Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

When someone hands you a Blu-ray of Carol Reed directing a Graham Greene story with some running about on moonlit cobbles, you’ve every right to assume you’re going to get Vienna, a zither and a cutting remark about cuckoo clocks. But no, this one of the other Reed/Greene movies; the first one, in fact. And there aren’t nearly as many cobbles.

Phillipe (Bobby Henrey) is the young son of the French ambassador in London. With his father doing ambassador-type stuff and his mother convalescing abroad, it falls to the butler, Baines (Ralph Richardson) and his wife (Sonia Dresdel) to act as surrogate family. Mrs Baines is not particularly nice but Baines himself spoils the child and keeps him entertained with tall-tales of his (non-existent) adventures in Africa which even go as far as the time he had to kill a man. He did no such thing of course. Naturally Phillipe idolises Baines and, being a child, fails to notice that the Baines’ marriage is entirely loveless. In fact, Baines is having an affair with a younger woman (Michele Morgan). When the Baines argue there’s an accident in which Mrs Baines is killed in a fall and Phillipe runs off to give us our Carol Reed moonlit cobbles scene. But because Phillipe naturally thinks the old rogue has deliberately killed his wife, he tries to cover for him. Unfortunately this just makes the police look a bit too suspiciously at what we know was a blameless accident. Oh dear.

Basically this is a story of lost innocence told through a child’s eyes and it’s a great performance from Ralph Richardson (of course it is). There’s also a brilliant little contribution from Dora Bryan as the prostitute the police the police employ to talk to Phillipe as she’s the only woman down the nick. Unfortunately everything she says to the child comes out sounding like something she’d say to one of her clients (“How’d you like to come home with me?” etc.). The exasperated coppers ask her to try it without the smile. It’s actually a rather risqué gag for 1948 but it’s darkly amusing nevertheless.

While The Fallen Idol is regarded as a bona fide classic, there are one or two faults . Part of the problem that Phillipe is an intensely irritating child. Yeah, he’s a child caught up with the affairs of adults but that doesn’t alter the fact that he gets on your nerves. In fact, real children aren’t actually like Phillipe at all; not any we’ve met anyway. Perhaps posh French kids of the late-‘40s were, but we doubt it. The other problem lies in the fact that you feel it ought to be about the painful business of leaving childhood behind but you never get the sense that Phillipe actually has. That might be churlish as Bobby Henrey was only eight or nine at the time: how could he leave his childhood behind? Maybe the story would have worked better with a slightly older child, but whatever the problem it just doesn’t feel quite as satisfying as it should. Which is a shame because there are some brilliant bits and Ralph Richardson and even Dora Bryon make it worth the price of admission.

Special Features: Interview / Featurettes

THE FALLEN IDOL (1948) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: CAROL REED / SCREENPLAY: WILLIAM TEMPLETON, LESLEY STORM, GRAHAM GREENE / STARRING: RALPH RICHARDSON, MICHÈLE MORGAN, SONIA DRESDEL, BOBBY HENREY, DENIS O’DEA, JACK HAWKINS, WALTER FITZGERALD, GERARD HEINZ, DORA BRYON / RELEASED: NOVEMBER 16TH

 

Directed by Serbian comic artist Aleksa Gajić, Technotise: Edit and I is an ambitious cyberpunk animation based on the comic of the same name. Set in 2074, Edit Stefanović is a failing psychology student who lives in the futuristic city of Belgrade, Serbia. Looking for a way to pass her next exam, she implants an illegal chip into her body.

Unexpectedly for Edit, the same chip manages to decipher a complex mathematical equation, which results in Edit developing a second personality. Living inside of her, this newfound AI induces severe hallucinations whilst improving her core senses and reflexes. An intriguing set up to begin with, Technotise: Edit and I kicks its story into gear when Edit becomes a fugitive, chased by a research team believing she holds the key to predicting the future.

It’s a great concept, with strong links to other films in the same genre. However, despite such great ideas, Technotise’s execution is rather dissatisfying. Instead of diving straight into the philosophical aspects that the film represents, Gajić’s film concentrates far too much on the visuals.

Blending in a mix of three different animation styles, Technotise’s experimentation ultimately fails to impress. Utilising 2D, 3D and vector animation may have seemed great on paper, but due to the low-budget of this feature it falls completely flat throughout.

Whilst some action sequences do try to look somewhat impressive, the rest of the film fails to deliver with its unique style. Characters often look stiff throughout, as the perspective in some scenes is skewed. It’s a shame, as lavish backgrounds clash with static animation. There’s just no life to these characters, which is unfortunate considering the decent concept designs.

Technotise: Edit and I has been compared to Akira and Ghost in the Shell, in terms of its ideas and animation, but that’s an insult to some of the finest animated works in cinema history. Some credit has to go the Serbian animation team for attempting a high calibre of animation, but it’s hampered by so many animation problems.

Halfway through the film, the weak spots in the script start to appear. Rife with inconsequential scenes, Technotise throws in some nudity and a jarring a sex scene in an attempt to somehow justify the film’s mature rating.

The film attempts to be wholly philosophical, but it squanders any potential with an abrupt ending that touches upon none of the themes presented earlier in the film. Edit, a one-dimensional thematic device, loses the little character development she obtained, as the complex themes crumble under its own weight.

The DVD release of Technotise: Edit and I is poorly put together, with hardcoded subtitles being unreadable in some scenes due to poor placement. Laden with spelling and grammatical errors throughout, the dialogue is a little questionable at times.

Ultimately, Technotise: Edit and I is a failed experiment. Aleksa Gajić’s film had a lot of potential, with strong links towards humanity’s relationship with technology. It’s not necessarily unwatchable, but just a disappointing entry from Serbia.

TECHNOTISE: EDIT AND I / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: ALEKSA GAJIC / SCREENPLAY: SANDA KNEZEVIC, NEBOJSA GLOGOVAC, JELISAVETA SABLIC, SRDJAN TODOROVIC / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 9TH

 

Aside from trying to symbolically ‘murder’ the reader, Shūzō Oshimi’s coming-of-age manga was an avant garde exploration of the perversion and depravity of the human heart and soul. With the caustic subject matter, an anime adaptation was always going to court at least a little controversy. The major problem that fans had on reception, however, was with Hiroshi Nagahama’s use of rotoscoping – a process of animating over live action footage as used by Ralph Bakshi on 1978’s The Lord of the Rings and Fire and Ice from 1983.

Such is the limitations of the technique that the characters are subdued and stilted by awkward movements, and even in the middle distance their faces disappear from screen. And yet it adds to the pervasive oddness and the inherent creepiness of the series. As an experiment it’s both triumph and a fiasco. Being the first anime to exclusively use rotoscoping, it should be commended, but it’s hard not to mourn the drama, or indeed the anime, that could have been.

Set in a grungy town in the Gunma Prefecture, the story follows middle-schooler Takao Kasuga, a bookish oddball who’s obsessed with the dark poetry of Charles Baudelaire, particularly the titular collection, The Flowers of Evil. Even more than his obsession with poetry, is his yearning for schoolmate Nanako Saeki. After witnessing Takeo ‘accidently’ stealing Saeki’s gym clothes, Sawa Nakamura forces him into a contract. Desperate for him to admit to his pervasions, Takao is put through the emotional wringer, hungry for Saeki’s affection but lost in his own troubled nature. He strikes a pathetic figure, and is by no means relatable, but then none of the characters are. It’s this nakedness to storytelling and the ugly realism of its ensemble that make it both a winning and off-putting watch.

Positioned from an outsider’s perspective, there’s a longing and despondency to the lingering shots and the distance it puts itself from the characters. There’s a sense of Serial Experiments Lain in the unflinching exploration and the plaintive, slow-burn plotting. Lain does benefit from a richer sense of narrative and has a more rewarding long game; Flowers of Evil, in contrast, is a deeply difficult show to enjoy, but as a thematic journey it’s a stunning piece of work.

Special Features: Credits / Also available

FLOWERS OF EVIL: COMPLETE COLLECTION / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: HIROSHI NAGAHAM / SCREENPLAY: AKI ITAMI / STARRING: SHIN’ICHIRO UEDA, MINAMI SASAKI, YURIKO MISHINA, TOKIWA AYA, KINOSHITA AI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

The old adage tells us ‘Dying is easy, comedy is hard’ and Kevin Pollak’s excellent documentary about stand-up makes it absolutely clear why that’s still very much the case.

Over the course of the film, a multitude of mostly US and British stand-ups explain what it’s like to be funny, why stand-up is a drug, the universal experience of bombing in front of an audience and many other topics, neatly divided into bite-sized chapters, all culminating in the final question: do you have to be miserable to be a comedian?

It’s talking heads with the occasional inserted photograph and no actual clips of any stand-up performances, but despite all the straight-to-camera chat, Misery Loves Comedy is a very, very funny film, as well as giving us a fascinating insight into the way comedians tick – not just stand-ups but writers as well.

Among the fifty or more familiar faces are Larry David, Richard Lewis, Amy Schumer, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Coogan, Stephen Merchant (but no Ricky Gervais) and Christopher Guest (Merchant tells a particularly funny anecdote about his first meeting with Steve Coogan and Guest demonstrates how he can throw his voice in quite an alarming manner) while James L. Brooks, Judd Apatow, Jason Reitman and Kevin Smith contribute thoughts about being funny behind the camera (and how comedy could even save a life.) It was also good to hear Kelly Carlin-McCall’s warm memories of her father (the legendary George Carlin, just in case you thought we meant The Equalizer’s not-so-funny Robert McCall) and Freddie Prinze Jr.’s humorous but painfully honest views of his father, who was a comedy genius but by all accounts rather a failure as a husband and parent.

Tom Hanks makes an appearance, although the photos accompanying his slot are all lifted from his not-very-good movie-about-stand-up Punchline which was written by The Omen‘s David Seltzer, who proved in that one fell swoop that horror writers can’t write funny (a complete switch on William Peter Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist several years after writing a Pink Panther movie, thereby proving that comedy writers can write creepy).

William H. Macy contributes a brief appearance too and makes it completely understood that stand-up comedy will never be his thing.

The movie ends in a dedication to Robin Williams, whose absence will no doubt hang like a shadow over every comedy documentary from now until forever. DVD extras are limited to a trailer and a small handful of deleted/extended conversations.

All we can say is that when a documentary makes us want to climb onstage and give stand-up a go for ourselves, is there higher praise?

If you enjoy comedy – not just stand-up, but the mechanics of creating comedy and all its emotional highs and lows – make sure you don’t miss this.

Special Features: Deleted and extended scenes / Trailer

MISERY LOVES COMPANY / CERT: EXEMPT / DIRECTOR: KEVIN POLLAK / SCREENPLAY: KEVIN POLLAK, JOHN VORHAUS / STARRING: LARRY DAVID, JANEANE GAROFALO, RICHARD LEWIS, STEVE COOGAN, STEPHEN MERCHANT, TOM HANKS, AMY SCHUMER, SAM ROCKWELL, JEMAINE CLEMENT, JIMMY FALLON, KEVIN SMITH, BOBBY CANNAVALE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

During the 16-year wait for Doctor Who to come back, fan-filmmakers tried to keep its legacy intact, from Shakedown to Mindgame. With Downtime, the story is that former companion Victoria Waterfield and friend Professor Travers get corrupted by their old adversary, the Great Intelligence. From there, it creates an organisation as a front for their operations known as New World in which it offers spiritual guidance to distraught youth. Soon, the Intelligence uses its army of robotic Yetis and brainwashed minions to hunt down the retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and collect from him one of their old devices in the guise of a Tibetan chess piece. Along the way, he gains help from both Sarah Jane Smith and Daniel Hinton, who is a renegade student from New World.

Before the Intelligence got revitalised in 2012’s The Snowmen, this was meant to be the final chapter in the trilogy that began with both The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, only this time there is no Doctor to come in and save the day. Despite its limited budget, does it live up to the legacy of those two classic stories? No, not really. Well, sort of. It’s somewhat of a mixed bag overall; it has great writing credits with Marc Platt and a mostly solid cast, yet it feels more like an average or competent story, despite its big ideas. The whole concept of the Great Intelligence hiding in technology, harvesting human minds is a good and intriguing one, yet it’s never realised in a unique and exciting way. Plus, it was done slightly more effectively in 2013’s The Bells of Saint John.

The way in which Victoria Waterfield was so easily seduced and corrupted by the Intelligence is a bold and brave move, yet it’s kind of out of character. She has encountered the Intelligence twice before and knows their methods, so surely she wouldn’t have given in so easily to them and surely she would’ve known she would have become expendable by the end. Plus, it was established in her last story, Fury from the Deep, that she was adopted in the 20th century, but we get nothing relating to that. Despite that, Deborah Watling is still as good as she was during her time with both Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines, and she does her best to make the character still interesting despite the way she’s portrayed. Also, Professor Travers’ story finishes in an unceremonious way and is kind of disrespectful of the character.

Despite those problems, there are plenty of positives. The late Nicholas Courtney is still fantastically charming as ever as the Brig, bringing that right balance of warmth, humour and courage, just like how we remembered him being. This story also sees the introduction of his daughter, Kate Lethridge-Stewart, who would go on to become a big part in the show’s modern incarnation, and Beverley Cressman is quite good in the part, even though Jemma Redgrave would later smash it.

Also, it is good seeing Elisabeth Sladen running about as Sarah Jane Smith, but her part is really nothing more than a glorified cameo as all she does is act as a spy at the beginning and show up at the end for the final set piece, which is a shame considering her extraordinary legacy. And watch out for K9 himself, John Leeson, in a somewhat throwaway role. Most of the video effects are well realised for its time, from the astral plane dreamscapes and the pyramid-topped university building of New World, to the web stretching over the sky and the transformation of people into Yeti.

In the end, Downtime is a slightly expensive fan-film that is made by for fans, and whilst its intentions are honourable, its result is divisive. Despite the plot being somewhat convoluted and the poor development of both Victoria and Travers’ characters, it is a perfectly decent adventure that sees the Brigadier doing what he’s good at and it’s fun to see him interact with his daughter, who would carry on her father’s legacy. Very flawed fun, but fun nonetheless.

DOWNTIME / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: CHRISTOPHER BARRY / SCREENPLAY: MARC PLATT / STARRING: NICHOLAS COURTNEY, ELISABETH SLADEN, DEBORAH WATLING, BEVERLEY CRESSMAN, JACK WATLING / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 16TH

 

Fans of martial artist Michael Jai White might be left feeling a little angry and confused with Kevin Carraway’s latest action movie, Deadly Target, a direct-to-DVD disgrace that completely disregards the concept of post-production.

Originally titled Chain of Command in the US, Deadly Target stars Jai White as James Webster, an ex-Special Ops soldier who is on the hunt for his brother’s killer. As he tries to find answers, Webster finds himself embroiled in a huge government conspiracy as a number of highly-skilled men attempt to take him down.

Starring alongside Michael Jai White is Max Ryan and former wrestler Steve Austin, who both attempt to deliver some of the awful dialogue in the film. Despite Deadly Target’s story having an interesting hook, Carraway’s script is laden with exposition and boring dialogue, allowing for a brutal showcase of Steve Austin’s acting abilities.

Mixing in an unpleasant blend of poorly put together CGI and sound design, Deadly Target completely wastes the potential of Michael Jai White. Known for his charisma and martial arts expertise, Jai White stumbles throughout the film, looking completely disinterested in every scene. Unfortunately for fans of his previous work, this is arguably his worst performance to date.

Post-production is a necessity in filmmaking, but apparently Carraway has forgotten the importance of a decent FX team. Gunshots and wounds have all been superimposed in Deadly Target, as if Carraway forgot about the existence of fake blood. Instead, we have some of the worst CGI blood that has ever been witnessed in film history, which looks unappealing in every frame it’s used.

It can be debated as to whether or not Deadly Target can fall under the action genre because almost every single fight sequence is appalling. There’s hardly any choreography or care put into these fights, as keen-eyed viewers will even notice the use of safety mattresses. It’s a crying shame too, because the last punch-up actually reminds viewers of the lost potential.

As the hour and a half running length slogs on, there are some laughably bad segments to find some small enjoyment in. A hilariously misplaced war flashback in the beginning of the film may receive a laugh, and one scene that focuses on a character exiting a vehicle from the backseat is so unnecessary that it warrants a groan. However, it’s just enough for Deadly Target to achieve that certain cult status.

It’s a struggle to determine a reason for this film’s conception as the three main leads really phone it in. It appears that the shooting location during the final confrontation must have been stone cold, because steam completely covers the majority of the shot. Again, it’s just another indication that there was no care put into the development of this film.

This DVD release has no extra features, other than the original trailer. Deadly Target did have clear promise, but its shoddy production and lack of professionalism makes for a disappointing waste of time.

DEADLY TARGET / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: KEVIN CARRAWAY / SCREENPLAY: KEVIN CARRAWAY, LAWRENCE SARA / STARRING: MICHAEL JAI WHITE, MAX RYAN, STEVE AUSTIN, ALLEN YATES / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 16TH