Dune

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

Someone once asked David Lynch if he has a favourite film to which he responded with the usual "films are like my children, I love them all differently" answer so many directors give. Someone pipped up and responded "Even Dune?" to which he simply responded "Dune was a very naughty boy." Still, it got him the contract that let him make Blue Velvet so it's not all bad.

And really, anyone is going to have trouble trying to tell a story like this in a regular running time feature film. But I still do like a lot about it. I watched the bluray of the theatrical cut. The extended television version, while it has some cool extra scenes, is a little clunky, I can see why Lynch had his name removed from it.

If you're gonna fail, fail big. This film goes for broke and for a lot of people it's great. I do like the score, the old school fx, some of which are interesting many of which were poor even for the time. The disparate group of actors give it their all selling some tough material. Makes for a great cult film.

Cypher

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First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Paul

I really love this Vincenzo Natali film and especially Jeremy Northam's performance. It's a great little spy thriller with a bit of a corporate sci-fi bent, beautifully shot, edited and scored and all done on a lean budget.

I love how Northam's character starts off as a bumbling idiot and ends up akin to James Bond. And how the macguffin works to theme. I love pretty much everything about this film. I remember it came out at cinemas in Perth for about a week, but I managed to see it on the big screen and the brainwashing sequence was intense.

Just love this film.

Hanna

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

First Write Up. Second.

I gots ma Bluray. Definitely one of my favourites for the year. Commentary time.

12 and Holding

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

Another veteran of HBO directing that came from Indie films. I really love Michael Cuesta's L.I.E. and this film, following 3 stories of 3 kids getting up to varying amounts of mischief, doesn't quite hit the mark like his first film but still has a lot of interesting moments and some great performances from the young cast.

It's almost a prequel to Thirteen hah.

Immortals

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

Here's my write up.

2D doesn't really make much difference. But the sound certainly did. Sound in this cinema was awesome. Nice and loud with lotsa bass. Neat.

Arthur Christmas

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

The trailer makes the film out to be cheap sappy kiddie holiday entertainment, which to a small degree it is, but there is one important factor many people overlook and that is, it's made by Aardman. And just like there other output, it's also filled with wit, wry British humour and a lot of heart. I'll cop to getting a little misty eyed at the end. And for a cynical guy like me, for the film to have won me over it must be doing something right.

The opening sequences are very cool. They present Santa's christmas deliveries as a mission impossible scenario, filled with ninja like elves and state of the art technology that would make Tony Stark jealous.

What's great is the 4 Santas from 3 generations have a very clear character traits and arcs and they way they all need to resolve these problems and come together works effectively and emotionally. And the rest of the film is just good clean fun. Enjoyed it muchly.

Das Boot

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

What can you do when you have to wait for computers to render? Watch the Uncut 293 minute version of Das Boot in German from the newly released bluray. Being a Wolfgang Petersen fan I always had intended to see this but I wanted to make sure I saw the full version. Really it's 3 films all rolled together but it works great in one epic sitting.

Despite the long running time, the pace is fine, there are definitely slower areas but everything works so well to really get you in that submarine with the characters and really raises the suspense well. There are some great sequences and without fail the film keeps flipping expectations, celebrations are interrupted by bad news and conversely moments of despair are brightened by small rays of hope. This flip flopping continues right up to the end credits and keeps you on your toes the whole time.

I'm glad I waited to see this version, I don't know how well it would hold together if the suspense moments had to be cut down, or more than likely all of the character moments would have been cut out.

It's rare I get so involved with a war movie but this one did the trick. I can see why it was so popular. It does leave you rather exhausted though so I'll leave it there for now.

American Psycho

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

Wow, youtube is full of fake trailers for this. I could only find one real one on there and it wasn't even embeddable.

Anyway, I really love this film. I love the shallow world of 80's wall street as a backdrop to the ease of which it seems to allow you to loose your identity. Patrick Batman isa fascinating character and Christian Bale is stunning in the role.

I'm surprised he's never done a comedy because he is absolutely hilarious here. It's a black satire that becomes so outrageous in parts you doubt wether it can all be real. And indeed that is the intention. It's left in large part up to the audience to make up their mind about what is real and what is not and both possibilities have interesting and differing ramifications as to theme.

Absolutely love it.

The Ides of March

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

For a political drama about corrupted ideals, power struggles and moral grey areas this film is surprisingly straight forward. Although it hides it well beneath a sea of fast talking mumbo jumbo and quietly confident performance.

Once again George Clooney cannot resist throwing in a jazz performance in his film. I feel like he slipped some of his own political views into the background there too... The foreground here is the actors but as we've seen before he can pull off a fine looking film with the best of them.

It's the second film in as many months that Ryan Gosling takes centre stage but he's playing a very different character from in Drive. He hardly stares at all in this. Probably because he's too busy talking. He has a classic character arc from idealised innocence to understanding and it's done in a reasonably entertaining way too.

And that's what I'd say about the film as a whole. Reasonable entertaining. Slickly made, probably not my cup of tea but I did enjoy it for what it was.

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)

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

I know of many films that were released with the gimmick of Barf Bags being supplied but this is the first one I've actually been too. Oddly enough it's also the most political screening I've taken part in. This is a film series where it's notoriety is far greater than its actual content. So much was made of Australia being the only country to release it uncut but now, like the brilliant A Serbian Film that was released with an R18+ rating and then a week later banned outright, the Australian Classifications Board is in the process of re-reviewing it's rating. If they renege their rating, this screening could well be the only chance of seeing the uncut version in a cinema. It's rather infuriating, even with silly films like this one, if I was to see them I should be allowed.

And what a screening it was. According to lead actor Laurence R. Harvey, who was on hand for a Q&A, the Perth screening was the largest the film has yet seen. That does make me proud. The crowd had a great time and there were some cool tidbits learnt after the screening as well.

The first film was a very average slasher film but one with a great central conceit. Is it the most shocking depraved horror film ever made? Only if you've never seen a horror film before. They didn't do much besides introduce the idea in the first film. Unfortunately in the second they don't further its development besides adding 7 more people to it. It's another film that has an interesting premise but just don't do anything worthwhile with it.

For a film series so notorious, it's a great opportunity to examine the perceived effects of film violence on viewers. This film rather post-modernly follows a fan of the first instalment who takes it upon himself to recreate the events of the film himself. He's the ultimate fan boy. But once again, writer/director Tom Six seems to lack the capacity to say anything useful or insightful on the subject of its premise.

The film goes out of its way to live up to its own hype trying to lay on shock throughout the first half that feel rather hollow. Pretty much anything to do with the characters personal life doesn't work for me. I put it down to bad writing and bad acting. The old blanket excuse of being sexually abused and unloved by your parents turning you into a psycho is tired. It does allow for one or two funny moments with the Mother but really it just feels like padding.

Once the Centipede action begins it becomes marginally more interesting. Our protagonist, Martin, isn't a fun as Dr. Heiter from part 1 but his childlike glee at his creation and then his despair at his lack of technical knowhow that causes the early demise of a few patients is rather amusing.

The more over the top stuff plays like satire and it is quite funny. At least the crowd of horror fans were enjoying themselves and I really don't see how anyone could take this seriously. It's desperately trying to shock, masturbating with sandpaper, a rather gratuitous barbed wire rape and a hilarious emergency birth that has most assuredly been cut out of all other edits of the film, they all feel thrown in with no consequence. They have no weight behind them so it's hard to find it shocking and easier to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Further distancing itself from part 1, this film is in black and white, except for some very subtle hints of brown, which if you have any idea what the human centipede is, I'm sure you can guess what the brown is... It also makes all the gore a lot easier to take. It is one of the few cases where Black and white doesn't make the film feel classier. It makes it look gritty and grimy though, all the characters are constantly covered in sweat, naked and look like crap. Thankfuller there are one or two lookers in the bunch, I know exactly where I'd want to be situated in that chain.

So you probably already know it you want to see this or not. I love my gratuitous extremes but I find this film even emptier than the first. However at this stage you might not be able to see it anyway. We'll have to wait and see if the Classifications Board can make up its mind.

Thor

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

Here's my first post. And Second.

I watched with Kenneth Branagh's commentary on the bluray. It's nothing very amazing, he does gush a lot.

Immortals

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

Well Australia missed out on the cool 11•11•11 release date but it's finally arrived on our shores. And it ain't too bad neither.

Tarsem Singh (who keeps changing how his name is credited, even within the same film) made one of my all time favourite films with The Fall a few years back. If you still haven't seen it, rectify that immediately. His take on ancient Greek mythology keeps his keen visual sense, and very much takes a page from the 300 school of cinema but this film does have something films like that and Troy and even the recent Clash of the Titans lack, and that it Gods with powers delivering some whoop-ass.

They use some very cool Green Hornet style layered slow motion ramping that will no doubt now be used in every film until we are all sick of it. It's the new bullet time. But it works well coupled with the stylised graphic blood letting.

Tarsem films are all about the style and visuals. There are some truly awesome moments throughout. The depiction of the Gods and the Titans is kinda funky and simple, dunno how I feel about it yet but it may work for some of you. It heavily uses the blue/orange colour pallet and is graded to make everything look almost like a classical painting.

I saw the film in 3D and there was nothing terrible about it but in truth I think a lot of the visuals were designed to be for 2D just from the very painterly look to them. I'll have to see it again and decide. One thing is for sure, it does feel very studio based.

I did enjoy it, the action was good and I love the visuals. Unfortunately the film lacks an emotional investment that I think 300 managed to do so well. Instead of a glorious or heartfelt ending we are treated to a poor set up for the hope of a sequel. That makes this film a fun and entertaining spectacle but nothing that will linger. Don't expect much adherence to Greek Mythology either. Do expect yet another film John Hurt narrates.

The Inbetweeners Movie

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

I do enjoy the tv series and the film is just as great. They take the holiday vacation approach and it works well as a capper to the series and the characters. Just as long as they don't do a Sex in the City and completely ruin it with a sequel, but I don't that would happen very much.

If you're a fan of the series, you'll have a good idea of what to expect and if you're not a fan, you'll still be able to enjoy this.

Pulse

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

Many credit this as starting the J-Horror trend. I really love Kiyoshi Kurosawa's direction and he made one of my all time favourite movies with Cure. This film is more overtly horror and has some very genuinely unsettling moments.

It is also very Japanese. What does that mean? Well I think I've spoken about this before, there are some sections of dialogue that just doesn't sound right to western ears when translated literally. They have a penchant for being what we would consider melodramatic too. This is also a film filled with overt metaphor as text, events probably not meant to be taken literally, like a David Lynch film. I think if you can't see it in those terms you'll just get frustrated trying to frame it in any logical manner.

What it does do very well is use stillness and silence and craft a very creepy atmosphere which subtly builds to an unexpectedly apocalyptic scope. That's right, an apocalyptic ghost horror film that is all a metaphor about isolation and loneliness, the kind that comes from our reliance on technology.

If you want the more jump scare, action packed spoonfed answers approach, by all means check out the American remake, but I find this film far superior. And please check out Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films, especially Cure and Charisma.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

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

Here's my first post.

Interesting seeing a film print after watching the digitally projected version. The film print was much darker and there were sequences where the whole screen was basically black. But I'm glad I got to see this once more in the theatre because I love the sound design of those little whispering creeps in full surround.