Ditto

It possibly my favourite film of the year so far.

Mark

What? Even better than Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus?

Will try and get to see District 9 this weekend. I do like the phone box advertising for the film.

I did say "possibly". *smirk*

Mark

++;

Rambo

This is the fourth film in the Rambo franchise and returns to the Asian jungle rather than the Afghanistan of Part 3. Rambo is now in Thailand working as a snake collector and also owns a boat that he uses to trade on the river. A group of American missionaries contact Rambo and ask him to take them across the border into Burma where they are going to the aid of rebel forces who are being severely oppressed by the Burmese government forces. He takes some convincing but does complete the task, however the army attack the village where the missionaries are based and Rambo, along with a group of mercenaries, must locate the army camp and rescue the missionaries...if they are still alive.

Anyone who has seen Rambo: First Blood Part 2 will see something of a similarity in terms of plot but the tone of this film is very much like First Blood; gritty and more realistic than usual. Stallone directs in a hand-held style meant to represent Rambo's alertness and it certainly gives a you-are-there feeling to the film which starts slowly and ends at a frenetic pace. The action scenes, particularly towards the end of the film, are well directed and edited and are amongst the most violent I've ever seen. Explosions blast people into pulp and heavy machine gun fire removes heads and limbs in sequences reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan. There is a determination to vividly show the horror of what is going on in Burma and no detail is spared in showing something of the reality of war.

Obviously Rambo is a byword for meat-headed action films but Rambo 4 is a bit different and at 91 minutes I felt that it was a lean and focussed film bearing in mind that most other films these days tend to drag on way past the 2 hour mark.

8 out of 10

I dont do reviews really. I'm not a film critic in the slightest. But I do want to let everyone know what I thought of District 9.

I went to see it last night without knowing a great deal about the film or what to expect. I has seen some 10/10 rating on IMDB which was encouraging.

Having seen it my verdict is simply it's the best Sci-Fi - actually one of the best films of any genre - I've seen in a long time. The issues touched upon in the film are close to real life (are the way alien immigrants treated in the film any different from other immigrant slums?) which after a while made me forget the film focused on aliens on earth. Add to that some great characters (no big name charlies in this movie), a great location and fantasitc story and I was hooked. I dont really want to say any more as I certainly wouldnt want to give anything away but I would recommend anyone to see this at the cinema.

9.5/10

Switchblade Romance


Known as Haute Tension (High Tension) in its native France, this horror film was actually made in 2003 but I've only now had the chance to see it. The story is simple enough: two college friends, Alex and Marie, drive out into the country to the isolated farmhouse where Alex's family live. It's supposed to be a chance to get away from it all and revise, but a maniac arrives later on the first night and proceeds with slaughtering the family one by one. As the killer goes about his work, it is up to Marie to find some way of fighting back before they are all murdered.

High Tension is an appropriate title for this film which at times creates a similar atmosphere to something like Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It seems to be a deliberate homage to slasher films of the early 1980's but although this film was made on a fairly low budget it has a modern look to it and is well directed and acted. There are no one-liners and jokes; the film aims to keep you on the edge of your seat and does a pretty good job of doing so. It is bloody and violent so be warned. The twists and turns of the plot keep you interested even though you may well look back on the story and think "Hold on a minute...." And who knew a bookcase could be so dangerous?

Overall I thought it was a very atmospheric and unnerving film which I would recommend to any horror fans.

8 out of 10.

Incidentally, the director went on to do the recent remake of The Hills Have Eyes (9 out of 10) and did a similar job on that film, so if you've seen that you know what to expect!

Dead Snow


The cover of this DVD tells you just about everything you need to know about whether this film will appeal to you or not: Nazi zombies and a tagline of "Ein! Zwei! Die!" Horror comedy is tricky thing to pull off well but Dead Snow does a good job. A very over-used set-up introduces us to a group of Norwegian students who head to a snowbound mountain cabin for the usual goings-on. All seems OK until they find out that they are in an area where a notorious platoon of German soldiers severely oppressed the locals during World War 2. The people eventually drove the Germans into the mountains where they were presumed to have perished in the cold...

As you may have guessed, all kinds of bloody mayhem ensues. There are obvious homages to Evil Dead, BrainDead, etc, and Dead Snow is very much in this vein. The Norwegian mountain locations are stunning and allow for some creepy night-time scenes as people wander about in the forest at night with a torch illuminating the snowy landscape.

Overall I enjoyed Dead Snow once it got past a rather lengthy introduction to the characters which just made me dislike them more; the second half of the film is manic.

7.5 out of 10

Really? I had me a French Extreme* moment a few months ago - and that featured, but I just thought "pfft" - in fact, I thought the same about Martyrs (which is a LOT darker) but you might "enjoy" that also...

I've still yet to get through À l'intérieur though, I was interrupted by friends very early on and have yet to return to it, but from what I did get to see, it will beat the other two into the ground.

*if you've seen and liked Man Bites Dog, I reccomend Noe's "I Stand Alone" - very very good.

I was thinking about seeing Martyrs but I will have to be in the right frame of mind and I've kind of had enough at the moment. The same goes for À l'intérieur and Frontiers. I was very impressed by Man Bites Dog for its black humour ("I like to start the month with a postman") though I did find it disturbing. I hadn't heard of I Stand Alone so thanks for the recommendation, I'll add it to my list!

Maybe I'll review some Japanese films next....Grotesque, perhaps? I haven't reviewed Oldboy or anything but I bumped it to the top of my list after you wrote so positively about it earlier (somewhere) and I thought it was extremely good and had an original and compelling plot.

Saw "No country for old men" this week,,, Erm, the 4 Oscars on the cover and the hype made it sound like a great film... What a disappointment. Boring, bloody and lacking in coherence and story...

I'm one of the few you will find who agree 100% with you there.

What's that then?
<scuttles away to imdb>

Wow. I thought it was one of the best films of '08. Classic Coen's situation of "bloke gets caught up in a situation he doesn't want any part of, but ends up having to figure something out due to circumstances beyond his control", with a side of dark humour, social commentary and awesome, legendary Tommy Lee Jones.