Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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

I kinda wished this film cut lose more often. Timur Bekmambetov's visual style is always intriguing and his action sequences opulent and filled with wild abandon. Unfortunately we only get 2 big memorable sequences, and besides some fun but forgettable hand to hand fights throughout, the film feels bogged down by its historical surroundings. A shame, as those 2 sequences are pure joy, utterly ridiculous and completely enjoyable, like the rest of the film should have been,

Should I really complain about the lack of character emotional connectivity in a film called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? Well I think I have the right to. The script and the actors are all taking it very seriously and so shall I. Now obviously this makes the joke of the whole piece even more hilarious but it really does kill the fun vibe and without being acute enough to set up these characters for anything more than mere historical necessity, it really makes the whole affair rather empty.

I do love that they found a new use for 3D technology. When the vampires eyes glow as their blood-lust rises, a different opacity level is sent to each eye of the viewer creating a doubled holographic effect that one often sees as a mistake from the filtering of unpolarised light reflected at different angles from each camera. They use this mistake to a purpose here and it's actually really neat. Subtle enough that most viewers would only perceive something crazy different is going on with the vampires eyes as compared to the normal eyes. Now I can't be sure if this is a post-invention or a happy accident from on-set practical effects, eye contacts that reflect light differently. Either way. it was fun to see them using this unusual 3d phenomena to a purpose.

The 3d itself was fine however I take issue with the colour grading. I'm fine with the very stylised palette, I'm even fine with the radically incongruous two-stripe technicolor look for a brief flashback. But the whole film seems to have had a rather unpleasant digitally sharpened look that makes for some very digital looking photography, even lower res than what you'd expect. I don't know if that's an issue with the particular print we saw, an intentional look or something to do with the grading or the Arri Alexa they reportedly shot on. I've never seen footage from that camera look this much like DVC-PRO though.

The other thing that bothered me right from the get go is the over use of chromatic aberration on the edges of every frame. Sure it makes it  look like old lenses but I just couldn't stop noticing it. This though is most likely only going to be an issue for me, I doubt anyone else will be as enraged. It was just one of those things that once you noticed you couldn't stop looking at. They may have even used the 3d channels to generate some more extreme versions of this in close ups. It seemed to be the case. That old lens look coupled with the overly digitally sharpened look didn't do it for me. One or the other folks.

Unfortunately the cinema I saw this in had the sound unbearably low. The sound and music mix never pumped in the way I expect it was intended. What I did hear of the score didn't entice me much.

There are some good actors in this film. Good actors that Seth Grahame-Smith's script doesn't give anything much for them to do.

UNCREDITED ALAN TUDYK!

Also allow me to add my voice to the multitudes online expressing just how much Benjamin Walker looks like a young Liam Neeson. No surprise to see he actually played young Kinsey in the film of the same name. If Spielberg stuck to his original casting choice for his Lincoln biopic it could have been a confusing year.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

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

This is the other Makoto Shinkai film I wanted to check out before the Anime festival. Again we are dealing with the nostalgia of childhood and a very sombre love triangle. However this time this is also a parallel universe slant from an alternate history of a divided country. All just really cool sci-fi style metaphors for the same issue, that of being separated, just like 5 Centimetres Per Second.

The whole sci-fi plot that's going on has a tendency to get a little confusing I don't think that even really matters as much as the emotion, again, very sincere. Also very pretty. One of the bonuses of animation is you can make every scene set at magic hour if you want. Shinkai certainly takes every opportunity he has.

I think his previous effort is the cleaner, more relatable film. As much as I love all the sci-fi stuff I think it tends to bog down the film in places. Perhaps another viewing is in order for clarification, but I still enjoyed the watch.

Magic Mike

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

It's that stripper movie!

Man, Soderbergh loves that yellow look. He seems to colour grade everything like that these days.

After walking out of Step Up 4, I like that this reminded me where Channing Tatum started out. He still got the moves. And little Stormbreaker is growing up too. The rest of the male cast have very interesting stories hinted at but frustratingly we never get around to them.

It seems to be a fairly level headed portrayal of the profession. Well, what would I know? It certainly caters well to the female demographic though.

Soderbergh and the actors keep things flowing and moving naturally. I love they way we always cut out of a scene what feels like a beat too early. Cody Horn almost comes across as boring she's so understated but I didn't actually have a problem with her. I enjoyed the whole thing just fine. I don't know about a musical version or a sequel but this one stands on its own well enough.

Step Up 4: Miami Heat

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

Gotta love your dance movies. The tried and true formula is pumped out yet again. Mercifully this time they actually play out the majority of the admittedly very entertaining dance sequences, instead of the rapid cutting every 2 seconds that destroyed what enjoyment I could have had out of Streetdance 2 earlier this year.

Unfortunately anytime one of the characters opens their mouth to say something I don't know if I should laugh or cringe. I loved that they ended up celebrating selling out to corporations after the whole film was spent protesting corporate greed. But does anyone really come here for the story? Probably not. There's not really any point pointing out plot holes. All that matters is that besides on or two extremely wide convergence shots, the the 3D was good, the leads were sexy and, blatant hip grinding aside, the dances were off the hizzle.  We're a long way from where this franchise started out. It's assembly line filmmaking and you'll already know if you're gonna enjoy this or not.

5 Centimetres Per Second

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

I've been meaning to check out some of Makoto Shinkai's work for a long time now. The animation and artwork really is as beautiful as people say. Stunning even. The film uses a lot of faked narrow depth of field to get all that beautiful filmic bokeh. A lot of the more modern digital compositing techniques are used to great effect here, something those old-school animators seem to be afraid or unaware of.

The film itself is made in 3 parts. Little poems about the growing distance between people. Very sad stuff. It has heart firmly on sleeve, never eases you into it either so if you aren't prepared I think the unwavering sincerity could easily backfire. Most likely due to the segments being so short and the film being a little over an hour it doesn't spend the time to lay out much groundwork. It didn't quite get me all the way there, I need more of a lead in but I think that's my personal taste. It's sure to bore some and enrapture others, so your milage may vary.

You can't doubt though that it's a visual feast. Everyday images somehow become magic and artistic. That's the wonder of animation I guess. I'll try and check out some more before the Reel Anime festival starts next month.

The Sapphires

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

Didn't know about the stage musical but the film was fine. A sure crowd pleaser.

When they label something as a musical, I usually expect characters to sing original songs about their lives or the plot, but this just occasionally shows the girls performing a number, so I'd hardly call it a musical.

The film hits all the beats you would expect, we've seen this story done many times before. I know it's based on a true story but I feel like a lot of the truth has been squished and mangled or exaggerated to fit this tried and true formula we all know.

There are a couple of rather large world events that are brushed over or used in a way that could feel exploitative. I guess it keeps the focus on the girls  and provides some context which is fine but it just felt like they were throwing stuff in to try and pull at the heartstrings any way they could.

Also despite the happy uplifting ending, only one of the girls personal storylines was actually wrapped up. I guess the rest are hinted at or just not important but when they spend all that time in the middle of the film talking about love life to have it amount to nothing is a little frustrating.

This film has some fx work in it that look about the level of what I can pull off on my old laptop. I guess it's passable enough that the target audience wouldn't really care but I sure as hell notice. And it mainly looks to be things that could have easily been shot on set too.

The songs are enjoyable though and how they got Chris O'Dowd I don't know but thank god they did because he's just charming and wonderful throughout.

Hysteria

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Tyler, Jordan

I actually saw this many days ago and hadn't found the time to write it up. But here goes.

A film about the invention of the vibrator, it's sort of interesting but the plotting and dialogue are so clunky even this great cast have trouble selling it. It's not nearly as witty or fun or intelligent as it thinks. The fact is though, when we saw it there was a large group of elder women that enjoyed the heck out of it, so I feel like it the poor writing won't matter at all to the target audience who just want a good crowd pleasing film that they can pretend is classy because everyone is in period dress and speaks with British accents.

And besides every time Hugh Dancy smiles nothing else in the world matters anyway.

There was a great movie to be made here. This is an okay movie where subtext has been entirely done away with.

House

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Naomi, Michael

Write Up.

That this film exists is just staggering. That I found out about it and can now inflict it's glory on others is even more amazing.

The Dark Knight Rises

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

Write Up.

Conflicty feelings won't go away. I think after the giddy highs of The Dark Knight any expectations I had were going to be too high. And this is such a tonally different film than the last two. Bottom line is, at this stage, I gotta say the is my least favourite out of all of Nolan's Batman films.

Some things you cannot fault about it are of course, the tech. Seeing it in Imax last time was amazing too. Even in the fake Imax. This time I was in a regular cinema but the sound was a little more even than it was at Imax.

The performances are mostly good, even if I disagree with the writing of some characters.

Unexpected Ben Mendelsohn!

But again, the rest of the film left me completely underwhelmed. It's like The Nolan Bros. hearts weren't in it any more, they were obliged to make this one and just wanted to get it out of the way to get on to more creative things. Because really, it's a bit of a mess and nothing about the film connected with me emotionally, none of the action excited me, I was confused by the constantly changing tone and found all the plot revelations to be disappointingly obvious and clunky delivered.

It doesn't help that all the plot revelations were speculated by fans years ago, only to have them denied by the film makers but then confirmed within the film. If you know anything about Batman so called twist is obvious and the way they try to hide it shortchanges both villains. I mean, sure in the past Nolan's villains have differed greatly from the ones we know but usually with a good purpose and done well enough to not make me mind at all.

I did like this version of Catwoman, although she's really only in the film to serve a specific point and I would hardly call her a villain. Nevertheless her motivations were clear and highlighted a specific aspect of the whole "rise up" theme running through the film. Her one liners are great even though I think the clash horribly with the serious real world tone the other films set up. But not more so that Banes very cartoonish evil villain plot...

Bane just doesn't work at all for me. The Joker didn't have any specific motivations to his actions. That's what made him scary and dangerous. It feels like they kept the idea for their sequel with Joker but just switch it over to Bane. His motivations are ambiguous as well, but in a bad way. They tell us how he got his mask and why he's been trained but nothing about his actual character. His giant oversized time bomb device just brought back memories of Batman Forever. His fights with Batman are lacking any creativity and amount to nothing more than just some un-bat-like brawling. And his voice is kinda ridiculous, fanboy gripe, but still annoyed me and the way it was mixed in the soundtrack.

Speaking of the soundtrack, uh, on second though, let's not. James Newton Howard, your actual melodic lines are sorely missed.

If you know the characters at all it seems obvious Talia would have to be somewhere in the 3rd film, given how much it relates back to the first and seem as there is only so many female cast members it doesn't take long to figure out what they are setting up. But man, out of all the characters to get short changed she is the worst. One of the more interesting characters just thrown in and then shoved off, even more-so than Scarecrow. That was very disappointing.

While I know I saw action and scale, I never felt any of it. I did feel the running time this time. By the time we got to the end montage featuring contrivance upon contrivance I was just ready to go home.

It's not a bad film, there's a lot of cool stuff in here. It's not what I wanted to see after the first two and what I did see just failed completely to interest me more than any average action flick. Everyone seems to enjoy it though so I'm probably alone on this. Someone accused me of just "not being able to have fun" a rather hypocritical statement from this particular reviewer, that just served to piss me off even more and further taint the film. Unfortunate. I'm glad Nolan's freed up to do other films. I'm glad someone else is gonna take a stab at a new version of the franchise, perhaps one that IS ACTUALLY MORE FUN like all the other Batman films were. Even Dark Knight was more fun than Rises. That film remains my favourite of this series.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

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

Write Up.

Had some time left to kill before the midnight screening of the last Batman film... So this happened.

The Dark Knight

IMDB

First time viewed: No

Current Release: No

Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Head over heels in love with this one. It take the universe set up in the first film and runs with it. The tone is even darker, the new villains are fascinating.

Of course Heath Ledger's Joker is a thing of beauty. He makes the anarchist in me giddy. Easily the most frightening and compulsively watchable villain. His thought process leads to some wonderfully inventive action set pieces and situations. His capture is a little less climactic but I feel if not for Ledger's untimely death we would have gotten closure in the 3rd film. Instead we'll just have to presume that he's rotting away in Arkham.

As wonderful as the Joker is my heart belongs to Harvey Dent. I believed in Harvey too. Once again we don't really get to spend a long time with Two-face as a villain, however, unlike scarecrow, Harvey Dent's fall gives the character a massive arc to play over the course of the film. The impact his fall has on the world of the film and the characters in it, after all they invested in him is what makes this chapter so dark and his story so tragic.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is here this time as Rachel Dawes and the way they twist her damsel in distress is just another of the reason this is by far the most emotional of all the films for me.

Goes without saying, it looks great, sounds great, the actions is great, I love the way the structure works to balance out all those plots into a cohesive and connected whole and with the Joker we get some of that comic book levity the first film largely lacked. Definitely my favourite of the bunch.

Batman Begins

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

Christopher Nolan begins his take on the Batman saga. foregoing the hilarious camp of the Adam West era (still one of my favourite films) and the heavily comic book stylised design of the Tim Burton films, instead opting for a more real world approach, something tangible and almost believable, striving to flesh out the characters psyche with a depth the previous films lacked in varying degrees. 

They also had Scarecrow as a villain, he was always one of my favourite. Especially excited when they cast Cillian Murphy but unfortunately we don't really get that much time with him as the scarecrow. And like most of Nolan's incarnations of the character they only resemble the characters I know and love in smaller ways, to fit in with his realistic vision. 

So right off the bat, not pun intended, we have a characters that has been interpreted in many different ways over the years. With this very dark, serious, realistic tone we lose any of the fun comic book style quips, the more fantastic elements and overly stylised world with which to put it in. A breath of fresh air at the time. 

They amassed a great cast to play iconic roles. And of course being a Nolan film, the tech specs are impeccable. I still have qualms about a musical theme for a character being only two notes, especially when it took two great composers to come up with, probably one note each, but in truth it really works for the film and it's a great score. 

The fanboy in me cries foul play every time I get to the climax and Batman won't kill anyone but "chooses not to save" the villain. That's a cheap cop-out and something I still think goes against his character but I guess it's a small gripe, like many I have with Nolan's take. In general I'm extremely happy with adaptation. It has great characters, the structure is well planned, the action is great and it introduces this new version well and establishes the tone of a world where the fantastic so subdued that it is almost believable.

The Dark Knight Rises

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Sam, Tim, Matt

Never before has such a perfect storm of events collided to create exactly what I'm feeling right now, which is possibly the worst case of post movie depression I've ever had. I reserve the right to withhold my current opinions of the film until I have seen it again with a less clouded head, a clearer atmosphere, lowered expectations and some more time to process. I'm afraid after having not seen a film of any kind for a week and a half may have in fact broken me. Perhaps I've forgotten how to watch them. As it stands I don't like my opinion of the film and I don't trust it. I fear this first screening experience may have tainted it for good though. I've never felt so out of touch with everyone else's reactions.

I definitely need to rewatch the other films of the series as soon as possible. And I'm seeing this film again tomorrow night at the midnight screening, although I think that might be too soon. I'm just gonna leave it here for now. I'll write something more legible when I've got back in the swing of things.

Paprika

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

Write Up.

I think Watching Perfect Blue the other day prompted this. I must see if I can find Millennium Actress somewhere, I need to revisit that one. Also I think there's one or two of his films I have never seen. Perhaps I should save them for a rainy day. Good thing it's winter.

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

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

I have no idea why the thought of watching this suddenly popped into my head. But it did and I watched it. I didn't think I'd remember any of it as I must have been very young when I first saw it but I remembered quite a bit.

Amazing fashion. Just, wow. David Newman does a really cool 90'stastic comedy score too.

One thing I don't remember was David Duchovny being one of the bad guys. I remember him from Beethoven but, obviously I watched that a great deal more than this.

What a ridiculous premise and how far they go with it is also very amusing. And you know what, Christina Applegate is just great in this. A fun little nostalgic romp.