DVD Review - Biutiful (2010)

Biutiful, 2010.



Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Starring Javier Bardem, Marciel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Diaryatou Daff and Cheng Tai Shen.





SYNOPSIS:



A single father, who struggles with love, fatherhood and his business in the underworld of Barcelona, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He must also deal with his bi-polar wife and a large group of illegal immigrants.





Films about a life of crime always tend to focus on the rise and fall of a young man with big ideas being completely crippled by the baseball bat of corruption. It’s almost like they follow a moral code that says all people who dive into the underworld must drown at the end. After a while, you find yourself asking for a little more forgivingness in these affairs. Or at least let us see a man who genuinely kind, despite his illegal behaviour. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s newest release has given me a new type of crime drama.



Alright, so it’s not a crime drama primarily, but it does deal with a lot of the criminal underworld in Barcelona. Javier Bardem is Uxbal, a single father with two children and a bi-polar ex-(ish) wife, who is also working in various illegal projects. Not only is having Bardem play the lead in this a great idea in its own right, but the characterization is a whole string of fantastic ideas. Uxbal is a charming father figure who just happens to be involved with an underground empire with his brother Tito and a Chinese crime boss called Hai. But he has a good heart.



As well as being one of the most loving fathers I’ve seen outside of the work of Dickens, he is generally nice to those that surround him, despite the shady activities. One part of his empire is an illegal Chinese sweatshop, but he goes out of his way to make sure conditions are at least adequate for the workers. Ok, that’s not exactly a perfect thing to hear, but it compliments his character as a caring person in a world of corruption. Which is why the plot pivot couldn’t be at a better place.



Towards the end of the first act of the film, Uxbal is diagnosed with terminal cancer with a couple of months to live. So begins his redemption and to secure a better future for his children. His bi-polar (sort of) wife is the biggest obstacle to cross. Drinking, smoking and swearing at the kids, the thought of leaving them with her is a frightening one indeed. At times it feels like a pretty extreme episode of Eastenders, but with real actors. Also, he puts himself at risk to make sure the illegal immigrants under his *ahem* ‘employment’ aren’t deported back to their countries, even to the point of paying rent for some of the luckier ones.



The approach of the film feels very similar to the style of a Darren Aronofsky in the way that the camera is allergic to tripods and everything looks grimy. I’m serious. I wouldn’t be surprised if they hired someone to smear the walls with a dead chicken before sneezing over everything. Yes, it really looks like a dump. The lightening helps to make it look more depressing than it really should be, as well. But the optimism and charm from the characters throughout the film provides a good juxtaposition against the filthy background of Barcelona’s underworld.



Biutiful deserved the notice it received at the Academy Awards and it’s a bleeding shame that it lost out on winning anything there. Bardem is fantastic to watch on screen at all times and the narrative swings into so many unexpected shocks that will grip you until your arms go red. It’s a subtle epic that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.



Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - Budrus (2009)

Budrus, 2009.

Written and Directed by Julia Bacha.
Starring Ayed Morrar, Iltezam Morrar, Kobi Snitz, Ahmed Awwad, Yasmine Levy and Doron Spielman.


SYNOPSIS:

A documentary depicting the non-violent demonstrations by resident of Budrus against the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier inside of their village.


Walls aren’t always great. Take the Berlin wall for example. It divided a country into two opposing sides. When used like this, all a wall does is to show how opposed to each other each side of the wall is. A literal metaphor, if you’re so inclined. But what about the people who aren’t on either side, but just happen to be caught in the wall’s path of bricks and segregation? Julia Bacha’s recent documentary on the Palestinian town of Budrus (entitled “Budrus”, funnily enough) gives an insight into what happens when the bulldozers come rolling up. In 2000, the village of Budrus would have been divided and surrounded by the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier, resulting in the loss of hundreds of acres of land as well as thousands of olive trees, both part of their culture and their economy.

Budrus focuses on Ayed Morrar, a father of four who is also the leader of the non-violent movement in Budrus. He has been to prison four times for his protest work with Fatah, a Palestinian political party. “We don’t have time for wars”, says Ayed. This line pretty much some up the nature of the film, as the group of people he leads area strict in their non-violent approach. The documentary shows Ayed giving a speech in a village community hall, which whilst not very dramatic, is one of the honest thing’s I’ve seen. Bacha is showing us a man who doesn’t ooze charisma in the most obvious fashion, but his passion for what he believes is not too subtle that it is totally missed.

We’re also shown interviews with Ayed’s daughter, Iltezam Morrar, who convinces Ayed to allow women to take part in the demonstrations. Iltezam shows a more youthful confidence than Ayed and the rest of the villages women seem more than happy to muck in. Some of the scenes of the women demonstrators chanting against the armed police are heart-warming in a weird way. Shots of them smiling and laughing make it seem like they have no fear and are more than happy to be there, which draws up parallels’ to some of the demonstrations we’ve had over here lately. Even when the police start firing rubber bullets at the crowd, they show no pain and often get up instantly and shout back. Those have to be the strongest women I’ve ever seen.

As well as showing the side of the protesters, two members of the Israel Border Police are interviewed. Whilst they try to make things as calm as they can, they are in severe doubt about the protests working. At some places in the film, we see the police fight back in a way that seems totally robotic, as if they are taking no side in the fight, but to suppress everything. As the film progresses the situation builds up until the police start opening fire at various parts of Budrus. At this point, the documentary takes a turn from being optimistic to showing just how bad a demonstration can go.

Bacha starts by painting a beautiful picture of a village blessed with community and flora before diving in deeper into the people that are trying to keep the village away from drastic change. But it’s not all about resilience against an armed force; the villagers of Budrus are surprised when they come face to face with native Isreali’s helping to fight their cause. These people where their sworn enemy before, and now they have no choice but to fight alongside each other. Whilst it’s a slow moving documentary to begin with, the last half really shines and provides a concise insight to how effective non-violent protest can be.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.

Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - The Blood Reich: BloodRayne 3 (2010)

BloodRayne 3 a.k.a. BloodRayne: The Third Reich, 2010.

Directed by Uwe Boll.
Starring Natassia Malthe, Michael Paré, Brendan Fletcher and William Belli.


SYNOPSIS:

A half vampire fights against Nazis in Europe during World War Two. A Nazi commandant is turned into a vampire and aims to inject Adolf Hitler with the half vampire blood to make him immortal.


Uwe Boll. His first name is the sound I make whenever I hear about his next film adaption of a video game. I say “Uwe, Boll...why?” and still he continues like some demented man who wishes to turn good games in bad films. He really is a curse, that bloke. His latest offering, a straight to DVD release of a sequel to a film that probably no one saw, doesn’t deviate from his repertoire. Yes, it’s a walking corpse of a film, and not the good kind.

The BloodRayne series focuses on a half vampire called Rayne, who uses cleavage as a way of reminding everyone who she is, in case you ever forget. Her back story is quickly blurted out before we move onto World War Two and some of the least convincing Nazis you’ve ever seen. Rayne is fighting against the Nazis straight from the beginning with a group of unconvincing rebels you’ve ever seen. One looks like he used to play bass for The Kooks. That’s right, both the rebels and the Nazis are equally unconvincing, which is the right word to use. No joke. It wasn’t until one of the Nazis said “Heil Hitler” that I was suddenly reminded that it’s set during World War Two. No joke.

We’re introduced to the villain of the flick within this scene and it turns out he’s so evil he doesn’t require a German accent otherwise that would be an overload of villainy. Well, it’s the polite way of saying he didn’t try. No one tries the accent their supposed to in this film. It takes place in Eastern Europe with an army of German soldiers and I never heard a German accent. I heard American, English, Irish, Mexican, French, Sylvester Stallone and Welsh, but no German. It’s like Sean Connery started a cult dedicated to his skill of avoiding different accents.

But to be fair, it’s an action film. Flaming it on acting ability would be a waste of time. And missing the point of it, which is the action itself. BloodRayne 3 disappoints there too. Rayne carries two swords (and cleavage! Let’s not forget the cleavage!), but uses the same right handed swipe over and over again. It’s like she’s holding the sword for someone else while they run off screen to half heartedly practice their German. Some standard gore is slopped in, but doesn’t help. Instead it hinders it to a status below straight-to-DVD films.

It would be a waste of time going over the plot as there’s hardly any of it. That last sentence probably had more depth to it than the plot. Nazis are bad and want magic blood for Hitler. Nothing else. The film goes along this line without much deviation. No twists whatsoever. In fact, instead of twists, Uwe decides to hump in an inexplicable lesbian sex scene as legitimate plot development. The quality of the norks were top notch, but why, Boll, why?! You make Michael Bay look like he’s on the ball.

BloodRayne 3 is a terribly shot movie with shaky cameras and the kind of overexposure you get from cheap pirate DVDs. The actors seem to be aware of how crap it is and act like they’re got an early lunch straight after filming. There is no logic or consistency in this film. Instead of a story being told, we are simply being presented with a mish mash of various film archetypes trying to pass themselves off as a complete film. Uwe Boll’s reputation as one of the worst directors on the planet is well earned in this case especially. Not suitable to use as a coaster.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.

Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - Blades of Blood (2010)

Blades of Blood, 2010.

Directed by Lee Joon-Ik.
Starring Jeong-min Hwang, Seong-hyeon Baek, Seung-won Cha, Ji-hye Han and Kim Chang-Wan.


SYNOPSIS:

In Sixteenth Century Korea, an illegitimate son seeks vengeance for the murder of his father with the help of a blind swordsman. Meanwhile, the country’s leadership is falling apart while an invasion from the Japanese draws closer.


With a large proportion of foreign films, it’s not just the language barrier that can stop a white middle class male (such as myself) from completely comprehending everything that is going on. It’s more than safe to say that my knowledge of Korean history is equably negligible to my knowledge of Korea in general. I’m not ignorant, I just haven’t got round to that page on Wikipedia just yet. But now I know a little more from watching Blades of Blood.

It’s Sixteenth Century Korea and a political organisation known as The Alliance are looking to seek power from a regime that is falling apart. Probably not the best time for this, considering the Japanese are prepared to invade. Now, on paper this sounds pretty exciting, but unfortunately it isn’t as spectacular as I was hoping for. Impressive, but not spectacular. The story focuses around Han Kyun-ju, a young bastard child to one of the leaders in the regime. Kyun-ju is cast away from his family for being a lovechild, but soon witnesses his father being murdered by the film’s villain, Lee Mong Hak.

Mong Hak is leading The Alliance in order to seek the throne for himself, which led him to kill Jung Yeo-rip, a member of The Alliance who stood in his way. One character stood out for me in this film and that was Hwang, a blind swordsman with a somewhat cheeky sense of humour. Hwang takes Kyun-ju under his wing and is constantly bothered by Kyun-ju wanting to know how to fight like him. This leads to some funny fight scenes between the two. The rest of the fight scenes, the proper ones that is, are shot very well, but could have used a touch more flare on the choreography. Not that I’m an expert on that subject. Well not until I read that Wikipedia page, anyway.

Like I said earlier, it all sounds well and good on paper, but the story feels a little too drawn out. The story is a journey, but it’s not a very interesting one and the destination isn’t anything to swing a sword about for. The character of Kyun-ju feels a bit too hammed up to be taken seriously, and when I say hammed up, I really mean hammed up for an emotional teenager. If it wasn’t for Hwang mocking and talking down to him at every given moment, I would have considered the film to be a lost cause. How I love Hwang.

Blades of Blood is a film about constant struggle set to a backdrop of politics and invasion. When someone isn’t talking, there’s bound to be a sword fight scene to occur in hopes to advance the plot. The story’s not too complicated, but not too interesting and most of the acting is pretty average. However, it is beautifully shot and some of the sword fights did keep me on the edge of my seat. Not that I’m an expert on that subject. Well not until I read that Wikipedia page, anyway.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.

Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - Rubber (2010)

Rubber, 2010.



Directed by Quentin Dupieux.

Starring Stephen Spinella, Roxanne Mesquida, Jack Plotnick and Wings Hauser.





SYNOPSIS:



In the California desert, a group of spectators watch through binoculars as a tyre come to life and starts to go on a killing spree.





It does help if a film makes sense. Some of the biggest film names to date have some parts that are never explained, but no one really thinks about. So how could someone turn this concept of chance into a feature length film. French Director Quentin Dupieux seems to think he can with his new film, Rubber.



The film can be explained rather easily, and then again it can’t. The main premise of the film is a tyre coming to life (a tyre with the power to blow things up with its mind, not to forget) and starts to go around destroying anything it can find, from bottles to people. But there’s also the other narrative that intertwines with the film that completely breaks down the fourth wall with the characters in the film. There’s an audience watching the events of the tyre unfold, yet they are also characters in the film.



Yes, it’s a very odd concept, isn’t it? But it’s not like this was truly unexpected. At the start of the film, Stephen Spinella’s cop role informs us, the audience, and the in film audience that what we’re about to see has no reason to it and that a lot of other films have elements of ‘no reason’ in them too (“Why was ET brown?”). Already it is clear that the film is similar in approach to that of Monty Python, or to a better example, Luis Buñuel. The only thing at the mercy of satire is the film itself. Whilst some of the self aware dialogue will give a giggle, the film on the whole is very ploddy with a long wait between anything interesting happening. After seeing a tyre roll through a desert for a few minutes, you’re craving for him to murder something already.



Visually, the film is easy on the eyes, with some fantastic shallow focus techniques. I suppose filming in a desert gives you more freedom to concentrate on framing the shots perfectly. The main story of the tyre killing anyone in its track continues in a fairly predictable manner (well as predictable as it can for a fairly unpredictable idea). Just as it is with these sorts of films, it’s the child that believes the tyre is alive, whilst the police are left baffled by the random killings. But it’s the concept of an audience within an audience that will probably stick with after watching this.



Rubber could easily have been scaled down into short film just about the tyre killing people, but it tries to expand itself a bit too much. Even the inclusion of a fourth wall breaking second narrative doesn’t really keep the interest levels pumped up as much as you would first think, with this technique being used to ironically patch over parts of the film that are clichéd or lacking sense, or no reason at all.

Rubber gets a DVD release here in the UK on Monday.



Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.



Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - Blood Cabin (2009)

Blood Cabin a.k.a. Murder Loves Killers Too, 2009.

Directed by Drew Barnhardt.
Starring Christine Haeberman, Allen Andrews, Mary Legault and Scott Nadler.


SYNOPSIS:

A group of teenagers are murdered one by one during their weekend away at a remote cabin.


Remote cabins are a heavy staple of horror/slasher films. It worked for The Evil Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and there is no doubt that this set up is going to deviate in more modern releases. Well not too soon anyway. Blood Cabin is an upcoming low budget slasher film, and when I say low budget, I mean really low budget.

It’s the typical set up: a bunch of drunk teens (each one annoying in a specific way) go up to a remote cabin in the middle of the woods to quaff, faff and fornicate. There’s the egotistical, yet spotty, main man, the slutty blonde, the beardy indie chap, the sensible brunette and for some reason some shrieking, barely legal harridan snuck aboard the car with them. It’s a wonder that she was killed off on the way to the cabin. I was so satisfied when she was the first one to expire as she was in danger of giving me a migraine.

The killings start without any warning whatsoever and the killer himself is left to a bit of a mystery until the last ten minutes (I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s worth watching just to see). Big Stevie is the balding middle aged killer in this romp and could easily have been mistaken for one of the teenagers' disapproving father. After seeing him slice up his first couple of victims, I couldn’t help but feel that there was some kind of relevant reason for this. Maybe because those damn kids kept playing their terrible music loudly throughout the film and it was interrupting his work in the study. Funny things drive you to murder you know!

Presentation-wise, the film feels extremely low budget, as I mentioned, but it doesn’t get any ideas above its station. Director Drew Barnhardt seems to have taken a simple premise, a minimal group of amateur actors and kept the entire film contained within a generic plotline and nothing too adventurous in terms of narrative. The camera feel like it’s being used by an unseen sixth teenager who wasn’t invited to the party and knows little of the concepts of fish eye lens and tripod. If the camera isn’t jerkily roaming the cabin, it’s got a fish eye lens taped on to make the cabin more bendy than necessary. It looks good for a student film, but even then I would take marks off for lack of adequate editing.

Before the halfway point, two thirds of the main cast are slaughtered, leaving the sensible girl and the crazed, but oddly calm killer. Somehow the film started to improve after this point as an amateur game of cat and mouse takes place before she is captured by Big Stevie. Up to this point, Big Stevie seemed a quiet and mysterious killer, but then he calmly, and surprisingly eloquently, explains to a gagged and tied victim what he intends to do and apologises for any discomfort. Suddenly, the film seemed to have changed gear from simple slasher to borderline spoof. Big Stevie’s monologue in the scene was delivered in such a comedic and deadpan manner that it came across as a lampoon. And I think Barnhardt meant this, too.

Blood Cabin is about an hour in length, but it’s the last twenty minutes that really stand out and, dare I say, actually make the film worth a watch. Just make sure you have a decent film to watch afterwards as this is a stupendously low budget film, in case I forgot to mention.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.

Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - The Open Door (2008)

The Open Door, 2008.

Directed by Doc Duhame.
Starring Catherine Georges, Sarah Christine Smith, Daniel Booko and Ryan Doom.


SYNOPSIS:

A high school girl is fed up with her life and her friends and confides in a mysterious pirate radio station for help. Little does she know her life is about to become a nightmare.


When it comes to the world of horror, there are two kinds of film. The first kind of horror films are the ones that really push the barrier for shocks and will stick in your subconscious like a bad smell in a new car. The other kind of horror films, however, are the b-movie style gore-flicks where the story itself is just as flimsy as the execution. The phrase “so bad, it’s good” often comes to mind if you have a sense of irony.

The Open Door is this kind of film. It’s a film so bad, that it becomes an unintentional comedy. I won’t waste too much time fiddling around with the small fragments of story; just think of a version of ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ for frat boys. But replace the simian talisman with a mysterious DJ that is half Freddy Kruger and half Frasier Crane.

From the start, this film feels incredibly cheap. For a start, the editing and camera work ruin the pacing and atmosphere like a drunken, absent-minded uncle telling a horror story. It felt like the momentum of the film was being kept at five miles an hour to drag out some of the ‘filler’ scenes that plague this film.

To make an estimate, about seventy percent of this film's material is redundant, and even if you did compress it, the whole affair would still feel like a particularly bad episode of Buffy. The first fifty minutes of the film could be considered a write off it wasn’t for the five minutes of plot progression within.

I couldn’t decide whether I hated the actors' talent or the characters they played. When the roles aren’t being hammed up beyond measurable proportion, they’re almost forgetting their lines. All too often in the middle of conversation, one of the annoying teenagers would look like they’ve just remembered some life saving information all of a sudden before discarding it and carrying on, hoping that no one will notice.

Without being too mean, I found myself in hysterical laughter more times than in hysterical fear. There was only one jumpy moment and it was pretty clichéd. If I was to have a meeting with Doc (The Director) about how he could have improved this film, then I would have sat him down and gone through each of the many chances that he missed a chance to raise the tension. Hell, even a few cheap shocks would have worked.

One scene that will stick with me however was where a glass of milk starts sliding slowly across a table causing everyone to act terrified. Even the music started to boom to a scary tone in a last ditch attempt to convince me that this is what people should be frightened of in a horror film.

Whilst The Open Door is a perfect example at how to not do a horror film, I wouldn’t rule this out for renting on a drunken Friday night so everyone can all laugh together at something. In some sarcastic way, I’m intrigued by Doc Duhame’s future plans as a director.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.

Movie Review Archive

DVD Review - French Film (2008)

French Film, 2008.

Directed by Jackie Oudney.
Starring Hugh Bonneville, Anne-Marie Duff, Douglas Henshall, Victoria Hamilton and Eric Cantona.


SYNOPSIS:

As a journalist starts growing apart from his girlfriend after refusing to marry him, his best friend has found the perfect girlfriend.


I don’t see why the English and French still have an air of sniping hostility towards each other in popular culture. Isn’t it time that we accept that we both tried to rule the world, get on with our differences and come to terms that both our film industries will be forever daunted by Hollywood? Jackie Oudney’s romantic comedy French Film looks at a typically English man deal with typically French themes.

Hugh Bonneville plays Jed, a miserable journalist who is having troubles with his long term girlfriend, Cheryl (played very icily by Victoria Hamilton). After proposing to her, he recieved a simple ‘no’. Since then, they’ve looked at getting help from a French couple counsellor. This doesn’t help Jed, as he’s about as Franco-phobic as he is a stuffy Jeremy Clarkson. He’s also set to interview French film maker Thierry Grimandi (Eric Cantona. Yes, THAT Eric Cantona) who considers himself to be a self-appointed expert on love. Stereotypical enough for you yet?

Adding salt in the wound, his best friend Marcus (Dougless Henshall) has found what he claims to be the perfect girlfriend, Sophie (Anne-Marie Duff, without a Mancunian accent). Throughout the film, Thierry pops up as some kind of vague narrator, just in case you drift off slightly, which might happen a few times. It’s not a particularly good comedy.

There were a few moments that raised a smile at best, but for a romantic comedy, the comedy felt bland whilst the romance felt awkward in places. Bonneville and Cantona seemed like the only two actors fitting into their roles well, whilst the rest of the cast were just simply unlikable. Surprisingly, it was the ex-football player who I enjoyed watching the most. Cantona seemed to have a shaggy Steve Coogan look going on which really complimented his character.

Most of the dialogue in the film just felt too much like a template, with some of the wry comments getting no laughs due to a lack of originality. The relationship between Jed and Cheryl was a hard aspect to take in seeing as she was by far one of the most joyless character committed to film. How anyone could stand to be with such a person truly boggled me. In the end, I found myself rooting for their break up in a hope that Cheryl would have less screen time.

One of the major problems with this as a film is that it just didn’t feel like a film. It felt more like a one off television drama that decided to outstay its welcome. The entire story could have been condensed into a forty minute affair with better pacing and less lingering on redundant situtations. It’s no surprise that French Film has slipped past me unnoticed until now.

The DVD extras feature interviews, behind the scenes and the theatrical trailer. Only worth watching if it pops up on television during a particularly lazy Sunday. Unless there’s a real French film on, of course.

Will Preston is a student at the University of Portsmouth. He writes for various blogs (including his own website), presents a weekly radio show on PURE FM and makes various short films.

Movie Review Archive