DVD Review - Torment (2014)

Genre:
Horror
Distributor:
Altitude Film Distribution
Release Date:
26th January 2015 (UK DVD)
Rating: 18
Director:
Jordan Barker
Katharine Isabelle, Robin Dunne, Peter DaCunha, Stephen McHattie, Noah Danby
Buy:
Torment [DVD]

Jordan Barker’s Torment probably wont be as tormenting as you’d like it to be, but its still worth a look if you’re a fan of home invasion narratives. Newly weds Sarah and Cory Morgan (Katharine Isabelle and Robin Dunne) travel to their country home to put the past behind them and start a new family, with them is Cory’s 7 year old son Liam who is still dealing with his mother’s death the year before. When the family arrive, evidence of squatters begins a night of violence and abduction.

Torment borrows a lot of narrative techniques from some of the best horror films of the past decade, (The Strangers, Sinister) but never really forms its own world or characters. A middling set of stakes and too few spooks keep the film from really demanding our attention or imposing some kind of memorable experience. It doesn’t help that Adam Wingard’s You’re Next has essentially given the home invasion sub-genre a kind of spring clean, showing how dynamic, enjoyable, and terrifying a film can be when properly balanced. Comparisons are unfortunately against Torment, which is a shame because there are some great elements here.

                Starting with the obvious, Liam’s teddy bears, once decapitated, produce some startlingly eerie old-school masks which never quite lose their creepiness. Which is important because once Mr Mouse starts talking any terror, you might have felt, will be drained away via poor dialogue drawled in a strange Bane impression. Silence, perhaps, would have been golden. Similarly the sound tracking reaches a crescendo far too soon in the film’s prologue, undermining the tension and leaving the viewer a bit bewildered in the face of the opening credits. Thankfully the music finds its footing later on, helping keep the pace up in the more action-based second half of the film, and proving especially great in a gruelling suffocation sequence.

Isabelle looks like she’s having the best time being terrified, but she’s hardly flaunting the degree of skill she paraded in American Mary. Stephen McHattie ( Lance Henriksen: Mark 2, or is Lance Henriksen a Mark 2 McHattie? ) pops up for literally 2 scenes then gets blown up so yeh, no cool old guys to save the day here. Add Dunne’s pretty uneventful inclusion and the casting becomes a bit lacklustre.

Barker clearly has some great ideas on how to shoot basic manoeuvres which could otherwise have looked dull. Playing with the focus whenever one of the assailants enters a room works well as a means of obscuring, as does fading the gruesome family in and out of shots throughout the house. Barker keeps the camera roomy around his subjects to hint that – at any second – another character could appear. The general effect is to transform his human threat into a near-supernatural  omnipresence we never quite get a handle on. Of course all this is somewhat ruined by the dopey revelations that come later.

Dodgy dialogue and a meandering sense of panic eventually bog Torment down in its own lack of creativity, however there’s successful suspense and a few nifty set-pieces to maintain your attention for a fun and forgettable night of home defence.

★★1/2
Scott Clark

Film Review - A Most Violent Year (2014)

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Distributor: Icon Film Distribution
Release Date: 23rd January 2015 (UK)
Rating:15
Running Time: 125 mins
Director: J. C. Chandor
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks

1981 is on record as statistically being one of the most dangerous years for New York City.  As well as being a dangerous year, it is also my birth year, so I sat down to enjoy this film thinking about those The Year I Was Born books that you got given as ‘original’ gifts as a child, eager to find out about New York City, in the year I was born.

The film follows Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac; Ex Machina, The Two Faces of January) and wife Anna (Jessica Chastain; Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty) as they try to succeed with their oil trading business in the most violent year.  Business has been up and down for them, someone has been stealing oil from their tankers and they are being threatened with legal action from the DA for various accounts of embezzlement, but they are in the process of purchasing a large warehouse facility to greatly expand their business.

When a film is called A Most Violent Year you’re expecting a level of violence, so I spent a lot of the film waiting for something to happen, which kept me on my toes. However, the film is not about the city and the violent year, the story is more about an immigrant trying to do well in business and life, with crooked business associates, in a crooked business, in a violent city.  The nods to the violent year are achieved by radio snippets about shooting peppered throughout the film.

Jessica Chastain’s performance is standout and the highlight of the film, Anna’s moral compass slightly scewed to get the job done and to do right by the business and her family.  She skirts round questions from her husband about how legally they’ve been working with such class, very much aware that their competitors are just as crooked as they are.

One of the more interesting characters is Julian (Elyes Gabel; Interstellar, Game of Thrones), a driver who early on the film has his oil tanker stolen at gun point. He is then, after much debate, given a gun to protect himself, however he is really not emotionally ready to be back on the road. Abel is too preoccupied with financially concerns to fully sympathise with his employees state of mind, and as a result Julian handles his situation badly.  Girls fans like myself will also be pleased to see Christopher Abbott as one of the hijackers, who puts in a fine and gutsy performance.

A Most Violent Year is a subtle, suspenseful but rather slow moving at times, however an interesting portrayal of a well meaning man trying to do right in a violent and crooked world.  Though entertaining enough, I don’t think the film packs the punch which it promises.

Side Note - For old times sake I just dug out my copy of The Year I Was Born book, which tells me that on my birthday an ex-Trappist monk hijacked a Boeing 737 flying between Dublin and London.  He did this by covering himself in petrol and demanding the plane changed location to Iran, but being a short distance flight, the plane only had enough petrol to go to Paris.  When they landed in Paris, in discussions with the police the ex-monk's demands did not include any financial gain, only that Pope John Paul II make public a series of apocalyptic visions and prophecies called the Third Secret of Fatima.  I hope I’m not the only one thinking that this story would have made a far more interesting movie than A Most Violent Year.

★★★★★

Alice Hubley

Blu-ray Review - I'm All Right Jack (1959)

Genre:
Comedy
Distributor:
Studio Canal
Release Date:
19th January 2015
Rating: U
Director:
John Boulting
Cast: Ian Carmichael, Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, Miles Malleson
Buy: Blu-ray I'm All Right Jack
I’m All Right Jack is considered one of the great British satirical films, and although it is certainly a good film, it doesn't quite live up to it’s reputation. Back during it’s release it was the highest grossing film of 1959, how times have changed. The film’s highlight is a performance by Peter Sellers as the socialist union shop steward Fred Kite.

The film’s protagonist Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) is an upper class graduate who takes a job at his uncle’s missile factory. However, his uncle plans to have Stanley become the focus of a labour dispute that he plans to profit from. This all goes pear shaped when Kite takes advantage of the dispute for his own agenda.

As is so often the case with Peter Sellers, he completely steals the film from under all the other actors, and according to The Guardian, “it’s a career best performance”. Although that is a ridiculous overstatement, it is definitely considered up there with his finest performances, and Bafta agreed, awarding him Best Actor. British veteran thespians like Dennis Price and the recently decreased Richard Attenborough round off the supporting cast.

Unfortunately the satire is dated and isn't as funny as it should be, but with that being said, it’s still a very enjoyable watch. The film’s 102 running time flies by, and it does have something to say about how the greedy bosses will do anything to make a buck at the expense of their workers. This is certainly an issue that has relevance to today’s political climate. The disc includes a new interview with star Liz Fraser, a featurette on Peter Sellers, and an early Richard Lester short with Peter Sellers.

★★★1/2
Ian Schultz

Did You Hear Voices Or The New Trailer For Enter The Dangerous Mind Trailer

When it comes to horror flicks these day the psychological thriller-horrors are the ones that seem to deliver the everlasting memories.The Babadook is one certain film another is a film that arrived on the festival circuit in 2013 Enter The Dangerous Mind (then called Snap) has a new trailer check it out


EDM for short made its name at SXSW back in 2013 and those fortunate to see it then have stated it's left a impact on them , be it the nastiness of the film or the great use of the film's soundtrack as an extra level of tension. These are attributes tick the boxes for horror fans, it's not The Babadook but it does sound it uses some of the same checklist to deliver us all the scares.

Enter The Dangerous Mind tells the tale of a troubled musician/composer Jim (Jake Hoffman) whose past has been nothing but trouble and is struggling with his grip on reality. When he thinks he has a shot of happiness when he meets Wenday (Nikki Reed) those long buried memories decide to surface forcing him on a deep violent abyss when crushes become obsession.

No word on a UK release, if anything this could sneek onto a direct to DVD release later this year possibly next, but for U.S its 6th February limited theatrical release as well as a VOD release. The film also stars Scott Bakula, Thomas Dekker, Gina Rodriguez and Jason Priestly.

Synopsis

Enter the mind of Jim (Jake Hoffman) – a socially awkward EDM musician with a traumatic past, a tenuous grip on reality, and voices in his head. When he meets Wendy (Nikki Reed), he thinks he might finally have a shot at happiness. But as long-buried memories begin to stir, and his crush turns into obsession, Jim finds himself looking into a violent abyss… and he won’t be going alone. Pulsating with raw energy and an intense electronic soundtrack, Enter the Dangerous Mind is a pitch-black psychological thriller that doesn’t let off the gas for a second as it twists to its shocking conclusion.

source:Bloody Disgusting

Watch The Intense Frantic Short Isolated

Zombie films or TV programmes are ten a penny these days  some we love many we loathe however when someone tries something a little different our respect goes out to them. Even if that idea doesn't work we still show our appreciation but in Thomas Vergara's Isolated.

No one ever thought they could make The Walking Dead a success but  they have but until now we haven't seen a zombie apocalypse animated? Vergara delivers that vision that he's co-written (with his brother Manuel), directed a 5 minute frantic journey that certainly delivers intensity with a hyper-real aesthetic.

Isolated is if anything a one chase scene, an awesome scene at that, one a man wakes up in his
 wrecked taxi, in a mysterious desert city. No idea how he got there he attempts to piece together the clues and that those crazy humans that populate the city he may just be connected to them more than he realizes.

ISOLATED from Peak Pictures on Vimeo.

If you want to feel totally disconnected Isolated does the trick

source:Shortoftheweek

Blu-ray Review - The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Young and Innocent (1937)

Genre:
Comedy-thriller
Distributor:
Network
Release Date:
19th January 2015
Rating: U
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty
Buy: Blu-ray The Lady Vanishes

Genre: 
Thriller
Distributor: 
Network
Release Date: 
19th January 2015
Rating: U
Director: 
Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney
Buy: Blu-ray - Young and Innocent

Network are releasing 2 of Hitchcock’s early British films on Blu-ray this week: The Lady Vanishes and Young & Innocent. Both of the films show that Hitchcock’s style and technique was fully formed years before he left to go to Hollywood to make his masterpieces like Vertigo, The Wrong Man, Psycho and Rear Window.

The Lady Vanishes is the more well known of the two and is often considered the high water of his British films, with only The 39 Steps topping it. It was also his penultimate film in Britain before he left for the glitzy heights of Hollywood; his last was Jamaica Inn, which is considered one of his very worst. A young woman is travelling by train and meets an elderly lady, but she soon mysteriously disappears. The rest of the train passengers deny the existence of the old lady, but a young musicologist helps the woman, and together they search the train for clues and for the whereabouts of the mysterious woman.

The film is equally as much a film by Hitchcock as it is a film written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder who seemed like the perfect match for Hitchcock’s perverse sense of humour. However, they never worked together again, except for some re-writes on Jamaica Inn. The film is one of Hitch’s most overtly comedic (of course, all of his films have his trademark humour) and the script is just one great line after another, giving it an almost screwball comedy feel at times. It’s also full of concise shots and storytelling, which is expected from the Master of Suspense.

Young & Innocent is the more overtly Hitchcockian film of the two in the classical sense. It’s about a man who is believed to be guilty of the murder of a young woman; it’s the classic wrong man scenario, which many of Hitchcock’s best films follow. This one is not one of his best but it has many virtues.

It’s a very quick paced film. At only 83 minutes or so, it’s a perfect example of Hitchcock's theory of a film’s length, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” The same can be said for The Lady Vanishes as well, however sadly in some of his later films in the 60s he didn’t follow his own rule. Young & Innocent is a solid populist thriller that shows a master filmmaker early on, yet clearly his focus and cinematic technique are already there, and much of his themes are on full show. Even his first film has a scene of characteristic Hitchcockian voyeurism.

Both discs boast hi-def transfers and look as good as they can due to their age. Both films include introductions by Charles Barr and image based extras. Young & Innocent however has the upper hand in the features department, featuring a 25 minutes documentary on Hitchcock’s British career.

The Lady Vanishes ★★★★

Young and Innocent ★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Blu-ray Review - Two For the Road (1967)

Genre:
Comedy
Distributor:
Eureka
Release Date:
19th January 2015
Rating: PG
Director:
Stanley Donen
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney
Buy: Blu-ray - Two for the Road

Two for the Road is a slightly forgotten film by Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain, Bedazzled, Charade), which has been re-released by Eureka in their Masters of Cinema imprint. It stars Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn and both have rarely been better. The film’s influence can certainly be seen in Richard Linklater’s rightfully celebrated Before Trilogy.

Mark Wallace (Albert Finney) is a well off architect who is married to Joanne (Audrey Hepburn) in a relationship which is obviously on the rocks. Through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards the stories of how they fell in love, fell out of love, and got back together are shown. The film is mostly set in parts of Northern France, and more often than not is set on the same road but at different points in their relationship.

It was an interesting period for Hollywood when Two for the Road came out; films like Bonnie &Clyde and Point Blank were murdering the classic Hollywood studio system. I think Donen saw this and decided to make a film which partly owed itself to some of the work from the French New Wave, but simultaneously worked as a mainstream romantic comedy. It was also the first big film that Albert Finney did for an American Studio; he had great success a couple years earlier with Tom Jones (for those who don’t know, it’s not about the Welsh singer). Audrey Hepburn obviously was a massive iconic film star, but even by 1967 her star was fading and she only acted in 5 more films in the next 25 years.

Frederic Raphael, who had a massive success with Darling starring Julie Christie (he won the Oscar for it), wrote the script. It has been said that the interactions between Finney and Hepburn are based on his own relationship with his wife, and it certainly has a feel of an authentic real life romance. Raphael deservingly was nominated for an Oscar for the script.

Christopher Challis shot the film. He learned his trade being a camera operator for Powell & Pressburger, eventually graduating to becoming their DP. Martin Scorsese once said of Challis, “Chris Challis brought a vibrancy to the celluloid palette that was entirely his own, and which helped make Britain a leader in that long, glorious period of classic world cinema”. His innovative work is on glorious display in Two for the Road. The photography of the French landscape just pops with the new Hi-Def transfer.

Two for the Road is fascinating and extremely funny film and a example of old Hollywood director taking his cues from the New Wave but making something still accessible to a mainstream audience in 1960s. It’s editing is fascinating and it’s shot length is extremely short for the period, much more modern than even someone like Sam Peckinpah who is noted for his fast cuts. It’s probably Audrey Hepburn’s finest performance and Finney is always a joy on screen. The film’s influence on future films is undeniable, and it has a wonderful score by Henri Mancini that fits the mood and pace perfectly - he considered it the favourite among his scores.  

The disc contains an interview with Frederic Raphael, a commentary by Stanley Donen, the theatrical trailer and a booklet with essays on the film.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

BFI To Release Chinese Masterpeice Spring In A Small Town On DVD

Regarded as the finest work from the first great era of Chinese filmmaking, Fei Mu’s quiet, piercingly poignant study of adulterous desire and guilt-ridden despair is a remarkable rediscovery, often compared to David Lean’s Brief Encounter. Following its theatrical release last year as part of the BFI’s major season A Century of Chinese Cinema, Spring in a Small Town will be released on DVD by the BFI on 23 February 2014.


China / 1948 / black and white / Mandarin with optional English subtitles / DVD9 / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audioAfter eight years of marriage to Liyan – once rich but now a shadow of his former self following a long, ruinous war – Yuwen does little except deliver his daily medication. A surprise visit from Liyan’s friend Zhang re-energises the household, but also stirs up dangerously suppressed longings and resentments.

Focusing on people rather than politics, director Fei Mu’s greatest achievement perfectly captures the dilemma of desire raging against loyalty, and sits alongside both the tender family dramas of Japan’s Yasujiro Ozu and the wonderful post-war humanist realist cinema of René Clément, Satyajit Ray and Vittorio De Sica. It has been acknowledged as a formative influence by Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers), Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine), Jia Zhangke (Still Life), and Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love).

Fei Mu’s deft use of locations, dissolves and camera movements makes for a fraught, febrile mood of hesitant passion, entrapment and ennui. Cinematically and psychologically sophisticated, Spring in a Small Town has been restored by the China Film Archive as part of the Digital Restoration Project. It is accompanied here by two rare and fascinating films from the BFI National Archive.



Special features
BFI re-release trailer
A Small Town in China (1933, 9 mins): an intimate portrait of community life in an unidentified Chinese town
This is China (1946, 9 mins): a fascinating compilation of scenes showing diversity and disparity in 1940s China
Illustrated booklet with film notes and credits

Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town will arrive on DVD from BFI on 23rd February, we are hoping to review  so stay tuned and you can pre-orderSpring in a Small Town (DVD) now.