Lifer Movies

Title: The Raid Rating: 4.5/5 Genre: Action Starring: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy Director: Gareth Evans Language: Indonesian There seems to be a trend that is occurring in modern action films, the last decade or so seeing a steady rise in 'intelligent action' where plots have their twists, characters are portrayed as gritty and realistic with emotional problems to face and villains, too, have their own twisted desires on display, their long and elaborate speeches preparing you for what's to follow. This is not such a film, taking us back in time to the 90s where the genre didn't always make a lot of sense, where characters were ridiculous in their ability to do what no human should be capable of doing; fighting with injuries that should have long since killed them and a never ending barrage of enemies springing out at every moment. Barely a minute goes by without some sort of weapon flying, gun firing or martial arts stunt is pulled off with precisio...

Title: Himizu Rating: 4.5/5 Genre: Dark Drama Starring: Shôta Sometani, Fumi Nikaidô Director: Sion Sono Language: Japanese I've said it before but it bears repeating, I don't read what this directors films are about, I just go watch them knowing that what he emerges with will be – for better or worse – unique in his style, and once again he's proven that this faith isn't misguided. But before I go on let me just point out that this film is bleak beyond comprehension. A man who made his name lightly mocking suicide circles and showing murderers gleefully hacking victims into bite size chunks has lightened up on the bloodshed but not on the dark atmospheres he seems to relish, and despite the comparative conventionality, this must be the most despair-filled and hopeless piece he's ever emerged with. There are funerals happier than this, and it's no surprise given the material he had to work with. Set in post-tsunami Japan, the scene is set with rolling ...

Title: Coriolanus Rating: 4/5 Genre: Drama, Thriller Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox Director: Ralph Fiennes Renowned stage actor Fiennes making a splash with his directorial debut, a tale I regret not managing to see when it first hit the big screen earlier this year for it's limited and short-lived run. It's perhaps not all that surprising given the subject matter, even the title “Coriolanus” giving way to fears from some that some of the language might not be as simple as other contemporary films, and the second you hear it's less action and more talk; political displays of power and manipulation of the masses into doing their bidding, well I expect that's already caused most to tune out. With the current trend of instant gratification from films; of never finding yourself pondering the choice of words or their meaning, or a story where the real strength lies in the use of language and the action is merely there to give it a...

Title: The Other “F” Word Rating: 4/5 Genre: Documentary Starring: Jim Lindberg, Flea, Fat Mike Director: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins “When we were younger, we were all nihilistic. Live for today. Live fast. I thought we were going to change the world. Maybe the way we change the world is by raising better kids.” – Mike Freeman, Rancid This film was first billed to me as about “how punks make better parents because they have more worldly experience,” and I was sold. I was short sighted in thinking this would make a good film; a biased documentary ignoring fundamental difficulties faced by any parent, let alone one that spent their youth heavily involved in an anarchistic, nihilistic movement; no this is better than that. When punk exploded in L.A. it was a rebellion; a movement that ran far deeper than just the music. Divorce rates were at an all time high, Nixon was just involved in the Watergate scandal and fathers were dying in the Vietnam war, all the whilst the factory build...

Title: Dirt (Dumber than Dirt) Rating: 3.5/5 Genre: Black Comedy Starring: Tracy Fraim, Michael Covert, Tara Chocol Director: Michael Covert, Tracy Fraim It isn't often that I feel the urge to watch a comedy, and so you'd probably think when the desire swings my way I'd be spoilt for choice. You'd be wrong. Comedies so often seem to re-use stale jokes and I seem to have a very specific – specifically crude – taste in humour. If it's a 'boy meets girl' story it's out. If it's about a talking animal, it's out. If, for any reason there's a frat boy that says 'dude,' out. Is it any wonder the last film reviewed entirely played for laughs was about a junkie elephant with crack in his ass . And so with my very limited choices I come across a promising indie title; a tale of two brothers in their late thirties wholly dependant on their mother to cook and clean for them, and when she passes on it isn't long before they realise they...

Title: The Impossible Kid Rating: 3.5/5 Genre: Action, Comedy Starring: Weng Weng Director: Eddie Nicart Language: Filipino (dubbed) The first from what I expect won't be the last of my 'film nights' streamed directly to my TV to be shared and mocked, a tale from a land of low budgets that takes liberties from James Bond and the Pink Panther and slams them together. A tale of a covert operation to thwart an evil foe who dresses like a member of the Ku Klux Klan, broadcasting himself on TV and demanding one billion peso's – or one million, he can't decide – so he can free the Phillipines. He doesn't ever really get around as to how. Standing in his way is Agent 00 of interpol, a man faced with no short order in stopping him, getting pulled from the operation due to a little mishap and a small lawsuit laid against him. Not that this small matter stops him from pursuing the matter and – ok, I'm running out of bad puns. Yes, what makes this film is the f...

Title: The Avengers Rating: 4/5 Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston Director: Joss Whedon It would seem the build up to this has been monolithic, above and beyond anything else in recent memory and rivalled perhaps only by “The Dark Knight” and the ensuing circle jerking that surrounded that. It comes at perhaps a perfect time as well, after being saturated with little hints at the end of films and after two Iron Man films, two Hulk films (because they didn't like the first one), Thor, Captain America, and numerous others 'outside the Avengers mythology,' if they'd waited much longer the anticipation would have fizzled out and people would have stopped caring. I stopped caring in fact, skipping the last couple of hero origin stories and only returning because of my inherent “Joss Whedon” fanaticism (I'm not sure how many can lay claim to own...