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Reviews
Trailblazers Of (2016)
Rubbish
What a promising sounding series - investigating and charting the roots of different sections of music. Instead we are treated to a half-arsed jokey narration and a brief tour of mainstream names, jumping right over the origins in about three minutes - avoid.
Yume no Hawaii de bon odori (1964)
Enjoyable mid-60s Japanese film
Natsuo and his friends have graduated high-school and are about to take the next step in their lives. Natsuo longs to go to Hawaii to find his paternal grandfather, who has been estranged with Natsuo's mother since she and his son eloped from Hawaii near the end of World War II, leading to Natsuo's father enlisting in the army and dying near the end of the war, a death Natsuo's grandfather blames on his mother, causing him to refuse to recognise her as his daughter-in-law.
Despite this grim-looking outline, Yum no Hawaii de bon odori is a charming mid-60s Japanese film, focusing on Natsuo and his group friends; including a cute blossoming romance between Natsuo and his friend Miyoko, who comes from a slightly higher class than he; and on Natsuo's relationship with his hard-working single mother who fears her son's leaving her for Hawaii.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)
"It's Worse Than I Imagined"
The original film of The Rocky Horror Picture Show was flawed and at times sloppy, but it was brimming with heart and a genuine weirdness of character. It could be confusing to follow at times but it remained a mostly straight-faced homage to the weird science films of the 1950s with the added attraction of sexual and gender twisting, but crucially presented without comment or focus - this is one of the reasons it succeeded so well and why it became an underground hit.
This new version of this classic film made sure to disembowel the original, reach up and pull out its heart, and to then airbrush the empty husk that remained.
One of the major downfalls is the absolutely lifeless soundtrack recordings of the songs: they sound as if they have been compressed and muted of life to ensure that nobody's heart rises above sixty beats per minutes. Over this limp soundtrack the characters mime their songs, mostly badly, some not even making a huge effort to even sync up at times (particularly guilty of this is Columbia).
As to the casting, gone are the individual characteristics and introduced are a parade of generically handsome and pretty boys and gals with all the individuality of a Toys R Us dolls aisle. The original worked because it was played mainly straight; the new version gives us hammy overacting with too much self-awareness which obviously does nothing to draw an audience in; it's as if the new production had either never watched the original film or had so grossly misread it as to be almost imbecilic. Talking of Frankestein, we are treated to an on-the-nose depiction of Mary Shelley's gravestone, despite the fact she died in London, England; anything to ram down our throats the Frankenstein connection! In the original film Rocky was slightly neanderthal in appearance - blankish expression that reminded us of Frankenstein's monster (after all that's what he represents) with a hard muscular body, with tight buns showing through tight gold undies; the new Rocky looks like a gym-bro with dipped highlights who may or may not be slightly constipated: he is more Brut than brute.
Dr Frank-N-Furter, crucially, is a transvestite not a transsexual - Transsexual is the name of the planet. The stunt casting of Laverne Cox is badly done: whereas the original had a skinny flat-chested Tim Curry working brilliantly as a transvestite, Laverne Cox is a female Dr Frank-N-Furter and, as the transvestite she sings about being, should be dressed in a male attire: this casting was ill-thought-out. I enjoyed Laverne in Orange in the New Black but her attempts to channel Tim Curry's origination of Frank-N-Furter is embarrassing: the British accent is all over the place, often with an American twang at the end of phrases, and often sounded like it's being strangled out of her. Her rendition of 'I'm Going Home' at the climax should have been emotional and stirring, as in the original, but it was in fact as empty as the preceding hour and a half had been. Speaking of the climax, Riff-Raff and Magenta strongly resembled a pair of Red Dwarf villains in their silver get-up, and the castle crumbling brought to mind the old British children's show Knightmare.
The film also suffered from an almost total lack of character delineation - far more-so than even the original which, as I said before, certain had its sloppy moments of confusion. Magenta and Columbia were more marginal than in the original and Eddie's cameo was almost completely pointless if not for the fact that he is used as a postmortem device later on in the film.
The film also suffered from a real lack of chemistry, not only between the viewer and the cast but also between cast members; Rocky and Janet's bedroom scene lacked any sexuality or tension whatsoever: Hank drinking Manny's corpse-water in Swiss Army Man was more romantic and sexual than this white-bread colourless scene; not to mention the bed-hopping hilarity of the original was almost entirely airbrushed to be as inoffensive as possible.
The nod to the cult of audience participation at theatrical showings of the film fell very flat also - the audience seemed to be a TV exec's idea of what edgy, weird, non-mainstream people looked like in the 1980s (TV punks) and 1990s (TV grunge).
The saddest crime of all was the rolling in of stroke-victim Tim Curry in a pathetic attempt to give credence and validation to this travesty - the only moments of any emotion in the film were when he appeared on screen and my heart filled with sadness at what they had persuaded him to do, and to watch him valiantly attempt his line-readings.
I am not looking forward to an anemic version of Cronenberg's / Burroughs' "Naked Lunch".
Stranger Things (2016)
A Cardboard Construct
The show centres around a group of nerdy misfit twelve year-old boys. The brothers who created, wrote and directed this were twelve in 1996 and that's very telling, the nostalgia isn't for the 1980s but for mainstream family films of the 1980s as seen from a distance and not as lived.
There is nothing real or authentic or original to be found here, it's a film-kit made up of references, plot lines and characters cobbled together from various Spielberg films as written and filmed by inexperienced film-makers - everything is obvious, on-the-nose, and lacking in depth.
Kung Fu Elliot (2014)
Curb Your Confucianism
Within ten minutes it was fairly obvious that this was a mockumentary in a similar deadpan style to those of Christopher Guest, crossed with some improv in the vein of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
If the film-makers had attempted to keep it more within the bounds of possibility I feel it would have been more successful but I enjoyed the attempt nevertheless - as the film progressed believability was sacrificed for wackiness and holes in the stories that gave the game away that this was not, in fact, a documentary - I have a feeling this was deliberately referenced late on in proceedings when the filmmakers "interviewed" Elliot's put-upon girlfriend Linda, about the nature of documentary, with the fabrications of Elliot in regards to his past being linked to the fabrication of this film and documentaries as an entire genre.
I should note that very early on Elliot refers to Jean-Claude Van Damme as being French when he is in fact Belgian - this may have been part of his character's lack of depth in understanding but it was the first flag for me that made question this being a 'documentary'.
A Matter of Choice (1988)
Very dull
The only good reason to watch this short film (it's available on youtube, just search for the title), is if you wish to see a young Gillian Anderson in b&w & with a quality of film so grainy that she actually looks older than she does now, as she approaches her 40th birthday.
The plot, from what I could make out watching it, features Anderson's character standing in front a tenement building for four minutes, before walking into the building which, from the Significant close-up of a coat hanger symbol, is an illegal abortion house.
And that's it. Apart from something falling on the ground at around the three minute mark (impossible to tell what it was because of poor quality, and it was never built upon anyway), it's just four minutes of Anderson standing, pacing about, close-ups of her watch, and then entering a building.
Not exactly thrilling stuff. Also, it's silent so we don't get to hear her young squeaky voice.
The Jitters (1989)
Not Bad Film
Well, I bought this little film on second-hand VHS at some second-hand store some time back, and I must say that I quite enjoyed it -- it even features a character quoting a line from GhostBusters; "I'm terrified beyond rational thought" or something (I forget the exact phrase). I thought the comedy moments were mostly done well, the music was enjoyable also, and the creature effects towards the end were impressive considering that this film must have had a pretty low budget. A cut above the average zero-budget flick, worth picking up if you happen to find yourself in a second-hand store and come across it for a reasonable price. All in all, absolutely watchable and enjoyable.
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Marred By Being Formulaic
*SPOILERS MAY BE AHEAD*
Great potential to be had by giving a character Godly powers, and some of these were used. However, by making this some kind of attempt at a moral play, and one that was very predictable and lukewarm, it took away the sheer fun that could be had exploiting Bruce's new-found power. But, the comedy moments, although mostly not classic, WERE funny. I laughed aloud when Bruce controls Evan Baxter's voice and words (and gibberish) during a news report. I didn't like the lazy casting of Morgan Freeman as God, and thought the filmmakers could have done better there. Overall, quite a fun film, but too heavy-handed with the moralisin'.
Deathwatch (2002)
WatchDeath
*THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD*
I thought the evocation of WWI was well done (not that I was around between the years 1914 and 1918). However, I thought the atmosphere was hit and miss; the middle of the film tended to be boggy, pacewise, with not enough action pushing the film on. The acting was a little overdone at times, especially for the East End Gangster-type character, who seemed to be impersonating Ray Winstone.
I think that the film is set in purgatory, which explains the hell references and the Religious overtones supplied by the Irish (of course!) Christian (the characters are a collexion of stereotypes, or maybe the filmmakers would like us to call them "archetypes"?).
Overall, it was OK, if a little dull.
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Frustrating
*MAY BE SPOILERS*
Making this animated version of Sinbad could have really opened up the flood-gates of the imagination. I watched the "Making Of" Featurette on the DVD, and the animators indeed talked about letting their imaginations rip... I would have to beg to differ... the sirens were well executed, the giant eagle less so, and the sea monster was adequate... that was as far as it went! Apart from a few more constellationary critters who surround Sinbad and Marina for all of two seconds, that's about your lot. Very frustrating. I must say however, I did like the shifting sands world of Eris, Goddess of Discord (a Greek Goddess), and indeed, for what there WAS, I enjoyed it; I just wished there were more of it!
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004)
hilarious
Three episodes in, and this show is so far hilarious... the interview segments are sweepingly satirical, whilst the actual "show" itself, Darkplace, is VERY funny. Bad acting, hilarious dialogue, great cuts, great dodgy special effects, it runs the full gamut of fun-poking. I can't wait for it to be released on DVD!
Pitch Black (2000)
Aliens Vs Jurassic Park
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
I thought Pitch Black to be quite enjoyable, with some nice effects--I liked the larger beasts, although they aren't a patch on the Aliens from the Alien series. It had quite a good atmosphere, which I felt Vin Diesel helped contribute toward.
One thing which kind of stumped me was how it rained. If the planet has three suns and is in almost continuous daylight, where did the moisture come from to form clouds and therefore rain?
I liked the fact that Fry died at the end--it reminded me of the New Hollywood films of the 1970s, with the main heroine not making it to the end.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Visually Excellent
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
First thing to mention about Freddy Vs Jason is that it has some visually beautiful moments. Second thing to mention is that most of the deaths are satisfying from a horror fan's point-of-view; plenty of traditional slasheresque deaths (especially when Jason gatecrashes a field rave and lets loose), plus a smattering of more original deaths. The special effects are first class, of course, and the horror genre as a whole is benefitting from such advances.
I enjoyed it when the friendly Police Officer talked about Jason Vorhees, as it helped to cement the fact that the previous two series of films (Friday the 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street) took place in the same Fictitious Universe.
Although as formulaic as to be expected, albeit with the interesting tilt of Freddy using Jason to be remembered into Power, there is another action to cruise it comfortably home. One thing -- some of the fight scenes between Freddy and Jason reminded me somewhat of the WWF (or WWE as it's now known as), which was a bit unfortunate.
Overall, a solid entry for either series.
Shanghai Knights (2003)
Highly Enjoyable
I saw Shanghai Noon in the cinema and thought it a little boring--However, Shanghai Knights is very entertaining and witty. The interplay between Chan and Wilson is charming, and Owen Wilson provides a laid-back good humour and wit to his character. He provides such warmth as an actor, that he is a joy to watch. On top of that, the action sequences are very good, and, as you'd expect from a Jackie Chan film, imaginative and convoluted. Good stuff, highly recommended.
There's Something About Mary (1998)
Thumbs Up
*MINOR SPOILERS*
This is an hilarious movie from the Farrelly brothers. At times I was reminded of Groundhog Day because of Matt Dillon's character...In Groundhog Day, Phil Connors finds out more and more about Rita by pumping her with questions and observation, then remembering the info when the next day rolls along. In Something About Mary, Dillon's character uses listening devices to glean information from Mary without her knowledge. Incidentally, both films feature Chris Elliott.
I also liked the use of the two musicians throughout the film, acting as modern-day minstrels...bringing them from background to foreground at the end (by having one of them shot) was a touch of greatness.
Overall, an excellent film--laugh-out loud slapstick combined with great characters and a beautifully mischievous sense of humour.