For anyone who is lucky enough to own a pet you understand that talking to them is just inevitable. Great listeners and always ready for a cuddle it really is one of the pet owner perks. Having your pets talk back to you is not something the majority of pet owners have experienced. Yet in new black comedy The Voices this is exactly the problem its leading man Jerry is facing.
by Jo Johnstone
For anyone who is lucky enough to own a pet you understand that talking to them is just inevitable. Great listeners and always ready for a cuddle it really is one of the pet owner perks. Having your pets talk back to you is not something the majority of pet owners have experienced. Yet in new black comedy The Voices this is exactly the problem its leading man Jerry is facing. by Jo Johnstone It's the last Friday of the month, (and coincidentally also Halloween) which means it's time to admire another chosen piece of stop-motion animation. Since this Movies In Motion has landed on All Hallow's Eve, I have gone for something with an eerie edge to celebrate this most creepy of occasions. The Palace is a seven minute short film that explores fear, loss and loneliness in a dark vision of the future. by Jo Johnstone Quentin Tarantino is by far one of the greatest directors of his generation, beginning his career with the genre-busting Reservoir Dogs through to his latest effort of the Western/Southern slavery mash-up Django Unchained. Jumping from crime heist to kung-fu revenge flick, he has become acclaimed as a master of genre filmmaking. With Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction seen as modern classics, all eyes are on the director's body of work to match his brilliant earlier works. With his seventies grindhouse feature Death Proof, the director payed homage to the double feature exploitation flicks of his youth. Despite a disappointing box office take and mixed critical reception Death Proof is an epic whirlwind of a film, with great style, an epic soundtrack and a thrilling car chase finale. by Jo Johnstone Sometimes as a film ends you can feel every member of the audience asking themselves; "what the hell just happened?" This is usually a Michael Bay film issue where you question how such a pile of tosh ever managed to find funding. Luckily, at the other end of the shock spectrum, there is the Post David Fincher film reaction, often resonating after his new features. The director who, in his thirty year career, has given us Fight Club, Seven and The Social Network brings us the hotly anticipated adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel Gone Girl. by Jo Johnstone Earlier this year, in our monthly stop-motion binge, we discussed the absolutely phenomenal short The Maker; a story of a strange creatures race against draining time fom Zealous Studios. With a film of this calibre you are compelled to go over the studios full body of work for similar gems. On doing so, I found another brilliant short. Made with the same outstanding animation as The Maker and with a great moral centre that asks if our life is predetermined from the moment we are born. by Jo Johnstone Every now and then a film will come along that is so silly it throws away all film logic and taste. Despite the sensible, Brandy drinking film critic in your head you just have to like and admire it. Cats & Dogs is one of those films that despite its silliness leaves you with a warn and goofy feeling. The film dramatises the eternal feud between man's best friends and our feline companions. Add in celebrity voices, animal CGI and Bond style espionage you have a riot of a film. by Cookie N Screen We love stop-motion animation here. Just ask our resident expert Jo Johnstone, who tackles the stirring and important art form with much celebration on a monthly basis. Stop-motion animation is a craft, it is a wonderful excruciating and technical medium that produces highly developed films with bounds of imagination. Though many studios tend to favour the computer side of animation, studios such as Laika and directors like Henry Selick are still championing these courageous art forms. With the release of The Boxtrolls today, let’s have a look at some of the best stop animation movies. by Jo Johnstone It may not be the most conventional way to begin a review but I think in this case a disclaimer is needed. Within the I’m With Geek family, I am known as the stop-motion animation girl. I do adore the medium and think it is beyond magical. It is also fair to admit that when it comes to the stop-motion studio Laika, I am something of a fan girl. This is not to say that I cannot watch a Laika stop-motion film without that bias. Baring all that in mind I went in to the inventive studios latest offering, The Boxtrolls, excited but with an open mind. Thankfully the studio that gave us Coraline and ParaNorman have once again delivered a brilliant feature film filled with humour, warmth, charm and naturally, top notch animation. There are good movies, there are bad movies. And then there are movies that everyone cannot stop talking about because we love it so much and we want to tear our faces off because it is so good. Guardians of the Galaxy is that movie. Since Peter Quill and his band of merry assassins and bounty hunters gathered to defend the galaxy, we've been happily chomping into it like a brilliant feast. So, the I'm With Geek staff have pooled together our thoughts because just one review on the subject matter just isn't enough. |
FilmWriter of the Month
FeaturesFilm News -
Keep up to speed with the latest news from the world of cinema Must See Movies - A list of independent films we are looking forward too! Movie Monologues - Paul Costello counts down the best speeches in cinematic history every Thursday. Movies In Motion - Jo Johnstone explores the world of stop-motion animation from adverts to features every last Friday of the month. Experiment 626 - Our writers exchanged DVDs and here are the results We'll Fix it in Post - Graham Osborne gives us the run down on how certain movies could be improved. The Horror Vault - The dark side of cinema You May Have Missed - Movies that passed you by. From The Trenches - Matthew Howe delights with stories from the front line! Hidden Heroes - Celebrating those incredible people often in the shadows of cinema Terribrill - So bad they are actually good! Straight On Till Morning - Leah looks at the impact of childhood films Monthly Musical Moment - Taking a look at the best soundtracks and music moments Film FriendsCategories
All
Archives
July 2015
|