CantripZ Reviews

It Follows (2014)

About 90% Great

[27 February 2016]

What I liked, or even loved, about this movie is the same stuff that drew everyone in.

The film looks great, Detroit is a textured and very un-Californian place. The cast is interestingly ordinary-seeming, even the pretty protagonist. The story is nuanced and interesting, and the pacing is deliberate rather than Hollywood (which I'd describe as "frenetic-with-pauses-for-rote-character-development").

I dislike over-explained sf/fantasy/horror, and it didn't go there. I dislike films where everyone does or doesn't believe the protagonist in a blatantly schematic fashion, and I'm really glad it didn't go there, either.

Another thing I'm not into is horror movies based on monster-killing action scenes, so there's one scene in this film that almost spoilt it for me. It's basically my only gripe about the film, so it's a shame it's such a pivotal and dramatic scene, giving us the setup for the ending. It was either a clumsy attempt at an action scene or a failure to up the stakes from the suspense that came before.

Luckily, what followed was in fact a good ending, and by the time the credits finally rolled I was back on side again. I liked almost everything about the movie, after all. The script, the look, the performances, the concept, the ending...

90% great is a vast improvement over most US horror movies I've seen lately, so I'll try not to complain too much about that one scene.

The Great Hip Hop Hoax (2013)

Yank Off

[18 October 2013]

This is a damn fine documentary. Jeanie Finlay has done a great job not only with the interviews but also the music, the archive footage and, most importantly, the plot and pacing.

This is a really compelling and suspenseful story, which isn't something you can say for many documentaries. Two young rappers go from Scotland to London to break into the music industry -- and when they fail, they go back again pretending to be American. And they make it. Almost.

The personalities are fascinating, especially seeing the switch from interviews with Billy and Gavin to footage of Silibil & Brains on the rampage. The breathtaking, barefaced cheek of them, and the insane intensity of living in character, makes for irresistibly absorbing viewing.

I'm also blown away at the central idea of their hoax: pretending to be foreign through national pride. Think about it. Yes, it's completely crackers. Barking bloody mad, in fact. But it's also absolute genius in my eyes.

For me, the worst aspect of this film is the animation. It looks like an online ad, more or less, with just a little extra movement -- ugly designs, no flow, looks like it was coloured on MS Paint, etc -- but it's a fairly minor distraction.

The only other negative is... well, the music industry. Because it's depressing as hell. But we knew that anyway, right? I look forward to catching Sound It Out from the same director, also musically themed, although I might skip Goth Cruise, since I'm still in denial over my own teenage goth phase.

Kabachitare! (2001– )

Enjoyable Character-Driven Comedy

[29 December 2010]

This is a fun and absorbing work-based comedy renzoku starring the luminously beautiful Tokiwa Takako and the possibly-less-luminous-but-I'd-rather-marry-her Fukatsu Eri. Fangirls also love this series for the presence of a then-young-and-innocent Yamashita Tomohisa (you even get to see his butt, Yamapi fans!).

Sakaeda Chiharu (Fukatsu) is a legal scrivener, charged with delivering writs and the like. When she meets and befriends waitress Tamura Nozomi (Tokiwa) she is fascinated and exasperated by her happy-go-lucky attitude to life, and the unlikely friends bond over their status as single women approaching 30 (which, I gather, is a much bigger deal in Japan).

The series follows their friendship and their pursuit of marriage in a lighthearted way, as innocent and idealistic Nozomi begins working with Sakaeda-san. A sub-plot follows the efforts of Nozomi's younger brother Yuta (Yamashita) as he arrives in Tokyo from the sticks.

Each episode contains a mixture of the female leads' romantic aspirations, legal work and daily life -- an amusing and engaging blend which concentrates on comedy over drama -- and all in all it's a fun and worthwhile series. I have a feeling that the legal stuff is wildly inaccurate (despite the occasional quotes from the criminal code!), but that's not really why you'd watch this show.

It's easygoing and fun and thoroughly uplifting, and the combination of Tokiwa and Fukatsu ensures that every episode is a joy to watch.

Kamen Rider Blade (2004–2005)

A Heisei Rider Classic!

[1 September 2010]

Thousands of years ago, a battle was fought between high-powered beings called Undead, each representing their own species and fighting to see which would evolve to rule the Earth. Now the Undead are unexpectedly awakening, and a handful of special humans must fight them using the Rider System. The Rider System has the ability to seal the Undead into cards, and channel their power so that the Riders to can use unique attacks and (eventually) different forms.

At the outset there are two Kamen Riders: idealistic Kenzaki Kazuma (Tsubaki Takayuki) becomes Blade, and his rather serious sempai Tachibana Sakuya (Hironari Amano) becomes Garren. When their support organization is destroyed in a surprise attack, they are forced to rely on the help of their lone surviving team-mate Hirose Shiori (Egawa Yumi) and journalist Shirai Kotaro (Takezai Terunonosuke), who sets up a modest HQ for them in his home.

However, Kotaro's family have also taken in Aikawa Hajime (Morimoto Ryouji), who seems to be linked to the mysterious Kamen Rider Chalice... and Hirose's father was one of the scientists whose work may have freed the Undead... not to mention the fact that a powerful Undead is targeting young Kamijo Mutsuki (Hojo Takahiro), who may become either a new Kamen Rider or a new enemy! Fighting, fun and monsters abound in this superb slice of tokusatsu madness (which may even have surpassed Kiva as my favourite Kamen Rider show). Each Rider is well designed and has an interesting background and character, and they seem to spend as much time fighting each other as they do fighting Undead – which is actually a bonus! The plot of this show is pretty straightforward overall, but the show's dramas and battles are as often as not driven by character rather than plot, giving the story a more serious feel in spite of the comic relief. Even the comedy characters and situations are a little more restrained than usual, and as the plot's climax draws closer the comedy is all but forgotten.

The ending, where lots of toku shows shoot themselves in the foot, is both dramatic and satisfying, and even the movie is unexpectedly quality (not least because it features the ever-epic Nagasawa Nao as one of the franchise's rare female Kamen Riders). All in all this is an unmissable entry in the Kamen Rider series: first rate tokusatsu for young and old alike!

Holyland (2005)

Go, Yankee Hunter!

[17 August 2010]

This is an intense ride, and one of my favourite Japanese TV shows of all time. The closest things I can think of in terms of style are LIFE and Sh15uya, two very different shows.

Holyland has a tweaked, fast-paced visual style which is somewhat like LIFE (pardon the pun), and there's a tangential connection via the theme of bullying, but then this show isn't about that...

It's about fighting, and although in the early episodes this is grounded boxing and judo moves, it quickly incorporates karate and grappling and speeds up and complexifies the choreography of the fights until, like, Sh15uya, it's got full-on martial arts throwdowns without any of the usual tokusatsu stylings.

In Holyland, Ishigaki Yuma plays an action role long before Azumi, when he was a skinny, fresh-faced Johnny's Jr member... but a very intense one, whose execution of the fighting moves is spot on, and whose acting is pretty damn impressive too! The plot here is quite modest, focusing mostly on a few key characters and fighters, and from what I've read it's pretty faithful to Mori Koji's original manga, but it builds quite a head of tension.

Overall, it's a brilliant series which seems to get better with every episode. Highly recommended!

Koi no chikara (2002– )

I don't usually like romantic comedy, but...

[17 August 2010]

...well, I loved this. And, okay, I admit, I find myself easily addicted to romantic renzoku and shoujo manga in general. So I'm a big girl's blouse, I can deal with that.

But hey, this is a fun show, set in the world of advertising as a small, eccentric agency try to compete with their corporate ex-employers.

Motomiya Toko (Fukatsu) was demoted from the creative department to general affairs, so she's surprised when star designer Nukui Kotaro (Tsutsumi) head-hunts her for the new, independent agency he's formed with up-and-coming ad-man Kimura Sogo (Sakaguchi). However, they mistook her for someone else entirely....

Add in creative tantrums, love rivals, alcohol-fuelled stupidity and some genuinely fun and interesting ad campaigns, and you've got a show which is just the right combination of funny and sweet.

One thing this has, even above most of the romantic renzoku I've become addicted to, is a killer cast, headed by Fukatsu Eri (who recently played Tripitaka in the Saiyuuki series and movie), who is both lovely and hilarious, and the stern-faced Tsutsumi Shin'ichi (star of Sabu's Postman Blues), who gets to show his goofy side as Nukui-san. The rest of the cast is also excellent, especially Sakaguchi Kenji and Nishimura Masahiko as the other members of Nukui & Co.

The romance is as stylized as Japanese romances usually are, but the characters and the players really sell it for maximum effect. The ending is surprisingly moving, successfully bringing out the believable aspects of the characters which underly even the silliest comedy moments.

Kamen Rider J (1994)

Rider Kick!

[24 November 2009]

I wasn't sure what to expect from Kamen Rider J -- after all, it's a 45-minute theatrical feature, where most incarnations of Kamen Rider are 50-episode TV shows. However, the plot was kept simple and the action was abundant, and by the finale I wasn't thinking about much except "Go for it, Kamen Rider J!" Like some of the better self-contained anime OAVs I've seen, the 45-minute runtime is plenty to tell a simple story in a straightforward way. Plus it's almost all action!

Koji is investigating the sudden wave of pollution and animal fatalities around some unspecified lakes in Japan. One evening, as he's about to turn in, a little girl called Kana turns up with some coffee for him... and gets abducted by aliens! Good quick intro.

The aliens kill Koji and take Kana off to feed to their newly-hatched brood, but Earth Spirits intervene and resurrect Koji with the sacred energy known as J Power. With his new power he can transform into Kamen Rider J and fight the powerful mutants sent by Fog Mother as he tries to rescue Kana and save the world.

Which, of course, he does -- in his regular form and, in a memorable sequence, in giant form! Kamen Rider J closely resembles my fave Showa rider, Kamen Rider Black. His bike looks just like Battle Hopper, too! The giant version (and some other particulars) reminded me of the Ultra Series, making me wonder if it was a deliberate nod from one classic franchise to the other.

The action in this movie rocks. The suits and FX are good quality, and the miniatures for the giant bits are cool. Although the running time is just over two episodes' worth of regular TV, the story comes across well and the finale is very satisfying. As the only two human characters, Yuta Mochizuki and Yuka Nomura both do a good job, and the villains are loads of diabolic fun (especially Yoko Mari as Zu).

I was surprised at just how much I enjoyed this, and I'd recommend it to any and all Kamen Rider fans out there.

Kamen Rider Decade (2009)

I wish this was "The Adventures of Natsumikan" instead...

[28 July 2009]

This is a show which shoots itself in the foot with its own gimmick. Which is maybe a bit strained etymologically, but trust me on this.

As the title suggests, Kamen Rider Decade celebrates ten years of modern Kamen Rider, with a plot which sees its protagonists switching from world to world, experiencing the different universes and opponents (and, of course, the Riders and their powers!) from Kiva, Ryuki, Den-O et cetera.

Unfortunately, it comes up severely lacking, especially when compared with last year's offering, Kamen Rider Kiva.

If you love tokusatsu shows, there's guaranteed to be something in here to entertain you, what with the diverse assortment of Riders and monsters, but the world-switching is horribly badly done, and the swift succession of different plots and casts of characters makes it difficult to care too much about any of them.

The central characters who travel between worlds also suffer somewhat from this, as the constant need to introduce and explain every new world (each with its Riders and villains and regular humans) reduces their scope for development significantly. Although I confess I'm rather smitten by female lead Mori Kanna as "Natsumikan" - she's cute, she's funny, and she has some great outfits! This is basically a show for Kamen Rider fanatics, who want to see "which rider would win if..." or "which monster is more badass?". And it's very much a kids' show, whereas Kiva provided enough story and character alongside the comedy and fights to generate more of a family feel. So while this show IS fun, there's really nothing more to it.

I actually wanted to comment on Kamen Rider Kiva (a superb series which I was utterly addicted to for the whole of 2008!) but it doesn't seem to be listed on IMDb... however, if you get the chance, watch Kiva rather than Decade!

UPDATE: Well, the series finished... and even though the storyline is left hangin until the theatrical movie release, I have to admit that the last story-arc was more compelling and that the action and character development did in fact both improve.

However, having by now seen two episodes of the new KR show, Kamen Rider Double (or Kamen Rider W), I'm still forced to say that in my opinion, Decade is a bit weak. So... watch Kiva or Double instead! Sorry to the fans who rated me un-useful, it's just how I feel.

Vengeance (2006)

A Disappointing Monster Movie

[9 July 2009]

I was intrigued by the premise - a team of cops, with a local guide, chase some hardened criminals into a reputedly cursed jungle, where they must battle not only the villains, but also... well, monsters.

The first half-hour or so was pretty fun, albeit nothing special, but I lost it as soon as the CG baby alligators appeared... then the giant snakes...

Even the appearance of cute jungle babes didn't really improve matters, since they obviously came straight from the bit of the jungle where hair products and make-up grown on trees, at which point the film lost its last shred of credibility in my eyes.

Also, I was bewildered by the censorship of the print I saw. Early on a cigarette was fuzzed out, then later guns and knives which were being used to threaten people directly. As in, pressed to their throat or head..

If they were being threatened from further away, however, that was fine. So was the almost nudity, the mild sex scene, the bloodied corpses and the use of weapons on CG reptiles. No fuzz on any of that.

It's not a terrible film by any means, but the opening had me hoping for a lot more than it delivered. I hoped for a dark, fast-paced action/horror movie with a uniquely Thai twist. What I got was a dumb fun action flick with dodgy CG monsters which followed the old Hollywood adventure-movie rules far too closely.

Some good performances, some fun fights, some cute girls, but not very satisfying, I'm afraid.

Pieces (1982)

Add This Film to Your "Best of the Worst" List

[7/10 · 23 January 2009]

There were so many outrageously bad things about this film, including (but not limited to) the Police keeping a chainsaw-wielding campus serial killer secret from the press, creaking sounds to accompany a shot of feet on concrete steps, the killer (in black coat and hat) getting into an elevator while successfully concealing a chainsaw behind his back, the jaw-dropping random idiocy of the "bad chop suey" scene...

Hell, just the fact that the killer is a black hat and coat wearing loon who wanders around with a bright-yellow petrol-driven chainsaw dismembering girls on a college campus! This is ludicrous and irresistibly fun – even more than the amazingly stupid Paganini Horror, this demonstrates why bad horror movies can be good. The girls are cute, the gore is effective and the entertainment is non-stop... so long as you don't mind too much that the script and acting are almost surreal in their ineptitude. Undoubtedly the best US/Spanish/Puerto Rican co-production I've seen this year! Incidentally, if you haven't guessed the identity of the killer after, say... the first kill, then you're so stoned this movie might somehow seem good. Enjoy.

Paganini Horror (1988)

Glorious Trash

[7/10 · 19 January 2009]

Amazingly entertaining and completely stupid Italian horror! A pop group purchase a mysterious unpublished Paganini melody from a mysterious old man. Turns out it's the evil melody he wrote to sell his soul to Satan! Or something. Anyway, when the band play their soft-rock-meets-synth-pop masterpiece "Paganini Horror" it's fated that Bad Things will happen!

So along comes Paganini in a cool mask, with a gold switchblade violin and some infernal powers, to mess with the group and their manager because... well, because he feels like it. Or maybe because he really hates '80s Euro pop, which is understandable really.

Then it turns out that the whole rigmarole has nothing to do with the group in a surprise ending which is partly surprising because of how little sense it makes (even for an Italian horror flick of the 80s!).

The amazingly 80s music and costumes are rivalled only by the dialogue and dubbing in terms of entertainment value, so while Paganini Horror might not be the finest of horror films it's certainly among the funnest! OK, so not much happens, really – some running around, some screaming, some killing, all freed from the constraints of logic and storytelling – and it's both well-paced and fine to look at, while some of the gore effects are superb (and the others are, of course, superbly entertaining). The score is better than the band's songs allow the viewer to hope for, too, and the small, rather mismatched cast are somehow perfect for this sublime nonsense.

The male drummer and video director are both completely ineffectual characters, the former played with some panache by Pascal Persiano, the latter portrayed in a flagrantly comedic style by Pietro Genuardi – but this movie's all about the women, and its the female cast who dominate from start to finish. Bonus! Two of the girls in the band are pretty hot (Maria Cristina Mastrangeli and Michele Klippstein), while the other one (Jasmine Maimone as singer/bandleader Kate) overacts with astonishing vigour, and Luana Ravegnini as their manager (less hot than the hot girls, but prettier and a better actor than Ms Maimone) alternates hilariously between being a hard-nosed boss-bitch and screaming along with the rest of the girls.

The aforementioned twist ending is incredible, and made me marvel once more at the talents of the film's two big horror-genre names, top-billed Daria Niccolodi and guest star Donald Pleasance, for delivering such idiotic lines with such bravura seriousness.

Pleasance is so gleefully sinister during his short screen time that his character comes across more charming than chilling (not surprising really!). Niccolodi's acting is as solid as ever, and she's sometimes lost amongst the screaming, overacting girls but it works because it's her character who delivers a lot of the important lines, and she's utterly pivotal to the greatness of the film's finalé.

For all the wrong reasons, this is a classic of Italian horror!

Garo (2005–2006)

Hyper Midnight Action Drama!

[7 September 2008]

Not being a fan of sentai shows, I was unsure whether this would live up to its reputation as a tokusatsu show for adults (being developed by some of the Kamen Rider team), but the tag-line is true and it is, indeed, a Hyper Midnight Action Drama! The premise is a straightforward mangaesque excuse for action: Saejima Kouga (Konishi Hiroki) is a Makai Knight, who is sworn to protect humanity from supernatural creatures called Horrors, who possess and devour humans.

During a battle, an aspiring artist named Kaoru (Hijii Mika) is spattered by the blood of a horror, and by the law of the Makai Knights she must be killed immediately... but Kouga can't bring himself to kill her, and instead lets her live on the pretext that she will act as bait for Horrors and make his hunting easier.

From this simple beginning the plot develops nicely (if rather predictably) though the introduction of new Horrors, new powers, bigger battles, and most importantly a second and very different Makai Knight, Zero (Fujita Ray), who seems to bear a grudge towards Kouga...

The characters are well-played and nicely handled, and the fighting featuring the phenomenal Mark Musashi) is wickedly fun - a ballistic blend of martial arts, suitmation and CG which somehow always manages to look cool! The dialogue is snappy and amusing, and the story is seen through to a satisfying conclusion.

There is a little in the way of blood, horror and mild nudity, but overall this is a thoroughly enjoyable show which can be enjoyed by anyone with a taste for action.

I've not checked out the two-part special which followed yet, but I'm looking forward to it! Incidentally, fans of this show should also check out the excellent "Sh15uya" and the amazingly daft (but utterly wonderful) "Cutie Honey the Live", both of which feature Mark Musashi, cool fights and crazy costumes.

The Public Enemy (1931)

Spiffing Gangsterism

[9/10 · 6 September 2008]

I just finished watching this nifty slice of old-school gangsterism for the first time since I was a teenager, and I enjoyed it even more now than I did back then. Partly because I noticed a few little touches which, for whatever reason, pleased me (Tommy Boy's wiping his hand after his introduction to Leehman, for instance), partly because I'd forgotten the sly humour mixed in with the heads-down crime drama ("He's at school learning how to be poor," is a personal favourite line), and partly because I've seen a bunch more gangster movies since, and in so many ways this is the daddy.

Granted, from a modern perspective this movie can seem rather sparse, but for me that's one of its strengths. The simple story-structure, the stark use of light and shadow, the bursts of sourced music, the laconic dialogue and the honed performances all add to the impact, and would all become staples of later gangster flicks.

I'm sure that, even in 1930, the rise-and-fall story wasn't blindingly original, but this is one of the earliest movies I've seen which treats its characters with an even hand. Cagney's character, Tommy Boy Powers, is never a caricature villain – he's got the combination of charisma and danger which real-life bad bwoys often carry around. Cagney, with that peculiar intensity and that face which is angelic and devilish by turns, gives a performance which brings out both sides, playful even when he's at his worst, and as his boyhood buddy turned gangster sidekick Edward Woods does a great job, never quite tipping over into pure comic relief.

I'd like the movie even more if Joan Blondell and Jean Harlow had swapped roles (that speech Harlow murders in her big scene with Cagney would have been pretty damn sexy coming from the lovely Joan!), but most of the female characters have so little to do that it ends up being a very minor gripe. Probably the strongest and best-realised female role is Ma Powers, the doddering mother with a blind spot for her boys' faults, brought beautifully to life by Beryl Mercer. Even at the beginning of the film she brings a note of tragedy as she watches the young Tommy Boy march off for his beating from pops, and as the ending approaches her emotions are almost painful viewing.

It's not a terribly violent movie, especially by modern standards. Often the violent scenes are rather casual and curiously lacking in impact, but then again this was never designed to be an action movie. (Incidentally, I love the revenge-hit on Rajah!) In short, this is the gangster film which set the pattern for the next forty or so years, and for my money it's far superior to any of Scorsese or Coppola's movies precisely because of its simplicity and unpretentious drive. It wasn't aiming to be a classic, it wasn't even aiming to be a work of art, it just happened that way.

As an afterthought, I was also impressed by the way the films illustrated, without drawing attention to the fact, one of the central events in the history of organised crime in America: the advent of Prohobition.

Effectively, the government of the time was foolish enough to bow to religious pressure and spurious concepts of public welfare, and in doing so it handed a multi-million dollar industry over to gangs who, as a direct result, became immensely rich and powerful.

Operation Proposal Special (2008 TV Movie)

At Last, Some Closure!

[28 August 2008]

The renzoku of Proposal Daisakusen was a lot of fun, for the most part... but like many viewers I found Ken (Yamashita Tomohisa) infuriatingly indecisive and sometimes downright pathetic.

The ending of the TV show (which I won't go into) suffered similar problems to its main character. It was a good ending, and squishily romantic, but it wasn't quite what we wanted to see...

This tanpatsu not only adds to the main plot, but also fleshes out a number of the side plots (Tsuru and Eri, Mikio and his older woman), and in doing so it concentrates all of my favourite elements of the original show, at the same time dispensing of the aspects I was less keen on and taking advantage of its format to craft a satisfying overall narrative.

Best of all, it features the ending everyone wants!

Moppu gâru (2007– )

Keiko-chan Forever!

[28 August 2008]

Hasegawa Momoko always dreamed of working as a wedding planner... but fate, and her own prodigious bad luck, landed her in the opposite of her dream job: a funeral home.

Her particular job is cleanup, often at the sites of murders or suicides, and as the title implies she's usually the one who has to carry the mop.

However, Momoko has a special ability: when she touches the corpse of someone who has died before their time, she is sent back in time to set things right! In many ways this show has all the typical features of Japanese comedy renzoku (for non-geeks, that's a TV drama serial usually in 8 to 12 parts, usually 45 minutes runtime).

There's a comical unrequited romance, a mixture of out-and-out comedy and rampant sentimentality, a premise which is bonkers by Western standards, and a well-defined formula which almost every episode sticks to tightly.

However, what sets this above the majority is the leading lady, Kitagawa Keiko. Some may remember her from the live action Sailor Moon, but here she shows a different side to her acting and its her presence which really brings Mop Girl to life.

She's just a naturally funny comedy actress, making little gestures like a double-take or a hesitant bow into laugh-out-loud funny moments. She's gorgeous too, which doesn't hurt none! The background cast is also striking, especially Tanihara Shosuke (who played the revenge-driven cop in Sky High) as the grouchy and indifferent love-interest (he has a thing for white girls - poor fool!), and Sato Jiro as their indecisive boss.

The formula of the show is varied enough to provide consistent laughs, and the quality of the acting ensures that the sentimental or semi-serious moments don't fall flat.

It doesn't grip me the way more serious dramas have, and it doesn't have the compulsive flow of an ongoing plot, but this is a superlatively fun and entertaining show which never fails to leave me with a great big grin on my face!

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Dictionary Definition of Overrated

[4/10 · 19 August 2008]

I saw this film once per decade in my first thirty years on Earth, and I've decided I don't need or want to see it again. It's a good film, and interesting from start to finish, but for me its I first saw this movie as a kid, and I was impressed (if rather confused). I had no idea it was supposed to be the best film ever, so it never occurred to me that anyone might think that.

Next time I saw the film I was in my teens, and I'd read Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness - thus, I was less impressed. By this point I was a little more into movies, so I'd seen more critically acclaimed classics too - another contributing factor to the film's diminishment in my eyes.

The last time I saw it was in my mid-to-late twenties, and I was honestly disappointed. When I next had the chance to watch the movie, a year or so ago, I passed.

Fans of Coppola and lovers of this movie will be ready by now to condemn me as a moron or philistine, but I truly believe this to be an overrated Hollywood mess.

It fails as an adaptation because of all the extraneous business: it's no longer about a man's journey to find Kurtz, it's about a seething mass of American national obsessions over Vietnam, war, race and imperialism.

Also, unlike Conrad's spare, to-the-point writings, the film deals almost exclusively in hyperbole. There are quiet moments, but they ring false in amidst the craziness.

As other reviews have pointed out, it's not really a war movie. However, its hard to see it as such since every scene is more or less obsessing over Vietnam.

Other reviews have also pointed out that it's not meant to be realistic, but I question that perception. It looks to me as if it *is* intended to be realistic in many ways - and the fact that it isn't is another of the film's failings in my eyes.

The racism of the film is also uncomfortable to me. Where Conrad's novel embodied the racism of its era (in which a white European did indeed have trouble viewing black Africans as human), this comparatively recent film embodies modern American racism by treating its nonwhite extras like so many cattle (no reference intended).

None of them have personalities or recognisable aims and objectives - they're seen only as faceless savages, as dangerous enemies, a mindless force which can be harnesses either by clever Communists or manipulative madmen.

The key performances are more interesting than actually good. Sheen isn't outstanding, certainly not at his best, and Fishburne is way underused. The big disappointment, however, is Marlon Brando. After such a long journey, so many death and traumas, its awful to realise that their objective is this old tubby loon who waddles around mumbling and being worshipped by unconvincing "savages".

I've never been a fan of Brando, who for me is like an older, fatter Al Pacino. He knows no restraint, and while many film lovers rate him all his performances seem pretty much the same to me... in that these are actors whose personalities get in the way of their acting. They always seem like themselves, whether its appropriate or not.

It's probably fair to point out that I'm not a Coppola fan, either. The phrase I used as a header here was originally something I said about The Godfather. Coppola's movies always come across bombastic and self-important, self-consciously "big" movies with heavy themes.

I do understand the film, and I appreciate that it has many moments of inspired cinematography and several truly amazing scenes. But for me, it never connects emotionally.

Too many characters and situations ring false. The structure is too messy, the use of pop music grates on my nerves, the plot-holes are increasingly apparent with every viewing, and to top it off I find the idea that this is adaptation of Conrad rather absurd. In many ways it's less true to the source than West Side Story is to Romeo and Juliet.

It's not a bad film, as such, but a deeply flawed film... and, from a personal point of view, sententious and unnecessary.

Jack Be Nimble (1993)

Dark, Beautiful and Exciting

[8/10 · 18 August 2008]

This low-budget horror film from New Zealand is, for me, a textbook example of why I love the genre.

It has everything a quality horror movie needs, including the elements which big-budget and "typical American" horror all too often lack.

The film looks great, using the natural beauty of NZ alongside impressive cityscapes, but also showing us the very ordinary and (of course) the dark and ugly side of both the rural and urban environments.

The plot is straightforward but intelligently thought through and far from simple, resting on the characters and the tragic events in which they're embroiled.

There is violence and death, disturbing rather than gory, and an insidious tension which builds slowly and isn't allowed to dissipate until the very end.

The characters are sharply defined and individual, yet at the same time convincingly complex.

The dialogue is unpretty (sometimes even crude), but direct and often powerful - in many ways watching this was like discovering an unknown early Cronenberg flick, but in place of Cronenberg's cool intellectualism Garth Maxwell has crafted a highly emotional film which isn't afraid to take its viewers into uncomfortable territory.

Some of the performances might perhaps have been a little more fluid but Alexis Arquette (as the titular Jack) and especially Sarah Smuts-Kennedy as Dora are exceptionally honest in their portrayals of a damaged brother and sister. Mention must also be made of the blunt, persuasive presence of Bruno Lawrence, bringing to life a character who could easily have been badly mishandled.

Mainly, though, it's the ideas which make this shine. There are more surprises in this film than in the last dozen Hollywood horrors I watched... and thankfully they're the kind of surprised which make you think, not the kind which make you jump! There are very few FX beyond straight-up film techniques and a little fake blood, and that too is to the film's credit. This is a film about people whose lives have spiralled out of control and into the dark side, and while the paranormal elements are ever-present they're never the meat of the meal.

There are a few rough edges. As I mentioned in passing, the script has its clunky moments and not all the acting matches the quality of the standout roles. There were also some heavy-handed edits, and the sound design wasn't as accomplished as the visual aspects of the movie.

These are, however, minor quibbles, which didn't detract in the slightest from my enjoyment.

If you have an interest in the more sombre, conceptual side of the horror genre, this is an underrated modern classic, and comes highly recommended.

The Raven (1943)

An Alternative View of a Stone Classic

[10/10 · 9 August 2008]

I fell in love. This film is so damn good it hurts, especially compared to the majority of English language films of the '40s.

It's difficult to add much to the comments already made on this classic film (without writing a book on it), and I agree wholeheartedly with the praise it receives.

The cinematography is beautiful, the writing is sharp and tight, the cast is superb and from beginning to end it's gripping and intense.

I seem to have reacted differently to many on one point, however. Reading through the other comments, I see a plethora of words like dark, misanthropic, disturbing, grim, depressing....

Personally, I spent much of this film chuckling to myself (quietly, so I didn't miss a single line of dialogue), gleefully revelling in the wonderfully mordant comedy which lurks just beneath the surface.

Does it really present a negative view of people? I would say not. The film states emphatically, over and over, that everyone has faults and flaws.

Denise sleeps around. Laura want to, but can't. Rolande misappropriates funds from the post office. Marie Corbin filches morphine from the hospital. Rémy, our protagonist, is an abortionist (and in a Catholic country to boot!).

Town officials fill their pockets, drink and doze and dally while they should be working, have affairs and act... like humans.

Not evil - flawed. Denise want to be respected. Laura wants to be loved. Rolande wants to live the good life. Marie is fiercely loyal. Rémy is a passionate doctor who acts according to his beliefs.

To me, not even "le Corbeau" himself was wholly evil. Vorzet's actions are certainly evil, and their results tragic and catastrophic, but his insanity is pointed out as coolly as the foibles of the other characters. By the good doctor himself, which is a nice touch... one which made me laugh at the end, looking back on the jovial commentary he provides throughout the film.

The humour is certainly on the dark side - and somewhat obscured by the emotional impact of the characters and the impetus of the story - but I found that at the heart of the film's darkness is a fundamental affirmation that life is a complex tapestry of good and bad, selfish and altruistic.

Nobody is all good or all bad. I honestly believe that. To say so isn't misanthropic or negative - it's just a fact. Neither does such a view condone selfish or destructive behaviour; rather, I would say, it implies a degree of awareness (whether observational or personal) which is more likely to discourage than encourage.

After all, if a person doesn't see their own faults, how can they deal with them? Compared to many films (not just of its own era), this is a morally complex tale. It treats all of its characters - from Rémy Germain and "la mère du cancéreux" to Vorzet himself - with a delicacy and sympathy which is unusual and moving.

The fact that it's also bitingly satirical and viscerally intense... well, that's just a bonus!

The Wicker Man (2006)

Burning Hatred!

[1/10 · 2 August 2008]

I am wincing in pain. I feel robbed. I feel like a small period of my life was laid waste by the absolute pointlessness of this cinematic vomit. I honestly cannot understand why anyone would want to do such a thing.

A remake is occasionally excusable, for instance if the original is interesting but technically lacking, or damaged by time, or knee-deep in cultural references which nobody understands anymore.

None of those things is true of the original Wicker Man. The references are drawn primarily from Frazer's seminal work on folklore, The Golden Bough (more readily available today than it was when the movie was made). The print of the film is maybe a little grainy but rich in texture, and captures the beauty of the Scottish Islaes in a way few films before or since have done. And the original boasts career-best performances from Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee (even the generally poor Britt Ekland is rather good in that film).

Any excuse offered for this nonsense is inadequate. The remake rips great chunks of the original, only ineptly insert them into a hokey horror movie with ridiculous "modernizing" touches (like a female Summerisle) and pathetically obvious references (like the character names being taken from the actors in the original film).

It looks pretty good, if film stock is one's measure of a good film. But why add FX? Why add back story? Why does the copper have to have an ex there for him to get all worked up? It's so transparently trying too hard.

And failing.

Horribly.

Every single, leaden step of the way.

(For additional perspective, here are some pertinent remarks from my daughter, a mini film critic.)

For a start, no effects needed on this movie. There were NO FX on the original, none needed either. Instead of best performances, there were possibly worst! The whole "Oo, I'm scary" thing is ludicrous. The Wickerman is not scary. It is, in the sense that you would never want to meet any of the people on that island, but horror? Please!

Ao no hono-o (2003)

An Interesting and Absorbing Look at Murder

[8/10 · 29 July 2008]

This is a brilliant example of a movie which is about murder, but which isn't a conventional crime thriller.

It's the exquisitely slow-paced tale of a murder - starting at the planning stage and following the perpetrator as he stumbles through a world irrevocably changed by his deed.

Beautifully written and filmed, with an eye-catching lead performance from Johnny's Entertainment idol Kazunari Ninomiya (who I'd previously only seen in a couple of comedy renzoku - I had no idea he could act like this!) and wonderfully restrained direction by Yukio Ninagawa, there's a lot to like here, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

This isn't a thriller by any means - it's very much a character drama, in spite of the tight plotting and the slow-building tension. The murder around which the story revolves is depicted carefully and in detail, but as much weight is placed on the state of mind of the killer and on the consequences of the crime (both legal and personal).

Well-written, well-made and excellently played, this is an interesting change of pace from the plethora of whodunnits and murder-mysteries and crime thrillers which tend to emphasise the action and investigation over the psychological aspects of what happens when one person kills another.

(Incidentally, this film reminded me strongly in its overall approach to murder of the writings of Patricia Highsmith, a good example being Found in the Street.)

Vampires (1998)

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!

[4/10 · 29 July 2008]

Wow! This is an amazingly bad film! For some foolish reason, I watched this expecting a horror movie, but beyond the fact that it has some vampires and a light smattering of gore John Carpenter's Vampires isn't a horror movie by a long chalk.

There's no tension, no buildup, no mystery, no disturbing death, no atmosphere, no uncertainty or sense of foreboding.

In spite of which, I liked it. It was reasonably fast-paced, with an entertaining premise, a bunch of (amazingly bad!) action scenes, an amusing cast and script notable for its consistent unintentional humour... all served with extra cheese.

At least, I think the humour is unintentional, but every time something mildly dramatic or exciting happens James Woods delivers a devastatingly funny line (like when he says to the gay supergoth vampire bloke "So tell me, does your dick still work after 600 years?")...

All the dialogue is like that - super-macho, utterly unconvincing and full of oddly unnecessary expletives. Personally, I swear a lot, possibly more than these guys, but the script is so awkward it sometimes sounds like they're cussing to hit quotas: one penis reference, two f-words and an overwritten sexual insult per scene! The rock score (composed, of course, by Carpenter himself) is a major cheese-enhancing factor. Electric guitar solos meander almost non-stop throughout the film's hundred-plus minutes (of the type often referred to as "bluesy" by those who don't know better), fitting perfectly with the biker-bar look of many of the characters and the dusty desert setting, but... well, not in a good way.

The lead performances were all brilliantly funny without being in the least bit good. James Woods proves once again that he has charisma even when he's asleep. Daniel Baldwin (who, not being a big fan of American movies, I've not really seen before) seemed like he was distractedly thinking about his mortgage payments. Sheryl Lee provided the least laughs at first, playing her badly-written hooker character with an almost professional attention to cliché, but in the end she got to yodel and chew scenery What else needs a mention? Well, there's a romantic subplot (by the numbers, skipping several numbers along the way), the sound fx (I love the way the vampires make a mad array of badly-dubbed animal noises every time their mouth move, as if they're carrying speakers in their pockets!), and the excuse for a plot (I will avoid the novel like the plague, but in my kindness I assume Carpenter skipped the chapters that made us give a damn)... but no, I won't go on.

Because, for all the dissing (and the fact I rated it 4/10), this is a fun movie.

Like Plan 9 from Outer Space with cool colour cinematography.

The look of the film is the only thing that's unabashedly, no-excuses-needed good about it... but then, it's hard to make a desert look less than beautiful.

My advice is to definitely watch this, but first stock up on some quality skunk... and rent, don't buy!

Equilibrium (2002)

Ouch! So bad it hurts...

[1/10 · 21 July 2008]

I really wanted to like this movie. Really. I tried hard.

I failed.

However, I should note that there are lots of good things about this film... just not enough to save it.

The lead performances are excellent. Christian Bale, Taye Diggs and Emily Watson were all sterling. Sean Bean is as watchable as ever, in a pivotal but sadly brief role.

The action scenes are pretty cool, too. An interesting blend of wuxia and gunplay in a very Eupropean style which is fun and refreshing after a lot of HK and US-trying-to-be-HK fights. And I love the Gun Kata.

Perhaps the best thing about the film is the production design. The sets, costumes, textures and light in Equilibrium are all beautiful.

Unfortunately, the premise is unbelievably stupid.

Not only that, the plot is too.

And the ending would have been laughable if I hadn't been groaning out loud.

Basically, it's an inept ripoff of Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451, only instead of books being illegal, emotions are.

WHAT?! How the hell did that government get in? I mean, please.

I accept that totalitarian governments with strange ideas have existed and will exist, but the idea of running on a platform of "We will medicate you to remove all your emotions!" is just plain stupid.

The film's references to Librium and Prozac are duly noted. At the time of watching I was unmedicated, but if forced to re-watch it I'll seek out some heavy-duty tranquilisers first.

In a Lonely Place (1950)

Possibly not film noir...? (Spoilers)

[7/10 · 21 July 2008]

Before we get to the review, and the spoilers, I want to recommend this movie. It's exciting, dark and well-paced with excellent performances from both leads.

Humphrey Bogart stars as a Hollywood screenwriter with a violent past who is wrongfully suspected of murdering a girl he picked up. Partly cleared by witness who saw her leave his place alone, As other users have commented, this seems to be a somewhat overlooked film in the Bogart canon, but although it's become one of my favourite films to star the old warhorse I can see why some people find it difficult to get along with.

First up, there's the character of Dix. Probably better than most of Hollywood's stars of the time, Bogart brings him to life. But Dix isn't a particularly sympathetic character - more of a tragic hero in the classical sense (although he survives to the end): a larger-than-life figure with a fundamental flaw. He's a talented writer but emotionally he's either too detached or too intense... and then there's his temper.

How deep this flaw runs is in many ways the theme of the movie, and as it progresses Dix becomes less and less likable - although never entirely - and like us, his lover Laurel (the excellent Gloria Grahame) gets to see him at his best and his very worst. By the end of the movie his emotional state is extremely vulnerable and thus very uncomfortable for the sympathetic viewer.

Secondly, there's the uneasy mix of realism and the 1950s. The cops question a key witness in front of the prime suspect. People have relationships, but not sex.

Often, too, there's some cognitive dissonance over the combination of messy, lifelike situation and the polished, stylized dialogue of the era's movies. Dialogue which would seem perfectly natural in a straightforward thriller of the era seems strange here because the plot is so atypical.

Third we have Dix's dark side winning out and the unhappy ending. If, rather than the quiet defeat which takes place, the cops had burst in and Dix had been guilty after all... well, it'd suck, but it would be more exciting (in a superficial way) and more acceptable both to '50s audiences and to and extent to modern audiences too.

But it's *not* exciting - in fact, it's the opposite. The last image of the film is Laurel (the most sympathetic character by a piece), tearful and heartbroken, watching Dix walk away into a bleak future...

That's some serious harshness for a '50s flick.

Finally, there's the whole "film noir" thing. People these days have a tendency to call and monochrome crime flick a film noir, but it ain't necessarily so.

In this case, the movie was and still is marketed as if it's in the crime genre - and yeah, sure, there's a murder - but it's not *about* the murder, or the investigation. It's basically a character drama, dealing with real-life issues in a way rarely attempted by Hollywood movies of the era.

Like some of Patricia Highsmith's best novels (Found in the Street being a fine example off the top of my head), this is a story about the effect of a murder on its characters' lives. The death itself, the investigation and even the solving of the case are entirely secondary to the impact these events have on the lives of the characters - which, as I understand it, isn't the textbook description of film noir.

This is an excellent movie which nonetheless has a certain awkwardness to modern eyes - it's dated well in some places and badly in others, but it's definitely worth a watch.

The Eye (2002)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

[10/10 · 27 May 2008]

I was hoping and expecting this would be a good movie, but I wasn't quite prepared for the experience of watching it...

It was like being twelve again, watching Robert Wise's masterpiece The Haunting alone in a new house in a new country... tense, rapt, barely blinking, unsettled, moved and basically in love! Immersive, emotional, beautiful and solidly written, this films suffers from none of the faults commonly ascribed to either Hong Kong cinema or to horror movies. The premise and script are equally strong, and while it's not plot-driven by any means the conclusion is immensely powerful and satisfying in a way few horror films can pull off.

Lee Sin-Je is a beautiful and extremely talented actress, whose mannerisms and body language reminded me very strongly of the sight-impaired people I've known, and her performance as Ah Mun could easily have carried the whole thing.

But although the character of Ah Mun is the centrepoint and driving force of the film, she didn't have to - the secondary characters, from Lawrence Chou as Dr Wah on down to the wordless presence of Chutcha Rujinanon as Ah Ling, are uniformly well-played and unusually rounded considering how briefly we meet some of them.

(I was a disappointed that Ah Mun's granny had so little to do - I love character actors and old people in movies, and she's great!)

Even the ghosts have personality.

The FX are excellent - sometimes horrifying, often intensely creepy - and the Pang Brothers direct with just the right amount of flash and fire. They know when to hold a shot, when to focus on a facial expression, when to move slowly... and when to go for the throat, too!

The film also makes excellent use of its multinational origins, though it may be a little obscure to Westerners who can't tell HK from Thailand or Cantonese from Thai. Even the sound design and music in this film are outstanding.

The Eye has instantly joined the likes of The Wicker Man and Chakushin Ari on my list of all-time favourite horror movies, and I would recommend this unhesitatingly to any fan of sober, intelligent horror.

It's rather sad that there's an American remake. Like Chakushin Ari, Ring, The Wicker Man and even a slew of my favourite American horror movies (from The Haunting to Dawn of the Dead), the remake misses the point and dilutes the original vision almost to the point of irrelevance.

The only purpose served by these remakes is to present the film to the laziest and least interested audience (and, of course, to make money for people who already have plenty), so take my advice with this as with all those others: watch the original, avoid the remake!

Update: A while back as a part of our "Friday 13th Horror Weekend" this movie became the first horror film my daughter watched from start to finish, and I thought it'd be nice to add that she liked it almost as much as I did! Truly, an 11-year-old with excellent taste!

Blind Shaft (2003)

Art or Noir? A great film which transcends genre

[20 May 2008]

Two men befriend itinerant workers in order get them work in the mines posing as a relative... then they kill them and, as family, claim compensation.

After a successful score, the pair find a fresh-faced youth just come from the country and take him under their wing planning to start over again - but their new protégé is a genuine innocent, and their relationship shifts around him until it becomes clear that their plan won't run so smoothly this time around...

I've seen this described both as an art-house character drama and as a kind of noir thriller, and while neither description is wrong both ideas of the movie lack something. It's neither - it's just an excellent film.

If it's a character drama, it scores: all three central characters are brilliantly played and have the idiosyncratic, sometimes inconsistent feel of real people. You laugh with them and feel for them, even when sometimes you shouldn't.

If it's a noir it also scores: bleak, honed to a sharp point and without an ounce of fat on, it's a mesmeric film in which the viewer is compelled to keep watching... in spite of the inescapable feeling that it's not going to end happily.

On the other hand, it's visually a world apart from the majority of Chinese art movies. With no music to relieve the realism, it eschews sumptuous visuals in favour of a raw, documentary style which pays off from the first scene, impressing on the viewer the mundane nature of its characters and how chilling simple their plan is.

Unlike most noir flicks, it's not overtly a thriller. Events unfold at their own pace, without the careful buildup and the climactic peak of the traditional thriller, and the murder and crime are presented as a part of these men's lives rather than the central subject of the film.

The central subject of the film is people, and that's where this film's unique impact lies. Not a film noir and not an art film, this is just a fine film which also happens to be a work of art.