Day 1: Movie Review (requested by dracavia)

First of all I'd like to point out I need some more topics for the 31 days, I only have 9 days filled so far and if I don't get more suggestions I'll have start making stuff up and we all know how dangerous that is. You'll probably get Tom Hiddleston, some more Tom Hiddleston and a bit of James McAvoy thrown in for good measure ;).

So dracvia asked What's the one movie you haven't reviewed thus far that you think is a must see and how can you possibly have overlooked reviewing/rec'ing it thus far? and one popped into my head immediately. However, I'll get to that later because I saw a movie last night and I just have to talk about it too :)

Title: Vikingdom
Rating: 18
Cast:
Dominic Purcell ... Eirick
Natassia Malthe ... Brynna
Ron Smoorenburg ... Captain of Jomsberg 2
Conan Stevens ... Thor
Craig Fairbrass ... Sven
Jon Foo ... Yang
Summary: A forgotten king, Eirick, is tasked with the impossible odds to defeat Thor, the God of Thunder.

First of all I have to say, yes, Al, Dominic Purcell still has no neck :P.

Right that over, this film is not what you'd call an instant classic. It's really rather bad actually, but there's something about it that is endearing. It's done in a kind of surreal style like 300 or Sin City, but doesn't carry it off as well, the plot just plain doesn't make sense in places and half the cast can't act, but I still enjoyed it.

It was entertaining. I can't describe it any other way. I had fun while watching it, even when it was making fun of the vikings' wigs or Frey's OD of taffeta.

The big redeeming feature is the fight scenes. They are really well done and I think a lot of the cast were picked for their stunt rather than their acting abilities. When fighting everyone is magnificent. They also managed to find a guy to play Thor to make Dominic Purcell look small, so kudos to the production team.

It doesn't pass the Bechdel test for female characters, in fact it only has two female characters both of whom are gaga for the hero and it fails in loads of other ways as well, but I still liked it. I can't say I will be rushing to watch it again, but from the name I thought it was going to be worse than Vampire Killer Barbies and it so wasn't.

Now on the the movie I really think everyone should watch.

Title: Mama
Rating: 15
Cast:
Jessica Chastain ... Annabel
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ... Lucas / Jeffrey
Megan Charpentier ... Victoria
Isabelle Nélisse ... Lilly (as Isabelle Nelisse)
Daniel Kash ... Dr. Dreyfuss
Javier Botet ... Mama
Jane Moffat ... Jean Podolski / Mama (Voice)
Summary:
Annabel and Lucas are faced with the challenge of raising his young nieces that were left alone in the forest for 5 years.... but how alone were they?

This film scared the bejesus out of me. I'm not kidding, it has everything: misdirection, creepy kids, scary monster, perfect timing. The makers of this really, really knew what they were doing.

The basic premise is the girls' father Jeffrey goes off the rails and grabs his kids and takes them to a cabin in the woods. There he intends to kill them and himself, only there is something in the cabin who does not agree. Skip a few years and some people being paid by Lucas, Jeffrey's brother to find him and the girls discover the cabin and the two children.

At this point even the girls are scary (points to the image to the left).

So Lucas and his girlfriend Victoria take in the girls and move to a house provided by Dr Dreyfuss who wants to study the girls after their isolation. Only problem is, they came out of the cabin with an escort.

What this film does beautifully is build the tension. You don't get to see the monster straight away, just flashes and I ended up on the corner of my seat waiting for it. The girls are strange, especially Lilly, the younger one and this just adds to the suspense. It is inevitable that people are going to start getting hurt and killed and yet it's still scary as hell when it starts to happen. There is one scene that I won't describe because it will spoil it, but it still has me glancing at shadows and I watched this movie before Christmas.

The cast are also very good, the two girls especially. They made me believe.

The best thing though; I actually enjoyed the ending. Often with horror movies I love most of the film and feel let down by the end. However, with this one I thought it was perfect. Scary, sad and perfect. If you want to be scared, go watch this movie. For me it's up there with Ju-on (The Grudge).