Irish News Review

So here's the scoop....

I've started writing for The Irish News Review too. Be ever so nice and read my shizz there too.

http://irishnewsreview.net/

Thanks Ya'll! Here is a completely gratuitous Ryan Gosling Meme for your troubles...probably my favourite....

xxx

Back in Black

Okay so slap me on the wrist, this review is a tad past its due date but hey better late then never, right? RIGHT?

The Woman in Black is the first film released under the brand spanking new reopening of the classic production house Hammer Studios and my is it a good one. Its the type of film that takes you back to remembering why you first fell in love with the horror genre. It feels like a campfire story, like a short novella found on the yellowing pages of a dusty tome.

Daniel "don't mention a Harry Potter based pun" Radcliffe plays a young widow sent to settle the estate of a rich if badly troubled couple. Once there he quickly realises that the case isn't as straight forward as he was expecting.

There are so many beautiful things right about this film. The set and costume design is enough to keep anyone entertained but throw in the imaginative and breathtaking cinematography and you have yourself a pretty amazing foundation for a film. Every shot could be a promotional still, not one inch of the screen is wasted.
The suspense built right from the start and carried on throughout keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat and Radcilffe's performance as a haunted man dealing with his own grief ain't half bad either.

There is a downside to all this Gothic brilliance and it comes in the form of a  lack luster ending. It will leave you with a slightly bitter aftertaste in your mouth, feeling like you have been pick pocketed by a Victorian street urchin. But don't let it fool you, this film will linger in your subconscious. It will stay vivid in your mind. And at the end of the day if a horror movie can do that, then its done its job.

A beautiful movie with an ugly ending...hey perfection ain't all that easy!

xxxx

"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!

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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