Philattio Reviews

Spring Breakers (2012)

It Needed More Control. Very Repetitive.

[6/10 · 29 May 2013]

The story focuses on four college girls who enjoy taking drugs and living the party lifestyle, getting drunk and/or high and playing games with each other or singing songs together. During the end of their semester of college they discuss their desire of attending spring break out of town. Unfortunately they don't have enough money to travel. So three of the girls Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) decide to go out one night and rob a diner, excluding Faith (Selena Gomez). They arrive and successfully taunt and threaten the money out of customers and employees and drive off with enough money to get out of town. They arrive at Spring Break, and party taking drugs and getting drunk with jocks, however they find themselves arrested until a gangster white guy called Alien bails them out of jail taking them under his wing and showing them to his badass, thug-lifestyle. The girls start to find themselves in danger as one by one some of them take a bus back home leaving two of them left to help Alien do the unthinkable and embark on a deadly mission to target his antagonist at his crowded mansion.

In terms of casting I was pleased with the fact that former-Disney stars Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez were casted as such crazy rebellious girls. With James Franco showing us an even more gangster side of him since Pineapple Express.

The story is good. The plot is good. The casting choices are good. The soundtrack and cinematography is good. However, the editing is just over the top.

From the opening shot I cringed at what I saw. It is one of those movies that shows you something annoying and keeps going and going and repeating itself. Lines are repeated over and over again. The story is told with flash forwards and flashbacks with constant voice overs repeating annoying lines like "Spring Break" over and over again. This motif is cool at some parts but otherwise way too over done. I felt that the film tried too hard especially to change the way we see Hudgens and Franco in such a raw, materialistic, contrasting roles.

It is definitely enjoyable and worth watching but throughout you will find yourself cringing or even annoyed at the repetitiveness. (You'll know what I mean once you see it).

Selena Gomez definitely shined in this film and Rachel Korrine had her moments while the other actors just seemed like they were trying to hard.

To sum this up, it is a cool film with the right cast, yet it is edited in an over ambitious way. I love the idea and the concept but (I might get hated for saying this) I think it should have been directed by someone else and scripted and edited just a little bit differently and toned down while a lot of parts in the film was unnecessary. I decided to be nice and give this a 6/10. Despite my disappointment I still recommend you watch this. Its totally worth the watch.

Twelve (2010)

I Actually Liked Twelve

[7/10 · 20 April 2012]

I hesitated a couple times before I finally decided to rent this film out. Basically the film revolves around teenage individuals who live in the city of New York, and have a position in the social scale of partying. The film is lead by Chase Crawford from "Gossip Girl." In this he stars as "White Mike," a sober drug dealer who has never taken a drug or sip of alcohol. The section of his life of which the film chooses to observe takes place after the death of his Mother of him he had lost to cancer. This leaves him drifting throughout the dullness of New York dealing drugs to his ex-classmates and a particular girl named Jessica, who is hung over from a new drug called "Twelve" and wants more. As she finds herself played by this drug the events in the film escalates into plots of murder, sex and drama leading to the sleek finale of where the mess that explodes at an 18th birthday.

I have to say the best thing about this film is the way the characters interact with each other. Although I am not a fan of Chase Crawford, his performance towards the end of a lost soul left numb by the death of his Mother caused me to feel sympathetic for the guy. Crawford's performance is unlikeable and blank at times but it stands almost unnoticeable by the witty performances of the ensemble.

The film leaves us to deal with a range of characters at different levels. Emily Meade, Jeremy Allen White, Rory Culkin, 50 Cent and Esti Ginzburg all give the film a variety of drama's in different tones. Emily Meade plays Jessica, she is my favorite character with her strong individuality of a girl who knows what she wants yet has a weakness to the drug Twelve, progressing to methods of desperation when she discovers she has no money for one last fix. Rory Culkin delivers another likable performance as Chris, a guy who lives alone in his parents townhouse, throwing parties for the sake of if it, while giving into his weakness of women as he finds himself manipulated by a blonde social princess, Sara Ludlow. He deals calmly and accustomed to his Brothers large explosive egotistical personality. Emma Roberts who stars as Chase Crawford's love interest, tries hard yet innocently to spend time with him. His reaction of always wanting to leave her causes frustration and desire of him healing from grief and committing love to her.

These characters are pleasing to me as I am interested in stories about rich kids of take advantage of their wealth, money and power. These stories fascinate me ever since I read the novel, Less than Zero.

Keifer Sutherland's deep Sin-City-meet's-Ghostface tone of narrating gives the film a dark downbeat pace. His smooth voice embodying the senses of sadness, corruption and pleasure.

The only problem I had with this movie was Rory Culkin's brother Billy Magnussen who performed annoyingly and just plain lame at times. The character Magnussen portrays has just escaped from rehab after assaulting a officer there. His douchebag outbursts, crude comments, and self centered cockiness could have been portrayed with a better actor like Ryan Phillippe or Channing Tatum or just someone better. This stupid brainf****d character however gives a chilling intimidating ending tying the ribbon to this dark interesting film.

The film is not perfect, but for a straight to DVD feature I am pleased with the character driven plots. It doesn't waste time or dwell on certain topics like most underrated films, it's not stereotypical ignoring the use of character's we've seen before. It's cinematography and tone is similar to Daydream Nation starring Kat Dennings as the lead.

I like this film. Check it out.

Scream 4 (2011)

They Finally Did It!

[10/10 · 29 March 2012]

I grew up with the Scream films since I was 8 - which was when I first watched Scream 1996. By the time Scream 2 released on DVD I had vivid nightmares of Ghostface stalking me outside my house. When I went through my faze of horror movies Scream was always the one that I loved.

The start is the most memorable part of the film. It left me speechless and shocked with it's complex and playfulness and self aware humor that it played with. When we are finally reintroduced back to Woodsboro with Sidney, Gale and Dewey I was suddenly in my element. I felt as though I was back in the 90's; not only are we reunited with the iconic Ghostface and the stars, Neve, Courtney and David, but the film also looks, feels and sounds like a 90's film without being outdated.

Its warm cinematography, tight shots, dutch tilts, catchy soundtrack and the genius of Kevin Williamson's script flowed together creating this satisfying sequel which was worth waiting for.

Sidney Prescott is now much stronger in this film; this time she battle's Ghostface, confronting his first appearance and helping our new younger characters as she knows the tricks and suspicions of trust towards the other sinister characters.

The new characters fit well into place, Emma Roberts, Hayden Peneteire, Nico Tortorella, Marley Shelton, Rory Culkin, Alison Brie, Adam Brodie all deliver the most pleasing comedic performances.

The twist caught me off guard; you will never guess who the killer is! Although it felt anti-climatic and almost too-soon of a revelation, it still made it worth watching as our killer handled his/her post- revelation-performance even more twisted and even funny at the same time.

The film is not like Halloween 4, Saw VI, Nightmare on Elm St 4 or Final Destination 4. It honors the original very much and its one of the few sequels that have left me feeling satisfied, scared, thrilled and inspired.

Scream 4 left me speechless and lost for words. Everynow and then I pick up the DVD and think "oh my god... they actually finally did it." Thank god Neve, David and Courtney returned with Wes and Kevin.

The film is satisfying on its on. I don't mind is Scream 5 never happens, but I'd love for it to happen.

Halloween II (2009)

Intense.

[6/10 · 24 April 2010]

This movie only just released in New Zealand a few weeks before I have written this review. First of all I am a Halloween fan. I have seen all the Halloween films at least ten times each. When I first saw Rob Zombies remake of Halloween 2007 I was completely blown away, it was a masterpiece.

Halloween 2 kicks off straight away. I will begin to start with Laurie; she has changed so contrastingly from her nerdy, quirky, fun and "bookwormish" character as conveyed in the first film. Laurie Strode is now extremely unwell and has developed symptoms of a mental disorders as she suffers from hallucinations, panic attacks and severe nightmares.

Scout Taylor Comptons portrayal of a messed up Laurie is so convincing and so intense with raw emotion that I believed she definitely deserved an award.

But please let me remind you that she is like no other Laurie you have ever seen, she is swearing and cursing non-stop, she is drinking and taking large amounts of prescription drugs, her style has changed drastically to a hippy, alternative style look. I am every pleased with Scouts performance, and its good to see the lead girl actually reacting long term wise to the massacre in the previous film.

The depressing yet radical cinematography is very dark and dreamlike with more dull with the look of even a classic horror film. I was not too happy with many off the kills scenes in fact I was more interested in Laurie's character development than disturbingly brutal death scenes. Such as the murder in the Rabbit in Red strip club. I found most of the deaths unnecessary and I felt that Mr Zombie may have crossed the line.

Now the white horse. Yes, Sheri Moon Zombie is back again as a white angelic dressed woman who appears with a white horse and Michael Myers as a young child who stands by her side. I know that sounds terribly weird. But I did like this idea as it touches on psychiatric themes and hints a motivation for Myers's killings as Debra Myers says "Only a river of blood and hold us together."

I usually don't like when a actor is recasted though it has sometimes succeeded with Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes in Batman or Julianne Moore replacing Jodie Foster in the Hannibal movies. I really did think that Chase Wright Vanek did a much better job than Daeg Faerch, either way I did like them both equally, but Chase Wright Vanek conveys this eerie evilness with his and deeper voice.

Halloween 2 is not a waste of time. It is no doubt a very intense movie. Before you press play on that DVD player be aware that this is a very seriously INTENSE, EM0TIONAL, SYMBOLIC piece of work. Right now I do not know if I like this film or not, but I definitely do not hate it. I'm just not attracted by such intensity.

Dear Rob Zombie,

Please direct Halloween 3. Do it with care, make Laurie kill Michael in a big dramatic vengeful and brave way (again 2007 ending was awesome). bring back Loomis, Annie, Laurie and Sheriff Bracket. END your series as a trilogy. Resolve Annie and Laurie's rough patches. Tone down Loomis's unpleasing desire for blood money. Create one more Halloween that resolves every characters problems. And look at some of your murder scenes and think... Should I really keep that in the film?

Peace.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

Average Film with Good Parts

[5/10 · 20 November 2009]

The Novel for New Moon is really good. Much better than Twilight.

When I watched this I was really quite disappointed during the important scenes (mostly love scenes). These scenes were not reinforced with touching music, in fact all the songs are really bad. I wasn't "touched" at all when Edward broke with Bella. I gave it a chance and paid attention, and yet I felt nothing.

The fighting scene at the Volturi was outstanding. I sat there in the theater with my eyes wide open and my heart beating fast. The movement would go from fast to slow motion ending up with a "Matrix" type of scene. This was the best part of the film.

A lot of parts in this film were so bad that I laughed. The reintroduction of Edward, Jacob and Alice were so corny and cheesy. Also at one point Edward kisses Bella, and they let out little moans which sounds so weird cos they had only hooked up for a couple of seconds.

The movie was based really close to the book. However it was done in an unpleasing way. I really really wished that Catherine Hardwick directed this one and maintained her contemporary style of filming with another great soundtrack that Twilight had.

This movie IS worth watching. Give it a chance and keep in mind that it DOES have good parts separated between those disappointing scenes.

Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007 Video)

Way Better than the First One!

[9/10 · 17 October 2009]

I absolutely hated House on Haunted Hill 1999. It was one of the most stupid, lamest, cheesiest films I had seen.

But when I saw the cover for this at the DVD store. I decided to rent it out just for the hell of it. And I had no regrets at all.

This movie cuts right to the chase. With its dark visually dynamic opening credits accompanied with thrilling fast paced music. I was now ready for the the movie to commence. The movie then falls into a stylish glamorous beginning to establish the smart likable characters, with a great cast including Amanda Righetti and Steven Pacey. This is supported well with a great warm look, with pleasing camera angles.

There are many references to The Grudge 2. Like Grudge 2, the story is continued with the sister Ariel of the protagonist from first film. The setting of the film is also set in a Haunted House. Other elements from The Grudge 2 include; the journal, the infamous "hallway sequence," Ariel's sister's ghost of which resembles Kayako from Grudge 2, and the house in this film is also haunted by recurring deaths that happened in its history. There was also a certain scene in the film which referred to Psycho 1960, which was when Ariel and Paul were discussing her sister (Sarah) when they are interrupted by a man who walks into the room also looking Sarah. Just like a scene with Leila Crane, Sam Loomis and Detective Arbergahst.

Every kill scene in this refers back to a scene from the past if which patients were murdered. Showing dark horrifying flashbacks.

The film also contains a consistent professional script, that has comedy, seriousness, sex and thrill with drama and conflict.

Its a great film that deserved a theatrical release. My cousin also enjoyed this as well as my friend and a girl I had recommended this to.

Stranger with My Face (2009 TV Movie)

Different but Likable

[6/10 · 6 October 2009]

I had gained a huge obsession with with the novel Stranger with My Face, written by Lois Duncan, after reading it 3 times.

Books that get made into movies always get bad feedback, for example: Twilight, The Da Vinci Code etc. So don't be surprised if you find yourself hating this film. There have been large changes to the movie compared to the novel. Laurie is originally Indian looking, unfortunately, she is casted with Alexz Johnson who is a blonde white girl. Significant characters; Neal, Meghan and her Father had been removed from the story. The existing characters are also very different however they are somewhat likable. The casting in this is film is good based on the screenplay, yet horrible compared to the novel. As much as I liked the novel I found myself connecting well with the loosely based characters; Laurie, Helen, Gordon, Shelley and Alexis.

I did enjoy the film, but I enjoyed the book better. I am a huge fan of horror films and I can adapt well with straight to DVD/TV films. If you enjoyed the book you may not enjoy the movie as huge changes have been made. Its not a great movie. But its not a horrible movie. I'd rather watch this instead of "Wrong Turn 2" or "Joy Ride 2."

Give it a chance see if you like it. Its not terrible and trust me its better than most movies that weren't released in theaters.

Black Christmas (2006)

Disappointing

[4/10 · 21 July 2009]

Good things:) 1. It included a great cast of professional, attractive, hot and likable actresses, Michelle Tratchenberg, Katie Cassidy, Mary Elisabeth Winstead, Andrea Martin, Lacey Chabert.

2. The highly successful original 1974 movie is a great film to modernize. As it has great ideas and a good concept.

3. The look and warm colors created a nice cosy feel to it. It maintained the horror in warmth darkness.

4. The Sorority house was nice and luxurious 5. Andrea Martin who played as Phyllis in the Original starred as the house mother in this one, which was a good attempted to honor the original.

6. The DVD cover looks cool.

Bad Things :( 1. The Music seems outdated/old style which doesn't match the modern look that it possessed. It makes the film seem cheap and more like a straight to DVD film or a TV movie.

2. The original characters weren't used such as: Jess Bradford, Luitenant Fuller, Peter, Barbara, Phyllis. Although Lauren played by the sexy Crystal Lowe was based on the original Barbara played by Margot Kidder. They made the character rude and "bitchy," whereas Margot Kidder in the original was more likable and funny.

3. They left out the whole involvement of the Police story that was a big part of the original film which kept the movie serious and interesting.

4. Too much of the killers childhood was revealed. Whereas in the original the killer was barely mentioned giving it a mysterious fear-of-the-unknown thought. The killers childhood should have been briefly mentioned at the start then continuing onto the present part of the story.

5. The killers childhood was sleazy disgusting. And seemed more comedic than scary.

6. The Storyline should have been based more closely on the 1974 original film.

7. The Killers: Agnes who is an inbred daughter, of whom looks like a transvestite and is disappointingly funny. Billy, who is the father and has the same MOTHER...ew He also isn't scary either, he looks like an ordinary guy tbh. One of the killers has a rare liver disease causing yellowing of the skin, which looks weird and silly.

8. It included Bad cheesy dialog.

Prom Night (I) (2008)

Not scary, Great Cinematography

[5/10 · 14 July 2009]

Donna gets ready for Prom Night 3 years after her family was murdered. The Killer, of whom is her old Chemistry/Science teacher and is in love with her, stalks her after escaping from an institution and gradually kills her friends one by one, soon she's next.

The kill scenes in this film aren't flattering. The gore is reduced so much that it comes across as unrealistic. Donna's mother is killed in front of her, she is stabbed multiple times. Though when she is shown after wards, no stab wounds are shown just small drops of blood and her shirt slightly ripped. It makes it way less scarier and is very noticeable.

I loved the way this movie was filmed. During the PG-13 kill scenes the camera angles cut to such great angles and visually pleasing sequences. Such as Jessica Stoups death scene, Kelly Blatz death scene.

The best scene in the whole film is Dana Davis's death scene. She is chased through the dark construction level of the hotel, this film contains great suspense, the look and colors of the scene is sinister and dark with the use of blue, and plastic sheets covering the constructions sets. This is a great technique which is also used in a creepy sequence in 'The Grudge 2' and 'Saw IV.' When Dana Davis finally meets her demise, her blood squirts up to the plastic sheet which looks so cool and creepy! Its the best part!

Although the film is not as good as it could've been, it has so many other good things about. I enjoyed mostly the cinematography, camera angles, music score, soundtrack and look. However the PG-13 use of gore makes the film seem a lot less scary.

If your a fan of The Saw Films or Hostel, this film is not for you. If you enjoyed other Pg-13 films such as When a Stranger Calls, you may like this film. Don't have high expectations for the film. But take time to notice its great filming techniques. I really do believe the director should continue directing more horror films using the same type of visually pleasing angles.

The Grudge 3 (2009)

Disappointing, Not bad

[4/10 · 23 May 2009]

I am I big fan of the Grudge series, I've seen all the other Grudge movies about a million times.

After Jakes death the story continues with a new family living in the same apartment building that took place in The Grudge 2. Naoko Saeki sister of Kayako as well as Dr Ann Sullivan-psychiatrist for Jake investigates the building for finding answers to Jakes mysterious death, as well as finding as end to the curse.

The dialogue in this is really cheap and amateur, which is unfortunate because it makes the cast seem like bad actors.

I was glad that Matthew Knight has returned from Grudge 2, because I hate sequels with no one from the previous film. Shawnee Smith is an amazing actress, I was glad to see her in this even though she didn't last too long.

The new actress for Kayako Saeki is not bad. In some shots she looks extremely sinister, though she has trouble with the expression, mostly her mouth is too wide. The actor for Toshio is horrible, he is too tall and looks actually pretty hilarious, and for some reason he is wearing black shorts...

The apartment for this was rebuilt at a different location, I'm glad that it looks exactly the same.

The camera work wasn't as exciting as it could've been, it was also again very amateur with basic shots. The music was the same with just a few little differences, though it was so quiet for the horror scenes. It needed to be more loud more disturbing.

The horror scenes had good concepts yet they were't as smart and scary as the previous films.

I was glad that they kept the same opening prologue, and it also kept the same opening credits with the red backdrop and the black hair dancing around.

It was like many typical straight to DVD sequels, though give it a chance and see if you might like it.

I do hope they make a 4th Sequel with a new director, and a new screenwriter, and hopefully they go back to the Saeki house and end the curse.

I Know Who Killed Me (2007)

You have to look at it in a different way

[6/10 · 3 May 2009]

An idyllic town is rocked when Aubrey Flemming (Lohan), a bright and promising young college student is abducted and tortured by a sadistic serial killer. When She manages to escape, the traumatized girl who regains consciousness in the hospital insists that her real identity is that of Dakota Moss, a stripper in a seedy club and that the real Aubrey is still in mortal danger.

I definitely can understand why this movie won SO many razzies. Lindsay got worst actress....Come on guys! She wasn't that bad, I thought she was great in this movie.

The idea for this movie is great, although they conveyed those ideas so wrongly, and in the confusing order. The storytelling attempted a "Grudge-like" storyline which made the initial plots very confusing. This films focuses on Identical twins who are in 2 different locations, the film doesn't explain which one is which,seeing as they are both introduced non-chronologically. There are also too many things going on at the same time. There's the stalker-killer guy plot, then the whole twin plot and then the self-bleeding wounds idea. To understand this complicated movie, you have to watch it over and over again.

At first you will find this movie extremely boring, there are many scenes which are too long or pointless, which shouldve been either shortened or even deleted.

After watching this around 7 times I have now learned to like it. I love its unique look that it holds, with colours of blue and red which pattern each scene, you will find that in every scene the colour blue is there, almost in every shot. The horror scenes contain gore as gross as Hostel. The soundtrack is amazing by the way!

I Know Who Killed Me is such a good film, but has a few things wrong with it. This IS a good film, just give it a chance and be patient with the long boring scenes which separate the good parts. Ignore all the Razzies it won because trust me, I bet there are worse movies out there, with worse actors,directors and writers.

The Grudge 2 (2006)

Frightening, Scary, Smart,

[6/10 · 30 January 2009]

Then Grudge 2 is a smart dark film that delivers unexpected scares, giving predictable sequences a horrifying twist. The music is just amazing and so much more frightening than its predecessor The Grudge 1. I love how the story lines were made, though confusing at first, yet satisfying after watching it a couple times.

The film is slightly boring, and most of the good parts a separated between long boring scenes, which should of either been shortened or even deleted.

This film contains 3 story lines, which take place in 2 different locations, at 3 different times. And if You think thats confusing? I had to watch it 5 times to understand it.

The 3 stories move forward simultaneously interweaving at some points, with indications of which story takes place after another.

Storyline One-(Which takes place straight after The Grudge 1): Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) is persuaded by her mother to fly to Tokyo Japan to bring her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) back home after hearing that she had burnt down the house from the Grudge 1. She meets Karen at a hospital, who soon dies by the ghost Kayako Saeki just after they met. Aubrey meets with a reporter, together they look into Karens past and discover more into the curse of which decided Karens Fate.

Storyline Two-(Which takes place 2 years after Storyline One): 3 School girls attending an international college in Tokyo visit the Abandon house and play a prank on Allison (Arielle Kebble) by locking her in a closet. Allison discovers a terrifying apparation of the ghost Kayako Saeki. Although the 3 girls fled the house, the curse follows them until their impending fate.

Storyline Three (Which takes place just after Storyline Two): Jake Kimble(Matthew Knight) lives with his family in an apartment in Chicago Illinois. He soon witnesses the creepy aparation of the Ghost Toshio in the hallway, as well as a mysterious person wearing a a hooded jersey who lives beside him. The curse manifests its self in this story killing every one until Jake is the soul survivor. It is revealed at the end that the hooded character is Allison from storyline 2, who moved back to Chicago spreading the curse in this Chicago apartment block.

Each of these story lines are introduced at different times, making this film so confusing. Sarah Michelle Gellar died about 3 minutes after she was re-introduced which made me lose interest. Though she had a truly frightening death, with one of the best horror scenes I had watched. She delivers an outstanding performance, and it was a shame that she couldn't last in this film longer. We then follow this film through the Character Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn).

From the opening scene you will be thinking "what the hell....?", and although this movie had the best horror scenes. Some parts were just so stupid. Like when One of the girls in the Chicago Storyline gulped a whole milk bottle then spewed it back in the bottle> "What the hell....?" It seemed so random and took me a while to understand it. Also there's this one Frecken Scary scene when Vanessa sees an apparation of Kayako-Which is SO GODAMNED SCARY, but then she literally UNRINATES in fear> "What the hell....?" The look for this film is a dull greyish cold look, used in most modern day films such as the Saw Series and Twilight. This made it seem darker than The Grudge 1, but I kinda liked how they used warm colours in The Grudge one, but I guess this new look makes it seem scarier.

Now the Music is one of the best features, the music is much much more terrifying, and will definitely creep you out. I love it so much. The music was by Christopher Young btw.

The Film steps up its game at the end, with an insanely creepy ending. So give this film a chance, lean forward and pay attention. Make sure you watch it at least 3 times so that you will fully understand its complicated narrative. This is A good film, and is definitely worth watching. And the Cant wait for the 3rd one to come out, Im so Excited!!