141st post spectacular...

GTA IV arrived this morning ... just getting used to the controls (moving & looking, and driving are a bit fiddly off the bat) ... watched the entirety of the Weazel channel straight away before even venturing outside of Roman's apartment ... will go off and play more later ... otherwise, awesome.

Laters...

Deadly anticipation...

*sigh* you'd have thought having GTA IV pre-ordered for over a year would have entitled me to have it arrive at least on launch day from the online retailer ... but no ... lame.

I could have gone to town this morning and gotten one at the local Woolies, but of course my money was already taken as it was posted yesterday morning ... so I continue to wait ... tomorrow (Wednesday) is possible, but who knows, a big dollop of lame could spoil my day and make me wait yet another 24 hours to gawp in utter awe at the gaming event of the year ... now yes, there are famines and all sorts of nasty things in the world that actually matter ... but I'm not talking about GTA IV in the global realm, but rather exclusively in the realms of entertainment ... this much anticipation is insane, and having to wait longer and longer is of course - annoying.

Still though, when it gets here ... awesomeness will be had.

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Anyway, onto other things - speaking of anticipation, I'm proper looking forward to checking out Gary Ugarek's Deadlands 2: Trapped. He sent me a short zombie clip from it and bloody nora does it look awesome - for those not in the know, it was on the DVD of Deadlands #1 that I Am Zombie Man appeared, it even appeared (along with IAZM2) at the theatrical run at the Hagerstown 10 cinema (where DL2: Trapped was shot), so we tend to share clips of what we're up to back and forth, teasing each other with little snippets of entertainment anticipation.

Good stuff indeed.

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Onto another thing, I was off out filming today for this not-for-profit campaign film that Joe Jenkins is doing. I'm shooting and editing it, and it'll end up being something like 10 minutes and will be shown in his local parish, or ward, or whatever you call your local area/village in rural communities. Not sure of a title yet, but that as well as other info regarding will be posted as-and-when-appropriate.

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One more thing - VHS-2: Long Play is currently being edited, even though I've got a bit more filming to do for it ... I've done some rough editing (cutting down the footage basically for the more choice cuts), and next up I'll be doing the colouring via the superb Magic Bullet - after that the proper editing will be done, and of course, as soon as it's up on YouTube I'll pimp it about.

Oh yeah, on my YouTube page I recently posted a short, random 'behind the scenes' sort-of video for VHS-2, so check that out if you will ... it's rough-as-old-boots, just a bunch of clips really, but well it might be of interest to those wanting to check out the film itself as-and-when.

VHS-2: Long Play...

aka VHS-2, aka Long Play ... haven't decided which way I'll swing on it, but probably just stick with Long Play as the official title as this semi-sequel, semi-remake is supposed to be able to stand on its own.

So this afternoon I had Ben come over (who has also been in IAZM2, the original VHS - which was shown at the Bristol Bloodbath 2006 film festival, and the Borderlines Film Festival 2007 - as well as the likes of Smack Addict), and we got all the shots involving him, as well as his voice over.

This film - the first DeadShed short since IAZM2 over a year ago, come to think of it - is much looser in its making, I guess more along the 'production lines' of the original IAZM, but with better filming and editing. I aim to make it a lean 5-minutes-or-under, and generally it's fairly experimental in a way ... it's loose, it's experimental, it's oddball ... well the central theme is a guy who's been imprisoned in his own 'vertical helical hell' because he ditched VHS in favour of DVD so unceremoniously ... so odd indeed, quirky you might say.

I originally wrote the script a few months back, so I'm glad to have been able to get this one going, now it's all down to me to film the last little bits and pieces, then edit the whole thing...so that'll be something for the next wee while and of course I'll be pimping it out on YouTube when it's done ... might even send it to Total Film to see if they fancy pimping it for their "Your Shorts" side-column, it might very well be up their street, who knows.

So aye - that's what's going on right now, ta-da!

In Bruges...

Another week and another trip t'cinema, this time to check out the gleefully non-PC and rather foul-mouthed In Bruges. According to the advertising it appears to be a fairly straight crime-based comedy caper, but within the first few minutes you're not entirely sure if you're watching the same film - no wonder, because while the trailers capture the humour on show, they completely ignore the sheer depth of the darkness to the surrounding black comedy.

At times it gets exceptionally dark and you sit there wondering 'how on earth are they going to come back from this', but then a couple of fuck-laden lines of Bruges-weary dialogue later and you're back to laughing heartily, right before it gets pitch black again ... which precedes yet another guttural, lingering chortle.

Plot wise it's simple, two hitmen who were on a job that went arse-up have been shunted off, by their foul-tongued boss, for two weeks to Bruges - a place that is apparently like a living fairytale - so that the heat surrounding them can die down. It's funny, despite the derogatory comments regarding Bruges (which are mixed with plenty of pro-Bruges sentiments of fairytale medieval magic), you end up really wanting to go and check this place out for yourself.

The bulk of the film centres of just being in Bruges itself, hence the title, and the weird inhabitants there-in who keep dragging our two leads into a variety of odd situations, and occasionally quite heart-felt and serious ones.

I can certainly say, the Americans would never make a black comedy this unashamedly politically incorrect (bravo on that, by the way) and so relentlessly bleak at certain intervals. This is most definitely a very British (or indeed Irish) film, it's pitch black dark but honestly hilarious.

The Last Man On Earth...

First there was Richard Matheson's book I Am Legend, then came this - The Last Man On Earth - starring he of that great voice and 'tache, Vincent Price. Then it was the recently departed Charlton Heston gruffing up the silver screen in The Omega Man ... then the mediocre, dripping-with-Hollywood big budget Will Smith pop-corner I Am Legend. The Will Smith flick is pretty good for the first-half-up-to-two-thirds, then it all just goes rather arse as the CGI monsters with their silly rubbery jaws go yomping around and all tension, intelligence and effort goes right out the window. A missed opportunity for post-apocalyptic greatness ... next stop, the adaptation of World War Z, which could quite possibly be an astounding zombie apocalypse epic ... or it could suffer the same fate as I Am Legend's recent incarnation, or worse. Tracking back and we have The Omega Man, which upon first viewing I really liked, it certainly has that 1970's charm when films could hold a simpler thrill without being absolutely idiotic. However, upon a recent re-watch, I was much less impressed, I'm genuinely shocked to say. It is showing its age worse than I originally recall, the music is almost entirely camp and out-of-step with the over-all pace, and the brotherhood of infected nut-jobs don't play out as well as they once did. They bitch about the machines of man, right before they roll out a complex catapult to fling fireballs about ... then again, there's no reasoning with nutters. That said, it's still a great little flick, but nowadays it feels too cheap to have really pulled off what it set out to do, as well as the fact that it ignores the majority of Matheson's book. Indeed, the Will Smith version of Legend feels more like a 'no-more-than-based-on' adaptation of the book mixed with a hefty dollop of a remake of The Omega Man, with a dusting of 'lets make the monsters really shitty CGI things' zest. Track back even further to the mid-60's and we find ourselves with Vincent Price as The Last Man On Earth. An incredibly faithful adaptation of Matheson's cultural landmark book it most certainly is, a big budget extravaganza it sadly is not. Evidently it's a mish-mash of American and Italian filmmaking (originally it was going to be a British Hammer Horror effort), seemingly foreseeing the likes of Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) and other such cheapy combination horror flicks. Price isn't exactly the Robert Neville in the book, mainly due to the main man's underlying reputation as a mad cackler and entertaining scenery chewer (he was gleefully so in The Pit & The Pendulum, which I fortunately got to see at the Bristol Bloodbath 2006 film festival, in true grindhouse fashion on a rickety old print which broke down twice - it was certainly a memorable viewing which took me back to my Uni days watching the old prints of classics like The Maltese Falcon, or some Godard flick when the reel got jammed and the projector burned out the film...) ... hmm, gotten carried away with a tangent, ah memory lane... Anyway, Price is perhaps 90% the Neville we know from the book, although he's now Robert Morgan. It's sad in a way because this, still the most faithful adaptation of I Am Legend, is such a low budget affair. Again, the process of aging hasn't been especially kind, but the downsides of a cheap-as-chips, USA/Italian partnership is clearly the harshest mistress standing over this otherwise solid film. Many performances are wooden, lazy or just unskilled (meanwhile Price is overtly dramatic, but a comparative thespian of legend). The production value is rock bottom - either that or Morgan is a magician and can drive a car at night and at day at the exact same time. It really is an incredibly cheap film, insanely cheap sometimes, which is the main flaw. However, as previously stated, a wonderfully typical turn from Price and the sincere nature of the adaptation ends up making this quite possibly the best I Am Legend re-telling. At the very least, it is in terms of storytelling. Meanwhile, the Will Smith version pimps great visuals (aside from the awful compu-monsters) but a story that holds few resemblances to the source material, ultimately raping it in the third act. As for The Omega Man, it's somewhere in the middle. Middling production value, middling script and retrospectively rather camp, even kitsch. Perhaps, if only, instead of Smith's I Am Legend partially remaking The Omega Man, it could have looked a decade further back and taken several pages out of TLMOE's book. Maybe the fourth book-to-film adaptation will get it properly right? Any Hollywood players with bundles of cash who fancy giving me said green backs would easily tempt me into doing it justice. Scale and story, both of which are intensely important for this particular tale.

Charlie Wilson's War...

While the content is before my political time, and certainly even (for half of the plot at least) just flat-out before my time full stop, the subject still makes an impact. It's certainly understandable why this film was made, what with the current situation in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

What I found most affecting about the film, was that it showed us how much money and effort was put into fighting the 'Commie Bastard' Russians in Afghanistan ($1 billion) and how 'they' just ditched the battered and bruised people (over half of which were under the age of 14) by not ponying up a comparatively measly sum of cash for education and the like.

It speaks volumes about the current situation, a catch 22 even. Either leave the troops in both territories and lose further lives (on both sides), or pull out too soon yet again after turning two country's population's lives upside down before the bad guys ultimately regain control, therefore making the entire war completely pointless, thus making the lives lost on both sides mean absolutely nothing - nobody would have died for anything. You get the feeling that the US government doesn't have a great deal of patience for anything outside of easy-to-understand 'shoot and kill' that lasts for anything longer than a year ... both from this film, and from the current political climate.

News flash, wars take a long time, they're devastating and horrible things which happen because they seek to put a stop to something else that is devastating and horrible from happening. It's the ultimate catch 22, but it cannot be achieved in six months, and the fighting certainly doesn't stop after the last bullets have been fired.

History is tragically repeating itself, and this is one of the issues that the darkly comic Charlie Wilson's War flags up for our attention.

While I didn't understand certain things regarding the American political system (hell, it's hard enough to understand the absolute garbage being thrown around by the current government here in the UK), just as a subtle black comedy it works, and reminds us that there's not enough Tom Hanks on the big screen these days.

A bit more thought is required for this one, and at times it can become quite dark when signaling up the horrid reality of the Afghan plight, but it can equally be enjoyed as a political farce in some respects, and indeed the two central performances (Hanks & Hoffman) are a joy to watch.

Ultimately it is a refreshing watch, it never decidedly strays into either side of the political spectrum, instead deciding to leave the politics and ethics balanced and open to the viewer's own interpretation. Indeed, the closing statement denoting "...we just fucked up the end game" speaks volumes in itself.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story...

What with the horrid likes of Date Movie/Epic Movie/Meet The Spartans floating around, like floaters in the porcelain bowl of life, it's a genuine pleasure to come across a proper spoof - rather than a 'Vague Genre Movie' (check out Maddox's site for a witty-as-usual piss-take of such piss poor efforts as Meet The Spartans).

Walk Hard pretty much lampoons one movie only - Walk The Line (the excellent Johnny Cash biopic) - and then goes off on it's own, as if Walk Hard wasn't based on anything at all. It takes one idea, then runs with it on its own. It doesn't take clips from YouTube and insert them hap-hazardly into 300 vs Transformers mash-up 'jokes'.

It truly is a shame that Spartans can take the number one slot, it really is, because it means there's enough people stupid enough to pay to see such garbage.

Anyway, back to a quality spoof in the shape of Dewey Cox ... while perhaps a tad overlong (the 1970's period begins to flag a little), there's a genuine sense of humour amidst the quite faithful spin on the Cash biopic. It's silly throughout, but in a smart way - rather than stupid in a really dumb, moronic, un-original way like Date/Epic/Meet.

There is a danger with all this though, by which I mean the flood of Apatow-related flicks coming out. While he and his various teams are all highly talented, very funny people producing genuinely hilarious movies with real heart & even soul behind them, you don't want to overdose the audience. You never want to hear "ANOTHER movie with Seth Rogen?!" - mind you, such a thing is far from a depressing vision, but even too much of a good thing too fast can be bad.

Hopefully they've already realised this issue, it would be a shame for audiences to tire of the Apatow/Rogen/et al freight train, especially prior to the sure-to-be-excellent Zack & Miri Make A Porno.

Apatow & Co fans, rest assured, Walk Hard will be right up your street. As for the Date/Epic/Meet morons, this is how you're supposed to make a spoof movie - if you're still not convinced how to do it, watch Airplane! as well.

Contempt of Conscience - done & dusted!

Just got word today that Contempt of Conscience is finished, done, sorted, dusted, wrapped up, signed, sealed and delivered ... complete, basically.

I'll be receiving my copy next week methinks, so I definitely look forward to seeing my work (as well as the long haul of Joe's - the director - come to fruition) all there, presented on the screen.

As for release, that's still 'out there' so-to-speak, I think the plan is a tour of various festivals first and then a proper DVD release. Details of both as-and-when.

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Otherwise, there's another project potentially on the horizon, bringing the current horizon tally to three. Busy times ahead indeed, but then again that's part of the nature of 'the bizz'. Some times are quiet, some times are busy. All-in-all, it's good.

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Plus - GTA IV is almost upon us! Prepare for the gaming event of 2008, people! ... Well, except Danny, he's not fussed apparently, lulz.

Juno...

Yep, a late-comer to this as well, and like before I did so to specifically avoid the various hype surrounding it - especially the whole Oscars thing.

So now, with that out of the way, I was able to check out this charming and entirely involving indie-vibed treat from Jason Reitman. Much like with Thank You For Smoking, this is an intriguing story filled-out with witty, individually crafted characters. There's a sweetness to Juno (both film and protagonist), that makes this a rewarding watch.

Each character has their own tweak, reinforcing their individual identities amidst the joyously witty dialogue, which fortunately never strays into glib self-knowing parody. Indeed, this isn't as straight-forward a flick as the basic premise might suggest, the ending may still be rosy, but certainly not in the Hollywood tradition.

Praise indeed should go to Diablo Cody, a colourful character herself, who managed to produce something which ticked all the feel-good boxes, while striding confidently through more original pastures.

Considering the all-round success of Juno - the bulk of which is owed to the script itself (with praise also to the direction and performances) - it's a real shame, and hard-to-understand situation, that Hollywood isn't doing more to seek out such original and entertaining stories. Sure we all need a clutch of explosions and tits to dazzle our eyes, but even such films drown amidst the stickiness of youfail.org when there's no story to back it up.

What we have with Juno, is a charming tale. Entertaining, sweet natured, intelligent, witty ... I could go on, but it'd just delay you in checking out this superb film.

P2...

Honestly, with Alexandre Aja co-writing this parking lot terroriser, I expected more. Switchblade Romance was a deliciously gore-soaked, nerve-shredding, twisted slasher flick - it should be noted that France doesn't "do" horror movies 99.9% of the time, but Switchblade showed there was no reason they shouldn't be.

Then Aja followed that skull-crushing blood feast with a remake. Now yes, in this day and age there's far too many remakes, however not all remakes are bad, some pretty effective...but many are gash and uninspired - at least of late, most of which circle the horror genre like a starving Hyena. The Hills Have Eyes was the target this time, a pretty fair one at that. The original film wasn't incredible, but nor was it atrocious, and this time round Craven was back on board - a much better situation than the name-raping bucket-of-shit crap-fests sticking themselves to George Romero's coat-tails (Day of the Dead 2008 - need I say more? How about Day of the Dead: Contagium ... or Creepshow 3).

Indeed, Hills 2006 was a production of respect and genuinely went for a terrorising thrill. The flick went for the audience's jugular, not as gimmick, but from pure and honest intention. In some ways Aja's vision improved on the original (I personally preferred the new third act - taking place in a mock American town circa the Cold War - over the original's mountain-based escapades). In other ways it simply matched the original's nasty attitude, with the odd hint of cheap scares here and there. However, over-the-piece it was a surprisingly genre-loving effort from Aja & Co.

Now here we are with P2. Prior to this we've had the most visceral throat slice ever committed to film. We've had decapitation by chest of drawers, axes hacking off limbs, the whole KNB-riffing side show. P2 however, despite being nestled amidst the adult ratings of respective territories, feels neutered. Only two significantly gory set pieces shadow the 90-odd minute running time.

What happens for the rest? Nothing much, the dark parking garage setting is spooky, but not menacing. The antagonist feels Dawson's Creek bad guy, rather than deranged nutjob ... what it feels like, is a diet meal. You've had a taste, but now you're ready for the main course ... only then do you realise this is a bit like if Weight Watchers made a horror movie. Gore isn't everything of course, but in horror you have to have tension and chills, but this is sadly lacking those as well.

It feels like it could have been a sinister, rather crafty short subject, but nothing more than that. Mind you, Aja merely co-wrote this piece ... but still, considering his name is splashed all over it, you honestly expect more.

Cloverfield...

Needless to say, I'm behind the bandwagon on this one, but then again that was entirely intentional. This is one of those movies that drowned in an absolute torrent of media blitz advertising and audience anticipation, mixed with a dressing of excessive hype.

Therefore, I stayed well clear of it - especially with Diary of the Dead coming soon after it, which I wanted to be my first POV-horror experience of 2008 (a year seemingly teeming with the blighters).

I find myself quite polarised by it, half of me digs it, and half of me is rather "meh" about the whole affair. It's set up as a piece of Department of Defence evidence (preceded by the massive Paramount logo). So surely, putting that DoD header on the front of the tape would involve editing - which leaves me wondering, why on earth wouldn't the government lacky cut the 15 minutes of not-that-interesting character stuff? It's got absolutely nothing to do with 'Cloverfield', nothing to do with monsters, or things exploding in anyone's faces.

Clearly it's there for our benefit - we the audience - but of course, this is one of the problems when it comes to POV horror flicks. Seemingly, only The Blair Witch Project has handled the style with the most precision and attention to realism.

What I'm getting at, is there are several instances where I just don't buy the supposed realism. The major set pieces (explosion, lady Liberty's head flying down the street etc) all involve heavy use of CGI, which not only feels smoother than real life, it doesn't look enough like real life when compared to the generally convincing POV footage surrounding these moments.

Even still there are certain times when the POV schtick feels kicked aside to specifically get in some narrative elements. I either thought 'why would anyone record this?' or 'well a tape doesn't do that'. A tape doesn't do what exactly? Well, from my experience with cameras, stopping and starting does not leave a few-second gap between what you just filmed and are now filming. If anything, the camera rewinds about 3 seconds. This of course means we get to see convenient snippets of the two leads to provide character development, but it's not realistic to video camera operation.

You should only see these clips whenever someone rewinds the tape to see something played back (which we don't see of course - unless it's [Rec.], where we actually saw the rewind, which makes absolutely no sense at all), and we do - but the other instances between only some of the 'in-camera edit points' doesn't make sense.

Also, there's a variety of sneaky, hidden edits. Again, you're fiddling with the realism of the POV style - such hidden cuts are really only seen when you're trying to create a sense of a superbly long take (think Rope, or Snake Eyes). Perhaps the average punter wouldn't notice, or care about such things, but as a filmmaker myself who's had many hours with a camera in his hand, these middle-fingers to the technicalities of POV realism just annoy the crap out of me.

Also - while the 'tape glitch' vibe is nowhere near as ridiculous as in either Diary of the Dead or [Rec.] (I've never seen a miniDV tape act like that - ever), it's not entirely missing. The ending, while remaining spoiler free, resorts to juggled patches of images, noises and colours in a way that's not true to the sort of camera the protagonists would have bought at their local Dixons (or where-ever).

Anyway, enough technical-rantings, the film itself - 6/10 stuff I'd have to say.

The over all spectacle is entertaining (even if certain parts seem a bit too daft ... two buildings ... nuff said), and most of the 'POV-panic' keeps you gripped and within-the-moment...but not always. Quippy lines of dialogue here-and-there seem misplaced, helicopters seem to fly way too close to fighter jet bombing runs, and the CGI beasty - while not completely over-exposed - doesn't convince once you've seen it all. Also, how could anyone not see a gigantic, many-many-storeys-tall monster, coming right at them. Just because the camera isn't pointing at it, doesn't mean those in front of it can't see what's behind 'us' (the camera).

Essentially, it's 9/11 with a monster. The times when the film works best is when it's riffing on the infamous terrorist attack, it feels real. It is gripping, and it takes something awful and helps digest it in a more palatable way, if that makes any sense. We in the West, or at least, those in Hollywood, digest disaster through TV and film. You take elements, and filter them out thin enough, so that the people en-mass can come to terms with something huge, one piece at a time.

Anyway, Cloverfield ... definitely worth watching (although those with motion sickness be warned) ... obviously, it doesn't live up to the intense amount of hype that was all around it, and at times it can be just stupid or unconvincing, at other times it can be almost entirely convincing and intense. At the very least it's a more interesting way to have a monster movie, especially after the 'meh-fest' that was the American version of Godzilla.

Sweeny Todd...

I'm not generally one for musicals - although I certainly appreciate the genre - heck, I even did an entire course one semester on The Hollywood Musical, which proved rather informative and quite enjoyable. It was nice to learn about something I didn't really know much about, something I hadn't paid much attention to in the past.

Then of course we now have Sweeny Todd. My first exposure to this being in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl, and once I found out it has as it's tie-together-theme, essentially murder and cannibalism, my interest was piqued.

Pretty much, if you dig Tim Burton flicks - you'll no doubt lap this up. Sweeny Todd fans will also no doubt dig it, even musical fans in general will probably dig it ... even if it is all a bit uber-goth. Speaking of which, you do wonder how many 'goffs' were sniffing around this flick like it was the second coming, be they posers or not.

Anyway, amidst all the wonderfully drab and dark design, lies a slice of the classic musical...which in this day and age of *sigh* Never Back Down and all the other 'Fast & The Furious, but with...' popcorn escapades, is a nice change of pace.

Finally, I myself could certainly be labeled (one of many labels, surely) as a gore-hound - and this certainly taps into that vein. A horror musical with lashings of the red, red kroovy.

There Will Be Blood...

As far as epics go for the 2007-2008 period go, my top slot has already been assumed - as you might well know by now - by The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, an absolutely spell-binding, myth-meditating western.

However, there is another heavy weight contender out there - PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood. Mark Kermode has ranted and raved about this film with similar passion as I have for The Assassination of Jesse James (or as my fellow online movie nerds would say, "flat out flaming for it").

It's a timely movie, considering the fuss surrounding oil - the black, liquid gold. It's a tale of ambition, greed, deception, corruption, attempted redemption, anger, murder, capitalism unbound ... basically it's bloated with the sheer volume of narrative themes.

Admittedly, I found the last 40 minutes or so to, not drag, but just lose some of that special something - for me anyway. What preceded this sedate third act (or indeed fourth act) was gripping to say the least. Beautiful images, weighty performances, direction of absolute craft and obsessive precision ... I guess the comparative stroll of the final scenes didn't strike me as hard as they might have done. However, there's always the second viewing, which will no doubt confirm the power of these final scenes for me - not that I deny this now. Perhaps I was personally just beginning to tap out a smidge by that stage, there is a fair shift in gears for the final act.

As already said though, it's a film of brutish strength in all its creative extents, a coming together of artists, which culminated in a modern epic (see also Into The Wild). It seems that amidst the cheap ideas, remakes and MTV-sucking tat, that there is a bit of a renaissance going on somewhere inside Hollywood. Those with plenty of clout (such as PTA and Brad Pitt) are pushing the boundaries of artistic filmmaking, they're trying to seek out something more, something epic, something meaningful. Today it seems, after the inspiring renaissance seen on the small screen during recent years, the 'New Hollywood' era is making a come back.

Such bold entries into the annals of cinematic history will never go away, but will hibernate from time-to-time, now though - the grizzly has awakened, and it's impressive.

Into The Wild...

Action packed this is not, but if you thought this character study was going to be a roller coaster, you're clearly not the target audience for this gradually-paced, man VS nature true story re-telling. At well over 2 hours, even the more cynical among the audience will become enchanted by the tale, and quite possibly spare a moment of thought for the real-life nature boy, whom the film is all about.

Initially I wasn't quite feeling 'it'. It initially feels like 'well-to-do middle class kid takes a disliking to capitalism and goes off on some parent-aggrieving adventure' ... it even feels a bit, dare I say it, Hollywood in the idealism of the adventure being undertaken. Simply destroy all your ID and burn your money and start hiking.

However, given the chance, the film proves to you that is has a valid story of a yearning for simplicity and freedom from the young mind, and spirit, of the protagonist. It ultimately becomes soul-searching stuff, amidst the poetic cinematography which draws you into the journey and allows you to sit beside 'Alex Supertramp' throughout.

Of course, the cynicism in most of us will see that it's absolutely stupid - no matter how spiritual - to attempt to 'live off the land' with absolutely no survival training. It's a bit too idealistic for 'kid surburbia' to go it alone in the woods and not expect tragedy which, as anyone remotely familiar with the true life story, is signaled up early on.

Despite this, and the apparent copy-cat journey-makers, and the severity of the tragedy itself (apparently he was merely a few miles from sanctuary, and indeed 1/4 mile from a trafficked cable car route), it is an inspiring film. You shouldn't run off to the wilds with the naivety and idealism of someone tired of the fast-spinning-world of commerce, but perhaps you should step outside of your wallet for a spell ... at least understand that the importance of modern life's accoutrements is merely relative, and ultimately (in a more spiritual sense) unnecessary (they're just nice things to enjoy a bit along the way).

It's inspiring to me in a similar respect to the McGregor/Boorman journeys (particularly Long Way Round) - seeing more than your own town, going on a little adventure (or even big adventure) and coming out of it (or indeed going through it) with a greater appreciation for life and the lives of others, and of course for the world around you.

As a film itself, it's a campfire tale with a camera turned onto it. It feels like a kind of mini-legend, a fairy tale almost, of self-discovery and a search for something meaningful and for a place to be. It's a tale of a free spirit, if I dare to use such a cliched and overused phrase, to describe a profoundly moving piece of artistic filmmaking.

Although as far as recent poetic, meditative character studies surrounded by tragedy go, I'd still plump for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford first ... but then again, I'm a complete whore for that instant classic (also thanks to Total Film for sending my free DVD of it out so quickly, ahead of street date too, nice one).

8/10

[Rec.]

It seems that 2008 is the year of FPS scare-stories, what with the likes of Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead, and the as-yet-unreleased-in-America The Zombie Diaries (released in the UK in 2007), and this is where [Rec.] comes in.

Basically, it's a bit like 28 Days Later in an apartment block ... and it's Spanish, although the Americans are already hammering out a remake, thus strengthening the stereotype that 'them thar Yanks don't like foreigners, cos their mooovies are stoopid and makes them's brains hurt'.

A shame really, because it's a tense, fast-paced horror thrill ride.

There are downsides though. At times some of the scares seem a bit forced, or indeed flat-out 'obviously coming' (to seasoned genre veterans). 'Oh the lights went out, let's put the spotlight on - oh of course - a zombie-thing screaming in close up right in my face'. Scares like that, are obvious and forced, while others are unexpected or are surrounded by a genuine sense of palpable tension. At times - particularly the final moments - you are just creeped right the hell out.

If you got especially wigged out by the bit in Blair Witch in the abandoned house, you'll be in familiarly damp undercrackers during the final minutes of this flick.

One other annoyance - at times the characters can be cliche-level stupid, or ultra-panicky-Petes. For some reason, these sort of movies never feature a law enforcer who commands respect and has an idea of how to control a situation, especially one involving quarantine. Also - for me anyway - the television reporter (who speaks at a million miles an hour, which makes for absolute subtitle-reading joy *sarcasm overload*), annoyed the crap out of me at times. You're trying to film secretly through an open window, within earshot of the authorities, so yes, keep pestering your cameraman really loudly by repeatedly asking him what's going on. How about you shut up and let him film!

Speaking of filming - the FPS angle - yet again, several instances of 'well that wouldn't really happen in real life'. Yet again - for one - the insistence on unrealistic tape glitches. When a tape goes from one thing to another, it just cuts straight to the next thing, not wiggly lines, no audio buzz, no visual fuzz - here though, that happens all the time. Also - for two - at times the audio goes all 'Saving Private Ryan' - which makes no sense, because knocking a mounted shotgun microphone won't have that effect, you'll get a loud bump and scuffle, or the sound will cut out completely - it won't sound like Tom Hanks having a moment of nervous breakdown on a Nazi-riddled beach!

And - for three - is this supposed to be one continuous tape (you get that impression, as the reporter says she doesn't want to waste tape) - however, it's okay to waste tape for moments that are obviously only there to provide some sort of narrative continuity. Again, in real life, you wouldn't bother filming your host strapping on microphones.

As a filmmaker myself, these sort of things bug the crap out of me. Oh yeah, and - for four - this is supposed to be a professional cameraman, yet he is insistent on zooming in and out almost constantly during action scenes, as well as wiggling the camera around like some scared little girl running away from Leatherface!

Regardless of these few annoyances, this flick is simply a must-watch for horror hounds. While not exceptionally original (especially considering the apparent flood of FPS flicks out there this year), and at times sporting cliched character actions, or forced jump scares, the over-all sense of tension, dread and being trapped makes this an affecting tale of horror. It certainly doesn't outstay it's welcome, at a mere 70 minutes it darts in, steals your sense of calm, and scarpers into the darkness again.

7/10