Archive for the ‘US’ Category

Hail to The King, baby

Don Coscarelli, the director who brought us The Beastmaster (1982) and Phantasm (1979) is not a name that would immediately leap to mind should someone mention ‘cult classic’. Phantasm, while original and oddly engaging in its time, was hardly a cult classic. Popular, yes – and certainly better than a lot of the dross around at the end of the 70s – but I wonder how many fans of the original Phantasm have watched what is probably, nay, certainly Coscarelli’s best feature to date?

Read the rest of this entry »

Action!

I have seen the best film ever made. The only problem is that this wasn’t it. It is, however, an action movie that tries quite hard to make you believe it’s a spoof of an action movie – but I certainly don’t mean that in a bad way. Yes, there certainly will be people out there who will enjoy picking holes in this movie; the cheesey dialogue, the seemingly endless supply of bullets and grenades available to our heroes, a plot so thin you can see daylight through it and an array of über-macho blokes doing what the Americans so fittingly describe as ‘blowing shit up’. Did I like it? Yeah, of course I did.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tight, bright

Thanks to our new friendship with distributor Paradiso Films, we’ll be bringing you even more movie reviews. The first from them is one that hasn’t been hyped much, but is still worth a look - Hunter Prey (2009). Be sure to check out Paradiso’s web site too.

Read the rest of this entry »

More than blood ties

Three intersecting stories brought together under the themes of love, adoption and motherhood are at the core of Mother and Child (2009), the latest film from Rodrigo García (Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (1999)).

Read the rest of this entry »

Just for kicks?

Oh god, not another ‘reboot’ – and two hours plus of scenery and fighting? Actually no – the remake of The Karate Kid (1984) is, I would venture, better than the original. Dutch director Harald Zwart – who, as far as my jaded opinion goes has done nothing much of any special merit thus far – manages to eke out some solid performances and make the script party like it’s 1984. It’s essentially the same story – alienation, loneliness, growing up and how to do all these without a father, but with a man to look up to. Instead of Pat Morita as Miyagi, there’s Jackie Chan as Mr Han, and replacing Ralph Macchio as ‘Daniel-san’, there’s the latest product of Will Smith World Domination Inc., Jaden Smith, playing Dre Parker.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dog’s day

Ever felt really stupid? I have, and if I go into the number of times it’s happened, there will be no space for a review. People come up to me and say: “Colin, who played Ernst Blofeld in You Only Live Twice?”. And “Donald Pleasence” I say, because, you know, I review films and stuff.  You can imagine what an utter idiot I felt when I realized that I had forgotten who played the lead role in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999).

Read the rest of this entry »

Perchance to dream

Cinema has enjoyed a fertile (if occasionally vexed) relationship with the world of dreams – from Hitchcock’s collaboration with Salvador Dali in Spellbound (1945), to the more recent Abre Los Ojos (1997) and remake Vanilla Sky (2001), the fascination with what dreams may come, what they may mean and their relationship with what we describe as ‘reality’, has held audiences in thrall.

Read the rest of this entry »

Boxing clever

From the mind of one of the most influential sci-fi/horror authors of our time, Richard Matheson (Duel, I Am Legend, Hell House) comes The Box (2009), adapted by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko (2001)) from Matheson’s short story, Button, Button.

Read the rest of this entry »

‘Is that what you love? Death?’

John Fowles’s debut novel, released in 1963, raised more than a few eyebrows and, for this reviewer, William Wyler’s 1965 film is simply one of the very best movie adaptations ever made, to be spoken of in the same breath as Rosemary’s Baby (1968) or Schindler’s List (1993), with central performances from Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar that are nothing short of mesmerizing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pixar’s peak

A delight – make sure you don’t miss your chance to laugh and cry in roughly equal measure at the final Toy Story installment.

I ask you – manipulated to tears (nay, proper sobs) by a bunch of cartoon characters? That was me, sure enough, at the end of Toy Story 3 (2010) by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 2 (1999)) who, along with writers Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and John Lasseter (Cars (2006)), has ensured that the franchise that first put Pixar Studios on the map takes its bow with all the wit, charm and sheer lovableness that characterized the first two chapters.

Read the rest of this entry »