Repo: The Genetic Opera

Story: A worldwide epidemic encourages a biotech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however.*taken from IMDB*

Review: Ever watch a film so different that the first viewing leaves a bitter taste in your mouth? Well that is about the sum of my feelings after my first viewing of Repo: The Genetic Opera. It was weird and I did not know what I was in for. I did not expect an actual opera. Dumb huh?

Repo is a gothic rock opera made by one of the directors of Saw II, III, and IV. After seeing Repo you can see where his true passion lies. Making unique cinematic experiences. He certainly did. Directors do not make movies like this anymore.

Now onto the actual review. While the synopsis is quite small the overall plot of the film follows far more that just a simple plot. The film Repo men, with Jude Law, took the plot and used it. Many claiming that it ripped off. I will not speak on that films behalf, I have not seen it even though I do own it. The plot is nothing ground breaking but it does have its moments that are really great. What most people what to know about this film is, "How is the music?" It is good, really good. It does have some off songs but most are really good.  The songs that did not work personaly for me where the songs are done in the classic opera singing style. They are not bad they are just to me the weakest songs. There are huge highlights in the music. Zydrate is a song that will be stuck in your head for days. Darren Lynn Bousmen and Terrence Zdunich really wrote some great songs here.



The performances are all pretty good. The true standouts here are Terrence Zdunich as the Graverobber and Anthony Head as The Repo Man. Terrence commands your attention when he is on the screen. The song Zydrate is his moment, he steals not only that scene but the entire movie. Anthony Head has some great moments and songs, from organ repossessions to his songs. The only performance that can be done without is Paris Hiltons, she has never been a good actress or singer. She does her best, and at times she can be a bit annoying. Her face falling off during a song makes up for every flat moment or line she has.



Recommend?: Yes, I do recommend this. Films like this need to be seen. While it will not be for everyone, many will actually hate this film. Watch it and if you do not like it watch it again. It is already a big cult hit, and it deserves it.

NEXT WEEK: THE DEVILS CARNIVAL

Live event and movie review. 

Cabin in the Woods

Ingredients: One part Evil Dead, one part Tucker and Dale Vs Evil, and one part Truman show.

Plot: Five teenagers go to a cabin in the woods, and they proceed to do the typical teenage thing. Party, smoke weed, and have sex. As their first night of partying proceeds, the cellar door slams open When the enter the cellar they find a room full of crazy objects. From a book of a deranged family with latin words written in  it, to a puzzle orb. Upon  reading of the book, they release unspeakable horrors. This is the premiss, and I can't and won't speak anymore about it. To talk more about it would be to ruin it.

Review:, So this is the new film from Drew Goddard (of Cloverfield fan) and Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy, and Dr Horribles Sing along blog). It is also Joss Whedons first time producing and co-writing a horror film. So how does this go for him? Joss Whedon passes with flying colors. He has made a truly original, funny, and suspenseful film. What works so well with it? 

The good, ninety eight percent of this film works amazingly well. The humor at times is very understated, throwing slight nobs at classic horror films and at other times is very obvious using great jokes better than most mainstream comedies. This film doesn't take itself series and that's one of its stronger. The characters are likable, while they are the stereotypical characters from most horror films they work very well as there own characters while still falling into the tropes and filling their own comical roles. Okay so how about the horror? As most people would think, that would be the most important part of a horror movie. Well, it does work really well and keeps up the suspense at all the right moments. Unlike a lot of slasher films, zombie films, ghost stories, and most other horror films, it doesn't use nonstop jump scares. It uses some but not enough too really cause irritation. It also uses enough gore to keep the gorehounds happy, it uses more gore in the final 45 minutes than most horror films in the last year.

The bad is that final few moments are a bit off. There is a decision made with in the last act of the movie that really don't fit the characters personalities. Outside of that minor issue, there are some plot holes that arise due to the concept. They do affect the overall immersion. While neither issues are major in the overall scope of the film, they are there.

Recommended?: Yes, yes, and yes again. It does so much right that when a few minor issues show up they aren't enough to take away from the good. Check this one out, it is one of the best horror films from the last couple years.

The Woman in Black (2012)

The Woman in Black (2012).
Flavor: Ghost/Thriller.
Ingredients: Old creepy mansion, disturbing dolls, jump scares, angry ghost.

Plot: Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is a young lawyer who is depressed by the loss of his beautiful wife after giving birth to a son. His son, now grown to a toddler, draws pictures of him with a sad face. He is assigned to prepare a large house for sale in a marsh and travels to an obscure village where he is shunned by most of the townspeople. He visits the Eel Marsh House, the estate of the late Alice Drabow, to look it over, but finds his job has grown more perilous as it is haunted by the ghost of a woman scorned. He learns from the villagers that the ghost of the woman in black seeks revenge against their children because her child was taken away from her. Kipps is befriended by Sam (Ciaran Hinds) and his wife Elizabeth (Janet McTeer). They, too, have lost a son, and they help the lawyer to investigate the background of the estate and what happened. -IMDb


Review: I hate this movie. Not because it's bad, but because its good, very good at what it does: it scares me. Now i will watch your run of the mill slasher film (yawn) or the gory zombies, without batting an eyelash. But make me watch a suspenseful movie where you just know the jump is coming, and I'm the one hiding behind the pillow with one eye open. And that is exactly what The Woman in Black does well.

The plot isn't exactly original, (ghost in an old mansion, superstitious unwelcoming villagers..etc. etc.)
But it is well made, and there are enough little touches of originality to keep it fresh. The mansion is just what you'd expect a haunted mansion to be. And i quite liked the part they had the tide play in this. Creepy house with surrounding graveyard not enough? Hey lets make it totally cut off from the world when the tide is in! The shots of the marshes were really convincing as well in showing how remote and desolate the area was.

The suspense was well played out, if a little typical of this sort of movie. Personally i can't stand this sort of thing. I mean you know there's something down that dark hallway that's gonna jump out at you. You just don't know when...and BAM! that's the brilliance of suspense, and why i have no fingernails left.

Daniel Radcliffe's acting was truly great, as well as the supporting cast. Overall this is a really well made film. And I liked the old fashioned vintage feel of the movie too.
The only things i can say against it is the plot isn't mindbogglingly original, the woman screeching gets a little old, and the scares are good but not totally unexpected.

Recommended: Yes. Especially if you like suspenseful ghost movies. Have to give props to a horror movie that depended on convincing acting, story and atmosphere instead of naked screaming girls and gore.

The Woman in Black is owned by Hammer Films

Attack The Block

Alien invasion films are nothing new. They have been around since the black and white days of Cinema with films classics such as War of the Worlds (1953) and The Day the Earth stood still (1951). So how does a new film from this genre set its' self apart?

Plot: A gang of teens try to defend their neighborhood block ( hey a title!)  from  alien invasion. The teens are a rather unsavory group who rob, steal and attack others. In the middle of a robbery  a strange object crashes through a car and begins to attack them. They respond by chasing it down cornering and killing it. This starts an invasion of a alien race that threatens them and their way of life.

Review: Okay so from that description you would probably say the heroes of this film sound utterly repulsive. They are not a nice group to root for at the beginning. Then why are they the heroes of this film? Why should we root for, or care for these characters? That's why the writer/director (Joe Cornish) you has done something really great. He makes you care for these really unlikeable characters. You start rooting for these characters,even though at the beginning you couldn't stand them.

This movie shifts from horror to humor near perfectly. There are some really comedic moments that aren't forced. They feel really natural and help lighten the mood of a film that is very dark  with some dire circumstances. The horror within this film is legitimately quite frightening and suspenseful.

Another huge plus for this film is the creature design. The design is easily one of the most memorable and frightening designs in years. Its truly a unique and frightening design. If you haven't seen the look of these aliens check them out- their blue glowing teeth look really awesome.

Is there anything I can say bad about this film? Not a lot honestly, it does have the dislike of the characters near the beginning. And are a few characters that turn out still being a little bit too grating personality wise. The main culprit of the flaw of the film is the antagonist (outside the alien)  He is truly very annoying. He doesn't kill the film because he has a total of 3 scenes and the way they deal with him is really great. The only flaw we see outside of him is the pacing can be a bit off.


RECOMMENDED? Yes
I do recommend this film, it most likely won't be a film for everyone. Mainly because of the main characters, some people won't be able to shake that original impression of them.

Chronicle

Super powered teenagers are not a new thing in cinema. They are just as frequent as annoying teenagers in a slasher films. So what does it take to break the mold and make something original from a cliched idea?

Plot : High school senior Andrew, is an outcast. He purchases a camera and lives behind it as an extension of himself. While filming everything he goes to a rave with his cousin and in the woods Andrew, his cousin, and his cousins best friend find a mysterious hole in the ground that contains a glowing rock. They are gifted with new telekinetic abilities and from there grow as friends and enemies.



Review : 2012 is here and with it comes more Found footage films, some bad and some good. How does this film stack up to the other 8000 found footage films? Well lets dive into this review and find out

So as I sat down in the theater to watch Paranormal Activity 3, I was greeted with a trailer for a new film Chronicle. It looked like a decent film. One that would show what happens when teenagers get powers and miss use them, and turning into a Superhero film where one became the villain. Predictable and amusing but forgettable. Boy was I wrong on this one. While the film's first half does follow my ideas about the teenagers misusing there powers for selfish needs, the second half does some different stuff.

Andrew is a senior in high school and isn't very well liked by anyone. He is picked on by everyone and has become an outcast. Even at home he is abused by his father while his mother is in critical condition by an unnamed disease. The movie starts with the fact that he has recently purchased a video camera to capture the daily activities of his life, thus starting the Found footage gimmick. He takes this camera everywhere and it becomes an extension of himself never parting with it, setting up that unsaid idea of false protection behind the lens. From here we are introduced to Andrews cousin who befriends him, taking him to a rave. After a misunderstanding Andrew leaves the party and meets Steve, his cousin Matt s best friend. From this point the film allows you to bond with these three characters, and watch them bond as friend while they experiment with the powers they found in a dark hole during the party. They slowly learn that they can control certain objects with their minds and proceed to mess with people in stores and in public. What starts as innocent fun, never hurting anyone  slowly morphs into something far darker and sinister. Andrew uses his powers to force a vehicle off the road and nearly kills the driver. From there we see more of Andrew life showing him as an outcast from everyone but his friends and truly showing a teenage on the verge of a mental breakdown, which for someone with Andrews' special talents could be very bad. Without spoiling anything we all know well anyone who has seen the trailer know Andrew does snap leading to a very intense and tragic climax.

Lets call this film a very big surprise for me. I expected a fun ride but nothing special, what I got was that fun ride with a tragic story with some great unknown actors giving some fantastic performances. I thought the found footage genre was dried up of all the original ideas it had, I was wrong instead of a gimmick for the film it adds to the ideas of the film. Unlike most found footage films you can't watch it and say "why would they film this?" everything filmed fits and feels natural. They do some creative things near the end with different camera shots and switching perspectives.

With everything said it has a couple minor flaws. Its a very short film, running a mere 85 mins and at times it feels pretty edited. Nothing offensively edited but I can promise we will see a directors cut upon DVD release. The other flaw relies on the climax, it changes the tone of a mostly character driven film into a action film. Again its not a huge complaint.

Overall: I recommend it highly, it does flaws but not enough to drag down a fantastic film for the beginning of 2012. I await the aforementioned directors cut with glee

Recommend? YES 

Chronicle is owned  20th Century Fox.

Chronicle is rated Pg-13 for intense action and violence, thematic material, some language, sexual content and teen drinking