Movie Review: The Reverend / Cert: 18 / Director: Neil Jones / Screenplay: Neil Jones / Starring: Stuart Brennan, Tamer Hassan, Doug Bradley, Simon Phillips, Shane Richie, Rutger Hauer / Release Date: August 3rd

Debuting at last year’s Grimm Up North horror weekend (just two days after the completion of filming), Welsh director Neil Jones’ The Reverend finally makes its way to cinemas for a limited run this year and whilst as a movie it’s nothing to shout about, it’s probably worth a look for curiosity value alone. I’m not going to suggest you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this brutally low budget effort but there are some good ideas struggling for air here amidst a lot of earnest acting and muddy direction.

Filmed in and around Cardiff and various other rural Welsh locations The Reverend, based on a graphic novel which, to my knowledge, has yet to materialise, opens with a human-form Devil (Rutger Hauer) confronting God (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) and the pair decide to test the mettle of an innocent young priest just taking up his first posting in a quaint Welsh village. The story, purporting to loosely revisit the Book of Job, sees the priest bitten on the neck by a pouty young seductress who turns up at his church in the dead of night. Come the morning our hero finds himself craving blood and when he discovers that his picturesque little idyll is actually a hotbed of corruption, sleaze and depravity (and it’s not even set in Westminster) he sets out to use his new ‘abilities’ to rid the village of its undesirables.

The Reverend isn’t exactly a vampire film per se. Rev is hungry for blood but it doesn’t define him, it merely motivates him towards his new-found mission. The Reverend isn’t concerned with all the usual vampiric tropes – fear of sunlight, stakes through the heart; it’s all very much about Rev’s struggle, pitting his own deeply-ingrained religious beliefs with his new life as a powerful, bloodthirsty killer. It’s a shame then, giving the inherently potentially-fascinating storyline, that The Reverend is largely such a ham-fisted, clunky affair. Neil Jones must take the blame; he wrote the script and he doesn’t seem able to decide if he wants to make a blood-thirsty horror film about vampires or something a bit subtler with the potential to tell a story with an allegorical religious dimension. Jones’ direction is intermittently both inspired and inept; he makes his locations look disquietingly and deceptively cozy but he can’t handle action sequences which just look clumsy and awkward and he’s at a loss as to how to make static talky sequences look interesting. Much of the movie just looks like some hurriedly-filmed soap opera with muddy sound and unimaginative camera work.

Jones is sadly not particularly well-served by his cast either. Simon Brennan does his best as Rev but he constantly looks a bit lost and out of his depth and genre favourite Hauer, in just one scene, is clearly just publicity poster fodder. Best performance of the lot, surprisingly, is TV family soap favourite Shane Richie who delivers an extraordinarily-vicious turn as a foul-mouthed drugged-up pimp who, frankly, gets just what he deserves.

The problem is The Reverend is never quite sure what it wants to be. It’s not a vampire film, it’s not a horror film, it’s not a film about religious contradictions. It is, therefore, a bit of a mess although there are a few interesting flourishes here and there – Rev’s victims burst into flames – and the idea of Rev being used as a ‘weapon’ and moved around the country (suggesting sequels we’ll surely never see) leads to an agreeably-downbeat ending. The film is ultimately scuppered by its lack of focus and the fact that it’s way too ambitious for both its budget and the capabilities of its director. But The Reverend isn’t a disaster of biblical proportions and can charitably be filed under ‘interesting failure.’

Expected rating: 5 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man / Cert: 12A / Director: Marc Webb / Screenplay: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves / Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Sally Field, Martin Sheen / Release Date: July 3rd

Hopes were not high when Sony announced that they would be rebooting the Spider-Man franchise which is barely ten years old. There were rumours and scuttlebutt that the studio would be looking at some of that tweenage cash and making a superhero film for the Twilight crowd. Then they angered some quarters by announcing they would be delving into Peter Parker’s tragic parentage and the whispers were this was so it was closer to Batman Begins. Whilst it’s far from the disaster that some were hoping for, The Amazing Spider-Man is a mixed bag that suffers greatly coming after a pretty decent series of films and essentially telling the same story from the start.

Fairly early on we learn that Peter Parker’s (played by Andrew Garfield) father Richard Parker was into some shady dealings to do with Oscorp’s genetics division and Peter is essentially abandoned to live with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben (Sally Field and Martin Sheen). Flash forward some years and Parker is a shy but brilliant teenager. He gets picked on to an extent and has a crush on Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). During Parker’s investigation of his parent’s disappearance he is led to Dr Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans) who takes a shine to Peter due to his intelligence. Peter is then bitten by a genetically modified spider and starts to take on some radical changes. Spurred on by a tragedy, Parker becomes Spider-Man and starts to fight crime much to the annoyance of Gwen’s father Captain Stacy (Denis Leary). Meanwhile Connors succumbs to work pressures from the dying head of Oscorp and uses his own formula to re-grow genetic tissue and becomes a lizard-like creature bent on ‘improving’ the human race.

So much for all the claims of ‘The Untold Story’; The Amazing Spider-Man for its first hour is a slightly darker and grittier remake of the first film with a few differences. The issue of Parker’s parents is abandoned after he meets Dr Connors, presumably so it can be explored in further sequels. The second hour gets more interesting with Peter using his powers in some truly stunning 3D web swinging and crime fighting. Rhys Ifans does a great job as Dr Connors and for most of the running time is a tragic scientist on par with Jeff Goldblum from The Fly, but then to harken back again to a story we have already seen, Connors starts to hear voices in an almost carbon copy scene from Willem Dafoe’s work in Sam Raimi’s first film and all that good work is ruined.

I don’t know about you but I have always felt that Spider-Man was more about true heroism and not moping around, that’s what Batman is for. In this film the angst pours through every frame. Garfield mumbles most of his dialogue, occasionally with a hood up and is kind of a brat towards his poor Aunt May. Every scene with Spidey takes place in the night time with hardly any of it in cheerful daylight. The Parker/Gwen Stacy relationship is kind of awkward at first but once the leads natural chemistry kicks in it becomes quite involving. It still however goes on far too long; once the carnage is over (and great carnage it is) the sobbing and meaningful looks may drive you to the exit sign. Speaking of the carnage, it’s a shame this film had to come out after both Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Avengers because in comparison; the battles Spider-Man and The Lizard have seem quite low-key.

The Amazing Spider-Man is perfectly serviceable summer entertainment designed to appeal to teenagers. What holds it back from greatness is a first half that borders on tedium. Having said that it’s entirely possible based on this evidence that if Marc Webb returns for the sequel he may just manage to top Spider-Man 2 and make the best film in the franchise.

Expected Rating: 4 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Movie Review: The Dinosaur Project / Cert: TBC / Director: Sid Bennet / Screenplay: Sid Bennet, Jay Basu / Natasha Loring, Matt Kane, Richard Dillane, Peter Brooke, Stephen Jennings / Release Date: August 10th

A cryptozoological team head out to the Congo to investigate sightings of an Ogopogo only to find a jungle infested with carnivorous creatures. When all contact is lost with the team search parties are sent out and come across a bag full of over 100 hours of footage which they piece together. A fun family horror that emulates aspects of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park with spectacle, a hint of sci-fi and lots of laughs.

Luke Marchant (Matt Kane) has recently been expelled from school for ousting his headmaster’s secrets on YouTube. He is also the son of a famous explorer, Marchant (Richard Dillane), who is setting out on The Dinosaur Project to get a glimpse of the Ogopogo. His father has no time for him so Luke decides to stowaway on the helicopter over to the Congo to get his attention and prove himself. As they approach the island it is clear that all is not as it seems with pterodactyls circling overhead, the team crash land into a strange and dangerous territory.

From here on in we are treading on horror movie ground, especially with the element of found footage. As this team stumble through the jungle it becomes clear their only enemy isn’t dinosaurs but each other. Luke is seeking his father’s approval and provides the technical arm of the team, setting up cameras to allow for the found footage and night vision viewing which adds obscurity to the dinosaur attacks. Marchant provides an angry voice of reason as his relationship with his son reaches boiling point. He has his best interests at heart but it takes a trek across a land of supposedly extinct creatures to exhume their relationship. Richard Dillane is channelling Sam Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant as he awkwardly attempts to bond with his son crossed with Robert Muldoon’s Bob Peck. Complete with the hat and the khaki clothes, it is a lovely nod to Spielberg’s influence. Matt Kane does well at looking frightened and inquisitive. He plays well off Dillane in the depths of the Congo though his acting starts off a little shaky to begin with. The father and son bonding is at the centre of the story but there are some fun characters and beasts surrounding this pair.

Director Sid Bennett has a background in documentaries and TV movies featuring fantastical creatures of which this film is full of. Aimed at a younger audience, it favours jumps rather than tension showing the dinosaurs and their CGI skills off from the start of the journey. It moves in the usual monster movie parameters, with members of the team running madly from dinosaurs, but it doesn’t show anything other than some smattering of blood. The funniest moments are provided by cameraman Pete who brings along dinosaur top trumps with him and gets a fine final line. Luke is befriended by a dinosaur he lovingly names Crypto, a protector and loyal buddy, which will leave you pining for such a pet. The sense of humour, love and knowledge of these creatures will capture the kids’ imagination and there is a lot for us fossil types to appreciate too.

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Movie Review: Storage 24 / Cert: 15 / Director: Johannes Roberts / Screenplay: Noel Clarke, Davie Fairbanks, Marc Small / Starring: Noel Clarke, Laura Haddock, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Colin O’Donoghue / Release Date: June 29th

Storage 24, a slick, fast-paced, darkly witty British monster movie, is a refreshing change of pace from all the colour and bombast of this year’s crop of Hollywood super-hero and sci-fi blockbusters.

Whilst it’s true that there’s nothing here genre fans haven’t seen many times before – a small group trapped in a confined space hunted by a voracious alien predator, a desperate and claustrophobic journey through cramped ventilation shafts to name but two old friends – this lively, energetic film comes across as an affectionate homage to hoary old sci-fi clichés rather than as a tired, derivative, seen-all-this-before-thanks rip-off. A zippy, funny, no-nonsense script, pin-sharp performances and edgy, subtle direction combine to make Storage 24 another worthy addition to a slowly growing line of modern inventive low-budget British science-fiction movies.

Then again Storage 24, with its slavering alien prowling dark corridors, its twisted character relationships and near-the-knuckle gore, is as much a horror movie as a SF yarn. The always-likable Clarke is in his element playing jack-the-lad Charlie, frustrated by the fact that he’s been dumped – for no apparent reason – by his girlfriend Shelley (Lead Balloon’s Campbell-Hughes). Even his best friend Mark (O’Donoghue) can offer nothing much more than a shoulder to cry on. Together the pair make their way to Storage 24, a massive and depressing storage facility in the centre of London just as the city’s plunged into crisis by the unexplained crashing of a military transport aircraft. At the storage unit they find Shelley already working on splitting up the fractured couple’s belongings with the help of her friend Nikki (Laura Haddock) and her boyfriend Chris (King). There’s a fiery confrontation between Charlie and Shelley just as the lights go out – and the group discover they’re trapped in the storage facility which has sealed itself shut. Worse still, it soon becomes apparent that they’re not alone; something nasty, vicious and distinctly inhuman is stalking the corridors of Storage 24. It’s killed already and it’s still out for blood…

That, in a nutshell, is your story. But it’s one deliciously enjoyable nutshell, a smart and modern take on the oldest trick in the sci-fi book as an ostensibly routine and mundane scenario is turned upside down into a living nightmare by the introduction of something way beyond the understanding of our luckless protagonists. Clarke has populated his script with thoroughly-believable people behaving in an entirely rational manner; they’re by turns puzzled, confused, terrified and eventually driven by a desperate instinct for survival. Cult director Johannes Roberts has great fun with his confined location, making good use of the narrow corridors, shadowy windowless storage chambers and clanging pipes and the film benefits enormously from the fact that its monster, a well-realised great slavering twelve-foot Alien/Predator hybrid is a physical costume rather than some shonky CGI creation. At its most hair-raising, the creature bounds and springs along the corridors in pursuit of its screaming prey and when it strikes it does so with a savageness which must have taken Storage 24 right to the edge of what’s acceptable in a 15-certificate movie; prepare yourself for bodies torn in half, faces sliced off and generous buckets of blood.

2012 will give us (and has already given us) bigger, brasher, cleverer films, but Storage 24 is just too good and too smart (and with a killer final scene pay-off which the budget just about copes with) to be dismissed as simply another cheap and cheesy British wannabe. Storage 24 doesn’t reinvent the SF wheel but then it’s not trying to. All it’s doing is telling an exciting, scary, nail-biting story about helpless ordinary people fighting a big alien monster and come on, don’t tell me that ever gets old.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Movie Review: The Devil’s Business / Cert: 18 / Director: Sean Hogan / Screenplay: Sean Hogan / Starring: Billy Clarke, Jack Gordon, Jonathan Hansler, Harry Miller / Release Date: August 17th

There are many low budget filmmakers who fatally do not know the limitations of their lack of money. This results in productions that look very much like they cost £10 to make in someone’s back garden and these more often than not end up on the shelf of your local poundland, bypassing Blockbuster Video all together. Then there are productions that know their limits and revel in it, being inventive in terms of their story and plotting but never feeling like this is due to the limits imposed on the first time filmmakers. For most of its running time, The Devils Business is definitely the latter type of film.

London hit men Pinner (Billy Clarke, wide eyed and wired) and Culley (Jack Gordon, dim and twitchy) break into a suburban home and wait for their target Kist (Jonathan Hanser) to get home from the opera just after midnight. Their boss Bruno (Harry Miller) wants this man dead and as they snoop around his home, killing time before he arrives, they begin to discover shocking secrets that reveal a possible back ground in black magic and the dark arts.

The set-up is as simple as they get, there are really only four locations; the living room, the dining room, the alleyway and the garage. Writer and Director Sean Hogan lets his strong dialogue and great performances do all of the heavy lifting. It’s a testament to his talent that despite the limited locations and the reliance on performance, not once does The Devil’s Business feel stagey or like an amateur theatre production. The dialogue really is the best I have heard in a horror film for some time, the first half an hour or so consists mainly of two men talking in the dark and yet somehow I was never bored. A long monologue delivered by Pinner regarding a former target is riveting to listen to, it’s something that in lesser hands would feel like they were trying to pad out the run time but it’s an element of the story that does pay off come the ending. The dialogue and performance is backed up by a score that is heavily in debt to early John Carpenter and adds to the feel of encroaching doom that you feel in every shadow and dark corner of the house.

Comparisons with Ben Wheatley’s Kill List are inevitable, but one of that films strength’s was that it never went full tilt into the supernatural elements of the story and let the viewer mostly make up their own mind. The Devil’s Business fatally forgets all the good groundwork and its low budget to lay on the overtly supernatural in its last fifteen minutes so all the creepiness and menace evaporates completely. There is an element introduced in the final moments that is straight from the bad book of things not to do for a low budget filmmaker. An attempt at the surreal and the creepy backfires and the whole thing blows up in your face.

The Devil’s Business is still a trip worth taking and one of the better British horror films of recent times, despite being fatally flawed. Sean Hogan is definitely a name to watch in the new generation of British talent.

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10

Actual:

Movie Review: Cosmopolis / Cert: 15 / Director: David Cronenberg / Screenplay: David Cronenberg / Starring: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon / Release Date: Out Now

David Cronenberg’s latest offering is a strange cinematic beast, even by his considerable standards. It’s a slow and often eerily calm movie which comprises of what amounts to a series of vignettes with people talking and debating intellectual and philosophical matters. In parts it can be very testing and it’s difficult to describe the movie as being entertaining as such, yet somehow, the legendary body-horror director has created a film which still makes a profound impact.

It’s based on the novel of the same name by Don DeLillo, written in 2003, and in the broadest terms is a critique of the inherent failings of capitalism and its apparent inevitable downfall. Bare in mind of course this was written before the banking collapse of a few years ago and the events which unfold suddenly become remarkably prescient.

The film sees an incredibly wealthy and devastatingly intellectual young businessman, Eric Packer, concealed within his extravagant limousine crawling through the gridlocked Manhattan traffic on his way to get a haircut. The majority of the movie plays out in the confined space of Packer’s limo as he holds a series of meetings with flunkies, floosies and colleagues discussing various matters relating to his risky business venture involving betting against the Chinese Yuan. These conversations also seem to take on a greater importance and develop greater meanings, set as they are against a backdrop of civic unrest as angry protestors rage against the inadequacies and unfairness of modern day capitalism. Packer also has a series of meetings with his serene yet cold wife, a beautiful blonde poet from old money who seemingly has no desire to be at all close to her husband. In addition, he seems indifferent to what his bodyguard calls a ‘credible threat’ on his life and seems set on engineering his own destruction, but to what end?

Packer is completely removed from the world which passes by his window and cuts a distant figure with a pale and washed out face which emphasises his frozen nature even more. He represents the indifference and greed of the 1% and is thus the natural target for the angry underclass. We are constantly told that his life is in danger yet he seems so nihilistic that this news is simply irrelevant to him and he is interested only in his own downfall.

One thing which has to be emphasised is that Robert Pattinson is absolutely superb throughout. He is in practically every scene and a great deal of pressure thus lands on his young shoulders. He masters the aloof and emotionless nature of Packer perfectly and more than holds his own with an old pro like Paul Giamatti during a tense confrontation towards the movie’s end. An actor of his bankability doesn’t need to do movies of this size, and in many ways it is a bold move for the Twilight star, and it is one which pays off handsomely.

Cosmopolis though is very difficult to watch in places. This is primarily due to the unique manner of speaking which the characters all use. Great portions of dialogue are lifted straight from the book and it shows with many conversations sounding staged and incredibly unnatural. Throughout the movie, the actors use words and phrases you know, but deliver them in a manner and structure which you are not accustomed to somehow. You have to listen intently to every word to make sure you are really keeping up to speed with proceedings and in this respect it is a challenging film to sit through.

As well as being a stinging critique of capitalism and the morally bankrupt nature of many who get rich from it, Cosmopolis is also about Packer himself and his desire to test his own limits. Is he bored with his wealth? Or is it simply that he needs a new challenge? His whole life is played out in the confines of an ultra Hi-Tec limo where food, sex and company routinely come straight to him. The whole experience leaves Packer empty, hollow and bored. At one stage he calmly implores one of his lovers who is brandishing a taser to shock him with everything she has, “I’m looking for more” he says, “show me something I don’t know”. Equally telling is the immense dent caused to his psyche when his prostate exam, carried out in the limo of course, turns up the fact that his prostate is asymmetrical. It’s an imperfection which even he cannot understand and which thus drives him crazy.

It’s a film that definitely won’t be for everyone, it frequently borders on the pretentious and the lengthy conversations can get a little tedious. It’s also hard to know what you are meant to feel by the end of the movie, so far removed is Packer and the world he operates in, you never really make much of a connection with the characters on screen. Yet, despite all of this, it is still somehow a very memorable and affecting piece of work which will fester with you long after you leave the theatre. It’s a difficult film to sit through, but if you allow yourself to sit back and be immersed into the strange and despicable world which Cronenberg creates with these characters, then you may just find something there that resonates.

Movie Review: Chernobyl Diaries / Cert: 15 / Director: Bradley Parker / Screenplay: Oren Peli / Starring: Devin Kelley, Jonathan Sadowski, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jesse McCartney and Nathan Phillips / Release Date: June 22nd

The subject of a post Armageddon society meltdown is fast becoming the new direction for horror – at least if films like Chernobyl Diaries are anything to go by. This apocalyptic chiller by début director Brad Parker is truly unsettling, which is strange as the storyline is so riddled with genre clichés it should barely be able to hold itself together let alone keep your attention for the ninety minute running time – a feat which it manages despite itself.

In 1986 a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine exploded contaminating everything for miles around.  Everyone in the local city of Pripyat, which housed the facility’s workers and their families, were evacuated immediately and the area became a ghost town.

Fast-forward twenty-five years. Six young twenty-somethings Amanda, Paul, Zoe, Natalie, Chris and Michael (Devin Kelley, Jonathan Sadowski, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jesse McCartney and Nathan Phillips) are touring Eastern Europe. In Kiev they meet Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), a man whose company offers ‘extreme’ tours of the abandoned Pripyat.  Despite initial misgivings the group decide to go for the day-trip – after all the area has been deserted for twenty-five years and the radiation levels are now negligible, so what could possibly go wrong?  Well, when Uri decides to take an ‘alternative’ route having been turned back from an army checkpoint on the borders of the city you’d think alarm-bells would start ringing.  And they do, but not until after the group finds their van tampered with on returning from exploring the city.  It’s then they realise the area may not be deserted after all – a discovery which unfortunately comes too late…

As said everything about Chernobyl Diaries screams ‘done before’. From Uri and his suspect business set-up – one glimpse of which would send any normal person running for the first train back to western civilisation – to transport which won’t start just when you most need it, the standard frightfest scenarios are signposted a mile off, yet the young protagonists continue to walk into them with their eyes wide open.

The old approach of a slow build up strategically interspersed with false start shocks – watch out in particular for the scene in one of Pripyat’s abandoned apartment blocks – is surprisingly effective, as for the majority of the time the perpetrators of the ensuing horrors go unseen, at least until the climax.  Mix this with suitably energetic and frenzied performances from the young cast and some wonderfully atmospheric locations and the resulting film, though perhaps not a classic, is definitely enough to make you think twice about going on dodgy European coach trips any-time soon.

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Movie Review: Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter / Cert: 15 / Director: Timur Bekmambetov / Screenplay: Seth Grahame-Smith / Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Rufus Sewell / Release Date: Out Now

Based on the book of the same title by Seth Grahame-Smith which pits the 16th President of the USA against fanged foes who wish to take over the country this film was never going to be anything other than silly. The trailer paints a darker film than is on offer though and it does have a lightness of comedy, one-liners and a romantic element to it that interlude with the action. Director Timur Bakmambetov brought both the excellent Night Watch and Day Watch to the big screen and though they feature bloodsuckers this has more in common with Wanted where the visuals, fight scenes and set pieces are the focus.

When Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) is a young boy his mother is murdered by a vampire and thus he swears to avenge her death. Fast forward to Lincoln as a young man on the night he chooses to take revenge on this monster and this is where he meets Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper) a vampire hunter who teaches him the trade and prepares him for battle. The backdrop of the civil war is mostly wasted and the slavery trade isn’t really dealt with, instead Lincoln’s relationships with the characters he meets on the way to the top are relied on to move the story along.

The kills are quick and brutal with the vampires’ features similar to that in the Fright Night remake and the fight scenes are Matrix style madness.  Face burning, jaw breaking and new rules about the living only being able to kill the dead are introduced, which add to the ever increasing Vampire laws. There are a few montage scenes involving much axe twirling by Lincoln which will make you cringe, but it is all in fitting with the ludicrous nature of the film. Sage advice from elders, curse words and long speeches dominate the dialogue and a certain amount of unintentional comedy comes out of this.

There are also some exceptionally odd moments including Lincoln walking home his soon to be wife Mary after a romantic picnic and pretending the basket is yapping at her. A horse throwing fight scene and a Lost Boys moment where someone (not grandpa) drives a horse drawn carriage through the front of a house to save the day. Sometimes you will be staring at the screen in disbelief as to what is going on but most of the time you should be laughing at the insanity of it all.  An enjoyable guilty pleasure where the nonsensical meets some stylish visuals. The 3D is pointless though.

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Indie Game – The Movie / Director: James Swirsky, Lisanne Pajot / Release Date: Out Now (via iTunes, Steam, and direct from the filmmakers DRM free at www.indiegamethemovie.com, with a special edition DVD and Blu-ray release later this year.)

Once confined to the realm of darkened teenage bedrooms, the videogame industry has become a juggernaut of modern entertainment. Valued at an estimated 100 billion dollars, the bedroom warriors of old have given way to a mainstream audience that accepts sitting down on the couch with a controller in hand as an equally viable family entertainment choice as a trip to the multiplex. Behind the household names and marquee releases such as Gears of War or Assassins Creed where hundreds of developers with near limitless budgets create their latest number one seller, there is a smaller, lesser known element constantly at work to create a different kind of digital experience.

Indie Game: The Movie, a Kickstarter funded documentary by Canadian filmmakers James Swirky and Lisanne Pajot follows the lives of independent game creators throughout the process of programming, releasing and distributing a game outside of the large studio system that dominates the industry. Edmund Mcmillen and Tommy Refenes are working round the clock to finish their game Super Meat Boy on deadline, as Phil Fish creator of Fez battles to complete a title four years overdue amidst an industry where audience hype and mindshare is a precious but short lived commodity. What unites both teams, is a desire and commitment to creating something that can not only satisfy the needs of investors and players, but their own creative vision.

Unlike mainstream games that sell millions of copies week in and week out by expensively courting mass market attention, many indie creations carry significant investment from the programmers and designers on a personal level. While the tiresome debate over games as art will never be resolved, to these small but hugely talented developers, the expression of individual themes and their own artistic worldview are at the forefront of their process, while devoting their lives to the arduous and painstaking task of making sure the game actually works as it should once it reaches consumers.

Skillfully, the film tracks what is inherently a very mechanical exercise as a more human and relatable subject, highlighting the fears and anxieties that plague its subjects on a daily basis, and successfully conveys the levels of personal sacrifice they go to in order to make their visions become a reality. Indie Game: The Movie also makes a very fair and even handed representation of those involved, and doesn’t hide the very real element of pretentiousness that is always near in the world of independent development, where games – a product that most take as nothing more than a time-killing hobby – suddenly become more of a conceptual art project, with flashy action replaced by thoughtful and often abstract experiences.

Jonathan Blow, creator of indie darling Braid, speaks very honestly about his design philosophy, and how garnering universal acclaim (and considerable financial success) can sit at odds with the original meaning behind his work. The audience might have enjoyed it, but they might not really “get it” as the artist may have wanted. The developers aren’t always seen as likeable, with moments of hubris, bravado and bitterness toward larger scale operations on clear display. Once the film starts to explore the deeper motivations and issues faced by the participants and move beyond the Twitter feed business politics however, it’s hard not to believe in their goals and cheer on their efforts.

Despite the documentary’s distinctly indie feel (forty percent of its operation budget was crowdsourced, and is being released initially via DRM free digital download), it maintains an impressive visual style that combines wonderfully captured observational imagery with a well directed sense of logic that makes the lines of code and design documentation easy to follow for the viewer, increasing the understanding of the sizeable and infinitely complicated task taken on by the individuals.

It’s undoubtedly a tall order to make images of a pasty programmer entrenched behind a bank of monitors something worth looking at, but Swirky’s photography proves irresistible, cleverly creating a sense of timescale through impressive editing choices that use perfectly captured cuts of both real world locales and videogame realms. Set to a thoroughly listenable score by Jim Guthrie, this well paced and affecting documentary makes for a stirring and inspiring tale filled with insight to the very personal side of an industry almost entirely devoid of personality.

Movie Review: Red Lights / Cert: 12 / Director: Rogrigo Cortez / Screenplay: Rodrigo Cortez / Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Rober De Niro, Cillian Murphy, Toby Jones, Elizabeth Olsen / Release Date: June 15th

The Zener card moment in Ghostbusters introduces Bill Murray’s character in an exceptionally funny way. The Zener card scene in Red Lights with Sigourney Weaver giving an impassioned speech about the flaws in psychic testing is also amusing and perfectly sums up the mood of this paranormal thriller with a sense of humour and a political edge. Director and writer, Rodrigo Cortés, who previously impressed with Buried, loses some of the focused intensity and delivers a dramatic over the top concoction.

Dr Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy) are the paranormal investigative duo fighting against the politics of university budget constraints and the charlatans inhabiting the psychic world. When the legendary psychic showman Simon Silver (Robert De Niro) announces his return to the forum after a thirty year absence the pair quarrel over the need to investigate the authenticity of his “gift”. Matheson wants to leave well alone after a past incident, whilst Buckley is insistently fist banging on about the importance of shedding light on this mentalist. Student, Sally Owen (Elizabeth Olsen) also joins the team as an aspiring investigator and regrettably a love interest for Buckley. Their storyline is weak, but she provides the character through which Cortes can ask questions that may be going through the viewer’s head. Olsen is as always great with what she is given, and the dynamic between her and Murphy works on the mentoring level but falls flat on the romantic side.

From the start it is Weaver who engages and intrigues with her strong, straight talking Matheson and her performance appears effortless as she slips into the role with ease. The motivation behind Matheson’s interminable job is a little shaky but it does allow a vulnerability to be explored in her otherwise tough exterior. Murphy is weirdly endearing as Buckley with his milk drinking idiosyncratic ways, and he gets some exquisitely over the top scenes that need to be embraced for all their theatrical madness. His scenes with De Niro reach from the bizarre to the downright dark. A relentless, brilliantly inserted fight scene that allows for nothing more than a particularly striking image of a blood-soaked Cillian Murphy and a much needed adrenalin rush to pump the audience up for the finale is a highpoint.

At the centre of Red Lights is the idea of questioning preconceived ideas and it attempts to channel the audience along this path. Cortés is going for Hollywood misdirection, however on assembling a film intended to make the viewer question what is going on, the final act is flawed by not letting the audience chew on what has been presented. Engaging at times and full of powerful performances but meandering moments meant to disorientate ruin the rubicund mood. You’ll leave the cinema languishing in or laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual: