This time last year I had seen a heck of a lot more films. Trying to ramp things up but a backlog of TV seems to always get in the way! Here’s what I saw on the weekend:
Daybreakers (12/02/11)
In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.
One day there’s going to be a vampire film that doesn’t look like either the Blade films or the Twilight films. Daybreakers falls firmly in the Blade category. Muted colours, everything’s got a little tinge of blue to it. Vampires are all wearing super fashionable clothes. Well, guess if you’ve got eternity, you may as well dress well.
Though there is some attempt to go in a slightly different direction with the traditional vampire story. This time the vamps aren’t doing so well with being the ruling species on Earth.
I enjoyed the film. It didn’t take much in the brain department. Ethan Hawke played a brooding and conflicted character very well. You’d think he’s had practice at it! The film wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t have any sympathy for his character, so thankfully I had plenty and got a sucked into the film.
Rating: 3/5
The Book of Eli (13/02/11)
A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.
Is it wrong that I actually had some hopes for this film. Denzel Washington – great! Gary Oldman – fantastic! Put them in a film together and surely there should be something in it to write home about. Sadly not.
The pacing was incredibly slow. As slow as Eli’s walking at times. Gary Oldman didn’t really get to play the bad guy that he plays best. He just looked a bit pathetic on-screen. I even started getting bored with the post-apocalyptic landscape.
The message behind the film of having such blind faith and knowing it will get you to where you need to be was understood loud and clear to me, but it left me feeling a little bit ‘eh’. I just didn’t care by the end.
I really wanted to like the film and feel very let down that I didn’t really.
Rating: 2/5
Read on to see the entire list of movies seen this year so far:
15 Movies so far this Year
- The Horse Whisperer 3/5 (1/1/1)
- The Informant! 3/5 (09/01/11)
- The Fighter 4/5 (11/01/11)
- 127 Hours 5/5 (14/01/11)
- The Wolfman 3/5 (15/01/11)
- Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story 4/5 (16/01/11)
- The King’s Speech 5/5 (19/01/11)
- The Town 4/5 (20/01/11)
- Ninja Assassin 2/5 (24/01/11)
- He’s Just Not That Into You 1/5 (25/01/11)
- Imagine That 1/5 (27/01/11)
- Gentlemen Broncos 2/5 (04/02/11)
- Hachi: A Dog’s Tale 4/5 (06/02/11)
- Daybreakers 3/5 (12/02/11)
- The Book of Eli 2/5 (13/02/11)