Year in Review...PART TWO: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Films of the year 2014. (Part One in review is HERE)

I have to say, this year has been an absolute stunner.  Compared to last years HERE, the quality, variety, and balls of some mainstream and indie movies has been outstanding (complete with some guilty pleasures).  Every week something came along and sucker punched me in the chops.

Again no real order.  If you ain't checked them out...what are you waiting for?

The Raid 2 - Gareth Evans
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Dean DeBlois
Under The Skin - Jonathan Glazer
Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy
The Babadook - Jennifer Kent
Gone Girl - David Fincher
Snowpiercer - Bong Joon-Ho
Interstellar - Christopher Nolan
Housebound - Gerard Johnstone
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Jonathan Liebesman
Dawn of the Planet of The Apes - Matt Reeves
Maps to The Stars - David Cronenberg
The Guest - Adam Wingard
Guardians of The Galaxy - James Gunn
Cold in July - Jim Mickle
Edge of Tomorrow - Doug Liman
Joe - David Gordon Green
Godzilla - Gareth Edwards

Honourable mentions -
The Machine - Caradog W. James (someone to watch out for)
Dom Hemingway - Richard Shepard (Jude Law turned into a real man's man actor)

Adding to this was Celluloid Screams Horror Festival 2014.  Which I have to say had more variety, surprises, and quality than previous years.  Here's what went off -

The Canadian Troma-esque troop Astron 6 ('Manborg', 'Fathers Day') were there with their new flick 'The Editor' - a Giallo (Italian slasher/horror films from the 70's and 80's) piss take. Fair play to them, they were at every screening over the entire weekend.  I would've buggered off after the film, but no, they stayed and met with lots of fans.  Good guys.

They also brought Lawrence Harvey who pops up in the 'The Editor'.  Really nice bloke.  However, seeing him just standing there after you've left the toilet did make me have a sleepless night.  If you don't know who he is, go see The Human Centipede 2.

Yeah, he's that guy.

Anyway - the biggy was meeting the big man below - Brian Yuzna.  Director of 'Society' and 'Return of The Living Dead III', as well as writer of 'Re-Animator', 'From Beyond', and...'Honey I Shrunk The Kids'.

The man is an absolute legend and also the nicest bloke you'll ever meet.  All he wanted to do was talk movies.  Had the pleasure of a brief chat with him after the QnA over ran - could easily have spent hours talking over his films.

Another fanboy moment was getting to meet Graham Humphrey.  "Who the fuck?"  You ask.  Here the fuck...

Go re-educate yourself when you see the art the man has created HERE.  When you've created iconic posters like the one above, you'll pay respect where its due.

As for the movies?  Well apart from seeing an all time fave 'Society' in a 35mm print, only two really stood out that I saw.

The first was 'Housebound'.  A New Zealand effort from director Gerard Johnstone.  Apart from thinking that the only thing New Zealand churned out were films about sheep and Hobbits, this little gem pops up.  Like a laid back version of 'The Burbs' meets 'People Under the Stairs' the film was funny, clever, witty, and had enough invention to set it above the usual horror fodder.

The 2nd impressive movie was actually a short film called 'Ink' which had its première.  While I find 98% of short films nowadays either a drawn out scene or FX reel, the short by Glasgow filmmaker Andy Stewart gave everyone a slap across the arse and made people take notice.

The short is a final film in a body-horror trilogy he's made, each with a similar theme but with noticeably bigger budgets.  However, its the overall craft of tension building coupled with the what-to-show-and-what-not-to-show-nature of each film stays constant and what makes it stand out.  It's one of the best shorts I've seen.

Go check out his first flick HERE.  His website HERE.  And follow the chunt on twatter HERE.  He's gained a fan from moi and you should like it too.

So that's that.  A list of great flicks, fun flicks, and ones to make you say "you liked that shite?".
  
See ya on the flip side in 2015, Danny.

Year in Review...PART ONE

Well, well, well.  Its the end of 2014.

Whatcha got to show for it?  For me it's a case of a few steps forward, one or two back.

The whole thing kicked off with the release of the music video "My Little Fantasy" by Braver Than Fiction in January. Check it below.

   

Read the previous blogs about it HERE

Responses to it were very good.  It seemed to give the band a little boost and something they could use going forward.  They've gone from strength to strength (tours, gigs, playing Sheffield's Tramlines festival) and hopefully will get better in 2015.  Check their OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The video did a few screenings.  Sheffield's Showroom Shorts and Manchester's Kino Shorts where it received some favourable responses.  Mainly a lot of "That was nice" than anything else.  Below is a link to a QnA from Kino Shorts -



Another nice little story came from hearing the progress of a friends band - MERRIN

They released an EP which received some great feedback and reviews called "Doom Cinema" which was accompanied by a trilogy of short films - which you can watch here HERE.

The big news was he received some some mad props on BLOODY DISGUSTING. The website putting them in the Top 10 movie influenced bands to listen to in 2014.

Chris and MERRIN have been gigging lots in London.  So if ya daaaarn saaarf try and check em out. Meanwhile, he's a video I made for them a few year ago.

   
HENRY KANE by -M E R R I N- from Danny Naylor on Vimeo.

Good stuff.  But, all in all...were people kicking down my door for a music video?  Nope.  Should they?  Probably not.  But as I was gearing up to pimp myself out...a few opportunities sprouted their pretty little heads.

The first was to work on Arthur & Merlin being shot in the Peak District.  I applied for a 2nd or 3rd  Assistant Director role not really knowing how big or small the budget of the film was to be.  If its small enough, they don't pay and you help out.  If it's has a fair budget then you're gonna have to be there on time, every day.

It just didn't pan out for me.   Holiday's from my 9 to 5, availability of my car, and funds were its downfall.  Am I sad about it?  Yeah, because I wanted to work on it.  I could've took the gamble but at the moment I have to play it safe.  I've too much on the line.

Then the Creative England Talent Centre happened.  Major coup on this one to a point where I even thought...why am I here?  You had award winning writers, directors, academy award nominated producers...then me - a guy who's highest budget he's ever worked on was £300.00.

I blogged a little about it HERE.  It span over about 6 months or so and overall was a great chance to network and understand the UK industry as a whole.  I got to meet Paul Fraser, who wrote one of my favourite films in 'A Room for Romeo Brass', as well as producers, sales agents, and buyers.

I also got to meet some great people - writers, producers, and directors - all wanting to make things happen.  It was a nice bubble to be in (as well as the ale).

It was all well and good.  Got me interested in applying for iShorts, the short film incentive they have.  Failed miserably as I expected but the feeling that it "maybe" could've crept through was a bonus.

So a load of ifs, buts, and maybe.  But there's a shining light on the horizon.

I'll hopefully get a few meetings up and running and see where it takes me based on the Talent Scheme.  There's always the music video and short angle I'm going to tackle if things begin to dry up.

But a big thing was hitting the Black List and getting some feedback from some industry professionals.  Basically it validated the writing.  Some ridiculous praise for certain aspects of it. Really mindblowing stuff that just pushed me further.

I've got some options now when I could've just gave up.  Lets see where it goes.

Oh....Check out PART 2 for my flicks and movie going of 2014 me arle china plates....