A short review of the movie Harry Brown.
The movie follows Harry Brown (Michael Caine) who is retired but lives in a suburb that has turned into a playground for gangster teenagers. His wife dies leaving him a widdower, but when his best friend is murdered in a gruesome way by the teenage gangsters Harry takes the law into his own hands. The police seems clueless as always and thus, Harry goes on a spree...however - this is not an action movie. It is slow paced, but has strong impact at the right moments. It's fun to see an old man take on youngsters and the theme of revenge is always strong. Michael Caine also portrays his character brilliantly as a subtle, calm man, who has a hidden side to him that is revealed when he's had enough of living in fear.
One of the strongest scenes in my opinion is, when Harry goes to see drug dealers pretending to be looking to buy a weapon. The drug dealers are just so... f-'d up and out of this world that they creeped me out.
The theme, one might argue, is the f-'d up youth of Britain. This theme I found in several other movies:
Cherry Tree Lane - not recommending it as it's a highly terrifying view into a home invasion by teenage gangsters. A lot of long drastic scenes with close ups of the character puts you uncomfortably close to the happening. The whole movie seems only to have the purpose to bring to you the very last scene (which I'm not going to tell :)
Eden Lake - also not recommending it. Unless you like nasty...and cruel. That's the theme here. The movie left me feeling very bad which is maybe then successful in its goal. It's the story of a couple on a weekend retreat that is terrorized by a gang of youths. I have to say tho that I never really bought the fact that the man couldn't just whoop those teenagers asses..
The music in this movie somehow sounded familiar and had a very similar touch with The Descent. Indeed, I found its the same composer David Julyan. He is also, turns out, the composer for Heartless - the fourth movie you could count in the category as the movies above. The music for Heartless however had a theme that I noticed was inspired by the music from The Warlock. I am curious if anybody else noticed this.
The movie is interesting. It tells the story of a young man who is deformed by a large birthmark over his face. He is offered a deal by...the devil? to have a new chance at a life he never had. But dealing with the devil is never never a good idea...
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
remakes that should not be made
Yes folks, that's a new list I'm compiling. I've had it with terrible remakes, so from now on every time I hear of a terrible new attempt at rewarming, re-imagining or re-booting a movie... it goes on my disastrous list of (insert dramatic music) remakes that should not be made
Here recent ones that poked my eye sore..
Fright Night - I may have mentioned this one in an earlier post. Such a shame, because the original is so great. Why soil its memory?
Hellraiser - Ok, they did a ton of Hellraiser movies of which only the first is interesting. A hilarious comment I heard was that the actor who played the main character (the only character who re-appears throughout the series) Pinhead, refused to be in this reboot. Guess what the studio said...so what? We're moving on as planned!
Childs Play - after a series of only 5 movies, time to reboot. Chucky nevah dieeee...
They Live - Are you f...ing kidding me? Why? Well, at this point...why not?
Children of the Corn - after a series of 7 movies...lets start over again.
Red Dawn - Pls, explain this one to me. Original movie was based on the cold war fears of a war with Russia. This time around...who is doing the communist invasion? Obama?
This list is followed up by my second list - sequels that should not be made
28 Months later - (continuation of 28 days later, 28 weeks later) - the first one a brilliant, if not the best zombie movie out there...followed by disaster...so why continue the train-wreck?
Alien - prequel, and sadly it's Ridley Scott who's overseeing this unholy project where he explains more about the mysterious Pilot (giant alien from the first movie) and possibly the background of the Aliens themselves (biological weapon bla bla). Again, a great film followed by a brilliant sequel, not so brilliant Alien 3 and a mind-bogglingly horrendous Alien Resurrection. My question remains, why pick up a series of movies that has been ridden into the ground already. Isn't there a saying about beating a dead horse...or something like that?
Ghost Busters III - really? now? how many years later? That bubble has burst already.
Lost boys: the Tribe - copy paste comment above. This movie is already out! The best thing is..there is another one on the way called Lost boys: the thirst ...(for money?)
Here recent ones that poked my eye sore..
Fright Night - I may have mentioned this one in an earlier post. Such a shame, because the original is so great. Why soil its memory?
Hellraiser - Ok, they did a ton of Hellraiser movies of which only the first is interesting. A hilarious comment I heard was that the actor who played the main character (the only character who re-appears throughout the series) Pinhead, refused to be in this reboot. Guess what the studio said...so what? We're moving on as planned!
Childs Play - after a series of only 5 movies, time to reboot. Chucky nevah dieeee...
They Live - Are you f...ing kidding me? Why? Well, at this point...why not?
Children of the Corn - after a series of 7 movies...lets start over again.
Red Dawn - Pls, explain this one to me. Original movie was based on the cold war fears of a war with Russia. This time around...who is doing the communist invasion? Obama?
This list is followed up by my second list - sequels that should not be made
28 Months later - (continuation of 28 days later, 28 weeks later) - the first one a brilliant, if not the best zombie movie out there...followed by disaster...so why continue the train-wreck?
Alien - prequel, and sadly it's Ridley Scott who's overseeing this unholy project where he explains more about the mysterious Pilot (giant alien from the first movie) and possibly the background of the Aliens themselves (biological weapon bla bla). Again, a great film followed by a brilliant sequel, not so brilliant Alien 3 and a mind-bogglingly horrendous Alien Resurrection. My question remains, why pick up a series of movies that has been ridden into the ground already. Isn't there a saying about beating a dead horse...or something like that?
Ghost Busters III - really? now? how many years later? That bubble has burst already.
Lost boys: the Tribe - copy paste comment above. This movie is already out! The best thing is..there is another one on the way called Lost boys: the thirst ...(for money?)
Are you feeling it?
Ok... this is so obviously wrong...
and if you couldn't get enough..here the male version
best of all are the slow motion shots! Whaat a workout!
and if you couldn't get enough..here the male version
best of all are the slow motion shots! Whaat a workout!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Blurry
Fun trailer from Blur Studios. They have a lot of great, fun trailers on their website well worth looking at (Star Wars: the old republic, The Goon) so check them out at : http://www.blur.com/
Sunday, September 5, 2010
2 Reviews - Black Death, Solomon Kane
Time for some medieval glory.
Had the joy of watching these two excellent movies and here's my impression of them.
Let's begin with Solomon Kane.
This is a real fantasy movie. To those who can relate to it - this is based on the novel by the same author as Conan the Barbarian. It was written a long time ago and is a perfectly kitch and cliche filled fable. Perhaps that is why nobody had filmed this story until now, but I was happy with the overall result. Again, I think this movie appeals to people who are into the fantasy genre.
The story tells of Solomon Kane, an evil pirate who is remorseless and greedy. Right in the beginning he is confronted with an agent of none other than Satan to claim his soul. Solomon however escapes and with fear of his soul, turns to God and away from his wicked ways. But darkness seems to spread around the lands and there seems to be no refuge from it. Solomon returns to his old home land where he was once the son of a King (before being renounced by his father) but it is here where he must realize that he cannot live a life of peace. In order to save an innocent young woman he must once again turn into that wicked person he was. There is black magic, darkness, demons and other gruesome things.
Overall it's a very dark movie. There isn't a lot of joy and happiness at all...or any for that matter. There is evil that is fought with evil. Even the whole saving the damsel in distress isn't a merry event at all. I won't go into details here but the positives of this movie for me was exactly that dark atmosphere. The main actor James Purefoy is excellent for the role of Kane but I recognized him from one of the best TV series ROME.
The negatives about the movie are the predictable storyline and the overkill at the end. Just as the climax of the movie is about to be reached, they introduce too much "cgi demoness" that made it feel more of a computer game than a movie. Too bad, because if the end had been a little more in line with the rest it would have given it an extra star from me.
One last thing that bothered me. It may seem strange, but when a characters name is dropped too many times it becomes annoying to me. And here I felt his name came up... well just too *#^&@ many times.
trailer:
On to the next>
Black Death - couldn't be a more fitting title.
This movie gets high rating from me. I just love realistic portrays of the middle ages. Things were not shiny and happy during the "dark ages". People had dirty teeth, poor health, struggled with starvation unless they were noble and kings didn't treat their subjects fair and with respect.
Again, stay away from this one if you don't like dark stories.
The story tells of England during a plague of Black Death (around 1300 A.D.). A young monk leaves his monastery to join a group of men sent by the bishop to investigate a remote village.
This village apparently hasn't seen any sign of the plague that is killing hundreds all around England at the time. Rumors tell of witchcraft and black magic that is being used as well as rituals of raising the dead.
This group of men that the monk joins is a nasty bunch and perfect for the task of bringing in a necromancer if there should be one.
A lot of the story shows how the land was plagued with this disease and the mind-state people were in. The young monk has a secret of his own and everyone is confronted with their fears during this trip.
The fight scenes are realistic, bloody and cruel - just as battles were at that time. People were not "fencing" with smiles on their faces and nobody died by a small piercing to the chest. The real thing were people bashing each others skulls in, slicing throats and chopping limbs. Watching a documentary where they researched and explained an ancient battle ground and the remains of the people that died there took away any illusion I had about those times. But I digress.
Again, I'm staying away from telling too much of the story, but suffice to say that it did take me for a little loop. I was surprised at the end, but then again surprised at being so surprised. That makes no sense I know:)
trailer:
I give Solomon Kane 3 stars out of 5, and Black Death 4 1/2 stars.
Had the joy of watching these two excellent movies and here's my impression of them.
Let's begin with Solomon Kane.
This is a real fantasy movie. To those who can relate to it - this is based on the novel by the same author as Conan the Barbarian. It was written a long time ago and is a perfectly kitch and cliche filled fable. Perhaps that is why nobody had filmed this story until now, but I was happy with the overall result. Again, I think this movie appeals to people who are into the fantasy genre.
The story tells of Solomon Kane, an evil pirate who is remorseless and greedy. Right in the beginning he is confronted with an agent of none other than Satan to claim his soul. Solomon however escapes and with fear of his soul, turns to God and away from his wicked ways. But darkness seems to spread around the lands and there seems to be no refuge from it. Solomon returns to his old home land where he was once the son of a King (before being renounced by his father) but it is here where he must realize that he cannot live a life of peace. In order to save an innocent young woman he must once again turn into that wicked person he was. There is black magic, darkness, demons and other gruesome things.
Overall it's a very dark movie. There isn't a lot of joy and happiness at all...or any for that matter. There is evil that is fought with evil. Even the whole saving the damsel in distress isn't a merry event at all. I won't go into details here but the positives of this movie for me was exactly that dark atmosphere. The main actor James Purefoy is excellent for the role of Kane but I recognized him from one of the best TV series ROME.
The negatives about the movie are the predictable storyline and the overkill at the end. Just as the climax of the movie is about to be reached, they introduce too much "cgi demoness" that made it feel more of a computer game than a movie. Too bad, because if the end had been a little more in line with the rest it would have given it an extra star from me.
One last thing that bothered me. It may seem strange, but when a characters name is dropped too many times it becomes annoying to me. And here I felt his name came up... well just too *#^&@ many times.
trailer:
On to the next>
Black Death - couldn't be a more fitting title.
This movie gets high rating from me. I just love realistic portrays of the middle ages. Things were not shiny and happy during the "dark ages". People had dirty teeth, poor health, struggled with starvation unless they were noble and kings didn't treat their subjects fair and with respect.
Again, stay away from this one if you don't like dark stories.
The story tells of England during a plague of Black Death (around 1300 A.D.). A young monk leaves his monastery to join a group of men sent by the bishop to investigate a remote village.
This village apparently hasn't seen any sign of the plague that is killing hundreds all around England at the time. Rumors tell of witchcraft and black magic that is being used as well as rituals of raising the dead.
This group of men that the monk joins is a nasty bunch and perfect for the task of bringing in a necromancer if there should be one.
A lot of the story shows how the land was plagued with this disease and the mind-state people were in. The young monk has a secret of his own and everyone is confronted with their fears during this trip.
The fight scenes are realistic, bloody and cruel - just as battles were at that time. People were not "fencing" with smiles on their faces and nobody died by a small piercing to the chest. The real thing were people bashing each others skulls in, slicing throats and chopping limbs. Watching a documentary where they researched and explained an ancient battle ground and the remains of the people that died there took away any illusion I had about those times. But I digress.
Again, I'm staying away from telling too much of the story, but suffice to say that it did take me for a little loop. I was surprised at the end, but then again surprised at being so surprised. That makes no sense I know:)
trailer:
I give Solomon Kane 3 stars out of 5, and Black Death 4 1/2 stars.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Why Inception is so important
I won't be doing a review on the movie Inception but will touch on it in the context of recent movies. Besides urging everybody who hasn't to hastily go and see this movie, Inception is so important because of the standard it follows. It's a clever, original idea, perfectly filmed with little cgi and more live action, great acting and extremely mood-setting music. It was a rare chill down the spine event to watch and I can't really recall when I had that last when I went to the movies...oh wait, The Dark Knight... also a movie by Christopher Nolan.
I think that in the swarm of mediocre to disastrous movies people have become dulled down to expect very little when going to the movie theater. If a movie just occupies them from having a clear thought, that seems just about to do the trick.
The second part is a critique that I kept hearing about Inception. "It's so damn complicated!" Honestly I don't find it that complicated at all. And when I heard somebody saying that during the movie it took them 30 seconds to turn off their phone and that had been enough to make them lose the thread... can you hear my internal screams of pain? If you make the requirement to a movie that you can step outside for a minute and when you return you want to be able to still know exactly what's going on - well then I advise you to watch soap operas instead. There you have ever repeating plot lines, just in case you missed the last 3 episodes.
Are people's attentions spans really that short??
I recently found myself on a blog where people were voting for the most anticipated movies and high up there was Cloverfield 2. A lot of people there seemed to have liked the first one and were drooling over the continuation of that nausiating experience. I remember that I literally got motion sickness while watching it because of all the camera shaking. Why I mention this is because when some people challenged the first movie, those who were in favor of it didn't have any points to defend it other than - it had a giant monster in it.... and it's strolling through NY. Oh, and somebody thought it was so realistic, I mean that party of Abercrombie and Fitch people who then decide to go follow the giant monster to see if the ex-girlfriend of one of them needed help, right...?
The movie literally didn't have a story or a plot other than, giant monster takes a stroll through NY...shot on shaky handy-cam. If that is all you need then fine, but I like to see the concept wrapped up in a compelling story. And again to my original point, THAT is what Christopher Nolan delivered with Inception and why I finally felt having been satisfied after a long dry-spell.
In the end a short newsflash. I read that Guillermo del Toro is going to film At the Mountains of Madness. This is a story by H.P. Lovercraft, one of my favorite old-school horror writers. Unfortunately none of his stories have been filmed in any acceptable way and have instead ended as B-movies somewhere on dusty shelves.
That an acclaimed director who was going to direct The Hobbit now reveals that it has been his dream to film this story is great news. I can't wait to hear more about this one.
I think that in the swarm of mediocre to disastrous movies people have become dulled down to expect very little when going to the movie theater. If a movie just occupies them from having a clear thought, that seems just about to do the trick.
The second part is a critique that I kept hearing about Inception. "It's so damn complicated!" Honestly I don't find it that complicated at all. And when I heard somebody saying that during the movie it took them 30 seconds to turn off their phone and that had been enough to make them lose the thread... can you hear my internal screams of pain? If you make the requirement to a movie that you can step outside for a minute and when you return you want to be able to still know exactly what's going on - well then I advise you to watch soap operas instead. There you have ever repeating plot lines, just in case you missed the last 3 episodes.
Are people's attentions spans really that short??
I recently found myself on a blog where people were voting for the most anticipated movies and high up there was Cloverfield 2. A lot of people there seemed to have liked the first one and were drooling over the continuation of that nausiating experience. I remember that I literally got motion sickness while watching it because of all the camera shaking. Why I mention this is because when some people challenged the first movie, those who were in favor of it didn't have any points to defend it other than - it had a giant monster in it.... and it's strolling through NY. Oh, and somebody thought it was so realistic, I mean that party of Abercrombie and Fitch people who then decide to go follow the giant monster to see if the ex-girlfriend of one of them needed help, right...?
The movie literally didn't have a story or a plot other than, giant monster takes a stroll through NY...shot on shaky handy-cam. If that is all you need then fine, but I like to see the concept wrapped up in a compelling story. And again to my original point, THAT is what Christopher Nolan delivered with Inception and why I finally felt having been satisfied after a long dry-spell.
In the end a short newsflash. I read that Guillermo del Toro is going to film At the Mountains of Madness. This is a story by H.P. Lovercraft, one of my favorite old-school horror writers. Unfortunately none of his stories have been filmed in any acceptable way and have instead ended as B-movies somewhere on dusty shelves.
That an acclaimed director who was going to direct The Hobbit now reveals that it has been his dream to film this story is great news. I can't wait to hear more about this one.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Why I hate Disney
If you were used to watching Manga movies you may remember the old intro that those movies used to have:
It still gives me a boner...
And that is in essence why I hate Disney. If you look at this trailer that was made sometime in the late eighties, early nineties, you still get a sense of how awesome these Manga (japanese animated movies/series) are. Their understanding of animation is just a medium with which they can tell any fantastical story. Their genre isn't limited in any way which is why they still appeal to me today. I have watched my share of Manga's and though I'm far from being an expert on the issue I know what they are capable of.
This trailer made me always think as a teenager "wow, someday soon people in the West will understand the power of animation and begin a wave of awesome movies". Now, a decade later I look back and see that it never happened. Stories that couldn't have been told with a film because they were simply too fantastical were no problem for animated films. Animation gives you the ultimate freedom of telling a story. Now that the special effects (cgi) have reached a decent level, that becomes the solution. James Cameron told an interviewer that he waited for many years (10 years I believe it was) to make Avatar because the "technology" wasn't in place to make such a movie at the time. My point is, with animation it could have been done. That is what the Japanese realized a long time ago but still hasn't caught on here.
Our tradition with animation has been left to Disney. And they own everything that is related to animation (ok almost everything). The only genre we (in the West) still understand animation to be is - kids/comedy. Sure you have adults going to see these Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks movies, but they are made for kids (because then you cater to the full spectrum of age which equals more dineros). Animation is in such considered kid's stuff - and that just makes me mad. Plus, to me it doesn't get creepier than an adult telling me how much they just looooove the Lion King and have watched it more than 10 times... (get chills).
Sure, in the last few years these movies have had their humor sometimes more geared for adults and you see gentle first steps with subjects that are not the most common as stories for children.
But we are still sooooo far away from the possible mind-blowing awesomeness that could be achieved. For some time it was my goal to become an animator for that very reason.
That's why that old intro got so many memories flowing back.
It still gives me a boner...
And that is in essence why I hate Disney. If you look at this trailer that was made sometime in the late eighties, early nineties, you still get a sense of how awesome these Manga (japanese animated movies/series) are. Their understanding of animation is just a medium with which they can tell any fantastical story. Their genre isn't limited in any way which is why they still appeal to me today. I have watched my share of Manga's and though I'm far from being an expert on the issue I know what they are capable of.
This trailer made me always think as a teenager "wow, someday soon people in the West will understand the power of animation and begin a wave of awesome movies". Now, a decade later I look back and see that it never happened. Stories that couldn't have been told with a film because they were simply too fantastical were no problem for animated films. Animation gives you the ultimate freedom of telling a story. Now that the special effects (cgi) have reached a decent level, that becomes the solution. James Cameron told an interviewer that he waited for many years (10 years I believe it was) to make Avatar because the "technology" wasn't in place to make such a movie at the time. My point is, with animation it could have been done. That is what the Japanese realized a long time ago but still hasn't caught on here.
Our tradition with animation has been left to Disney. And they own everything that is related to animation (ok almost everything). The only genre we (in the West) still understand animation to be is - kids/comedy. Sure you have adults going to see these Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks movies, but they are made for kids (because then you cater to the full spectrum of age which equals more dineros). Animation is in such considered kid's stuff - and that just makes me mad. Plus, to me it doesn't get creepier than an adult telling me how much they just looooove the Lion King and have watched it more than 10 times... (get chills).
Sure, in the last few years these movies have had their humor sometimes more geared for adults and you see gentle first steps with subjects that are not the most common as stories for children.
But we are still sooooo far away from the possible mind-blowing awesomeness that could be achieved. For some time it was my goal to become an animator for that very reason.
That's why that old intro got so many memories flowing back.
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