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Reviews
Nightcrawler (2014)
Preferred the trailer
Like with many films now days I keep finding myself getting more excited and enthralled by the actual trailer. Saying that, this dramatic horrifying thriller did provide an entertaining level 7 out of 10 for viewing pleasure.
It touched me personally and deeply like most films do with seeing how someone shows such enthusiasm while pursuing some form of employment only to keep getting his soul destroyed. The main character in this film was both likable and unlikeable at the same time presenting us with a sociopath personality. What struck me most was how Jack Gyllenhaal was visually presented to look unkempt, wild, greasy and hungry for success.
The film reminded me very much of the End of Watch film also starring Jack Gyllenhaal due to it exploring a more raw realistic perspective of urban life and crime. The way in which this film is presented visually seems the cross between found footage and the more traditional method of filming which works much better than relaying on pure shaky amateur cam that often irritates me the viewer. Saying that I didn't like the way the film was visually filtered and would have liked to have watched a more saturated colour scheme. Something about it all seemed very 90's and washed out, something about it visually felt off.
I also had a feeling that the director or others in the film crew wanted to make this film slight Gand Theft Auto in how certain scenes really did feel like the game which for me was a good thing without drifting off into why and reviewing GTA alongside this film.
Rene Russo looked sexy, beautiful and curvy in this film and I so wanted to see more of the seedy adult like romance exposed. I think the whole sexual tension thing disappeared to quickly. That added taste to the mix would have made this more dramatic and titillating allowing for a more voyeuristic experience. I did enjoy seeing Rene's character being put in a position of looking exploited and vulnerable.
Being myself interested in videography and photography, I loved it how it shows that its never about expensive equipment, but having that artistic eye and desire to delve into places often taboo and unacceptable by today's social standards. I loved how it presented an artist so willing to break certain rules of decency alongside taste. The way in which Louis crosses the line to get footage thats daring gets its audience to ask what it is we have to do in order to succeed in life in all aspects of the media and journalism.
After all of that the film for me was something I would only watch every so many years if it just happened to be on view on some boring non eventual day which for me would most probably be a Sunday evening or night. If it had been made in the 1970's for me it would possibly have had more appeal. Even the name Nightcrawler seems very 70's.
Overall a 7/10 based on entertainment value
Cinematography 6.5 out of 10 Acting 8.5/9 out of 10 Story 7 out of 10, could have been deeper and more revealing
V/H/S Viral (2014)
Horror films don't usually scare me but this one did
This movie is by no means a great one. All the negative or positive views towards it are in opinion accurate in how each viewer perceived it. For me it was just the same as if I had been given a smelly joint, finding myself wondering if it was going to make me happy or have that bad trip. I should have been in the right frame of mind while watching this and so should my close friend who throughout the film grew more uncomfortable to the point of feeling on the edge of a panic attack. Because of her reactions and through the films uneasy voyeuristic exploration I also felt occasionally panicked and somewhat detached from my comfort zone. Interestingly I managed to hold myself together until close to the end by which time I couldn't deal with it and switched it off, not because it was a bad movie. I know people will be laughing at reading this and I would be as well so let me delve deeper.
I have watched many horror films and i used to constantly be on the lookout for that experience that will disturb and frighten me. All those video nasties and banned 70's films all used to have an interesting effect, that I would always feel somewhat detached from because of a strange kind of fun unreality experience. Then for the first time many years ago now I watched the first Final Destination film that introduced me a new kind of philosophy horror, that put me in the strange position of having to endure an intense empathy and deep confrontation with my deep subconscious fear of death. I still remember having to go through and imagine death and all the sensations that came with it. A few months ago I watched a thriller about a person that had to go through life with memory loss and again I couldn't help but imagine some deep stuff causing me to feel very uncomfortable. Well tonight for me it was there again for few reasons.
1) Firstly I knew what this film was doing, it was amplifying many of today's internet monsters. Our access to knowledge and information, the way we have the ability through technology to watch horrors unfold while we sit down safe, social narcissism where by people crave to be seen by so many online, sexual perversions, daring extreme entertainment that causes us to feel more alive than our simple lives can provide, different mentalities from how we used to be and many more unusual insanities that our current technological society has given birth to. From a deep perspective this films an ultimate fear because its been conceptualised deliberately to push our buttons.
2) Not everyone goes delves near heavy scientific subject matter. Within one of the films stories lies a very frightening prospect that many theories are based around. Some years ago there was a series on television called Sliders that explored certain quantum concepts. The main one was about infinite parallel universes's or dimensions. Matter, energy, atoms all being surrounded by infinite alternatives. Family guy as also explored this idea in a fun enjoyable way but then there's this film. It decided to put us in the position of having broken certain physical rules or the rules of physics allowing us to walk through into a mirrored dimension that actually isn't a perfect symmetry. I won't spoil it but will say it hit me hard because at times life can offer illusions of light that can turn dark or less poetically an imaginary voyage into a much darker place, alien or demonic realm, perhaps both.
3) After the previous bad trip that i kind of enjoyed in a thank goodness I got through it kind of way, I again found myself facing another bad trip. This time it seemed to induce a kind of nauseating paranoia because again I'm facing dark subject matter now exploring the idea that some kind of external technological device could induce madness or abnormal behaviour. I didn't feel comfortable again which was a sign to me that I was being psychologically attacked by deep subject matter.
I know many viewers of this film won't be looking into it like I did and yes I wasn't high on any drugs. I am totally against going near anything that causes me to think differently and lose control of my mind. This film was a trip because without wanting to, I started to think about it and once that happened well I became somewhat uncomfortable. Kudos to the makers of this film for challenging my mind.
Overall the film was presented in that common found footage shaky cam style way and the V.H.S effects were perhaps a little over done, even getting close to obnoxious at times. The edit could have been a little bit more diverse in transition and less harsh on the eyes. Some parts were also heavily saturated and grungy making me feel somewhat disorientated and overloaded. All was slightly rushed because to make it look amateur and viral with good effect. Can't really comment on the acting due to not really needing to build a deeper relationship with the characters. This film delivers us an horror pill that hits a nerve.
If your not a deep over thinking person your lucky, because it will probably be just like all the other horror films you have seen before full of twilight zone stories. If like me you wander deeply into films fully emerging yourself into it, then this can quite easily be that ultimate horror experience. Personally I hope they do more of these films and i think the rating will go up a bit in time.
Ratings
Cinematography 5.5, average really Concept 7.5 interesting but disorienting Fear Factor 8 due to being out of the box Acting NA due to not really needing to analyse it
The Harry Hill Movie (2013)
A bad trip
Its films like this one that make me wish I wasn't British. I like Harry Hill in his TV burps but this is like watching something that endures a drug induced paranoia trip. The surreality of this horrific nightmare made me feel very distressed. I have watched many banned 70's horror movies but the humour in this really got into my head and twisted it beyond sanity. Luckily I didn't watch this stuck into some dark cinema made to endure its crazy ..... words just can't begin to explain this. Even the kids watching this film started to get restless and bored because the worst thing is when adults think they can make a kids film and get into kids heads.
Flood (2007)
RECORD BREAKING FILM ( I could only watch it for 15 minutes )
I could only bare to watch the first 15 minutes of this really horrible film.
The filming was very very amateur, the music and sound was awful in fact I was the verge of getting an headache.
Nearly everything seemed to visualise the awful world of the office and other commercial settings. This film represents just how dull and mundane England as become and it lacks any real artistic creativity, plus the special effects were nasty.
I could also see that the film wanted us to try and care about the people and there grim relationships especially between father and son yet having seen all that before I just stopped the film.
How ever this film is a great example of how England and its capital greed for cash as produced creative monsters.
England is desperate to live up to America and it fails with this film.
I must also point out that England at the moment is suffering from problems with floods and to bring it in as a film disturbs me slightly.
Halloween (2007)
A raw gore feast that also makes you think
A lot of people seem quite disappointed with this movie and they are wrong to be. It takes a classic film and adds much much into its mixture plus allows you to take a look behind the mask and into the monster that is Micheal myers.
At times the movie's atmosphere had my nerves twitching and this is very rare for me. I think it is because things were very loud, bold with the added cold blooded theatrics to rattle the chains of mental anguish and raw horror. The filming was clever because at one point you get a visual shock from a swift violent act and the camera is like a simulator allowing you to move through things that seems to experiment with new perspectives. Plus the way in which violence is portrayed rings loud and clear with the sound effects and visually stunning aggressive scenes.
Sexuality is also bold and daring that easily tells us how much further society is willing to combine horror and sexual violence seamlessly together. Some have shown disgust in the language used at the beginning of the film but that in itself tells us so much of how crude and sickening mans imagination can think up new levels of insane curiosity from mans dysfunctions and derangement's. From a philosophical view point it tells us just how much our society as lost its innocence to materials of taste and decency which is truly the real horror.
Also shown is the impact that occurs from the less fortunate and depraved aspects of the living standards of today's western society which as been evident in creating most of our monstrous psychopaths. In fact at times we come across widely educated element's of what creates a psychopath yet tells us that we could be very wrong mind you as the film is fictional I will not stress this to much. On that point I got the feeling though that the film connects with the Hannibal film legacy.
Things also seem to allow us to connect Micheal myers with man and adds a reality to the film which is what today's people like to watch. What will frighten us is that the soul can not be analysed so makes a great mystery and because of this makes the Myers character appears as if he was not meant for this world or maybe reincarnated from a previously tormented evil entity.
It as a go at showing us how a person may possibly possess a kind of anger that is so profound that it wills a kind of indestructible being that feeds the ego of the inhibited to act out against the weakness's of mankind. At times things also venture into the realms of the animal kingdom in which humans are not much more and I feel this piece of work will awaken a kind of dark spark in anyone who feels and finds anything stimulating about the murders depicted.
The acting is more visual most of time given to the turbulence of shock and reaction. Malcolm McDowell don't really move you into belief but given the script he ain't that bad. Overall at its best its a masterpiece of cultural horror adding some nice special effect to enhance the art, On the downside it ain't the classic it was based on which will cause people to pick at its lack of creepiness which the classic was full of.
RATINGS
Mainstream 7/10 will get what it wants from the general public that is a good turnout and a decent amount of cash.
Cult 7/10 disappointing to fans of the original or perhaps not.
Cinematography 7.5/10 stimulation style filming.
Watch again 6/10 great for Halloween.
Special effects 8/10 are very authentic, character seems like the original with added detail.
Overall 7.5/10 a raw gore feast of reality vs fiction. I think this film must be viewed at the cinema or at home with large screen and loud setup. Also a great joke to play on anyone with a nervous disposition to horror films but not really.
1408 (2007)
1408 just another manufactured film
Well we all have seen it in the music industry, with the lack of truly original talent and craftsmanship produced. And I mean 1408 contains all the commercial tricks of how to sell bland garbage to the masses. It seems all to apparent that this film makes use of every type of trick in the book, stolen rite from some classic films made previous. Obviously the makers of this film didn't intend it to be viewed by mature film fans and I also can understand why its gone down well with a younger audience whom are ignorant to the art of films from which so much of this films content was stolen to make cold hard cash.
The film sets out rather promising with some mediocre filming that gives the film an edge of unease. You actually develop quite a strong relationship with the broken character and look forward to watching him plunder into the depths of hell. And with the quite a good performance but a simple part that Jackson plays your kind of expecting something hideous.
From then on your drawn into a kind of cocktail of surreal happenings that seem just plain wrong. The special effects just don't work at all like a badly doctored photograph and add to a confusion. The film takes you into a kind of Twilight Zone stroke The Shining with cinematography techniques to compliment but again are used from many types of movies before it.
Towards the end your even tormented by a harrowing sadness that could send some watchers into a raw depression.
So as you can tell after watching this film I was not at all impressed but I do actually like watching bad films because like anything when you get to point that you can look down at a film it say's you have seen some better ones.
My Ratings are Entertainment value 3, Mainstream entertainment value 7, Cinematography 6, Originality 2, Special effects 4, Acting 6, Watch again level 3, Cult level 4, and an overall 4.5
Conclusion is it will be favourable to the new age of movie goers but lacks any substance to give it anything more. I think the trailer will have made this film because it offered no insight into what was in room 1408.
My first comment on IMDb Richard Jackson