It’s that time of year when we all scourer our collections for that perfect Christmas movie to get us in the mood. ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, ‘Elf’, ‘Home Alone’, to name a few feel good festive movies we all should own. But ‘Rare Exports’ is something different. Festive, sure. Feel good, certainly. But this is not a Christmas tale for the kiddies. With a wonderful turn from young Finnish lead, Onni Tommila, this dark and sinister tale of an evil Santa would be sure to scare any child off the advent of Christmas day. There are moments towards the end where the film stutters between horror and comedy but these are fleeting and would be my only criticism.
With Christmas holiday on everyones lips, why not try this twisted tale of yuletide.
Let’s start with a positive… <struggles>… Visually impressive. Yeah, it’s visually impressive, but that is all it has to offer. Structurally the plot is weak, along with every character that ruins the visuals every time they grace the screen. Acting is poor from second rate actors, I mean where did they find their lead man (Balfour)!? He couldn’t lead a conga line at a Cuban carnival! Trust me on this, if you want to watch an epic of a sci-fi with engaging plot, character development and awesome otherworldly creatures then ditch this Hollywood retake of Independence Day/District 9 and look no further than this months Monsters.
As low budget independents go, and they generally do these days, this is without any doubt the best there is. Subtle and engaging character development, unbridled tension that is reminiscent of the best horror/thrillers to date, and much much more. All from a first time filmmaker on a $15k budget! Step back Hollywood and learn something!
As formulaic as it predecessor and likewise containing some genuinely jumpy moments but by now you are well and truly prepared for the disappointing end. Let us hope this was a movie spurned only by the first movies opening weekend and not the beginnings of a new Halloween franchise. FAO Hollywood: We’ve just seen the back of the Saw series. Let’s see something new each year!
I usually look forward to Rodriguez’s very cool style, ‘Mexploitation’ movies but Machete is more tongue-in-cheek than previous all-out stylised revenge movies like Desperado and El Mariachi. What was cool about his stories was the simplicity. Here, and since Once Upon A Time In Mexico, he has had a tendency to overcomplicate what should otherwise be a simple tale. The mass cast of names simply adds to the confusion (including an out of odds appearance from Lindsay Lohan). Machete’s not so handsome lead male, Trejo, is at points romantically involved with all Alba, Rodriguez and Lohan and is just one example of many questionable moments. Avoid unless you have a liking for extreme gore and kitsch.
A pretty successful sequel on the whole where Rourke and Rockwell play well as the movies bad guys and Downey Jnr. continues as he left off. But this felt like a sequel made for a purpose. That purpose; to develop Tony Starks character and to introduce important members of S.H.I.E.L.D (Nick Fury and Natasha Romanoff) of whom he will be teaming up with in 2012’s The Avengers.
Fun to watch for a quiet night in but don’t expect to be blown away.
When I heard a ‘Facebook Movie’ was being made I genuinely felt Hollywood was suffering from its worse case of unoriginality. How wrong can one be? Fincher, the man who gave us Se7en, Panic Room, Fight Club etc was on board and boy, did he deliver. Behind the website that causes monotonous checking, poking, stalking and status changing is a deeply rich, character driven, expose behind the biggest internet hit of this generation and its high profile court case that shortly followed. There is also a surprisingly good performance from Justin Timberlake.
Despite his public persona I am finding Tom Cruise increasingly enjoyable to watch and here he is no different. At times Cruises agent character benefits from some inventive, ‘Jackie Chan-esque’ fight scenes, which he certainly pulls off. Diaz, unfortunately, is quite the opposite. Firstly I must admit to not being the hugest fan of the lady who all made our jaws drop in The Mask and had us rolling around on the floor in There’s Something About Mary. Yet despite these almost cult-classic moments, she has done little more than simply turn up. Admittedly in Knight and Day Diaz is let down my some lazy scripting and awful dialogue, but who is to blame? Is it poor writing or is it a bad performance and delivery. I feel in that case it is both. Sorry Tom, as much as I love you, there are better action/rom-com’s out there.
This extraordinary cultural tale is high on visual artistry, historical material and cultural mythology that wouldn’t look out of place in master animator, Miyazaki’s filmography. Its attempt to animate such heavy religious material is beyond successful and the mass audience that are fed on Disney/Pixar and-the-like, will easily find time to enjoy this. The plot may be somewhat formulaic and functional at times yet this is by far unlike anything else you’ve seen of late and not your average family animation. Check it out.
Refreshing, heartfelt and at times, out-right hilarious, Scott Pilgrim vs The World hits all the right notes. Its only failing comes as its ‘uber-geek’ computer game visuals runs the risk of alienating the ‘non-uber-computer-geeks’ among us. But then again, you won’t see too many movies made like this one. So make the most of it!
iCRITIQUE 