Topic: Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews)

[samuelrichardscott]

Sasori (2008) AKA Prisoner 701 Sasori

Overview:
Joe Ma directs this remake of the cult 1972 Japanese exploitation film 'Joshuu 701 Go Sasori' directed by Ito Shunya, itself a live-action adaptation of the 1970s manga series by Toru Shinohara. Miki Mizuno stars as Matsushima Nami, a beautiful young housewife who is falsely accused of murder and sent to spend the rest of her life in the most brutal and squalid of prisons, where she falls victim to any number of inhuman cruelties. Later she manages to escape and makes it her business to exact a gruesome revenge on those who double-crossed her, training to fight with a mysterious mountain hermit known as the Corpse Collector (Simon Yam) and renaming herself 'Sasori' ('Scorpion').

My Thoughts:
Pros:
- The fact it was filmed on video adds to the style of the movie and suits the feel well rather than looking cheap.
- There are some good fight scenes with wire work and action choreography better than I had expected.
Cons:
- The acting isn't great and lead Miki Mizuno looks out of her depth.
- At times I would've preferred a bit more dialogue (this is a low dialogue film).
Overall:
Not a patch on the original and for genre fans only. Low rental. 2.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Houseguest (1995)

Overview:
A con-artist is on the run from the mob. His only way out is to impersonate the long-lost friend of an uptight lawyer and move in with his family. But it is not an easy task as he tries to impersonate a wine expert, a Golf pro and a world-famous dentist. But when his host discovers his scam the mob soon find out as to his whereabouts.

My Thoughts:
Pros:
- Sinbad and Phil Hartman play off each other really well and the supporting cast are well selected, especially Jeffrey Jones and Tony Longo.
- They didn't always go for the easy jokes and stayed away from using the children for easy humour.
Cons:
- Sometimes felt like one long advertisement for McDonalds.
- The mistaken identity sub-genre is crowded and this doesn't have enough originality to pull away from the rest.
Overall:
Rent it. 3/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

Overview:
Mel Brooks wrote and directed this spoof of 'Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves'. Having escaped from prison in North Africa, Robin of Locksley (Cary Elwes) swims back to the mainland to return to his family castle in England. Alongside his cohorts Ahchoo and Asneeze, he attempts to defeat the evil sheriff of Rottingham and find the key to Maid Marion's chastity belt.

My Thoughts:
Robin Hood is a well known tale and I had hoped for better from Mel Brooks here with a satirical look on a larger scale rather than going for obvious jokes that you can see coming a mile away. Don't get me wrong, there are enough funny moments here to enjoy but it isn't as clever in its humour as I would expect from a genius such as Brooks. Rent it. 3/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Hitch (2005)

Overview:
Sophisticated romantic comedy starring Will Smith. Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens is a legendary - and deliberately anonymous - New York City 'date doctor' who, for a fee, has helped countless men woo the women of their dreams. While coaching Albert (Kevin James), a meek accountant who is smitten with a glamourous celebrity, Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta), Hitch finally meets his match in the person of the gorgeous, whip-smart Sara Melas (Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist who follows Allegra's every move. The ultimate professional bachelor, Hitch suddenly finds himself falling deliriously in love with Sara, a reporter whose biggest scoop could very well be the unmasking of Manhattan's most famous date doctor.

My Thoughts:
I first grabbed this a few years ago because I became a bigger fan of Eva Mendes and her career after viewing We Own the Night. Thankfully, she has a more substantial role here than she normally gets opposite the always reliable if not spectacular Will Smith. The whole date doctor storyline is fun, with Kevin James and Amber Valetta both fitting their roles well and making for a good support. There isn't anything special here, but the cast is good, plot more thought out than the majority of rom-coms and a few good laughs. High end of rent it. 3/5

[samuelrichardscott]

JCVD (2008)

Overview:
Unlike most of his other films, this is not an all-action thriller but instead an opportunity for Van Damme to play a meatier role. The role he plays is himself, but in a kind of parallel universe. Unable to find work in Hollywood, broke and involved in a custody battle for his daughter, the eponymous JCVD returns to his native Belgium, where he still enjoys hero status. Once there he finds himself caught up in the middle of a hostage drama and acting out a different sort of role to the ones he is used to playing in films.

My Thoughts:
Pros:
- I've always been a fan of his dodgy action films, but who'd have thought JCVD could act?
- Some of the dialogue is very funny, especially poking fun of being the guy who brought John Woo to America (Hard Target) and Steven Seagal beating him to a role. He's happy to poke fun of himself.
- The Gaumont company logo with JCVD roundhousing the Gaumont boy to the moon. I love it when the film changes a company logo slightly for fun.
Cons:
- Pacing in the middle feels a little off at times.
Overall:
Mr Van Damme as you've never seen him before. He isn't just an ex-kickboxing hack you know. Recommended. 4/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Scream 4 (2011)

Overview:
In Scream 4, Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (played by Emma Roberts) and her Aunt Kate (Mary McDonnell). Unfortunately Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

My Thoughts:
It has been eleven years since Scream 3 and Sidney has released her own book whilst Gale and Dewey have been married for a decade with him now Sheriff and her trying to write a novel. With them all back in Woodsboro on the anniversary of the events from the first movie it's obvious there is a need for someone dressed as Ghostface to be killing again. With another great cast including Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Hayden Panettiere and Anthony Anderson and some solid writing, Scream 4 is another fun entry into the series. A lot of nods to more recent horror movies like the Saw franchise and filled with plenty of great dialogue poking fun at genre cliches, I have to recommend it to fans of the series. 3.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Wrecked (2010)

Overview:
Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody stars as a man who awakens in a mangled car wreck at the bottom of a steep cliff. Injured, bleeding and in pain,  he is trapped inside with no memory of how he got there or who he is. There’s money in the trunk and a body on the back seat …  what happened?
As he struggles to survive in the magnificent wilderness, using his most primal instincts, he discovers clues to his identity and a dark side is revealed.
Even if he survives the carnage, he may face the horrible consequences of an earlier, forgotten life.

My Thoughts:
Wrecked is a movie that is in the same vain as 127 Hours and Buried, where the vast majority of the running time is based around a single character and a significantly small location. In Wrecked, Adrien Brody takes the role as a guy who wakes up in a car wreck at the bottom of a cliff in a movie that turns out to be a thriller more than the tale of survival I hoped it had been. Whilst Adrien Brody is a very fine actor indeed, he couldn't save this one from being a little on the slow side with the tension and suspense required missing from the end product. It's worth a look just for Brody who at least manages to make it a watchable effort but overall it feels like a missed opportunity. Just about avoids a 'skip it' rating. Rent it. 2.5/5

[Piffi]

Thanks for the review! I've been curious about that movie for awhile
But after your review, i think i'll drop it.

[samuelrichardscott]

Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen (2003)

Overview:
Documentary exploring the dangerous world of Hong Kong stuntmen, the unsung heroes who undergo years of training to portray the most violent and dangerous stunts onscreen.

My Thoughts:
Directed by Robin Shou, Red Trousers is a very interesting documentary which talks about the differences between Hollywood and Hong Kong movie sets as well as the training, injuries and the general life of a stuntman candidly. It features some great interviews with some real legends like Sammo Hung Kam-Bo but also with kids whose ambitions are to follow the tradition of opera school to stuntwork, and Western stuntmen working in the Hong Kong film industry. There's some great stunt footage throughout and the interviews are well conducted but there is something that annoyed me. Robin Shou has interspersed a short film into the documentary in bits and pieces to show stuntwork, but it just didn't fit in. I still have to recommend it though. 3.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Brewster's Millions (1985)

Overview:
In the seventh screen version of this perennial tale, Richard Pryor plays a man who stands to inherit $300 million - if he can first spend $30 million in 30 days without letting anyone in on the reason. This proves harder than he'd imagined, even with the assistance of team mate Spike (John Candy).

My Thoughts:
Brewster's Millions might not be the best big screen outing for either Richard Pryor or John Candy (or Walter Hill for that matter) but I still get a kick out of it every time I watch the movie. Pryor and Candy work well together, and the story is a lot of fun (this is the seventh adaptation of the book to the big screen) but sometimes it gets a little repetitive in just hiring more people in order to spend money instead of being more inventive. Whilst I recommend this movie, I would say to first check out another comedy that is also about money and class from the same screenwriting team of Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris - Trading Places. 3.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Hall Pass (2011)

Overview:
From the Farrelly Brothers (There's Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber) comes your ticket to fool around! Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are best friends, each married many years. When the guys show signs of restlessness at home, their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) take a bold approach to revitalizing their respective marriages: granting them a "hall pass," one week of freedom to do whatever they want...no questions asked. At first a dream come true, it's not long before Rick and Fred find that their expectations of the single life – and themselves – are completely and hilariously out of sync with reality.

My Thoughts:
Don't go into this expecting childish humour throughout after seeing that it is directed by The Farrelly Brothers because guess what... they've kind of grown up. Sure, the crude jokes are still there, and a woman splats her poo on a wall, but it is a lot more thought through than some of their previous features (There's Something About Mary withstanding). Hall Pass has a great cast and the best scenes are those that you least expect like the ending with Stephen Merchant. There are a couple of things I didn't like though. The guy who works at the coffee shop wasn't a great character and the golfing scene was a little overplayed, but Hall Pass is an above average comedy worth a look. Recommended. 3.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

The Sorority (2009)

Overview:
A group of Sorority sisters are sworn to trust, secrecy and solidarity no matter what. But their loyalty is tested when a prank goes terribly wrong and ends a brutal murder. Rather than confess to the crime, the girls agree to hide the bloody corpse and keep their secret forever. A year later, as they prepare to say goodbye to the house and each, the girls are confident their dark secret will remain buried, but does it?

My Thoughts:
Sorority Row is yet another by the numbers unoriginal horror remake where the death scenes are fun, the acting is average by horror standards and the plot is held together by the whimsiest of storylines. There's plenty worse, but also plenty better. Best death scene? Death by glass bottle being rammed down the throat. Worst? Tyre iron to the head. Low end rental for genre fans only. 2.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

The Business (2005)

Overview:
Drama set in Spain in the 1980s. Frankie (Danny Dyer), is on the run from the high-rises of South London to a new life in Malaga with nothing but a tin stuffed full of cash. Having no idea that this delivery of cash to super-suave playboy and ex-con, Charlie (Tamer Hassan), will change his life forever, he soon becomes one of the gang, and finds himself drawn into a flamboyant and violent world of organised crime.

My Thoughts:
Director Nick Love has teamed up with Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan on more than one occasion and it is a team which is hit and miss. Personally, I think they are better together than they are apart (not very difficult) and although they all have their critics, The Business is a pretty good little movie. There is the usual cockney slang thrown in throughout as to be expected so if you're not familiar you may struggle with the dialogue, but if you are familiar then it adds a few laughs into a film that shows the highs and lows of criminal life. It's nowhere near the quality of Lock Stock or Snatch but it was better than I had expected to be and I would recommend it to fans of Love's other movies as he brings similar characters, the 80's football firm fashion and a solid, if cliched story together quite well. 3.5/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Overview:
Anthony Edwards (TV's ER) stars with Robert Carradine in this hilarious satire on college life about a group of outcasts who start their own fraternity after being rejected by every house on campus. It's a brains vs. brawn battle when the football team jocks try to crush their misfit counterparts, but the nerd's have the perfect plan to gain the upper hand.

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987)

Overview:
Everyone's favourite nerd's are back. This time Lewis, Wormser, Poindexter, Lamar and Booger are off to the United Fraternity Conference in Ft. Lauderdale. Unfortunately, the hotel manager and Alpha Betas join forces, leaving the Tri-Lambs with no place to stay but the Ricky Ricardo Wing of the dilapidated Hotel Coral Essex. But even though the boys are misled, mistreated and misused, they once again strike back, proving the importance of self-respect in a wild and wacky lesson you'll never forget.

My Thoughts:
So I just did a Revenge of the Nerds double feature and although I had seen the first movie before, I had never seen the second. The first was exactly as I remembered. Goofy fun that was never going to be anything serious but thanks to a great cast put a little message across also. The second was more of the same really with a lot of returning cast members (plus a stunning Courtney Thorne-Smith) only based at a convention in Florida rather than at the college. If you enjoy movies like Porky's, American Pie, the John Hughes high school stuff etc etc then you'll likely enjoy both of these.

My Scores:
Revenge of the Nerds - Recommended. 3.5/5
Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise - Rent it. 3/5

[samuelrichardscott]

Stir Crazy (1980)

Overview:
Long-time losers Skip Donahue (Gene Wilder) and Harry Monroe (Richard Pryor) are hired to wear woodpecker costumes to help promote a bank's opening, only to be wrongfully imprisoned when a pair of criminals, wearing identical outfits, rob the bank. Their claims of innocence ignored, Skip and Harry are forced to adapt to prison life, and end up being persuaded to ride for the Warden in the local rodeo show.

My Thoughts:
Pros:
- Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were a great double act and the way they play off each other is very good.
- The final scenes are surprisingly suspenseful and Sidney Poitier does a great job in mixing a little bit of seriousness into the comedy as director.
- The scene where mass murderer Grossberger (Erland van Lidth) sings Down in the Valley is bizarrely mesmerising.
Cons:
- The structuring of the plot isn't really much of a surprise and sticks to conventional Hollywood type.
- I'd have liked to see Pryor get a little more screen time. This is Wilders movie no doubt, but a little more of Pryor never goes amiss.
Overall:
Recommended. 3.5/5