Movie Review - Edmond

Director – Stuart Gordon.

Cast – William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, Bai Ling, Lionel Mark Smith, Mena Suvari and Denise Richards.

I did not know quite what to expect as the opening credits of Edmond rolled. A drama adapted from a David Mamet play of the same name it was screened at festivals in 2005 and had a limited cinema release in 2006. Now in 2008 it is finally released on DVD. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that it is not a film that is easy to pigeonhole.

William H. Macy plays Edmond Burke, a man who spontaneously visits a fortune-teller on the way home from his dead end job. This visit causes him to reassess his entire existence and admit to himself that he is part of a loveless marriage within a meaningless life. Disappointed, Edmond finds himself skulking through the neon underbelly of American society where he is hopelessly out of his depth. As a result of his naivety he stumbles from one disastrous encounter to another until he has an epiphany of sorts.

His earnest sense of fairness and justice is constantly mocked and attacked until at his lowest ebb he fights back. A violent encounter with a slimy pimp energises Edmond to the extent that he believes he has finally found his true self, the real Edmond that has been confined to a drone-like existence for his 47 years. He undertakes a misguided though sometimes strangely rational journey over the course of the evening that is both darkly comic and just plain dark. The decisions he makes irrevocably change the course of his life in ways he never expected.

As always Macy plays his part in an understated and delicate manner and up until the point of his epiphany he puts his trademark hangdog face to good use. Being adapted from a play means there are long dialogue heavy scenes where he can spread his wings. A slightly odd supporting cast play their respective parts well but they really end up being no more than a succession of cameos. Julia Stiles probably has the most amount of screen time with Macy and she convinces as a vulnerable and incredibly trusting barmaid suggesting her history of romantic comedies may be a thing of the past.

Edmond is a very short film running at under 80 minutes if the closing credits are discounted. There is a claustrophobic feel and sometimes a tension to a scene that is quite overwhelming. An awful lot happens over the duration but it never seems hurried. To say I enjoyed Edmond would be incorrect but it has an unsettling kind of impact. Thanks to Edmond there is a small twitching corner of my mind where fresh memories now reside.

Movie Review – Daywatch

Director – Timur Bekmambetov.

Cast – Konstantin Khabensky, Aleksei Chadov, Gosha Kutsenko, Igor Lifanov and Zhanna Friske.

Daywatch is the second in a trilogy of films based on the “Watch” novels by Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko. It was preceded by the 2004 sleeper hit Nightwatch that was one of the most expensive Russian films ever produced with a budget of over 4 million dollars. In order to fully understand Daywatch it is important to have seen Nightwatch as the action commences immediately with no introduction or overview.

Daywatch is a fantasy vampire film that revolves around main character Anton Khabensky. In the prequel we see Anton’s wife leave him for another man while carrying his son. An old lady deceives Anton into believing that the unborn child is not his and he agrees to allow her to cast a spell that will abort the child. The spell is interrupted and father and Yegor, his son, meet for the first time twelve years later. Upon finding out that his father tried to kill him before he was born he turns to the dark side and so, against his father. Daywatch begins with Anton still a Nightwatch operative and now with an apprentice and love interest, Svetlana Poroshina. Unluckily for Anton if Svetlana and Yegor were ever to meet there would be a battle between the powers of light and dark that would more than likely result in the end of the world. Yikes.

Ordinarily, I like a good vampire film and I was looking forward to Nightwatch but I must admit it left me cold. Unfortunately Daywatch falls into all of the same traps. There are moments of music-video style direction and periods where it all feels a touch amateur. There is a big empty hole where character development should be and any hint of a coherent and logical storyline is sacrificed for special effects and set pieces. While some of the effects are poor (the speedy car driving is Benny Hill-esque), admittedly some are impressive and ambitious.

While Daywatch is heavily flawed there are enough fresh ideas and invention to carry it. Director Bekmambetov obviously enjoys filling his scenes with lush, rich colours and this gives the film a kind of artistic quality. Some of the fighting, while predictably ludicrous, is also quite balletic and sophisticated. It is just a shame that a little more emphasis was not placed on the plot and the examination of the main characters. Relating to the characters is simply an impossibility. A little quality control and the trimming of the 2 hour-plus running time would have been beneficial.

Ultimately this vampire film is a little toothless but there is enough invention here to suggest that director Bekmambetov might be worth keeping an eye on.

Classic Game – Operation Wolf

Publisher – Taito

Year Of Release – 1987

Twenty summers ago a young boy was queuing at the change booth in the Amusement Arcade in Skerries. He had a £1.00 note that was soon to become ten 10p coins and every one of those coins were going to be deposited into one arcade game. Of course you can guess who the boy was but the game was Operation Wolf.

This arcade game stood out from the others as there was a machine gun attached to the upright cabinet. Not only that, the gun looked real and to this 12 year-old boy it felt how he imagined a real machine gun would feel. It was heavy and every time the trigger was squeezed there was actual recoil. The game itself was a side-scrolling shoot ‘em up that panned across various landscapes over six different levels. The object of the game was to rescue hostages from a concentration camp. It was the digital incarnation of the old shooting gallery games.

I had a Commodore 64 back then and as soon as I heard that Operation Wolf was going to be released for it my pocket money was no longer transformed into 10p coins but was squirreled away until I had enough to buy it. That day seemed to take an age but when it came it was an event. Myself, and some friends piled into my bedroom, put in the tape and waited. And waited. The loading screen appeared and there was silence. More waiting, the joystick in my hand in a death grip, the tension building and then it was time. What separated Operation Wolf from the rest was the fact that it did not have a cartoon feel to it, it was as realistic as the technology of the day allowed. There were no jokes, no tongues in cheeks, saving these hostages was a serious business.

We sat there for hours passing the joystick from one to another as we perished with the phrase, “You have sustained a lethal injury. Sorry, but you are finished here”. You see that was the problem with Operation Wolf, it was too damn hard. We had seen the Communications and Jungle levels but had only heard whispers and rumours of Village, Ammunition Dump, Concentration Camp and Airport levels. But over the following days and weeks we slowly got better. The amount of soldiers, tanks, jeeps, boats and choppers we destroyed got higher with every attempt. The amount of civilians we killed became fewer as time went on and ammunition was not wasted as needlessly. If one of us managed to stumble onto a new level we were all exhilarated and talked about it for the rest of the day.

We had all seen the Rambo Trilogy, Predator, Platoon and Commando and while we played Operation Wolf we were living those films. That summer was the summer of Operation Wolf, the summer where saving hostages was all we thought about. Nowadays, sitting on a juicy mortgage with bills to pay and all the other responsibilities of a grown man I am not too surprised to find myself smiling affectionately as I reminisce about this 20 year-old game.

Movie Review – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Director – Jake Kasdan.
Cast – John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Raymond J. Barry and Margo Martindale.

The latest comedy from the Judd Apatow stable, Walk Hard maintains the same style and feel as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. It's an affectionate parody of the music biography genre although it focuses mainly on Walk The Line and to a lesser extent Ray.

The story centers on the life of Dewey Cox, a boy happily growing up in a farming family with his parents and angelic, child prodigy brother. Their lives are changed utterly when Dewey manages to accidentally chop his brother in half while they are having a play machete fight in their father's barn. Dewey is constantly reminded that, "the wrong kid died" by his father until he brings more shame upon the family by inflicting rock and roll, the devil’s music, onto their rural community. This is the final straw for Pa Cox and he banishes his son forever.

We know exactly what we're getting with Walk Hard. There is nothing new here and the storyline is deliberately predictable as the whole point of the film is to poke fun at a specific genre. So in order to hold our interest the two elements that need to shine are the script and the actors. Luckily enough, they do. John C. Reilly enjoys every minute of playing the childlike Dewey taking him from the age of 14 right up to his seventies. Seeing a 42 year-old John C. Reilly play a 14 year-old boy is pleasantly surreal. Being an accomplished musician in his own right (he has supported Aimee Mann in the past) meant that he could perform his own vocals in Walk Hard.

Jenna Fischer, who plays Pam in the amazing American Office TV series, plays Dewey’s second wife Darlene. This is her highest profile role to date and she lends her own natural ease to it. She brings a glistening innocence to the role and the chemistry between the two leads is convincing. In fact the cast is perfect right down to the dozens of cameo’s sprinkled throughout. Keep an eye out for more stars from The American Office and Thirty Rock and also Harold Ramis, Jonah Hill and Frankie Muniz. On Dewey’s trip to India he bumps into The Beatles who are played by Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman. Paul Rudd’s attempt at John Lennon’s accent is fantastically bad! Elvis Presley turns up too and is played by, of all people, Jack White from The White Stipes!?!

Unfortunately Walk Hard is not perfect and is occasionally a victim of it’s own earnest predictability. The middle section is slightly saggy and some of the recurring jokes lose their luster after a while. It’s not going to change the world but Walk Hard is escapism at it’s absolute best.

Movie Review – The Bucket List

Director – Rob Reiner.
Cast – Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd and Rob Morrow.

The Bucket List is the story of two terminally ill men that befriend each other in a hospital ward. The obscenely rich hospital-corporation head Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and quiz loving mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) decide to list all the things they want to do before they kick the bucket and so begins a road movie with a twist.

Both actors are now 70 years of age and you can’t help but smile watching the two elderly men sky dive and race classic cars. The contributions to the list by each character are typical and for every one of Edward’s “kiss the most beautiful girl in the world” there is a “witness something truly majestic” from Carter. The two men, being so different, learn quickly about themselves and each other as they tick down through the list as the most important friendship of their lives is born.

The film is tenderly directed by the assured and experienced Rob Reiner. He skilfully combines slapstick and sentiment in a way that harks back to his earlier films The Princess Bride and Stand By Me. He avoids corniness, keeps an even pace and manages to give both of the heavyweight actor’s their respective space.

With an in-form Rob Reiner at the reigns The Bucket List was always destined to be watchable but the casting of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman elevates it to something different entirely. To watch the two old masters spar with each other is very special. From the very first second of the film it is obvious that something magical is happening onscreen. Every nuance of their performance is so absolutely perfect and natural it quickly becomes impossible to look upon them as Edward and Carter, mere characters in a film. It seems effortless to the extent that you begin to wonder whether it really is just Jack being Jack and Morgan being Morgan. Jack plays Edward as a hybrid of the mischievous McMurphy from Cuckoo’s Nest and the curmudgeonly Melvin from As Good As It Gets. Morgan lends Carter the same calmness and serenity of Red in The Shawshank Redemption.

Sean Hayes of Will And Grace shines as Edward’s personal assistant while the rest of the supporting cast are solid.

To roll out the old cliché and say that The Bucket List is an early candidate for film of the year would be doing it a disservice. This is pure escapism, a timeless classic that will live on and on.