Tom Leins - A Fistful of DVD Reviews
Words by Tom Leins
Two decades after John Woo, Ringo Lam and co. first made film fans sit up and take notice, can Hong Kong action movies still compete with the Hollywood money-machine? The Good, the Bad & The Weird (Icon) offers a resounding yes! Set amid the lawless badlands of 1930s Manchuria, this effervescent action spectacular follows the fortunes of three morally dubious anti-heroes, whose paths cross in increasingly violent fashion as they bid to track down the mysterious treasure indicated by a stolen map. Mean, moody bounty-hunter Do-Won, suave sadist Chang-Yi and bumbling petty thief Tae-Goo are all hell-bent on beating their rivals to the prize, resulting in a dizzying, unpredictable chase movie riddled with stylish, violent interludes. Although his background is in horror movies, director Kim Jee-Woon blasts his way through a barrage of itchy-trigger-finger action sequences, ably demonstrating his commitment to creative carnage. If Indiana Jones re-imagined by John Woo sounds like your cup of tea, then you’re in for an absurdly enjoyable time. All in all: a dazzling triumph of style over substance.
It’s time to stifle those yawns, and pretend to enjoy another critically acclaimed social-realist drama from France…! The Class (Artificial Eye) is based on Francois Begaudeau’s semi-autobiographical novel ‘Entre Les Murs’, and sees the author step in front of the camera to play a thinly veiled version of himself. Firm-but-fair Francois is a well-liked teacher who finds himself in an awkward situation when the traditional classroom boundaries begin to erode in front of his very eyes. As a succession of aggressive teenagers start to question his values and teaching methods, Francois finds himself on a collision class with his malcontent pupils. Although the movie’s authenticity is beyond doubt, the slow pace and ponderous less-is-more dynamic will dissuade easily distracted viewers from getting sucked into its nuanced world. Nevertheless, The Class is a tense, compelling drama that offers a thought-provoking perspective on the French immigrant experience.
After turning out arguably the worst movie of his long and illustrious career with last year’s Cassandra’s Dream, elderly New Yorker Woody Allen is back on solid ground with Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Optimum). Part wine-soaked tribute to Catalan culture, part bed-hopping romp, Vicky Cristina Barcelona sees a mismatched pair of friends (Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall) fall for Javier Bardem’s rugged charms on an extended vacation in Spain. Their uneasy sexual alliance is thrown even further into turmoil when his volatile ex-wife (a gloriously demented Penelope Cruz) insinuates herself into their lives. The breezy pace and smouldering sexual tension turn a lightweight piece of froth into a surprisingly enjoyable little movie. Whilst the overbearing voice-over and damp-squib ending will test your patience, there are enough neat moments to ensure that Woody Allen’s ‘randy old man’ credentials are still firmly intact.
In a welcome change of pace, it’s time to trade Woody Allen’s goblet of red wine for Notorious BIG’s crack pipe! Notorious (20th Century Fox) is a surprisingly traditional biopic of morbidly obese gangster rapper Notorious BIG. Co-produced by BIG’s best friend Puff Daddy and BIG’s long-suffering mother, the movie preoccupies itself with reaffirming the rapper’s (frankly questionable) gentle giant personality at the expense of any real intrigue. Sure, we’ve got crack deals, sex affairs and rap feuds, but this grimly predictable narrative arc only succeeds in reducing the chunky star to a larger-than-life cliché. Even worse, it relies on stilted dialogue and glib ghetto platitudes to paper over its TV movie insight. Although Notorious lacks the aggressive focus of the incendiary 8 Mile, it does boast a pulsating soundtrack, and BIG’s menacing drawl adds welcome gravitas to an otherwise lightweight proposition. Towards the end of the movie, Puff Daddy laments the “soap opera drama” of the East Coast/West Coast feud. Ironically, the soap opera drama is precisely what derails this desperately average movie…
Industrial rock soundtrack? Check. Edgy cyberpunk vibes? Check. Steamy soft-focus shower scene? Check. Cameos from Lemmy and Iggy Pop? Check. Could Hardware (Optimum) be the cult movie to end all cult movies? In a word: no! Pitched as “the new Terminator” upon its 1990 release, Hardware is a cult video-shop favourite, now available on DVD for the first time. The movie begins with a whacked-out Nomad trawling the radioactive wasteland that is planet Earth for survivalist trinkets, only to stumble across a bizarre robotic head, buried in the dunes. He duly sells the head to rugged Space Marine Moses Baxter, who gives it to his kooky sculptor girlfriend as a Christmas gift. Unfortunately for her, the head turns out to be a discontinued military prototype that fuses itself with her sculpture before running amok in ravaged post-apocalyptic New York. After an engaging start, Hardware quickly descends into tiresome slasher movie nonsense and the film seriously unravels. Like the sinister cyborg head that triggers the carnage, this movie really should have stayed buried…
Posted Sun, June 21, 2009