''Apollo 18''

I watched Apollo 18 last night because something about aliens on the moon is a great idea. The films idea and concept is sound but its a lot of the effects or rather too many of them. the film is littered with fuzzy static sounds, flickering televisions, bad pictures and loosing contact with Houston. These things irritate me as it shows no desire to experiment with different shots instead of filling the space with effects and final cut pro defaults.

The art direction though was really good, I thought the set was really well done and the movement on the moons surface was surprisingly accurate in comparison to the actual movements as well. I also loved the camera angles as i'm a fan of the handheld approach such as Diary of the Dead and Cloverfield, and thought it worked really well on the moon setting. The inside the helmet shots were done really well and really helped add to the sense of isolation and panic on the moons surface.

There were quite a few nice shots I wanted to show as well.

Nice shots of a barren lunar landscape

A really quite sickening sight considering their whereabouts.

Venturing into large dark craters is a bad idea on earth why do it on the moon ? Pretty cool though.

 There isn't a massive amount more to say about this film as it really isn't that bad but it isn't as good as i would have hoped. It really comes apart in the effects department and more footage should have been shot to fill those gaps. The film as a visual piece is really detailed and eerie and they bring the mood out with it. A particular point is when you just see earth the size of the moon in the distance to show how far from home they are. Things like that make the film really watchable in places.

5/10


perhaps a little harsh but it just wasn't what the trailer implied simply

''30 Days Of Night"

30 Days of night is the horrendous story of the small town of Barrow, the northern most settlement in the United States. For 30 nights a year this small innocent town is plunged into total darkness and this is the time Marlow and his entourage of frenzied vampires choose to feed upon the unsuspecting townsfolk.

Really convincing and evil looking make up

The film came from a graphic novel and if the novel is as twisted as the film i credit the author. The original setting of the film really interested me. I think this was because the solar events which cause Barrow to suffer this blackout do actually happen, but with no vampires, I hope. The reality of their situation really went well with the fictional story which had been applied to it. A lot of the effects and make up are also really incredible with really viscous looking blood and pulsating wounds inflicted by the vampires. I especially like the glossy black eyes as I think good eyes makes a good vampire from a film perspective.





The sound the vampires make is also a vital part of their character as the gut wrenching wail of the vampires really gets into your head as a really unpleasant sound even to the viewer. The sound they make just adds another level to the brilliance of their design.

As far as being a horror film is concerned it comes off really well. First time i watched it i was really freaked out by some of the gruesome deaths which occur as well as the creeping tension when vampires are close but you cant quite see them. These both amount to a really quite frightening film to watch, especially on their own. The acting from Josh Hartnett was pretty good and he makes a convincing sheriff and overall hero of the story, a lot of the support cast are bad in places but they generally work well and pull off their characters.

I liked this film for its originality (not counting the graphic novel and vampire design. Both played a key role in making this film pretty terrifying.


7/10

''From Dusk 'Till Dawn''

Another Tarentino classic.. but in a different way. The incredible man himself stars in what is a very different yet very good rendition of the vampire mythology. The film stars Tarantino and George Clooney who are Richard and Seth Gecko respectively, who are on a brutal killing spree and are on the run across the USA. When i read the back of the DVD case the word that attracted me to it was 'Vampires'. Vampire are always fun, whether they are killing people or people are killing them or both and this film definitely doesn't disappoint with regards to people and vampires a like being horrifically disembowelled. 

What I really enjoyed about this film was the build up. The first half of the film is about the escaping of the two criminals across the border into Mexico. The two brothers manage this by taking a family hostage and forcing them to drive over the border. The family of 3 become integral characters as the brothers and family start to identify with one another once the common enemy of the vampire menace has been established 

I really like this shot as both Clooney and Tarantino look really menacing

One of the best things about the film is the art direction. The settings, costumes and models especially are really well done and are very grind-house esque. Here are some more of my favourite shots:

With this particular shot I love how that when the vampires turn up
and start eating people the environemt around them reflects the dramatic change.
for example in the image above the guitarist was playing a guitar and is now playing a human torso
just because the people look like vampires now.

Seth Gecko: One of the coolest and most ruthless characters ive seen in a film

The interesting thing about this film is that it completely changes your percpetion of vampires. In
From Dusk Till Dawn vampires arent sexy and cool, they're just monsters. The spin, style and
look of the vampires I thought was really refreshing as the ugliness and savagery of them makes
them scarier.

Great shot of the bar from the outside. Lighting compliments the colours.

actually pretty proud of this screenshot. Well timed I think and reflects the gross death of this guy

I also love how when the vampires die they turn into a skeleton immediately like the classic way of portraying dead vampires 

My favourite shot of the film. Total destruction. 

''Garden State''

I was on StumbleUpon the other day and i came across a page entitled 'Great Movies you probably haven't seen' so being a fan of movies i scrolled down the list and came across this film, Garden State. I instantly wanted to watch it as I'm a big fan of Zach Braff after watching every episode of scrubs, i decided to give it a watch. I was not disappointed in the least by a really impressive, quirky motion picture which gives you a smile on your face from start to finish. The film stars Zach Braff (he also wrote and directed the film which i think is credit to how talented this guy is) as Andrew Largeman, a relatively successful TV star who lives in Los Angeles. he returns home after hearing word from his father that his mother has passed away. Despite its quirky nature the film does start in a really dark way due to the death of his mother, but also due to a certain resentment that a lot of the people he encounters while home have towards him. Regardless of the morbid undertones the film has some really amusing and quite hilarious aspects to it. These moments don't really make a lot of sense but they make you smile, just smile, not laugh, so much, but I really like this as its a very unique quality in a film.

Hmmmm why is that there ?

The image above was one of my favourites in the film as the previous scenes leave no indication to what has happened here. We see him wake up and drive to work, but when he arrives theres a petrol nozzle sticking out of the fuel tank. We didn't see him fill up or even visit a petrol station but there it is. The expression of his face is absolutely sublime as it perfectly resembles the face anyone would do in this situation. There might be a reason behind the nozzle, i don't know, but to be honest i want to leave it shrouded in mystery and let the film keep its mysterious facade which makes it so brilliant.

Magic ?

Another great one of these little moments is when he is preparing to go to his mothers funeral and is in the toilets getting ready. He stands up and takes a deep breath for the task ahead and walks out and as he does so each of the taps shown on the right hand side turns on. Why ? I don't know but its these brief moments that made me love the film so much. Pointless additions to scenes which wouldn't have needed them otherwise but they make the scene so much better because of them. 

One of the best things i have ever seen in a film is the shot above. Andrew is sitting in the hospital waiting room and a blind lady walks in and sits a few rows behind him. The old ladies' guide dog then wanders over to Andrew and starts humping his leg. As well as being hysterical the scene is also instrumental in introducing another of the main characters: Sam. Her introduction brings me to another great aspect of this film. Usually in films the conversations and dialog are (obviously) perfect, as in, there are no pauses and silences. In this film Braff has left these silences and awkward pauses in which i think adds another level to the film as it is more relatable to real life where conversations aren't perfect and people can't always think of what to say next. The inclusion of this is also a very key element to the comedy in the film as these silences are done really well by all the actors and are made really funny.

Knights need Milk

Another great scene in the film is when Andrew wakes up from a bit of a drug induced coma to see a man wearing a full suit of armour carrying a bottle of milk. This is brilliant in itself just because of the pure randomness of the situation. Whats great is that the knight turns out to be Jim Parsons who plays 'Shelden' in the 'Big Bang Theory'.  Its not a major part of the film but i love when well known actors have cameo roles in films that they did before they became as famous as (in this case) Parsons has now. 

This isn't really a particularly clever piece of comedy, but everyone
loves a bit of immature humour, especially me, and i just
thought it was brilliant, out of all the words to choose from.

Really fantastic and weird film from start to finish and I highly recommend watching it 

8.5/10

''Death Race'' (worst name for a film since snakes on a plane)

When I first saw this film advertised my immediate reaction was: 'Terrible, terrible name'. I mean seriously its the most obvious title ever leaves nothing to the imagination just a blatant in-your-face title. Now i know its supposed to be a T.V Show in a film but even then the title should have more substance. Moving on from the abysmal title I do like the time and place its set in. Its set in a post-apocalyptic USA where the prisons are full and unemployment is at a record high. Apocalypse stories have always interested me such as 'Fallout 3 and New vegas' in games, ''I Am Legend and The Road'' in films, as a lot of the ideas presented in these are not completely ridiculous.

      In this particular apocalypse Gladiatorial races with vehicles armed to the teeth with an array of some rather impressive weaponry take part in a 3 stage race to compete for the prize of their freedom. The rules state you have to win 5 races to be released and this is where Mr Statham comes in. He takes on the role of Frankenstein a skilled racer who was killed in his final race for his freedom. Statham or Jenson Aimes takes on his identity to keep the legend alive.
       The prison is run my a bitch of woman named Hennessy. Her whole motive for this is ratings, and she gets millions of viewers signing up to watch death race which makes her a lot of money.

The whole concept behind the film is sound, its just that a lot of the acting done is really sub-par. For example Aimes' co-pilot's acting is just poor most of the lines she says are cheesy and done with little emotion/passion, she may as well be reading off a script while its being filmed.

Despite its previous downfalls the opening race in addition to the rest of the races in the film are pretty well shot and the crashes, explosions and people being brutally murdered by flying pieces of rusty metal on top of being obliterated by cars going at supernatural speeds is pretty freaking awesome.

The problem with the film then arises again between races: the support actors are really poor and some of the lines are just really badly written. For example:

''If you fuck with me, we'll see who shits on the sidewalk''

I'm sorry, but what the hell does that even mean ?! I'll tell you what it means.. nothing, which is what really annoyed me. If you're going to write a really significant line in the film which is going to shock audiences or make them remember it (fondly) then don't say something which is just cursing for the sake of cursing with no real meaning behind it. Its lines like this which really sum up the film in a really  bad way.

 Despite all the chase scenes and epic crashes the film is bought down by bad writing and acting. Which is a shame because they nailed the brutality of the races itself. But unfortunately it wasn't enough to make up for its downfalls so i'm giving it a deserved

4.5/10


Its pros do not outweigh its cons by a long shot and its not Statham's best film by a long shot. However part of the reason I initially watched the film was because he was in it. Which does prove that he is a great actor, Snatch was a quality film, but I digress.

''Sleepers''

The Greatest Priest Ever

I recently watched this because I saw it in mates house and asked if we could watch it. We did, and i was extremely glad we did. The film depicts the story of 4 boys living in Hell's Kitchen in New York back in the 80s. Hell's Kitchen was a small, almost separate, part of NYC and it essentially governed itself with a zero tolerance on crime with everyone knowing everybody, each protecting theirs and their neighbours own.  The beginning of the film shows their lives at the time, pulling pranks, exploring and just generally being kids. The film includes a few well known names such as Robert De Niro, a rogue priest who smokes, drink and all the things a man of the cloth should not do. But this is why his character is so excellent, it enhances the good parts of being a priest, like, looking after the boys, protecting his flock and the residents of Hell's Kitchen but ignoring the 'sinful' ones like smoking and drinking because choosing a path of supposed righteousness should not condemn those same people for enjoying some simple pleasures in life.

The film is set in what is basically two halves. The first half is the boys life in Hell's Kitchen when they were kids, and the second is when they have all grown up and found jobs/become criminals. Now I won't delve into too many details otherwise i'll ruin the film but i will delve into some of the particularly interesting parts of film. Such as the attraction of priesthood too two of the boys. Now as i watched it was thinking 'Why would you want to become a priest'', because i certainly wouldn't, but as we watch we realise that, as all young boys want, is action and excitement and the best way to find this is listening to real life confessions which is the real version of the stories and movies they like at the time.  One particular incident is them sneaking into the confession booth and listening to a woman who is confessing her sins of adultery. As we listen to the woman s confession we believe the woman thinks the two boys are a priest but at the end she says 'Thanks boys, i know you'll keep it too yourselves''. This is obviously quite unexpected because we think the woman is unaware that they are not a priest. One of the boys then says 'Why did she tell us if she knew who we were?'' the second then says '' I guess she had to tell someone''. This i found very interesting as it highlights another important part of religion as well as condemning it slightly as well.  It shows us that confession is a good thing but the person on the receiving end does not have to be a man of the cloth  because the whole confession act was incited by the church and is a good thing, but doing something good like coming clean does not need to be done by a believer, it just has to be done. 

The film captures emotions really well and this is shown really well by one of the main scenes in the film. The boys, due to a foolish prank end up accidentally killing someone. Now this doesnt ruin the story don't worry but the scene where it happens is fantastically well done. When the incident happens the sound goes all muffled and unclear which i think captures perfectly how people feel when something bad has happened. The look of pure terror and shock on all the boys faces, in addition to the loud ringing sound that has been added to replicate the ringing sound you feel when you hear a loud noise. The narrator also builds us up to this incident adding a sense of strong tension as we know something bad is about to happen but we don't know when or where or why. When we finally observe the horrific incident it really gives you a empty feeling in your stomach as you feel yourself in the boys position, being young, scared, alone and innocent in the fact that these boys would never intentionally harm anyone but unfortunately circumstance dictated otherwise.

This wasnt, again, so much a review more than a musing of ideas but I thought this film was too brilliant not to write about. I would recommend this film to anyone as everything about it is done so well: the cast, directing and story is all done superbly well. I'll give it a solid and deserved

9/10

And this is not an exaggeration at all 

''Thor''

I watched Thor mostly because i was bored but also thought it might be a good idea to get one of the backstories for 'The Avengers' which i still haven't seen. The film doesn't start all that well as they set it in New Mexico, which to me, is very cliche. However I haven't read the comic books so it may actually fit with them, i don't know. Anyway the film stars Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman plays an Astro-physicist, or I should say, a rather unconvincing one. This is one of the major downfalls of the film as the female character is your classic 'hot & smart' girl. So focused on her research doesn't have time for men kind of thing. Now i'm not saying it was a poor performance from her its just the character she was cast for made it difficult to break away from the stereotype that her character was. 

The film begins, like i've said, in New mexico. Natalie Portman and her friend and this old man who was a friend of her fathers (even though you don't find that out for ages and are left wondering why this random old guy is with these two girls). They're star gazing and a weird storm happens which looks a lot like the northern lights and we find out Thor has been exiled from Asgard for being reckless and arrogant and Odin therefore cast him out. 

Natalie Portman... Good actor, terrible astro physicist 

Despite what i have said so far about this film the visual effects are outstanding. The modelling and CGI on Asgard is fantastic as well as the whole culture the Asgardians have. I really like the way they have used the old style of war i.e with spears, shields, swords and the like, but have made them really futuristic and funky. They also possess the ability of space travel through some weird projection gun on the edge of the city. The combination between these two eras, if you will, is really well done which is why i wish more of the film was set in Asgard itself.

            The other great thing about this film is the costume design. As you will see in the belowe image of Odin Thor and Loki the armour they wear looks almost like s space suit but keeping with the nordic style has turned it into something quite spectacular. The red capes as well add a certain level of authenticity as far as what we assume gods wear. 

         What also irritated me was Thor's irritating lines at the beginning of the film. Saying that though i realised afterwards that the lines were done on purpose to make Thor seem like a dick, which they do. But once he has learned the error of his ways etc. etc. his lines and his general demeanour become a lot more likeable which is definitely credit to Hemsworth for being able to play two characters essentially.

Asgard. Designed and displayed beautifully 

Fantastic Costume Design. 

I also think that all of the 'gods' involved (Loki, Thor and Odin) were cast very well. Anthony Hopkins plays Odin really well as he captures the wisdom and might that a god has. However i think that Tom Hiddleston's performance was the best out of the 3 as he manages to look like the warm comforting brother when in fact he's a slimy little weasel who only wants the throne for himself and double crosses Thor instead of choosing to help him. I'm not saying Hiddlestone deserves an Oscar is just think he played Loki like the snake he was depicted to be

Overall I thought this film was average at best. A film about gods should be 'epic' but it turned out like every other superhero movie, average. However the visual effects were stunning which i liked, but unfortunately that doesn't make up for its downfalls. 

5/10

''Get Smart''

Get Smart is a film about the story of Max Smart, and agent working for the crudely named 'Control' agency which work as a CIA type force protecting the world from terrorists and the like. The main force they face is an organisation named 'Kaos' who are plotting a terrorist attack. 

The film as the opening scenes suggest is a about an agent who doesn't really know what he's doing, this is supported when we find out that Smart is a desk agent who longs to be out in the field. Despite that he is incredibly good at research and gathering intelligence. I particularly like the opening scene of this film as it shows various shots of tasks being done in order to get ready for work. Close ups of writing, putting on shoes and straightening the tie give us an insight into who this person is. 

This isnt exactly a massively important part of the film but i like the shot sequence as it reminds me of the Requiem for a Dream sequence, but with less heroine. They also include a lot of James Bond esque imagery as the film loosely bases it self around a similar set up. The Over the top number of heavy duty metal doors to get into Controls headquarters is an example of this as well as having two obvious 'geeks' who give Max gadgets loosely resemble Q in that respect.

Over the top Metal doors

As soon as Max enters the main room we are introduced to some characters which further support are guess that this is a very lighthearted agent movie and this is shown by the actors who play some of the more minor characters. Terry Crews and David Koechner play two other agents in the organisation respectively. These two are actual agents and not desk jockeys, and we begin to see immediately that their is a division between the desk workers and the agents. 

Desk Agents - Smart & Good with Computers. Rubbish at fighting 

Field Agents - Good with Weapons and fighting. Generally more stupid

These two stereotypes are what Control is based on as both need each other but don't realise it till near the end. Which is a bit of a cliche i must say but i took it with a pinch of salt as the film is abusing these stereotypes for comedic effect. 

As well as enforcing stereotypes they also take the piss out of the technology employed in James Bond. The two engineers/geeks give Smart a swiss army knife. At first we think ''Thats a bit rubbish'' but after they explain the attachments on to the knife we see the James Bond esque again because he has a crossbow and a flamethrower on his penknife. They also create the Cone of Silence which is supposed to stop people you don't want to hear listening. However it stops everyone hearing you making it a really terrible device.

Flamethrower... on a penknife ? Silly but awesome.

and a crossbow. thats just awesome.

You see in the above images the gadgets i was talking about. The below picture is from a scene where Max and his new partner Agent 99 (Ann Hathaway) are travelling to Russia to gather information. He gets arrested because the passengers overreact to him having gum on his shoe. This incident about the 'gun' on his show annoyed me as the whole oversensitive facade about terrorism in films has been done too many times. The 'gun' on his shoe annoys me especially as he clearly said gum, he has gum on his shoe and before any questions are asked he is taken down forcefully. Now, i know this is supposed to be a comedy and stuff like that happens in comedies but if they're going to exploit the oversensitivity to terrorism nowadays they should find a better way to do it. 

         Max proves to us once again that he is useless by trying to use a crossbow to cut the cable ties around his wrists. He fails sensationally by impaling himself with several crossbow bolts. Now this is the kind of thing that would usually annoy me but I get that the whole point of this is for comedic effect and using his common sense would be less funny.

Pig in a barn

assailant falls through roof and floor

shot of our heroes flying overhead

A favourite shot of mine in the film. Max 99 and their assailant are falling from a plane in a tangled freefall and 99 kisses the assialant to make him let go. the assailant falls through thr air, through the barn roof and makes a massive hole in the floor taking the pig with it. The camera pans up through the hole as we see out heroes fly overhead. I liked this because it was really quick, succinct and ends the scene nicely. 

Poor Eavesdropping Skills

Another 'James Bond Fail' eavesdropping whilst peeing. He pretends really obviously that he doesn't speak russian and eavesdrops on their conversation. Each time he looks away he stops peeing which attracts the thugs attention. This is actually pretty funny but its more the expression on Max's face that makes this scene funny. 

Despite this film being a an essential pisstake of every james bond film ever made i enjoyed it quite a bit. The slapstick moments and james bond fails make for a very entertaining film. The acting from the supporting cast is very good as most of the actors have a reputation for being in some pretty high profile  films such as Terry Crews being in 'The Longest Yard' and David Koechner in 'Anchorman'. Ann Hathaway was alright, she did the job but wasnt anything to scream about. Steve Carell continues to impress as he fills the shoes of any role and makes it his own. He has this talent of being able to bring so many similar qualities to his roles but avoids becoming type cast because of them. My final verdict is:

7/10

Worth a watch to see Steve Carell in his element but the story line could have been less cliche. 

Los Campesinos! - You'll Need those Fingers, For Crossing.

I know this isn't a film but i saw this video for the The LC! song 'You'll Need those Fingers For Crossing and loved the pure simplicity of it. As far as i can tell (and have researched) it is the official video for the song which i think is excellent because more simplistic editing and filming styles used. Not a lot of expensive equipment was used from the quality shown but who really cares ?! The slideshow of animals and of people shows, life. The slow turning of clock and pass of time. Nothing exciting needs to happen just the day to day occurrences can make for some great photos and footage. Some of the photos have some flashing colour change which does look a bit cheesy but fits with the fast tempo and the xylophone in the background makes for some very cheerful happy music. Another thing i like about this video is that a lot of the footage used is raw footage. Simple footage on a camera phone like the image below (left) of the man in the beige tshirt. His part in the video was a video of him dancing in a really strange way. However his dancing again really fits with the music as it looks like a just a spontaneous dance due to being very happy, which is also funny/nice to see. The bottom right image was of an animated baby dancing which was also a great addition. I like it because it seems like it was added purely because the creator of this video liked it. Which is perfectly understandable, its a dancing baby, who wouldn't that cheer up?  I posted the video itself at the bottom if you want to give it a watch and i wont be giving this one a rating as it doesnt compare to a movie because its a music video, simply.