Grabbers (2012) - A follow up #filmmaking #ireland #film

You may remember a post I made in early December regarding the Irish Film Board funded Grabbers and Shadow Dancer. I was glad to see Irish film being represented at Sundance, its a great festival and an amazing platform for any countries cinema talent to be shown off. My issue with the two of these films was  the films. Now now I know I hadn't seen the films but a film about a monster allergic to alcohol invading a rural irish village and a "troubles" film is not how I want Irish film represented. I think we are a bit better than that.
I got some stick and rightly so, people put a lot of effort into making these films and they should be proud of what they have achieved. It has now thought come to the stage to take a look at the reviews that have come out of Sundance.

"Hilarity should ensue, but the humor drummed up by Wright and scenarist Kevin Lehane is pretty tepid, middlebrow stuff; despite the idea's potential, this doesn't come within spurting distance of "Evil Aliens," "Shaun of the Dead," et al" Link

 Dennis Harvey reviewed for Variety and gave the film a pretty rough ride. He puts one small plus point to the film being,

"Trevor Forrest's widescreen lensing of County Donegal scenery"Link 

Next review and I shall give you one quote from Fearnet.com, I shan't link. 

"So it's an Irish monster movie about a monster that can't eat drunk people. Come on, that's pretty cute." 

They seemed to love it. Not really much to get from the review as they analyse "the talkier bits". Next review. This final review gives the film a pretty good dressing down. It is the only review with a rating and it comes in at a 1.5/5.  Nicholas Bell reviews for Ioncinema.com 

"Intentionally goofy, and drearily written, your reception of the film will all depend on how high you set your stakes. ThinkTremors (1990) was a classic? Maybe you’ll enjoy this tired flick." Link

I was rather surprised to see such a harsh review. Did not expect the writing to be so badly received. It is a low budget horror after all.
It seems that overall Grabbers has had a pretty bad reception and with its constant referral as 

"but even if you have to see it sober, it’s a fun, small British film, complete with the requisite British humor and characters actors" Link

This goes ahead and opens a brand new can of worms as to what is an Irish or British film but a film made in Ireland, funded by the Irish Film Board with Irish actors, Written by an Irish man, Directed by a Northern Irish man but yet, not made in America? British film then.
Come on people Ireland can make films! Let us get out there and show it.

Coriolanus (2011) - A view

Having not watched a Shakespearean film/tv adaption since that glorious 1997 adaption of Macbeth with my old favorite, Brian Blessed. Coriolanus had a tough act to follow.
I am not a Shakespeare fan so this story was unknown to me but it soon neatly unfolded with weird mother son connections and betrayal as one would expect from an Englishman's pen.(I jest)

Coriolanus

The story that we see is that of the soldier Coriolanus fighting to protect Rome from its enemies and then be rewarded by being put forward as the senate. At this point in the film I was beginning to sway (mentally not physically) as to if I would enjoy this, it started to dry up and the long rambling Shakespearean dialogue was beginning to take its toll as I would frequently zone out.
Then came along Jimmy Nesbitt. Have to say I was impressed by the full cast, some great performances but for me James Nesbitt really caught my eye and ear. The Northern Irish accent seemed to suit the Shakespearean dialogue so well and his sneaky role was played to perfection.
There then is a bizarre Jeremy Kyle style TV debate and it is decided that Coriolanus is to be banned from Rome. It all happened so quickly and some bizarre character changes happened far to fast but what happened next for me was the best bit of the film. We see Coriolanus as he is by himself heading to find his sworn enemy Aufidius. Throughout the film we have had close up shots of Coriolanus in battle or in anger showing his aggression, concentration and frustration but now we get wide open shots but beautiful delicate diegetic sound of footsteps and birds. This is framed by beautiful greys and blue as he walks through open landscapes and depicts his confused, lonely and betrayed character.

Coriolanus then gives his life over to his enemies and asks that he may seek revenge with them upon Rome. People come ask them not to, his mum, wife, son and cleaner arrive, crying talk of wombs etc and then he decides to sign a peace treaty. Its all very nicey nicey. Oh yeah and then he gets stabbed to death by the men he had just fought along side. Thee End.

Overall as I said before a brilliant cast and was only disappointed by Jessica Chastain
who plays her role as Coriolanus's wife perfectly but it is pretty much the exact same role as Mrs. O'Brien from The Tree of Life. The loving caring wife who does no`t say to much and always seeks to impress. She is perfect for it but would like to see her in some different roles. I haven't seen her in much else though so should not be tough on her, great actress.

Over all great film, misleading trailer which literally has used only the dialogue that is not Shakespearean to make it seem a bit more relevant. The violent and gruesome scenes could be cut back a bit, no need really and they do not show some beautiful cinematography and instead focus on the fighting side. Id give it a solid B+. Trailer is below give it a watch and let me know what you think.

My Glasgow Swishblog

My latest wee vid. A swishblog of Glasgow from my perspective. Really enjoyable video to make such a simple process can make such a fun end product. Would recommend giving it a go.

I used my Xperia Ray with 720p video and I rather like the incognito style I was able to achieve. 

Moonrise Kingdom Trailer and Wes Anderson

So finally we get a look at Wes Anderson's latest feature. A coming of age romance set in the 60's with a stellar cast of non-wesandion proportions. Ed Norton and Bruce Willis some how fit in perfectly as the camp leader and the local sherif. With a release date rumoured to be this summer I for one am rather excited.

It all of course has come from a short film, BottleRocket. You should give it a watch and get an idea where the Wes Anderson look started. The feature film that was later made based on this short is one of my favourite films and the best Owen Wilson has ever been.
For me it is great inspiration that from shooting a simple short film with a few of your mates it created so many opportunities for Wes. Here is hoping with 2012 I get a few short films out there.

Tape Recorders - a techart instillation

On view at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney until February 12, 2012.