May 23 2012
4 Comments
Action, Comedy, Opinion

Now that we have your attention – when’s a trailer not a trailer?


It’s often said that the best bit of a film is shown in the trailers. Comedies are the worst offenders as they more often or not tend to show all the best jokes. Bearing in mind that you’re likely to see this trailer about 80 milllion times before the film comes out (Bridesmaids I’m looking at you) this can ruin the film. Then again  in the case of Bridesmaids maybe some funny bits in the trailer wouldn’t have gone amiss.

What’s even worse though is watching a film to see all the best bits were not only in the trailer but omitted from the film itself. For those of us that grew up with Predator, news that a long awaited follow up was in development had us spitting tobacco in excitement. The imaginatively titled Predators told us everything we needed to know. There would be more than one of the bastards this time around and the trailer didn’t disappoint as the climax teased us into ejaculation by showing loads of red dots with their sights on Adrian Brody. If you were like me, you looked forward to this scene wondering “how in the holy fuck was he going to get out of that?” Luckily for Adrian Brody Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
May 22 2012
Leave a comment
Drama, Review, Reviews

The Sunset Limited (2011)

A film with two people in a room talking to each other about their beliefs. In the wrong hands this could be a total car wreck of a film that no one would intentionally get to the end of. Fortunately for me The Sunset Limited was very much in the right hands.

The film opens with two men sitting at a table in a run down apartment room. Neither of them look particularly at ease. The more serene man (Samuel L Jackson) starts a conversation with the with the man opposite (Tommy Lee Jones).  In the credits the actors are named as Black and White but they never address each other with this at any point. Black calls White ‘The Professor’ several times without any expalnation except that Black is a very clever and learned man. It becomes apparent the White is anxious to leave the room. Continue reading →

Tagged , , ,
May 18 2012
Leave a comment
2011, Drama, Review, Reviews

The Messenger (2011)

Before the 2012 psycho cop drama Rampart (reviewed here) Oren Moverman debuted in the directors chair with the military drama, The Messenger.

Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) has returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq. He was seriously injured and has returned to the US to recuperate and see out the last few months of his enlistment.  He is assigned to Casualty notification team alongside Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). Having no background and no training in dealing with delivering bad news to relatives of soldiers, Will is severely conflicted. He feels that he can not perform the duties laid out before him. It doesn’t help that his personal life is a car wreck. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , ,
May 07 2012
5 Comments
2012, Action, Animation, Drama, Review, Reviews, Short Film

The Chase (2012)

For a while now I have been thinking about reviewing short films on moviescramble. They are the ideal medium for aspiring film makers. It can be used as a show-reel for new talents and display new techniques and technologies.  Within a limited time the short film has to be able to convey as much information as possible, be comprehensible and most of all entertaining.  The first short film to be reviewed here is the 2012 animation short, The Chase.

In its thirteen-minute run time, The Chase tells the tale of a contract hit that goes wrong . The hit man is in place when he receives a call cancelling the job. The intended victim, a scary looking dude, is on to him and the hit man must make good his escape. A daring roof top jaunt ends badly with the hit man face to face with the scary dude. The dude has a briefcase in his hand. This has aroused the interest of two passing  hoodlums who see a chance of some easy pickings. Violence ensues. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , ,
May 05 2012
2 Comments
2011, Comedy, Drama, Review, Reviews

Submarine (2011)

The subject of maturing from boy to man has been covered on countless occasions in Disney style coming of age dramas. The genre is so familiar that we now have an automatic aversion to them. Submarine tries, and succeeds, in taking a fresh approach to the subject.

Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is a boy on a mission. He only wants two things. He wants his parents to re-connect  as a couple and he aims to lose his virginity before his next birthday. Oliver is a quiet boy who finds it difficult to fit in with his peers as he sees himself as an outsider, a loner if you wish. He has a lot of time on his hands that he puts to use by studying his parents habits. When the dimmer switch in his parents bedroom is turned down to half power then Oliver knows that they had an amorous encounter the night before. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
May 03 2012
Leave a comment
2012, Action, Drama, Review, Reviews

Brake (2012)

Given an extreme situation how would you cope? No one really knows until they are there. For Jeremy Reins that time has come. Jeremy (Stephen Dorff) wakes to find himself in a perspex box. He has no recollection of how he has gotten there or why he is trapped. Outside the box is a timer counting down. Quickly we learn that Jeremy is a secret service agent and the people who have him want to know the location of something or someone called roulette. Inside the box  is a CB radio and Jeremy soon is in contact with another man locked in a box facing the same timer and the same question being posed to him. It becomes apparent that they are in fact locked inside the trunk of a car or van and when the timer indicates when a significant event will take place. Continue reading →

Tagged , ,
May 01 2012
Leave a comment
2012, Action, Review, Sci-Fi, Superhero

Marvel Avengers Assemble (2012)

The Avengers PosterCast your mind back to 2008 and arguably the best of the solo Marvel superhero movies, Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr nailed the character of Tony Stark and people began to believe that super hero films could be cool again. During the movie we were introduced to Agent Coulson and the people he worked for, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D for short. The fanboys had a nice little chuckle to themselves at the nod to the bigger Marvel universe. And then came the little bit after the credits where Samuel L Jackson first appeared as Nick Fury and asks to speak to Tony Stark about something bigger. The fanboys had a full on nerdgasm.

Jump forward to present day and Marvel have brought the Hulk, Thor and Captain America to the silver screen as well as a second outing for Iron Man and introduced more characters in Hawkeye and Black Widow. Now they are all together in what must be one of the most eagerly anticipated cinematic events in years. Frankly, if the fanboy community went doolally at the post credit teaser on Iron Man, I fear lives may be in danger when they watch Marvel Avengers Assemble. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 23 2012
Leave a comment
Horror, Opinion

ORIGIN OF A HORROR ICON – PART 2: MICHAEL MYERS *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Many fans felt that Jason Goes to Hell scored an own goal by barely featuring Jason in it. At least Jason was still the killer though, even if he was unrecognisable and missing his trademark hockey mask for most of the film.

Halloween III: The Season of the Witch went one step further. They removed Michael Myers as the killer and included something about killer masks that may have proven to be a good film if anyone bothered to watch it.

This wasn’t a decision made by the studio, instead it was the wish of John Carpenter himself. He didn’t want a slew of Michael Myers films, and only agreed Continue reading →

Tagged , , ,
Apr 22 2012
Leave a comment
2012, Drama, Review, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Television

Alcatraz (2012)

In a slight departure to our normal content, moviescramble reviews the  Television Sci-Fi drama Alcatraz from executive producer JJ Abrams.

In 1963 three hundred and two inmates and guards disappeared from the prison island of Alcatraz. The incident was covered up. A cover story was devised with all the missing persons moved and conveniently lost in the system. Fifty years later some of the worst criminal America has ever seen are returning to an unsuspecting San Francisco. Where were they and why are they coming back?

The premise for the show was initially quite interesting. It had a lot of potential. The public are looking for another lost type show which slowly unfolds while keeping the interest and intrigue. Unfortunately Alcatraz is not it. After the initial set up where we meet the main cast members the show slips into a standard formula. As part of the team we have the ‘broken’ cop Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones). She has just lost her partner in the pursuit of a perp, blames herself and is trying to regain her mojo. Her investigation into a murder leads to a meeting with a mysterious government agent, Emerson Hauser( Sam Neil) who tries to dissuade Rebecca from continuing her investigation. Obviously this only piques her curiosity. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , ,
Apr 22 2012
3 Comments
2012, Action, Drama, Review, Sci-Fi

The Hunger Games (2012)

The Hunger Games Poster24 children thrown together and expected to murder each other for the overall benefit of society. I’m thinking this sounds like a fairly good real world solution, never mind in movie-land. Alas, as it wouldn’t work in real life, it doesn’t really work in the cinema either. Adapted from the popular series of novels, The Hunger Games takes place in an unspecified time in the future where America no longer exists and is replaced by Panem, a series of 12 districts and the controlling upper class.

As punishment for the revolt of a now destroyed 13th district, every year a male and female tribute are selected by lottery from each district to take part in the titular Hunger Games, a gladiatorial fight to the death televised for the world to see. When her younger sisters name is pulled from the lottery, Katniss Everdeen steps in to volunteer in her stead and along with bakers boy Peeta Mellark begin their journey to the opulent capitol city and start their training under the tutelage of Woody Harrelson’s drunken mentor, himself a survivor of the games. Continue reading →

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
← Older posts
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.