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An error has ocurred. Please try againRead more... http://darkmatt.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/darkmatters-top-10-films-of-2014.html
Reviews
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
First reaction from the UK...
"Dark and difficult times lie ahead, Harry." These are the words of warning that Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore gives Harry in his fourth film outing. But 'dark and disturbing' would be an apt descriptor for The Goblet of Fire, because here more than in any of the previous three, the powers of darkness are gaining strength and closing in on young Mr Potter and they mean to finish him. Goblet of Fire is great movie version of the book - sure they've had to chop loads out but it still manages to capture the spirit of the original and bring it vividly to life... For me this is where the Harry Potter films change from spooky children's fiction to supernatural adult fiction based in a children's world. It's by far the darkest one yet, stepping into real horror territory at points, with a sustained sense of menace and a gruesome climatic graveyard scene certainly worthy of its UK 12a certificate.
Prey Alone (2004)
Awesome - an inspiration!!
Prey Alone - wow, what a film, what a concept, what production values!! And that's just from having seen the trailer and checked out the excellent website that promotes this short film. I really really need to see this - where can it be bought on DVD? Downloaded? Seen on a big screen in the UK? The world needs more films like this one and I am inspired by the fact that this has been made... not least because it is the sort of thing that the Darkmatters project (novel, trailer, website) is looking to do at some point when the funding i.e. book deal is in place... Excellent stuff - Gogol Darkmatters if you want to see what I'm talking about!!
Hostage (2005)
Bruce is BACK!!!
There will be no negotiation, Bruce Willis is back, back doing what he was born to do run around looking worried whilst stylishly blowing baddies away and I for one am very happy!! Ever since Die Hard (incidentally my favourite film), Bruce Willis has been the 'everyman' action hero of choice. If you're in a jam with serious bad-ass criminals, be it robbers, assassins or even intergalactic tyrants he's the 'the guy' you'll want on your side. So if you're family were ever to be taken hostage by scumbags and it looked like gun play would be necessary, Bruce should be the only call you make.
So here's Hostage, the first English language film of hotshot French director Florent Siri. You might not have seen his last film 'The Nest' - it was a tense action thriller that covered similar themes (fear, mental suffering, empathy, cowardice). Anyway, Hostage is another deliciously dark tale of crime and retribution you know how it goes dumb but dangerous kids take family hostage, then realise that they may have gotten over their heads when it turns out that the dad is actually the accountant for a seriously shady bunch of crims. Bruce plays local Sheriff Jeff Talley who used to be a hostage negotiator but was dismissed for letting a young family get butchered by one of the kidnappers he failed to 'talk down'.
Things get more complicated when the shady crims take Talley's family hostage and force him to try and retrieve something from the under siege house. It's a good set up but it wouldn't have worked as just a standard Hollywood 'production line' action film. This is why Siri is directing he's definitely 'one to watch' because he lovingly creates a film that oozes style, brutal violence and has characters that you can't help finding interesting.
Credit should go to most of the cast too, Foster delivers an iconic teen psycho, 17 year old Michelle Horn lives up to her name as the daughter in peril and Kevin 'voice actor from Ewoks: The Battle for Endor' Pollak is good as the dad.
But this is Bruce's film and he should be proud of it, he should also work with Siri again if he gets chance as the guy is quality and I can't wait to see what he does next!!
The Magic Roundabout (2005)
Time for bed for a new generation
All is quiet, it's teatime and before you know it Zebedee says those immortal words: "Time for bed children." But 'Boing'
Suddenly, as if by magic
Kylie Minogue is telling you that they're "coming to get ya" a talking sugar addict dog, an opera singing cow, a stoned bunny and a wacky wizard with a spring instead of legs, man I think I've been eating too much sugar myself
It's true though just when you thought it was safe to take a trip back 30 years to a place of innocence and fun here comes the super slick all singing, all dancing, all action CGI Magic Roundabout. Yes, some brave filmmakers have taken on the daunting task of updating the British teatime favourite (originally from France) which was once the 2nd most popular show on the BBC behind the news!! How on earth could this work? And who invited the lovely Kylie to not only voice Florence but also knock out a catchy Magic Roundabout single for the soundtrack? A genius team of Dave Borthwic, Jean Duval and Frank Passingham actually and they've pulled off a minor miracle here. Aided by the superb voice cast of Tom Baker (Zeebadee), Jim Broadbent (Brian the snail), Lee Evans (Train), Joanna Lumley (Ermintrude), Ian McKellen (Zebedee), Bill Nighy (Dylan) and Robbie Williams (Dougal). And there's even a plot of sorts: the Magic Roundabout lies in ruin after an evil ice sorcerer Zebadee has escaped to freeze the world. Step up some unlikely heroes, Brian, Ermintrude, Dylan and Dougal to challenge the chill by recovering three magic diamonds. Okay, so the plot might as well have been from a computer game and it is all a bit far removed from the genteel original but it's just mad to see Dougal and crew trekking over fiery volcanoes, jungle temples and snow-capped mountains. Plus McKellen manages to instill the spirit of Gandalf into Zebedee and even gets a heroic 'fall from a high pass' scene after battling his icy nemesis Zeebadee. This leads to Dylan almost quoting Pulp Fiction with "Zeb's dead babe, Zeb's dead"; this and some of the original's trippy substance references will keep adults of a certain age smiling. What can I say? I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this slight bit of nonsense, maybe it was sheer nostalgia but then my son Luke loved it too which I wasn't expecting.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie (2004)
Finally Yu Git to see it Ohll!
Yu Gi Oh! absolutely blew the socks off my son Luke (who's 7) and his mates who we saw this with. More exciting that a hundred Pokemon films... and the whole 'get a free card when you go see it' gimmick was sublime too! In the end though - there's bags of potential here to have a studio invest in a live action CGI monstered version of the 'King of games' - it could be the exactly what the 7 - 13 year olds of the world (OK and their dads) have been waiting for!? We've been a couple of times already (yes in order to complete a set of movie related cards) but hey it's a lively way to kill a couple of hours.
Roll on Yu Gi 2... result!!
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
If you remember the 80's...
Not Another Teen Movie is, er, another teen movie. just with added gross out humour. Trying to do what Scary Movie did for horror films -Not Another Teen Movie (NATM) bolts the plots of She's All That and Pretty In Pink together, throwing in scenes from just about every other film ever to feature teenagers. Spoofing characters from Breakfast Club, American Pie, American Beauty and Cruel Intentions and with one called 'token black guy', this is not high brow entertainment. It is however vaguely amusing - and if you were one of the sad people who spent the 80's watching all those John Hughes films starring Molly Ringwald you'll find yourself trainspotting all the references to them. Unfortunately, even having one of the best ever cameo's in film history (Molly Ringwald herself, looking a bit old now, who turns up and complains about teenagers today) isn't enough to make this a 'must see'. You'll laugh - but be prepared for some seriously bad taste jokes about vibrators, incest and diarrhoea. You'll see some hunky blokes and well fit females (including the foxy foreign exchange student who spends the whole film in the nude and even has her subtitles arranged around her obvious selling points). And as I said there are a million references to other films - its just that NATM walks the fine line between parody and rip off and too often it falls off the line on the side of cheap rip off. The working title for NATM was 'Ten Things I Hate About Clueless Road Trips When I Can't Hardly Wait to Be Kissed', very droll. Joel Gallen who directs should be ashamed of himself because he has made some excellent promotional material in the past including the superb 'Mission Improbable' where Tom Cruise sends himself up with the help of Ben Stiller as 'Tom Crooze' for the MTV video awards 2001.
The NATM soundtrack is pretty cool though featuring re-workings of classic 80's tracks like Tainted Love, Blue Monday and 99 Red Balloons by Marilyn Manson, Smashing Pumkins etc. So in the end what could have been a really funny night out ends up being a bit of a lame er, teen movie. Maybe the sequel will be better?