From Beyond

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

More Stuart Gordon doing H.P. Lovecraft. More Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. This one is far more successful than Castle Freak but the still over-sexualise Lovecraft for my tastes. Apparently a side effect of opening you mind to other dimensions is that you become as sado-masachist. Don't remember that from any of his stories.

Some bold lighting choices, they use a lot of vivid magenta to suggest the other dimension. It's pretty fun.

The best thing in the film (apart from another deliriously whacked out Jeffrey Combs performance) is the make-up and creature effects. This film probably has more latex appendages and transformations than The Thing. I really love those old school effects so that appealed to me. Some really creative make-up work too. Jeffrey Combs ripping his way out of the mouth of the monster needs to be seen. Seriously.

Priest

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

Hahahha, oh man. Well it's very pretty to look at.

A strange mish-mash of Western, Horror and Sci-Fi, it wears its influences on its sleeve. After an awesome animated opening segment film rolls along with a pretty good pace and fun action.

It completely fails to build any credible characters beyond their stock beginnings so you never care about what you are watching and are free to laugh at the ridiculous dialogue. It's just as hilariously hollywood as the script from Sanctum earlier in the year. There are some real dreadful, unmotivated and unnecessary lines read by the predominantly un-American cast in their best accents. And while they have whole scene foreshadowing events that never come to pass, other fundamental rules about the creatures and the world remain vague and confusing.

But I did find all this very amusing. And I can't fault it technically. It looks great, it's a step up from Legion, the effects, sound and music were great and even the post converted 3D held up in the dark lighting. It is far superior to the horror that was the new Conan The Barbarian's attempt at 3D.

Well I'm glad to finally cross this one off the list, it is another in a long line of extraordinarily late releases in Australia. And while it is a pretty terrible film I did have fun laughing at its ineptitude from time to time.

Castle Freak

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

Just catching up on some Stuart Gordon. As the title suggests it's about a freak in a castle. Regular collaborator Jeffrey Combs is on hand as the man who inherits this castle.

Once again it's also vaguely based around an H.P. Lovecraft story although doesn't resemble him at all in tone. It's pretty campy and fun. I'm sure he never wrote about Italian prostitutes being chained up and eaten.

The blind daughter element adds a little suspense to a few situations, it's easy to empathise with someone so inherently vulnerable but overall this was nothing very spectacular. Just a bit of gory fun.

Horrible Bosses

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

It's alright. I just think it's a mistake to show outtakes so soon in the end credits, it really ruins any credibility the suspension of disbelief builds up, even in a film a slight as this. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm glad Charlie Day is getting some more feature work, I always loved him on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Super excited I just saw on his IMDB page he's got some part in Guillermo del Toro's next film Pacific Rim. As if I couldn't be any more excited about that film...

He has the hardest job in the film of making it seem like a bad thing that Jennifer Aniston wants to constantly have sex with him, Whereas we all know Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell can play great assholes.

Ioan Gruffudd has a surprising little cameo too.

Well much of the film you probably have figured out from the trailers. There's not much more too it than that. Like I said before, It's alright.

The Guard

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

Brendan Gleeson is great isn't he? I really liked this one, mainly for the ending, which manages to turn his character into a Western style cowboy legend. But there's also a lot of fun before that.

Seriously though, how many films does Mark Strong need to be in? I feel like he's in every third of fourth film I watch. It's a good thing he's awesome too.

The story is very simple but it's Gleeson's character that's centre stage here. It's a hard thing to pull off writing this kind of mythological character and still maintain such a grounded reality but they pull it off and make it look easy. Really great little film.

Hanna

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Alex

Still Brilliant! Here's my first write up.

I'll just add that there is in fact score in the opening scenes but the first training montage is purely edited sounds that creates a rhythm and the 2nd is a completely abstract soundscape, probably intended to mimic whale song to a certain degree. I noticed this time that motif was used through out.

Also I don't know how I missed this the first time around as it's blatantly obvious, but I picked up a great deal many more allusions to fairy tails and folk stories, which certainly puts the film in an interesting context.

Really great to catch this again before it disappears from cinemas forever.

Eyes Without A Face

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

A classic horror film I was only vaguely aware of until recently and yet watching it, I can see its influence on many films that followed.

It's a very slow moving film and takes it's time to set up the inevitable. Although the graphic scenes are unlikely to shock anyone today there is still a sense of dread hanging over the whole affair.

It took me a little while but I finally recognised Alida Valli from Suspiria. She's equally creepy here, always accompanied by that fanciful little musical motif.

This is a film, like Psycho, where the audience sees both sides of the law at the same time. We are privy to the misdeeds of villains at the same time as following the police investigations to find them. *SPOILERS* Ultimately the Police get nowhere, making their inclusion in the story somewhat superfluous. I don't know if I love of hate that about it. It certainly makes the ending a little more tense when you know they've given up looking for the kidnapped girl and the villains have gotten away with it. There's pretty much no hope for the poor girl at the end. *END SPOILERS*

Despite the deliberate pacing I enjoyed this one. It's full of some great imagery and has a beautiful tragic monster at the heart of the film, in the same league as Frankenstein's monster. Really great to finally check this film out.

Barry Munday

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

I do love me some Patrick Wilson. And he's fantastic in this. Judy Greer is hilarious as well and it has a great supporting cast. Great characters and there's enough of a plot to get you though their antics too.

This was a sweet and funny little film, perfectly pleasant and enjoyable. It didn't really have much to do in the last moments but everything up until there was great.

I haven't heard of Chris D'Arienzo before but apparently he wrote the book for the musical Rock of Ages which is currently being adapted into a film. I also had no idea Patrick Wilson was in The Full Monty on Broadway. Thanks for the heads up Youtube.

Anyway this film is a fun little number, nothing serious or meaty, but perfectly entertaining for what it is.

THX 1138

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

Ahh yes, George Lucas' first film. And you can tell he has a great eye and he's a great editor. That's still true to this day, despite what you might say about the Star Wars prequels and his obsessive tinkering with the originals. The bluray I watched is indeed the "directors cut" with a whole bunch of new effects added. I honestly cannot recall if I have ever seen the original, I think i did a long time ago on vhs once, but I can't be sure.

I do love the minimalist dystopian future the film presents. It's a smart move to make a sci-fi world on a budget and still look so striking. The sound and editing are quite stark and startling at times. It really makes you pay attention. Dialogue is almost secondary, like a texture. Probably why it's one of his best films.

The style is also very distancing. It can be hard to get a handle on the characters, especially at the start. It does leave a lot up to the audience to connect the dots. I do like that about it though.

And Lalo Schifrin's music is great.

Probably not the best film to put on late at night when you are tired but still enjoyed watching through this one again.

Hop

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

Hmm. Well the animation is pretty good.

They basically made a christmas film but with easter bunnies. There's probably more christmas iconography they steal and convert than actual easter stuff.

I wonder what 5 year old kid is going to know why David Hasselhoff has a talking car. Conversely I wouldn't want to have to sit though any more jellybean poop jokes. Hank Azaria does a funny voice as the evil chick. G-rated Russell Brand is kind of wasted though. James Marsden looks happy enough when he gets to sing.

They never released this in 3D here which would have been one of the only reasons I would have seen it in a cinema. Probably best I didn't though, not really worth it.

Better Off Dead

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

Whaaaaa? What a bizarre film. The strangest 80's teen movie I've seen in a long long time. I like that I can still find an 80's teen movie with John Cusack that I haven't seen before, but I must have seen all the good ones.

Well, I hesitate to call this bad, but it's certainly not your usual fare. I mean all the genre clichés are there but it's filled with very odd idiosyncrasies and isn't all that cohesive in the end.

On the plus side I finally know where that "two dollars" gag they point out on the Not Another Teen Movie commentary comes from. Good to know useless trivia like that.

Sucker Punch

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

Previous viewings here and here and here.

I've watched this one quite a bit this year. I guess that tells you how much I enjoy it. Watched the extended cut again. Good times.

Twister

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

Finally an excuse to watch my Twister bluray again. How can someone not have seen this?!?! It's the best movie ever!

Ok, so maybe it's not the best movie ever but as I've explained before, this movie was extremely influential in my life. I was Twister obsessed for a good few years. My 9th birthday was Twister themed. I know it by heart, I know every sound every line, every shot. I was denied being allowed to see Jurassic Park at the cinemas so this was the family action adventure blockbuster that introduced me to the wonders of new computer effects in films and started me off on my current career path. This movie means so much to me it does kinda hurt when everyone calls it the "worst movie ever." I can admit now that, yes, it's not Shakespeare, but I can't separate the strong sense of nostalgia and importance on my life this film had.

The effects in this film, groundbreaking at the time and most of them still hold up really well. The advent of computer graphics finally allowed for things like weather to be shaped in some way. Still it would have been a nightmare to make. There's a lot of sky replacement and some horrifyingly complicated rotoscoping in order to do that, what with corn fields, trees and hair flying everywhere. Plus all the practical effects on stage, rigging everything to fly around, including a couple of trucks, and all the rain and hail and wind.

And even through all that the sound is incredible, this was the first film I because aware of sound design, of creating these noises, each twister has a different sound. And the subwolfer gets a great work out. Jan de Bont's next film, The Haunting remake also has great sound, despite being a pretty shit film. Hell, even Speed has great sound. But it really gets to show off in Twister. The use of surround is really neat too.

Watching this film again it's crazy to think of the awesome careers this whole cast have had. This was the first time I would have seen Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeremy Davies, Lois Smith, Zach Grenier and a whole bunch of others who I love and probably had seen before but now know primarily from their roles in this film. I also just discovered an uncredited Joss Whedon did some script doctoring on this? That could explain some of my favourite lines...

Finally I want to mention the score by Mark Mancina. It's rare you can get an action score now that's this melodic and beautiful. I think it's the perfect modern adventure score. I know every note of it and the way it fits with the film is great. You really need those big sweeping americana themes over all those awesome helicopter landscape shots of the cars driving. To me it just screams awesome.

Everything about this film just screams awesome. I'm blinded by my love for this film. Screw the haters, It's a great fun and entertaining film.

Rubber

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

Original Review.

Excellent Chainsaw Massacre. Hah.

Cowboys & Aliens

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Naomi, Alex, Kyla, Claire, Steve, Andrew

Aside from Olivia Wilde's character being a bit of a cheat I think this movie was alright. Looks great, sounds great, cool cast, good fx, story and action were alright.

There are some great Western moments throughout. The alien side of things were pretty standard though. At least I felt they were, although they did look pretty cool and the final stand off had some fun moments. It's missing something though, I can't quite figure out what, but it never gets to that next level of fun-ness, which you would expect with a title like Cowboys and Aliens.

It's ok though.