Grave Encounters 2 (2012)

Grave Encounters was a film that I now use as a marker of which to compare these found footage films and so it was no real surprise that there would be a sequel. The problem is that with anything that goes down well with an audience is just how is the sequel going to go down. The film starts with people reviewing Grave Encounters as a film and this reminds me of the Blair Witch Project 2 when they basically admit that first one was a film and it went downhill because of it so I was worried that we would be going down the same road. The first fifteen minutes are totally pointless as we are forced to sit through party where the lead guy Alex is throwing up and the rest of the characters come across as totally annoying.  The film tries to show that the first Grave Encounters is a film by referring to other found footage films such as Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and most recently Apollo 18.

There was a nice moment where Alex is talking on the web cam and his mouth starts to open up like it did in the first film. After spending what seems like an age with a stupid fake horror film they find evidence that the film was in fact real and they decide to go to Canada to where it was flmed. It takes 36 mind numbing minutes to get to this moment but when the action does move to the hospital then it really picks up. I found the Ouija board bit to be a bit cliché and thought that it was a bit of a dud moment and thought that Alex was an idiot from start to finish.

The deaths in this film are impressive. It’s clear that this film has a bigger budget compared to the first one and its been used to good effect.  Something that got carried over from the first one but done better was the exit not being what we think it is. When they exit the hotel and enter the lift it seems like something is up when the maid we see the cast walk past is acting strangley but when they exit the lift they find themselves back in the hospital which is slightly similar to the first film but I didn’t see it coming to be fair. It seemed odd that they got out in the first place so I suppose a smarter person would have seen it coming but I didn’t and thought that it was well achived.

The big surprise was the return of Sean Rogerson who was last seen lobotomised at the end of the first film. He thinks that he has been living in that hospital for nine months but has infact been there for nine years and is trying to get out. There is a strange door that appears in the basement and the drama centres around this and I found as I found the new characters to be annoying that I really wanted Sean to get out and he does but its like something out of the twilight zone where a massive portal opens up in the wall and he gets sucked through. No idea what was going on or whether he survives but I guess that its some sort of closure for the character. Alex’s murdering of the blonde girl was possibly the most gruesome of all the deaths in the film as it was very graphic and it doesn’t hide from that.

The final scene where Alex is sitting with the bloke who was ‘responsible’ for the first film and I thought that it was a bit of subdued ending and not quite the one that I would have gone for but to be honest it’s not the worst ending that a found footage film has come up with and I enjoyed the film enough to forgive them for it. Had it not been for the first 36 minutes that we got I would easily say that this was better than the first one but sadly because of what we got I have to say its just short of Grave Encounters 1. That said there was plenty in this film that I liked and found it to be bonkers, brilliant and scary.

Rating - 7/10

The Tall Man (2012)

The Tall Man is a film that is half of a baffling story and half of a quite interesting one. The film is set in a town called Cold Rock where children have been going missing and it’s due to someone called the Tall Man who is a black clad individual. Jessica Biel plays a nurse called Julia Denning who’s husband died many years earlier but for the first half of the story it seems a bit weird. After a while of nothing happening the drama happens when her son is taken and she runs after the black clad person drives off there is a nice little sequence where Biel has to tackle the mystery person whilst having her leg bitten by a dog before it turns over.

It was quite obvious that a classic plot device was going to be used and that is the town folk would be involved in the disappearance and it soon proved to be a correct guess when Denning finds a photo of her son who has just been taken.  There was an awful lot of not knowing exactly was going on and there were various theroies going on but then its becomes obvious that Biel isn’t the good as gold nurse that we are led to believe but actually someone who we are led to believe is the person who has killed all these children but then there is yet again another twist when we find out that these children aren’t dead but have infact been given to a family that will treat them far better that they were being treated back in Cold Rock. I must admit this was a rather clever thing which I didn’t see coming but my main issue is that it took way too long for the interesting stuff to come to the screen. At 100 minutes you would think that there wouldn’t be much time to waste with the minor stuff but unfortunately I spent far too long confused which is shame because the last 15-20 minutes is quite interesting and there is an interesting story in there but its too rushed for my liking.

Jessica Biel was quite good in this. Having just seen her in Total Recall I thought this was a much better performance as she played two sides of the character with the true Julia being the more interesting part. William B Davis was great because I remember him from the X-Files and thought that as the local policeman he didn’t really convince me but I still thought that he was great.

I was expecting The Tall Man who be a horror which would have some scares but it was a totally different film to that. It has its faults but I think that I have seen far worse films with substantially worse acting. Jessica Biel is the big name in this film but at times its so underplayed that you feel it could have been played by anyone and its curious to know what the reported £11.2 million budget was spent on because it could have been spent on a script writer who could have worked on tightening it up.

Rating - 6/10

Absolute Power (1997)

Absolute Power is a film that sees a burglar witness the US President involved in a murder and the attempts by the presidents people to retrieve the evidence that would place the president at the scene of the crime. Eastwood plays Luther Whitney the burglar in question who has an estranged daughter (Laura Linney). The story spends a long time getting to the moment where the president gets involved in the murder but once it does the scene itself is quite tense and impressive.

First of all we are meant to believe that Clint Eastwood is still a burglar at the age he was then (He would have been 67) and there was a bit where he was being chased through the woods which must have been for quite some distance and didn’t seem to be out of breath seemed a little implausible to me. After the murder has been committed the story introduces Whitney’s daughter who the police are trying to use to get Whitney. I wasn’t as bothered by this as it felt like they had the desire just to add something to make the story have a bit more emotional edge which it quite frankly didn’t need.

Clint Eastwood is typically Clint Eastwood and plays the role of Whitney brilliantly. When he not on screen my mind tended to wander a little but when Clint was on screen I found myself enjoying the film. Gene Hackman was brilliant as the President and as someone who is trying to control the secret of what happened that day. He comes across as someone who tries to come across as quite dominate but actually crumbles at the first sign of pressure. Very good performance. Ed Harris tends to play bad guys and its easy to see why. In this he is totally weak and doesn’t come across convincingly as a good person. The previous years movie The Rock shows how good he can be when he is a baddie in this he seems to be uncomfortable as a good guy as he seems to bumble his way through his scenes with Laura Linney.

The thing about Absolute Power is that it’s a perfectly decent movie but lacks the punch that you would expect from a movie starring two of Hollywood’s greatest actors. The film seems quite happy to bumble along and at no point did I feel that it was building up to anything particular. The film moves along and then Gene Hackman is killed and that seems to be the end of it. That said I enjoyed it and it showed why Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite actors and is a great director. When you consider his work one thing that can sadly be said about his films it that there is always something to like.

Rating - 7/10

 

Total Recall (2012)

Total Recall is based on a short story by Philip K Dick and it is a remake of the 1990 version which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whereas that version is takes place between Earth and Mars, this version takes place between the United Federation of Britain and the Colony (Australia). The action moves from one place to another by means of a giant lift where in the centre the gravity flips around.  The story sees a guy called Douglas Quaid (Farrell) who finds out that his memories are not real and that he is in fact a highly skilled agent working for UFB Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) and it’s a race to stop Cohaagen from invading the Colony. As plots go it’s pretty straight forward so what director Len Wiseman has done is fill it with several action sequences that are all superbly achieved and it would be good to watch the DVD extras to see how it was achieved.

Kate Beckinsale is very good as Lori who starts off as the wife of Colin Farrell but soon becomes an undercover UF agent.  Whilst her casting was due to the fact that she is married to the director it must be said that she wasn’t there just to make up the numbers. Colin Farrell isn’t someone that I have seen in a great number of films. I thought he was quite good in ‘In Bruges’ but apart from that I can’t say that I am a fan of his. Unlike Schwarzenegger, Farrell is much more believable as Quaid who was a regular blue collar worker and does well with the action sequences that the film requires. Jessica Biel was another person that I haven’t seen in too many films before but I was quite impressed with her performance as Melina who becomes Quaid’s love interest. Her introduction into the film was quite good as it was in the middle of quite an impressive action sequence.
I thought that this film was better than I thought it would be. Bill Nighy could have been in it more for my liking as it seemed fairly rushed. I also thought that there was a lot of glaring light that actually gave me a headache after a while. I know it was an attempt to try and create an atmosphere but all it achieved was to get me reaching for the paracetamol. The story was good, the action was also very good but the visuals were what made it an impressive film. It’s fair to say that the 1990 version may have dated even more now.

On a side note, the studio that made this was called Original Film. This is anything but original.

A Night in the Woods (2011)

A Night in the Woods is a British Found Footage film that stars Scoot McNairy (Monsters) and see a couple and an ex go to the Moors because the guy had an experience 10 years ago and wants the girlfriend to through with it. What makes it even more obvious that its not going to end well is that there is jealousy involved with the ex turning up. Now what starts off as a gentle paced film which explores a myth before venturing up to the area itself. The moment that its just Kerry (Anna Skellern) and she is roaming the moors it becomes a bit silly and loses itself. She is running yet the camera is following her, now if she is being followed by someone then why doesn’t she seem them when she looks at the camera several times and if nobody is holding the camera then it not technically a found footage film. The last 10-15 minutes when they are all running around where Brody and Leo have gone a bit mad is where it gets back on track.

It’s not a terrible movie but there are things about it that don’t really work. It’s nice to see a film that is British made and isn’t set in a mental hospital. That said it does go off the rails and it’s a shame because it could have been easily resolved and sorted out. Scoot McNairy is the best thing in the film as Leo (played by Andrew Hawley) comes across as a bit of an arsehole. There was a moment where I did jump because something was thrown at the camera so that does make it from being a 4 star film to a five because it’s the first time that I have jumped at a film for quite a while.

Pirates of the Carribean (2003)

The first Pirates film is the best one out of the four (so far) that have been made. That is because it is the one with the best plot and possibly the shortest. The film is based on a theme park ride so there is the potential (which we got in the next three films) for the lack of plot to be shown to everyone. The plot of this one is that Jack is trying to get his ship back and Barbosa (who stole the ship from Jack) is trying to free him and his men from the curse. This is a good plot and its done with well over the course of the 143 minutes.

Johnny Depp is very good as Captain Jack Sparrow, its easy to see why people like this character as he is a bumbling character that you couldn’t believe as a pirate who has his own ship (which he doesn’t). Geoffrey Rush is also very good as Barbosa. He is great as a baddie and seems to thrive as a pirate and that is why when he and Johnny Depp are in the same scenes that they become highly enjoyable scenes. Sadly the film is let down by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly. Both are very limp as actors and its quite appropriate that they are attracted to each other because they deserve each other. Bloom was very good in Lord of the Rings but having to come across as likeable blacksmith who some how falls for Keira Knightly’s character is totally stupid and I could have done without both of them.

The only bad thing that I can say about this film is that it was so good that it lead to three terrible sequels (the third being the worst). This film is a nice film that has a good plot with some good performances and its always enjoyable to watch everytime I put it in my DVD player.

Source Code (2011)

Source Code is film that features Jake Gyllenhaal who plays someone who has to relive the same eight minutes over and over again in order to find out who the bomber is on a Chicago train. It takes a long time for it to settle down but being directed by Duncan Jones (Moon) this wasn’t going to be your typical movie and despite it being closer to Inception than any film I can think of. Now the idea that the same eight minutes were going to be played over and over again was something that I wasn’t looking forward to however whilst the same eight minutes are played over and over again its never the same. As the film progresses, Gylenhaal’s character wises up to what is going on and the shocking truth behind the character of Colter Stevens is played out very well.

I’m not a massive fan of Gyllenhaal having only seen him in Donny Darko which I hated and The Day After Tomorrow where he wasn’t bad but its not a particularly great movie. He was very good in this film and was impressive throughtout. Michelle Monaghan (Christina Warren) and Vera Farmiga (Colleen Goodwin) were both very good and helped the story move along in different ways. I thought that Farmiga had the slightly stronger character as she was the one that knew the truth and was the one that seemed to be most willing to give Stevens his wish. Jeffrey Wright (Felix in Casino Royale) was brilliant as Dr Rutledge, he was like some sort of evil genius.

I enjoyed this film. I thought that the ending was the perfect way to end it and the sight of Gyllenhaal in the tank with the lower half of his body missing was quite impressive. There was a clever end to the film and Source Film is a film that everyone should watch. It’s another film that shows you can do smart films with what was presumably a big budget ($32million). It shows the Michael Bay’s of this world that you can spend a lot of money and make a smart movie.