[New Trailers] - 22st December 2011

Click the links for the trailers, if you know of any other recent film trailers leave a comment and I will add it to the list.


New Teasers:
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Prometheus
Case De Mi Padre


New Trailers:
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The Hobbit
The Dark Knight Rises
Men In Black III
This Must Be The Place
Wrath Of The Titans
21 Jump Street
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Jack The Giant Killer

Golden Globe Nominations 2012

They Are In!

The 2012 Golden Globe nominations have been announced, and it seems the year is proving as competitive as predicted. Considered to be an indicator to the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes have always provided a great amount of 'pre-award-season' hype - enough to get anyone excited for the stream of award ceremonies that follow:

Michel Hazanavicius's 'The Artist' is leading the charge - taking a total of six nominations, while Alexander Payne's 'The Descendants' follows closely behind with five. 'The Ide Of March' and 'Moneyball' are both tied at four nominations, whilst rather unexpectedly, Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' and Tate Taylor's 'The Help' stand on three. 

As predicted, George Clooney has once again appeared in the lime light, being the star in two of the highest nominated films, and of course, it would not be a nomination list without Meryl Streep's name presenting itself - this time, for her depiction of Margret Tatcher in 'The Iron Lady'. However, there are some new names to the world of prestigious award ceremonies, with Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara and Jean Dujardin all enjoying their first top three nomination.  

The Full List: 

Best Drama

The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Actor (Drama)

George Clooney - The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Ryan Gosling - The Ides Of March
Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Actress (Drama)

Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis - The Help
Rooney Mara - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Best Musical Or Comedy

50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight In Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Actor (Musical / Comedy)

Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Brendan Gleeson - The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - 50/50
Ryan Gosling - Crazy, Stupid, Love
Owen Wilson - Midnight In Paris

Actress (Musical / Comedy)

Jodie Foster - Carnage
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Kristin Wiig - Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Kate Winslet - Carnage

Foreign Language Film

The Flowers Of War (China) - Zhang Yimou
In The Land Of Blood And Honey (Bosnia) - Angelina Jolie
The Kid With A Bike (France) - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
A Separation (Iran) - Asghar Farhadi
The Skin I Live In (Spain) - Pedro Almodóvar

Animated Film

The Adventures Of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss In Boots
Rango

Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen - A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Supporting Actress

Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

Director

Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris
George Clooney - The Ides Of March
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo

Screenplay

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash - The Descendants
George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon - The Ides Of March
Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris
Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian - Moneyball

Original Score

Ludovic Bource - The Artist
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Howard Shore - Hugo
John Williams - War Horse
Abel Korzeniowski - W.E.

Original Song

"Lay Your Head Down" - Albert Nobbs
"Hello Hello" - Gnomeo And Juliet
"The Living Proof" - The Help
"The Keeper" - Machine Gun Preacher
"Masterpiece" - W.E.

[Review] Paranormal Activity 3 - 6th December 2011

★

★

★

★

 - Leaves A Lot To Be Desired [For rating system, see information tab at top of blog]

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Release Date: 21st October 2011
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Director:  Henry Joost - Ariel Schulman
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Writer: Christopher Landon [screenplay] - Oren Peli [Story]
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Cast: Chloe Csengery - Jessica Tyler Brown - Christopher Nicholas Smith

Review

Lets go back to the beginning shall we? ‘Paranormal Activity’ – not one of the best films I have ever seen, but still a fairly original idea that provided the necessary tension and fear in parts, a successful film when you consider the budget it was made on. However in my view ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ – was far less impressive than its predecessor. The film did introduce some new elements, a baby and a dog for example, but it was basically a copy of the first, making it highly predictable, and therefore not as frightening as it might have been.

Now we have been presented with ‘Paranormal Activity 3', and I’m afraid it is not possible to have anything more positive to say about the third installment.

‘Paranormal Activity 3’ is a prequel to the stories of Katie and Kristi, the sisters who where the main characters in the previous two ‘Paranormal Activity’ films. This time, we are taken back to their childhood to see where the various supernatural hauntings of their families began.

The main problem with ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ is, like the second, that it is just far too predictable. Though the narrative and setting are slightly different, the techniques used to generate fear and suspense throughout the film are identical to its predecessors. As a viewer, you have an awareness of when you are supposed to be frightened, thus making the suspense scenes less effective.

However, for me the feature that makes ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ the worst of the trilogy is the unintentional comical elements. Throughout the film I found myself laughing at scenes that where supposed to create suspense – the complete adverse effect a horror is supposed to have on a viewer.

Several of the key scenes were dominated by unrealistic, amateurish performances and special effects resulting in the viewer feeling uncomfortably keen to see the end of such offerings, and not the intended prescribed fear.  If the way the film is created stops narrative from generating escapism, particularly in horror, then the film will ultimately be unsuccessful.

A final thought about 'Paranormal Activity 3' involves its marketing: I initially decided to go and see the film because of its trailer. However, after seeing the film, it was obvious that the trailer included scenes that were not in the film - this frustrated me, as it was these scenes that initially persuaded me to go and see the picture. To not include them in this context is a poor marketing strategy.  

‘Paranormal Activity 3’ – a substandard film that I would not recommend on many levels. 

[New Trailers] - 12th October 2011

Click the links for the trailers, if you know of any other recent film trailers leave a comment and I will add it to the list.

New Teasers:


The Avengers


New Trailers:


The Raven
Young Adult
Tower Heist
My Week With Marilyn
Sket
Snow Flower and The Secret Fan
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn

[Debate] Slashers Vs Psychological Thrillers, Which Is More Frightening?

This subject generates many different opinions, and remains one of the more common topics of debate in film. Before beginning, it is important that the definition of a ‘Slasher’ and a ‘Psychological Thriller’ are understood, in order to establish the reasons why each create fear within the horror genre.

Horror, alongside comedy, drama and action, is one of the most popular genres in cinema - and while it has an extensive amount of subgenres; ‘Slashers’ and ‘Psychological Thrillers’ are considered to be the two most common types.

A ‘Slasher’ is a horror film centered on ‘gore’. The basic narrative usually revolves around a leading protagonist killing or hunting a group of characters, usually for sadistic fun, resulting in a series of gruesome deaths or tortures designed to shock a viewer. A ‘Psychological Thriller’ on the other hand is a horror that focuses around the psychosomatic effect fear can have on a person. The narratives can vary, but is always designed to frighten the viewer by working upon the many basic fears that we experience. They often contain scenes that scare without the use of gore, and instead impose sinister imagery.

It is of course common that the ‘Psychological Thriller’ and ‘Slasher’ genres will intertwine to some extent.  However, it is usually easy to identify generally which category a given film will fall in to. For example, ‘The Ring’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Blair Witch Project’ are examples of ‘Psychological Thrillers’, whereas ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘Scream’ and ‘Hostel’ are examples of ‘Slashers’.

But what is it that makes these frightening? And which is considered to provoke more fear?

A ‘Slasher’ horror generates fear by forcing the viewer to sit through experiences in which we would never hope to find ourselves. When we watch a film it provides us with a level of escapism. Therefore to become involved with the narrative where the characters that we relate to are being murdered or tortured, causes us to empathise with what they are experiencing, thus generating the fear.

‘Psychological Thrillers’ on the other hand play on our mental, supernatural and exaggerated fears. Throughout such a film we are expecting to be scared, therefore our receivership of something that is meant to be frightening is heightened and a strong sense of suspense and fear of the unknown is apparent. When the protagonist in the film is, for example, a ghost, demon or monster, it is using elements we have grown to fear from childhood, again forcing us to escape to a narrative that we wish to never experience in real life.

When we watch a ‘Slasher’ horror the aim is more to disturb and shock the viewer. The fear comes from hoping the situation you are consuming also never happens to you in reality.  A ‘Thriller’ is different because it aims to actually psychologically scare the viewer, rather than just disturb. ‘Slashers’ work by using the shocking scenes of gore and torture, whereas ‘Psychological Thrillers’ utilize techniques to generate the afore-mentioned suspense. This would include effects such as lighting, mise-en-scene, editing and sound, and while these are still important in a ‘Slasher’, it is these cinematic traits that work together in a particular way to create the psychosomatic fear that makes a ‘Psychological Thriller’ work.

The question is, ‘Which is more frightening?’ It could be argued that the

‘Thriller’ succeeds here because it generates an effect which plays on our innermost fears. However, on the other hand, it could be said that the shock value a ‘Slasher’ offers is more realistic and therefore more frightening.

While a ‘Thriller’ might frighten you more as you watch it, it is common that the fear generated is lost afterwards due to the lack of realism. Of course certain famous ‘Psychological Thrillers’ are exempt from this rule. For example ‘The Exorcist’ became famous because it was the first ‘Psychological Thriller’ of its kind and the fear generated throughout remained. However in a strange way many begin to fear the film, rather than the narrative coming to life.

A ‘Slasher’ however is likely to disturb you for a longer time – For example, the famous scene from ‘Saw’ where one of the leading characters is forced to amputate his own foot has become one of the most talked about scenes in cinema.

As previously stated, this debate is largely based upon personal opinions and fears. On a personal level, I find ‘Psychological Thrillers’ more frightening than ‘Slashers’, probably due to my superstitious tendencies and overactive imagination.

What do you think? Leave me a comment explaining which you think is more frightening. 

[New Trailers] - 14th September 2011

Click the links for the trailers, if you know of any other recent film trailers leave a comment and I will add to the list.

New Teasers: 

N/A

New Trailers:

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn

Midnight In Paris

Haywire

30 Minutes Of Less

Perfect Sense

Turnout

Warrior

[Classic Film] Number Six - Fight Club

Trailer:

Information:
-
★★★★★★★★★ - Excellent [For rating system, see information tab at top of blog]
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Release Date: 12th November 1999
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Director: David Fincher
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Writers: Chuck Palahnuik (Novel) Jim Uhls (Screenplay)
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Cast: Edward Norton - Brad Pitt - Helena Bonham Carter

Famous Quotes:

1) 'How much can you know about yourself if you have never been in a fight?'
2) 'Only after disaster can we be resurrected'
3) 'Fight Club was the beginning, now it's moved out of the basement'
4) 'Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!'
5) 'Listen, you can run water over your hand and make it worse or...'
6) '....Because we're the same person'    'Thats right'
7) 'My god. I havn't been fucked like that since grade school'
8) 'All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, Capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways you want to be'
9) 'Is that your blood?'      'Some of it yeah'
10) 'When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep... and you're never really awake'
11) 'The things you own end up owning you'

Explanation

'Fight Club', staring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, is a unique film about two men; one an office employee, the other a soap salesman, who start a fight club to vent frustration and anger. It explores the mindset around depression and insomnia, and questions the different ways in which people tackle various obstacles in life. The narrative is written to the highest standard and flows excellently, accompanied by 'The Narrators' (Edward Norton) voiceovers, it contains a range of twists and action scenes that keep you guessing and gripped to your seat.

The leading roles are performed brilliantly, Helena Bonham Carter alongside Pitt and Norton combine to make an excellent screen chemistry that blends comedy, action, rage and depression in a near perfect manner. The film is focused around the humans basic instincts and how we react to them, and the three lead actors portray this particularly effectively.

Though 'Fight Club' is now regarded as one of the most popular films of its kind, it was greatly overlooked by the award academies. It received only one nomination from the 'big three' film ceremonies, and only won four awards in total. 

Now however, 'Fight Club' is featured in many 'top' film lists; the most notable being 'Total Film's 100 greatest movies of all time' in which it reached number four, and IMDB.com's top 200 films, reaching number fourteen. 'Fight Club' - a clever, exceptionally entertaining film that I would recommend to anyone.

Awards

Oscar Wins:

N/A

Oscar Nominations:

Best Sound Effects

BAFTA Wins:

N/A

BAFTA Nominations:

N/A

Golden Globe Wins:

N/A

Golden Globe Nominations:

N/A

*The videos used in this post are not mine*