Page 1 of What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 26th June)

On DVD:

I, Robot - Disappointing effort from Alex Proyas whose efforts are undermined by some unbelievably awful product placements and concentration on Will Smith's physical 'assets'. :¦

National Treasure - Indiana Jones' poor cousin, National Treasure is entertaining enough but seems to get bogged down in its own symbolism and, in Nicholas Cage, doesn't have a lead with the wit or presence of Harrison Ford. :¦

Flight of the Phoenix (2004) - I haven't seen the original but it must be better than this poor effort which is mostly dull; the only surprise is when Giovanni Ribisi turns out to be an aeroplane designer (of sorts) and not a serial killer! :(

Ring - Mean and moody, Hideo Nakata's breakthrough horror pushes all the right buttons and works even better with the DTS track provided on the new trilogy box set. I was a little puzzled why the "frolic in brine, goblins be thine" line was replaced by a saying about water and monsters; I have the book but haven't read it yet - can anyone help explain this until I read the book? :D

Ring 2 - Works well in (mostly) finishing the Sadako story whilst providing enough atmosphere and jumps to keep you on edge. :)

Ring 0: Birthday - As good as Ring 2, this prequel establishes Sadako as a passive victim and as a creature of rage. :)

Exorcist II: The Heretic - How do you make a sequel to the greatest horror film of all time? You shouldn't; but John Booman has done and failed at every aspect of this film. The confusing and boring story is poorly acted by a cast that most films would love to have and John Boorman's direction is so awful you can't help but laugh at the film which is, at no point, scary. Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Linda Blair and Kitty Winn all look like they can't be bothered with the film and, if the rumours of Burton's drinking are true then I can't really blame him given the rubbish he was asked to read, Burton and Blair seem to have a strange relationship which Vladimir Nabokov would've been proud of and when James Earl Jones appears dressed as a giant locust the whole movie descends into farce. >:(

The Exorcist III - Ignore the title as this film really has nothing to do with William Friedkin's 1973 classic and is mostly based on William Peter Blatty's novel, Legion. A detective who, for the sake of the franchise is Lt. Kinderman, visits a friend (Father Dyer) in hospital whilst working on a serial killer case and finds himself in the high security psychiatric unit with 'Patient X' who bears more than an uncanny resemblance to Father Karras who died 15 years before. This silly premise detracts slightly from a well written and directed film with a decent array of 'jumps' and excellent 'theatrical' scenes between Kinderman (George C. Scott) and Brad Dourif who claims to be the 'Gemini Killer' via his ability to possess people and have them carry out the murders. :¦

The League of Gentlemen: Series 2 - Probably a better series than series 1 with some even more twisted and dark characters; only Les McQueen and Mickey aren't complete monsters! :D

Garfield - No film with Bill Murray on form is ever completely awful and he is the only saving grace of this otherwise dull film. :(

Graveyard of Honor - Kinji Fukasaku uses hand held camera shots, sepia colouring, freeze frames and all manner of filming techniques to tell the story of Rikio Ishikawa and his trials and tribulations with the Yakuza. Graveyard of Honor is well acted and Fukasaku's direction is quite superb. :)

Casino - When Martin Scorsese teams up with Nicholas Pileggi to make a film, the end result seems to be an epic masterpiece; it was with Goodfellas, and Casino is as good as their previous collaboration. Robert De Niro gives a brilliant performance as gangster turned casino boss, Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, Joe Pesci is (once again) a completely believable psychopath and Sharon Stone is wonderful as De Niro's materialistic and narcissistic wife Ginger; the film is completed with Scorsese's excellent direction and score. :D

The Aviator - Inexplicably ignored for the major awards at the 2005 Oscars, Scorsese's biopic of industrialist, film director, recluse and aviator Howard Hughes is compelling with some breathtaking cinematography and fine performances by all of the cast. I haven't listened to the commentary yet but the DVD has a wealth of supplementary material about Howard Hughes and the making of the film. :D

Hotel Rwanda Commentary - A very good commentary with Terry George and Paul Rusesabagina who use the film to discuss what really happened before, during and after the massacre together with its translation onto the screen; keeping more to the human side of the story rather than the technical process of making the film. :)


On cable:

Lots of sport -From the two Lions games and the England vs. Argentina game to the Natwest series and the stunning display of boxing skill by Floyd Mayweather Jr., this has been an excellent week for sport. :D


At the cinema:

Batman Begins - Slightly better the second time around, this is still one of the best movies I have seen this year and the best Batman film to date. :D


Downloads:

Family Guy Episode 406 - Back to its best after the slightly weaker fifth episode, the Griffin family struggles to cope when Peter is (unsurprisingly) diagnosed as mentally retarded. :D

American Dad! Episode 107 - Still not in the class of Family Guy, this episode again plays on Stan's competitive side and introduces the element of a lactating alien. :)

The 4400 Episodes 201, 202 and 203 - Begins where Season 1 left off with each episode introducing new returnees whilst following Jordan Collier and his new 4400 Centre and the 'missing' 4400s who are on the lam, Richard, his wife Lily and baby Isabel - excellent stuff. :D


My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection

DVD -

AD Police - Surprisingly Violent anime. A prequel to the Bubblegum Crisis (whose violence was severely toned down), it follows the AD police, a special task force designed to combat malfuntioning androids or `Boomers`. It contains many themes similar to GITS (which it predates by about 4 or 5 years), such as `can artificial intelligence really be human?`, `are humans still humans after they have been cyborgified?` and `If we create life is it right to then exploit it?`. Actually quite thought provoking. The animation and direction are starting to show their age (it`s caught in the transition between the fairly simplistic animation of the 80`s and the more sophisitcated animation most anime fans are used to now), but I picked it up for 7.99 in the HMV sale, so back of the net, really. :D

GITS: Stand Alone Complex 2: Prequel series to the GITS movies. The continuing adventures of Motoko Kusanagi and section 9 and their hunt for the cyber hacker the laughing man. Fairly basic animation, but its stylistically very good and extremely well presented. And, damn, I love the intro.. :) (another 7.99er from HMV and for that price, you`d be crazy not to!)

X-Men 2 - With all the talk of how badly the shoot for X3 is going I thought I would revisit this and remind myself what all the fuss was about. A very good comic adap that takes itself just the right side of seriously. Worth the price of admission just for Wolverine pwning all the soldiers in the mansion sequence :)

Cable/TV

From Hell - Very good interpretation of the Jack the Ripper legend and Alan Moores original Graphic Novel. Visually beautiful and well directed, Johnny Depp (my GFs favourite) stars as Inspector Abberline (with Robbie Coltraine, about as good as Ive seen him in film, as his sidekick). Heather Graham is totally `meh` as the love intrest, but it cant spoil this well crafted spin on the old legend (may be better than the classic Michael Caine version). :)

Ring 0 - Ive seen so many Asian Horrors now, I just cant overlook their faults anymore. They started out as a breath of fresh air, full of Ideas and concepts that seemed to re-invigorate a genre that had run out of steam in the west many years ago. Just as Ring 2 was a pile of crap, so is this. The terrible use of rising water in 2 seems like a great idea compared to the sectioning off the 2 Sadakos. The problem with Asian Horror is very similar to that of weaker anime. The plots are paper thin, using ridiculous devices and using heavy handed allegory. Now Asian Horror is firmly established as a sub-genre it should now be judged on its own merits. And the fact is, to my western mind, it is largely bollocks. Films like The Eye and Audition are well crafted, well told stories. This, however, is a real let down, with its only saving grace being decent editing and a reasonable ending. Proving that not only does lightning not strike twice, it certainly cant strike thrice. :(

Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure - San Dimas High School Foootball Rules!!!! :D

TV

Smallville - Thankfully a decent finale. Lex is FINALLY showing some balls, as is clark. But, jebus, I realise it would kill the SFX budget, but when is he going to start flying? Everything on this show happens so damn slowly. :)

Enterprise - A decent episode and a good nudge, wink, to the old series, with an explanation of how TOS Klingons looked like varnished humans with big eyebrows. I keep saying it but it is a shame it got cancelled. As dire as the first two seasons were, its really found its stride now. :)

This item was edited on Monday, 27th June 2005, 11:12

On DVD:

Man on Fire: It looked like an excellent film, and I like the main actor (I think it was Denzel Washington), but I was quite disappointed. Nemesis and I had both worked out the plot line withing about ten minutes, and although I was enjoying watching the realationship between bodyguard and little girl develop, I didn`t like some of the gory scenes (I`m thinking of when the Creasy is in the car with the bad dude and he`s threatenig to chop his fingers off), so I didn`t watch a lot of the second half. I thought it was quite film, but I think I`ll put it on a bit earlier next week, then maybe I`ll be able to watch a bit more of it.
SWAT: I like this film, ita good fun, and although I thought it was a little slow the first time I watched it, I enjoyed it thoroughly this time around. Good storyline, with a lot of action to keep the film moving.

Video:

Contact: I like this film and think it is fairly easy watching. I hadn`t seen it for ages and I enjoyed it thouroughly

This item was edited on Monday, 27th June 2005, 11:50

DVD

The Straight Story - Cheeky title considering the director, but I found this to be a nice little heart warming story.

Go - Doug Liman does comedy well. He also seems to be able to get the most out of his cast and budget. Good, fun flick.

The Day After Tomorrow - I still like this flick. A solid disaster movie that, for the most part, strays from the preachy side of Cheese Land.

Cinema

Kung Fu Hustle - Funny as hell and with some great action sequences. It`s not remotely credible as anything other than an action comedy. But the special effects are ace for such a cheap film. Did I mention it was hilarious?

Macabre (1958) - a typical William Castle exploitation horror thriller. The prologue has his usual showmanship claiming that Lloyds of London have insured all cinema patrons against dying of fright during the movie. A doctor searches desperately for his young daughter who has been buried alive by an enemy. Lots of red herrings and black humour but the plot is too weak to sustain the movie for long.

Face Of Marble (1946) - horror veteran John Carradine as a doctor experimenting with bringing the dead back to life (dont they all). He succeeds with his pet great dane but when he tries it with a human strange things begin to happen. Fairly average for its type but Carradine is always good value.

Count Yorga (1970) - by the time this vampire film came out the genre was struggling to say anything new, Hammer had more or less given up and elsewhere in Europe lashings of sex and gore were spicing up such films. This American effort actually goes back to the basic vampire tale with a suave hypnotic count played by Robert Quarry corrupting the local women in a small American town. The modern setting means that a lot of the gothic atmosphere is missing but despite a slow start it builds up nicely and the climax is quite effective.

Return of Count Yorga (1971) - the success of the original led to a sequel with a bigger budget and higher production values. The count is back and up to his old tricks although there is no explanation as to how he returned from his demise in the first movie. Basically a rehash of the first film set around an orphanage and very predictable.

The Man In Half Moon Street (1944) - a scientist has discovered the secret of halting the ageing process but needs surgery every 10 years and a human victim in order to survive. A fairly non sensational melodrama with slight horror overtones. Well made by Paramount but lacking any real bite.

City Of The Living Dead (1980) - at last a Fulci movie I really liked. A priest hangs himself in the graveyard of a small town and from then on strange things begin to happen. The atmosphere really builds up well in this movie and although there are some typial Fulci gory set-pieces (a woman regurgitating her innards, a man having his head drilled etc) they work well within the story. The zombies appear at the end of course but they do not dominate the entire film. Some nice eerie camerawork and a great musical score. Recommended.

Pit And The Pendulum (1991) - directed by Stuart Gordon for Albert Bands Full Moon company this has Lance Henriksen as Torquemada. For a Full Moon production this is not that bad and they have clearly given it a decent budget (filmed in Spain I think). The one failing is that they just cannot resist the modern hip wise-cracking dialogue and at times it is like watching an episode of Xena but with gore and nudity. Lance Henrikson plays his part totally straight and at times he is over the top but he does manage to make his character multi-dimensional. Some nice set pieces including a delicious one where a witch is burned at the stake and takes revenge on the baying crowd in front of her. Oliver Reed has a cameo as a cardinal who meets a nasty end.

Hannie Caulder (1971) - a rarity that is a British western - actually from the Tigon studio of all places. Racquel Welch is the woman seeking revenge on the 3 dirtbags who killed her husband and raped her. Robert Culp is the bounty hunter who reluctantly tutors her in gunplay. Christopher Lee turns up as a gunsmith and Diana Dors has a brief cameo as saloon madam. The most interesting characters in the film are the three bickering villains played by Strother Martin, Jack Elam and Ernest Borgnine - when they are onscreen the film perks up, when they are not it is fairly routine. Acting is pretty good throughout although Racquel Welch is not entirely convincing in the lead role. Woth a look if you like eurowesterns.

Andy

Did you know that The Ninth Configuration, and Legion (Exorcist III), are part of Blatty`s official Exorcist trilogy and Exorcist II and IV have nothing to do with his trilogy?

floyd


DVD collection

I was aware that both Blatty and Friedkin denied any involvement in Exorcist II and that Legion was the basis for Exorcist III; however the orginal screenplay for Legion (later Exorcist III) was a straight case of a man in a psychiatric unit who claimed to be posessed, struggling to convince the sceptical Lt. Kinderman. It had no mention of Karras and no exorcism; both book and screenplay were concerned with a sceptical detective faced with a lead in a case that had been closed which could only be explained by the existance of the paranormal. This is another case where studio power won out over creative brilliance. I haven`t read The Ninth Configuration but will do when I receive the book.


My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection

Flight of the Phoenix is well worth watching, Its on tv every now and again, C4 I think, but worth buying or renting.
How`s this for a cast:
James Stewart .... Capt. Frank Towns
Richard Attenborough .... Lew Moran co-pilot
Peter Finch .... Capt. Harris
Hardy Krüger .... Heinrich Dorfmann designer of those aeroplanes
Ernest Borgnine .... E. `Trucker` Cobb
Ian Bannen .... `Ratbags` Crow
Ronald Fraser .... Sgt. Watson
Christian Marquand .... Dr. Renaud
Dan Duryea .... Standish
George Kennedy .... Mike Bellamy


Cracking toast, Gromit!

This item was edited on Monday, 27th June 2005, 16:53

Was in a comedy mood last week which started off with...

50 First Dates - Dug this out whilst sorting out me DVDs, never saw this so put it on, and it was quite funny.

Trading Places - Still funny after 20 off years, shame they didn`t make a sequel after the Dukes were given money by Eddie Murphy in...

Coming To America - A good Eddie Murphy flick, but it`s so 80s to the point where it dates the movie really badly in some places.

Gone in 60 Seconds - NOT the Nic Cage version but the 70s classic, where the car chases are so superior than any Michael Bay movie, because what you see is real, no CGI, no stunt cars, no stunt people, this is an totally independent movie where the policemen are played by real police, real paramedics are played by real paramedics, and the pedestrians running for their lives are pedestrians who are really running for their lives.
The final car chase lasts a whopping 40 minutes there`s nothing stylish or smooth like your average modern chase movie of today, it's raw, and miles better than the remake.

floyd


DVD collection

Sweet Charity. :)
You expect a review too?
well, the DVD copy is crap, with stereo in the English version and 5.1 in all the other languages. How bloody stupid can you get? Plus 16.9 until the musical (I must be gay!) numbers then "reverts" to original aspect ratio.
Shirley McLaine brilliant though. Fosse`s direction pretty poor and end-of-sixties, choreography brilliant.
Over and out.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 28th June 2005, 14:49