John Dies at the End (2012)

Posted on November 4, 2014 by badblokebob

Based on the cult novel by Cracked.com editor David Wong, John Dies at the End is a bizarre horror-fantasy that defies easy explanation or summary.

It’s definitely an acquired taste — some will genuinely love it, some will genuinely despise it. I often fall in the middle when that’s the case, though I err towards the former here. It’s scrappy and weird and wrong in so many ways, but, on balance, pretty entertaining.

Plus, in an era when every mainstream movie (and many so-called independents) are essentially the same story told the same way, kudos for trying to do something different.

In the interests of completing my ever-growing backlog, I decided to post ‘drabble reviews’ of some films. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a drabble is a complete piece of writing exactly 100 words long. You’ve just read one.

* What do you have to do to get an 18 these days? The BBFC would’ve cut this to shreds in their scissor-happy heyday! It would seem the fact it’s a comedy allows the extreme gore to pass at a lower rating. ^

Space Battleship Yamato (2010)

Posted on November 3, 2014 by badblokebob

A live-action adaptation of the popular, influential and long-lasting anime franchise, known in the US as Star Blazers (here’s a very good history of the series and its significance courtesy of Manga UK). Set in a future where Earth has been ravaged by alien assault, a nearly-defeated humanity learns of a device that might turn the tide of the war, but it’s located on the other side of the galaxy. The World War II battleship Yamato is retrofitted with spacefaring tech and its crew set off on a last-ditch mission to save mankind.

You can see how that setup is designed to fuel a lengthy series — it’s as much about the journey as the destination. Fortunately, the makers of this version haven’t gone all-out-Hollywood and attempted to launch a trilogy: without meaning to spoil the ending, the entire story is contained herein. It does occasionally feel like it’s been culled from a longer and more detailed narrative, not least in the abundance of central characters, but that’s not too detrimental. One distinct advantage (both of having a long-running predecessor and not aiming for sequels) is that nothing’s held back for future use — including characters. Not everyone makes it out alive, adding a genuine sense of peril that’s missing from most action-adventure movies. As someone not familiar with any previous version of the story, I can attest that this adaptation remains not only understandable, but very entertaining.

Some of the character arcs are a little on the predictable side — the maverick who comes to accept responsibility, etc — but there’s plentiful well-realised action to keep things rattling along. Some will moan about the CGI (as a space-based movie, there’s rather a lot of it) because it’s not mega-budget slick. But this isn’t a mega-budget production (Manga UK’s review refers to the “colossal ¥2.2 billion budget”, but that converts as only $24 million), so such criticism is misplaced. And it doesn’t even look that bad. Besides, if you only watch films for flashy CG spectacle, you shouldn’t be trying to venture outside Hollywood’s summer tentpoles anyway.

With a solid premise, engaging storyline, exciting action, likeable characters, and the bonus of telling an epic story in a single movie rather than forcing it to sprawl off (possibly-never-produced-)sequels, Space Battleship Yamato has an awful lot going for it. While a couple of niggles with its length and some amateurish-round-the-edges moments hold me back from giving it full marks, I greatly enjoyed it, and I think more broad-minded fans of action-adventure sci-fi will too.

Spanking the Monkey (1994)

Posted on November 1, 2014 by badblokebob

2014 #100
David O. Russell | 95 mins | TV | 16:9 | USA / English | 18

The debut of writer-director David O. Russell sees college student Raymond forced by his controlling father to turn down an exciting summer internship to care for his invalided mother.

Cue a very ’90s indie dramedy that is most memorably concerned with matters sexual: after Raymond struggles to find privacy to masturbate, he engages in a stuttering relationship with a younger girl and, somewhat infamously, gets incestuous with his mother. It’s hard to decipher the point, especially when instead of ending the film just stops.

Spottily entertaining, history has rendered Spanking the Monkey merely an early curio from a now-famous director.

In the interests of completing my ever-growing backlog, I decided to post ‘drabble reviews’ of some films. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a drabble is a complete piece of writing exactly 100 words long. You’ve just read one.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)

Posted on October 31, 2014 by badblokebob

aka Tucker & Dale vs. Evil *

2014 #83
Eli Craig | 85 mins | TV | 2.35:1 | Canada & USA / English | 15 / R

Riffing on the “evil hillbillies” horror sub-genre, a pair of simple country folk on a fishin’ holiday encounter a gang of college kids who, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, mistake them for murderous psychos — and decide to fight back.

Essentially a one-joke premise, it succeeds by exploiting every possible angle. Unlike some horror comedies, it’s light on scares, but the trope spoofing means it works best for a genre-aware crowd (it’d play well in a double-bill with Cabin in the Woods). Nonetheless, there’s enough heart and gruesome laughs to broaden the appeal to those less familiar with sub-genre intricacies.

In the interests of completing my ever-growing backlog, I decided to post ‘drabble reviews’ of some films. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a drabble is a complete piece of writing exactly 100 words long. You’ve just read one.

* Punctuation matters, people. ^

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)

Posted on October 29, 2014 by badblokebob

Presently it looks as if Marvel’s burgeoning TV empire (as I write, seven distinct series are in the works) has taken over the kind of short-form storytelling that had previously been the preserve of these DVD/Blu-ray-debuting One-Shot short films; which, if true, will leave this as the last one. That’s a shame, both because they have such potential, and because I don’t think All Hail the King is a particular high.

Set sometime after the end of Iron Man 3, we catch up with ‘villain’ Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) to see how his prison life is going. As you might imagine from the chosen lead character, it’s primarily a comedy. Kingsley is surprisingly adept at this humorous role, but it’s a little rehash-y of the main film’s greatest hit(s). The best bits are fan service: placation for vocal critics of how Shane Black’s movie treated one of Iron Man’s more iconic foes, and a witty closing cameo (after the one in Agent Carter, that looks to become a signature move of these shorts).

As an entertaining and brief diversion, All Hail the King is fine if you have access to it, but not particularly worth seeking out. I doubt we’ll be getting a spin-off TV series this time.

All Hail the King is available on the Blu-ray release of Thor: The Dark World.

The Sweeney (2012)

Posted on October 28, 2014 by badblokebob

Despite a mediocre pedigree and TV-scale budget, this re-imagining of the iconic ’70s cop show is a solid thriller.

Overloaded with implausibility, not least its central conceit (London police unit combats violent crime with more violence), it’s made worthwhile by a running gunfight across Trafalgar Square and a climactic car chase. These are even more impressive when you know behind-the-scenes details: the latter was shot in just two days, the former in chronological order on a single morning!

Not the “British Heat” screenplay-derived hype promised, nor pleasing to the original’s aficionados, but a decent crime flick for forgiving genre lovers.

In the interests of completing my ever-growing backlog, I decided to post ‘drabble reviews’ of some films. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a drabble is a complete piece of writing exactly 100 words long. You’ve just read one.

Inseparable (2011)

Posted on October 27, 2014 by badblokebob

I’m a great advocate of tonally-mismatched films. When others are moaning that there’s too much darkness mixed in with their light fluffy film, I’m the one saying, “um, guys, have you ever lived in, y’know, real life?” Which probably explains why most of the internet reacts with anything between ambivalence and hatred towards Inseparable, whereas I really enjoyed it.

The film opens with office drone Li (Daniel Wu) trying to hang himself, when he’s interrupted by his new American neighbour (Kevin Spacey). From there the pair form a strange friendship, with Spacey encouraging his conservative new friend to open up and be a bit freer — which, eventually, leads them to don funny outfits and set out to fight crime.

Yep, this is a “real-life superhero” movie… but only a little bit. If you’re searching for a comparison, it’s more Super than Kick-Ass; but even then it’s only a small part of the movie, just an element that sells well, hence its prominence on posters. At the risk of spoilers, a closer comparison would be A Beautiful Mind. Indeed, it wouldn’t be unfair to summarise the tone and content as “A Beautiful Mind meets Super”.

Clearly this will not be to everyone’s taste. Even at just over an hour-and-a-half it’s sometimes a little draggy, and the mishmash of kooky comedy with serious themes — not only suicide, but Li’s faltering marriage and the reasons for that — will turn some off. Anyone who likes their superhero entertainments to be more po-faced won’t be best pleased, either.

All those things actively work for me, though. Inseparable may be imperfect, and has possibly only got Western attention as the first Chinese film to count an American star among its leads, but I’m glad it made that transition. It’s entertaining, perhaps thought-provoking, and if not a noteworthy entry into the “real-life superhero” subgenre (due to the minimising of that element), it is a worthwhile presence in a subgenre that can’t be named because it gives away the twist that’s a defining feature of that subgenre. It’s certainly less glum than A Beautiful Mind, anyway.

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

Posted on October 25, 2014 by badblokebob

2014 #79
RZA | 91 mins | streaming (HD) | 2.35:1 | USA & Hong Kong / English | 18 / R

Starring, co-written and directed by rapper and Asian culture fan “the RZA” (he previously contributed to transnational anime Afro Samurai), The Man with the Iron Fists is a riff on old-fashioned chopsocky actioners. The plot is some guff to do with the transportation of imperial gold through a gang-war-riddled Chinese village, but really that’s just a way to string together some outlandish characters and equally extreme action sequences.

Unfortunately, the plot is a bit dense for that. As a first-time filmmaker whose relative fame has clearly enabled him to jump in at the deep end rather than hone his craft, the RZA’s storytelling is muddled, which helps to obscure an already complex narrative. It renders the film tediously dull in places — which isn’t helped by the writer-director-star’s mumbled voiceover narration. He’s not the right choice for the lead, but I suppose that’s wish-fulfilment for you. Among the rest of the semi-starry cast, Russell Crowe hams it up something rotten and easily steals the movie, though credit to villain Byron Mann for an equally OTT performance.

It’s hard to tell how much is a stylised genre riff and how much is just bad moviemaking. The screenplay is frequently atrocious, some of the acting equally so. The visual direction is largely competent, even if it struggles to string a story together. The fight scenes are pretty good, with some moderately innovative ideas scattered around, particularly the array of inventive weapons. Really, we could’ve done with a greater percentage of action — the fight scenes are a fair length as they are, but sometimes seem too spread out compared to the awkward plot in between.

It’s a bit of a mess, then, yet somehow entertaining regardless. Despite a generally unfavourable reception, a (sadly Crowe-less) sequel is supposedly due later this year, with a new director to boot (of such cinematic masterpieces as Death Race 2, Death Race 3, and The Scorpion King 3). Put it this way: I’ll still be watching.

Safe (2012)

Posted on October 22, 2014 by badblokebob

2014 #77
Boaz Yakin | 85 mins* | TV | 2.35:1 | USA / English, Mandarin & Russian | 15 / R

Jason Statham plays a cop turned cage-fighter turned vagrant, who rescues a young girl and finds himself amidst a three-way brawl between the Triad, the Russians, and corrupt cops. They want the child for a number she’s memorised, but what is its significance?

Those are the basics of a surprisingly complex plot, albeit one sprinkled with well-handled (if unexceptional) action sequences. It at least manages some surprises, including a climax that exchanges the usual Big Fight for plot resolution, plus a nice double meaning for the title.

Intricate storyline aside, this is standard Statham fare — not bad, but not exceptional.

Safe is on 5* tonight at 9pm.

In the interests of completing my ever-growing backlog, I decided to post ‘drabble reviews’ of some films. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a drabble is a complete piece of writing exactly 100 words long. You’ve just read one.

* The PAL time listed by the BBFC is 90 minutes. It must have a lot of credits or something, because on TV it runs just over 84½. ^

The Conspirator (2010)

Posted on October 20, 2014 by badblokebob

2014 #54
Robert Redford | 117 mins | TV | 2.35:1 | USA / English | 12 / PG-13

Although John Wilkes Booth is famous as the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, he was merely the person who pulled the trigger: eight people were tried for conspiracy to kill America’s 16th President; this is the story of what happened to the only woman among them.

Or, rather, it’s the story of the young lawyer who is forced to represent her. Rather than cave to pressure and more-or-less let the prosecution have their way, he fights her corner against a ludicrously biased system that would execute her without trial if only they could. The sheer weight of this bias — and the fact the story is from history, rather than a created-for-the-movies tale (with all the idealism that would bring) — means there’s a sort of crushing sense of inevitability about how it plays out. Some have criticised the film for lacking tension, a complaint that I think is to some degree misplaced — especially as, not knowing what happened, I felt it was fairly tense towards the end.

As the lawyer, James McAvoy has to lead the film against a few experienced names, but he can hold his own (which I suppose shouldn’t be a surprise at this point) and is easily the best thing in the movie. OK, so he’s saddled with a well-worn “lawyer so dedicated to the case he sacrifices his personal life” character arc, but that doesn’t mean he plays it so half-heartedly. The only acting weak link is Alexis Bledel, who somehow seems far too modern; or rather, like an actress versed in playing modern characters struggling gamely with a period one, and coming up short.

The Conspirator takes a footnote from history and turns it into an engrossing legal drama. What it lacks in originality is made up for through compelling performances and the exposure of little-known facts and incidents surrounding one of American history’s most famous events.

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Category Archives: Decades

John Dies at the End (2012)

Space Battleship Yamato (2010)

Spanking the Monkey (1994)

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)

Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)

The Sweeney (2012)

Inseparable (2011)

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

Safe (2012)

The Conspirator (2010)