#63: ALIENS: DIRECTOR'S CUT

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Ricco Ross, Al Matthews, Jenette Goldstein, Mark Rolston and Daniel Kash. Written and directed by James Cameron, from a story by Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill. Music by James Horner. Budget $18.5 million. Running Time 154 minutes. Originally released in 1986. BOX OFFICE HAUL $183,291,256.

57 years after the events of Alien, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found drifting in her life pod in deep suspension and revived to take the blame for the destruction on the Nostromo and the death of its crew. Meanwhile LV427 is in the process of being terraformed and the contents of the derelict alien spaceship have been unleashed on the unsuspecting terraformists causing untold mayhem. When the colony goes silent, Earth sends a Marine troop to investigate and Ripley tags along for some more shits and giggles, although this time with the action ratcheted up to 11.

As soon as Ripley and the Marines lands on LV427 the film explodes into action and doesn't let up for one instant. 

I saw this, the Director's Cut just two years ago back up on the big screen, the first time since it was originally released in the cinema. I loved it the first time I saw it in 1986 at a Preview and I've never stopped loving it, if anything as time goes on my love for it grows, cos they just don't make films like this anymore.
This is a fantastic sequel and a damn good film in its own right, utilising optical and practical effects and superb model work from John Richardson and his hand-picked crew. Actually, isn't it funny how old CGI dates horribly but not well done old practical effects. This film is just so inventive, the script is so tight, so well written, the cast and the characters all acting as adults and not making stupid plot choices just to propel the story along. 

Anyway, yet again witnessing this on the big screen was just an utter treat and one you should never give up the opportunity of seeing. It reigns supreme up, twenty feet high. It doesn't need saying but it's lost none of its power, drama or scope. It's superbly paced, and edited, and this is yet another Cameron film that really is a note-perfect, it's amazing to think this was his third film as director. 

You can see why every film in the franchise after this just screwed the pooch, after the sublime genius of Ridley Scott and Cameron there really was no way to go. If only they'd left well enough alone. Oh well. Nothing that has come since has damaged this ones reputation.  

Loved it then. Love it now. Can't fault it. 10/10 

#62: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

 

STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hally, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Budget $175 million. Running time 162 minutes.

When Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti) goes missing following a police raid on the night of her high school prom, her permanently stoned single-parent father and ex-revolutionary, Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) races off on a relentless search to rescue her from Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) an obsessive, psychotic hard-core marine who's convinced that Willa is his daughter. With only Willa's sensei, Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro) to help him, Pat sets forth on a rescue mission whose outcome is anything but certain. 

Directed by the 'good' Paul Anderson, you can tell cause he's got a 'Thomas' in this name, this is a startlingly good film, goddam, perhaps one of the films of the year. It's a breakneck, relentless screwball black comedy whose humour is deep and deeply nuanced. This is nevertheless an action-packed and genuinely thrilling movie that beautifully builds the tension and suspense to a gripping and fantastically satisfying conclusion. 

Its politics resonate with the fascistic America we're all currently living through thanks to the orange one, aka Dozy Donnie Dump, and it's easy to see actions of the heavily armoured police force featured in the film as nothing more than 'ICE' in all but name and the theme of a underground railway helping Mexican illegal immigrants seems terribly prescient.

The acting is fantastic, Sean Penn, is superb as Lockjaw filled with menace, ticks and rage and yet at his core is a raw lust for his adversary which is quite extraordinary to witness. Similarly DiCaprio utterly inhabits the role of Pat, a single father doing everything he can to save his daughter. Willa, played by Chase Infiniti is equally as excellent and she brings a real sense of vulnerability and youthful defiance to the role, her first. I don't think this is the last we'll see of her, she's superb.   

And the music by Jonny Greenwood, fits like a glove! It's never intrusive, never anything less than a perfect. On top of that, the film looks stunning, you can practically taste the sand and the cinematography is as beautiful as the scenery. Anderson directs with true skill and his framing is delightful. Overall this is a thrilling and gripping experience that just builds and builds in threat, menace and action until the conclusion, which is followed by a coda that just seals the whole film with a satisfying and meaty thunk. And aided by humour as dry as the desert. Damn it, I can't fault it. 

10/10

#61: GODZILLA VS MEGALON

 

STARRING: Godzilla, Megalon, Jet Jaguar and Gigan as performed by Hinji Takagi as Godzilla, Hideto Date as Megalon, Kenpachiro Satsuma as Gigan, and Tsugutoshi Komada as Jet Jaguar. Human actors: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham, Kotaro Tomita, Wolf Ohtuski and Gentaro Nakajima. Story by Shinichi Sekizawa, screenplay and directed by Jun Fukuda. Budget $1.2 million. Boxoffice take $20 million. Running time 81 minutes. Originally released in 1973.

When a series of nuclear tests cause massive earthquakes and destruction severely damaging not only Monster Island, home of Godzilla, but also the highly advanced underground empire of Seatopia its ruler Emperor Antonio sends two crack secret agents upstairs to Earth to kidnap the inventor of Jet Jaguar, Goro Ibuki, his little brother Rokuro and his best friend Hiroshi Jinkawa and sieze control of their man-sized robot. Meanwhile Antonio unleashes Megalon, the god of the Seatopian people to destroy Tokyo. But when Jet becomes sentient and grows to gigantic size he recruits Godzilla to help him fight the cockroach-inspired Megalon. Concerned his plan for world domination is beginning to falter, Antonio sends for reinforcements from outerspace and gets sent Gigan and so the stage is set for the biggest tag-team monster fight of all time as the four titans of destruction do battle, but only once the combined might of the Japanese military complex has been laid waste. 

Whilst it isn't big or clever it is nevertheless immensely entertaining and delightfully funny, this was the subtitled version and not the notorious sublime dub-version, which I have to say I was rather looking forward to. I've been a Godzilla fan ever since I first glimpsed a picture of him in my Octopus Book of Horror and a screening of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep back in the early days of Channel Four. And he's played a significant role in my imagination ever since and as such I have no critical facilities for the films of Godzilla, the Toho era. This was shot in three weeks, with a production time of six months, it reused footage from previous Godzilla films and introduced the Godzilla tail slide attack. Some of the practical monster and model effects are simply terrific, particularly the dam destruction caused by Megalon. 

It's on as part of a season of Godzilla films at the Barbican until Dec 10th and I can't wait to see both Son of Godzilla and Ebirah, which I'm predicting will both be 10/10s and I hate Minja, Godzilla's son. 

No room for discussion. This was 81 minutes of pure cinematic heaven 10/10 FACT!  

#60: DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER

STARRING: Bruce Willis, William Sadler, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, Reginald VelJohnson, Franco Nero, Robert Patrick and John Amos. Screenplay by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson. Directed by Renny Harlin. Budget $60-70 million. Running time 124 minutes. 

It's Christmas Eve and John McClane (Bruce Willis) is at Dulles airport to pick up his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia)who's flying in just ahead of a really big storm. Unfortunately for them, and all the passengers and crew of the Air Windsor flight, US Colonel William Stuart (William Sadler) has other ideas. He and his private personal army of ex-marines have taken over the airport's air traffic control to facilitate the rescue of corrupt South American military leader, General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), who's being flown in to face drug charges. Now it's up to one plucky, NYPD cop to save the day.

What follows is a bombastic, loud, furious, action-packed and deeply violent action film of the sort that Hollywood used to do with great aplomb. Originally released in 1990 when action films weren't the shaky-cam blurs of frantic editing they sadly became. It was fantastically successful at the boxoffice, earning over $240 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the original film.

This is an utterly un-apologetic, un-reconstructed two-gun action film whose only crime was being a sequel, because while it's clearly not as good as the note-perfect 1988 Die Hard directed by John McTierran it's never-the-less a bloody good thrill ride.

Directed by Renny Harlin who made a name for himself with Prison and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 before making this, and then rising to prominence thanks to Cliffhanger before crash and burning his bridges with one of the biggest boxoffice bombs of all times - Cutthroat Island. He'd go on to make both The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea before a slow gradual decline into mediocrity with a series of low budget action films.

With fantastic action sequences, the Skybridge shoot-out being the standout. Die Hard 2 upped the violence but sadly lost the humanity of McClane. Bullets are spewed at a rate that would humble John Wick, and blood squibs explode with glee in slow motion that would shame Zack Snyder. William Sadler makes a fantastic foil for McClane and his nude introduction is legendary. At the end of the day this was just an absolutely fun and very satisfying and visceral romp that delivered in spades. 

1990 was a great year for action films. Tremors, Hard to Kill, Revenge, The Hunt for Red October, Blind Fury, Blue Steel, Nuns on the Run, Total Recall, Another 48 Hours, Dick Tracy, Gremlins 2, Robocop 2, Wild at Heart, Darkman, I Come in Peace, King of New York, Marked for Death, Predator 2, and Robo Jox to name but a handful. It's sad to read a list of the films released in that year and compare them to the dreck we get these days, there was so much variety back then, and not just in action films. 

8/10

#59: THE LONG WALK

 

STARRING: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer and Mark Hamill. Based on the book The Long Walk by Stephen King. Screenplay by JT Mollner. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Budget £20 million. Walking time 108 minutes.

Get ready for the funniest film of the summer! A film of hope, laughter, tears, and the strength of friendship. 

In the near future, America is struggling from the effects of a civil war that plunged it into financial ruin and poverty and under the boot-heel of a fascistic state that suppresses free-speech and liberty, so just a couple of years from now then. To distract the unwashed masses, an annual tournament is held that sees 50 randomly chosen young men set out on 'The Long Walk', a race with no end run until only one boy survives, his prize - untold wealth and the granting of one wish. There are few rules, the main one being don't walk slower than 3 miles an hour. You have three lives and if you lose all three you get shot in the head right there in the road and then and left to rot on the tarmac. Like I said, an hilarious laugh riot of a film filled with shits and giggles, seriously, and literally. The film follows the young men focusing on five in particular and over the course of the next 108 minutes you'll get to watch each and every one of them die at the hands of an indifferent, nameless gun-totting military escort lead by 'The Major' (Mark Hamill). 

And that's it. Friendships are made and young men die as they walk for five days and over 300 miles. Laugh, I nearly cried.

Bleak, nasty, relentless and depressing. It's a hard watch and yet again reminds me that Hollywood really hate the young. What is it about post apocalyptic fiction that features so many young people getting killed for the pleasure of the old? 

Another 'not a bad film', far from it, but it's a hard watch, well acted and staged but one of those films that you'll watch once and never again. Unless of course you're a masochist. 

7/10

#58: SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES

 

WRITTEN AND STARRING: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner. Also starring: Valerie Franco, Fran Drescher, Don Lake, Nina Conti, Kerry Godliman and Chris Addison. Directed by Rob Reiner. Budget $22.6 million. Running time 84 minutes.

What is it with these legacy sequels? This one arrives 41 years after the original, ready and raring to go, filled with the vim and vigour that only men in the 70s can muster. 

Director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) narrates and guides us along as he embarks on another rockumentary showcasing the exploits of the legendary heavy metal band Spinal Tap, this time charting and recording their reunion and last ever gig. No one is spared Marty's mellow, non-threatening interview techniques as he visits each of the three surviving members of the band, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), their manager Hope Faith (Kerry Goldliman), daughter of the band's original manager and an assortment of secondary characters and we catch up with what they've all been doing since the band last broke up.

Then it's a very sedate stroll to New Orleons session studio as the band rehearse for their final show and audition a new drummer, DiDi (Valerie Franco). Then a series of somewhat amusing incidents happen that elicit a laugh, or smirk, or chortle, although these decrease as the music increases. The whole film poots along like a mobility scooter for four until the stadium show and a performance of Stonehenge brings the house crashing down. Along the way, the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Lars Ulrich, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Questlove and Chad Smith pop up for some shits and giggles.

This starts well, as we meet the lead characters, now all engaged in new activities be it running a cheese and guitar shop, curating a glue museum or writing music for murder podcasts, and all the surviving characters from the original film are interviewed, the jokes are funny, and amusing, easy jibes about age are avoided as the trio try to get the mojo back, but something's stopping them, and it's an unspoken feud between Nigel and David, although its revelation later in the proceedings arrives with all the fanfare of a silent fart. Sadly the film seems far more concerned with watching the band perform and that's when this sort of loses it's verve, the sad fact is, they're just not that good and the lengthy musical interludes drains the film of it's humour. 

Luckily things pick up when during their final gig, Elton John emerges from the floor of the stage to take on lead vocals on Stonehenge and the henge itself is lowered from the ceiling, this time full size. 

This is by no means a bad film, and it's certainly not terrible, it's just a little too sedate, Harry Shearer seems to have been shortchanged and it's left mostly to Guest and McKean to hog the limelight. If only it had focused more on the humour and a little less on the music. It's amusing rather than hilarious and mumbles when it should have roared. 

6/10

 

#57: CAUGHT STEALING

STARRING: Austin Butler, Rgina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Benito Bartinez, Ocasio, Griffen Dunne. Movie score by Rob Simonsen and Idles. Screenplay by Charlie Huston. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Budget $40 million. Running time 107 minutes.

Billed as a dark comedy crime thriller, this has all the hallmarks of a 1970's thriller but as envisioned by Darren Aronofsky and as such it's about as funny as a positive cancer diagnosis. Set in the 1990s and featuring a furious punk score  and a magnificent soundtrack and featuring a truly impressive cast of actors this was an intense, vicious, nasty and deeply mean-spirited thriller.

Austin Butler is Henry 'Hank' Thompson a high school baseball star with a future as a professional in the majors, but a drunken car crash obliterates his right knee (not that you'd know it) and catapultes his best friend face-first into a telegraph pole. 11 years later and Henry's now a border-line alcoholic bartender working in New York bar and in good relationship with EMT nurse, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz). However one day Hank's next door neighbour, Russ Binder (Matt Smith) - a British ex-pat punk rocker dumps his cat, and litter tray on him and jets back to London to look after his father who's had a stroke. The next day, the Russian mafia come calling looking for Russ and kick Hank almost to death, rupturing one of his kidneys in the process. Then the police in the guise of Det. Elise Roman (Regina King) come calling and disregard Hank's protestations he's an innocent man. Two days after having his kidney removed he's running for his life from two orthodox Jewish gangsters, Shmully Drucker and Lipa Drucker (Vincent D'Onofrio and Liev Schreiber), the Russian mafia AND an ultra corrupt police office who all believe Hank has something of great value, which is news to him. From there on things go from bad to much much worse, horrifically worse, almost to the point of ridiculousness for Hank, and that's probably enough for the plot.

I was fully engaged with this up until the killing started, the violence which is never anything less than full-on, builds and makes the whole film deeply uncomfortable, Hank's dilemma just keeps growing and to a degree which is frankly laughable (perhaps that's what 'they' meant by 'dark comedy'?) but which leaves you feeling there would be no way he'd ever be free, add to that the sense that if only he, at times would just try and explain what was going on then things wouldn't have gotten so bad. I also had some issues with the horrific knee injury that Hank sustains, which we witness repeatedly throughout the film. As some one who has suffered two major knee injuries that resulted in surgery the film lost me once Hank is seen doing a full-on Tom Cruise run, not once but twice and suffering not one single jolt of pain, and just days after he's had a kidney removed too! 

I can't fault the acting, the direction and the look, but I just couldn't get behind the utter mean-spiritedness of this and the death of one of the main characters was just gratuitous and callous and not remotely warranted that the film totally lost me. This starts strongly, but starts to telegraph its ending and the keen-eyed of you should be able to work out the conclusion. 

It's by no means a bad film, far from it, but its nihilistic, bleak, and relentless viciousness lost me as a fan, but boy is it well made.

7/10