Are you there?.
Previously released as I am ZOZO. Not normally a good sign when a film is re-titled and re-packaged then sold again. This film, about a group of teens who fool around with a ouija board and release something evil is a slight, very low-rent film. It's shot on 8mm which gives it a real rough home video sort of look and its not a found footage movie so two things there endeared the film to me from the get go. It's a flawed film for sure and not a great deal happens, kids go to an island getaway, muck about with the board something sinister is unleashed and then it ends.. I still enjoyed it more than I probably should of. Its sort of like UNHINGED, I should hate it but its got an olde worlde feel to it, some nice music and its pretty much unlike most of the other DTV horrors i've seen lately. I paid 50p for this, my advice don't pay any more for a quid then trade it in to CEX for £4 which i'm going to do!
The Realm
Pretty much the kind of film I was saying ARE YOU THERE wasn't. A found footage film where a group of idiots forget to say goodbye when using the board causing a bunch of evil shit to get released. The found footage method here falls apart pretty quickly, people are filming what's going on in situations no one would EVER be carrying a camera, some stuff is just plain pointless. At one point the film forgets entirely its found footage and cuts to a flashback to reveal the films back story. The ending is frankly stupid beyond belief.
The Game.
David Fincher takes a twisty, pulpy Hollywood thriller that in most hands would be daft as hell and manages to craft something interesting. Much like GONE GIRL the source material has twists that would ordinarily stretch the films credibility to breaking point, in the wrong hands this might mean a film that ends up being good for one watch only. The Game however is transformed into a San Francisco set thriller that harks back to the paranoid thrillers of the 70's. The setting really helps sell this and the casting of Michael Douglas (who was in the TV series Streets of San Francisco) as the curmudgeonly businessman who gets the cosmic blow to the head he much needed from the Game. The use of Jefferson Airplanes WHITE RABBIT helps point back to the cities counter culture roots and prety much sums up the tone of the film.
The Criterion transfer is excellent and i've not seen the film look so good since I saw it at my local flea pit (now sadly long since demolished) back in 97'
The Interview.
Screw you North Korea! question is, is the film actually any good? Yes and no. If you like pineapple express and This is the end then you will enjoy this, if not then this is best avoided. Like the previous films there's a lot of dick and sex jokes, plenty of drugs references, some over the top violence and general juvenile stupidity. I like this sort of shit done right so I got a kick out of this, if Sony regain their balls and release it I may even buy the damned film. That said, given Sony Uk's weird reluctance to sell films to consumers in this country its likely they will end up dumping this on Twilight time, I'll be at work or in bed when it goes live and then it'll be a case of £300 plus on ebay. Its not worth that.
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