MyFilmViews Movie Products Blogathon

Nostra at MyFilmViews has started a blog-a-thon. In movie history there are these products everyone would like to get their hands on and try them out. Well, now is your chance by joining the movie products blog-a-thon!

Which movie would you find in your own Pulp Fiction briefcase? (one which you would treasure or is impossible to see because it is not available)

I’m split on whether I would want a film I have seen or one I haven’t. I think I would want a film that I haven’t seen from a director I’m unfamiliar with so I think it would be a contest between Ozu’s Tokyo Story and Cinema Paradiso. I hear they’re fantastic.

If you had a Back to the Future DeLorean, which movie related time period would you travel?

The seventies. That era from ’67 onwards to about ’79 is just terrific for films especially American ones. I’ve been trying to catch up with films from that era but I would love to see them as they were in the cinema. Films like Point Blank, Jaws, The Manchurian Candidate, The Godfather, The Exorcist, All The President’s Men, Halloween, Alien, Carrie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars etc. That era really kicked off the type of filmmaking that’s so ingrained in our minds today.

If you woke up tomorrow morning and found out that you were living your own Groundhog Day and could only escape it by watching all the movies from a specific genre, which genre would you choose and why? And which genre would be your personal hell?

Science-fiction. It’s such an interesting and imaginative genre, the kind that relies on visuals to tell the story when it’s done well. The best thing about science-fiction is that it can be mixed with other genres to great effect so you get films like The Prestige, The Adjustment Bureau or The Matrix. It’s incredibly versatile.

My personal hell would be romantic-comedies. Good rom-coms are hard to find and so many of the modern ones are incredibly derivative and clichéd. Horror films would be a close second.

You have the Neuralyzer from Men in Black in your pocket. Which movie would you travel into to use it on one of the characters to change the movie in a fun or interesting way and what would happen because of the change you made?

I would use it on John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction and erase his memory so he wouldn’t have to go to Butch’s apartment. I liked that character (I liked all the characters in Pulp Fiction) so it’s a pretty selfish decision on my part. I’m not sure what it would change exactly because the movie plays with time but I’d like to see him and Sam Jackson’s Jules continue their hitman partnership.

If you would be able to enter the dreams of a famous movie character like Cobb did in Inception using the dream machine, which character’s dreams would you jump into to get to know that character better and what do you think their dream world would look like?

I’d want to delve into the mind of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone, specifically The Godfather Part II. The choices he makes in that film are difficult and some of them are heartbreaking and I’d like to know what was going on in his head. Since he served in World War II, I wouldn’t be surprised if his dreams looked like a battlefield with mob bosses standing in his way.

Lacuna Inc, the company from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind just opened on the corner of your street. Which one movie memory would you delete to experience it for the first time again?

Die Hard. I grew up on those sorts of action-heavy films and they were a big part of my film experience growing up. The action in that film is great and it’s full of tension and surprises, you’re never quite sure how a scene will pan out. I’d want to experience that with fresh eyes.

Right next to Lacuna Inc, another company Rekall from Total Recall has opened as well. Which character in which movie would you like to be to experience it in first person?

Aliens. Probably from Ripley’s viewpoint. That film is sort of the jumping off point for first-person sci-fi shooters and I think the setting lends itself to being an immersive and scary environment. Who wouldn’t want to operate a gun that can shoot explosive rounds and has a flamethrower attached to it?! Or the the loader? (See below.)

Top five motion captured performances

With Rise of the Planet of the Apes opening in UK cinemas this week, I thought I’d take a look at five of the best motion-captured performances that have come our way since the technology’s inception. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below.

5. Dr Manhattan

He’s blue, he glows and he’s naked. He also happens to be the most powerful being in the universe. A combination of motion capture and CG head replacement (the body belonging to fitness model and actor Greg Plitt), Billy Crudup’s detached performance was enhanced by the visual effects and not sullied by it.

4. Gollum

Perhaps the first real evidence that motion capture could be executed and executed well. The final effect incorporated the performance of Serkis with animators  inserting/adjusting footage where necessary. It’s a remarkable feat in visual effects that they created a character that emoted and had a personality of its own.

3. King Kong

A massive leap in motion capture from visual effects production house Weta and Peter Jackson, perhaps even more impressive than their attempts with Gollum. After the 1933 stop motion effects and 1975’s animatronics + man-in-a-suit, Kong found a look that suited him for a modern audience. Like Gollum, Serkis was the actor powering the CG creation, giving a performance full of rage but also solemn in other moments. Serkis’ and Weta’s work sold audiences on the romance between Kong and Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts).

2. Davy Jones

Quite possibly my favourite performance on the list (and they are all very, very good in that respect) but Bill Nighy’s captain of the dammed nudges it by being despicably evil and having a scott-ush accent. So good you could have mistaken it for makeup, Davy Jones was as close to photorealism a squid-faced, crustacean-pawed character could be.

1. Neytiri

A fantastic showcase for what motion capture can do when it’s utilised well, believably turning a 5ft 7in Zoe Zaldana into a 9ft + tall blue humanoid with a tail. An emotional and physical performance, Saldana’s Neytiri didn’t receive any love from award organisations but it opened doors, if not fully then partially, for the acceptance of a motion-captured performance in the minds of audiences around the world.

Top 12 most disappointing films of the year

A few of these films could feature on my worst of list at the end of the year but at the moment my feeling towards them is one of disappointment. I went to the cinema, sat in anticipation was underwhelmed/turned off/crushed by these films.

The Hangover Part II

Despite laughing at this film I was also completely bored by its insistence to repeat the original beat-for-beat. Despite its success I’m still nore sure comedy sequels can work or bring anything new to the table.

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is a bit of a mess isn’t? A gorgeous looking one but a mess all the same. I’m still amazed that they gave Snyder the Man of Steel gig.

Green Lantern

As bad as the reviews said it was? No, but a very, very average comic book adaptation.

Arthur

At the screening I went to people laughed, I must have a miserable sense of humour because I could not wait for this film to end.

Faster

Someone needs to give Dwayne Johnson a good action film to be in and not this boring nonsense.

Battle  Los Angeles

Is it possible to suffer a concussion from the sonic bombardment that is Battle Los Angeles? Incredibly loud.

Paul

One of the biggest disappointments because I actually had expectations for it. Nowhere near as funny as it should have been.

The Mechanic

Jason Statham beats people up. Again.

The Green Hornet

Not horrible, just instantly forgettable.

Priest

Front-runner for the worst film I’ve seen this year. Hang your head in shame Paul Bettany

Red Riding Hood

Half an hour in and you should know the identity of the wolf. Indie (ish) soundtrack is also annoying.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Kids deserve better than this, they really do (reminisces about The Flight of the Navigator)

Top 10 films of the year so far

I won’t bother writing lengthy, verbose paragraphs, i’ll just let the pictures do the work. The top ten films I have seen theatrically this year in no actual order.

Senna

Great racing driver, fantastic documentary

Rango

Thank God Gore Verbinski did this film and not another Pirates of the Caribbean.

Hanna

Its Bourne meets… [add whatever film with a child assassin here]. Peculiar film.

Insidious

A horror film that relies on suspense and doesn’t try to rip someone’s tendons out of the heels…and is much better off doing so.

Attack the Block

A brilliant film? No. A very enjoyable one? Most definitely

Thor

A shade better than X-Men: First Class and heads, shoulders, knees and toes above Green Lantern, it can be clichéd and very conventional but it’s lots of fun.

13 Assassins

Slow build up, thrilling last forty minutes or so, this how you do extended action sequences Mr Bay.

Never Let Me Go

A fine sc-fi/drama hybrid that didn’t make a big splash in cinemas

Little White Lies

Too long? Yup. Overly Sentimental ending? Absolutely yes. Still better and funnier than most dramas Hollywood pushes out.

127 Hours

Stunning experience, you could call it gimmicky filmmaking, I wouldn’t

Best films of 2010 in no particular order

I’ve done my worst of list, my most disappointing list, so now I’ll put my list of the best films I saw on the blog as well. Rather than number the film as I did with previous lists (which in hindsight I think is a bit of an error), I’ll just list the films, what I liked about them and why I think they’re the best films that I saw in the last year. Simples.

Unfortunately there are quite a few films that weren’t released in the UK that came out in the US last year so there will be no 127 Hours, Never Let Me Go, Black Swan, The Fighter, True Grit, Animal Kingdom, The King’s Speech, Blue Valentine, Biutiful, Rabbit Hole. All of these films are being released in a ridiculously short amount of time (little over a month or so, starting from Friday), so I doubt I’ll be able to see this films whithout spending a ridiculous amount of money.

Anyway,onto the best films of 2010!

Top ten disappointing films of 2010

This list comprises of the films that were a bit of a letdown, they still entertained to some degree but didn’t live up to the hype, expectations or generally just didn’t fulfil the promise that the premise put forward. Before that though here a few films that are a worth a watch but have their own problems.

Worst films of the year 2010

Initially I was going to write a top ten but decided against as there weren’t enough movies to put on my (dis)honourable list.  Instead they are twelve, twelve films that didn’t cut the mustard, films that bored or were tragically flawed and films in which very little entertainment could be gained. For all those reasons and more these are, in my mind, the worst films that I saw last year.

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