offworldcolony

[offworldcolony]

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, 2009 - ★★

The action of this film is edited by a slapchop. 

This film is OK. It's got no illusions of creating, or at least showing us, a greater world; it knows what it is, a little, self-contained prequel allowing for Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen to ham up a delicious storm. Rhona Mitra is a solid alternate subbing for Kate Beckinsale and although this is legendary effects and production designer Patrick Tatopoulos's first and last directorial feature, it is a decent one.

 The story is plop but who cares, it just simmers like scum to be stopped off while enjoying the aroma of good sets and pretty photography and silver swords and sandals action.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/underworld-rise-of-the-lycans/

[offworldcolony]

Ali G Indahouse, 2002 - ★★★½

Another British TV show to movie adaptation that excels at doing what Sasha Baron Cohen does so well: sending up people, institutions and genres whilst also completely abiding by, and revelling in, their cliches and tropes.

There's something nostalgic about the real-world shooting locations, something delicious about Sasha Baron Cohen's line-readings and physical comedy, something genuinely incisive and still relevant about the plot, and the cast is incredible across the board.

So it's still puerile, cringey and dated. But it is so accurate, so satirical, and mostly still very, very funny, on point and in some ways timeless.

And for a young, dumb stoner like me at the time of release, opened my eyes up to some amazing music. What a soundtrack.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/ali-g-indahouse/

[offworldcolony]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife, 2021 - ★★★

To be honest I've never loved Ghostbusters. I appreciated it and enjoyed it, but I was never a fan. I was a fan however of Ivan Reitman's son and director Jason Reitman taking the helm for a sequel, it seemed like a logical choice.

Firstly the children are adorable and excellent. I like the gentle androgynous energy of them. I like the adult casting also and some of the action and new toys fit well. And it must be said that it is approximately one million billion times better than the Paul Feig version.

However, the usually dry and dramatic Jason Reitman makes a fairly placid and plain movie here. The pacing, the opening and much of the ghost biz is all off somehow - there's no Spielbergian magic or majesty and no Ivan Reitmanian everyday salt of the earth heroes vibe from the original series. The attempt to be timeless feels odd, and the ending is jarring and unearned.

The movie might not be as offensive and off the mark as Ghostbusters 2016, but it is boring. Which is one thing Ghostbusters and even Ghostbusters II never were.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/ghostbusters-afterlife/

[offworldcolony]

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, 2022 - ★★★★½

When is a perfect sequel to WHo Framed Roger Rabbit not a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? When it's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers...

The Lonely Island crew have finally made something mainstream while absolutely channelling their oddball indie core and sense of humour.

Explaining almost nothing about how this world functions and yet playing with visual scale and multiple franchises easter eggs deftly, this film is a hilarious gem, the anti-Space Jam 2 and came completely out of nowhere for me.

It's clear that good people are making this and it's the tiny little gags that make it for me: seeing characters from various Disney animations such as A Goofy Movie in the background, the Paula Abdul wolf, stings of dialogue about voicemail, the earpods "Thank You!", the branded products, the bootleg studio conceit and above all: Ugly Sonic!

It tows the line and is playful, it uses franchises but not in a cynical way and most exciting of all, this is a clear, risk-free way of testing the waters for a full-blooded Roger Rabbit sequel and by all accounts, the world wants it.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/chip-n-dale-rescue-rangers/

[offworldcolony]

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001 - ★★★★★

Far from the perfect way to watch this movie - but it was one of the most magical experiences being already very familiar with the film. Being that there are very few movies of such high quality that are elevated even further by their score, watching Howard Shore's music orchestrated live at the Royal Albert Hall while watching the movie was a very emotional experience for me, from the start.

The highlights included the huge, pitch-perfect choir, the solo Elven vocals and the standout flute that pops in the Shire sequences. It was a showing where the generous and loving audience laughed at all the memes and even a few moments I had missed watching without subtitles, and you could see and feel the emotion when Gandalf gives a moving speech or falls to his death.

The performance finished with both ending credits songs sung live and a standing ovation. It was tremendously moving for a very special score for a very special film of a very special book by a very special man.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring/5/

[offworldcolony]

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, 2005 - ★★★

OK, so I like this movie. It works for the most part as an action blockbuster and a satisfying buddy mentor/mentee film. It shows R2's significance and personality to the wider series, it has some epic duels and space battles and some nice theatrical/comic booky dialogue. It's more appealing looking than the previous two, feels more dynamic, with better convincing CGI and Hayden Christensen finally looks cool and acts up a hammy treat here. In fact, the whole thing has the perfect blend of cheese, no more emblematic than in the excellently quotable Ian McDiarmid. The film is funny and fun and benefits (in a way that Marvel would learn from later) from the extended universe canon. Of course the plot, the love story and the eventual turn to the dark side are all awful, contrived and unbelievable. And saying it's the best of the prequel trilogy is damning with faint praise. But shit, after Attack of the Clones, who expected this film to be half-decent??!!

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith/2/

[offworldcolony]

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, 2002 - ★½

Ok so it’s worth saying that Ewan McGregor is superb, Natalie Portman does her best work in the series here and the action sequences are well conceived even if poorly executed. The John Carter gladiator sequence is fun and Obi Wan’s detective/clone/bounty hunter mission is super fun. There’s some amazingly fun creature effects and some solid VFX and voice acting and it’s bold to write, direct and act a character in Anakin that’s so petulant and inherently evil that it’s kind of a joy to watch. So a lot of this movie isn’t good. The budget Shakespearean love story (John Williams aside) is a cringey travesty but maybe George Lucas was ahead of the insufferable troubled vampire bad boy curve. It’s overly long, badly directed And with some plop CGI.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones/2/

[offworldcolony]

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, 1999 - ★★½

I was sick with COVID and I fell asleep half way though. So I pretty much enjoyed this movie. It’s not good but it’s at a strange cutting edge digital and VFX nexus where some of it holds up really well and the rest of it is everything wrong with early VFX. It has (bizzarely in retrospect) some of the best directing in the George Lucas prequel films and the editing is OK. Nostalgia (and the awful new trilogy) may be skewing me this time, but what was rubbish I could ignore and what was truly great (and better than anything in the Abrams/Johnson trilogy) is still absolutely amazing: The duel of the fates is the finest action sequence and musical moment in the entire canon, Ewan McGregor channeling a young Alec Guiness is inspired, and the pod race sequence, VFX, directing and sound design are all absolutely spectacular here. The Jedi council of boring stuffy suits (an intentional anti-studio comment by the once indie hippy George Lucas?) threatens to derail this and every other film they're in. It's clear that the extended universe (I'm looking at you KOTOR/KOTOR II and the comics) are all you ever need on the duality of light and dark. Under Lucas, even though the Jedi politics is boring, the Jedi themselves are pretty cool as an intergalactic peace keeping force with laser swords and ninja powers. A strange hybrid of kids movie and then also about trade federation blockades, Phantom Menace is at least unique, authored, and a curious oddity, unlike Rise of Skywalker or The Force Awakens ever will be. At least you can't of being ordinary.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace/3/

[offworldcolony]

Small Soldiers, 1998 - ★★★★½

Like most of the movies from my past, I enjoy the act of revisiting them, but seldom enjoy the actual films themselves. (I'm talking about Antz, Aaron!) This one is an exception. It's possibly due to the dynamite restoration, or maybe the dream team of Aladdin and Pirates' Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio writing.

Either way, it's far from a kid's movie, this is a scathing capitalist and US Military satire from Gremlins' director Joe Dante. Unlike its contemporaries, it not only holds up in every department but still feels relevant today. It's really well edited and directed, it has a script that doesn't talk down, and has a tremendously simple plot but with miles of parody and wit and it has spectacular effects work.

A real gem that has aged well, it's a kind of military sci-fi alien invasion flick also and it's twisted and sinister and entertaining and better than it has any right to be.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/small-soldiers/

[offworldcolony]

Zack Snyder's Justice League, 2021 - ★★★½

I can see, when I changed discs, that the two parts of this movie felt like they had their own arcs and that with some shuffling I could see how the original plan to have two movies could have worked quite well.

Time and more money has undoubtedly made this film much better than it has any right to be; more experimental, less under pressures financial, time and studio, than the original cut. This cut is a real feat, a kitchen sink affair for better and worse, and maybe Snyder's most personal and balanced work.

The action sequences are genuinely great, cohesive and fluid and staged well. And the giant godlike status of justice league is enchaced by Snyder's macho take on everything and his use of 4:3 aspect ratio. It's a piece of quality work with great design and effects work. It's visually strong and that somewhat covers up the broad, dumb and loud script.

It's suitably cast and very fun. And today it was exactly the movie I wanted to watch. Wrapped up with COVID, I enjoyed the shit out it.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/zack-snyders-justice-league/1/

[offworldcolony]

Watchmen, 2009 - ★★★½

A kind of nasty and unpleasant movie which you would assume works because it's an appropriately nasty comic book. But it's Zack Snyder's brand of nasty and I don't enjoy the revelry as opposed to comic author Alan Moore's cynicism and held mirror and commentary.

In recreating much of the comic frame by frame, word for word, Snyder is largely trading on the talents of artist Dave Gibbons and Moore and doing a poor job in translation. There's an undeniable gloss and reverence in the violence and even gore and a myriad of small changes more towards Snyder's style make all the small moments of brilliance in the comic fizzle away.

On the good side: Not changing the original time period is something that I can't believe was ever in contention. The cast is excellent almost throughout particularly Dr. Manhattan, whose look is near perfect. The alternative history opening is spectacular and it's the better edited of Snyder's films.

I'm ambivalent towards the changed ending and unsure about whether the music always works. It's got a shockingly bad sex scene (talking about music) and like all Snyder movies it varies wildly in tone from snapshot to snapshot. Here the Black Freighter inserts don't work particularly well but as a curio it's fun.

Watchmen the comic is one of the greatest and most cohesive pieces of literary entertainment. And it gets more and more relevant every decade. I enjoy this film and I have a love-hate relationship with it. What I can say with conviction is it's not a patch on the graphic novel. Go and read it now, the subtlety and emotional power are unparalleled.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/watchmen/

[offworldcolony]

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, 2007 - ½

A flaccid, ropey, badly filmed, poorly edited piece of junk sullying the names of both franchises involved. It doesn't even have the good sense to try and be half-decent like AVP. It's horribly ugly like it was filmed on a camcorder, it's overly violent in an unsatisfying way, and it's boring. It's a terrible B-Movie, worse, it's a C-Movie, it's a student fan-film and I hate it.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/aliens-vs-predator-requiem/

[offworldcolony]

AVP: Alien vs. Predator, 2004 - ★★

A bunch of no-name actors and a miscast Lance Henrikson are in an ensemble expedition movie that has the best intentions but misses the mark everywhere except practical effects. Maybe it makes the same mistake these films always do and spends more runtime than palatable on boring fodder and instead of utilising tone and style from two different elite monster movie horror films, it strives to emulate a Jurassic Park vibe and just doesn’t manage it as grandeur and commentary on nature and playing God don’t really fit these films original franchises. The dialogue is trash but there is a kind of old world charm to the film and a shocking quality for a Paul WS Anderson movie. The comparisons to Prometheus, however, in retrospect are an embarrassment to everyone involved. Full points for a strong female character. Albeit a cheap one.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/avp-alien-vs-predator/

[offworldcolony]

Werewolves Within, 2021 - ★★★½

A charming and cheap film that's funny and clever without being showy or obvious. It's not superb, it isn't as cohesive, hilarious or incisive as Shaun of the Dead, The Thing, or Tucker and Dale vs Evil. It does have a lovely twist that I really should have seen coming and it's got bravura and adorable performances from leads Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub and it's maybe very much (perhaps damning with faint praise) the greatest video game adaptation ever made.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/werewolves-within/

[offworldcolony]

Copshop, 2021 - ★★★★★

Only Joe Carnahan can make a film intentionally bad, this good. And I love it. Here he channels in the design, direction, acting, music and dialogue a cult classic 70’s exploitation flick. With shades of Assault on Precinct 13, with a dynamite stealth lead in Alexis Louder, Copshop is a bloody great time. Frank Grillo complained that it was cut to shit in the edit, something that has happened a lot to the excellent Joe Carnahan, but truthfully when wasn’t one of these B-movies ribbons after it was cobbled together and truncated in the edit? And yet immaculately it’s one of his most focussed and highest quality entries; amidst a series of his anti-macho films he manages to give epic characters cool moments and play with genre tropes whilst also subverting them. Little moments in the script (like a colleague asking another colleague if he’s ok) elevate the material. It’s got a whip smart script and it’s moody as hell. This is exactly my kind of movie.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/copshop/

[offworldcolony]

Logan, 2017 - ★★★★★

It took long enough but finally, a Wolverine film is made, against all odds, that feels as if does the character's brutality and trauma justice. Hugh Jackman plays exquisitely a man who has lost everything, a hero no longer, and it's tragic and sad to watch. The way it twists Old Man Logan's source material to fit this cinematic X-universe is wonderful and bold and melancholic and even relatable. A spectacular end to a series I grew up with and fell in and out of love with. It has its flaws but I think Logan easily manages to rise above them all and produce the gold standard of faithful and resonant and adult comic book adaptation.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/logan-2017/3/

[offworldcolony]

Shane, 1953 - ★★★★½

I'm glad that this film was brought to my attention via James Mangold's Wolverine film, Logan. The Masters of Cinema range by Eureka adds another pristine and magnificently colourful print, Shane has some incredibly efficient sets and real, powerful landscapes and nature. It's a film that still holds up thematically today with a brisk script, tremendous editing, directing and performances. But the real star is the lyrical and hard-boiled dialogue seen almost mythically through the eyes of a child obsessed with gunslingers and pulp tales.

source https://letterboxd.com/offworldcolony/film/shane/