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Man, was I busy this weekend...
Red Cliff
John Woo, 2008
Anyone who cares enough about this film will know that it was edited down Shogun Assassin-style from two separate 2-hour films into a single 160-minute film. The story covers events from the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, as the dominant Han dynasty attempts to beat the other two kingdoms into submission. These kingdoms decide to form an alliance and decide to battle the Han forces at the titular location. The bulk of this film focuses on the actions that take place as the two sides play one large chess game of a battle, occasionally pausing to develop the characters.
Red Cliff is, overall, a solid film. Woo's made his name with heavily stylised but compelling action and the variety of fight scenes that are jam-packed into Red Cliff. While the sequences do occasionally fall prey to the cliché of attempting realism by throwing in all kinds of chaotic camerawork and editing, for the most part they are slick, slowed-down goodness. The film's maybe a little too cinematic for its own good at times, but such instances are trivial. I went with a friend who had already seen the original two-film version of this story and he told me that a lot of the character development from the original films had been cut down for the sake of streamlining it as an action piece. In spite of this editing choice, characters are given sufficient development and depth (especially in the case of the film's nominal villain, Cao Cao, who does not come across as a totally despicable pantomime figure to boo and hiss). All in all, Red Cliff is a solid enough film that, for all its storytelling differences from the original Chinese version, is still a fascinating period piece.
GRADE: B
Withnail & I
Bruce Robinson, 1987
I think a lot of you already know how high I rate this film personally and will probably deliver a seriously in-depth write-up one of these days. Needless to say, this marks about viewing number twelve for Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical story of a pair of unemployed actors living out their days in 1960s England. However, I'm sure it's a version I hadn't seen before as there were several scenes that felt extended or added in. I'm assuming it's because the old DVD of the film I own and have watched several times already is a slightly edited international version. That seems the likely explanation. Anyway, that's not important. The point is that Withnail & I is just a brilliant bittersweet comedy, managing to hit virtually all the notes. Between Robinson's distinct, flavourful dialogue and the pitch-perfect performances of the cast (has anyone in this movie ever been better?), this is just a piece of cinematic excellence. At least, to me it is.
GRADE: A+
The Horseman
Steven Kastrissios, 2008
Middle-class exterminator Christian finds out that his daughter has died under suspicious circumstances. When he mysteriously receives a clue in the mail, he sets off on a vengeful rampage against the wrongdoers in question, armed with a switchblade, the contents of his toolbox and white-hot rage.
Admittedly, it's a familiar plotline at its very basic level and there's a few elements that I didn't mention that give the story a bit more depth - but it's pretty much your average vengeance movie. The most interesting thing about this film is its execution - made on a shoestring budget, it still looks reasonably polished when compared to more widespread, popular films. Of course, it does resort to the same sort of choppy filmmaking I mentioned when talking about Red Cliff in order to convey intensity (especially during the fight scenes, which are very down-to-earth and brutal) but in this case it actually seems a little more impressive. It's a little weird to think of the action as the high point, especially when it feels like a considerable amount of effort has been invested in the writing and performances. Christian is given enough development to make him remain somewhat sympathetic in spite of his actions,. The rest of the cast hasn't got that much to work with, but they make the most of their characters' limited development.
There were plenty of instances throughout the film where I was reminded of Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes, another revenge film that treads similar ground in a similar style, yet manages to feel a lot more well-rounded. I'm not entirely sure if The Horseman had unreached potential or if it did reach its limited potential, but either way it stands as a film that manages a certain amount of style and intrigue on a small budget that ultimately feels a little hollow.
GRADE: C+
Black Dynamite
Scott Sanders, 2009
Black Dynamite (MIchael Jai White), formerly of the US Army and the CIA but now a vigilante pimp, discovers that his brother has been murdered. In response he goes on a bloodthirsty search for the truth that results in him taking on a nation-wide conspiracy that is too big for anyone - least of all the audience - to comprehend.
Black Dynamite is a film that blurs the lines between exaggerated parody and heartfelt homage - no surprise, considering that it spoofs such an overblown genre as blaxploitation films. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a straight spoof of blaxploitation in the same way that Airplane! spoofed disaster movies or The Naked Gun spoofed detectives movies, although the funny thing is that everything that happens in the film doesn't seem at all out of place. It feels like the makers were attempting to make a proper blaxploitation film - which explains why the film is so freaking hilarious.
Even if you've never seen a blaxploitation film and won't get the various references to other films, it won't make any difference. Black Dynamite tries to become a pastiche of virtually everything that made blaxploitation films so utterly hilarious and entertaining. Sex, funk, guns, kung-fu...the works, really. And that's just the intentionally entertaining material. Black Dynamite even goes out of its way to reference the inherently poor quality of blaxploitation. Film equipment appears in the shot, actors act horribly, fight scenes look ridiculous...and so on and so forth. The film is stuffed to the gills with jokes of both varieties with a strangely precise method to what appears to be comedic madness. It may just end up being called the funniest film of the year. Highly recommended.
GRADE: B+
Red Cliff
John Woo, 2008
Anyone who cares enough about this film will know that it was edited down Shogun Assassin-style from two separate 2-hour films into a single 160-minute film. The story covers events from the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, as the dominant Han dynasty attempts to beat the other two kingdoms into submission. These kingdoms decide to form an alliance and decide to battle the Han forces at the titular location. The bulk of this film focuses on the actions that take place as the two sides play one large chess game of a battle, occasionally pausing to develop the characters.
Red Cliff is, overall, a solid film. Woo's made his name with heavily stylised but compelling action and the variety of fight scenes that are jam-packed into Red Cliff. While the sequences do occasionally fall prey to the cliché of attempting realism by throwing in all kinds of chaotic camerawork and editing, for the most part they are slick, slowed-down goodness. The film's maybe a little too cinematic for its own good at times, but such instances are trivial. I went with a friend who had already seen the original two-film version of this story and he told me that a lot of the character development from the original films had been cut down for the sake of streamlining it as an action piece. In spite of this editing choice, characters are given sufficient development and depth (especially in the case of the film's nominal villain, Cao Cao, who does not come across as a totally despicable pantomime figure to boo and hiss). All in all, Red Cliff is a solid enough film that, for all its storytelling differences from the original Chinese version, is still a fascinating period piece.
GRADE: B
Withnail & I
Bruce Robinson, 1987
I think a lot of you already know how high I rate this film personally and will probably deliver a seriously in-depth write-up one of these days. Needless to say, this marks about viewing number twelve for Bruce Robinson's semi-autobiographical story of a pair of unemployed actors living out their days in 1960s England. However, I'm sure it's a version I hadn't seen before as there were several scenes that felt extended or added in. I'm assuming it's because the old DVD of the film I own and have watched several times already is a slightly edited international version. That seems the likely explanation. Anyway, that's not important. The point is that Withnail & I is just a brilliant bittersweet comedy, managing to hit virtually all the notes. Between Robinson's distinct, flavourful dialogue and the pitch-perfect performances of the cast (has anyone in this movie ever been better?), this is just a piece of cinematic excellence. At least, to me it is.
GRADE: A+
The Horseman
Steven Kastrissios, 2008
Middle-class exterminator Christian finds out that his daughter has died under suspicious circumstances. When he mysteriously receives a clue in the mail, he sets off on a vengeful rampage against the wrongdoers in question, armed with a switchblade, the contents of his toolbox and white-hot rage.
Admittedly, it's a familiar plotline at its very basic level and there's a few elements that I didn't mention that give the story a bit more depth - but it's pretty much your average vengeance movie. The most interesting thing about this film is its execution - made on a shoestring budget, it still looks reasonably polished when compared to more widespread, popular films. Of course, it does resort to the same sort of choppy filmmaking I mentioned when talking about Red Cliff in order to convey intensity (especially during the fight scenes, which are very down-to-earth and brutal) but in this case it actually seems a little more impressive. It's a little weird to think of the action as the high point, especially when it feels like a considerable amount of effort has been invested in the writing and performances. Christian is given enough development to make him remain somewhat sympathetic in spite of his actions,. The rest of the cast hasn't got that much to work with, but they make the most of their characters' limited development.
There were plenty of instances throughout the film where I was reminded of Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes, another revenge film that treads similar ground in a similar style, yet manages to feel a lot more well-rounded. I'm not entirely sure if The Horseman had unreached potential or if it did reach its limited potential, but either way it stands as a film that manages a certain amount of style and intrigue on a small budget that ultimately feels a little hollow.
GRADE: C+
Black Dynamite
Scott Sanders, 2009
Black Dynamite (MIchael Jai White), formerly of the US Army and the CIA but now a vigilante pimp, discovers that his brother has been murdered. In response he goes on a bloodthirsty search for the truth that results in him taking on a nation-wide conspiracy that is too big for anyone - least of all the audience - to comprehend.
Black Dynamite is a film that blurs the lines between exaggerated parody and heartfelt homage - no surprise, considering that it spoofs such an overblown genre as blaxploitation films. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a straight spoof of blaxploitation in the same way that Airplane! spoofed disaster movies or The Naked Gun spoofed detectives movies, although the funny thing is that everything that happens in the film doesn't seem at all out of place. It feels like the makers were attempting to make a proper blaxploitation film - which explains why the film is so freaking hilarious.
Even if you've never seen a blaxploitation film and won't get the various references to other films, it won't make any difference. Black Dynamite tries to become a pastiche of virtually everything that made blaxploitation films so utterly hilarious and entertaining. Sex, funk, guns, kung-fu...the works, really. And that's just the intentionally entertaining material. Black Dynamite even goes out of its way to reference the inherently poor quality of blaxploitation. Film equipment appears in the shot, actors act horribly, fight scenes look ridiculous...and so on and so forth. The film is stuffed to the gills with jokes of both varieties with a strangely precise method to what appears to be comedic madness. It may just end up being called the funniest film of the year. Highly recommended.
GRADE: B+
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0
I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
. Also, I thought Cameron was really great in a role like this, she did a fantastic job