New Year's Eve

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

This film is like the white noise of romantic comedies. The writer and director of Valentine's Day decided they hadn't got enough milage out of that film so the shuffled things about a bit and changed the setting. Really, it's the EXACT SAME MOVIE. They even make fun of this fact in the awful credit blooper reel by literally pulling the Valentine's Day bluray out of Jessica Biel's vagina and shoving it in our faces. And then the DVD. I wonder what's next. Arbour Day? Labor Day? Inauguration Day?

This film has a cast list a mile long and doesn't do much with any of them. Although I liked to think Cary Elwes was reprising his role from the Saw franchise. They would intercut nicely. All the stories are light a fluffy, except Robert De Niro dying of cancer. That was just boring.

The most impressive thing about the film was creating New Years Eve 2012 in Time Square. Good job. The Arri Alexa night footage looks pretty great, very saturated and colourful but even then, there is a lot of very obvious digital enhancement trying to make Katherine Heigl look human. Ew.

The advantage of having so many stories is that if you don't like one plot line, chances are the film will have moved on to something else within a few minuets. For me though, there was a greater percentage of dislikes so that didn't help. It's a bland romantic comedy (that was neither romantic nor funny) and the best, the film is inoffensive.

Jack and Jill

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

Happy Madison producitons used to be watchable. That all changed somewhere along the lines when they realise that kids will watch any old crap so they can make more by trying less. This feels like a bad parody movie from Funny People. It cuts the soul.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

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

Write up.

Bit of late night commentary. I started on the director, but he sounded pretty boring, so I swapped to the writers.

Mission: Impossible 2

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

Ahh what the hell, may as well finish off the series.

Anthony Hopkins is in this? Forgot that. I do remember it's practically all set in Australia. Perhaps that's why I shy away from it so much. They do absolutely everything to remind you of this every two seconds, with shots of kangaroos of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The BMX Bandits ending doesn't help either.

So this is the John Woo entry. So there's an awful lot of gunplay in slow motion with a big rock guitar soundtrack. And everyone always wares sunglasses. And there's not really much spying at all despite the over use of masks. There's something very early 90's about the romance side of the action/romance. As in, even at the time it was made it was already dated.

I guess it's serviceable.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

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

Write ups here and here.

Watch with the old folks this time. I still can't get over the scale of this film. And the Budget spent of a talking car movie. It was too epic for them, they had to split it into two nights of viewing. That's why I hate showing films to my parents not in a cinema.

By the way, the current bluray has crap all extra features. Very disappointing.

Mission: Impossible 3

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

Sorry John Woo! We skipped your entry due to time constraints, but to be fair, it is the worst of the series. No slow mo flying doves for us.

So 10 years later, J.J Abrams takes the reins after 5 season of his own very fun Spy TV series. They add in a love interest for a bit of heart and keep the action big and the stakes high. And as usual have a mysterious high concept macguffin that is never explained but does allow for some nice location shooting for an action sequence on a skyscraper in Shanghai.

It also benefits from having a much clearer villain than the first instalment, here embodied with relish by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Watching it directly after the first instalment a few things stand out. The spy technology for one, colour grading went crazy in 10 years and every set piece is 30 times bigger. The Helicopter chase at the start is nifty and I like breaking into Vatican City just because it shows off their more high tech mask creation technology, a staple of the series and one they finally sold me on with this instalment.

Again, a great cast of supporting characters, some of whom shall thankfully be returning in the next film.

Mission: Impossible

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

Holy Cow this film is 15 years old. The internet and computer tech dates it pretty clearly but it's still a damn great film from Brian De Palma, a man who never says no to a good split field diopter shot.

The harness drop scene has been parodied more times than I could count and that whole sequence still manages to get the tension up. The opening fake out is great, classic noir stuff. They introduce a team played by great actors who all get top billing and then just immediately kill them off. It's pretty mean, but it just get you on edge. And then there's the final train action set piece, which is pretty ridiculous but a lot of fun.

It's the film that ushered in the new wave of spy films, that sits somewhere between where the big action of James Bond was at the time and before the Borne series with it's more serious and realistic low key approach, which the Bond franchise has now taken on to a degree.

Good stuff.

Black Swan

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

I've watched this the most. 6 times this year now. I finally wore mum down and she worked up the nerve to watch it. Good stuff.

While I haven't started thinking much about my best of 2011 list yet, and I don't think this will be number 1, I think it'll definitely make the top 10.

Minority Report

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

Steven Spielberg directing a Philip K. Dick based story? Yes please.

What starts out as a Sci-fi action thriller steadily turns into a detective noir. As usual with Dick's stories, there's a great central conceit that leads to many morally and philosophically grey areas. In this case, arresting someone before they commit a crime.

I've always loved this film and what stood out to me most watching it through again, besides now knowing Anne Lively was played by Jessica Harper from Suspiria and Shock Treatment, was the great sound design and music and how it works almost subconsciously on the audience to keep complicated multiple plot threads recognised as they pop up and interweave.

If I have a problem with this film it's that it almost feels episodic. Don't get me wrong, it has a very clear, linear and compelling story driving everything through but they way it goes about telling it can sometimes feel like segments from different films. Sequences like Lois Smith's delightfully bizarre exposition in the greenhouse feel so radically different than the Jet Pack chase that comes before it or Peter Stormare's funny and icky surgery scene straight after. Pretty much all the supporting characters get there one scene and then that's it. So while everything has a great pace and if you don't like one segment chances are you'll like the next, it does make getting to the finish a bit of a chore. Each time you think you're getting a handle on the situation it changes up.

Perhaps that's not a bad thing at all, but watching it so late at night it does make it feel very long, each time you're ready for it to get to the end it picks up a plot thread you forgot about. And there is quite a lot in there, they do the work of fleshing out our main character with a damaged past and tying it in to story arc well.

And each segment is filled with cool stuff. I love all the future design stuff they came up with. That tricky area of being just slightly in the future, so recognisable but with some subtle and some not so subtle changes. Jet Packs are always awesome. As are those little spider eye scanning robots that suspiciously resemble the Tripods of Spielberg and Cruise's next collaboration.

It's also filled with wonderful and often eccentric performances from supporting cast. Like I said before, they don't all get much screen time but they do make some pretty big choices to ensure each one is unique and memorable.

Technically it's immaculate, as you'd come to expect. What can you say about a John Williams score? This one probably sounds the most like a mash-up of other work he's done but there's still really great stuff in there.

However I think this was the first film where Janusz Kaminski's cinematography started to get on my nerves. This is probably the highest contrast, bleached out grainy looking of Spielberg's films. That's fine, it suits the story. But Kaminski really went to town with his usual diffuse light glowing look. It's so pronounced it really started to bug me, peoples faces just became a shiny line of hi-lights. Probably made compositing a nightmare for the FX houses too.

Speaking of FX, I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to replicated the "Minority Report computer interface" style graphics. Although references seem to have moved forward to Ironman, this still crops up.

But despite all the cool sci-fi shine and the dark detectivy noir story, the usual warm beating heart at the centre of the story is there and there are some quite unexpectedly moving scenes towards the end.

I've heard theories about the end of this film, for the people that find Spielberg's happy everything's-neatly-tied-up endings too syrupy. Without giving anything away, there are lines planted, particularly by Tim Blake Nelson, that suggest the last few scenes may not be real at all, just a dream inside someone's head while they are incarcerated. Like other Phillip K. Dick stories, I'm thinking Total Recall here, it actively supports both readings, neither confirming nor denying either. So the cynical among you could debate the happy ending to your hearts content. While I'm not a big fan of the way the end just wraps up so quickly and so happily considering everything that came before it I do feel like what we are seeing is true, just because those references are so slight and, after all it IS Spielberg.

But perhaps you should give it a watch and see what you think.

The Gate

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

Those little demons in Don't be Afraid of the Dark left me nostalgic for this film. A Genuine 80's kids horror film and a childhood favourite. This film is balls out awesome, filled with great freak out moments and has some of the greatest 80's Toronto teen fashion this side of Degrassi.

Randy Cook, visual effects supervisor on Lord of the Rings, was doing FX on this and they use every old-school trick in the book. Some truly wonderful work including some shots I have no idea how they could have pulled off back then. For the longest time I was convinced the only way most of the shots were possible was if they actually summoned real demons to help out with the filming. When I got the new Anniversary DVD, which has a nice shiny widescreen transfer and some behind the scenes extras and retrospective interviews, they were the first things I watched and the craft is fascinating. But they still don't give everything away there so there's still a few shots I'm just baffled by.

Little Stephen Dorff, who recently played one of the most enjoyable characters in Immortals is great as the young kid who unwittingly unleashes hell. I forgot how epic in scale the finale of this is and he really sells it all.

This is just a brilliant film to scare the crap out of kids, it really feels to me like something Amblin would have released if it just wasn't so dark. Avoid the dreary sequel but definitely seek out this forgotten gem. I love it dearly.

Puss in Boots

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

Well it's far better than the last 2 Shrek films that's for sure. For an animated film from Dreamworks I was surprised at how slow and boring the start was. I mean there was running and swordplay but theres a bunch of clunky exposition to get out.

The best thing about the film is the 3D, it's really great and definitely worth the effort to see for that. It's not as post modern annoying as Shrek but it's still nowhere near as great as How to Train your Dragon or even Kung Fu Panda 2.

It does feel like a spin off film. It's not very grand in scale and despite having such great technical look there's never much weight to anything that happens. Or perhaps it's just me. But it was fun enough and there were one or two jokes that I really liked. I also like the split screens. Sufficient.

Attack the Block

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

Here's my first write up. And second.

Finally I get to see it in a cinema! Only, what, like a year after it came out overseas? Bah.

Anyway it works wonders in a cinema, it plays really well. So strange how everything seems heightened at the movies as opposed to watching at home. Perhaps the lack of distractions helps.

The only disappointing thing is there wasn't much of a crowd. It's gonna be one of those films I love that no-one else will ever hear about. So sad. Unless they listen to the Super 8 commentary...

Zulu

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

I've had this on a crappy DVD for about 6 years but always held off watching it. The disc was a crappy pan and scan. This is a film that needs the full widescreen. Looks great in HD too. There are some very nice vistas on display here often populated with thousands of extras, always impressive.

Michael Caine's first major role in a feature film. He's so damn British in this too, it's hilarious.

I'm not really one for war stories and this one didn't grab me too much aside from the cool use of extras (and cows in one scene). It lays out the battle pretty well. Still it's a little hard to get over how much make up everyone has caked on. Caine has a lot of eyeliner. A lot.

Zombi 2

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

AKA Zombi, Zombie, Zombie 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Island of the Flesh-Eaters, Island of the Living Dead... Basically it's Lucio Fulci's zombie movie that was at some stage given the sequel moniker to try and cash in as an unofficial sequel to Romero's Night of the Living Dead.

And as was the usual practice of Italian produced films with mixed nationalities in the cast, no audio was recorded on set and everything was dubbed in later. the sync problems from these old Italian films always wig me out a little. Also there seeming lack or ethics regarding animal treatment *cough* Cannible Holocaust *cough*. Or perhaps this time it was all a trick.

Okay so lets talk about that, because that's why everyone remembers this film and it's been given a bluray treatment and made a bit of a comeback. Zombie vs Shark. A zombie fights a shark underwater. Hand to hand. I'm serious. Holy crap it's badass.

Apart from that, some amazingly fun eye trauma, a great many classic rising from the ground scenes and a few fire deaths there isn't much to this film. The zombie make up has a very unique look but also looks a little cheap now, with patches or normal skin always poking through here and there.

Still, I am glad I saw that zombie/shark fight. And I do like the more classical voodoo zombie vibe it has going.

Bridge to Terabithia

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

Oh man that trailer is hilarious. It's one of the few false advertising campaigns that I like because of how devious it is. "Come on kids, Walden Media and Disney have the next Narnia adventure waiting for you!" Get them all excited and in the theatre and then BAM, punch them in the face.

This was one of the required reading texts in school so I was well aware of what to expect and as it did many fans, that trailer had me very worried. But really, how are you supposed to advertise the film without giving anything away? And no-one would probably go and see it if they knew what they would have to explain to their crying children on the car trip home from the cinema.

Well that's not really true the ending is very uplifting.

Suffice to say the finished film thankfully doesn't soft pedal anything from the book. I think it's a really fantastic adaptation and a really wonderful film. Just beautiful, even with the disney-esque sheen the whole thing is coated in.

Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb are bloody brilliant and once again, Bailee Madison shows some real talent. It's just such a beautiful story and I really love the film version. Don't write it off, and if you can avoid spoilers all the better. Watch it and thank me later.