It’s not that often anymore when a film totally captures me and draws me in to the point where I can not stop thinking about it. 13 Assassins is one of those movies. Recently rented and now bought and watched again I still think it’s pretty darn terrific. There might be the odd spoiler in here, just so you’ve been warned.
The story is nice and straight forward; Set in 1844 when the Shogun’s younger brother, a sadist called Naritsugu, kills, rapes, tortures any who he desires to leaving ‘the people’ unable to seek justice due to Naritsugu’s untouchable position. Terrified what this evil man will do once he gains political power a senior government official hires a samurai named Shinzaemon to assassinate Naritsugu who is travelling back from Edo to the Akashi lands. Shinzaemon gets together a group of 12 samurai (later bolstered to 13) to help him kill Naritsugu and his 70 strong retinue by ambushing him in the town of Chigani, which is on the way. Buying the town outright from the people they turn it into one giant booby trap and wait for their enemy. While this has been happening Naritsugu’s lead samurai Hanbei, a former sparring partner of Shinzaemon, has suspicions that an ambush awaits them and when they arrive at Chigani their force is no longer 70 but 200. One hell of a battle is about to begin.
Within the opening fifteen minutes of the movie we are made to hate Naritsugu after witnessing some awful atrocities and are fully behind the samurai tasked with his assassination. The rest of the first hour and fifteen minutes is all the build up and planning. A lot of the warriors in this movie are given short shrift which is a shame as all of the actors appear to be very good but given the running time of the movie (2 hours) it would be impossible to satisfactorily flesh out these characters, so sadly some of them are introduced to us and promptly disappear until the climax. That said the ones who are given some screen time are pretty superb. The whole of the build up in this film is done so expertly that although there is very little ‘action’ in the early stages, it doesn’t matter as the whole situation and the planning is absolutely riveting, held together by the lead samurai played by Kōji Yakusho.
That’s not to say that the film is flawless. One of the characters has suffered from edits made to the version of the film released outside of Japan. The original Japanese release is some 15 minutes longer than the version brought out over here. The majority of the cuts are minor and have no real bearing on the movie, unfortunately the cuts to do with the character of Koyata Kiga are damaging. In the original version there are a few scenes which purport that the Kiga character may be an immortal, or a ‘friendly demon’. By all accounts these scenes were removed as it was felt western audiences would have found them confusing in what is otherwise a very ‘realistic’ sort of movie. Only a couple of subtle hints remain, which I think probably are more confusing than if they kept the original scenes in. This is a fairly minor niggle as it certainly doesn’t detract from your enjoyment of the rest of the movie, easily controversial, maybe even notorious, director Takashi Miike’s most commercial movie to date.
All of the above brings us rather neatly to the climax of the movie. The Battle. The 35 minute Battle. Yep you read that right, the battle at the climax of this movie lasts for 35 minutes, from first death to last and it is absolutely breathtaking. If this scene hadn’t been great it would have meant the tremendous build up early on was never built upon. You would have liked the film but not loved it. Thankfully that does not happen and we are treated to one of the best sustained action sequences I’ve seen for a long time. As soon as the assassins draw their swords you are in for an absolute treat, to say much more, and believe me I want to tell you all blow for blow what happens, would spoil it too much for you. I’m jealous now of anyone who is about to embark on their first viewing of this film. I remember how much I enjoyed it, so much so that within a week I’d gone to HMV and bought myself a copy and fear not, the film is still just a wicked the second time around and I fully expect it to be pretty bloody good the third time around too. A terrific movie which I thoroughly recommend to anyone.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Friday, 19 August 2011
THE IRON JACKAL - A Tale of the Ketty Jay - book review
You know you’re gonna have a real good time with a book when it opens with a chase, then has a robbery and then spends the rest of the story trying to ‘correct’ the aforementioned robbery. This is the third adventure featuring the rag tag crew from the Ketty Jay and this is by far the most enjoyable. So enjoyable that I literally didn’t want to put it down and really thought about pulling a ‘sickie’ just so I could keep reading it.
The second novel, The Black Lung Captain, was a more serious book I found and although terrific it’s wonderful having a much more ‘caper’ like adventure for the crew this time around. Having some darker more serious elements work well within this series but when it gets a bit too serious it never feels right to me. There are some fantastic action scenes littered throughout the novel, all bursting with excitement and plenty of bickering between the crew members, which is just what we’re after from a Ketty Jay novel afterall. Chris Wooding has been very careful throughout the novels in slowly revealing previous unknown elements of the characters pasts so over the serious we are gradually building more and more of a rounded picture of our favourites. Outside of all the action and adventure I must confess that this is one of my favourite elements in this series as it’s much more entertaining to slowly get to know a character over a period of stories then get to know everything about them in a paragraph, that would just be lazy and Wooding is in no way a lazy writer. In this novel it’s the character of Silo, the Murthian, who reveals more of his history than ever before, although small snippets were hinted at in the previous books, and he’s gone from being a strong silent type to someone much deeper.
Wooding is also really, really good at endings. Each of the Ketty Jay novels has ended perfectly and this is no exception. We get closure to this adventure but enough loose ends are there to be expanded on in further adventures with a few things possibly foreshadowing the next book yet at the same time being a perfect place to end the series if he so chose. Thankfully book four is due out in a couple of years, phew. Can’t imagine a world without the ‘Boyz (and girlz) from the Jay’ but bloody hell it’s gonna be a long f-ing wait.
But I do know one thing, it will be worth the wait.
The second novel, The Black Lung Captain, was a more serious book I found and although terrific it’s wonderful having a much more ‘caper’ like adventure for the crew this time around. Having some darker more serious elements work well within this series but when it gets a bit too serious it never feels right to me. There are some fantastic action scenes littered throughout the novel, all bursting with excitement and plenty of bickering between the crew members, which is just what we’re after from a Ketty Jay novel afterall. Chris Wooding has been very careful throughout the novels in slowly revealing previous unknown elements of the characters pasts so over the serious we are gradually building more and more of a rounded picture of our favourites. Outside of all the action and adventure I must confess that this is one of my favourite elements in this series as it’s much more entertaining to slowly get to know a character over a period of stories then get to know everything about them in a paragraph, that would just be lazy and Wooding is in no way a lazy writer. In this novel it’s the character of Silo, the Murthian, who reveals more of his history than ever before, although small snippets were hinted at in the previous books, and he’s gone from being a strong silent type to someone much deeper.
Wooding is also really, really good at endings. Each of the Ketty Jay novels has ended perfectly and this is no exception. We get closure to this adventure but enough loose ends are there to be expanded on in further adventures with a few things possibly foreshadowing the next book yet at the same time being a perfect place to end the series if he so chose. Thankfully book four is due out in a couple of years, phew. Can’t imagine a world without the ‘Boyz (and girlz) from the Jay’ but bloody hell it’s gonna be a long f-ing wait.
But I do know one thing, it will be worth the wait.
Thursday, 11 August 2011
IT'S OFFICIAL, I WATCH TOO MANY FILMS - A Plethora of Film Reviews
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve watched quite a few movies on DVD and seeing as how I enjoyed them quite a bit I thought I’d write a brief review of all of them. Brace yourselves
We’ll start with THE LINCOLN LAWYER. Adapted brilliantly from Michael Connelly’s huge bestseller this was a far better translation to screen than Blood Work. Although the fairly hefty story has been condensed down to 110 minutes they’ve done it very well so everything is all there and it makes perfect sense, as long as you pay attention. Matthew McConaughey, an actor I’ve never been that fond of is pitch perfect as Mick Haller (he’s called Mickey by most people in the book) who manages to make the character charming despite the fact he’s a defence attorney who makes his living getting guilty clients off charges. There’s able support by Marisa Tomei as his ex-wife and Ryan Phillippe as his current client and it’s all actually very exciting. The best advice, read the book, then watch the movie. Fingers crossed that this leads to future adaptations of Connelly novels.
Next up is a Korean revenge thriller called I SAW THE DEVIL which I heard about a while back on the Empire website. They popped up a red band trailer for this movie starring the actor Choi Min-Sik who I’d last seen in the immense film ‘Oldboy’. This time around he’s a serial killer who murders a young pregnant woman who turns out to be the daughter of a retired Police Chief. She was also engaged to a Secret Service operative who’s really rather unhappy at the love of his life being brutally killed. Once the ‘hero’ has tracked the killer down there then starts a brutal punishment game as the killer is repeatedly beaten and maimed and then released all for the ‘hero’ to do it again. Until things go wrong. This is a very dark and grim movie which does loose it for a little bit in the middle with a side story featuring a cannibal killer and you can certain say that the film is too long. That said it is pretty intense and some of the violence is wince inducing, especially a truly horribly graphic scene involving an Achilles tendon and a scalpel (I’m soooooo not joking about that) which is still giving me the willies even now. Despite being overlong this is still a very worthwhile watch, as long as you have a strong stomach, although I must confess it is not something I would want to watch again.
Changing the mood somewhat, ZOOLANDER is next. Yeah I know it came out 10 years ago and I only watched it on tv but I f**king love this movie. It’s totally silly and not really all that funny but it makes me chuckle everytime I watch it. Something about Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as male models just has me laughing everytime. And speaking of decades old movies, Tim Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES deserves a retrospective look. Seeing as we’ve got the new movie ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ out this week which is a reboot I thought it was worth watching the last attempt, Burton’s much maligned ‘reimagining’. To be fair it’s not actually that bad. Yeah the plots no great shakes but having read the synopsis of ‘Rise’ on the net, that one doesn’t have a particularly awesome plot either yet that one is getting 4 star reviews. Still at least with that one it’s kind of a prequel rather than a remake of ‘reimagining’. Burton’s Planet is a fair straight forward action adventure chase movie that happens to have some of the best make up effects known to man. The film may be a bit ordinary but the look of the actors as the apes is anything but. Michael Clarke Duncan as a gorilla is amazing and to be totally honest how the hell did Tim Roth not win an Oscar for his evil warmongering chimp, Thade. Everything about him oozes menace and death, a triumph of actor and make up in perfect unison. The only one comparable for me is Ron Perlman as Hellboy. It’s a shame then that Mark Wahlberg is a bit of a wet blanket and don’t even get me started on the ‘twist’ ending. If only Burton had done some foreshadowing of this, perhaps we’d seen Thade finding a way out of his impregnable prison, maybe seen him going back to the site of Marky Mark’s crashing space ship, it would have all made a little more sense rather than just the ‘WTF’ moment in the finished film. Alternatively if Mr Wet Blanket had decided to stay on the planet and help forge a new Ape/Human society it would’ve worked and maybe we’d have had a sequel to that film instead of a 10 year wait for a total reboot/prequel to the original 60s/70s series. I don’t think it’s a bad film, it’s just a pretty ordinary film with a sh*t ending.
Onto a couple of classics now, the late, great Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO and SANJURO both made in the 60s and both in black and white. They also both star the same main character, a seemingly nameless ronin played by the equally late, great Toshiro Mifune. I’m lumping these films together as they both compliment one another although they have very different feels. Yojimbo is in essence a bit of an action movie, featuring a ronin who comes to a town ruled by two warring gangs and decides, seemingly for fun, to destroy both sets by getting them to wipe each other out. Sound familiar? Well that’s because this is the film that A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing are based on. It’s also a bit of an unofficial adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s brilliant novel Red Harvest. Full of fast and brief sword play and some black comedy this is a slow paced but wonderfully made movie that despite the Japanese setting feels every bit as much a Western as a John Wayne movie. Sanjuro is a far lighter affair. Much more obviously a comedy than it’s predecessor it’s a far more talky affair too, with Mifune’s character teaming up with 9 samurai who are fighting corruption in their town. That’s not to say there isn’t some sword play, there is but that’s not really the main focus of this film. These might be considered lesser films in Kurosawa’s resume compared to the likes of Seven Samurai or Ran but they are light years ahead of most other films of that time and I thoroughly recommend them.
Next up we have SUCKER PUNCH, Zack Snyder’s fantasy that he described as ‘Alice in Wonderland with guns’ or you could say it the first movie computer game. The shame with this film is that the fantasy action scenes are truly quite amazing. The first fantasy scene in feudal Japan with the lead character battling three giant Samurai demons is stunning and they get better from there. The highlight for me being a scene in a fantasy World War I with the heroine’s battling German Zombie’s powered by Steam and clockwork is just brilliant with gouts of escaping steam as substitutes for blood. The sad thing about this film is the framing plot is totally illogical and nonsense. A girl gets sent to a mental asylum by her abusive step father who is paying the head orderly to have her lobotomized in 5 days. The girl escapes into a fantasyland where she’s been dumped in a bordello and is going to have a man known as ‘The High Roller’ deflower her in 5 days. She plots escaping and then goes off into another fantasyland when she hunts down items she needs to escape. Are you still with me? It’s all just a bit confusing and not really that interesting. Why couldn’t she have been in a car accident and as she’s fighting for her life why didn’t she go off into a fantasyland where she has to do battle with creatures etc to come back to the real world? Maybe that’s my plot line for a Sucker Punch 2, better copyright that fast. It is a pity that the framework is so ‘meh’ and ‘huh?’ as there was potential here to make a really good fantasy film. It should also be mentioned that the film is a total ‘boys’ movie as the girls are all very pretty and wear skimpy outfits, in both fantasy worlds, as well as having totally objectifying names, Babydoll, Sweet Pea, Blondie, it’s all a little dirty old man trenchcoat fantasy really. Obviously I love this film.
Right we’re back off to Korean, well a Korean film that is with THE MAN FROM NOWHERE which bills itself as ‘Taken meets Oldboy’ when a better way of describing it would be ‘Taken with more plot’. I really enjoyed this film which is not as violent as you’re expecting and actually has some decent characters and a story. Following the same rough plot of Taken this has a little girl being taken by nasty men and her neighbour (a bit similar to Leon really) going out to save her. It’s during this that we discover that the neighbour who runs a pawnshop is actually ex-military intelligence and a dab hand at ‘goingtokickthef**kingsh*toutofyou-fu’. The action does take quite a while to arrive, mixed in with a plot involving the police running in conjunction with the main bit as well as flashbacks fleshing out the pawnshop man, but it’s well worth the wait. The final denouement is a blood soaked battle which climaxes in probably the best knife fight I’ve ever seen on film, eclipsing previous title holders ‘Under Siege’ and ‘The Hunted’. This will definitely be going on my ‘must buy list’
I told you I watch too many films.
Still with me though? Nearly finished, I promise. Just three more to go. Actually that’s a lie, there’s four, but I’m gonna deal with JONAH HEX really quickly. It’s not as sh*t as everyone says. It may only be 70 minutes long before the 8 minute end credits kick in but it’s a perfect beer and pizza movie. It moves fast, has plenty of explosions and Megan Fox doesn’t wear very much and looks stunning. There done.
Moving swiftly on, and I’m getting a bit bored now, plus there’s this thing called work and I’m meant to be doing it, I’ll deal with the next three very fast. MACHETE was really good fun. An expansion of the fake trailer from ‘Grindhouse’ and ‘Planet terror’ this is a gory exploitation kill fest with an A list cast who look like they’re having a ball. Danny Trejo is awesome as Machete and I do hope he gets to do more. The film would benefit from being a little shorter and perhaps a little less preachy/political but it’s still worth a watch. TRON LEGACY was a visual feast that makes the first one look decidedly prehistoric. The story is essentially the same and the second half isn’t quite as exciting as the first but it’s still a very entertaining action picture. Lastly and by no means least we have TRUE GRIT, the Coen Brothers version that is. This is an absolute work of art. Jeff Bridges is stunning as Rooster Cogburn, Matt Damon is wonderfully understated as LaBeouf and Hailee Steinfeld is terrific as the central character of Mattie. Wonderfully paced and a near perfect translation of the novel this is arguably the best western since Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
Right I’m done. Work time.
Not sure which movie I’ll watch tonight though, hhhhhhmmmmmmmm will have to think about that.
We’ll start with THE LINCOLN LAWYER. Adapted brilliantly from Michael Connelly’s huge bestseller this was a far better translation to screen than Blood Work. Although the fairly hefty story has been condensed down to 110 minutes they’ve done it very well so everything is all there and it makes perfect sense, as long as you pay attention. Matthew McConaughey, an actor I’ve never been that fond of is pitch perfect as Mick Haller (he’s called Mickey by most people in the book) who manages to make the character charming despite the fact he’s a defence attorney who makes his living getting guilty clients off charges. There’s able support by Marisa Tomei as his ex-wife and Ryan Phillippe as his current client and it’s all actually very exciting. The best advice, read the book, then watch the movie. Fingers crossed that this leads to future adaptations of Connelly novels.
Next up is a Korean revenge thriller called I SAW THE DEVIL which I heard about a while back on the Empire website. They popped up a red band trailer for this movie starring the actor Choi Min-Sik who I’d last seen in the immense film ‘Oldboy’. This time around he’s a serial killer who murders a young pregnant woman who turns out to be the daughter of a retired Police Chief. She was also engaged to a Secret Service operative who’s really rather unhappy at the love of his life being brutally killed. Once the ‘hero’ has tracked the killer down there then starts a brutal punishment game as the killer is repeatedly beaten and maimed and then released all for the ‘hero’ to do it again. Until things go wrong. This is a very dark and grim movie which does loose it for a little bit in the middle with a side story featuring a cannibal killer and you can certain say that the film is too long. That said it is pretty intense and some of the violence is wince inducing, especially a truly horribly graphic scene involving an Achilles tendon and a scalpel (I’m soooooo not joking about that) which is still giving me the willies even now. Despite being overlong this is still a very worthwhile watch, as long as you have a strong stomach, although I must confess it is not something I would want to watch again.
Changing the mood somewhat, ZOOLANDER is next. Yeah I know it came out 10 years ago and I only watched it on tv but I f**king love this movie. It’s totally silly and not really all that funny but it makes me chuckle everytime I watch it. Something about Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as male models just has me laughing everytime. And speaking of decades old movies, Tim Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES deserves a retrospective look. Seeing as we’ve got the new movie ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ out this week which is a reboot I thought it was worth watching the last attempt, Burton’s much maligned ‘reimagining’. To be fair it’s not actually that bad. Yeah the plots no great shakes but having read the synopsis of ‘Rise’ on the net, that one doesn’t have a particularly awesome plot either yet that one is getting 4 star reviews. Still at least with that one it’s kind of a prequel rather than a remake of ‘reimagining’. Burton’s Planet is a fair straight forward action adventure chase movie that happens to have some of the best make up effects known to man. The film may be a bit ordinary but the look of the actors as the apes is anything but. Michael Clarke Duncan as a gorilla is amazing and to be totally honest how the hell did Tim Roth not win an Oscar for his evil warmongering chimp, Thade. Everything about him oozes menace and death, a triumph of actor and make up in perfect unison. The only one comparable for me is Ron Perlman as Hellboy. It’s a shame then that Mark Wahlberg is a bit of a wet blanket and don’t even get me started on the ‘twist’ ending. If only Burton had done some foreshadowing of this, perhaps we’d seen Thade finding a way out of his impregnable prison, maybe seen him going back to the site of Marky Mark’s crashing space ship, it would have all made a little more sense rather than just the ‘WTF’ moment in the finished film. Alternatively if Mr Wet Blanket had decided to stay on the planet and help forge a new Ape/Human society it would’ve worked and maybe we’d have had a sequel to that film instead of a 10 year wait for a total reboot/prequel to the original 60s/70s series. I don’t think it’s a bad film, it’s just a pretty ordinary film with a sh*t ending.
Onto a couple of classics now, the late, great Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO and SANJURO both made in the 60s and both in black and white. They also both star the same main character, a seemingly nameless ronin played by the equally late, great Toshiro Mifune. I’m lumping these films together as they both compliment one another although they have very different feels. Yojimbo is in essence a bit of an action movie, featuring a ronin who comes to a town ruled by two warring gangs and decides, seemingly for fun, to destroy both sets by getting them to wipe each other out. Sound familiar? Well that’s because this is the film that A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing are based on. It’s also a bit of an unofficial adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s brilliant novel Red Harvest. Full of fast and brief sword play and some black comedy this is a slow paced but wonderfully made movie that despite the Japanese setting feels every bit as much a Western as a John Wayne movie. Sanjuro is a far lighter affair. Much more obviously a comedy than it’s predecessor it’s a far more talky affair too, with Mifune’s character teaming up with 9 samurai who are fighting corruption in their town. That’s not to say there isn’t some sword play, there is but that’s not really the main focus of this film. These might be considered lesser films in Kurosawa’s resume compared to the likes of Seven Samurai or Ran but they are light years ahead of most other films of that time and I thoroughly recommend them.
Next up we have SUCKER PUNCH, Zack Snyder’s fantasy that he described as ‘Alice in Wonderland with guns’ or you could say it the first movie computer game. The shame with this film is that the fantasy action scenes are truly quite amazing. The first fantasy scene in feudal Japan with the lead character battling three giant Samurai demons is stunning and they get better from there. The highlight for me being a scene in a fantasy World War I with the heroine’s battling German Zombie’s powered by Steam and clockwork is just brilliant with gouts of escaping steam as substitutes for blood. The sad thing about this film is the framing plot is totally illogical and nonsense. A girl gets sent to a mental asylum by her abusive step father who is paying the head orderly to have her lobotomized in 5 days. The girl escapes into a fantasyland where she’s been dumped in a bordello and is going to have a man known as ‘The High Roller’ deflower her in 5 days. She plots escaping and then goes off into another fantasyland when she hunts down items she needs to escape. Are you still with me? It’s all just a bit confusing and not really that interesting. Why couldn’t she have been in a car accident and as she’s fighting for her life why didn’t she go off into a fantasyland where she has to do battle with creatures etc to come back to the real world? Maybe that’s my plot line for a Sucker Punch 2, better copyright that fast. It is a pity that the framework is so ‘meh’ and ‘huh?’ as there was potential here to make a really good fantasy film. It should also be mentioned that the film is a total ‘boys’ movie as the girls are all very pretty and wear skimpy outfits, in both fantasy worlds, as well as having totally objectifying names, Babydoll, Sweet Pea, Blondie, it’s all a little dirty old man trenchcoat fantasy really. Obviously I love this film.
Right we’re back off to Korean, well a Korean film that is with THE MAN FROM NOWHERE which bills itself as ‘Taken meets Oldboy’ when a better way of describing it would be ‘Taken with more plot’. I really enjoyed this film which is not as violent as you’re expecting and actually has some decent characters and a story. Following the same rough plot of Taken this has a little girl being taken by nasty men and her neighbour (a bit similar to Leon really) going out to save her. It’s during this that we discover that the neighbour who runs a pawnshop is actually ex-military intelligence and a dab hand at ‘goingtokickthef**kingsh*toutofyou-fu’. The action does take quite a while to arrive, mixed in with a plot involving the police running in conjunction with the main bit as well as flashbacks fleshing out the pawnshop man, but it’s well worth the wait. The final denouement is a blood soaked battle which climaxes in probably the best knife fight I’ve ever seen on film, eclipsing previous title holders ‘Under Siege’ and ‘The Hunted’. This will definitely be going on my ‘must buy list’
I told you I watch too many films.
Still with me though? Nearly finished, I promise. Just three more to go. Actually that’s a lie, there’s four, but I’m gonna deal with JONAH HEX really quickly. It’s not as sh*t as everyone says. It may only be 70 minutes long before the 8 minute end credits kick in but it’s a perfect beer and pizza movie. It moves fast, has plenty of explosions and Megan Fox doesn’t wear very much and looks stunning. There done.
Moving swiftly on, and I’m getting a bit bored now, plus there’s this thing called work and I’m meant to be doing it, I’ll deal with the next three very fast. MACHETE was really good fun. An expansion of the fake trailer from ‘Grindhouse’ and ‘Planet terror’ this is a gory exploitation kill fest with an A list cast who look like they’re having a ball. Danny Trejo is awesome as Machete and I do hope he gets to do more. The film would benefit from being a little shorter and perhaps a little less preachy/political but it’s still worth a watch. TRON LEGACY was a visual feast that makes the first one look decidedly prehistoric. The story is essentially the same and the second half isn’t quite as exciting as the first but it’s still a very entertaining action picture. Lastly and by no means least we have TRUE GRIT, the Coen Brothers version that is. This is an absolute work of art. Jeff Bridges is stunning as Rooster Cogburn, Matt Damon is wonderfully understated as LaBeouf and Hailee Steinfeld is terrific as the central character of Mattie. Wonderfully paced and a near perfect translation of the novel this is arguably the best western since Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.
Right I’m done. Work time.
Not sure which movie I’ll watch tonight though, hhhhhhmmmmmmmm will have to think about that.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
UNDISPUTED III: REDEMPTION - Film Review
There’re gonna be a few minor spoilers so you have been warned.
I imagine no one really remembers the first Undisputed movie. Despite having a terrific cast headed by Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames ably supported by the late Peter Falk, this film (released straight to video in the UK) told the story of the undefeated World Heavyweight Boxing Champion George ‘Iceman’ Chambers (Rhames) being sent to prison on a rape charge and finding that the Prison have their own undefeated champ in the form of Monroe Hutchen (Snipes) and the ground is laid for a boxing match between the two men. It’s been shown on tv late at night a couple of times and is actually a pretty decent sporting/prison drama and is well worth a watch.
Coming a few years later and featuring none of the original cast was Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, which reinvented the story with martial arts. Still featuring the Chambers character now played by Michael Jai White, this had the boxer being sent to a Russian prison on trumped up drug charges and finding himself on another showdown with the prison’s MMA fighter Yuri Boyka, played by Scott Adkins. This film shifted the focus of the original from the drama to the fight scenes and produced an entertaining action picture but still retained some decent dramatic scenes to raise this above the usual straight to video fare.
Continuing the trend from the second film whereby the ‘villain’ of the previous film becomes the ‘hero’ of the next Undisputed III: Redemption follows Boyka in the aftermath of the previous film where Chambers broke his leg, he is now a more humble man, having moved to the bottom of the food chain in the prison, he is reduced to mopping the floors. When he hears of an international tournament to find the Ultimate Prison Fighter he trains himself with a vengeance to win.
Not quite as dramatically entertaining as the second film, Undisputed III is still a superior piece of martial arts entertainment featuring some pretty fantastic fight scenes with Scott Adkins showing off his considerable prowess and laying down a marker for his status as a terrific martial arts actor. The final fight against Marko Zaror is pretty intense as is a terrific bout with the superb Lateef Crowder. The choreography by Larnell Stovall and direction by Isaac Florentine is fantastic and really shows off the actors in the best light. It’s not surprising that this film won the best director and best fight choreography awards at ActionFest 2010. Stovall has recently choreographed the fight scenes for Universal Soldier 4 which has a certain Mr Adkins as the lead along with Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme so on the evidence here we can expect very good things from that film.
There’s not much more to say about this film really. If you liked the second film you’ll pretty much love this. Although the story is not quite as engaging the fight scenes more than make up for it, these are some of the best I’ve seen in American made martial arts films for ages. If you don’t like fighty films then give it a wide berth. The only niggle I’ve got with this film is it is not currently released in the UK. Seeing as the lead actor is English and you can buy this on DVD in most of Europe (I got mine from Germany) it is an absolute disgrace that UK fans can’t go down to their local HMV (gotta support the High Street) and pick up a copy. Hopefully as interest in Adkins’ films increases, probably even more so with Assassination Games and the forthcoming Universal Soldier 4 this situation may well change. It better bloomin’ well had is all I can say. That being said the German edition is very nice, there’s quite a few extra features as long as you go for the FSK 18 uncut edition you’ll be very happy.
Undisputed IV anyone?
I imagine no one really remembers the first Undisputed movie. Despite having a terrific cast headed by Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames ably supported by the late Peter Falk, this film (released straight to video in the UK) told the story of the undefeated World Heavyweight Boxing Champion George ‘Iceman’ Chambers (Rhames) being sent to prison on a rape charge and finding that the Prison have their own undefeated champ in the form of Monroe Hutchen (Snipes) and the ground is laid for a boxing match between the two men. It’s been shown on tv late at night a couple of times and is actually a pretty decent sporting/prison drama and is well worth a watch.
Coming a few years later and featuring none of the original cast was Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, which reinvented the story with martial arts. Still featuring the Chambers character now played by Michael Jai White, this had the boxer being sent to a Russian prison on trumped up drug charges and finding himself on another showdown with the prison’s MMA fighter Yuri Boyka, played by Scott Adkins. This film shifted the focus of the original from the drama to the fight scenes and produced an entertaining action picture but still retained some decent dramatic scenes to raise this above the usual straight to video fare.
Continuing the trend from the second film whereby the ‘villain’ of the previous film becomes the ‘hero’ of the next Undisputed III: Redemption follows Boyka in the aftermath of the previous film where Chambers broke his leg, he is now a more humble man, having moved to the bottom of the food chain in the prison, he is reduced to mopping the floors. When he hears of an international tournament to find the Ultimate Prison Fighter he trains himself with a vengeance to win.
Not quite as dramatically entertaining as the second film, Undisputed III is still a superior piece of martial arts entertainment featuring some pretty fantastic fight scenes with Scott Adkins showing off his considerable prowess and laying down a marker for his status as a terrific martial arts actor. The final fight against Marko Zaror is pretty intense as is a terrific bout with the superb Lateef Crowder. The choreography by Larnell Stovall and direction by Isaac Florentine is fantastic and really shows off the actors in the best light. It’s not surprising that this film won the best director and best fight choreography awards at ActionFest 2010. Stovall has recently choreographed the fight scenes for Universal Soldier 4 which has a certain Mr Adkins as the lead along with Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme so on the evidence here we can expect very good things from that film.
There’s not much more to say about this film really. If you liked the second film you’ll pretty much love this. Although the story is not quite as engaging the fight scenes more than make up for it, these are some of the best I’ve seen in American made martial arts films for ages. If you don’t like fighty films then give it a wide berth. The only niggle I’ve got with this film is it is not currently released in the UK. Seeing as the lead actor is English and you can buy this on DVD in most of Europe (I got mine from Germany) it is an absolute disgrace that UK fans can’t go down to their local HMV (gotta support the High Street) and pick up a copy. Hopefully as interest in Adkins’ films increases, probably even more so with Assassination Games and the forthcoming Universal Soldier 4 this situation may well change. It better bloomin’ well had is all I can say. That being said the German edition is very nice, there’s quite a few extra features as long as you go for the FSK 18 uncut edition you’ll be very happy.
Undisputed IV anyone?
Monday, 4 July 2011
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON - film review
It’s hard to imagine that when the first film in this series came out I’d just got married. Where have those 4 years gone? Anyway enough of that, on with the review. The second film in this franchise got some terrible reviews and rightly so in some cases. Having re-read my original review after watching this film on dvd last week I have to say my opinion has changed somewhat. My original review was pretty positive, I liked a lot of things that now I find quite dull. The story and human characters are still pretty ropey but the big action scenes are still amazing and knock spot off what was in the first film in pretty much every instance. A lot of people were hoping that any flaws that were in that movie would have been addressed and ironed out of this film. Sadly that hasn’t really happened.
This film is way too long, nearly 2 hours forty minutes long which is just ridiculous, there’s also far too much lame comedy with John Malkovitch who is embarrassing and that Chinese fellow from The Hangover who is the most unfunny person since Tom Green. Shia LaBeouf’s character has gone from likeable geek to annoying twat, his parents are still here and just as annoying as before (I liked them originally) although thankfully they are not in the film much, as blessing. The military characters are still here although still relegated to just turning up for the action scenes.
One of the worst things is the totally lazy way of writing out Megan Fox’s character since she was fired after likening working with Michael Bay to Hitler, not the best thing to do when the executive producer is Spielberg. Her character, who played such a large part of the first two movies, is written out “She dumped me”. That’s it. Lazy. Surely they could have written that her character was killed by a decepticon couldn’t they? That would have been nice and dark and also given Shia’s character more of a story arc, coming to terms with her death and finding love again in the arms of Mrs The Stath. Yes, Megan’s replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is Jason Statham’s missus. She’s pretty but not in The Fox’s league but sadly her acting talent makes The Fox look like Judi Dench. She’s a total block of wood and has all the charisma to boot. As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan.
There are however two welcome additions for this film. One is Patrick Dempsey playing a nice slimy millionaire and the other is Leonard Nimoy. Yes Spock is on hand to add some extra awesomeness as Sentinel Prime, the leader of the Autobots prior to Optimus. His majestic vocals raise any scene he’s in, and the scenes with him and Peter Cullen’s Optimus are brilliant.
The storyline although still the weak point is far more engaging than in the second film. The opening scenes of the 1969 moon landing are wonderfully atmospheric and intrigue the viewer and although later parts do get slightly confused there’s still some fun to be had as we discover that there are plans behind what at first seems a straightforward plot.
It’s still way too long though and sadly there is a big lack of action in the early parts of the film, which doesn’t help matters.
That said however the action, when it comes, is stunning, especially in the extended 45 minute plus climax when everything gets thrown at the screen for a huge ending to the franchise. As ever this is where these films are made and this doesn’t disappoint. I saw a 2D screening of this but I can imagine a 3D screening, come the climax, must be pretty jaw dropping. For all of Michael Bay’s faults as a director you have to give him his due, the guy knows how to direct big f**k off enormous action scenes. This is easily the best in the franchise and thus renders any other faults in the movie null and void.
Bay has said this is the final film for him, as has LaBeouf, but I am sure this will not be the final Transformers movie. In fact it would be welcome for someone else to take up the reigns and produce a TF movie that doesn’t have as much slow mo, that doesn’t have a real boner for military vehicles and weaponry. Now that would make a nice change.
This film is way too long, nearly 2 hours forty minutes long which is just ridiculous, there’s also far too much lame comedy with John Malkovitch who is embarrassing and that Chinese fellow from The Hangover who is the most unfunny person since Tom Green. Shia LaBeouf’s character has gone from likeable geek to annoying twat, his parents are still here and just as annoying as before (I liked them originally) although thankfully they are not in the film much, as blessing. The military characters are still here although still relegated to just turning up for the action scenes.
One of the worst things is the totally lazy way of writing out Megan Fox’s character since she was fired after likening working with Michael Bay to Hitler, not the best thing to do when the executive producer is Spielberg. Her character, who played such a large part of the first two movies, is written out “She dumped me”. That’s it. Lazy. Surely they could have written that her character was killed by a decepticon couldn’t they? That would have been nice and dark and also given Shia’s character more of a story arc, coming to terms with her death and finding love again in the arms of Mrs The Stath. Yes, Megan’s replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is Jason Statham’s missus. She’s pretty but not in The Fox’s league but sadly her acting talent makes The Fox look like Judi Dench. She’s a total block of wood and has all the charisma to boot. As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan.
There are however two welcome additions for this film. One is Patrick Dempsey playing a nice slimy millionaire and the other is Leonard Nimoy. Yes Spock is on hand to add some extra awesomeness as Sentinel Prime, the leader of the Autobots prior to Optimus. His majestic vocals raise any scene he’s in, and the scenes with him and Peter Cullen’s Optimus are brilliant.
The storyline although still the weak point is far more engaging than in the second film. The opening scenes of the 1969 moon landing are wonderfully atmospheric and intrigue the viewer and although later parts do get slightly confused there’s still some fun to be had as we discover that there are plans behind what at first seems a straightforward plot.
It’s still way too long though and sadly there is a big lack of action in the early parts of the film, which doesn’t help matters.
That said however the action, when it comes, is stunning, especially in the extended 45 minute plus climax when everything gets thrown at the screen for a huge ending to the franchise. As ever this is where these films are made and this doesn’t disappoint. I saw a 2D screening of this but I can imagine a 3D screening, come the climax, must be pretty jaw dropping. For all of Michael Bay’s faults as a director you have to give him his due, the guy knows how to direct big f**k off enormous action scenes. This is easily the best in the franchise and thus renders any other faults in the movie null and void.
Bay has said this is the final film for him, as has LaBeouf, but I am sure this will not be the final Transformers movie. In fact it would be welcome for someone else to take up the reigns and produce a TF movie that doesn’t have as much slow mo, that doesn’t have a real boner for military vehicles and weaponry. Now that would make a nice change.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Final Album – No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith (1981)
1. Ace of Spades
2. Stay Clean
3. Metropolis
4. The Hammer
5. Iron Horse/Born to Lose
6. No Class
7. Overkill
8. (We are) The Road Crew
9. Capricorn
10. Bomber
11. Motörhead
Well here we are, at the final album of my little project. This was Motorhead’s first live album and also it should be pointed out it’s the album that got to number one on the charts. Yes, a Motörhead album got to number one. Amazing huh? There’s a real rough and ready feel to the live recording on this, permeated with sounds of the crowd roaring their approval as the band, in the ‘classic’ line-up of Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Philthy, bolt through some great tunes starting off with the iconic ‘Ace of Spades’ and it just gets better from there with ‘No Class’, ‘(We are) The Road Crew’, ‘Bomber’ and ‘Motörhead’ being the songs that really come out well from being played live, more so than the others. The lasting image of this great album (although not the greatest live album they have done) is once the final song is over we are left with the crowds cheering over and over “Motörhead, Motörhead, Motörhead…”
2. Stay Clean
3. Metropolis
4. The Hammer
5. Iron Horse/Born to Lose
6. No Class
7. Overkill
8. (We are) The Road Crew
9. Capricorn
10. Bomber
11. Motörhead
Well here we are, at the final album of my little project. This was Motorhead’s first live album and also it should be pointed out it’s the album that got to number one on the charts. Yes, a Motörhead album got to number one. Amazing huh? There’s a real rough and ready feel to the live recording on this, permeated with sounds of the crowd roaring their approval as the band, in the ‘classic’ line-up of Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Philthy, bolt through some great tunes starting off with the iconic ‘Ace of Spades’ and it just gets better from there with ‘No Class’, ‘(We are) The Road Crew’, ‘Bomber’ and ‘Motörhead’ being the songs that really come out well from being played live, more so than the others. The lasting image of this great album (although not the greatest live album they have done) is once the final song is over we are left with the crowds cheering over and over “Motörhead, Motörhead, Motörhead…”
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
The ‘No Sleep Til “No Sleep Til Hammersmith” Project’ Album 20 – The Wörld is Yours (2011)
1. Born To Lose
2. I Know How To Die
3. Get Back In Line
4. Devils In My Head
5. Rock ‘N’ Roll Music
6. Waiting For The Snake
7. Brotherhood Of Man
8. Outlaw
9. I Know What You Need
10. Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye
This is their best album since ‘Inferno’ and another one where I think there is no bad song on it. ‘Born to Lose’ is a great pounding opener and this is followed up by the fast and furious ‘I know how to Die’ along with the heavy rock’n’roll number ‘get Back in Line’. The seventh track, ‘Brotherhood of Man’ is a spiritual sequel to ‘Orgasmatron’ and has a similar feel without just sounding like a copy. The final two songs on the album, ‘I know what you Need’ and ‘Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye’ are superb and leave me, as ever, wanting more. A great, great album. Roll on 2013 for the next studio album.
Next: NO SLEEP ‘TIL HAMMERSMITH (1981)
2. I Know How To Die
3. Get Back In Line
4. Devils In My Head
5. Rock ‘N’ Roll Music
6. Waiting For The Snake
7. Brotherhood Of Man
8. Outlaw
9. I Know What You Need
10. Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye
This is their best album since ‘Inferno’ and another one where I think there is no bad song on it. ‘Born to Lose’ is a great pounding opener and this is followed up by the fast and furious ‘I know how to Die’ along with the heavy rock’n’roll number ‘get Back in Line’. The seventh track, ‘Brotherhood of Man’ is a spiritual sequel to ‘Orgasmatron’ and has a similar feel without just sounding like a copy. The final two songs on the album, ‘I know what you Need’ and ‘Bye Bye Bitch Bye Bye’ are superb and leave me, as ever, wanting more. A great, great album. Roll on 2013 for the next studio album.
Next: NO SLEEP ‘TIL HAMMERSMITH (1981)
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