What I Watched This Week (w/e April 13th 2008)

DVD:

Airplane! - A brilliant spoof of disaster movies with a host of memorable characters and dialogue. The decision to call the pilot, co-pilot and navigator Oveur, Roger and Victor leads to hilarious misunderstandings, the parodies are spot on and Leslie Nielsen steals the show as the doctor who doesn't like to be called Shirley. I enjoyed it so much I watched it twice! :D

Black Book - I watched this a while ago but forgot to add it to my weekly list, so this covers first and second viewings. The first time I was amazed that such a sleaze merchant as Paul Verhoeven made such an intelligent and gripping thriller, though he couldn't resist the opportunity of adding nudity, including a scene where a woman dyes her pubic hair. Knowing the ending and who does what, I was able to appreciate the skill of the filmmaking and acting, especially from Carice van Houten. :D

Event Horizon - Probably the only decent film that Paul W. S. Anderson has ever made, this sci-fi/horror is a well-crafted film with decent CGI and fine performances by the entire cast. Although both are obviously influenced by Alien, the similarities between this and Sunshine are also pretty obvious, though Danny Boyle's film is superior. :)

Fatal Attraction - There is something about Michael Douglas that makes three of his most memorable roles those in which he hasn't been able to keep his libido under control and has screwed the wrong woman: in Basic Instinct he falls for a suspected killer, in Disclosure a fling has him in deep trouble and here a weekend of sex with everyone's favourite bunny boiler threatens to tear his happy bourgeois existence apart. :)

Hard Candy - As I'm not a big X-Men fan this is the film that brought Ellen Page to my attention as a real prospect and she is superb in her control and icy demeanour. To say any more would spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen this. :)

Directors Commentary - This was more or less a blind buy as I at most caught 5 minutes of it when on TV but bought it because it was Rob Brydon (and only a couple of quid). As someone who's sat through numerous commentaries, some good, some bad, what Brydon has done is very funny because of its authentic feel. Under the guise of Peter De Lane, he provides commentaries for episodes of old TV shows, such as Bonanza and Flambards that he directed, providing comments that are inane, funny and offensive! :D

Child's Play 3 - The second instalment in the franchise was pretty dull and this isn't much better, now known for being dragged into the Bulger murder and the subsequent debate about 'video nasties'. It's not actually that violent, but is not the sort of thing 10 year olds should watch. The device of bringing Charles Lee Ray back as a 'Good Guy' doll is weak and it was a good decision to abandon the franchise as an outright horror and introduce comedy elements in Bride and Seed of Chucky. :(

Seed of Chucky - Don Mancini, who started the Child's Play franchise, reinvented it by injecting some dark humour into the story of the murderous dolls. Jennifer Tilly throws her ego out the window and, as Tiffany, has many jibes at her weight and the state of her career. There is a great cameo by John Waters as a sleazy paparazzo, Chucky masturbates over Fangoria instead of traditional jazz mags and the film references are numerous and well done. It's self referential fun. :)

Black Hawk Down - Although a very well made and acted film with a cast full of big names, it's odd to see an auteur like Ridley Scott direct a Jerry Bruckheimer production. Despite the quality, it feels more like a Bruckheimer blockbuster than a Scott Free film and, as such, it didn't involve me as much as it could or should. :|

Jason X - Yes, it's brainless. Yes, it's stupid. But you get to see David Cronenberg killed by Jason and plenty of unsympathetic characters dispatched in nasty ways. It's no worse than the formulaic latter Friday the 13th films despite the rather laughable creation of 'Uber-Jason' and Peter Mensah doing his best Tony Todd impression. :|

Freddy vs. Jason - I would have liked to see Michael Myers get a bit of the action but at least you get to see the 'stars' of two of the biggest horror franchises face off to see who's boss when Freddy's plan to employ Jason to scare teens so he can feed off their fear backfires and Jason goes 'off message'. The resulting carnage isn't as interesting or scary as the best of the individual series but it is still watchable in 'turn your brain off' way. :|

The Omega Man - I actually got round to reading I Am Legend so watched this several hours later. It's a fine sci-fi film giving Chuck Heston the chance to play around with a lot of firearms. Whilst better than the latest adaptation, it is not as good as The Last Man on Earth and at no point comes close to conveying the sense of loneliness felt by Neville in Matheson's novel. :)

Assault on Precinct 13 - This big budget remake of John Carpenter's classic doesn't have the intelligence of the original but Laurence Fishburne is an assured screen presence and the ending is satisfactory. :|

Stalingrad - The main selling point of this is that it is 'from the makers of Das Boot' but, unlike Wolfgang Petersen's submarine classic, Stalingrad ambles along without much intensity or human interest. War is futile and barbaric and that's about all this has to say. Sadly there was only a dubbed version on the letterboxed DVD which didn't help. :|

Basic Instinct 2 - Critically slammed and the winner of several Razzies, I actually quite enjoyed this at the cinema and again on DVD. It's unsophisticated sleazy trash, but then so was the first one. That may have been better written and a much tighter film, but this isn't as bad as many critics made out. :|

Stripes - Bill Murray and Harold Ramis made this after Caddyshack before teaming up with Ivan Reitman to form the team that would go on and make Ghost Busters. Murray and Ramis basically have nothing better to do than join the US Army. As you'd expect, neither quite fit into the mould of the typical soldier, but then again, neither does John Candy or any other member of their platoon. It's not as funny as either Caddyshack or Ghost Busters and is too long - this being the 16 minute longer director's cut. There are many laugh-out-loud moments and Murray is near his best. :)

Guy X - Jason Biggs is mixed up with another soldier and sent to Greenland instead of Hawaii, where he is given the post of information officer and ordered to edit the newly formed base newspaper. It starts off as an offbeat comedy but when he meets the titular patient X, played by Michael Ironside (what is it with him and playing men with missing arms?) it strays into X-Files territory becoming a mystery and much darker in tone. :)

Hood of Horror - Review here.
Ratman - Review here.


Cinema

Son of Rambow - I was really looking forward to this due to the trailers I'd seen and, for the most part, it didn't disappoint. This semi-autobiographical look at film obsession in the '80's by Garth Jennings is funny and heart warming but sags in the middle when a peripheral character takes centre stage. :)


Television

Bridge to Terabithia - A 1p rental on Virgin On Demand and money well spent. It's one of those films that is hard to write about without spoiling it, so all I can say is that I enjoyed it both times I've seen it. :)

Gloucester vs. Saracens - Last week Gloucester were well beaten by Munster and Saracens surprised everyone by beating the Ospreys so in theory, Sarries were the form team. The Cherry and Whites threw form out of the window and comprehensively thrashed the Watford based team, wrapping up a bonus point victory after only 45 minutes.

Leicester vs. Ospreys - As with the game earlier in the day, the Ospreys showed that the 'you're only as good as your last game' is nonsense with a well earned victory over the Tigers. They bossed the breakdown and showed more invention behind the set piece than Leicester to deservedly lift the EDF Energy Cup.

Prizefighter - This idea of Barry Hearn's was a lot better than I expected: 8 heavyweights, 7 fights and 1 winner. I feared that the inexperienced fighters would brawl and create a messy spectacle but they were a lot better than I thought. It'll be interesting to see if he does it again at a lower weight class.

Chad Dawson vs. Glen Johnson - The first fight of the Light-Heavyweight double bill from Tampa saw the Champion get what I thought was a home town decision, with Johnson deserving a close points victory. On this evidence Dawson is nothing special and will lose when put in with a talented fighter.

Clinton Woods vs. Antonio Tarver - The top of the bill should have been Clinton Woods' American breakthrough performance but the 'Magic Man' comprehensively outboxed him to set up a clash with Chad Dawson that will probably be a complete stinker.

Miguel Cotto vs. Alfonso Gomez - This was on at the same time but, thanks to V+, I was able to watch the bill straight after that on Setanta. It started well with a terrific fight between Kermit Cintron and Antonio Margarito with the 'Tijuana Tornado' throwing over a hundred punches each round to stop the Pittsburgh-based Puerto Rican champion and set up a clash with Miguel Cotto who predictably stopped 'The Contender' star. The Cotto-Margarito fight should be a classic with two offensive minded fighters who throw fast, accurate punches and don't know how to take a backwards step.