30 Day Movie Challenge - Day 1

I'm taking part in the 30 Day Movie Challenge. I asked on Twitter, whether or not I should do this challenge here, on Twitter or on Tumblr, and the blog gained the most votes on that poll. So of course I'm catering to my audience and doing this challenge here. 

Here's the list of the days and the challenges, in case someone else wants to do it too. 

Day 1 - Favourite movie: T2 Trainspotting

I went to see T2 Trainspotting when it came out here. I went to see it three times altogether, because it just had that kind of big effect on me.

We've been talking a lot about this movie with my other Trainspotting loving friends, and we've come to the conclusion that the movie's power lies in the way the movie is built. Many movies have that one particular scene that's the high point of the movie. You look forward to that scene and there are so many less intriguing moments. But with T2 Trainspotting, every scene is as great as the previous one and the next one. Every scene makes you think "Oh god, THIS scene!" Even when the scenes aren't thrilling or particularly memorable, they are still vital. There's nothing in this movie I would take out of.

Also the soundtrack is bewitching. Just like every scene is "that scene", every song on the soundtrack is "that song". 

And of course T2 Trainspotting plays with our need for nostalgia, but it isn't over doing it. There are actual footage from the first movie used, and it's used just the perfect amount. And of course there are the scenes mirroring the ones in the first movie. Since getting old is a big theme of the movie, this play on nostalgia is on point - for the audience and the characters.

Kill Me Three Times (2014)

Directed by: Kriv Stenders 

Written by: James McFarland

Professional hit-man Charlie Wolfe finds himself in three tales of murder, blackmail and revenge after a botched contract assignment.

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When a department store was closing, they had a huge sale of course. My dad found the DVD of Kill Me Three Times, and it only cost one euro. He had seen The World's End and Hot Fuzz, so he knew I like Simon Pegg very much. He bought it for me, and I finally managed  to watch it.

Kill Me Three Times is off to a great start even during the opening credits. The music is catchy, the credits look amazing, and they don't take too long. And after the opening credits, the first lines are intriguing. All this ensures the viewer will stay to see what happens.

The theme song of the movie that already catches your attention in the opening credits is used throughout the movie. This is also taking a huge risk, because you could overuse that too much. However, in this case, that track is simple enough to use several times. It's exciting and perfect for an action comedy. Reminds me of the theme of Men In Black.

The story is funny (though the humour is dark), and it's just complex enough.Most of the complexity comes from non-chronological narrative. That's always risky, but when done right, it works, just like in this movie. The plot isn't just straight-forward and "as is", but James McFarland clearly did not try too hard to write some kind of artistic, complicated action thriller. The amount of complexity is just right when it comes to action comedy. You can be clever in other ways when writing a movie like this, mostly by plot twists that the audience cannot see miles away. Kill Me Three Times succeeds in that. 

However when it comes to the plot twists it feels like maybe this movie won't be as great when you see it the second time. It feels like while the movie is very charming and somewhat unique and funny, it's not as clever as you'd like, or as thrilling. But can I be sure before I actually rewatch it?

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

Trailer Thoughts: The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) & Atomic Blonde (2017)

It's been a while since I've talked about trailers, but it's time to return to this. First trailer is for The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017), directed by Patrick Hughes, who is a completely new director to me. I have never seen any of his movies, and I've heard of only one of them.

Put shortly, the story is about a bodyguard (Ryan Reynolds), who's job is to protect a hitman (Samuel L. Jackson) who is supposed to testify at the International Court of Justice.

The trailer fails to give a right image of the movie. There's like no information abou the story there, it's just action, explosions and swearing. But from browsing Patrick Hughes' filmography, The Hitman's Bodyguard might be exactly that. My favourite thing about the trailer is the play on the song I will always love you. 

But it does seem absurd and hilarious that Samuel L Jackson would be protected by Ryan Reynolds. 

The whole movie just seems like mindless action comedy, and that's about it.

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Now the other trailer I'm going to talk about is for Atomic Blonde (2017). It's apparently based on a graphic novel, and it's directed by David Leitch. According to IMDb he's also going to be directing Deadpool 2, and he has directed some scenes in John Wick. Leitch seems to be best known for being a stuntman.

Atomic Blonde is about an MI6 agent who goes to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate a murder of a fellow agent.

I had seen some parts of the trailer before, but not the whole trailer. Those small pieces had already made me interested, because the movie seemed like it's going to be amazing visually. Also the cast seems incredible, if a bit white.

The trailer is extremely well done, the music has been chosen well, because it already captures the viewer and makes them think that shit,, I want to see that movie. 

While The Hitman's Bodyguard seemed kind of mindless, Atomic Blonde seems like it's going to be a surprisingly clever. I'm definitely going to go see this once it comes out.

Ravenous (1999)

Directed by: Antonia Bird 

Written by: Ted Griffin

In a remote military outpost in the 19th Century, Captain John Boyd and his regiment embark on a rescue mission which takes a dark turn when they are ambushed by a sadistic cannibal.

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Again, I can start my review by saying that this movie was recommended to me by my dear friend Rose. Ravenous was probably the first movie she told me to watch after she found out about how much I liked Robert Carlyle. I was starting to grow suspicious of these recommendations though. Annie suggested Eragon knowing it was awful, Rose suggested 28 Weeks Later, which was good, but Carlyle's role did kind of frustrate me. ... So I started thinking what would be wrong with this one.

Ravenous seemed interesting because it deals with cannibalism. Cannibalism is an intriguing theme considering how dark it is, and it is a trusted way to give your horror movies or thrillers some kind of shock value. However in Ravenous it's not just there to shock you, it's what the whole story is about, it's one of the major themes. That is a refreshing change to how cannibalism usually is in thriller and horror genres: a fleeting detail, barely worth mentioning few times, but too disgusting to actually make a movie about that, and the wendigo myth. 

Wendigo myth has been quickly tapped into TV shows like Hannibal, but since the show doesn't have actual fantasy elements to it, it's not that important. The myth has been always interesting to me, but I do sometimes what the Native American people whose culture the myth is part of think about movies like this one. 

I expected this movie to be scarier since it's listed as a horror film, but the story is still intriguing and thrilling. It may start slowly but there's just enough mystery to keep you interested, when the plot starts to thicken. The plot and story just seem to go on when you think this is the story, this is what's important. That makes the movie feel longer than it is. 

The story isn't close to perfect. There are many ways the plot could be improved, but this is the story the filmmakers wanted to tell, and it is good. 

There are few things that made this movie seem a bit odd. It is hard to grasp the atmosphere at first, what the movie is like and what it is about, though it does clear up eventually. But there are few details that make this sometimes seem almost comedic. That weird comedic feeling that doesn't exactly belong to the film is mostly created by the soundtrack. The music is brilliant most of the times, but there are times when you can't help but wonder if they truly chose the right tracks. 

Ravenous was surprisingly good, while I thought it might be a simple slasher B-movie. It's thrilling, intriguing and most definitely worth watching if violence and blood and guts won't bother you.

At the beginning of the review I said I wondered what was wrong with Ravenous. So was there something wrong? Well, let's just say that this is yet another really interesting role of Robert Carlyle's in the list of the roles I've seen him play.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

The Legend of Barney Thomson (2015)

Directed by: Robert Carlyle

Based on a novel Long Midnight of Barney Thomson by: Douglas Lindsay

Written by: Richard Cowan & Colin McLaren

Awkward, diffident Glasgow barber Barney Thomson lives his life in the most boring, mediocre way possible, until he accidentally enters the macabre and absurd life of a serial killer.

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I found this movie accidentally when looking through Robert Carlyle's filmography. I don't know if I would've paid as much attention to it, if I hadn't noticed it was also directed by Carlyle, who is currently taking his place as one of my favourite actors. I ended up watching the trailer and this movie seemed absolutely hilarious. It reminded me of Filth (2013) directed by Jon S. Baird. If you didn't know this already, I highly value Filth, and it had a great effect on my taste on movies - and novels, since it's the first novel by Irvine Welsh that I read. 

Also I was curious, because I hadn't seen a movie taking place in Glasgow before. I don't know much about Glasgow, apart from two things that I learned from my friends. 1) No one understands the Glasgow accent, except for people in there. This was told to me by my friend Danny and I had to agree, because I only need subtitles for Robert Carlyle when watching Trainspotting. 2) My friend Annie told me she has never met a person from Glasgow who was happy.

So because of the resemblance, and because of Scotland and Robert Carlyle, I decided to watch The Legend of Barney Thomson. 

It's almost hard to believe how good the story is. The trailer already tells it's going to be a very interesting crime comedy, but at least for me the trailer didn't exactly give a clear picture of the story., and it turned out to be a lot different from what I expected. The film is filled with many exciting twists and turns that keep the viewer on their toes. The dialogue is also amazingly funny, and a clear sign of amazing writing.

There's just something especially detailed about this movie. It looks and sounds like every part was so carefully planned. Of course that's the case with most movies, but in some movies with casual, uninteresting cinematography it's not as visible. The cinematography in this film by Fabian Wagner reminds me of Wes Anderson's movies, and Filth (2013). 

I especially loved the beginning, and how the music created such a calm, chill atmosphere, which was then wonderfully conflicting with what was going on with the murderer. 

The Legend of Barney Thomson is extremely skillfully made movie, with hilarious yet intriguing story. The most important thing to remember though is to be prepared with subtitles, if you have trouble understanding people from Glasgow.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

9 / 10

The Crow (1994)

Directed by: Alex Proyas

Written by: David J Schow & John Shirley

Based on a comic book series by: James O'Barr

A year after he was murdered, Eric Draven comes back to avenge the deaths of him and his girlfriend.

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I think I was about eleven or twelve year old when I went to a video rental store with my dad, and The Crow from 2005 caught my eye. My parents never let me see movies that weren't meant for my age, but I always liked to read the back covers and summaries of the movies I knew I couldn't watch until I was old enough. I guess it was the goth aesthetic of the Crow that drew me in, and the plot did seem very intriguing even then. 

Years went by and I didn't exactly forget about The Crow, but lost interest in the 2005 version because I learned about the mishap that caused Brandon Lee to die on set. It was clear the movie was to be tragic anyway, and that just made it even darker.

I've watched a lot of movies that are about revenge, and most of them are just action movies that don't really capture the darkness of revenge and the human soul in those kind of movies. The Crow is one of the very few revenge themed movies that is as dark as needed, and it doesn't exactly make revenge seem more glorious than it is. The Crow is brutal and violent, but there are also some really beautiful, comforting parts, which make the film stand out from the typical films of the genre.

The cinematography is amazing, it's like a beautiful comic book. There's a lot of contrast, loads of black, but still surprisingly much colour. The palette is breathtaking. The cinematography is gruesomely beautiful, considering what they show and what they don't show, and how it's shown.

The soundtrack is great, but a bit surprising here and there. Then again, of course such a goth classic would use The Cure in the soundtrack.

The Crow is an enchanting, beautiful yet brutal movie, and it's definitely worth watching. Even if you don't care about the genre or a story, what happened to Brandon Lee should be enough to pique your interest.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

10 / 10