Cinevisual

What happens when you point your camera at the wing mirror and set it to a very long exposure? This!

A very busy cinematic schedule over the last two days so it's been difficult to get some Blips in, hence the silliness of this particular one - though the shape of the mirror has come out quite nicely - it looks a bit like the light is coming out of it. I've kept it in colour as well, my first for about a week and a half due to laziness and also a general time period in which I've shot some really nice black & white shots!

Here's some reviews, in my order of preference (as always there may be spoilers, but I've kept them short):

ParaNorman
A stop-motion film from American company Laika (and it's nice to see someone beside Aardman giving it a try) 'ParaNorman' follows the life of youngster Norman, a young boy with the ability to see and speak with the spirits of the dead. All seems well(ish) with his life as an outsider, especially when he strikes up a friendship with the overweight Neil, until a 300 year old curse brings back the zombified town elders of old... but it's not all it seems. A lovely little movie with excellent voice acting and puppetry to match, I really liked 'ParaNorman' - it will probably scare some younger children but it's got as much comedy as frights and also manages to get across some messages that's important for people of all ages to learn.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Arguably a better film, but also a bit more sombre than 'ParaNorman', this excellent coming-of-age drama not only proves that Emma Watson is more than just a 'Harry Potter' star is also shows the Logan 'Percy Dartagnan Jackson' Lerman can act as well. Based on the book by Stephen Chbosky (who wrote the screenplay & directs) the film charts the start of high school life for Charlie (Lerman), an introverted boy who has lost a lot and never been anything but a "Wallflower". Attempting to make some friends at high school he falls in with seniors Sam (Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller), step-brother and -sister who help to bring Charlie's personality out in the real world, teaching him some valuable lessons in ways to live along the way. It's a really, really good film; the acting is superb as I've mentioned and the story is not just for sobbing teenagers (yes, there were some in the theatre) - it's set in what many many folks will consider to be their teenage years and will strike a few resonances with everyone for sure. There is one question that bugged me throughout though; how can you recognise 'Come on Eileen' but not 'Heroes'?

Weevil 5: Retribution
Or as it's more commonly known 'Resident Evil 5', though I've been calling the entire series the 'Weevils' for too long now :-D It's more of the same here, a general mishmash of martial arts silliness mixed with special effects, it's a 3D only film (put was filmed the right way) so I'd say wait for the DVD if you're not that bothered... or better yet, wait for me to buy it on DVD and then borrow that!

Taken 2
Now 'Taken' isn't the best movie in the world but is nonetheless one of my favourites, thanks to my friend Eeson for introducing me to it. Sadly the second one isn't up to scratch, there's still some awesome fights and Neeson plays the part well - but as his own character says 'I'm tired' and it seems to show. Somehow the bit part enemies of the first also seem to be lacking in this one, Rade Serbedzija is alright but given I didn't even know his character's name until the end you could say it was lacking in places. Also one of the best parts of the first film was that the fight scenes were shot extremely well, whereas in this one the director seems to be just throwing the camera at the actors - not such a good filming technique.


Incidentally the podcast from Saturday's show (in which I reviewed Looper and listened to the others review everything else) can be found here.