Comic Con Documentary & The Pact

Today I have two reviews of films I have just seen. They are very different, one is documentary film about the San Diego Comic Con, and the other is a low budget horror film. Very different in terms of style, genre and quality! Here are my verdicts:


Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

Morgan Spurlock has made some great documentaries in the past, the most noteworthy being Super Size Me and 30 Days. He is a master of his art and he has made yet another masterpiece! This time he is not the star, the star is Comic Con. The largest and most famous Comic Con in the world, held annually in San Diego USA. Every nerd in the world wishes they could go to Comic Con, including myself. One day I will go, I will make sure of that and this film just made me more determined!

The film follows several different types of people and their journey throughout the four nerd filled days. One guy's showcasing his portfolio, one girl is designing costumes and another guy is getting ready to propose to his girlfriend at the Kevin Smith Panel. This isn't a documentary about the historical backgrounds of the convention, this is video diary of the events which occurred a couple of years ago.

The great thing about this is that you route for each guy and girl because they are so dedicated and passionate about their trade, you want the guy to draw for Marvel, you want the girl to win best costume and you hope that the guy's girlfriend says yes when he proposes. You even want the grumpy comic book seller to sell some comics! Basically you are routing for the underdog, the people who you usually associate as the nerd or the geek, you are now following and anticipating their journey.

The documentary has a whole load of interviews with some very awesome people like Joss Whedon and Stan lee, who actually produced the film. You also get some really funny antics from Kevin Smith who has you laughing out loud throughout most of his interview. Seth Rogen, Eli Roth, Frank Miller, Harry Knowles, you name it, they are in it! It's a nerd fest and I love it!

Though this isn't just a massive advert for Comic Con, the downside is highlighted. The decrease in comic book sales and how they are no longer the main attraction at the convention. They have been pushed aside for pop culture hits and franchises. Don't let that rain on your parade, you will still be dying to go by the end!

The great thing about this film is that you can show it to family members and they will finally understand your obsession with the place! I watched this with my girlfriend and she enjoyed it, maybe not as much as me, but she now realises why I want to go so much! She knows I want to go to a place where I fit in with the thousands of other nerds and speak about nerdy things! One of the reasons I made this blog was to share my opinions with people who care or have the same interests as my own.

I will be there, one day, dressed as Spider-Man and I will love it. This documentary has reinforced that fact and that is why I am rating it a 5/5.

The Pact

I admire people who write and direct their own films, it's something that I wish to do one day. This was the one thing that interested me about Nicholas McCarthy's first feature film The Pact, based on his previous short film of the same name.

The plot goes like this; 'As a woman struggles to come to grips with her past in the wake of her mother's death, an unsettling presence emerges in her childhood home.'
Though like most horror films, this film falls short of being good. Somebody needs to take the horror genre and take away the bad acting, women running around in underwear and terrible scripts. Something this film has a lot of! I was hoping for something different, something unlike anything we have seen before

The problem with this film, is that it feels as if it's trying to be like Paranormal Activity without the handheld element. Why does every horror film now have some kind of poltergeist haunting a house! Unlike Paranormal Activity this film shows us too much, which just takes away from the scares of which there were only a few. I was only scared about twice in this film, once I had kind of guessed what was happening I felt safe, which isn't something a horror film should make its audience feel.

Lets talk about the acting, it wasn't all that good. Maybe this was because of a pretty bland script or just because the people involved were bad actors. Thankfully the main character played by Caity Lotz isn't too bad but even she has her moments. She also had one green and one blue eye which they kept emphasising on, for no reason what so ever in the end. Apart from Lotz everybody else is pretty terrible or has hardly any screen time to tell.

There is one character in particular who feels very over done which was Stevie played by Hayley Hudson; the creepy girl who talks to ghosts. Although they really went overboard on the make up and she looks more like a ghost then a person, which just seemed like a bad decision.

There were good points to this film, it looked very good. The cinematography was spot on and everything looked good on screen. Also when there were scares they were good, but after that there's not really much else.

Maybe its because I'm not a big fan of the horror genre but I just wasn't into this film, I was hoping for more but it never really delivered. If you enjoy the genre then this might have enough scares to satisfy you but for me it was a bit disappointing. Which is unfortunate and why I'm giving this film a rating of 2/5.

Thanks for reading! Check back again this week for my big Spider-Man blog special! Remember if you have any fan art of Spider-Man it can be used on the post if you send it in to my email alex-moppy@hotmail.com - all who submit any images or art work will get a mention!

Chronicle

If you have read my blog before, then you know I like superheroes. So last year when I heard that a new found footage/hand held camera film was being made about a group of friends who get powers, it had to make my most anticipated movies of 2012 list! I was looking forward to finally seeing this film but I never would have expected the scale of awesomeness that this $12 million budget movie created!

The plot goes like this; Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides. It could be said that throughout this film the plot is kind of predictable, but I could never have predicted how crazy the last act of the film was going to be. Without spoiling anything, the last act looked as if it could have come from a big blockbuster movie! The effects were great as well, at the start of the film I was worried about effects after a few floating lego blocks came across as a bit naff, but the exploding helicopters look just fine!

The characters are great and very well written, which they needed to be as we don't have any demons as an excuse to turn on the hand held camera. Unlike Paranormal Activity this film doesn't only use the main protagonist's camera but anyone else who has access to their own camera, we're talking mobile phones to police CCTV footage. And because our trio of characters get telekinesis powers then they can make the camera float around them without having to hold it with their shaky hands.

The trailer for this film does not show all the best bits, in fact it shows hardly any of them. If you have not been a fan of these kind of films so far then this could be the one to turn you. And if you're already a fan then you will love this! And for those who are bored of superheroes this summer then don't worry there is no spandex in this film! It aslo makes you think what you would do if you had these powers, maybe I read to many comics but I would definitely be making my own crime fighting costume!

The director Josh Trank has created a very smart and thrilling film which out does every found footage film made before it! The effects were great and the acting brilliant, an underrated gem in a great year for film, now that it is out on DVD and Blu-Ray hopefully it will be seen by more people! I highly recommend this film! 4/5

Come back next week for my review of Prometheus!

Thanks for reading!

Easter Reviews Part 1

So over the Easter holidays so far, I have watched a lot of films and I am most likely to watch a lot more! So for this post I am going to write short reviews for all of the films I have seen so far. Then next week I will review the rest of the films I am most likely to watch in the coming days. So please enjoy!

Paranormal Activity 3
I was a big fan of the documentary Catfish which the directors of this film previously worked on. So I was hoping that they would do this franchise some good. I liked the first film, due to its originality in the horror genre, but I wasn't a big fan of the second as its seems they just copied what had happened in the previous instalment. The third, although having the same sort of rhythm to it, was actually my personal favourite of the series! I thought that it pushed the boundaries of the previous film and delivered some pretty creative scares. If you were put off by the second film then don't turn this one down as it might regain your faith. But I must ask how much life the series has left in it?

Martha Marcy May Marlene
I reviewed this in previous post but I thought I would still give a short verdict; If you are a fan of films which have interesting plots but don't actually go anywhere with it, then this is the film for you. Unfortunately this is not the film for me.

Sunshine
Danny Boyle has no boundaries! He can take any genre and make his own brilliant film within it. Sunshine is a great film and stars some great actors including the new Captain America. A great film that felt almost like a new take on the Alien films. Some great story telling done here and it was actually quite scary in places. My only criticism is that the ending was a little bit crazy and a points I was unsure as to what was actually happening.

Reservoir Dogs
This is the first time I have seen this Tarantino masterpiece. It was a great film which had me glued to my seat throughout. A proper classic and if you haven't seen it, you need too! This really is Tarantino at his best and I don't think I have seen a bad film from the director yet. I cannot wait for Django Unchained!

We Need To Talk About Kevin
I really enjoyed this film and thought that the subject area of which it is based on was handled well. My only problem with this film is that they try to hard. They try to establish this bad relationship between a mother and her soon to be mass killer son. The director obviously wanted the audience to question whether his actions could have been prevented by better parenting. The director also wanted us to think whether the mother is just as bad as her son. The only problem is, is that they focus to hard on making the character of Kevin come across as an evil delusional child. He needed therapy and he needed to be told off by his mum every once and a while for his terrible behaviour! A good film but it could be better.

Red State
This film has been heavily slated by audiences and critics. So I didn't watch this film expecting anything special. But actually it was a good fun watch and I enjoyed it very much. It is sold as a horror but actually isn't that scary. It's more of a fun thriller that makes fun of 'America's Most Hated Family' the Phelps family. The OTT Christians that goes to soldiers funerals with banners saying 'God Hates Fags'. Great way of spreading Gods love?? The family in the film now actually catch these sinners and kill them. The whole film turns into a massive shoot up between them and the police. John Goodman steals the show as usual but Michael Parks was not far behind. Some great acting and a good film which unlike many, i recommend.

Thanks for reading!