Tag: apocalyptic

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Monsters(2010) review

Synopsis: Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border. So I got a chance to attend a screening of this along with a pretty frickin' badass Q&A session with Director Gareth Edwards afterwards. Anyway, the movie- was SWEET. Considering the insanely small crew and the results that were achieved, I'd say that this film deserves a shitload of recognition. I can hear you say "hey Kazed, surely just because the film was made by a few people doesn't mean it should get recognition...?", and I'm shutting you out. I think you should leave. Fun fact: Director Gareth Edwards worked on the effects on Adobe's After Effects program. Funny, considering it'd cost millions if he got someone else to do it. What a man. So the review. It was the beautiful shots and the situations in which they were used which were really the high points of this film, this, paired with some of the gorgeous locations made for excellent eye candy. Throughout watching, all I could think about was Jurassic Park/Cloverfield. I say this because there were subtleties about certain elements of the film which made me reference these films in my mind; the 'shaky' handheld style shots at times, very much like Cloverfield, then there were the large fences surrounding particular areas keeping the Aliens away from particular areas, a lot like Jurassic Park. The story itself wasn't as I thought it'd be, and could, in many respects, be compared to Cloverfield. The story was very character driven. I won't ruin the story at all, but expect a very different film. Great story, great film, great. 8/10 Kazed

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Book of Eli review

I had some relatively high expectations walking into this film, and I suppose around 90% of those expectations were met. I love post-apocalyptic films, and when they're done right, it's something that I appreciate the bejesus out of. The Book of Eli was a film which impressed me in many scenes, but ultimately fell short of my expectations. The fight scenes within this were superbly choreographed, albeit a tad bit choppy in the CG department. Reminiscent of X-Men Origins: Wolverine's visuals (Which weren't impressive in the least), these effects were better, but when looked at closely it was obvious where some of the effects were used, notably in the bar fight scene. All of this, however, was completely (positively) overshadowed by the shots that were used in the film, most notably the shot in the Desert, and the one(s) on the road, the metaphorical significance of these shots were effective, and really stood out the most throughout. One thing I simply have to address was the overuse of product placement. Ok, so a couple of products is okay, but when there's about 7 or 8 names in a film, it begins to get ridiculous. Example- GMC, Rover, Puma, KFC, Apple to name just a few. There were countless amounts of placement in this film, but let's move away from that. The plot to the Book of Eli was intriguing, albeit a little under-explained, although the beginning had some indication as to what happened within the location it was set, it was rarely talked about, and even then, minimally. Denzel Washington impressed me with his noteworthy performance, portraying his character quite well, after realising what the outcome was. Mila Kunis was a wonderful addition to the film, surprised me in many parts, although a little clichéd at parts; the 'innocent' charm she holds so greatly is gently wearing off, but she seemed to hold onto it.  She was a lovely supporting member of the cast, however, but honestly do not think the ending can lead to anything good. Not so sure about the biblical references though, it definitely worked the way they used it within the film, and it didn't bother me, but it may have been somewhat controversial. That's what makes cash I guess. That's what it seems to be these days. Good film, decent visuals, great dialogue, great choreography, great product placement, 6/10 Kazed