Moon and something interesting

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen!

Well here goes my second attempt at doing regular blogging (don't hold your breath) and this Friday we have two topics on the agenda a review (yay!) and a badly photo-shopped poster (?).

Just before I start the review: Ta to everyone who watched and voted for "Just a Game?". The support was much appreciated and helped us to win film of the month for august, which was brilliant! If you're near any of the big screens like the one in Swindon you might even see it up there! Actually if you fancy following the link and voting for it a second time we might be in with a shot of film of the year at the awards ceremony next summer...

However that's all a pre-amble!

REVIEW: Moon (2009)


I watched Moon last Friday with Ollie (the AD/Cameraman on Just a Game) after borrowing it from the school library (win for free rental!). Ollie had asked me to get something "mentally challenging" and having read in a certain film magazine of the film's mind-bending qualities it seemed an obvious choice.

Moon, directed by Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son), is a film that follows the fortunes of astronaut, Sam Bell, as he completes his three year-long mining mission on the film's namesake. Three years has come with all the baggage one might expect from being stuck on the moon with only a company droid (voiced here by the ever brilliant Kevin Spacey) for company: Sam is pining for his girlfriend (Tess Bell) and daughter (Rosie Shaw/Kaya Scodelario), suffering from mild paranoia and bored out of his mind. Despite this he is optimistic about his imminent return home... until an accident with the machinery reveals a disturbing secret.

Jones as director, whilst really only having one key cast member to work with, is successful in creating a character that we can both love and hate throughout the film but still end up rooting for by the climax. Talking of the climax: the film doesn't really build very well towards it's ending. The pace is generally slow and relaxed, thus representative of Sam's situation and whilst the occasional revelation is used as a distraction from this, it cannot be ignored- not enough info is given that the average viewer can work out Sam's peril until the very last minute. This somewhat secretive approach might easily dissuade anyone other than a patient viewer from a film which otherwise is an extremely successful movie.

Visually it feels very realistic- unlike some of the fantastical visions of the near future seen in other films. This is clearly to aid the viewer in relating to Sam as a character (not an easy thing to do given that no one earth has ever spent three years on their own on the moon). The polished white surfaces and orange lighting work to both create parallels between the base and the International space station and to highlight the sinister feeling given off by the almost-to-good-to-be-true company, Lunar Industries, that employs Sam.

To sum up...

THE LOWDOWN
Pros-
-It is powerful and consistent visually.
-The concept is very interesting and the film almost deserves a watch for this alone.
-Sam Bell is brilliant character that despite his unusual situation can easily be related to.
Cons-
-The peril Sam is actually in is not obvious until very late on.
-Requires patience to get through the long slow periods between action/revelations.

Score: 8/10

And finally this...

Hello again!

Though I know very few people read this blog anyway I am aware that I haven't been very good at keeping it up to date and that's bad of me. So from this week I'm going to try and update it with something more or less every week whether that be an update on a project or a review of something I've seen recently. Hope you look forward to my first post this Friday! Dan

New-old film ideas III

This one is one of my favorites but a little hard to explain....

The Last Green Place

The earth in the future (however this is not revealed till the very end of the film). It is desolate and the only life (or at least the government says) is humanity kept alive by huge nutrient enriched air plants. The majority of the human race is working in huge factories producing little black boxes for 12 hours a day. However there is a rumor of a place. A green place. The last green place. The last tree on earth. The government tries to dispel the rumor and stop its ringleaders before there is a rebellion but in the words of those have faith: soon all will be revealed...

New-old film ideas II

Boadicea

This is not actually told from the point of view of Boadicea but instead from the point of view of one of her two daughters. It charts the warrior queen's rise to power and the brutal treatment of her people to her death in an epic battle but there's a twist. Despite the joyful persecution of the Britons one Roman believes that what they are doing is wrong and falls in love with our storyteller. A forbidden affair that will put both in grave danger as they decide where their loyalties lie.

New-old film ideas (or is that Old-new?)

These are some ideas I had on my original page on facebook. I'm now adding them to the Film ideas page.

The Lost Script (admittedly needs a better name)

As young child Elizabeth was never allowed in her grandfather's attic. Why? What was he hiding? Skip ahead 12 years and as she helps her Grandfather pack to move she cant resist the opportunity to take a peek into this forbidden crevice of the old house. She is amazed when she opens the hatch to discover piles of papers and boxes with photos all over the walls. Picking the top sheet of one pile of paper she begins to read. It's a film script. Transfixed she sits there leafing through it until her grandfather calls her to go. Quickly she puts it back and rushes down the stairs but now she's hooked. Why did her grandfather never make the film? Why wont he speak about his past life? Can she produce the film from the lost script?

Film ideas

Has updated film ideas.

Time.

At last a bit of time to myself! Right how's this for an idea? A film set in the 1950s or late 40s where the Germans won the battle of Britain and have invaded. The country is in occupation and dark times reign. However in rural Wiltshire a crescendo of resistance is building as rumor of a secret resistance force being trained in the grounds of Coleshill spreads hope in surrounding area. Germany's forces are gathering for a pincer attack on america by the Nazis and Japan and the Fuhrer himself is coming to inspect the troops. Can the Coleshill team succeed in the near impossible mission of bringing down Hitler or will the world fall to a fascist rule?

Sicky! Eugh!

Had to come home sick today. Feeling yuck. On the plus side I'm feeling a bit better now which means I can review something. Yay! My first internet review. Well I haven't seen to much recently so I'll do something I did see as boring as it may be:

Title: An Inspector Calls (1954)

Review: Well for starters before the film I wasn't expecting too much thrilling having finished the timid script the day before in English, but as I sat in that dimly lit classroom I did find myself becoming vaguely interested. Granted the film did not exactly take me by the nether regions but it hold some sort of interesting quality that made it watchable.

As a spectacle it wasn't brilliant, made in Shepperton Studios just outside London, yet the storyline did not allow for this. The sepia colouring was certainly justified for genre and colour would certainly spoiled it; but this begs the question what is its genre? Is it a crime fiction? No. Is it a mystery? Well not exactly considering we learn pretty quickly of a girl's death and that the main focuses of the film the Birlings are somehow involved. That, I would have said, rather cuts out the mystery.

The truth is Rick Priestly was trying to make a political point with his original play. I think this is why the film has no particular genre or in fact no real plot. The reason I think you get dragged into it is because after a while it just keeps feeding you small bits of information about this girl's death to invite you to keep watching. A simple but effective trick.

I guess what I'm saying is this film is not entertaining. What it is, is a historical reference of the political views of an opposer to class system. Certainly interesting and good for setting as a homework (yawn) but not a night in with popcorn.

Rating: 2/10

Should you watch it? I wouldn't bother.

First post!

Well the first post on my brand spanking shiny wonderful spectacular- okay maybe I was pushing it a bit there but in any case I have a new blog. Woopee! Excellent. To outline the purpose of this blog to anyone reading it I will be posting film ideas much like I used to on my facebook page but was advised to stop for security issues. These will be more basic but I will most likely have personal file where I am writing the full story. I will also outline my favourite films, why I like and why you should see them whilst critiquing any new releases/dvds I see. I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I do writing it!

Oh and thank you again to Josh's cousin who suggested I start this.