Dark Water (5 Stars)

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When I watched this film in 2016 I complained about the poor quality of the DVD. That's not something I can put up with if it's one of my favourite films. I recently bought the Blu-ray, and I could finally watch the film as it's meant to be seen. Many of the outside scenes are hazy because it rains throughout the film. That's different. Rain is supposed to be hazy, but I expect the indoor scenes to be crystal clear. "Dark Water" was made in 2002, which isn't so long ago that we can expect films to look poor on disc. For me the watershed is 1996, the year in which DVDs were first sold. I might grudgingly accept poor quality from older films, but I expect all films made since 1996 to look good on DVD.

"Dark Water" is the scariest film I've ever seen. However often I watch it it still makes me jump. There's no gore, it's all about suspense. This is a film that should be shown in film schools as an example of how to make a good horror film.

Have you ever noticed how rarely it rains in films? In everyday life it rains often, in some countries more than others. In films it never rains unless it's important to the plot. If there's a scene where the weather doesn't matter it doesn't rain. That has practical reasons. The director and his crew don't want to be standing soaked in the rain struggling to keep the camera equipment dry. Apart from that, as already mentioned, scenes in the rain are less clear. If a scene is scheduled and it's raining on the day the scene is postponed and the director shoots the indoor scenes first.

That's not the case with "Dark Water". The rain is essential to the plot. It pours and pours. This adds to the film's depressing atmosphere. The film's epilogue, the final scene that takes place ten years later, is in stark contrast to the rest of the film. It's a bright day and the sun is shining when Ikuko gets off the bus, nothing like the rainy days of her early childhood.

I've watched this film many times in the last 15 years, but today is the first time that I noticed similarities to "The Shining". It can't possibly be a coincidence, it's a deliberate homage. It's always good when a director makes respectful references to his favourite films. Just look at Quentin Tarantino's films. It can be argued that he's never had an original idea. His films are all patchworks of classic films from the past, and they're brilliant.

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Review of PADDINGTON 2: Earnest and Endearing

Watch Movies TV - February 1, 2018

I was introduced to the quintessentially British bear Paddington in his first film back in 2015 (MY REVIEW). I loved that film and in fact it was one of my top 20 films of 2015. I was surprised but happy that they produced a sequel about our favorite teddy bear. This sequel was again directed and co-written by Paul King. For the local prints, Xian Lim had again been tapped to dub over the original vocals of Ben Whishaw. 

This time around, Paddington wanted to buy a gift for his Aunt Lucy for the occasion of her 100th birthday. He saw a charming pop-up book showing various London tourist spots in an antique shop and thought his Aunt Lucy will love it. However, when the store was burglarized and that book was stolen, Paddington was wrongly accused, apprehended and jailed for this crime. While Paddington tries his best to get through life in prison, the Brown family do their best to gather evidence to prove that their bear's innocence.

Among the noted British actors supporting Paddington in this sequel is Hugh Grant playing Phoenix Buchanan, a narcissistic actor who lived right across the Brown's house. Despite him going against Paddington, Grant made me laugh with his various eccentric actor idiosyncrasies and his donning of his old costumes. Another new face is Brendan Gleeson who played Knuckles McGinty, the cook of the prison who took a fancy to Paddington's marmalade recipe and becomes his friend. 

Reprising their roles from the first film were: Sally Hawkins, who was just nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in "The Shape of Water," was a gentle peaceful presence, reprising her role as Mrs. Mary Brown. Hugh Bonneville plays her straitlaced husband, Henry. Jim Broadbent also returns as the owner of the antique shop, Mr. Gruber. Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon lend their voices to Paddington's dearest Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo. 

Through all his naive misadventures in this film, Paddington remains as endearing a bear as ever. One of the funniest scenes in the film was that one about the red sock getting mixed up in the washing machine where all the black and white striped jailbird uniforms were loaded with hilarious results. Only a kind and sweet cutie pie like Paddington can tame the most hardened criminals like he did here. Those climactic action scenes by the CG Paddington had on the train were also executed in the most fun and exciting manner. They were thrilling without becoming too seriously scary but certainly not too kiddie or safe. 8/10.

Review of THE GREATEST SHOWMAN: Exhilarating Entertainer!

Watch Movies TV - January 31, 2018

I know the name P. T. Barnum, but I did not know anything about the kind of man he was, nor what the story was behind the circus that bore his name. When I heard about this movie that was going to tell about Barnum's life and career, I thought that should be interesting. The fact that this was a musical with original songs and starred Hugh Jackman in the lead role made everything even more exciting.

Phineas Barnum was a very poor boy growing up. Despite all odds, he was able to marry Charity Hallett (Michelle Williams), the daughter of one of his tailor father's rich clients. Even if his wife and two daughters seemed to be contented with the modest life they had, Phineas himself was obsessed with his dream of transcending his station in life. Phineas began with a wax museum of the strange and the macabre, but his idea really hit its stride when he developed a show that featured "freaks" as the main stars. But even then, Phineas wanted much more, and that was when success began to unravel.

Despite better known for this tough and violent action persona as the Wolverine, Hugh Jackman had been an acclaimed musical theater star first before he became a big movie star. Starring as Jean Valjean in the movie version of "Les Miserables" (Tobe Hooper, 2012) (MY REVIEW), Jackman's musical talent became more widely known and appreciated by the non-theatergoing public. 

As P.T. Barnum, Jackman was obviously too old to have been realistic as the young impoverished Phineas, and this was distracting at the start. However, he would eventually grow into the role so well, such that this age disparity would later not matter. He displayed musical versatility, performing songs like "A Million Dreams," (with Williams and daughters), "The Other Side" (with Efron) and "From Now On" (on his own) with flair and heart.

Zac Efron played Philip Carlyle, a playwright from a rich family whom Barnum convinced to join his circus show to give it more "class". Carlyle was romantically attracted to trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (played by Zendaya), whose race and class was unfavorable to his family. It was good to see Efron back to the type of role he was first known for as a singer and dancer. You can still see some of his "High School Musical" dance moves here. His featured number with Zendaya with the song "Rewrite the Stars" as they took to the air on ropes was a romantic and dramatic spectacle thrilling to behold on the big screen.

Nine of the songs in the film's soundtrack were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the same duo won an Oscar for "La La Land" and a Tony for "Dear Evan Hansen." I am surprised that of all the melodic and powerful songs in the film, the only film  being cited for awards is "This is Me" (not Demi Lovato's similarly titled anthem from "Camp Rock" of course). That song and its message is strong and positive, and the performance of Keala Settle as Lettie Lutz the Bearded Lady was mindblowing. But the other songs were also so very good, just one musical highlight after the other. From the bombast of the title song to the intimacy of "Tightrope", it is not fair that only one song gets all the attention.

For me, the song that mesmerized me the most is Jenny Lind's absolutely riveting rendition of the song "Never Enough" during her first concert in New York City. Performed with gorgeous elegance by Rebecca Ferguson mouthing vocals recorded by Loren Allred (a finalist on Team Adam of the The Voice Season 3), I was staring at the screen slack-jawed the whole time she was singing, and I wanted to give her a standing ovation right there and then. OK, Allred's singing vocals was not exactly the soprano Jenny Lind's real voice was supposed to be, but I was taken with the whole illusion of that scene.

I am sure there was a lot of cinematic license taken by the filmmakers to tell P.T. Barnum's story to make him as sympathetic a hero as possible, making others probably look worse than they actually were, but this never claimed to be an accurate biopic at all. Too bad the production and costume designed were totally snubbed at the Oscars. I thought they did well to create a realistic period setting and lavish spectacle of a show. I admit I am biased when it comes to musical films like this. I really liked this film a lot and I am definitely going to watch this again (and again). 9/10.  

Unlisted Owner (2013) - Horror Film Review

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Unlisted Owner is a found footage made in Illinois, and one that very much falls into the old way of making these. This is the directorial debut of director Jed Brian, he also wrote, edited, produced and even acted in it as the primary camera holder. It was interesting to find out that this is the first film all the actors here have ever done apparently and that they are comprised of friends and family of Jed.

A family that have just moved into a house rumoured to have a dark past end up all dead. A group of friends on their way to a camping trip nearby decide to check out the place after hearing the news of the murders on the radio. These six friends include Jed (Brian) who has recently brought a new video camera, his girlfriend Andrea (Andrea Potts), Griffin (Griffin Groves) and his girlfriend Haidee (Haidee Corona), as well as the comedy duo of Gavin (Gavin Groves) and Tyler (Tyler Landers). Later that day the friends decide to head back to the house in order to get a look at the crime scene, a decision that may not be too wise...

A lot of decisions made here do make a lot of sense due to being a first for so many of the actors, and for the director himself. The obviously limited budget lends itself well to the found footage genre, though because of this there isn't really anything that you haven't seen before. You get the usual shaky cam, camera glitches (which seemed pointless here), jump scares and hokey reasons for filming everything. The acting also isn't the best, saying that though, I don't know if this was filmed in chronological order but I felt like the acting actually improved as Unlisted Owner went on. I guess it makes it more natural if you call each other by your real names, and it helps a huge amount that they know each other in real life due to the group seeming cohesive together on screen.

While this doesn't do much special I did actually find myself enjoying it enough, it never stunned me at any point, and added some little bits that I appreciated. Primarily there are two cameras being used to record the found footage (five in total including the side character parts), while it is a cliche to have the cameraman filming everything due to having a new toy I got on board with Jed doing this, especially due to all the complaining the pretty mean spirited duo of Gavin and Tyler that led to one laugh out loud moment for me. When the camera loses its host towards the end I did feel a little bit sorry for characters. I found Griffin filming stuff to make less sense, but it was interesting to see a few different other characters having their own little subplots.

The film starts with the usual explanation that the events being shown have been edited together from found camera footage, then heads into traditional found footage of a family moving into a new home, though this came to an unexpected finish within five minutes. I would say for me this prologue felt a bit rushed, there was barely any development before skipping straight to the horror and so I didn't care for the situation. Then the horror stays away until forty five minutes later when the finale of the main storyline comes to an end. I did enjoy the finale, it may just be people vanishing one by one but I liked the way it was structured and had some pretty cool shots and managed to create a little feeling of unease which I appreciated. The epilogue takes place the following year (as stated in the text at the films start events took place on two totally separate days). I thought this epilogue wasn't needed at all, aside from a well filmed finish it didn't really add anything and felt a bit disjointed being so far apart from the rest of the film's events. Each time the camera goes to a different person recording you get a shot of a police board with details of which camera is being used, the date of the footage, and the person recording. This was a genius idea as made it easy to work out what was going on far more easily than when footage just keeps leaping around from person to person. The mid film police interview with a potential suspect was also a good idea as it set up story beats for what would happen to the group of friends.

That forty five minutes of downtime is when Unlisted Owner loses some momentum. The trip to the campsite was fine, as was the hi jinks of the group (well of Gavin and Tyler) once there, the whole scene revolving around setting the tents was pretty funny. It was good for setting up the group dynamic. But then we get a ten minute chunk of the characters driving around in the dark and moaning at each other, this got a little bit tedious and I was glad when they finally arrived at the house they had initially headed for, it seemed like the detour taken was just to fill running time as nothing whatsoever of note happened in this segment.

While Unlisted Owner does nothing to really stand out from the crowd it wasn't that bad a film and that was mainly due to the feeling of unity from the main cast members that helped elevate their acting higher than it would be had they not known each other in real life. While this is 76 minutes I feel like it may have benefited a little from being cut down a little bit. Saying that I thought the last twenty minutes was solid horror and effectively filmed, especially the clever way each of the characters vanish one by one. Despite being obvious in this type of genre it had some good moments, such as the camera battery running out at a key moment, the final (if predictable) shot and a reason for filming that just about holds up. Unlisted Owner came out on DVD and Amazon Streaming on November 14th last year.

SCORE:

Home Again: DVD Review

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Home Again: DVD Review

Based on no real kind of reality, other than the fluffiness that exists in the white privilege confines of the movies, Reese Witherspoon's latest unashamedly and unapologetically panders to the female audience.

Witherspoon plays Alice Kinney, the just-turned-40-year-old daughter and single mother-of-two of film-maker John Kinney, who's recently divorced.
Celebrating a night out with friends for her birthday, the eternally perky Alice meets Harry, Teddy and George, a trio of wannabe film-makers who've just been evicted but are on the verge of a big deal.

Nearly hooking up with one and finding the other two in her house the next day, Alice finds her mother (Candice Bergen, making the very most of her very few scenes) has invited them to move in while they search for the big break.
But problems arise in this odd family when Alice's former husband Austen(the begrizzled Michael Sheen) decides he wants her back.

Home Again exists in the kind of bubble that Hollywood rom-coms tend to perpetuate.

With everyone looking incredibly perfect and somehow incredibly bland, Nancy Meyers' daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer's assembled a veritable piece of fluff that trades largely on Witherspoon's eternal likeability and girl-next-door-could-be-your-best-friend sheen to maximum effect.

With little attachment to any reality and some perfectly pristine house interiors, Home Again is a sort of wishful piece of life porn, where the very troubles that arise aren't actually really troubles and everything ends nicely at the end of the day for everyone.
It's so detached from real life and drowned in a sort of saccharine appeal that it's likely to give you diabetes.

That said, its target audience will lap up the tenuously underdeveloped love triangle, will laugh riotously at the bristling of the generations when Austen returns and swoon as the nice guy gets the girl by launching a charm offensive that culminates in him fixing a wonky kitchen cupboard and entering Alice's heart and affections.

It's not that Home Again is anything other than what it aspires to be, and while there are a few moments which will garner some amusement, there's a nagging feeling that any male will find this dangerously intolerable at times and any female will wilt in its presence and perpetuation of the Witherspoon appeal.

Broad and yet bland, Home Again manages to be just about inoffensive over its 90 minute run time - however, its lack of developing plots and desire to indulge only the slightest of plot developments inside its bubble mean Meyers-Shyer's debut is about as appealing as flat champagne - there are moments of sparkle, but the after taste is anything but pleasant.

Hook Movie Screenshots With Captions Part 1

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Hook
1991
Genre: Fantasy Adventure
Starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith
'What if Peter Pan grew up?'
My Movie Review Rating: 10 out of 10

(Decided to post only selected Robin Williams featured screencaps of the movie, as opposed to from the beginning of the story)

Credit goes to Movie Screencaps.com

TAPestries 2018 - The Arden

80's Thriller Throwback: The Quiet Earth

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In the world of science fiction, sometimes less is more

by Jason Elizondo 

I have to be honest. I'm surprised that this film has never popped up on my radar until now. While I'm sure I've seen that cover or heard that title before, it's always been in passing and never recommended from a trusted source, which kind of blows my mind because in retrospect, it's quite the hidden gem.

Directed by Geoff Murphy (Freejack, Young Guns II, Under Siege II), one of my favorite underrated directors in the 80's and 90's, The Quiet Earth is an Australian "last man on Earth" style thriller that has gained a huge cult following ever since it's initial 1985 release. While it never registered on my radar until now, it seems most people "have" in fact seen this and love it. Why hasn't anybody recommended this to me yet?? I feel so left out of the party.

When Zac (Bruno Lawrence) wakes up one morning and prepares to go to work, something immediately feel's off. Once he sets out on his drive to work, he discovers that there are no more people left. Upon further investigating, he learns the shocking truth, and it's much more terrifying than he could have imagined.

The Quiet Earth is that very rare and special gem that only comes around every so often. It's a methodically and meticulously constructed slice of science fiction cinema done in such a way that you rarely ever see anymore. It's a visual feast for the eyes, yet there are no special effects. It's science fiction stripped down to it's core, instead choosing to realize the effects of science in the real world circa 1985. And it's because of this approach that The Quiet Earth takes a large step outside of the standard sci-fi genre tropes. While not necessarily all that new of an idea, it's in the way it's accomplished that makes it so special.

Most of the first half of the film has very little dialogue, as our protagonist, Zac, deals with the shocking realization that he may very well be the last human being on Planet Earth. He soon realizes that he may not actually be alone, but when he discovers the truth about "the event" in which something wiped out the entire planet's population, he must come to grips with the sad reality that he may have had a hand in it.

The Quiet Earth is a film that chooses to take it's own path in the sci-fi genre. It's a much simpler tale, yet never any less entertaining or intriguing. Most of this is due to director Geoff Murphy's incredible work behind the camera, but a good chunk of it also falls on the shoulders of the films main protagonist, here played by Bruno Lawrence, giving one helluva performance. His moments of pain, confusion, anger, love, happiness, jealousy and redemption are all beautifully captured in an emotionally raw performance. What I loved about him is that he's very much an "everyman". He's not good looking, athletic or muscular. He looks like anyone's uncle or father, and because of this, you feel much more inclined to connect with him on a human level.

The final 5 minutes of the film are a mindfuck in a way few films dare to be, especially back in 1985. There are no clear answers to what that last sequence means, and I love that about this. It gives the audience license to connect the dots and attempt to come up with their own interpretation. Some may find it aggravating, while others, like myself, find it stimulating. If you love slowburn sci-fi and you've never seen this, The Quiet Earth might just be the best undiscovered gem you've ever come across.

Geoff Murphy is such an underrated director. While I haven't loved everything he's ever done (The Last Outlaw felt like a missed opportunity to me), the films he does well are so great in their respective genre's. Freejack is far better than it has any right being, where Murphy demonstrates once again just what he can do visually with a somewhat simple premise, yet pushes the material so much further by how he shoots it. While some may not connect with the material, it's worth watching just because of how slick it is. The same thing goes for Young Guns II, a star-studded western that is far more entertaining than it should be, especially when you consider the first one isn't all that great to begin with. Young Guns II is hands-down one of the best, coolest and most stylish westerns ever made, and that's all thanks to Murphy's work behind the camera. He elevates the material tenfold, in a way few directors would be able to do. And the same can be said about his work in here, where the film is just as much of a visual marvel as it is a compelling slice of smart sci-fi cinema.

Most people don't bother to take the time to value the visual aspect of a director's work, especially today when most new directors have zero style or substance, instead choosing to shoot freestyle, fast and loose, which is sadly the norm these days. So when I come across a director like Geoff Murphy, who puts just as much time in his camera setups as he does with the written material, there's cause to notice.

How to see it:
The Quiet Earth has been issued a number of times on DVD through Anchor Bay (now OOP), The Cult Classic Film Series, Umbrella Entertainment and more, with most recently on Blu-Ray in 2016. Really, just take your pick. They're all in good quality and moderately priced. It's worth having in your collection.
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Mag Wheels (1978)

'Jemeji' Season 1 Episode 237 Recap- Aired: Tuesday 30 January 2018

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Seye and Neza bring Senami to the lodge.

Senami is still fighting to go back to the shrine.

Seye holds her down.

Senami says he doesn't understand.

Seye says that's not the way to get what she wants.

Senami orders them to leave her house.

The man with the machete asks Otogan Hundeyin where h should call Dr Jide's hands from.

Dr Jide swears on his wife's life that he will get him some land from the free trade zone.

Otogan tells him he wants it in 2 days as he has already sworn.

He introduces the man with the machete as Mawuyon and says the man will be Jide's new best friend and will prevent him from backing out of their agreement.

Seye and Neza come to the palace.
Seye tells Obi how they found the hideout where Senami's father was kept and how Senami ran to the shrine.

Obi says he doesn't understand why Mausi would want to take Senami's father but he will get to the bottom of it.

He sends for the elders.

At the shrine, Meghonu asks Medeyomi how she dares to show her face again.

Medeyomi asks how she's doing because she looks terrible like Aji dealt with her.

Meghonu asks if she's mad.

She asks what she's doing in Aji and tells her to leave.

Medeyomi says she won't leave till she sees Peace.

Meghonu says Medeyomi can't just abandon her responsibilities then decide to show up one day; even the gods will not allow it.

Medeyomi asks what gods then she breaks into laughter and says the word going around is that the gods have been silent.

Dr Jide's wife comes to the clinic with a big bag.

Matron tells her that her husband is not around then she asks what she has in the bag.

Jide's wife says her husband gave her some money to go to Cotonou to get clothes so she came to show them to him.
She asks if Matron would like to see them.
Matron declines.

Jide's wife tries to call her husband on the phone but it's switched off.

Folake is giving Obi a massage.

He tells her that he is tired of the position of Otogan as it comes with a lot of responsibilities.

He gets a call from Seye who informs him that the millitary unit has been approved to come and supervise the relocation of the shrine and the developers are also ready.

Dr Jide's wife shows Matron some of the clothes she got.

She asks if Matron knows anyone expecting a baby as she got some baby clothes too.

Matron tells her to go to the palace as the Chief's fiancée is expecting a baby.

Fonton comes into the clinic and Jide's wife leaves.

Matron tells Fonton that she saw something that has been disturbing her.

He asks what it is.

She begs him not to say anything but she saw Medeyomi.

He exclaims 'Ojie!'

Jide's wife comes to the palace.

An attendant tells her to leave as there will soon be a meeting with the elders.

Folake enters the main room and sees her.

Jide's wife asks if she came to see Otogan.

Folake says she lives at the palace.

Jide's wife asks if she's the new fiancée.

Folake says she is.

She dismisses the attendant and asks what Jide's wife wants.

Jide's wife says she just opened a boutique in Lekki and she wanted to show Folake some of the things she got.

She shows her the clothes and asks if Folake has seen Jide.

Folake says she hasn't.

Jide wife asks if Folake has seen him with any women.

Folake says he's been behaving but she doesn't understand why his wife has stayed married to such a man.

Jide's wife says better the devil you know and she has Jide at her beck and call.

Folake says she can't stay with such a person.

Jide's wife says she can teach Folake a thing or two because no two marriages are the same.

Seye comes back to see Senami.

He apologises to her and says he and Neza weren't being unempathetic to her situation.

Senami says she's tired.

Seye asks what's really going on.

Seenami says Aji has a lot of secrets and some are so terrible that people think the whole village would be destroyed if they were revealed so there has always been a keeper of secrets appointed by Mausi; her grandmother was the last one and now she is also one and she can't leave Aji because terrible things would happen.

He is shocked.

Senami says that was what happened to Sesinu and to save Sesinu's life, she took over the role and now she's the one stuck in Aji and Mausi knew her father came to take them away that was why she took him.

Seye says he's sorry.

Senami says she would take her life if she can be sure it would end everything but she can't be sure.

Meghonu asks Medeyomi if she has any idea what she had to go through in her place.

Medeyomi says she won't apologise.

Meghonu asks what she has been doing.

Medeyomi says it's none of her business and she has no intentions of being Mausi that was why she rejected it and Meghonu could have done so too but she chose not to, even with all her education.

Meghonu tells her that her daughter (Peace) is the new Mausi and she will do all within her powers to ensure she's trapped in Aji and pays for Medeyomi's sins.

Peace arrives.

Medeyomi's countenance changes to a playful one and she tells Meghonu that she's sorry she missed her way.

She leaves.

Peace asks Meghonu who the woman is.

Meghonu says she's nobody.

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