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Blair Witch (2016)
If you liked the Blair Witch Project, you'll like this
I'm a big horror fan and I was also a big fan of the original movie. I wasn't expecting much from this one - given it had a 5.0 rating on IMDb. Usually a horror movie needs to be rated 7.0+ to be any good.
This was pretty good though. The acting was top notch - especially the black guy - he's a talent. Sound design, set design and production also very good. One of the things I like about horror is that because it's so cheap overall, they usually don't go cheap on production.
I won't spoil the story but will just say it is 'innovative'. I'm SUPER jaded when it comes to horror, but I enjoyed this.
Lights Out (2016)
Reliably scary - solid horror movie!
Excellent casting - Teresa Palmer (channelling Kristen Stewart something fierce) as the female lead, Gabriel Bateman as the boy, and Alexander DePersia as the boyfriend work well as a trio. Maria Bello as the "unwell" mother is also solid. The casting is particularly good because Palmer and Bello look like they could be related, which adds another layer of realism to the film.
Like all good horror movies, it doesn't take itself too seriously - there's some light relief in there at the right moments.
I find horror films much scarier if the characters do what I would do, and in Lights Out, they do exactly that. At the beginning Paul (Billy Burke) gets into trouble. What would I do? Run for the light and some kind of weapon. That's exactly what he does! Yeah, it doesn't help him in the end, but the fact that he acted believably makes the film so much more immersive.
In terms of jump scares, the filmmakers use them but don't abuse them. Which is to say, they use sound effectively without relying on it to create the scares.
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Entertaining, but not a heart-warmer like the original
Weeelll okay, that was "interesting". Let's start with the positives. The special FX looked great. And in an age where special effects always look great, to stand out is exceptional. So well done to the techy guys who made this movie look fantastic. It's funny like the original too. One of the things I liked about the original is that it didn't take itself too seriously. It was a bit cheesy, but self-conscious of it, in a good way. And lastly, there are lots of nice throwbacks to the original. The casting of many of the original characters must have been a bit difficult, but it worked well.
Okay now let's focus on the negatives, which I'm sad to say are far more serious. The story is basically a rehash, and therefore made me bored. This is often a problem with sequels, and unfortunately it's not avoided here. The pacing is incredibly uneven: it goes up and down like a yoyo. And probably the weirdest thing is the beginning of the movie. After 20 years of peace an alien ship shows up. The earthlings blow it out of the sky with their new super weapon and jump and cheer a lot. Then they go back to their independence day celebration. WTF!? This does not seem like an entirely appropriate response given that 20 years before YOU WERE ALMOST MADE EXTINCT. And then a much much much bigger alien ship arrives and proceeds to obliterate the Earth. Although it's really hard to tell what's being destroyed. After this happens there are some token emotional scenes, but they have no gravity. It all seems very mechanical.
I feel this is harsh. I really liked the original, and this one has its charms. I think the main problem is 2016 is not 1996. I'm 20 years older and the zeitgeist has moved on. In 1996 the mood in the air was more optimistic. The cold war had just ended. American triumphalism was the name of the day. 9/11 hadn't happened yet. Things looked rose-tinted. I can still vaguely remember how that felt. It was nice. And Independence Day perfectly captured that mood. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it.
Fast forward 20 years, times are very different. There is a dark edge to the world today, and that is reflected in the media. Game of Thrones captures this perfectly, and is part of the reason it is so popular. Independence Day: Resurgence feels like an anachronism in a world that has moved on.
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
A solid horror movie (without jump scares!)
The Witch is one of those rare horror films that pop up every few years, which are genuinely well-crafted pieces of work. One illustration of this is that it does not rely on jump scares like most horror films. Instead it relies on an increasing sense of dread to create its horror, combined with strange and unsettling imagery.
The film looks great. The colours are dull, and the New England forest setting is bleak and desolate. Perfect for a horror film set in the 15th century. The film's sound is also a standout, in particular the music. I don't know what the composition of instruments was, but it fitted the film perfectly. (One thing I found annoying however, was the dialogue, which in parts was difficult to understand.)
Unfortunately the story lets The Witch down. Even though I didn't watch the trailer or know much about the film, I was unsurprised by what occurred in the film, from about 1/3 into it. I find predictable stories, especially in horror films, boring to watch. Fortunately the execution of the story in The Witch is great, but it doesn't quite mitigate this problem.
In terms of casting, I think the stand-out here is Harvey Scrimshaw, who plays a young boy called Caleb. He has several key scenes and he nails every one of them. The other is Ralph Ineson as William, who seems a shoe-in for a Game of Thrones role at some point.
Overall, I recommend this to any horror film fan -- you will definitely enjoy it.
Er ist wieder da (2015)
As funny as it sounds, but with a serious edge
Look Who's Back is a very funny movie that shows that Germans indeed do have a sense of humour :-) But it also has a serious message to it. While this message is not quite on the mark as the humour, it still left a strong impression on me.
Oliver Masucci is the star of the show - of course. He's both unsettling and hilarious as Hitler. There are several well-crafted scenes where his likeness to Hitler is disturbing. The director plays this likeness up to great effect. But other scenes are as funny as you'd expect. Hitler getting his photo with Chinese tourists. Hitler trying to work out how to use a computer. Hitler getting beaten up by neo-Nazis.
The concept of this movie strongly appealed to me, and it did not disappoint. But it actually went beyond what I expected to deliver a serious message: Hitler did not trick people with propaganda -- he was voted in. He tapped into deeply held and often ugly beliefs and twisted them to his own ends. This is a timely message too, with the rise of Donald Trump in the US.
Lovely Molly (2011)
Sad, compelling
Sad and bleak best describes Lovely Molly. About half way through I realised there was not going to be a happy ending here, and I was right. The music is especially melancholic, painfully so, and perfectly pitched to what's happening on screen.
Does the bleakness ruin the movie? Not at all. For me, Lovely Molly was about the damage abuse does to children. It should be sad and bleak.
Lovely Molly isn't particularly scary, although it probably still classifies as a horror film, given the ending. It reminds me a lot of The Babadook, which also has a female lead who is undergoing massive psychological stress. (Both films have fantastic female leads too.) The Babadook is much scarier, but Lovely Molly will linger far longer because of its tragic back story.
Incidentally, there's a lot of nudity in this film. One could perceive this as gratuitous, but the heavy context around it (i.e. child abuse) makes it difficult to view it in an erotic way. Maybe this is the point.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Boring
Beautifully made -- that's the only positive thing I can say about this film.
There's virtually no story. No drama. Nothing really happens. There's 2-3 laughs. It's a Coen Brothers vanity flick with a whole bunch of A-listers and their mates.
The funniest thing about this film is all the up-their-own-backside "professional" critics who are praising it and saying explicitly or implicitly that if you don't get, the movie isn't aimed at you. In other words, you're not in the know -- you need to appreciate 1950s Hollywood to get this movie.
I'm a big fan of the Coen Brothers -- they have made some amazing films. But I notice that when artists get to the top, they lose their hunger. They start putting out crap. Hopefully this is just a one-off.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Great end to an uneven trilogy
Let me say at the outset that I wasn't super excited by this movie. And this isn't a criticism, it's something all of us should keep in mind after watching it. The sixth movie in any series has a huge weight to bare, an unfair weight really. I'm sure most of the people reading this review were excited after coming out of FOTR - they knew that they had seen the beginning of something special and that there was more to come. But after 13 years and five prequels, this movie has very much lost that sense of excitement that accompanied FOTR.
This is a formidable barrier to surmount but the Battle of the Five Armies manages it. The plot moves along at a rapid pace. For a fantasy movie, the character development is pretty good. The acting from Thorin, the elf king, Fili and Tauriel is especially good (especially considering the rather weak dialogue they had to work with). The special effects are excellent, and in HFR they look even better. The is the first time I've seen a movie in HFR and it definitely sold me on the technology, mainly because the action scenes are so much smoother. You don't miss any of the action with HFR. The two orc leaders are evil and scary as hell. They fight like demons and seem unstoppable, but never cheat. The way they moved and fought was the antithesis of the elves, which is exactly how it should be.
My main criticism is the overwrought music during the battle scenes. It drained much of the impact of the battle scenes because it was so overbearing. On the few occasions that it quietened, my tension increased exponentially.
Also, it was a bit ridiculous how easily the towns people and Bilbo were able to kill the massive hulking orcs. Yes I'm talking about the scene where Bilbo takes out orcs by throwing rocks at their heads. This really diminished the strength of the enemy.
Strangely, my favourite part of the movie was the epilogue. It was the perfect length and set the scene for the LOTR trilogy perfectly. It also left me feeling satisfied with the Hobbit series. Yes, Battle for the Five Armies wasn't quite as epic as LOTR, but it wasn't intended to be. The Hobbit up to ROTK is a long building crescendo. The Hobbit trilogy makes the LOTR trilogy even better.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Reignited my faith in the summer blockbuster
Ten minutes into Pacific Rim I turned to my sister sitting next to me and said "This is f***** good" I can't remember the last time I did that. Maybe as a 15 year old teenager when watching Independence Day? I'm now 30 so for this film to achieve that suggests either I'm not as cynical as I thought, or Pacific Rim is just bloody good.
I went into this film with pretty low expectations. My friend who loves Japanese anime was all over this movie and has been raving about it for ages. Big robots fighting big monsters though - didn't sell it for me. I used to like the original Godzilla years ago but the 90s remake killed that for me.
Pacific Rim has reignited my faith in Hollywood to deliver great summer blockbusters. I had faith in Guillermo del Toro and that faith paid off. (Not to mention everyone else who was involved in the film - sometimes we forget that a movie isn't made by a director alone)
I love big budget Hollywood action movies. But they have to be fun. Independence Day reigns supreme in my view for that reason. The Mummy isn't far behind. I can get on-board with all the cheesiness, bad one liners and plot holes if the film doesn't take itself too seriously, is a great spectacle and is just fun to watch. Tick tick tick, Pacific Rim delivers.
Enough navel gazing
why is Pacific Rim so good?
First the visual editing. That $180 million budget? Del Toro uses slow cuts and low edits so you can actually see where it all went! Michael Bay take note. Some scenes almost feel like they're in slow mo, which is great. You get to see every detail of the carnage as it happens.
The music is also great. Before I saw Pacific Rim I noted Game of Thrones guru Ramin Djawadi did the score. You can definitely tell. By the time the climax of Pacific Rim is reached I was feeling shivers every time the score started it's riff.
The visuals and sound are important but at the end of the day even the biggest summer blockbuster needs a decent storyline and good characters. Unfortunately the human element is all too often lost in a visual FX heavy movie. But del Toro may have finally shown how to strike the balance. He does this by borrowing from the mech-human theme in Avatar but more effectively, because here the humans are inside the massive robots rather than being controlled like in a video game. When the monsters rip open the robots in Pacific Rim, the humans are painfully and sometimes fatally exposed. This is effective. I never felt the robots were invulnerable, in fact they felt surprisingly fragile especially by the climax of the film.
In films like this there is never going to be time for character heavy development but Pacific Rim does better than most. When robots died I felt gutted for the pilots, particularly the Russians at the end (is there an action movie that had ever existed that doesn't feature at least one Russian stereotype?)
The storyline isn't especially amazing but it's well executed. Films like this we all really know what's going to happen, it's how it happens that's riveting - execution becomes key. Del Toro doesn't fail to deliver.
Effective performances for a largely unknown cast - thank god they didn't cast Tom Cruise for the main character - that would've been an epic fail. Especially strong is Idris Ilba who channels The Wire's Stringer Bell like a laser in one particularly good scene.
Over the last 10 years with increasing ticket prices and poorly implemented 3-d I've often walked out of a movie theatre feeling ripped off. Walking out of Pacific Rim I felt like I'd got my money's worth. It reminded me why I enjoy summer blockbusters too - they're a helluva lot of fun.
Insidious (2010)
If you like supernatural horror - Insidious is top class
I'm writing this at 11.33 pm on Sunday night after watching Insidious. I'm telling myself I'm writing the review now because I want to get it done before I forget the details of the movie. The reality is I'm doing it now because I don't want to walk downstairs in the dark. Or brush my teeth in front of a mirror where something could suddenly appear behind me. I have Insidious to thank for turning me into a wussy scaredy cat.
Supernatural horror movies, especially those that involve some kind of demon, are one of my favourite genres. I've watched all the ones I know about, which is a fair few. The Exorcist remains at the top. Sinister is a fantastic recent example. And Insidious is another example of the genre done right.
The thing that makes Insidious most effective is that it's very well put together - good acting, great (and creepy as hell) cinematography, believable script, eerie music and jump out of your seat sound effects. In some horror movies where one of these parts is off, it can let the whole movie down. In Insidious all parts are done very effectively. The end result is a film that will have you on edge the whole way through.
Unlike some horror movies - the worst recent example being Mama - the characters in Insidious are not stupid. When Renai (Rose Byrne - very effective in her role) realises her house is haunted, she wants to leave - immediately. Josh, the father, also believes. Seeing a room destroyed by the powers of the ghost is enough to convince him the house is haunted. These nods to rationality make the movie believable, which is always going to be a challenge when dealing with this genre. My rule of thumb is that if by half way through the characters are acting how I would act - I'm as scared as they are.
The story itself is a nice take on the genre especially the last 20 minutes. I sometimes get really frustrated with these movies because the characters are never given a way to fight back. In Insidious this isn't quite the case, which is a nice change.
Finally - the twist at the end is terrifying. It is exactly what I didn't want (and yet kind of did), but deep down was expecting.
I really enjoyed Insidious and can't wait for the sequel...just give me a few months to recover from this one...
Flight (2012)
Excellent film
Anyone who's struggled with an addiction will find a lot to like about this film, and Washington's performance in it.
There are two other things that stand out. The first is the soundtrack. I've always thought an exceptional soundtrack can lift a very good film into something that resonates much more deeply. Flight has one of those soundtracks. Second, there is some gratuitous nudity. I'm not sure what the point is. The only explanation I could come up with is that it illustrates Whip's hedonistic lifestyle. The problem is I'm so distracted by the nudity that I'm not connecting it to Whip at all - I totally forget Washington is even in the scene.
Roger Ebert suggested this movie could have had a better finishing line: "I'm an alcoholic". I disagree. I think the reason for Whip's thoughtful smile was that while he now understood he was an alcoholic, he also knew it alone didn't define him. He still had time to explore the other aspects of his personality that had long been buried by his addiction. Anyone who's been addicted to something in their life will know exactly what Whip's smile means and why it's so special.
Argo (2012)
Good old-fashioned film making
I really enjoyed Argo. But the story didn't exactly jump out at me at first glance. I've seen dozens of films based around a hostage taking, and dozens of films set in the Middle East. This one combines both, which again is nothing special (I'm sure I've seen those too). What makes Argo special is that it doesn't rely on big action sequences, shocking violence or contrived plot elements to generate tension. Ben Affleck instead relies on solid performances by his actors (and himself), and a dramatic interpretation of what actually happened that feels so authentic that it seems like we're watching the real event unfold before our eyes.
Sinister (2012)
Watch if you liked The Ring or Paranormal Activity
I watched this by myself at 12am with most of the lights off. I can tell you that by the end of it I was pretty scared.
The key is the atmosphere. Much like The Ring, the film builds atmosphere the whole way through so that by the end - you've bought into it. The music and sound is absolutely essential to this and it is done very well.
The whole movie is creepy as hell and just thinking about it (I only watched it last night) still gives me shivers just thinking about it.
If you like movies that have a demonic/satanic type evil in it - then Sinister is one of the better ones I've watched.
Independence Day (1996)
Still as optimistic and inspiring as it was in 1996
I was 14 when Independence Day came out in 1996. Being a boy, into war games and sci-fi, it is perhaps no surprise that I loved it and went to see it about five times at the movies (no small achievement when you're a kid with hardly any money). At the time it was to me, the perfect movie. It had a great storyline, non-stop action, humor and incredible special effects. The love interest stuff went over my head of course.
Fast forward to today - July 2012. I am much older, and hopefully (?) much wiser. I've seen loads and loads of films since Independence Day. My tastes have become more sophisticated and I know much more about how films are made and why they made in the way they are. I've also become much more cynical about movies - unfortunately - and I guess that is somewhat inevitable with age.
Independence Day was on TV the other night and I thought 'what the hell - I'll watch it again.' I was a bit wary of doing this because I was fairly sure that I would hate it. I would be embarrassed that I liked it as a 14 year old. This has already happened to me with other movies I've watched as an adult that I loved as a child. But I loved this movie so much that I wanted to give it a chance. Maybe at 29 I would still enjoy it as I did 15 years ago.
By the time I had finished watching it I felt like I was 14 again. I was optimistic and hopeful about the human race - again. Screw the Global Financial Crisis - we can beat it! Yeah climate change is a big worry - but we can beat that too! Yeah! And I'm not joking either. I felt so good after watching this movie that it felt like I'd been injected with a shot with Anthony Robbin's personality.
How does a popcorn flick like Independence Day do this?
Yes, I liked the humor, especially Jeff Goldblum and Judd Hirsh. Yes the special effects stand up pretty well. The pacing is pretty much perfect. The script isn't amazing but there is some good dialogue in there. Even the president's speech wasn't as corny as I remember.
The reason I think Independence Day is such a great movie is that it is imbued with a sense of optimism about mankind. I don't think it's forced either. Movies are a reflection on the politics and history they are produced in. Independence Day was made in 1996, a time where the world was generally at peace and hopeful and optimistic about the future.
It is hard not to get carried along with the confidence and optimism in Independence Day. My cynic turned off after about 30 minutes and by the end I was cheering along with everyone else. Maybe harder. It feels like it's been so long since there has been any news in the world to be positive about.
In 2012 the world has changed a lot from 1996. America is no longer the superpower it was then. 9/11 and terrorism still cast a shadow. Most of the world is in recession. Climate change is becoming a reality. Some think it could get worse. There isn't a great sense of optimism at the moment.
Watching Independence Day again renewed my hope in mankind, like many great movies do. The cynic in me wanted to laugh at the idea of the world uniting together, mock the idea of Israelis and Syrians fighting side by side, and ridicule out of a crop duster pilot giving up his life to take out a city sized alien space ship. But the 14 year old inside me won out - that idealism and optimism was still there - thankfully.
I can't wait until movies like this are made again. That will mean that we are again moving forward with a sense of optimism and confidence about the future. And Hollywood movies will begin to reflect that. Maybe we will work out how to beat climate change. Or maybe the world economy will start booming again. There is a lot to look forward to. Great films help us rediscover our sense of optimism about the future. And Independence Day, for all its flaws, is one of them.