The Fog

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No

Write Up.

I have always wanted to watch this at the designated time mentioned in the film. 11:55pm on the 20th of April. I remembered this year and made sure to be ready. Apart from that novelty it's always nice to watch this again. I keep forgetting the two generations of Leighs'. And how vicious some of it feels. Nice.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

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

Never saw this one on release. It just didn't look very interesting and I've avoided it for many years not ever really knowing what it was about other than some horses. Due to a series of fun dares and egging on I ended up watching it for the first time tonight. Probably could have done without that, but now I know.

There were some pretty visuals. A lot of 3D rendered as 2D. Some great 2D animation on the horses. Although they don't speak they are pretty anthropomorphic. And Matt Damon's internal narration of the title character often leave you at a loss as to how much the horse actually understands as to what is going on with the humans.

For a while there I wasn't sure if there were ever going to be humans. Or even conflict of any kind. The opening is just a bunch of horses having a good time in a long since destroyed wilderness.

That's part of the problem here. Even more so than the Ice Age films no matter what happy resolution the film came to we all know what happened to the west, to the indians, to the country. It leaves a sour note hanging over the whole proceedings, no matter how hard they try to keep everything happy, uplifting and inspirational.

There's no singing from the characters, just some... questionable... Brian Adams songs plastered throughout. Oh man they made me cringe.

All in all, I didn't like it and I can see why it didn't do well. Technically it's top of the line. But creatively it's just flaccid and rather ill-advised.

Frankenweenie

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

Write Up.

Such a fun little film.

Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack

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

What. The. Fuck.

Aladdin

IMDB

First time viewed: No

Current Release: No

Watched With: Michael

Aladdin just came out of the vault, so I picked up the Bluray. I used to watch this one a great deal when I was younger, I remember seeing it once at the cinema with the family and once with my year 2 class on an outing, and then many more times on VHS. It looks very different in HD, you can really see all the brush strokes in the painted backgrounds. Mainly I liked the songs, but I think then and very much so now, I still preferred watching The Thief of Bagdad.

When I look at it now I cringe a little at the post modern pop culture references from the genie. It seems to have started a trend that is so prevalent nowadays in animated kids films, especially the early Dreamworks CG animation that drive me a little nuts. Never bothered me as a kid though. This film makes me miss Howard Ashman and makes me want to watch The Thief of Bagdad.

Afterschool

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

I don't think I've ever seen a film this detached. Elephant comes close though and I guess it's similar in other ways too. The framing can be abstracted, often cutting off heads or filmed from behind. We don't even get a look at our main characters until halfway through the film.

Which is one of the reasons I did not recognise Ezra Miller at all. The other being that he is much younger here than how I know him.

This is a very slow and observant film. And the character at the heart of it remains largely illusive. It can be tedious actually. But there were some interesting moments and the film certainly has something on its mind. A tough watch for not very much reward.

Sinister

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes

Write Up.

Listened to writer and Director commentary. Some interesting stuff too.

Drift

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

Write Up.

Finally saw the film in a proper cinema. It did help the sound. It's a pretty crowd pleasing film and as I said before it has some beautiful surfing photography. The actors are all fine and the script is ok too, it follows a lot of usual beats and I think the theme gets a little muddled in amongst the various plot lines they juggle but over all it was a pretty inoffensive and well put together little number.

The Invisible Man

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

I've neglected my Universal Monsters bluray box set. Time to get back into it.

I've always loved H.G. Wells' stories but I never got into this one. Although I did always love Hollow Man...

Given the Universal treatment it comes across as less engaging and slightly more camp Frankenstein, with a dark ending. There are some big performances here. A couple I don't think really fit in with the picture.

Some of the early invisible effects are pretty neat though.

Rachel Getting Married

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

Some great performances in Jonathan Demme's vérité experiment. At times a little too real. There are many occasions where it feels like watching a real wedding video, where we see the speeches and drunken dancing of people we don't know go on and on for hours.