07/04/212: L.A. Confidential [1997]

I finally got around to watch L.A. Confidential, which ranks at #75 in IMDB's Top 250 movies list, and I've seen it on countless others as well. After watching it I have no problem saying it has earned that spot, and while it's not my absolute favourite, it definitely set a bar in filmmaking back in 1997.

13/04/2012: Nightbreed [1990]

On Friday the 13th I of course had to watch a horror movie, as such I watched one from one of the best minds in horror, Clive Barker's Nightbreed. While the movie may not be all it could have been, anyone watching it can still see it's potential and realize what it could have been.

03/03/2012: Trolljegeren (Trollhunter) [2010]

Trollhunter is a Norwegian documentary that was shot by a trio of university students, as they follow a mysterious hunter while doing an investigation into recent bear attacks. They soon discover he is a government paid Troll Hunter, quietly taking care of any trolls that wander out of their territories. The journalists footage was released on the 13th of October in 2008, and has since been investigated. It was determined genuine and Trolljegeren is the footage that has since been released.

03/02/2012: I Sell The Dead [2008]

So last night was a night full of horror comedies, and where Tucker & Dale simply took the formula of the standard slasher flick and inverted it, I Sell The Dead is completely originally and equally funny. It is a different kind of humour however, darker and with more satire, with macabre comments that would tickle the deads funny bone.

05/01/2012: Infestation [2009]

If I turn don't kill me!

Infestation is really the Shaun of the Dead of giant bug movies. It has all of the required elements:

1. Giant Bugs
2. Slacker, going nowhere main character with parent issues
3. That one crazy lady who you just want to die
4. No real explanation as to why the hell there is giant bugs
5. The one girl who survives who the main character will incessantly hit on
6. The extremely muscular hulk of a man who is as friendly as a teddy bear
7. The gang of raiders who are already murdering people after 3 hours
8. The group of aggressive idiots who are just fodder for early on
9. The ending where the main characters problems are all solved
10. The world is saved.

So yah, Infestation covers all of those bases, and while it's budget is only so big, the special effects give us nostalgia for those old giant bug movies, and match the horror comedies style. While none of the actors are as big as Shawn of the Dead's, they aren't horrible. The storyline is slightly cheesy, and of course has the accompanying Swiss holes, it is still satisfying in the comedy and horror genres.

The poster portrays the movie well, although a tennis racket is never used, Brooke Nevin will never wear that, and it includes a horrible global warming pun. Overall this movie is good fun for fans of the horror/comedy or either genre, if not making anyone's favourites lists too fast.

Also there is definitely something with the ending, some people claims there is an extra clip or something, it wasn't in my version, but there was a hint towards something like a sequel.

Link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020543/

01/01/2012: Monsters [2010]

Monsters is a movie that had every opportunity to go horribly wrong and fall into a large category of mediocre monster movies. Monsters however did everything right making it an amazing film that easily rears it tentacled head above the rest.

The trick to Monsters is to go in knowing what it is. This is not an action packed alien invasion along the lines of Battle L.A. or District 9. The opening scene give you a bad indication that it may infact be that kinda movie, but in fact it goes in another direction. First of all I just saw on IMDB that the movie was only in fact 94 minutes long. I thought it was over 2 hours and at no point was I bored. The first hour could almost be a movie without monsters.

To me the first hour felt like one of those kinda documentary films where a pair of Americans travel through the third world. This third world is simply created by a quarantine zone created due to an alien invasion. Like a good monster movie, Monsters makes no attempt to truly explain the monsters (I still don't understand the gas masks) but that's the way it should be.

However the journey is the heart of this movie, and it is well done, making you think, feel and even shrink in fear. The film scared me the most however as I felt the end approaching, this is where, even though everything had gone right so far, one horrible ending could ruin the film and was highly likely. However the movie gave me an ending I liked and more.

Beyond the story of this movie, the special effects, filming locations and cast where all excellent. The special effects are particularly important in a Monster movie, and with the iffy handycam footage at the opening scene I was again scared. That is dropped right there however and what follows is a lot of hard work put into the setting, signs, fences, destruction fill the world and bring it to life. The CGI creatures are also done perfectly, revealing enough but maintaining the perfect amount of secrecy.

Clearly I can go on and on about this movie, but all I can say is if you're looking for something fantastic but not action packed, even if you don't like monster movies this is an amazing monster movie that breaks free of the genre norms. I find it disappointing the horrible movies such as Skyline, and Cloverfield get such great publicity and release while this one was hidden in a few theatres.





Link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/