Ahhh, I know, I know.  This isn’t horror.  Well, technically it isn’t.  Perhaps in someone’s book it is…  But, alas I had promised a certain someone I would write one chick flick review.  So I thought it only made sense to write about the only chick flick I’ve really watched recently, which just so happens to be ‘This Means War’.  And ok, I’ll admit it… my gigantic crush on Tom Hardy may have influenced this movie choice.  But that’s irrelevant… sort of.

The movie is centered on Reese Witherspoon’s character Lauren, a likeable thirty-something who is down on her luck when it comes to men.  Enter her somewhat-loony friend Trish (Chelsea Handler, who is on fire as usual), who posts an ‘interesting’ profile on a dating website in hopes to get Lauren back in the game.  Cue my green-with-envy face when Lauren clicks on the profile of secret CIA agent and super sweetheart Tuck (Tom Hardy), with whom she goes out on a drink date.  Unbeknownst to Lauren, Tuck’s best friend and co-worker, the extremely slick FDR (Chris Pine), is at a nearby video store waiting in the wings to rescue Tuck should the date turn sour.  Of course Lauren was bound to run into FDR – and that is where the love-hate relationship begins.  Lauren agrees to go on a date with FDR (mostly to shut him up), while at the same time intending on seeing Tuck.  Little do the guys know (until revealing their new girlfriends to each other at work) they are dating the same girl.  They agree to keep dating her, without her knowledge of them being friends, and pretty much let the best man win.  Of course, with the super spy resources they have at their fingertips, it isn’t quite the subtle battle one would imagine.

This was such a funny and enjoyable movie.  I love both Hardy and Pine and their characters ticked all the boxes for me.  Handler was fantastic as potty-mouthed Trish; I am fairly certain she was playing herself.  Throughout the whole movie you are constantly wondering who Lauren will eventually choose – Tuck?  FDR?  Neither?  And of course you want both of them to be picked!  But although I was a little dissatisfied with the end result, I felt cheery and entertained when we walked out of the cinema. 

Let me just say though:  Paintball will never be the same.

Ever since the concepts/trailers/images were released on the internet, I was secretly obsessed with ‘Chronicle’.  I do like a good superhero movie, particularly when they have cool abilities like telekinesis and telepathy – no Wolverine, retractable claws aren’t exactly what I mean.

If you’ve seen the trailers for ‘Chronicle’, you’ll know that it follows a group of teenage boys who inherit telekinetic abilities from an unknown force (a force which isn’t really described in great depth in the actual film).  What makes this film a cut above the rest is that it is a found-footage film (think ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Cloverfield’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and just about any other movie filmed with a hand-held camera that makes your tummy jubbly).  Generally I’m not so much for found-footage films; excluding ‘Cloverfield’, I find them kind of annoying and pretentious… yeah, they suck.  But the amazing thing about ‘Chronicle’ was that it didn’t suck!

To give you a rough rundown of the film, the main character is Andrew, a stereotypical social outcast with no real friends apart from his cousin Matt, who doesn’t really care for Andrew all that much.  Andrew insists on filming all aspects of his life, much to the annoyance of those around him.  It is during a party where Matt’s friend (and Mr. Popular) Steve encourages Andrew to join him and Matt in a cave somewhere in a forest where they have found the strange force that eventually gives them their powers.  The rest of the film follows the boys learning to use their powers and filming their progress as they go.  With his newfound friendships, Andrew becomes a well-liked part of society… until his mentality slowly begins to unravel.

You know the drill, I don’t like to give too much away.  I found the film so interesting and it really sucked me in for its short 84-minute running time.  The thing that really got me was the effects.  I just could not get over how realistic everything seemed when the boys were toying with their powers!  It seemed so lifelike that I could honestly see this happening!  Now that’s messed up…

Give ‘Chronicle’ a fair go.  It’s one of the few movies I’ve really enjoyed lately and hey, it’s original, which is a lot to say for films these days.  Definitely sets the bar high for 2012 films.

Ahh, werewolves.  Call me a supernatural nutter, but they come only second to vamps.  I can still remember the intensity of waiting for Oz to turn on ‘Buffy’, back in my early teens.  I can also remember the first time I watched ‘Ginger Snaps’ – an absolute gem, if you haven’t seen it.  Werewolves definitely at their best in that one.  Of course there have been a few stinkers over the years; it comes with the genre.  Cursed, Underworld, The Wolfman, and we’ll pretend we never saw Jacob change into a Husky in Twilight.  Just sayin’…

Forgive my ranting, I’ll go back to where I was heading.  So for years Dad has been raving about ‘An American Werewolf in London’, made in 1981 by John Landis.  Actually, it pleases me a lot to know he wrote and directed this movie – you can definitely see the love a director has for a movie when they not only build the story but then get the chance to put it into motion.  There have been numerous articles I have read that mention this film and so, alas, it was time for me to check it out.  I know I deserve a good slapping for not discovering it earlier, but potato-patata.

The story is centered around two American backpackers (college students, who’dve thunk it?) who end up at some backwoods dodgy pub somewhere in England.  Apart from pissing off the locals, they are warned as they are leaving to stay on the road and not go near the moors.  But as the fog begins to surround them as they walk, they venture off the road and end up, whaddya know, on the moors.  Random growling ensues and the two guys run away from the unknown creature making the noises.  David falls over, Jack helps him up and subsequently ends up being attacked when trying to help his mate.  David discovers Jack is well and truly dead – a bloody, torn-to-shreds remnant of his former friend.  At that moment, he is bitten and scratched by the wolf, who is shot by the crazy pub locals; just in time, right?

The remainder of the movie is based on David’s downward spiral into becoming a werewolf.  He constantly hallucinates (?) Jack’s rotting corpse talking to him.  Their dialogue is quite humorous – gotta love it when David calls Jack a ‘walking meatloaf’.  There’s a whole lot of strange, quasi-funny creepiness throughout the entire movie.  Semi-werewolf Nazis, the two girls who laugh when the dog is barking at David, not to mention the soundtrack.  I actually think the music is what makes the film so successful.  ‘Blue Moon’ plays right at the end of the movie when David is transforming into a werewolf for the first time; it almost seems peaceful, serene.  And as somebody once said to me, Credence will never be the same.

Give this movie a really good look; it was awesome.  For the price of a rental you can pick it up at JB Hi-fi, and it is well worth adding to your collection.  Watch it with your tongue in your cheek and your middle finger raised firmly at your Twilight DVD (come on, we all own at least one of them).  Enjoy!!

P.S.// And for Pete’s sake, don’t even think about watching ‘An American Werewolf in Paris’… just saying…

For a nation that doesn’t celebrate Halloween, we sure can get into the spirit on October 31^st.  The shops are full of spooky paraphernalia (I will happily admit I picked up a cute Frankenstein that sings ‘The Monster Mash’ this year) and, bless Americans, there is a plethora of new horror movies out to honour that hallowed (and majorly envied by me) time of year. 

I love any movie, any television episode related to Halloween.  Of course there’s ‘Halloween’, that’s a given.  One of my favourite Buffy episodes is based on Halloween.   These films and shows have never made me more eager to carve a pumpkin.  So it was only fitting that I have a look at Halloween-themed 2007 offering, ‘Trick ‘r Treat’.

Don’t be mistaken – I haven’t only just watched this film.  I have watched it a few times now and bought it on blu-ray only a couple of months ago.  Every time I watch it I find something new and love it even more than before.  It is everything I love in a movie – colourful yet dark, funny yet sick, gory yet awesome.  Perfect formula.

For those of you not familiar with the premise, the movie is actually a collection of four smaller stories which find a crazy way to weave into one another by the conclusion.  There is the stereotypical hot college chicks, one of which (Anna Paquin – love True Blood!) is a virgin and is looking to…. er…. not be a virgin.  There’s the high-school principal Steven (Dylan Baker) who is a serial killer by night.  There’s the school kids whose attempt at a prank goes horribly wrong.  And of course, let’s not forget to mention Mr. Kreeg, a cranky old man who hates Halloween and ends up receiving a treat of his own.

I can’t go into the stories too much (hehe, I’m sure you readers know me too well by now…) because there is so much going on and no loose ends are left untied.  I have a hard time deciding what is my favourite story – the principal subplot is classic, as is the gluttonous Charlie who watches on as Steven gets rid of his dirty work.  You might remember Brett Kelly, who plays Charlie, from ‘Bad Santa’… and yep, he is just as annoying yet funny in this flick too.  I love the college virgin story too… not for the girls (they annoy me too much) but the conclusion of that story is completely down my alley.  The prank kids with the urban legend story is quite interesting, it has some intriguing elements and gives you some of the true chills throughout the film.  The Kreeg storyline is just plain awesome.  Enough said.

Again, like I mentioned earlier, I absolutely adore how all the stories link at the end.  Everything just makes so much sense… and at the same time, makes it so much more cooler than it already was.  ‘Trick ‘r Treat’ gives me enough time to get my nerd on, enjoying every minute, every second of the flick and wanting to watch it again and again straight after a viewing.  I think every time I have watched it I have picked up on something different.  I wouldn’t say it is for the faint-hearted, but it is definitely the perfect equation of horror and humour for a horror junkie such as myself.  See it for yourself, but I know that you won’t regret it.  Even better, just buy it.  You’ll love me long time for my advice.