Category: Films

Having just come home from seeing this incredible movie, I’m not sure where to begin!

Well, alright I may as well start at the beginning. The Raid is an Indonesian martial arts movies filmed by some Welsh bloke you’ve never heard of, using a martial art you’ve never heard of and yet somehow has taken the world by storm. Why? Because it’s one of the greatest martial arts filmed ever made!

The Welshman in question is Gareth Evans whose quest it seems is to bring the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat to the worlds masses. With the help of his Indonesian wife, Gareth it seems, has made quite a name for himself over there with a documentary and a previous film invoking the brutal fighting style.

The plot like many films of this genre, is not up to much, however, this is a far better attempt than many. All you need to know is that there is this tower block that is filled with druggies (bar one it seems), with the kingpin at the top and a police swat team at the bottom with orders to take them out. The only character development is getting to know how the main guys like to dispose of their enemies.

While other films say the Ong Bak trilogy just lurch form one scene to the other to get Tony Jaa fighting again, this does seems to flow at a much better pace. After a one fight scene the characters get a break, and so does the audience (and trust me, you’ll need it), but your never taken out of the film or the pressure of the raid (no pun intended).

Right so lets get onto why your going to love this film, the fights. The art of Pencak Silat is magnificent to watch, it’s so fluid, poetic and yes, a bit violent. To me at least, it seems like a cross between Muay Thai, Aikido and the ability to use numerous weapons. Having rehearsed all the fight scenes before filming, the team were able to come up with some amazing battles cheaply but with time to refine them to an incredible detail.

As the victims get laid to waste with some incredibly vicious finishing moves, you are just left in awe at the speed and choreography of each and every one. There are a couple of stand out fights, one is a machete fight, and one later with a two-on-one fight that quite simply left me flabbergasted. It has to be seen to be believed. I can say it is two good guys against a bad guy, and it’s simply like nothing you have seen before. The direction is perfect and helped by the fact that the star of the show Iko Uwais was the choreographer.

Tony Jaa may have breathed a fresh new life into the martial arts films, but he’s going to have to raise his game after this. While the Ong Bak films are stunning and extremely brutal also, they seem a bit to unreal, here, everything seems more realistic. The handheld camera style may help with this, (though nothing like as shaky as the Bourne films), but also the sound is far better.

Ong Bak 2 especially, had pretty ropey sound effects when bones were broken. The only thing I can without doubt can give Tony Jaa, is the length of takes. Many of his fights have very few breaks, with some lasting a few minutes without cutting away.  You don’t get that here, but again, it still feels more like a real fight rather than a set piece.

Already a sequel is in the pipeline with a third film being aimed at to round off a trilogy. This first film was filmed for a little over a $1m, and already the budget has risen sharply for the second film. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I hope the extra budget doesn’t change the way this was filmed.

Sadly, Hollywood has signed a deal to make an American version and rights to do the same for the next title. Jesus Christ, God help us because there is no way in hell, it could close to this. Executives and insurance would never allow anything like this to be made stateside so really what’s the point?

This is a must see film and I’m fairly sure my favourite Asian action film. I need to revisit the Onk Bak series and certainly Hard Boiled to be sure, but I do believe we have a new target others must reach.

Reviewed by Invisiblekid

Further links:

IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
Wiki
AVForums

Written and directed by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, Avengers Assemble is the latest blockbuster from Marvel Studios featuring the iconic superheroes.

The six gifted protagonists – Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Dr. Bruce Banner a.k.a. The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) – form Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) dream S.H.I.E.L.D. team.

Teamed up to become Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, they must fight and defeat Norse God Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

Yes, the plot sounds clichéd on world domination, but it is the action sequences that make Avengers Assemble such a thrilling and fantastic film to experience.

The performances from the leading stars are superb, especially Ruffalo as Dr. Banner who looses his temper to become the terrifying Hulk. Bruce Banner’s intelligence is unparalleled and is much greater than Tony Stark, while his compassion for human life is what drives the good side to his character.

As for Hiddleston, he is a revelation as Loki. The actor brings intriguing layers to the evil overlord and makes Loki much more than the typical one-dimensional villain in common action films.

Whedon provides plenty of laugh out loud moments thank to a great script full of witty lines. There are also many references to the comics, a nod to the die-hard Marvel fans while entertaining the newcomers.

I would highly recommend Avengers Assemble. Joss Whedon has indeed delivered the perfect superhero film combining a great script, thrilling action scenes, impressive CGI and pitch-perfect performances from a terrific cast. The best 142 minutes you can enjoy in the company of Marvel’s finest heroes.

Time has ticked by for almost a year since reports of script problems on a movie adaptation of the popular ‘real-time’ drama 24 hit a snag.

But now it seems the clock has finally reset, with a feature length version of the Imagine Entertainment/Fox television series back in development.

The exciting new project brings back Kiefer Sutherland’s tireless CTU agent Jack Bauer to the big screen.

Mark Bomback – a favourite writer at 20th Century Fox, who penned The Wolverine – is expected to turn around a new draft of Billy Ray’s script, hopefully in the time of the New Year.

The movie is believed to see Jack Bauer making his ends justify his means in Europe, and Deadline report that Fox has a shortlist of five directors. Sadly, the once-rumoured Tony Scott is definitely not among them.

Brian Grazer is producing but 24 needs to be fast track to get shooting in April, in order to match Sutherland’s availability.

Based on the novel by James Sallis and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive is about a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night.

When I first heard about Drive, I thought it would be a film adaption based on the popular video game Driver made by Reflections. The settings are very similar. You are a handy wheelman and can outrun the police after several bank jobs.

Ryan Gosling plays an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as an ultra-efficient, no-questions-asked getaway driver, overseen in both cases by his friend and mentor Shannon (played by Breaking Bad’s star Bryan Cranston).

Though he normally keeps himself to himself, the driver’s solitary existence is ruffled when he forms an attachment with his beautiful neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son (Kaden Leos) after they move into his building.

When Irene’s ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison, the driver agrees to help him with the debt he owes a local gangster by agreeing to drive during a heist. However, when the heist goes wrong, the driver finds his life threatened by gang boss Nino (Ron Perlman) and crooked businessman Bernie (Albert Brooks), both of whom have history with Shannon.

Even with minimal dialogue and almost no facial expression except the occasional smile, Gosling delivers a super cool performance. It helps that his white satin, gold scorpion-emblazoned jacket he wears throughout the film made him look cool and hip.

There’s also strong support from Isaac, Perlman (who gets the best lines) and Cranston, not forgetting the eye-catching turn from Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks as gangster’s moll Blanche.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s impeccably stylish direction in Drive won him the Best Director in this year’s Cannes Film Festival. With long, fluid takes accompanied by a great soundtrack and some impressive production design work. Refn’s also directs some exciting action sequences, including that thrilling car chase, as well as heart-pounding scenes punctuated by explosions of strong violence.

I was highly impressed by Drive. The story and characters made it fascinating to watch and I was quite captivated by the action thanks to a strong script and a great lead performance from Ryan Gosling. Well recommended for quite possibly the coolest film this year.

Based on the 1974 novel by John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a gripping espionage thriller set at the height of Cold War paranoid.

Directed by Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson with screenplay from the late Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, the film adaption takes a different approach to the classic BBC television series starring Sir Alec Guinness.

When an agent (Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux) is shot while on a mission in Budapest, Control (led by the superb John Hurt) realises that there must be a Russian mole in the British Secret Intelligence Services and asks his former officer George Smiley (the impressive Gary Oldman) to come out of retirement to investigate.

Aided by Peter Guillam (played by the talented theatre actor Benedict Cumberbatch) and retired researcher Connie Sachs (the scene-stealing Kathy Burke), Smiley uncovers the identity of the Russian mole, which seems to involve rogue agent Ricky Tarr (the excellent Tom Hardy), who fell in love with a Russian woman (Svetlana Khabenskiy) while undercover behind the Iron Curtain.

As they unravel Control’s chain of suspicions, Smiley and Guillan begin to narrow down four possible colleagues featuring the codename “Tinker” (Toby Esterhase played by David Dencik), “Tailor” (Bill Haydon, performed by the BAFTA-winning actor Colin Firth), “Soldier” (Roy Bland, featuring the superb Irish talent of Ciarán Hinds) and “Poorman” (Percy Alleline played by Toby Jones).

I enjoyed every moment in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The cinematography is a work of art thanks to Hoyte Van Hoytema, who also shot Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In.

The soundtrack is great too, in the way it builds up a sense of drama and tension during key scenes in the film. As for the performances by the talented cast, it’s difficult to fault anyone in this gorgeous 1970s period of paranoid and suspicion but obviously it is Gary Oldman who is the main highlight in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. His utterly compelling performance as Smiley is fantastic and it is not a surprise to hear Oldman as a likely candidate to win next year’s Oscar for best actor.

Alfredson’s direction is assured throughout the film, allowing the pieces of information to fit together slowly like an exceedingly complex jigsaw puzzle where you don’t see the whole picture until the final piece is played out. The director also orchestrates some terrific sequences, such as Guillam attempting to steal some important files from under the noses of his colleagues followed by a heart-stopping scene that hinges on the inspired use of George Formby’s Mr. Wu’s a Window Cleaner Now.

Impressively directed and beautifully shot, this is a gripping spy story with a satisfyingly intelligent script, with some superb production design work and terrific performances from a wonderful British cast. Highly recommended.

Yes, you read the title correctly, this is a review of a 17 year old film. I did mean to watch a film in this decade at least, but in my defence I was running out of space on my Sky HD box and it was in HD. In fact it’s the only place you can watch in HD.

This does contain spoilers, but I feel they don’t actually spoil the film. But if your sensitive to these kind of things, then just watch the film by any means you can.

Ok so yes, this is not a new film. What’s worse is this film was, wait for it, made for TV!! But just hold back all your horrid thoughts of shite dramas or Sy Fy atrocities. The TV channel in question is HBO. Yeah, thought that’s make you think twice. So we get a decent budget ( I cannot find the amount ) and a great cast involving Kyle MacLachian (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, 51st State), Harry Dean Stanton (The Green Mile, Alien) and Tom Bower (The Killer Inside Me, Raising Cain). Having seen this back at it’s release on something called VHS, it was repeated recently on the greatest channel in the UK, Sky Atlantic HD. It had to be watched again.

The film is a dramatisation of the New York housed Attica prison riot in 1971 where the prisoners in retaliation to the awful conditions and the shooting of fellow prisoner at the infamous San Quentin Prison (though I don’t recall this being shown in the film). They over powered the guards and took over the prison for four days taking 33 of the staff hostage.

We follow newbie guard Michael Smith (MacLachlan), who’s family like many in Attica, revolved around the prison. It’s not like his life’s dream, but a new wife and child on the way, it’s the overtime that draws him reluctantly to join the staff at the pretty god damn horrid correctional facility. At first his kindness is take to task by the prisoners though he is quickly pulled back into line by his fellow guards and management. This lesson comes in the form of being introduced and asked to humiliate inmate, Jamall X (Jackson), a notorious black activist well know to Attica as being a “Bad Mutha F***er” . Whilst the reluctant Smith follows his seniors orders, we see the beings of a friendship between the two which will later, flourish and be tested.

But soon after, an incident over hot soup ( and not the mentioned shooting at San Quentin ) we see the prisoners reaching their limit and begin to very quickly take over the prison. This is where we get to see HBO flex it’s adult ratings, with some horrific, violent scenes. Sure in todays standards, it’s not quite got the hit as I got from it back in the day, it’s still carries a brutal hit. Multiple beatings to the powerless guards and their keys are taken, half of the 2000 prisons joined the uprising and so quickly the Attica prison surrenders to the rioters.

We then follow the fruitless negotiations by the State and prison authorities, which could not agree to all the prisoners’ demands which included complete amnesty of the takeover and the eventual death of one of the guards. During which Smiths determination not to bow down and beg to rioters demeaning treatment to their hostages. This intrigues Jamall and their relationship develops into a tested friendship in that Jamall protects Smiths life on more than one occasion from the rioting gang whom are getting restless with the lack of respect given to them by the state. The failure of the appearance of the State Governor Nelson Rockefeller which seems to be the crux of their demands and with no side wanting to back down, the violent end is nigh. Just like Waco Texas, state police go mental and take back the prison.

What follows is quite the most absurd battle in which, nearly a third of the prison guards are killed. Not by the prisoners, but by the police. This is no surprise of course really given the more recent events of Waco and famous incidents in recent wars. What is more shocking is the aftermath. Serious beatings to the surviving inmates, the emergence of utterly false newspaper stories and the complete lack of investigation into the incident and treatment to the prisoners after it all ended.

The film does a decent job of portraying the real events and a few captions at the end credits tell us of some of the aftermath that follows. There is some decent acting from the main characters of Jackson and MacLachian and good back up jobs from the lesser roles. Like many true story re-enactments, the fact that what your watching is more or less true takes it film up a notch or two. So the thing you take away from this film is that this actually happened and not that its a brilliant film. However, given that it doesn’t stray too far from the truth, it’s a great visual addition to just reading about it. Well worth watching as it’s shocking, well acted, pretty true to its source and it’s by far the best TV film you’ll ever watch.

IMDB – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109053/

The real story of Attica can be found here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riot

Film reviewed by Invisiblekid

The directorial debut of BBC 6 Music radio presenter Attack The Block is a pleasant surprise. Written and directed by Joe Cornish, the film begins with a group of hoodies – lead by Moses (John Boyega), Pest (Alex Esmail), Dennis (Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones) and Biggz (Simon Howard) – mugging a trainee nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) on a South London council estate on Bonfire night.

Suddenly, a fiery object falls from the sky, crashing through the roof of a parked car near them. When they investigate, the youths discover a mysterious furry black creature, which they promptly beat to death and take to the 19th floor flat of local drug dealer Ron (Nick Frost) for identification purposes.

Soon afterwards a dozens of furry black creatures with glow-in-the-dark fang teeth are converging on their tower block and the gang will have to join forces with Sam, a stoner Brewis (Luke Treadaway) and local gangster Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter) in order to fight them off.

It may sounds surreal, but Joe Cornish’s debut film is actually quite good. With an unique street lingo – Cornish spent a year in South London researching on urban culture and language to make the dialogue between the hoodies as affective as possible – Attack The Block is a highly independent film intertwining between youth culture of Broken Britain, sci-fi horror and black comedy.

The young cast of newcomers acquit themselves well. Jodie Whittaker is also good and the amusing comic support from Luke Treadaway and Nick Frost provides light relief in moments of tension and fear.

As for the aliens – furry, black with luminous teeth – the design do look basic but were visually effective in some scenes. The only negative point I would like to make is that the script could have been better.

Despite that Attack the Block is lively and entertaining throughout. Well done Dr Sexy on your latest film!