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Macross Plus (1994)
Wonderful
I saw the first part of this OAV when it came out years ago and for some reason I never watched the rest, well recently the opportunity came for me to see it again and boy am I glad I did.
Its brilliant, It has it all action, adventure, emotion, and an evil AI Idol singer, what more could you want.
I thought that the way Sharon Apple was developed was fantastic, you are constantly bombarded with images of her, as an Idol, something good, so when she goes mad and those same images come at you with evil intent, it twists they way you view her and makes her really sinister.
Then there's the music, wow, music has always been an important part of any Macross story so its important that its good. The music in Macross Plus is superb. From the bittersweet "Voices" to the songs of Sharon apple all of them evoke emotion and fit the tone of the piece perfectly.
I now want to see the movie as I'm really interested to see what they cut and added, I can see the story lending itself really well to a feature.
To sum up, if you haven't seen Macross Pluss and your an Anime fan, then see it, I cant imagine it would disappoint anyone.
Transamerica (2005)
Great FIlm
I loved this movie, I had heard nothing at all about it before I saw it and so I didn't know what to expect but I thought I would have a gander and I'm so glad I did. Initially I thought that the fact that Bree was played by a woman a little strange, I thought "why don't they cast a transsexual actor" but to be honest it really didn't effect the story at all, I'm sure it may annoy some people but my recommendation would be to watch the film anyway and see how you feel after because I totally believed the portrayal of Bree and loved the character.
The film has a fantastic plot, fantastic characters, and manages to be funny and touching and really genuine. I was totally drawn in by the characters (the acting is fantastic Felicity Huffman is amazing)and their relationships and I really didn't want the story to end, I would recommend this film to anyone (and in fact I shall), It has themes of family, self-acceptance, and honesty that I think really resonate. I hope this film is the success it deserves to be. :0)
The Descent (2005)
Great
I loved it, I went in expecting something along the lines of "Dog soldiers", something funny and enjoyable but instead I got a roller coaster ride of tension and fear. So often these days horror movies just aren't scary, they make you jump they have a little bit of atmosphere and that's it, well this film was scary. It was tense, well acted, and the director made great use of the setting to scare the hell out of you. I don't want to go in to a lot of detail in this review, as I don't want to spoil the experience for anyone who reads it, and that is what this film is an experience I came out of the cinema shaking. This film is well worth your time.
Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
Not bad at all
I wasn't expecting much after the crud that was Hellseeker!!! And the Fact that this had the same director didn't bode well, but I thought Hey I will give it a go and I was actually pleasantly surprised, in Fact I think apart from "Hellbound" and "Inferno" it is the best Sequel.
I have actually just edited this comment as I have recently re-watched the film and I enjoyed it even more the second time, I initially thought the plot was confusing but if you pay attention it does make sense you just have to work a little harder for it, which to be honest is not a bad thing, its nice to have an intelligent horror film once in a while. Although I suppose it may be seen as a little negative by some that I was very confused on my first viewing and had to watch it again to get it, although I rather liked that about the film.
I cared about the main character and felt sorry for her, as she was really just a pawn in the game between Winter and Pinhead. The director did a fine job (unlike last time) I found the mood of the film spot on and some of the set pieces were excellent, like the bit with the dead girl in the apartment and I loved the scene where she finds the knife in her back!!!! I also thought the ending was good, It wasn't all happy ever after. I thought that the director really managed to inject the film with a sense of realism that really added strength to proceedings.
Overall not bad at all, it is well worth a look if you can take it for what it is an intelligent horror film that's a little different.
The Ring Two (2005)
The Ring Poo ****** contains spoilers******
I was really excited about this one, the director of the Japanese Original the marvellous Naomi Watts returning, a new story not a remake of the Japanese sequel. It can't go wrong... Can it???
*** Spoilers ***
Well it certainly does go wrong, and to be fair I think the blame can be laid totally on the story and the lame script!!! Oh and some really dodgy CGI (isn't there always). The actors did the best they could with the dialogue, and it's a testament to Hideo Nakata's directing skill that the film is watch able at all. The story starts of quite creepily with the good old video we know and love, but then Rachel destroys the tape releasing Samara to posses her son!!!! It just wasn't a scary premise, the ending of the story totally ripped of Dark Water; Samara just wanted a mother to love her!!!! What?? One of the things that made her scary was she was a little girl who just liked to hurt people!!! It totally ruined the effect giving her some kind of sob story. As for the Dodgy CGI Deer's, Bambi on Acid, they just looked naff, a poor rip off of the genuinely creepy horse moment in the first movie. It also really annoyed me when the bad CG Samara pops out of the Bath and says Mummy, please. Although Rachel's Hollywood one-liner at the end amused me because it was so bad.
To sum up I really tried to enjoy this film, I wanted to enjoy this film, but it just wasn't very good, I switched off halfway through, Its sad because with a better story and script this could have been better than the first. To be honest watch the Japanese original and forget the rest (although to be fair I do like the remake).
Creep (2004)
Didn't really scare me but I enjoyed it anyway *spoilers*
I found this film really entertaining; I was a little dubious having read a lot of negative reviews, but I thought I would give it a chance anyway. I didn't find it particularly scary it did make me jump a few times and the location was suitably creepy.
SPOILERS
A lot of people said that they didn't like the main character because she wasn't particularly nice, but that what I liked about her it made her more real to me, so many characters in these films are nice and pure and virginal but not all people are like that, it was nice to see someone who did have faults. This for me also meant that there was some character development, by the end of the film she cares about the other characters, that initially she just saw as homeless scum and she gets an insight into their life in the final shots of the movie.
I must say I did find Craig a little bit of a letdown; he didn't have the physical presence to be truly scary and I don't think they went far enough with the makeup he just looked weedy and mildly deformed. Although I did like the concept of the secret clinic and the abandoned experiment in the caverns below London, I found the location very effective, you start to lose track of time, as everything underground is dark and claustrophobic.
A lot of people have said that there wasn't enough back story in the film and it seemed pointless, I disagree I think the director gave us just enough information to fill in the blanks ourselves. All the information is there it just isn't laid out on a silver platter, which personally I enjoyed because it gets you thinking and sets the imagination working to fill in the blanks.
END SPOILERS
Overall its isn't the best horror film out there but I found it entertaining and engrossing, with a good ending, I also liked the acting it was above average for this type of movie all the characters were played well. I was drawn into the subterranean world of the Creep and I had a good time I laughed I jumped and felt satisfied. Keep an open mind and maybe you will enjoy it but bare in mind it's not for everyone.
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
I really wanted to like this....but *contains spoilers*
I went in to this movie determined to ignore all the negative reviews that I had read because I really wanted to enjoy it, but unfortunately I just came out of the cinema disappointed. Before anyone has a go at the fact i'm expressing a negative opinion, i'm not nitpicking, it just wasn't a very good movie, sometimes it happens guys. It wasn't awful but It could have been so much better, on a plus point i thought the sets were amazing the pyramid was really well done although I think the idea of it being a testing ground could have been exploited a lot more. Also the film was shot well it certainly looked good, my main gripe has to be with the appalling script. My main impression when watching the film was that it felt like big chunks were missing, it just jumped from inane dialogue to lame alien encounter to more inane dialogue. I thought that the characters were non existent, they were cardboard cutouts, there was the token guy with a camera with photographs of his kids designed to make us empathise with him, the Italian dude who was totally unfazed by the death of his friend with the glasses, and who just so happened to be able to translate ancient texts and then as soon as we found out the plot got killed!!!! funny that. The sigourney replacement enough said, and who the hell was the blonde dike with the gun she was just there no explanation of why!!! oh well, and poor old Wayland ahhhhh he just wanted to leave his mark!!!! what twaddle. I just didn't care about any of them. Also I know its a movie and i'm supposed to suspend disbelief, but not one person thought that the fact a massive hole opening up over the pyramid overnight inexplicably was cause for concern????? oh well we will just go down anyway and see who's there!!!! please. I think that Mr Anderson should stick to just directing and should leave the script writing alone because I think that this film had all the elements to be really good, and as I said before I thought the directing wasn't bad, but it was let down by a hollow script and lets face it if the script is crap whats the point? 3 out of 10
Saw (2004)
Pile of old Tosh
This film rates as one of the worst films i've seen for a long time. I really cant understand what everyone is raving about. It was so predictable, the acting was appalling, at one point towards the end everyone in the cinema was laughing at how bad it was. Its a blatant rip off of seven, In fact it rips off every thriller cliché there is and it does it really badly, there is no tension at all, and to top it all off its really really boring, I love movies and its rare that I get the urge to walk out of a film half way through but Saw was one of those "special" films that made me want to ask for my money back. I know most people who read this will go and see the film anyway but If I can save just a few of you from wasting your money and time then this review is worth while. Trust me its pants!!!! 1 out of 10
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Scary scary film
Wow I went to see this at a special preview last night and it realy scared me and believe me ive seen a lot of horror movies. As a fan of the original movie I was expecting a soso remake with a few chills along the vein of resident evil. But what I didnt expect was to be jumping out of my skin at every sound and peeking through my fingers every 5 mins ,you may think im just a wimp but honestly it takes a lot to scare me and this is one of the only films that has managed to do so in a while, the other being Dark Water which i also recommend. I do feel I need to say that I dont realy think that this should be classed as a remake as its very different from the original the mall is there but thats about it, its also closer in tone to something like 28 days later. I think that its not lacking when you compare it to the original because its different, where the original to me had an epic feel that was chilling as you realy felt that the problem was not just contained to the people in the mall, this movie was more action led and I felt that it focoused more on the characters we saw I didnt feel that there was a world outside that was ravaged by zombies. I also thought that a few of the characters in the remake were just there for fodder and had no real purpose as they were not developed. Those niggles aside I loved this movie and was pleasently suprised it shows films like Resident Evil (which I thought was ok when I first saw it) for the poor imitations they realy are, although dont take my word for it go see it for yourself and be afraid.