Burke and Hare: DVD Review

Burke and Hare: DVD Review

Burke and Hare
Rating:M
Released by Universal Home Ent

A comic retelling of the 1820s Westport murders, Burke and Hare is an odd kind of film.

The ever brilliant Simon Pegg stars as William Burke and Andy Serkis is William Hare, a pair of conmen who're trying to make ends meet in Edinburgh.
When they overhear that corpses can fetch a pretty penny from the medical industry, they decide to supply Dr Knox (Tom Wilkinson) with corpses to make some cash. Trouble is, people aren't dying too quickly from natural causes - and that's where things take a murderous turn.

However, when the cash they earn pushes them in to the upper echelons of society, Burke falls hard for travelling actress Ginny (Isla Fisher) and starts to suffer from conscience&

And with the militia (headed up by Ronnie Corbett) onto the murders, it looks like the noose is tightening around their necks&

A queasy mix of murder and comedy, Burke and Hare seems to fail on both levels because it can't decide whether the dark tale needs to be told seriously or with a tongue firmly in its cheek. The main duo are hapless and it does play against the truth of the murders but the guest cast is stunning - a veritable who's who of the UK comedy scene.
Burke and Hare is a curio and probably one for fans of Ealing comedies more than anything - it's a botched attempt at a mixing of genres and the resultant mess is a frustrating disappointment.

Extras: Deleted scenes and outtakes

Rating: 4/10 

Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Movie Review

Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Movie Review

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Werner Herzog, a select camera crew, cave paintings, bear skulls and stalactites
Director: Werner Herzog
Shot in 3D, this doco sees German director Herzog, along with a select camera crew, heading to France to document the marvels held by a French cave discovered in 1994.
The Chauvet Cave in the south of France is one of anthropological wonder given that inside it's decorated with wall paintings and carvings from some 30,000 years ago.
Herzog was given exclusive access to document the innermost sanctum of the cave by the French government.
Essentially this 3D film really thrives when it's inside the cave and the camera simply lingers on the shots of the paintings and the full enormity of what's within explodes within your mind.
Skulls of animals long since dead and footprints from creatures 30,000 years old litter the pictures and are simply mind blowing. The 3D gives the depth to the paintings and reveals just how astounding they are.
But then Herzog's dry voiceover takes over and pompous statements like "It's like a frozen flash in a moment of time" give this an air of stuffiness that to be honest, it could do without.
Interviews with scientists and enthusiasts add to the pretentiousness of the piece and detract from the simple fact that sometimes, a picture paints a thousand words.
Those images of rhinos, horses, bison and tigers, bumps and shapes of the walls show a world that is beyond our comprehension and understanding; and in some ways, Herzog's insistence on talking really does mean the film loses some of its impact.

At the end, a montage of paintings and snapshots flash up on screen, accompanied by music - and in that flash alone, the film speaks volumes - and much more than Herzog ever can - of its secrets from thousands of years ago.

The Three Musketeers: Movie Review

The Three Musketeers: Movie Review

The Three Musketeers
Rating: 4/10
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Mads Mikkelsen, Christoph Waltz, James Corden
Director: Paul WS Anderson

The latest version of Alexandre Dumas' infamous Musketeers book sees an odd mix of history and fantasy - mixed in with action scenes and lots of things blowing up in 3D.
Logan Lerman is D'Artagnan, a young cocky wannabe Musketeers who leaves his small rural village to head to Paris to join the "All for One, and One for All" band.
Unfortunately though, Porthos, Arames and Athos (Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans and Matthew MacFadyen respectively) are somewhat washed up and obsolete warriors who no longer have a cause to fight for; Athos in particular is the most bitter, as he was betrayed by his love Milady de Winter (Jovovich) during their last outing.
But when Cardinal Richelieu (Waltz) moves to rid the kingdom of the Musketeers and plunge France into a war against the English (led by Orlando Bloom's Duke of Buckingham), the quartet of Musketeers are called into action to save the day...
The Three Musketeers is a somewhat campy, at times, pantomime style and bizarre kind of film. It's an odd mix of fantasy with flying airships being thrown into the story (I'm guessing those weren't historically accurate even if they are apparently based on plans from Leonardo da Vinci) and it's because of these little things that it doesn't quite gel as well as it could have done.
Some of the cast seem to be acting tongue in cheek - MacFadyen seems particularly in on any potential joke with his rather bored delivery - though I don't think anyone told Orlando Bloom, whose Duke of Buckingham appears to be a mix of pantomime villain (minus requisite moustache twirling) and wannabe Johnny Rotten with quite the most bizarre choice of English accent I've heard this year. Logan Lerman, bless him, acts his heart out and is perhaps one of the more earnest of the cast - equally, Christoph Waltz delivers another great character performance, and James Corden takes bumbling comic foil to a new level in the film and provides some pretty basic comic relief.
As an aside, there's such a mix of accents (English, American, German) on display within this film as well - because none of the main actors decides to even try to capture the period detail - which is a shame because the costumes and scenery are a stunning recreation of 17th Century France.

Anderson's brought a mix of explosions, aerial Pirates of the Caribbean style ship wars, destruction and silliness to a bizarrely entertaining odd film. The mix of the ludicrous and at times, Monty Pythonesque levels of humour delivers a mix of the fantastic with the swashbuckling - but ultimately and weirdly, The Three Musketeers may actually end up entertaining some of the younger end as the school holidays continue.

Casino Royale: Blu Ray Review

Casino Royale: Blu Ray Review

Casino Royale
Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

This Blu Ray is the latest release from the new range from Sony to showcase some of the best of their product like Taxi Driver.

This is the debut of Daniel Craig's Bond - and yes, that iconic scene where he rises from the water in his skimpies. And no, I will not be telling you that looks great in its HD remastered glory.
Craig's a revelation as Bond and this returns the franchise to its gritty best - coupled with some reasonable extras as well, it's a good solid package.

Extras: Docos and music video

Rating: 8/10 

Contagion: Movie Review

Contagion: Movie Review

Contagion
Rating: 8/10
Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Jennifer Ehle
Director: Steven Soderbergh
If you've ever been worried about a viral outbreak and the costs of a pandemic, this is not the film you want to see.
In the latest ensemble drama, Paltrow stars as Beth Emhoff, who's just back from a trip to Hong Kong - and is feeling somewhat rough. However, having returned to her Minneapolis home to hubby Mitch (Damon), she promptly collapses, has seizures and dies.
At the same time, others begin to display similar symptoms and pretty soon, the Department of Homeland Security meets with Dr Cheevers (Fishburne) of the Centre for Disease Control amid fears it's a biological attack aimed to cripple America over Thanksgiving weekend.
So Cheevers dispatches an epidemiologist Dr. Erin Mears (Winslet) to Minneapolis to begin an investigation into what's going on - but it could all be too late amid fears the MEV1 pandemic's about to sweep the world. And with society breaking down amid quarantines and supplies shortages, there's everything at stake.
Contagion is a masterful film - it's intelligent, based on some good science and solid research and to be frank, utterly terrifying in places.
But unlike other Hollywood blockbusters of a similar ilk, this doesn't go for overblown action and hysteria - this latest from Soderbergh is more of a creeping dread and richly unsettling given how much reality it's based in.
There's been some serious scientific research into how diseases are tackled, the actuality of society breaking down and the methods of how scientists would react amid the unleashing of a new global virus.
The disparate threads of the story come together very well - and throw in a solid ensemble cast and you've got a recipe for unnerving cinema, replete with the possibilities of how it'd unfold. Tensions, disputes and a microcosm of detail are Soderbergh's specialities here and because of the depth of information, it's a gripping watch.
Don't get me wrong - this isn't a dull watch at all; it's simply a highly intelligent and smartly presented, masterfully crafted and brilliantly acted piece of What If? disaster movie that is so horrifying because of the depth of its research and the plausibility of its scenario. With reigned in directing and restrained acting, it's brutally successful at being so terrifying.

Just don't be surprised if after viewing it, you start to worry about that person coughing next to you on the bus or the constant sniffer in the office....

Insidious: Blu Ray ReviewInsidious: Blu Ray Review

Insidious: Blu Ray Review

Insidious
Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video

With a box blaring from the makers of Paranormal Activity and SAW, you should be able to guess what audience Insidious is aiming for.

Shortly after moving into a new home, Josh and Renai (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) find their lives turned upside down when their son Dalton falls into a coma. Things get worse when Renai starts seeing horrific visions and ghostly disturbances around the house - so the pair decide to move home.
Only what's haunting them appears to follow them to their new place&.

Spooky, creepy and a little unsettling, Insidious starts off very well - but the second half of the film can't sustain the tension and unease which has been created at the beginning. And that's where it's a real shame as all involved do a great job - and it's genuinely frightening in places with some shocking moments which will have you grabbing the seat in fear.

Sadly, the premise and the reveal of what's going on just can't be taken too seriously and so Insidious falls squarely into great idea, but disappointing territory.

Extras: Trailer, On set and doco

Rating: 6/10 

Taxi Driver: Blu Ray Review

Taxi Driver: Blu Ray Review

Taxi Driver
Rating: R18
Released by Sony Home Entertainment

Having seen the remastered version of this DeNiro classic at the NZ Film Festival this year, I was eagerly waiting its arrival on Blu Ray.

The print had been cleaned up and this release is a superior picture quality as well - part of a series of releases done by Sony to showcase some of the best of their product.

De Niro is excellent as Travis Bickle, a NYC taxi driver whose flight into madness and paranoia is fuelled by his desire to just do something big. Cybill Sherpherd is luminous as his early love interest and Jodie Foster is astonishing in a debut role. If it doesn't quite hang together in some ways, it's because 21st century eyes look back on a 70s film but I can finally understand why so many adore this.

Beautifully restored on Blu Ray, De Niro has rarely been better and Scorsese's sleazy NYC is still a searing watch.

Extras: A whole horde of them - interviews, commentary from Scorsese - befitting an iconic release.

Rating: 8/10