Sunday 21 December 2008

Let The Right One In (2008)

Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a 12-year-old boy with no friends and parents who are divorced. When at school he is bullied and when at home he spends most of his time outside in the snow until one night when he meets Eli, a pale girl who just moved in next door with her dad and is roughly the same age as Oskar. They quickly become friends and are soon spending as much time together as possible. As strange things start to happen all around them, Oskar begins to realize there’s more to Eli than meets the eye.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is not a horror movie in the strictest sense of the word. Yes, there’s some gore but there are no big scares. The movie is more of a drama/romance. Those of you who are now thinking ‘This ain’t for me’ then please read on, it’s in your best interest. The movie is so much more than your average run-of-the-mill vampire flick. It actually takes the time to develop the characters and in doing so still manages to hold the audience’s interest.

It keeps to the general rules of vampire myths about what they can and cannot do but doesn’t rely on over the top CGI or gore. The only small drawback if anything is the pacing. Some may find it a little too slow – It actually takes the time to the viewer time to get to know the characters and follow the story however the hardcore horror fiends may want more action and less talking. For those of you who are willing to see it through will then you’ll be rewarded by one of the best movies of 2008 and a credit to the vampire genre.

This movie is everything TWILIGHT wishes it were. Making a movie, which combines Drama with Romance and Horror could have been extremely difficult but Alfredson has got it spot on. Now lets just see Hollywood does it with the remake.


Date: 19/12/2008

Rating: 4.5/5

Copyright ©2008 Rough Cut Reviews.

Read this review and more on: http://www.roughcutreviews.com/

Zack And Miri Make A Porno (2008)

Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are flat mates who are flat broke. They are down on their luck and when they cannot afford their rent they have to resort to drastic measures. Miri makes a joke of having sex for money and before they know it they have decided that the only way they can pay the rent is to make a porno. They enlist the help of friend Delaney as a producer and quickly assemble a cast including Lester (played by’s Smith’s go to guy Jason Mewes) in order to make their movie. All goes well until the camera’s start to role and Zack and Miri realize they have feelings for one another.

I don’t know whether it was the inclusion of Seth Rogen that done it for me but ZACK AND MIRI felt more like a Judd Apatow movie than a Kevin Smith movie. It went well for the first hour and had many good funny moments but the movie turns on it’s head when the hint of romance is introduced and thereafter goes way down hill. It wasn’t bad but unfortunately it did spoil the movie. Perhaps it’s because Smith realized that the movie needed an ending but whatever the reason was it just didn’t work. Smith needs to get back to doing what he does best – Making more movies with Jay and Silent Bob.

ZACK AND MIRI isn’t a bad film. I’ve no doubt plenty of people will enjoy it but think more along the lines of KNOCKED UP instead of THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. If you enjoyed KNOCKED UP better them this movie is for you. If you’re a 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN / SUPER BAD kinda person then you may be disappointed. Worth a look if you’re a Smith fan but not his best work otherwise worth a purchase when it’s reduced in price on DVD.A disappointment for a movie I held high hopes for.

Date: 19/12/2008

Rating: 3/5

Copyright ©2008 Rough Cut Reviews.

Read this review and more on: http://www.roughcutreviews.com

Monday 15 December 2008

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

I’m almost embarrassed for saying this, me liking Sci-Fi and all but it has been so very long since I watched the original THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. I intended to buy the movie and watch it long before I got to eventually see this remake however when I thought about it I decided it would be a better idea to watch this modern day re-telling and review it objectively. So very often people are willing to write a movie off just because the original was superior when most directors don’t intend to better the original. Instead I see these remakes of classic films as homage of some of our greatest movies.

The movie itself starts quite suddenly and gets right into the story instead of messing around. A giant sphere lands in central park in New York and a life form emerges which takes human form. It is accidentally shot by a trigger-happy soldier and so emerges GORT, A huge android-like-being which acts as a bodyguard to the life form and is only activated by any threat of violence. It deactivates the militaries weapons before they can take any further action. The wounded being is taken to a base and later introduced as Klattu (Keanu Reeves). It asks to speak to the world’s leaders however the president has already been hidden away safe and the secretary of defence Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates), has other ideas. She wants to question Klattu and find out the alien race’s intentions on Earth. Scientist, Helen Benson (Jennifer Connolly) quickly takes to Klattu and helps him escape. It emerges that Klattu’s mission on Earth is to destroy the human race as they are harming the planet. As it’s one of the few words, which is capable of inhabiting life, it comes down to “If The Earth dies, humans die but if human’s die, the earth lives”.

All in all despite a few problems THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL was a decent attempt at a re-imagining of a classic Sci-Fi movie. The biggest negative for me was the story. It promises so much and falls just ever so slightly short. The climax was a little lacking and could have done with a little more ‘oomph’. The effects whilst not been terrible weren’t great either and the image of GORT with the sphere behind him looked a little dodgy. On the positive side I felt that Keanu Reeves actually played the role well contrary to what a lot of other reviewers have said so far. I have never been a fan of his acting abilities and up until now only THE MATRIX movies and CONSTANTINE leap to mind as movie were I didn’t mind him as much. In THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL he played the role in a mono-toned manner but I believe that’s exactly what this particular role needed. I was just waiting for him to scream out a ‘Cowabunga’ or something to that effect though.

When compared to what we would class as classic sci-fi THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL falls way short but as a separate movie, it’s pretty decent and much better than Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS remake. I think this one will definitely appeal to the mainstream audience but will ultimately fall short to the Sci-Fi geeks out there. I like to call myself a geek but when I sit back and think about the one’s I still need to see then I’m a long way off. For me, it was well worth watching and a good way to spend my Sunday night.

Date: 15/12/2008

Rating: 3.5/5

Copyright ©2008 Rough Cut Reviews.

Read this review and more on: http://www.roughcutreviews.com

Bug (2007)

BUG was another one of those movies that flew under the radar for me and I knew nothing about it until I saw it on a shelf in a shop. Seeing straight away that it was from the director of THE EXORCIST, William Friedkin’s I made a mental note and went home and done some research (Yeah, I know I’m sad!). In general BUG had received positive reviews from the general horror population. These things being said it still took me about 6 months before I got round to checking it out and I have to say I was disappointed.

Ashley Judd plays Agnes, a lonely waitress living in a run down motel in fear of her of her recently paroled, abusive ex-husband Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.). When her friend RC comes round with a drifter called Peter (Michael Shannon) an unlikely relationship begins between the two. However it becomes clear that Peter is not without problems. He has recently gone AWOL from the army due to tests, which were being carried out on him and others and he is now terrorised by bugs. At first it’s just a few in bed but after so long he is convinced that they are under his skin and it doesn’t take long until Agnes is the starts to see them too. There follows a whole lot of paranoia.

BUG is another difficult movie to talk about without giving too much away. It had elements I both liked and disliked. If I’m being positive, I loved the fact the movie made me feel paranoid from the beginning. I also felt that the gore was good with one moment in particular that was quite cringeworthy although for me there wasn’t enough of the red stuff to be seen. Another thing I thought that worked well was the fact that there were very few actors used which made me think a lot of SPLINTER and goes to show it isn't always neccessary to have a big cast. On the downside Harry Connick Jnr’s character was a tad unbelievable to me. With him being an ex-con he was never gonna be a nice guy but at the same time he never felt all that bad either. Sure, there was one little slap to Ashley Judd but that was the only real evidence that he was in anyway violent. The greatest downfall for me was in the ending – Yes it was executed well enough but I saw were the movie was going a good 30 minutes before it was finished - Just that bit too predictable for me.

BUG is certainly not your typical run-of the-mill Horror/Thriller but some may enjoy it. It's hard to say who would be the best suited audience as I doubt the mainstream crowd would enjoy it. A lot of horror hounds may also be disappointed with it's slow pacing and with the fact that not a lot actually happens. By all means watch it but just don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Date: 08/12/2008

Rating: 2.5/5

Copyright ©2008 Rough Cut Reviews.

Read this review and more on: http://www.roughcutreviews.com

Elf Bowling - The Movie (2007)

Sometimes I get the feeling that film makers are just plain running out of ideas and when I first heard that there was to be a movie of ELF BOWLING: THE MOVIE I have to be honest – I was speechless. I suppose however now that movies like THE SIMS and MONOPOLY have been given the go ahead we’re gonna hear of some even more bizarre movies. I remember almost 10 years ago sitting at my desk in my first job and receiving and email with the game ‘Elf Bowling’ but never could I have imagined in a million years that I’d ever see a movie of it!

The premise of the movie is simple. Santa starts of as a pirate who along with his brother Dingle steals children’s toys. Santa however has a soft spot and gives away some of the toys he steals to orphanages. Santa and his brother’s biggest love however is playing bowling. One day when they’re playing, it leads to a fight. Their crew, who have finally enough, throw them overboard where they drift northwards as ice blocks until they are rescued by an Elf called Lex who sees Santa as the legendary ‘Whitebeard’ who will one-day lead the elves. Santa plays along but after sometime decides he enjoys it and wants to go legit. Dingle has other ideas and plots against his brother and poisons the elves against Santa. He plots to make the elves unionise, movie to Fiji and use them to further his own goals.

In truth this is probably one of the most difficult reviews I’ve ever written. I had to step outside my own comfort zone to watch the movie. No, it’s not that I don’t like animated movies. I’m a big kid and love movies like TOY STORY and SHREK. The problem for me was that the movie looked to be targeted at a different audience. Here in the UK it certificated as a 12 which I found odd with movies like SHREK being a PG yet having more adult orientated jokes. With the movies mentioned above there was humour that was aimed at adults as well as children. Watching ELF BOWLING: THE MOVIE was more like watching a kiddies cartoon on TV. Don’t get me wrong - I didn’t hate the movie. Infact I actually had a few chuckles at it. I just felt weird watching it.

On the plus side, as well as a few chuckles the animation was of a pretty good standard and the fact that they managed to invent a plot from what was some pretty weak source material was good. I don’t mean that as a negative to the game – It’s just that there was no story to it; the game was merely about pointing and clicking. Overall, I think ELF BOWLING THE MOVIE isn’t for everyone but for families with young children, this should be right up your street – Yes it’s a 12 but I honestly believe it’s for a younger audience as I’ve said. I didn’t think it was brilliant but when I consider the target audience do I believe it’s a good movie? Yeah, I think it is.

Date: 05/12/2008
Rating: 3/5

Copyright ©2008 Rough Cut Reviews.

Read this review and more on: http://www.roughcutreviews.com








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Monday 8 December 2008

Wim Elf Bowling: The Movie on DVD (Region 2)

We're giving away 1 copy of ELF BOWLING: THE MOVIE on DVD now at Rough Cut Reviews. Click the link below to answer the simple question and be in with a chance to win the DVD,

http://www.roughcutreviews.com/competition_elf_bowl_the_movie.html

Craig
http://www.roughcutreviews.com