Clash Of The Titans

Clash of the Titans – an excuse to show of pretty effects and really just be an enjoyable night out with friends and family. Just like this remake.

I saw this film with a friend, and we both had relatively high hopes for it, being fans of the original and all. The reviews we'd checked out beforehand seemed to be a mixed bag of opinions, but all grading the film around the “good, not brilliant”. So we had high hopes but were prepared for disappointment.

And you know what? This film may not be an accurate remake of the original, but it is probably exactly the same thing to this generation as it is to the generation brought up on the original – inspiration. Even now we look back on the stop-motion effects of Ray Harryhausen with admiration and fondness. As a kid, seeing the kraken or the Medusa was an exhilarating experience, and the grand feel of the film as a whole inspired many filmmakers.

Yes, the plot is weaker than in the original (Io? Really? Why even bother saving Andromeda then? If you're going to play it that way, at least ramp up Hades as a real Magnificent Bastard and have Perseus really show his utter disdain for him by performing the task set to him) but you know what? Giant scorpions! COOL! was what my mind was going through, reverting back to that childish glee we still have tucked away in a corner of our minds. This film is intended for teenagers and younger. Its a fun spectacle that pays homage to the originals spirit if nothing else.

Soft Review

Recently, I watched a short movie as part of my journalism studies - a class that focused on reviwing that week, interestingly enough. Unfortunately I couldn't just hand in one of my previous pieces of work, and so this review came about.

Soft is a short film, a medium that is surprisingly underrepresented when it comes to reviews. I haven't seen a lot of short films myself, true, but the few I have seen (such as Paths of Hate, or The Facts in the Case of Mr Hollow) tend to be finely made, with a certain visual flair to leave a lasting impression. Few such movies are over 15 minutes long, and so tend to be far more focused on grabbing the audiences attention. For many directors, a short film is their chance to garner attention and potential backing from financers for a ful length feature.

Soft is fairly typical in this respect - it is an urban drama exploring the issues of bullying and violence in youth. Some reviewers, like Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian Film Blog favourably compare it to A Clockwork Orange. The plot revolves around a father, his son, and the gang of teenagers who harass them. The course of events is almost entirely predictable, starting off with the son being assaulted and fleeing home, before the gang intimidates the father and then besieges the pair of them in their house. That's about it really - it's readily available on Youtube so feel free to check it out for yourselves.

There is a nice variety when it comes to techniques in this movie - camera phone footage is used in key sections, particularily when the gang is dealing out violence, whilst the rest of the film is presented in a typical fashion. To put it simply, there is nothing new or groundbreaking in this film, but it is a well crafted story told in a minimalistic way, and does a LOT with very little.

Made by Simon Ellis, this short movie has won the International Short Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008. Like many short movies, it's readily available on the internet, so do check it out.