Machete Kills

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

From fake grindhouse trailer to franchise. And they quite clearly set up the 3rd film, which if at all possible looks even more ridiculous than this entry...

Cheap and nasty, as you'd expect, with some fun stunt casting and wonderfully over the top sequences. Gratuitous and silly, just the way we like it.

I never thought I'd see Antonio Banderas, Lady Gaga and Cuba Gooding Jr. share a role...

The Purge

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

What a ridiculous premise. And they don't even have fun with it. Even more frustrating is that they hint at a greater point being made, that might have been interesting, but never delve into it and seem satisfied wasting it on a by the numbers home invasion flick which just degenerates into some cheap domestic violence and a lot of gratuitous gunplay. Meh.

The Complex

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I've only managed to get to one film at the Japanese Film Festival this year. As a lover of J-horror I couldn't pass up Hideo Nakata's latest. According to IMDB trivia it was inspired by Let the Right One In. In an odd way I can kind of see that. The stories are completely different but I could imagine coming up with this after watching the trailer without subtitles. Some of the imagery is similar and you could misinterpret and extrapolate this story out of those images.

After a slow beginning things pick up a little with the reveal of a few twists and turns, most of which are pretty obvious. The big finish does involve what looks like a traditional Japanese exorcism. After becoming kind of numb to the amount of exorcisms in films, seeing a very different style was a pleasant change.

The film fails to build up the same amount of tension and dread as Ringu, but it's a very different kind of story. All the characters here are trying to move on with their lives (or afterlives) after tragedy, to varying degrees of success. The sentiment is successful even if the scares aren't, so the film still works. And it was great to be able to see it on the big screen.

The Counsellor

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Cormac McCarthy's novels have made fantastic films in the past. His first attempt at a screenplay however is a very mixed bag and Ridley Scott is an odd match for the material. It feels like he doesn't know what to do with the script so he's just shot what's there, which is a bunch of terrible people sprouting elegant but highly uncharacteristic prose. 

The overall structure is almost identical to No Country For Old Men but it has none of the grace or empathy of the Coen's masterful direction. Tommy Lee Jones delivers our central theme and leaves a lasting effect. Here, the central message is much darker and our surrogate for it is a cast-against-type Cameron Diaz doing a very big performance. I think so much of what you'll think about the film will rest on what you make of her. I didn't really go for it.

The film is cold and detached and pretty grim from start to finish. Well shot, as you'd expect, but the great cast struggle to make these characters sound like real people and it's ultimately an unfulfilling experience. 

Blue Jasmine

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Write Up.

Watched again before it finished the theatrical run. Such great character writing. Mesmerising performances too.

The Butler

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

I think the full title is now "Lee Daniels' The Butler," as if it wasn't hard enough to be cynical about the film already. We have a fluffy, period spanning true story combining race relations and politics, made by an oscar darling, released by the Weinsteins and with a cast list of name actors a mile long, all in prosthetics doing impersonations of presidents. If that doesn't scream oscar bait, I don't know what does.

And really there's not much you can't gleam from the story that isn't in the trailer. Our main character feels so passive, by his very job description. He is witness to important things and lives through difficult times so it just feels more like an excuse to parade a series of historic events and ride on the emotional coattails they conjure. Sort of like Forrest Gump but without any good personal or emotional connective tissue.

Sure our butler has a homelife, that juxtaposes with the lives in the White House where he serves, and he has a wife and two kids that have some kind of dramatic storylines going on but it was nothing I hadn't seen done better before and the only pay-off is your typical father son estrangement, most everything else feels superfluous.

I know I'm being really cynical with this one but it didn't do anything for me. It felt ham-fisted an obvious.

Computer Chess

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Well, I've never seen a film quite like this before. Once again filmmakers using period equipment create a very authentic feeling sense of time and place. Also authentic are the cast of mainly unknowns who inhabit these awkward characters.

Initially hard to get into, once the main players are identified the events and character interactions really suck you in and as different sci-fi-ish themes are introduced the film starts tripping out a bit along with them.

Absolutely fascinating from start to finish, with a handful of really great scenes, authentic acting and plenty of bizarre moments. Leaves you with a lot to think about. Perhaps not all of it feels cohesive but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

Thought I'd better check this out before the christmas onslaught of Ben Stiller's re-adaptation. I've only ever seen Danny Kaye in The Court Jester but it's a similar showcase of character switching and vaudeville-esque singing with two extended numbers and plenty of fantasy sequences. Your opinion of the film pretty much depends on what you think of Kaye as a performer. I certainly enjoyed it for what it is.

The film briefly plays with what it reality and what is a dream but the conclusion is quite obvious from the set up. Still, fun to see Boris Karloff in a comedy. It's a fine looking classic production and a simple crowd pleaser. I can definitely see more being mined from the material though and why Stiller was eager to play the lead.