Moonlight ; as stunning as the Moon.

Because I am a very reputable Film blogger now (right? RIGHT?!) I thought I would actually go and see a Oscar nominated movie in the time it was actually being showed at the cinema, not only because I wanted to see it since seeing a trailer for it, but because this is the period of time when so called nonchalant film goers will actually pay quite good money (especially in London's independent cinemas) to actually watch a film and give their own judgements on it just so they can tune into the Oscars and say 'Oh blabla should have won, not that other arty farty film'. Or maybe that is just what I imagine. None the less, this is my little two pennies on the film.

Via Huffington Post Online.

So I shall get the cliches out of the way, and most of this information you would have probably heard before: Moonlight is a stunning visual chronology of a young black boy to man's life  living with bullying, drugs surrounding him and the hopeless feeling of living with depression. It is actually very simple when it comes to plot, we literally see the three stages of being a human; being a child, where innocents fulfills your every action and thought, even when not so innocent actions are taking place around you. Teenagehood, where you just about get a sense of who the hell you are, deciding whether you become one of those tragic addicted influences you have seen and been around all your conscious life. And Adulthood, where most of how you plan forward is reflecting backwards, seeing where you made mistakes, seeing how things are better, and planning how to finally feel wanted and fulfilled. The acting from all the crew are exquisite, utterly believable and just astounding too.

This chronology, unlike the usual formats of an age-based chronological film that occasionally pops up and makes us go 'ah yea, they are okay, quite predictable though, somehow' this film encapsulates quite uncommon (of we talk percentages, which we won't, because I loath maths) life lessons and life choices, like realising that you are gay, living in neglectful homes etc and makes it VERY inclusive of those of us who have never experienced these 'obsticles' or realisations in life. Although I am not a gay, black male, who has survived countless drug dependent people in my life, I saw glimpses of similarities with the emotions that emitted from the screen in front of me. I loved how this was done, it also made me know (and makes me hopeful that others that are not so open minded as I am relaise too) that we, as human beings are ALL the same when it comes down to it (it, however is the life long question we will probably never get a direct answer about).

Via Variety.com

One big part of the film that stuck out to me was during both the teenage and adult segments of the film, where Chiron/Black finally understood his sexual orientation due to his friend. From that scene I remember my own teenage wonderlust for people (well, one person, at that time) finding out things about me that I haddn't discovered yet (if you know wha'd I mean). You remember and feel the excitement, the wonderment, the feelings of 'Wow! That's amazing' and also 'Bloody hell, they are touching me, does this mean they like me? What's going on? Oh well, stop thinking too much. AH!' Maybe that last part was just me...

This goes on to the last segment of the film, where your heart becomes full blown beating and your eyes turn to hearts as you remember that absolute perfect feeling of reciprocated feelings from another person. You remember the feeling of compassion for another, lust, everything turns into the definition of Picasso's Pink Period pieces.... It's just like natural ecstasy.  This is why I think this film won that best picture award, although I have not seen La La Land yet, I don't think I've ever seen a picture that made me look back on my own past, my own first times and reveled in both my relived emotions as well as a characters for a very long time. You need to see it just to remember with perfect (or should I say, as perfect as a memory/recall is!) all that you have felt in your own life.

Via Fox Force Five Online.

So put a golden lined smile on yer face! 

Until next time,
Jessiefer.

Into the Woods – The Dystopian Disney Story?

 

Being the totally mature 23 year old ‘adult’ I went to see Into the Woods this week just gone. Not being the usual suspect for a film of this nature, I can only imagine my readers are perplexed and crying out for humanity whilst reading the previous sentence. What can I say, I was suckered into it by the trailers because of how eerie and different it seemed to the rest of the recent barrage of kids films (Plus, Johnny Depp is always a winner).  The trailer I saw displayed a sort of Brothers Grimm sort of vibe, which is very different for kids films in general, and just generally seemed more interesting than a singing snowman with a buck tooth.

So I go into the picture house without any expectations, and I am greated with a full blown sing out, something I really did not expect! Maybe I should have researched before I decided this should be the film we saw, as I am really not one for musicals (My favourite one being Tenascious D and the Pick of destiny) but none the less I didn’t lose all hope in the film. The singing was good and bad in parts, of course the rhymes were pretty good, but sometimes it seemed so off key and just needless. I understand this is a kids film, and kids easily forget things, so singing (apparently?) may help them understand the message better as well as sell a fair few more pieces of merch, but really, monologues were being sung out, unfunny monologues at that! Maybe this is why musicals just don’t do it for me, in my mind if they don’t make you laugh or are silly, then it just turns me into a bitter lemon slice of a person who hates happiness. I just don’t see the point.

The cinematography was great for a CGI film, there were really funny points and the acting was phenomenal, but there was something missing from it which just made me miss the days of watching Snow White in my youth, guffawing at the turtle falling down the stairs, and admiring the story as well as the imagry it created. I think the subjects it brings up, like how it is okay for Mummy and Daddy not to be together now because Daddy is a serial kisser, was quite interesting to watch, and I did like how this could possibly make a child/children feel better if they are in the midst of a parental melt down. At one point, though, the story could have ended with the traditional ‘happy ending’ but decided to show how a utopian setting can go dystopian at the drop of a brick from a kingdom. This was something I was a little unsettled by mainly because I personally believe that kids should enjoy things without the burden of thinking ahead/worrying about the future (ohhh my deranged outlook on life!!! I blame Disney!).

All in all, I’m not sure if I liked Into the Woods, and I’m not really sure of why this is. Due to this, I’m not sure if I would recommend or not, and to whom. If I was a parent, I can only imagine I would be getting bombarded by questions that the child may have had due to the non-traditional story lines and themes, which depending on how old they are, may be a little bit hard to figure out how to answer. Thankfully I am not the birther of a little human, so I don’t have to worry about possible repercussions and possibly non stop medleys of the sometimes irritating songs displayed in the film. Due to this I recommend any parents that go/are forced to see Into the Woods to prepare their ears and souls for the next few weeks and pray that the DVD/BluRay release doesn’t come for a considerable time there after.

Until next time,

Jessiefer.

A Small Review: Lucy

Thanks to Cineworld for giving us unemployed tight arses a chance to go and see a film they think look half decent in the trailers (No sponsorship, I assure you). Because of the half price Tuesday deal I went along to the cinema with my best friend and her other BF's to see this  film as a late birthday treat for her. 

So the film began with a more than entertaining start of gunshots, scary men and Scarlett Johansson's erect nipples (the thing that put a cherry on top of the metaphorical ice cream of the beginning of the film)...  The plot was viable, the visuals were fucking stunning! Seeing Johansson turn from a mousy student to a bad ass father fu*ker was great and sort of inspiring. 

About half way though, the plot, visuals and action sort of... How can I put it? Goes kaput. It all actually disintegrates when half of Johansson's face slides around, which inturn started the roller coaster ride of trying not to laugh at random odd visuals in a packed out Cinema. 

This is sooo not a bad version of Johansson's eye falling action in the film. NOPE.

I can't say that the random visuals of her slidy face, slow motion killing and uncanny visual effects didn't keep me entertained, because it did, I just can't believe how the raring, action packed first half turned into such a surreal and almost boring end that it did. The weird but wonderful thing is that even though the plot/visual dwindle, unlike other half way bad films, the plot still makes sense! However, the ending really just leaves you wanting more, in fact it was such an anticlimax for me and my friends that I just had to laugh.I must also express that throughout the film the acting was brilliant, and just for that I think this film will no doubt be awarded at least one award then the film award season rolls around.

So if you love Johansson, Morgan Freeman, girls kicking male arses and sci-fi cinema you'll love Lucy, just remember to revel in action that is in the first 50 mins of the film, and change your action hats to science ones for the more brainy side of the last 40 mins of the film. Also, if you don't laugh at her eye socket falling down her face, then you are a better person than I am.

Until next time, 

Jessiefer.

BORING DISCLAIMER:

*I say this now, I put these reviews on here firstly for a log for my cinema outings/film watches so I can keep a visual bank of everything I have seen this year. Secondly, my reviews should only aid you and your choices when you decide to watch a film, and should not make you believe that a film will not be good or bad just because I say so (This disclaimer is here as I have been recently reading Kevin Smith's 'Tough Sh*t' and there is a bit in there that made me realise how much my words could potentially harm film/film makers/future film people.... Or something.) If you have a dream to make a film/direct/screenwrite, in the words of Arnie: DO EITTTTT!

Human Centipede 2 ; The Revenge of the Arseholes.

...Or so it should be called.

I'm not going to make this a long post, because I simply think the film isn't really worth it. It's a good film for those types of people that just want to watch something that will make them look 'hardc0re' in front of their easily terrified friends, but for us Horror/Exploitation/Fucked up film fans, it really is just a bad insight into what more established movie distributors think of these genres.

It seems like the whole basis for the film was to make more money off of the back of HC1, which in my opinion had much more story to it in 5 minutes than this film did in its entirety. It was a great assumption, as it made more money than the first and allowed every day people to pretend that they were heavily submerged into 'disturbing' cinema scene.

The one part I really got infuriated by, which I'm sure no one else cares about, was the part where the main character (who is so dull (obviously intended) I can't remember his name) gave each of the 'centipede' an injection of laxative so that he could see them defecate. Now, the film is shot all the way through in black and white (because colour is waaaayy to conformist now a days) yet when you see the explosion of excrement, it is IN COLOUR! WHY?! Why make the already 'disgusting' thing in colour? It doesn't make it any more gross or make the viewer want to hurl up their internal organs any more than they may already wish to do! It just seemed like such a stupid thing to do, almost like they needed to add in that extra exhibition of technical expertise (thank you iMovie) in order for the viewer to know that this film was the shit (no pun intended.... okay, it was!).

You said it Kermy. 

Anyway, see it if you must, just like I did. However, don't expect it to move you in any way. Just allow it to dwindle your time alive even further for a bit.

Until next time
Jessiefer.

Rushmore

 

 

After being on the blogging site Tumblr, I have seen my fair share of movie gifs (jifs, gifs!) of several 'cult' movies which I'd always be interested in, but didn't want to pay to watch. So looking through the week's TV listings, I saw that Rushmore was on TV. As I have heard a whole lot about how great Murray is in the film, along with being interested by the gifs I had seen, I decided to finally watch it and see what all the indie hype was about. 

Let's start with the positives, the cinematography was spectacular, and I can only imagine that is what really caught my eye when I saw the gifs in the first place. The almost dream like filters just make you think of a teenage fantasy... Or maybe I have been reminiscing too much about my recent loss of teenage hopes and dreams.... ahem. The story is entertaining, but unbelievable in some instances, I mean, who would go so far as to carry live bee's to a hotel room to get revenge on their love rival?! (Although, I agree that is a pretty cool way of getting revenge)  The characters were solid and well acted, I have known many people like Max (the main character) who make up lies to appease peoples views on them, or to make themselves seem more important than they really are, which actually really got to me quite bad. 

These strong traits are why I think I had such a hard time liking the film, although I am not quite sure as to why Max put me off so much. All the actions he does are what we, as misfit teenagers, wanting to be likes and praised and interesting, do! We want to believe that the person we love loves us back, even though we know they don't look at us in that way or think about us twice, we know we are the awkward nearly adults but still children, and so adults usually don't pay us, or our actions much attention unless we fuck up. My unease with Max as a character may just be a reflection of all the weird and awkward things I used to do and feel and say, and so it brought me back to a time of utter confusion and parallel wonderment. Whatever the reason, the character put me off so much that I just didn't enjoy the movie as much as I thought I would. 

I have read a lot of reviews around the film, and there are many expressions of subtle humour, even though  I, being a obscure and black humoured lady, just didn't see at all. The movie was just a story, a very twist and turn journey at that, with a lonely and misunderstood teen trying to fit in somewhere where he is just one of many in the middle. I do however think the movie highlights a huge range of kids in school, in fact, people even in adult life. We mostly are, statistically more likely to be a middle person (meaning we are good at the odd few things, and in the middle of everything else) than a top or a bottom. Most of us got ok grades or reports but rarely are we masters of everything. This film highlights this, and makes us all remember how much we enjoyed those few things we were/are really amazing at, and how stupid, disheartened or unmotivated we were by the majority of other things we are forced to learn. For this, I applause the film, and think that this one theme alone can bring a multitude of people together to sympathise with Max on another level.

The other opposite, and character I actually loved, was Bill Murrays character Herman Bulme, who is an adult feeling the same about his life as Max is. Although he is a wealthy business man, has a family, house, all those things we all are told we want (been on a Fight Club binge, excuse me) he is unhappy, unmotivated and just bored with life. I think he is very interested in Max as he see's a huge amount of himself now, and especially as a teen in him, and as I said about the possible reason why I maybe put off by Max's character, maybe why Herman is so connected to him. What I like most about Herman's character is the fact that no matter how old we are, what we do in our lives, there will still be that awkward feeling of mystery about what we are 'supposed' to do now, and not completely fitting in. It just gives me a sense of happiness that no matter what stage of life we are at, there is that newness of being a person with endless possibilities of what we can do, say and feel. (How invigorating)

Maybe Rushmore is the reminiscing Max does after a while of forgetting, and so actions are bolder, more surreal and the outcomes are easier to see and defragment seeing as you are not in the moment anymore... Maybe so many people like the film due to its nostalgic feel of their own  misunderstood teenage years... Whatever the reason, it's a worthwhile film to see in your life, however, I do not whole heartedly recommend it myself. I am glad I have finally seen what the hype was about, but honestly, I think I shall not be taking many more suggestions of films to see via gifs off of Tumblr any longer.

Until next time,

Jessiefer.

Taxidermia.

Well, since watching Der Todesking and Nekromantik one and two a few weeks ago, I decided to carry on with the 'disturbing' film genre. The best and funniest part of me picking out this film to watch was that I actually found it in my Uni's library! Anyway, onto the Taxidermia review. 

I briefly remember hearing this film being mentioned on one of Horrible Review's 'most disturbing movies' countdown (I recommend these videos if you are bored, wanting to check out the genre or are just a bit stuck on what to watch) and decided to give it a watch. The film starts off with a man who is innocently washing himself in a freezing cold troth (well, it looks like a troth). Here we see that he is dominated by a hard faced middle aged man that asks him to explain the order of actions that happen in a day, which gives off the feeling that both men are at war. However, this thought is shattered when we see two ladies having a bath together (calm down fella's and you ladies!) which obviously wouldn't happen in an active war zone, and definitely not in front or near men!  The story goes on to follow the submissive male and his very radically varying and 'unique' sexual fantasies and ways in which to get himself off. Although those of you that have read my blog thus far know that I review and watch 'disturbing' movies, I will, just because I am a nice lady, warn you that this section of the film is definitely a struggle to watch, mainly because there are many parts with children in, although these scenes are carefully shot, the obvious reasons for them being used are not hidden, so be careful if you are really triggered by that kinda thing.

The shots used in this segment of the film is utterly beautiful, and very creative indeed, which is one of the reasons why you keep on watching through the more slow paced parts of the scene. The narrative is interesting, a little strange but more or less believable, and leads perfectly onto the next segment of the film. 

In the next segment we see the young child that was conceived and birthed in the previous section as an adult, and guess what he has grown up to be? A famous speed-eater! We see Balatony take on many other males from around europe to win not only the title of the best speed eater, but that of the plump woman that he loves. After passing out, I assume from possible heart problems, or just from being obnoxiously full, we see this plump miss, Aczél Gizi, at his bedside, which signals to us that they will become love birds (aww, how romantik). 

We see these two get married and a child is conceived (is there a pattern here?). The scenes where both Aczél and Balatony are enjoying a nice day out with each other at the beach, swimming in the sea and on a Ferris Wheel are truly love to see, and well, is something that is never really shown in many films. Usually it's how the two thin, handsome/pretty actors that get paid thousands of pounds (or dollars) act in a romantic comedy about two people meeting, hating each other and then falling in love.... So seeing a romantic scene, in a disturbing movie, between two overweight people is a pretty wonderful sight to see, for me anyway. None the less, this segment is the worse out of the three, its story isn't extremely believable, it sort of cuts and changes a little (although this may be used to create the illusion of memory...) from the previous scenes in the segment, and well, although it sets both the previous and the following parts up, it just didn't light my fire. 

Onto the third and final segment of the film. The past where we actually get to the taxidermy. We see a grown up Balatony (named after his father... so let's just call him Balatony JR) practising what he is best at, stuffing animals! When he is not performing his art, Balatony JR goes to the local super market to buy his Dad and his beloved cats some treats. After giving his Dad these essential food items, we see that their relationship isn't very strong, often because Balatony SR's love for his fat cats exceeds the love he shows for his bony son. After another scene of BJ[hehe]R's buying of food, being annoyed with his Father for bad mouthing him and feeding cats that are bad tempered he storms out and tells his Father that he is never coming back. 

These is one of the most bizarre segments of the film, mainly because the artistic shots really are a bit challenging to watch. Let's just say you might not want to cut any meat up after watching this... That together with the gross extreme polar opposites of bodily forms between Father and Son and the uncanny sense of seeing human taxidermy (spoiler) really makes you exclaim 'What the shit did I just watch?!' which is a good indicator for me that it was indeed a strange, slightly disturbing film. 

I definitely recommend Taxidermia for those of you who want a bit of a mind fuck with beautifully shot scenes, however, I must admit, it wasn't particularly disturbing, more bizarre and a bit uncannyish if anything, which doesn't take away from the film, I'm just trying to tell you how it is (for me anyway). A great find, especially in my Uni's library (where the only other horror related films are Day of the Dead and Alien...) and definitely worth a watch if you like the genre.

Until next time,

Jessiefer. 

PS, LOOK AT THIS SCREEN SHOT FROM THE FILM! 

 (What a wonderful World we live in!)

Nekromantik 2: Power to the Ladies.

This will be a brief review of Nekromantik 2, mostly because me and words are not going together that well at the moment, and because in all due respect, most of the gist of this film is expressed in Nekromatik 1's review too. 

I found that  the story line to N2 was pretty concise, and much better than the other Buttgereit films I have seen thus far. The plot follows a necrophile lady by the name of Monika (one of the most beautiful ladies I have seen in a B Movie in a long while) who digs up the previous film's protagonist Rob. 

After taking Rob's newly decaying corpse into her highly decorated flat, we see that she has chosen her prey based on an article in a Newspaper (I'm assuming this article expresses how Rob was a necrophile, but from what I can remember, it doesn't out rightly say that) and has decided to indulge in her dead body loving desires with somebody who understood them. 

This story is interjected by another person's story. We see Mark (a character that will become key in the middle scenes of the film) doing a voice over for his... shall we say awesomely bizarre job of being a porno voice over artist (where can I sign up to a job like that?!). We see him and his co-voice over female colleague having to do several takes of a scene, as they aren't making realistic noises. 

After a scene that shows Monika's love making to corpse Rob, we finally have the scene where both characters meet for the first time, and see another movie within a movie from Buttgereit. After this, we see the full of life romance between the two develop, until they are so involved that Monika needs to make a painful decision- does she devote herself to a live man, or to her corpse? She hesitantly chooses her alive and kicking man, and decides the right thing to do to Rob is to chop him up into smaller pieces. As she chops him up, she is devastated, and you can really see that even though he was dead, she really loved him. (aahhh trueeee loooveee) 

After a while, we hear that Mark isn't fond of the way that Monika makes love to him, she demands that he is deadly still, and takes 'weird photographs of him' (there is a lovely scene where we see Mark hanging from the ceiling, expecting him to be dead but unfortunately he isn't) he is unnerved by these demands, but continues to see Monika as his love for her is deepening (such a deadly romantic comedy <3) 

Mark calls unannounced at Monika's flat during an all girl film evening (featuring the key oddity of the night, Robs severed head), and after the ladies leave to give the couple some alone time, they continue to watch a video of a seal being cut up, which leaves Mark disgusted and angry. Mark expresses that Monika is perverse for watching such films, and leaves in a rage-filled mood. 

We then see Monika having a quiet and reflective walk along the beach, where we suspect that she is understanding the repercussions of her 'perverse' actions with Mark. We then see the couple kiss and make up in the most literal of terms, and are thrown into a full blown (haha) sex scene. During this, we see Monika reach for a cleaver knife and, you guessed it, cuts Marks head (not that one!) off. She then lovingly crowns Marks shaking body with Robs mummified head, and for the first time in the film, orgasms. 

The closing scenes are the best throw in clips I have seen in a film, and well, let's just say you'll be like 'HOW, WHAT, WHY, BUT THAT CANT BEEEEE!' when you see it. 

All in all, I am glad I saw this continuing part of the Nekromantik films, as even thought it wasn't as shocking as the first installment, it was still pretty good, and well, the scenes of dead body love making still really got to me! I later saw a 'Behind the making of' film (I shall link below) that expressed that Buttgereit saw this film as a woman positive film, as it was about a woman getting what she fully wanted sexually, which I do agree with, and it was refreshing to see, especially in this exploitation/b movie genre. It's definitely worth a watch, and it is a stunningly visually beautiful film, even the corpse is a work of genius!! 

Until next time, 

Jessiefer.