Return of the Living SB Movie Experiment: Pontypool

[burdette25159]

One piece Film: Z

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

From Russia With Love

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

The Prestige

Requested by MrBRulzOK


You know, over the years, something has become increasingly evident to me about Christopher Nolan, and I think I may have even brought this up when I reviewed Memento. The man has a knack for finding absolutely amazing concepts for his films but could not give less of a f*** about the details. He will tell his story, the way he intends to tell it, continuity errors, plot holes and logical flaws be damned. Sometimes it's okay because the story is strong enough to make you forget the flaws, or the flaws themselves are minor enough that you can ignore them, but sometimes they're distracting. And don't get me wrong, his stories are always great, but in some of his movies you just can't get the lingering feeling that a lot of it doesn't make sense out of your head.

This is unfortunately the case with this one. This is probably his most creative idea for a story yet. Two magicians, Batman and Wolverine, who started of as friends working as assistants for an already established magician become bitter enemies when a trick gone wrong that may or may not be Batman's fault causes the death of Wolverine's wife. From that point on, they spend the rest of their lives f'ing with each-other's performances. You know, fun little pranks like blowing the other's fingers off, or causing them to crush both a bird and a spectator's fingers on stage, or removing a safety mat from below the stage, causing them to bust their knee, giving them a limp for life, just bro stuff.

Their feud consumes them entirely as they desperately try to upstage one-another, obsessing with figuring out their tricks and improving on them, to the point that Wolverine eventually asks freaking Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie of all people), who is assisted by Gollum, to create a machine that would allow him to teleport, thus making him able to outdo Batman's own trademark "Transported Man" trick.

Unfortunately, the story relies in my opinion on too many variables that the characters couldn't predict just luckily falling into place for the story to evolve, with the usual excuse of "they know each other so well they know exactly what the other will do" excuse for why everything just happens to go exactly as planned. Even then there are parts that still don't really work if you put a little bit of thought into it.

For example, the film starts with Batman being found guilty of murdering Wolverine, despite the fact that there is no evidence pointing at his guilt and in fact, he was actively trying to save Wolverine when he was caught. And since the movie is told mostly in flashbacks, you might think it'd make more sense later as we learn more about what lead to this moment but actually it makes even less sense as anyone would be able to tell there is no way in Hell he would have been able to setup the murder he was accused of.

It's hard to give more examples without spoiling too much but trust me, it's not the only one. Once again it shows that Nolan just wants to tell his story and doesn't bother with the details, but what makes it worse here is that the story is told in a very confusing manner. I already told you that the film is shown mostly in flashbacks, but it doesn't just switch between past and present. Oh no, it keeps jumping around between different points it time like a Time Lord driving under the influence so it's often difficult to follow when chronologically is a scene happening. It made it difficult for me to get invested in the story and the characters.

Speaking of the characters, I feel they could have used a little bit more development as, again, they only seem to be as defined as the story needs them to be and what makes it worse is that other than Batman's wife, none of the characters are all that likeable, even Wolverine's mistress, Black Widow. This makes it difficult to root for either of them and again doesn't really get you invested in their struggles.

So if you're a Nolan fan, I'm sure you will still love this film. Like I said, it's a good story and it does have all of Nolan's calling cards. But if you're like me and think that the details are what really brings a fictional world to life, you'll probably get too distracted by the many little cracks to truly appreciate it. You know, it's funny, this film is all about people making the audience miss the details by making them focus on the act, and the problem for me is that it didn't do that.


Well, the next movie is "Go" but with such a simple title, it's no surprise that there are several films called that so I'll have to ask the person who requested it to be sure which one they meant. EDIT: it was this one.



And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Go

Requested by cageking666


This was not what I expected. This is a semi-comedy starring a batallion of actors and actresses who are going to make you think "dammit I know I've seen him/her in a bunch of stuff before but I can't remember in what", whose gimmick is that the same story is told from three different points of view, something that I've got to admit I am a sucker for. However, this one is a bit weird as it almost feels more like an anthology film than a "multiple POV" film, mostly because the second one is for the most part completely disconnected from the rest of the story as it follows a character who is in a completely different location from the rest of the cast and his only real connection to the main plot is that he knows the other character and the plot sort of connects to the other ones at the end. It is also a lot more light-hearted (despite also having the most gruesome moment).

In general, the tone of the film is rather odd. It seems to flip-flop between gritty, realistic dark comedy and almost farcical shenanigans. And what's weirder is that it's not necessarily a bad thing, although it can be a bit awkward at times. Come to think of it, I feel that although the connecting thread is supposed to be a drug deal gone wrong, I feel the real theme is things getting out of hand and snowballing into an unbelievable mess (and indeed the second segment fits that theme a lot more than the drug deal).

Like a lot of films like this, it feels like it doesn't really have a plot as much as a series of events that are somewhat connected and are oddly enjoyable to watch just for the atmosphere. It also relies heavily on its characters, which are interesting to follow, which I am very thankful for as I was first afraid that they were going to be annoying as they came off as being either overly cynical or bro-y douches but no, once the spotlight is on them, they show their depths and you actually want to follow their story.


Next time, we'll be taking a look at a film that I am, like, 65% sure will involve less drug use, Looney Tunes: Back in Action.



And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?

[Deleted]

Cloud Atlas

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Goldfinger

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Looney Tunes: back in Action

Requested by Mochi Lone Wolf


That was pretty much exactly what I expected from this. It's pretty much your traditional kids' comedy, only with famous Looney Tunes characters thrown in. And it does an alright job at it, it's just nothing special. It follows a heist/spy plot (why is it live-action adaptations of kids' comedy shows seemingly always end up having a heist plot no matter hos irrelevant to the original material it is?) where DJ Drake (Brendan Fraser), his female teammate Kate (Jenna Elfman), Bugs Bunny (Bugs Bunny) and Daffy Duck (Lars von Trier) have to stop the evil ACME's president from finding a diamond called the Blue Monkey which would allow him to turn the entire population of Earth into slave monkeys.

As you've probably come to expect from such a movie, it has a gallery of celebrity cameos, including Timothy Dalton as Drake's father Damien (who is a super-spy, because subtle), Ron Perlman, Bill Goldberg just off the top of my head. And yeah, it's pretty much what you'd expect from this sort of film and it certainly has that "made for TV" feel, but at least it feels like a GOOD made for TV film.

The humour is a bit uneven. There are some good jokes and I did laugh quite a few times but this film occasionally has a bad tendency to explain the jokes, including some that I thought worked well until, well, they explained it (for example, at some point the group is in a spy car that's taking a massive plunge towards the ground only to suddenly stop, with Bugs explaining that it ran out of gas. Funny to me, but then Kate goes "What?! It doesn't work like that!" which kind of ruined it to me). In all fairness, there are some more subtle ones like stuff in the background or in a detail that's not focused on as well as some funny in-jokes, such as Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzales lamenting about how hard it is to be politically correct (and considering Latino representatives actually asked to bring Speedy back, I think it's fair game) and fourth wall-breaking.

Another problem is that it sometimes feel like the toon characters feel a bit artificially inserted into the scenes at times, with them doing slapstick during an otherwise relatively serious scene just so we remember they're in the movie, which again is mostly due to the relatively generic spy/heist plot. In fact, if it weren't for the villains being ACME (which doesn't factor much in the movie to be honest, especially when you consider as far as I'm aware they weren't supposed to be villains in the cartoons), the story would still work without the Looney Tunes elements.

On the technical side it looks really nice. Some CGI shots are not so great but the 2D is very well integrated into the live-action footage. It's pretty impressive, really and the animation is very fluid. There was only one moment where it seemed a bit off as Fraser was supposed to be looking at Daffy during a conversation but it looked like he was looking to his right. I was also rather impressed with them using different styles of animation when the context required a change (like Scooby-Doo characters having less shading and fewer frames per second).

So yeah, pretty much a classic "harmless but fun" kids' film. I'm sure children would enjoy it but I'm also sure they'd forget about it almost as soon as it's over.


Next time, it's the King of Iron Fist Tournament. Enter the Tekken!



And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII? I just started CD 3 so check back soon for new parts!

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Tekken

Requested by J is Justice

My god... this film is a mountain of dumb. I mean, I wasn't really expecting it to be good but I did want to give it a fair shot. I mean, Tekken has always been one of my favourite fighting game franchises (in fact, it was my favourite until Mortal Kombat came back with a vengeance with MK9 and X) and when I heard they were going to make a movie adaptation, I actually had high hopes for it. When you think about it, you COULD make a good story out of it. Take the Mishima rivalry, streamline the story, remove the sillier elements like military kangaroos, include one or two of the subplots and you could have something really cool.

But no, Tekken is a completely unrelated movie that stars characters with the same names as the ones from the games doing very stupid things that have little to nothing to do with the games. Rather than the story of the grudge between the Mishima/Kazama men, it's set in a RoboCop-style dystopian future where all governments in the world have fallen and countries are instead run by giant corporations (so nothing different, then). Oh and it's also set in America despite the main characters still being Japanese, with Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima of course leading their company, the Mishima Zaib- oh wait, Tekken. Yes, Tekken is the name of the company in this film, not the tournament. Why? I'unno.

And yes, Heihachi and Kazuya are working together here rather than being bitter enemies seeking to murder each-other, kicking off this movie's running theme of getting the characters entirely wrong. The looks are wrong, the personalities are wrong, the backstories are wrong the fighting styles are wrong (you all remember how Dragunov fights using a halberd, right?) and in Christie's case, the ethnicity is wrong. In the games, she is a Brazilian capoeirist and friend of Eddie Gordo's who first fights to find Eddie after he's gone missing and then to get her dying grandfather an operation that only Mishima Zaibatsu can provide.

In this film, she is a Caucasian girl who fights using MMA. She doesn't acknowledge Eddie at any point so presumably she has nothing to do with him and her motivation for entering the tournament is... nowhere to be found. Oh and they managed to misspell her name during a shot introducing her. What is even the point of having her in the movie if they're going to make her nothing like her game counterpart? They might as well have replaced her with Asuka and it would have been all the same... in fact, it would have made a lot more sense.

Really, the only reason she's here is so we can have a love story between her and Jin (despite the fact that in the games all Jin ever cared about was beating Heihachi and/or Kazuya and had no interest in romancing anyone), so I guess that's why they didn't have Asuka in her place as that would have been pretty awkward. Then again, they turned the Williams into incestuous bisexuals so really that would have been par for the course. Oh yeah, that happens. Oh and Jin & Christie's romance is still pretty awkward considering Jin already has a girlfriend.

This, by the way, is never addressed. She and Jin never break up, we see her watch the tournament on TV, but we never see Jin conflicted about the love triangle and neither woman finds out about the other so either our hero just happens to be a two-timing shithead or the writers just forgot that he was already in a relationship. It's especially amusing when during a fight, Nina taunts Christie by saying she likes Jin and once Christie wins, she retorts with "I don't share". Oooh do I have some news for you, Christie. But at least that romance sub-plot is perfectly written. By which I mean they first taunt each-other a bit backstage with Christie looking mostly annoyed by Jin, then Jin wins his first fight of the tournament after which they sneak out to a club and instantly fall in love.

Also, Heihachi is a good guy (despite his company apparently being known as the most cruel of all). Yes, really. The ultimate bad guy from the games, the man responsible for all of the suffering, is a good guy in this and even helps the fighters escape when Kazuya (who is apparently responsible for all the bad things Tekken does) wants to kill them.

As for his rivalry with Kazuya, rather than being a blood feud full of insane fights with them trying to murder each-other and only coming back stronger each time, it's a weenerish power struggle because daddy Heihachi won't give Kazuya control of Tekken and it hurts his feelings.

And the film is just full of stupidity and nonsense. I already mentioned the messed-up love triangle but you also have the introductory speech by Jin explain that not only is the King of Ironfist tournament a yearly occasion in this universe but it's "kill or be killed", so of course Christie is later shocked when Jin nearly kills Miguel (who has f*** all to do with his game counterpart to the point they're not even worth comparing) because the King of Iron Fist Tournment "is not about killing or being killed" and it's an unprecedented twist when Kazuya decides that matches will now be to the death. And no, the opening narration isn't a flash-forward.

There's also a scene where Kazuya blackmails Bryan Fury by telling him he knows Bryan has cybernetic implants, which are illegal in tournaments. Fair enough, except brass-knuckled gloves like Jin's, halberds and katanas are apparently A-OK in the tournament so I'm not sure why cybernetic implants are such a big deal.

Then there's the fact that they play Kazuya and Jin's blood relation like it's a twist despite the fact that anyone who'd be interested in this film would already know that going in as that was not a twist in the games and in fact that was the entire point.

Jun Kazama is also in the movie for a bit but she quickly gets killed by Kazuya, setting up the motivation for Jin to enter the tournament. Where it gets stupid is that the movie treats it like a very meaningful loss even though she had about ten lines before getting whacked, yet there are constant flashback to her, mostly from stuff before the event of the films that have no weight to the audience and multiple repeats of the few lines she managed to squeeze out before her untimely yet plot-convenient demise.

We are also told multiple times that she was an incredibly skilled fighter but all we see from her is manage to punch one Jack once before getting knocked down in a single hit from a rifle stock. Oh and one especially jarring flashback has her say that one day, Jin will fight not only for himself but for the whole world, despite the fact that she didn't want him to oppose Tekken, let alone enter the tournament.

Okay look, I'm gonna stop here or I'll be here all day but trust me, there's more. In fact, one of the dumbest moments in the whole film happens at the very end but I don't want to spoil it.

And it's not even a good movie on its own, even if you disregard the original material. Like I said, the plot is full of stupidity and as a martial arts film, it's mediocre at best. The fights are not particularly impressive and often look pretty bad due to being filmed too close, too dark (including one entirely with strobe lighting which I suspect may have been done to hide obvious stunt doubles) or just too messy.

In conclusion, well, as far as I remember, the other times I made a post this long, it was for Massacre at Central High and Deadly Prey so that should give you an idea of what you're in for. It's a bad adaptation and a bad movie. It's really one of those movies where the only enjoyment you can get out of them is from riffing it with friends and admittedly, it does provide a lot of material for that.


Coming up next we have a classic thriller starring Dustin Hoffman Marathon Man.

And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?


And now, as a bonus, here's a list of all the ways they screwed the characters up that I'm going to put in a spoiler tag for size:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}Steve Fox: in the games he is a young British man trying to find the identity of his mother and uncover the secret behind the massive scar on one of his arms and part of his trademark look is his long slicked back hair. Here he is a retired middle-aged fighter with shaved hair who doesn't even participate in the tournament but instead recruits people for it. He is also the one who gives Jin his gloves, which Steve used to wear himself (so I guess that also drops the element of him being a boxer since those are most definitely not boxing gloves).

Marshall Law: in the games, he is a Bruce Lee expy who is a chef with aspirations of opening a dojo. He is also one of the most noble characters in the series. He is also well into his 40s by the time Jin comes into play. In this film, he is the same age as Jin and is a brutal dickhead with no personality who is only here to be beaten by Jin so he can finally get to the bloody tournament already.

The Williams sisters: in the games, Nina and Anna have a rivalry on par with the Mishimas, constantly trying to kill each-other although also occasionally helping each-other. They are assassins, with Nina being first hired to kill Heihachi, then Kazuya. Here they are incestuous bisexuals who work FOR Heihachi and Kazuya with not even a hint of rivalry between the two. They are also blatantly only in the movie for gratuitous fanservice.

Raven: In the games, he is a modern-day ninja sent to investigate Mishima Zaibatsu and an enemy of Dragunov. In this film he... exists. I think. And no, his rivalry with Dragunov isn't present either. And speaking of him...

Sergei Dragunov: In the games, he is a Spetsnaz operative also sent to investigate Mishima Zaibatsu. His entire gimmick is that he is completely silent and expressionless, to the point that the most noise he makes when hit is exhaling some air. Here, he is a random meathead with no distinctive characteristic who is only here to give Bryan Fury someone to kill.

Eddie Gordo: in the games, he is the OG capoeirist and seeks revenge over the drug cartel who killed his father. Here he is an "underworld enforcer" and is only here so Raven can go on to round 2 of the tournament.

Yoshimitsu: This is actually the one that comes out best other than maybe Bryan Fury because Bryan was a brutal meathead to begin with... mostly because they only kept his look and went for a designed inspired by his Tekken 3 appearance, the best one, and he actually gets to fight with a katana. Still, he has none of his game personality and is just a mindless goon for Kazuya who has no problem killing for money, because I guess turning a popular ninja character from a fighting game into just another henchman for the villain in the movie adaptation is a thing, right, Scorpion and Sub-Zero?

The Jacks: in the games, they are massively powerful androids used by Mishima Zaibatsu as weapons/mooks. While they are still mooks here, they are not robots but instead samurai-ish human soldiers who look and act more like the Tekken Force.

[Deleted]

Extract

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

It's been a while since I last did this but I just came back from the cinema and I feel it's time for another...

Bonus Review: Green Room



...




...





Jeeeesus.


This film is just... intense. I am warning you right away, this film is not for the faint of heart. This is one of the bleakest films I have ever seen. It's not even really from the gore, although the film doesn't shy away from that, it's from the sheer tension. I don't think I have ever seen a movie before that made me go "I have no idea how this scene is going to end" so often because you never know if a scene will end with the characters getting closer to escaping or if someone will f***ing die. It kind of has that Game of Throne feel of constant looming threat that anyone could get brutally killed at any moment without warning.

It's also a very realistic film which is what makes it all the more efficient. The villains here aren't monsters or revenants or even serial killers, they're Neo Nazis. Not even impressive ones, just bottom-of-the-food chain skinheads. You know, the kind who can only be bothered to get in a fight if it's 10-on-1 yet still think they're badasses. It really taps into your fears of having to face sudden, random violence that leaves you at the mercy of someone else's lunacy that you know exists in real life but assume you're never gonna have to deal with.

On top of that, this movie does a great job of bringing you back to reality on how most of us would probably handle ourselves with this sort of situation. In most movies like this, the characters would be incredibly talented at using weapons that they are supposedly touching for the first time or pulling tricks that would normally require military training to perform. Here they stumble through their plans, having to improvise something and it doesn't always work, with the consequences you can imagine. As for weapon handling, they are definitely not sharpshooters and while they may think that getting guns makes them safe and gives them an instant advantage, the reality is that they barely know what to do with them.

The violence is very realistic as well as has been noted by many people who have seen it. It's quick, sudden and brutal. No dramatic poses, no one-liners. It gets pretty gory at times and it's actually pretty nice to see a theatrically released horror film that doesn't shy away from it.

And while it's realistic and the heroes aren't the one-man armies that most films have, it's also nice to see that they are actually competent. They act smartly, they can think on their toes and the few times they did something that might have come off as a bit daft, it doesn't feel out of place considering they're not exactly in their right mind and they never do anything outright stupid. Plus, again, you get the impression that they tend to think that they're more capable than they are because movies make it look easy and that just because you know what to do means you also know how to do it.

And the villains are terrifying, acting completely detached from the massacre they're committing, with disturbing efficiency, convinced that what they're doing is just part of the fight for the "cause" which, from what I hear, is very true to how extremist groups work. Once again, it adds to the fear as the characters are not only being hunted, but hunted by people who genuinely believe they're the good guys, and we all know this is the sort of people we could all end up facing one day. In general, this film does a fantastic job of making you feel as helpless as the characters and my heart was racing from start to finish.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Hobgoblins

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Marathon Man

Requested by Mochi Lone Wolf


For a film so popular starring Dustin Hoffman, I was expecting a lot more. The main problem is that I just never felt invested in the events of the film and the reason for that is that it takes forever to explain what's actually at stake. We spend half of this movie or in other terms, over an hour, following random characters in random events without really knowing who is who, on what side they are, what they are trying to do, why they do what they do, we just vaguely understand that a diamond theft is apparently involved, before we at last get some answers and we can finally follow the plot.

Hell, for the better part of the first half of the movie, it's not even made clear that Babe, the titular Marathon Man, is even related to one of the other characters (turns out he's the brother of Doc, one of the people involved). It's really hard for me to care about what's happening in a movie when I don't even know what anyone's end game is.

The other problem is that in the second half, the one where we actually know what's going on, nothing much happens. Babe gets captured by the bad guys, gets tortured, escapes and gets revenge. All the really interesting stuff happened in the first half but unfortunately I couldn't care about it because nothing was established. It's like this movie is missing a second act. We have the first half which is all setup, the second one which is all resolution, but no development between the two.

There are also a few times where it's hard to suspend disbelief, like the numerous crimes committed in broad daylight that the characters keep getting away with, including slashing someone's throat with a hidden blade in the middle of a busy street (and don't give me that everyone else was distracted because of the old lady losing her mind. There is still no way nobody would have noticed that), or the whole scene where the police comes to interrogate Babe with his brother's corpse still lying next to him on the ground.

I get that the cops would want to talk to the person who reported the crime and was the last person to see the victim as soon as possible but you'd think they'd at the very least take them out of the room so they don't have to stare at a loved one's dead body the whole time. And then, not only do the cops let Babe stay at his place despite it being a crime scene, still having his brother's blood soaked in his carpet and them suspecting that his brother's murderers are going to come for him next, they don't even post a guard at the entrance or do anything to protect him*.

I'm sure a lot of people here like this movie but I'm sorry, it's just very sloppy to me. The only real praise I can give it is the performances, which are all excellent. So I guess it's worth checking if you're a Hoffman and/or Scheider fan.

And what was the deal with that soccer ball?!


Next is a film that's just a film, who thinks that I am the one, it's The Legend of Billie Jean.


And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?


*

SPOILER: Click to show

And yes, I know the policeman Babe talks to is with the bad guys but surely the other cops would think about leaving someone there. Not that it matters since they really should have taken him to the station or a hotel to begin with.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

The Legend of Billie Jean

Requested by @ricrocket


This movie's good but it's one of those cases where it being good is rather frustrating because it's damn close to being great but it keeps shooting itself in the foot. The premise is great in my opinion: a guy called Binx has his scooter (which we are told he just bought and had to work hard for) stolen by some assholes. He first goes to the cops who tell him to wait a couple days before pressing charges, but he goes to try and get it back on his own and gets beaten up and his scooter wrecked in the process.

Later, his sister Billie Jean goes to the lead asshole's father (telling Binx to wait for her as she doesn't want him to get into more trouble) to tell him what happened and ask him to pay for it. He refuses and instead tries to rape her, which you may recognize as being somewhat rude. Things escalate and it ends with Binx shooting the father in the shoulder. They run away and since he tries to make it look like they were robbing him, they end up on the run from the law.

So yeah, very cool setup with a story of people unfairly being chased by the police who admittedly could have handled things better but are really not the bad guys as they were merely defending themselves. Unfortunately the movie kind of drops the ball and quickly loses control of its story. The main problem I have with this is that the public immediately sides with Billie and turns her in a folk hero despite it making no sense in universe as all they could possibly know is that she, her brother and the two other kids who are with them entered this dude's store, shot him and left.

It gets especially jarring when she makes a video for the press to "set the record straight" yet never mentions the attack on her brother or the attempted rape. She just says some platitudes about how "fair is fair" and some generic "you gotta fight for your rights" crap. So the public doesn't even have HER point of view to go on as a reason to support her.

It doesn't help that the film gets very heavy-handed, especially by drawing a parallel between Billie Jean and Joan of Arc, which by the way is why Billie cutting her hair short is supposedly important (seriously, I can't be the only one who finds the "female character cuts her hair to show she's tough" cliché corny at best, especially since it almost always switches to a still fashionable and feminine style).

It's hard to take seriously, especially when you consider what she's doing is really not for the people and isn't against "the man". Sure she's in the right but she's and her group are still doing it for themselves and their enemy is a small business owner. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is why there is a scene of her rescuing a little boy from his abusive father because other than that, there is nothing about her struggle that justifies her "people's champion" status.

In addition to that, the main characters keep making things worse for themselves as Binx ends up using a toy gun to threaten a police officer and later on, they meet another character (who is amazingly cool with our heroes breaking into his house and stealing his food) who then offers to pretend to be their hostage so they'd have a bargaining chip against the police.

So while on the run for robbery, for which they could probably provide evidence of their innocence, they are adding armed assault (and yes, even with a fake gun, you can get into trouble for that because the victim still feared for their life) and kidnapping to the list of crimes they're accused of. At this point, even though they ARE the good guys, it really would have been their own fault if they'd ended up shot by the police because for all anyone knows, they ARE dangerous, armed criminals. And it just further confuses the point of why people are convinced Billie Jean is a rebel heroine.

It's a shame because there really are a lot of things to like about this movie. The main characters, despite being a bit daft, are likeable, the performances are solid (even Christian Slate, who I usually consider a one-expression-wonder, is good in this), there's some good action and like I said, I really like the concept of it. Oh and the soundtrack is amazing, full of that sweet 80's darkwave-ish synth music which really clicks with me. Hell, it even has a cameo by Caroline Williams a.k.a. Stretch from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Part 2, which I think we can all agree is the best one in the franchise.

Really, if they had dropped the pretence of her being a heroine and had just made it about these kids accidentally going on the run from the cops for something that really isn't their fault and accentuated the darker themes and moral dilemma of fighting for your freedom versus stopping the madness, it would have been a lot better. Unfortunately, as it stands it is merely an enjoyably cheesy drama. It's one those films you enjoy but you keep thinking to yourself is wasted potential.


Coming up next, we have my second Hitchcock film for this thread and this time it'll be closer to the sort of work he is most famous for, it'sVertigo.


And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?

[cageking666]

Circle

[Mozenrath]

That movie sounds terrible. We don't even find out how she got into tennis OR thought that Michael was the one? What a letdown.

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

Thunderball

[Deleted]

Stretch

[bob loves the Hurt Syndicate]

You Only Live Twice

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

Vertigo

Requested by bob loves the Hurt Syndicate


I had watched one Hitchcock movie for the thread before but this one is much closer to what most people have in mind when thinking about Hitchcock. I liked it, it's very interesting and tackles an unusual subject as the main character, John 'Scottie' Ferguson, is tasked by an old friend of his with watching his wife Madeleine as she is acting very strange, believing she is possessed by a long dead ancestor. What really made it work for me is that it's kept ambiguous if she is simply going insane, which even she end up considering, or if there really is something to this belief.

This unfortunately is also why the film started to lose me in the third act of the film. Without spoiling too much, it suddenly switches gears and becomes about John's obsession with Madeleine, which I found less interesting than the part about Madeleine herself, especially since it drops the "maybe it's not just in her head" thing. There is also a plot twist that feels like it's supposed to be a shock at the end... except they reveal it about twenty minutes earlier, so it just feels like a veeeery long wrap-up to the movie. It doesn't help that since the movie is over two hours, the switch occurs at a time when most movies would end, further making it feel like the film should have ended way earlier than it did.

Still though, I liked the film a lot and since I drew comparisons to more recent works while watching it, I imagine it was very influential (in fact, according to IMDb, it pioneered the "zoom out and track in" effect). It is also very beautiful movie with many lovingly crafted shots, some of which are very impressive.

As for the vertigo from the title, it refers to John's fear of heights, which actually doesn't play a very big part in the story. It does end up being important, but despite what it being the title might make you think, it is not the focus of the film at all. The main theme is really obsession and is the common thread of the two parts of the movie, although as I mentioned earlier I wish they were connected a bit better.

So overall, a very good movie and if you want to watch something suspenseful, this will no doubt satisfy you.


Well, after a classic of old-school cinema, next time we have a much more recent film with the action flick The Kingdom.


And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

The Kingdom

Requested by Mochi Lone Wolf


Looking at the IMDb page, I was rather surprised to see this because looking at the poster and synopsis, it seemed like one of those countless American direct-to-DVD war movies that fill bargain bins in supermarkets and are usually of the "okay but nothing special" type and usually, when people request a movie for this thread, it's either because they think it's brilliant or because they think it's hilariously bad (or they're curious about it and want to know what I think of it) so it was rather surprising to find something like this suggested.

Right of the bat I can say I like the fact that they approached this story in an original way. While it is a war story with US soldiers in a Middle-Eastern country, it's not really an action movie and focuses instead on an investigation on a terrorist attack against a US army facility in Saudi Arabia. This in my opinion makes it more interesting than if it was just "shoot bad guys until you shoot the final boss, ending terrorism forever" (just like in real life, right?), especially since each character have their own speciality with one of them handling interrogations, one of them doing autopsies and two of them gathering evidence on the crime scene.

I kind of wish this team feel was highlighted more though as it really only comes into play about halfway through the movie and for the most part, it follows Ronald Fleury, the team's leader, as he interrogates people. So yeah, the movie IS about an investigation and does show each character's personal skills (I even joked to myself that this was CSI: Saudi Arabia although this movie is way better than anything CSI ever spewed out) but we still have our main hero leading it with the rest of the time feeling more like sidekicks.

One thing that annoyed me early on was that the characters quickly antagonize the local military with which they're supposed to work, getting inexplicably angry that they don't get to do whatever they want right away and seemingly not understanding why they'd want to make sure the site of a terrorist attack that included two bombings is safe before they're allowed to investigate. Thankfully that does end, especially after the local colonel (Faris Al Ghazi) basically gives them a reality check about how yeah, it's not that easy to secure a terrorist attack site and start an investigation while their still picking up the remains of the victims.

One thing that bothered me more as it remained through the whole story was the film is really ugly to look at. I mean yeah, it's a war movie so I didn't expect it to look pretty but it's got that washed out brown colour correction thing going that I never thought looked good and it also has a lot of unnecessary shaky cam which seems especially silly considering, again, it mostly follows an investigation and isn't a very action packed movie.

The story, however, is good and kept me interested through the whole thing. I was never really thrilled by it but it does have its moments and generally has a strong atmosphere. Also, according to IMDb, the original cut was about two and a half hours and included more character development but the studios forced the director to cut out almost an hour of the movie and I'd really like to see a director's cut of this film because I feel more character moments and more development for the minor characters would improve this movie a lot as I did feel like some parts felt strangely short and the ending was a bit abrupt to me. It certainly feels like there was more meant for this movie but the studios tried to mturn it into a more generic and bankable war flick.


And next time... oooooh boy, we have a movie by one of the weirdest filmmakers in recent history, Harmony Korine, with what is probably his biggest mainstream success to date, Spring Breakers.


And if you want to read something else I'm doing, why not check my Let's Play of the French version of Final Fantasy VIII?