***** stars

This review is for the TMO version of the film, watched as usual in the dark, and in fullscreen and without headphones (I wouldn't take my headphones into a theatre, so I refuse to comply with the director's request here either).

As it happens, apart from some minor pops in the soundtrack, I didn't hear much wrong. The film was well balanced soundwise.


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!

So far we've had two twists - the first being the way she doesn't become scared of the pervert and actually uses the experience to express herself sexually for probably the first time in her life.

And the second - the cliffhanger where the perv shows he has no interest in actually meeting her and would rather see her as a 3D porn film with someone else. This may change in part II - we'll see ...

!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So far, the acting and indeed casting has been superb.

The "following" scenes were very well handled - even if I did get a hilarious vision of the "trashcan following" scene (why was this not put in? - I demand to know!!) [not really]

Music was very - I like the trumpet phrasing (it's one of the better artificial trumpet sounds I've heard) - reminds me of Mark Isham, a composer who specialises in moody trumpet-based soundtracks.

camerawork, and I liked the slow motion during the striptease scene - a scene which also had some nice dissolve effects. I'm not sure she's as shy as she makes out - she seems to have a wardrobe full of sexy lingerie stored just in case she becomes a pervert's fantasy girl.

So - let's see where all this is leading - off to part II ...

***** stars

This film, as with Part A, was watched in full screen, in the dark, and without headphones.

So - the conclusion of "Dark Obsession" - once again, very music and acting, then a nice nightclub sequence and some superb camera effects during the climactic final scene.

Minor pops in the soundtrack, which became more noticeable in the music-centric nightclub sequence, but they didn't spoil my enjoyment of the film that much.


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My only problem with this movie is the ending - it wasn't clear how she got the gun off him. I needed to see one more brief shot that explained this. At first I thought she had her own loaded gun tucked away (which would have been a horrendous cop-out, and completely out of character for her), thankfully the closeups on the gun show it was the same weapon that he carried into her flat.

She also was extremely ruthless in pulling the trigger - he was in no position to attack her at that point - that seemed out of character for her, and a very curious way of showing her "love" for him. But - I was a bit scared by her from the first office scene - "there's something not quite right about her", I thought. So perhaps it's not as completely out of character as I'm prone to think.

As for these two pathetic characters - one has become addicted to feeling desired (which she wrongly mistakes for love), the other is even worse - he gets what he always wanted - a shot at the big prize - but he obviously has severe mental problems to even think about carrying a gun into her house. There's being shy and consumed with self-doubt, and then there's being a gun-toting psychotic.

When she started doing dances for him in part one, there was no way this was going to end with the pair of them walking down the aisle. Her need to be desired overrode what she should have done - which is to immediately call the police and get that sicko locked up. (But then we wouldn't have a story).

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPOILERS OVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So, overall, a story which will be a comfort to shy people everywhere:

No matter how lonely you feel, just be thankful you're not like one of these characters!

Time to download the hi-res version for my archive ...

I have a cool movie if you want to check it out.

Title: Too Lazy To Work

Description: A man who doesn't care about his job takes the wrong turn.

Link: http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/143997

ENJOY!!!!

**** stars

Lovely sets - I particularly liked the spaceship interiors and the Gort's home planet. The story was a bit fuzzy, but it ended up in the right place - I thought the Gort ships were far too easy to defeat though, it was hardly a fair fight!

VO is where this film suffered the most - some characters seemed to have recorded their lines in the bathroom which lent an inconsistency to the environment they were supposed to be in compared to other characters. It's up to the director to add effects to the actors' lines according to the environment they're supposed to be in (and it's up to the actors to supply completely dry lines that can easily be manipulated by the director). If, as seems to be the case, the director accidentally screwed up some actors lines irrepairably - then the best thing is to come clean and ask for them to do it again. They won't like it - but these things happen even in real-life cinema.
For instance, the last incredibly emotional scene in Lord of the Rings was done perfectly by all the actors - but some idiot had forgotten to focus the camera properly. They did it again brilliantly like pros - but Sean Astin had forgotten a part of his costume and screwed up the continuity - the looks he must have got!! So they did it again and nailed it .. completely emotionally draining it must have been.

Back to this film:
We got big gaps in between each line - a common mistake - it makes the conversations seem flat and unnatural. Sometimes the actors don't help by supplying lines that are too slowly delivered, in which case the director should send them back and tell them to do it quicker. I think pacing of scenes (which comes naturally from pacing of dialogue) is often overlooked, even in some of the best TMO films.

That aside, music and situations - and again, the mods for the sets were great.

***** stars

Such a wacky film, whoever wrote it must be off their trolley(s). (YESS!!! One pun they didn't use in the movie!)

Plenty of laughs in this with references to Star Wars and James Bond abound. I also laughed at the "Japanese" where every word was a familiar one such as "Playstation" or "Godzilla" (I've now learned that means "attack").

The story hasn't really got going yet but this was a superb introduction and great fun to watch.

The technical achievements in the film are just outstanding - from the set design to the special effects and overlays and also, very much, the music too (I really liked the Underpants song and the inserts between scenes). The submarine surfacing was one of those "how did they do that?" moments.

For ages I've been trying to get a Star Wars crawl to work - then along comes this film and nails it (although I would have made it move faster).

Acting wasn't bad either - Dr Furburger (lol) was outstanding in her role, as was the Miss Moneypenny character, Wedgina Pants(!)

So a great film, with some out-of-the-box originality throughout.

**** stars

A great trailer, but one thing could be cause for concern:

The shaking camera effect, it was nauseating enough in that two minutes - a whole film? Might have to have some travel sickness pills on standby.

It works best when the camera is in motion - the shaking motion is far too regular when the camera is still, it induces a kind of sea sickness. I would make sure that the camera is always moving to offset that.

It will be interesting to see the outcome of TMO's answer to Cloverfield in any event.

**** stars

The best laugh in this film was near the start when the "Viet Thong" (hehe) were introduced. But apart from a few minor chuckles elsewhere (such as the transformation scene), I found the laughs hard to come by. There weren't nearly enough hits among the misses for a film of this length for me.

Some gags were both unfunny and overlong, the Star Wars gag being a case in point. I just wanted to press fast forward, but I stuck it out for all 10 minutes of this scene (that's what it felt like anyway) nevertheless. I was hopeful the gags would get better, and they did to a mild extent, but not enough. The over-reliance on gross-out humour and repeated mentions of Colonel Kuntz's name (funny the first time, but a yawn after the fifteenth) really harmed the film. A very poor gay joke halfway through summed up the general level of humour in this film.

So far, so 2 stars!

But this movie has some technical work and excellent moddery (never seen the helicopter boat-lift before) - some characters delivered their VO well too - the narrator did a job in particular. Camerawork was very .

I also liked the slowed down stock music - that gave it a '60s drug-induced "The Doors" sound.

Oh - and the villain's preferred method of disposing of his victims was entertaining.

So lots to like here, it's a shame the script was mostly pants.
(aw! - come on! - that was the ONLY pun in the whole review!)

jazzx:

The second placed film didn't qualify for review - here's the third placed film:

sparky1512:

How come my movie didn't 'qualify' if i may ask?

cheers

sparky1512:

Hmmmm, a fault which Jazz himself spent many hours trying to quantify to no avail as i recall. Hardly seems fitting criteria to me, especially when the absence of thumbnail is unintentional and mentioned in the film blurb. I guess certain asthetic qualities surrounding a movie are more important to Jazz than the actual content of themovie itself. How very dissapointing in many ways.

cheers

***** stars

An atmospheric chiller.

Really camerawork, plus the weather was used to maximum effect - from the thunderstorm to the snow (the first time I've seen snow done properly in a TMO film). The only piece of direction I had a problem with was the overuse of the birds - they looked great, but used too much the viewer is entitled to ask if they are significant to the plot - or was that a deliberate red heron! (hahahaha - sorry).

Excellent mods were used throughout the film, both in props and in sets.
Very music all the way through as well, keeping the atmosphere creepy while never interfereing to a noticeable extent.

Sound effects were also excellent, especially near the end - I particularly liked the crunchy snow effect. There were two I didn't get on with - the first was a clock that kept ticking out of time and the second was a door which was closed gently but sounded like it had been slammed. Small beer - the thunder was very and successfully sold the bad weather despite the lack of a rain sound effect.

Acting was very classy - all of the performers did well including a couple of females I've not heard before. The unearthly monster (that's not a spoiler - the monster is mentioned in the opening credits) was very well improvised by the actress.

Some technical bugs like lip synch failure were noticeable. An early conversation in the car being the worst for this. Very minor sound effects synchronisation problems in places also - but nothing that would really affect one's enjoyment of the movie. There was too much that was otherwise about this film.

Overall then, I'd say this chiller is a very well made piece of work.

Definitely best viewed in Full Scream! (hahaha - it's the way I tell 'em)

jazzx:

Today's number 1 film is this excellent movie:

Thanks for the review, Jazzx! And thanks for the kind words! You all know that if Jazzx likes it, it must be !

userjosh9874:

jazzx:

Today's number 1 film is this excellent movie:

Thanks for the review, Jazzx! And thanks for the kind words! You all know that if Jazzx likes it, it must be !

eklumt:

First off, Silent Town, is never coming out. secondly, jazzx, dont ever watch or rate another of my movies if you cant learn to read a description. BLOCKED SCRIPTInsertText('');

**** stars

 It wasn't until the conclusion of the Tower Bridge scene that this film scraped its 4-stars for its first reel.

1/3 of the way in - and there's been no characters (of any significance) and no narrative to speak of.

It plays like one long 20 minute trailer. But some of the mods are amazing, and the ant throwing the car off the bridge is just terrific. (there was the best line in the film before that too).

I'm hoping to get to know the characters in part 2 and have somebody to root for against the insectoid menace. At the moment, I'm rooting for the insects!

**** stars

There's still little effort in terms of character or story - but the amazing moddery continues (I'm talking about the entertaining Alice-in-Wonderland sequence). Without that, this film would be lucky to score 3 stars from me. With only one part to go, there's been some terrific visuals but the narrative and characters are all over the place - it's a mess.

**** stars

Hehe - some chuckles in that. I liked the "important" gag.
"advert" voice over.

***** stars

It's hard to write a review of that without giving away the surprise.

But excellent VO, music and visuals (in a sort of series of static shots which worked well). The poem was very too.