Winter's Bone

I saw this almost a week ago now. I had to sit on my thought for a while on this one, for whilst I knew it was a good film, I didn't know if it was a film I particularly enjoyed. Not meaning it was boring, or awful at all, just a feeling it provokes made me a little wary of it. However, saying that, after a few days of thinking it over, I can say this was a good film.

It is one of those ones which will win awards for reasons I, as an unqualified, uneducated film watcher, will not understand, but that's not a bad thing.

The story isn't slow, but isn't progressive. It's interesting enough for it to not be boring, but there is nothing thrilling here, to keep you entertained. If you have a short attention span then this is not for you.

The atmosphere of the film was very realistic, as I can imagine the backwoods of some American town is actually like how this film portrays it. You believe the story, and the family struggle. You like the characters. You don't get a chance to hate the 'bad' guys, as they aren't really bad. There is a system, where people in this town follow rules, they respect the people they are supposed to and they walk and talk in a way that will get them the least amount of trouble - the women keep their heads down and the men make trouble for the law. What I do have to comment on is the acting - which I think most people will comment on for this one. As it is well known the main character, Ree, was played by the actress Jennifer Lawrence, who was almost NOT cast due to her being dubbed 'too beautiful' for the role. Of course, she pushed and pushed and was finally given the role and she did, indeed, nail it. It was a great performance. Only just outshone by the actor who plays her uncle in the film, who was probably one of the best actors I have seen this year I think.

If you like family drama's with a little bit of gangster violence thrown in, and a little bit of heartache, then I would recommend this film.

The Last Exorcism

I wasn't too sure about this one going in. I mean, how many times can you watch a possession movie? I was pleasantly surprised, then, when it started up and it was like a nice documentary about a preacher who basically made money off the fact that people thought they were possessed. In fact, I would have liked it if the story had continued on this way for the whole film, but as it happened, this was just a blatant 'try to make this story more real by adding a family back story'.

I didn't find the film bad in any way. It was just very disjointed. The beginning of the film, like I said, was a nicely paced documentary, the middle was the 'oh my god, is she possessed? is she mad? Surely she's possessed! No, she must be mad! No, its her Dad who's mad' malarkey, which then jet streamed into the last segment of the film, which was where it all went a bit supernatural and Wickerman-ish. If you watch this and think you should have seen it coming, trust me. I don't think you should have. It was a completely out of the blue ending that didn't join up with the rest of the film at all.

There were 3 blatant chapters for this film, but they didn't match. If you're looking for a scary film, this had its jumpy moments in the 2nd segment - of the usual ilk; contorted bodies, scary dark house scenes, and altered voices, but it does lack in true horror.

What really raised the bar though, I have to say, is the acting of the main girl, Ashley Bell - she doesn't appear to have been in much, but I expect she is up and coming. I didn't believe she could look creepy for a second, but when she turned it was horrible!

Introductions

Hi,

I have been thinking about starting up a slight 'review' blog for a while. Not that I have any kind of intelligent thing to say about films, but because I watch alot of films and so figured I might as well combine watching with writing.

What I watch and what I think about what I watch isn't supposed to sound smart or funny etc. So if I manage that at least once, I will be impressed with myself. I just love films and I'm not in any way snobbish about it.

If you're interested in seeing my 'reviews' please subscribe - I am at the cinema all day tomorrow so should be able to pop something up then. And I will probably hit you up with some of the films I have seen this past year - just for fun.

S

ps. Blog layout due to change - just used this as a template. :S