Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

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

Well I thought I should watch the original since I liked the remake so much.

As I said in that post, it was Guillermo del Toro's misremembered version. This film is tiny in scale, very simple and very dated but it's easy to see how a young kid could remember this from childhood and build it up in his head in such an enthusiastic way as to turn it into the film that is currently playing in theatres.

Now this one plays kind of camp. It isn't very effective but interesting to see where the new film started out. Such wonderful hairstyles.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

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

Guillermo del Toro's misremembered version of a 70's tv movie. It's the slightly distorted story he remembers, rather than a straight remake. It's a film that works as a straight horror and as a fun piece of entertainment depending on your reaction or age. There's no denying the general premise is inherently fun but it totally worked for me and I think for a younger audience it would play like gangbusters. They really nail the tone and those little critters are delightfully evil.

The film was shot in Melbourne so there was many a raised eyebrow of recognition as every single bit part was someone you recognised from some tv show or film. The opening is particularly fun...

I've like Bailee Madison since Bridge to Terabithia. She was the only person worth watching in that abortion of a film, Just Go With It. She carries the film here effortlessly. I do love a film with some real child endangerment.

There are some great scary sequences and while I do find those little guys quite funny looking (they remind me of those creepy little demons in The Gate) they still remain threatening.

Love opening title design and really like the music in the opening and closing credits but unfortunately it wasn't used much in the film.

This really feels like a great horror film for kids, forgotten from the 80's. Very enjoyable.

Bridesmaids

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

Previously viewed here and here.

Showed it to mum today. Man that bluray has about 5 films worth of deleted scenes. I've been watching content for hours and hours and am still only halfway through...

The Fluffer

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

A simple little melancholic indie about a boy who finds a job filming porn, the problematic porn star he's infatuated with and the porn stars girlfriend. The characters and drama work fine, comedy not so much but still pretty good. A different look at the porn industry too.

Drive

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

That film some lady sued for false advertising. Hah.

If you can't tell what you're in for from the opening title design then I don't know how to help you. It's all there.

There's a simple elegance to this film. A character drama and crime thriller. It's a film that takes its time to set things up, keeps the tension on the surface and hits you hard and fast when it needs to. Like the Westerns of old, the violence comes in short bursts, unexpectedly and has genuine impact. In fact, now that I think about it, a western is the best comparison with Ryan Gosling as the quiet stranger figure. And he's pretty darn cool, Gosling ain't never been sexier.

So no, it's not the fast and furious-esque film the young kids next to me were probably expecting. They didn't enjoy themselves at all. I loved it.

In Time

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

I've always like Andrew Niccol's big concept films, especially Gattaca. It's that subtle kind of sci-fi that works as a thinly veiled allegory and what with the occupy wall street protests going on this film's timing couldn't be better.

First and foremost, this works as an entertaining film, which many of these films don't. It's not hugely spectacular but it does the trick. What is has going for it is the built in (literally) ticking clock, the constant race against time. The other delightful conceit they can get away with that's inherent with the concept is being able to legitimately populate their film with a bunch of young beautiful people. Genius.

The cast all do their job well and it's slickly shot by the brilliant Roger Deakins. The script, characters and pace all worked for me. It's a futuristic twist on the Robin Hood legend and for those that want, it will leave them with plenty to debate over the current economic climate. Most enjoyable.

Space Battleship Yamato

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

Been trying to see this for a while now. I don't know the original series it's based on but I saw the trailer and it look pretty cool.

It's very reminiscent of the new Battlestar Galactica series. More than likely the original series predates that but the look of the battles and ships for the live action version are similar.

It's a pretty long film and feels more like a miniseries of 3 of 4 episodes strung together. It was very enjoyable for the most part, the production looks great, the effects were fun and the characters weren't too bad either despite the abundance of japanese melodrama they love to sprinkle throughout.

Unfortunately I think it doesn't stick the landing. I'm fine with there being an emotional climax but this kind of film really needs an action climax as well. And to stop the film before the resolution of the 2 and a half hours of preceding plot in order to finish on a downer self-sacrifice ending is infuriating.

Still there's a lot to enjoy here and I'm sure for fans of the series it's even more enjoyable.

Female Trouble

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

Some more John Waters. This one's more like it. Delightfully outrageous and yes, filthy. I'm not even sure what I was seeing half the time. Dawn Davenport has to be the trashiest white female character ever created. We follow her from highschool right through to the end of her life, sentenced to death in the chair. It's an wild and interesting ride.

Winnie the Pooh

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

Disney's latest (and hopefully not last, although sadly, I'm not aware of anything in the works) traditionally 2D animated feature. If you can call it a feature, it's just an hour long. It's pretty charming though. And nice they've tried to keep the tone of the books and a few more British voices. John Cleese Narrates.

Zooey Deschanel distinctive voice sing a few song on the soundtrack. The songs are pretty forgettable. The story is very simple but the animation is beautiful.

It's a quaint little film and perfectly enjoyable.

The Tunnel

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

An Aussie doco horror thingy "crowdfunded" and released on the torrents. The doumentary format rang false for me, I don't know what it is, probably distain for australian accents but I just could not buy in to the reality this film was selling. It all seemed too contrived and I hated all the characters.

By the time stuff started happening I was ready to give up. Nothing much happened after the set up anyway. Didn't like it.

Batman: Year One

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

So I believe this was the comic Darren Aronofsky was going to adapt to reboot the Batman live action franchise before Christopher Nolan took jumped in.

It covers some of the same ground as Batman Begins although this is told mainly from the perspective of Jim Gordon as voiced by the always awesome Bryan Cranston.

For a little straight to home video animation all these DC comic adaptations have been pretty awesome (or at least the handful I've seen, there are a lot of them) and they get away with some pretty dark stuff in this one. They might seem churned out but they are still well made and well told stories.

Warrior

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

If I'm going to watch an almost two and a half hour film about a subject I don't really care for I may as well do it in the luxurious relaxation of gold class with a giant ice-cream sundae. Except they forgot to bring me my sundae. When questioned after the film they refunded me AND got me the sundae, which was great, but then I had to sit at the bar and eat it in front of them. I feel a little sick now, those things are huge.

Oh yeah and there was something about a boxing match or something.

Braindead

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

Here's my first write up.

Oh man this film is ridiculous, silly and very funny.

The Fall

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

Here's my write up. Love love love this movie. It's just beautiful.

Jurassic Park

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

Jurassic Park is the best. I watch it now and forget that there actually isn't as many dinosaurs in it as I remember. They were very sparing and judicious about what they would show, probably because they were still figuring out what they could and couldn't do. But what the do show is awesome.

God bless Stand Winston. He made full size dinosaur robots. There will never be anyone like him again. An chances are if they were to make another one today (which apparently they are planning, but I'll believe it when I see it) they would do it all CG anyway.

Speaking of which, this is pretty much the film where everyone was sold on CG. Sure it had been used in bits and pieces here and there on a few films before, most notably James Cameron's The Abyss and Terminator 2, but here it produced living breathing characters that were really the feature of the film.

Spielberg creates a sense of wonder and awe surrounding the introduction of these creations. In 1993 it worked on the audience not just at the amazement of seeing a dinosaur, like the characters in the film, but also the amazement of how film effects suddenly took a huge leap into the future.

That first T-Rex attack still give me goosebumps. I love when he smashes his head through the roof of the jeep after the children and there's nothing between them but a thin plate of glass. Freaked me out as a kid the first time I snuck out of bed early one morning and watched it quietly it on VHS. (I was banned from watching because my older brother saw it and got scared. I will never forgive my parents for robbing me of this theatrical experience.)

All the action and suspense sequences are just great. You're in safe hands with The Beard. That and John Williams' iconic score that soars. And an awesome cast. Everything, it's all the best. Jurassic Park is the best. Love it!