Garyswordz

Uninspired Tedium, 19 December 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

The content of graphic sex, sexual violence, drug taking and murder are aimed at an audience that wants to be titillated, and in this modest aim “Donkey Punch” more or less succeeds.Yet somehow Director Oliver Blackburn squanders reliable staple teen horror fare into an indigestible mess which is difficult to stomach.

Four young men and three young women, party, have sex, and then become embroiled in a deathfest when one of the girls dies during a sex act.The acting is fairly good, the characters are fine and the girls, Sian Breckin,Nichola Burley and Jaime Winston (daughter of Ray) look good and are a teenage boys dream, well “up for it”.

A setting on a boat always has dramatic potential, confined space, isolation, no escape. It also has some drawbacks, physically you are limited with what you can do.This is where Blackburn errs.The first half hour of scene setting as the characters get to know each other is fine, and the sex scene is convincing. But once the bloodletting starts everything spirals out of control.The actions of the characters are inconsistent at best, and unbelievable at worst.This is no psychological thriller, if you don’t know what to do – kill someone,that appears to be the maxim.Each sequence is so episodic, so stand alone, that there appears to be little link with what else is going on.By the end the dramatic tension has evaporated and you just want EVERYONE to die, but quickly.

Apparently this was shot in 24 days, which is quick. But this is no excuse for an inadequate script and screenplay

Safe, Enjoyable, “Pandemic Genre”, Fare, 11 December 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

An assured, if somewhat safe, first feature from Director Alex Pastor. It would be very easy to criticise this film for what it is not, at the expense of recognising it’s many strengths. This is no classic, nor is it a particularly auspicious debut. But it is a well constructed, engaging, entertaining story which succeeds by not trying to overstretch itself. It features Chris Pine, as Brian, shot before he leaped to prominence as James Kirk in the Star Trek prequel. However it’s best line is serendipity at its best, as a female yells “Tiger Woods can kiss my ass”, oblivious to the contemporaneous resonance this line now has ( you mean he hasn’t?!).

At 84 minutes there’ s little flab, nor sub plot, yet there is often a languid feel about proceedings, a neat achievement in itself. This is a Road Movie featuring two brothers, and two girls, set in a post pandemic Western United States. We join them mid journey as they head to the Coast to a childhood retreat that they hope to hole up in until things settle down. The picturesque Wild West provides a glorious back drop of mountains, tumbleweed, and single track road disappearing into the horizon. Shrewdly, there is no grand conceit, no master plan that the story has to live up to. It is episodic, what you see is what there is, no more, no less, in the tradition of Cowboy Westerns.

A number of the scenes borrow heavily from Cinematic history. The opening shot of a car blazing across a desert road reminds us of both “Mad Max” and “Breakdown”, the deserted yet possibly infected townscapes echo “The Omega Man”, Romero’s “Zombies” series and “28 days Later”, whilst a man hunt in a commercial kitchen is almost a frame for frame steal from Jurrasic Park 3.Not that it matters. The scenes are well executed, and well chosen, and are reassuring set pieces for the audience, and Director alike.

Although Road Movie, Horror staples are included. As soon as a child appears, you know no good will happen. Are “dead” corpses really dead? And yes there is a gratuitous young female underwear shot. But to his credit, Pastor largely avoids cliché, and once you come to terms with the fact that this story is told in episodes, what is done is done, it is possible to enjoy it for what it is. There is no big surprise, catch, or revelation. Which is not to say that the individual scenes are without drama, and tension, they are. But with modern cinema so obsessed with tricks and “reveals” it takes some adjusting to. Most close with a implied rhetorical, moral question, “What would you do?”

So the only real criticism I offer is the films strength. It does not try to be too ambitious, it works within its limitations and does not disappoint because it is straight.

Banal Drivel, 4 December 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A quite good idea is needlessly tortured by a ridiculous plot which has the protagonists looking embarrassed pretty much throughout. The premise is one of a classic revenge tragedy. The execution is a flawed “painting by numbers” attempt at the vigilant genre.It fails horribly. Director Gary Gray has had an unremarkble career to date, this will do nothing to improve matters.

Gerrard Butler plays wronged citizen Clyde Shelton whose wife and daughter are attacked and killed as he watches on helplessly in a raid on his house.The scene is not dissimilar to “Death Wish”.Jamie Foxx plays plea bargaining lawyer Nick Rice who has to deal with the aftermath as ten years on Shelton takes his revenge.But quickly the plot then shifts into “Saw – Jigsaw” territory, however as the story demands multi-settings and pace, it then shifts gear again into thriller/hi tech crime mode.This identity crisis does it no favours.

The moral dimension remains largely unexplored and most of the characters are so tedious that their death’s represent nothing less than mercy killings. The supporting cast is dreadful, none worse than Viola Davis who offers one of the worst, least convincing, acting performances I have ever seen.

There is potential in the scenario of a suspect seemingly wreaking havoc from behind the prison walls, but the explanation, when revealed, is so preposterous, and the ending, just plain stupid.To be found in the bargain bins at a DVD outlet near you soon.

Well Made Rubbish, 25 November 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

The essence of this story, alleged unexplained alien abductions in Alaska, is fine.However the ” based on true events/ using original footage” artifice is one dimensional, and fails.The Documentary style film, so brilliantly originally popularly exploited in the “Blair Witch Project”, and recently reprised in “District Nine” has as many disadvantages as advantages.This time round the down sides triumph.

The ambiguity between actual and recreated footage becomes confusing, and then unravels so that the viewer really does not care. Milla Jovocich stars as Abbey Tyler whose child is abducted,Will Patton takes the male lead as the bemused, confused and frightened town Sheriff. The “original footage” eschews a conventional narrative style, and the disjointed results are never compensated for by the value of the shockfootage.

Although credit should be given for trying to present the story in an innovative manner, a conventional narrative dramatisation of events would have been more effective. A good story wasted.This is Director Olatunde Osunsanmi’s debut feature, he promises little for the future

Sombre British Vigilante Tale, 20 November 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A triumphant return to prominence for veteran actor Michael Caine as retired Marine ,Harry Brown, who isn’t going to take any more on a South London Council Estate.This is the debut feature length film for Director Daniel Barber who makes a pretty good attempt at the vigilante/ revenge genre with a solid cast at his disposal.

The one and three quarter hour running time is dominated by Michael Caine who delivers a superb, brooding, restrained performance. Inevitably there will be comparisons with Clint Eastwood’s performance in the thematically similar “Gran Torino”.The bleak storyline and setting is not allowed to drag everything down with it thanks to some clever Direction and cinematography.Screenplay writer Gary Young is very good at keeping things moving along briskly, and the dialogue is both authentic and convincing.Yet the tale does lack humour, which the Underworld, Police and ex- servicemen tend to have in abundance.A reference to Policeman informing others of a murder as a “Deathogram” being pretty much the only light relief.

Emily Mortimer delivers a nicely nuanced performance as DI Frampton with the audience kept guessing as to where her true loyalties lie throughout.Ben Drew gives a chilling portrayal of career thug Noel, the up and coming hard man of a criminal family. However the part of Hickock, played by Charlie Creed – Miles, Frampton’s side- kick is less satisfying.He seems to appear merely as someone whom things happen around as a plot device leaving Creed – Miles fighting for an identity whenever he appears.

The finale, whilst feeling horribly staged, does work, and steers clear of cliché, just.But after the dross of recent London Gangster films “Shifty” and “Dead Man Running” the appearance and performance of Caine elevates this film.The defining scene where Harry Brown goes to buy a gun is deftly handled, and acted, by all concerned and suggests that there is more to come from Director Barber, hopefully with a bit more “Sarf Laandan Umour” to lighten the load.

A Superb Period Drama, 12 November 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A stunning drama, based on true events, which swallows up the 2 hour 20 minute running time.Director Clint Eastwood is now building up a body of work which surely already establishes him as amongst the finest Directorial talents of his generation.

The tale is simple enough, that of an ordinary woman whose son goes missing, and her quest to be reunited with him.Angelina Jolie plays the leading role as crusading mother Christine Collins. Previously her parts have been dominated, and no doubt won, by her beauty. Here Eastwood ekes out a career defining acting performance in which her looks are conspicuously dressed and toned down, resulting in the unleashing of a very fine acting performance.

But hers is not the only stellar performance.Jeffrey Donovan is unremittingly sly and evil as corrupt Captain Jones. Michael Kelly is superb as Detective Ybarra who stumbles across the gruesome activities at a remote farmhouse, a beacon of decency in a generally dark story.

As a Director, Eastwood could not be further removed from his taciturn, largely one-dimensional but well crafted acting roles and image .His eye for 1920’s detail in Los Angeles is both acute,and sumptuous.But it is his grasp of character and story which set him apart. Every part is believable and this enables him to win over the viewer to the story intellectually, and emotionally.

Sub-plots of Police corruption, the role of women in 1920’s American Society and contemporary Mental Health Care are starkly, awkwardly, observed, but not overplayed. The content, and intensity of performance makes this sometimes uncomfortable to watch, but what unfolds is never less than compelling.

A modern classic, where story, dialogue, performance and setting combine to produce cinematic magic.

Dreadful, dreary, nonsense, 11 November 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The British Gangster film has a noble tradition, this does not add to it.The Liverpool setting has great potential both as a backdrop, and as an opportunity to explore some real regional character. Both are squandered.

Director Adrain Vitoria’s credentials sit with soaps like The Bill,Hollyoaks and Brookside. he is totally out of his depth with a full feature, his only previous effort “Capital Punishment” having sunk without trace.Kevin Sampson wrote the novel on which this is based, but the screenplay was written by Ian Brady who shows a spectacular inability to write convincing dialogue and paint colour into character. How he needs to hire Martin McDonaghs “In Bruges” to discover how to write dialogue and use settings.

What we are offered is lazy, clichéd fare, with a formula plot, you know, the “one last job” plot.When a gratuitous lesbian clinch is shown between gangsters molls, Debs and Marie it is hard to tell whether their smiles are of acted pleasure, or of stifled laughter at the absurdity of the script.Stephen Graham and Scot Williams sleep walk through proceedings which are interspersed with episodes of extreme violence designed to inject some interest into a strangely flat production.

Best forgotten, which will not be difficult

Bland Bluster, 21 October 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

Big budgets and sci-fi tend to be uneasy bedfellows, and so it proves here.The idea, of surrogate robots “living” human lives for them is a decent one, and touches on ground explored in “I Robot”, “Westworld” and “Total Recall”. The cast is strong built around the dependable Bruce Willis.But disappointingly the Studio and Director Jonathan Mostow are content to allow the film to run as strictly formulaic big-budget fare.Car chases, a crash which reprises the seminal “Dirty Harry” fire hydrant scene, helicopter chases and choreographed crowd scenes are all presented forensically and as dispassionately as a robot artificial intelligence.

Mostow has an interesting background.As Director of T3, he showed a command of mega bucks productions and futuristic CGI, as executive producer of “The Game” he showed an understanding of how to tell a good story. Neither talent is much in evidence here.The characters are underwritten, and the story itself, of “rogue robots gone bad” lacks drama with a bizarre ending.Normally I praise a 90 minute running time, in this instance it appears that they simply gave up after an hour and a half.

If you like a blaring soundtrack to artificially create drama and sanitised chase sequences then this will suit just fine.But an “alternative” encampment, directly lifted from”Escape From New York” which Mostow is in the middle of remaking is risible and there is little else to amuse and entertain, certainly not the script which is about as functional as it is possible to imagine

A Masterpiece, 11 October 2009

Author: gary-444 from United Kingdom

This film’s birth pangs as a failed TV pilot make the end result even more remarkable. Over a year later, Director David Lynch picks up the pieces (literally), shoots new scenes and then produces not only his finest film to date but one of the all – time greats of modern cinema.

Detailed analysis, and a fine double disc DVD set with abundant interviews, can be found elsewhere.But for the uninitiated, the story opens with a beautiful woman who staggers away from a car wreck with memory loss and the tale of how her subsequent fortunes intertwine with those of the young woman whose temporary home she stumbles across.

Twin female leads,Naomi Watts and Laura Harring offer tour de force performances as beautiful, mysterious, sexy and dangerous women seemingly skitting between reality and a strange, ethereal world which we cannot quite place.Nothing is quite what it seems, clues and false trails abound, ad the viewer is kept guessing till the end, and beyond.

A majestic music score,and stunning, lush, beautiful cinematography combines with a literate script and obtuse plot to create atmosphere, excitement and uncertainty.The girl’s make-up and dress is invariably immaculate strenghtening the ambiguity of the story line.The irony that a film so removed from Hollywood convention should be set in Hollywood is sweet indeed.A masterpiece which will be appreciated by film students and aficionados for years to come.