Frances Ha

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

Ooo so hipster. Black and white and everything. Noah Baumbach's latest, in conjunction with Greta Gerwig, is a sweet little character drama/comedy. Comparisons to HBO's Girls will be inevitable.

It's funny, but also frustrating. Baumbach loves making characters that you just wanna slap sometimes. More often we're seeing coming-of-age stories told about people we generally consider adults. My generation is in a perpetual state of childishness. Sheesh.

Anyway the film conveys this loud and clear. It's rather fun.

Stoker

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

Finally! I held off downloading this or ordering the bluray so I could see it for the first time at the cinema. Definitely worth it. In the same year that Chan-wook Park's fantastic film Oldboy is being remade in English, he goes ahead and shows he's just as good making films in the language himself.

And boy, he filmed it like he's got something to prove. He wrings every little drop of suspicion, mystery, suspense and out each line, each glance, every shot. To the point where it almost becomes comical. It was awesome. It feels a little looser than his recent Korean films, only in terms of his frame compositions. Still, it has a unique style.

This film is all about the Mia Wasikowska. She looks like she's having fun sinking her teeth into the character. Actually all the actors do. It's no wonder, the film was written by a fellow actor Wentworth Miller and all the characters get something to play with.

This is a gloriously dark gothic thriller. It's surprisingly simple but the script and direction and actors just take it to another plane. Great fun.

The First Time

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A first love teen drama. The way it started out I though it could have been a before sunrise type of thing, with a very long opening scene outside a party. I would have been happy if the whole film stayed there but alas it moved on an became quite typical.

I had a problem with the very movie dialogue. Perhaps I'm wrong, I'm not a teenager in high school in America, but I don't think kids actually talk like that in real life. Normally not an issue, but with everything else striving to feel authentic, it stood out.

Nice to see James Frecheville from Animal Kingdom getting some work. This is the last place I expected to see him show up but there he was.

We're the Millers

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

This was pretty typical. There were a handful of good laughs but it was all pretty pedestrian. Apart from the abundance of swearing this was a very PG comedy. They unfortunately can't side-swipe the sentimentality and more than once the integrity of characters are compromised in order to keep the story on track and reach a happy resolution. But it passed the time and wasn't horrible.

Kick-Ass 2

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

I do love the first Kick-Ass. Between that films release and the sequel we thought we weren't going to get, I read all the comics, so this time I had a much better idea of what was in store. The two comics that make up the sequel are much darker than the first film. There's stuff in there would easily land it an NC-17 rating, or worse. No surprise that the film sidesteps a few of these sections and comes up with some inventive sequences of its own, that get the same points across but in a much more fun way.

Make no mistake though, there's still a lot of very crass humour and graphic violence in this film. Jeff Wadlow takes over the writing and directing from Matthew Vaughn and while I don't think he's as strong staging the action it all works well.

What the sequel does well though is create all new character arcs for the three leads. The characters and indeed the world has changed a great deal from where things were left at the end of part 1. Escalation can be a bitch.

The film makes light of what came across as a far more serious on the page (a brutal rape scene becomes an easy dick joke here) but it actually makes for a much easier film to digest. It's still very very funny, if a little juvenile at times. It's great to spend more time with these characters, and while I think this film has a few more problems than its originator it's still a worthy sequel.

Hell Baby

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A very very silly little movie. But it has its moments. You should be able to tell from the trailer if the humour is going to work for you or not. If you like Reno 911, Children's Hospital or NTSF:SD:SUV you'll have a ball.

Only God Forgives

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I really liked the lighting and composition. I loved the score. I liked Kristin Scott Thomas' character too. The rest of it was... kinda slow. Bouts of graphic violence doesn't hold my interest if I don't care about the characters. Or can't stay awake.

Cockneys vs Zombies

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Pretty standard zombie comedy. Is it odd that there's a standard now for a zombie comedy? Inept bank robbers and the residence of an old folks home take back the streets from the hordes. This one can be more than a little silly but there are a few good comedic gags and quite a few good gore gags too. Don't expect more than that though.

Elysium

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Steve, Cicely, Belinda, Claire

I really love District 9 and Neill Blomkamp's follow up is even more impressive with its visuals and even more of a sledgehammer with its themes. Seems to be the general trade off when you get a higher budget. The character work isn't as strong this time around so when we segue into the action set pieces it's all pretty typical. Although Sharlto Copley is having a lot of fun playing a real creepy guy, which is hilarious and horrifying at the same time.

It's certainly a fun ride and there are some really great sequences. The realistic shooting style and location work really sell this world and effects are integrated seamlessly. There's also a surprising amount of people graphically exploding. I didn't check the rating going in, I just presumed that being a big budget film it would be PG. It's certainly not PG. Heh...

I must admit I was hoping for a little more from Blomkamp but as a Hollywood sci-fi actioneer it certainly delivers.

The World's End

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Belinda, Claire, Shane

Write Up.

God bless you Edgar and your penchant for 2nd time viewing gags. So much to pick up watching the film again, so many great details and references that are impossible to get the first time through. I don't know how I missed the whole Arthurian legend set up the first time but it sure made me appreciate the end a bit more. Definitely liked it more the 2nd time.

Gambit

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

I had heard for years that Joel and Ethan Coen loved the original Gambit and had been working on a remake. That prospect excited me greatly, the original film with Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine has a great narrative device and a fun premise to see them play with.

So it was a real surprise that, without warning, the actual finished film was suddenly released, playing only once a day on one nearby screen. For a film that I'm actively following to manage to come out without me finding out anything about it feels like quite a feat in this day and age. It wasn't even listed on any of the cinemas coming soon sites. They just dumped it. It must be really bad then right?

Well no, it was actually really enjoyable, as one would expect from a Coen Bros. script. Their slightly skewed idea of British witticism is hilarious enough, but then to get Colin Firth, Alan Rickman and Tom Courtenay to deliver the dialogue makes it that much sweeter.

Cameron Diaz is the MacLaine equivalent here, though the character has change significantly. And they use the same structure but truncated their first act more than the original film and seem to spend more time in the thick of the farce. And that's where it's all new material and there's some very silly and funny stuff to behold.

I don't know why the film has been dumped but if you try really hard, you'll manage to catch it in cinemas, and it's perfectly enjoyable too. Also seek out the original, which is equally fun.

Now You See Me

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

A fun but kind of forgettable film. Louis Leterrier keeps things moving (quite literally, I don't remember a static shot in the film...) and the cast are all very watchable. The twisty turny plot is something of a magic trick of its own, in that if you start to look closer, you'll see less and less that makes sense. But the film only aims to entertain and it does that just fine, with enough humor and action to keep the audience satisfied.

I wished they had slightly more believable magic on display. They do set up a mythology for something bigger though, and inbetween my viewing of the film and writing this post, summit have already announced there will be a sequel. Not sure it really needs one though.

Pain & Gain

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

Michael Bay forgoes his usual big budget blockbuster and gets back down and dirty with a passion project, a comedic true crime story that' taken him 10 years to get off the ground. And it's a hell of a story, so unbelievable it could only be true.

It feels a little strange laughing at these idiot characters, knowing that they were actually real people but the great cast really give it their all and create many memorable moments. In true Bay fashion, it's a little chaotic but the pace is kept up for the most part and the script is much better than his recent giant robot efforts. The 5 person narration is a little overwhelming but I guess it gets you right into the head of every character very quickly and provides some good lines. Still it seems a little lazy.

And of course it's colour graded to the nines. Looks pretty good and they even throw in GoPro footage for some unusual angles. Bay does his tracking through holes in the wall gag to follow two scenes at once again. Still the same bag of tricks, but the script doesn't really call for any Bayhem.

I thought Mark Wahlberg was fantastic but everything that Dwayne Johnson did was just hysterical. He has a good singing voice too. Who knew?

A dark satire with horrifically delusional characters that you can't help but laugh at and then feel bad about after. Strange experience but ultimately I enjoyed it muchly.

100 Bloody Acres

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

An admirable effort. The comedy didn't really work for me but there were a few moments of levity and some nice character work.

The Conjuring

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Belinda, Tyler, Therese, Tom, Peter

Write Up.

Had to go back again to finish off the screening from last time! Love the 70'sness of it all.