solace in cinema : A vast wasteland of movies

Ok, I’m not aloud to write a review just yet, but just like I did with the ‘Hot Fuzz’ screening I caught, I have to deliver my initial reactions before I start to read anyone else’s views or start to hear ‘buzz’ …. I won’t reveal any plot points or talk about anything too particular (In case you think I’ll ruin it for you).

This is probably going to sting for those of you in the US as I read that ‘Sunshine’ has been pushed back to much later in the year (November I think?) and the fact is that ‘Sunshine is really good, and If I don’t talk about it i’m going to have to hurt myself to keep it all bottled up.

Honestly I wasn’t that excited for ‘Sunshine’, especially when you compare it to some of the other films I’ve been getting worked up about, but after seeing it… all I can say is wow. This film really came out of nowhere for me, it snuck up on me and shiv’d me in the spine like a fat convict.

Here’s the brief plot synopsis so we’re all on the same page:

50 years into the future, the Sun begins to die, and Earth is frozen in an eternal winter as a result. A team of astronauts are sent to revive the sun by passing a giant explosive device into it’s heart and hopefully reigniting it as a star. The mission fails, and the ‘Icarus I’ is never heard from again. Seven years later, a new team aboard the ‘Icarus II’ are sent to finish the mission

First of all the film looks beautiful, it’s really a step-up for Boyle looks wise, and it could easily pass as a big-budget summer film because the whole thing just emanates from the screen. It throws people between incredibly bright sunlight and dark shadow, and there was more than a couple of moments that visually took my breath away and had me literally in awe of what I was seeing. I should also mention the sound-design, as there were moments when the ship passed by the camera or something big happened on screen and the sound in the theatre was making my body rattle so much I felt a little bit sick…it was incredible.

This was the screening I attended, and I’m glad that they recorded this as it’s a worthwhile watch, Zack Snyder is an interesting guy to hear talk. It’s a shame it’s been sliced up by the media company as he talked for a while and quite in-depth about the film and also answered a couple of questions about ‘Watchmen’. He also talked (and I’m sure I mentioned this in my review) about considering having the Spartans naked, but received a note from Warner saying that they didn’t want to see any ‘dangling genitalia’ .. that got a laugh from the crowd.

300 is released this Friday (the 9th) in the US, and over here in the UK on the 23rd.

I can’t wait to see it again (I’m going to the IMAX in London on the 23rd to see it BIG)

… I am ‘300’s bitch

Spider-Man 3 arrives in early May (May 5th most places), and I guess i’m looking forward to it… I think it’s just that i’ve seen a couple of amazing films so far this year that have set the bar quite high for anything else i’m going to see. Maybe i’ll watch ‘Roadhouse 2′ and a film where Paris Hilton ‘acts’ to reset my internal film standards before I hit the cinema.

I would skip past the kissing scene and the talking to the aunt scene…. get to the hi-flying action… trust me its for the best.

Check out the 7 minutes of footage in HD on the nbc site here