High Concept Film - Charlie's Angels

• Self conscious allusion to films and television - In the plane scene at the beginning, a character talks about one of the films being shown on the plane is adapted from an 'old tv show'. Charlie's Angels is itself, adapted from an 'old tv show'.
• Use of extended montages - There is a flashback sequence showing us the characters, with music accompaniment.
• Hyperbolic physiques and action - The three Angels' appearance is typically hyperbolic.
• Post-generic filmmaking - Combines the 'action' and 'comedy' genres
• Easily replicated in publicity - Most of the scenes in the movie contain enough action to easily represent the film in a poster.
• Formal excess - Action scenes involve over the top and physically impossible moves, as well as slow motion moments.
• Ironic distanciation - The car chase scene manages to get to the Golden Gate bridge, a landmark of San Francisco.  

Films I've seen recently

Day of the Dead - I liked that it had different concepts to the usual zombie movie. They could be tamed, like the main zombie in the film, Bub, who provides moments of comedy. The film also deals with sexism and human relationships, and a lot of the time, the zombies weren't even the main focus point. However, I had previously seen the 2008  remake, and I'm going against the popular opinion by preferring that version. I find it scarier and quicker paced.






Zodiac - a wonderfully made David Fincher film, with a great cast and engaging plot. The murder scene by the lake was a stand out scene for me, because it felt real, and knowing that it's based on true events makes it all the more hard-hitting.








American Psycho - I didn't really know what to expect from this film, but I really enjoyed it. Christian Bale is great as Patrick Bateman, I can't imagine anyone else playing such a complex yet often hilarious character.










Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn - I haven't seen 'The Evil Dead', but I'd always heard that the sequel is significantly better, and that you don't need to have seen the first film to understand this one. It's a great horror comedy; Sam Raimi is a brilliant director, I found the cinematography in this film unique and effective. Plus, Bruce Campbell is hilarious.






Megamind - After seeing the trailers, I was fairly reluctant about going to see this, but my friend insisted so I went with her. I ended up enjoying it a lot, Megamind is a lovable character and to put it simply, the film was cute.













Zombieland - I'd been keen to see this for a long time, because everyone says it's an "american Shaun of the Dead". Generally, I liked it, but for a film with 'zombie' in the title, I didn't think there were many zombies featured! The actors were great though, I love Abigail Breslin, she's gonna be big in the future! Also, Bill Murray's cameo was hilarious.










Evil Dead 3 (Army of Darkness) - More gory madness, with occasional great moments. It didn't have the same claustrophobic feel of the cabin in Dead by Dawn though.






Harry Potter and the Deathly Harrows Part 1 - I loved it, hence I went to see it twice. I'm really glad the final book is split into 2 films, because this was paced just right. The score by Alexandre Desplat is beautiful and made the sad scenes much more heartbreaking. I really liked the scene where Hermione and Harry danced together, although it wasn't in the book.



Saw VI - The  Saw series is getting slightly ridiculous now, yet I still watch each one. The opening scene was one of the hardest scenes in any of the movies to watch, even my Dad had to cover his eyes. 

Films I've seen recently

There was a Guillermo del Toro season on Film4 recently, so I watched this. I enjoyed it and the characters were very well developed.

I normally go to watch films once I'm certain that it looks good after watching the trailer. I didn't even see one trailer for this and went to see it and loved it. Although, as always, the 3D didn't add much to the film.

This is a French film about growing up within a synchronized swimming group. I'm all for obscure films, but this was a little too weird for me, and I ended up fast forwarding through the last half hour. I wouldn't recommend it.

I'd been looking forward to this film for a long time, mainly because of Simon Pegg. Before seeing it, I was uncertain because I'd heard some quite bad reviews on it. However, it exceeded my expectations and is the perfect dark comedy. John Landis is the director, and while it's no An American Werewolf in London, it's a great film with lots of comedians in it!

Thelma and Louise - Personal Response

Having seen this film previously and really loving it, I found that on this second viewing it failed to live up to my expectations. I like that it focuses on female characters, but the whole film feels fairly cheesy. Thelma and Louise are likable characters and the change in the way they view life is well portrayed throughout the film. The soundtrack set the scenes perfectly, but again, I found it got a bit irritating after a while. I would recommend this film to certain people, but I understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Films I've seen recently

Inglourious Basterds - This is one hell of a film, I really loved it. It's so unique and raw, I loved how most of it wasn't even in English, because it made it feel much more realistic.

The Descent Part 2 - I wanted to watch this because the first Descent film was one of my favourite horror films of recent years. This sequel has a very similar feel to it, which is good, and I certainly didn't find that it got repetitive, because one would think there'd be only so many ways to scare the audience when it all takes place underground. I liked it a lot, but not as much as the first.

Home - I hadn't even heard of this, but Film4 have been showing a French film every week, and I enjoy foreign films, and considering that I'm doing French AS level, I thought it'd be good to watch it. It's about a family who live out in a remote area of France, blissfully enjoying the quiet, until a motorway is built directly outside of their house. It causes a lot of disruption and gradually causes the family to fall apart. It's an interesting study of family life, a little surreal at times, but I liked it nonetheless.

The Emperor's New Groove - I always heard everyone saying how great this film was, and when I saw it was on TV this week, I had to watch it. It was really great; the characters are hilarious and just the randomness of it all made me love it. I now know what all the fuss is about.

The Lovely Bones - I remember before this came out, everyone thought it was going to be one of the best films ever, because they loved the book and Peter Jackson was directing it. Then when it came out, it got bad reviews and disappointed a lot of people. I haven't read the book, but now after seeing the film I don't even want to. There were parts of this film I really enjoyed, some of the scenery was fantastic, plus Saoirse Ronan is a great young actress (I loved her in Atonement). However, I think it could have been better if it went for a 15 certificate as opposed to a 12, because it could have gotten darker, rather than just hinting on dark themes. 

Film to see - Let The Right One In

I recommend Let The Right One In, it's a swedish film from 2008, that portrays vampires in a different way to what we're used to. Oskar is a 12 year old boy who is bullied, and then he meets Eli, a vampire who appears 12 years old (but is in actual fact a lot older). It's a really stunning film,  but unfortunately the American remake 'Let Me In' is coming out around now too. From the trailer, it doesn't look as good, but it has had some good reviews, and plus, the awesome Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from Kick-Ass) is in it. 

Here's the trailer for Let The Right One In

Also, if you have a lovefilm.com account, it's available to watch for free online, legally :)

Personal Response - Ronin

Whilst I enjoyed the majority of it, I decided that Ronin is not my type of film. At the beginning, I tried to engage with the characters and understand their motives and relationships with each other, but I found that a lot of the story was hidden from the audience. The film is about a group of former agents trying to get hold of a suitcase, but what is in the suitcase, we do not know. I found that the lack of knowing was engaging to begin with, because it made me want to find out what was going on, and why so many people were after it. However, after a drawn-out story lasting over 2 hours, I'd lost interest unfortunately. It's clear that the director had a desired effect, which I'm sure works well on the intended audience, which I would say would be adult men. The car chases are very well portrayed, and knowing that no special effects are used makes it even more spectacular, plus Robert de Niro is brilliant as ever. But unfortunately, these kind of crime thrillers don't tend to interest me.