Let The Right One In
review by Ceili Murphy

Vampires are everywhere these days, and Hollywood along with it’s modernised versions of vampires are getting away with murder all over the show. Some walk around glittering in broad daylight seeking their personal brand of heroine. Others are hunted by humans’ hungry for their blood, see what they did there? Yep, Vampires are big bucks. The sullen emo kids of Twilight alone have clocked up the sum of $384M worldwide.
But somewhat hidden among the gush of vampire tales is Let The Right One In, a relatively small scale, Swedish film based on a book of the same name, Directed by Tomas Alfredson. The films star is a refreshing 12yr old vampire called Eli, who could easily kill all of these other vampires dead (that’s if they weren’t dead already).

Director Jaume Collet-Serra, whose previous film was the abysmally moronic Paris Hilton vehicle House of Wax, has managed to make a bearable—if paint-by-numbers—horror-thriller in Orphan. Esther, the oddly-dressed, fear-inducing parentless child of the title, is adopted by a respectable Connecticut family. Vera Farmiga, whose previous film Joshua also dealt with unruly offspring, plays the mother, Kate, and Peter Sarsgaard (Elegy; Jarhead) plays John, the father.

Reeling from having recently lost a child in stillbirth, the family adopt Esther from a local orphanage, and welcome her with open arms. The girl, played with an awful Eastern European accent by an American actress, has a murky past and a tendency to be in the vicinity of grisly murders, house fires and the like—although there’s never any evidence linking her to the crimes. Kate becomes suspicious of Esther early on, though, this being a horror film, no one believes her until it’s too late.

The film is constructed well, cliché genre conventions aside, and although Farmiga’s portrayal of the mother is top notch, the same cannot be said of the other actors—especially Sarsgaard, who seems like he’s sleep-walking (sleep-acting?) through nearly every scene. The main plot twist, although excitingly innovative on paper, is handled clumsily, and over-the-top score and sound design telegraph every shocking “jump-out-of-your-seat” moment before they happen.

The “creepy kid” as plot device has long been a staple of the horror-thriller genre, and occasionally, as with the 2007 Spanish film El Orfanato, it is possible to breathe new life into it. Unfortunately, apart from the child’s “insane” charcoal drawings—seemingly obligatory to the “creepy kid” sub-genre—which are given an interesting new dimension, Orphan is stultifying unoriginal.

Much more than a standard boy meets girl tale, 500 Days of Summer avoids being just another cliché love-story instead it’s a sincere and thoughtful film about romance, commitment, and where the pursuit of it can take you over the course of a relationship… and easily one of the best movies you’ll see this year.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom, a cubicle dweller and writer of greeting cards. Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is the new girl at the office and Tom is instantly smitten. Both characters drawn to the old, quirky and overlooked, but their taste is wide enough to include "The Graduate," Regina Spektor and the Smiths. Largely shot in the fitting and architecturally notable pre-war location in downtown L.A.

Directed by Marc Webb, it’s his first feature, hard to believe. What’s even harder to believe is that as well as making his first feature, Webb’s background as a music video director peeks through, in the form of SURPRISE a music video that he created on the side, as a sort of complement to "(500) Days". Check both of them out, they’re awesome.

The “Bank Heist” Music Video though it features the films stars Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel it is very different to the film itself. The track’s Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (a Smiths cover) by She & Him (Zooey Deschanel’s band with M. Ward.)

District 9 is South African born, Vancouver-based director Neill Blomkamp's feature-length debut; produced by Peter Jackson; based on Blomkamp's earlier short film Alive in Joberg.

Set contemporarily, or perhaps even in recent history, and shot in a quasi cinéma vérité / documentary style, District 9 starts recalling the history when, twenty years ago in 1982, a giant space ship stalled in the sky above Johannesburg. Eventually the ship was boarded and nearly two million malnourished and, evidently leaderless aliens discovered. They were shipped down to Earth and housed in a temporary camp outside Johannesburg called District 9.

District 9 fast becomes a slum and "human-nature" soon prevails as the hapless stranded arthropod-like aliens become discriminated against. Derogatorily referred to in glorious South African accents as Prawns and having developed an almost comic addiction to tinned cat-food (a Peter Jackson-esque touch if ever I saw one!).

Sharlto Copley, who had co-produced Alive in Joberg now plays Wikus van de Merwe who is assigned as head of a relocation program to evict the aliens from their homes in District 9 to a new camp located 200 km from Johannesburg and policed by private military contractor. His character progresses from the ineffectual and self-important leader to friend and ally; it's not long before you find yourself on the side of the aliens and questioning this thing we call 'humanity'.

For the most part the special effects are gritty and believable - save for a poorly placed Transformer towards the end that seemed a bit unnecessary really.

WATCH ALIVE IN JOBERG

Taking Woodstock is the, perhaps romanticized, account of how forty years ago Elliot Tiber, whose parents owned a small motel in Upstate New York , and who at the time, held the only music festival permit, brought the now legendary three-day event to Bethel, New York.

The Woodstock festival was originally planned to be held at in industrial park in the town of Wallkill, New York but local townsfolk were opposed to the prospect of literally thousands of hippies invading their town and on July 15, 1969 the Wallkill Zoning Board of Appeals officially banned the concert on the basis that the planned portable toilets would not meet town code. Having already applied for a festival permit to hold his annual "music festival", which by account usually entailed Tiber playing some of his records on his front lawn to a small gathering of music lovers, our hero reads of Woodstock Ventures' plight; makes a call; a chopper lands, carrying Jonathan Groff as Woodstock organizer Michael Lang; followed by several limo's of co-organizers arrive to scope the new proposed venue - El Monaco Motel.

Don't expect an entirely factual account or a concert-film; it's more a heart-warming story of embracing those who are different; a story of triumph over adversity and, ultimately, the story of a young man becoming an adult and finally seeing his parents as his equals and accepting them as they accept him.

Speaking of parents, Imelda Staunton who plays Elliot's mom and Henry Goodman, his dad, steal the show with their wonderful and lovable characterizations. An enjoyable film, if only a little light-weight.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to one of the handful of 'reveals' of James Cameron's latest epic - due for release in December. A normal cinema trailer just cannot do the visual feast any justice whatsoever. Filmed in 3D at 24 frames per second it's a a hybrid of live action and computer animation - and based on the 15 or so minutes we were treated to - the hybrid is truly seamless. Honestly I was gob-smacked by the sheer beauty that has been created for the planet Pandora.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine who has paralyzed during combat - he's given a new chance at walking by participating in the Avatar program, whereby he is given a new genetically-bred human-Na'vi hybrid body, known as an Avatar - the new breathing body is controlled by the human "driver". Jake travels to Pandora and meets a young Na'vi female Neytiri and teh age-old story of boy-meets-alien-and-falls-in-live seems like it's going to unfold.

Based on the snippets we were treated to it's impossible to tell if the narrative, plot and script of this film will stand up to match the unquestionably amazing visual experience it will be; but I, for one, am sure as hell going to be among the first to find out for myself come December. At the very least, it's going to blow my mind with it's prettiness!