What I Did in January (apart from moan about having no money): Moaned about the state of the DVD rental market. Oh and watched a few movies…..

Lets get this out of the way first, January is the Monday of the year. Its after Christmas, nobody has any money, the weather sucks. Its pretty much a write off for anything social really. This year unusually I found myself with just about enough cash to survive until February and whilst not having enough money for the usual hookers,guns and crack blowouts I hold in London, I had enough money to rent some movies and see at least two in the cinema. However it was not to be…..

Blockbuster video have long been quite reliable with their selection and I rarely come out of my local store with nothing and get what I want no problems. During the Christmas period and into January they decided it would be a good idea to hold a 'Rent two get one free, keep for a week' offer. Its a nice idea in theory, not so nice when every time you go in there is nothing to rent. No copies of 3.10 to Yuma or Disturbia out of about thirty, no copies of Eagle vs Shark, not even any copies of Knocked Up, a film I have already seen. On about 5 occasions I went in my local store after work or at the weekend and came out empty handed, there was nothing to rent.

I got a leaflet through the door from www.lovefilm.com offering one months free trial, so bored and with nothing to lose I signed up. I have to admit I am very impressed with the website and the selection on offer. As well as the new releases you can rent a HUGE back catalogue of classic titles. Films I have wanted to see again for ages like Q:the Winged Serpent, Class of 1999 and The Toxic Avenger are now on my rental list alongside a great selection of Anime and TV series.

After one week of signing up and putting all the new releases I couldn't rent on my list of 78 titles into High Priority I have only been sent two new releases and two of the discs I have been sent I have had to return as they are damaged. All I am saying at this point is that its a months free trial so come February 25th I will have to assess how it went and maybe go crawling back to Blockbuster*Sigh.

Anyway the meagre selection of films I saw in January are as follows: 

*SPOILERS*

Rise – Blood Hunter: As I was in the middle of a drought I probably enjoyed this movie a lot more than it deserved. Its too long and fairly basic for a modern Vampire film. Its got a tricky structure where Lucy Liu's newly made vampire goes after the bastard that turned her and flashes back to the events that led to her turning as she is on her quest for revenge. Its a sexy, sexy film. Carla Gugino makes any film she is in just automatically a hot one, but Liu here is also strangely appealing in a way I never saw before. This is more along the lines of Anne Rice's sensitive vampires rather than the savage ones from Blade or 30 days of night. Not a bad film but not really a masterpiece, entertaining sums it up. ***

Surfs Up: Yay Penguins! This was better than Happy Feet and a very very underrated animated film. Whoever came up with the idea of a mock-documentary about surfing penguins must have thought the idea was box office gold which sadly it was not. Basically it does exactly what you think a mock surfing documentary featuring penguins would do, it entertains as well as making you chuckle and occasionally go Awwwww. Good voice work here from Jeff Bridges and Shia Lebouef as well. ****

No Country for Old Men: There has been a lot of buzz about this one for a long long time now and I was not disappointed. This is a thrilling and violent film with oscar worthy performances that plays out like a cross between The Way of The Gun and The Terminator. Javier Bardem is very scary in this with his cold gaze and monotone voice. A friend of mine said that he so disturbed her that she had nightmares the same night as seeing the film. Now a lot of people have spoken about the ending with a lot of people not liking the fact that it doesn't end in a conventional sense. I had mixed feelings about the ending until about two weeks later when it finally clicked into place for me. The film is not about the cat and mouse chase between Bardem and Josh Brolin. The film is all about Tommy Lee Jones ageing sheriff. He appears at crime scenes too late throughout the film, pointlessly gathering the evidence. He knows the story won't have a happy ending and feels that he is living in a world going to hell that he doesn't understand. The final speech where he tells his wife of his dream the previous night is just perfect as he has now become another fearful old man in a world that has left him behind. Something I have never noticed in previous Coen brothers films is tension and suspense, No country for old men has a couple of really well done suspenseful scenes like when Chigurh is driving in a motel car park as the beep from the tracking device gets louder and then the scene in the hotel where you hear him approaching Moss's room.  Cant wait to watch this again. Not my favorite Coen brothers film but near the top (Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona will always be my faves) ****1/2

Seraphim Falls:Are you over 25 and British?? remember when Alex Cox used to present Moviedrome on BBC2 and show a cult film on a Sunday night? This is like the sort of film he would show. On the surface of it its a western chase movie with two irish lead actors Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan but that's the first hour. In the second hour as we are shown that both leads are enemies and have done despicable things which pit them against each other. The film then goes all metaphysical introducing characters that could be the Devil or God giving them a choice as they wander into the desert barely alive. This will possibly become a cult classic or maybe be forgotten in the mists of time which would be a shame. Worth checking out if you are into Westerns. ***1/2

Sicko: I like the outrage I always feel when I watch one of Michael Moore's films, it makes me want to do something positive like get Free Trade tatooed on my arse. after 5 minutes though I remember that Michael Moore is a documentarian with a political agenda and calm down. His films are still entertaining enough though and Sicko is not up to the same standards as Bowling for Columbine or Farenheit 9/11 but is a good watch no less. Will definitely make you feel better about the waiting lists on the NHS as well and doesn't exactly present presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton in a great light, the sellout. ***

War: Jet Li vs Jason Statham is like the B Movie equivalent of De Niro vs Pacino in Heat. So why isn't this film better?? You would at least expect a couple of decent slap abouts from the leads but you don't get them. There are some cool action sequences like a tea house raid and a car chase but the film seems to be trying to imitate Yojimbo with its tale of an assassin playing two sides off of each other in a gangland feud. A bit of a missed opportunity but there are worse ways to spend a Saturday night. ***

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: This is the best film I have seen since Beowulf and officially my favorite film of 2008 so far. I'm surprised I like it as much as I do because A) I wasn't crazy about the stage musical and B) its an adaptation of a stage musical which didn't do The Producers any favors. This film seems to be its own thing though. Tim Burton manages to make the film seem like its not based on a stage production at all. Sweeney Todd plays out like a bloody hammer horror film with singing and its glorious. The performances are all top notch, especially Johnny Depp as the snarling, angry Todd and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Lovett who helps him dispose of his victims all the while carrying a torch for him which he barely notices. The best seen in the whole film is when Lovett sings a musical number that is all about the great life they could have together. It takes them out of dreary London and into bright seaside settings for picnics etc, she is singing away and he is still so angry and driven by vengeance that he just frowns the whole time in disgust. Its a brilliantly surreal scene and probably the most Tim Burton like scene in the film. The blood in this film is excessive which was also a surprise but it doesn't feel over the top like it does in most Gorno these days. Probably my second favorite Tim Burton film ever (Ed Wood is still number 1). *****

Tales from Earthsea: I am not really familiar with the original books but I heard the author wasn't happy with this adaptation. Can't say I am surprised really. The story told here feels almost like the middle part of a larger story. Almost like they made Two Towers without Fellowship or Return of the King. Its pretty flat and uninvolving too, despite some decent animation. Being from Studio Ghibli who made Spirited Away I expected more. **

3.10 to Yuma: Had I seen this film as intended in September when it came out then it would have figured pretty high in my favorite films of 2007. The western seems to be back after Seraphim Falls, The Assassination of Jesse James and There Will be Blood. This made me want to re-watch the westerns I grew up watching like Tombstone, Young Guns 1 and 2, Unforgiven and The Wild Bunch. Its an action western with a really good cast and great performances. The show stealer though is Ben Foster playing a cowboy who is a mean bastard as well as being a little bit gay maybe, who knows? its never really explicit but it seems he is in love with Russell Crowe's character. Crowe is great in westerns, here he plays the opposite of his character in The Quick and the Dead as an outlaw who is ruthless and violent one minute and sensitive and honorable the next. Christian Bale puts in another moody and haunted performance as the man who agrees to escort him to the titular train. The action scenes and shootouts here are very well staged. The scene with the gattling gun on a stagecoach and the part towards the end where the gang turn the tables on the men escorting Crowe to prison are very tense as well as having some shots that make you go ooh. This didn't exactly set the box office alight when released and didn't lead to a western revival like Unforgiven did,but hopefully its reputation will grow on DVD. *****

As publication of this is late i have already seen Cloverfield but will review that next month along with Juno, Rambo and hopefully There will be blood.