Lost limbs, too much blood and conveniently placed chainsaw petrol

Evil Dead

Directed by: Fede Alvarez
Produced by: Sam Raimi (original director and producer)
Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci

As deadlines approach and we swiftly move into exam season the best way to cool off some revision steam is to go and watch this years over the top gore film. Much to my disgust, the Saw...collection...have gone rapidly downhill and the hostel films are no-where to be seen. Therefore, I find myself turning to Sam Raimi's remake of his 1980's failure, 'Evil Dead'.
   Make no mistake, this film is so full of blood and gore you'll find yourself feeling not only sick but thinking about what's in your oversized cinema drink...not just flat cola. But what is this whole fiasco about?! What makes this devil's remake so different from the rest?! To be honest, nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's the typical scene, in the woods...abandoned cabin...five friends...one girl trying to give up her coke addiction...she then gets raped by a tree. WAIT. Raped. By. A. Tree? Yes. It just gets worse from there.
  Here's a plot summary with no spoilers (if you have watched the trailer). The nerdy guy finds this bizarre looking book in a cat carcass filled basement and his crazy nurse girlfriend tells him not to meddle with it...of course he does. A strange evil entity arises from the dead trying to take five souls before the earth rains blood and the devil will rise again, blah blah blah. What's weird is this "devil" doesn't just possess one person at a time, somehow once it has taken someones soul it will turn that person into a weird zombie thing.
Can I just say, second hand prop alert... it looks as though the "devil's possession eyes" are the same contacts from the late Twlight Saga series...

I have to give it to Alvarez, the screenplay for this film is particularly amusing, conversation is pretty typical but once the "devil entity" gets it's say then things turn from bad to worse, some of my favourite quotes are:

"I can smell your filthy soul"

"Why don't you come down here and let me suck your cock, pretty boy!" 

"Where do you think you're going, you junkie whore?"

and my person favourite..."You are all going to die tonight." 

  There are more than a few "back alley surgeries" in this film, so many limbs and body parts are severed or cut in half, it makes one wonder how any of them survived, it didn't even look like there were bones in the limbs, just pure muscle. Like most horror films, everything is extremely conveniently placed, what you need is right where you want it when you want it, or the opposite. I guess, you don't really have a lot of time to look around for the things you need when the devil is after your soul and to drag you back to hell with it, right? I never really did understand the final goal of the devil entity...once it has taken it's five souls and risen back to reality...then what? It takes a stroll around the town while everyone else is drowning in the torrential blood rain?

Here's the main five things you need to know about Evil Dead:
1) No story adaption
2) Average acting
3) So much watered down blood, you'll have a hard time NOT thinking about tomato juice.
4) Much to my surprise... NO sex or nudity (thank the lord and all heavens above)
5) Last but not least, an extremely disappointing ending with no twists or surprises (sorry).

Do I recommend this film? Unless you love gore as much as me and my weird friends, probably not. What I would recommend for this film if you do see it...go watch it on an empty stomach, there were parts that even I had a little mini sick at.

There is one good thing that came from 'Evil Dead', Sam Raimi can now die a happy man knowing he created the film he always wanted. Well done Sammy.

Sorry it's been a while, not much has been happening. I do however, have quite a few reviews to write. I'm hoping to write a review of a couple more films and some albums, I won't ruin the surprise though (that's the best part!). Last week, I was told that my review for Ed Wood (posted previously here, just below) was named one of the "Reviews of the week" on the film club website. Although, it is only a small community and most reviews are written by children's parents, my review was still chosen out of over 6,000 reviews. I guess that's something to be proud of, right?! It's not massive, but it's something.

This week at Filmclub I was given a special birthday treat by my tutor, I go to choose the film we watched, I chose the phenomenal Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson, as most of you know Wes Anderson is my favourite director; usually I wouldn't write a review of a film by my favourite director but I'll give it a go!

Moonrise Kingdom
Directed by - Wes Anderson
Release date - 2012
Starring - Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray and Edward Norton

As an avid follower of Wes Anderson's work, there are a few things to look for when watching his films: 1) Symmetry in shots (check), 2) Overhead shots (check) 3) A beautiful score (check), within the first fifteen minutes the three major boxes are ticked. Other similarities to look for in Anderson films are Swish Pans, Wide-Angled shots, flawed, relatable characters and feel-good realism. Check, check, check and check. Okay, we've established that we're watching a Wes Anderson film here, but what's this fairy-tale like film about?
   Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) and Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) are a pair of loved up, EXTREMELY underage runaways, fleeing their town in New England to embrace each others new found love. Coincidentally, this sends the town into a frenzied search party (understandable enough). Sound like every other romance film out there? Wrong, although you may be getting the impression this is a very weird, uncomfortable film to watch (two children, in love?!) it is also very beautiful in many ways, not to mention mildly hilarious. Wes Anderson is known for making his films to be very awkward, leaving massively cringey moments last for what seems to be forever, until they get funny...or cute. This isn't the sort of romance film where everything is perfect, the characters, the setting, the plot are all perfect. This film is relatable and honest. The honest part is either shocking you or you don't believe it...when I was twelve, all I could think about is how much I loved all of these boys. I felt exactly the same way Suzy did, I wish these boys were as honest as Sam!
    Not quite sold on the main plot? There's more than what meets the eye here. When we finally finish the beautifully rehearsed continuous beginning shot, we are faced with what I can only gather to be a narrator of some sort, introducing us to the island and the year. He also explains about the storm that is coming to the island, one that will go down in history. The storm becomes the underlying plot within the film and in the end brings the film to the dramatic climax, it could symbolize Suzy's and Sam's rebellion, how it escalates through the film and finally comes to an end, when the storm is at it's peak (no more spoilers, promise!).
   I always talk about colour grading, how usually it's perfect. Again, here it is perfect. All Wes Anderson films have a "theme/scheme" of colours. 'Fantastic Mr Fox' for example, is oranges and browns, 'Rushmore' is beige and darker shades of primary colours, 'Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' is blues, yellows and reds. 'Moonrise Kingdom' is yellow, blue and pink (almost the same as Life Aquatic). Anderson is obsessed with primary colours, much like most of his characters are obsessed with something! Everything within the film is yellow, the fields, the telephones, shirts, dress patterns, even walls in some cases. As the film progresses, as the storm brews, the colour scheme turns darker, bluer until the storm is at its peak everything is blue. It's almost as if there is a blue filter/gel over the whole edit. The yellow, in my opinion, gives off the feeling of content and happiness. As the film turns darker and colder, so does the colour scheme. However, unlike most films it's not subtle, it's bold and in your face. When Sam and Suzy are sharing intimate moments, the scene seems increasingly pink, almost like they are "looking through rose coloured glasses/la vie en rose" (more on French symbolism later!).
   Typically, everything has a meaning in Wes Anderson films, including costumes. In 'Moonrise Kingdom' he focuses on Suzy's costumes, although dresses appear exactly the same, shift, sixties, tailored and contrasted collars. The dress changes colour near the end of the film. In the beginning, her dress is a pale red/orange colour, this symbolizes her depression (or "de-pression" to keep up with the quoting of the film). At a point in the film, towards the end, she is wearing a yellow dress of the same style. This isn't an accident, this isn't to keep up with the colour scheme, Wes Anderson is all about the tiny details. She wears a yellow dress, yes, to match the colour scheme; but as I was saying earlier, yellow symbolizes content. Suzy changes into a yellow dress because she finally feels content with her life, with Sam. She feels as if everything is finally in it's right place and therefore doesn't wear the colours that symbolize anger and depression.
   There is one more thing about 'Moonrise Kingdom' that I'd like to bring up (then I'll stop analyzing every detail about it, promise!)...it is heavily influenced by New Wave French Film, for example Jean-luc Godard's 'Pierrot Le Fou'. It breaks the fourth wall, the invisible wall between audience and character by the camera looking directly into the camera and talking into it. Not at the audience directly but at another character, by doing this we (the audience) instantly feel part of the film, more involved. Therefore keeping us more on the edge of our seats. New Wave French Films are also prestige for their jump cuts, Wes Anderson has taken it upon himself to incorporate those jump cuts into 'Moonrise Kingdom' and not subtly. The last thing that has influenced Anderson is the use of a character that appears once or twice and then disappears for the rest of the film, the audience don't know who he/she is and sometimes don't even know their name. This is where our trusty "narrator" (remember, the guy that gives us a tour of the island?) comes in!
   Overall, I would give 'Moonrise Kingdom' five out of five stars. To me, it's perfect. The acting is superb, the plot is inspiring, unique and realistic and the style of the film is flawless. It's the imperfections within the film that make it so perfect. If you haven't seen this one yet, you really have no idea what you're missing.

"I love you, but you don't know what you're talking about."

 

At college, our tutor and us students (so cheesy) have started a film club. It's not as nerdy as you think! We recommend super cool films of all ages and all languages and every Monday after lessons we sit and watch the film together, then have a discussion about it whether that just be between us, or with a guest speaker who worked on the film. Okay, reading that back it does sound lame to anyone that doesn't love films. But to any fellow film lovers, this is the dream, right?! Access to free films seems pretty cool to me.
      One of the points of this film club (which, by the way is funded by the BFI thanks guys!) is to review the film after watching it, great news for me. But for everyone else who's idea of reviewing a film is worse than listening to U2's discography (sorry U2 fans), obviously aren't as keen as I am. Last night we watched Tim Burton's Ed Wood, so here goes.

Ed Wood
Directed by - Tim Burton
Year released - 1995
Starring - Johnny Depp (no surprises), Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker

Ever wondered who the worst director of ALL TIME is? Nope, not Ruben Fleischer, not Len Wiseman, it's Edward. D. Wood Jnr. Never heard of him? No surprises there. A director in Hollywood in the 1950's trying to make it the same way Orson Welles did; with little to no funding. This almost true biopic follows the "rise" of the non-nonchalant Ed Wood, in it we are forced to watch the brutal making of his films 'Glen or Glenda', 'Bride of the Monster' and 'Plan 9 from Outer Space'. Wood tries to bring life back into retired, junkie actor Bela Lugosi (played by the fabulous Martin Landau), however it seems that Lugosi's Dracula days are over, along with his acting skills.
It was said that Tim Burton was weirdly obsessed with Ed Wood, obviously not the way Ed Wood directed as he claimed "It's not the tiny details that count, it's the big picture". I guess (from past experience) that's where Ed made his first major mistake. The film itself is funny, interesting and attention grabbing; especially for young directors and film students as I'm sure (like myself) they could relate with a lot of the film, walking away from the film then realizing their mistakes. I think what made this film a true, real feeling biopic is that although the film was made in 1994 (then released in 1995) it was all filmed/edited in black and white, true to the time period, it meant the actors could be more dramatic about everything; which made it even more hilarious.
'Ed Wood' is probably the most famous Edward. D. Wood Jnr will ever be, and he should be thanking Tim Burton for that (well, apart from the fact he'd been dead a good twenty years before the film was made). Burton's film has made me want to watch the atrocious films that Ed Wood had made, regardless of them being awfully made, all scenes taken in one shot.
There is one early twist within the film (spoiler alert, kind of). Ed Wood admits to potential backer of his first him 'Glen or Glenda' "I've never told anyone this but, I dress in woman's clothing." Meaning that at random points through the film we get the pleasure of seeing young Johnny in women's clothing, usually owned by his girlfriend Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker) who is a hopeful young actress, a jealous wreck and in the end becomes the only person who is honest to Ed; telling him his films are awful (which is true).
If you are not a massive obsessive fan of Tim Burton, but like some of his other films (Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands) this is one you should add to his collection. Although not typically Burton, it is still very gothic with typical elements of his (Johnny Depp being one of them), skulls, hilariously morbid and family friendly.

Everything Everything - Arc
13 tracks.
Favourite track - Armourland
Favourite lyric - "I wanna take you home, take off your blindfold and show you what I am." - Armourland.

When Everything Everything released 'Man Alive' a hefty three years ago, I thought they couldn't do any better. Even now I listen to their album and still love every beautifully recorded second. Low and behold, when 'Arc' was released in January of this year I was skeptical, I hadn't really heard anything from it (like I said previously, I've been so out of touch with music lately, I deserve a slap on the wrist). Upon hearing 'Cough Cough' for the first time (yes, on the bus; yes, on the radio) I thought everyone had suddenly started coughing at the same time, I felt like I were back in year three where everyone coughing at the same time was "cool". As soon as John's vocals kicked in I knew exactly what I was listening to, my eyes started glistening right there on the bus and I just didn't give a damn.
     When I finally came around to buying the album (for some reason, pre-ordering it didn't cross my mind), I could tell straight away that they had access to better equipment and they were not going to put it to waste. I am so glad they didn't. If I'm being honest, I thought 'Arc' would be an improved, more expensively made version of 'Man Alive', but boy was I wrong! Opening with the more than familiar 'Cough Cough', then 'Kemosabe' coming straight after I knew I was in for a treat.
    Although all of the tracks sound completely different, they all seem to merge into one, I feel like I'm listening to a 48 minute long song, seriously. I feel "sinful" if I listen to just one track and skip the rest to the next track I like. To really enjoy this album you have to listen to the whole thing, start to finish.
    It seems there are no limits to the octave's that John's voice can reach, his voice goes up at least another octave throughout this album. There are so many layers to each song, everything time I listen to a track I notice something different, whether that be: even more metaphorical lyrics, a new synth, Vocoder, anything. I think to understand the meaning of this album you have to research about it; Kemosabe = Faithful Friend, for example, I bet now you'll listen to that song completely differently (I know I did!). They are experimenting but still keeping to their true, unique sound; which I will always respect bands for.
    'Arc' will finally give Everything Everything the true recognition they deserve, it will/has bring/bought them a whole new fame, along with it a new wave of fans. They will own the festivals this year and I won't be surprised if it's on the end of year lists (far away, I know!) for best album of the year.
Well done boys, you worked hard, you deserve this.

Gangster Squad

Director: Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 minutes or less)

Starring: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone

Gangster Squad is a typical 1950's, Los Angeles based mobster film. Mickey Cohen, a top mobster in LA and Chicago, is taking over Los Angeles one phone line at a time so he can take the title, “King of the City” (so lame). Set specifically in 1949, fresh stories and memories of the war are floating around, SGT. John O'Mara is a detective that can't seem to lift those memories(not surprising). The impression I got was, it was his sole purpose to take down anyone who had done any bad in the world(despite being told not to, many times). As the Cohen rises in taking away Los Angeles' “soul” from the LAPD, the chief inspector calls upon O'Mara to get together a secret crew of police officers to take down Mickey Cohen.

With help from O'Mara's pregnant wife (because she obviously knows exactly what traits a secret police crew need) John and his wife (mostly his wife) put together LA's dream team. Which include: a black cop who is amazing at throwing knives, an old guy on the front of what looks to be a comic book that my twelve year old brother could draw, a really brainy guy who also fought the war and of course the gorgeous, naïve SGT. Jerry Wooters. Somehow a Mexican guy joins the “Gangster Squad”(which they name themselves), despite his lack of police experience and he has never shot a gun before, he just “listened in” on one of their plans and decided that he may as well join now. Before I continue, can we just reflect? This film is set in the 1950's, if I'm not mistaken and I remember my year nine history correctly, black and whites were not aloud to mix, am I right? Certainly not a Mexican!

There's no character development in this film, I didn't even know Jerry Wooters was a sergeant until I got home and looked it up on IMBD, I also had no idea what he was fighting for, without giving anything away he seemed to change his mind about the “dream team” pretty promptly. Further on in the film, it seems like he changes his mind as to why he's fighting! I know there's only a certain amount of time in the film and explosions and big guns are obviously more important but it'd be nice to know some details.

Although the film is named 'Gangster Squad' it's shocking how little we know about them apart from O'Mara and Wooters; again poor character development. Dare I say this film is a complete rip off of Scarface, not the story, the “slow motion gun wounds”, the rolling of the shoulders, the proud pouting while shooting a machine gun; it left me in a sombre state of squalor. There's one more thing I need to say before I say what I actually enjoyed. I've never been a fan of Sean Penn, but in this film I particularly didn't enjoy his acting, he spent the whole film looking as though he was having a stroke, failing to make eye contact with anyone. Not even his “lover”, Grace Faraday. He also reminded me of a nodding dog, bulldog like features and all.

By now you're probably wondering, “what the heck did she LIKE about this film?”. Well here's to sum it up in one paragraph, the colour grading and editing were excellent, beautiful colours; very warm and raw, although they would be more appropriate in a RomCom, somehow it worked. I went in to the cinema with very low expectations, there were parts where those expectations were exceeded and parts where the film met those expectations, the film is very much like a sound wave (yep, I did just use that analogy). The acting from the rest of the cast (minus Sean Penn) was super, especially Ryan Gosling, who always delivers. Lastly, the ending was wrapped up nicely, showing what everyone went on to do; which I really liked.

My final verdict: wait until this film goes to £3 in HMV...oh wait. However, if you enjoy a film with little to no character development, big guns, explosions, over-the-top fifteen rated gore and an extremely cheesy script (my favourite line being “Hold on to your hats, boys”) only then would I recommend seeing it for the hefty price of £9.20 or more (the rip-off prices of Cineworld).

Okay, it's been a while but I bought myself these really cute notebooks the other day for film and music reviews, they were on sale but they're really handy! So I thought I would try my hand at a film review, so here goes. My review for Life Of Pi.

The Life of Pi, 2012
Directed by - Ang Lee
Starring - Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Adil Hussain
The Life of Pi is an astonishing story which started as a novel by Yann Martel. Before the film I believe it wasn't exactly the most popular book, however after watching the film I can't wait to go out and buy the book and compare it to the the film (like most book adaptations). The film is about a 16 year old boy named Piscine Patel, who was named after a beautiful swimming pool in Paris "Piscine Molitor"; he changes his name to Pi whilst still in school as he got teased by his classmates. Pi is Hindu, Muslim and Catholic; claiming he just wants to "love god", religion is a huge part of this film and Pi is heavily influenced by religion. His family run a zoo in Pondicherry, the French part of India. After living there for 16 years, Pi's family decide to immigrate as they cannot afford to live there any longer. After his family die in a shipwreck, Pi finds himself alone and stranded on a lifeboat, only to discover the Bengal tiger from the zoo (Richard Parker) is on the boat with him. This film is about the struggle of Pi and Richard Parker as they are alone in the pacific ocean and are trying to find reality, together. It is a story of friendship, coming of age and life.
 There isn't anything bad to say about this film; it's absolutely stunning and the acting is tremendous. Whilst watching I felt as though I were in a dream or watching someone else's dream. It has the best cinematography I have ever seen, wonderfully colourful and teeming with life. For me, this film was life changing, not so much the story but the way it was shot. Each scene had been carefully planned out, each more stunning than the last. The use of colour grading, flawless special effects and every colour you can imagine, The Life of Pi is certainly a once in a lifetime film. I don't think anything will ever top itself in the fact of a nature/wildlife/friendship story. If you thought Free Willy had you tearing up, just wait until you've seen Pi's brave journey with a wild, hungry tiger. It's one of the only films I can truly say I'm glad I saw in 3D; it wasn't one of these "try hard" 3D films where everything is jumping out at you, but it just made it even more perfect and believable. To be honest, I was so engrossed in the film that I didn't have time to remember it was in 3D, after about fifteen minutes I didn't even notice. While watching it, I felt every emotion inside of me light up, I was up and down more than a six month pregnant woman. Every emotion was real, which I can't say is true for a lot of films, I came out of the cinema feeling physically drained I was so engrossed. The characters were so real too. I feel that Pi's character was very relate-able, in that he was trying to grow up on his own, trying to find his own path. Which, in ways is very similar to most teenagers of that age, but they are fortunate enough not to be in the unique situation he's found himself in.
"I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts most is not taking a moment to say goodbye" - Pi Patel.