Showing posts with label Just musings.... Show all posts
Showing posts with label Just musings.... Show all posts

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Airlock Kickstarter Campaign!


The makers of the awesome Aussie horror flick The Tunnel have a new project in the works and like The Tunnel, you the consumer, can help bring it about!  Airlock is a sci-fi horror series set in space!!  If you thought being underground in the tunnels of Sydney was scary, imagine what these guys could do in space!!

Pledges start at only $5 and every $1 counts!!  The best part is the that series will be FREE to watch worldwide upon completion!  Everyone wins! :D

So please consider helping to get this project made!!

You can find all the relevant details including a teaser of things to come over at their Kickstarter page!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Hollywood & Body Image Issues

Whilst using Facebook last night, one of my friends 'liked' the following image:


It had this comment attached: "Silly, superficial world; please tell us why phony is more beautiful & why the dude is fine 'as is' no matter what size or age? Thanks!"

I initially took at face value that the bottom image represented a promotional shot for the film that had been Photoshopped, and that the image above it was a screen capture from the film. Well for starters, the shot is a promotional shot specifically for the purposes of advertising the film, not a shot from the actual film itself.  (The scene, as it takes place in the film, has the two characters on opposite sides of each other and the image below is not mirrored.)  I then had a look at the official press release photos from Getty Images (also confirmed at Movie Stills) and the following is the official press release photo as distributed by the studio:





As you can see, it has not been altered in the same way is the image at the top.  A little digging around on-line seems to reveal The Hollywood Reporter as the first organization to use the bottom image in reference to the films screening at Cannes this year.  Whether they created it or not remains to be seen, but it does show up on a number of festival websites including a number here in Australia.

I cannot understand why anyone would see the need to edit this photo in the way that they have?! What possible purpose does it serve?  I would love to find out who did this, why and for whom!

Body Image is a major issue among women, especially younger women and this kind of blatant manipulation is frankly horrific to me.  If I were Julie Delpy I would be mortified and insulted beyond comprehension. Sadly, this issue is not new, and this case above reminded me of one a number of years ago involving Saffron Burrows and her film Deep Blue Sea. Here is a clip of her explaining quite candidly some of the issues she had during and after filming:



The clip above is taken from the brilliant series Dinner for Five hosted by Jon Faverau. I highly recommend checking it out on YouTube if you get a chance!  Below you can see the issues she raised with the poster art for Deep Blue Sea and beside that an actual image of her in costume from the film for comparison:



It is just sad and insulting.  We are breeding a culture of women who feel ashamed about their bodies and a culture of men with completely unrealistic expectations of the female form and it has to stop.  Those who perpetuate this kind of obscene manipulation should be named and shamed!


You can find more information about Body Image issues and concerns at the Australian Governments Body Image page.



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Playing with Cinemagraph Part 2

Well, I am getting a little better at finding things worth taking animated pictures of, but it is certainly not as easy as you would think to get it right!  Nokia have updated the app to allow editing of existing images which is a welcome addition, however since that update the phone is a little sluggish with the actual playback of files.  I seem to have developed a habit of holding the phone slightly off centre when taking images horizontally, not sure if this is as a result of the keys to the right of the screen and my attempts to avoid pressing them, but it is getting a little old to capture a great shot only to have it on an angle! Overall I have been quite happy with the control afforded by the app and I am especially impressed by some of the night images that it captures with nothing more than default settings!



Anyhow, without further ado I have placed a few more Cinemagraphs after the jump from my recent trip to Melbourne & Sydney as taken directly from my Nokia Lumia 920. (Please note the page may take quite awhile to load!) Select Read More below to view them :)


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Rant Alert: Movie Rental Industry 4 Years On



So four years ago I wrote this blog post.  For those of you who weren't aware, I work in the movie rental industry.  An industry that has supposedly been dying for the past 10 years.  I have decided on this four year anniversary to take a look at the state of affairs in the Australia rental industry.

As it stands currently, the physical rental industry is on its way to an ice age, one that will see the physical rental stores dissipate and be replaced by the ever evolving move to on-demand or streaming services.

As with any ice age though, the change is not immediate, and will see a number of years of transitional weather as the industry comes to terms with exactly what it is going to do.

In Australia DVD rental is still a popular form of entertainment, and for many, it is still the only way to get access to the latest movies to watch in the comfort of your own home. 

Why?

Well, despite the many options for streaming or on-demand movie rentals available, the majority of new technologies rely on the internet. A technology in which Australia currently ranks number 40 in the world, even Israel, Bulgaria and South Korea have internet access almost 10 times faster than our average!

Ah, but the NBN I hear you say!  Despite having commenced or completed NBN access to almost 1 million premises as of this year, Australia was one of only 3 countries to register a decline in national broadband speed averages. (A decline of 13% no less!!) 38 percent of Australians have internet access at or above 4Mb/s, whilst a paltry 4.1 per cent have speeds 10.1Mb/s or higher.  Compare that to South Korea (Number 1 on the list) with 86% coverage at speeds over 14.1Mb/s

In movie terms, it would take the average Australian over an hour to download a standard definition movie from iTunes.  Not exactly “on demand”.

The other hindrance to the take up of online services is their very nature.  Most of the popular web based rental services are subscription, meaning you must sign up to each of them individually and in some cases pay a monthly subscription fee in order to rent titles.  There is not a single service that offers movies from all studios and distributors as each movie studio generally wants to control its own content and will not license it to other vendors.  As a result, most services offer a restricted selection of new release or back catalog titles and while this may change, presently the easiest way to get access to the largest selection is still on physical DVD.

Pay TV is in a similar situation, with monthly subscriptions as well as “on demand” rentals at a fixed cost.

As with my previous post. there is still the argument for quality.  With flat panels getting bigger every day and projectors becoming more common place in homes the compression used by most online services will become more and more obvious. In the U.S services like Netflix are offering HD streaming, but it is still a paltry 10-12Mbp/s vs Blu-ray's upwards of 32Mbp/s

So as it stands, 4 years after the so-called death of physical media, DVD is still by far the winner in the home media format front.  Blu-ray a close second and streaming media still bringing up the rear!

It will be interesting to see how things play out in another 4 years time!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Playing with Cinemagraph

I recently upgraded my phone to the Nokia Lumia 920, a fantastic piece of technology!

Anyhow, whilst playing with features etc I came across the cinemagraph feature that lets you take gif images directly from the phone... here are a few samples of photos I have taken thus far: (More after the break!)



Friday, January 11, 2013

2013 - Unlucky for some?

So 2013 has started off with a bang, or in the case of Tasmania, where I reside, a blaze.  Half the state is on fire and we have experienced some of the hottest days on record which of course makes for a good excuse to remain indoors in air conditioning and watch movies.  Not quite how I wanted to start the year though and I do feel for all of the families affected by these devastating fires.  It has made for some interesting sunsets here of late.. here is a pic I snapped just before going to see Life of Pi last Friday night:


Anyways, as with the seeing in of any new year, I thought I might post my favourite flicks from last year.  Given that I live in Australia, quite a number of the "so-called" blockbuster films have yet to arrive on these shores and some of the films on my list were in fact made back in 2011, but did not get a theatrical release here until 2012 - thus for some folks it may seem a bit odd for them to appear on this list.  I am not good with "best of" or "favourite lists", so these are not in any particular order, but they are five films I enjoyed seeing in 2012

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)


Occasionally in my line of work I have the privilege of getting to see films I have heard nothing about, Safety Not Guaranteed was one of these films last year.  Great performances and an interesting premise make this film a treat to watch and one of the better sci-fi dramas made of late.

From Up On Poppy Hill (2011)


From Studio Ghibli and master director Hayao Miyazaki's son Goro comes this luciously animated drama about first love and school life in the small Japanese town of Yokohama in the 1960's. This film is a joy to watch from beginning to end and as usual reminds us that animation has so much to offer outside entertaining the children for a couple of hours.

God Bless America (2011)


From writer / director Bobcat Goldthwaite comes this treat of a film.  I suspect a lot of people may not find this as thoroughly entertaining as me (especially in light of some of the more recent gun violence in the United States), but I think the film was very carefully crafted and goes out of its way to display everything that is wrong with our society in its current climate!  With some great acting from the two leads and some wonderful dialog the film is definitely one that you will either love or hate and personally I loved it!

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)


Wes Anderson and I have an on again off again relationship.  Rushmore is one of my favourite films of all time, but I can't stand The Royal Tenanbaums.  Moonrise Kingdom however gets everything right and will give you a smile on your face for most of its duration.  Great cast, great story, excellent music, wonderful cinematography and a great sense of humor make this one of the best comedies in the last decade.  If you are only going to check out one film on my list, may I suggest that this be it!

Margaret (2011)


Not everyone's cup-o-tea this amazing character driven drama was certainly one of the best films I had the pleasure of seeing last year, I have still yet to see the extended edition, but I am sure the film can only be better with a longer running time.  You can check out my full review here.

So there you go, five films I highly recommend from last year, but I can't go without panning at least one and here it is:


The worst film of the year was easily  Resident Evil: Retribution, so much wasted potential and an absolute train wreck of a film, shame really, but that is the way the cookie crumbles.

I will be very interested to see what the year 2013 has in store for cinemas goers with some very interesting trailers floating around of late, hopefully it will be a great year!!



Thursday, June 9, 2011

Film Central & How B Grade Movies Saved (or Ruined) My Life

As if I didn't already watch enough films during the week (Clearly you can never watch too many), I have just joined the ranks of Film Central on Edge Radio 99.3FM here in Hobart! Basically I will now be reviewing more mainstream fare as well as the regular B-Grade Movie updates. You will find my reviews both here and on the Film Central blog (and obviously by tuning in at 5pm on Tuesday evening!)

Speaking of radio shows though...

Episode 91 - Actor Special: Arnold Schwarzenegger
This week Matt and I review movies by The Govenator himself from his Conan origins to his awful comedies and everything in between!

Challenges were:

Matthew: Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Steven: End of Days (1999)



Episode 92 - Actor Special: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Next cab off the rank in our Actor specials is the muscles from Brussels, star of many a B grade action flick (some of them are even quite good!). Jean-Claude Van Damme recently escaped his stereotype by starring in JCVD, but we will be talking about his entire *ahem* range of movies.

Challenges were:

Matthew: Hard Target (1993)

Steven: Replicant (2001)



As usual you can find, listen or download all of our past episodes over at B Grade Movies Online! You can also hear us live on 99.3FM in Hobart or streaming live at Edge Radio at 10pm AEST every Sunday evening!

If you like us, why not join us on Facebook, we are generally stuffing around on the book of face whilst we do the show.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Recent Viewings...

Here are a few films I have watched over the past week or so...

The Awakening (1980)
Charlton Heston plays an obsessed archeologist traveling with his pregnant wife in the search for the tomb of an unnamed Egyptian queen. When opening the tomb his wife gives birth 2 months premature and things go slightly downhill from there. The film is certainly an oddball with almost no likable characters and a convoluted plot that doesn't actually explain anything. I note that it is based on a novel by Bram Stoker (in fact a number of other films are based on the same novel), so I would be interested to learn how faithful an adaptation it is. Still.... it is not the worst mummy movie I have had to watch *cough* The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor *cough*

Wax Work (1988)
I had not seen Wax Work before, but I needed another Mummy movie for our latest B Grade Movie show and this sounded the most interesting from the list I had. I wasn't disappointed either! What a great little flick! Interesting story, over the top acting, violence and gore up the wazoo. This is how horror movies should be! I have visited a number of Wax Work museums in my time and the exhibits coming to life is always foremost in my mind, but Wax Work takes it to the next level! I even watched the sequel and whilst it is certainly not as good, it still gets points for having Bruce Campbell in it and ripping off the Suspiria score!


Flight of the Navigator (1986)
I had not seen this film since my original viewing sometime back in my childhood. I was surprised by how well it actually holds up, the acting is fine, the story in interesting and genuine and even the visual effects hold up quite well. It also inspired my idea for the next show on How B Grade Movies Saved or Ruined My Life (Kid's Stuff - Movies from your childhood).

The Mummy (1999)
Stephen Sommers brings the Universal Classic Monster film back to the big screen in a hugely entertaining popcorn extravaganza. Starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and Arnold Vosloo as the title character, The Mummy is a great adventure film and a rollicking good time. My only advice would be to avoid the sequels as though Imo-tep himself had cursed them!

Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Picked this up from the UK on Blu-ray, I previously owned the Japanese DTS DVD and this is a marked improvement on that. Still one of my favourite Burton movies with a great cast, excellent script and a marvelous "feel" about it. Sadly the Blu-ray does not feature any extras ported from the DVD.

The Collector (2009)
Certainly an interesting premise in which a thief has most definitely chosen the wrong night to break into his employers house. The movie plays out in real time and has a number of original scare moments, for me though, the lack of explanation is one of the best aspects of the film. This killer just goes about his business as though he has been doing it for years and whilst there are a few cliche moments for the most part this was a refreshing addition the the horror genre.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

New Toys and Additions to the Collection

Well, I haven't been around of much lately, but that doesn't mean I have been entirely out of the game...

I have recently updated my phone from a Nokia 6085 fold phone that has served me well for nearly 5 years!! The update was to bring me into the smart phone era and whilst I had an android phone in mind, I ended up with both a Windows 7 phone and a Symbian 3 phone! Go figure. My main concern was that I really don't like touch screen phones. Something that has unfortunatly become the norm with these kinds of things. I have been a fan of Nokia since 1998, when I purchased my first phone and have stuck with them through thick and thin for around 6 phones now. I really liked the looked of the N8, but again touch screen, so when I saw the E7's full qwerty keyboard, my mind was pretty much made up for me! I know it has a few limitations, but nothing that will impede my uses for it! Of course I have been on a pre-paid plan for a number of years now and that just won't do with the switch to new fangled internet enabled devices so that meant going to a plan and that meant receiving another phone. In this instance the HTC Mozart Windows 7 phone. I kind of hate it (it is touch screen), but there are certainly things I like about it. Anyhow, both have been tested over the last few days and I must say I really am loving the E7. Awesome build quality, great to use, much quicker than I was expecting (although there are a couple of "quirks"), but on the whole a great user experience. The same cannot be said for the Mozart. I really wanted to like it, but I have had display bugs, fits of rage at the touch screens outright refusal to recognise that I have touched it, not to mention the auto correct that seems intuitive at first and then becomes downright insulting.

Anyhow, here is a gander at them:


Nokia E7 with full QWERT keyboard

HTC 7 Mozart

I will add a more full review of the phones once I have used them for about a week or so....

And now for something completely different in the form of a few new additions to the Blu-ray collection that I had not reported earlier:

Justified Season 1 from the U.S, awesome series!! A little like someone making a series out of Winter's Bone only with more humor and Timothy Olyphant. Great cast, great writing and looks awesome in HD!!! Check it out if you can!
Next up we have Stargate: Ultimate Edition and Let the Right One In. It took Amazon 3 goes to get that order right.... they continually sent me the original release of LTROI.... much to my annoyance, but hey.. it ended up costing about $8 so it was quite the steal!! As was Stargate from CDWOW for only $7 (used a coupon) Stargate also marks my first Blu-ray double dip as I own the previous U.S Lionsgate release, but this is quite the improvement!

Anyhow that is the news for now, I will be updating the How B Grade Movies Saved or Ruined My Life section of the blog later in the week as I plan to incorporate all of our Writer's specials into one post, but if you can't wait simply head over to the site to take a listen!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Hmmm

So, a whole month and not a single update... that is a bit lame... seems the spiders might have moved in by now!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Sucker Punch Poster Wave 2 & Trailer 2

There are few posters I would pay money for, but I am pretty sure at some stage I am going to have to fork out to get a whole set of these!!!




I thought I had posted the official trailer too, but alas, twas the teaser... so here is the real deal. Is it sad that I am tempted to fly to another state just to see this in Imax?

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Latest Acquisitions

Here are some of the goodies I picked up over the Christmas period. I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas and will be seeing the New Year in in style!

I have also taken some time to re-photograph a number of my limited edition sets, so I look forward to updating those in the new year!

As for recent viewings, I have seen quite a number of films over the last few days, I have not really been inspired to write about any of them, but I have also had little time to. I am hoping that after the first few days of the new year things will have settled a bit and I can get back on the horse and try again!

I hope you have all enjoyed 2010 and are looking forward to the great things 2011 will have to offer!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Recent Viewings....

Salt (2010)
Directed By Phillip Noyce

In a return to his Patriot Games days, Philip Noyce presents a rollercoaster ride of a film (more for its ups and downs than its thrills) involving Russian Cold War conspiracies, CIA Spies and a plan to destroy the world using the U.S's nuclear arsenal. Angelina Jolie steps up to the gate and sets out running, of course she is no stranger to the action movie and fits this type of character well. The film suffers from a contrived plot, over-the-top action and some downright stupid moments (all possibly intentional), but it was certainly better than I was anticipating and as an enjoyable 90 minutes wasted.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
Directed By Thor Freudenthal

Featuring what is possibly the worst character to appear on film this year, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is quite the mish mash. Sometimes funny, sometimes cringe worthy, the film is obviously trying to convey a message of self worth and respect to a middle school audience, but I dare say this is a little hard to do when your main character is a self-absorbed ego maniac who you literally want to take to task for the fact. Whilst that may be the point, you spend most of the film waiting for the moment when said character gets their reality check and redeems themselves, and whilst a scene does fit that description, it certainly isn't the revelation you have been hoping for. This should have been the Easy A equivalent for its generation, the potential was there, just not realized.


Buried (2010)
Directed By Rodrigo Cortés

I can't even begin to imagine what going through an experience like being buried alive might be like, but I'll bet Ryan Reynolds can! He plays Paul Conroy, a truck driver for an American company currently deployed in Iraq. His convoy is attacked and he blacks out. When he awakes, Paul finds himself in quite a number of peoples worst nightmares. He has been buried alive. Present in his coffin are a lighter, mobile phone, glow sticks and a knife. His kidnappers use the phone in order to make their ransom demands and Paul uses the phone to call whoever he can.
This film is tense, and that doesn't even do it justice. Shot entirely in the coffin confines using only whatever lighting was available (lighter, glowstick etc), this is possibly the closest you could come to the experience of being buried alive without actually having it happen. Reynolds holds his own and puts in one of the best performances of his career. Some of the faceless voices do a less favorable job of acting the part, but the film doesn't really waiver in its 90 minute running time and you will soon forget the nitpicking. This is definitely one to see at the movies, the audio design is superb and whilst the screen stays black for almost a quarter of the film, the darkened room only adds to the intensity. If you suffer from claustrophobia though, it might be a good idea to wait and watch this one at home!

The Invisible (2007)
Directed By David S. Goyer

This remake of the 2002 Swedish film of the same name is not as bad as I was expecting. In some ways it is very similar to the recently released Let Me In, in that it changes just enough of the story to stand on its own. There are some fairly solid performances here from nearly all of the cast and the film looks fairly impressive on the recently released Blu-ray. Whilst I would always suggest checking out the original film first (in this instance, a bit hard given the lack of an English friendly DVD), this film at least captures the essence of its predecessor without too much Hollywoodization.


Knight & Day (2010)
Directed By James Mangold

What can I say, I do enjoy a good popcorn movie every now and then, and that is exactly what this film is! Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz make an interesting couple, the story is actually quite engaging and the action, well... it does require a little suspension of disbelief, but hey, if you are in the market for a fun action flick and there is not much else around, check it out!

Currently viewing on the Goggle Box:


Not much has changed here.... Chuck still remains a show I watch exclusively because it is on in the same room as me. Similar to the path Eureka seems to take (don't fix it if it ain't broke) it constantly amazes me how they can continue to rehash the same premise over and over....

Slowly slipping back into its normal formula after a few episode with Red John based stories, I still quite enjoy this puff piece. Some of the themes it has explored recently are a little darker than usual and I think that is a good direction for the show to take.

It seems Dexter has been on auto-pilot the last few episodes, but with the introduction of Julia Stiles to the cast to put a twist on things I am now looking forward to the rest of the season. If nothing else, I am glad that the series is anything but predictable.

A few good episodes under its belt, light entertainment at its best (as light as murder can be) Loved the Back to the Future references in the last episode!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Remembering Things Past - Laserdisc

I frequent a number of forums online, but most recently I have become a contributor to the Blu-ray.com forums, a great place for info and news pertaining to Blu-ray and home theatres all over the world! Recently I stumbled upon its official laserdisc thread and a whole slew of memories returned to me. Below is a repost of my submission to said page:


My brief rendezvous with Laserdiscs....

Laserdiscs never really took off in my neck of the woods, I had seen a few of them around and a couple of specialist hifi stores sold players (a few even rented discs!), I took a trip to London and they were everywhere, but I was talking to a few people in one of the stores and one gent had just returned from the U.S where he had been sent to check out this new fangled format called DVD.

Sensing a major change was afoot in the market, I stayed my purchase of a Laserdisc player. Then DVD hit, of course I wasn't going to invest lots of money in a format that was going to be replaced, but I was also aware that it would take many years before DVD could even dream of reaching the number of titles on LD. So, I bought a Pioneer DVL909 that I imported to Australia to take advantage of the now getting much cheaper LD's and the new fangled DVD format in one unit.

I purchased a few Laserdiscs, but eventually ended up just supporting DVD.

I will however share my last remaining LD and what was the pearl of my collection:


of course then the DVD version came along, and then the Anniversary Edition, so now my collection looks more like this:

No doubt we shall see a Blu-ray release in the not so distant future, but I still cherish my laserdisc release!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Viewing Round Up (3D Edition)

Personally I am not a big fan of 3D, I don't think it brings anything new to the party. If anything it takes away! The colours are wrong, the sharpness is wrong and half of the cinemas don't have a clue what they are doing with it. Imax have basically sold out to mainstream and studios continue to pump out films that are technically only semi 3D (or conversions of 2D). Warner this week announced that due to technical limitations and time restraints the first installment of the final Harry Potter film will not be presented in 3D. This is after already sending out nearly every poster advertising "Complete the journey in 3-D".

This will be a massive loss for Warner, but one that I am sure is of benefit to the consumer. (At least those who don't have to get refunds for their pre-purchased 3D tickets). I have seen a number of films in various 3D forms (Imax, RealD etc) and the only one that "worked" for me was Toy Story 3. Even Avatar looked better in 2D and I saw the 3D version of that in Imax!

Anyhow, after the abismal 3D release of Clash of the Titans it is good to see a major studio come to their senses. I have no issue with films that are 3D from the outset, but this conversion process for money grubbing has just got to stop..... alas....it would seem it is only going to get worse with both Star Wars and Titanic being prepped for 3D in 2012 (At a cost of $10 Million for Titanic!!!!)

So in keeping with the 3D theme... this week was my "Lets watch lots of 3D movies in 2D week!" and I started with......

Piranha 3D (2010)
Directed By Alexandre Aja

I have mixed feelings about Aja's previous works (I hated Mirrors, but loved High Tension and have the Blu-ray on the way!), but this film was great fun to watch! A hark back to the day when B movies were at their prime! We have a great cast, some awesome cameos, a relatively believable plot and some relatively unbelievable, but awesome nonetheless special effects. Not to be confused with gore effects of which this film lives up to the highest standard! As for the whole 3D thing... well watching the film in 2D, there are very clearly scenes that are supposed to "jump" out at you (and one scene in particular that would haunt your dreams for years if you are male). All in all this was a great laugh and jump inducing ride of a movie!


Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
Directed By Paul W.S. Anderson

Paul Anderson returns to the Resident Evil director's chair along with most of the surviving cast from the previous films. Shot in the "latest 3D technology as used by Avatar" the film has only a few minor uses of the 3D gimmick. Again, watching in 2D only helps to make these shots more obvious! As for the film itself, well, it is a bit of a mish mash unfortunately. I am not really sure where the series is heading (to be honest I am amazed it has made it this far), but there is too much going on here with very little explanation. The whole film is kind of like a music video, with an almost never-ending score by Tomandandy and a plethora of loud noise, gun fire and explosions. In order of preference, this would be my third favourite of the series after the First and Third films, with the second film coming in last.

The Hole 3D (2009)
Directed By Joe Dante

Having not really directed any major films since Looney Tunes, Joe Dante returns to the genre I think he is best suited to with The Hole. Two brothers find a locked trapped door in the cellar of their new house, and, as you do, open it to see what is inside. Of course they get more than they bargained for as all of their worst fears come to life. The film is a bit of a mixed bag really and I am not sure what demographic it is aimed at, the acting and main characters seem oriented toward tweens, but there are some genuinely tense moments that I feel may be too much for this younger viewing audience. The film borders on horror, but never really delivers. On the whole though, the premise is certainly interesting, it is more the application that is the problem. It is still definitely worth a watch though!


How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Directed By Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders

I really enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon, more than I was expecting in fact. The story was great, the voice cast was perfect and the animation was superb. Really I am not sure what more I can say!