Dennis Dugan finally makes a good movie...praise the Almighty!

I’ve been very critical of director Dennis Dugan over the last few years. Who could blame me? He gave the world the awful Saving Silverman and followed it up with the spiteful racial slurs of National Security (a film that embodied bad taste). So, with trepidation I began to watch his 2006 film The Benchwarmers with little in the way of expectation. What I learned was with a good script and some energetic performances, Dugan can turn out a decent movie. In fact, this is the best film he’s made since Happy Gilmore. (Read FULL REVIEW)

Interesting but ineffective Woody Allen

I’d liken it to 2004’s Closer - both in terms of the London locale and themes of infatuation and obsession – but, just like Mike Nichol’s film, we’re provided characters so distasteful and self-absorbed it becomes difficult to sympathise with them. While Match Point throws its audience for a loop in the last twenty minutes, the second half of the film feels like a different movie. The first half is much too slowly paced (Allen’s English dialogue having its basis on stereotype doesn’t help), and while it comes together more in the final twenty minutes, you’re desperately trying to remember what happened in the hour you subconsciously switched off. The ending also feels contrived and it’s sudden jump in pace is distracting in comparison with the laboured, pedestrian first act. (Read FULL REVIEW)

Who the hell directed Poltergeist?!

The issue of who actually made the 1982 classic horror film Poltergeist has raged ever since an article appeared in the L.A. Times questioning who was directing the movie. On the day of the newspaper’s on-set visit Steven Spielberg was directing some on-location shots with Hooper no where to be seen. (Read On...)

Future Shorts

I remember Dawn Simpson telling me today’s audience were into ‘snacking’ when I interviewed her about the Propeller short film channel. It’s very true as there’d be no audience for You Tube if it wasn’t. We want our media delivered to us at any time, during any situation, and on whatever medium suits the moment. Short film has prospered over the past few years because it’s finally found a commercial audience who can invest five minutes of free time, not in the morning Metro while on the bus, but on film, television clips, and podcasts. They can do it because the technology makes it easier than reading a paper. Just as You Tube couldn’t work without snacking, the IPhone and Ipod wouldn’t without this new phenomenon either.

For me, short film is a fabulous form of cinema because it allows new filmmakers to hone their craft, and an audience to see film with all the frailties and raw beauty that cinema used to possess. Recently, I’ve been very impressed with the output of British-based Future Shorts (www.futureshorts.com). Unlike Propeller or Ronke, you don’t need Sky to see their films as they’re available via My Space (http://www.myspace.com/futureshorts) and their You Tube channel (www.youtube.com/futureshorts).

My favourite at the moment is Oedipus (Click Here) by self-acclaimed makers of ‘stupid comedy’ Rong, a UK-based group of cinema fanatics who won the BBC new filmmakers award in 2005. The warped but genuinely amusing tale begins with the title-card ‘The following featurette should not be viewed by anyone who has, or has had, a mother and/or father’. It proceeds to fit a left-of-centre modern day tale of masturbation into the ageless, but equally warped, psychology of Freud’s Oedipus complex. The film, made in 2004, features an rhyming narration that works particularly well, but it’s the perfect pace of the film that really sets it apart. It may be raw but Oedipus examples the virtues of short film with enthusiasm and obvious skill.

Certainly, for a more accomplished and less risqué piece of cinema look no further than Japanese film Right Place (Click Here). This comedy-drama looks at a Tokyo worker’s obsession with neatness and perfection. It features some stunning cinematography that perfectly encapsulates what the film tries to portray. The rigid, static camera shots and balanced frame set the film’s tone, a correctness that has to be maintained. Indeed, Right Place is cinematic art at its most inspiring, with superb use of sound and lighting, and a rhythmic flow to the editing.

Other very worthy films to look for are the brilliant animations from Yev Yilmaz (check out Procrastination: Click Here), Gokhan Okur’s Last Train Ride (Click Here), and the multi award-winning Heap Of Trouble (Click Here). Also, check out Pierre Olivier’s beautiful Can We Kiss (Click Here), a film set in a French café about a girl who wants to practice her audition lines with a complete stranger.

I wish the new Star Wars movies were made 20 years ago....

My problem with the new Star Wars films stems from one important fact: George Lucas is now more concerned with making fan fiction than constructing the fundamentals of plot, character, and dialogue. For me, Attack Of The Clones, like Phantom Menace and Revenge Of The Sith, seem like Lucas giving screen time to characters the fans want to see - R2-D2's battle with molten lava, C-3PO's out-of-body adventure, Boba Fett's back-story (let's not forget how Boba Fett dies!) rather than celebrating the whole saga and making something worthy of beginning the series. These new films look more like cartoons, the stories are far too complicated, and the actors don't have the skill to turn Lucas' stale dialogue into authentic expression. Yes, there are some good moments - all action orientated - but Lucas should have sought the help of Lawrence Kasdan when writing the screenplays and he should have handed the directorial duties to more skilled filmmakers. Lucas is a brilliant fantasist who creates wonderful worlds and adventure stories, but he has no restraint, and that's the most damning thing about Star Wars Episode 1, 2, and 3.

Over The Hedge

It's nothing new but Over The Hedge is an enjoyably funny affair from Dreamworks. We've seen better animation films over the past few years and Over The Hedge only copies their winning formula - a fast-action plot, lovable characters with big-star na...(read more)me voices, and the idea that the little guy overcomes adversity - but there's a sense we've been here and done that already. Over The Hedge is funny and endearing, but it's treading a hedgerow we've been down many times before.

Love Film DVD Rental - Don't use this company!

The first month was great – too good, in fact – and there I was parading the virtues of online DVD rental and how perfect my supplier Love Film was. Oh dear, how wrong was I. Don’t let the ‘2 weeks free trial’ con you into thinking you’re getting a good deal!

I was with them for four months (using their £12.99 a month package which allows you to receive an unlimited amount of DVDs with two at home at any given time), and for the final three months, I never once received a film I actually wanted.

At one point I received DVDs in the post, checked to see what they were, and sent them back immediately because I simply didn’t care to watch them. Part of the problem with renting films is that you have to watch them within a given time frame. Sometimes this can work out for the better, but the way online rental works - with your next DVDs sent out once you’ve returned your last ones - you only get your moneys worth if you power through around 4 films a week. Two things: 1) Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the week to get through 4 films, but more importantly with Love Film, it’s even harder when the films aren’t ones you actually want; and 2) you are relying on Love Film to post out your DVDs promptly to beat Sunday’s lack of post.

Love Film pander to the needs of new customers leaving monthly subscribers out in the cold. For the first few weeks I received all the DVDs I wanted, promptly and in good condition. After my first month’s payment had been taken, I stopped receiving the films I wanted and only got films they force you to add to a wish list. Basically, if you don’t have twenty films on a list, they won’t send you a single film – or at least, I didn’t receive one when I struggled to list twenty. My problem with the list is that I only wanted brand new releases, perhaps two per week. I have a huge collection of DVDs at home, I wasn’t interested in catalogue titles. After a month, I’d run out of catalogue titles I wanted. When my list dwindled to less than the ‘recommended’ (actually read: necessary) twenty titles, nothing was sent out until I replenished the list, essentially, with films I didn’t want. I was left paying for a service I wasn’t getting.

Essentially, Love Film wants to be bigger than it can manage, at least at the present time, and I wouldn’t recommend using them as your online rental company. Their customer service is very poor (although they have tried to improve it), their inability to deliver on the customer’s need is even more damning, and they have a poor policy for customers who want to leave. I had to pay for another month of zero service because after ringing their customer service team (you have to phone them to cancel membership, you cannot do it online) I was told (a complete lie) that near the time of my next payment I could officially cancel my membership online. This was not the case. I called up on the day of my payment for the following month and because I had DVDs at home (they’d sent more out even though I’d notified them that I wanted to cancel my membership), I had to pay for another month. Terrible.

I won’t be ignoring the huge amount of unhappy user reviews on ciao.co.uk ever again.