Crimewave (1985)

Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, Brion James, Paul J. Smith, Louise Lasser, Bruce Campbell, Edward R. Pressman
Certificate: PG
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Awards: None

Crimewave is Sam Raimi's whacky comedy made between Evil Dead and its sequel. Its story consists of a nerdy security guard (Birney) trying to get the girl of his dreams (Wilson). However, due to an assassination plot, two murderous rodent exterminators get involved as things start to get silly.

Raimi's effects have always been a bit weird. In the Evil Dead series and Darkman, they give the films a charm that makes you want to see more of the same style. Crimewave, on the other hand, is a mess. It seems that it is supposed to be a mess, but that doesn't make it any better. Cackling, cartoonish villains, boring love story and all but a few unfunny lines makes this a particularly bad film.

There are some good bits. Bruce Campbell makes a great little character, while the stylisation of film noir is done superbly.

It's surprising how the film turned out considering the talent behind the story. Raimi collaborated with the Coen brothers for the script and it's shocking how bad it is. This is by far the worst Raimi film I have seen so far. Very disappointing.

**Pretty Bad

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddlestone, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Christopher Ecclestone, Idris Elba, Chris O'Dowd
Certificate: 12
Genre: Superhero
Awards: None

So it's been a year after the events of The Avengers, and it's time to see how our favourite norse god is doing. Other than moping over his human girlfriend, he seems to be okay, creating peace throughout the nine realms and all that.

Meanwhile, Jane Foster (Portman) is stuck on earth and - other than moping over her alien boyfriend - she seems to be doing okay. However, when she finds a portal to another dimension, she accidentally activates a special weapon called the eather that possesses her while also waking up Malekith (Christopher Elf-eston) and his army of dark elves who want to bring the world back into darkness. Oops...

So the two get back together and go to Thor's place for some Asgardian operation to get rid of the eather. However, with Malekith on their tales, Thor has to ask for help from the one he trusts the least - His brother Loki (Hiddlestone)

Like Iron Man 3, Thor 2 (or is it 3? does The Avengers count?) is filled with humour. Although Loki gets the big laughs, almost all of the human cast get a few funny lines. This a complete contrast to our main baddie. Malekith is an underused, underdeveloped villain who could have been so much better. Ecclestone is a good actor, but the film is too focused on Loki to give anything for him to do.

That said, this is the film that won me over to Loki's character. In The Avengers, he seemed too smug to like. But now he has been behind bars and is really a prisoner, he seems more of an ankle biting, playful brother to Thor: the brooding hero.

Thor 2 is a darker chapter in the character's story and is better because of it. Garish CGI Asgard is swapped for gritty CGI Asgard while dreary London replaces sunny Mexico. But the humour keeps the mood up as things get smashed up. Thor 2 is a step up from the original and miles more enjoyable than The Avengers (which I feel is the weakest of the Marvel universe films).

****Good

The Cat Returns (2002)

Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Tim Curry, Cary Elwes, Peter Boyle, Andrew Bevis, Judy Greer
Certificate: U
Genre: Fantasy, Animation, Comedy
Awards: None

The Cat Returns is a film by studio Ghibli, famous for My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away, and has the same immense imagination as its predeccesors. After Haru (Hathaway) saves a cat from being hit by traffic, she finds out that the cat is a prince of the cat world. The cats therefore "reward" Haru by taking her to the cat world to marry the prince. Understandably, Haru isn't exactley happy about this and - following the advice of a voice - she seeks help at the cat buro where she meets the Baron (Elwes) and his friends who decide to help her out of her predicament.

As expected, The Cat Returns is as eccentric as anything made by the studio. It has a very enthralling charm about it and it's full of entertaining characters and sequences including a labyrinth with walking walls.

However, it is one of the shortest Ghibli films I have seen, lasting only 75 minutes while most are close to 2 hours. A lot more could of done with the labyrinth and the Baron's character, but the length does make it feel like a little adventure compared to Spirited Away which takes place over numerous days so it does give it a sense of time.

If you like the vast imagination of studio Ghibli, The Cat Returns will certainty tick your boxes. I watched the english dub version so I don't know if the original voices are better but the english version holds up well.

****Good

Four Lions (2010)

Director: Chris Morris
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsey, Kayvan Novak, Mohammad Aqil, Adeel Akhtar, Craig Parkinson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Eldon
Certificate: 15
Genre: Comedy
Awards: None

Four Lions is a british comedy about incompetent Islamic terrorists. Now that's not something you see everyday. It's no surprises that it comes from the mind of Chris Morris - a controversial figure in british television who is most famous for the fake documentary series Brass Eye that tricked celebrities into backing fake campaigns such as an elephant with its trunk stuck up its anus.

The film follows Omar (Ahmed), a radical muslim who wants to blow up something in the name of Islam. Unfortunately his crew are as useful as a box of wet matches. There's the gullible Waj (Novak), the half crazed Faisal (Akhtar) and the extremist of extremists Barry (Lindsey) who all mess up Omar's plans to blow up the London Marathon.

Four Lions is a side-splittingly funny film that may seem slightly harsh due to its subject matter, but you're never really rooting for the characters as you know there is no way they could pull it off.  You know it's going to end badly and you keep watching until it does.

****Good

Badlands (1973)

Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates
Certificate: 15
Genre: Drama, Crime
Awards: None

After seeing The Tree Of Life, I was a bit apprehensive in dipping my toe back into the dreamy pool of imagery that is Terrence Malick. Luckily, Badlands is nowhere near as pretentious. The voiceovers are still there and the beautiful imagery, but this time they go hand in had with the plot.

Based on a real story, Badlands sees 25 year old Kit (Sheen) and 15 year old Holly (Spacek) fall for each other against the latter's father's wishes. After then shooting the father (Oates), the two lovers try to escape from the authorities, killing anyone in their path.

This isn't a film where you will find grim dirty realism. Both the main characters seem to spend most of the time with their head in the clouds making everything seem quite surreal. Adding to this Spacek's un-emotive voiceover that explains love and murder in the same tones.

If you want to get into Malick, it would be re
commendable to start with Badlands as there is enough plot to keep you satisfied along with the directors extraordinary talent in making a film as beautiful as can be.

****Good

Shock Corridor (1963)

Director: Samuel Fuller

Starring: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, James Best, Harri Rhodes, Paul Dubov, Larry Tucker

Certificate: 15

Genre : Drama

Awards: None

Shock Corridor is a a film by Samuel Fuller starring Peter Breck as Johnny, a journalist who wants to solve a murder that took place in a mental asylum. In order to do so, he has to go undercover as a patient and try to question the witnesses. However, due to the inmates being insane, it's hard to get a proper answer out of them. The state of Johnny's mentality also slowly begins to deteriorate.

The actual murder case is really not the main theme here as we never get the full details or the killers motive. Instead, the film focuses on Johnny and his fellow inmates including a chilling performance by Harri Rhodes as a black man who believes he is a KKK member and starts race riots in the hallway.

Johnny's mentality is also a fascinating as his voice over always delivers a calm and thoughtful voice while his outward voice and actions start doing stranger and stranger things.

Shock Corridor is a really good film that may not leave much mystery to how it ends, but it's enthralling to watch the madness unfurl.

*****Brilliant

The Wolverine (2013)

Director: James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukishami, Svetlana Kodchenkova, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Famke Janssen
Certificate: 12
Genre: Superhero
Awards: None

The Wolverine is not a sequel to the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine - as you may expect - but a follow up to X-Men: The Last Stand, making this film the most recent X-Men film in chronological order.

After killing Jean (Janssen) in the last film, Logan (Jackman) is a bit of a mess and just really feels sorry for himself. However, when he is contacted by a man - Yashida (Yamanouchi) he saved from an atom bomb in Japan, he is given a chance to give up his immortality and have a normal life (well he'll still have claws but it's more normal than the life he has now). Logan refuses and then Mariko (Okamoto), Yashida's granddaughter is kidnapped by people who work for a mysterious mutant called the Viper (Kodchenkova).

The real stand out point of this film is that it doesn't feel like an X-Men film. With only a handful of mutants, this feels completely different and focuses more on Wolverine and his problems rather than big fights between lots of people with different powers. That doesn't mean their isn't any fighting in it. Wolverine slices away like he's playing Fruit Ninja and some of the deaths are quite gruesome and shocking.

The Wolverine is very enjoyable film and I think the second best of the franchise after First Class, but it doesn't add anything to the X-Men story. This is basically the film about when the Wolverine went on holiday.

****Good