The story of three teenagers who obtain telekinetic like special abilities ground my gears so much I couldn't type the words, so had to take a short rage-dump on camera...
*
What he said. A dreadful film, in a dreadful format with dreadful characters.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Film Review: Marvel Avengers Assemble (The Avengers)
What a clunky title right? Happily, apart from that and another example of pointless 3D (joining the ranks of, well every film that's come out in 3D) there isn't much else to complain about with 'MAA', the film that finally ends the years long build up and throws Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), as well as second tier heroes Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) together in one huge melting pot.
Continuing primarily from where Thor (the film) left off, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is forced to call these heroes together when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) threatens to destroy the Earth using an energy source called the Tesseract.
Weighing in at a lengthy 142 minutes, Avengers Assemble (it's called The Avengers everywhere else, presumably us Brits would get it confused with the 1960's TV show of the same name?) is perfectly paced. Setting the scene with an explosive beginning that makes most action films finales look inferior, it slowly builds to collecting the heroes together, which results in some terrific face-offs between them all - there's some fan-boy wet dreams as we see the Hulk battle Thor, and Iron Man and Captain America have a bit of a scuffle.
The action continues to build, with nary a dull moment to be seen leading to a colossal smackdown on Manhattan island, and of course, the inevitable post-credits scene (which some people still left before, will they ever learn?)
As it's Joss Whedon writing and directing you're pretty much guaranteed a brilliant combination of action and humour, and it has to be said, improves a lot on the solo films. Not knocking those films, for the most part they've been good fun, but this seemed like the culmination of them. It's nothing original seeing NYC the arena for a massive battle, but Whedon adds so much to it that the 45 minutes (this is a guess, it was a long old battle) fly by and it seems totally fresh, as well as gleefully mental as we cut from one superhero to another battling evil.
Whedon always has a knack for cracking dialogue, and since I was never a huge fan of the Buffy universe and I never really got into Firefly, I'm glad that there's now something I can enjoy of his that appeals to me (this and the excellent Cabin in the Woods of course.)
With a great screenplay comes great performances, with Robert Downey Jr. (as usual) standing out, and I also found Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner to be really quite something. Playing a slightly more unhinged version than Eric Bana and Edward Norton before him really added something for me, as well as the Banner's face being visible when you saw the Hulk.
A bit of a worry going into the film was Loki as the central villain, and while he does appear weak at times, it's clear he's under orders from someone else (again, hang around post-credits) so it works for me and Hiddleston does a great job expanding the role he started in Thor.
Whilst not affecting the quality of the actual film, it would be remiss of me not to mention the shoddy retro-fitted 3D job that was done on this. Slightly blurry at times, and totally flat, the dreaded 3D added absolutely nothing to this. But I wanted to see it in IMAX, and sadly 3D is the price you have to pay.
Avengers Assemble is the natural culmination of the story started in the original Iron Man in 2008, and the start of a new chapter that will continue (I assume) in Iron Man 3 and Thor 2. The bar has been raised considerably with Whedon's involvement (although if anyone can match it from an action/humour standpoint it's Shane Black, who is writing and directing the former), and I sincerely hope the next time the Avengers assemble, Whedon is the guy helming it all.
****
Whilst it's nothing original, the action and humour take it a mark above the solo outings before it. Brilliantly written and performed, and with some outstanding set pieces, this truly is the start of the Summer blockbuster season.
Continuing primarily from where Thor (the film) left off, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is forced to call these heroes together when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) threatens to destroy the Earth using an energy source called the Tesseract.
Weighing in at a lengthy 142 minutes, Avengers Assemble (it's called The Avengers everywhere else, presumably us Brits would get it confused with the 1960's TV show of the same name?) is perfectly paced. Setting the scene with an explosive beginning that makes most action films finales look inferior, it slowly builds to collecting the heroes together, which results in some terrific face-offs between them all - there's some fan-boy wet dreams as we see the Hulk battle Thor, and Iron Man and Captain America have a bit of a scuffle.
 |
| No one was prepared to admit this was not the venue for the costume party |
As it's Joss Whedon writing and directing you're pretty much guaranteed a brilliant combination of action and humour, and it has to be said, improves a lot on the solo films. Not knocking those films, for the most part they've been good fun, but this seemed like the culmination of them. It's nothing original seeing NYC the arena for a massive battle, but Whedon adds so much to it that the 45 minutes (this is a guess, it was a long old battle) fly by and it seems totally fresh, as well as gleefully mental as we cut from one superhero to another battling evil.
Whedon always has a knack for cracking dialogue, and since I was never a huge fan of the Buffy universe and I never really got into Firefly, I'm glad that there's now something I can enjoy of his that appeals to me (this and the excellent Cabin in the Woods of course.)
With a great screenplay comes great performances, with Robert Downey Jr. (as usual) standing out, and I also found Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner to be really quite something. Playing a slightly more unhinged version than Eric Bana and Edward Norton before him really added something for me, as well as the Banner's face being visible when you saw the Hulk.
A bit of a worry going into the film was Loki as the central villain, and while he does appear weak at times, it's clear he's under orders from someone else (again, hang around post-credits) so it works for me and Hiddleston does a great job expanding the role he started in Thor.
Whilst not affecting the quality of the actual film, it would be remiss of me not to mention the shoddy retro-fitted 3D job that was done on this. Slightly blurry at times, and totally flat, the dreaded 3D added absolutely nothing to this. But I wanted to see it in IMAX, and sadly 3D is the price you have to pay.
Avengers Assemble is the natural culmination of the story started in the original Iron Man in 2008, and the start of a new chapter that will continue (I assume) in Iron Man 3 and Thor 2. The bar has been raised considerably with Whedon's involvement (although if anyone can match it from an action/humour standpoint it's Shane Black, who is writing and directing the former), and I sincerely hope the next time the Avengers assemble, Whedon is the guy helming it all.
****
Whilst it's nothing original, the action and humour take it a mark above the solo outings before it. Brilliantly written and performed, and with some outstanding set pieces, this truly is the start of the Summer blockbuster season.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Film Review: Demons (Cinema Screening)
It was a treat indeed this past week when myself and my friends Andrew and Chloe got to see Lamberto Bava's cult 80s horror hit on the big screen at Cinema City in Norwich, in celebration of it's forthcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release from the good people at Arrow Video, who are also releasing the sequel.
Beforehand I somehow managed to win a Facebook competition to win a Demons shirt, so that was a bonus going in too! Thanks again guys and gals at Cinema City, and I promise I'll buy a membership soon - been meaning to for 3 years now!
The screening was a showing of the Blu-Ray I believe, and there was quite the amusing hiccup with subtitles at the start. Think everyone forgot it was in Italian! Then forgot about English Descriptive subtitles, which meant another change! Most amusing.
The plot is quite simple. A random collection of cinema goers attend a screening of a mystery film, which turns out to be about some teenagers who unearth demons whilst investigating the tomb of Nostradamus. As the film proceeds, strange goings-on start to occur in the audience, emanating from a prostitute trying on a prop mask from the film before it started.
Before we know it, events in the cinema are mirroring events on the screen, with a full fledged demon invasion occuring. Not much effort is put into explaining why all of this happening, but it's absolutely mental fun as each cinema patron is scratched or mutilated by the demons, turning them in the process.
Not much about it makes any sense (random helicopter anyone?) and it still seems to be dubbed even though it is actually Italian (if anyone knows why this seems that way, please leave a comment below) but none of that matters. Demons is one of the funnest 80s horror movies out there, and will satisfy every fan of the genre.
Special note should be made for the soundtrack. There's not many films out there that feature tracks from Motley Crue, Accept, Billy Idol and the mighty Saxon, but Demons is one of them. And people may say this makes the film dated, but it just adds to the charm for me.
Demons is released on April 30th on DVD and Blu-Ray and well worth a purchase.
****
An 80's Gonzo Horror treat. It makes little sense most of the time, and is funny when it shouldn't be at others, but it's also the best example of horror for that time. Check it out.
Beforehand I somehow managed to win a Facebook competition to win a Demons shirt, so that was a bonus going in too! Thanks again guys and gals at Cinema City, and I promise I'll buy a membership soon - been meaning to for 3 years now!
 |
| The greatest tagline ever? |
The plot is quite simple. A random collection of cinema goers attend a screening of a mystery film, which turns out to be about some teenagers who unearth demons whilst investigating the tomb of Nostradamus. As the film proceeds, strange goings-on start to occur in the audience, emanating from a prostitute trying on a prop mask from the film before it started.
Before we know it, events in the cinema are mirroring events on the screen, with a full fledged demon invasion occuring. Not much effort is put into explaining why all of this happening, but it's absolutely mental fun as each cinema patron is scratched or mutilated by the demons, turning them in the process.
Not much about it makes any sense (random helicopter anyone?) and it still seems to be dubbed even though it is actually Italian (if anyone knows why this seems that way, please leave a comment below) but none of that matters. Demons is one of the funnest 80s horror movies out there, and will satisfy every fan of the genre.
Special note should be made for the soundtrack. There's not many films out there that feature tracks from Motley Crue, Accept, Billy Idol and the mighty Saxon, but Demons is one of them. And people may say this makes the film dated, but it just adds to the charm for me.
Demons is released on April 30th on DVD and Blu-Ray and well worth a purchase.
****
An 80's Gonzo Horror treat. It makes little sense most of the time, and is funny when it shouldn't be at others, but it's also the best example of horror for that time. Check it out.
Thom's House Of Words at WWE Raw. 16/4/12, o2 London.
It was way back in 1991 when I first watched American wrestling. Like a lot of kids I'd seen Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks bumble around the ring on a Saturday afternoon on ITV, but when my Dad first taped a late night showing of WCW Worldwide for me, it was a whole new ball game and it grew into an obsession that followed me right up till my late teens.
When I first started watching WCW, I guess it was about the time that Ric Flair left the company to go to the WWF (as it was called back then), and I watched people like Sting, Rick Rude, Big Van Vader, Dustin Rhodes etc. week in and week out.
My first taste of the WWF was probably the 1991 Survivor Series (the one where the relatively new bad guy The Undertaker beat Hulk Hogan to win the title), and it was great to have two different companies to watch. But WCW was always the easier one to watch as it was on free television, and we didn't have Sky.
As the years went on I found myself watching WWF more. Around 1995 a lot of former WWF wrestlers like Hulk Hogan jumped ship to WCW and it got really silly for a while. I was 12 and even then I knew it was a bit crap. But at the same time, the WWF was having its 'New Generation' era, spearheaded by Diesel, and that left a lot to be desired also.
The next year, however was the year things started to change for the WWF. The 'Stone Cold' era started, and things started to get a little edgy. And as a teenager it was the perfect fit, regardless of all the nWo stuff starting to happen in WCW (which had long since finished airing on ITV at this point.)
With the help of school friends who had Sky, I was able to keep on top of all the weekly activities of the 'Attitude' era, and when finally I had enough money to pay for it myself, I got the dish on the side of the house, and was able to watch it all, and stay up and watch the Pay-Per-View events live as they happened.
As I started to get older though, other things (mainly music) started to take over. The thing that really got me into rock music was actually the wrestlers theme songs, and the songs they used to advertise the big events. That's where I first heard bands like System Of A Down and their like.
But throughout all the years watching it, I never went to see it live. I wanted to, sure. But the cost made it seem like a crazy dream, and by the time I was earning the kind of money to make going viable, I was heavily into music and going to every gig under the sun.
For reasons I can't even remember (and it was only 12 months ago), I decided to watch Wrestlemania last year. And while it wasn't as good as it used to be (mainly due to the fact that the product is marketed towards kids, and there is no serious competition) I still found it watchable, and found myself watching the monthly PPV event, then eventually back to watching Raw every week.
So when tickets went on sale for the Wrestlemania Revenge Tour last November, myself, my friend Michelle (and her Mum!) decided to go, and we finally got tickets. Should be worth mentioning Michelle and her Mum had also been watching it for years, but had never been to a live event. And even cooler was that our collective first time was being filmed for television!
A bit has changed in the last year in the WWE. Whilst it still caters largely to kids (there's only blood if it's a mistake, there's no steel chair shots to the head), there's a lot more for adults. It's become edgy again, but only within the parameters of still being family-friendly. Although saying that, the word "shit" has been used on television quite a lot, and the F-bomb was dropped at this years Wrestlemania!
And in recent weeks, former UFC champion Brock Lesnar has returned, making things very interesting, although due to his light travel schedule in his contract, he wasn't at the show at the o2.
Anyway, what started as a brief introduction to myself and wrestling (seeing as I have never mentioned it on here before), has turned into a War and Peace sized tome, so onto the actual event itself...
To say we arrived a bit early at the o2 Arena was a bit of an understatement. With the doors to the arena itself opening at 6.30pm, we rolled into the car park just after 1. But there's plenty to do at the venue, so we figured there would be plenty to pass the time. But once you do the British Music Experience, there's really not, unless you catch a film at the enormo-screen they have. But we didn't.
After kicking around a few bars and restaurants, it was time to start queuing. And as soon as we headed towards the throng, the "YES!" chants kicked off. For the uninitiated, in recent weeks WWE audiences have sided with heel (bad guy) Daniel Bryan, adopted his ridiculous "YES" mantra. A few weeks ago in Miami, the crowd chanted it all night, and it's drifted into gigs, hockey games and basketball games around the world. And it was loud and constant all night in London.
Once we were let in, we found our seats pretty quickly. And they were far better than expected. Once we turfed out the teenagers who were sat in them that is! Got Michelle's o2 Priority membership to thank for them. Once we were settled, we headed to merchandise stand where I picked up a CM Punk shirt which was a pretty steep £25, and a bottle of Bud that cost £4.80. That stung.
While we were waiting, we, and the other people in our row, were kept amused by the sight of a large, pervert looking fellow writing a sign very slowly in the seats below. This turned out to read 'Kelly Kelly You're My Sexy Baby', surrounded by hearts. If that wasn't repulsive enough, he then handed said sign to a young boy who proudly held it up when the Diva came out. Shudder.
The action started at 7.30, and as it normally goes we got a dark match first. A dark match is one that doesn't air on television, and the first one of the night usually is for brand new talent to get a shot, and this was no difference, and we got a first look at developmental talent Dean Ambrose. Very short match, but he was good on the mic.
After that, we had a couple of matches that would be shown on Superstars later in the week. One was with the Diva's, who for the most part are notoriously naff, but we did get a good match between R-Truth and Jack Swagger, the latter who I never had much time for on TV, but he was pretty good live!
After a few minutes break, we were informed that we would be filming a "live cut-in" so we had to all get up and act appropriately crazy. I can only assume this was used as a pre-show tease on the USA network. In hindsight that is. At the time I had no idea what was going on.
Then after announcers Michael Cole (hated) and Jerry Lawler (loved) came out, so did Mark Henry for the first match of the Raw show proper, where he was facing CM Punk for the WWE title in a no countout, no disqualification match. To add to my slight confusion, we were then told we were "going live" (we weren't live at any point, I should add, it was all pre-taped and shown in the States later that night) for Raw. Then the regular pyro and Nickelback music hit, leading into the entrance of Punk who the crowd went suitably nuts for.
The show continued with breaks for ads in the arena, and vignettes in the backstage area. Watching the show back, we only saw a few of them. Which was just as well as some of them were embarrassingly bad!
The taping itself ended with the beloved-by-kids-hated-by-everyone-else John Cena against WWE returnee Lord Tensai. Tensai used to be known as Albert, and we let him know we remembered constantly with the "Albbbeerrrt" chants. Once that was done, we had another dark match, which pitted CM Punk against Chris Jericho, who got a huge reaction.
This didn't last much more than 4 or 5 minutes before Bryan ran in (restarting the "YES!" chants all over again), then some of the wrestlers we hadn't seen throughout the night, culminating in seeing Randy Orton, who along with Sheamus sent the crowd home happy by taking out the bad guys.
Having never been to a live show before, I really didn't know what to expect, but I loved it. I was wondering whether I was really going to be standing up and cheering, booing or dancing badly (in the case of 'Funkasauraus' Brodus Clay) but I did, and really want to go again!
The WWE are back in November, but that month is a little busy for me, but next year I'll be back. It may sound steep, but it's £50 well spent. And if you ever told the 1991 version of me that I'd be seeing it live the same year as I go to New York, I think his head may explode!
 |
| Myself at WWE Raw, after all these years! |
My first taste of the WWF was probably the 1991 Survivor Series (the one where the relatively new bad guy The Undertaker beat Hulk Hogan to win the title), and it was great to have two different companies to watch. But WCW was always the easier one to watch as it was on free television, and we didn't have Sky.
As the years went on I found myself watching WWF more. Around 1995 a lot of former WWF wrestlers like Hulk Hogan jumped ship to WCW and it got really silly for a while. I was 12 and even then I knew it was a bit crap. But at the same time, the WWF was having its 'New Generation' era, spearheaded by Diesel, and that left a lot to be desired also.
The next year, however was the year things started to change for the WWF. The 'Stone Cold' era started, and things started to get a little edgy. And as a teenager it was the perfect fit, regardless of all the nWo stuff starting to happen in WCW (which had long since finished airing on ITV at this point.)
With the help of school friends who had Sky, I was able to keep on top of all the weekly activities of the 'Attitude' era, and when finally I had enough money to pay for it myself, I got the dish on the side of the house, and was able to watch it all, and stay up and watch the Pay-Per-View events live as they happened.
As I started to get older though, other things (mainly music) started to take over. The thing that really got me into rock music was actually the wrestlers theme songs, and the songs they used to advertise the big events. That's where I first heard bands like System Of A Down and their like.
But throughout all the years watching it, I never went to see it live. I wanted to, sure. But the cost made it seem like a crazy dream, and by the time I was earning the kind of money to make going viable, I was heavily into music and going to every gig under the sun.
For reasons I can't even remember (and it was only 12 months ago), I decided to watch Wrestlemania last year. And while it wasn't as good as it used to be (mainly due to the fact that the product is marketed towards kids, and there is no serious competition) I still found it watchable, and found myself watching the monthly PPV event, then eventually back to watching Raw every week.
So when tickets went on sale for the Wrestlemania Revenge Tour last November, myself, my friend Michelle (and her Mum!) decided to go, and we finally got tickets. Should be worth mentioning Michelle and her Mum had also been watching it for years, but had never been to a live event. And even cooler was that our collective first time was being filmed for television!
A bit has changed in the last year in the WWE. Whilst it still caters largely to kids (there's only blood if it's a mistake, there's no steel chair shots to the head), there's a lot more for adults. It's become edgy again, but only within the parameters of still being family-friendly. Although saying that, the word "shit" has been used on television quite a lot, and the F-bomb was dropped at this years Wrestlemania!
And in recent weeks, former UFC champion Brock Lesnar has returned, making things very interesting, although due to his light travel schedule in his contract, he wasn't at the show at the o2.
Anyway, what started as a brief introduction to myself and wrestling (seeing as I have never mentioned it on here before), has turned into a War and Peace sized tome, so onto the actual event itself...
To say we arrived a bit early at the o2 Arena was a bit of an understatement. With the doors to the arena itself opening at 6.30pm, we rolled into the car park just after 1. But there's plenty to do at the venue, so we figured there would be plenty to pass the time. But once you do the British Music Experience, there's really not, unless you catch a film at the enormo-screen they have. But we didn't.
 |
| Our view as CM Punk enters the arena. |
Once we were let in, we found our seats pretty quickly. And they were far better than expected. Once we turfed out the teenagers who were sat in them that is! Got Michelle's o2 Priority membership to thank for them. Once we were settled, we headed to merchandise stand where I picked up a CM Punk shirt which was a pretty steep £25, and a bottle of Bud that cost £4.80. That stung.
While we were waiting, we, and the other people in our row, were kept amused by the sight of a large, pervert looking fellow writing a sign very slowly in the seats below. This turned out to read 'Kelly Kelly You're My Sexy Baby', surrounded by hearts. If that wasn't repulsive enough, he then handed said sign to a young boy who proudly held it up when the Diva came out. Shudder.
The action started at 7.30, and as it normally goes we got a dark match first. A dark match is one that doesn't air on television, and the first one of the night usually is for brand new talent to get a shot, and this was no difference, and we got a first look at developmental talent Dean Ambrose. Very short match, but he was good on the mic.
After that, we had a couple of matches that would be shown on Superstars later in the week. One was with the Diva's, who for the most part are notoriously naff, but we did get a good match between R-Truth and Jack Swagger, the latter who I never had much time for on TV, but he was pretty good live!
After a few minutes break, we were informed that we would be filming a "live cut-in" so we had to all get up and act appropriately crazy. I can only assume this was used as a pre-show tease on the USA network. In hindsight that is. At the time I had no idea what was going on.
Then after announcers Michael Cole (hated) and Jerry Lawler (loved) came out, so did Mark Henry for the first match of the Raw show proper, where he was facing CM Punk for the WWE title in a no countout, no disqualification match. To add to my slight confusion, we were then told we were "going live" (we weren't live at any point, I should add, it was all pre-taped and shown in the States later that night) for Raw. Then the regular pyro and Nickelback music hit, leading into the entrance of Punk who the crowd went suitably nuts for.
The show continued with breaks for ads in the arena, and vignettes in the backstage area. Watching the show back, we only saw a few of them. Which was just as well as some of them were embarrassingly bad!
The taping itself ended with the beloved-by-kids-hated-by-everyone-else John Cena against WWE returnee Lord Tensai. Tensai used to be known as Albert, and we let him know we remembered constantly with the "Albbbeerrrt" chants. Once that was done, we had another dark match, which pitted CM Punk against Chris Jericho, who got a huge reaction.
This didn't last much more than 4 or 5 minutes before Bryan ran in (restarting the "YES!" chants all over again), then some of the wrestlers we hadn't seen throughout the night, culminating in seeing Randy Orton, who along with Sheamus sent the crowd home happy by taking out the bad guys.
Having never been to a live show before, I really didn't know what to expect, but I loved it. I was wondering whether I was really going to be standing up and cheering, booing or dancing badly (in the case of 'Funkasauraus' Brodus Clay) but I did, and really want to go again!
The WWE are back in November, but that month is a little busy for me, but next year I'll be back. It may sound steep, but it's £50 well spent. And if you ever told the 1991 version of me that I'd be seeing it live the same year as I go to New York, I think his head may explode!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Film Review: The Protector (1985)
Before finally hitting pay dirt in 1998 with Rush Hour, Jackie Chan made several failed attempts to break America. Not counting his small roles in the Cannonball Run films, there was The Big Brawl in 1980 (also known as Battle Creek Brawl), Rumble in the Bronx in 1995 (although that was a Hong Kong production), and Mr. Nice Guy in 1997.
The most curious of all of these early American Chan films was 1985' The Protector. Starring Chan, who is well known for not liking excessive violence, language or nudity in his films, it was written and directed by James Glickenhaus, best known for violent cult hits The Exterminator, Shakedown and McBain.
The plot is what you would expect from your average cop movie. Chan plays Billy Wong, who after his partner is gunned down in the films opening scenes, is partnered with Danny Garoni (Danny Aiello), who after witnessing a wealthy man's daughter being kidnapped at a fashion show, travel to Hong Kong to find those responsible and stop their drug trafficking ring.
What's so bizarre about the film is the sight of Jackie Chan in such a violent film. Of course, it's not like his fighting style isn't violent, but seeing him shooting someone and squibs exploding everywhere, and hearing him actually drop an F-bomb is really odd.
The film itself is OK. It's nothing original at all, but the presence of Chan takes it a step above your typical 80's action fare, although there's not really an abundance of fight scenes that'd you would come to expect.
In the end, Chan wasn't too pleased with all the swearing, excessive violence and nudity on display, and re-edited the film for Hong Kong consumption, adding in more fighting, a new sub-plot, and removing all the naughty bits. But like it did in the States, the film tanked anyway. Disappointed with the failure of the project, Chan decided to make his own cop film. That film was called Police Story...
***
An interesting curio for fans of Chan and Glickenhaus alike, but it's pretty run of the mill 80's action, albeit bolstered by Jackie Chan starring.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Film Review: The Cabin in the Woods
When it comes to reviewing films, the trickiest thing sometimes is swerving around plot points that would ruin the enjoyment of the movie for the reader. These 'spoilers' are normally easily avoided, because with most films you can can run through the synopsis, and describe what makes the film great without revealing any twists and turns.
Sticking to a spoiler-free review makes writing about The Cabin in the Woods a bit tricky. It's not so much that the film has a massive twist, in fact the opening scenes kind of lay out what is going on pretty quickly, but it's not something you want to ruin. But I shall endeavour to talk about what I can, and strongly urge you go and see it for yourself, before it gets ruined for you.
Back in 1981, the horror film Pieces was released and was saddled with the slightly insulting tagline 'Pieces...it's exactly what you think it is!'. I think the exact opposite can be applied for The Cabin in the Woods. It's not what you think it is, not at all.
Originally filmed back in 2009, Cabin has run into all kinds of problems which delayed its release significantly. MGM's financial woes played a part, as did Lionsgate wanting the film to be released in 3D. Thankfully, the filmmakers put their feet down, and this was avoided. There would have been no point in releasing this movie in 3D, but of course, the same can be said about most films.
Directed by Drew Goddard, and co-written by Goddard and Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods is possibly the best written and most amusing horror film since the days of the Evil Dead movies. It's an incredibly smart and hilarious script, and the direction is also top-notch, especially when it comes to the (numerous) set pieces in the film.
The plot that I can tell you about is your usual horror fare. A group of friends go for a break to a deserted cabin in the woods, but once they arrive things start to go awry. It's essentially the same plot from about 100 horror films, but there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. And to say any more than that is most definitely creeping into spoiler territory. Even the trailer (that I saw) doesn't give away too much more than that, and that is almost miraculous considering how much movie studios like to reveal way too much in trailers.
The cast are all great in their roles but there's even some cast members that I can't talk about, so shall just focus on the teens on the cabin, who all do a great job with their purposefully cliched characters - the jock (a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth), the intelligent one (Jesse Williams), the blonde bimbo (Anna Hutchison), the stoner (Whedon alumni Fran Kranz, who is excellent throughout) and the obvious virgin (Kristen Connolly). The way the story takes these characters and their cliches is, like the rest of the film, inspired.
Before The Cabin in the Woods was released, some pre-awareness posters adorned buses in my area, with a quote from a review that called it a "Game changer". Normally when I hear this, or something like "reinventing the genre" I want to run a mile from any cinema showing it. But this time, believe the hype. The Cabin in the Woods will undoubtedly change the way I watch a lot of horror movies, and the same can't be said for other horror films that have proclaimed to be revolutionary, like the Saw films.
Not only that, but Cabin... is one of those rare films that manage to transcend its genre. Horror fans will get a lot more out of this than the casual cinema-goer, there's no two ways about that, but those with not much horror experience will get loads out of it as well. I went to see it with someone who didn't really watch many horror films (although admittedly, she is a Whedon fan), and she absolutely loved it. And it's a rare film OR horror film indeed that can make that much of an impact.
*****
A totally original, hilarious and just generally excellent film, whether you like horror or not. The best film of 2012 so far...
Sticking to a spoiler-free review makes writing about The Cabin in the Woods a bit tricky. It's not so much that the film has a massive twist, in fact the opening scenes kind of lay out what is going on pretty quickly, but it's not something you want to ruin. But I shall endeavour to talk about what I can, and strongly urge you go and see it for yourself, before it gets ruined for you.
Back in 1981, the horror film Pieces was released and was saddled with the slightly insulting tagline 'Pieces...it's exactly what you think it is!'. I think the exact opposite can be applied for The Cabin in the Woods. It's not what you think it is, not at all.
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| Pretty much the only photo I can use! |
Directed by Drew Goddard, and co-written by Goddard and Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods is possibly the best written and most amusing horror film since the days of the Evil Dead movies. It's an incredibly smart and hilarious script, and the direction is also top-notch, especially when it comes to the (numerous) set pieces in the film.
The plot that I can tell you about is your usual horror fare. A group of friends go for a break to a deserted cabin in the woods, but once they arrive things start to go awry. It's essentially the same plot from about 100 horror films, but there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. And to say any more than that is most definitely creeping into spoiler territory. Even the trailer (that I saw) doesn't give away too much more than that, and that is almost miraculous considering how much movie studios like to reveal way too much in trailers.
The cast are all great in their roles but there's even some cast members that I can't talk about, so shall just focus on the teens on the cabin, who all do a great job with their purposefully cliched characters - the jock (a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth), the intelligent one (Jesse Williams), the blonde bimbo (Anna Hutchison), the stoner (Whedon alumni Fran Kranz, who is excellent throughout) and the obvious virgin (Kristen Connolly). The way the story takes these characters and their cliches is, like the rest of the film, inspired.
Before The Cabin in the Woods was released, some pre-awareness posters adorned buses in my area, with a quote from a review that called it a "Game changer". Normally when I hear this, or something like "reinventing the genre" I want to run a mile from any cinema showing it. But this time, believe the hype. The Cabin in the Woods will undoubtedly change the way I watch a lot of horror movies, and the same can't be said for other horror films that have proclaimed to be revolutionary, like the Saw films.
Not only that, but Cabin... is one of those rare films that manage to transcend its genre. Horror fans will get a lot more out of this than the casual cinema-goer, there's no two ways about that, but those with not much horror experience will get loads out of it as well. I went to see it with someone who didn't really watch many horror films (although admittedly, she is a Whedon fan), and she absolutely loved it. And it's a rare film OR horror film indeed that can make that much of an impact.
*****
A totally original, hilarious and just generally excellent film, whether you like horror or not. The best film of 2012 so far...
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Film Review: The Innkeepers
After watching his previous directorial effort House of the Devil, it was clear Ti West was not your usual trashy horror hack. It was a slow paced tribute to films of the past, and had a great retro feel to it. So I was looking forward to his next film, The Innkeepers. Unlike 'House...', The Innkeepers takes place in the present-day and is basically a traditional haunted-hotel film. It's nothing overly original, but is done so much better than you'd expect.
Two employees of a hotel (The Yankee Pedlar Inn) that is about to close its doors for good, while away the last days of the building by investigating paranormal activity within its walls. Luke (Pat Healy) even starts a website covering all the spooky goings on, whilst Claire (Sara Paxton) gets increasingly creeped out as visitors from the past (including Kelly McGillis from Top Gun!) return to the hotel for one last stay...
In this day and age, a haunted building film should provide absolutely no scares whatsoever. But West manages to scrape tension from a lot of situations, that in other hands would fail miserably. It helps that the build up to any of the happenings is nice and slow. It's almost 25 minutes before anything vaguely ghostly happens!
Also worth a mention is Sara Paxton in the lead. The last thing I saw her in was the woeful Shark Night, and her performance improves ten-fold in this. She is one of the most likable horror leads in recent years, and you feel genuinely sympathetic for her character as the film goes on.
The Innkeepers is nothing you haven't seen before, but it's done really well, and has a likable cast. And these things speak volumes these days.
***1/2
Does lose a half point for its lack of originality, but the good cast and the scares that you should really know better about make The Innkeepers a great little horror flick. Check it out.
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| About to break Horror Movie rule #36 - Don't go down there! |
In this day and age, a haunted building film should provide absolutely no scares whatsoever. But West manages to scrape tension from a lot of situations, that in other hands would fail miserably. It helps that the build up to any of the happenings is nice and slow. It's almost 25 minutes before anything vaguely ghostly happens!
Also worth a mention is Sara Paxton in the lead. The last thing I saw her in was the woeful Shark Night, and her performance improves ten-fold in this. She is one of the most likable horror leads in recent years, and you feel genuinely sympathetic for her character as the film goes on.
The Innkeepers is nothing you haven't seen before, but it's done really well, and has a likable cast. And these things speak volumes these days.
***1/2
Does lose a half point for its lack of originality, but the good cast and the scares that you should really know better about make The Innkeepers a great little horror flick. Check it out.
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