Favourite Films

Why Hit Girl Kicks Ass

By
26/03/10

I saw Kick Ass last night (it was pretty damn awesome) and seeing how hard as nails a tween superhero girl is, and then looking at other women in superhero movies, I couldn’t help but think that these women are often there for reasons of attractiveness and to act as bait for the villains in these films; do we really need to see the damsel in distress still tied to the train tracks?

kick-ass-poster-hit-girl-1.jpg picture by emskilou

Unfortunately if these movies are to be believed, and we at thisfilmison always believe in movies, then the answer is yes.

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Kick Ass – (Review Take Two)

By
26/03/10

He looks like the long lost, curly haired, American brother of Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood combined. He has the “Geek Chic” factor and comic book nerdiness that both Peter Parker and (the lesser known) Chuck AKA Charles Carmichael possess. No one has heard of him…until he dons the green scuba diving suit and becomes a superhero, and as the tagline says he can’t fly, but he could kick your ass.

kick ass

In case you haven’t guessed I’m talking about the super hero movie Kick Ass, but even though I have put this film under this category don’t think that this is a run of the mill, nobody-geek-to-tough-good-guy film, there’s so much more to it than that! SO much more!

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Kick Ass

By
26/03/10

The cinematic year has become a predictable beast. Follow me for a second. January and February kick off with the remnants of the epics (Titanic/LOTR/Avatar) coupled with the ‘worthier’ choices of the awards ceremonies. Hitting the end of April right through to September is ‘Blockbuster disappointment season’ as we glide from week to week saying, “This looks really good!” before decrying our childhoods collectively raped. October and November sees ‘Indie heaven’ with offerings from Sundance, Cannes and the like finally hitting British shores, before the inevitable epic hoves into view in December again.

Kick Ass

So what’s been left out? That’s it, March and April. As history decrees it so it must be true. For the average film-fan all you can do in these months is clutch your cock and wait for the summer. Yet every now and again a film pops along in these months that you can’t label, you can’t easily categorise.

The only thing you can say with any certainty is that this film Kick’s Fucking Ass.

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The Avengers Preview

By
11/03/10

It occurred to me recently, whilst conversing with a less ‘informed’ colleague of mine that there is still a large amount of confusion amidst the general public regarding Marvel Studios current, cross title endeavour currently entitled The Avengers.

Downey Jr and Cheadle - Suited and booted

Back in 2002 the internet was aflame with rumours of an ill-advised double franchise reboot as Warner Brothers banded about the idea of a Batman vs. Superman flick. With Wolfgang Peterson attached to direct and the rumoured casting of Paul Walker and Ashton Kutcher in the title roles fan boys collectively began planning their own suicides. Thankfully, countless lives were spared as the project got no further than a subtly placed teaser poster in 2007’s I Am Legend.

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Coming Soon(ish)

By
15/02/10

Here’s five randomly selected films, in various stages of production coming to a cinema near you between now and another time in the future.

Ant-Man

British film makers are getting their own bite at the radioactive Marvel super cherry with the diminutive super hero Ant-Man.

Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead) is to direct a script written by Joe Cornish, the long time comedy partner of (This Film Is On friend) Adam Buxton. Ant-Man is a lesser known hero from the Marvel universe, but according to Edgar this is part of the appeal.

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Your Friendly Neighbourhood… Franchise Reboot.

By
29/01/10

When 2007’s Spider-Man 3 limped past its predecessors to surprisingly become the most successful instalment of the Sony produced franchise, the general consensus, backed up by a poor performance at the US box office, was that it just wasn’t as good as the first two films.

Can we embrace a new Spider-Man? Yes We Can!

From that moment on the future of the wall crawler looked precarious at best. I can’t have been the only one who was a little shocked when Sony announced that both Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire were on board for a fourth outing. Internet buzz seemed to suggest that both were a little disappointed by the third film and were hoping to put right a few wrongs before clocking out.

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Cage Fighting: Kick Ass Preview

By
28/01/10

It’s a widely accepted facet of the Hollywood status quo that Nicholas Cage gets first dibs on any superhero project in early development. Having watched Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider I’m sure I’m not the only soul grateful that only one such project has clawed its way out from development hell.Whether you love a bit of ‘Cage’ action or not, his star prowess is noticeably absent from the early promotional material for Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass. The cynic in me would suggest that this is a conscious effort by the film’s producers to distance Kick-Ass from recent box-office dead weight like Ghost Rider however, the fan boy in me hopes that it is in fact an attempt to let the product speak for itself.
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Suits You Sir: Iron Man 2 Preview

By
07/01/10

Back in 2008 John Favreau’s Iron Man became the first movie produced in house at Marvel Studios. Despite not having the experience of the big studios like Fox or Paramount stalwart producers like Avi Arad and Kevin Feige have themselves garnered a wealth of Hollywood experience over the past decade. It would appear that said experience translated directly into box office revenue as Iron Man proved to be the second most popular movie of 2008 beating the likes of Quantum of Solace, Twilight, and Indiana Jones 4 into submission. Box Office Success paired with the fact that Marvel were now in control of their own properties have lead inevitably to a sequel, a sequel which seems to be widely welcomed by critics and fans alike.
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The Dark Knight Review

By
27/07/08

Right. Thats it. I now officially have nothing left to live for. All the highlights of my summer; Glastonbury, the return of some long gone friends, Latitude, Radiohead in Barcelona, Wall-E and now the new ‘The Batman’ film (I love it when they call him The Batman) are all done and dusted. Waking up in the morning seems pointless now. But, Owen, I hear you cry, Stop pissing around with the melancholy shit and tell us, after months of waiting and an internet campaign thats lasted since the internet began, tell us please does it cut the mustard. Consider the mustard well and truly diced.

Picking up soon after Batman Begins, Brucie Wayne (Christian Bale once more) is living in a penthouse apartment since Ral burnt Wayne Manor to the ground. Spending his nights donning the mask and tights, his days are spent checking out the new White Knight of Gotham, District Attorney Harvery Dent, who seems to be boffing his childhood sweetheart Rachel (Maggie ‘Thank the lord its not Kat’ Gyllenhaal). Things seem to be looking up for Gotham until that is, the true arrival of a certain Joker in the pack.

Needless to say you’ve met someone who has seen it now and they’ve chewed your ear off to how great The Joker character is. Well they are 100% right because forget absolutely everything about the tragic events around the film and just take Heaths performance as the picture perfect example of mayhem personified. The closest thing to this character is one of the pyschopaths from Funny Games. It really is that petrifying. He spends most of the movie justifying his batshit crazyness and the rest screaming into handheld cameras. Its testament to the rest of the cast that you don’t end up rooting for him to just burn the whole city down.

As for the rest of the movie, yes it has tiny flaws in places (sonar mobiles seem to futuristic in this almost ‘real’ world and Batmans growl gets irritating), but I’m still going to shoot my batspunk in your general direction. Nolan has created a film, nay a world, of the sort you rarely see in movies let alone the biggest release of the summer. Every performance (while clouded slightly by the one just discussed) is spot on. Bale in the three roles of Good Bruce, Bad Bruce and The Batman will soon be the definitive Dark Knight if he isn’t already. Whether or not the director and his lead will hang about for another is still questionable but if I can just get a copy of ‘The Trial’ from Batman:The Animated Series into Christopher Nolans hands well that would be something to look forward to. Until then I suppose I’ll just have to watch settle for watching The Dark Knight, over and over and over and over again.

Hancock Review

By
04/07/08

I feel like throwing my toys out of the pram because I really don’t want to review this. Firstly I don’t want to review it because for once I’m going against mass critical consensus, i.e the majority think its shit, I think its good. ‘But Owen aren’t you supposed to be a renegade film reviewer with his own style, opinion and breathtaking wit ‘ Well, yeah, but I only pretend to hate everyone and pretend to want to be different. The main reason for not wanting to review this is the fact that I can’t cocking say anything about this movie for fear of spoiling it and I really want people to like it.

Most people will now that this is THE Big Willie movie of the Summer. And everyone loves Big Willie (those that don’t, I’m talking about Will Smith, y’know the artist formerly known as Fresh Prince). Most will know its about an alcoholic superhero who really can’t be arsed with saving the world, who feels unappreciated and who would rather be left alone. Some might know that a PR exec played by Jason Bateman comes to clean up his image and turn him into something a bit more super. But apart from these facts (oh and that he’s named Hancock) the rest of the plot has been better guarded than Michael Jacksons secret basement.

So thats it. I’m not telling you any more about the plot. Nothing about where Hancock came from, if there is a villain, if he has a Kryptonite style weakness. None of it. Which leaves me with a banal review which goes along the lines of this. Will Smith is excellent, as always, as the drunk belligerent would be superhero. Jason Bateman is perfect as the straight man with the heart of 24 carat helping him out. And Charlize is solid as the wife of Jason. There are complaints doing the rounds that the tone is all over the place but I’m fine with that so long as the movie surprises me.

And surprise me it did. Its not a straight out and out comedy, its not just another superhero film, and its not soaked in Casablanca style romance. Well okay it is a bit. But the parts all add up to something a little different. What that something is I still don’t quite know. And this may be why I’ve been putting this review off for so long. All I do know is, its funny, at times quite heartfelt and as enjoyable as any other summer blockbuster I’ve seen this or any other year. Oh and its got Will Smith in it. Being an arsehole. Watch it for that if nothing else.

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