Chuckles Film Reviews

This will be, I hope, a recurring feature that will be on the blog each time I watch a film. I used to love films so much and could watch a pile of them in my spare time. However with my focus on reading, I find little time to enjoy films that are new to me but now I need to start clearing the unwatched pile and get some space back!

This week! On Sunday I actually watched two films in one night, which is pretty much a cause for celebration! 

1) Annihilation
Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny and Tessa Thompson.  

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply. 

I recently read the book which I found pretty weird, dull, slow and lacking in any useful answers about what was going on. Friends warned that the film was also a bit weird so at least I was prepared for what I was about to watch and wasn't really expecting to like it, especially not being a fan of Alex Garland's work.

There are lots of changes from the book. The biologist Leah seems to be better connected to her husband though he has discovered that she is having an affair with a fellow college Professor. He arrives back alive but seriously ill and Leah decides to go into The Shimmer to try and find a way to save him. A team of five enter the zone, not four. There is no Tower or crawler, no base camp and there is a killer bear that can mimic human speech. We are also told that The Shimmer is a prism that refracts everything including human DNA, hence plants with human parts and the changes in the humans bodies. There are clones in it too.

OK lets start with the good things. It was slightly better than the book and the special effects of The Shimmer itself were pretty. I thought the acting was pretty decent overall, especially Jennifer Jason Leigh as the psychologist. I thought she took the part well. I quite liked the team being a bit closer than in the book. I liked the crocodile. The plot however was just as strange as the book but in a different way. I wasn't a great fan of the clones plot and the whole lighthouse episode was strange. I wasn't a fan of the whole weird bear thing either. If it had just been a killer bear it would've been better I think. Overall it wasn't a great film and to be honest I wish I hadn't bothered with the book or film.

3/10.

2) Vampire Academy 
Starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Gabriel Byrne, Danila Kozlovsky, Sarah Hyland, Claire Foy  and Dominic Sherwood. 

Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human-half vampire, a guardian of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discreetly within our world. Her calling is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. 

I read this as a book years ago and liked the idea of it-half human half vampires being trained to protect the Moroi vampires from the deadly enemy Strigoi. To turn Strigoi, a Moroi must kill someone during feeding, and they are faster, stronger and very dangerous. I liked the idea of the school that teaches Moroi and Dhampirs together. It was a good solid read and I gave it three stars, always meaning to get back to the series at some point but never did. I heard mixed things about this film-actually most things were negative, so it wasn't a priority to watch until now, and my feelings about it were mixed too. Even the ads for the film with the tagline 'They Suck at School' made me roll my eyes as it sounded like teen drama angst.

I'll admit I wasn't impressed with the way it felt like a high school mean bullies film with the kids all being really bitchy and immature. The first half of the film was quite annoying with Lissa being picked on by the idiots at the school and Rose behaving like a ten year old with tantrums and dumb comments. I came close to quitting before I watched the first half hour. I wasn't greatly impressed by the acting overall. Lissa was a weird posh girl with little personality and wooden in manner, while Rose came across as childish and dumb with her 'witty' one-liners, considering how important her job was. There was no chemistry at all between Rose and Dimitri. Dimitri was nothing like I imagined him to be. The shining stars acting wise were the brilliant Gabriel Byrne and his daughter Natalie played by Sarah Hyland. I also liked the Headmistress and Claire Foy's portrayal of the teacher being driven mad.   

I don't really think that the film caught the real menace of the Strigoi and it felt like there was more focus on the petty school crap than on the training and the real threat. Nobody at the school seemed that bothered about Strigoi or the attack happening outside the school. They were more interested in gossiping about pointless stuff. It lacked any kind of tension or fear factor. It felt as if they were continually trying to be funny and ironic but for me it fell really flat. The script was poor and I felt that the writers and production crew missed the soul of the books when putting this film out. The so called action sequences were poor, the script was dreadful and the overall acting was bland and uninteresting, even cheesy at times. If there is going to be a sequel, I won't be interested in watching it. They would have been better off recasting it for a TV series and working on character development.   

5/10.