The Real Hustler

While this film was very good I don't really have a lot to say about it. It's The Hustler, in case you don't get my totally cryptic titles.

Paul Newman.... Well he is magnificent... It's the only way to describe him; his acting, his charm and most importantly his eyes! The sparkle beautifully, even in black and white. Being the 60's it doesn't have the incredible camera effects that take my breath away but for the time, the cinematography was wonderful. The minimal soundtrack also is excellently used.

Newman couldn't keep his stick away from Gleason's balls

And, I may be wrong, Paul Newman (Fast Eddie) must've learnt to play pool as well as his character does.. I can't see how they'd do half the shots if he didn't. The same goes for Jakie Gleason (Minnesota Fats,) who was also brilliant. It's definately on my must see list. And for you people that disregard black and white because you're too modern, watch this film. And then Psycho. And then Schindler's List. I could go on for hours. But my point is you forget there is no colour within minutes.

"One of these days Newman.. POW! Right to the pocket"

Overall this film is awesome. It's 194th on IMDB's top 250 and somewhere in Empire Magazine's top 500. If that doesn't prove it's a good'un then you clearly are a fan of Meet The Spartans and Disaster Movie.

Well thats all from me today :)

Best Bit? The 40 or so hour game of pool between Gleason and Newman. Brilliant.

Take A Right.. And It's The Last House On The Left.

Despite the title sounding like a set of directions The Last House On The Left has a slight hope. Yes it's a remake which makes every fan in the film world cringe with pain BUT it is a Wes Craven film originally. So it has promise as long as the screenwriters control the urge to dumb it down and make it more graphic to appeal to gore junkies. Well this is half and half... The rape scene near the beginning is a hell of a lot tamer. There's no forced lesbian action or peeing... which is good for most.. But hey, I'm not here to judge... Cept films..

The Events Of This Film, Rape And Murder, Occur Because These Kids Smoked Pot.

Don't Do Drugs Kids

As the film progresses though there is a lot more violence... All of the characters died in different ways to the original but its not that big an issue. The issue I have with this film is everything else. Horror films can be a brilliant chance to express acting skills (John Cuzack, 1408) but then I'm not sure if this a horror... It's certainly is some form of thriller... But anyway it was a brilliant chance for the cast (mainly Tony Goldwyn (John Collingwood) and Monica Potter (Emma Collingwood)) to prove their acting talent... To shift from good Samaritans to vengeful murderers. A slow realisation maybe? Then a plot? Then a loss of human morals? 'Nah skip that' is what the director said. When the Collingwoods realise who their guests are they go crazy. This leads to the assumption that they were already mentally unstable before their daughter was raped... yeah... obvious right?

I think that was really my biggest issue with the film... It focused too much on the plot and action and lost the crucial character details that make a film excellent. It also had one of those reaaaaalllyyy generic soundtracks/score that consisted simply of 'creepy' music.. very disappointing. You can create horror and/or tension through soundtrack without rubbish noises that do nothing but build up catharsis.. badly. Check any Alfred Hitchcock horror/ thriller or 28 Days Later. That's how a score/ soundtrack should be used. Speaking of 28 Days Later, the film that has my favourite cinematography EVER, The Last House On The Left could learn from it. The camera shots weren't bad but they could've been better.

The middle of nowhere had a really bad hoodie culture.

I can't say I enjoyed this film, but then again I can't say I hated it. Detail is one of my favourite things in films and this movie lacked the detail in character depth. The only one who nailed it was young Spencer Treat Clark (Justin.) His character swayed from casual druggie to determined fighter with clear daddy issues. He makes this film half a star better than it would've been otherwise. (That's right I'm using half stars now!)

For a remake it's not actually that bad; compared to the other shit that is produced nowadays. And it may actually be worth a watch, if only to judge it for yourself.

Best Bit? When one of the baddies gets his hands stuck in a food disposal unit... Ouch!

Could I Review A More Appropriate Film?

No.. No I couldn't but! Before I start I want to take this opportunity to say that, despite two complaints, my St Trinians review is right.

I watched Election today. No not the General Election, thats tomorrow. No I watched Election; a delightful satirical comedy staring Reese Witherspoon and Ferris Bueller... I mean Matthew Broderick. My hopes were high as this film is in Empire's 500 greatest of all time, number 389. Not a bad start really and the film doesn't fail its expectations.

"Your Heroic Pose Is Excellent Tracy"

Reese Witherspoon was awesome and she is rapidly moving up my favourite actresses list. Her turn as the nerdy, controlling, power hungry, high school girl, Tracy Flick, is a joy to watch. We see her go from smart and annoying to a desperate school girl who feels success is the only thing that awaits her. Ripping down posters and making sure nothing stands in her way she seems unstoppable until Mr McAllister (Broderick) steps in and convinces others to run against Tracy.

He convinces that guy from American Pie... You know.. Oz... he's in the first two...(Chris Klien) to run against Tracy. This encourages his lesbian sister to also run to get revenge on her ex and her brothers current girlfriend.

All the cast are wonderful and the film is great fun. If you want a light film to fill a couple of hours, give this a shot. I really dont feel like this film needs much more reviewing.. But it wins a reconmendation from me.

Best Bit? The very beggining when we're introduced to the characters. Very funny.

Batman 3!

Unless you live in a hole or are my friend Saskia (Dont worry she refuses to read my blog after I reviewed St Trinians) you will have seen Batman Begins or The Dark Knight.

Well good news!!!!
The third installement has been set a release date! 12th June 2012. Now for a Batman fan like me this is amazing news. Also it means that soon there will be discussions about cast! Like I said early on in my blogs days I stated I would LOVE David Tennant to be the Riddler. Lets keep our fingers crossed but for the mean time enjoy this little idea I whipped together in ten minutes.

Wanna Go To An All Girl School?

A friend of mine didn't know any of the films I was reviewing and asked if I would review one she did. So here we go.

St Trinians.

Now when reviewing 'Whip It' I said everything that shouldn't work did. This is the oppisite. Everything that shouldn't work didn't.

Firstly the plot was completely ridiculous, though admitidly it was meant to be, and I found myself unable to comprehend what was going on. A plot can be ridiculous but still work just fine. Such films like Being John Malkovich but this one didn't. It never came to life because it refused to be real and ridiculous.

This may of course be down to the acting. I'll start with the good point; Russell Brand was pretty good and funny. Now the rest but before I complain too much i would like to point out that the bad acting maybe because directors Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson have no idea about teen stereotypes. The emos are goths, the chavs are chavy for one scene then become normal and the geeks are popular! Now thats just silly right? Our protagonist, Annabelle (played by Talulah Riley) actually has some acting chops but they're only shown a little and I blame the directors for holding her back and giving her character a huuuuuuuggee change of heart so quickly, not a gradual build up to an alliance with the others.

Look at me. I'm an emo... Wait... Am I?

Now addmitedly there was just a sheer lack of brilliance in this film but it wasn't a disaster. Its a silly film that young kids will enjoy and their parents will enjoy if they watched the original St Trinians from the 60's... Bringing back memories and full of in-jokes. They also won't understand the mess up with the stereotypes because its after their time.

But this film just didn't grasp me. It wasn't funny, nor was it thoughtful or clever. It was just a bit silly and another unneeded reboot of a classic franchise. If you wanna kill a couple of hours but don't want to think too much, watch Anchorman or Little Miss Sunshine... Something fun and good.

Best Bit? The Hockey Game.. Bout the only funny bit.

Texas... The Place Where Old People Can't Go.

It's certainly not a country for old men that Texas. The film says so. What film? Seriously you haven't got it yet? No Country For Old Men, one of my favourite films to date. I'm watching it while I type this.

But why is it one of my favourites? Why did it win best picture? Well I'll tell you. Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones and some brothers Coen. Yup the Coen brothers hit a homerun yet again. Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading (Okay that came after No Country For Old Men but shhh)Yup these guys know what they're doing. And after having a Coen brothers film session, I now notice the little details that make their films unique. The indepth background characters, the camera shots and the plots.

"What do you mean I'm to old to be here?"

Well Javier Bardem is my next point of interest. He won Best Supporting Actor for this film so you'd think he was pretty good. He is. But who or what is the character he is portraying? Drug pusher? Serial killer? Just full out psychopath? I don't know but it doesn't matter. He does it amazingly. Armed with some gas canister thing that can shoot a hole through a mans head he eptimises scary. Yeah this isn't a horror but I promise you, if you met Bardem's Anton Chigurh in the street, you would run like hell; just as much as any horror star.

Josh Brolin now. The calm, relaxed protagonist of this film despite the fact he's being chased by a crazed killer with a silenced shotgun and gas canister. He also produces awesomeness with his quick quirky lines and sawn off shotgun. "I want tent poles." "Well you'll have to get a tent." "I'll have a tent then" "what kind?" "kind with the most poles." Tehehehehehehe makes me laugh. Plus he is a genius. I would never be able to avoid murderous men for as long as he does (though he does have a wicked awesome shotgun battle when they do meet"

The soundtrack... wait... what soundtrack? The lack of emotional score actually creates more emotion, more exitment, more tension.

"Say hello to my little friend."

Overall the film is amazing... So many good sequences and scenes, So many good lines, So much AWESOMENESS. Try watching it without going "My God this film is epic." You can't. Simple truth.

Best bit? The Shotgun shootout in the street. One of my favourite scenes ever.

Timecrimes OR Los Cronocrimenes

You may well have guessed that this film isn't an English language film. That's okay right? We don't mind some subtitles, do we? No. Because one cannot claim to love films without first accepting films in all of its forms and varieties.

Anyhoo. Do you like Time travel? Paradoxes? Naked Women? Crazed bandage wearing freaks? Then boy do I have a film for you! In English it's called Timecrimes though its real name is Los Cronocrimenes, directed by Spanish director, Nacho Vigalondo (His first feature film may I add.) I was first attracted to this film when they showed this picture in Empire Magazine:

Only a real man can pull off pink...

I love crazy, psychotic characters and when I saw those bandages I knew he'd be a good'un. And so I read the article but alas it wasn't that informative.... But HMV had the answer; there it was in the foreign films section for only £3. How could I refuse? I couldn't is the answer. And it didn't disappoint.

The plot is awesome. It feels like one should think more but really you just have to sit back and watch the events occur. It's mind bending nevertheless; How does the loop start? Did any paradoxes occur? Did Hector affect the timeline at all? The simple answers to all these questions is... It doesn't matter. IMDB message boards will answer them correctly but the simple truth is you don't need to know.

Next, the acting. I very much enjoyed Karra Elejalde's change from a mildly grumpy middle aged man to a dark, sinister character as he battles himself for his life. (You'll get it if you watch the film) He travels back in time a couple of hours and has to preserve the timeline and ensure that he (Hector 1) proceeds to carry out Hector 2's actions. Confusing? Nah. Watch it... it'll make sense.

"Damn I knew I should've brought my telescope"

Overall the film is an enjoyable waste of 90 minutes or so. There are some excellent camera shots, an awesome score, some OMG NO WAY moments and some funny times. Also look out for a crew member trying to get out of camera shot at around 4 minutes when Hector picks up the phone.

Best Bit? Another Tricky one but I'm gonna go with The first chase in the woods with the bandaged guy. (See second picture for exact moment.)