craigoxbrow: (Default)
Grolsch and an indie film mag I've never heard offering Scott Pilgrim previews at places such as the Cameo.

Of course, the one in London had Edgar Blinkin' Wright going to it, but still, chance of free and early and being plied with horrible booze.
craigoxbrow: (life)
The man who made the Terminator, the Predator, Edward Scissorhands, the Alien Queen, Lestat, brought the T-Rex back to life in Jurassic Park and most recently made Iron Man fly. His name on the credits meant you'd see something amazing.

Listen.

Sep. 29th, 2007 09:09 pm
craigoxbrow: (Default)
Écoute Le Temps is a quiet little mystery which also looks sidelong, and all too slightly as it's a fascinating idea in its own right, at how having a possible psychic ability in the family might affect you. The plot could have been punched up a little more (and doubtless will be in an inevitable Hollywood version) but the central paranormal hook is covered so thoroughly and so matter-of-factly that it all seems quite plausible.
craigoxbrow: (Mal)
The Western being 3:10 To Yuma. It contains no spaceships, although it does contain one spaceship pilot - and a villain who looks enough like him that at the online release of the trailer, Joss Whedon himself got them mixed up.

It's about honour and justice and family, men beating their devils, teh train as a force for change and grand Western stuff like that.

Its most notable nods to having been filmed more recently than the previous version in 1957 are the occasional swearing (we ain't talking Deadwood here), its treatment of the Apache as victims of white violence in one comment and unseen Reavers in one scene, and a rather surprising bit of electrified torture, which is considered wrong by the guys who are taking the victim to be lawfully hanged. That aside, it's full of heroic struggling for sound old values, gallows humour, and highly accurate six-shooters.

Also, Doktor Sordid notes that War looks like it should never be released as a film, just a trailer in the middle of Grindhouse. Michael Clayton looks pretty good, though, and the unusual-for-a-historical-biopic-sequel to Elizabeth has a whole breathtaking-epic-scope thing going on.
craigoxbrow: (life)
... is very good, very powerful, has a mesmerising performance by Forest Whittaker, and is pretty fun for the first hour, then deeply not fun for the rest of its length.

We left the cinema looking rather pale, talking about how James McAvoy had to work as a guide for the audience (and that I rather wished he hadn't been such a good guide at the end) and went to get some scotch.

Something more fun next time, like... almost anything.
craigoxbrow: (Default)
Due to seeing it at 11am for free (on Cameo screen one, no less) I again feel obligated to provide word of mouth. I am happy to do so.

Guillermo Del Toro's El Laberinto del Fauno is an excellent film, a dark companion piece to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe in some ways (with a child going into a fantasy quest from a new home in the 1940s), quite horrific in some places but in general moving, sometimes funny and often sad. I'd see it again. And it's beautifully made - if Peter Jackson can't direct The Hobbit for some reason, Senor Del Toro could do a fine job directing it.
craigoxbrow: (Default)
This just in from the Cameo:

[livejournal.com profile] teh_ninja_dave and I belatedly managed to see Children Of Men tonight.

It's excellent, up there with Hard Candy for my film of the year.

Shocking in places, exciting in others, funny in more, with a strange "I've been there" feeling for me right at the start, lots of long takes that must have been a nightmare to shoot (or seamlessly re-edit from multiple takes) and which are often quite astonishing, a strong visual style beyond that, grounding tricks ranging from the subtle and sneaky (check out Theo's sweatshirt) to the blatant (a restaging of THAT Iraqi prisoner torture photo was the most glaring out-of-the-fiction moment for me) and, joy of joys, going into it not knowing how it'll turn out.

If you can, go and see it.

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