The Secret In Their Eyes: DVD Review
The Secret in Their Eyes
Rating: M
Released by Vendetta Home Entertainment
El secreto de sus ojos (to give it its Argentinean
title) collected the Academy Award this year for Best Foreign Language Film.
Set in 1999, Ricardo Darin (a popular Argentinean
actor) plays former investigator Benjamin Esposito who's retired but not been
able to put one case out of his mind.
25 years ago, Esposito
investigated the brutal rape and murder of a 23 year old woman - but despite
pursuing several leads, Esposito and his partner Sandoval never managed to close
the case.
One suspect emerges and the duo try
everything in their power to get him convicted - but as Esposito recalls the
case for a novel, he begins to realise that he has to reopen the case.
Not only that, but he must rediscover the feelings he
buried a long time ago for his boss Irene.
The
Secret In Their Eyes is a solid crime drama; gritty and involving. It also has
some wonderful character moments and the partnership between Esposito and
Sandoval has some brilliant quirky and humorous moments.
With sadness and tension throughout, it's easy to see why this
captured the Academy's heart.
The Secret In Their
Eyes will drag you in - it may take a little time to get going but once it's got
its nails into you, it won't let go.
Rating: 8/10
Friday, 27 August 2010
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Kick Ass: DVD Review
Kick Ass: DVD Review
Kick Ass
Rating: R18
Released by Universal Home Pictures
Comic book movies are de rigeur once again - what with Scott Pilgrim Vs The World in cinemas currently - and now with the arrival of Kick Ass on DVD.
In Kick Ass, Aaron Johnson stars as Dave Lizewski, your average teenage boy who is at a loss as to why no-ones ever become a superhero. So donning an all over green body scuba suit, Dave aka Kick Ass heads out to the streets to see if he can make a difference.
And he does for about 2 minutes; before he's stabbed, beaten up and run over by a car.
This kind of sets the tone for the film - horrifically funny and amusing, things escalate for Kick Ass when the local crime lord deems it's time to shut him down.
Coupled with some very real violence (and one use of some boundary pushing language from the young Hit Girl, which offended some censors), this comic book adaptation embraces the reality of the superhero world and subverts your expectations.
Brought to life stylishly to the screen; along with a pumping soundtrack, cut scenes of fights and a truly brilliant flashback involving the best use of a comic ever committed to celluloid, Kick Ass really does reset the boundaries for the genre.
It's great fun - but even I have to admit (sadly) it won't be for everyone. That said, you really should give it a try
Extras: The 2 disc version is packed with over 2 hours of extras - including some goodies like the origin of the comic book, commentary with director, exclusive artwork - it's a real comic book lover's treat.
Rating: 8/10
Kick Ass
Rating: R18
Released by Universal Home Pictures
Comic book movies are de rigeur once again - what with Scott Pilgrim Vs The World in cinemas currently - and now with the arrival of Kick Ass on DVD.
In Kick Ass, Aaron Johnson stars as Dave Lizewski, your average teenage boy who is at a loss as to why no-ones ever become a superhero. So donning an all over green body scuba suit, Dave aka Kick Ass heads out to the streets to see if he can make a difference.
And he does for about 2 minutes; before he's stabbed, beaten up and run over by a car.
This kind of sets the tone for the film - horrifically funny and amusing, things escalate for Kick Ass when the local crime lord deems it's time to shut him down.
Coupled with some very real violence (and one use of some boundary pushing language from the young Hit Girl, which offended some censors), this comic book adaptation embraces the reality of the superhero world and subverts your expectations.
Brought to life stylishly to the screen; along with a pumping soundtrack, cut scenes of fights and a truly brilliant flashback involving the best use of a comic ever committed to celluloid, Kick Ass really does reset the boundaries for the genre.
It's great fun - but even I have to admit (sadly) it won't be for everyone. That said, you really should give it a try
Extras: The 2 disc version is packed with over 2 hours of extras - including some goodies like the origin of the comic book, commentary with director, exclusive artwork - it's a real comic book lover's treat.
Rating: 8/10
It's a Wonderful Afterlife: Movie Review
It's a Wonderful Afterlife: Movie Review
It's A Wonderful Afterlife
Rating: 3/10
Cast: Goldy Notay, Shabana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Sanjeev Bhaskar
Director: Gurindha Chadha
From director of Bend It Like Beckham comes this latest cinematic outing.
It's A Wonderful Afterlife is the tale of Mrs Sethi (Azmi) an Indian mother living in London whose daughter Roopi (Notay) is a constant unlucky in love girl.
Continually rejected Roopi stands no chance of being married off - but her mother has other plans turning to the murder of those who have disrespected or mocked her daughter.
However, she finds the spirits of the slain coming back to haunt her - as the police continue to investigate the killings.
And things get further complicated for Mrs Sethi and Roopi as Roopi falls for Sendhil Ramamurthy Raj, a DI investigating the case..
It's A Wonderful Afterlife feels like a film harking back to the 1960s - while director Chadha has said she was after channeling Ealing comedies, it's the script and some terrible jokes which don't help. Everyone gives fair performances but with such a clunker of a script, it's hard for any of them to rise out of the mire.
It's supposed to be a horror comedy - with homages to Carrie and Alien, it's clear Chadha has honourable intentions - but with a succession of unwelcome fat jokes, it's, to be frank, a major disappointment.
I get that it's supposed to reflect and to some level parody attitudes within Indian communities towards marriage (and even reincarnation) but it just doesn't rise out of clichéd humour and stereotypes which are frustrating in the extreme. And it builds and builds towards a staged but at times amusing homage to Carrie - complete with curry explosions.
Of the ghosts which haunt Mrs Sethi, UK comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar has the lion's share of the funny lines (as you'd expect) as a philandering husband whose stomach explodes at the start of the film thanks to a poisoned curry - and then spends the rest of the film with his innards hanging out.
Maybe 20 or 30 years ago this film would be welcome - but in this 21st century, it leaves as much of a terrible after taste as a over seasoned curry reheated two days after a night out on the town.
It's A Wonderful Afterlife
Rating: 3/10
Cast: Goldy Notay, Shabana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Sanjeev Bhaskar
Director: Gurindha Chadha
From director of Bend It Like Beckham comes this latest cinematic outing.
It's A Wonderful Afterlife is the tale of Mrs Sethi (Azmi) an Indian mother living in London whose daughter Roopi (Notay) is a constant unlucky in love girl.
Continually rejected Roopi stands no chance of being married off - but her mother has other plans turning to the murder of those who have disrespected or mocked her daughter.
However, she finds the spirits of the slain coming back to haunt her - as the police continue to investigate the killings.
And things get further complicated for Mrs Sethi and Roopi as Roopi falls for Sendhil Ramamurthy Raj, a DI investigating the case..
It's A Wonderful Afterlife feels like a film harking back to the 1960s - while director Chadha has said she was after channeling Ealing comedies, it's the script and some terrible jokes which don't help. Everyone gives fair performances but with such a clunker of a script, it's hard for any of them to rise out of the mire.
It's supposed to be a horror comedy - with homages to Carrie and Alien, it's clear Chadha has honourable intentions - but with a succession of unwelcome fat jokes, it's, to be frank, a major disappointment.
I get that it's supposed to reflect and to some level parody attitudes within Indian communities towards marriage (and even reincarnation) but it just doesn't rise out of clichéd humour and stereotypes which are frustrating in the extreme. And it builds and builds towards a staged but at times amusing homage to Carrie - complete with curry explosions.
Of the ghosts which haunt Mrs Sethi, UK comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar has the lion's share of the funny lines (as you'd expect) as a philandering husband whose stomach explodes at the start of the film thanks to a poisoned curry - and then spends the rest of the film with his innards hanging out.
Maybe 20 or 30 years ago this film would be welcome - but in this 21st century, it leaves as much of a terrible after taste as a over seasoned curry reheated two days after a night out on the town.
Beneath Hill 60: Movie Review
Beneath Hill 60: Movie Review
Beneath Hill 60
Rating: 8/10
Cast: Brendan Cowell, Harrison Gilbertson
Director: Jeremy Sims
There's nothing worse than imagining the hell on earth that is war.
Beneath Hill 60 is the latest recreation of World War I's horrors and is based on the true story of Aussie miner Oliver Woodward (an outstandingly compassionate turn from Brendan Cowell) and his part in the war effort in 1916.
After initially being held back from the war to help mine for munitions supplies, Woodward joins the Western Front and with a successful attempt at removing an Allied threat, he and his team are pushed up the line to try and help them take Hill 60 - by working underground.
But the Germans are also keen to ensure that the famous Hill 60 doesn't fall, thus setting up a game of cat and mouse.
Beneath Hill 60 is a claustrophobic, grimy affair - as you'd expect from a film about mining and the first World War. The recreation of the trenches and the daily horrors only serve to make me appreciate how much was given at the time by those who fought.
Woodward's story at the western front is interspersed with flashbacks to his time in his homeland - and the burgeoning relationship he forms with the daughter of a neighbouring family. Sadly some of these scenes don't quite give the action in the trenches the emotional depth it needs. But there's still an everyman appeal to Woodward and his compadres.
When the action (such as it is) cuts back to the trenches, there's plenty of nail-biting moments to be had - from scenes of men getting lost in No Man's Land to German miners getting ever closer to discovering what Woodward and his men are up to. Because of the quiet character moments of this film, when the shocks come, some of them are real surprises. Much like the atmosphere at the time, there is an inevitability that something will happen and when it does, you can guarantee you'll be jumping out of your seat.
Brendan Cowell is mightily impressive as the lead character - with a laid-back humour and an Aussie battler attitude. His quiet steely determination anchors the whole picture in heart and humanity - the only minor disappointment is the relative ease in which he makes a major sacrifice at the end of the film - the lack of emotional pay-off is disappointing (although perhaps inevitable given the nature of the film).
Beneath Hill 60 is one of the better war films I've seen. It stays away from the grandiose, prolonged war scenes of some of its bedfellows and sticks more to a story painted on an intimate canvas, so is likely to resonate with many long after the very impressive and moving credits have finished.
Beneath Hill 60
Rating: 8/10
Cast: Brendan Cowell, Harrison Gilbertson
Director: Jeremy Sims
There's nothing worse than imagining the hell on earth that is war.
Beneath Hill 60 is the latest recreation of World War I's horrors and is based on the true story of Aussie miner Oliver Woodward (an outstandingly compassionate turn from Brendan Cowell) and his part in the war effort in 1916.
After initially being held back from the war to help mine for munitions supplies, Woodward joins the Western Front and with a successful attempt at removing an Allied threat, he and his team are pushed up the line to try and help them take Hill 60 - by working underground.
But the Germans are also keen to ensure that the famous Hill 60 doesn't fall, thus setting up a game of cat and mouse.
Beneath Hill 60 is a claustrophobic, grimy affair - as you'd expect from a film about mining and the first World War. The recreation of the trenches and the daily horrors only serve to make me appreciate how much was given at the time by those who fought.
Woodward's story at the western front is interspersed with flashbacks to his time in his homeland - and the burgeoning relationship he forms with the daughter of a neighbouring family. Sadly some of these scenes don't quite give the action in the trenches the emotional depth it needs. But there's still an everyman appeal to Woodward and his compadres.
When the action (such as it is) cuts back to the trenches, there's plenty of nail-biting moments to be had - from scenes of men getting lost in No Man's Land to German miners getting ever closer to discovering what Woodward and his men are up to. Because of the quiet character moments of this film, when the shocks come, some of them are real surprises. Much like the atmosphere at the time, there is an inevitability that something will happen and when it does, you can guarantee you'll be jumping out of your seat.
Brendan Cowell is mightily impressive as the lead character - with a laid-back humour and an Aussie battler attitude. His quiet steely determination anchors the whole picture in heart and humanity - the only minor disappointment is the relative ease in which he makes a major sacrifice at the end of the film - the lack of emotional pay-off is disappointing (although perhaps inevitable given the nature of the film).
Beneath Hill 60 is one of the better war films I've seen. It stays away from the grandiose, prolonged war scenes of some of its bedfellows and sticks more to a story painted on an intimate canvas, so is likely to resonate with many long after the very impressive and moving credits have finished.
Predicament: Movie Review
Predicament: Movie Review
Predicament
Rating: 5/10
Cast: Jemaine Clement, Tim Finn, Hayden Frost, Heath Franklin, Rose McIver
Director: Jason Stutter
Adapted from the novel by New Zealand author Ronald Hugh Morrieson, this is the tale of naive teen Cedric Williamson (newcomer Hayden Frost).
Cedric is bullied at school and has an odd family life (to say the least). His father (Tim Finn) is building an enormous tower in their front yard from rubble, as he copes with the loss of his wife.
One day Cedric meets Mervyn Toebeck (Heath Franklin aka comedian Chopper) and the pair forms a friendship, with Mervyn abusing the bond to bludge off Cedric and his family.
When pasty white oddball Spook (Jemaine Clement) shows up, the trio hits upon the idea of blackmailing the locals - and Cedric's determined to use the scheme to get revenge against the Bramwells (the developers who stole his family land).
But things go more than awry.
Predicament aims for Gothic comedy and tries to reveal the seedy underbelly of the New Zealand small-town community - but it doesn't quite make it.
With scams aplenty, suspicion, paranoia and oddball characters, it is really a reviewing predicament too. Clement is great as Spook, the nasally weird character who trots out some bizarre lines here and there; Franklin is good as the confidence trickster Mervyn - who adds "old son" to every sentence - but Hayden Frost has a lot to carry with the film and sadly falls a little short of the mark.
His Cedric is a stuttering, blinking nerd who you're never really 100% behind - and when the tension and drama steps up, his character tends to resort to facial tics. To be fair, some of this may be due to the direction rather than Frost's interpretation.
What is wonderful about this film though is the look and feel - its creepy, Gothic small-town look is brilliantly evocative and a tribute to the recreation of 1930s Taranaki. Also it puts me in mind of Tim Burton's best at times.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about Predicament - I think there will be some who will adore all of it from beginning to end and there will be others (like myself) who are just a little disappointed with what's seen on the screen.
Predicament
Rating: 5/10
Cast: Jemaine Clement, Tim Finn, Hayden Frost, Heath Franklin, Rose McIver
Director: Jason Stutter
Adapted from the novel by New Zealand author Ronald Hugh Morrieson, this is the tale of naive teen Cedric Williamson (newcomer Hayden Frost).
Cedric is bullied at school and has an odd family life (to say the least). His father (Tim Finn) is building an enormous tower in their front yard from rubble, as he copes with the loss of his wife.
One day Cedric meets Mervyn Toebeck (Heath Franklin aka comedian Chopper) and the pair forms a friendship, with Mervyn abusing the bond to bludge off Cedric and his family.
When pasty white oddball Spook (Jemaine Clement) shows up, the trio hits upon the idea of blackmailing the locals - and Cedric's determined to use the scheme to get revenge against the Bramwells (the developers who stole his family land).
But things go more than awry.
Predicament aims for Gothic comedy and tries to reveal the seedy underbelly of the New Zealand small-town community - but it doesn't quite make it.
With scams aplenty, suspicion, paranoia and oddball characters, it is really a reviewing predicament too. Clement is great as Spook, the nasally weird character who trots out some bizarre lines here and there; Franklin is good as the confidence trickster Mervyn - who adds "old son" to every sentence - but Hayden Frost has a lot to carry with the film and sadly falls a little short of the mark.
His Cedric is a stuttering, blinking nerd who you're never really 100% behind - and when the tension and drama steps up, his character tends to resort to facial tics. To be fair, some of this may be due to the direction rather than Frost's interpretation.
What is wonderful about this film though is the look and feel - its creepy, Gothic small-town look is brilliantly evocative and a tribute to the recreation of 1930s Taranaki. Also it puts me in mind of Tim Burton's best at times.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about Predicament - I think there will be some who will adore all of it from beginning to end and there will be others (like myself) who are just a little disappointed with what's seen on the screen.
Piranha 3D: Movie Review
Piranha 3D: Movie Review
Piranha 3D
Rating: 7/10
Cast: Steven McQueen, Elisabeth Shue,Ving Rhames, Kelly Brook, Jerry O'Connell, Lots of piranha with sharp vicious teeth
Director: Alexandre Aja
Seriously - you want a plot? Most of it's there in the title...
OK - It's spring break in Arizona and with thousands of randy ready to party teens heading to town and on Lake Victoria itself, local sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) has her hands full.
But matters are made worse when an earthquake rips open a prehistoric cavern where thousands of vicious death fish live (See I told you the plot was minimal) and they plough into the Lake ready to feast.
However, Julie's woes are further compounded by the fact her son Jake (McQueen) is on the sea having fallen in with sleazy sex film maker Derrick Jones (O'Connell) who's out to exploit everyone and anything in a bikini to help make a new series of Girls Gone wild style videos during this peak time of nubile nudity.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, Jake's foregone his baby sitting duties and left his brother and sister to their own devices for the promise of some babes - let's just hope that those cutesy kids don't wander off and end up on the lake.
- This just in - That's exactly what the kids have done....
So with the promise of gore, nudity and minimal plot exposition, it looks like Spring Break is going to be one to remember.
Look, it's time to fess up - you can file Piranha under guilty pleasure and bloody good fun - if you like countless deaths, gratuitous nudity and B movie acting. It's a remake of the 1978 film (which was itself a parody of Jaws) and works well in places because you actually care about some of the characters (such as Jake and his sheriff mum).
Sometimes, cinema isn't about anything more than the pure pleasure and putting your brain in a jar outside the door and collecting on the way out - this fish porn gore combination isn't going to win any major awards but it is destined for cult notoriety with its quotable lines and high bloody death quotient.
It's a worthy successor to Jaws for our generation (admittedly without the real tension) - the Facebook short attention span generation who want everything bigger, better and nastier than before - sure some of it is pure exploitation (such as the topless paraglider who goes into the water when the camera suddenly switches to underwater 3D mode) and the carnage unleashed by feeding frenzy when the piranha hit is ferocious - those alone will satiate a certain section of the audience.
Every ingredient is there - the kids who disobey authority, the sleazy guy who's selfishly only after his own gains, the teens who choose to ignore warnings - it's like a check list of cliches but thanks to the tongue in cheek acting, you know exactly what you're getting.
Of the cast, kudos have to go to Richard Dreyfuss' opening cameo which parodies his Jaws role, Christopher Lloyd for his mad marine shop owner (sample line - "This one vanished 2 million years ago") and Elisabeth Shue for keeping a straight face when those around her are being slaughtered and dismembered by fish and idiot teens alike. Admittedly, there's some pretty gross out ways that the spring breakers are dispatched which keeps the audience's blood lust in check.
A sequel's inevitable and has been green lit - so you may as well see the start of the franchise before it's culled and the fun's drained out of it.
Oh and you'll never ever be able to listen to Lakme's The Flower Duet without recalling certain moments of this film again...
Piranha 3D
Rating: 7/10
Cast: Steven McQueen, Elisabeth Shue,Ving Rhames, Kelly Brook, Jerry O'Connell, Lots of piranha with sharp vicious teeth
Director: Alexandre Aja
Seriously - you want a plot? Most of it's there in the title...
OK - It's spring break in Arizona and with thousands of randy ready to party teens heading to town and on Lake Victoria itself, local sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) has her hands full.
But matters are made worse when an earthquake rips open a prehistoric cavern where thousands of vicious death fish live (See I told you the plot was minimal) and they plough into the Lake ready to feast.
However, Julie's woes are further compounded by the fact her son Jake (McQueen) is on the sea having fallen in with sleazy sex film maker Derrick Jones (O'Connell) who's out to exploit everyone and anything in a bikini to help make a new series of Girls Gone wild style videos during this peak time of nubile nudity.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, Jake's foregone his baby sitting duties and left his brother and sister to their own devices for the promise of some babes - let's just hope that those cutesy kids don't wander off and end up on the lake.
- This just in - That's exactly what the kids have done....
So with the promise of gore, nudity and minimal plot exposition, it looks like Spring Break is going to be one to remember.
Look, it's time to fess up - you can file Piranha under guilty pleasure and bloody good fun - if you like countless deaths, gratuitous nudity and B movie acting. It's a remake of the 1978 film (which was itself a parody of Jaws) and works well in places because you actually care about some of the characters (such as Jake and his sheriff mum).
Sometimes, cinema isn't about anything more than the pure pleasure and putting your brain in a jar outside the door and collecting on the way out - this fish porn gore combination isn't going to win any major awards but it is destined for cult notoriety with its quotable lines and high bloody death quotient.
It's a worthy successor to Jaws for our generation (admittedly without the real tension) - the Facebook short attention span generation who want everything bigger, better and nastier than before - sure some of it is pure exploitation (such as the topless paraglider who goes into the water when the camera suddenly switches to underwater 3D mode) and the carnage unleashed by feeding frenzy when the piranha hit is ferocious - those alone will satiate a certain section of the audience.
Every ingredient is there - the kids who disobey authority, the sleazy guy who's selfishly only after his own gains, the teens who choose to ignore warnings - it's like a check list of cliches but thanks to the tongue in cheek acting, you know exactly what you're getting.
Of the cast, kudos have to go to Richard Dreyfuss' opening cameo which parodies his Jaws role, Christopher Lloyd for his mad marine shop owner (sample line - "This one vanished 2 million years ago") and Elisabeth Shue for keeping a straight face when those around her are being slaughtered and dismembered by fish and idiot teens alike. Admittedly, there's some pretty gross out ways that the spring breakers are dispatched which keeps the audience's blood lust in check.
A sequel's inevitable and has been green lit - so you may as well see the start of the franchise before it's culled and the fun's drained out of it.
Oh and you'll never ever be able to listen to Lakme's The Flower Duet without recalling certain moments of this film again...
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Charlie Bartlett: DVD Review
Charlie Bartlett: DVD Review
Charlie Bartlett
Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment
Robert Downey Jr continues to be the man of the moment - his laconic turn in Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang sent him back into the stratosphere of acting and confirmed that despite his battles with his own demons, he's still a talent to watch. Indeed, his role in Iron Man cemented his stature, and in Charlie Bartlett, while he's only one of the supporting players, he simply blows everyone off the screen.
Anton Yelchin of Star Trek fame is Charlie Bartlett.
On first meeting, he's being kicked out of school for making fake IDs - and when he's signed up for another school run by Downey Jr's principal, you know their paths will cross at some point.
Particularly when he starts dating the principal's daughter.
There's sardonic humour aplenty - the film feels fresh, funny and darkly comic.
A wonderful treat.
Extras: Commentary with director and stars Yelchin and Kat Dennings make this great.
Rating: 7/10
Charlie Bartlett
Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Entertainment
Robert Downey Jr continues to be the man of the moment - his laconic turn in Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang sent him back into the stratosphere of acting and confirmed that despite his battles with his own demons, he's still a talent to watch. Indeed, his role in Iron Man cemented his stature, and in Charlie Bartlett, while he's only one of the supporting players, he simply blows everyone off the screen.
Anton Yelchin of Star Trek fame is Charlie Bartlett.
On first meeting, he's being kicked out of school for making fake IDs - and when he's signed up for another school run by Downey Jr's principal, you know their paths will cross at some point.
Particularly when he starts dating the principal's daughter.
There's sardonic humour aplenty - the film feels fresh, funny and darkly comic.
A wonderful treat.
Extras: Commentary with director and stars Yelchin and Kat Dennings make this great.
Rating: 7/10
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