D&CFilm » Sex, Leins & Videotape

Four brutal new DVD releases

Tom Leins — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:46:18 +0000

Drive: there's an art-house sensibility to this sleek and stylish thriller with iconic savagery

“What do you do?”

“I drive.”

Adapted from James Sallis’ 2005 novel of the same name, Drive (Icon) is the story of a Hollywood stuntman (Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson) who moonlights as a getaway-driver-for-hire when the cameras stop rolling. A loner by nature, the Driver finds himself falling for his next door neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan, An Education), and his life becomes even more complicated when Driver agrees to team up with Irene’s jailbird husband to pull off a small-scale heist to help him pay back a debt. In time-honoured fashion, the scam goes boss-eyed, and Driver finds himself embroiled in an increasingly bloody tug-of-war between a number of LA’s most dangerous criminals. Determined to protect Irene and her young son from the flak heading their way, Driver decides to tackle his enemies head-on.

James Sallis’ existential noir source material is one of the most perfectly distilled crime novels of the last decade, and Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising) takes the brave decision to slice off what little excess weight remained, and reduce the movie to its absolute core. Situated in the same seedy, timeless LA wasteland as Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Drive depicts a deadly world of trigger-happy heists, shell-suits and morally-compromised anti-heroes.

Gosling is sensational as the toothpick-chewing stunt driver whose shy nature conceals a violent temper, and he is joined by small screen luminaries such as Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy) in memorable bit-parts. Regardless of the hype that accompanied Drive, director Winding Refn’s movies are all essential viewing, and although he has squirmed out of the way of mainstream temptation in the past, Drive sees him crash into the Hollywood A-list on his own terms. Despite its sleek, stylish feel and art-house sensibility, Drive is an incredibly violent movie, full of episodes of iconic savagery. All in all, a marvellous, menacing treat, that bodes well for Gosling and Winding Refn’s upcoming Logan’s Run remake!

Rolling Thunder: a Quentin Tarantino fave for its blood-soaked vengeance mission, co-written by Paul Schrader

Co-written by Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader, 1977’s Rolling Thunder (StudioCanal) stars William Devane (best known to modern audiences as Defence Secretary James Heller in ‘24’) as Major Charles Rane, a Vietnam veteran who has endured a living hell after spending seven years incarcerated in the notorious ‘Hanoi Hilton’. He returns to his Texas hometown with his friend Sergeant Vohden (an improbably young Tommy Lee Jones), a mere shadow of his former self. Uncomfortable with his new status as a local celebrity, he struggles to adapt to civilian life, finding his wife engaged to another man, while his son doesn’t remember him at all. As a token of the town’s gratitude for his service, Rane is presented with a red Cadillac and 2555 silver dollars – one for every day he was held captive, plus one for luck – but his happiness is short-lived when a vicious gang of redneck and Mexican thugs show up at his house to steal the silver coins, horribly disfiguring him in the process.

Reputed to be one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite films – he named his short-lived cult movie distribution company ‘Rolling Thunder Pictures’ as a tribute – it is easy to see why Rolling Thunder gets QT hot under the collar, and its sadistic, blood-soaked vengeance mission was echoed years later in his own Kill Bill double-whammy. The film was originally produced and scheduled for release by Twentieth Century Fox, only for the level of violence in the final cut to prove off-putting to the Fox bigwigs, who sold it on to American International Pictures instead. The film’s negative reputation lived on for many years, and slightly bizarrely, it has only ever been released on DVD in Spain until now. Although the carnage seems pretty tame by today’s standards, Rolling Thunder holds up pretty well, despite a few clumsy narrative mis-steps. That said, it’s well worth persevering for the brutal climactic showdown in a Juarez whorehouse – which recalls Schrader’s work on Taxi Driver a year earlier. All in all, a memorably bleak curio that definitely warrants its belated arrival on home video.

Post-Mortem: macabre and slightly queasy story set against the backdrop of Chile’s bloody military coup

Set in Santiago, Chile in 1973, Post-Mortem (Network) tells the story of Mario Cornejo, a morgue assistant with the unavoidably grim responsibility for typing up autopsy reports performed by the coroners. Set against the backdrop of Chile’s bloody military coup, the first half of the film follows the cadaverous-looking Mario as he becomes involved in a slightly queasy affair with a washed-up showgirl from the nearby cabaret. However, as it reaches its mid-way point, the film swerves into decidedly queasier territory, as Mario’s day-job takes a turn for the macabre, with the coup now in full-flow.

Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s last film, Tony Manero, earned a rapturous critical response following its premiere at the Cannes Director’s Fortnight, with D&CFilm labelling it a bleakly amusing Chilean movie about a glum 50-something sociopath who dreams of becoming Chile’s answer to John Travolta. Post-Mortem is arguably a more ambitious film than Tony Manero, but for all Larrain’s visual flair, the movie lacks Tony Manero’s immediacy, even if it goes on to plumb even darker depths. Whereas Tony Manero took a surreal delight in the antics of a murderous John Travolta wannabe, Post-Mortem is a far queasier affair, with little of the earlier film’s dark humour. Although it is unlikely to tap into the same audience that latched onto Manero, Post-Mortem reaffirms Larrain’s position at the forefront of the Latin American cinema movement, and allows character actor Alfredo Castro (leading man Raul in Tony Manero) another admirably warped role to sink his teeth into.

Largo Winch, The Burma Conspiracy: Bourne-esque action and intrigue, boardroom shenanigans, and Sharon Stone

Based on the enduringly popular Belgian comic book series Largo Winch, The Burma Conspiracy (StudioCanal) picks up where 2010’s entertaining Largo Winch: Deadly Revenge left off. Reformed playboy Largo (Tomer Sisley) is now the newly appointed CEO of his father’s global conglomerate, the W Group. However, when he announces that he intends to sell the company and funnel the proceeds into a humanitarian foundation, his laudable aims are derailed, when he finds himself hauled in front of a UN tribunal and accused of participating in crimes against humanity in war-torn Burma. In true Largo Winch style, our intrepid hero is forced to embark on a globe-trotting adventure to clear his name and wrestle his father’s company back from the brink… Yawn.

Despite its slick bend of Bourne-esque action and intrigue – by way of Rambo 4’s bloody Burmese setting – The Burma Conspiracy lacks its predecessor’s compulsive energy, and the relentless boardroom shenanigans overshadow the sporadically enjoyable array of fight scenes. Sharon Stone – whose career seemingly tanked with the disastrous Basic Instinct 2 – pops up in an incongruous supporting role (much like Kristin Scott Thomas did in the first Largo Winch movie), and adds little to the proceedings apart from her household name. Tomer Sisley offers another confident lead performance as the heroic Largo, but it won’t quite be enough to convince floating voters of the film’s merits. After a surprisingly enjoyable first outing, this laboured second act sees the franchise badly underwhelm, and unless the producers can unearth a more entertaining plot, future instalments seem pretty unlikely. Desperately average.

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A trio of acclaimed new releases

Tom Leins — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:29 +0000

Junkhearts: riddled with great scenes and super performances

Junkhearts (Soda Pictures) tells the story of Frank (Eddie Marsan, Happy Go Lucky) a traumatised, middle-aged ex-soldier who tranquilises himself with scotch each day to stave off terrifying flashbacks from his tour of duty in Northern Ireland.

On one of his regular visits to the off-licence, Frank meets Lynette (Candese Reid), a feisty black teenager who is sleeping rough in the neighbourhood, and after a tense start, the pair form an unlikely bond, with Frank offering the youngster his spare room. However, the duo’s pleasantly warped version of domestic bliss is thrown into chaos when Lynette invites her shifty drug-dealer boyfriend Danny (Tom Sturridge) to take advantage of the reluctant Frank’s hospitality – nudging the boozy war veteran into a debilitating downward spiral.

Newcomer Candese Reid won the 2011 BFI award for Best British Newcomer for her role in Junkhearts, and while she delivers a memorable debut performance here, the chameleonic Marsan and the menacing Sturridge confidently steal the show, and it will be interesting to watch the latter in Walter Salles’ upcoming version of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road.

Interestingly, director Tinge Krishnan discovered Candese Reid at Nottingham’s prestigious Television Workshop (which offered a springboard for Samantha Morton, Toby Kebbell, and a whole host of Shane Meadows regulars). The Meadows link is an apt one too, as Krishnan’s disturbing feature-length debut recalls the intense career of the man often dubbed ‘the Midlands Scorsese’.

Riddled with great scenes, Junkhearts’ only weakness is the superfluous sub-plot starring Romola Garai (The Crimson Petal and The White) as a drug-addicted businesswoman. What’s more, its significance is fairly predictable – arguably the film’s least subtle element. After a string of well-received short films, director Krishnan has been labelled ‘one to watch’ for some time; despite an unfortunately saccharine conclusion, Junkhearts sees him comfortably repay the faith shown in him, and deliver a memorably corrosive debut feature.

In A Better World: there's a sense of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s early work in the story which challenges the notion that Denmark society is harmonious

After a brief sojourn to Hollywood in 2007 to shoot flame-grilled melodrama Things We Lost In The Fire, Danish director Susanne Bier (After The Wedding, Brothers) returned home to make In A Better World (Axiom Films), a film conceived as a response to misconceptions that Denmark is a harmonious society.

Bier’s decision to spurn Hollywood’s inevitable advances proved well-judged in this instance, and she scooped the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and also the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 83rd Academy Awards, meaning that In A Better World’s reputation precedes it.

The dual-narrative focuses on Anton, a Swedish doctor who bides his time between a Sudanese refugee camp and his idyllic family home in small-town Denmark. In Africa, Anton treats female victims mutilated by a sadistic local warlord known as Big Man, but finds himself troubled when the maniac arrives at the refugee camp demanding treatment for an infection. Meanwhile, back in Denmark, Anton is forced to wrestle with further conflict, with the revelation that his young son Elias is being mercifully bullied by his classmates. However, the situation is flipped on its head when feisty new boy Christian intervenes on Elias’s behalf, setting in motion a chain of events that sees everyone’s fragile world altered forever.

Buoyed by a number of strong performances – particularly from Mikael Persbrandt as Anton, and young William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen as Christian – In A Better World contains a number of electric scenes, not least a menacing early set-piece when Christian confronts the boy tormenting hapless Elias. However, for all of its dramatic strengths, In A Better World feels like a strangely muddled piece of work, and the split narrative sometimes feels like a tame re-tread of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s early work. Viewers familiar with Bier’s previous movies won’t be surprised by the powerful, confident filmmaking on display, but as the movie edges towards its suspiciously neat conclusion it is hard not to feel like a crucial piece of the jigsaw is somehow missing.

The Big Picture: flashes of The Talented Mr Ripley and its duplicitous drama

Based on the 1997 novel of the same name by US author Douglas Kennedy, The Big Picture (Artificial Eye) tells the story of Paul Exben (Romain Duris, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Afterwards), a slick lawyer with a seemingly perfect life. As well as his sought-after partnership in one of Paris’s most successful law firms, Paul has a beautiful wife (Sarah, Marina Foïs) and two young children, on whom he dotes. However, all is not well at home, and Paul’s life takes a dramatic turn with the stomach-churning revelation that frustrated Sarah is having an affair with smug mutual acquaintance Greg Kremer (Eric Ruf).

After drunkenly making a fool out of himself at a dinner party, Paul goes to meet Greg to thrash out their differences, only to lose his cool and become embroiled in a violent altercation with his love rival. After accidentally killing his wife’s lover, Paul is forced to assume a new identity and concocts an elaborate scheme to flee the country – only to discover that fate has a cruel way of catching up with you…

Despite flashes of The Talented Mr Ripley and its duplicitous drama, The Big Picture lacks the 1999 movie’s sinister undercurrent. Further, in spite of an impressively intense performance from the ever-reliable Duris, Eric Lartigau’s meticulous thriller feels a little bit too po-faced at times. Elsewhere, French screen icon Catherine Deneuve cameos as Paul’s mentor, and Niels Arestrup (who starred as Cesar, the fearsome elderly convict in A Prophet) rounds out the cast as a deceptively boozy degenerate who takes a special interest in Paul, but the star-studded cast and elaborate set-up struggle to disguise the film’s hollow core. The Big Picture is a stylish, unusual thriller – with bags of insouciant Gallic flair – but the whole enterprise feels suspiciously pointless, leading you to question whether it is a misjudged case of (admittedly impeccable) style over substance.

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Law and order – Cell 211 and The Guard reviewed

D&CFilm — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:34:58 +0000

Cell 211: Spanish director Daniel Monzon incendiary prison movie

Spanish director Daniel Monzon failed to make much of an impact with his previous movie – quirky straight-to-DVD thriller The Kovak Box – but his latest movie Cell 211 (StudioCanal) sees him return to Spanish language material, with incendiary results.

Rookie prison guard Juan Oliver (Alberto Ammann) is keen to make a good impression with his new colleagues, and reports to work a day early. Unfortunately for him, the decision proves to be a catastrophic one, and a freak accident sees him knocked unconscious by a chunk of falling rubble and dragged into the recently vacated Cell 211 before medical attention can be sought.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the prison, notorious jail-breaker and riot veteran Malamadre (Luis Tosar, Miami Vice) is plotting a disturbance of his own, and takes an unsuspecting guard hostage, steals his keys and releases his fellow inmates. Needless to say, all hell breaks loose, and when Juan comes to his senses he quickly realises that the environment around him has changed irrevocably, and takes the bold decision to try and pass himself off as a new prison inmate, and win the trust of the dangerous but charismatic Malamadre and his cronies. But can he stay one step ahead of the lunatics he is imprisoned with before help arrives?

The plot may resemble a grounded version of Con Air, but that’s where the similarities end, and Cell 211 is a vicious, nail-biting drama, rather than a caricature-laden blockbuster. Not that the sinister Malamadre (which literally translates as ‘Bad Mother’) would seem out of place in Con Air’s rogue’s gallery of villains. Thanks to a pair of phenomenal performances from Tosar and newcomer Ammann, the murky morality play at the heart of Cell 211 is brought vividly to life, and the narrative is tense and menacing throughout.

Crash director Paul Haggis has already been selected to write and direct the US remake, but after his mind-numbing rehash of French thriller Anything For Her (retitled The Next Three Days), you wish he would leave it well alone, as the original is a well-paced, brutally efficient piece of storytelling. Cell 211 is arguably the best prison thriller since A Prophet, and well worth seeking out.

The Guard: an offbeat Irish crime thriller from John Michael McDonagh staring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle

Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh – whose playwright brother Martin McDonagh achieved cinematic prominence in 2008 with In Bruges – The Guard (StudioCanal) is an offbeat Irish crime thriller that sees Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter) take centre-stage as Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a small-town cop with a twisted sense of responsibility.

More concerned with his dying mother, and his regular dalliances with a pair of prostitutes , than he is with upholding the peace – let alone investigating the international cocaine smuggling ring that has brought FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle, Ocean’s Eleven) to Ireland – Boyle leads a life of ignorant bliss. Until, that is, his straight-laced new partner disappears, and the Irish cop begrudgingly teams up with his American counterpart to unravel the mystery.

Recently named as one of the Guardian’s top 10 debut movies of 2011 – alongside the likes of Animal Kingdom, Attack The Block and Submarine – The Guard is well deserving of the praise being heaped on it. The endearingly shambolic Gleeson utterly inhabits the role of Boyle, and rarely has he had so much fun onscreen.

The ever-reliable Don Cheadle provides impeccable deadpan foil to Gleeson’s larger-than-life anti-hero, and the likes of Liam Cunningham and Mark Strong also offer strong support. McDonagh impressively nails the blend of dark comedy and thrills, and The Guard is reminiscent of a less bombastic version of Hot Fuzz. Although the freewheeling In Bruges also makes for an apt comparison, if anything, The Guard is more consistent than its well-received predecessor. Crammed with surreal flourishes and snappy dialogue, this warped buddy movie is an unexpectedly enjoyable treat.

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Tom Leins presides over a battle of the TV box-sets!

Tom Leins — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:03 +0000

Misfits: the story of the super-powered youngsters has gained cult appeal

BAFTA-winning comedy/drama Misfits – which tells the story of a group of young offenders who obtain super-powers after a freak electrical storm – has earned a cult audience since debuting in 2009, going on to rack up three enjoyable series – with a fourth commissioned for 2012.

However, prior to the filming of Misfits – Series 3 (4DVD), leading light Robert Sheehan (who played Irish Misfit Nathan) quit the show to try his luck in Hollywood (after appearing alongside Nicolas Cage in the dubious swords ‘n’ sorcery romp that was Season of the Witch), leaving creator Howard Overman with a huge hole to fill. Alongside resident delinquents Simon (Iwan Rheon), Kelly (Lauren Socha), Alisha (Antonia Thomas) and Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Overman has drafted in Rudy (Joe Gilgun, Woody from This Is England), an appropriately foul-mouthed replacement for lovable rogue Nathan. As the new guy at the ill-fated Community Centre, Rudy is the recipient of the lion’s share of the funniest lines, and proves a good choice to fill Sheehan’s shoes.

The central premise for this third outing involves the gang getting to grips with their new super-powers – they all participated in a trade-off with drug-pusher-turned-super-power-dealer Seth at the tail-end of the previous series – leading to some unwieldy scenes in the early stages. After the dust settles, Kelly has a genius-level knowledge of mechanical systems (AKA rocket science), Curtis has the power to swap gender, Alisha has the power to see through other people’s eyes and visualise what they see and Simon gains the power of precognition. Meanwhile, new kid on the block Rudy can split into two, with each half of his personality displaying polarised behavioural traits. Equipped with their new powers the posse are forced to confront an increasingly unlikely array of enemies, including reanimated zombies and even Nazis; the latter in a warped alternative universe where Hitler took over Britain.

While neither the second or third series has quite managed to match up to the sublime first series of Misfits, the quality control is still pretty high, with Rudy injecting a breath of fresh air into the proceedings. However, in light of two more integral characters abandoning ship to work on other projects after Series 3, precisely how Series 4 will play out is anyone’s guess. For now, Misfits remains one of the most interesting homegrown dramas on TV, and anyone who has yet to sample its quirky ‘X-men-with-ASBOs’ narrative should make a bee-line for the box set.

The Killing II: second outing of the revitalised police procedural

Critically acclaimed Danish cop show The Killing II (Arrow Films) received a rapturous reception when it first aired on BBC Four, going on to scoop the BAFTA for best international series ahead of the illustrious likes of Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire.

Hot on its heels the BBC aired series two this winter, and the box set is now available on DVD. The second outing, which picks up two years after the events depicted in series one, finds lead character Sarah Lund stripped of her detective role following disciplinary action, and demoted to an undemanding position as a passport control official on Falster Island. However, following a grisly murder – in which a woman is stabbed 21 times, reputedly as retribution for Muslims killed by Danish troops in Afghanistan – Lund’s former boss Lennart Brix lures her back into the fold in an advisory capacity. However, the increasingly labyrinthine case swallows Lund whole, and the dogged ex-cop finds herself sucked into a twisted case with its roots deeply embedded in Islamic terrorism.

At just 10 episodes long, The Killing II is just half the length of its predecessor, but despite the reduced run-time, the show’s commitment to narrative depth remains intact, with the new plot taking in ever-shifting Danish politics and traumatised soldiers, and leading Lund well out of her comfort zone and into unchartered territory. While the show may prove to be too strange for viewers fed on pulse-pounding thrillers, The Killing has arguably revitalised the police procedural with its engrossing episode-per-day approach. The recent US remake – set in rain-drenched Seattle – proved that the show’s numerous high points were all too easily lost in translation, and this new story strand sees creator Soren Sveistrup flex his storytelling muscles once more.

In The Killing II Sarah Lund’s trademark woolly jumper may have changed, but the show’s uncompromising colloquialisms remain firmly in place, and the show is still one of TV’s most refreshing imports. Intriguing stuff.

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Iraqi mad-men, Cockney contract killers and righteous Brazilian cops: the latest DVDs

Tom Leins — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:35:03 +0000

The Devil's Double: director Lee Tamahori returns to form (his debut was Once Were Warriors) with a true story of Latif Yahia

Based on a frankly terrifying true story, The Devil’s Double (Icon) examines the life and times of Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper, Mamma Mia), an Iraqi soldier who is enlisted by Uday Hussein (also played by Cooper), Saddam’s eldest son, to work as Uday’s body double on account of the uncanny resemblance between the two men.

Understandably reluctant to participate in the scheme, Latif is mercilessly tortured and finds the safety of his nearest and dearest threatened. With no choice but to comply, Latif immerses himself in the bizarre role, and becomes an integral part of the sordid circus of devastation that follows Uday wherever he goes. As an essentially decent man in an impossible situation, the behaviour that Latif witnesses stains his conscience, and he is eventually forced to take drastic action to redress the balance. But can he escape unscathed before the demented Uday drags him even further into the moral mire?

Devil’s Double director Lee Tamahori has enjoyed a patchy career, rarely hitting the highs exhibited in his gritty debut feature Once Were Warriors in 1994 (although he did helm the 2002 Bond movie Die Another Day, in what was arguably the highest profile engagement of his career). However, the New Zealander saw his Hollywood career stutter after his 2006 arrest for offering to perform a sex act on an undercover cop while dressed in drag, and has struggled to wrestle his career back on track in the ensuing years. (As if proof were needed, his last movie was the disturbingly bad Nicolas Cage vehicle Next.) Happily, the electric Devil’s Double finds a re-energised Tamahori back on top form. Buoyed by a sensational two-pronged performance from Cooper, the movie is as sleazy and violent as any you will see this year. Although the narrative congeals slightly at the end, the job is done by then, and all involved emerge with their reputations boosted considerably. Overall: a quirky, unhinged gangster drama.

Kill List: a revenge-movie-by-numbers title belies a quirky, engaging riff on genre filmmaking conventions

Kill List (Studio Canal) is the latest feature-film from director Ben Wheatley, who earned considerable acclaim for his debut movie, kitchen-sink gangster yarn Down Terrace, last year. Eight months after a disastrous job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, ex-soldier turned contract-killer, Jay (Neil Maskell, Football Factory), is pressured by his partner, Gal (Michael Smiley, Burke & Hare) and his wife Shel (MyAnna Buring, The Descent) into taking on a new assignment in an effort to shrug off his lethargy and earn some money. However, the mission quickly spirals out of control, and family-man Jay struggles to keep his emotions in check as they discover more about the seedy lives of the trio of targets named on the titular ‘kill list’. Halfway through the mission, Jay and Gal approach their sinister paymaster with a view to backing out of the contract, but it isn’t that easy, and the increasingly nasty endeavour goes from bad to worse…

Despite being lumbered with the kind of revenge-movie-by-numbers title that Steven Seagal would reject for lacking subtlety, Kill List is a quirky, engaging riff on genre filmmaking conventions, with the promising Wheatley blending prosaic everyday scenes with unsettling splashes of English voodoo. Maskell and Smiley both impress as the reluctant contract killers, and deserve to make the transition from bit-part players to household names after their performances here. Although the final third sees Kill List veer loopily into Wicker Man territory (with a grim nod to A Serbian Film in the final reel), for the most part it is an inventive little thriller that transcends its budgetary limitations with aplomb. Not perfect, but well worth seeking out – especially if you have enjoyed other films produced by Sheffield-based production house Warp X.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within: a slick, evocative thriller which picks up the 2007 Elite Squad story 13 years on

Reputedly the highest-grossing film in Brazilian history, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Revolver) picks up 13 years after the events depicted in director Jose Padilha’s 2007 original, Elite Squad. Central character Roberto Nascimento (Wagner Moura) has now been promoted to the role of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (BOPE or Special Police Operations Battalion) of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police force. After a disastrous BOPE intervention in a large-scale prison riot ends in bloodshed, Nascimento’s bosses are keen to hang him out to dry, but public perception is on his side, and the bureaucrats are forced to shuffle the hardnosed ex-cop upstairs. From his vantage point in the corridors of power, Nascimento realises that the corruption destroying Rio starts at the very top and filters down, and bids to wage war on his heavyweight foes, with the help of any BOPE officers (known on the streets as ‘Skulls’) still loyal to the cause.

Whereas 2007’s Elite Squad was a solid – if unspectacular – exercise in action filmmaking, this well-received sequel raises its game, with an ambitious, over-arching narrative that roots out corruption all the way from the slums to the highest level of government. The reactionary politics that saw the first movie roundly criticised in some quarters are still in evidence, but it is testament to director Padilha’s skills that the message never totally swamps the movie. Whether the action is unfolding in the courtrooms or the dust-streaked back-streets, Elite Squad is a slick, evocative thriller that dismantles its corrupt targets piece-by-piece. A mooted third instalment may or may not now happen – earlier this year Padilha was appointed as Darren Aronofsky’s replacement as the director of the upcoming RoboCop reboot – but The Enemy Within serves as a compelling ending to an interesting franchise regardless.

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Voilence prevails in the latest DVD releases

Tom Leins — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:59:21 +0000

The Interrupters: documentary examines the experimental anti-violence programme in Chicago

Shot over the course of a year, The Interrupters (Dogwoof) examines the work of ‘CeaseFire’, an experimental anti-violence programme in Chicago. The initiative recruited a number of former gang members – who brought a total of 500 years’ worth of prison time to the table – with the aim of defusing volatile local conflicts before they erupt into violence.

The film, directed by Steve James – who picked up an Oscar-nomination for basketball documentary Hoop Dreams in 1994 – captures a period when the Windy City hit the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. As a 2009 news report announces at the beginning of the film: “124 people have been killed so far this year—one per day – about the number of Americans killed during the same period in Iraq and Afghanistan”. One of these senseless deaths – the brutal beating of high school student Derrion Albert – underpins The Interrupters’ narrative, and offers one of a number of flashpoints that the reformed ex-convicts are forced to wrestle with.

At the film’s heart are three key Interrupters: Ameena Matthews, Cobe Williams and Eddie Bocanegra, who look back on their past experiences and attempt to guide disaffected youngsters away from the perils of the thug-life, by sharing the errors of their ways. Former gangland enforcer Matthews is a particularly striking presence; the daughter of notorious gang leader Jeff Fort, after getting shot Matthews opted to shirk the eye-for-an-eye criminal code, and instead started a family, embraced her Muslim faith and renounced her gangster past. With impeccable credibility, Matthews immerses herself in the situations unfolding on her old stomping ground, and runs the gauntlet on a daily basis.

Gritty and thought-provoking, The Interrupters is a weighty, engrossing picture that highlights a compelling solution to a disturbing problem. Despite its solemn subject matter, The Interrupters easily ranks as one of the best documentaries of the year, and comes heavily recommended.

Black Mama, White Mama, just one of the trailers in Grindhouse Trailer Classics 3

As you may gather from the title, Grindhouse Trailer Classics 3 (Nucleus Film) is the third volume in an enjoyable series of ‘video nasty’-era compendiums. While three batches of queasy ‘80s video carnage suggest that the producers could be labouring the point somewhat, this is one sub-genre where scraping the barrel can actually be considered a good thing.

The first volume was released to coincide with the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse double-header, but a second volume illustrated that the concept actually had legs. Britain may not have embraced the spit ‘n’ sawdust grindhouse experience in the same way as the US did, but anyone with fond memories of scummy ‘80s video shops and the kind of gristle spat out by the pop-culture meat-grinder will appreciate this succession of filmic footnotes.

In its favour, few of the movies featured here are films that you would actually want to watch in their entirety – not least the queasily objectionable Nazi-sploitation of Nazi Love Camp 27. Black Mama, White Mama, starring Blaxploitation icon – and Tarantino favourite – Pam Grier is probably the most well-known trailer on the disc, but Grindhouse Trailers is chock-full of more offbeat delights, including Terminal Island (“Where we dump our human garbage”), The Spook Who Sat By The Door (a Blaxploitation thriller reputed to tell the true story of the first black officer in the CIA) and Invasion of the Flesh Hunters (“Their next meal may be you!”). This third compilation is slightly uneven compared to the previous volumes, but frankly, with 55 sleazy trailers to sift through, it seems churlish to complain. Good fun.

Conan the Barbarian: a barbaric reimagining of the character which first muscled Arnie onto the film map

Back in 1982 director John Milius and producer Dino De Laurentiis effectively kick-started Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood career when they cast him in the original Conan the Barbarian movie. The film was followed by the noticeably less popular sequel, Conan the Destroyer, in 1984, but before the producers could persuade Arnie to pick up his sword once more he had been lured into the jungle for Predator.

Long after he had infiltrated the Hollywood mainstream, Arnie continued to be associated with the iconic role, and only his California governorship killed off later attempts to resurrect the franchise. More recently, Warner Bros spent seven years trying to get a new version of Conan off the ground, with everyone from Milius to Matrix siblings Larry and Andy Wachowski to Robert Rodriguez linked to the project, before the studio lost the rights to the franchise. Cue 2011’s Conan the Barbarian (Lionsgate) – an appropriately barbaric reimagining of the character starring TV actor Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Stargate: Atlantis).

After his father Corin (Ron Perlman, Hellboy) is brutally murdered, and his village obliterated by malevolent warlord Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang, Avatar), Conan vows revenge against the man who destroyed everything that he held dear. The film picks up 20 years later, with Conan now living as a pirate. After raiding a slave camp and freeing the captives Conan chances across Lucius, one of Zym’s soldiers, and forces his foe to reveal Zym’s whereabouts. Things get more complicated for Conan when Lucius reveals that Zym is planning to sacrifice the pure-blood descendant of the sorcerers of Acheron, in order to tap into the mythic skull-mask’s power and unleash carnage…

Director Marcus Nispel, is something of a remake specialist, having previously been hired to helm re-hashes of iconic horror movies such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th. Even 2007’s would-be epic Pathfinder – to which Conan bears a significant stylistic resemblance – was a remake of a 1987 Norwegian film. As you might expect from his CV, Conan is slick and violent, but sadly lacking in imagination. Unfortunately, the idea of a new Conan flick is more appealing in theory than in practice, and this over-long dirge is stodgy and ill-conceived. Come back, Arnie – all is forgiven…

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Murderous employees, LSD-fuelled hippies and boozy suburbanites in the latest DVD reviews

Tom Leins — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:51:23 +0000

Horrible Bosses: Seth Gordon is back on track with his tale of dark goings on in the workplace

After wowing fans and critics alike with his quirky documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Seth Gordon took a wrong-turn with his lightweight feature debut Four Christmases. The darkly comic Horrible Bosses (Warner Home Video) – the script for which languished in pre-production hell for around six years – marks Gordon’s welcome return to more offbeat material.

The movie focuses on three friends: Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live), all of whose lives are slowly being ruined by their demented bosses.

Hard-working Nick snaps when sociopathic Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) taunts him with the possibility of a promotion, only to award it to himself, while meek dental assistant Dale is being sexually harassed by sultry dentist Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), who threatens to tell Dale’s fiancee that he had sex with her unless he actually does!

In contrast, Kurt actually enjoys his job, although everything changes when his boss Jack (Donald Sutherland) dies, and the company is taken over by Jack’s narcissistic, coke-addicted son Bobby (Colin Farrell). When Kurt jokingly suggests that their lives would be better if their bosses were no longer around, the hapless trio embark on a slap-dash plan to hire a hitman, eventually settling for Jamie Foxx’s tough-talking ‘murder consultant’, who urges them to do away with one another’s bosses and conceal their motives.

Although the gag-rate is slightly scattershot, and the underlying narrative involving Spacey’s cartoonish villain lacks subtlety, Horrible Bosses contains an admirable amount of laugh-out-loud moments, and is unafraid of exploring dark material in pursuit of humour. While the reliably entertaining chemistry between Bateman, Day and Sudeikis should ensure that Horrible Bosses gets a deserved sequel, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell are the real revelations here – both playing aggressively against type, to hugely impressive effect. Farrell’s grotesque pot-bellied, comb-over-sporting ego-maniac arguably deserved a movie to himself, while Aniston must surely be reflecting on why she didn’t cut her ties to the tired Rachel-in-Friends-esque roles that she always seems to play years ago. Good fun.

Magic Trip: follow Ken Kesey and the Merry Band of Pranksters in this documentary about their LSD-fuelled cross-country trip in 1964

Subtitled ‘Ken Kesey’s Search For A Kool Place’, Magic Trip (Studio Canal) is a fascinating feature-length documentary about visionary writer Kesey – the celebrated author of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – who embarked on a notorious LSD-fuelled cross-country trip in 1964. Accompanied by the self-styled ‘Merry Band of Pranksters’, who crammed themselves on-board a psychedelic school bus known as the ‘Magic Bus’, Kesey set out on a mythic trip across the States in search of answers, with the New York World’s Fair and its ‘World of Tomorrow’ believed to hold the key. Leading the way is Neal Cassady, the hell-raising inspiration for Dean Moriaty in Jack Kerouac’s seminal On The Road, who occupied the driver’s seat for the increasingly surreal trip, only adding to his enduring beatnik mystique.

At the time Kesey and his cohorts intended to make a documentary about their trip, but the film was never actually finished, and the neglected footage has remained virtually unseen ever since. Until now that is. Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi To The Dark Side) and co-director Alison Ellwood are no strangers to the counter-culture – their last documentary was Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S Thompson –and their passion for the subject is evident in their painstaking stitching together of scraps of rare footage and audio tape donated by the Kesey family.

With its hazy ‘60s rhythms and abundance of compelling personalities, Magic Trip is a more enjoyable, offbeat documentary than Gibney’s examination of the larger-than-life Thompson. Although, at face value, the film offers a welcome glimpse at a mind-boggling episode in Beatnik folklore, the dark undercurrent is arguably more compelling, not least the slightly incongruous presence of the excitable Cassady – a babbling speed-freak who is destined to burn out without ever truly carving his own artistic identity. Intriguing stuff.

Come on Eileen: Finola Geraghty's first feature after her acclaimed shorts, with Jacke Howe in the lead role

Come On Eileen (High Fliers) is the feature length debut from acclaimed short film director Finola Geraghty, who has achieved plaudits for a number of disparate shorts over the last decade or so. The film focuses on Eileen (Jackie Howe), a downtrodden mother of two free-spirited children – burlesque dancer Gypsey (Mercedes Grower) and Jimmy (Felix Malcolm-Still), who are itching to break free of their suburban ties. When a chance encounter with shifty cricket pro-turned-pot-head Bill (Stephen Taylor) leads to a tempestuous affair, Eileen’s boozy, long-buried demons re-surface in calamitous fashion, and her life implodes as she rapidly alienates friends and family alike.

In truth, the shrill, one-note performance from Jackie Howe (whose previous credits are limited to random episodes of The Bill and Holby City) does the film few favours. Further, the lazy, unconvincing script lacks not just meaty dialogue, but also dramatic tension and the necessary vein of dark humour that makes this kind of film work.

Possibly the film’s most glaring error is confining the likes of Julia Davis (Nighty Night), Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh) and Keith Allen (Shallow Grave) to meaningless supporting roles, when they would have been put to better use in the film’s central roles. Presumably budgetary restrictions were a factor, but few actresses do dark comedy better than Davis, and it would have been fascinating to see what she could have done in the title role. Equally, either Allen or Fielding could have thrown a genuine curve-ball as the pot-smoking ex-cricket pro. While it is never fun criticising a low-budget British feature film, when it is as misjudged at this it is sadly unavoidable. Very poor.

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A rogue Santa, Turkish cops in New York, and the Yakuza at war: treats of World Cinema

Tom Leins — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:51:27 +0000

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale: Santa gets sinister

Witnessed through the inquisitive eyes of Pietari, a young Finnish boy with an over-active imagination, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (Icon) explores a sinister side of Santa Claus that is rarely glimpsed in popular culture.

As Christmas approaches, strange events are unfolding in Pietari’s quiet home town in Northern Finland. When his father’s reindeers are slaughtered before he has chance to cash in on them, the villager’s first reaction is to blame the Russians across the border. However, it soon transpires that a group of American scientists – being bankrolled by a sinister tycoon – have been excavating nearby Korvatunturi mountain in Lapland – the secret burial place of Santa Claus himself. Unhappily, Santa was not the jolly child-loving figure of folklore, but a sadistic murderer with an appetite for dead kids – and now he is on the loose once again!

It isn’t perfect, but Rare Exports is a vividly-realised alternative Christmas movie that will keep you engrossed until the misjudged damp squib of an ending. Quirky and twisted, with a genuinely macabre undercurrent, the film marks director Jalmari Helander out as a singular talent, unafraid to share his warped vision of Christmas with the general public. After all, how often do you stumble across a faux-family-friendly yarn with added carcasses? Rare Exports by name – rare export by nature!

Five Minarets In New York: The War on Terror movie sees top undercover cops from Turkey popping off to New York

Director Mahsun Kırmızıgül reportedly wrote the screenplay for Five Minarets In New York (Showbox) a full 11 years before the film actually entered production, and it is fair to say that the end result is a labour of love for the 42-year-old singer-turned- filmmaker. That said, the movie arguably repaid Kırmızıgül’s faith in it, as it reportedly ranked as one of the highest-grossing Turkish films of 2010.

The movie begins in Istanbul, where two of Turkey’s top undercover cops are undertaking a covert anti-terror operation to uncover the true identity of a dangerous Islamic leader known only as ‘Dajjal’. Their assignment takes them to New York, where FBI operative Agent Becker (Robert Patrick, Terminator 2) is closing in on Hadji Gumush, a prominent Muslim scholar who has been implicated by Interpol. With the help of his wife Maria (Gina Gershon, Showgirls) and close friend Marcus (Danny Glover, Lethal Weapon) Hadji eludes the authorities, forcing the Turkish cops to head out of their comfort zone and attempt to bring him to justice.

Hollywood responses to the ‘War on Terror’ were largely disappointing, ranging from the bizarre Rambo-meets-CSI of The Kingdom, to the downright dreary Rendition. It’s comforting to know that overseas movies are equally muddled, and Five Minarets in New York is an undeniably unwieldy prospect. After beginning with a fantastic extended action scene in Turkey, the film loses its way when the plot heads to New York.

The sometimes-clumsy philosophical arguments at the movie’s heart are painted with pretty broad strokes, and the fish-out-of-water, culture-clash elements – like when the Turkish cops fight against some gang-bangers –feel particularly cheesy, carrying an unwelcome whiff of Crocodile Dundee. Roles for the likes of Patrick, Glover and Gershon lend the film a familiarity to accompany its slick production values, but Five Minarets is ultimately a flawed exercise.

Outrage: Takeshi Kitano returns to the gangster thriller genre, for which he has a special talent

Billed as legendary Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano’s most violent film yet, Outrage (Studio Canal) sees the King of the Yakuza epic return to the genre that brought him the largest acclaim of his surreally varied career. While he was reluctant to view Outrage as a ‘return to his roots’, Kitano was happy to admit that the gangster thriller is a genre that he has a ‘talent’ for. It is strange then, that rather than take time to piece together a compelling narrative that could compete with the high-points of his career, he instead opted to dream up a succession of grisly death scenes first, and string together a plot later.

Sekiuchi (Kitamura Soichiro), the chairman of the Sannokai Yakuza crime syndicate, demands that his right-hand man Ikemoto (Jun Kunimura) assimilates the Murase family’s rival drug gang into his operations. Ikemoto promptly passes the task on to henchman Otomo (Takeshi himself, in typical deadpan hardman mode), and his brutal attempts at instilling fear in the clan’s rivals quickly spiral out of control – resulting in a blood-soaked tit-for-tat turf war.

With its labyrinthine Yakuza-at-war plot, Outrage scarcely ranks as pulse-pounding entertainment – and as you might imagine from the story regarding its conception – often feels like it is being made up as Takeshi goes along. Overall, while Outrage ranks as a mildly diverting slice of world cinema carnage, it won’t be remembered as one of his better movies. Regardless, a sequel is already in the works – even if few of the characters actually make it out of this film alive.

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Prick up your ears for some thrilling retro releases

Tom Leins — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:27:24 +0000

The Conversation: Francis Ford Coppola's Palme d'Or winning tale of surveillance is back, with extras

Widely heralded as one of Francis Ford Coppola’s finest films, The Conversation – Special Edition (Studio Canal) is now back in print, with an expansive array of extras to boot.

Harry Caul (Gene Hackman, The French Connection) is a highly respected San Francisco surveillance expert, whose esteemed professional reputation is at odds with his visible discomfort in social situations. Secretive around his colleagues and nervous in crowds, the nondescript Caul maintains that his strict professional code frees him of any responsibility for the content of the actual conversations that he records – or the subsequent impact of his surveillance activities. However, in truth, Caul is wracked with guilt over a previous wiretap job that left three people dead. Haunted by a soundbite contained within his latest assignment – in which a young couple speculate “He’d kill us if he got the chance” – Caul finds himself re-examining the ambiguous tape and re-interpreting its meaning, eventually taking the proceedings into his own hands, as he seeks to prevent more carnage from compromising his conscience.

Interestingly, aside from Apocalypse Now, The Conversation was the only other Coppola film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes. In many ways The Conversation is the anti-Apocalypse Now – quiet, bleak, and painstakingly measured – with none of the later film’s bombastic edge. Underpinned by a memorably against-type performance from Hackman, The Conversation Special Edition is a welcome re-release of an often-overlooked Coppola movie, and a classic slab of 1970s cinematic paranoia. Powerful stuff.

Hammett: Wim Wenders and Francis Ford Coppola combine on the noir film about the father of noir Dashiell Hammett

Originally conceived by Francis Ford Coppola as Wim Wenders’ American directorial debut, Hammett (Studio Canal) is a postmodern noir thriller that reimagines the events that inspired Pinkerton detective-turned-crime writer Dashiell Hammett to write his seminal novel The Maltese Falcon.

Coaxed out of his self-imposed retirement by old detective buddy Jimmy Ryan (Peter Boyle, Everybody Loves Raymond) Hammett (Frederic Forrest, Apocalypse Now) finds himself tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of a beautiful Chinese cabaret star in San Francisco’s sleazy underbelly. It isn’t long before the frustrated would-be writer is thrust headlong into a sordid world of vulnerable teenage hookers and wealthy men with dark desires. As the case progresses Hammett accumulates plenty of great material for his novel, but risks biting off far more than he can chew…

Most talk of Hammett tends to focus on its tumultuous production, and if rumours are to be believed, the notoriously difficult-to-please Coppola was so dissatisfied with Wenders’ finished product that he re-shot the bulk of the film himself, even recasting some key roles after the cast grew frustrated at the film’s lengthy schedule. Although it has never been officially confirmed by Coppola himself, it is believed that as little as 30% of Wenders’ footage made it into the 1982 release of the movie, a notion supported by the fact that the film is now being re-released alongside a number of well-known Coppola flicks. Considering it is widely regarded as an intriguing mess, Hammett makes for a surprisingly cohesive viewing experience, and there is much to enjoy for film noir fans – not least the grubby San Francisco location, the eclectic cast and the smart-mouthed script. All in all, far better than expected.

Buried Alive: Jennifer Jason Leigh leads in the Blood Simple-esque horror film

Four years before surging to prominence with The Shawshank Redemption Hungarian-American film director Frank Darabont was handed $2 million to helm his feature-length debut Buried Alive (Second Sight) for the USA Network.

Hard-working construction company owner Clint (Tim Matheson, Animal House ) is married to the sultry Joanna (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Last Exit To Brooklyn), but unbeknownst to him she is having an affair with sleazy doctor Cortland Van Owen (William Atherton, Die Hard 1 & 2). Even worse for the hapless Clint, the pair are plotting to murder him and claim a substantial life insurance pay-out for themselves. In a bid to cover their tracks the pair poison Clint using toxins extracted from a tropical fish, but unfortunately for them, the poison wears off – when Clint is effectively dead and buried. Horrified to wake up in a cheap coffin, Clint fights his way out of his shallow grave and sets about wreaking revenge on his devious wife and her similarly repellent lover before they can scarper with their ill-gotten gains.

The ‘Buried Alive’ conceit has been used numerous times in recent years, from Tarantino’s CSI guest episode Grave Danger through to last year’s stomach-churning Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds, but Darabont’s engaging thriller offers a refreshingly unique spin on the idea. Part-Blood Simple-esque crime caper, part-claustrophobic B-movie horror, Buried Alive is a quirky little curio elevated above TV-movie nonsense by committed performances from the three charismatic leads. The horror genre has loomed large in Darabont’s work since he scripted A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 back in 1987, and although his work in the horror sphere arguably reached its peak with zombie series The Walking Dead – prior to his untimely sacking – Buried Alive represents an appealing footnote in an often-inspired career.

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Mother’s Day for Halloween! The latest DVD releases

D&CFilm — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:19:11 +0000

Mother’s Day: ex-Saw director serves up an annual Halloween offering

Loosely based on Charles Kaufman’s cult 1980 Troma movie, Mother’s Day (Studio Canal) represents ex-Saw (II, III and IV) director Darren Lynn Bousman’s annual Halloween horror offering.

Following a botched bank robbery that leaves one of their crew badly wounded, three criminal brothers head for their childhood home to take refuge until the heat dies down. However, unbeknownst to them, their mother (Rebecca De Mornay, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle) recently lost possession of the family home, and no longer lives there. Instead, they stumble across the new owners, a young couple, and their guests who are in the middle of a cheerful party celebration. Out of options, the brothers take the new residents hostage, and then contact their mother to help extricate them from their bloody predicament. However, the plan to help her family escape across the border to Canada requires a serious cash injection, leading them to resort to desperate measures.

The Saw franchise has spawned a number of careers, and after last Halloween’s frankly gruelling The Collector (directed by Saw [IV, V and VI] writer Marcus Dunstan), his former colleague Bousman’s Mother’s Day almost feels like light relief. That isn’t to say that Bousman has made any efforts to tone down the gratuitous violence – he hasn’t – but it feels like a step back from the nihilistic abyss of The Collector. Unfortunately, despite a spirited turn from De Mornay, Mother’s Day is far too long for its own good, and the plodding narrative and slightly illogical back story do the film few favours. Bousman lets rip during the final stretch, unleashing the sadistic streak he is known for, but by that point it is too little, too late. Mother’s Day is a respectable Halloween outing, but not as horrific as the trailer makes out, and – crucially – not as interesting either.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Werner Herzog confounds expectations with an off-beat documentary on the world’s oldest cave paintings

After releasing arguably the most mainstream movie of his career last year, with his surrealist re-tooling of Abel Ferrara’s nihilistic Bad Lieutenant, German director Werner Herzog confounds expectations once more with The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Revolver), an off-beat documentary which sees him investigate Chauvet Cave, in southern France – home to the world’s oldest cave paintings. Since their discovery in 1994, the cave has been meticulously preserved, and the general public have been denied access, so Herzog was forced to request special dispensation from the French minister of culture to film inside. Further, Herzog was allowed just six shooting days of four hours each, with the near-toxic levels of carbon dioxide making it lethal for anyone to spend any longer in the subterranean chamber – a factor which presumably enhanced the appeal for the contrary filmmaker.

As with many of Herzog’s earlier documentaries, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a real labour of love, and the German’s distinctive voiceover gives the film a hypnotic quality as he waxes lyrical about the nature of communication and perception. True to form, Herzog manages to round up a handful of oddball supporting characters which help to spice up his already strange brew and the film weaves in and out of the director’s off-kilter vision in typically freewheeling style. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes – the 90 minute run-time stretches the material somewhat – but it is hard to imagine another director who could make an existential documentary about 32,000 year old cave paintings! Curious stuff.

Set Up: 50 Cent trudges around the weak re-tread of Ben Affleck’s impressive heist movie The Town

Looking back it seems crazy that Eminem’s sole movie appearance to date was in the electric 8 Mile, especially considering his former associate 50 Cent has now racked up more than a dozen film roles, despite exhibiting a mere fraction of the onscreen charisma. 50’s latest outing is Set Up (Lionsgate), which feels like a weak re-tread of Ben Affleck’s impressive heist movie The Town, with an additional sprinkling of Mel Gibson’s Payback on top. At the movie’s outset, three friends – Sonny (50 Cent, Righteous Kill), Dave (Brett Granstaff) and Vincent (Ryan Phillippe, Cruel Intentions) plan the heist of a lifetime, only for things to turn deadly when Vincent guns down his friends and makes off with the loot. Although Dave dies on the spot, Sonny manages to flee the scene, and it isn’t long before he crosses paths with local mobster Mr Biggs (Bruce Willis), and the pair find common ground as they both seek to retrieve what they believe is rightfully theirs.

Despite the smattering of household names, Set Up is a clumsy gangster thriller that merely goes through the motions while bringing very little to the party. The sorely limited 50 Cent trudges through the by-numbers narrative in his usual fashion, and his production credit guarantees him centre stage ahead of a number of far more accomplished performers. Particularly baffling is Bruce Willis’s thankless supporting role, especially considering his continued mainstream appeal. To its credit Set Up finds room for small screen veterans James Remar (Dexter) and Jay Karnes (The Shield), but they are also limited to meaningless supporting roles. With less clichéd casting and a more purposeful plot Set Up could have been a neat little thriller, but as it stands it feels like a missed opportunity and yet another excuse for 50 Cent to inflate his already swollen ego. Inessential.

Deep Winter: an extreme sports DVD masquerading as a thriller

Presumably only warranting a DVD release on account of the popularity of leading man Kellan Lutz (who plays Emmett Cullen in The Twilight Saga), the slapdash Deep Winter (Chelsea Films) is an extreme sports DVD masquerading as a thriller. Lifelong friends Mark Rider (Lutz) and Tyler Crowe (Eric Lively, Butterfly Effect 2) have both achieved notable success on the winter sports scene – Mark as a snowboarding champion, and Tyler through downhill skiing. When pushy extreme sports video producer Stephen Weaks (Luke Goss, Death Race 2) coaxes the double-act into appearing in his next film – which will see them taking on a notoriously unrideable mountain known as ‘The Meteorite’ – their contrasting attitudes threaten to drive a wedge between them, with the carefree, impetuous Mark determined to conquer the mountain, whatever the cost…

Despite a respectable straight-to-DVD cast – rent-a-household-name Michael Madsen is also on hand as a veteran mountain guide whose former partner was killed attempting the very same stunt – Deep Winter has very little substance, and the flimsy plot plays second fiddle to the snowbound thrills and spills throughout. While some of the downhill footage is undeniably impressive, it offers scant distraction from the lack of narrative, and the film will struggle to latch onto an audience outside of snowboarding circles. Distinctly underwhelming.

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Violence, corruption, heists and a mangy beaver, Tom Leins celebrates his 100th column of DVD reviews on D&CFilm with style

Tom Leins — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:09:13 +0000

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: the much-maligned prequel comes of age with this superb outing of the Spartacus story

Earlier this year, Spartacus: Blood & Sand was described here as “an eye-popping mash-up of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator and Zack Snyder’s 300 – with added soft-focus sex scenes to break up the relentless violence”. After the tragic illness and subsequent death of leading man Andy Whitfield, the producers headed back to the drawing board for a similarly intense prequel, entitled Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (Anchor Bay).

The much-maligned prequel sometimes feels like the poor relation of the film franchise family – witness George Lucas and his ill-judged Star Wars prequels for proof – so it is pleasing to report how well-thought out this six episode Spartacus spin-off actually is. Gods of the Arena follows the fortunes of new character Gannicus (Dustin Clare, Underbelly), a man whose gladiatorial skills are overshadowed only by his knack for boozing and womanising. Under the indulgent eye of inexperienced Lanista (gladiator manager) Batiatus (John Hannah), Gannicus seeks to blaze a trail across the kill-pits of Capua and give the House of Batiatus its first champion. Little does the ambitious Gannicus realise, he and his peers are mere pawns in the unscrupulous Batiatus’s deadly game.

Rather than tone down the frequently outrageous content in a bid for mainstream consumption, the producers have actually plumbed new depths with this lurid prequel, and the sex scenes are now sleazier and the violence grislier. However, the series’ base elements aren’t simply pushed to the fore to disguise the lack of narrative – the plotting is actually tighter than before, and fleshes out the back-stories of a number of integral characters to compelling effect. With additional roles for Jaime Murray (Hustle, Dexter) as the sultry Gaia and Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors) as stern-faced trainer Doctore, the producers have enough fresh impetus to keep the series moving forward. It may not be for the faint-hearted – and anyone who found the original series too tawdry for comfort will likely remain unconvinced of its merits – but Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is a masterful prequel that indulges its creators’ bizarre imaginations to the hilt. Great fun.

Screwed: bleak energy, gritty violence and coarse language paint an uncompromising picture of the UK prison system

Based on the semi-autobiographical book of the same name, Screwed (Lionsgate) is a brutally efficient prison drama in which the prison guards prove to be even worse than the men they are supposed to be watching. Arriving home after a traumatic tour of duty in Iraq, former Marine Sam Norwood (James D’Arcy, Master and Commander) finds himself forced to take a job as a prison officer, against his better instincts. Keen to learn the ropes from his hardened colleagues, Sam quickly falls into a joyless post-work existence of heavy drinking and drug-fuelled visits to lap-dancing clubs – jeopardising his relationship with his wife and child in the process, as he seeks distraction from the horrors lurking inside the prison walls.

Full of bleak energy, gritty violence and coarse language, Screwed paints an uncompromising picture of the UK prison system, but unfortunately the film wavers every time it attempts to move the plot forward. Indeed, the disjointed narrative underlines the difficulties of trying to adapt an episodic memoir into a punchy thriller, with the entirely predictable narrative curve winning few points for originality. Thanks to menacing turns from Frank Harper (Football Factory, A Room For Romeo Brass) and Noel Clarke (Kidulthood, Adulthood) Screwed is a worthwhile slice of incarcerated carnage, but it ultimately lacks the sophistication of a classic latter-day prison movie like A Prophet. That said, the film should find an appreciative audience in fans of exploitative home-grown hooligan and gangster flicks.

The Beaver: strike a light – the beaver’s a cockney in this self-consciously bizarre, but appealing comedy/drama

Directed by Jodie Foster, and conceived as a star vehicle for her disgraced long-time friend Mel Gibson, The Beaver (Icon Home Entertainment) is a self-consciously bizarre comedy/drama that sees the former-Mad Max take on one of his maddest roles yet. Plagued by demons and wracked with self-doubt, Walter Black (Gibson) is formerly successful toy executive and family man, whose personal and professional life has gone off the rails in emphatic fashion. After alienating his loving family with his glum behaviour, Walter is kicked out by his long-suffering wife (Foster), to the enormous relief of eldest son Porter (Anton Yelchin, Fright Night). Following a failed suicide attempt in a seedy motel room, Walter inexplicably develops an alternative personality represented by a soiled beaver hand puppet that he found in a dumpster. He promptly starts to communicate through the puppet – which gives him a new lust for life – and slowly attempts to win back the trust of his family and colleagues.

Once you get your head around the deeply unusual premise, The Beaver is a surprisingly compelling little film, and Gibson’s presence imbues the film with a level of gravitas that it probably wouldn’t have had if (previously attached leading men) Jim Carrey or Steve Carell had remained involved with the project. The Beaver is an undeniably strange choice of feature for occasional director Foster to return to the spotlight with, but to its credit, it is never anything less than memorable. If nothing else, The Beaver is worth watching for the gravelly cockney voice Gibson gives the puppet, which is said to have been modelled on Gibson’s Edge of Darkness co-star Ray Winstone! File under: Weird but appealing.

Flypaper: damp squib of a dubious action/comedy hybrid from the writing team behind The Hangover

Scripted by the writing team behind The Hangover, Flypaper (Lionsgate) is a dubious action/comedy hybrid about what happens when two rival teams of bank robbers attempt to rob the same bank on the same day. Caught in the middle of the chaos are obsessive-compulsive customer Tripp Kennedy (Patrick Dempsey, Grey’s Anatomy) and perky bank cashier Kaitlin (Ashley Judd, Kiss The Girls, Twisted), who gravitate towards one another in a bid to survive the trigger-happy events unfolding around them. While one of the gangs is a slick, professional operation lead by the unflustered Darrien (Mekhi Phifer, 8 Mile), their rivals are disorganised redneck duo Peanut Butter (Tim Blake Nelson) and Jelly (Pruitt Taylor Vince) who turned up armed with a terrifying quantity of plastic explosive.

Action/comedy mash-ups are notoriously tough to pull off, and despite their comedy credentials, screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore come badly unstuck with Flypaper, groping desperately for laughs as the increasingly unfunny scenario unravels. In truth, despite an appealing premise, the film feels as tired as Tim Blake Nelson’s well-worn redneck shtick. The slap-dash attempt at adding a Usual Suspects-style twist falls equally flat, and Flypaper ranks as a damp squib. All in all, a sloppy, derivative piece of filmmaking that does little to enhance the reputations of anyone involved.

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Urban disturbance: city scapes and mean streets explored in the latest DVD round up

Tom Leins — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:07:05 +0000

Juice: two decades on and Tupac Shakur is magnetic in his first movie role

Long before director Ernest R Dickerson achieved prominence through his work on seminal TV drama The Wire, he made Juice (Second Sight) a fascinating hip-hop-fuelled crime drama that represented the late Tupac Shakur’s first movie role.

Bishop (Tupac Shakur, Gridlock’d), Q (Omar Epps, House), Raheem (Khalil Kain, Girlfriends) and Steel (Jermaine Hopkins, Bullet) are four friends from Harlem, who spend their days skipping school, shoplifting from record stores and scuffling with a local Puerto Rican gang.

Despite referring to themselves as The Wrecking Crew, the posse’s activities are fairly tame compared to those of their peers, some of whom are performing stickups to turn a quick buck. After viewing James Cagney in White Heat, an energised Bishop decides that the group must go on to pull bigger and better scams in order to win some respect. Despite their reluctance, the crew are swayed by Bishop’s persistence, and they formulate a plan to rob their local bodega at gunpoint. However, the heist goes disastrously wrong, and its repercussions change their lives forever.

With a classic hip-hop soundtrack – title track Juice (Know The Ledge) by Eric B & Rakim in particular is a stone-cold classic – Juice still feels fresh almost two decades on, and suggests that the magnetic Tupac may well have gone on to secure a cinematic reputation to match his influential music career, if it weren’t for his 1996 murder, aged just 25. With bit-parts for a pre-fame Samuel L Jackson and Queen Latifah among others, Juice has plenty to recommend it, and complements Dickerson’s prior work as Spike Lee’s cinematographer. All in all, a worthy reissue of a lost classic.

South Central: director Stephen Anderson cooled since this 1992 debut had him burning up the filmmaker hot list

Executive produced by Oliver Stone, well-received 1992 drama South Central (Second Sight) saw its director Stephen Milburn Anderson (billed here as Steve Anderson) pushed to the filmmaking fore. What’s more, the movie saw him elevated to the heady heights of the New York Times’ Who’s Who Among Hot New Filmmakers list, alongside a post-Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino among others. Despite earning plenty of kudos for his debut, Anderson only made one more movie – 1997’s Dead Men Can’t Dance – before disappearing from view until last year’s dubious Sean Bean thriller Ca$h. Now available on DVD for the first time, a new generation can experience the grim reality of early ‘90s gang-life for themselves.

As the movie opens, young hoodlum Bobby (Glenn Plummer, Saw 2, Menace II Society) is paroled from the Youth Authority, and quickly hooks up with his fellow members of the Hoover Street Deuces. Although Bobby’s girlfriend Carole gave birth to his son, Jimmy, while he was incarcerated, it is clear that she is well and truly under the spell of local smack dealer Genie Lamp. Upon returning home, an altercation with the local pusherman quickly breaks out, and Bobby’s charismatic friend Ray Ray (Byron Minns) urges the Deuces to take action against Genie Lamp.

However, tough-talking Ray Ray isn’t concerned with cleaning up the neighbourhood – he just wants to get rid of his rival so he can line his own pockets selling crack to the locals. When a hit on Genie Lamp unravels, Bobby find himself back behind bars, and only time will tell whether he can see the error of is ways and stop his young son from making the same mistakes as him. South Central is undeniably dated – with some unfortunately comical scenes – but the drama holds up well, despite a few overly sentimental TV-movie-style platitudes. If you can forgive the creaky sets and time-worn setting, South Central is an interesting movie, well worth seeking out.

Street Kings 2: Motor City: Ray Liotta pops up in Detroit for the sequel to the Keanu Reeves cop thriller

Back in 2008 Keanu Reeves cop thriller Street Kings did a brisk trade, despite withering reviews from most critics. Street Kings 2: Motor City (20th Century Fox) dispenses with original writer James Ellroy’s seedy LA setting, and relocates the action to Detroit. Unfortunately, all of the big-name cast have also bitten the dust, leaving newcomer Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) to shoulder the brunt of the action.

Marty Kingston (Liotta) is a disgraced narcotics detective who is shot when a drug bust goes wrong, and ends up dressed as a dog, giving schoolchildren educational speeches. When his partner Quintana is killed by a masked gunman four years later, Marty is thrust back to centre-stage, and is forced to team up with enthusiastic young homicide cop Dan Sullivan (Shawn Hatosy, Borstal Boy) to investigate a string of brutal cop murders, and hunt down the man who murdered his partner. But is anyone clean in Dirty Detroit?

Street Kings 2 is the latest in a long line of studio-produced straight-to-DVD money-spinners that bear little or no resemblance to the movies that they seek to trade off. More often than not, these films are retroactively tweaked to fit in with an existing franchise, explaining the often-tenuous connection between the two films. TV director Chris Fisher already has form for this kind of exercise – he directed the dubious Donnie Darko follow-up s.Darko in 2009 – and while he does little wrong here, the movie ultimately lacks personality. Liotta is a solid if unspectacular presence at the heart of Street Kings 2, but the entire enterprise pales in comparison to the electric 2002 thriller Narc – arguably Liotta’s last great movie – to which this film bears a suspicious resemblance. Overall, a solid, undemanding thriller, albeit one that struggles to live up to the already meagre expectations generated by the first film.

Everywhere & Nowhere: a pulsating soundtrack fuses retro Bollywood sounds with modern day beats

Directed by Menhaj Huda, the award-winning director of Kidulthood, Everywhere & Nowhere (Icon Home Entertainment) is an Anglo-Asian coming-of-age drama about a group of London-based friends who find themselves conflicted between their traditional family lives and the more authentic, contemporary experiences they enjoy. Aspirant music producer Ash (James Floyd, The Infidel) is a bedroom DJ who yearns to hit the big-time, only to find his ambitions sidelined as he knuckles down to non-stop shifts in the family shop. Over the course of a hedonistic weekend, Ash is forced to make a choice between his two lives – a decision that could alter his life forever.

The most interesting aspect of Everywhere & Nowhere is the pulsating soundtrack, which fuses retro Bollywood sounds with modern day beats, but the music is not distracting enough to paper over the film’s glaring deficiencies. With a dangerously clunky script, and a worryingly predictable narrative curve, Everywhere & Nowhere features none of the verve of Huda’s ferocious debut movie, and this clichéd drama feels like a real let down. James Floyd delivers a reasonable performance as the tormented Ash, but the rest of the cast feel wasted, especially James Buckley (Jay from The Inbetweeners) and Adam Deacon (Kidulthood/Adulthood). Wretched stuff.

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Enter the mean streets of the latest action-pack, bone-crunching DVD releases

Tom Leins — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:33:25 +0000

Blitz: Jason Statham is a rogue cop in Ken Bruen’s brutal thriller

Prolific Irish crime writer Ken Bruen has developed a reputation as a cult figure among noir fans with a pulpy, self-referential array of thrillers. After last year’s poorly-received London Boulevard adaptation, Blitz (Lionsgate) marks the second time that his work has made it onto the big-screen in as many years.

Brant (Jason Statham, The Transporter) is a violent, borderline alcoholic detective, perilously close to burnout. When a vicious cop killer – with a pronounced vengeance against the cops on Brant’s South East London beat – emerges in a storm of tabloid publicity, the rogue cop finds himself reluctantly teamed up with ambitious gay colleague Sergeant Porter Nash (Paddy Considine, Dead Man’s Shoes), and the unlikely duo are ordered to apprehend the mad-man before the body-count rises any further. But with cops dropping like flies, it is clear that Brant and Nash are going to have to play dirty in order to nail the culprit.

Interestingly, Blitz is far slicker than the strangely sloppy source material that inspired it, with screenwriter Nathan Parker – the man behind Duncan Jones’ Moon – manipulating the slap-dash book into something far more purposeful. While his shtick hasn’t really evolved over the years, Jason Statham has arguably developed into one of action cinema’s most dependable presences, and his appealing knack for growling threats and cracking heads is underpinned with an effective vein of black comedy which helps to lighten the occasionally grisly mood. Furthermore, Statham definitely meets his match in Barry Weiss (Aiden Gillen, Queer As Folk, The Wire), the unhinged serial killer who prefers to be known as The Blitz. It may not be a classic example of the police procedural, but Blitz plays out like a demented version of an ITV cop-show, to largely enjoyable effect. Good unclean fun.

Blood & Rain: sleazy nihilism in Bogata from Jorge Navas

Latin American cinema has thrown up some gems over the last decade or so, with filmmakers such as Guillermo Del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron spearheading the charge. 2009’s Blood & Rain (Axiom Films) is the acclaimed debut offering from Colombian director Jorge Navas, a man tipped by many to be the region’s next big thing. Set among the sordid, rain-drenched streets of Bogota, the film opens with grief-stricken taxi driver Jose (Quique Mendoza) determined to wreak revenge against the gangsters responsible for his brother’s murder. After crossing paths with the damaged, unstable Angela (Gloria Montoya) Jose seemingly finds a degree of solace with his new companion, only for their day to go from bad to worse when they cross paths with a deranged vice cop with a dark secret.

Buoyed by a ferociously raw performance from novice actress Gloria Montoya, Blood & Rain begins in sleazy, nihilistic fashion, as the characters plumb the seedy depths of Bogota. Unfortunately, the film badly loses its way in the middle, and the plot starts to sag, with the paper-thin character of Jose unable to paper over the film’s disjointed narrative. Blood & Rain is an undeniably eye-catching debut, but it struggles to justify the hype, ultimately overstaying its welcome and degenerating into a stylish, violent dirge. While we should definitely expect to see more of former music video director Navas in the future, his debut is likely to rank as a footnote, rather than a highlight.

Blood Out: Luke Goss continues his rise as an action-packed lead

After finding fame with proto-boyband Bros in the late 1980s, Luke Goss made an unlikely comeback in 2002 when he starred as Jared Nomak in Blade 2. The former chart-topper has picked up a steady stream of film work ever since, infiltrating the mainstream with last year’s above-average action sequel Death Race 2. Blood Out (Lionsgate) sees Goss explore similarly action-packed territory as small town sheriff Michael Savion (Luke Goss), who quits the force in order to investigate the murder of his little brother David, a small-time pusher killed for attempting to quit the thug-life. Obsessed with uncovering the truth, Savion gets himself heavily tattooed, picks a fight in the wrong neighbourhood and sets about infiltrating a local drug gang, only to sink far deeper than he ever imagined.

To his credit, Goss is utterly convincing as a straight-to-DVD action star, and acquits himself very well during the increasingly violent fight scenes. Indeed, the gratuitous violence is filmed with the voyeuristic intensity of pornography, and the succession of shoot-outs, bare-knuckle fights and motorbike chases confirm the movie’s bloke-ish appeal. Unfortunately, the remainder of the cast don’t quite display the same level of commitment as Goss, with a succession of household names popping up in ill-judged cameos. Guilty parties include: Val Kilmer (embarrassing), Vinnie Jones (bewildered-looking) and 50 Cent (lamentable). Aside from the proliferation of dubious bit-parts, Blood Out is a slick B-movie thriller for the most part. (Just make sure you switch off before the bizarre conclusion, in which Savion literally throws a car down the street, in a mind-boggling Incredible Hulk-esque feat of strength!)

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Action packed DVDs reviewed

D&CFilm — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:48:23 +0000

Attack The Block: Joe Cornish’s barnstorming debut feature

Joe Cornish first achieved prominence back in the late-90s as one half of the irreverent Adam & Joe Show, and he has enjoyed a steady trickle of low-key writing and directing assignments ever since. Executive produced by close friend Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), Attack The Block (Optimum) is Cornish’s biggest project to date, and it’s a barnstorming debut feature that easily ranks alongside Wright’s terrific double-header.

Set on Bonfire Night, the movie follows trainee nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker, Venus), who is walking home to her South London tower block when she is set upon by a malevolent gang of hooded youths. Terrified Sam manages to escape when the gang are distracted by a meteorite, which plummets from the sky and hits a nearby parked car, but it is clear her troubles are far from over. The gang are astonished to observe a small alien-like creature emerge from the wreckage, and promptly set about butchering the unidentifiable monster. When a second wave of meteorites fall later that night, the gang are determined to defend their ‘block’ from the creatures, using whatever weapons they can lay their hands on. Unfortunately, this time the aliens are far bigger, scarier and more dangerous, and quickly transform the council estate into a blood-soaked battleground! What’s more, unfortunate Sam realises that her best chance of survival involves teaming up with her former tormentors.

While the Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz comparisons are hard to avoid, Attack The Block is its own movie, and Cornish gives his film an appealing deadpan poise that sidesteps the slapstick of its predecessors and delivers a far more bruising movie experience. In fact, the movie that Attack The Block resembles most is John McTiernan’s original Die Hard, with the soon-to-be-demolished Heygate Estate – incredibly making its 76th movie appearance – offering all of the claustrophobia of the Nakatomi Plaza. Surreally, Cornish recently found himself in the frame for the Die Hard 5 director’s job, only to lose out to the terminally average John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix), which suggests that Hollywood is already paying attention to his career. Nevertheless, Die Hard or no Die Hard, the future looks extremely bright for Cornish. Attack The Block is not just my favourite British movie of the year, it is also one of the most enjoyable action movies in recent memory. Highly recommended.

Nikita – Season 1: a slick reboot of the Luc Besson story, with added vitality and Maggie Q

Based on the 1990 Luc Besson movie that spawned a Hollywood remake (starring Bridget Fonda) and a Canadian series (helmed by 24 creator Joel Surnow), you would be forgiven for thinking that the last thing the world needed was a new version of Nikita. Happily, this slick reboot injects enough vitality into the reassuringly timeless premise to make it worthwhile. Nikita – Season 1 (Warner Home Video) follows the highly-skilled ex-assassin title character (Maggie Q, Mission Impossible 3, Die Hard 4.0) as she wages war on Division, the shadowy quasi-government agency whom she used to work for. Emerging from hiding, the deadly Nikita is a perennial fly in Division’s ointment, and seeks to unravel the dark conspiracy at the heart of the sinister organisation. Little does Division know, a young double-agent Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca, Desperate Housewives) – trained by Nikita herself – has infiltrated its ranks, and aims to topple the regime from the inside – as long as Nikita can keep her one step ahead of the game.

It may not be particularly groundbreaking entertainment, but Nikita is slick and compelling, and proved to be a worthy addition to the small screen schedules earlier this year. Maggie Q offers an engaging focal point as the seductive Nikita, and proves that she is more than capable of carrying a big-budget TV series, after a succession of eye-catching supporting roles. The reliably aggravating ‘McG’ may hold a production credit, but Nikita is streets ahead of his lamentable Charlie’s Angels movies, and feels positively subtle in comparison. Although the individual plots occasionally lapse into generic laziness, the underlying mythology of the show is pretty solid, and there are enough twists in the tale to ensure that Nikita goes the distance. It may not be as engrossing as the much-missed 24, but the slinky Maggie Q ensures that Nikita is a suitably diverting proposition.

Double Impact: two Jean-Claude Van Damme’s are better than one!

Twenty-five years after their parents were murdered by a ruthless Hong Kong crime boss, lycra-clad LA fitness instructor Chad (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is reunited with his long-lost twin brother, cigar-chomping Hong Kong hard-man Alex (also Jean-Claude Van Damme), and the pair embark on a daring mission to uncover the truth behind their parents’ brutal slaying. So begins Double Impact (Second Sight), the 1991 action thriller co-scripted by the ‘Muscles from Brussels’ himself. Interestingly, Double Impact was the first sign of the egotistical Van Damme’s enduring fascination with playing multiple roles – a quirk he went on to repeat in Timecop, Maximum Risk, The Order and Replicant – to increasingly bewildering effect. Seriously, give the man a fat suit, and he could be the action genre’s answer to Eddie Murphy.

In truth, cheese-drenched early-90s action movies such as Double Impact formed an integral part of my cinematic education, with many happy afternoons spent loitering in Visual Video hunting for underage videotape violence. Happily, despite its naff central conceit, the movie still packs a punch, and Van Damme’s ‘bad twin’ Alex sees the Belgian action star playing against type to impressive effect. What’s more, with a pair of effective villains in the form of disfigured Moon (Hong Kong action star Bolo Yeung) and Kara (frankly terrifying female bodybuilder Cory Everson), Double Impact has plenty in its favour. As you might expect, the tight-trousered, high-kicking action scenes are the film’s high-points, and Double Impact offers a welcome chance to see prime-time Van Damme strut his stuff. They don’t make ‘em like they used to!

Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides: Captain Jack’s latest outing finds him hobnobbing with Penelope Cruz

Originally based on a Disneyland ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is arguably one of Hollywood’s more unlikely success stories. With an iconic anti-hero in the form of Johnny Depp’s swashbuckling Captain Jack Sparrow the films boast a natural charisma that is hard to fake. However, as the series has drifted along, the producers have attempted to inject more depth into the fairly flimsy initial premise, with mixed success. Ironically, the more ideas that have been flung into the melting pot, the more mechanical the films have become, with Captain Jack floundering under a tidal wave of narrative uncertainty. After a pair of strangely sluggish sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides (Walt Disney) is billed as a return to form, effectively rebooting the franchise and introducing a whole host of new characters, including the sultry Angelica (Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and her fearsome father Blackbeard (Ian McShane, Lovejoy, Deadwood). Using her feminine wiles, Angelica lures Captain Jack into a perilous (if slightly long-winded) quest to locate the fabled Fountain of Youth, and family-friendly mayhem ensues…

While Captain Jack has suffered badly from over-exposure in recent years, Depp is as enthusiastic as ever, even if his dialogue lacks the subversive charm of the first film. Sadly, new director Rob (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) Marshall’s pacing is seriously skew-whiff, and any number of potentially interesting scenes drag on interminably. Somehow he even manages to make savage, man-hungry mermaids seem boring! While On Stranger Tides isn’t the worst Pirates movie, it definitely isn’t the best either – and remains a far cry from the exuberant first outing. What’s more, considering its title, On Stranger Tides is possibly the least strange Pirates film yet. After finding itself in a sink or swim situation after the energy-sapping third movie, the Pirates franchise finally looks set for a watery grave – bogged down by Jerry Bruckheimer’s moneybags. Disappointing.

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Spooky, sweary, fishy and ’80s: the week’s DVDs reviewed

Tom Leins — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:13:29 +0000

Insidious: a creeping feeling of dread in a new house beset by inexplicable events

Directed by James Wan, and written by Leigh Whannell (the double-act responsible for the kick-starting the interminable Saw franchise), Insidious (Momentum) sees the duo change tack for a far more traditional creep-fest, and one that defiantly eschews the gore-streaked depravity of the later Saw movies.

As the movie opens, happily married couple Josh (Patrick Wilson, Lakeview Terrace) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne, Damages) move into an idyllic suburban home with their three young children. After hitting his head while playing in the attic, eldest son Dalton falls into a prolonged coma, which baffles doctors and defies medical science.

The devastated family try to get their lives back on track, only to find themselves plagued by a series of equally inexplicable events – culminating with the arrival of a handful of demonic presences. Unable to shake of the creeping feeling of dread, Renai seeks out an unlikely source of help in the form of Elise Reiner (Lin Shaye, 2001 Maniacs), who earns a living vanquishing paranormal entities…

What sets Insidious apart from a raft of similar material is its refusal to play the increasingly tiresome ‘found-footage’ card. Instead it drags the proceedings into overtly supernatural territory, unleashing a succession of increasingly creepy characters into the mix. Although none of the ghouls are as iconic as Saw’s sinister Billy the Puppet, their quirkiness gives them an appealingly spooky edge, and they complement the drip-feed of tension perfectly. Although Insidious fades slightly towards the end, with a suspiciously tame end-section, Wan and Whannell have plenty of fun with their smart premise, and the director proves that he can do old-fashioned horror as well as the next man. Entertaining stuff.

8 Million Ways To Die: murky goings on in sunny LA

Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder detective novels are rightly heralded as one of the most consistent crime series of the modern era, and it is surprising that no one has exploited their rich potential for cinematic purposes. Or rather, it would be surprising if Hal Ashby hadn’t already tried back in 1986. While the books see alcoholic cop Scudder prowling Hell’s Kitchen’s dive bars, taking on cases as ‘favours’ for acquaintances, 8 Million Ways To Die (Second Sight)– which is very loosely based on the book of the same name – finds Scudder (improbably played by a pre-Dude Jeff Bridges) relocated to sun-kissed Los Angeles, where he becomes embroiled in a murky plot involving a sadistic drug dealer and a dead call girl.

Veteran director Ashby – making what turned out to be his final film – reportedly threw away the script written by a pre-Platoon Oliver Stone, and urged the actors to improvise all of their dialogue and actions. As a result the director found himself fired as soon as principal photography was completed, and studio PSO Entertainment (making its first major production) attempted to regain a semblance of creative control. On this evidence the studio didn’t do a particularly good job, and after an interesting start the movie becomes increasingly illogical, with too many scenes spiralling into foul-mouthed shouting matches. The film retains only the flimsiest connection to its source material, and with Scudder given an absurd Hawaiian-shirted makeover, the film plays out like a degenerate episode of Magnum. For all its faults, 8 Million Ways To Die is a genuine curio – for fans of Jeff Bridges, Hal Ashby and Lawrence Block alike – unfortunately it is also a pretty poor movie. Mind boggling.

Cedar Rapids: Ed Helms explores the seedier side of life in this fish-out-of-water flick

Directed by cult Puerto Rican filmmaker Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl) Cedar Rapids (20th Century Fox) follows the exploits of naïve small-town insurance agent Tim Lippe (Ed Helms, The Hangover), whose sheltered existence has protected him from the seedier side of life. When his high-flying colleague Roger Lemke dies in a auto-erotic sex game-gone-wrong, the reluctant Tim is pressed into service to represent Brownstar Insurance at the annual ‘Two Diamonds’ conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Not only is Tim under pressure from his boss to maintain Brownstar’s position at the industry’s pinnacle, he has been warned to steer clear of Dean ‘Dean-Z’ Ziegler (John C Reilly, Step Brothers) a notorious party animal, more concerned with getting trashed than networking. Inevitably, Tim is forced to share a room with the rambunctious Dean-Z, and finds himself sucked into the man’s warped social vortex.

Director Arteta is renowned for his unique sense of humour, but his previous movie Youth In Revolt failed to deliver the kind of laughs he presented in The Good Girl. Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids is a similarly patchy affair, with the film unable to expand on its amusing fish-out-of-water premise. Despite an engaging supporting cast, including Anne Heche (Psycho, Spread), who stars as flirtatious Joan Ostrowski-Fox, Cedar Rapids is forced to venture outside of its narrative curve for laughs, shoe-horning in an extraneous redneck party sub-plot in pursuit of humour. Cedar Rapids is never less than watchable, but Arteta’s quirky skills seem slightly wasted, and the slap-dash gag-rate does the film few favours. Approach with caution.

Take Me Home Tonight: set pieces in an 80s stylee

Take Me Home Tonight (Universal) is written by Jeff and Jackie Fligo, the duo best known as the creative force behind the long-running comedy series That 70s Show. Set in the naff-tastic late-80s, the film follows talented young MIT graduate Matt Franklin (Topher Grace, Spider-Man 3), who has walked out on his well-paid engineering job and taken a low-level job as a video store clerk, after growing frustrated by the materialism that surrounds him. Matt’s life takes a sudden turn for the better when sexy Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer, I Am Number Four) – his hitherto unattainable high school crush – returns to town, offering him an unexpected glimpse of happiness. In an effort to get reacquainted, Matt ventures to a Labor Day party held by local jock Kyle, with his sarcastic sister Wendy (Anna Faris, Observe & Report) and hapless best friend Barry (Dan Fogler, Fanboys) in tow.

Bearing a suspicious resemblance to the hastily cancelled That 70s Show spin-off, That 80s Show, Take Me Home Tonight is a lazily un-ambitious comedy that trudges through a series of clichéd scenes, with none of the playful verve evident in last year’s uproarious retro-fest Hot Tub Time Machine. In fact, so aimless is the narrative trajectory, although the film unfolds during a single day, it feels far longer. All in all: proof that some eras are better off forgotten…

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