'Wolf'
Jack Nicholson, a mild mannered senior editor in a publishing company, gets bitten by a wolf and begins to turn into one. But, instead of getting all depressed like Lon Chaney Junior, he learns to accept his condition and embrace it eventually.
'Wolf' is a laughably silly "werewolf" picture that never really takes off, even though much of the first half is pretty great. It all falls apart around the 50 minute mark, though, and becomes a farce pretty much. Nicholson does his best, for the most part, and seems to be enjoying himself. The rest of the cast are just sort of going through the motions and there's nothing here that will stretch them. Christopher Plummer plays another rich arse and Michelle Pfeiffer is just dull, as she usually is. Only James Spader stands out and he, once again, turns up to play one of life's little shits. But, he does it so well and he's quite enjoyable. If there's any reason to watch 'Wolf', it'll be for Nicholson and Spader.
However, the story is just too tame, with some unconvincing wire acrobatics and really lack lustre werewolf makeup to boot. Which was pretty surprising, because makeup master Rick Baker was in charge. There's some really dodgy "contact drift" going on with the werewolf eyes at several stages that's impossible to ignore.
Mike Nichols' direction is quite leisurely, with few scenes to raise the pulse of even the most easily excitable person. It's also, oddly, studio bound in several places too, with scenes that are clearly shot on sound stages. I don't know whether that was due to budget or a stylistic choice, but it wasn't easy on the eye in any case.
It all ends up fairly harmless stuff, neither here nor there. A bit of a sheep in wolf's clothing.
4/10
'Angel'
Danny (Stephen Rea) is a saxophone player in an 80's Irish low scale showband. He witnesses a paramilitary murder one night outside a club and takes it upon himself to enact a bit of revenge.
Neil Jordan's first major effort and it's pretty awful, it has to be said. The film, shot on a paltry half million pounds, is laced with problems, both due to budget and skill sets. It's clear that Jordan was still finding his way, as it were, and despite the impressive cast list, which boasts a lot of familiar Irish faces like Ray McAnally, Donal McCann, Marie Kean and Sorcha Cusack, the acting comes off here as fairly amateurish in many respects, especially from Honor Heffernan who just cannot carry the role she has. The story is also very disjointed too, which is a real shame, and it comes across as clumsy and vague.
The only real entertainment value in 'Angel' is spotting some Dublin sights as they were in 1982, as there's little else to recommend unfortunately.
3/10
'Glass'
David Dunn (Bruce Willis), Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) and The Horde (James McAvoy) are all held in a top security mental institution, while they undergo psychiatric treatment by Dr.Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson). Things don't go so well.
M. Knight's last entry in his middle-the-roads, pseudo superhero series - try that with a few drinks on you - is a strange affair. It doesn't really live up to 'Unbreakable' or 'Split', but doesn't let them down either, despite being of a relatively low key nature. But that low key suits the style of the previous two entries. In many ways it retains the other two film's clumsiness, but also their dubious charm as well.
'Glass' wasn't as well received by both the critics and fans, but I felt it was a perfectly fine way to end Shyamalan's trilogy. I have to say I found it enjoyable, but that's probably because I had no real investment in the series and came to it very late. I only first saw 'Unbreakable' and 'Split' this year and had no interest in them until that time, so any expectation or anticipation wasn't part of the deal on my behalf. I reckon some people were/are put off because 'Glass' wasn't "bigger", as it were, and the small story can seem a little deflating, especially if you've been following this for the last 20 years.
The characters too are a curious lot. Dunn is really just a really strong bloke whose weakness is especially, and unfortunately, limiting. Mr. Glass is a comicbook obsessed smart nerd, with a psychopathically nasty streak and the Horde threatens to slip into parody all too easily. The Beast, too, walks on dodgy ground and at times can seem as impotent as Mr. Furious from 'Mystery Men', leading to a couple of unintentional smirks.
It's hard to categorise Shyamalan's "Unbreakable trilogy", as it's not really a set of superhero films in the sense that we know today (they're not even really superhero films), and that's why I probably find them more interesting I suppose. They are far from perfect, however, and their low stakes may put a lot of folk off, who might be expecting more "traditional" fare.
7/10
'Logan Lucky'
Steven Soderbergh's (I thought he was retiring?) comic, if not a "comedy", film about a couple of hick brothers from Virginia, who plan a robbery at a NASCAR racetrack doesn't sound all that interesting or even that comic really. But, it's a smart and funny story that will offer a few chuckles, even if there are no belly laughs. It's not flashy, it's not "hilarious", it's not "zany". It's just a quirky story that's well told, with characters that are interesting enough to hold the attention.
At two hours, it can feel a little long in areas, but it never feels like a chore and its final stretch can seem a bit off to what came before. But, it's a pleasing film of the type that doesn't get into the cinemas all too often these days.
8/10
'Codename: Wild Geese'
Taking his cue from the popularity of the 1978 British film, 'The Wild Geese', Italian schlock factory, Antonio Margheriti (AKA Anthony M. Dawson, AKA Vincent Dawn) decided to have a go himself with his own take on the mercenaries abroad pseudo subgenre of war films.
Putting his best magpie talents to effect, Margheriti pinches the basic story from Andrew McLaglen's film, including its subplot, and manages to gather a pretty impressive list of character actors for his romp, which sees his rag tag bunch of hard men, led by Lewis Collins, sent off to some South East Asian craphouse to help knock out the opium production of a typically nefarious "general" of nondescript allegiance. All on the immediately shady orders of a wealthy American businessman and a dubiously affable DEA officer.
If you've seen 'The Wild Geese', then there will be few surprises here and even if you haven't, you'll be hard pressed not to be able to guess what path the film will take and the bulk of the entertainment value is taken from its B movie charm and seeing the veteran character actors go around the block one more time.
The lead duties of Captain Robin Wesley are taken up by poor Lewis Collins, who seems to have thought the whole thing would be a quite different and better film, as he tries his best in the hope of a big screen breakthrough. Collins, freshly unemployed after the cancellation of 'The Professionals', puts in a decent shift as the leader of the mercenaries, in a role he is well suited for and he does well enough with what he's got. I've always been surprised that his career never took off in a more elevated fashion as he's no worse here than any number of action heroes of the period. I guess it just wasn't to be.
Not trying so hard are the previously mentioned character actors, such as Ernest Borgnine as Fletcher, the DEA guy, and the always watchable Lee Van Cleef, as the dodgy but ultimately OK China. Both of these old lads are there clearly to pick up a few bob and try to have a good time along the way. Although, for Lee Van Cleef, I imagine the shoot wasn't as pleasant as it was for Borgnine, whose scenes were limited to shots in Hong Kong. Van Cleef, who at this point in his life had great trouble walking without pain due to a previous injury, never seems to be in any hurry despite the bullets and explosions going off around him and tends to shoot a lot of people while sitting down. At one point Van Cleef's character, China, rubs his leg and bemoans the pain he's in from trekking through the jungle and I believe him.
The last instantly familiar face on the list is Klaus Kinski. Kinski, a common addition to Eurotrash for decades is always eye catching, no matter what he's in and he's no different here. His unique features are loved by the camera and even if he couldn't give a damn about his role, the film, or everyone else involved, he retrains an effortless fascination even if his voice has been bizarrely overdubbed with an ill-fitting British accent, which seems to disappear at later stages of the movie, where I'm sure we can clearly hear Kinski's real voice.
The rest of the cast are filled out with a number of German non-stars, due to the fact the Gerries ponied up a few Marks for the film's production and Mimsy Farmer, who provides the token and completely superfluous female presence
'Code Name: Wild Geese' won't bowl anyone over and at times is quite boring. But, there are little things here and there that are amusing if you're in the right frame of mind. Watch out for the ludicrous, if admirable, model work that pops up at various points, most notably in a laughable high speed tunnel chase and a miniature flame throwing helicopter.
|
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by MinionZombie
Bookmarks