Saturday 28 February 2015

Movie Review: Sharknado Two



Probably one of the silliest film franchises to hit our computer screens this last couple of years (yes, computer) is the Sharknado movies (see why I said computer?). 

If you’re not familiar with the films I will give you a rundown of what they are about: Sharks + tornado = Sharknado. That’s pretty much it. 

The first film was about a bar owner called Finn (subtle) trying to save his family after a sharknado hits his hometown and the raining sharks start to eat everyone. 

The second one delivers the same thing except this time in New York…because…I don’t know, Finn and his family are just there.
What can I really say about this film? The CGI sharks look like they’ve been designed with Windows 95, the acting is terribly, cheesy and over the top and there is no rhyme or reason to any of it. 

And while most modern movies like to replace real life rules with Hollywood movie rules from time to time, Sharknado Two likes to piss all over them. If I had a penny for every time this film did that I would be a millionaire.

But this is the thing, despite all of the above Sharknado isn’t actually a bad film. Why not? Because it knows it’s premise is ridiculous and it never takes itself seriously. 

The team behind the Sharknado films are the same people who brought us Z-Nation. Now while Z-Nation has far better acting and effects, it is still a guilty pleasure like the Sharnado franchise. 

Sticking with Z-Nation, there is nothing you have never seen in another zombie series or movies before but the series takes this in its stride. As a result it often has silly plot points and jokes all the way through. 

Sharknado is intentionally over-the-top for the sake of being so and that makes it hilarious. The original film was so popular that the production team managed to get a good number of cameos from famous fans. While it is really funny though, the bad acting did start getting on my nerves half way through. 

Sharnado: The Second One gets 6/10.

Monday 9 February 2015

Movie Review: Snowpiercer



This week I have watched a little known 2013 movie called Snowpiercer. Set in the future, the film is about the last train in the world after the planet freezes. 

Snowpiercer travels on a non stop loop of the world while the passengers live on in a self-sustained eco-system. But the film is about the disgruntled second class passengers (who are kept in squalid conditions) who embark on a revolution to get to the front of the train. 

Before I go any further I do appreciate the initial concept is very farfetched and raised a lot of questions. Well if you were expecting those and basic engineering questions to be answered at all…you’d be completely and utterly wrong. But once you move away from that and only focus on the class struggle of the film - which is the entire purpose - it actually is pretty solid for a movie.
Also, for such an unknown film, this has a lot of famous people in it. Chris Evans (Captain America) plays Curtis, the leader of the underclass; his mentor is John Hurt and his sidekick is Billy Elliot. With such big names starring in the movie and also giving great performances, it’s surprising this film wasn’t as big as it was. 

The action is pretty much constant and the settings in each carriage are impressive. One carriage is designed to look like a school while another is an aquarium. You genuinely don’t know what to expect until the characters get there. 

Snowpiercer however is not for the faint hearted. It is very gory and does not cut away from brutal deaths or injuries like most films do. This is not something you should watch with your kids.

Snowpiercer gets 7/10.