Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler, Kate

I watched the first Dead Snow very late one night and only have very general memories of it. Again this was a late night viewing but seeing it in a cinema helps greatly. It also helps that it's a really fun film that well executed too. Some wonderful new ideas and great gags. I'm surprised there are still new action gags left to do with zombies but Tommy Wirkola has come up with some. And they are very funny.

After a brief recap of the first film for those that didn't know, it picks up right where that film left off and continues on. It then proceeds to get crazier than anything that happened the first time around.

They add in a bunch of Americans to the mix, which will probably help with box office for all the people that don't like reading subtitles. While it seems pretty obvious they are written by foreigners They aren't that detrimental to the film, just some of their jokes don't really land. Especially anything to do with Star Wars...

But this is great. Silly and hilarious, really well put together and Norway is just a pretty place to look at too. Great fun.

The Congress

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

Odd film. Robin Wright plays a fictional version of herself. An out of work actress whose last offer from a big studio is to have herself digitally scanned so she can be animated in future films. Bit of hollywood satire that was fun. Then the second half of the film jumps 20 years into the future and becomes animated, as everyone in the future takes hallucinogenic drugs to create their own reality.

It's really trippy animation too. Apparently this is the part that's closest to the book it's based on, I don't know much about it but it sounds completely surreal, which is what this film becomes. Whilst the two sections share ideas about what makes our reality and what we choose to be reality they have wildly different tones. The second half is much more esoteric, intentionally so, and while I enjoyed the lovely animation the story became a little convoluted.

It's a real mixed bag, with some great filmmaking, acting, animation and really great ideas but a few of them aren't pulled off completely cohesively. I'm pretty sure I did like it though.

American Mummy

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

So apparently Perth held the world premiere of this film, a very silly but kind of fun low budget horror film about some archeology students that uncover what appears to be an Aztec mummy in the American desert. Shot in 3D no less.

After a brief prologue we're introduced to our cast of various typical sock characters that you just can't wait to see come to some sort of grizzly end. The mummy's curse is unleashed and sure enough, people start vomiting green slime and hacking off limbs with an axe. Sadly the mummy itself remains pretty inert, so it's more like a zombie drone film.

The Luna cinema's 3D capabilities aren't really that great, I don't know of any other cinemas that use the heavier and much darker active shutter 3D glasses. Add to that some inconsistant interocular distances and focal points and you get a film that can be difficult to keep your eyes focused on at late session after 2 earlier screenings that evening.

The pace was pretty slow too, I kept waiting for things to ramp up but to a climax and whilst the gore gags certainly become more outrageous they are still spread thin. I guess that usually the nature of Mummy movies, the slow moving creepers. However this film didn't have enough of an atmosphere to be creepy, it's just too silly. So whilst there's certainly some fun bits you'll have to wade through a lot of expositional stuff to get there.

The film's ending sets up possible sequels but doesn't really have a very satisfying conclusion of its own. Admittedly with the right crowd this could be fun, but we were spread pretty thin last night.

Cold in July

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Went into this one only having seen a still frame of Michael C. Hall with a gun. I don't know the book it's based on and managed to avoid the trailers. That frame of the film I had seen appears in the first minute, so it's safe to say I had no idea what to expect, which is really nice for a twisty-turny film. The first half certainly had me intrigued. I loved the performances and the characters introduced.

Things start to settle in the second half and it becomes about this one goal at the expense of the mysteries set up in the first half. That's fine I guess, it's a fun ride but did leave me a little unsatisfied. The drama had me engaged enough that the sudden onslaught of action in the finale was a real jolt.

The film is set in the 80's and has lots of nice period detail, not the least of which is Hall's mullet and moustache. But the filmmakers don't stop there, aesthetically it seems like it was made in the 80's as well. Plenty of split diopter lens shots, a whole lot of cheesy synth in the soundtrack and even using the classic John Carpenter style title treatments. I gotta admit the music really took me out of the film.

I did enjoy it, I'm just not sure I understood the bigger picture. It had me at the beginning but felt like it settled into a less interesting film.

Locke

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A dude in a car goes through some major life changes talking on the phone to various people whilst driving. Tom Hardy is that dude and besides one or two shots at the start, the rest of the film is just him driving and taking on the phone.

It's a nice minimalist idea for a drama. Shot on Red and looks pretty cool too. It all basically comes down to the actors performance and the writing. Steven Knight always crafts an interesting screenplay and the drama here works alright. I guess I was somewhat invested. The actors all do a good job, even though we only get to see Hardy, you get a very good idea of the other characters he's talking to. Sometimes a little hamfistedly. 

Tom Hardy's Welsh accent is fun. 

Yeah it was okay I guess. An interesting experiment but I wouldn't be raving about it like some reviews are.

The Lego Movie

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes

Write Up.

Bluray is out. Listened to the commentary last night. There's really anything about the animation or the technical side of things unfortunately, but they have a bunch of funny actors there that's ok to listen to.

Under the Skin

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

Cut to 10 years later.... and Jonathan Glazer has another film! It's a kooky one too.

Scarlett Johansson is.... something and she's doing... something. It's about... something. 

It's creepy and has some awesome visuals. Cool sound design and music too. It's also really slow and esoteric. But I did enjoy it. And more importantly it gave birth to a great meme. I really just spent the whole film wondering which guys were actors and which were real. I should probably give it more consideration than this but I'll save that for another time when I'm less sick and more awake. Cool film to open Revelation Film Festival though.

Jersey Boys

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Well I didn't know a thing about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, nor had I seen the live show but I seemed to know all their songs. So this film was enlightening in that regard.

I dunno, I keep saying it and maybe I'm just being prejudiced against the man now but there's something about Clint Eastwood's recent films that just feel flat and hollow to me. It's a fine production, good tech specs (except maybe a little heavy on the colour grading) and I like the people in it but I just never care about anything that's happening in the story or to the characters. I'm not a huge fan of the songs, except for Can't Take My Eyes Off You. The ending is a really bizarre choice. So is having 3 characters narrate the film breaking the 4th wall. Might work on stage but it's a really dangerous thing in film.

And it wouldn't be a Clint Eastwood film without some questionable old age makeup.

If you're a fan I'm sure you'll enjoy the songs...

Dom Hemingway

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

It's like someone thought, hey Jude Law would be funny swearing his tits off as a British gangster, lets give him a whole movie to do it! I'm inclined to agree for the most part, but it did get a little tiresome. I don't think it's as extreme and outrageous as it believe it is though.

The story is really simple, there's a bit of a redemptive character arc and some fun side characters with a good cast. Nothing to memorable but certainly entertaining enough while it lasted.

They Came Together

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

I'm a big David Wain fan and I'm glad to see his latest film puts his odd sense of humour on display. He does some things here that I don't think he would have gotten away with while working on those studio comedies. Really strange things. But funny.

This one is a take down of cliched romantic comedy tropes. It goes through all the stereotypical story structures and character types but takes a few of them to ridiculous extremes. It even has the random gross out poop joke and the catchy tie-in song from the soundtrack.

There's a great ensemble cast here, all playing up to their types, many of whom have played these kind of roles legitimately before.

You don't have to be a film buff to recognise the satire, they pretty much hit you over the head with it.  But thankfully its very funny whilst doing so. For people that love romantic comedies and for people who hate romantic comedies, this is a great watch!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

I've seen all the other versions, but never the original! Finally got around to it. What a great and creepy paranoid thriller. Love the noir high key lighting that creeps in over the course of the film. And the wonderful score. It's a really great slow build, I think we all know where it's going but the whole not falling asleep thing works so well. Just like in Nightmare on Elm St. I guess. There is a slightly more happy ending than I'm used to with one of these films. It's really just more a massive sigh of relief for the audience and the protagonist that someone finally catches on to what's happening. Don't know how I feel about the voice over narration, but I guess it work ok, as it's told in retrospect. So glad to have finally seen it, all cleaned up in HD too.

I Dismember Mama aka Poor Albert and Little Annie

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

More than anything else, I'm aware of the double feature trailer for this film. I've seen it a bunch of times from various sources and it's just ridiculous. But Finally managed to track down a copy of one of the films. This film came up in a recent conversation about "Fake Jan" from the Brady Bunch Variety Hour, who plays little Annie here.

Well, It's a pretty crappy movie.

The House on Sorority Row

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

Another 80's cult classic. I vaguely remember the remake from a few years ago but not enough that I remember what the basic plot was. This one seems to be remarkably similar to Black Christmas in that regard but it's pretty well put together and there are some triply moments towards the end where the tension and pace work really well. Glad to have finally seen it.

Night Creatures aka Captain Clegg

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

Oldschool Hammer Horror. A lesser known one apparently but it's quite a fun little mystery. Well, In truth it's not much of a mystery either, they spell out what's going on but I'm not sure I'd classify it as a horror either. But it has PIRATES! And man, what a reputable cast.

Bloody Birthday

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: No

Oh I do love a good evil child film. And this one was really great! Using astrology as the excuse, these three kids are just plain no good and delight in killing anyone that gets in their way. That's really all there is to it! Great fun, well put together.

Night Train to Terror

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

Oh wow. The most terrifying thing about this movie is the editing. Absolutely horrifying, across the board.

So we have God and Satan sitting on a train full of 80's pop rockers. This is the wrap around story to present 3 horror shorts about various souls that are sitting in judgment. One is about crazy doctors kidnapping victims for their insane asylum experiments, one is about a death cult and the last is about a guy that write about about god being dead and then all this other stuff happens. It's really hard to follow. Not just that segment, the whole thing. This could be because it appears that one or two of the segments are edited down from unreleased feature length films. Perhaps that explains the bizarre choppy editing too.

There is some hilarious gore in each segment. And some stop frame animation in two of the sequences too. All the practical and visual fx are pretty cheap but kinda fun and charming because of that.

And then there's that damn 80's band that we keep cutting back to. Singing the same song over and over. To camera. Like a forgotten music video has also been spliced into the mix.

I just don't know what to make of this. It's definitely not good. But some of it is baffling and hilarious. The editing hurt my soul.