From up on Poppy Hill (2012)

In Brief: A young girl, Umi (Masami Nagasawa) helps her Grandmother run a board house while her mother finishes her Studies in America. Amoung her morning activities are preparing breakfast for the houses tennants, prepping lunch for her sibling and raising a signal flag for her deceased father. During a school demonstration to save the students existing and decaying club house, she makes a connection with the enthusiastic Shun(Junichi Okada). The two are undeniably attracted to one another, but soon find they're relationship may be more complicated then it seems.

Cloud Atlas (2012), Life of Pi (2012)

Cloud Atlas, In Brief : An old, Scarred man (Tom Hanks) Speaks around a Camp fire, about connected lives. A Engaged Lawyer (Jim Sturgess) writes to his Fiance on a Boat. A young Composer (Ben Whishaw) finishes composing a letter to his lover, and gets in to the bathtub to shoot himself. A Female Journalist (Halle Berry) Drives away from what might yet be the story of her life. A Book Editor(Jim Broadbent) struggles with one of his writers. A Genetically Engineered Waitress (Doona Bae) goes about her meticulously planned life.
Life of Pi, In Brief : A Indian Man, Pi (Irrfan Kahn), is interviewed by a Canadian writer(Rafe Spall) about his Life, and how he came to, as a young man (Suraj Sharma), Survive a  with a ship wreck on a life boat with a full grown Bengal Tiger.

Love Story (2011)

In Brief: Florain Habitch, a New Zealand film maker, spots a woman, Masha Yakovenko, carrying a Cake at the train station near Cony Island. He goes to ask her out, and she challenges him. Take the train to the next stop, turn around and walk towards the current one, and if they meet, she'll spend the day with him. Only, this is part of a story, that Florain is directing. And he's not sure what direction to take it, so, he takes the question to the Streets of New York.

Rurouni Kenshin (2012)

In Brief: Based on the Manga/Anime of the same name, The story follows Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satō), A wandering Samurai, who carries a revered blade so's not to kill his opponent. He finds his way to a town, where a killer known as Battōsai is terrorizing the town, a Drug lord trying to buy up real estate to expand his empire, and a old adversary is the law. On his way through town, Kenshin is mistaken for Battōsai the Killer by local Dojo owner Kaoru (Emi Takei), and the two connect by her fathers moto, a sword is used to bring life.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

In Brief: Charlie (Logan Lerman) sits at home, writing a letter, to no one in particular. He's about to start his first day of High School, and he's nervous. He doesn't have friends, and his day doesn't go very well, except for a senior student Patrick(Ezra Miller) lightening the mood in wood shop. As the week goes by, a chance encounter with Patrick outside of school introduces him to Sam(Emma Watson), another Senior and Patrick sister, and then Charlie falls in with the other 'misfit toys'. But Charlie isn't well, and struggles with his new found friendships.

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

In Brief: Marty(Colin Farrel) is a screenwriter in LA, struggling with his latest script, Seven Psychopaths, but his having trouble getting past the title. He doesn't want to write a story about violence with huge gun battles, he wants something more akin to a love story. Marty's friend, Billy (Sam Rockwell, not dancing), tries to be supportive, while keeping his occupation of Dog Napping with associate Hans(Christopher Walken), but when he grabs the dog of known gangster, Charlie(Woody Harrelson), things get complicated.

The Thieves(2012), The Intouchables (2011)

The Thieves, In Brief:
Two bands of thieves, one from Korea lead by Popeye (Jung-jae Lee), the other from China lead by Chen (Simon Yam), are brought together by a former cohort, Macau Park(Yun-suk Kim), to perform a job in Macau that could set them all up for the future, steal the 'tear of the sun'. But tension among the group are high as past and present relationships put strain on the present job, and double crossing ensures.

Intouchables, In Brief:
A grumpy quadriplegic aristocrat, Philippe ( François Cluzet) is looking for a new live in caretaker, and in among the usual educated applicants is Dess (Omar Sy), a man recently released from prison, looking to get a signature so he can get his benefits from the government. Philippe puts Dess on a two week trial, betting that he won't last any longer then the rest.

Argo (2012)

In Brief: Set during the late 1979's Iran hostage crisis, 6 Staff from the US Embassy escape on the street, and after being turned down by several other embassy, find sanctuary with the Canadian ambassador and his wife. While they're colleges are held captive at the Embassy, they lay low in the crawl space, hiding out during searches. Some months later, The CIA feel things have cooled off enough to try launch a rescue mission, and after a series of bad ideas, they come up with a safer bad idea. Location scouting for a Canadian Sci-Fi film, with the 6 restranded Americans playing roles of Director, Writer, Camera man etc.

Safety not guaranteed(2012)

[b]In Brief:[/b] Journalist, Jeff(Jake Johnson), pitches an idea to his editor, based on a classified ad, "Wanted, someone to go back in time with, me, this is not a joke, you'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapon, I've only done this once before SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED",  He recruits two interns, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni) to reasearch the job. When they get into town, Jeff strikes out in the initial interview with Kenneth (Mark Duplass), but Darius manages to get in on the plan. The mission is regret, but is it for real?

Killing them Softly (2012)

In Brief: Frankie (Scoot McNairy) is a low level crim, his been in prison before, and doesn't intend to go back, along with his Australian friend Russel (Ben Mendelsohn), and they knock over a card game run by Markie (Ray Liotta). Markie's knocked over his own game, before, and suspicion is cast on him. In comes Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), an enforcer brought in to clean things up, and get the money rolling again, all the while dealing with the building financial crisis and election of 2009.

Damsels in Distress, Whit Stillman presents (2011)

In Breif: Lilly (Analeigh Tipton) transfers to Seven Oaks College, an until recently all male college, is befriended by a trio of seemingly well meaning girls, lead by Violet (Greta Gerwig). Together they navigate the up's and downs of College life, while seemingly attending only a single class (lets face it, most college films you only see the inside of a class once), while making comments about every day life and preferences.

Wolf Children(2012)

In Breif: 
Hanna, a College student, meets and falls in love with a mysterious loner , who drifts into one of her classes. Intrigued, Hanna follows him, and the two strike up a relationship. Soon, the Loner reveals a secret he has never told anyone before. He's the last descendant of a Wolf Clan, and is able to transform into a Wolf. The two continue they're romance and the pair have a daughter, Yuki, and the following year, a Son, Ame. Shortly after Ame's birth, the children's father has a accident, leaving Hanna to raise they're children alone.

Moonrise Kingdon (2012), CIFF'12 : Starry Starry Night (2011)

Moonrise Kingdom
In brief: Sam (Jared Gilman) is a slightly troubled, un-liked kid who resigns from his position at a Scouts camp run by Rudy (Edward Norton), to be with his first Love, Suzy (Kara Hayward), a easy to anger local teen who comes from a dysfunctional family, who's parents (Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand) aren't exactly involved.. Together, they two trek around the island they inhabit.
Starry Starry Night
In brief: Xiao Mei (Jiao Xu) is a everyday 13 year old, her parents argue, but her crafts man grandfather is the glue that holds the family together. Over christmas, Jay (Erci Lin Hui Ming) moves across the street. He's the quiet, brooding artsy type. The two connect, and help each other get through some difficult times.

Looper (2012)

In Brief  Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a Looper in 2072, a mob hit man who's contracts are sent bound, hooded and gagged from the future to the present. All Joe has to do is pull the trigger and collect the Silver bars strapped to they're back. When all his colleges start closing they're Loops (Killing they're future self, and rewarded with gold bars instead of Silver), Life is becoming one big party, Until Seth (Paul Dano) fails to close his loop, and then Joe's Future Self (Bruce Willis) comes back, with out the binds, the gags or the hood. Joe hesitates, and Old Joe escapes.

Children who chase lost voices from Deep Below (2011)

In Breif: Makoto Shinkai brings a story about girl, Asuna (Hisako Kanemoto), that listens to the airwaves for a mysterious tune in her secret hideaway in the mountains of her local town, one day, while crossing the bridge to the mountain, she's attacked by a bear like creature, and saved by a mysterious boy Shun(Miyu Irno), the two share a few outings together, before he dies mysteriously. Strugling to deal with her grief, she speaks to her Substitute teacher Morisaki, to learn more of the underground land of Agratha.

A Monster in Paris (2011) (Dubbed)

In Brief: A projectionist and a Near-do-well Delivery boy, drop off some equipment at a Botanist/Scientist greenhouse in a slightly flooded 1910's Paris. Fooling around with some of the equipment, they Accidentally, with the assistance of Charles the servant Monkey, set a 7 foot tall Flea loose on the city. All the while a Ambitious Police Chief tries to woo a Singer, and capture the Gentle singing beast.

The Bullet Vanishes (2012)

In Breif: Set in Shanghai during the 1930's, A series of mysterious murders occur at a munition factory, the man is shot, but there's no bullet at the scene. Two Investigators, One a military hotshot climbing the ranks (Nicholas Tse), and the other a prison guard who has a penchant for proving the inmates innocents(Ching Wan Lau), embark on the case.

Your Sisters Sister (2011)

In Breif: Jack (Mark Duplass) life is a mess, still struggling with his brothers death a year on, his Best Friend, Iris (Emily Blunt), decides he needs some alone time, to contemplate his life and move on, and tells him to go to her family holiday house. When Jack arrives, He finds Iris sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) drowning her sorrows after walking out on a 7 year relationship. They Drink, They Fornicate, and deal with the fallout.

Love, Angels and Airwaves presents (2011)

In Breif : Lee Miller, is the first man to go into space in 20 something years, Shortly after going up, he looses contact with earth. Cue, Stir Crazy. Cue, Score by Angels and Airwaves.

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Brief: Universal attempts to inject a fresh dose of life into the Bourne Franchise, by ditching the titular character and introducing more shadow government figures who are in charge or even more highly trained and seemingly expendable covert operations units. Jeremy Renner is front and center as Aaron Cross, but how well does he hold up in the shadow of Jason Bourne?

MIFF: First Position (2011), Ruby Sparks (2012)

Last two films I managed to see at the Melbourne Internationale film Festival.

First Position, In Breif: First Position is a Documentary about the trials of a 6 Youth from around the world, as they prepare and compete in the Youth America Grand Prix, a prestigious Ballet competition that doesn't just hand out awards for great performances, but also Scholarships and/or Positions with some of the most famed schools and companies around the globe.

Ruby Sparks, In Breif: A Romantic Comedy/Drama centering around an American writer, Calvin (Paul Dano) who's struggling to complete his second novel. His Therapist (Elliot Gould) suggests that to deal with some of his insecurities, that he write his idea girlfriend who's accepting of these things, and so he dreams up Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan, who also provided the script), and eventually she becomes a reality.

MIFF' '12 Animation Shorts

In Breif: I'm going to go over the 9 films featured in the fantastic animated shorts. There was 9 shorts, some where brilliant, some were good, others were confusing. All entertaining. The films featured were Paperman, The Great Rabbit, The Pub, The Hunter, Villa Antopoff, The Country of Wolves, Butterflies, Captain Hu, It's such a beautiful day. You can see the list HERE, and get more details on the particular films if your interested.
More after the break.

MIFF: Ace Attorney (2012), Alois Nebel (2011)

In Breif: Ace Attorney
Based on the Capcom video game franchise, Ace Attorney follows green Attorney Phoenix Wright takes on a case to prove the innocents of his former partners sister and childhood friend from murder charges. Directed by the amazing diverse cult Japanese Film Maker Takashi Miike, Ace Attorney is a highly entertaining romp with more then some character to spare.

In Breif: Alois Nebel
Based on a trilogy of Czech Comics by Jaroslav Rudiš, Alois Nebel focuses on the titular Train Dispather with repressed memories, a scheming co-worker, and his encounter with a mysterious Mute from across the border with ties to his past. It's a beautifully animated film, that has a great sense of style.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

In 2005, Chrstopher Nolan and David S. Goyer were given the reigns to reboot the Batman film franchise for Warner Brothers. The first film was well received and a bit of a hit, marking a Dark and Modern entry into the series compared to Burton's Gothic and Schumacher's Neon Camp affair. Opening the series with characters not depicted on the big screen earlier, he followed it up with the crazily successful 'The Dark Knight', that pitted Batman against two of his most popular Rogue's, The Joker and Harvey Dent, The film was a hit, and its often debated how much of it's success is linked to the death of scene stealer Heath Ledger (For the Record, I though Aaron Eckart's Harvey Dent was the more enjoyable performance.) Its been 4 years since then, and we've seen a slew of new Comic Book Adaptions since then that have battled it out for what's arguably one of the most popular Comic/Films in cinema, and Nolan and Co have brought out a 2 hour and 40 minute follow up, that well and truly closes the off Nolans series. So is it good, or does it suffer the threequel curse?

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Amazing Spider-man is a interesting film, Coming only 10 years after Raimi's first film, and barely 5 years after the much derided third entry, Sony/Columbia have rebooted instead of continuing with Sam Raimi story and paying Toby Maquire half of Sony pictures worth (for the record, the rumored Vulture/Felica Hardy story sounded awful). So here we have Marc Webb (of the great 500 days of summer) at the helm and Andrew Garfield (Never Let Me Go, The Social Network) in the Spandex suite. It's getting mixed reviews, being called a unnecessarily re-telling. In my opinion, Its quite a good film, and does alot of things better then Raimi's opening story, But, i'm not sure its a better film.

Brave (2012)

Let me get this out of the way... PPIIIXXXXAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!
Sorry, bit of a fan. on the quick, I really enjoyed the film, its not Pixars best film, but its doesn't feature talking Cars, so its nowhere near its worst (Irrational hatred for the Cars franchise, right here, even beyond them being really average films).
Brave is a film set around 10th century Scotland, where a Merida (Kelly McDonald), a Vibrant, Energetic and maybe a little bit wild Princess (Really has a fantastic head of hair too, go Red!). But she's coming of age, and her very Prim and proper Mother (Emma Thompson) and her Warrior father (Billy Connolly) go about arranging her married. Merida, not happy with the situation, goes about trying to 'change her fate'.

Prometheus (2012)

Saw this a week or two back, at Imax, didn't care to write about it at the time, but i will now, because we have the technology!
So, Prometheus, Directed by Sir Ridley Scott, is the somewhat awaited prequel to his Horror/Sci-fi classic 'Alien' he Directed some thirty one years ago(?), about the search for the origins of the human race, and what could lead to they're downfall. There's a lot of bitching on this wide wired world of ours, not that the film doesn't live up to expectations, but that it doesn't answer the questions it sets out to ask and that it's got some massive plot holes. My take, after the break. They're will be spoiler-ish bits.

the Cabin in the Woods (2010/2012)

The Cabin in the Woods, the often delayed Joss Weadon/Drew Goddard collaboration shot in 2009, delayed by plan's for a 3D conversion, studio bankruptcy and other reasons beyond my general knowledge. But its here, now, and two months ago or so across the globe, Thanks to Liongate, and in Australia, thanks to Roadshow (You know, after fan outrage that the film was pulled from its July 12 slot to a unspecified straight to DVD date, and then placed in limited run as of June 14). A lots been said, and maybe for the best part unsaid, and its built alot of expectation. Does it deliver?

National Theater Live: Frankenstein (2011)

Now this is a little harder to review, as its a recording of something your suppose to be seeing on a stage. That might not sound like a reason for this to be 'hard', but they're really too different experiences. Cinema's and Theater's do have a different atmosphere about that, and while a film production is able to duck and weave around the action to constantly give you a good view, a stage production has to make more of a impact based on your static angle, and also, no one in they're right mid would pull out a god damn mobile phone in a theater.

So I'll keep this short, NTL's Frankenstein is directed by Danny Boyle, adapted for the stage by Nick Deer, and Stars Benedict  Cumberbatch  (Sherlock in BBC's modern Day Sherlock) and Johnny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes in Americans attempt to transplant the detective to modern day America). The fun part of this is,  Cumberbatch  and Miller alternate roles between Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. Last year i saw Miller as the Creature and Cumberbatch as Frankenstein, and today i saw the other take. Love'd it.
The set and Costume designs are brilliant, although, i could see the ends of Cumberbatch's bald cap at a couple of points. Both actors do brilliantly in they're roles, and i'm honestly interested in seeing it again. Here's hoping they pop it out on DVD. (The National Theatre Live website states that for the time being, they're wont be any, as the performers contracts didn't stipulate it)

The Innkeepers (2011)

The Innkeepers is a really cheap looking film. I honestly half expect when I bother to Google it, find out it was made for a very modest budget and edited in windows movie maker. One of the first things I noted when the film started was that the credits seemed to use Time New Roman, For the record, in my opinion, Time New Roman always looks cheap and very basic. So, once the film actually starts past its opening credits, it feels like a improvement. So, lets put the breakdown of the story shall we?
The Innkeepers is a ghost story, set at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in a unspecified time frame (only reason I feel thats worth mentioning is that the technology in the film seems really dated, late 90's maybe) and centers around the two staff members, Claire (Sarah Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healey) on hand during its last weekend of operation. The staff see this weekend as they're last chance to get proof behind the fabled haunting of the Inn.

Men in Black 3 (2012)

Men in Black 3 comes some 15 years after the original Men in Black (1997, Good Year), and 10 years after its sequel, the aptly named Men in Black 2 (2002, not a good year for the MiB), and the big difference between the three, Will Smith isn't doing a single for it? It's not a better film then the original, but is it any worse then what came before?

Declaration of War (2011)

Declaration of War (La guerre est déclarée) is a semi-biographical film, Charting the relationship between Romeo (Jérémie Elkaïm) and Juliette (Valérie Donzelli), The birth of they're son, Adam (César Desseix) and they're battle with cancer. It's semi-biographical because the script is based on Elkaim and Donzelli experience with they're child. 

Silent Souls(2010) and Romantics Anonymous(2010)

Silent Souls is a Russian film that takes its title very seriously, I'd wager over half the film is spent with ambient noises and the soundtrack being front and center of the film, with the Dialogue being used to frame the scene.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel(2011)

Alright, so i missed the session for the film i wanted to see this week(Life in Movement), and ended up being delighted with something different instead.
The best Exotic Marigold Hotel a bit of a who's who of British cinema with Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton and Maggie Smith, and one from your younger generation with Dev Patel. The film has a simple setup, Through different circumstances, a group of elderly British citizens book in to spend the rest of they're twilight years at 'the best exotic marigold hotel for the elderly and beautiful', owned and operated by a young India man (Patel).

The Way (2010)

The Way (released in the US October 2011, and in Spain way back in November 2010) has just been released in Australia. Australia as I understand it, is one of, if not the most, pirating countries in the world when it comes to downloading films on the internet. It might sound a bit self-entitled to say something like this, but 6 months between releases in countries, or worse, over a year, for a English language feature, can be a reason why people resort to piracy. Had i been aware of the film earlier, instead of the last time i went to the nova, I'd probably have picked up a import copy of this in the shops. Also, Screw you Lionsgate, or who ever is handling distribution of Cabin in the Woods in Australia. You don't release a film, that half the internet is telling you 'don't let it be spoilt' and then freaking have it come out 3 months after its major market release, let alone remove it from the schedule completely (And this leaves me conflicted, do i Import the film on release from overseas, or do i Support the local industry even though they're seemingly doing us wrong. There's no right answere).

The Avengers

Alright, lets try this review thing again.

The Avengers (2012) has just his shores this week in Australia, amazingly a week ahead of the US date (lacking the antisipated new trailers for the other two big Hero flicks coming out, the Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises. But we don't go to the cinema's for Trailers, right?), This film in the culminations of the Marvel/Paramount alliance (of sorts), to bring together as many Marvel hero's under one roof, to put together the ultimate Superhero flick. If you know the general score, you can skin to the bolded setup below.

Shame + Pirates : A Band of Misfits

Shame (2011)

I don't think enough can be said for this film. It's received quite a bit of critical praise, for Fassbender's performance, and McQueen's Direction. They deserve every bit they received, and i find it hard to believe some of the films that where nominated  for the Academy Award in Performance Male, Best Picture and Editing ahead of this. There's some fantastically shot and edited scenes, with McQueen and his team knowing exactly what to show, and when to let the soundtrack take over. The story is well played out, and the characters aren't unlikable, as one might expect of a story about Sex Addiction. The characters can be complete Asses, but you recognize them as flawed individuals, and not villains as they could easily come off.
If i made one complaint about the film, its that at time feels like there's only two real characters in it, the supporting cast largely end up feeling like extras, looking over the credits, i'm surprised how many of them had names.

Pirates : A band of Misfits (2012)

Aardman animations are back, and almost at they're best, with a return to stop motion animation, after Arthur Christmas and Flushed Away. There's something about it that helps bring out they're best Humor and style. Although, there are quite a few of the best bits are played out in the trailers, making the film drag a little during parts, But Grant, Freeman, Tennant and the rest of the cast do a great job bringing the characters to life (I could completely see Freeman as his character, though, i don't know if i'd say it actually resembles him). The film does feel like they could open it up to a series, with more adventures for Pirate Captain and his crew, and i'm on board for that.

First post Blues

Wow, Created a Blog. How 00's  of me, and with that, i'm not saying i'm from MI5.
...
That didn't work did it. Anywho, Thank you, Panda, for the recommendation. I'll use this blog as a way to keep tabs on the films i've seen recently, and maybe even go over my back catalog and let the world know.
So, since the start of 2012, I've seen the following shows at Cinema's or on stage:
A Seperation, Melancholia, Extreamly Loud Incredibly Close, How to Train your Dragon : The Arena Spectacular, The Hunger Games, The Raid, Sondheim's Company, Arrietty (Subbed), War Horse, Presumed Guilty, The Skin I Live In, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (US), Hugo (2D + 3D), Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Chronicle, The Artist, The Descendants.
I'm sure there's two or three more that I've miss placed the ticket too, and as it turns out, might not have been that memorable.