50/50

Last week I attended a preview screening of the movie 50/50 at Vue Cinema, Festival Place, Basingstoke.

The movie is about Adam Lerner, a 25 year old man who has a simple life with a beautiful girlfriend and works for a radio station with his best friend who complicates his life in humorous ways.

Adam gets diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, and the movie shows how he and the people around hime deal with what is happening....he tells his friend, and he uses it it pick up girls (although he hides how scared he is for his friend), his girlfriend uses this as a way out of the relationship, and his mom wants to pretty much smother him (despite having her hands full with Adam's dad suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

Adam starts seeing a cute student doctor to help him with the psychological effects of the chemotherapy he undertakes....and they start falling for each other.

The movie, despite the sad circumstances is quite feel good...although there are the roller-coaster ups and downs everything does turn out fairly well in the end.

50/50 is rated 15 and in UK cinemas now.

Suck

Last night I watched the movie Suck on DVD.

The movie is about The Winners, a down and out band, who would be willing to do absolutely anything to get themselves a record deal.  When their manager tells them they are getting long in the tooth, he never realized how prophetic his words truly were.
During a road trip, The Winners radically change when bassist Jennifer goes off with someone one night (who turns out to be a vampire) and when she returns she is almost a different person with a sexually charged charisma that drives the fans wild.
One by one, the band succumbs to the blood lust and their "gimmick" and an incident with a radio DJ propels them to superstardom.
When an aging record producers calls them on being vampires, they realise that being vampires is not all that it's cracked up to be.

This is not the greatest of movies, featuring Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins and Moby (as a rocker called Beef!!) and features music from Rolling Stones, David Bowie and more...in fact the soundtrack is actually a lot better than the movie itself.

It's an ok movie I guess, it doesn't really take itself too seriously.

Suck is rated 15 and available on DVD now.

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)

Today I watched The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence).

The follow-up to the "shocking" movie The Human Centipede, and centers on Martin, a night time security guard who is a big fan of the original movie and fetishizes the incredible skills of Dr Heiter...and wants to make a 12 person "full sequence" human centipede.  After kidnapping the people he wants for his project, then then goes about making his creation, but with the lack of medical equipment uses kitchen utensils and household tools instead.

Although the movie was shot in color, the movie is in black and white, Tom Six said that while he was editing it he thought black and white was much scarier.  It does kind of add an atmosphere to it, but I'm not sure it makes it scarier....after all, you would have to make it more scary and less boring first.

An interesting thing of note was that Ashlynn Yennie played herself in the movie and is part of the human centipede Martin makes.

The movie was initially banned in the UK by the BBFC in June, but was granted an 18 rating in October after 32 cuts to the movie totaling 2 minutes and 37 seconds....I'm not sure what the cuts were, although I viewed the uncut version and to be honest, I really don't understand what all the fuss was about....sure this movie is "worse" than the original (on many levels including quality) but I have seen movies with worse in that haven't been banned.

If you liked the first movie (which I do not, I also found that movie boring) you may like this...it does try to ramp up the ramp a little more but to be honest it really isn't that good, there was no real story to it and it just felt like it was made for the sake of being made.

Not a great movie... 4/10

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is rated 18 and in UK cinemas now and available for download in the US.

Monsturd

Tonight, I'm watching the movie Monsturd on YouTube.

It is the story of prisoner Jack Schmidt who is on the run, and after a shootout falls into a sewer near a chemical company who have been dumping their waste.  The mixture of faeces and chemical waste transforms him into a being that is half-human and half-faecal matter, and he goes on a murderous rampage, coming up from the sewers via toilets, leaving messages written in faeces ("Don't Get Caught With Your Pants Down" and "Sh*t Happens" being examples).

Ideal for a Halloween watch, but a truly awful movie to be honest.  The dialogue is just awful and the acting is even worse...still it's not as bad as Birdemic...but it is REALLY close!!  Watch it if you want a laugh, or if you want to see how not to make a movie.

Monsturd is rated 15 (although I have absolutely no idea why), is available on DVD or if you want to watch it for free CLICK HERE and watch it on YouTube.

Fright Night 3D

Last Friday I went to see Fright Night 3D at Vue Cinemas, Festival Place, Basingstoke.

Fright Night is a remake of the movie of the same name released in 1985 and is the story of Charley Brewster, who discovers that his neighbour Jerry is a vampire and is responsible to the recent deaths of several people.
When nobody believes what Charley has discovered to goes to Peter Vincent, a self proclaimed vampire hunter to help him destroy Jerry.

The movie is great fun, and in my opinion one of the best remakes in a long time.  It was quite funny and had a few moments which made the audience jump. Colin Farrel played Jerry well, but the main star of the movie had to be David Tennant, who was amazing as Peter Vincent and very funny.

I don't think, however, that the movie should have been in 3D as the only parts you really noticed the 3D was when vampires were destroyed, and frustratingly the movie was not available in 2D at my local cinema.

Fright Night 3D (and in 2D in select cinemas) is rated 15 and in cinemas now.

June 9

No, before we start...this is not a belated blog...June 9 is the title of the movie!

The oldest village in northeast Ohio, Boston Mills is steeped in legend and lore, earning the nickname Helltown.  Since the early 1970s, Boston Mills remains the perfect playground for unsupervised teens, thrill-seekers and ultra-naturalists.

The movie follows a group of teenagers armed with nothing but a video camera and minds full of annoying pranks to the sleepy town of Boston Mills...but they discover that the the stories that made Boston Town famous are not the stories to be afraid of.

The teens vanished, and nobody knows what happened on June 9...nobody saw the events of that day, the gruesome truth...until now.

This movie...it's quite cheesy to be honest and feels like they were trying to replicate the greatness of The Blair Witch Project in some ways, and failing.  That's not saying this is a bad movie, although it is not a good movie either.  I did enjoy the ending as these teenagers were so damn annoying that they pretty much deserved everything that happened to them.

If you want to check this movie out, you can watch the full movie for free on YouTube!  CLICK HERE to watch it now.

This movie is unrated and available now also on DVD in the US if you want to purchase it.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Teaser Poster

The movie hits cinemas early 2012, and here is the first teaser poster...

Well, it doesn't give away much...but should get the fans interested!  Let's just hope that this is better than the previous movie.

Red Riding Hood

Today I downloaded Red Riding Hood from iTunes (US)

Pretty girl Valerie is torn between 2 men...Peter, a brooding outsider and Henry, a wealthy man her parents have arranged for her to marry. Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they hear Valerie's sister has been killed by a werewolf that prowls the dark forest that surrounds the village.
The villagers had an uneasy true with the werewolf for years and offered it monthly animal sacrifices but under a blood red moon the beast has upped the stakes by taking a human life.
Wanting revenge, the village calls upon Father Solomon, a famed werewolf hunter, to kill the beast but Solomon's arrival has unintended consequences when he warns that the werewolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them.
As the death toll rises at every moon, Valerie has suspicions that the werewolf could be someone she loves and discovers she has a unique connection to the beast...making her suspect...and bait.

If you were expecting a story based on the fairy tale, don't get this movie, it's not what you'd expect...it's not quite the horror that some people tried to make it out to be either but more of a thriller with romantic overtones..  It has some interesting twists and turns and is a rather good movie, although I think it could have been a little better.

Red Riding Hood is rated 12 in the UK and will be available on BluRay, DVD and download on 22 August.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Yesterday I saw Captain America: The First Avenger 3D at Vue Cinema Basingstoke.

The year is 1942 and America has joined the war, and a weedy and sickly Steve Rogers wants to join the armed forces to help win the war, but gets rejected on more then one occasion to his frustration, until a doctor sees something in him and enlists him as part of Project Rebirth, which is an experiment to create super soldiers, thus transforming Rogers from weakling to a man of maximum human potential.  He is initially misused as a propaganda tool, but he changes that when he risks his life and saves many prisoners of war and shows he is a hero.

If you have been watching the recent Marvel superhero movie you will know that they are all building up to the Avengers movie which is out May 2012 in the UK, and this is a good part of the story explaining the creation of Cap and what happened during the war, and his discovery in present day.

The 3D was reasonable considering this wasn't filmed in 3D, although could have been better...although the images behind the credit at the end were well done....and speaking of the credits, stay right until the end of the of them, yet again Marvel have added something that you might like to watch at the end!

Captain America is rated 12A, also available to view in 2D and is in cinemas in the UK now.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

I recently went and saw Transformers: Dark Of The Moon 3D at Vue Cinema Basingstoke.

The third movie in the franchise finds the Autobots battling the Decepticons once more.  Both sides are in a race to uncover secrets of a Cybertronian craft that crashed on the Moon.
The movie is kind of ok, with a few twists and turns and Sam has a new love interest (because Megan Fox kinda sealed her fate with Michael Bay, silly girl) which is kinda good.
This movie is better than Revenge Of The Fallen...but only just.  If you like the turn you brain off explosion-fests that Michael Bay does, you will absolutely love this, but I personally think there should have been more to this movie (and the previous 2 also).
I hope that this is the end of the Transformer movies, but with the money they will pull in this is highly unlikely and  there will probably be more on the way.
I saw the movie in 3D, and to be honest it didn't really justify it...to be honest a movie has to be shot in 3D for it to be effective, so it felt like this was just another movie attempting to jump on the 3D bandwagon and failing.

Transformers:Dark Of The Moon is rated 12A and is still in UK cinemas now.

Awesome Captain America Poster!

I saw this poster online and thought I should share

Don't expect to see this poster in the cinemas though...although this is an official poster, it was only given out to cast and crew at the wrap party.

Only 100 posters were made, so if you are able to get hold of one of these then consider yourself very lucky!!

Captain America is released July 29th in the UK.

Thor 3D

Last week I went and saw Thor in 3D at Vue Cinema, Festival Place, Basingstoke.

The story of Thor spans present day Earth to the mystical realm of Asgard, and centres around Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior who reignites an ancient war with his reckless actions.  As punishment, his father Odin strips him of his powers and banishes him to Earth where he is forced to live among humans.  When the most dangerous villain of his World sends its darkest forces to invade Earth, Thor then learns what it takes to become a true hero.

The movie is great fun, and is one of the rare ones that wasn't too bad to watch in 3D either (although I did have a moment that worried me as they were playing 3D trailers and the glasses were not decoding it properly... thankfully the movie was fine, so it looked like the trailers were not done correctly...) and was not as bad as I feared it would be. There were some funny bits in there and the action was good too.

The cast was pretty good, and Athony Hopkins was a brilliant choice as father of Thor, Odin.

If you are looking forward to the upcoming movie The Avengers, then this will hopefully be something that will keep you going until Captain America: The First Avenger is released later this year.  It's great fun, and I recommend it to comic book and Marvel fans as well as people who like a bit of an action movie with a few
laughs in it too.

Thor is rated 12A and in cinemas now.

The Last Exorcism

Recently, I watched The Last Exorcism on DVD.

Reverend Cotton Marcus is a well known and liked priest and practitioner of exorcism, with many faith people believing in his work...however he is not one of them.  He decides that he wants to expose what he considers a sham by having the last exorcism that he is going to be performing filmed, allowing the secrets behind the scenes to be captured.
He goes to Louisiana to a family where the daughter is believed to be possessed, with livestock being slaughtered and the only clue to these barbaric acts the next morning when the daughter's nightdress is covered in blood.
Reverend Marcus prepares for his final performance, but discovers he is going to have to perform much more than a charade to get rid of this demon.

I have watched a lot of horror movies, and seen some really bad ones....and sadly this one ranks down there. It is a very slow movie, which then kinda peps up a little, but in the end is rather lame. The documentary style of the movie is good, but I just get the feeling that there should be a lot more to this movie, and quite frankly I found the movie boring.  You should never believe the hype of a movie, and this is a prime example why.

I know some people will say I do not understand horror, or perhaps not watched enough horror movies...I have been watching horror movies since I was 13, I'm kinda hooked on the genre and watched classics as much as modern horror...and this film just does not cut the mustard, which is a great disappointment for me when I saw that Eli Roth was attached to this movie.

Sure, it's not the worst horror movie I have ever seen (I honestly do not think that ANYTHING will ever beat Birdemic!!) but this could have been so much more.

I you really want to get this movie, it is available on BluRay and DVD now and is rated 18.