Entertainment Maven

Toronto After Dark 2012: Cockneys vs Zombies Review (Kirk Haviland)

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012

Cockneys vs Zombies (2012)

Starring Harry Treadaway, Rasmus Hardiker, Georgina King, Alan Ford, Honor Blackman, Michelle Ryan and Richard Briers

Written by James Moran and Lucas Roche

Directed by Matthias Hoene

Another entry from the UK, Toronto After Dark presented us with the FrightFest hit Cockneys vs Zombies for its Canadian premiere. The horror comedy set in London’s infamous east end aims to take off from where Shaun of the Dead left off also uses the insular setting of an elderly age care home to stage most of the action. The combination of the care home residents and young protagonists out to save their granddad is unique, but does it work?

Brothers Andy (Treadaway) and Terry (Hardiker), in an effort to save their grandfather Ray’s (Ford) quiet retirement home from being sold to condo developers, grab a few friends, including their cousin Katy (Ryan), and attempt to rob a bank. Just as they’re about to escape with the loot, they find their way blocked by hordes of the undead. Meanwhile, Ray and his fellow retirees must fight off another zombie horde, hip replacements and all. After escaping with hostages Emma (King) and Clive (Tony Gardiner) in tow, the group barely escapes to their hideout to regroup. They hatch a haphazard plan to save Grandpa Ray and his friends and take off into the zombie horde guns blazing to do so.

Cockneys vs Zombies is the comedy romp that I hoped I would get out of Inbred. The setup, execution and gags work fantastically well. The script from James Moran, the writer of another brilliant horror comedy “Severance”, and Lucas Roche is tight, smart and packs some inventive set pieces that I haven’t seen before. The performances also work very well here. The brother’s squabbling is completely believable, and mirrored by the goings on of the care home residents. Alan Ford is brilliant. His performance is brash and bombastic. He literally rips your attention away from everyone else onscreen every time he shows up. His counter point is Richard Brier’s Hamish, the dopey, less mobile senior that barely escapes the initial attack due to his mid afternoon nap. Another standout from the supporting characters is Ashley Bashy Thomas as Mental Mickey. His easily angered Mickey is a hoot to watch, complete with a zipper like set of stitches across the top of his head. The effects work here is also crisp. The zombies look great and the over the top feel to them works great in this case for comedic effect. Director Hoene has a great eye and sense of timing that keeps the film on track and the pacing on point.

One of the funnier films I have seen all year, Cockneys vs Zombies delivers for comedy fans and gore hounds alike. Cockneys vs Zombies is a strong recommend.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

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Abraham Lincoln Re-Animated – Nimit Malavia and Matt Whelan discuss their short film The Great Calamity

Abraham Lincoln Re-Animated – Nimit Malavia and Matt Whelan discuss their short film The Great Calamity

Hello All. Kirk, aka Movie Junkie TO, here again with another interview. This time with Nimit and Matt, two of the guys behind the new animated short/motion graphic novel The Great Calamity. The short film is from the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter DVD/Blu-Ray out this week from 20^th Century Fox. Nimit is the Key Concept Artist/Illustrator and Matthew is the Animation Director. At the time of the interview recording I had not been able to see the film, but I have been able to catch up with it now and can say the animation is fantastic. Enjoy!

Movie Junkie (MJ) – Hey guys, glad we could get to talk today. So how did you guys end up on this project?

Nimit Malavia (NM) – Back in September 2011 I was contacted by our director, Javier Soto, and asked if I would be interested in designing some concept designs and environments for this animated short. He had seen a piece of my work online and reached out to get in touch with me to ask if I had any interest. I was very interested by what I heard and that was how I got involved.

Matthew Whelan (MW) – I was contacted in January 2012 through House of Cool studios where I work, and got involved on the tech side. The script was already fully formed and Nimit had a direct style in terms of what we were trying to achieve.

MJ – So what is the concept/story behind your motion graphic novel?

NW – Well the film could be more accurately described as an animated short. Fox is going with a motion graphic term but animated short applies just as well. It’s an elaboration on the novel and tells the story of younger Abe when he still a Congressman. He was building up to the main events of the film and still hunting lower level vamps. In our story we focus on his relationship with Edgar Allan Poe and a discussion they have on the origin of vampires in America.

MJ – Great, that’s aspect of the novel that the film doesn’t really address at all. It seems like it’s ripe with opportunity.

MW – Javier was really excited to expand that part of the story and Poe is such an interesting character that it seemed like an obvious fit.

MJ – Great! So what style of animation have you guys chosen to utilize? Is it hand drawn or more CG based?

MW – That was one of the big challenges from our end. Javier wanted everything to look 2D. But the thing about the 2D, and one of the reason’s I’m shy about calling it a motion graphic/animated graphic novel, is that historically these are done with moving drawings. We pushed hard for everything to be in 3D so even when there are paintings in the film we mapped them on the geometry and all of the characters have Nimit’s drawings over top. We actually had Nimit fly down from Ottawa to work on this with us and had him drawing right on the computer to really push his 2D style even though it’s a 3D piece. I think you’ll see if you pick up the Blu-Ray on Oct 23rd that any individual frame in the short hopefully looks more like a drawing that a standard 3D animated character.

MJ– So then how long were you down there working with them, Nimit?

NM – I was down for about 4 or 5 days working in the studio and learning the technology. Matt was showing me exactly what they were doing and what things they needed my touch on. I also followed up with some work from my home studio and shared in the back and forth on any additional designs.

MJ – So was the script a collaborative effort?

NM – It was all written by Javier Soto. Javier wrote a great treatment and it came fully formed to me as it had gone to Matt. When we were developing the concepts and characters, Javier sent me the script and I read it over. It was really well written and the characters really came through so it made my job finding the look really easy.

MJ – Were you guys presented with any test footage from the film for reference?

MW – Javier actually went down and recorded with Benjamin and made sure to record all the takes needed for our piece. So we had that reference of seeing him actually performing parts from our script.

NM– And on my end, Javier provided me with a lot of production still and shots of all the different characters from the movie. The main thing was that he was emphasizing that he wanted us to make this our own so he provided all the reference and sort of gave an idea of the world the short would live in. It not exactly the same as the film’s and it’s not exactly close to the real Abraham looked like, but it exists somewhere in between the two.

MJ – That sounds fun. Thanks a lot for sitting down with me today guys, tell me what you guys have coming up next?

NM – I have a few projects coming up, mostly graphic novels, and I do a lot of gallery shows throughout the US. I have a few lined up in San Francisco, and a few more I can’t talk about right now, but that and some freelance illustration.

MW – For me what’s coming out next is Silent Hill: Revelations which I CG supervised on and moving forward I am working on more commercials.

MJ – Thanks again guys.

Till Next Time,

Movie Junkie TO

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Toronto After Dark 2012: Doomsday Book Review (Robert Harding)

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012

Doomsday Book (2012)

Starring Doona Bae, Joon-ho Bong and Ji-hee Jin

Directed by Jee-woon Kim, Pil-Sung Yim

Doomsday Book features a trio of tales regarding the end of the world. While the apocalyptic turmoils are not new (zombie outbreak, asteroid impact, and robot uprising) the way this film goes about telling them might be.

Doomsday Book is an anthology of three short films or chapters. None of them relate to each other short of the fact that each deals with end of the world scenarios. “A Brave New World” kicks off the trifecta with a zombie outbreak brought on by tainted beef a la mad cow disease gone bonkers. I found this segment of the film to be rather annoying at times. From the characters to the editing and the way the story was told, many of the aspects of the segment made it hard for me to really get involved with the film and enjoy it. What saved this piece for me were the little bits of humour and the fact that while it’s a zombie film on the surface, under the skin it’s actually a romance.

The second chapter is “The Heavenly Creature” which is a very “enlightening” piece of filmmaking. It is a common subject that when robots, or in this case a particular robot, become self-aware, humans get a little frightened. This is especially true when technology invades the world of religion as a robot janitor at a monastery finds religion, becomes enlightened, and eventually is believed to be Buddha. The Heavenly Creature is the prettiest looking of the three chapters and possibly the smartest as it deals with the moral complications revolving around robotics (similar to when Data from Star Trek The Next Generation had to prove he was “alive”). But what I enjoyed most about The Heavenly Creature was the robot itself. Through the use of puppetry, physical FX and clever camera angles, this robot is brought to life in an almost magical fashion.

The final chapter is entitled “Happy Birthday” and has the weirdest take on the end of the world via asteroid story I’ve ever seen, read or heard about. Played as a comedy, this film uses loose concepts of black holes, multi-dimensions, and how signals from technologies such as computers, the internet and cellphones could somehow merge to allow communication with far off places… as in alien worlds. To say anymore would ruin the surprise but it’s this surprise that makes this chapter so funny.

Doomsday Book may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Anthology films aren’t for everybody and are often not very good. Sometimes you can pick one or two parts that are worthwhile but rarely is the entirety of the film truly enjoyable. With Doomsday Book, “The Heavenly Creature” is clearly the best of the three chapters and stands well on its own but when combined with the other two chapters forms an apocalyptic telling like no other. There’s something to be said about coming at already established topics from different angles. Sometimes it works, and other times it doesn’t. With Doomsday Book, all three “films,” while completely different, work on some level. It’s this combined diversity that makes the film as a whole, much better than its individual parts.

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Toronto After Dark 2012: [REC]³ Genesis Review (Robert Harding)

Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012

[REC]3 Genesis (2012)

Starring Leticia Dolera, Javier Botet, Diego Martin, Alex Monner, and Ismael Martinez

Directed by Paco Plaza

Rec 3 marks a major divergence from the previous two films in the Rec franchise. Fans of those two films should note – this is nothing like the Rec films you’ve come to love. Don’t go into this new Rec film expecting to see first person shaky cam cause you’re not going to find it. Well, not in the same way you’re used to.

This latest installment in the hit Spanish zombie movie series relocates the carnage to a very large wedding reception. When the uncle of the groom shows up to the wedding with a dog bite on his hand nobody takes much notice. Little does anyone know that this little bite links him to a zombie outbreak happening miles away (see Rec 1 & 2). When the party gets going everyone thinks said uncle has had a bit too much to drink. That is until he eats someone.

Rec 3 starts off similar to the first two Rec films with lots of first person hand held camera work. Combining footage of three different cameras, one from the wedding videographer, and two from young relatives; one of which clearly wants to get into the film business. This style of familiar camera work continues up until just after the guests start getting eaten. Shortly after the zombie outbreak at the wedding reception, the wedding videographer get his camera smashed marking a change in camera style as the film switches over to a more traditional third person perspective. The third person perspective allows the film to have nice clean beautiful cinematography but also means that the claustrophobic sense achieved through first person shaky cam is gone. While this may be a good thing to some, most will find Rec 3 to be far less scary (if at all) because of it.

Rec 3 continues the tradition of having lots of gore and blood and it also has some humourous moments. The characters are well defined even in the short period of time some of them are on screen. And much like in the first two films, nobody is truly safe… nobody.

Rec 1 & 2 became popular due to their smart use of first person perspective shaky camera work. They weren’t your standard found footage films. While continuing on with this style may have become tedious to the viewer after three films, fans may not take well to this change. I personally felt the bridge between the old and the new worked very well. When the video camera was broken, it made that clear distinction that the filmmakers were going in a different direction. I wish the filmmakers had been able to maintain the level of scares from the previous outings but the film was too frantic to keep any tension going. I didn’t enjoy Rec 3 nearly as much as the first two but it did leave me with one lasting impression: I now really want to know what’s going to happen in Rec 4!

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imagiNATIVE: The Witching Hour Shorts Program Review (Paolo Kagaoan)

NiiPii

Directed by Jules Arita Koostachin

Eahparas

Directed by Anne Merete Gaup

Retaliation for a Greater Good

Directed by Per-Josef Idivuoma

It seems that I won’t spend time at Toronto After Dark with my colleagues here on the site but thankfully, imagiNATIVE has its own slices of horror and cinema of dread with the midnight screening of The Witching Hour Shorts Program. And the crowd I watched these shorts with was a great one.

The program includes NiiPii, a short about a Cree woman who dreams about her ancestor’s past footsteps. However, her new footsteps also expose her to the contemporary problems that First Nations people are facing. The program also has Eahparas, taking the visual perspective of a Sami child haunting her warrior-like mother, who tries to kill the spirit away. The actress in it bravely defies conventions of female depictions in movies. Both are female-driven narratives that in their own way remind me of Germaine Dulac’s creepy and dusty aesthetic. Finally, there’s Retaliation for a Greater Good, a neo-noirish cat and mouse movie that maybe focuses too much on metaphor instead of delivering a good story. Now I’ll spend more time talking about shorts with longer running times.

The 6th World

Starring Jeneda Benally

Directed by Nanobah Becker

My favourite short film is the first one that the series screened, which is Nanobah Becker’s The 6th World. It starts out with a weird dream that seems to be set in a Southwestern desert, where lonely individual corn stalks stand, eventually dying because of that land’s parched nature. The woman (Bedally) having this dream wakes up and goes back to her reality, which happens to be a spaceship, hoping that corn can emit oxygen that humans need for a long space travel. Their destination is Mars, a planet that hopefully can sustain Earth’s life forms. What ensues is non-comic dysfunction between her and the other crew members, although the ship’s general comments about the huskless corn. I can think of two historical events to compare this science fiction short to, but importantly, its tone resonates to stand out simply as a warning against the risks that overtly ambitious people might take in the far future.

Trapped

Directed by Joshua Mark Yesno

Joshua Mark Yesno’s Trapped has three young people who are…trapped on a nighttime road trip. A young woman is visiting her aunt, who is stuck on a road trip with her boyfriend and her ex-boyfriend, the latter being relegated as the group’s reluctant driver. Oh, there’s a fourth member of the group inside the car, who manifests as the ex-boyfriend’s bipolar self. And all of them have dark make-up spread around their eyes, a decision that seems distracting in its incomprehensible presence until the last five minutes. Loosely based on Yesno’s familial experiences, I don’t want to be overtly critical towards this short. However, the actor playing the ex-boyfriend and his ‘devil’ is better at being the latter than the former, while the rest of the cast are just downright amateurish. Nonetheless I still feel a potential within Yesno and there is something confident about touching such controversial subjects.

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