Battleship

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

Comparisons to Michael Bay and his Transformers series will be inevitable. Same toy company, same FX team, same style cinematography, editing, sound, same music composer, same free run of the American armed forces. Fortunately Peter Berg doesn't have a sense of humour (as seen in his previous films, especially Hancock) so while the jokes are all serious business at least they have the silliness taken out of them, which automatically makes this film 50% more enjoyable.

So what's going on in these big blockbuster films today? Apparently if something is alien our camera lenses just can't comprehend how awesome it is and it flares out. I really was fine with all the lens flares of late but this film gave me flare fatigue. Even just the hot spots in their alien suits of armour flare out. Traditionally using flares was to help smooth over the compositing, I really don't think this needed so many though, the FX looked fine from what I could see through all these blue streaks.

I do like that the aliens have funky goatees.

Now to answer the questions everyone's been asking. No one says "You sunk my battleship" in the film. But to be fair (SPOILER:) there is only one battleship in the film and it doesn't sink (END SPOILER). The way they work the mechanics of the game into the film is rather amusing and works surprisingly well. I love that the alien missiles are shaped like the pins from the game and drop into the hulls like those little plastic pieces do too. And while ships in the films are more mobile than in the game there is a whole section of "miss" and "hit" that's one of the best sequences in the film that they make very clear and easy to follow and yes, entertaining.

One does have to question the alien's plan. They are shown to be doing very specific things, destroying some things (anything hostile shows up red) and leaving others (anything not worthy of destruction conveniently shows up green). Perhaps motivations can be clarified in further films because it seems like they have the technology to wipe us out but never thought to use it properly.

What really rubbed me the wrong was was all the patriotism, especially concerning the war wounded and the elderly. It's corny enough to be a parody of itself but I never went along with it. One character was obviously hired for his ability to lack legs rather than his ability to act and he stands out like a sore thumb. However Taylor Kitsch comes off far more lively in this film and the rest of the cast are fine too. I hear Rihanna is actually a singer, well she's no better or worse than anyone else here. The strangest thing of all is seeing Tadanobu Asano in a Hollywood blockbuster and reconciling that with his character from Ichi the Killer. Although obviously he was in Thor but it never clicked until now. He is awesome. Even in Battleship they give him one of the more kick-ass characters. You should all watch Survive Style 5+ and Funky Forest and of course the aforementioned Takashi Miike classic Ichi the Killer to see his awesomeness.

Anyway he's not in the film that much. Unfortunately neither are Alexander Skarsgård or Liam Neeson. But when they are there the film is better for it. I did enjoy this one, more than I thought I would. A big part of that would be seeing the hipster dude from The Future playing a science nerd who gets to beat up one of the aliens. It's big loud dumb fun and hardly ever as gratingly annoying as Transformers. Entertaining and enjoyable.

Stuck

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

Write Up

Great twisted little film with a perfect running time for late night viewing.

Titanic

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Alex, Sam
Write Up Saw it again on the big screen. Sat further back this time and the 3D works much better there. The depth is easier to swallow.

Zathura

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

Write Up. Always a blast to watch again.

Krull

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

Write Up!

Yeah! Krull is the best!

Streetdance 2

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

The first Streetdance mixed ballet and "street." This time it does the same treatment to the Samba. So it's pretty much the same story  but with a whole new cast and a different loction. There is all of about 5 lines of dialogue, terrible dialogue and nothing but exposition, that gets across nothing but the utmost basic story beats and the rest of the time we are watching dance in 3D.

Really it's just a showcase for the dance. And there is some pretty crazy awesome stuff going on however we never once get to see an entire routine performed all the way through. Instead it just cuts to tricks and jumps or various characters to make their "dancing" which I found very annoying.

They make use of the 3D at every available opportunity.  Throwing popcorn or stopping for a random pillow fight with feathers flying everywhere. Consequently only 2 characters in the film have any time for the briefest of development. But I guess no-one is here for the story. You come to watch some funky dance moves in 3D and you'll get that. Everything in between is horrible but brief. Not even enough time to be enjoyably trashy like most dance films.

This Must Be the Place

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

Wasn't quite sure what to expect from this film but I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would which is great.

The film has an offbeat editing style but keeps an even pace. I see someone was also extraordinarily excited they had the budget for a technocrane because it was used in every other shot, sometimes distractingly so for me. But the visuals were nice.

I ended up really loving Sean Penn's aging rock star character. What starts out as drama ends up turning into a strange revenge road trip with nothing ever really playing out how you might expect. You get taken to some interesting places and situations. Good stuff.

Love

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

Read about this one when it was doing the festival rounds. It sounded like it could be interesting, a sci-fi about a lone man on a space station as the world ends below him. I think...

I also liked the idea that it was made for no money over 4 years using sets the director built in his parents back yard. A real passion project.

It has echo's of Moon or Solaris and even some direct visual quotes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's pretty abstract, even more so once our protagonist has spent 6 years alone and going out of his mind. It starts off with a civil war period section which it echos throughout as well as interspersing to-camera interviews of a few different guys about various things, the reasons for which become apparent much later on. I'm still not exactly sure what I was watching at the end there, if it was real, metaphoric, if he was dead, all of the above, but it is all open to interpritation. A big cinematic poem.

Turns out the movie was funded by a band called Angels and Airwaves, who also provided the soundtrack, so it was more like an extended music video than anything. I have never heard of them before and frankly didn't care for the music anyway.

But the film does look very nice. Especially considering the budget and the do-it-yourself workmanship. It was well made and put together.

I'm really not sure I've fully come to any conclusions about the film yet. I'd probably need to watch it again to clarify some of its ideas but that's not something I'll be doing anytime soon, the pacing had more in common with Solaris than I would have liked to make that prospect enticing until I'm in the right frame of mind.

Summer Time Machine Blues

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

This might just be the best film about time travel ever made, and this is coming from someone who is obsessive over the conceit. Unfortunately it is also extraordinarily hard to get a hold of, only available in Japan as far as I am aware. Thankfully they put english subtitles on the dvd so you can import it.

The conceit is, during a particularly hot summer, an accident leaves the air conditioner remote in the sci-fi club room broken. When a time machine appears the geeks first thought is to go back to yesterday and snatch the remote before it gets destroyed. Things escalate from there.

The main conundrums of time travel are dealt with effortlessly and somehow the resulting film still manages to be hilarious and fun and a great teen summer holiday film as well. It moves at quite a pace and  has an energetic young cast that deliver great characters. It is also so very very Japanese which in my opinion just makes it better.

What is does so brilliantly is structure the narrative so the audience gets the information they need, right when it's needed and rewatching is also joy because it allows you to spot all the time connections in advance like a big jigsaw puzzle.

The other thing I love about it is how it creates a single timeline non-paradoxical (the only way to do time travel properly in my opinion, none of that alternate timeline crap) whilst juggle the tricky notions of free will AND have a happy ending. And all this complicated and sometimes profound nonsense is wrapped up in an extremely entertaining and easy to follow geektacutlar teen-pop comedy.

This is a must see in my opinion, and one of my all time favourite films. Hell, I'd even love to see a remake, if only to get the original dvd a wider release. It's amazing.

American Reunion

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

I have my 10 year high school reunion this year. A horrifying thought. That was predominantly on my mind watching this film. I have only seen the first film in this series but by the sounds of it, these two bookends are the most complimentary. (Seriously, how are the already 7 American Pie films? And why is Eugene Levy the one that's in all of them?) It certainly feels like the original and follows its structure and emotional beats exactly, even if the scenarios have changed. Fans of the original will have a blast.

I'm loathe to admit I have not seen any Harold and Kumar films (I feel a marathon coming on) but Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg taking over as writers and directors could explain the unexpected Neil Patrick Harris cameo and John Cho's expanded role. I don't remember him at all from the first film but he's here reprising his role as MILF Guy #2 which is hilarious in and of itself but that they gave him  his own mini emotional journey with that character is just brilliant.

Everyone gets their own little arc, like the first film. And they all culminate at the big reunion party at the end of the film , the last 10 minutes of which becomes a big cameo parade, trotting out faces from the original film and giving everyone a line or two. They actually make that work rather well though.

Most surprising is how they managed to take probably the most beloved (god knows why, I can't stand him) character, Stifler, and flesh him out just enough to get a shade of sadness out of him.

The gross out humour never really did anything for me and there's not much in this that is gonna push the bar but it's definitely a worthy sequel for what the original film was.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

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

After the unexpected pleasure of Arthur Christmas, Aardman Animations returns to stop motion for their next film, only relying on CG for creating oceans and skies, which works surprisingly well. The film looks great and in 3D even better.

Overall I didn't find this film held together as well as their past efforts but it's still miles ahead of any other animations I've seen recently. There are plenty of great jokes, action and visuals to keep you entertained, even if the story and characters are somewhat lacking.

As usual my favourite parts were the unexpected and out of left field jokes and references. Brian Blessed not only provides a voice but has a funny reference hidden away in the films earlier segments that did make me giggle. And the use of a Flight of the Concords song in the films dramatic crescendo was completely bizarre but does provide nicely pre-packaged laughs of its own.

An eclectic voice cast do fine work. I didn't recognise Hugh Grant at all despite listening out for any telltale line readings. Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek have brief cameos and once again Martin Freeman provides the voice of reason.

I understand this is a mashup of a few of the children's books on which the characters are based. You get the feeling watching this film that it's more like an episode of a TV series with established characters, they never bother introducing most of them and while their stories are hinted at throughout the corse of the film, they never get any big moments or closure, they are just there.

 I doubt this will have any lasting rewatchablility, still it's pleasant enough to sit though and enjoy.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow

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

This really hit the spot. A made for TV movie from 1981 that was just released on dvd. I had read about it and must admit I always did find scarecrows creepy so I thought I'd give it a go. It turned out to be far better than I was expecting.

While its shot simply and on a budget, and can't show any gore, it still manages to create a really creepy atmosphere. It expertly sets up the story and the characters and even though it pretty much tells you who is going to be the next victim it always keeps the mystery of who is doing the killings right up until the very end.

This is a case of a simple idea done well. I was hoping for more scarecrow imagery but in the end I think it's far more effective by not showing anything at all. You don't know if it's a ghost, or one of many possible characters with a motive or simply the overwhelming guilt playing with their heads.

With a good cast of familiar faces and a great 80's slasher feeling but with a more brooding pace this film was a pleasant surprise indeed. A lost gem.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

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

I've missed Lasse Hallström's last two films but it's clear he hasn't lost his sentimental touch. You can see all the beats laid out in the trailer, the only thing it doesn't give you is the mandatory 3rd act couple split up instigator. In the actual film you can see it coming a mile away, even though it's pretty ridiculous and I was hoping they'd find another way. Oh and there's some assassination attempts.

The darker stuff is very much whitewashed over though to create a perfectly palatable film. And it is pretty enjoyable. Kristin Scott Thomas gets the bulk of the laughs as the press secretary. Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt are both lovely and it's nice to hear McGregor's natural accent for a change.

I don't know why but I seemed to object to the need for make the Sheikh some kind of exotic wise mystic with worldy advice for our couple. It seems Arabs portrayed in films can only either be terrorists or magical enlightened gurus.

Well, the audience was primarily of the older demographic and they all seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. I thought it was okay.

Critters 4

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

Critters in SPAAAAAACEEE! Well technically that's where they started but now, after a brief prologue which was just a rehash of the epilogue in part 3, we jump 53 years into the future. All the action takes place on a run down space station with a salvage crew who find the pod containing Charlie and the two critter eggs. Did not see that coming.

Brad Dourif is in this! And he's great. As is Angela Bassett. I also recognised that evil dude from Twin Peaks.

This one is probably the least consequential of all and you can see them trying to push the Alien style space horror on the film. Like they've used this franchise to play out their own fanboy dreams. 

This film is not funny. It seems to forget about the jokes and gags which is a nice change of pace but unfortunately this is not the kind of material you can take all too seriously. Most curious of all is the dramatic change in Ugs character which is never explained and seemed like a more intriguing story that what the film gave us. 

I keep seeing ways I would have developed the story, all the missed opportunities and undeveloped ideas the franchise presents. But I doubt anyone is clamouring for a Critters 5 or a reboot. As it is, it's an odd but pretty definitive ending for the unexpected franchise that, let's be honest, was just New Line's cash in on the success of Gremlins. 

Still the series holds together far better than those horrible Children of the Corn sequels I just forced myself through. Yeesh.

Headhunters

IMDB

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

I loved being surprised by foreign movies. All I know about this going in was it was something to do with an art thief and it had the guy that plays Jamie Lannister in Game of Thrones in it. That's a great jumping off point because things soon escalate way beyond what I was expecting and it happens fast.

This is a film that's just begging for a hollywood remake, no surprise I read it was sold before its release. Probably because the author of the books and the producers of the original adaptations of them have already done so well with the Millennium Trilogy. 

I've only seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but already this is a great deal more fun and interesting that that was. I also think that in the original language it classier and more sophisticated than it really is, and any remake will just feel like another regular hollywood style fugitive story. 

Anyway, if you get a chance to see this one, check it out. A very pleasant surprise that feels expertly structured with not a hair out of place and with a few unexpected twists and scenarios I wasn't prepared for but revelled in.