Hot Fuzz - Point Break *and* Bad Boys 2

Hot Fuzz is a hilarious take on the action genre - having seen every action movie ever [ 138 by their count ] the team that brought you Shaun of the Dead zombie movie put the action genre squarely in their sights.

Having been transferred to Sanford after the fish out of water super-dedicated cop Nicholas Angel [Simon Pegg] has made everybody on his London squad look so badly he is forced to adapt to the "quieter" ways of the village dedicated to the where things are done "the greater good" - where on his first night he arrests the the local bobby Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) who is son of the police force chief Frank Butterman [played to the daft hilt by Jim Broadbent], clears out the pub of all the underage drinkers rendering the place empty, then track down a swan.

Sanford has the lowest crime rate in England, but seemingly it is prone to the most "accidents". Then all of a sudden [after the swan] people turn up dead and a strangely cloaked personage is seen.

Unlocking the mystery of Sanford proves to be an adventurous bad boys cop tale - pairing the straight-laced London bobby with the fat out of shape cop who introduces Angel to his two favourite action flicks Bad Boys 2 [ quoted in the Q&A session afterwards as the epitome of American stupidness but you get caught up until the end ] and Point Blank. Hot Fuzz takes the schtick out of scenes from Lethal Weapon, Charles Bronson, and ultimately Point Blank itself.

Hot Fuzz is well done and leave you laughing harder than you expected and will leave you cheering by the end. What will be next? The movie Don't promised in the trailers of Grindhouse?

The Host - /* dreaming of noodles */

Once upon a time while at the power station we learned what Koreans like in their movies - they want action and they want it simple. While their directors are more than capable of making sublime movies such as spring summer fall winter ... spring they helm such thrillers such as Shiri, Volcano High and now The Host - Korea's highest grossing box office movie. This time "the host" is spawned from the formaldehyde concentration poured into the water by the evil Americans which tale of is spun by American disinformation and propaganda.

The Host is a simple morality tale for the ages - Americans bad for the environment, Korean spirit and gumption saves the day. Surprisingly the movie touches upon all the emotional bases - playing as a comedy, but also as a thriller which touched genuine horror witnessed by a shocked viewer in the crowd - and even a touch of pathos.

After unsafely disposing of bottles upon bottles of formaldehyde into the nearby Han river from an American military base stationed in Korea, the passage of time reveals something is growing in the river. 'How many tails did it have?'

A father and his son and his son make a living at a food stand by the river - selling the proverbial ramen noodles in a paper bowl which come to life after hot water is poured over them to barbecued squid. They watch as his sister and his daughter compete in the archery competition - where her deliberateness and slowness proves to be her achilles heel.

After the day of the competition life will never be the same for them all. The creature is spotted in the water and the curious onlookers by the beach try to feed it - unwittingly becoming lunch themselves in a moment straight out of Jaws the movie.

The Host is an ecological commentary mixed in with a chilling spin on the monster from the deep genre - The Host is also a testament to the fortitude of the Korean family who stick together and in their odd quirky manners set out to save their youngest sibling - and to the restorative soothing power of noodles.

/* They killed my dog ! */ - Shooter is maximum action and Hello nurse !

Director Antoine Fuqua unleashes hell in Shooter.

This is not 300 - this is 1.

All the carnage from Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur is amplified to the max in Mark Wahlberg's version of a wronger done wrong. [P.S. Do not confuse Shooter with Wesley Snipe's The Shooter.]
Fuqua has a way with soldiers, guns and drama after his touches with Bruce Willis in Tears of the Sun [which was supposed to be the basis for Die Hard 4] and the Oscar for Denzel in Training Day. Morality is a slippery slope in Shooter but issues are painted in black and white.

"They killed my dog !" and thusly abandoned ex-army marksman shootist Bob Lee Swagger who can hit a can of Dinty Moore's beef stew from a mile away and framed for a presidential assassination is on a one man rampage - don't get mad get even and more. This is not 300 - this is 1.

He does have a little help from a wronged FBI Agent Nick Memphis played by Michael Peña. This action thriller has everything for the ladies replete with Mark Wahlberg's well muscled torso on display as after he has been shot twice and races to Kentucky where he is nursed back to health [ hello nurse ! ] by his army buddy's young grieving girlfriend Sarah Fenn [ Kate Mara ] who is more than the eye candy for the movie - she is the distraction and unwittingly becomes more of Fuqua's bait. A cast of near A-list names with Danny Glover as a highly decorated army colonel who waves flag and country to recruit Wahlberg for his expertise in sniping to prevent the assassination of the President of the United States, and Ned Beatty along for the ride as a United Stated Senator gives the movie some credibility to a movie that is more Bourne Identity than Bourne Identity at times mixed with elements well familiar from 24 with this season's Rade Serbedzija [who is Day 6's Dmitri Gredenko] mixed up with Glover and Beatty. A couple of name Canadian actors are given prominence [considering that the film is shot in BC masquerading as the US Kentucky and Tennessee with all the mountains and forest] - especially Elias Koteas as a particular nasty.

What the hell is going on ? asks FBI agent The O.C.'s Tate Donovan at one point after the trail of bloody bodies and fingerprints leads back to FBI complicity with the shooter they are looking for - and one is often left to wonder that. But all lulls on screen are soon filled with maximum rock and roll shooting as Swagger shows off his skills as a deadly marksman and survivalist. Be careful the next time you see him at your local hardware store.

Shooter has all the feel of Blood Diamond - lots of action, and the perquisite slow motion in front of explosion and chase with little emotional impact [save once again for nurse Kate Mara who becomes entwined in the plot].

By the end Shooter is way overkill and barring the nebulous politics is great theatre fodder

Smokin' Aces -bring me the head of Andy Garcia

It speaks volumes that the cool factor of the movie Smokin' Aces is the presence of Andy Garcia. After eminent roles in Things to Do In Denver When You're Dead and The Godfather III along with Ocean's Eleven Twelve and Thirteen to boot his determination as director Stanley Locke running his crew of top FBI agents races to bring in Buddy "Aces" Israel before a motley crew of punk rock Tremors, two black chick hitmen, and another deadly assassin adept at torture and disguise and the three amigos bondsmen get to Buddy and his entourage first. [ Entourage? Yes, this is Jeremy Piven as Buddy Israel who is fronting half of the Cosa Nostra vying against the elderly boss Primo Sparazza ] and is about to turn state's evidence in exchange for a deal for immunity and turning over his entourage.

Buddy lives the high life literally - coke and hookers and has ingratiated himself into the Cosa Nostra a la Chairman of the Board Frank Sinatra himself.

Smokin' Aces becomes a high action romp that tries to be cooler than cool with many cameo style appearances from name names trying to break the mould - Ben Affleck as a bail bondman who provides the narrative background up to a point - Jason Bateman who clad in underwear is definitely unconventional in a non Arrested Development role, Martin Henderson [ seen in Bride and Prejudice ] as a member of the crazed Tremors who are out of control and attack with high powered chainsaws. Then you have the Alicia Keys as one of the two black female assassins for hire and rapper Common as the ever loyal Sir Ivy, the head of security of Buddy's entourage. The star power is Ray Liotta as the grizzled cop on stakeout with fledgling Ryan Reynolds who is so badly out of place due to his conscience.

Now Buddy is in a bind and being squeezed to inform on his entourage to stay out of the big pen. Word has gotten out about the million dollar bounty on Buddy's head [ and heart ] and now all this high powered killing power and others want in on the action to get Buddy Aces Israel. More blood and violence ensues that brings on the high style of Domino to a degree.

What brings everybody into the fold of Smokin' Aces has to do with director and writer Joe Carnahan who brought out the dark and clever Narc that probably revived Ray Liotta's career. Smokin' Aces entrenches Carnahan in the cop thriller, but next time keep it lighter on the mayhem.

/* Let's ride */ - with great power comes great responsibility - Ghost Rider

A 30 year old story Ghost Rider finally comes to screen in a fun personable movie driven by the dour and conflicted Nicholas Cage who breathes life into his role as daredevil stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze.

The ghost rider is born of the stuff of legends. A long time ago there was one rider who had a contract to bring back the 1000 souls of a town - a contract so powerful that the rider defied the Devil and outran him.

300 - /* this is Sparta ! */

Tonight we dine in hell!



Devotees of graphic sex and blood and violence should have no qualms with the spectacular success of Frank Miller's 300.

In a time long long ago there is a king - a mighty king who commanded and inspired the respect the loyalty of his soldiers. And not just loyalty but love, and he loved his soldiers back openly and warmly.

The magnificent Gerard Butler freshly chiselled from Beowulf and Grendel [and Phantom of the Opera]is Leonidas - the King of Sparta.

Since the age of seven until the age they become men, the boys have been inured and thrown into the rigours of training and pain against each other. Learning stealth and courage. And they grew up to be men. And he to become King.

With the forces of the outside world pressing upon his borders, an emissary from Xerxes of Persia a human who dared to think himself a god came to ask for an offering of earth and water from Leonidas - and in turn his land would be spared, his people saved from the tyranny of slavery, the woman and children unharmed. Contray to the saying do not shoot the messenger, the emissary and his entourage are shoved into the bottomless well. This is the world where only the hard survive, and actions whether they be cruel or kind are decisive.

"THIS IS SPARTA!"

This is the world of 300 - Frank Miller's newest adaptation blazed across the screen. Any fan of Frank Miller's Sin City have even more violent action and vim and vigour to look forward to. Blood flies without mercy or remorse from the soldiers.

Leonidas is a king among kings - he is cut, buff, strong, he commands his troops with a mighty voice and an open heart - he shows wisdom and courage - he is decisive, he is strong, he is a skillful lover of his Queen who has already borne him a son, a son ready for the trials son who someday will be the next King. He is mighty with shield and sword. With but a handful of 300 of his finest soldiers, he sets out in defiance against the keepers of the oracles [ the most beautiful of Spartan woman who have been brought up to speak as the voices of the gods ] who stay the army itself from marching with Leonidas because it is the high holiday. The story of the 300 is of daring and fortitude and defying the odds - 300 against the legions of Persian ships and the milliards of soldiers they bring. The 300 fight not only with only shield and sword against just Persian men and arrow but the Immortals [ the most cunning and deadliest of the Persian army ] as well as fantastical and phantasmagorical creatures not seen on this earth since the Lord of the Rings. The amazing score reinforces the total sense of nobility and majesty.

The landscape of 300 stretches far and wide in the mountainous valleys where the Spartan army hopes to hem the Persians in - funnel them into the chasm so that the foes' numerical superiority will not matter. The colours on screen are burnished in a patina of golden brown and red. Tanned muscles ripple in amazing one on one battle scenes showing the Spartan soldiers skill with sword and shield, their utter speed shown in stop time, in defence formation their resolve shown in the savage thrust of spear into horse and muscle as wave of soldiers and calvary come upon them or one Spartan against many. And on the first day they are victorious, and build a wall of their fallen foes. But for how long can they last in the face of an endless enemy? Can the Queen persuade the Spartan senate unknownst to them led by politician corrupted by Persian gold to let the Spartan army march north in time to save and aid her King?

Lovers of Sin City will find 300 an enthralling tale of the exemplary example of heroes fighting for their country - with honour and dignity to the end - adhering to their creed: no retreat no surrender that is Spartan law - to be remembered for all time.

Remember us.

/* Deena sings lead */ - Dreamgirls

Tracing the rise of the Motown scene while taking a sideways look at the rise of the African American from 1962 the Broadway show Dreamgirls on screen brings on the glitz and glamour through the girl trio Dreamers.

The costumes that are slinky and elegant on Deena [Beyonce Knowles}], Effie (Jennifer Hudson) as the replaceable third Lorrell [Anika Noni Rose] of the trio belie the artifice for behind the scens is the machinations of snake oil salesman Curtis Taylor, Jr. [Jamie Foxx] who connives to shove Effie [Jennifer Hudson] out of the lead of the ex-Dreamettes who under his guidance become the backup group Dreams to Eddie Murphy's James "Thunder" Early, a glitzy glamour character who belies the likes of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.

While trying to trace the rise and fall of Motown and the ill-disguised Supremes in the 60s and 70s and on the side the black power movement and civil rights, Dreamgirls proves to be a shallow movie and ultimately, the whole of this Christmas release Dreamgirls leaves a bad candy taste in the mouth and a wish you could get the more than two hours of your life back. Bad dreams are made of this.

/* it's a two gold star day */ - kudos for Notes on a Scandal

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it's Oscar night and the computer is behaving for three minutes at a stretch so we cannot write much

but we have been blitzing the theatres this week to catch up with as many nominees and nominated films left on our list

we did try though Venus and Les Indigenes eluded our grasp before today - but everybody celebrate the magic that is film tonight

/* This is not who you are */ - The Number 23

/* Poor little rich girl */ - Factory Girl and the amazing it girl Sienna Miller

Sienna Miller does a remarkable job of bringing the ultimate "it" girl Edie Sedgwick to life in Factory Girl, the re-creation by documentary style director George Hickenlooper [Heart of Darkness, Mayor of the Sunset Strip] of the story between pop artist Andy Warhol and his discovery Edie.

Based somewhat on George Plimpton's interview book Edie, Factory Girl retells the story of Edie Sedgwick during the 60s and 70s and her infancy years masking her deep dark secrets and the insanity that ran in her family. She escapes from California and finds herself mixed up in the life of Andy Warhol and the Factory, an artist's warehouse space where Warhol directed his amateur films such as Vinyl starring his entourage and created the Campbell soup cans montages.

The shots during the film are perfectly faithful to the photographs of Edie Sedgwick who became the "it" girl - with her stunning waifish looks she was the poster model for her generation. Parts in the films such as the tryptich Chelsea Girls and Poor Little Rich Girl - to see and be seen with the Andy Warhol was the apex of her "career". Warhol portrayed in Factory girl as fey and callow by [Memento, The Time Machine, The Proposition star] Guy Pearce is seen as the leading cause of her ultimate demise, abandoning her and leaving her destitute in her exploited and drug-addicted decline. One bright moment of happiness is seen in the company of It ain't me babe Bobby Quinn [a veiled Bob Dylan] nailed by Hayden Christensen, and her biggest mistake was staying with Andy instead of leaving with him. It ain't me babe.

The movie is tragically bookended by her "obituary" in the park about how she wants to be remembered followed by the ending credits with real photos and commentary by actual participants in Edie's life that underly the tragedy but also remember how brightly she shone.

/* 7# - Can I trust you ? */ - Breach

Blood Diamond - /* TIA - This is Africa */ - Leo on the run

The Last King of Scotland - /* This is Africa */

A powerful performance by Forest Whitaker embracing the dark and the light that was General Idi Amin the ruthless president of Uganda. The contradictions between a man so eager to be embraced by his people showing his humour and laughter and the power of persuasion and the brutal putdown of his opposition.

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The Lives of Others - /* man can change */

In 1980s East Germany when a Stassi agent meets the words of Brecht one comes up with the remarkable achievement that is The Lives of Others. The German entry for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards this year


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Children of Men - */ everything comes down to a battle between faith vs chance */

A bleak look at the future of the world as seen in yet another post-apocalyptic look at England in 2027 London. The youngest being on the planet has just died, Baby Julian he has been monikered, at the age of 18. Ever since 2009 there has been a mysterious pandemic that has eliminated fertility on the planet. There is no future for the human race in a hundred years hence. Theo [ Clive Owen ] lives his life in a numb haze fuelled by Bells whiskey.

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Letters from Iwo Jima - /* love, Mom */

After a TCM movie weekend filled with the likes of 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, Flying Tigers and They Were Expendable
comes this disturbing personal and intense look at the battle for Iwo Jima seen from the Japanese perspective.

Clint Eastwood's second directorial foray into the story after Flags Of Our Fathers is ambitious and accurate. The two films share the same body of research with the latter written by Iris Yamashita,more being the story of how General Tadamichi Kuribayashi [ Ken Watanabe ] led his army troops in this forsaken piece of Japan, the manipulated film lends a muted emotion to the affair seen in low contrast.

An archaeological excursion in 2005 digs back into the truth of what happened to the island at the end of the second world war. The island is a memorial with only a shell of what once was, left behind are the series of caves excavated by the labour of the soldiers for the defence of Iwo Jima, itself a coveted stepping stone because of Iwo Jima being just 650 miles from Tokyo.

"They can have this island" complains Saigo, one of the young soldiers trying to survive amidst the sand, the heat, the water and the dysentery. Back in his home of Nagano, he was but a simple baker with a wife and expected child, here he is expected to fight with honour. However as Kuribayashi leads his twenty thousand troops against the invasion by the American fleet, he tells them do not expect to return home. No survivors.

Black Coffee

You will never look the same way at a cup of coffee again after watching this TVO three hour documentary.

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TT where are you ?

Hannibal Rising - /* we eat or we die */

The new chapter in the Hannibal Lecter series takes us back to 1944 Lithuania during the time of the second world war. The family is fleeing Lecter castle, taking their treasures and their livelihoods with them to a household in the country. It is a matter of conjecture if they have more to fear from Russian looters rampant in the countryside, or the arrival of the German troops and tanks.

Hannibal and his very little sister Mischa watch their parents die at the hands of German bullets and are left to fend for themselves in the house. Looters find the two and hold them captive as they dine with them throughout the brual winter of starvation. His sensitive impressionable mind is very shocked by what fury men will do to survive. He eventually is saved and eight years later finds himself in a school setup in his old home at the castle.

Hannibal henceforth lives in a closed emotional state, his mouth is closeknit during the day only to let out yells at night due to his nightmares reliving the moments of that winter, trying to forget yet remember what happened. His only physical connection to his parents and relatives are photographs of the past.

He escapes from the school - after sneaking rides aboard trains across borders and finds himself at his uncle's place. The uncle has passed on but his Japanese "aunt" [ Gong Li ] raises him in a state of grace at the estate near France and teaches him refinement. She endeavours for Hannibal to be gentle and kind like his father. He reads and she teaches him the art of Japanese kendo and swords. She prays before her god, who is dressed as a mighty Japanese warrior with the mask that has become the trademark of the Hannibal Lecter visage. His aunt who hails from Hiroshima connects with Hannibal, not just because the both of them are outsiders, but because they both have their lives scream back at them at night.

Hannibal Rising is a story well told with a sense of style and muted colours. It's the tale of revenge best served cold. The thrill of the chase by the French police is not on the par of Clarice sparring with Hannibal Lecter, and can one side with Hannibal as he pursues his quest? but Hannibal Rising is american psycho reborn and purviews the character and moral development of the child who died in that winter, and came out the other side a monster.

Fish cheeks anyone?

Manufactured Landscapes - beauty and the beast

The hit documentary Manufactured Landscapes of 06 Toronto International Film Festival and now making a splash in the realm of Sundance this year typifies what TVO and the NFB do best - produce very insightful documentaries with a deep message that leave with you wonder.

China is going through a new industrial revolution as it attempts to keep pace with the demands of a burgeoning populace. The demand for power, fuels, supplies is far greater than their present technologies.

The opening shot of Manufactured Landscapes is a long tracking shot from one end of the factory floor to the other, the camera taking in all the men and women doing their little repetitive tasks as they make toys, or sensors. There is little mechanization, this is assembly line by human labour.

China has become the vast dumping ground of the world's discarded and recycled parts: things such as computer monitors, motherboards are discarded by the millions and end up in China by the hillsideful and are stripped by hand for anything useful: the metal, the wiring, for example.

It is the eye of photography Edward Burtynsky that sees composition amidst the chaos, beauty is in the eye of the beholder amidst the debris - the beauty is in the details.

Director Jennifer Baichwal follows Burtynsky as he clambers amongst the hillside, or perched atop scaffolding or ladders, carrying his 4x5 camera he looks for the composition and the light. The director's cinematographers will dwell on a part of the picture which in itself is beautiful and telling and then zoom back to show the enormity of scale - it's like seeing Blow-Up in reverse. The centre is just a speck in the macrocosm that is China.

The manufactured landscape is a different type of landscape - the kind that is the product of man and his relationship with industrialization. It is industry versus nature. Despite the photographer's intent that he is not trying to take a stance, where at the exhibition that he lets the viewers come their own conclusion, the pictures he say do not try to condemn or glorify what is happening but the pictures speak for themselves.

Manufactured Landscapes goes outside of the country too to see the effects of globalization of industry elsewhere. The two words oil epiphany are two words that come to him. The building blocks of industry come from oil, and China as the new factory of the world is an endproduct. He pictures the deep digs into the earth, the levels of the scars of the quarries and mines which are the accumulation of time are like tree rings. Industrialization is placing a tremendous toll on the natural landscapes, and even more devastating effects upon the people and the quality of their lives. The scavengers on the hillsides dig for the metals in order to work and survive and earn their pay. The leeching of the metals into the ground affects drinking water. Rivers are deadly. The enormous scale of the Three Gorges Dam which is going to level an enormous part of China and sink cities in the process - and the Chinese government is paying its own people to tear down their own homes and cities brick by brick. The people who are being resettled find themselves in new settlements but they are becoming the new impoverished peasants in a new land with nothing to do. There are tragic portraits of old ladies who are reduced to doing nothing but menial tasks : sorting or stripping the parts to survive. Or the lady who refuses to leave her apartment while the tenements around her are demolished for new construction. Burtnysky and Baichal capture this all leaving you to find the shock and awe in all the splendour of manufactured landscapes.

Blood and Chocolate - /* the best of animal - the best of man */ = stylish gothic romance

At this point in time due to release time we will endeavour not to reveal certain plot elements

The first time we saw Agnes Bruckner was when she was seventeen years old at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival where she came dressed so glamourous in black for the debut of Blue Car which also starred the incomparable David Strathairn, a story about a down on her luck schoolgirl poet encouraged by her English teacher to enter a poetry contest, and an ensuing crush.

In Blood and Chocolate the pouty Agnes Bruckner is Vivian is a girl running from her past - and from her future.

From the producers of Underworld [and The Covenant], the modern yet old world Blood and Chocolate is the flipside of Underworld where the lychen are the feature.

Hugh Dancy as Aiden is an American, a graphic novel artist drawn into her world and her family. He is fascinated by wolves and the old stories, so he has come to her city for inspiration and research. Blood and Chocolate is set in the historical city of Bucharest, Rumania filled with tenth century legends of loup garou - not the werewolves of Hollywood - but the best of animal and the best of man. He too is escaping his past and keeps his anonymity while he has his novels published.

Blood and Chocolate has all the elements of a Gothic Romance a la Jane Eyre - the secret, the forbidden attraction between two opposite and kindred apirits, moonlight. The whole story is artfully and gracefully done, filled with pastiches of perfect shots, but either done to over editing or heavy reliance upon exposition to move the plot along [ which we will not reveal at this point in time ].