Review for 'Heartless'

Release Date - Out Now

Directed by – Philip Ridely

Starring – Jim Sturgess, Clémence Poésy, Noel Clark.

“Another horror movie. Just what the world needs.” say Matt Bochenski [for LWL] in his review of Philip Ridley’s latest film Heartless without any hesitation or care for his genre bashing. I myself am obviously a very big horror fan so for someone to say that I simply answer “Yes it is actually.”

But the thing is about Heartless is that it isn’t much of a horror. I’d say it’s about as much of a horror as Donnie Darko was. Sure they both have horror elements with Heartless verging more onto complete horror appose to Donnie Darko, but over all I’d say they where supernatural fantasy with cheap horror scares. But this connection between the two films which share the same themes and the same kooky and shy protagonist (not forgetting their demented psyches).

Heartless tells the Brother’s Grim like story about Jamie played by Jim Sturgess, a photographer from the East end of London who was born with a vivid birthmark on his face and body. He feels like he is a social outcast as the yobs around his building make fun of him on his way home which has thrown him into a pit of disperse and loneliness. One night whilst taking photo’s he comes across a strange scene with hooded daemons disguised as yobs screaming and cackling around a fire then at his brothers studio Jamie begins to fall for Tia played by Clémence Poésy who’s heritage and background is left in the shadows. What follows is these two instances begins his decent into this strange world of daemons and self loathing as Jamie makes a deal with Papa B.

I had been looking forward to Heartless for a few weeks now and after watching it I had to think it over. Now this to me isn’t a bad thing. Whether a film turns out terrible in the end if it made you think about it it’s done something to resonate in you. Thankful to say I really did enjoy the flick. At one point I began to doubt it however it recovered.

The dark portal of London will haunt the local’s nights and indeed those walking alone at night. The film is lead brilliantly by Sturgess and has some great actors making an appearance such as Noel Clark as the next door neighbour and my personal favourite Eddie Marsan as the Weapons Dealer. Some strange choices where made by the director and a lot about characters and plot are left in the dark to die which makes some element suffer but over all it’s an enjoyable look into the mind of a young man battling his daemons. We’ve all been there, but hopefully not to such an extreme. I can see this being dragged away by the cult movie community to a place it probably belongs.

Anticipation - 4

Enjoyment - 3

In Retrospect – 3

John Hillcoat is going to the Wild West [UPDATE]

John Hillcoat who’s work includes The Proposition (2005) and more recently The Road (2010) has been a busy man this year. He kicked off the year with the book adaptation The Road starring Viggo Mortensen and now he has decided to directed a thirty minute machinima (a short film made with a video game) of the latest Rockstar game Red Dead Redemption. I’ll leave the trailer below-

What I found interesting about this was how a director could decide to go from one popular media to a newer one and with out any previous video gaming knowledge. To give you the full low down John Hillcoat had directed a thirty minute machinima for FOX and was played at midnight Saturday (I’m not sure what that is in GMT). There is no news on if it will play online of on British televisions but if it pops online or not I will do an update link it to it.

But this isn’t the first of Hollywood directors turning their attentions to video games. Recently John Carpenter was signed to direct the cut scenes for the new F3AR. This is closing the gap between video games and movies. Video games strive to have cinematic set pieces with notable games being Bioshock and Uncharted 2 and Hollywood constantly is bringing out terrible video game adaptations such as Tomb Raider and Hitman.

Below is an interview with the director and check back for any up dates whether the whole machinima is online. Who is next to make the jump? Tim Burton? Quentin Tarantino? No I dare say… Michael ‘Satan’ Bay? I’m also interested in what you guys think? Please leave a comment.

Interview with the director/

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/05/john_hillcoat.html

[UPDATE]


After much searcing and waiting I have found the complete video for Hillcoat's Red Dead Redemption. and without andy delay here it is.

More Red Dead Redemption Info

link

R.I.P Dennis Hopper (1936 – 2010)

Today a great actor died. Dennis Hopper has stared in a vast amounts of movies and began his career with Rebel Without a Cause in 1955. Some of his most notable films are Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, True Romance Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 and Easy Rider.

Below is a little information about him which I took from Wikipedia. He will truly be missed.

“Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). Over the next ten years, Hopper appeared frequently on television in guest roles, and by the end of the 1960s had played supporting roles in several films. He directed and starred in Easy Rider (1969), winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as co-writer of the film's script.

He was unable to build on his success for several years, until a featured role in Apocalypse Now (1979) brought him attention. He subsequently appeared in Rumble Fish (1983) and The Osterman Weekend (1983), and received critical recognition for his work in Blue Velvet and Hoosiers, with the latter film gaining him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He directed Colors (1988), and played the villain in Speed (1994). Hopper's later work included a leading role in the television series Crash.”

- Wikipedia

Review for 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of call New Orleans'

Release Date Out Now

Director - Werner Herzog

Actors – Nicholas Cage, Eva Medes, Val Kilmer

Where to start with a film such as Bad Lieutenant? For those who know there stuff, it isn’t a remake or a sequel to the Abel Ferrara starring Harvey Keitel. That out of the way we can move on.

So Bad Lieutenant: Port of call New Orleans, is Herzog’s tale of a (get this) bad lieutenant Terence McDonagh (Nick Cage) as he descends into madness through corruption and drug abuse. At the beginning of the movie McDonagh and partner Stevie Puirt (Val Kilmer) are walking through their former police station after hurricane Katrina when McDonagh is injured in the line of duty saving a prisoner from drowning. Six months later we meet McDonagh again however this time he’s snorting coke on the crime scene and threatening old ladies at gun point.

The film as you can expect is a lot light hearted then the original but nether the less quiet extreme at times. When the hunched McDonagh hallucinates the film goes into lizard or crocodile mode where there are close up handheld close up footage of an alligator or iguanas. This ending up being a hilarious gag and I agree with Herzog when he said “I wanted to put in more iguanas”.

What surprised me the most with Bad Lieutenant is Nicholas Cages’ performance. Before I saw Kick-Ass I noted that if Nick Cage was passable in the movie I will take back my hate for him. So I went into this movie with high regards (not that I or any true horror fan, can forgive him for Wicker Man) and I wasn’t disappointed. He’s a comical character and I do actually believe through his character he does glorify and make comical the use of clack smoking and cocaine using which is a negative. Val Kilmer’s character only pops up once or twice which I was disappointed by because him and Cage could have had a comical cop duo (imagine Starsky and Hutch on crack). And finally I have found a movie where Eva Mendes doesn't annoy me by shoving her Latino heritage down me throat.

In the end the movie becomes a comical over the top story about a ridicules corrupt cop who steals drugs from everyone and spouts classic one liners: “Shoot him again, his soul is still dancing” and “Till the break of dawn”. Riding off the success of Kick-Ass Cage has finally found what he was ment to do (and apparently it’s crazy) and Werner Herzog was perfect to lead him through all this. Even though this will fuel Herzog's ego, I think people will remember this as a Nick Cage movie instead of a Werner Herzog movie. If your expecting a hard boiled detective story you won’t find it here. Instead you’ll find an outrageous and hilarious film.

Anticipation 2

Enjoyment - 4
In Retrospect – 3

Review for 'Four Lions'

Release Date Out Now

Director Chris Morris

Starring Kayvan Novak, Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay

Can someone go too far in the name of comedy? Is there a line or is the line blurred these days. When I heard that Chris Morris (a king of satire) was directing his feature debut film Four Lions, about a group of idiotic terrorists I was ecstatic. Morris’ previously has come from TV work with shows such The Day Today and Brass Eye which was about work news at the time before being cancelled because of it controversy. So with his previous work I thought that Four Lion’s would be a laugh out loud romp.

However I was surly disappointed but before you think that I disliked Four Lions I want to make it clear I didn’t. In fact I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons. The clever satirical humour that surprised me because these days with comedy being a quick giggle it was hard to appreciate a comedy with substance.

The film centres on a terrorist group living in a small town north of England who dreams about plotting a martyr on civilians in an attempt to get into there Heaven. The cell’s leader Omar explains to his moronic best friend Waj as it being likes “jumping the que on Alton Towers” (now you can see where the humour is coming form). Accompanying them is Faisal who spends time blowing up crows and covering his beard in an attempt to appear as a woman and Barry a touchy but somewhat psychotic converted-Islamic who explains his car breaking down because “It’s the parts! They’re Jewish!” in a feeble attempt to prove he is a devoted Islamic. It is only Omar who appears to be the most capable but as they get closer and closer to their final plot we begin to see how becoming a terrorist isn’t as easy as people might think.

The characters stupidity along with Omar’s occasional blunders does become almost cartoonish as if they have dropped out of a modern Looney Toons.

Even though I enjoyed it I constantly felt as if it was missing something. The film suffered the same thing that Night Mare on Elm Street did with how there wasn’t any protagonist to relate to. Omar is the main protagonist but it’s hard to sympathise and relate to someone who plots to murder British civilians for him religion. Also I felt Morris had a number of plot holes, like for example I believe he should have included a scene with Omar’s wife and son not wanting him to follow through with the plan because they seem to be fin with the idea of him killing himself.

If you go expecting a feel good comedy you might be disappointed but the clever satirical and at times cartoonish humour does entertain but with few laughs and for the wrong reasons.

Anticipation - 3
Enjoyment - 2

In Retrospect – 2

In the Cinemas Friday, on DVD Monday.

So Phillip Ridley’s new film Heartless (released Friday 21st May) staring my personal new favourite (along with Son Kang-ho) Eddie Marsan, was released in cinemas but it will also be coming out on DVD on Monday.

When I heard this I was fascinated because I have never seen anything like this (not that it hasn’t happened already). Why I think this is so interesting for several reasons but to explain I’ll start from the beginning.

I was catching by with the BBC Radio 5 Live Film Review with the good Dr and Simon Mayo and they had Phillip Ridley in to interview him about his new horror/thriller (now you can see why I was listening) but my ears really pricked up when I heard that the film was being release within a week on one another.

I began to question where this was a good idea or a really bad one. And ten minutes last I decided it was.

Whilst listening to the interview I searched the web to try find where the movie was and hopefully still is playing but with no luck. This is either because I wasn’t looking hard enough or because the distribution hasn’t given it a wide release. However because of this I only need wait a couple of days and I could watch it at home. Free from those cursed adverts!

This to me sounds like a good idea because how many people have seen a movie at your local art house cinema, walked out and said “I’m buying that on DVD”. If I walked out of The Disappearance of Alice Creed and had the choice to buy it, I definitely would. Not that DVD sales are bad because they do better the cinema sales however would it increase because of this?

However I see why they didn’t do it with films such as Avatar. The distributors of the DVD’s wait six months for people pre order and go crazy waiting for the films.

I think I’m going to be getting Heartless on DVD but I would still love to see it in a cinema. I’ve seen Evil Dead 2 a dozen times but I would still see it in the cinema. But is it a good thing that the DVD comes out at the same time of the cinematic release? Will it hurt the cinema ticket sales? What do you think?

Review for 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'

Release Date May 7

Directed Samuel Bayer

Starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara

What’s there to say about the remake of the classic slasher that hasn’t already been said? It’s a high budget remake of a classic low budget horror which has been directed by someone no ones heard off (he aparently is a music video director) and produced by Satan himself Michael Bay in an attempted to not do it for the art for but simply for the money.

The story if you haven’t seen the original Wes Craven film (shame on you) follows the story of a group of teenagers who are haunted by a dream like boogie man. This mysterious figure torments them for several days before finally killing them off (no surprise there). They try to keep awake and alive before experiencing ‘micro naps’ and before long they find they are trapped in Freddy’s world.

Now I’m really in two frames of mind about this. Part of me hates it, and the other kinda liked it. Obviously it’s stupid and nothing like it’s counter part but I don’t feel like I wasted money seeing it.

One of the main problems which renders the whole films ridicules is that fact that they don’t all live on Elm Street. And if they do, it never mentions it. This is stupid because it’s called ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ not ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street and all the other teenage in the community.’ What links them together is that (*SPOILER TIME*) they went to the same pre-school where they where all , get this, raped by pre-school gardener Fred Kruger. He’s a pre-school gardener turned pedophile then murderer in the after life. And when the parents discover that he’s a paedophile they turn into backwards crazy villagers out for his blood just shy of pitch forks and fire. In some bizarre dream flashback one of the characters sees Fred Kruger being chassed into a warehouse and brutally set a light as the family listen to him burn alive. Who need a justice system or a fair trial? At least in the original he was a child murder which gives them more incentive to kill him.

All the teenage actors where pretty poor and boring and there was no characters we where suppose to cling on to. It jumps between the teenagers which just confuses the audience. So are we suppose to route for Freddy? Granted in the original you didn’t but through the series you began to like him and eventually by Craven’s New Nightmare we loved the beloved classic Robert Englund. But in the new film Freddy’s a paedophile so how could we as an audience possibly relate to him? So we end up not caring the teenagers are tearing them selves apart from not wanting to fall asleep but when they’re in Freddy’s world we don’t care if he kills them. That’s bad in a slasher movie. Jackie Earle Haley is clearly the best actor in the movie however he character doesn’t develop till the end. Jackie must have expected not to best Englund and I think it shows but they missed something about Freddy which is fundamental – his black comedy. Sure in the movie towards the end he says some funny words but at the beginning he’s not funny or intimidating.

The film also has no sense of pace. In the original they talked about this burnt man who haunted their dreams which build a lot of tension so when the audience eventually saw him seemed like a threat. In this he appears in the first five minutes and pops in a way to send the fans boys into joyful glee. This is not good horror movie making. This just shows your doing it for the money and fanboys. Then after that you see Freddy enough for him to not be scary by the end. So in the end he’s not scary or funny = not Freddy.

In the grand scheme of horror remakes, Nightmare on Elm Street falls between the two Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and prequel which where necessary because after the first they where terrible and also the Last House on the Left remake which I enjoyed and at the low end the Friday 13th remake. I’ve said it hundred of times before. Horror films do not need a remake unless you can do something for them, case and point The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But this falls flat with a incoherent script with bad characters and a stupid plot. Poor Jackie has to do another two movies as well. Let’s hope they turn out better then this. I think anyone who thinking about seeing it would have seen it already, but save you money and by the DVD classic.

Trailer

Anticipation - 3

Enjoyment - 2
In Retrospect – 2