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Reviews
The Mist (2007)
An excellent and brave tragic-horror film
Quite brave and upfront in a lot of ways, the most impressive feature of this movie is its honesty. People are a fragile bunch and have a lot of very peculiar character traits and beliefs. Several of these are used as clever devices to increase the tension.
While this is a creature-feature of sorts, the real horror of the film comes from the way some of the characters react to each other rather than how the creature attacks them. While characters aren't fleshed out as much as they could be, the important characters are relatively multidimensional.
The plot isn't particularly predictable and the ending winded me. To my mind it was rather effective, although I found it slightly unlikely - that is the way it happened! As far as the usual minutiae, the effects are good, very good in places. The acting is convincing and in some cases understated and impressive for it.
All in all I'd say the movie was an engaging and well made examination of how people fall apart in the face of the unknown. I'd recommend it to any fan of horror or science-fiction...
Autumn (2009)
An unfortunate choice by a couple of well known actors...
Autumn fails on so many levels that it is hard to know where to begin, so let's start with the successes: The zombies are fairly believable. The decay and blood splattering isn't overdone, I suppose the zombies haven't had long to decay. The first 20 or 30 minutes of the movie made me feel slightly nervous. I won't speculate as to why but it may not have been because the scene was set well...
The film as released has so many failings. It is like a very poor workprint. The editing is badly timed, not at all sharp. Sometimes scenes hang like something is about to happen and nothing does. This doesn't build tension, it just makes you raise an eyebrow.
Dream sequences are so badly signposted that you are not sure if you missed something or if the sequence is a dream or a bit of unassociated cutaway. The quality of the cinematography and lighting is very patchy. It's almost like they are trying to add comic book effect to some scenes, although no other elements enhance or correlate with this and so it just looks badly done.
The plot is so overdone now that it is a genre all of its own. 'Plague hits world, people turn to zombies, a few don't, zombies chase and try to eat them.' The only variation in the genre really is if the people being chased survive or die. I've already forgotten what happened at the end and even at the time it wasn't too clear what the motivations were and what occurred. Really you need to tell a story within a genre, not just sketch the genre out badly.
The movie is unpacey, unoriginal and uninteresting. There's nothing original. The movies really doesn't even make a point in the absence of a story. If someone told me that the writer had read 'I am Legend' and watched a few zombie flicks then made this film in the following two days I wouldn't be surprised. It is derivative in a very mundane way.
There's not really even a main character to flesh out, just 3 or 4 characters that come in and out of scenes and shots looking numb. There is no passion about the film, no emotion that you can empathise with and very little solid acting.
Why Carradine and Fletcher starred in it I do not know. But I can't believe either of them needed the money that much... Fletcher is the best of the bunch and if he'd have had some good lines to say or some good action to take part in he would no doubt have put in a decent showing. As it is I suspect the direction was lacking and he comes out as transparent rather than actively bad (unlike the terrible 'mockney' second male lead). Carradine isn't very good. It's hard to know whether the director or actor are to blame.
The sound is worse than many student movies I have seen where all the audio was from the on camera mic. Some sentences are barely heard or fade in and out. This sort of thing is only vaguely acceptable when the recording is supposed to be gonzo or at least hand held and effects mask some words. Even then it would be annoying, but understandable.
The whole film is like someone was told zombie flicks could be made well on a budget and didn't realise that they still had to have a selling point and some production values.
I wanted to like this movie but I couldn't.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
A good film which could have been brilliant...
Firstly I would say that this movie covers most elements of Wolverine's background quite well. It shows where he has come from and pretty much where he is at.
Obviously the special effects are very good. Jackman does the same basically good job that he always does as Wolverine and the other principal players range from good to very good. The film is about the right length and the pace is fairly smooth throughout the film.
There are plot holes and factual errors and so on littering the film , but it should be born in mind that this is a comic-book movie. Comic books and the movies made from them aren't supposed to be super-real and factual, they are entertainment based around super powers, extraordinary circumstances and action! There are two ways in which I think this movie sells out and really doesn't do Wolverine justice. Firstly, the darkness of Wolverine's past exorcising of his rage and dark ops are all really glossed over. I disagree with many posters that he is made out to be a lifelong good-guy because the film hints that he has been part of a dubious military squad for a while before he starts to have second thoughts as to the morality of their actions. It is very gently suggested that their actions are getting worse and Wolverine reacts against this. IT ISN'T ENOUGH to just gloss over this portion of his life and hint at it though. His dark side should have been made clearer and more graphic.
The second way that the movie makes money rather than fulfilling its potential is the lack of graphic gore. Wolverine's whole gig is in two parts. He can be almost entirely destroyed and can regenerate from it. He has big claws that he slices people up with. What he does results in lots of blood from him and everyone that defies him. That's pretty much he most important two things two know about him.
To properly show off Wolverine's regeneration and capacity for violence you have to show a lot more gore and real violence. Otherwise what is the point, you are still talking about it rather than seeing it. Movies are for seeing, radio is for talking. You may as well make his claws rubber and say he only needs basic plasters rather than stitches. Selling out for a reduced certification is what the money makers behind this movie have done.
Saying all that, the movie is a relatively pleasant (and take that as you will) romp though Wolverine mythos. I was very pleasantly surprised after all the negative reviews I have read about it. However, if you really want to see the tone the movie should really h ave taken, watch someone playing the game of the movie. Slicing, dicing, bloody and heads rolling... That's really what we came here to see.
All in all I recommend watching the movie rather avoiding it, but do so knowing that you are seeing Wolverine's origins through the eyes of a censor.