Archive

Film Reviews

Reykjavik 101

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

Reykjavik 101: Had this DVD for yonks and finally got round to watching it. Labeled as a ‘hillarious black comedy’ it wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs, but had a few good lines / scenes. The plot follows a suicidal loser, who’s mum comes out of the closet and he’s forced to change his ways – but only after he accidentally pumps his mum’s girlfriend. Film looks good and the story’s not exactly clichéd. Some of the scenery and general feel you get of Iceland is worth watching it for alone. Good, but not quite on par with the awkward dark comedy films of Todd Solondz (Welcome to the dollhouse, happiness etc) – which I think it was trying to achieve.

Score: 6.5/10

Red Road

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

Red Road: at the weekend and really enjoyed it. It’s about a Glaswegian CCTV operator – an unusual filming location, and probably made it more interesting for a Scot to be watching it. Top drawer acting from most involved and the story really draws you in as the film progresses, leaving you guessing a lot ’til the end. In true Scottish cinema style, it doesn’t really portray us in a great light, but is worth picking up! Only after watching this did I realise that Lars Von Trier was involved in the concept and, in his style, it’s going to be a trilogy.

Score: 8/10

(On a Scottish Cinema theme, Sweet Sixteen is also a brilliant film.)

Primer

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

PRIMER: This is, without a doubt, the best – and most original Sci-Fi film I’ve ever seen. Puts every other time-travel story to shame and is so complex that it took me about 3 viewings to fully comprehend everything that went on because they make no attempt to dumb it down (honestly thought I had learning difficulties after watching it the first time!) Can’t say much else without giving away the plot etc, but considering the low budget, mind-bending physics and solid story… this is a must-see. I’ve watched it about ten times now and it’s still great to watch!

Score: 9/10

The Kite Runner

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

The Kite Runner: I tried my hardest to watch this but it was just too boring and slow to finish. The kid actors were alright but the pace totally killed my interest after 45 mins – first film I’ve switched off in ages!

Score: 2/10

UKM: Ultimate Killing Machine

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

UKM: The Ultimate Killing Machine: Only watched this ‘military experiment gone wrong’ flick because Michael Madsen was in the line-up. Another pretty good b-movie boasted by Zone Horror. Loads of fake gore and the typical stereotypes of society getting into trouble… worth a look, but wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it!

Score: 4/10

Pterodectyl

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

Pterodactyl: a B-movie starring none other than everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed z-list rapper… COOLIO! Given the opening credits, cast and the fact that I’d never heard of this (because it was straight-to-TV!!!) I had braced myself for the worst! In the end it was actually an ace creature feature, with not bad special effects. Loads of goofs and WTF moments, but that’s what you want from a cheap horror film. Clichéd, but definately worth checking out any reruns on the Zone-Horror channel (which is brilliant).

Score: 6/10

The International

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

The International: Wasn’t impressed in the slightest. To me it was just another “multinational organisation controls every part of your life” film where only one guy can bring them down… and after the end, you realise it’s all fruitless!!! Loads of cheesy clichéd lines and have never really rated Naomi Watts, Clive Owen’s OK, but has been pretty much typecast as his ‘girtty-man-with-shady-past’ guise… Only saving grace was the shoot-up in the Guggenheim museum – which explained why the exhibit was so gash!!

Score: 5/10

The Fall

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

The Fall: Watched this gem yesterday and was totally blown away! The look, style and feel of the film are amazing and worth the price of the DVD alone. Some reviews slate the story for being weak, but when a film looks as mind-blowingly good as this, most will. Shot in over 20 countries and dozens more outstanding locations; it took approx 4 years to make. I would say is that it must be watched on a huge television to get the full effect – and on Blu-Ray / HD is possible. The story is pretty basic: a guy in hospital tells a girl a story of 5 heroes and their quest to kill a baddie. It’s a bit slow at times, but both the ‘present’ story and the fable itself are good, and nearly all of the actors pull out top-drawer performances – especially the young girl.

Score: 9.5/10

Updated review

In Bruges

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

In Bruges: Picked this up on the cheap from HMV yesterday and watched it straight away. One word: Brilliant. Lots of very dark comedy, although you could easily relate to the characters as they were pretty believable. Plenty of funny twists and turns and it’s got some serious subject matter too. To top it all off the scenery is great – makes you really want to go there. Don’t know whether it was the Belgian connection or just the insight of a hitman but it REALLY reminded me of a more upbeat Man Bites Dog, which is no bad thing.

Score: 9/10

Quantum of solace

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

Quantum of solace: Had its good and bad bits.

  • The story was fairly decent, but jumped around a lot.
  • The action scenes should have been amazing, but were so poorly edited that it was just disorientating.
  • Both bond girls were smoking, but never really got a proper entrance or scene.
  • The baddies were so shit it was unreal, the main guy was just a corrupt businessman and bent politicians are a fact of life!
  • No gadgets, except a shitty super-computer in M’s bathroom!

Overall it could (and should) have been brilliant but you get the feeling they’re trying to make it too realistic, especially with the lack of gadgets, cars, EVIL villains, and bikini-clad wimin’ everywhere. The writer’s seem to have forgotten than this is what made bond great.

Score: 6/10

Iron Man

July 13, 2009
Film Reviews
Leave a comment

Iron Man: takes far, FAR, too long to get in to the good stuff, although I guess it’s good to build up the characters a bit. Downey Jr plays his role pretty well, although it’s the typecast of himself he’s been playing for decades. For an action film there wasn’t actually that much action, and what there was wasn’t amazing / memorable. The bad-guys aren’t particularly evil or scary. Some good jokes peppered through the film. Spent the whole film waiting to hear the intro of the Ozzy version of Iron Man, but this didn’t happen. Stick around after the credits because there’s a 20 second skit that tees up sequels (and will give all Marvel fans a hard-on). Finally, when he’s flying, his posture is similar to that of a transvestite / drag queen – i.e. not very super-hero like. All in all, after looking at a few review sites online I can not believe I’ve not seen any particularly bad ones as it’s NOT an amazing superhero film like Batman Gegins, Spiderman 1/2 or X-Men.

Score: 6/10.