12 Films of Christmas (Part 6)

Hello there. We’re now halfway into my 12 Films of Christmas series. Time sure flies. So let’s get into this.

So I kind of cheat with my definition of “Films” for this series, but I feel like christmas specials count since they’re never part of any major arc, but rather tend to be one-off stories, making them somewhat eligible for the “Films” definition. Why did I have to make such a convoluted explanation? Because I wanted to have an excuse to talk about “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for my series. So what’s this about then? Well, it’s christmas in *wherever the hell this is set*. However, Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) isn’t feeling the christmas spirit as he’s disgusted by how commercialized christmas has gotten. So this is really about him trying to find the meaning of christmas. All while he has been chosen to direct a christmas play featuring all the other kids… and Snoopy (Bill Melendez, R.I.P) of course. I haven’t seen this since I was like seven years old. And revisiting it I am actually loving it more than I did back then. I think this might be because I understand some of the critiques that Charlie Brown has about christmas and it’s rampant commercialization (a sentiment I share with him). It’s actually really clever and fascinating in that sense. I also of course love the animation. It’s simple, but it has a lot of charm to it. And the humor is so good in this too, especially the stuff from Snoopy who just steals every scene he’s in. Really, this holds up incredibly well and I highly recommend watching it, whether you’re a “Peanuts” fan or not. It’s great (and available on youtube!).

What do you think about “A Charlie Brown Christmas”? Who’s your favorite “Peanuts” character? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments!
Have a good one.

12 Films of Christmas (Part 1)

Hello there! You might be asking yourself “Markus, what the hell is this?”. Well, for the past two years, in the 12 days leading up to christmas (December 24th) I have had a series of posts where each day I talk about a christmas song. I’ve had a lot of fun talking about christmas music here, and I’ve gotten some good comments from people about it all, whether it would be because they already liked the song or if it’s a new one to them. However, this year I decided to do something slightly different. For 2017 I wanted to talk about films (big and small) where christmas is featured. Of course, I missed making my first post yesterday (because “Star Wars”), so you’re getting two of these today as compensation. So, let’s get into part 1 of the 12 Films of Christmas.

So for the first one we talk about something that has become quite a christmas tradition, especially in the United States. I am of course talking about Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the 1966 version). To be completely honest with y’all, I had never actually watched this until today. I had only caught small snippets of it in movies, TV, and internet videos. So I thought now was a good a time as any to finally watch it and see what all the fuss is about. So for anyone not aware, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is about a green creature known as The Grinch who absolutely hates christmas, and then cooks up a plan to try to steal the christmas joy from the people of Whoville. So then The Grinch’s shenanigans ensue. Did I like this? Yeah, it was alright. I obviously have no nostalgia for it since I never watched it as a kid. But as an adult I can watch it and appreciate it for what it is; A fun and innocent little short film about the christmas spirit. Boris Karloff provides the narration and also voices The Grinch here, and his delivery of everything is just perfect. Also, having the distinct designs of Dr. Seuss combined with the direction of animation legend Chuck Jones makes for some wonderfully creative and energized animation that kept me entertained. And that’s really it, it’s entertaining at best. I have no deep feelings for this since I watched this for the first time today, but I did enjoy it and can see why people love it so many years after it’s release. Really, it’s an easy and pretty fun watch if you have half an hour to kill.

Are you a fan of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”? How old were you when you first watched it? Feel free to tell me any and all thoughts in the comments below, I’d really like to hear what you guys think.
Have a good one.

Short Film Review: Conscientia (2017)

This is something that doesn’t happen often, me reviewing a short film. And before we begin, I will be 100% transparent with this. I was asked by one of the people who made this short to review it early. The guy who asked me is someone I consider a friend, and I wanted to make that clear because any potentially good things I might have to say about this are not because of my previous affiliation with these guys. I will judge this on it’s own merits. So let’s find out if it’s any good.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Conscientia”.

Samuel (Jakob Lewis Barnes) is struggling with his inability to sleep, which causes him to slowly lose his mind and perception of reality. This soon comes to a head during one fateful night. So what we have here is a weird yet interesting horror plot that is told in a somewhat non-linear style. You can still easily pick up on what order things are in, but it’s still not a straight line of events. And I have to say that I quite enjoyed the plot here. It is simple enough to follow along easily, but it still has some slightly more complex ideas that will make you think. The short format makes it feel a little bit thin and not fully developed, but they still do a pretty good job to condense the idea into a shorter format.

Here we have two characters, one that we get to know a little bit, and one that is just kind of there. I get that you can’t give them super big arcs when you keep it this short, but I didn’t find myself fully invested in the two here. Jakob Lewis Barnes plays Samuel, our protagonist/insomniac. His psychological struggle is interesting to watch, but I’d like to see it developed a bit more. But at least Barnes gave a really good performance here. Then we have Hannah Thomas as Lauren, a woman that Samuel seems to be dating. And she’s the one that I explained as “just there”. With Samuel you get some idea of what type of character he is, but with Lauren it’s just “Hello, I am character” and not much else. Thomas gives a good performance, even though her character doesn’t do much. So overall, good performances, okay-ish characters.

The score was composed by Martin Gratton, and I think he did a good job. The score was chilling and eerie, and it really helped sell the uneasy feel that the director clearly wanted to go for. So yeah, good score for the short.

This short was directed by Nick Deal and I think he did a good job working with his limitations. The short feels somewhat claustrophobic since it’s set mostly inside one small apartment, and Deal’s direction (combined with Gratton’s aforementioned score) helps the short feel tense, eerie, and creepy, elevating it beyond it’s small budget. The talent and ambition here is great enough to be able to make something that exceeds their limitations, and I respect that quite a bit.

While not perfect, “Conscientia” is still a pretty damn good short. It has a good plot, okay-ish characters, really good performances, really good music, and really good directing. My flaws with it is that some aspects feel slightly underdeveloped (but it’s not a dealbreaker). Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Conscientia” is a 9,11/10. While flawed, I highly recommend watching it (when it gets released).

My review of “Conscientia” is now completed.

Firstly: Nick, Jakob, Jumpcut… thank you for giving me this opportunity, I feel truly honored.
Secondly: “Conscientia” will be released on Monday, only on youtube.

Series Review: Castlevania – Season 1 (2017)

I’ve been anticipating the release of this show for a while. From when the teaser poster and such was released, to when the first trailer dropped, it all seemed like it could be good. Could Netflix bring us a good video game adaptation? Well, let’s find out.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Castlevania” season 1!

After his wife gets burned at the stake, Dracula (Graham McTavish) unleashes an army of dark creatures upon the city of Gresit. So when Trevor (Richard Armitage), the last surviving member of the Belmont clan, shows up in town he has to try and save the city from this evil. So now we have our medieval fantasy. And while it’s only four episodes long, they manage to develop the story pretty damn well. They manage to establish backstories without getting too heavy with the exposition. And it actually creates some solid drama at times, giving the world and plot a little extra weight without sacrificing the fun and interesting fantasy elements of the plot. There’s also time dedicated to showing what a bunch of dicks members of the Christian church was at the time. Sure, there were no actual demons back then, but a lot of the bullshit they’re up to here actually happened in real life. So yeah, it’s a surprisingly layered story that stays true to the source material while still making it feel fresh and different.

The characters here are all pretty interesting. Trevor Belmont as a character is kind of an arrogant asshole, but he’s actually given a good reason in the show, so he’s not just an ass for the sake of being an ass. And you can tell that despite his arrogant façade, he is a good person (and badass warrior). And Richard Armitage is great as the character. Dracula doesn’t appear much in the show, but his presence is always felt. I also like that he’s not just a generic evil-doer that just wants to kill people because he’s the villain. They give him good motivation for doing it, making him a much more interesting antagonist. And Graham McTavish (again, despite not showing up a lot) kills it in the role. We also get Matt Frewer as a bishop who’s a huge dick, and Frewer is great in the role. We also get Tony Amendola as an elder that Trevor runs into/befriends, and Amndola is really good in the role. Really, every actor heard in this show does a good job.

The score for the show was composed by Trevor Morris, who also did the score for “Iron Fist” (*cough* read my review *cough*). And while that was good, I think this score is even better. The music in “Castlevania” is dark, eerie, epic, badass, cool, and just overall fits the dark and haunting atmosphere of the show. Morris composed some really solid stuff here.

“Castlevania” was produced by Adi Shankar, animated by Powerhouse animation & Frederator studios, directed by Sam Deats, and written by acclaimed comic book writer Warren Ellis. And it’s, as I’ve made pretty clear, an adaptation of the “Castlevania” video game franchise from Konami. And in terms of animation/direction, this show is very well handled. The animation is beautiful in a dark and haunting way, perfectly helping to create a dark and often eerie atmosphere for this show. The show shines especially in the action scenes which are badass, intense, and quite brutal. And I really mean it when I say brutal, there’s blood and dismemberment in this show. So yeah, this show has some fucked up visuals throughout, which I do think works for the show. Still… don’t bring grandma.

Seeing as this is a pretty niche show that just came out, there’s not much in terms of reception on the sites I tend to use. Keep in mind, i only report the reception as it is at the time of review… I refuse to edit. Anyhow, it does exist on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, but it has no critic scores at the time of this review. But it does have a score on imdb.com (based on very few votes at the time), and it is an 8,7/10.

Season 1 of “Castlevania” is one of the best video game adaptations available out right now. It has a great plot, really good characters, great performances, great music, and great direction/animation. The only minor flaw I have is that it is so short (four episodes), but it’s not a deal breaker for me. Time for my final score. *Stabs demon*. My final score for “Castlevania” season 1 is a 9,65/10. Which means that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Castlevania” season 1 is now completed.

There is a season 2 planned… for 2018… fuck.

Short Film Review: Emotional Motor Unit (2016)

Remember in my “Harlequin” review when I said that you shouldn’t get used to me reviewing short films? Well, I think that statement still stands, though I am still willing to create those types of reviews… at least if I’m asked to review it and if the short seems really interesting to me. Well, here we are… reviewing a short film.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Emotional Motor Unit”.

So the story is about a very lonely writer (Graham Cawte) who gets introduced to a robot (Francesca Burgoyne), called the “Emotional Motor Unit” (E.M.U. for short). And then the writer starts learning about what it means to be human by having interations with this human-like machine. And I have to say that this plot was interesting, I was really invested throughout. Sure, it’s only about 22 minutes long, so I couldn’t be as invested in it as if it had been a full length movie. But what they managed to do dramatically speaking with only 22 minutes is pretty fucking impressive.

The characters in this short were really interesting. Graham Cawte is really good in the main role as this lonely and pretty much emotionless person. The character does a have a bit of an arc, and it’s pretty good. Francesca Burgoyne was really good in her role as this machine that helped the writer evolve as a person. The two supporting actors did a pretty good job in this too, but we’re not gonna dwell on them as much since they aren’t the main focus of this.

The score was composed by Imraan Husain and it was really good. Nothing mindblowing, but it was pretty well composed and it worked very well for the short.

This was directed by Adam Nelson and I thought that it was pretty well directed. The shots look really good and you can tell that this director knew what the hell he was doing.

Since this isn’t really out for the public I can’t put any scores from my usual sites here. Soooo… awkward.

“Emotional Motor Unit” is a surprisingly effective and well crafted short about emotions and what it really means to be human. It has a good plot, good characters, really good performances, good music, and really good directing. I’m not gonna give it any of my usual scores/ratings for this since shorts and full length movies are very different, which makes it a bit harder to rate it in a normal sense. But I do highly recommend that you check it out whenever it’s released to the public. I guess it gets the seal of approval without really getting the seal of approval.

My review of “Emotional Motor Unit” is now completed.

Big thanks to Apple Park Films for giving me this opportunity!

“Harlequin” is finally out!

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen… and earthworms. A while back I (and a few more people) got to see the short film “Harlequin” before it was released to the public. Kind of like an early screening, but instead of a big Hollywood movie it was for a small short film. I also reviewed said short film to sort of get some early buzz around it so people would get more excited about it. Well, a few days ago the short was finally released to the public. And to help it’s writer/director (Jakob Lewis Barnes) out a bit I decided to make this post about it. Not as a review, just as a reminder of sorts that it is out and that you should all go check it out and give it some love. To recap, it stars Kenton Hall as a clown named Charles and he is going a little insane. I will not say more than that because you should just go check it out and experience it for yourselves. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you guys do too.

Have a good one and enjoy!

Short Film Review: Harlequin (2016)

Some if not most of you might be asking right now “What the hell is this, Markus? What’s goin’ on?”. Relax, I’m going to explain. I was one of not many people to receive the honor of getting to see this little short film before it’s released to the rest of the public. So that’s pretty big for me, a small town dude who just happens to be running a blog where movies occasionally get reviewed. Just don’t expect this to become a regular thing… reviews of short films, I mean. Call this a special occasion.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Harlequin”.

Charles (Kenton Hall) is a clown. But he isn’t your normal “nice guy who makes kids happy” clown. He has some mental issues going on. And these issues seem to manifest themelves around the time of a performance he is setting up. And that’s about all I can say. It’s a bit difficult to tackle the plot of a short since it is just that… short. So there’s not much that can truly be said about it. I’ll give it this: It intrigued me a lot. There’s definitely some really interesting stuff going on here. I could definitely see this as a full length feature. But seeing as it is as surreal as it is, on such a short runtime, I can’t really say much about it plotwise. I was intrigued and I was invested in it which is a testament to the talent of the writer/director, but I can’t really talk about it as in depth as most regular movies.

There aren’t many actors in the movie. There are a total of four, but only one should really be focused on: Kenton Hall. This is because he’s the only one that gets enough space to the point that I can look at his performance. And to give credit where credit is due… he’s really good in this. Not Oscar worthy or something like that… but he’s really good in this independent short film about a crazy clown man. He’s really good, and the supporting actors do fine in their very minor roles.

The music in this short film help set a pretty eerie atmosphere in a way that actually kind of symbolizes the mess that is Charles’ mind. Sure, the music is not as thought-provoking and symbolic as in other movies, but I honestly don’t think that it’s the point. The music here is meant to help show that nothing is as it seems while also setting a pretty eerie mood. And that is a plus for this little thing.

“Harlequin” was written and directed by Jakob Lewis Barnes, a man who’s very passionate about film and the art of filmmaking. Me and Jakob have communicated a lot on twitter and I think that he’s a really cool dude. But I’m not gonna let my positive experiences with Jakob cloud my judgment of his directing and writing. And it’s really well directed and well written. The writing presents the interesting stuff with Charles and his mental health, and it kept me intrigued. And the directing was really good as well. I mean, for someone who’s on such a small budget and with no major stuff under his belt he did a pretty great job. You can tell from the shots we get that something is a bit odd here, kind of like with the music choices. And that of course helps the short a lot and makes it really interesting. Again, I am basing this on the small budget that this pretty clearly was on. And while not really related to the directing itself, there’s a fun little clown-related easter egg in this that I thought was kind of fun.

I can’t really judge “Harlequin” like I do most normal, full length features. To tell you the truth, I had to think carefully how I would judge this thing. Then after some thinking I figured it out… I think. The pretty minor plot presented is intriguing, the performance from Kenton Hall is really good, the music choices are good, and the directing is pretty good. I can’t really give it any of my normal ratings since it’s such a different thing for me to review, so all I can really do is say whether I recommend it or not. *Drumroll*. Yeah, I recommend it. If you want to see something kinda weird but still really interesting, I recommend that you watch it. Although you’ll have to wait until it is released for the public in late October or something (Not entirely sure to be honest). If you want to keep up with it, follow the JumpCut Uk Productions twitter account. Keep in mind that I do recommend it.

My review of “Harlequin” is now completed.

Jakob, if you’re reading this… it was an honor to be one who got to see it early! Thank you.

Short Story: Sudden Impact

James drove home from work in his Volvo V70 along the beautiful country road. The sides of the road were lined with red tulips. It was warm outside, it was probably at least 25 degrees celsius. The CD-player in the car played Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again”, that was James’ favorite song. He came upon the bridge that ran over a glittering stream of fresh water. The sound of the car rolling over the boards of the bridge was one of his favorite sounds, it relaxed him. The tulips that ran along the road gave off a sweet smell that made him think of his wife, Jane. They were happily married, had been for three years. It was only a short time until he would come home and see her again. Her face always left James with a smile whenever he came home from work. The rows of tulips ended and he came up on the small road that led up to the small town he lived in. When he got into the town he started cruising along the streets and waved at all the people he knew and saw walking on the sidewalks. When he cruised through the town he felt the many smells of the different stores. Grilled meat, pastries, flowers…so many nice smells. He pulled over, turned off the ignition and got out of the car. He decided to go buy some flowers for his wife. Why? Because he felt like it, that’s why. He walked into the florist shop.

“How much for a dozen roses?”
“A dozen? Something special happening today, James?”
“Nah, just feeling like giving my wife a nice present”
“Oh. Gotcha! Can you wait here a minute while I go get them for you?”
“Sure, no probs”

The florist walked into the back of the shop. She was an old friend of James. They were in the same class for many years. It took circa 5 minutes before she came back with a bouquet of red beautiful roses. 

“There ya go!”
“Thanks! Sooooo…how much?”
“25 bucks, pal”
“25? That’s pretty cheap”
“Feeling kind today”
“Ha. Thanks, Kate!”

He paid the 25 dollars for the roses, waved goodbye and walked out. He put the roses carefully in the passenger seat, sat in the driver’s seat, started the car and drove off. He got home 5 minutes later. He lived in a yellow house with two floors and a porch. He walked in. 

“HONEY, I’M HOME!”
*No response*
“HELLOOO!?”
*No response*
“YOU HOME!?”
*Still no response*

He walked in to the dining room, took the dead flowers in the vase and threw them away, filled with some fresh water and put the new ones in there. He sat down at the table and picked up the newspaper that just were there on the table. He started reading it. 
After a while he got to the comics section, his favorite part about the paper. 

*BANG*

He dropped down with his face in the paper with a hole through his head. Behind him was the kitchen. And in there was Jane…with a 9mm 1911 Colt pistol. James’ blood ran slowly all over the table. The look in Jane’s eyes was cold…and empty. 

*BANG*

She dropped on the floor with a big gaping hole on the bottom of her head. The ceiling was painted red with her blood, it was originally white. The wall was painted red with James’ blood, it was originally baby blue. The married couple had fallen. Not by disease, not by natural causes…but by the hands of one of them. The riddle will never be answered to why she did it, we can only guess. 

What is your theory? Post it as a comment.

 

(By the way, I made this because I was bored).