Amusement (2008)

Director: John Simpson
Starring: Keir O'Donnell, Katheryn Winnick, Laura Breckenridge, Jessica Lucas

SYNOPSIS

Three girls, who had all been involved in ridiculing a boy when they were young children, encounter separate but linked fates involving a traffic convoy, a clown and a creep old house.

REVIEW

This was strange one for me in the sense that I was peripherally aware of it for a long time before I'd gotten round to watching it, and it left me with a feeling of both disappointment and pleasant surprise.

First of all, I didn't expect it to be a portmanteau style of movie with intertwining stories. So, like most viewers, the abrupt end & switch after the first story caught me by surprise. That first story was a strong start, effortlessly building tension to a shock twist. The second story is equally strong, though to be fair creepy clowns aren't hard to pull off. But, it all seemed to be a great little gem of a movie.

Unfortunately, things fall apart during the third act. The final story isn't anywhere near as gripping as the previous two and it's also the one where everything ties up and gets explained. The explanation is left wanting, and more than a little silly with characters whose arcs are never truly resolved. it's a shame, especially as director Simpson seems to be a real talent when he gets going (his 2004 effort Freeze Frame was similarly flawed but occasionally brilliant).

As a side note, I don't think I've ever seen any movie get unjustly attacked so much on IMDB for similarities to other movies! The clown features heavily in advertising though only really shows up in one story, leading to claims that it's everything from a remake of Stephen King's IT to a complete rip-off... I certainly wouldn't go that far, it's a great movie for much of its length and short enough so that its flaws never outstay its welcome.

7 / 10

Public Enemies (2009)

Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard

SYNOPSIS

The true story of the notorious Great Depression bank robber John Dillinger, and the attempts to catch him by FBI agent Melvin Purvis.

REVIEW

Maybe it's because I'm neither a big Michael Mann fan nor opposed to digital filming techniques, but I don't see what the fuss was about with this movie.

On the one hand, people were lauding it as a new masterpiece of crime cinema, ushering in a new level of realism to a stale genre and injecting new life into an era often seen as staid and stale on screen. On the other hand, there were those who attacked Mann's decision to use ultra-crisp HD photography and modern movie-making techniques as being at odds with the action on screen.

All in all, I think both of these opinions are misplaced. The visual style and music generally worked for me (although I have to admit I saw it in standard definition). It's not bad, and it certainly didn't seem to anachronistic to my mind. However, it's no masterpiece. It's a decent enough thriller with many of the same tropes used by Mann in his earlier movies - especially Heat. The cast is fine though unspectacular. the supporting cast is great, but not given a great deal to do. The period detail is fascinating but not noticeable after a while. The whole movie is... well, OK.

7 / 10

The Sentinel (2006)

Director: Clark Johnson
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Eva Longoria, Martin Donovan

SYNOPSIS

A long-serving Secret Service agent is caught up in a conspiracy when he is implicated in an attempted Presidential assassination.

REVIEW

Not bad, this one but it's one of those movies it's difficult to say something interesting about! The movie is a fairly straightforward conspiracy thriller, whereby some characters are efficiently introduced (mostly Douglas and his affair with the First lady and antagonistic relationship toward Sutherland). Things happen, Douglas has to clear his name and it all ends mostly as you'd expect.

The cast is great, the direction solid and the script fair, but it doesn't really do much when all is said and done. in fact, I saw it just a day before writing this review and details are already blurring to some degree. Any movie with this kind of cast is worth watching and it's a decent rainy afternoon timewaster, but you know you've not got a classic when the most notable thing is that the President is played by the guy who played Sledgehammer!

6 / 10

New Moon (2009)

Director: Chris Weitz
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Rachelle Lefevre, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning

SYNOPSIS

The story started in Twilight continues with Bella's romance with vampire Edward causing problems. He doesn't want her to be turned into one of them, but her presences around blood-lusting vampires is causing tension. Edward decides to leave but that only puts Bella in the path of Victoria - who still vows vengeance over her lover's death - and also into the arms of Jacob - Bella's childhood friend who is actually one of a family of werewolves, the vampires' mortal enemy.

REVIEW

It's something of a surprise that I watched this film given a number of factors. One is that I'm a hardcore horror fan, so any attempt to water down or manipulate the genre tends to be annoying - and few come more manipulated than this series, which ignores much of established lore while aiming everything at the teenage love story market. The other is that, as expected, I hated the first film.

There's many reasons for that, but most of them have been repeated on the net ad infinitum - Bella's pathetic need to be controlled by men, the thinly-veiled Mormon propaganda, the sparkly vampires, etc. But, it's enough to put me off ever sitting in front of this series. yet, for various reasons, I found myself coerced into giving this one a shot. You know what? It's not as bad as the original, although you have to slog through a lot of tired and dumb love story to get to the (relatively) good stuff.

Much of the first half of the film is taken up with typical romantic tropes (as well as heavy-handed nudges toward Romeo & Juliet). Bella is afraid of growing old while Edward remains eternally young. His decision to leave is understandable, if astoundingly badly communicated. From there, Bella mopes around literally for months before latching on to Jacob, who then decides (for reasons nakedly obvious in the first film) to dump her as well.

From there, the most pathetic heroine in recent movie history actually starts growing a backbone to some degree. Well, she's been "developing" one during the film since she worked out that doing something stupidly dangerous allows her to see Edward. But, she starts fighting back a little, and then does something proactive when she has a chance to save Edward instead.

Here's where the film gets a little more interested as the mythos of the world is opened up a bit. Vampires apparently have a hierarchy, and a council named Volturi based in what seems to be Italy (kind of) have the power of life and death over vampires. That is, if a vampire breaks certain rules, they kill them. One of the rules is exposing the existence of vampires to the wider world, and Bella has to rush to stop Edward (who though stupidly contrived serious of situations thinks Bella is dead) from doing this to get himself killed.

It's all fairly stupid, of course. Bella is one of the most obnoxiously selfish and stupid characters ever committed to film - not a good sign for our supposed heroine. Edward is as distant as ever (literally this time for much of the movie), and you never really get to see why, exactly, she would choose him over the much more likeable Jacob other than that's what the script says. The "daredevil" aspect is utterly laughable, although not quite as stupid as the vampire baseball in the first movie, and the whole thing ends on a "yep, we're making a sequel" not, though that was of course obvious by this point.

So, not a complete waste of time and the climax is at least interesting, but why this series is so popular escapes me. I might end up watching the next couple of movies just to see if the dark areas I've heard that the novels finally start to contain is translated on screen, but I still have no expectations.

5 / 10

Colin (2008)

Director: Marc Price
Starring: Alastair Kirton, Daisy Aitkens, Kate Alderman, Leanne Pammen, Tat Whalley

SYNOPSIS

Colin is a freshly turned zombie, who stumbles around his neighbourhood during a zombie outbreak.

REVIEW

There's 2 things that really made this otherwise pretty minor movie stand out when it was released on DVD last year. First of all, it's an unusually staged movie, taking from from the point of view of a zombie during a zombie uprising. Second, it was apparently produced for a budget of £45 (about US$65)!

Now, there's problem inherent with both of these facts, and it doesn't take long for either of them to become visible. To start with, following a zombie around isn't actually all that interesting. After all, especially as we're talking about the grunting, shuffling, George Romero-style zombie, we don't get a lot of dialogue. So, we see Colin shuffling from one place to another watching or participating in some attacking of human beings. Price does try to pad the movie out a little bit with flashbacks to Colin's living self and a few other detours, but the movie does drag a little (at 97 minutes, it's also at least 20 minutes too long).

Compounding this problem is that £45 doesn't buy you much. The film seems to have been done on an experimental basis, using free software, previously existing digital media and unprofessional or volunteer actors. The price of this is of course the quality of the finished film. It doesn't look good, and while the actor portraying Colin himself isn't too bad, the supporting cast isn't very good.

Overall, like El Mariachi, Pi, Primer, Clerks and all the other "made for nothing" movies that get a lot of press, this is an inspiring movie that makes you want to get up and make a movie instead of just watching or writing about them! Unlike those movies, however, it's no classic and while it should be applauded for trying something different with the overpopulated zombie genre, it's pretty mediocre and wouldn't have gotten much attention had its reported budget not been so ridiculously low.

Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief (2010)

Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario,, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Kevin McKidd, Uma thurman

Based on the novel by Rick Riordan.

SYNOPSIS

Percy Jackson is a high school student who struggles with school and his ignorant stepfather. He's got few friends, struggles to study at school and has a very low attention span. However, one day he's attacked and forced to confront his actual identity - he is a demi-god, son of the ancient Greek God Poseidon. Unfortunately, he's also falsely accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt and has to travel to hades to rescue his mother and clear his name.

REVIEW

Well, this was a surprise. I'm usually fairly good at predicting the artistic (if not always commercial) success of movies and this has "pathetic cash-in" written all over it. The plot sounds like a mere re-tread of the Harry Potter movies, and it's directed by the man who brought us the first two Potters - frankly mediocre before they got really good with the 3rd movie.

So, imagine my surprise when it turned out to be actually pretty good, and very entertaining! Part of this might be the fact that it's based on Greek mythology. The script has fun rearranging the famous myths for a new setting, and manages to have a fairly light hand at introducing them. They're never heavy-handed - no drawn-out exposition scenes for newcomers to the classic characters - and there's a lot of cameos for famous actors playing them. Everybody seems to be having fun and the film just keeps moving.

There's pretty much nothing that really stands out as not working here. The central cast are capable, the effects are good, there's enough darkness to satisfy the source (e.g. Medusa really does kill people when they turn to stone) and it doesn't drift too far into sentimentality. About the only real downside is that seeing Pierce Brosnan as a centaur is a little strange to say the least!

Overall, a great afternoon piece of entertainment, and I'm hoping a sequel will be forthcoming.

Psycho A Go-Go (1965)

Director: Al Adamson
Starring: Roy Morton, Tacey Robbins

SYNOPSIS

A family is held under siege following a jewel heist, as the thieves responsible had hidden the diamonds in the father's truck.

REVIEW

Al Adamson was one of the most infamous names in drive-in and exploitation fare during the 60s and 70s. He was mainly notorious for the cheapness of his fare, and the fact that he'd often re-edit existing material re-release it under a different title.

This, in fact, was one of his most notorious productions having been re-edited and re-released many times under such titles as Blood Of Ghastly Horror, The Man With the Synthetic Brain and Echo of Terror. This original version was thought lost, but it's managed to surface on Troma's DVD label and popped up for some reason on the UK satellite channel Movies4Men.

It's pretty much as you'd expect from Adamson's output. It's very cheap, with some bizarre non-sequiturs (such as the bizarrely racist doll the young girl carries around with her) and some extremely bad editing and acting. the soundtrack is notably annoying, and almost every sequence in the film is padded out to ridiculous lengths.

Still, it does have a strange charm about it, although certainly not recommended for anyone other than those with a high tolerance for crap.

3 / 10

The Damned United (2009)

Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Michael Sheen, Colm Meaney, Timothy Spall, Jimmy Reddington, Henry Goodman

Based on the novel by David Peace.

SYNOPSIS

The story of Brian Clough's disastrous 44 day reign as manager of Leeds United in 1974.

REVIEW

This is an unusual movie for me, as I really, really don't like football. I'm not particularly keen on most sports, but growing up in the UK it's hard to avoid football in particular and it can be annoying. I don't care about the game and although my interest can be piqued somewhat by the World Cup, even then I only care about the result and not the tactics or behind-the-scenes action.

However, I'm not so prejudiced that I can't recognise good drama and filmmaking and this is a film that proves it. Flashing back and forth between Clough's early days at Derby Country and his resulting rivalry with Leeds United manager Don Revie. The motivations and dynamics of the characters are laid out very clear, and you don't have to like football to get Clough's drive to beat Revie's results at Leeds or his relationship with management partner Peter Taylor.

As ever with what is essentially a small-scale drama, the performances are what counts and this has some great ones. Michael Sheen is great as ever and gives a great imitation of Clough's mannerisms, and he's ably backed up by the likes of Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney and Jim Broadbent. It's also nicely topped off with some footage of the real players in action at various points and the real people portrayed at the end of the film.

This film (and the book it's based on) has been criticised for straying from the truth a little too much, but it doesn't matter too much in my mind. It's a neat movie that holds the interest of even a football luddite like myself, and well worth the watch.

7 / 10

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Director: Colin Strause & Greg Strause
Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade, Kristen Hager

SYNOPSIS

A Predator spacecraft orbiting Earth is carrying a payload of alien creatures, who impregnate one of them and cause the ship to crash near a small American town. A disparate group of local people have to fight against the odds, while a Predator is sent to help destroy the alien threat.

REVIEW

I did have high hopes for this at one point. One of the great problems with the first AvP was that it was PG-13 and seemed to miss the point of both franchises at the same time. The Antarctic setting of that movie seemed to go against one of the main things we knew about Predators, and the modern-day setting undermined some of the issues raised in the Alien franchise. The rating meant there was little gore, and even the sound effects for the creatures seemed off.

So, here we were with a movie built from the ground up to be an R-rated movie and the red band trailer looked awesome. But, I never bothered watching it until now... The buzz was deadly, suggesting that the movie was a mess and that every great shot was in the trailer. There was also the problem of the movie being set in the modern day - no, the problems of modern American teenagers and a dysfunctional family have no place in either franchise. So, I skipped it.

Thankfully, it's not that bad, although my low expectations may have had something to do with my relatively positive reaction. First of all, the movie has some balls - something that's missing from most Hollywood movies. We see children and pregnant women actually come to some harm and not used as mere props to tease the audience. We see the effect that an organic acid would have on a human being. We see glimpses of the Predator homeworld, as well as a few more tidbits about Weyland-Yutani's origins.

But, it's a pretty average slog for the most part. Worse, the directors seem to be the kind of fans who think it's clever to drop distracting "homages" to the other films. So, we get a character named Dallas, a little girl that's obviously meant to be a reference to Newt, one character that shouts "get to the chopper!", countless music cues, etc. It's distracting and although it would have been nice in a better movie it's just a little silly here.

Worse, several points of the plot seem to contradict both their own internal logic and what we already know about the creatures. For example, the predator that's dispatched to clean up on Earth has vials of blue liquid which he pours over the alien's victims - presumably to stop indigenous life from being aware of them. Why, then, does he skin and hang the first person he attacks, drawing attention to him and his prey? The Weyland-Yutani corporation clearly get hold of a beam weapon toward the end of the film, so why was no beam weapon available in Aliens? Why did breeding with the Predator suddenly alter the aliens' lifecycle?

It's a shame as this had so much promise, but it's not that good. not terrible, but not anywhere near what it should have been...

6 / 10

The Backwoods (2006)

Director: Koldo Serra
Synopsis: Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Virginie Ledoyen, Lluís Homar, Yaiza Esteve

SYNOPSIS

In the 1970s, two couples take a trip away to the north of Spain, where one of them spent a lot of time as a child and is renovating his parents' old home. They're not looked upon kindly by the locals (although grudgingly accepted when it transpires that one of the couples speak fluent Spanish) but they keep themselves to themselves - up until they discover a deformed young girl locked away in a shed.

REVIEW

Since Frightfest co-organiser Paul McEvoy has joined the team at the UK Horror Channel (formerly known as Zone Horror), I've noticed a definite rise in quality of fare on the channel. While there's still the fair share of shot-on-DV zombie movies and crappy knock-offs produced by The Asylum, many of these are now being replaced by actual quality movies. What surprised me with this movie is that not only is it a great movie that wouldn't look out of place on the regular Frightfest schedule, I'd never actually heard of it before!

This is especially surprising as it's a movie with a definitely A-list pair of leads, and it's a Spanish co-production, so with that being my current adopted home, you'd have thought I'd have seen something...

Either way, it's a solid production with a lot of concentration on the character aspects of the piece. Oldman is cocky and arrogant, obviously comfortable with the language and local customs of the village (although he's not been there for many years), which Considine is the fish-out-of-water, trying desperately to understand what's going on around him and dealing with a rocky marriage on top of it all.

The story is slow-moving and familiar in many ways - we have the redneck hicks, the deadly secret and the fight for survival. But, the direction is solid, the script tight and the performances almost universally excellent with a few nice surprises near the end.

it's a well-kept secret as far as I'm concerned (although feel free to call me out on this if it seems obvious to you!), and I'll be very happy if gems like this surface on the channel in future.

8 / 10

Legion (2010)

Director: Scott Charles Stewart
Starring: Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton

SYNOPSIS

The archangel Michael returns to Earth in order to help defend a group of people trapped in a remote diner. Angels are possessing the living and killing in order to get at the as-yet unborn baby being carried by one of the waitresses.

REVIEW

I've heard a lot of bad things about this movie, but I actually enjoyed it as a throwaway piece of entertainment. To be honest, it really depends on what you want from the movie. If you're religious and you don't want to be offended, stay away, as all we really get here at the end of the day is a Night Of The Living Dead scenario in a diner being attacked by angels that don't bear much direct resemblance to the biblical stories.

Same goes to anybody who's expecting anything deep, meaningful or particularly scary. There's not a lot here that we haven't all seen before, and even the pseudo religious elements were done better in The Prophecy, 15 years ago.

That said, former special effect man Scott Stewart does show some style behind the camera. He's made a fairly entertaining ride that doesn't really hold up all that well on a scripting level but does the job. A great cast, including the underused Dennis Quaid and Dutton do help quite a lot as well.

So, not the atrocious work I'd been lead to believe but an entertaining timewaster with some unusual action setpieces. Apparently, Stewart likes this subject matter as his next film (entitled Priest) is also a religious-tinged action fantasy starring Paul Bettany...

6 / 10

Roots: The Gift (1988)

Director: Kevin Hooks
Starring: LeVar Burton, Louis Gossett Jr., Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ

SYNOPSIS

Kunta Kinte and Fiddler encounter a freed slave who is soon captured and enslaved once more for helping other slaves escape to the north. However, he still has friends on the underground railroad that might help him escape once again.

REVIEW

The original miniseries of Roots made television history, breaking viewership records and – due to more diverse modern viewing habits – will probably never be beaten as the most watch programme in TV history. One of the most notable revelations was a young actor, LeVar Burton, whose strong portrayal of the enslaved African Kunta Kinte was a breakout performance. Sadly, the plot required that he was replaced by a different actor to portray Kinte's later years.

During the 1980s, however, Burton had become a well-known actor both for his role as Geordi LeForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation and for hosting the children's book show Reading Rainbow. With a sequel to the original miniseries having taken Alex Haley's family history to the modern day, it was decided to revisit an earlier part of Kinte's life, here before Kinte has his foot removed for trying to escape too many times.

It's a rather slight and realistically pointless exercise, but it's nice to see these characters again. Gossett Jr. and Burton seem to effortlessly slide into their old roles while it's intriguing to see Burton teamed with future Star Trek actors Mulgrew, Brooks and Russ.

Being a TV Christmas special made in the 1980s, as well as being a story to which we know the ending (i.e. we know that the attempt to get Kinte and Fiddler to freedom is doomed), there is a mawkish feel to the whole thing as well as a feeling of general pointlessness to the whole exercise. Having said that, it's nice to see new footage from this classic TV series.

So, a bit of a throwaway exercise but there's enough here to keep interest so long as you don't expect anything too special.

6 / 10