FLIX OF THE MONTH!

Being a relatively recent (since moving to Japan 7 years ago) film buff and even more recent indy film actor and director, I can offer my opinion for only what it is worth. So here goes nothing... Over the last month I have seen a lot of films which have ranged from totally amazing to absolutely mind-numbing (to say the least). It seems to me that films are often made to satisfy an increasingly educated and hard-to-please audience that ironically, need all the help they can get to figure out what the hell is going on and more so, the point of the story before their eyes.


This brings me to the first of my movie comparisons today; SAW 2 (Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman). After thoroughly enjoying the predecessor (SAW) and revelling in its horror and ingenuity (script and visuals) I held high hopes for the follow up and tried for a whole month to rent it (was always out) from my local vid shop. After finally getting my dirty little hands on the shiny disc and wacking it into my laptop which, by the way, is connected to my cheap ass idiot box, I commenced my journey into a dissatisfying, crumby excuse for a sequel that seemed to be devised, pre-produced and shot in a few lunch hours (actually 25 days but who's counting).

The tagline read: We Dare You Again... and after being subjected to the half-assed acting, bad lines and crappy casting which makes my little low-budget film (Night Walker) look like that's all we did for 3 months; I wonder if the three dots following the tagline have a deeper meaning (?). So I will attempt to translate or even better, decode the meaning of these three dots for you all:

Dot . 1= Time to watch a really scary film that rides on the success of the prior to the point where we really don't give a shit who, why or what you (the so called educated audience) thinks... so there!

Dot . 2= If we give you rusty metal, sharp objects and blood, blood, blood and you still don't like it then you must not have seen the 1st one we made... fools!

Dot . 2= Bring back the past, throw in some bad one liners like: "X marks the spot" and bring the whole brew to a simmering (Oh my god, I was really right!?) climax and there you have it... SAW 2.

Now hand over your cash and be ready for the next installment of absolute horror which we soooo needed to set up in order to give you what you desire: SAW 3!

Rating: **** 4/10

Where to now?

Oh yes, I almost forgot... the contrast; NOTHING (directed by Vincenzo Natali). Well, what can I say but thank GOD for Canadians (never thought I'd actually being saying that) but they saved my month and quite possibly the year as well, with a GEM of a film about NOTHING!

Looking at the cover in the shop I thought horror/ suspense/ thriller or something along the lines of the original CUBE that I really enjoyed back a few years from the same director. Not so, and from open to close, I found myself being born again and kacking myself like a crazy man on mushies and the rest of the time in between, wondering what the hell was happening to me and the hilarious nothingness I was surrounded by. The film jolted me from my mortal sense of viewing movies with a critical eye and re-establidhed what is good about the world of cinema... absolute, refreshing creativity to say the least.

By continuing on here, I may do the film and injustice so I will just say this: Thumbs up and do yourself a favour... you will not regret it! Best film of the year, so far.

Rating: ********* 9/10 (Genius)
"Bye-bye, Andrew's thing on the floor next to the thing with the thing in it!"