The Ruins

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

I have not read the book this is based on, and I understand the adaptation has upset some readers, but just as a viewer of the film I loved this. I think I'm in the minority with this one but it's true. They took a decidedly b-movie premise and (for me anyway) made it believable, tense, gruesome and engaging.

A large part of the credit for that has to go to the awesome cast. They are relatable and unlike a lot of horror films I think they react pretty rationally in the circumstances they are thrown into. And they are pretty dire circumstances. Great gore make up and effects in this one too. Unlike the other horror films I've been watching of late, it's not fun at all, they make it hurt.

The ending is a little ambiguous. I know there is an alternate in the special features and the book was different too so i can't judge but the ending I saw works fine I guess.

Oh an they shot the whole thing in Australia. I'm pretty sure they don't have kookaburras in South America.

The Loved Ones

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Glen and all those other guys.

Yay, a great Australian horror film! It's hilarious. Lola will surly go down in history as one of the most delightfully evil girls in horror film history.

It was a lot of fun watching this with a bigger group of people again like the first time I saw it at the cinema. This is a film that lives and dies on crowd reaction. There are certainly a lot of squirm inducing scenes that can provoke great vocal responses. And some bizarre turns that push the boundaries of believability but are a lot of fun to watch unfold.

There is a subplot that never quite connects back to the main events of the film except perhaps tangentially in theme, which is quite frustrating. What ever the directors intentions were with these scenes at the prom, they were lost on me, It wasn't clear enough. Which is a shame because I love the rest of the film and every time we cut away from the main action it feels like idle time just waiting to get back to the story.

They actually get quite serious performances out of those dealing with the loss of loved ones, the realistic drama of these scenes is strangely paired by the over the top violence of what is going on in Lola's house. It was not much of a problem for me though, I was more invested in the outlandish violence because of it.

It looks great, shot on Red, the gore is neat, the sounds are horrific and I have always hated that "Am I not pretty enough" song but it's wonderfully used through the film.

Probably not for everyone, but those of you that love a screwed up Texas Chainsaw Massacre type of family dinner will appreciate a lot of this.

Welcome To The Dollhouse

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

I absolutely love this film. This is an early work from Todd Solondz and although it's not as dark as some of his later films it's just as funny and heartbreaking. Dawn Wiener is just one of those cult classic characters. Her life is pretty shit but it makes for some painfully hilarious viewing. And her outfits are the greatest. I do love the early 90's.

Like Happiness this film seems to be unavailable in any kind of widescreen dvd release in Australia, which is most annoying. It's not the most visually striking film, it's mainly talking heads, but still the correct framing is always preferable.

It's structured exactly like those character study dramas I generally hate. But thankfully the black humor and the pace and characters make this so enjoyable, or horrific depending on your point of view. Heather Matarazzo is just fantastic.

And the ending, it's one of my favourites even though for some people it just finishes out of nowhere. I felt that was the perfect spot to finish the story, you just know her life isn't going to get any better any time soon and it's summed up wonderfully in those last shots. Todd Solondz continued the story by using some of the same characters in Palindromes and the sequel to Happiness, Life During Wartime, but I think this is just best as a stand alone film.

I don't have much bad to say about it, I just really like it. Go see it.

Joshua

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

This is a very dark little drama, perhaps you could even call it a thriller or a horror, that was quietly dumped onto dvd in Australia a few years back, with a horrible hooky demonic child cover and the subtitle "The Devil's Son" added. Even the trailer does as much. They are trying to sell this as The Omen, which is like trying to sell Rosemary's Baby as Saw. They are not the same kind of film, and it's a great shame because I think a lot of people have missed out on a really intriguing and brilliantly made film, and everyone that wanted The Omen would have been pissed off they instead got a slow burn drama.

Sam Rockwell and Vera Famigra are so great in this. You watch them fall apart piece by piece as their family just implodes in on itself. Some really insanity going on here and you feel for them but at the same time the audience is never really let in on everything that's going on so you're never sure who to trust. It's far to easy to just label this as an "evil child" movie but there are many more factors to consider and intriguingly (or frustratingly) no concrete answers are given, although most people have strong opinions about what they saw happen, which always leads to interesting post film discussion.

It is a slow paced film but one that I find extremely engaging. The characters, especially Joshua, are these enigmas that you could study for hours just trying to figure out what's going on in their head. And it's not without its more horrific moments especially when paranoia kicks in.

I highly recommend giving this overlooked film a go.

Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness

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

Bruce Campbell, The Chin, is the man of a million faces. What immaculate bone structure. Truly he is the face of a god.

The hilarious 3rd instalment of the Evil Dead series, it leaves the confines of the cabin in the woods and throws him back in time for a more epic final quest. Being the first rated PG-13 the violence is much more watered down graphically but the hilarity is cranked up a notch or two.

In this one he gets to fight off an army of little version of himself, as well as his evil twin and a whole army of the undead and possessed. As usual Sam Raimi pulls out all the stops with a completely cartoonish camera movies and a great mix of visual and practical old school low fi effects wizardry.

This one is a lot of peoples favourite in the series, I personally prefer the 2nd, that hits the balance of comedy and horror better for me. But none can deny the awesomeness of the film, with the great (or terrible) one liners, and amusing action sequences. Looks damn great on blurry. We watch the first two last year so it was great to finally finish off the series. An all time classic.

Rubber

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

I've been waiting for ages to see this one. Just ordered the Bluray from the U.K. because I couldn't wait for the Australian release.

It's a film about a psycho-kinetic killer rubber tire. He comes to life in the desert and discovers he has scanner-like powers to blow up peoples heads. Pretty neat huh? Also, his name is Robert.

So if you can't already tell it's completely absurdist and ridiculous. Add to that another 4th wall breaking element of actually having an audience of spectators in the desert, commenting on the film as it transpires. And some characters in the film realising they are actually in a film. And that the film is completely ridiculous. And they want to get out.

This is filled with some highly amusing moments. It's a most enjoyable watch. What lets it down is some very slow paced bits and not such a strong finish.

But it's great the way you read emotion and throughs into everything the tire does and then the film tells you you are silly for doing so because it's all fake.

A bizarre little film, it's a lot of fun, extremely silly and although not entirely successful still has enough going on to make it worth while.

Thor

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Kim, Paul, Tyler, Josh

Didn't really know what to expect with this one but it was thoroughly enjoyable although it does make me crave for a more epic version that doesn't have to deal with a tie in to the Avengers and spend more time purely in the other realms. Because they look pretty awesomely fantasy epic adventurey which I just love.

That's the thing that jumps out most for me, the production design of Asgard and the other fantasy elements. They are just beautifully realised and make all the time spent of Earth boring.

Chris Hemsworth is damn great. He's quite unexpectedly funny too. And looks great without a shirt, which is the most important thing for any superhero.

I loved the battle with the frost giants but for some reason the final battle on earth didn't do much for me. Not after the power we see unleashed at the start. But they have the best sounding heat ray ever. That thing is badass.

Kenneth Branagh does suit this material quite well, despite what people might think. It's very theatrical and very Shakespearian in drama, what with all the royal family feuding and backstabbing and plots to steal the throne. As expected he overuses his dutch angles. But the action stuff was just fine. Not the best superhero action I've seen, but still really good.

The post-3D conversion works well enough, you'll probably only notice glitches around edges if you go looking for them like I do.

I guess this kicks off the big summer blockbuster season (even though it's winter here) and it looks to be a good one. I'll no doubt end up seeing this again at some stage so I'll leave this as a first impression and get into details next time. But do stay after the credits for the little avengers coda thing. I'm not a big marvel buff so i'm not sure if I'm missing something here, suffice to say it went a bit over my head, but it's still something to mull over in preparation for 2012 superhero madness.

Arthur

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

I have no strong feelings about the original, which I only watched a month ago. I think this one is a fine remake if and only if you like Russell Brand. He's the kind of guy that can rub people the wrong way, but I have no strong opinion about him either way so I found the film perfectly enjoyable.

I certainly thought I was funnier than the original which is probably blasphemous and could loose me some friends but in truth I did laugh more in this one than the original. For one thing I find Greta Gerwig much more agreeable as a romantic interest than Liza. And Helen Mirren is just great in everything.

I also think the story comes across better in this version, or it's more palatable. Especially the ending which, while still a bit of a cop out like the original, feels slightly more earned. Arthur actually goes to rehabilitation and tries to get a job and change his life. And through his contact, Greta Gerwig actually makes a change in her life as well. The whole story just feels more complete by the end.

There are a lot of nice little nods to the original, namely the cars, a reference to shoplifting and the Bacharach song at the end credits (which are pretty neat btw). If you like Brand, this is definitely worth your time.

Mars Needs Mums

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

So this was released in Australia today without much fanfare. Thanks to Thor (which I'll see tonight) and Rio and Justin Bieber and lack of 3D cinemas it's only showing once a day in 3D, which is a great shame. The only reason I'd see something like Hop in cinemas is for the 3D (well that and James Marsden) but alas, they just don't have the screens yet. Being school holidays I thought I'd be in for a tough time with lots of screaming kids. They were all there in the foyer but amazingly, and sadly for the film, I was the only person in the cinema for this film. My own private screening.

So A big 3d motion capture film from Image Movers, hardly any advertising about it's release, only one screening a day on release and no-one shows up to see it. It must be pretty shit right?

That's probably the most agonising part, it's not the best kids film I've seen but it's pretty darn great and definitely deserves to be seen on the big screen in 3D. There is some great old school kid movie sci-fi adventure in this. The kind where not everything is light and fluffy, the kind were they KILL a main characters mother right in front of him, scarring him for life, the kind where the then get him and line him up in front of a firing squad, the kind where even if you escape the martian complex, if you trip up in the low mars gravity and crack your helmet you'll suffocate (which also happens..) Seriously, there are some real tense moments, I don't know why I got so involved in this one but the whole end sequence had me SO on edge I never would have believed it. That was incredible. A real tangible sense of danger, a time limit, and multiple plans going wrong one after the other against impossible odds. Great stuff!!!

The only reason any of that works is because of the grounding they give it in real emotion. Its slight but it's there. Particularly when Dan Fogler, who is usually the most annoying person in every film he's in, reveals how he became trapped on Mars and what happened to his mother. It's pretty heavy stuff but it sets the stakes and he pulls it off well. That and nobody wants to see Joan Cusack get hurt because she's awesome.

But you look at the trailer and yeah, there's a lot of comedy stuff that falls dead. There's a lot of very 80's sayings that are amusing in context, the guy on Mars arrived then and has been unaffected by the last 2 decades of pop culture, so he's still trapped in the 80's. The outcast Martians are worse though, they are trapped in the influence of hippies from the 70's. There's a big flower power thing going there that they don't understand but have adopted to their resistance against the evil supervisor.

That's another thing that doesn't quite work, the evil martians motivation for stealing earth mums and separating Martian society into males and females, it's briefly explained but doesn't really make much sense if you think about it for more than 5 seconds.

Technically the thing looks great. Great designs and sets and I love love love the lighting. Unfortunately they have some of that uncanny valley dead eyes thing going on. The last shot of the kid smiling is particularly horrifying. But all the motion capture stuff works great. Seth Green plays the kid. In that trailer you can hear his voice, albeit digitally modified. But in the film they ended up dubbing him over with a slightly more natural sounding kids voice, which probably works a little better. It still keeps his rhythms and sarcasm.

I quite enjoyed this one. It's no where near the awesomeness of Monster House, the characters aren't as strong, but the 80's kids only adventure feel is intact. and the 3D is great. It's a shame no-one will see all this hard work.

A Town Called Panic

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

I managed to see this at a festival last year but the dvd has just been released and everyone should go check it out! Unlike the short animated TV show on ABC Kids this hasn't been dubbed into english yet so you have to watch with subtitles, which means it might be hard for younger kids or conversely, a great way to improve their French.

I loved the bizarre TV show and never thought it would be something to make a feature out of but it's a good thing they did because it's hilarious. Obviously it paces itself more than the 5 minute show but still manages to keep a sense of that manic energy throughout. It's a quick watch, only 75 minutes and covers a much grander scale than the show, expanding from the town and traversing through the depths of the Earth, to snowy tundras and underwater.

The best thing about it is, like the show, it just feels like people being stupid and playing around with toys. Even the voice acting sounds like that. It has a charming low-fi feel and great comic timing. The plot is almost arbitrary, you just want to see what the hell they will do next.

It's a great way to fill an hour or so and I highly recommend it.

Fast and Furious 5 aka Fast Five

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

I'm not a car guy, I don't know anything about them but somehow these films always manage to make me feel inadequate as a man when I drive home from the theatre.

So this is the 5th in the unexpected franchise. The title on the film was different to some of the posters so I didn't know what to be calling it. It's another heist film and the 3rd in the series directed by Justin Lin. I have seen all the others but they all blur together and I don't particularly remember the specifics of each one, but here they get cast members from all 4 previous films to team up Ocean's 11 style for a heist with a fun little twist at the end. And Dwayne Johnson is on their tail the whole time.

There's a big family theme they are pushing here. Family and cars and gratuitous ass grinding, although not as much as part 4 had. The film opens with a bang, the first action sequence is done in under 4 minutes before the title comes up. After that it's not long before the next big train sequence that goes wrong and sets up the need for a revenge heist and all the rest of the events in the film.

It flows pretty smoothly, there are a lot of characters to keep track of and there are plenty of throwbacks and references to the other films. Some of the more quiet character moments involving Vin Diesel will be lost on anyone who doesn't know the history he has. But you get the general idea, it's all about family.

And then they steal a safe and cause much destruction. Many police cars are flipped and crushed and it's pretty fun.

There is a small epilogue after the end credit animated sequence that has a few extra cameos and reveals. Any hopes that this might be the last of the franchise will be crushed by what they set up here. I don't remember the events enough to fully understand what the ramifications of this little sequence is but it'll be sure to get a rise from the die hards.

There's not much more for me to say on this one. Despite some drag in the middle and a plot structure that's done to death there still appears to be life in this franchise which refuses to die. All the more power to it I guess.

A History of Violence

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

I have been watching a lot of Cronenberg films this year. But that's always a good thing. I believe this is his first graphic novel adaptation. And the first time he worked with Viggo Mortensen, after which they made two more films. I'm eagerly awaiting the Freud biopic this year.

I also recall that in 2005 when this came out it was noted as the last major film ever released on VHS for the home video market. Useless triva.

This one seems to have the same rhythm as a Western. There's a lot of slow character building moments punctuated by shocking intense bursts of violence. And two awesome sex scenes that basically show the entire character's arc between the two of them. There's a lot of good non-verbal summing up in this one.

The only thing that I don't like about this one is some acting moments from the kids at school and particularly the young daughter. It's not that great.

But Ed Harris is scary great. And William Hurt at the end there. That's the best. Scary and funny. The climax is quick and brutal, like the rest of the action in the film. But my favourite part has always been the final shot. Again, no words are needed, everything is conveyed visually and with Howard Shores music.

It's a simple story, really well told. Great to watch it again.

The Bed Sitting Room

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

At last! A brilliant find! One I had never heard of before but have now ordered the Bluray from the UK. For one thing, it's post-apocalyptic nuclear war, a favourite of mine. For another, it's surreal, absurdist British comedy. It's a potent niche mix. The cast is filled with the greats. Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, Marty Feldman and a heap more.

It's based on a play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus, although I find it very hard to conceive how this works on stage. The desolate locations and grande physical stunts (especially those involving a cop car tied to a hot air balloon) are strikingly cinematic.

It seems to affectionately lampoon the British stoicism and provides an amusing take on how the last 20 people in the country try to recreate their former proper society.

There are some awkward parts and some slow parts, also I was excited by the bleak ending it was heading towards but they instead wrap everything up in a nice shiny ribbon out of nowhere at the end. It didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the film, but I guess they don't want to end a comedy with a sad ending. I can deal with that.

It's not going to convert anyone that isn't already a fan of surrealist comedy, but for fans of the genre this is a must see.

Sphere

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

Not the usual fare for Barry Levinson, but the film of the Michael Crichton novel is an entertaining sci-fi thriller with a few horror sequences thrown in for good measure. And Queen Latifah is killed by killer jellyfish.

I was just the right age when this was released and loved all the effects work and the premise and all the suspicion and paranoia that it leads too. I also love dramas that force characters into confined spaces in deadly environments. It has quite a prestigious cast for what is essentially an above average b-movie. That's partially why it's above average.

That's not to say it's without it's problems, but I find them hard to spot through the murky view of nostalgia. The things I don't like about it are stupid things like, you don't get to see a giant squid, a favourite of mine. From what I read it was a somewhat troubled production. Things generally seem to go that way when a large portion of your film involved water shooting and visual effects. But it's not something I notice watching it back. The child in me just say, ooo cool spaceship, black holes, time travel, mind powers, scary creatures etc.

It has a cool score by Elliot Goldenthal that is ingrained in my memory for some reason.

This is what happens when everyone from the writer to the director to the actors, take what is essentially a b-grade hoaky sci-fi film and bring their a-game. It happens from time to time. The most famous of which is probably Alien. This isn't anywhere near as iconic as that but is certainly has moments and ideas that I love.