fightrunner.co.uk

PISH

rating:0/10

A waste of valuable time.

The Wild Bunch

Peckinpah’s Wild Bunch is one of those benchmark movies that has influenced films throughout its history, even into modern cinema.
It was the first film to employ blood squibs for realistic entry and exit wounds. So realistic it reportedly had audiences vomiting in the aisles.
The regularly imitated slow-motion kill, widely used today, originated with this film.

The story follows a group of sociapathic bank robbers as they are trailed by a group of money hungry bounty hunters, led by a former Bunch member.
We are first introduced to the lack of human empathy, when the bounty hunters lay a trap for the Wild Bunch and we witness the civilians mowed down in the cross fire. Both groups of men have no coda except that of getting the money and surviving.

The Bunch is led by Pike Bishop(William Holden) whose leadership is called into question after leading them into the trap. Not only are they on the run, but now they’re coming apart at the seams.
After an altercation with a despotic General, they are offered a job. They must steal the guns from a munitions train so the General can continue his reign of terror. Without any morals the group agree, all except the Mexican member, Angel. He knows the guns will be used against his village and cannot commit. Pike offers him a crate of guns for his village to defend itself if he surrenders his share of the gold.
Once the deal is done, the General takes Angel prisoner, having learned of his plan. The Bunch appear to abandon him and enjoy their spoils. It’s not long before Pike grows a conscience and gathers his gang for a rescue. They mosey into town (Cooler than the Reservoir Dogs walking scene) and demand Angel back, kicking off the final blood bath.

This film is Peckinpah’s tribute to the passing of the ‘age of the outlaw’, when they were desperate men pursued by posse’s as ruthless as themselves. Pike is heard to say, “We’ve got to start thinking beyond our guns. Those days are closin’ fast”.

The set pieces in this film are incredible; Bookended by two of the greatest gunfights in movie history. The last one being the bloodiest with the odds of 100 mexicans to the Bunch of 4. Things balance out though as the Bunch have a gattling gun.

William Holden is pitch perfect as a man who has long since kissed goodbye to his humanity. The story redeems him, but it redeems the bunch as a whole. Any differences they had are forgotten when one of their number is in danger.
Ernest Borgnine is solid as the staunchly loyal Dutch. Never questioning Pike’s logic, even when things go wrong.
The best credit must go to Robert Ryan, who plays the leader of the Bounty Hunters. He portrays a man torn between his duty to capture the Bunch and his desire to join them. His contempt for the Bounty Hunters is displayed at every turn, but his life depends on them succeeding.

A piece of Cinematic excellence. Another of my recommendations for movies to see before you die.

Verdict 10/10

Revolutionary on its release. A necessary part of cinematic history.

The Orphanage

Some people shy away from foreign subtitled movies, but they’re missing out on a whole range of fantastic movies. Case in Point…

The Orphange is the first feature film from Spanish helmer Juan Antonio Bayona. A protege of the infamous Guillermo Del Toro, his movie shares a certain kinship with ‘The Devil’s Backbone’.

Set in the dark and looming hallways of a rustic old Orphanage, we follow a young couple and their adopted son as they try to restore the building. Laura, an orphan herself, has strong ties with the building, having lived there for many years as a child.
It is her son, Simon, who first witnesses the supernatural when he makes friends with some unseen children. Of course, no-one believes they’re real.
The drama truly takes shape when Simon goes missing at a party and Laura starts to believe that the ghosts may be involved.
There are clever twists and turns to stop you in your tracks; Previously dismissed characters become major players to the plot. No less Laura herself as the final scenes complete the tragedy.

After a slate of torture-porn movies(Saw, Hostel et al), it’s refreshing to find a movie that employs old school scare techniques to great effect. The biggest scares are heard, but not seen, transplanting the horror into our imagination. Especially when Laura hires the Psychic to communicate with the children.
Possibly the scariest, most Chilling movie I’ve ever sat through. I found myself squirming through the ever increasing tension.
The acting is strong, even if it does take second place to the story. Belan Rueda plays the frantic Laura perfectly, as a mother willing to risk everything to find her son. The father, Carlos(Fernando Cayo), isn’t left with a whole lot to do except dismiss Laura’s wild theories.

The fact that it’s a subtitled movie draws you further in. You can’t take your eyes off the screen for a second, no matter how much you might like to hide them.

verdict: 9/10

No gore or blood splash, just good old-fashioned scare-mongering.

<a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_hN76X3n_gQw/R95VK3haJVI/AAAAAAAAABU/YcV8CdZGrag/s1600-h/mist.jpg”><img style=”cursor: pointer;” src=”http://bp1.blogger.com/_hN76X3n_gQw/R95VK3haJVI/AAAAAAAAABU/YcV8CdZGrag/s320/mist.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178670266713777490″ border=”0″ /></a>
Another of my hyped up movies from last month(See Be Kind Rewind) is the Stephen King adaptation ‘The Mist’. A lot can be said about King adaptations, inasmuch as they’re usually terrible, unwatchable and dire. There are, however, some that buck this trend i.e. Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile. Lucky for us then that it’s the same director of those quality movies that brings us The Mist; Frank Darabont.

Instant parallels are going to be drawn with John Carpenter’s ‘The Fog’, from the title alone. It’s true, both movies cloud their movies with a dank fug, but Fog was a ghost story and Mist is, very much, a Monster story. The parallels should really be drawn with ‘Cloverfield’.

When the mysterious mist descends our Protagonist, David Drayton(Thomas Jane, Stander) and his son are shopping in the local supermarket. An old man with blood on his nose and shirt runs in screaming “There’s something in the Mist”. The doors are quickly closed as the store is engulfed. Everything shakes and rattles as though the store is being squeezed by some unseen force.

Cue the idiots who think it’s just a freak weather condition. They’re the first to meet their grizzly end at the hands of the CGI monstrosities; Tentacles, bugs and freaky man-birds.
Three secretive soldiers confess to one another that they’re base may be the cause for the creatures appearance; Something called the Arrowhead Project.

The Monsters aren’t the only problem. They’re not even the most dangerous. The antagonist is in the store already, in the shape of crazed bible-thumper Mrs. Carmody(Marcia Gay Harden). Initially dismissed as the local eccentric weirdo, she quickly gains support as the drama unfolds. She likens the creatures to the old-testament plagues on Egypt, whipping her supporters into a frenzied religious hysteria. The word sacrifice is bandied around and it’s time for our hero to get the sane survivors out of there.

The story is an excellent study on fear and how it effects our minds. How quickly we give ourselves to religion, if only it provides an answer. How in the face of an overwhelming force, our own helplessness can push us towards heroic acts(Toby Jones as Ollie Weeks sums this theme up).

Frank Darabont permeates his film with a palpable atmosphere of foreboding from the very start. It’s only a thin veil of Mist in the first scene, but it still strikes the heart ice-cold with fear. The Store becomes a pressure cooker of irrational actions, pushing the characters to the edge of their own sanity.

The only let-down was the CGI monsters. Darabont is obviously not used to working with fantastical imagery and it shows. The audience will find their suspended disbelief broken by the first sight of the pink tentacle. It’s a shame because everything else in the film works perfectly, that it can be so completely undermined by a few seconds of CGI.

Darabont, who scripted and directed the film, delivers a great finale. His own invention as it does not feature in the book. A real gut-puncher of a twist it is too.

If comparing this film to all the other King screen adaptations, it would be in the top ten, but in the grander scheme of things, it’s not even a top 100.

Verdict: 7/10

Tension built with artistic excellence. CGI built with sticky-back plastic.

Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind, as you might remember, was one of the films I was most hyped about this year.
I thought the potential for this movie was astounding when I first heard of it. A couple of video shop owners recreate all the movies in the store after the tapes are blanked. It could be like one long sketch show with Jack Black and Mos Def hamming up our favourite movies. Nope, afraid not.

The titular store is owned by an aged Danny Glover, who’s so stuck in his ways that he hasn’t adopted DVD yet. The store is under threat as developers are trying to renovate the local area and require the store to shape up or ship out. If Glover can raise the cash to repair his building then he can stay. While on a reconaissance mission to the nearby DVD store, he leaves Mike (Mos Def) in charge. It’s not long before his loser buddy, Jerry (Black), fouls things up. He blanks all the tapes with his magnetised body. All the best laughs come from Jerry being magnetised.

When customers arrive demanding refunds, the pair are at a loss. They strike a plan to re-shoot the films themselves, starting with ‘Ghostbusters’. Their ‘Sweded’ versions strangely catch on and the demand is immense. It looks like Glover’s store could be rescued.
Plans are later scuppered in the unlikely arrival of copyright enforcer Sigourney Weaver, who simply takes all the profits and destroys the tapes. This is a clever nod to all those who download movies from the net vs the corporations.

For a comedy the story is too bleak. Try however hard, the community is always trodden under the foot of ‘the man’. They never get their head above water.
Jack Black is a comedy goldmine if you let him loose, but the only evidence of that comes at the beginning and during the film remakes.

Unfortunately this film plays too heavy on its themes of community and coming-together-in-a-common-cause. The lampooning of our favourite movies is condensed into twenty minutes of screen time; Certainly not long enough to satisfy.

Verdict; 6/10

Too heavy for a comedy. Not enough laughs.