Friday, 10 September 2010

'Bunny and the Bull' (2009) dir: Paul King

 Possibly one of the most innovative and unique films that I have seen in a long, long time.


This little independent British film is about a man who has not left his house named Stephen (played by Edward Hogg) he sits at home watching wildlife survival shows on video and eating the same food at the same time each day all by him self. Until one day this very precise schedule is interrupted by mice eating his microwave meal. It causes him to re-live a heck tick and, in the end, disastrous jaunt in to Europe with his gambling and girl addicted friend Bunny ( played by Simon Farnaby).

When this film was re-leased for the very very short amount of time that it actually was I feel that they played much too much time with emphasizing that the duo from 'The Mighty Boosh' are in the film, they are but hardly. They are in it for only a few minutes. With hindsight I would say that the more interesting and artistically relevant influence in this film is Paul King who also directed 'The Mighty Boosh' and wrote the script for this film. This film is touched by ridiculously perfect , cute and amusing animation. The backgrounds for the most part are all animated, from the scenery in shops to the cars and roads. The animation is familiar to that of 'The Mighty Boosh' in that it does seem simple almost like a money saving addition but the film seems better of for it. I would compare it more to a 'Gondry- esk ( director of eternal sunshine) style of using animation but also special effects. The moments when Stephen is in his house by him self and is imaginig large amounts of things going on around him and people popping up out of odd places is pretty amazing and is hard to work out at first.


All together this is a very unique and special film. I think it is a tradigy that it was not in the cinemas for longer. I would have greatly enjoyed seeing it on a large screen and would have rather have paid to see this than some of the rubbish that is on at the moment, deffiantly worth supporting indepentant British film buy purchasing a copy of the dvd.


:::::Bunny and the Bull:::::

Wednesday, 1 September 2010

' The Dissapearance of Alice Creed' Dir: J Blakeson (2009)

I get to see my friends wife nude, sweet.

It is a very awkward scene but Gemma Arterton is naked in this film. Not in an erotic way at all. The plot to this film is rather short, simple and easy to explain. To characters kidnap the daughter of a rich businessmen. Thing's naturally get more complicated though, as they would obviously have to too actually as there would probably not be that much of a film in the end if it did n't. There are a lot of twists in this film, some more obvious that others, I counted about five.


Stupidly I watched this film while I was in a bad mood, in a fragile state and just generally not 100%. This did not help my mood. The general feel of the film is rather morbid and eerie.  The cast is only of 3 and the music is a  repetitive  violin piece which didn't actually put me on edge, it just really annoyed me.

Eddie Marsan gave an amazing performance as one of the kidnappers, he has scared me since 'Happy Go Lucky' and managed it again in this film. I think I would probably leave a pub or bar if I saw him there, I just cant actually imagine him being anything more than a emotionally imbalance psycho. One that you never actually know where the hell you stand with him.

Gemma Arterton is also rather good in this film too, this is the first time that she has been in a film where she can flex her acting muscles and does rather well,  crying alot. We all love women crying don't we ! But I think she and the other guy, Martin Compston, are both dominated by Marsan who is truly terrifying.


This is obviously a character piece, one in that the characters are all played rather well and you do start to find them to be partially believable. The plot is sweet and short and punchy yet I did feel there was a real lack of 'umph' and real gusto behind it all so as to make me actually care about the outcome from the film. It all seemed to happen, yes I was scared of Marsan and the music made me feel nauseous but that was it really.


:::THE DISSAPEARANCE OF ALICE CREED TRAILER:::