Just came home from seeing “Be Kind Rewind”, which just premiered here in Sweden (unsurprisingly, several months after it’s US release). As often, I can’t promise there not to be any spoilers in the following review, but I’ll try to steer clear of them!

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty pumped up to go see this film. After having watched pretty much all of the trailers and TV spots for it, including some of the amazing fake “Sweded” trailers and films found on the film’s website. Now with a surprising lack of homework in school, I decided to go see a film, and after reading the American reviews a few months ago, I somehow had forgot about the whole film. Well, after reading the newspaper I quickly got on the internet and reserved my ticket to go see it. Well, could it live up to it’s pretty fantastic premise and cool idea? Continue reading to find out!

The story is about two friends, Jerry (played by Jack Black) and Mike (played by Mos Def, who I last saw in “16 Blocks”, with Bruce Willis) who both are left in charge of a video-store when Mike’s boss, Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover), goes on a trip. Shortly therafter following a completely hilarious and failed attempt to sabotage the neighbourhood’s power plant by Jerry, Jerry becomes magnetized, which results in all of the video store’s VHS tapes to be wiped clean. When customers start piling up returning blank videos, Mike and Jerry suddenly realise that their only way to keep the store running is to re-make the films in their own way. Before you know it, their “sweded” version of “Ghostbusters” is in the can, which ranks whily highly among the small neighbourhood. More and more people starts to get involved, in soon enough, Mike and Jerry have their own little filmmaking industry going on. But all is not sunshine though, when one day, the FBI anti-piracy team knocks on the door…Right from the get-go I absolutely loved this film, and the trailers (while great) still don’t really do it justice. I pretty much laughed my way throughout the whole film – the best parts being a cool camoflage technique, and the making of Jerry’s and Mike’s sweded films. I would seriously pay for some of the stuff they manage to make on the low budget they’re on, as it’s all very funny and ingenuitive. Director Michel Gondry really seems to be a big fan of films and filmmaking in general, as his effort really shines through on the big screen. It’s pretty much one of the better comedies I’ve seen. Ever.

Jack Black is hilarious as Jerry, a very surreal character which I think he plays perfectly, with spot-on comedic timing. It’s great to see Mos Def in a film and role that’s so different from “16 Blocks”, where he pretty much played a convict who perhaps was slightly behind when it comes to figuring out stuff. I think both of their careers are just starting, and I sure hope to see them together again in a future film.

The cinematography and visual effects are not really distracting when it comes to the main film itself, but the sweded films have some really interesting ideas – especially the “Men in Black” and “2001 – A Space Odyssey” remakes contain some very interesting and low-budgety cameramoves, that just work perfectly and draw you into the films. There’s pretty much no visual effects in the entire film, aside from a pretty cool looking sequence at the beginning of the film. All effects in the sweded films are practical, really inspiring as a filmmaker to see, and enormously funny. I also loved the way that shortly after Jerry’s magnetization, the film itself stutters and goes a bit out-of-order. A really nice idea, that certainly wasn’t neccessary, but just adds that special extra layer to the film!

The film has some great music, although most of it is recycled from old film scores from “Ghostbusters”, “Rush Hour 2″ and many more. I found one of the themes that play during the larger filmmaking scenes to be really memorable. The sound effects are cool, with small static noises humming from time to time present when Jerry is on screen.

By now, you’ve probably figured out that I pretty much loved this film. It’s in my eyes a great film for anyone remotely interested in films and/or making them. It’s just filled with creativity and a do-it-yourself mentality that I find really inspiring. I can’t wait to see Gondry’s next film! It’s pretty much on top of my list of the best films so far of 2008, and I’m sure it’ll appear somewhere on the top 10 when I round out this year’s films. I shouldn’t say too much though, as it’s only April and there are already several films (Indy 4 and Iron Man jump to mind) that I really look forward too. But, if you’re a fan of comedies and/or filmmaking, see this film. Right now. Then make the sweded version of it!

Verdict: 10 out of 10

Other stuff: Trailer – Official Website

This week I’m going to review “Black Sheep”, a horror-comedy from New Zealand involving zombiefied sheep. Let’s get right into it!

I had followed the making of this film for quite some time, mostly because of the fact that the whole premise seemed like a fun and quite original concept. I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of the final film – but I did know it was going to be filled with a LOT of gore. In a way it feels similar to some of Peter Jackson’s earlier films (Braindead, Bad Taste among others), i.e. not really one to watch while having dinner. (I ate pizza while seeing this film.)

The film starts off as a pretty neat and ordinary family comedy, that portrays a family hearding sheep across a field. The sons of the family, Angus and Henry, seem to have some kind of rivalry going on – mostly becuase Angus plays some really gruesome jokes on Henry. After they learn of their fathers unfortunate death, Henry moves away and Angus takes over the farm. Flash forward many years, and the adult version of Henry is on his way to the old family farm to finish off a contract with his brother. Due to a traumatic experience connected to his father’s death he’s now got a terrible fear of sheep. Shortly after that, a couple of animal rights activists manage to steal some biohazard material from the farm – the product of years of genetic research to create the ultimate sheep. Unfortunantly, they manage to spill the biohazard material, which in an Alien-like manner quickly spreads to the entire sheep flock. As I don’t want to spoil the plot from there, I’m just going to say that it’s a pretty fun story with some really greatly written characters. The “evil” brother Angus turns out to be nasty in more than one way – let’s leave it at that. You can’t really talk down this type of film for being illogical, but some of the shots in the film just seems to be there for pure gore-value. Which is pretty cool.

I hadn’t seen any of the actors in the film before, but most of them did a pretty good job, even if the characters are quite generic, and it does feature some pretty cheesy dialouge.

No matter how great or bad the story or the actors were though, how much this film succeeded would be based on the quality of the special effects. And they don’t let down in any concievable way. The filmmakers had the good taste to go to “Weta Workshop” (responsible for costumes, props and practical effects on, among others, the “Lord of the Rings” films) for all their gory and bloody needs. Some scenes, mostly towards the last third of the film, are very, and I mean VERY gory. How this got by the otherwise so restricting MPAA in America is something I really can’t understand. (It doesn’t involve any sex though, which obviously makes it perfectly viewable by all ages ). Some real work has been put into both the costumes and the detail of some of the more graphic scenes. While this is a comedy, it does feature some pretty extreme violence, albeit with a comedic twist.

The sound effects really add to the pretty disgusting look of some shots, and it really helps sell the premise. The music isn’t very memorable, but it didn’t really need to be so either, as you’re constantly distracted on what’s going on visually.

It really is a hard film to judge when it all comes down to it. A part of me loves it for the B-movie that it is, while another part really thinks some thing – preferably in the acting department, could have been fixed. It’s clearly a (somewhat) low-budget film that has spent almost all of it’s budget on special effects and animatronic sheep. It definently wasn’t even remotely close to anything I’ve seen before, which makes me come to the conclusion that if you’re a fan of horror-action-comedies (like Shaun of the Dead – a highly superior film though), you should probably see this, although you won’t die from missing it. Keep sensitive people and small children away from it though – it really is one of the most violent films I’ve seen.

Verdict: 6 out of 10

Dear god. Almost two weeks since my last update! Well, actually, to be honest, not much has been going on that I thought you’d find very interesting (I spared you from my complaints of massive homework overkill ). After a multitude of tests and exams in school, this week finally seems to be a more relaxed one, and it feels great to finally be able to work on stuff I want to do, and hang out with friends, instead of just studying like crazy. Actually, counting “real” schooldays, I’m pretty sure there’s just over 30 days left until summer break. I can’t wait! Although it’s time to get into some more interesting stuff, before I put all of you to sleep!

Been hard to really get any filmmaking work done the last two weeks. I have been re-editing some scenes from Zombie Exterminator, trying out some of the new filters and effects I’m able to add to my films with the Final Cut Studio suite. I really like a filter named the “Vignette” filter. It darkens, desaturates and slightly blurs the edges of the shot, which works great for horror films and stylized scenes – such as the ZE entry scene, which I’ve mostly tried out effects on. I’ve continued to write the script of Derby, but I find it pretty hard to write convincing dialouge – most of all since Swedish is a pretty basic language (at least compared to English) in my eyes. So I’m currently writing the script in English and generally just fleshing out important story moments; and when I’m done, me and a friend will work on the dialouge. Something that goes considerably better is the work on this year’s halloween project. Me and Johannes are currently working on the story, and we should start writing the screenplay in a few weeks. It’s shaping up to be pretty terrifying, whilst remaining within the economic boundries I work in – a few years ago when I wrote scripts I intentionally wrote them very high-budgety, all to be dissapointed that I couldn’t really pull it off. When trying to write a cool horror/thriller script I’ve found it a lot easier to get inspiration by listening to music (currently listening to the soundtrack for “The Ring” by Hans Zimmer) and watching some cool trailers, both newer as well as for classic films. I haven’t properly started the casting process for neither of the films just yet, but I’ve got a few people who’ve expressed pretty big interest which is fun! Been doing some voice-over work for a computer-animated film from FXhome. Just sent all of my work to Dave (member “videofxuniverse”) and it’s going to be fun to see what he comes up with – the film should be released by the end of the year!

Bought a whole bunch of DVDs not that long ago, and after rebuilding part of my room, I now have loads of space to for them. Been watching some older films, and some newer classics, most of which I hadn’t seen before. Saw “Blade”, which I hadn’t seen before. Westley Snipes really is quite badass! Speaking of badass, make sure to watch the trailer for what looks like an amazing film by Ben Stiller, “Tropic Thunder”. It stars Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, and it looks to be a really fun spin on the classical action flick. “Who left the fridge open?”. Other memorable films I’ve watched is the great Paul Thomas Anderson masterpiece “Magnolia” – definently on my top 20 list of best films ever made. I’ve probably watched it six or seven times now, and it never gets dull or boring, and it’s so damn moving – it….almost brings tears to my eyes! Just started to watch “Black Sheep” – a horror/comedy about zombie sheep from New Zealand. I’m about a third of the way through, and my review of it should be up here tomorrow afternoon, so make sure to be on the lookout for that!

I’ve pretty much only played two games the last two weeks, the platformy-like “N+” (available on the Xbox Live Marketplace) and “Rainbow Six: Vegas 2″. They’re both really pretty addictive, and loads of fun both in Single- and Multiplayer. Been playing some “Terrorist Hunt” missions with Fredrik and Erik from school, and even though I constantly fail and they’re heaps better than me, it’s loads of fun! Might wait a few weeks, then set up a gaming night for FXhomers – so if you’re a member, stay tuned to the General Chat forums! Can’t wait for GTA IV, it’s only a couple of weeks before it ships, and even although I propably won’t get it on day one for economic reasons, it’s going to be fun to see it finally get out on the market. I still need to finish “Bioshock” someday…

Got a really cool project in film class at school today, where all students were assigned to give a presentation of a director or genre of film of their choice. My presentation is in about a month (the 22nd of May), but instead of working with the obvious arty choices like Ingmar Bergman and Pedro Almodovár, I decided to base my presentation around Robert Rodriguez (director of Desperado and Sin City among many others), who I believe is easily just as big of an inventor and refresher to the film industry as some of the more obvious choices are. Hopefully I’ll be able to learn loads of stuff while listening to my classmates presentations, as well as when working with my own one. Rodriguez really pushes the digital filmmaking age pretty strongly, and I can’t wait to see what his next film will be like (his last one was “Planet Terror” – which is awesome!).

That’s just about covers what I have for you guys and girls today! Oh, and to the people at my local video store Videomix who actually asked for my autograph – that was AMAZING!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my review of “Black Sheep”! Take care everyone!

Hey everyone! Just thought I’d post something before I went to bed.

Still writing the script for “Derby”, about 20 pages in now and hopefully I’ll be done with a first draft of it sometime next week, which means I’ll probably start sending some copies around to friends and fellow filmmakers for comments and tips. Been a busy week, with a test in Physics last Monday (which went…well, as I predicted. Let’s leave it at that ) and a speech on how the human skeleton develops with age which I delievered today in Biology. It’s great to finally be greated by another weekend again – although I have to do some studying. Earlier today, Johannes sent me a website he’s been working on for a project in school, which once again got me inspired to do some kind of minor redesign to the website. It should logistically work in the same way with navigation and stuff, but I’m looking towards a somewhat cleaner look with better possibilities to stream video directly on the website and much more.

I’ve just imported some old “16″ and “Zombie Exterminator” into Final Cut Pro on the Mac and tried out a few functions I’ve missed out on using my previous editing suites. One function which I found particulary spiffy is the “SmoothCam” filter that basically fixes shaky camera motion pretty much automatically. I applied it to a clip from “Zombie Exterminator” to see what it could fix on default settings, and I was so stunned by the result that I just had to show it to you. It’s about 13 seconds long and includes a before (appropriately labeled “Pre-Kickass”) and an after (“Post-Kickass”) comparision. I guess I could get even better results if I played around with some of the settings, but as it is right now, I’m pretty damn impressed! And yeah, I just had to add some spiffy grading and glow to the “After” clip.

SmoothCam Before/After comparision (approx 2 Mb)
[flv:http://rhp.se/news/040408/ze-smoothcam.flv 480 270]

Oh, and I’m going to come up with a good April Fool’s joke for next year. Promise. Talk to you all again soon! Take care!