The Killer, True Grit, The Sons of Katie Elder

#1 - THE KILLER

Stars -  Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Kong Chu

Director - John Woo

Memorable Quote - ' I believe in justice, but no one believes in me.'

Review - John Woo's gangster epic (which one? I hear you say) is a lot more philosophical than you might at first give it credit for. Following the exploits of an assassin taking on one last job out of compassion, he needs to take the money in order to pay for a cornea operation to prevent a singer he accidentally injured from going blind. Pursued by a cop whose morals seem somehow to be quite similar to his own, he must also battle the triads who are out to kill him. Imbued with gentle tones and shots that contrast the two very similar men, a large amount of the film is beautiful in its close ups and high-powered gunslinging action. At the climax we can but cheer on the protagonists as they attempt to battle their way out of a half demolished church. The final scene, as the killer and the singer crawl past each other in the darkness, is a stark reflection of the perils of the new gangster lifestyle that both protagonists bemoan. Although there seem to be syncing problems early on and the music is distinctly 80s, don't let it put you off: it's worth getting through this one. 4/5.

#2 - TRUE GRIT (1969)

Stars - John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Robert Duvall, Jeff Corey

Director - Henry Hathaway

Memorable Quote - 'I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.'

Review - I reviewed the new 'True Grit' a while back, mentioning there that I had never seen the original. Well, now I have, and it's really made me appreciate what a fantastic piece of work the newest one is. This original is a lot softer - everyone gets along for most of the way, Mattie recovers just fine from her fall, and there seems to be a lot less danger in general. It's a shocking moment when Quincy chops off Moon's fingers nonetheless, and indeed I found his death more poignant in this version. Wayne is wooden as ever, Campbell is only somewhat useful, and the goofs are numerous (rubber guns and nylon tights being the most anachronistic). While all the potential was there, one suspects it was held back by something - a theory that holds water when considering the greatness of the newest version. Still, a classic's a classic, and it does pretty well in its field. 4/5

#3 - THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER

Stars - John Wayne, Dean Martin, Michael Anderson Jr, Earl Holliman, Jeremy Slate, James Gregory

Director - Henry Hathaway 

Memorable Quote - 'Here's a present for you!'

Review - Well, here's one unintentionally hilarious Western for you. Dean Martin turns out to be the most convincing cowboy of the lot, John Wayne plays John Wayne, and the main character isn't even in the film. With a round of awful slapstick acting in the form of the youngest son, and an actually kind of funny fight scene, the film descends into your average Western fare: the Elders are double-crossed and their names blackened, a shootout ensues in which one of them (the boring one) dies, and finally John Wayne is the last of his family left standing. He seeks out justice by blowing up a man and an entire store of guns, somehow without killing anybody else, and the newly-appointed sheriff shrugs his shoulders. Them's the breaks when you're in a Western, kid. Not the best, not the worst - 3.5/5

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Atame, Shaun of the Dead, Day of the Dead

#1 - ÁTAME! (TIE ME UP, TIE ME DOWN)

Stars -  Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles León, Francisco Rabal 

Director - Pedro Almodóvar

Memorable Quote - ' Atame!'

Review - What a great piece of film work! Atame! is the strange tale of how a man just released from a mental hospital kidnaps the woman he loves, so that she in turn can fall in love with him. Used by film students the world over as a case study, it is in some ways just as shocking now as it was in 1990, although the shock value comes from an accurate portrayal of character rather than from simple desire to shock. At first the premise seems ridiculous, but the story we gradually build up of both Ricky's and Marina's troubled past, along with the way he treats her - quite gently, for a kidnapper - allows us to accept that she would feel worried for him after he is injured, and from there develop stronger feelings. The last scene seems somewhat surreal - it's confusing that Lola would accept things so easily, until we remember that she is implicated in her sister's pornographic career as an instigator - though as they sing into the distance it's a strange sense of hope they carry with them. Perhaps they can have a normal life with a normal family and love each other, after all. That feeling will be the one you take away, making this an enjoyable watch. 5/5.

#2 - SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Stars - Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Dylan Moran, Lucy Davis, Bill Nighy, Jessica Hynes

Director - Edgar Wright

Memorable Quote - 'You've got red on you.'

Review - This is a re-watch, and what a beautiful British comedy it is. The cast list are a who's-who of comedy film Brits, with most having also graced our screens in successful TV shows, and the humour within is of course quintessentially British. Centering around the daily visit to the local pub as much as it does around the zombie apocalypse, even repeated viewings do nothing to dull the funniest moments; Bill Nighy is of course fantastic, and Pegg is as endearingly useless as ever. There are many clever devices used - the automatic walk to the shops contrasted with before and after the zombies, the zombie-like state of the morning, the team led by Yvonne who are the doubles of Shaun's team...It goes on. The relationships between the characters are often another source of humour (Moran's character being in love with Ashfield's, Shaun's mum, his most definitely not a dad but a step-dad, etc). What can I say? If you haven't seen this yet, what are you playing at? 5/5

#3 - DAY OF THE DEAD (2008)

Stars - Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, Michael Welch, AnnaLynne McCord, Stark Sands, Ian McNiece, Ving Rhames

Director - Steve Miner

Memorable Quote - 'You see this? This is a machete. Unappreciative ass. See if I save your ass again.'

Review - Yet another film that I haven't seen the original of! Wheee. From what I've read it's so different from the original that it barely matters. Well, anyway, this zombie offering was kind of alright, I suppose, but it lacked any kind of real impact. There was humour in it, but it was marred by racist undertones that were supposed to be amusing because it was a black man saying them instead of a white man, and childish joking around that annoyed me rather than making me laugh. The interesting part of the movie was the sweet, shy soldier Bud and his transformation into a zombie - along with his retention of romantic feelings for lead girl Sarah. If only this had been developed a bit more this could have been a really interesting film, with something new to offer, but unfortunately that went right out of the window when this plot line was simply discarded. The super-scientist zombie is foolish, and I certainly don't think that real zombie-genre fans would be accepting of the idea in this setting. A waste of some good potential here - perhaps thirteen producers was a bit too much. 2/5

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