James Crompton
22 Reviews
Reviews
Time Terminal
Very click. Great cinematography and a really good sequel to the first one. It had the same characters and same aesthetic and it really did pull off being a sequel. It packed a bit of a punch even at the end. In the flurry of everything though I guess I felt like not too much happened or I was not really sure what happened. Something got a little lost in translation. I guess its hard being a sequel at the same time as possibly needing to be a stand alone film for people who haven't seen the original. But that might not come into judging in the end. I guess I felt the story in the first one was a bit more complete and of itself, and I guess I would have liked the sequel to stand alone as well as carry on from the last one. But still great cinematography and performances and slick editing. It looked very classy.
Finger Bang
I thought this film was an awesome piece. It was beautifully shot, well acted, it had a good script with some excellent characters. And what is more it managed to be a very poignant film within seven minutes. It really impressed me.
Gym Buddy
Cool buddy flick with a twist on the title. Sort of switched between being quite real and naturalistic to quite heightened which brought out the humour and contrast. I liked it because it satirises those silly registration offers that everyone really hates and the adrenalin junkies who try and sign you up to them. Had me laughing. Well shot and executed. Great collision, great female characters, I don't always remember the smash cut, good take on the buddy movie, and funny Wihelm scream moment.
The Catch Up
This was a great film. Nice use of the genre. Well acted. Loved the deadpan comedy. Loved the awkward silences. Great comic timing. A nicely constructed piece.
That's Love, Dawg!
Thanks for taking the time to review our film. We were trying to create an ensemble piece. We ended up making a ten minute film really and had to cut out some of the exposition. So we hope to put the full version up online some time in the near future when we get a chance to finish it. We had a lot of fun making it and think we had some really comic moments. We hope people enjoyed it. It was my first effort at directing and many of our team were quite fresh to 48 hour so I think we are just happy we got it finished in time and enjoyed what we came up with.
STARSEED
SPOILER ALERT!!! Read after! The idea behind this film comes from a group of interconnecting threads...a mixture of Corey Goode's Cosmic Disclosure, The Law Of One material and Ancient Aliens. There is a notion that Blue Avians are 6th density beings helping us transition from 3rd density into 4th density at the moment. The idea is that if we don't transition into 4th density now we go and relive 3rd density again for another 25,000 years. In 3rd density apparently you have polarity to push you either to the negative path (service to self) or the positive path (service to others). In 4th density there is either negative or positive planets and supposedly Earth is transitioning into a 4th density positive planet. Anyway the idea behind the movie is that a Blue Avian comes down and the field that she encounters is representative of humanity. At first she sees a group of people having a space festival and she feels positive about Earth and dances along. Then she shares he message in light language with the revellers but the band leader mocks her language and makes fun of it speaking a harsh made up gibberish at her and everyone laughs at her. The man who she was dancing with suddenly reveals the monster he is a hiding...and she has a flash back to Atlantis where this man lived previous incarnations and remembers the mistakes humanity made back then, when the Blue Avians shared their knowledge with the Atlantanteans and the Atlanteans used the technological advances to make weapons. There is even a notion that the Atlanteans did genetic experiments on hybrid beings eg cat humans and dog humans etc. There is even the notion that that where we get the legends of centaurs from. She is scared off and continues her way through the field of humanity and meets some golfers. She speaks to them in light language again trying to share her knowledge with them and help them raise their vibration but the golfers insult her and the way she looks and even though she is pure and innocent...make daft misogynist remarks. They just want to get on with their game. She is in the way. Their game is more important. Their boiling hotheadness escalates when the third golfer decides to take her down. So he whacks a ball at her and knocks her out and the nonchalantly, as if nothing happened, walk past her unconscious body to get on with their game. It's symbolic of the competitive nature of man and the silly wars we fight and how we are all embroiled in tedious activities and competing with each other that if someone from a higher consciousness passed by we probably wouldn't notice them or we'd see them as an other, or someone who is nutty, or project our own fears or twisted perceptions on to them not seeing them for who they truly are. Finally the paramedic comes to help and at last the our Blue Avian Lucille Ra has found someone on this Earth who has empathy, someone who cares, someone with whom there is a connection. But soon after she finds herself on a table about to be cut up. The idea is for one it could be seen as an autopsy...that secretly the paramedic had another aggenda and perhaps was an undercover part of some secret government agency and knew she was an alien and so is about to conduct experiments on her. Also the notion that she is using her because she is different as a science experiment. What use an alien life if we can cut her up and find the mysteries of the Universe. There is also the notion that it is satirising the medical system. That our medical system is a bit twisted sometimes. That we look to medicate and operate sometimes before we look to heal. This beings notion of healing is of course way different. They can use energy to heal or even heal themselves without having to be cut up. And so all of these notions are horrific to our Blue Avian. She has had enough of these twisted Earthlings and transports back to her other Avian friend. Together as male and female they make the choice that humanity is for the most part quite sick and isn't quite ready for fourth density and needs to start over. As yin and yang together they must put their hands on the crystal to make that decision. And so the harvest begins. The preamble is a bit of background to the Blue Avians...who are said to have visited the Atlanteans, The Egyptians (the hieroglyphs depict the gods as blue Avians if the colour is restored...the Egyptians worshipped them...In The Law Of One they call themselves Ra). Anyway there is a huge information about all of that in Corey Goode and David Wilcock's Cosmic Disclosure series and The Law Of One. It is quite fascinating and quite the wormhole and whether you believe it all is another thing. But it made a great backstory to our little Sci Fi Universe. I am grateful to all our actors and amazing crew which was assembled in a week as I didn't have the money to enter before that. And particularly grateful to the restaurants that sponsored us. We had a fantastic time. The weather threatened but we used our weather manipulating abilities and turned it around. The cut you see on the site is a later edit as we kind of got exhausted and so wasn't quite thinking clearly enough to get everything that we wanted in in that space of time. But the first edit was still pretty fun! Just a couple of extra polishes and a bit more exposition and tweaking of the soundtrack etc.
Stand Up
Slick, funny and well edited. Visually stunning and great camera work. Great use of contrast and hilarious use of the heightened tension to turn it into a gag. Well written. Perhaps if anything the last line could have been stronger but other than that it was very slick. I liked the use of the Wilhelm scream for the telephone, Can't remember exactly where the smash cut was but I know it was there. The collision? Golf clubs? Good well played female character in particular. And quirky take on the Survival genre. I'm picking this as at least an Auckland finalist.
BBS
I really liked this film. It was one of the picks of this heat. I like also that they doubled it as both a possible erotic thriller and a superhero movie. They took the piss out of themselves. The comedy was really understated and great, I loved the team intro. It was both well shot and well edited. It was well constructed and was a good take on the genre. Good use of the leaf too. Big ups. Great acting.
THE DREADED CURSE
This was one of my favourites of the heat. Nailed the Z Grade. Noirish aesthetic. Long pregnant pauses and melodramatic expressions. Kooky characters. Had it all. Was cracking up all the way through it.
That's Love, Dawg!
Thanks for taking the time to review our film. We were trying to create an ensemble piece. We ended up making a ten minute film really and had to cut out some of the exposition. So we hope to put the full version up online some time in the near future when we get a chance to finish it. We had a lot of fun making it and think we had some really comic moments. We hope people enjoyed it. It was my first effort at directing and many of our team were quite fresh to 48 hour so I think we are just happy we got it finished in time and enjoyed what we came up with.
Under The Bridge
Another of my favourites from the heat. Beautifully shot. Had substance and poignancy. As above looked very film commission. Very topical too about homelessness. Well acted. Nice aesthetic. Meaningful if a bit familiar. Definitely a stand out.
Morgan Foster Presents: Mindcreep Cinema
Visually strong but I got a bit lost in the execution of the story. I'm sure if I had the original in my mind it would make more sense to me. I found myself wowed by the cinematography, the performances were strong in all aspects, but it all just went a bit blurry in terms of cohesion perhaps. Almost like it got a bit too clever for its own good. I'm a big fan of Chess Club's previous efforts though particularly the musical, but this one wasn't quite as up there, but I admit perhaps I need to see it again.
Broken Clover
This film was a hoooooooot. There was some witty Irish banter and a lot of stuff about potatoes and a classic moment with a leaf in a portaloo. Some great deadpan moments also with the rubbing of camouflage. It looked like they were applying makeup. Poor Nicky Brick to be caught up in all that. Got to feel sorry for her.
Daylight Robbery
Another good entry from the Goodfellas this year. A fantastic effort at the One Shot genre. Beautifully shot and pulled off nicely. Not an easy thing to do either. Love your work.
Broken Clover
This film was hilarious. Sean O'Connor and Tonci Pivac were a hoot. Great use of the leaf.
A TIme Of Legends
This was nicely shot and well acted but I think where it fell down perhaps was the choice to do it as a documentary as oppose to a story. Instead of choosing an urban legend and making a story about it they chose to report on it. I think there was better opportunity for development of character, drama and even comedy if they actually chose an urban legend rather than reported on it. Something like Candyman is a good example of this.
"Perfect"
Thanks for taking the time to review our film. I'd never heard of Ruby Sparks before so looked it up to see what you were talking about. It seems to be about a writer imagining a girl into being. Not sure how that relates to our film. If anything there are more nods to Wierd Science if anything but it is a completely different tone. But then again I didn't write it. I do however admit to making a nod to Flight Of The Conchords by doing a binary digit solo at the end. But hey it's a robot movie so that was 'perfect' and I thought our movie was too :) and I wasn't even in it.