Topic: Emma's Film Reviews (snowcat)

[snowcat]

Gremlins - 1984
Director - Joe Dante
Running Time - 106 minutes
Stars - Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates

Gremlins is a movie I remember being scared to watch at a very young age, although I always though Gizmo was cute and had one of those interchangeable Gizmo toys. Gremlins seems to have had a revival in recent years, thankfully nobody has cashed in for a third film.

Randall Peltzer is an inventor, whilst not the best or most successful he travels around trying to sell his, uhh... Gizmo's (see what I did there?) to people. Whilst traveling through China Town he is taken to to a dark dingy shop, by a young boy. Inside he meets the boys father, and talks about buying his son a present. Randall offers £200 for a Mogwai in a cage, he is abruptly refused and leaves, secretly the grandson arrives and sells the Mogwai to Randall, but he warns him it must not see the light, bright sunlight can kill it and water must never touch it. What does it drink?, what does it eat?, these questions are not asked. Randall names the Mogwai Gizmo and takes it home to his son Billy, Billy has recently started working in a bank to help his parents out, with his dog Barney always causing mischief (He takes the dog to work) he is often in trouble.

Upon receiving Gizmo Billy is amused by its humming of the same song over and over, whilst his friend accidentally spills water on him, causing him to convulse and spit fur from his back which turn into tiny little Gremlins. None of which are as well behaved as Gizmo. So more and more Mogwai appear, getting more and more violent as they go, of course its Billy and would be girlfriend Kate to stop the Mogwai!

I could not decide whether Gremlins was a Christmas film or a horror film, I like to think its both which is perfect for my two favourite time to watch seasonal movies “Halloween and Christmas”  Now I can sit through it without crying I love Gremlins, Its one of those films that you can't stop watching, its always on at Christmas, obviously because its set at Christmas, but what I love is that the TV version has a certain microwave scene cut out, I admit that was one of the scenes that upset me as a child, but I'm glad I have the DVD version of this film.

Gremlins is a great movie, its funny and not so scary now, it was made during a time when Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice were being released, its a great mix, I don't think the film has aged badly, the Mogwai certainly have not. If this film had been made now CGI would have ruined its cuteness and outdated the film greatly. Gremlins is a great movie, one I will be watching again at Christmas and next Halloween.

[snowcat]

13 Days of Horror Marathon Complete, I will return to my Judd Apatow marathon :p (I will also be partaking in the A-Z marathon)

[snowcat]

The Thin Red Line - 1998
Director - Terrence Malick
Running Time - 170 minutes
Stars - James Caviezel, Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly

OK so, I'm not a major fan of war films, but I bought this for the sole purpose of it had John C Reilly in, the film has been in my watch film for a few weeks, not as long as some in my collection, today I watched it.

War films make you think of death and murder, most follow the same format, soldiers get killed, general feels to blame, general has conflicting feelings about the war. This film is no exception.

The Thin Red Line is a story of the men in C Company although it has a wide cast and some pretty famous actors, it mainly follows three characters Private Witt (Jim Cavizel) and his conflicted feelings about fighting, Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte) and his longing to win the current battle at any cost finally there is Private Bell (Ben Chaplin) Private Bells story is mainly of him remembering things about his wife and there relationship sometimes it seems disillusioned.

The men have been bought to Guadalcanal there job is to take the island from the Japanese, whilst waiting to be deployed they contemplate what might happen to them. Finally they reach the island of Guadalcanal, they start to hike a hill and a shell attack starts to hit, they see a Japanese machine gun and realise any attempt to climb this hill will be futile.

Colonel Tall orders his field captain Captain Staros (Elias Koteas) to attack, disregarding the colonels orders, Staros disagrees and say he will not send his men to be killed. Colonel Tall decides to join him on the field. Finally they agree to send a small party of men to take the bunker.

The Thin Red Line is not a film I would usually go out of my to watch, as I said before I bought it for one actor, who only has roughly 5 or 6 lines in the film. I liked the film, but it was very long, and as I'm not used to the subject material I guess it felt longer to me. Over all I think its a good film, with an intresting story and an intresting set of characters, but I doubt ill watch it again.

[snowcat]

28 Days Later - 2002
Director - Danny Boyle
Running Time - 113 minutes
Stars - Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley, Christopher Eccleston

When I think of zombie films, I don't really think of Britain, I think of American or Spanish films. 28 Days Later is set in London, and surprisingly enough the Zombie idea fits really well.

28 days later is a zombie film, and much like most zombie films it starts with a few people getting infected, who go on to infect a mass amount of people.

The story starts in a lab, where some activists have broken in to free some “test subject” monkey's whilst inside a scientist, (who those of you who have children or have catched CBBC in Britain will know as Uncle Max)  so the scientist tells the activists that the monkey's have been infected with rage, and not to release them, of course the are released by the activists and one is promptly bitten.

Fast forward 28 days and bicycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in hospital after being knocked off his bicycle. Waking up suddenly Jim runs out of the hospital completely confused when he is rescued by Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley) upon discovering the truth they decide to seek out Jims parents, upon arriving at the house they find his parents have killed themselves thinking there son was dead. Of course all manor of problems happen at the house including a zombie attack.

28 Days Later surprised me, not one for English horror films I'm used to seeing English films that are comedies or dramas, 28 Days Later surprised me in that it was more sophisticated then your general zombie film, it had a good story and some strong actors, not the B movie I imagined it would be.

28 Days later was enjoyable, but I doubt ill go out of my way to watch it again, I also own the sequel, 28 weeks later, but I think that's enough Zombie films for today.

[snowcat]

Annie Hall - 1977
Director - Woody Allen
Running time - 93 minutes
Stars - Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

The title Annie Hall has always made me think of a bit stately home, probably due to the hall part of the title, obviously this film has nothing to do with stately homes, it follows Woody Allens character  Alvy as he tries to discover where his relationship went wrong.

I can't say Ive seen Woody Allen in much, I must broaden my horizons and look in to his work, because I find him funny, I find his deadpan variety of humour genius, and as a fan of ridiculous sex comedies I find myself owning a few of his films, but not getting around to watching them.

Annie Hall starts with Alvy (Woody Allen) addressing the audience, explaining that he has broken up with Annie, he goes on to recount his past and chronicle the events of there relationship.

During the film the two make various imaginary trips to watch other past, Annie seeing Alvy's childhood and Alvy seeing Annie past relationships, The film chronicles there many arguments and reconciliations. Until finally they have “the talk” on an aeroplane and decide the future of there relationsip.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Annie Hall, I found myself wanting to watch it again as soon as it had finished, that's a rare thing for me to experience, I found that sadly some of the things said by Alvy reflected relationships in my past, and allowed me to get a better understanding of things, his quote from Groucho Marx, which in turn was from somewhere else “I wouldn't want to join a club, who would have me as a member” is true, many people feel that way about relationships, I see this film as less of a comedy and more of a character study.

Annie Hall, is a very good film one I will be returning to again. I guess this means I should watch the other Woody Allen films I own.

[snowcat]

Bowfinger – 1999
Director – Frank Oz
Running Time – 97 minutes
Stars - Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham

I remember seeing parts of Bowfinger when it was on Sky movies a few years ago, my parents were watching it, in hopes of seeing another great Steve Martin films, they were not impressed with the film and there opinion rubbed off on me, I did not go back and watch it.

Sometime last year I bought an “Eddie Murphy” collection one of the films inside was Bowfinger, I decided to take a look at it today, and have to say I was not surprised.

Bowfinger is the story of film producer Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) who has saved up all his life to make a film and now with the grand total of $2,184 has decided its time. With a screenplay by his accountant, a a camera operator with access to high class equipment and a few work hungry actors at his disposal all Bowinger needs is a studio to distribute his work.

He meets film studio executive (Robert Downey-Jr) who tells Bowfinger that his studio will distribute the film as long as hollywood action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) is lead roll. As Ramsey refuses Bowfinger goes on a wild goose chase filming scenes in any order possible, without Kit knowing he is in the film.

Bowfinger is a strange film and I can't decide whether I liked it or not, some parts felt over acted, but that could have been intentional, obviously it was not supposed to be realistic, but it felt wrong, almost false. Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin and Heather Graham all played good parts in the movie, all of which were acted well, and portrayed the stereotypes, that would make any film about making a film a comedy.

And so, I think I liked the movie, but ill have to watch it again to get a better opinion, this has been a strange one.

[snowcat]

Young Frankenstein – 1974
Director – Mel Brooks
Running Time – 106 minutes
Stars -  Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr

Films about Frankenstein have been around for years, as have comedies about Frankenstein, and with a comedy legends like Gene Wilder in the lead role, the film Young Frankenstein had to be pure comedic genius, right?

Young Frankenstein is the story of Dr Fredrick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) grandson of the infamous Frankenstein, Fredrick is rather embarrassed by this insisting his name is "Fronk'-en-steen".  And that his grandfather was crazy. Fredrick is a lecturer in an American medical school when he receives a telegram about his grandfathers will.

Traveling to his inherited estate in Transylvania meets his hunch backed new house assistant Igor (Marty Feldman), his new lab assistant Inga (Terri Garr) and a another house assistant, who seems to have the strangest effect on horses Frau Blücher. (Cloris Leachman) upon discovering his grandfathers research young Frankenstein decides to continue with his grandfathers work, but will he be able to reanimate a body?

I enjoyed this film as much as I imagined I would, as with Blazing Saddles and The Producers I found it hilarious, I laughed out loud numerous times. Mel Brooks is a great director and writer, and this proves how funny he is.

I am yet to see Gene Wilder in a role I have not liked him in (and hope I don't) This is probably my favourite Mel Brooks, but not my favourite Wilder movie.

Overall I really enjoyed the film, I liked the stylised black and white and the references to old Frankenstein movies, I love how it parody's early horror movies, and love the style of humor used, a great film that I will definitely watch again.

[Kathy]

I completely agree Emma. Young Frankenstein is one of my all time favorites. I saw this when I was in high school - "the gang" always went to the movies en mass. The most memorable thing for me though isn't the movie...one of my friend's laughed so hard they pulled a muscle. Later that night he ended up in the emergency room thinking he had an appendix attack!

[snowcat]

HAHAH! Kathy that story has made my night.  I actually nearly spat orange juice on my laptop XD

Its a great film! im surprised its not on television as often as Blazing Saddles :S im also surprised its a PG over here.

[Najemikon]

The sequence with Gene Hackman as the Blind Man is one of the funniest things I've ever seen! I almost fell off my chair at some of the sadly missed Peter Boyle's expressions, especially when Hackman lit his thumb!

[snowcat]

Jon, That was my favourite part, lol. I couldn't stop laughing.

[snowcat]

Ahh, getting a little behind on my A-Z reviews! I promise to post Animal House and Bottle Rocket later :p

[snowcat]

National  Lampoon's  Animal  House – 1978
Director – John Landis
Running Time –  109 minutes
Stars - John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom

As a fan of gross out sex comedies, I bought Animal House with upon recommendation, I was told I would laugh out loud, Id love it more the American Pie or Not Another Teen Movie,  I think I was watching a different movie.

After being rejected from the Omega fraternity, Larry and Kent try their luck in the Delta Fraternity, after a strange evening the two are accepted in to Delta house.

Delta House is currently on “Double Secret probation” after repeatedly breaking conduct violations. And Dean Vernon Wormer makes it his goal to destroy them.  After a run in with a cadet commander Kent is forced to clean out the horse stables, after being talked into removing the animal and putting it in the Dean’s office, by two other Delta boys, Kent accidentally kills the horse, the next day Bluto (John Belushi) causes a food fight in the cafeteria, by pretending he is a zit and spitting food all over a few Omega members.

Shortly after this Bluto and another Delta member D-Day steel results for an upcoming Psychology test,  if the members pass it will up there grade point average and take them out of the probation zone,  but will they be able to pass the test?

The plot is so random that I can honestly say I had a hard time writing a synopsis for it, it reminded me of  Old School, in content and the fact I did not find it that funny, as with that film I think it's because I just don't get the “frat brother hood thing”

I laughed at a film a few times, but it looks dated now, of course it's a classic, and the film birthed the “gross-out genre” and for that I am thankful, but the film is severely dated. I felt as though the film was better suited to a sketch show format. John Belushi’s talents as a comedic actor seemed wasted here, Early casting ideas included Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi I think that cast would have made the film better, but at the same time, I doubt these actors would have suited the roles.

[venomsinner]

I never really liked Animal House, I agree that it was kind of like a sketch show.

[Najemikon]

Erm... just checking, you understand, but have you actually just said that Not Another Teen Movie is better than Animal House?  

I can understand someone finding American Pie more relevant, but NATM is the work of an idiot!

In general, I sort of agree with you as I didn't get Animal House the first time I saw it, but it grew on me and I enjoy it a lot now. Have you seen Porky's?