Intro
Hey there, welcome to the Cutting Room Floor Movie Blog. Too many times I pick up a magazine or watch something on TV and I think who is writing this review and what agenda do they have. There are too many people (not all mind you) who talk about film and don’t really get down to it because they fear they might piss someone off or they want to make sure they themselves don’t look stupid. Well I assure you no one in the business surely cares about my opinion enough for them to get pissed off and I’m quite used to embarrassment in my life so it’s all fine.
This blog will discuss upcoming releases and give some reviews from not only me but any of you guys that get in contact so we don’t all end up wasting our valuable money on the insane prices of cinema tickets these days by going to see utter turds of films. Whether you want to contribute one word or huge essays reviewing films or agree or disagree with comments made by me or others on this blog you can interact or not it’s up to you. This is for the most casual cinema goer to the nerdiest of film geeks. Hope you enjoy and revel in this blog like pigs rolling in their own filth you filthy cinema loving pigs.
Preeeview
Battlefield: Los Angeles
I had a very god opening link and witty comment about feeling good about being bad for this preview thinking that this film featured the acting debut of Rihanna. However she will feature in the upcoming film Battleship not the movie in question here; Battlefield: Los Angeles an invasion movie of which we can see from the trailer is of immense scale. And it heralds the beginning of another invasion that is the start of 2011’s blockbuster bombardment that will feature heavily in this blog over the coming weeks and months. So they are quick out of the blocks but will they lay down the gauntlet to the rest or merely act as a foreboding presence full of hammy acting and little storyline warning the rest of this year’s efforts how pumping in as much money as possible into a project doesn’t always guarantee results.
I'm not here this week to pass judgement on this as we are merely previewing and speculating on this film but we can often tell much from a film’s trailer as to what to expect (now would be a good time to click on the link to the trailer if you haven’t already). So it seems we have an Independence Day style “here come the aliens arrrrghhhh” blockbuster but instead of the cheekiness of Will Smith we are following the slightly aging worrier Aaron ‘Two Face’ Eckhart in what makes this film look like the biggest budget Just for Men hair dye advert ever!
Eckhart vs Aliens
The film contains some clichéd elements all contemporary sci-fi invasion movies need such as lots of people looking up in horror at the sky, Michelle Rodriguez dressed in army gear and looking sweaty, scary and sexy all at the same time and a rap or rnb artist featuring in the cast. This time the role is fulfilled by Ne-yo as Cpl. Kevin Harris. Jonathon Liebesman directs and I’m afraid to say even though this film has the highest rating on IMDB.com of any of his most recent films it’s not necessarily a glowing endorsement.
I would find it unlikely that I will go to see this film at the cinema so it will not feature in the review section of any of the blogs for the foreseeable future but if you go and see it then please get in touch and post a review that is as long or as short as you like on the facebook page and you may be lucky enough to be quoted in an upcoming blog (I know, so exciting a little bit of wee came out right?).
Reeeview
Cinema
Unkown
Expectations before this film were high. Liam Neeson in a central European thriller about identity theft sounds like Taken meets a Hitchcock nail biter. And for the first half of the film that was probably true. A likeable character with a seemingly impossible task of proving he is who he is following a car crash that has mysteriously meant he has been replaced in his life by an imposter and no one accepts otherwise. The tension was building and the tilting camera and wobbly angles meant the audience felt the same desperation for the truth as Dr Martin Harris (Liam Neeson). Once the truth is discovered about two thirds of the way through the film though the rest became tedious and meant that the 2 hour running time felt much longer. The trouble was that with the truth out there was little to care about anymore and tying up the loose ends felt rushed and contrived. In its defense it looks great and has a car chase and an excellent explosion.
Blurry Diane Kruger and a focusey Neeson
High expectations are always dangerous when going to the cinema and unfortunately this film couldn’t live up to the many successful thrillers and mysteries that have gone before and Taken which it has unsurprisingly been compared to by just about everyone who is a fan of that film. Don’t be fooled by this review though my friend thoroughly enjoyed it and IMDB have it scoring quite highly so if you have seen it then it’d be great to know what you thought.
DVD
Shutter Island
This has been out a while but is still featuring in Play.com’s top selling charts. I’ve seen it in the cinema, on Blu ray and on DVD this week. As a psychological thriller this cannot be faulted. Scorcese and Di Caprio have been doing brilliant work in recent years that will equal that which he did with De Niro. But this was a bit of a change of pace for the veteran director in terms of his usual crime genre. Many of you have already seen the film but it’s just as enjoyable on multiple viewings given the mystery involved.
A couple of little technical quirks though are that the blue screen backgrounds in the film seem to look really quite bad although this could be down to a deliberate decision to pay homage to films of the 50’s (when the film is set). Another is that when the camera flicks between characters during dialogue the actors sometimes have their hands or bodies positioned slightly differently giving a disjointed feel to the shots. This happens on far too many occasions for this to be errors in the editing process. Scorcese employs this and many other techniques to keep the audience in the same uneasy frame of mind as TUS Marshall Teddy Daniels (Di Caprio) and draw us in to his confusion.
Hotty
Great film and a great story with real style and flair. See the Aviator, Gangs of New York and The Departed for more excellent Scorsese and Di Caprio action.
Snatch
Film starts at the end and then retraces the actions of multiple characters in a dizzying sequence of scenes that leaves you as an audience member just enjoying what’s happening rather than giving you any time to gather your thoughts and try to establish exactly where you are up to. This has always been Guy Ritchie’s greatest skill and he is at his best in this film.
Intense negotiations over a caravan.
A great soundtrack, witty dialogue and many terrific character performances from some of America and Britain’s best actors makes this one of the best British films ever made. Never short of style, Ritchie crams this with substance as well. Hats off also to Matthew Vaughan who without his efforts to get films financed would leave us without this gem as well as Harry Brown and Layer Cake and Kick Ass which rocks up onto Sky Movies this week.
Odd bins
Submarine
Now this deserves a shout out as its been making some waves at independent film festivals but thought its best kept to the odd-bin section for now as its not one for everyone. It will probably find much more success on dvd rather than at the cinema as these kind of films do. This is the directorial debut of Richard Ayoade (no? you know Moss from the IT Crowd. Ah yeah now you know) and it seems to have earnt a great deal of plaudits and got quite a few people excited about what will come next from him. This film though? A teen comedy, in an arty style with songs from Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys). Check it out!
Suckerpunch animated short
Now I will probably talk about this film in a blog very soon as it’s the one im most excited about this year but for now here’s a little animated short someone has made inspired by the film. I particularly like the Revenge of the Sith reference on two minutes (if you notice that you are as cool as me). But robots, Nazis, samurai swords, explosions, super slow-mo’s and super-hot babes; this is one to watch if you are a geek like me.
Soundtrack
Tracks that I have been listening to while blogging this and deserve a shout out:
A slow one from 14 year old Birdy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL2Uzz4j01sA lovely dreamy indie/electro offering from Naked and Famous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdO85Qf4PocKiller remix of XXXO by MIA with Jay-Z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOvetfF6TsIGet in touch on here or on the facebook page and get your opinions heard. Enjoy some films this week and take it easy.
