Topic: Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews)

[samuelrichardscott]

Vampire Boys R2 UK

Gay interest horror movies now rightfully have a genre of their own and even have several award ceremonies dedicated to gay/lesbian/transgender horror such as the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards and The Queer Horror Awards. The real question is can a gay horror movie entertain a straight male like myself? Well it probably could with some sort of thought into the filmmaking process so it is unfair to use Vampire Boys as a true test, because it's a bad film, no matter what your sexuality.

The case synopsis reads:
A brood of hot and hungry vampires are in desperate need of ‘The One’: a young, fresh blooded victim that can be turned into an eternal mate that allows them to live forever. Tara, a sexy and seductive college student who is open to suggestion, offers herself up to the gang of vampires but Jasin, the dominant leader, has other ideas as Caleb, a fresh-faced and innocent stranger, enters the scene. Jasin is everything Caleb has dreamt of and both males feel an instant and uncontrollable connection, a connection that threatens to tear the vampire brood apart. Jasin has to decide which one is ‘The One’ as he asks: Who would you die for to live forever?

The cast here all seem to have been picked more for their bulging six packs rather than their acting talents. Nobody in the cast gives a particularly convincing performance and at times, the acting talent on display is downright laughable. Despite the acting being poor, it is still average for the budget range of the genre but that's no excuse really. The dialogue really doesn't help their case either with poor structuring of the barely there plot used to just link kissing and sex scenes together. The script also failed with poor character development.

Considering this is a vampire film, the serious lack of special effects was a real shame. The fake blood they did use looked good but they could've been far more inventive with the horror aspects of the movie and put more time and consideration into making it more convincing as a genre movie, instead opting to concentrate on the 'erotic' segments.

Music featured within the film was soft rock and did suit the scenes well. Of particular note was the title track which through the opening credits. Some more atmospheric orchestral music would have been good at times but I suppose what we have is more fitting in tone to the direction the movie went in.

It's hard to find anything to like in this film, but some of the direction and the way some scenes are shot are OK I suppose. Overall, unless you're a massive (and I mean massive) genre fan, probably best to give this one a miss.



Full review:
http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2554

[samuelrichardscott]

Kingdom of Gladiators R2 UK

Back in 2000, Russell Crowe starred in the Ridley Scott epic Gladiator which was greeted with huge acclaim from critics and moviegoers alike. Over the next few years, Hollywood made a few movies based upon Gladiator's including a remake of Clash of the Titans and Zack Snyder's very stylish 300, based on the comic book. The boxoffice success of Gladiator also helped bring series such as Rome and Spartacus: Blood and Sand to the small screen and of course, many copycat low budget films, hoping to cash-in on the Gladiator genre. Kingdom of Gladiators is one of these low budget independent features and is Italian director Stefano Milla's second feature film after Claang the Game, another Gladiator movie.

The synopsis from the press release is as follows:
In an ancient world where magic is common and mighty warriors roam, a King faced by merciless opponents enters into a pact with a demon to ensure his victory at all costs. After ruling for many years, the mysterious demon reappears to the King at a Royal Tournament and claims his settlement – the lives of the court’s descendants and eventually the destruction of mankind. Three powerful gladiators are chosen from the competitors to hunt down the demon, break his spell and protect the realm. But as the forces of darkness prepare to rise, can the gladiators overcome their differences and undertake an incredible adventure that may end in the ultimate sacrifice? The warriors are ready, let the final battle commence.

Now let's get one thing out the way fast... This is not a particularly good film. The acting is regrettably poor, with such a mish-mash of accents throughout characters that are supposedly from the same place. The development of the characters are rather non-existant and one of the more interesting characters, Teela (Annie Social), has unfortunately been over-sexualised when she could have been used in a more powerful way. The fight choreography is abysmal and made me laugh throughout, reminding me of play fights you see five year old children have. In fact, the fight choreography is where the bulk of the budget SHOULD have gone, as there are plenty of fight scenes.

The script is another sour point. As I said in the previous paragraph, character development is non-existant but that doesn't mean all the dialogue had to be so hammy. Was a script even written or was it completely filmed on the fly?

Now, despite the low budget nature of the movie, there were a couple of nice little surprises included that took me completely unawares. First off, is the scenery footage. Very well shot, the scenery is absolutely stunning and feels as though it has come from some sort of documentary. Secondly, the orchestral score is surprisingly good and suits the majority of the scenes very well indeed. Unfortunately, it isn't made clear who was responsible for the score and imdb doesn't throw anything up, but the composer should be happy that he is essentially the highlight of an otherwise unprofessional feeling movie.

Is it worthy watching? Not at all, but I do think there is fun to be had on a lads night in with a few beers just to laugh at how bad some elements really are. In fact, you'll probably start drunkenly recreating the fight scenes yourselves (and doing a far better job).


Full review: http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2553

[samuelrichardscott]

Sawako Decides R2 UK

Director Yuya Ishii received the 19th PFF PIA Film Scholarship Award for Sawako Decides which went on to win several awards including best feature and best actress awards at the Fantasia Film Festival.

The synopsis from the press release states:
Sawako has lived in Tokyo for five years, is working her fifth office job, and is dating her fifth boyfriend who is also her boss at the office. Her life with Kenichi, her boyfriend, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Kayoko, feels like a compromise she endures each day feeling distressed about her career and love life. One day, she receives word that her father, Tadao, who runs a freshwater clam processing business, has fallen ill. There is a reason why Sawako would rather not go back home so easily, but she reluctantly decides to return at Kenichi's insistence. Kenichi, however, who had actually quit his job shortly b efore Sawako, uses the opportunity to move with Sawako to her hometown with his daughter in tow. Thus Sawako's ordeal continues as she takes over her father's business and begins to work there, slowly taking charge of the situation and forming a new life for herself.

Sawako Decides is an interesting film with the basic message that when things are not going in life as you planned them, it's good to strive to be average (or "lower-middle" as Sawako puts it) and sometimes you just have to tough the bad times out. Lead actress Mitsushima Hikari plays Sawako with brilliance, going through a whole range of characteristic emotions from defiance to lethargy, love and hate whilst maintaining a darkly comic undertone and quirkiness to the whole affair. A fantastic actress and I would certainly like to see more from her in the future (and maybe I'll finally get around to watching my copy of Love Exposure). Unfortunately, the biggest downpoint to Sawako Decides is the supporting cast who are not of the same caliber as Mitsushima. I disliked Kenichi as a character which, IMO, I was supposed to, but I also disliked the way the character was portrayed by Masashi Endo.

The script was enjoyable and was written by director Yuya Ishii. It was tight, if slightly formulaic, but it did very well at developing the characters at the right moments and made good use of flashbacks to show certain moments in Sawako's life without overusing them. I'm not sure how accurate the subtitles are to the actual dialogue but they certainly seemed to show the right intention so I imagine they are very close.

Sawako Decides is definately a film people should check out, especially fans of the less 'energetic'side of quirky Japanese cinema. Whilst it isn't for everybody, the strength of the main character and the lead actress can't stop me from recommending it.


Full review: http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2555

[samuelrichardscott]

Quirky Guys and Gals R2 UK

Quirky Guys and Gals is an anthology of four short films with a very interesting objective. Using relatively experienced directors and cast members, Quirky Guys and Gals is a project in which student producers (over 25 of them!) are given the chance to experience the realities of cinema production by New Cinema Workshop. The four films couldn't be anymore different from one another and each one has a different tone and different level of quirkiness to them.

The synopsis from Third Window reads:
Approaching the surrealism of its predecessor, Quirky Guys and Gals (Sabi Otoko, Sabi Onna) ties together four stories of people searching for a spark in their lives. Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine) leads off with “Cheer Girls,” an entertaining tale of a woman (Nanami Sakuraba) whose passion is to lead cheers—though not for sports teams. Rather, she finds common people and creates anthems to encourage them in everyday life. Tomoko Matsunashi’s “Boy? Meets Girl,” is a Tootsie remake in a high-school setting. Mipo O’s “Claim Night” sees the 30-something Mayuko (Tomochika) return home to find the electricity in her apartment turned off, yet when she finally gets a repairman to come over, their over-the-top confrontation gives rise to a wildly comedic situation. Lastly, Gen Sekiguchi (Survive Style 5+) offers up “The House Full of ‘Abandoned’ Businessmen” a quaint tale of a housewife who collects out-of-work salarymen to try and give them a fresh start.

This is a great concept and a great opportunity for budding producers and a testament to New Cinema Workshop to be able to get some known directors and cast members to take part and help guide the segments of the anthology. The acting is reasonably good throughout and the style of acting, whilst different in each segment, suits each segment and character with different levels of quirkiness although sometimes it feels overplayed despite the sort of stories they are. Of particular note however is Kyoko Koizumi in the story "The House Full of ‘Abandoned’ Businessmen".

The scripts are where the film ultimately suffers. Whilst original, they come across as rather lazy and it often feels as though a lot of the film was filmed on the fly and overly-improvised. The first section (Cheer Girls), is in my opinion, by far the best. Totally random and bizarre on all levels it made me laugh watching three over the top high school cheerleaders cheering on people doing regular things such as a young boy tying his shoelace and a waiter struggling to open a jar. In this section, the overplaying of the characters is a requirement rather than a fault.

Overall, this is a solid selection of shorts for an anthology. Despite the obvious low budget constraints and mediocre dialogue, the segments are enjoyable and worthy of your time.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2557

[samuelrichardscott]

Death Bell R2 UK

About ten years, somebody gave me a tin copy of Tartan's Battle Royale DVD for my birthday. At that point, I was still in my teens and hadn't really discovered non-English cinema yet but Battle Royale absolutely blew me away and as the years passed I became a huge fan of Tartan's "Asia Extreme" range, especially for the horror content like A Tale of Two Sisters and The Ring. Unfortunately, Tartan left the market for a couple of years and recently came back as Palisades Tartan, but outside of their fantastic 8-disc Vengeance Trilogy R1 set, their releases have been lacking the previous oomph opening the market for another company to jump in. Terracotta are an independent company and have released quite a few Asian films to the UK market and become well known for their Far East Festival but they have now started a new range for which Death Bell is the premiere release - Terrorcotta. Is the first release in this new range good enough to take the reigns...?

The synopsis from Terracotta reads:
Students at an elite high school, preparing for mid-term exams, are held captive and forced into a series of sadistic games. The students find themselves plunged into a deadly test where they are picked off one by one and held in impenetrable traps where they must rely on the amazing intellects of their classmates to be released, every time a question is answered incorrectly, a classmate meets their torturous, grizzly death. When it emerges that the students are being picked off according to a pattern, pupil Kang Yi-na understands exactly how much time she has to stay alive and figure out the mysteries of who is imprisoning them and what is the ghostly presence that stalks the school and seems to bind them all together, before the Death Bell rings for her. Starring controversial, K-Pop sensation Nam Gyu-ri as Kang Ni-ya and Kim Beom ('Boys Before Flowers').

Despite it's stylish and lush technique, Death Bell is unfortunately the defination of average. Trying it's best to utilise the best parts of other horror films such as the 'games' of Saw, the gory and original death sequences of Final Destination, the classmates environment of Battle Royale and the 'ghost girl' of every other Asian horror since the turn of the century we get a mish mash of horror that quite simply isn't as good as the films it is trying to recreate. Also average is the cast with no performances particularly standing out as great but also none standing out as being poor. Dialogue is pretty standard for the genre and the structure of the plot follows a rather formulaic route with nothing to shout home about.

The music used throughout the film wouldn't have been my first choice but the end choices are acceptable and did add to the atmosphere and overall feel. The way the film was edited was a bit "MTV" style at times but there were some nice tracking shots and some interesting angles adding to the fear in particular scenes.

The one thing that does stand out for me in the film was that although it wasn't a big budget horror, it still managed to include some very good special effects and geniune terror through these effects. The whole wax candles scene certainly made me squirm the twist at the end was better than I had expected when it came to the closing act. For this reason, I am awarding a C+ rather than a flat average C for Death Bell.

There is also a second movie and Death Bell was good enough to make me want to check it out although I doubt I will go out of my way to track it down.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2558

[samuelrichardscott]

Just Do It: A Tale of Modern Day Outlaws R2 UK

I suppose I'm your average guy when it comes to thoughts on climate change. I know it's a problem, and I know I should do my bit... I kind of do by way of recycling or walking down to the shop a few streets away instead of jumping in the car but I know I can and should do more. I still refuse to pay for a 'bag for life' at the supermarket when I know I'll never remember to take it with me and plastic bags are right there at the till for free, and I still refuse to buy a car that has a small engine, as I like to have the oomph to overtake on my frequent long journeys. I should probably take public transport more but it's unreliable and often unsuitable for my needs, let alone the fact that buses and trains are generally full of smelly drunk undesirables. But there is that element out there that go too far in their actions, protesting in a manner that causes criminal damage, disrupts the days of hard working folks and wastes police resources when the old bill could be off doing better things. These are the people portrayed in Just Do It: A Tale of Modern-day Outlaws.

The synopsis from Dogwoof reads:
For one eventful year director Emily James was allowed unprecedented access to film the secretive world of environmental direct action. The world of eco-activism has rarely been seen on film due to its underground nature, but this inspiring feature documentary reveals the determination and risk of some of its larger than life campaigners. Emily James spent more than a year embedded in activist groups such as Climate Camp, Plane Stupid, and Climate Rush to document their clandestine activities. She joins them as they climb over fences, wade through mud, blockade factories, attack coal power stations and glue themselves to the trading floors of international banks despite the very real threat of arrest. Just Do It lifts the lid on climate activism and the daring rebel rousers who have crossed the line to stand up for what they believe in.

Unfortunately, these 'activists' annoyed me all the way through the documentary. Whilst I agree with a lot of what they have to say, there is a way to go about it by organising peaceful protests, not by glueing yourself to the door of a bank or government building, disrupting everybody else (and no doubt annoying them into going against your cause) in the process. Why cut down fences of sites to gain access and cause disruption? Yes, climate change is bad, but so is criminal damage and use of police resources to a point where it is obviously of significant cost to the taxpayer. Let's not forget either that a lot of the young people involved come across as obviously being from privileged backgrounds. How can you campaign against capitalism when it has possibly played a hand in your parents wealth and in paying for your own private education?

The documentary also misses several important directions. Whilst they are quick to tell us the police are violent harbingers of doom, the police don't actually get their own say and no interview with any police officer is included apart from general correspondance at protests. It's an extremely one-sided look at what is one of the most important issues in the world today and by being biased, the feature loses every chance at being a serious documentary. They list the problems facing the world today yet fail to give any serious examples of what can be done to help responsibly solve the issues without going to the extreme.

Despite the bias and how much these people annoyed me, I can't help but wonder why I was glued to the screen. The insight into how committed some of these folks are to the 'cause', and the (wrongful IMO) extent to which they will go to prove a point is of interest. It's also interesting to see the set-up of camps which all include training sessions and how they prepare for arrest by writing the mobile numbers of their legal 'experts' on their arms in case the police take their personal belongings at the station. Just Do It contains a lot of insightful footage making it a worthwhile and recommended viewing, I just wish it wasn't such a one-sided affair.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2567

[samuelrichardscott]

The Devil's Kiss R0 UK

Arrow Films have somewhat re-established themselves recently, becoming one of the more interesting independent distributors the United Kingdom has to offer. Although they have released a lot of their recent output previously, they are now making a big(ger) name for themselves with the overall packages. Lesser-known gems of horror, some established giallos and even some good old fashioned action have all been faithfully brought to DVD and Blu-ray with a few things fans just love... booklets... a choice of up to five cover artworks from Arrow's own to original poster art... well thought out extras... it's not often titles that aren't big studio titles are given so much love. Sure, picture quality is sometimes harder to work on due to the nature of the titles, but Arrow really should be commended for bringing these titles to market. Recently, they started a low budget range called ArrowDrome, a range from which "The Devil's Kiss" comes from.

The synopsis from Arrow reads:
Claire Grandier (Silvia Solar) is a medium with one thing on her mind... blood drenched vengeance. She’s a psychic black widow who’ll stop at nothing to destroy the Duke De Haussement (Jose Nieto), the man she holds responsible for her husband’s untimely death. After charming her way into the creepy basement of the Duke’s crumbling castle on the promise of revealing occult secrets, she sets to work with a sick professor and a twisted dwarf, creating a demon-possessed Frankenstein zombie who’s programmed to kill in this demented and mixed up Spanish classic from director Jordi Gigo (Porno Girls). Outrageous 1970s fashion and bizarre devilry collide with every cliché in the gothic horror manual for a wild ride into sleazy retro Euro-terror.

Unfortunately, no matter how much a company tries, you can't make a bad film good, and "The Devil's Kiss" is a bad film. Directed by Spanish 'erotic' director Jordi Gigó (best known for "Porno Girls"), the film is lacking that spark that makes eurosleaze so fun. It manages to lead up to nudity/sex/horror but forgets to actually add enough of either element and that is the feature's major downfall. How can you make a film that includes a dwarf, murder, a Frankenstein-type monster, a funky soundtrack and a psychic widow into something so boring and poorly paced? Who knows, but Gigó has certainly managed to do it.

Even at the start, there is a bizarre fashion show scene taking place in a gothic mansion that feels horribly misplaced and takes away the possibility of a reasonable start to the film and gives the wrong impression of what we are in for. Did Gigó film this scene purely so he could cameo?

Despite the poor pacing, dodgy script and pointless opening scene there are a couple of things that fans of eurohorror/sleaze will enjoy. Most importantly there are a few appearances from some great genre actors including Cannibal Terror's Silvia Solor and Oliver Mathot, The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue's Jose Ruiz Lifante and Curse of the Devil's Maria Silva. I also enjoyed the music score consisting of a good mix of upbeat tunes to the more tension stirring and atmospheric terror tones.

It's a shame I can't get past the lack of ambition and poor structuring as I really want to like this film but it just fails to spark. I'm sure the only people who will enjoy this are those who have already seen it or those with a massive interest in any of the particular stars.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2569

[samuelrichardscott]

Spooky Buddies R2 UK

Disney are well known for their direct to video output these days as they are for their cinematic offerings, mainly thanks to the appeal of DVD/Blu-ray compared to VHS and parents buying the Disney 'tag' as a surefire way of getting a bit of peace and quiet when their kids are doing their nut in. The 'Buddies' series of films have become some of the most well known of Disney's DTV output and "Spooky Buddies" is the twelfth of the series in 14 years following "Air Bud", "Air Bud: Golden Receiver", "Air Bud: World Pup", "Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch", "Air Bud: Spikes Back", "Air Buddies", "Snow Buddies", "Space Buddies", "Santa Buddies", "Treasure Buddies" and "The Search for Santa Paws". So are these just invariable cash-ins on the Disney name, or are these worthwhile features that are fun for both parents and children alike?

The synopsis for "Spooky Buddies" from Disney reads:
The quintet of irresistable talking puppies, Disney's lovable "Buddies" are back for a ghoulish good time in a fantastic all-new Halloween-themed adventure, "Spooky Buddies". Overflowing with trick-or-treat action, the 'Buddies' films are favourites of family and kids of all ages. "Spooky Buddies" continues the overwhelmingly popular franchise that features the adorable talking puppies, with action, laughs and fast-paced adventure. In this latest movie c aper, the lovable canine clan find themselves in a mysterious mansion, with no less than the fate of the world hanging in the balance as they must stop a dastardly warlock from his plans for world destruction.

So where to start? Well, the storyline isn't particularly great with a script that feels as though it has been used for many Disney Channel Halloween episodes and just changed slightly. The dialogue can be rather annoying, with kids using gangster ("Yo dawgs, check dis") talk despite being of an obvious good background, living in a typical 'Disney' middle-class neighbourhood and being good friends with the local cop. Such good friends in fact, that one thing the cop did really annoyed me, kids film or not. He gave Billy (Skylar Gisondo, "Halloween" remake) a scepter from the crime files saying it was OK to give him evidence from a cold case?!? Of course, the scepter is integral to the story so I guess it can be forgiven.

The casting of the kids is reasonably good and although none of them are great, they all put in adequate performances and will probably cruise through their lives in TV movies for Hallmark or the like. Unfortunately, the voice casting felt rather poor. Sometimes off-kelter and out-of-place, the biggest offender was G. Hannelius, the voice of Rosebud. The casting of the adults was just as bad, especially Harland Williams who was horribly miscast as baddie Warlock Warwick. Rance Howard as the graveyard guy and owner of cursed dog Pip was probably the best actor on show and even he seemed to just phone-in his performance.

On to the best bit of the feature, the special effects. Whilst the mouth movements of the buddies sometimes looked poor, the rest of the special effects were generally quite good. The ghost version of 'Pip' was of particular note looking of similar quality to the ghosts from 1994 film "Casper" (which still holds up well today). There was also a nice special effect to do with a dog farting, which, admittedly, made me laugh and rewatch that segment. Some of the effects though are probably a little to scary for the youngest of kids, such as the Howloween Hound, and although children will undoubtedly love this outing of the 'Buddies', adults won't, so you'll want to make sure your kids can handle the mildly scary parts or you might end up having to watch this with them.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2568

[samuelrichardscott]

Deep Winter R2 UK

Picture the scene... there you are atop a mountain, surrounded by the sheer whiteness of the soft powdery snow, freezing your bollocks off, ready to go down a steep descent on a couple of planks of wood, covered in carbon fibre, avoiding rocks, avalanches, trees and other enthusiasts as you go. You realise you're a complete rookie, fall down a crevice and die. Lonely and cold. OK, so maybe that's not necessarily how winter sports are but those are just a few reasons why it's not my type of thing, instead preferring the relative safety of rugby or football. Hell, I did actually try snowboarding once up near Fort William. It sucked. I sucked. I was just cold and sore the entire trip. Yet, when I watch shows such as the Winter X-Games on the Extreme Sports Channel (Sky 419) I am consistently amazed by the skill some these guys have and I can sit and watch others taking part all day long... which brings us to Deep Winter, a skiing movie set in Alaska.

The synopsis from Chelsea Films reads:
Renegade downhill skier Tyler Crowe (Lively) and his best friend since childhood snowboarder Mark Rider (Lutz) may adopt different methods of descent but they’re both addicted to the rush of living on the edge and making a perfect run in seemingly impossible conditions. Reunited for the first time in years following Tyler’s recent undignified departure from his ski team, the pair set their sights on making history by conquering a legendarily unrideable mountain known as “The Meteorite” and catching it all on film for extreme sports video producer Stephen Weaks (Goss). On hand to assist them is helicopter pilot and veteran mountain guide Dean (Madsen), whose former partner was killed making his own attempt to descend the notorious peak. As the day of reckoning approaches, tensions arise and the friends’ plans are jeopardized when Mark learns that Tyler has started dating his younger sister, Elisa (List), behind his back and the ensuing argument results in Tyler leaving the project. Then, out of the blue, tragedy strikes…

The casting for Deep Winter is quite good for the genre, with seasoned professionals such as Robert Carradine and Michael Madsen putting in very good performances in their roles and helping pick up the slight slack from the two main stars, Eric Lively (TV's The L Word) and Kellan Lutz (Twilight). Don't get me wrong, Lively and Lutz are both reasonably good, but whenever their characters are on screen with Carradine's Coach Dando or Madsen's helicopter pilot Dean, they seem to give off a better screen presence than when it is just the pair of them. Luke Goss and Peyton List also put in good turns as director/financier of the skiing film Stephen and Lutz's sister Elisa.

The story itself is a by-the-numbers affair following the expected formulaic route of overcoming the fear of what the deceased friend has died from in order to get closure. There isn't much in the way of character development, but there is enough to show the differences between Tyler and Mark (Lively and Lutz respectively). The character of Elisa is a good addition for the additional aspects it adds to said friendship and thankfully, the character is not overused. The script is mediocre and although none of the dialogue is particularly bad, it's still instantly forgettable and throwaway.

The best thing about "Deep Winter" is without a doubt the skiing footage. I don't know if director Mikey Hilb (Dish Dogz) filmed these himself or if a lot of it is stock footage of some sort but the action sequences, especially those using the helmet cam, are fantastic to watch and seem akin to those you would find in specialist skiing videos. The locations are also lush and some of the panning shots across the very scenic mountains are extremely well done. Unfortunately, the formulaic and average nature of the rest of the movie means this is almost forgotten.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2571

[samuelrichardscott]

Again, apologies to RossRoy. Cheeky of me to post 9 reviews at once, but not posted any for 6 weeks and had to play catch up!

[RossRoy]

No need to apologise .. I actually appreciated that you warned me! Because chances are I would've missed a few

[samuelrichardscott]

The Poet (2003) R2 UK

Director of "The Poet", Paul Hills, first started his career as a producer with an adaptation of Danny Cannon's "Play Dead" for the National Film and Television School. It was a huge success, screening to more than three million viewers on Channel 4, a record at the time for a student film. He later made his directing debut with "Frontline" on a meagre budget of just £12,000 and followed it up with autobiographical "Boston Kickout" which Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle called one of the best British films he had ever seen. After that, he went into commercial and one awards for his Umbro advert "Great Escape". In 2003, he would undertake his most galling task yet, "The Poet", with a five million euro budget and a relatively well-known cast.

The synopsis from Bluebell Films reads:
Rick (Andrew Lee Potts – Primeval), a promising young artist, inadvertently enters an active crime scene and is gunned down in central Vienna by hired assassin, Andrei Loesin (Dougray Scott – Mission Impossible II). When Andrei visits the opening of a show of the dead artist he becomes fascinated with his life and starts a relationship with Rick’s sister, Paula (Laura Elena Harring – Mulholland Drive). Detective Inspector Vashon (Jurgen Prochnow – Das Boot) investigates the murder. Can Andrei free himself from the relationship before Vashon catches him or will Andrei confess his crime to Paula? The Poet is a lyrical tragedy set in France, Austria and Germany, poetically directed by Paul Hills (Boston Kickout, Do Elephants Play).

Unfortunately, "The Poet" is a poorly written, contrived, badly acted mess of a film. One of the biggest problems is the cast. Despite well-known names such as Laura Elena Harring, Dougray Scott, Jürgen Prochnow and Andrew Lee Potts, there are no stand-out performances (though at least Prochnow is passable). Dougray Scott is particularly poor mainly due to the hilariously bad Russian accent and for me, that is a disappointment as Scott is an actor you can usually depend on to put in a solid appearance. Laura Elena Harring phones her lines in and looks as though she can't wait to leave and was obviously only there for a paycheque, especially having been on a good run with Mulholland Drive, John Q and Willard.

Another huge problem is the complete lack of direction. It actually starts promising enough and looks as though it is going to be an entertaining thriller or at least suspenseful enough to keep you watching. Unfortunately, it seems to also want to be a romance and a drama at the same time but moves from genre-to-genre in such a blasé nonchalant fashion it loses what little appeal it picks up in the intriguing opening ten minutes. The script is also lacking in all aspects. It's not very tight and the dialogue could've been written by a fifteen year old work experience kid on demand for the director.

Somehow, this was fairly successful in Germany and Austria but perhaps the was more to do with the presence of Prochnow and the setting of Vienna (which does make way for some nice looking location shots). In the end, this isn't good enough to be a TV movie-of-the-week for some obscure Sky channel. It's not the worst film ever made though, and there are many nice shots by Hills throughout with nice little touches and good use of lighting. It also has a very eighties gritty feel to it at times, but the story just fails to materialise.



Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2572

[samuelrichardscott]

Devil's Gate (2003) R2 UK

Back in 2001, I went to the cinema to see what I thought was going to be a relatively serious jousting movie called "A Knight's Tale", a movie which turned out to be a comedic take on the genre and a movie I have come to love. One of the better performances in the movie was a Scottish lass called Laura Fraser, who played Kate, a metalworker who had designed a new type of thin armour (hilariously with a Nike insignia). I then noticed her in Vanilla Sky and became more and more impressed with Fraser as an actress. Unfortunately, all was quiet after that and she went on to mainly star in TV-shows and I kind of forgot about her. That was, until last year when I finally saw "The Flying Scotsman", a great Scottish film about the life of cyclist Graeme Obree in which she put in a sterling performance as Graeme's wife, Anne. It is with this in mind, I went into another of her Scottish films, Devil's Gate.

The synopsis from Bluebell Films reads:
Rachael (Laura Fraser - A Knight's Tale, 16 Years of Alcohol) is called by ex-boyfriend Rafe (Callum Blue - Dead Like Me) who persuades her to return to the small foreboding island in the Shetland isles that she ran away from some 5 years previous. The pretense is that her father Jake (Tom Bell - The Krays, Wish You Were Here) is dying. Matt (Luke Aikman - Freight), a city boy, island hopping to take in the festival of fire, hears that she has been tricked. A love triangle forms, with Rachael, the least interested and keen to leave. Can Matt ensure her safety? Nothing is what it seems in this thriller, and no one will be the same again as the truth begins to surface in very dangerous circumstances. Stark but brilliant direction by Stuart St. Paul (Scarlet Tunic, Freight) makes this film a joy to behold.

As soon as the film started, the presence of not just Fraser, but also Bell, Blue and Aikman were immediately felt. The performances from these fine British actors becomes by far the high point for this otherwise average thriller. They all suit their roles perfectly and the way they play their sometimes underdeveloped characters certainly helps carry the film through the disappointing final act. One surprise for me was the small appearance by underrated television actress Lynda Bellingham as Marlene (most will know Bellingham as Irene from "The Bill").

Another thing I loved about "Devil's Gate" was the soundtrack. The instrumental parts of the score suited the bleak locations perfectly and helped build tension in all the right moments. Choices of songs, especially REM's "Everybody Hurts" were perfectly picked and played during the right parts for the best emotional effect. Whoever was in charge of picking the music, did a great job.

Unfortunately, despite the great cast and music, the film itself is a rather formulaic and mediocre affair. It starts very well in the build up and the character of Rachael is well developed, unlike Rafe and in particular Matt. One character present throughout the film, Roger Ashton-Griffifths' Eagle, is a complete waste of time and adds nothing at all to the story or to the general feel of the film... he's just an irrelevant character. Although the tension builds up nicely during the first two thirds, the final third is a complete letdown and the 'twist' was easy to spot a mile away and just didn't do anything for me.

Ignoring the slight letdowns in the story and the underdeveloped characters, "Devil's Gate" is still worth your time for the soundtrack and strong performances from both the principal and supporting cast.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2573

[samuelrichardscott]

Evil Things (2009) R2 UK

The found footage sub-genre of film started to become popular back in 1980 with the release of Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust". Whilst the sub-genre trundled along, cinema fans were hit with one of the surprise releases of, not just the horror genre, but of cinema in general in 1999 with the low budget film "The Blair Witch Project" garnering both critical and consumer praise. Costing just $25,000 to make (and then as much as $750,000 in further marketing), "The Blair Witch Project" pulled in a massive $250million at the worldwide box office. With this amount of success from such a small outlay, many copycat films were then released. Whenever the genre looks like quietening down however, another huge success appears such as "Paranormal Activity" or "[REC]" (and it's remake "Quarantine"), throwing even more attempts to cash in into production. In 2009, first time writer/director Dominic Perez entered the found-footage gauntlet, resulting in "Evil Things".

The case synopsis states:
On January 9th 2009, 5 college students left New York City for a weekend in the country. 48 hours later, all 5 students simply vanished without a trace. There were no leads and no evidence... until now! It was Miriam's 21st birthday and as a gift her aunt lent out her beautiful country house for the weekend. Miriam invited college friends Cassy, Mark, Tanya and Leo to join her. Leo was an aspiring film maker and brought his video camera along to document their journey. What is captured on his videotape, and now this DVD, is not a celebration but a sinister and nightmarish descent into pure terror.

The film starts off reasonably well, and the FBI evidence screen instead of opening credits was a nice touch. The tension builds up nicely in the opening act as the college buddies drive to the cabin, coming across a mysterious van which at first overtakes them, then stops in front of them. When they pass the van, it overtakes them again. Over the coming scenes, they see the van everywhere they go, from the petrol station to a small town diner. Once they reach the cabin, things quickly become mediocre with poor dialogue and horrible pacing until the final act which sees a quick increase in tension and quality.

The cast are all first time feature length actors and actresses with some only having the occasional short to their names. The acting is of a passable quality and I do think that although some sections were overplayed, they all have possible b-movie careers ahead of them, in particular Laurel Casillo who managed to portray how scared she felt better than any of the others as Cassy. Often it feels as though a lot of what the cast are saying is unscripted to help feel as though we are watching a genuine videotape, but it could just be the signs of poorly scripted dialogue during the slow paced mid-section of the movie.

Even though it's Perez's debut as a director I feel he managed to get some very well shot pieces, especially with how hard it is to make a movie like this look authentic. I would like to see what he has to offer in the future. Unfortunately, Evil Things suffers too much from the slow second act making it a difficult film to recommend, despite a good lead-up and ending. Found footage fans will dig it, but everyone else should rent it first.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2576

[samuelrichardscott]

Powder (2010)

Acclaimed novelist Kevin Sampson has led an interesting and varied life. His first book, "Awaydays", is based on his following of Liverpool Football Club as he was growing up and in 2009 it was used as a basis for a movie of the same name in which a teen joins the firm of Tranmere Rovers following his mother's death. His second book, "Powder" is loosely based on his experiences as manager of nineties indie band, The Farm, who went on to have a huge hit with "All Together Now" and a number one album "Spartacus". Following the success of "Awaydays", "Powder" was used as another (extremely) loose basis for a movie, this time directed by professional editor Mark Elliott and starring Liam Boyle, Alfie Allen and Jo Sampson.

The synopsis from Soda Pictures reads:
Starring Liam Boyle, Alfie Allen & Ralf Little, POWDER captures all the energy and excitement of a band breaking through, following the story of Liverpool band The Grams on an unflinching journey through the machinations of the music industry. Made by the team behind Awaydays and filmed on location in Ibiza, London, Liverpool and live at the V Festival, Powder is an authentic rock 'n' roll story based on the best-selling novel by Kevin Sampson.

The problem with this independent British feature, is the lack of direction. It just doesn't know whether it wants to be a dark comedy or whether it wants to be a drama. Instead of trying to find a nice balance between the two, scenes are seperated on an either or basis so as the drama comes, a funny scene removes the impact and when we get a funny scene, a dramatic segment takes away the laughter. It's a shame, because as a dark comedy with hints of drama, this would've worked really well, and the one cast member (who I normally dislike) that manages to find the balance in his brief scenes is Ralf Little, although to no real effect due to the surrounding cast members.

Although the film plods along with no real sense of worth, you can't help but keep watching due to the music. Despite being a completely falsifyed band, the music played by "The Grams" is excellent. Written by and performed by Starsailor frontman James Walsh, he doesn't actually appear in the film, instead allowing Liam Boyle (who plays Keva) to take the lead role and lip synch any applicable scenes. The lip synching isn't bad but the difference between his actual voice and the singing voice is obvious, even to the less-observant viewer, which does take away slightly from the overall experience. The concert scenes are well filmed and they obviousy used the crowds and stages from a T4 concert (T4 is part of Channel 4's youth orientated content for which they hold regular free live events). Other concert footage has obviously been filmed at the world-renowned V Festival.

The characters themselves are a mixed bunch. Whilst cliched, there is a good mix mockney's, has-beens, hangers-on and wannabes. For the most part, the cast performances are OK, though nothing special, likely down to them being confused with how to play their characters (dramatic or funny?). The dialogue isn't poorly written, but it's not as much of a scathing view on the insides of the music industry as it's trying so hard to be. If you can look past the mixed up genres and the cliched characters, this is a film worth viewing if you like indie music for it's safe by-the-numbers script interspersed with great tracks if nothing else.


Full review - http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2577