The Facility, 2012 - ★

The Facility, 2012 - ★
REVIEWED

"Do you wanna know what the side fx of brain drugs are? ... anything the human mind can think on and act on... thats the side fx"

Morty (Steve Evets)

Warning: Side-FX may involve anxiety, head swelling and murder.

Bland, low grade British medical horror following a group of drug trial volunteers testing a new drug named Symtrex Pro9.

The Facility originally titled Guinea Pigs is as humorless as its forgettable. The ending was rushed, the plot felt derivative and the acting was sub afternoon soap opera quality.

[PRFR]
I wont remember anything, I guess at a push I kinda liked the Mancunian drug trail journey man character Morty, for the simple fact there probably are people who do these trials for a living.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Chosen Survivors, 1974 - ★★½

Chosen Survivors, 1974 - ★★½
REVIEWED

"It consumes its own weight in blood every day."

Alana Fitzgerald (Diana Muldaur)

Slightly off kilter post apocalyptic fantasy, following a group of chosen individuals who are lucky enough to land places in a state of the art futuristic underground base, ahead of an imminent nuclear attack on the USA. Only the group are plagued by vampire bats, and begin to question if they're not part of some progressively more elaborate experiment.

'Chosen Survivors' is an unusual mixture of familiar themes, that never rose to its early promise for me. It did manage to build a pretty claustrophobic and suspenseful atmosphere, while the hammy script made it feel more like a television pilot than feature. Especially the first 3rd, when we're introduced to the characters by way of narrated psycho babble. Acting is fine and visually its great, the internal base is full of 70s chic.

[PRFR]
The dubious random drunken sexual attack by the pent up lead character played by Jackie Cooper, and the even more dubious 'ohh go on then' response by the victim played by Barbara Babcock (the 70s really took misogyny to another level). Ohh and I must give a massive nod to the films lighting department, it lit tunnels and elevator shafts green, way before Alien/Aliens did.

Originally taken from Letterboxd

Iron Man 3, 2013 - ★★★½

Iron Man 3, 2013 - ★★★½
REVIEWED

"Failure is the fog through which we glimpse triumph."

Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce)

Stark raving hilarious 3rd solo outing for Iron Man. Tony Stark emotionally crippled and prone to anxiety attacks since his recent duty with the Avengers, has to face a nerdy cognitive scientist hell bent on creating hybrid humans to conquer the medical world and take revenge on Stark for failing to acknowledge his genius years earlier.

The basic setup is pretty standard superhero gubbins that we've seen 100s of times before... evil genius intent on making an impact on the world, kidnaps the heroes woman yada yada blah blah. So zero points for originality then, but the 3rd outing still makes for a rewarding experience because Drew Pearce & Shane Black's script plays off these familiar stereotypes so damned well, almost to the point of being more a comedy than all out actioner.

Its gonna be a long time before anyone could attempt to do Tony Stark other than Robert Downey Jr. hes made the role his own. I loved the more anxiety riddled version this time around, was a little less cocksure but still enough super ego. Gwyneth Paltrow was hot as Penny, literary. Don Cheadle was Don Cheadle... again. And Jon Favreau was in disguise as Tony Soprano. While Ben Kingsley was hilarious has hammy kangaroo villain Mandarin. And Guy Pearce putting in another solid performance as Aldrich Killian, though agreeably not the most formidable villain whose ever graced a comic based franchise.

I'll be honest I never enjoyed 'The Avengers' half as much as everyone else seemed to do (could have been a little to do with the over hype), but it just felt like a CGI video game cut scene to me. So it was a treat that 'Iron Man 3' though not the greatest superhero movie ever, was still heaps of fun.

[PRFR]
I loved Starks big bro like interactions with the fatherless kid, plus so many laugh out loud segments from suits malfunctioning to Mandarin's off camera antics.

Originally taken from Letterboxd