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Reviews
Eden (2006)
A real little find
As a person of limited means I spend an awful lot of my spare time hunting around local charity shops looking for off-beat and different DVDs to add to my collection. 90% of the time all I find is the usual generic horror movies, cheapo action movies and a whole load of 'straight to video' nonsense. Once in a while I will find a decent newish release which I missed at the cinema, and even more rarely I come across a really good independent/foreign language movie. What is even rarer - maybe once or twice a year - I come across a real gem, a film which totally passed me by but which turns out to be one that has me sat in my comfty seat at home going "wow! What a wonderful film that was...!" Eden is one of these hidden gems!
I picked it up because of its minimal cover (a chocolate cover strawberry) and some glowing reviews on the back. I had no prior knowledge of the director, or the stars, and had no idea what to expect as this beautifully judged, unusual 'buddy' movie (for want of a better term - off-beat love story, or food faddie movie does not do it justice! unfolded. The relationship between Eden (the wonderful Charlotte Roche), her disabled daughter Leonie (beautifully played by Leonie Stepp) and the self-styled fat chef - the quite remarkable Josef Ostendorf - is handled with a wonderfully deft hand by director Michael Hofmann, and the way this relationship impacts on Eden's marriage to Xavier - a performance that goes from delight to despair by Devid Striestow is quite stunning. The film shows how even the most innocent relationship can have consequences beyond its own boundaries.
To have found this little gem of a movie for a mere £1 of my limited funds is, like this film, remarkable and oh-so pleasing!
Mr. Brooks (2007)
Count the killers!
Having missed this in my local cinema a friend, whose movie judgements I usually trust, lent me his DVD copy.
Finding a spare couple of hours I put it on and settled back to revel in Kevin Costner shedding his good guy image to 'play the baddie'. Now, the central concept of our Kev playing a mega- successful business man who is secretly addicted to murder I could take. I also had no problem with William Hurt playing his alter-ego - his Mr Hyde to Costner Dr Jekyll if you will. But my credibility began to become stretched when, firstly, "Mr Smith" (Dane Cook) blackmails Mr Brooks into letting him come on a murder spree with him. Then, as if that was unbelievable, we suddenly have ANOTHER killer thrown into the mix in the shape of "The Hangman" (and, of course, his torture loving girlfriend! Of course this guy just happens to be after the cop - female, with marital problems naturally (played by the dreadful Demi Moore!) for reasons... Well, lets just say he has his reasons!
OK, so by now I am find any faith in the movie beginning to become sorely tested... Oh look, now we discovered that not only is the Costner character's daughter home from college because she is pregnant, but she has also apparently killed a fellow student... WHAT!!!
On top of everything else we also have THE worst continuity ever! At some point - far too convoluted to detail here! - Ms Moore sustains a very bad cut to her head, which we see being stitched up i graphic detail, yet when we next see her - and for the rest of the film - there is not a single sign of the injury, not even a plaster!!
Somewhere in amongst all this convoluted, often poorly scripted and poorly acted mess is a decent film trying to escape! I'm not saying it doesn't have its moments - hence the 4 stars - but overall it really is a big, BIG mess!
The Warriors (1979)
A film best left to the memory
Way back in the wilds of my youth I recall going to my local cinema to view 'The Warriors'. At the time this was seen as a highly controversial film - the very idea of putting "realistic" youth gang warfare onto the big screen was something daring and really quite shocking. I can still remember the excitement as the tension mounted as The Warriors battled their way across the mean streets of New York (then still a place as foreign to a young man in the West of England as Baghdad or Timbuktu!). I particularly remember the scene with the roller skating thug quietly following Swan through the underground/subway station!
But oh how times have changed! This film cropped up on Film 4 the other night and I thought I would check it out to see how well it has held up over the years. The truth it is hasn't held well at all! The gangs all look like refuges from a Vivian Westwood fashion shoot, their language, like daddyo, sounds as out of date to the modern ear as Shakespeare! As for the action sequences... well, what was once gripping and exciting now seems staged and oh-so carefully choreographed (the slow motion sequences do not help!).
Please do not get me wrong, there is still much to be enjoyed in this film - I love the painted faced Baseball Furies gang, and the relationship between Swan and the girl (whose name has completely escaped me!) is sweet, but this more a film to be viewed now on the same level as West Side Story, The Wild One or Rebel Without A Cause - ie as a document of past attitudes and styles etc.
Mmm... maybe some films are best left as pleasant memories!
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Self-Indulgent tale of over-privileged American college kids
The one question you need to ask before watching this film is: Do I care enough about rich, over-privileged American college kids who spend their time getting wasted on drugs, screwing about and being generally obnoxious to spend almost 2 hours in their company? If the answer is in the affirmative then I have no doubt you will get a lot out of this blacker than black "comedy". If, on the other hand, it is, like myself, in the negative then avoid this self-indulgent pile of trash like the plague!
The only positive thing to say about this film is it does have a half decent soundtrack with tracks from the likes of The Cure, PiL etc!