Mobile Phone Warnings

Now this is the sort of thing they should have running at the cinema before the film...

Pirates Ahoy!

Just a few days until we find out whether the 'Pirates' trilogy goes the way of 'The Matrix'...

Here's hoping not!

Eurovision 2007

With Switzerland's "Vampires Are Alive" being knocked out in the semi-finals, tonight I'll be supporting Bulgaria's offering "Voda (Water)" by Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov.

28 Weeks Later

I had mixed feelings going into the preview screening of "28 Weeks Later". On one hand I really enjoyed "28 Days Later" - a fresh take on the zombie movie - and I really liked the trailer for this film. On the other hand, I was aware that the original creative team (Danny Boyle & Alex Garland) were only on board as Executive Producers, none of the original cast were in the film and that the directorial reigns had been handed over to someone with relatively little directing experience - Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. It had potential disaster written all over it!

Fortunately shortly after the film started, I realised all my fears were for nought. The claustrophobic opening sequence - a group of survivors (including Robert Carlyle's Don) holed up in a cottage - sets the heart racing and lets you know what's in store... (Giving you a reminder of how terrifying the 'infected' are!) After this initial adrenalin shot, the pace slows down in order to set the scene for the film: Britain was ravaged by the Rage epidemic, the infected have died of starvation, the US Army has moved in to start clearing up the mess, in the process they've created a quarantined repopulation zone for the few survivors in London's Docklands.

However, just as everything starts to seem rosy - Don is reunited with his children (Imogen Poots & Mackintosh Muggleton) who were abroad when the virus hit - it appears that the infection isn't as dead as everyone hoped...

From here on, the film becomes one long adrenaline-fueled roller-coaster ride.

"28 Weeks Later" is to "28 Days Later" what "Aliens" was to "Alien"; there's a lot more action in this film than the original, but it still retains the feeling of being part of the same story. The film manages to crank up everything that I enjoyed from the original - the 'infected' seem more vicious (enhanced by Fresnadillo's documentary-style direction), the shots of a deserted London are much wider in scope (the main characters have to travel from the Docklands to the new Wembley Stadium avoiding packs of 'infected' and over-zealous military-types) and it's held together with John Murphy's score which replays themes from the original film. The cast are great; I have yet to see Carlyle in something I haven't enjoyed, Rose Byrne (fresh from "Sunshine") is good as an American doctor, but kudos should go to Poots and Muggleton, the film's real stars, who really shine in their roles.

Having sat through four days of horror films at 'Dead By Dawn', I can safely say that "28 Weeks Later" is as good as the best films I saw at the festival; Fresnadillo knows how to write and direct a great action horror film. Boyle has (jokingly?) talked about the possibility of "28 Months Later", if that's the case I'll be back for another visit to the apocalyptic nightmare that they've created...

Film Of The Month - April: Sunshine

This month I've been torn between 'Sunshine' and 'The Lives Of Others', both which I really enjoyed for different reasons.

Unlike the previous 'Film Of The Month' posts, I hadn't decided which was going to 'win' until I started the post. In the end I've gone with 'Sunshine' purely because it's rare that you get a well-made sci-fi film that's based around character rather than spectacle.

I had planned on catching 'Sunshine' a second time at the cinema but that never happened, I'm now looking forward to watching it when it comes out on DVD.

Dead By Dawn 2007 - Shorts

I've spent the past couple of days in Edinburgh for the 'Dead By Dawn' Horror Film Festival. Had a great time and I'll run through the highlights of what I saw in two parts, starting with the festival's short films:

Hitch - A serial killer gets a surprise... (You can see it on AtomFilms)

It Came From The West - My favourite short of the weekend mixing zombies and Westerns with puppets to hilarious effect. The phrase "weak pisser" has now entered my vocabulary. You can see more of this madness at http://www.zombiewestern.com/.

L'Instant Avant - The one short I didn't watch... This short smashed through my comfort barrier and right out the other end! Once I could tell the direction it was heading, my eyes were firmly shut... I can tell you that it involved coat-hangers and elicited quite a vocal reaction from the audience... I opened my eyes again when the applause finished. (If you're braver than me, watch it on AtomFilms. They label it 'Mature', you have been warned...)

Monster - What happens if there really is a monster in the closet? (You can see it on AtomFilms)

The Love Craft - A funny little spoof of TV's "The Love Boat" meets Cthulhu, in the same vein as the spoof trailer for "The Shining" as a rom-com that's on the net.

Far West & Carlitopolis - Two inventive shorts from French 'animator' Luis Nieto, to say any more would spoil the surprise. (You can see the latter on YouTube)

Cutting Edge - The festival's short film competition. The winning film was "The Fifth", which highlights the difficulties some people have in trying not to mix business and pleasure. There were some other great entrants including "Mime Massacre" (does exactly what it says on the tin - yay! http://www.mimemassacre.com/), "Nose Hair", "Blind Man's Alley", "Lump" and "Anaesthesia" (the last two would make you think twice about going to the hospital for surgery any time soon...)