Vanishing on 7th Street Review.

Vanishing on 7th Street (2010)




Director - Brad Anderson


 Its just another day in Detroit, Paul (John Leguizamo- Repo Men, Gamer) is working the reels at the local cinema, Rosemary (Thandie Newton- Crash, 2012)is doing her shift at the hospital and Luke (Hayden Christensen- Jumper, Takers) is sleeping off his night shift when a power cut happens to the city and when the lights come back on everyone has simply vanished.

 Vanishing on 7th Street is branded as a Horror/Mystery/Thriller, and even at the sight of the trailer, my girlfriend vowed never to watch it. My girlfriend is scared of the dark, not in a 'sleep with the lights on' kind of way, it doesn't terrify her, just more in the typical imagination running wild sense. I personally don't have a problem with the dark, so I had problems with finding the 'Horror' in Vanishing on 7th Street. I'm sure it's there, but It didn't manage to seep its way into my noggin.

 Vanishing on....you know what, for the sake of my RSI, I will refer to this feature from now on as just Vanishing, well, First off, I like the idea. Although nothing really new, it fits nicely in with the apocalyptic 'end is nigh' season we seem to be pumped with every six months. The small cast has been chosen well and the cinematography is not a let down and as most of the film is shot in darkness, it's all visible and clear. The Script is nothing great but as most of the plot is visibly clear, there is no real need to criticise it.

 The plot line kicks in within the first two minutes and then starts to go downhill pretty much from then on to the end. My biggest problem with Vanishing though, are the creatures, monsters, ghosts, whatever they are, as they are supposed to be the 'scary' thing about the film, the thing that gets your blood pumping, the hairs standing up, but all they did was remind me of the shadows dragging the bad guy to hell in Ghost. That's probably why I wasn't scared at the film. I suppose if you do have a fear of the dark, or that you can be hurt by it, then you will probably get a good thrill from it.


6/10

In Time Review

In Time (2011)




Director - Andrew Niccol

 In Time is set in a future world where not only are people engineered to cease ageing physically at twenty five years old, but also when they reach that landmark, they are given one years worth of time to live, and in a world where time is currency, its not very long indeed. Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) lives in the ghetto and each day is a struggle to stay alive. Usual Will wakes with around one day to live and spends the day working and finding ways to increase his time. Then one night he meets a man in his local bar who has over one hundred years time. 


 This SCI-FI/Thriller is really about the difference in class within our society's, how the few have all the wealth and and how the masses suffer because of it, only In Time uses time instead of money. Using time as currency seems an absurd concept, but In Time does a great job of bringing it to reality and making it logical and that is probably the best thing of this feature. 

 It does take a bit of getting used to that everyone is young, or appears young but the director makes sure you understand this on more than one occasion, such as his Salas' mother celebrates her 50th birthday but looks, well, 25 (or around that age). Also there are no fat people, or ugly people, in fact it seems everyone is  genetically perfect, except maybe Salas' best friend Borel (Johnny Galecki- Roseanne) who is short and slightly plump. 

 The acting In Time is not bad, except for Timberlake who just seems to be trying too hard to be a hero, he seems wooden and out of focus with the caricature at times and although doesn't do an awful job, doesn't really do the role justice. The thing about In Time is that it should be a bad film, it has the right ingredients to be, but I just cant bring myself to think it. I believe that it is the setting and story to In Time that makes it work, keeps it interesting throughout, even though its predictable. I do recommend that you give this film a chance, just don't expect Blade Runner style grandeur and just a half decent SCI-FI and you should be alright. 

6/10   

    

Hanna Review

Hanna  (2011)



Director- Joe Wright



Hanna is a sixteen year old girl who was brought up by her father, but Hanna is no ordinary teenage girl, Hanna has spent her life training to be an assassin. After a life time of waiting, Hanna sets out to eliminate the one who caused her to be this way, the woman who killed her mother. 


 Joe Wright's Hanna is another film that is currently travelling the 'Bourne' Highway, with the action hero a female lead (Salt, Haywire etc) which is not a bad thing. Instead of John McClane or John Matrix there is Mallory, Selene and Evelyn. Now you can add little Hanna (Saoirse Ronan - Atonement) to that list. Hanna is slick and well worked out and although is a revenge action film, it is also a story of being a teenage girl with no experience of the outside world. The film triumphs in that it doesn't make you wait to find out who the bad guy, or girl in this case (Cate Blanchett- Lord of the Rings, Hot Fuzz) is, instead it lets you concentrate on the main characters rather than trying to figure out 'who it is!' .

                                        a bad time to visit Harry Potters uncle.
             
 Hanna flows nicely through at a good pace and entertains throughout. The Cinematography is crisp and the soundtrack works well with its surroundings. The acting is good all round, Eric Bana (Star Trek, Chopper) plays Hanna's father well and Blanchett excels as Agent Marissa. There is a sweet feeling to Hanna and think most will enjoy it. The ending is the one you would expect, but works well enough to satisfy. I suppose the only bad thing about Hanna is that maybe it does seem to slide from around halfway and continues to the end. Overall a good watch. 


7/10.

 




 

Paranormal Activity 3 Review

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)




Director - Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman


 So, the saga continues, or should I say, jumps back to the beginning. 

 The year is 1988 and we find sisters Katie and Kristi as young girls,  living a normal life, when they become friends with an invisible friend called Toby. 


  Its the third instalment of the Paranormal Activity series and we get to look back at how it all started. The film continues with its Cam-flick genre and again we find strange happenings going on, the usual doors closing on their own, noises, lights turning on and off, but also with a little more. This time the 'Spirit' or whatever you want to call it is thrust into the mix early on so there is no waiting about for the scares to start. There's the usual getting to know the characters and whatnot, but mostly this third instalment doesn't hang about. 

 I was impressed with the first two films, not because of the acting, or really even the confusing plot lines, but because they genuinely got me scared watching them for the first time and PA3 is no different. 


 The thing that scares me, and I imagine most, in the PA series is the tension of knowing something is going to happen, but not knowing what or when. The whole series is built on anticipation, waiting, waiting, then BAM!. PA3 is no different in this respect. 


 OK, so the plot is silly and once again doesn't explain the full story, just gives the public a little bit more to put towards the conundrum, probably so they can ween out the story for a few more films. 

 I thought when I put on PA3 that because I have seen the previous two a few times, that I wouldn't be scared as I was with the others, but I couldn't be more wrong. I found myself turning away at certain points and having to tell myself its just a film, but that's down to my over active imagination spewing out visions of what might happen rather than what does. for example, during PA3 the girls step dad (lets say) sets up a camera in the kitchen, but converts a fan so the camera pans left and right showing the whole downstairs. As the camera glides from the kitchen to the living room and back you know something is going to be different or stood there, and its that anticipation of waiting for it that gets you. I think at one point I found myself saying out loud 'just happen will you!' as I couldn't take it anymore. 

 Of course some people aren't scared by PA, and if that's the case, you wont be scared by PA3, but I'm sure by now, those people wont be interested in this instalment.

 Overall I enjoyed PA3 and if you like to be scared, then check this film out. 

7/10

 

13 Assassins Review

13 Assassins (Jûsan-nin no shikaku) - 2010.




Director- Takashi Miike 






Back in the old days of Samurai, there was an Evil lord named Naritsugu who was tearing his way through the Japanese empire killing all those who did not kneel at his feet and making slaves of those who did. Knowing one day that Naritsugu would become a Shogun, a small band of 13 warriors came together to put an end to the evil lords regime, before it became too late. 





Miike's 13 Assassins is a slow burning feature and not an all out martial arts festival that most expect, you really have to be patient with it if you are going to enjoy it. The first hour or so is about the group coming together and planning their attack and then explodes for the remaining forty minutes into an epic (but not overblown) battle. 


The acting is good and the film is beautifully shot and crisp. The storyline, although simple, works well and is executed perfectly. The battle scenes are without doubt the best parts of 13 Assassins and this has to be put down to the realism, there is no dualing in trees or leaping over rivers with the 'wire-martial arts' stunts of the past, (crouching tiger, hidden dragon etc) just good old fashioned, well choreographed fighting. 


I suppose my only criticism of the feature is that some people may get bored with the slow build up of the film and switch off, which is understandable in an age where concentration levels seem to be at an all time low. 


So, to conclude 13 Assassins is a very well thought out action-drama that will never be as exciting as say Drunken Master or Ong Bak, but has more depth than the typical Martial Arts film. 


7/10

Super 8 Review

Super 8. (2011)

Director- J.J Abrams.


During the Summer break in 1979, Six Friends are filming a zombie movie for a children's competition when they witness a train crash. Then, weird things start to happen in their quaint little town. Dogs run off, people start to disappear, household goods go missing, power is cut off and the Air force come to town. Then the friends have their film developed from the crash and see something they could never of comprehended.


J.J Abrams wrote and directed this film with Steven Spielberg producing and from watching Super 8, its easy to see that Spielberg was involved. Every ounce of the feature oozes Spielberg, with hints of Goonies, E.T and Close encounters of the third kind all fused together to make Super 8. The only thing missing is someone being eaten by a shark.

The film is glossy and has the usual Spielberg 'family' element to it, which you would expect. The typical middle-class American families with no real character's to them. The film tries to give out the feeling of broken families coming together from the events unfolding around them, but seem weak and is hardly original.

Super 8 starts OK, building a relationship with the character's, who all seem to be photocopies of the kids in Goonies, but then starts to fade around halfway through when the storyline starts to kick in.  The main plot line lacks any real imagination and has been the centre of many 'monster' flicks around and even though there is a twist, its one that has been done before and is clear pretty much from the outset.

The child acting is good, especially young Elle Fanning (The curious case of Benjamin Button), who plays Alice, but the adult actors lack any real characture and don't really do the film any justice. 

The 'monster' doesn't so much scare, rather than make you jump and when we did see it, reminded me of the creature from Relic.

The ending to this film is my biggest concern, as it is very weak and predictable and seems to incorporate the 'Spielburg happy ending' philosophy to it, as usual, which left me disappointed, but, after all it is a 'family film'. By the way, I know I keep going on about Spielberg when it is in fact J.J.Abrams film, but once you see Super 8, you will wonder what say Abrams actually had on everything, unless of course he is just trying to be Spielberg.

Overall Super 8 is a poor film made and produced very well.

5/10

Apollo 18 Review

Apollo 18 (2011)

Director -   Gonzalo López-Gallego


1972 was the last time mankind walked on the moon, or so we are lead to believe. 

in 2011, 84 hours of footage was uploaded to a website, of which 90 minutes have been edited into 'Apollo 18' 


It turns out, from the footage, that in 1974, three astronaut's, Ben (Warren Christie), Nate (Llyod Owen) & John (Ryan Robbins) were sent up to the moon on one last mission. The public were told the ship going up was unmanned. The Astronaut's were blasted out and made their way to the big dry rock that revolves our plant and touched down on the southern pole. they put out the motion sensor camera's they had been told to put up by mission control (to document their two days on the moon) and then set about their mission, which was to set up some transmitters, to which  the two men on the moon and the other still floating in orbit monitoring thought were to spy on the Russians. Once the transmitters are in place they scout the area and collect more rock samples for the big wigs back home at NASA, then strange things start to happen and the two men on that Baron rock started to wonder if they were alone.

                                        the moment he realised he had left the iron on!


Apollo 18 is yet another Cam Film, which of course is the craze these days (Paranormal Activity, Rec etc)  but yet again, I have not been left disappointed. Apollo 18 looks authentic, the film, clothes hair, and the moon scenes are like watching when Armstrong was bouncing around up there. grainy, dark, grey and I like that in this film. for it to be realistic, it needed that for it to work. I also like the claustrophobic feeling that the film oozes, the base of the real fear that this film wants you to feel, 'your in a six by eight metal box, trapped, and if you go outside, you wont be able to breathe...'

The acting isn't the greatest Ive seen, but its enough for the film to be convincing. I do feel though that allot of people may be left a little disappointed by Apollo 18, as you don't really see anything, like Blair Witch, some people wont be scared and will probably find the feature boring. Overall I enjoyed this picture, I found it well made and quite original and look forward to seeing it again.

As for the general masses, I have a feeling Apollo 18 will be a 'Marmite' film.  

7/10