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While none of us here at The Easy Mode decided to shell out any money on Dante's Inferno just yet, Mega 64 gives us a look at how the game was formed. no comments
After last weekend's bizarre Star Wars tuna commercial, I couldn't pass up this Coke advertisement that makes no sense to me. Wouldn't you want to show people drinking Coke in the heat of summer, when it's the most refreshing? Nah, I'd rather have a nice cold drink while sitting on top of a mountain. no comments
Our second Weekend Entertainment segment of the weekend is something that actually looks at the iPad in a positive light. I think. no comments
As I finally resurrect our Weekend Entertainment segment, I present to you a video that Mark's older sister Kelly showed me a few years ago. Definitely worth watching. no comments
Released in 2009, Orphan is a horror movie which tells the tale of the Coleman family, who adopt Esther – an eccentric, but charming, nine-year-old Russian girl – after the death of their unborn third child.
After managing to quickly become a part of the family, Esther's behaviour soon starts to become more erratic and confrontational, and when people close to the Coleman family start becoming involved in terrible accidents, the Coleman's soon start to suspect that there may be something very wrong with Esther.
Whilst the set-up may sound like classic horror, Orphan is far more of a psychological thriller than anything else; the movie doesn't try too hard to throw scares at you, but instead creates much of the movies tension and intrigue through Esther's antagonistic relationships with the other main characters, and in trying to coax you into figuring out Esther's mysterious past. As a result, if you watch Orphan expecting a horror film, you may be disappointed. However, the film makes for a much more interesting thriller, and one that will, by design, keep you guessing right up until the end.
It's in this ability to keep you guessing that the movie earned much of it's reputation when it released last year, and this is largely due to the movies you'll-never-guess-it twist ending. However, while most movies that usually make the same claim will try hard to confuse you with sheer spectacle or outrageous plot, Orphan thankfully keeps things relatively simple.
Another of the film's strengths is its casting, especially where the child actors are concerned. As much of the plot centres around the actions of the children, these actors have the potential to make or break the movie. Thankfully, Isabelle Fuhrman, who plays Esther, and Aryana Engineer, who plays the Coleman's deaf, youngest daughter Maxine, are both good in different ways; Isabelle Fuhrman as the quirky, scheming Esther, while Aryana Engineer is the vulnerable, innocent Maxine.
Unfortunately, the actor who plays the Coleman's son Daniel, Jimmy Bennett, isn't quite as good as the rest of the cast, though the character of Daniel receives the least screen time, so this isn't a major issue.
However, while the movie does a number of things fairly well, it rarely succeeds in getting your pulse racing. This is partly due to the fact that the movie tries to be both a horror movie, and a psychological thriller, and you sometimes get the feeling the movie itself is unsure as to which genre it actually belongs to. The result is a movie that tries to be both, but doesn't entirely succeed at either.
The film's twist ending also fails to truly excite, but for an entirely different reason; while the twist is inventive enough that you are unlikely to work it out, but still simple enough to not be absurd, it almost seems like it's a little bit too simple. You spend so much of the movies running time trying to work out what the end will be, that, when it finally shows you, you'll almost wish it was a little more outlandish. Almost.
As it stands, Orphan has its flaws, but is still an entertaining watch. If you like psychological thrillers, then you'll probably like this movie. By the same token, if you like to try and work out twist endings then this will also appeal to you – just don't be too disappointed if you don't manage to figure it out. no comments
Released in 2005, Dear Wendy is a movie which explores the American pre-occupation with guns, and is set in a fictional, small, middle-American mining town called Estherslope, in an area called Electric Park. Written by Lars Von Trier (Dogville, The Kingdom), directed by Thomas Vinterberg (It's All About Love), and filmed on a custom-built set in Denmark, Dear Wendy certainly isn't anything close to an action-packed Hollywood thrill-ride. However, the movie is methodical and gritty, and is a compelling, strange, thought-provoking and dark view into the world of gun-obsession, as seen through the eyes of a group of small-town American teenage outcasts.
While the movie follows a group of teenagers, the story focuses on one central character, Dick (played by Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell), and it is with this character that the story truly begins and ends.
After buying a gun (which he believes to be a toy) as a gift, Dick, despite being a self-proclaimed pacifist, finds himself unable to part with the weapon and instead ends up keeping it. This marks the start of his curious infatuation with guns, though it is only by chance that, after taking the gun to work with him one day, it falls from his pocket in front of one of his colleagues, Stevie; who also happens to be a gun-carrying pacifist.
Dick and Stevie start meeting in an abandoned part of the old mine to shoot their guns, and their love for their weapons soon turns into obsession, and after both men notice a marked increase in their outward confidence, they decide that it is their duty to bring the idea of "pacifists with guns" to all of the losers of Electric Park. They soon create a small, exclusive club, which they christen "The Dandies"; their most important rule being that Dandies may carry their weapons, but never brandish them.
Soon the rest of the members begin to realise the positive impact that gun-ownership has on their lives, and for a time they are happier than they have ever been. However, when an old acquaintance of Dick's is inducted into The Dandies, tensions begin to mount, and the group starts to spiral towards a disastrous end. no comments
Shiver is a 2008 Spanish horror film, and it has all the makings of a good scary flick: a Scandanavian setting, a main character that is allergic to the sun, a creature in the nearby woods, and people that speak Spanish. Unfortunately, it falls apart well before it gets interesting, and isn't worth your time. However, this review is definitely worth your time, so read on.
A teenager named Santi, due to his aforementioned heliophobia, moves with his mother up to Lapland (Northern Scandinavia) to a small village where there isn't a lot of sun and everyone miraculously speaks Spanish. I secretly think that his mother moved him so far North because his real father is Santa Claus. Long story. Anyway, in the forest near their new house, there's some sort of creature that guts the local sheep and some kids for good measure. Everyone blames the new pale kid, and the rest of the film goes from there.
Unfortunately, the film's "secrets" are so blatantly foreshadowed that it leaves the whole experience feeling predictable and dry. In the end, the film's loose ends are looser than they should be, and there are some elements that plain just don't make sense. I like my horror films to have a butt-ton of mystery and twists, and Shiver just didn't put all the pieces together in the right way. Given the fact that the last Spanish film I saw (The Orphanage) was all sorts of awesome, it's disappointing that Shiver was so underwhelming.
On the other hand, it's still a step above the drivel that passes for horror films here in the US lately. no comments
