Men In Black 3: A Review

Long after MIB2 (which was kinda crappy) agent K and J returns to kick some extra-terrestrial arse. Surprisingly the film turns out pretty decent (after all those horrible trailers) but sadly, the chemistry between K and J is mostly gone (coincidentally, we also don't see much of Tommy Lee Jones).

 The plot centres on J’s journeying back to the past to prevent an alien assassinate a young K and alters the course of history. I found the main villain to be a little too cartoonish and over the top, but then again, so was the previous villains (main difference? I was a kid when I saw the first two) so Boris the Animal is a valid reason of a villain. 

I found The first half of the film with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to be a bit boring. As I mentioned above, the chemistry between Smith and Jones is surprisingly missing in most of the frames when they are together, as if K and J are no longer partners (considering how much of a J show this film is, maybe that’s intentional) Josh Brolin managed to replicate Lee Jones in a rather nice way whilst also giving K a more easy going, and well youthful personality. 

Emma Thompson is very underused a pity considering her acting calibre . The ending of the film is surprisingly strong and Michael Stuhlbarg’s Griffin character is pretty intriguing (though not really involving just like the rest of the cast). In the end, a huge improvement over MIB2 but to be honest, not  really necessary to have been made in the first place.

2.5/5

Dark Shadows: a review

Tim Burton is well known for his eclectic blend of Gothic and dark humors, this is clearly evident from two of his classics Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) [and the two Batman pictures too].

Dark Shadows is a welcome return to that lovely early Burton style, dark, gothic, and humorous. The film starts with a wonderful Gothic prologue (which happened to look like a deleted scene from 2007’s Sweeney Todd) that introduces us to the history of the Collins family and the conflict between Barnabas Collins and the evil witch, Angelique Bouchardt (she wants to be his girlfriend but he’s just not that into her)

However after that, the focus shifts to Victoria, a reincarnation of Barnabas’s love (who was murdered by Angelique through magic) who is hiding a dark past. Through her, we are introduced to the present (1972) Collins family household. You’d think she is the protagonist but alas, the protagonist is still Barnabas and we are soon treated to the hilarious way of him walking around, flabbergasted by how much has changed since he was buried 200 years ago.

Soon Barnabas returns to the now ruined family mansion and moved in with his descendants and help them restoring the family’s glory. Angelique soon returns to the picture as a rival business and still trying to be Barnabas’s girl. 

The film has its moment, it is entertaining, and the visuals are better than any films released this year so far, but sadly what it has abundant in visuals and mise-en-scene, it lacks in narrative. The film’s setup is also somewhat misleading by taking us through Victoria’s perspective as she is soon vanishes from the picture until the last 5  minutes.  

In short like the Collins mansion, which starts out grand and ends up in ruin, so is the film’s narrative structure. But stylistically this is definitely a Burton film, and none of his films are really, really bad. A decent entertainment and a visual paradise.

3/5

Irresponsible Bus Company

I don't usually post angry rants online but this time I am encouraged to do so.

Anyway, this particular bus company in Melbourne has seriously damaged their credibility and reputation in my and my film group's eyes.

last Thursday me and my film group booked a bus from this bus company WITH exclusive assurance that the bus would be available on Sunday morning at 6.30

So, having paid lower fee than expected (we were quite happy about the price) we all went and done the rest of our jobs with lighter load on our back.

So on Sunday we picked up the bus and guess what? The bus wasn't there! It wasn't fucking there. This little fiasco set our filming schedule back by 2 hours and we were forced to find another day to film which means we ar now required to book the camera an te other gizmos all over again.

If only the bus company didn't fuck us over, we'd be happily tinkering the footages by now.

I understand that this problem might be outside of their hand, but it is their duty to ensure that they deliver what they promised their customers. If there's going to be problems with the bus we booked couldn't they have let us earlier so we could plan our Plan B?

So anyway, I hope the bus company would fully reimburse us and stuff. I understand that this is out of their control but sadly, right now we are in the position of wondering 'what could have been if they didn't....'