A Very Harold And Kumar 3D Christmas John Cho Kumar Patel Kal Penn Harold Lee 470

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas: Blu-ray Review

by with No Comment 3DBlu-rayReviewsVideos

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas has less holiday spirit, more holiday spliff… 

Bored of Christmas? Imagine how Kumar (Kal Penn) feels when his dealer offers him holiday flavoured flavours, including Rudolf The Red-Eyed Reindeer and It’s A Weederful Life. Yes, the boys are back and having already been on an eventful trip to their local White Castle burger store and escaped from Guantanamo Bay, this time they try and survive the holidays.

The plot sees the stoner duo caught up in more major troubles while hunting for the perfect Christmas tree, with wrecked cars, psycho gangsters and Broadway shows just some of the obstacles this time around. It’s a pretty flimsy affair, given added depth – so to speak – thanks to the extra dimension of 3D.

“Hasn’t the whole 3D thing jumped the shark by now?” asks Harold (John Cho). And while the in-your-face technology fails to live up to the onscreen boast of making Avatar look Avatarded, it does have some nice touches – as Kumar’s smoke rings pop out of the screen like fireworks.

The best present in this threequel? The return of Neil Patrick Harris, who was gunned down in the last movie. Switch off your brain’s higher functions in anticipation of another off-the-wall journey and like a baby hotboxing in a marijuana-filled car, you will get the giggles.

Extras were unavailable but include three minutes and 35 seconds of deleted scenes, as well as two brief on-set interview pieces with Tom Lennon (Bringing Harold & Kumar Claymation To Life, three minutes and 35 seconds; Through The Haze With Tom Lennon, eight minutes). An UltraViolet digital copy of the film is also available.

VERDICT: 6/10 

 

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas is released in the UK on DVD and 3D Blu-ray today. 


Excision AnnaLynne McCord Dreams Blood

Excision: Review

by with No Comment CinemaDVDReviews

We need to talk about Pauline… 

Ticking off the plot points in director Richard Bates Jr’s Excision should be an exercise in eye-rolling. Teen misfit? Check. Dull suburban setting? You bet. Sexual urges on the path to womanhood? Of course. Overbearing parent? And then some.

Given the number of times audiences have been bombarded with all of those concepts, the big surprise is that first time feature director Bates is able to wring so much blood from such an old corpse. He takes his mission to bring fresh horror to these stale elements very seriously and the well-worn cliches of a nice family home, nagging parents and awkward teen exchanges become a suburban landscape so weird it is no surprise when a resident of Twin Peaks shows up (Leland Palmer – aka actor Ray Wise, playing the school headmaster).

The story follows Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord), a delusional teenage outcast who spends her time browsing surgical equipment on eBay and bunking off school to read medical books in the local library. This unhealthy anatomical obsession is not helped by the fact that her sister Grace (Modern Family’s Ariel Winter) has cystic fibrosis and may need a serious operation to save her life.

Pauline’s blossoming sexual awakening also brings with it the kind of erotic dreams Ken Russell (The Devils) would have loved, full of semi-naked, writhing extras with a fetish for blood. It is clear from the very first frame of Excision that Pauline is heavily aroused by these nighttime visions, and they become more intense as her mental state deteriorates.

While the world inside Pauline’s head is disturbed, the one outside it isn’t much better. Family dinners provide endless drama as she battles a repressive, disapproving mother (ex-adult film star Traci Lords), who dotes on the younger, sickly daughter. Meanwhile, at school her classmates view her with suspicion and disgust, the word “Gross” already hanging in the air before they speak it aloud. Her social standing isn’t helped by her boyish, spotty looks. The one time she does properly scrub up, it’s a real transformation.

However, Pauline is not a powerless victim to her circumstances. McCord plays her as an angry outsider, full of rage and dark thoughts. Bates adapted Excision from his highly-praised short film of the same name, which picked up 24 awards from more than 50 film festivals – including Austin Fantastic Fest and the Sundance Film Festival. His snappy dialogue in this extended version provides Pauline with plenty of zingers that lift the humour up from those murky depths, her quick wit and outspoken remarks leaving other characters stunned.

Excision is released in UK cinemas on 2 November 2012, with the DVD and Blu-ray arriving in shops just 10 days later. Bonus features include the film’s original theatrical trailer and a feature commentary with  director Bates and star McCord.

Extras aside, this is one to buy for the genuine laughs Bates manages to create from such taboo material. Be warned though, this is humour so dark you’ll want to check there are candles in the house before pressing play.

Verdict: 8/10

Excision is released in UK cinemas on 2 November 2012, and on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 November 2012. 


Looper poster bruce willis joseph gordon-levitt 470

Looper: Review

by with No Comment CinemaReviews

Matt Chapman finds that watching Jo Gordon-Levitt become Bruce Willis is time very well spent… 

“This decade’s The Matrix,” says the UK’s second biggest film mag*. “I respectfully disagree,” says Thatfilmthing’s screening buddy, “I’d call it ‘this year’s The Omen’.”

He’s got a point. But the bigger surprise is that Looper is, basically, every time travel movie you’ve ever seen. And you’ll still come out at the end and think it’s a cracker.

Where some films would be afraid to dip their toes in the already murky waters of previous time-bending flicks, Looper practically drowns itself. It manages to – we have to assume consciously – allude to so many other works in this genre that it is almost more of a mash up than a gentle homage.

The plot sees Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the man crush continues) as a heartless killer, blowing away people sent back in time by future mobsters who are finding it a little difficult to get rid of bodies. Only problem is this gig has a life expectancy and when the loop is closed the assassin kills his future self and gets a big payoff – all in the knowledge he’ll be sent back in 30 years’ time as a victim of his own gun. Understandably, Bruce Willis (the older version of Gordon-Levitt) is unhappy with this turn of events and decides to do a runner.

Willis himself must feel the familiar turf beneath his boots as he plays a man from a messed up future stepping back into a past he’s not sure he can save (a la 12 Monkeys). Even the diner he chows down in with his younger incarnation recalls The Kid, when a younger Willis met the older version of himself and was appalled at what he saw. It all sounds very familiar.

Throw in the fact that one of the actors tracking down Willis and Gordon-Levitt is Garret Dillahunt, who played The Terminator in the short-lived TV series, and the knowing winks are starting to look like someone having a stroke.

If all that sounds like you won’t see anything new in Looper, think again. While it borrows some of the well-worn plotting of previous time-twisters it still has plenty of fresh ideas of its own. One of those – and we won’t say which but trust us you’ll know when you see it – is one of the best uses of time travel we’ve ever seen.

And that’s all we’re going to say. Because this is one of those films it is much better to see not knowing where the twists in the road lead. We’re thinking about your future here people – and we don’t want to kill it.

Verdict: 9/10

* Although weirdly this quote doesn’t actually appear in the Looper film review itself.


The Sweeney 2012 poster 470

Review: The Sweeney

by with One Comment CinemaReviews

Thatfilmthing asked genuine Cockney geezer, Mark Gillman, to jump in the classic Ford Granada and screech down to the multiplex to review The Sweeney. Where’s the popcorn, you slaaaaags?!?!

As I take my seat in the cinema waiting for the sixth instalment of a Nick Love feature film, I feel a sense of endearment. It’s somewhat similar to what a teenage girl has for Hello Kitty. You see, Nick Love and myself have a long history. My jack the lad character and dress sense has long drawn comparisons with the film director. It’s something that my film colleagues have also noticed.

Following Nick’s career has had its problems, as I often find myself defending him to my peers. But what people seem to forget (but somehow love Kevin Smith for), is Nick Love sticks to what he knows best. For those that don’t know: sex, drugs, cockney slang, foul language, football, designer clothing and violence are his chosen film vices.

No one can deny his success though. For low budget film making of usually the £2m-£3m million mark, Nick’s films often reach the one million mark in DVD sales alone. Nick’s scripts have attracted the cream of British actors, including Danny Dyer, Sean Bean, Bob Hoskins, Frank Harper, Tamer Hassan and Ray Winstone. Cunting legends the lot of ’em!

I prepared myself for the film by decking out in my best Stone Island clobber and came tooled up with a bag of penny sweets from the corner shop that my bird smuggled in her handbag. Fackin’ cinema prices total rip off. I’m just glad me bird loves an Orange Wednesday and a fumble in the car park after.

Having not seen any episodes of the previous Sweeney TV series (too young), I take to this film with fresh eyes and perspective. The look of the film is a classic Nick Love budget trick of using desaturated colour to illustrate a grey and gloomyLondon.

Ray Winstone cast as Regan was a good choice as he is a dab hand at playing a miserable nasty cunt and the term ‘you slaaaaaag’ rolls off the tip of his tongue. Ben Drew/Plan B as Carter was a daring move and shows Nick isn’t shy of innovative casting and giving someone a chance. The fella’s good, but the little chav has a lot to learn if he wants to take Dyer’s throne.

The best scenes are by far the driving chases and the gun fight in Trafalgar Square.The plot is strong and action packed and hits all the right sensors that us young males crave. Hayley Atwell – who playsNancy- is a bit of a sort too. Even has that fit bird from Eastenders in it, Kara Tointon. The film consists of everything it would say on the Nick Love tin. It’s one of Nick’s better movies but is not a patch on his greatest movie to date, The Business!

The Brits love nothing more than an underdog and the underdog has done it yet again with news that The Sweeney is top of the UKfilm charts. Nick Love is the Marmite of British film. You either love him or hate him. Me? Fackin’ spread that all over me bread all day mate! The Sweeney is definitely worth seeing at the cinema for an Ayrton Senna (tenner).

Verdict: 7 out of 10

 

Want The Gillman to report back on more Cockney gems? Leave him a comment below… 


The Dark Knight Rises Attack Armour Bat-Pod Toy Review 470

The Dark Knight Rises Attack Armour Bat-Pod and The Bat: Toy Reviews

by with No Comment GamesReviewsToys

Finally the question, “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” has been answered: Mattel.

The good thing is you won’t need to be a billionaire with your own secret research division at Wayne Enterprises to get your hands on these versions.

How do they compare with their onscreen counterparts?

The Dark Knight Rises Attack Armour Bat-Pod Toy Review

The Bat-Pod

Well, the Bat-Pod matches up in its simplest form and then takes a few liberties with the vehicle seen in The Dark Knight Rises.

In a case of give and take, it is missing the kind of tires that make 90-degree turns possible but it adds in an extra piece that can be clipped on.

That provides armour and a big piece of firepower and while the weapon isn’t strictly canon, it is strictly a cannon.

Once built the Bat-Pod motorcycle has a nice, easy motion as it is pushed along the ground. Decent force in the cannon should also be able to knock over any Bane figure you stand in the way.

As for the figure that comes with it, both the scowl and the cowl look pretty good for a tiny man who is going to spend most of his time hidden away like the world’s most paranoid TT racer.

The Dark Knight Rises The Bat Toy Review

The Bat

Batman’s latest toy takes the Caped Crusader to, ahem, new heights as Christopher Nolan’s crime fighter gets a much needed lift [Stop it – Ed] in his fight against Bane.

However, The Bat would have been so much more impressive if Mattel had made its two rotor blades turn using battery power rather than having them momentarily spin when given a flick.

That would have been particularly welcome when using the handle to swoop around the room and dish out justice with your two front missiles.

The figure that comes with The Bat has to do a spot of flying himself so he is not quite as detailed as the one riding the Bat-Pod. Nice winged flying action when he springs from his concealed inner compartment, though.

The Dark Knight Rises Toys from Mattel (with a little bit of licencing help from DC Comics) are available now.