Posted June 10th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in Digs Reviews, DIGS Student
After about 10 minutes of viewing, it became clear to me that It’s Complicated seems like it’s going to be a cliché-ridden, lovey-dovey romantic comedy aimed at 40+ adults. Maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it very much.
I only gave It’s Complicated a view because I like Alec Baldwin in the sitcom 30 Rock and I figured he’d bring his comedic charm to this movie. How wrong I was. Although Baldwin is usually quite a funny guy he’s not exactly on fine form here. Although he does get a few witty one-liners they’re not enough to save the movie.
In truth, It’s Complicated has quite a dull and slow-moving storyline and nothing much of interest happens to keep you entertained. The character development takes up two-thirds of the movie and the last thirty minutes are really where everything happens.
Surprisingly, Steve Martin emerges as the highlight of this movie, despite the fact he plays a significantly smaller part than Streep and Baldwin. But it’s not the comedic element of the movie that he shines in, although not through lack of trying. He well and truly shows that he is past his comedic prime but he does deliver a good performance.
Now this may just be because I’m not the target audience for this movie, but the scenes (and there’s no shortage of them) where Streep and Baldwin are half-dressed aren’t too appealing. In fact they’re a little disturbing. With the exception of those scenes, the remainder does feel like a made-for-TV movie, seemingly following all the clichés and ticking them off on the way. All-in-all the trailer is pretty much the best part of the movie, it packs all the laughs of the movie into a 2- minute clip. I’d recommend just heading to YouTube to watch the trailer.
RATING: ★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
Posted May 26th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in Digs Reviews, DIGS Student
“You mind putting on some pants? I feel weird having to ask you twice.”
It has become so rare in this century, to find a genuinely decent and funny comedy. In the crowd of Scary Movie type comedies, Todd Phillips’ fresh and hilarious The Hangover stands out as a clear winner for modern comedy.
The plot is simple: four friends travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party and wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened the previous night, this plus the fact that they don’t know where the groom is makes for a rollercoaster ride of hilarity as the remaining three friends try to find him in time for his wedding the next day.
In short, The Hangover is just genuinely funny. It may actually be the funniest movie I’ve had the pleasure of watching in a long time, so much so that it has become one of my favourite movies. Galifianakis, the “child with a beard”, effectively makes this movie the brilliantly hilarious trip that it is. His unashamedly idiotic behaviour provides much of the hilarity and it seems as if the movie would be pretty empty without him. But all three leading men have brilliant chemistry together and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing a different role in this movie.
The Hangover is sure to become a cult classic and I don’t see it ever getting old. I also really never thought I’d be feeling sorry for Heather Graham’s character at the end. So far I’ve seen this five times and I’ll probably watch it a hundred times more. A definite must buy!
MO:RE RATING
★★★★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
Posted May 21st, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in Digs Reviews, DIGS Student
“We gotta get these things to lean to eat somethin’ other than us!”
As an avid watcher of zombie movies, particularly George A. Romero’s Of The Dead movies, I was optimistic for this latest instalment. Survival of the Dead is Romero’s sixth Of The Dead movie, but after 2007′s disappointing Diary of the Dead it’s beginning to show that he’s running out of ideas.
Survival of the Dead does try to put an original spin on things though, with a group of people attempting to get the zombies to feast upon something other than human flesh. It’s an interesting idea, too bad it isn’t played out as well as it could be. The acting isn’t as bad as in Diary of the Dead, despite its relatively low budget feel and slow story progression, it manages to outdo Diary of the Dead in literally every way.
Another major flaw: it’s not scary at all. Romero’s previous Of The Dead instalments (we’ll forget Diary) have all been, at least, a little scary. This, sadly, is where Survival fails. There isn’t anything even remotely scary here, and the jumps are far in between and very, very few. Romero leaves the scare factor box well and truly unchecked.
As you may have gathered, it’s not terribly amazing stuff, but the cast all play likeable characters and there’s enough gore in here to satisfy. Nothing on Dawn of the Dead but miles better than Diary of the Dead.
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
Posted May 10th, 2010 by DIGS Admin. Filed in Digs Reviews, DIGS Student
In all honesty, Ginger Snaps has to be one of the most underrated horror movies in existence. Ginger Snaps uses the transformation into a werewolf as a metaphor for puberty. When Brigitte’s sister Ginger gets attacked by a mysterious creature and starts to change into a werewolf, but all the adults around them think she is just experiencing puberty.
It has all the makings of an independent movie, the lack of CGI helps with that. But it’s the absence of the flashy computer trickery that makes it so different to other horror movies from the past 10 years. It has more charm than other recent offerings from the horror genre, even in spite of the hundreds of obscenities uttered throughout the course of the film.
The make-up and prosthetics are extremely well done when considering the budget. The werewolf at the beginning is very convincing and the small changes to Ginger’s face and body never look overly done or fake. In fact, Ginger looks a little scary and menacing in some later scenes.
Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are both brilliant in their own ways as the sisters. Isabelle in particular shines as the titular character Ginger who’s personality changes incredibly rapidly and throughout. The two play sisters so convincingly that it’s a wonder why the two haven’t scored more starring roles since the movie’s release.
Although I’m yet to see the two sequels I’m pretty adamant that this would be hard to top. Congratulations to the makers on producing a decent, interesting horror movie.
Rating: ★★★★
This review was brought to you by Ryan one of our Storthes Hall Park residents and film review extraordinaire. You can check out his page here.
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