Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

DVD REVIEW: GONE GIRL / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: DAVID FINCHER / SCREENPLAY: GILLIAN FLYNN / STARRING: BEN AFFLECK, ROSAMUND PIKE, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 2ND

Adapted from the acclaimed best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl is the latest movie to be directed by David Fincher, best known for directing films like Fight Club and The Social Network.

On the eve of his fifth wedding anniversary, bar owner Nick Dunne (Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Pike), has mysteriously gone missing. Arriving at the scene of the crime, detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) knows that all is not as it appears to be. As evidence of growing financial troubles and domestic disputes arise, the finger of suspicion soon turns towards Nick, and as a result, Nick’s portrait of a happy and blissful union soon begins to fall apart with his “smiling sociopath” public image becoming more of a hot topic in the media firestorm than the search for his ‘gone girl’ wife. Along the way, we hear Amy’s own voice  through the pages of an incriminating diary, which offers an alternative reading to their apparently idyllic married lifestyle.

Fincher is clearly at the top of his game here as he superbly combines the stylish glossy sheen of The Game with the forensic procedural appeal of both Zodiac and Seven, and yet he does this to wrong-foot the audience in an ingenious way of taking them through this merry dance of death through the murderous and warped labyrinths of modern marriage. This story is essentially a bifurcated one, and both Fincher and Flynn have successfully managed to take that structure from her book, and adapt and reconfigure it to make it work for the screen. It’s part murder mystery, part cynically sexy social satire, and part absurdist hyper-realistic thriller. The core drive of the film is roleplaying, and this is a film where nearly everyone is adopting or discarding these various personas and facades of unravelling deceit and mistrust in order to hide their true narcissistic selves. Everyone is putting on a performance, editing and rewriting himself or herself in order to pretend to be something they are not for the public, the media, and ultimately, for one another.

Fincher is well known for getting the best out of his actors and this is no exception. The supporting players give solid performances, but as Nick and Amy Dunne, Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike are superbly cast, with Affleck convincingly playing someone who is really an unsympathetic and unforgiving slimeball. However, the astoundingly flawless Pike completely steals the film out from under everybody’s nose. Immersing herself into the role (emotionally and physically), she delivers a hypnotic portrayal of an enigmatic character that is truly ‘gone’, even when she’s at the centre of the drama. Both Affleck and Pike both complement each other brilliantly, with their differing tastes, preferences and stances perfectly reflecting the jagged mismatch of their totally messed up marriage.

Gorgeously shot, brilliantly edited, wittily written, masterfully performed, and handsomely directed, Gone Girl is an involving, engrossing, shocking and completely gripping hyperbolic drama that is one of Fincher’s finest works.

Special Features: Audio Commentary, and Amazing Amy book

BLU-RAY REVIEW: TOY SOLDIERS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DANIEL PETRIE JR. / SCREENPLAY: DANIEL PETRIE JR., DAVID KOEPP, WILLIAM P. KENNEDY / STARRING: SEAN ASTIN, WIL WHEATON, ANDREW DIVOFF, LOUIS GOSSETT JR. / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 2ND

Regis High School is an exclusive prep school for delinquent teenage boys. One group in particular, led by Billy Tepper (Astin), loves nothing more than an elaborate prank and winding up the Dean (Gossett Jr.). However, when a Colombian drug lord is extradited to the US, his son and a group of terrorists take over the school to try and force the US government to negotiate the release of the kingpin father. Like a group of mini-John McClanes, Tepper and his buddies take it upon themselves to stop the terrorists anyway they can.

With the over-the-top action of the ‘80s heyday coming to an end, Toy Soldiers is a poorer relation of the big guns and, as a result, is all the more refreshing. The idea of a bunch of over-privileged teens being able to take on a group of well-armed and well prepared terrorists and bring them down would have been a miscalculation. By making the teens scared and using their years of experience in bad behaviour as a tool to thwart the villains and assist the FBI and US army, rather than overthrow them, the director and writers have managed to create a believable situation where you root for the students. It is an enjoyable film that could have ended up being an experiment in stupidity in less subtle hands.

Nearing its quarter century anniversary, Toy Soldiers does still stand up today, putting the events in over-the-top Hollywood experiences like the Expendables franchise to shame. These are characters you care about, even if Divoff is chewing the scenery in his own inexorable fashion. The cast is impressive, adding quality with the likes of Denholm Elliott and R. Lee Ermy to the principals.

Getting a second breath of life from 101 Films, Toy Soldiers finds itself in the position of being more topical then it ever thought it would be, with terrorism at the front of everyone’s minds right now.

An enjoyable romp and a throwback to when understated action films could have heart as well as guns and ammo.

Special Features: None
 

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DVD REVIEW: PAJANIMALS: MEET THE PAJANIMALS / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: VICTOR YERRID, ALICE DINNEAN, JOHN KENNEDY, DONNA KIMBALL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Pajanimals are four colourful little characters; a lispy duck called Squacky; Apollo, a rocketship-obsessed green and purple dog; a buck-toothed horse called Sweetpea Sue; and CowBella who loves unicorns and princesses and is – you guessed it – a cow. As the catchy lullaby informs us at the start of each twelve-minute episode, the Pajanimals are ready for us and ready for sleepy time too, although sleepy time is when their adventures begin so obviously the Pajanimals have a hidden agenda to turn us all into insomniacs.

Meet the Pajanimals is a collection of ten episodes gathered from the show’s first two seasons. In each show the Pajanimals have a problem; Sweetpea Sue is afraid of octopi so the other Pajanimals take her under the sea to meet a friendly octopus; Squacky worries he’s different from the rest of the gang so his friends take him to a turtle called Granny Pearl for some reassurance; when the Pajanimals are sad because their Mom and Dad have to go to work, they travel to the land of Build-It where busy beavers Hank and Frank tell them why work is so important; and when CowBella refuses to have a bath, the other Pajanimals ask Ellie Octopus for advice… it’s the usual ‘wash, rinse and repeat’ format that small children love and Jim Henson Studios are so wonderful at, with lots of singing and dancing in every episode and something to be learned by the end of every story. The pre-schoolers will love every minute of it but (and I never thought I’d write this about a Henson production) the parents who have to watch it with them might not be so thrilled.

Hensons are excellent at creating shows that, on some level, can keep both small people and big people entertained (Exhibit A: The Hoobs, Exhibit B: The Doozers, Exhibit C: Bear in the… you get the gist, the list goes on forever) and, unlike 99% of other young children’s shows, repeated exposure to a Henson project will hardly ever make a grown-up want to take hostages, but (and I know I’m inviting the End of Civilisation As We Know It ™ by writing this) The Pajanimals is too cutesy to be tolerated by anyone over the age of three or four – and I’d bet most four year olds would toddle screaming from the room after the first twenty minutes. Maybe the whiney voice-acting is at fault, maybe it’s the far-too goody-goodyness of the Pajanimals and their saccharine bath time antics, or maybe it’s because Sweetpea Sue the horse looks alarmingly like a hippo, but Pajanimals is that rarest of species… a Jim Henson misfire.

Special Features: None
 

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BLU-RAY REVIEW: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: JONATHAN LIEBESMAN / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: ALAN RITCHSON, NOEL FISHER, PETE PLOSZEK, JEREMY HOWARD, WILLIAM FICHTNER, MEGAN FOX, WILL ARNETT, JOHNNY KNOXVILLE, TONY SHALHOUB / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 16TH

There’s already a lot of hyperbole and superlative surrounding the release of Jonathan Liebesman’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adaptation/remake/reboot: childhoods have been raped, turtles have been sodomised, and Michael Bay’s name has been subject to a lot of abuse. To clear a few things up, (executive producer) Michael Bay did not direct Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, your childhood has not been raped and nobody has sodomised any turtles. Furthermore, were I ten years old, I would have loved this movie.

As it is, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ’14 is absolutely fine. Nowhere near as bad as its reputation already suggests, it’s far from the disaster many of us were expecting. While their origins have been fiddled with, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remain steadfastly teenage, mutant, ninja and turtles. They live in a sewer under the tutelage of giant rat Splinter, eating pizza (via some ghastly Pizza Hut product placement) and training to be heroes. Their enemies are Shredder and the evil Foot Clan, and they are assisted in their heroism by reporter April O’ Neil, who wears a yellow leather jacket. The essentials, then, are all there. It’s the specifics that will be the sticking point for a lot of people.

The biggest, perhaps, is the casting of Megan Fox as O’ Neil. With Bay executive producing and his Transformers alumna Fox, you’d be forgiven for expecting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (the Transformers nadir) all over again. Thankfully, Fox shoulders the lead surprisingly well. She’s not exactly given a lot to work with, but she’s more bearable than Shia LaBeouf ever was as an audience Mary Sue. Focusing on the Turtles, it works more often than it doesn’t. Unlike Bay’s Transformers, the Turtles largely feel like real characters – their interactions with O’ Neil and the world not coming across like videogame cut-scenes or barked one-liners imported from a disconnected recording studio. Their world may be a mostly CGI construct, but it at least feels like a shared space between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and actual humans. It’s as cynical and manufactured as they come, but at least there’s an effort for heart and a sense of brotherhood between the heroes in a half-shell. Basic though it may be, there’s real character development here, with emotional beats and everything. Even better, the action is downright coherent. So, no, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is no Transformers sequel.

That said, the film is not without its hefty share of problems. Fox may have graduated from love interest to leading lady, but that doesn’t stop the heroes (and camera) from leering at her every opportunity they get. At least a quarter of the script is wasted on Will Arnett and Michelangelo’s hitting on April. It does neither any favours: wasting Arnett’s considerable talents and completely undermining Mikey’s comic relief status. This is at its most grim during a scene in which Arnett almost gets the lot of them killed by leering at April’s arse when he should be driving. Even the villains of the piece have the good grace to not treat April like a piece of meat, even while trying to destroy the city with their massive MacGuffin.

William Fichtner gives good bad guy as evil scientist Eric Sacks, while Shredder lends the film an impressive physicality. Neither is afforded much in the way of characterisation (big bad Shredder is particularly wasted), being by far the film’s weakest element. Jim Henson’s designs remain King, but the CGI serves the action well enough. Not everyone will be a fan of the redesigns (Donatello looks particularly hideous) but they work in the context of this big, loud, modern blockbuster. If Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could do with less CGI, that’s more a statement on today’s cinema than it is this particular movie. It joins the likes of The Lone Ranger (also not as bad as you may have heard), Man of Steel and The Dark Knight in being a modern superhero film that seems faintly embarrassed by and apologetic of its own setup. Like Superman’s ‘S is for hope’ and the Ranger’s ‘hiyo Silver’, we only get one good ‘cowabunga’, right at the end.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an imperfect adaptation, but it’s far better than one might expect. Man-babies of the 80s and 90s may hate it, but the children of today should have a lot of fun. Cowabunga, dude.

Special Features: Four featurettes / Extended ending / “Shell Shocked” music video / Making of “Shell Shocked”
 

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DVD REVIEW: POKER NIGHT / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: GREG FRANCIS / SCREENPLAY: GREG FRANCIS / STARRING: BEAU MIRCHOFF, RON PEARLMAN, GIANCARLO ESPOSITO, COREY LARGE / RELEASE DATE: TBC

A gang of cop buddies meet for their weekly game of poker, hard drinking and (hard) man talk, swapping stories of life on the streets as they unwind. When rookie hotshot Stan Jeter (Mirchoff) is kidnapped by a sadistic psychopath, the neophyte detective must put the more grizzled cops’ anecdotes to good use in order to save his own life – and that of the young lady locked up in the cell next to his.

With Ron Perlman, Gus from Breaking Bad and Titus Welliver amongst Jeter’s cop buddies, we can be assured that Poker Night is of good pedigree. While none of the above amount to more than a glorified cameo, their presence is appreciated. The segues into flashback – not substantial or lengthy enough for portmanteau pieces – add flavour and variety to a story that could have wound up as just another torture bore. It also gets us Giancarlo Esposito as a 1970’s cop wearing a wonderful sweater, and Ron Perlman with an earring. All of this punctuates the main story, which pits Jeter in a battle of wits against our masked psychopath (looking like The Collector‘s Collector, but better than that) taking in the best use of a tube of Krazy Glue since The Lego Movie.

A twisty, tricksy little thriller with brains and a cheeky sense of humour (watch out for the ice cream van), Poker Night is reminiscent of an early Saw movie; one of the good ones, before the rot started to set in. Like Saw, Se7en and FearDotCom, it joins a subgenre of dark police thrillers in which no-one ever seems to have a working lightbulb or curtains that open, and its criminals are always one step ahead of the law. Thankfully, this is so much more fun than that, with the spirited young Beau Mirchoff more than holding his own against the seasoned older actor types. Michael Eklund is equally good, bringing the same sort of sleaze as he did to his role in The Call, this one being far more deserving of his time and talent (among those talents: looking a bit like Ethan Hawke). If it’s predictable in places, we can forgive that for its originality elsewhere and commendable use of flashback and fantasy sequence.

The chips are down: inventive, intelligent and original, Poker Night is a good hand, very well played.

DVD REVIEW:  AUTEUR / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: GEORGE CAMERON ROMERO / SCREENPLAY: JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK, JD FAIRMAN, MICHAEL SEAN GOMEZ / STARRING: TOM SIZEMORE, B. J. HENDRICKS, IAN HUTTON, MADELINE MERRITT, ELI JANE / RELEASE DATE: VOD OUT NOW

It’s been the subject of many a horror buff’s questions: what happened to director Charlie Buckwald and his notorious unreleased film Demonic? Only of course, it wasn’t as it’s a totally made up character and film, but that’s the premise of this pseudo-documentary helmed by the son of the legendary George A. Romero.

Jack Humphreys (Hendricks) is the filmmaker who’s compelled to find out the real story behind the disappearance of Buckwald (Hutton) and what really happened on the set of the film that made his final production so infamous. Through a series of talking head interviews – including one with an intense and brilliant Sizemore (playing himself!) – and vérité style shooting the story is gradually unveiled and we find out what happened, and the terrible facts behind the unfortunate filming of Demonic. This doesn’t pivot completely on the reclusive director, as the young documentarian finds out, as the actor in a key scene, Kate Rivers (Merritt) has a reputation among the crew which they seem reluctant to talk about, and could very well be the reason for the director going to ground and taking the film with him, but could it also be connected to the series of mysterious deaths which followed the film?

Though not entirely original in concept, the end result is an entertaining and absorbing seventy-fine minutes. Junior Romero shows great flair with his direction; avoiding riffing on his father’s famous feature debut, but keeping the aesthetic approach, what with the ‘real’ style of shooting and some naturalistic performances. Although it’s difficult to believe the ‘on set’ footage since it’s presented in the same quality as the rest of the film, that’s a minor quibble since the strength of the performances in the documentary itself is extraordinary.

The build-up to the denouement and the revelations of what really went on is interesting and certain scenes – particularly those involving Sizemore – are knife-edge tense and completely engaging. It’s a fine effort and worth a watch.

BLU-RAY REVIEW: JUSTICE LEAGUE: THRONE OF ATLANTIS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ETHAN SPAULDING / SCREENPLAY: HEATH CORSON / STARRING: MATT LANTER, SAM WITWER, HARRY LENNIX, JASON O’MARA, JERRY O’CONNELL, SIRENA IRWIN / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 23RD

The DC animated realm is a peculiar beast. For so, so many years, you could count on Warner Brothers’ animated DC output to be something truly special. The likes of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker live long in the memory and stand proud as genuinely engaging, enjoyable and gripping films in their own right. Then the mid-2000s saw a slightly tweaked take on the animated adventures of DC’s finest, with Bruce Timm taking a step back and Warners deciding to run with a slightly more adult-themed world. Don’t get us wrong, the likes of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Batman: Under the Red Hood and the breathtaking two-part adaptation of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns were huge bright spots, but the current DC animated product is hit-and-miss, to say the least. And so here we are, with Throne of Atlantis looking to continue the JL action that was last seen in the frankly dull Justice League: War.

As the title would allude to, Aquaman (Lanter) plays a pivotal role here, with Spaulding’s film essentially being the King of Atlantis’ origin story. To get it out of the way, Throne of Atlantis isn’t actually as bad as we were expecting. We meet Arthur Curry during a particularly bad time in his life; his father is dead, he’s taking a barroom beating, and he’s drowning his sorrows whilst talking to a lobster that’s waiting to be cooked. Elsewhere, the rest of the Justice League team are slowly brought back into the picture; Victor Stone (Shemar Moore) is a tormented soul as he struggles to deal with life as Cyborg; Superman (O’Connell) and Wonder Woman (Rosario Dawson) are lovers who have are struggling to adapt from being gods to blending in with mere mortals; Batman (O’Mara) is, well, Batman; Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and The Flash (Christopher Gorham) are largely just there to quip wise; and Shazam (Sean Astin) is mainly present for comic relief, giving the viewpoint of an annoying child. Safe to say, this whole “Justice League” thing is all a bit new for our heroes. But under the ocean waves, treachery is afoot.

Blaming the destruction seen in Justice League: War for the death of his father (which is a nice continuity nod), Orm (Witwer) wants to take revenge on the surface dwellers by attacking Metropolis. He’s quickly shot down by Queen Atlanna (Irwin), whose main concern is on finding her lost son; the one who is of both worlds. Me and you know him as Aquaman. Whilst the Queen sends Mera (Sumalee Montano) to assist in this search, Orm is still pushing for all-out war with the world above him and those he deems to be terrorists, using Black Manta (Lennix) to carry out his bidding. Seemingly it is only Arthur Curry who can bring the two worlds together and save a whole lot of bloodshed.

Throne of Atlantis is a truly mixed movie. The actual Justice League itself is a fairly weak part of the picture, but the story shines when focussing on Curry’s ascent towards taking his rightful place as the ruler of the seven seas. Yes, the Justice League is supposedly in its infancy here, but the dialogue and interaction between the characters could serve as a major turn-off for some long-time fans. In the film’s defence, the dialogue is more likely to engage younger, newer fans, so that could be part of the reasoning behind that decision. As for the League members, only Batman really comes across as having any sense whatsoever; he’s a realist who makes the right decision and talks sense. Superman, whilst not being anywhere near as much of a cock-sure prick as he was in War, is still never more than ‘meh’, with Wonder Woman also feeling the same. The Flash and Green Lantern are just there, and Shazam is like the annoying younger brother of the team. Victor Stone’s arc is actually quite interesting, but his story is only a side dish to the bigger fish of the film.

Arthur Curry is the main course in Throne of Atlantis, and if the aim of the movie is to make Aquaman feel relevant and important, then it’s mission accomplished. Curry comes across as a tragic figure, full of resolve and courage, and this feels like a great portrayal of an oft-mocked comic book character. Once the story gets going, the Justice League essentially becomes redundant and this is firmly Aquaman’s tale. The action sequences are fantastic at times, with the action following the brutal lead of The Flashpoint Paradox and War, and it pitch-perfect score accompanies the piece.

There are still a few gripes with this recent incarnation of the DC Animated Universe – largely the portrayal of some of its key heroes, not to mention the shoehorning in of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen here – but Throne of Atlantis, itself based on the 2013 comic book arc of the same name, is a step in the right direction.

Special Features: Three featurettes / Robin and Nightwing bonus sequence / A sneak peak at Batman vs. Robin / Bonus cartoons
 

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