More rhyming slang (sigh)… but fortunately not in the way that I was complaining about in previous reviews. This is simply a title that (fortunately) doesn’t get explained in the film itself. After all, it’s obvious what ‘Tong’ rhymes with, innit? Judging by the description on the back cover of this DVD I guessed it would be right up my street and it was. Based on a true story, like a modern-day Beethoven, Ibiza DJ Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye) finds himself going deaf at the height of his career while he is adored by fans at Pacha and Cream, the top Ibiza nightclubs.

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Bloody hell, when are Americans going to get enough of rhyming slang? After Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Limey, Snatch and a multitude of others, I literally rolled my eyes when American student, Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) received a quick education in cockney rhyming slang in Hooligans. As regular readers will know, I love ‘angry young man’ films, especially ones that take place in Britain, which is why I rented this yesterday. But after having seen The Firm (1988) and The Football Factory (2004), this is a rather measly and predictable offering from German-born director Lexi Alexander.

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It’s too bad a lot of people are comparing the loud, grittier and sexier “Miami Vice to the cult TV series of the mid 80′s and early 90′s. Or rather, the series’ first season. Was everyone expecting pastels and Elvis the gator in this updated version? As far as I can tell, the new film with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx is the essence of the TV series Miami Vice. Fast cars? Check. Fast boats? Got those. Threads? You bet. Sex? Guns? Rock and Roll? All done up for an R rating? What more could you possibly ask for?
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I will admit to the fact that I’ve always had a soft spot for the film “Top Gun” (1986), even though in that film, I found the relationship between Maverick (Tom Cruise) and Charlie (Kelly McGillis) to be a pile of fantasy. At least in that film, before we found out Charlie was an advisor to the pilots, she was serenaded to ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”. How times have changed. In Justin Lin’s “Annapolis”, we meet the pretty female love interest who happens to be a superior in the same fashion with one difference: now she’s mistaken for a call girl. That’s just one of many story problems in “Annapolis”, which follows the story of Jake Huard, (James Franco) a working class guy who gets accepted to the Naval Academy across the river.
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Sometimes you see previews for a movie and think, assuming they’ve put in all the best bits for the trailer, that the film looks OK, but not much more than that. Then you roll your eyes thinking, “oh no, not another big screen version of a TV show”. And then it’s hot and you have no air conditioning so you and your roommate head down to the neighborhood cinema to cool off and watch the movie anyway. Then there you are in the dark when you realize those were not the best bits at all. Quickly you poke your roommate and steal his respirator, even though you are not asthmatic, but you are laughing so hard you find that you can barely breathe. If you’ve seen Strangers with Candy (2005) this scenario just may sound familiar.
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When is animation not animation? When it’s digitally rotoscoped, the process used by director, Richard Linklater, for the second time in this film, based on the Philip K. Dick novel by the same name. You might remember that he used the technique in the 2001 film, Waking Life. Then, it was used effectively to explore the otherness of a dream reality. Philip K. Dick’s story presents us with one that has been drug-induced. It’s a not too distant future where the pharmaceutical industry dictates a Big Brother-like state.

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As a true devoted metal head I was quickly drawn to what claimed to be the first honest and insightful documentary on heavy metal ever. Intriguingly, the documentary was made by a 30-year old anthropologist named Sam Dunn, who claims to be a true metal head. The documentary boldly kicks off with posing the ultimate metal question: who invented heavy metal? Wow, this piece of highly debated trivia was a pivotal moment which could break or make this film. If they would get it wrong, the rest needed to be really good to forget the blasphemy. If they got it right, I would be in for an enjoyable 1,5 hours. Luckily, they got it right!

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The Fitzgerald sisters (Ginger 16, and Bridget 15) are a pack of their own. These self-styled outsiders are fascinated by death, stick together no matter what, and made a childhood suicide-pact in case their lives don’t improve. When Ginger is attacked by a creature and starts exhibiting some radical hormonal changes, both sisters find out who they really are. Ginger Snaps (written by Karen Walton, produced by Steve Hoban and Karen Lee Hall and directed by John Fawcett) is every John Hughes movie meets An American Werewolf in London. Only better.
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The Garden is actor-turned-moviemaker Don Michael Paul’s second directorial venture. Previously he wrote the script to Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, and more recently he wrote and directed the Steven Seagal vehicle Half Past Dead. The Garden fits neatly into the soft horror-genre slot. It is a direct to DVD film, shot in 19 days and on a modest budget, although it does boast a few fairly big names among its cast: Lance Henriksen, Claudia Christian (of Babylon 5 fame) and Sean Young.
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Sharon Stone is back as the nymphomaniac serial killer Catherine Tramell–the role that made her famous—in Basic Instinct 2. Like Hannibal—the sequel to Silence of the Lambs—Basic Instinct 2 reintroduces a serial killer that eluded the police more than a decade earlier. However, unlike the sophisticated cannibal, Dr. Lector, the trashy Catherine Tramell should have stayed in seclusion.
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