chazthegamr Reviews

Madeline's Madeline (2018)

Madeline's Madeline is Magnetically Mesmerizing, and perhaps the Greatest Film of the Year

[9/10 · 6 November 2018]

The latter half of 2018 has really been a gleaming time for exquisite dance films, we've received the darkly beautiful and chaotic dances of Suspiria, the kinetic and jaw-dropping dances of Climax, but finally we have the best of them - Madeline's Madeline.

A truly magnetically mesmerizing film stringing together the fascination of idiosyncratic moments into an experience that is bewildering, funny, entrancing, and awe-inspiring. Other than my compliments, I don't feel that anyone can verbally express this films' justice, despite how simple it may seem once you see it.

By the end of this film I found conscious words unnecessary, I could only think and feel, and what I felt was phenomenal.

Through its idiosyncrasies it transcends the emotional naturalism we usually perceive, and gives us the feelings one would potentially feel for the first time if exposed to a new emotion.

Watch this ethereally exquisite performance and experimental piece, and come out with the excitement of finding a fresh voice.

The Wolf House (2018)

The Most Imaginatively and Creatively Satisfying Stop-Motion Film

[9/10 · 3 November 2018]

It's miraculous to watch a film that you started watching with little to no expectations, only to come out feeling influenced, your heart is in awe, while your mind reels.

I feel that it would be doing the film a disservice by simply comparing the film to a dream, yes that was the aim, and it is effective due to this. But not only is it a great dream, it's a dream you don't want to wake up from. It's a fantastic experience.

But most importantly, La Casa Lobo is the most imaginatively satisfying animation I've seen.

Prepare to be in awe at the pure insane creativity spun out before you, every set-piece is a work of Art. This may even be one of my favourite animated films.

You may not feel the same, although it's hard to ignore such an astounding craft.

Suspiria (I) (2018)

Suspiria kinetically glimmers, but unfortunately trips and clumsily falls in its climax. Still that kinetic energy has cast a spell which I am still under.

[8/10 · 9 October 2018]

My Full Review is on Letterboxd account 'CharlesJimenez'.

Suspiria has been a film I've been looking forward to for a while, and it wasn't until today (4th October) at the Sitges Film Festival that I watched one of my most anticipated films of the year.

The trailer was wonderful, the reception was intriguing, and the reported intentions of the film seemed fantastic - an arthouse slowburner film was definitely up my alley. I was especially excited for this film for my thoughts on the original. For me, the original Suspiria was enjoyable, although only due to its visuals and audio. Because those two aspects weren't at the forefront of the films' focus, I couldn't forgive the film for its comparably weak story, acting, and dialogue. It's a problem I have with every Giallo film I've seen, so I had expectations for something completely different, and hoped that it would deliver. Those three aspects could easily be expanded upon from a director like this.

And I thought that for the most part, I may have liked this more than the original. As the film opened with its spine-chilling synth music and its stylized titles my excitement grew. It seemed as if the people involved knew what they were doing and seemingly propelled in that factor. That was until the films' climax. Although before I express my shock at the level of quality presented in that climax, I would like to explore what I enjoyed, as well as some thoughts on many notable aspects.

I really liked this film visually, it may have not been the iconic fairytale-like beauty presented in the original, but this film does a fine job of covering that up with a polished 70's film look; everything looked very polished, there was an emphasis on dim reds and browns, and they all evoked a sense of being trapped in the past. Being one who has seen many tributes to the past with a faux film-look, it was nice to see another addition that perfectly replicated the style of its era. In-correspondence with these polished visuals are the meticulous and effective uses of cinematography. This film has many panning shots and zooms that feel like they're an ode to the pans and zooms in The Shining. Although this film more effectively uses them to reflect its emotion. It had a sort of Wes Anderson feel to them, in that they all worked to benefit the style.

My only problem with the visuals is that this style of cinematography doesn't take reign of most scenes as it did for some. Most of the shots are very standard, but those angels and pans stood out whenever they were used.

In terms of the dialogue and acting, I found that everyone did a fine job with the material they were given. The few that really stood out were Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth and Tilda Swindon.

I was a little concerned when reading that Dakota Johnson would be playing Susie, but for the most part she was very solid. In-fact, I thought that she was very good. She wasn't so much of a concerned and vulnerable audience character as she was in the original. In this film she's an ambiguous and committed character. She seems quite devoted to her role as a dancer, but you feel as if she could be evil.

In my opinion It wasn't until there was a different direction in her character that the sound of her voice did not work to the films' advantage - more on that once I dive into the climax.

In terms of Johnson's presence as a whole there were moments were you could sense unintentional goofs. One of them being the receding hairline which was randomly present in one shot.

I would quickly like to address Tilda Swindon as the old man and Madame Blanc. No, there is not a reveal that these two characters are the same as some reviews may imply. I feel that it's important to note this, as I frequently had an expectation that this dumb reveal would occur, and so I was too distracted by that to look at the character from the intended perspective.

Aside from that, Tilda Swindon was fantastic as usual. Despite it being very apparent that Dr. Jacob was played by Tilda Swindon, at times the character was so well-acted that I actually found it quite debatable as to whether Dr. Jacob was played by Tilda Swindon.

Mia Goth really stood out to me as someone who manifests very subtle idiosyncratic features. She almost reminds me of Shelley Duvall from 3 Women. In most of the films she's in, her performance is very lowered. So it was surprising to see her reflect the grim situations she's put in.

I was excited to read that Thom Yorke would be involved in making the films' soundtrack, mainly due to what I heard in the trailer. And despite loving how the soundtrack complimented the atmosphere of the film, there were a couple of tracks which didn't match the tone of the film at all. One of them being the track used when Susie jumps in the air, it sounded a lot like the buildup to a dubstep track. And being a film set in the 70's it just felt very jarring.

Despite that, none of the track placements were as detrimental to the tone as much as the inappropriate track used in the final act of the film.

It was almost laughable at how inappropriate the tone of the song felt with the mood of the scene. From memory, it is a song about becoming born. It's a soft song with lyrics about transgressing, obviously being a needle drop for the scene. It would be fine if this song was used in the credits, but the film clearly wants you to be scared by what you're seeing, so a soft lyrical song just ruins that tone, as it is simply two separate tones which don't merge. Considering that juxtaposing a light from a dark tone is such a staple in Horror, you'd expect this to be the intention, but surprisingly it didn't feel that way at all. It was almost as inappropriate as the soundtrack in the Amazing Spider-Man 2.

And this inappropriately placed song is only the first problem with what I saw as the films' breaking point. Suspiria has perhaps the most detrimental final act I've seen in a film this year.

Throughout Suspiria, the film deliberately established a very grounded yet ambiguous tone, you never knew if there was something about to spring up, and when it did, it was more shocking than anything you would've expected. This small but effective atmosphere helped evoke a sense of unease and mystery, as from the beginning you weren't even sure if this film was even going to be a Horror film. That was until its disturbingly macabre dance scene (which everyone applauded at in my screening, which made me laugh due to how disturbing the scene was) but this scene and its other horrific scenes worked due to the aforementioned grounded tone, as it juxtaposed what we were expecting.

Really, the final act should've been the cherry ontop for that tone, it took the exact same approach, it again chooses to shock the audience with another scene which juxtaposes the style.

However, instead of being grounded, the act chooses to go completely insane. And I usually love films which do this, Possession, mother!, and even Climax are fine instances of a deliberately absurd ending which evokes both fear and amusement. Although what worked about the absurdist tones of those films were that their inevitable climax felt like a natural progression.

For some reason this film just fails so hard at trying to execute that absurdity, because it doesn't seem to understand how to pursue its insanity within a way which works within the establishments. Unfortunately, t was difficult to take the film seriously after that scene. As everything just became so unintentionally incredibly silly and poorly executed, in a previously well-executed and serious film.

The climax wants to be a horrific bloodbath, but the gore is so unintentionally comical that it only made the scene baffling and funny. The hyperbolic and bombastic sound effects used and the amount of blood just made it seem as if I was watching black comedy. We're literally seeing heads blow up, Tilda Swinton's neck blows up, and one of the witches attempts to put her head back together, but then clumsily drops it. It was so silly that it made me and the audience laugh. Which is never a good sign, especially for a film that takes itself seriously.

To my surprise, the film starts using CGI gore which has always proved to be troublesome with most films, and with this film it was no different. As Swinton's neck blows open, out pours fake digital paint. Those really impressive practical effects which were present before, are now gone. And this artificiality along with the cheesy tone and gore made it seem as if the film was trying to be like an action film with a frame rate similar to that of the telephone scene from Hausu. Meanwhile, some of the most pretentiously funny dialogue is being shouted, one of the lines from the film is seriously 'It's not vanity, it's Art!'. I felt as if I was watching a joke.

So, Susie is now an incarnation of darkness, but she seems to act as if she doesn't reign over anyone. Making her transformation very in-convincing to me. She then gains the ability to kiss people to death, and it's shown in a similar vain to the hilariously absurd ending of Zardoz. People just die without any weight, and it's all the more comical due to this. Back to the heads exploding, there's also poorly spliced in footage of each character repeating 'Markus' after the film cuts back to show their heads comically blowing up with poor CGI gore.

This film also decides to place a blood tinted filter ontop of the footage, which seems like a good idea. But this overlay was so dark that you could barely make out some of the details. It felt as if this climax was made by a student. And I'm honestly surprised that not many have spoken about this ending yet. Although I am certain that many will be just as confused as I am. But hey, if this climax works for you, all the more to you.

In-fact, on paper this climax sounds absolutely fantastic. And the way that the climax was executed honestly felt like a nightmare you'd actually have..

Insect (2018)

A Disappointingly Unfortunate Wave Goodbye

[6/10 · 28 July 2018]

Jan Svankmajer is one of the most important animators I've ever seen, his short films and feature-length films have influenced a heavy deal of my work as well as many other surrealist artists. He's someone who deservedly appears right near the top of the list when people discuss surrealism in film.

Despite being very fond of his style and animations, I wouldn't state that Jan Svankmajer is flawless. In fact, I have many problems with Svankmajer's early feature-length films, particularly Alice.

I found his early films to be very unengaging and tedious for what they were intending to be. And worst of all, they all had an unawareness of how repetetive they were. Svankmajer would frequently repeat shots and edits frequently, occasionally choosing to run with the same gags until they've been beaten into you; they felt like an extremely elongated short film.

It wasn't until Little Otik when I had faith in Svankmajer's feature films. And from there he made two of my favourite films of all-time - Lunacy and Surviving Life were absolutely great in how they incorporated surrealistic imagery to further explore their themes, as well as offering a unique and engaging depiction of our perception of dreams.

After the ending of Surviving Life, I felt as if I had just seen a nice seal to the career of a legend. The sentimental response was perfect for a way to go out.

So you could imagine my response when I first read that Svankmajer was going to mold one last film. It was exciting to know that there was still more exciting material for him to pump out.

The reason why I included this bloated introduction was to emphasize how disappointingly unfortunate it was when I decided to experience Insect.

It were as if Svankmajer undid everything he had learnt and started again with the bold but naive mindset of film that he manifested at the beginning of his filmography.

Like his early films, the worst part about Insect is the pacing and awareness.

In Insect, Svankmajer decided to splice in three different types of films. The first film is a documentary of the making of Insect, the second is a film about the making of a play, and the third is an adaptation. And the films never meld together. This makes for a very disjointed and unengaging experience, as you're constantly being spoiled to any scene that involves any significant event before it even happens. Sterilizing the potential effect and emotion of the scene, almost to the point of you questioning if what happened was even necessary. They were so disjointed that you could probably cut out each of these scenes, so that you just have the film.

This made me question if Svankmajer even understood that these jarring splices would ruin the mood, and if it was intended then it ruined the care one might potentially have in the scene.

Furthermore, this film becomes incredibly monotonous due to the frequently repeated gags. One of these gags consist of one of the actors not placing a pillow under their stomach to simulate being pregnant, it wasn't funny the first time they used the joke, nor was it funny the additional times they thought of re-using the joke. It honestly felt like an endurance test at times. It was like the feeling you receive when an old friend attempts to make you laugh with an old joke that initially made you laugh. It isn't funny,but he constantly repeats the joke while being under the impression that you find his joke humourous.

There isn't a hint of subtlety with the character development, everything these characters represent are literally spouted loud and crystal-clearly so that you don't potentially get confused that one character is dumb, or one character is squeamish. It was just insulting how explicit the film was about its story, and characters.

In terms of the surrealistic imagery - the one component which fans admire about his films, there was barely if anything memorable about this film. The excuse that the characters are sinking into their roles is an interesting idea, which could've complimented the film further more if the script had more to it.

As it stands, the most interesting parts of this film are the scenes in which they are re-enacting the play - the only part which wasn't created for this film.

I wish that I could've enjoyed Insect, if you enjoyed this film then I'm actually happy that you enjoyed Insect. Although I honestly wouldn't recommend this film to anyone unless you really wanted to watch this film, it honestly wouldn't of made a difference if I hadn't of watched the film.

Hereditary (2018)

The First Spark of 2018

[8/10 · 18 June 2018]

I think that we can all agree that 2018 has been a lukewarm year for films, it seems like we've had almost any entire year of nothing but cash grabs and historical dramas while most of the true classics are yet to be discovered. Thankfully, this year is starting to shine with Hereditary.

Hereditary seems to be part of a bach in the growing amount of slow burners, and as of right now all of these burners have been great. Last year we received the masterpiece It Comes at Night, and the year before we received yet another masterpiece The Witch.

However in-comparison to those films, Hereditary is the first film out of the bunch which has scared me relentlessly. But not just that, the film had me shaking and breathing heavily throughout while the film teased me with the potential shocker.

This film is excellent at subverting your expectations just like The Witch and It Comes at Night. There are many instances where the film displays a large window or a mirror right next to a character to tease you into believing that a potential jumpscare may spring, however instead of giving into this cliche, the film utilises this expectation to prolong its brooding tension, further brought to life by its equally brooding soundtrack and pacing.

However, this film doesn't get a free pass for simply scaring me, this fear works due to its developed characters, most of whom are responsible for the evoked tension. The performance by Toni Collette is simply stunning, she authentically portrays her character while fleshing out some of the more perturbing personality features that manifest later in the film.

I didn't really have a problem with any other performance except for a few spots of Alex Wolff's performance, for the most part he solidified the authenticity although in a few noticeable occasions he inaccurately portrayed some of the intended emotions which lead to a little bit of unintentional amusement.

As well as my mixed thoughts on Alex Wolff's performance, I found that the pacing and the tension didn't entirely work to the film's advantage. Due to the fact that the tension for the film started building up from 10 minutes onwards, there were many occasions where I became de-sensitised and a little unengaged to the film due to the fact that the tension stood still for a while. This may seem trivial, although it was a feeling that detracted a tiny bit of my care from the film.

Despite having stated that, this film is right near the top of my list of films released in 2018, there are many shot decisions and stylistic choices that have likely inspired my craft.

One of my favourite shots from the film is the one in which Charlie sees her grandmother standing amidst a fire. The shot evokes a real eerie vibe due to the fact that it juxtaposes the reality of the film. In terms of my favourite stylistic decision I loved the films' quick contrast between the perspective of Nat Wolfe's character and the main actress, another is the films' depiction of the spirits, they manifest a sleep paralysis quality which further enables them to evoke tension due to the personal resonance.

As I'm certain, most have discussed the subtle details listed in this film, and due to my love, I feel motivated to watch the film again to see details which I didn't catch the first time round.

For a debut film, Aster should be extremely proud of his achievements, and I hope that this praise will motivate you to expand upon your capabilities and confidence.

It Comes at Night (2017)

A flawlessly crafted film, perfectly illustrating emotional drama to manufacture an emotionally wrecking experience. This is the best Horror/Drama of the year.

[8/10 · 18 November 2017]

It Comes at Night is a film that came out of nowhere for me, I hadn't Krisha or heard of the director. Although as soon as the poster was released I was very intrigued and mesmerized. Like any ignorant person, I believed that this film was going to be about an entity at night due to the poster. I knew that I didn't want to know anything going in, therefore I avoided all information about the film, as well as all trailers.

However, as I looked on the Odeon page, I saw the family with gas masks, which surprised me and changed what I thought the film would be, I was more intrigued.

The little information I received was enough to make me desperately want to see the film, I traveled from Dorchester all the way to Yeovil just to see this film. And simply, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

It Comes at Night is the best Horror/Drama I've seen this year, the film is emotionally wrecking and brilliantly crafted. Almost every aspect of this film is flawless.

The acting from every actor was exceptional. They all perfectly conveyed human trauma and anxiety through their subtle performances, adding layers to their characters, more than what's explicitly shown.

The style of this movie was perfect to ensure the intended emotional investment. We are not explicitly informed on the source of the terror, instead we're experience as the characters experience, we know as much as they know. This benefits the film, by placing us in the same situation as the characters.

The music was very beneficial towards the atmosphere and development, conveying the emotion and gravity audibly.

I don't have anything varied to state other than praise, so I'll simply state that every other aspect complemented the film, ensuring an emotional and tragic experience.

If I had to list any problem I have with this film, that would be the response. If there's one film I've seen in my life where I can't for the life of me understand the criticism, that's for this film.

SPOILERS BELOW

People need to perceive the film for what it is, rather than the schlocky monster movie I anticipated from the title. By first glance, the title and poster definitely conveys that, although they're not misleading, in-context with the film the poster and title make perfect sense. The 'It' in 'It Comes at Night' refers to the conflict, much of the conflict in the film occurs at night. The 'It' also refers to the dreams, the dreams seem to predict the conflict. Characters in the film refer to one becoming ill as 'them coming', which could emphasize that Travis became ill from the dreams.

Do you recognize how varied these potential meanings are? That's part of the intrigue with this film, the film's answers are very varied, they have multiple conclusions. They may be more than one, although there is a conclusion.

My advice to those who don't understand the appeal of the film is to watch the film again.

8.5/10

Loving Vincent (2017)

Groundbreaking, unique, and stunning visuals utilized to illustrate a bland BBC historical drama

[7/10 · 30 October 2017]

Loving Vincent came out of nowhere for me, the film was advertised once, and that was enough to grab my attention.

Visually, Loving Vincent is very unique and stunning. The audacity to display a film entirely through oil-painted canvases was not only a challenge, the style also ensured authenticity and gave respect to the artist. It's a pity that these stressful tools are utilized to be an overlay for a bland BBC historical drama.

The reason why I refer to Loving Vincent as a 'BBC historical drama' is due to the similarities in tone, script, and sound design. While intending to illustrate a setting in the 1800's, the film instead illustrates a manufactured modern setting that feels out of place. The script for the film is a very theatrical and bland. This aspect alone is what decreases the quality of the film in my opinion, as the film is dialogue-driven. As a result you're not invested due to the lack of engagement or immersion.

Once I gleamed at the cast for Loving Vincent, I was concerned. Douglas Booth has always been a terrible actor in every film I've seen him in. However, he was surprisingly authentic for this film. However, the acting wasn't substantial at all, and drained the life out of the film in my opinion.

If Loving Vincent was manipulated slightly, the film could be enjoyable as a visual experience, however the film is constructed by its dialogue. Therefore, you'll have to juxtapose the best and the worst aspect of this film together.

Replace (2017)

Visually intriguing with unexpected twists, although poorly executed.

[5/10 · 28 October 2017]

Replace (2016) has been on my watch list ever since the official poster came out, what motivated me to watch the film was the body horror genre and the potential this film had. I knew almost nothing about this film, other than the IMDb bio and the mixed reviews. I recently found the film on DVD in HMV without a price-tag. When I sat down and watched the film I was instantly stunned by the introduction, however I quickly found myself foreseeing a disaster after the introduction.

The execution of Replace is very amateur and bombastic, mainly the music choices, sound editing and the editing. The music was quite hyperbolized attempting its hardest to provoke any emotion that's intended, the problem is that the development for this film is lacking, so the soundtrack appears as bombastic. The sound editing was very baffling, you could clearly tell when a line was dubbed, however voices of the actors would echo randomly for no reason, the sound editing was very inconsistent and became a massive distraction.

The editing for this film is perhaps the worst aspect, the editing really damages the film stylistically. This film is utterly confused on what style it intends to illustrate, this is conveyed through the complete switch of style of music, initially the soundtrack choice is synthetic, although later the soundtrack becomes orchestral, with very stock violins and bombastic motifs utilised to force the emotion down your throat. The editing is also a problem due to its tendency to flicker uncontrollably. At times you have no idea on what's happening.

In terms of what this film accomplishes, the twists and gore effects are superbly done. The gore effects seem very organic, although these gore effects are juxtaposed by the unphased performance of the main character, the pain is barely felt.

As a whole, Replace is a student film that has some great cinematography although also includes baffling editing, terrible sound design, sometimes laughable dialogue, and a score that's very bombastic and confused.

The Mist (2007)

A terrible Hollywood movie saved by its ending

[6/10 · 5 September 2017]

The novella had been noted numerous times when discussing the inspiration for many titles in the industry, I had no interest in watching this film until many regarded this film to have the most depressing/disturbing ending.

Being one who finds interest in being disturbed/depressed, I was intrigued to watch this film.

The film displayed its quality through its cinematography and camera-work, which was very note-worthy. However, this aspect diminishes as the first act ends.

The first issue I noticed was the acting and casting choices, I'm fed up with big Hollywood films always choosing the 'hottest' actors to play the most mundane roles. And that proved to be a great offender for this film.

The acting for the majority of the film is terrible, the only exception being Toby Jones's performance which fit his role. Every actor didn't display much emotion in their face especially when in the most deepest emotions a human could be.

The visuals are very bland, the typical Horror colours are utilised. Although the biggest drawback to this aspect are the CGI effects, which aren't convincing and look abysmal. Some of the CGI effects don't include any lighting to blend the CGI in with the environment, leaving the effects to appear non-existent in the scene.

There are a few practical effects that look convincing, however they're barely in the film, and become very noticeable due to the terrible contrast between the CGI and practical effects.

The biggest offender to me is the script, the characters have barely any character development, so your investment and care in them are nearly non-existent. In addition to this, these characters make the most inhuman decisions they could possibly make in the context the film displays to us.

All of these aspects helped create a dumb Hollywood film that was unintentionally entertaining, the dumb decisions and actions that took place in these scenarios made the film hilarious and annoyingly dumb. The stale, unrealistic, and synthetic acting ensured hilarity in the scenes that attempted relate-ability and emotion.

However, despite the overwhelming amount of problems the film redeems some of its problems with its twist ending, the music and tone is perfect for the situation. The ending was what saved this film from being an unintentionally hilarious Hollywood horror.

Fear X (2003)

Interesting film in Refn's filmography, although not a film you need to see

[7/10 · 14 August 2017]

I gained knowledge of Fear X from my interest in director Nicolas Winding Refn, after watching Drive, Only God Forgives, and The Neon Demon, I simply wanted to see more from Refn's filmography.

Although Fear X is an interesting film, you wouldn't miss anything if you didn't watch this film.

Some aspects are great, for instance the introduction intrigued you immediately from the great cinematography. However, the film falls flat on its creativity and where Fear X stands in the industry as well as Refn's filmography.

In-comparison to Refn's other films, this is the simplest film I've seen from Refn, the film doesn't require an open-mind, just an interpret-able mind to fill in the blanks.

I'd only recommend this film to fans of Refn as well as to people who feel as if they've seen everything.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

A surprisingly well developed and tense film.

[8/10 · 17 June 2017]

I initially had no interest in seeing this film, I never saw the original Cloverfield film, and I wouldn't want to waste my time on a generic sci-fi film. Therefore, I never saw this film in 2016.

A year later and I see this film pop-up in many Top 10 lists, and I decide to give this film a chance after I heard that the film was actually good and didn't follow the story of Cloverfield. I was immediately surprised by the certificate given to the film; I expected the film to be a 15. Therefore, I knew that this film would be tame.

However, immediately after watching this film I can safely say that 10 Cloverfield Lane is the most brutal and tense 12 rated film I've ever seen. Although most importantly, 10 Cloverfield Lane is the most well-made and tense film I've seen this year.

The films' quality is ensured from the well developed characters and style. The film always places the perspective on Michelle, this is conveyed through the use of tense atmosphere and delivery that perfectly reflects our main characters' emotions.

The most important factor that ensured the quality of this film, was the character development and story. Instead of shoving a narrative down your throat through exposition, the film instead decides to play out naturally as you progressively map out the story in your head.

The film always catches you off-guard, this is due to the character development, this benefits the audience as they route for the characters, as they're given a reason to care.

The film uses sound and visuals to emphasise an impression of a character, however the film constantly flips your expectations. At first the film presents Harold negatively through the viewers expectations, however we soon change our opinion due to his devotion to ensuring safety. As an audience member you're against Michelle, although if you apply the information you've learnt later in the film you'll realise that the expectations you had at the beginning were right all along.

There are unfortunately a few problems holding this film back from being an excellent film. Despite the developed nature of the film, unfortunately 10 Cloverfield Lane devolves into the typical sci-fi alien action seen in many films, however what makes this segment forgiving is the realistic and serious tone.

I'd also like to point out that this film was surprisingly tense and shocking, especially for a 12 rated film, you see a man being broken down in acid, and a mentally insane woman deteriorating. All of which I expected in a 15 rated film.

Another problem is some of the decisions made by the characters, while the characters are human, some of there actions are a bit unjustified. No-one would immediately breathe in the air without precautions, despite this for the most part all seemingly dumb decisions are all answered with a reasonable excuse. One example of this is that Michelle constantly demands reminders for information she already knows this is explained due to the head wound.

Other problems are from the standard movie-making clichés. The film has a lot of moments that are unlikely to occur in reality, although the film also has a cliché sequel bate ending. This annoys me deeply as the fact that a studio wants more money is very apparent.

Nonetheless, this is now one of my top favourites of 2016, and I'm glad I saw 10 Cloverfield Lane. 8/10

Antibirth (2016)

Unlike anything you'll ever see this year!

[7/10 · 12 April 2017]

One day I'm in HMV searching around for some desired films when I stumble across a film that intrigues me just from the cover, and the name of the film is 'Antibirth'. I then decided to buy this film just to see a film completely blind. I had no idea if this film was going to invest me in something wild or to provoke an hour and a half of sighs and face palms.

However, as soon as the film was over I laughed really awkwardly just from the fact that I didn't expect the to be ANYTHING like the film I just witnessed. And I'm glad.

Antibirth is one of the wildest experiences and grotesque experiences you witness this year, and that is saying something. The film is now immediately on my list for the best of the year. All I'd recommend is that you all see the film, just from the IMDb rating it's clear to me that not enough people have seen this film.

I promise this film will not waste your time.

7.7/10