Review for The Puzzle (2008) & The Sweet Hand of the White Rose (2010) by Mike

Title: The Puzzle (2008) & The Sweet Hand of the White Rose (2010)

Director: Davide Melini

Genre: Short Film

Plot: The Sweet Hand of the White Rose (2010): In order to forget about a heated discussion with his girlfriend, Mark decides to get in the car and go far away. But a little mistake will change his reality forever...

       The Puzzle (2008): After an argument with her son, a woman decides to relax and forget her troubles with her favourite pastime: making puzzles.

Mike's Review

            Once again a film director has requested that I review some of his short films. Naturally I agreed.

            Not knowing what to expect from these films I sat down to watch two films from Italian filmmaker David Melini. The first of the films was a very short one titled The Puzzle this was shot in 2008 in one day with a budget of just 300 Euros. It is a very well made short film about a woman who has a vision whilst doing a jigsaw puzzle. It’s a shame that the film is so short as it kinds of ends just as it gets going. But this is the sign of a good film maker when their creations leave you wanting more. The talent of David Melini is evident in the few minutes of the film. You can see he has a talent with suspense films and I really hope there will be a full length production from him.

            Then it was time to check out The Sweet Hand of the White Rose. This film is completely different to The Puzzle. A man getting away from his girlfriend and a young girl returning home find their lives entwined in an unexpected way.  For the first ¾ of the film I had no idea what was happening. Usually this is a bad thing for a film but with this one when it all falls together it wrenched at my heart then I found myself gasping in horror at what was happening. The twist and the ending is very powerful and I can only assume that the director/writer has some experience with the subject of the film and my heart goes out to him. This is a film with a message and it is a powerful one, very well executed and delivered with passion. The director manages to bring us into the story with a sudden jolt and leaves you with a lot to think about.

            This is a talented film maker and I will look out for more from him.
 
7 out of 10

Additional Information

View the films here.
The Puzzle http://vimeo.com/15390584
The Sweet Hand of the White Rose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPWcqEmSkq8

Review of Simone (2010) & Date Night (2011) by Mike

Title: Simone (2010) & Date Night (2011)

Director: Jason "Joops" Fragale

Genre: Short Film

Plot: Simone (2010) After a night of hard partying, Simone awakes unsure of the events that took place. The mystery deepens as her focus becomes clear, leading to a chilling discovery.

        Date Night (2011) An unexpected night offers the truth about the perfect dream date in this black comedy short.

Mike's Review

            The director of these films sent me an email to ask if I would review them for him and after the great independent films I have seen and reviewed lately I happily agreed.

Both films are directed by the same person, the plots involve dating, both star Erin Cline & both have great twists. But here the similarity ends. Simone is the story of a girl who wakes up with no recollection of the previous nights events and a dead girl in the bathroom and Date Night is about a single girl who stays home while her friends go out and she finds a man in her apartment.

You can see the advancement of the director’s skills from one film to the next. The start of Simone was a little shaky in the opening, but that could be due to the equipment used. The main part of the film has flash backs and these are very well done, giving you small clues to what is going on. With Date Night the director shows his skill is progressing in the field with a well directed film. The cuts are smooth and the story flows along a little better. With both films, the director has a great way of drawing you into the story then messing with your mind. I can only imagine the dates he must have gone on to draw inspiration for these films!

The cast of the films is small but each person is great in the roles. The cast of Simone is made up of Jennifer Ward & Erin Cline. Erin Cline returns for Date night and takes the lead role alongside David Fuit. The films are clever and fun to watch with great twists, however I must say that I guessed the twist in Simone but Date Night eluded me.

            These are really good films, well made and fun to watch. Once again the independent film scene has produced something great and the future of film making looks bright.

Simone 7 out of 10

Date Night 8 out of 10

Additional Information

Links

www.386films.com

Jason "Joops" Fragale www.imdb.com/name/nm1241309

SIMONE / Run Time 16:50 / 2010
Film Link: http://386films.com/cinema_simone.html
Trailer Link: http://vimeo.com/9193596

DATE NIGHT / Run Time 14:54 / 2011
Film Link: http://386films.com/cinema_datenight.html
Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DNAmC40wDY

Review of Evidence (2011) by Mike

Title: Evidence (2011)

Original UK Release Date: Unknown

Original US Release Date: Unknown

UK Rating: 15

US Rating: Unknown

Director: Howie Askins

Genre: Horror

Plot: An amateur film maker is making a documentary about camping with three of his friends, during the filming they realise that there is a strange creature out there with them.

Mike's Review

            This is a film made in the style of “found footage”. The whole film is made from the perspective of whoever is filming at the time. The style was made famous with The Blair Witch Project and perfected in Cloverfield. I saw the trailer for this and thought it could be good. After trying to track down the film I discovered it had just been released here. So I got hold of a copy and sat back.

            The film is about a group of friends Ryan (Ryan McCoy), Brett (Brett Rosenberg), Abi (Abigail Richie) & Ashley (Ashley Bracken) who are out camping and making a documentary about the experience. They discover a strange creature and the trip quickly turns deadly. Soon they are on the run from strange creatures and anonymous military personnel intent on stopping the creatures.

            You may have noticed in the above paragraph that the characters all have the same names as the actor playing them. This was either due to a very lazy writer, or as the writer was also Ryan McCoy one of the actors, an attempt to make the film feel more real and the friendships believable. I feel that the latter is the case as the group comes off as good friends. They interact with each other in a very realistic and genuine way. Especially the female stars. They manage to portray a wide range of emotions from playful happiness to pissed off and then terrified. The opening scenes are very well done. With most “found footage” films, the introduction to the characters and the plot are usually badly done, they are kind of a mess trying to get all the information out to the viewer. However this film is the exception to the rule. It’s very well put together and the script and the pacing of the characters introductions are very good. The story starts of as a pretty standard you meet the characters, they go camping then the twist, they are not alone out there. The twist is where these type of films usually fail. But Evidence manages to succeed big time. You see a creature in the distance then during the night all hell lets loose. From this moment on the film is pure tension. I have not seen a film where for the whole last hour I was on edge. I was expecting something to happen at any moment. And it happens in so many different ways and at random times leaving you unable to let your guard down. Unlike many films in this genre, not even the camera operator is safe as the camera gets passed around for various reasons. The other great thing that I found was there was also a good reason to have the camera still on while they were running for their lives. Usually this is overlooked and we are meant to ignore that but here the reason is good and helps to make the film believable.

            However with all the shocks and surprises, the film makers fail in trying to do too much. Towards the end the characters encounter many different types of creatures and I felt this was a little over the top. If they had kept to one or two different creatures it would have made a little more sense. As it was you are left very confused at the end with little or no answers as to what was going on. It worked with Cloverfield but here it missed the mark. Not by much and the film as a whole more than makes up for it.

            There are a few plot holes but most can be explained away. However this is still a great addition to the “found film” genre. There have been many attempts to recreate these types of films and many fail. However people will continue to try and sometimes out of all the attempts you find something a little different, one that stands out from the rest. That one is called Evidence.

8 out of 10

Additional Information

Trailer

Review of The Descendants (2011) by Mike

Title: The Descendants (2011)

Original UK Release Date: 27^th January 2012

Original US Release Date: 9^th December 2011

UK Rating: 15

US Rating: R

Director: Alexander Payne

Genre: Drama

Plot: A land owner has to take care of his two daughters after his wife is in a boating accident.

Mike's Review

I wanted to see this mainly to see if George Clooney was truly deserving of the best actor nomination. I’m a fan of his but he usually always plays the same kind of characters, a flawed and/or ruthless person who has an experience and realises the error of his ways. And this is no different.

George Clooney plays Matt King who along with his family owns a large piece of land on a Hawaiian island. His wife is in a boating accident and is left in a coma. Matt has to put his professional life on hold to take care of his two daughters. He also discovers his wife was seeing another man and wanted to leave him.

This is a good film with every cast member, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer, doing an excellent job. But it is the performance of Nick Krause as Sid who steals the scene every time he speaks. He adds a needed element of comedy in an otherwise serious film.

So does George Clooney’s performance deserve the Oscar nomination and the Golden Globe win? Having not yet watched all the nominated films I can’t say. But he is great in this film. He is better than usual showing more emotion and vulnerability than he normally does. But it is the cast as a whole that makes this film work so well. Even though he is in pretty much every scene and it is his story, the cast brings this film to life and helps give his character added dimension.

The film itself is one of those that doesn’t really go anywhere. It tells the story that takes place over a few days well. There is no need for character development and no one really learns a life lesson. But the story is good and the characters realistic and interesting.

This is a good film and I enjoyed watching it. It’s a good movie for a quiet afternoon.

8 out of 10

Additional Information

Stand out performance: Nick Krause as Sid

Trailer

Review of Tower Heist (2011) by Mike

Title: Tower Heist (2011)

Original UK Release Date: 4^th November 2011

Original US Release Date: 24^th October 2011

UK Rating: 12

US Rating: PG-13

Director: Brett Ratner

Genre: Comedy/Crime

Plot: When staff at The Tower, a luxurious apartment block in New York, lose their pension fund after an investor swindles them, the building manager of The Tower schemes to get revenge.

Mike's Review

            This seems like the perfect recipe for a film. Take a few comedy greats, some Academy Award nominated actors and a great director and you have the makings of a classic comedy film. However something went wrong. That’s not to say this film isn’t good it is, but it isn’t close to what it could have been.

            The film is about a robbery in a very secure building with the latest security and the best staff that money can buy. The staff have invested their own personal savings and their pension fund with one of the tenants, a financer Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). However he is arrested for fraud and they find out that he has lost all their money.

The cast including Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Téa Leoni, and Juan Carlos Hernández is good. They work well together and they all have great moments. Gabourey Sidibe steals every moment she is on screen and she could have a great future in comedy.

This film should have been great. It was originally going to be in the style of Ocean’s 11 but somewhere along the way it changed into this. You have comedy greats Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller and Ferris Buller. I say Ferris Buller because it feels like Matthew Broderick is playing that character after he has lost everything. The film felt like it should have been full of big comedy moments, but I couldn’t find them. There are some very funny scenes but not many. As for the hi-tech building security mentioned a few times in the film, it doesn’t materialise, all you are shown are a few cameras that are quickly disabled with a smiley face sticker!

I was really looking forward to this, mainly in the hope that Eddie Murphy would give a performance worthy of his comedy legacy. I loved his films from the 80’s. His films of the 90’s were hit or miss until his performance in Bowfinger, one of his best performances. Apart from his role in the Shrek films there was nothing great about any of his roles since then. So what would he be like in this? Fortunately he is good. Not as great as the Eddie Murphy back in his reckless care free roles, but better than 90% of the last two decades of his films. The reason he is so good in Bowfinger is what makes this role work. It is because he isn’t in the lead role. Take the pressure away from having to carry the whole film and he shines.

            I was disappointed with the lack of great comedy moments and the lack of risk for the characters, but it is a good film, just don’t watch this expecting a comedy classic as you will be disappointed.

8 out of 10

Additional Information

Stand out performance: Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa

Trailer

Review of Familiar (2012) by Mike

Title: Familiar (2012)

Director: Richard Powell

Genre: Short Film/Horror

Plot: A middle aged man listens to the voice in his head and acts on it but soon realises that the voice may be something more sinister.

Mike's Review

            I was contacted by the executive producer of this film, Zach Green, asking if I would review this for him. I immediately agreed. This is great, being contacted and asked to review someone’s film feels like an honour. I set about checking out the film first just to get an idea about it. It looked interesting and I was looking forward to seeing it. I clicked on the link, sat back and watched.

            The film is about John Dodd (Robert Nolan), a middle aged man who is looking for more out of life than work, his wife and his daughter. He hears a voice in his head and believes it is his thoughts. He begins to act on what it is telling him, and then to his horror, discovers that the voice isn’t his.

            This film is a work of movie mastery. It is incredibly well shot, the visuals are great and is what you would expect in a mainstream movie. Far better than any “B” movie or TV film. There are only three characters and they are acted perfectly. However almost all the scenes are completely focused upon John Dodd. The pain and anguish each one goes through comes across in a very realistic way. It is especially good when you realise that the majority of all the words spoken are really just the voice John Dodd hears. There are hardly any conversations between the characters.

            What I found at the end of the film was it felt like it was longer. Not saying it dragged on forever, but that the story was told in such a way that it felt like a full length movie. I was surprised it was only 20 minutes long. The film takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. You empathise with the characters, and then their actions completely shock you until finally you feel yourself squirming in your seat in horror.

            This is a great film and it was a treat to watch. It left me wanting to see more of the filmmakers work. I would love to see what they could do with a full length movie. I have a new respect for independent movies after viewing this and Rage (2010). I will definitely be on the lookout for more.

8 out of 10

Additional Information

Teaser

Review of The Grey (2012) by Mike

Title: The Grey (2012)

Original UK Release Date: 27^th January 2012

Original US Release Date: 27^th January 2012

UK Rating: 15

US Rating: R

Director: Joe Carnahan

Genre: Adventure/Thriller

Plot: A small group of oil workers survive a plane crash and are stranded in a snowy wilderness. They soon discover a pack of wolves have claimed the area as their territory and see the men as intruders.

Mike's Review

            The Grey is a film similar to Alive where a plane crashes in the snow, miles from civilisation and the survivors have to overcome great adversity to survive. The difference here is the inclusion of a pack of wolves fiercely defending their territory. Liam Neeson stars as Ottoway, a hunter employed to keep the wolves away from the oil rig workers. When the plane crashes he is one of only seven survivors. His knowledge of the wolves puts him in charge of the group and their survival.

            This is a good film, the main cast is relatively small and gets smaller as the film progresses. The cast along with Liam Neeson is made up of several familiar faces including Dallas Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie, Joe Anderson, Ben Bray, James Badge Dale & Anne Openshaw. The performances are good and Liam Neeson is well cast as the hunter trying to get over the loss of his wife. The pace of the film is good, the tension and horror is portrayed excellently. There are quite a few shocking moments that come out of nowhere. The film, shot entirely in Canada, is a visual delight.

            This is a good and very will made film and I really enjoyed it.

            But one again my nemesis (see my About Me page) struck once more with this film. This is a critically acclaimed film. Most professional film critics rated this film high, but my nemesis gave this a 2/5 stating that it was boring and predictable! I know everyone has their own opinion but boring!? Seriously how can a film with Liam Neeson being chased by a pack of wolves in the wilderness be boring!? Ok it was a little predictable in the sense that people would be killed by the wolves, but the way they were was unexpected and shocking. She stated that The Thing was a better snow movie! However she stated that Happy Feet 2 was a better snow movie than The Thing, therefore it is better than this! Again you can’t compare Happy Feet 2, an animated film with The Thing, a horror and The Grey a thriller. You have to rate them in their own category. As a thriller this is great. She also stated that after watching this she felt that Liam Neeson’s career was on a slippery slope downwards! Sorry but Liam Neeson is one of the most talented actors out there. He is great in this and I feel her comments about him are insulting.


8 out of 10
 
Additional Information

Stand out performance:

Trailer