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Ab-Normal Beauty |
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AB-NORMAL BEAUTY Helmed by one half of the Pang Brothers (The Eye), Ab-Normal Beauty takes a step away from supernatural Asian Horror, and instead goes in a much loopier and psychological direction. Art student Jinny (Race Wong) witnesses a car crash, and suddenly finds herself obsessed with death as a thing of beauty, teetering into complete madness and threatening to take everyone around her along for the ride. Drenched in a super-cool visual style, the first hour is blisteringly weird and genuinely disturbing- but then, an ultra-violent serial killer plotline comes crashing in out of nowhere, dragging what was an original horror flick back into a more routine direction. * * * THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: SEASON ONE The first actor to be genuinely associated with Superman (as well as the first supposed victim of the “Superman Curse”), George Reeves makes an enjoyable (if slightly cheesy) hero in this engagingly creaky Fifties TV show. Stripping out most of the sci-fi from the original comics, each episode is a mini-B-movie with Reeves battling everyday crooks and corrupt politicians in a weird mix of clean-cut heroism and film noir grit. It’s laughable at times, especially in the moments where all the major action conveniently occurs off-screen, but there’s plenty of innocent charm, and it’s fascinating to see how influential the show was on later incarnations of the big blue wonder. Extras: Featurette, Commentaries, “Pony Trap Express” short The informative 15-minute featurette offers some fun nostalgia, but the commentaries from non-fiction Superman authors are a little patronising, and the presence of a twenty-minute Western starring Reeves as a young Buffalo Bill is downright bizarre. Show: * * * Extras: * *
AFTERLIFE Where would films be without superficial, self-obsessed characters desperately in need of a few life lessons? This modest Brit film nominates arrogant journo Kevin McKidd, who finds himself trying to balance a rising career with unwillingly looking after his feisty Downs Syndrome sister, all while his mother enters the terminal stages of cancer. The performances are hugely affecting, especially from Paula Sage as the sister, but you know exactly where the story's going from the first five minutes. No matter how hard it tries, the overwritten screenplay can't stop this from feeling like a TV drama that's wandered onto the big screen by mistake. * *
ANOTHER PUBLIC ENEMY A follow-up to 2003's 'Dirty Harry meets American Psycho' thriller from South Korea seemed like a dead cert- but this bizarre sequel remixes the main character, morphing Sol Kyung-gu from a shambolic corrupt cop into a crusading public prosecutor. Once again, he's on the trail of a smug rich man determined to get away with murder (Jun-ho), but the crude humour and gritty energy that made the original so distinctive has been dumped. It's like a Dirty Harry sequel recasting Clint as a clean-cut civil servant, and this bloated thriller's admittedly serious points about corruption and class divides can't stop it from sinking into mediocrity. * *
APPLESEED CGI animation gets a shiny new upgrade in this Japanese sci-fi epic, as a female soldier and her cybernetically enhanced ex-boyfriend tackle a conflict between humanity and artificially generated ‘bioroids’ in a gleaming future city. Based on a Manga comic from the author of Ghost In The Shell, it’s a similar mix of philosophy and brain-frazzling action, all rendered in a cel-shaded CGI style that’s part cartoon, part photo-realism. It can’t avoid running into the twin curses of an overwritten, melodramatic script and an ear-splittingly horrible English dub, but turn off your ears and the result is frenetic, gob-smacking eye-candy like nothing you’ve ever seen before. * * *
ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN Long before he perfected his signature ‘mockumentary’ style, Christopher Guest helmed this 1993 TV remake of the classic 1950s sci-fi B-movie, but couldn’t shift the resulting sluggish camp-fest out of neutral gear. Daryl Hannah is the downtrodden doormat of a woman who grows to enormous proportions following a close encounter, and gains both self-empowerment and an extravagant hairstyle before going on a climactic, proto-feminist rampage. There’s a likeably kooky tone to much of the film, but it can’t make up its mind whether it’s mocking or celebrating its source matter, and the TV-level special effects are just a little too creaky for comfort. Film: * * Extras: None
BAADASSSSS! Playing his own father and recreating the circumstances of his first sex scene at the age of 13, the tale behind the filming of Blaxploitation landmark Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is obviously a labour of love for actor/director Mario Van Peebles. Commendably, he doesn’t sugar-coat the Seventies-set story, showing how Melvin Van Peebles risked his position as a rising Hollywood director to make an incendiary film crammed with sex, violence and confrontational politics. It’s a luridly entertaining story, but while Van Peebles Snr.’s passionate anger shines through, Van Peebles Jr. relies too heavily on voice-over to connect the dots, ending up with an occasionally awkward blend of documentary and drama. Extras: Commentary, Q+A session, Featurette, Biographies The ‘Making of’ featurette is a little over-earnest, but contains superb input from Executive Producer Michael Mann. Elsewhere, Melvin Van Peebles gives great value in the half-hour Q+A, and also backs up his son in the in-depth and absorbing commentary. Film: * * * Extras: * * * * BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON TWO The Humans vs Cylons saga cruises into its second season, and this ultra-dark retooling of the creaky Seventies Star Wars cash-in continues to go in brutal directions that the original wouldn’t even have dreamt of. With gritty characterisation, sharp plotting and white-knuckle combat sequences, this is hard space opera with attitude, and even the occasional misfiring episode doesn’t stop this from being the finest sci-fi show on television, bar none. DVD Extras: Extended Episode, Commentaries, Deleted Scenes We get an extended version of the episode ‘Pegasus’ and a selection of deleted material and producer commentaries- but, strangely, only the first half of the season is covered. Show: * * * * * Extras: * * *. BAREFOOT GEN For half an hour, this 1983 Japanese animation is a passable, occasionally over-sentimental tale of a young boy and his family struggling to survive in Japan as WW2 comes to a close. Unfortunately for them, however, they're living in Hiroshima- and the moment the Atomic Bomb is dropped, we're pitched straight into a disturbing vision of hell on earth, as radiation, bomb damage and hunger starts taking its toll. Gory and brutal, the crude animation style is a long way from the lushness of Miyazaki, but the story's heart-rending honesty makes this flawed slice of Anime both deeply affecting and historically important. Extras: Collector's Booklet Movie: * * * Extras: * *
BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA: SPECIAL COLLECTOR’S EDITION RELEASE: TBC EXTRAS: Audio commentary by directors Mike Judge and Yvette Kaplan*; “The Big Picture” featurette*; “We’re Gonna Score!” featurette*; “The Smackdown” montage*; MTV News Celebrity Shorts*; Trailers It’s a decade since the ultimate brain-dead Generation X icons leapt from their animated MTV show to the cinema screen, and time has been surprisingly kind to their off-beat mix of snickering slacker humour and low-brow wordplay (“Huh-huh– he said ‘extend!!’”). The scratchy style of the original show’s animation may have been improved, and there’s a selection of mid-Nineties star voices (including a pre-divorce Willis and Moore as married smugglers), but otherwise it’s business as usual for the clueless pair. The road-movie style plotline sends them on a journey across America thanks to the theft of their beloved television, and they spend the whole voyage searching for beer, TV, and the ever-elusive chance to “score” with every girl they meet. It doesn’t scale the giddy satirical heights of the South Park movie, but the kind of film that endlessly repeats the word “Bunghole” and still gets you to laugh at it proves Mike Judge’s gloriously dumb creations haven’t lost any of their bizarre, juvenile charm. DVD EXTRAS: A decent upgrade from the previous vanilla edition of the movie, and while there’s some pointless filler (like the crappy MTV ‘Celebrity News Shorts’, with Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Tilly and Snoop Dogg in gag-free interviews), there’s also some real meat in the twenty-two minute “Big Picture” featurette. Here, we’re taken through the process of transforming the show into a movie, as well as some of the frightening original pitches from Hollywood (a live-action version starring Chris Farley and David Spade, anyone? Thought not…), and there’s fantastic material from the self-deprecating Mike Judge both here, and on the commentary track he shares with co-director Kaplan. WORTH BUYING? Film: * * * * Extras: * * * It doesn’t live up to the ‘Special Collectors’ billing, but this is still a pretty fine disc, as well as an absolute must for fans of the animated twosome.
THE BIG BOUNCE It had to happen;- the wheels have finally come off the cinematic Elmore Leonard bandwagon. After a near perfect run (GET SHORTY, JACKIE BROWN, OUT OF SIGHT), an adaptation of the crime writer's novels seemed like a dead cert- but this shamefully lazy Hawaii-set caper shows how easily it can go wrong. It's not like the talent wasn't there- director George Armitage helmed GROSSE POINTE BLANK, and Owen Wilson and Morgan Freeman head up the cast- but the end result looks more like a combined holiday and tax write-off than anything designed to entertain. Wilson plays a construction worker fired after playing baseball with foreman Vinnie Jones' face (an understandable impulse...), but soon he's being seduced by thrill-seeker Sara Foster to help swipe $200,000 from her crooked boyfriend. It's the traditional "who's scamming who?" question, but the answer turns out so mind-numbingly dull that even constant shots of crashing waves and bland ex-model Foster's pert backside can't help. By the time the blink-and-you'll-miss-it climax arrives, this collection of stale left-overs from better Leonard films can't even work up enough energy to be authentically dreadful. Only Morgan Freeman gives his usual decent value- but then, he's the man who made pigswill like DREAMCATCHER watchable... *
A BITTERSWEET LIFE Cranking South Korea’s reputation for breathtaking violence up another couple of notches, this stylised revenge thriller from A Tale of Two Sisters director Ji-woon closely follows the Hong Kong ‘Heroic Bloodshed’ blueprint perfected by John Woo, but adds a couple of sadistic twists into the mix. The first half is gentle build-up, as ice-cool gangland enforcer Byung-hun (JSA) unexpectedly falters in carrying out his duty and doesn’t execute his boss’ two-timing girlfriend. He’s soon paying a horrific price (including a skin-crawling live burial sequence), but the mayhem truly begins when Byung-hun decides to fight back, leading to some of the most ludicrously ballistic action to hit the screen in years. Psychological depth and realism may not be high on the film’s agenda, and it doesn’t reach the towering heights of Oldboy– but if you’re going for style over substance, it might as well be as slick, gripping and blissfully violent as this. * * * *
BLADE RUNNER: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT You can’t keep a good replicant down, and there’s still very little screen sci-fi that can touch Ridley Scott’s dazzling 1982 tech-noir masterpiece. As Ford’s battered ex-cop hunts down renegade replicants on the rain-soaked streets of 2019 Los Angeles, the film is packed with provocative themes, and the pre-CGI spectacle is genuinely jaw-dropping stuff. You can debate the meaning of the unicorn dream sequence, or whether Hauer’s shock-haired Roy Batty really is the coolest sci-fi badass of all time, but despite its loose approach to the source material, no other Phillip K. Dick adaptation has even come close to this ravishing burst of pure, unadulterated cinema Extras: None, but the superior quality DVD transfer on this four month limited re-release should keep us occupied until the 4-disc uber-edition heads our way sometime in 2007… * * * * *
BOB ROBERTS Showing that the darker side of American Politics never goes out of fashion, Tim Robbins’ 1992 directorial debut casts himself as the titular Senatorial candidate. Following this creepy, self-made millionaire folk singer on the campaign trail as he courts the common vote with charming smiles and a fascistic “Greed is Good” outlook, it’s a Spinal Tap-style fake documentary full of cameos (including James Spader, John Cusack and Jack Black) and with a powerfully relevant edge of bitter anger at corporate media manipulation. Some jokes fall flat, and there’s the occasional hint of lecturing, but Robbins’ barbed satire of the American Dream is still funny, disturbing and hugely provocative. Extras: None Film: * * * * THE BODYGUARD A note to any Tony Jaa admirers - the ass-kicking star of Ong-Bak may be splashed across the cover for this clumsy action comedy, but he only appears for three minutes, and it's the old "aren't you in the wrong film?" gag shared with Ong Bak co-star Wongkamlau. Writing and directing as well as starring in this sorry farrago, Wongkamlau is a bodyguard on the trail of assassins, but aside from some half-decent stunts, there's little to get excited about and even less to laugh at. Extras: Featurette, Trailers, DVD Rom content Fairly thin stuff, but the DVD Rom article on Thai cinema provides some decent value. Movie: * Extras: * *
BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY Back in 1989, the idea of Tom Cruise playing a paraplegic Vietnam veteran initially seemed like a surreal gag, but instead the Cruiser silenced his doubters, netted an Oscar nomination and pulled off a stunning performance he's rarely matched since. Oliver Stone's second Vietnam epic follows the real-life story of Ron Kovic (Cruise) and his transformation from gung-ho soldier to impassioned anti-war protester, refusing to pull any punches in the harrowing journey. There's a handful of overcooked moments thanks to the full-on directorial style and it's hardly an easy watch, but the passion, anger and truthfulness in the story make it impossible to look away. Extras: "Backstory" featurette, Director's Commentary Where's the retrospective documentary? Where's the in-depth interviews? All we get is an average featurette from 1989 with words from Stone, Cruise and Kovic, and a Commentary, which thankfully turns out to be excellent value and features Stone on typically verbose and intelligent form. Movie: * * * * Extras: * * * BORN TO FIGHT Thanks to Ong Bak, Thai action thrillers are the latest hot property, but while this latest example features all the bone-crunching stunt-work you could possibly ask for, it's an absolute mess of a movie. The jumbled plot starts as a typical cop thriller before morphing into an ultra-violent version of The A-Team, as a group of athletes help a village fight back against evil drug-running terrorists who are out to nuke Bangkok. Hard to believe, but the sight of people getting slow-mo kicks in the head gets very boring after a while, and it's a pity to see such spectacular stunts get let down by sloppy filmmaking.
CARNAGES Swap MAGNOLIA's rain of frogs for a Spanish bull being hacked to pieces, and you'll be fairly close to this arty foreign-language collection of interlocking stories. Having skewered an unfortunate Matador, the bull is quickly slaughtered - and it's the journey of the various pieces that link the characters together, whether it's a small kid buying one of the bones for a dog, or an unfaithful scientist receiving the eyes. Shot in ravishing colours, it's intriguing, atmospheric and beautifully acted- but also nowhere near as profound as it thinks it is, simply boiling down to a series of bizarre, head-scratching statements on Life-vs-Death. * * THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO Animation giant Hayao Miyzaki’s debut movie features all the lush backdrops, quasi-Euro settings and fairy tale atmosphere you’d expect, and then adds plenty of nutty slapstick. Spun off from one of the Anime TV shows where Miyazaki made his name, the story follows flamboyant criminal Lupin III as he protects a princess from an evil Count. End result? Laughs, thrills, and an imaginative caper that’s like an episode of TinTin on some seriously weird drugs. Extras: Introduction, Storyboard Comparison, Design Sketches, Trailer There’s a hesitant but hugely informative intro from Anime expert Jonathan Clements, the storyboards for the whole movie, and a rewarding gallery of design sketches. Film: * * * * Extras: * * * CELLULAR The kind of ridiculous action thriller that can only have been the end result of a drunken bet, Cellular welds together 24, Falling Down, Speed and a small dose of The A-Team into a magnificently awful slice of cinema. The certifiable plot features a kidnapped Kim Basinger placing a random call for help to the mobile of bland beefcake Chris Evans, and to rescue her he's got to avoid losing the signal at all costs. The script takes the daft set-up and piles on a cascade of far-fetched plot twists and god-awful dialogue, with everything from Evans engaging in an apologetic bout of car-jacking, to Basinger giving a biology lesson to the villain she's just fatally stabbed. There's even a genuinely brilliant turn from William H. Macy as a world-weary cop with an interest in beauty products, and while it's dead-on-arrival as a thrill ride, for any lovers of bad cinema it's an absolute must. * * CHICKEN TIKKA MASSALA With plenty of colour and energy, this addition to the Bend It Like Beckham inspired wave of Brit/Indian movies isn’t short of charm, but keeps throwing in unfunny comic relief and grotesque caricatures like there’s no tomorrow. It’s the story of Jimi (Ex-Coronation star Chris Bisson), who hasn’t yet told his Indian family that he’s gay– meaning serious problems when his Mum and Dad decide it’s time for him to get married. The underlying story is sweetly done and there’s a few nicely judged performances, but the contrived, shambolic screenplay and some incredibly poor direction leave it sputtering in first gear. * * THE CITY OF NO LIMITS He's old, he's absent-mined, and he's convinced he's being watched. Ageing, hospitalised businessman Max seems to be developing paranoid fantasies about his squabbling family, and someone called "Rancel". However, his youngest son Victor starts to suspect there's truth in his father's babblings, and soon discovers his family has something to hide... A smoothly shot Spanish drama with a couple of stylish suspense sequences, this mystery has a brilliantly intriguing set-up, but the solution can't help but feel a little disappointing. At the least, there's excellent performances, gleaming photography and a genuine sense of bitterness and regret behind all the narrative game-playing. * * * CRANK Another day, another lunk-headed Jason Statham action movie, except this time the cue-ball hardman plays a professional killer injected with a fatal poison, and- in a Speed-style twist- the only way of slowing the process long enough to get his revenge is to keep his adrenaline flowing. The resulting mayhem-stacked rampage across L.A. has two things in its favour;- a demented, hyper-kinetic visual style that apes Run Lola Run, and an unashamedly ludicrous storyline, with Statham keeping his adrenaline up by head-banging to ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, being zapped by a defibrillator, and publicly shagging girlfriend Amy Smart in the middle of L.A.’s Chinatown. Sadly, while it’s hilariously unpredictable, it also has a genuinely unpleasant streak of viciousness that’d make a Total Recall-era Paul Verhoeven blush, and combined with lots of bug-eyed gurning from Statham, the end result is a flashy but empty B-movie that’s as exciting as watching somebody else playing Grand Theft Auto. * *
CRYING FIST Anyone expecting a hardcore version of Rocky from this Korean boxing drama should think again– instead, it’s a meandering tale of redemption that simply doesn’t exert a powerful enough grip. Following a failed Olympic boxer (Oldboy’s Min-Sik) and a young convict learning the sport (Seung-beom), the first half lingers way too long on the protagonists hitting rock bottom, before finally building up to the climax where they meet as competitors in the ring. The boxing action itself is full-blooded and brutal, and while the film delivers a strong emotional punch when it counts, shaving half an hour from the running time would have been a better idea. * *
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written material is (c) Saxon Bullock 2009. For further details,
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