Friday, October 22, 2010

The Lady and the Reaper


Director: Javier Recio Gracia
Run Time: 8:21 min
Spain

Concept:

     A sweet old lady is living alone in her farm, waiting for the arrival of death to meet her beloved husband again. One night, while sleeping, her life fades out and she is invited to cross death's door.

Pros:
  • Its a fun silly film 
  • A lot is explain without dialogue


Check Out The Film




The lady and the reaper from Hormoz Zamanpour Siahkal on Vimeo.

My Thoughts:
  
   When I heard the music at the beginning, I was expecting something serious and sad, instead what I received was a fun light short about looking forward to death. I actually bursted out laughing at parts of the film. I absolutely love the way the doctor and the nurses were portrayed and I love the way the old woman has a bit of fire in her spirit. What did you think?

Alma


Director: Rodrigo Blaas
Run Time: 5:30 min
Spain

Concept:

  Alma, a little girl, skips through the snow covered streets of a small town. Her attention is caught by a strange doll in an antique toy shop window. Fascinated, Alma decides to enter.

Pros:
  • Puts you in the mood for halloween
  • Shows what you can do with a film without dialogue 
  • Its nice to see a 3d animation film that is darker


Check Out the Film Below




My Thoughts:


   I love this short disturbing film. When watching this film, I felt like the director really understood how a child thinks and acts. When the child in the film hits the door with a snowball and then while walking drags her hand along the wall, I felt like he must have seen me when I was a child, cause I would have done the same thing at age 10. I also enjoyed the light music through out the piece, it makes the ending all the more disturbing. What did you think of the film?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

PVC-1

Director: Spiros Stathoulopoulos 
Run time: 85 min
Colombia

Concept:
     
    Shot in real time, PVC-1 is based on the true story of a woman who is turned into a human time bomb in a bizarre act of terrorism.

Check out the Trailer:



My Thoughts:

    This film concept had me at hello, the trailer also had me at hello too, so when I went to watch this film, I was expecting to enjoy it. I am sad to say that they should rename this film "My Pvc Pipe and Me take a Walk." Over 30 mins of this film, is watching the husband, child and wife walk in real time to a meeting place and unfortunately that slows the film down a lot from the tense action in the beginning of the movie. I am not saying this film it totally bad, there is moments in this film that is soul shattering but you have to get over the long ass middle of this film and to tell you the truth, I almost gave up on this film cause, I was bored to death.
   One moment that save this film from being a waste of time is in the beginning, when you watch the family being attacked. The long take and real time camera action makes you feel like you are in the room with them and that you too are being attack by masked people.
 Overall, this film isn't bad but it makes the viewer wait a bit for any type of pay off.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Fermat's Room

Directors: Luis Piedrahita & Rodrigo Sopena
Run Time: 88 mins
Spain

Concept:

   Four mathematicians who do not know each other are invited by a mysterious host on the pretext of resolving a great enigma. The room in which they find themselves turns out to be a shrinking room that will crush them if they do not discover in time what connects them all and why someone might wish to murder them.

Pros:
  • Has a clever concept
  • Fast moving
  • Great movie for turning off the brain
  • This movie is a great example of what a person can do with a limited film budget
  • You can pause the movie and do the problems along with the characters
Cons
  • Bad guy motive doesn't make a lot of sense
  • Loose ends all over this film, if you think about it at all
  • Math in the film is not really hard at all




Check out the Trailer Below:





My Thoughts:

I have always sucked at math. So when I saw the concept for this film, I wasn't really into it but I decided to give it a chance because I was into the Saw like concept of a shrinking room. I am glad to say this film didn't disappoint me. Its true, that the so called "Math problems" seem like something I did in middle school but with the added pressure of the mystery of who is doing this and why, the film was  entertaining. The shrinking room was a great set piece and with the camera work in the film, I was never bored with the room. Every time the walls started to move, you the viewer, along with the characters felt the pressure of impending doom if you didn't get the math questions right in a minute.
   The draw backs of this film, is that if you spend any time thinking about this film at all, the plot just falls apart. The motives of the villain doesn't make any sense with the amount of work the villain would have had to done in order to pull off this plot. Plus, the villain escape plan is clumsy at best and would never have work.
  Overall, it is a fun film to watch, if you have spare time and is in a mood for a decent thriller.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Cat Piano

Directors: Ari Gibson & Eddie White
Run Time: 8:33min
Australia

Concept:

       A city of singing cats is preyed upon by a shadowy figure intent on performing a twisted feline symphony.



Pros:
  • Has exquisite visuals, dark film noir
  • Awesome Poetry with a slamming jazz soundtrack in the background
  • Unique concept with cats


For People Who Like:
  • Cats
  • Poetry
  • The film genre noir
  • Animation, because they did this film using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet


Check Out the Film below:






My Thoughts:


When I first watch the short, I was amaze at how fast it drew me into the story. In less than a minute, I was invested in the cat troubles and was trying to figure out, who was taking the cats and why. I was impress with the poetry and the music blew me away. Everything came together so perfectly, I couldn't find one thing I didn't like about this short.


What did you think about the film?

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Skhizein


Director: Jeremy Clapin
Run time: 13min
France

Concept:

Having been struck by a 150-ton meteorite, Henry has to adapt to living precisely ninety-one centimeters from himself. (91 cm is about 3 feet)

Pros:

  • Film has unique concept, and takes it to a whole new level of horror. I will never think of a out of body experience, as fun ever again.
  • Can watch the whole film right now!
  • Animation style is different, and it shows that animation doesn't have to be just for kids.
Here is the film in two parts: Enjoy!!!

Part 1:







    Part 2:






    What did you think?

    Friday, October 1, 2010

    The Good, the Bad, the Weird



    Director: Ji-woon Kim 
    Run time: 2hr 10 min
    Rated: R

    Concept:

    On a train crossing the Manchurian desert, an unlikely trio -- good bounty hunter Park Do, bad gangster Park Chang-yi and weird train robber Yoon Tae-goo unite to find a treasure map's promised loot. Racing through the unforgiving landscape, they stay one step ahead of rivals and the Japanese army.

    Pros:

    • Has awesome action scenes and camera tricks
    • Has a good balance of silly and serious 
    • The characters are over the top and fun


    Cons
    • The movie is way too long, and much of the action is toward the first hour
    • The ending doesn't make much sense and feels rush


    For People Who Liked:
    • Pirates of the Caribbean
    • Indiana Jones
    • Sherlock Holmes
    • Trigun             




               
    If you like the trailer, check out the movie