Rarely have I gotten so much enjoyment out of reviews for movies I know by heart, than as I did when I read your write-up for the “Rambo” movies.
Splendid, splendid stuff. Hats off to you, sir!
Thank you good sir.
A proper review of “Rambo 4” is on the site. I felt it needed a defense after some of the very harsh ‘official’ reviews it got. Especially in the UK which were hostile as hell.
“Captivity” -
Not as bad as its reputation. Nothing groundbreaking bit solid enough and nasty enough when it needs to be (thank Christ for re-shoots).
But the complex editing and production problems show in a huge plot hole (Who is shooting the ‘flashback’ film? Surely another person must be there. OH! They are! But they aren’t filming it either! DOH!) and the really confused ‘dog’ set-up.
Amazing what massive cock-ups get past all these highly paid people who make and release films!!
“Resident Evil” - This actually improves with multiple viewings now we have the other 2 films to connect with it and once you know that, a few things aside, it’s not actually very much like the games.
But a solid cast, some entertaining set pieces, a dark ending and a few good twists you can almost forgive the sloppy and dated CGI, the ‘why would a sealed room for virus study have an air vent that leads to the entire complex’ cock-up, and the lack of meaty zombie action.
Milla Jovovich looks good and does a fine job that would improve as the series went on.
“Resident Evil - Apocalypse” - Never could understand the hate for this. It follows on nicely from, and has good links to, the first film, is far more like the games in content and setting (with Nemesis being spot on perfect), has some well staged shock deaths that keep you on your toes about who will live or die and just simply entertains with a lot of big budget, mainstream, glossy un-pretension.
It’s a Resi Evil film, what did you want?
I’m a fan of the cinematic ‘Grindhouse’ creations of Andy Milligan which are as cultish, personal, low-fi and distant from anything like “Resident Evil 2” as you could possibly get. But that does not mean I still can’t find things like this good solid entertainment and the blanket hate of anything ‘Hollywood’ and mainstream simply for existing that seems to have been hurled at this is just tragic quite frankly.
If you want Hitchcock, John Waters, Abel Ferrara or Visconti then that’s great…but you won’t find it here and you were never meant to.
“Resident Evil - Extinction” - A move away from the games in an even bigger way than the first film. But, the unexplained loss of a couple of characters aside, this again follows on pretty well and has some nice links to the rest of the franchise.
Once again a good cast does a good job, the extra zombies on show, the apocalyptic setting and a goodly bit of (rather too CGI) bloodletting as the rather lovely (and indeed underrated) Milla kicks all kinds of zombie ass is all very entertaining stuff.
The finish to the plot left dangling at the end of number 2 is satisfying and leads to a fun finale that could end here or carry on. A bit too short perhaps and perhaps lacking in a real wow factor as a (possible) final entry but all in all another solid bit of big budget sci-fi/horror entertainment.
Not sure why they digitally scrubbed Milla Jovovich’s face so much though, at times she looks almost like a computer game character in a high spec cutaway scene.
Nearly half way through this most excellent Anime.
Some great character drawing, top voice work (Japanese naturally), unusual music and sound editing (Hip Hop based tunes -thankfully no singing other than on the theme music - with ‘scrath’ musical edits between some of the scenes makes for a lively, unique and modern twist on the telling of a traditional historical tale) and dynamic animation/effects are used to tell this quirky saga about a girl and her two antagonistic bodyguards (a Ronin and a rogue) on the trail of a mysterious Samurai who smells of sunflowers.
A great mix of wacky humour, serious drama, slapstick and bloody violence with 3 great lead characters who spark off each other to perfection and lots of energy all round.
So far so good and so far essential viewing for any Anime fans.
Saw IV - The things they’ll do to keep a franchise in circulation. After Saw 2 I had pretty much given up on the hope of this series ever reclaiming the glory of the original, which has it’s flaws sure but it put a nice spin on the Se7en school of FIENDISH torture thoughts. I actually enjoyed IV more than I did 2 and 3, but this isn’t saying much given that 2 and 3 to me, were complete overkill and nowhere near as clever as they thought they were. The twists and turns of the fourth installment are fitted with precision and plenty of it works well despite a large chunk of the plot being pure filler. The FBI Agents inquiry for example, is worth flashback brownie points and nothing more - take it away and you’d be left with a 65 minute movie. Also one too many indicative lines that are surely designed as triggers for people who want to revisit the film and piece everything togther make the guesswork a shade too easy. The traps by design are less inventive, that’s either them running out of steam upstairs or a clever touch based on the fact that so few are meant to survive this round. Why get decadent when you can just stick some sharp pokers through the not so fine folks, right? Either way as a signature of the series I expected more eventhough I’m not one of these people who revel in the bloodletting all that much. The most interesting and innovative element in the film is also the biggest detractor when it comes to audiences who come in fresh. With any horror franchise I think it’a given that you should be able to pick up Friday the 13th: A New Beginning or Elm Street 4: Dream Master and take it on it’s own, part of a whole but not reliant on previous entries so you can enjoy it. Late in the game you find out Saw IV is playing out on the same timeline as Saw 3, from memory it’s mirroring that outing and it makes for a nice payoff. But I had a couple of friends watching along with me who hadn’t caught Part 3 and that revelation (along with the last-minute characters) fell totally flat and failed to do anything beyond baffle them. Plus they’re rolling on without Tobin Bell, grinding it out for another few movies no doubt when they should probably just let old ‘saw rest in pieces.
Saw “The King and the Clown”, and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. My wife and I meant to watch it in two halves but as it turned out we finished it in one go, and kept discussing it afterwards.
Even though the people in it are now more-or-less famous, I hadn’t seen them before. It’s always nice to see a good movie filled with new faces for the main parts.
And a special note to the guys who did the subs: good work! This must’ve been a bitch to translate, with all the ancient Korean language used in the plays. I’ve heard these parts lose a lot in translation, but the subs clearly show that a more “flowery” language is used without (thankfully) trying to translate any alliteration or wordplay.
Of course something is lost, but sometimes you can’t help it. Instead of trying to forcibly recreate gags in an unsuited language they translated it straight, but subtly implied with “auld” spelling that you shouldn’t take this literally. Well done.
Damn fine Ridley Scott movie that, despite the long running time and relative lack of violence and action, never fails to hold the attention.
Some fine acting by Crowe and Washington and an excellent script are what hold this together and for Gangster film fans it’s the best Gangster film for many, many a year and a must see.
I actually prefer the longer version as well…including the extended finale.
A superbly directed and scripted 60’s British crime/heist thriller with a fantastic cast in top form.
A must see.
“Rollin’ with the Nines”
before the excellent “Rise of the Footsoldier” film makers Julian and William Gilbey made this tough thriller about Black gangster violence in London.
Most of the Black actors who play the criminals are very good (especially Vas Blackwood and Robbie Gee) but the film is really hurt (at least from a serious drama point of view, if not a straight entertainment one) by some dreadful miscasting and general bad acting (and writing) as far as the Police go.
the two main (actually corrupt as they like to skim from drug hauls and sell it!) Cops are without doubt the most unconvincing Cops put in screen.
One is just a weak actor and the other is simply a Cockney Gangster thug throughout and never a Policeman. No wonder the actor, Terry Stone, was re-used in “Rise of the Footsoldier” as a brutal Gangster. In that he was fine, but as a Cop in this he’s completely unbelievable.
That’s not to say the Cops are not enjoyable, comic strip, tough ass character s though. And we can only hope that real Cops get this hardcore with criminals!
Talking of which the action here is superb. The low budget is completely invisible as thundering multiple gunshots, fast editing, slick styling, well constructed set-ups and excellent blood FX all combine to deliver some brutal as hell shootouts.
The action highlight (although it plays like no shootouts I’ve ever heard of happening in the UK, even now!) is a truly nightmarish assault on a Yardie (Jamaican Gangsters) drug house where the cramped setting provides real edge of the seat suspense as the Cops move through a house filled with truly psychotic Gangsters as well as booby traps.
It’s astonishingly bloody and violent and the sickening discovery in an upstairs bathtub in the middle of the brutal chaos truly makes the sequence a trip through hell.
The budget is again ignored during a very well done extended car chase that’s wonderfully shot, edited and performed and when added to the location footage and crisp cinematography results in a film that, from a technical level at least, can holed its own with almost any Hollywood production.
All in all then “Rollin’ with the Nines” is only really let down by some genuinely poor acting in a couple of key roles, at least one miscasting blunder and some overly hip and comic strip dialogue (worse when said supposedly by Cops).
Everywhere else though it’s top notch, fast paced, great looking, superbly crafted thriller making that may revel in cliche, but does it very well.
Easily the most anarchic and chaotic of the Marx’s films and infamously rather a big flop (which ushered in a new contract with MGM, the more ‘normal’ plots and romantic leads/songs to tie down the madness…something that admittedly worked great at the box office), but there are some truly great moments here.
This has perhaps my favourite Groucho/Dumont exchange routine (that opens with the card gag) and it’s also a joy to see the great Edgar Kennedy make a cameo as well and his scenes with Harp and Chico are lots of fun.
Groucho’s swipes at the Ambassador are also wonderful.
But it a couple of the songs are unwelcome in the short running time (unless you like that sort of thing, I would say I hated all the romantic interlude songs in Marx Brothers films - but almost all fans do - but only really have time for half of the funny ones as well), the skeletal plot completely vanishes in a truly chaotic bunch of non-linear scenes and it’s obvious that no way to really end this was ever truly thought out.
You can see why it became too much for 1930’s audiences!
The true wellspring of ‘Naziploitation’ from which many a maligned film would flow.
We have pacing problems and some rather comic book ex-Nazi figures lurking in the shadows but the rest of the film is a superbly acted and crafted exercise in dark eroticism, exploitation, psychological drama and decadence.
I’ll say right off the bat that I had high expectations for the new Thai thriller “Alone” from the directing duo that brought us the phenomenal and truely frightening “Shutter” film.
The story consists of two girls who were born siamese twins; joined at the hip…. errr.. actually with a flab of skin that connects to the middle of their stomachs but stretches far enough that they can sit side by side? Anyways, the story begins with one of the twins grown up after having been seperated years earlier and we find out that one of the twins had died. So, living in another city now, we find out her mother is ill and she needs to travel back home with her husband to tend to her. Well it appears the dead sister is not so happy and is doing some good ol’ fashion asian horror jump scares to freak her and her mother out. I say jump scares because there may be one or two creepy moments but this film plays mainly to the quick jump scares. It trys to build the characters and obviously is building to a twist as they all must do. Problem here is the twist is quite obvious and I was able to figure it out within the first quarter of the movie. So I spent the rest of the movie waiting for the inevitable to happen between a mildly entertaining story and the occasional jump scare. The film itself looks good, well filmed… in my opinion it seemed like the directing team was going for the Tale Of Two Sister’s feel with the direction, setting, cinematography and even the story to an extent. It’s not a terribly bad movie, in fact, it’s better than most j-horror type movies. It’s just that it’s all been done before and done better. No new ground covered here.
Worth a rent whenever it becomes available in the U.S. but not worth the price to order the R3 Hong Kong version like I did as I don’t think i’ll be watching this again.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Aaron Woodley’s “Rhinoceros Eyes” since its release in 2003. Five years later and I finally got my chance as it was just recently released on dvd…. finally. I had read a review on the film that had heightened my expectations. Were they met? Absolutely.
Rhinoceros Eyes is a fantastical coming-of-age story revolving around Chep (Michael Pitt), a young, reclusive prop-house employee who falls in love with a detail-obsessed movie production designer named Fran (Paige Turco). Fran’s need for authentic props sends Chep to great and questionable lengths as he tries to satisfy her requests, and ultimately…win her heart.
Pitt’s performance is absolutely stellar as the idiot savant playing a recluse in the prop shop unwilling to leave it’s safety and the fantasy world it is. After meeting his love interest, Chep’s line between what is real and what is not rapidly deteriorates. He is unable to distinguish what is actually happening and what is in his head. Living in a warehouse of props doesn’t help the situation as the props begin to form into some sort of living creature (done through some fantastic prop animation) that trys to convince Chep of what he must do. It’s interesting to watch the transformation of the “prop creature” grow larger and more human-like as Chep dives further and further into the fantasy world. This “prop creature” also bears a lot of resemblance to the bunny in Donnie Darko and the voice actually sounds quite similar.
A very odd and rewarding experience. Much of this movie also reminded me of another one of my favorite’s; “Buddy Boy”. For my taste, everything in this movie was done right. It has elements of horror, drama, fantasy, thriller, and mystery. It’s all there and put together quite well with great performances all around. The setting, lighting and direction are all top notch. Highly recommended to those of you that like your films a bit on the odd side.
Oh, and by the way, there is the best Halloween mask i have ever seen in this movie and the director uses it so so well. The look on the masks face is absolutely perfect for the parts in which it is worn and absolutely hilarious at the same time.
Sure you have to take context and time in to view…But that does not mean it gives a film a get out of jail free card and “Cocoanuts” sadly spends much of its running time behind bars.
The stage origins are obvious and stodgy.
Groucho (amazingly) seems very hesitant at times and seems to be fighting not to trip up over his own words in his first scene.
The musical numbers are achingly terrible.
The stolen necklace/real estate subplots (and awful actors in them) drag the film to a halt.
Not all of the word play/gags are actually that good (especially compared to the genius that would follow).
And only when Chico and Harpo appear 20 minutes in does the film gain any kind of energy. And at last Groucho seems more at ease as well.
Yes I know how old it is, yes I know that this was their first feature length film and they had a lot to learn, yes the bad DVD print does not help, yes we know what was entertaining then (as in Christ awful musical hall songs and dances) and understand why it’s all in the film…
But none of that changes the facts that, a few pretty good Marx Brothers moments aside (the “Vhy a duck” and the ‘Auction’ skits are great), “Cocoanuts” is quite simply not very good and dated in all the wrong ways.
That’s all I have been watching for a bit, been neglecting my films.
But anyway, finally got around to watching Arrested Development, such a great program, mind boggles me how it got cancelled, probably too clevery done and less in ya face for the mainstream audience to appreciate!
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Aaron Woodley’s “Rhinoceros Eyes” since its release in 2003. Five years later and I finally got my chance as it was just recently released on dvd…. finally. I had read a review on the film that had heightened my expectations. Were they met? Absolutely.
I Heart Rhinoceros Eyes. Loads of coverage of that film in the twitch archives. Can’t wait for Woodley’s DRONE.
