The Mountain.

This isn't a film or a music video it is just an incredibly beautiful piece of filming. This video emodies everything which is good about film. The person who did these time lapses must have had such patience and understanding to get the shots and footage just right. The music also fits perfectly with the video as it compliments the soothing nature of the images you see before you.

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Last music video I promise (maybe) but again I really want to shed some light on this masterpiece of a music video. The song itself is really mellow and chilled out but the video is far from it. It shows an entire war happening but i think the clash in action and calm work really well together. The animation is also fantastic done in true Gorillaz fashion with all the characters: Russell, Murdoch, 2d and Noodle. Whats great about the Gorillaz videos is that it really brings them all to life and seeing them in a variety of situations makes them almost seem like they are the members. They each have such a unique and weird personality even though they barely ever talk.

The video also shows a small army of other artists in submarines, including Snoop Dog, backing up the Gorillaz as they fight off a weird black demon thing. I always think seeing famous people as cartoons is always amusing especially when its done so well. 

''Old School''

Old school is about 3 friends who start up a college fraternity long after they have left college. The reason for this is that Mitch (Luke Wilson) catches his girlfriend cheating on him and he buys a house on the school campus. The only way he can keep the property legally is if he starts a fraternity to contribute to the university in some way.

Even thought it could be considered as another slice of the american pie, so to speak, its actually a hilarious and very enjoyable film. The casting is fantastic as you see a lot of familiar faces who have all proved themselves in other areas of film or television. Actors like Sean William Scott who makes a brief appearance, still delivers a great few lines despite his cameo role. Rick Gonzalez who played a major role in 'Reaper' a television series which i used to be obsessed with plays a minor role but still manages to amuse us with most of his lines. Simon Helburg from the Big Bang Theory also plays a minor role, his role just proves he isn't a one trick pony and can perform on the silver screen.

Whats great about this movie is that it perfectly captures middle age men trying to recapture their youth. Seemingly obvious but its shown all through the film with things like Vince Vaughan smoking whilst dressed as a clown at a kids party including his code word with his son 'earmuffs' which he says when he wants to swear. Will Ferrell puts in a great performance as the nutter he is. With some incredible lines from him including a hysterical ribbon display for the gymnastics.

As this is a fraternity they have to have pledges and the above picture shows one particular task. I won't go into details but I think its pretty obvious what they are doing. The reason for this is a trust exercise as they are to trust their pledge masters judgement that the rope has enough....slack. One particular pledge throws off his cinder block and it crashes through a manhole and pulls him off with it, with him letting out a hilarious scream as he falls. Its comedy like this which will never die, no one will ever get tired of watching stupid people hurt themselves in films. It may be considered cliche or done before but people will never not find this funny. I know i won't even in my twilight years.

Sean William Scott: Acting like Stifler even when he isnt. Brilliant stuff from him as always.

Smoking clowns shouldnt be at birthday parties

A really good film and I think most of the reason for this is the casting. The supporting actors are excellent as they help fill out the film with extra laughs. Films with poor supporting actors are always not as good as you're always waiting for the main guy to say something funny, the casting for the guys in the fraternity was excellent and you never really know when one of them is going to make a joke or make a fool of themselves which leaves you in stitches a lot of the time.


8/10

Yonkers - Tyler the Creator

I just wanted to briefly mention a music video (again) which has caught my attention. The song is called Yonkers by Tyler the Creator and the way its shot in addition to the desaturated filter really make for a quite disturbing and mesmerising video.

The camera blurs every now and again which really adds a really creepy effect like your eyes aren't focusing properly. The whole video is just him sitting on a chair rapping at you but the video is so good you don't even care about the lack of variety. The video starts to get pretty dark as he bites the head off a cockroach and then hangs him self but this just adds to the video and makes it more powerful. Even if you dont like the song mute it and watch it because it is an incredible piece of filming

''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.