• The Secret World of Arrietty
     
     http://bartybooks.com/the-secret-world-of-arrietty.htm
  • Gone
     
     http://bartybooks.com/gone.htm
  • Wanderlust
     
     http://bartybooks.com/wanderlust.htm
  • This Means War
     
     http://bartybooks.com/this-means-war.htm
  • Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
     
     http://bartybooks.com/ghost-rider-spirit-of-vengeance.htm
  • The Vow
     
     http://bartybooks.com/the-vow.htm
  • Safe House
     
     http://bartybooks.com/safe-house.htm

Project X Movies Review

How far would you go to become a legend?

Would you have more people in your backyard then some countries in the world? Would you obliterate your parents’ million dollar home? How about set your entire neighborhood ablaze? For Thomas, Costa, and JB this was just the tip of the iceberg.

We welcome back Todd Phillips, infamously now known for Producing such films you may have heard of like The Hangover, The Hangover Part 2, Due Date and Old School.

Phillips brings us a film in Project X unlike we have ever seen before.

Imagine the most insane, mind-numbing, seizure inducing high school party possible, then multiply that by about million, and you have yourself, Thomas Cub’s epic birthday bash.

It’s hard to describe this film, because so much is happening all at once.

Don’t listen to the people that want to compare Project X with The Hangover or Super Bad, while there are some similar underlying tones, all three films are very different.

Project X begins with Oliver Cooper who plays Costa coming to Thomas’ house on the day of his birthday with plans of throwing a big soiree as JB would say. The catch is Costa hired an AV nerd, Dax, to film the entire event, from a first person point of view.

Now most of the film is shot this way, and when I noticed the first few minutes were continuously through this perspective, I was worried for the rest of the film. Rest assured, there is no shaky camera for two hours, and it does not become a distraction.

In fact, for this film it was actually the perfect way to present the party.

Thomas Mann plays Thomas, he’s sort of a “loser” as even his dad describes him, while JB played by Jonathan Daniel Brown is the token fat kid who chimes in with awkward input here and there.

Costa is the brains of the operation, he wants to throw Thomas a huge party for his birthday while is parents are out of town, while at the same time get laid and become infamous for all of eternity throughout California.

The greatest quality of Project X is how bad it makes you want to be there.

With the first-person camera view, you’re engulfed into the madness, from all the crazy dancing, to massive amounts of drug use to outrageous hijinks performed by various party crashers. It literally comes off as the greatest party you’ve ever seen. EVER.

And for that to be depicted so vividly on film by Todd Phillips and director Nima Nourizadeh, deserves a drunken stupor-like round of applause.

Then there is the music. Todd Phillips has been known to be ahead of the curb with music selection in his films, and the choices he makes here are phenomenal. Every major scene is accompanied by a great song, that gives this monstrosity of a party the feel it deserves.

As the party progresses obviously things go haywire. From a missing dog, to midgets, to jumping off the roof of the house, that doesn’t even give you a taste of what is about to come.

The element of surprise, in terms of shock and awe of what will be around the next corner is the basis for Project X.

If you don’t leave this film wanting to go out and have the night of your life, you don’t have a pulse.

I give a ton of credit to the casting of this film. One of the best things they did was bring in the three leads who are unknown. It made you really enjoy the journey because there was no star power. Will this film catapult Oliver Cooper, Thomas Mann or Jonathan Daniel Brown into stardom like it did for Jonah Hill in Superbad, time will tell.

There use to be a T.V. show on Nickelodeon called “Wild and Crazy Kids” well this is the high school version…with more drugs, nudity, swearing, and fire.

Simply put, this is the greatest, most unfathomable set of events taken place at a party that we have ever seen. And we all haven’t lived life to the fullest unless we were apart of it. Because after you finish watching it, you’ll be wishing you were there, you can count on that.


Fast Tube by Casper

Posted in: Comedy.
Tagged: · ·

The Wicker Tree Review

At some 38 years since its predecessor, The Wicker Tree must be one of the most belated of all notable sequels. Its also one that I suspect many have misgivings about and when it receives a wider release one that will get criticised heavily. For me though it was a qualified success, a fun and at times chilling companion piece that despite not being a patch on the original still boasts a good measure of charm.

It sees evangelist country and western singer Beth Boothby and her fiancée Steve setting off on a tour of Scotland to convert the locals, with results that I suspect will not surprise. The first thing that leaps out about the film is the humour. The Wicker Man was a film of dark comedy, true gallows humour but here the tone is a lot broader. Beth and Steve are as bright eyed and naive as can be and trip gaily to their fate, cranking the dramatic irony through the roof. There’s a fair amount of outright comedy as well, like a trashy music video from Beth’s past or scenes involving an unfortunate cat.

The humour ultimately is what sets the film back, as while intermittently amusing it is more often silly and ultimately deprives the piece of dread and suspense. In terms of horror aspects the film also suffers from a somewhat coy approach, as if trying not to upset the lighter tone. On the great plus side though, Robin Hardy directs with a wonderfully free and playful hand that comes across as remarkable for someone with only two features under his belt.

Although the erotic charm and ethereal menace of the original is lacking there’s a great visual wit to The Wicker Tree, especially in its constant contrasts. An early sequence in which an elegant castle facade gives way to a searching tracking shot down dark and twisting passages to a butchery is a good example, the beautiful face and bloody heart. Elsewhere the sacred and profane, Pagan and Christian, old and new and as it all builds we see that each opposition is no different from the one before and soon enough realise that in actuality there’s far more similarity than we think.

It’s an interesting development to the original in which the opposition was far stronger defined and a development rooted in the characters of Beth and Steve. Both Christians and sinners, they struggle with the path of righteousness and the ways of the flesh. Though neither are as ultimately sympathetic as Sgt. Howie from the original they are more rounded, though actors Brittania Nicol and Henry Garret are no match for Edward Woodward as they take too much time of the film to really settle into their characters.

On the villainous front things are stronger though, with Graham McTavish’s Lachlan Morrison a fine replacement for Christopher Lee (appearing for a moment in a gimmicky flashback). McTavish has a great good humoured superiority about him, a pleasant menace and fire and brimstone power when needed. Jacqueline Leonard carries herself. with mean elegance as Delia Morrison, Clive James makes for a good sinister handyman and voluptuous Honeysuckle Weeks a gorgeous temptress.

In general I would have preferred a more sinister approach and I don’t think even the dafter inclined will like all of the humour but for all this I thought The Wicker Tree rather fine fun. 7/10 from me, check it out to see for yourself is my advice.


Fast Tube by Casper

Posted in: Drama, Horror, Mystery.
Tagged: · ·

Man on a Ledge Review

As you’d expect, “Man on a Ledge” is a Swiss-cheese plotted heist and “prove his innocence” movie but taken as just that, it’s quite an enjoyable movie. I suppose after having seen enough of these kinds of movies, I shouldn’t expect perfection in how every plot thread is tied up since very few movies manage it. However, what the movie does excellently is setup the plot and build up the situation perfectly. Just starting as a literal man on a ledge, we see subtle layers added until we get this full on crescendo of diamond heists, negotiators, cops, convicts, bad guys, good guys all happening on in a single block in New York. So, given that you’re willing to suppress your tingling plot-hole sense, it can be an enjoyable movie.

The cast is quite good and the acting and tension is par for the course. The leads Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks do a great job. Seeing Worthington as an ex-NY cop, ex-convict and Banks as a negotiator/psychologist with a past is surprising on paper but they manage to pull it off very well. However, Jamie Bell is one of the heist-team but his opposite who plays Angie make for some cringe-worthy comedy, like some Sofia Vergara slapstick in the middle of a tense situation. Ed Harris looks emaciated but equally sinister as the villain and there are a host other minor NY characters.

I can hear the Hollywood pitch for the movie in my head, “it’s like The Negotiator combined with The Italian Job but happens in NY and instead of a hostage situation we have a jumper.” And, essentially it’s just that – a movie that heavily recalls other movies from the past except perhaps for the man on ledge. On a side note, it seems that every NY movie nowadays has a reference to the OWS movement and what a typical OWS protester might look like.

The movie is at its best when it clamors for our hero who desperate and is fighting all odds to clear his name as he shouts from his ledge, “I am innocent and this is my retrial.” The movie is at its worst when it’s ungainly roping in all the plot threads it cast out but can’t seem to put it together. Overall, it’s a good enough movie for people who like these kinds of movies. If you’ve caught yourself bitterly berating the many plot holes in heist movies, maybe this isn’t for you.


Fast Tube by Casper

Posted in: Crime, Thriller.
Tagged: · ·


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