Films I want to see now - X - Men: First Class new trailer

I'll be honest this trailer is very similar to the previous one but it is cut together way better and gives us some more details to chew on.

I'm getting more and more excited by this film.

Movie Marathon 5 - Obsequiousmelon is an Old Boy.

Name of the Film: Old Boy

Starring:  Min - sik Choi, Ji - tae Yu, Hye - jeong Kang

This is the last review in my movie marathon and I am quite confident that I saved the best till last.

Dae - su Oh is abducted and held in a single room for 15 years.  On the same night his wife is viciously murdered.  When he is finally released he must find out who did this to him and what has happened to his daughter.

Directed by, the now legendary, Chan - wook Park, Old Boy was some what of a sensation when it was released.  The tale of extreme revenge and brutal violence deliberately invaded on what had, primarily been the territory of Japanese films and announced modern Korean cinema to the world.

Movie Marathon 4 - Obsequiousmelon witnessed Hitlers downfall.

Name of the Film:  Downfall

Starring:  Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara

Traudl Junge was the final secretary for Adolf Hitler.  Downfall tells the story of his last days in his Berlin bunker from her perspective.

The Nazi’s in the Eighties became some what of a comedy villain.  Indiana Jones movies saw to that but they cropped up in any number of horror movies as well.  Sometimes, in film terms, it is easy to forget what an insidious political movement Naziism was.

Movie Marathon 3 - Obsequiousmelon stared at goats!

Name of the Film: The Men Who Stare at Goats

Starring:  Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges   

When Bob Wilton, played by Ewan McGregor, is left by his wife he sets out to Iraq to find himself and the story of a lifetime.  When he gets there he meets Lyn Cassidy and what may turn out to be the strangest story he has ever heard!

The Men Who Stare at Goats is a difficult film to review.  It is in reality two stories.  One set in the aftermath of the vietnam war and one set in the early part of the Gulf War and the two stories converge toward the end of the film.  Both however are about men having some sort of break down.

Ewan McGregor is a man stuck but comfortable who has the rug pulled from under him when his wife leaves him for his editor.  Goerge Clooney plays Lyn Cassidy who was the shining star of the American armies Psychic Soldier programme but now is a washed up has been clinging to old dreams of ‘jedi’ super warriors even though it appears obvious that he doesn’t have any super powers to speak of.  Jeff Bridges plays Bill Django who goes in search of himself whilst clearly shell shocked from Vietnam, then returns to the army with a hippie inspired dream of creating a new army that practices non lethal techniques and gets in touch with their inner ‘being’.

Movie Marathon 2 - Obsequiousmelon travelled on his Luck Dragon through a never ending story.

Name of the Film: The Neverending Story

Starring:  Barret Oliver,  Noah Hathaway,  Gerald McRaney

The Never Ending Story, it’s a classic.  Every one loves it but is it as good as everyone remembers?

80’s kids movies are very cool.  E.T., The Goonies, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and of course The Never Ending Story are all famous, beloved and rightly considered to be timeless.  The reasons for this are that the film makers working at the time (like Spielberg, Wolfgang Peterson, Jim Hensen) realised that children don’t need to be pandered to.  Not everything has to be shiny and perfect.  Those films were scary and at times dark, often they featured kids from broken homes, but they were also uplifting, joyous and the conclusions were real and rewarding because of the genuine threat that had come before.  Because the threats felt real, so did the story's resolutions.

The Never Ending Story is a great example of a kids film done well.  The story isn’t always happy,  Atreyu’s horse dies as a good example, indeed the whole world is destroyed at one point.  The swamp of sadness evokes genuine fear and we are unsure that Atreyu will survive and that makes what happens after that more valid and more rewarding as a story.

Movie Marathon 1 - Obsequiousmelon wants you to 'say hello to my little friend!'

Name of the Film: Scarface

Starring:  Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio    

Al Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who wants the world and is more than prepared to take it.

Scarface to me is a classic example of cult cinema.  From its constant references on MTV cribs (every house shown has a copy!) to it’s endlessly quotable script (the two most famous being  “All I got in this world are my balls and my word and I don’t break them for no one!”  and “Say hello to my little friend!”)  

It has a place in popular culture now, and it is easy to see why.  Its a rags to riches story, a fairy tale for men.  Any man wants to be the guy in the room that everybody respects and the character Tony Montana is not afraid to take what he wants.  That idea combined with Al Pacino’s charismatic performance is enticing.

Films I have to see now - Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I know I'm about to commit heresy but I never really liked the Planet of the Apes films.  I'm glad they are remaking them and I am glad that they are using Weta to create the apes digitally.  The concept is a fairly stupid one so they just need to make the films cool and enjoyable for me to be onboard.  Silly science fiction escapism is what I'm looking for here.

Here is the trailor.

Obsequiousmelon's Movie Marathon

HMV are selling dvd's for 35 bucks a piece, so I went down to buy some and now I am going to watch them and review them back to back.

The films I bought are:

Scarface
Old Boy
The Men Who Stare at Goats
Downfall
The Never Ending Story


Watch for their reviews to come up over the next day or so...

Obsequiousmelon loved Rango

Name of the Film:  Rango

Starring:  Johnny Depp, Isla Fischer. 

Rango (Johnny Depp) is a lizard that lives in a tank, sheltered from the world but a keen thespian non the less.  When he falls out the back of the car (this happens a lot in american films, do they really not notice when their expensive aquarium/tank/cage falls out of their car and smashes all over the road?) he finds himself alone and must head out into the desert to find first water and then perhaps a life beyond what he already knows.

Rango is an odd mix of ideas.  It is a western, a fish out of water comedy, an uplifting journey of self discovery and a family animation film.  Like Pixar in top form it juggles all of these and it is also so much more, but this is much more quirky and off the wall than any other animated film I have seen for a while but it all works, wonderfully well.

Film news and tidbits!

Just a short one today.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies sounds awesome (but I still haven’t got around to reading it yet), and now the film version has a director.

‘Drumroll please..............’

It’s Craig Gillespie!!!!!!!!

Who?  I hear you shout.  Well he directed Lars and the Real Girl, one of the more original films I have seen in the last five years and... Er... Mr Woodcock (that Sean William Scott movie you’ve probably forgotten about that was actually reasonably funny, in places... Sorta.)

Anyway he is also making the Fright Night remake which doesn’t exactly excite me.  Who knows, it might not suck.  I guess.

Films i have to see now - Cowboys & Aliens. (Update with embed)

Cowboys & Aliens is an oddity of a film.  It sounds like B-movie fare to me and I love that.  But the question is will it appeal to the wider world?  Well the new trailer looks promising.  I'm excited... follow the link below to go to Apple to watch the trailer in glorious Quicktime.

FIlms I have to see now! - Priest

Ok that title is slightly misleading.  Priest is a film that I have decidedly mixed feelings about.  I really want it to be awesome but Legion (same director, same star) sucked big fat donkey balls!  But like I said I want Priest to be awesome, after all the comics are cool.

So, Paul Bettany, Karl Urban and Maggie Q star in a film by Scott Charles Stewart.  It looks... formulaic if I'm honest but still, Brad Dourif is in it (admittedly in a small role apparently) and he is a guarantee of my ass in a seat.  I'm hoping for cheap summer fun at the least.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822847/

Obsequiousmelon explored his Source Code

Name of the Film:  Source Code

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhal, Michelle Monaghan. 

Source Code (directed by Duncan Jones who also directed the wonderful sci-fi flick Moon starring Sam Rockwell) is another high concept sci-fi film.  Colt Stevens (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is sent back in time to take the place of a man on a train that will explode in eight minutes.  Can he find out who the bomber is and so help prevent the future, threatened attacks?

Just like his previous film, Moon, Duncan Jones has a film with a simple set up that is rife with possibilities.  This makes the film very unpredictable on some levels which fascinates me.  Going in, this film could be anything from a thought provoking study on the nature of man to a flashy effects laden summer blockbuster...

Obsequiousmelon feels Limitless.

Name of the Film:  Limitless

Starring:  Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Anna Friel.

A wonder drug that opens up your mind to all of it’s possibilities.  A promise of the perfect you, the person you want to be and everything that comes with that.  Who wouldn’t take a gamble on that?  I would.

That is the intriguing concept that is proposed by Limitless.  Bradley cooper plays Eddie Morra a washed out looser who is stuck in perennial writers block.  Until, that is, he meets an old friend who happens to have a way to help him.  He is given the chance to excel, all he has to do is take the clear little pill.

Films I want to see now - Attack the Block

This film reminds me of some of the places near where I grew up.  Mottingham, Croydon and Penge to name a few.  Also I love genre mash ups.  This looks cool and doesn't feel forced (which is always a danger with very specific dialogue styles.)  Finally the film also features Nick Frost as a drug dealer, which is odd because he vaguely resembles a drug dealer that used to sell to some of the boys at my school.

Anyway, I present to you Attack the Block.

Green Lantern - I'm starting to get excited.

The publicity so far for Green Lantern has not really been hitting it's target.  The internet has been full of fan boys writing off the film before it has been released.  Now I try not to do this if I can.  I prefer to hold my judgement until I see the film but the trailer did leave me... well a little uninspired.  I mean the idea is cool and I want to see the film but I didn't really get excited about it till this morning when I saw the footage they showed at Wondercon.  Now you can colour me excited, now I want to buy back catalogues of comics to find out more about the world of the Green Lantern, now I will book my ticket.

Follow the link to apple to see the footage in glorious quicktime


http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/greenlantern/

Obsequiousmelon got Sucker Punched!

Name of the Film:  Sucker Punch

Starring:  Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jenna Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung

When a 20 year old girl accidently shoots her little sister, after the death of their mother, she is committed to an insane asylum.  Once there, her evil step father pays a corrupt orderly to send for a Doctor to come to give her a lobotomy in five days.  Can she use her imagination to block out the horror of her situation whilst trying to find a way for her and her new friends to escape?

What is Manga to you?  Ninjas, daemons, fantasy, school girls, sci- fi all wrapped up in nonsensical story lines?  Well, yes it is that, but it is so much more than that too.

And that is the same with this film.  You can dismiss it as eye candy with a silly plot but then, I think that is too easy.  I think that the film has some hidden depths to it.  To me it is live action Manga and I really liked it.

Films I want to see now - The Hangover part 2

The Hangover is awesome.  Fact!  However, comedy sequels tend to suck balls.  Also fact!  Still I am prepared to take a risk on The Hangover part II although this trailer looks like they are doing exactly the same things as before just a little different... e.g. a tattoo instead of loosing a tooth, loosing a little brother instead of loosing the groom, Zach Galifianakis being Zach Galifianakis (which isn't eccessarily a bad thing.)

It could work...