A Review of a so Called Bad Movie - Iron Sky

I have not reviewed a film in a while and after finally finishing “Iron Sky” I felt it was time. Ok where to start. This film does what it says on the tin, Nazi's fled to the moon, built a base, created an army and now it's time to invade the earth!! It starts with a space mission to the moon to advertise the election for the new American president, who uses a black astronaut, James Washington, to advertise the first moon mission in years, using the pun "Black to the moon". Soon after landing he discovers the secret Nazi moon base, getting caught and supplying the Nazi's with the power to fly their ships. After James has been bleached to look white, the only main female Nazi, takes a ship to Earth with James to find more smartphones to power their out dated technology. And then after the female Nazi manages to get into the white house and become the President’s speech writer the shit hits the fan!!

This film has two things going for it. The first being the fact it is so stupid that it seems to work, it is tongue in cheek and it happens to love taking the piss out of its self. The make up on James Washington when he is made to look white is so poor that it is funny, and made even funnier that the characters in the film look convinced that he is white. The actress playing the President is made to look like Sarah Palin and gives a pretty stereotypical performance of Palin, which seems to be a theme in this film, another example being the war room and all the stereotypes from different countries. Greed is also projected well in this film, wondering how far any of the characters, good or bad, would go to get what they wanted. I was impressed that the film started to have a dig at the way our countries are run and basically controlled by the United States, but did not go to far keeping the whole film on a more tongue-in-cheek level.

The second point I want to make about how good the film is, is simply the production design and how well it is pulled off. There is so much detail in this film, and it all looks amazing, from background posters to the massive moon base. The bright colours of Earth compared to the gloomy shades of the moon makes everything stand out and helps to highlight every detail, making it easier to spot little details. The thing I thought might let the film down was the CGI, but I was very impressed to learn that this was not the case. The different vehicles of war on both the Nazi's and the planet Earth's side, were designed brilliantly and were pulled off very well by the special effects department.

The fact that this film reminded me of a 60's Science Fiction film added to the wacky joy that this film created, just look at the costume the main American female captain is wearing in the final battle scene. When reading other reviews I do wonder what the other critics wanted from this film. It's about Nazi's on the Moon in the year 2018 (or something), you telling me that it was going to be ground breaking?? That is like comparing "Snakes on a Plane" to "Citizen Kane"!!

So to sum it up this film is just a colourful comic book of a film, good vs. evil, but how far will good go before coming evil itself?? Ok the acting was not perfect, but I did not think I was looking at an Oscar winning film. It's a bit of fun. What I would call a "Throw your brain at the wall" type of film, just forget about everything else for 90 minutes and enjoy a bit of silly fun!!

Everyone Loves A Musical!!

As we know everyone has gone a bit musical mad of late, since the release of Tom Hooper's Les Miserables, and since being a fan of the film myself I thought I would take 5 minutes and create a musical inspired blog. I have decided to pick my favorite 5 songs from musical films. 

Well I have to start somewhere and why not with what happens to also be my favorite film of all time.

The Nightmare Before Christmas – Poor Jack

So every song in this film is brilliantly written (and in some cases even performed) by Danny Elfman. You may think that I would have chosen "What's This?", "This is Halloween" or the totally brilliant "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" but no I go for the song that has the most heart. After being blown out of the sky, Jack Skeleton sings of his disappointment in himself for not being able to pull off Christmas and as the song begins he sees what has happened as his own fault. As the song progresses and picks up pace the real Jack starts to shine through. He begins to see that he was only trying to help out, and as he rips the Christmas clothes off we can see that he is back to normal and ready to save the day!!

Singing in the Rain - Broadway Melody Ballet

"Singing in the Rain" maybe a bit of an obvious choice, but what can I say I like my classics. No, I'm not going for the title song, but the song that I think stands out the most. Compared to the other tracks of the film "Broadway Melody Ballet" is bigger, more colourful and feels like it over shadows everything else in the film. In my opinion that works because it breaks up the action before we go into the last act and shows that with a musical you can get away with nearly everything, including a period musical that has a modern day dancer travel back in time to the cavalier days. Grace Kelly launches into a song and dance number in a massive studio warehouse, including tap dancing and gangsters with stupid big coins that they seem to have trouble flipping!!

The Muppet Movie – Pictures in my Head

The Muppets have been around for a long time, and everyone knows they like a good song! It just so happens that in their newest adventure on the big screen, Bret McKenzie (One of the Flight of the Conchords) wrote some amazing songs for them to sing, including one which creates a great nostalgia for the Muppets of the 70's TV show. Yes I know Jason Segel's script was a love letter to the Muppets of yesteryear, but I think that is made so clear in this song. Well who does not want to get back with old friends?? 

South Park Movie - La Resistance

Since seeing Les Mis it is clear to see where Trey Parker and Matt Stone got influence for this song. Everyone loves a stirring anthem and with this tune bringing together the other songs from the film, I think it has an impact as much as “One Day More” does in Les Mis. Yes OK it may not be as serious as the issues are in Les Mis, but it is still as riveting and I remember as a 12 year old boy buying the album for the South Park Movie (as I was too young to see it), and listening to that song on repeat, shortly followed by “I’m Super”, not really sure why??!!

     

High School Musical 3 - Scream

OK, so this choice is something a little different for me, but well if you can't beat them, join them!! High School Musical may not be as popular as it was 5 years ago, but there is something I did and still do like about them. Troy (Zac Efron) has the best solo songs and even though his angry jumping around a golf course is simply brilliant, it is High School School 3 that had the best Troy Bolton song. "Scream" has a great little moral to it for the kids, but it is the fact that it has hundreds of badly CGI basketballs, a thunder storm and a revolving room which makes it so unmissable. Zac Efron tries his very best to show off his skills of anger and confusion but what is quite interesting is the little flairs he allows to escape. Like the ballet jumps on to the screen and my favorite by far is his manly head banging up a flight of stairs finished off by a girly little run up the last few steps!! O Troy you are such a man!!

BONUS TRACK, Shrek 2 – I Need a Hero

Ok, I know this is not really a musical, but I'm including this as a bonus track. Shrek 2 has a few musical numbers but the final track steals the show. As Shrek battles his way into the castle to save Fiona, the fairy godmother sings the track "I Need a Hero". The action to the song works so well and the comedy just tops it off!!

Wednesday Film Review - The Toxic Avenger

So for my first Wednesday Bad Film Review I decided to start with a real classic. This film is one that I remember best from my childhood, not that I saw this film as a kid but I owned an annual of the Cartoon series that came from it. I talk of “The Toxic Avenger” a film created by the B movie studio Troma and the film which they use as their studio logo! To be honest I had not even seen the film till a couple of days ago and you know what, that was a real shame. Yes, it is a god awful but that is its charm. The only real problem with the film is the acting but again that is half of the joy, it creates most of the comedy and that is what makes it so watchable. The hammed up, cheesy characters make you want to know what they will do next, and breaking the characters up and giving them all an average time on screen allows none of them to become too annoying.

I loved what I took as comments on society, like comparing the police to Nazi Germany and hinting that psycho paths are Christians!! The homemade effort was also something that worked for the film and built on the character of the piece, my favorite part being the Mushy Pea nuclear waste, with other close competitors including the breathing dead dog and the montage of building the house in the swarm. 

The special effects, I loved!! Maybe because it reminds me of the fun we have on “I am Tim” with the slow cost effects, but like “Tim” they still looked pretty impressive, like the head crushing weights and the transformation from Melvin to the Toxic Avenger.

True it made no sense why the policeman’s hands caught fire when touching Melvin, why the Toxic Avenger’s voice changed so much and the fact that at the end no one questioned if the Major was evil or not! Apart from that the story was reasonably solid and never became boring. I look forward to checking out the sequels and over Troma Films!

Acting 4/5

Cheesiness 4/5

Overall 4/5