My Wife Is A Gangster

Title: My Wife Is A Gangster

Director: Jo Jin-Kyu

Released: 2001

Starring: Eun-Kyung Shin, Ahn Jae-mo, Park Sang-myn, Kim In-kwon, Jang Se-jin, Yeon Jung-hoon, Lee Eung-kyung, Kim In-mun, Gye-nam Myseong, Shin Shin-Ae

Plot: Eun-jin is a high ranking gangster in the Korean Mafia who suddenly finds herself being forced to find a husband to forfill the wishes of her dying sister who much like Eun-jin’s new husband has no idea of her ties to the criminal underworld.

Review: The first film in a trilogy, this action comedy is something of a double edged sword as here we get solid action sequences alongside the comedic attempts of Eun-jin to play both a wife and continue her role as a crime boss. Now this is not exactly the most original of plots especially as there have been a slew of comedies based around one party trying to hide their actions from their significant other, much less ones based around a character having to act against their general personality.

Opening to a rain drenched fight between two rival gangster clans we are introduced to Eun-jin or more her legend as Mantis who easily dispatches her gangster foes using her preferred weapon of choice can be best described as a pair of scissor blades.  Of course even without her unleashing bladed death Eun-Kyung Shin has just as much of an intimidating presence when she’s just drinking tea and reading the newspaper with Director Jo Jin-kyu thankfully playing things largely subtle as he prefers instead to play up her tough and largely cold persona which needless to say makes her attempts at finding her softer side only the more amusing.

Predictably a lot of the humor is derived from Eun-jinn attempting to play the dating game and find her softer side, initially though some interesting advice from the make up artist that her henchmen find to help her find a more feminine side to her look.  It’s a chance encounter though that she meets future Kang Soo-il (Park Sang-myn) who is astonishingly clueless about his wife’s criminal activities not to mention extremely accepting of her cold demeanor as any attempts her make to romance her usually end with him being kicked comedically across the room.

Adding to the comedic element are her loyal henchmen who are drawn into the attempts to find her a husband while at the same time mainly relying on the resources open to them as seen by them filling up the church with hostesses from their karaoke bars and fellow mobsters. Thrown into the mix is the cousin of her henchman, who fresh from the country has big ideas about being a mobster but zero clue of how he’s supposed to conduct himself let alone the fact that his preferred weapon of choice is a the shin bone from a horse really speaks volumes about him while at the same time largely being played for laughs.

Were the comedy tends to fail or perhaps just gets lost in translation are usually with the scenes between Eun-jin and Kang Soo-il with him trying to undress her while she is asleep or her suddenly being tasked with having a baby taking to essentially raping him as she forces him to continually have sex with her in her attempts to get pregnant. Thankfully the comedy and action of other scenes make up for these awkward moments which make it easier to stomach.

In a Jackie Chan vein the action sequences blend perfectly alongside the comedic moments with Eun-Kyung Shin showcasing some incredible fighting ability, while the variety of these set pieces choreographed by Kim Won-jin  which include a knife fight in a field being shot almost like a showdown between two samurai and a warehouse gang fight really giving the kind of action I wasn’t expecting from such a largely comedic film.

An entertaining watch if for a few tricky comedic moments, the blending of styles works perfectly here while ending on a sequence which had me eager to check out the sequel.

The Night Before

Title: The Night Before

Director: Jonathan Levine

Released: 2015

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Lizzy Caplan, Jillian Bell, Michael Shannon, Mindy Kaling, Lorraine Toussaint, Jason Mantzoukas, Jason Jones, Ilana Glazer, Nathan Fielder, Tracy Morgan, James Franco, Miley Cyrus

Plot: Ethan (Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Rogen) and Chris (Mackie) have been friends since they where kids and for a decade they have reunited every Christmas Eve to try and find the mythical Christmas Party “The Nutcracka Ball”. Now realising its time to move on they reunite one final time to try once and for all to find the mythical party which has continued to elude them.

Review: Jonathan Levine is something of a frustrating oddity as he’s given us indie curiosities like “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” and “50/50” but at the same time he’s also the director responsible for giving us the Twilight for Zombies “Warm Bodies”.

For some reason I went into this film expecting another round of “50/50” style indie humour, but instead here Levine sways off into frat pack territory as he trades in the smart quips for pot humour and chaos which really only more of a shame when he’s heading up the film with such an incredible trio of actors as he builds on the pairing of Gordon-Levitt and Rogen he gave us in “50/50” by adding current favourite Anthony Mackie into the mix. The fact that the trio share such a natural chemistry with each other only making it all the easier to buy them as lifelong friends despite clearly being on opposite ends of the social spectrum from each other as Chris is making a name for himself as a pro football player despite using steroids to improve his performance. Isaac is happily married with his first child on the way though he is racked with worries about his parenting abilities. Ethan meanwhile is struggling musician who pays the bills working as a waiter while still trying to get over his girlfriend Diana (Caplan).

From this setup this could easily have been a decent indie comedy in the making, but as I mentioned already this film soon veers off into frat pack territory around the same time that Isaac’s wife (Bell) gives him alittle box of drugs to take on this final Christmas eve the trio are planning to spend together while the hunt for the mythical Nutcracker Ball turns out to be less of the frantic dash across New York expected al-la Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist but more a case of waiting for the location to be confirmed thanks to Ethan stealing tickets to the ball from the coat of some rich douchebag attending the party he’s working at.

Once we get into the reunion night for the guys the film soon turns into an ever escalating list of problems for the trio as Chris has to deal with a Hans Gruber obsessed thief (Glazer) while Isaac has a drugged fuelled meltdown during a midnight mass and while they might manage to get past their issues to reunite at the Nutcracker Ball the journey we follow them on just feels like it is missing something. Perhaps its because we aren’t having to embark on this epic quest to find the Nutcracker Ball and instead killing time waiting for a phone call that stops the film flowing aswell as it should have. At the same time this idle time does not work well for the film, especially as we have each of the trio going off on their own paths rather than staying together as a group which may have been the better move, especially as the film is always at its strongest when the three of them are together.

This is of course not to say that the film is lacking in fun moments as the Chopsticks scene from “Big” gets reworked into the fun rendition of Kanye West’s “Runaway” while keeping with the “Die Hard” references we also get a spirited rendition of Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” complete with some questionable dance moves. There is also some fun exchanges between the various characters with the best of these being their former High school teacher turned Pot dealer “Mr Green” who turns up frequently throughout the film to council each of the trio as he acts like a mythical guide of sorts and its a role which Michael Shannon really turns into something special than just a throwaway character which Mr Green so easily could have been.

Once we get into the Nutcracker ball its thankfully everything the film promises, while also an excuse for Levine to work in a couple of gratuitous cameo appearances from James Franco which itself felt more like an excuse to work in his ongoing homoerotic skits with Seth Rogen which here is boiled down to a phone mix up and some rather enthusiastic discussion about the size of Franco’s penis. Also on the cameo list is Miley Cyrus who is on hand to give a reworked rendition of “Wrecking Ball” to try and help Ethan win back his ex. While both are fun, neither add much to the film other than furthering the exclusiveness of the ball but when put against Michael Shannon whose own brief appearance effortless blows everything else out of the water. Mindy Kaling meanwhile continues to baffle how she keeps getting work, as once more its another flat performance, while her one big scene involving Isaac accidently dripping cocaine blood into her drink just falls flat leaving you wishing they’d just cut her out completely.

Its something of a shame to see a director like Levine aiming for the easy laughs, rather than trying to give us a more mature effort, but the crude humour aside this film still feels that its lacking the journey / quest that you’d expect from this kind of plot so that it just feels overly too easy. While there are still some fun moments to be had here, its just a lot more disposable a film than I was expecting let alone awhole less sharp. But if you want some throwaway festive viewing to accompany your food coma you can do worse.

Elwood's Essentials #15 - Wayne's World

Title:  Wayne’s World

Director: Penelope Spheeris
Released: 1992
Starring: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Rob Lowe, Lara Flynn Boyle, Kurt Fuller, Brian Doyle-Murray, Ed O’Neil, Meat Loaf, Chris Farley, Robert Patrick, Alice Cooper

Plot: Eternal slackers and rock fans Wayne and Garth run their public access TV show out of Wayne’s parent’s basement. Things however look up for the pair when television producer Benjamin Oliver buys the rights to the show launching them into the mainstream unaware that Benjamin wants to exploit the show’s popularity for himself.

Review: One of the more important films of my early film watching years and one which in retrospect I can now see just how much of an impact it had on me especially in terms of my musical tastes and even though I might not have grown my hair long or start a crappy cover band it did spark a love of Alice Cooper, while at the same time giving us a rock out to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” so iconic that Queen fans (and pretty much everyone else) has been imitating it since to the point where I can no longer listen to that darn song.

Adapted from the “Saturday Night Live” sketch this film also marked Mike Myer’s feature film debut and to date it remains the highest grossing of the films adapted from sketches on the show. At the same time this remains one of the best known films by director Penelope Spheeris who’s trilogy of documentaries looking at the alt. music scene through three key eras, the second of which covering the late 80’s heavy metal scene almost making her too perfect a director for the film and perhaps in some ways giving her a chance to make up for passing up on “This Is Spinal Tap”.

The plotting of the film is incredibly straightforward ensuring that it never gets in the way of the humour, with the sleazy suit trying to rip off our good natured rock fans being an easy story to identify with. At the same time the world which the film is set in is completely believable with time being given to establish memorable locations such as the “Gasworks” rock club and “Stan Mikita’s Donuts” run by the fantastically dark Glen (Ed O’Neil) whose obsession with murder and death is never fully explained, yet O’Neil unquestionably steals every scene he’s in with his unflinchingly flat tone.

While the film is largely carried by both Myers and Carvey, despite Myers originally creating it as a vehicle for himself, the pair unquestionably share a strong onscreen chemistry, further helped by their characters despite their shared interests are the complete opposite personality wise to each other enabling them to pull off fun scenes on their own aswell as together. At the same time Tia Carrere is thankfully given more to do as Cassandra than just being the feisty rock chick love interest for Wayne and while her role would be further developed in the sequel, here she is always fun when she is around without taking the focus away from our hapless duo. It’s equally worth noting that in the film she does all her own singing, much like Carvey actually doing the drum solo we see in the film which is impressive to say the least.

Rob Lowe is equally on great form here, reviving his career with this performance which had stalled thanks to his sex tape scandal. Here though he brings the right combination of sleaze and charm to roll to make it work, so that even though we know he’s trying to screw them over we can’t help like them to be charmed by his personality and while perhaps he might not get the comeuppance he ultimately deserves thanks to being lost in the multiple ending mix, he still provides the right kind of foe to oppose Wayne and Garth.

Switching constantly in style between straightforward comedy to “Airplane” style surreal-ness such as Garth’s Mad scientist scene, with both Wayne and Garth frequently breaking the forth wall to address the audience and share their thoughts on what’s happening around them. It’s kind of a bold move to try and blend these styles and yet somehow Spheeris manages to make Myer’s script (co-written with former Saturday Night Live staff writers Bonnie and Terry Turner) which seemingly was written to maximise the humour in every scene regardless of it requires changing the comedic style. The smoothness of these comedic transitions being only the more noticeable when compared to the sequel whose production Spheeris belived she was blocked from directing due to the clashes with Myer’s she had over the final cut of this film.

Watching the film now is almost like looking at a snapshot of the 90’s which it fully embraces and wears proudly on its sleve much like its unashamed love of the rock music scene it represents with not only cameos by both Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper but also features a memorable soundtrack packed with classic tracks from the likes of Soundgarden, Eric Clapton, Black Sabbath and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Some might see the film being so set in its period as something of a negative but really its no different than the likes of overrated trash like “The Breakfast Club” which somehow always avoid such detractions.  Most important though is the genuine love for this scene that everyone involved especially both Mike Myers and Dana Carvey clearly has so that it doesn’t come off as some kind of sneering satire. Yes some of the characters are dumb or slackers but it’s never seen as being due to the fact that they are rock fans.

While some of the catchphrases might have been long since burnt out the quick plotting and rapid fire humour makes this still an incredibly fresh comedy aswell as providing a fun snapshot of early 90’s pop culture.

Party On!!

Clueless

Title:  Clueless

Director: Amy Heckerling
Released: 1995
Starring: Alica Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, Elisa Donovan, Breckin Meyer, Jeremy Sisto, Dan Hedaya, Wallace Shawn, Twink Caplan, Justin Walker

Plot: Cher (Silverstone) is a wealthy, popular and superficial high-school student in Beverly Hills who along with her best friend Dionne hold court over the school. However when she discovers a new found happiness in doing good deeds for others, she decides to take the unhip new girl Tai (Murphy) under her wing.

Review: Another modernised reworking of a classic piece of fiction an honour while largely reserved for Shakespeare plays has also worked memorably for other classics as memorably seen with “Les Liaison Dangereuses” which became the wonderful “Cruel Intentions”. Here though it’s the turn of Jane Austen’s  18^th century matchmaker “Emma” which director Amy Heckerling used as the basis for her script when Paramount asked her to write a film for teenagers and having read it as a teenager decided to create this modernised version of the classic novel.

While on the surface it might seem like any other disposable teen comedy of the 90’s there is something about this film which has meant that fifteen+ years later I still find myself as obsessed with it as I was back when I first saw it in the late 90’s and writing that now, boy does that make me feel old. Still while the fashions, soundtrack selection and pretty much every aspect of this film might reek of the era there is something still kind of timeless about this film as it’s world of wealthy high school students in Beverly Hills often feels like it’s part of its own fantastical little world than any kind of representation of a realistic high school. So hence students are shown constantly talking on brick sized mobile phones or bandaged from whatever plastic surgery they’ve just undergone, while teachers make minimal efforts to try and teach them while clearly knowing that their money will carry them much further than their education.

Despite her status as Queen Bee, Cher is surprisingly not the bitch you’d expect her to be as she bumbles her way through life with a generally good natured attitude. At the same time while she clearly sees certain student groups as being below her own, she just lets them be rather than launching any kind of spiteful attack on them, clearly believing that everyone has their place and that’s usually beneath her own group. In a way its only further reinforced by her bringing Tai into her social group and giving her a makeover as part of her efforts to mould her in her own image rather than just accept her for her skater / grunge styling.

The plot itself is pretty lightweight but boosted by natural comedy and the situations which Cher finds herself being drawn into as she plays matchmaker and embarks on her on quest to find the right guy which includes a failed hook up with the too hip for school Christian whose lack of interest in her is implied (but never confirmed) is down to him being gay in a surprisingly forward thinking moment especially for a film from this period.  On the whole its quick pacing means that it never overstays its welcome even though Cher and Dionne valley girl slack heavy dialogue could ohh so easily have made this a grating experience and the end while once in play is predictable it never feels like the film is trying to force anything.

True the film is unquestionably 90’s in its styling and appearance, which perhaps for myself growing up in the 90’s means that it carries for myself a lot of nostalgic gloss, especially from having watched and enjoyed it back then, so its comforting to see it surprisingly as one of the few films which still stands up and one which has arguable got better as its original audience return to it as older viewers uncovering the wealth of subtle jokes which are weaved into the film. It’s only the more of a shame that this would be the high water mark for director Heckerling’s career which also included the equally legendry 80’s school flick “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” with her follow up and possible attempt to direct a defining high school comedy in every decade falling flat with 2000’s “Loser” which in many ways felt like an attempt to cash in on the success of “American Pie” which is arguably the closest challenger to “Clueless” even if it lacked the subtlety of Heckerling’s film.

At the same time one of the main strength’s here is in its casting with perhaps none of the cast outside of Alicia Silverstone being especially well known and making it all the more amusing to see how many first appearances which can be clocked here with perhaps only Greg Araki’s “Nowhere” coming this close to its soothslayer esq casting. Silverstone owns the part of Cher, while Stacey Dash provides the perfect support for her to bounce dialogue off making sader that she never really had another role which came close to matching this one though she would be one of the few members of the cast who reprised their role for the spin off TV Series.  The most sad of all is off course Britney Murphy who whenever I see her especially in iconic roles like this and “Sin City” it just makes me wish that I had appreciated her all the more when she was alive as her performance here really hinted at some of the untapped potential she ultimately never got to show off outside of a few sporadic roles.

While this certainly might not be the deepest of films, especially as it wears its materialism proudly on its sleeve, this Beverly Hills high school fantasy has enough heart to carry it though and more than enough laughs to make it easy to understand why its become such a cult film all these years later.  

Pixels

Title: Pixels

Director: Chris Columbus

Released: 2015

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Brian Cox, Ashley Benson, Jane Krakowski, Sean Bean

Plot: Aliens misinterpret a video of classic video games as a declaration of war attacking Earth using the characters from these games and leaving it down to gamers and lifelong friends Sam (Sandler) and Will (James) to use their videogame skills to defeat them and save the earth.

Review: For some reason much like M. Night Shyamalan the mere mention of Adam Sandler’s name being attached to any film is usually cause for the critics to start sharpening their knifes and while it’s true that he now seems to have settled into a routine with his comedies which appear to be based more around where he wishes to take his vacation and keeping his friends employed, let alone a bizarre obsession with “Hooters” which continues to show up in his films.

I’m not even going to try and convince you that this film is the one which see’s Sandler break away from his usual antics and gives us a ground breaking comedic experience as you certainly won’t get that here, neither the kind of surprise acting turn that we have seen him pull out of nowhere with the likes of “Punch Drunk Love” and “The Cobbler”. What we do get though is a fun and disposable comedy which shamelessly plays to the retro gamer fans taste for sure.

Opening in 1982 were Sam discovers that he can master video games by recognising the patterns and looks set to win the local video game championships only to lose to the obnoxious and egotistical Eddie Plant (Dinklage). Now flash forward to present day and Sam is working in home tech support setting up home cinema’s while best friend Will is now somehow the President of the United States….I did highlight this was an Adam Sandler movie right. Of course once the aliens invade Sam is of course the only person who can stop them, because seemingly no one else in the world plays old school video games.

Now armed with a bunch of hi-tech equipment Sam and Will team up with their other friend Ludlow (Gad) and former rival and still wildly egotistical Eddie to defeat the video game sprites which all take on the form of popular video game characters such as a giant Pac Man and Centipede with the weakness’s all matching their weaknesses in the game so hence Centipede has to be shot in the head while Pac Man has to be taken out by the mini coopers all assigned the names of the Ghosts from the game in one of the more memorable set pieces here.

All the cast are likable enough here with Sandler once more bringing his usual laid back comedic style while James and Gad are on hand for the more slapstick antics. Peter Dinklage meanwhile steals the show as Eddie as he constantly has something snarky to say and generally plays up his arsehole nature which seemingly has only gotten worse in the years which have passed since he beat Sam in the video game championships.

As I mentioned already this film really aims to shamelessly play up for the retro video game fans as it not only bombards the viewer with numerous refrences but also features cameos from cult figures from this world including former Donkey Kong World record holder Steve Wiebe whose battle to claim the title was so memorably documented in “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” and who here puts in a cameo as a military scientist while Pac Man creator Toru Iwatani shows up as an arcade repairman while we also get a fictional version played here by Denis Akiyama due to Iwatani not being able to speak English.

While this film is certainly  fun and has some standout moments it equally has some glaring flaws such as Eddie somehow being able to use video game cheat codes in real life with no explanation given to how exactly this is supposed to work. Equally frustrating is the fact we never see the aliens behind the attacks only their video game avatars so after Sam and co. beat Donkey Kong that’s it! No big reveal or anything while the fact that the video game vixen that Ludow unhealthy lusts over gets magically brought back via a morphing Q-Bert just felt too much like pandering to an audience who couldn’t handle any kind of downbeat outcome in the films ending.

While these flaws are frustrating it still does not make the film as bad as many critics would have you believe, perhaps having cast their judgement at the Sandler’s name being listed as the lead. However for old school gamers this is a fun disposable bit of nostalgia that doesn’t outstay its welcome while no doubt leave you wanting to dust off some of the games in your collection for another round.

Entourage

Title: Entourage

Director: Doug Ellin

Released: 2015

Starring: Kevin Connolly, Arian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Perrey Reeves, Rex Lee, Haley Joel Osment, Ronda Rousey, Alan Dale, Billy Bob Thornton

Plot: Picking up where the series left off Vincent Chase (Grenier) has now separated from his wife after nine days of marriage and now rounding his friends Eric (Connolly), Turtle (Ferrara) and Johnny Drama (Dillon) up he plans to take his career to the next level by directing his next film “Hyde” which is being produced by his former agent Ari (Piven) who has since become a studio boss.

Review: After eight great seasons the fans were understandably alittle miffed with how the abrupt the final episode choose to wrap the series up with as Vincent Chase randomly had the sudden desire to marry the girl he’s been seeing for all of five minutes. Now given a second chance to put things right Director and series creator Doug Ellin chooses to use this film to finally give the fans the ending they wanted rather than trying to take the “Sex and The City” path of trying to continue the series as movies, even though as I write this rumours persist at a possible trilogy.

Opening with the four friends reuniting and with Vincent now newly single and seemingly none the fussed about his recent failed marriage it’s essentially business as usual as the group continue their Hollywood based antics while Vincent’s directorial debut lingers in post-production while Ari attempts to find the $10 million needed to complete the movie while Vincent only hampers his efforts by refusing to show the film to anyone. Eric meanwhile has essentially the only other plotline here has to deal with pending fatherhood while still separated from his ex-girlfriend Sloan (Chriqui), which he seemingly has chosen to handle by basically whoring himself out with various vacuous model types in a move which seems completely out of character from the voice of reason he was in the series and as a result comes off as kind of a douche for the most part here when separated from the rest of the group.

Despite the fact that the group are supposed to be the main focus, you can’t help but feel that like with the series Jeremy Pivan once again has stolen the show as the frequently volatile and foul mouthed Ari. Now having graduated to being a Studio Head with the time out from the Hollywood scenes clearly having done little to calm him down as he remains as much of a hair trigger hustler as before thanks largely to being tasked with getting money out the Texan investor Larsen McCredle (Thornton) who inturn only adds to the continuingly escalating series of issues that Ari has to deal with as he insists that his son Travis (Osment) view the film which Vincent is still refusing to show anyone. Having been chewed up by the Hollywood dream, these recent roles which we have seen Haley Joel Osment taking on as an adult actor have been fascinating to watch and here once more its none the different as while perhaps not a grand standing performance is still one of the better ones here as he plays up the spoilt brat trying to emulate his big shot father.

For the most part the film version gives us nothing that we didn’t get with the series apart from the larger budget allowing more extravagance to sell the audience the Hollywood fantasy that fuelled the show and this film as well, while once more we are bombarded with random A list cameos much like the series which seemingly had everyone from Scarlett Johansson through to Aaron Sorkin making an appearance. Here the cameos are once more accounted for with series favourite Gary Busey putting in another random appearance alongside seemingly everyone else they missed out on getting for the series with Armie Hammer, Jon Favreau, Kelsey Grammer and Jessica Alba all put in memorable apperences, while on the more grating side of things we also get a self-satisfied and sickeningly smug (but when isn’t he) appearance by Piers Morgan who seemingly hadn’t been run out of the states at this point and whose appearance here only serves to remind us all of what a pretentious prick he is.

The real fun of these A-list showings though comes from UFC fighter Rhonda Rousey here playing herself as Turtle now looking considerably lighter than the last time tries to win her affections with his usual clumsy charms and which ultimately ends in him trying to last 30 seconds inside the octagon with her in one of the best moments of the film with Turtle like Johnny Drama coming off the best here of the foursome with Drama at the end finally getting some kind of closure to his journey we’ve followed him on from the series to the movie version.

Ultimately this film is really a goodbye for the fans rather than the newcomers while clearly set in a fantastical version of Hollywood were Vincent despite having no directing ability or any discernible skills outside of his boyish charms or carefree attitude can churn out a critical acclaimed film which from the clip we see of the film seemed to be taking its cues from Richard Kelly’s criminally underrated “Southland Tales. Yes this film is far from perfect with some of the plotlines such as Eric’s failures to deal with impending fatherhood come off feeling like an afterthought, but as a new ending to the Entourage saga it’s better than we had before.

God Bless America

Title: God Bless America

Director: Bobcat Goldthwait

Released: 2011

Starring: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke Smith, Melinda Page Hamilton, Rich McDonald, Regan Burns, Aris Alvarado, Maddie Hasson, Geoff Pierson, Larry Miller, Dorie Barton

Plot: Frank (Murray) a middle-aged insurance salesman has become deluded by the current state of the world around him, which causes him to suffer from insomnia and chronic migraines. However upon being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, he soon finds himself on a quest to rid the world of those he sees as being the cause of its problems, while at the same time finding an unlikely accomplice in the 16 year old Roxy (Bar)

 

Review: While most might know Bobcat Goldthwait as the bio-polar and manical voiced Zed in “Police Academy” he has in recent years really carved out a niche for himself as a director with this film forming the final part of an unofficial trilogy of dark humoured comedies, which in many ways has helped to fill the bad taste void left by John Waters while we continue to wait for the long proposed “Fruitcake”.Here Goldthwait taps in the general annoyance of the population which now faces an almost continual bombardment of trashy reality TV shows, rudeness and those people whose general stupidity makes you wonder how they manage to make it through general day to day living. These are just a few of the irritancies that Goldthwait takes aim at, as he gives us essentially a funnier and certainly more violent version of “Falling Down”.

When we first meet Frank we are treated to what must be one of his daily violent fantasies, which on this occasion is how he would like to deal with his annoying next door neighbours in a scene which serves as a warning of things to come especially when the fantasy consists of violently dispatching of said neighbours via pump action shotgun. However Frank is not a psychopath but rather a guy who’s finally reached his breaking point, as he finds himself forced to work in cubicle hell while his fellow employees embrace all the things he sees as being things which will lead to the breakdown of society. A view point we see him trying to explain to one colleague who misguidedly feels that he should try and be more cheerful. Of course things only get worse when he finds himself fired for harassment after he tried to send flowers to a receptionist he had a crush on, while his issues are only added to by his terminal diagnosis given to him by his doctor who seems to care more about the car he’s buying than the sensitive news he’s supposed to be delivering.

So what starts with a simple plan to kill a “Super Sweet Sixteen” brat whose tantrum over her father buying her the wrong car on the show sparks the idea in Frank in the first place, it soon becomes clear that Frank is anything but a natural killer, especially when his plans quickly and hilariously fall apart. It’s this first death that also introduces him to Roxy who is fascinated by Frank while at the same time proposing he abandon his original suicide plans to instead embark on a murderous road trip.

Frank and Roxy despite having a noticeable age gap the pair with their shared world view they make for a great pairing especially when Roxy comes off mature for her age, while being quick to blast “Juno” and Diablo Cody’s view of how hip teenagers are portrayed. Goldthwait also ensures that he plays up on the warped comedic potential caused by the age gap, with Frank worrying about the paedophile connotations of their unusual friendship so much so that her simple request to be reassured that she is pretty throws him into a blind panic. Still their Bonnie and Clyde style relationship is frequently played up including several on the nose references, while best described by Roxy when she bemoans them as being “Plutonic spree killers”. Together this pair makes for a surprisingly good team even if they are frequently killing without any kind of fore planning and often when the situations present themselves. Surprisingly though it would seem that the local police are far from the most effective seeing how despite both Frank and Roxy being caught clearly on CCTV they are never pursued at any point nor do they ever attempt to hide their identity.

While the idea for the film could have quickly run out of steam around the halfway point, especially when it really is the loosest of plots which he hangs the film on, with the only real plot point revolving around an “American Superstar” (the films version of “American Idol”) being humiliated by the judges, only to turn into the freak of the week as those horrible auditions have the tendency of doing. Somehow though Goldthwait manages to make it all work, no doubt because of the believable friendship between Frank and Roxy which goes beyond their love of killing annoying people, especially when they share a number of touching sequences such as the impromptu teddy bear target practice session or during the finale when the two reunite.

Unquestionably this is a comedy painted in only the darkest shades, meaning that it might not sit with some but for those like myself in possession of a slightly warped sense of humour this is a film which manages to balance moments of sweetness with pitch black humour, even if the message of shooting those who don't fit in with your world view is slightly questionable, it frequently is more on target than it is off.

Easy A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Easy A

Director: Will Cluck

Released: 2010

Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michlka

Plot: Clean cut student Olive (Stone) lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Michalka) about going on a date to get out of a camping trip, which soon escalates to her lying aswell about losing her virginity to a college guy. However when her lie is overheard by the strictly religious Marianne (Bynes), it soon starts to spread around the school while also leading to a surprising new business for Olive

Review: Okay it’s safe to say that when I was working out what to watch this for my review, things weren’t going so great seeing how I been drenched by two jerks driving through puddles beside me on the way home, as well as the stupid blinds falling down again….needless to say it wasn’t the best of times. So hence I decided to finally watching while angry punching the buttons on the Sky+ in hopes of finding something fun and carefree. It is only all the more of a bonus that it also happened to feature Emma Stone

Following in the footsteps of Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You and Cruel Intentions, this film sees Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlett Letter” also getting the high school remake treatment in what was originally intended to be the first part of an interlinking trilogy of films and one which would have seen both “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” also being given a similar treatment. As of the time of writing this is still to happen and sadly currently seems unlikely to either. Still as a standalone film this still stands well on its own as Olive not so much reworks the story of Hester Prynne, but instead draws comparison between Hester’s life and her own as their situation especially as both are thrown into turmoil by the rumour of sexual promiscuity.

One big difference here though is that Olive unlike Hester refuses to let her new found reputation as the school tramp persecute her, as she not only starts playing up her fake reputation by dressing more provocatively and proudly displaying a red A (the old symbol adulaters as well as the symbol Hester was branded with) on her clothes as she works it for the added popularity and increase social status it gives her, especially when she helps her gay friend Brandon (Byrd) convince the rest of the school is straight by pretending to sleep with him, an event which soon has her offering a similar service to boys at her school that are hopeless in love to help improve their own social status’s in exchange for money and gifts though while this starts well with her friend Brandon the quality of gifts soon sharply decline in quality, which only makes it all the more amusing to see Olive working her own pricing structure in regards to what a hardware gift card gets someone.
 

Sadly while the film plays out it’s Scarlett Letter inspired plot well, it sadly throws it away in the last quarter with an unneeded romance between Olive and the school mascot “Woodchuck” Todd played here with grating smugness by Penn Badgley, who I can only guess director Cluck felt came across more hip than he does. It is equally frustrating that the film in places descends into an John Hughes homage, especially with the ending which goes for the grand crescendo of combining elements of The Breakfast Club, Say Anything and Can’t Buy Me Love to nauseating effect and the overwhelming feeling that Cluck couldn’t think of any other way to end it, especially when it doesn’t flow as well as an earlier nod to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. Still these references only continue to baffle further when you consider that she is supposed to be a current 17 year old and honestly I don’t know many kids born in the 90’s / 00’s who really care about these movies held in such high regard by the kids of my own generation who mostly grew up with them, while those playing catch up like myself usually struggle to see what the fuss is about. True Olive is played as being mature for her age, especially as she confidently references the key points of the “The Scarlett Letter” something I doubt most students her age could, let alone will have watched both film versions, even if her comparison and dismissal of the Demi Moore version is great.

Of course the real strength of this film lies with the confident lead performance by Emma Stone, who is every bit the feisty redhead with an equally sharp and witty tongue, which only makes Olive more fun to be around. It is also equally an advantage that Stone is more than capable of providing a frequently humorous narration (something deceptively harder than it seems as Keira Knightly proved as she snarled her way through “Domino”) as she regales the tale of her current situation via webcast complete with handwritten title cards. Equally fun is the support from the more established actors like Thomas Haden Church who appears as a cliché spouting teacher, while Lisa Kudrow takes a break from playing her usual dumb blondes and psycho bitches to instead give us a more neurotic and frantic character as the school guidance councillor who also seems to be frequently justifying her role within the school, as she references one after school session for a student who brought a butter knife to school as she proclaims “It’s a gateway knife”. Both are so much fun here it makes me wonder why they are not seen more.
 

Sadly such strong support doesn’t extend to her fellow students who are a mixed bag to say the least with Bynes’s fanatical Christian being so over the top that it regularly becomes farcial, but considering how Bynes’s suffered a breakdown which saw her retire from acting after this film it is hard to tell with this knowledge how much of this was planned. Equally unbelievable is Michalka as Olive’s supposive best friend Rhiannon, but never at one point does their friendship seem believable which is only made the more worrying when they are supposed to be best friends which never seems to come across at any point, as instead we are left with a feeling that Rhiannon is someone who has just claimed friendship with Olive rather than anything closer.

It is purely on the strength of Stone’s abilities as an actress that this film is as strong as it is, especially with its artistic licence regarding students and patching supporting cast, let alone the fact she pretty much carries it on her own performance which ultimately makes this a fun and breezy watch and certainly put me in better mood, but then considering how fun Olive is to be around its hardly surprising and the type of role we will see Stone playing more in the future, especially as who doesn’t love a feisty redhead?

Santa's Slay

Title: Santa’s Slay

Director: David Steiman

Released: 2005

Starring: Bill Goldberg, Douglas Smith, Emilie de Ravin, Robert Culp, Dave Thomas, Saul Rubinek, Rebecca Gayheart, Chris Kattan, James Caan, Fran Drescher

Plot: Santa Claus (Goldberg) it would seem is not quite the jolly fat guy we all thought he was. Turns out he is in fact a demon who 1,000 years ago lost a bet to an angel which meant that he was forced to become a bringer of toys and happiness. Now the 1,000 years are up and Santa has now returned to his former ways which is especially bad news for the residents of Hells Township as Santa Claus is coming to town!
 

 

Review: Wrestlers as a rule rarely make good actors, somthing the failed attempts to break into the field by Hulk Hogan highlighted, especially when these movies ultimately ended up being as laughable as his wrestling career and like that one better remember through the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia. Hogan of course is not the only example as “WWE Films” have seemingly only just learned this same harsh lesson seeing how their latest output see’s the wrestlers now being given more supporting roles than anything resembling the leading roles the studio originally had planned with this off shoot. However this is not to say that there have not been those who have broke the mould as John Cena proved to be quite a watchable action star in both “The Marine” aswell as “12 Rounds” while Kane also proved himself a menacing force in “See No Evil” even if he was essentially just transplanting his wrestling persona into a horror set.

Of course with this history of wrester actors in mind you could excuse me for being alittle sceptical about the idea of Goldberg playing a demonic Santa, afterall his stabs at acting previous to this had been limited to playing a super soldier in “Universal Soldier 2” and essentially playing himself in the underrated “Ready To Rumble” but here he really nails it right from his opening dinner party massacre which not only puts the opening of “Punisher: War Zone” to shame but I would love to think that Christopher Nolan found the inspiration for the Joker’s disappearing pencil trick from this opening, were Santa makes a whole turkey leg disappear. True Goldberg might have an advantage with his dominating size certainly helping make the character truly seem imposing, but here he also proves himself more than capable with the scenes requiring him to flex his acting muscles and even pulls off the more subtle comedy moments such as hastily spraying down a stripper pole before he uses it as a makeshift club.

Elsewhere the film has two great young leads with Douglas Smith and Emilie de Ravin who may not have to do anything particularly heavy acting wise, but are still a fun duo to be around especially as the film doesn’t allow itself to fall into the usual pitfalls of having Smith lust after Ravin for the runtime of the film. Instead the focus is kept purely on stopping Santa and only give into their lusts once he has been stopped, which honestly felt awhole lot more natural than it would have been had the film followed the usual template especially considering how majorly out of his league Ravin is yet alone a feisty firecracker who is more than capable of spearheading their misadventure. Still it does make me wonder why they never really went on to do more, much like why Thora Birch didn’t come off “Ghost World” as big a star as Scarlett Johanson did. I guess its this sort of situation which has resulted in me being so frequently forced to endure yet another Emma Watson performance.

Considerably lighter in tone than the other killer Santa movies which came before it, this film plays things strictly for laughs, as established from the opening dinner party massacre whose creative kills see one guest being flambéed and drowned in eggnog and another being killed by a Christmas star while the fact that the film also carries a healthy body count to boot only adds to the fun here, which alongside the quick pacing of the film, ensures that the film never gets a chance to get itself bogged down in minor subplots or disposable characters unless those characters are soon to be meeting a creative death or in one case eaten by demonic reindeer.

Meanwhile the film is shot in a deliberately over the top style this is a confident debut from Steiman, who after despite spending most of his carrer working as a production assistant to Bret Ratner who also appears as a producer here. Sadly despite the fun energy this film brings it remains the sole film from Steiman who seems to have since dropped off the radar since the release of this film. As such this remains much like this film a curiosity especially when they is such a fun film and an essential part of my own alternative Christmas viewing since I first saw it last year. Still if your able to not just the fact that the film features a wrestler in the lead villain role there is plenty to enjoy here, as this is one Santa with muscles who is worth watching even if it does leave you wondering by the end credits why it not as popular as other Alt. Christmas favourites.

The God of Cookery

Title: The God of Cookery

Director: Stephen Chow

Released: 1996

Staring: Stephen Chow, Karen Mok, Vincent Kok, Ng Man-tat, Stephen Au, Nancy Sit, Lam Suet, Tats Lau, Law Kar-ying, Vincent Kuk

Plot: Stephen Chow (Chow) is the current reigning “God of Cookery” however when he is double crossed by his former staff and rival chef Bull Tong (kuk) and publically humiliated, he finds himself stripped of his title and stripped of his title. Now he must team up with two rival street chef’s Sister Turkey (Mok) and Goosehead (Siu-Kei) to battle his way back to the top and reclaim his title.

Review: Despite bursting into the public conscious with the double header of “Shoalin Soccer” and “Kung Fu Hustle”, Stephen Chow would seem to have drifted back under the radar of most movie goers, so considering that the amazing “Yam Magazine” are holding their YamYum Food Blogathon at the moment, what better time to look at one of his more obscure movies, it’s current status as one of his lesser known films, only makes it more of a shame that this film never received the same distribution that his previously mentioned films did.

Baring all of his usual comical trademarks, “The God of Cookery” is surreal to say the least with Chow combining slapstick, irrelevant musical numbers and his over-the-top “Silly Talk” style of comedy to tell the tale of competitive cookery, which would put even Iron Chef to shame, as ingredients are thrown and prepared in the air, while also boasting a dish called “Pissing Pork Balls” which I’m still not sure is the real name for this dish or just a questionable translation.

Opening with Chow as the reigning God of Cookery, he is shown as a pompous and egotistic, as he reigns down scorn on the dishes belonging to chefs who’d dare to oppose him, while using his title to charge overblown prices for simple street dishes so it’s of little surprise when he gets stripped off his title and is forced to start from scratch as he battles to regain his title, with Chow once more showing his love of ensemble comedy, as he brings together yet another group of misfits to aid him in his battle, including the two rival street vendors Sister Turkey and Goosehead, who agree to put their differences aside in order to help Chow develop his new dish, while equally processing their own random cooking techniques. The idea of the big shot who falls from grace and eventually achieves redemption has frequently been a key theme within Chow’s films and here it used more effectively than ever and while realism is nothing but an afterthought the tone is kept with Chows usual upbeat sense of fun that you won’t care will also no doubt excepting some of the more outlandish moments that appear throughout.

While this film could have just been played out with Chow loosing his title and battling his way to the top and that would have no doubt been more than enough. Still seemingly not content with playing things too straight, Chow instead takes a diversion into Shaolin territory as he trains or more precisely constantly gets beaten up by the Eighteen Brass Monks, as they remake him into a true deity of delectable dishes, while also giving way to a truly insane showdown between Chow and Bull Tong, which not only see’s outlandish cooking movies, but one character being turned into a Dog, ancient gods descending from the heavens and even a little kung fu (or should that be cook fu) thrown in to flavour.

While it might be perhaps a little too full on insane for some tastes, those already established with Chows unique style of humour will no doubt eagerly lap this up, while for newcomers it might just seem all abit too random, especially when it comes to the second half of the film which basically see’s any logic being tossed out of the film completely, but were Chow succeeds is in making it so that the audience never feels the need to question even the most outlandish of moments. True some things might be lost in translation, but here he hits a lot more than he misses and compared to some of the dreck being churned out by the Hollywood studio system, this film is a refreshing and highly original change of pace, while only further reinforcing my love for Hong Kong cinema.

Week of Hong: Balls of Fury

Title: Balls of Fury

Director: Robert Ben Garant

Released: 2007

Staring: Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q, James Hong, Terry Crews, Robert Patrick. Thomas Lennon, Aisha Tyler, Jason Scott Lee, La Na Shi, Patton Oswalt, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Plot: After losing the world Ping Pong championship as a child prodigy, the Def Leopard loving Randy (Fogler) has spent the last two decades peddling his skills on the Vegas strip to pay the bills with his former glory days now nothing but a distant memory. Now hired by the FBI to enter an underground Ping-Pong tournament in a bid to expose the elusive Feng (Walken), the criminal overlord who was also responsible for the death of Randy’s father (Patrick)

Review: On paper this film seemed to have pretty much everything I could want cast wise, I mean not only does it feature our man of the moment Mr. James Hong who we have been looking at over the course of this week as part of the Week of Hong Blogathon, but it also has Dan Fogler, an actor who I’ve become kind of obsessed with since first seeing him as the Rush obsessed “Hutch” in the Star Wars inspired comedy “Fanboys” aswell as more recently in the equally amusing “Take Me Home Tonight” and I was relishing the chance to see him in a leading role, rather than his usual portly sidekick persona. Sadly this film would prove once again that just because you have all the perfect ingredients it doesn’t always mean that you’re going to come away with a tasty dish of a movie.

Opening at the 1988 Olympic table tennis finals, were the twelve year old Randy is not already working his Def Leopard obsession but also seen as a child prodigy of the sport. However thanks to his father (in a whopping ten minute cameo by Patrick so get your fill X Files fans) betting everything they own on him winning, he soon finds the pressure getting to him and while facing the German champion Karl Wolfschtagg (Lennon) manages to knock himself unconscious, meaning he forfeits the match as a result, while at the same time causing his father to be murdered by Feng’s henchmen (Tagawa) due to not being able to pay his debts and sending Randy’s career into a nosedive as he turns his back on competitive ping pong. It’s during this opening that the tone is really set for the film, as this is anything but a serious look at the world of competitive ping pong (incase you hadn't realized), as it opts for the same surreal look at the sport that both “Dodgeball” and “Beerfest” brought to their sports and things only really get wackier as it continues, hence we get Randy turning the sport into what is possibly the worst cabaret act ever, while numerous demonstrations of super human play, as characters play with lightening fast reflexes and frequently keeping multiple balls in play.

The cast all pretty much play their various roles well, with Fogler embodying the overweight slacker Randy, who despite his obvious lack of any form of athleticism still manages to play the role of this superhuman player convincingly enough, while gaining support on his journey back to his former via the blind ping pong master Wong (Hong), whose training methods are almost as suspect of those used by Xian Chow in “Kickboxer”, as he has Randy trying to hit balls using a wooden spoon and more sadistically locking him in a freezer full of angry bees with possibly the worlds smallest flyswatter. 

Joining Randy on his quest for revenge we also have the questionable FBI agent Rodriguez (Lopez) who it would seem has confused the FBI for the CIA / MI6 seeing how he bases his inspiration for joining on fantasies of James Bond exploits. Randy also more surprisingly even gets a love interest in the form of Wong’s niece and protégée Maggie (Maggie Q) who also gets a chance to show off her kung fu skills at various points of the film which is always welcome.

Sadly the weak link in the cast is also one of the biggest draws, as Walken seems to be purely going through the motions with his performance as Feng and while he occasionally shows moments of his normal brilliance, he never seems to know exactly how to play the role, which also brought to mind an interview with Walken I read a few years back, were he admitted to only reading his own lines whenever he was sent a script rather than the whole thing, which might go away to explaining the confused performance here, as well as why he also showed up in “The Country Bears”. The role of Feng, had also originally been the screenwriter Thomas Lennon for him to play, until it was given to Walken while he took on the role of Karl Wolfschtagg, though it only begs the question if this character would have been stronger had Lennon played the role as he had originally intended, even though Lennon is still great fun as the egotistical Wolfschtagg.

Still while Feng might not be the greatest of villains, but he does atleast have some decent support from his lead henchman known simply as Mysterous Asian Man (I’m not kidding they didn’t even bother to give him a name) which see’s Tagawa reusing his epic performance as Shang Tsung from “Mortal Kombat” which works really well and frequently to the point were he is often more intimidating than Feng, so it only makes it more of a shame that like Patton Oswalt he is so underused here and while Feng’s henchwoman the blow pipe welding Mahogany (Tyler), steps up to fill the void it is a presence which is sorely missed once he is removed, though Tyler is not especially hard on the eyes it has to be said and makes more of what would have no doubt otherwise been a less noticeable role.

The Comedy for the first half of the film is solid enough before it hits a horrible lull around the halfway point, from which it never truly recovers. Still with enough jokes being thrown at the screen, it does ensure that the majority of the comedy is more hit than miss, with Fogler proving to be a natural comedic talent, while Hong even manages to make his largely comedic role more enjoyable than you would expect, especially when it plays heavily on the fact his character is blind and hence has him facing the wrong way to talk or just walking into walls, let alone the fact that the film also features a joke based on him not releasing that a Love Courtesan was actually a man, making it only more of a credit to Hong that he manages to make this character work so well. The majority of the comedy here though can be found with Randy’s wacky opponents, which he has to face on the path to Feng, which include a psycho little girl named “Dragon” (Shi) and local champion “Hammer” (Oswalt) who not only can’t break through his own paper banner, while also has an arsenal of confusing hand gestures, though despite his scenes being amongst the funniest this character is bizarrely never seen again after the initial confrontation, frustratingly adding to ongoing list of underused characters within this film. 

Even now reflecting on my viewing experience of this film, I can't decide if really enjoyed it enough to watch it again and while it's certainly has it's moments, it's one that's best watched with friends and a laid back atmosphere of low expectation, though it's safe to say that ping pong has never looked cooler....shame the same can't be said for Def Leopard.