I went to see Saw VI on Wednesday evening, and couldn't believe how packed the cinema was. Here I review both the newest film in the Saw franchise, and give my opinions on all the other Saw films as well.
Having looked on Wikipedia, I discovered that Saw II was in fact a reworking of Darren Lynn Bousman's (the director's) script, The Desperate, which explains why the feel is so different to that of Saw's 3 & 4, which were both by the same diector. I also forgot to mention, when discussing the new direction style for the 6th film, that I missed some of Bousman's camera and set tricks deployed in the 3rd and 4th films for transitions between scenes. e.g. The scene where Officer Riggs (Remembered his name - Just thought "Lethal Weapon") throws the blonde girl through the mirror, and as it shatters we cut to a scene of Strahm interrogating Jill in a police cell on the other side of the mirror. These tricks really impressed me when watching those 2 films, and I wished they could have been used in Saw 6.
I also noticed that one of the producers is called "Hoffman", and couldn't help but wonder whether or not he is just using the franchise to enact his fantasies, in the same way as Chris Moltisanti did in his Saw based film Cleaver in The Sopranos.
Overall, I felt this movie was very enjoyable, and exactly what you would expect from a Saw film. However, if you didn't like the other Saw films, i can safely say you won't enjoy this one, and you won't undersand it unless you've seen all the others. From a personal point of view, being a fan of the series, I would like to give it 3 stars, but being objective, I don't really feel I can do this - because compelling as the movie was, there were too many flaws in the plot, and of course, it's been done so many times before that there wasn't anything new being brought to the table.
Rating
**
2/5
Great for Die Hard Saw fans, a definite must see, but if you're not a huge fan of the series, don't bother with this one, because it's certainly not the best.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
Musings on Zombieland (Video) *Spoilers*
READ FIRST! I had originaly intended this to be a review of the film Zombieland. Unfortunately as I have spent the last week or so discussing it with angry posters on IMDB, I got a little distracted by their arguments, and missed many of the key points of the film I intended to bring up. So, I shall instead summarize those points now, before my musings.
1. The Cinematography and look - This was fairly standard, to be honest. Nothing that really jumped out at me particularly, but at the same time it was done very competantly without any jump-cuts or poor angles that I recall. One of the coolest visuals was at the very start, where we see the American Flag hanging from the bonnet of an upside down car (presidential car?), and zoom out to show the destruction caused by the zombies (mad props to the set designers/dressers for this). The opening titles also look amazing, being shot in Ultra-slow motion, and showing various people being devoured or chased by zombies as back story to the main plot of the film. I'm not one of those guys who loves slow-mo everywhere, and feel often it can ruin scenes completely. But as a credits scene, this worked perfectly. Especially loved the "Boomer" near the start.
2. The music - the Soundtrack to this movie was very cool, with some awesome rock and metal music, including Jimmi Hendrix and Iron Maiden. But by far my favourite music moment came when Wichita and Talahassee were smoking weed at Bill Murry's house, and we are treated to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper". Great moment, though if I'm honest, I could have used a little more Cow Bell...
3. Continuity - It was cool to see Columbus reload his shotgun every 2 shots, as often you watch films where a double barrel can fire 5 or 6 rounds before being reloaded, which is ridiculous. Witchita seems to fire too many shots with her
autoshotgun before reloading, but the fact Columbus is seen reloading so often just makes the film so much cooler. It was reminiscent of the Dolph Lundgren film The Mechanik. But, you know, with Zombies and junk...
4. The Narrative - I loved the way everything was Narrated by Columbus as the film was going along. I felt you really got into the character's head, and could understand his motivations and thinking perfectly. Then again, so many people are comparing him to Michael Cera, I may just have been reading too far into the character.
5. The "rules". Columbus's set of rules for surviving Zombieland always appear when relevant to the scene, and this was a really cool effect. I especially loved when Woody Harrelson samshed up a mini van, and you just saw "Rule 18: Limber Up" fall off the back and crash to the floor afterwards. Sure, it takes you out the film, but Zombieland is one of those movies to be watched as a film, and does not require you to submerge yourself in the story to the degree most films do to work. It's just a silly comedy.
6. Woody Harrelson. Nuff said. (watch the video)
"Thank you for shopping at Ass-Whippings are Us!" - is what he should have said in the supermarket (or Arse-whippings if you're British). Also, relating to the whole supermarket thing, I thought the whole "Zombies being so fat because they've eaten so much" thing would amount to more than it did. Maybe some kind of tactic later involving poisoning food or starving them, or just luring them in somewhere with food. I dunno, it just seemed like they must have put that in for a reason, but it never came to anything. Possibly if there's a sequel?
I also felt they should have told the girl playing Little Rock to actually look down her gun's sight when Talahassee was teaching her how to shoot. Exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger all you won't, you won't hit a thing if you're not looking down the God Damn sight! But maybe I'm being too picky?
Oh, also to back up the theory that Columbus may be based partially on a young Bundy, it should be noted that Bundy's last murders (other than Kimberly Leach) occurred in Talahassee, Florida. Yeah, I know that's probably just a coincidence, but I'm going to keep pushing this point, cos I'm so damn fed up with people comparing Columbus with Michael Cera, and to be honest - I would rather be associated with a serial sex killer than a guy who's THAT much of a pansy.
Rating:
***
3/5
Good fun movie, definitely worth a watch, but lacking in some areas, and with what is essentially half a plot after back story and narrations. Still, if you like Zombie movies, you'll probably have one hell of a good time watching this. I know I did...
1. The Cinematography and look - This was fairly standard, to be honest. Nothing that really jumped out at me particularly, but at the same time it was done very competantly without any jump-cuts or poor angles that I recall. One of the coolest visuals was at the very start, where we see the American Flag hanging from the bonnet of an upside down car (presidential car?), and zoom out to show the destruction caused by the zombies (mad props to the set designers/dressers for this). The opening titles also look amazing, being shot in Ultra-slow motion, and showing various people being devoured or chased by zombies as back story to the main plot of the film. I'm not one of those guys who loves slow-mo everywhere, and feel often it can ruin scenes completely. But as a credits scene, this worked perfectly. Especially loved the "Boomer" near the start.
2. The music - the Soundtrack to this movie was very cool, with some awesome rock and metal music, including Jimmi Hendrix and Iron Maiden. But by far my favourite music moment came when Wichita and Talahassee were smoking weed at Bill Murry's house, and we are treated to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper". Great moment, though if I'm honest, I could have used a little more Cow Bell...
3. Continuity - It was cool to see Columbus reload his shotgun every 2 shots, as often you watch films where a double barrel can fire 5 or 6 rounds before being reloaded, which is ridiculous. Witchita seems to fire too many shots with her
autoshotgun before reloading, but the fact Columbus is seen reloading so often just makes the film so much cooler. It was reminiscent of the Dolph Lundgren film The Mechanik. But, you know, with Zombies and junk...
4. The Narrative - I loved the way everything was Narrated by Columbus as the film was going along. I felt you really got into the character's head, and could understand his motivations and thinking perfectly. Then again, so many people are comparing him to Michael Cera, I may just have been reading too far into the character.
5. The "rules". Columbus's set of rules for surviving Zombieland always appear when relevant to the scene, and this was a really cool effect. I especially loved when Woody Harrelson samshed up a mini van, and you just saw "Rule 18: Limber Up" fall off the back and crash to the floor afterwards. Sure, it takes you out the film, but Zombieland is one of those movies to be watched as a film, and does not require you to submerge yourself in the story to the degree most films do to work. It's just a silly comedy.
6. Woody Harrelson. Nuff said. (watch the video)
"Thank you for shopping at Ass-Whippings are Us!" - is what he should have said in the supermarket (or Arse-whippings if you're British). Also, relating to the whole supermarket thing, I thought the whole "Zombies being so fat because they've eaten so much" thing would amount to more than it did. Maybe some kind of tactic later involving poisoning food or starving them, or just luring them in somewhere with food. I dunno, it just seemed like they must have put that in for a reason, but it never came to anything. Possibly if there's a sequel?
I also felt they should have told the girl playing Little Rock to actually look down her gun's sight when Talahassee was teaching her how to shoot. Exhale slowly and squeeze the trigger all you won't, you won't hit a thing if you're not looking down the God Damn sight! But maybe I'm being too picky?
Oh, also to back up the theory that Columbus may be based partially on a young Bundy, it should be noted that Bundy's last murders (other than Kimberly Leach) occurred in Talahassee, Florida. Yeah, I know that's probably just a coincidence, but I'm going to keep pushing this point, cos I'm so damn fed up with people comparing Columbus with Michael Cera, and to be honest - I would rather be associated with a serial sex killer than a guy who's THAT much of a pansy.
Rating:
***
3/5
Good fun movie, definitely worth a watch, but lacking in some areas, and with what is essentially half a plot after back story and narrations. Still, if you like Zombie movies, you'll probably have one hell of a good time watching this. I know I did...
Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da (Video)
Just a general introduction to my blog to let you know what I'm all about, and so you can get a feel for my style (which in this instance included me running out of adjectives and consequently using the phrase "mind blowing" about 7 or 8 times). I bought Rammstein's new album Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da a few day ago, and just thought I'd record my first impressions of the album.
To see the uncut video for the song "Pussy", follow this link: Rammstein - Pussy Video (Uncensored)
Feel free to comment, but no hecklers please! Try and say something constructive. You know, unless it's something really funny...
More Videos coming soon!
The Voice
EDIT: I have since been searching for translations and definitions for the song "Donaukinder", and found this explaination over on Affenknecht.com:
It is about an ecological catastrophy that happaned at the Donau (the river Danube) in 2000, when cyanide from a gold mining operation leaked into the river. The children are referring to the people living at the Danube, a vital river, they are therefore “Children of the Danube/Donaukinder”
I have also been listening to Mutter since I filmed this, and I actually really like the later songs now - they're a bit of a different style to the singles, but actually now that I've heard them a few times, they're all really awesome, so I can definitely recommend Mutter.
You may also have noticed that I now have a title for this Blogspot, taken from the opening lines of the song "Mein Herz Brennt"
To see the uncut video for the song "Pussy", follow this link: Rammstein - Pussy Video (Uncensored)
Feel free to comment, but no hecklers please! Try and say something constructive. You know, unless it's something really funny...
More Videos coming soon!
The Voice
EDIT: I have since been searching for translations and definitions for the song "Donaukinder", and found this explaination over on Affenknecht.com:
It is about an ecological catastrophy that happaned at the Donau (the river Danube) in 2000, when cyanide from a gold mining operation leaked into the river. The children are referring to the people living at the Danube, a vital river, they are therefore “Children of the Danube/Donaukinder”
I have also been listening to Mutter since I filmed this, and I actually really like the later songs now - they're a bit of a different style to the singles, but actually now that I've heard them a few times, they're all really awesome, so I can definitely recommend Mutter.
You may also have noticed that I now have a title for this Blogspot, taken from the opening lines of the song "Mein Herz Brennt"
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