Films to Watch Before You Die #11 - Battle Royale (2000)

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Battle Royale, 2000.

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku.
Starring Kenta Fukasaku and Takeshi Kitano.

Battle Royale is a Japanese horror film based on the novel of the same name written by Koushun Takami. It follows a class of children who are transported to a remote island and ordered to play a brutal and disturbing game to the death. The children are set free on the island and each given a random weapon in order to try and survive the island, but also brutally murder each other. Only the last surviving child is allowed to leave the island.

Battle Royale is packed full of drama, suspense and blood. The children all learn that they have to be brutal, cunning and willing to do anything if they want to be free. The weak struggle and only the strongest will survive. As they roam the remote island searching for shelter and a way to escape without being killed they are tracked by their electronic collars. As the Japanese military watch on they can detonate the collars should the children disobey the rules. If they fail to comply the collars detonate. If they try and leave the island they detonate. If they find themselves in one of the varying death zones they detonate.

The film is set in a futuristic world not too far away where the Japanese government has failed miserably and the country is on its knees. As children boycott school and show signs of rising up against their elders the government passes the Millennium Educational Reform Act. This act legalises the Battle Royale and allows the Japanese government to turn children on each other in these brutal games to the death.

Battle Royale is a controversial film that has been very well received by most critics, but slammed by politicians as being crude and tasteless. Nonetheless it is a jaw-dropping piece of ultra violent cinema that has a certain poignancy with many societies and people, perhaps even in the UK too in the wake of the recent riots. As the government tries to control the unruly youth of Japan by turning them on each other and making them destroy each other the film is horrifying in it’s subtext.

Battle Royale is a film that you must see before you die because of its violence, its gore and its brutality which have all been done so well that I believe it to be a tasteful way of showing the darker side of humanity and the will to survive.


D.J. Haza

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Movie Review - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, 2011.

Directed by Bill Condon.
Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Julia Jones, Billy Burke, Maggie Grace and Michael Sheen.


SYNOPSIS:

The new-found married bliss of Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen is cut short as a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.


As you can imagine, it’s going to be struggle to review this film with an unbiased mind, due to the enormous amount of hype surrounding it. As an ex-fan of the Twilight Saga book series, I had expectations for this movie – not high ones, as you might imagine, but mediocre-at-best ones; simply because in my eyes the previous three movies failed these books catastrophically. Granted, the Twilight franchise started on a low budget with very little known about it in the media. What it has become is some kind of monster.

But enough of that, what was the actual film like? Well, I think it’s fair to say that my expectations, although supportable, were exceeded greatly. Call me a starry-eyed teenage girl, but I eat my words. As much as I hate to admit it, I actually (kind of) enjoyed watching Breaking Dawn. Although it’s far from perfect, it’s definitely the best movie of the Saga so far by a long shot.

Despite this, there were still several problems with the film. Kristen Stewart’s acting, although much improved since her beginnings in the original Twilight, is still wincingly wooden. She’s added to her catalogue of facial expressions, which previously was made up of two (confused and extremely confused). Her performance was strong and emotive, and invoked in me an empathy which was absent in previous films. Robert Pattinson, who is usually praised more than Stewart on his acting skills, was unusually apathetic in Breaking Dawn. Honestly, I think he has the same mindset as the majority of the general public: he just wants this damn series to be over already. And unfortunately, this was painfully evident in his performance during the film.

The writing of this movie was even more focused (if that’s possible) on the emotions surrounding Bella and Edward’s relationship: their marriage, honeymoon and later on (spoiler – but like you didn’t know already), Bella’s pregnancy. It made a nice change to see some conflict between the couple, whereas before everything was all sunshine and buttercups. Pattinson as an angry vampire is highly unconvincing and lacks the emotional attachment which is necessary for such a storyline. Stewart does a much better job, and the audience can really feel for her as she struggles to go against what Edward wants, or to follow her maternal instincts. The writers have to be praised here; the issues dealt with in this part of the story are explored in an extremely careful and sensitive manner. The whole pregnancy scenario could be seen as a metaphor for what their young audience has experienced or may experience in the future. At the absolute opposite end of the spectrum is the birthing scene, which I’m sorry to say I couldn’t help but giggle at. After reading this scene in the book I was (fruitlessly) hoping for a delicious gore-fest, with blood and guts everywhere, and the emergence of some hideous human-vampire hybrid. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed, something which I can understand due to the target audience and certificate of the film, but nevertheless I left the cinema with my appetite for blood (considering this movie has werewolf and vampire fights in it) dissatisfied.

Speaking of which, the choreography of the fight scenes was well done as always, although unclear at times, along with the plot. I consider myself to know a fair amount about the Twilight Saga, and even I was left confused at times concerning the standpoint of the werewolves on the whole treaty-breaking thing. The special effects of the fight scenes were impeccable, although in other places were sorely lacking. For example, the digitalised face of baby Renesmee was laughable, as was the depiction of Jacob’s (Taylor Lautner) first-person werewolf rage fit. However, the portrayal of Bella as skeletally pregnant, with a hideous bulging belly, was magnificent, and highly realistic. It left me wondering whether Kristen Stewart had actually developed anorexia/gotten pregnant with quadruplets during filming.

Besides the above, the only other qualm I had with this film was the obvious and possibly the most idiotic continuity error ever. Edward Cullen, or any of the other vampires, did not sparkle. Not once. And considering that a large proportion of this film was set on an island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, it was a pretty big error.

But overall, despite some really terrible bits, I enjoyed Breaking Dawn. I would put it under the classification of “guilty pleasure”. Visually, it isn’t particularly striking (despite the Lautner/Pattinson eye-candy), and the acting, although improved, is mediocre at best. But as always, this series never fails to impress, although I’m not entirely sure why. Bring on Part 2. 7/10

Kirsty Capes

Status Report - G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Gary Collinson delivers a status report on the upcoming G.I. Joe sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation...

CODENAME: G.I. Joe: Retaliation
CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: Post-production
KEY PERSONNEL: John Chu (Director); Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Screenwriters); Channing Tatum, Ray Park, Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, D.J. Cotrona, Adrianne Palicki, Arnold Vosloo, RZA and Ray Stevenson (Cast).
ETA: June 22nd, 2012 (UK); June 29th, 2012 (USA)


Like many kids growing up in the 80s, I was a big fan of the G.I. Joe franchise (or Action Force as it was called here in the UK) and spent countless hours immersing myself in their fight against Cobra through the classic Sunbow-produced G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon, the accompanying Marvel comic book and of course, Hasbro's classic 3¾-inch action figure toy line. Sadly, I never got to see my heroes make it to the big screen during my childhood and it wasn’t until 2003 that the Joes’ jump to live-action finally started to become a reality as producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura began development on a movie adaptation.

By this time I’d grown out of my G.I. Joe obsession (well, mostly) and early talk about the movie employing the ‘buddy’ route of teaming ‘G.I. Joe’ up with ‘Alex Mann’ (a.k.a. Action Man, geddit?) pretty much killed off any interest I had in the project. Although my hopes were renewed somewhat by the release of Transformers in 2007, the subsequent appointment of director Stephen Sommers (whose previous two movies, The Mummy Returns and Van Helsing, should have been enough to bring the curtain down on any filmmaking career) all but confirmed to me that the G.I. Joe movie was going to be a turkey.

Despite receiving a mixed (and by mixed, I mean poor) reception from the majority of moviegoers and critics, I must admit I was taken by surprise by the final film – it wasn’t great by a long shot, but it was better than I’d expected. The biggest problem I had with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was just that – it depicted the rise of Cobra, and that meant origin stories for everyone and everything. Instead of Joes vs. Cobra we got Joes vs. M.A.R.S., and that in my opinion was a big mistake. We didn’t want to see Rex / The Doctor and Christopher Eccleston, we wanted to see Cobra Commander and Destro, and barring the briefest of glimpses at the end, we were left wanting. However, in fairmess The Rise of Cobra did succeed in setting the field for a sequel, and a second installment was all but assured when the film went on to collect $302m at the global box office.

Things started off well enough on G.I. Joe 2 when it was revealed in January 2010 that Zombieland scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had been hired to tackle the screenplay, then said to be titled G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes. A year later came even better news – Sommers was out as director, and while his replacement, Jon Chu (Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never), may not have been the first name to spring to mind as the ideal replacement, at least he doesn’t have The Mummy Returns on his CV. Still, the news of a reduced budget for the officially titled G.I. Joe: Retaliation was followed by confirmation that big names such as Rachel Nichols, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Eccleston and Sienna Miller were all out, with only three actors returning to the cast – Channing Tatum (Duke), Ray Park (Snake Eyes) and Lee Byung-hun (Storm Shadow).

Apart from the subsequent announcement that Arnold Vosloo would be back as Zartan, Chu went on to assemble an entirely new cast for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which includes Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a The Rock) as Roadblock, D.J. Cotrona (Dear John) as Flint, RZA (American Gangster) as Blind Master, Elodie Yung (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as Jinx, Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights) as Lady Jaye, Ray Stevenson (Thor) as Firefly, Stephen Martines (General Hospital) as Cross-Country, Eddie Hargitay (The Superagent) as Tunnel Rat and Joseph Mazzello (Jurassic Park) as Mouse. To inject some star power into the relatively unknown supporting cast, Chu also pulled off a surprise acquisition with veteran action star and Hollywood A-lister Bruce Willis, who was confirmed as portraying the original G.I. Joe, General Joseph B. Colton, just as filming was about to commence this past August.

Looking at the new cast, I have to say I’m pleased to see some of my old favourites making the roster, including Flint, Lady Jaye and of course, Firefly, who was without a doubt the coolest action figure of the entire G.I. Joe line. The Rock and Bruce Willis are also solid additions to the cast and should really help to sell the movie to the general public (well, more o than Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Dennis Quaid, anyway), whereas the only real concern seems to be the lack of bad guys… Zartan, Storm Shadow and Firefly? Can that really be it? Well, not exactly, as no sooner had filming begun than a leaked call sheet indicated that Cobra Commander will also return for the sequel, with a new and as-yet-unknown actor presumably taking on the role of the masked menace. I guess the possibly of a new actor stepping into Destro’s silver battle mask wouldn’t be too much of a stretch either, but as yet neither of the characters have been confirmed.

Since the G.I. Joe: Retaliation shoot got underway in Louisiana in August, we haven’t heard too much about the film, apart from a few images of Roadblock posted by The Rock on his Twitter account and a behind-the-scenes ‘first look’ from Entertainment Tonight (sadly, the sequel did make headlines last week when crew member Mike Huber was tragically killed in an accident during the dismantling of the sets just days after filming had wrapped). In terms of what we know about the story, Zartan’s new position as President of the United States will play a crucial role in the plot, which apparently involves the world being held to ransom by the threat of nuclear annihilation. As for what else, there's actually very little - Snake Eyes’ pet wolf Timber will make an appearance (yay!) and there’ll also be a jailbreak sequence (Cobra Commander, surely?), while Firefly gets to square off against Roadblock on a couple of occasions. And that's really about it.

With the June 2012 release date fast approaching, we’re yet to receive a poster or trailer and you’d have to expect both to make an appearance before the year is out. Given that The Rise of Cobra left a bad taste in a substantial number of mouths, the first trailer is likely to make or break G.I. Joe: Retaliation and really needs to deliver something if the film is to have any chance of success in a summer packed with action blockbusters such as The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Bourne Legacy, The Dark Knight Rises and The Expendables 2...

Gary Collinson

Holy Franchise, Batman! - Coming 2012.

US Box Office - Twilight fends off The Muppets, Arthur Christmas and Hugo

The Twilight train continues to roll while five family films fight it out…

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 continues its cinematic cash grab adding another $52 million over the 5 day extended weekend bringing the North American total to $220 million dollars. Even with a 70% week-to-week drop, it managed to take the number one spot.

There was a slew of like product in Cineplex’s this weekend with The Muppets, Arthur Christmas and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo vying with the already on release Happy Feet Two and October holdover Puss in Boots. The Muppets surged to the top of the family five-pack with a 5 day tally of $42 million for the #2 spot, while Happy Feet Two survived a weak opening, still managing to pull in more than Arthur Christmas or Hugo. The animated penguin sequel hauled in another $13 million.

Arthur Christmas had a disappointing opening only managing $12 million for the 3 day weekend and $16 million for a 5 day total. Hugo, the first 3D film from Martin Scorsese, only opened on 1200+ screens, so the $15 million dollar 5 day total doesn’t seem that bad. But when you factor in the inflated 3D ticket prices, it’s hard to see it as anything other than average. Next week sees the movie roll out to more theaters so there’s the potential that Hugo could have legs.

With no major films opening this coming weekend, the lineup for next week’s box office should look eerily similar. The only real questions is whether or not Twilight can make it three weeks in a row and just how steep the drop will be for these family films.

Here's your top five for North America:

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Weekend Estimate: $42 million (weekend); $222m (total)

2. The Muppets
Weekend Estimate: $30 million (weekend); $42m (total)

3. Happy Feet Two
Weekend Estimate: $13 million (weekend); $44m (total)

4. Arthur Christmas
Weekend Estimate: $12 million (weekend); $16m (total)

5. Hugo
Weekend Estimate: $11 million (weekend); $15m (total)

Anghus Houvouras

My Fantasy Week with Marilyn

Commenting on the commentators with Simon Columb...

Alex von Tunzelmann writes in The Guardian about accuracy of My Week with Marilyn:

"Historically, the film's main problem is that its source for the alleged Clark-Monroe liaison is Clark's diary. In the film's key sequence, Monroe takes too many pills, locks herself in her bedroom, and collapses. Clark climbs in through the window. He refuses to open the door to her worried friends, asserting that he is the best person to look after her, and says he will sleep on the sofa. Instead, he gets into bed with the woozy and incoherent woman and starts telling her he loves her. According to him, that's as far as it goes – but Monroe can't remember anything the next morning, so you've only got his word for it."

I must admit, I think it is complete fiction. There seems to be a very focussed effort to establish a air of 'fact' to the film - opening credits note it is "Based on a True Story", whilst it finishes by charting 'what happened next...' to Colin Clark, the film's protagonist.

Let us consider the reality. Marilyn Monroe, by this point, had been married three times. Two of these men - Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller - were successful men, both at the top of their careers: DiMaggio a Major League Baseball player, Arthur Miller a hugely critically and commercially successful playwright and author. She was rumoured to have had affairs with Robert and John F. Kennedy whilst, in the film industry, this also included Marlon Brando.

I'm not saying Marilyn did not have affairs, and I'm not saying she didn't have an affair whilst her recently-married husband was away for a single week during filming of The Prince and the Showgirl. I am saying that the likelihood of an upper-class, son-of-an-art-historian, 3rd-assistant-director - effectively an obsessive fan - six years her junior, becoming in any way romantically involved with Marilyn Monroe strikes me as highly unlikely.

Von Tunzelmann's article highlights the lack of reliability in the sources used - but I think you only need to watch the film and summarise what the biggest flaw is within the narrative: Marilyn Monroe would never be attracted to Colin Clark. In terms of art - books and films go down in history and maybe through these, the myth will become more important than the truth, forever connecting the Clarks with the Kennedys, the Brandos and the Millers through Marilyn Monroe.

Simon Columb

Movie Review - Puss in Boots (2011)

Puss in Boots, 2011.

Directed by Chris Miller.
Featuring the voice talents of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Constance Marie and Guillermo del Toro.

SYNOPSIS:

The heroic Puss in Boots is pitted against the outlaws Jack and Jill, who have discoved an ancient power that threatens the world.


As I’m sure most of you remember the character Puss in Boots made his first appearance in Shrek 2 (2004) as a secondary character, and for me he was the highlight of a franchise that progressively declined and sullied the name of the instant classic Shrek (2001). So Dreamworks Animation have decided to give him an origin story to give this great permutation of the Puss in Boots character the chance to survive on his own.

I know that what I’m about to say is ultimately going to come off as sounding negative but I want to start by saying that I think this is a fun little family flick with some salvaging adult laughs that is ultimately worth a watch.

The story firstly explains how Puss’ (Antonio Banderas) outlaw status came about, which coincidentally involved him being framed by his best friend Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). In order to clear his name he partners up with the backstabbing Egg and his partner Kitty Soft Paws (Salma Hayek) to steal magic beans from Jack and Jill (as in Up the Hill) to the Giant’s lair (as in the Beanstalk) to retrieve the ‘Golden Egg’ treasure.

Now the revisionist fairytale mash-up that was pioneered with Shrek has been progressively butchered and repeated for the last decade. So instead of the skill of those elements working cohesively isn’t as impressive as they would have been a decade ago – instead they’re a little stale.

The Shrek version of the Puss character (because of the Antonio Banderas influence) has a great Spanish / Zorro feel and that gives the film-makers some great opportunities to infuse elements of Spanish culture. The downside is that unfortunately earlier this year Verbinski and Depp’s Rango (2011) was set in a comparable western setting featured some of the most mind-bogglingly amazing computer generated animation – especially in the great visceral characterisation of the anthropomorphic characters – that the relative simplicity of the ‘Shrek’ aesthetic felt like it inhibited the film.

The one great saving grace for Puss in Boots is that the film-makers emphasise his ‘catness’. Some of the little touches that showed off what you’re likely to know about if you’ve ever had a cat (or watched Youtube) really cracked me up. Without spoiling anything (that wasn’t already featured in the trailer) - Puss lapping at shot glasses with milk, the cute cat eyes, his fur standing on end when he’s scared etc were highlights for me.

So is it worth seeing? Yes. Will the kids love it? Definitely. Will the kids of all ages love it? Maybe not love it, but I admonish you if you don’t love the wonderfully random ‘aaaaaawwwwww’ Cat who literally had me laugh out loud every time I saw him.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com. Follow him on Twitter here: @BLAGatCCO.

Five Essential... Gary Daniels Films

Following on from his interview last week, Tom Jolliffe selects his Five Essential Gary Daniels films…

When a plethora of martial art specialists were foist upon audiences in the late 80s and early 90s, there were a few who managed to find an audience and maintain lengthy careers in the video realm. One such star was Gary Daniels, who flew the British flag before anyone had heard of Jason Statham. Daniels major selling points were his excellent on screen fighting abilities and willingness to really throw himself into the action. Daniels performs most of his own stunts, whilst a hands on approach to action choreography, combined with a distinct MMA style has delivered plenty of excellent mano-a-mano brawls in his films.

Daniels continues to go at full pelt, and despite being near the big 5-0, he’s still in immense shape and barely looks a day over 30. He’s stood toe to toe (on film!) with Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson, Lorenzo Lamas, Steven Seagal, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes and bizarrely former WWE legend, The Ultimate Warrior. Here is the essential Gary Daniels…


5. City Hunter (1993)

The film where Gary Daniels first really gained recognition. Jackie Chan was the established star, well known for his high intensity fight sequences and Daniels proved to be a memorable foe for the Hong Kong legend. The film is highly entertaining and very funny, whilst Chan’s benchmark action sequences are typically thrilling. Daniels makes an intimidating henchman, even despite sporting a pony-tail and doing the splits in nothing but a pair of budgie smugglers (quite the introduction to action movie fans). The film’s defining moment is when Chan and Daniels transform into characters from the classic video game, Streetfighter. Daniels of course, with the long blond hair, is the ideal Ken.




4. Rage (1995)

One of several collaborations between Daniels and PM entertainment. PM (now sadly defunct) have garnered a cult following amongst video action fans, thanks to the time and care spent on the action. They made a concerted effort to bring blockbuster level action, to a low budget world. The films acted as showcases for a lot of the best stuntmen and stunt co-ordinators in the business, either before hitting it big, or just to stay in the mind of the big Hollywood studios. What you got in the best PM movies were lots of action, lots of variety and some often breath-taking stunts. In the same way as they shoot action films in Hong Kong, it was the action that came first and was given the time to deliver the goods, whereas generally in the direct to video world, action films ration their carnage, and often don’t spend the money to get the quality of stunt team to deliver good stuff. Rage is ample example of PM at their best. Forget the silly plot, just switch off your brain and enjoy the show. Its action packed!


3. Recoil (1998)

Another PM classic. The film almost literally jumps from one action scene to another. The car chases, which tend to be a PM speciality, are brilliant. Spiro Razatos, who’s one of Hollywood’s premiere stunt co-ordinators (recently responsible for Fast and Furious 5) is the man to thank here. Daniels, as normal, throws himself into the action. He’s amongst it all and the film offers ample opportunity amongst its vehicular carnage, for him to deliver some high kicking beat-downs.







2. Cold Harvest (1999)

Martial arts expert turned director, Isaac Florentine delivers this enjoyably cheesy post-apocalyptic western. Gary Daniels does a Van Damme here and plays twins. One has glasses and is thus not hard. The other is a bounty hunter who’s an expert in martial arts and weaponry, and is thus very hard. The fight scenes are brilliantly done, whilst the stunt team offer plenty of impressive physical feats. As per normal Daniels leads the line well, maintaining a breakneck pace that puts the action in the league of the Hong Kong action cinema.





1. Riot (1997)

Probably PM’s best work. Daniels must enter a cordoned off riot zone to rescue his ex from kidnappers. The bad guys in the movie tick about every cliché you can think of in the book, particularly the Irish terrorists (with woeful Irish accents). The film's pace is brisk and it’s loaded with really imaginative action and eye catching stunt work. The film is a strong endorsement in the case for live action stunts over CGI fakery. Standouts include Daniels fighting off a gang of stunt bikers, and being chased down by a car in a multi-storey car park. The late Charles Napier co-stars, as does legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard (he’s not quite as adept in front of the camera as he was in the ring!).



Honourable Mentions

Fist of the North Star (1995)
White Tiger (1996)
Bloodmoon (1997)
Spoiler (1998)
Fatal Blade (2001)
Hunt to Kill (2010)
The Expendables (2010)

Agree? Disagree? We'd love to hear your comments...

Be sure to check out Tom's interview with Gary Daniels, which you can read here.

Tom Jolliffe