Triple Bill Mini Musings: Animal Instincts, Bunker Troubles, and Organic Gore...

Zootropolis:
What's it about?
The animal kingdom has evolved beyond its base instincts and created a world where predator and prey of all sizes can live side-by-side. However, when fourteen mammals go missing under suspicious circumstances, it's up to the first rabbit in the Zootropolis Police Department and a sly fox to figure out what's going on.
Who would I recognise in it?
Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Jenny Slate, Idris Elba, Nate Torrence, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Shakira, and others (voices).
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
With a strong and clear message at its heart, Zootropolis (otherwise known as Zootopia) still manages to avoid coming off as preachy, because the message is intrinsically lodged into the well-constructed story...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue the reviews...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Gaunt Gyllenhaal, Gone Godzilla, and Gross Gags...

Nightcrawler:
What's it about?
Lou Bloom, a jobless petty thief with a strict learning/work ethic, finds his strange calling when he witnesses a team of 'stringers' (guys with video cameras who record crime scenes etc for news broadcast) doing their work. Muscling his way into the business and learning as he goes, Lou finds an ally with news director Nina who takes a shine to his abilities. However, chasing the perfect footage - before anyone else gets it - leads him down a dangerous path.
Who would I recognise in it?
Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Gaunt and wide-eyed, Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom with such determination that he disappears inside the character; no wonder there were many rumblings when he didn't get nominated for an Oscar. The film sinks us into a bizarre world that takes us behind the scenes of grizzly - even thrilling - crime/accident scene news footage, and does so with such a sense of style and drive that you begin to question the malleability of your own morality. The director put it best when he said that the movie was about a talented man being rewarded for his skills by a society that should really be punishing him for those same skills. This is a world that is at the same time familiar and alien, presented in such a way that is both troubling and exhilarating. Despite all of Lou's faults you can't help but admire his clearly focused sense of drive and ability to achieve his goals. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for Godzilla 2014, and A Million Ways To Die In The West...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Aliens, Warriors, and Country Lanes...

Under The Skin:
What's it about?
An alien, with the outward appearance of a beautiful young woman, scours the streets of Glasgow looking for men to take back to a mysterious black space to be consumed.
Who would I recognise in it?
Scarlett Johansson.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
A meandering low-fi sci-fi from the director of Sexy Beast, Under The Skin is a strange tale that's more interested in sensory experiences than it is plot. Filmed from the alien's perspective, our human world is seen objectively from the outsider's viewpoint - myriad voices on the street merge into a muffled confusion, a sea side tragedy is watched like a science experiment. Told partly using hidden camera footage - where Hollywood A-List megastar Johansson vanishes unnoticed into the masses - the film further maintains its naturalistic edge by employing non-professional actors in supporting roles. Visually it's stunning - the opening sequence seems to suggest the alignment of planets only to transform into the creation of an eye - while Johansson's performance is stellar, combining the dangerous attraction of a siren with the vulnerability of a naive interloper. Arguably it's five-to-ten minutes too long, but it's quiet approach occasionally explodes with un-showy moments that deeply disturb - the aforementioned sea side sequence, or what happens within the pitch black ooze for example. It will no doubt test the patience of mainstream audiences, but fans of low-fi curiosities with unique perspectives will get a kick out of it. Johansson continues to build a varied and interesting career. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for 300: Rise Of An Empire, and In Fear...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Last Bastion of 2014 Edition...

The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies:
What's it about?
Trilogy-closing entry in Peter Jackson's elongated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Hobbit" in which Smaug unleashes his fury, Thorin Oakenshield wrestles with a King's madness, and a war is unleashed. Dwarves, Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, Orcs, Men, and the like having a massive ruck, put simply.
Who would I recognise in it?
Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Billy Connolly, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, and practically all the others still surviving from the previous movies.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The shortest of all the Hobbit (and Rings) movies, the oft-talked-about problems with stretching a novella into a trilogy of films become most obvious. Despite including material from the appendices, the fact that the film opens with the burning of Lake Town (as teased at the end of the second movie) says a lot about the awkward mid-production decision to turn two films into three. The opening, as spectacular and entertaining as it is, still feels more like the last fifteen minutes of The Desolation of Smaug instead of the opening of The Battle of The Five Armies. However, despite the occasionally mangled sense of pacing, TBOTFA gives more of what you want out of these films. If you enjoyed the previous movies you'll enjoy this, but it could be argued that it is also the least of all six films (Hobbit and Rings). Although, being the least in this company still makes for solid entertainment and captivating world-building...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue the review and read about Hatchet 3 and The Inbetweeners 2...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Nasties, Grudges, and Battles...

Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide Part 2:
What's it about?
Jake West's follow-up documentary to 2010's examination of the 'video nasties' era in British film history. This time the fall out is covered, including such appalling events as the Hungerford massacre and the sadistic murder of James Bulger being linked to Rambo II and Childs Play 3 respectively. Other topics of discussion include the restriction of VHS cover art, former BBFC Director General James Ferman's fall from power, and the underground trading market which specialised in movies that were banned in the UK.
Who would I recognise in it?
Various commentators who appeared in the first part.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
"Draconian Days" is a fascinating companion piece to 2010's "Moral Panic, Censorship, and Videotape" and, much like its predecessor, has an awful lot of important things to say about freedom of speech, artistic expression, and censorship. We may not see sights like that of schlocky horror movies seized by the police being burned on pyres, but censorship today is still prevalent - albeit in far more insidious ways. Then it was about shielding the eyes of children from fake exploding heads, today it's the chilling aggression of social media when it comes to issues of political correctness. What hasn't changed is how some people claim offence on the behalf of others, how some people spit righteous fury without seeing - or allowing others to see - what is apparently causing offence, and how the vocal opinion of an outraged minority can (perhaps unjustly) shift the line in the sand. Both parts are extremely important documentaries and point out how, regardless of political hue, our entire political establishment were gunning for these movies. Funny then that these same flicks can now be found on shelves all across the nation, available to all (who are old enough to purchase them) and there hasn't been a mass corruption of society at large ... who'd have thunk it, eh?! Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for old bruisers and young warriors...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Mucky Movies, Hollywood Wannabes, and Remorseful Buyers...

Don Jon:
What's it about?
The titular porn addict meets a 'ten' (a romcom obsessive), but his penchant for mucky movies comes between them.
Who would I recognise in it?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johanson, Julianne Moore, Brie Larson, Tony Danza.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
JGL's debut as writer/director is not only confident, but it's efficient. The premise is clear, the set-up is pin sharp in its directness, and the presentation is immaculate and lively. Jon's life is one of routine, whether it's confessing his same old sins and repenting for them while pumping iron, or doling out road rage and cleaning his apartment ... or 'losing himself' in his favourite online past-time. JGL is wise not to condemn nor condone the actions and outlooks of his central characters, instead allowing the viewer to observe their respective lives and revelations (or lack thereof) objectively, and yet never at a distance. As debuts go - and characters studies in general - this is a particularly strong outing. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for a so-called comeback and a mixed bag of tricks...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Fisticuffs, Thunder, and Grue...

The Raid 2:
What's it about?
Grandiose sequel to the smash-hit Indonesian action film in which Rama is convinced to go undercover and infiltrate a criminal gang to help bring down the underworld that they control.
Who would I recognise in it?
Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Gareth Evans ups the ante in every single regard with his astonishing follow-up. The action is bigger, bolder, more complex, and on a far larger scale - here the chaos and the beautifully choreographed violence spreads across an entire city. The one criticism of the first movie was that the plot wasn't exactly deep, and Evans makes up for it this time around. It's not earth-shattering, but it's played out with strong conviction and motivation, with Uwais afforded the opportunity to pull the audience in via his character's inner turmoil as well as his flying fists. Visually and aurally the film is stunning, and it even boasts a memorable supporting cast (e.g. Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man, who are screaming out for their own spin-off movie). From the outside the two-and-a-half-hour run time seems excessive, but as the film develops - becoming evermore breathless and tense with each passing minute - its final trick is illustrating just how you make an epic that keeps the audience hooked. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for gods and viruses...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Cretins and Coppers...

Return to Nuke Em High Volume 1:
What's it about?
The latest 'Tromasterpiece' from director Lloyd Kaufman which returns to the titular high school where these days it's genetically modified food, rather than nuclear waste, that's turning goody-two-shoes students into punked-out cretins.
Who would I recognise in it?
Lloyd Kaufman and some other familiar faces from the Troma entourage.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The main problem with Volume 1 is just that - it's half a movie - there is no real three act arc over the duration of the first film, and so it all cuts off just as things are really beginning to escalate. We'll have to wait until Volume 2 to see the chaos unfold and for the story to be resolved, but for now it's frustrating to just get what is essentially half of a three hour movie. On the plus side, recent Troma flicks have boasted higher production values while maintaining their over-the-top independent spirit and style. Not for the faint-hearted or easily offended, it's a screaming-mad, dial-up-to-eleven, full-frontal assault of bad taste, nudity, gore, and Kevin The Wonder Duck. Not their best - mostly due to cutting us off half-way-through - but far, far, far from their worst. An enjoyably tasteless Troma romp. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for coppers both dead and alive...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Ghosts, Pirates, and Boozers...

The Borderlands:
What's it about?
British 'found footage' style horror film about three representatives of the church going to a small village parish to investigate signs of apparent divine intervention. Is it just attention-grabbing trickery, or is there something truly otherworldly happening?
Who would I recognise in it?
Gordon Kennedy, Robin Hill, Aidan McArdle.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Found footage films are so played-out right now, and ghost stories have become rather over-saturated lately, however The Borderlands is one that's worthwhile seeing. Using mounted cameras in the two main locations, as well as head cams, the actors are freed of the shackles of hand-held documentary filmmaking that often feel woefully contrived in other films when the shit hits the fan. Furthermore, with characters that are actually believable with personalities worth paying attention to, and a genuinely chilling atmosphere, the horror works. Building up gradually over the course of the film, it's not interested in loud noises and jump scares - which is most pleasing - instead using suggestion and slight movements to get those hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention. Well worth checking out - in spite of a glut of spooky/ghosty/haunted housey and cheapo 'found footage' flicks out there, The Borderlands manages to find slivers of gold amidst the muck. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for piracy thrills and boozed-up chums...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Sharp Claws, Big Explosions, and Saucy Lists...

The Wolverine:
What's it about?
After the devastating events of X-Men 3, Logan/Wolverine retreats into a life of solitude, only to be drawn out again when an old friend calls him to his death bed in Japan. Soon, Wolverine finds himself in all sorts of trouble when the Yakuza come calling just as his powers seem to be fading.
Who would I recognise in it?
Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Famke Janssen.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but still not up to the level of X1, X2, First Class, or Days of Future Past. It's a solid effort, but the middle portion does sag with uneven pacing, and the final act rumble feels pasted in from out of nowhere. However, a tussle on top of a 300mph bullet train is a decided highlight, and the increased focus on Logan's inner turmoil adds a nice sense of weight to proceedings. The plot does get a little bit overcomplicated in some places, and stretched thin in others, for a two hour running time, but it's a big improvement over the previous stand alone spin off. Good, for the most part.

Click "READ MORE" below for big dumb fun, and nostalgic naughtiness...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Mutants, Codgers, and Radioactivity...

X-Men Days of Future Past:
What's it about?
In a bleak near-future, the mutants are being hunted down and exterminated by "The Sentinels", and in a last-ditch effort to change the course of history, they send Wolverine back in time to 1973 (via some weird mental transference kind of thing) to fix the future by changing the past.
Who would I recognise in it?
Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Jam-packed with mutants and time travel craziness, DOFP is a busy movie. Taking place some time after the events of X-Men 3 in a horrific future world torn apart by human-on-mutant genocide, the action switches over to 1973 - picking up several years after the events of X-Men First Class - and then a whole bunch of stuff happens. Suffice to say, the plot is complicated - but in a good way - and filled with its fair share of fun/mind-bending time travel convolutions. Like the plot, the cast is full, so full that many characters only make cameo appearances or have very little to do. However, while some fan favourites may get shunted to the sidelines, it does help add a sense of a wider 'mutant community' and an entire world of mutants populating the X-Men universe. The script is richly textured, although perhaps a little over-stuffed (making the not-overly-long 131 minute running time feel hefty), and the tone is mostly balanced, but surprisingly dark at times. The action sequences are thoroughly enjoyable, but the stand-out moment is owned by Quicksilver, who steals the entire movie with one superbly realised sequence inside the Pentagon. It's a big, big movie - sometimes an unwieldy one - but it's successes far outweigh it's minor problems. On the cusp between good and great.

Click "READ MORE" below for a rude octogenarian and radioactive horror...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Space, Marriage, and Hangovers...

Gravity:
What's it about?
Alfonso Cuarón's awards-gobbling sci-fi about an astronaut stranded in space after a deadly encounter when space debris destroys their shuttle.
Who would I recognise in it?
Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris (voice).
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Cuarón is known for his long takes, and Gravity is certainly a pinnacle of this approach. The opening shot is roughly twelve minutes long and goes from the calm tranquillity of space to a chaotic disaster with such sure-footed direction that it's hard to comprehend the sheer effort that went into producing it. Films have a usual pattern of editing - you expect the film to cut to a different angle sooner or later and at regular intervals, and so there's a sense of safety and artifice there for the viewer. However, when a take lasts longer than expecting without cutting - and continues on, and on, and on - the viewer begins to believe the events are real and get wrapped-up in them. As such, Gravity is one of the scariest thrill rides out there - a proper bum clencher - it's sweaty palms time in a big way. Visually the film is stunning, but the dialogue can be a bit too functional and plain at times, however the story itself is well realised, combining edge-of-your-seat action and peril, with broader themes of birth, life, death, and re-birth. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for gross out romance and a trip to Vegas...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: December 2013...

Cloud Atlas:
What's it about?
Centuries-spanning sci-fi epic from The Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer that's pretty damn hard to summarise.
Who would I recognise in it?
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Keith David, Ben Wishaw, Jim Broadbent, Susan Sarandon, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Covering numerous intertwining stories that cross centuries, cultures, nations, genders, sexualities, race, and more, this near-three-hour venture is a tough sell from the get-go. However, the sprawling story is chopped up into constantly changing bite-size chunks, so you're always getting a new piece of information, and a different setting at regular intervals. Themes of imprisonment (physical, mental, or social), slavery, and good-versus-evil bind the disparate tales together, all of which feature the same group of actors in different guises. Actors swap gender, race, and colour, just to make things a little trickier, but at the same time surprisingly more cohesive than you'd initially think. Told across various points in history (slavery-era 19th century, pre-WW2, the 1970s, the present day, futuristic Neo-Seoul, a strange post-apocalypse, and then even further into the future), it's a heavy load at first, but the constant drip-feed of answers and questions keeps the film fresh and the pace moving forward. It certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, and while I was dubious at the start of the film, by the end I was won-over. It's strange, it's out-there, it's complex, but it's a smart and commendable piece of filmmaking that can't manage to reach the dizzying heights of The Matrix, but easily swats away the overblown funk of Speed Racer. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for Compliance, and Seduce & Abandoned...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Ilsa Trilogy Edition...

Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS (1975):
What's the Plot?
The first appearance of Dyanne Thorne's exploitation icon - the savage and sensual Ilsa of various employ. Set during World War II, the film takes place in an isolated prisoner camp used primarily for sadistic medical tests, as well as Ilsa's own private experimentations in search of supporting her theory that women are far more capable of dealing with pain than men (cue some rather graphic and disturbing brutalities). However, with an Americanised German native by the name of Wolf brought to the camp, an uprising is soon in the offing - as well as the chance for Ilsa to finally be sated between the sheets.

Raunch Factor?
Numerous energetic sexual encounters between Ilsa and Wolf - who is capable of lasting as long as he wants - sometimes involving a couple of her female cohorts. Thorne fans get plenty of bang for their buck. Frequent nudity in general, too, albeit sometimes in rather distasteful contexts.

Gore Volume?
This is the most savage entry in the series with particularly nasty blood-soaked interludes in the medical wing throughout the film. Boiled flesh, ocular trauma, death-by-lashing, bodies ravaged by disease and so on. It gets pretty rough at times and even seasoned genre fans will find their limits tested.

What's the Vibe?
Quite nasty and rather tasteless, in essence, and yet understandably iconic in exploitation cinema. The fact that it takes place during WWII and inside a prison camp makes the tone particularly horrible and mean-spirited. What's more, the generally bleak tone sits decidedly at odds with the campy exploitation elements (e.g. the athletic bedroom antics in Ilsa's private residence). Even stranger is that this film, filled with such brutality, was shot on the same set as beloved American TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Exploiting Nazis and WWII for entertainment isn't anything new by any means, but She-Wolf of the SS frequently crosses the boundaries of taste that makes for an uneven viewing experience, stuck somewhere between grindhouse titillation and repulsive recreation. Even the sense of relieving triumph come the finale takes a swift beat-down.

Click "READ MORE" below for an extra double-helping of Ilsa's persuasive charms...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Killers & Writers...

Chained:
What's it about?
A taxi driving serial killer called Bob abducts a mother and child, takes them home, kills the mother, and then keeps the nine year old boy chained up in his house for close to a decade, treating him like a dog and his own post-kill cleaning attendant.
Who would I recognise in it?
Vincent D'Onofrio, Julia Ormond, Jake Weber.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Written and Directed by Jennifer Lynch - daughter of David, thus partly explaining the sheer darkness of this intensely disturbing psychological horror - Chained makes for a bleak but fascinating watch. Everything is deliberate and calculated, there are moments of shocking psychological conditioning, and the deep-freeze coldness of the selection and killing of victims by Bob is decidedly unsettling. The central performances by D'Onofrio (killer Bob, simmering threat and full stops in all the wrong places) and Eamon Farren (captive Tim, gaunt and painfully quiet) are utterly captivating - at times terrifying - while Lynch keeps the film moving forward at a precise pace. So pitch-perfect is the film for the duration that's it's confusing when a late-in-the-game development nearly derails everything ... however, recall one particular detail of a flashback and suddenly a bizarre left-field punch turns into a typically deliberate calculation that feeds right back into the nurture-over-nature theme. The last minutes do exhibit moments of messiness, but then maybe that's the point. Easily one of the most unsettling films I've ever seen. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for one dud and one hit...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Klowns, Zombies, and Coffins...

Killer Klowns From Outer Space:
What's it about?
Bonkers horror comedy from the Chiodo Brothers (who created the Crites for the Critters movies) about clown-lookalike space aliens who invade a small American town in search of sustenance.
Who would I recognise in it?
Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Goofy fun from the get go, Killer Klowns is a bizarre laugh riot complimented by wonderful practical effects, in-camera visual effects, and a charming sense of mischief. Self aware and deliberately cheesy, it's a perfect summation of a bygone era of filmmaking that has rightly continued to receive love, respect, and obsession from movie fans the world over. There's even a rumour of a sequel titled "The Return of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space in 3D". Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for zombies and coffins...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Iffy Evil, Iffy Cars, and Iffy Vampires...

Resident Evil Retribution:
What's it about?
Unbelievably, the fifth instalment in Paul WS Anderson's mind-numbing series of videogame adaptations based on the increasingly incomprehensible Resident Evil franchise. 90 minutes of disconnected stuff happening.
Who would I recognise in it?
Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Boris Kodjoe, Kevin Durand.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Rocking some rather shonky CGI, a non-sensical script - not even the customary chunk of up-front exposition (as is now common for every bloody entry in this series) can make this rambling, unfocused mess of gibberish make any sense. It's 'cool stuff' happening in 'cool ways' for 90 minutes ... if you're 12. There's no meaning to anything; it's all glossy visuals (aside from the aforementioned ropey CGI) and slapped-together 'events' organised in a very 'videogamey' way - a series of 'arenas', 'boss battles', doorways, elevators, ticking clocks, and other dated concepts that don't fit into the world of movie-making. Don't get me wrong, I'm a keen videogamer, but this dreck devalues the art forms of film and videogames. All surface, no brains, and with ill-considered scatter gun direction from a half-assed script, Resident Evil Retribution is unfortunately not the last in the series - that'll have to wait for the next instalment (apparently). It makes about as much sense as an arctic coat in the middle of a desert, and is as much fun as a painful bowel movement. Shite (appropriately enough).

Click "READ MORE" below for dodgy motors, and presidental action...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Lovely, Majestic, Godly...

Lovely Molly:
What's it about?
From Eduardo 'The Blair Witch Project' Sanchez, this low-fi, slow-burn, chilling, skin-crawler of a haunted house flick centres on the titular newlywed (and ex-junkie) as she returns to the not-so-peaceful family home in rural Maryland and discovers that something's going bump in the night.
Who would I recognise in it?
Alexandra Holden.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
I'd heard good things about this, but didn't know an awful lot about the movie itself, and perhaps that helped. It's a gradually-paced flick that prefers a highly unsettling soundscape and carefully suggestive visuals, that hold back up-front horrors in favour of something altogether more effective at getting the shivers to bother your spine. It's worth sticking around as the gently ratcheted tension builds into a haunting finale. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for Jim Carrey in the 1950s and Brazilian street kids...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Powers, Writing, and Eastwood...

Chronicle:
What's it about?
Three teens tumble down a veritable rabbit hole and come out the other side with telekinetic superpowers. At first it's a bit of fun, but then things take a darker turn as their powers grow and the disaffected youth in their midst slowly caves in.
Who would I recognise in it?
Michael Kelly.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Written by Max Landis (yes, he is), the film kicks off with some dreadfully blunt 'found footage' tropes and some gear-crunchingly clunky dialogue - indeed, I damn-near turned the film off - but I had heard so many good things about it that I figured it must get better, and get better it does. Once the teens (mopey loner with parental problems, his arrogant cousin, and the popular jock with political aspirations) gain their superpowers, things get fun - what would superpowered teenagers do? They'd play pranks, blow up girls' skirts, and learn how to fly (the latter proving to be a spellbinding sequence that makes you wish you could fly too) ... but with the pressures of high school particularly crushing for one of the trio, things move into dark territory in a satisfying way that culminates in a thrilling finale. The biggest problem with the film though is the 'found footage' approach - I'm sick to death of this style. Yes, it's worked well in some instances, but it's so over-done now, and the biggest problems with it remain in place.

Click "READ MORE" for more Chronicle, as well as Adaptation, and The Gauntlet...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Sleaze, Hippies, and Iron...

Father's Day:
What's it about?
Troma-produced low budget exploitation action/horror/comedy flick about a demonic killer who exclusively rapes and murders fathers - but now a male prostitute, a stripper, and her monocular gun-toting, syrup-loving brother must come together to track down the bloated beast and put an end to his reign of terror in this town north of Tromaville.
Who would I recognise in it?
Lloyd Kaufman, and the Astron-6 regulars.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
From genre-loving indie filmmaking collective Astron-6 (who together fulfil most duties on both sides of the camera), Father's Day is a brash, sleazy, gruesome, and knowingly-humorous dose of nouveau-grindhouse grot. Presented as if recorded onto videotape from a late night triple-bill on some dead-end TV channel that specialises in trash cinema (replete with "coming up" menu of programming and mid-film advert break), there's a charming sense of fondness for a bygone era of film viewing that people of my generation took to heart.

Click "READ MORE" below for more from Astron-6, Paul Rudd & Jennifer Aniston letting their hair down, and that film about the most dominant woman in British politics...