Dave's Film & DVD Reviews

Blueprint: Review Opens Video Page

2010-10-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

Blueprint: Review (the site that has stolen me away from here!) has just opened their very own Videos page, beginning with the first episode of 'Celebrity Interview', part of a new series of spoof videos created from real celebrity interviews. I didn't make it myself, but the company I work for did and I may edit one or two in the future. Check it out here.

Tamara Drewe Review at Blueprint: Review

2010-09-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed the English countryside-set farce Tamara Drewe over at Blueprint: Review:

http://blueprintreview.co.uk/2010/09/tamara-drewe/

The Legend Is Born: Ip Man Review at Blueprint: Review

2010-09-16T01:13:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed the action-packed The Legend Is Born: Ip Man over at Blueprint: Review:

http://blueprintreview.co.uk/2010/09/the-legend-is-born-ip-man/

Cherry Tree Lane Review at Blueprint: Review

2010-09-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

I've posted a review of the intense, British home-invasion film, Cherry Tree Lane over at Blueprint: Review. Check it out here:

http://blueprintreview.co.uk/2010/09/cherry-tree-lane/

Reviews posted on Blueprint: Review

2010-09-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed I've not been posting very often these days. Well, it's because I, alongside a group of writers and designers I work with, have been developing a new review site. It's called Blueprint: Review and can be found here.

Because we're just getting started we're eager to get a bit of a user-base built so jump right on the comments pages and get chatting. Any feedback is welcome too as we're still ironing out problems here and there.

I'll try and let you guys know when I post reviews on Blueprint: Review as well as Row Three (I'm still going to post for them when I can) so keep an eye out. I may cross post some bits and pieces on here too, especially more personal stuff like my movie marathons.

Head over there now and check out these new reviews I've posted:

Baseline

Lebanon

Caught in the Crossfire

Down Terrace

Dolph Lundgren is the Killing Machine Review at Row Three

2010-08-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

I posted a review of the action-packed Dolph Lundgren is the Killing Machine over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/08/17/review-dolph-lundgren-is-the-killing-machine/

Weekend of Trash III

2010-07-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

With my wife-to-be over in her home country of Finland for a week I took it upon myself to get the boys round for another one of our regular 'trashathons' last weekend (check out my previous write ups here and here). For the uninitiated (or those who can't be bothered to look up those two links) these weekends involve pulling out our lowest budgeted, most breast, explosion and blood filled crappy VHS and bargain-basement DVD's we can find and subjecting ourselves to their 'pleasures' for two nights and a morning. We usually squeeze in a couple of classier modern genre films too that haven't received the widest of releases.

This weekend really delivered the goods I must say. There were no straight up classics, but pretty much all of them did exactly what they said on the tin, which is more than can be said for a lot of exploitation flicks – most make better trailers than they do films.

As usual don't take the star ratings too seriously – I'm generally going on entertainment value over quality.

FRIDAY:

Deadly China Dolls (a.k.a. Lethal Panthers)

Year: 1990
Director: Godfrey Ho
Writers: Simon Fong, Charles N
Starring: Alex Fong, William Ho, Sibelle Hu, Maria Jo, John Lam, Clement Lee

Catapulting us into the weekend was Deadly China Dolls, sporting the classic tagline - “floozies with oozies” (yes, that's how they spelt it) and it didn't disappoint. This is exploitation at it's most refined. With one scene you'll get a gun fight, the next some gratuitous nudity, the next a kung-fu showdown and then it'll begin the loop again. There is a story in there somewhere about assassins and gangsters, but not a lot of time is spent on it. It looks about ten years older than it should (even on DVD) and it was clearly made on a budget, but they really go to town with their action sequences. There's a lot of firepower on display and they even manage to pull off some low rate John Woo slow-mo sequences. The martial arts scenes aren't too shabby either, with one of the stars in particular (can't remember her character name unfortunately) pulling off some impressive moves.

OK so the film is pretty crappy in all honesty, but delivers all your exploitation needs and is one of the most effective trashy B-movies I've seen for a while. If you're into scantily clad women blowing things up, killing hundreds of faceless goons and still having time to get down and dirty with some gangsters, then you can do much much worse.

7/10

A trailer for the Lethal Action Series (including Lethal Panther):

Horsemen of the Apocalypse (a.k.a. Horsemen)

Year: 2009
Director: Jonas Akerlund
Writers: Dave Callahan
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ziyi Zhang, Lou Taylor Pucci, Clifton Collins Jr, Patrick Fugit, Peter Stormare

We needed a change of pace after the sleeze and destruction of Deadly China Dolls so we went modern with Jonas Akerlund's thriller from last year which seemed to pass by unnoticed by the general public. A distinctly average, but nicely shot and suitably grisly serial killer mystery, Horsemen of the Apocalypse tries desperately to be Se7en but ultimately fails. Dennis Quaid is a grizzled detective struggling to get his life back on track after the death of his wife. Overworked and failing to be there for his two sons, he spends his days and nights trying to find who's behind a spate of brutal and torturous killings following a theme of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. It opts for a finale that's potentially quite interesting and refreshingly low-key for a film of this kind, but the writing is too clunky and the unfolding events are often too clearly signposted, making for quite a predictable experience.

Dennis Quaid is strong in the lead role, not mindblowing, but he kept me interested. Ziyi Zhang is less consistent, but I love watching her in anything. The film is not particularly memorable and has it's flaws, but it's classy enough to be worth a rent if you fancy a dark, moody thriller.

5/10

SATURDAY:

Strike of the Panther

Year: 1988
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Writers: Peter West, Ranald Allan and Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring: Edward John Stazak, John Stanton, Rowena Wallace, Jim Richards, Paris Jefferson, Zale Daniel

First up on Saturday was Strike of the Panther after a lengthy trip to Huddersfield's town centre hitting every market stall and charity shop along the way for more trash fixes. It's an 80's ozploitation 'classic' from Brian Trenchard-Smith, the man behind BMX Bandits and Turkey Shoot as well as the last video weekend's star attraction The Man From Hong Kong. The one and only sequel to Day of the Panther, this is low budget Australian martial arts at it's most fun. It's packed wall to wall with action as any film of this ilk should be - the moves are occasionally slow and always clearly choreographed, but they're diverse and acrobatic enough to remain entertaining nonetheless.

It's as dumb as they get – the hero Jason Blade's mentor and friend becomes psychic for no apparent reason half way through the film and starts to help him fight the bad guys from back his hospital bed. The acting is beyond wooden too, with Stazak delivering one of the blandest lead performances I've ever seen, managing to look goofily confused through the entire running time. Things like this are all part of it's charm though and the filmmakers know what they're dealing with, keeping things moving along at a fair pace and throwing enough fights and daft humour in there to keep you from switching off. It hit the spot for us anyway.

6/10

Below is a rather lengthy clip from the film. If you can't stomach that much cheese then skip to the baseball bat wielding ninja at 2.40 – comedy gold!

Triangle

Year: 2009
Director: Christopher Smith
Writer: Christopher Smith
Starring: Melissa George, Joshua McIvor, Jack Taylor, Michael Dorman, Henry Nixon

Jumping back to a modern genre offering, we tried out the British horror/thriller Triangle from writer/director Christopher Smith, the man behind Severance and Black Death, which is doing the festival rounds at the moment. It was an odd experience for me, because whilst I watched it I was genuinely engrossed and loved the looping concept of the film (kind of like a horror take on Groundhog Day), but after it finished and I let my mind take in what had happened I realised how deeply flawed it is in it's logic, leaving an unsatisfying nasty aftertaste to it all. I can't go into it too much without spoiling the film, but for me it broke too many of it's own rules. Smith tries to juggle too much by the end, getting trapped in the narrative's constrictive boundaries and depending on some clumsy contrivances in the finale to tie it up.

As I said, whilst I watched the film I loved it though. It's taught, original and occasionally quite creepy. Some of the minor characters are clichéd and annoying, but Melissa George is effective in the central role even if she overdoes the victim shtick from time to time. Your level of enjoyment of the film will come down to whether you can buy into the narrative though. I did for the most part, but it was too easy to pick apart afterwards.

7/10

Stone

Year: 1974
Director: Sandy Harbutt
Writer: Sandy Harbutt & Michael Robinson
Starring: Ken Shorter, Sandy Harbutt, Deryck Barnes, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward, Vincent Gil

With it's cult classic status and history of being one of the early groundbreaking entries to the ozploitation genre, I was pretty disappointed with Stone. It's not terrible, it's just dated quite badly and is frustratingly slow-moving; never a good thing in the latter stages of a film marathon. That said, once I got the idea that this wasn't the bike-chase filled trash-fest I expected, the film did grow on me. Rather than pander to action-movie clichés the film spends most of it's time getting to know the violent, filthy, yet strangely likeable members of it's central biker gang. It's shot and performed with a refreshing naturalism that was always done best in the 70's and some of the scenes when the group are just shooting the shit are the strongest. Unfortunately, the lead actor Ken Shorter, who plays a not-so-undercover cop that infiltrates the gang, is painfully bland and spoils the good work being done elsewhere. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the film has dated over the years. There's a strong hippy vibe to it all that just grated after a while and for a film that was banned in it's time it's pretty tame by todays standards.

Bikers and those attuned to the film's heritage and importance will get more from it and there is some solid 70's filmmaking on display, but ultimately I found the film a little too dull to fully endorse.

5/10

Below is the trailer, which makes it look a lot more exciting than it actually is:

Equalizer 2000

Year: 1986
Director: Cirio H. Santiago
Writer: Frederick Bailey
Starring: Richard Norton, Corinne Wahl, Robert Patrick, William Steis, Frederick Bailey

Equalizer 2000 is a Roger Corman backed Z-grade post-apocalyptic action movie from the king of Filipino exploitation, Cirio H. Santiago. Now I thought Deadly China Dolls was action-packed, but this just took the piss. The only scene I can remember that doesn't feature gunfire is a soft-focus sex scene between Richard Norton and Corinne Wahl and as surprised as I am to be saying this, there was just too much action for me. Because there was so little variety in what was happening on screen, it just became white noise after a while and we actually had to watch the last half on Sunday morning because we were struggling to stay awake. That said, the finale was great fun and Santiago certainly makes the most of his low budget. Plus you've got to give the film credit for delivering exactly what it's audience wants.

The film's 'plot' is hilarious. Basically, the world has been devastated by nuclear war and is split into several tribes, most of which are at war with one another. Then in comes Slade (Norton) who builds the world's biggest, most bad-ass gun, which for some reason becomes the key to taking over the world and winning the war. Of course it repeatedly falls into the wrong hands and Slade has to win it back to restore peace to the land. There's a goofy charm to it's naffness and it's fun to see Robert Patrick in one of his earliest roles, hamming it up nicely as a rebellious bandit. After checking out IMDB I discovered that he appeared in four of Santiago's films in his first 2 years as an actor, demonstrating how important Corman was in kickstarting the careers of several successful actors and directors.

Art it ain't, but Equalizer 2000 is trashy fun that put a smile on my face, despite a case of action overkill.

6/10

Below is an action-packed trailer:

SUNDAY:

East LA Warriors

Year: 1989
Directors: Addison Randall
Writers: Raymond Martino & Addison Randall
Starring: Tony Bravo, Kamar De Los Reyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Sabino Villa Lobos, Jastereo Coviare

East LA Warriors was a film I picked up especially for the weekend – that cover was just too hilarious to pass up. Unfortunately it was the weakest film we watched, leaving Sunday's viewing a little stale. It had it's share of so-bad-it's-funny moments, but took itself way too seriously. The film is set amongst the South American ganglands of East LA and teases us with talk of 'the games' (a fight tournament... to the death!), but they appear too little too late and instead it's more of an anti-gang melodrama that comes across as a Mexican soap opera. I would put money on most of the actors being from that background with all the hamming up on display; the scenes between Paulo and his mother are borderline parodies. That said, it was a refreshingly different setting at least and the story here is more fleshed out than in Deadly China Dolls or Equalizer 2000.

It's all watchable enough and there were a handful of goofy action scenes interspersed to keep me from totally giving up on it, but it's very bland and feels like more of a TV-movie than a straight to DVD action extravaganza. There's little to warrant it's 18 certificate too, I think just one harsh moment must have done it. The filmmakers probably slotted that in to up the rating and sell more copies. A disappointing end to a fun weekend.

4/10

Below is a homemade trailer and yes that song is from the film - what a theme tune!

Inception - group R3view at Row Three

2010-07-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

I got involved with the big joint R3view of Inception over at Row Three - check it out.

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/07/18/r3view-inception/

Dogtooth Review at Row Three

2010-07-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed art-house festival favourite Dogtooth over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/07/09/review-dogtooth/

Four Lions Review at Row Three

2010-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've posted a review of Chris Morris' feature film debut Four Lions over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/06/29/review-four-lions/

Capsule Reviews June 2010

2010-06-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

I've been very bad at keeping up with my reviewing of late. A mixture of being busy at home and work plus a bit of laziness has meant that I've only added one review and a link to some articles here and at Row Three this month. Maybe it's burnout after my Cannes trip or maybe it's because I'm preparing for the launch of Blueprint's upcoming review site (more info on that soon), but it just hasn't been happening. To make up for it I thought I'd knock up another batch of capsule reviews, briefly going over everything I've caught at the cinema and haven't written up my thoughts on over the last couple of months.

Whip It

Year: 2009
Director: Drew Barrymore
Writer: Shauna Cross
Based on the Novel by: Shauna Cross
Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliet Lewis, Drew Barrymore, Alia Shawkat

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is a light indie-drama that is cut from the same cloth as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine but doesn't try too hard to be quirky or cool as those films do. That's not to say it's better than them though. It's an enjoyable film about a teenager who uses the aggressive but inclusive sport of roller derby to find a sense of identity as well as rebel against her uptight mother. It supplies Ellen Page with another loveable outcast character to sink her teeth into and for the most part it does well to steer clear of too many sports movie cliches, but towards the end it started to get a bit cheesy for me. It's also a little too breezy for it's own good at times, making for an easy-going but mildly forgettable experience. It was better than I expected though and it's subtlety (in the first two-thirds at least) and lightness of touch was admirable for what could have easily become schmaltzy Hollywood trash. It'll be interesting to see what Barrymore does next.

6/10

How To Train Your Dragon

Year: 2010
Director: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Writers: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders & William Davis
Based on the Novel by: Cressida Cowell
Featuring the Voices of: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

After churning out Shrek sequels and other decidedly average CGI-animated features for the last few years, Dreamworks finally produce a film to rival Pixar's work. How To Train Your Dragon is a perfectly balanced family adventure with enough humour, warmth and set-pieces to keep everyone happy for an hour and a half. It's a wonderfully told story, taking the audience into a time and place where a group of Vikings spend their days fighting off the attacking dragon hordes. One weedy teenager discovers that these creatures are not quite as dangerous as they seem though and befriends an injured dragon unbeknownst to his clan. It's perfect entertainment which will make you smile, gasp and possibly even shed a tear. It also looks great, partly due to assistance from the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins and partly due to some impressively well-integrated 3D. For me, animated features integrate the technique more effectively and this is a great example where it really brings some of the characters to life as well as makes the aerial dragon sequences more exciting to watch. I really couldn't praise this film enough, for a family film it gets everything right and I'd advise anyone who thinks that Pixar are the only animated film makers of note these days to think again.

9/10

Hot Tub Time Machine

Year: 2010
Director: Steve Pink
Writers: Josh Heald, Sean Anders & John Morris
Starring: John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Sebastian Stan, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase

A knowingly low-brow and dumb comedy, Hot Tub Time Machine is not art by any means, but is good fun if you're in the right mood. John Cusack and his old high school buddies plan a ski-trip to cheer up one of their party who they think tried to kill themselves as well as attempt to rekindle their long burnt out friendship. They get to the resort and find that it isn't the trendy, youthful hive of excitement that it used to be and resort to getting drunk in their chalet's hot tub, which of course becomes the time machine of the title, which takes them back to the time of their eventful last holiday there. It's not big and it's not clever, but it clearly knows this and just has fun with the group and their situation. There are too many knob-gags for my liking and it's very predictable and corny at times, but I was laughing my way through it all, which is what counts really when your film is called Hot Tub Time Machine. It's clear that the cast share the same attitude and no one takes it too seriously, resulting in a film that will never win any awards, but is a good time if you can accept that it's never going to be anything other than that.

6/10

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Year: 2009
Director: Werner Herzog
Writer: William Finklestein
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Xzibit, Brad Dourif

Bad Lieutenant is a peculiar film. In terms of plot it's a bog standard detective story with a troubled protagonist, but Herzog and Cage turn it into a wildly entertaining fever dream that I couldn't tear my eyes away from. Cage is the driving force, his performance is way over the top, but utterly captivating and joyous to watch despite the horrific deeds his character often instigates. Herzog gives him free reign and himself indulges in some surreal and plain barmy moments, in particular a couple of totally random handicam lizard shots. It all adds to the trippy ride and the film is massively enjoyable, a pitch black comedy if I ever did see one. The end is bafflingly neatly tied up after such a loose and free-wheeling first two thirds. Herzog almost seems to be taking the piss out of the material, having the supporting actors mug their way through all the endings to the story strands as Cage and the audience get confused by how it's turning out. It's a film that has little substance and plays out like a filmmaker just plain having fun with a trashy genre script, but it works really well and makes for an invigorating and laugh out loud funny experience.

8/10

Robin Hood

Year: 2010
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Brian Helgeland, Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris
Starring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Max Von Sydow, William Hurt, Oscar Isaac

I wasn't expecting much from this latest incarnation of the British legend. The story has been told a hundred times, the trailers just suggested Gladiator 2 meets Braveheart, which to an extent it sort of is, and the public and critical response to it has been pretty lukewarm. However I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised. What I didn't expect, even though coverage of the film had hinted at it, was how different the story was. This isn't the classic tale of the green tight wearing rogue robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, it's an origin story that introduces the character as a bit of a charlatan really who takes on somebody else's identity for various reasons, but ends up discovering his true calling and leading an uprising in northern England (technically the Midlands I guess). The plot is overcomplicated and there are a few holes here and there, but the new perspective on the story worked for me, breathing fresh life into the legend, even if it wasn't perfectly told. Coming from Ridley Scott the film looks great of course, the period detail seems impressively authentic and the battle scenes are well handled and exciting. Russell Crowe is solid, but didn't blow me away. His accent is way off what it should be (he almost sounds Irish), but at least it's fairly consistent. Cate Blanchett also delivers a decent, but hardly memorable performance. It's Mark Strong as the evil French conspirator that impresses the most. With this and Sherlock Holmes under his belt, he's going to be getting a lot of villain roles coming his way. So all in all it's a decent effort that has it's share of problems and won't appeal to those expecting a rip-roaring adventure in the vein of Prince of Thieves, but is nonetheless refreshingly different and solidly entertaining.

6/10

Get Him To The Greek

Year: 2010
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Writers: Nicholas Stoller & Jason Segel
Starring: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Rose Byrne, Colm Meaney

It was always going to be an uphill struggle for me because I'm not a Russell Brand fan, but I really didn't like Get Him To The Greek. A very simple concept, the film's story is about a hard-working devoted boyfriend Aaron Green's (Jonah Hill) mission to get the drug addled disgraced rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to a comeback gig at 'The Greek'. Along the way of course Hill cuts loose and both characters discover a lot of home truths and become friends etc. It's predictable fluff at best, but really this wasn't what bothered me about the film. The simple fact was that I just didn't find it funny. For the year's big comedy release it's a poor state of affairs when I didn't laugh out loud once during the whole film. It tries really hard, but somewhere in-between the writing and the delivery it just consistently fell flat for me. There were others in the screening that seemed to be having a great time, but even their laughs died down as the film went on. I found the satire pretty feeble too. It was all annoyingly obvious and a little watered down. My biggest problem was with the songs. Brand supplies vocals for far too many spoof numbers that desperately try to emulate the success of the pitch perfect homages of This is Spinal Tap, but are far too blunt and unprofessionally performed to sound convincing or elicit any laughs. Brand makes for a reasonable rock star at times when he doesn't start singing and obviously suits the role, but when anything mildly demanding is required of him he doesn't pull it off. As with most of Apatow's productions the film has a large proportion of time devoted to 'bromance' as well as some old fashioned romance and these are mildly successful, but never particularly involving, instead just playing out exactly as you'd expect. It all adds to what is quite a dull, flat comedy that totally missed it's mark for me. Brand fans and others will probably disagree as this has received reasonable acclaim elsewhere, but I thought it was pretty much a total failure.

4/10

Axis of War: Night Raid

2010-06-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Director: An Lan

Starring: Wang Yongming, Liu Tianzuo, He Dandan, Xu Honghao

Country: China

BBFC Certification: 15

Duration: 85 min

Night Raid (the final part of the Axis of War trilogy) is a bit of a mystery. I got sent a copy to review randomly without requesting it (I had received an email about the previous two films but hadn't responded due to other commitments) and looking up the film, director and even the rest of the trilogy on IMDB came back empty every time. The film doesn't seem to exist away from the press release Metrodome sent me. Anyway, mystery or not this film arrived at my doorstep so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Well I can now tell you that it's a good old fashioned men-on-a-mission war film all the way. China is getting hit hard by the Japanese and a group of Chinese soldiers on their way back from the front lines stumble upon a huge enemy airfield; a hive of bombers and fighters that have been decimating their forces. The group's major, ashamed of their current orders to head away from the heat of battle, decides to launch a secret and possibly suicidal mission to destroy the base. Along the way the team pick up a female war-photographer and there is lots of bonding and camaraderie in between the action.

Night Raid is quite clearly a propaganda piece for the Chinese government. All of the soldiers are heroes, the Japanese are pure evil and there are lots of 'messages' about the greater good and all that sort of stuff. Because of this the film is obviously heavy handed and simplistic. It's packed with clichés and is cheesy as hell. The performances are hammy and it looks cheap. I could quite easily lay into this film and point out all of it's flaws, but you know what? I actually quite enjoyed myself.

It's not well made enough to give it a high score, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the fun WWII action adventures of the 60's such as Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare as I watched this. OK, so it isn't in their leagues by a long stretch, but strip away the governmental control over the film, the low budget presentation and the ham-fisted treatment of the brutality of war and you're left with a fast-paced, action-packed, trashy beer-and-buddies night-in.

The action scenes are what won me over (a little). They have an old-school charm to them in their obvious use of miniatures instead of CGI and their excessive level of huge flaming explosions. There's all sorts of violence going on in the finale too with some mini martial arts sequences and a little sword and knife-play thrown in for good measure. It's all so ludicrously over the top and silly that it just hit the right note for me, stopping the politics and melodrama from ever being taken too seriously.

It sounds like I love the film now, but at the end of the day as much fun as the action scenes are, I can't get away from the fact that the rest of the film is pretty corny and cobbled together quite poorly at times. There's also a bitter propagandist edge that is hard to shake. If you can ignore this though and imagine it was made back in the early 60's when war films didn't seem to take themselves so seriously you can have a lot of fun with this in a B-movie sort of way.

5/10

Axis of War: Night Raid is released on 5^th July by Metrodome. There were no special features on the disc I received. The picture quality was odd, it looked older than it should have, but I think it will be down to the source material as the transfer looked consistent and the colours were fairly bold. The sound was a bit muddy at times, but again I suspect this was down to the original master.

Cannes Roundup

2010-05-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

After a disastrous start to my festival experience (I missed my flight through shear stupidity and the airport's lack of loudspeaker communication) I've finally made it to the South of France at arguably the world's most famous film event, the Cannes Film Festival and although I wasn't there for a long time, I still managed to squeeze in 15 films. Unfortunately I missed the Palme d'Or winner, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives as well as most of the other award winners, but there were still some interesting and excellent titles to catch.

WEDNESDAY:

Moomins and the Comet Chase

Director: Maria Linberg

Writers: Joel Backström, Iivo Baric, Minna Karvonen, Anders Larsson

Based on the books by: Tove Jansson

Starring: Max Von Sydow, Alexander Skarsgard, Stellan Skarsgard, Mads Mikkelsen, Peter Stormare

Yes, I know it's a bizarre choice of film to begin my Cannes experience, but my fiancé is a patriotic Finn and Moomin lover so would give me no end of grief if I missed this one. Also, I wanted something easy going after my stressful travel problems. It's got an incredible cast too (Max Von Sydow, Stellan Skarsgard, Peter Stormare) so I thought I'd give it a chance. I'm struggling to decide what I thought of it though in the end. It's a film that is either terrible or brilliant I can't quite decide. It's aimed at very young children so a lot of the film is a little too pleasant and quaint to stomach with little excitement along the way, but at the same time it's strangely dark, with a story concerning the end of the world riding alongside scenes of Moomins picking flowers and making cakes. I also liked the look of the film, using stop motion and simple cut out fabric designs like the old series that was released years ago. Unfortunately it was transferred to 3D, which suits the film, giving it a pop-up book quality, but the 3D wasn't done particularly well with some odd layer-blending issues and a couple of faulty shots here and there (it might not have been the final polished version though to be fair).

I can't see it making a big splash on it's release, but it's a sweet, odd little film that very young children (1-5 year olds) will enjoy and adults might find a certain charm to it's surreal whimsy, so long as they can sit through the overly quaint simplicity of it all.

Two Gates of Sleep

Director: Alistair Banks Griffin

Writers: Alistair Banks Griffin

Starring: Brady Corbet, David Call, Karen Young

Two Gates of Sleep is a film I watched totally off the cuff because I'd missed my chance to see Outrage (hopefully I'll have chance on Sunday). Playing as part of the Directors' Fortnight, it's a beautifully made film that unfortunately was too slow and minimalistic to really pique my interest. The cinematography, sound design and music is breathtaking, making sumptuous use of it's unspoilt natural location. The film tells a simple story of two brothers who lose their mother and brave the wilderness to honour her final request. That's really all there is to it, we have a build up to that moment and then witness the hardships they have to face in making their way upriver. It's a film I didn't take a huge amount away from, but I was very tired at the time and was close to nodding off, so given my full attention I may have appreciated it more. It was certainly well-crafted, but far too subtle and dreamy for someone who hadn't slept for 36 hours or so.

THURSDAY:

La Nostra Vita

Director: Daniele Luchetti

Writers: Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Daniele Luchetti

Starring: Elio Germano, Isabella Ragonese, Raoul Bova

The first In Competition title I caught was La Nostra Vita, an Italian drama charting a foreman's struggle to keep his life on track after the death of his wife. It's a naturalistic film with a host of solid performances and some touching moments. It also offers an interesting unvarnished view of the immigration situation in the country. Unfortunately I found it too predictable and frequently schmaltzy to fully deliver though. The ending in particular is far too neatly tied up and syrupy, when several of the plot strands could have led to darker, more interesting territories. That said, it's still an engaging film with a charismatic lead performance from Elio Germano, it just left me feeling like I'd 'been there and done that' and too often came across like low rate TV drama subject matter trapped in the body of a gritty art-house film.

...But Film is My Mistress

Director: Stig Björkman

Writers: Stig Björkman

Starring: Ingmar Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Sven Nykvist

...But Film is My Mistress is a documentary put together using archived behind-the-scenes footage of eight of Ingmar Bergman's films in an attempt to capture the great filmmaker at work. It's a beautifully made film that is fully respectful to Bergman's style. It keeps things simple by presenting us with long sections of behind the scenes footage, mixed with brief snippets of the finished films (generally the scenes we have seen being developed) and occasional voiceover interviews with some of the great directors that admire his work (Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, John Sayles etc.). It thankfully avoids becoming an arse-kissing contest as many retrospective biographical-documentaries become and also never wastes time trying to unravel the mysteries of any of his films. It simply lets us witness Bergman plot out camera movements and work with his cast, which is much more insightful than listening to his fans tell us how much they love him. It was also interesting to see his working relationship with regular cinematographer Sven Nykvist and frequent lead actress Liv Ullmann. There are some heart-warming touches too as we see the cast joking around on the set of some of Bergman's most serious films.

It's an excellent documentary and fans of Bergman will lap it up. Being a recent newcomer to the director myself it made me desperately want to work my way through his oeuvre. A must see for film-lovers.

A Alegria

Director: Felipe Bragança & Marina Meliande

Writers: Felipe Bragança

Starring: Tainá Medina, Junior Moura, Cesar Cardadeiro, Flora Dias

A Alegria was another Directors' Fortnight title that I caught with little knowledge of it going in. I had a completely opposite reaction to this than I did with Two Gates of Sleep though. Whereas that was a beautifully crafted film with not enough going on to truly engross me, this was a film with some interesting ideas, but really sub-standard production. Quality-wise it comes across as a student film and not a particularly good one at that. It's shot digitally, which isn't a problem – I use the format myself, but it's clean, sharp picture quality shows up it's cheap, bland lighting which looks like something out of a Mexican soap opera. The performances are pretty bland and unconvincing too, which hinders the film's message of using art and imagination to tackle the world's problems. The young lead actress Tainá Medina has a lot of potential, but the directors waste her talents through poorly conceived long, slow takes that ruin the film's pacing and unveil flaws in the actors' deliveries. It does have a quirky, mildly uplifting finale, but ultimately I struggled to forgive it's technical shortcomings and slow, bland presentation.

Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs)

Director: Lodge Kerrigan

Writers: Lodge Kerrigan

Starring: Géraldine Pailhas, Pascal Grgory, Lodge Kerrigan

A tricky one to review, Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs) is Lodge Kerrigan's experimental entry to the Un Certain Regard competition. It's at times curiously fascinating and at others infuriatingly impenetrable and seemingly meaningless. The lead performance from Géraldine Pailhas is powerful and she'll be a force to be reckoned with in the festival's best actress award. The film revolves around her as she plays an actress preparing to play Grace Slick in a film as well as featuring as herself in sequences that break the fourth wall. It's an interesting take on the nature of performance (at least that's what I took from the film) however, too much of the film is wasted on overly long and worthless sequences, specifically two excruciatingly drawn out close-up tracking shots of Géraldine. The artistic merit of watching the back of her head as she walks down the road for literally about 20 minutes of the film is bewildering. A lot of what is displayed was undecipherable in general and although I was hypnotically drawn into the film at times, I often didn't know what to make of what I was watching.

FRIDAY

Lights Out (aka Simon Werner a Disparu...)

Director: Fabrice Gobert
Writer: Fabrice Gobert
Starring: Jules Pélissier, Ana Girardot, Jean-Philippe Goudroye, Serge Riaboukine

I actually gave up my ticket for Uncle Boonmee to see this as it was gathering quite a bit of buzz and sounded a bit easier to digest after the several heavy going art pieces I'd watched previously. Although I'm gutted now that I missed the Palme d'Or winner, I'm still glad I caught this as it's a compulsively engaging mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. I don't want to go into too much detail because its main strength is the unfolding of its story, but the film is set in a French High School where a student goes missing and his classmates try to figure out what happened. We are shown the same period of time from several different perspectives, gradually letting the audience piece together exactly what happened. It's a technique that isn't totally original, but it works very well and I was hooked throughout. The ending will divide audiences, but I think they pulled it off. I'd love to say more about the film, but it's best watched cold so I won't go on. All I'll say is look out for it if/when it gets released, it's well worth your time.

Life, Above All

Director: Oliver Schmitz
Writer: Dennis Foon
Starring: Khomotso Manyaka, Keaobaka Makanyane, Lerato Mvelase, Tinah Mnumzana, Audrey Poolo

Life, Above All is a South African film tackling the taboo of AIDS in the poor rural areas of the country. It centres around Chanda, a 12 year old girl who has to hold her family together amidst the fear of her neighbours after her baby sister dies and her mother falls ill. It's a solid film that gets its point across effectively, but it felt a little too straightforward and earnest (but with a lot of heart) to truly stand out. The young lead, Khomotso Manyaka is excellent and the photography is impressive, but it never moved me as much as it should have considering the subject matter. It has a warmth to it that is admirable for the bleak situations that are placed before us, but it occasionally causes the film to get cheesy, particularly in a very Hollywood turnaround scene at the end. It's not bad by any means, but ultimately it failed to impress me enough to deem it more than merely decent.

Hahaha

Director: Sang-soo Hong
Writer: Sang-soo Hong
Starring: Sang-kyung Kim, So-ri Moon, Ju-bong Gi, Kang-woo Kim, Min-sun Kim

Hahaha took home the top prize in the Un Certain Regard category. It's a lo-fi South Korean comedy drama about two friends who meet at a bar and tell each other the story of their previous holiday spent in a certain town, unaware of the fact that their visits were at the same time and with much of the same people. I must admit this did little for me and I was very surprised when it took home the award. I did get drawn into the two tales after a while and found a lot of the cast quite likeable, but then I got pretty bored by the last half an hour. It's far too long for such a low key and simple film and the humour was pretty lost on me. The conclusion of one of the stories was unheralded too which made what had come before quiet unsatisfying. Clearly others got a lot more from the film, but for me this was a bit dull and uninspiring.

SATURDAY:

We Are What We Are (aka Somos Lo Que Hay)

Director: Jorge Michel Grau
Writer: Jorge Michel Grau
Starring: Adrián Aguirre, Miriam Balderas, Francisco Barreiro, Carmen Beato

I'd heard a lot of buzz about We Are What We Are over at Twitch so was quite eager to catch this, then got even more excited when I realised Gael García Bernal was sat behind me. I was devastated however when the first lines of dialogue were uttered and no English translation came up on screen. I decided to stick with it though, it had French subtitles and I know a tiny amount of that. I was glad I did because despite pretty much all of the dialogue being lost on me, it remained one of my favourite films of the festival. It's a testament to the quality of the film that it was still probably the most entertaining too. If you've not heard about the film already, it's about a family of cannibals struggling to find an offering for their regular ritual after the father dies. It's all done totally straight with an art-house feel but a solid, gripping pace. It's not an exploitation piece at all, most of the gore is saved for the finale, instead it's a very dark family drama with a side helping of horror and hints of black comedy. It looks fantastic too utilising a dark and dirty palette that creates a moody, never glossy feel for the film. It's definitely one to look out for (IFC bought the American rights at the festival) and personally I can't wait to watch it again, with English subtitles next time though please.

Route Irish

Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Paul Laverty
Starring: Mark Womack, Andrea Lowe, John Bishop, Najwa Nimri, Stephen Lord

Entered into the competition at the last minute (supposedly due to Terence Malick's The Tree of Life not being finished on time), Route Irish is an Iraq war focused (not set) thriller about a private security contractor Fergus (Mark Womack) who returns home to the funeral of his best friend Frankie, a contractor himself who was killed on the job. Dissatisfied with the claim that Frankie was just 'in the wrong place at the wrong time', Fergus sets out to track down those responsible for the tragedy. It's a blunt and heavy handed effort from Loach which was entertaining enough and had a lot to say about the ridiculous privileges granted to these highly trained but unhinged ex-soldiers, but ultimately comes across as quite clunky. Womack, although occasionally commanding, delivers an annoyingly one-note performance and Andrea Lowe is pretty poor as his love interest. This side of the film in general doesn't really work either and just slows down the main plot strand. Even though watching a tough thriller was a welcome change to the more slow and sombre films of the festival, this wasn't the best example and made me pray for some subtlety and artistry in the next film we watched.

SUNDAY:

Another Year

Director: Mike Leigh
Writer: Mike Leigh
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've never seen a Mike Leigh film all the way through before. This is something I have to remedy as soon as possible though, because I totally fell in love with Another Year. It was one of the longest films I saw at Cannes and probably the least eventful, but it remained the most captivating and enjoyable. It's basically about a year in the life of Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), a couple nearing retirement who spend their evenings and weekends having friends and family over for dinner. Their most frequent guest is Mary (Lesley Manville), a motor-mouthed 50-something whose liveliness covers a tragic loneliness. The film is a bittersweet, yet warm and subtly moving drama that sucks you into it's marginally heightened realism. The performances are utterly superb, especially Manville who stole the show for me. A scene towards the end where she is alone with Tom's practically mute brother had me nearly crying with a mixture of laughter, sadness and shear joy over the brilliance of the moment. Imelda Staunton, who earned heaps of kudos for her role in Vera Drake is fantastic too, although she only appears briefly in some early scenes.

The only criticism I might give (other than Imelda Staunton being criminally underused) is that a couple of the characters are a little too 'nice' and threatened to get on my nerves, but it all seemed part of the larger-than-life nature of it all. It certainly didn't stop me from loving the film though and becoming an overnight Mike Leigh fan. I'm just gutted the British Mike Leigh boxset has been deleted, preventing me from buying up his whole collection in one fell swoop.

Of Gods and Men (aka Des Hommes Et Des Dieux)

Director: Xavier Beauvois
Writers: Xavier Beauvois & Etienne Comar
Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe Laudenbach, Jacques Herlin

Of Gods and Men was one of the favourites to take home the Palme d'Or, but ended winning the Grand Prix instead, which is still a great honour of course. It's a classy drama that follows a group of Cistercian monks who refuse to make compromises or leave their home for the fundamentalists that rise up in the area. There's little more plot to it than that really, the film is all about the characters and how they come to terms with what they must face together in order to stand up for their beliefs. It's slowly paced and meditative, yet engrossing due to it's fine acting and beautiful subtly flowing camerawork. I did start to lose interest as the film went on, finding some of it a little repetitive, but a couple of powerful scenes towards the end brought me back in. In particular there's an overwhelmingly poignant scene when one of the monks smuggles in a bottle of wine and a recording of Swan Lake. It's not for everyone, but it's a fine piece of filmmaking and is bound to do well on the art-house circuit when it's released elsewhere.

The Housemaid (aka Hanyo)

Director: Sang-soo Im
Writers: Sang-soo Im & Ki-young Kim
Starring: Do-yeon Jeon, Jung-Jae Lee, Seo Woo, Yeo-jeong Yoon, Yeo-Jong Yun

A remake of a 1960 Korean film of the same name (which I know nothing about), The Housemaid is an erotically charged thriller about a young housemaid who is seduced by the man of the house, leading to his wife and mother-in-law plotting revenge against her. For a Cannes In Competition entry I must admit I found it pretty trashy. I don't mean that in a particularly bad way and it's certainly not an exploitative B movie, it's just occasionally silly and has its share of raunchy sex scenes and nudity. It's nicely shot though, well produced and entertaining. I thought it lost its way a bit towards the final third, as it got a bit daft when the mother in law was introduced. She comes across as a bit of a pantomime villain and her actions seemed too over the top at times. I had fun with this though and it's worth a watch, even though it's not the best film of the festival by any means.

Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project

Director: Kornél Munruczó
Writer: Kornél Munruczó
Based on the Novel by: Mary Shelley
Starring: Rudolf Frecska, Kitty Csíkos, Lili Monori, Kornél Mundruczó

My last film at Cannes was unfortunately a massive disappointment. Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project is a modern day spin on the classic Mary Shelley novel, switching the man-made monster to an unwanted child who now in his late-teens/early twenties tracks down his mother to find out the truth of his lost childhood. It's a painfully slow film that doesn't really go anywhere. Yes it looks fantastic, but it outstays it's welcome after half an hour or so. I thought their treatment of the original story failed too, ruining the sensitivity and humanity of the original character by turning the 'monster' into a murderous nutcase rather than a misunderstood innocent. The acting style is very stilted too which got infuriating after a while and added to it's plodding pace. Cinematography buffs will appreciate some of the visuals, there are some very well composed sequences, but ultimately this film is as dull as you get and in my opinion ruined a powerful story.

Robin-B-Hood Review at Row Three

2010-05-16T01:21:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed Jackie Chan's recent return to Hong Kong action comedy, Robin-B-Hood over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/05/16/review-robin-b-hood/

Another Weekend of Trash

2010-05-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

My friends and I recently got together for another one of our regular 'trashathons' – you may remember I covered the last extravaganza in an early post here. Basically consisting of watching as many cheap and cheesy genre titles we can handle in a weekend, our get-togethers have become a quarterly staple that I always look forward to. We've watched some really bad films, but we've also dug out some real gems in the past, many of which have disappeared completely with the DVD boom. Yes I'm talking VHS here. Throwing picture quality out the window we've been scouring the bins for some long forgotten titles. This time round we didn't manage to squeeze in quite as many films (we spent hours at a car boot sale purchasing more!) and a few aren't obscure by any means (only two titles were on VHS this time), but I still enjoyed myself and thought you guys might like to hear what we got up to. Again I've dug out some trailers and clips for your amusement.

P.S. Ratings are probably not worth it for most of these titles, but I'm going to give some scores for shear entertainment value, so don't take them too seriously.

FRIDAY:

Missing in Action

Year: 1984
Director: Joseph Zito
Writers: Arthur Silver, Larry Levinson, Steve Bing, James Bruner, John Crowther & Lance Hool
Starring: Chuck Norris, M. Emmet Walsh, David Tress, Lenore Kasdorf, James Hong

What trashy genre weekend would be complete without an entry from Chuck Norris. So we let the man who doesn't sleep, but waits (fact!) set us off. After a strong start featuring a 'nam flashback that ends in Norris leaping at a Vietnamese soldier with live grenades in either hand, the film unfortunately takes quite a nosedive and was pretty tedious for the most part. Things pick up towards the end once M. Emmet Walsh makes a surprising appearance and Norris lets rip on his bulletproof dingey (sorry, 'assault raft'), but generally this is pretty lame even by The Bearded One's standards. There are far too many scenes of gratuitous toplessness and 'tense' climbing sequences to sustain one's interest.

4/10

Friday the 13th

Year: 2009
Director: Marcus Nispel
Writers: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift & Mark Wheaton
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Derek Mears

There's not a whole lot to say about the 2009 remake of Friday the 13th. It's not particularly bad, but it's not particularly good either. It's a totally by the numbers slasher film that is effective enough, but never offers anything new. That said, I kind of liked the fact that it didn't try and add too much of an unnecessary history to Jason Voorhees like some of these 'reimaginings' do, it just sticks to what the Friday the 13th films do best, killing vulnerable and sexually active teens. The killings are occasionally quite inventive and well staged, the pace is solid and it never gets dull, but you can't get away from the fact that it's been done countless times in the past in exactly the same way.

5/10

SATURDAY:

Fireback

Year: 1983
Director: Teddy Page
Writers: ? Not listed on IMDB
Starring: Richard Harrison, Bruce Baron, Gwendolyn Hung, Jim Gaines

The first really obscure VHS title we pulled out was Fireback, a truly dreadful action movie starring Richard Harrison, the go to guy for bad ninja movies in the 80's. This isn't a ninja movie though unfortunately (although one makes a baffling appearance), it's a shoddy revenge thriller following Harrison's search for the kidnappers of his wife. The box promised non-stop explosive action featuring a ludicrously over the top weapon, but this swiss-army gun (it even has an inbuilt radio!) only makes an appearance in the first 5 minutes, which incidentally are the best 5 minutes of the film. Elsewhere we just had to put up with atrocious dubbing, painfully wooden acting and poorly choreographed action sequences. Not the hidden trash gem we were searching for.

2/10

Push

Year: 2009
Director: Paul McGuigan
Writer: David Bourla
Starring: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Djimon Hounsou, Camilla Belle, Neil Jackson

After the atrocity that was Fireback, we decided to watch something modern with an actual budget, so we pulled out Push, a film that just sort of came and went in theatres last year with little fanfare. The three of us had previously met one of the supporting actors, Neil Jackson, at a film festival my friend curates and he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, so we thought we'd give this film a go after he mentioned how much fun he had making it.

I was pleasantly surprised actually. I wasn't expecting much, it just looked like a bog-standard straight to DVD sci-fi film, but it was an enjoyable and fairly original action romp. It was a little overlong perhaps and suffers from a few sci-fi contrivances, but I liked the use of it's Hong Kong location and it had a quirky, colourful vibe to it that set it apart from most films of it's kind. When the 'force' powers are used to their full effect in the latter third of the film it's great fun too.

7/10

Police Assassins (a.k.a. Yes, Madam)

Year: 1985
Director: Corey Yuen
Writer: Barry Wong
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, John Sham, Mang Hoi, Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung

We stayed in Hong Kong for our next film with a martial arts favourite, Police Assassins (a.k.a. Yes, Madam). I'm a big fan of the genre (it's my biggest guilty pleasure) and I've been meaning to see this for a while as it's Michelle Yeoh's first leading role and I'd heard good things about it. In it's action scenes it certainly doesn't disappoint. The final showdown is spectacular and shows the world that women can pull off action sequences of astonishing athleticism that are easily equal to those of their contemporaries, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Jet Li etc. Some of the moves and stunts are so fast, fluid and god-damned dangerous that I was blown away at times. Unfortunately these scenes are thin on the ground for the majority of the running time and as with most martial arts films of that period, slapstick comedy takes centre stage to fill the gaps. Admittedly I had a chuckle here and there and Tsui Hark of all people plays one of the comic relief characters and does a pretty good job, but ultimately I don't watch films like this for their comedy and there's only so much Benny Hill level goofing around I can stand in an hour and a half. So martial arts fans out there will get a big kick out of this, but be sure to have your remote on handy to fast forward certain sections.

6/10

The Roller Blade Seven

Year: 1991
Director: Donald G. Jackson
Writers: Donald G. Jackson & Scott Shaw
Starring: Scott Shaw, Frank Stallone, Karen Black, Don Stroud, William Smith, Joe Estevez

I can safely say without hesitation, that The Roller Blade Seven is the worst film I have ever seen. From the cover it looked like trashy fun (roller blading samurai!), but oh boy were we wrong. It actually plays out like a drug-induced student art film that has taken over the shell of a trashy B-movie. It's insufferably dull and to rub salt in the wounds consistently repeats shots again and again and again for no reason. The film makes no sense as it 'treats' us to early 90's music video visuals and improvised mumbling from it's confused and clearly intoxicated cast (what the hell is Karen Black doing in there, she was in Nashville and Easy Rider for god's sake!). There are attempts at action sequences that are so slow and totally unpractised that they look like a bunch of kids whacking each other with plastic swords – in slow motion and on repeat. Doing research into this film I discovered that producer Scott Shaw described it as the first film adopting the 'Zen Filmmaking' style, where everything is shot on the fly and improvised in a short period of time. It sounds like an admirable thing, but from these results I wouldn't get excited. I've made improvised films with groups of 8 year olds in school workshops that are more effective than this. I also found out through my research that this is the first in a Roller Blade Seven trilogy and the producer has made dozens of 'Zen' films. God help us all....

I could go on, but I can't bare thinking about it anymore. If you ever have the chance to see this film, don't. Trust me, you may want to laugh at how bad it is, but it's not even worth it for that. Just check out the clips below and you'll see.

0/10

Embedding has been disabled on the trailer unfortunately, but here's a link to check it out in all it's glory (the film is even worse, trust me).

And here's an actual sample of the film that I found elsewhere:

SUNDAY:

The Man From Hong Kong

Year: 1975
Directors: Brian Trenchard-Smith & Wang Yu
Writer: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, George Lazenby, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward, Ros Spiers

Maybe it was because we were coming off the back of The Roller Blade Seven, but I really enjoyed The Man From Hong Kong. It's 70's Grindhouse at it's finest. A collaboration between an Australian production company and Hong Kong's Golden Harvest studio, the film is an unstoppable juggernaut of fight scenes, car chases and gratuitous nudity. Yes at it's heart it is a low rate James Bond rip off with a forgettable story and plenty of hammy acting, but it's jam packed with everything we were searching for all weekend. Sammo Hung provides the action choreography (and a fairly large cameo) which as expected is top notch despite featuring less seasoned Western performers for the most part. Speaking of which, George Lazenby makes for an enjoyably cheesy villain and holds his own in the fight scenes against the One-Armed Swordsman himself Jimmy Wang Yu. A car chase towards the end is really impressive too. I wouldn't be surprised if Tarantino has this in his collection (in the Death Proof 'making of' he cites Ozploitation movies as his chief influence). So all in all it was the perfect end to our otherwise less-than-inspirational weekend line-up.

8/10

City of War: The Story of John Rabe Review at Row Three

2010-05-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

I've posted a review of the war drama City of War: The Story of John Rabe at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/05/02/review-city-of-war-the-story-of-john-rabe/

Cemetery Junction Review at Row Three

2010-04-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've posted a review of the disappointing Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant film Cemetery Junction over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/04/26/review-cemetery-junction/

Gutter King

2010-04-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Director: Keith Alan Morris

Screenplay: Keith Alan Morris

Producers: Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Malte Grunert, Jennifer Kawaja, Julia Sereny & Sytze Van Der Laan

Starring: Zeb Crown, Casey Clark, Erica Ramirez, Blake Logan

Year: 2010

Country: USA

BBFC Certification: 15

Duration: 96 min

I was quite excited when I got Gutter King sent over to review from my good friends at Metrodome. As regular readers will know I love a good action movie and the thought of getting to give my first impressions on a fight-fest that no one else seems to have seen yet was enough to get my hopes up. It also had quite a cool looking cover that suggested a no-holds-barred action extravaganza. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to that promise.

Surprisingly, Gutter King places more of an emphasis on the drama than the action, which of course isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when the dramatic elements aren't particularly well handled or interesting I kind of wished they'd have stuck to the fighting. The film tells the story of Will (Zeb Crown), a young offender pulled out of juvenile hall by Bob (Casey Clark) to start a new life with him and another foster-child Paul (Blake Logan). Will soon finds out however that Bob's motives aren't entirely charitable as he is secretly utilizing these aggressive young men to fight in underground bare-knuckle fighting tournaments. Will still ends up getting caught up in the world though, mainly to help raise money to run away with the girl next door, BeBe (Erica Ramirez) who is struggling herself with an abusive father among other problems. Meanwhile, Bob's previous fighting prodigy Paul gets increasingly jealous of Will's success and makes his life as hard as possible whilst they live under the same roof.

The bare bones of the narrative are pretty standard action movie fare, but it's presented very solemnly with an indie/arthouse sort of feel which theoretically should raise it above and beyond the usual trashy genre entries, but the filmmakers don't have the talent to pull it off. This results in a film stuck in a ditch between classy character-driven indie film and cheesy fight-filled action movie, a balance that didn't work for me. I think a major problem was that the narrative is quite poorly constructed. The film just doesn't flow very smoothly and a lot of the character's actions lack the appropriate level of motivation to make them acceptable. The performances don't help either, everyone comes across as bland and the leads spend most of the film moping around and throwing little hissy-fits now and again, it's like watching some sort of 'emo' action movie. The two street-fighting foster-brothers are strangely cast too, with neither of them that convincing as hardened offenders. Logan in particular who plays Paul just seems quite camp most of the time, mainly due to his constant over the top sulking.

There are some positive aspects to Gutter King though. When the action does take place it is fairly solid and well handled, it just takes a while for any full on fight scenes to appear. It lacks the grace and acrobatic prowess of Asian martial arts films, but makes up for it with a visceral yet not overly edited style. The film looks nice in general actually, with some fetching shallow focus photography on display. This is unfortunately let down by some horrendous sound work though. The music featured is strong, if a little overused, but the location sound recording is terrible and mixed way too low against the music which meant I was straining to hear what was being said half the time.

Gutter King is a film that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be and ends up failing to satisfy in both the action and dramatic departments. It takes itself way too seriously to be a fun fight film and is too poorly produced to pull off the indie drama that it seems to be reaching for at times. Some may appreciate the fact that it's trying to add more substance and weight to a much-maligned genre, but for me it just didn't work.

4/10

Gutter King is released on 26^th April by Metrodome.

Cinema Review Roundup

2010-04-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've watched a few cinema releases recently that I didn't get round to reviewing here or at Row Three, so I thought I'd do some brief write-ups on everything I saw to bulk up my database. Plus I had another home alone movie marathon last weekend (not the Home Alone movies, I mean in the literal sense), so look out for a write-up on that over the next few days.

Alice in Wonderland

Year: 2010

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: Linda Woolverton

Based on the Books by: Lewis Carroll

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover

I'm going to be really lazy for this one and just paste chunks of what I wrote on Row Three's Alice R3view comments page:

The film just didn’t engage with me at all, it was all so flat (no 3D related pun intended) and lifeless. It looked nice, but even then it didn’t feel like a particularly new vision, just Tim Burton-lite. The overuse of not particularly impressive CGI didn’t help, giving it a glossy, uncanny sheen. I much prefer to see Burton’s gothic imagery in the flesh so to speak. On a positive note I liked Helena Bonham Carter and the Cheshire Cat, they always gave the film a boost when they came on screen, but no one else grabbed me as such. I thought Alice herself was a little bland and uninteresting, she was supposed to be this quirky woman who defies convention, but she never sold it to me, just coming across as dull half the time. Plotwise it felt too much like a retread of the original story, which made the idea of having Alice older a little pointless although on a whole that worked. The second half just gets into textbook fantasy adventure territory too, but without enough weight behind it to make it exciting.

On Avatar vs. Alice: Personally I much preferred Avatar. They’re both all about the spectacle of course, but Avatar’s narrative, however clichéd and cheesy, was actually quite engaging and I was caught up in the fight for Pandora. Alice on the other hand just seemed so uneventful, things just happened one after another and characters just drift in and out without really adding anything to the story. Not that it felt random or messy, it just had no drive or drama. I disagree that it had to be funny, but there were moments that were clearly supposed to be and failed. Johnny Depp’s dance at the end for instance was painful. What the film should have been though was exciting or at least captivating, but instead it was a load of scenes we’ve seen before in other Alice incarnations strung along a feeble story with an overabundance of uncanny-looking CGI.

4/10

Shutter Island

Year: 2010

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writers: Laeta Kalogridis

Based on the Novel by: Dennis Lehane

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams

Scorsese's latest is a retro B-movie throwback using films like Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor as a clear inspiration. Everything from the music to the stunning cinematography is bombastically done, in my mind for the better. It seems rough around the edges at times (Scorcese and editor Thelma Shoonmaker give continuity error spotters a field day), but this feels at least partially purposeful as the director pays homage to a style of filmmaking long gone as well as using some jarring techniques to mess with the audience's minds. The film is an impressively visceral experience, not in the fast-cutting, shaky-cam way that the Bourne films are, but in bombarding the audience with big sounds and visuals that create a cinematic feel rather than a realistic one.

Content wise it's pretty solid too with an absorbing mystery that turns into a nightmarish thriller. Revelations towards the end of the film feel a little obvious and unsettle the ride the film has taken you on, but a nice touch right at the end makes up for it. This is Scorcese's best for a while.

8/10

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Year: 2009

Director: Niels Arden Oplev

Writers: Nikolaj Arcel & Rasmus Heisterberg

Based on the Novel by: Stieg Larsson

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Peter Haber, Sven-Bertil Taube

The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo is a consistently engrossing thriller which starts off feeling like something fairly conventional, but draws you in incredibly deeply and adds layers of darkness and character development often lost in general Hollywood fare. The side story (if you can call it that) involving Lisbeth Salander (brilliantly played by Noomi Rapace) is especially shocking and fascinating. The filmmakers don't put a foot wrong for the most part, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat despite a fairly leisurely pace. The only place that I felt they stumbled was in the last 15 or 20 minutes when the film ties up all the loose ends. It's clearly important to do so, but the preceding 2 hours are so slow burning and dark it makes the rapid and straightforward coda seem out of place, especially since it's stretched out for a fairly long time after the dramatic climax of the film. For the most part this is excellent stuff though and is highly recommended.

8/10

Kick-Ass Review at Row Three

2010-04-03T03:25:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed Kick-Ass over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/04/03/review-kick-ass/

Who Dares Wins Review at Row Three

2010-04-02T03:19:00.000-07:00

I just posted a review of cult action movie Who Dares Wins at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/04/02/review-who-dares-wins/

The Cry of the Owl

2010-03-28T03:07:00.000-07:00

Director: Jamie Thraves

Screenplay: Jamie Thraves

Based on the Novel by: Patricia Highsmith

Producers: Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Malte Grunert, Jennifer Kawaja, Julia Sereny, Sytze Van Der Laan

Starring: Paddy Considine, Julia Stiles, Gord Rand, James Gilbert, Caroline Dhavernas

Year: 2009

Country: UK/Canada/Germany/France

BBFC Certification: 15

Duration: 100 min

I had my doubts about this one, the warning signs from the shoddy Attack on Leningrad were all there – a well known and respectable cast yet no nationwide cinema release and little word of mouth. I thought I'd give this one a chance though as I'm a big Paddy Considine fan and I've always had a lot of time for Julia Stiles, despite a few 'fluffy' roles here and there (Save the Last Dance is not my sort of thing). After giving the film a spin I can see why it didn't have a massive release, it's quite weak in places (I'll go into that later) but overall it's an interesting and diverting film that deserves a little more attention than it's currently getting.

Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, The Cry of the Owl centres around Robert (Paddy Considine), a peculiar man in the process of getting divorced, who spends his nights secretly watching Jenny (Julia Stiles), a stranger to him who he observes living out a happy domestic life. When Jenny catches him in the act however, rather than ringing the police, she listens to his story and lets him into her life. From here on in, things take a turn for the worse and Robert is dragged through a nightmarish string of events that threaten to bring his own questioned sanity to breaking point.

As I mentioned at the start of this review, the film is far from perfect, but rather than lay into it straight away I should bring up what I liked about it. The main factor that kept me interested was the story itself. It's very intriguing and has a Kafkaesque structure to it which makes it quite unsettling in places. I really felt for the protagonist, while at the same time wasn't sure quite how harmless he was, which kept me hooked through most of the running time. That said, when a large twist takes the film in a different direction towards the end it did start to get a little silly, mainly because the 'villains' that become apparent didn't have enough motivation for their actions. The final moments almost made up for this though, ending the film on a bleak and sombre tone which helped it make more of a lasting impression on me.

Unfortunately other aspects of the film are harder to recommend. Considine, an actor who I have a lot of respect for after performances as strong as that in Dead Man's Shoes, is quite disappointing here. He's playing an American and pulls off an accent that sounds authentic, but seems to nullify his delivery to a degree. He's not bad, he's just a bit flat in a role that should have been more interesting. The same can be said for much of the film, which feels quite flat a lot of the time. I think a big reason for this is the dialogue. The script is fairly tight in terms of plotting, but whenever anyone speaks it just comes out stilted and unconvincing. Scenes between Robert and his office buddy in particular are cringe-worthy and totally unnatural. It's all very blunt too, with a lot of the lines spelling things out that would be better off lying under the surface.

These are big stumbling blocks in what could have been a very good film. Director Jamie Thraves has only got one other feature under his belt, so maybe it can be put down to experience, but he's got a handful of music videos in his portfolio, including the excellent 'Just' video for Radiohead, so I'm surprised the film wasn't better than it is. As I said in my opening paragraph though, this is a film that is worth watching, it's just got some crucial flaws that unfortunately have kept it from getting greater exposure.

5/10

Séraphine Review at Row Three

2010-03-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've reviewed the sublime biopic Séraphine over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/03/23/review-seraphine/

Sanjuro Review at Row Three

2010-03-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

As part of Row Three's Kurosawa Centenary I have reviewed the great director's classic samurai film Sanjuro:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/03/20/kurosawa-centenary-sanjuro/

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life Review at Row Three

2010-03-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

I've posted a review of the award winning French comedy-drama The First Day of the Rest of Your Life over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/03/12/review-the-first-day-of-the-rest-of-your-life/

Oscar Roundup

2010-03-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

Well, its the end of the awards season and as usual the big grandaddy of them all will bring the backslapping to an end on Sunday night (or early Monday morning for people like me over in the UK). The Academy Awards or The Oscars, whatever you want to call them, don't always go to the 'right' winners and the ceremony is generally an overlong, cringeworthy affair, but for some reason it draws me in year after year. I guess it helps that I usually run a small Oscar pool with some friends, but there's also something compulsively entertaining about watching so many big names in the business out together fighting for supremacy through s**t-eating grins.

This week I've been trying to catch up on a couple of the titles up for Best Picture (ten this year!), so I thought I'd put together some brief reviews of them as well as link to older reviews of the rest to remind you what I thought of the contenders.

Avatar
I saw this for a second time recently and still enjoyed it, but it's not without it's flaws. The first twenty minutes in particular stood out as being a bit ropey on repeated viewing. Click here to see what I thought originally.

The Blind Side
This isn't out in the UK yet, although it doesn't look like something I'd rush out to see to be honest.

District 9
Original, exciting and impressively well made for a directorial debut. It had some inconsistencies, but overall worked very well. Click here to see my full review.

An Education
I've not seen this I'm afraid, decided to rewatch Avatar instead – criminal I know, but I wanted to catch it one more time on the big screen.

The Hurt Locker
Finally caught it on Blu Ray this week. This and Avatar are likely to be bringing home the most shiny statuettes on Sunday and I do think this is the stronger of the two films, but I wouldn't say it's my absolute favourite of the year. The Hurt Locker at it's core is an experiment in on-screen tension. The whole film is pretty much scene after scene of edge-of-your-seat adrenaline rushes and it certainly succeeded in gouging some holes in my chair arms, but it also had a few minor weaknesses. I liked the fact that the film didn't try to bulk out this account of soldiers doing their job with any grand overarching narrative or sappy sentimental moments, it just stuck to it's guns so to speak, showing how hard the job of a bomb disposal unit actually is. However, there were moments that did get a little too unrealistically filmic and you could see some events happening a mile off. The lead character is a little too maverick for his own good too, making many of his actions seem more ridiculous than daring. I imagine there are people in the army who might think and act this way, but his disregard for his own safety and that of his team mates almost got comedic at times. Problems with it's 'realism' aside, this is still a powerful and relentlessly exciting film that makes for a peculiar Oscar favourite, but a deserved one.
8/10

Inglourious Basterds
This was the other film I experienced in high definition this week after missing it at the cinema. Inglourious Basterds is another odd choice for the Oscars, but coming from Tarantino it was always going to get some kudos coming it's way. It's a strange, finely crafted and very original film that I didn't know what to make of at times, but after watching it so many scenes stuck in my mind that it keeps rising in stature for me as the days go on. It's definitely a film I'm keen on watching again soon. Most of the cast are very strong, especially Christoph Waltz who deserves all the plaudits he's been raking in over the last few months (he's bound to take home the Oscar too, it's one of the 'sure things' this year). Every scene he is in is elevated by his presence, dominating the screen with a charismatic ferocity and a perfect understanding of the peculiarly toned humour apparent in the script. Speaking of which, Inglourious Basterds is not a film with the memorably witty lines of Pulp Fiction, but it still holds it's own in the dialogue stakes with several extremely lengthy scenes of people just talking standing out as some of the most memorable in the film. In fact I felt let down by the Basterds themselves, expecting more of an emphasis on over-the-top Nazi butchering, whereas most of the joys of the film came from the other characters' simple interactions. I didn't always go for Brad Pitt either, he has some enjoyable moments (the Italian scene stands out), but he lays on the spoof a little too much at times and the less said about Eli Roth the better. The final fiery extravaganza at the film's climax was impressive though. All in all it's very entertaining despite it's length and feels fresh despite it's clear referencing to genres of the past. Tarantino may be a person I'd like to slap around the face and his work gets increasingly more self-indulgent, but he still makes some really good movies.
9/10

Precious
Not got round to watching this yet.

A Serious Man

I actually watched this on it's opening weekend, but never got round to reviewing it. I'm a really big Coen brothers fan and this felt very much like a quintessential addition to their canon. It charts the cataclysmic levels of bad luck laid upon it's Jewish protagonist climaxing to an abrupt but curiously satisfying finale. It's strength, as with most of the Coens' work, is in it's memorably quirky characters and it's irreverent humour. Sy Ableman (played by Fred Melamed) in particular had me in stitches every time he was on screen. It's a film where religion plays a big part, but rather than go into great depths on the subject, it uses it as a platform for further eccentricities and our 'hero' Larry finds little solace in the arms of his faith. It reminded me a lot of Barton Fink in it's almost surreal tone and crescendo-like narrative where things just get worse and worse for the lead character rather than following the classic arc of most story structures. It's a great film and followers of my blog will know of my love for it due to it's high placing in my top ten list for last year.
9/10

Up
Not Pixar's best and the first half outshone the second a little too much for me, but Up is still an enjoyable and heart-warming experience. Check out my review here.

Up In The Air
I liked Up In The Air a lot more than I expected. It's an intelligent, funny and occasionally moving film with some great performances and a really sharp script. My review can be found here.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller Review at Row Three

2010-02-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

I've posted a review of Robert Altman's classic 70's western McCabe & Mrs. Miller on Row Three as part of their Easy Riders Raging Bulls Marathon:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/02/26/easy-riders-mccabe-mrs-miller/

God Man Dog Review at Row Three

2010-02-21T04:48:00.000-08:00

I reviewed the multi-story Taiwanese drama God Man Dog over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/02/20/review-god-man-dog/

Scent Reviewed in Little White Lies

2010-02-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

Excuse the self-publicity, but the production company I work for Blueprint: Film's latest short, Scent (which I edited) got a glowing review over at Little White Lies - check it out here.

Capsule Reviews

2010-02-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

Over the last month or two I've seen a few films that I didn't get round to reviewing for whatever reason, so I thought I'd collect most of them together and do some brief capsule reviews to catch up.

Terminator Salvation

Year: 2009

Director: McG

Writers: John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin

I first caught this at the cinema on it's release and I was pleasantly surprised to find it better than most critics were making out. Watching it a second time though was a different matter all together. Some of the action set-pieces are well staged and contain some great uses of long-takes, but the script and handling of anything other than action is woeful. I don't know how I missed all the terrible dialogue, clunky exposition and hammy performances the first time round, maybe it just caught me in the right mood. Granted it's an entertaining film in a throwaway way, but it's pretty bad at times and doesn't hold up to repeated viewings like the first two films do.

5/10

United 93

Year: 2006

Director: Paul Greengrass

Writer: Paul Greengrass

Starring: J.J. Johnson, Gary Commock, Polly Adams, Opal Alladin

I avoided this film for a while because of a number of reasons. Firstly it just seemed like a terrible idea coming so soon after the events which were beyond heavily covered in the media. I expected lots of nauseating flag waving, overly heroic characters and one dimensional villains, not to mention the thought of sitting through a two hour film where I know most of the characters will die in the end. Failure just seemed inevitable for me and even though reviews were positive upon it's release I just ignored it.

Well I can say now that I was an idiot to put off watching this film. Paul Greengrass doesn't put one foot wrong in the potential minefield of making it. Everything has been so carefully thought through; the film seems unnervingly natural (largely due to the unknown actors and loose camerawork) and because the outcome is known from the outset there's a sickening tension that makes the thought of the ending seem terrifying. Yes it's heavy going, but it's handled with such intensity that you can't help but be gripped by the ordeal. United 93 is one of the most well made films I've seen for a long long time and I would recommend anyone who put off watching it as I did to buy or rent it this instant, you won't regret it.

9/10

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Year: 2005

Director: Doug Liman

Writer: Simon Kinberg

Starring: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Adam Brody

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is an enjoyable but forgettable bit of fluff. The two leads seem to be having fun (the off screen romance might have had something to do with it) and some of the action set-pieces are extravagantly over the top, but it never engages enough and the premise isn't exploited in the right ways for my liking. It has a similar set up to True Lies (which itself is a remake of a La Totale!), but I preferred that film, which has a similar level of over the top action, but balances that with some broad yet likeable humour. That's not to say Mr. And Mrs. Smith takes itself seriously, but the comedy didn't work for me, other than in a few of Vince Vaughn's scenes. Also, James Cameron has a better handle on the carnage than Doug Liman does, with True Lies trumping this in the violence and explosions stakes.

6/10

Watchmen

Year: 2009

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: David Hayter & Alex Tse

Based on the Graphic Novel by: Dave Gibbons & Alan Moore (uncredited)

Starring: Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode

Even after a second viewing I still can't decide whether I like Watchmen or not. I love the graphic novel and this adaptation sticks pretty much as closely as possible to it (bar the ending and the intercut comic and news articles). This is the film's biggest problem though, it's just too close to the original source material which doesn't always translate well to the big screen. Also, recreating something this meticulously just seems like a bit of a waste of time. That said, Snyder is clearly a massive fan and visually he nails it, pulling off some of the graphic novel's iconic imagery very effectively. Controversially I think his choice to change the ending works too, although one could argue there are flaws to it's logic. Some aspects don't work though, such as a painfully cheesy sex scene and an overuse of flashy slow motion action. Watchmen was never about action, it was about the characters and I think Snyder overdoes what little violence there is in the film, which doesn't settle well with the core of the material's strengths. All in all it's a bold move to attempt to make the film in the first place and a lot of the time it works, so I'd still recommend the film, but never over the book.

7/10

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Year: 2007

Director: Andrew Dominik

Writer: Andrew Dominik

Based on the Novel by: Ron Hansen

Starring: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner

The Assassination of Jesse James is a beautifully shot, slowly paced yet intoxicating film from the director of Chopper. It's a dissection of fame and obsession, following the Jesse James-idolising Robert Ford as he gains entry to the famed outlaw's gang and strives to take his place as a living legend. It's a brilliantly acted piece, with Casey Affleck in particular delivering a stunning performance as the deluded Ford. It looks amazing too, with a sparsely lit midnight train robbery standing out. It's a little on the long side and does feel quite slow, but the sheer quality of it all draws you in and keeps you there. I found the voiceover narration a little annoying at times, but I could see Dominik's intention in using it to make events in the film feel like they were something of history or legend. It's a great film though and it's a shame that it performed so poorly at the box office as Dominik is a talent that needs to be nurtured.

9/10

The Princess and the Frog

Year: 2009

Director: Ron Clements & John Musker

Writers: Ron Clements, John Musker, Greg Erb, Jason Oremland, Rob Edwards

Starring: Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley

The Princess and the Frog is Disney going back to it's roots. Shunning 3D and sticking to old fashioned hand drawn animation (with a lot of help from computers I imagine) and employing the writer/directors behind The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, this really feels like a proper Disney film after 10 years of trying to be 'down with the kids' or struggling to keep up with Pixar's standards. Yes the film has a hammered home message and it's share of cheese, but it's presented in a refreshingly non-ironic, wholesome way that feels acceptable. It doesn't try to be anything else other than an entertaining family film packed with great songs, simple humour and a few frights to keep everyone excited. There are no lazy film or TV references ala Shrek, no over-pandering to adult audiences and no saccharine pop ballads. It whizzes along and leaves you with a big smile plastered on your face, which is exactly what I want from a Disney film. It's no Lion King and it has it's issues, but overall The Princess and the Frog is top-notch entertainment and shows that there's life in 2D animation after all.

8/10

Apocalypse of the Dead

2010-02-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

Director: Milan Konjevic & Milan Todorovic

Screenplay: Vukota Brajovic, Milan Konjevic & Milan Todorovic

Producers: Milan Todorovic, Vukota Brajovic, Loris Curci, Zeljko Mitrovic

Starring: Ken Foree, Kristina Klebe, Emilio Roso, Miodrag Krstovic, Vukota Brajovic

Year: 2009

Country: Serbia/Italy/Spain

BBFC Certification: 18

Duration: 96 min

Apocalypse of the Dead (AKA Zone of the Dead) is a low budget Serbian zombie B-movie due a UK DVD release in March. Featuring a lead performance by Ken Foree, star of Dawn of the Dead and featuring a plot combining Night of the Living Dead with Assault on Precinct 13, Apocalypse of the Dead is clearly made by fans of the horror and exploitation genres. So the question is can these first time directors channel their fan-love into something close to it's influences?

Well the short answer is no. Apocalypse of the Dead shuffles (and runs) down a well-trodden path of zombie-movie clichés. The premise is that an experimental gas which can bring dead cells back to life is being transported across Serbia. Things go wrong of course and the gas container is accidentally blown open unleashing a zombie plague across the city of Pancevo. Our protagonists are chiefly a group of Interpol agents transporting a dangerous prisoner to Belgrade who end up having to work together to fight off the hordes of the undead surrounding them. Along the way they meet some teenagers coming home from a wild party, an old English professor and a psychotic bible-quoting skinhead with a never-ending arsenal of weaponry at his disposal.

That last sentence probably perked the interest of action and horror fans, but unfortunately the skinhead is criminally underused, only really pulling out all the stops at the end of the film. Plus, although he provides the film's most fun moments, he's also one of the weakest actors, struggling to deliver his pretentious dialogue with any conviction. The performances in general are a real sore point in this film. Now I usually don't care too much about the acting in zombie movies, but here it's really quite painful. The main cast members aren't the worst I've seen, they fit in with the B-movie vibe (Foree has some nice moments), but most of the supporting cast are Serbian actors forced to speak English all the time (even to each other), probably in an effort to make the film more appealing to an international audience. It means that anyone not in a starring role is either badly dubbed or stumbles through a language that is clearly not their mother tongue. Why they didn't just subtitle all of the Serbians and keep the main cast members speaking English I'll never know - their characters are supposed to be from the US anyway.

As I said though I can usually forgive cheesy performances in a film of this type, but unfortunately it didn't deliver in the departments that matter either. For me a genre movie succeeds if it either does something original with it's concept, goes way over the top in the exploitation stakes, or simply does what that genre does best (i.e. scares or excites). Apocalypse of the Dead never really does any of these. The filmmakers do nothing original at all, apart from maybe set it in Serbia. Every zombie cliché you can think of is included, from the group member being bitten early on who will need to be killed at some point (I'll let you guess when) to the old character asking to be left behind to die. As for going over the top and doing what a horror film does best, this is where the film disappointed me most. The film starts very poorly, largely because it relies heavily on the terrible supporting cast, but also because it takes a while for any serious zombie carnage to kick in. The only really impressive and exciting scene comes at the film's finale when the survivors have to fight through a vast wave of the living dead armed with a variety of guns and a samurai sword. This scene is great fun, but was too little too late for me. There are one or two moments in the middle which are entertaining enough too, such as a decapitation by harpoon, but generally it's just a queue of cheaply reproduced scenes that we've seen many times before.

I generally like to give all types of films a chance, especially horror and action movies because I'm a fan of the genres. Apocalypse of the Dead however just felt a bit lazy. The potential was there for a fun 'beer and buddies' movie, but it's overuse of actors working away from their native tongue and far too many clichés just left me wanting to revisit better films. Those who are big zombie fans and don't want anything extra added will get a few kicks from this, but I'd prefer to whack Evil Dead on again.

3/10

The Killing Review at Row Three

2010-02-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

I've posted a review of Stanley Kubrick's breakthrough film, classic noir The Killing over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/02/04/review-the-killing/#more-25608

Sherlock Holmes

2010-01-31T03:16:00.000-08:00

Director: Guy Ritchie

Screenplay: Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg & Lionel Wigram

Based on the Work of: Arthur Conan Doyle

Producers: Susan Downey, Dan Lin, Joel Silver & Lionel Wigram

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

Year: 2009

Country: USA

BBFC Certification: 12A

Duration: 128 min

I'm no Sherlock Holmes purist, in fact I've never read any of the original stories, but on hearing the news and watching the first clips from this 're-imagining' I wasn't impressed. Taking a classic, dignified and very English character and whacking him in an action packed Hollywood blockbuster just seemed like a terrible idea. However, after giving the film a chance (I figured Robert Downey Jr. is always worth watching) I was pleasantly surprised.

Thankfully the writers decided against ravaging one of the classic tales and instead crafted something new, pitting Holmes (Downey Jr.) and Dr. Watson (Jude Law) against the evil Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), master of black magic. After putting him behind bars and sending him to the gallows at the start of the film, the mysterious villain miraculously rises from the grave, striking terror into the hearts of Londoners across the city. Along the way, Watson attempts to retire from the sleuthing business to marry his sweetheart and Holmes crosses paths with an untrustworthy old flame, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams).

It's not the most enthralling of stories, but it's functional enough. What drives the film are the performances from Downey Jr. and Law. The banter between Holmes and Watson is priceless, both actors are clearly having a lot of fun with the roles and the man-love chemistry keeps things crackling throughout. Downey Jr. in particular is a joy to watch as he turns Holmes from a true English gentleman to a frequently drunk and highly eccentric out-cast that still comes across as a genius. It's a testament to his talents that this works beautifully. His detailed dissection of every aspect of the world around him provides some memorable moments, especially in some of the fight scenes.

On the topic of fight scenes, these were moments that stood out most as being out of place when I saw the first trailers. In the context of the film these are generally well handled though and due to the aforementioned fight dissections, fitted the character. One scene with Holmes taking part in a bare-knuckle boxing match felt totally unnecessary though and didn't seem to service the plot at all. It shows how he can use his powers of perception in this context, but this had already been done elsewhere in the film. It just feels like a scene from one of Guy Ritchie's previous films stumbled into this one. Speaking of which, other than that example I was actually surprised and pleased by Ritchie's relative restraint. Films such as Snatch and Lock Stock are overloaded with stylistic flourishes, which work well in those contexts but grow old easily and tend to distract from rather than enhance the other elements of the film. Luckily in Sherlock Holmes, the style is there but curbed enough to never feel over-baked.

Similar to the experience I had with Zombieland, this is a film that is never mind-blowing or game-changing, but delivers a very enjoyable couple of hours that doesn't try to be something it isn't. A pet peeve I've had with blockbusters of late is that many of them forget their primary goal; to be fun. I appreciate that adding depth and gravitas to a film is not something necessarily negative or to be frowned upon, but when I'm watching a $200 million popcorn movie I expect a good time and not something long-winded and overly serious. Emotional drama doesn't always settle so well when it's mixed with CGI explosions and men dressed in spandex. Sherlock Holmes happily takes very little seriously and breezes along. It is maybe slightly too long and there's a relative lull towards the end, but for the most part it wastes no time in consistently delivering humour, excitement and some impressive set-pieces.

Maybe my fairly low expectations clouded my judgement, but I can safely recommend Sherlock Holmes as top-notch entertainment. I imagine lovers of the books will be disgusted, but they'd just be missing the point. Bring on the sequel.

8/10

Attack on Leningrad Review at Row Three

2010-01-29T14:41:00.000-08:00

I posted a review of the straight to DVD release Attack on Leningrad at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/01/29/review-attack-on-leningrad/

Thirst

2010-01-24T07:15:00.000-08:00

Director: Chan-wook Park

Screenplay: Chan-wook Park & Seo-Gyeong Jeong

Based on the Novel by: Emile Zola

Producers: Chan-wook Park & Ahn Soo-Hyun

Starring: Kang-ho Song, Ok-bin Kim, Hae-sook Kim, Ha-kyun Shin

Year: 2009

Country: South Korea

BBFC Certification: 18

Duration: 133 min

Chan-wook Park's latest genre bending film is the vampire comedy/drama/horror Thirst. Due a DVD and Blu-Ray release in the UK on January 25^th, this is a film to please fans of Park's Vengeance Trilogy, serving up similar doses of extreme violence and rich black humour. Personally I'm one of these fans so I lapped it up.

Sang-hyun (Kang-ho Song) is a dedicated priest who wants to help people more practically, so signs up to a vaccine research programme for a deadly virus. The vaccine doesn't work though and as his condition reaches a critical point doctors give Sang-hyun a blood transfusion, which although miraculously curing him, has the adverse affect of turning him into a vampire. His transformation gives the well meaning man not only a lust for blood, but also a craving for sins of the flesh. This causes him to embark on a sordid affair with an old friend's unhappy wife (Ok-bin Kim), who longs for a more exciting existence and when she discovers Sang-hyun's secret she wants to share his infliction.

As with all of Park's work, Thirst is a very dark and original film with some disturbingly beautiful imagery. On a visual level the film is outstanding, serving up a grimy, shadowy world that the director has clearly meticulously planned for all departments as it has his signature all over it. It certainly doesn't feel like a retread of his previous work though, with a little more focus on black comedy and no themes of vengeance of course. As with those films this again gets pretty hard-hitting and disturbing in the latter third, but the final scene turns all of this on it's head with a perfect blend of black humour and touching drama.

It's not always perfectly balanced though, with a few pacing issues and some confusing plot elements. In general the film could have been trimmed down a little, there are so many ideas in there I think losing a few wouldn't have harmed the film. An extended sex scene in the middle felt overly drawn out for instance. These are minor quibbles though when a film is this successful in subverting genres and offering up an original cinematic experience as opposed to the cookie-cutter trash that Hollywood so often churns out. Although I've not seen them and many journalists have made this statement already, I imagine this is a hell of a lot more mature and challenging than Twilight and it's sequel for instance.

It's an incredibly visceral experience as you'd expect from the man that brought you the hammer fight and live octopus scenes in Old Boy and the frighteningly brutal scenes of revenge in Sympathy For Mr (and Lady) Vengeance. I didn't find any of Thirst to be as uncomfortably nasty as some of those films though, with the humour and fantastical genre leanings being more apparent. That said, it's still awash with blood and it does get grisly at times with some painfully realistic neck and bone-breaking scenes standing out in particular.

Although I didn't find it quite as powerful or memorable as Sympathy For Mr Vengeance or Old Boy, I would say this is Chan-wook Park's most entertaining film and deserves as much success overseas as those found. Anyone who isn't familiar with his work should remedy that immediately and catch this on DVD or Blu-Ray when it hits the shelves tomorrow, you won't regret it.

9/10

DVD features: There aren't many features on the UK release, just a trailer and an interview, but the interview is a decent addition offering a brief but interesting insight into Park's filmmaking techniques. The Blu-Ray version also has edited highlights from an NFT Masterclass, but I only managed to get my hands on the DVD so I couldn't tell you if that's any good.

Up in the Air

2010-01-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Director: Jason Reitman

Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

Based on the Novel by: Walter Kirn

Producers: Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Jeffrey Clifford & Daniel Dubiecki

Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick

Year: 2009

Country: USA

BBFC Certification: 15

Duration: 109 min

Up in the Air is a film that I didn't want to like when I first saw it's trailer. It was one of those trailers that seemed to give away the whole plot and the central theme of George Clooney's character's commitment issues were so laboured I thought the actual film would be the same. However, I'm a sucker for good reviews, so on the strength of it's overseas buzz and award wins I had to go and see it.

The film focuses on Ryan Bingham (Clooney), who spends most of his life travelling around America on business. His business is an unusual one, he is sent around the country to fire employees for bosses who don't have the guts to do it themselves and as the film is set in the present day, i.e. the time of the credit crunch, business has never been better. Bingham is content with his life, he has no ties, a new low-maintenance 'girlfriend' and no interest in his family back in North Wisconsin. He's also on the verge of reaching 10 million frequent flyer miles, an achievement he has dreamt of for years. However, Natalie (Anna Kendrick), a new overenthusiastic member of the company he works for threatens to unsettle his perfect existence when she revolutionizes the 'firing' industry by offering the service via video-conferencing. Disgusted by this, Bingham takes her on a cross country business trip to show her the truth about their job. Along the way, as Natalie becomes more disillusioned with life, Bingham starts to see the cracks in his.

Well I can safely say that the trailer was clearly edited by idiots, because it did no justice to this film which I found very hard not to like. Up in the Air is one of those films that keeps threatening to get cheesy and sentimental but always manages to avoid it, which is probably why watching small chunks of it doesn't work. The ending especially, without wanting to give anything away, was surprisingly downbeat. Only a couple of scenes with Bingham's family and one or two moments with Natalie seemed ever so slightly mawkish. That's not to say that the film is usually bleak and cold though, it is a very entertaining, funny and at times warm experience. The writing is sharp and witty with plenty of great lines, proving that Reitman doesn't need Diablo Cody to deliver the goods. In fact, I think Up in the Air is an improvement over Juno, which was very good, but all the sassy teen talk got a bit grating at times.

George Clooney has been getting most of the coverage and awards buzz surrounding the film and rightfully so. As I'm sure most critics have pointed out, he's perfect for this role and is not necessarily doing anything new, but it just couldn't have worked as well with anyone else. He's eminently charming as always, but carries off the extra layers of subtle isolation and fear that are demanded of the role without making it too obvious. It's a performance that deserves to win a few awards even though it doesn't contain any grandstanding and doesn't seem like much of a stretch for Clooney. The rest of the cast are pretty solid too, with a host of surprising cameos filling the soon-to-be ex-employee rostrum. I wasn't a massive fan of Anna Kendrick though, she's generally pretty good but felt a little caricatured at times.

As I mentioned earlier Up in the Air is a film that's hard not to like. It's funny, well made and makes some fairly thought-provoking points on the way we live our lives. Just make sure you avoid the trailer.

9/10

Postia Pappi Jaakobille Review at Row Three

2010-01-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

I've posted a review of the low key Finnish drama Postia Pappi Jaakobille on Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/01/18/review-postia-pappi-jaakobille/#more-24837

Pierrot Le Fou Review at Row Three

2010-01-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've posted a review of Fench "New Wave" classic Pierrot Le Fou at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/01/13/review-pierrot-le-fou/

Top Films of the Decade at Row Three

2010-01-11T05:28:00.000-08:00

I posted a list of my top films of the decade over at Row Three:

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/01/09/daves-films-of-the-decade/

Fish Tank

2010-01-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Year: 2009
Director: Andrea Arnold
Writers: Andrea Arnold
Starring: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Griffiths, Kierston Wareing

Before I start my review I'd just like to apologise for the lack of reviews on my blog recently. I've been posting most of my articles on Row Three and with Christmas and everything it's hard to keep up both. What I will do in the future is post reviews of anything Row Three has already covered on here and continue to link to my Row Three write-ups too. I should have done that with Where the Wild Things Are and A Serious Man, but I didn't get round to it.

Anyway, Fish Tank. This is a film that received a veritable shower of glowing reviews and accolades around it's festival screenings and eventual release, so I was pretty keen on watching it. I must say however, I wasn't without my doubts when I stepped into the theater the other day, as I'm generally of the opinion that gritty urban dramas have been done to death in this country. Ken Loach and Mike Leigh in particular have successfully mined so many corners of the UK's council estates and flats that I didn't think much more could be done on the subject.

Well the plot doesn't offer anything particularly new. Mia (Katie Jarvis) is an underachieving working class teenager living with her unsupportive mother and brash younger sister. Struggling to get a handle on life she falls on dance as her only escape. Her mother's new boyfriend Connor (Hunger's Michael Fassbender) abruptly enters their life and Mia falls for him as object of passion as well as a father figure through the support and attention he gives her.

As the description above suggests, this isn't a totally original story and to be honest most of the strands lead to predictable outcomes, but Fish Tank is one of those films that is so well-handled that everything just falls into place beautifully. I watched this with a few others who disagreed, but I felt that writer/director Andrea Arnold managed to make choices that sound cliched and cheesy on paper work perfectly on screen. The drama never builds to unrealistic levels either, keeping things subtle but quietly moving. It's also very nicely shot (in 4:3 strangely enough) rather than just going for the drab, lifelessly grey effect that many films of this ilk opt for.

One of the main reasons the film works, other than the superb direction, are some of the performances. Lead actress Katie Jarvis is a revelation, always fascinating to watch and not always entirely likeable, creating a believably flawed central character. Michael Fassbender plays Connor as a charming rogue with a simmering sense of doubt over his intentions for Mia. The role isn't as showy as his awesome turn in Hunger, but he does an excellent job of balancing role model and sleaze-bag. The scenes between him and Jarvis crackle with intensity and form some of the film's strongest moments.

I wasn't a big fan of all the characters though. I felt the mother was very one-dimensional and the sister, although occasionally funny, tended to get on my nerves in the wrong way and I felt the performance was too forced in an otherwise subtle film. Also, the predictability of much of it occasionally bothered me and a scene at the end of the film verged on being cheesy due to some overly blunt lyrics in the soundtrack. Saying that I still found that moment curiously moving even though it was a little contrived.

Fish Tank is a film that will not be to everyone's tastes, it has shortcomings but mostly it overcomes these with some tremendously assured direction and fine performances. It's a film that keeps things small and low key but is always engrossing and genuinely touching.

8/10

New Year 'To Watch' List

2010-01-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've posted a huge list of my unwatched DVD's on Row Three for people's views and opinions of what I should and shouldn't watch. Feel free to pop over and let us know your thoughts.

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/01/06/new-year-to-watch-list/

Review of the year

2010-01-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

Since I only got this blog up and running in September and recently I snuck off to Row Three for most of my articles I figured instead of a standard Top 10 of the year, I'd do something a bit more substantial and give you a rundown of all the new releases I watched in 2009. It wasn't an amazing year for films in my opinion, although I missed a bunch of supposedly strong ones (Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Moon, Let the Right One In, Fantastic Mr. Fox etc.). It still contained some very good films though and several surprises from the horror festivals I attended this year (many thanks to all you festival organizers out there and to Justin for dragging me along to them all!).

So here you go, I've included my top 10 write-up from Row Three, then I'm going to go down in order of preference through the year with headers for marks out of 10:

Films I Watched in 2009 That Were Released in the UK (or Premiered) in 2009

Top 10:

1. The Wrestler – I can hear a lot of you muttering that this was from 2008, but it got released in the UK in 2009 and that's when I saw it so I don't care. A powerfully raw and emotional film that really touched a nerve with me. It's been a long time, if ever, that I've felt so strongly for a character. Mickey Rourke and the film itself were robbed at the Oscars so I'm putting it at the top of my list to make up for it - that and the fact that it actually is my favourite film of the year.

2. In The Loop – The finest British film I've seen in a long while, it is satire at it's most furiously paced and hilarious best. Peter Capaldi is incredible in one of the most deliciously foul-mouthed roles I've ever seen.

3. A Serious Man – The Coens do what they do best, mining a seemingly mundane setting/theme for rich black humour and crafting some fantastic characters along the way. Fred Melamed's Sy Ableman is so good he alone would make the film worthy of a mention.

4. Avatar – Yes, it's not without it's flaws as a film but as a filmgoing experience it was unparalleled. Exciting, often beautiful and deeply immersive thanks to the impressive effects and use of 3D, it's the best blockbuster I've seen for a while.

5. Lake Mungo – A film that took me by surprise after it opened a relatively small horror festival in the UK, Lake Mungo is a creepy, yet moving horror film. It's one of the first fictional horror 'documentaries' I've seen that actually looks and feels like a real documentary. It has some narrative flaws and is not a perfect film, but it's quietly powerful and some of it's scares still haunt me three months later.

6. District 9 – It's quite inconsistent and satirically blunt, but it's also a fresh-feeling and exciting blockbuster that I thoroughly enjoyed. I found lead actor Sharlto Copley to be infuriatingly caricatured in the film's first 20 minutes, but his performance gradually develops into one of the breakthroughs of the year, at least in a blockbuster role.

7. Where the Wild Things Are – A little slow and overly minimalist in terms of plot, yet Where the Wild Things Are is still a beautiful film. What struck me most was how effective it was in capturing the feeling of being a child coming to terms with the struggles of life.

8. Paranormal Activity – As with Avatar, this isn't without it's problems, but is an incredibly memorable cinematic experience. It's been a long time since I've been this gripped and terrified by a film and I think it helped that I watched this early on before the hype-machine took over.

9. Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl – Incredibly daft and utterly bonkers, Vampire Girl is a hell of a lot of fun. Much in the vein of Machine Girl, this is an orgy of over the top gore effects and inspired lunacy that is an acquired taste, but if you can let it in you'll not regret it.

10. Up – It's not the best Pixar film by any stretch, but when it works it's a moving and entertaining adventure that still impresses. The opening 15 minutes are incredible, reducing many to tears before the film had really got started. The rest of the film struggles to recapture this and turns a bit silly at times, but it's still better than most.

And the rest (in order of preference and score categories):

8/10
The Disappeared

7/10

The House of the Devil

Star Trek

Zombieland

The Forbidden Door (AKA Pintu Terlarang)

Watchmen

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (UK)

Ninja

Bodyguard: A New Beginning

Trick 'R Treat

6/10

Terminator Salvation

Coffin Rock

Tamami: The Baby's Curse

Julie and Julia
I Sell the Dead

Charlie Valentine

Dawning

Home Movie

5/10

Beast Stalker

Dogs of Chinatown

Looking For Eric

Rampage

My Bloody Valentine 3D

Grace

4/10

Drag Me To Hell

Les Dents De La Nuit

Neighbor

Gnaw

Yoroi: Samurai Zombie
From Inside

3/10

Hellbinders

Last of the Living

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The Assessment (AKA Headhunter: The Assessment Weekend)

2/10

Side Effx

Beast Stalker Review at Row Three

2009-12-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

I just reviewed Beast Stalker due for release on January 4th through Cine-Asia, check it out here: http://www.rowthree.com/2009/12/24/reviewbeaststalker/

Avatar Review at Row Three

2009-12-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

Check out my review of Avatar at Row Three: www.rowthree.com/2009/12/20/review-avatar/

On The Beach Review at RowThree

2009-12-06T01:29:00.000-08:00

Since my last post I have been asked to contribute content for RowThree (one of my linked sites on the left) so I'm afraid I won't be adding too much to this blog anymore. I will try and post a few reviews and articles here from time to time and I will post links to the work I do at RowThree though so you can keep up to date with it.

In the meantime, check out my first post over at RowThree and feel free to leave comments here or there:

http://www.rowthree.com/2009/12/06/review-on-the-beach/

A weekend of trash cinema (and a couple of 'proper films')

2009-12-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

I got together with some friends this weekend for one of our regular filmathons, which generally consist of the trashiest films we can find on VHS mixed with a few classier genre titles. This session was no different, squeezing 11 films into one weekend. I'll admit a few of the films weren't watched too closely and most of the dialogue in the trashiest efforts was overshadowed by us taking the piss throughout, so I've not always given a rating and I'm going to keep the reviews very brief. I've also added some trailers and clips for your amusement, so enjoy!

Friday:

Vengeance Squad

Year: 1987
Director: Jett C. Espiritu
Writer: Bing P. Santos
Starring: Efren Reyes Jnr, Chona Castillo, George Estregan

I only caught the last half an hour of this, but from what I saw and from everyone else's reactions all I can say is 'what the hell?' It's an extremely confusing mess of a film with very little going for it. It's naffness knows no bounds, and the horrendous camerawork and editing caused much amusement, setting the trend for the rest of the weekend.

The Being

Year: 1983
Director: Jackie Kong
Writer: Jackie Kong
Starring: Martin Landau, Bill Osco (AKA Rexx Coltrane), Jose Ferrer

A cheap monster movie featuring Martin Landau with a monster luckily kept in shadow for the most of the running time. In fact most of the film was kept in shadow (or it might have been the TV we were watching it on) and we couldn't always tell quite what was going on. It was pretty bad, but an improvement on Vengeance Squad, with a more coherent story and some enjoyable sequences, especially the monster showdown at the end, which was hardly Aliens, but provided a few laughs and cheers. There were some very random scenes though including a drunken Jose Ferrer seemingly ringing a phone sex line?!

Ninja

Year: 2009
Director: Isaac Florentine
Writers: Boaz Davidson, Michael Hurst, Zaki Rubenstein
Starring: Scott Adkins, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Mika Hijii, Todd Jensen

Our first quality film came in the shape of Ninja, a top-notch action movie which reminded me of the no-nonsense action films I used to love from the 80's and early 90's. It's story is nothing to write home about and the dialogue and acting is hardly award winning, but the action comes thick and fast, never lagging during it's 90 minutes or so running time. The fight sequences are fantastic and show off the skills of Scott Adkins and Tsuyoshi Ihara to great effect. Their showdown at the end is especially impressive and luckily the action is shot and edited properly, showing that these actors really know their stuff and the violence isn't implied through over-zealous editing as with most Hollywood action films these days. It's not a perfect film, Adkins, although a great fighter, is a little dull as a lead actor (Ihara on the other hand makes a great villain), it's pretty cheesy at times and as mentioned before the plot is pretty thin. For martial arts and action fans though this is a film well worth waiting for - it's due a DVD release in March 2010 and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit of the rough stuff.

7/10

Saturday:

Master Ninja (TV Series - one episode watched)

Year: 1984
Series Creator: Michael Sloan
Starring: Lee Van Cleef, Timothy Van Patten, Sho Kosugi, George Lazenby

A cheesy TV series from the 80's cashing in on the kung-fu/ninja craze, Master Ninja (aka The Master) is daft, cheap and textbook, but I had fun with the episode we watched. Lee Van Cleef strolls around with a huge medallion and conveniently wears his full body ninja outfit whenever he's needed for an action scene (not that you can expect a man of his age to do his own stunts). George Lazenby seems to have forgotten that he only did one Bond film as he spends the whole episode in a tuxedo and drives an Aston Martin. The young lead Timothy Van Patten is a cookie cutter character who's as wooden as, well, a piece of wood, but it's all so silly I had a laugh watching it.

Cold Steel

Year: 1987
Director: Dorothy Ann Puzo
Writers: Dorothy Ann Puzo, Lisa M. Hansen, Moe Quigley, Michael Sonye
Starring: Brad Davis, Sharon Stone, Jonathan Banks, Adam Ant

An action revenge movie from the 80's, Cold Steel was one of the better cheesy 80's flicks that we watched at the weekend. It was a bit slow at times and was pretty by the numbers throughout, but it had a couple of things going for it. For one, some of the violence was surprisingly brutal, with an early killing and the finale standing out and actually eliciting some 'ooohs' from an audience that generally just laughed at everything. There's also a random car chase in the middle that although nonsensical, contains some really impressive stunts. All in all it was pretty forgettable, but worth seeing for the aforementioned scenes as well as the curiosity of watching a young Sharon Stone and Adam Ant (?!).

The Warrior and the Sorceress

Year: 1984
Director: John C. Broderick
Writer: John C. Broderick
Starring: David Carradine, Luke Askew, Maria Socas, Anthony De Longis

Riding the wave of Conan's success, The Warrior and the Sorceress is an uber-trashy sword and sorcery flick that rips it's plot from Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars. It's very, very silly, featuring a bizarre talking lizard, some very camp warriors and a woman with four breasts. Yes you read that right, not two, but four breasts. Clearly realising how bad the film was going to be, writer/director John C. Broderick threw in as much nudity as possible (all women in the film are naked at least 90% of the time, seriously) and the famous quadro-boobed lady to make this a memorably sleazy offering. David Carridine is clearly just there to earn an easy buck, and looks pretty rough through most of the film. The action is generally quite bad, although the swordfights were still quite enjoyable, and you can't expect much more from a film of it's age and background. It's worth watching for a cheap laugh, but make sure you back it up with plenty of alcohol.

Charlie Valentine

Year: 2009
Director: Jesse V. Johnson
Writer: Jesse V. Johnson
Starring: Raymond J. Barry, Michael Weatherly, James Russo, Tom Berenger

After an overdose of cheese, we decided on a classier film to bring us back to Earth on Saturday. Charlie Valentine is a slickly produced low budget gangster film from British director Jesse V Johnson. It's a handsome looking film with some brutal and unflinchingly violent scenes that will satisfy action fans. For me though, after a strong opening 20 minutes I found that the film tailed off a bit into predictable gangster territory. The dialogue especially is lifted from a dozen other films and it didn't offer anything new to the genre. Also, although the lead actor Raymond J Barry delivers a solid performance I felt he was let down by a lot of the rest of the cast, especially Michael Weatherly who plays his son in the film. He's not terrible, but he's very forgettable and uninteresting, which could be more of a fault with the writing, but it's not a scene-stealing performance. That said, the finale is satisfying and as I mentioned before it's a good-looking film with some powerful action scenes, so I'd still recommend it.

6/10

Trapped

Year: 1982
Director: William Fruet
Writer: John Beaird
Starring: Henry Silva, Nicholas Campbell, Barbara Gordon, Gina Dick

From the DVD case, I was expecting Trapped to be another entry to our gradually building list of laughably naff 80's movies, but it was actually pretty good. It's quite generic at times and features some painfully dumb 'heroes', but overall it's a well made backwoods horror film that still holds up after 27 years. Henry Silva, usually known for small supporting roles, gives a disturbing and powerful performance as Henry, the self-appointed 'leader' of a small town hidden in the back roads of Baker County, USA (the original title of the film). A group of students witness him murder an outsider who has slept with his wife and Henry goes about trying to tie up the loose ends. The hicks in Trapped are given much more depth than is expected from a film of this type and they end up being much more interesting and well rounded than the group of students who do some of the most ridiculous things. Where most of the film seems to shy away from cliches, whatever the students do seems to have come from the 'Idiots Guide To What Not To Do In a Horror Film'. They have several opportunities to escape in the film and every time they go back to the town only to get caught or chased again. The infuriating 'good-guys' aside, this is an enjoyable horror gem that's worth a watch if you can track it down.

6/10

Double Revenge

Year: 1990
Director: Armand Mastroianni
Writers: John Sharkey & Brian Tobin
Starring: Joe Dallesandro, Vinny Argiro, Ray McCloskey

Right, back to the trash. Double Revenge is a forgettable, dull, revenge thriller. The bank robbery, ensuing hostage situation and chase at the start of the film are OK and gave us promise for the rest of it, but it all went wrong after that. It's a film that takes itself way too seriously and just gets quite boring. OK, so it didn't help that it was our 6th film of the day and we were getting tired, but there's very little action apart from the opening 15 minutes, a passable car chase in the middle and the predictable showdown at the end. I'd normally be fine with that if what was in between the action was good, but it really wasn't. It's got an incredibly heavy handed overuse of the American flag throughout, trying to make a 'bold statement' about the judicial system, but there's not enough substance here to back that up and I didn't buy the plot contrivances that attempted to do so. All in all it's a tedious and pretentious thriller that should stay in the VHS graveyard that it came from.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1872953625/

Sunday

Black Cobra 3

Year: 1990
Director: Edoardo Margheriti
Writer: ? (unavailable on IMDB)
Starring: Fred Williamson, Forry Smith, Debra Ward

To wake us up on Sunday we 'treated' ourselves to Black Cobra 3: The Manila Connection, a Fred Williamson vehicle from the early 90's that looks like it should be from the early 80's. Wow, this was pretty bad. The opening scene where a soldier breaks into a jungle compound is hilariously silly (check out the way he gets past an electric fence!) and our introduction to Williamson shooting up a supermarket is a laugh (check out the clip below), but most of the film is pretty slow and just plain bad rather than being so bad it's funny. There's lots of silliness of course and a few sub-A-Team action scenes, but not enough to sustain my attention. It's one of the longest 90 minutes I've spent watching a film.

The Yakuza

Year: 1974
Director: Sydney Pollack
Writers: Paul Schrader, Robert Towne & Leonard Schrader
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith, Herb Edelman

Before I left to drive home I wanted to end on a high note so we thought we'd watch a more respectable film to round the weekend off, and we definitely made the right choice. I really should write a longer review for this, but writing up the whole weekend of films has been epic and I don't think I'd do it justice. All I can say is that I thought The Yakuza was brilliant. What really struck me was how respectable it was to Japanese culture coming from a largely American cast and crew. It was one of the only Hollywood films I've seen that tackled samurai and Yakuza subject matter and actually felt like a Japanese film (bar the language of course). It's slow paced, but well performed, beautifully shot and when called for, tremendously tense and exciting. The action scenes are short and sharp as they should be, with a drawn out climactic showdown that is absolutely stunning. Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura are fantastic and their final scenes together are very powerful. It's an absolute classic that deserves a lot more recognition, standing tall amongst it's talented crew's back catalogue of established classics.

9/10

(I wanted to include a trailer but I couldn't find one online, only some clips that ruin the film, so I decided not to include them)

Filmathon - The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Unleashed, The Seventh Seal & Duck Soup

2009-11-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

I've got a serious DVD shopping habit as you might have guessed and buy far more DVD's than I can watch, especially considering I work full time and live with my partner who doesn't totally share my taste in films. One way I have of tackling this problem is by taking any rare free and lonely days that I get and turning them into a full on 'filmathon'. This brief set of reviews charts my latest session.

I'm going to keep the reviews really short this time because I'm doing four films at once and I'm quite busy at the moment, so apologies for skimming over them a bit.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Year: 1963
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Mario Bava, Enzo Corbucci, Enio De Concini, Eliana De Sabata, Mino Geurrini & Franco Prosperi
Starring: Leticia Roman, John Saxon, Valentia Cortese

The Girl Who Knew Too Much is often considered to be the first Giallo film and is a bit of a cult classic from the Godfather of Italian horror, Mario Bava. How does it hold up today though? Well, not too bad, but it's showing it's age.

The plot is full of twists and turns but basically an American tourist, Nora, comes to Rome to visit her mother's friend, who ends up dying (of natural causes) almost as soon as she gets there. On the way to the hospital Nora gets mugged and knocked out cold. When she comes to she hazily witnesses a murder before passing out again from the trauma. Nobody believes her though as all traces are gone as she wakes up. The film goes on to follow her quest to find the killer herself.

It's all very Hitchcockian as you can gather from the title (although it is called The Evil Eye in the US). The plot and dark humour running through the film are all reminiscent of the master of suspense, but for me although it's an entertaining film, it doesn't reach the heights of say North by Northwest or Rear Window. It has dated badly in terms of performance and dialogue. A voiceover that runs throughout is painfully over the top in it's level of exposition, explaining exactly what Nora is thinking when we can clearly see or figure it out.

Where the film does succeed though is in it's various set-pieces and in it's style. It's beautifully shot in black and white, using dramatic contrasts and lots of shadows to great effect. The set-pieces really show off it's look and style, creating some incredibly tense and darkly beautiful scenes that make the film worth while. A scene in an empty apartment where Nora can hear voices calling her is very effective in particular.

So it's a bit dated and cheesy at times, but it still succeeds in it's scenes of terror and is worth watching for these alone.

6/10

Unleashed

Year: 2005
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Luc Besson
Starring: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Kerry Condon

Unleashed (otherwise known as Danny the Dog) was a film I was desperate to see when it first got announced, placing martial arts movie legend Jet Li in a Hollywood film with a solid cast and a writer/producer (Luc Besson) that knew how to make a quality action film (Leon, Nikita etc.) When it finally got released though it was hit with some quite lukewarm reviews and wasn't massively successful, so it seemed to pass me by somehow. I finally decided to rectify things and sit down and watch it on DVD four years after it's release and I was pleasantly surprised.

Unleashed throws us into a seedy British underworld where debt collector Bart (Hoskins) has trained a semi-mute slave Danny (Li) to beat the living hell out of anyone he pleases by releasing a dog collar he uses to control him. Danny eventually escapes his captor and ends up living with a kindly old blind piano tuner (Freeman) and his step-daughter (Condon). This pair manage to open Danny up to become a real person and not an animal, until of course his demons come back to haunt him.

The film to me seemed to be aiming at replicating the success of Leon, in that it's at times a brutal, stylish action film but at others a touching drama. Unleashed is not as successful at this it has to be said, but it still does pretty well. The action scenes are bone-crunchingly brutal and are the strongest elements of the film, with some impressive choreography from the master himself, Yuen Wo Ping. The scenes with his new family are not quite as impressive, but they're much better than I expected. Jet Li delivers his finest English language performance, displaying an impressive range and delivery despite the language barrier. Bob Hoskins makes a great villian and Morgan Freeman is solid as always, but doesn't fire on all cylinders.

It's not a perfectly balanced film and has it's silly and schmaltzy moments, but nonetheless it's an effectively entertaining and well made film that deserves more respect.

7/10

The Seventh Seal

Year: 1957
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Max Von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson, Nils Poppe, Bengt Ekerot

I've been living in fear of The Seventh Seal for a long time. I've attempted to watch it on around four occasions and never got further than a minute or two into it before I've given up. I think it didn't help that before recently I'd never seen an Ingmar Bergman film. I'd always read so much about how serious and important his films were that I just didn't have the patience to sit through any of them, thinking I'd be bored to tears. Finally, for who knows what reason I decided to watch The Virgin Spring and I loved it, which opened up the floodgates for me, prompting this review as my subsequent Bergman fix. Speaking of which, reviewing this film is another fear I've had. What am I, lover of trashy kung-fu films, going to say about one of the highest regarded art-house films ever made?

Lets start with the plot; The Seventh Seal is all about death. The central element (and most famous) follows a knight returning from the crusades who is having a crisis of faith when he is confronted by Death himself, telling him his time is up. The knight, who still wants answers on the existence of God before he dies, challenges Death to a game of chess for his life. The rest of the film concerns the fears and turmoil surrounding a plague that is ravaging the country and casting the shadow of death over everyone and everything.

Well, after finally forcing myself to watch it I must say I was surprised. Not surprised by how good it is (it is brilliant), but by how entertaining it was. OK, it's certainly not a laugh-riot and it's a million miles away from the fun I get from a Jackie Chan film, but it's not the tedious, ponderous tosh that I originally expected. It is about death and religion so is heavy going, but Bergman keeps the running time lean and doesn't waste time along the way. There's even a bit of farce thrown in there too. There are numerous main characters with very different outlooks on life which make it easy to find someone to relate to, although the film works best as a thought-provoking piece by displaying how all of these sides to the debate have a point and there are no easy answers. It really is a fascinating film that probes the darkest but ever-present questions man has of life and death.

It's also a beautiful film, with some stunning use of lighting and locations. Some of the imagery will stay with you forever, some of course is already so parodied that it's lost some of it's effect, but it still holds its own and the scenes with Death are among the most memorable moments despite bringing up thoughts of Bill and Ted.

The performances are fantastic too, especially Max Von Sydow, who is an awesome presence on screen. I could go on, but I'm sure you've all read about how good the film is before, just let me tell you that it's not as dull as it sounds. Be brave and give it a go, you won't regret it.

9/10

Duck Soup

Year: 1933
Director: Leo McCarey
Writers: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Arthur Sheekman, Nat Perrin
Starring: Groucho, Harpo, Chico & Zeppo Marx

Duck Soup was the final film the Marx Brothers produced for Paramount before moving over to the more restrictive hands of MGM. For many it's the pinnacle of their career and I hadn't got round to watching until now, after already getting through most of their later films, which are fun, but a bit formulaic and over-stretched. Duck Soup though was produced in the days before MGM reigned in the Marx Brothers' madness and it was worth the wait.

The story of course is pushed into the background, but concerns the small country of Freedonia, which is in financial crisis and is forced to borrow a huge sum of money from a wealthy widow (Marx Brothers favourite Margaret Dumont). In exchange for the loan she insists that control of the state is given to the crazy Rufus T Firefly (Groucho), who through various mishaps ends up going to war with neighboring country, Sylvania.

The set-up allows the brothers to hit on plenty of satire in amongst the slapstick, although it's not as biting as modern offerings. Nevertheless it's still hilarious and had me laughing out loud at points even though I was sat at home watching it alone. The gags come thick and fast with Groucho's one-liners firing out like a machine gun, and some of the physical humour is spot on too. The famous mirror scene in particular is immaculately performed.

As mentioned previously this was also the last film the brothers had maximum control over which means that Duck Soup is without any tacked on love story, without the usual piano and harp solos, and is totally bonkers. The final war scenes are utter chaos and Groucho's constant costume changes during the battle had me in stitches.

There are still some flat and dated moments when the film tries to maintain it's 'story', but these are few and far between and whenever the Marx Brothers are on screen it is pure gold.

9/10

Zombieland

2009-11-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

Year: 2009
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone & Abigail Breslin

I wasn't that bothered about seeing Zombieland when I first heard about it. I like a bit of horror (as you can see by the past month's worth of reviews!), but I'm growing tired of zombie films. There are just too many of them about and few offer anything new to the genre. But I have to say, after dragging myself along to watch it I actually quite enjoyed it and thought it did offer something fairly new to the shuffling hordes of the undead.

Zombieland takes place in a world already overrun with zombies and we follow Columbus, one of the few survivors, as he makes his way across America in a vain effort to try and find his family. Along the way he bumps into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a tough, no nonsense guy who revels in taking down zombies left, right and center. This clashes with Columbus' strict zombie survival rules, but the pair team up anyway and end up clashing/bonding with Wichita and Little Rock (Stone and Breslin) on their travels.

The core narrative is pretty predictable and it's not a groundbreaking film by any stretch of the imagination, but it's humour and lightness of touch is refreshing for a zombie film. Yes, there are plenty of zombie comedies out there, but most of them still have that dark edge or horror trappings, whereas Zombieland never particularly tries to be scary or claustrophobic like most. It just aims for pure, simple entertainment, focusing on what the film describes as the 'little things' that can be fun about the situation, e.g. being able to trash shops, take out zombies in extravagant ways without consequence and being able to get into theme parks for free.

The film has more heart than most zombie films too, although this is where the film gets quite predictable and cliched. You know from early on what point they're going to be making about friendship, family etc.... It still sort of works though, mainly due to the likeable cast, in particular the two male leads who work very well together. Jesse Eisenberg proves he can pull off mainstream roles after a number of strong indie performances and handles the film's narration with ease. I've always been a fan of a Woody Harrelson too and it's good to see him in a decent lead role after a bit of a lull, his next film Defendor looks like it could be good too.

It's not a big laugh out loud comedy, but more of a consistently funny one. One exception is a totally unexpected (depending on how much you've read into it) and hilariously good extended cameo that appears midway through the film. I knew nothing about it beforehand and practically did a double take when it came along. The random silliness of the scene fits in nicely with the irreverent mood of the rest of the film and it's probably Zombieland's high point. The finale set in a theme park is great fun too.

It's not going to change the world, but Zombieland is a lot of fun and is a welcome addition to the often over-earnest and over-saturated zombie genre. Perfect beer and junk food fodder with enough heart and humour to entertain non-horror audiences too.

7/10

Red Dwarf - Back to Earth (DVD)

2009-11-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Year: 2009
Director: Doug Naylor
Writer: Doug Naylor
Starring: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules & Robert Llewellyn

I was a massive fan of Red Dwarf as a youngster when it was first broadcast on TV, but I must admit I lost interest somewhere around Series 7, when the programme started to lose steam. When Back to Earth was announced, a three part mini-series (displayed on DVD as a feature length film) reuniting the cast and writer/director Doug Naylor after ten years, it passed me by. For one I don't watch an awful lot of TV these days, and also I'd pushed the memory of the old episodes way into the back of my mind. When I was contacted by the generous folk at Warner Bros. Entertainment offering me a copy to review though all the happy memories flooded back and I thought I'd give this new incarnation a chance.

Back to Earth takes place nine years after series 8 (ignore the box's claim to be set after 'series x', that'll become clear after watching the DVD), Kristine Kochanski is dead and Lister is still saddened by this. The crew get attacked by a strange dimension jumping squid-like creature and a new hologram comes aboard to whip the crew into shape. They use the squid's tentacle to try and open up a gateway to another dimension to send it back through, but end up getting sucked into it themselves instead. On the other side they find themselves in our world, where of course they aren't real, but merely characters in a TV show. Learning that they will die in the final episode of the programme they track down their 'maker' to try and amend this.

Back to Earth is a disappointing film/set of episodes that is redeemed by it's DVD. For one, it's chock-a-block full with extras which increase the value of course, but also I found that listening to how the new mini-series was made helped explain some of it's shortcomings.

I must admit it took me a while to get into Back to Earth. To begin with the humour just wasn't coming across at all. One reason for this after watching some of the documentaries on the disc was that this was the first time they'd shot it like a film; out of sync and shot-by-shot, rather than using multiple cameras in front of a studio audience. You can see the actors struggling to get their gags across without the help of a supportive crowd. That said, the jokes aren't particularly witty though, with most gags either over-familiar or just childish. After a while I did warm back to the characters though and began to enjoy myself a little more.

One of my favourite aspects of the original Red Dwarf episodes were the complicated plots, which always had a crazy but logical feel to them, keeping true to it's sci-fi roots. Back to Earth manages to get there in the end, with some great ideas being revealed in the climactic scenes, but it takes a while to get there. The first third of the mini-series set on Red Dwarf just wasn't that interesting at all, and when they get to Earth it all just seems like a bad idea at first, but it does kick into gear after a while. In Naylor's commentary he does make reference to the fact that he wanted the mini-series to be a two-parter and not three as it ended up, so maybe the script was padded out to accommodate this. The ending does bring the show back to Earth (excuse the pun), not literally but in terms of feeling like the Red Dwarf of old, suggesting that should the programme come back to our screens it might hopefully be more as we remembered rather than the last two series that tried to change the format and failed.

Back to Earth is quite hit and miss in terms of special effects and overall sheen too. Again, after viewing the extra material on the DVD it's apparent that the budget was much lower than it should have been, mainly because the programme's production was funded by Dave this time rather than the BBC. Of course Red Dwarf was never one for cutting edge effects though, so the cheapness is part of it's charm I guess. I find it easier to get sentimental about naff practical effects than naff CGI though.

As you can guess by the plot, the mini-series owes a great debt to Blade Runner, and it doesn't try to hide this. Several scenes are clear parodies of scenes from Ridley Scott's masterpiece and many of the shots, costumes and sets are lovingly reconstructed. The production designers manage to use their meagre budget very effectively in this aspect. My issue though was that these parodies felt a bit overused, and after a while I wished they'd come up with something new instead of just ripping off something we all know so well.

Overall, it's a patchy affair that was disappointing, but I did warm to it towards the end and it suggested that given the chance the show has the potential to get back to it's roots.

The DVD

I've touched on this already, but thought I should do a mini write-up. I won't talk about the picture and sound quality because I was given a region 1 copy and my proper DVD set-up doesn't play those. I had to watch it on my old player through scart which just ruins the picture on my LCD TV.

Features-wise this DVD is brilliant, as I mentioned it actually improves the viewing experience no end. Contained in the 2-disc set are two commentaries, a two part documentary, deleted scenes, smeg ups, several featurettes, trailers, web videos and a photo gallery. The box mentions an Easter Egg too, but I couldn't find it.

I didn't sit through the whole of the two commentaries, but I really enjoyed what I heard of them. The cast commentary seems very enjoyable with the boys on top form, sadly better form than in the mini-series. Doug Naylor's commentary is very interesting, going into great detail about the making of the mini-series and how it came to fruition. Most interesting is the story behind the long-planned Red Dwarf the Movie.

The documentary is great and I found myself enjoying it more than the mini-series. Almost every aspect of the production process is covered and everyone seems very open and honest about everything, which is refreshing after watching the usual tacky love-ins that make up most making of's. It looked like the cast and crew had fun too and seem to get on like before despite the tight schedule and new methods of production.

The rest of the features aren't as strong but are still entertaining enough and informative, especially the FX featurette that is more enjoyable than most of it's kind.

So all in all it's a case of a weak mini-series on a brilliant DVD. Make of that what you will.

Film: 4/10
DVD: 9/10

CS - Sunday: The Burning, Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl, The House of the Devil & Grace

2009-11-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

The Burning

Year: 1981
Director: Tony Maylam
Writers: Peter Lawrence, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Tony Maylam & Brad Grey
Starring: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Jason Alexander & Fisher Stevens

A bit of a cult-classic slasher film from the early days of the genre, The Burning was placed on the Video Nasties list in the 80's. Watching it now, despite a couple of gory scenes, it's hard to see why, but I still had fun with the film.

It's plot is clearly ripped off Friday the 13th (released the year before); a nasty, alcoholic groundsman who was burned in an horrific accident exacts his revenge by stalking a bunch of teenagers at a summer camp with a pair of garden shears. From then on you know the drill; teenagers get naked, do stupid stuff and crazed killer hacks them to pieces.

As I said at the start though, despite it's over-familiarity I still found myself rather enjoying the film. I think one thing that helped was the fairly realistic and amusing banter between the characters. The film's 'hero' Todd (Brian Matthews) is bland and uninteresting but the supporting cast including future stars Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter are mostly quite likeable and I actually found myself feeling disappointed when some of them got killed.

The gore is well handled too by the master Tom Savini. It's not his finest work, but Savini on a bad day is still impressive and inventive. A massacre set on a raft (deleted from some censored versions of the film) is particularly brutal and is the centrepiece of the film, still shocking to watch today.

It's obviously not a perfect film though, as mentioned before some of the lead performances are pretty weak and plain annoying at times. There's also a ridiculous amount of nudity and sexual content in it. I've got nothing against it generally, and I'd never turn my nose up to a bit of T 'n A now and again, but it does start to get pretty silly.

So if you're in the mood for an old-style slasher that doesn't offer much new, but is fun and mindless you'd do worse than dig this out from the archives.

6/10

Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl

Year: 2009
Directors: Yoshihiro Nishimura & Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Writers: Naoyuki Tomomatsu & Shungiku Uchida
Starring: Yukie Kawamura, Eri Otoguru & Takumi Saito

Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl, what can I say? It's from the people behind Tokyo Gore Police, Stacy and Machine Girl, so if you've seen any of those films you'll know what to expect. If you haven't seen any of those films, you're in for a treat!

Plot? Er ok, when a new girl (Yukie Kawamura) comes into school and falls for the class hunk, popular girl Keiko (Eri Otoguru) isn't happy and the two become worst enemies. So far so textbook yeah? Did I mention the new girl is a vampire, and somewhere along the way Keiko is murdered and her father reanimates her corpse using various bodyparts to turn her into 'Frankenstein Girl'? Oh and it's set in a high school where students are mainly segregated into groups such as the Wrist Cutting Club and the Ganguro Girls, girls who idolise African Americans and try to dress, talk and look like them - all the way down to colouring their skin.

If you haven't guessed already (the title is a giveaway), Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl is as mad as a bag of squirrels. Most of what occurs in the film is utterly ludicrous and that, added to an insane amount of gore and bloodletting are what sells this film. Basically, take the maddest Japanese film you've ever seen, add in the goriest horror film you've ever seen, multiply it by ten and then you have Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl. It's got everything from a character using her own severed limbs to turn herself into a helicopter, song-and-dance numbers utilising a ribcage as a guitar, to a wrist slitting competition where one girl ends up slashing through her entire arm. It's all done with it's tongue firmly in it's cheek of course and with a makeshift low budget style that means the effects don't look particularly realistic. This works to it's advantage though, as if they did I think it would be much harder to stomach.

It's clearly not for everyone of course - if any of the scenes described above don't appeal to you then you won't like the film. It's crude, offensive, utterly crazy and there's enough blood in the film to fill the Great Lakes; it's not an art piece and it's not safe family entertainment put it that way. Personally I really enjoyed it, it's a hell of a lot of fun and it's insanity knows no bounds, which to me is a bonus. However, being a big fan of Machine Girl which has a similar style and appeal, I don't think this is quite as successful. Quite a few scenes are stretched out a little too far and could have been trimmed. Also, I found the Ganguro Girl's a little too offensive at times and not in the right way. I understand it's poking fun at teenage stereotypes, but it just came across as being a bit racist to me.

Fans of ultra-gory Japanese madness like Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police will lap this up, and if you like your films to be truly extreme without getting serious in any way then this should not be missed.

8/10

The House of the Devil

Year: 2009
Director: Ti West
Writer: Ti West
Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan & Mary Woronov

The House of the Devil is an affectionately accurate homage to horror films from the late 70's and early 80's, and one that works very effectively.

The film has a simple story; a college student who is hard up for cash takes on a babysitting job on the night of a lunar eclipse. When she realises that the couple who hire her don't actually have a child, things start to get a little distressing.

The film mimics the style of films from the period mentioned above perfectly. It's not just a flashy gimmick used now and again as a nod and a wink, it actually does feel like you're watching an old forgotten horror film. It also shares the same slow-burning creepy quality of the better films of that era rather than just subjecting the audience to cheap jumps and unnecessary gore. Although very little happens in the first two thirds of the film, the feeling of tension is so effective you can't help but be glued to your seat to find out what will happen in the end.

Unfortunately, I found that when the climax did arrive I felt a bit let down. It's not a bad ending by any stretch, but after such a subtle and engrossing build I felt a little cheated by a more shlocky and predictable ending.

I would still recommend it though, so long as you can appreciate the slow pace and minimal plot. It's a film that's clearly been made with a lot of love and affection for the genre, and a lot of effort has been made to create a film that references the past without sinking into parody.

7/10

Grace

Year: 2009
Director: Paul Solet
Writer: Paul Solet
Starring: Jordan Ladd, Stephen Park & Gabrielle Rose

Maybe it was the fact that I'd already sat through 12 back-to-back horror films before watching this, but I felt like I wanted to like Grace more than I actually did.

It begins with a couple, Madeline and Michael Matheson, who are about to become parents and their problems in finding a way to bring it into the world in line with Madeline's natural and organic view of life against Michael's domineering mother's devoutly traditional ways. A car accident changes everything though, leaving Madeline a widow and seemingly killing the baby inside her. She still insists on delivering it though and miraculously it arrives into the world alive. Just as things seem to be going well however, Madeline learns that her child, Grace, is not quite normal.

It's a dark and disturbing film with an interesting concept, but for me nothing really settled. It's well made, looks good and is well performed, but it just felt unpleasant rather than powerful and was a little too slow-moving for my liking.

Although the 'evil baby' premise sounds ridiculous, the film takes matters very seriously, and this actually works, only one or two moments felt silly. However, it's seriousness doesn't help the fact that it's a difficult film to enjoy. On a metaphorical level too, the film wasn't quite as effective as it wanted to be, with some ideas handled very bluntly.

It's an odd film, not a bad one, but an unsatisfying and unlikeable experience. I imagine many people will get more from it than I did, but I found it to be a slightly disappointing ending to an otherwise fantastic festival.

5/10

More reviews from Celluloid Screams 2009:
Introduction
Friday
Saturday Part 1
Saturday Part 2

CS - Saturday pt. 2: I Sell the Dead, Paranormal Activity, Neighbor & Pieces

2009-11-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

I Sell the Dead

Year: 2009
Director: Glenn McQuaid
Writer: Glenn McQuaid
Starring: Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman & Larry Fessenden

I Sell the Dead is (so I'm told) a throwback to the old Hammer and Amicus horror films, serving up thick slabs of gothic, hammy horror without taking anything too seriously. Having barely watched any authentic Hammer horror films (a crime I'm sure in some circles), I'm probably not the right audience or critic to be watching and reviewing this. I'm not warning you that I'm going to lay into the film, I just think that others might appreciate it on a different level. In fact I quite enjoyed it, but anyway, let's get on with things...

The film is told mainly through flashback as grave-robber Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan) tells his grisly story to a priest (Ron Perlman) during the final night before his execution. We learn of his exploits with friend and business partner Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden) as they move from petty thieves to dealers in the undead. It's a daft and quite fractured narrative, but works well as a series of fun vignettes. Don't look for logic or character development, just go along for the ride and you won't be troubled.

It's a lightly entertaining romp despite the grim subject matter, with most of the film played for laughs. It's never hilarious, just consistently likeable, which makes for a film that is easy to watch but difficult to really love. The cast all seem to be having a great time, and provide enjoyable performances. Some of the accents are a bit laughable for the wrong reasons (Ron Perlman especially), but it's all part of the hammy charm I guess.

Visually the film looks great, with the attractive period setting making a welcome change to the grimy or overly slick looks of modern horror films. A lot of work has clearly gone into making it look like a classic gothic horror, and the special effects match it by never looking overly realistic, adding to the dated Hammer feel.

At the end of it all though, as fun and pretty as it is, I Sell the Dead never has enough impact to really be all that memorable. It's entertaining while it lasts, but I don't think I'll be rushing to see it again.

6/10

Paranormal Activity

Year: 2009
Director: Oren Peli
Writer: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat & Mark Fredrichs

I imagine most of you will have heard about Paranormal Activity by now, but I managed to watch it before I'd really read anything about it, which is always a good thing in my opinion, especially with regards to horror films. In my opinion, the hype is fairly justified. OK so it's no masterpiece, but it really did scare the hell out of me, and to manage that in a weekend of watching 13 horror films is quite an achievement.

Paranormal Activity is similar to the Blair Witch Project in a lot of ways, as I'm sure thousands of people have already pointed out. Like that, Paranormal Activity is ultra low budget, portrayed as 'lost footage', has a minimal cast and locations (all in one house) and is a real 'love it' or 'hate it' experience. It's an incredibly basic film, especially with regards to it's plot, if you can call it that. The whole film really just 'documents' a couple's experiences in a seemingly haunted house. The structure is basically a gradual build up in the severity of the paranormal activity (of course) going on.

It's quite a repetitive film, but the director uses this to his advantage, creating unbearable tension in the night scenes which always open on the same static shot of the couple in bed. Your eyes are forced to scour every pixel of the image looking for the next movement or shadow to appear. This shot burns into your memory by the end of the film, and still sends a chill down my spine as I write this review.

The other key to the film's success, as with all good horror films, is the soundtrack. There's nothing fancy to hear and no music at all, but the location sound feels more real than the over polished audio of Cloverfield, and when things start to go 'bump' in the night you really feel it.

Yes, there is no story, the characters are at times annoying and some of their actions are frustrating, but as an exercise in sheer terror, you can't get better than this. It really is the scariest film I've seen in a long time, and I'd recommend any horror fan to check it out. Just bring a change of underwear.

8/10

Neighbor

Year: 2009
Director: Robert Angelo Masciantonio
Writer: Robert Angelo Masciantonio
Starring: America Olivo, Christian Campbell & Lauren Rooney

Neighbor is the latest low budget edition to the 'torture-porn' sub-genre, which I must admit I really dislike. I've got something against going to the cinema to watch someone get slowly tortured, it does nothing for me except make me feel a bit sick and give me a headache. However, I was willing to give this a try despite any misgivings I might have had on reading up on it in the festival programme.

Neighbor tells the story of a young attractive woman (America Olivo) who moves from house to house in a local neighbourhood, torturing and killing the inhabitants along the way. The film mainly focuses on the torture of Don (Christian Campbell), a local bachelor with woman troubles and a basement recording studio used by him and his bandmates - very useful for prolonged loud torture scenes of course.

It's a film with little substance, the characters are given back-stories but these aren't particularly well developed. The writer/director tries to make things a bit more interesting by messing with some time shifting and dream sequences part way through the film, but far too much time is spent on this segment, ruining the tension and drama of the film's core. By the end you feel too confused and short-changed by some twists to really care about what will happen to the protagonist.

That said, the torture scenes are well handled at least, with some really original and very nasty ideas thrown in there. The make-up effects are particularly impressive for a film of it's budget too. Ultimately though, because you don't care so much for Don's fate and because the villain's performance lacks bite, you never feel that horrified by proceedings. From listening to the producer's Q&A after the film it sounds like it was never meant to be all that horrifying though, it's supposed to be nastily entertaining, but to be honest it left me feeling a bit bored. Torture-porn junkies might have a better time, but for me I can take it or leave it.

4/10

Pieces

Year: 1982
Director: Juan Picquer Simon
Writers: Dick Randall, Joe D'Amato & Juan Picquer Simon
Starring: Christopher George & Edmond Purdom

Pieces is quite an experience, and I don't want to go into too much detail here, partly because I'm on my fourth review in a night, but really because it isn't a film to be analysed in any depth. Just turn your brain off, get a few beers and enjoy.

One of the nuttiest trashy horror films from the 80's, Pieces tells the classic tale of a disturbed youth who grows up to be a teen-stalking mass murderer on a college campus. Sounds textbook enough, and in narrative terms it certainly is, but it's just so ridiculous. The dialogue and performances are utter comedy - pure cheese with plenty of absurdities thrown in for good measure. Add lashings of gore, plenty of nudity and a completely random kung-fu scene and you've got all the makings of a grindhouse classic.

There's not a lot more to say about this film without just listing ridiculous moments. Let's just say if you're in the mood for a well constructed, psychological thriller look elsewhere, but if you want to see buckets of blood, random nudity and a bunch of Z-list actors making fools of themselves, then find a copy right now.

7/10

More reviews from Celluloid Screams 2009:
Introduction
Friday
Saturday Part 1
Sunday

CS - Saturday pt. 1: Coffin Rock, Anguish & Yoroi: Samurai Zombie

2009-11-01T05:18:00.000-08:00

Coffin Rock

Year: 2009
Director: Rupert Glasson
Writer: Rupert Glasson
Starring: Lisa Chappell, Robert Taylor & Sam Parsonson

Saturday kicked off with another solid offering from Australia. Coffin Rock didn't blow me away like Lake Mungo did, but it's a taught, well performed, slick thriller/horror.

A couple have been trying for a child for a long time with no success, until a strange drifter comes into their lives, and a drunken fling with the wife throws their lives into turmoil and eventually grave danger.

It's a story that has been told before and there are no surprises in this psycho-stalker tale, but a powerful performance from villain Sam Parsonson and some tight direction elevate the film to higher level than you'd at first imagine. Parsonson creates a wonderfully deranged obsessive who makes Lisa Chappell and Robert Taylor's characters lives a living hell. He has a creepily charming side to him that he employs to get people on his side, but when this drops he turns into something truly terrifying.

So, it's not a film that will change the world with it's predictable story and textbook finale, but it's a well-made effort and shows that first time writer/director Rupert Glasson is someone to look out for.

6/10

Anguish

Year: 1987
Director: Bigas Luna
Writer: Bigas Luna & Michael Berlin
Starring: Michael Lerner, Zelda Rubenstein

Anguish is a mad, long-forgotten curiosity from the 80's that is quite an experience, not necessarily a great film, but certainly something worth seeing, especially at the cinema.

I don't want to give too much away, because the central conceit is such a shock when it's revealed, but basically about a third or maybe half way through the film there is a sudden revelation that turns the whole film on it's head and splits the film in two. The first part tells the story of a troubled optometrist's assistant (played by popular supporting actor Michael Lerner, given a welcome lead role) who is controlled by his overbearing mother (played by Poltergeist show-stealer Zelda Rubenstein) into a vicious killing spree where he cuts out his victim's eyes.

This core of the film is quite effective, with some hammy but entertaining performances leading us through a bizarre and gory slasher story that is pretty mad at times, but still quite effective. Unfortunately, when the 'revelation' occurs mid-way through the film, everything goes a bit wrong. It's an original and very interesting idea, but for me it spoiled the impact of the story that had already been developed, and any tension is lost because from then on the film jumps around too much.

That said, the film is certainly made memorable because of it's eccentricities, and although it doesn't always work, the premise does make it the fascinating curiosity that it is. So as an entertaining experiment it's a film I'm glad I caught before it disappears.

5/10

Yoroi: Samurai Zombie

Year: 2008
Director: Tak Sakaguchi
Writer: Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Mitsuru Fukikoshi & Issei Ishida

You get the idea from the title, Yoroi: Samurai Zombie is a silly action horror film with surprise, surprise, a bunch of samurai zombies in it! Unfortunately, although I never expected it to be a work of art, Yoroi does disappoint as an exploitation flick.

Written by Versus writer/director Ryuhei Kitamura and directed by Versus star Tak Sakaguchi, Yoroi borrows heavily from their cult classic debut. It's got the same low-budget, all shot in the woods feel to it as well as the over-the-top action and gore quota. It doesn't have the kinetic style of Versus though, or the pace, which means it never excites as much as it should. Also, crazily gory low budget action films from Japan these days have the likes of Machine Girl to contend with, and this never reaches the giddy heights of the king (or queen) of splatter.

At the end of all the daftness, the film has a surprisingly dark ending, which I wasn't expecting. It doesn't quite settle though after watching an hour or so of severed heads and pressure-washer arteries. The bloodiest sequences are where the film works best. The effects are never realistic, and some of the bloodletting looks copied and pasted throughout the film, but most of the humour comes from these crazy moments. If gore doesn't interest you, you'll be lost though, as there isn't much else to enjoy here. The comedy quite often struggles to hit it's mark. A seemingly indestructible gangster character provides some bad taste chuckles, but most of the time you'll be smirking rather than laughing out loud.

There is fun to be had though. It's obviously a very silly film, and if the style is to your liking you'll still leave the cinema with a smile on your face. Unfortunately, you'll also have a feeling of 'been there, done that better before'.

4/10

The write-ups for each day of the Celluloid Screams festival are now available:
Introduction
Friday
Saturday Part 2
Sunday

CS - Friday: Lake Mungo & Trick 'R Treat

2009-10-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

Lake Mungo

Year: 2008
Director: Joel Anderson
Writer: Joel Anderson
Starring: Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe & Talia Zucker

Lake Mungo kicked off the Celluloid Screams festival, and what a start. It's a (fictional) documentary that charts a family's grief after the loss of it's teenage daughter who drowns in the local dam. After finding her body and burying her, the family witness a series of bizarre and inexplicable events that lead them to believe that her spirit is still among them.

What sounds on paper like quite a cheesy horror film is actually more of a slow-burning drama that is creepy and has it's share of frights but is also surprisingly touching and intelligent. The story takes some very interesting turns as it progresses, which jar at first, but as events unfold it all makes sense.

It really is an impressively controlled affair, especially coming from a first-time writer/director, and is possibly one of the most effective uses of the pseudo-documentary format that I've come across (bar Spinal Tap, but that's a whole other type of film). It doesn't do anything half-baked like District 9 which gives up on the documentary format half way through, or like Cloverfield which is way too glossy to feel like 'lost footage'. Lake Mungo uses a classic documentary format, i.e. talking heads mixed with primary sources and classily shot location footage after the event, and sticks to it, which makes the story feel truly real and truly personal. The believable performances help cement this too.

I really hope this gets a proper release (nothing is listed in the UK on IMDB) as this is mature, dramatic horror that deserves to be seen.

8/10

Trick 'R Treat

Year: 2008
Director: Michael Dougherty
Writer: Michael Dougherty
Starring: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox & Dylan Baker

Trick 'R Treat takes the traditional horror anthology format and gives it an Altman style interwoven story treatment. This is no wordy, improvisational drama though, Trick 'R Treat is purely made for fun and thrills, which it delivers admirably.

It contains 4 plot-lines concerning various Halloween 'rules', one shows what happens when a couple blow out their jack-o-lanterns out before midnight, another uncovers a school principle's secret life as a serial killer, a twenty-something virgin hopes to find love, and a group of teenagers play pranks around a supposedly haunted quarry.

As I mentioned before this isn't a film that needs to be taken seriously. It reminded me of the Hollywood horror films of the 80's and early 90's, films that aren't all that scary but have enough jolts and gore mixed in with a healthy dose of humour to create an enjoyable Halloween cinema experience. The structure works very well too, and the stories actually flow together quite seamlessly, keeping the pace up and never letting the film sag.

All in all it's perfect late night fodder and it's out on DVD now I think, so well worth tracking down. It's a shame it didn't get a cinema release though, as it's a thoroughly enjoyable film.

7/10

More reviews from Celluloid Screams 2009:
Introduction
Saturday Part 1
Saturday Part 2
Sunday

Celluloid Screams Film Festival

2009-10-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I attended 'Celluloid Screams', a newly formed horror film festival at Sheffield's Showroom Cinema. I had a great time sitting through 13 top-class horror films, many of which were British premiere screenings, and I'd thoroughly recommend the festival to genre fans if it's repeated again next year.

Watching 13 films in one weekend is great for my film review blog of course, but that's a lot of work for someone who does this in his spare time. So, what I plan on doing is over the next few days doing some brief bulk reviews of all the films I caught at the weekend, covering a day per page (or maybe 2 for Saturday, when 7 films were screened!). So keep an eye out over the next week or so for some bumper content.

To whet your appetite, here is the full list of films that I caught at the festival:

Lake Mungo
Trick 'R Treat
Coffin Rock
Anguish
Yoroi: Samurai Zombie
I Sell the Dead
Paranormal Activity
Neighbor
Pieces
The Burning
Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl
The House of the Devil
Grace

The write-ups for each day are now available:
Introduction
Friday
Saturday Part 1
Saturday Part 2
Sunday

Up

2009-10-11T02:55:00.000-07:00

Year: 2009
Directors: Pete Docter & Bob Peterson
Writers: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Thomas McCarthy

I feel sorry for Pixar. The level of expectation that builds before the release of their films is so ridiculously high that I don't see how the writers and directors sleep at night. Yet again and again, without fail they churn out family entertainment that is miles ahead of the competition. OK so Cars is no masterpiece, but compare it to anything other than the rest of Pixar's output and it's still very good.

For me, this expectation affects my first viewing of a Pixar film too though, as with any film with a sizeable amount of hype. To fully assess a film with this much baggage behind it I'm of the opinion that you should see it at least a second time so that all expectations are gone. Luckily for me, with Up I was able to do that. I actually first saw the film a few months ago (at Glastonbury randomly enough), so now it's out on general release and my film review site is up and running I can finally get around to letting everyone know what I think.

Up is a great film. After first watching it in a sweaty tent, sat on the grass after a weekend of little sleep and no showers, I thought it was very good, but it didn't quite grab me. This must have been the circumstances or the hype though because on second viewing I loved it.

Much like Wall-E, Up has a fantastic first half-hour that makes you fall in love with the film instantly. I don't want to over-hype it like several other reviewers have, but the montage sequence early on in the film is a wonderful piece of filmmaking, not in a flashy or groundbreaking way, but in terms of economical storytelling. Without giving too much away it basically tells an almost lifelong back-story that sets up the premise for the whole film as well as immediately establishing the emotional core and getting us to truly feel for the characters after only 5 minutes and no dialogue.

Again, like Wall-E though, the second half of the film does struggle to recapture the warmth of the opening. The film has quite a shift in tone once there's a change of location, and what begins as a touching and semi-realistic drama becomes more of a family adventure in the Disney vein. It still works very well though, and on second viewing the shift wasn't as distracting as before. You really have to suspend your disbelief at several points in the film, as logic is totally thrown out of the window. Being a Disney/Pixar film, looking for realism and logic is missing the point a bit though. That said, although the film gets a bit silly at times, it still draws you back to the characters with some subtly touching moments.

I first saw the film in 3D, which was an odd experience to critique. On one hand it was brilliant because for the first time it didn't detract from the film at all, it felt more seamless than I'd previously experienced. But in saying that, if I didn't really notice the difference in watching it in 3D, what's the point? After watching it again in 2D I think the 3D did add a bit of depth obviously and the digital projection had richer colours, but it didn't make it a better film. Speaking of rich colours, some of the imagery as the house floats in the sky is beautiful and it's a very pretty film, not noticeably stylish or original, just classically beautiful.

Up is a real delight, and it holds it's head up high with the rest of Pixar's output. It threatens to get a bit Disneyfied at times and some silly moments almost derail the tender story at the heart of it all, but as family films go this is a fine achievement as is expected from the genius' at Pixar. No pressure guys, but keep it up.

8/10

Crimewave

2009-10-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

Year: 1985
Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Sam Raimi, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Starring: Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Bruce Campbell, Brion James & Paul L. Smith

Yes you read that correctly - this film was directed by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spiderman etc.) and co-written alongside the Coen Brothers (No Country For Old Men, Fargo etc.). And yes it was released not long after Evil Dead or Blood Simple too, yet I can imagine a large number of you are thinking, 'why have I never heard of this film, and why haven't I seen it?!'

There's a simple answer, and that's because it's really not very good. This seems unthinkable coming after the two classic debut features that the filmmakers released only a year or two previously, but it happened. Reading into the background of the film last night after watching it told a story more interesting than the one I had just sat through. Basically, after the success of Evil Dead, Raimi was approached by Columbia Pictures and given a deal to make a studio picture. He decided to make Crimewave (aka The XYZ Murders), a project he'd been working on with co-producer Bruce Campbell and the Coen Brothers who were at the time trying to distribute Blood Simple. The studio however, as is often the case, took over the project which Raimi and Campbell were struggling to keep a handle on - they were used to making films on their own time and money so couldn't to get to grips with the schedules and restraints of the Hollywood system. They also insisted on recasting the film, kicking original star Campbell into a minor role. In the end the film was torn to bits in post-production by the studio and Raimi and Campbell have since disowned the film.

A much better-told account of this story can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrWyKJfZzxQ

Anyway, back to the film itself. As I mentioned earlier, the plot is fairly weak; a man that runs a security firm alongside his partner, learns that this seedy fellow is planning on selling the company under his feet. He decides the only way to save his business is to get the man killed. He hires a couple of deranged exterminators to do the job and things get totally out of control as the bodies pile up and our protagonists, a young, ill-fitting couple, get drawn in somehow. This is all framed by the hero being led to death row for all the murders that occured.

Seeing the plot written out like that, it almost sounds like the makings of a quirky Coen Brothers classic piece of neo-noir, but believe me it doesn't end up that way. The film is a real mess and clearly the studio had their scissors out at some point. Scenes just seem to happen rather than flow together and little of it makes sense at all.

I should point out though that despite all of the film's problems, it is not without merit. There are several set-pieces that are incredibly imaginitive and stand out amongst the confusion. A chase involving dozens of multicoloured fake walls and a scene where one of the exterminators clashes with the wife of the security firm boss in particular stand out as clear examples of Raimi's talents. Bruce Campbell chews up the scenery in his small role too as Renaldo "the heal", and makes you wonder what the film would have been like with him in the lead role. Reed Birney tries his best, but doesn't have the charisma or comic timing to hold the reins in such a madcap film.

Speaking of madcap, this really is a very silly film. Made in obvious homage to The Three Stooges and The Looney Tunes, Crimewave attempts at every turn to capture the zany, fast-paced humour of a live-action cartoon, but rarely achieves it's goal. Most of the jokes fall flat on their face, and even though the film is wholly chaotic, it still manages to feel a bit slow - quite an achievement for an 80 minute film! On occasions you'll get into the mood of it all (namely in the sections mentioned previously), but the messiness of the structure and the poor lead performances just bring it crashing down again.

If you're a fan of Sam Raimi or the Coen's then I recommend you track down Crimewave and give it a try, but do approach it with caution and treat it purely as a curiosity, because it's a long way from Evil Dead and The Man Who Wasnt There.

4/10

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion

2009-10-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

Year: 1972
Director: Shunya Ito
Writers: Fumio Konami & Hiro Matsuda based on the comic by Tooru Shinohara
Starring: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama & Isao Natsuyagi

OK I'll get this out of the way - yes, it is a 'women in prison'/'pinky violence' film and yes it is as sleazy as you'd expect coming from these sub-genres. However in my defence it's a cult classic and many critics do consider it to have arthouse credentials. Plus it's my blog and I don't want to just review Hollywood tripe all the time!

Well that's my excuse for watching it out of the way.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is the first of a successful series of Female Prisoner films based on the manga by Tooru Shinohara, and stars cult favourite Meiko Kaji, star of Stray Cat Rock and the Lady Snowblood films. As is expected from an exploitation film made in Japan in the 70's, Female Prisoner is a violent and sleazy film that doesn't shy away from much. It's the sort of film that makes you want a shower after you've watched it. However, what sets it apart from a lot of the other smutty trash out there is the quality of the filmmaking. It's no Citizen Kane of course, but it presents violence that feels painful rather than just overly bloody, it has a memorable and powerful lead female performance, and it also has a visual style that at times is eye-popping. It also avoids a lot of the laughable dialogue contained in most films of this type by keeping the main character practically mute (apparently lead actress Kaji insisted on this as she felt the obscenities littering the original script cheapened the film). This creates a mysterious 'man-with-no-name' effect, upping the cool factor several times over as well as allowing the film to tell it's story more visually.

The plot is not one of Female Prisoner's strong points though; basically a woman, nicknamed Matsu, is cruely used by a police officer she once loved to frame a criminal gang, so she attempts to kill him and gets imprisoned. Through most of the film we watch as she suffers under the hands of the sadistic guards and fellow inmates. At the same time the police officer plants an assassin in the prison to kill her. The film builds to Matsu exacting revenge on those that have crossed her in a bloody climax.

As I mentioned before this is a genuinely brutal film. Some of the violence is tame by today's standards but the sexual nature of much of it and the relentless sadism of the guards makes it at times an uncomfortable watch. It isn't the extravagant, balletic violence of the kung-fu and samurai genres, these are grubby scenes of torture that repulse rather than entertain. It gives the film a disturbing edge, but sometimes you wonder why you're watching it. When Matsu turns the table on those responsible it does become more exciting rather than disturbing though and you can't help but root for her.

The style of the film was what impressed me most though. A bold use of colours help bring the film alive and are a signifier of the film's comic book roots. There is little thought towards naturalism, the film is full of theatrical spotlights and unnatural greens and reds that as well as look good, help prevent the relentless violence from getting too real. Revolving sets and disorientating camera angles are also incorporated to great effect, notably in a brilliant flashback sequence where we learn why Matsu is in prison.

Of course, being a 'women in prison' movie the film is full of gratuitous nudity and violence, so won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're a fan of exploitation films and you can stomach it, this is definitely worth watching.

7/10

District 9

2009-09-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Year: 2009
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
Starring: Sharlto Copley, John Sumner & Vanessa Haywood

Coming out at the tail end of summer, District 9 makes a refreshing change to the spate of poor blockbusters this year (bar maybe Star Trek which I quite enjoyed). An original concept and setting for a big budget movie alongside other factors push this way ahead of rubbish like Transformers 2.

District 9 introduces us (using a 'mockumentary' style) to an alternate reality where a small populace of bedraggled aliens, nicknamed 'prawns', appeared on Earth (specifically Johannesburg in South Africa) in the 1990's. Over the 20 years they have lived here the group have become marginalised and forced to live in a cordoned-off area that has degenerated into a filthy crime-ridden slum. The film begins with the prawns being forcibly evicted from this refuge to be moved to a newly constructed camp within 24 hours.

From reading the brief synopsis above and after having seen any of the film's publicity it's clear what the filmmakers are trying to get at. At the start of the film the parallel's between the aliens and real-life immigrants are really hammered home and threaten to get heavy handed, but the filmmakers keep it under control by introducing a more central narrative strand and sticking to it.

This shift however leads me into one of the few problems I had with the film. The first 20 minutes or so stick rigidly to the initial concept of a documentary format, where interviews fill in the gaps (sometimes unnecessarily so it must be said) between handheld footage following the events as they unfold for the human protagonists. Randomly within a very naturalistic sequence however we are thrown into a different format, observing a scene that would never form part of the 'documentary', and from then on the film loses the concept completely. This isn't a big problem as such, because after the initial shock the film does settle nicely into it's new skin, but it still seems an odd decision. Perhaps if the shift had occurred earlier it wouldn't have been noticeable, but it comes close to a quarter of the way through the film once you're fully involved.

Also, once the film becomes more of a film and loses it's documentary trappings, it picks up a few cliches along the way and starts to feel a little more conventional after an intriguingly fresh opening. I mean 'a little' though, as the South African setting, the cast of unknown actors and the unpredictable ending do still create a more interesting blockbuster experience. Also, although the film changes style, it still works very well. The action scenes towards the end of the film are outstanding and the special effects are mostly seamless throughout even with such a raw feel to the lighting and camerawork. The fact that one of the main characters consists completely of CGI is barely noticeable. The lead actor Sharlto Copley actually improves dramatically as the film moves on too, after getting off to a shaky, caricatured start.

District 9, despite it's inconsistencies, is a hugely entertaining film with a fair amount of brains and lets the world know that first-time director Neill Blomkamp is a a name to watch out for.

8/10

Serpico

2009-09-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Year: 1973
Director: Sidney Lumet
Writers: Waldo Salt & Norman Wexler
Starring: Al Pacino, John Randolf, Jack Kehoe & Biff McGuire

Serpico is a police thriller from the early seventies made in the wake of the success of films like Dirty Harry and The French Connection made just two years earlier. These two films subverted the style of cop films of the past where the lines were clear between good and evil, and the real violence and depravity was generally glossed over. Serpico shares some of the rawness and gritty style of those two classics, but the protagonist is a vastly different character.

Serpico is based on the true story of Frank Serpico, a New York City cop who was an integral part in fighting police corruption in the 60's and early 70's, with his work leading to the creation of the Knapp Commission, a groundbreaking and widely publicised investigation. In the film he is portrayed as an outcast from his peers due to his hippy-like appearance and refusal to take bribes however small (at one point he frowns upon a free sandwich!). The film opens dramatically with the character struggling to stay alive in the back of a policecar after having been shot in the face. From then on the film goes back to the start of his career as a policeman and carries on from there, as he gradually realises how deep greed and corruption burrows into the policeforce. With little support from anyone, he hopelessly continues to fight for what he believes in, despite shunning his fellow officers and troubling the top brass.

Directed by the great Sidney Lumet, who made two personal favourites of mine, 12 Angry Men and Network as well as the brilliant Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico is a solid film that often impresses but fails to make as big an impact as these classics, and also falls short of the other great 70's thrillers mentioned at the start of this review. Al Pacino takes the lead in an early role settled in-between the behemoths of The Godfather Parts 1 and 2, and he's the best reason to watch the film. He delivers a powerhouse performance, especially considering his relative inexperience at the time (it was only his fourth feature). He turns what could have been a 'goodie-two-shoes' hero character into a flawed and believable man with an extremely heavy burden to carry. Yes, he lets out several of his trademark angry outbursts, but this was produced well before they became cliched.

I think one of the problems I had with the film was that it felt a bit dated. Not in terms of the fashions or filmmaking techniques, but in the subject matter. So many films and TV programmes have tackled police corruption since this was made and some have done it better. I think the main one for me is actually The Wire, which really explores every avenue, leaving no stone left unturned, with dozens of stories meticulously entwined. OK so it's totally unfair to compare the two seen as The Wire was produced 30 years later and had about 60 extra hours of viewing time to play with, but I can't deny it's a major factor in lessening the impact Serpico had on me.

Also, the film did feel a little sluggish at times. The opening sequence is brilliant, exploding onto the screen with rhythmically tense excitement, but after that the film slows down somewhat and never quite gains the momentum that drew us in at the start. It's certainly not boring by any means, but I think that first scene just sets a standard that isn't quite reached anywhere else in the film.

On the whole, it's still very good though. The warts-and-all approach to the character is refreshing for a true story, Al Pacino as I mentioned before is electrifying to watch, and there are some powerful scenes. It just didn't hit home like it should have done, and struggled to engage me as much as other classics of the genre.

7/10

The Big Boss

2009-09-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

Year: 1971
Director: Lo Wei
Writers: Lo Wei
Starring: Bruce Lee, Maria Yi & James Tien

The Big Boss (otherwise known as Fists of Fury in the US - which is the UK title for his follow up confusingly!) was Bruce Lee's breakthrough film, turning him from TV sidekick and ex-Hong Kong child star to global megastar. It also helped kickstart the huge Kung-Fu craze in America (alongside The Chinese Boxer and King Boxer which were released a little earlier in the west). For these reasons The Big Boss has achieved a classic status among martial art movie fans. Being one myself, I can fully appreciate the impact it had and moments of the film fully justify this, but it's certainly not without it's flaws and is not Lee's best film by a long shot.

The plot is hardly worth mentioning - it involves a family working in an ice factory, that unbeknown to them is actually operating as a drug smuggling racket. Whenever anyone gets close to sniffing this out they get brutally murdered. Lee plays a friend who initially stands on the sidelines as people are bullied, bribed and murdered, due to a promise he made to his mother not to get into trouble. This promise of course is shattered into a thousand pieces as Lee vows revenge on the drug dealers and proceeds to kick seven shades of sh*t out of everyone.

Unfortunately, from an action perspective this 'promise' means that we barely see Lee lift a finger until half way through the film, and even then it's not until the last half an hour or so that he really lets rip. When it comes, you really do get to see why Bruce Lee became such a household name though. Although the choreography isn't as impressive as in some of his later efforts, this contains some of his most brutal and animalistic fight sequences, especially in the intense and bloody showdown with Ying-Chieh Han, who was actually the action choreographer on the film.

Performance wise, Lee was never going to win any Oscars for The Big Boss, but his star power and charisma is clear on screen. The moment when he first snaps and breaks his 'no violence policy' in particular is filled with an awesome ferocity and intensity. Away from the action scenes he's not given much to work with, but he still stands clearly above the rest of the cast.

Lee's charisma and a couple of strong action scenes aren't enough to make this a great film though. Fist of Fury is a much more successful effort and although martial art purists will scoff at the idea, I think Enter the Dragon, although in some aspects watered down by Hollywood, improves on films like The Big Boss with tighter pacing and more polished production.

The Big Boss has some strong moments that showed the world Bruce Lee's potential as an action superstar and still impresses in the fight scenes, but ultimately it's a cliched and cheesy film which takes too long to really get going.

5/10

* As a side note - I watched the Hong Kong Legends Platinum Edition DVD of the film and it looked amazing, especially considering it's age. It's a shame the company no longer exists, as it was a driving force in my martial arts movie addiction.

Help!

2009-09-12T03:40:00.000-07:00

Year: 1965
Director: Richard Lester
Writers: Marc Behm & Charles Wood
Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr

Help! was the second Beatles film after A Hard Day's Night featuring songs from the album of the same name. It follows the boys attempts to escape from an evil cult and a pair of crazed scientists who want to get their hands on a sacrificial ring that Ringo can't get off his finger.

Now I'm a massive fan of The Beatles' music and I think the film's namesake album is incredible, but I must admit I really struggled with this. I hate to say it, being such a fan of the band, but I haven't actually seen this until now and I still haven't watched A Hard Day's Night. I always seem to keep my love of music and my love of film quite separate, and this helped cement that.

I didn't mind the fact that the plot was a bit of fluff to give us an excuse to see The Beatles acting the clown, but my main problem was the fact that the actual scenes seemed to be stuck on a loop. Pretty much the whole film is taken up with scenes of people trying to get the ring off Ringo, and it just felt annoyingly repetitive.

I am being quite harsh though as the film did have some strong qualities. Visually the film was great. The production design and photography were very well thought out and the world created on screen was vibrant, colourful and never dull. Audibly of course, the film was great too. As I mentioned earlier I love the album Help! and when the songs kicked in on screen it was a joy to see them performed (not live obviously though). The musical numbers were all very well shot and enjoyably playful. The title sequence with the band performing in black and white projected onto a screen as the villain threw colourful darts at them worked brilliantly for instance.

Unfortunately, the music wasn't enough to save it for me, and to be honest those scenes, although great, were poorly insterted into the narrative. I really wouldn't have minded any flaws like this if it were funny enough, but even the humour on a whole fell flat on it's face. Maybe it's just too dated now, but as silly as the film was, it never really made me laugh.

I feel a bit bad ripping into a Beatles film but I just really struggled to enjoy it as much as I'd have liked. It's worth watching for the music and for some great visuals, but the rest of it doesn't quite manage to engage or entertain any more.

4/10

Our Hospitality

2009-09-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

Year: 1923
Director: Buster Keaton & John G Blystone
Writers: Jean C Havez, Clyde Bruckman, Joseph A Mitchell
Starring: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge & Joe Roberts

Buster Keaton's second feature film after the not amazingly well-received Three Ages and a multitude of shorts, Our Hospitality is an early sign towards Keaton's genius.

The film tells the simple story of two feuding families, the Canfields and the McKays. After a family member is killed on both sides the Canfields vow revenge on the remaining members of the McKays. 20 years later, Willie McKay (played by Keaton), who had been sent away as a small child to get him away from the feud, comes back to town to claim his inheritance. On his way, he meets a beautiful young lady, who of course happens to be a Canfield, and the film follows Willie as he tries to avoid being killed by her evil father and brothers.

Being a film from 1923, it's quite dated by today's standards of course, but that doesn't stop it from being a fun, exciting and beautiful little film. The humour is very light when compared with the types of comedies we get today, but some of the little touches and nuances of Keaton's performance are so good it still holds up. The amount of effort that goes into some of the visual gags is astounding too, with some wonderful scenes concerning an early steam train having to make it's way across the wilderness. The reconstruction of this is meticulous and a lot of humour is drawn from it.

Speaking of effort, as usual with any Keaton film his acrobatic physicality is incredible and you can clearly see the inspiration he must have on performers such as Jackie Chan. OK, so Buster Keaton isn't going to roundhouse-kick anyone in the face, but his physical comedy and stuntwork is virtually unrivaled, especially for the time. The big finale where Keaton saves his sweetheart from a waterfall is stunningly well choreographed and nail-bitingly tense.

One other aspect that impressed me was how well shot and designed the film was considering the age and genre. Most studio comedies in the 20's were simply churned out with little thought to craftsmanship, whereas Our Hospitality, along with most of Keatons films, were lovingly made with some decent elements of drama alongside the gags. The opening scene for example is quite powerful and dark considering what is generally expected from a film of it's type.

In short, Our Hospitality is not a film that will have you continuously roaring with laughter and most of the stunts aren't as flashily exhilarating as in a modern action film, but considering it's over 80 years old, it's mightily impressive and still delivered enough entertainment to keep this action junkie happy for 70 minutes.

8/10

Julie & Julia

2009-09-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Year: 2009
Director: Nora Ephron
Writers: Nora Ephron, Julie Powell, Julia Child & Alex Prud'homme
Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci & Chris Messina

I approached this film expecting the worst. It looked and sounded like a typical 'chick-flick', an opinion not helped by the fact that it was written and directed by Norah Ephron, the genre's Queen. It also claimed to be based on 'two true stories'; one's bad enough for me as I'm of the opinion that Hollywood tackling real life rarely succeeds in awkwardly balancing truth, drama and inoffensiveness. And finally, I turned up to see the film early on a Sunday morning with a sore and uncomfortable hangover. In fact, the only reason I was going to see the film was because I got free tickets and I kind of thought this would be an excuse to really lay into something on my newly resurrected website.

Well, I'm kind of embarrassed to say that I was proved wrong. OK, it's not a brilliant film, but it was much better than I expected.

Julie & Julia sets the stories of two women side by side, one the trials of famous chef Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) as she works to write and publish her phenomenally successful first cook-book, and the other the story of Julie Powell (Amy Adams), a hard-up office worker who decides to write a blog charting her mission to cook every recipe in Child's book (a hefty 500-odd recipes) in one year.

It doesn't sound like much of a premise for a film, but somehow it works. It's helped largely by some impressive performances. Streep is flamboyantly over the top in capturing Child's mannerisms and personality, yet avoids caricature by using these to create an incredibly likeable and surprisingly funny character. Adams on the other hand draws a warm and believable performance that is less flashy, but helps ground the film when needed.

That said, the film does have it's problems. For me, the film just didn't have enough drama to fully engage for it's two hour running time. It's an incredibly light film with conflicts you rarely feel can't be easily resolved. Everyone involved is always so nice and cheerful it often seems a little too much sometimes. Schmaltz is generally avoided as much as possible though despite the nature of the film and the sort of cringe-worthy scenes I expected never reared their ugly heads. Only one scene bothered me, a piece of character development featuring Julie's more successful friends that is painfully obvious and clumsily handled.

All in all, Julie & Julia is very likeable and gently entertaining, but far too light to be overly memorable.

6/10

In the Loop

2009-09-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Year: 2009
Director: Armando Iannucci
Writers: Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche & Ian Martin
Starring: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini & Chris Addison

In the Loop sees the critically acclaimed TV series The Thick of It remoulded into a feature film. And what a film it is. I haven't seen British satire this biting, exhilarating or downright hilarious for a long time, at least not at the cinema. It's great to see the British sense of humour put to good use on film after suffering years of Full Monty rip-offs and other such laboured cash-ins.

Written by a group of British TV's finest comedy writers including the film's director Armando Iannucci, In the Loop follows the events that unfurl after the absent minded British Secretary of State for International Development makes an off-hand comment on national radio about the possible threat of a (fictional and undisclosed) war being 'unforeseeable'. After further slips of the tongue, he becomes 'meat' for both the US and UK governments, the leaders of which actually do want to go war. Chaos reigns as the various spin doctors and politicians use every dirty trick imaginable to get what they want and the clueless Secretary and his aide are left blowing in the wind as they make mistake after mistake.

The key factor that makes this film so good is the dialogue. The witicisms are fired out at a machine-gun pace and pretty much always hit their target. The finest of these generally come in the form of incredibly offensive yet sharply witty put-downs from the film's stand-out performer Peter Capaldi, who plays spin doctor Malcom Tucker. In my screening his scenes never failed to draw fits of laughter from the audience as he brutally tore apart everyone he met with great relish. He's a commanding presence on screen, yet the rest of the cast hold their own, adding flesh to the bones of the large selection of characters.

The quickfire dialogue alongside pseudo-documentary style camerawork help give the film a frantic and lightning-fast pace and it came as a great shock when the screening I was attending suddenly came to a halt for an interval. Everything plays through thick and fast, and although the political processes were shown to be chaotic and messy, the film never feels confusing or over-complicated. It's all very cleverly executed and only a few scenes involving one of the character's relationship issues felt a little bit misplaced for me, but not badly so.

In the Loop is a brilliant film that helped restore my faith in British cinema, which in my opinion hasn't been as strong as it used to and should be. It also goes to show that the transition from small screen to big can work if done as intelligently and entertainingly as this.

9/10