septicman
14 Reviews
Reviews
SUPERb
Superhero: it's bloody hard to do something new in this genre, and when I saw the great camerawork and sharply-written dialogue of the first thirty seconds or so, I wondered if we were about to see the "Dark Knight" of the 48HOURS. Sadly, I don't think this film could *quite* decide whether it wanted to be dramatic or comedic (I feel it maybe was trying for the former) and it ended up being a bit of a long ride to nowhere much. The plot: a normal-looking guy is tied up in a basement, and a villain in a mask taunts him about an evil plot he's hatched. We learn that normal guy is actually a retired superhero who's packed it in because he's "found love". Turns out the villain just happens to have said 'love' to hand, which makes the hero angry, and they fight each other with perplexing special effects. The girlfriend gets in the way, and we freeze frame on a "Nooooooo!!!". Bugger. Problem is, the characters had so little depth, I didn't care what happened to who -- they were all frankly a bit annoying. I suppose it's easy to be hard on films that look great but have a poor plot; if SUPERb had looked more amateur, it might have sat a little better with me. As it was, though, it was like a Ferrari with the engine of an Austin Allegro.
Fafari Areeche
Ah, the fad film. We winced when this came up at the launch, and we reckon even getting Musical was getting off lightly compared to this. When Fafari Areeche started, I had a good chuckle, as did the rest of the cinema. Unfortunately, it seemed we were expected to drag that one laugh over the entire film. I have no idea what the 'fad' was; maybe I'd have liked it more if I'd known what they were trying to send up? The film featured several afro-sporting faux-Italians in a (pretty cool) car wearing mafioso-style suits and packing what our team firearms enthusiast thought at a glance were indeed genuine firearms(!) As you may deduce from the title, said characters started muttering 'sounds-like-Italian', which is about the best way I can describe lots of burbling punctuated with the occasional reference to food (hearing 'carpaccio' the first time was funny... the fourth time, not so much). Then some women in another car do something similar, and the two groups meet up in some kind of barn or outbuilding where someone in a mask is inexplicably torturing someone with a bag over his head, who turns out to be... well, a guy. Maybe the genre bested this team, because they look promising. Fafari Areeche, however, sadly wasn't al dente.
Pet Patrol
I love Beefy Bacon. I also hate Beefy Bacon, because they're always in our heat and I sulk if they have a funnier film than us. I don't think it'd be unfair to say, though, that Pet Patrol wouldn't be the *best* film they've ever made. The synopsis is that a couple of animal control blokes are facing shutdown from some kind of megalomaniac supervisor unless they save five pets in a short space of time. I really liked the premise, and the supervisor character was absolutely superb; there were also some sweet little site gags, such as the mouth to mouth with the snake that resulted in some visible snot ropes -- gold. But, perhaps unfairly, I've come to expect more from Beefy Bacon; they still got my 2 points (after our own film, duh) but it didn't split my sides this time. It won't stop me anticipating their efforts every year, however.
SUPERb
Superhero: it's bloody hard to do something new in this genre, and when I saw the great camerawork and sharply-written dialogue of the first thirty seconds or so, I wondered if we were about to see the "Dark Knight" of the 48HOURS. Sadly, I don't think this film could *quite* decide whether it wanted to be dramatic or comedic (I feel it maybe was trying for the former) and it ended up being a bit of a long ride to nowhere much. The plot: a normal-looking guy is tied up in a basement, and a villain in a mask taunts him about an evil plot he's hatched. We learn that normal guy is actually a retired superhero who's packed it in because he's "found love". Turns out the villain just happens to have said 'love' to hand, which makes the hero angry, and they fight each other with perplexing special effects. The girlfriend gets in the way, and we freeze frame on a "Nooooooo!!!". Bugger. Problem is, the characters had so little depth, I didn't care what happened to who -- they were all frankly a bit annoying. I suppose it's easy to be hard on films that look great but have a poor plot; if SUPERb had looked more amateur, it might have sat a little better with me. As it was, though, it was like a Ferrari with the engine of an Austin Allegro.
Pet Patrol
I love Beefy Bacon. I also hate Beefy Bacon, because they're always in our heat and I sulk if they have a funnier film than us. I don't think it'd be unfair to say, though, that Pet Patrol wouldn't be the *best* film they've ever made. The synopsis is that a couple of animal control blokes are facing shutdown from some kind of megalomaniac supervisor unless they save five pets in a short space of time. I really liked the premise, and the supervisor character was absolutely superb; there were also some sweet little site gags, such as the mouth to mouth with the snake that resulted in some visible snot ropes -- gold. But, perhaps unfairly, I've come to expect more from Beefy Bacon; they still got my 2 points (after our own film, duh) but it didn't split my sides this time. It won't stop me anticipating their efforts every year, however.