There is a lot going on under the surface of Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank and it is a testament to the director’s management of her subject that the film is focused and prickly, instead of muted and insubstantial. Telling a story that will probably be off-hand referenced as the white, British version of Precious, Fish Tankfollows the tumultuous existence of Mia, a 15 yr old delinquent girl living in a British housing project with her estranged little sister, neglectful mother, and her mom’s charming, opportunistic boyfriend(Michael Fassbender).

The film is pensive and harrowing, and occasionally it’s even lonely and elegiac, as if it’s planning Mia’s funeral before she even grows up. I dare confess that there were times I would have gladly stopped watching it, so unsavory and forthright in their honesty are some of Arnold’s scenes and conversations. It takes a lot of bravery to tackle the world of teen poverty, neglect, and sexual abuse without the usual trappings of melodrama. Even Precious leaned heavily on emotional manipulation and calculated uplift to weather the stormy seas of its protagonist’s unfortunate life.

Fish Tank doesn’t feature any mentor characters or charitable individuals showing up to rescue Mia. This is her life, and she’s living it with uncertainty. She’s far older emotionally at 15 then she should be, and certainly older than her mother, who’s still living the irresponsible life of a drugged-out party skank who dances in her underwear while her underage children are smoking and drinking upstairs.

Still, Mia is just a teenager, and there’s so much of life she doesn’t understand not simply because she is young but because all of her experience comes from the dysfunctional microcosm she lives in. She can’t differentiate sex from love, affection from attention, or passion from intensity. She’s bitter, angry and lost and thinks she understands so much that she never sees danger or misfortune staring her in the eyes. Which is probably why Fassbender’s Connor so easily seduces her.

The passages of the film that deal with this older man carrying on an affair with a young, underage girl are, indeed, challenging ones. We see the film from Mia’s eyes however, so the initial outrage is lessened but the tragedy and sadness of it all is magnified. Arnold knows what she is doing here, and she pursues onward, giving Jarvis and Fassbinder scenes together that are emotionally difficult and intensely dramatic. What keeps rising to the surface is the hope that Mia will pull free and find a way to focus the restlessness, the passion for dance, and her own suspicions that her home life is fractured beyond repair.

Katie Jarvis as Mia is so good that it’s easy to assume that she’s just taking her background (she grew up in a similar project, was picked for the film when Arnold witnessed her having a row with her boyfriend, and had a child at 16) and living it out on camera. That’s not how it comes across here. She has real talent. Usually, people who have a real world knowledge of something actually let it prevent them from portraying it credibly onscreen.

Film is never reality, and sometimes we want to inject too many cumbersome details into what will always be, at some level, fantasy. Not Jarvis, who uses her ability for channeling simple, direct emotion to evoke and make sense of her own background, bringing in reference but creating Mia as a whole character. Fassbender is great too. He’s made Connor into a man who feels totally real and grounded, and his disarming air of charm makes it harder to wrap our heads around what he truly is. He doesn’t play a stereotype or a one note expansion of a trait, but a credible person and that somehow makes him all the more sinister.

Fish Tank isn’t an easy film, and Arnold doesn’t try to sell it as a ‘necessary’ one. It exists as what it is, telling with great sympathy and delicacy, a story grounded in reality. It doesn’t argue for itself, but like Mia, boldly strides across the screen just existing. You can take it or leave it, but make no mistake. It’s an effective piece of work.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

The boys over at Collider have scored the ultimate in fangirl scores. More Twilight previews!!! And boy do we have them here for you. Twilight has a tremendous following due to the book series, and a large following for the movie which comes out later this month. What do you all think about it? Will the film live up to the book? I doubt it as most don’t but I am sure some of the little teenagers will love the guy they picked for Edward!!

Check out the videos below and don’t forget to check out the huge lot of images we have here on the site!!

Clip 1 – Bad Guy

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Clip 2 – Ballet Studio

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TV Spot – Hunger

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TV Spot – Change

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TV Spot – Event

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Twilight hits theaters this coming Novemeber 21st. See you there!

Check out the photos below from the upcoming Harry Potter for Vampires film, Twilight. Already deemed as a must see for all teenagers, this movie is ready to knock the socks off of this fall.

TWILIGHT is an action-packed, modern day love story between a vampire and a human. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has always been a little bit different, never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother remarries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she doesn’t expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a boy unlike any she’s ever met. Intelligent and witty, he sees straight into her soul. Soon, Bella and Edward are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance. Edward can run faster than a mountain lion, he can stop a moving car with his bare hands – and he hasn’t aged since 1918. Like all vampires, he’s immortal. But he doesn’t have fangs, and he doesn’t drink human blood; Edward and his family are unique among vampires in their lifestyle choice. To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for – a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. But what will Edward & Bella do when James (Cam Gigandet), Laurent (Edi Gathegi) and Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre), the Cullens’ mortal vampire enemies, come to town, looking for her?

Check out the latest trailer also for Twilight right here at Atomic Popcorn!

With a slow week thus far in terms of good news I thought I would throw up a little bit for “Transformers: Rise of the Fallen” and the new reincarnation of “Friday the 13th”.

Two more well known movies, one a sure fire hit and the other, well Friday the 13th was never a hit so….

Anyway here are some goodies for you all to feast on.

The guys over at Collider and /Film have a few tidbits on Michael Bay’s latest attempt at superstardom.

The newest logo announced on the official website.

The comic con t-shirt that I wish I had!

And now for some not to exciting photos of Jason, the guy with the mask that stalks really hot supposed teenagers and allows us a sneak peak at some skin.

Source is evident