Reel Retro Reviews

Reel Retro Review - Spirited Away (2001)

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki follows up on his record-breaking opus Princess Mononoke (1997) with this surreal tale about a lost 10 year old girl. A hybrid between Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, the film follows Chihiro who, during her family’s move to a new town, stumbles into a bizarre, dangerous, yet ultimately charming spirit world.

X:Men Retrospective

In just a few weeks time we will see the release of X-Men: First Class in cinemas around Australia, directed by Matthew Vaugn who made a large splash with his previous film ‘Kick Ass’, the next X film also sees the return of the father of the current X film franchise with Bryan Singer taking on a producing role as well as being credited for the story of ‘First Class’.

Reel Retro - The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

The third and final parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy – The Return of the King, reunites us with Frodo and Sam on their never-ending quest to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

With the Fellowship being scattered to the four corners of Middle Earth, it is up to Sam to bear the emotional burden of keeping them on the righteous path and making sure that the conniving and insidiously cunning Gollum doesn’t lead them to their own doom.

Reel Retro: The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers

The second in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy of films, The Two Towers follows Frodo and Sam as they continue their journey to Mordor to destroy the ring. Travelling into the darkest realms of middle earth, they encounter new creatures and create uneasy alliances.

The Monster Squad

100 years ago, the forces of darkness threatened mankind with total dominion and servitude. Led by the evil Count Dracula, the evil ones seemed on the cusp of success. Possessed of an amulet with magical powers, Abraham Van Helsing, Dracula's nemisis, thwarted their evil doings by creating a rift in time, sending them all into a vortex and potentially capping the evil in a permanent state of nothingness.

They Blew It.

Reel Retro: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

In a small village in the Shire a young Hobbit named Frodo has been entrusted with an ancient Ring. Now he must embark on a quest to Mount Doom deep within the lands of Mordor in order to destroy it.

Based on the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ was released in cinemas worldwide late in December 2001. ‘Fellowship’ was the first of three films released adapting the book which were all being filmed as one project in various locations across New Zealand.

Reel Retro: The Good Son

Starring a very young Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood and released in 1993, the good Son is about a young boy named Mark who after his Mother passes away goes to stay with his auntie and Uncle and their two children. Mark befriends Henry the oldest of the children and being boys they share adventures together. As time progresses Mark starts to realize that something is not right with Henry whilst witnessing the slow degradation of his sanity.

Reel Retro - Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet is what occurs when a vampire storyline boards an express train and that train hits the sci-fi genre and high speed: bits fly everywhere and it looks kinda cool when it happens, but afterwards everyone's left looking at the mess. With a poor reception, a hot lead actress, special effects that make you wish for less green screen and more acting, this film isn't to everyone's tastes.

Reel Retro - City Of Ember

This film slipped under the metaphorical radar of almost everyone when it was released. The marketing alone makes me vomit madly in distaste, some of the most inept film promo posters I have seen. I manged to find the coolest one to save your retinas burning, readers. After a poor reception and a slow uptake, it truly has became in my view an underdog of childrens' films for the last decade.

Reel Retro: Combat Shock

 

Combat Shock, released in 1986 and distributed by Troma, is a film about Frankie, a disturbed Vietnam veteran that is struggling with the harshness of the world he returns to fifteen years after been rescued from a POW camp. Combat Shock has always received divided opinions, being depicted as the most devastatingly harsh movie ever made or a truly honest account of inner city life in the 1980s.

 

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