Review: Horns - Alexandre Aja

" I'm gonna love you for the rest of my life.
 Just love me for the rest of mine."

          Well to say this film wasn't what I expected would be an understatement. I went into this film blind, which is rare for me and i really had no idea what to expect from the story, other that Daniel Radcliffe's character grows horns and become some devil like character. If that's all you know then great, stop reading here and go see the film then come back and see what i have to say one it. Ok I'm hoping anyone reading from this point has either seen the film or doesn't care if they have it ruined on them.

          The film starts out and you're instantly thrown in to the middle of the story which is a method of story telling I like, the main character Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) has been accused of the murder and rape of his girlfriend Merrin Williams (Juno Temple). It feel similar to Gone Girl's first act's who-done-it plot and revolves around Ig coming to terms with losing his girlfriend and how this affects him. Most of the big character revelations come in the form of flashbacks which flesh out Ig and Merrin's relationship and those of their friends and family. It also unravels the night Merrin was killed from several characters points of view and the limited time they had with Merrin that night.

          Ig doesn't take the sudden loss of his girlfriend and the blame he's receiving from the press and the local townspeople, so he gets drunk and does a lot of stupid things. When he's drunk he sleeps with a girl he knows and wakes up in her bed the next morning it's here he (and we the audience) notice he's started growing horns, becoming the devil the local people and media see him as. From here on out the film becomes strange, Ig's horn give him a certain control over people, they confess their darkest desires to him and seek him allowance to carry them out, which freaks him out and is very weird to watch not knowing what or why this is happening. This leads to some hilarious scenes where people carry out their hearts desires when in the presence of Ig, my favourite one is in the doctors office, with the doctor and his nurse. Ig soon realizes that this power can help him find out who really attacked and killed Merrin. He tracks down the oppositions star witness the waitress from the restaurant where Ig and Merrin had their fight the night she died, she confesses she lied to the police just to get famous. The film then flashes back to Ig seeing Merrin for the first time as children and also show's Ig and his friends as children.

          I think I've talked about the plot enough and don't want to spoil the film, but there are several revelations that completely change how both we the audience and Ig see people and there is a powerful scene where Ig uses his powers to get revenge on those who have hurt him and and eventual show down with her killer that is amazing.

          As I said I really had no idea what to expect from this film when I watched it. I was blown away by how engaging the story was and how it slowly built and fleshed out things. From the director's previous work I was expecting something more generic and a cheesey Halloween flick, I could not of been further from the truth. Daniel Radclife does an amazing job in what is essentially a one man show (even if hearing him with an american accent is weird). I also had no idea this film was based on a novel of the same name by Joe Hill. I would highly recommend this film and I’d give it a 10/10. One of my favourite films this year and that's saying a lot given how great a year this has been see the previous mentioned Gone Girl.

          p.s. I know I haven't done this in awhile, I hope to change this and hopefully I'll get a lot more reviews done next year. I'm going to make up a top ten movies of 2014 list and hopefully another review before the years out. Thanks David K.

New Movie Review: The World's End (2013) - Edgar Wright

"We're going to see this through to the bitter end. Or... lager end."  - Garry King

          For anyone to make a film that not only balances the elements of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (it's sister films) and introduces a few of its own, they'd have to be a mad man or Edgar Wright, the director of the massively popular Cornetto Trilogy. To call World's End the concluding chapter of this trilogy it to miss the point of this trilogy, it been British-ify-ing popular genres (Zombie & Buddy Cop respectively) while gently parodying them at the same time. While I could go on about the similarities, nods and links between these film's (and maybe I will sometime), for now I'm here to review The World's End as it's own film.

          The film starts off with five estranged friends reuniting twenty years after their secondary (American's read: High-) school graduation and trying to complete their hometown's legendary pub crawl and in the hopes of the groups de-facto leader Gary King (Simon Pegg) finish what they started and recapture their glory days. I have to admit, I loved the start of this film I would of loved to of seen what Edgar Wright would of done with these characters and how he would of developed the story had this not of been part of the Cornetto Trilogy, Mint Cornetto in this case, incase you were wondering. But instead just as the reunion film is about to reach its conflict and gets really interesting, the aliens show up, which we should of been looking forward to, instead signals a complete tonal shift in the film and the dropping of most of the major elements of the reunion film, which is a pity as that would of been as equally an interesting picture. From this point on though the film does get more funny and was genuinely one of the funniest films I've seen in ages, it also becomes more of an action film, with Wright bringing all the skills and techniques he learned from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to the fight scenes.

          From here on out the review gets tricky, as I don't want to spoil the film and want instead you to go see it. So maybe I'll wrap up my review here, for now and tell you that I loved this film and that it definitely holds up against Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and is worth checking out in the cinema. Hopefully once this films been out a bit longer I'll get around to reviewing it in more detail. But for now the film gets a 9/10.

DVD/BluRay Movie Reivew: Cloud Atlas (2012) - Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer

"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." - Sonmi-451

          Cloud Atlas, wow just wow, where do I start? I guess I should start by telling you where this films story came from, it's based on David Mitchell's novel of the same name which is made up of 6 individual stories split in two and interwoven by characters, themes and souls. The 6 stories takes place in different periods between 1849 - 2321 and follow their own "Comet's" struggle to make a change in the world. The characters in all of the time periods are played by the same actors and each actor has up to 6 different roles they play. The movie differs from the layout of the novel in that instead of showing half of each story in chronological order and the whole of the 2321 story and then the second half of each other story in reverse chronological order, it instead chops up each story and interweaves them using similar setting/actions/opposite outcomes of a situation's as the cutting point.

          Cloud Atlas is one of those films that rewards repeat viewings and it is only by repeat viewing that you will notice little minor details that link the stories besides the overarching themes and obvious similarities. For me the most striking theme was that of slavery and how those in charge/a position of power will often abuse that power and take advantage of people with the obvious example in 1849 of it being actual slavery to the 2012 stories locking up old people in a nursing home to the 2144 Neo Seoul example of a genetically breed servant class being created. Now their are other themes such as redemption (of a soul), love, corruption of power and many more, their is no wrong way to interpret this film.

          I would love to talk about the story but with the film being nearly three hours long and each of the 6 stories all being so different it would make this review unreadable, and that is one of the negative points of this film, it's length. At times it feels very much like a film lovers film, in that it can be jarring and hard to follow at time and definitely rewards repeat viewing as I previously mentioned, but if you love film like I do this film is perfect for you, but if your more of a casual film lover maybe this film isn't for you. I'm sure everyone who invests the time in this film will love it, but getting people to commit the time is the problem, it flies in the face of traditional Hollywood wisdom and maybe for that reason alone it deserves a watch.

          I would be doing the film a great injustice if I didn't mention how stunning it is, the special effects are amazing and like all good special effects are not noticeable, the prosthetics and facial make-up at first are jarring but once you get used to them you don't notice them and instead see how one person can evolve or de-evolve through out the course of the film.

          So in conclusion for me the film was a 9/10, but I don't think I could recommend this film to everyone, but if you love film and don't mind investing the time and energy into following a complicated story then Cloud Atlas is definitely worth the effort.

Trailer Review: Double Feature: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters & Hansel & Gretel Get Baked

So the story of this film is basically what happened to Hansel and Gretel after they escaped the Witch and the Gingerbread house from the classic fairytale. They become witch hunters and action movie heroes. This actually looks really good and is a great re-imagining of the characters and looks like its going to be a great action movie, I just hope it’s better than Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter was. I for one will definitely check it out when it comes out in cinemas. Check it out here Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters - Totally Witchin' Trailer

Another Hansel & Gretel movie worth mentioning is Hansel & Gretel Get Baked, which unlike this films more action/steampunk style setting is more of a comedy horror where Hansel & Gretel are two twenty something stoners, it looks pretty funny and looks like it will be a good movie, hopefully it gets the horror and comedy elements balanced. Check it out here  Hansel & Gretel Get Baked Official Trailer #1

Review: Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) - Paul W.S. Anderson

"You two made it... I thought I was the only one that survived. What is this place and why is everything in Russian? And what's with the S&M getup?"

          I can’t say I was looking forward to seeing this film, the series so far has been really disappointing, the games which the story is loosely based off are some of my favourites so its such a pity to see the characters treated this way.

          The story of this film picks up exactly where the last one ended with Alice captured by the Umbrella Corporation and being held in their secret underwater research centre. It’s actually not that unbelievable a scenario for the franchise. In this particular facility, Umbrella have built simulations of various major cities from around the world in order to show off their biological weapons to countries that could use them against each other a la cold war nuclear missiles style. These simulations are filled with clones of various past characters who have appeared in this franchise, allowing previous actors to return and in some cases play two roles, which is quiet an interesting idea. There’s not really much more I can say about the plot without giving it away, so let’s talk about the film in general.

          The story’s consistent with previous films in the franchise, as in not that great and really doesn’t hold up to too close an examination but is still decent, the character development is very hit and miss, mainly miss but some characters do grow and change, most stay the same as can be expected with the fifth film in any franchise, dialogue is its usual cheesy self and is full of typical action movie clichés. However the fight and action scenes are where this movie really shines and can give bigger budget movies a run for their money.

Having said all that these films are a guilty pleasure, judge me all you want. But their great popcorn movies and I can enjoy it at that level and check off my brain and have a good time. Would I recommend it to anyone? Yeah, anyone looking to kill a bit of time, that enjoys good action movies and can leave their brain at the door, it also a great film to watch drunk or drinking with friends, not for everyone though. I’d rate this film as a 4.5/10 not a horrible film, but by no means a good one.

Review: Looper (2012) - Rian Johnson

"I work as a specialized assassin, in an outfit called the Loopers. When my organization from the future wants someone to die, they zap them back to me and I eliminate the target from the future. The only rule is: never let your target escape... even if your target is you."

          Hello new favourite film. To say this movie has a simple premise is too vastly under sell the story and idea’s that went into creating this movie, putting it simply this is a film that demands your attention and rewards you for it.

          The film starts by introducing you to the world of Looper (basically it’s the near future 2044, and time travel hasn’t yet been invented, but it is in the year 2074 and is outlawed soon after, however criminal gangs use it to get rid of people they want killed by sending them into the past, it also mentions about 10% of the population develop psychic abilities due to a mutation) and explains what a looper is (a hitman in the present (2044) who kills people from the future (2074), sent back in time by gangs in the future as its impossible to dispose of a body due to over population) and the current state of the world (over populated and struggling to provide for people in major towns and cities).

          Ok, if you’re still with me, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe in 2044, and has prosthetics and make up to look like Bruce Willis who also plays Joe in 2074 and is sent back in time to 2044 to be killed by his younger self, known as closing your loop, which frees you from your contract and seems strange but that’s the rules. The premise of the film is then how your younger selves actions can affect and alter your older selves memories and impact on their life, which makes for some interesting scenes and idea’s but can get very confusing. The movie has a very Terminator-esque feel to it and they do share some similar treads with the older Joe (Willis), having to carry out a mission that in his own mind would undo the reasons for him getting sent back in time. I don’t want to mention any more of the plot but if you like the sound of it so far I’d highly recommend checking it out.

          How would I rate this movie, I’d give it an 9/10, it blew me away with its premise and visuals and the make-up that Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks amazing, he’s really convincing as a younger Bruce Willis, so go check it out.