What is it these days when it comes to the wish of Hollywood studio executives to revive old (read: 70s) shows, such as Charlie’s Angels, Shaft and *cough* Starsky & Hutch? The latter was programmed last night at the local sneak preview and I could have saved myself the trip and the 5 euros to rerun Kill Bill: Vol. 2 or something. Those studio executives don’t seem to understand it does not take just a 70s soundtrack, 70s styling, 70s set-dressing and 70s haircuts to revive a show such as this one.

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Films that are kept on the shelf for a while usually sign bad news, but this movie came out at an ill-timed moment. The world was shocked from terrorist attacks and the climate in the US was -and still is- very unfavourable for movies that could be deemed critical towards bodies like the army, police or government. This movie was apparently labelled as such, since it didn’t really hit the cinemas and took its time to find its way on DVD. Not very understandable, since this movie doesn’t criticise the US army per se. To my idea, it tries to be a provocative reflection concerning the use for an(y) army in peacetime, man’s natural inclination to violence and the madness that comes with it.

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Shaun’s life is falling apart. All he did was let his best mate Ed sleep on the couch for a few nights, till he sorted himself out. Ok, so it’s been a couple of years and Ed’s still here but suddenly, everyone’s getting all uppity about things. Sean’s flat mate Pete has really lost his temper and wants Ed out of the house now, his girlfriend has dumped him because he spends all of his spare time with Ed in the local boozer. He’s lost all respect from the sixteen year old gits he works with at the local electrical shop and on top of that it’s his Mother’s birthday. Oh yeah, and Zombies have taken over the Earth.

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Last year, the world was dazzled with the newest Tarantino that, surprisingly, was released in two bits. Miramax bosses, the Weinsteins, said the choice for a double release lied within the fact they though Kill Bill was so good they didn’t want to throw anything away and a four-hour movie was too long for a theatrical release. We all know the release in two volumes was a move of commercial nature. I had the chance of seeing both parts in one session last night and seeing Vol. 2 right after 1 would boil down to one conclusion: Vol. 1 is the strongest and in great contrast to 2.

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For those with a serious love of analog filmmaking here’s something new in the way of festivals. Starting from Scratch starts April 22 and will run through June 3rd in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Eindhoven, all in The Netherlands. The program features mainly films shot on super 8 and 16mm formats as well as experimental video. Some interesting guest speakers will also contribute as well as holding some workshops for not only those already experimenting with making movies, but also for people who want to learn more about the process. For more details check out their web site
http://www.startingfromscratch.nl

A copy of a film presumed lost forever starring Rudolph Valentino (opposite Gloria Swanson) has been discovered by the Nederlands Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. Beyond The Rocks was chanced upon when staff were cataloguing 2,000 film cans donated to them by a film collector from Haarlem. For almost 75 years, film historians and archivists have been searching for a print of the film made just four years before the Italian film idol’s untimely death at 31. And what makes this a particularly unique discovery is that it is the only time the two Hollywood icons, Valentino and Swanson, ever appeared together…

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It is impossible, nowadays, to bring up the genre of serial killer movies without using the most common clich’s. A good movie about a serial killer demands an original stand and an original approach. When the first images of Taking Lives penetrated my brain, I put aside the idea a movie always has to be original. I sincerely apologize, but I couldn’t help seeing that the makers stole from lots of other genre-companions, including the opening credits of Se7en. Sigh ‘ let’s judge this movie on its own merits then, rather than focusing on the countless similarities with other movies. But it does make this a hard review to jot down in terms of objectiveness.

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What were they thinking when they cast Johnny Depp to play the lead role in this movie? His character is an accountant and a dad. No need for boyish charm, nor for Depp’s teenage hairdo. Not that his performance is bad, he’s just so very out of place.

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We had some relatives over this weekend and the conversation turned to the situation in Iraq and the terrorist bombings in Spain. Soon, two movies came up. Bowling for Columbine, and Wag the Dog. I own a copy of ‘bowling’ on DVD, but we had to go to the rental place to get ‘dog’. I hadn’t seen it for a couple of years, but it turned out to be just as relevant as when it first came out.

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The road movie genre is the classic method used to portray inter-personal relationships. The confinement of the voyage (preferably in a car) acts like a pressure-cooker or as a catalyst, speeding things up. This forces people to sort their differences and eventually come together. This was also the crux of this movie and in order to render the whole idea more lifelike, actors Gérard Depardieu and his real son Guillaume were cast for the leading roles. But then it all goes horribly wrong.

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