Tag: edwards

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Lola reviews: Monsters (2010)

“Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon reentry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain “the creatures” ... Our story begins when a U.S. journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through the infected zone to the safety of the U.S. border.” (http://www.monstersfilm.com/) This film is amazing. I know I generally love movies, so I probably write that a lot, but this one is different. It’s like a mix between ‘Cloverfield’ and ‘District 9’ but better. That’s right, better. Amazingly, it had a budget of only $15000, and a crew of just two members and was filmed entirely from normal film cameras that apparently cost just $8400 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/trivia). The film was shot entirely on location and any extras were just your average, mexican folk who they persuaded to take part in the movie. There wasn’t any scripts as such because of this, so it was mainly improvised. The director, Gareth Edwards just wrote a brief paragraph detailing what he needed from that scene, he then left it up to the main two characters to achieve this in their own way. I felt that this realistic factor made the movie utterly compelling, I had no idea what to expect next. It was so different from other horror movies, and I found that so refreshing. Gareth Edwards stated that he wanted this to be “the worlds most realistic monster movie” (http://www.scificool.com/video-behind-the-scenes-of-monsters/) and I personally believe this was absolutely, 100% achieved! It was beautiful! The cinematography was outstanding, and complemented the love story which was unfolding throughout the movie perfectly. The viewers are able to connect so deeply with the main characters because they seem real, not your typical fake horror movie actors. The gore and action was not necessary, because you felt the horror that they were feeling, living their life in a post-apocalyptic world. The actual monsters were pretty good, a lot better than the crappy ones in Cloverfield, thats for sure. The effects, however, were amazing considering the limited budget! Abandoned aeroplanes in the trees, falling apart buildings, the huge wall that was built around America, it was all so excellently done. The chemistry between the two main characters is undeniable. They make a perfect couple, and if the rumours are to be believed (although I couldn’t find any evidence to support it) they are apparently married in real life. Which would explain a lot! I had to go to a small independent cinema to watch Monsters, so I have no idea where it is being shown around the country. If you are lucky enough to get a chance to watch this, I highly recommend that you do! 9/10 (I would have given it 10/10, but the ending is a slight anti-climax. The only negative to the movie I could find!) Lola

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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