Wednesday 31 August 2011

Scream 4

A horror franchise getting a sequel, yes yes we've been here before. Saw has been dominating the Halloween cinema box office for the past few years, how many squeals are we up to with that again? - 7 right? I must admit a certain likeness for the Scream series and the fact that this sequel comes a decade after the last gives it some validity unlike the mere 12 month gap for other horror sequel's.

I might have been me but the plot caught me off guard, by the end of it I think I had just managed to get my head around the "stabathon" films concept. My defence is that most of the horror sequels allow the viewer to take a short nap between scenes and still feel totally capable of writing a review.

The Scream series can be cited as the father of slasher films and should be admired. However does a fourth film add anything to the series? not really, yet its not altogether pointless, at least it gives the cast the chance to make up to date references (the video blogs being a cornerstone of the plot)

Someone should have told Wes Craven to put the three original films in a pretty new dvd boxset to up his cash fund instead, just because a decade has gone by does not mean classics should be wheeled out of retirement.

Kaboom

I forget what made me add this to my rental list, but the sci-fi sexual awakening became available last week. So on my return from the Reading festival, Kaboom was the film that broke my LoveFilm hiatus.

Kaboom is a surreal sex infested film, which even without the wiki research could be cited as both "underground" and low budget. (I'm a few sentences in and I'm struggling)The film is about the life of a 19 year old Smith and his new life at college, if that wasn't enough to contend with everyone seems to be having strange experiences and some kind of magical powers. The plot and the sci-fi element feels a bit all over the place and its not until the last 10 minutes that it begins to be a little less hazy (Yet you still get left wondering what was the point)

Five minutes in I turned to my girlfriend and stated how Kaboom should be placed between American Pie and Brokeback Mountain in anyone's generic film library. (I would be very intrigued to meet the owner of those three films) The most memorable moment or should that be surreal, who knows - Is when Smith walks in on his flat mate exercising naked in the belief that after three weeks he will be able to suck his own cock.

Kaboom isn't awful and if you find yourself watching it be thankful at its just under 90 minute running time.

Saturday 20 August 2011

King of Kong: A fistful of quarters

I was turned on to this doc a while ago after it was mentioned in a Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) interview on the Adam Carolla show. It slowly slipped down my lovefilm rental list until this week. All I knew about King of Kong was the it centred around the retro arcade game Donkey Kong and it has been credited as one of the best docs in recent years.

The doc really didn't disappoint, its pure geek heaven at its best. Although it could be off putting when you know the story centres on young men's ambition to have the high score on a very old computer game - I resisted the urge to shout at the TV that they would be amazed by Call of Duty or the latest Fifa.

What makes this film work is that it's more about real people than gaming. I couldn't help getting drawn in by Steve Wiebe's challenge and all his personal shortcomings in his past - I'm British, we're well known for cheering for the underdog afterall. It made addictive viewing and by the end I enjoyed the hatred I felt for Billy Mitchell, the fact that these two "people" are exactly that and not fictional characters makes the whole experience a lot sweeter.

Fancy a doc then this is it.

Rubber

It's a love hate film - But surely the director new that. In the first of these film blogs, I've decided to start with the surreal and let that set no trend. A tyre on the rampage you say? OH YES AND ITS AS LOVELY AND CRAZY AS IT SOUNDS. What I loved about a film about a killer tyre, apart from the obvious is that it never seems to take it's self too seriously and with that it throws in laughs.

If you are bored of the same Hollywood rubbish that is recycled every year, then this may be just for you, as long as you don't have a love for cute rabbits or birds or even people's heads for that matter.

My quote of the film may be giving too much away - but then again, away from what you may ask as the story is non-existent - which is a good thing for a change.
"It's not the end, come on! He's been reincarnated as a tricycle"

I urge you to throw caution to the wind and give this crazy mess of a film ago.