Just a quick update as I'm keeping my eye on this one - it's the remake of "Let The Right One In".  As I mentioned before, I really don't see the point of this other than to prevent the dumb from having to read subtitles, which is the stupidest excuse I've ever heard.  However, the first trailer seems to have the right mood, but again it seems to just be a shot-for-shot do-over.  If they went back to the book for more inspiration that's one thing, but being the US market you can guarantee that the will omit *that* shot which was a major shock in the original (hope I've made you all curious enough to check it out now, heh) as it would be too controversial.

Having said that, it does feature a couple of very good child actors, Chloe Moretz who has already proven herself fearless in "Kick-Ass", and Kodi Smit-McPhee from "The Road", who has the same odd look as the boy playing Oskar in the original.  I may be wrong.  I'm not holding out hope though and if I hear too much negative I'll give it a miss rather than tarnish the original.

Anyway - trailer:

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Categories: Geek | Movies | Opinion | rant | spoilers | trailers | vampires

Been a little while since last update, but I've a couple of things to share which have appeared on my radar recently. First the movies:

Clooney and McGregor in "The Men Who Stare At Goats". This is based on a book by Jon Ronson (who I highly recommend as an author if you want an interesting and intelligent non-fiction read), following his investigation into the true story of the American military Psy-Ops experiments... yes, it's all true. Looks hilarious, and a George Clooney is a favourite actor of mine, especially in comedy roles, this is a must see:

Next up is "The Box". This is an adaptation of a Twilight Zone episode, brought to you by Richard Kelly. Kelly is the man behind the awesome Donnie Darko (which REALLY needs a Blu-Ray release soon please!) and the awful Southland Tales (great trailer, horrible movie). So it's a shot at redemption I guess:

Guess what's next? Yep, vampires!!! As every other movie at the moment is either zombies or vampires that was a pretty easy guess - but this is a bit different. It's "Daybreakers" and has been getting some decent reviews lately, and there is no teen-angst and no walking around in daylight all sparkly! Seems much more in the mould of Blade 2, so its one I'm looking forward to but I have no idea when it will make its way to the UK.

Finally I'll leave you with a link to check out.

http://www.drakortha.info/#/dc-chronicles/4535926375

This is a site where someone is producing Machinima movies using Fallout 3 as the engine. They're not bad at all and worth a few minutes of your time if you're interested in fan-films.

Tags: movies, sci-fi, trailer, vampires, youtube,
Categories: Geek | Movies | Sci-Fi | trailers | vampires

Oskar is 12 and lives in a Stockholm suburb. He's an only child to a single mother, isolated and bullied at school, and dreams only of fighting back.  One evening, Eli and her "father" move in next door.  Eli is also twelve, but has "been twelve for a long time".  She is a vampire.

So begins the critically-acclaimed "Let The Right One In" - or "Låt den rätte komma in" in the native Swedish.

I loved this film - I'm not a fan of horror movies as such, certainly not of the output of recent years where the emphasis seems to be just showing as much carnage on screen as possible.  What I do like are suspenseful, dramatic, well-thought-out movies in any genre.  This ticks all those boxes and more.

Firstly the cinematography is gorgeous.  The landscape is comprised of snowy vistas, contrasted with the bleak estate housing where Oskar and Eli live.  It gives a sense of loneliness and isolation, adding only to the protagonists plight in our eyes.

Then the plot unfolds slowly over the 2 hour (almost) running time.  It's not a film for the MTV generation with short attention spans.  It's not kill after kill after kill, but this makes these scenes so much more effective when they do happen.  It comes as a shock, makes you jump, it's just brilliantly paced.  It's also sweetly romantic in an odd kind of way, Oskar and Eli's scenes together just make you smile - again adding to the shock when bad things happen.

The two children in the lead roles are superb - I don't know whether its the fact that they are speaking another language and I don't get the subtlties that native speakers would, but the performances seem much more natural than most English-speaking child actors around today. 

The movie is violent as you would expect, but much of the violence is seen at a distance, not shot with leering closeup.  Whoever did the sound design for the movie deserves praise too, the noises Eli makes when attacking her prey are really eerie.  We also see occasional flashes of "old" Eli in the child's face, really subtle but amazing use of makeup and effects.  The scene with the cats is also really well done - you know it's CGI but it's believable.

The last thing I have to mention is that yes it's a vampire movie, and no they DO NOT SPARKLE!!  They kill, they get bloody, they cannot eat normal food, they catch fire in sunlight.  One bite and you're infected and become one - none of the blood-swapping ("a whole big sucking thing" as Buffy once put it).  It's more of a disease.  We also see what happens when a vampire enters a house uninvited...  In general this movie treats the vampire myth with respect, and most closely reminded me of Kathryn Bigelow's classic "Near Dark"

All in all, big thumbs up for this.  The DVD is very well mastered, with a very clean transfer - I watched it upscaled on a 1080p projector screen and it looked fine.  I had considered going for the more expensive Blu-Ray but I'm glad I didn't as the standard-def is more than adequate.  The 5.1 surround track is great, and the subtitles are very clear.  There actually isn't a great deal of dialogue, so the film is easy to follow even for people who normally don't like to "read a movie".

Unfortunately, a Hollywood remake is in the works called "Let Me In".  I will be extremely surprised if they don't miss the point and ruin it. Even for all the assurances of the director that he loves the original, I can see the movie studios wanting to get the Twilight demographic and insisting on changes.  See this before that one appears next year, and you won't want or need to see the remake.

Trailer below

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Categories: Geek | Movies | Reviews | vampires