Flesh

7.08pm – Notepad is on desk, pen in one hand & a Cream Egg in the other! I am ready to watch this after putting it off for so long.

9.15pm – Wow. I have a love-hate relationship with this movie. Oh, and if you don’t like seeing sex or anything remotely sexual on screen, this is the biggest no-no EVER!

The opening credits are these green lettering that look like they’re from an 80s’ computer screen and they go by really fast and totally buggered my eyes up!

0.28 – 2.55 is just one shot of our main character, Joe, asleep to a rather groovy song. What is one screen is boring so I found myself looking at my Cream Egg and dancing in my seat as I ate it.

This is what I loved about this movie; the camera and editing techniques. It had a feeling of a mixture of a home video and being really artsy, if you know what I mean… like the home movie of an artist. And it has jump cuts and short cuts and they’re separated with quick white light and I just loved it! Unfortunately, there was only two other things that I liked about this movie but from a wannabe filmmaker’s point of view, I found the techniques to be very interesting and inspiring.

Crap acting from everyone. Pure crap. A squirrel could of done better. A dead squirrel could of done better.

He needs to get $200 for his wife’s girlfriend’s abortion. That’s just about as confusing as the movie gets but it doesn’t get any less confusing. His wife wraps laced ribbon round his penis and says it looks pretty. Its just… something I’m not used to and therefore its f*****g weird.

The first scene I enjoyed was this really long one where Joe is playing with his son [which is the actor’s real son] and the baby is so damn cute! Joe helps the kid eat a cupcake and it reminded me of the only video we have of me as a baby which is of my 1st birthday and there’s a part where my dad is helping me with Smarties. However, in the movie, Joe was naked. My dad was not. Once again, its pretty weird though I know its supposed to be ‘artistic’. Its just weird.

I made a note that a 28.27 ‘OMG I’m so freaking bored.” And I think I was bored for another 20 minutes after that.

Then, hurrah, we finally get an interesting character who has a bloody personality! Jackie Curtis just made this film for me. He’s fabulous and looks fantastic. He’s a transvestite but his make-up is quite subtle and really complimented his face. Anyways, he cracked jokes and stuff and was the only good character in the whole damn thing.

Short review for a film that I just didn’t feel a link too. I’m just not artistic or stoned enough to enjoy it. Sowwy Andy Warhol!

58/212

Kate
xoxo

Aladdin

1.08am – Ooops! I finished watching this movie about an hour ago and then started watching Oscar things on YouTube! Best just write the review and then go back to watching Halle Berry cry.

1.47am – I know Disney is evil and everything but I’m still a little 6 year old girl on the inside and think Disney is awesome. I haven’t watched this film in soooo long because we somehow lost the VHS to it years ago. So it kind of felt like I was watching it again for the first time!

I loooove “Arabian Nights”! Its such an awesome song! I actually had to stop the movie and go back to the beginning just so I could listen to it again.

<LiI could totally tell that the Narrator/merchant was voiced by Robin Williams, he has a voice that is just so recognizable now. I liked that this character broke the 4th wall and spoke to the camera/audience. Its that kind of thing which would bring the child that was watching into the movie and probably confuse the hell out of them but whatever, it’s a good film technique.

The audience instantly know who the bad guy is because his accent has a slight British twang to it. Oh, and he’s wearing dark clothes and has that kind of Jeremy Irons voice even though its not him but you know what I mean. And of course he has the quirky side-kick of a talking parrot [?!?!].

I know that Aladdin is out ‘diamond in the rough’ but they don’t need to repeat that sentence 10 times in one scene.

The monkey was cute until he took the pink diamond thing, then he oddly became annoying to me.

I was going to write this huge paragraph on how Aladdin stealing because he’s poor is similar to some of today’s teenagers who resort to crime because of their wealth but my God, I cannot be arsed.

Even though the Zefron [Zac Efron to you older people] was 5 when this movie was released, Aladdin sounds like him. And the first song he sings sounds like it just came out of High School Musical. It automatically became my most hated song in this movie. As you can probably sense, you won’t be getting a review of High School Musical any time soon…

Every little girl [especially in the 90s] had their Disney Princess and mine was Jasmine to the point where I had the Jasmine costume! Ooooo that reminds me that I can finally scan those pictures of my friends when they were younger and post them on Facebook! Sorry, totally off subject there… aaaanyways, I don’t quite understand why Jasmine was my favourite as at the beginning of the movie, all I could think of was “oh, boo hoo rich kid”. But I think I stopped thinking that once she pretended to be crazy and called the camel her doctor and then she became awesome. Jasmine’s father, on the other hand, felt like Santa but a bit less understanding. And it’s the classic tale where the high-mighty person’s most trusted advisor is the bad guy.

Classic Disney where they’ve known each other for less than 30min and they’re already leaning in for their first kiss. That would never happen in real life unless there was alcohol involved. THEN he talks about her a couple of hours after meeting her and is talking about marriage! “She’s smart, fun and beautiful!” YOU GOT THAT FROM TALKING TO HER FOR 10 MINUTES?! Bloody Disney, gotta love it.

I think because I’ve seen this movie done for panto [Americans need to look up panto, its awesome] so many times that I can’t help but think of children’s reactions to this movie. I think “oh, this is when the kids will laugh” or “this is when they’ll get scared” and “this is when the sweets get thrown into the crowd by Aladdin’s mum who’s dressed in a breakfast dress”.

Is it weird that I found the carpet character to be incredibly adorable?

GENIE!!! ROBIN WILLIAMS AT HIS BEST!!! He’s officially my #1 favourite character ever! He’s actually taken over Ron Burgundy and the cops from Superbad. The animation to his voice was beyond perfect! My cheeks hurt from laughing so much! I find Robin Williams hilarious on his own but when you put his voice to a cartoon, its just extraordinarily funny! I can’t quite describe how perfect it was. Pure genius, its all I can say. I bow to the person who said Robin Williams should be the genie. I could quote the genie so much, I could actually quote everything he says, its just amazing. Examples: “You know Al, I’m getting really – [turns and sees Jafar] – I don’t think you’re him.” “It’s all part and parcel, the whole “genie gig”: [grows to a gigantic size] PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! [shrinks down inside the lamp] Itty-bitty living space!” “Oh, Al. I’m gettin’ kinda fond of you, kid. Not that I wanna pick out curtains or anything.” “Genie, wake up and smell the hummus.” “[looks at a script] Tonight, the part of Al will be played by a tall, dark and sinister ugly man.”… oops, think may of gotten a little overboard there but whatever! Made me chuckle again!

And the songs “Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali” are two of my favourite Disney songs!

I bet that even if you’ve never seen Aladdin, you know some of the words to ‘A Whole New World’.

When Jasmine pretends to be in love with the bad guy, its done in an incredibly sexual voice! I was shocked, grossed and impressed all at the same time!

Its just a classic Disney movie but far more hilarious than the others because of the beyond-amazing Robin Williams.

Now to watch some more Oscars stuff on YouTube and probably a couple of Robin Williams interviews even though its 1.46am

57/212

Kate
xoxo

The Wizard of Oz

8.20pm – The last time I watched this I was 5 & I hated it because it scared me. And I’m missing out on watching Blades of Glory [for the 3rd time] for this so it had better be good!

11.41pm – I can see why its such a classic and why so many people like it. I enjoyed it and it felt a bit like panto to me! I wouldn’t say I loved it but I can definitely see why its people’s favourite.

I loved the use of colour and I think this is one of the best uses of colour I’ve seen in this challenge [just wait till I watch Schindler’s List, I may write the whole review on colour!] I thought it was incredibly clever to have the real world as a sort of sepia tone and then have the Land of Oz all in bright colours. It makes a great contrast between the two worlds; it made the Land of Oz just that bit more magical.

I found Dorothy to be rather annoying at first because of two reasons; 1. She kept going on about the damn dog when the adults were trying to work! I guess the fact that I’ve only ever had fish for pets doesn’t make me sympathize with her and her relationship with her dog. 2. The way Judy Garland portrayed her, just the acting and everything just pissed me off, I don’t know why! However, as the movie went on, I started to get used to her style.

Even though I haven’t watched this movie in over 13 years, I know ‘Over the Rainbow’. Who doesn’t!

The dog playing Toto [who’s called Toto, I think] is adorable! He’s incredibly cute and looks so well trained!

I loved the poke at psychics. I mentioned this before in my review of Before Sunrise that I really despise psychics so seeing this movie show the psychic as a fraud made me smirk.

“It’s a twister!” I love tornadoes. I know I shouldn’t but I find that there is something so beautiful about them. Shame ‘Twister’ isn’t on my list, I love that movie!

I know I shouldn’t as it was made in 1938 and I that I need to take into consideration about the technology they had available but I hated when Dorothy was in the twister in the house and saw things ‘fly by’ and it was just projected. I know, I know, that’s all they could really do but I can’t help but hate it and think its lazy and crap.

There’s a really long shot of the set of the Land of Oz and I guess they wanted to make the most of it as I think it was one of the biggest sets they’d ever made [at the time], which is fair enough. I felt a bit like I was watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it all looked edible! It actually looked quite cartoon-like which I think makes the whole place far more like fantasy and a different world.

I loved the Good Witch of the North’s dress!! So pretty and sparkly!! And I loved the red ‘slippers’ even more!

“Ding dong, the witch is dead!” Oh how I have seen this line used so many times in other films and movies!

Superb casting with Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West! She is exactly what witches look, sound and act like, she got it completely spot on! I don’t think it would of worked if she hadn’t played it as well.

Oh dear, you can quite clearly see a trap-door open to let the red smoke out when the Wicked Witch of the West ‘disappears’.

I loved that the people who worked on the farm back in Kansas were the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion. It reminds me of Peter Pan in both the animation [1953] and the recent one [2003], where the voice of Mr Darling in the animation does Captain Hook’s voice and in the recent one, Jason Issacs plays Mr Darling and Captain Hook! Its just so clever and it’s a little technique that I just adore, it can say so much!

I’m sorry but I found Scarecrow to be incredibly annoying. I know he’s supposed to be adorable but I just wanted him to burn.

The make-up on the three main male characters was amazing, absolutely amazing. I think they should of won best make-up at the Academy Awards because I don’t think even now-a-days we could top it.

The lion costume is so cool but I’d imagine it was boiling! Totally worth it though. But why does he make pig nosies instead of lion noises? Also, whenever the Tin Man was moving in a scene, I winced thinking that it must be so uncomfortable in that costume! I don’t know whether it was real Tin [I doubt it] but it looked like it would still hurt a bit if you got some skin caught between the ‘joints’. And how he managed to skip in that costume, I don’t know!

The most impressive set was the poppy field set because I immediately started thinking about all those flowers and how they all look handmade and hand-placed and how long that must of took, just for it to be on screen for 5 minutes!

The changing-colour pony was cool. I wonder if they really dyed the pony… I hope they didn’t, it could not of been good for it! Still, it was very pretty!

The Lion can not sing opera. NOT! AT ALL!

The Wicked Witch of the West’s death is by far one of the funniest deaths I’ve ever seen.

Like I said, I haven’t watched this movie in so long so I’m practically watching it for the first time and I knew there was a wizard but I expected someone like Santa [don’t ask why…] but its this scary-ass green face thing! But then its revealed it is someone like Santa so its all good. I loved that the ‘wizard’ gave them their wishes but not with magic. Very clever.

I don’t think I’ll watch this movie again for another year but I definitely liked it, it’s a nice little watch with the family and some cookies. I actually found myself thinking about a remake and which modern actor would play what… I kept thinking of Robert Downey Jr. for the Tin Man for some reason… don’t know the others, I’ll let you decide!

56/212

Kate
xoxo

Tootsie

I loved this movie! It helps that I love myself a bit of drag >.< But aside from that, its actually just really funny! I really enjoyed it. My dad walked into the living room as me and my mum were watching it and I told him to guess what we were watching and as soon as ‘Dorothy’ came on screen he went “Tootsie!!” I think this is going to be one of those movies that I’ll recommend to my friends, it’s a great comedy. Now onto my notes which I don‘t think will do this movie justice;

At the beginning, we have a kind of opening montage so we get to know the character in about 3 minutes rather than the usual 15. I liked that at the beginning we see him dressing himself and making up himself to look like an older man. It a nice contrast to the rest of the movie. Then we also see him teaching other people acting, going to auditions himself [and constantly turned down] and he’s waiter which is what most wannabe ‘actors’ lives are like. I think its important for people who want to be actors to realize that it won’t just come to you and you will be turned down pretty much all the time.

Dustin Hoffman [our main man/lady] is roommates with Bill Murray! Yay! I think Murray is slowly starting to become one of my favourite actors even though I probably shouldn’t admit that. I just love his humor, especially in this one, its just so dry and witty! My kind of humor! I could of quoted him so much in my notes but that would be a bit pointless as you’d have to watch it to really understand/get it. I did write one down but this probably won’t seem funny unless you’ve watched it; it’s the first time Murray’s character sees ‘Dorothy’ and he’s just woken up and he stares at him and goes “mum?!” See! Its funnier visually. And when he walks in on the actor ‘Dorothy’ is working with tries to kiss ‘her’ and when he leaves, Murray’s character looks at ‘her’ and goes “you slut.”

At first, I really didn’t like Hoffman’s [male] character because he’s the actor who takes himself too seriously and thinks he’s amazing and should do things his way. Those kind of actors piss me off. “I can’t work with this” type people, ergh, bugger off you ungrateful diva bitch. You should be grateful for what you have and the opportunity. But I suppose we’re supposed to be a bit pissed off with him and then love him when he goes female.

Now, when he does become ‘Dorothy’, he really does look like a woman! Well, that’s until we get a profile shot of him and then we can clearly see the man but that’s turned into a joke! So when they’re arranging the cameras and they want to get an emotional shot, the camera man asks how close and the production team scream “NOT TOO CLOSE!!” Once again, its funnier than I’m typing it out to be.

I really didn’t like Hoffman’s ‘female’ voice in this. I don’t know whether its supposed to be on purpose but I just thought it was a bit poor in some places.

I liked that as Dorothy, he could even fool his agent.

Me and mum made a little comment that the apartment that Hoffman and Murray’s characters lived in was rather big for two waiters who want to be actors and playwriters. They may of tried to make it look grudgy but it was still too big.

I thought it was good that Hoffman’s male character spoke of ‘Dorothy’ like she was an actual, real person. And that he gets really into the whole dressing up part [without going camp, though, which is great]. There’s a scene where he’s talking to Murray’s character; Michael [Hoffman] “No. I don’t have the right shoes for it, I don’t like the way the horizontal lines make me look to hippy, and it cuts me across the bust.” Jeff [Murray]: [slight pause] “I think we’re getting into a weird area here.”

Geena Davis is very skinny in this. Just to warn you. You may want to shield your eyes.

Like I said, I knew my notes wouldn’t give this film justice. Its mainly negative notes, isn’t it? Ooops. But, no, please, take my word for it, it’s a funny movie, it really is. I loved it.

I don’t like when somebody comes up to me the next day and says, “Hey, man, I saw your play. It touched me; I cried.” I like it when a guy comes up to me a week later and says, “Hey, man, I saw your play… what happened?”

55/212

Kate
xoxo

Some thoughts by me…

PLEASE, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, LEAVE ME A COMMENT OR A TWEET OR IF YOU’RE A FRIEND ON FACEBOOK, PLEASE MESSAGE ME TO LET ME KNOW YOU ARE READING! And if you have any thoughts… at all, I just need feedback. I don’t quite know what to do right now. This may sound cheesy but I feel like I’ve reached a pivitol point in the blog/challenge. So please, any comment will do.

And no, mum, you don’t count lol. Nor you, dad. Sorry!

9.12pm – Ergh. I really can’t be arsed today but I’m already a film behind so I can’t afford to take a night ‘off’… I’m starting to wonder whether this ‘challenge’ is going to ruin my watching of movies. Maybe 212 is too many and I should just go for 100 so I don’t completely go mental and never watch a movie again. We’ll see… think I may just read Julie & Julia for a bit, that always boosts me a bit…

9.19pm – Or maybe I could just try to watch as many movies as I can in 7 months, rather than just have a fixed number… that wouldn’t make it much of a challenge I guess…

9.54pm – I’ve had a thought and a quick read of Julie&Julia. Julie didn’t cook everyday so I think its OK to let myself have a night ‘off’ tonight and then watch 2 movies one day and then 2 movies another day. Maybe a break is what I need to bring back my determination.

Superman: The Movie

I really enjoyed this film! I’m shocked by how much I like it! I think its because I thought Snoreville- sorry, Smallville had ruined Superman for me but it hasn’t! Hurrah!

The opening credits felt like Star Wars on acid even though Star Wars was released 2 years later.

The ‘bad guys’ being trapped in the mirror didn’t help my initial reaction of ‘this is going to be crap’. I’m sorry, I just thought it was a crap idea.
I LOVED the glowing costumes of the people of Krypton.

BABY!Superman is soooo adorable!! I could watch the baby scenes over and over again. And he’s wrapped in a cute red, yellow and blue shiny blanket! If I wrap my child in a shiny blanket, will it fly as well? Don’t think I should experiment that theory… Anyways, I loved that there was some real depth to this movie, especially with the real parents of Superman saying their goodbyes. I think they captured the emotions perfectly, I totally felt what they felt, it almost made me cry! Then the planet blows up and I first thought it would have been funny to have a few shots of the baby laughing as he flew away but the more we saw the planet be destroyed, the more out of place I thought that scene would be so thank goodness they didn’t. BABY!Superman is then no longer BABY!Superman but TODDLER!Superman and is just as adorable! I loved that he instantly opened his arms up to his new parents when he crashes onto Earth. Then he lifts up the car with the cutest, cheekiest smile I’ve ever seen!

There’s a lovely shot of mother and son in the cornfield. Not only is the landscape beautiful but it managed to capture their wonderful relationship without words.

Two words; bad wigs.

What is it with superheroes working for newspapers?! Mix it up, come on…

I loved that Clark Kent is such an adorable, clumsy, nervous and polite man. I sense this is where Hugh Grant got the inspiration for most of his characters [before Bridget Jones when he turned into a (sexy) tosser]. Also loved Clark Kent’s huge glasses! However, Jerry Siegel [the writer of the Superman comics] should of made a bit more effort for his identity as its pretty unbelievable that no one would recognize him just because he hasn’t got his glasses on and has bucket loads of gel in his hair! You’re probably thinking “then why is him flying and having super-human strength believable?” well, its far more bloody believable than having glasses as a disguise.

When Superman first reveals himself, I thought the reactions from the public were far more realistic than say Spider Man. In Spider Man they just accepted him and pointed going “oooo” but in Superman, they all look at him like “WTF?!” which is what people would normally do! Sorry, I just like it when there’s a bit of realism.

I liked the swimming pool in the station set. Thought it was totally cool in a James-Bond-meets-Day-After-Tomorrow kind of way…

“I never drink and fly.” Wise words there, Mr Superman.

Superman is polite like Clark but has a bit more confidence and a lot more flirtatious! And the amazing thing is, its not cheesy! Well, it’s a little but not as cheesy as you’d expect! Kind of Saundra-Bullock-Rom-Com kind of way… but better, obviously.

Even the flying looks awesome for 1978! It looks pretty damn acceptable! Better than some of the shit we’ve seen lately in cinema, actually.

OK, it was all going really well and I was loving it until Superman flew around the world, made it spin the other way and therefore reversed time. I’m sorry but I hated that. That just felt like bullcrap to me.

Honestly, teenagers and young adults, this movie is not as crap as you’d think it would be. Its actually very entertaining and is the perfect blend of superhero, sci-fi, romantic comedy and drama. It actually makes Spider Man look a bit pants which I thought could never happen!

54/212

Kate
xoxo

Rushmore

If I did star, I’d give this movie about *** … its good but I think I’d only watch it again if it were on TV. Nothing special but watchable.

Jason Schwartzman, in this movie, looks like a cross between Tom Cruise and Stanley Tucci. It’s a weird combination.

Schwartzman’s character, Max, is a very different kind of nerd. He does far too many extra curricular activities, he dresses smart, uses ‘posh’ language yet he’s failing all his classes. I thought this was a very clever idea for a character.

Bill Murray is his usual funny self but its in a goofy adult way rather than just goofy.

Max is psychotic. Proper mental. He’s like those obsessed people you see in those movies and they actually think they’re in a real relationship with someone but its all in their head. This is kind of a slight spoof on that, I guess…or just a funny take on it.

I loved the little childish war between Max and Mr Blume [Murray’s character]. They’re very smart men [Max’s maturity is well beyond his years] yet when it comes to a woman, they go back to being 10. Max puts bees in Mr Blume’s hotel room, he ruins Max’s bike. Max cuts the breaks on Mr Blume’s car, he reports him to the police. And its all done to a song that is all about being forgiven.

I liked that they used an actual Scottish person to play a Scottish character and not an American failing badly at an accent.

The plays in this movie, that are created by Max, are fantastic! They’re a million times better than the shit we did at school! The Vietnam play was amazing with explosions and everything! Our version of ‘Memory of Water’ looks like dogcrap compared to this! And then they have a proper after party which is still themed on the Vietnam war! Wish we’d done that…

Sorry the review is so short but that’s all I felt was worth writing down. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it but… y’know, I’ve seen better!

53/212

Kate
xoxo

A Canterbury Tale

3.44pm – I’ll be watching this in 2 parts as my grandma is flying over today from UK to visit and she’ll be landing at 5 and stuff and then I want to watch the finale of Cake Boss >.< so I'll be watching some now before we go to the airport then some after Cake Boss. Might review it in two parts then so I don't forget or something… don't know, we'll see!

11.55pm – Hmm. This would have been a great film if… it wasn’t about glue…

I panicked a bit at first because it starts with narrating and the language is very old and quite hard to understand [poor little simpleton like me can’t understand, anyways]. I did kind of understand that they were trying to compare olden times with horses to ‘modern’ times with tanks, it was a bit like poetry. However, its not like that throughout, thank God. Don’t think I could watch a 2 hour film where I didn’t understand a single word they were saying, at least French films have bloody subtitles!

I’m sorry but my next note was that I felt like I was watching a very old version of Harry Potter! The only real connection is that there’s two males and a female and they’re ‘investigating’. I’m a Potter Nerd, if you hadn’t guessed, tehehe.

I loved that it showed how quite different America and England are. I lived in England for 18 years and only just moved to USA so I can’t totally understand these differences. There was a good scene near the end where the Englishman and the American were discussing the differences between the two countries in a way that makes me feel I’ll probably have the same conversation when I go to college and meet the Americans [properly]. I thought the fact that the directors pointed out that Americans are far more polite than the English. The American soldier in the movie waves out of his window to an Englishman below, saying ‘good morning’ or something along those lines. The Englishman gives him a weird look and walks away. I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again, this is exactly what would happen in England today. If someone in England came up to you and said ‘good morning’ you’d think he was drunk or something. It’s a shame but it’s the truth.

I thought the movie was quite pleasant, to the point where the first 30 minutes flew by and I had to stop and get my Grandma and Mike from the airport. However, the next 1hr and a half went by rather slowly… probably because I was tired or something but either ways, the end dragged on. Probably because that part is all about them trying to find out who pours glue on women’s heads like it’s a bloody murder case! I’m sorry but its just ridiculous.

I loved the lighting in this, where they sometimes light up only the eyes, like they’re the most emotional part of the face. I know this is a technique that was very popular in the 30s and 40s and it’s a shame that its not used these days. The eyes are the most emotional… I guess there are some actresses these days that are dead behind the eyes… *cough* that girl from Twilight *cough*…

There’s some uber cute kids in this movie. Cutest is the ‘commander’ who clearly hasn’t been given any lines and just been told to drink the lemonade because he talks a little to himself about the lemonade and everyone ignores him. Its quite adorable.

I repeat… this would have been a great film if it wasn’t about the glue man. Sorry, but it totally ruined it for me. Now I’m off to go onto YouTube and watch Rufus Hound dance to ‘Fight For This Love’.

52/212

Kate
xoxo

Brick

I’ve wanted to see this movie for a while. During LOST’s seasons 1 and 2 [y’know, when it was actually good] I loved the character of Claire and loved Emilie De Ravin so that was the main reason I wanted to see this. That and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is hot. As a former film studies student, I really liked this film. I don’t think its for everyone, to be honest but it really works if you do, if you catch my drift. If you are currently doing film studies and you need a movie to analyze, this is your film. I can assure you that by analyzing Brick, you’ll get a lot to write about and very high marks.

First shot is of a teenager/young adult who is looking, in shock, at a dead body of a blond woman. Questions immediately popped into my head; who are they? Why is she dead? Do they know each other? What happened? It’s a great opener as it gets the audience interested straight away. Then there’s a phone call in the beginning is quite powerful and it sparks more questions! I don’t know why but I’d get the feeling that it gives the audience a bit of a wakeup call because normally, the beginning sets it all up in a ‘this is our character, this is their life, then this, then this,’ but this goes straight into being confusing. In a good way, not LOST-season-4 way. Sorry. This post may turn into a LOST bashing, I’ll try to avoid it!

I’m a huge Heath Ledger fan and I love that Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks exactly like him! Its like having him back on our screens! Obviously, Gordon-Levitt is a different actor in his own right and Ledger has a slightly different screen presence but if you just pause the film, you can pretend he’s Ledger.

I loved all the different camera angles. Not a single scene was shot the same, they were all at different levels, different angles, different techniques, and so on. You’d think with so many varied techniques that you’d think that maybe he was trying to hard to be ‘artsy’ but its not like that at all, it really works and its makes it all so interesting. I also loved the used of jumpcuts and fade in/fade outs. They’re simple techniques that you can accomplish on Windows Movie Maker but they’re effective. I love fade in/fade outs if they’re done properly. Sometimes it can look lazy but if done right, it can add a whole new layer of atmosphere. I also loved the use of lighting, especially when the sun would reflect off the camera lens. Its works in noir films like this. Sorry, technical film crap ends here!

Throught the beginning [and throughout the whole movie, really] I was constantly thinking “so how will this link to Emily’s [Emilie De Ravin’s character] murder. We figuring it out with our main character, Brendan which is one of the most American boys names ever. Seriously, you’ll never get an English boy called Brendan. Or Trey. So American, I love it.

Normally, if the opening shot is something in the future, its re-seen at the end so we go “OOOOH! So that’s how it links” but not with this one. We see the opening shot again only 24 minutes in. That’s good because we know what’s happened, we see what happens after that opening shot then we see the aftermath. However, the aftermath is still finding out why the hell she died but its still good. Confusing but good.

Now, we have this how ‘detective’ story going on which we’re used to seeing in like CSI or Numb3rs or something and its even cheesy in them shows so you’d think with Brendan only being in high school and try to solve a murder in a drug circle would be just awkward to watch. However, this movie, I don’t know how, does it right. It doesn’t feel cheesy at all. It feels totally real and believable. At least that’s how I felt though I may just be ignorant. It just didn’t feel like I was watching some crap child detective show. On the other hand, I believe it was bad casting and a bit of bad directing that didn’t make the ‘bad guys’ all that scary. You have Pin and Tug. Pin is the brains behind the drug circle and Tug is like his little bodyguard type person. Anyways, Pin isn’t terrifying at all, he’s actually quite laughable and Tug just looks like the kid from Home Alone and has a funny walk. These two could have been casted so much better. They just weren’t scary at all, just pathetic wannabes. I suppose they are but I just get the feeling like the director was trying to get you scared of them and it just falls flat on its face.

It does get a bit confusing about 1hr 26 minutes in but you slowly start to understand. Just a little warning there.

I think that this is probably what the director was trying to do but whatever. I thought it was good that Tug’s thugs and Pin’s ‘men’ where all given milk to drink as they waited for Tug and Pin to sort something out. I felt this was a little reminder that these are teenagers and not adults. I suppose it is kind of easy to forget that drug circles can be quite young.

I loved one particular part of a scene very much which was when Pin, Tug and Brendan are in the basement and suddenly they hear loads of commotion up stairs and their eyes look up at the ceiling and follow the sound as it makes its way from one side of the room above them to the other side. The other side is the side that has the only entrance to the basement so it’s a hint that they’re coming for them. I just thought it was brilliantly shot and let the audience use their imagination of what was happening upstairs.

I liked this movie visually, the storyline could have been a tad bit more simpler and there could have been a bit better casting but all in all, it was a good movie. And like I said before, if you’re studying films, this would be a good film to study.

51/212

Kate
xoxo

Here’s a little shameless plug!

I thought it would be OK to share with you all my own short movie! This is my first ever movie that I directed, filmed, wrote and edited myself. It stars my wonderful, amazing, totally awesome friend Jane and she’s wonderful, amazing and totally awesome because she let me do all this shit to her! So she’s wonderful, amazing, totally awesome Jane who totally saved my ass.

Anyways, I did this for a film competition in my home town back in England where I got given a film title [Step Backwards], genre [slapstick] and prop [cactus] and had 5 days to make a 3min movie and this is the result. By the way, the end credits are a bit off because I removed mine, Jane’s and my brother’s full names as I don’t like posting them.

Once again, Jane is wonderful, amazing and totally awesome.