Creature

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Baaahahahahahhahahaahhahahah!!!

Oh man.

Hilarious. Most blatant Alien rip-off I've ever witnessed.

Words. Cannot. Describe.

Dragonslayer

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

Write Up.

I may have been a little harsh with that last write up, but really that music ruins what would otherwise be a fun and unusually dark disney 80's fantasy film.

DeepStar Six

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

I can never watch The Abyss again for the first time. That's one of the sad things about storytelling. I still love revisiting it though, it's one of those great movies that has everything in it and really takes you along for the ride. But thankfully for me Hollywood produced not one but SIX underwater adventure/creature films in 1989. SIX. (Out of them all the only other one I have seen is Leviathan, but they also include The Evil Below, Lords of the Deep and The Rift aka Endless Decent. I think I must make it my mission to see them all.)

Of course nothing will ever come close to the awesomeness of James Cameron's epic but horror maestro Sean S. Cunningham takes a stab (terrible joke). And indeed this one has an awful lot in common with the former title and is quite entertaining. It also features a very Friday the 13th ending moment which made me giggle.

While this primarily is a creature feature it does well enough in other areas to hold together well. And the creature is pretty funky too. It has a cast filled with recognisable 90's actors who you've seen in a thousand things before but just don't know the name of.

The one thing this does have the The Abyss doesn't is a bit of gore. Some nice deaths in this one, a favourite being death by an air gun thingy. You'll see.

I had a lot of fun with this one. Pretty similar to Leviathan in that respect although I dare say I think this was just a little classier. Let's see how the others hold up.

The Fall

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tim, Kim

Write up.

Beautiful film. Another all time favourite.

Brazil

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tim

Write Up.

Looks great on bluray on a big screen. Such a chaotic film but so great. All time classic.

The Avengers

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Belinda, Paul, Claire, Blair

Write Up.

The midnight screening is always so enjoyable. A crowd of fans that want nothing more than the love the film and this one delivers.

Thankfully the aspect ratio was correct this time so none of the subtitles were cropped. That mysterious scene that was recently reported being filmed is still absent from after the credit role. I guess I'll just have to go back and see it again in May. Well I need to see it again anyway, there's still a lot of dialogue I've never heard over the sounds of laughter from the audience. Not a bad problem for a film to have.

The Lucky One

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Scott Hicks made a big break out with Shine. I presumed he hadn't done much after his follow up but was surprised to find I've actually seen 3 of the romance films he's made since. Add this latest Nicholas Sparks adaptationto the list. If you've seen one you've seen them all.

They have become predictable to a degree that when I sat down to watch this and the film opens with a helicopter pull back shot of a boat on a river at sunset I thought, oh this should be the end shot that the credit roll goes over, which sure enough it was. But who the hell opens a film with a pull BACK shot anyway? Must have been a last minute bookend decision. 

As much as you can blame the blatant romance formula at work here it really doesn't help that it's one of those films where the trailer shows you all the beats and has been playing for the past 3 months in front of every single film to the degree where I can recite it.

It's actually very canny and no-one can argue that it doesn't hit its target audience, who want nothing more than some some safe ad predictable trash to enjoy on a night out with the girls or drag a boyfriend to and if he puts up with the sap he's proven sensitive enough to get laid that night. I had both parties sitting either side of me. I don't think the guy got so lucky that night though, the film was too much for him and he made this known much to the dismay of his partner.

For the girls though this film panders like I've never seen before. A hot masculine war hero, who's also incredibly sensitive, intelligent and struggling with an inner turmoil, just begging to be loved. Add to that he spends half the film cuddling cute little puppies and playing with an adorable kid. Then we have the girl of his affections, who he's uncontrollably drawn to. She's not a big movie star so none of the girls feel threatened and can easily put themselves in her shoes.

They get no less than 5 make out sessions over the course of the film ranging from a small kiss to the most classily lit softcore porn available from PG-13 rated film. They really push the limits here. 

While the 3rd act complication (in this case it's a photo) is a complete dud here and doesn't really work the way it's supposed to, they are given a common enemy to overcome. Unfortunately he's also completely 2 diminutional and is removed from the story in one of the most heinous uses of deus ex machina I've seen in quite a while. 

So besides the 30 minutes of required story beats, you have an hour of hot steamy wish fulfilment that is too classy to actually be called porn because it takes place in a fantasy world where it is perpetually magic hour. You can't argue that the film it gloriously lit, warm and inviting.

It's hard to be upset by a film that knows exactly what it is doing and is shameless in accomplishing it. You know if you want to watch this film or not. Your opinions are made already and seeing the film will only confirm your suspicions whichever way they may go. Transparent filmmaking at its finest.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan

Write Ups.

Watched with the Commentary today. Wonderful. Love this film so much.

Art School Confidential

IMDB

First time viewed: No

Current Release: No

Watched With: Kim, Jordan, Tyler

Terry Zwigoff made a big splash adapting Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Ghost World. Thats was pretty cool. Here they team up again to bring us a similar coming of age story this time set in the pretentious world of Art College, which provides plenty of hilarious fodder for characters and situations. They also manage to cram in a murder mystery on the side. Good for them.

This has a great cast that provide some very amusing characters. I find this film hilarious and a bit more accessible than Ghost World, primarily for the fact that the ending feels more definitive. It's a great little satire that I think has been overlooked but deserves more recognition. 

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Michael, Kim

Write Up.

This movie is all kinds of awesomeness. One of those big stories that encompasses so much on the journey and it feels epic. It's beautiful, sad, funny and horrifying in perfect amounts, has one of the best scores of the past decade, beautifully shot and sumptuous production design. Definitely one of my favourites.

It's a rare film that starts out "Ohh it's a period piece? I love that" to "Wow, did not expect this to end in a city wide orgy."

Battle Royale

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Kim

Write Up.

Battle Royale is teh awes. I think I appreciate it more each time I watch. And I do wish it was longer and we could spend more time with the characters before and during. I'm also more intrigued by the outside society and the larger context in which this takes place, probably since seeing Hunger Games and how well they handle that side of things. Maybe I should just read the Manga.

Island of Lost Souls

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

I'm a massive War of the Worlds nut but I've never given as much attentions H.G. Wells' other stories. With the Island of Dr. Moreau I grew up with the 1996 version that had David Thewlis, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk and Marlon Brando. It's been a very long time since I've seen that but I do remember enjoying it as a kid. (Apparently it's now regarded as one of the worst films ever made, so I must have had teriible taste as a child. Be interested to see it again...)

This version is pretty damn fantastic though. I can imagine just how effective and controversial it would have been in 1932 because it's still rather effective. While it does have all the conventions of 30's cinema that may make it seem a little dated today there are still parts of it that bring the horror.

I'm also slightly ashamed to admit that this is one of only a handful of Bela Lugosi films I've ever seen. He's made many classics that I've yet to take a look at, so I should get to that very soon. I doubt they'll all be as great as this one though.

Some nice creature effects too.