Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter A Review

Being a reader of Author Seth Graehame-Smith's mashup novel (of the same name), I was very surprised when the film adaptation was announced and that Tim Burton would be producing and Timur Bekmambetov (of Wanted) directing.

Much like the book, all eyes are drawn to the silly title and the premise that America's 16th president were vampire-hunting to kill time.

Unlike the book, the film left out most of the stuff set during the present day and focuses immediately on Lincoln's journey of killing vampires. The biggest change had to be the addition of a villain, Old Vampire named Adam (played by Rufus Sewell).

Yes, the film is ridiculous in the way it turned the President into an axe wielding action hero (Man, what I would give to be that kind of President!) who kills without mercy in super cool slow mo and jumps from a burning train any other day.

However, it was exactly the ultra seriousness of the Book's treatment of the subject that was the centre of the humour of it all. Director Timur Bekmambetov had done a very fine job, attempting to get audiences to take this film seriously, but the man who could've captured the book's spirit perfectly was never a few feet away.

Yes, Tim Burton should've directed this film, but instead he went to Collingwood Manor to party with vampire from the Dark Shadows (sorry, I had to). That film interestingly involve vampires and writer Seth Graehame-Smith at the script (who also wrote this adaptation of his own novel). Is it a coincidence that a pair of sunglasses that Henri Sturges wore at the film's first half looks exactly like the pair Barnabas Collins wore during the montage in Dark Shadows?

Since the film's script was written by the author of the book, any arguments about straying from the source would be useless, because maybe this is what the author want. A silly entertaining action piece of an axe wielding president. It might not be what it could've been, but it does live up to its title, however half-heartedly.

3/5

Brave: A Brave Attempt

Pixar's First Original Feature since the excellent Up  back in 2009. After that, Pixar's releases have been two sequels to their previous releases (one excellent and one reportedly way below their standards).

Brave is unlike any Pixar production before, with the studio tackling for the first time the fairy tale genre, made popular by their partner, Disney.

Set in The Scottish Highland, Brave tells us the story of young Princess Merida and the war between her and her mother, who constantly grooms Merida to be her mirror image. Being the free spirited princess she is (Ariel anyone?) naturally she fought not only her mother, but the ancient tradition of marriage in her kingdom. How to achieve that? Why with a visit to a witch's cottage and transform her Mother into a Bear of course (Brother Bear?)

Brave is safe to say, one of Pixar's most gorgeous looking production so far, the team had managed to animate the beauty of the Scottish Highlands and capture its grandeur.

The story is very much well told, although not as well told as Pixar's past productions. But it is every bit as enjoyable as any Disney Production, not Pixar.

Despite, having Pixar's visual, at its core, the film is disney through and through. An enjoyable affair for the family, and finally, a true merging of Disney and Pixar films. In short, a true Disney/Pixar Production.

3.5/5

Madagascar 3: A Review

One of Dreamworks Animations most lucrative properties (along with Kung Fu Panda) made yet another landing in cinemas this year, and I must say, this film is a huge step up from its predecessors and possibly the best of three. (Unlike Po, Alex & co. started their cinematic journeys in a rather mediocre fashion)

Ever since 'How To Train Your Dragon' Dreamworks animation seems to be hell bent in achieving what their biggest rival, Pixar had always managed to achieve in their films: a perfect balance between story and spectacle ('HTTYD''s an excellent example)

Anyway after two movies of being stranded in the wild, our animal quartet finally makes their way back to New York, by helping out a dying circus and tour Europe, needless to say various mishappenings and shenanigans occur along the way.

The film's villain Chantal Dubois (played by Frances McDormand) is a delight, and I think, the only 'real' antagonist in these films.

The Story remains typically Dreamworks and true to the 'Madagascar way', however unlike the last two, this one managed to play around with visuals and 3D quite well, the Monte Carlo Chase, and the Circus Scene are two most epic moments in Animation Films this year (so far..)

The only thing lacking from this film, is that catharsis moment which again, 'HTTYD' did so well.  However, this film remains to be a delightful addition to summer movie season, and very entertaining.

3/5

Prometheus a review

Probably the film most shrouded in Mystery this year, the biggest question naturally was 'is it Alien prequel or not' well..it is, but not really. Not a direct prequel at least, but it does share some of 'Alien's DNA' to quote director's Ridley Scott's own words.

The story follows scientist's Elizabeth Shaw (played by Noomi Rapace, I swore I heard one of the characters called her 'Lisbeth' at one point lol) on her journey to find the alien race called 'Engineers' (also space jockeys) only, she, along with the crew of the ship Prometheus, landed on the Engineers home world, but rather a base where the engineers engineer (excuse the pun) a weapon for reasons not so benevolent.

Of all films in the Alien Franchise, this has to stand as one of the better ones (below Alien and Aliens), it is also a perfect combination of Alien and Aliens (is that a hint of Avatar I see there?)

The casts in this film were all splendid, and like everyone else, I agree that Michael Fassbender's performance shines the brightest as the android David which has Bishop's likeability factor and Ash's dastardliness, and well Fassbender's charm, such a delightful character.

Overall this is a pretty good film, but it fails sadly, to be on Alien level. It poses so many questions but not the answers to those questions. It looks fantastic and 3D's done pretty well (the opening looks particularly good in 3D)  I think they should move on with the sequel already and answer the questions!

3.5/5

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....'