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!
