Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

BLU-RAY REVIEW: PREDESTINATION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: THE SPIERIG BROTHERS / SCREENPLAY: THE SPIERIG BROTHERS / STARRING: ETHAN HAWKE, SARAH SNOOK, NOAH TAYLOR / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 6TH

Everyone loves a time travel romp, right? All those paradoxical twists and turns are manna to filmmakers trying to give something unexpected to the seen-it-all-before generation (that’s us). Mind you, they’re a nightmare for the reviewer who can’t tell you what it’s about without all sorts of spoiler-horror. So Predestination is the Spierig Brothers’ latest movie, in which Ethan Hawke is a “Temporal Agent” (of course he is) trying to prevent The Fizzle Bomber (no, really) from carrying out an attack that has killed thousands before they can actually do it (because it’s about time travel, duh). That’s your lot plot-wise, other than to say it’s based on a Robert Heinlein short story so it comes with pretty high expectations.

Any good? Funny you should ask . Actually, yes it is. If you have a look at some of the mainstream reviews they’ll tell you that the plot is “challenging”, “head-spinning”, “confusing” etc. However, as you lot are pretty au fait with the genre we can assure you that it’s none of these things. It’s by no means brainless but it is about as easy to follow as a paradoxiwotsit time travel caper can be. You’ll work out most of what’s going to happen within thirty minutes (although we confess to missing part of the twist despite it being telegraphed in the opening scene). So if it’s so predictable, why is it good?

Basically, this is a decent yarn well told. Amazing how many movies fail on this basic requirement. The Spierig Brothers have eschewed the trappings of the action movie that so many of these paradoxthingies seem to love and told a big story by way of the interaction between a handful of key characters. The first half of the movie is just a conversation in a bar interspersed with flashbacks. It relies entirely on the core cast of Hawke, Taylor and Snook to deliver the goods. In fact, Sarah Snook’s rather brilliant performance is absolutely key to the film’s success. We won’t say too much about it but the only times she slightly fails to convince in an extremely challenging role, it’s more down to the directors than her. Even the rather odd plot strand (from Heinlein’s source story) about young women training to be astronaut “companions” is pretty well handled and surprisingly entertaining.

It might be a bit predictable to us time-travelling veterans but it’s tight and does what’s needed with some splendid performances. Everyone loves a time-travel romp, right? All those paradoxical twists and turns are manna to filmmakers trying to…

Oddly enough, this review was actually written on 18th August 1979. It was discovered on an old C90 cassette recorder that… .

Special Features: TBC 

DVD REVIEW: A GOOD MARRIAGE / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: PETER ASKIN / SCREENPLAY: STEPHEN KING / STARRING: JOAN ALLEN, ANTHONY LAPAGLIA, STEPHEN LANG / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 20TH

What if, after twenty five years of blissful marriage, you discovered that your loving husband was also a serial killer? That’s the question posed by A Good Marriage.

When Bob Anderson (LaPaglia) goes on yet another business trip, his wife Darcy (Allen) goes hunting in the garage for some new batteries, but instead discovers a box containing the driving licence of a murdered woman from the last town he visited. After doing some more digging and checking online, Darcy realises that Bob is the serial killer called Beadie.

With her children grown up, it’s up to Darcy to either choose to do the right thing or hide her family’s horrible secret to protect them all.

With a screenplay written by King himself, based on a tale that first appeared in his short story collection Full Dark, No Stars, the Bob character was inspired by Dennis Rader – the infamous real life BTK killer.

There are more misses than hits in the chequered history of King adaptions, and the legendary writer’s involvement here in penning the screenplay does not land the film on the positive side of the fence. The movie is guilty of lacking any real tension, especially worrying considering that it is supposed to be a thriller. It has a real TV movie feel about it, with no real range – it doesn’t have a cinematic edge at all. LaPaglia seems out of place in the main role, unable to offer the necessary gravitas that the character requires. You struggle to see the dark side of him, instead seeing Bob as a family man that does this on the side.

As with the real case of Rader’s wife, you can understand her point of view and the spur for her actions and Allen manages to keep the story rooted, but there’s only so much she can do. Lang’s character hovers on the periphery for the majority of the running time, whereas, regardless of his motives that are made clear later on, he could have been used much better as plot twist that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

Overall, A Good Marriage falls far short of what it could have been. A missed opportunity and grounds for divorce.

Special Features: TBC
 

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: INTERSTELLAR / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN / SCREENPLAY: JONATHAN NOLAN, CHRISTOPHER NOLAN / STARRING: MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, MICHAEL CAINE, ANNE HATHAWAY, JESSICA CHASTAIN / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 30TH

Every now and again, we have filmmakers pushing the boundaries of what cinema has to offer to its very peak, and that is certainly true of the sci-fi behemoth that is Interstellar, the latest epic from visionary director Christopher Nolan. As summed up in the title, the film is one enormous display of size, scale, scope and spectacle, being enthralling, amazing and having the power to leave you aghast.

Set in a near dystopian future, a second Dust Bowl catastrophe is causing blight upon the world’s crop supply, causing the Earth to slowly die and rendering it uninhabitable. This causes a NASA team, led by Professor Brand (Caine), to build ‘the Endurance’, a gigantic “space ark” that will hopefully take the last vestiges of humanity to a new home across the stars, providing if the “problem of gravity” can be solved. Meanwhile, being prompted by ghostly forces, pilot-turned-farmer Cooper (McConaughey) leads the exploratory mission, including Brand’s daughter Amelia (Hathaway), through a wormhole originating beyond the rings of Saturn, abandoning both his family and his home life in search of a future for all humanity.

Nolan cites this as his most personal project, trying to recapture the spirit he had when watching Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as a young child. Yet while it’s definitely easy to cite 2001, the key film that really hangs over the spectre of Interstellar is Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, which shares more than just leading man McConaughey and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne (who also offered signature input on Interstellar). Both films deal with a central cinematic theme of a daughter crying to her long lost father across the vast reaches of the universe, and it’s also these daughters that decipher the first enigmatic signs of a suggested “alien” intelligence.

That core theme is right at the heart of Interstellar, and Nolan stated that emotional truth was what the story was centrally about, and that is what the film’s really about: a father and daughter relationship. Even though there’s hard scientific exposition being spouted out about relativity and wormholes, it’s ultimately love that prevails over science. That beating emotional heart is embodied in the character of Murph, and the exceptionally talented Mackenzie Foy (as the younger Murph) gives a performance that is both beautifully and emotionally raw. Jessica Chastain is equally affecting and raw, playing the older Murph as someone trying to put on a confidant façade to hide her emotions, yet we can sense and feel the excruciating emotional pain she’s been carrying with her.

All the science of Interstellar with space travel, bifurcated timescales and planet exploration is really built around that core father-daughter relationship, and sometimes both the sentimentality and the science mesh together perfectly, yet occasionally the silliness triumphs over and that can be problematic for some. The film’s last fifteen minutes are absolutely ridiculous and will certainly divide opinion, but these are minor teething problems amidst an ocean of excitement and surprise.

In the end, Interstellar is an extraordinarily remarkable feat in the history of cinema, making for a truly unforgettable experience that will stay with audiences both young and old. Christopher Nolan is a true bona-fide filmmaker that completely understands the true raw power of cinema and what it can offer and deliver, making this something truly special entirely. It may not be perfect, but it’s both bold and ambitious, and that is something to admire.

Special Features: Fifteen featurettes / Theatrical trailers
 

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (1951) / CERT: U / DIRECTORS: MICHAEL POWELL, EMERIC PRESSBURGER / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL POWELL, EMERIC PRESSBURGER / STARRING: MOIRA SHEARER, ROBERT ROUNSEVILLE, ROBERT HELPMANN / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23RD

The spectacular Tales of Hoffmann, from the talented production company of Powell/Pressburger – the team who brought you the Technicolor classics A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes – is a work of art which should been seen by any filmmaker and fan of movies alike.

The new, 4K restoration, supervised by Mr. Pressburger’s widow, the Oscar winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker, along with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, the British Film Institute and Studiocanal, is breath-taking in every frame.

The story begins as our hero, Hoffmann (Rounseville) has finally found the love of his life, Stella (Shearer), at a theatre after a lifetime of disappointing romantic interludes. As he awaits his love’s arrival, fans and friends of Hoffmann pressure him to share his stories for their entertainment, wherein we have – portmanteau style – the Tale of Olympia (a surreal, tale that would fit right at home in Rostrum’s Universal Robots), the Tale of Giulietta (a journey into the supernatural), and the Tale of Antonia (a psychological battle of good and evil).

Each actor portrays their role with perfection right down to the background extras. It’s a world filled with bizarre, memorable, characters. Rounseville shows great pathos within Hoffmann, stirring us to care about his plight of love won and lost. We completely identify with him. Helpmann portrays four roles with gusto that are all evil and with sinister implications that you just want to jump into the film and strangle him. The beautiful Miss Shearer holds your attention during her ballet numbers with her seductive beauty and grace, and you truly see why she was one of the greatest dancers in the world.

Production values are dynamic and complex, as is the superb music by Jacques Offenbach, and the costumes are equally amazing. One can see why this film inspired film makers George A. Romero and Martin Scorsese.

The new, restored version with extra footage is finally released on DVD and Blu-ray, and it’s one which should be in every film fan’s collection.

An artistic, fantasy classic that is timeless for young and old. Don’t miss it.

Special Features: Introductions from Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker / Brand new trailer / Stills gallery / Postcards / Booklet 

DVD REVIEW: NO GOOD DEED / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SAM MILLER / SCREENPLAY: AIMEE LAGOS / STARRING: IDRIS ELBA, TARAJI P. HENSON, LESLIE BIBB, KATE DEL CASTILLO / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23RD

It is with open arms that we belatedly welcome Idris Elba in to the blood-soaked annuls of serial killer history. Belatedly because an actor who exudes such brooding menace and intoxicating charisma playing characters on the right side of the law was surely born to play a multiple murderer; and in Sam Miller’s No Good Deed he does just that. More’s the pity then that the film doesn’t quite live up to the talents of Elba and of those around him.

After escaping from a prison transport having had his parole application refused, Colin (Elba) seeks out and murders his ex-girlfriend for what he sees as an ongoing betrayal. When he then crashes his car during a monsoon-like downpour he seeks the help of Terry (Henson), a young mother of two left home alone for the weekend when her unappreciative husband goes away on a golfing trip. Ingratiating himself into the home of the unsuspecting Terry, Colin begins to enjoy a few long-awaited home comforts.

No Good Deed is a stylishly designed and well executed film that contains all the components required to produce a superior thriller. There is the highly atmospheric weather; rain that seems to enclose the home making it feel claustrophobic and isolated. There are a few routine but effective jumps that will draw many, if not all, viewers to the edge of their seats and keep them there throughout the middle and final acts. There is a palpable tension between the two leads, a hint of unspoken sexual chemistry that may cloud a character’s otherwise strongly rational judgement, leading to unpredictable and uncomfortable situations. And there are excellent central performances, with Elba effortlessly switching into bad guy mode and Henson matching him blow for blow in a role that is thankfully much more than just routine unfortunate victim. So if everything seems to be here, why doesn’t it work?

Part of the problem is that everything feels just a little too familiar. Home invasion of one form or another is currently a popular theme for filmmakers, so unless there is something entirely ground-breaking in a film most of what you see has been done before. The strong female character of Terry is good to see but unfortunately this strength seems balanced by Colin’s peculiar, and somewhat stupid trait, of turning his back on her every five minutes so she can bash him over the head with whatever heavy implement is to hand. This undermines the killer’s malevolent intelligence and almost has you shouting “she’s behind you!” at the darkly lit screen.

There is also the question of Terry actually letting Colin into her home so readily. Initial cagey suspicion quickly gives way to giggling flirtation over a bottle of wine, and while questions can be asked of most films’ plot twists, here the story isn’t engaging enough to allow them to pass by without a second thought. For the premise to work this must happen and here it never quite convinces.

It is reasonable to have expected more from Miller and Elba, who were behind so many of the best Luther episodes. As it goes, No Good Deed is a competent, if undemanding thriller that while interesting during viewing may quickly find its way to the back of the DVD shelf. There are occasional diamonds to be found in the straight-to-DVD rough, but unfortunately this isn’t one. Decent, just not good enough.

Special Features: Making a Thriller featurette / Interview with Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson
 

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DVD REVIEW: SHERLOCK HOLMES / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: DOUGLAS WILMER, NIGEL STOCK / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 30TH

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Great Detective has surely never been more popular and there seems to be a Sherlock Holmes for all tastes in amongst the various current incarnations of Baker Street’s finest. The BBC’s slick, modern reinvention of Sherlock has made a superstar out of Benedict Cumberbatch, but there’s also much to recommend in Jonny Lee Miller’s slightly more generic American take on the same theme in Elementary, and Robert Downey Jnr’s two-fisted interpretation in the presently in-limbo Guy Richie movie series is quirky fun even if the series lost its way a little in A Game of Shadows. Later this year Sir Ian McKellan will appear as a retired nonagenarian Holmes in the feature film Mr Holmes, based on Mitch Cullen’s novel A Slight Trick of the Mind. But what we haven’t had for some time is a traditional Sherlock Holmes prowling a Victorian London of hansom cabs, choking fogs and singular mysteries. Jeremy Brett’s Granada TV series, which ran from 1984 to 1994, was pretty much the definitive version of the classic image of Sherlock the 19th century sleuth and whose considerable oeuvre came close to bringing the entire Conan Doyle canon to the small screen.

This charming new four-disc BFI DVD boxset will delight Holmes purists who may be a bit sniffy about the modernization of their hero, resurrecting as it does one of the ‘great’ (if often overlooked) Sherlocks as magnificently played by Douglas Wilmer for a twelve-part BBC series in 1965. The series itself was a spin-off from the anthology title Detectives (whose episode The Speckled Band is presented here) and ran to one twelve-instalment series before Peter Cushing took over the role in a belated second series in 1968. Only ten of the series’ twelve episodes remain, and they’re here in all their terribly earnest 1960s BBC glory – and almost without exception they’re wonderfully enjoyable realizations of some of the best of Conan Doyle’s short stories. Although typically stagey and theatrical, there’s a decent amount of atmospheric location filming suggesting that this was surely a prestige production for mid-1960s British television, and in Wilmer we have easily one of the very best Sherlocks who, as many commentators have pointed out, bears an uncanny resemblance to the character as depicted in the famous Sidney Paget illustrations which graced the pages of The Strand magazine in the late 1890s. Wilmer’s Holmes is clipped, sharp, unfussy and to the point, often evoking the style (if not the occasionally arch spirit) of Basil Rathbone in the long-running 1940s film series. Wilmer’s Holmes is accompanied by Nigel Stock as John Watson, here very much the bumbling, slightly bloated caricature figure popularized by Nigel Bruce in the Rathbone films until his rehabilitation courtesy of David Burke and Edward Hardwick in the Brett series when Watson became more of an urbane confidante to Holmes rather than a slightly dim and naïve blunderer.

It’s a relief to revisit these Holmes stories done straight; Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’s Sherlock has become too keen to show how clever it is to concern itself with telling a proper story, and its lip service to Conan Doyle’s originals sometimes does the legend of Sherlock Holmes little justice. The stories here – familiar titles such as The Illustrious Client, The Devil’s Foot, The Copper Beeches, The Red-Headed League, The Man With The Twisted Lip – are very much the bread-and-butter stories which made Holmes’ exploits so addictive to his wide-eyed Victorian audience. This lovingly-presented collection might not hold the attention of modern viewers who’d rather see their hero being clever with a mobile phone than painstakingly solving a puzzle with his finely-tuned deductive skills, but for fans who miss enjoying Holmes and Watson just getting on with the business of solving crimes without the benefit of any fancy gimmicks and snazzy visuals, this is an absolute joy and a boxset to hold as close to your chest as the man himself might hold his beloved violin.

Special Features: Reconstructions of the two missing episodes with contributions from Douglas Wilmer / 2012 Wilmer interview / Five audio commentaries / Alternative title sequence for The Illustrious Client / Spanish audio for The Speckled Band / Souvenir booklet.
 

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DVD REVIEW: THE HAUNTING OF RADCLIFFE HOUSE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: NICK WILLING / SCREENPLAY: NICK WILLING / STARRING: OLIVIA WILLIAMS, MATTHEW MODINE, ANTONIA CLARKE, ADAM THOMAS WRIGHT / RELEASE DATE: MAY 11TH

Gorgeous establishing shots, music a cross between wind and groan, and the appearance of a battered car open the extremely strange tale of The Haunting of Radcliffe House. The story follows a couple (Matthew Modine and Olivia Williams) and their children as they head off to a dilapidated residence with a view to fixing both it and, presumably, their obviously splintered relationships. The Yorkshire setting is bleak yet beautiful and comes with the promise of peculiar places, and even more peculiar people.

The film is an almost surreal concoction which shifts between being a credibly creepy piece and something that is outright camp in places. It doesn’t so much show too much as make all of its characters seem somewhat illusory, emphasising their disconnection from themselves and their situations. Indeed, because of the way things are revealed, it encourages you to watch the story rather than simply anticipating jump scares. This allows its theme of folklore to clash with the flexible realities of modern life and show just how far we maybe haven’t come in where we place our faith. Though this is nothing new, it works well here as it enables details including Simon Boswell’s awe-inspiring score to lend a profoundly metaphysical quality that prevents the film’s overall execution from destroying its paradoxical pathos.

The acting is both the film’s selling point and its curse. Modine provides several early, atmospheric mood shifts and Williams has some utterly scorching moments. They also share an eerily understated sequence in which their recollections of the artistry of romantic literature dissipate into weariness where real connection is just out of reach. The other performers are also largely believable. Their performances may seem outlandish but instead reflect the clash of people from very different cultures, and Adam Thomas Wright is one to watch as his appearance and mannerisms tease out further themes.

The slight caveat sensed is the direction. Several sections lapse too far into a humour that apes Hammer horror but drips away too much tension. It feels like a children’s film at points because of this handling. Yet tension does remain – cinematographer Jan Richter-Friis and the locations team deserve a medal for finding a pile straight from the gothic imagination that becomes a jangling character in its own right. A few of the later settings may irritate due to their appearance, but they express the disorientation (mental and physical) that the characters experience.

The mechanics of the story are its most divisive factor. It gives relatively little information on its source material (which is based on some semblance of truth) and expects its audience to imagine the rest in line with the traditions of horror cinema it references. That said, its use of quick cuts and differing angles also create a few sequences that are genuinely upsetting because of their basis in all-too-common reality.

The Haunting of Radcliffe House is very uneven in places. That said, and despite its clichés, it still manages to leave an imprint of the inexplicable.

Special Features: None
 

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: COFFY / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JACK HILL / SCREENPLAY: JACK HILL / STARRING: PAM GRIER, ROBERT DOQUI, WILLIAM ELLIOTT, BOOKER BRADSHAW, ALLAN ARBUS, SID HAIG / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 20TH

Jack Hill’s 1973 classic finally gets a worthy Blu-ray release courtesy of Arrow Videos, and it’s certainly about time. Coffy (Grier) is a nurse whose younger sister is abused by a drug pusher. Using her female charm, sassy attitude and brutal initiative, Coffy sets out on a revenge mission to take on all no-good types who happen to get in her way as she looks to get to the root out the problem, be they drug dealers, pimps, mobsters, petty criminals and more.

Ever the quick thinker, Grier’s Coffy utilises shotguns, drug-filled needles, broken bottles, razor blades, serving trays and even salad bowls as weapons as she looks to exact her revenge on those accountable. This roaring rampage of revenge (sorry, Quentin) is a hugely enjoyable one as this badass beauty infiltrates herself within the ranks of those she’s seeking, which is initially headed up by the exquisitely pimptastic King George (DoQui), before it becomes clear that there are others like scumbag mobster Vitroni (Arbus) in Coffy’s sights.

Coffy is a film that is often quoted as being the definitive blaxploitation movie, and it’s easy to see why. Pam Grier is on truly iconic form here, devouring dialogue just as easily as she smashes through the bad guys, quipping“This is the end of your rotten life you motherfucking dope pusher!” whilst firing a shotgun to the face of one wrongdoer. And that’s within the film’s opening 5 or 6 minutes.

Whilst it is very much a film of its time, for better or for worse, and there are a few so-so performances dotted throughout Coffy, the sultry Pam Grier is a force of nature in this tale of revenge, betrayal and ass-kicking. There’s an infinitely cool vibe running throughout Hill’s movie, complete with dialogue that truly bites (although Grier’s brief Jamaican accent is ropey at best). Throw in a frenetic soundtrack, wonderful fashions, ample servings of sex, Sid Haig as a snarling henchman, and a fistful of moustaches and afros, then you have a classic of its time.

Sure, certain performances don’t really stand up too well in retrospect, but Coffy is a vital film in the blaxploitation genre and beyond. With this new release, there’s some nice recent interviews with Jack Hill and Pam Grier, plus an interesting video essay on the genre as a whole from Mikel J. Koven, although the highlight of the bonus content is likely the informative and engaging commentary from director Hill.

For those who’ve never seen Coffy, this is the perfect release to pick up. As for established fans of the film, there’s likely enough here to warrant adding this new release to your collection, especially as the cleaned up HD restoration means that Coffy’s revenge mission never looked so good.

Special Features: Audio commentary with Jack Hill / ‘A Taste of Coffy’ brand new interview with Jack Hill / ‘The Baddest Chick in Town’ brand new interview with Pam Grier / ‘Blaxploitation’ video essay / Theatrical trailer / Image gallery / Collector’s booklet
 

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: ROLLERBALL (1975) / DIRECTOR: NORMAN JEWISON / SCREENPLAY: WILLIAM HARRISON / STARRING: JAMES CAAN, JOHN HOUSEMAN, MAUD ADAMS, JOHN BECK, MOSES GUNN, RALPH RICHARDSON / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23RD

If there’s one thing sci-fi movies taught us in the ‘70s, it was that we’re all completely screwed. If the world wasn’t about to end it was probably because it already had and you could be rest-assured that if by some miracle we were all alive and well, then there would be some world-class governmental conspiracy doing something awful in the name of the Greater Good. Well, that was until Star Wars (1977) came along. Although, to be fair, there was a last hurrah for ‘70s mores with Alien (1979).

But just when paranoid-dystopian-bleakness was reaching its zenith, along came a sports movie. Rollerball was set in the near future and the titular ballgame was a sort of ultraviolent roller-derby with a high velocity steel ball and, just in case it wasn’t quite dangerous enough, additional motorbikes. Don’t ask us the rules but you may remember 2000 AD “borrowing” the idea for their not-the-same-at-all “spinball” in Death Game 1999. . As those 1975 posters told us: “In the not too distant future wars will no longer exist. But there will be Rollerball.” No wars? Brilliant. In fact, there hasn’t been a war since the corporate wars and… The what wars? Oh dear. Yes the world is now run entirely by massive corporations and Rollerball is their creation. That’s never going to be good…

Amid the carnage a star has emerged in the form of Jonathan E (Caan). He’s brilliant at Rollerball but his corporate boss (Houseman) is rather insistent that he retires. Why? Could it be that Jonathan has got rather good at something no-one was ever supposed to be good at? Has he inadvertently subverted the whole point of the “sport”? So they keep changing the rules until he gets the message.

Make no mistake, if you’re at all interested in sci-fi of this era, Rollerball is essential viewing, especially in all its Blu-ray glory. Caan is actually rather good in a difficult role. Even he’s admitted there isn’t much you can do with a none-too-bright unimaginative sportsman who just happens to be in the way of the bad guys’ big idea, but nevertheless he’s convincing both in his uncomfortable scenes with Houseman and his natural environment with his team-mates. While it doesn’t seem quite as violent as it did on its release, it’s still capable of wince-inducing moments and the action sequences are still pretty compelling. The ending is also something you can write an essay on or debate down the pub if you’re not the essay-type. Perhaps the film’s only flaw is it’s pacing, which is way off. While there’s nothing actually wrong with the essential exposition, the scenes of near-future elite-lifestyle do drag on and leave you yearning for the next big game. Ah, now maybe that’s clever. Not the only thing the film got right about the future either.

Special Features: Two audio commentaries / Five documentaries / TV spots / Trailers / Collector’s booklet
 

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DVD REVIEW: HOOKED UP / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: PABLO LARCUEN / SCREENPLAY: PABLO LARCUEN, EDUARD SOLA / STARRING: STEPHEN OHL, JONAH EHENREICH, NATASCHA WIESE, JULIA MOLINS / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 27TH

Pitched as the first feature recorded entirely on an iPhone, you might be forgiven for expecting something from the cheaper, nastier end of the found footage genre. And from the unnecessarily gross opening scene, to the equally grotesque one that bookends the back end of the movie, you’d be right. The characters are all hideous human beings who you will be happy to see the back of, and the conceit of telling the story from somebody’s mobile will have many viewers reaching for the off switch.

And yet the two male leads, in spite of one being exceptionally dull and the other exceptionally irritating, somehow manage to sustain your interest through the film’s 80 minutes. You’ll never quite be rooting for them, but if you surrender to the premise (actually a lot more logical than you might suppose, although the explanation is rather thrown away) you’ll want to know what fates befall them.

Peter (Ohl) has just split up with his girlfriend of six years, and Tonio (Ehenreich) whisks him off to Barcelona for the ultimate hedonistic amnesiac. But Tonio is something of a wild card and before the two boys know what’s happening, they find themselves trapped in an apparently haunted house with only a psychotic ghost for company.

That’s about it. Given the nature of the movie, it’s basically a sequence of very long scenes, usually entirely unbroken (except for discreet edits), and has the potential to be very dull indeed. But the notion that you’re actually watching something real – an idea given weight by the iPhone cinematography – makes the end result more compelling than it really has any right to be. That Hooked Up was written, produced and directed by Spaniards – importing American talent in order to make their film internationally agreeable – lends it a hint of unpredictability, its genealogy going back to films like Tesis as much as The Blair Witch Project. The inclusion of nudity and some startlingly graphic moments is enough to make the observer feel more voyeur than viewer, and is effective and unsettling.

The acting is variable, but that’s essentially a result of the long takes, and kudos goes to both Ohl and especially Ehenreich for carrying the film as well as they do. There is hardly a moment when you don’t believe in what’s happening, no matter how ludicrous it might seem.

The biggest surprise Hooked Up has to offer, though, is the number of names listed in the credits; a testament to how convincing a film they’ve made. This will never be regarded as a great, but it is unexpectedly entertaining and if the iPhone conceit is an indication of things to come, it might have been a lot worse.
 

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