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chser453
Reviews
Evidence (2012)
Not again
Sometimes i wonder if the blair witch project should ever have been made- because of the production line of trashy copies in the found-film genre that have been given the green light by moronic movie execs. I've only really seen one decent one since, and that was made in spain (Rec) which borrowed off the likes of 28 days later and bwp, all decent movies. This is garbage. Like other reviewers have said before it wants to throw as many horror themes as possible at the audience hoping theyll swallow one - interspersed with some chase-cam footage alternating between the 2 leading girls backsides. I make no apologies for containing spoilers in this case - i couldn't possibly do anything to spoil the plot of this movie for you more.
The basic premise is quite simple -4 young campers get stalked by something mysterious in the woods and, oh wait a creepy old man has turned up, perhaps hes integral, hang on a minute, now there's a strange hairy gorrila sloth-bear chasing after them, no wait they've stumbled on to a medical testing centre, oh actually its full of lunatic asylum patients, ah right they're human cannibals too, they're wearing gas masks, maybe some contagion, ah yes here comes the US army to save the day, no wait the hairy gorrila things are back! but they have alien bug-faces now? Here comes the continuation-credits, thatll explain everything. Looks to have been one big failed experiment after all. Sums up the movie really.
The Lovely Bones (2009)
As good as could be expected from PJ
If you are the sort that cant get beyond their base preconceptions, you'd be better off not watching this movie - Don't expect this film to be a ghost/horror story, or a serial-killer crime thriller ( quoted from another reviewer "It could have been a really good detective story with the 'ghost' helping solve the crime") - it doesn't pretend to be any of these things. Obviously there's a few reviews here that show up a lack of understanding of this, and theyd be better off sticking to the standard teen-slasher horror fare.
The exercise is to create viewer empathy for a young girl whose life is tragically cut short in brutal circumstances and how her family come to terms with it in her eyes. Granted Jackson doesn't give many of the characters much opportunity to really develop but the young irish teen Saoirse Ronan in particular succeeds in earning the audiences empathy especially when she fulfils her return to her true love on earth, for her one last short-lived time.
My main gripe is with the excessive and ultimately contrived use of CGI for the other-world setting, i don't think the movie needed it to tell the story - but with Jackson at the helm it was predictable in todays simplistic audience requirements. Certainly the movie version could have been produced more faithful to the book and therefore better, but Jackson wasn't the director for this.
And certainly don't expect it to be as good, or as comprehensive as the book ( personal drama adaptation movies rarely are) but as a package the compelling story, the excellent ambient musical score and the handful of strong performances that make you want to care about the outcome of Susies story, whatever it is, make this worth a watch
Wrong Turn at Tahoe (2009)
My sort of Movie
Small time gangster takes on Big time gangster the story has been down countless times before, but when its done well as here, makes for a good watch. Small budget and reflected in a fairly low profile cast, CG-Jr and Ferrer along with Keitel all make sound convincing performances. The violence is brutal and the characters harsh but convincing, certainly seen worse big budget examples of the genre getting their shot on the big screen. Don't expect anything ground breaking plot-wise but fans of the gangster flick wont be disappointed with the gritty realism, slick action sequences and unobtrusive soundtrack.
The Mist (2007)
Whats with the squealing monsters?
Being a fan of Darabonts previous King works i remember at the time was looking forward to seeing this. The premise is straightforward; 50 or so people trapped in a small town store trapped by a mysterious mist that has descended and surrounded containing a host of monsters/prehistoric type creatures/beings from another dimension. It's the standard 'siege style' horror genre but the monsters are an aside to the underlying theme which scrutinises the human frailties, despair and hysteria. This was the interesting part of the film, focusing more of what is happening on the inside than the outside, but i don't think it was developed enough, as a horror movie it should have been taken on further, perhaps onto the more even terrifying conclusion of mob and witch-hunt type mentality that comes from a breakdown of reality,which was only touched upon. The plot did have a few holes too, it was also a little unbelievable that the lowly army Private was able to clarify 'rumours' of a top secret army experiment nearby to open a rift to another dimension.
The cgi creatures were good, apart from a very formulaic B movie looking rubber tentacle. As is typical, most of them came out in the dark of night which, coincidentally makes them easier to cgi-render into the film. The giant mosquito bug things will get your skin crawling, however the spider things just looked like the flying bugs without the wings, a little more imagination required next time. It would be good too if Hollywood could get out of the habit of making all their monsters squeal like pigs when they get shot or hit with an axe; do u really expect that sort of noise to come out of a tentacle or a giant spider?? As for the ending, i guess it was supposed to be tragic which it was but, without giving the whole thing away, i thought 'it' was a little hasty and could have been drawn out a little to have been a bit more understandable. But thats perhaps being over critical.
I did quite like the movie overall, i don't think all the acting was that strong, i didn't really feel for the characters or convinced by their emotion and thought Andre Braughers talent was under used. The lead guy kept reminding me of the guy out of Highlander too which didn't help. Its definitely worth a watch and better than most modern horror flicks ( although most of its modern competition is trash these days) but this film though i think could have been a whole lot better. 6 out of 10
Body of Lies (2008)
Best movie of the year
Best way to watch this is to take it for what it is, a movie, and forget about scrutinising it for the political messages that may or may not contain . We all know what the current political climate is like and movies are our mean of escapism. The set pieces were visually impressive as you expect from Scott reminiscent of Black Hawk Down, a movie which often get mentioned in comparisons , my criticism would be that weren't enough of them. Obviously this isn't your standard brainless explosion filled fare, but would have loved Scott to explore the full 'arsenal' of high tech gear, spy drones, tactical assault units etc the CIA has at its disposal.
As for the acting performances, all i can say is close to flawless. Di Caprio was excellent as the CIA field agent in the Mid East tempering his admiration for the arab peoples and culture alongside his clear ambition to make a name for himself hunting down the bad guy terrorists. The penultimate scenes of his capture by the terrorists were his best and unlike other 'tough guy agent' leading roles, you began to feel the despair and panic to his situation.
The real standout for me was Scott favourite Russel Crowe as Di caprios slimy CIA boss and handler running the show over his handsfree in the US, alongside his day to day life ferrying his kids to soccer and picking up the shopping. You pick up straightaway his contrasted attitude to the mid east from di caprios character and isn't willing to offer the same respect to his mid east counterparts. This creates create tension from the outset between boss Crowe and his no 1. Special mention must go to Londoner Mark Strong for a chillingly impressive performance as Hani Salaam head of Jordanian Intelligence, ferried around in a convoy of Mercs in sharp suits like a mafia don, but not the standard "fingernail-puller" to quote Crowes character, speaking like an educated man but always with a menacing undertone.
Im not going to do a full synopsis of the movie, there are plenty of those, all i will say watch this movie, its great from start to finish.
Quarantine (2008)
Another remake, not original, but worth a look
As mentioned in other reviews this is a close remake of the Spanish Rec almost scene for scene. Overall the cast performance was strong, although don't expect to get to know much about any of the characters. The movie shot well, primarily in semi-darkness with the fixed light of the documentary style camera in the storyline illuminating most of the scenes. Jennifer Carpenter was convincing although her constant shrill screaming toward the end got distracting from what was going on and was in contrast to the surprisingly calm and collected attitude of her accompanying cameraman. The final scenes were very reminiscent of the way the blair witch project movie was shot All in all a good view with good jump in the seat moments, don't expect anything different from the general modern mass zombie/mystery viral cannibalism genre thats going around these days. 7.5
Transformers (2007)
What a waste
As someone old enough to remember the original transformers-mania I was totally disappointed to see another opportunity to re-produce an 80's great wasted. After multi million dollar SFX , none of the transformers look accurate to me, the CGI looks out of place against real time capture and Bay's shaky-style camera work set pieces doesn't work . I couldn't work out what this was supposed to be, the script was something out of a kids movie, but the set pieces pulled from a wannabe combat flick. The movie falls short on both levels Another turkey to add to Michael Bays list of big-budget garbage pile that includes Bad Boys, Bad Boys2, Pear Harbour and producing a string of crap attempts at horror remakes.
The Ruins (2008)
Good effort
Didn't expect this to be any good but ended up being surprised at the convincing performances by the relatively unknown main cast (to me anyway). Much better than the typical brainless teen jock/cheerleader efforts you tend to get in these sort of budget movies.
Simple premise to the story, cabin fever type, but well paced and well shot with special effects and musical score used sparingly added a little more realism. Storyline and characters could have used a bit more development and ending was a little lightweight, but there's enough there to keep things rolling and keep you interested.
Worth a watch and definitely a change from the usual sub-standard clones being churned out these days.