George Goldsmith did an excellent job on the screenplay, expanding the story to last for 90ish minutes.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Children of the Corn (1984) - Fritz Kiersch
I am a big fan of both this movie and the fourteen or fifteen page short story by Stephen King it is based on. A lot more gore would be necessary to make it more interesting and maybe a better end-of-film reveal of the villain (He Who Walks Behind the Rows) would be a definite improvement.
George Goldsmith did an excellent job on the screenplay, expanding the story to last for 90ish minutes.
George Goldsmith did an excellent job on the screenplay, expanding the story to last for 90ish minutes.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
The Five-Year Engagement (2012) - Nicholas Stoller
This film was one of the more enjoyable rom-coms I've watched, ever. It was genuinely funny, and many of the jokes weren't the usual rom-com-y stuff. The party at the start is also the best theme for a fancy dress party I have ever heard of and I will be stealing it for my own use at some point in the future.
Jason Segel shines as per usual, with his writing skills proving once again he's a force to be reckoned with in future writing awards.
I enjoyed the film immensely and found myself cheering (not literally) on the main couple, and hoping for a happy ending, something that doesn't usually happen for me in rom-coms.
Jason Segel shines as per usual, with his writing skills proving once again he's a force to be reckoned with in future writing awards.
I enjoyed the film immensely and found myself cheering (not literally) on the main couple, and hoping for a happy ending, something that doesn't usually happen for me in rom-coms.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot (1998) - Frederick Du Chau
I remember seeing this film years ago, when I was very small. It may have been at the cinema when it first came out, or maybe not. I apparently liked it enough to get the bedsheets of it, and would always have the side of the pillow with the dragons on facing me, until after my mother had tucked me in, then I would change it, so that the girl was facing me. I think she was one of my first crushes. Don't judge; I was about five.
Anyway, upon this viewing, it wasn't a great film. Sure, the two dragons had some comedic one-liners, and the blind dude was an interesting enough character. The emotional part of the story at the beginning, welled me up, so I am gonna give it five stars. Piers Brosnan voicing King Arthur was a nice surprise, as was the cast that should surely have made this a must-see back in the days when it first came out.
Anyway, upon this viewing, it wasn't a great film. Sure, the two dragons had some comedic one-liners, and the blind dude was an interesting enough character. The emotional part of the story at the beginning, welled me up, so I am gonna give it five stars. Piers Brosnan voicing King Arthur was a nice surprise, as was the cast that should surely have made this a must-see back in the days when it first came out.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
The Lost Boys (1987) - Joel Schumacher
It's a real shame that Joel Schumacher isn't recognised as well for this film as he is for the less great (but still enjoyable, to me anyway) Batman & Robin (1997) and Batman Forever (1995).
This film is an iconic vampire movie, and helped to reboot the entire genre. Not a single vampire writer or filmmaker that I am aware of, doesn't cite this as one of their influences. I draw from interviews with people like Joss Whedon and Neil Jordan for this fact. It's a brilliant movie, made ever more entertaining by the comedic personalities of the Frog Brothers and Corey Haim's character, as well as Schumacher himself as the auteur, mixing dark humour and gothicness with pure and simple gore. AN enjoyable watch for any horror fan.
This film is an iconic vampire movie, and helped to reboot the entire genre. Not a single vampire writer or filmmaker that I am aware of, doesn't cite this as one of their influences. I draw from interviews with people like Joss Whedon and Neil Jordan for this fact. It's a brilliant movie, made ever more entertaining by the comedic personalities of the Frog Brothers and Corey Haim's character, as well as Schumacher himself as the auteur, mixing dark humour and gothicness with pure and simple gore. AN enjoyable watch for any horror fan.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
PS The gang of "Lost Boys" really reminds me and a lot of people of a group of youths in St Helens, which is why we watched it...
Dredd (2012) - Pete Travis
I was not expecting it to be this good, especially as a non-fan of the original film, nor of the comics. But it was very entertaining, and reminded me of a futuristic Serbuan Maut (The Raid) (2011) - Gareth Huw Evans, but in English.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Monday, 5 August 2013
Wilde (1997) - Brian Gilbert
There were so many in-jokes I probably didn't get due to not having read many of Oscar Wilde's works. The only ones I am familiar with are The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, which I did get the references to.
Stephen Fry was the perfect choice to play the playwright himself and was very believable in the role. Jude Law was acceptable as his young, spoilt lover. Overall, a fairly average film.
Stephen Fry was the perfect choice to play the playwright himself and was very believable in the role. Jude Law was acceptable as his young, spoilt lover. Overall, a fairly average film.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Friday, 2 August 2013
The Heat (2013) - Paul Feig
It was better than expected, and better than Paul Feig's last directed hit: Bridesmaids (2011), which I was disappointed by to be quite honest.
The Heat however, is a breath of fresh air, when it comes to buddy movies. There aren't many that can pull off female leads in a cop action film, and this manages to do just that.
It also didn't rely too heavily on emotions and stuff like that. It concentrated on the action and the comedy, and therein lied its genius. Even the very minor subplot of Sandra Bullock's character's loneliness was rushed through, to keep the adrenalin pumping.
Paul Feig did a similar thing with this film that Todd Phillips did after his The Hangover (2009) was an unprecedented success: he took the breakout star, Zach Galifianakis and paired him in a buddy movie (Due Date [2010]) with a popular well known actor, Robert Downey Jr. In this case, it's Melissa McCarthy who is the breakaway star of Bridesmaids really, and the well known actor is Sandra Bullock. Hopefully, this means (like it did for Galifianakis), more fame and fortune for Melissa McCarthy, who is a breath of fresh air in female comedy films.
The Heat however, is a breath of fresh air, when it comes to buddy movies. There aren't many that can pull off female leads in a cop action film, and this manages to do just that.
It also didn't rely too heavily on emotions and stuff like that. It concentrated on the action and the comedy, and therein lied its genius. Even the very minor subplot of Sandra Bullock's character's loneliness was rushed through, to keep the adrenalin pumping.
Paul Feig did a similar thing with this film that Todd Phillips did after his The Hangover (2009) was an unprecedented success: he took the breakout star, Zach Galifianakis and paired him in a buddy movie (Due Date [2010]) with a popular well known actor, Robert Downey Jr. In this case, it's Melissa McCarthy who is the breakaway star of Bridesmaids really, and the well known actor is Sandra Bullock. Hopefully, this means (like it did for Galifianakis), more fame and fortune for Melissa McCarthy, who is a breath of fresh air in female comedy films.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
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