Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Guillermo Del Toro has firmly placed himself as a director of significant talent and imagination whose films alternate between a ‘one for them and one for me’ category; one half big budget popcorn movies like the Hellboy series and Blade 2 and the other more personal films such as The Devil’s Backbone and the seminal Pan’s Labyrinth. Crimson Peak, coming off the back of the robots vs monsters movie Pacific Rim, is a ghost film created in the Gothic tradition, which has its feet in both camps with del Toro exploring classic horror but with a larger budget and more well-known actors.

Edith Cushing (Wasikowska) is an aspiring writer and daughter to a wealthy businessman. She meets a mysterious British businessman Sir Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston) and his sister Lucille (Chastain) who are hoping to raise money from her father. Edith and Thomas fall in love and move back to his home. However, the house is haunted by ghosts and Thomas and Lucille’s home may not let Edith escape.

As you would assume from a del Toro film, the production design is wonderful with Allerdale Hall taking centre stage. A wonderfully intricate set, the house is a Gothic construction seeping red liquid through the walls and faucets. It has plenty of dark corridors and mysterious locked rooms where angry souls still linger. It’s a classic haunted house setting fitting perfectly into the Gothic tradition and calling back to the haunted house films from the early Hammer Horror eras. The ghosts in Crimson Peak are vividly red, rotting husks with wisps swirling off them. Their appearances are certainly unsettling but because they are rendered through CGI, to give them a transparent ghostlike quality, a menacing physicality is missing from them which is disappointing. But, as with many ghost stories, the true threat is not from the ghosts but from the humans that may have created them. Not the full on horror it was originally presented as, Crimson Peak instead seeks to enrapture the viewer rather than terrify, sucking them into its familiar tale.

Tom Hiddleston is a perfect fit for the refined and handsome Thomas Sharpe, a conflicted soul pulled between the good and evil aspects of his character. Jessica Chastain, with her classic Hollywood beauty, has an occasionally wobbly British accent but gives an ice cold performance filled with menace. Wasikowska slips in to the Gothic heroine role as a strong protagonist who is beset by spectres but is still brave and curious enough to investigate after them with a candelabra in her hand.

Del Toro takes his time setting up his film which ends up leaving it a little bloated with an almost two hour running time and an ending that does start to feel a little ludicrous. However, del Toro has, for the most part, managed to create an entertaining and spooky love letter to the Victorian Gothic.

Crimson Peak is an enjoyable if slightly overlong and occasionally overdone dark drama. Del Toro once again shows he is a master of imaginative creation and design with a beautiful looking film with some lovely aesthetic touches.

CRIMSON PEAK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: GUILLERMO DEL TORO / SCREENPLAY: MATTHEW ROBBINS, GUILLERMO DEL TORO / STARRING: MIA WASIKOWSKA, JESSICA CHASTAIN, TOM HIDDLESTON, CHARLIE HUNNAM / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 15TH

As we’re sure you know, the teenager was invented in the early ‘50s in order to sell records. But they also frequented drive-in movie theatres, so by the mid-‘60s a whole new genre was created: The Beach Party Film. Starting with, er, Beach Party (1963), they were “comedies” (although humour has apparently changed a great deal since then) that featured teenagers, music, surfing, amusing dancing and inevitably, Frankie Avalon. For aficionados of horror, we might draw your attention to Del Tenney’s rather fun Horror of Party Beach (1964) or the actually pretty dreadful Beach Girls and the Monster (1965). As far as the rest are concerned… well let’s just say we watch these things, so you don’t have to. But in 1965 beach party pioneers American International Pictures decided to extend the idea, as the audience got older. They dropped the whole beach thing and gave us Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. Not a grain of sand in sight but there might be a bit of Frankie Avalon. Actually, rather a lot of him. But do not despair because we also get no less than Fred Clark and Vincent Price himself as the titular doctor. This might be good.

Dr Goldfoot has built a machine that produces robots of young women in gold bikinis- quite literally off a conveyor belt, they don’t have names, they have numbers. Now we suspect some of you have already decided whether they want to see this or not. We know who you are. As the doctor is a villain (he’s Vincent Price after all) he trains these robots in various fields of study by placing a thing with wires on their head, while stood next to a retro-computer (is there any other way?) and sends them off to seduce and marry the world’s richest men so he can get his hands on the money. We can’t be bothered to tell you any more plot than that and to be perfectly honest, there isn’t any.

Any problems? Well, it isn’t actually funny and there’s rather too much weapons-grade misogyny on display. But is it a total write-off? Well that’s the funny thing, there is actually much to be amused by here. Most of it involves laughing at rather than with but, for example, the gag where Price disconnects a robot (we forget her number) from the head-piece to see what she has learned about music is hilarious, if only because it’s the sort of thing The Simpsons has spoofed so many times. Subject of which, Price is actually having a ball here and keeps the thing afloat by virtue of his comic timing (Fred Clark, so brilliant in Hammer’s Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, is having an off-day and Frankie Avalon is consistently awful, we’re afraid). There are also a couple of Vincent Price movie in-jokes and The Supremes do the theme song. So, if you’ve had a few to drink and you’re in the right mood, this genuine period piece might keep you entertained.

Bizarrely this was such a hit in Italy that Mario Bava directed a sequel. No, really. Can you guess what we’re doing next?

Are we allowed to say Number 8 was our favourite?

DR GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE (1965) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: NORMAN TAUROG / SCREENPLAY: ROBERT KAUFMAN, ELWOOD ULLMAN / STARRING: VINCENT PRICE: FRANKIE AVALON, DWAYNE HICKMAN, SUSAN HART JACK MULLANEY, FRED CLARK / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Although the legendary filmmaker François Truffaut hailed him as the man behind the French New Wave movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Jacques Rivette is little known. Outside of his own country and the arthouse circuit his work exists on, his is a name rarely mentioned with those of his peers and yet his films are perhaps more synonymous with and typical of the movement than any other director.

Rivette’s films range from the intriguingly mysterious to the downright bizarre, and this new collection from Arrow Films provide the opportunity to test your cinematic mettle. Never actually a formal movement, French New Wave encompasses a group of filmmakers who experimented with the art. Fragmented narratives, unpredictable editing and an abundance of seemingly random scenes create a sense of heightened realism that is as ambiguous and engaging as it can be frustrating.

This style is never more evident than in Rivette’s most remarkable work, Out 1. Originally made as a thirteen-hour epic, and intended to be screened as a mini-series, it is included here as a four and a half hour “re-conceived” version. Titled Out 1: Spectre it is an extraordinary work that weaves multiple plots and characters against a backdrop of burgeoning artistic creativity within theatre groups. As mysterious as it is meandering Out 1: Spectre is a film that will either delight due to its expressive freeform structure or drive you mad as you try to unravel the conspiracies and contrivances within.

Accompanying Out 1: Spectre in this collection is Noroît, widely considered to be Rivette’s best film. The second film in what was conceived as a four picture series (abandoned due to Rivette suffering a breakdown), this is a convoluted tale of love and piracy. Despite having a more traditional narrative, in the sense that there is one, it is still full of Rivette’s New Wave tropes. Noroît is a film that rewards patience and persistence and if only one feature could be chosen as an example of Rivette’s career then this is it.

Also included in this new collection are fantasy adventure Duelle and surreal mystery Merry-Go-Round, and they both compliment and balance the artistic excess of Out 1: Spectre and the objective/subjective realism of Noroît.

There is often a compulsion to watch films that are revered and championed by scholars and filmmakers; films that “do you good” and perpetuate an ongoing cinematic education. Rivette’s films are undoubtedly impressive, and sit comfortably alongside those of Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, and they deserve an audience they have yet to truly receive. They are also occasionally impenetrable and often baffling. Worth approaching, but only with a truly open mind.

THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JACQUES RIVETTE / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: JEAN-PIERRE LEAUD, MICHAEL LONSDALE, BULLE OGIER, JULIET BERTO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Name a good, recent sci-fi show on British TV aimed specifically at teens. It’s difficult, isn’t it? E4’s Tripped aims to fill that gap in the schedule.

George Webster stars as hapless stoner Milo, while ex-Inbetweener Blake Harrison plays it straight as his more grown-up mate Danny, who much to Milo’s annoyance, is engaged to Georgina Campbell’s Kate. And then a strange man with a sword tries to kill Milo, who’s rescued by another version of Danny, leaving behind a bracelet that can transport our heroes to parallel universes. Yes, they do get stuck in the wrong world, and yes, they do get into all sorts of japes on their quest to get back.

This Bill and Ted-esque concept comes from a good team – Mathieson (creator and co-writer of episode one) wrote some of the best recent Doctor Who episodes, and the Williams brothers (writers on all four episodes) also have varied comedy and drama credits. The three have a lot of fun with the parallel universe concept, starting small – a world where Milo’s dead gran is alive – before upping the stakes more and more, even taking us to a world on the brink of nuclear destruction. Throughout this, the boys are pursued by brutal killers from somewhere in the multiverse, but the plot never gets too complicated, wisely focusing on the characters and the humour.

Despite several very funny moments, however, the comedy doesn’t always hit its targets. At times, it’s very Inbetweeners, with jokes about drugs and various bodily functions, and yet it’s so invested in moving the plot along quickly that it doesn’t allow the jokes to play out to their full potential, while other gags feel crude for crudeness’ sake – a mention that a parallel version of Danny’s dad is dating a Korean rent boy is not a joke in itself, and yet Tripped seems to think it is. 

The character development, despite Harrison and Webster providing a very watchable double act, is equally hit and miss. Danny’s story about having to choose between being friends with Milo and his love for Kate works very well, and is neatly reflected in all the versions of Kate they meet, but Milo’s story is on less solid ground; later in the series, a scene highlights how his adventures have helped him grow up, but the series hasn’t done enough to convince us he has.

Nevertheless, the pace of Tripped – whole new worlds are explored in each forty minute episode – makes it an enjoyable watch, and with only four of those episodes, it’ll only take an evening to get through. It’s neither the funniest comedy nor the most exciting sci-fi you’ll see this year, but it’s a trip you won’t regret taking.

Special Features: None 

TRIPPED- SERIES 1 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JAMIE STONE / SCREENPLAY: JAMIE MATHIESON, HARRY & JACK WILLIAMS / STARRING: BLAKE HARRISON, GEORGE WEBSTER, GEORGINA CAMPBELL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Audiences often write off low budget films without giving them a chance, either due to lack of famous names, or an assumption that the lack of money involved in the filmmaking process would equal a lesser end product. Adam Spink’s Survivors proves that all you need is a great script, an imaginative approach, and a spirited and enthusiastic cast.

We’re often suspicious of big corporations, and the secrets they hold from the public. Here, an independent reporter, Kate (Gale) decides to conduct an investigation into a weapons company conducting medical trials after hearing rumours of disturbing results. With her cameraman Duke (Burbage), she attempts to get close to the story of what’s happening, but things very quickly take a turn for the apocalyptic when the test subjects become zombies.

As the situation escalates, Kate and Duke take shelter in a resident’s home. However, the reanimated test patients have begun to swarm the surrounding area. The military has arrived, apparently to ‘take control’ (or perhaps cover up?), although Kate and Duke are dubious of their intentions. Reluctantly, the pair decides to split up. Choosing to face the ‘rescue party’, Duke allows Kate a chance to escape through the back. Kate goes on the run, unsure of Duke’s fate, and hooks up with Paul (Anderson) who she meets in a field. Determined to make sure the truth gets out about what’s happening, as well as find her cameraman, she finds there’s more to worry about than the infected flesh-eaters.

Although it may sound like a standard trope-filled shocker, it’s refreshing to see that Spinks has managed to come up with a film that not only avoids the clichés but is a riveting and engaging human drama. Presented, in part, as the couple shooting documentary, consisting of the footage filmed by Duke, largely interspersed with the traditional filmmaking style. It’s an approach that works perfectly, heightening tension and building the drama of the situation. We see the beginning of the investigation, but also the fact that things have apparently gone to shit. The two distinct styles make it easy for the viewer to distinguish where they are in the narrative’s timeline, unlike some non-linear movies.

The acting is certainly well above the standard for the budget. As Kate, Joanne Gale is completely engaging; she is in almost every scene of the film and is essential for the audiences’ sympathy and involvement – a position she holds perfectly. Simon Babbage’s Duke – often unseen as he’s behind the camera of the documentary footage – has quite a bit of ‘comic relief’ dialogue, particularly early on when he’s in the uncomfortable position of filming the disturbing discoveries, but this isn’t damaging as it is human nature. Being such a character-driven film, it could well put those wanting a typical gore-filled ‘walking dead’ film off, but it’s immensely rewarding for those willing to give it a chance. The premise is also very relatable, with such corruption and unethical methods going on (or at least thought to be going on) in big business and, particularly, government-run facilities.

Survivors is a wonderfully nihilistic film that is both edge-of-the-seat tense and thoroughly captivating.

SURVIVORS / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: ADAM J. SPINKS / SCREENPLAY: ADAM J. SPINKS, LAURENCE TIMMS / STARRING: JOANNE GALE, SIMON BURBAGE, DAVID ANDERSON, ADRIAN ANNIS, ALI CURREY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

How do you waste Michael Ironside? The new film, Synchronicity, written and directed by Jacob Gentry, manages to somehow do so. The film takes place in the near future, where physicist Jim Beale (played by Chad McKnight) is attempting to perfect time travel. The film is structured in such a way that it’s intended to reward successive viewings so that lots of temporal anomalies and doubling back can be seen in full. 

It’s difficult to imagine wanting to watch this film more than once. While the film manages to do a lot with its slim budget – making everything look appropriately Blade Runner-esque, without nearly the budget, nor the time – the script doesn’t allow for the actors to generate any serious amount of range. Physicist Beale meets up with supposed femme fatale Abbie (Brianne Davis), and they immediately fall for one another, or he falls for her, or she for him – again, the characters are so sketchily drawn as to not need names. 

Beale could just as easily have been called ‘the awkward-yet-handsome doctor,’ with Abbie named ‘the gorgeous woman with an unknown past,’ because that’s about as far as they get. Gentry is obviously attempting to ape the more noir-ish elements of Blade Runner, turning this into something along the lines of The Big Sleep, but it’s really just a snooze. McKnight’s Beale is so rumpled as to remind one of a hungover Sam Rockwell, and the fact that gentry gives him un-ironic phrases to deliver like ‘nefarious scheme’ don’t make his job any easier. 

For all the double-crossing is all manipulated by Ironside’s Klaus Meisner, and his character is one of two in Synchronicity which manages to appear like they’re awake and ready to do something, rather than laze about and confusingly pinball from set piece to set piece. Sadly, the character of Meisner is never really given a chance to fully become the villain of the film, and only comes close in a single one-on-one encounter with Beale. 

A. J. Bowen’s scientist assistant character, Chuck, is the other bright spot in the film’s acting. He gets all the funny lines – “Time-traveling made that guy a real asshole” is but one of the highlights – and it just seems like he’s the only one who really understands, both as an actor and a character, exactly how ridiculously absurd all of this is. Here’s to hoping he breaks out of the second banana role he plays here and in films like House of the Devil, and gets more starring bits like The Sacrament. 

Ben Lovett’s score is also evocative of Blade Runner. Much like Vangelis, Lovett works in the blank spaces, letting his music say a lot by being as sparse as possible. Still, it manages to get its influences right, and does what it does ably, if not particularly originally. Essentially, what one walks away from Synchronicity with is an appreciation for every scene with Bowen, and a strong desire to watch Blade Runner. We recommend the latter. 

SYNCHRONICITY / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JACOB GENTRY / STARRING: CHAD MCKNIGHT, BRIANNE DAVIS, A. J. BOWEN, MICHAEL IRONSIDE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (US) TBC (UK)

 

Taking place after the popular movie trilogy, The Librarians is a TV show spin-off which sees previous keeper Flynn Carsen (the movies’ main protagonist) passing on the mantle to a new group of Librarians, whose jobs are to protect the world from all forms of magical entities that have bled into their reality, including haunted houses, minotaurs, dragons, and their arch-enemy Dulaque. Even if you don’t know anything about the movie trilogy, then this series will quickly get you up to speed within the first 15 minutes, and from there on, the show becomes an exciting, albeit insane, fun ride.

It’s sufficed to say that this is much, much lighter fare than your usual fantasy/adventure TV show, and is insanely bonkers and goofy, which won’t be for everyone’s taste. If you’re the kind of person that wants everything to be incredibly dark and serious, then you’re better off somewhere else. Yet this is the kind of show that lets you embrace the craziness and just go along for the wild ride, and that proves why there is so much heart and soul to this show. This is the programme that would appeal all ages, from the colourful sets, playful music, kitschy props, light tone and atmosphere, creative fantasy ideas, and the occasional OTT acting.

The best aspect of the show though is the core cast and their interplay as each one of the Librarians has a distinct and unique voice and personality, which makes it all the more easier to connect with them on their own level. What’s also great is that in each episode where there’s a different mystery to be solved, each one of them contributes to the cases in their own unique ways: Eve being the leader of the group, Ezekiel pickpocketing and stealing whatever he gets his hands on, Cassie using her memory retrieval skills to calculate and navigate through missions, and Jake being both the brawler and the expert on art, archaeology and myth.

As far as the performances go, it’s clear that everyone involved is having a blast. Rebecca Romijn is incredibly solid as Eve, managing to balance both the drama and comedy efficiently well, and both Christian Kane and John Kim give great support to the ragtag team. However the two standouts of were John Larroquette and Lindy Booth, who both steal the entire show. Larroquette kills it as the Alfred-like Jenkins, perfectly balancing the right mixture of arrogant and pompous with wisdom and understanding, plus he gets a lot of the funniest moments. Lindy is sublime in her role as the vulnerable yet adorable Cassandra; whilst she too gets some of the show’s funniest moments (“Okay, new rule. How about we not refer to the tumour that will one day kill me as a ‘brain-grape.'”), she superbly gives a nuanced performance that is full of innocence, yet full of pathos.

Silly and adventurous, The Librarians is Indiana Jones meets Doctor Who, being unapologetically zany and unashamed for being so. Even though its light and frothy tone won’t be to everyone’s tastes and certain episodes do suffer from some minor pacing and writing problems, this is a light-hearted show that has real, genuine heart and soul. Plus, as long as certain audiences leave their cynicism at the door, then this is a show that anyone can enjoy.

THE LIBRARIANS SEASON 1 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: DEAN DEVLIN, MARC ROSKIN, JONATHAN FRAKES, JOHN HARRISON, TAWNIA MCKIERNAN / SCREENPLAY: JOHN RODGERS, JEREMY BERNSTEIN, PAUL GUYOT, GEOFFREY THORNE, KATE RORICK / STARRING: REBECCA ROMIJN, CHRISTIAN KANE, JOHN KIM, LINDY BOOTH, JOHN LARROQUETTE / RELEASE DATE: 8TH FEBRUARY

Gu Shengzhai (Shih Jun) is a scroll painter and letter writer who lives with his mother in the shadow of the supposedly haunted Fort Jimglu. He is over thirty, unambitious, and despite his mother’s insistence that he should get himself a proper job, Gu is happy to coast through life. That is, until the mysterious Mr Ouyang arrives and commissions Gu to paint his portrait. Shortly afterwards, when he investigates noises emanating from inside the haunted fortress, Gu is confronted by the beautiful Miss Yang (Hsu Feng) who, his mother explains, is their new neighbour. Apparently Miss Yang has moved into the fortress with her elderly mother, and sells funeral offerings. Gu’s mother thinks her son and Miss Yang would make a perfect couple, but Gu quickly discovers things are not all that they seem – Miss Yang and her mother are actually wanted fugitives, on the run from a vicious eunuch called Wei who assassinated Miss Yang’s father.

When the eunuch sends an army to capture Miss Yang, Gu must employ all his skills as a scholar and philosopher to help her booby-trap the fortress against the invaders. Together, they use the fortress’s ghostly reputation to their advantage, but it can only be a matter of time before the eunuch and his soldiers realise they have been duped. Can Gu help his new love escape, despite the fact that they are so wildly outnumbered? And what other chilling surprises does fate and the fortress have in store for them?

Written and directed by the legendary filmmaker King Hu, A Touch of Zen is the martial arts classic that inspired (among many others) Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Tsui Hark’s A Chinese Ghost Story, and transformed wuxia cinema into an art form. It took three years to make, it deservedly won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, and – with a 200 minute running time – it remains one of the most epic martial arts movies ever made. Forty-plus years haven’t diminished its power. This new limited edition Blu-ray / DVD from Eureka! Masters of Cinema is a spectacular presentation of a film that is much more than the sum of its parts – in fact, the first hour of the movie is notable for its languid pacing and deliberate lack of action, concentrating instead on atmosphere and character development, before the story launches hell-for-leather into what seems like a never-ending series of fight sequences, each battle more terrific than the one that preceded it, with electrifying (if often ridiculous) feats of martial arts gymnastics that will send your jaw on a collision course to the floor. And if that wasn’t enough, the set also includes a fascinating documentary about King Hu and a booklet packed with photographs and new writing about the movie. Absolutely wonderful.

A TOUCH OF ZEN / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: KING HU / SCREENPLAY: KING HU, SONGLING PU / STARRING: HSU FENG, SHIH JUNG, PAI YING, TIEN PENG, ROY CHIAO / RELEASE DATE:  25TH JANUARY

Films are often indicative of the cultural and economic forces that are affecting the country in which they are made. Rarely does one so reflect a period in history as Love On The Dole, a time when optimism and innocence gave way to a newer, grimier reality.

Set in a poverty stricken suburb of Manchester in 1930, John Baxter’s adaptation of a Walter Greenwood novel plays out more like a party political broadcast than a feature film, and this reflective, bluntly conceived message became an issue for many in the time leading up to and following the film’s release. Focussing primarily on the Hardcastle family, this is a tale of blind hope as slowly the economic reality of the time begins to tear the formerly close-knit unit apart. Sally (Kerr) is a young woman full of aspiration, whose optimism for life is ebbing away while her younger brother Harry (Hibbert) innocently and naively hopes for the best, despite an inability to support his pregnant fiancé. In their lives, and in those of others, there are few happy endings. And yet hope still remains.

The gritty, impassioned performances carry Love On The Dole through what is a stark portrayal of Northern life in England between the wars. Faith in the promise of a brighter future under a Liberal Government is constantly tested amidst meagre pleasures and poverty driven frustration. Such was the controversy in a story and script of this nature that the British Board Of Film Censors saw it necessary to ban the film due to its sordid and realistic depiction of life. What then was bleak and oppressive can now be interpreted as a show of optimism and strength; the spirit of a working class with little to cling to other than their own self-imposed values.

Today Love On The Dole is an outstanding example of the films produced in a dark period of history. At the very beginning of her career Kerr is the stand out, but it is an emotional performance from an ensemble cast that elevates the film beyond the political propaganda it was at the time. More of an artful and compelling history lesson than a film? Possibly, but that in no way detracts from the importance of a piece of work that is now rightfully receiving an overdue re-release.

LOVE ON THE DOLE / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: JOHN BAXTER / SCREENPLAY: WALTER GREENWOOD, BARBARA K. EMARY, ROLLO GAMBLE / STARRING: DEBORAH KERR, CLIFFORD EVANS, GEORGE CARNEY, MARY MERRALL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW