Taxidermia (2006)

Surealist film from Hungarian director György Pálfi about excess.

It tells the story of three generations of men, the first a sex obsessed soildier, the second a Soviet era competition eater and the third a taxidermist.

I'm not going to even try to break down the story for you, far too much happens for me to make any sense of it here and most of it makes for uncomfortable viewing. Lust, love, jealousy, obsession, hatred, bestiality, birth, death and giant cats, the film has everything.

Visually it's really stunning, well crafted and the effects, as you see from the firey ejaculation below, are something else. It doesn't speak well for humanity though. The lasting impression is one of disgust for both it and us, we did after all decide to watch it, but I feel that was the idea. I like it. Not every story is meant to make you feel good, some should shock and horrify. This does both, though there are some moments of true hilarity.

Not one for the weak of stomach.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410730/?ref_=nv_sr_2

The Limey (1999)

"You tell him, you tell him I'm coming. Tell him I'm fucking coming!"

Steven Soderbergh's beautifully paced and looming thriller has Terence Stamp as an ex-con fresh out of prison and looking for answers over his estranged daughter's death. He travels to LA and meets up with her friend, the always good Luis Guzmán, who tells him of her relationship with creepy producer Peter Fonda.

The film focuses on the relationships between the characters, their interactions with each other and the lives they've lived rather than being an all out revenge piece and this gives the action, when it suddenly pops up, a much more shocking impact.

Soderbergh has a wonderful trick of using flashbacks cut from a 1967 Ken Loach film called Poor Cow where Stamp played a young thief and being able to see the same actor in his youth, rather than someone playing him, makes all the difference and the scenes he uses gives a really good impression of the character's relationship with his daughter.

This is a film about people and even though there is a car chase and several shootouts it's the really classy performances of everyone involved that leave the lasting impression. Stamp and Fonda, as you'd expect, are particularly good but there are no hangers on in this movie.
I can understand why this film didn't do so well with an American audience, it feels so European that it's almost a surprise it was made by an American director. The production, sound and cinematography are great and I think the use of light is outstanding. I realise I'm using a lot of superlatives but this is a really well put-together movie.

I read recently that Michael Caine was originally pencilled in for the lead and though I like Caine I'm glad it's not him. It would have ended up as Get Carter in the US and it deserves more than that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165854/?ref_=nv_sr_2

36th Precinct (2004)

Slightly absurd French cop thriller written and directed by ex Policeman Olivier Marchal.

A ruthless gang of armed robbers is terrorizing Paris. The tough and hard working Vrinks played by Daniel Auteuil and the drunk and manipulative Klein played by Gérard Depardieu (happy coincidence or good casting?) are sent after them with Vrink set to become the next commisionare should they succeed, but when a snitch sets Vrink up as an accomplice to a murder Klein does his best to bring him down.

Auteuil and Depardieu are both quite good. Valeria Golino, the girl with the sizzling stomach in Hot Shots, is still sizzling as Vrinks' wife and some of them give good performances but the story, though it starts well, gets more and more outlandish as it goes on.
There's nothing of real note here. It doesn't stand up to films like Mesrine and it's not bad enough to be kitch. It's perfectly watchable but there are a lot better.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390808/?ref_=nv_sr_5

New World (2013)

Anyone that's seen Infernal Affairs or the Scorsese re-make The Departed will be familiar with this storyline, this time it's Korean.

 Ja-sung Lee is high up in Goldmoon, one of Korea's largest criminal corporations, he's also an undercover cop. When the head of the corporation dies in an 'accident' it starts an internal struggle for power. Rather than seeing this as an opportunity to break the back of the organisation, the only 2 top cops that know Lees'  true identity decide he should   take over Goldmoon so thay can keep a lid on organised crime in Korea. Things don't go entirely to plan. Lee is one of 3 in line for the top job. His close friend Jeong Cheong, known as The Chink, is starting to suspect he's not all he seems while the super tough  Jung-gu Lee is willing to hire outsiders to ensure his rise to the top.

The film stars some of Korea's best and most recognisable actors including Min-sik Choi (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Lucy), Jeong-min Hwang as The Chink and Byeong-ok Kim, the white haired killer Mr Han in Oldboy.

Though the film contains scenes almost identical to those in Infernal Affairs, and at least one lifted straight out of The Godfarther, this is a really good and solid gangster thriller. The production and direction are good, the action is well handled and the whole thing has a very professional feel about it.
I enjoy Korean cinema and this film is a good introduction to it. It doesn't have the horrific violence or terrible tragedy of some (they tend to lay it on a bit thick sometimes), but it does have some real quality acting and a decent story.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2625030/?ref_=nm_knf_t2

Dune (1984)

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear's path, and only I will remain."

David Lynch set himself an almost impossible task when he took on Frank Herbert's epic story, a task he came mighty close to pulling off.

In humanity's distant future, the House of Atreides is being betrayed. Taken from their home planet and sent to govern the Spice mining planet of Arrakis the Duke Leto Atreides can feel his time is up and that his enemies, the House of Harkonnen, are set on destroying him. But the Spice must flow, for he who controls the Spice controls the Universe. Young Paul Atreides knows this and so does the Emperor, who will do anything to be the one.

This sci-fi extravaganza, with it's sand worms, space bending whales and voice weapons does admittedly look a little dated now but that doesn't take away from what is an undeniably clever and engaging story. The international cast, with the possible exception of Kyle MacLachlan in the lead, is wonderful and includes Max von Sydow, Sting, Dean Stockwell and Jürgen Prochnow. The music is great and even though Lynch himself doesn't like it I think the edit works.

As I said, it was an impossible task. There's simply too much story to make into one film and if it was made today Peter Jackson would have split it into 3 parts. There were originally meant to be 2 sequels but with so many production problems, changes of director, cast members becoming ill etc, and with the film being considered a commercial failure they were cancelled. I doubt we missed much as the sequels to the book are nowhere near as good as the first.
Overall I really like this movie. It's one on the list of classic sci-fis and even with its undeniably 80s look it still stands up as a great watch.

*Editors Footnote*

Special mention should be made for the Sound Editing of Les Wiggins, a man who worked on everything from Waterloo to Apocalypse Now. In one of the few films that uses a voice-over narrative effectively, he did a hard job well.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Black Sunday (1977)

Not to be confused with the Italian horror movie of the same name this 70's piece of pro Israel propaganda from Manchurian Candidate director John Frankenheimer is mainly notable for being written by Thomas Harris in his pre Hannibal Lecter days.
Robert Shaw, normally a bit of a favorite of mine, is acted out of the park by Bruce Dern who showed us in the brilliant Silent Running that he can play crazy very well.
In a genre I like to call the grey 70's thriller this one's fairly low on the pile. Although still relevant the story lacks the cleverness of films like Three Days of the Condor or The Conversation.
Everything is right, director, cast, writer, but the audience is left feeling a little let down in the end.
In short, read the book, it's more fun.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075765/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_77

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

This science fiction take on Groundhog Day from Bourne Identity director Doug Liman sees Tom Cruse railroaded into combat against mysterious alien foes intent on taking over the earth.
Fitted with the latest in mechanical battle suits, Cruse somehow finds himself in a seemingly endless 'time loop' of fighting, dying and waking back where he started, each time edging a little closer to both victory and an answer to what's happening to him.
Bill Paxton seems to have a great time playing the same Master Sargeant that bust his balls in Aliens, he just needs the cigar. Emily Blunt plays confused and angry quite well, it is pretty well everyone's motif for this movie, and though there are plenty of other recognisable faces they're fairly inconsequential to the story. The production and action are good but, though I did enjoy this film, it suffers from some major problems. The storyline is a mix of lots of others we've seen before, Groundhog Day, Starship Troopers and the much better and more popular District 9, it even has the same opening sequences as half a dozen better movies. Tom Cruse is good but looks old and we'd have been better off with a nobody. After about an hour the film loses focus and we get a needless bit of semi romance between Cruse and Blunt, it feels a little forced in terms of writing but it doesn't last long and leads fairly well to the finale.
The film didn't do well at the box office and the studio tried repackaging it with the stupid name Live, Die, Repeat, a mistake that didn't help the situation, but in a market flooded with bad sci-fi this one works well. Enjoyable, well paced and very watchable.
Oh, and the suits remind you of Halo, and that's pretty cool!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Green Wing (TV, 2004-2007)

Outstanding surrealist British comedy from Smack The Pony writer Victoria Pile, made all the better for a short run of only 2 series and a special.
We follow the lives, loves and incestuous relationships of the doctors, nurses and backroom staff of an NHS hospital. Dr Todd (Tamsin Greig) arrives for her first day in a new job to almost immediately find herself in the midst of a love quadrangle involving two handsome doctors and an insane Scottish administrator that will culminate in a botox stabbing and a touch of amnesia.
The show made a household name of Stephen Mangan, gave us the wonderfully funny Mark Heap's best performance and sent Olivia Colman on her way to winning almost every award under the sun.
More Monty Python than Only Fools and Horses, this is British comedy at its absolute best.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423661/?ref_=nv_sr_1

John Wick (2014)

John Wick was an enforcer for the Russian Mob, the man you sent to kill the boogie man, but when he falls in love he decides it's time to settle down and retire. The happy days don't last long though and his lovely new wife dies young. The day after the funeral a puppy arrives at his door, a last present from his love and something to focus on in his grief but when the son of his ex-boss, not knowing who John is, kills the dog and steals his car, he unwittingly releases a beast that will bring down the Mob!

At first you'll think it formulaic and silly but I tell you what, the edit is clever and Keanu's been practicing the old fisticuffs and is very good.

The action is great and having been directed by 2 fight choreographers you'd expect it to be. The production is big and glossy, there's nothing wrong with that in a film of this type, and there are some great cameos from Wil Dafoe and Ian McShane. Michael Nyqvist getting high smacks a little of For a Few Dollars More and the whole gold coin routine seems expensive and foolhardy; being caught with one would be an admission of guilt. It doesn't matter, these bits of silliness make it more of a romp and they sit well against Reeves' seriousness.
Over-all I gotta say I really enjoyed it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2911666/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

This superb adaptation by Tom Stoppard of his own play sees Tim Roth and Gary Oldman in the eponymous roles of Hamlet's friends from school.
In the Shakespearean play little is mentioned about the characters. They are invited to Denmark by the king, Hamlet's uncle, to discover what's the matter with him and to try and cheer him up. They take him to England, where every man is mad anyway, and rather disappear from the play, their story being wound up with the words of the title.
In this hugely clever and funny play Stoppard takes on and follows these characters through their time in Denmark as they discover the nature of a truly random universe, Newtonian law, interludes with pirates and players and finally an undeserved and tragic death.
The cast is wonderful and includes Richard Dreyfuss doing one of his finest turns and Iain Glen as a sold and convincing Hamlet.
It happens that Hamlet is my favorite play, but there's no need for the viewer to have ever seen it or indeed liked it to enjoy this movie, it stands up perfectly on its own.
I really recommend this film,  all I ask is...whos serve is it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100519/?ref_=nv_sr_5

The Equalizer (2014)

Training Day director Antoine Fuqua (do you really say his name fucker?) teams up again with Denzel Washington for this action flick that gives the vaguest of nods to the original tv series.
Denzel is very good in his guise as ex something or other, driven back to his old ways by whatever to find redemption in so and so but the film is seriously let down by the lousy acting of the majority of the cast and some awful dialog.
Chloe Mortez is sexy as hell (is that ok? how old is she now??) but brings nothing else to the party and whether it was her, her people or the director that told the creepy fat guy to pull out of his arse slap at the last moment it smacks of a lack of method and is kind of embarrassing.
The "Russians" are absurdly unconvincing and I very much doubt a black American would have such an easy time  popping over to Moscow to whack a baddy.
That said, this was never intended to be some thoughtful piece of art.
The action is good, in particular the end fight in the DIY store, the production looks nice and the sort of semi OCD hook for the main character, though nothing we haven't seen before, works well enough.
It's watchable but I like Denzel and want more from him.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455944/?ref_=nm_knf_t4

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

More aged action from Liam Neeson and his nondescript accent now.
Neeson plays an ex-detective and recovering alcoholic working as an unlicensed private eye who is hired by a drug dealer, Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens, to track down the men who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Though the casting is odd and the script is trite to say the least, in particular the tired dialogue of TJ, David Harbour and Adam Thompson are good and creepy as the psychotic bad guys and the film moves along at a good pace.
In terms of Neeson's mid-life crisis actioneering, and however hackneyed this is, it's a far better movie than any of the Taken trilogy.
I can't go so far as to recommend it but at the same time I won't lie to you and say I didn't quite enjoy it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365907/?ref_=nm_knf_t3

A History of Violence (2005)

Someone once said that there was nothing David Cronenberg likes more than bodily fluids and this atmospheric thriller is a good example of that.
The 'man without a past' story is a little heavy handed as is often the case in scripts taken from graphic novels but the direction is solid, apart from his wounds healing in about 3 days, and there's some really nice camera work.
Viggo Mortensen has a lot of on-screen experience and showed way back in Carlito's Way that he can do really well under good direction.
Ed Harris is great but we don't see enough of him and really the rest are just also-rans.
Over all it's good but it lacks the innovation of films like Scanners and Videodrome and it cries out for a prequel, which is not something a good story should really need.
The more I watch it the more I feel we're just reveling in some well handled on-screen violence but hey, the clue's in the title.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399146/?ref_=nm_knf_t1

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil (2010)

Teenage/Stoner comedy horror from young and frankly struggling director Eli Craig. Tucker and Dale are 2 kindly hillbilly looking types in the woods to fix up their new cabin when they're misjudged by a bunch of college kids and find themselves fighting for survival.
Tired and clumsy, both figuratively and literally, this is a ten minute Saturday Night Live sketch stretched to an hour and a half. Great if you're 16 with a bong but nothing we haven't seen before. The three main characters are sympathetic enough but a film like this needs to get its laughs from silly and imaginative deaths like in Zombieland, just watching that film and saying 'lets do it again but in the woods' isn't enough.
Not a bad movie but not something I'd ever pay for and so lacking that I can't really think of anything more to say.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465522/?ref_=nv_sr_4

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Shane Meadows' shocking and brutal revenge thriller sees Paddy Considine return to his home town from the army to punish the small time drug dealers that have been bullying his young special-needs brother.
With a terrifying performance from Considine and a wonderfully convincing one from Toby Kebbell as the brother, this film is a great example of how you don't need to spend hundreds of millions to tell a damn good story.
As far as Paddy goes in his craziness, the whole thing still manages to feel very real and local.
Meadows' depiction of small town England is spot on.
Clever, exciting and frightening film making on a budget. For me, this is pretty well perfect.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419677/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_10

Attack (1956)

This less-known and rather under rated war movie from Baby Jane director Robert Aldrich really is one of the finest examples of the genre.
It takes on the horrors and futility of war, the nepotism of a non professional army and the hellish bravery of the men on the front line.
The cast is outstanding. Jack Palance gives by far his best performance, Eddie Albert makes the audience feel sympathy and hate in almost equal measure and Lee Marvin, whom the director will work with again some time later on the silly but fun Dirty Dozen, is as always great to watch.
The film tells the story of a single National Guard company sent to set up an observation post in a small farm house. When they are attacked by tanks the help they were promised fails to arrive and they find themselves on their own with only a handful of men left.
Will any of them make it back alive? Will the cowardly Captain Cooney get his comeuppance or will the old boys network save him yet again?
Containing the best and most harrowing death scene on film, Attack is simply stunning and I cannot give it high enough praise or recommend it more.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048966/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_26

Terror in a Texas Town (1958)

This odd western from Gun Crazy director Joseph Lewis has become something of a cult classic over the years.
The story sees whaler Sterling Hayden, whose vital fluids will later be stolen in Dr. Strangelove, return home to take revenge on the oil baron who had his father killed.
This is a true B movie so don't expect great performances but Hayden, with his 6' 5" stature and incredible voice, has real presence.
Sebastian Cabot does fine as the towns oligarch and Ned Young is his leather gloved killer.
The film's most notable for it's high noon with a harpoon showdown at the end.
It's not going to knock your socks off, but it's something fun to watch on a wet afternoon.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052287/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Inside Man (2006)

This super-stylish crime thriller sees cop Denzel Washington pitted against Clive Owen's bank robber, Christopher Plummer's evil banker and Jodie Foster's fixer (Miss White? oh please).
I've made no bones in the past about my distaste for Spike Lee but that's not because I consider him a bad director, I consider him a stereotyping bigot, and this is a very well put together film with a terrific cast, a high production value and an overall feeling of quality.
Christopher Plummer only gets better with age, Clive Owen is solid and well cast and Jodie Foster is nicely frosty.
Lee can't help himself though and Washington's look and the dynamic with his fiancee is over the top. He has Denzel tell off a cop for using the term 'Spic' and thinks nothing of having him use 'Mayonnaise' to describe Plummer nor does he blink at Dafoe saying 'Rag-heads'.
I can get over it.
This is a really good and enjoyable crime caper with a cast and crew that worked like they knew they were making something good and that's a fine thing to see.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454848/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Alone in the Wild (TV, 2009)

In 2009 Scottish wildlife cameraman Ed Wardle decided to fulfill a life-long dream and see if he could survive alone  with only the most meagre of supplies for 3 months in the Yukon territories of Canada.
Filmed for the UK's Channel 4, this 3 part mini-series follows Ed through the initial excitement and wonder of his stunning surroundings, the onset and realization of loneliness, the incredible difficulties of simply finding enough food to stay alive and the outright fear of both the known and unknown.
The viewer is given some wonderful moments of ecstasy and tragedy as we watch Ed arguing with squirrels, singing to bears, crying at planes and finally laughing hysterically at cheese!
A very pretty and interesting show that will leave you wondering whether you could make it yourself and though I'd love to try, I think I'd probably die. Still, worse ways to go.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1660673/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Welcome to the Punch (2013)

Painfully embarrassing attempt to superimpose an American style, guns-a-blazing cop thriller on to the strangely empty streets of ole London town.
James McAvoy plays the unconvincingly named Max Lewinsky, a hard boiled cop brought down when he lets Mark Strong's uber bad guy get the better of him. Years later when Strong's son is killed in a job gone bad he returns to England and resumes his dance with Lewinsky while uncovering all sorts of blah, blah, fucking blah.
McAvoy, once good in Shameless and great in The Last King of Scotland before never acting again, is so desperate to appeal to an American audience he even wears his watch upside down on the wrong wrist. Mark Strong, who I'm a big fan of, is actually quite convincing in parts and that somehow makes things worse. It makes you feel sorry for a good actor in a bad film, but I guess he's working and paying the bills.
The sets are cheap as hell, all empty night time shots and industrial studio motifs. Everything is done with this self-conscious, sudo cool effect, they even have the motorbikes used in the opening heist scene pulling away in formation wheelies.
If this had been made as a Saturday evening BBC1 try aimed at the Life on Mars/Spooks audience I'd have understood but been bloody angry at my licence fee being used on it, As it is, though I'm still annoyed that I wasted so much time watching this crap, I can laugh at the fact that it cost $8.5m to make and took $2500 on it's opening weekend.
Even Mark Strong's professionalism couldn't save this one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684233/?ref_=nv_sr_2

The Long Good Friday (1980)

Harold is having a very bad day. He should be finishing the biggest deal of his life, schmoozing the yanks into big investments, but bad things are happening. A bomb's found in his casino, another nearly takes out his mum and a couple of his boys have turned up dead, if they've turned up at all. Is it a new mob trying to muscle in or something much more serious?
Director John Mackenzie, best known for the tv series Play for Today, gave Bob Hoskins the part he was made for in Harold the gangster. Helen Mirren is as glamorous and talented as ever  and solid character actor P.H. Moriarty puts in a great turn as hard man Razors.
Keep an eye out for a young Pierce Brosnan as 1st Irishman.
This is a classic and classy British gangster flick that works in every way.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081070/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_69

The Book of Eli (2010)

*SPOILER*

Another piece of Denzel action here brought to us by the Hughes brothers (Menace 2 Society, From Hell, Dead Presidents).
In what is a massive though decent ripoff of Mad Max 2, Eli wanders the post-apocalyptic bad lands ever heading west, righting wrongs and chopping off many heads.
There's a great cast that includes Gary Oldman's pantomime villain, Michael Gambon, the lovely Frances de la Tour and even Malcolm McDowell.
I do enjoy this film but, though there is a vague twist in the end, I can't help but feel a better writer would have used something less obvious than the Bible. The Joy of Cooking maybe... or Winnie the Pooh.
The Hughes brothers rarely have missed and this is a really watchable movie, holes or not, it's enjoyable trash.
(Why would cannibalism give you shaky hands?)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/?ref_=nv_sr_3