemas, plus Tribal Cinema, is a bit of a pain.
So yeah and after that I'm gonna be totally movie-d out for a while so don't expect any other film reviews around that time! Last year I think I saw 9 or 10 so this will be a big task.
Sunday 23 October 2011
#27 Movie - TT3D (crazy motorcycle riders)
This is a really hard post for me to write. The movie that I went to see today has been shockingly underscored tonight by the passing of Marco Simoncelli, a talented rider in the MotoGP who died of his injuries in a crash on lap 2 of today's race in Malaysia. This is unbelievably sad for those of us who follow the MotoGP motorcycle racing, especially when you've watched for years and seen this young guy with so much talent rise through the ranks. Despite winning the 250cc World Championship a few years ago, he was yet to win a race in the MotoGP category, which was his big dream. In fact there was a strong rumour that his wild and crazy curly hair was being grown and not going to be cut until he won a race. He has had a podium, but no win, so that hair was getting bigger by the week. He was not without controversy for his somewhat foolhardy passing tactics in previous years and early this season, and his refusal to admit the danger he posed to his fellow riders and himself at press conferences. But he had tamed himself in recent races and was doing a lot of clean passes and he was a pretty likeable guy now that the controversy had died down. Right now I'm feeling shocked, sad, disbelief that this could happen and disappointed we won't ever see what he was capable of achieving.
The thing that links this tragic event to the movie today is the theme of "he died doing something that he loved" and how many of us can say that? But how many of us want to say that either? I don't want to die at all, and while at least he never held back, there are plenty of things you can enjoy in life without the chance of dying.
TT3D is a documentary about what is often referred to as the world's most dangerous motorcycle race. Held at the Isle of Man (part of the UK) each year, riders compete in 5 races over a week, culminating in one winning the final "senior race" which awards them the Tourist Trophy (hence the name TT although it's also a time trial form of racing rather than a "first past the line" style due to the danger). The danger comes from the fact that the race is a street race, riding at extraoardinarily high speeds along normal streets lined with bus stops, shops, houses and spectators - no safety barriers, gravel traps or runoff roads. This is gritty, dangerous stuff which really attracts the biggest nutters on the planet in my opinion. The race has claimed the lives of over 200 riders since inception in 1906 but has probably injured hundreds or thousands of others. And not only in the old days, as this documentary focusing on 2010's meet proves.
The documentary has been filmed in 3D which doesn't do much in the behind the scenes parts, but blows your mind with the on-track scenes. I have never ridden a motorcycle and never will (especially now) but I know lots who do and I've gotta say, you are all incredibly crazy even if you never go as fast as these guys and girls. This movie is a really good combo of giving you the history of the race itself, with a look at the rivalry between some current competitors in the race. Biggest nutter I've ever seen award goes to Guy Martin, a British rider and mechanic who has attempted the race many times but not yet had a win (as of the date the movie was made anyway). The movie mostly focuses on him and a few other riders mostly Brits.
What amazed me the most was the peek inside the minds of these people who live to ride in this really fast race, basically ignoring the fact that a fellow rider and sometimes friend has had an accident and passed away during the race. I, in my happily boring existence, cannot fathom how your mind can work that way. It seems to come down to something that is repeated often in the movie: the buzz. There probably aren't a lot of other (legal) buzzes like it. Even after some pretty horrific accidents, these guys just get back on and go again. I'm talking like 300km per hour in some cases - that is a pretty scary horse to get back on!
I still don't get how or why they do it, but I certainly enjoyed watching it. You don't have to be a big motorcycle enthusiast to enjoy it but I do think having a certain amount of interest and knowledge of racing would heighten your enjoyment.
I came out of this movie on a high, but now I end the evening on a low. Tonight a young guy's life was cut tragically short and his family and friends will never see him come home again. I know this can happen to anyone at any time as accidents do happen, but certain activities and jobs do increase the risk significantly. They all know what they're getting into when they start it, but I guess you don't ever think it's going to happen to you. And once the buzz takes hold, it is probably very hard to shake. As everyone has been saying "he died doing something he loved". I guess that thought gives us, the survivors, some comfort when a loved one does not return....but for the next couple of days at least can we all just take extra care on the motorbikes and when driving near motorbikes, and tell your family that you love them before you go out.
The thing that links this tragic event to the movie today is the theme of "he died doing something that he loved" and how many of us can say that? But how many of us want to say that either? I don't want to die at all, and while at least he never held back, there are plenty of things you can enjoy in life without the chance of dying.
TT3D is a documentary about what is often referred to as the world's most dangerous motorcycle race. Held at the Isle of Man (part of the UK) each year, riders compete in 5 races over a week, culminating in one winning the final "senior race" which awards them the Tourist Trophy (hence the name TT although it's also a time trial form of racing rather than a "first past the line" style due to the danger). The danger comes from the fact that the race is a street race, riding at extraoardinarily high speeds along normal streets lined with bus stops, shops, houses and spectators - no safety barriers, gravel traps or runoff roads. This is gritty, dangerous stuff which really attracts the biggest nutters on the planet in my opinion. The race has claimed the lives of over 200 riders since inception in 1906 but has probably injured hundreds or thousands of others. And not only in the old days, as this documentary focusing on 2010's meet proves.
The documentary has been filmed in 3D which doesn't do much in the behind the scenes parts, but blows your mind with the on-track scenes. I have never ridden a motorcycle and never will (especially now) but I know lots who do and I've gotta say, you are all incredibly crazy even if you never go as fast as these guys and girls. This movie is a really good combo of giving you the history of the race itself, with a look at the rivalry between some current competitors in the race. Biggest nutter I've ever seen award goes to Guy Martin, a British rider and mechanic who has attempted the race many times but not yet had a win (as of the date the movie was made anyway). The movie mostly focuses on him and a few other riders mostly Brits.
What amazed me the most was the peek inside the minds of these people who live to ride in this really fast race, basically ignoring the fact that a fellow rider and sometimes friend has had an accident and passed away during the race. I, in my happily boring existence, cannot fathom how your mind can work that way. It seems to come down to something that is repeated often in the movie: the buzz. There probably aren't a lot of other (legal) buzzes like it. Even after some pretty horrific accidents, these guys just get back on and go again. I'm talking like 300km per hour in some cases - that is a pretty scary horse to get back on!
I still don't get how or why they do it, but I certainly enjoyed watching it. You don't have to be a big motorcycle enthusiast to enjoy it but I do think having a certain amount of interest and knowledge of racing would heighten your enjoyment.
I came out of this movie on a high, but now I end the evening on a low. Tonight a young guy's life was cut tragically short and his family and friends will never see him come home again. I know this can happen to anyone at any time as accidents do happen, but certain activities and jobs do increase the risk significantly. They all know what they're getting into when they start it, but I guess you don't ever think it's going to happen to you. And once the buzz takes hold, it is probably very hard to shake. As everyone has been saying "he died doing something he loved". I guess that thought gives us, the survivors, some comfort when a loved one does not return....but for the next couple of days at least can we all just take extra care on the motorbikes and when driving near motorbikes, and tell your family that you love them before you go out.
Movie #26 - The Thing
Okay, I'd pegged this as a prequel, not a remake. But after catching part of the original The Thing (1981) on telly last night, I have to admit this is both a prequel and a remake rolled into one. The events in this movie take place one week before the events of the original movie, with different characters, but there is a very high level of similarity to the structure and action of the original.
This movie opens with the discovery of a spacecraft under the ice in Antarctica by a group of Swedish scientists and, nearby, a 'thing' trapped in the ice. Two American scientists are recruited by the Swedes to assist with the extraction and investigation of the thing from outer space. One of these is Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead who was Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim) who quickly becomes our protaganist after the thing comes back to life and starts picking off the crew one by one, by taking over the bodies and copying their DNA.
The movie ends with a direct link to the 1981 film which takes place at the Russian base rather than the Swedish base. No spoilers allowed so I won't say any more on that.
I think the test of a good thriller is how much the audience is into the movie. When the guy behind me actually said out loud "Oh no" (which was exactly what I was thinking) when an unexpected person turns out to be hosting the thing really early on, that's when I realised that this movie had its audience in its grip. And it didn't really let up. The middle part of the film was the most effective, building a huge amount of tension through wondering exactly who was currently hosting the thing but controlling its murderous urges. I was chewing my nails while the crew were all looking suspicious at each other. This was dissipated a little as the thing busted out and started to chew through the crew members quite quickly, but the ending picked back up with a tense showdown between monster and the last remaining humans.
What I liked best about this movie was the special effects - they were top notch believable and horrific. I'm very surprised I did not have nightmares that evening! Effects have really come such a long way and at least one friend is going to kill me for saying so, but it does stand up really well compared to the original/next film. It's hard to be into something when you're laughing at the special effects. Good tension and not too much cheesy dialogue. A classy horror movie, perfect for giving you a bit of a chill this Halloween.
This movie opens with the discovery of a spacecraft under the ice in Antarctica by a group of Swedish scientists and, nearby, a 'thing' trapped in the ice. Two American scientists are recruited by the Swedes to assist with the extraction and investigation of the thing from outer space. One of these is Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead who was Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim) who quickly becomes our protaganist after the thing comes back to life and starts picking off the crew one by one, by taking over the bodies and copying their DNA.
The movie ends with a direct link to the 1981 film which takes place at the Russian base rather than the Swedish base. No spoilers allowed so I won't say any more on that.
I think the test of a good thriller is how much the audience is into the movie. When the guy behind me actually said out loud "Oh no" (which was exactly what I was thinking) when an unexpected person turns out to be hosting the thing really early on, that's when I realised that this movie had its audience in its grip. And it didn't really let up. The middle part of the film was the most effective, building a huge amount of tension through wondering exactly who was currently hosting the thing but controlling its murderous urges. I was chewing my nails while the crew were all looking suspicious at each other. This was dissipated a little as the thing busted out and started to chew through the crew members quite quickly, but the ending picked back up with a tense showdown between monster and the last remaining humans.
What I liked best about this movie was the special effects - they were top notch believable and horrific. I'm very surprised I did not have nightmares that evening! Effects have really come such a long way and at least one friend is going to kill me for saying so, but it does stand up really well compared to the original/next film. It's hard to be into something when you're laughing at the special effects. Good tension and not too much cheesy dialogue. A classy horror movie, perfect for giving you a bit of a chill this Halloween.
Thursday 20 October 2011
Big Director's Week - new out 20 October
Wow, tonnes of movies are out this week! A nicely timed release for Halloween in 2 weeks is Paranormal Activity 3 which I will be very keen to see. After loving the chills and thrills of the first one, I was dubious about the second movie and only caught it on DVD somewhat later. The second one was, surprisingly, on a par with the original in quality and frights. The third one goes back even earlier in the lives of Katie and her sister, to when they first encountered the um, well, I shouldn't say unless you've seen the movies. The review in the Courier Mail indicates that the third one amazingly keeps up the standards. So I'll be there, probably next week but it is out today.
The big movie of the week is Contagion, a hard science drama about a virus that spreads rapidly around the world, but focusing more on how quickly fear and paranoia travel through our world. This is a newie from Stephen Soderbergh (Traffic) who seems to have taken a break from his ultra low budget, low profile movies made of late. Starring Jude Law, Matt Damon and Kate Winslet this should be a solid movie, if a little frightening. Did you wash your hands before touching your face or eating today?
Big dumb fun is promised by The Three Musketeers, which must be the 347th version of this story. What makes this one different is the fact it's been directed by Paul WS Anderson, the much maligned Brit director (second only to Uwe Boll in criticism levelled - google both these guys and see for yourself!) who has been responsible for such big dumb fun movies as Resident Evil, Death Race (2008 version), Mortal Kombat and Alien vs Predator. So it should be totally crackers with the action moved to flying galleons rather than ground bound swordfighting. Orlando Bloom as a pompous, mustache twirling baddie gets my vote, especially as Movember approaches!
There is a movie out on George Harrison, some of my friends' favourite Beatle. "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" is a title that rivals the Pirates series for length and it's almost as long as a couple of them combined. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, you'd have to be a dedicated fan to sit through this documentary that mainly charts his career with a few side trips into interesting stories. One plus of this is that it's directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese so fans of his Rolling Stones doco might like this too.
Finally there is the new Woody Allen movie out, Midnight in Paris. Starring Owen Wilson as the Woody Allen character is a great start to marking this movie out as an improvement over the last couple which have been disappointingly bland. Not what you'd expect. Owen is a screenwriter who is churning out Hollywood scripts by the numbers but longs to show his true creative talent. On a visit to Paris with his fiancee and her conservative parents, Owen manages to find some time alone to stroll the old city and miraculously travels back through time to the 30s where he meets some of his artistic heroes such as Picasso, F Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway. Early mail says this is a magical return to form for Woody.
The big new DVD release is Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is out in every conceivable version you can think of - dvd, bluray, 3D bluray, packs with the earlier films. Whichever option you choose, it's good big dumb fun.
The big movie of the week is Contagion, a hard science drama about a virus that spreads rapidly around the world, but focusing more on how quickly fear and paranoia travel through our world. This is a newie from Stephen Soderbergh (Traffic) who seems to have taken a break from his ultra low budget, low profile movies made of late. Starring Jude Law, Matt Damon and Kate Winslet this should be a solid movie, if a little frightening. Did you wash your hands before touching your face or eating today?
Big dumb fun is promised by The Three Musketeers, which must be the 347th version of this story. What makes this one different is the fact it's been directed by Paul WS Anderson, the much maligned Brit director (second only to Uwe Boll in criticism levelled - google both these guys and see for yourself!) who has been responsible for such big dumb fun movies as Resident Evil, Death Race (2008 version), Mortal Kombat and Alien vs Predator. So it should be totally crackers with the action moved to flying galleons rather than ground bound swordfighting. Orlando Bloom as a pompous, mustache twirling baddie gets my vote, especially as Movember approaches!
There is a movie out on George Harrison, some of my friends' favourite Beatle. "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" is a title that rivals the Pirates series for length and it's almost as long as a couple of them combined. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, you'd have to be a dedicated fan to sit through this documentary that mainly charts his career with a few side trips into interesting stories. One plus of this is that it's directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese so fans of his Rolling Stones doco might like this too.
Finally there is the new Woody Allen movie out, Midnight in Paris. Starring Owen Wilson as the Woody Allen character is a great start to marking this movie out as an improvement over the last couple which have been disappointingly bland. Not what you'd expect. Owen is a screenwriter who is churning out Hollywood scripts by the numbers but longs to show his true creative talent. On a visit to Paris with his fiancee and her conservative parents, Owen manages to find some time alone to stroll the old city and miraculously travels back through time to the 30s where he meets some of his artistic heroes such as Picasso, F Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway. Early mail says this is a magical return to form for Woody.
The big new DVD release is Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is out in every conceivable version you can think of - dvd, bluray, 3D bluray, packs with the earlier films. Whichever option you choose, it's good big dumb fun.
Sunday 16 October 2011
10 Scaredest Moments in my Life
Today I think my heart did about a 1000 flips - there were multiple scary moments while driving in my car around Brissie and to the Gold Coast this arvo. Which got me thinking about when I have been scared before and it mainly revolves around movies, driving and weather. I'm home alone this weekend, so here for your amusement/mockery is my top 10 scaredest moments in my teen/adult life (not counting when I was a kid and tonnes of things scared me):
1) Driving to the Gold Coast today alone during that massive storm. Around Logan I was thinking "that sky is really dark, hey that was cool lightning, this is really cool driving and watching this and listening to The Used really loud. However, about Yatala it became an intense storm cell with strong wind, heavy rain (almost hail) and huge lightning and thunder, it was as dark at 4:15pm as it is at 8pm. The 110km/hr zone quickly dropped to 80km, then 60 then almost a standstill. All the spots on the side of the road under the bridges were taken so I had to keep going. I don't have a lot of experience driving in rain so I was really panicking and had to tell myself to breathe slowly and just focus. Never been so glad to arrive at my destination as I was today. This video on youtube was taken at the exact spot where I got off the highway to take shelter - I was sitting in that Caltex carpark at around the same time!
2) Going on my first camping trip and sleeping in the back of the ute with Ben, the night after going to a midnight screening of Uruguayan scary movie "The Silent House" by myself. The movie is a fantastically chilling one-take wonder about a girl and her father staying in a remote house when they hear some very scary sounds from the upstairs level. So that first night camping, Ben turns the light out and I realise it is very very dark. And we are out in the middle of nowhere (okay Bribie Island beach side, not that far from normal society at all, but it felt like nowhere) and sleeping in a car with just a zip off canopy over our heads. So my brain starts thinking back to the movie and hearing some very different noises than I'm used to and thinking about how anyone could just come past and kill us. They could just reach in and touch my face! It took me a looooong time to get to sleep that first night. Ben isn't going to let me watch any scary movies before camping ever again.
3) When I realised 1 second beforehand that we were about to have a front-on car accident, back in 2009. Minding our own business, legally going through a green light on a straight road on a Sunday evening after The Bronx concert, a young unlicensed driver turned across in front of me cause he "thought" I had a red light. Ben just had time to yell "watch out" and I slammed on the brakes and squeezed my eyes shut and then we hit and spun around. Very scary moment. We were lucky to escape with no injuries worse than whiplash, bruises and scraped arms from the airbag, other driver was fine but his passenger went to hospital with sore neck (hope she was okay). I feel bad all the time for my friend Brad who was with us that night. Car was written off and I didn't drive anywhere for about a week, but then I got a new car and had to get back on that horse.
4) Watching The Descent for the first time. I rate this as the scariest modern movie by a mile. The combination of spelunking in tight caves and gruesome death by half human creatures is a total winner in the heart stopping fear stakes. For me anyway, and I think many would agree.
5) Going to see Paranormal Activity (the first one) at the movies with 3 mates from work who were generally scary movie novices. The entire theatre was populated by people who were really into the movie, even screaming out loud at some of the big moments. I wanted someone to hold my hand about 3/4 of the way through, but nobody would. The part where Katie is dragged out of bed and out of the room has to rate as one of the most chilling moments in cinema. The sound effects of this movie at the cinema were top notch, really getting the heart beating faster. Afterwards, we were all shaking and standing in the foyer discussing the movie, I actually got goosebumps down my arms just thinking about that scene again.
6) About a week after seeing Paranormal Activity when Ben got out of bed and just stood at the side of the bed motionless for several minutes. This is not going to make sense unless you've seen Paranormal Activity so rent it out if you haven't seen it. When I woke up and saw him doing this, I got this very cold tense feeling. Thank god he just got back into bed eventually and went back to sleep! And he had not seen the movie so he wasn't playing tricks on me.
7) Going through the bad storm of November 2008 that hit The Gap the worst but still hit our area pretty hard. It has been likened to a cyclone or tornado in the worst hit areas - here's a link to the newscast the day after the storm. Scariest moment is a toss up between when it started to hail and I dashed out with a doona to cover the side of my car that was exposed and I was hiding behind the columns of the carport to dodge the stones, when a tree in the corner of the yard fell over (not a big one though) or when we got caught out after driving over to check on some friends at Ferny Hills and got down some streets with large fallen trees and had to go on the footpath to get back and then the tyres had no traction - thought we were stuck out in it and would not be able to get home.
8) Watching Rob Zombie's Halloween one night, curled up on the couch with all the lights off, when suddenly there is an action scene and something touches my leg. It was a whoosh of air from the subwoofer which I was sitting about 1.5 metres away from and it scared the hell out of me! I don't normally sit on that seat to watch TV so it was a big shock.
9) The day I realised that I occasionally have true dreams. This was the day someone close to me died, after I'd had a dream that someone related to me was going to die in their car. This may sound far-fetched but it was a fairly clear dream and I woke up feeling such intense sorrow that I felt compelled to tell my mum to warn somebody about it. She did so, as she already believed in my dreams at that time, even before that one came true. However it was sadly not the right person to prevent it coming true. Now every time I have a nightmare (they are frequent and vivid) my heart skips a beat if anyone I know is in it.
10) Seeing a number of scary movies as a teen when I wasn't quite adjusted enough to cope. Geez we were scared of that clown in Stephen King's "It". I think I can add Pet Sematery, Nightmare on Elm Street, Braindead, The Lost Boys, The Hand that Rocked the Cradle, Gremlins, Goonies, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Silence of the Lambs to that list. I think what these movies all have in common is that they were watched in my teens, at night, in the dark, with friends at a slumber party or sometimes with my family. The best way to enjoy horror or chiller movies.
Well that wraps it up, hopefully you're not laughing at me right now. I much prefer the movie based scares in this list than the real life ones. There is something that I just love about sitting in a dark room and immersing yourself in a scary movie, whether it is one that makes you jump out of your skin (I still jump every time there's a cat jumping out of a cupboard/from behind a door) or just get goosebumps or look over your shoulder as you unlock your front door when you get home.
Please feel free to share your own scaredy cat moments so I don't feel like such a dork. But even more so, please make sure you sit down and watch a scary movie with all the lights off this coming Halloween, and think of me when you jump.
1) Driving to the Gold Coast today alone during that massive storm. Around Logan I was thinking "that sky is really dark, hey that was cool lightning, this is really cool driving and watching this and listening to The Used really loud. However, about Yatala it became an intense storm cell with strong wind, heavy rain (almost hail) and huge lightning and thunder, it was as dark at 4:15pm as it is at 8pm. The 110km/hr zone quickly dropped to 80km, then 60 then almost a standstill. All the spots on the side of the road under the bridges were taken so I had to keep going. I don't have a lot of experience driving in rain so I was really panicking and had to tell myself to breathe slowly and just focus. Never been so glad to arrive at my destination as I was today. This video on youtube was taken at the exact spot where I got off the highway to take shelter - I was sitting in that Caltex carpark at around the same time!
2) Going on my first camping trip and sleeping in the back of the ute with Ben, the night after going to a midnight screening of Uruguayan scary movie "The Silent House" by myself. The movie is a fantastically chilling one-take wonder about a girl and her father staying in a remote house when they hear some very scary sounds from the upstairs level. So that first night camping, Ben turns the light out and I realise it is very very dark. And we are out in the middle of nowhere (okay Bribie Island beach side, not that far from normal society at all, but it felt like nowhere) and sleeping in a car with just a zip off canopy over our heads. So my brain starts thinking back to the movie and hearing some very different noises than I'm used to and thinking about how anyone could just come past and kill us. They could just reach in and touch my face! It took me a looooong time to get to sleep that first night. Ben isn't going to let me watch any scary movies before camping ever again.
3) When I realised 1 second beforehand that we were about to have a front-on car accident, back in 2009. Minding our own business, legally going through a green light on a straight road on a Sunday evening after The Bronx concert, a young unlicensed driver turned across in front of me cause he "thought" I had a red light. Ben just had time to yell "watch out" and I slammed on the brakes and squeezed my eyes shut and then we hit and spun around. Very scary moment. We were lucky to escape with no injuries worse than whiplash, bruises and scraped arms from the airbag, other driver was fine but his passenger went to hospital with sore neck (hope she was okay). I feel bad all the time for my friend Brad who was with us that night. Car was written off and I didn't drive anywhere for about a week, but then I got a new car and had to get back on that horse.
4) Watching The Descent for the first time. I rate this as the scariest modern movie by a mile. The combination of spelunking in tight caves and gruesome death by half human creatures is a total winner in the heart stopping fear stakes. For me anyway, and I think many would agree.
5) Going to see Paranormal Activity (the first one) at the movies with 3 mates from work who were generally scary movie novices. The entire theatre was populated by people who were really into the movie, even screaming out loud at some of the big moments. I wanted someone to hold my hand about 3/4 of the way through, but nobody would. The part where Katie is dragged out of bed and out of the room has to rate as one of the most chilling moments in cinema. The sound effects of this movie at the cinema were top notch, really getting the heart beating faster. Afterwards, we were all shaking and standing in the foyer discussing the movie, I actually got goosebumps down my arms just thinking about that scene again.
6) About a week after seeing Paranormal Activity when Ben got out of bed and just stood at the side of the bed motionless for several minutes. This is not going to make sense unless you've seen Paranormal Activity so rent it out if you haven't seen it. When I woke up and saw him doing this, I got this very cold tense feeling. Thank god he just got back into bed eventually and went back to sleep! And he had not seen the movie so he wasn't playing tricks on me.
7) Going through the bad storm of November 2008 that hit The Gap the worst but still hit our area pretty hard. It has been likened to a cyclone or tornado in the worst hit areas - here's a link to the newscast the day after the storm. Scariest moment is a toss up between when it started to hail and I dashed out with a doona to cover the side of my car that was exposed and I was hiding behind the columns of the carport to dodge the stones, when a tree in the corner of the yard fell over (not a big one though) or when we got caught out after driving over to check on some friends at Ferny Hills and got down some streets with large fallen trees and had to go on the footpath to get back and then the tyres had no traction - thought we were stuck out in it and would not be able to get home.
8) Watching Rob Zombie's Halloween one night, curled up on the couch with all the lights off, when suddenly there is an action scene and something touches my leg. It was a whoosh of air from the subwoofer which I was sitting about 1.5 metres away from and it scared the hell out of me! I don't normally sit on that seat to watch TV so it was a big shock.
9) The day I realised that I occasionally have true dreams. This was the day someone close to me died, after I'd had a dream that someone related to me was going to die in their car. This may sound far-fetched but it was a fairly clear dream and I woke up feeling such intense sorrow that I felt compelled to tell my mum to warn somebody about it. She did so, as she already believed in my dreams at that time, even before that one came true. However it was sadly not the right person to prevent it coming true. Now every time I have a nightmare (they are frequent and vivid) my heart skips a beat if anyone I know is in it.
10) Seeing a number of scary movies as a teen when I wasn't quite adjusted enough to cope. Geez we were scared of that clown in Stephen King's "It". I think I can add Pet Sematery, Nightmare on Elm Street, Braindead, The Lost Boys, The Hand that Rocked the Cradle, Gremlins, Goonies, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Silence of the Lambs to that list. I think what these movies all have in common is that they were watched in my teens, at night, in the dark, with friends at a slumber party or sometimes with my family. The best way to enjoy horror or chiller movies.
Well that wraps it up, hopefully you're not laughing at me right now. I much prefer the movie based scares in this list than the real life ones. There is something that I just love about sitting in a dark room and immersing yourself in a scary movie, whether it is one that makes you jump out of your skin (I still jump every time there's a cat jumping out of a cupboard/from behind a door) or just get goosebumps or look over your shoulder as you unlock your front door when you get home.
Please feel free to share your own scaredy cat moments so I don't feel like such a dork. But even more so, please make sure you sit down and watch a scary movie with all the lights off this coming Halloween, and think of me when you jump.
Friday 14 October 2011
Too much Horror Business
Just in time for Halloween this year, we have two "horror" movies. The Thing is a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter sci-fi horror (see separate review) and it is a pretty standard horror movie. Red State is the other new film out which its maker says is a horror movie. This is the new movie for Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jay & Silent Bob) and by early reports it is a return to form after the recent disappointments of Cop Out and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. However, the form is a totally different thing to his usual slacker rom-com. It begins as a slasher movie and then movies into a siege/shootout style thing, taking very big aim at the more extreme Christian groups in America. This one is apparently a weird genre mashup but one I'm quite interested to see. From what I've heard so far it's hard to see how Kevin Smith thinks it's a horror film - I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Also out this week is "What's Your Number" which has Anna Faris tracking down her exes to find a suitable one to marry after finding out {from a magazine article, ugh!} she's slept with too many guys and won't find the one. You will probably have to read the reviews in the paper to decide about this one as I doubt I'll go, but surely it can't be as bad as some people are saying.
Another timely release this week is The Cup. Based on the true story of the Oliver brothers, both jockeys at an elite level in Australia. Damien (Stephen Curry) has to decide whether to ride in the big one, the Melbourne Cup, after the death of his brother in an on-track fall. This should be fun and uplifting and will get you in the mood for all the betting, frocking up and excitement of the big day in a couple of weeks.
There is an extensive Hitchcock retrospective on at the Goma Cinematheque, it has heaps of movies plus quite a few of his TV show episodes. I can't decide what I'd like to go to!Alfred_Hitchcock_screening_calendar_2011.pdf
Stay tuned for some heavy duty BIFF updates to come in the lead up to this fantastic festival of movie-dom, plus my review of The Thing.
Also out this week is "What's Your Number" which has Anna Faris tracking down her exes to find a suitable one to marry after finding out {from a magazine article, ugh!} she's slept with too many guys and won't find the one. You will probably have to read the reviews in the paper to decide about this one as I doubt I'll go, but surely it can't be as bad as some people are saying.
Another timely release this week is The Cup. Based on the true story of the Oliver brothers, both jockeys at an elite level in Australia. Damien (Stephen Curry) has to decide whether to ride in the big one, the Melbourne Cup, after the death of his brother in an on-track fall. This should be fun and uplifting and will get you in the mood for all the betting, frocking up and excitement of the big day in a couple of weeks.
There is an extensive Hitchcock retrospective on at the Goma Cinematheque, it has heaps of movies plus quite a few of his TV show episodes. I can't decide what I'd like to go to!Alfred_Hitchcock_screening_calendar_2011.pdf
Stay tuned for some heavy duty BIFF updates to come in the lead up to this fantastic festival of movie-dom, plus my review of The Thing.
Sunday 9 October 2011
DVD Gem #1 - Tucker & Dale vs Evil
This is the first in what may become a series - mining out the gold at the DVD store that you may not otherwise have thought to rent. Let me know if you like it.
On Friday night we rented out Tucker & Dale vs Evil (new release section). This was a movie I was very keen to see this year based on the premise alone, so imagine my surprise when looking in the JB Hifi catalogue this week and seeing it there. Unfortunately it has skipped our cinemas so I went straight down to Video Ezy to secure it.
I think this movie is destined to become a cult classic. It is a very clever subversion of movie cliches, done in an extremely fun way. A group of college kids set out on a camping trip to the woods in Virginia. In travelling to their destination, they come across two hillbillies, Tucker and Dale, who are also travelling to their vacation home in the woods. In the early scenes, this could be any American teen horror film such as Cabin Fever. However it doesn't take long to twist this up completely, as our hillbillies are revealed to be intelligent, sensitive guys who just want to enjoy a quiet weekend of renovating the cabin, fishing and drinking beer. The college kids, familiar with the horror movies where the hillbillies are out to kill, torture and scare kids such as themselves, immediately overreact to Tucker and Dale's innocent scariness.
Once at the cabin and campsite, things quickly take a turn for the worst as the college kids misinterpret the kind actions of Tucker and Dale in saving one of them from drowning and decide they have to take the hillbillies out before they themselves are killed. Unfortunately the college kids' skills in doing so are closer to what would happen in real life than most 'survival' movies, and they start to meet with some very funny accidents that further fuel their belief that the hillbillies are picking them off.
Most of this movie is either amusing (the interactions between Tucker and Dale and the very pretty Ali who sees the guys for what they really are) or outright hilarious (mainly the death scenes). I thought Ben was going to burst a blood vessel laughing at certain points of this movie, and I wasn't far behind. Whatever you do, don't compare it to the "Scary Movie" franchise, as it is spoofing a few movies but in a much more subtle and funny way. It is more about subverting the cliches with clever writing and dialogue than just making fun of the past movies.
Alan Tudyk (who you will know as Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball or the funny boyfriend on acid from Death at a Funeral) is great as Tucker, the supportive friend, as is Tyler Labine as Dale who has a great memory and a very sweet heart. The college kids are largely disposable, but that's the point. The special effects and gore scenes are very well executed as well.
In summary: funny, cool, smart and unexpected. Dig this one up today!
On Friday night we rented out Tucker & Dale vs Evil (new release section). This was a movie I was very keen to see this year based on the premise alone, so imagine my surprise when looking in the JB Hifi catalogue this week and seeing it there. Unfortunately it has skipped our cinemas so I went straight down to Video Ezy to secure it.
I think this movie is destined to become a cult classic. It is a very clever subversion of movie cliches, done in an extremely fun way. A group of college kids set out on a camping trip to the woods in Virginia. In travelling to their destination, they come across two hillbillies, Tucker and Dale, who are also travelling to their vacation home in the woods. In the early scenes, this could be any American teen horror film such as Cabin Fever. However it doesn't take long to twist this up completely, as our hillbillies are revealed to be intelligent, sensitive guys who just want to enjoy a quiet weekend of renovating the cabin, fishing and drinking beer. The college kids, familiar with the horror movies where the hillbillies are out to kill, torture and scare kids such as themselves, immediately overreact to Tucker and Dale's innocent scariness.
Once at the cabin and campsite, things quickly take a turn for the worst as the college kids misinterpret the kind actions of Tucker and Dale in saving one of them from drowning and decide they have to take the hillbillies out before they themselves are killed. Unfortunately the college kids' skills in doing so are closer to what would happen in real life than most 'survival' movies, and they start to meet with some very funny accidents that further fuel their belief that the hillbillies are picking them off.
Most of this movie is either amusing (the interactions between Tucker and Dale and the very pretty Ali who sees the guys for what they really are) or outright hilarious (mainly the death scenes). I thought Ben was going to burst a blood vessel laughing at certain points of this movie, and I wasn't far behind. Whatever you do, don't compare it to the "Scary Movie" franchise, as it is spoofing a few movies but in a much more subtle and funny way. It is more about subverting the cliches with clever writing and dialogue than just making fun of the past movies.
Alan Tudyk (who you will know as Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball or the funny boyfriend on acid from Death at a Funeral) is great as Tucker, the supportive friend, as is Tyler Labine as Dale who has a great memory and a very sweet heart. The college kids are largely disposable, but that's the point. The special effects and gore scenes are very well executed as well.
In summary: funny, cool, smart and unexpected. Dig this one up today!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)