Happy Death Day 2 U

If I was stuck in a time loop watching this film – I wouldn’t care!

We have yet another sequel, but I am not mad as I loved the original film. But I always get nervous as films will always be compared to their counterparts. Luckily this film works perfectly.

The original Happy Death Day was set on Tree’s Birthday 18th September. Happy Death Day 2U is set the very next day, 19th September. This could be troublesome, but the sequel has remained with the same crew, same director, same cinematographer and same music director.

This lends itself to the smooth transition from one film to the next. This is definitely a film that you need to see the original before seeing the sequel as there are so many Easter eggs! Especially relating to Back To The Future, which was a big influence in this film.

So, of course you know the drill

 * SPOILER ALERT*

Some of my favourites are:

  • The woodchipper scene, which is called Biff’s Tree Cutting Service, a nod to Biff the bully from the Back To The Future trilogy.
  • There is also in the background of the skydiving scene “Like a Leaf” written on the plane, another homage to the joke Biff always messed up, “Make like a tree and leaf.”
  • Like a Leaf
  • 88 mph in the car
  • Poster on the wall[1]
  • BTTF Poster
  • Red Hawaiian shirt in the background
  • BTTF2

I live for these sort of references in films!

An extra one the Greek Mythology buffs:

  • Ryan’s Proton Converting Device. He named it Sissy, which sounds suspiciously like Sisyphus, who escaped death and was forced to roll a boulder up a hill, which constantly rolled back down, for eternity. [2]
  • Cissy

The story is as seamless as these references and of course with any slasher film, a higher death count. In the first film there are 14 deaths, 8 of these are Tree’s. In this film there are 20 deaths, but luckily for Tree she only dies 7 times, but of course they are hilarious.

My personal favourites, the skydive and the electrocution.

The comedy keeps rolling even with the costumes.

FML

Speaking of costumes, some eagle eyed viewers may have spotted a huge clue to the multiverse theory. Look closely at these two photos:

Happy Death Day                          Happy Death Day 2 U

TShirt

The Gigs are he same band, but different locations….Butterfly Effect is in full effect people!

Happy Death Day                                         Happy Death Day 2 U

Clocks

Speaking of which DO NOT LEAVE IN THE CREDITS!!! Trust me it makes everything make sense and leads us to thinking there is going to be another film! I am buzzing!

If you liked the original you will love this film, I guarantee it!

My blog so my views I give it 5/5!

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Director:  Christopher Landon

Cast: Jessica Rothe, Isreal Broussard, Ruby Modine

Crew: Toby Oliver (Cinematography), Jason Blum (Producer), Bear McCreary (Music)

Genre: Science Fiction Comedy Slasher

Rating: 15

[1] https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2467009/happy-death-day-2u-has-a-bunch-of-clever-back-to-the-future-tributes

[2] https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/the-myth-of-sisyphus/

Winchester

Washed out and wimpish

This horror film (and I use the term horror very lightly), is “Inspired by true events” (Spierig, 2018), based on the Winchester Mystery House in San Diego California.  This mysterious house was built between 1883 and 1922 continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 38 years. Why you may ask? This is because Sarah Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune from her late husband, believed she was being haunted by the victims of the rifle. Looking back at the unfortunately luck that followed Sarah Winchester.

 

HISTORY

1866 – First Winchester rifle created

1866 – Annie Winchester – Born and died at 6 weeks old

1881 – William Winchester died

1883 – House was started to be built

1884 – Sarah Winchester bought the unfinished house

1906 – San Francisco Earthquake

1922 – Sarah Winchester dies and construction stops on the house.

HOUSE

According to folklore, Sarah Winchester kept building the house because she consulted a Boston medium who said when channelling her husband “He says for me to tell you that there is a curse on your family, which took the life of he and your child. It will soon take you too. It is a curse that has resulted from the terrible weapon created by the Winchester family. Thousands of persons have died because of it and their spirits are now seeking vengeance.” (Taylor, 2013)

The film is set in April 1906 just before the San Francisco earthquake on the 18th April. Before the earthquake the house was 7 stories high, the earthquake brought it down to the 4 stories we know today.

The house itself has 161 rooms and it includes a varied use of the number 13.

There are 13 bathrooms with 13 steps on the stairs that lead to the 13th bathroom and 13 windows found inside. There are also 13 wall panels in the room preceding the 13th bathroom. The Carriage Entrance Hall is divided into 13 sections. There are 13 rails by the floor-level skylight in the South Conservatory, 13 squares on each side of the elevator, 13 holes in the sink drain covers, 13 glass cupolas on the Greenhouse, and 13 gas jets on the Ballroom chandelier. What’s even more interesting than all of that is that there are 13 parts to her will and she signed it 13 times. (Group, 2011) In the film the number 13 is described as a divine number instead of the traditional idea of it being the devils number.

In the film the house is represented as a stereotypical haunted house, with the dark gothic appearance and spooky ambience. I must admit I did expect more from The Spierig brothers. Their last film was Jigsaw last year and I enjoyed that a lot more than this film. I was jumping during that film!

WMH Film

That is my main problem with this film. It is classed as a horror film, so I therefore expect to be scared or at least jump at some point. The one thing I noticed in the cinema was that there was more laughing than jumping. The main “scares” had already been advertised and were in the trailers. WHAT IS THE POINT TO SEE THE MOVIE!?!?

For this reason, I can’t give it a high rating. Not even Helen Mirren can save this picture. Boring, bleak and just plain bad.

2/5

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Director:  Michael and Peter Spierig

Cast: Helen Mirren, Jason Clark, Sarah Snook

Crew:  Michael and Peter Spierig and Tom Vaughan (Writers)

Genre: Supernatural Horror

Rating: 15

Works Cited

Brothers, S. (Director). (2017). Jigsaw [Motion Picture].

Brothers, S. (Director). (2018). Winchester [Motion Picture].

Group, H. H. (2011, October 19). Haunted Travels: The Winchester Mansion. Retrieved from HRS Hotels Group: http://hrshotelsgroup.com/blog/haunted-winchester-mansion

Robinson, J. (2018, February 2). Winchester: The True Ghost Story Behind Helen Mirren’s Haunted House Thriller. Retrieved from Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/winchester-helen-mirren-haunted-house-san-jose

Spierig, M. a. (Director). (2018). Winchester [Motion Picture].

Taylor, T. (2013). THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE The Haunted History of One of America’s Strangest — & Most Haunted — Houses. Retrieved from The Prairie Ghosts: https://www.prairieghosts.com/winchester.html

Williams, J. (2018, January 17). The Legend Of Sarah Winchester. Retrieved from Winchester Mystery House: http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/blog/legend-sarah-winchester/

 

The Shape of Water

A Mesmerising Del Toro Classic

Before I even start my review, lets just go through the nominations this film has achieved already:

  • 13 Academy Awards nominations
  • 7 Golden Globe nominations – (Won BEST DIRECTOR and BEST ORIGINAL SCORE)
  • 12 BAFTA nominations

From this alone I already had high expectations.

The first thing you will notice from this film is how the main character Elisa is a mute, but that doesn’t mean she is a flat character. Sally Hawkins (a brit by the way!) has amazing emotive energy and definitely deserves her Best Actress nominations. The on-screen chemistry between Elisa and the Amphibian Man – or as he is referred to in the film, the Asset, is a marvel. Having two characters that are mute makes every move they make that much more meaningful and emotive.

In an interview with IMDB Del Toro stated that “words lie but looks don’t” and this is why he focuses a lot on the fingers. Psychologically our hands can give away our true feelings and this film uses that. At the beginning when the two characters meet, we see them touching fingers through the glass of his tank. This develops throughout the film to a full touch of the hands. The full touch is warm and affectionate whereas touching fingertips shows less affection.

Fingers

There are also a lot of noticeable similarities between Del Toro’s most well-known 2006 film Pan’s Labyrinth. Both stories are told in the style of a fairy-tale about real life times of struggles. Pan’s Labyrinth is set in the time of Spanish Civil War and The Shape of Water is set during the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s.  This is a trait of Del Toro’s cinematic storytelling and is a refreshing insight into telling a story, giving a childlike wonder and the cool tones of the colour pallet.

Image result for pan's labyrinthLight

It is clear where Del Toro got his inspiration for the character of the Amphibious Man. Originally the film was going to be a reboot of The Creature From The Black Lagoon, and you can see the similarities between the Asset and Gill Man. I personally hate reboots and I am glad they took a different route.

I give this film 5 out of 5. It gripped my attention, I loved the characters and the story. Typical Del Toro film.

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Works Cited

Arnold, J. (Director). (1954). Creature from the Black Lagoon [Motion Picture].

IMDb. (2017, December 13). Guillermo del Toro Explains Symbols in ‘The Shape of Water’ | IMDb EXCLUSIVE. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb-MzoMFtWo

Toro, G. d. (Director). (2006). Pan’s Labyrinth [Motion Picture].

Director:  Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Sally HawkinsMichael ShannonRichard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer.

Crew: Alexandre Desplat (Music) Dan Laustsen (Cinematographer)

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 15

Deadpool

“Bloody good fun, and I really mean bloody.”

It’s finally here! The first Marvel movie of the year! I am not going to lie my inner (or not so inner) geek is so happy after such a long Marvel break. The last film was in August 2015 with Fantastic Four…which did not get the best reviews.

Before I start I want to define my writing about the character of Wade Wilson and Deadpool. Although they reside in the same body they are both different entities in their own right and that is why I have dipped between the two names depending on the scene I am describing.

Well I think the first thing we have to talk about it Ryan Reynolds. This is his second attempt at being a superhero as back in 2011 he famously played the Green Lantern, which failed to reach the audience as expected. According to Reynolds, there was not much guidance, something that was completely different to his experience in Deadpool.

“You really need a visionary behind a movie like that, but it was the classic studio story: “We have a poster, but we don’t have a script or know what we want; let’s start shooting!” (McGloin, 2016)

The clever thing about Deadpool is that it makes nuances about the genre of Superhero films and also just films in general. The opening sequence for one doesn’t include any names.  As bizarre as this seems instead they use derogatory terms.

The screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are a well-known duo for tongue in cheek films such as Zombieland. In an interview they have said.

“We just figured that it was a fun nod to the heartache as we’ve had on this thing over the last six and a half years. Screenwriters aren’t at the top of the food chain in the feature world. They often should be, but sometimes they take second billing. It was a fun, fun way for us to poke fun at the hierarchy. We had heroic moments for sure on this movie.” (McKittrick, 2016)

“Overpaid Tool” (Director), “Asshats” (Producers) and “Gratuitous Cameo” (Infamous Stan Lee Cameo, that every Marvel lover looks forward to) are just some of the examples. Reese and Wernick make fun of themselves and even the problems they had during production. In order to cut the budget they had Deadpool forget his guns to the final battle and even Deadpool comments that they didn’t have the budget to include a third X-Men character, which was true “Wow, this is such a big house, but I only ever see the two of you here. It’s like the studio didn’t have enough money for any more X-Men..”.

They even make fun of the different franchises with mention to Professor Xavier Deadpool asks “McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines can get so confusing.” The thing that I love about this scene is the fact that it is exactly what the fans would be thinking.

Ryan Reynolds even gets taken the piss out of with making sly hits at Green Lantern, for instance when Wade is waiting to get his “cancer cure” he jokes about being a Superhero and not making his costume green. Wade even says “Think Ryan Reynolds got this far on his superior acting method?”

Another thing that separates Deadpool from other films in general, let alone Marvel films is the use of breaking the fourth wall, which is so vital to the character. At the beginning of the film he even says “I know right? You’re probably thinking “Whose balls did I have to fondle to get my very own movie”? I can’t tell you his name, but it rhymes with ‘pullverine.’and lemme tell you, he’s got a nice pair of smooth criminals down unda’. This is an obvious shout out the X-men Origins Wolverine where we see the character but not experience the character. The main thing that was missing was of course the breaking of the fourth wall. This is a crucial part of Deadpool’s character and without this mutes his real character. Luckily our prayers have been answered with this film.

Although Deadpool is a crude character I did not expect the film to be as graphic as it is, but the best part is how once again they make fun of it. The instrument of this is Colossus. How ironic that a huge metal guy is such a sensitive soul on the inside. He tries to make Deadpool a better person ,(“Language please, Deadpool”), and a hero (“Four or five moments – that’s all it takes to become a hero”), and he even vomits at violence which is a hilarious moment in the film, but his so endearing.

Well this weekend is the Oscars and Ryan Reynolds decided to share his views with this post on Twitter.  In the final week everyone has been making the final push for votes and of course how can you leave out Deadpool, the modest son of a bitch.

Deadpool Oscars

I must admit the Best Love Scene with Deadpool and his Baby Hand killed me and I sat there giggling to myself like an idiot.  But I think this kind of humour is why everyone has fallen in love with the character. I kind of liked the raunchier side of the superhero- although he would disagree (“I may be super, but I’m no hero”), and boy is it raunchy. I must admit I was surprised that it only got a 15 rating and do wonder if it was pushing it for some of the audience that is drawn to a Marvel movie.

I overly enjoyed Deadpool and I have heard that there is a sequel in the works keeping the same screenwriters and director so I think we can expect a lot more greatness from Deadpool and look forward to seeing him merge into other films in the Marvel Universe. Although I did sometimes forget I was actually watching a Marvel film, but maybe I am a traditionalist at heart. Considering this was Tim Miller’s first directorship, he did a great job and think he is an up and comer in the future.

4/5 from this fan!

Chicka-chickahhhh.

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Works Cited

McGloin, M. (2016, January 7). Ryan Reynolds Reflects On Green Lantern; Deadpool Makes Fun. Retrieved February 23rd, 2016, from Cosmic Book News: http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/content/ryan-reynolds-reflects-green-lantern-deadpool-makes-fun#axzz405fuvgB1

McKittrick, C. (2016, February 15th). The Real Heroes: Reese and Wernick on Deadpool. Retrieved February 23rd, 2016, from Creative Screenwriting: http://creativescreenwriting.com/the-real-heroes-reese-and-wernick-on-deadpool/

Director: Tim Miller

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin

Crew: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Screenwriters), Ryan Reynolds (Producer)

Genre: Superheroes, Action

Rating: 15