Moonrise Kingdom

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

Can finally get back to watching films after a far too long absence. And what better way than to start with Wes Anderson's latest. Gorgeous. Loved it. Full of the usual Wes Andersonisims, great cast, soundtrack, love the 60's look, I believe they shot on 16mm to get that grain. I think this is one of his best works to date. Impeccable timing with background action.

I'm just listing things no. I don't really have much more to say other than I'm so happy to be watching films again and I loved this little number and you should go see it.

Ninja Scroll

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

Loved this one as a kid, probably one of the first animations with adult-ish content I'd seen. Filled with violence and sex, crazy ninja powers and cool characters. It really is an archetypal story and it plays out beautifully.

It's been many years since I'd seen it and watching it now in HD I have an all new appreciation of the great art style. the action is just as cool as ever. Love the fantastic world. Never seen the series but perhaps I'll give it a go.

This film is just really really cool.

God Bless America

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

A bit of cynic wish fulfilment. A very low budget independent production and it shows sometimes but it gets its point across. It's rough around the edges and structurally pretty clunky. The young girl character Roxy really got on my nerves, the way she was written and acted.

The whole thing is obviously over the top but I don't think that should excuse a certain amount of plausibility from the writing. There's still a lot to enjoy in this dark comedy, a little startling after the real life shootings in a cinema in the US but as I said, some good wish fulfilment.

Spawn

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

Yikes. Time hasn't been kind to this one. I was young and naive when I first watched this and like some of the new CG fx they developed for it. They don't really hold up too well. KNB EFX work still looks great though.

But even when I was young I could see this was a hugely problematic movie. It's like they tried to make a dark violent r-rated movie but aimed for little kids. It's not going to work for anyone. I do remember all that flashy late 90's style editing, I used to like that too. But in this film they over do it and with all the flashbacks and forwards the films structure becomes a bit of a mess too. So many zany transitions haha.

And the dialogue... It's big comic-booky dialogue. Some of it is just plain bad dialogue. Pretty funny.

John Leguizamo is giving it his all, that's for sure. I didn't mind him so much as a kid but yeah, he really grates now.

There's a good film that could be made from the franchise. This is not it.

Ides of March

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

Write Up.

Pretty funny viewing this again after The Campaign.

The Campaign

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Jordan

After making some award winning political dramas for HBO Jay Roach is back to doing comedy but he still seems to have something to say about the American political process.

I find Will Ferrell hit and miss. I'm glad to say I think this film has more hit than miss though, definitely one of his better films. Zach Galifianakis is also great here and there's a killer supporting cast. For me, Dylan McDermott stole the show, purely with his entrances and exits from scene to scene.

I needed a laugh and this film provided. The film probably won't have much staying power, they sacrificed going all the way with theme for going all the way with silly comedy. It's a tricky tightrope for sure but a darker ending that really brought the message home would have killed the fun tone, so I think they made the right choice and still get their point across.

I totally ate 2 hot dogs during the film. A novelty that was sure to increase my enjoyment of anything. This film, like those hot dogs, wasn't nutritious at all but man it hit the spot for a quick fix when I needed it. 

A Royal Affair

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

Oooh, a classy foreign period piece, don't I feel cultured. Actually really enjoyable too.

Handsomely produced and a great true story hampered only by a pace and running time that brings on slight fatigue and a lead actor who I've only ever seen play villains in blockbusters and hence could never fully trust here despite the characters best intentions. Such is the life of a european character actor.

But it's easy to see why this is doing so well in its homeland. The performances are great, the film look gorgeous and the themes are just as apt today. Glad I caught this one before it left the cinemas.

Bernie

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

Always happy to see another Richard Linklater film. This time tackling a true story and interspersed with interviews and scenes with local residents playing themselves. And it's rather fantastic.

A real show piece for Jack Black who absolutely kills in the role. Pun intended I guess. He gets to sing an awful lot in the film. Shirley MacLaine isn't given much to do but Matthew McConaughey sure looks to be having a lot of fun.

It's such a strange circumstance and it's portrayed wonderfully with a sense of empathy and understanding. It's also hilarious and a little heartbreaking and thanks to Blacks portrayal, sure to leave you with a few questions about the morals of the situation.

Very enjoyable with a real air of authenticity.

King Kong

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

Extended cut on bluray. Don't think the film really needed to be extended but the extra action stuff is fun. As much as I love Jamie Bell I just wish they would get rid his whole story with Evan Parke, it's terribly written and drags the film down and makes me want to tear my hair out every time they start talking about Heart of Darkness. Especially since all the characters on the ship are pretty much gone after the first hour and a half and have no relevance in the climax.

It's obvious where Jacksons sensibilities lie. He makes Kong a real tragedy and Denham a real asshole. His love for the original film is quite clear. This passion project is pretty over indulgent but there's a lot to like.

The action sequences and the beautiful backgrounds are the reason I revisit this film. Naomi Watts and Andy Serkis/Weta are great and I shall never stop enjoying that whole V-rex vs Kong fight in the vines.

I still can't justify them taking an hour to get to the Island. The '33 Kong does it in under 10 minutes and granted they aren't exploring theme as in depth and fleshing out far to many characters but still, that's a lot to take in before it feels like the actual film begins.

Once they are up on the Empire State though it's all smooth sailing.

I really like the James Newton Howard score. I'm curious as to what Howard Shore would have done and why they decided to change but what we ended up with was pretty great.

In a film with this many effects it's probably useless to complain about the few small bits that always pop out as rush jobs but there's always those few shots that make me wince a little. For the most part though, it's fantastic.

A real mixed bag but always a big adventure if you're gonna take it on.

The Most Dangerous Game

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

After watching Kong again I though it was about time I saw this other classic, if only to see if we could recognise the reused sets. There doesn't appear to be a trailer for the film but I'm sure you all know the story.

More beautiful matte paintings here. Leslie Banks as Zaroff is wonderfully creepy. Fay Wray screams some more. The whole thing is over in an hour. I don't know if the longer versions survives to this day.

Very glad I finally got around to seeing this one. Made me want to watch Fincher's Zodiac after.

King Kong

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

Classic. I love this one. Kong is awesome. Love the old school acting, dialogue, effects and music. Just great work from everyone. Been a while since I caught up with this one. Also watched Weta's try and re-creating the infamous lost spider pit sequence. It's an interesting extra. Great fun to watch again.

Take This Waltz

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

I missed Sarah Polley's first directorial effort and this one almost slipped me by to but I managed to see it on its last day. And I was very pleased to see they have upgraded the digital projection system at the cinema it was playing at, so hopefully no more complaining from me about the terrible image quality. This looked great.

This is one of those films about a situation where there are no easy answers and the film manages to treat everyone pretty sympathetically. At least I thought so. It's objective enough that you can read what you want into it. I personally thought Michelle Williams's character was never going to be happy with whichever guy she was with because the problem was her.

It's nice that although there's very recognisable beats, situations never play out exactly like you've seen before. There's a real reluctance to ever make anything too big or showy. But there is a sad anxiety at the heart of everything here. You're just waiting for it all to blow up in your face but that never comes and in the end the anxiety remains.

The cast are all great. I do love seeing comedians use their skills in different contexts. They manage to make Seth Rogen out to be a real sweetheart and sexy.

There were a small handful of scenes that felt a little clunky, mainly at the beginning to get things going. But there were also a handful of scenes latter on that were just pitch perfect. A few nice directorial flourishes too.

I enjoyed this little film. And I'm glad I held off seeing it until the new projection equipment was installed. There was what looked to be some 5D footage in a few low light scenes that looked great on the big screen. Interesting use of Video Killed the Radio Star too.

Detention

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

There needs to be more films made like this. Correction: There needs to be more people that end up seeing films like this. I never saw Torque but I know Joseph Kahn went to director jail because of it and ended up just making this one independently. Which is the only way films like this can get made.

Gloriously off the wall, completely bat-shit insane and even though I can recognise that it can be a bit of a mess at times, I could not help but love every minute of it. It just goes for broke. Undoubtably it's going to turn many people off but this was like movie crack for me. It also wins the award for most references in a film ever. I think I got most of them too.

Josh Hutcherson, what a champ. Every film I see him in I like him more and more.

I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone so I'm just gonna say, this is a MUST SEE film and if you hate it that's completely fine. But look out for it and give it a try anyway because it may just be your new favourite film.

Cosmopolis

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

Are we really lucky enough to get 2 new David Cronenberg films within a year? That makes me very happy. Especially since I found A Dangerous Method to be so dry and clinical. I like this film a great deal more.

Although the way it starts out it looks like it could be as dry and unforthcoming as the latter, however through all the waxing philosophical, a handful of characters start to be unveiled, growing sense of unease creeps up on you and the final scenes are just a joy to watch unfold.

While it's true the film is basically Robert Pattinson in a limo on his way to get a haircut while various people come in and have discussions, once you get into the slightly absurdist nonsequitur's and get your head around the themes through all the techno jargon it's surprisingly enjoyable. Probably not for everyone, there were a few who walked out of the screening.

Also they are lovely random bursts of unexpected violence, where old-school Cronenberg rears his head. There's also an absolutely hilarious, yet at the same time managing to be poignant at sad, segment about a dead rapper. Beautiful.

I also loved all the scenes with his wife. Sarah Gadon does an amazing job of conveying so much whilst maintaining this stilted emotionless tone that permeates the style of the film. Actually same should be said of Robert Pattinson who is just fantastic.

Cronenberg uses a lot of unusually high wide angles for his two way conversations. It's an odd feeling it creates and it certainly doesn't look like anything else I've seen, except maybe some Terry Gilliam. Certainly looks unique. The sound and music is very sparse, actually in the limo it's uncomfortably almost dead sillent except for the dialogue. The reasons why are later revealed but for the start of the film at least it's just another subtle thing that makes this world off-center.

Howard Shore again does music, it's very very sparse and only highlights certain small segments but it's pretty neat.

The first segment with Jay Baruchel had some dodgy greenscreen and I was worried the whole film would be like that, but they seemed to get better as they went along.

All you 99 percenters should definitely check this one out while you have the chance. I love that we got this so soon from Cannes and I'm sure I'll go back and see it again.

Ice Age: Continental Drift

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

I think it's mandatory now for every animation house to do something with pirates. This seems to be the exact same story as the last films except the baddie macguffin is pirates this time. There's a horrible teen movie sub plot going on on the side too. And once again the cartoonish exploits of Scrat are the more interesting parts.

Seriously though, every single main character goes through the exact same arc and most of them pretty unconvincingly.

Peter Dinklage and Wanda Sykes are FINALLY in a film together. Uhhh...

Terrible terrible auto-tuned music number in the middle and at the end. It seems they cast a whole bunch of unknown to me R&B stars to play all the one liner characters so they can work in a pop tune at the end. The Dink gets to sing too though, so it can't all be bad. 

Now I missed out on seeing this in 3D, I left it too late, which is a shame because it's one of the few reasons I think it would be worth seeing at all. Actually there was a Simpsons short animation starring Maggie Simpson that looked like it was made for 3D as well, I'm sorry I missed that. 

Even more hilarious was the Madagascar 3 trailer followed by Ang Lee's Life of Pi trailer and all the kids that couldn't tell the difference between the two. 

Well I can't imagine how many more films this series has left in it before they gotta start making someone extinct. But judging by the cast list there's plenty of talented people willing to say a few lines in a booth for money no matter what the content. Not nearly as reprehensible as some kids films I've seen this year but also entirely forgettable.