Shaky cam mockumentary style films are very much a love or hate style. Personally I don’t like the vast majority so on the odd occasion that a movie like Troll Hunter comes along and actually makes the style work it’s a welcome surprise.
Like the vast majority of films made in this style Troll Hunter purports to be found footage of real events, in this case three Norwegian university students who set out to try and get an interview with a suspected bear poacher.
The first act really is all set up as little tidbits are revealed to show that there’s something more going on than the students really suspect until the eventual reveal that (spoilers) Hans is really a troll hunter and the only one in the country directly employed by the government to hunt down trolls who wander outside their designated living area.
Part of the problem with these mockumentary style films is that often the audience is only shown brief glimpses of the monsters and as a result they never seem real. Thankfully Troll Hunter offers enough static shots as the students try to hide from the trolls that we get some great shots of them and for some reason the almost cartoonish appearance actually works in the films favour and syncs up perfectly to the fairy tale descriptions of trolls.
Not only that but the often contradictory descriptions of their appearances are explained by Hans when he explains that there are actually five sub species of trolls, why some have three heads, why some turn to stone in sunlight and why some explode. It’s an extremely nice touch that adds some credibility to such an outlandish idea.
The story itself is well written and is mostly Hans’ story not the film makers and his desire to change the system the government has put in place for dealing with the trolls. He is also the only character we really gain any personal insight of as he interacts with the handful of other people who are aware of the trolls existence.
The humour is mostly spot on and plays on the skepticism and beliefs of both the film makers and the audience and our refusal to believe in things which are seen by most people as just old folk stories. There’s one scene in particular where the film makers meet up with a new member who is a Muslim and launch into a brief theological discussion about whether it is just Christian blood that trolls can smell or all religious blood that end with Hans perfectly seriously saying “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”
One major fault with this style of film is sadly still present – the lack of a proper ending. Because they are always presented as found footage and therefore unscripted there’s no real sense of closure. For some people this will be interesting and for others infuriating.
It's a shame because apart from the very final scene the climax of the film is so well done that it ruins what is otherwise an amazing ending.
Overall this is definitely one of the better films made in this genre and a good monster movie in its own right regardless of style.
Monday, 25 July 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Recently a good friend linked me this picture.
http://imgur.com/7sS0D
Initially I laughed and thought it was quite a clever statement but soon a feeling started to creep up on me, a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. That maybe there was an element of elitism to the attitude displayed in the picture and despite the massive success of the Harry Potter series it is still in many people’s minds a children’s or at best a teenagers book while so called epic fantasy is more grown up because it’s “gritty” and “realistic”. Yeah well so is Grand Theft Auto IV but I’d still rather play Liberty City or the original 2D GTA. At least they had some colour and visual flair and weren’t all shades of grey and brown. But I digress.
I put it to you like this. Harry Potter is at least as well written as A Song of Ice and Fire. Let’s start with the big points raised by the original image, death and in particular the death of Ned Stark and the death of Dumbledore. Ned Stark’s death is perhaps one of the biggest moments in the series. His death is the point in the first book and arguably the series that really sets off the chain reaction that is the main focus of the first few books. If he hadn’t went sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong then he would have never been killed – although I admit there’s a bit more to it than that but I’m not here to summarise the entire series – and his son Robb would have never gone to war and possibly Cersei would never have killed Robert. She only does so out of fear for her children’s safety which Ned threatened by promising to expose her infidelity and incest (one of the few taboos which survives as much in Westeros as it does in our world). As much of a hate figure as she is her actions are justifiable. She’s just an admittedly deranged mother defending her children.
Contrast this to the death of Dumbledore. While inevitable much like Ned’s death it comes as a bigger shock than his because it comes out of left field and from an unexpected source. However much like Ned’s death it is the final point in a long series of events that finally forces Harry to accept his destiny and become a man much like Ned’s death did for Robb.
Arguably Dumbledore’s death is even more important because while Harry has friends when Dumbledore dies he loses the closest thing he ever had to a father figure and a mentor. Robb on the other hand while the eldest child still has his family to support him while Harry now doesn’t even have that. When Dumbledore dies he virtually loses everything because the only real family he had left died in Order of the Phoenix (citation needed). While he still has The Weasleys as a surrogate family they are no substitute for a real family. Yeah yeah yeah he still has his auntie, uncle and cousin but be honest they’re about as far from a real family as you can get to the point of being that slightly bigoted uncle that always gets invited to Christmas dinner but you feel vaguely ashamed to talk to.
Anyway that’s it for today. Coming up in part 2 – Khal Drogo and why character death in A Song of Ice and Fire is a total MacGuffin.
http://imgur.com/7sS0D
Initially I laughed and thought it was quite a clever statement but soon a feeling started to creep up on me, a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. That maybe there was an element of elitism to the attitude displayed in the picture and despite the massive success of the Harry Potter series it is still in many people’s minds a children’s or at best a teenagers book while so called epic fantasy is more grown up because it’s “gritty” and “realistic”. Yeah well so is Grand Theft Auto IV but I’d still rather play Liberty City or the original 2D GTA. At least they had some colour and visual flair and weren’t all shades of grey and brown. But I digress.
I put it to you like this. Harry Potter is at least as well written as A Song of Ice and Fire. Let’s start with the big points raised by the original image, death and in particular the death of Ned Stark and the death of Dumbledore. Ned Stark’s death is perhaps one of the biggest moments in the series. His death is the point in the first book and arguably the series that really sets off the chain reaction that is the main focus of the first few books. If he hadn’t went sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong then he would have never been killed – although I admit there’s a bit more to it than that but I’m not here to summarise the entire series – and his son Robb would have never gone to war and possibly Cersei would never have killed Robert. She only does so out of fear for her children’s safety which Ned threatened by promising to expose her infidelity and incest (one of the few taboos which survives as much in Westeros as it does in our world). As much of a hate figure as she is her actions are justifiable. She’s just an admittedly deranged mother defending her children.
Contrast this to the death of Dumbledore. While inevitable much like Ned’s death it comes as a bigger shock than his because it comes out of left field and from an unexpected source. However much like Ned’s death it is the final point in a long series of events that finally forces Harry to accept his destiny and become a man much like Ned’s death did for Robb.
Arguably Dumbledore’s death is even more important because while Harry has friends when Dumbledore dies he loses the closest thing he ever had to a father figure and a mentor. Robb on the other hand while the eldest child still has his family to support him while Harry now doesn’t even have that. When Dumbledore dies he virtually loses everything because the only real family he had left died in Order of the Phoenix (citation needed). While he still has The Weasleys as a surrogate family they are no substitute for a real family. Yeah yeah yeah he still has his auntie, uncle and cousin but be honest they’re about as far from a real family as you can get to the point of being that slightly bigoted uncle that always gets invited to Christmas dinner but you feel vaguely ashamed to talk to.
Anyway that’s it for today. Coming up in part 2 – Khal Drogo and why character death in A Song of Ice and Fire is a total MacGuffin.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
El Dorado (part one): Temple of Sun
A bit of a break from horror and B movies for today to delve into the world of made for TV movies.
El Dorado: Temple of Sun is the first the two parts of this movie with the second being City of Gold.
The plot is simple enough and could easily have been a lost pitch for National Treasure or Indiana Jones. Jack Wilder played by Shane West (he of gravelly voice and chiseled face) is left a book (praise be to the MacGuffin) by a former colleague which leads to a clue underneath a church in Cusco which starts him on a journey to find El Dorado. Eventually he's captured by the Peruvian police/army and bailed out by his former lover Maria Martinez (played by the stunning Natalie Martinez) and all the while he's pursued by former SAS turned mercenary Colonel Sam Grissom (Luke Goss).
Eventually there's a sub plot about why Goss is pursuing the heroes but for the first part at least it feel pretty unimportant and comes across as a bit of a cheap dig at greedy mega corps and capitalists.
The cast overall do a good job with what is at times some pretty cheesy dialogue and the inevitable romance sub plot is about as deep you'd expect from this type of film but this isn't meant to be one of histories greatest romances and it's not like Indy or Benjamin Gates (National Treasure) exactly had extremely well written or developed love stories.
Gordon played by Elden Heston comes off the worst for this because he plays the "comedic" sidekick. At times he does get some funny lines but because he's the obvious tech geek forced out of his comfort zone he spends most of the film whining which makes him more annoying than endearing.
For a made for TV movie the production is damn good and being shot on location in Peru gives provides some absolutely stunning landscapes and the action scenes are great fun to watch and don't fall into the recent trappings of fast cuts, super close ups and the Zack Snyder slow mo to full mo action.
***Special mention spoiler***
The completely over the top escape from the mountain cave where Wilder for whatever reason has managed to pack a parachute into the same rucksack he uses to store all his normal gear.
The fight scene with the native tribesman just because capoeira looks cool as hell.
I never noticed how much Shane West appears to be channeling the spirit of William Shatner until I rewatched the trailer. Actually the trailer itself is worthy of review.
El Dorado: Temple of Sun is the first the two parts of this movie with the second being City of Gold.
The plot is simple enough and could easily have been a lost pitch for National Treasure or Indiana Jones. Jack Wilder played by Shane West (he of gravelly voice and chiseled face) is left a book (praise be to the MacGuffin) by a former colleague which leads to a clue underneath a church in Cusco which starts him on a journey to find El Dorado. Eventually he's captured by the Peruvian police/army and bailed out by his former lover Maria Martinez (played by the stunning Natalie Martinez) and all the while he's pursued by former SAS turned mercenary Colonel Sam Grissom (Luke Goss).
Eventually there's a sub plot about why Goss is pursuing the heroes but for the first part at least it feel pretty unimportant and comes across as a bit of a cheap dig at greedy mega corps and capitalists.
The cast overall do a good job with what is at times some pretty cheesy dialogue and the inevitable romance sub plot is about as deep you'd expect from this type of film but this isn't meant to be one of histories greatest romances and it's not like Indy or Benjamin Gates (National Treasure) exactly had extremely well written or developed love stories.
Gordon played by Elden Heston comes off the worst for this because he plays the "comedic" sidekick. At times he does get some funny lines but because he's the obvious tech geek forced out of his comfort zone he spends most of the film whining which makes him more annoying than endearing.
For a made for TV movie the production is damn good and being shot on location in Peru gives provides some absolutely stunning landscapes and the action scenes are great fun to watch and don't fall into the recent trappings of fast cuts, super close ups and the Zack Snyder slow mo to full mo action.
***Special mention spoiler***
The completely over the top escape from the mountain cave where Wilder for whatever reason has managed to pack a parachute into the same rucksack he uses to store all his normal gear.
The fight scene with the native tribesman just because capoeira looks cool as hell.
I never noticed how much Shane West appears to be channeling the spirit of William Shatner until I rewatched the trailer. Actually the trailer itself is worthy of review.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Hybrid
I'm trying to imagine being a fly on the wall while this movie was being pitched.
Pitcher: OK get this it's about a shape shifting car that eats people.
Studio exec: You sir are a genius. Here's a half a million dollars go make me a movie.
It's really hard to say which is more insane the fact that someone had the balls to pitch this or that there was a studio besides SyFy that was insane enough to green light it but either way while it's far from perfect this is a decent wee B movie.
Part of what makes it good is that the cast manage not to burst out laughing at every scene because it's an incredibly silly movie to the extent that it's hard not to think that everyone involved realised just how ridiculous it was and decided to play it dead straight just to mess with your head.
The scene about one third of the way in where one of the characters figures out what the car is and explains it highlights exactly what I'm getting at.
The actual idea isn't terrible and while this is marketed as a straight horror movie it's definitely a B movie in spirit. Having the the movie set in an underground garage helps it retain some tension as the car stalks the staff and if it was set out in the city then it would have probably made the concept a lot harder to buy into (if that's possible) because it would just jump from death scene to death scene because there wouldn't be any real need for the cast to work together when there's a whole city worth of people to use as fodder.
Some of the death scenes are fairly well done and creative but lack any real punch due to the lack of gore and some shoddy editing.
The biggest let down is the special effects in the final act. It might have been better just not to show the whole creature because the CGI is pretty bad and the creature itself looks like a cross between The Blob and the creatures from The Langoliers.
Apparently parts of the movie were shot in 3D so I wonder if this was one of them because a lot of the scenes with the monster seem designed to highlight the technology.
The monster/possessed car genre is pretty niche and by nature requires you to suspend your disbelief a lot but if you're having a night in with friends and want something fairly ridiculous to watch that doesn't require a lot of thought and you can poke fun at like you would a friends crappy second hand car then it's worth at least checking out.
Pitcher: OK get this it's about a shape shifting car that eats people.
Studio exec: You sir are a genius. Here's a half a million dollars go make me a movie.
It's really hard to say which is more insane the fact that someone had the balls to pitch this or that there was a studio besides SyFy that was insane enough to green light it but either way while it's far from perfect this is a decent wee B movie.
Part of what makes it good is that the cast manage not to burst out laughing at every scene because it's an incredibly silly movie to the extent that it's hard not to think that everyone involved realised just how ridiculous it was and decided to play it dead straight just to mess with your head.
The scene about one third of the way in where one of the characters figures out what the car is and explains it highlights exactly what I'm getting at.
The actual idea isn't terrible and while this is marketed as a straight horror movie it's definitely a B movie in spirit. Having the the movie set in an underground garage helps it retain some tension as the car stalks the staff and if it was set out in the city then it would have probably made the concept a lot harder to buy into (if that's possible) because it would just jump from death scene to death scene because there wouldn't be any real need for the cast to work together when there's a whole city worth of people to use as fodder.
Some of the death scenes are fairly well done and creative but lack any real punch due to the lack of gore and some shoddy editing.
The biggest let down is the special effects in the final act. It might have been better just not to show the whole creature because the CGI is pretty bad and the creature itself looks like a cross between The Blob and the creatures from The Langoliers.
Apparently parts of the movie were shot in 3D so I wonder if this was one of them because a lot of the scenes with the monster seem designed to highlight the technology.
The monster/possessed car genre is pretty niche and by nature requires you to suspend your disbelief a lot but if you're having a night in with friends and want something fairly ridiculous to watch that doesn't require a lot of thought and you can poke fun at like you would a friends crappy second hand car then it's worth at least checking out.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Rammbock: Berlin Undead
And now weighing it a mighty one hour, one minute and thirty five seconds (including credits) we have Rammbock: Berlin Undead a brilliant albeit short foray into the zombie genre. In case it wasn't obvious from the title this is a German movie just to clear that up.
It's refreshing in the modern horror climate where so many films are seeking to emulate Twilight or going down the torture porn route that good simple movies like Rammbock still exist. The story itself is sort of survival horror love story. The main character Michael comes to Berlin to give his ex girlfriend back her keys and hopefully get back together. When he gets to her apartment he is almost immediately attacked by a handy man doing repairs and inadvertently rescued by his assistant Harper. From there on it goes straight up survival horror as the two of them together with the other residents of the tenement try to defend their home. There are other romantic sub plots in the film and they all tie together to highlight different parts or types of relationships.
There are only a handful of characters and some are more developed than others because of the time constraints but there's enough of each to get a feel for them so that some of the twists are obvious before they happen.
For what looks what a pretty low budget movie the effects are well done and the survival aspect of a zombie apocalypse are well highlighted by the scarcity of food and some brilliant use of household items to make weapons and tools.
Some purists might dislike the use of the 28 Days Later style zombies especially because the claustrophobic nature of the setting really don't call for it but there are reasons for using them as well so either one would have been equally effective with some minor changes to the plot and/or setting.
As I said at the start this is a relatively short film but that works in it's favour because it let's it do what it needs to without over staying it's welcome or adding unnecessary padding so it's well worth checking out of you're a fan of the genre.
It's refreshing in the modern horror climate where so many films are seeking to emulate Twilight or going down the torture porn route that good simple movies like Rammbock still exist. The story itself is sort of survival horror love story. The main character Michael comes to Berlin to give his ex girlfriend back her keys and hopefully get back together. When he gets to her apartment he is almost immediately attacked by a handy man doing repairs and inadvertently rescued by his assistant Harper. From there on it goes straight up survival horror as the two of them together with the other residents of the tenement try to defend their home. There are other romantic sub plots in the film and they all tie together to highlight different parts or types of relationships.
There are only a handful of characters and some are more developed than others because of the time constraints but there's enough of each to get a feel for them so that some of the twists are obvious before they happen.
For what looks what a pretty low budget movie the effects are well done and the survival aspect of a zombie apocalypse are well highlighted by the scarcity of food and some brilliant use of household items to make weapons and tools.
Some purists might dislike the use of the 28 Days Later style zombies especially because the claustrophobic nature of the setting really don't call for it but there are reasons for using them as well so either one would have been equally effective with some minor changes to the plot and/or setting.
As I said at the start this is a relatively short film but that works in it's favour because it let's it do what it needs to without over staying it's welcome or adding unnecessary padding so it's well worth checking out of you're a fan of the genre.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (movie)
This is a difficult movie to review objectively because it's largely based around the allegedly true stories which can read on tuckermax.com which despite their vulgarity and offensive nature never fail to be funny.
Overall it's not a terrible movie and sits somewhere between The Hangover (released the same year), American Pie and Animal House. It's particularly hard not to compare it to the Hangover simply because it feels like it was rushed out when the buzz surrounding The Hangover was at its peak and as a result it feels only half finished.
When it's done right the dialogue is delivered perfectly but there are some throw away lines that just don't work outwith the context of the original stories or are just delivered badly and this is most evident when Matt Czuchry who plays Tucker delivers his lines with virtually no emotion behind them apart from one scene near the end which seems strangely out of place with everything else we have learned about the character up to now. While Jesse Bradford who plays Drew delivers his lines with a perfect blend of cynicism, emotional withdrawal and heart break.
The stories themselves are a fairly mixed bag with two scenes standing out - the jail scene with Geoff Stults as Dan and the hotel recounting of the aftermath of the hotel lobby scene.
The main problem though is that the quality of the writing simply does not measure up to the writing on the website and in the actual book of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell both of which have more material and are far funnier than the movie and give the stories context where the movie just comes across as a collection of skits with a paper thin story to tie them together.
Altogether it's not much worse than The Hangover but the former was helped a lot by a much stronger cast and going for all out slapstick while IHTSBiH just feels like a frat movie from the 80s without the charm or anarchy.
As an aside, if you're a fan of the Tucker Max website you'll probably get a bit more enjoyment out of this due to some lines and references that will go over the heads of the average viewer such as "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." and the Slingblade reference.
Overall it's not a terrible movie and sits somewhere between The Hangover (released the same year), American Pie and Animal House. It's particularly hard not to compare it to the Hangover simply because it feels like it was rushed out when the buzz surrounding The Hangover was at its peak and as a result it feels only half finished.
When it's done right the dialogue is delivered perfectly but there are some throw away lines that just don't work outwith the context of the original stories or are just delivered badly and this is most evident when Matt Czuchry who plays Tucker delivers his lines with virtually no emotion behind them apart from one scene near the end which seems strangely out of place with everything else we have learned about the character up to now. While Jesse Bradford who plays Drew delivers his lines with a perfect blend of cynicism, emotional withdrawal and heart break.
The stories themselves are a fairly mixed bag with two scenes standing out - the jail scene with Geoff Stults as Dan and the hotel recounting of the aftermath of the hotel lobby scene.
The main problem though is that the quality of the writing simply does not measure up to the writing on the website and in the actual book of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell both of which have more material and are far funnier than the movie and give the stories context where the movie just comes across as a collection of skits with a paper thin story to tie them together.
Altogether it's not much worse than The Hangover but the former was helped a lot by a much stronger cast and going for all out slapstick while IHTSBiH just feels like a frat movie from the 80s without the charm or anarchy.
As an aside, if you're a fan of the Tucker Max website you'll probably get a bit more enjoyment out of this due to some lines and references that will go over the heads of the average viewer such as "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." and the Slingblade reference.
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