300,000 plus 800,000 page views

In March 2014, I will have been blogging at I Love That Film for 5 years. 5 YEARS!!! I can't actually believe that but it's true. It changed my life starting this blog, no exaggeration. It set me on the course that I have been determined to follow ever since. I want to write about film and TV for a living and I'm now well on my way to doing just that. It has given me way more confidence in going after a career in film journalism and helped to open doors for me around the web on bigger and better websites like Filmoria, Static Mass Emporium, Tastic Film and Starburst Magazine.

I can't let this blog go as I love keeping it going even though it has only just hit 300,000 views after nearly 5 years. I could probably contribute much more to various other websites and have lots more people read my writing but I built this blog and I love watching it grow. I also love being part of the incredibly talented, dedicated and knowledgeable blogging community that is out there. I used to think I was kind of alone in my film obsession but now I realise this is far from the case. I'm constantly astounded by other bloggers' commitment and passion for film.

More and more, this blog is becoming a place for me to link to my other writing around the web and I'm sure there may come a day when I will have to stop but for now I want to celebrate this little milestone. I hope that my frequent readers will continue to stick with me for some years to come. Thank you for dropping by and leaving comments... you know who you are!

Over night, this blog I have worked so hard on reached 300,000 views after nearly 5 years of writing. Depressingly or brilliantly (depending on how you look at it), my writing at Yahoo also hit a landmark yesterday when my articles totaled to over 800,000 views. Considering I became a contributor a year ago, this is slightly sad when you compare it to my blog but on the other hand, it is great to be reaching such a huge audience. That means all in all over a million people have looked at my articles and I like to think that with all my other writing around the web, perhaps the total is closer to 2 million!

Anyway, enough navel gazing and back to some real work! Thank you so much to anyone who reads this or who has ever commented or dropped by or read any of my stuff. To infinity and beyond!

Deconstructing Romeo + Juliet @Static Mass Emporium

As part of Static Mass Emporium's continuing Deconstructing Cinema series, editor Patrick asked me to contribute another article on a film of my choice. After tackling some pretty grim films in this series in the past including racism dramas American History X and This is England, I chose something slightly lighter and definitely far more romantic for my latest article. This time I have tackled the moment in Baz Lurhmann's version of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet where the star crossed lovers first lay eyes on each other through the fish tank.

It is such a brilliant scene that I could easily have banged on about it for way longer but one must stick to word limits mustn't one! Besides I don't want to completely spoil the beauty and romance of the scene by completely over-analysing it. Although I think I may have slightly. But still I hope it might make you take another look at the scene and possibly even pay extra special attention to the way it is crafted from the editing to the soundtrack to the lavish props, costume and set design. Not to mention the sweet performances of Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

Anyway the blurb for it goes: "Take a drug fuelled trip into the decadent party of The Capulets in part 88 of Deconstructing Cinema with a scene from Baz Luhrmann’s bonkers but beautiful adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet."

And here is the opening: "Love at first sight. If you believe in it, then Romeo And Juliet is filled with wonder, possibility and deep tragedy. If you fail to see how catching the eyes of someone across the room can lead to a piercing dagger right through your heart, then neither Shakespeare nor director Baz Lurhmann are going to make you feel otherwise." Please go read the rest of the article at Static Mass Emporium if you fancy it!

If you don't fancy the romance, why not try one of my other articles for Static Mass:

Deconstructing Cinema: Cloverfield

Deconstructing Cinema: La Haine

Deconstructing Cinema: American History X

Deconstructing Cinema: This is England

Everybody Has a Plan Review @Static Mass

Written and directed by Ana Piterbarg, Everybody Has A Plan deals with changing who you are and the morality of hiding your real identity. Please check out my full review of the Spanish neo-noir Everybody Has a Plan at Static Mass Emporium.

Writer and director Ana Piterbarg’s film deals with the potential of changing who you are, the complexities of becoming something you are not and the morality of hiding your real identity. To anyone who has wanted to change their life, leaving everything they have ever known behind, this is a cautionary tale. Before you decide to pack your bags and walk out on a life, think of the consequences for not only yourself but those around you. If like me you’ve ever wondered about the different paths your life could’ve taken if you had made some different choices, let this be a warning to you; things could be far worse.

Viggo Mortensen takes a dual role as both identical twins Pedro and Augustine. Mortensen excels in each role; his Spanish completely convincing and both brothers being believable creations.

The rest of the review is at Static Mass Emporium. If you've ever fancied watching Viggo Mortensen speaking fluent Spanish, then this might be the one for you!  Here is the trailer:



Listen out for me reviewing this on Amazing Radio tomorrow (Fri 31st May 2013) soon after midday.

Check out my other writing for Static Mass Emporium by looking through this list of posts. 

More recent reviews at I Love That Film:

This is the End Review 

Fast and Furious 6 Review

Ruby Sparks Review

The Look of Love Review 

21 & Over Review

Iron Man 3 Review

Olympus Has Fallen Review

Spring Breakers Review

Everybody Has a Plan Trailer

Tonight I'm off to a screening of Everybody Has a Plan which I will be reviewing for Static Mass Emporium. It stars Viggo Mortensen in a dual role as identical twin brothers (unless they cloned him) and not only does he have the challenge of playing two people, but he is also speaking Spanish!

It says in the trailer that Everybody Has a Plan is from the producers of The Secrets in Their Eyes so I hope it can be as utterly gripping and unexpected as that film was. Only time will tell. For now check out the trailer below and look for my review at Static Mass some time before the film opens on 24th May.



What do you think? Intrigued?

2 Year Birthday and 150,000 Views

Happy belated birthday to the blog, sorry I missed it! It seems I started I Love That Film on March 5th 2011 so I've well and truly missed the official second birthday! Never mind at least this has allowed the total page views to reach 150,000 so there is a cause for double celebrations! It seems like only yesterday (actually three months ago) that I was celebrating 100,000 page views!

I'm useless at all the technical stuff so I'm afraid not much has changed since the birth of this blog. I probably write a lot more regularly and hopefully a little better. Instead of putting the love, care and attention into I Love That Film, I have been focusing more of my efforts on writing for other websites such as Filmoria and Static Mass Emporium.

I wish I had the skills and know how to turn I Love That Film into one of the most popular and pretty websites in the world but unfortunately I am lacking in the technical department so my design is the same old boring, unorganized mess it always has been.

Speaking of which, one thing I am looking to do is have header things at the top of the page so that you can get here and find reviews, stuff on horror, trailers, news, academic stuff and pieces for my media students really easily as at the moment I have no idea how people find stuff on this page if they are looking for anything specific. If anyone can help with this, I'll be forever grateful!

One thing that has changed over the 2 years of blogging is that I have moved my comments to this Disqus thing as recommended by a fellow blogger, Bonjour Tristesse. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence but I'm sure my page views started rising around this time but I also started getting a hell of a lot less comments.

When I first started blogging, I was very active in the community, visiting and commenting on a huge range of blogs regularly. Now I have less time I've become way more picky on the blogs I read and particularly the posts I comment on. This I think has also left me with far less comments on my own posts but I don't mind too much as long as the page views keep going up!

To be honest, I'd say 95% of the comments I receive these days are spam which I am also going to try and stop as they are getting on my nerves! Again, any advice gratefully appreciated!

I assume as I don't get so many comments these days that it is because I don't have many regular readers from the blogging community anymore which is really sad as there are a whole load of blogs out there that I completely love and respect. On the other hand I guess the page views must come from search engine results so I hope that means I am doing something right.

I'm not sure how to take this blog to the next level. I'm desperate to start finding some paid work as a film writer but not really sure where to go from here. I get so many opportunities from Filmoria that my work for them is just utterly awesome but it also costs me a lot in train fares to London.

This has turned into a rather depressing confessional diary thing. What is more the guy who helped me incredibly at the start of this journey, Scott from Front Room Cinema seems to have very sadly disappeared from the blogosphere.

Well I still love blogging so I'm going to keep going with I Love That Film but I'm also going to keep trying to take my film writing to another level somehow. As much as I'm in this for the love, I'd also love to do it even more for a living!

Thanks so much to everyone who keeps visiting, commenting, helping and supporting. It really does mean a hell of a lot to me!

End of Watch, The Hunt, Sightseers

Three of the best films of last year, David Ayers' End of Watch, Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt and British Ben Wheatley's Sightseers are all either just out now on DVD and Blu-ray or are released this coming Monday for you to buy or rent.

I reviewed all three of these films for Static Mass Emporium when they were in cinemas last year and now that they are out for home release, my reviews are proudly sitting on the front page again today.

David Ayer’s End Of Watch is a blistering look at a pair of LAPD cops played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña and the bravery it takes to fight drug dealing cartels.

Mads Mikkelsen stars in Thomas Vinterberg’s powerful Danish drama The Hunt, a tense tale of a teacher accused of a crime against a child that he did not commit.

With Sightseers, director Ben Wheatley follows Kill List with a pitch black British serial killer comedy that lets loose psychotic lovers on a caravan driven killing spree through Yorkshire.

All three of these films made it in to my top 20 films of 2012 with End of Watch and The Hunt taking the 3rd and 2nd places respectively just behind The Dark Knight Rises at the number one spot. Sightseers came in just outside the top 10 at number 12.

I'm very proud of these three reviews and even more proud to be sharing positive reviews of three films that really deserve to be seen by as many people as possible. End of Watch you've no doubt heard of and if you are a British reader, you likely saw a poster or trailer for Sightseers but I'm sure not everyone heard of or even got a chance to see The Hunt. Now is the time to rectify that.

Please click all the above links and check out my reviews of End of Watch, The Hunt and Sightseers. I'm sure that at least one of these great films will take your fancy!

Let me know your thoughts!

Dangerous Minds enters the Emporium @StaticMass

My good friend and wonderful editor Patrick from Static Mass Emporium invited me to write a piece on the film Dangerous Minds recently. He told me that there was a back to school theme going on with a piece being contributed on Dead Poet's Society and Apt Pupil and that a piece on the 1995 film Dangerous Minds would also be very welcome, especially coming from a teacher.

I hadn't seen the film since I saw it in the cinema back in '95 but as Patrick pointed me to a YouTube link to the whole film online for free, I thought I'd give it a go. My main memory of the film is of Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise, a song I still love and know all the words to until this day. In fact my wife and I sang the whole song as we rode through the night on a moped on a Greek Island once. How gangsta is that? OK maybe not...

Anyway re-watching the film, I liked it a lot. Watching from the perspective of a teacher was very interesting as I was constantly thinking about what Michelle Pfeiffer's character was doing and whether it would be realistic to try anything similar. It's a surprisingly convincing film and pretty emotional too.

Here's a link to my full review of Dangerous Minds at Static Mass Emporium and you can watch the film below for free if you're interested.

"Dangerous Minds (as well as being the film that gave us Coolio’s classic Gangsta’s Paradise) is the story of one woman’s wish to change the future of an entire class of young adults who’ve been disregarded by the system and left with little chance to turn their lives around. LouAnne, an ex-marine divorcee enters the high school classroom determined to help these students graduate but there’ll be many complications that get in the way of her educational quest..."



Seen it? What did you think?

February Movie News and Reviews

This month has not been quite so hectic as January was fortunately but that also means there haven't been as many highlights. I've been busy writing the second chapter of my Blair Witch book and working on the second chapter of my thesis. In between that, there has been some time for writing movie news and reviews and even some stuff for Yahoo.

I've written a bunch of strange stories completely out of my movie comfort zone for Yahoo. You can check them all out by clicking on my profile. These stories are on education, fox culling, the NHS and even the flipping Girl Guides which I obviously know absolutely nothing about. However these things get read by a wide audience and so I like writing them!

Enough about that. On to the film stuff. This month I have watched all of the following and if I wrote a review then you can click the title and be magically transported to the destination of that review:

Hitchcock
Holy Motors
Shadow Dancer
Lovely Molly
Evidence
The Raid
Take This Waltz
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Cloud Atlas
Song For Marion
A Good Day to Die Hard (at Filmoria)
Stoker (at Filmoria)
V/H/S
The Paperboy
Our Children (review will be up on Filmoria nearer the release in May)
Django Unchained
Zero Dark Thirty
Broken
Rust and Bone

My reviews of Warm Bodies and Dangerous Minds also went up at Static Mass Emporium. My reviews of The Bay, No, Black Sunday, The Fall of the Essex Boys and Lisa and the Devil were also published at Filmoria this month.

I also watched and reviewed some great bits of TV: the first series of The Killing and two episodes of the second season of Black Mirror; White Bear and The Waldo Moment.

The news stories I covered for Filmoria are as follows:
Die Hard 6 Likely
How to Catch a Monster Casting
New Spring Breakers posters

I also did a top 5 funniest sex scenes for Valentine's Day.

It was a great month for winning stuff too. I won a copy of American Mary on Blu-ray from a competition on Flickering Myth and a trip to Paris on the Eurostar from StudioCanal by tweeting about I Give it a Year! I also placed £15 of bets on the Oscars and thanks to Argo, Django Unchained and Christoph Waltz I came out £3.30 up! Nice!

To conclude, the worst things I watched this month were The Fall of the Essex Boys (though I watched it last month, the review only went up this month) and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World or as I called it on Twitter seeking an acting class for the end of the world. Seriously how does Keira Knightley get work?

Best things I watched were Holy Motors, Cloud Atlas and Django Unchained. LOVED them! And of course Black Mirror: White Bear which was one of the best bits of TV I'd ever seen.

What were your best and worst of the month or thoughts on any of these?

Warm Bodies Review @Static Mass Emporium

Based on the novel by Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies is the story of a zombie falling in love with a girl in a post-apocalyptic future.

My full review of Warm Bodies is over at Static Mass Emporium and you can read it by clicking here.

On a very personal note, this film was always going to be an extremely hard sell for me. Though I love it when people do something different with tired old genre conventions; making a zombie who learns to talk, fall in love and even has to wear make up was just a bit too much for me to take I'm afraid.

I felt the film had a fundamentally flawed idea at its beating heart that simultaneously subverts conventions while also taking much of the brains. It would take a lot for me to get passed the idea that a zombie can fall in love. It's a frustrating film because I'm very conflicted about it. On the one hand, the zombie voiceover is quite funny but on the other hand, it makes no sense that the zombie has thought processes so well articulated. It's an original and intriguing idea that a zombie can fall in love but on the other hand, it's a fundamentally silly idea. But then again, I guess zombies are a silly idea full stop.

 I guess it all comes down to whether you can stand the idea of a zombie falling in love. If you can stomach that, Warm Bodies should be a winner and you can could it another star. If on the other hand, zombies with feelings fill you with rage like one of the 28 Days Later infected, you’ll be running for the exit of the cinema and vomiting blood before the film gets a chance to win you over. Warm Bodies isn’t bad at all; it just takes serious liberties with a well-loved sub-genre.

Please check out my full review of Warm Bodies over at Static Mass Emporium.

What did you think of Warm Bodies? Seems like its getting quite a lot of love to me so I'm curious to hear others thoughts.

Watch the trailer below:

Life of Pi Review @ Static Mass

My review for Ang Lee's magical Life of Pi has been published over at Static Mass Emporium and you can read it here.

I have to say I didn't expect to like this that much but, like its protagonist, I was swept away. The book sounded a little too weird for me. I had somehow got it into my head that Pi was trapped on a boat with a talking tiger. Fortunately though Pi is indeed stuck with only a Bengal tiger for company, said tiger does not actually speak. Instead he is a completely believable composite of a range of special effects that you cannot (and if you were in Pi's shoes, would not dare) take your eyes off.

A boy lost at sea for over 200 days could potentially be boring but thanks to a magnificent performance from a newcomer, some incredible effects work and some of the most stunning cinematography of the year, Life of Pi is an absolute must see on the big screen. Those who haven't been won over by 3D may want to give this a try, though until I see a 2D version, I'm not sure how essential it is.

I should stop my rambling and encourage you to head over to my review at Static Mass Emporium. The film is in UK cinemas December 20th 2012 and is set to make jaws hit floors I can promise you. But don't think it's all about stunning visuals as there is plenty of heart too. It left me with a rather uncomfortable lump in my throat by the end.

Here's a snippet from my review:

'Life Of Pi has taken eleven years to get from page to screen but is absolutely worth the wait. Ang Lee has created an unbelievably cinematic treatment of the novel. Though the film itself takes its time getting to the heart of the story, the cinematography is spellbinding, the score is stirring and newcomer Suraj Sharma gives a heartfelt and compelling performance as hero Pi.'

Have you seen it? What did you think?

Analysing La Haine

La Haine is a powerful and unforgettable French drama about three youths, one gun and living on the outskirts of a society that hates you. I write about it a lot here at I Love That Film and elsewhere, having contributed an article to Media Magazine comparing it to City of God and most recently writing for Static Mass Emporium analysing the brilliant open ending.

If you have seen the film, please head over to Static Mass Emporium to find out why I find this to be one of the best film endings of all time. It might frustrate some but for others it will ensure that you can never forget this film and its cast of wonderfully conflicted characters. I start the article by arguing 'Open endings are a divisive tool that can leave an audience enraged, frustrated, gasping for breath, shocked, disappointed or yearning for more.' Hopefully La Haine's final scene will leave you feeling a little bit of all these emotions.

Check out my deconstruction of the final scene of La Haine at Static Mass Emporium here.

I also found the recent British film My Brother the Devil had many similarities with La Haine and I compared the two films in my review of My Brother The Devil at Filmoria here.

I teach about La Haine on A level Film Studies for the section on world cinema and we compare it to City of God and Tsotsi, two other powerful dramas dealing with issues of exclusion, poverty and violence.

Here is an exam answer on the visual style of La Haine, City of God and to a lesser extent, Tsotsi.

Here is an exam answer on the social and political context of La Haine, City of God and Tsotsi.

I wondered what would have become of the characters after the closing minutes of the film and in their futures in this post about making belated sequels.

I considered why La Haine is a must see film over at Filmoria.

Finally I named it as my second favourite film of the 90s and you can see my top 30 of that decade here.

In the future, once I get finished on my first book, I would love to one day write a book about La Haine but for now I will make do with writing about it as much as I can and for anyone who is willing to publish something on it. If you're a fan, let me know why in the comments below. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to. Forget the subtitles, the black and white and the lack of stars. This is cinema at it its best.


A2 Film Studies exam answers:

Using Critical Approaches to Study Fight Club

Is Fight Club a film about power and control rather than liberation?

Analysing La Haine

World Cinema: Distinctive Visual Features

World Cinema: Social and Political Context

WJEC A2 Film Studies Exam Practice Section B

A2 Film Studies Exam Practice Section B

100,000 PAGE VIEWS!!!

I Love That Film has finally made it to 100,000 page views! Since starting to write regularly on this blog back in March 2010, it has been a long and eventful journey to get here! It took nine months just to start getting over 1000 page views a month. Now for the last few months I've been getting over 10,000 views a month.

Search keywords that are bringing people here are an interesting bunch showing that either lots of people study or love films about racism with American History X and This is England being the most common keywords. Most interestingly Top Gun has also brought many people here despite the fact that I've only done one post that shared the news that there would be a sequel.

Since getting back from honeymoon, the blog has grown exponentially due to my renewed determination to write more and linking to my frequent posts at Filmoria and Static Mass Emprorium. I'm hoping that this exponential growth will continue and hope that I might be able to get I Love That Film to 20,000 views a month soon.

Thanks to all the kind people checking out the adverts around the page, I'm also getting paid for the first time; £68 this month! It's taken 20 months to get there but it feels like a huge reward to me and helps me to justify all the cash I spend getting up to London screenings these days!

I bet most bloggers start out similar to me. You decide that you just have to start writing about film and you hope someone somewhere might come across it and read something you wrote. You amble along for awhile getting a couple of hundred views a month. You start reading others blogs and becoming more inspired. You start commenting and contributing to the blogging community. Then you realise you are a part of an amazing community of people who love films as much, if not sometimes MORE than you do. You suddenly spend as much time reading other blogs as you do writing your own. I used to get my movie news from the Empire magazine website now I get it from loads of sources round the blogosphere. You start getting more and more hits on your blog, regular readers, lovely comments, twitter buddies and Facebook friends. You start doing a couple of guest posts at other blogs. If you've got no technical skills you can't make your blog look better so you start looking for other places to publish. Some of you expand your own empires but unfortunately setting up this most basic of blogs is the extent of my technical ability!

Anyway that's where I'm at! And thanks to Filmoria and Static Mass Emporium for giving me a chance to grow beyond this blog! It is such a great honour to write for both of these sites! I love the stuff I get to do for them and I hope to continue for a long, long time!

But most of all this post is about thanking all of you who read this! I felt so supported once I became a part of this community with many regular readers who would drop by and leave comments after reading. There is no way I would have kept going if I hadn't had the support of so many fellow bloggers who have given me so much more confidence in writing and shared so many tips and hints so graciously. It took me the best part of 30 years to realise that I didn't want to make films or write films and that I actually love writing ABOUT films more than anything else and now I'm settled with that thought, I'm going to do everything I can to turn this into a career.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who drop by the blog, read my stuff, leave comments, RT my posts on Twitter, share them on Facebook and check out those wonderful ads. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out with this blog or helped me to get more free screenings (especially you Scott Lawlor of Front Room Cinema). And thanks to anyone who has let me write for their site. I hope I will be writing about hitting 200,000 in less than 20 months time!

Thanks again everybody reading this!

The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012) Review

Definitely one of my favourite films of the year, Thomas Vinterberg's brilliantly bleak Danish drama The Hunt stars Mads Mikkelsen and is an absolute must-see. I have reviewed it in full over at Static Mass Emporium and you can read the review here.

I loved it so much I had to immediately go and watch Vinterberg's 1998 Dogme film Festen which I had been meaning to see for a long time but had never got round to. Luckily it was free to stream at Lovefilm. It was another absolutely fantastic family drama that centred around allegations of sexual abuse. I'm not sure why Vinterberg is so hung up on this subject matter but he sure knows how to elicit powerful performances from his casts.

Mads Mikkelsen is exceptional in The Hunt and I hope he is recognised this year at the Oscars for his performance. Thomas Bo Larsen gives exquisite performances in both Festen and The Hunt and I'm surprised this guy isn't making movies in Hollywood by now.

Here's a quote from my review of The Hunt at Static Mass Emporium: “It shows the devastating result of one little seed of doubt and mistrust being planted in just one person’s mind. Though it’s filled with boys being boys and the consequences of their behaviour, it’s a little girl’s little lie and her headteacher’s nagging doubts that cause the most devastating impact.”

It's an absolutely gripping film that has superb performances and deserves to be seen by a wide audience. I hope subtitles will not ruin The Hunt's chances of success at the box office.

Seen it? What did you think?

Sightseers (Ben Wheatley, 2012) Review

I'm super excited to announce that not only are Static Mass Emporium featuring three of my articles today, I also found out I just won a competition to have my Sightseers review posted on the Picturehouse Cinema blog. They are also sending me a poster of the film too which will go nicely on my office wall and always remind me to be cautious of people who travel with caravans.

Ben Wheatley's British serial killer comedy Sightseers is certainly one of the must-see British films of the year and you can see why in both my short review at Picturehouse Cinema's blog and also in my full review over at Static Mass Emporium. It may not be the best film that is out in cinemas this weekend, but it's still bloody silly a bit grim but also bloody funny too!

This is what editor Patrick wrote about me and my articles in the Static Mass daily digest newsletter today:

'It’s a Pete Turner day today on Static Mass as we have three articles written by the film and media lecturer who’s also currently working on a PhD.

[First] we have his review of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers. “Following divisive hit-men horror Kill List, Ben Wheatley creates another genre straddling British film, this time producing shocks but also guffaws in equal measure. Sightseers has comically quirky killer characters and a very sick sense of humour, producing plenty of guilty laughs.”

I'd like to thank Patrick for having me at Static Mass Emporium, Picturehouse Cinemas for deeming me to be the winner of the review competition and finally the E4 Slackers Club for putting on a free movie every month for us students to go and see.

I hope Sightseers manages to find an audience within and outside of the UK and look forward to seeing what Ben Wheatley has in store for us next.

Writing for Static Mass Emporium

In my continuing quest to make a portfolio of all my online scribblings, I am now moving from the interviews and news stories I have written for Filmoria to my writing for another fantastic film website Static Mass Emporium.

This site takes a slightly more academic but also personal approach to film criticism and analysis.  There are many different sections on the site including those on cult cinema, new releases, directors, and deconstructing cinema one scene at a time.  It is a great honour to be published alongside the other works on there.

The first ever article I had published was on the work of director Michael Moore and had already appeared in Media Magazine. This is the only article I have had published for the Director's Chair part of the site but I am very keen to contribute something on Danny Boyle in the future.

The article on Michael Moore is here.

I have contributed three articles for the Deconstructing Cinema section so far. The first was on the monster attack scene in Cloverfield where the statue of liberty is beheaded.  The next were on the open ending of La Haine and the dinner table scenein American History X.

Cloverfield

La Haine

American History X 

I have written some reviews for the Cult Cinema section mainly leading up to Halloween and focusing on some horror classics:

Night of the Living Dead

28 Days Later

Saw

For the New Releases section, I have contributed the following:

Grabbers

Safety Not Guaranteed
 

Life of Pi

End of Watch

Sightseers

The Hunt

And my first article for The Emporium section is a review of Dangerous Minds.

I will update this post as I have more articles published over at Static Mass Emporium.  For now head over and check out some of the other brilliant articles there.

More horror posts: Creepy Kids, Scream and Saw

Filmoria's 10 days of Halloween continues with the publishing of the feature 10 Movies with Killer Kids.  I contributed the entry on Macauley Culkin in The Good Son.  Any excuse to watch that film again and I'm there.  I was only twelve when this film came out and I loved Home Alone so much that I was determined to see the return of Culkin.  Unfortunately I had to wait for it to be released on video but I wasn't disappointed.  Culkin swears, smokes and turns seriously psychotic.  And sweet little future hobbit Elijah Wood has to put up with Culkin gradually becoming more and more threatening to all around him.

It's a great thriller and I highly recommend it.  The rest of the feature is written by Filmoria's Lesley Coffin and features a range of really creepy kids from films like The Omen to Children of the Corn.  You can check out the 10 Movies with Killer Kids at Filmoria here.

Also published today is the first of Filmoria's must-see horror movies from Amanda.  This time it's Wes Craven's classic post-modern slasher with smarts Scream.

Finally for today, the first of two articles I have written this week on Saw.  For this one I wrote a slightly personal and vaguely academic review of the film that started the biggest horror franchise of the new millenium.  Check out my review of Saw at Static Mass Empororium now.

What are your favourite creepy kids from horror movies?

What do you like better, Saw or Scream?

Filmoria's 10 Days of Halloween

You got to love this time of year.  The days might be getting shorter.  The shops might be getting be ready for Christmas already.  And worst of it all, it's getting colder and wetter (unless you are reading this from the southern hemisphere).  But on the other hand it's the run-up to Halloween and every film blogger is getting into the spirit by talking horror, horror and more horror!

So Filmoria are going all evil and scary over the next 10 days and it's given me all the excuse I need to watch as much horror as possible.  Some new, some old but all scary as a dark night in the woods all alone with only a masked psycho with a huge machete to keep you company!  Now that's what I'm taking about.

So over the next 10 days, look out for the following:

Today I review the not very scary but pretty damn funny London based comedy horror Cockneys vs Zombies.

On Tuesday, there's a killer kids feature that includes that loveable Macauley Culkin in an even more sadistic role than he had in Home Alone.

On Thursday, the Filmoria team discuss the most effective music in horror films.

On Friday, I take a look at the must-see movie, Danny Boyle's rage infected 28 Days Later.

On Saturday, I take a look at the top 10 best films in found footage horror.  And yes there really are some great examples of the technique being used out there.  Trust me.  I'll also be taking a closer look at The Blair Witch Project as another must-see horror movie.

On Monday I cut open the original Saw film to reveal the bloody brilliant contents.

Finally on Halloween, the Filmoria team come together for another epic horror feature to argue over which film deserves the title of the scariest horror film ever made! 

There's going to be loads more over the 10 days and I'll also be doing a special Halloween I LOVE THAT BLOG POST where I'll be sharing the best of the horror-related stuff that I've read between now and Halloween.

So if you're not a horror fan, grab the pillows and hide under the sheets but if you love a good scary movie, then join Filmoria in celebrating the wonderful world of the malicious, the macabre and the downright terrifying!

Cult Movies - 28 Days Later

In 2002, writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle developed the most terrifying update to horror imaginable. In 28 Days Later, running zombies were unleashed.

When is a zombie movie not a zombie movie? When it’s Danny Boyle’s digitally shot post-apocalyptic nightmare featuring new horror monsters The Infected. If, like me, you have a strong affection for the zombie horror sub-genre, the thought of running zombies could go either way. Some will cry it’s not necessary; that zombies are meant to shuffle and the scares take a back seat to the social commentary. Others, me included, saw Boyle’s sprinting Infected as the logical evolution of the sub-genre and slapped our collective foreheads. Why had no one come up with this before?

When I saw the trailer for 28 Days Later with its promise of speedy zombie-style Infected people in over-run Britain, I leapt at the chance of the thrills that would no doubt ensue. Not only is this a zombie film set on my home turf, but these ‘zombies’ actually looked bloody terrifying with the emphasis on the bloody...

Read more of my 28 Days Later review at Static Mass Emporium.  

Cult Movies - Night Of The Living Dead

 ‘Horror films now suggest that the horror is not among us, but rather part of us, caused by us…’ (Polan, 1984, p.202).

Night Of The Living Dead is the kind of film you may not have gotten around to seeing if you were born in the 80s or later. You’ve probably heard of it, but the black and white cinematography, the date it was produced and the lack of stars may have put you off. I’d seen enough modern zombie apocalypses on film to think that going back to this one wouldn’t be necessary. Catching it by chance late one night while channel surfing, I was instantly hooked.

The eerie score, the black actor in the lead role and the siege movie set up all grabbed me and kept me hooked until the incredibly bleak ending. It might be black and white and dated but this film still has enough thrills and ideas to inspire horror filmmakers today. And if the ending doesn’t make you gasp, you’re most likely a zombie...

Read more on Night of the Living Dead at Static Mass Emporium.

Deconstructing Cinema: Cloverfield

Six years after 9/11, a mysterious teaser trailer appeared in cinemas before screenings of Michael Bay’s explosive but empty Transformers (2007) film. With no title, just a release date and the name of producer J.J. Abrams, the teaser showed a party full of young professionals being disrupted by huge roars and a distant explosion. The trailer culminated with the head of the Statue of Liberty flying through the air and bouncing down a street full of terrified people. Backed up by a viral marketing campaign that leaked limited information about the monster featured in the film, Cloverfield built up a strong following before it was released in January 2008...

Read the rest of this article at Static Mass Emporium.