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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Haven't posted any of those film reviews up here for a while. So long, in fact Sin City is now out on DVD, rather than at the cinema. Ah well, here's a round up of a few reviews to keep this blog warm.
Sin City A film based on an "adult" graphic novel that hasn't been watered down for a PG audience for a change, Sin City is a comic book noir mash up that actually delivers. Each shot is a stunningly stark, black and white frame with the odd burst of colour, making this film resemble someone flicking through an extremely violent comic book right in front of your face. A star-filled cast including Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba play an assorted bunch of prosthetic-faced criminals, low-lifes, grizzled cops and absurdly glamourous prostitutes. The action is fast, dumb and violent, like a simultaneous brick round the face and a whore on your groin. Stylistically its incredible - like Dick Tracey with the gore turned up to 11. As shallow and relentless as a man avenging a dead hooker in a dark alleyway.  Kung Fu Hustle Bonkers kung-fu action comedy about the fight between some gangsters and some poor villagers who all turn out to have secret kung fu skills. Veering between violence and slapstick the film is a special chow mein of CGI assisted kung-fooery and visual gags - like a Carry On version of Kill Bill, or Jackie Chan re-making the Matrix after visiting the illegal (as of today) mushroom stalls in Camden Market. Stupid, but very entertaining. The Fantastic Four This one features Mr Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Girl (played by Jessica Alba, who thankfully isnt invisible for much of the film), and that guy who can do fireballs and stuff. And they fight Doctor Doom, although he's only Doctor Doom for about ten minutes at the end, so thats pretty disappointing. Its pretty standard stuff, dealing with how the heroes (and villain) get their powers. get used to them, find out that with great power comes great responsibility etc etc. Not as good as recent high-points in the genre like Spiderman or X-men, but done with enough tongue-in-cheek style to be entertaining if utterly un-memorable. Batman Begins Though essentially more of the same (the birth of a superhero, great power=great responsibility stuff) , Batman Begins feels like it has a bit more substance. In fact, it pretty much rescues the franchise from the camp crapness that Joel Shcumaker had plunged it into, and drags it kicking and screaming with a frightened look on its face into the darkness of gothic new-grunge. It also differs from previous Batman movies on concentrating on the caped crusader himself, in an attempt to make Batman the most interesting character rather than the usually anonymous character fighting whichever over-the-top super-villain is prowling Gotham on that particular day. In addition to the usual parents being murdered storyline, Batman's past is padded out with some mountain-top martial arts action where he trains with ninjas and Liam Neeson, reprising his role as Qui Gon Jinn from Star Wars 1. Christian Bale does well as the playboy/tortured vigilante and along with Neesom, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine all add some class to the supporting roles. The only dissapointment casting wise is the soon-to-be Mrs.Tom "Scientology" Cruise, who looks perky enough but doesnt look old enough to have graduated from Dawson's Creek let alone to a tough, hard-nosed assistant DA. In concentrating on the central motif of "fear", Batman Begins not only excorcises the ghost of "Batman & Robin" but also makes a film which really isnt for kids. The 12 certificate was initially devised so that those younger than 15 could see Tim Burton's first Batman Movie, but at times this is grimmer than that , with the Scare-Crow being a particularly nasty foe. So, its all been pretty much done before, maybe with more style by Burton, but not with this much class or brutality. A top notch comic book movie, and with thankfully no "Boy Wonder" on the horizon. A History of Violence Viggo Mortensen (or however you spell his name) plays "Tom Stall" a mild-mannered family man with a perfect family and a perfect life in Small Town America (TM). This perfect life is of course inevetiably shattered fairly soon into the movie. Two crooks try and hold up his perfect little coffee shop and Tom dispathches them pretty perfectly. So far so good still - he's hailed as a Small Town All American Hero (TM). However, then some mobsters led by a one-eyed Ed Harris turn up and claim that the reason he managed to kill those crooks so well is because "Tom" is actually an ex-mob hitman and as such is very, very good at violence.... This is David Cronenberg's most mainstream film by a long way, a slick, adult thriller with some good performances. However, there's enough Croneberg touches here to make the film linger in your mind more than your average Hollywood slice of sex, violence and serious acting. The violence, though infrequent and brief, when it arrives is squelchy, gory, and unrealistically hyper-real - as befits the work of a man who cut his gnashers on the horror genre. The sex scenes too are a little disturbing, and half-way through the film Viggo begins to morph into the archetypal Cronenberg leading-man, a sweaty, hollow-eyed man with Cronenberg's own hair. James Woods in other words. You can all of course, add your own and read other fools reviews of movies they have seen with their own eyes on the Paranoid Android Message Board |
