Category Archives: United States

Mar 05 2023
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Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Technology, United States

Street Fighter (1994) is special.

Unit of bad-asses over here.

I don’t care what anyone says, this movie is entertaining as hell and that’s all that matters.

Aye, it’s a pile of shite but it knows it’s a pile of shite; no one is splitting the atom here and that’s a wise decision considering the ludicrousness of every situation, character, line reading, fight sequences, … everything. A nice wee companion piece to Mortal Kombat (1995), which does take itself seriously, but not too seriously, this movie defines the burgeoning video game era, nonsensical attempts to translate a new(ish) medium to another.

In a way, it wouldn’t survive on its own as a movie; it’s game-dependent in that every facet of it is explained by the game.

Aside from JCVD’s accent.

Further reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/jul/16/inside-street-fighter-movie-jean-claude-van-damme-kylie-minogue

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Feb 28 2023
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Architecture, Art, Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Technology, Uncategorized, United States

Timecop (1994).

JCVD is fine here, which I find sort of shocking. He displays levels of vulnerability that Seagal couldn’t even consider. The Brussels lad (I can’t be bothered spelling his name) can act if given the right role.

An intriguing premise that is fulfilled, decent action, JCVD doing the splits for a reason, a slimy Ron Silver, Bruce McGill who seems to be in everything, and two female leads who aren’t annoying.

This was a decent movie.

But not as good as this:

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Feb 22 2023
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Art, Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized, United States

The Whale (2022).

First of all, let’s get the ‘controversy’ out of the way: the director is correct when he says these critics make no sense. How many actors could fit the comeback story of Brendan Fraser in this? How many obese actors are out there? Haven’t fat suits been around for a long time? More importantly, what is the big overall deal? There isn’t one, just something for folk to moan about.

Anyway, it’s not a brilliant film but it’s worth watching. The performances are fine, and Fraser does a rather sublime job at eliciting sympathy without mugging it. And it doesn’t feel like a marathon experience despite the entire story being set within the confines of a house, the shots mostly of Fraser. It reminded me of Tom Hardy in Locke (2013), a sort of less indulgent and more engaging companion piece. Maybe the latter was more captivating for I viewed it melted on a rickety plane dancing over Siberia.

I must confess that I have expected more in recent times from Aronofsky, but I suppose his mega-impressive triple bill of Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), and The Fountain (2006) are his stylistically expansive works; he appears to have withdrawn into the interior these days. The shackles are back on.

Decent movie, though. It shows what is possible with a minuscule budget and a whale.

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Feb 06 2023
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Art, Britain, Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Soviet Union, Transport, Travel, United States, USSR

The Courier (2020).

The pull of this being a true story is enough for one to recommend it, but it does have more than that, capturing the fear and suspicion of the time in impressive ways, the claustrophobia seeping from every room. The casting and performances also elevated it above your standard spy fare. The premise appeared ripe for the pedestrian BBC-style treatment, but it was a surprise to see a riskier exercise in the spycraft genre.

The actor Merab Ninidze who plays Oleg Penkovsky. He needs to be in more movies. He’s simply excellent here.

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Feb 03 2023
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Art, Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized, United States

The Guest (2014) is a phenomenal homage to cool.

It’s silly and ludicrous and daft and nonsensical but it works because of the music cues and the overarching unapologetic style of it all which screams ‘This is the 1980s’.

But it isn’t. We can, however, pretend otherwise.

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Jan 27 2023
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Movies, Technology, Uncategorized, United States

Limitless (2011).

The concept is a bit better than the end product but still, this is a movie deserved of revisiting from time to time, despite the inevitable thriller elements that take over towards the denouement. It’s an intriguing premise, what you can achieve when you reduce thinking to its salient elements and get rid of the background noise.

It excels in its exposition and depiction of the cutthroat financial arena as a den of thieves with half of them on some variation of the gear (NZT-48). I hear it got adapted into a TV spin-off that was cancelled after a season, which sounds about right. There’s only so much you can squeeze out of the story.

But De Niro is a gift in this. He always is. 

“Don’t make me your competition.” 

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Jan 23 2023
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Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized, United States

Volcano (1997) isn’t exactly volcanic.

Volcano (1997) has it all – highly convenient money shots, ludicrous dialogue, every character intro cliché in the book, and the usual late ’90s anything-goes-because-logic-doesn’t-matter action. 

The effects are sometimes great, sometimes shite, and usually just ordinary. Anne Heche is in this and looks like she was made to by her agent. Tommy Lee Jones looks bored off his tits in another one of those “It paid the bills and got me a yacht” performances. And an armoured division of fire engines defeat lava. 

Better than Dante’s Peak (1997), though. 

Testament to a looney age.  

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Jan 21 2023
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Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized, United States

Under Siege (1992).

Early Seagal is almost as ludicrous as latter-day Seagal. The cut-off point is everything after On Deadly Ground (1994), an incomprehensible riot of a shitter which somehow stars Michael Caine. 

His Casey Ryback displays no vulnerability, is never once close to losing a violent encounter, doesn’t break a sweat, and appears to give zero fucks about anything going on around him. The funniest motif is all of the other ‘characters’ informing the audience at every opportunity that Casey Ryback is not mortal.

Supremely entertaining movie with quite the catchy score which totally isn’t a rip-off of JFK (1991) ….

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Jan 16 2023
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Documentary, Film, Music, Uncategorized, United States

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004).

This type of music is not really my cup of tea, save the band’s forever catchy ‘I Disappear’ from Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). I was expecting a sort of This Is Spinal Tap (1984) farce but what I found was an endlessly rewarding slog, and it is that exhausting, through the Dr. Melfi-infused (yes, the band hire a therapist) sessions of a troupe in full-blown crisis, trying to wrestle with a monster bigger than its human components.

It’s a document of the creative process – you actually see how music is made collaboratively, the hours that go into four minutes of a completed song, and the constant bickering that accompanies the undertaking. The chief treat here is drummer/co-lyricist/band founder and victor of Napster Lars Ulrich, who seems beguiled by most of the nonsense spewing from the therapy sessions, one step ahead of the psychobabble. He’s a totally self-aware uber-brat and utterly hilarious.

I’ve never listened to the album (St. Anger). This doc will suffice.

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Jan 02 2023
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Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized, United States

The Nutty Professor (1996).

I saw this so many times back in the day, but like Ghostbusters (1984), I only understood the simple gags and was oblivious to the allusions to an adult world; that, and I didn’t get the actual words the characters were saying because of my limited vocabulary.

It’s incredibly funny, and for a PG-13/12 certificate, quite shocking in the things it gets away with. It exists in that vast wilderness of terrible Eddie Murphy movies stretching 20 years to Dreamgirls (2006), as the only gem of the lot. Maybe he just couldn’t be bothered or genuinely thought he was picking the right material.

The sequel to this was inevitable. I’ve not seen it. The reviews were enough to put me off.

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