Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Waxwork II: Lost in Time


It gets worse!! Waxwork II is terrible, really really bad, but yet again, in a knowing, self mocking, cheesy way... It's basically a 1980's (well 1992) Scary Movie... not sure which is better to be fair.

Actually, I do know. Waxwork II has Bruce Campbell in it. He pretty much saves the film.

WII:LiT, carries directly on from where the first one left off, although there's been some bizarre accident and now the girl is played by a different actress, who looks much like Daryl Hannah, but clearly isn't.

Billy, sorry Mike must clear Sarah's name and ends up battling the various forces of evil. That's pretty much all you need to know, plus whereas the first film went for the classic horror monsters (frankenstein, wolfman etc), numero duo goes after Alien for instance, and then a load of other random stuff.

Oh and then there's the rap song over the end credits. Priceless!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Waxwork


This was AFTER Gremlins!?!? WTF?!

It's terrible, really bad, but it's also really bad in a good way, it's cheesy, camp, fun, ridiculous and tomorrow night I'll watch Waxwork II - Lost In Time.

Basically there's this house, it's got a waxwork exhibition in it of various notorious killers and monsters, each one needs a victim which is where the kids come in.

It's a TV movie through and through, but watchable enough.

Waxwork - 5/10

Disturbia


I like Shia LaBeouf, he's a entertaining actor, although he pretty much does play himself in everything, I'm sure he'll go the way of Hanks and reach a point where he plays someone dying of Aids and all of a sudden turns his back on comedy and becomes a "proper" actor, until that day comes I'll enjoy his films in the same fashion as early Tom Hanks films.

Disturbia... The 'burbs

Ok, not quite but that's about as made as my point's gonna be.

Anyway, Disturbia, basically Rear Window for the Internet generation, it's an okay film, entertaining enough, David Morse is pretty creepy, although could've gone further, Aaron Yoo is very funny and it ticks along reasonably well.

My main issue with it is that it's cliche after cliche after cliche, relentless, people at windows or behind doors, thunderclaps, I mean c'mon!!

It was entertaining enough, but at no point could I take it at all seriously.

Disturbia - 6/10

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


Harry Potter, practically inescapable, much like Big Brother, well until they moved it E4 and as such I've heard bugger all about this series... bad thing?? ;)

Anyway, with the inclusion of this one I'm up to date on all the HP films, and this one's pretty good. A little bit more grown up now, the gang are dealing with a little more grown up things, basically stuff's getting very angsty and HP's getting a filled with anger and frustration and teenage stuff.

Thankfully Ron's there to keep it real and show Mr Radcliffe how to actually progress as an actor and the whole chemistry thing between Ron and Hermione is ticking along just nicely since the last one making for some nice moments.

Saying Rupert Grint appears to have progressed far more than Daniel Radcliffe as the years have gone on, I think is fair comment, but some of the darker stuff DR does is still pretty good, despite the rest of his performance feeling more than a little forced.

The wizardy stuff in this (I mean the fighty bits) is also pretty good, one particular scene is pretty much what Gandalf vs Saruman should have been like, rather than the lame spin me right round bollocks that it was.

I haven't read any of the HP books, I don't really want to, so as regards the HP purists out there...whatever, the films haven't been half bad, bring on the other 2. And considering they're pretty much this generation's BTTF/Indy/Star Wars etc, don't knock em too much ;)

Sunday, January 20, 2008

3:10 to Yuma (2007)


Westerns are back, gritty, "real" and all that. 3:10's a remake and throws a little bit of the adventure back in to the mix.

Bale plays a downtrodden, disabled rancher to Crowe's charming outlaw. Bale has kid issues, well he has all sorts of issues and he aims to sort them out by helping escort Crowe to the train of the title.

It's not bad, but a few times i drifted from the screen, and I wasn't left feeling much by the end except the need to go and get a drink.

The highlight (apart from Alan Tudyk) is Ben Foster as Charlie Prince, awesome performance.

Bring on The Dark Knight ;)

3:10 to Yuma (2007) - 7/10

The Bourne Ultimatum


Practically non-stop fucking action, running, smashing, fighting, chasing... the kinetic energy of this film is ridiculous.

However sometimes, you do want the camera to stay a little more stable for a couple of mintes so you can at least get your bearings!

Although even with the release of Casino Royale, Bourne still kicks Bond's arse, obviously we'll have to wait and see what they do with the new (more introspective) Bond that's recently gone into principal photogrpahy, but at the end of the day, i could actually feel the adrenaline pumping through me while watching this, and a number of times I loudly exclaimed on certain stunts and set pieces.

An awesome film, bit of a rushed ending, could do with a little more plot glue, but at the end of the day, kicks ass.


The Bourne Ultimatum - 8/10

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Dead Man's Shoes


I've heard many people rave about this one, "best film evar!" and all that, well I picked it up in CEX and had a watch.

Paddy Considine is creepy as fuck as the film's resident mental, it has a reasonable but not overly original twist, the characters are pretty funny as long as you can deal with the Midlands accents and the "natural" dialogue.

The revenge thriller's been done before and will be done again, this is one of the better ones, low budget, simply yet well shot, pretty much a ronseal film.

The closest thing it brings to mind is Switchblade Romance, don't know why, probably the rural ness and the whole low budget film, 'Shoes is a far better films tho.


Dead Man's Shoes - 8/10

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

I Am Legend


I've said it before, put Will Smith in a Sci-Fi movie and it's a winner, although I Am Legend is more horror than sci-fi, basically combining vampires and zombies, or at least the visual stylings of them, the formula still works though.

Adapted from the book by Richard Matheson and taking some cues from 28 Days Later, which itself takes some cues from The Omega Man, which in turn is adapted from the story by Richard Matheson. Apart from the stuff showing the evacuation (which is the bridge stuff in the trailer), it's a pretty low key affair, most of the film focuses solely on Dr Robert Neville (Smith) and his dog Sam, showing his deteriorating mind set and near OCD focus. It gets a little more pacy towards the climax, but again, not really with any huge set pieces, there's explosions and shit, but we're no where near Michael Bay territory, which is a good thing in this case.

It's 101 mins, a good length, in fact it felt like it ended slightly early, which is a rare thing for films nowadays, it's mostly a meandering pace, but doesn't feel slow, basically there was room for a bit more.

Any niggles, yeah a couple, one I argued with (well, discussed) my girlfriend, as she hadn't picked up on it, maybe I'm just reading it differently, I won't go into details here, but it seemed Neville was missing quite a major thing about the Night Stalkers, which I guess was maybe touched on but..

Although this is Will Smith, it's a serious Will Smith, there's a couple of his trademark cheeky chappy moments that try to squeeze through, but don't be expecting Fresh Prince vs The Vampires (note to Warner...)

In the meantime I need to find The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth.


I Am Legend - 8/10