July 12, 2008
What I did in June: Had my faith restored in low budget horror and witnessed the comeback of Marvels jolly green giant.
If you read this with any regularity then I owe you an apology, this is late. As of time of publication its already 12th July. This is because as renowned poet and gentleman Ronan Keating once said 'Life is a rollercoaster, just gotta ride it' and boy has the last month been a ride. I have had so much to do, I have submitted the final draft of my screenplay for pimping to the studios (which if your a studio head looking for horror, is out there now FYI) I have started the next one and done research on that, I got a new 42 inch TV, I turned 30 and had a big party and I went on holiday for a week where I spent most of one day looking for a wi-fi connection. Oh and I got a PS3 and have become addicted to Grand Theft Auto 4 and Call of Duty 4.
Anyway, on a positive note Summer 2008 is shaping up to be one of the best in quite some time with hardly any disappointments worth noting (did you expect The Happening to be good?, did you?) and we still have some cracking movies left to come out (The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Hellboy 2).
Due to the busy factor I have decided to concentrate on movies that I only have something to say about from now on. So for the record in June I also saw In The Valley of Elah, The Savages and Black Water. All are well worth your time I just do not have much to say about them apart from that.
Anyway on with the show…..
Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story: I liked this movie, I laughed quite a bit and at one point I actually laughed at something so much that I had to go back and watch the scene again and giggled like an idiot for the rest of the day. For me that is usually a sign that a comedy has done its job and though this was very amusing in all the right ways, like Blades of Glory it feels like it should have been much funnier. On the surface this is a spoof of films like Walk The Line and Ray but doesn't go for the dumb easy laughs like Meet The Spartans or Epic Movie would. Instead its done as if its a straight music biopic, just one about a very funny/dumb character. When it works it works very well but is definitely a movie that did not live up to its potential. ***
The Incredible Hulk: Hulk Smash! My favorite summer blockbuster of the year so far is Louis Letterier's revamp of the Hulk. Its my favorite because A) Its incredibly good fun and B) far better than I thought it would be and C) it gets everything right that the much maligned Ang Lee Hulk movie from 2003 got wrong, basically a tone that is just the right level between serious and fun. Edward Norton is a decent Bruce Banner and Tim Roth was a perfect choice for his nemesis who later becomes the abomination. They are both well supported by Liv Tyler and William Hurt as well as a small but no doubt important to the franchise role for Tim Blake Nelson. There are loads of hints here towards Marvel's plans for their characters, Captain America is referenced and Tony Stark makes an appearance but The Incredible Hulk still stands on its own as a thrilling comic book movie. The climax is what you always wanted to see, Hulk vs Abomination in New York City. Hulk even does that clap his hands to make a strong wind move that he did in the 1980's cartoon. Thankfully this has been a big hit which means we will get another one and move ever closer to an Avengers movie. Cant wait to watch this again on Blu-Ray.****1/2
Before the Devil Knows You are Dead: Woah heavy, that's the first thing I had to say when this finished. This movie is one of the most depressing in recent times. It starts off with two brothers who both have financial woes, not caused by excessive gambling or anything just kind of through the pressure of modern living. They decide to rob their mother and father's jewelry store to solve their problems and things go tragically wrong. This is all told in a tricksy flashback structure which alleviates the depressive air of the whole thing somewhat. Impeccably acted by Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Albert Finney especially Hoffman who comes across as both an incredible bastard and quite a tragic figure. Good Film all round really, just don't expect a happy feel good time.****
Appleseed - Ex Machina: The first Appleseed CGI anime from 2004 was good but lacked something when it came to the story. It was just very obvious and predictable despite being beautiful to look at. With this follow up they have corrected the story issues as well as improved the animation and wow! This is stunning on a big TV and I imagine even more impressive on Blu-Ray. The future presented here is incredibly detailed and well thought out. The action sequences have also improved due to the influence of producer John Woo no doubt. I had what is known as a geek gasm several times through out this as Masamune Shirow's designs were brought to life fighting off a plague of A.I controlled zombies. Is it too much to ask for a live action version of this now please? ****
Semi-Pro: I suppose it had to end sooner or later, no-one can stay at the top doing the same thing over and over. Semi-Pro is unfortunately one sports comedy too far for Will Ferrell. Its not that its terrible, its just very seen it all before. Some of the jokes work but most do not. The dialogue is the best thing in the film with Ferrell spouting phrases like 'cock sandwich'. the idea behind it is quite interesting as it has to do with the beginnings of the NBA and probably would have been far better received five years ago. After Kicking and Screaming, Talladega Nights and Blades of Glory its high time Ferrell tried something new. Luckily this summer's Step Brothers looks like it may be a big hit after this disappointment. **
The Bank Job: People slate Jason Statham nowadays and I really can't understand why, he isn't making high art but almost everything he is in is huge fun. The forthcoming Death Race remake looks like its the best movie ever made from the trailer. The Bank Job got almost universally bad reviews when it came out earlier in the year but bollocks to that as its one of the most purely entertaining movies to come out for a while. Its got a gripping story full of twists and turns, characters that you actually care about not just mouthy mockney geezers and its got a great eye for period 1970's detail. All this hangs on a juicy based on a true story hook involving scandal and blackmail in sleazy 1970's London. Seriously folks ignore the naysayers and cynics, rent this movie for a truly great Saturday or Friday night. Its far better than 90% of the Lock stock wannabes that have been released in the last ten years. ****
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: After a bad month last month my faith in independent horror has been restored somewhat by this film and Mitchell Lichenstein's Teeth. All the boys love Mandy Lane is another film that initially created huge buzz at the Sundance festival only to be bought and sit on a studio shelf for two years. It hasn't yet been released in the US either. The film is basically a slasher flick only it feels far more gritty and seems far more violent that it probably is due to the tone that is struck and feels like something that could actually happen. The director Jonathan Levine was very obviously influenced by the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre as nearly all the daytime scenes resemble that films cinematography. The teens in this flick are not the best looking apart from the titular Mandy Lane. They are also the kind of douchebags that you see on a train on a Friday night in London, all pissed on one can of cider on the way to the bowling alley and looking for a fight or sex. Its easy to sympathize with Mandy as she fends off their advances. Its even better still when a twist happens in the final reel that makes you question everything that came before. If this movie had been released during the Scream influenced slasher revival we would probably be looking at a huge hit. Sadly it seems this won't happen now and is probably a big loss for the Weinstein company. Never mind, Jonathan Levine's next film is the hugely acclaimed The Wackness due out this summer. Before that film hits big though check this one out so you can see where he started off. ***
Teeth: This is the kind of film that would have been banned as a video nasty fifteen years ago, how times change. We live in a day and age now where you can show semi-erect severed penises not once, not twice but three times and the third time you can actually see the top half of a penis fall out of a tooth filled vagina and on to the carpet to get eaten by a dog. Luckily you are spared a full on top shelf style view of a tooth filled vagina and that is just left to your imagination. Seriously though this is a great little independent horror movie with a lot on its mind. Its very well written and acted and has a blackly comic tone throughout. If there is one complaint its that the tone veers a bit too close to out and out comedy in the last twenty minutes or so. Will likely become cult classic rented by teenagers on sleep overs for years to come. ***1/2
Wanted: When the trailer for this first appeared back in January I was not impressed. The original graphic novel by Mark Millar is violent, twisted and blackly funny and tells of a world ruled by supervillains where all the superheroes were killed in a huge war fifty years previous and now the villains control everything. It has great variations on the typical comic book villain and some seriously messed up characters like shithead (literally a character made of pooh) and fuckwit (a huge lumbering oaf who could rip off your arms without breaking a sweat). Needless to say its hard to see how Hollywood could do this justice without seriously watering it down. Universal are hardly going to bankroll a movie where the main character after his Neo style realization moment, kills his boss, his cheating girlfriend and goes and rapes the chick he fancies in HR. Rather than water this down however they decided to completely throw out all this except for the initial set up from the comic which is quite well done here. After the amusing first twenty minutes we have what can only be described as the most insane hour and a half of crazy gun blasting acrobatic mayhem ever committed to screen. If you liked Shoot Em Up, Equilibrium and The Matrix this turns the gun battles in those movies up to 11. Whilst this means perfect summer entertainment for everyone they may well have shot themselves in the foot by not being more faithful to the original. After this movie ends its hard to see where it could go from here and the franchise potential seems seriously lacking. With the scenario presented in the comic the amount of stories you could tell in that world are seemingly infinite. So to sum it up; Wanted is a great summer action flick but not quite what it could have been. ****
















