Clayton Hiku
36 Reviews
Reviews
a nipple in time
HAHA. Oh man. This was a hoot. I loved this film. I loved your commitment to the idea and bonkers nature of twisting our way through the ages using someones nipples. This film was well shot and again so impressive that it was filmed on iPhone (R.I.P iphone camera films made by rip focus 2020?). The sound and other technical elements were really good too. The acting by the main characters was also really good and solid and some great scripted jokes throughout. I loved a lot of the weird time set pieces we visited albeit that some were a little disorientating. Like for example the one where people communicate using instruments? This one threw me ( but still Lol'ed at the trumpet expletive). But it made much more sense with the followup visit with just instruments and the throw away line of "I thought all the humans moved to mars?" That was very clever and cool but maybe those two scenes could have switched places so we knew what it was we were looking at when we see people talking through instruments only. Lastly the ending was a little hard to tell what was meant to be happening so it felt slightly more like the journey was more fun than the destination. But still some really great ideas that were well executed and a thoroughly awesome and enjoyable film. But let's also not forget that intro!!! HAHA. Amazing! Can you guys animate an entire film with AJ and Rowan next year? I guess that would count as not being filmed on iPhone. ;)
Inflamed
WOW! This film was so good! Amazing concept. Great script. Excellent acting and cinematography. Beautiful set and art design. Reminded me a lot of the Eh Team's 2015 "The impotence of Hard times" when Hamish was a talking blue goo. Could not think of a single thing I'd change. If anything the last shots of the Dr plunging into the patient were hard to work out what was meant to be happening at first couple shots but then it became apparent and it was HILARIOUS. But what an ambitious shot to pull off so massive kudos for going for it and pulling it off still. I've only seen one heat but this would already by my top contender for placing at the finals.
Detention
Upshot are definitely improving every year they are in the competition. This was a tough Genre this year but they took a really classic and simple take on the genre and just did it well. It was sweet and fun and I enjoyed it. One of the things I noticed that I really liked this year was knowing when to take your comedy seriously and when to make fun of yourself. ( its one thing I think marvel do so well is knowing how to laugh at themselves ) For me this was clearest when you first see the lead actor and my instant reaction was "oh man... Thats a terrible Moustache" and then you went and did an extreme close up of it for a great laugh. That was very well done. Keep up the good work guys.
Twenty Four Hour Rewind
This was an excellent movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fantastic concept although it was very close in story to the national winner from 2016 Time Travel Centre. I thought you guys did an excellent job at executing this idea. I've done time travel stories twice in this comp and Im going to try hard not to pick at any of the time travel paradoxes as this is the same for every time travel movie. People start to say "Hey that wouldn't work because blah blah x y z and parallel timelines blah blah" But all time travel movies don't work because time travel ISN'T possible. Therefore you set the rules anytime your make a time travel movie about how your version of time travel works. So with that in mind you did a great job. I found myself disliking the girlfriend character more and more as the montage went on and I was half expecting that in the end he was going to learn a lesson from the time travel guy that if after all he has done she's still not that in to him then he should find someone else. But the gag at the end was very good and a solid payoff. I especially loved the time he went back in time just because he said a word wrong or something. That was brilliant. Overall a really good film and had to be close to the top 25. Well done.
Monday
This film was a really good laugh at Heat 8. Good commitment to your style and you squeezed a lot of comedy out of your stylistic choices of camera and sound work. The lead actor did really well too. The final news shot and last punchline felt almost as if it was unrelated to any previous setup and I think it could have been funnier to just end with the lead character back at his desk stamping away again with dead bodies and police all around him staring at him shocked while he is back to his usual happy self smiling at everyone completely unaware. Maybe its even here that he finally sees them looking at him and pauses, shakes his head and says "Pfft Mondays! Am I right?" But either way it was a great laugh and I would suggest in the future if you go for this style of film again where you use intentionally bad camera shots or sound work etc for comedic purposes to check out the last two years from team Toot Toot. They are the masters of doing exactly that but sparingly and only when needed for the punchlines and then nice high quality the rest of the time.
Aurora
I have loved watching Upshot's films continue to improve every year. This was perhaps my favourite film of theirs yet. The cinematography was lovely and I too found myself looking for the areas of masking in the couch and Table shots wondering how you did it. And as much as I think I knew where it was it was still smooth enough and convincing enough for me to not be 100% sure. So well done for that! I loved seeing you take an element and write a unique story off of it. Also the lead actress was FANTASTIC. Really enjoyed her performance. The way she managed to hold the audience's attention for 5 mins with no dialogue was really impressive and would love to see her get a nomination for her role. Super charismatic and loveable. Only thing this film lacked was a deeper understanding of the character and what was going on along with perhaps a bigger payoff. Perhaps it could have lead to a more heartbreaking ending where she knows that the sunrise will mean the end of her date and you can see the sadness of what that means build. Sadly we never got to quite know why she had this *spoilers* date with a Shadow or why the lights were turning on to end it. So 10/10 for the concept but a few points lost for not quite nailing the payoff. Overall really enjoyed the film and fully deserves to be in the top 25 and a possible finalist too.
In Jest
This was a really well done film. And probably in my top 5-6 of a really tough heat. The story concept was good and the commitment to the acting was great. The young girl did an incredibly good job and was both really natural and convincing. Has star potential there. The young boy's comedic reactions were gold and did an awesome job too. I thought the mums acting was also really solid but there were a couple scenes where the dialougue inside the campervan just wasn't quite natural between the mums. A couple too mentions about collecting clown figurines etc. But very minor and writing natural dialogue that tells a story can be so hard so more of a script thing than an acting thing. The shots were fantastic! The lighting in the tent was great and the light on the outside was amazing too. The final shot with the creepy clown was beautiful. But I had kind of hoped for the tension to build more and the clown to appear behind the mums at the tent door. Could have had the cheap effect of blood splatting across the outside of the tent etc. Mostly because the characters of the parents throughout the story had become increasingly unlikeable so it may have been slightly.....dare I say it....... satisfying? Again great job. Loved the film. Good clear story and well executed and without having seen the rest of the heats but just knowing how hard heat 8 was I am sure you guys had to be close to the shortlist. Well done.
Catman and Robyn
Excellent concept and nicely executed. From the moment the premise for this story was under way you knew that hilarity would ensue. I had a really good time watching this and laughed a lot. The lead actors did a great job and there were a lot of nice shots throughout. The sweet ending rounded it off really nicely too. I did personally find it was hard to see that the drunk guy at the start was actually in a cat onesie and once he woke in the morning and started drinking milk I was confused for awhile wondering if this guy was just a drunk guy in a costume or ACTUALLY a cat. The things he was apologising for on the phone to friends could all have been either drunk guy behaviour or cat behaviour "ie peeing on the couch". But maybe this was the point. And if so thats awesome. Definitely had me intrigued for the first half the film wondering "is he an actual cat?" Top work by SJGR and expect to see them in the finals.
Wonko
Agree with all thats been said above. I enjoyed this film and really appreciated your commitment to both Musical AND your acting by the lead character. I liked the idea of an unhappy clown, and then it seemed to be going in the direction of a really cool take on showing depression on a person who brings joy to everyone else and outwardly appears with a happy facade to the world but is tortured on the inside. With out getting too dark on it I felt like this was heading in that direction and in many ways was going to be a great poetically interesting way of showing a tragic parallel to the story of the likes of Robin Williams for example. And then that ENDING! haha So I also loved the bonkers idea of this ending and the visuals of the confetti canon was pure genius! I guess all this film needed was to commit a bit more either way to its setup. More emphasis on him trying to find "happiness WITHIN his self" or some sort of double meaning innuendo in the first half. Or gone for a more dramatic ending. As it is there's a lot to like about this film and I had a good laugh watching it and am excited by the potential of this team in the future.
The Silent Man
Absolutely Smashed It. I loved this film. From the moment you realised you are watching Film Noir murder mystery in a world where everyone can hear each others Inner monologues I knew this film was going to be gold. Brilliant concept and extremely well executed. Great Cinematography, great script, Great acting and great score. Given that I liked this film even more than TBALCs entry from last year I would say they are clearly the front runner for City Winner again this year.
Confused
As mentioned before this film was heavily hampered by technical issues. We've all been there on some level so well done on getting the film in on time rather than missing the hand in all together. Story wise though it was tough to follow your concept at times but the most noticeable flaw in the story was not having enough time to learn who this character is and why we should care about them before they meet their demise. I think you showed some good potential for trying to create drama and tension in your second half. Albeit the edit not quite making it clear what your ending was. But keep it up and next time just think about giving your character 15-30% of your movie time learning who they are and why we should care about them before throwing them into their adventure.
The Marquis de Sade
As always Strang Entertainment brought a film that was off the charts stunning cinematography. If I could give Rowan the best cinematography award every year I would. This film looked like a scene picked straight out of a big budget feature film. But for me therein lies its only real flaw. It did feel like a scene from a larger story but without the context either side of this horrific tale it was hard to become invested in the character. Who was he? Was he a good person? Was he a bad person who deserved his punishment. Were these villains actually dishing out capitol justice? We will never know. It was really great to see a truly linear story this year from Strang Enertainment. Not that I haven't loved or been blown away with their previous entries of Deleted scences, trailers and commentary. So overall beyond top marks for cinematography, lighting, acting, sound and score. But only lost marks for me with being light on story arc and character. But a highly likely finalist still.
Hero
WOW. Just wow. This is right up there as one of my top 5 all time 48 hours dramas! And I love me a good 48 hours drama! First up Rico! WOW! Well deserved acting award. Keep acting forever and ever dude. Now as for this film I have to say that the day after the finals and every day since there was only one film that my brain kept coming back to. And it was Hero! I couldn't get it out of my head. This film was beautiful, emotional and so genuine. Often I look at most 48 hours films and check how many times there is a shot or piece of acting or line of dialogue that takes me out of the movie world I'm in for a moment. Its almost impossible to ever make a 48hours film and complete that consistency 100% from start fo finish. This year there were at least 3 CHCH finalists who achieved this for me. Who made films that weren't just good for being made inside 48 hours but were flawlessly good! And this one was right at the top of that group. And lastly, I discussed the reason my brain kept coming back to this film with others who all said the exact same thing I said about it. When the twist at the end happened I instantly said "WHAT?! How'd they do that?" I was so sure I saw Rico's character talking at the start. Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn't. If he wasn't then you sold us one of the best 48 hours magic tricks I've ever seen. But even if he was talking and you perhaps overladed the other actors voice over him to misdirect us ( I honestly can't remember ) it wouldn't have mattered. By the time the end rolls around we are so invested in the fact we are hearing Rico exaggerate his life to his friend that the audience can't remember exactly how it started and can easily go with the ending no matter the start. Its brilliantly done. So BRAVO! I can not wait to watch this again and again. It's going to go up there with Carousel by the Good Fellas as my most watched 48hours drama. Congrats on all the well deserved awards and am super Proud for this to represent CHCH at the nationals! Come on national Judges be the HERO Chch needs right now.
Cushy: A Pull Story
This was a very cool and very ambitious film that was well executed. I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish. Excellent cinematography. The matching shots of the couch in the same position every shot was very cool. Providing as many laughs as it did with an inanimate lead actor was amazing. The only flaw in this film for me perhaps was the ending. It was a really nice, sweet ending but sadly a bit predictable from the opening scene. I'm not sure what I wanted as an ending but I kept waiting for there to be some extra level of reason WHY the little girl *spoilers* would want to find her couch and tooth again. Without a solid emotional connection between the two it seemed more like a moment of "oh hey. This is my couch" as opposed to a long lost journey/ redemption arc of some kind. But overall an excellent short film and easily a city finalist and can't wait to see more from South Jersey Ghost Research in the future.
A Slice of You
Finally got to see this film at the finals and so happy I did. R.I.P Focus are clearly the team to watch in CHCH for sure. I loved this film and I felt like it was one of the best musical non-musicals I've seen out of CHCH. Some of the the humour was amazing! Well written, super well timed and really well edited. I can't remember if this was nominated for art direction but if not it should have been and if it was it had to be close to winning. Those uniforms and That stack of pizza boxes!! WOW! Amazing commitment. And of course that soundtrack was next level fantastic. Well done Serena and to the team for the use of the soundtrack. Although those credits did run quite a long time to allow that last song in. But totally get why too. Its such a great song. Perhaps next time you could put some bloopers into the credits to keep the laughter and energy going in the crowd right to the very end. The acting was excellent too but if I am looking for any areas of improvement to mention I feel like there were just a couple little moments that lost my complete belief in the film world I was watching. Maybe a little smile here or there that looked almost like trying not to laugh rather than that character genuinely smiling. But thats a tiny thing to mention off a near perfect comedy. Well done guys and can't wait to see your next film. At the rate you are improving I expect to see you holding an Apee one day for sure. Keep it up!
Down 2 The Wire
ULTRA 48 Down 2 the Wire is a sequel to the CHCH finals winning 2016 film of the same name. It follows up on the story of the two lead female characters some years after the original after they have parted ways as bomb squad partners. This film is of very high quality in every aspect as is always the case for TBALC. Most notably the fantastic acting by Laura and Emma. The story has really nice tension, mystery and humour throughout but I did find myself somewhat confused at the end as to who exactly the real bomber/villain of the story was. The cinematography was of very high quality throughout but a few shots did let down the consistency and it therefore didn't quite have the flawless polish of its predecessor. Also a couple of the fancier shots felt a little forced for the storyline e.g., the drone shot. Overall though I really enjoyed this film and I have no doubt that we will see it as a regional finalist again in 2017.
Opposite side of the track
First film of Heat 8. So many things to love in this film. The camera work and lighting were right on point and had a real presence and style that instantly set the tone. The acting was brilliant and their commitment to the script was fantastic. There were a bunch of really good lines in the script that were made great by fantastic delivery. The only major issue was the plot itself. It never quite seems to know the story its trying to tell. Never quite managing to explain which character is good and which is bad. And I was completely lost during the gun shot moment. Almost as if there was an extra scene left in the edit accidentally. I'll need to watch it again but seeing as it was the first film of the night and it had my full attention the fact that I couldn't work out what happened in the second half reflects on the edit/ script itself. Anyway soooo much potential here. Talented actors and cinematographers in this team and with a clearer plot driven story next year I could see a really amazing film coming from these guys in 2020.
Home
I really enjoyed this film. The cinematography was some of the nicest and most consistent of the heat. The audio was good and the acting was great. The acting of the lead actress was great and sold the potential for a twist from her really well. The lighting was fantastic and I found myself really intrigued and interested the whole way. The only thing that let this film down was its twist ending. A really good concept just fell over a little at the end. The twist was too far into the unexplained without enough setup to really have an impact and make the audience have an "OH!!!! WOW!" moment. Lots of great potential from this team in this film and am keen to see more from them. Did enough to get one of my 3 votes for audience favourite that night so well done.
Saving Christmas
I absolutely loved this film. This film, for me, was the perfect blend of Z grade and Xmas movie. They showed exactly what you should do with a Z grade type genre (not that it was their genre). It was fully self aware and let you know that every single poor edit cut, average green screening or SFX were all intentionally there to make you laugh with impeciable comedic timing. I vote next year that the character and line of dialogue elements must be "A Canadian" and the line "EH"!
A Familiar Feeling
Wow. First off. That production value! Watching this heat you find yourself seeing varying levels of camera quality and shot composition. And you see some of the better films of the heat and you think to yourself " Yeah that looks good. That looks like a movie." And then you see the first shot of this film and you realise OMG! Thats a movie picture! So first up absolutely professional cinematography and sound throughout. As for the story it was a classic simple story told well but the level of ACTING and comedic timing to really get every bit of beautiful cringey comedy gold out of this concept was incredible. In a less experienced team this idea and execution may have fallen a little flat but it was handled so brilliantly by all involved that it was a joy to watch. I have the ability to turn off my "try and guess whats happening in the plot" part of my brain sometimes and for me I didn't realise where it was going until the toilet speech rehearsal scene. So the pay off at the end was great. One of my favs of the heat and no doubt finals bound.
The Intervention
What I liked about this film. From the moment this film came on in Heat 8 you could instantly see the jump in the quality of the Cinematography. Beautifully well shot film and well acted as always. Shock ending is an incredibly hard genre to nail as your audience is waiting for it. But Strang definitely nailed it this year. As I could tell by the girl sitting next to me actually screaming on that incredible match cut shot! So much to love about it and an easy pick for the finals. What I feel needed working on - The story up until the shock ending was just starting to drag a little. The ending really pays it off but perhaps the pacing up until that point could have been a tiny bit faster as the interest in the story was just starting to dropoff. Most noticeable for me was the score. It seemed to have the same little piano loop playing in each scene . Which didn't always match the mood of each scene and by the 3rd or 4th time became quite noticeable. But minor details in a great 48 hours entry.
Duck Off!
Words........ Trying to find words to describe this. LOL This was a hell of a way to end the bloodbath of heat 9. It put a big giant WTF on the end of that night and it still has me reeling. Who am I? Who is Chad? Why is there a duck? Why does he have no pants on?!!! In all seriousness it looks like you guys had a lot of fun and Im not gonna lie I had quite a few laughs. (throwing him up through a two story window was amazing!) But perhaps check out some of the teams like Mad Scientists or even the awesome Crab Crab Crab to see some ways to take your amazing energy and craziness and wrap it up in a slightly tighter package.
The Wish (hopefully nobody else picked that title)
Oh man I laughed so hard throughout this film! Well done guys again. You take this absurdity style you're doing and do it so well it creates this incredible paradox of awesome every time. (I need to look up this Swede style that Rowan keeps mentioning) Anyway your jokes and humour were sooo on point and well done and well timed. I barely caught my breath the entire film. Also I loved the beat poet bit and seeing Michael playing the double again! Overall guys, incredible work and one of my absolute favourites of the heat. Easy finalist! Well done.
I'm Gonna
This film was fantastic. The edit and direction was top notch. The pairing of the voiceovers to the adult acting was so well done. The concept and idea was super well done and executed. I loved the humour. One of the best things I liked about this film was the pacing. Im not sure what the actual run time was but it felt like it was definitely less than the full 5 minutes. If so, this film is perfect example of how to edit your film to the best pace for your concept and not just filling up 5 minutes because you can. Any longer and the gags may have started to drag and any shorter it might have felt light. So well done on a well shot, written and edited punchy comedy.
Potem Immortales
First of all, I applaud your commitment to the musical. Always a tough genre (yet to have it ourselves yikes) But you did a really great job at having fun with this and setting a tone that was light and silly. This gave it a lot of leeway for its overarching story. The story itself was very simple and you executed that well. I enjoyed it a lot. If you guys can harness this level of fun with a concept that is very clever and unique next year you would have an amazing finals worthy film. As it is its probably not a finals film this year but well done and keep it up guys.
An Appointment with a Poo
I was so pleasantly surprised by this film the more it went on. The absurdity of the title and opening cosmic shots set the tone for something non serious. But this film does so well to balance the high quality with low quality with perfect artistic choices over when to push each. The script was excellent and I will be sad if it doesn't get a nomination for best script at the finals. Perhaps slightly drawn out for an excellent small concept. The final shot with the kid in slow motion in the background was amazing. It was a great start to the heat and I could see this in todays top 25 list. (although I only have Heat 9 to draw from). Well done.
The Clock Is Ticking
Loved the opening. Ice cream randomly setting off a bomb in the middle of the pathway was hilarious. This great premise in itself was enough to propel so many comedic possibilities for writing. (See TBALCs Down to the wire from 2016.) Great acting by the lead. The story felt like this perhaps suffered from a writing process where you had X number of actors in the team and you wrote a story for your actors rather than used the actors needed for your best story. Apologies if thats not the case. Either way the side characters didn't add anything to this story other than stretching out the time and introducing a new side plot of a stalker for the live streamer. Impressive live streamer animations btw. Loved that! And again Great lead actor and opening premise to the film.
The Spares
TBALC are the CHCH standard of film making. Such an awesome team and this years film didn't disappoint at all. How you guys constantly manage to come up with seemingly never done before, incredibly clever concepts is beyond me. This film was so well done. The opening shots and sound effects were so convincing for me I genuinely believed that shot where must have been walking on someones deck outside was actually on a boat/Arc. Ultra was such a tough challenge this year and you guys not only embraced it but came up with a concept that was extremely clever from it. I liked the loose interpretation of the costumes for the animals and I feel like the Ultra teams this year have to be given some imaginative licence. In previous years 48hours has always done well to come up with elements that everyone has access to. Leafs, puddles etc. But the ultra challenge this year pushed things a bit far in my opinion as not everyone has access to animals and children. So I liked your take on it. I really can't say much bad about this film. The concept was great and the payoff was great too. I missed quite a few important lines of dialogue due to audience laughter but thats not your fault. So even the ending missed with me initially as I hadn't quite heard what all 3 of the animals were. So can't wait to see it again. Maybe the only thing was the final shot/reveal seemed to happen a bit suddenly for me but again perhaps I missed the dialogue leading up to it due to crowd laughter. Beautiful cinematography, script, acting, sound and set design. Easily another CHCH finalist. UPDATE: I feel compelled to do an update to this review after saying how many lines I felt like I missed the first time around. After having seen it for a second time now I just wanna say I absolutely love it and am more clear overall on the concept and heard all the amazingly clever jokes this time. The Corkscrew OMG! But I also feel I know now the only small thing that took this film down from what could have easily been the CHCH winner spot. I think after setting up such a beautiful world where humans are animals and acted out so well the ending shot just takes the audience out of that fantastic last moment. Having a modern day documentary shot with no slow reveal was just too sudden. I think all it might have taken would have been a few seconds of black perhaps with text saying "6000 years later". And you could have had that shot playing on a TV in a lounge where you hear the narrator's voice first before showing the TV screen for more punchline reveal. But I know how hard this can be under the 5 minute rule sometimes. I felt the same thing with our own ending reveal this year where you are trimming every second you can off to squeeze it under 5mins. Overall though it was still one of my personal top 3 CHCH films this year. Totally Loved it. Well done.