HORNS

BLU-RAY REVIEW: HORNS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ALEXANDRE AJA / SCREENPLAY: KEITH BUNIN / STARRING: DANIEL RADCLIFFE, JUNO TEMPLE, MAX MINGHELLA, DAVID MORSE, JOE ANDERSON / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16TH

Ever woken up after a rough night, looked in the mirror, and thought “how did that happen?” So has Ig Perrish (Radcliffe), whose hangover is accompanied by a pair of horns sprouting from his head. The day gets even weirder when he realises these horns make everyone he meets lose their inhibitions and be brutally honest about what they’re thinking. Not even bacon will solve this hangover, which conveniently coincides with Perrish being under suspicion of murdering his girlfriend – but he soon works out that he can use his newfound abilities to uncover the true killer.

While you may know director Alexandre Aja for his all-out horror films – The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D, Switchblade Romance – Horns takes its cues from several genres; it’s a supernatural detective story with black comedy, romance, and occasional chaotic brutality. To the credit of Aja and screenwriter Bunin, the film largely holds all these elements together, with the mystery genuinely engaging, the comedy genuinely funny (Ig’s doctor stops mid-operation to have sex with the nurse), and the supernatural premise building to a horrifying conclusion as Ig is increasingly corrupted by his powers. The only element lacking is the romance, due to Temple’s Merrin being little more than the old Hollywood archetype of ‘quirky murder victim’.

Also to be commended is Daniel Radcliffe, a diversely talented star who’s now well and truly moved on from that certain boy wizard to the point that maybe we’ll soon stop feeling obliged to reference Potter when reviewing his films. Radcliffe gives a layered and gripping performance; he draws us in as Ig, the heartbroken and frustrated young boy, out of his depth in a world out to get him, resorting to smoking and listening to Bowie loudly as we all do in times like this. He then shows a darker side as Ig’s discoveries bring out the anger in him and – let’s just say he becomes more Slytherin than Gryffindor. See, we just had to do it again.

The supporting cast are equally fantastic – look out for Max Minghella as Ig’s childhood friend-turned-lawyer, and, if it’s all seeming a bit too youthful for you, David Morse is great as Merrin’s grieving and angry father. To top it off, the film’s chaotically stylish aesthetics fit perfectly with Ig’s descent into darkness, and provide one of the trippiest drugs sequences you’ve seen since Hunter S. Thompson went to Vegas.

Thanks to its twisted, witty script and a perfectly pitched central performance, Horns gives us one of the more interesting takes on a certain horny creature (and I don’t mean teenagers). It’s a refreshingly weird film that’s more than welcome in a world where it’s easy for horror to stick to well-worn formulae.

Special Features: The Making of Horns
 

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NIGHTCRAWLER

BLU-RAY REVIEW: NIGHTCRAWLER / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAN GILROY / SCREENPLAY: DAN GILROY / STARRING: JAKE GYLLENHAAL, RENE RUSSO, BILL PAXTON, RIZ AHMED / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 2ND

To put it right out there on front street, Nightcrawler is simply a fantastic film. Dan Gilroy’s seedy tale of Los Angeles insta-journalism is a wonder to behold.

The focus of our attention is on Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal), a desperate man who is in need of work and who has slightly loose morals. Almost accidentally he finds himself involved in crime journalism as a way to make a living. Before he knows it, Lou starts to make a name for himself in the field of nightcrawling; essentially competing with his peers to be first on the scene of some grisly crimes and accidents, such as fires, shootings, and straight-up murder. As Lou sets out to make himself a quick buck, his tale becomes a darker one and one that throws up many questions on the topic of money-making and recognition getting the better of morals and good taste.

Nightcrawler is a complicated, intriguing beast that can be viewed on multiple different levels. As a piece of social commentary, it’s a great way to explore the demand for sensationalist and scaremongering in the news industry. Ratings are king and some news outlets are simply focussed on drawing in viewing numbers rather than reporting factual events or showing scenes that are in good taste. And as such, Gyllenhaal’s Lou becomes to get involved with the news on a level where he’s not so much reporting on it, more he’s actively participating in it in an effort to make his venture successful and to make a name for himself.

It has to be said, the slimmed-down Jake Gyllenhaal (he lost 30 lbs for the role) is in mesmerising form here, joining his recent turns in the likes of Source Code, End of Watch, Prisoners and Enemy as making you realise that this is an actor who is one of the very best of his generation when given the right material. Additionally, Rene Russo is also in fine form as a TV news veteran who is desperate to bring in ratings in order to keep her job, and her dynamic with Gyllenhaal is a true highlight of an all-round exceptional film.

When it received its cinema release last year, Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler received rave reviews, and the film itself is just as good on repeat viewings. Tense, atmospheric, chilling and always engaging, added to by a pulsating, frantic soundtrack, Nightcrawler is a special, often dark, film that strides over a minefield of morals and delivers many a gripping moment that will have you glued to the edge of your seat. Quite simply, Nightcrawler is a film that you must see.

Special Features: TBC
 

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PADDINGTON

DVD REVIEW: PADDINGTON / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: PAUL KING / SCREENPLAY: PAUL KING / STARRING: NICOLE KIDMAN, HUGH BONNEVILLE, BEN WHISHAW, PETER CAPALDI / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23RD

Paddington, the perennially polite permanently imperilled bear, is one of the touchstones of British pop culture. When a live-action movie was announced, the reaction was one of excitement and concern. All too often CGI versions of beloved children’s characters have been brought to the silver screen, only to utterly fail as audiences can’t connect with the main character.

Our movie begins in deepest darkest Peru, where we learn exactly how a species of exotic talking bear comes to learn all about English manners. Cleverly, we see Paddington and family in their natural environment and the CGI’d creatures are a cunning mix of real-looking creature and movie magic. They also look very similar to the drawings in the original children’s books, and this combination sells the viewer on the existence of this most exotic of bears.

A natural disaster means that Paddington has to drop his Aunt Lucy off at the Home for Retired Bears and make his way to England. It’s interesting to note that in the world of Paddington, Peru knows enough about its talking bears that it’s sorted out welfare for them yet hasn’t mentioned their existence to the rest of the world. This is just as well, as we’d be missing half the plot of the movie otherwise. The story is not about the bear’s power of speech; modern Londoners being the stalwart types that they are, take the existence of a talking bear with a natty red hat with their usual sense of nonchalance. Rather, it is about how a foreign stranger, in need of help, transforms the lives of a family for the better.

Part of the movie’s genius is reimagining Michael Bond’s original post-war refugee allegory into a tale of UK immigration, one made especially poignant by the bear’s expectations of what English life is when compared to the ‘reality’. This, combined with a running gag of a Calypso band popping up every once in a while to deliver a tune that is appropriate to the plot, paints a charming picture of modern Britain whilst gently making key points about strength through diversity.

It’s only a matter of time before the bear ends up with his famous blue duffle coat. Though no red wellies; the movie is based on the earlier books after all. Director Paul King really does stay very loyal to the spirit of the books, carefully balancing the sort of slapstick that only movies can provide with the orangey sweetness of the original work.

Nicole Kidman plays Millicent, a villainous archivist who, upon learning that a rare marmalade munching ursine is in London, decides that the best course of action would be to employ her taxidermy skills on the poor wee bear. Her scenery chewing evil is a little much for very small children and you can see why it’s a PG rather than a U. Peter Capaldi turns in a strong performance as a small-minded, cranky old man who fears outsiders. Apart from Paddington himself (voiced by the gloriously earnest Ben Whishaw), the show is stolen by Hugh Bonneville, who gets Mister Brown spot on, mixing in fatherly concern with conservative values to produce someone who desperately needs a small furry friend to make them enjoy life.

The DVD comes with a handful of extras – no commentary (which is a pity) and a small number of documentary pieces that don’t really give you an insight into the movie besides making it clear that everyone involved had fun.

Paddington is a solid piece of family entertainment. Adults will be drawn in by the storytelling, clever directing and magical realism. Kids will find it hilarious every time the fuzzy fiend causes anarchy.  This is a movie made with a great deal of love, and unless you have a heart of stone, you’ll love it as well.

Special Features: Three featurettes / Gallery
 

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THE GRANDMASTER

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE GRANDMASTER / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: WONG KAR-WAI / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI, ZHANG ZIYI, CUNG LE, QINGXIANG WANG, ELVIS TSUI / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 30TH

When a film takes pleasure in its own meandering, that film is generally frowned upon as obnoxious and a waste of everyone’s time – but Wong Kar-wai’s Ip Man biopic The Grandmaster has too fine a flair to it for it to be judged harshly. A cinematic telling of martial artist and Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man’s life (portrayed by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and career as a Grandmaster, teacher and family man, the film is not without its charms, despite the sheer muddle it puts itself in.

The film is set mostly throughout the early/mid twentieth century, between the 1930s and 1950s, and this is reflected in much of Kar-wai’s ever-present stylized flavour of film-making. It gets to a point where the film looks so darn interesting, from set-pieces to direction, that you almost don’t notice how nearly every precious moment in The Grandmaster drags like heroine Gong Er (aka Zhang Ziyi) as she silently pulls her feet along the wooden floor in time-honoured style, ready to battle Ip Man in a test of his skill during their initial meeting.

Whether each pivotal scene having an abnormally slow pace and editing style is to strengthen the scenes’ impact or to allow audiences to dazzle in the film’s immensely pretty appearance is debatable, but it’s also debatable just how much of this type of film-making you’re prepared to put up with.

What little story there is in The Grandmaster is executed in a scrapbook manner – bits of Ip’s story here, some of Gong’s backstory there, and a dash of their unrealised romance on top. It’s a shame the story is handled in such a haphazard way, because it offers something genuinely interesting, then snatches it back before you can really begin to take in what occurs throughout Ip Man’s life as he balances his martial arts with personal struggles. Leung Chiu-Wai carries the character with subtlety and conviction, but the snatching robs any real emotional reverence from his performance.

Throughout the film, Ip plays his part in unwittingly becoming northern China’s martial arts representative against southern China, loses his family due to China’s second conflict with Japan between 1937 and 1945, and has a relationship blossoming and withering back and forth with Gong Er, the daughter of southern China’s elderly representative in martial arts. So much emotional entanglement for Ip is hinted at but rarely develops, no matter how deftly crafted each scene is in its emotional resonance. That resonance is only skin-deep, literally, as Kar-wai being the director that he is places the emphasis firmly on how the film looks.

In that respect then, The Grandmaster is excellent. The fight scenes that occur throughout this film are all mouth-wateringly well crafted, a highpoint being Gong Er’s final confrontation with the backstabbing Ma San. That one scene, set against a snow-laden backdrop within a station where a steam train gallops alongside their battle, almost feels as if it reclaims Kill Bill’s own snow-covered climax out of Tarantino’s genre-blender hands.

But The Grandmaster isn’t nearly as boisterous as Kill Bill – it’s perfectly happy in chugging along at its own slow pace and feels as if it has no qualms with its muddled content. Its strength lies in its visuals, hence they are exploited to quiet enjoyment. The Grandmaster isn’t the thrill ride its title may lead you to believe – if anything, it’s the exact opposite of that. A mess for sure, but one that’s undeniably ravishing to gawp at.

Special Features: TBC
 

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THIEF

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THIEF / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: MICHAEL MANN / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL MANN / STARRING: JAMES CAAN, TUESDAY WELD, WILLIE NELSON, JAMES BELUSHI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Michael Mann has had a patchy few years in the post-Heat wilderness. The Insider, Collateral, Miami Vice and Public Enemies were all solid films, but they weren’t classic Mann, not in the way that Heat or Manhunter were or indeed Thief is.

It’s tough to pick a definitive Mann film. Logic would dictate that Heat is the obvious choice, but there are two standout classics that are pretty strong contenders. The first is Manhunter, Mann’s foray into the world of Hannibal Lector (and one of this writer’s personal favourites), and the second is Thief, which finally gets a long overdue Blu-ray release.

Based on Frank Hohimer’s The Home Invaders, Thief tells the story of James Caan’s safe cracker and thief, who allows himself to be drawn into a job working for the mob as a way to help him start a normal life and family. Of course, the mob being the mob, it’s never that simple.

This is classic Mann, from the loving way Chicago is lit and shot (which looks stunning in this new transfer) to the Tangerine Dream soundtrack to a great scene set in a diner. The script is sharp and tight, allowing you time to get to know and care about the characters, without getting in the way of the story and moving the action forward.

On the performance side, this is very much Caan’s film and he turns in (arguably) his career best performance as Frank, a good man who does the wrong things for the right reasons. Caan plays every element of the character perfectly, conveying both the confident swagger of a man who knows his business and what he wants and the emotion of a man in love looking for normality in life by getting deeper into a life of crime.

This being an Arrow release, the film comes packed with extras, including two versions of the film, the 2001 episode from The Directors series which focuses on Mann’s career (up to – at that time – Ali), a commentary, and two interviews with Caan (one from 1981 and one from 2014). Being Arrow you also get an accompanying booklet (not available at the time of review) containing an essay on the film.

Special Features: Audio commentary with Michael Mann and James Caan / The Directors: Michael Mann / Three featurettes / Trailer / Reversible sleeve / Illustrated booklet
 

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ENEMY

DVD REVIEW: ENEMY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DENIS VILLENEUVE / SCREENPLAY: JAVIER GULLÓN / STARRING: JAKE GYLLENHAAL, MÉLANIE LAURENT, SARAH GADON / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 9TH

Imagine the premise of Fight Club with absolutely everything else stripped away and you have the gist of Enemy. Based loosely upon the 2002 novel The Double by José Saramago, Denis Villeneuve’s film is an icily impersonal exploration of an extra-marital affair, as seen through the subconscious of the spouse of one of its participants.

Enemy begins with Helen, alone and pregnant and trapped in a cold, impersonal city, while her husband Anthony (Gyllenhaal) is off seeking erotic pleasures elsewhere. Immediately Villeneuve introduces a spider motif which will not appear again until the very end of the film, but which – in a manner similar to George Lucas’ lizard motif in THX 1138 – ultimately informs how we understand what follows.

Cut to Adam (also Gyllenhaal), a professor with a repetitious professional life and an inert personal life, a character who also appears to feel trapped and remote. In a scene that is as distancing and as impersonal as the rest of Enemy, one of Adam’s colleagues suggests he tries watching a movie and when Adam spots his doppelganger in a small role in the video he rents, it is the beginning of the unravelling of the web that ties the film’s four characters together.

Shot in Canada – this is a Spanish/Canadian co-production – and bleached and graded into an almost monochromatic dream-like state, Enemy moves at a glacial pace (in spite of its relatively short running time) and the thin characterisation and huge periods of silence, punctuated by some spare and deliberately stilted dialogue, will be off-putting for many viewers. However, there is a rationale behind the film’s trance-like quality, and the sound design (also reminiscent of Walter Murch’s work on Lucas’ debut, fore-grounding much of the background noise) together with the minimal but ubiquitous score simply add to the hypnotic nature of what is presented. The accident in the film’s final act would ordinarily be shocking, but is treated as just as impersonal an event as anything else, and in the way it resolves things gives Enemy the impression of having all been a kind of daydream.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Adam is either impressive or stifling depending upon whether you immerse yourself in what the film is attempting, and Anthony is a sparsely drawn and unsympathetic counterpoint. None of the acting, including Sarah Gadon’s fragile Helen, is played to elicit much in the way of empathy.

Enemy is beautiful to look at but alienatingly staged and obscure in its meaning, and either compelling or just depressingly bleak depending upon your appreciation for such films as Jonathan Glazer’s Birth (with which it shares certain common themes) or something as deliberately paced as Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. An esoteric and qualified success.

Extras: Behind the Scenes (50 mins) / interviews (44 mins) / trailer.
 

ENEMY

DVD REVIEW: ENEMY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DENIS VILLENEUVE / SCREENPLAY: JAVIER GULLÓN / STARRING: JAKE GYLLENHAAL, MÉLANIE LAURENT, SARAH GADON / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 9TH

Imagine the premise of Fight Club with absolutely everything else stripped away and you have the gist of Enemy. Based loosely upon the 2002 novel The Double by José Saramago, Denis Villeneuve’s film is an icily impersonal exploration of an extra-marital affair, as seen through the subconscious of the spouse of one of its participants.

Enemy begins with Helen, alone and pregnant and trapped in a cold, impersonal city, while her husband Anthony (Gyllenhaal) is off seeking erotic pleasures elsewhere. Immediately Villeneuve introduces a spider motif which will not appear again until the very end of the film, but which – in a manner similar to George Lucas’ lizard motif in THX 1138 – ultimately informs how we understand what follows.

Cut to Adam (also Gyllenhaal), a professor with a repetitious professional life and an inert personal life, a character who also appears to feel trapped and remote. In a scene that is as distancing and as impersonal as the rest of Enemy, one of Adam’s colleagues suggests he tries watching a movie and when Adam spots his doppelganger in a small role in the video he rents, it is the beginning of the unravelling of the web that ties the film’s four characters together.

Shot in Canada – this is a Spanish/Canadian co-production – and bleached and graded into an almost monochromatic dream-like state, Enemy moves at a glacial pace (in spite of its relatively short running time) and the thin characterisation and huge periods of silence, punctuated by some spare and deliberately stilted dialogue, will be off-putting for many viewers. However, there is a rationale behind the film’s trance-like quality, and the sound design (also reminiscent of Walter Murch’s work on Lucas’ debut, fore-grounding much of the background noise) together with the minimal but ubiquitous score simply add to the hypnotic nature of what is presented. The accident in the film’s final act would ordinarily be shocking, but is treated as just as impersonal an event as anything else, and in the way it resolves things gives Enemy the impression of having all been a kind of daydream.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Adam is either impressive or stifling depending upon whether you immerse yourself in what the film is attempting, and Anthony is a sparsely drawn and unsympathetic counterpoint. None of the acting, including Sarah Gadon’s fragile Helen, is played to elicit much in the way of empathy.

Enemy is beautiful to look at but alienatingly staged and obscure in its meaning, and either compelling or just depressingly bleak depending upon your appreciation for such films as Jonathan Glazer’s Birth (with which it shares certain common themes) or something as deliberately paced as Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. An esoteric and qualified success.

Extras: Behind the Scenes (50 mins) / interviews (44 mins) / trailer.
 

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: FRANCIS LAWRENCE / SCREENPLAY: PETER CRAIG, DANNY STRONG / STARRING: JENNIFER LAWRENCE, JOSH HUTCHERSON, LIAM HEMSWORTH, WOODY HARRELSON / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16TH

The games are over…

Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) teeters on the brink of a nervous breakdown, struggling to process the horrors from two arena visits. Her fellow District 12 refugees, fleeing from the Capitol’s destructive retribution, are struggling to integrate into the military austerity of their new home in District 13. Peeta (Hutcherson) is missing. With war on a fast-approaching horizon, two presidents plot their next move and, unavoidably, Katniss will be at the forefront of a conflict to be fought in the mind as much as on the battlefield. She must become the Mockingjay.

Suzanne Collins’ third and final novel was always going to be the most problematic to adapt. Perhaps the least popular of the trilogy, splitting the book into two films does make a certain amount of sense given the numerous plotlines. The difficulty in doing so presents an issue, however; the first half of Mockingjay the book is a pretty bleak affair. With scenes of executions and oppression, wanton murder and mass graves littering the opening act this is no bedtime story and it takes a little time to pick up some momentum.

One of the strengths of The Hunger Games series, though, is the advantage it has over its rivals in the YA, dystopian future, market. With a more interesting, if not entirely original, central premise and strong, relatable lead characters this is a franchise that has grown in confidence, comfortable in pushing boundaries and challenging audiences. With no more arena adventures, and as the world of Pan Em grows increasingly unstable, there is a distinct tonal shift in Mockingjay Part 1. Laughs have always been scarce when dealing with a society that sends children to kill children but here, there is a more, well, grown up feeling to everything. Familiar YA themes of identity and responsibility are still present but there is a darker, more serious atmosphere building in the depths of the bunker that is District 13. Propaganda and manipulation, fear and hope are to the fore. Not only must Katniss deal with the haunting presence of the malevolent President Snow (Donald Sutherland) stalking her, she now faces the added reality of having to satisfy the murky motives of President Coin (Julianne Moore), leader of District 13 and architect of the revolution.

One side effect of splitting the novel is that familiar characters from the first two films can become a little marginalised as some scenes are either extended or added. Haymitch (Harrelson) and Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are here but in much smaller roles. Coin and Snow dominate screen time but even more so than in previous films, this is Katniss’ story. Lawrence as always is an engaging presence and the emotional demands of her character in Mockingjay Part 1 certainly give her plenty to get her teeth into. As much a victim of circumstance as a hero to the rebellion, Katniss is a complex, at times even unlikeable character, but Lawrence brings a vulnerability and reluctant strength to a role that could easily have become clichéd.

Mockingjay Part 1 will not satisfy everyone. With less action and a strong focus on political manoeuvring, this is a more adult film. Fans of the series and the books will be patient, knowing that much is to come in Part 2, but casual audiences could grow frustrated with the meandering and slightly episodic narrative. As a precursor to the final instalment, this is perhaps as good a film as it could have been. Director Francis Lawrence’s subtle, fatherly style has allowed space for the characters to develop and any flaws the film contains are less his fault and more that of the extended narrative. One thing is certain; Mockingjay Part 2 will if possible, be even more anticipated now and as such must deliver to avoid the franchise disappointing in its big finale.

…war is coming.

Extras: Featurettes / Making of… / Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman 
 

THE KILLING and KILLER’S KISS

BLU-RAY REVIEW: THE KILLING (1956) AND KILLER’S KISS (1955) / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: STANLEY KUBRICK / SCREENPLAY: STANLEY KUBRICK / STARRING: STERLING HAYDEN, COLEEN GRAY, FRANK SILVERA, JAMIE SMITH / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 9TH

The second feature by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Killer’s Kiss is about Davy Gordon (Smith), a prizefighter, who rescues a private dancer, Gloria Price (Irene Kane), from being attacked by her employer and on-off lover Vincent Rapallo (Silvera). This chance encounter just happens to bring the two together and they start to become involved with each other, to the immediate displeasure of Rapallo. It’s not too long that he starts sending men out to kill Davy; but instead they kill his manager and best friend. They then kidnap Gloria, and it’s up to Davy to save her. On the back of that, we also have Kubrick’s third feature, The Killing, which is a heist movie about a small-time crook, Johnny Clay (Hayden), who has got out of prison and begins to mastermind a complex race-track heist in order to use the money to start a new life with his girlfriend. However, Clay’s scheme becomes complicated and soon escalates out of control by the intervention of the scheming, manipulative wife of a teller who’s in on the scheme.

Kubrick has stated that Killer’s Kiss was at a student level of filmmaking, but it’s still a fascinating movie to look back on, as it’s a notable film noir thriller in its own right. It’s a film about isolation and loneliness where the three main characters are all alone, with their roots almost severed due to something that had happened in their past that was once happy, but is now gone from them. In the end, these characters are all solitary in a big city at the end of the line. The film starts with a slow manner that is confident and quiet, and Kubrick uses this as a means to develop the characters and their backstories more, and for nearly half the film you can’t really tell where the plot is going. Yet, Kubrick gives us a way inside the characters’ heads, which allows us to get a deep feeling and understanding of them, even if the character of Rapallo is slimy and warped.

With The Killing, Kubrick appears to have taken everything that he learnt from making Killer’s Kiss and puts that to excellent use, and it’s by this time that Kubrick intently defined his style. It’s nearly sixty years old, but it still holds up and doesn’t look at all dated. Kubrick took Lionel White’s hard-boiled, non-linear narrative about this one man (played with quick-talking, straightforward ease by the great Sterling Hayden) and his crew planning and tasking this robbery, and yet, the film seems to have characters and themes that can be both identifiable and recognisable with any period it’s set in. Even the supporting players are as sharply defined and psychologically involving, if not more so, than the main protagonist. What also makes this dark, sprawling and intense thriller shine is its dramatic cinematic direction, a grandiose musical score that produces shivers down your spine, and gorgeous cinematography to die for.

Ultimately, both Killer’s Kiss and The Killing serve as a great noir double-bill that, not only help define film noir cinema, but also define Stanley Kubrick as a true bona fide auteur, even before he dazzled and surprised us with his more recognisable works such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange.

Extras: Ben Wheatley appreciation / French TV extract with Sterling Hayden interview / Trailers / Collector’s booklet

 

THE BURNING DEAD

DVD REVIEW: THE BURNING DEAD / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: RENE PEREZ / SCREENPLAY: JEFF MILLER, JASON ANCONA / STARRING: DANNY TREJO, THOMAS DOWNEY, MONIQUA PLANTE, NICOLE CUMMINS / RELEASE DATE: TBC

Director Perez enjoys a career from splicing genres together; this time around, it’s zombies with the natural disaster movie. Trouble is, nobody told Perez that zombie flicks are indeed already disaster movies. The abysmal script from writers Ancona and Miller proves the duo can’t get past their own geeky agendas, with shoe-horned nods to comic books and the living dead. While a knowing throwback might have made The Burning Dead B-movie gold, Perez takes himself far too seriously.

Danny Trejo shows he’ll say yes to anything as American Indian stereotype Night Wolf spinning a tale to his disinterested kids seemingly at odds with their heritage. He offers up some dumb context to kick things off, before showing a couple of cannibals in 1846 who perish in laughable digital lava flow. Then it catches back up with the modern day, where two volcanologists find out the same volcano is due to blow and an evacuation warning is put out. And if American Indians, cannibals and lava wasn’t already weird enough, things get stranger still when the volcano inevitably pops off, releasing evil spirits which manifest as zombies.

The acting is utterly unconvincing, with Thomas Downey making Tommy Wiseau look like Marlon Brando, among other forgettable faces. The film may offer the most tenuous and trying set-up to any zombie movie, and that alone might be something worth a round of applause, but certainly none of your time.