El Laberitno del Fauno Review

El Laberitno del Fauno is Mexican director Guillermo del Torro most well know film and features many memorable scenes and characters, most vividly the pale man with eyes in his hands. The film has an unusual blend of fantasy and reality, having the two main narratives’ co-exist, Ofelia’s quest to become a princess again and the Captain’s mission to eliminate the rebels from the surrounding hills, but both are metaphors for their quests in vying for her mother Carmen. The Captain must remove the disobedient daughter (the rebels) so his son can be born and take up his legacy (The New Spain). Ofelia must complete the 3 challenges to earn her rightful as the princess (her Mothers most important person). Both characters have mixed results in their challenges but both ultimately lose everything (as it is implied at the end that the underworld and Faun are figments of her imagination) giving the film a darker tone overall than it tries to show by saying that chasing after your dreams that will only help you, will ultimately destroy what you love, but that sacrificing for the greater good as Doctor Ferreiro, Mercedes and the stuttering rebel, goodness can triumph. The film has a distinctly beautiful style which gives the films fantasy elements a level of realism and a feel of being part of the world that the film holds together the fantasy and the normal world together simultaneously without it every feeling like they are clashing. Also the scene where the Captain offers the stuttering rebel the chance to avoid torture if he can count to three without stuttering is so powerful and moving.

Let The Right One In Review

Let the right one in is the most human vampire story I have ever seen. Compared to the recent trend of vampire culture (Twilight, True Blood, and Vampire Diaries) Let the right one in forgoes the traditional vampire ethos of the sexual atmosphere for a heartfelt story of friendship and true love. The fact that the film is Swedish and set in Sweden adds a lot to the atmosphere of the film, with the bleak yet beautiful snowy backdrops giving the film emptiness and loneliness which the main character Oskar feels. The film involves you more into the relationship of Oskar and Eli by not having many vampiric set pieces and when there are, they are not focused on, giving the audience a very human vampire in Eli to empathise with. Also for a vampire film, there is very little focus on Eli, the main vampire character of film; she is almost not a character, but a character development tool for Oskar, she is just a catalyst for his evolution from a weak willed boy to a confident man, knowing what it is to fight, to love, and to understand the horrors of the modern world.

Tarnation Review

Tarnation is a very peculiar film, especially the first half of the film which is very avant-garde in terms of direction, effects, continuity and general style. This effect is meant to imply the psychosis that the character feels due to his mother’s mental health issues and the mental trauma he has suffered due to this and his fractures nuclear family. However this style ruins the first hour of this film since it is a documentary this cause you to struggle with empathising with the protagonist since it is such a radical change from documentary style (even from the style of a normal film). In testament to this the whole club struggled to emote with this and one member walking out. However once the film got to the half way point and the film fell into a more naturalistic documentary style the film became a lot more accessible and was a lot more engaging. Overall the film was an interesting insight into the people it was about, even if it was difficult to engage at the start.

Brick Review

Brick is hard film to recommend because it is a film that requires a second viewing to fully appreciate. The film opens with a now tiresome device of showing a small amount of footage then “Two days earlier”, this is a now annoying device which serves little purpose since the two days are covered in around 15-20 minutes. However this is not the most troubling aspect of the opening of this film is its intent to present an ununravelable plot with highly esoteric dialogue. This may cause you to miss the frankly beautiful directing. Rian Johnson is a very talented director, but it is hindered if you fail to pick up the subtle clues and begin to comprehend the plot of the film, but it is still an enjoyable film and a second viewing where understand what is happening allows you to absorb the spending directing in a more relaxed zone.

Wet Wet Wet

The rain, the almighty rain descened from the heavens today, and lauren, in her insanity decided to leap into a puddle, and oh boy did she fall in a anti-graceful flop which in the words of Liam "FAIL!". It was a fun evening, but the rain was trying to destroy us all.

Austrian Death Machine

Have you ever hoped for a an Arnold Schwarzenegger themed band? Have you hoped this band would be cross between vicious thrash metal with epic metalcore breakdowns?  then Austrian Death Machine, a side project of As I Lay Dyin's frontman Tim Lambesis is your band. Lambesis plays all of the instruments (with some guest soloists) and has a very Arnold impersinator in tow. the amount of material on Arnold for lots of songs, as well as many memerable quotes being used to hilarious effect. 

Get To The Choppa! 

Hello

hey this is my first post, hello to lauren my only follower atm :)