garethwatkin

Having seen CUBE, I've been a fan of Vincenzo Natali's work. Natali seems to have this inept ability to take a storyline, and hardly wring it our like a wet towel for all the storyline he can muster. Instead, he lets the stories themselves unfold in natural ways, so much in fact, that you may in fact believe there is this Cube were people try to escape, or in the case of NOTHING, a large empty expanse where there is... nothing! The advert had me hooked instantly. It seemed so simple! Take two characters who no one likes, and send them to a world where there is nothing. Natali does this so simply that you forget the logic that a place where there is nothing cannot exist. In fact, the world of nothing becomes something of an irony within the film. There's nothing there, but also 'something' there.

It might be a good time to point out that the trailer is highly misleading. I was fortunate enough to actually understand that the film leaned to a more comedic side than the trailer otherwise told so. Therefore upon watching the film, i laughed every now and again, whereas someone who the advert mislead may find themselves utterly confused.

If i may take a minute to give the film some praise, where the film excels on is the concept. It is a genius concept to have a world of nothing, and to put two characters there, NOT two brilliant minded characters, who will philosophise and work out their surroundings, but two idiots who have absolutely no clue as to where the hell they are! Another strong point is the film's cinematography, though at first this may not seem it! Where each wall, north, earth, south, west, up and down is just a white plane, a perception of depth becomes faulty. It is hard to determine where things are placed in the Mis-En-Scene. The cinematography has many moments where this actually happens, but for the most part, the camera is placed so that two characters, or an object and a character are placed in the foreground and background, allowing a sense of depth to be realised.

However, this film does lack in certain areas. The film is relatively short, but even so, after a while the novelty of this world of nothing becomes rather dull, and you wish to find some form of resolution within the plot. We can also argue that the acting is once again, questionable. These two characters are in a sense, unlikeable, therefore we feel no sympathy at any point for these characters. However, on a flip side of that, the chemistry and friendship between the two characters seems real enough, but there is something lacking.

Even so, i do rank this as a thoroughly enjoyable film! Do not let the trailer fool you into thinking this is another science-fiction horror film. It is much more of a comedy than that! It is indeed worth watching though, purely for the concept itself!

Having been an avid fan of the first Fullmetal Alchemist series, i was highly apprehensive on hearing about this reboot, but the more i found out about the series, the more excited i became. I've always been a fan of the Manga, and the new series is being based completely of the manga storyline. This had be hooked, so i waited nervously for the first episode.

The new series features better artwork that resembles Arakawa's style more closely than the last series. There is more humour, especially Ed transmuting a spear-head into his face. There is a new soundtrack, which admittedly, at times doesn't work greatly, but with some getting used too, i'm sure it will grow on me. Overall, i feel this series is a fantastic reboot, and is verging on turning Fullmetal Alchemist into the series it should always have been.

"It's a bloody good film" says Louis, a friend of mine over for a day of random 'Get-together, have-a-laugh, read-my-lyrics and watch-films' kind of day. Choice was to either watch This Is England, or Cube.2: Hypercube. And it is not a difficult task to guess which film won in our random game of selection.

This was the second time i had watched this film, but during my first viewing, i had a lot of stopping and starting, and missed out a few key sequences. Therefore my entire opinion of the film was lacking a certain sense of validity, considering that i didn't know... 'exactly' what i was reviewing. However, having watched it for a second time, i am now able to do my review, which means divulging away from these paragraphs of non-sensical ramblings of the actual watching, and more comprehensible talking of the movie itself.

For starters, criticism's, getting them out of the way first as is my new habit in writing terrible reviews where i have the highly prominent quirk of going off on a tangent (As done now). My first criticism goes to the concept of Smelly's character, as i find the whole idea of a 16-year old girl kissing and dating an 11-year old kind of odd... However, i never grew up in 80's Britian. Hell, i never even grew up in 80's Ireland (My beloved homeland). So perhaps my ignorance of growing up during these times makes me susceptible to finding fault within these types of relationships, as for all i know, there could have been many 16-year old girls dating 11-year old boys. Who knows? Perhaps my main problem with Smelly was that she reminded me too much of mine and my friend's own personal Scary Mary. ("Damn Right!" he says, taking a swig of Stella Artois). Less on that subject though, as personal Scary Marys are never a pretty subject to talk about, no matter what context it is placed within.

To be honest, there is little criticism i can place upon this film. To start with my praising, and immediately diving into talking about the acting... The acting within this film stunned me. I can easily see why Thomas Turgoose has had so much praise for his performance in this film, as it is bloody fantastic! He shows such emotion, and childish attitudes towards simple things ("I want those ones!" he says, pointing to a large pair of red shoes) It is difficult though to point out any bad performances. Mediocre, yes, a fair few performances of 'that' calibre, but there was some outstanding performances. Moving swiftly on to Direction & Writing. Shane Meadows has astounded me once, and i am highly interested in seeing more of his films. The advert on my DVD for his other independent film Dead Man's Shoes looked very interesting, and i plan to view a lot more of his films. There is little to say on the subject of direction, as for what the film is, it was perfect. Shane Meadow's writing was also outstanding. His script was preformed to amazing standard, and shows very little signs of fault. Meadows presents exactly how good scripts can be written, and then presented exceptionally. The cinematography and editing within this film were also exceptional. In specific sequences, which some people may know to which i am referring too. In some sequences, the rapid cinematography shaking around the room, and the rapid editing, showing extreme closeups of different images create such power and hard-hitting images, it is impossible to look at, and impossible to turn away from. Linked from my last point, the soundtrack was perfectly chosen, using choice music composed by one of my favourite pianists (Who i was into long before seeing this film) Ludovico Einaudi. His melodic moving piano pieces matched perfectly the mood and tempo of the specific sequences it was applied too. Other songs from the 80's itself helped to create the 80's feel of the movie, and all in all, it is an exceptional soundtrack.

In my tediously-arrived conclusion, there are little faults within this film. I give this film a 9 out of 10, as it is an exceptional film. Perfect? No, i do not give 10 out of 10 ratings to any films i have seen, but this, easily becomes one of the best films, i have ever seen.