Did you see that? When his head just crumbled! I just threw up in my mouth...

Halloween 2 – Rob Zombie

...

I’m going to just take a breather for a little while. Wow. I’m shocked, I’m utterly shocked. Please go see Halloween 2. It’s fucking gruesome. You don’t expect it to be that bad. Go see the uncensored version. This must be at least 10 times worse than the cinema cut. No way could they add some of the scenes in there. I’ve seen Hostel. I’ve seen Saw. I’ve seen old horror movies, ones where you can’t buy them anymore because of how horrible they are. And I don’t mind them. But this really wants me just to sit down and evaluate film making and most importantly my life. It has scenes that will shock you to the core. The deaths of certain characters in the film are used for effect, almost amped up by Zombie from the first Halloween remake film he directed.

H2 tells the story of Laurie Strode, a year after the massacre by Michael Myers, trying to live her life again and not in fear of Michael’s return. She’s seen to be mentally unstable, having troublesome nightmares and terrors whilst taking prescription drugs to help with her panicked state. Whilst Laurie is getting back on track, Michael is still alive. This time he is having strange visions of his dead mother and is being told to find Laurie. Michael goes on search for her, along the way killing a few innocent people, farmers, strip club owners, strippers, teenagers, police officers; he kills a lot of people to find Laurie. Dr. Loomis meanwhile is publicising his latest book about Michael and what happened in the past. These three stories are interacting to form the backbone to the film, all of them rejoining at the end for the last sequence.

The whole storyline with Michael having a psychological connection to Laurie is very thin bare and isn’t explained well enough. It makes the story into a fairytale almost, the way that they expect the audience to totally understand that they can see each other in their minds, kinda like Voldemort and Harry Potter, but you know; one’s a famous horror film series and the other a kid’s magical tale of wizards. H2 takes away Michael’s unnerving willingness to fuck shit up, but makes it seem pointless, where the kills are random and not inventive, more gruesome. Plus seeing his face slowly starts appearing as the mask begins to disintegrate is a nice touch but Michael is just a mask to me. Same as Jason, all I want from these villains is to stand there, look terrifying, show no emotions and kill to find something. Not just randomly but almost on a mission that they must finish, even if it means killing thousands of children to do it.

4/10

Simon Childs

Trailer Watch III

14th - 21st January

Here are another weeks worth of trailers for your liking, remember, if you want to see them properly, heard over to the Apple Trailer website:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/

1. Clash Of The Titans



2. Hot Tub Time Machine



3. 44 Inch Chest



4. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time



5. Despicable Me

Megan Fox, Monsters and Marmite?

Jennifer's Body - Karyn Kusama

I think this is the first review where I’m really unsure whether to like or hate Jennifer’s Body. I came into the film expecting not much, just a teen slasher film with clever dialogue and sexy actors. I pretty much got that but told in an unusual way. It defiantly is a curve ball. The direction is there, the dialogue is there, the music is spot on, the acting is okay, as expected, but there is something different about it. Something that is very hard to pinpoint. It’s hard to really enjoy the film, because i think i went into the film expecting it to be rubbish, I expected the film to be bad, but i was wrong, i think.

The film follows “Needy” played by Amanda Seyfried, a total departure from her last film, Mamma Mia, which I’ve never seen and never will. Needy is beat friends with Jennifer, played by the face, Megan Fox. I would say actor, but she doesn’t act, she just flaunts, which is great. I’m not knocking it, but it works. She knows she has the effect over the audience. Something very similar to Marilyn Monroe. So after seeing a band perform at a local bar, Jennifer becomes a demon after a sacrifice went horribly wrong. She starts killing and eating local boys and Needy finds out. All nastiness and sometimes hilarity ensues with Needy and Jennifer going back and forth about what’s going on. A nice cameo from Seth Cohen, sorry Adam Brody, and an annoying boyfriend of Needy, plus a cameo, which some people might have missed, J Jonah Jameson as a school teacher. The film follows Needy throughout the whole debacle; it’s an okayish narrative which is different for a teen slasher film, with dark comedy thrown in, in the way of the dialogue.

It does have the through back to older horror films in the way of the special effects and everything and it’s a nice touch. It does have the feeling of being a b-movie. I guess that’s the style they were trying to achieve. Comparing this film to current horror films with twists of comedy, it does it more focused on a teen audience, having references to culturally significant thing, but it doesn’t carry it over in the way of action. The audience know what’s going to happen even before they show it. Audiences want something totally different, something never seen before, like showing a car crash. A horrific car crash where say, for comedy value, it smashes into a cow. And then it would show the crash and it would hold onto a shot of one of the drivers. With say, his face, like in half, just crushed from the impact. How amazing would that be? I would love to see a director put that in a film! (Next review is Halloween 2!)

6/10

Simon Childs

Christian Bale Shouting: The Motion Picture

Terminator Salvation - McG

Now I’m a big fan of the Terminator series, even the third one, I know many of you would gasp at that fact, but I liked the fun it had, I liked the light hearted humour, the terrible acting from Arnie, but I still enjoyed it. I think it was one of the first DVD’s I ever brought; very sad indeed. But Terminator 1 and 2 were legendary films, films that will never be forgotten. And here we are now, looking into the future at the war between Man versus Machine. Something we thought we would never see. And now, directed by McG, yes the name does make him sound like a twat, but he is good at doing what he does best, blowing shit up and making people shout a lot.

The film picks up a little more after number 3 where John Connor and his wife were locked in an underground bunker whilst the world fought against Skynet, the massive corporation who build machines to kill everyone. It’s apocalypse basically; shit is defiantly hitting the fan. John and the resistance are trying to figure out the best way to finally put an end to Skynet. After finding a signal that seems to disrupt the machines and switch them off, they begin to figure out the best route of action. Whilst this is happening, Marcus, a man who is built as a machine with human flesh and organs, awakes in the future to find the world a mess. Resistance members are scattered around cities and Marcus is trying to figure out what’s going on. He meets Kyle Reece, a key figure in this whole series, as the father to John Connor, so the film turns from being a machine versus man future war epic into a travelling film where Marcus travels to different places looking for answers where he finally meets John Connor and they both figure out a plan to destroy Skynet once and for all.

You can pretty much figure out the rest of the film, and includes a strange but cool cameo from Arnie, well his face, not his actual body. The fight with him is very similar to all the fights in Terminator, it has to be in a really disgusting place, a factory of the robots, lots of strange sounds and what you would imagine to smell like a cross between an old shoe shop and an alley full of piss. The films action sequences are cool, on a full-scale, large explosions, cool CGI and everything, the full works. This is what they wanted from this film, focus on the machines, and make them out to be horrible things that destroy places with ease. It’s less about the humans and the dialogue and more about the action. It’s very unbalanced.

One good thing about the film is performances from Anton Yelchin and Sam Worthington, which stragenly enough is better here than in Avatar. Anton, famous for his role in Star Trek and Charlie Bartlett, a great little indie film, plays a likeable role in Kyle Reece, the starter of all this shit and the father of John Connors. Even if the role is small, it’s believable, and shows a real human in a situation like this. He’s given little comedic lines and lines from the past films to link them, but they could of given him more. If they wanted him to be the comedy of the film, it didn’t work.

5/10

Simon Childs

Letters From The TV Front

Burn Notice Season 1

Feel the burn

We’ve all heard of them; Prison break, Heroes, Lost, 24. They are the American TV shows that made it big in the UK. Picked up by Sky, Channel 4 and the BBC, these are the shows deemed exciting enough to cross the pond. But in this week’s letter, we turn our screens to a lesser known gem of TV delight, USA network’s Burn Notice. Burn Notice follows the recent times of Michael Weston (Jeffery Donovan), a freelance spy working for a major American agency. While on assignment in Nigeria however, he receives word that he’s been “burned”, a term used by governments when a spy’s employment is terminated. The introduction to the series puts it nicely: “When you’re burned, you’ve got nothing. No cash, no job history and you’re stuck in whatever place they decide to dump you”; In Weston’s case, his home town of Miami. The series revolves around jobs Michael takes from ordinary people, using his super-spy skills to battle car thieves, con men, gangsters and the occasional Ukrainian assassin while continuing the wider story arc – trying to find out who burned him, and why.

It’s a fresh take on a classic story – the spy left out in the cold. But the charm of this series is brought by the superb mix of cool spy action and the people in Michael’s life: “A trigger happy ex-girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar), an old friend who’s informing to the FBI (The legendary Bruce Campbell), family too . . . if you’re desperate”. It’s a tongue in cheek look at the life of an ex spy – juggling old friends, avoiding his mother and trying to earn money all the while jumping from windows, getting shot at and creating ridiculous spy contraptions (MacGyver Style). My personal favourite part of the series is the helpful tips Michael gives as part of the first person narration. Things like “Bathrooms are the best environment for hand to hand combat. . .lots of hard surfaces” and one of my personal favourites: “When you can't win in a fight, sometimes you have to settle for making sure that if you lose, everyone loses. It works for nuclear weapons; it works for me.” These golden nuggets of espionage information give the show a cool flavour and make you wonder just how the writers get this stuff (Tips also include ways to make phoney cheques and how to deliver a convincing mail bomb).

In the end, like I say, it’s the characters that make this series. The action from episode to episode keeps you entertained, but the personalities of the people keep you coming back for more. Just a word of advice: In the first episode, Fiona’s accent is hideous and Michael’s mother grates on your nerves. But don’t fear, they sort that out in the next episode right as rain!

Rating (If you’re into that sort of thing): 100%

SMT

An Acid trip whilst watching The Blue Man Group

Avatar - James Cameron

Just to start off I did watch Avatar a few weeks ago and I’ve just come around to reviewing it so it’s gonna sound a little off in places. But overall, it’s outstanding. A film that will revolutionise cinema. And recently, entertainment, with news that TV’s made in 2010 will all be 3-D possible. An achievement along the lines of the first film with sound, colour and widescreen. It’s up there with HD viewing. All thanks to James Cameron and his dream. Many years it took to make Avatar, inventing new types of filmmaking equipment to produce a quality piece of cinema. And many years to come before a big film like Avatar will be made.

The story is complex and for that Cameron gives the audience the courtesy of knowing this. He doesn’t hold back, he doesn’t dumb down. It’s something unseen recently with big action films, even science fiction action like this. The story takes place in the future where valuable sources are running thin and a company, the one owned by Parker Selfridge, the corporate administrator for the RDA mining operation (played by Giovanni Ribisi), has led an army and scientists to Pandora, a huge planet with the habitable creatures named the Na’vi. The homeland of these creatures contains invaluable material which the company want and need but the Na’vi will not give up. Throughout the years, scientists have tried to integrate with these creatures but have failed until they produce an avatar. A body which a human can control that’s in the form of a Na’vi. Sam Worthington plays one of these avatars’, Jake Sully, a former marine, who after the loss of his legs and brother, takes over the duties of being the controller of a Na’vi and begins to integrate with the creatures to help them move away from the invaluable materials and not cause any harm. After Sam falls in love with one of the Na’vi, he begins to understand their way of life, whilst Miles Quaritch, a security contractor who heads the mining operation's security detail, wants to blow the whole place up just to grab what is his, his fat pay-check. After some lovely action sequences with wild creatures, and Sam learning to become “one” of the them, shit hits the fan when the army general bombs the city centre of the Na’vi, killing thousands. Sam must then decide if he is a part of the Na’vi or on the army’s side. I won’t give away the ending, but it’s pretty obvious what happens.

One gripe I have with it, which I can’t give it it’s 9, is its lead actor Sam Worthington. A great actor perhaps, but seeing him in both Terminator Salvation and Avatar, I don’t think he is ready to lead a film. In the scale of actors who can front a film, he is closely behind Chris Pine, someone on the cusp of stardom, a little push, more range involved, he can be the next Christian Bale or Jake Gyllenhaal. The film does have an emotional pull which does draw you in, certain scenes near the end with deaths of main characters, it shocks and it pulls at the heart strings. This film changed cinema, and I think that’s great, but on the scale of science fiction films, looking at this and District 9, for the amount of money spent on District 9 compared to Avatar, I still believe that District 9 is a better film. More enjoyable. But the 3-D aspect of Avatar is worthwhile, I would defiantly check it out for something you’ve never seen before and the way the detail in every shot astounds the experience, you can almost hear the gasp of the shots of Pandora.

8.5/10

If you like this, you'll love this: District 9, Titantic, Alien, Star Wars, The Dark Knight, Star Trek

Simon Childs

Little Girls with Guns and Certifiably Insane Teenagers with Delusions of Grandeur: An Early Review of “Kick-Ass”

In the early days of November 2009 I received a phone call from a friend of mine, who was enthusiastically telling me that he had just received two tickets to a special preview screening of this year’s latest comic book adaptation, “Kick-Ass”. My friend, knowing full well a) how much I love comic books, b) how much I enjoy Mark Millar’s work (the writer of the Kick-Ass comic book) and c) how much I love the Kick-Ass comic book, decided to invite me along with him to the screening after he was approached in Forbidden Planet (the branch in Central London is the veritable mother ship of comic book stores in the UK) by a man with a clipboard simply giving the aforementioned tickets away. It appears my friend owes me a debt of gratitude after I immersed him into the world of comics, a debt that has now been paid in full! Even though I was at University at the time, mid-week, I still got a train over to London to see this bad boy – and man, was it worth it. Escorted into a BAFTA screening room near Piccadilly Circus, seated with around 70 of the similarly-approached public, with Hollywood execs being escorted in behind us, I was thoroughly gripped by the excitement of it all – this being my first preview screening.

Before I go into my opinion of the almost-finished cut of the film I saw, let me first introduce the brief history of the comic book, its writer and its fast track to the big screen. Currently only on it’s 7th issue, the first issue of Kick-Ass was released in April 2008 – for a comic this young to already be a feature film is unheard of. Unless, of course, the writer of the comic is Mark Millar, a Scottish-born writer whose other creator-owned work, Wanted, has been turned into the very successful film starring Angelina Jolie. When “Wanted” was a hit at the box office, Hollywood started going crazy for a number of other Mark Millar projects – the first to be completed, “Kick-Ass”.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, of “Layer Cake” and “Stardust” fame, and starring relative newcomer Aaron Johnson (who can currently be seen in the John Lennon in-his-youth film “Nowhere Boy”, garnering rave reviews) alongside Nicholas Cage and a current favourite of mine, Mark Strong – this film knocked my ruddy socks off. The story centers around your average comic book reading American teenager, Dave Lizewski. Dave has suddenly found himself asking why no one has ever tried to be a superhero like in the comics, to which his answer is to buy a wetsuitand start prowling the streets dealing out his own brand of justice. His name? “Kick-Ass”. Of course, the irony of the situation is that it is he who gets his ass kicked, more often than not, what with having no training or outstanding physical strength. Along the way he gets caught up in the dealings of a mobster (Mark Strong) and his son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and two other vigilantes, named Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit-Girl (the revelation that is Chloe Moretz). Violence, hilarity and genuine awesomeness ensue. I won’t give away too much of the story, as I don’t really need to.

What I will tell you is that Aaron Johnson is one to watch. Unlike a lot of other British teenagers, he can actually act – and not only that, but he can put on a thoroughly convincing American accent. Not an easy feat, as even Ray Winstone had trouble with that in “The Departed”. Johnson is entirely believable as one of those archetypal, Peter Parker high school nobodies, which makes for a nice change of pace when one of those archetypal, Peter Parker high school nobodies finally gets fed up and decides to stop being a victim. Of course, the results are less than desirable for the character, but as entertainment, it’s, well... entertaining! It was also an easy pill for me to swallow – there’s got to be someone out there crazy enough to put on a costume and go out there and get his ass kicked.

Nicholas Cage turns in one of his better roles in recent years, as the certifiable ex-cop out for vengeance against the mob, but the real star of the show is Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl, Cage’s character’s 11-year old daughter who he trains to fight crime alongside him. She has a lot of attitude, uses a lot of bad language, and kicks a lot of ass. It’s just insanely fun to watch a little girl kick, stab, shoot and punch her way through an endless supply of generic gangsters. Trust me, she’s probably the best bit of the film. Moretz is an insanely talented actor – I recently rewatched “(500) Days of Summer”, where she popped up as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s wise-beyond-her-years little sister, a role she was great in.



There isn’t really anything more to say of the directing than the fact that it’s just good. Nothing really special; Vaughn does the job and does it well. Although, the use of a lot of bright colours really gives the whole affair a very tongue-in-cheek feel. There is one standout scene that I won’t ruin here, but it is very well constructed, in which Hit-Girl is attempting to rescue Big Daddy and Kick-Ass – I can say no more, but it’s awesomely done (even if Cage slightly hams up the acting).

The interesting thing I found about this not-as-yet-finished cut of the film was the soundtrack. I wasn’t sure if the soundtrack had not yet been composed, or if this was the way the film was meant to be – but instead of its own score, it had the well-known theme songs of a lot of other superhero and genre films. I recognised the themes from “Superman”, “Spider-Man”, “The Dark Knight”, and “28 Days Later”. The thing is, it worked really, really well. Because of the idea that this kid is so influenced by the comic books that he reads that he decides to become one, so too is the film so influenced by other superhero/genre films that it uses the well-known songs from them too. It’s awesome to watch Hit-Girl jump around killing bad guys to the Hans Zimmer “Dark Knight” theme. I’m hoping they keep it that way when the release date rolls around in April.

The story moves along at a breakneck pace, culminating in a very cool shootout in the mobster’s penthouse apartment that needs to be seen to be believed. What’s notable is the animated origin story of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, drawn in the style of John Romita, Jr – the legendary comic book artist who pencils the comic. Clearly influenced by the scene in “Kill Bill” before it, the version I saw was not yet completed (probably the only part of the film that didn’t look finished) so I can’t really comment. It did, however, look awesome, even in its principle stages.

One distraction was Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fogel/McLovin from “Superbad”). The character he plays, Chris D’Amico, is very different from his iteration from the comics. In the film, he is very slapsticky; almost a joke character. Which, I guess I kinda expect as it is McLovin. I would’ve liked to see whoever plays Chris D’Amico (and his alter ego... Red Mist) be a little bit more badass, a better foil for Dave Lizewski. But at this stage, it’s nitpicking, as the character still kind of works in the context of the film. It just works better in the comics.

As for fans of the comics, you have nothing to worry about – the film is very faithful, up to a point, and the point at which they take it in another direction works. Let’s not forget, this is a film – not a comic. It can’t be exactly the same, and the creative liberties they have taken (which Mark Millar signed off on) are entirely understandable. They’re not even that drastic – I mean, we still have Hit-Girl calling some hoodlums “c*nts” and then killing them all with samurai swords, for chrissakes.

VERDICT: 4 asses kicked out of 5! Check it out when it’s released all over the world on the 16th of April! Don’t take your kids.

ALSO SEE: Any comic book movie ever made. “Kick-Ass” is, after all, a loving tribute to all of them.

TRAILER: http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/kickass/

Dan Woburn

This Is Sparta!...wait, no, it isn't, it's more like Brixton

The Ugly Truth - Robert Luketic

The truth hurts, and for this film, the truth about to told may hurt as much as it did to watch. First and foremost, I’m partial to certain romance films, The Notebook for instance, a brilliantly told story which is funny and enjoyable, most recently, unusual romantic films like (500) Days of Summer and Lars and The Real Girl, different in their approach, but great. This film hurts so much it made me want to actually go out, find a pack of sharks, place lasers on their heads (very similar to the scene in Austin Powers) and dump pretty much all of the people involved into the tank, to see them get ripped limb from limb. Yes, it hurt that much. Well except for Gerald Butler. He seems kinda badass. I like him, but not in this film. His terrible accent does not go down well.

It was obvious from the start, two good looking leads, both on the different spectrum of relationships, one more about sex, the other about love. Butler plays a man who talks about the “truth” of relationships with women and about how to be treated; Heigl plays a producer on the show, who at first hates him, but then uses his advice to woo a man. Simple as. It was clear that these two would end up together, it would of really changed everything if Butler just turned into his character in 300 right at the end and rampaged everyone on screen. Now I would personally fund that film, just Butler crashing through walls, killing people with his bare hands as everyone is crying and screaming for help. With maybe the soundtrack of Katy Perry in the background. As the lyrics for Hot N’ Cold match up with the action, it would send me into a fit of happiness.

Now the soundtrack also hurt me alot. It’s a simple formula, include tracks people know, gain interest, and in the romantic scenes have slower indie songs that emit emotions like The Fray or One Republic. I was surprised no James Morrison, James Blunt or Paolo Nutini was played. I was expecting it. And even worse, the song for the credits. Now imp a music fan, I like to think I’m “with” it, but seriously, Flo-rida? That song come out like two years or something ridiculous, been used in countless films and televisions shows. It almost made me throw up in anger.

Overall, this film is dreadful. I would suggest watching it though for laughs, it’s so bad it’s good. Many films don’t do that, but this is bad. I can see it instantly being on sale for £3 in HMV. Buy it for girlfriends or ex-girlfriends. If she says she loves it, dump her, please. She needs to learn about good cinema and good filmmaking. Heigl and Butler are good actors, no doubt, Heigl did great in Knocked Up, and Grey’s Anatomy, and Butler with 300, even Reign of Fire, plus I’m looking forward to seeing Gamer and Law Abiding Citizen, I like Butler as the action hero, not the guy in romance films, the rugged fella who woos the stuck ladies by being rude. It doesn’t suit him. So please, stay away from this film, only if you want to use it as a way to get into your unlucky girlfriends dirty knickers, then all means, plough through.

4/10

If you like this, you'll love: A Cinderella Story, Cruel Intentions, any modern day romantic film staring reasonable decent actors who do the film for money only.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1142988/

Simon Childs

Trailer Watch II

6th January - 13th January

Here are another batch of trailers that have been released recently. Check them out.

1. Robin Hood



2. Legion



3. Princess and the Frog



4. Kick-ass



5. Greenberg



Simon Childs

Letters From The Film Front

Sherlock Holmes - Guy Ritchie

What have we come to expect from Hollywood’s remakes of classic characters? Often we shield our eyes, and close our ears, lest our favourite literary characters be torn asunder by the wham, bam, thank you maam ways of glittering west coast producers. Since this film is full of A list celebrities and a range of window leaping, exploding, punching action you could be expected to write Sherlock Holmes off as bland and unimaginative. But you’d be wrong.

Sure, stuff explodes and they spend a lot of the film talking about magic and the mystery solution is wrapped up in about 2 minutes, but for sheer eccentric, full body acting you cannot beat Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Holmes. Armed with a thick accent and a wardrobe full of white rags, Downey Jr steps into the role of arrogant genius, both flawed with fragility and strengthened by his rationality and plays it throughout. It is however, a shame that Jude Law stepped into the role of John Watson, who, though an excellent foil for Holmes, could have been played by anyone really.

Also disappointing was the epilogue, essentially the ending 10 minutes of the film, which see’s Holmes’ introduction to the malevolent Professor Moriarty (Who became Holmes’ rival throughout the book series). In an industry where sequels seem inevitable, it still seems hackneyed to insist on such a blatant set up and gives the film a clumsy feeling at the finish. Upon leaving the cinema, the feeling of closure that comes with the mystery’s solution fade, only to be left with impatience for the next film which, rather than being titillating, is irritating.

Likewise is the relationship between Holmes and his criminal ex-fiancé (Irene Adler), played by Rachel Mcadams; Once again a character as large and elaborate as Holmes seems to overshadow Adler even more so than Watson, which is unfortunate because her acting (for what the character demands) works.

The jokes, while mainly slapstick or insulting one liners are enhanced by Holmes’ arrogance, and my one complaint is that Downey sometimes speaks his lines so fast it made my brain hurt. The fight scenes are imaginative and, frankly, plentiful. And for what it’s worth, the voice over narration of Holmes’ process made the whole experience believable and human. It allowed for Guy Richie’s fighting, biting Holmes to mix with Conan Doyle’s methodical genius.

Let’s wrap things up. It’s a good film; the acting is carried by Downey Jr, the writing is witty enough to be engaging, and smart enough to feel authentic. It’s no Oscar winner and it won’t make you feel like you’re in Victorian London, but if you fancy a break from vampires in love or blue people at war then it’s a good way to spend an evening.

Rating (if you’re into that kind of thing) – 7.5/10

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045/

SMT

Coming Soon: District 10 - Now It’s Personal!

District 9 – Neill Blomkamp

It would be pretty easy to make several South African jokes about the accent and try to put quotes in about the way he speaks, but I’m not going to swoop to that level now. I loved this film, along with many others who have made it their top of the year and given it great reviews. It beat a lot of massive budget films to top prizes and it deserves to. Made for a small amount of money ($30 million), it has helped the film industry to once again realise, that money can’t buy success, much like the Manchester City football club (zing).

Set around the ups and downs of Wikus, a human set in the world where aliens exist and have landed in South Africa, where after many years have lived in a boxed off area named District 9. Following Wikus as he works for a company named MMU, he sets about trying to evict the aliens from their slums into a new area, but unfortunately for him becomes diseased from a black spray which rapidly turns him into one of the creatures ,or “prawns”. The performance by the unknown actor Sharlto Copley is brilliant because of his likeability, he isn’t some dick who thinks he owns the film and all the attention must be on him. And considering all of his dialogue is not scripted and improvised its real acting and real cinema.

The movie starts off with a mockumentary style we’ve all seen, almost like an alien version of spinal tap. The MMU members joking around are intercut with interviews with various fake people with high positions. This style quickly changes once Wikus is attacked by the black spray. It becomes a science fiction-heavy, action-loaded movie with a spectacular shift in pace which I was first dazed by but feel in love with. You’ll quickly become in affection for the aliens, once you lose the whole, face like a prawn, weirdness about them. In this film, they are not the bad guys; they are not spitting acid at pregnant people, or ripping through people in jungles or make small children ride bicycles all day long.

What I also quite enjoy about the film is the themes of racism and xenophobia. It’s not done in a tacky way which makes you hate the film even more; it’s down in a sensible, emotional way, which does affect the audience, especially with the abuse to Christopher, the creature who helps Wikus throughout the film. The connections between this and Cloverfield are going to happen with science fiction films being lead into a different path. This was bound to happen, using the same linear structure, using the same techniques have become boring, three films that have changed this is Star Trek, Cloverfield and District 9. The lead up to the ending is some of the best cinema I’ve seen for years, I defiantly recommend checking it out. I hope there is a sequel, just not called District 10.

9/10

If you like this, you'll love: Cloverfield, Star Trek, Aliens, Them

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

Simon Childs

Max Power, he’s the man whose name you’d love to touch...but you mustn’t touch!

Where The Wild Things Are – Spike Jonze

From the marketing to the director, Where The Wild Things Are would always follow a path which would lead the film to a cult following, with the book itself being well-known and well-loved. First hearing that the revolutionary director Spike Jonze would be directing, many thought it was a match made in heaven, a director used to using quirky characters in unusual settings with a story based around a child’s imagination. Accompanying the images is the soundtrack composed by Karen O, a further acknowledgement to the type of audience who would go see a Spike Jonze film and see the adaptation of the book.

The start film shows Max, played by Max Records (great actor, plays the part tremendously with a certain likeable quality), a child living with his older sister and Mother, from the first minute, the audience gain the understanding of the uncontrollable nature of Max, with him fighting in his famous cat suit, with the pet dog. The quick editing is a style used throughout the film to great effect, which is used enjoyable well in the opening scenes. After the first fifteen minutes, the film transcends into the imagination of Max, or so it seems. You quickly realise that Max has run away from home to find himself in the middle of nowhere, angry and alone, he stumbles across a new place. The introduction of the monsters is perfect, the audience, along with Max is scared, whether to like to dislike them, they are created brilliantly from the book and given the right balance of emotions. The joyfulness of Max and the creatures playing and becoming friends to the sad ending of the adventure, it’s really worth watching, something different to cinema with unique form of storytelling.

Visually stunning, simplistic and natural, the cinematography is mind-blowingly perfect, with fitting the pace of the story, the setting and the characters. It’s near perfect-dom, with it having the “indie” look, but not used to the point of annoyance. A film that oozes likeable qualities, the music, the image and the dialogue is wonderful, a real treat at the cinema for something that is both liked by child and adult. If by the end you’re not uncontrollable sobbing or on the brink of real “man” tears then you’re either a zombie or a Fast and the Furious fan, which i beg you if you are, become a zombie, it would make the world a better place. A particular technique picked up is the use of shots pointing towards the sky, looking upward at the characters and the surroundings. It’s crafted brilliantly in the film to make us feel like Max, a small child looking up at the monstrous world in front of his eyes, the audience momentarily become Max. Nostalgia is also used in crafting a connection between Max and us, the inner child explored in a unique way.

And on a last note, don’t forget Paul Dano, Paul fucking Dano!

9/10

If you like this, you'll love: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Eagle vs Shark, Me and You and Everyone We Know

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/

Simon Childs

Trailer Watch

30th December - 5th January

Here are some of the top trailers alone at the moment for films arriving this year...We have chosen 5 of the best of the week and look out for a regular posting of great trailers. (Not in any particularly order):

1. Inception



2. Cop Out




3. Youth in Revolt



4. Alice in Wonderland



5. Iron Man 2




Simon Childs

Introduction

Welcome to the new blog called Popcorn Paradise, this is a project started by Simon Childs, where he will be reviewing the many films throughout 2010. From 1st January to the 31st December, all of the movies watched will be places upon this site. Along with reviews of the films, lists and ratings will be placed alongside them too. Throughout the year, guest reviews will also be placed here, so come back regular to check them out.

With the film reviews by Simon Childs, regular contributors will also be placing their reviews here, from TV to graphic novels to video games to series of works, entertaining and exciting authors will, for the first time, have their work read by audiences. So please, compliment and comment on their work. Each week, they will contribute a piece, which over time should have a variety of subjects, a variety of areas and hopefully, a variety of reviews.

This project was started after boredom and the hatred of internet blogging and reviewing. But why not join them and fight from the inside. Similar vain to reviews by Empire and Ain't It Cool News, these reviews promise to be fair and balanced, giving the audience a better insight into the film without giving away the plot. And the end of every month, a list will be made of the best to give you, the reader, a better understanding of the amount of rubbish that will be seen.

With each film, graphic novel, CD, video game or television show, information will be given, such as the link to the IMDB page, the rating, and what media is similar to it. The journey of this blog will depend on the amount of people who read it, so tell your friends, tell your family, hell, even tell your neighbours about the site. With the more people reading it, the more interesting it will be. Also, if you wish to suggest films for Simon to watch or if your interested in becoming part of the time, go ahead and email us as simonchilds.blog@hotmail.com.

The first review will be placed on the 1st of January as an introduction to how this will work and the film will be Where the Wild Things Are by Spike Jonze.


Look at for an early review of Kick-Ass which should be a splendid read, along with a few other reviews being currently written. Along with reviews of UP, District 9 and an early review of Ponyo on a Cliff. Enjoy...

Simon Childs