Welcome To The Punch

Last week I reviewed Welcome To The Punch.

What word would best describe it?

Grungy.

But I like myself some grunge every now and then.

It started off quite glamorous and almost American; shiny, tall city buildings and a standard heist chase scene.

So it gives you the impression the rest of the film will be the same.

However, a key event in the equilibrium changes the narrative from there on.

Then we get to the British, grungy style that we like.

I say British, don't interpret this to be 007 British with Aston Martins and pretentious English accents left, right and centre.

British as in, bent coppers and tea with your nan.

The film highlighted current issues in society such as corrupt police and politicians and the increase of gun crime in the UK. This makes it relatable to a mass audience in Britain.

Wise move.

Although, it limits foreign audience.

But as Brits, sometimes we want to make or watch a good old fashioned British film with the slang and dialect WE understand.

And so sometimes, we don't really care about that nonsense do we?

James McAvoy was brilliant in this role, very similar to his role in Wanted. He can really get into gritty roles, which I appreciate.

Mark Strong and Andrea Riseborough fit their roles respectively too. Not outstanding, but good nonetheless.

But it was Johnny Harris that kept me fixated.

After This Is England '88, I have been unable to forget him.

His character portrayals in both This Is England '88 and Welcome To The Punch are incredible. As his characters onscreen, he is hugely emotive for all the right reasons. I feel intimidated just watching him. And to me, that is brilliance.

Time will tell as to whether he will be typecast in these specific roles.

The Master Of Suspense, Minus The Suspense.

Recently, I watched the film Hitchcock.

It's an odd one to say the least.

The film, based on the book, Alfred Hitchcock and The Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello, is directed by Sacha Gervasi.

Everyone reading this blog post should know who Alfred Hitchcock is and if you don't, and especially if you are in the media or film industry, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most influential and original directors of all time. Some of his work is considered utter genius in filmmaking.

As an aspiring horror director, he is most definitely one of my favourite directors.

However, back to the film.

The film depicts Hitchcock's (Anthony Hopkins) life whilst making the famous horror film, Psycho.

Everything that Hitchcock believed and applied about filmmaking was simply not used in this film.

The most famous of all, was his use of suspense and how to control and prolong it throughout a film.

Not one of his brilliant techniques were used throughout this film.

Alfred Hitchcock says in the film, "the film doesn't come to life. There's no other way to say it, it's a stillborn."

I apply this quote to this film.

Something just didn't come alive.

Granted, this could be because audiences expect a Hitchcock picture and expect excitement and suspense, thus forgetting that this film is a drama and not a horror.

Or it might just be because we feel like we're missing something, like it's unfinished.

One of the predominant reasons for me having this feeling, was that the narrative was completely muddled up.

I don't know whether it was depicting Hitchcock's marriage troubles, psychological troubles or just general difficulties he faced in the filmmaking process.

Overall, great to take you back to a time that we can all relate to such an iconic figure. But if you're expecting something even similar to a Hitchcock film or even just a standard beginning, middle and end film, you will be left with a dull and disappointing film.

Stories

"People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don’t have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning."

–Steven Spielberg

Visions & Dreams

“Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams?”

- Tim Burton.

Oz the Great and Powerful?

Oz the Great and Powerful

Plot: Oscar Diggs (James Franco) is a small time carnivalmagician swept away from a less than exciting Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz.The people of Oz presume Oscar has arrived to defeat the wicked witch to thentake the title of King. All is changed when he meets three very differentwitches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (MichelleWilliams).

After a spectacular set of opening credits, the next fewscenes use a monochrome effect. We are then greeted with James Franco and ZachBraff.

Instantly, I wasn’t sure about the casting of Franco.

To me it was almost like a modern piece of fashion in aperiodic oil painting. Something just appeared a little off. Although, runningthrough the film, I felt that Franco began to fit the quirky character quite well;I just don’t think it will be what an older audience will be expecting.

The three witches, played by Kunis, Weisz and Williams fittheir role brilliantly. Any audience member would find difficulty flawing theironscreen performances.

 The film is based onL. Frank Baum’s Oz novels and serves as a prequel to Baum’s novel The WonderfulWizard of Oz. I want to make it clear from the get go that this film has nodirect link to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Both are based on Baum’s novels,however both are produced by different production companies and therefore Iwill refrain from comparisons.

It was said that inspiration for the novel was Alice inWonderland. I thought that Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland style was extremelypresent in this film. Also, I think that the director Sam Raimi took someinspiration from the popular stage show, Wicked.

There are some parts of the film that are very classicDisney, although similar to Alice in Wonderland there are some parts that evenin 2D are quite startling and even frightening. And after speaking to someparents at the cinema I know that they disagree with the certificate of PG.

Overall an exhilarating, funny and menacing film that issuitable for a wide range of audiences, granted they don’t expect a remake ofthe classic The Wizard of Oz.

 

Watch the trailer here. 

 

What I've Been Up To In My Absence...

Hello, I know I haven't blogged much recently, but let me share with you what I have been up to in my absence...

Last week, my university, Glyndwr hosted the moving image festival; Ffresh Festival.

As I study the course Journalim and Media Communications, I was approached by a lecturer to represent Glyndwr by blogging via their Tumblr account.

I could hardly pass that up now could I?

It was an exciting opportunity to meet new people in the industry and start to get my name out there.

And to have my name published of course!

Also, I have been focussing on my radio show on my local radio station Calon FM.

The show, called The Reel, is a one hour radio show based around film and music.

We do everything from film and album reviews, to discussing fashion at award ceremonies. Last Tuesday, we covered The Brits and The Oscars. The film I reviewed was Mama. And if you listened to my show you will know I thought the horror film was awful.

I will definitely be posting more in the near future, just bear with me.

Here are some of the articles I posted on the Glyndwr Tumblr.

If you want to know more about our radio show you can listen live on the Calon FM website or tweet us @ReelCalonFM.