ianmitchell-45214 Reviews

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

I really enjoyed this film. Caught me by surprise.

[9/10 · 20 July 2016]

I'm not going to give you guys a professional review. I'll give you an honest account of why I rate it so high. At least you know I'm not trying to sell it too much.

The only reason I even gave this film was for a few reasons: - 1: It had an interesting title. Bone Tomahawk... It's intriguing isn't it? I like these kinds of titles because they give a hint of something different and innovative. Not going to rant about other films but titles like 'Sinister' and 'The Conjuring' just sound a bit normal to me I guess 2: The good rating on IMDb. Yes, I know it is not a good idea to do this but I gave it a go because it has the horror genre and is rated above 6. I think at the time I was planning on watching it the rating was at about 8 I think. 3: Lili Simmons is in it. I don't fancy her or wanted to see it to see her nude. I was just curious because I've been thoroughly enjoying the series Banshee and I'm checking out where the Banshee cast are also starring in.

Onto the movie. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought it was going to be corny and similar to Hateful Eight. I guess the fact Kurt Russell looks exactly like he does in the Tarantino epic gave me this impression. The film had a very authentic feel to it in many ways. It comes down to the dialogue. The way the main characters chat to each other in a conversational tone (especially the old geezer who rambles on during their cross country walk) was a breath of fresh air in my humble opinion. I've been enjoying The Walking Dead TV series but the dialogue in that show can be very wooden and over;y dramatic. This can be annoying in American TV shows because it is not realistic for everybody to make powerful poignant lines of dialogue all the time.

Another aspect I liked in this film was the lack of music. Films have this habit of spoon-feeding us how to feel at certain moments. The only time I even noticed the background sound was during the most disturbing scene (AND MY GOD IT SHOCKED ME!!) in which I think this weird low frequency sound started rumbling.

I suppose the reason I really enjoyed this film is because I had no hype leading up to it nor did I check out reviews or spoilers. This is probably the best way to watch a movie really.

Overall I highly recommend it. The film is quite long and maybe some might find it boring but I didn't. I just let the movie take me on the same journey as the four men.

Best horror film I've seen since The Kill List....

Hunter x Hunter (2011–2014)

What a load !

[2/10 · 31 August 2015]

Seriously.... How is this rubbish so highly rated? Are you people really that easily impressed with this series?

Please don't answer. I dread to think what anyone would say to defend this awful pretentious anime. Now, I'd better first admit: I only got as far as episode 17. A lot of arguments would defend I haven't seen enough to judge it but I know from experience that it will not improve or change my mind. Without giving away spoilers, it is hard to explain what made me dislike this show so much so fast. The broad explanation I can give is that I really did not like the main characters AT ALL. Especially after watching the 17th episode which glorifies one of the characters in such an irritating over the top way. I'm at the stage now where I seriously can't stand most modern Japanese animes. It feels like they hit their peak in the mid 90s and everything since has become a formulae of stupid happy go lucky ultra optimistic main characters with over the top hairstyles; goofy intros and outros; long painful episodes of characters gasping and grunting at each other; silly monologues of the character explaining what just happened....ugh I could rant on but I'm sure you get the picture. I should've realised I was wasting my time watching this when I found myself rooting for the characters I'm not supposed to like over the ones who are made to look ultra badass and dominant.

I would not recommend this anime to anyone but I can't see my review making any difference. People either love these types of series to bits or would never try watching them in the first place. This review is just an outlet for me to vent really, since I was starting to enjoy this show and it's potential creativity (love the idea of a main character using a fishing rod as a weapon).

LAter peeps. I'm done with Japanese anime series altogether.

Watchmen (2009)

I knew I shouldn't have watched it.

[1/10 · 18 April 2015]

Okay, unlike a lot of the other negative reviews, I had read the graphic novel many times in my childhood. My dad was a very good friend of Alan Moore in their younger days and as a boy I was always captivated by one specific book on my Dads books-shelves of various books. Obviously, I was attracted to the eye-catching images of blood trickling down the book and mysterious masked people on the cover. After reading the book, I'd fallen in love. My dad, being a friend of Alan Moore, had loads of his work such as Swamp Thing, From Hell, Killing Joke e.t.c but my Dad told me he always loved telling Alan that his two oldest children (me and my sis) would always read his Watchmen book (despite us being too young and this did shock Alan that we both liked it). I remember my Dad telling me Warner Bros royally screwed Alan over by taking the rights to his material and making movies out of them. BOY, WAS HE RIGHT? The minute I heard a Watchmen movie was being made, both my Dad and I (and Alan too) knew it'd be crap. You'd think going in with low expectations would make the film better, right? Nope! It was as awful as I knew it would be. My fave character in the book was Rorschach. He had this atmosphere and rawness about his character in the book I'd never seen before. I'd have cast someone like Guy Pearce to play him. Someone who could pull that cold hard stare while delivering frightening dialogue. For me, Jackie Earl Healey came across more like Jonny Rotten from The Sex Pistols. Malin Ackerman was AWWWWFUL. The fight scenes were silly and ruined the original tone. Also, the guy cast for Ozymandius did not have that annoyingly Aryan chiselled good looks. They cast some average looking schmuck for him. I watched the film out of pure love of Alan Moores work. I bet he himself has not even laid eyes on this visual trash and I hope he never does.

Helix: The White Room (2014) Season 1, Episode 5

Exciting, but still too predictable for me.

[6/10 · 10 April 2015]

This was an exciting episode with a lot of action. What is very good at this point is everything is becoming chaotic and uncontrollable. The characters we're meant to route for are finding confusion and death every which way they look. There was a good twist in this episode. Naturally, I wont say what but I guessed it immediately. Perhaps I've seen this kind of thing before in other shows. As everyone reading this should know, Helix is about a disease outbreak on humans where a deadly contagion kinda turns people into zombies in a sense. The 'zombies' if you will, are more like 28 days later. As much as I enjoy survival horror, the science behind zombified monsters has always been a bit suspect. There were moments in this episode that had me thinking "why would the infected chase the infected?" Well, we'll see where this goes...

Helix: Single Strand (2014) Season 1, Episode 4

Okay, getting better.

[6/10 · 10 April 2015]

I left a review on either episode 2 or 3 and I wasn't totally sold yet on the series. After having just watched episode 4, I'm at the stage of really being keen on the different motives of each character. One main problem I still have is that some of the characters are predictable. I have found certain villainous characters are going to keep doing typical bad things. I prefer it when everyone shows shades of grey since that's closer to real life. For instance, an amazing TV series I'd recommend would be The Wire. Even the so-called 'bad guys' in that weren't really obvious. Their motives for being into drugs, corruption and killing had layers upon layers of reasoning behind each topic. I fear in Helix, they wont add too many layers since it's going for simple sensations like "oh noes the infected are everywhere! Squeeeal!" while the heroes will keep saying things like "No! We need to save everyone at all costs." yadda yadda yadda. I hope I'm proved wrong.

Helix: Vector (2014) Season 1, Episode 2

Not impressed yet...

[5/10 · 10 April 2015]

I wont leave spoilers but I'll give my thoughts episode by episode.

So far, I'm concerned with one big sign that's telling me I'm not going to like this series. The people I'm supposed to get behind are annoying while the others who appear more villainous I find more likable. One thing that has always irritated me with Hollywood films is when the villains are portrayed by interesting actors who are genuinely nice intelligent people in real life (Ray Winstone, Rutge Hauer, Ron Perlman Christopher Walken, Kevin Spacey) yet the heroic actors are the genuine narcissistic douche-bags in real life (Tom Cruise, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Bruce Willis e.t.c). I'm not saying this series is like the annoying action films I grew up watching but main principle is always there when casting. The episode is fast paced and the plot is intriguing yet I'm not really enjoying it.

Will give it a few more episodes. I really want to enjoy this.

Kill List (2011)

It did to me what I think a good horror film should.

[10/10 · 7 April 2015]

Horror films are usually my favourite genre of film. I love horror films because if done well, they can challenge your mind and explore subjects of life we often don't want to explore. That said, a lot of horror films are rubbish and for some reason, in the last 15-20 years horror a lot of horror films just copy silly clichés. It's as if the directors and writers who are making these horror films don't really care. Kill List has done what not very many horror films do nowadays. Instead of darting the film with scary monsters and cheap scares all the time the storyline itself builds and builds into a realisation of pure horror. Without giving anything away, other films that managed this particular type of horror that stays with you after the film has finished would be Eden Lake, Don't Look Now and Wicker Man.

I've seen the most common complaints about this film being two different stories and I shake my head at you people. What a daft complaint to have. It's as if you can't comprehend a film if it strays outside the norm or if a writer thinks outside the box.

City of God (2002)

My all-time favourite film... and I mean it!

[9/10 · 7 April 2015]

I think I have watched this film several times by now and I'll probably watch it several times more in my lifetime. I'm not the kind of person who watches films more than once. If I remember what happens I don't need to see it again.

There are only a small number of films I can watch over and over: - The Shining; Warriors; Leon the Professional; Golgo 13; Ninja Scroll; Jungle Book; Southern Comfort and of course, City of God.

The film is so engrossing. I remember when I first watched it I was sucked into the storyline and forgot everything happening around me. The way it's been directed really feels like you're watching real life. The slums feel like slums. The cast all look like they belong in their environment (the director apparently cast a lot of people who weren't actors and actually came from the city of God). The dramatic movements are genuinely moving. I can't put any spoilers here, so all I'll say is the moment at the end gave me goosebumps. If a film can do that to me, I applaud the writers and directors.

I recommend this film to everyone.

Monster (2004–2005)

I can see why others like it but I didn't

[3/10 · 4 April 2015]

I'm going to keep it simple. What I liked and didn't like summarising with my conclusion.

I liked the voice acting. I watched it in English dubbing and the voice acting cast gave me nostalgia of the mid 80s early 90's cyberpunk era of anime with voice actors like Kirk Thornton, Doug Stone, Michael Mcconohie and Steve Kramer. All these old school voice actors have a touch of class that really improves on the overall viewing quality. I also liked the complexity of the storyline. It's very intricate and well thought out.

I did not like quite a few episodes though. Several of them were sending me to sleep. Some aspects of the storyline and moments of drama seemed pretentious and downright irritating. I remember feeling underwhelmed by Full Metal Alchemist for the same reason. It's like the director has to be absolutely certain we like the main characters by making them ABSOLUTELY ANGELIC! El in FMA had to be sooo damn noble and it felt that way with Dr Tenma or Anna. My favourite ever main character in anime is Golgo 13 since he's not really an holier than thou good guy. Another parallel between FMA and Monster is the subject of Nazis. Is this why everyone loves both animes so much? Good grief, I'm sick of hearing about the damn Nazis in media.

In conclusion am I glad I watched the series? No. I'd have rather never watched it. Others may love it (the majority judging by it's high IMDb rating) but I would not recommend this anime. Too pedestrian for me. It didn't even have to be an anime really.