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
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