Creep

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Another film I've seen early enough that there's no trailer released for it yet. But man, it was a real joy to go into blind.

It's a found footage (horror?) movie, produced by Jason Blum, so you'd think it'd go the Paranormal Activity route. And while it does have much in common with those films, it stars and is co-written by Mark Duplass, which should be your first clue, it's not just a straight up horror film.

Now I love the film Creep from 10 years ago, with Run Lola Run stuck in the London underground. That's great fun. If another film it gonna come along and take that title it had better be damn creepy. Man, this film rises to the challenge.

The basic premise, A young filmmaker in need of money responds to a personal ad for a videographer, $1000 for one day of filming, discretion appreciated. I don't want to spoil the fun, suffice to say the young dude meets Duplass' character and he is wonderfully hilarious and utterly creepy.

The whole crowd was squirming in their seats. And it's not because of horror or gore, sure there are a few jump scares. But no, it's a horror film about really awkward social situations. Of course things seem to get darker as they go along and we find out more about this mysterious character but really, it's just these delightfully awkward conversations with a multitude of  possible hidden agendas, that let your mind race. I hope you get the chance to see the film without knowing anything more about it than that, because just trying to figure out this character's intentions is a lot of the fun.

This is a really odd tone to try and describe but I absolutely loved it. Well worth cheating out.

The Skeleton Twins

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

This film gets by on Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader's natural charm. And I shouldn't discount Luke Wilson either, but he's not done many favours by the script. It's a slight little drama and I love watching these actors play, which is enjoyable enough to recommend the film, but really there's not much more to it than that.

The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

So Takashi Miike has gone back o making Yakuza films. Based off the Manga and completely insane, as you'd expect from him, it's also probably the funniest film I've ever seen from him. Utterly hilarious from beginning to end, fast paced and filled with his usual cinematic inventiveness. Not as much of his usual excessive gore but there are still one or two moments, played more for laughs though. This is easily accessible Miike and should really be seen and enjoyed. A delirious comic take on the undercover police agent film. I hope there's more.

The Distance

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Three telepathic dwarfs are contacted by an artist being held prisoner in an abandoned power station by a madman, whose search for the paranormal and interdimentional lead to his death 4 years earlier. And so the strangest heist movie ever made begins.

Utterly bizarre, completely absurd, very slow paced and quiet too which made it a little tough to sit through. It's a really odd one. The ending was pretty funny though.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Studio Ghibli's latest (and hopefully not their last) is a version of a traditional folk tale, beautifully animated in a rough watercolour style. It's very beautiful animation and features some really stunning sequences visually.

The story is sweet and tinged with sadness. I don't know the original tale but it feels like they've padded it out with some extra emotional baggage, I could be wrong though. But it's a great film, And though it's Ghibli's longest I didn't really notice the time.

Black Coal, Thin Ice

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

This was a really cool noir with all the classic tropes but done in a very modern aesthetic. It's restrained and clean, the characters are great and it's really beautifully shot and put together. It's a  great thriller and the end certainly makes you stop and take note. Much discussions leaving the cinema about what it all meant.

For fans of dark crime drama, you'll go nuts for this one.

The Grandmaster

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

The story of Ip Man has been told countless times. Wong Kar Wai's take on it naturally tries to force it into being a forbidden love story, which does the film no favours, the structure is too slow for it to really be an action film,  and the love story is too thin to really work in amongst all the plot that has to set up the action.

I don't know what they did in the DI, but man the image looked really terrible on the big screen. Some crazy noise reduction or compression or something strange going on. I didn't like the look of the film at all, which is usually one of the big draws for his films.

I really didn't get anything out of this.

The Hundred-Foot Journey

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Lasse Hallström's latest feel-good movie has some power-house producers attached. It hasn't made it any less predictable or benign. There's not much too it more than in the trailers, so if you enjoyed that, you'll probably enjoy the longer version.

The trailer focuses a lot on Helen Mirren but really the film follows Manish Dayal, so in the feature version you get to start off with hum in India growing up and then continue on after he leaves Mirren's tutelage. But that's about it. 

It's very prettily shot. 

Begin Again

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Okay, confession time. I still haven't seen Once. I know everyone loves it but the idea never appealed to me enough to make the effort. This film is filled with happy folksy songs and pleasant characters and some basic drama. The cast are fine, it's perfectly feel good stuff. I don't know if it's better or worse than Once but chances are if you liked that, you'll like this too. I really don't go for this kind of music though.

Jodorowsky's Dune

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A documentary on subject matter I've read about many times before but still really cool to see some of the designs of this unmade film that shaped so many other films to follow. amazing to think what could have been, or what we would be without had this not come as far as it did.

And So It Goes

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I never saw the Bucket List. Rob Reiner comedy just doesn't really work for me anymore. This film was pretty much agony. Diane Keaton is the worst.

Happy Christmas

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Amberly, Jordan

Joe Swanberg's latest is another great look at a relationship not seen developed much in films, sister-in-laws. Drinking Buddies was one of my favourite films from last year and Anna Kendrick jumps back in to play a very different character. It's delightfully observed and rather funny too. And for such an improvised scene process it's interesting they shot on film, but it adds a warm vintage feel to it.

Always loved Melanie Lynskey and she's wonderful as always here. And the dynamic between them all is great fun to watch. There's not really much to the story, the required ups and downs are there but  it's plenty fun, perhaps not as cohesive as Drinking Buddies but this one has a cute kid and fun end credit scenes.  

Boyhood

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Richard Linklater's 12 year project is finally released. A fascinating experiment and a touching film filled with his usual smart observations on everyday life. It takes its time, going through the various ups and downs of growing up. They don't put up title card or stop the flow of scenes to separate each year, they just flow through and you just pick it up by the fashion, the music, the haircuts. It helps make it feel a little less episodic. And although the meandering nature of the story is not so structured, like real life, watching the characters develop is the interesting part. It's a sweet film and one worth checking out if you can afford the time.

A Most Wanted Man

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Anton Corbijn's latest is another spy thriller. However this one feels more like a drama. Although there's some procedural stuff and we see the ops they set up and play out, it's refreshing to see a spy thriller where a gun is never drawn or shot. And it's bittersweet to see the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

Here, both sides of the war on terror are painted as ruthless. It lives in this grey area and no-one gets out unscathed. As you'd expect from Corbijn, it's stylishly shot though a little slow paced. It's takes its time setting up all the pieces. And it's only in the final few minutes that everything comes together. An enjoyable film, character work isn't as developed as The American but it has a lot more plot going on to make up for that.

Still Life

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

What a thoroughly depressing film. It's not exactly weepy, it's just really quietly sad. This is Eddie Marsan's film and it's great casting, he holds it so well. The trailer shows you quite a lot, it was nice going in with no idea of the trajectory, although there's much you can guess anyway. It's a really simple little story and I gotta admit the end hit me pretty hard. A really sweet but melancholic film.

I Origins

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Mike Cahill's latest is a typical science vs faith story, although it's heavily weighted in favour of one... I like the cast and the film holds your attentions but it's not very subtle and there's so much coincidence and fate at play that it seems a little cloying. It's a neat concept but there's no ambiguity. A little too sweet for my tastes.

Venus in Fur

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

This is my second French film adaptation of an English language play about people putting on a play in as many days. Thankfully this one is far more successful. Roman Polanski made a wonderful film adapting the play God of Carnage to the screen and this one is really interesting too.

A simple one location two hander. Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric are our only two cast members and they hold the screen well with each other. The dialogue and pace crackle along.

One thing you lose in the translation is the ambiguity of when they slip in and out of text from the play being rehearsed. The subtitles change to italic to let us know when it's text but I imagine without that signifier things would become even more oblique as the boundary between reality and the text become less clear.

Not sure I fully understood the ending, but it's kinda spooky. Anyway, fun little score from Alexandre Desplat too. An interesting power play piece to be sure.

The One I Love

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

We've all seen those typical romantic comedies where the set up involves a little bit of magical realism. A couple switches bodies, a guy can suddenly hear what women are thinking, a guy lives the same day over until he gets it right, a kid wakes up as an adult, or worse, as her mother. These kinds of premises have been used to set up the same basic romantic comedy structure before.

But what if instead of just being a fun complication that ends up getting our two leads together at the end, this magical mystery plot trope is seen as a genuinely freaky occurrence with some dark consequences that threaten to shift the fun romantic comedy into a fantastic and dark morality sci-fi-ish drama?

Okay, so that's not entirely what happens here, but it's pretty close, and that excites me greatly. This film was really fun and thought I wished they had pushed it further, what they have is really great. The trailer doesn't give away the premise and it was really fun to go into blind and work out just what was going on, so I'll just say that it's a great device that gets some bigger and far more sinister twists as the story develops.

And it's a wonderfully simple set up. Just two people, Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss, in a single location, on a retreat to try to fix their failing marriage. It's a typical set up but with a slightly unorthodox trajectory. Really great fun. Makes me think what real world reactions and ramifications to those other magical realism romantic comedy situations there might be...

Sorcerer

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

Write Up.

Was great to see this again in a cinema, with a restored digital print. There's still lot of grain but some of the bright jungle daylight scenes looked like they were shot yesterday. Best of all, seeing it with a crowd that were really losing their minds with the tense second half. It was wonderful to glance around the cinema and see so many contorted faces and odd postures. The film might be a little over the top but it really works.

Anina

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

I'm pretty sure this is my first film from Uruguay. It's a cute little animation following a young girl at school, getting into trouble and learning the ways of the world. It's a simple story with simple animation, in a few different styles for the various dream sequences. Some pretty funny stuff as well as a great spooky evil teacher.

Life of Riley

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

While rehousing for a community theatre show old friends have their various relationships turned upside-down with the news that one of them is dying. What supposedly started out as a British farce has been translated into french, and performed as if the entire this WAS a community theatre show that was then filmed and edited on Windows Movie Maker. French farce is the just the worst sometimes. And it seems like once the jokes have been translated into french then back into english via subtitles, they just don't work. The dialogue is terrible. The acting is terrible, unless they are intentionally being terrible. Perhaps the whole film is just a cruel trick on the audience. That's the only reason I can think for someone to make this story and to tell it this way. This film has no merit.

It Follows

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

Well this is awkward, got to see this film so early that there isn't even a trailer for me to post. This is a  brilliant 80's style throwback teen horror film with a great concept. A curse that is passed on through sexual transmission. It's not a subtle metaphor but it's a fun one.

You see when you get the curse an unknown creature that takes the form of random people that only the victim can see, stats walking towards you. Just casually walking, with a menacing look. You got two options to buy time, run really far away or pass it on to someone else. But once they are killed it'll come right back for you.

Delightful.

And it yields some surprisingly tense scenes. It's also not just a mater of this curse picking off a group of teenagers one by one. What makes it scary is that the friends can't even see it.

This was obviously a very low budget film, but despite some iffy sound recording the film really works and besides a few bigger section in the finale, it's made really simply and efficiently. And it has a great John Carpenter-esque synth soundtrack. The whole film has a timeless film, mixing decades of fashion and technology, so that it exists in a strange limbo of it's own.

So I have no idea if this is ever getting a release anywhere, but remember the title. It's rather fun.

The Infinite Man

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

I keep saying I love a good time travel film. I keep saying it because there's been quite a few lately. Well this new Aussie film is a dozy. Fantastically thought out and it gets the time travel spot on. The characters are a little cartoonish but the whole style of the film is delightfully left of centre. Really simple set up, 3 characters and a single location. Over 7 years though, by my calculations. Definitely one to seek out, a little odd in tone but really fun. Hopefully this gets a wide releaser soon.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

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

Always interested to see a new Jean-Pierre Jeunet film. As can be expected the film is visually stunning and even more exciting is Jeunet playing in 3D. It's a beautifully shot film. I am presuming they used Canada instead of America, but still gorgeous.

It's also a really sweet and fun film. It's much more Amélie than City of Lost Children. But in English, telling a fun American road trip story. The cast are all great, the story is pretty straigtforward but still enjoyable and the heart is there. Really enjoyable film and beside Judy Davis unexpectedly swearing, making the film ineligible for a PG rating in the U.S. which could be problematic, it's one the kids will love as well.

Ping Pong Summer

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Yes yes yes all the yes this movie is totally rad. I was on board from the beginning. It's an 80's coming of age summer holiday movie with all the trimmings. And it's 80's in every sense. Self aware but completely non-judgmental.

The young cast of unknowns (presumably non-actors) strike this enviable balance of authentic not great acting but wonderfully charming anyway. It's hard to describe but I just loved it.

I loved all of this. It's the best. What a treat to see with a massive crowd. Is it just me or did they use one of the terrible and wonderful songs by that band in Miami Connection? Real geeky in joke there.