WALL-E (2008) - Animated Family Comedy/Drama

Starring: Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver (voice), John Ratzenberger (voice).

Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Review Written By: Joey D

With every new computer generated creation that eminates from the Pixar Studios in California, comes a new character to love and a new story to adore. Toy Story gave life to what would be considered as inanimate objects to even the most playful adult while Ratatouille made appealing characters out of the most common form of vermin.

Well guess what people, those masterminds of animated cinema have done it again but this time, creating their most loveable and beautiful creature to date.

Meet Wall-E, a clean-up robot who's sole purpose is to clear the garbage that human beings have left behind on earth, turn it into cubes and stack the final product. Despite being the only remaining fully-functional Wall-E robot left, he makes the most of his time by collecting everyday items left behind by the evacuated inhabitants ranging from a rubiks cube to a bra. But nothing spares him from the loneliness he feels until he is greeted by EVE, a droid sent to Earth to collect information on it's status and report on any signs of life. The two quickly become inseparable but on finding a small plant amongst Wall-E's collection, EVE's system forces her to return to the ship she came to Earth on in order to bring back her findings...but Wall-E is not letting her go alone!

The film is a triumph for many reasons but Wall-E's first act is truly a remarkable spectacle. The word spectacle is used as it is an aesthetic pleasure rather than that of sound due to the absence of any dialogue other than Wall-E's R2D2-esque beeps. In an unintentional nod to Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the scarcity of speech goes completely unnoticed as Wall-E has enough facial expressions and mannerisms to tell the audience what he wants to say and how he is feeling at the time. Also, dialogue would be wasted as the scenery depicted in Wall-E's Earth is horrifically decilate but at the same time, truly stunning.

The second act of the film is where the real plot begins, a plot that involves lazy humans hooked on consumerism, the desire to return to what was once a beautiful planet, an evil automated space-pilot and of course, the blossoming romance between Wall-E and EVE. From the outset, the audience is led to believe that the movie's core message is to save the environment and strive for a greener earth yet by the eightieth minute, it becomes apparent that the real moral is something more present and noticable than an ever-expanding hole in the O-Zone layer. The human characters present in the film are lazy, obese zombies that are completely oblivious to their surroundings as they are completely obsessed with products and routine. They are told by the spaceship when to eat, what to eat and how to dress yet doing all of the aforemented things without having to chew a single morsal or unbutton a single shirt. Is this really what consumer culture is doing to us and would humanity stand a chance as the superstores and conglomerates start to dictate our daily routines?

Although despite the harsh realisation inflicted into the audience by what could possibly be the future of mankind, the dark message is not rubbed in your face. Andrew Stanton makes sure that despite the bleak nature of Wall-E's underlying message, it really is just an adorable love story between two cute little robots!

This is without two shadows of a doubt, the best Pixar effort to date in both animation and story. Stanton has made it abundantly clear that he is the daddy of the Pixar directors and he has set an enormously high benchmark with this latest installment by using elements from all of the previous Pixar success stories. The originality of Toy Story, the humour of Monsters Inc, the sweetness and beauty of Finding Nemo, the action of The Incredibles and the creation of an adorable character from an unlikely source such as Remi the rat from Ratatouille.

If Wall-E does not make your heart melt and your hands uncontrollably clap as the credits roll...then you might be more robot than any of the characters portrayed in this absolute classic.

Best film you will see this year GUARENTEED!

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BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON (2006) - Black Comedy / Horror

Starring: Robert Englund, Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals.
Directed by: Scott Glosserman
Review Written By: Joey D

The 'Black Comedy' genre has been extremely popular over the last few years and we are not talking about movies starring Queen Latifah or Ice Cube! The comedy stylings of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright in both Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz provide the perfect description of a well-balanced concoction of giggles and guts. Although this guaranteed money-making formula can be extremely hard to achieve and films such as Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon show how NOT to make a dark-sided comedy.

Set in a world where fictional killers such as Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger were actually once dicing up real teenagers, the story follows Taylor (Angela Goethals) and her video crew as they make a documentary detailing the life of Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel), a serial killer in training. What begins as a simple film showing the delusions of a man with an abusive past quickly becomes video evidence of Vernon's killing spree.

The film isn't the worst thing you are likely to see as it does have some very interesting scenes and the cutting between documentary-style shooting and cheesy, choreographed horror shots is a unique concept. Although this does not make up for the movies short-comings and ultimately does not make Behind The Mask a film worthy of the DVD collection. It starts off with a lot of promise and the legendary movie killers referencing would make the common horror junky hot under the collar but after this initial pleasant surprise, it becomes barely entertaining.

The acting is below par from the entire cast, including the legendary Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wishmaster) who is in the film for a total of around three minutes. Angela Goethals destroys the atmosphere of the supposed documentary by making it very obvious that she is acting and in several instances it was clear that she was aiming to win an Oscar due to her 'look at me, i am in a movie' kind of attitude. Nathan Baesel who plays Leslie Vernon is tolerable at first, then completely destroys his performance by over-emphasizing the fact that he is a psychopath through annoying ticks and quirks such as his inappropriate desire to constantly hug Taylor - is he a psychopath or a teddy bear?!

The writing and direction is actually the finer material that runs through this average movie. The dialogue between characters is very naturalistic and is unfortunately butchered by the actors which makes it all the more unbelievable in a situation where the audience is supposed to believe that they are watching a documentary. The original storyline and direction from Scott Glosserman is a unique addition to the genre and with a bit more care and some better casting, this review could have been praising this as one of the most original horror plots ever committed to celluloid.

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is by no means the worst horror comedy to ever grace the DVD market but it is in no way worth the price attached to it. Sure it has a very unique and interesting approach to its target audience by using cultural references from the past such as the popular horror movie killers in order to make people take notice, yet the substance it provides from its own perspective lacks what made the predecessors of the genre legendary.

Not funny...Not scary...Not a black comedy...Not very impressive!

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INSIDE / A L'INTERIERE (2007) - Horror

Starring: Alysson Paradis, Beatrice Dalle.
Directed by: Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury.
Review Written By: Joey D

French cinema has always been known to push the boundaries of taste and visual decency. Films such as Irreversible and Haute Tension were infamous on their release due to their extreme content and unrelenting effects on their audiences. Inside is no exception...

Inside - French title: A L'Interiere - is the story of Sarah (Alysson Paradis); a pregnant woman who survives a serious car accident which kills her boyfriend who, alone on Christmas Eve, is paid a visit by a rather nasty guest (Beatrice Dalle - Trouble Every Day). What follows is a night of terrifying proportions.

To say that Inside is a challenge to watch to the very end without pressing the stop button prematurely is the understatement of the century. Sure there is a fair few buckets of the red stuff with some chunky stuff thrown in for good measure but the real power of this film is its sheer brutality. Nothing is hidden from the camera and as the blood flows, every gritty detail is covered by several camera angles. Movie Maestro rarely has to turn away in disgust but Inside really is a testing experience.

The two lead actresses put in stellar performances with special mention going to the psychotic killer played by Beatrice Dalle. Everytime she lights a cigarette, an audience member bites a nail down to the finger as this becomes a clear indication that somebody is going to meet a grisly end at the hands of an extremely disturbed woman. Alysson Paradis creates a character who starts off as a generic damsel in distress but soon becomes a danger to any potential psycho that plans to disturb her holiday season.

The writing plays a very small part in the film as the lingering shots and gratuitious violence does all the talking. Although this is not a negative comment as too much dialogue would probably destroy the film's pungeant tone.

Overall, Inside is not a film to be enjoyed and unless you have a multi-region DVD player, its doubtful that you will see a completely uncut copy of this vile movie. If it was just the violence and the brutality that created this gritty experience then it would be easier to give this film 5 stars in every category but by the grim finale, you are stripped of any positive feelings towards what you had just watched.

Not recommended for the weak of stomach, heart or anybody with morals...a sickening yet well presented piece of filth.

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RULES OF ATTRACTION, THE (2003) - Art House Drama

Starring: James Van Der Beek, Shannon Sossamon, Jessica Biel, Ian Sommerhaulder.
Directed by: Roger Avery
Review Written By: Joey D

Sex, violence, drugs and all manner of unruly language seems to ooze out of every recent motion picture that a once-tasteful Hollywood produces. Unfortunately, the majority of the above are used to extend the films time to the one hour and thirty minutes benchmark rather than add any substance to a sub par production.

Thankfully, the film adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis’ controversial novel, The Rules of Attraction uses common sleaze to its advantage by breaking all taboo whilst maintaining a faithful reconstruction of an already brilliant book.

Set in the fictional American town of Camden, Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek), Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder) and Lauren Hynde (Shannyn Sossamon) are disturbed college students trapped in a destructive, mixed sexuality love triangle that’s fuelled by their hormonal delusions. Sean is constantly finding love letters from an anonymous admirer, Lauren breaks her vow of celibacy to seek out an appropriate replacement for her absent boyfriend and Paul is a homosexual male looking for companionship in an AIDS aware eighties.

As basic and familiar as the story sounds, Brett Easton Ellis’ play on words aided by Roger Avery’s artistic direction make this a thoroughly mind-bending assault on the eyes. The film begins with Lauren’s introduction to her side of the story which, as written in the book, starts mid-sentence. The proceeding ‘End of the World’ party scene expertly weaves Lauren, Sean and Paul’s introductions together using camera trickery, such as reverse motion and camera trail diversions, creates an unnerving introduction to an extremely relentless ‘head fuck’.

The Rules of Attraction does not contain an overflow of barely existent characters that are mentioned towards the beginning but are never actually addressed to the camera, instead it uses its less important characters to further extend the web of lust and deceit. There are notable cameos from Kate Bosworth, Eric Stoltz, Clifton Collins Jr and a show stealing scene, featuring Faye Dunaway and Russell Sams.

The controversy that surrounded the film on its release is not completely media induced hype. The scenes of a graphic nature which include gratuitous sex/rape, offensive language and a sensationally nasty suicide moment were penned to make the censor’s heads spin. In fact, the only place in Europe to obtain a full uncut release of the film is in France where the suicide scene and Lauren’s rape encounter are in their full entirety.

The film’s artistic direction may not be to all tastes, its controversy may be a reason to stray for weaker natured viewers and the thought of seeing James Van Der Beek as anyone other than Dawson Leary might suggest a bold career move but the Rules of Attraction delivers all the factors required to boost an art film into mainstream cinema.

Quite possibly the most important film ever.

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