Erik - Portrait of a Living Corpse

This horror drama is a retelling of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera from Erik, the Phantom's twisted point of view, directed by Ryan Bijan in  2010 and released two years later. It stars Ryan Bijan as Raoul, Autumn Hyun as Christine Daae and  Matthew Brett Ham as Joseph Buquet. Erik, the main character, is untitled as it was played by more than one actor. 

Before I start this review I'd like to point out that this is a really low-budget movie, done by an amateur cast and a 19 year-old director, who's also writer and actor. I got to know this movie  - as well as most of the Phantom movies I've seen - thanks to the PhantomReviewer and I have to agree with him once more: this movie is worth the buying. 

The things I didn't like about this movie are really few and mostly due to the inexperience of the cast and director.

The worst thing by far is the audio. I'm not sure if it's due to the cut or the problems with a bad mic, but there are places where you can't really understand what the cast is saying.
This is directly related to the cut. In general the final cut's amaizing. Yet there are some scenes in which it's not as neat as it should be. Two examples of this are the scene at Perros' graveyard, where Raoul answers a question Christine doesn't do, and the scenes where Erik talks to Christine through the mirror. A scene in which the  editing makes no sense, is the one in which Madame Giry enters Box V and has some sort of conversation with Erik, while you see Erik in another box on the other side of the theatre. It's rather confusing, but as it's a really short scene...

Other than that I had only isues with Meg Giry's acting, which could have been a lot better. In general the acting was ok. Not brilliant, but ok. I think Erik was the best played. His whole presentation is great and he has some rather awesome scenes such as the park scene, in which the viewer get's glimpses of his humanity. Christine has some sort of character, which is allways nice, plus she kicks Raoul, which is even nicer. Don't get me wrong, Ryan Bijan does a great job as Raoul, but I just can't stand that character.

The script ads some interesting things to the traditional story. It's very close to the Leroux Novel, including things that don't usually make it into the movies. The scene at Perros, includes the throwing of skulls at Raoul, scene I think haven't ever seen in a Phantom movie, and Raoul even has this little and anoying moustache. It also gives Erik some of his bad-ass-ness back. He kills, he threatens, he throws the voice and he does evil things. And the killings are rather colourful and beautifully innecesary. For example Compte Phillipe D'Arcy- who hadn't made it into a Phantom movie since 1925- death scene is rather unnecesary, but got me laughing at the strangeness of it.
A problem of the script is: it focuses so much on Erik, that it nearly forgets to show the world of the other characters, making some of the scenes difficult to follow if you aren't familiar with the original story - which in turn focuses so little on the Phantom's point of view, that you really don't get a good look at him.

The best thing by far is the cinematography by Wesley Kirk and Spencer Wallace. The movie is beautiful to watch. The scenes and decoration, the colors... Specially those turning around the phantom. Erik's lair has finaly turned into a normal regular house, with a great persian rug and Luis XVI furniture - sort of.
As this was filmed in Texas, USA, the crew found a problem: the Opera wasn't really that old, at least the inside of the building. It looks rather moddern. As does Christine's dressing room. Some of the scenes are very victorian - the Phantom's lair and Carlotta's dressing room, while others are completly modern, like the corridors of the Opera House, and the stage and even some of the dresses. This duality is great, and helps making the story a-temporal.

I have to praise the work of the costume and make up department. Erik wears a great black mask and a smaller white one which allows to see his chin, teeth and mouth. And those are disgusting. Really and uterly disgusting. His cloack- a big red and black thing- is spectacular and I just love his fedora.
Christine's dresses are rather acurate at times, and Carlotta's green dress is just amaizing.

Last but not least I have to talk about one of the Lair scenes. All of them are great, from the dinner scene to the unmasking scene.  But I think the best one is the praying scene in which Erik kneels in a muslim fashion on his persian rug and thanks god. That scene and the park scene in which Erik goes through a big and beautiful park and plays with a squirrel, are THE most beautiful scenes of the whole movie.

ERIK - PORTRAIT OF A LIVING CORPSE TRAILER

I really recomend this movie to you, for it's flaws don't outshine it's greatness. Of course you have to watch it bearing in mind it's only the first half of the story (Act I) and that it was made by amateurs, with no budget and barely professional. The result is the clear reason why people do movies: not to earn loads of money, but because there's a story to be told. 

Four Lions

Released in 2010 and directed by Christopher Morris, this movie is either a dramatic comedy or a funny drama that tells the story of four incompetent British jihadist set out to train for and commit an act of terror.

It stars Kayvan Novak as Waj, Nigel Lindsay as Barry, Riz Ahmed as Omar and Adeel Akhtar as Faisal. 

The fact that this movie addresses the isue of religious terrorism nowadays is both the dramatic and the funny aspect of this movie. The caracters should be fearsome: hell, they're terrorists, they speak 90% of the movie of blowing people up. And yet te viewer grows fond of them seeing their life outside the jihad.  

The leader of the group, Omar, is married and has a son to whom he tells variations of the sotry "The Lion King". An occidental viewer would expect that either the family has no knowledge about the terrorist aspirations of the father or that they're somehow against them. Yet both woman and child are completly supportive of the man blowing himself up.

Another strange fact about this movie is that Omar's brother seems a lot more radical than Omar, refusing to enter a room in which there's a woman and growing his beard to a certain length.  And yet he's not related to the jihad andbhas nothing to do with the radicalism of his brother. 

 I think that's one of the best things about the movie: it forces you not to judge somebody by their appearences. For Omar seems the more integrated and less radical of the brothers and it is him who wants to blow things up. 

I'd say that the worst thing about this movie is the slang. The characters's thick accent and constant use of slang makes it very difficult to understand everything the characters say.  And this movie's jokes are mostly related to what the characters say.

Other than that, it's a very good movie. The jokes are very funny and the controversy of the main topic keeps you on the edge wondering constantly how it's going to end. 

Remarcable is also the stellar appearence of Benedict Cumberbatch as a negotiator and the Waj, a somewhat retarded jihaidist, and the failure at the training of crows for terrorism 

FOUR LIONS TRAILER

Original, fresh, well acted, funny, dramatic... there are so many reasons to watch this movie.....

Sherlock

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss direct this modern update of Conan Doyles' famous Sherlock Holmes. This British series was released in 2010 and it has already ended it's second season which tell the story of the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in the 21st century London.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman is Dr. John Watson and Mrs. Hudson is interpreted by Una Stubbs.

The series is made of rather long chapters and short seasons, being each season of only 3 chapters, yet every one of these chapters is 90 minutes long. One can watch the chapters as separate 'movies' because they're auto conclusive cases. The connection between the chapters is made by the background story of the characters and the progressive apparition of Sherlock's nemesis: Jim Moriarty, played by Andrew Scott.
What can be said about this series other than it's perfect? It goes better by the season and the biggest problem is the long time between the release of them.
The worst chapter would be the first one "A Study In Pink". The plot of the case is rather easy to crack and it annoyed me no end the fact that Sherlock Holmes -  the most intelligent detective and so on - only solved it on the second go. Yet one has to understand the circumstances: being this the first chapter of the season, there has to be a somewhat deep presentation of the characters and setting.
The characters are very complex and their relationships intense and somewhat diffuse. The principal duo does an extraordinary job.

[Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock]

Benedict Cumberbatch manages to arise real hatred in the viewer and only thanks to the second season one gets a glimpse of the human feelings inside his cold genius self. During the first season - brilliant as it may be - one sees in Sherlock an inhuman, know-it-all jerk, who cares very little about what others need, think or want. He's some kind of machine that solves crimes. The second season changes in that respect, but we'll get there later.

[Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson]

During the first season it's Dr. John Watson who tends to get the sympathy of the audience, as the viewer can identify himself with this character. Martin Freeman   does also a great interpretation and reflects very good his inner struggle between being Sherlock's friend and punching him in the face. Has he himself says: "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you're speaking, but it's usually subtext." [S02E01]

Another amaizing character in this series is Jim Moriarty, who appears as a shoadow through out all the first season and doesn't show himself until the las chapter. 

 

[Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty]

He's a criminal mastermind that equals Sherlocks intelligence and unscrupulousness. Their power-game reaches its first peak at the end of the first season which ends with an extraordinary cliffhanger and the second one is at the apotheosic ending of the second season. 
Andrew Scott impersonates Moriarty and does a wonderful job showing with ease his multiple faces and cunning character. Moriarty performs some shiny tricks on screen, but the true genius is shown in the script, with his way of playing with all the characters around him to get whatever he wants. 

*******

The story is set in modern London and turns around an injured ex-army-doctor, John Watson, who starts living with Sherlock Holmes as his roommate in 221B Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes is a detective consultant, to whom the police goes when they're clueless. 

The first season has three chapters, as I said before, from 90 minutes each. 

1. "A Study in Pink"
• When asked for help to solve several identical apparent suicides by Inspector Lestrade, Sherlock drags his new roommate, John Watson, into the investigation of the first of many cases they will solve together. 
• As I said before this case is rather easy to solve and the lateness of the brilliant and eccentric Sherlock in solving the crime was rather annoying, but understandable as they had to present the characters and start creating the friendship between the main characters. 
• Watson is repeatedly warned against the friendship with the lonely Sherlock, but he refuses to listen and ends up tangled in the succession of events that unfolds in the next chapters.
2. "The Blind Banker"
• A banker and a reporter a both shot dead in identical slayings, in rooms locked from the inside. Meanwhile a Chinese museum employee tells Sherlock Holmes and his friend, John Watson, that the responsible for these deaths is the Black Lotus crime syndicate. 
• The difficulty of this case is a lot greater than before and the clues are perfectly hidden, so that in the end they all click together perfectly. 
• The development of the main characters friendship is shown as one that Watson sees in both ways: as appreciated and exciting, and as somewhat annoying and difficult to maintain in balance with his private life. 
3. "The Great Game"
• A sadistic bomber abducts a string of hostages, who will be released after Sherlock has solved a series of puzzles, including a twenty year old murder, an insurance scam and the alleged forgery of a long lost painting. 
• The rhythm of this chapter is extraordinary and it gets on ones nerves from minute one. The danger is clearly portrayed and the script and acting excel themselves. 

The second season has also three chapters of 90 minutes each:

1. "A Scandal in Belgravia"
• Dominatrix Irene Adler has incriminating photos of a royal princess which Sherlock is engaged to retrieve. However, having engineered a meeting with Irene, Sherlock realises that she has far more dangerous evidence in her possession, sought by rogue CIA agents, which cause her to fake her death and pass the facts, encrypted in her camera phone, to Sherlock.
• Here appears very clearly the rivalry between the main character and his brother, Mycroft Holmes, which was only hinted in the first season. Also Cumberbatch's acting shows some humanity - not much - but some, and it also hints - vaguely - to a great interest from the mastermind to the Dominatrix. This interest which tends to sexuality on Irene's side, seems profoundly rooted on an intellectual interest on Sherlock's. 
2. "The Hounds of Baskerville"
• Twenty years earlier a boy saw his father torn to pieces by a monstrous creature at Dewer's Hollow near their home. Now the boy has seen the footprints of a huge beast and suspects that the nearby Baskerville government research station is breeding mutant animals. Using fake I.Ds the main characters infiltrate Baskerville to investigate the truth behind the story. 
• This chapter also helps building the humanity of the detective. And Cumberbatch interpretation of a scared-to-death Sherlock is extraordinary.
3. "The Reichenbach Fall"
• Moriarty comes close to stealing the Crown Jewels to prove it might be done but allows himself to be caught. Sherlock gives evidence at the trial where Moriarty has scared the jury into acquitting him and later visits Sherlock, camply taunting him with his superior computer skills, seemingly capable of any crime and tells Sherlock he "owes him a fall", setting in motion a dangerous game in which he trys to destroy the detective. 
• Freeman's acting is heart wrenching. Being the first and the last few minutes of the chapter the most emotive of all the series.

The montage of this series is fresh, original and very intense, every shot carefully planned. The script is interesting and has not the strange irregularities of Moffat's Doctor Who. The characters are all perfectly acted and developed. The setting into modern times is extraordinarily well done and it is very plausible, showing both Sherlocks genius and his troubles to fit in a society that's simple, boring and has no respect for greatness. 

SHERLOCK TRAILER

I highly recommend this series, even if you're not a great fan of Sherlock Holmes. 

The First Men in the Moon

Directed by Damon Thomas, this movie is another adaptation of H.G.Wells' homonym novel. It tells the story of an eccentric scientific called Cavor, who creates a substance that repels gravity. Together with a business man called  Bedford, Cavor travels to the moon, where he encounters the Selenite. Staring Rory Kinnear as Bedford and Mark Gatiss as Cavor, "The First Men in the Moon was produced by the BBC and released in 2010.

The worst thing of this movie are the exceptionally crappy special effects.

The acting is very nicely done and the script is both funny and deeply critic. From the first moment one loves Cavor's eccentricity and his seemingly useless rambling. Bedford's ways are, if not very agreeable, a good portrait of the way of thinking of people in his time and of a lot of people nowadays. The Selenite are not only cute and sweet - specially their way of talking - but a very interesting species with ways very different that the ones in of earth.

A very interesting sequence is the one of Bedford's dream, that's made like Méliès silent movie "A Trip to the moon" [1902], which is both a nice tribute to H. G. Wells and George Méliès.

I have yet to read H. G. Wells' novel, but I think that Damon Thomas' adaptation is a very agreeable one, interesting, funny as well as critic. It has a lot of romantic touches and it's very well acted. I recomend it to you. 

Third Star

This was British movie was produced by the BBC in 2010 and directed by Hattie Dalton and it tells the story of James - played by Benedict Cumberbatch - who goes on an ill-advised trip to the stunning coastal area of Barafundle Bay in West Wales together with three of his closest lifelong friends. 

I can't really think of anything to say about this movie except that's absolutely stunning.The only problem I found was with understanding some parts of what the characters said, either because some mild mumbling, or because of their accents. But other than that this is a truthfully good movie. 

The argument may  not be one of the most original ones you come across, but don't let that fool you, as it is executed in a really original fashion. There where other movies tend towards a heavy melodramatic view of a sad situation Dalton gives everything to show that - even if sad - these characters can be happy and have a fantastic time. The comic relieve doesn't lay completly on one character, like it usually does, but everyone laughs and cracks a joke now and then. 

Another fantastic novelty of the execution fo this movie is the fact that it seems very, very natural. At some points you can completly forget that this is a profesional movie, because it really looks like  four joung guys going on a trip, and having the same adventures you would have, encountering strange people, starting fights and laughing at each other. And as you easily get the whole mood of the situation, the fact that's a little bit complicated to understand what they're saying isn't really a problem. 

At this point I don't think I have to say anything more about the extraordinary work of the four actors: Hugh Bonneville, Tom Burke, JJ Feild and Benedict Cumberbatch. Even if I wanted, I couldn't find any flaw in their acting. 

The scenery is entrancing and I really have to get myself to Wales. It's fascinating. And I find myself not remembering a single note form the music, which I find excelent as - I distinctly remember that there was music - it helps leaving the idea of 'home-made' trip movie. 

And that's all, folks, I highly recomend this movie, if you like Cumberbatch, and if you don't, too.