It seems nowadays actionmeister Steven Seagal is more into his growing folk music exploits than relaunching his action star status. There have been a few recent DTV efforts which had promise, but I don’t think Ol’ Sensei Steven is anywhere near his theatrical peak of “Under Siege” or even “Out For Justice” for that matter.
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This period film directed by Adrian Shergold tells the (true) story of one of England’s last executioners, Albert Pierrepoint. Between 1933 and 1955 Pierrepoint, who was famous for his fast hangings that limited the suffering of the people hanged to a minimum, executed over 600 people. In fact, General Montgomery requested him specifically for the execution of the Nuremburg-convicts. Depending on where you live this film is either called Pierrepoint or The Last Hangman.
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Pretty Persuasion is near perfect. One has to go back to the cult classic, Heathers, to find a teen comedy that also functions as a satire. The movie is that good. From the blunt social commentary to the high caliber acting and the tight script, Pretty Persuasion is the best film of last year that nobody saw.
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I have to hand it to cinematographer Will Gibson on ‘Wolf Creek’ : for a low budget thriller from Down Under, the technical merit is crafty and slick. But that does not make it scary. for writer-director Greg Mclean’s film is an uneven mess that pats itself on the back more than it should. I know of several of my younger friends loved this picture, and I failed to understand why. I know one thing, I didn’t think the film was scary. An excercise in sadism, perhaps. Loaded with horror cliches? Without question.
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When German director of Turkish descent Fatih Akin was making his movie ‘Gegen die Wand’, he asked German band Einsturzende Neubauten (who were already playing magnificent loudness when Rammstein was still in diapers) to write music for that movie, so Neubauten-bassplayer/punkrock-beast Alexander Hacke travelled to Istanbul for research purposes. Crossing the Bridge is the second collaboration between Hacke and Akin; it shows Hacke returning to Istanbul, sating the urge to dive deeper into all the varieties of the Istanbul music scene that he came across on his first trip.
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There is a nice attempt to turn ‘Dirty’ into a dramatic grim tale about two cops who are part of a gang unit. The unit keeps drug dealers and gangbangers in line by bending the law to get the bad guys, and as the film opens, one of the cops has contacted the internal affairs division due to guilt of accidently shooting an innocent man during a gangbanger shakedown. IAD has called for a hearing, and everyone is covering thier butts. While one aspect that keeps the film alive is the fact that the one cop talking to IAD was a latino gangbanger of sorts before he became a cop, the problems of the film show up early – we have had enough L.A. bad cop movies; and second, co-star Cuba Gooding Jr.
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If there is one moment that sums up Stay, it is the line given to Ewan McGregor’s character when he says, “Nothing makes any sense.” As an experiment in style, this movie is engaging and creative. As a psychological thriller, the movie does not even function or even if it does function, the audience is forced to see it again. Stay is all style and no substance.
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There are times when, against your better judgement, you avoid films simply because they really don’t interest you. You are talked into watching it by a friend or a relative, and while I’m glad to say I have no girlfriend at this present moment that had begged me to pick this film up for rental, “Pride & Prejudice” was widely praised by my mother. Yes, this one, the one with Keira Knightley. Yes I am a Keira Knightley fan, with the possible exception of ‘Domino’, so that’s the real excuse for me seeing this film. Yes, I hated, despised and threw my arms up in utter choas concerning that film. I am therefore thrilled to say that in ‘Pride’, Keira has restored any hope in her for being a talented actress.
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In traditional psycho-slasher movies, having one-dimensional protagonists who spend most of their time being chased is a forgivable sin. However, this only works if the killer is interesting, at least on a visual level. Freddy has the claws. Jason has the hockey mask. What does the killer in High Tension have? A trucker hat. Yep, a trucker hat is the scariest image these filmmakers came up with.
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Like Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, Jarhead takes an unconventional approach to the war movie genre. Instead of focusing on the combat and the horrors of battle, Jarhead examines the soldiers who sit mostly inactive even when on active duty.
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