From the DVD Shelf: La Horde Review

Edit: If you think about it...this could be a lost sequel to 28 weeks later. O' God don't I wish that it was!

La Horde doesn’t do anything special to the already saturated Zombie film market, that said, the action and special effects are good enough to make it enjoyable; it’s also French.

I have always thought that Zombies, and the Zombie Apocalypse (which is soon to come!) are always good subject matter for films. That said, there sure have been a lot of things with Zombies in over the past decade. Not only in films, but in books and in games as well. Perhaps this has led to some heightened Zombie saturation which makes it difficult for the more standard Zombie Genre films to stand out. That said, there is still room for the unique Zombie horror to stand up above the rest. La Horde certainly isn’t that film. It doesn’t really do anything new with the Zombie format, in reasons for their appearance or in attributes. Nor does its story focus on anything else enough to make it unique in that respect. It is truly your most standard of standard Zombie films. That said though, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t in some ways enjoyable. Afterall I presume many will be coming to this film, not for some new zombie innovations, nor for plot or character development, but rather to see some hardcore zombie killing action – and there sure is some hardcore Zombie killing action.

From Sky Box Office: Drive Angry Review

It might not be the crazy unhinged performance that fans of Nicolas Cage were hoping for, but for what it is, it is still an enjoyable low maintenance action film, if one that tries a little too hard to be intentionally dumb.

Dumb films can be fun, and I’m the first to embrace something that throws reality out the window and focuses on ridiculous onscreen antics. Drive Angry certainly attempts to be just this, mimicking the grindhouse/exploitation genre with all its blood, guts, naked ladies, fast cars and ridiculous over the top action. Sadly for Drive Angry, some of this total over the top-ness felt somewhat forced and somewhat at odds with other more serious aspects of the film. It is just trying too hard to be over the top, that in the end, it is dumb, but with little of the enjoyment that comes with that. That said, there is probably enough action (and just enough nakedness) to keep you from considering this question too deeply, that is until the credits roll.

Trailers: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The trailer for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (based on a 1970's spy novel of the same name), is out! And it definitely looks intriguing. It's the 1970's and there's a soviet mole somewhere within MI6 and it lies upon George Smiley to find it. From the trailer I can already tell that it's going to be a slow burn, more chock full with heavy conversations and suspicious looks than action, which is not necessarily a bad thing. You can't really help but be excited when you take a look at the cast; Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch to name a few - certainly a on screen force to be reckoned with. I am officially excited.

Trailers: War Horse

From Novel to Stage Show, it seemed almost inevitable that War Horse would make an on screen appearance at some point. Well that time is now (or should I say, December of this year - a release date which suggests it is being aimed squarely at this years awards). The first trailer is out, and well, there's a horse, its WW1, and heartbreak seems soon round the corner. I got a massive Black Beauty vibe off of it - as in you can tell its going to bone crushingly emotional. It seems an interesting subject matter, judging how important animals were in the first world war, and I'm hoping there will be a good dollop of action alongside all the tugging at heart strings which always coincides with animals in peril. The tears are welling up inside me already!

Trailers: Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The new trailer for the new mission impossible film, subtitled Ghost Protocol, has been released today (see above to the big video shaped box). Perhaps it was just the fact that the trailer was well put together, but I’m actually feeling rather good about the prospect of another Impossible Mission for Tom Cruise despite so-so nature of the 3^rd film. From the trailer it seems that it will consist of all you would expect a Mission Impossible film to contain, Tom cruise kicking dudes, fast cars, pretty girls, explosions and ridiculous stunts (or some wild combination of the above). Also Simon Pegg seems to be playing a rather major role, which, as a fan of all things Simon Pegg, I’m certainly happy about. It will also be interesting to see how Director Brad Bird (that's Brad Bird, not Big Bird) will transition from his career as a director of animated films to some live action, action. I feel confident! Let’s hope this new iteration on the mission impossible franchise will return to its roots and be somewhat incomprehensible on first viewing! Yeah!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

You may have thought that the transformers series could simply not get any worse after Revenge of the Fallen. Boy did you think wrong...

He did it again. Michael Bay tricked me into hoping, just that tiny hope, that the new Transformers film wouldn’t but another total steaming pile of trash. That first teaser trailer was actually rather exciting and my eyes boggled at the possibilities of distorting something as cool as the moon landing into the transformers fiction. And do you know what Michael Bay does with all that potential? Absolutely nothing. Instead he brings us another Transformers movie, one that is even worse than those previous films in the series, a feat seemingly unimaginable. So now I’m going to write a review, detailing all the things I hated about Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and you are free to read that, or, if you do not have the time, you could just read this sentence and get on with your lives: Do Not Go And See Transformers: Dark of the Moon – It is simply, irredeemably awful.

13 Assassins Review

To state that 13 assassins is nothing but a poor man Seven Samurai is to sell it totally short. It may not be as original or as well scripted as Kurosawa’s samurai epic, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up in pure intensity and passion. A must see.

Not knowing anything about a film before you go into it is always a pleasure (a fact I reflect on rather ironically as someone who reviews films for others...) Going into 13 assassins, I expected something totally different than what I got; a throw away action film with some samurai trimmings, akin to many other recent samurai based films. Instead what I got was a serious drama, one that takes it source material with upmost respect and discipline, but one that does so with such pure passion, that it simply can’t be over looked. If nothing else, it praises the work of Kurosawa’s most famous film to the greatest extent.