Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Directed By: Edgar Wright (Shaun OF The Dead, Hot Fuzz)

Written By: Edgar Wright, Michael Bacall

Produced By: Edgar Wright, Marc Platt, Eric Glitter, Nira Park

Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Anna Kendrick

Plot: When 23 year old Scott Pilgrim meets delivery girl Ramona Flowers, he falls head over heels for her. Unfortunately, he has a 17 year old chinese girlfriend, Knives Chau. And Ramona has seven evil exes that want to kill Scott.

Scott Pilgrim's script, isn't amazingly engrossing. But it's visual effects are dazzling enough for any Ibiza Rave. However, It is  fairly funny, inventive and will capture the younger audience's minds. The film is quite juvenile, and won't really attract an older audience, but for the younger audience it is funny and offbeat. Edgar Wright (Director) has made a fine mash up of a great cast, an average script and brilliant visual effects. The film is quite sweet in places (Scott is willing to fight 7 people to be with Ramona, aww.)and  fairly genuine in the fact that Michael Cera is once again in the geeky, individual role he plays so well. However, all the other actors, seemed a little awkward for their roles, they just didn't fit.

It is a new style of film in all fairness, combining video games with cinema, providing geeks with the ultimate   geek-a-thon. I was surprised with the amount of in jokes, hipster and pop culture references. The film lacked alot of its humour due to these references, as the majority of audiences didn't seem understand them.
The heights of Wright's previous films, for example Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, are definately not reached here, and the magic of the film was almost lost by the conclusion to the movie. But it kept me entertained, and i did want to know what happened, and I admit, I wanted Scott to get the girl.

Its not a bad film, it's good if there is nothing else to watch, but it isn't an instant classic, maybe it will have a cult following in a few years.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

The Walking Dead

 

Directed By: Frank Darabont

Written By: Frank Darabont

Produced By:  Frank Darabont, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Robert Kirkham, Charles H. Eglee

Cast: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Berthnal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs

Plot: A group of survivors travel across the desolate land of the United States, searching for a new home in the aftermath of a Zombie Apocalypse. They face horrors at every turn, both human and Zombie.

Zombies were starting to go stale. They had been done to death, (Literally) Zombies had been invented, re-invented and even spoofed. But The Walking Dead is something different. Although it has the same concept as many other post apocalyptic films/tv shows, it is alot more grittier and doesn't try to pretend that it's something it isn't. It's overlapping plotlines kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat. At every scene I didn't know whether to expect a zombie attack or just a heartfelt conversation.

The show is shot like a full length film, but with more depth, and more time to go through with the characters. But don't let this put you off if blood and guts is what you are after, the show is very grisly. With the Zombies in all different states of decay,and people being eaten quite alot of the time. However, the show doesn't reach a disappointing blood filled climax as most Zombie films do, it's great that they're doing something different.
If the writers concentrate on the characters, and the plotlines in the next series, then the show could become classic American television.The writers haven't relied upon mountains of swearing in the dialogue to show the characters emotions. I was quite impressed with this, because in alot of horror films, the characters are effing and blinding every five minutes.

The show has been compared to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, which is fairly similar (Abandoned hospital, walking round a deserted city, finding other survivors etc) But they are also very different. In 28 Days Later, we discover why the Infected are as they are (The Rage Virus from a monkey) in The Walking Dead, we don't know if it is for supernatural reasons, if it's a virus, if it's cause by something from outer-space, we just don't know and I like that because it's putting a little bit of a turn on the Zombie cliche.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Scre4m

Scre4m (Scream 4)

Directed By: Wes Craven

Written By: Kevin Williamson

Produced By: Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson, Iya Labunka

Cast: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere

Plot: On the fifteenth anniversary of the Woodsboro massacre, two girls are killed in their house by a figure in a ghostface mask. The day after, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) returns to the town to promote her new book. As the killings continue, Sidney is forced to stay in Woodsboro as a possible suspect, until the killer is found.

Cliché. The film is all about the cliché's. In fact, even the characters talk about the cliché nature of the whole situation. Some of them are funny, some are slightly cheesy, and the rest aren't very good. However, i feel that the plot is quite clever, with twists and turns, and a number of suspects cropping up everywhere. The film did have me guessing over and over who "Ghostface" was. And I admit, there was a large amount of shock when the killer (Or is that killers?) was revealed. I do like the idea of using the internet as a way to keep the crime alive. However, it does seem like the writer/producers are trying to be "Down with the kids" by using modern terms and modern influences (Facebook, Twitter, Webcam)

The film does have a great combination of thrills, chills, and laughter, the teen cast providing most of the laughs. It does hint that it is trying to live up to the original, but is still inventive and fairly exciting. With so many poorly made reboots hitting the cinemas lately, Scream 4, or Scre4m as it has been dubbed, is a breath of fresh air from the slasher-with-no-story-number-16.

I enjoyed Scre4m, it kept me laughing, it kept me on the edge of my seat, and it kept me wondering, however, I wasn't terrified, the one thing the movie lacked, terror.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Black Swan

Black Swan

Directed By: Darren Aronofsky

Written By: Mark Heyman Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin

Produced By: Ari Handel, Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver

Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Wiona Ryder

Plot: Nina Sayers (Portman) lands the roll of both the White Swan and the Black Swan in a production of Swan Lake for a prestigous New York Ballet Academy. She starts to feel the stress of the role bearing upon her, and starts to display psycotic symptoms (Hallucinations, paranoia, aggression) she fears that she will not be able to take centre stage in Swan Lake....

I myself, am not a big fan of ballet, but I feel that Black Swan, is probably one of the most intense films I have ever watched. It is a beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy. Natalie Portman is completely gripping as she slowly slides into insanity.

It is wonderfully dark and creepy. Darren Aronofsky does a magnificent job of pulling the audience into Nina's world, making them feel every twist and turn of Nina's mental unstability. We all have our dark sides, and this film shows us how dark some people can be. This is the film that Natalie Portman was born for, this shows her full potential as an actress.

Mila Kunis gives a fantastic performance as the savvy character of Lily. Even though Portman gave an outstanding performance in her role, I feel that Mila Kunis did not recieve enough credit for playing her understudy, after all there would be no sense of paranoia if Kunis wasn't in the film.

However, the film is like a posh version of Fight Club. Set in a reknown Ballet company, rather than a dirty underground ring underneath a bar. But this does not matter, the film is a tour-de-force and deserved all the awards and nominations that it recieved, easily one of the best films over the past year.

Written By Eammon Jacobs

Skyline

Skyline

Directed By: Brothers Strause

Written By: Joshua Cordes, Liam O'Donnell

Produced By: Brothers Strause, Kristian Andresen, Liam O'Donnell, Brett Ratner

Cast: Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Donald Faison

Plot: When Jarrod (Balfour) and his girlfriend Elaine (Thompson) visit their friend Terry (Fasion) in Los Angeles, the last thing they expect after a wild party, is for the city to be invaded by Aliens.

What do you get if you cross Alien, Cloverfield,  and Battle: Los Angeles? Skyline.  The film has so many cliché moments, quite obviously stolen from other, far more superior, alien movies. The acting of Balfour, Thompson and Faison, is extremely disappointing, it was bordering on cheesy. I was even more disappointed with the plot line, there isn't one.

Also, at one point in the film, the US Military send in a stealth bomber to drop a nuclear bomb on the largest alien ship. Two reasons that this wouldn't have worked as it did in the film. This happened about an hour after they invaded, a nuclear decision would have taken more than a few hours. Because why ould the US Government drop a nuclear bomb on one of the largest cities in their own country? Also, stealth bombers are large, heavy crafts. They CANNOT fly around and do multiple corkscrews and barrel rolls in mid flight.

I was extremely disappointed with the lack of structural integrity to the film, the main element of the film, fight or flight has been done to death over the years. I would strongly recommend not to watch this film.


Written By Eammon Jacobs

Source Code



Source Code

Directed By: Duncan Jones (Moon)

Written By: Ben Ripley

Produced By: Mark Gordon, Jordan Wynn, Philippe Rousselet

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright 

Plot: Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a train bound for Chicago, with no recollection of how he got there or why. A woman named Christina (Monaghan) knows him as Sean Fentress. When he looks into a mirror, his reflection is of another man. Before he can grasp what is going on around him, a bomb detonates, destroying the train and 'killing' Colter. He wakes up in a chamber, and is contacted by Captain Colleen Goodwin (Farmiga) and told that he is in the "Source Code" which allows him to relive the last eight minutes of a mans life, he must find the bomb onboard the train and attempt to find the bomber.

Alot of critics have compared Source Code to the 1993 Bill Murray film, Groundhog Day. The two films are very different. Groundhog Day is comedic and light hearted, whereas Source Code is a puzzle, a mind game and very serious. The film is well written and doesn't go too over the top with the time loop. It also asks alot of questions about parallel realities and how things could be changed. Throughout the action, and the suspense, Source Code looks at the human determination to say no in the face of fact.
The film is brilliantly handled by Duncan Jones, this is definately not a film with a rather large budget but no story (as many action films are)

However the thrills are maintained throughout the hour and thirty four minutes. It does leave you scratching your head in places, but all is explained and is easily understandable. This is easily Gyllenhaal's best performance since Donnie Darko and the only thing that puts a negative impact on Monaghan's performance is the one line repeated over, and over again: "That was really good advice".  It is alot pacier than you would expect for a film that repeats the same eight minutes of a mans life continuously.

However, there are certain corny parts in the movie. Gyllenhaals character has severe daddy issues and has no shame in hiding them (Several Stephen Spielberg films spring to mind) Whilst Jeffrey Wright's Boffin is almost comedic in places and is never that far away from twirling his moustache. These are the only negative points of the film in my view. As each trip back onto the train reveals another part of the puzzle, Duncan Jones also cranks up the emotional outcome of the film, which is almost predictable. Source Code isn't as complex as Jones' debut (Moon) but is very slick and well worth watching.

Written By Eammon Jacobs