Ruby Sparks

 

Title: Ruby Sparks

Director: Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
Released: 2012
Staring: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Elliott Gould, Chris Messina, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan, Alia Shawkat

Plot: Calvin (Dano) a struggling young novelist and writing prodigy, who after being launched into superstardom with his first novel, now finds himself plagued with writer’s block while working on the follow up. Unwittingly though he manages to bring his latest character Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan) to life, whom he soon embarks on a relationship with having based her on his dream girl, only to find that even the seemingly most perfect girl can be less than perfect.

Review: Despite releasing the wonderful “Little Miss Sunshine” to critical acclaim it has taken another six years for us to finally receive this follow up from the husband and wife directing duo who truly established themselves as an original voice of indie film making with their debut feature, especially after having spent the early years of their career directing music videos for the likes of “R.E.M.” and “The Smashing Pumpkins” and it was great to see them able to carry their unique visions into feature film making and something which thankfully still remains here, while Zoe Kazan who appears here as the titular Ruby makes her own writing debut with a non the less confident voice.

Bizarrely the script was inspired by a random combination of a discarded mannequin and the Greek myth of “Pygmalion” the sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. Working with the equally imaginative Faris and Dayton they have together crafted here a highly unique rom-com of sorts via the way of “Stranger Than Fiction” which is also looked at the idea of fiction shaping reality, something which especially comes into play during the second half of the film when Calvin realises that he can still shape Ruby’s character with a few keystrokes on his typewriter, he can make her speak fluent French or even change her personality completely. While portrayed in the trailers as a light hearted rom-com, the film also hides a much darker side, especially once Calvin starts adjusting her personality to smooth over the things he doesn’t like, as he makes her more clingy and carefree before finally taking out an unnerving dominant side on her, as he further enforces just how control he is of her life, while his performance during this scene means that I won’t surprised if we see him playing a serial killer in the near future

Right from the start though this film just oozes indie cool, as you realise that this film could only have been made as an indie film, as it requires the level of subtlety that this film brings to the table, even go so far as to not complicate the sudden arrival of Ruby nor the rules of her existence. Honestly I don’t even think they explain how she came to exist in reality, but rather the film takes the tact of throwing the idea out to the audience and challenging them to go along with it, which thanks to how engaging these characters are is never a problem, even if Faris and Dayton do give into convention for the ending which seemed perhaps a little more traditional than I would have expected from this film, which seemingly has it’s ending only to tact a happier one on top of it.

Both Dano and Kazan give amazing performances here and despite being an off screen couple, manage the not so easy feat of showing real on screen chemistry, with both actors playing off each others performances well, with Faris and Dayton reuniting here with Dano convincingly  playing the fumbling and reclusive literacy prodigy, who spends his days walking his dog Scotty (named after his favourite author F. Scott Fitzgerald), pottering around his minimalist LA apartment or sitting in front of his classic typewriter crippled with the pressures of producing a second novel and whose only real connection to the outside world being through his therapy sessions Dr. Rosenthal (Gould) or gym sessions with his brother Harry (Messina) who is essentially the complete opposite of Calvin as he exudes confidence and generally lives the life which Calvin wishes he could have. Kazan here embodies the character the character of Ruby, not only in her quirky original form, but also as she is gradually changed by Calvin over the course of the film, embodying each change with an air of indie cool so that you truly believe that Calvin is changing and reshaping her personality with the keys of his typewriter.

While Faris and Dayton hit casting gold with their leads, this luck also extends to the supporting cast aswell with Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas, proving a fun addition as Calvin’s hippy mother and her boyfriend, whose carefree lifestyle sits in direct opposition to the organised and high stress life Calvin currently finds himself in. Elsewhere Steve Coogan puts in a fun cameo as Calvin’s writing rival and friend Langdon Tharp, as does indie favourite Alia Shawkat who puts in a far to brief appearance as Calvin’s obsessed fan Mabel.

A film which falls between “Stranger Than Fiction” and “500 Days of Summer”, it is one which proves that you can make a rom-com without having to drown proceedings in saturnine sweetness and a top 40 soundtrack especially with the film favoring a decidedly classical soundtrack. At the same time the film also proves that you can make an enjoyable film with some element of mystery to it, without fear of excluding the majority of your audience more used to having every plot point expanded and explained in its simplest terms. Although to some Faris and Dayton might seem like indie film making tourists with their by the book style and certain restraint in pushing conventions too far, this film does continue to highlight them as talent to watch, only heres hoping that the wait won’t be so long for the next film.

Empire Records

Title: Empire Records

Director: Allan Moyle
Released: 1995
Staring: Anthony LaPagila, Maxwell Caulfield, Debi Mazar, Renee Zellweger, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, Robin Tunney, Ethan Embry, Coyote Shivers, Brenden Sexton III, Liv Tyer, James “Kimo” Wills, Ben Bode

Plot: Set over the course of one truly manic day as a group of employees at the independent record store “Empire Records discovers that the store is to be turned into a franchise store called music town, leading the employees to band together to save the store.


Review: As I noted with my previous post, this film is something of a time capsule for those of us who could be classed as being part of the MTV generation, not only in terms of its soundtrack but the whole styling of the film, let alone the fact it is about working in a record shop, something which I doubt holds the same appeal it did back when the film was released, especially with the rise of ITUNES and online music providers having effectively killed of the high street record stores. No doubt had this film been released now it would no doubt have them as Amazon staffers or something, much like how Peter Parker now works as a web designer in Spiderman than as a freelance photographer.

Still to watch this film you would still belive that working in a record store is still the cool career it was back then, with the script by Carol Heikkinen being based on her experiences working at the long since defunct Tower Records, which for the most part helps bring a sense of realism to the script, as anyone who has worked in retail can no doubt attest to, even if she bizarrely opts to not include any problem customers unlike “Clerks” which choose to make them very much a central theme. As a result it would seem have a job at "Empire Records" to be the most fun and laid back job in the world especially when manager Joe (LaPagila) for the most part has a pretty lax attitude towards his staff work attitude, only occasionally coming out of his office to put one of them back in line. The rest of the time the employees generally manage things themselves, even dishing out their own vigilante style justice when it comes to hunt down wannabe shoplifter Warren (Sexton). However despite this they still have formed between them an alternative family unit, despite being wildly different from each other and here it would seem that Joes’ real role in the store comes into play as he acts for the most part like the resident father figure, even more so for some of the group who openly confess to missing parental figures, while there is a real sense that without the store and each other that these assorted misfits would be ultimately lost.

Over the course of the film the group all have their own issues to deal with which generally are the typical teen movie fodder with A.J. (Whitworth) trying to find a way to tell Corey (Tyler) that he loves her, while Corey is on her own quest to loose her virginity to her crush Rex Manning (Caulfield), the fading and pompous pop star who is holding a signing at the store to promote his new album. Elsewhere and on the more extreme end of things is Deb who following her failed suicide attempt has randomly decided to shave her head. However this is not all recycled after school special and “Saved By The Bell” plotlines, as the resident oddball Mark (Embry) keeps the tone light with his sudden desire to form a band called “Marc”, while having the appearance of a kid with hyperactivity on a sugar binge as his generally sunny disposition never seems to waver, even when on the wrong side of a pot brownie trip in which he is rocking out with “GWAR” only to be then fed to their giant worm thing. Equally on hand to provide the comedic quota is beatnik Lucas (Cochrane) whose philosophical ramblings somehow help everyone else in the store to figure out the solutions to their problems, even though frustratingly they could have saved a lot of time finding out the fate of the store if he just came out with it like a normal person.

What is missing from the film though is any real kind of bad guy or even a meaningful threat for while the store might be closing, there is never any real sense of panic between the employee’s, just a lot of muttering of “Damn the man!” whenever the topic music town is brought up, with the store owner Mitchell (Bode) more laughable than threatening. As a result the closest we get to any kind of villain here is the pompous Rex Manning and seemingly styled on Robert Palmer, judging by his music video antics. While his actual villainous side might come more from his unrestrained ego aswell as questionable Salad dressing blowjob suggestion than any kind of act of real evil he still makes for a reasonable problem for the group to band together again, even more so with the distinct lack of any other kind of threat on hand here, while Caulfield has fun playing such a sleazy character

Despite being critically mauled on its original release it still proved to be a launch pad for the careers of many of the cast, as rightfully predicted by some critics. However despite being branded a flop on its original release ithas over the years become a real cult classic and rightfully so as here we have not only a highly likable group of characters despite being wildly varied from each other, but it is actually fun to spend time with them, with the film being shot in such a way it feels that you a part of the group rather than an outsider looking in, with random breaks of the forth wall only furthering this illusion. However since that original release the studio have felt the need to tinker with the original cut and wheel out a new version for the DVD, which gives the film fifteen minutes of originally cut footage, which unlike many previous directors cuts (Aliens, Blade Runner) his additional footage adds nothing to the film and infact only detracts from the film, especially as it results in certain characters being potrayed in a completely different way, with Gina (Zellweger) now seeming a whole lot more slutty than before, making this one of those rare occasions were I would urge you to hunt down the VHS version of the film, to get the original and definitive cut of the film aswell as a great piece of 90’s nostalgia.

My Movie Year: The 90's

As part of YAM Magazine’s first “Time Machine Blogathon” which this time takes us back to the 90’s. So what better excuse to look at my favourite movies of the decade, if only to help highlight some of the great and frequently overlooked films which came out during this era, which would also see with 1999one of the most exciting years of film making in years, as I looked at previously.

1990

Essential Film: La Femme Nikita

Luc Besson’s  tale of teenage junkie Nikita (Anne Parillaud) who after killing a cop during a bungled pharmacy robbery, finds herself convicted of murder and sentenced to a life in prison, only to soon find herself recruited by a shadowy government agent known as the Centre to be trained as an assassin under the watchful eye of her handler Bob (Tcheky Karyo). 

Besson here brings to what would be the usual action / adventure yarn with fist fights and explosions and instead gives us something quite special as while there is certainly an element of action here, what he also gives us is an actual insight into the psychology of this character as she is slowly broken down and rebuilt into the perfect assassin by the Company, with scenes of her being taught to apply lipstick by Amande (Jeanne Moreau) being just as gripping as any of the action scenes which include a pulse pounding restaurant escape.

Although it was remade for an American audience as “Assassin” with Bridget Fonda, this is the definitive version

Further Viewing: King of New York, Darkman

1991

Essential Film: Delicatessen

 

One of the first films by the highly original French directing duo of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet this surreal Post-apocalyptic black comedy about the residents of an apartment block, owned by the butcher Clapet (Jean-Caude Dreyfus) above whose shop the residents live and who has taken to killing the handymen he employs to keep the residents supplied in meat, which is bad news really for Ex clown Louison (Dominique Pinon) who has just been employed as the new handyman, unaware of what happened to his predecessors.

A strange film to say the least, but not so out there that it leaves the audience wondering what the hell is going on, as it constantly maintains a playful tone as it switches between genres, to give the sort of original film that only Caro and Jeunet are capable of doing, as this is once again very much in their fairytales for grown ups style.

Further Viewing: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Rikki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

1992

Essential Film: Hard Boiled

One of if not the best of John Woo’s movies and if you ever needed an example of why he is seen as the king of action movies, this would be a great start, as we are barely minutes into the film before he throws us head first into the first of the films many jaw dropping action sequences, as Insp Tequila (Chow Yun-Fat) unleashes his own dual pistol welding brand of justice.

Featuring a cast of Hong Kong greats which includes Tony Leung and Anthony Wong, John Woo here sets a benchmark for Heroic Gunplay movies, while featuring a hospital shootout, which clocks in at over thirty minutes without reputation. This is one infectious mix of gunplay, explosions and jazz!

Further Viewing: Braindead, Man Bites Dog, Porco Rosso

1993

Essential Film: Cronos

The debut film by Guillermo del Toro, here sees him reworking the vampire mythos, with this tale of an mechanical scarab-shaped device which grants the wearer the gift of eternal life aswell as a thirst for blood. This in many ways marking the start of things to come, while establishing del Toro as a the visionary director he is recognised as today, while for one reason of another this film has outside of genre fans been left largely unseen.

Here he shows a clear love for the genre, while as with the films which followed it also showed that he was not afriad to break the rules and breathe new life into a much over worked horror sub-genre with this truly unique film which is as visually stunning as it as it times horrifying.

Further Viewing: Army of Darkness, Falling Down, Iron Monkey, Ninja Scroll, True Romance

1994

Essential Film: The Crow

It would be a sad case of history repeating itself that Brandon Lee’s breakout film would sadly be his last, as he died during filming and much like his father Bruce Lee, who also never got to enjoy the success of his own breakout film “Enter The Dragon”. The first of two films to be directed by Alex Proyas on this list, with this certainly the better known of the two no doubt thanks to the cult following it has built up since it’s release, aswell as the controversy of Lee’s death during the last eight days of filming.

This classic tale of revenge  based on the graphic novel by James O’Barr, about rock musician Eric Draven (Lee) rising from the grave to avenge his own murder aswell as that of his fiancée via the mystical powers of the crow, which now makes him immune from physical harm. The film is drenched in gothic styling while also containing many nods in its style to both “Blade Runner” and Tim Burtons “Batman”. Needless to say this film looks stunning and would make for a design test run for the lesser seen “Dark City. Lee meanwhile embodies the character of Draven, while equally showing himself to be just as capable as both a dramatic actor as he is as an actor star, while this film just leaves us to wonder what could have been,

Further Viewing: Fist of Legend, Hoop Dreams, The Hudsucker Proxy, Wing Chun

1995

Essential Film: Empire Records

Back when this film was released it considered to be pretty cool job to work in a record shop, though I’m not sure that this still stands with nearly every record store having long since closed down and kids today more keen to work for I dunno Amazon or something, but still this film still has a lot of charm, especially for those of us who belonged to the MTV generation, which essentially this film is the embodiment of.

Following the employees of a Empire Records over the course of one truly exceptional day, when one of the employees Lucas (Rory Cochrane) discovers that the store is to be turned into a franchise store called music town, leading the employees to band together to save the store.
Staring many future stars including Renee Zellweger, Liv Tyler and Anthony LaPaglia as the long suffering store owner and father figure Joe, this coming of age comedy never seems to get the attention it really deserves, especially when it combines teenage angst with shameless AC/DC worship and even a pot brownie trip which sees Mark (Ethan Embry) rocking out with GWAR before being eaten by their giant worm thing, which honestly for that one scene alone makes it a must see.

Also Noteworthy: The Basketball Diaries, The City of Lost Children, The DoomGeneration , La Haine, Ghost In The Shell, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Living In Oblivion. Mortal Kombat, Welcome To The Dollhouse

1996

Essential Film: Joe’s Apartment

When picking this year’s selection, I went back and forth so much between this one and “From Dusk Till Dawn”, both of which could be considered essential, but eventually it would be this film which won out on the grounds of “Dusk Till Dawn” already being pretty well known and secondly because this is a film about a man who lives with talking cockroaches and who wouldn’t want to see that movie?

An expansion on the original 1992 short film, while also inspired by “Twilight of the Cockroaches” and the 1987 short “Those Damn Roaches” this tale of penniless Joe (Jerry O’Connell), who having moved to New York soon finds himself sharing his apartment with around 20 to 30 thousand roommates, in the form of a bunch of all singing and dancing cockroaches, who having recognised Joe as being one of their own, soon set out to lend him a helping hand.

Using a mixture of stop motion animation and the slightly cheaper effect of just making parts of the apartment rattle, this is a random film to say the least and while it might not work in places, when the roaches are in screen, it usually guarantees fun times, with the standout moment being their attempts to help Joe on a date, which unsurprisingly ends in chaos. A strange curiosity from the MTV generation and a reminder of the kind of projects that MTV used to be involved with before they changed their focus to the likes of “The Hills” and “Jersey Shore”.

Further Viewing: From Dusk Till Dawn, Trees Lounge, Swingers

1997

Essential Film: Princess Mononoke

One of my all time favourite Studio Ghibli movies, this epic tale of industry versus nature as Ashitaka finds himself caught in the battle lines drawn by Lady Eboshi of Iron Town, who is destroying the forest merely for her people's own good and the guardians of the forest.

Visually stunning with highly intelligent scripting, this is another perfect example of the genius of Hayao Miyazaki, while also being commisioned by Disney who clearly did not know what they were getting with this film, which not only has burst of violence, bloodshed and gore but also is far from thier usual fluffy plotting and styling, as Miyazaki combines fantasy and mythology in his gripping and fast paced tale.

Further Viewing: Breakdown, Boogie Nights, Cube, Chasing Amy, Funny Games, The Game, Junk Mail, Life Is Beautiful, Mimic, Nowhere, Orgazmo, Rainy Dog, Starship Troopers

1998

Essential Film: Dark City

The second Alex Proyas on this list and sadly the most overlooked, as this Kafka esq tale opens with John (Refus Sewell) waking up naked in a hotel bathtub, his memories erased and a mutilated prostitute on the bed. Soon John finds himself framed for a string of brutal and bizarre murders and on the run from not only the police, but also the strange trench coat clad men known only as “The Strangers” as he tries to piece together his missing memories.

Sharing the same gothic styling as his previous film "The Crow" this film only built upon those designs as here Proyas gives us a city of perminant midnight,with definite shades of Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” and Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”while skillfully combining elements of sci-fi and noir to create a potent mix, while drip feeding the audience infomation as to the truth about Dark City.

Further Viewing: American History X, BASEketball, The Big Lebowski, Ringu, Run Lola Run, Rushmore

1999

Essential Film: Cruel Intentions

An MTV style reworking of the classic novel “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, which has over the years has been adapted no less than thirteen times, with certainly the most well known being the 1988 version released as “Dangerous Liaisons” while this version would be by far the most original as the story is relocated to modern day New York, as step siblings Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) play games of seduction, with their latest target being the virginal Annette (Reese Witherspoon) with the challenge being set by Kathryn that Sebastian cannot bed her before the start of the school year, while Kathryn sets about also corrupting the naïve Cecile (Selma Blair) as part of a plan of revenge against her ex boyfriend who left her for Cecile.

While it may have been released in the same year as “American Pie” this film proved to be a much smarter drama and with a sharper sense of humour, but none the less sex crazed which came as something of a surprise to Geller’s fans who were more used to her playing Buffy on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” so for her to be reeling off such lines as “In English? I'll fuck your brains out” all of course greeted with whoops of joy from most of the male audience, much like the much talked about experimental kissing scene between Geller and Blair, all from a film bizarrely marketed in some places as a chick flick, when it contains plenty to appeal to most audiences.

The cast at the time were largely B-list or unknowns, yet all embody their various characters, while for some the film marking a rare high point in their careers, still even years after it’s initial shocking dialogue has since been beaten in terms of filth, it still remains a solid drama and a nice twist on a classic novel.

Further Viewing: eXistenz, Dogma

The Man With The Iron Fists

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: The Man With The Iron Fists

Director: RZA
Released: 2012
Staring: RZA, Russell Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu, Rick Yune, David Bautista, Jamie Chung, Byron Mann, Kuan Tai Chen

Plot: In nineteenth century China, Jungle Village is home to several warring clans. The village blacksmith (RZA) creates deadly weapons for the clans, intending to use his payments to purchase the freedom of his lover Lady Silk (Chung), and escape the village. The region's governor tasks the Lion Clan's leader Gold Lion (Chen) with protecting a large shipment of gold that must pass through the village. Gold is betrayed by his lieutenants Silver Lion (Mann) and Bronze Lion (Le), who plan to steal the gold. Gold's son Zen-Yi (Yune) soon learns of his father's murder and sets off to the village to seek revenge, while the Emperor’s undercover emissary Jack Knife (Crowe) arrives at Jungle Village to monitor the gold as the stage is soon set for epic showdown.

Review: Opening to a showdown between two martial arts masters, set to the beat of the Wu-Tang Clan’s “Shame On A Nigga this opening scene essentially sets the tone of what is to follow here with Rapper, Producer, defacto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan making both his writing and directing debut. For the established RZA fanbase it will come as little surprise that he would choose to make an homage to the classic Kung fu movies of the Shaw Bros. Considering that how frequentlythese movies have been sampled for the Wu-Tang Clan’s albums, while RZA has frequently expressed his love for the Martial Arts genre in the past so it would only be inevitable that he would eventually get around to making one of his own. This is not to say that it has not happened through lack trying, considering that the project has been in development since 2003 when he was produced the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”, later being joined by Eli Roth after RZA explained the premise for the film to him on a flight from Iceland to LA.

As a fan of the movies that this film is drawing inspiration from, I certainly got a kick out of this film, in much the same way that I did with “Kill Bill” which clearly seems to have been the main source of directing inspiration for RZA with the film is very much in the same Neo-grindhouse style, while the “Quentin Tarantino Presents” label only further cements its place as part of the Neo Grindhouse world that Tarantino and Robert Rodreigez have been crafting over the last few years with films like Machete and most importantly “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof” the two films which made up their powerhouse double feature “Grindhouse”, which the UK would sadly never get to see when the Weinstein’s decided to use the US box office for the general opinion of the rest of the world (cheers for that). As with the other films which have appeared within the genre, RZA has not felt compelled to stick strictly to the Shaw Bros. template, something especially seen with him shunning a more traditional Asian soundtrack in favour of a more Hip Hop flavoured one, like the ones seen in both “Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai” and “Afro Samurai” (also produced by RZA) and the anime series “Samurai Champloo” and here it is none the less effective

The plot despite being multistrand, still works from the most paper thin of plotting, as Gold or revenge are the sole motivations for the characters seen here, with RZA’s blacksmith providing a gravely voice over generally provides any information you require regarding the various factions in play. Needless to say thanks to the sheer amount of characters involved it does get at times slightly confusing knowing who belongs with who. On the flip side of this though, the numerous characters are one of the strengths of the film, seeing how individual each one is, as RZA’s knowledge of the genre really comes into play, especially with his character design frequently giving nods to memorable characters from other Kung Fu movies, with a prime example being former WWE wrester turned MMA fighter David Bautista who here appears as Brass Body, seemingly a reworking of the steel body warlord seen in “Fist of the North Star” a film RZA has previous named as being one of his favourites. This is not however to say that every character is a copy or a reworking as the film still features plenty of truly original characters like Crowe’s Jack Knife and RZA’s titular iron armed blacksmith only add to the fun, much like the cameo’s by Pam Grier as the blacksmiths mother, aswell as Gordon Liu as his Kung Fu mentor “The Abbot” who appears in the mandatory training montage / flashback.

The cast all seem to be game  especially playing such frequently outlandish characters with Crowe handling most of the dramatic heavy lifting, while also getting most of the best lines in the film. Equally on form is Lucy Lui as local brothel owner Madame Blossom who also heads up her own kick ass team of female Ninja’s called “The Black Widows” as she reworks her “Kill Bill” character O-Ren Ishii with satisfying results. On the lower end of acting ability though is RZA, who while perhaps not exactly known for his acting ability is still watchable here, if still not exactly big emotion and certainly still manages to embody the role of the blacksmith aswell providing a suitably atmospheric voice over.

However the real star of the show is bone crunching fight scenes choreographed by Corey Yuen, with RZA aiming for spectacle and variety as each fight sequence is different from the next and culminating in a multi-fight brothel showdown which is very much a satisfying payoff to the film, despite RZA due to delays in shooting opting to use CGI for some of the more tricky gore aspect, which thankfully are subtle enough to go unnoticed, while Yuen’s inventive choreography provides more than an enough of an enjoyable distraction combined with some at times bold cinematography make for a powerful combination.

rue this film may have its flaws, but for the established ans of Hong Kong cinema they will find much to enjoy here, especially when the film is so stylistically close to its source material, yet still original enough to hold to eliminate any feelings of Déjà vu and compared to some of the films which have made this years “Best Film” list for the Oscars / BAFTA’s I would say with a perhaps a couple of exceptions (Django unchained being a main one) that this was a much more entertaining film and one I would love to revisit, over enduring one of those films again.

Welcome To The Jungle AKA: The Rundown

Title: Welcome To the Jungle AKA: The Rundown

Director: Peter Berg
Released: 2003
Staring: Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken, Ewen Bremner, Jon Gries, Ernie Reyes Jr, William Lucking, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Plot: Beck (Johnson) is a “retrieval expert”, keen to get out of the business so that he can open a restaurant, something not made easier by boss Walker (Lucking) constantly screwing him over. However when Walker agrees to release Beck from his contract if he can do one last job, he soon finds himself heading to South America to get Walker’s son Travis (Scott) in the town of El Dorado nicknamed “Helldorado” by the locals due to local tyrant Hatcher (Walken) who is not so keen to let Travis leave, especially when he belives that Travis can lead him to a rare artefact O Gato do Diablo aka “The Devils Cat”.
 

Review: Despite being the breakout film for Johnson whom at this point was still working under his equally well know wrestling alter-ego “The Rock”, it surprisingly remains largely unseen by most people outside of wrestling / action fans which is something of a shame as it is certainly one of the better wrestler headling productions which WWE Studios was setup to make, especially with WWE owner Vince McMahon never being one to miss a promotion opportunity, even though wrestlers have hardly had a track record as credible acting talent, even more when such promotion ideas have lead to the world being given such cinematic monstrosities as “Santa With Muscles” and “Mr. Nanny” both staring Hulk Hogan back when he decided to take a break from trying to convince the world he was still relevant as a wrestler and instead was trying to convince the world he could act.

Still this has not been to say that there haven’t been wrestlers who have managed to transfer their ring presence to the screen, as seen with Kane (See No Evil), Rowdy Roddy Piper (They Live / Hell Comes To Frogtown) and current WWE favourite John Cena who surprisingly has not had the same luck that Johnson has had, despite appearing in the surprisingly good “The Marine” and the sadly overlooked “12 Rounds”, though perhaps if he wasn’t appearing in trash like “Fred: The Movie” it might also help. This film however would prove to be just the boost that Johnson’s acting career needed, especially after his previous lead in “The Scorpion King” failed to be the star making vehicle that it was expected to be, while this film seemingly was crafted to work to all of Johnson’s strengths such as his natural charm and general ass kicking abilities, while finally showing him as the leading man the WWE wanted him to be seen as.

Director Berg was an interesting choice to direct this film, especially considering that his only feature credit at this point in his career was the black comedy “Very Bad Things” a polar opposite of this film, which clearly sparked in him a taste for action movies, especially seen by the films like “The Kingdom” and “Battleship” which followed in the wake of this film and here crafts a confident and flashy action comedy which with its treasure hunting subplot also seemingly is trying to work within a similar mould to the Indiana Jones movies. Berg though ensures that the film hits the ground running with a brutal club fight when a collection doesn’t go as smoothly as Beck would like and from here the pace never lets up the film continues at a breezy pace, effortless combining scenes of comedy with bone crunching action, with Johnson proving himself equally at home with either style, while Scott provides most of the laughs as he plays the sort of goofball sidekick that Johnny Knoxville has been for the best part of his acting career been trying to play with decidedly mixed results and even though is essentially the same kind of double act we saw in “Bullet Proof Monk”. Also on comedy relief is Ewan Bremner who no doubt most of us remember as Spud from Trainspotting, than any of his other random roles and here seems to be have been included only because American audiences find the Scottish accent insanely funny or so it would seem, especially considering that its this kind of thinking that gave Shrek (something else I don’t get the appeal of) a Scottish accent.

Certainly what really helps this film though is the huge advantage of casting Walken as its Villain, who here truly is on scene chewing duties as he manages to invoke the same kind of presence that he had in “King of New York” were he doesn’t need to rely on random of acts of violence to seem imposing and like Frank in that film, he has his group of thugs enforce his will should anyone wish to test him, which in this case is a group of bullwhip welding heavies. Meanwhile his income is supplied through forcing the local villagers to dig in his mines for gold, something which I have a feeling was more the result of a rewrite in the production process, even more so when his mines have more the look of a blood diamond mine, which is what I assume he was originally mining for. Still this is Walken at his villainous best, so that when he steps up to a towering man mountain like Johnson (even more so outside of the ring), he still retains an intimidating error and one of someone very much in control of the situation, even though Beck could no doubt despatch of Hatcher with the minimum amount of ease, Hatcher’s status within this village as a tyrant means that he raised well before his own limitations and it’s a role sold perfectly by Walken.

Beck though is far from your traditional action hero, seeing how he shuns the use of guns and would prefer to diplomatically work things out with his foes, rather than just using his fists, as seen during the opening confrontation, were after his initial attempts to reason with the football player he’s been set to collect from result in a drink to the face, normal cue to said football player to be introduced to alittle badass dentistry, but instead Beck walks away and phone his bosses to try and find another way to handle the situation, only to then be forced into unleashing his badass side which as we will see throughout the film is never a good thing for those crossing Beck. However bizarrely there is no real reason given for why Beck handles his business like this or why he hates guns, with the only reason being given is the idea that seemingly Beck is only in his current line of work to help fund his restaurant dream. Beck however as would see with the later action movies Johnson has made, is the same kind of softly softly action hero that his future similar roles would be cast from and the sort of badass that Vin Diesel likes to play, were with their size they appear dominating yet are more happy to avoid confrontation were they can and either reason or intimidate those who get in their way, before resorting to a good old fashioned ass kicking when that fails.

Looking back at this film it is now easy to see how Johnson made the leap from wrestler to actor, even more so with the bold career choices which followed such as his lead role in “Southland Tales”, making it all the more of a shame that most people seem to be more interested in his later films when he changed his name and became a full time actor than these early films which only makes it more of a shame especially when they are missing out on the generally fun times this film provides, while it’s Indiana Jones style elements make me wish that it had gotten a sequel, but for now we have to contend with just this one adventure while being left to dream as to what could have been.

A View To A Kill

Title: A View To A Kill

Director: John Glen
Released: 1985
Staring: Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Bauchau, David Yip, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Willoughby Gray

Plot: Bond (Moore) returns from the USSR with a chip capable of withstanding a EMP, that would destroy a normal chip. Discovering the chip was made by Zorin Industries, Bond is despatched to investigate its owner, Max Zorin (Walken) unware that Zorin has plans to set off an earthquake in San Andreas to wipe out Silicon Valley.
 

 

Review: The fourteenth Bond film and seventh aswell as the final time that Roger Moore would play the iconic role and even more sadly the last time that Lois Maxwell would appear as Moneypenny. It would also be for the longest time when I was growing up my favourite of the Bond films and certainly the film were I was first mesmerised by Christopher Walken. However as time passed and the series moved on, this movie did slip from the top position as my favourite but yet it has still remained as one of my top five, despite being frequently regarded as the worst by many Bond fans aswell as by Moore himself who retired from the role after the film believing himself to be too old to play the role.

So why exactly is this film so hated? Honestly I could not say and while Moore might be showing his age at this point in the series, somthing especially highlighted in the previous film “For Your Eyes Only”, he is none the less of a presence here while finally being given a half decent villain to go up against especially with a peroxide blonde Walken as Zorin certainly being one of the more psychotic villains which Bond has been pitted against, as what Walken brings here is a pitch black streak of evil, which makes it hard to imagine either of the original choices for the role David Bowie (who opted to make “Labyrinth” instead) or Sting being able to pull it off, especially when Zorin’s psychotic side sees him having zero qualms about throwing spies into pump valves or even massacring his own minions in a scene which Moore would highlight as one of his main reasons for disliking the film considering it not a real Bond movie stating

“It stopped being what they were all about. You didn't dwell on the blood and the brains spewing all over the place."

Unsurprisingly as a result of Zorn’s violent whims it does make this this one of the most violent Bond films to date, even giving the controversial “Licence To Kill” a run for its money and no doubt only not more picked up due to the fact that the violence is not as explicit here, yet in many ways being a precursor for the violence seen in the Dalton films which followed. Zorin though brought a fresh new type of villain to the Bond series, especially when the villains had been becoming increasingly farcical over the course of the last few films, something especially not helped by the producers leaping on any popular trend as especially seen with the success of “Star Wars” resulting in Bond being sent into space in “Moonraker”. Here though Zorin is much more grounded and relatively gimmick free outside of the fact that he uses a blimp for his base of operations, a relatively tame choice especially considering the space stations, volcano lairs and private islands his predecessors had. Still it does have the amazing ability of disguising itself as a work shed and contains a hidden hatch for dropping Japanese business men out of inflight, while even more randomly a stash of dynamite for no real discernible reason. Such grounded villainy even stretches to his main henchmen or in this case henchwoman May Day (Jones)who has no gimmick outside of her Amazonian stature and strength. Infact the closest he gets to matching any of his predecessors is with his monocle wearing personal physician / former Nazi scientist Dr. Carl Mortner (Grey) whose medical experiments with steroids, we are lead to believe created Zorin in one of the few farcical moments of plotting….well that and the dynamite on the blimp, I mean seriously what is the deal with that?

Surprisingly on this mission Bond actually receives more assistance than normal as he is joined by CIA agent Chuck Lee (Yip) who was originally supposed to be Bond’s usual contact Felix Leiter, but due to the use of the Chinatown setting for Bond’s time in San Francisco, the character of Chuck Lee was created instead. More intresting through is the inclusion of Patrick Macnee who is no doubt best known for his own secret agent turn as Steed in “The Avengers” and whom here appears as MI6 agent Sir Godfrey Tibbet. Macnee is on great form here and shares some great back and forth banter with Bond when he goes undercover as Bond’s driver. Sadly for all the help he does get here, he does also get lumbered with possibly one of the most useless Bond girls in the form of Stacey (Roberts) who constantly seems to need rescuing, while at the same time being incable of doing anything without Bond’s help. Sadly when it comes to Bond girls in this entry he kind of lucks out, as even though he even seduces May Day, which considering that Moore and Jones didn’t get along means that the scene means that they share zero onscreen chemistry during his seduction scene.

The plotting is kept pretty tight throughout with minimal changes of location aswell several great set pieces including May Day’s memorable base jump from the Eiffel Tower, a fire truck chase through the streets of San Francisco and an exhilarating and highly fixed cross country horse race, while director Glen resists the need to include any friendly banter between Bond and Zorin, which has for so long been one of the cornerstones of the franchise were Bond frequently comes across almost chummy with the villains he is supposed to be stopping. True Glen does detract from some the action scenes with some overly jokey moments, such as Bond’s rapidly disintegrating car during the Paris chase or the mass destruction of police cars at the Golden Gate Bridge, but these are minor quibbles especially when the film is one of the better Moore helmed Bond adventures.

Perhaps it’s more down to various aspects of this film such as Walken’s delightfully villainous Zorin (possibly the best bond villain since Dax in “Moonraker”) or getting to see Grace Jones giving us another Amazonian turn which includes her lifting her then boyfriend Dolph Lundgren above her head, that I view this film so fondly, but even when I detach such opinions from the film, this is still one of the more enjoyable Bond romps even for its few faults.

Seven Psychopaths

 

 

 

Title: Seven Psychopaths

Director: Martin McDonagh
Released: 2012
Staring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Linda Bright Clay, Amanda Mason Warren

Plot: Marty (Farrell) a writer struggling to finish his screenplay entitled “Seven Psychopaths”, while receiving inspiration from his friends Billy (Rockwell) and Hans (Walken) make a living kidnapping dogs in order to collect the owner’s cash rewards. However when the duo unwittingly steal the beloved Shih Tzu of gangster Charlie Costello (Harrelson), Marty soon finds himself along with his friends entangled in a confrontation with the LA criminal underworld.

 

Review: Sneaking in at the end of last year, this film has hardly been on the radar for most movie goers who were no doubt more focused on the release of the first film in “The Hobbit” trilogy. Still this is still not the most suprising reaction to this films release considering the last film we saw from director McDonagh was equally overlooked “In Bruges”, which honestly was not a film I exactly dug, thanks largely to the fact it could never quite decide what sort of film it wanted to be. Still it would seem that McDonagh may have learned something from his debut as he returns here with a film which only improves on what “In Bruges” hinted at before.

A multistring tale which shares more than a few ideas in its construction with Spike Jonze's “Adaptation” due to both films switching between real life and fiction, with the two worlds interlinking, the film frequently switches between the film version of Marty’s screenplay and real life were he makes various attempts to finish he script. which is far from easy considering he hasn’t even come up with one of his proposed psychopaths. Slowly over the course of the film these psychopaths are slowly revealed while the lines between fact and fiction become even more worryingly blurred.

These stories of the psychopaths and thier legacies make up the majority of the film as starting with “The Jack of Diamonds Killer” the real life balaclava clad killer currently running around the city with a passion for killing mid to high level members of the mob and a gentle introduction of those who are to follow as we are soon introduced to the first of Marty’s fictional creations “The Quaker” a highly religious hitman who unsurprisingly dresses as a Quaker, who is soon joined by the also religious themed Vietnamese Priest on a quest for revenge against the American platoon who killed his family in the Vietnam war. The most interesting of these colourful characters though is Tom Wait’s killer of serial killers after Billy randomly places an advert in the newspaper

CALLING ALL PSYCHOPATHS! Are you MENTAL or DERANGED? Maybe you have been recently hospitalised but are now Okay? Or perhaps the world just doesn't understand you?",

Sadly McDonagh misses a trick here as rather than a queue of crazies, we instead get a solitary visit by Wait’s rabbit carrying Zachariah, who gives us yet another member of the titular seven, as he tells the tale of how he rescued a girl named Maggie (Warren) from the basement of a serial killer and how the two of them as a couple went across the country killing some of the most famous serial killers including more humorously a rabbit obsessed “Zodiac”. While Waits appearance here is pretty much a brief one, it is still like all of the psychopaths still none the less memorable, perhaps even more so thanks to his pennant for constantly carrying around his white rabbit.

Clearly realising that a collection of short stories about psychopaths would be a hard sell on its own, McDonagh’s attempt to string them together with the dog snatch plotline does at times lack some of the polish that he gives to the short stories, especially when it lacks any of the smart humour that is given to the rest of the film outside of a running joke about a frequently jamming gun. Still the film is generally at its strongest when it is left to the antics of the three friends trying to piece together the screenplay and it’s here that the choice casting really comes into play with Farrell once again wheeling out his befuddled charm as he lives in a state of constant frenzied panic, especially as his screenplay spins wildly out of control. Meanwhile Rockwell continues to be equally enjoyable as the loud and brash Billy, while our man in focus for this month Walken gives another thoughtful performance which he seems to give more frequently these days and here it works especially well, especially when facing down armed gangsters with nothing but an stone faced glance, as he continues to prove that he has just as much presence on the screen even when he is not giving one of his more dominating performances, which he might be more memorable for.

As the main villain Harrelson is truly believable, even if the role had originally been written for Mickey Rouke, who dropped out thanks to creative diffrences with McDonagh and was replaced by Harrelson which ultimately makes for a stronger choice for the role and even more so when it comes to the frequent mood swings which Charlie is prone to, but then Harrelson has always done great crazy!

While it is also inevitable whenever violence is being made to look cool, that comparisons to Tarantino will be drawn but here McDonagh still manages to give us an original spin to proceedings, thanks largely to how he has chosen to shoot the film, with the frequent cut always to the cinematic interpretation of Marty’s script often proving to be the most fun, especially when Billy gives his idea for an ending, which inturn gives us possibly one of the most random shootout’s ever put on screen, especially with Marty being shown trying to write the script in the midst of it, while Walken’s Hans emerges from a coffin like a vampire. However due to this shooting style it will no doubt confound the less open minded movie goer’s who would no doubt prefer a more straightforward approach to the story and essentially only furthering the films status as a cult movie in the making, while making me seriously reconsider McDonagh’s reputation as a director, this is one certainly worth hunting down.