Because Everybody Else Has One

Starting off the weekend early with Jason Statham and my review of his latest action flick, The Mechanic. From Channel24.co.za (Originally posted 31 March 2011) What it's about A remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic  stars Jason Statham as an elite assassin who, after being assigned to kill his mentor, suddenly finds himself facing the reality of who he really works for – all the while taking on his mentor's son as an apprentice hit man. What we thought At first glance,  The Mechanic  seems to be exactly the kind of film that Jason Statham made his name on: a high octane action film, filled to the gills with insane stunt work, a revenge-driven plot and a boatload of enemies for “The Stath” to dispatch with as violently as possible. However, to its detriment or, depending on your own sensibilities, to its benefit, the film is much leaner and meaner than the wonderful, over-the-top lunacy of something like  Crank 2 .  Statham is ...

I've never been a big Led Zeppelin fan, to be honest and I'm still not really. Hell, I actually like the last two albums that Robert Plant put out - both Americana albums, one with Alison Krauss - more than almost the entirety of Led Zep's catalog. That said, though, there were certainly a good band and they had a bunch of very good songs but the only had one truly great - from beginning to end great - album. And oddly enough, it was their first. I haven't listened to the entirety of Led Zeppelin 1 for ages but there's no doubt: it's a terrific record. From epinions.com (Originally posted 15 August 2005)      From my admittedly limited exposure to the band, I’ve come to the conclusion that Led Zeppelin suffers from one simple but fairly problematic flaw: their songwriting is, at best, seriously below par. Sure, they make up for this somewhat by being masters of arrangements, production and of course, of their instruments but ultimately their inability ...

I haven't posted an older review in a while but here's something that has just been released here in South Africa on DVD. There has also been a lot of talk about the next Superman movie lately and Sucker Punch has just been released in the US so it's timely to talk about this, the most recent film by director Zach Snyder. Oh and I keep referring to it as "this movie" or, simply, "this" or "that" for the very simple reason that I refuse to keep on typing the absurdly long name of this bloody film! From Channel24.co.za (Originally posted 15 October 2010)      What it's about: After escaping the clutches of the Pure Ones, a militant group of owls running an orphanage dedicated to the brainwashing of "rescued" orphans into mindless drones and soldiers, Soren, a young barn owl seeks out the help of the mythical owls of Ga'Hoole to put an end to the Pure Ones' nefarious schemes to rule over the entire owl kingdom.     ...

I have already covered most of the big releases for this week but there are still two more to take a quick look at.  Paradise Stop is a fairly unspectacular South African film that tries to mix quirky comedy, romance and crime drama into one complete package. It doesn't really succeed, to be honest, but it's still a perfectly OK bit of local entertainment that stuck me as being somewhat amateurish but kind of charming for that. The premise itself is quite fun in that two close friends are on other ends of the law - much to the total ignorance of at least one of them but it's more diverting than truly engaging. Still, director Jann Turner is clearly one of South Africa's more promising filmmakers and, if nothing else, it's admirable to see her come up with a film that is quintessentially South African but without needing to hit us over the head with the typical cliches or overexposed subject matters. It ain't great but as far as fun, frothy local confections g...

My second Channel24 review for the week. This is about as weak as Hall Pass but it has even less reason to exist. Still, very young kids will probably enjoy it. Oh and I saw it in 3D apparently - a fact that I totally forgot when writing this review. It's not really worth the price of a normal  movie ticket, it's certainly not worth wasting your money on it in 3D. From Channel24.co.za (Originally posted 25 March 2011) What it's about: A kid-friendly retelling of what is arguably Shakespeare's best-loved work, Romeo and Juliet. This time with garden gnomes. What we thought: WHY? Whatever  Gnomeo and Juliet  got right and whatever it got wrong, there is just no getting past this initial question. I understand the appeal of introducing a younger generation of viewers to one of the greatest stories ever told – even if it is in a very watered-down, untragic form. What I don't get is why they decided to do this with garden gnomes of all things and why, oh wh...

The first of two reviews that I did for Channel24 this week.  It's pretty bad as far as stupid comedies go but I don't think it's quite as atrocious as some seem to think. From Channel24.co.za (Originally posted 25 March 2011) What it's about: Two relatively happily men are given a "hall pass" - a week off from their marriage - by their wives, as a "cure", of sorts, for their wandering eyes. What we thought: That   Hall Pass   is crass, stupid, lowest-common-denominator trash isn't exactly surprising when you take into consideration the Farrelly Brothers' past work ( There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber, Me Myself and Irene ) but what is surprising is just how low on solid laughs it is. Just because the Farrellys revel in the dregs of the comedy barrel doesn't mean that they haven't gotten some genuine comic gold out of it. There's Something About Mary, in particular, was a huge and deserved comedy hit tha...

Here's a fairly long review that I just wrote for artslink.co.za on what will I'm sure go down as one of my favourite films of 2011. And though I do make this pretty clear in the article itself, I do want to reiterate here that it's best to go into Never Let Me Go with as little knowledge about it as possible. As such, unless you're already familiar with the subject of the film, it's probably better to read this review after seeing the film. But please do see it. It's a hell of a piece of work. From Artslink.co.za (Originally posted 24 March 2011) Before going any further, I need to post a slight spoiler warning. While I don't intend to give away much more than the film's basic premise, part of what is so wonderful about Never Let Me Go is the way its story unfolds and, though I don't want to take that away from anyone, it's impossible to discuss the film without revealing at least a few basic points about its plot. We're not exactly talk...

OK, so another big week for films. Though, I do mostly mean big as in "loads of movies", not big as in "great". I have already posted reviews for Freakonomics and Red Riding Hood (as seen below) but there are still a few more to look at. Some better, one much worse. Rango is a huge step up for Gore Verbinski, considering that the last two films he directed were Pirates of the Carribean 2 and 3. It's an odd animated kids movie, though, because it may have beautiful 2D animation, solid jokes and Johnny Depp is awesome as the title character but it's clearly going to appeal to adults for more than it will to kids. A large part of the pleasure of the film is all the allusions to some classic films but, when you get right down to  it, references to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Chinatown and Clint Eastwood's westerns are probably going to go right over the heads of the younger members of the audience - and some of the older ones too. Also, it is more vio...