I Think We're Alone Now

Title: I Think We're Alone Now
Director: Sean Donnelly
Released: 2008

Staring: Tiffany, Jeff Deane Turner, Kelly McCormick

 

Plot: Documentary following two obsessed fans of 80's pop star "Tiffany" while exploring what it is about her which drives their obsession.

Review: Perhaps featuring one of the more random choices of subject to follow, “I Think We’re Alone Now” follows two die hard fans / stalkers of 80’s pop star Tiffany, who memorably promoted the single, whose title the documentary shares by touring malls rather than singing at more traditional venues and something which was also memorably parodied in “How I Met Your Mother” with Robin Sparkles “Lets All Go To The Mall”.

The first of the two subjects we meet is Jeff Deane Turner, who is also the more appealing of the two and whom in the 80’s had a 3 year year restraining order placed against him by Tiffany, after he tried to present her with a katana and five white chrysanthemums, something he explains as being a very high honour in Japanese society. Needless to say was not the same way it was interpretated at the time by her security, as especially highlighted in one of the many newspaper cutting that Jeff keeps along with essentially anything else associated with his idol. A lot of his more random behaviour can be attributed to the fact he has been diagnosed with Asperger’s and while well read and able to talk at length on his favourite subjects, lacks any form of social cues and hence never realises that perhaps not everyone is as interested in his random facts about Tiffany that he is able to reel off on whim as he is. Ultimately he is shown as being a friendly if frequently misunderstood guy, whose other interests extend to conspiracy theories and Radionics a random pseudo-science which he believes him to telepathically communicate with Tiffany’s soul.

The other subjects here is Kelly McCormick, who lacks the likablitity of Jeff and in many ways his polar opposite, as she is a depressed introvert, which also makes her a harder person to initially connect to, even more so when she speaks in such droning tones. Born intersex McCormick is still in the process of tansitioning toward becoming female, taking a dresser top full of various medications to further the process. However despite this she is frequently referred to as being a “He” or “Him” by those close to her such as her gay room mate, even though McCormick frequently refers to herself as “her”.

While Turner’s interest seems to be more grounded in a friendship he believes that he has with Tiffany, McCormick’s interest it would seem is more of a romantic one, as when she is not running or talking about her training regime, she is lusting over her, covering the walls of her apartment with photos of her idol, while frequently conducting interview segments from her couch with a framed photo resting on her shoulder, while ultimately believing her only chance at happiness lies with being with her idol and often acting like a scorned lover whenever denied a chance to see her, as especially highlighted by her failed attempts to get into one of Tiffany’s club gigs which leads her instead to a nearby off licence so she can drink her frustration away.
Despite the fact that Tiffany only had two number one singles, before sinking pretty much into obscurity, doesn’t seem to matter to either of the two subjects, who would both seemingly be under the impression that her career was bigger than it was, with both McCormick and Turner in their own way believing that they share some kind of special connection to her, which the other fans don’t have. Ultimately while sold on the premise of following two of her stalkers, something which essentially only refers to Turner, the documentary more interestingly provides us a fascinating insight into “Erotomania” were the affected person believes that a person is in love with them and reciprocating the feelings they have for that person, which would especially be the case for Turner, who frequently gives many of his encounters with Tiffany an alternative spin, while proudly showing of his collection of books on the subject.

Director Sean Donnelly doesn’t go for anything too flashy here, especially when title cards represent nothing more than names written on cardboard seemingly held in front of the camera. Shot on handheld camera, here he chooses to let his subjects do the talking, especially with no voice over or narrative cards to help tell the story of what fuels their obsession. Equally interesting is the noticeable lack of music or stock Tiffany footage, no doubt the result of licensing costs. Still she does still turn up here in several scenes though never interviewed by Donnelly, as the times we see here is during a couple of awkward encounters with both McCormick and Turner, with her encounter with Turner at an erotica convention being one of her clearly at ease, even more so when he acts as if they are lifelong friends.

While perhaps ill advised to encourage his subjects to further their obsessions, Donnelly also finds himself in what could have very much proved to have been a perfect storm, when McCormick and Turner meet up in Las Vegas to share a hotel room while attending a Tiffany concert and forming a kind of stalker version of “The Odd Couple”. Ultimately though it is a situation which doesn’t occur and instead leads to more of a disagreement than the kind of situation you would expect from two stalkers room sharing.
At only an hour run time, doesn’t overstretch the material, while ending on a positive note for both McCormick and Turner who seem to have grown from the experience as we leave them both heading off in new directions and ultimately more positive directions with their lives. This is a strange, yet surprisingly also a moving documentary to say the least and currently available through Snagfilms (as is the amazing Roller Derby Documentary “Hell On Wheels“, so why not take an hour out of your routine to watch something different.

Jaws 2

Title: Jaws 2
Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Released: 1978

Staring: Roy Scheider, Mark Gruner, Marc Gilpin, Lorraine Gary

Plot: Four years after the events of "Jaws" Police chief Brody (Scheider) must protect the citizens of Amity once again when a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.

Review:  This week I found out something quite shocking while openly declaring my love for this sequel that I realised that there are some people out there who have actually never seen it! I know it’s hard to believe that a movie series which was so firmly part of most our childhood movie watching, let alone responsible for myself still not being overly keen on swimming in the sea all these years later. But as I looked at the glazed expression of my work colleague who clearly had no idea about this movie, I knew that it was time to revisit what is possibly one of the most overlooked and underrated sequels of all time.

True it was always going to be a hard act to follow a legendry movie such as “Jaws” which could easily be considered the definition of a perfect movie, not only in terms of storytelling and pacing, but also with how perfectly Spielberg tweaked each of the films shocks so that even a giant rubber shark could be turned into a creature of childhood scaring terror. Still with the studio having made so much money from the first film, which alongside “Star Wars” helped create the summer blockbuster phenomenon, it would only be a matter of time before they started demanding a sequel, despite the fact that the shark being clearly very much dead by the end of the first film, but such things are quickly glossed over for here is yet another giant shark to terrorise the residents of Amity Island, while the why, were and what the f**k of the situation are left to the audience to figure out themselves as Police Chief Martin Brody  finds himself once again having to deal with another oversized great white shark.

With Spielberg unable to be tempted back to direct the sequel due to a combination of the problems which plagued the production of the first film, which included amongst other things the fact that the shark keep sinking, aswell as the fact that he felt he had already made the “Definitive shark movie”. Spielberg’s decision would lead to a further 18 month period of pre-production, with the original idea for the film to be a prequel based around the sinking of the USS Indianapolis whose story had been so memorably relayed by Quint in the first film; however this would later be scrapped in favour of a more straightforward sequel with the inexperienced John D. Hancock being chosen to helm the film, but with his limited experience in the directors chair, having only helmed three film credits and small scale dramas, he soon found himself feeling the pressure of directing his first epic adventure film, while issues with the shark once again hampering production and with the producers unhappy with his material he was soon replaced by Jeannot Szwarc, who would later direct the equally cult “Supergirl” and “Santa Claus: The Movie”.

Set four years after the events of the first film with Brody having his suspicions that another shark has entered the waters of Amity Island once again dismissed, which is overwhelmingly bizarre seeing how much chaos the original shark caused, you would have expected the residents to be more open to the idea of a giant shark, but alas they’d rather dismiss his fears even major Vaughn who’d you think would have learned better after the events of the first film. Even Brody’s kids seem to have forgotten about the events previously, especially Mike who went into shock after seeing the shark in original, yet here they are more keen than ever to get back on the water, with Mike (Gruner) and Sean (Gilpin) heading out to sea with Mike’s friends and setting up the main meat of the story as they soon find themselves the target of the shark.
Realising that the audiences already knew what the shark looked like from the first film here director Szwarc instead doesn’t try like so many other directors to play on the element of surprise again and as such allows the audience to see a the shark a lot more than the previous film which only hinted at the size of the shark until around two thirds of the way through the film, when the shark was memorably fully revealed. Here he brings a much more brutal and thanks to an early attack sequence (which is also one of the most unintentionally funny scenes ever shot) a heavily scarred shark.

Cranking up the action from the first film, which kept it’s attacks sporadic as Spielberg played peek-a-boo with the shark in the build up to his climatic showdown, here Szwarc instead goes overboard with the shark attacks, while making anything potential game, as logic is pushed to the backseat especially when you consider that the film features the shark memorably attacking a helicopter. Such bizarre moments are rife throughout the film, as plausibility is largely nothing but a passing thought, while for some equally random reason Szwarc chooses to recreate scenes from the original film with a slight twist and hence why we get scenes like the discovery of an orca corpse almost mirroring the discovery of the girls corpse on the beach or the police boat being dragged backwards after it picks up a power cable being shot almost the same as the Quint’s boat being pulled by the shark at the climax of the original “Jaws”. What is most interesting about the scene were they find the body of the orca, that a year earlier the killer whale movie “Orca” was released which featured the orca head butting a shark in a subtle nod to “Jaws” that the orca was infact deadlier than a shark, with this dead orca clearly having been killed by a shark almost being like Szwarc’s fuck you right back! However despite a high body count, there is barely a drop of blood spilt here yet it makes zero difference as the tension is slowly cranked up by Szwarc who manages the near impossible of still managing to make the shark scary, even if the audience knows what to expect and even pulls out more than a few original shocks along the way.

One of the strengths here though is the amount of returning cast members we do get, especially with so many of the characters being so memorable it only makes it better that we get to see them again here, especially in terms of Lorraine Gary who once more returns as Ellen Brody and who shares such great onscreen chemistry with Roy Scheider, that it’s hard to not see them as a real couple and even though Scheider’s return here was only to get out of a contractual obligation he had with the studio, after he quit the role of Steven Pushkov in “The Deer Hunter” two weeks prior to the start of shooting. Still despite this he still brings back his grizzled charm to the role he made so memorable to begin with and despite his reasons for being involved in the film, he doesn’t let it show here, as his performance here is just as memorable as the first, even if it is more action orientated than before, with the scenes of him interacting with his family now nothing but an afterthought, for while the first film might have been as much about people as it was about the shark, this film instead prefers to keep the focus solely on the shark.

Despite having the imposing task of following up on Spielberg’s classic original, I would argue that blow for blow that this film is just as good as the original, while perhaps lacking some of Spielberg’s finesse it still holds its own when compared to the original and even with it’s more bonkers moments it still remains an overlooked classic, overshadowed by the god awful sequels which followed and as a result dragged this film down with them and leaving most people with the misconception that the original was the only film in the series of note and when compared to the shark films which followed in its wake this is a gold star standard shark movie.

The Raid: Redemption

Title: The Raid: Redemption

Director: Gareth Evans

Released: 2012

Staring: Ray Sahetapy, Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian

Plot: Crime lord Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy) has turned the apartment block were he lives into his own personal fortress, by turning it into a safehouse for the city’s most dangerous murderers, killers, gangsters and other assorted scumbags and in the process making him untouchable by both his rivals and the police. Still despite this an elite team including rookie cop Rama (Iko Uwais) and led by the driven Sergeant Jaka (Joe Taslim) have now been dispatched to take down Tama once and for all.

 Review: Every few years there seems to be either one actor or a country which shakes up the martial arts genre, making up for the years in-between were genre fans have had to generally get by on whatever Direct-to-DVD nonsense that Steven Segal has churned out that month. This is not to say that there haven’t been glimmers of hope over the recent years, with Donnie Yen finally getting some long over due recognition, as well as the likes of Michael Jai White and to an extent Ray Park certainly doing their part to help revive the flagging genre which many would consider way beyond it’s golden days of the 70’s and 80’s, with the last noticeable examples in recent memory coming from Thiland, with Panna Rittikrai bringing us the likes of Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak) and JeeJa Yanin (Chocolate). These new breed of Martial Arts superstars coming with a promise of “No Stuntman, No Equal” as they delivered an exciting blend of thrilling stunt work and bone crunching fight scenes. Now it seems that Indonesia is going to be the next surprising place to find your Martial Arts fix, for “The Raid: Redemption” is not so much the next big thing, but a certified game changer for the genre, for entering into this film even as a veteran of a misspent childhood watching Kung fu movies, I was still blown away by how exhilarating and original a movie that Welsh born and self confessed genre fan director Gareth Evans has crafted here in what is easily another of this years big surprises, even though it would currently be set to be another film which will find its audience now it has been released on DVD after a limited cinema release schedule.

With the plot essentially established within the first fifteen minutes, with our hero Rama being given slightly more depth than the other members of this 20 man squad, as we open to him running through his morning prayers as a devout Muslim before engaging in his grueling training regime to further hone his already impressive martial arts skills, before his kisses his still sleeping and heavily pregnant wife goodbye. It is clear that he is a man trying to do what he can as a cop, to make the world a slightly safer place for his unborn child, with the removal of Tama being another key part of this personal quest.

Entering the building on the ground floor the team have no option to work their way up the building floor by floor, to get to Rama who is for some reason located on the 15^th. As to be expected their plans for a covert option are soon thrown out of the window when Rama is alerted to their presence by one of his spotters and offering the tenants free rent to those who kill the SWAT team and in effect mobilising his army of seemingly hundreds. Meanwhile Rama and the others only find their situation worse when they discover that their whole operation has not been sanctioned and meaning that they have no reinforcements or rescue to fall back on.

This film could in many ways be almost be described as a living video game, with it’s simple plot and the fact that dialogue kept to minimum, with this  film taking the old saying of “Actions speak louder than words” to a whole new level, while each floor the team clears almost feels like a level completed, with the bad guys attacking in disorganized groups, with many of the SWAT team’s opponents seemingly taking a number for their beat down as few bother to attack at the same time that another thug is fighting. Needless to say the fight scenes will be the reason you see this film and it pays out in spades as it provides a real showcase for “Silat” the Indonesian martial art style, which focuses on strikes, joint manipulation, throws aswell as the use of bladed weaponry, with the style being used to powerful effect here, especially to western audiences more familiar with the traditional Kung Fu and Kickboxing styles which have been favoured in martial arts movies, while more recent films such as Donnie Yen’s “Flashpoint” have seen the introduction of mixed martial arts. It goes without question though that Silat is yet another highly filmable style, as clearly shown here with it use of quick attacks and devastatingly powerful ground based attacks.

The promotion of this indigenous fighting style was a key reason for director Evans to make this movie, as he was looking for a project which he could build upon his fascination of the fighting style and promote it to international audiences with the films original conception as a large scale prison gang movie, only for time restraints to see it scaled down to it’s current form, which ultimately has proven to be a great decision with the hallways and shoe box sized apartments bringing a claustrophobic atmosphere to the film, aswell as a real sense of danger to what the SWAT team are facing, especially during the early scenes were they are forced to hole up in a room fighting off a rabid horde of  Tama’s followers.

The cast are all fantastic with Sahetapy proving himself a powerful mixture of sleazy slumlord and skillful and intelligent tactitian, though sadly not a fighter which would be more disappointing if it was not for Uwais who not only provides a sufficient amount of fight scenes to cover for this anticlimactic encounter and proves himself a star in the making and bringing back memories of Tony Jaa in “Ong-Bak”, as he showcases his impressive catalogue of moves, with incredible smoothness aswell as speed, yet still containing a street fighting edge, as fights frequently contain moments of seeming pure improvisation, meanwhile Yayan Ruhian who appears here as head thug “Mad Dog” a man who’d rather beat his opponents with his fists than shoot them, really provides a suitable challenge especially when the big evil of the film isn’t a fighter, leaving Mad Dog to handle his fights, which he more than happily does even taking on two opponents at the same time in the climatic fight scene which clocks in at an impressive 15 mins of non-stop fighting which when it had ended was greeted by a rousing round of applause by the audience attending the screening I was at, something I had only experienced twice previously when the mother ship blew up in “Independence day” and the second being when Bruce the shark got blown up in “Jaws”, but it is really a credit to the quality of the fight scenes on offer here, that it sparked such feelings in an audience.

Needless to say this film won’t appeal to everyone, especially for those of you whom find the prospect of 90+ minutes of pure bone crunching fight scenes, more than a little tiresome, meanwhile genre fans especially those of you who like your martial arts fast and brutal and action relentless will no doubt have a blast and hungry for more.

The Loved Ones

Title: The Loved Ones

Director: Sean Byrne

Released: 2009

Staring: Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson, John Brumpton

Plot: When Brent (Samuel) turns down Lola’s (McLeavy) invitation to the school prom, she concocts a plan for her own prom instead.

Review: Despite being released three years ago to zero fanfare, for one reason or another this film has suddenly become a hot topic in the horror blogging community, were in the space of the week I’ve seen posts from at least four different bloggers. Meanwhile it seems my finger had been far from the pulse (no doubt jammed somewhere else to paraphrase "Mallrats" Brodie) , having recorded this film ages ago yet only now finally getting around to watching it.

The feature debut of director Sean Byrne who is probably best known for his short films, a reputation which may soon be challenged by this film as it’s popularity continues to increase and with good reason as here he takes the usual torture movie conventions yet has somehow managed to produce a highly original film, which like it’s nastier predecessor “Wolf Creek” makes you wonder what it is about Australian film makers which allows them to still manage to make original films in what is fast becoming a genre almost as overworked as the Zombie genre, much less were they are drawing such vicious inspiration from?

The plot is simple enough with the shy and retiring Lola having eyes for the moody Brent and only wanting for him to take her to the prom, sadly to be shot down.  Possibly not the best decision Brent could have made seeing how Lola doesn’t exactly take rejection that well. Still Brent soon learns the cost of saying no to Lola, as she soon has him tied up in her house which she has converted into her own prom, with the help of her equally unhinged father (Brumpton) who is more than happy to ensure that his princess gets the prom she wants. Now while most directors would just see this as all the setup they need to get into unleashing their twisted ideas onto the screen, Byrne instead throws us something of a curve ball by breaking up the scenes of torture with what would at first seem to be random comedic asides as we follow Brent’s portly best friend Jamie (Wilson) as he manages to convince the hot Goth Mia to go with him to prom, only to soon find out that perhaps Lola isn’t the only unhinged girl at their school. Initially I was put off by the random cuts to Jamie’s prom night, but ultimately it is the right decision here as it adds a much needed relief to the essentially relentless scenes of torture and torment, which while it might remove some of the snarl from the film, certainly stopped it turning into another brutal assault like “Wolf Creek” which only helped me enjoy it more.

The real power in this film though comes from McLeavy’s performance which always stays on the right side of demented, without becoming comical especially as she frequently teeters close to the edge of farcical, while her out of tune . Still Lola is slightly more complex than your usual slasher, especially as she’s essentially bi-polar when it comes to her torture parties, switching on a moments notice from snarling confidence to crippling panic, especially when parts of her plan don’t work out how she originally planned them as especially seen during the scenes of her attempts at home lobotomy surgery something which only had me draw further comparisons between her and the equally obsessed Annie Wilkes from “Misery” with the shots of Lola and her power drill almost holding the same power as Annie and her sledgehammer. Were their obsessions differ though is in the fact that her obsession with Brent can be rooted to her serious daddy issues, which boil down to the fact that she wants to jump her dad’s bones. Still it is a fascinating relationship that she shares with Daddy (Brumpton) who seemingly is happy to do whatever it takes to keep his daughter happy, while also appearing to be responsible for some of the more disturbing elements of the film such as the lobotomised Bright eyes and no doubt the basement full of cannibals, while also hiding a nasty streak of his own which is slowly revelled as the layers of the bumbling bumpkin are peeled away to show his true colours. Such multi layered characterisation is a running theme throughout the film, with only a few characters such as Jamie actually being who they first appear with Brent being a mass of guilt and angst, as the result of his father’s death, something he deals with by self mutilation and generally keeping himself doped up, though no doubt his encounter with Lola has given him a whole new bunch of issues, especially when he finds himself tied up in her kitchen and rendered mute, thanks to her injecting his voice box with bleach, something which also adds another interesting layer to the film, as we are faced with watching a character who cannot speak or make any sound bar a raspy scream when subjected to the more extreme tortures that Lola and her father unleash on him over the course of the evening.

The gore which while frequently graphic which mutilation and impalement heavily featured, it is never at the same gratuitous levels as many of its contemporaries to which it is significantly lighter in tone as Bryne has crafted a film which very much plays by it’s own rules and is only all the stronger for it. Even more so after baring witness to the stream of clones which followed in the wake of the success of Eli Roth’s “Hostel” and while it still features the same kind of visceral seat-squirming visuals it still at the same times bothers to do more than just pile on the grime and gore, with Byrne seemingly fighting these conventions further by dressing Lola in bright pinks, while her mumbling rendition of “Am I Not Pretty Enough?” is nothing short of haunting and filled with the same loneliness which seemingly inhabits every aspect of Lola’s life, while only further ensuring that this is one prom your unlikely to forget anytime soon.

Let The Bullets Fly

Title: Let The Bullets Fly

Director: Jiang Wen

Released: 2010

Staring:Chow Yun-Fat, Jiang Wen, Ge You

Plot: Set in 1920’s China were bandit chief “Pocky” Zhang Mazi (Wen) has set his sights on Goose Town, were he plans to assume the identity of the governor in order to pilfer the town’s finances, with the help of small time imposter Ma Bangde (You). Zhang upon arriving at the town soon however finds himself in conflict with local mobster Master Huang (Yun Fat) who lives in a nearby fortified citadel, as the two are soon set on course for a showdown for the control of Goose Town.

Review: In last couple of years we have seen a something of a resurrection of that most wonderful of genres the “Eastern Western”. A genre which recently has gained new additions via Japan (Sukiyaki Western Django) and Korea (The Good, The Bad and The Weird) and even Hollywood have thrown their hat into the ring with “The Warriors Way” and now finally China has entered the fray with this film, as they too attempt to give the world their take on this much overlooked genre whose history can be traced back to the early 1960’s were the Niikatsu studio specialised in films of this type with Japanese cowboys riding the hills and plains of Hokkaido, aswell as films like Eiichi Kudo’s “The Fort of Death” which memorably borrowed the opening scene of the classic spaghetti western “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.

Despite being released back in 2010 in its homeland China, were it was the highest grossing film ever until it was beaten recently by “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” and for some has taken until now to finally see a UK release aswell as a limited US release. Still finally this madcap and darkly comedic western can be seen here and ultimately I was left wondering if it was really worth the wait? Well certainly it is a mixed bag of surprises that director Jiang Wen has given us here as he aims for one part black comedy and one part sheer spectacle with over the top action sequences, blazing shoot outs, lush cinematography and some humorous use of CGI which includes a train barrel rolling off the tracks during the opening heist sequence. However due to this mixed bag the film ends up feeling very uneven throughout, as comedic scenes of Huang arguing with his double sitting alongside disembowelling and hosepipe arterial sprays of blood and left me wondering what sort of film Wen was trying to make here, especially when it spends so much of the film tightrope walking between dark comedy and a crime thriller, while the translation has also meant that a lot of the humour has been lost in translation and only adding further confusion to things. Still it is clear that Wen is not looking to take things too seriously and would I can only guess seem to be aiming for a hybrid of Stephen Chow via The Coen Brothers.

One of the main strengths here through is with it’s leads with Jiang Wen pulling triple duty as both the films director, writer and the lead and thankfully to the sacrifice of neither, as he brings an air of gravitas to his on screen presence and is truly believable as the bandit leader, with his moral change non the less believable as he changes his original mission to fight against Wang. Chow Yun Fat is truly back on form here after his recent less than stellar performances in his Hollywood productions, reminds us once again why he is such a Hong Kong screen legend, while the fanboys will no doubt be more than happy to see him back on dual pistol welding form again. Here he is questionably just as good playing the bad guy, as he brings his usual charm and smile while carrying out some less than savoury actions throughout the film as he battles to maintain control of Goose Town. Finally but no less of note is Ge You whose conman, frequently is at the centre of some of the best rapid fire dialogue and while largely used for comedic effect, has no trouble holding his own alongside the better known cast members.

The action scenes are all skilfully shot with a mixture of rapid gunplay shootouts and outrageous trick shooting, with the film broken up with several of these sequences, which ensure that the action never gets too dull, despite being hampered by an overly generous runtime which could have certainly done with some trimming, for as fun as the film is, it still feels way to bloated in it’s current state, while more confusingly despite building up to a huge climatic showdown, Wen instead chooses to end the film with more of a whimper than the much hinted at bang, as the film essentially fizzles out on its conclusion, while it’s title may to some be slightly misleading with it’s sporadic moments of action and no doubt disappointing those expecting a film in a more heroic gunplay style, which despite having some fancy gun work is anything but that kind of movie.

While perhaps not as good as the aforementioned “Sukiyaki Western Django” and The Good, The Bad and The Weird”, it still has a sense of fun and certainly is another noteworthy entry for the genre, with the films native success hopefully meaning further additions to the genre may be forthcoming which as an establish fan of the “Eastern Western” I can’t say that it would be a bad thing, though personally I would start with either of those two titles before trying this one, especially as it is far from the best example of the genre.

Predator

Title: Predator

Director: John McTiernan

Released: 1987

Staring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, Shane Black, Elpidia Carrillo, Kevin Peter Hall

Plot: An elite Special Forces team lead by Dutch (Schwarzenegger) are sent on a rescue mission deep in guerrilla territory in Central America, unaware that his team are soon being hunted for sport by an extraterrestrial hunter.

Review: Another film from Arnie’s Golden period, this time towards the end of this career period, yet still showcasing all the usual trademarks I.E: One liners, cigars and a healthy dose of OTT action sequences, it is also one of my favourite Arnie movies and perhaps only rivaled by “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” for the number one spot, especially seeing how he is shown here at the peak of his career having established himself as a household name for 80’s action, a reputation he more than lives up to here.

Originally inspire by a joke regarding who Rocky would fight next following the release of “Rocky IV” were it seemed that he had run out of earthly opponents and hence meaning his next opponent would have to be an alien. Needless to say this was all the inspiration that writers Jim and John Thomas would need for their debut (aswell as thier best seeing how they would also be responsible for the likes of cinematic trash like “Wild Wild West”) script which was originally titled “Hunter”. Bizarrely Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast at the titular predator whose original design was that of an alien ninja, but proved to be a lot more clumsy than the now familiar Predator design created by Stan Winston with additional imput from James Cameron who would be responsible for the new look Predator design gaining a set of Mandibles, with the new design being commissioned after a frustrated Van Damme, tired of overheating in the clumsy original suit head butted a cameraman before storming off set and leaving the door open for  the 7’2 Kevin Peter Hall to take over the role and bringing the new look creature to life, while the voice was provided by Peter Cullen who is probably best known for voicing Optimus Prime and Winnie-the-Pooh’s Eeyore.

The film itself is a classic slice of 80’s action, especially considering that Dutch’s team are supposed to be a covert unit, yet not one of them is armed with a subtle weapon between them from Poncho’s (Chaves) grenade launcher to the memorable Minigun “Ol’ Painless” welded by Blain (Ventura) and in many ways they could be seen as the blueprint for the “The Expendables”, especially with their OTT antics as they clear out a guerrilla encampment, with Arnie spitting out some of his best one liners with nearly each bad guy he dispatches in what is possibly one of his best action sequences ever. Still up until this point the film is very much a men on a mission style movie, which is only given the sci-fi twist after this point with the introduction of the Predator. No doubt its a twist which would have been more effective back when the film was originally released than it is now, were the Predator like the xenomorph’s in “Alien” have become such iconic creations that you would be hard pushed to find someone who is still surprised to see the appearance of the Predator. Still it is a flawless switch in genres as the hunters soon become the hunted, with the technological advances and early nods to the warrior code of the Predator giving the film a nice twist, especially when the group are forced to resort to guerrilla tactics to defeat their foe, after memorably and downright bizzarely exhausting their ammo supplies shooting up a small section of empty jungle, not once to really question what exactly they are supposed to be shooting at in yet another classic moment of 80’s excess.   

This comparison to “The Expendables” can also be carried over to the rest of Dutch’s crew whom are mainly played by action heroes of the era with Weathers, Duke and Landham all having appeared in other 80’s action movies, meanwhile Shane Black who appears as the groups comic relief Hawkins was mainly cast to keep an eye on director McTiernan who’d previously only directed one feature previous to being given this film and whose inexperience in the directors chair worried producer Joel Silver, though ultimately history would show that this would be unheeded especially when McTiernan would go on from this film to direct the equally epic “Die Hard” while Black would use the time to work on his script for “The Last Boy Scout”. Still it would be a real baptism of fire of McTiernan into big budget action movies especially after his misfire of a debut “Nomads”, with the cast and crew having to deal with cold temperatures of the surrounding jungle which required heat lamps to be used at all times, while frequently working on rough terrain. Equally problematic was the new Predator design meaning that Hall was working blind, leading to numerous occasions during the final showdown between Arnie and the predator were he was hitting him in the face by accident. Unsurprisingly Hall would remember the experience as being more of a “survival story” with even McTiernan breaking his wrist during filming.

Unsurprisingly being an 80’s action movie, the gore quota is unrestrained here with skinned bodies hanging from trees, exploding bloody holes shot through characters and a weighty body count (mainly at the hands of Arnie) all being the order of the day. However despite the graphic nature of these scenes, the film is still for the most part largely restrained and only gives the audience its graphic moments when realistically needed rather than just because McTernan can.

What truly makes this film so effective though is the soundtrack composed by Alan Silvestri, whose manages to effectively control the mood throughout with the film using two distinct styles throughout, with Dutch’s team being represented by the heavily orchestral moments of score which holds a processes a real military feel to it, while the predator is represented by heavy tribal drumming whose intensity, frequently grows the closer the creature is and suitably builds a natural sense of tension, with these two styles effectivly being combined when we witness both Dutch and the predator preparing for their final showdown. Still Silvestri's soundtrack would prove to be highly influential and it's influence can still be heard in modern action movies today.

To view the film as a solo entry, it is hard to see how the Predator managed to spawn such a franchise, especially when it works so well as a stand alone film and while they continue to try and find a way to make the Aliens vs. Predator franchise work the Predator films have turned into a fairly decent trilogy and one which can certainly hold its own against the Alien saga, even if if never achieved the same level of scope. Still this film remains a stone cold classic and one of those rare occasions in film making were everything just works. Yes it's loud and dumb....but by god is it alot of fun!!

Ace Attorney

Title: Ace Attorney

Director: Takashi Miike

Released: 2012

Staring: Hiroki Narimiya, Mirei Kiritani, Kimiko Yo, Takumi Saito, Ryo Ishibashi, Akiyoshi Nakao

Plot: Phoenix Wright (Hiroki Narimiya) is a novice lawyer brought in to first defend Maya Fey (Mirei Kiritani) for the murder of her sister Mia (Kimiko Yo), a case which pits him against expert prosecutor Miles Edgeworth (Takumi Saito), whom he is soon called on to defend when he is charged with murder in a case which will see him having to face the legendary Mandred Von Karma (Ryo Ishibashi) who is yet to loose a case in forty years! However despite seemingly being separate cases Phoenix soon realises that the two cases may be more linked than first appeared.

 

Review: For one reason or another it seems that the courtroom thriller has become something of a lost artform, or at least a concept which isn’t exactly crying out box office potential or so it would seem to the studio bosses, especially considering how long it has been since we last saw a new addition to this genre. Still thankfully Takashi Miike latest film sets out to resolve this with his latest film which continues to mark out a noticeable change for Miike and the films he is choosing to make, for it would seem as his profile as a director continues to rise that the former L’enfant terrible of Asian cinema Takashi Miike is mellowing with age, something which become more and more clear with each new film he releases, especially having reached the zenith of splatter with the notorious “Ichi the Killer”. Yet despite being responsible for some of the most shocking cinema ever created, this film marks his current interest in moving away from the ultra violence and Triad movies which he crafted his legacy with and his focus on working in other genre’s as here he presents his adaptation of the popular video game “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” a film which once again shows that Miike is more than capable of adapting his visual style to any genre he chooses.

Based on the second and forth cases in the game, but rather than trying to make the usual video game adaptation mistake of trying to bring the events of the game into a real world setting, Miike here instead throws us something of a curve ball by giving us a live action version of the game, but changing none of it’s video game styling’s. So cue anime hairstyles, overly dramatic characterisation and court room proceedings like you have never seen before, as evidence isn’t just presented but blown up onto giant holographic images.

Despite the character of Phoenix Wright perhaps not having the instant recognition as a popular video game character, Miike makes the film still highly accessible to those who might not even realise that it is a video game adaptation or folks like myself who don’t own a DS and hence have not played the games, as he instead skilfully combines moments of madcap comedy within the framework of a courtroom thriller. However despite the title, when we meet Phoenix he is anything close to the “Ace Attorney” the title would have you believe he is, for while the prosecutors he faces dress like French noblemen projecting an air of unflappable confidence, Phoenix on the other hand is a lot more green as he frequently finds himself flustered by the prosecution while somehow always managing to amass a mountain of papers on his desk from seemingly nowhere. Yet despite this lack of courtroom experience he is also prone to moment of decisive genius with an eye for the most minute of details, while also receiving perhaps a slightly unfair amount of assistance from the psychic projections of Maya.

These courtroom sequences are far from dreary procedure and tedious statements, as the sci-fi edge of having the evidence shown as projections, which can be easily moved around and enlarged in the courtroom keep things fast paced and easy to follow, especially when the key points of the evidence are blown up to such gigantic scale it’s hard not to realise what is currently the point of focus in the case. Still within the Ace Attorney universe, the courts are inundated with so many cases that the Japanese legal system have turned to carrying out “bench trials” were the two attorneys are given three days to present their cases before a judge, though I’ve no idea whose random it was to have the verdicts appear in huge letters erupting out of confetti explosions!?! Still despite the surreal presentation of the cases they are still surprisingly meaty and genuinely engaging as Miike crafts a convoluted labyrinth of intrigue, surprise evidence and objections, while once again making me wonder why Asian cinema has got such an effective grasp over the use of CGI in it’s films, while Hollywood’s attempts to master this technique still continue to noticeably take the viewer out of the film rather than add to it in any way.

Still clocking in at just over two hours, the film certainly has a generous run time, which feels more than justified here, especially when it is just so much fun to spend time within this world, whether battling cases in court or just hunting for new clues in the case, which usually involves Phoenix encountering one of the random local residents, the majority of whom have been given some form of comical edge, especially when it comes to the madcap antics of Phoenix’s childhood friend Larry (Akiyoshi Nakao). We are also frequently given flashbacks to Phoenix’s school days were it would seem that the Japanese school system likes to promote mock courtroom debates early on, while more amusing is that all the characters dress exactly the same with the only difference being the fact that they are being played by child actors.

For the soundtrack Miike has once again teamed up with K?ji End?, to provide another memorable soundtrack, which takes it’s cues from the game and combining it with newly composed background music which perfectly suits the action and certainly adds the required drama and tension when required, while the colourfully named Japanese group “Porno Graffitti” who previously have provided music for both the anime series “Full metal Alchemist” and “Bleach” and here continue provide another memorable song with the theme song “Spark”.

Ultimately this film manages to combine both elements of courtroom drama with a warm sense of humour, while proving once that Miike is far more than a one trick pony, as he once more surprises us with his range as a director, while loosing none of his visual flair. This is not only a gentle introduction to his film, especially considering the splatter of his early films which made him so popular to begin with, especially with some western fans who will continue to groan with frustration as he moves further away again from his gore soaked roots. However I can safely say that this was one of the few occasions were I feel a sequel to this film cannot come quick enough.