Trespass

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

Joel Schumacher is very hit and miss. I think that has more to do with the scripts than anything though. This is another home invasion thriller and with those two main stars in it, I'm surprised it didn't get a bigger release.

Anyway the film is halfway decent. It's a pretty standard genre piece, well staged and I like a lot of the supporting cast too. If you've ever seen a home invasion thriller before well there's not really anything new here but it is made well so I dunno, I guess it's ok.

Shelter

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

This one almost slipped me by, as I'm sure it has everyone else.

I only read about this because the next Underworld film's trailer was just released and I wanted to see who these random Swedish directors were, Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, and what they had done. I'm having a lot of trouble tracking down their Swedish film Storm but it looks like something I would enjoy.

This was ok. A thriller that takes a turn for the supernatural in the second half. I don't really like the whole religious bent of it but I was willing to go along just because I like the actors involved.

It's one of those films that has a really great set up for it's central mystery. I just happened to be discussing the disproving of multiple-personality disorders a few nights ago so that was fresh in my mind when this started.

Unfortunately it's also one of those mystery films that doesn't quite stick the landing. It's slick enough and has some good moments throughout and the cast are all fine, I'm just not sure I could go with their final explanation. I mean, yeah it works and it's not too bad but it's a little bit of a let down after the cool set up.

Colombiana

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

Writer/Producer Luc Besson once again has crafted a really solid action slick, along with collaborator and Director Olivier Megaton who took over the last of the Transporter series.

Zoe Saldana play our heroine out for revenge against the death of her father. As you would expect for these veterans, the action is great and the story, simple as it is, is good too. They really know how to create great iconic characters that the audience will root for and they've done it again here.

The rest of the film is pretty slick too. Oh and it has sharks. Awesome. Great little action thriller if you're ever in the mood for one.

Dolphin Tale

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

A bit like Soul Surfer earlier in the year, we have an inspirational true story involving a marine animal, although the circumstances involving them are very different.

2nd Ashly Judd film for the day! Although the adults don't have much to do here, it's really all about the dolphin and the kid, played by Nathan Gamble from The Mist.

I saw this in 3D, and it was done really well, especially compared to Shark Night and their horrific underwater stereoscopic photography. But while the 3D was really well done there wasn't really any need for it, the film is basically a drama. Still if they go to the trouble to shoot in 3D, I'll watch it in 3D.

The whole opening sequence was a little unnerving. Completely CG dolphins swimming through CG oceans. Thankfully the opening titles and a few select shots are the only ones that use CG dolphins, the rest of the time we get the real thing. And by that I mean the actual real dolphin the story is based on.

The film is never overly sentimental thank god. In fact it never really hits any strong emotional beats ,at least not for me. It's pretty easy going, even the drama with a cousin becoming an amputee in the army is light.

Watch it if you're interested in the story, it's not bad, but there's nothing that'd keep you coming back to watch again.

Flypaper

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

Another bank robbery movie. Although this is more like an Oceans 11 style Agatha Christie murder mystery masquerading as a botched double bank robbery. It's a lot of fun, very entertaining.

They've assembled a really great cast and keep the pace fast, the dialogue snappy and the twists coming. Enjoyed this one a lot.

Hobo with a Shotgun

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

What started as a competition entry to make a fake Grindhouse trailer for Rodriguez and Tarantino's Grindhouse Double Feature is now a full feature film, ala Machete.

First time filmmaker Jason Eisener does a pretty good job making it look authentic to the period, but out of all 4 films I'd say this one walks the finest line between faking it's a bad movie and actually being a bad movie. I dunno, does that just make it more authentic?

Everybody likes crazy Rutger Hauer, I wish he was more crazy. The other actors are a umm, yeah a little too authentic. These are some ridiculously silly things in the film which I appreciate. I like that they killed a busload of school kids with flame throwers. And the random robot guards, yeah sure why not.

I like the very flat saturted colour grading from the Red One footage. They put a technicolor logo in their opening credits and I admit some of it does look a little like Suspiria albeit with a more modern high contrast look.

Music was all over the place. Most of the film was too. I think I like this the least out of Death Proof, Planet Terror and Machete but it does satisfy the grindhouse itch for now. I want to see "Don't" from Edgar Wright though...

Rabbit Hole

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

Here's my write up. Re-readin it now it does come off as rather flippant, so I wish to reiterate how great I think the film is. I just think everyone made all the right choices and the end result is wonderfully balanced and nuanced.

I see David Lindsay-Abaire adapted the screenplay from his own play. He did a great job, it never falls into the trap of feeling like a filmed play.

Glad I watched this one again before going about starting my best of list for the year.

Nashville

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

I'm still very behind in my Robert Altman viewing. This is one of the bigs ones and I'm glad to finally knock it off the list.

What a cast! Except that they are all singing Country Western songs. Not really a fan, so I'll jus focus on the rest of the film.

Altman's patented improvised talking-at-the-same-time style naturalistic drama is on full display here. Was this his first big one of these? In any case in a film with this many characters and plot line threads it does make the first half of the film easy to get lost in. Once you get a sense of how the characters relate and that they are all building to a single event it gets easier but that's 2 hours into a long film.

It's a snapshot of American at a certain time and place. While it's not really my cup of tea I still found it interesting.

Mother's Day

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

Well, Darren Lynn Bousman's film is finally getting released in Australia. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for his next one, which, with the 11/11/11 date used as the title, only gives away exactly how late we get everything here.

I was talking about Rebecca De Mornay the other night with the friend that introduced me to The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, so it was great to see here again here firing on all cylinders.

For the love of god though please everyone stop killing Shawn Ashmore in your films. The last 4 films of his I've seen he doesn't make it to the end credits and it's very upsetting, he seems like such a nice guy.

A basic home invasion premise and a robbery gone wrong, one of those great "bad situation" scenarios that just gets worse and worse for the characters on both sides. I really enjoyed this film, it managed to suck me in and keep the suspense and action up with plenty of characters at their disposal to do horrendous acts to. Works a treat.

Visitor Q

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

3rd time I've watched this year! No mean feat, but there is just something so magical and special about this film that fascinates me and keeps drawing me back. Highly recommended.

Write up.

Star Wars: Ewok Adventures - Caravan of Courage

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Jordan, Tyler, Amberly, Ben, Judith, Louisa

Well, it's that time of year. Time to unleash the Star Wars Holiday Special on unsuspecting friends. As it's a TV special it doesn't make the blog, but we did watch the first Ewok Adventure as a follow up. I never really watched Caravan of Courage as a kid, Battle for Endor is in my opinion a billion times better and I would constantly hire it out of the video library.

Just to be extra mean, I made everyone finish off this film by watching the first 7 minutes of the next one. It's pretty harsh, especially after the light fun of the first film.

A lot of love for Warwick Davis lately with the TV series Life's Too Short. Wicket is a pretty awesome little dude. Many people have problems with Ewoks bringing down the Empire. I don't mind so much. But then again I was the right age when I saw Return of the Jedi.

So made for TV movie, it's not the best acting but there are some awesome matte paintings (but I never did find the rumoured Winnie the Pooh painted into one of the trees). And awesome Phil Tippett creatures. It's very episodic, basically a riff on the ol' Seven Samurai structure (Lucas using a Kurosawa structure? Never!) where a bunch of Ewoks team up to go rescue these kids parents from a big ogre dude.

Oh and they totally have to go through the spider web from Krull.

As much as I like the second one a great deal more, this one does a good job of endearing you to some of the characters so that when you watch the second one you can get a little freaked out at the start.

Happy life day everyone.

Dream House

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

Trailer gives away a big twist that comes at the halfway point. Apparently that trailer also infuriated the director and stars who refused to promote the film in protest. Problem is, that twist comes right in the middle of the film, it's the big conceit of the story and one I had a hard time going along with which really just killed the end for me.

It's not really much of a horror film, like the trailer makes out either. The cast they have assembled should have given that away, but it's more of a drama thriller. The cast is wasted with this material too. Despite being competently produced, it's just not very appealing.

Mimic

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

Guillermo del Toro's second film and his first american feature. Although I have seen it many a time, this is the first time I've watched through this new director's cut. It is the exact same film I remember with perhaps 7-10 minutes of new exposition added. As the original script Del Toro wanted to film was changed by the studio before the opportunity to film any of the scenes happened, it's hardly much of a director's cut, but I'm hoping his commentary will be able to shed light onto what happened between him and the Weinstein brothers, looking forward to that immensely.

As it is now, it's a very nice but a very flawed creature feature. You can see glimpses into the director he would becomes and many familiar motifs are used throughout. I have issues with the pacing and there are many themes that could have been explored better. Chances are this is the result of studio tampering.

I like the cast. Always love Jeremy Northam. Really like the score and the creatures too. Fond memories of horror films from this period. They are probably much worse than I remember them but after re-watching this one I'd say it holds up surprisingly well.

Takers

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

Ehhh.

I'm playing catch up now, I started watching this midway through the year, finally got around to finishing. Didn't really hold my interest though. Everything you need to know is in the trailer.

It's getting down to crunch time so I'm trying to find all the films I missed or that went straight to dvd in Australia. This was one of them. Chances are, they go straight to DVD for a reason, but sometimes there is some really cool stuff there so you never know.

This was competently made and had an alright cast too but just fell completely flat dramatically. The action was only ok.

The Loved Ones

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

Here's my first write up. A great quick late night horror film and one of the best Australian horrors of the last few years.

Watching it again with title and the theme in mind I can see those sub plots working a bit better. It's still not a connection I think works completely but the idea is more formed in my head at least. There is a lot of abuse dealt out to others or to oneself due to the loss or lack of a loved one, from pretty much every single character in the film.

Anyway it's the horror and great character performances I keep coming back for. And they are still just as delightful as the last 3 times I've watched this.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

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

Here's the first write up.

Those big sequences don't quite have the same effect in regular widescreen. I mean, they are still great but if you have the opportunity see it in full Imax, it's fantastic and worth the extra few dollars.

Also HEY, check out that funky new Paramount logo at the start. 100 years. Neat.

I hope if they do another with this team, because they do set that up, take a throw away line of Jeremy Renner and run with it. A hot sexy female spy always has to seduce a rich man with important intel. I'd love it if they started a mission with this plan only to discover the rich man was gay so they have to change it up and Ethan has to seduce. Comedy gold.

Oh also I spotted Brad Birds A113 reference. I mean I saw it the first time, it was quite overt but I completely forgot what it was there for. Slusho in number 3, A113 in number 4. The in jokes continue.