The Bill 1984 – 2010

16th October 1984 – 31st August 2010

“Annoyed? First Class passengers on the Titanic were annoyed. What I’m feeling now goes beyond that.”

The Bill

Dinner for Schmucks – Trailer Dissection

Out this Friday is Dinner for Schmucks which appears to have just about every current American comic actor in it. And yet… I can’t decide if it will be any good or not. What I do know is that Steve Carell puts on an impressive array of facial expressions. I counted 13, as you can see just under the trailer which I suggest you watch. Is this a case of a great cast in a terrible film?

http://videos.video-loader.com/playerjs/trailer_3795.js?w=500&h=375&pID=26901&bgc=ffffff&cw=159535&skinName=light&wmode=window&hideChrome=0

James Cameron is a Prick

As it’s a Bank Holiday I will be lazy and copy and paste directly from the wonderful Movie|Line a quote from James Cameron. Only while they seem to agree with him I find him offensive prickish.

“I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but [Piranha 3D] is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip.”

Doesn’t re-releasing a film with a few extra minutes thrown in to make some more money cheapen the medium? How about making preachy film which rips off the plot of Pocahontas, and while nice to look at holds no real substance in dialogue or plot?

I have seen Avatar, Piranha 3D and Friday the 13th 3-D and I know which one I enjoyed the least.

Just when I get over disliking Cameron he pulls me back in!

Out Now – 27th August 2010

Run Michael Cera, run! If the release of Avatar ruins Scott Pilgrim‘s box office I might cry. For more on the whole prancing Michael Cera phenomenon go to here.

Avatar (Special Edition)
So who felt that Avatar ran a bit too short and wants to see an extra nine minutes? Really? Well apparently if you wait for the new extended DVD then you’ll get sixteen minutes of extra footage! What a scam. Then you can always get the 3D DVD when it rolls along. So that’s two cinema releases and three DVD releases for just the first in a trilogy.

The Girl Who Played with Fire
A computer hacker and journalist investigate a sex trafficking ring. I’ve seen people on the underground every day reading books from this trilogy, it must be good. If only I’d seen the first!

Dog Pound (limited release)
Three young thugs arrive in a correctional facility and some presumably gritty stuff unfolds. I imagine I’d spend the whole film feeling mildly threatened.

The Last Seven (limited release)
This could maybe possibly be good. Seven people wake up in an abandoned London and find they are the last people alive. Or are they…? Well you’ll never find out as it’s only out in one cinema in London.

The Maid (limited release)
A South American dramedy about a maid trying to scare off newer younger maids in order to maintain her position in the household of the Valdes family.

Wah Do Dem (limited release)
A badly received low budget american indie film about some hipster getting lost in Jamaica.

Please, please do not go and see Avatar.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Review

Last night I finally got to sit down in a packed cinema and feast on the visual delight that was Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. In order to not be totally biased I will give a nod to the odd pacing, the lack of explanation of certain plot points and the fact that it didn’t have the full emotional weight of the comics. This sort of thing happens when you condense six books down into a single two hour film.

Those two hours were amazing though. The audience was laughing right from the Universal logo and I had a minor heart attack during the opening credits, a feeling I last had when first seeing the trailer on the big screen. Scott Pilgrim is a relentless assault on your senses and rollicks along firing out jokes, fights and sheer energy at you as the scenes flow almost too seamlessly from one to another.

Never has a film had so much though put into each individual frame and every sound you hear. For a fan of the books and a fan of seeing something different coming out of Hollywood, Scott Pilgrim is what I have been waiting for. Edgar Wright is a genius and the cast are wonderful. I was about to list the stand out actors but it came to 13 so just look and marvel at the full cast list on IMDb.

And the music!

The best review of Scott Pilgrim I can give is that at the end I was tired, a little bit sweaty and my face hurt from smiling so much.

Just Kidding, It’s Freakin’ Scott Pilgrim Day!

I couldn’t let this day pass without some expression of my overwhelming excitement that today is the day that Scott Pilgrim reaches UK cinemas today. Today. Yes, we were originally going to get it weeks ago but lets just enjoy it now it’s here. Look at the site, but not too far, we’ve retro-fitted ourselves in honour of this special day.

I’ve only seen nine minutes, thanks to a lack of luck with preview screenings and not being quite “press” enough for press screenings, but they were glorious minutes. Not everyone is going to enjoy the film, there’s a lot to take in and it has a very distinct style, but I am convinced it will blow my precious little mind.

Go out tonight and see Scott Pilgrim. Go and see it with as many people as you can find and help show America how a box office should look. And if you’re going alone be sure to do yourself an Orange Wednesday, every little helps.

The Girl Who Played With Fire – Trailer

Two things occurred to me while watching the trailer for The Girl Who Played with Fire. First of all I’m amazed that they are sticking to the stereotype of not featuring any dialogue in the trailer for a foreign film, surely the sequel to a well known foreign film with a much talked about American remake shouldn’t worry about people being afraid of subtitles?

Second of all it makes me really wish I’d seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so that I could drag along some poor fool, or “friend”, to see this with me when it comes out on Friday.

Full disclosure: You may notice that this and some of the trailers we feature in future have little “Sponsored by…” tags. This just means that you watching the trailers helps keep Mild Concern going. We’ll try not to sell out too much though.

Out Now – 25th August 2010

Nothing too exciting coming out today.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
“Live-action adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s illustrated novel about a wise-cracking sixth grade student.” Ugh, you completely lost me at “wise-cracking sixth grade student.” Reviews from people who have actually seen the film are similarly unimpressed.

Grown Ups
A whole bunch of comedians who weren’t that funny in their day are back to be not too funny again. Even better it’s set over the 4th of July weekend, something we in the UK don’t really care about. Lame!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Comic book adaptation about a weedy guy fighting some more attractive guys to get a girl that is totally out of his league. Apparently it also references video games. Yawn.

A Few Random Thoughts

Here are three things I wanted to share with you this morning:

1. Piranha 3D will be getting a 3D sequel! This is great news. Hopefully this time they will actually film it in 3D as I also discovered yesterday that it was one of the many “converted” 3D films.

2. Who is Salt? I have it on good authority that it is indeed Angelina Jolie. I don’t have to see the film now right?

3. Scott Pilgrim vs the World comes out tomorrow. I hope you have your tickets booked and are ready to bore everyone at work silly come Thursday.

That’s all I have today I’m afraid. Watch this if you get bored.

Piranha 3D / Mega Piranha – Review

This weekend I have been investigating the small selection of new piranha based films, taking in Piranha 3D and The Asylum’s mockbuster Mega Piranha. Both films involving a lot of man-eating piranha’s but which one is the best? Let’s break it down.

Gore
Good gore costs money and Mega Piranha offers nothing more than the occasional bit of red water as people are often eaten out of shot, under the water or in one mouthful. Piranha however was a bounty of gore with a crushed skull, missing limbs, a split torso, multiple bony bits stripped of all flesh and one horrific moment with a face, some hair and a propeller.
Winner: Piranha

Laughs
The trouble with Mega Piranha was that it took itself a bit too seriously and as such had about two jokes throughout leaving the only humour stemming from the appalling acting on display. Piranha however played pretty much everything for laughs and ramping up the gore, and boobs, to such a degree that it was a joyful farce.
Winner: Piranha

Boobs
Mega Piranha clearly does not have the money to convince their cast to disrobe and as such has a total of two topless women, who it was explained on the DVD documentary were local prostitutes… lovely. Piranha, as with everything else, really pushed the boat out and made the most of its 18 rating. There’s even a dismembered penis for the ladies making a wonderful addition to the gore category.
Winner: Piranha

Piranhas
The piranhas in Piranha were well rendered little monsters but ultimately were quite small for the majority of the film. Their counterparts in Mega Piranha are really badly produced creatures but rapidly increased in size, by the end reaching the size of buses as they dive bombed buildings in a way reminiscent of Birdemic: Shock and Terror .
Winner: Draw

Plot
In Piranha an earthquake opening up an underground lake housing an extinct form of viscous piranha brought about disaster while in Mega Piranha scientists were trying to breed a fish that could grow to huge sizes and end world hunger. Both wonderfully schlocky premises worthy of a creature feature.
Winner: Draw

The clear winner here is Piranha or as it likes to be called Piranha 3D. Though it’s 3D is not the best I’ve seen, it is a hell of a lot of fun and worth the 90 minutes of your life.

Piranha is in cinemas nationwide now and Mega Piranha is available on DVD now.