Friday 25 September 2015

Don't Blink-182

Actually maybe you should because well I don't know about you but I'm super keen now that Matt Skiba has joined the band. Skeebz telling fart and dick jokes? Blink 182 singing about satan and death? Oh yes please.

But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about a movie I watched recently titled "Don't Blink" (2014). I'm just trying to relate the movie back to punk rock in a really bad way. Sorry. I'll work on that.

Lets start with the trailer for "Don't Blink" which I didn't watch before I watched it.


Maybe I should have. Maybe then I could have had that hour and a half of my life back.

I had a tinder date that I had ditched to stay in. Netflix and chill by myself seemed like such a better idea than going for a drink or two with a potential snorezo (spoiler alert, I rescheduled my date and yeah he was boring just like this movie.) What to watch though? How about a horror movie starring that 90210 heartthrob Brian Austin Green. Can't go wrong there right? I wasn't expecting anything brilliant, but I thought maybe it might be at least a little bit entertaining or even so bad it was funny?

Nope.

This movie is low budget. And thats not always a bad thing, I love a good low budget film. Low budget can be done so well. Sometimes I think having less money can result in a better movie, it makes the filmmakers really have to be creative. Or it can also result in a movie that is hilariously bad. Both are excellent outcomes that I won't complain about.

This movie had potential. Its a great story for a low budget film, and it was kind of executed well.The story itself is pretty basic. A group of boring friends go away for a boring trip together and one by one they all just vanish in to thin air. The way they had them vanish was kind of neat. Someone ducks down to get something and bam they're gone, thats it no trace of them. It works really well with the budget. This could have been great.

What I wasn't expecting from this film was the fact that it would take over half an hour for anything to actually happen. That was one of their big mistakes. Lots of looking around and seeing no one is there, some spooky messages that they all seem to miss that is supposed to be scary. And then of course the fact that they all have to constantly keep updating each other on how they didn't see anything. Is this supposed to build tension? Because I've already seen that there is no one there, you don't need to tell me as well.

I actually fell asleep.

Once things start happening and it stops repeating itself, well it does get a bit more interesting. But not much. I admit fell asleep a few times. Lots of screaming girls getting all upset that their friends are going missing, angry men wanting to leave the cabin, but they can't because the cars are running out of fuel or something. I don't know. Of course no one has any cell reception.

Horror movie writers must hate that cell phones are such a thing now. Previously it was so convenient that no one could call the cops. Now they have to explain "oh there is no reception" and the audience just sits there and goes "Oh really? YEAH RIGHT." C'mon guys. You can think of a better reason for your characters to be unable to call for help.

So I liked the story. I really did, I've been thinking about it a bit in the week since I've watched it. But it was just the bare bones of the story. No one bothered the flesh it out.  There was never any explanation as to why anyone was disappearing, they just were. Come on give me a bit of resolution, give me reason to think this might spread or whatever. GIVE ME SOMETHING.

Also this movie needed a bit of editing, there were just a lot of pointless scenes, or they were dragged out too long, as I said it took far too long for anything to happen. I think they were trying to establish the characters (who were just really dull, I did not care about any of them, not even David Brian) and build suspense but I didn't bother to learn anyones names, it was really boring, we actually got to watch them all drive there for like 10 minutes or so. Snoozefest. Movies don't have to go for the standard minimum of 1hr 30mins. I've seen some great movies that go for a little over an hour, they could have done this. Maybe this movie might have actually been a little suspenseful then, I'm not sure if it could ever be considered scary.

What was the significance of it getting suddenly really cold? It was never explained, it was just there. That just really doesn't make sense to me. If you're going to introduce something to the plot make sure there is a reason why its there. If not cut it out. It doesn't matter, its not moving the story in any way.

To sum it up. Don't Blink and don't bother. Watch something else.

I give this movie one closing of my eyes and never opening them again out of five. Sorry David Brian, even my love of Beverly Hills 90210 couldn't save this one. Maybe you should go back to hanging out at the Peach Pit or trying to be a dj or something.

I should have just continued on with my Criminal Minds marathon.

What the eff is going on here?

I've been toying with blogging about the media I consume for years now, but only recently have I decided to actually make this a real thing. I've always watched movies, I watch all kinds of genres and  every week I co-host a podcast with my friends called the Long Gone Loser Rock show. And every week without fail my co host Damo asks me "Peta what did you watch this week?" because well lets face it, my tv is pretty much always on. I'm always watching a tv show or a movie. Netflix is basically my best friend right now.

This blog title comes from the screeching weasel album "Television City Dream". Music is a big part of my life and well I'm going to combine it all. I'm going to try and mostly blog about tv and movies, but I'm sure I'll write about other things as well. Somehow between all the watching, music, and art school,  I also find time to read a lot as well.

Just so you know there is most likely going to be spelling and grammar mistakes. Yeah I write, but I do it in a totally different way to how I blog. I'm not going to print off double spaced copies of every entry and hand edit it before I post it here (thats how I edit btw). Sorry. You can deal with it. I'm sure Damo will alert me to any glaringly large boo boos (official university term right there) anyways.

If you have any suggestions for movies I should watch feel free to comment on any of the posts or you can drop me an email at petatronart at gmail dot com.