Shock Cinema #39 is at the printer. Right now! Soon enough our offices will smell like fresh ink (so will the car, and me) and we'll be sending out crisp new issues to everyone who has a subscription or put in a pre-order. That's right, you can go ahead and pre-order it right now! On the main page of the official Shock CInema Website!
The year is finally winding down for me, and I'm looking forward to giving this blog some real attention again. I even have some films to review that are not (yet) available through Netflicks, as well as the usual available on DVD titles I usually cover. Now I just have to watch them...
Monday, November 15, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
MIA?
I'll cop to it. My involvement in Shock Cinema of late has been purely technical. I'd apologize, but proofing and printing and shipping is what gets the issue into your hands. I have a stack of unwatched films to show for it, too! But we're already picking out titles for me to review for both this blog and issue #39.
Every now and again I do manage to squeeze a film in while I'm working away at deadline pace on my freelance-gig-of-the-month. This week it was Pontypool. It reminded me of Kiyoshi Kurasawa's Pulse, in so much as it uses horror/genre settings to say something bigger about society. It's a small film, it takes place in one room of one building and rarely gives a glimpse of anything further -- but still implies devastating impact. It's a stunt many low budget films try to pull and fail. In the case of Pontypool, illustrating the chaos would only have taken away from the claustrophobic character study that is it. It works. On every level it works perfectly. Bruce McDonald never falls too far on the shlocky end nor sways too artsy. It helps that novelist Tony Burgess adapted his own book for the film. Stephen McHattie keeps everything moving and holds attention right through to the end. Lisa Houle manages not to be as annoying as the role calls out to be in the wrong hands. I haven't read Pontypool Changes Everything but I have a feeling I will....
So that's it, my Netflicks pick of the moment.
On a related thread, wow - Stephen McHattie is in everything I have watched over the last ten years!
Every now and again I do manage to squeeze a film in while I'm working away at deadline pace on my freelance-gig-of-the-month. This week it was Pontypool. It reminded me of Kiyoshi Kurasawa's Pulse, in so much as it uses horror/genre settings to say something bigger about society. It's a small film, it takes place in one room of one building and rarely gives a glimpse of anything further -- but still implies devastating impact. It's a stunt many low budget films try to pull and fail. In the case of Pontypool, illustrating the chaos would only have taken away from the claustrophobic character study that is it. It works. On every level it works perfectly. Bruce McDonald never falls too far on the shlocky end nor sways too artsy. It helps that novelist Tony Burgess adapted his own book for the film. Stephen McHattie keeps everything moving and holds attention right through to the end. Lisa Houle manages not to be as annoying as the role calls out to be in the wrong hands. I haven't read Pontypool Changes Everything but I have a feeling I will....
So that's it, my Netflicks pick of the moment.
On a related thread, wow - Stephen McHattie is in everything I have watched over the last ten years!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
"House" gets a New York Times Slideshow
I reviewed Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1977 film House in an issue of Shock Cinema not so long ago. Surreal, colorful, weird and trippy, it's not exactly the sort of thing I expect to find an entire slideshow of while trolling nyt.com on a sunday morning. There are some great visuals here for the viewing. Enjoy.
House Slide Show
House Slide Show
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)