Ichi the Killer (2001)

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It's interesting to see how desensitised we've become in just over a decade. When Ichi the Killer (Japanese title: Koroshiya Ichi) was initially released, it was banned in several countries and was released after strict, heavy edits were performed in others. In 2013, I, an 18 year-old who looks his age, walked into a shop in Melbourne, Australia and bought an unedited director's cut of the film without being asked for ID. When I watched the film, while I certainly found it extremely violent and, at times, quite uncomfortable, it never even crossed my mind that this movie would have stirred up any controversy upon its release. While I don't think society's growing tolerance for ultraviolence ruined the film for me at all, it would have been fascinating to have watched it while living in the context of the values of the year 2001.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

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Hello. It's been a long time.

I can't say I was excited for Iron Man 3. The trailer looked a little too "let's be Batman" for me, and Shane Black directing it doesn't get me excited. Having said that, it's not like I was dreading it. (I mean, I did see it). Having now seen it, I can say that I care about it far more than I did before, although not for the right reasons.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) - Mini Review

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Hello everyone! Sorry for not having written anything for so long! I'm currently on holiday and want to post reviews again because I haven't in so long, but don't really have the time to post full-length ones, so I'm going to do some mini reviews. If I like the way these go, I might start doing this kind of thing whenever I'm really busy so that I can still be releasing content.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

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I’m going to preface this review with a confession: I’d never seen a Wes Anderson film before this one. Not even The Royal Tenenbaums. I know. Some film buff I am. But anyway, just keep that in mind while reading this.

Had this movie not gotten the supremely high critical acclaim that it did, I probably wouldn’t ever have seen it. The trailer showed me a quirky family romantic comedy about a boy scout, Sam, and a “troubled” girl, Suzy, and their journey as they run away so they can be together. Does that sound like a movie I would be even remotely interested in? No. However, I had a free movie ticket and Moonrise Kingdom was the most interesting thing that was screening. And now it may well be one of my favourite movies of the year.

Cosmopolis (2012)

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I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad idea to review Cosmopolis right after having finally overhauled this blog. It’s by no means a mainstream film, and my opinion is sort of controversial. Or maybe that’s a good thing. We’ll see.

Chonicle (2012)

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When the trailer for Chronicle came out, I remember immediately despising it. It showed us a bunch of arsehole teenagers getting superpowers and becoming bigger arseholes. It had terrible music, cheesy moments (that cross-legged car-crushing shot that’s in the trailer is still the worst part of the movie) and used the found-footage technique, which I really wasn’t a fan of at the time. It was because of this trailer that I never bothered seeing it in the cinema. Despite the great reviews it got and the numerous recommendations from friends, I just didn’t give a shit. So, after finally watching it upon its DVD release, did it live up to the hype or did the trailer, for once, not lie? Let’s just say I’ve watched it three times since buying it.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

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I’m going to just rip the band-aid off quickly before it becomes too excruciating. The Dark Knight Rises isn’t very good. There, I said it. Before I devour all the faults of the film, I want to make it very clear that it’s not awful. It’s an okay movie, and had it been the first film in the series (even if that would have made absolutely no sense) I would have been a little less harsh on it. But the simple fact of the matter is that I couldn’t walk into this movie with an objective point of view because I’ve seen the first two Batman movies and I love them to bits. It is humanly impossible for me to detach those two movies from my mind while viewing this one, and I don’t see any reason why I should. A precedent was set, and said precedent was not lived up to. I would also like to clarify that precedent is different to hype. I actually wasn’t very excited for The Dark Knight Rises. I tried very hard not to think about it and let it creep up on me. I remember talking with a friend of mine and saying “when we see The Dark Knight Rises” and subsequently realising we were going to see it the following week! I was more hyped for The Dark Knight than for The Dark Knight Rises, and I was far more satisfied with it than I was with this. Here is why.

Liquid Rising (2012)

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Before I begin this review, I’d like to apologise that I haven’t posted any reviews for the last two weeks. I have had some important exams on and decided not to write any reviews until they were over. I’ll release two extra reviews to make up for the two weeks that I missed. Anyway, let’s get to it.

Liquid Rising is a really niche documentary, to say the least. Funded by online pay-what-you-want donations, it tells us about the members of Team Liquid, arguably the biggest non-Korean professional Starcraft 2 team. Their lives in Team Liquid, their tournament careers, and their personality are all shown in detail here, through a bunch of cut-up interviews with all the Team Liquid members and other big Starcraft community personalities. I’m going to say right now that if you are against the prospect of gaming being considered a sport, you’ll find no enjoyment here. In fact, unless you already have some level of interest in Starcraft and E-sports, you probably won’t find anything to like here at all.

Careless Love (2012)

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This marks my first  review for an independent Australian movie. I'm not really sure if I want to do a lot more of these. On one hand I'm supporting my local film industry (my monumental pool of readers would make such a difference, right?), but on the other hand I'm potentially alienating my international audience (that is to say, most of you) by reviewing something you guys will probably have a very hard time finding. I mean, I hadn't even heard of this movie before I walked into the cinema and I live literally 10 minutes away from the vast majority of its locations! Although maybe I shouldn't take this kind of stuff into consideration and should just review whatever I feel like writing about.

In any case, Careless Love is directed by John Duigan, who I hadn't heard of before but apparently  is a pretty big name in the Australian film industry. It follows Linh, a student at the University Of Sydney who has a secret night job as a prostitute. The story is made up of several subplots, each revolving around her interaction with another individual. 

The Hunger Games (2012)

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Before I begin this review, I'd like to make it clear that I had read all 3 books in the Hunger Games trilogy before I saw the movie. I do not believe that an adaptation should try to mirror whatever it is based on. It can be as identical or loosely-based or somewhere in-between as it likes, as long as it can be understood without any knowledge of the original material. However, I generally believe that the adaptation should not be exactly the same as the original, as a change in medium almost always requires changes in the text for consistent quality to exist. I ask you to read this review with this in mind, as I will be criticising the film with this perspective. This will be the case with any future reviews of adaptations also. So, let's review The Hunger Games!

I came into The Hunger Games expecting a mediocre film. I saw it a few weeks after it was released, and had heard a lot of things that didn't sound promising. Having said that, I was still excited to some degree, being a fan of the books (the first one in particular), and was interested in seeing the story come to life in a new format.

Melancholia (2011)

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Melancholia is a special film, to say the least. It is a difficult film to review, primarily due to its story structure, because the generally accepted and unspoken rule that the reviewer may not spoil anything that happens after the 1^st act cannot apply to such a film. Luckily, I’m writing this review almost a full year after its release, so I can simply follow the method of the reviewers before me.

The film opens with a sequence of extremely slo-mo shots depicting the end of the world, and the film (don’t worry, not a spoiler), through the collision of two planets. There are around 16 shots altogether, and they are all some of the most beautiful images I have ever seen in my life. They really are. The only quarrel I have is that one or two of them lean slightly too much towards photography, rather than cinematography. They just don’t really have enough movement to be considered actual cinematography. But this really the most minor of minor complaints.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a British-made comedy-drama by director John Madden, famous for the largely adored Shakespeare in Love. We follow seven British retirees as they travel to India for one reason or another, headed to the hotel that gives the film its title. Upon arrival, they discover that the hotel is far less luxurious than advertised, and their experiences transform them all in one way or another.