Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Horror Film Review #4

Cooties



If the tagline read an infectious good time,  Cooties would fits the bill; The movie features an all star of television actors stemming from Hawaii 5-0, The Newsroom, Wilfred, and 30 Rock and it features one of the creators of the Insidious and Saw movies.
The Premise is pretty simple a small town in the Midwest is faced with a viral pandemic affecting its children, Its Children of the Corn meets The Walking Dead, thanks to a shipment of tainted Chicken nuggets which at a certain point in the movie serves as a double entendre.  The adults represent a cascade of middle american stereotypes, of whom also represent the teaching faculty.  The children at the beginning of the movie were not portrayed as a wholesome bunch either, they were more reminiscent to the feeding of a cute Mogwai after midnight and being plagued with Gremlins in the wake of such an action.  The pace of the movie picks up to a frenzy, and allows the core audience, to feel the tension as teacher's window of escape begins to dwindles as the night begins to fall.









There is strong language and graphic violence,
13 and older is the general rating or adult accompaniment would best describe the choice of the ratings board towards this film.   Its a pretty decent film to watch with the family, and has a smooth and tight script that doesn't drag or feel like low point.

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Horror Film Review #3

POD

 The film had a limited run in select theatres this past August, and was easily missed by a mass audience.  Its Director Mickey Keating is a relative new comer, with 3 films under his belt in the past five years and another project in the works 'Carnage Park' . Starring Alan Ruck which is soon to be released; Keating is an artist who is slowly coming into his own.   On the surface POD is a low budget, independent movie, that can be dismissed as  nothing more than an film school art project. It has a good script with talented no name actors, who may one day surprise you down the road.

The Premise: Three siblings reunite at the family cabin in the woods when their brother Martin a shell shocked war vet leaves a questionable message that would ultimately forces an intervention.

Its ending resembles an generic episode from Tales of the Darkside, it can wet your appetite for the up coming X-Files Series set to debut on January 2016.  The overall consensus towards the film, is lacklustre,  It's poster appear to be more thrilling than the movie itself,  There are some gems, like the Martin's behaviour, its reminiscent to Brad Pitt's performance in 12 Monkeys.  However,  their sister Lyla has an over the top performance near the end of the film which I found misplaced.    Its on an obvious shoe string budget with local talented performers, which can be easily overlooked, but the film has a quick wrap up that felt  to me unfulfilling and sour.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Friday, 16 October 2015

Horror Film Review #2

The Gallows


A horror film set in  a contemporary High School environment, in some small town in Nebraska.
The premise: 20 years after the accidental hanging of a student Charlie Grimille, during the failed stage production of 'The Gallows, The Schools attempts a revival of the same production. Its lead actor has stage fright and decides to sabotage the set the night before the grand opening. Once he and three other classmates enter the school on the eve of the revival, a vengeful spirit is awaken.

A couple of year ago, a Horror movie 'Stage Fright' hit theatres, its opening synopsis was similar.
A musical camp revives a decade old play, after the original play closed abruptly due to its lead star being found murdered.  Fast forward to the present, the daughter of the deceased starlet has taken over  where her mother left off.   The movie was hokey with an over the top villainy. But the musical numbers were outstanding 80% of the time, and the play 'Phantom of the Opera' was given a creative re-tooling by having it taking place in Japan, and the phantom being a Kabuki Phantom.  It was a refreshing retelling of an old concept.
The Gallows villain is the spirit of teen who lost his life accidentally, and is evoked when callous teens desecrate his memory and the tribute.  The trailer was edited to make the movie feel exceptionally scary.  The movie was shot documentary single camera POV style. its the only way to minimize the audiences' view of what is taking place and keeping fear of the unforeseen, become the canvas of the actual film as the movie unfolds.  The style, or trick, or concept of film worked  for the Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, The Visit, and even 'Into the Storm.
It fails here.  The ambitious directors of 'The Gallows' breaks away from their own rule book of which they designed. By leaving the single camera and going back and forward between camera phones and documentary camera to tell the full story Arc., Then goes from a haunting or stalking movie to being able to possess an individual  to role play for no apparent reason at a climatic scene, without a build up or hint of possession prior to the film's climax.
The possession and lack of explanation, can anger the audience, as with Dr. Doom in the failed Fantastic Four Reboot, Die hard fans and intellectual audience members would not be able to tell you  what all the powers Dr. Doomed possessed in the movie because it kept changing and adding on to itself.  And where Cloverfield's hand held camera began to make the audience nauseous with the shaking and uneasy swaying. People were equally disappointed with the irritating narration of the cameraman aka best friend/sidekick in The Gallows.


Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Horror Film Review

The Visit

It has been a while since I wrote on my blog, and even longer since I had written a film review.  So no one is more surprised than me to find that it took a M. Night movie to have me sit in front of my desktop and type out my opinions. (Metaphorically put pen to pad)
Sixteen years ago M. Night Shyamalan became an overnight success with the Sixth Sense.  The only theatrical experience I ever encountered where the audience sat in their seats past the closing credits and long after the lights had turned on.  The legendary twist that made M. Night a superstar director/writer became his last crowning achievement. No one can argue the fact that every succession of film he created in the last 16 years have been almost degrading than it predecessor.
Welcome to M. Night's comeback movie.  The audience weight-in is simple he created a movie that delivered a swerve, that was done in the same structure as Sixth Sense.  M. Night's last project was the Tv series Wayward Pines that aired in the early summer;  An All star cast with a promising start, with the buzz of Twin Peaks becoming a series on showtime the following year,  The series was highly anticipated and was given the 3rd largest simulcast launch in history at that time. Airing in 159 countries worldwide for it's pilot episode.  A Ten episode series with the big reveal or twist being discovered by the 5th episode in.  To call the reveal ludicrous would be too kind, So the general viewing audience on The Visit's opening day weekend had low expectations,  which might be why this film is heralded so greatly.  On the surface, everything we are watching has a plausible logical explanation.  Looking at the trailers and watching the movie and thinking there is a twist and  trying to figure it out as I watched.  Is in the audience as well as my own subconscious, a stigma of a M. Night film., but being a bitter audience member discourage by a decade of disappointments I was just looking  for logical progression in the movie so I can justify paying to see this movie.

The Premise: Two kids go to see their estranged grandparents, for a week, uncover why their mother parted ways, and rekindle a family bond.  The daughter decides to video document their journey; Which proves the basis of the audiences point-of-view.  The Odd behaviour of the grandparents can be explained right to the very end , even the scenes of kids scared under the house, we as the audience know exactly what is going on and are ok with the understanding premise.  M. Night's power of subtlety is almost overtly bludgeoning, if you pick up on the twist early, some say they caught-on within twenty minutes, others like myself discover the reveal at the end where the reveal is actually laid out.   Thinking about the movie in hindsight you have deja vu of Sixth sense, and trace the movie backwards to see where we could have or should have caught on.  Here is hoping we don't wait another decade for an excellent movie,  that would and could  be the worst twist of all.

Thursday, 4 December 2014

X-Box One & PS4 - A Year Later



November marked the one year anniversary of both of these gaming consoles and it's promise of a new generation of games and technology.  So here are the pros and cons, broken down into 8 separate categories.



Resolution

Commonly referred to as pixelation; Or to the uninitiated it's simply the clarity, sharpness, and overall quality of the image. The Winner in this department is PS4, but by a small margin. When sampling upcoming games like Dragon Age: Inquisition, Battlefield 4, and Watch Dogs. The resolution is slightly higher, but it can only be noticeable realized when viewed on the largest screens possible.
So the edge on graphic horsepower is PS4.





The Menu Screen

Or the more technical term, that I despise - 'User Interface' -   Over the course of the year there has been updates,but the clear winner again is the PS4, it's design is a simple hierarchy with familiar symbols of navigating through the menus, and it's far more  comprehensible.  X-Box One has a periodic table. My home computer is a PC and I'm navigating windows 8.1. so there is no real bias on this review.
The Winner PS4


Controller

Well to start PS4's dual shock controller has improved from the PS3 design. Having the touch-sensitive trackpad, a built-in speaker, and a multi-coloured light bar.  The X-Box One does not have these features,  but what it does have are two things in it's favor which are design and durability.
PS4  controllers have had common problems  with sticky buttons and rubber peeling off the thumb-sticks, while theX-Box One just tend to work and holds comfortably in one's hand.
The Winner X-Box One.


Entertainment

Both consoles have put considerable amount of thought into non gaming entertainment over the past year, that includes TV and music services, and of course Netflix.  The console that edges out the win here is X-Box One by offering a wider range of entertainment apps & services, as well as the ability  to plug your cable or satellite box into the console and thereby using it to control what you want to watch on TV, proving to be more.. the jack of all trades.
The Winner X-Box One


Social, Sharing, and Online

From multi-player gaming & live-streaming game highlights to free games offered to subscribers of X-box One and Playstation Plus.  It is the X-Box One that makes it slightly easier to record, share, and stream gameplay; But its the PS4 that offers a better library of free games with its subscription service.
A Comparable Tie


Price & Popularity

PS4 Sensor
Right from the gate of its release this was X-box One's raging issue with consumer, selling $100 more that the PS4 controller that hit the market at $399.  It wasn't until June, when Microsoft made the underwhelming  Kinect Sensor an optional accessory, and now offering the X-Box One at $399 without its' sensor. Meanwhile Sony Canada raised its prices to$399 to $449 due to our weak dollar.
With PS4 more expensive and recently X-box One getting a $50 price cut in the US.  The overall commanding worldwide sales  still remains with the PS4.
Winner due to Popularity PS4



Voice & Motion Control
Both consoles offer voice & motion control peripherals
Kinect Senor
The $60 Playstation Camera is not really used for much as things sit right now, a couple of games uses simple voice commands. X-box One Kinect sensor has several games built around it, and most of X-box One's functions can be activated with Kinect voice commands. It doesn't always work well.
The Winner X-box One




Games
This is really the category that should have the most baring, for what is the console for than without games. Big gaming franchises appear on both consoles; Truly exceptional exclusive games have been thin on each system thus far. The roll out for next year's titles will play the biggest deciding factor on consoles's overall success.  The big exclusive titles will include Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, The Order: 1886, and Blood-bourne on the PS4.  
Halo 5: Guardians, Quantum Break, and Rise of the Tomb Raider will be on X-box One.
The Winner: You Decide

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Films to Launch between 2015 - 2020

What  began as an ambitious  roll out from DC Entertainment & Warner Bros. Studios of releasing 10 blockbuster Films over 5 years; quickly snowballed into every major motion picture company who owned superhero property rights and having their  definitive 5 year plan made public as well.  It was announced in the last week of October of 2014 and ended in early November  of the same year. Thus film scheduled announcements between Disney (Marvel Studios), Fox, Sony, and Time/Warner (DC) was created.

Here is what we the viewing audience can expect by way of highly anticipated 42 Superhero Movies, and over 30 Sequels, Reboots, Spin-Offs, and bestseller adaptations.

2015

January 9th     Taken 3  
           
March 20th     Insurgent

May 1st     Age of Ultron
May13th    Mad Max: Fury Road

June 12th    Jurassic World

July 1st       Terminator Genisys
July 10th     Minons
July 17th     Antman
July 24th     Pixels
July 31st     Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation

Aug 7th      The Fantastic Four
Aug 14th    Man from U.N.C.L.E
Aug 21st     Hitman Agent 47

Sept. 4th     The Transporter: Refueled
Sept. 18th   Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Sept. 25th   Hotel Transylvania 2


Oct.  2nd     The Martian
Oct. 16th     Crimson Peak
Oct. 23rd     Burnt

Nov.  6th     Spectre 
Nov.13th     By the Sea
Nov. 20th    Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Nov. 27th    Creed

Dec.  4th     Macbeth
Dec. 11th    In the Heart of the Sea
Dec. 18th    Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens
Dec. 23rd    Alvin & the Chipmunks: Road Chip


2016

Jan. 8th          Quentin Tarentino's : The Hateful Eight
Jan. 15th        Ride Along 2
Jan. 22nd       Risen
Jan. 29th        Kung Fu Panda 3

Feb.   5th        Pride and Prejudice & Zombies 
Feb. 12th        Deadpool

March 4th      London Has Fallen
March 18th    Alligent Part One
March 23rd    Batman/Superman: Dawn of Justice


April 29th      Ratchet & Clank Movie

May 6th         Captain America: Civil War
May 27th       Xmen Apocalypse

June   3rd       Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
June 10th       Now You See Me 2
June 17th       Finding Dory
June 24th       Independence Day: Resurgence

July   1st        The Purge 3
July 15th        Ghostbusters
July 22nd       Star Trek Beyond
July 29th        Jason Bourne

Aug. 5th         Suicide Squad
Aug. 12th       Pete's Dragon
Aug. 19th       Ben Hur
Aug. 26th       Mechanic: Resurrection

Sept. 16th       Blair Witch
Sept. 23rd       Magnificent Seven

Oct.   7th        The Girl on the Train
Oct.  14th       The Accountant
Oct.  21st       Jack Reacher 2
Oct. 28th        Inferno

Nov. 4th        Doctor Strange
Nov. 18th      Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Dec 16th        Rogue One: A Star War's Story
Dec. 23th       Assassin's Creed



2017

Jan. 6th           Underworld: Blood Wars
Jan. 20th         XxX: The Return of Xander Cage
Jan. 27th         Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Feb. 3rd           Rings
Feb. 10th         Lego: Batman
                        John Wick: Chapter 2

March 3rd        Logan
March 10th      Kong: Skull Island
March 17th      Beauty & the Beast
March 24th      Power Rangers
March 31st      Ghost in the Shell

April 14th        Furious 8

May 5th           Guardians of the Galaxy VOL. 2
May 19th         Alien: Covenant
May 26th         Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

June  2nd        Wonder Woman
June   9th        The Mummy
June 23rd        Transformers: The Last Knight

July 7th           Spider-Man: Home Coming
July 14th         War for the Planet of the Apes
July 21st         Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
July 28th         Atomic Blonde

Aug. 4th          The Dark Tower

Sept.    8th      It
Sept. 22nd      Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Oct.   6th        Blade Runner 2049
Oct. 27th        Jigsaw
Oct. 28th        Amityville: The Awakening

Nov. 3rd         Thor: Ragnarok
Nov. 17th       Justice League
..
Dec.   1st        The Shape of Water
Dec. 15th        Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Dec. 20th        Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Dec. 22nd       Pitch Perfect 3



2018

Jan.  5th           Insidious: The Last Key
Jan. 26th          Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Feb. 16th         Black Panther
..
March   2nd     Death Wish
March   9th      A Wrinkle in Time
March 16th      Tomb Raider
March 23rd      Pacific Rim: Uprising
March 30th      Acrimony

Apr. 13th         The New Mutants
Apr. 20th         Super Troopers 2

May 4th           Avengers: Infinity War
May 25th         Solo: A Star Wars Story

June  1st          Deadpool 2
June  8th          Ocean's Eight
June 15th        The Incredibles 2
June 22nd       Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
--
July   6th          Ant-Man and the Wasp
July 27th          M:I 6 - Mission Impossible

Aug  3rd          The Predator
Aug 10th          Meg

Sept. 14th        The Equalizer 2
Sept. 21st        Robin Hood

Oct.  5th          Venom
Oct 16th          The Girl in the Spider's Web

Nov. 2nd          X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Nov. 9th           Holmes and Watson
Nov. 16th         Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2
Nov. 21st         Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2    

Dec. 21st        Aquaman
Dec. 25th        Mary Poppins

                     
2019

Feb.  8th          Lego Movie 2
Feb. 14th         Gambit 😭

March  1st       How to Train your Dragon 3
March  8th      Captain Marvel
March 22nd    Godzilla: King of the Monsters

April 5th           Shazam

May   1st            Avengers: EndGame
May 17th           John Wick: Chapter 3

June  7th           Charlie's Angels (November)
June 14th          Justice League: Part Two😭
June 21st           Toy Story 4
June 28th          Transformers Movie 7😭

July  5th            Spider-Man: Far from Home
July 12th           Top Gun: Maverick (2020 push)
July 19th           Indiana Jones: Final Chapter😭

Sept.  6th           It: Chapter Two
Sept. 20th          Angry Birds 2

Nov.   8th        James Bond:No time to Die (2020 push)
Nov. 27th           Frozen 2

Dec. 13th          Wonder Woman: 1984 (2020 push)
Dec. 20th          Star Wars: Episode IX


2020
April   3rd           Cyborg 😭
April 10th           Fast & Furious 9

May  9th          Godzilla vs. Kong (November)

June 19th         Green Lantern Corp 😭

Nov. 20th         Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 (2021 push)

Dec. 18th          Avatar 2 (2021 push)
Dec. 25th          Sing 2 (2021 push)

Why the sudden explosion?  
Money is the major root of it all, 2014 was well below all expectations and profits dried up in a manner of speaking, when compared to any other year of this decade.  The blame belongs solely on the studio executives for looking too far ahead with Star Wars, Batman/Superman and Avengers. While not giving the audience of today anything to  build towards as a summer blockbuster for the year  of present. It was by February 2014, that those 3 films were announced and all we had to look at was Divergent.

Instead  we got Tammy (starring Melissa McCarthy) for July 4th weekend, and Transformers Age of Extinction as our headlining Summer blockbuster movie, and both were duds. The people around the world and in North America had the World Cup, And studios didn't bother to compete with network television.  The only stellar film that held the box office was rise of the Planet of the Apes, and that was it for 3 months until Mid-August when The Guardians of the Galaxy swooped in and saved the day.

As a result,  to prevent  a drought, a super-saturation of a "sure thing" over 5 years was created.  Myself, as a young boy I wanted to see a Justice League movie or Avengers being made into a movie, and now we are finally getting it.

The audience condition - is that with the money being thrown into producing all these films we the audience will  get quality in both star power and big budget theatrics. Fans are very critical, just ask Halle Berry and her take on Catwoman.
Growing up watching Superstars of Wrestling I always yearned for more than just one hour a week.
Fast forward to present day, and we have over 6 hours a week on network TV and now a 24/7 online Network Service, and a 3 hour show every monday. And the quality is not there;  as a result the subscribers for the online network is well below expectations, and only time will tell over the next 5 years. How anyone will do (Wrestling environment or Motion picture vs streaming vs the audience apetite), but as a fan whose boyhood dreams are being realized.  It is with certainty you have an eager audience, built-in just salivating to watch, but if the quality wavers even by even a margin, it can have a devastating effect on the future of films slated for release.

2020 update.. besides fast and furious 9 slated for a May 2020 release. All other expectations were either pushed further to a 2021 release or have been completely dropped due lack of studio confiedence or poor reception and ticket sales at the box office.


Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Scarborough Film Festival

Now celebrating its second anniversary, the Scarborough Film Festival, when compared to the Toronto Film Festival; an event that's on Par with many worldly cinema festivals.  Can be said to be a little more intimate amongst its' community.  Giving references to its theatres that are in and around the city of Scarborough; utilizing the untapped hidden resources of this corner of the GTA. 
This year the festival has 30 films being showcased over the course of 6 days.  

    The Attraction of this festival, is not only are tickets are readily available with a price range set between $25 to $10 based on ages; or gala event.  But these are quality films, from rising young stars ,directors, and cinematographers.  And the atmosphere has been very relaxed, but still holding its charm of being a spectacle.