Victor (Sam Rockwell) is a sex addict who chokes himself on food in restaurants to trick wealthy patrons in to saving him so he can scam money from them. He does this to pay for his mother’s (Anjelica Huston) mental care. Victor struggles to over come his addiction along with his pal and colleague Denny (Brad William Henke) from a colonial reenactment park while trying to find out who is dad is with the help of his mum’s new doctor, Paige Marshall (Kelly Macdonald)
That sort of sums things up without spoiling the whole bloody thing. Its based on a Chuck Palahniuk novel, the guy who did Fight Club, but the term for the adaptation is apparently “loosely”.
I haven’t read it and I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. The easiest audience to recommend this to would be people who like the TV show Hung. Outside of the obvious sex theme similarity, the tone is similar as well. Lightly comedic and a bit offensive for the sensitive types. If you can’t handle sex don’t watch this, and don’t watch it with your granny.
Rockwell impresses again in this. I didn’t realise until right now that I’ve seen him in more than I thought I had but he’s a great actor in this kind of role. The likeable misfit fuckup. Anjelica Huston doesn’t need my praise or yours as she earned her chops long ago.
Kelly Macdonald is lovely here and puts in a good performance with a spot on accent. I didn’t really realise it was her until I saw the credits.
And I’d be happy to see anything that teams up Brad Henke and Sam Rockwell as they have great buddy chemistry together.
While fans of the book might moan about the changes in the movie, as far as I can tell they are numerous and it’s a lot lighter than the film, the author obviously approved as he makes a cameo. The job these guys did is fantastic. They churned this thing out in 3 weeks and it doesn’t show at all. The performances are all good, its funny, nasty and could have easily stood up to an extra chunk of running time (say a weeks more filming) though that might have ruined it.
If you like a bit of edgy indie action you could do much worse. Even if it does feel a bit like an HBO show.
Oh, and a confession to make. I fucked up royally in my head and confused Sam Rockwell and Sam Worthington. And made mention of it in Movie 113: Moon’s review. Deric left a comment pointing this out that I’ve only just seen. So as an apology to anyone with a brain I’ll link his site:
http://pretendcritic.com
Nice to know I have more than 2 readers!
Next up: Hamlet 2
Monday 14 June 2010
Sunday 13 June 2010
Movie 160: The Cottage
Hardman David (Andy Serkis) and his weedy brother Peter (Reece Shearsmith) kidnap a mobsters daughter (Jennifer Ellison) for ransom money. Unfortunately she’s a bit menatal bitch with a mouth like a sailor and a head butt like a football hooligan. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Until you think more can’t go wrong. Then the deformed serial killer turns up…
Horror/thriller comedy action then. I didn’t actually know about the second half serial killer bit going in. It’s a pretty big tone shift though the comedy doesn’t go away even as the gore ratchets up. It’s also surprisingly clever at times leaving you to fill in some gaps with only small visual queues.
This is familiar territory for Reece Shearsmith as he was one of the writers/stars of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The TV show, not the shite action film. It’s got a VERY dark tone to its comedy. I don’t know if it was anywhere near as gory though as I only watched the first year. I doubt it. Anyway he fits right in here.
Andy Serkis is…..well he’s Andy Serkis. One of the best Brit character actors going, even if he does have a face like Rowan Atkinson when he wakes up from a heavy night. He’s great as hard man David who’s surrounded by bumbling idiots.
And for a scouser who came out of Brookie, Jennifer Ellison is not bad too. She’s a relatively pretty face, nice bod, who ruins any kind of attraction as soon as she opens her mouth. Plays a mighty fine bitch though.
There’s a lot of screaming, a fair bit of blood, lots of nasty stuff and a whole bunch of laughs here. Mainly front loaded in the comedy department but they manage to keep some in the more straight second half. The budget wasn’t huge but the gore, make up and set decoration are all top notch. Every penny is up there on screen.
Worth a look if you like good dark comedy, as long as you can handle the blood and guts.
Next up: Choke
Horror/thriller comedy action then. I didn’t actually know about the second half serial killer bit going in. It’s a pretty big tone shift though the comedy doesn’t go away even as the gore ratchets up. It’s also surprisingly clever at times leaving you to fill in some gaps with only small visual queues.
This is familiar territory for Reece Shearsmith as he was one of the writers/stars of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The TV show, not the shite action film. It’s got a VERY dark tone to its comedy. I don’t know if it was anywhere near as gory though as I only watched the first year. I doubt it. Anyway he fits right in here.
Andy Serkis is…..well he’s Andy Serkis. One of the best Brit character actors going, even if he does have a face like Rowan Atkinson when he wakes up from a heavy night. He’s great as hard man David who’s surrounded by bumbling idiots.
And for a scouser who came out of Brookie, Jennifer Ellison is not bad too. She’s a relatively pretty face, nice bod, who ruins any kind of attraction as soon as she opens her mouth. Plays a mighty fine bitch though.
There’s a lot of screaming, a fair bit of blood, lots of nasty stuff and a whole bunch of laughs here. Mainly front loaded in the comedy department but they manage to keep some in the more straight second half. The budget wasn’t huge but the gore, make up and set decoration are all top notch. Every penny is up there on screen.
Worth a look if you like good dark comedy, as long as you can handle the blood and guts.
Next up: Choke
Movie 159: A Force of One
Two undercover cops are killed while investigating the drug trade in a manner that didn’t give them time to defend themselves. The police conclude that it was a karate expert, and go to local champion Matt Logan (Chuck Norris) for training. Initially reluctant as he has a big match coming up, Logan decides to help and starts to investigate who the killer could be in addition to teaching the cops.
For a start the title is very misleading. I expected some kind of overblown Rambo style movie, with Chuck rampaging through enemies. This is partly down to me knowing Chuck Norris the meme more than Chuck Norris the actor. It’s not that. It’s an advert for Karate with a narcotics investigation wrapped around it, with a bit of a love story.
And it’s a bloody good advert.
We’re treated to three competition matches, or some of them anyway, and a couple of fights with some sparing/training in there for good measure. It’s not ridiculous action, only one of them is in slow mo if I recall correctly, and they’re all shot so that you can see what is happening. Good stuff, glad to see it. And Chuck has chops.
I was also glad to see that he isn’t treated like some kind of amazing action man. He takes some hits as well as giving them. This is a problem I’ve always had with Bruce Lee. He’s too damned good, or shown as too damned good anyway, so its no fun.
Chuck might not be the greatest actor in the world, but he’s passable. A little passive maybe. And he has a……uh “southern” voice (can’t remember if that joke is from the Daily Show, Colbert Report or Real Time. I mean “a bit gay”) which I didn’t fully expect. So soft spoken, don’t show emotion to extremes really, and pretty damned good at karate. I can live with that. Of course I only have the one movie to go one so far.
As for the rest of the cast, well their fine. There’s some decent banter, his secretary is constantly eating for some reason and the head of the cops is a bit like Lloyd Bridges from Airplane. I half expected him to be on drugs or something. The script and performances are a bit clunky but no more so than in other things of this ilk.
From this I would say that Chuck’s movies are worth a look at if you like this kind of nonsense. Not bad at all.
And I’m not just giving this a good review from the fear that the might Chuck will round house me through the internet. Honest.
Next up: The Cottage
For a start the title is very misleading. I expected some kind of overblown Rambo style movie, with Chuck rampaging through enemies. This is partly down to me knowing Chuck Norris the meme more than Chuck Norris the actor. It’s not that. It’s an advert for Karate with a narcotics investigation wrapped around it, with a bit of a love story.
And it’s a bloody good advert.
We’re treated to three competition matches, or some of them anyway, and a couple of fights with some sparing/training in there for good measure. It’s not ridiculous action, only one of them is in slow mo if I recall correctly, and they’re all shot so that you can see what is happening. Good stuff, glad to see it. And Chuck has chops.
I was also glad to see that he isn’t treated like some kind of amazing action man. He takes some hits as well as giving them. This is a problem I’ve always had with Bruce Lee. He’s too damned good, or shown as too damned good anyway, so its no fun.
Chuck might not be the greatest actor in the world, but he’s passable. A little passive maybe. And he has a……uh “southern” voice (can’t remember if that joke is from the Daily Show, Colbert Report or Real Time. I mean “a bit gay”) which I didn’t fully expect. So soft spoken, don’t show emotion to extremes really, and pretty damned good at karate. I can live with that. Of course I only have the one movie to go one so far.
As for the rest of the cast, well their fine. There’s some decent banter, his secretary is constantly eating for some reason and the head of the cops is a bit like Lloyd Bridges from Airplane. I half expected him to be on drugs or something. The script and performances are a bit clunky but no more so than in other things of this ilk.
From this I would say that Chuck’s movies are worth a look at if you like this kind of nonsense. Not bad at all.
And I’m not just giving this a good review from the fear that the might Chuck will round house me through the internet. Honest.
Next up: The Cottage
Saturday 12 June 2010
Movie 158: Outpost
DC (Ray Stevenson) and his band of mercenaries are hired by a man to lead him in to a war zone. They find an old Nazi bunker which contains one mysterious survivor, thought to be from recent ethnic cleansing, and an SS secret experiment. Why did the man hire them, and what the hell were the Nazis up to?
If I’d known that this film was about Zombie Nazi’s, kind of, I would have left it until number 200 to have some Dead Snow symmetry. This is very different to Dead Snow though as its far from a comedy and they aren’t TECHNICALLY zombies.
The Nazis make perfect fodder for horror sci fi films. Not only were they outright evil bastards, but they worked on crazy science experiments and dabbled in the occult. What you have here is a bit of a combination of the two with the SS trying to find some kind of unified theory machine that can make invincible soldiers. The science bollocks was a little vague by being overly detailed, and I’m pretty sure it wildly wrong.
Anyway it doesn’t matter as that kind of stuff is just a story explanation excuse. Like the dilithium crystals in the warp core depolarising the quantum matrix and needing an inverse tachyon field to fix them. Technobabble.
I mentioned Ray Stevenson’s name because he was the Punisher in War Zone, so he’s recognisable. The only other face that stood out for me was Michael Smiley who played Tyres, the pilled out Irish bike courier in Spaced. It was nice to see him again and he does a bang up job. All the main cast do pretty well. The band is diverse with a Welsh leader, Scottish Medic and Irish, African, Eastern European, and American soldiers. Possibly others, hard to remember. The chemistry between them is good, they have some actual back story fleshing out and the soldiering is above par for a low budget thriller. They communicate and movie like an actual squad. Makes a nice change.
An unstoppable enemy, some vague science and some well rounded characters. Can’t complain about that. While it is missing some kind of greatness to rise it up, possibly a bit slow but I honestly couldn’t put a finger on it, this is a decent way to spend 90 minutes. There are certainly worse ways.
And low budget film makers take note. They might not have had much, but its all up there on screen. As it should be.
Next up: A Force of One. My first ever Chuck Norris film (not counting Enter The Dragon or whatever Bruce Lee one he was in)!
If I’d known that this film was about Zombie Nazi’s, kind of, I would have left it until number 200 to have some Dead Snow symmetry. This is very different to Dead Snow though as its far from a comedy and they aren’t TECHNICALLY zombies.
The Nazis make perfect fodder for horror sci fi films. Not only were they outright evil bastards, but they worked on crazy science experiments and dabbled in the occult. What you have here is a bit of a combination of the two with the SS trying to find some kind of unified theory machine that can make invincible soldiers. The science bollocks was a little vague by being overly detailed, and I’m pretty sure it wildly wrong.
Anyway it doesn’t matter as that kind of stuff is just a story explanation excuse. Like the dilithium crystals in the warp core depolarising the quantum matrix and needing an inverse tachyon field to fix them. Technobabble.
I mentioned Ray Stevenson’s name because he was the Punisher in War Zone, so he’s recognisable. The only other face that stood out for me was Michael Smiley who played Tyres, the pilled out Irish bike courier in Spaced. It was nice to see him again and he does a bang up job. All the main cast do pretty well. The band is diverse with a Welsh leader, Scottish Medic and Irish, African, Eastern European, and American soldiers. Possibly others, hard to remember. The chemistry between them is good, they have some actual back story fleshing out and the soldiering is above par for a low budget thriller. They communicate and movie like an actual squad. Makes a nice change.
An unstoppable enemy, some vague science and some well rounded characters. Can’t complain about that. While it is missing some kind of greatness to rise it up, possibly a bit slow but I honestly couldn’t put a finger on it, this is a decent way to spend 90 minutes. There are certainly worse ways.
And low budget film makers take note. They might not have had much, but its all up there on screen. As it should be.
Next up: A Force of One. My first ever Chuck Norris film (not counting Enter The Dragon or whatever Bruce Lee one he was in)!
Movie 157: Jaws 2
A few years after the events of the first film, a couple of divers then a water skier and the boat driver are killed. Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) suspects that it’s a shark, particularly when an Orca washes up with big bites out of it. No one else believes him though, and when he spazes out on the beach he’s fired…
Probably some spoilers there. This is no where near as good as the original, but its not as terrible as it could have been.
Scheider’s Brody is a bit of a Captain Ahab character here. If Ahab had killed the white whale and they kept seeing white whales everywhere. He is right though. The problem is that we KNOW he’s right. We’ve seen the shark, we’ve seen it killing. If we hadn’t that might have improved some of the film. If we first see the shark an hour in and everything up to that was hinted but ambiguous it would have been very brave and clever. Of course we KNOW there’s a shark, or that there will be one, but did it do the stuff that the Sheriff thinks it did?
But they didn’t do that.
Jaws was the first block buster, and it shows a bit here that studios had realised they could get teen bums in seats. The main characters here really are the teenage Mike and his friends. It doesn’t really work as well. Particularly as Mike and all the guys seems to think the slightly puffy faced, weird nosed girl is incredibly hot.
What made the original work was the interplay between Quint, Scheider and Drefus. Only one of the three is present in this movie. Honestly, the star of the first one isn’t Bruce the shark. It’s the other pain in the arse from the set. Robert Shaw’s Quint is the most memorable character, a grizzled old bad ass. By setting out to net the kids the lost the heart of what made the first film work.
It’s not the worst sequel ever but it doesn’t sit in that rare category of second films that are better than the first. It happens more often than you’d think actually, particularly in the comic book genre. Tellingly it’s the last film to have Sheriff Brody in it which proves that the franchise probably had as many legs as the shark. Some film don’t need a sequel, Jaws was one of them. But if they had to make one, they could have done worse than this.
Oh, and Brody is the Macgyver of shark murder. You’ll see what I mean
Next up: Outpost. Not the Sean Connery sci fi flick.
Probably some spoilers there. This is no where near as good as the original, but its not as terrible as it could have been.
Scheider’s Brody is a bit of a Captain Ahab character here. If Ahab had killed the white whale and they kept seeing white whales everywhere. He is right though. The problem is that we KNOW he’s right. We’ve seen the shark, we’ve seen it killing. If we hadn’t that might have improved some of the film. If we first see the shark an hour in and everything up to that was hinted but ambiguous it would have been very brave and clever. Of course we KNOW there’s a shark, or that there will be one, but did it do the stuff that the Sheriff thinks it did?
But they didn’t do that.
Jaws was the first block buster, and it shows a bit here that studios had realised they could get teen bums in seats. The main characters here really are the teenage Mike and his friends. It doesn’t really work as well. Particularly as Mike and all the guys seems to think the slightly puffy faced, weird nosed girl is incredibly hot.
What made the original work was the interplay between Quint, Scheider and Drefus. Only one of the three is present in this movie. Honestly, the star of the first one isn’t Bruce the shark. It’s the other pain in the arse from the set. Robert Shaw’s Quint is the most memorable character, a grizzled old bad ass. By setting out to net the kids the lost the heart of what made the first film work.
It’s not the worst sequel ever but it doesn’t sit in that rare category of second films that are better than the first. It happens more often than you’d think actually, particularly in the comic book genre. Tellingly it’s the last film to have Sheriff Brody in it which proves that the franchise probably had as many legs as the shark. Some film don’t need a sequel, Jaws was one of them. But if they had to make one, they could have done worse than this.
Oh, and Brody is the Macgyver of shark murder. You’ll see what I mean
Next up: Outpost. Not the Sean Connery sci fi flick.
Thursday 10 June 2010
Movie 156: The Warriors
Watched The Warriors instead. Jaws 2 is probably next, or next next. Probably next.
A conclave of gangs is called in New York, and the leader of the biggest gang announces his plan to get them all together and take over the city as they outnumber the cops 3 to 1 (or 5 to 1, cannae remember). He’s then shot by one of the Rogues, who pins it on The Warriors. The Warriors then have to make it from The Bronx to Coney Island with everyone out for their ass. 8 against the city. Shits on.
This is based on an historical event apparently, where a bunch of Greek soldiers had to get home through very hostile territory. I watched the Ultimate Director’s Cut DVD so it also has a more obvious comic book origin, which panels interspersing scenes.
I liked that, it was pretty funky. Though it was a bit obvious that this was a later edition as the comic art wasn’t really period with the making of the film
Essentially what you have here is a John Carpenter movie that John never made. The gangs are whacky weirdoes, the tension is ratched up, the score is synth a lot of the time and it looks very gritty. And it’s a lot of a fun
It’s also a lot of cheese. Gangs made up of baseball bat wielding KISS rejects, punks on roller skates and black guys in karate uniforms couldn’t be anything but cheesy really.
As you can tell I liked it, but I’m not sure I loved it. While I might have recognised a few faces it’s a cast of unknowns who went on to be not much better now as far as I can tell. They were in this, a bunch of other stuff, but can go shopping in Tesco without hassle. That’s no mark of a lack of quality really, but there’s not much to blow your socks off.
It’s a film of its time, that looks and sounds like a film of its time. And that’s fine. The late 70’s was a good time for movies. As I said a few paragraphs ago its definitely one for Carpenter fans. And obviously Walter Hill fans as its his movie. If you haven’t seen it but you have seen Escape From New York and Assault on Precinct 13 then go check it. You’ll dig it.
But chances are you have seen it. And you get that joke.
On a side note, I think this would make a great TV show now. Kind of like Sons of Anarchy but in a city setting. Our gangs are a bit less civilized so it couldn’t be too realistic. Watching guys shoot each other gets dull, watching KISS with baseball bats fight dudes with afros and leather vests is FUN.
A conclave of gangs is called in New York, and the leader of the biggest gang announces his plan to get them all together and take over the city as they outnumber the cops 3 to 1 (or 5 to 1, cannae remember). He’s then shot by one of the Rogues, who pins it on The Warriors. The Warriors then have to make it from The Bronx to Coney Island with everyone out for their ass. 8 against the city. Shits on.
This is based on an historical event apparently, where a bunch of Greek soldiers had to get home through very hostile territory. I watched the Ultimate Director’s Cut DVD so it also has a more obvious comic book origin, which panels interspersing scenes.
I liked that, it was pretty funky. Though it was a bit obvious that this was a later edition as the comic art wasn’t really period with the making of the film
Essentially what you have here is a John Carpenter movie that John never made. The gangs are whacky weirdoes, the tension is ratched up, the score is synth a lot of the time and it looks very gritty. And it’s a lot of a fun
It’s also a lot of cheese. Gangs made up of baseball bat wielding KISS rejects, punks on roller skates and black guys in karate uniforms couldn’t be anything but cheesy really.
As you can tell I liked it, but I’m not sure I loved it. While I might have recognised a few faces it’s a cast of unknowns who went on to be not much better now as far as I can tell. They were in this, a bunch of other stuff, but can go shopping in Tesco without hassle. That’s no mark of a lack of quality really, but there’s not much to blow your socks off.
It’s a film of its time, that looks and sounds like a film of its time. And that’s fine. The late 70’s was a good time for movies. As I said a few paragraphs ago its definitely one for Carpenter fans. And obviously Walter Hill fans as its his movie. If you haven’t seen it but you have seen Escape From New York and Assault on Precinct 13 then go check it. You’ll dig it.
But chances are you have seen it. And you get that joke.
On a side note, I think this would make a great TV show now. Kind of like Sons of Anarchy but in a city setting. Our gangs are a bit less civilized so it couldn’t be too realistic. Watching guys shoot each other gets dull, watching KISS with baseball bats fight dudes with afros and leather vests is FUN.
Tuesday 8 June 2010
Movie 155: Gargantua
After a series of tremors, widowed (that’s important) marine biologist Jack Ellway (Adam Baldwin) and his son Brandon (Emile Hirsch) go the island of Malau to see what the effect on the sea life has been. Turns out its pretty major as a trench has opened up and a bunch of DDT has made some salamanders grow. A lot. The little baby that Brandon befriends is fine, but 9ft big brother causes some problems. Which is nothing compared to what happens when mum and dad turn up…
We’re deeply in to 50’s B movie territory here. This is from 1998, and it’s a TV movie, so its not a Sci Fi original. If it was the Brandon would be a teenager and there’s be a lot of shots of women in bikini’s in it. What you have is generally a lot more innocent, and cheesy as hell.
I’m a big fan of Adam Baldwin. He’s probably my favourite Baldwin, even though he technically isn’t one (of those Baldwins). We don’t really get the Jane from Firefly/Casey from Chuck (weirdly Brandon references a dog he had called Casey like some weird cosmic in joke 9 years before anyone could possibly get it) or Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket Adam Baldwin here though. He’s a nerd basically. His voice is even different. He has the chops to more or less pull of what is a Daniel Jackson-ish character but its slightly weird casting from the other work of his I’ve seen.
Emile Hirsch, who you may know now as he was Speed Racer and stuff, is a kid in this film. Proper kid, almost a teenager. He’s not bad for a kid really. A lot of his scenes are with an animatronic 3 foot tall puppet so there’s not a whole bunch to do, but he doesn’t suck or anything. And the two of them has a scene towards the end of the movie that literally choked me up. Because I’m a big pussy.
The whole thing is basically a big allegory of the father/son relationship of the lead characters which is relatively clever for this kind of nonsense. And it works at times without being too heavy handed at all. Kudos.
As for the special effects… Well sometimes they are actually surprisingly good. Longshots of the little monster in particular. I’m not sure if its CGI or stop motion, but its decently done. The puppets are a bit dodgy but also pretty decent with a good range of motion and occasionally good skin texture. Not Jurassic Park by any stretch, but they didn’t have the budget for that.
If you stumble across this and you like 50’s B movies you’ll probably like this. I love a cheesy old B Movie, so I enjoyed this one too. Don’t take it too seriously and you’ll do just fine
Next up: Jaws 2
We’re deeply in to 50’s B movie territory here. This is from 1998, and it’s a TV movie, so its not a Sci Fi original. If it was the Brandon would be a teenager and there’s be a lot of shots of women in bikini’s in it. What you have is generally a lot more innocent, and cheesy as hell.
I’m a big fan of Adam Baldwin. He’s probably my favourite Baldwin, even though he technically isn’t one (of those Baldwins). We don’t really get the Jane from Firefly/Casey from Chuck (weirdly Brandon references a dog he had called Casey like some weird cosmic in joke 9 years before anyone could possibly get it) or Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket Adam Baldwin here though. He’s a nerd basically. His voice is even different. He has the chops to more or less pull of what is a Daniel Jackson-ish character but its slightly weird casting from the other work of his I’ve seen.
Emile Hirsch, who you may know now as he was Speed Racer and stuff, is a kid in this film. Proper kid, almost a teenager. He’s not bad for a kid really. A lot of his scenes are with an animatronic 3 foot tall puppet so there’s not a whole bunch to do, but he doesn’t suck or anything. And the two of them has a scene towards the end of the movie that literally choked me up. Because I’m a big pussy.
The whole thing is basically a big allegory of the father/son relationship of the lead characters which is relatively clever for this kind of nonsense. And it works at times without being too heavy handed at all. Kudos.
As for the special effects… Well sometimes they are actually surprisingly good. Longshots of the little monster in particular. I’m not sure if its CGI or stop motion, but its decently done. The puppets are a bit dodgy but also pretty decent with a good range of motion and occasionally good skin texture. Not Jurassic Park by any stretch, but they didn’t have the budget for that.
If you stumble across this and you like 50’s B movies you’ll probably like this. I love a cheesy old B Movie, so I enjoyed this one too. Don’t take it too seriously and you’ll do just fine
Next up: Jaws 2
Monday 7 June 2010
Movie 154: Nick of Time
A mild mannered single father accountant (Johnny Depp) arrives in LA and is greeted by a man claiming to be a cop (Christopher Walken). However, the last time anyone checked cops don’t kidnap your daughter and threaten to kill her if you don’t shoot the governor. Johnny has 90 minutes to either do it or find a way out!
This was pre-24 so doing something real time was quite novel there. Points to the film makers. Also its not the worst idea in the world. More points. And it stars Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken. More points.
Unfortunately it plays like a bad episode of Columbo. You know those episodes that are only really watchable because of Columbo? One of those. Remove most of the points.
So this movie is pretty pointless.
While it has a good cast, they aren’t given huge amounts to play with a lot of the time. It’s very repetitious, 90 minutes was too long for the material. And it shot like crazy with some truly insane choices made in camera work and editing. There’s a couple of dreamlike sequences in the last act that feel completely out of place. The camera occasionally has seizures and this is 15 years old so there’s no excuse as that hadn’t become a wide spread problem.
Depp is good, not one of his best but not his fault. Walken is Walken, and therefore a bit batshit which is fine. The cast on the whole are pretty good, even the cute little girl who isn’t in it too much.
It’s just that the film feels so lacklustre. The characters watch the clock a lot and so do you as every 10 minute block consists of Johnny Depp trying to get out of it and Chris Walken giving him shit for it. Repeat 5 or 6 times. Then it gets a bit more lively. There are 5 REALLY GOOD minutes towards the end. And your done.
Unless you’re a Depp or Walken fanatic its not really worth bothering with this. TV movie on the big screen
Next up: Gargantua
This was pre-24 so doing something real time was quite novel there. Points to the film makers. Also its not the worst idea in the world. More points. And it stars Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken. More points.
Unfortunately it plays like a bad episode of Columbo. You know those episodes that are only really watchable because of Columbo? One of those. Remove most of the points.
So this movie is pretty pointless.
While it has a good cast, they aren’t given huge amounts to play with a lot of the time. It’s very repetitious, 90 minutes was too long for the material. And it shot like crazy with some truly insane choices made in camera work and editing. There’s a couple of dreamlike sequences in the last act that feel completely out of place. The camera occasionally has seizures and this is 15 years old so there’s no excuse as that hadn’t become a wide spread problem.
Depp is good, not one of his best but not his fault. Walken is Walken, and therefore a bit batshit which is fine. The cast on the whole are pretty good, even the cute little girl who isn’t in it too much.
It’s just that the film feels so lacklustre. The characters watch the clock a lot and so do you as every 10 minute block consists of Johnny Depp trying to get out of it and Chris Walken giving him shit for it. Repeat 5 or 6 times. Then it gets a bit more lively. There are 5 REALLY GOOD minutes towards the end. And your done.
Unless you’re a Depp or Walken fanatic its not really worth bothering with this. TV movie on the big screen
Next up: Gargantua
Sunday 6 June 2010
Movie 153: Diminished Capacity
Cooper (Matthew Broderick) is a Chicago journalist who is suffering from memory problems after an accident caused by his formerly alcoholic friend Stan (Louis C.K.). He receives a letter from his mum asking him to come out to look after his Uncle Rollie (Alan Alda) who’s having some pretty major memory problems of his own and thinks the fish in the river can write poetry. Uncle Rollie clues Cooper in to a baseball card his grandfather gave him, a 1908 Shulte from the last year the Cubs won the series. The card is extremely rare so they decide to head to Chicago to sell it
This is a lightish indie comedy with some drama elements. A dramady. The kind of thing that needs to be indie in the US, but could be made by Working title over here. And its not a bad one.
I’m a Cubs fan. For those who know squat about baseball, the Chicago Cubs haven’t won the world series since 1908. That’s 101 seasons ago. They could change their name to the Chicago Next Years and it would be much more fitting. They’ve come close, but a couple of generations of fans have lived and died without seeing their once great team win the big one. Which sucks. A fair bit of fun is poked at the Cubs and some of the crazy fans. That’s fine. Hell it’s funny.
Alan Alda is basically in the Bill Murray role here. Though Murray is a big Cubs fan so I doubt he’d have played it (Alda’s character is from the St Louis area and therefore a Cards fan, the Cubs big rivals). Alda does a great job as the guy with the early, or possibly not so early, stages of Alzheimer’s that’s sometimes funny and sometimes not. Dramady.
Broderick does a good job here too even if he is looking pretty rough. That fits the character though as he is suffering from brain damage. It’s also nice to see Louis C.K. not playing a flat out comedy role, though his character isn’t exactly serious.
The film falls flat a few times and that’s mainly when its doing close to main stream moments. There’s a few whacky comedy and one romantic moment that would fit in to any old comedy movie, but it veers too far in to obvious territory and lets things down a bit. That said they don’t exactly detract from the movie, just feel a little lazy.
It’s not another Little Miss Sunshine, but it is a good indie flick. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it even if your not a fan of baseball. Hell, you might like it more.
Next up: Nick of Time
This is a lightish indie comedy with some drama elements. A dramady. The kind of thing that needs to be indie in the US, but could be made by Working title over here. And its not a bad one.
I’m a Cubs fan. For those who know squat about baseball, the Chicago Cubs haven’t won the world series since 1908. That’s 101 seasons ago. They could change their name to the Chicago Next Years and it would be much more fitting. They’ve come close, but a couple of generations of fans have lived and died without seeing their once great team win the big one. Which sucks. A fair bit of fun is poked at the Cubs and some of the crazy fans. That’s fine. Hell it’s funny.
Alan Alda is basically in the Bill Murray role here. Though Murray is a big Cubs fan so I doubt he’d have played it (Alda’s character is from the St Louis area and therefore a Cards fan, the Cubs big rivals). Alda does a great job as the guy with the early, or possibly not so early, stages of Alzheimer’s that’s sometimes funny and sometimes not. Dramady.
Broderick does a good job here too even if he is looking pretty rough. That fits the character though as he is suffering from brain damage. It’s also nice to see Louis C.K. not playing a flat out comedy role, though his character isn’t exactly serious.
The film falls flat a few times and that’s mainly when its doing close to main stream moments. There’s a few whacky comedy and one romantic moment that would fit in to any old comedy movie, but it veers too far in to obvious territory and lets things down a bit. That said they don’t exactly detract from the movie, just feel a little lazy.
It’s not another Little Miss Sunshine, but it is a good indie flick. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it even if your not a fan of baseball. Hell, you might like it more.
Next up: Nick of Time
Movie 152: The Shawshank Redemption.
Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is given a life stretch for killing his wife and her lover, a crime he didn’t commit obviously as everyone in prison is innocent. Initially the banker is disliked by the other prisoners as he’s quiet and aloof. But after a while he opens up to a man who can get things, Red (Morgan Freeman) and becomes well liked, setting out to expand the library and survive on the inside.
Okay so that’s not the whole plot. And it contains one joke directly ripping off the film. But you probably know what The Shawshank Redemption is about by now.
I certainly did. Or at least the last reel. This meant that I watched the film expecting something completely different to what I actually got, and that the last half hour wasn’t as twisty for me as it should be. That’s a bit of a shame really and it probably took a little from the movie but it didn’t ruin it. Its VERY hard to ruin.
What you’ve got is a slow burning life in prison film. A big character piece set over a couple of decades letting us get to know the prisoners and their lives. There’s not really any over the top prison set pieces, apart from anything else I think time was probably a bit easier back then as society was different. And the characters are extremely well drawn and performed.
Looking at the trivia on IMDB there’s a lot of alternative casting possibilities and I don’t think any of them would really have worked as well. Tim Robbins is perfect as the quiet and understated Andy. It could have been Hanks, but I think he LOOKS wrong for the part apart from anything else. He would have done a good job no doubt, but Tim fits better than Tom to my mind. And Hanks was making Forrest Gump so I’m sure he can live without being in this.
The joke line “maybe its because I’m Irish” delivered by Red is because the character originally was a white ginger Irish guy. Aside from that there’s little to hint in that direction. Now I will admit that Red probably could have been played by any number of people, though none mentioned in the trivia really excite me that much. I think things would have come out pretty much as good with Brian Cox but that’s the Cox of NOW, maybe not 15 years ago. Freeman’s deep authoritative voice and friendly demeanour really lend themselves to the character of Red. And when your film has a voice over who else would you like reading it? Damn straight you hire God!
Or me. I’m a good VO. Please hire me. I need the money.
You’ve probably already seen this. If you haven’t, you probably should go and do that. Btw I’m with the studio. As much as I like ambiguity in endings sometimes this one needed the resolution for that last little punch. It wasn’t THAT ambiguous…
Next up: Diminished Capacity
Okay so that’s not the whole plot. And it contains one joke directly ripping off the film. But you probably know what The Shawshank Redemption is about by now.
I certainly did. Or at least the last reel. This meant that I watched the film expecting something completely different to what I actually got, and that the last half hour wasn’t as twisty for me as it should be. That’s a bit of a shame really and it probably took a little from the movie but it didn’t ruin it. Its VERY hard to ruin.
What you’ve got is a slow burning life in prison film. A big character piece set over a couple of decades letting us get to know the prisoners and their lives. There’s not really any over the top prison set pieces, apart from anything else I think time was probably a bit easier back then as society was different. And the characters are extremely well drawn and performed.
Looking at the trivia on IMDB there’s a lot of alternative casting possibilities and I don’t think any of them would really have worked as well. Tim Robbins is perfect as the quiet and understated Andy. It could have been Hanks, but I think he LOOKS wrong for the part apart from anything else. He would have done a good job no doubt, but Tim fits better than Tom to my mind. And Hanks was making Forrest Gump so I’m sure he can live without being in this.
The joke line “maybe its because I’m Irish” delivered by Red is because the character originally was a white ginger Irish guy. Aside from that there’s little to hint in that direction. Now I will admit that Red probably could have been played by any number of people, though none mentioned in the trivia really excite me that much. I think things would have come out pretty much as good with Brian Cox but that’s the Cox of NOW, maybe not 15 years ago. Freeman’s deep authoritative voice and friendly demeanour really lend themselves to the character of Red. And when your film has a voice over who else would you like reading it? Damn straight you hire God!
Or me. I’m a good VO. Please hire me. I need the money.
You’ve probably already seen this. If you haven’t, you probably should go and do that. Btw I’m with the studio. As much as I like ambiguity in endings sometimes this one needed the resolution for that last little punch. It wasn’t THAT ambiguous…
Next up: Diminished Capacity
Saturday 5 June 2010
Movie 151: Ghost Town
Oh god, I’ve stumbled on to another Syfy original…
A gang of bandits makes a deal with the devil for immortality, but the town gets a preacher (Gil Gerard) to try and stop them. Alas it doesn’t work. Cut to 150 years or so later and a bus full of a, I assume, college hockey team and the debate team mysteriously end up in the town in some kind of weird purgatory. Then the ghosts start killing people…
My theory that the Syfy originals are watchable based on the calibre of TV star continues to work. This is REALLY bad. Now yes, they have Gil Gerard. But he’s not in it much really so barely counts. Their biggest star is therefore Jessica Rose. Who?! Exactly. She was Brea in the Lonelygirl15 Youtube videos. Wow, big star.
You know when your watching a film and your waiting for porn to break out, but kind of hoping that it won’t as you don’t really want to see the people in it having sex? Not that they’re ugly, just that you don’t like them? This is that.
Tie that in with the fact that the camera man appears to occasionally have an epileptic fit, the special effects are a bit wonky, and the script is piss poor and you have another Syfy classic.
I threw up a little in my mouth typing classic there, even though it was in jest…
Next up: The Shawshank Redemption. WHIPLASH
A gang of bandits makes a deal with the devil for immortality, but the town gets a preacher (Gil Gerard) to try and stop them. Alas it doesn’t work. Cut to 150 years or so later and a bus full of a, I assume, college hockey team and the debate team mysteriously end up in the town in some kind of weird purgatory. Then the ghosts start killing people…
My theory that the Syfy originals are watchable based on the calibre of TV star continues to work. This is REALLY bad. Now yes, they have Gil Gerard. But he’s not in it much really so barely counts. Their biggest star is therefore Jessica Rose. Who?! Exactly. She was Brea in the Lonelygirl15 Youtube videos. Wow, big star.
You know when your watching a film and your waiting for porn to break out, but kind of hoping that it won’t as you don’t really want to see the people in it having sex? Not that they’re ugly, just that you don’t like them? This is that.
Tie that in with the fact that the camera man appears to occasionally have an epileptic fit, the special effects are a bit wonky, and the script is piss poor and you have another Syfy classic.
I threw up a little in my mouth typing classic there, even though it was in jest…
Next up: The Shawshank Redemption. WHIPLASH
Movie 150: Dragonball Evolution
2000 years ago an evil alien tried to destroy the world, but was imprisoned using the 7 dragon balls. Unfortunately he’s back, and it’s down to Goku to find the 7 dragon balls to stick him back in the hole and save the world.
I am not a fan of the original Dragonball saga. I’ve never seen an anime of it, played a game or read a manga. So I don’t know squat besides the main guy having spikey hair.
I’ve heard that the die hard fans are a bit pissed off at this movie as it messed with things too much. I wasn’t though. Its set in the present future in Japanamerica somewhere and none of that is explained really. I’m fine with that. It’s either this year or after as a poster says 2010 on it, but the technology is way in advance of our own. The cities have a Japanese and American styling to them, and the characters are a mix of Asian and white so that gives some discrepancy to the setting. I like that too. Though I’m pretty sure its meant to be somewhere in Asia.
The story and villain make this sound pretty similar to Scientology, but the fighting system and beliefs of the characters are all about chi. While its pretty damned cheesy it’s not too bad.
The films main problem is that bits of it seems rushed. It feels like chunks, or at least nibbles, have been taken and the short running time would seem to support this. At times it dwells, in a good way, in others it doesn’t when you wish it would.
The acting all round is fine, occasionally cheesy but no more than a lot of Japanese action movies of this time. Same with the dialogue and they seem to be relatively consistent with the world that they’ve built.
Its not an amazing film, but it has some beautiful moments and I don’t agree with its detractors. Whether I’ll check out the original source, or close to it, anime I don’t know but I would watch more Dragonball movies from this team. Good if you like that sort of thing.
Or I’m an evil Blasphemer. Whatever.
Next up: Ghost Town
I am not a fan of the original Dragonball saga. I’ve never seen an anime of it, played a game or read a manga. So I don’t know squat besides the main guy having spikey hair.
I’ve heard that the die hard fans are a bit pissed off at this movie as it messed with things too much. I wasn’t though. Its set in the present future in Japanamerica somewhere and none of that is explained really. I’m fine with that. It’s either this year or after as a poster says 2010 on it, but the technology is way in advance of our own. The cities have a Japanese and American styling to them, and the characters are a mix of Asian and white so that gives some discrepancy to the setting. I like that too. Though I’m pretty sure its meant to be somewhere in Asia.
The story and villain make this sound pretty similar to Scientology, but the fighting system and beliefs of the characters are all about chi. While its pretty damned cheesy it’s not too bad.
The films main problem is that bits of it seems rushed. It feels like chunks, or at least nibbles, have been taken and the short running time would seem to support this. At times it dwells, in a good way, in others it doesn’t when you wish it would.
The acting all round is fine, occasionally cheesy but no more than a lot of Japanese action movies of this time. Same with the dialogue and they seem to be relatively consistent with the world that they’ve built.
Its not an amazing film, but it has some beautiful moments and I don’t agree with its detractors. Whether I’ll check out the original source, or close to it, anime I don’t know but I would watch more Dragonball movies from this team. Good if you like that sort of thing.
Or I’m an evil Blasphemer. Whatever.
Next up: Ghost Town
Friday 4 June 2010
Movie 149: Rear Window
Jeff (Jimmy Stewart) is a professional photographer who busted his leg taking a daring shot. He’s stuck in his apartment in a wheel chair while it heals, with nothing to do but look out the window at his neighbours. After 6 weeks he’s understandably a bit stir crazy. One night he sees Mr Thorwald (Raymond Burr) acting suspiciously and suspects he killed his with. With the help of his sort of girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) and his nurse (Thelma Ritter) he sets out to prove it to his doubting detective friend (Wendell Corey)
Named a lot of actors there. Not for any real reason, just felt like it.
So a guy in a wheel chair perving on his neighbours. The ultimate voyeur. In fact there’s a bit of an allegory (hope that’s the right word) to soap opera viewers going on here. While its real life people that Jeff is looking at, it’s like he has a half dozen little stories going on. A low tech form of flipping channels. I doubt this kind of comparison is all that relevant though.
The side stories help to add an extra layer to what could have been a kind of boring movie. There isn’t quite enough in the main story to hold up to nearly 2 hours. And the way that Jeff, Lisa and his nurse act they DO come across as a soap audience, all be it one that gets more involved than just water cooler talk.
Jimmy Stewart is one of those actors who basically got by playing himself. Comparatively I’d throw Humphrey Bogart and Sean Connery in there. They aren’t playing the same character over and over, but aspects of the same kind of guy. Here Stewart is a bit darker than normal. I have a bit of a hard time buying him as an action photographer really, but we don’t have to as we never see him doing anything of the sort. It’s a great role to land, you just sit on your ass all day.
Grace Kelly is absolutely stunning, and in a lesser actress’ (and to be fair, script and director) hands that would be all Lisa has going for her. Hell, it seems that’s all the character will have for much of the movie. But Lisa proves she’s got more spunk than people give her credit for.
And the nurse is the dark comedy relief really. Saying the nasty shit that works without Hitch showing it too us and letting the audience fill in the pictures themselves. Some delicious irony is added for any viewers post 1980 as Ironside is the guy being investigated by a detective in a wheel chair.
It’s a well paced if not wholly gripping for me thriller story, as you’d expected from the source and great cast. The side stories are a good touch and you find yourself caring for the nameless characters who all have their own little moments. And we’re giving a funny little ending that wraps the whole thing up. Which is nice.
Next up: Dragonball Evolution
Named a lot of actors there. Not for any real reason, just felt like it.
So a guy in a wheel chair perving on his neighbours. The ultimate voyeur. In fact there’s a bit of an allegory (hope that’s the right word) to soap opera viewers going on here. While its real life people that Jeff is looking at, it’s like he has a half dozen little stories going on. A low tech form of flipping channels. I doubt this kind of comparison is all that relevant though.
The side stories help to add an extra layer to what could have been a kind of boring movie. There isn’t quite enough in the main story to hold up to nearly 2 hours. And the way that Jeff, Lisa and his nurse act they DO come across as a soap audience, all be it one that gets more involved than just water cooler talk.
Jimmy Stewart is one of those actors who basically got by playing himself. Comparatively I’d throw Humphrey Bogart and Sean Connery in there. They aren’t playing the same character over and over, but aspects of the same kind of guy. Here Stewart is a bit darker than normal. I have a bit of a hard time buying him as an action photographer really, but we don’t have to as we never see him doing anything of the sort. It’s a great role to land, you just sit on your ass all day.
Grace Kelly is absolutely stunning, and in a lesser actress’ (and to be fair, script and director) hands that would be all Lisa has going for her. Hell, it seems that’s all the character will have for much of the movie. But Lisa proves she’s got more spunk than people give her credit for.
And the nurse is the dark comedy relief really. Saying the nasty shit that works without Hitch showing it too us and letting the audience fill in the pictures themselves. Some delicious irony is added for any viewers post 1980 as Ironside is the guy being investigated by a detective in a wheel chair.
It’s a well paced if not wholly gripping for me thriller story, as you’d expected from the source and great cast. The side stories are a good touch and you find yourself caring for the nameless characters who all have their own little moments. And we’re giving a funny little ending that wraps the whole thing up. Which is nice.
Next up: Dragonball Evolution
Friday 28 May 2010
Movie 148: Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Paul Blart (Kevin James) dreams of being a cop, but has failed the entry test numerous times due to his hypoglycaemia. He works as a Mall Cop, 10 years on the job, and takes it a bit too seriously. He’s also a single dad who takes a shine to the girl who runs the weave stand. When criminals take over the mall and hold her hostage Blart steps in to action to try and save the day.
Die Hard with a fat guy in a mall. Money please!
That’s kind of the movie in a nutshell. I was dreading this a bit going in. I like Kevin James, or enjoyed the odd episode of The King of Queens anyway, so it wasn’t really because of him. Its because the film looked a bit pish.
And the first 30 minutes don’t really do anything to change that. Blart is a bit of a Cliff from Cheers character, but fat so you can make loser and fat jokes. He’s pretty incompetent but with a heart of gold. Blah blah, no laughs.
Things turn around half way through though when he’s up against the robbers. Its all a bit Home Alone rather than Die Hard but it got some chuckles out of me.
Paul Blart isn’t going to win any non-MTV awards but it is relatively entertaining. They don’t strain any of the potential gags too much and don’t go for obvious hits too much. At times its actually a bit clever. It’s far from the best comedy I’ve ever seen, but I was surprised that it wasn’t the worst either.
If you come in from the pub and its just starting then give it a look.
Next up: Rear Window
Die Hard with a fat guy in a mall. Money please!
That’s kind of the movie in a nutshell. I was dreading this a bit going in. I like Kevin James, or enjoyed the odd episode of The King of Queens anyway, so it wasn’t really because of him. Its because the film looked a bit pish.
And the first 30 minutes don’t really do anything to change that. Blart is a bit of a Cliff from Cheers character, but fat so you can make loser and fat jokes. He’s pretty incompetent but with a heart of gold. Blah blah, no laughs.
Things turn around half way through though when he’s up against the robbers. Its all a bit Home Alone rather than Die Hard but it got some chuckles out of me.
Paul Blart isn’t going to win any non-MTV awards but it is relatively entertaining. They don’t strain any of the potential gags too much and don’t go for obvious hits too much. At times its actually a bit clever. It’s far from the best comedy I’ve ever seen, but I was surprised that it wasn’t the worst either.
If you come in from the pub and its just starting then give it a look.
Next up: Rear Window
Thursday 27 May 2010
Movie 147: Terminator – Salvation
Judgement Day has happened and the remnants of humanity are at war with the machines. The leadership find a signal that switches the machines off, and John Connor (Christian Bale) sets out to test it. But the machines have something new up their metal arms…
As a slightly cheesy sci fi romp about humans and robots, this does fine. As a Terminator movie it fails pretty badly.
This is the film we’ve been waiting for for 25 years, ever since the Stan Winston effects had Terminators busting in to scrappy bunkers and rolling over piles of human skulls. Looking at the admittedly messed up time line this is actually set 11 years before that, but its still a bit disappointing.
How are the humans able to have such blatantly open bases without being molested? Where were the big tank machines? (I think you do see one, but you see more motor bikes) Why if its 11 years earlier are the T-800 already in the works? And why the fuck doesn’t this film focus on John Connor?!
In fact his role is actually expanded from what it was, but the film still largely focuses on Sam Worthington’s Marcus character. For no damned logical reason. And its why I say this works okay as a sci fi film but not as a Terminator one. While Connor is in this, he’s not even close to being the focus. He’s the B or possibly even C story in a franchise BUILT on that surname.
I’ve seen everything Terminator bar the tie in anime. The first two films are brilliant, the third is largely a pile of arse, and the TV show was damned good except for the story lines that focused primarily on Sarah Connor ironically enough. In fact it had my favourite scene of, I think, 2007. This one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc6M4WBL6hA&feature=related It’s fucking GORGEOUS, and that’s a bad ass Johnny Cash tune.
But I digress. Badly as that TV show follows a separate time line and doesn’t match what passes for movie continuity.
I wish they hadn’t skipped the first 9 or 10 years of the war against the machines. I wish we’d seen scrappy bands on humans fighting against terrible odds to try and destroy Skynet. What we got was a combination between Transformers and the Matrix sequels. There’s still potential but I can’t see there being any films for a while due to the rights being all over the place/no where. Probably best to just watch the first movie on a loop and revel in its awesomeness. Not that this doesn’t have the odd moment
It just didn’t fill the gaps in between with the right other moments….
Next up: Paul Blart: Mall Cop
As a slightly cheesy sci fi romp about humans and robots, this does fine. As a Terminator movie it fails pretty badly.
This is the film we’ve been waiting for for 25 years, ever since the Stan Winston effects had Terminators busting in to scrappy bunkers and rolling over piles of human skulls. Looking at the admittedly messed up time line this is actually set 11 years before that, but its still a bit disappointing.
How are the humans able to have such blatantly open bases without being molested? Where were the big tank machines? (I think you do see one, but you see more motor bikes) Why if its 11 years earlier are the T-800 already in the works? And why the fuck doesn’t this film focus on John Connor?!
In fact his role is actually expanded from what it was, but the film still largely focuses on Sam Worthington’s Marcus character. For no damned logical reason. And its why I say this works okay as a sci fi film but not as a Terminator one. While Connor is in this, he’s not even close to being the focus. He’s the B or possibly even C story in a franchise BUILT on that surname.
I’ve seen everything Terminator bar the tie in anime. The first two films are brilliant, the third is largely a pile of arse, and the TV show was damned good except for the story lines that focused primarily on Sarah Connor ironically enough. In fact it had my favourite scene of, I think, 2007. This one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc6M4WBL6hA&feature=related It’s fucking GORGEOUS, and that’s a bad ass Johnny Cash tune.
But I digress. Badly as that TV show follows a separate time line and doesn’t match what passes for movie continuity.
I wish they hadn’t skipped the first 9 or 10 years of the war against the machines. I wish we’d seen scrappy bands on humans fighting against terrible odds to try and destroy Skynet. What we got was a combination between Transformers and the Matrix sequels. There’s still potential but I can’t see there being any films for a while due to the rights being all over the place/no where. Probably best to just watch the first movie on a loop and revel in its awesomeness. Not that this doesn’t have the odd moment
It just didn’t fill the gaps in between with the right other moments….
Next up: Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Wednesday 26 May 2010
Movie 146: The African Queen
World War I breaks out and the Germans round up natives in African, burning their villages to prevent them going home. A brother and sister missionary team are caught in the middle and the brother dies of a head injury. When river boat captain Charlie (Bogart) returns to check on them he finds Rose (Katharine Hepburn) alone and takes her off on his boat, The African Queen. She convinces him that they have to do their patriotic duty and head down river to take out a German steamer that is blocking the way for the British Navy, a journey fraught with peril.
Warning, mild peril. Some of it is major peril I suppose. Unfortunately the age of the film means clunky special effects for the rapids sequences, with back projection, a couple of grips shaking the boat set and chucking buckets of water at the actors.
Its not a bad film, but its far from my favourite with Bogie in it. The problem is mainly that there isn’t any tension between the leads for much of the movie. Bogie is at his best as a smart mouth smooth character, for me anyway, but he cleans up too early on and from that point the chemistry didn’t really strike me. Ironically this is where he got an Oscar, so what do I know?
And nothing against Hepburn but she’s pretty one note through this thing, well one note at a time anyway.
Because of this the film fell a bit flat for me. It hinges on whether you like the chemistry between the leads, and I wasn’t all that sold on it.
I am cheating a little bit with this as I’ve “seen” the film before. With my ears. In 1952, the film is from 51, the Lux Radio Theatre did a version of this and I have heard that version. The special effects problems obviously don’t factor in here, and the story is more or less the same. You can hear that in this episode of the fantastic OTR Swagcast by my buddy Bill Hollweg:
http://brokensea.com/otr/2010/02/04/otr-swagcast-episode-49-2/
And if you go to the main show page there’s more Bogart audio coming out with episode of Bold Venture, which team him up with Lauren Bacall. And you can get more Bold Venture at Misfits audio as well:
http://misfitsaudio.com/serialclassicradio.php
Next up: Terminator – Salvation
Warning, mild peril. Some of it is major peril I suppose. Unfortunately the age of the film means clunky special effects for the rapids sequences, with back projection, a couple of grips shaking the boat set and chucking buckets of water at the actors.
Its not a bad film, but its far from my favourite with Bogie in it. The problem is mainly that there isn’t any tension between the leads for much of the movie. Bogie is at his best as a smart mouth smooth character, for me anyway, but he cleans up too early on and from that point the chemistry didn’t really strike me. Ironically this is where he got an Oscar, so what do I know?
And nothing against Hepburn but she’s pretty one note through this thing, well one note at a time anyway.
Because of this the film fell a bit flat for me. It hinges on whether you like the chemistry between the leads, and I wasn’t all that sold on it.
I am cheating a little bit with this as I’ve “seen” the film before. With my ears. In 1952, the film is from 51, the Lux Radio Theatre did a version of this and I have heard that version. The special effects problems obviously don’t factor in here, and the story is more or less the same. You can hear that in this episode of the fantastic OTR Swagcast by my buddy Bill Hollweg:
http://brokensea.com/otr/2010/02/04/otr-swagcast-episode-49-2/
And if you go to the main show page there’s more Bogart audio coming out with episode of Bold Venture, which team him up with Lauren Bacall. And you can get more Bold Venture at Misfits audio as well:
http://misfitsaudio.com/serialclassicradio.php
Next up: Terminator – Salvation
Tuesday 25 May 2010
Movie 145: Snow Day
A Nickelodeon original! Which could be just as bad a Syfy….
This is actual a couple of stories that intertwine, centring on different members of the same family. A teenage boy trying to get the girl of his dreams. His younger sister who desperately wants a second snow day, and has to defeat the evil “Snow Plow Man” with her friends to do it. A mom who works far too much. And finally Dad Chevy Chase, a local weatherman who is an actual meteorologist but is in third place, first being taken by a shiny haired shiny toothed idiot, and was first to see the snow coming after some unseasonably warm weather.
OH and a minor plot with the school principle being pelted with snow balls a lot.
Yes, this is very much a tween movie. For me the most enjoyable part, not that it sucked or anything, was the Chevy Chase storyline. This is from 2000 so its in that period between Chevy being a leading man and his sort of return now in Community and other stuff. Young, but relatively washed up. He’s still good though. My guess is it’s the agent that failed not Chevy as he never seemed to lose it, for me anyway. This is a Steve Martin type movie though, on a lower budget and with a kid that farts the same fart for no reason bar the fact he’s fat.
The teen love story is pretty outlandish but no more so than the usual fair on the channel that made the film. Trying to get the amazing dream girl, make an enemy of the douche that she sees most of the time, best friend is a girl who sticks by you regardless. If your over 14 you know what’s going to happen.
The younger sisters story would be creepy outside of goofy movie territory. Plow Man terrorises kids, kidnaps one at one point and is generally creepy. The kids end up acting somewhat like Mac Culkin in Home Alone, but in a mob. Either side would probably be arrested in the real world.
And the mum story is probably something that any working mother could sympathise with, and is a bit of a life lesson thing.
As you can probably tell this tries to be all things for all people to make a family movie that the kids, the teens and the parents can enjoy together. It doesn’t entirely fail, but its not smart enough to quite pull it off either. Not terrible, not amazing. Worth watching on a snow day actually.
Next up: The African Queen
This is actual a couple of stories that intertwine, centring on different members of the same family. A teenage boy trying to get the girl of his dreams. His younger sister who desperately wants a second snow day, and has to defeat the evil “Snow Plow Man” with her friends to do it. A mom who works far too much. And finally Dad Chevy Chase, a local weatherman who is an actual meteorologist but is in third place, first being taken by a shiny haired shiny toothed idiot, and was first to see the snow coming after some unseasonably warm weather.
OH and a minor plot with the school principle being pelted with snow balls a lot.
Yes, this is very much a tween movie. For me the most enjoyable part, not that it sucked or anything, was the Chevy Chase storyline. This is from 2000 so its in that period between Chevy being a leading man and his sort of return now in Community and other stuff. Young, but relatively washed up. He’s still good though. My guess is it’s the agent that failed not Chevy as he never seemed to lose it, for me anyway. This is a Steve Martin type movie though, on a lower budget and with a kid that farts the same fart for no reason bar the fact he’s fat.
The teen love story is pretty outlandish but no more so than the usual fair on the channel that made the film. Trying to get the amazing dream girl, make an enemy of the douche that she sees most of the time, best friend is a girl who sticks by you regardless. If your over 14 you know what’s going to happen.
The younger sisters story would be creepy outside of goofy movie territory. Plow Man terrorises kids, kidnaps one at one point and is generally creepy. The kids end up acting somewhat like Mac Culkin in Home Alone, but in a mob. Either side would probably be arrested in the real world.
And the mum story is probably something that any working mother could sympathise with, and is a bit of a life lesson thing.
As you can probably tell this tries to be all things for all people to make a family movie that the kids, the teens and the parents can enjoy together. It doesn’t entirely fail, but its not smart enough to quite pull it off either. Not terrible, not amazing. Worth watching on a snow day actually.
Next up: The African Queen
Monday 24 May 2010
Movie 144: Loch Ness Terror aka Beyond Loch Ness
A young boy watched his father and some other being eaten by Nessie. Years later people start getting munched at Lake Superior. The boy, now a grown Cryptozooligist, goes to the Lake to take out the monster.
Another syfy original! This ones not terrible though, unless the couple of minutes I missed at the start were really bad. It’s also far from great.
There’s a possibility that the watchability of these drek films is down to the number of recognisable sci fi actors that are in it. This one has a whopping 4! At the start you have Doctor Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis as the father who is munched. A guy who runs the bait shop at Lake Superior is that cool scientist dude that’s in Eureka sometimes. His uncle is the Doc from Battlestar Galactica. And finally, one of the two cops is General Hammond himself Don S Davis. Thankfully it wasn’t his last film though because that would be a bit depressing.
A quick look on IMDB there tells me that the main guy, Brian Krause, was in Charmed. I stopped watching after the first couple of seasons so maybe he joined after that. Or I just don’t remember him. So 5!
I have a bit of an issue with the basic premise. I live maybe 40 miles from Loch Ness. Nessie doesn’t eat people. I’ve never heard of Nessie eating someone. Nessie is nice. For a plesiosaur. I’ve also never heard of her going on holiday in Canada. It would be a pretty massive swim for one thing. They are a bit smart with the fact that they used the underwater tunnel to the sea theory though.
The acting isn’t amazing, but its not terrible either. This film really falls down on the special effects front though. There’s a combination of practicle “sock puppet” little Nessie (she has babies) heads and CGI monsters. The big problem is that the two are different colours, the CGI being grey and the puppets being quite red. So the cuts between the two are far from convincing. Also something went wrong with the creature design as she doesn’t look right. The back legs are all weird.
Also, Plesiosaurs have big flippers. The monster here has feet. That’s not a plesiosaur then.
It’s somewhat standard slasher fair to start with, then standard monster movie after that. Nothing amazing, some truly weird weapon effects and generally sciency stuff that’s sometimes right sometimes really strange.
From what I’ve seen so far, if someone held a gun to your head and said you HAD to watch a SyFy Original you could do worse than this. But I wouldn’t hunt it out either unless your some kind of B Movie completist. On the plus side I’ve heard that Evil Beneath Loch Ness is MUCH worse. I’ll be watching that sometime soon btw.
OH and using Lake Superior as Loch Ness and then just using it again for the rest of the movie? Lazy and fuck. It’s not the worst double, but it’s too bloody small.
Next up: Snow Day
Another syfy original! This ones not terrible though, unless the couple of minutes I missed at the start were really bad. It’s also far from great.
There’s a possibility that the watchability of these drek films is down to the number of recognisable sci fi actors that are in it. This one has a whopping 4! At the start you have Doctor Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis as the father who is munched. A guy who runs the bait shop at Lake Superior is that cool scientist dude that’s in Eureka sometimes. His uncle is the Doc from Battlestar Galactica. And finally, one of the two cops is General Hammond himself Don S Davis. Thankfully it wasn’t his last film though because that would be a bit depressing.
A quick look on IMDB there tells me that the main guy, Brian Krause, was in Charmed. I stopped watching after the first couple of seasons so maybe he joined after that. Or I just don’t remember him. So 5!
I have a bit of an issue with the basic premise. I live maybe 40 miles from Loch Ness. Nessie doesn’t eat people. I’ve never heard of Nessie eating someone. Nessie is nice. For a plesiosaur. I’ve also never heard of her going on holiday in Canada. It would be a pretty massive swim for one thing. They are a bit smart with the fact that they used the underwater tunnel to the sea theory though.
The acting isn’t amazing, but its not terrible either. This film really falls down on the special effects front though. There’s a combination of practicle “sock puppet” little Nessie (she has babies) heads and CGI monsters. The big problem is that the two are different colours, the CGI being grey and the puppets being quite red. So the cuts between the two are far from convincing. Also something went wrong with the creature design as she doesn’t look right. The back legs are all weird.
Also, Plesiosaurs have big flippers. The monster here has feet. That’s not a plesiosaur then.
It’s somewhat standard slasher fair to start with, then standard monster movie after that. Nothing amazing, some truly weird weapon effects and generally sciency stuff that’s sometimes right sometimes really strange.
From what I’ve seen so far, if someone held a gun to your head and said you HAD to watch a SyFy Original you could do worse than this. But I wouldn’t hunt it out either unless your some kind of B Movie completist. On the plus side I’ve heard that Evil Beneath Loch Ness is MUCH worse. I’ll be watching that sometime soon btw.
OH and using Lake Superior as Loch Ness and then just using it again for the rest of the movie? Lazy and fuck. It’s not the worst double, but it’s too bloody small.
Next up: Snow Day
Sunday 23 May 2010
Movie 143: Rambo II
Aka First Blood Part 2. Technically that’s the other way around
After the events of the first film, John Rambo (Sly Stallone) is in prison. His old commander offers him a way out by performing a simple recon mission in Vietnam to see if there are still POWs in an old camp. When Rambo gets there he finds some, but is double crossed as he wasn’t meant too. Which makes him angry, and you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
The first Rambo movie isn’t really an action movie. Yes it has action, but Rambo never actually kills anyway. That last line in the synopsis is pretty accurate for that film. He has PTSD and when they poke the bear he loses his shit, but only to the point of wanting to be left alone. THIS is a big dumb 80’s action movie.
Actually dumb isn’t fair, its relatively smart at times with Rambo using actual tactics to kill people and not just standing there with a mini gun mowing guys down and yelling one liners.
Though he does stand there with a mini gun a few times, he just doesn’t do the one liners.
As a big dumb 80’s action movie, this is by far one of the better ones. It has a couple of weaknesses though. All the “we want to be appreciated” stuff that Rambo spews is very heavy handed and I would think offensive to actual vets seeing as Stallone never went near nam during the war and isn’t a vet himself. That and the fact that his sort of love interest and local contact speaks in broken English but with a very good accent. They should have just given her normal bloody dialogue instead of doing that.
The dialogue issues aside, I enjoyed the hell out of this. Rambo blowing up a shit load of Viet Con and Ruskies? Brilliant. It was a simpler time when we knew who our enemies were. And the double crossing from his own side was pretty ballsy back then.
Btw if you know anything about 80’s films and don’t see the double cross coming your not paying attention. The helicopter pilot is the Sensei from Cobra Kai for fuck sake!
If you like big dumb action movies you’ll love this. Of course you’ll have already seen it and know that by now, it’s pretty old
Next up: Loch Ness Terror
After the events of the first film, John Rambo (Sly Stallone) is in prison. His old commander offers him a way out by performing a simple recon mission in Vietnam to see if there are still POWs in an old camp. When Rambo gets there he finds some, but is double crossed as he wasn’t meant too. Which makes him angry, and you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
The first Rambo movie isn’t really an action movie. Yes it has action, but Rambo never actually kills anyway. That last line in the synopsis is pretty accurate for that film. He has PTSD and when they poke the bear he loses his shit, but only to the point of wanting to be left alone. THIS is a big dumb 80’s action movie.
Actually dumb isn’t fair, its relatively smart at times with Rambo using actual tactics to kill people and not just standing there with a mini gun mowing guys down and yelling one liners.
Though he does stand there with a mini gun a few times, he just doesn’t do the one liners.
As a big dumb 80’s action movie, this is by far one of the better ones. It has a couple of weaknesses though. All the “we want to be appreciated” stuff that Rambo spews is very heavy handed and I would think offensive to actual vets seeing as Stallone never went near nam during the war and isn’t a vet himself. That and the fact that his sort of love interest and local contact speaks in broken English but with a very good accent. They should have just given her normal bloody dialogue instead of doing that.
The dialogue issues aside, I enjoyed the hell out of this. Rambo blowing up a shit load of Viet Con and Ruskies? Brilliant. It was a simpler time when we knew who our enemies were. And the double crossing from his own side was pretty ballsy back then.
Btw if you know anything about 80’s films and don’t see the double cross coming your not paying attention. The helicopter pilot is the Sensei from Cobra Kai for fuck sake!
If you like big dumb action movies you’ll love this. Of course you’ll have already seen it and know that by now, it’s pretty old
Next up: Loch Ness Terror
Movie 142: Yojimbo
Aka The Bodyguard
Yes this was remade, but thankfully it’s not that Witney Huston thing. I’ll get to that in a minute.
A ronin (Toshiro Mifune) randomly wanders in to a town that is being dominated by two gambling houses. He decides to pit the two gang lords against each other in hopes they will wipe each other out and free the town.
And it was remade as “A Fist Full of Dollars”. I didn’t give Mifune’s character a name in the description as he doesn’t really have one. Of all the Kurosawa movies I’ve seen so far this is the most Eastern, that being the name given to his films that are like Westerns, and its also probably the most dull. It’s still good though, just a little draggy.
There are a lot of mind games in this, which leads to not much happening a lot of the time. The film has two saving graces. Mifune, as always, and the fact that there is a fair bit of comedy in it. Genuinely funny comedy.
Mifune here is very much a Japanese Clint Eastwood, fitting considering the remake and there’s a fair chance that that’s why Eastwood was cast in the first place. He’s very much the tough guy as usual, but more vulnerable at times than he normally is too.
There’s also a guy in this who’s like the Japanese answer to Jaws, the Bond villain not the shark. Eerily so.
The main comedy probably comes from Inokichi, a fat guy with a mono brow who’s comical to look at in the first place. Which I feel a little bad for saying as its not that guys fault that he looks goofy, but there’s a history of that kind of thing in movies.
The main rival, Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai) is one of the films weaknesses in my opinion. He struts about like a big man, but he’s only big because he has a pistol. It’s the only gun in the film. I think its mainly down to me being prejudiced about the fact that guns are brought to sword fights sometimes that makes me feel this way though. The character fits for what he is, but he’s also treated with a bit too much respect in the movie over all.
It’s good, a little slow sometimes but not overly long so its not too bad. Worth a look, but I’d recommend the other Kurosawa movies I’ve seen this year first. Maybe not “I Live In Fear”.
Next up: Rambo II
Yes this was remade, but thankfully it’s not that Witney Huston thing. I’ll get to that in a minute.
A ronin (Toshiro Mifune) randomly wanders in to a town that is being dominated by two gambling houses. He decides to pit the two gang lords against each other in hopes they will wipe each other out and free the town.
And it was remade as “A Fist Full of Dollars”. I didn’t give Mifune’s character a name in the description as he doesn’t really have one. Of all the Kurosawa movies I’ve seen so far this is the most Eastern, that being the name given to his films that are like Westerns, and its also probably the most dull. It’s still good though, just a little draggy.
There are a lot of mind games in this, which leads to not much happening a lot of the time. The film has two saving graces. Mifune, as always, and the fact that there is a fair bit of comedy in it. Genuinely funny comedy.
Mifune here is very much a Japanese Clint Eastwood, fitting considering the remake and there’s a fair chance that that’s why Eastwood was cast in the first place. He’s very much the tough guy as usual, but more vulnerable at times than he normally is too.
There’s also a guy in this who’s like the Japanese answer to Jaws, the Bond villain not the shark. Eerily so.
The main comedy probably comes from Inokichi, a fat guy with a mono brow who’s comical to look at in the first place. Which I feel a little bad for saying as its not that guys fault that he looks goofy, but there’s a history of that kind of thing in movies.
The main rival, Unosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai) is one of the films weaknesses in my opinion. He struts about like a big man, but he’s only big because he has a pistol. It’s the only gun in the film. I think its mainly down to me being prejudiced about the fact that guns are brought to sword fights sometimes that makes me feel this way though. The character fits for what he is, but he’s also treated with a bit too much respect in the movie over all.
It’s good, a little slow sometimes but not overly long so its not too bad. Worth a look, but I’d recommend the other Kurosawa movies I’ve seen this year first. Maybe not “I Live In Fear”.
Next up: Rambo II
Friday 21 May 2010
Movie 141: The Untouchables
Chicago 1930, and prohibition is in full effect. The town is more or less run by mobster Al Capone (Robert De Niro) and the Department of the Treasury send Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) in to bring him down. Efforts so far have been fruitless, but after a chance meeting with beat cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery) Ness learns to do things “the Chicago way” and forms a small team that can’t be bought
Highly fictionalised, but entertaining and close enough to the truth. A film about trying to get a guy for tax evasion shouldn’t be all that interesting. But hey, there’s gun fights so its fine.
This is an oldie so no doubt many of you have seen it. And its been highly parodied. It does have a pretty star studded cast, or did for the time as Costner’s star has fallen pretty damned far in the intervening years. Back then he was relatively big though, possibly only on the rise, and he wasn’t first choice from what IMDB says.
And that’s understandable. If there’s a weak link in the main cast then I guess its Costner. He does a good job as the straight laced Ness but he can be a little on the dull understated side at times and a few of the other names that were bandied about might have improved the film a little but it doesn’t need much improving.
De Niro doesn’t parody Capone here which is good. He’s a bit too skinny, not enough time to fatten up, but thankfully he sticks with his own voice. It might just be in my head but I have a feeling that Capone has a bit of a distinctive voice. It works better without De Niro trying to do it as it would have come across more as parody than straight acting which wouldn’t have fit. We all know how good Bobby is at playing gangsters, and his range. Good job here.
Its also a nice performance by Andy Garcia as the rookie cop member of the team, an Italian from the south side with an attitude. I’m not a huge Garcia fan in general but he’s great here. As is Charles Martin Smith as the accountant who comes up with the tax evasion angle.
But of course the stand out is King Sean of Scotland. I think he might actually be doing a bit of an Irish accent when he’s first on screen, but that doesn’t last all that long. Connery is the only actor who can get away with being Irish, Russian or an immortal Egyptian by way of Spain and talk with his normal voice. He’s a bit of a Yoda like cop here who’s not afraid of getting his hand dirty. And a bit of an indestructible tough old bastard. I couldn’t picture anyone else playing this character as well as he does.
So it’s a good one and if you haven’t seen it you probably should
Next up: Yojimbo
Highly fictionalised, but entertaining and close enough to the truth. A film about trying to get a guy for tax evasion shouldn’t be all that interesting. But hey, there’s gun fights so its fine.
This is an oldie so no doubt many of you have seen it. And its been highly parodied. It does have a pretty star studded cast, or did for the time as Costner’s star has fallen pretty damned far in the intervening years. Back then he was relatively big though, possibly only on the rise, and he wasn’t first choice from what IMDB says.
And that’s understandable. If there’s a weak link in the main cast then I guess its Costner. He does a good job as the straight laced Ness but he can be a little on the dull understated side at times and a few of the other names that were bandied about might have improved the film a little but it doesn’t need much improving.
De Niro doesn’t parody Capone here which is good. He’s a bit too skinny, not enough time to fatten up, but thankfully he sticks with his own voice. It might just be in my head but I have a feeling that Capone has a bit of a distinctive voice. It works better without De Niro trying to do it as it would have come across more as parody than straight acting which wouldn’t have fit. We all know how good Bobby is at playing gangsters, and his range. Good job here.
Its also a nice performance by Andy Garcia as the rookie cop member of the team, an Italian from the south side with an attitude. I’m not a huge Garcia fan in general but he’s great here. As is Charles Martin Smith as the accountant who comes up with the tax evasion angle.
But of course the stand out is King Sean of Scotland. I think he might actually be doing a bit of an Irish accent when he’s first on screen, but that doesn’t last all that long. Connery is the only actor who can get away with being Irish, Russian or an immortal Egyptian by way of Spain and talk with his normal voice. He’s a bit of a Yoda like cop here who’s not afraid of getting his hand dirty. And a bit of an indestructible tough old bastard. I couldn’t picture anyone else playing this character as well as he does.
So it’s a good one and if you haven’t seen it you probably should
Next up: Yojimbo
Thursday 20 May 2010
Movie 140: Cleaner
Ex cop turned crime scene cleaner Tom Cutler (Samuel L Jackson) thinks he’s just going to another homicide clean up. But it turns out that he’s unwittingly scrubbed a scene before any crime has been discovered. With the help of his old partner Eddie (Ed Harris) he tries to get to the bottom of who set him up.
Crime thrillers are ridiculously common. There’s a million shows on TV right now, and each one of them runs for years. So it takes a lot to make one stand out without the advantage of characters that you’ve gotten to know week after week.
This one isn’t exactly anything remarkable, but it does bring something new to the table.
First off there’s the fact that Sam Jackson’s character does a job we don’t normally see anywhere. After the CSI boys have done there thing someone has to get rid of the mess, and personally I wouldn’t like to do it. So we have a fleshing out of an aspect of life that no one really things about. Its not glamorous, but it’s a nice change.
The ending of the film, which I won’t spoil, is rather predictable if you pay attention but it also has a bit of a spin on things. I’m sure its been done before, but once again it’s a bit refreshing.
And finally there’s a couple of great performances by Jackson doing his thing, and Ed Harris doing his. The two of them are on form here so its good to watch.
The acting side is let down a little by Luis Guzman who has a bit of that stroke voice problem that I had with Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind. He’s just a little hard to make out sometimes, and isn’t really anything remarkable. Eva Mendes isn’t quite a let down in this, she has her moments, but I’ve yet to think she’s much more that a pouty face in anything I’ve seen her in. This does show some promise for her though.
It’s a good thriller and if you like them you’ll like this. If it was a cop show this wouldn’t quite be a sweeps episode, well it might be but that’s more due to the characters and their interaction, but it would be one of the good ones. If you see it coming up on the telly it’s a decent enough watch.
Next up: The Untouchables
Crime thrillers are ridiculously common. There’s a million shows on TV right now, and each one of them runs for years. So it takes a lot to make one stand out without the advantage of characters that you’ve gotten to know week after week.
This one isn’t exactly anything remarkable, but it does bring something new to the table.
First off there’s the fact that Sam Jackson’s character does a job we don’t normally see anywhere. After the CSI boys have done there thing someone has to get rid of the mess, and personally I wouldn’t like to do it. So we have a fleshing out of an aspect of life that no one really things about. Its not glamorous, but it’s a nice change.
The ending of the film, which I won’t spoil, is rather predictable if you pay attention but it also has a bit of a spin on things. I’m sure its been done before, but once again it’s a bit refreshing.
And finally there’s a couple of great performances by Jackson doing his thing, and Ed Harris doing his. The two of them are on form here so its good to watch.
The acting side is let down a little by Luis Guzman who has a bit of that stroke voice problem that I had with Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind. He’s just a little hard to make out sometimes, and isn’t really anything remarkable. Eva Mendes isn’t quite a let down in this, she has her moments, but I’ve yet to think she’s much more that a pouty face in anything I’ve seen her in. This does show some promise for her though.
It’s a good thriller and if you like them you’ll like this. If it was a cop show this wouldn’t quite be a sweeps episode, well it might be but that’s more due to the characters and their interaction, but it would be one of the good ones. If you see it coming up on the telly it’s a decent enough watch.
Next up: The Untouchables
Wednesday 19 May 2010
Movie 139: Lesbian Vampire Killers
Are they Lesbian’s who kill Vampires, or is it Lesbian Vampires being killed? The latter.
After being chucked by his girlfriend for the umpteenth time, Jimmy (Matthew Horne) and his best mate Fletch (James Corden) set off to a random country village for a bit of hiking. Unfortunately for them fate is playing its hand, as Jimmy is fulfilling an ancient prophesy that he can end the curse effecting the village. Every girl turns in to a lesbian vampire on her 18th birthday.
There’s a big problem when a fantastic film is very successful. A bunch of similar style movies come out and most of them are shit. Shaun of the Dead was the fantastic film, this one is shit.
The problem is mainly that it appears to have been written by a 14 year old. The humour is on the level of a bad Viz comic and rarely hits anywhere near funny. The acting is sub par for the most part and its MASSIVELY over stylised. Random flick shots are the order of the day, with some cartoon sound effects at times. It’s not funny, and its not clever.
And even going to the base level of the movie it disappoints as there’s not all that much hot lesbian action. There is some boobs, and girls kissing each other. That’s it. If you making a film like this you have to go all out and full seventies shlock horror or you’ll get no where. They didn’t go far enough, probably as it was too high profile.
If you’re a hormonal teenage boy, or lesbian girl I suppose, you might find something here. If you still like Viz even though its not funny anymore, you might find something here. Otherwise just watch Shaun of the Dead.
OR the superior Zombie Strippers. Another retarded premise, but its in part sexier and way better written and acted. That was a pleasant surprise, this is neither.
Next up: Cleaner
After being chucked by his girlfriend for the umpteenth time, Jimmy (Matthew Horne) and his best mate Fletch (James Corden) set off to a random country village for a bit of hiking. Unfortunately for them fate is playing its hand, as Jimmy is fulfilling an ancient prophesy that he can end the curse effecting the village. Every girl turns in to a lesbian vampire on her 18th birthday.
There’s a big problem when a fantastic film is very successful. A bunch of similar style movies come out and most of them are shit. Shaun of the Dead was the fantastic film, this one is shit.
The problem is mainly that it appears to have been written by a 14 year old. The humour is on the level of a bad Viz comic and rarely hits anywhere near funny. The acting is sub par for the most part and its MASSIVELY over stylised. Random flick shots are the order of the day, with some cartoon sound effects at times. It’s not funny, and its not clever.
And even going to the base level of the movie it disappoints as there’s not all that much hot lesbian action. There is some boobs, and girls kissing each other. That’s it. If you making a film like this you have to go all out and full seventies shlock horror or you’ll get no where. They didn’t go far enough, probably as it was too high profile.
If you’re a hormonal teenage boy, or lesbian girl I suppose, you might find something here. If you still like Viz even though its not funny anymore, you might find something here. Otherwise just watch Shaun of the Dead.
OR the superior Zombie Strippers. Another retarded premise, but its in part sexier and way better written and acted. That was a pleasant surprise, this is neither.
Next up: Cleaner
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Movie 138: Horton Hears a Who
Horton the elephant (Jim Carrey) is a free spirit, which gets under the noise of the Kangaroo that rules the forest. Just go with it. One day while Horton is taking a bath he hears a voice come from a small speck floating by. He discovers when he finally talks to the mayor (Steve Carell) that the Who’s live on that speck, and sets out to find them a safe place to live while the kangaroo tries to destroy the speck. Because if you can’t see, hear or touch something it doesn’t exist.
So this film is about belief, imagination and to let kids know that they’re important even though they are little. All good stuff. And by belief I don’t particularly mean religion, and I’m not sure if Seuss did or didn’t.
I’m not sure if I read any Dr Seuss as a kid but I’ve seen a couple of the films now and I like them. Not a huge fan of the ridiculous words but this is light on that, and the rhyming. I don’t think anyone could take an hour and a half or rhyming.
The animation is beautiful and done in the style of the Seuss books for the most part. For big fans there lots of things in the background that you can spot and get excited about. And for the rest of us it just looks great.
There’s also a lot of goofy humour in here as well as flat out stupid jokes. Jim Carrey obviously hams it up at times, even in an animation, but its good Carrey hamming opposed to the over egged stuff he can do some times. Steve Carell may have ad libbed now and again too, but he’s great as the mayor. And all the other voice actors are good too.
By the way, if your wondering how you can ad lib in an animation they record the voices first….
This made plenty of money so hopefully there will be more Seuss animations on the way someday. They’ve already made plenty of models after all. This one is fun for all the family, will have the kids rolling about with laughter and keep the grown ups entertained. Go check it out.
Next up: Lesbian Vampire Killers. So not one for the kids then.
So this film is about belief, imagination and to let kids know that they’re important even though they are little. All good stuff. And by belief I don’t particularly mean religion, and I’m not sure if Seuss did or didn’t.
I’m not sure if I read any Dr Seuss as a kid but I’ve seen a couple of the films now and I like them. Not a huge fan of the ridiculous words but this is light on that, and the rhyming. I don’t think anyone could take an hour and a half or rhyming.
The animation is beautiful and done in the style of the Seuss books for the most part. For big fans there lots of things in the background that you can spot and get excited about. And for the rest of us it just looks great.
There’s also a lot of goofy humour in here as well as flat out stupid jokes. Jim Carrey obviously hams it up at times, even in an animation, but its good Carrey hamming opposed to the over egged stuff he can do some times. Steve Carell may have ad libbed now and again too, but he’s great as the mayor. And all the other voice actors are good too.
By the way, if your wondering how you can ad lib in an animation they record the voices first….
This made plenty of money so hopefully there will be more Seuss animations on the way someday. They’ve already made plenty of models after all. This one is fun for all the family, will have the kids rolling about with laughter and keep the grown ups entertained. Go check it out.
Next up: Lesbian Vampire Killers. So not one for the kids then.
Monday 17 May 2010
Movie 137: Be Kind Rewind
When he becomes magnetised trying to destroy a power plant, Jerry (Jack Black) accidentally wipes every tape in Mr Fletcher’s (Danny Glover) store. Mr Fletcher is away, so Jerry and Mike (Mos Def) hit upon the idea of remaking the movies themselves to get out of trouble. These “Sweded” movies are a massive hit, so they keep making more
I don’t know exactly what it is, but this film is lacking in something. Its good, its funny (particularly the sweding) and its for the most part well acted. The one weak link in the acting is Mos Def who sounds likes he’s had a stroke or something most of the time, but even that doesn’t really ruin the movie.
Guess its some jena se qua.
So its not brilliant, but its is decent and worth watching. Though the ending is fairly ambiguous.
I’ve already commented on whats up with Mos Def. It seems to be a character choice as he doesn’t always talk in a mumbly style, but maybe he just needs to put in a lot of effort to enunciate.
Jack Black is perfect for this kind of movie. He gets to be flamboyant and daft and hits whenever he is on screen. He’s the defacto star of the sweded movies, and with good reason.
And Danny Glover shines well too as the old guy who owns the store and struggles to keep up with the times.
I’d give this a look, but like I said its missing something. And you could always just have a look on You Tube for the various sweded movies that people made around the time of release as some of them could be good.
Next up: Horton Hears A Who
I don’t know exactly what it is, but this film is lacking in something. Its good, its funny (particularly the sweding) and its for the most part well acted. The one weak link in the acting is Mos Def who sounds likes he’s had a stroke or something most of the time, but even that doesn’t really ruin the movie.
Guess its some jena se qua.
So its not brilliant, but its is decent and worth watching. Though the ending is fairly ambiguous.
I’ve already commented on whats up with Mos Def. It seems to be a character choice as he doesn’t always talk in a mumbly style, but maybe he just needs to put in a lot of effort to enunciate.
Jack Black is perfect for this kind of movie. He gets to be flamboyant and daft and hits whenever he is on screen. He’s the defacto star of the sweded movies, and with good reason.
And Danny Glover shines well too as the old guy who owns the store and struggles to keep up with the times.
I’d give this a look, but like I said its missing something. And you could always just have a look on You Tube for the various sweded movies that people made around the time of release as some of them could be good.
Next up: Horton Hears A Who
Sunday 16 May 2010
Movie 136: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Set between episodes 2 and 3, the Galactic Civil War is raging on. To secure routes in the Outer Rim the Jedi need a treaty with Jabba the Hutt. Jabba’s son has been kidnapped, so Obi Wan, Anakin and his new Padawan Ahsoka set out to rescue the baby Hutt while the Seperatists try to stop them.
If you don’t know your Star Wars that’s a big load of bollocks I just typed there. I do know my Star Wars though. I used to be one of the worlds biggest Star Wars nerds. Not so much anymore, but the knowledge stays with you. And I really like the expanded universe stuff. A lot of it is really well written, better than Lucas churned out anyway.
I’ve actually watched quite a lot of the TV cartoon that this movie sets up and personally I think its really good. It’s well written for the most part and surprisingly grown up. I’d avoided the movie as I’d heard its ass.
It’s not.
Well not if you like the cartoon. There are issues with it. I don’t like that Ahsoka calls R2 “Artooey”. Artoo is a knickname already dammit. And Zero the Hutt is annoying as hell. I don’t like the Hutt version of Truman Capote.
This isn’t quite up there with the best episodes of the show, but its up there with the second best ones. The little Hutt is kind of cute and you don’t have a thousand fart gags like I dreaded going in. The action is very very well done, there’s great lightsaber battles and the dialogue isn’t too clunky.
The safest thing to do if you’re a Star Wars fan who’s not too hot on the idea would be to check out one of the cartoon episodes as this is basically like mainlining 4 or 5 of them. Avoid the ones with Jar Jar in though, there’s not many. If you like that, you’ll like this.
I do recommend it, but probably only for fans of a galaxy far, far away. Who aren’t “Original Trilogy and nothing else” purists.
Next up: Be Kind Rewind
If you don’t know your Star Wars that’s a big load of bollocks I just typed there. I do know my Star Wars though. I used to be one of the worlds biggest Star Wars nerds. Not so much anymore, but the knowledge stays with you. And I really like the expanded universe stuff. A lot of it is really well written, better than Lucas churned out anyway.
I’ve actually watched quite a lot of the TV cartoon that this movie sets up and personally I think its really good. It’s well written for the most part and surprisingly grown up. I’d avoided the movie as I’d heard its ass.
It’s not.
Well not if you like the cartoon. There are issues with it. I don’t like that Ahsoka calls R2 “Artooey”. Artoo is a knickname already dammit. And Zero the Hutt is annoying as hell. I don’t like the Hutt version of Truman Capote.
This isn’t quite up there with the best episodes of the show, but its up there with the second best ones. The little Hutt is kind of cute and you don’t have a thousand fart gags like I dreaded going in. The action is very very well done, there’s great lightsaber battles and the dialogue isn’t too clunky.
The safest thing to do if you’re a Star Wars fan who’s not too hot on the idea would be to check out one of the cartoon episodes as this is basically like mainlining 4 or 5 of them. Avoid the ones with Jar Jar in though, there’s not many. If you like that, you’ll like this.
I do recommend it, but probably only for fans of a galaxy far, far away. Who aren’t “Original Trilogy and nothing else” purists.
Next up: Be Kind Rewind
Saturday 15 May 2010
Movie 135: Race To Witch Mountain
An UFO crashes and the government races to get there, but whoever was inside appears to have escaped. Meanwhile mob driver turned legit taxi driver Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) finds himself stuck with a couple of mysterious kids with a wad of bills in the back of his cab. Turns out the kids are the aliens and the Rock is in a world of shit.
Got bored synopsising
Right, so this is a remake of an older Disney movie that I have never seen. Not sure why, never really got around to it. And for years I didn’t know it was about aliens. I mean really, WITCH mountain?! There’s not a million other mountain names they could have used? Marketing must have had a hell of a time trying to sort that one out.
Dodgy mountain names aside this isn’t too bad a family adventure movie. But its not great either. I’m not sure why, there’s nothing wrong with it really. The kids are nice enough and they don’t overdo the fact that they are aliens. The plot motivations make enough sense. And I happen to think The Rock is a decent actor. He has a few flubs here and there with this, but pretty much everyone has a little stumble. It’s hardly Shakespeare.
The government types aren’t completely bumbling, but they aren’t as awesome as they should be. And while this does revolve around an UFO convention in Vegas I’m not offended in the least by the fact that most of the people focused on are weirdos. It’s an UFO convention, not a sci fi con. Most of those people ARE weirdos.
Spell checker is telling me its weirdoes. Don’t think so. Feels weird typing AN UFO as well but its correct!
Anywho, you could do worse with the older kids than watch this on a rainy afternoon. Its not going to win any awards for best family movie ever but its not really a stinker either.
Oh and our Puffy Faced Hero from Infestation is in this as one of the government guys. It wasn’t just that film, the guys a bit shit.
Next up: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Got bored synopsising
Right, so this is a remake of an older Disney movie that I have never seen. Not sure why, never really got around to it. And for years I didn’t know it was about aliens. I mean really, WITCH mountain?! There’s not a million other mountain names they could have used? Marketing must have had a hell of a time trying to sort that one out.
Dodgy mountain names aside this isn’t too bad a family adventure movie. But its not great either. I’m not sure why, there’s nothing wrong with it really. The kids are nice enough and they don’t overdo the fact that they are aliens. The plot motivations make enough sense. And I happen to think The Rock is a decent actor. He has a few flubs here and there with this, but pretty much everyone has a little stumble. It’s hardly Shakespeare.
The government types aren’t completely bumbling, but they aren’t as awesome as they should be. And while this does revolve around an UFO convention in Vegas I’m not offended in the least by the fact that most of the people focused on are weirdos. It’s an UFO convention, not a sci fi con. Most of those people ARE weirdos.
Spell checker is telling me its weirdoes. Don’t think so. Feels weird typing AN UFO as well but its correct!
Anywho, you could do worse with the older kids than watch this on a rainy afternoon. Its not going to win any awards for best family movie ever but its not really a stinker either.
Oh and our Puffy Faced Hero from Infestation is in this as one of the government guys. It wasn’t just that film, the guys a bit shit.
Next up: Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Movie 134: Franklyn
Nicking the IMDB synopsis:
Preest is a masked vigilante detective, searching for his nemesis on the streets of Meanwhile City, a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervor. Esser is a broken man, searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London's homeless. Milo is a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to the purity of first love. Emilia is a beautiful art student; her suicidal art projects are becoming increasingly more complex and deadly.
That’s more or less right. Lets take apart the 4 stories individually. Over all this film is pretty crap, the way it all comes together is part clever part blatant coincidence so its easier to treat these as disparate movies though I’ll try and avoid spoilers.
The Meanwhile City story fails because its trying to be clever with the religious satire, but never quite gets there. Preest seems to be an attempt at doing a hero in the style of The Shadow. But we never quite get why he’s meant to be so awesome. It’s like the second film in a franchise, without the set up. This does make sense in the end, but takes quite a while to get there. It looks very weird and it’s a detailed looking city, but never connects with the real world (well does eventually). As this was largely billed as being a joined story between the two worlds that really sucks. The way its structured its like seeing The Matrix and The Real intertwined with no explanation, incomprehensible bollocks.
Esser’s story is pretty decent, but no where near as harsh as the description makes it sound. Remember that its roughly 20 minutes tops of actual film time. Basically we have an old man popping in to some places trying to find his son with a picture. We know his son is in prison or a nut house and is getting a day release. That’s it. Not all that compelling, not terrible in its own right.
Milo’s story would be the most interesting on its own in a short film. He’s just been left at the alter and is trying to come to terms with that. He spots a girl from his youth, or thinks he does, and looks her up. Then there’s a big twist that’s actually pretty decent. However the story in itself, outside of coincidence, doesn’t connect up with the others in any major way.
And finally Emilia. She’s not bad looking, but that’s irrelevant. You know the 99% of people on Deviant art who write bad poetry about cutting and take “meaningful” pictures? That’s Emilia. She’s a bit of a pain, they give her a bit of an explanatory scene but its too little too late. Her section is all whiney emo bollocks and bad art. Barely watchable, not at all sympathetic.
And that’s all I can say without ruining the film. This isn’t really a fantasy film at all, though it has fantasy elements. It’s also not that well constructed, something seemed off about the sound at times with disembodied seeming voices, and its not as clever as its thinks. I’d give it a miss.
Next up: Race To Witch Mountain
Preest is a masked vigilante detective, searching for his nemesis on the streets of Meanwhile City, a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervor. Esser is a broken man, searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London's homeless. Milo is a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to the purity of first love. Emilia is a beautiful art student; her suicidal art projects are becoming increasingly more complex and deadly.
That’s more or less right. Lets take apart the 4 stories individually. Over all this film is pretty crap, the way it all comes together is part clever part blatant coincidence so its easier to treat these as disparate movies though I’ll try and avoid spoilers.
The Meanwhile City story fails because its trying to be clever with the religious satire, but never quite gets there. Preest seems to be an attempt at doing a hero in the style of The Shadow. But we never quite get why he’s meant to be so awesome. It’s like the second film in a franchise, without the set up. This does make sense in the end, but takes quite a while to get there. It looks very weird and it’s a detailed looking city, but never connects with the real world (well does eventually). As this was largely billed as being a joined story between the two worlds that really sucks. The way its structured its like seeing The Matrix and The Real intertwined with no explanation, incomprehensible bollocks.
Esser’s story is pretty decent, but no where near as harsh as the description makes it sound. Remember that its roughly 20 minutes tops of actual film time. Basically we have an old man popping in to some places trying to find his son with a picture. We know his son is in prison or a nut house and is getting a day release. That’s it. Not all that compelling, not terrible in its own right.
Milo’s story would be the most interesting on its own in a short film. He’s just been left at the alter and is trying to come to terms with that. He spots a girl from his youth, or thinks he does, and looks her up. Then there’s a big twist that’s actually pretty decent. However the story in itself, outside of coincidence, doesn’t connect up with the others in any major way.
And finally Emilia. She’s not bad looking, but that’s irrelevant. You know the 99% of people on Deviant art who write bad poetry about cutting and take “meaningful” pictures? That’s Emilia. She’s a bit of a pain, they give her a bit of an explanatory scene but its too little too late. Her section is all whiney emo bollocks and bad art. Barely watchable, not at all sympathetic.
And that’s all I can say without ruining the film. This isn’t really a fantasy film at all, though it has fantasy elements. It’s also not that well constructed, something seemed off about the sound at times with disembodied seeming voices, and its not as clever as its thinks. I’d give it a miss.
Next up: Race To Witch Mountain
Thursday 13 May 2010
Movie 133: Best Seller
Dennis Meechum (Brian Dennehy) is a cop and thriller writer, writing books based on real life cases. Since his wife died of cancer he has suffered from writers block. Along comes Cleve (James Woods), a man who claims he was a hired killer for a corporation. Meechum doesn’t believe him, so Cleve sets out to prove it while the company tries to kill them both.
This is a rather generic 80’s cop thriller, but its actually rather good. Brian Dennehy is generally a likeable guy, and he comes across very well in this movie. He doesn’t have a huge amount to do as its really a James Woods show.
If you know James Woods from Family Guy, I don’t mean ONLY from Family Guy but the character he plays on there, he’s pretty much on show here. His killer is psychotic, insecure and lonely. It’s a great performance from Woods, pretty creepy and unlikeable at times, semi charming and quite decent at others. He runs a bit of a gamut here and lands every moment he has to.
This actually had a bit of a weird moment for me towards the start too. Remember the TV show Renegade? I really liked Renegade. And Bobby Sixkiller was pretty awesome. He’s in this towards the start. First time I remember seeing him somewhere else.
Anyway, this is far from a dark “Murder She Wrote” and more of a “He’s a cop, he’s a killer” buddy cop movie. Though dark rather than funny. If you’re a fan of James Woods, or you want to see why he’s regarded as a good actor, then this wouldn’t be the worst thing to check out. At this point it is a TV watch though.
Next up: Franklyn
This is a rather generic 80’s cop thriller, but its actually rather good. Brian Dennehy is generally a likeable guy, and he comes across very well in this movie. He doesn’t have a huge amount to do as its really a James Woods show.
If you know James Woods from Family Guy, I don’t mean ONLY from Family Guy but the character he plays on there, he’s pretty much on show here. His killer is psychotic, insecure and lonely. It’s a great performance from Woods, pretty creepy and unlikeable at times, semi charming and quite decent at others. He runs a bit of a gamut here and lands every moment he has to.
This actually had a bit of a weird moment for me towards the start too. Remember the TV show Renegade? I really liked Renegade. And Bobby Sixkiller was pretty awesome. He’s in this towards the start. First time I remember seeing him somewhere else.
Anyway, this is far from a dark “Murder She Wrote” and more of a “He’s a cop, he’s a killer” buddy cop movie. Though dark rather than funny. If you’re a fan of James Woods, or you want to see why he’s regarded as a good actor, then this wouldn’t be the worst thing to check out. At this point it is a TV watch though.
Next up: Franklyn
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Movie 132: Bachelor Party
Rick (Tom Hanks) is getting married in two weeks. So his friends decide to throw him a Bachelor Party. Simultaneously his future wife Debbie (Tawny Kitaen) is having her Hen night (fuck knows what yanks call that, Bachelorette I think. Not a word). Concerned that he will cheat on her a prank war starts between the two nights. And while this is going on, the douchebag that her parents want her to be with is try to screw Rick’s chances.
For a start, when did Bachelor Party, or Stag Night, mean hookers? Strippers yes, but hookers? First time I’ve heard that.
I was hoping for big things with this as I think it’s supposed to be one of those 80’s legendary comedies. It’s not. It’s a bit shit. The film starts about 40 minutes before the party, so the build up is far too long. Yes there is some crazy things happening at the party, but as it’s only a small part of the movie in the grand scheme of things they aren’t focused on properly. And the bad guy is one of the more incompetent ones for this genre.
Tom Hanks’ Rick is a bit of an arse at times. He’s supposed to be a likeable goofball, and he can be, but he’s not written correctly and is just plain obnoxious sometimes. He makes zero effort to get on with her family. Hanks is still very good, it’s Hanks ffs, but Rick is poorly written. As are his friends largely. I think he was supposed to be a Ferris Bueller type, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the charm.
There are moments, a fight in a cinema towards the end is great. And the friend who keeps trying to kill himself in very incompetent ways is funny, but outside of that there isn’t much on offer.
Next up: Best Seller
For a start, when did Bachelor Party, or Stag Night, mean hookers? Strippers yes, but hookers? First time I’ve heard that.
I was hoping for big things with this as I think it’s supposed to be one of those 80’s legendary comedies. It’s not. It’s a bit shit. The film starts about 40 minutes before the party, so the build up is far too long. Yes there is some crazy things happening at the party, but as it’s only a small part of the movie in the grand scheme of things they aren’t focused on properly. And the bad guy is one of the more incompetent ones for this genre.
Tom Hanks’ Rick is a bit of an arse at times. He’s supposed to be a likeable goofball, and he can be, but he’s not written correctly and is just plain obnoxious sometimes. He makes zero effort to get on with her family. Hanks is still very good, it’s Hanks ffs, but Rick is poorly written. As are his friends largely. I think he was supposed to be a Ferris Bueller type, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the charm.
There are moments, a fight in a cinema towards the end is great. And the friend who keeps trying to kill himself in very incompetent ways is funny, but outside of that there isn’t much on offer.
Next up: Best Seller
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Movie 131: The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
Bruno’s father is a Nazi officer, and when he gets a transfer to a new job Bruno has to leave his friends in Berlin behind. From his new window he can see a farm, and asks if he can go and play with the children there. He’s told no. But Bruno loves to explore, and he’s curious about why they all wear pyjamas
Yeah, you know what the farm is. I know what the farm is. Bruno doesn’t to start with.
This is a double threat movie really as its both heart warming and really heart breaking in equal measure. The friendship between a little Jewish boy and a little German boy who both don’t quite get how horrific everything is, though the Jew is obviously a bit more in touch with reality, is very touching.
Through the course of the movie we see both sides of the coin. The German’s who are opposed to what’s happening, and the ones who buy the “Jews are filth” propaganda. And we see it in action as Bruno’s big sister changes dramatically because of a crush on a soldier.
This isn’t exactly an easy watch at times, but its not as hard as I thought it might be. The characters are very well drawn, not really falling in to clichés too much, and the acting across the board is great. It’s also remarkably well balanced, though the only people who think what’s going on is wrong are women. Discounting Bruno as he doesn’t have a clue.
It’s a movie about friendship and the lies that parents tell to protect their children. It should also probably be shown to everyone in school.
Next up: Bachelor Party
Yeah, you know what the farm is. I know what the farm is. Bruno doesn’t to start with.
This is a double threat movie really as its both heart warming and really heart breaking in equal measure. The friendship between a little Jewish boy and a little German boy who both don’t quite get how horrific everything is, though the Jew is obviously a bit more in touch with reality, is very touching.
Through the course of the movie we see both sides of the coin. The German’s who are opposed to what’s happening, and the ones who buy the “Jews are filth” propaganda. And we see it in action as Bruno’s big sister changes dramatically because of a crush on a soldier.
This isn’t exactly an easy watch at times, but its not as hard as I thought it might be. The characters are very well drawn, not really falling in to clichés too much, and the acting across the board is great. It’s also remarkably well balanced, though the only people who think what’s going on is wrong are women. Discounting Bruno as he doesn’t have a clue.
It’s a movie about friendship and the lies that parents tell to protect their children. It should also probably be shown to everyone in school.
Next up: Bachelor Party
Movie 130: Lifeboat
A group of people from various walks of life find themselves stuck on a lifeboat after their ship is torpedoed by a Nazi U-Boat. Things are further complicated when another survivor comes about, but this one is German.
This is Hitchcock. That’s pretty much means it a good movie before you even start watching, and Lifeboat isn’t an exception to that rule.
I’m sure many people would be surprised at how harsh some of the material in old movies really is. Generally its thought of as a simpler time when people were more innocent and you didn’t have the harsh stuff that we have in movies now. Sure there’s no swears to speak of, or tits, but there gritty material here. Hell, in the first 20 minutes there’s a dead baby, an insane mother of said baby, and that mothers suicide.
Hitch don’t make no light movies.
Which makes this sound like it’s a nightmare to watch. Not at all, there’s plenty of humour and while a few of the characters are pretty broad at times they’re generally pretty fleshed out complex people.
I do have a couple of problems with the movie. I found the lead actress, Tallulah Bankhead, quite grating in a Kate Mulgrew way. That’s one hell of a name though! And Kovac, the tough guy played by John Hodiak, was all gritted teeth and barking for a while. Aside from that its also a movie of its time. World War 2 was raging, it’s a contemporary setting for the film, so while some effort is made to show a decent side to the German character he’s still a heartless inhuman outright bastard when it comes down to it.
Now I could see that being a bit different, but its understandable for the time. While it would have been ballsy to go a different way I can’t see audiences going for it.
This is a slow burner. The characters aren’t in all that bad a situation to start with, it’s a pretty well stocked boat, and things get progressively worse. Its well constructed, well paced and for the most part very well shot although a few technical limitations creep in at one bit towards the end.
I don’t have to recommend you watch Hitchcock movies, its Hitch for christ sakes. Oh and if your wondering how he got his trademark shot in the movie, he’s in a newspaper ad that one of the characters reads. Hilarious!
Next up: The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
This is Hitchcock. That’s pretty much means it a good movie before you even start watching, and Lifeboat isn’t an exception to that rule.
I’m sure many people would be surprised at how harsh some of the material in old movies really is. Generally its thought of as a simpler time when people were more innocent and you didn’t have the harsh stuff that we have in movies now. Sure there’s no swears to speak of, or tits, but there gritty material here. Hell, in the first 20 minutes there’s a dead baby, an insane mother of said baby, and that mothers suicide.
Hitch don’t make no light movies.
Which makes this sound like it’s a nightmare to watch. Not at all, there’s plenty of humour and while a few of the characters are pretty broad at times they’re generally pretty fleshed out complex people.
I do have a couple of problems with the movie. I found the lead actress, Tallulah Bankhead, quite grating in a Kate Mulgrew way. That’s one hell of a name though! And Kovac, the tough guy played by John Hodiak, was all gritted teeth and barking for a while. Aside from that its also a movie of its time. World War 2 was raging, it’s a contemporary setting for the film, so while some effort is made to show a decent side to the German character he’s still a heartless inhuman outright bastard when it comes down to it.
Now I could see that being a bit different, but its understandable for the time. While it would have been ballsy to go a different way I can’t see audiences going for it.
This is a slow burner. The characters aren’t in all that bad a situation to start with, it’s a pretty well stocked boat, and things get progressively worse. Its well constructed, well paced and for the most part very well shot although a few technical limitations creep in at one bit towards the end.
I don’t have to recommend you watch Hitchcock movies, its Hitch for christ sakes. Oh and if your wondering how he got his trademark shot in the movie, he’s in a newspaper ad that one of the characters reads. Hilarious!
Next up: The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
Sunday 9 May 2010
Movie 129: Semi-Pro
Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) is the flamboyant owner/coach/manager of the Flint Michigan Tropics, an ABA basketball team. He dreams big, but is living damned small. When the ABA is going to merge with the NBA the Tropics days will be over, until Jackie manages to work a deal that would see the top 4 teams join the NBA. All the bottom place Tropics have to do is make it there. And with the help of bad boy Monix (Woody Harrelson) they just might do it.
As you can see from the description above, we’re in generic sports movie or sports comedy territory. Some losers have to become winners for amazing thing x to happen. Thankfully this isn’t completely generic though, but it does have a montage. You have to have a montage. Even Rocky had a montage.
Will Ferrell is hit or miss for me, as you could tell from the Step Brothers review. This was a hit though. His movies work well when they’re outlandish, but not too extreme. He also plays well in the 70’s and when his characters can be flamboyant. Anchorman and Blades of Glory have proven that.
This is kind of Blades of Glory without the skates.
While I hardly pissed myself laughing through this, I did laugh many a time and I was entertained. It’s not a full on insane comedy like Baseketball, but it does feature the two outlandish commentators which are an easy way to get some great laughs in these things.
Surrounding Ferrell is a great supporting cast, featuring many of the usual faces for his films. A couple of guys from the Daily Show pop up in little roles, and half of the guys from Anchorman etc are here too in roles of one size or another.
Woody is more or less the straight man here, given a more serious storyline with him trying to get back with an ex and redeem himself for a broken career, the highest achievement of which was riding the bench to a championship ring. He’s a hot head, but he does fire off any insane one liners. We all know that Woody can be funny as hell from his Cheers days, but he’s a solid anchor here that gives weight to the sports story.
This was a top tier Ferrell movie for me. Not his craziest, far from serious, well worth a look. The main story is surprisingly refreshing, though still close to the generic, and the side tales are funny in their own right.
Next up: Lifeboat
As you can see from the description above, we’re in generic sports movie or sports comedy territory. Some losers have to become winners for amazing thing x to happen. Thankfully this isn’t completely generic though, but it does have a montage. You have to have a montage. Even Rocky had a montage.
Will Ferrell is hit or miss for me, as you could tell from the Step Brothers review. This was a hit though. His movies work well when they’re outlandish, but not too extreme. He also plays well in the 70’s and when his characters can be flamboyant. Anchorman and Blades of Glory have proven that.
This is kind of Blades of Glory without the skates.
While I hardly pissed myself laughing through this, I did laugh many a time and I was entertained. It’s not a full on insane comedy like Baseketball, but it does feature the two outlandish commentators which are an easy way to get some great laughs in these things.
Surrounding Ferrell is a great supporting cast, featuring many of the usual faces for his films. A couple of guys from the Daily Show pop up in little roles, and half of the guys from Anchorman etc are here too in roles of one size or another.
Woody is more or less the straight man here, given a more serious storyline with him trying to get back with an ex and redeem himself for a broken career, the highest achievement of which was riding the bench to a championship ring. He’s a hot head, but he does fire off any insane one liners. We all know that Woody can be funny as hell from his Cheers days, but he’s a solid anchor here that gives weight to the sports story.
This was a top tier Ferrell movie for me. Not his craziest, far from serious, well worth a look. The main story is surprisingly refreshing, though still close to the generic, and the side tales are funny in their own right.
Next up: Lifeboat
Saturday 8 May 2010
Movie 128: Infestation
A loser is just being fired from his job when a loud noise knocks everyone out. He awakens to find himself in some kind of webbing, and pulls another few people out before being attacked by a giant bug. With a rag tag band of survivors they try and find a way to beat the bugs that are swarming everywhere.
We never find out where the bugs came from, but that’s fine. We find out some stuff about them and there’s conveniently a few random scientist types woken up. That’s fine too. The problem is the tone.
I think this was going for an “Eight Legged Freaks” type vibe. Comedy b-movie fun with icky bugs attacking people. It never really gets there. The problem is that our puffy faced hero just isn’t all that funny. So tonally it fails, as it can’t decide whether to be properly whacky or serious.
All in all it feels a lot like a TV pilot that never went anywhere. I thought it might be another SyFy original but there was no warning company tag at the start.
The special effects are relatively decent, with a mix of practical and CGI. The acting is fine enough, though the writing is lacking. And there is one major problem. The very end.
Now I don’t generally like to spoil movie endings, and I’m not really going to here either. It’s a b-movie so you expect a b-movie ending. B-movie endings are those where there is an obvious sequel set up. This kind of has one of those, but not quite. It’s as follows:
The remaining main characters are on the street, one of them points and says “look at that”. Puffy faced hero turns and says “holy shit!”. Film ends.
We don’t SEE what the holy shit is. It just ENDS. I thought something had gone wrong with my recording. It hadn’t. That’s not a teaser ending, that’s a cheat ending. It was a final nail in the coffin for the movie really.
I wouldn’t bother with Infestation. There are better, funnier bug movies out there for you to watch. There are scarier bug movies if you’d rather see that. We don’t really need more bug movies. And this doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s not all bad, but its far from great…
Next up: Semi-Pro
We never find out where the bugs came from, but that’s fine. We find out some stuff about them and there’s conveniently a few random scientist types woken up. That’s fine too. The problem is the tone.
I think this was going for an “Eight Legged Freaks” type vibe. Comedy b-movie fun with icky bugs attacking people. It never really gets there. The problem is that our puffy faced hero just isn’t all that funny. So tonally it fails, as it can’t decide whether to be properly whacky or serious.
All in all it feels a lot like a TV pilot that never went anywhere. I thought it might be another SyFy original but there was no warning company tag at the start.
The special effects are relatively decent, with a mix of practical and CGI. The acting is fine enough, though the writing is lacking. And there is one major problem. The very end.
Now I don’t generally like to spoil movie endings, and I’m not really going to here either. It’s a b-movie so you expect a b-movie ending. B-movie endings are those where there is an obvious sequel set up. This kind of has one of those, but not quite. It’s as follows:
The remaining main characters are on the street, one of them points and says “look at that”. Puffy faced hero turns and says “holy shit!”. Film ends.
We don’t SEE what the holy shit is. It just ENDS. I thought something had gone wrong with my recording. It hadn’t. That’s not a teaser ending, that’s a cheat ending. It was a final nail in the coffin for the movie really.
I wouldn’t bother with Infestation. There are better, funnier bug movies out there for you to watch. There are scarier bug movies if you’d rather see that. We don’t really need more bug movies. And this doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s not all bad, but its far from great…
Next up: Semi-Pro
Movie 127: The Rocker
80’s hair metal band Vesuvius are about to hit the big time, but the record label has one condition. They have to replace Fish (Rainn Wilson) with an executives son. And they do. 20 years later Fish is stuck in a 9 to 5 job and still holds a grudge. When his nephew Matt’s (Josh Gad) band is short a drummer for a prom gig he manages to convince his reluctant uncle to pick the sticks up again. Fish showboats and pisses off the band, but they give him another chance. A video chat rehearsal with a naked Fish ends up being a You Tube sensation and the band are on their way to the big time.
There’s plenty to entertain here but unfortunately it falls a little short, and its not really the casts fault. The problem is that while Rainn is a little bit Dwight from the Office he comes across as Jack Black lite here. Its like they WANTED Jack, but couldn’t get him.
I have no problem with someone playing something different to how they’re known. And Rainn is great here but through the whole thing I kept seeing Jack. When someone is synonymous with a type of character and someone else plays the exact same thing the second guy is going to suffer.
Don’t get me wrong, The Rocker is a good, though not great, rock band movie. It has plenty of messages about bands being family, good music and plenty of funny moments. The whole cast performs well. But because of that major issue it falls short.
There’s a fair few TV guys here. Rainn Wilson himself obviously, Josh Gad was in the short lived Back To You and he plays a similar character here that he did there if your familiar with that show. Not many are, hence the short lived.
Jane Lynch pops up in a very small role and it’s the first time I’ve seen her playing a relatively normal character. She feels kind of wasted. As I said, stretching is fine. But Jane is damned good at what she does and it would have been nice to see more of her usual bitchiness. Pretty much anyone could have played her role in this one.
One very notable cameo is Dimitri Martin. I LOVE Dimitri. From his odd appearance in the Daily Show to his own show now, the guy is hilarious. He plays an eccentric video producer here and he’s brilliant in the little bit he’s given.
The Rocker is an entertaining little comedy, but it probably won’t be enough to make anyone’s favourite list. It’s no School of Rock or Josey and the Pussycats, two films it could be compared to in various ways. But there are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes.
Next up: Infestation
There’s plenty to entertain here but unfortunately it falls a little short, and its not really the casts fault. The problem is that while Rainn is a little bit Dwight from the Office he comes across as Jack Black lite here. Its like they WANTED Jack, but couldn’t get him.
I have no problem with someone playing something different to how they’re known. And Rainn is great here but through the whole thing I kept seeing Jack. When someone is synonymous with a type of character and someone else plays the exact same thing the second guy is going to suffer.
Don’t get me wrong, The Rocker is a good, though not great, rock band movie. It has plenty of messages about bands being family, good music and plenty of funny moments. The whole cast performs well. But because of that major issue it falls short.
There’s a fair few TV guys here. Rainn Wilson himself obviously, Josh Gad was in the short lived Back To You and he plays a similar character here that he did there if your familiar with that show. Not many are, hence the short lived.
Jane Lynch pops up in a very small role and it’s the first time I’ve seen her playing a relatively normal character. She feels kind of wasted. As I said, stretching is fine. But Jane is damned good at what she does and it would have been nice to see more of her usual bitchiness. Pretty much anyone could have played her role in this one.
One very notable cameo is Dimitri Martin. I LOVE Dimitri. From his odd appearance in the Daily Show to his own show now, the guy is hilarious. He plays an eccentric video producer here and he’s brilliant in the little bit he’s given.
The Rocker is an entertaining little comedy, but it probably won’t be enough to make anyone’s favourite list. It’s no School of Rock or Josey and the Pussycats, two films it could be compared to in various ways. But there are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes.
Next up: Infestation
Thursday 6 May 2010
Movie 126: Star Runners
Ty (Connor Trinneer) and Lei (James Kyson-Lee) are a couple of smugglers. They’re busted by the UP (space government) and given a chance at a clean slate. Pick up a crate and take it back. Sounds simple enough. But when their ship is stolen they open the crate and find a girl inside. The transport they hitch a ride on is attacked and Ty is forced to make an unplotted jump that lands then on a deserted planet with a secret. And some big fucking bugs.
There’s four words that warn any movie goer that what they are about to see is probably going to be a pile of shite. The first two are “Uwe Boll”. The second two are “Syfy Original”.
Technically this said something like “produced by the sci fi channel” but you get my point.
The now called Syfy Originals are films put out by the channel of that name. Generally they have one or two TV stars in lead roles and god awful scripts. They cost a fiver to make. This is no exception.
Our stars are the two guys I named above. The first, Connor Trinneer, played the engineer in Star Trek: Enterprise and Michael, the bad guy from Atlantis. He’s a decent enough actor and he does perfectly well here. A shining star given the crap he’s surrounded by. The second, James Kyson-Lee, plays Ando on Heroes. That’s Hiro’s best friend, the other Japanese guy. He does okay too but nothing great.
Outside of those two, and minor credit to “the other main guy who’s name I can’t find as I can’t remember the character name” and Toni Trucks who played the girl from the box for being not awful all the time, the acting isn’t too far off porn level. The two main bad guys interactions are HORRENDOUSLY bad, and much of the cannon fodder look surprised to be in a film and may be reading their scripts off the walls.
The other plus point that the film has are the special effects. Well, in space anyway. It looks a lot like the guys who do the Battlestar Galactica effects did this one too. That’s the same people behind Firefly btw. The look of the ships is reminiscent of those shows, and the space stuff has the same hand held vibe. Nothing to complain about there.
The bugs are a bit crap though. Nothing too terrible, but not great. And some of the set design is semi decent, the rest is terrible.
If this was spliced together cut scenes from a game I wouldn’t be too surprised. And they’d be pretty bad cut scenes. The film completely loses any semblance of writing in the last 25 minutes and just randomly has things happen with flimsy explanations. And the twist can be seen from a mile away.
It’s not the worst Syfy original from what I’ve seen so far. I made it through for one thing, and without too much pain. But I wouldn’t bother. Just check out Scanners instead. Or Starship Troopers. Or…..anything.
Next up: The Rocker
There’s four words that warn any movie goer that what they are about to see is probably going to be a pile of shite. The first two are “Uwe Boll”. The second two are “Syfy Original”.
Technically this said something like “produced by the sci fi channel” but you get my point.
The now called Syfy Originals are films put out by the channel of that name. Generally they have one or two TV stars in lead roles and god awful scripts. They cost a fiver to make. This is no exception.
Our stars are the two guys I named above. The first, Connor Trinneer, played the engineer in Star Trek: Enterprise and Michael, the bad guy from Atlantis. He’s a decent enough actor and he does perfectly well here. A shining star given the crap he’s surrounded by. The second, James Kyson-Lee, plays Ando on Heroes. That’s Hiro’s best friend, the other Japanese guy. He does okay too but nothing great.
Outside of those two, and minor credit to “the other main guy who’s name I can’t find as I can’t remember the character name” and Toni Trucks who played the girl from the box for being not awful all the time, the acting isn’t too far off porn level. The two main bad guys interactions are HORRENDOUSLY bad, and much of the cannon fodder look surprised to be in a film and may be reading their scripts off the walls.
The other plus point that the film has are the special effects. Well, in space anyway. It looks a lot like the guys who do the Battlestar Galactica effects did this one too. That’s the same people behind Firefly btw. The look of the ships is reminiscent of those shows, and the space stuff has the same hand held vibe. Nothing to complain about there.
The bugs are a bit crap though. Nothing too terrible, but not great. And some of the set design is semi decent, the rest is terrible.
If this was spliced together cut scenes from a game I wouldn’t be too surprised. And they’d be pretty bad cut scenes. The film completely loses any semblance of writing in the last 25 minutes and just randomly has things happen with flimsy explanations. And the twist can be seen from a mile away.
It’s not the worst Syfy original from what I’ve seen so far. I made it through for one thing, and without too much pain. But I wouldn’t bother. Just check out Scanners instead. Or Starship Troopers. Or…..anything.
Next up: The Rocker
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Movie 125: The Iron Giant
An alien robot crash lands on Earth and is found by a young boy. The robot is childlike and can’t really talk, but the boy befriends him and teaches him how to talk and that its wrong to kill. With the help of a local scrap artist he plots to save his friend from a government agent who’s out to find him.
When you see the name Pixar at the start of an animated movie you know your in for something good. A big part of that is down to Brad Bird. Brad Bird made this. So you can work out the result for yourself.
The Iron Giant feels like part Frankenstein, part Short Circuit. Like Frankenstein he’s big and dangerous, but not exactly the monster that he looks like. Like Johnny Five, and this is a bit of a spoiler but also rather obvious, he’s a weapon that learns not to be one.
The animation style is old school Disney hand drawn, with the exception of the giant who was CGI. It all fits together seamlessly and feels like a much older film. The voice acting is all pretty much spot on. With the exception of John Mahoney none of the voices were too stand out, therefore drawing you out of the picture. Sometimes I find having big names providing voices for characters takes you out of the world because the animated character doesn’t look like the actor. Not the case here at all. And you’d be heard pressed to know that was Vin Diesel as the giant.
There’s a lovely 50’s B Movie vibe to the whole thing. It’s nice that alien technology always manages to be low fi when things are set in that era, isn’t it? It would be nice to see something that would be invading now shoved in to a retro setting, but you’d loose out on the nostalgic vibe.
This is a heart warming story with great characterisations and a slow burning plot. It develops perfectly from start to finish and you’ve got a tough heart if you can watch it without being moved.
No idea how this would play with the younger crowd, but I’m guessing this is something that would entertain the whole family regardless of age. Go watch.
Next up: Star Runners
When you see the name Pixar at the start of an animated movie you know your in for something good. A big part of that is down to Brad Bird. Brad Bird made this. So you can work out the result for yourself.
The Iron Giant feels like part Frankenstein, part Short Circuit. Like Frankenstein he’s big and dangerous, but not exactly the monster that he looks like. Like Johnny Five, and this is a bit of a spoiler but also rather obvious, he’s a weapon that learns not to be one.
The animation style is old school Disney hand drawn, with the exception of the giant who was CGI. It all fits together seamlessly and feels like a much older film. The voice acting is all pretty much spot on. With the exception of John Mahoney none of the voices were too stand out, therefore drawing you out of the picture. Sometimes I find having big names providing voices for characters takes you out of the world because the animated character doesn’t look like the actor. Not the case here at all. And you’d be heard pressed to know that was Vin Diesel as the giant.
There’s a lovely 50’s B Movie vibe to the whole thing. It’s nice that alien technology always manages to be low fi when things are set in that era, isn’t it? It would be nice to see something that would be invading now shoved in to a retro setting, but you’d loose out on the nostalgic vibe.
This is a heart warming story with great characterisations and a slow burning plot. It develops perfectly from start to finish and you’ve got a tough heart if you can watch it without being moved.
No idea how this would play with the younger crowd, but I’m guessing this is something that would entertain the whole family regardless of age. Go watch.
Next up: Star Runners
Tuesday 4 May 2010
Movie 124: Once
A talented busker and immigrant woman strike up a friendship through their mutual love of making music, and set out to record an album of the mans songs.
That pretty much covers it really.
Tonally this could really be compared to Lost in Translation. Instead of two people who can’t really be together but you kind of wish would being brought together by being in a strange culture they’re brought together by music. And there’s a very important line that you can’t understand, or in LiT’s case here. Unless you speak Check.
If you don’t and you’ve seen this go and look at the IMDB trivia, it’ll make you smile.
I went to see a play a few years ago called The Sundowe. It was by a bunch of buskers from Edinburgh called The Martians, and it was a supernatural crazy farce based around their music. The Martians are fucking AWESOME and the play was great. Do a hunt for them. Actually fuck that, he’s a link to one of their videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRS-ut97hRw&feature=related
Plenty other videos on the right there. I’m not sure what’s happening with them, but I wished I had the money to make a movie version of the play. And for a review I wrote back then they still owe me a pint!
The film looks exactly like pretty much everything I’ve ever had a chance to be involved with in my life, so don’t expect super HD shiny quality. It’s 10 years ago TV quality. Gritty, fairly hand held, nothing overly flashy. When you have a good story, good acting and a fun script it doesn’t matter.
So here it doesn’t matter.
Much of the film is music, it is a musical after all, but not in the Jets vs Sharks way. It’s all organic and works with the story.
The fact is, not to downplay Glen Hansard and Maketa Irglovia’s talent, there are THOUSANDS of people like these guys out there. Hell I’ve named 2 groups in this review and could probably name more if I tried. Our charts and radios shouldn’t be blasting out cookie cutter shite that sounds exactly the same as last weeks shite. Do yourself a favour and go and see someone local. Or stop and listen to the odd good busker. They’d appreciate the money more anyway.
oh and watch Once, because its fucking brilliant
Next up: The Iron Giant
That pretty much covers it really.
Tonally this could really be compared to Lost in Translation. Instead of two people who can’t really be together but you kind of wish would being brought together by being in a strange culture they’re brought together by music. And there’s a very important line that you can’t understand, or in LiT’s case here. Unless you speak Check.
If you don’t and you’ve seen this go and look at the IMDB trivia, it’ll make you smile.
I went to see a play a few years ago called The Sundowe. It was by a bunch of buskers from Edinburgh called The Martians, and it was a supernatural crazy farce based around their music. The Martians are fucking AWESOME and the play was great. Do a hunt for them. Actually fuck that, he’s a link to one of their videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRS-ut97hRw&feature=related
Plenty other videos on the right there. I’m not sure what’s happening with them, but I wished I had the money to make a movie version of the play. And for a review I wrote back then they still owe me a pint!
The film looks exactly like pretty much everything I’ve ever had a chance to be involved with in my life, so don’t expect super HD shiny quality. It’s 10 years ago TV quality. Gritty, fairly hand held, nothing overly flashy. When you have a good story, good acting and a fun script it doesn’t matter.
So here it doesn’t matter.
Much of the film is music, it is a musical after all, but not in the Jets vs Sharks way. It’s all organic and works with the story.
The fact is, not to downplay Glen Hansard and Maketa Irglovia’s talent, there are THOUSANDS of people like these guys out there. Hell I’ve named 2 groups in this review and could probably name more if I tried. Our charts and radios shouldn’t be blasting out cookie cutter shite that sounds exactly the same as last weeks shite. Do yourself a favour and go and see someone local. Or stop and listen to the odd good busker. They’d appreciate the money more anyway.
oh and watch Once, because its fucking brilliant
Next up: The Iron Giant
Monday 3 May 2010
Movie 123: Penelope
Five generations ago a rich family were cursed by a witch for being assholes. The next girl born would have a pig face. Luckily they had a long line of boys, until Penelope (Christina Ricci) comes along. The curse would only be broken when “one of her own kind loved her” so her mother trained her to be a perfect wife. Unfortunately every suitor legged it when they saw her face. A reporter (Peter Dinklage) who lost his eye trying to get a picture of her as a baby hatches a plan to find a down on his luck blue blood to get a picture of grown up Penelope, and hires Max (James McAvoy). But things don’t go to plan.
I’ll leave it there. This is a kind of heart warming, entertaining modern fairy tale with a Pushing Daisies vibe that kind of loses it in the last half hour or so. Its still good throughout but that last reel dibs somewhat.
One of the main issues the film has is that Penelope really isn’t that horrific. I still would. I do have a major Christina Ricci thing though which may have helped. Fact is, with Reese Witherspoon as a best friend at one point (minor spoiler, sorry) she’s the better looking of the pair. Less pointy anyway.
To be fair to Reese I didn’t hate her in this.
There’s quite a few plot holes and inconsistencies too. I can’t go in to one of them as it’s a major spoiler, but one issue is that this was filmed in the UK and has a lot of UK minor cast members, but its set in New York (I believe). This would be fine if everyone could do accents, but Owen out of Torchwood’s is APPAULING. There’s a few people, Lenny Henry for example, that don’t bother with an accent so they’re presence is a bit baffling. I think he was a cop, but if he’s a PI I’m sure it’s fine. The blue bloods all seem to have English accents too, and that’s also fine. But they should have been ore consistent through.
James McAvoy proves once again that he’s a fantastic actor. His accent is spot on, he doesn’t miss a beat and even I fell for him a bit. And the Dink is in another role where its not a plot point that he’s dwarf. I love that. The dude is a great actor, he gets cast in good roles, the end. Obviously it’s a bit more poignant casting here though with the theme of the movie.
And Nick Frost has a very small role with a pretty hilarious slightly comedic American accent. Just glad to see him in something. Its not a BAD accent, just comically broad.
The rest of the cast are fine, the film looks great and that slightly otherwordly weird vibe is kept throughout. It’s not as deeply stylised as Daisies, Lemony Snickett or a Burton movie but just touched enough to have a unique look.
If it wasn’t for that last chunk being a bit off I’d highly recommend this, but all I’m dropping is the highly. This is an entertaining film and you should know from what I’ve said if this is your bag or not. It was mine.
Next up: Once
I’ll leave it there. This is a kind of heart warming, entertaining modern fairy tale with a Pushing Daisies vibe that kind of loses it in the last half hour or so. Its still good throughout but that last reel dibs somewhat.
One of the main issues the film has is that Penelope really isn’t that horrific. I still would. I do have a major Christina Ricci thing though which may have helped. Fact is, with Reese Witherspoon as a best friend at one point (minor spoiler, sorry) she’s the better looking of the pair. Less pointy anyway.
To be fair to Reese I didn’t hate her in this.
There’s quite a few plot holes and inconsistencies too. I can’t go in to one of them as it’s a major spoiler, but one issue is that this was filmed in the UK and has a lot of UK minor cast members, but its set in New York (I believe). This would be fine if everyone could do accents, but Owen out of Torchwood’s is APPAULING. There’s a few people, Lenny Henry for example, that don’t bother with an accent so they’re presence is a bit baffling. I think he was a cop, but if he’s a PI I’m sure it’s fine. The blue bloods all seem to have English accents too, and that’s also fine. But they should have been ore consistent through.
James McAvoy proves once again that he’s a fantastic actor. His accent is spot on, he doesn’t miss a beat and even I fell for him a bit. And the Dink is in another role where its not a plot point that he’s dwarf. I love that. The dude is a great actor, he gets cast in good roles, the end. Obviously it’s a bit more poignant casting here though with the theme of the movie.
And Nick Frost has a very small role with a pretty hilarious slightly comedic American accent. Just glad to see him in something. Its not a BAD accent, just comically broad.
The rest of the cast are fine, the film looks great and that slightly otherwordly weird vibe is kept throughout. It’s not as deeply stylised as Daisies, Lemony Snickett or a Burton movie but just touched enough to have a unique look.
If it wasn’t for that last chunk being a bit off I’d highly recommend this, but all I’m dropping is the highly. This is an entertaining film and you should know from what I’ve said if this is your bag or not. It was mine.
Next up: Once
Sunday 2 May 2010
Movie 122: The Castle
The Kerrigans are a simple Australian family. They live in a house next to the airport, have built themselves a summer home and are very happy. Largely thanks to dad Darryl’s sunny attitude that infects the whole lot of them. But when the airport is going to expand their house is bought against their will. Darryl refuses to accept that, a mans home is his castle, and fights back against the big boys.
It’s a true underdog story. Well, not a TRUE story but you know what I mean. A little guy who’s happy with the little he’s got and refuses to let it go.
The characters are all quirky as hell. The whole story is told from the perspective of the youngest son, Dale, who narrates the whole thing. Darryl is a simple man who runs a towing business and does a lot of DIY on the house to improve it. His son Steve buys things from the local trade paper to sell on again for a profit. His wife does handcraft type stuff.
They’re all a bit dense, but in an incredibly charming way. Every night Darryl complements his wife on her great cooking, when its basically some chicken and seasoning in front of him. They’re pretty much on the bottom rung of the ladder but couldn’t be much happier.
I’m not the biggest fan of Australian cinema as they turn out a lot of turkeys. Even with the over arching plot of this film it boils down to a character piece, and if the characters aren’t up to it then it’s a pain to watch. Thankfully the acting and the script here are more than up to the task. If your pretty poor like myself you’ll probably have known a few people that are quite similar to the Kerrigans. They don’t care that there house is zoned in a terrible place, that a lot of their stuff is pretty much crap and that their biggest achievement is a daughter with a hair dressing diploma. The little things are what matters.
And that’s the movies main message. Yes its about the little guy going after a giant, but the message is that family is what is important. They’re happy because they have each other. 70 grand is probably quite a lot for them, though it wouldn’t buy all that much so not really, but the airport could be offering 700 and they still wouldn’t want to sell their home. And the whole thing comes down to that intangible home factor.
There’s a lot of quotable dialogue here Darryl has a couple of catch phrases that would be very well known if this was a bigger budget movie. I’ve no idea what it cost but its shot cheaply and the shoot was as long as the food budget would stretch (11 days). The family is called Kerrigan so that they could borrow a tow truck from a real company as there was no money for that kind of thing.
I watched it because Eric Bana is in it, but he’s barely in it at all. I’m far from disappointed though. If you need a laugh then hunt this one out and give it a shot as it’s bloody brilliant mate.
Next up: Penelope
It’s a true underdog story. Well, not a TRUE story but you know what I mean. A little guy who’s happy with the little he’s got and refuses to let it go.
The characters are all quirky as hell. The whole story is told from the perspective of the youngest son, Dale, who narrates the whole thing. Darryl is a simple man who runs a towing business and does a lot of DIY on the house to improve it. His son Steve buys things from the local trade paper to sell on again for a profit. His wife does handcraft type stuff.
They’re all a bit dense, but in an incredibly charming way. Every night Darryl complements his wife on her great cooking, when its basically some chicken and seasoning in front of him. They’re pretty much on the bottom rung of the ladder but couldn’t be much happier.
I’m not the biggest fan of Australian cinema as they turn out a lot of turkeys. Even with the over arching plot of this film it boils down to a character piece, and if the characters aren’t up to it then it’s a pain to watch. Thankfully the acting and the script here are more than up to the task. If your pretty poor like myself you’ll probably have known a few people that are quite similar to the Kerrigans. They don’t care that there house is zoned in a terrible place, that a lot of their stuff is pretty much crap and that their biggest achievement is a daughter with a hair dressing diploma. The little things are what matters.
And that’s the movies main message. Yes its about the little guy going after a giant, but the message is that family is what is important. They’re happy because they have each other. 70 grand is probably quite a lot for them, though it wouldn’t buy all that much so not really, but the airport could be offering 700 and they still wouldn’t want to sell their home. And the whole thing comes down to that intangible home factor.
There’s a lot of quotable dialogue here Darryl has a couple of catch phrases that would be very well known if this was a bigger budget movie. I’ve no idea what it cost but its shot cheaply and the shoot was as long as the food budget would stretch (11 days). The family is called Kerrigan so that they could borrow a tow truck from a real company as there was no money for that kind of thing.
I watched it because Eric Bana is in it, but he’s barely in it at all. I’m far from disappointed though. If you need a laugh then hunt this one out and give it a shot as it’s bloody brilliant mate.
Next up: Penelope
Movie 121: Crank: High Voltage
Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) improbably survives the fall from a helicopter, only to have his heart nicked by triads and an artificial one shoved in it place. It runs on a battery that regularly needs charges of power and isn’t designed for long term or strenuous use. So Chelios needs to find ways to keep himself ticking while he gets his heart back and some revenge.
In the first film Chelios having to keep his heart rate up worked very well. It was high octane and he did some crazy things to keep it pumping. This time around doesn’t work quite as well.
It sounds strange but its mainly because of inconsistencies. Sometimes a giant charge will keep him going for about a minute, others something small keeps him going for ages. Its all over the bloody place. It’s a weird complaint for a film like this as its absolutely nuts in every way, but I’d probably have enjoyed it a lot more if they’d kept that consistent.
It’s not quite as much fun as the first one either. It wasn’t that long ago that I watched it but it felt to me that this one was dialled down a bit rather than ratcheted up. There’s still a fair amount of crazy action, and he does a few insane things to keep going, but electrical charges don’t have the same mad potential that normal adrenaline did.
Its pretty much been established now that Chev Chelios is some kind of improbable superhuman who can take a ridiculous amount of punishment and keep rocking. I’m fine with that. I’m not sure what they’ll use as a Macguffin if they make a Crank 3, they’ve possibly made a mistake by switching off the originals to a different one, but if they can come up with a good idea I’ll be there.
Hell, I’ll probably be there anyway. I like Statham films, he’s like an Arnie that speaks English.
This doesn’t suck, but its pretty much for fans of the original. There’s plenty of continuity, things pick up right after the first one finished, but there are flashbacks if you want to skip to number 2. I’d recommend watching the first one over this though.
Next up: The Castle
In the first film Chelios having to keep his heart rate up worked very well. It was high octane and he did some crazy things to keep it pumping. This time around doesn’t work quite as well.
It sounds strange but its mainly because of inconsistencies. Sometimes a giant charge will keep him going for about a minute, others something small keeps him going for ages. Its all over the bloody place. It’s a weird complaint for a film like this as its absolutely nuts in every way, but I’d probably have enjoyed it a lot more if they’d kept that consistent.
It’s not quite as much fun as the first one either. It wasn’t that long ago that I watched it but it felt to me that this one was dialled down a bit rather than ratcheted up. There’s still a fair amount of crazy action, and he does a few insane things to keep going, but electrical charges don’t have the same mad potential that normal adrenaline did.
Its pretty much been established now that Chev Chelios is some kind of improbable superhuman who can take a ridiculous amount of punishment and keep rocking. I’m fine with that. I’m not sure what they’ll use as a Macguffin if they make a Crank 3, they’ve possibly made a mistake by switching off the originals to a different one, but if they can come up with a good idea I’ll be there.
Hell, I’ll probably be there anyway. I like Statham films, he’s like an Arnie that speaks English.
This doesn’t suck, but its pretty much for fans of the original. There’s plenty of continuity, things pick up right after the first one finished, but there are flashbacks if you want to skip to number 2. I’d recommend watching the first one over this though.
Next up: The Castle
Movie 120: The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys
The making and post production of Movie 119: Twelve Monkeys
More or less. It’s the second part that’s the most important here really. As I said yesterday this seems like a bit of a cheat, the documentary was on the same DVD, but its not a normal behind the scenes look
It’s kind of a documentary of two halves. The first deals with some actual making of, and inspires the title. Terry Gilliam has a tendency to become obsessed with a tiny detail and fixates on it being right which delays production. It also leads to him having extremely detailed sets and little touches that you don’t always notice, and is a good thing. Aside from that it’s the usual movie making frustrations
There’s one point where the first actor who was going to play the lead as a boy kinda sucked. This piece of minutae was very important to Terry, and thankfully the back up kid didn’t suck. I know how that feels. I’ve only made the one short myself but it’s a bit heartbreaking when there’s something you had in your head that you just can’t get. I had to change the way a moment worked entirely and it still bugs me thinking about it, so I know how he feels. BUT he can also be a bit of a pain in the arse at times. Bloody artists….
The second half is the most revealing. Not so much the editing and marketing stuff that they cover. That’s interesting and all but is covered plenty of places. No, the interesting part is the test screening.
This would be spoiler territory for a movie but fuck it this is a doc. When they’re in there with the audience, Terry and I think it’s the producers get a damned good vibe from the film. The reaction they want. Everything seems great, but the score cards and sample group come back less than positive.
I have a bit of a problem with test screenings. A lot of the time a film is unfinished and its VERY hard to judge a movie when there are temp scores and effects. It takes you away from the rest of it a bit, unless your used to that kind of thing. Random mall people aren’t used to that, so I think the whole system is flawed.
The main issue with test screenings, which thankfully DIDN’T happen in this case, is that movies are changed based on them. Why? All a test screening should do is tell you who to market your film to. A random sample of a few hundred people shouldn’t have any input on the creative process. Neither should studio executives. If your such a good film maker, make a fucking film don’t mess with the people who are doing it.
Fact is, what happened here should always happen. A few minor changes then the film went out. A studio should know that they want to make a film based on the script and the pre-production. They know what’s coming. They shouldn’t then change things after the fact bar some suggestions that the director either agrees with and changes or doesn’t. That’s it. WHY people have to negotiate for final cut I don’t know….
This is worth a look just for the eye opening second half, but if you can’t stand behind the scenes stuff this won’t change your mind. And Lost In La Mancha was better on a similar subject.
Next up: Crank: High Voltage
More or less. It’s the second part that’s the most important here really. As I said yesterday this seems like a bit of a cheat, the documentary was on the same DVD, but its not a normal behind the scenes look
It’s kind of a documentary of two halves. The first deals with some actual making of, and inspires the title. Terry Gilliam has a tendency to become obsessed with a tiny detail and fixates on it being right which delays production. It also leads to him having extremely detailed sets and little touches that you don’t always notice, and is a good thing. Aside from that it’s the usual movie making frustrations
There’s one point where the first actor who was going to play the lead as a boy kinda sucked. This piece of minutae was very important to Terry, and thankfully the back up kid didn’t suck. I know how that feels. I’ve only made the one short myself but it’s a bit heartbreaking when there’s something you had in your head that you just can’t get. I had to change the way a moment worked entirely and it still bugs me thinking about it, so I know how he feels. BUT he can also be a bit of a pain in the arse at times. Bloody artists….
The second half is the most revealing. Not so much the editing and marketing stuff that they cover. That’s interesting and all but is covered plenty of places. No, the interesting part is the test screening.
This would be spoiler territory for a movie but fuck it this is a doc. When they’re in there with the audience, Terry and I think it’s the producers get a damned good vibe from the film. The reaction they want. Everything seems great, but the score cards and sample group come back less than positive.
I have a bit of a problem with test screenings. A lot of the time a film is unfinished and its VERY hard to judge a movie when there are temp scores and effects. It takes you away from the rest of it a bit, unless your used to that kind of thing. Random mall people aren’t used to that, so I think the whole system is flawed.
The main issue with test screenings, which thankfully DIDN’T happen in this case, is that movies are changed based on them. Why? All a test screening should do is tell you who to market your film to. A random sample of a few hundred people shouldn’t have any input on the creative process. Neither should studio executives. If your such a good film maker, make a fucking film don’t mess with the people who are doing it.
Fact is, what happened here should always happen. A few minor changes then the film went out. A studio should know that they want to make a film based on the script and the pre-production. They know what’s coming. They shouldn’t then change things after the fact bar some suggestions that the director either agrees with and changes or doesn’t. That’s it. WHY people have to negotiate for final cut I don’t know….
This is worth a look just for the eye opening second half, but if you can’t stand behind the scenes stuff this won’t change your mind. And Lost In La Mancha was better on a similar subject.
Next up: Crank: High Voltage
Thursday 29 April 2010
Movie 119: Twelve Monkeys
In 1996 a virus is released that will wipe out 5 billion people, the remaining humans living under ground. Scientists in that future send back “volunteer” prisoners to find out how the virus was released and to get a sample of its original form. Unfortunately time travel isn’t quite an exact science and they send Cole (Bruce Willis) back to 1990 where he’s banged up with a real nut job, Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) and has a sympathetic shrink Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe).
I mention the last two as they are important characters in the plot. But the plot I cover is something like the first 20 minutes. This is a VERY convoluted movie and I don’t want to spoil any of it.
Time travel is easy to completely arse up, particularly when you hop back and forth like this film does. They’re very clever with it here though and the script writer was obviously careful with how they set out the various character paths.
Unfortunately it makes it a little hard to review without getting in to spoiler territory, so I expect this will be a short one.
It’s a Terry Gilliam film so obviously its pretty fucking weird. In fact with that first 20-30 minutes I wasn’t all that sure I’d like it. The mental hospital didn’t really look like one to me. Because it isn’t, it’s an abandoned prison. That aside and the fact that much of the film is dingy and dirty, and that there’s some strangeness for strangenesses sake, the look doesn’t really detract from the overall movie. I didn’t think it really added much either though besides the overt weirdness possibly adding to how nuts Cole might be. If your trying to help someone keep their mental faculties sticking them half way up a wall with eyeballs on screens and staring at them through a distorting magnifying glass probably isn’t going to work though. Just saying.
All the performances are great. Bruce Willis isn’t in full on action star mode here, but he plays very good slowly deranged. And the Brad Pitt we see is pre-star Brad. He is frankly one of the best actors of his age, and it shows through in his off the wall performance in this.
I’d say that this might be a bit nuts and out there for some people, but if you pay attention and you don’t mind a bit of strangeness you’ll enjoy the hell out of this movie.
Next up: The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys. Which is a bit of a cheat as its basically the making of THIS movie, but its listed as a different documentary movie in most places and it’s feature length.
Further Reading: http://iheartthetalkies.wordpress.com/ reviews the latest releases. And I don’t, well maybe occasionally. So go read her blog.
I mention the last two as they are important characters in the plot. But the plot I cover is something like the first 20 minutes. This is a VERY convoluted movie and I don’t want to spoil any of it.
Time travel is easy to completely arse up, particularly when you hop back and forth like this film does. They’re very clever with it here though and the script writer was obviously careful with how they set out the various character paths.
Unfortunately it makes it a little hard to review without getting in to spoiler territory, so I expect this will be a short one.
It’s a Terry Gilliam film so obviously its pretty fucking weird. In fact with that first 20-30 minutes I wasn’t all that sure I’d like it. The mental hospital didn’t really look like one to me. Because it isn’t, it’s an abandoned prison. That aside and the fact that much of the film is dingy and dirty, and that there’s some strangeness for strangenesses sake, the look doesn’t really detract from the overall movie. I didn’t think it really added much either though besides the overt weirdness possibly adding to how nuts Cole might be. If your trying to help someone keep their mental faculties sticking them half way up a wall with eyeballs on screens and staring at them through a distorting magnifying glass probably isn’t going to work though. Just saying.
All the performances are great. Bruce Willis isn’t in full on action star mode here, but he plays very good slowly deranged. And the Brad Pitt we see is pre-star Brad. He is frankly one of the best actors of his age, and it shows through in his off the wall performance in this.
I’d say that this might be a bit nuts and out there for some people, but if you pay attention and you don’t mind a bit of strangeness you’ll enjoy the hell out of this movie.
Next up: The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys. Which is a bit of a cheat as its basically the making of THIS movie, but its listed as a different documentary movie in most places and it’s feature length.
Further Reading: http://iheartthetalkies.wordpress.com/ reviews the latest releases. And I don’t, well maybe occasionally. So go read her blog.
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