Horror Double Bill

Thursday 7th March (7:30 pm) at the Manchester Dancehouse Theatre 

Win the Maniac Quad Poster
First 40 Pre-Booked tickets will receive the poster

        

Living in the North West I strongly urge you to get down to the Dancehouse on the 7th of March and see this great double bill.

I can give Maniac a solid thumbs up, I saw it last year at the Film4 Frightfest and for me it was my 2nd favourite film of the festival. Not only is it one of the best remakes since Dawn of the Dead, it's violent, unnerving and relentless, everything a great horror should be. It caused a mass walk out when it played at Cannes, isn't that enough of a reason to see it?

I will be attending this double bill - I haven't seen 247F but having been to quite a few of the double bills I know you will have a good time. The Grimm Up North team also have a superb line up for the future, including the ABC's of Death, another I am very much looking forward to seeing.

For more details and to order tickets for this must see event click below.

          Take me to the Grimm Up North Site.

The event is sponsored by Appliances Online

2012 at the the Cinema

A Review of 2012 at the Cinema

To be honest this has been my favourite year in watching films, not the amount, but the quality of the films I’ve watched. I really don’t see myself as over-critical, I go into every film with the firm believe I will enjoy it or at least something about it. In the end only a handful of films have scored under 5 (2.5) and considering I’ve seen over 200 films that’s a lot of films I’ve liked!

 So here is my review of 2012 a year where not only did I see a lot of films, but managed to see 4 films at 4 different cinemas in 1 day – 100 miles. Sounds easy but we nearly failed twice! But we had a great laugh doing it.

Finding and using Letterboxd has opened my eyes to the amount of films I’ve never seen or even heard off! It’s a great site and along with twitter and even Facebook I’ve used the Social networks to enhance my film experience. It helps to get advice and feedback from people who love films.

The year in numbers

Total Films on any format : 325

Unlimited Films : 193

Total films seen in a cinema : 228

Watched on Blu Ray : 39   on DVD : 54   and on the TV : 4.

My Top Ten Twenty films

This was a nightmare to compile! I thought about having a critical list and I loved it list, but in the end I just made a top 20!

1)      Skyfall – My favourite Bond, my favourite Bond film, now the biggest Bond film ever. Just superb.

2)      Avengers – Was number 1 for so long but in the end just couldn’t hold on.

3)      Untouchable – Wonderful performances in a heart-felt story of true friendship.

4)      Amour – Wonderful performances in a heart-felt story of love and death!

5)      Silver Linings Playbook – Stella performances form Lawrence and Cooper in a film about people with mental problems finding true love.

6)      Looper – Fantastic Sci-Fi thriller packed full of emotion and time-travel.

7)      Argo – Edge of the seat drama nothing like I’ve seen for a long time – Affleck is proving to be a super Director.

8)      Rust & Bone – The French keep them coming, stunning performances from Cotillard and Schoenaerts in a film about courage and love.

9)      The Raid – Fuels my action junkie needs and then some. Just Awesome!

10)   The Cabin In the Woods – How can I not fail to love this film, I love horror! This spins it on its head! The ending is fantastic!

11)   The Amazing Spiderman – Any normal year this would have been in my top 5! Garfield is so good, the CGI is superb; just love it – all of it!

12)   Sinister – My favourite true horror film, I was expecting a typical Hollywood horror, got so much more – one of the creepiest demons for a long time!

13)   Ruby Sparks – Brilliant of the wall drama, I have a theory it’s not magic just clever film making – loved it and one of my favourite soundtracks.

14)   Shame – Powerful performance from Fassbender in a powerful film about an addiction that’s not usually covered in film! Wonderful direction from Steve Mcqueen.

15)   End of Watch – Didn’t want to see this because of the shaky cam, but everybody on twitter kept telling me I had to see it – Motion Sickness Tablets got me through it and I am glad they did – it was brilliant!

16)   The Perks of A Wallflower – Brilliant casting and an emotionally drama filled with great performances.

17)   Headhunters – Off the wall thriller which just so good!

18)   Killer Joe – One of the best performances of the year – McConaughey nails it!

19)   Killing Them Softly – Brilliant ensemble cast for me, in a tight little thriller. Get direction includes one of my favourite scenes of the year!

20)   Life of Pi –Again in any other year this would have made my top 10! Visually breathtaking, the Tiger is just amazing.... beautiful film to watch!

Here a few more films which could have made it into this list.

Anna Karenina, Wild Bill, The Imposter, A Royal Affair, 21 Jump Street, Martha Marcy May Marlene,  The Hunger Games,  Dredd, The Grey, Lawless, Chronicle, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Young Adult, Ill Manors and The Sapphires.

But where there is good there is also bad – here are my top 5 worst films of the year.

1)      Alex Cross  - I really could find nothing to like, from the poor script, the even worse acting and   terrible direction (some of the worst fight scenes I’ve ever seen!) – This was just poor from start to finish!

2)      Silent Hill 2 – I love horror but I hate this Hollywood drivel – this isn’t horror. One of the creepiest computer games ever and they come up this! I liked one, but they really missed the mark on this one.

3)      Resident Evil Retribution – Oh dear, on the whole I had liked the previous instalments to some degree. This one is the worst one yet!

4)      Haywire – A film which had so much potential was let down with a poor script and a poor casting choice – Carano wasn’t good enough to lead this film!

5)      The Darkest Hour – Oh no – Alien invasion with a cool concept, ruined by a poor script, bad acting and no tension.

So 3 horror films, I’ll class Darkest Hour as a Sci-Fi horror! And people wonder why the horror genre struggles!

Well the general release horror titles may be rubbish but some of the films at this year’s Frightfest were not rubbish.

Frightfest 2012

1)      Sinister – Nothing more to say – class!

2)      Maniac – Brilliant remake and love the fact most of it is from the killers POV.

3)      Sleep Tight – An intense and creepy film from Spain about a building warden doing a little more than his job!

4)      American Mary – Different and with a superb central performance from Katherine Isabelle, makes for a great horror/thriller about body modification.

5)      Tower Block – Nice little UK thriller written by Frightfest’s own James Moran. Well acted and with a fair amount of tension.

A few other notable films from the festival

Chained, Grabbers, Cockneys Vs Zombies, the Seasoning House, Stitches.

The worst film of the festival for me was Tulpa. Wow! The acting in this was so terrible! In-fact this is worse than Alex Cross!

So that was my year at the cinema – in 2013 I plan to do something different with my films – The Film Project 2013.

6 Months of Films!

Oh dear, so much for keeping my blog up to date! Nothing since February, I blame twitter, Facebook and now Letterboxd. No it's my fault really - just lazy!

So half way through the year, and so far what a year it has been. My 2nd "Big Movie Year" is going extremely well, 96 films so far at the cinema. No I'm not going to list them all! I'll give you some highlights and low lights though. A friend is also pushing his total through the roof, while my daughter is on a roll, and has nearly seen more films than she did in the whole of last year. Another friend seems to be struggling keeping up!

The highlight of the first half of the year is The Avengers without doubt, Joss Whedon nailed this for me. Everything about it was just great, the cast is a joy to watch, the action superb, the only issue is the main alien army isn't that great. But thats a small niggle in an otherwise stunning film.
Another film I had high expectations for was The Raid, this didn't disappoint either, being an action junkie, and a Eastern film lover as well, this was always going to play well for me. And it did, one niggle a couple of fights seemed overlong, but again something I can live with.
My third film is Cabin in the Woods, another film Whedon is involved in. This is pushing for my favourite horror film ever! The premise of the film didn't actually hit me to a couple of days later and I was thinking about it, and I got it! Once I got it, I had to see it again. It's well written, acted and has loads of gore in it. Great Stuff!

The biggest let down for me has to be Prometheus, it's not a bad film, technically stunning, it's visuals are amazing. Where it goes wrong is the story, the script and the way the cast are used or not used as the case may be. The only standout performance was Fassbender, he was stunning as the android David. Rapace did well and that was about it. But I didn't like the characters, no back story's!
Maybe its a film I need to see again, but for me not one that lived up to the hype.
The only other film I expected to be very good was Haywire. However  Gino Carano just couldn't carry this film, for me her acting just wasn't good enough. The rest of the film was fine, and maybe a better lead would have made the difference.

I'm not saying all the films have been great, the Pact is pretty poor, The Darkest hour bad, but these are films I wasn't expecting that much from.

But one film worthy of a mention, is Jaws, the new transfer is stunning, the new audio track amazing. And a film I had forgotten how good it actually was. Great direction, cast and script, an all-time classic.

So onto the 2nd half of the year! Here come the BIG ONES!

Diversity is what you need!

     Over the years watching more and more films, plus getting older I have realised that diversity is what makes me enjoy movies more than I ever did. When I was younger, I'm talking before 20, a long long time ago, horror or genre films were my thing, and horror my main thing! I wasn't into the SCI-FI films as much, so not really a fanboy like you see at comic-con. I never got into the films that way, didn't learn all the best lines or dress up like my favourite character, that's not why I watch films. I just wanted to watch horror movies!

      But now I'm older and wiser I just want to watch films, at the cinema, on DVD and Blu Ray, with my wife, with the kids, with friends or just on my own, so if I get the chance, then I'll watch a film!
      What appeals to me now is the diversity of films I see, or what I want to see or even what I collect on DVD and Blu Ray. I can sit and watch Mary Poppins or Jungle Book with the kids, to Troll Hunter with my eldest or The notebook with my wife, and enjoy them all. A musical to extreme horror and everything that goes in between, I will watch it.
      No I don't like everything, I will try to watch most things but there are some films I do draw the line at. I'm not keen on spoof films, or made for TV true life movies, these I can miss without regret. But give me Inception, which I've just finished watching or Drive or even Hatchet and I'm in my element.

     So back to diversity, this weekend alone I saw 4 very different films and only disliked one - immensely!
First I saw Star Wars Episode 1, no need to tell anyone what this is about, except I wasn't impressed with the 3D presentation, just pointless!
In the same day I saw Extremely Loud & Incredibly close, a touching film based around the 911 disaster and a boys attempt to make sense of losing his father in that event.
The day after I saw the 3D comic anti-hero Ghost Rider, while not the best film, infact pretty average, I liked it. Some of the action sequences are great and the camera work is brilliant, but I'd class it as one of my guilty pleasures!
      The following day I saw the extremely good, A Dangerous Method with Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightly. A little high brow for me at times, and some of the pyschoanalysis went right over my head, but it was well acted and the musical score was excellent.

      So a diverse weekend of films, but at the cinema you don't that choice, these strange combinations of films present themselves on a regular basis and you've just got to go with it, one day it's the Muppets followed by Woman in Black, followed by Carnage. But that's the reason I never get bored of the cinema, the diversity of it all!

A week of Films!

Another week of films at home and at the Cinema, with the kids, friends but mainly with my eldest daughter. She is becoming a right film geek! Even wanting to watch the BAFTA's with us. One of her favourite actors was nominated in the Rising Star Category, he didn't win, much to her and even my disgust!

So our first film at the cinema was Hammer's The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Ciaran Hinds. Having not read the book (which I did start last night), not seen the TV version or the play, I wasn't aware of the story. After the film I hope the book is better! I wasn't that impressed at all, first I didn't find it scary, it had a couple of creepy moments, but Radciffe's failure to convey any fear didn't help. Also it lacked any tension,  and why was every "jump" moment accompanied with loud music! It didn't need it! It's not all bad, the production values of the film were superb, Hammer got that right, just a shame about the horror!
However my daughter liked it, but this was her first real ghost story! Maybe too many years of horror films and novels have taken their toll on me and things just don't scare me anymore!

Next was the BAFTA's and I've not much to complain about here, The Artist was always going to do well I thought and it did. The Best Actor category was a close one to call, and really the award could have gone to any of them, I would have give it to Clooney. Best Actress was obvious as well and for me a Streep was a worthy winner.
The only one which seemed off the mark was Rising Star Award, and I suppose this is what happens when you let the public vote, but Deacon? I thought Hiddleston here, 3 films, Thor, Warhorse and Midnight in Paris, great in all of them, a true rising star. Or even Redmayne, I thought he was terrific in My week with Marilyn. But Deacon? 150 films at the cinema and I didn't see him in any of them!

Monday we were back at the cinema, to see the lost footage film, Chronicle, I really liked this, thought they could have expanded the "getting used to our super powers" section, but apart from that it was very very good. And my motion sickness didn't kick in - thank god!

Next day I had all my kids at the cinema to see the Muppets, which I enjoyed, but then again I did watch the Muppets when I was a kid. My eldest liked it, my son liked it, my other daughter said it was boring!
Having got back in from the Muppets, I sat down and watched Crazy, Stupid love on DVD with my eldest, she wanted to see what all the fuss was about Ryan Gosling. She got the point!
I do like this film a lot, and I think Steve Carell is superb, he owns this film. Plus it has the fabulous Emma Stone in as well!

Wednesday - I thought I'd then introduce my daughter to one of my favourite ghost stories, no NOT A tale of two Sisters, don't think she would sleep for a week after that! The Orphanage. The blu ray is stunning, the picture is amazing, the sound is brilliant, just adds to a great film! It's creepy, but it's sad, so sad, it's been a while since I've seen it, but it haunts me for days after. My wife doesn't want to watch it again! My daughter thought it was excellent, she would watch it again.

Next day was a monster douoble bill, me and the kids watched Super 8 on Blu Ray, they loved this one, however I wasn't impressed with the sound on the Blu Ray. Thought my Surround Sound was playing up, after Troll Hunter I know it's not!
Back to Super 8, still a fantastic film, my film of 2011. Loved watching it again.

Next came Troll Hunter, now my daughter thought this was Epic! Have to say the blu ray is Epic! Norway looks amazing, the trolls are fantastic, this is a film I could put on again and again. And I didn't feel that sick after it, you know my motion sickness thing!

Then this morning, I was supposed to take the twins and my eldest to see Phantom Menace in 3D. My youngest daughter dropped out, she doesn't like it! Fair enough I can see her point. But I wanted to see it on the big screen. First the 3D is pointless! 2nd this film is rubbish! Actually I think this is the first time I've seen it all the way through! The pod race and Darth Maul's fight sequence are the only decent moments! The rest is just terrible!

I have a few films planned this weekend and then a week of DVD's and Blu Rays!

The Start of 2012

So well into the February and my new mission to see as many films as I can is working out pretty well. Tonight, The Woman in Black was my 37th film, with 24 of them at the cinema, so I am pleased with my progress. This isn't just notching up the totals this is about watching films!

And in that I have seen some terrific ones so far. Young Adult, Martha Macy May Marlene, J Edgar, Shame, Warhorse, The Lady, The Descendants and The Artist. Plus the rest and really seemed to have missed the bad ones, Haywire and the Darkest Hour being the only two I did see.

Then we had the Ryan Gosling week, well 3 days, Crazy, Stupid Love, the stunning Drive and then the Notebook. I am impressed with Gosling, he's a very good actor. Drive is my favourite of the 3, and since watching the soundtrack has been played to death! It's on in the car, the house, the mp3 players - it's never off! (And it's not even me playing it!)

My daughter and I then had a couple alien invasion films, War of the Worlds on Blu ray and ID4. Then last week we watched Burning Bright, she loved it!

I'm getting my daughter to blog, she is a much better writer than I am, and I'm looking forward to seeing her take on the films she watches!

2011, my best year of films ever!

It has been a bumper year of cinema, DVD and Blu Ray for me. Overall 234 films with 51 on one of the home formats and 183 visits to the cinema, which of course includes the Frightfest festival and 150 visits to a Cineworld complex with my unlimited card. My current unlimited year has 3 months left to go, but I have already passed last year’s total by 5 films!

So having set myself some serious numbers to try and beat this year, what about the quality of films I saw last year. Have to say for me they were extremely good, I hardly left a screening feeling disappointed. On the other hand I can’t really say I’ve wasted my money due to my card, so I tend to be more tolerant of the films I see, it has to be really bad for me to dislike it!

So while I am talking about bad films, which films for did disappoint me?

1) Shark night 3D, I really knew this was going to be bad, I was hoping it would have enough in it to make it a guilty pleasure film. It didn’t, they held back on the gore, the T&A and what could have been last year’s Piranha, ended up being my worst film of the year!
2) Dream House, another I could sense was going to be poor, and it was! From the bad script and acting to the setup and execution of the film, just plain horrible.
3) The Wicker Tree, a Frightfest feature, wasn’t very good, it wasn’t scary it was just dull. I never liked the first film either!
4) The Roommate, standard American obsession film this time with college roommates, good cast let down by an average script and a below average story!
5) Abduction, Taylor Lautner’s action flick, aimed at the Twilight market, poor acting, poor script, but it did have a couple of good action sequences. Again I didn’t really expect anything else!

Now for a film which is down at the bottom of my list, Tree of Life! I know it’s in most people’s top 10 and I have no problem with that, it’s a visually treat at times, but I just didn’t like it as a film. The story of the boys life is the best part of it, but even that gets bogged down in long meaningful shots. And the ending was just way over my head! But by that time I’d lost the film and just wanted to go home! (I had also watched the last part of Harry Potter just before this, no wonder I was flagging!!)

Now this is where I am in trouble, I do have a favourite film of the year, but then there are so many excellent films I just don’t know where to start after that!

So my film of the year is Super 8. I just loved it, the kids, the look of the film, the music. The plot (even though that’s the weakest point), the script and the direction, just brilliant! I don’t know where it stands in my overall top 10, I need to ponder that list!

Now, I can’t really name a 2nd or 3rd film because I have so many I thought were fantastic, True Grit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Captain America, Tinker Tailor, Kings Speech, Ides of March, Warrior, Tyrannosaur, We need to talk about Kevin.

Then we have Fast Five, Tangled, Harry Potter, The Help, 50/50, Kill List, The Guard, Tintin, Hugo, Moneyball, My week with Marilyn. Also the Skin I live in, The Conspirator, The Innkeepers, Midnight Son, The Woman, The Divide, Take Shelter, 127 Hours, Immortals, Snowtown, Stake Land, Limitless, Source Code and Trollhunter!

And that’s not even half of it! The list of films is just too long!
As my daughter says it’s been Epic!

The cinema experience of the year was Mission Impossible 4 at the Imax with the Dark Knight intro. Just amazing, both of them and worth the money!

So what will 2012 bring, hopefully another feast of films, looking at the release schedule and reading Empires preview this could be a great year! The films I’m looking forward too are the Dark Knight, Spiderman, Avengers, the hunger games and Bond and so many more! Again another list which could go on and on and on!

I also want to watch more DVD’s and Blu Rays, I have a large number of “never” seen films in my collection which is growing and I’m not doing anything about it! This year I will!

A good year!

Wow I really have let my blog slip, but I plan to put that right now. Yeah right, no I do, I’ve used twitter to great effect over the last 6 months, so I need to get back to some blogging. You can’t really say that much on twitter.

My task of seeing at least 1 film a day the other week, calling it my #bigmovieweek on twitter, went very well. I saw 12 films in all, 8 of them at the cinema. A pretty varied range of films it was as well from the superb British thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, to the Korean revenge flick I saw the devil and ending the week with the worst film I’ve seen this year, Shark Night 3D. Also that week I saw a great film noir in Drive and then a great comedy Crazy Stupid Love which both star the very versatile Ryan Gosling. The end of the Bourne Trilogy which looks great on Blu Ray, plus the remastered version of Jurassic Park at the cinema.

All in all a great week of films.

As bad as Shark Night was and it was pretty bad, it’s not has bad as Giallo, which is the worst film I’ve ever seen, I’ve had a brilliant year at the cinema. I’ve missed the bad films or what looked like they could be bad films and aside the likes of Abduction, the Roommate and Pirates 4 which were all average nothing compares to Shark Night . Just a pity my 100th film of the year was my worst film!

With just under 3 months left of the year, Super 8 is still my favourite film. It will take something pretty special to top it. But you never know, the more I see of Immortals the more I like it. Also there is Hugo, The Girl with the dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes and the Thing which could all make their mark.
I’ve still got to see Warrior, Real Steel, Tintin, Tyrannosaur, Footloose and we need to talk about Kevin yet, and that’s just in the next 2 weeks.

So still a lot of good films to look forward too. Plus I have my huge collection of “Never-Seen” DVD’s and Blu Rays to watch as well.

7 Days of Movies

Why not, there is a lot on the cinema to see this week, plus a lot in my collection to watch as well.

My big week of films started yesterday, with the Redux Jurassic Park, which was pretty amazing to see back on the big screen. The digital transfer looked pretty good, I was a little disappointed in the sound though. I thought the T-Rex was a little subdued but it didn't spoil it.

After listening to The Dark Knight soundtrack on the way home, I decided I need to watch the film, so that's what I did Sunday night.

Monday - I have two films planned for the Cinema, Killer Elite in the afternoon and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the evening.

Tuesday - Another two films at the cinema, The Change up and then Drive later. Now Drive is a film I'm eager to see.

Wednesday and Thursday night, not made my mind up yet, but I think it should be something I've never seen in the collection, which gives me a massive choice. I have a massive collection of unseen Asian films, maybe a couple of these then.

Friday is the final part of Bourne on Blu ray with my eldest daughter.

Saturday is back to the cinema to see Crazy Stupid Love with my wife.

Sunday and another 2 at the cinema with Abduction with my daughter and the Shark Night 3D with a couple of mates in the evening.

Day two - Frightfest

Film 4 - Rogue river
Not a bad start to the day, but not the best film. Eased me into the day, not too much gore and relied on the twist for more shock value. Except you could see it a mile off.(6/10)

Film 5 - The holding
Shot in near Buxton, this was a very good thriller, well acted and well written. The direction was pretty good as well. It rained a lot, but you are near Manchester so what do you expect.(8/10)

Film 6 - Midnight Son (discovery screen)
Wow this film was brilliant, fantastic acting from the lead role, and a great take on the vampire theme. Really enjoyed this.(9/10)

Film 7 - Urban explorers
Creep in Germany, and a lot of German speaking scenes with no subs, which put you in a position of the non-speaking German members of the cast, they didn't know what was going on either. Turned into a typical psycho on the loose feature in the end.(7/10)

Film 8 - The glass man
Brilliant, from the direction to the script and Andy nyman and James cosmos. But Nyman was just outstanding, the best performance at Frightfest this year. Loved the film as well. To easy to spoil writing about it, needs watching.(9/10)

Film 9 - Tucker and dale vs evil.
This was so funny, possibly the funniest movie I have seen at Frightfest ever. The hill billy theme is done to death, but this was just brilliant.(9/10)

Film 10 - Vile
Last film of the day and a good concept on the torture porn films, quite liked it in the end.(6/10)

Day 2 done.

Day five - Frightfest

Just too tired to write this last night.

Film 23 - A night in the woods
Missed this as it was shaky cam, and I hate them as they make me ill.

Film 24 - Deadheads
Great cast and crew who we met before the film, I dislike zombie movies but gave it a go. I liked this lot if film pop culture, great gore and very funny.  Enjoyed it.(8/10)

Film 26 - Curse of the alps
This was pretty good, good use of a swiss legend, well directed. Cast were good, but it got a little confusing at times.(7/10)

Film 27 - Inbred
Loved this, the humour was great, good cast, didn't hang around straight into the action, loads of gore.  Bloody good fun.(8/10)

Film 28 - A lonely place to die.
Top notch thriller, good story, great cast. Amazing cinematography ,Scotland looked stunning. Really enjoyed the film one of the best this weekend.(9/10)

And that is it, missed one film, enjoyed the majority, loved the atmosphere. Met some great people, the cast and crew of Deadheads were terrific. Adam and Jo, sneaked a picture with john simm.

Overall a fantastic weekend.

Day four - Frightfest

Film 17 - The divide
Thought this was brilliant, great cast, well written, wonderful to look at. And pretty scary all in all. One of my festival favourites.(9/10)

Film 18 - Rabies (discovery screen)
This didn't happen as I couldn't get up to q for tickets.

So we watched the short film showcase instead, which was excellent.

Film 19 - The innkeeper
Old fashioned ghost story with a great lead actress, very well written. West uses the camera beautifully, the sound was brilliant and the film built to a scary ending.(9/10)

Film 20 - Sint
Funny, creepy and a good Xmas horror movie. Action, gore and comedy, all well done, an enjoyable film.(7/10)

Film 21 - Kill list
The film everybody wanted to see, and while not a let down, it didn't blow me away. It's a well directed piece, very well acted, and looked great. But the payoffs and shocks were a little obvious and just took the edge of the film. Still one of best films this weekend.(9/10)

Film 22 - Detention
I loved this film, pop culture films do it for me, and this is one of the best. Heathers, donnie dark, Scott pilgrim, scream, all rolled into one, plus more culture references than you can mention. Funny, it had gore, it had aliens, time machines and it was brilliant.(9/10)

And that was day 4.

Day three - Frightfest

Film 11 - Troll hunter
Even though I struggle with these films due to the shaky cam, this was really well put together. The actors were all good and their characters likable. The setting was superb, and the trolls were great.(8/10)

Film 12 - The wicker tree
I don't like the original and this was only just better, but it lacked tension and scares. For me the worst film so far. (4/10)

Film 13 - Panic button
Good concept borrowed heavily from saw and the cube, but was well acted. Though the reason why was a little weak, but what was the panic button? (6/10)

Film 14 - Fright night 3D
Really liked this, enough to make it different from the original. Strong cast, not badly written. Not sure it needed the 3d, but will be going to see this in 2d. (8/10)

Film 15 - The woman
Brilliant film, well written, directed, and the sound was amazing. Strong performance from the lead actress and some good twists and shocks. Plus it never over played the abuse.(9/10)

Film 16 - Chillerama
WTF? this was mad from start too finish, each segment was just messed up, but who cares it was great fun and a good end to the day. (8/10)

Day one - Frightfest

The fifth year for me and tony at London's premier horror film festival, and the opening night has one film I've been looking forward too for a while, Don't be afraid of the dark.

Film 1 - Don't be afraid of the dark
Really liked this a good scary thriller, a throw back to the old scary films, all about the jumps rather than the gore. Though not many Frightfesters seemed happy with it.(8/10)

Film 2 - Final Destination 5
You know what you get with a Final Destination film, however after the above average 4th one, it was a take it or leave it film. But with this crowd it could be good.

It wasn't good it was bloody brilliant, from the script to the acting, the score and the brilliant deaths it was just the best one of the 5 for me. And with a quite brilliant ending, this was the film of the night.(9/10)

Film 3 - The theatre bizarre
The trouble with the late night films they tend to be viewed as the senses dull, and it really needs something brilliant to wake you up, like the loved ones last year.

This had it's moments but it was a little strange most of the time. The accident segment was brilliant, sweets was gross, and the mother of toads good. I liked it in the end.(7/10)

Mobile blogging

Well might as well give it a go. Maybe I will be able to keep it more up to date.

Plus with Frightfest only 2 days away, should be quite cool to blog the experience from the event.

Double bill tonight, The inbetweeners and then the skin I live in.

By the way this years films have been pretty good, I do think this is my best year of movies. Then again it could all go down hill from here.

Coming Soon!

The summer madness starts soon! I have to say their are some great films coming up, well for me anyway!

Hangover 2, Thor, Captain America, Harry Potter 7 – Part 2, Fast 5, Green Lantern, Transformers 3, Scream 4, Priest, Pirates 4, X-Men First Class, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Super 8.

Transformers 3 you say! Yes! Even though 2 wasn’t that good, I still have to hope that 3 will be! One thing is true it can’t be any worse than 2!

But then the films coming which won’t get the buzz that these other films get, like 13 Assassins, I saw the devil, Hobo with a shotgun and of course Insidious. But also Attack the block, Julie’s Eyes all look and sound great!

Insidious seems to be getting a lot of good buzz stateside, I’ve seen the trailer it looked good, but it kind of looked like all the generic horror films of late. But the word is strong that it’s better than that!

So “Here we go!”

Tron (DVD) (30/12/2010)

I only watched this so my daughter would have the background when we went to see Tron Legacy. I know why I haven’t bought it, and why I haven’t watched it in a long time.

I had forgot how dull it was, it only really sparked Emily’s imagination when he got into the computer, but before that it was downright dull! But for me even inside the computer, it had lost it’s edge.

I don’t remember it being this bad! Well hopefully the 2^nd one will be better!

The Way Back (28/12/2010)

This was my daughter’s choice she saw the trailers and was onto it like a shot! It wouldn’t be the sort of thing I would have expected to take her too, Polish prisoners escaping from the Gulag and walking into China! But it took her fancy and mine too!

Quite an uplifting film considering the content, Peter Weir has done a remarkable job with this film, as well has breaking his ankle in the process! The cinematography is stunning through out showing the beauty and the harshness of the countryside they travelled through. Weir doesn’t bog the film down with long scenes of walking, except where it mattered, which in a way saves the film. He shows us just enough to feel the plight of these people, the harsh conditions they endured and the friendships they made.

We both really enjoyed this film, the acting was very good, the script was good and the soundtrack stunning.

Overall (9/10) epic film for an epic story!

Monsters (21/12/2010)

One of my favourite films at Frightfest 2010, I really wanted my daughter to see this. In the end we had to go twice, the first time she was ill and was sick in the cinema! (And it wasn’t the film!)

Again, I really enjoyed it. I know nothing really happens, it’s not ID4, it’s not District 9, it’s something different and I think that’s what I really like about it. The two cast members are very good, the direction is clever, and the fact it’s mostly ad libbed gives it something special.

Overall (9/10) still a monster treat!

The Tourist (20/12/2010)

So Ricky Gervais doesn’t like this film, I don’t see his problem, it’s not that bad! In fact I’ve seen a lot worse than this! Some are that bad I can’t even remember them!

Jolie and Depp are fine in this, they have chemistry, and it works! The big twist is way to obvious from about half way in, but so what, actually the little twist was better!

Jolie looked stunning, and Director, Florain Henckel von Donnersmarck showed off her beauty against the stunning back drop of Venice! Depp however seems a little lost in these straight parts, he needs quirky! However he did a good job, and along with the rest of the cast they made a typical European thriller. See the French would make a film like this and everybody who could read subtitles would rave over it!!!

I wonder how many people liked both The American and The Tourist! Well I did!

Overall (8/10), a nice little thriller!