Friday 28 December 2018

Pulp Fiction (1994)



Gangsters Jules and Vincent are tasked with recovering a valuable package for their boss, Marcellus Wallace.  Vincent is also charged with taking the big man's wife out for the evening and keeping her from getting bored while the Marcellus attends to some business.  Vincent's rather nervous about this since the last guy to get too friendly with Mrs Wallace ended up being thrown off a 4th storey balcony.  But hopefully Marcellus's other business - rigging a boxing match - will go smoothly, which ought to put him in a good mood, right?

I loved Pulp Fiction when it came out.  It had a great cast, great music, and a non-linear narrative structure that actually tied together solidly.  It also had plenty of 'edgy' and confronting content, and Quentin Tarantino's trademark rambling, discursive, yet somehow cool and compelling dialogue. It was pretty much the perfect film for me at 21.

These days, I certainly still admire the cast and the clever structure, and oh man the soundtrack really is so good, but I find myself more aware of how the clever structure is masking the lack of a truly end-to-end story.  Plus I now find that the dialogue and 'edgy' content are sometimes trying just a bit too hard for their own good.  Finally, in the case of the content, there's an uncomfortable whiff of homophobia.  And yes, this is a nearly 25 year old film and a product of its time, but that's not a get out of jail free card, IMO.

So, there are some blemishes on the rose these days, but Pulp Fiction is still a very well-crafted film, from the time before Tarantino's particular peccadilloes became quite so overly familiar.  Worth a look if you don't mind that it's pretty much entirely about not very nice people doing not very nice things.

Tuesday 25 December 2018

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)




As Xmas approaches, four archetypal teenagers - the jock, the nerd, the princess and the Daria - get stuck in detention after school.  Their job: to remove paperclips from thousands of old documents in the school storage room.  Hardly a recipe for excitement, but then they stumble across an old console system with a game called "Jumanji".  They decide to take a break from the humdrum busy work they've been saddled with ... and find themselves literally transformed into their characters inside the game.  Naturally, said game is filled with all the usual dangers you'd expect - rampaging beasts, evil mercenaries, and so forth.

Now the quartet must learn how to leverage the abilities of their characters - and how to work together - in order to escape the game.  If they fail ... well, none of them are really keen to find out what would happen then.

So obviously this is a sequel to the 1996 Robin Williams film.  Which I have never seen.  Fortunately, knowledge of the original film is completely unnecessary, as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is very much a standalone narrative.

Even more fortunately, this film is a whole lot of fun.  It's got a great cast and a fast-moving script that's liberally studded with both comedy and action sequences.  The tension between the characteristics of the in-game characters and the 'real life' people playing them is used to good effect throughout: even the potentially problematic angle of Jack Black playing a teenage woman suddenly stuck in a man's body is handled well.

I doubt you'll regret giving Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle a couple of hours of your time.

Friday 21 December 2018

Megan Leavey (2017)



Frustrated with her dead-end job and difficult relationship with her parents, 19-year old Megan Leavey enlists with the Marines.  It's not an immediately successful decision.  Although she successfully completes basic training, Leavey still doesn't have a lot of direction in her life.  At least, she doesn't until a misdemeanor lands her with a week's punishment detail, cleaning the kennels of the bomb-sniffing dogs.

Leavey sets out to prove her worth and earn a place on the K9 unit, studying hard for exams, working on her fitness, and practising her marksmanship until she is rated 'expert' with a rifle.  On her eventual success, she is paired up with a German Shepherd named "Rex", and - once she and the highly-strung animal have bonded - they are deployed to Iraq.  It's dangerous work in a war zone, but for Leavey and Rex, the real battle will start when the deployment ends, and Leavey must fight to be able to give Rex a home.

As the image above says, this is based on a true story.  Megan Leavey is a real person (and has a cameo as a minor character in the film), who really did serve in Iraq, receiving the Achievement Medal with a "V" device for heroism in combat, and who waged a public (and successful) campaign to save Rex from being put to sleep when he was no longer able to work.

This film is a solid if perhaps slightly by the numbers biopic.  It perhaps spends a little too long getting to the point where Leavey and Rex team up, it glosses over some of the challenges faced by women in the military, and it's guilty of being a bit vague about dates in order to make the narrative more straightforward.  Still, I certainly don't regret watching it.  If you want a feel-good movie about a brave woman and her dog, it's certainly got you covered!

(If, on the other hand, you want something that does more to explore that it is like being a woman in the military, then I recommend the book Love My Rifle More Than You).

Tuesday 18 December 2018

Dick Turpin, Season 4 (1982)




Dick Turpin and his occasionally bumbling sidekick Swiftnick are back for another series of adventures that whitewash the real life highwayman as a Robin Hood-esque figure who only ever robs from the rich, and who would never harm a woman or a child.  It's all very light and fluffy family-friendly entertainment where nobody ever dies in the swordfights, and where the plotlines are only a step above pantomime in their tone.  "Turpin is dressed up as a lady and the bad guy is flirting with him!  Such japes!".  I mean, I remember loving this show as a kid, but I would have been 8 when these episodes aired, and my tastes were frankly not very sophisticated at that age.

Those of you with exceptional memories, or who are browsing the archives some time in the future, may notice that I have gone straight from reviewing season 2 to season 4, and be wondering what happened to season 3.  Basically, it's because I'm using the Wikipedia/IMDB structure of the show, which puts these episodes as a separate season because they aired after season 3, whereas the DVD set I have actually counts them as the second half of season 2, since they were produced before season 3.  So I just stuck the next disc in the player, and got these episodes as a result.  It hardly matters, since this is definitely not a show that worries about continuity to any great extent.

I'll admit I am curious to see season 3, since it's all a single storyline, rather than the standalone episodes of this and other season.  It will be interesting to see if there's a noticeable shift in the entertainment value (for either better or worse) with the change in format.

Friday 14 December 2018

The Jungle Book (1967)



Bagheera the Panther finds a human baby lost in the jungle, and takes it to a local wolf pack in hopes the new parents will adopt it.  Which they do.  Who knew panthers and wolves were so easily swayed by a child's laugh?

Ten years later, the child has grown into a strong and rather willful young man named Mowgli, who wants nothing more than to keep living in the forest with his friends.  Unfortunately, the fearsome Shere Khan, a deadly tiger who hates all humans, has returned to the area after a long absence.  The wolves decide that Mowgli must be sent back to his own people, as Shere Khan will surely hunt and kill the boy if he remains in the jungle.

Bagheera volunteers to escort the reluctant Mowgli in this journey, which leads to a variety of humorous and/or exciting encounters with various other denizens of the forest, be they bears, elephants, apes or ... well, you know Shere Khan will show up eventually, right?

The Jungle Book was a success for Disney, and it's not hard to see why.  It's got some good musical numbers ("Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You" being the signature tunes) and plenty of laughs.  Plus at a snappy 78 minutes, it would be difficult for it to outstay its welcome.

All that said, I don't think it would be unfair to say this film is not in the top tier of Disney releases.  There's some obviously re-used animation (mainly involving the snake, Kaa, who is voice acted by the same guy that did Winnie the Pooh), and the film lacks a strong plot through-line or villain.  It's mostly just a series of scenes tenuously linked by the need to take Mowgli back to humanity, and Shere Khan barely even has time to show up before the film is over.  It's a light, fun film, but not ultimately a very emotionally deep one.

Tuesday 11 December 2018

Into the Badlands, Season 2 (2017)



Sonny's attempt to rescue his family has failed.  He's been shipped out of the Badlands and sold as a slave, while they've disappeared.  Also vanished is his friend MK, who was dragged off by strange, super-powered monks and is now undergoing training in their secret temple.  Sonny must find his way home in the company of the cheerfully amoral Bajie (Nick Frost, basically playing himself but with mad martial arts skills), all the while hoping that the escalating war between the Barons of the Badlands won't kill everyone he cares about before he gets there.

The post-apocalyptic wuxia western antics of Into the Badlands continue in season 2, and despite how much I should love a show that blends those genres, I remain pretty ambivalent about the actual execution here.  The show desperately lacks a charismatic lead, for one thing.  The most engaging person on screen is easily Nick Frost, and as much as I enjoy seeing him cast as a ninja badass, he's not one of the ostensible leads.  Unfortunately, neither Sonny or MK is an interesting enough character for their capable, but not exceptional, actors to make them compelling, and the other good guys generally don't get enough screen time to really make a mark.

I also feel like the show also lacks a strong villain.  I mean, it has a whole lot of bad guys, many of whom will temporarily join forces with one or another of the heroes, but none of them are particularly memorable or interesting.  I shouldn't want to see your villains defeated because I'm bored of them.

For some people, the wuxia action and cool visual style of this show will more than make up for its limitations.  But I'm not one of those people.

Friday 7 December 2018

The Disaster Artist (2017)



In 1998, Greg Sestero meets Tommy Wiseau at an acting class.  Tommy's older (though he claims not to be), very cagey about his past in general and clearly lying about where he's from.  He's also a terrible actor, but Greg is impressed by Tommy's complete fearlessness in front of an audience and the two set out to LA to try and make their fortunes.

Neither of them enjoy much success, leading to Greg's frustrated outburst "I wish we could just make our own movie".  To the younger man's surprise, Tommy seizes on the idea, producing a script and funding the production of a film.  Where Tommy got the money for this - the budget is estimated as $6 million - is still not known today.

Of course, Tommy intends to produce, direct and star in his film, despite his lack of knowledge of the technical aspects of movie-making and his bargain basement acting skills.  The resulting production would ramble through all kinds of strange behaviour - stranger even than the script, which was quite odd to begin with - emerging in 2003 as The Room, which is widely regarded as one of the most compellingly awful films ever made.

The Disaster Artist is a well-made film with good performances, quite unlike the travesty whose production it depicts, and yet I found it much less enjoyable than the weird and misshapen film that Wiseau produced.  Much of The Disaster Artist relies on the awkwardness that Wiseau's behaviour frequently creates, which is not really my kind of thing, and honestly I feel like watching Tommy Wiseau's actual madcap creation better captures what a strange individual he really is.

The Room is a fascinatingly dreadful film.  This is a competence one, but somehow less interesting for it.

Tuesday 4 December 2018

South of Nowhere, Season 2 (2006)




Spencer and Ashley's relationship has finally and unequivocally moved from friendship to romance, but that's hardly the end of the drama in their lives.  Spencer isn't ready to share her sexuality with her parents, and even if she was, the sudden death of Ashley's father and revelation that he had a secret second daughter would probably mean it wasn't the best time.

Not that Spencer and Ashley are the only ones with problems.  Both of Spencer's brothers are dealing with challenges that threaten to derail the futures they had imagined for themselves, and her parents are going through a rough patch in their marriage that isn't going to get any smoother if the truth about Spencer's sexuality were to be revealed.  It's safe to say that Mrs Carlin isn't at all accepting of the idea that any of her children might be gay.

What it all adds up to is that everyone is going to have to dig deep and fight for what they want ... but at the end of the day, do Spencer and Ashley actually want the same thing?

So South of Nowhere ended season 1 with some pretty momentous events, and it repeats and embellishes that trick in season 2.  I'm not 100% a fan of what happens in the season finale, personally, though I certainly can't complain that it comes out of left field, as the writers foreshadow it pretty hard.

If a coming-of-age and coming out drama seems like it would be something you'd like, South of Nowhere is a solid example of the form.