So many reviews outstanding, but I'm just going to do four for now.
An Education (2009)
Well I must admit, I was probably feeling the same way most people felt when they saw the promotion stuff. I expected it to be a bit overly Hugh Grant and not sufficiently engaging. As it was, I found it very cleverly kept my attention from beginning to end. The success of the movie lies, I think, in its not always taking things in the direction you expect them to go, but yet leaving things just predictable enough for you to make you surprised when you find you haven't got it sussed.
That's not to say that it's a mind-warping movie or anything like that. It really is fairly down-to-earth. But then again, another bonus is the way the characters, especially the most down-to-earth ones, pull you in. It was interesting to find that the most recent discussion on the imdb page was "What about Graham?" Every character feels important in this movie.
The story brings up themes of tradition, partiarchy and feminism, of the importance of education, issues of morality, integrity and bigotry. This is based on a true story and the main character is most certainly portrayed as far more one-sidedly wonderful than would be true to life. Nevertheless I can't say that I'd be entirely surprised if Carey Mulligan's sweet yet smart and self-detemined Jenny were to turn into the somewhat fire-breathing figure upon which her story is based in later life.
I saw another interesting thing on the imdb page (actually I was there to check out which actors were which, not to look at the message boards). There was a recent review where someone claimed that negative aspect of the movie was Peter Sarsgaard's British accent..... At which point I instantly went "he's not English???" Seriously, there was nothing wrong with his accent. His entire performance was impeccable.
So yeah, I know screenshots really aren't going to sell this one for you and I will wholly admit that this isn't an action movie. But seriously, you will really regret not seeing this movie. Of the movies from 2009 I've reviewed so far I'd put it slightly lower than "A Serious Man" (which I would currently consider the best movie of that year) and a little bit higher than "Moon". In other words, it's by far one of the best movies of last year and you owe it to yourself to check it out.
5/5
The Howling (1981)
Any list of the very best werewolf movies seemed to provide only a very few choices. The obvious choice is, of course, "An American Werewolf In London" which comes up just as inevitably as "It's A Wonderful Life" appearing in a list of Christmas movies. Another choice quite often picked out is the excellent "Ginger Snaps" and others will pick out "Dog Soldiers" (which I personally was underwhelmed by, but nevertheless seems to have a cult following). However, another title which often gets suggested in such lists is "The Howling" from Joe Dante (director of Gremlins).
While it had its moments it also had its flaws. The characters felt poorly defined and there were an awful lot of them. The movie is not, from what I could see, intended as comedy. It would perhaps have been better if it were (after all comedy didn't harm American Werewolf or Ginger Snaps), since the over seriousness meant that I found myself feeling all the more cynical. Most of the characters seem very weird and while their various idiosyncracies do get explained later, it doesn't feel like the most satisfying explanation. Meanwhile, Dick Miller (who appears in most, if not all, Joe Dante movies) manages to completely steal the few scenes he's given. The female lead screeches a lot, though often with good reason, but by the time we reach the latter scenes the amount of screeching seems to be unnecessary.
The first werewolf changing scene in the movie looked a bit naff, but it turned out that they were saving their big guns til later. That said, when watching the final werewolf change I was going "wtf", while my gf was saying "that's what turning into a werewolf looks like if you have bad eighties hair".
So yeah, the down sides are: a whole array of similarly unengaging characters, acting which often feels a little off or a lot over the top, poor pacing and a general failure to pull me in. On the positive side, some of the performances are actually pretty good (including the female lead, in spite of the aforementioned screeching) and the werewolf changing effects are pretty cool (which is, let's face it, what we are really there for). All in all though, I'm going to have to rate this one as average.
3/5
The Company Of Wolves (1984)
Now this is a werewolf movie that doesn't seem to get recommended so often. It actually didn't do very well when it was first released, not least since it is a Terry Gilliam-esque movie placing werewolves in the world of fairtales which nevertheless has an 18 rating. The werewolves in this movie are, if anything, MORE savage than those in The Howling. The movie actually feels quite similar to "The Neverending Story". Imagine if the fight with Gmork in Neverending Story was about 10 times more gruesome and you've got an idea of what to expect from The Company Of Wolves.
Of course, there are other problems with The Company Of Wolves besides the fact that the makers don't seem sure what age their target audience is. On top of that, the vast majority of the movie takes place in a dream, with constant reminders that it is a dream. While this is similar to the set up in Gilliam's "Time Bandits" and also allows them to use the same method of including elements from her room within the dream (also found in "Neverending Story" now I think of it), the lack of time spent in the real world makes this feature seem rather odd. Still, if they hadn't used this device I might be wondering why the actual fairy tale world has so much abstract symbolism in it. At least with the clear explanation that none of it is real and it's all in a young girl's head, we aren't so surprised to see odd things like a mirror and lipstick lying in a bird's nest and little jellybabies being born from the bird's eggs. Still, I found the werewolf effects were absolutely brilliant and there were some other rather neat little touches like a flower formed in ice coming to look like a rose when it is soaked in blood.
Company Of Wolves is beautiful and thought-provoking, but in the end the symbolism is just a little too bizarre at times and the ending is far too abrupt. A very neat and inventive, if not flawless, re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood.
4/5
Note: For a very different kind of re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood, I can thoroughly recommend: Freeway (1996)
The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)
I had no idea what to expect from this. I haven't seen the musical remake. Still, the DVD cover showing something akin to the Pirahna Plant from Super Mario saying "Feed Me, Feed Me, Feeeed Meeee!" got me in a good mood.
Dick Miller is in this one too! He's a lot younger and he's not got a terribly big part, but he's still undeniably awesome. Speaking of only having a small part, Jack Nicholson's name is found prominently on the DVD cover but his actual part is pretty much a cameo (which was a relief tbh).
This is very much a horror comedy with an emphasis on the comedy. With its light-hearted monster mayhem, this black and white movie felt like extra long and super awesome episode of The Addams Family. Only much funnier. This had me in stitches for the vast majority of the running time.
How can I say this? A really feel-good black comedy about a monster plant with tragic elements. That's a proper all-rounder and an utter classic. Loved it! :)
5/5
Coming soon: the remaining reviews of the entire back catalogue of John Carpenter and David Cronenberg movies.