Hey everyone, just thought I’d write a bit what I’ll be doing the upcoming days. Well, tomorrow I’m going to England on holiday with my family. I havn’t been there for a few years, so that will probably be lots of fun. I will post images from the trip on my Flickr page! I will also be meeting a filmmaking friend tomorrow by the name of Joby Stephens (who made “Project: One” and more recently “Skin Deep”), which I think will be really fun!

I’ll write something from London, since I pretty much expect there to be some kind of Wifi access in the hotel room! I will also have to check out and see if I can find some cool DVDs, since they’re much cheaper there than they are here in Malmö.

Oh, and as promised, here are the first four official images from my new film “Connected”:

Image 1 | Image 2 | Image 3 | Image 4

I’ve also posted them on the film’s page so you will be able to see easier once this post goes further down on the page. Also, grab a look at my review of “The Kingdom” which I have posted just below this post!

So, until later this week probably, take care everyone!

So, I went to see “The Kingdom” last Sunday, and here is my take on how it was! As always, I will try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible!

I really had high expectations walking into this film. I found the overall concept of the story interesting, and the actors looked like great choices (Jamie Foxx is also pretty much awesome in every film he does) and the trailer was pretty cool, so it would be a lot of fun to see if it lived up to my high expectations.

The story isn’t really one to celebrate too much, since it’s pretty much a standard “terrorist threat against the US on foreign soil” story which leads to the government sending in a team of professional problem-solvers and forensic detectives. For me, the story worked good, considering what kind of film this is. I expected it to be much more political, somewhere around the level of “Syriana” (which I actually didn’t like that much) but it’s pretty much kept on a rather basic level throughout the film. It’s also trying to be very politically correct with it’s statements and portrayal of it’s characters, which works out fine but also drags away some of the interest in the story. I loved the final quarter of the film, where the pace really picks up and the tension is very, very high. The final 15 minutes are almost unstopped continues extreme action which is actually very cool. Also the beginning of the film is extremely action-packed, and also very terrifying in more than one way.

The acting is pretty good, and all the actors and actresses pretty much play their roles by standard procedure. Nothing really stands out in any of the performances, but both Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman put forth great performances. It’s just that nothing is really that memorable. While Jennifer Garner is a great actress, I found her place in this film to be a bit out-of-order. It seemed as if the writers just wrote a “girl” part for her, where her main objective throughout a big part of the film is to walk around with a tight t-shirt. But she’s also great in the action sequences, I just feel that her character and the placement of her in terms of costumes could have needed a rehash.

There are some really cool effects and setpieces in the film. There’s no real obvious effects in the film, but judging from how some of the sets look, I bet they must have used some kind of digital set extension to keep costs down. Visually, and in a cinematography perspective, it’s very impressive with the way that it’s shot on both 35mm film and on digital cameras (such as in “Collateral”, which really gives the film a much more documentary look). I was quite inspired by how some of the sets were shot, with cool details often at the sides of the frame, so make sure to sometimes not look directly at the actors in a scene (as you should do sometimes in any film, particulary if you’re watching it for the second or third time round), and you’ll find some pretty interesting stuff in this film.

The music by Danny Elfman was great (if somewhat unmemorable) and added to the tension in some of the scenes towards the end of the film, but the sound design is where the movie really shines. It has in a way a very surround-focused sound-design that really helps sell some of the scenes and it all was very impressive in the theatre. During some of the earlier scenes it seems like the filmmakers deliberatly had a pretty quiet and unsurprising sound design (particulary in the LFE track) to then suddenly explode in audio from all directions. This worked very well, and is definently something that impressed me throughout the movie.

So I thought this was a pretty good film, even if it had it’s flaws in some of the casting and character profiles. Still, I think it’s a very good film and I would recommend it to any fan of high-octane action movies. Also, it has one of the coolest intro sequences ever made!

Verdict: 8 out of 10

Hey everyone, sorry I havn’t been able to update the website for a week now, but I have some pretty exciting news!

Today I started filming my new film, “Connected” with a couple of people and it has been a great experience so far. Got some really nice shots, and what we shot actually looks quite good, according to me. Going to sit down with one of my actors tomorrow, and talk some more about the story (since it is quite close to being done, but there are a few things that we need to go through first).

Also started pre-production of a film I’m doing in my film class in school, which is a zombie-comedy featuring some quite fun characters. I’ve been assigned to direct it, and the production process will probably start in just a couple of weeks. Since that film is for school and has a deadline at Christmas, I will obviously switch focus from “Connected” to this film if needed so that it gets done in time, but I don’t think the post-production process on this one will be anywhere near as big as it has been on some of my other films (mostly because of the lack of time). Since that film has to be done by Christmas, I will probably do some of the effects a bit faster, and later on after the deadline polish them up a bit (including the other aspects of post-production) and release it for the internet.

I wish I could show you some pictures from “Connected” right now, but I’m afraid I havn’t really got any ones that shows some cool stuff, without giving away too much of the story at the moment. Be sure to grab a look at my review of “The Kingdom” which I will put up sometime tomorrow morning!

Until then, take care everyone! Oh and by the way, today is a pretty epic day, I reached 30000 visitors here on rhp.se (if counted since last November)

UPDATE 29/10 -07
Hey, just wanted to say that I will be posting the review for “The Kingdom” on the 31st (and also hopefully some of the first pictures from “Connected”) instead. I had some technical difficulties with the website earlier, but it all seems to be fixed now so it should work just fine

Just wanted to post this trailer I recently watched. It’s of a movie called “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, a film based on the musical with the same name. It’s directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman, and I must say it’s one of the best trailers I’ve watched in quite some time, and I’ll definently watch this in theatres! So if you have about 2 minutes of spare time, definently watch this! Let me know what you thought about it! It seems to be a step back for Tim Burton in terms of creating more darker films, while retaining a somewhat comedic viewpoint..

Trailer Link

So, without further ado, here are a couple of announcements and news!

First of all, during the next weekend I am going to film my next shortfilm, “Connected” (working title, may be changed). I’ve been thinking about filming this short for a while now, and it’s only now that I’ve really got the time I need to film it (because of school and loads more). I won’t give away too much of the story, even if it is pretty much finalized. Johannes is coming over tomorrow, and we are going to finish the script together. Neither of us will act in it, but I am pretty much done with the casting of the film. Note that this won’t change the scheduling of “Derby” at all, and that one is still due to be filmed later this year. “Connected” won’t be anywhere as long as “16″, see it more in the same kind of length as last year’s “Cell”, for example. I don’t want to tell you that much of the story, but it involves some things I haven’t done before, which should prove a challenge and quite interesting. So hopefully all neccessary things will be filmed during the next weekend (which is then followed by an entire week of free time from school, when I will have time to both work on the film, and go to the UK!). Final casting will be done not later than Monday.

I’ve also been continuing work on “Derby”, even if the serious pre-production period will kick in as soon as “Connected” is close to being finished. I’m not aiming for “Connected” to be a visual effects-driven film, more like a film based on it’s characters, with some interesting cinematography and grading work.

I spent yesterday evening and this morning fixing some things with the website. The most noticable change is probably the different categories that are now available for news, in the right-hand sidebar. I’ve categorised everything into “News” and “Reviews”, but I will probably add some more categories in time.

So, what about that movie “Showdown”? As you may have noticed, I havn’t been writing about it for a couple of months now, and the reasoning behind that is that I’ve been busy and trying to create some other types of films. So for now, “Showdown” is postponed until further notice, since I have both “Connected” and “Derby” which I want to do first. To be honest, I will probably rewrite or rework some scenes from the “Showdown” script yet again to fit the kind of film I am looking for with that movie, which is basically a three-way revenge story, with a twist. The website section will still be there for “Showdown”, but I will probably update it a bit to reflect these new plot ideas I had about it.

I guess that’s pretty many announcements for one single day, so I hope you liked some of them. Make sure to check back the upcoming week for more details on the making of “Connected” and I’ll see you soon!

Until next time, take care everyone!

P.S. I will try to write more film reviews, since I’ve got some positive feedback on the ones I’ve written so far. Thanks everyone!

So I watched the sequel to “28 Days Later” last Saturday, and I was actually very surprised. Why, I’ll try to tell you that in my review of the movie!

I went into watching this film with mixed feelings. A part of me really likes zombie-films, but I thought that this would be just another non-story-driven movie with grey characters and an uninteresting story. I havn’t watched the first one in years, but I figured I wouldn’t really need to do that, since the stories are in no way connected what-so-ever. The only thing that’s the same is the location (London, England, mostly) and the virus that makes people really crazy, like they’re living in a state of constant rage.

The film jumps straight into the hysterical action, with “Don” (one of the last of Britain’s survivors after the rage virus pretty much took over the entire country in the last film) - fantastically played by Robert Caryle, who also played “Renard” in “The World is not Enough” - being chased by what could be seen as an army of zombies (I know they’re not technically zombies, but it’s easier to refer to them in that way). I must say, this opening sequence is easily one of the most adrenaline-pumping and intense opening sequences I’ve seen for a very, very long time (and the best opening this year, easily). The story then rapidly moves on to where new people are allowed to immigrate back into Britain. Without going in to too much detail, something goes terribly wrong and the rage virus spreads again, making us as the audience focus on Don, his two children and some other people and their escape from total extermination. I know it doesn’t sound like anything special, but it’s brilliantly executed. Although it is extremely violent from time to time, so if you’re sensible to that kind of stuff, you may want to steer clear.

So what about acting? Apart from Robert Carlyle and Harold Perrineau (most known for his role of “Link” in Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, as well as “Michael Dawson” in the TV series “Lost”) there aren’t a lot of familiar faces. But this isn’t really a bad thing according to me. The movie is shot in a kind of documentary way, and I think the illusion would be partly broken if there were any too familiar faces (for example, Mel Gibson running around would have been a bit weird). The actors and actresses play their parts well, and the newcomer Mackintosh Muggleton, who plays Don’s son, is great and I think he has a good career ahead of him.

The visual effects aren’t really anything you notice, since most of the effects in the film are of the practical kind. One visual effect that I can’t talk about without spoiling the film (but it involves explosions!) is very well made, and I can imagine this film looks stunning in high-def.

Now to what I think is my favorite part of the film which is the AMAZING music by John Murphy. It helps greatly during some of the more action-intensive sequences (especially during the opening sequence I talked about earlier) and adds a lot of emotion to some other scenes. The sound design takes a quite realistic approach, to match the documentary style shooting (which, by the way, is not too much of the “shaky-cam” syndrome). Nothing really to compliment or complain about, but some of the more grisly violent scenes really gets an added punch due to the violent nature of the sound effects. Oh, and trust me, you need to watch this with surround sound!

As you might have gathered from this review, I really think this film is extremely awesome. If you’re a fan of thrillers and horror films, you should definently watch this. It’s not close to being on par with “Silence of the Lambs” and while it might not be the most technically competent film in various areas or a very approchable film in terms of having a big target audience, it’s one of the most exciting and entertaining films I’ve ever seen and easily one of the best new films I’ve seen so far this year. But, remember, it’s really violent so you should make sure both you and other viewers can handle those kinds of things before going to see this. But if you can stand watching all those violent scenes, at least I was filled with inspiration for future films and a desire to rewatch it directly after the first viewing. And I’m not sure what more I could ask of a film, to be honest.

Verdict: 10 out of 10

P.S. I won’t be able to post the announcements today, due to the fact that I’m currently checking schedules to make sure everything is as planned. But, announcements will most certainly arrive tomorrow evening!