Cosmopolis

Title: Cosmopolis
Director: David Cronenberg

Released: 2012

Staring: Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton, Sarah Gadon, Mathieu Amalric, Juliette Binoche, Kevin Durand

Plot:28 year old Billionaire asset manager Eric Packer (Pattinson) travels across New York in order via his impenetrable stretch limo to get a haircut at his childhood barber.

 

Review: This film took me awhile to get around to watching originally due to prolonged delays, thanks in part to the limited distribution as well as were I live on this rain soaked rock meaning that certain films never make it this far south, but still despite such issues I did finally get to see the latest film by director David Cronenberg, which after “A Dangerous Method” sees him back on more familiar ground as he returns with his adaptation of Don DeLillo’s titular novel.

Clearly trying to break away from the shiny vampire nonsense of the “Twilight” saga, Pattinson stars here in a role which was originally going to be played by Colin Farrell, until scheduling conflicts with the recent “Total Recall” remake forced him to drop out, leaving the role open for Patterison who continues here with his ongoing mission to try and find roles as far away from the role of Edward Cullen as possible, especially with this film being one of his more experimental performances, something I don’t think most of the Robert Pattinson fans (or most of the audience at the screening I attended) realised judging by how many people I saw walking out of this film, a scene all to reminiscent of those I saw while watching “Drive”. As such it is certainly worth noting that this is far from the most action packed of films, especially considering how it is a film driven by its dialogue rather than the events which happen within it’s runtime.

For myself DeLillo has always been an author I have found to be largely impenetrable, despite many of his books such as the 823 page epic “Underworld” being highly regarded, they have never truly managed to capture my interest so I was especially curious going into this film to see if this was down to how DeLillo presents his stories or if it was just the writing itself which I was having the problem with. Still seeing how Cronenberg had managed to adapt William Burroughs equally impenetrable “Naked Lunch” with shall we say interesting results, I was hopeful if anyone could make it work it would be him. So did he? Well the results are mixed to say the least for while the film looks absolutely stunning, the verbal masturbation of the film does ultimately mean that it never really goes beyond we world we see out of the windows of Packer’s limo, bar the occasional diversion to one of the numerous diners which Packer visits along on his journey. Still from this view point we witness civil unrests as anarchists take to the street, with the rat being used as their new symbol of revolt aswell as an elaborate funeral procession of Packer’s favourite rapper. Yet despite the chaos which erupts outside of his limo, this protective cocoon means that Packer remains in a constant state of calm, even as he fritters away his fortune on the rapidly declining currency known as the Chinese Yuan, all over the course of one day.

Packer’s limo is frequently shown as less his preferred mode of transport, but more the throne from which he controls his empire, especially when it is seemingly equipped for any need he might have, as he controls trades and monitors changes in the market via touch screens located in the backseats, while also using the limo as a base for the numerous meetings he holds with a variety of characters which form the bulk of the story, when he is not engaging in casual sex with one of his mistresses or even at one part having a prostate exam carried out. It is packers discussions with his personal bodyguard (Durand) though which keep us most informed about what is happening in the real world, something Packer seems overly detached from thanks to his position and status which his fortune has earned him, yet at the same time would appear to be suffocating him slowly, as he seeks random acts of violence such as randomly requesting that one of his mistresses tazer him so that he can feel something.

The cast are all good in their various roles, even if what they might be doing might be less than stimulating for some viewers, especially when so many characters speak so monotone, it can at times make it much of a slog to get through, especially when the film is driven by its dialogue. This will no doubt prove especially frustrating to the Pattinson fans, as he remains an actor severely in need of the right kind of mentor to hone his performances, for while watchable enough here it often feels that he is far from stretching himself, especially when Packer is seemingly on autopilot for the majority of the film. Still more bizarrely it is those within the cast playing potential threats to Packer that prove to the most interesting with Mathiew Amalric appearing as a serial custard pie thrower, whose random monologue was easily one of my favourite moments of the film, while Paul Giamatti’s stalker Benno makes for a slightly bewildering and unpredictable climax, especially when the film seemingly just ends rather than reaching any form of solid conclusion, for those who have stuck around this far, which as I looked around the theatre was probably around 5% of the audience that had started the film.

Perhaps if I wasn’t such a fan of Cronenberg’s work I might not have stuck this one out, as at it’s strongest it remains a curiosity, though unwitting it would seem with “Cosmopolis” Cronenberg, has finally given us a companion piece to Richard Kelly’s underrated “Southland Tales”, whose randomness also baffled many who actually saw it, while strangely charming some like myself something I was hoping for here, yet like DeLillo’s books it frequently seems to get caught up with how clever its writing is, that it forgets such things such as emotional dialogue which is honestly were the main fault of the film lies. Perhaps this was intentional with some highbrow literacy reason which certainly went over my head, but it is at the same time only further credit that Cronenberg is still making films the way he wants to, as shown by his fierce determination to provide as true an adaptation as possible here, while no doubt creating a film which will be pondered over like his adaptation of “Naked Lunch” as a strange yet occasionally wonderful curiosity, but be warned that this is one film which is not for everyone and perhaps only the few.

The Science of Sleep

Title: The Science of Sleep

Director: Michel Gondry

Released: 2006

Staring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou

Plot: Stephane (Bernal) a frequent lucid dreamer, who seemingly spends as much time in his own personal dream world as he does in the real world. Having returned from Mexico to his childhood home in Paris, following the death of his father, he takes up a job at a Calendar Company believing that it will provide the outlet for his creativity he craves, while also forming a relationship with Stephanie (Gainsbourg) who shares Stephane’s overactive sense of creativity.

Review: This last week despite my best efforts I have been suffering from the darn flu that is currently going around and in between amassing a small pharmacy of flu remedies and looking for some suitable viewing while I was refusing to get out of bed, I rediscovered this film in my collection and knew that I had found my choice for this week. This weeks choice is a film which was pretty much ignored on it’s release despite receiving a lot of positive press from critics, which is only the more surprising at the time with Director Michel Gondry coming in hot after the phenomenal success of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and memorable in the conscious of the movie going public, an advantage which allowed Gondry seemingly unlimited creative freedom for this project, which would also be the first film written by him, with his previous films both being scripted by the equally visionary screenwriter Charlie Kaufman probably best known for writing “Being John Malkovich” and while “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” might have been trippy, this film would be turn out to be on a whole new surreal level.

Coming from a background in commercials and Music videos, much like equally visual directors such as David Fincher and Spike Jonze who bizarly also made the transition to feature films around the same time as Gondry did, though while they may have expanded on their earlier styles, Gondry has reminded determinedly set in his own surreal world of DIY props and dream like imagery, while frequently drawing inspiration from his own dreams and has frequently used this imagery as part of his work, which makes it only all the more sense that he would eventually make a film about dreams.

The casting is nothing short of bold, with the two leads being realativly unknowns to most movie goers, bar those with a taste for Foreign and independent cinema. Having made the pitch black “The King” a year earlier this film would be Bernal’s second film to be shot in English, having previously only being known to fans of foreign cinema for his roles in “Y tu mamá también” and the fantastic “Amores perros” this film would continue his trend for fearlessly choosing his roles, especially with a character as frenzied as Stephane. Equally inspired is the casting of the little known Gainsbourg who is equally believable as Stephanie while seemingly to genuinely believe and buy into the world which Stephane lives inside, while also being shown as the stereotypical hot art student with her personal styling and room layout, which also is hinted with the intoxicating essence of Parisian flair.
Split down the middle, the film frequently switches between two worlds, the real one and the world of Stephane’s dream and more precisely “Stephane TV” his own TV show in his mind were he frequently reflects on current events happening around him, while providing the gateway into the even more surreal parts of his mind, with Gondry frequently choosing to switch between these two worlds frequently without warning, which can be a disorientating experience upon your first viewing and it’s really only on the second viewing that it becomes easier to identify the boundary lines between these two worlds, even when those lines frequently become all the more blurred as the film goes on, especially as Stephane’s dreams only grow in intensity.

This constant disorientation is only furthered by the frequent switches in the characters speaking French and English, also like the switches in reality with little or no warning, only making it more the appropriate when this is picked up by Stephane, who complains that it is making him feel “Schizophrenic”. Still Gondry somehow manages to get the audience to buy into this style of storytelling, which is highly reminiscent of French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and from the retro opening titles onwards I found myself frequently comparing the work of the two directors, especially with both being key in furthering the progression of visionary cinema and it was interesting to see Gondry seemingly referencing Godard’s work, while also drawing inspiration from the more established visionaries like Terry Gilliam and David Cronenberg whose Spider like Typewriter from “Naked Lunch” making a surprise appearance here.

The dream sequences are truly the main selling point of this film, as Gondry lets loose with some of his most ambitious imagery to date, as he constructs elaborate sets from cardboard and polystyrene combined with heavy use of stop motion animation, while for those familiar with Gondry’s work will recognise the now all familiar giant hands which have frequently appeared at various points in his previous music videos and films to the point were they are almost as established as his other trademarks, despite having originally been born out of a frequent childhood nightmares about his hands growing to gigantic size, to the point were his mother would have to continuously rubs his hands to assure him that it was nothing more than a dream, though for such an unpleasant childhood memory it bizarre that it would feature so frequently in his work. Still frequently these sequences often do feel like an excuse for Gondry to pull out his film making bag of tricks, especially when so many scenes seem reminiscent of his earlier work.

Ultimately this would be his most ambitious film to date and also prove to be the zenith of his creativity, as the films which followed would see him gradually toning down his vision with his follow up “Be Kind Rewind” being firmly set in reality despite the heavy use of DIY props to now an almost mainstream style of film making seen with “The Green Hornet” which lacked any of Gondry’s trademark touches, though it remains to be seen how mainstream he has become as fan’s now egerly await the forthcoming “The We and the I”.

Ultimately this is a tale of doomed love and it’s sudden and abrasive ending will no doubt only further exclude it from the tastes of your average movie goer, while for those of you who like to be visually inspired by your film, there is much to enjoy, even if it does require your full attention to keep up with it’s continual switches, while only making you hope that Gondry returns to this style of film making soon

Elwood's Essentials #4: Dogma

Title: Dogma

Director: Kevin Smith

Released: 1999

Staring: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Salma Heyek, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Alanis Morissette

Plot: Exiled to Wisconsin, two fallen angels Barleby (Affleck) and Loki (Damon) having discovered a loophole in the newly revised Catholic Dogma which will allow them back into Heaven after being cast out by God, unaware that they could potentially undo all creation. Upon discovering this Metatron (Rickman) aka the voice of god, tasks abortion clinic worker Bethany (Fiorentino) with stopping them, while she soon finds herself aided by Rufus (Rock) the thirteenth apostle, Serendipity (Heyek) a muse with writers block and Prophets Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith)

Review:  To approach this film I think its best to apply Kevin Smith to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Kevin Smiths in an infinite number of universes. Now with this in mind I would like to think that at least in one of them he would be still making films of this standard, rather than churning out his lazy dick and fart joke favoring movies of late while generally bashing critics in public rants. Still there was a time when Smiths career was one of a symbiotic relationship between his two styles as he would make a smart dialogue driven comedy (Clerks & Chasing Amy) and follow it up with one of his fart and dick jokes favoring comedies (Mallrats & Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) before then making one of his smarter comedies, a pattern which worked well and saved audiences from becoming bored with one style, while keeping Smith’s worse fresh and interesting. Alas there must be a trigger point for change and that was “Jersey Girl” a severely underrated smart comedy, which was so largely bashed it seemingly shook Smith’s confidence as since that movie he has concentrated on making solely fart and dick joke comedies, aiming for easy laughs over the smart comedy which helped his original indie film get noticed in the first place, something seemingly also forgotten by Smith judging by how “Clerks 2” was shot in his now favoured style over the original films memorable style.

From the start it is clear that Smith is not pulling any punches when it comes to poking fun at his source material which in this case is Catholic Dogma, with the opening joke of the Catholic church bringing in a number of changes including the now legendry “Buddy Christ” as part of their Catholicism-WOW campaign to revitalize interest in the church. No doubt this is also the get off point for anyone slightly sensitive about having their belief system questioned, something I have always held the firm belief that questioning your beliefs only makes them stronger and Smith himself raised a devout Catholic really lets his knowledge of the faith shine throughout, though needless to say it did upon its release piss off a whole bunch of Roman Catholic groups in particular the Catholic League, who were more than happy to brand Smith as being worse than Hitler and the KKK combined for daring to make such a film. Still for those of you not concerned with such things or more willing to see the funny side of religion there really is a lot to enjoy here, especially when Smith is not making fun of religion just for the sake of it, but also using the film as a platform to raise his own questions about aspects of his faith without at the same time feeling as if he needs to turn it into a sermon to do so. Still perhaps if these religious groups looked a little further than the surface of the film, they might have been less quick to arms, especially when Bethany is in many ways representing the atheist view point, as she questions the existence of god largely thanks to her own misfortunes, with each of her companions playing their part in restoring her faith, with the exception perhaps being Jay and Silent Bob, whose appearance is more to do with continuality of the Askview universe than plot necessity. At the same time implying that god’s true form is Alanis Morissette, let alone that she is a woman might only undo this much like the idea of a thirtieth apostle.

The plot is broken into two main threads with the first following Bartleby and Loki as they journey across country on their mission to get back into heaven, along the way scratching off a few remaining grudges such as the cleansing of the Mooby’s board of directors. The second thread follows Bethany and her ragtag group as they try to track down Barleby and Loki, with At the same time while Bartleby and Loki’s actions could be seen as putting them in the position of being the bad guys of the film, ultimately they are merely pawns of a larger game and even the supposed bad guy of the film Azrael (Lee) is far from the big evil you’d expect especially considering how little screen time he’s given almost as if Smith is trying to imply that the lines between good and evil are more grey than black and white and that it is often our own actions which determine the side in which we stand.

The cast are all memorable in their individual parts, despite Smith later commenting on the difficultly he had working with Fiorentino whose role as Bethany he wished he’d given the role to Janeane Garofalo instead, while even more disturbingly considering Joey Lauren Adam aswell, whose raspy tones would have no doubt driven me over the edge. Still it is Alan Rickman whose presence threatens to overshadow the rest of the cast with his fantastic performance as the sarcastic and generally pissed off Metatron (aka the voice of god), who once again manages to elevate even the most simplest of dialogue. Equally fun are Affleck and Damon who bounce off each other and transfer their off screen friendship onto the screen as they provide many of the films best moments and the decision to follow these two as much as Bethany’s group ultimately proves to be a great one, especially when they are just so much fun to hang out with. 

Unsurprisingly controversial for its stand point on religion, the film remains one of Smith's strongest movies to date and ultimately a sad reminder of what could have been, had Smith continued to make films of this intelligence, something which Smith has only recently hinted of being capable of producing again with the sadly overlooked "Red State". Still if your not too firm in your religious stand point there is a lot to enjoy here while proving that you can make a film about religion without needing to get on a soapbox to make your point and plus how seriously can you really take a movie with a rubber poop monster in it?

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.