Dracula Untold: DVD Review

Dracula Untold: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

another re-imagining of the origins of the Dracula story in time for Hallowe'en.

It's 1442 Transylvania and Hobbit star Luke Evans is hunky-but-troubled Prince Vlad, who's forced into taking terrible measures to protect his people from the oncoming might of the Turkish army, led by warlord Mehmud (Dominic Cooper, all guy-liner and one note).

After discovering an immortal devil atop a mountain cave, Vlad the impaler makes a pact with the creature to save his family from death and slavery and his kingdom from slaughter. But that deal with Charles Dance's Faust-like demon means that Vlad has 3 days to resist the urge to drink human blood or forever be changed into a creature of the night.

Dracula Untold is more a medieval fantasy fight film than a full on blood-sucking Dracula flick.

Moping and brooding, the troubled Luke Evans as Vlad the Impaler does the best he can with a fairly anaemic script that's more about family, fathers and sons, reincarnation and destined tragedy than seeking out scantily clad ladies and biting them.

It's surprisingly bloodless too, with most of the proceedings being taken up by some very impressive FX shots from heat seeking infra red vision for the Dracula creatures watching from the dark, peeling off of skin when struck by sunlight, some smart CGI bat work as they swirl like an out of control twister to an opening 3D freeze frame shot which shows off the stylistic vision of first time director Gary Shore. As well as the FX frenzy (and the usual Dracula horror cliches - millions of bats flying out of mountains), the main thrust of this revision is an attempt to give Dracula more of a tortured almost emo-like conflict and make his ascent to what he is a more internal moral struggle as he battles with the monsters within, trying not to become the monster himself.

Which is perhaps a good thing, because a lack of any real solid antagonist during the muddy proceedings to face off with is somewhat crippling. Cooper's Mehmud is bereft of screen time, character development and consequently is as little a threat as you'd ever encounter, with his sole machinations being to get 1,000 boys conscripted into his army. Likewise, his wife (played byEnemy star Sarah Gadon) has little to do and is subsequently wasted.

That said, there are some pleasing touches and references to theDracula mythology; a believer in Dracula who wants to be his servant raises a few nostalgic smiles (including the iconic "Yes Master" deference line) but the desire to fill the movie with darkly lit battle scenes where the Turkish hordes are covered with bats makes for somewhat eye-crippling viewing.

Along with a frankly ludicrously tacked on final sequence, and so much wood at times that it's almost fatal for a man troubled by stakes, this Dracula is somewhat of a muddled outing with some bad dialogue riddled through the script. It lacks the bite of the start of a franchise, but should be applauded for trying to humanise the monstrous myth as this movie tries to Bat-ter your heart as well as the senses.

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Fury: Blu Ray Review

Fury: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Sony Home Ent

They say war is hell.

And for large chunks of David Ayers' war-warts-and-all movie Fury, that's certainly the case (read into that what you will).

In this latest to join the pantheon of panzer crushers, Brad Pitt plays Wardaddy, a sergeant scarred literally and metaphorically by a long tour of duty. He's the head of a Sherman tank (with Fury blazoned on its gun - Freud would have a field day with that visual lack of subtlety I suspect) whose bloodied and muddied crew is faced with death during the final days of World War II, lumbering from one job to the next, escorting troops and clearing the way as the final push into Nazi territory reaches its ultimate end.
Into their number comes fresh-faced Norman (cliche number one) played with quaking fear and moral sensitivity by Logan Lerman, who's inevitably going to undergo a baptism of fire as the assistant tank driver, helping the Fury team to push into Germany. But, the further into the enemy's territory they get, the more challenges and horrors await them.

Fury is, in many ways, your typical Hollywood war movie. 

There are intense fight scenes where the explosions are bigger than anything you'd have imagined, bullets whip through the air like red and green laser beams and there's a final (reality-defying) showdown which sees the tank crew overwhelmed by insurmountable odds as they draw a line in the sand. There's also plenty of time during the final battle for speeches and soul-baring heroics which don't ring true given the level of menace apparently on their doorstep.

Plus, with the exception of the aphorism-spouting Wardaddy and the from-baby-to-man-in-one-day coming of age journey of Norman and their relationship, the men in the tank are pretty much one note - (the smart quippy Mexican, played by Pena, the hillbilly played by Bernthal and the quiet Bible reading one played by LaBeouf) - making the emotional pull of the climactic showdown all too lacking. In fact, at times, you feel the plot and its execution is lumbering and lurching as much as the tank itself as it charts a course through Germany, even though Pitt's performance rises above the rest.

And yet, there are moments where Ayers defies the Hollywood war machine conventions and proffers up something commendable which rises above the cliche of the combat and the gritty horrors in most war movies postSpielberg's Saving Private Ryan.

Visually, Fury is tremendously affecting, with striking war-torn vistas and hauntingly bleak imagery peppered throughout. 

In among the grim and mud-strewn atrocities of war (people strung up by the sides of the road, a body in a suit crushed under a tank track, half a face is to be cleaned off from the insides of a tank, a soldier on fire who shoots himself in the head rather than burn alive), there are long swathes of quieter scenes where the tedium of war and the tensions and psychology of men together are exploited to maximum effect.

None more so than one central pivotal scene which sees the stoic Wardaddy and Norman enter a German home in a liberated village for some R&R. The house has two women within and, thanks to Pitt's effectively dialled down, questionable character and almost mute performance, the simmering tension and latent uncertainty of how this play out brings out a dramatic frisson that's missing. Things are further ramped up a notch psychologically when the remaining members of the crew gate-crash the meal, adding a level of ugliness to the extended proceedings and proving a reminder of what lies ahead when the final vestiges of humanity are threatened.  

Ultimately, Fury is a solid war-is-hell movie, with scattered moments of poignancy that whimper rather than roar; the claustrophobia of the tank is under-used and the shattering of Norman's innocence is over-used. 

War is indeed hell, and while Ayers is to be applauded for his keen eye for horrific detail, his taking his eye off the ball in other areas and sub-par characters almost cause this tank to stop dead in its tracks.

Rating:

Newstalk ZB Review - The Theory of Everything, Selma and HipHoperation

Newstalk ZB Review - The Theory of Everything, Selma and HipHoperation

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-mornings-with-jack-tame/audio/darren-bevan-mawkish-movies-fail-to-move/

The Equalizer: Blu Ray Review

The Equalizer: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Roadshow Home Ent
It's the one man might of America versus multiple Russian gangsters in this latest hell-hath-no-fury-like-Denzel-scorned outing that feels like something from the 1980s.

Reuniting Denzel with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, the duo set out on updating an 80s gritty UK crime series that starred Edward Woodward as an avenging angel.

Washington is McCall, whose life is a measured calm and precision, and whose past is a mystery. Working in a DIY store and living his evenings reading books at a local diner, he forms a friendship with child prostitute Teri (Grace-Moretz) who's under the control of Russian gangsters. When she's beaten to a pulp, he decides to exact vengeance. But his brutal act of revenge stirs up a hornet's nest and soon, bigger sharks are circling.

The Equalizer is in parts brutal, but a solid thriller, that skimps a little too readily on the action in favour of ponderous build up and stylish slow-mo shots aimed at looking cool more than anything else.

Denzel goes for measured and zen-like calm as he trots out an intensely brooding version of his Man On Fire  routine, with each take down he enacts being characterised by a gloomy stare as he visualises how it'll all go down and an over-reliance on choreographed slow-mo shots. Choosing to spend time dispensing healthy living advice to a colleague who wants to be a security guard, advice to Teri on a singing career and sucking on his jaw to demonstrate when he's really ticked off, there's little call for Washington to be anything other than emotionless and completely invincible throughout; with the exception of a handful of scenes which see him soften and open up when his back story is hinted at about two thirds of the way through the film.

Predictably, the story follows a very well-trodden, if somewhat ambling path, with Grace-Moretz's damsel merely book-ending proceedings, and Fuqua choosing to drag out the film for as far as it can be stretched as McCall takes on the one-note villainous Russians - who aside from Martin Csokas's snakelike Fixer barely register.

Short, sharp bursts of brutality punctuate the at times sedentary proceedings as the one-on-one talking ends in bone-crunching agony for those opposed to McCall (and with a final showdown in McCall's DIY store offering up plenty of OSH related issues and conveniently placed weapons). Fuqua chooses to rely on those to provide some life in among the beautiful cinematography and endless grey dusky cityscapes.

City vistas glisten in the dark with a brooding gritty underbelly and Fuqua's framed some wonderfully evocative shots - from fans all whirring in the DIY store to alleyway take downs - but it doesn't distract from the pace of the film which really never feels like it's fully kicking in or building to an emotionally invested climax, given how invincible McCall appears to be - and how outclassed the Russians are when facing him.

All in all, The Equalizer doesn't do subtle - even from allegories and allusions to the books he's reading - the tension is relatively non-existent and the game of cat-and-mouse somewhat lacking in suspense, but yet I couldn't help but entertained in this vengeance tale that's all style and very little substance.

Whether that's grounds enough for a sequel and an unending franchise is debatable, but, as with the TV series which ran for 4 years, you wouldn't bet against McCall.

Rating:

Amazonia: DVD Review

Amazonia: DVD Review

Rating: G
Released by Roadshow Home Ent

A plane crashes in the forest, the sole survivor is trapped in a cell, but makes an escape - only to have to traverse strange foreign climes with no idea of what danger is lurking around the next corner.

It all sounds very familiar, doesn't it?

Yet this film has a unique MO to a tale which is all too familiar - its protagonist is a capuchin monkey with the most expressively natural face committed to celluloid in a long while. (Discounting those damned dirty apes from San Fran earlier in the year or since Marcel annoyed Ross).

With nary a line of dialogue and only the natural parameters of the Amazonian rain-forest and all who dwell within to bring it to some form of vivid life, Amazonia is an interesting hybrid of survival story and nature documentary.

From toucans hurling discarded half-eaten fruit at the monkey to various bugs filmed in extreme close up, Ragobert's created something wildly unique and at times, strangely compelling, as the monkey's story is crushed into the usual survival tropes and human type situations.

It's the lush contours of the Amazon rain forest and the life within which makes Amazonia worth your time; younger audiences will be enlightened by this foray into a microscopic world we're unlikely to experience - and older adults will be impressed at its brevity, if they can stomach the pro-environmental message that is threaded through.

All in all, Amazonia works as a window into a world we're unlikely to glimpse and for an animal star who's likely to delight and amuse as he takes on his most dangerous role ever.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Blu Ray Review

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Blu Ray Review

T-U-R-T-L-E Power returns to the big screen with the reincarnation of those heroes in a half shell which were so instrumental to so many growing up.

In this Michael Bay produced blockbuster popcorn piece, it's the aeons old fashioned tale of good versus evil. In New York, the evil gang The Foot Clans, headed by Shredder (voiced by Tony Shaloub) is trying to take over the city - but when Megan Fox's reporter April O'Neill discovers a connection between the gangs and a well to do businessman, she inadvertently puts herself in harm's way.

However, thankfully there are four hidden friends on hand to save the day - Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and Michaelangelo....

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn't made by Michael Bay per se, but it has his trademark elements of Bay-hem and product placement throughout (a Pizza Hutt placement being the absolute worst). As parts of the city are taken out by the paramilitary Foot Clan and the robot Samurai Shredder, the destruction is on a Transformers level of chaos (complete with obligatory lens flare).

But, despite those paw marks, Liebesman has actually put together a fairly decent (if occasionally violent) kids' flick with one-dimensional baddies and some fairly low level dialogue that all hangs together coherently.

Wise-cracking Arnett sticks to his trademark schtick as O'Neil's cameraman, and even Fox starts off well as the frustrated reporter before sliding into simple damsel in distress. The baddies hit that one note level well with Shredder being little more than a dramatic cypher, and Fichtner lacking all but a moustache to twirl as his machinations come to the fore.

And while the Turtles don't initially have their personalities shine out (despite a very cool graphic novel style intro extolling their back-story), there are scenes which showcase their dynamic; an elevator scene that sees them beat-boxing reminds us they're just kids, a set piece de resistance atop a snowy mountain taps their bond very well in between all the whirling FX wizardry) all serve to remind you why you fell in love with these half-shells years ago.

Popcorn entertainment at its best, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles won't trouble your grey matter in the slightest. While there are holes here and there in the movie and it skews a little more towards the young, (why it's not been positioned as a kids movie defeats me), but overall, the reinvention of the turtles is simply - and surprisingly - disposably-leave-your-brain-at-the-door-dumb-fun.
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The ABCs of Death 2: DVD Review

The ABCs of Death 2: DVD Review

Rating: R18
Released by Vendetta Films

Ant Timpson and Tim League's idea for an anthology of death following the alphabet gets a second outing, with a whole new range of directors taking the helm for the gruesome chaos.

As ever, with 26 directors and 26 visions of death, there's going to be a widening variety on show - and it's never more obvious than with this release. Some segments impress - from Julian Barratt's B is for Badger and Robert Morgan's stop motion D is for Deloused; but others fail to hit any kind of mark and just make you grateful there's a brevity to all of them.

The highlight though is U is For Utopia, a short which takes the obsession and quest for perfection to a natural conclusion and impresses with its simplicity of vision - but then what would you expect from the director of Cube and Cypher?

All in all, The ABCs of Death 2 will appeal if you're a horror fan and can appreciate short-form creativity; otherwise, viewers will be repulsed by some of the lo-fi imagery and depths of depravity on display here. (So, Ant and Tim have achieved what they set out to do)