Review: Fright Night, 2011 Dir. Craig Gillespie

Colin Farrell makes one kick ass vampire.





This film is actually really good. I wasn't expecting much. When I first heard about it was imagining a freddy kruger kind of thing so I watched the trailer and it looked alright. Another vampire film. But actually it's quite different. It takes the vampire thing a bit further with there being different breeds. Basically a teenage guy realises his neighbour is a vampire and tries to protect his girlfriend and mum from him.

What I found most interesting was for the first part of the film it was a horror. Then... Introduce David Tennant and it is suddenly a black comedy. Which sounds rubbish in writing but it was rather good. And David Tennant was good old david tennant in it and he worked quite well against the Americans. Colin Farrell was so good as a vampire. He was perfectly cool and had the mannerisms down to a T. Also very scary!

I don't want to say too much because it was pretty good and it would spoil it if you knew everything. I very much liked the soundtrack. It featured Kid Cudi who is awesome. It had James Franco's brother in it, it's always weird watching him on screen because he looks and acts so differently yet is so similar. Reid Ewing's performance of one of the cool guys reminded me a bit of Johnny Simmons as Young Neil in Scott Pilgrim. His performance was the only hint that it might be a comedy before David Tennant showed up.

The direction was good. I enjoyed the film and wasn't paying much attention to the direction but during the closing titles it showed stills from the film and found myself thinking, that was an awesome shot. I liked that shot. That worked well. They were also well chosen screen shots for the graphics that accompanied the closing titles.

Review: Hanna 2011, Dir. Joe Wright

(Slight spoilers but nothing that would ruin the film for you but you might not want to know anything about it in which case don't read on)




This film appeared to be about a super agent trained to kill and kill only from the trailers. But it's not, it's about a teenage girl's journey through adolescence and to make that period of her life even harder, she is a genetically manipulated super agent trained to kill by her dad who isn't her dad.

She kills her target (who is actually not her target but a double agent) but she doesn't know that, and then travels from Morroco to Berlin to reunite with her dad. Along the way she makes friends, endagers a bunch of people and is followed by a creepy wrestling tennis gear clad blond man. She even has her first kiss. Kind of.

This film was so not what I expected in so many ways. Well, in all ways. Sound, Direction, Plot, Theme. The sound work was wicked. And the direction was very different, sometimes a bit extravagant... Saoirse Ronan's face rotating in the middle of the screen as she ran was ok at first but it was definitely too long a shot. However, I bet it looked amazing in the cinema (even though it was too long a shot).



The rotating clip is part of this scene. It's a good example of the sound work and the direction. This is probably the edgiest scene actually. That's with the rotating bit though.
Though the plot was a little bit thin, I think everything else made up for it. It's definitely worth a watch.

A MUST WATCH if you ask me!

Major Project Unit: Inspiration and Research

What I really want to do for my series is a how to guide. I am not 100% sure what kind of how to I want to do but on Friday the brainstorming was focussed on cooking and I really like all the ideas that came from it. I will upload more on that later.

My inspiration is charlieissocoollike. His videos are witty, informative, fun and interesting and he is a vlogger. Not just any vlogger though, he started by making videos about "How to be English" and was a hit with America. Since then he has been on Doctor Who Confidential, he got Stephen Fry to narrate his closing titles on his videos, he has a successful band called the Chameleon Circuit, those of you who are Doctor Who fans can probably guess that all the songs are about Doctor Who just from the name. They are really clever though.

Anyway, he is my main inspiration for this unit because the current style of his videos is so slick and he combines clever editing with animations and graphics to create interesting videos. He is also an online success which is key for this unit being that it's meant to be online, watchable and downloadable. I also love the humour, it is exactly my sense of humour. He has touched upon how to in the past:


He uses alot of match-on-action (I don't know if I can use that term to describe how he jumps up into another room or turns his head into another scene but it seems right).

He has also started doing Fun Science where he basically just talks about certain topics. Below is his video on sound. (He doesn't always sing his videos). I love his use of animation and would definitely like to include animations and graphics in my series.


So yeah, check him out, charlieissocoollike, on youtube. He is my main inspiration.

Greetings From Hong Kong

For those of you are very excited about Super 8, as I was, your excitement will be rewarded! I saw it last week here in Hong Kong and it is very good indeed. The child cast are superb as you would expect from Stephen Spielberg and J.J. Abrams sparks his flare throughout. I shall be seeing it again when it comes out in England!... I just saw that IMDb says it doesn't come out til August! =O Aren't I lucky?

While I am here I have also watched The Tourist and Just Go With It- Both better than I thought they would be. Sunshine Cleaning- which was a nice film. I Am Number Four- which was better than I thought but I don't think I will ever like Alex Pettyfer after meeting him. I have also rewatched Monsters (beautiful direction, cinematography and story) and Sorcerers Apprentice. So in case any of you are feeling a little bit bored over the summer you could expand your film education.

I have also expanded my Doctor Who education. I went from "No I won't watch it, it's stupid" to now being a bit addicted.

So I have bagged a days work experience on a BBC recon production on the 22nd of July through a Jack the Ripper contact. It looks like a couple of other people I worked with on Jack the Ripper with be there too according to facebook so I hope it will be a fun days work! I will also mention my need for work experience next term and see what happens. On the work experience front I have been taking note of production companies listed at the end of everything I watch and once my CV is done and dusted I will be whizzing it around!

Happy Summer everybody!

Monsters (Dir. Gareth Edwards)

Monsters is a really great film. The trailer enticed me but I could never have expected it to be like it was. The film was so subtle and the aliens were brilliant yet not in your face and it wasn't about the aliens. It was character driven and beautiful.

I highly recommend this film. I wanted to watch it again as soon as it ended.

Ciao!

Black Swan Soundworks

SoundWorks Collection - The Sound of "Black Swan" from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Black Swan

To some extent I knew what to expect... On the other hand this film was completely shocking. I wouldn't say it was an enjoyable experience but it was certainly evoking and incredible.

From the start of the film there was a lot of hand held which was very noticeable and disconcerting. Which worked for the film. It gave the very normal beginning an undercurrent of discomfort.

Throughout the entire film was uncomfortable and on edge. I put this down to the sound work because it was just fantastic. I would imagine a lot of foley was used and there were moments when the sound gelled so well with the film that it was almost unnoticeable yet if you listened, it was completely unnatural to that moment or setting.

Another thing that really stood out for me was the special effects. They were ridiculously good. Throughout the film Portman's skin rippled with effects so subtle that you barely noticed until it became much more obvious and important towards the end. The sound effect that went along with this effect was so perfect it made my skin crawl too!

Overall this was a fantastic film. It's subtleties really balanced the gore and shock factors. I would say the creep element is very Pan's Labyrinth yet the gritty handheld realism grounds it in reality even throughout the fantastical scenes.

Watch it! But be prepared!

Baking TV

Hello
I was just browsing iPlayer and found this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xk0dm/Baking_Made_Easy_So_Easy/

Thinking back to a conversation with Helen today. I said if I did a cooking show it would be all baking (or chocolate). Well! The BBC have done baking. Hosted by a MODEL. It's quick, funky, flash, modern. Poppy chart music. Swanky out of focus shots and over elaborated shots of the finished food.

It's like they went "we need to make a modern cooking show". And they pulled EVERY trick out of the book. And to watch... It's annoying, obvious and over compensating. But also yummy...

Tron Legacy

This film was immense. I haven't seen the original but I sure want to now.

I was immediately impressed when I discovered that some of the film was in 2D. The digital world was the 3D part which I thought was very clever. It enhanced the worlds' differences and gave me a break from the weird 3D vision. It was a choice well made by the producers as 3D would have been a hindrance on the normal world scenes like with most 3D films.

When the film got digital, the 3D effect was flawless because of how it was filmed. The notorious light strips made sense in 3D and the story was gripping that you forgot you were watching it wearing silly glasses. In my opinion, this is the only time when 3D works. If the plot gives you time to breakaway from the film and consider the back ground and the edges where the 3D doesn't work and blurs (and in my case, makes me go crosseyed) then 3D has failed the film and vice versa. So far, Avatar and Tron are the only films that I have seen where 3D has worked.

The visual effects were so simple but so amazing. And the sound effects and sound track worked so well. Daft Punk was a good choice for the soundtrack and brought it all together. However, while it worked so well in the film, as an album it gets a bit boring (duh, as most soundtrack/scores do as they don't work so well without the film (and vice versa)). So for those who thought they were getting a new Daft Punk album, no, it's a film score. Fools.
Films like this and Transformers make me want to learn more about sound effects.

While the plot was gripping and the characters interesting to an extent, Kevin Flynn aka The Creator seemed a bit weak. He created this place and it's programmes and yet he seemed weak and scared and his power and wisdom did not feature enough. When it did, it was awesome.

Tick tick tick, that's your time running out!

Hello blog

Just thought I would update before the end of term!

The Commission edit is a loooong process and I can't wait to finish. Really hoping to finish by tomorrow but we will see how that goes. It's been fun in the edit room though with everyone together. Think we are all going a bit stir crazy but it will be worth it in the end!

Essays... Super disappointed with my essay work this term. After my struggle last term I told myself I would start early to get my head around it and get it all done and make the most of the first draft deadlines. But alas, this did not happen. And now they aren't going to be as good they good have been. I know that it would have been more beneficial to me to get it done early but also for Helen and Simon so they don't have to mark everything at once, so I am sorry to Helen, Simon and myself!

Watch

At the moment Fringe and Dexter are incredible and I recommend everyone watches them. I am also watching The Walking Dead, a new series in America based on the comic book of the same name. I was reluctant because Zombies scare me but it's awesome. As long as I don't watch it alone it's ok. So I also recommend that.

I can't wait for Christmas holidays to start! Though it means a break in all these American programmes- Boo.

How am I not myself

"You can't deal with my infinite nature"
"That is so not true. Wait, what does that even mean?"

I Heart Huckabees.
Is: Bizarre, absolutely bizarre, hilarious, quirky, unique, interesting, thought provoking, weird, confusing.

I watched this film in two parts. I chucked it on before going out for half an hour and sat there like this:



I paused it and left it thinking, whaaaaat. But a few days later, today, I went back to it and oh. my. god. This film. I HIGHly recommend it. It's written and directed by David O. Russell who is also rumoured to be directing "Pride, Prejudice and Zombies".

Seriously one to watch.




CINEMA:
In the past weeks I have seen Dinner For Schmucks and Going the Distance. I am biased on both because I love Steve Carrell, he can do no wrong in my eyes and Drew Barrymore is awesome. But I found Dinner for Schmucks very funny, a bit weak in some places and very silly but enjoyable. Going the Distance was good. I liked the story and the characters and there were some extremely funny bits. A bit back and forth here and there but alltogether another enjoyable movie. What was interesting about this film was some bits seemed real. As if the camera was us, sitting among the crowd. There were street scenes where the passers by stopped and looked at the actors and the camera. You don't often get that.

Anyways, what I heart Huckabees. =]

Heres a trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4186964249/

Scott Pilgrim

Wow.

I thought that the comic book style of the film would really annoy me but I was in awe. It's brilliant and something that I have never seen before. The story was funny and fantastically random with quirky characters. Michael Cera was very funny and so was his room-mate "Wallace".

I can not describe the brilliance of the shots and sequences. They were paced just like a comic book with dramatic extreme close ups, quick jumps from shot to shot, sharp crops and cuts. It wasn't just amazing in the way it was shot but also the way it was edited.
I think the majority of it's success is down to the editing. The graphics were so good and really made the film what it is. It's just completely unique and defintately worth seeing. Can't wait to see it again and read the graphic novels!

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely bones is a beautiful film. The shots and scenes and dynamics are just so artistic and captivating. The film was very good too but annoyingly slow in places, which had me going "come one! Get on with it". However, I was truly captivated by the beauty of the whole thing. The gloomy and heartbreaking atmosphere of the 70's homes of the victim and the murderer were captured in a dynamic way, the lighting really pulled some shots together and made them really fantastic. Then there was the "inbetween" where the dead victim found herself. I haven't read the book so I can't say if it's close to that but it was so stunning and the way in which the living world was integrated into the Inbetween world was really imaginative and interesting.

Over all a great film to watch and I would definately watch it again (though fast-forward through the slow bits).

Good Will Hunting

Hell of a lot of Extreme Close-ups. I swear, every other shot. It was quite interesting. I have always been told it's good and I did really enjoy but I really noticed how it was shot as it seemed quite different to what I usually see.

Buried

Considering our trailer project last term, I thought this trailer was very interesting. The use of stills and sound makes it really effective. I didn't realise I was watching stills at first but it's clever use of graphics, stills and sound sells the story without the traditional edit of footage. Not something you see everyday, trailer wise, so I thought it was rather interesting.

Go see.

Inception was pure blockbuster. It was 2 hours of suspense. The layered story lines were fantastic and not at all confusing and the end just made the film. I found the beginning a bit overwhelmingly "blockbuster" at first but it came together. I think that the end at the beginning wasn't entirely necessary there but wow. Other than that my breath was caught in suspence for 90% of the film and as I looked about the cinema people were on the edge of their seats.

Dramatically epic, punctured with sharp humour and a fantastic score which will inevitably stick with people after seeing the film.

I am currently listening to the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, waiting for the theme BARRRR BARRRR BARRRR.

Would love to read the script for Inception, and am curious as to whether that was the first write for the end or a final decision.

Inception did not disappoint and it's been a while since such a film has been released.

Filmy Wilms.

My latest viewings.

Get Him to the Greek.
This film lived up to expectations. It was hilarious. Sometimes the humour was disgusting but it still made me laugh. Incredibly random but Jonah Hill was brilliant. I would like to see it again. I would say the humour was... young, so it's hard to say whether it would appeal to a vast audience. I have heard that people have complained about explicit-ness. But what do you expect in a film starring Russell Brand?

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish)
Upon sadly finishing the Millenium trilogy (despite trying to drag out the last chapter as much as possible) I had to have more, so I sought out the swedish film of the first book. It was much like the book but with massive gaps. The thing about these books, is the main character has to be casted correctly. Listbeth Salander is the core of the book. There is leeway on the other characters but she has to be right. The actress cast in the swedish film fitted facially but her body was that of a butch man. And she is meant to look like a 12 year old and be very small. So on that note I wasn't happy. Stylistically, I quite liked the film but it disregarded very important parts of the books. I think my judgment is slightly clouded by the love of the books, I was just happy to prolong exposure to the world of Listbeth Salandar.
I watched the dubbed version and then watched bits back in swedish. What a fantastic language. I knew it was weird but it's just amazing. I could listen to it all day!

I am in GREAT anticipation for the American films but truly disgusted by the actresses that have been considered for the role. None of which I feel are adequate. Carey Mulligan? NO. Anne Hathaway? COME ON! However, I have read that Yo-lindi from a South African Rap group has been consider and she looks perfect for the role. I personally think that this role requires a fresh face and not some A- list actor. I hope David Fincher makes the right choice.

The Runaways
I have been waiting for this film. Starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie I was intrigued to see them both in unusual roles. I thought Kristen made an excellent Joan Jett. She has attitude. Dakota shined in some aspects but she looks the same has she always has so it's hard not to see her as a child.
The film itself was enjoyable. A fairly basic telling of the story but enjoyable to watch.

Flashforward

I have been watching Flashforward since it started and recently finished reading the book. The book was very good, despite a very strange and unsatisfying ending. However, it was completely different to the tv series. I just thought it was really interesting to see how the story was adapted to create a dramatic and gripping show.
If they were to have stuck to the book, the tv show would be incredibly boring!

A good read though, I recommend it.

Now reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and looking forward to seeing the film when it comes out!

The Box

????

How to Train Your Dragon...

Dreamworks have done it! Their best film yet!

I was on the edge of my seat for most of the film and truly gripped to the story. Also- DRAGONS! Awesome.

There are some really lovely shots, one in particular when the dragon flies so high, it switches from daylight to night time. Beautiful.

I saw it in 2D so as not the ruin the experience. So good. A must-see 5 star production from Dreamworks.