"To making it count"

So I'm a bit slow on the whole new years thing. I'm aware that its nearly the end of the month and most peoples new years resolutions have begun to slowly sink into the tar pit of neglect only to be resurrected like a raptor claw by the hands of Sam Neill in another 11 months time but I thought that I would impart some resolutions to my limited reader audience. Filmed based resolutions that is.

1. Become acquainted with the works of Sam Rockwell. From Choke to Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to Moon, the man rarely sets a foot wrong. But even when he does it stills turns out to not be a complete disaster, normally saved by a bit of Rockwell screen time, see Charlies Angels and Iron Man 2.

2. Remember that first and foremost Ryan Gosling is a great actor. The market in the past year has become over saturated with the Gos and even though I never thought I'd say this....I'm well, getting a little bored. If you worry you could be close to having an O.D. of the Ryan variety fear not. Just pop on Lars and the Real Girl or Half Nelson and your faith in the Church of Gosling will soon be restored.

3. While on the Ryan note, don't go to see a Ryan Reynolds movie just because "He is in it". I have fallen many a time into this trap, sometimes it works (The Proposal) sometimes Reynolds just ain't enough to save a sinking Titanic of a movie (Green Lantern)

4. Don't get excited about the Hunger Games movie. I was and then had to stop myself along the way. It looks cheap, badly adapted and apart from Jennifer Lawrence, badly cast. Gawd I hope I'm wrong because the last thing I think anyone wants to see is a much loved book getting ripped apart for an hour or two. Well at least they can't be as badly made as the Twilight films, a monkey with a camera phone could have done a better job. (Sorry Catherine Hardwicke, if I'd have had it my way you would have made them all)

5. Get excited about The Dark Knight Rises, like totally, like everyone is so like do the same. Its not out until the 20th July but like just make a calender and mark the days or something like....okay okay I'm looking forward to it but in fairness I highly doubt it will have a patch on the past two even if Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the lovely Marion Cotillard are all new additions.

Oh and by the way that truly terrible film starring John Cusack has given us warning. If we have been taught anything its that movies never lie. So here's to a great 2012,  by the looks of things its our last one!

xxxxx

Lake House for sale, remote location

The Last House on the Left should have made more of a splash in the lake upon its release back in 2009. Its shocking, graphic, horrific yet still entertaining. Not really words that normally go together.

Featuring a cast of relative unknowns (although you will find yourself having to IMDB some of then as to where you recognise their face) The Last House on the Left is a remake of a 1972 film of the same name. Directed and written by the master of horror Wes Craven it tell the story of two girls who get brutally attacked and left for dead by a bunch of criminals. The motley crew end up taking shelter in one of the girls parents house. Slowly through a series of events the parents put two and two together and begin to exact their revenge. Or to say it less delicately the shit hits the fan.

Theres a mind numbing amount of cliches in this remake, from the nymphomaniac, bearded, leather clad villains to the gratuitous breast shot but it still feels fresh somehow. Word of warning though, theres a scene involving the leader of the gang and one of the girls that will make you think "that scene" in Deliverance was an episode of Seasme Street. Get over that and your in for a rollercoaster of a ride. It might not be the Notebook but this film will certainly keep you as entertained.

A nice original plot, a good bit of gore, horrific but not entirely a horror film...if that's not the makings for a rainy Sunday afternoon film I don't know what is!

xxxx

Super Violent

Sorry about the brief hiatus there. The Mr.Sheen has been taken out and its been dusted around the reviews. That will teach me for deciding to watch all the Gilmore Girls boxsets back to back, I've been stuck in a world of witty rapport where they condone 15 year olds drinking their body weight in coffee daily.

Anyway back to the movies and stuff....

Deciding what to watch one night I stumbled across a film that made a blip on my radar when it came out in the cinema but I never got around to watching it. Super (2011) starring the pretty gosh darn funny Rainn Wilson and the not so funny, actually kinda annoying but cute as a little button Ellen Paige. When the trailers came out it was billed as an adult Kick Ass. Yes I'm aware that Kick Ass is adult itself but what I mean is that Super was about a man not a teenager wanting to be a super hero. Well thats what the trailers made you believe...

Its an odd one this. It starts out like Kick Ass and then all of a sudden turns into a more graphic Sin City....oh yes it can get more graphic than Sin City. The humour gets lost halfway through and it just becomes series of awkward situations and oh so extreme violence. Theres a little message at the end but to me it all seemed pointless. It felt like that time I was in the cinema and accidentally got sweet popcorn instead of salted, not cool and pretty annoying.

Take note Super, always label correctly!!!
xxxx

Chefs recommended dish of the month (September)

Another month another chefs recommended dish. I was torn between a few this time but I had to go for the once that left me shaking, pale and dying for a stiff drink.


Needless to say Buried isn’t the type of film suitable for every occasion (Don’t watch it right before you go out for a night on the town) but when the right occasion comes along it’s a masterpiece. If the plot was made into a rudimentary equation it would look something like this…Ryan Reynolds - the beef cake + a tiny box = Buried. Lets be honest here, Ryan Reynolds isn’t really known for his great acting chops. Go on I dare you to name me two well acted Reynolds films. Personally I’ve always found him in his early stuff to be a B grade Jim Carrey impersonator, and when you love Jim Carrey enough its not ever really a bad thing. All that aside I think Buried is the first film he made that really pushes him as a actor. The concept of an entire film just happening in a rudimentary coffin with one actor on screen seems like it could wear thin very quickly. But it just doesn’t. Reynolds (excuse the terrible pun) pulls one out of the box.He’s believable, likeable and puts the viewer along side him in the claustrophobic space. A high concept film with a pretty dang good actor. Now if he’d just stop prancing around in a CGI skin tight green suit we might have an Oscar contender in a few years.

 

O.K Corral

So the concept has been laughed at. Cowboys fighting aliens, ain’t that just ridiculous, right? Well not really. If we can accept a film set in modern day about an alien invasion, and lets be honest here those films are a dime a dozen, why then is the idea of an alien invasion happening a hundred and ten odd years ago such a hard pill to swallow? In my opinion I think it’s a fresh take on the genre.

The story is a simple enough one to follow, much like the high brow Snakes on a Plane, it does what it says on the tin. So lets spare me from writing about the story set up and I’m just gonna head straight forward into picking this movie apart. I came into viewing this film with high hopes, yes I knew it wasn’t gonna change my life but some of the most entertaining moments in cinema haven’t. I was just looking forward to an action romp. Oh and Harrison Ford + Sam Rockwell +Cowboys + Aliens = a pretty epic movie on paper to me.
The action was good and the fight scenes well choreographed. Ford’s character driven performance was well played if not lacking in screen time. Rockwell, a personal favourite of mine (have you seen the man dance?) appeared to be rocking a James Connolly costume and Daniel Craig, for once, wasn’t annoying.

The aliens like all new sci-fi’s seemed to be lacking in any originality. I might as well have been watching Cloverfield or Super 8. Oh and there’s a mild twist about three quarters of the way in that just seems a little too stupid. I’d liken the watching of this movie to chewing gum, it’s refreshing and entertaining but in the end it won’t satisfy your appetite, you’ll be left wanting something more substantial.

xxx

Insert monkey based pun

After the shambles of Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes you would think that no one would want to touch off the franchise with a barge pole, but no, Rupert Wyatt has made a prequel to the much referenced and satired story.
It was always going to be slightly laughable but in an interesting shift in the production Wyatt has decided to go the CGI route for the apes as opposed to the traditional “man in a monkey suit” style of its predecessors.
I’m normally one to champion the old school methods (we all know puppet Yoda was waaaaaay better than his CGI counterpart) so I was slightly wary of how realistic these primates were going to look. But my Gawd, were they good. It helped lend a certain realism to the film that it's older relatives have been found lacking in. Although the audience did erupt in laughter when an ape began talking, it took away the cringe factor of the older films.

The primates aside the story is quite good, enough to keep you entertained for its running time. Little touches like the mention of a lost mission to mars help tie in the original and are subtly done. Franco is easy on the eyes too, if not a little wasted here. Oh and who was the casting director for this movie? Franco as a scientist? Really? Something I would never have put together, sure I know he went to Harvard or Yale or somewhere and he even wrote that knock off Catcher in the Rye book but seriously, a scientist?? His stoner voice and dopy eyes did not lend well to the role. Screw not believing apes were about to take over the world what about Franco being a scientist?

Okay so rant over. This film is entertaining, an enjoyable watch that answers all the curious questions we had about this “Planet of the Apes” origins. Tim Burton take note, this is how to pull it off.


xxx

Throw-aways

Based on the true life story of the band of the same name, The Runaways is about the life and times of Joan Jett, Cherie Currie and co and their ascent into the music scene. Billed as “The story of the most influential rock band you never heard of” its gritty, glossy, glittery and grungy all rolled into one.


It’s a great subject matter for a film and I’m surprised its taken this long for a movie about The Runaways to come out. They did after all help blaze the trail for females in alternative music. The story of five very (and I mean 15 here) young girls getting manufactured into a sex driven, jail bait rock band set up is a truly interesting one. Their descent into a life of drink and drugs at such a young age is compelling viewing. Girls trying to find themselves among the wreckage of a seedy bar floor.

Overall it’s a decent watch but once you’ve seen one of these types of films you’ve seen em all. Kristen “why do I have to be here?” Stewart plays Jett pretty well, although it was more of a haircut than an acting performance. The same could be said for Dakota Fanning but she seems to have a bit more of a leading lady foothold playing Currie, a conflicted, 15 year old drug addict. They have some great chemistry together but this film never really lifts off the ground. Fau- seat filling lesbianism aside it starts off with all the promise of a really interesting biopic but loses its footing somewhere round the 50 minute mark, turning into one long music video about the perils of drugs and having a good time.
A good enough film but take away the music and it just feels like your watching a group of young girls playing dress up for 106 minutes. Sparkly and seedy but not very original.

xxx