And the blog is back from the dead! Resurrected if you will, yes that is two zombie puns in the first sentence. But I really haven't had much to say for the best part of 2 years. That or I'm really lazy.
Anyway the other week, I went to see the zombie film The Dead, as part of Leeds film festival. A rather unique film in that it was filmed in Africa Burkina Faso to be precise. Now the story of the filming could have been a film in itself, the lead actor got malaria, their equipment took 5 weeks to get into the country on what was suppose to be a 6 week shoot, they got mugged and held at gun point at checkpoints lots.
The result is one of the most strikingly beautiful zombie films ever shot and makes a refreshing change from the scenes of urban decay that has dominated the genre since Dawn of the Dead. The African countryside is both beautiful and brutal, adding another survival element.
The plot is basically a journey, for one American soldier who has ended up in the middle of the uprising of the dead, all alone, trying to get somewhere which will enable him to escape. Along the way he meets other people, the main one been an African soldier who has deserted to go in search of his family. The film is acted well and there is not much to criticise in terms of plot apart from one scene that seemed out of character but this cannot be discussed without spoilers.
Another review I read of this called it Resident Evil 5 the movie, by this I can only assume he meant it was in Africa and featured zombies as it has nothing in common with the game, for a start the lead doesn't have to look after an annoying A.I control partner.
Overall this film is worth a watch and one of the best serious zombie films I have seen in quite sometime. Oh and the zombies are proper none running zombies. With some brilliant effects and sound effects of zombies walking on broken bones that are simply brilliant.
Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label films. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Best Sports Films
With the release of Damned United this Friday, which threatens to be the greatest football film ever (although lets face it, that wouldn't be too hard) I thought I would combine two of man's favorite things; sport and lists.
5. Field of Dreams (Baseball)
"If you build it, he will come. "
A story about a man, who builds a baseball field in his farm. The plot sounds daft, and really it is. However this is mainly a story about relationships, that of a father and son. By doing this it plays every right note and comes to a lovely conclusion.
4. Children of Glory (Water Polo)
"Russians go home"
In 1956, Hungarian had the greatest water polo team in the world, unfortunately the Russians beat them as they control the refs. However they cannot do this at the Olympics and the team set about training for the biggest tournament of their lives. But the Hungarian revolution gets in the way and this is more a film about that than the polo, which really acts as book ends for the film. If the conclusion to this film doesn't have you shouting "Russik go home" at the end then you are either a) heartless or b) a commie
3. Cool Runnings (Bobsledding)
"Are you dead man? No I gotta finish the race"
Yeah it's cheesy, but it's fun god dam it. I have watched it many a time and they still don't win :(
2.Any Given Sunday (American Football)
"On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is - can you win or lose like a man? "
Ok I'm putting this in here just for Al Pacino's speech. But it's really good speech. The rest of the film is good as well though. Due to it's stop start nature, American footall leads itself to film rather well.
1. This Sporting Life (Rugby League)
"We don't have stars in this game, that's football"
Hands down the greatest sports film ever. The rugby scenes are truely brilliant, you can feel the game as it is, well was, hard, fast and brutal but at the same time skillful. Yet the real story here is how the game is escapism from life of the working class.
5. Field of Dreams (Baseball)
"If you build it, he will come. "
A story about a man, who builds a baseball field in his farm. The plot sounds daft, and really it is. However this is mainly a story about relationships, that of a father and son. By doing this it plays every right note and comes to a lovely conclusion.
4. Children of Glory (Water Polo)
"Russians go home"
In 1956, Hungarian had the greatest water polo team in the world, unfortunately the Russians beat them as they control the refs. However they cannot do this at the Olympics and the team set about training for the biggest tournament of their lives. But the Hungarian revolution gets in the way and this is more a film about that than the polo, which really acts as book ends for the film. If the conclusion to this film doesn't have you shouting "Russik go home" at the end then you are either a) heartless or b) a commie
3. Cool Runnings (Bobsledding)
"Are you dead man? No I gotta finish the race"
Yeah it's cheesy, but it's fun god dam it. I have watched it many a time and they still don't win :(
2.Any Given Sunday (American Football)
"On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is - can you win or lose like a man? "
Ok I'm putting this in here just for Al Pacino's speech. But it's really good speech. The rest of the film is good as well though. Due to it's stop start nature, American footall leads itself to film rather well.
1. This Sporting Life (Rugby League)
"We don't have stars in this game, that's football"
Hands down the greatest sports film ever. The rugby scenes are truely brilliant, you can feel the game as it is, well was, hard, fast and brutal but at the same time skillful. Yet the real story here is how the game is escapism from life of the working class.
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Day of the Dead - Reviews
I had the pleasure of going to the Day of the Dead event today. What this entailed was going to the wonderful Leeds City Varieties at mid day and watching 5 horror films, the last of which finished at about 11.30. There was also a number of shorts, some where good (the animated one involving an old guy being sold a machine that could take him to heaven) some were ok (Bitten, basically a zombie/werewolf/them things from descent type film), some were shit (Island, spooky going ons on erm an Island) and some just made no sense (a French one involving bowling)
Anyway here are my reviews of the 5 films I show today.
The Disappeared
This was about a lad who comes home from a mental hospital and tries to get on with his life following the disappearance of his brother. However he starts to hear and then see his brother all other the place and this starts him on a journey towards finding out what happened to him.
As you can tell from the description, the films plot is pretty basic and anybody who has seen any horror film in the last 10 years will see the twists from a mile off. However that is the film's weakest point, the acting is really good, especially Harry Treadaway, who plays the main role (Matthew) and the direction (debut by Johnny Kevorkian) brings out all the right emotions in the viewer and nails the atmosphere.
3/5
Nightmare Detective
A Japanese film from Tsukamoto which is bloody bizarre. The plot revolves around two people who can go into people's dreams, one goes to help them and the other to kill them, well force them to kill themselves. All while a group of detectives try to catch the bad one.
The first 2/3rds of this film is really rather good, with the story been set and then played out at a good pace with some fine acting going on. However then the final act comes and it's a real big mess mainly because it takes place in the dream of the lady detective. This leads to it jumping about from location to location making it really hard to follow.
The film also has some surprisingly good bits of humour in it, even in the closing stages although it is debatable to whether this was intention or not.
If you can follow the final act there is a really good film hidden among the cracks.
3/5
Mum and Dad
This was introduced as the Royale Family (as in Jim not Charles) meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre however I would prefer to describe it as behind the scenes of Tubbs and Edward's house in the League of Gentlemen. As you can imagine it's pretty messed up, putting a British spin on the 'Goreno' genre.
It's very dark and although there isn't much graphic violence on screen compared to something like Hostel, it is still pretty gory or a better word might be brutal.
The film's USP is that the people carrying out the violence are a family that live in a normal house next to Heathrow and it really works quite well. Unlike Hostel, the characters are developed beyond the "we really like to kill people in horrible ways" and you get to experience the set up of the family and how they interact with each other. It is by far the best example of 'Goreno' I have seen.
4/5
Sexy Killer
The plot of this horror comedy is that a girl, yes a girl, is the scary killer, she also happens to be sexy. Basic I admit but it does take one awesome twist in the final act that is simply brilliant and will please any but the most cold horror fans.
I have this to say about this film, it is the most I have laughed at the cinema in a long long time. It's brilliant fun, to those who said that parody is dead, well I present Sexy Killer. From the opening 5 mins where it turns all the rules of horror on their heads to the very last shot, there are plenty of laughs. It references numerous Hollywood films along the way and does it in a way that makes sense and is funny, I hope the people who make the Epic films are taking notes.
It's really really fun, that's the best thing I can say about, go see it if you have a chance.
5/5
Martyrs
Which brings me to the final film, now before I get stunk into this Kermode style, let me fill you in on the hype that surrounded this. I was told by the guy who introduced it that it's one of the most controversial films ever and that people have walked out of it to be sick, personally I think they were just walking out though, as it's one of the worst films I have ever seen.
The plot revolves around a girl taking revenge on a family that kept her captive as a child before she escape. She is haunted by a demon thing that hurts her and then there is some more crap that happens at the end.
Where as we saw earlier the British taking the 'Goreno' genre and putting their unique spin on it by making it dark, here the French do what they do best and make something pretentious crap. Yes this film is trying to make a point with a torture porn film and not a very good one at that, at least Roth knows what makes these films (boobies and gore for anybody who doesn't know) Instead this film decides that it is better than anything else and is going to court controverstry where ever it goes (it does have some pretty horrible scenes in it). But it doesn't have the talent to pull it off, the acting is average at very best, the direction is by the books stuff (Haneke he aint) and the message is terrible and make no sense in relation to the title. Yes it follows the original definition of martyr (witness) but who uses the word in that context these days or in fact ever. They made a film called Martyr without a bloody Martyr in it!
Somehow this got a round of applause at the end. Those people cleanly weren't watching the same film as me or the people set next to me. If you want clever meaningful violence watch 'Funny Games', if you want to see something new on the 'Goreno' theme, watch 'Mum and Dad' and if you just want plain old boobies and horrible violence watch 'Hostel'. However if you want pretentious wank that has no meaning no matter how much it pretends to, watch Martyr.
0/5
Apart from the last film I had a really good day and in the end even that film has let me vent. I will be going next year given half the chance, hope some of you can join me there!
Anyway here are my reviews of the 5 films I show today.
The Disappeared
This was about a lad who comes home from a mental hospital and tries to get on with his life following the disappearance of his brother. However he starts to hear and then see his brother all other the place and this starts him on a journey towards finding out what happened to him.
As you can tell from the description, the films plot is pretty basic and anybody who has seen any horror film in the last 10 years will see the twists from a mile off. However that is the film's weakest point, the acting is really good, especially Harry Treadaway, who plays the main role (Matthew) and the direction (debut by Johnny Kevorkian) brings out all the right emotions in the viewer and nails the atmosphere.
3/5
Nightmare Detective
A Japanese film from Tsukamoto which is bloody bizarre. The plot revolves around two people who can go into people's dreams, one goes to help them and the other to kill them, well force them to kill themselves. All while a group of detectives try to catch the bad one.
The first 2/3rds of this film is really rather good, with the story been set and then played out at a good pace with some fine acting going on. However then the final act comes and it's a real big mess mainly because it takes place in the dream of the lady detective. This leads to it jumping about from location to location making it really hard to follow.
The film also has some surprisingly good bits of humour in it, even in the closing stages although it is debatable to whether this was intention or not.
If you can follow the final act there is a really good film hidden among the cracks.
3/5
Mum and Dad
This was introduced as the Royale Family (as in Jim not Charles) meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre however I would prefer to describe it as behind the scenes of Tubbs and Edward's house in the League of Gentlemen. As you can imagine it's pretty messed up, putting a British spin on the 'Goreno' genre.
It's very dark and although there isn't much graphic violence on screen compared to something like Hostel, it is still pretty gory or a better word might be brutal.
The film's USP is that the people carrying out the violence are a family that live in a normal house next to Heathrow and it really works quite well. Unlike Hostel, the characters are developed beyond the "we really like to kill people in horrible ways" and you get to experience the set up of the family and how they interact with each other. It is by far the best example of 'Goreno' I have seen.
4/5
Sexy Killer
The plot of this horror comedy is that a girl, yes a girl, is the scary killer, she also happens to be sexy. Basic I admit but it does take one awesome twist in the final act that is simply brilliant and will please any but the most cold horror fans.
I have this to say about this film, it is the most I have laughed at the cinema in a long long time. It's brilliant fun, to those who said that parody is dead, well I present Sexy Killer. From the opening 5 mins where it turns all the rules of horror on their heads to the very last shot, there are plenty of laughs. It references numerous Hollywood films along the way and does it in a way that makes sense and is funny, I hope the people who make the Epic films are taking notes.
It's really really fun, that's the best thing I can say about, go see it if you have a chance.
5/5
Martyrs
Which brings me to the final film, now before I get stunk into this Kermode style, let me fill you in on the hype that surrounded this. I was told by the guy who introduced it that it's one of the most controversial films ever and that people have walked out of it to be sick, personally I think they were just walking out though, as it's one of the worst films I have ever seen.
The plot revolves around a girl taking revenge on a family that kept her captive as a child before she escape. She is haunted by a demon thing that hurts her and then there is some more crap that happens at the end.
Where as we saw earlier the British taking the 'Goreno' genre and putting their unique spin on it by making it dark, here the French do what they do best and make something pretentious crap. Yes this film is trying to make a point with a torture porn film and not a very good one at that, at least Roth knows what makes these films (boobies and gore for anybody who doesn't know) Instead this film decides that it is better than anything else and is going to court controverstry where ever it goes (it does have some pretty horrible scenes in it). But it doesn't have the talent to pull it off, the acting is average at very best, the direction is by the books stuff (Haneke he aint) and the message is terrible and make no sense in relation to the title. Yes it follows the original definition of martyr (witness) but who uses the word in that context these days or in fact ever. They made a film called Martyr without a bloody Martyr in it!
Somehow this got a round of applause at the end. Those people cleanly weren't watching the same film as me or the people set next to me. If you want clever meaningful violence watch 'Funny Games', if you want to see something new on the 'Goreno' theme, watch 'Mum and Dad' and if you just want plain old boobies and horrible violence watch 'Hostel'. However if you want pretentious wank that has no meaning no matter how much it pretends to, watch Martyr.
0/5
Apart from the last film I had a really good day and in the end even that film has let me vent. I will be going next year given half the chance, hope some of you can join me there!
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