This Month I Will Be Mostly Watching....

The final three boxets of The X Files finally came through the post, i shall be watching them for the next month. With such good episodes in Season 7, 8 and 9 such as: X-Cops, Orison, Hollywood A.D., Roadrunners, Medusa, Audrey Pauley and William.

There are a lot of episodes in Season 9 that i missed on TV, so i can't wait until i watch them. I'll blog my favourite episodes

Southland Tales

Being a huge fan of Donnie Darko, I am really looking forward to the new Richard Kelly movie - Southland Tales.

The fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seann William Scott are both in this movie, seems like a great pull to me, especially giving Sarah's audience pull from her one and only hit movie - The Grudge (Scooby Doo was for different reasons), and let's face it Seann is always a box office hit. Im hoping he'll also make The Dukes Of Hazzard a success - because i'm sure that it won't be helped by the fact that Jessica Simpson is in it - she has displayed many a time that she can't act in her Reality TV show - The NewlyWeds.

But will the fact that actors like Seann, Sarah and Dwayne Johnson starring in Richard Kelly's movie, make the magic be lost from what made Donnie Darko such a cult hit in the UK? Or will the more mainstream cast make it more sereal?

The story is set in LA in 2008, as it stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. The hero - Boxer (Dwayne) is struck with amnesia and he gets involved with a porn star - Krysta (Sarah) who wants to make her own TV reality show. Along the way David (Seann) finds the key to a big conspiracy that will affect them all.

“The film is going to be a strange mixture of the sensibilities of Andy Warhol and Philip K Dick,”

Many of the Donnie Darko crewmembers are returning for this film, which might portray the Darko feel to the movie, hopefully, as long as it doesn't have the directors cut feel to it (a much inferiror film to the original cut). However this time with Southland Tales - there is going to be musical elements of the film (because we know how great Sarah was in Once More, With Feeling).

Richard Kelly will also be writing nine graphic novels as tie ins for the movie - the first six being released six months before the release of the film. The last three novels, acting as a novelisation of the film.

I wonder if the website for this movie will be as elaborate as the Donnie Darko counterpart. Has any checked that out? It's very wierd. Check it out at http://www.donniedarko.com/

Edward Scissorhands

Back in the first term of University, i was going through my Tim Burton stage. Watching Tim Tim Burton film after Tim Burtonfilm. I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mars Attacks!, Batman, Batman Returns, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow, and Beetle Juice but i didnt watch Edward Scissorhands.

I remember watching this film when i was younger - around 8, and i remember being scared of it. I mean a guy who has scissors for fingers? Way scarier than a guy who has knifes for fingers, aka Freddy Kruger.

So i watched Edward Scissorhands last night, and i had forgotten how wierd this film really is. I mean who really would have gone up to the house on top of the hill and brought Edward down to Surburbia.

I loved the way Tim Burtons mind come out in the movie, with the extreme difference between the two places - Surburbia and the Castle. And the vivid colours of the houses are marvelous. The acting is a bit over the top from the neighbours - which kind of freaked me out, and there was memories of Edward actually working in the salon that weren't actually in the movie. Which is just me making up false memories - which i've also done with "The X Files"- but for that i've made up whole episodes in my mind.

I love Tim Burton on the whole, because he is so waky and out there with what he does. My favourite performance in the movie was from Miss Shoplifter herself - Winona Ryder. Although it was a bit camp when she started dancing in the snow.

Overall i give this movie 9/10

This week i'm mostly watching........

This week i'm going to be mostly watching "Will & Grace" because i just got Series 5 through the post.
Series 5 is the season with such guest stars as Rosanna Arquette, Kevin Bacon, Harry Connick Jr.r, Macaulay Culkin, Minnie Driver, Andy Garcia, Deborah Harry, Sir Elton John, Demi Moore, Debbie Reynolds, Rip Torn and Gene Wilder
I always thought that Madonna was in this Series, but she ain't credited on the boxset so I'm thinking she's in Series 6. So i'm going to miss Madonna again. Happy Holly? Are you? Depriving me of Madonna's acting!!!
I've review about the series when i've come to the end of it.

Saved!

A film about religious people. Hmm i did think twice, but after much good reviews from Holly and Empire, i decided to hunt it down in the shops. Upon finding out that Jena Malone was in it i took it straight to the checkout.
I have to tell you - i did have worries about this film, i mean a complete athiest watching a fillm about strict Christians, ain't exactly a match made in heaven, is it?
But still, i had faith in Jena to keep me interested.
The music from Christopher Beck was brillaint, thinking back to Buffy days he's always been good (well better than that Thomas Wanker - that's his name by the way no kidding)
Strong performances all around especially from Jena Malone, who seems to be going from strength to strength since Donnie Darko, although Cheaters was very good too.
I did have a slight problem with Mandy Moore. After totally freaking out over the fact that she talked and looked like Jessica Simpson, i felt that this was another case of this failed singer trying to make it in films - and she spoilt for the singing in the movie. If you're going to act, act. If you're going to sing, sing. But please don't intertwine the two - otherwise you're entering Britney Spears in Crossroads area.
Good indie cast here from Heather Matarazzo seen in Scream 3 and Martin Donovan from Opposite of Sex, good to see these in movies again.
I loved the use of language in the film from Fagatry and degayification to the insisten use of Hilary Faye (i'm tempted to watch again just to count how many times it's said)
Some of the situations were daft like the teacher "dropping" the sonogram. My favourite character after Mary was indeed Tia who finally got the Tamara (and i'm not even going to mention the comedy show there)
8 out of 10

Ginger Snaps

Does anyone else think that Katharine Isabelle looks like a older version of Jena Malone in this movie.
After first seeing clips of this movie at York Screen film lecture, it made me want to watch the rest of the movie. The general premise of any werewolf, tend to put audiences off these sorts of movies, but this movie is so much more than the usual werewolf crap that is allowed to grace the silverscreen. It's link with female maturity and werewolves, blood and curses, is one big lesson for girls, of how you change at a certain age.
Mimi Rogers, is just stupidly overacting in this movie, check it out when she finds the body under the house.
And the Dad in this movie, might as well not be in the movie, because he says little if none at all.
Katharine Isabelle plays a both the big sister and the deranged teenager turned shewolf well, and i especially love the bit when they make the death pictures, and Ginger trying to cover the fact that a girl has just died in the kitchen by laying down in the blood, smiling evily to cover it up, offering the Dad to try the "corn syrup" which is actual blood.
The ending does suffer a little, whenthe antidote is not used on the right person, considering the situation.
Overall, this movie is the best werewolf movie i have ever seen, however does sometimes feel like an extended episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". I give this film 7 out of 10.

Ginger Snaps: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back to follow

This week i'm mostly watching.......

This week i have been mostly watching "The Simple Life" over and over again - it just doesn't lose it's edge, especially Nicole Richie with the onion rings and her oscar worthy performance of her cat dying. Brilliant. Also starring Paris Hilton.
This series gets 9 out of 10, losing one only for the fact that there should be more.

Open Water

First thing - the plot of the movie is so simple - no one can have trouble following it. Which is one thing i feel that lets this film down - there's is only one plot right throughout the movie, and the plot does get boring after 15 minutes of them being at sea. The middle act of this movie, is very week, and strengthens only when the inevitable happens.
However, good acting from the two leads - Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis, however not great.
And how dumb are these characters - you should always swim because technically you will end somewhere, and you will end up nearer a boat - somewhere.
I don't like the way it is filmed either, whereas is was a good idea when first thought - where is this documentary camera? And why hasn't the documentary maker tried to help them, lol? It worked with Blair Witch but not Open Water. And how crap is the ending?

Overall i give this film 5 out of ten

I'll See You On The Back Row

Hey this is another blog i have just set up, which is going to be my review blog. Reviews on films, TV shows, and Music. I probably won't update it as much as the other one but it'll still be as good. I'll be sorting out all the html later. First let's get the ball rolling........