The Fab Cafe quiz-crew (Me, Calvin, Sean and King Allen) entered the official Leeds International Film Festival quiz tonight. For those of you who don't know, we go to the weekly pub-quiz at Fab Cafe and we usually win because we're that lame team in the corner that nobody likes.
Our film lecturers from uni were there, on a team. We didn't do great at the quiz, except that our mediocre score got us to joint 1st place with 2 other teams where we duked it out with tie-breakers and ended up 2nd.
We traded the meat of our prize (2 cheapish DVDs) for the meat of the 1st place prize (4 good films on blu-ray) because none of that team has a blu-ray player. The only one of us who has a blu-ray player is Calvin, but come on, blu-ray is more valuble and should fetch more on eBay. I took No Country for Old Men home and it'll remain here as a prize for when I get a blu-ray player.
The point is, we beat our lecturers. Those guys are teaching us about film and evidently, we know more than them. Either that or we just fill our heads with useless trivia. I think the latter option is more likely.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Weekly Film Round-Up #46: Leeds International Film Festival Edition!
I bought a pass for Leeds International Film Festival and by George, I'm getting my money's worth. All of these films bar 9 and An American Werewolf in London were part of the festival. (Some films don't have posters yet due to only having festival screenings so far so I've used a still from the film instead).
The Men Who Stare at Goats
For a film being hailed for being so smart, it's really quite a 'derp' comedy -by which I mean 50% of the jokes are people falling over.
It's a mildly amusing comedy with an interesting premise (purely because it's partly based on reality) and a fantastic cast, but it never feels like more than a side-project for anybody involved with it.
Watchable, but don't go out of your way.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Bright Star
It's technically brilliant in that it's shot very well and the cast are mostly great. The middle 30 minutes or so are actually very enjoyable. What lets the film down is that there's no purpose to it, no depth. The characters don't go on any sort of emotional journey and they don't learn anything or grow. It's just recounting history.
If you're going to tell a real-life story, unless the story just so happens to be perfect already (which is unlikely), embelish the fuck out of it. As long as you don't get ridiculous or disrespectful of the once-living source material, fiddle with the facts to make a narrative work. Otherwise you're left with a film like this that simply goes through the motions.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
9
I am really quite dumb-founded by the mixed reviews this film is getting. I love it. It's far from perfect but there's so much to love. The visuals are not only gorgeous but really inventive too... such of the imagery is insanely good. Most complaints seem to call the film's plot and characters shallow. I couldn't disagree more. The characters each embody a certain aspect of the soul they were created from, this makes sense. Some are likeable whilst some aren't, no problems there. The plot is fantastic and has a lot of depth. Not only is the whole 'humanity is extinct' thing cool, but it's a genuinely interesting exploration of humanity on a philosophical level. The machine 'villain' that essentially destroys the world represents human intelligence (it's built from the scientist's own mind after-all) without a soul to guide it and ultimately ends up a thing of evil. There's lots going on.
Certain aspects don't quite work but more than enough does for it to be furiously enjoyable. Plus, it's always brilliant to see animation that isn't aimed at children. Thanks to the film's 12 rating, it didn't have to shy away from showing that humanity was extinct. Dead bodies and bits of skeletons and so forth are somewhat abundant. A very good film in my opinion, certainly dicks all over Coraline which people have been bumming all year despite not being that impressive beyond visually.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10
An American Werewolf in London
I watched this as a child and sort of enjoyed it a bit but not quite due to not really getting it. Tonight I re-watched it at a restored HD screening at a cinema and I fell in love. It's magnificent.
Full of hilarious moments, often bizarre little touches that were obviously down to John Landis just dicking around. But also incredibly well crafted in terms of the story-telling and the amazing use and inventiveness of many of the shots.
Also, the main woman is hot and you get to see her boobs.
Personal enjoyment: 9/10
Actual quality as a film: 9/10
Latest from the DaDaeR
A German film made after the fall of the Berlin wall satirising the politics of the era. It's really more a piece of art than it is a film -and normally I hate films like that. If you've seen the episode of Spaced with Vulva (David Williams) then this isn't too far from his 'art'.
Two clowns basically wander around performing musical numbers and sketches. Certain pieces of imagery, shots and even the songs themselves are amazing and beautiful -the lyrics could genuinely pass as poetry.
That said, it's a very meandering film and I wish they'd attempted to keep up the plot that the film started with instead of just devolving into a series of sketches.
Still, how can you not love the simplicity of two men being thrown away in a garbage-truck and driven to the tip, then later on catching a ride on the same vehicle, utilising it for their own means? The film is full of incredibly deep imagery like that and I love it for it. That said, it could easily be labelled as pretentious -but normally I hate films that can pass for pretentious so if you ever get a chance, I highly recommend watching this film just for the experience of it... although odds are you'll never get that chance.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
The Fantastic Planet
Pretty much everything you should want from good sci-fi is evident in this film but it's not fully realised and a little diluted over the running time. That said, it's still a very thought-provoking and mostly entertaining film if a little dry.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Colin
A load of absolutely brilliant ideas all jumbled up to form a meandering mess of a film, but a noble effort from a first-time film-maker working with practically no money.
There's enough plot for a short film. That's padded out with fantastic ideas and side-moments (some of which work, some don't) and a little bit of crap. The film is FAR too long for its own good. It could have ended after Colin's mother sticks newspaper all over a window about 30 minutes before the proper ending and I'd have been quite happy but it didn't and although there were some good aspects to the stuff that followed, it just dragged.
The quality of the footage itself varied drastically from shot to shot as well. The stuff using a tripod looked good; surprisingly professional -however, whenever there was an 'action scene', things went handheld and it looked awful. The lighting also sucked due to being non-existant.
Another complaint I have is the tone. For the most part, it's a serious film, but there are lots of moments that just feel comedic. I don't know if untintentionally (due to the low budget) but certain moments such as a zombie-hunter shooting razor blades tied to pound coins into zombies' eyes to kill them just wreaked of films parodying badassery like Army of Darkness and Undead. If the film had picked a tone and stuck with it, I think it'd be a lot stronger.
Still, it's not an amazing film but it's certainly in the top half of the 70+ zombie films I've seen and that's quite an achievement given its modest beginnings.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 4/10
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Probably the most fucked up premise for a film in the history of cinema (discounting porn films, obviously -on that note I had some unsettling 2 Girls, 1 Cup flashbacks during this).
So yeah. What the fuck?
It's basically a standard slasher film except that the chases are more attempted escapes being foiled than usual chases. I'd put it in the same league as the shitty Friday the 13th remake and the Rob Zombie Halloween films that my friend keeps making me watch, but I should note, it sits at the very top of this league. It's actually a fairly enjoyable film as a bit of horror schlock but it certainly isn't original (beyond the disgusting premise) and isn't trying to say anything. Dieter Laser's performance is great, also.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
The Time Masters
Rene Laloux's next film after The Fantastic Planet. It's not as deep or thought-provoking but it's a lot more enjoyable, partly due to much better animation (though I should point out, it is still very cheap and basic stuff).
It's still very good sci-fi and although it's much more suited to children than The Fantastic Planet, again, I'd say it's a film made with adults in mind more than children.
A big plot point at the end leaves a few boarderline plot-holes and so the film almost felt like Rene just had a cool idea he wanted to cram in the film, but this might be because I've seen another film do a similar twist and that film did it better. Still, worth checking out if you're a fan of animation or science fiction.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Journey of the Childmen: The Mighty Boosh on Tour
I was hoping for a recording of their most recent live show intercut with backstage footage to form a documentary or failing that, a film that showed the Boosh as people and how they worked or failing that, something funny. Unfortunately, this documentary fails on all fronts. It's just lots of fly-on-the-wall footage of the Boosh crew but very little of the footage is actually entertaining, funny or interesting. It's quite amazing considering how funny Rich Fulcher is on most of the behind the scenes on the DVD extras.
What's left is a very futile documentary that I found watchable but then, I'm a big fan. I imagine this is destined to become a special feature for the live show's DVD release and even then, I can't see it being a particularly good special feature.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 4/10
Bunny and the Bull
As a big fan of The Mighty Boosh, I hoped film something a bit funnier than this. Most of the jokes fell flat for me and the film wasn't quick-fire enough to get away with that.
Still, the art-direction was astoundingly good. The film is set almost entirely within the main character's house and he re-lives a holiday gone awry through his memory which is triggered through things such as photos and maps. Each time a memory is triggered, the location's sets and costumes are re-created using things lying around the house. It looks great and there's a tiny bit of normal, live-action footage at the end which was shot surprisingly fantastically well, to the point that I almost wished there was more of that and less crazy map-worlds.
The film's ending also packed a surprisingly strong emotional punch for me. In fact, if the whole film had been as good as the ending... well, I'd be raving about this. Good plot can overcome weak comedy.
The lead actor is a bit crap, but Simon Farnaby is good enough as his 'sidekick' to drag him along with the help of cameos from Richard Ayoade, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding (the film picks up every time one of them is on screen; they just behave as they always do, wheeling out a standard voice from The Mighty Boosh, but they have good enough comedy timing for it to still work).
So yeah, a film with lots of great ideas, but not exactly pulled off to perfection. Shame really, it could have been so much more. Oh, the music was nice too.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Crying with Laughter
Probably the best film I've seen at the film festival so far. A formularic thriller, but the formula is played out to perfection. The lead performance from Stephen McCole is magnificent and although the film suffers from a slow start, once it gets going, it's edge of the seat stuff. It reminded me of the sorts of thrillers Daniel Craig did before he got the job as bond; the difference being that this film is actually good.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10
A Serious Man
I simply do not 'get' the Coen brothers' sense of humour. I was sat through this film absolutely baffled as to why people were laughing. It wasn't that I got the jokes and didn't find them funny, it was that I didn't even understand how things could be seen as funny. For example, there's a point where the lead character basically breaks down and starts crying. People laughed. I thought it was just depressing, poor man.
I enjoyed the film, as I do all Coen brothers comedies, but I didn't find it funny, as I don't all Coen brothers comedies (except for The Hudsucker Proxy but I put that one down to Sam Raimi). That said, I think it's a safe bet that if you found their other films funny, you'll find this one equally or even more funny.
So yeah, a dark, depressing story and somewhat annoyingly well... spoiler of sorts:
There basically isn't an ending. There's certainly no conclusion. That wouldn't normally annoy me but this is the 3rd Coen bros. movie in a row to use that 'trick' and it's not unpredictable any more.
I hope the Coen brothers make a horror film one day because if the intensity of the first scene in this film and No Country for Old Men are anything to go by, it'd be the scariest film ever. Shame they probably never will.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10 (very well made but the characters don't really go on any sort of 'journey' and I just can't get strongly behind a film that's so purposely pointless.
The Men Who Stare at Goats
For a film being hailed for being so smart, it's really quite a 'derp' comedy -by which I mean 50% of the jokes are people falling over.
It's a mildly amusing comedy with an interesting premise (purely because it's partly based on reality) and a fantastic cast, but it never feels like more than a side-project for anybody involved with it.
Watchable, but don't go out of your way.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Bright Star
It's technically brilliant in that it's shot very well and the cast are mostly great. The middle 30 minutes or so are actually very enjoyable. What lets the film down is that there's no purpose to it, no depth. The characters don't go on any sort of emotional journey and they don't learn anything or grow. It's just recounting history.
If you're going to tell a real-life story, unless the story just so happens to be perfect already (which is unlikely), embelish the fuck out of it. As long as you don't get ridiculous or disrespectful of the once-living source material, fiddle with the facts to make a narrative work. Otherwise you're left with a film like this that simply goes through the motions.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
9
I am really quite dumb-founded by the mixed reviews this film is getting. I love it. It's far from perfect but there's so much to love. The visuals are not only gorgeous but really inventive too... such of the imagery is insanely good. Most complaints seem to call the film's plot and characters shallow. I couldn't disagree more. The characters each embody a certain aspect of the soul they were created from, this makes sense. Some are likeable whilst some aren't, no problems there. The plot is fantastic and has a lot of depth. Not only is the whole 'humanity is extinct' thing cool, but it's a genuinely interesting exploration of humanity on a philosophical level. The machine 'villain' that essentially destroys the world represents human intelligence (it's built from the scientist's own mind after-all) without a soul to guide it and ultimately ends up a thing of evil. There's lots going on.
Certain aspects don't quite work but more than enough does for it to be furiously enjoyable. Plus, it's always brilliant to see animation that isn't aimed at children. Thanks to the film's 12 rating, it didn't have to shy away from showing that humanity was extinct. Dead bodies and bits of skeletons and so forth are somewhat abundant. A very good film in my opinion, certainly dicks all over Coraline which people have been bumming all year despite not being that impressive beyond visually.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10
An American Werewolf in London
I watched this as a child and sort of enjoyed it a bit but not quite due to not really getting it. Tonight I re-watched it at a restored HD screening at a cinema and I fell in love. It's magnificent.
Full of hilarious moments, often bizarre little touches that were obviously down to John Landis just dicking around. But also incredibly well crafted in terms of the story-telling and the amazing use and inventiveness of many of the shots.
Also, the main woman is hot and you get to see her boobs.
Personal enjoyment: 9/10
Actual quality as a film: 9/10
Latest from the DaDaeR
A German film made after the fall of the Berlin wall satirising the politics of the era. It's really more a piece of art than it is a film -and normally I hate films like that. If you've seen the episode of Spaced with Vulva (David Williams) then this isn't too far from his 'art'.
Two clowns basically wander around performing musical numbers and sketches. Certain pieces of imagery, shots and even the songs themselves are amazing and beautiful -the lyrics could genuinely pass as poetry.
That said, it's a very meandering film and I wish they'd attempted to keep up the plot that the film started with instead of just devolving into a series of sketches.
Still, how can you not love the simplicity of two men being thrown away in a garbage-truck and driven to the tip, then later on catching a ride on the same vehicle, utilising it for their own means? The film is full of incredibly deep imagery like that and I love it for it. That said, it could easily be labelled as pretentious -but normally I hate films that can pass for pretentious so if you ever get a chance, I highly recommend watching this film just for the experience of it... although odds are you'll never get that chance.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
The Fantastic Planet
Pretty much everything you should want from good sci-fi is evident in this film but it's not fully realised and a little diluted over the running time. That said, it's still a very thought-provoking and mostly entertaining film if a little dry.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Colin
A load of absolutely brilliant ideas all jumbled up to form a meandering mess of a film, but a noble effort from a first-time film-maker working with practically no money.
There's enough plot for a short film. That's padded out with fantastic ideas and side-moments (some of which work, some don't) and a little bit of crap. The film is FAR too long for its own good. It could have ended after Colin's mother sticks newspaper all over a window about 30 minutes before the proper ending and I'd have been quite happy but it didn't and although there were some good aspects to the stuff that followed, it just dragged.
The quality of the footage itself varied drastically from shot to shot as well. The stuff using a tripod looked good; surprisingly professional -however, whenever there was an 'action scene', things went handheld and it looked awful. The lighting also sucked due to being non-existant.
Another complaint I have is the tone. For the most part, it's a serious film, but there are lots of moments that just feel comedic. I don't know if untintentionally (due to the low budget) but certain moments such as a zombie-hunter shooting razor blades tied to pound coins into zombies' eyes to kill them just wreaked of films parodying badassery like Army of Darkness and Undead. If the film had picked a tone and stuck with it, I think it'd be a lot stronger.
Still, it's not an amazing film but it's certainly in the top half of the 70+ zombie films I've seen and that's quite an achievement given its modest beginnings.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 4/10
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Probably the most fucked up premise for a film in the history of cinema (discounting porn films, obviously -on that note I had some unsettling 2 Girls, 1 Cup flashbacks during this).
So yeah. What the fuck?
It's basically a standard slasher film except that the chases are more attempted escapes being foiled than usual chases. I'd put it in the same league as the shitty Friday the 13th remake and the Rob Zombie Halloween films that my friend keeps making me watch, but I should note, it sits at the very top of this league. It's actually a fairly enjoyable film as a bit of horror schlock but it certainly isn't original (beyond the disgusting premise) and isn't trying to say anything. Dieter Laser's performance is great, also.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
The Time Masters
Rene Laloux's next film after The Fantastic Planet. It's not as deep or thought-provoking but it's a lot more enjoyable, partly due to much better animation (though I should point out, it is still very cheap and basic stuff).
It's still very good sci-fi and although it's much more suited to children than The Fantastic Planet, again, I'd say it's a film made with adults in mind more than children.
A big plot point at the end leaves a few boarderline plot-holes and so the film almost felt like Rene just had a cool idea he wanted to cram in the film, but this might be because I've seen another film do a similar twist and that film did it better. Still, worth checking out if you're a fan of animation or science fiction.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Journey of the Childmen: The Mighty Boosh on Tour
I was hoping for a recording of their most recent live show intercut with backstage footage to form a documentary or failing that, a film that showed the Boosh as people and how they worked or failing that, something funny. Unfortunately, this documentary fails on all fronts. It's just lots of fly-on-the-wall footage of the Boosh crew but very little of the footage is actually entertaining, funny or interesting. It's quite amazing considering how funny Rich Fulcher is on most of the behind the scenes on the DVD extras.
What's left is a very futile documentary that I found watchable but then, I'm a big fan. I imagine this is destined to become a special feature for the live show's DVD release and even then, I can't see it being a particularly good special feature.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 4/10
Bunny and the Bull
As a big fan of The Mighty Boosh, I hoped film something a bit funnier than this. Most of the jokes fell flat for me and the film wasn't quick-fire enough to get away with that.
Still, the art-direction was astoundingly good. The film is set almost entirely within the main character's house and he re-lives a holiday gone awry through his memory which is triggered through things such as photos and maps. Each time a memory is triggered, the location's sets and costumes are re-created using things lying around the house. It looks great and there's a tiny bit of normal, live-action footage at the end which was shot surprisingly fantastically well, to the point that I almost wished there was more of that and less crazy map-worlds.
The film's ending also packed a surprisingly strong emotional punch for me. In fact, if the whole film had been as good as the ending... well, I'd be raving about this. Good plot can overcome weak comedy.
The lead actor is a bit crap, but Simon Farnaby is good enough as his 'sidekick' to drag him along with the help of cameos from Richard Ayoade, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding (the film picks up every time one of them is on screen; they just behave as they always do, wheeling out a standard voice from The Mighty Boosh, but they have good enough comedy timing for it to still work).
So yeah, a film with lots of great ideas, but not exactly pulled off to perfection. Shame really, it could have been so much more. Oh, the music was nice too.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Crying with Laughter
Probably the best film I've seen at the film festival so far. A formularic thriller, but the formula is played out to perfection. The lead performance from Stephen McCole is magnificent and although the film suffers from a slow start, once it gets going, it's edge of the seat stuff. It reminded me of the sorts of thrillers Daniel Craig did before he got the job as bond; the difference being that this film is actually good.
Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10
A Serious Man
I simply do not 'get' the Coen brothers' sense of humour. I was sat through this film absolutely baffled as to why people were laughing. It wasn't that I got the jokes and didn't find them funny, it was that I didn't even understand how things could be seen as funny. For example, there's a point where the lead character basically breaks down and starts crying. People laughed. I thought it was just depressing, poor man.
I enjoyed the film, as I do all Coen brothers comedies, but I didn't find it funny, as I don't all Coen brothers comedies (except for The Hudsucker Proxy but I put that one down to Sam Raimi). That said, I think it's a safe bet that if you found their other films funny, you'll find this one equally or even more funny.
So yeah, a dark, depressing story and somewhat annoyingly well... spoiler of sorts:
There basically isn't an ending. There's certainly no conclusion. That wouldn't normally annoy me but this is the 3rd Coen bros. movie in a row to use that 'trick' and it's not unpredictable any more.
I hope the Coen brothers make a horror film one day because if the intensity of the first scene in this film and No Country for Old Men are anything to go by, it'd be the scariest film ever. Shame they probably never will.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10 (very well made but the characters don't really go on any sort of 'journey' and I just can't get strongly behind a film that's so purposely pointless.
Monday, 2 November 2009
Weekly Film Round-Up #45
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Entertaining enough to sit through but hardly great. I enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying the first one though. Had a bunch of 'wtf moments' which I understand are just because the director is nuts.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
Dan in Real Life
A nice little, light-hearted, quirk-fest of a comedy but one that does often feel like it's trying a bit too hard. That said, it's a sweet story and has some interesting ideas in it. It's a bit predictable and cliched but it's enjoyable and Steve Carell gives a good performance as usual.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Entertaining enough to sit through but hardly great. I enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying the first one though. Had a bunch of 'wtf moments' which I understand are just because the director is nuts.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
Dan in Real Life
A nice little, light-hearted, quirk-fest of a comedy but one that does often feel like it's trying a bit too hard. That said, it's a sweet story and has some interesting ideas in it. It's a bit predictable and cliched but it's enjoyable and Steve Carell gives a good performance as usual.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Thought for the Day
From a distance, freckles look like a tan. It's the same principle used in pop-art.
Hallow's Eve
For Halloween, me and my friend, Sean went as Shaun and zombie Ed from Shaun of the Dead. Can you believe no one knew who were supposed to be? We had the best costumes there, everyone else was just a generic dead person or a generic vampire or a generic cat or something. We even had props.
Sean of the Dead
Me in all my splendor.
Sean of the Dead
Me in all my splendor.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
The Hardest I've Laughed in a While
I love how 90% of Japanese culture is basically Western (mostly American) culture where half of it has gotten lost in translation. This for example appears to be Japan's answer to YMCA. It's amazing on every level.
EDIT: After a bit of reading, it turns out that it's a parody video made as part of a Japanese sketch-show. That's less funny but it's still worth a watch.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Weekly Film Round-Up #44
Pontypool
This film really pissed me off because I thought of a very similar concept for a film about a year ago and now I can't do anything with it because "it's been done". That, and the film starts amazingly then flushes the established quality down the toilet.
The first 2 thirds of this film are amazing. Up there with the best cinema of the year, the best zombie movies of all time and even the scariest films of all time. Then it's revealed that the zombie 'virus' is spread through words. That's right, there's no physical entity, just a virus that somehow survives within words of the Englsh language. What starts out as an incredibly original, intelligent and bloody well executed film turns into something utterly ridiculous. About 10 minutes later, when I'd accepted the retarded plot turn, I carried on enjoying the film but the disregard for living within the world of science (or sci-fi) made this film go from an 8 or 9 out of 10 to a 7 for me. That plus the very ending has been done many a time before within the zombie genre.
All in all, a mixes awesomeness with awesome levels of stupidity.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10 (the first 2 thirds get 9)
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Zombie Strippers
Just terrible. Terrible on every level except (surprisingly) special effects. With exceptions here and there, most of the special effects are surprisingly good (for a zombie movie).
But that still leaves the terrible dialogue and story and all those plot-holes and so on. But to be fair to the film, there are a handful of very funny moments. I think a review I read on Aintitcoolnews sums the film up better than I can with saying it's "exactly what you'd expect from a film called 'Zombie Strippers'. If you think that sounds like a good film, then you'll probably enjoy this, otherwise don't bother unless you're really into your zombie films like myself.
Personal enjoyment: 4/10
Actual quality as a film: 3/10
Fantastic Mr. Fox
A really bizarre film. Incredibly Wes Anderson despite being animated. Full of odd jokes, some of which are hilarious. I loved it for a while then I began to get bored... as is the case with most Wes Anderson films that I've seen. There's a lot to like about them, but they never quite become the sum of their parts. It's still a very enjoyable film though, and worth watching if you're a fan of animation or the story or Wes Anderson. Bill Murray is in it. Bill Murray.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
This film really pissed me off because I thought of a very similar concept for a film about a year ago and now I can't do anything with it because "it's been done". That, and the film starts amazingly then flushes the established quality down the toilet.
The first 2 thirds of this film are amazing. Up there with the best cinema of the year, the best zombie movies of all time and even the scariest films of all time. Then it's revealed that the zombie 'virus' is spread through words. That's right, there's no physical entity, just a virus that somehow survives within words of the Englsh language. What starts out as an incredibly original, intelligent and bloody well executed film turns into something utterly ridiculous. About 10 minutes later, when I'd accepted the retarded plot turn, I carried on enjoying the film but the disregard for living within the world of science (or sci-fi) made this film go from an 8 or 9 out of 10 to a 7 for me. That plus the very ending has been done many a time before within the zombie genre.
All in all, a mixes awesomeness with awesome levels of stupidity.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10 (the first 2 thirds get 9)
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Zombie Strippers
Just terrible. Terrible on every level except (surprisingly) special effects. With exceptions here and there, most of the special effects are surprisingly good (for a zombie movie).
But that still leaves the terrible dialogue and story and all those plot-holes and so on. But to be fair to the film, there are a handful of very funny moments. I think a review I read on Aintitcoolnews sums the film up better than I can with saying it's "exactly what you'd expect from a film called 'Zombie Strippers'. If you think that sounds like a good film, then you'll probably enjoy this, otherwise don't bother unless you're really into your zombie films like myself.
Personal enjoyment: 4/10
Actual quality as a film: 3/10
Fantastic Mr. Fox
A really bizarre film. Incredibly Wes Anderson despite being animated. Full of odd jokes, some of which are hilarious. I loved it for a while then I began to get bored... as is the case with most Wes Anderson films that I've seen. There's a lot to like about them, but they never quite become the sum of their parts. It's still a very enjoyable film though, and worth watching if you're a fan of animation or the story or Wes Anderson. Bill Murray is in it. Bill Murray.
Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10
Monday, 19 October 2009
Weekly Film Round-Up #43
Halloween (2007)
Terrible; one of the worst films I've ever seen. Incredibly dull, tries too hard to have depth with little art-house moments that fall completely flat, just one person dying after another with characters behaving incredibly stupidly. The constant slew of cameos is really annoying too as it only stops you from being able to get into the film.
The plot is wafer-thin and annoyingly the film attempts to explain why Michael Myers is so mental but then the explanation it gives it bullcrap.
Really shit.
Personal enjoyment: 2/10
Actual quality as a film: 2/10
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
A giant mess. A lot of good ideas but it feels like they started filming with only a half-written script and made the rest up as they went along. This is probably a result of Heath Ledger dying half-way through the film's shoot and to be fair, with that in mind, the film does a good job of keeping itself together; but it hardly does it any favours.
As usual, Terry Gilliam's art design is really full of wonder and splendor and such and for the most part, the acting is very... charismatic. Unfortunately, the film is just a big mess of ideas and full of not-so-much-plot-holes-but-near-enough-to-annoy. It feels almost like a poor man's 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'. But hey, it has Tom Waits playing The Devil so there's a lot to enjoy. Ultimately, it never really comes together to form the sum of its parts.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
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Like too many British comedies, this might as well have been a TV movie. It lacks scope but feels like it's really trying to not lack scope which just makes its shortcomings more obvious.
There's no ending and it tries to get away without answering things that need answers. And Chris O'Dowd isn't made to yell and shout at all which is obviously what makes him funny (just look at The IT Crowd). There's a tiny bit of wit here and there but most of the jokes are either too broad, don't go fair enough or are just poorly delivered.
It's very easy to watch but it's the kind of film that'll leave you feeling empty unless you're content with films being nothing more than time-wasters.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
Halloween II (2009)
Twice as good as the first film! So that's 4/10.
I went to see this as a favour to a friend. I'm not a fan of Halloween as a franchise, I'm not a fan of slasher films in general and I thought the first 'Halloween' (the remake) was God-awful.
This film is equally as bad from a technical stand-point (awful writing: scenes that have no relevance to the plot or character development or anything plus terrible dialogue and far too many moments where characters behave like complete retards -plus there's no explanation given for how Michael Myers is alive again AFTER BEING SHOT IN THE FACE).
The camera work is all over the place. There are some very nice shots but also lots of 'omg-injecting' shakey-cam. The acting is mostly atrocious, especially in the scenes involving Rob Zombie's wife who is crow-barred in pointlessly and incredibly self-indulgently -in fact, if I had to sum the film up in two words, they'd be self-indulgent. Rob Zombie leaves scenes playing longer than he should because he likes the song playing, or he puts scenes in with no relevance to anything because he wanted to put a band he likes in the film, and did I mention his wife?
Malcolm McDowell is the best thing about the film and his role is also an act of self-indulgence. He shouldn't have been in the film as he barely interacts with the main characters and when he does, he achieves nothing -he's like the guy who goes to save everyone and gets an axe in the back almost instantly in 'The Shining'. He was only there for comedy relief and because he's a 'fan-favourite'. That said, his scenes are the best thing about the movie. It was essentially Malcolm thrown into a sitcom set-up with some woman every now and then to break up the murder.
Basically this film sucks, just like everything Rob Zombie touches.
Personal enjoyment: 4/10
Actual quality as a film: 3/10
Terrible; one of the worst films I've ever seen. Incredibly dull, tries too hard to have depth with little art-house moments that fall completely flat, just one person dying after another with characters behaving incredibly stupidly. The constant slew of cameos is really annoying too as it only stops you from being able to get into the film.
The plot is wafer-thin and annoyingly the film attempts to explain why Michael Myers is so mental but then the explanation it gives it bullcrap.
Really shit.
Personal enjoyment: 2/10
Actual quality as a film: 2/10
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
A giant mess. A lot of good ideas but it feels like they started filming with only a half-written script and made the rest up as they went along. This is probably a result of Heath Ledger dying half-way through the film's shoot and to be fair, with that in mind, the film does a good job of keeping itself together; but it hardly does it any favours.
As usual, Terry Gilliam's art design is really full of wonder and splendor and such and for the most part, the acting is very... charismatic. Unfortunately, the film is just a big mess of ideas and full of not-so-much-plot-holes-but-near-enough-to-annoy. It feels almost like a poor man's 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'. But hey, it has Tom Waits playing The Devil so there's a lot to enjoy. Ultimately, it never really comes together to form the sum of its parts.
Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 6/10
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Like too many British comedies, this might as well have been a TV movie. It lacks scope but feels like it's really trying to not lack scope which just makes its shortcomings more obvious.
There's no ending and it tries to get away without answering things that need answers. And Chris O'Dowd isn't made to yell and shout at all which is obviously what makes him funny (just look at The IT Crowd). There's a tiny bit of wit here and there but most of the jokes are either too broad, don't go fair enough or are just poorly delivered.
It's very easy to watch but it's the kind of film that'll leave you feeling empty unless you're content with films being nothing more than time-wasters.
Personal enjoyment: 5/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10
Halloween II (2009)
Twice as good as the first film! So that's 4/10.
I went to see this as a favour to a friend. I'm not a fan of Halloween as a franchise, I'm not a fan of slasher films in general and I thought the first 'Halloween' (the remake) was God-awful.
This film is equally as bad from a technical stand-point (awful writing: scenes that have no relevance to the plot or character development or anything plus terrible dialogue and far too many moments where characters behave like complete retards -plus there's no explanation given for how Michael Myers is alive again AFTER BEING SHOT IN THE FACE).
The camera work is all over the place. There are some very nice shots but also lots of 'omg-injecting' shakey-cam. The acting is mostly atrocious, especially in the scenes involving Rob Zombie's wife who is crow-barred in pointlessly and incredibly self-indulgently -in fact, if I had to sum the film up in two words, they'd be self-indulgent. Rob Zombie leaves scenes playing longer than he should because he likes the song playing, or he puts scenes in with no relevance to anything because he wanted to put a band he likes in the film, and did I mention his wife?
Malcolm McDowell is the best thing about the film and his role is also an act of self-indulgence. He shouldn't have been in the film as he barely interacts with the main characters and when he does, he achieves nothing -he's like the guy who goes to save everyone and gets an axe in the back almost instantly in 'The Shining'. He was only there for comedy relief and because he's a 'fan-favourite'. That said, his scenes are the best thing about the movie. It was essentially Malcolm thrown into a sitcom set-up with some woman every now and then to break up the murder.
Basically this film sucks, just like everything Rob Zombie touches.
Personal enjoyment: 4/10
Actual quality as a film: 3/10
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