The Last Legion

The Last Legion follows in the footsteps of Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur in that it gives us Roman origins for the Arthurian stories, and sure there are historians who believe that Arthur may have been a Roman soldier, and who knows they might be right, but I for one would rather see the end of such movies that expand on this idea as these two attempts have seemed clunky, forced, and lacking in…what’s the word…oh yes, MAGIC!

Today's film is directed by Doug Lefler who is most notably a storyboard artist but has directed episodes of Xena and Hercules as well as the straight to video sequel to Dragonheart, and truly this movie could easily have been just an extra long episode of Xena as the Warrior Princess was constantly running into historical figures like Caesar, but the script provided for this film by Jez and Tom Butterworth wouldn’t even have made a particularly good episode. The movie does have its Xena equivalent character with the Eastern warrior woman Mira (a very hot Aishwarya Rai), and her fight scenes are one of the few good elements of this film, but not enough to save a film that is loaded with dialogue so cheesy that it wouldn’t be out of place in a Spanish sword and sandal flick. The cast is overall not that impressive with only a couple real “marquee” names in the credits, Colin Firth who plays the heroic General Marcus Aurelius (for those of you that have dying to see Mister Darcy wielding a Roman sword and spouting clichéd speeches, well this film is for you), and Sir Ben Kingsley (I really wonder how many bad films you have to do before they revoke your knighthood) who plays Ambrosinus, the young Caesar’s teacher, and not to spoil anything but….psst he’s actually Merlin.

The film starts with the usual ponderous narration by Kingsley about a sword of great power that was forged for the conqueror Julius Caesar and passed down the line of his descendants until it reached that of Emperor Tiberius, and on his death it was hidden away safe from evil men. For generations it lay hidden in a secret place and marked by the symbol of the pentangle and sword, under the Very gaze of Caesar, while many searchers, such as Ambrosinus, sought its mysterious location. Later we find out the sword was forged from a fallen star and given to Julius Caesar, and I must say it’s a shame my history teachers left out that cool factoid.

The story proper starts off with the coronation of the last descendant of Caesar, and to our dismay it turns out to be Romulus Augustus (a ten year old kid with the survival instincts of a lemming), and whose reign is cut short when the Goths, who claim to have been short changed by the Romans, storm the palace and capture the city. The capture of Rome is pretty easy and apparently only takes about 10 minutes. Odoacer, the Goth king (Peter Cullen), spares the young Caesar, and banishes Romulus to the island of Capri under the watchful I of the villainous Wulfila (Rome’s Kevin McKidd), and he’s the character I had most sympathy for as he wanted to kill the little snot.

General Marcus Aurelius survives the attack and with the help of Mira manage to rescue some of his men, and so this loyal band, which includes a large black Rastafarian and an Orlando Bloom wannabe, set off to rescue young Romulus. It’s while running around the island fortress that Romulus finds the secret chamber that holds the sword, which is located under the giant pentangle symbol that everybody seems to know represents the sword of power. That the fortress was created by the last person to own the sword makes you wonder how hard these searchers were looking. What is even more ridiculous is that after the kid activates the secret way in it’s revealed later that the chamber has so many entrances that I’m surprised they didn’t have a hotdog concession down there. One of the entrances was even a bloody grotto that opens onto the sea! Exactly how this place remained hidden for so long is the true mystery. Now the important thing is that on a plaque by the sword is prophecy (and really what kind of film would this be without a prophecy) that says “One edge to defend, one to defeat, in Britannia was I forged to fit the hand that is destined to rule.” It’s an easy prophecy to remember as it’s repeated a half-a-dozen times during the course of the film lest we forget.

Shortly after the escape from Capri they find out that the Senators have thrown in with the Goths and that the only chance our group of heroes has is to find the 9th Legion who are stationed in Britannia. Wow, who would have guessed they’d end up having to go there? Well that’s all the detail I’m going to go into for this review, but here are some highlights I just have to mention:

• Our heroes trek to Britannia has them crossing snow covered mountains in such a manner that I kept waiting for someone to complain it was too cold for the Hobbits.

• Wulfila manages to track them all the way across Europe (I bet he can track a hawk on a cloudy day), and teams up with Vortgyn, an evil bastard who is trying to conqueror Britannia. His most notable feature is a gold mask that he wears that has him coming across like a low rent Doctor Doom, right down to the burned face. The mask itself resembles that of Mordred’s from John Boorman’s Excalibur. Why do filmmakers insist on reminding us of better movies?

• During the final battle at Hadrian’s Wall, Romulus, the idiot everyone is fighting and dying to protect, actual wanders up onto the wall, scurries around the fighters, and believe it or not climbs down the other side, and right into the thick of the battle. And for no apparent reason. WTF!

• After the battle is won Romulus declares that there will be “No more blood, no more war,” and he chucks the sword through the air where it of course lodges itself into a stone.

My parting words are simply this, “Can we have magic back in our Arthurian stories, please?” Really, cause if filmmakers are going to make supposed “historical films” that are this ridiculous they might as well put in more fantasy elements. I mean come on, they cast Colin Firth as a great Roman general, how much more fantastical can one get?

Santa Claus: The Movie

As a genre Christmas movies are probably the most hit or miss, for every Miracle on 34^th Street you have a dozen more like Santa Claus Conquerors the Martians. Now in 1985 the Salkinds decided to take a stab at it and with Supergirl director Jeannot Szwarc at the helm that’s exactly what we got….stabbed.

The movie starts our promising enough as we pan down from a starry sky to a snowy Scandinavian landscape and wood cottage full of people. They are all waiting for their beloved friend Uncle Claus (David Huddleston) to bring toys for all the children as he does every year. Many are impressed that Claus can cut wood for the whole village and still have time to carve all the wooden toys he provides each year, but it is his love of children that makes it possible. After giving out wonderfully hand carved toys to the children he and his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell) bid their friends goodbye as they have more stops to make, and even though the weather is getting bad they can’t think of disappointing the children who live on the other side of the forest. The storm intensifies and soon their reindeer collapse in exhaustion as the snow whips around them. Claus embraces his wife as the winter storm takes their lives.

The Northern Star appears and a cone of light descends on the frozen countryside and out of it steps a large contingent of elves. Claus, his wife, and reindeer all wake up as the group of colorfully dressed little people approach. They are led to their new home at the North Pole where they are informed by the Ancient Elf (Burgess Meredith) that Claus is The Chosen One and will fulfill the duties of the prophecy. That is live forever and give out toys to all the children of the world. And this is where the film runs of the rails and into a morass of boring maudlin scenes coated with syrupy crap.

At 108 minutes the film really drags with overlong montages of the elves making toys, endless shots of Santa flying around with his reindeer pulled sled, and it’s not until about the 40 minute mark that the real plot of the movie starts to rear its ugly head. A seemingly overworked Santa Claus promotes an elf named Patch (Dudley Moore) to assistant, but his radical ideas of mass production results in shoddily made toys and unhappy children on Christmas morning. A now disgraced Patch runs away to prove he is useful. Of course he ends up hooking up with the films villain B.Z. (John Lithgow) an evil toy manufacturer who is being investigated by a Senate committee for producing dangerous products. Throw in a poor little boy who lives on the street and the rich girl (also stepdaughter of B.Z) who befriends him and you may need to take a couple of insulin shots to survive a viewing of this film.

About the only real enjoyment I got out of this film was watching Lithgow hamming it up with the evil cranked up to eleven, but as his character doesn’t show up until the hour mark it’s really not worth the wait. Like Supergirl this Christmas disaster just seemed to meander around without purpose, now Jeannot Szwarc pretty much stopped directing movies after Santa Claus: The Movie but has made a decent mark for himself in episodic television (he even directed an episode of the excellent show Heroes). So if you’re looking good Santa Claus movie keep on moving as this one is not going to fill the bill.

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

La Belle et la Bête, Jean Cocteau’s version of Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont timeless tale, is one of the most purely enchanting films I’ve ever seen. It’s dreamlike qualities draw the viewer into a world of magic and wonder with out a singing teapot in sight. I really enjoyed the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast but now having finally seen this classic 1946 film and I must say the French really know how to tell a good fairy tale. As Disney-fied versions go their animated version is actually quite good (Hunchback of Notre Dame being one I can't even watch without cringing) but it left out much from the original story. Now even Jean Cocteau took some liberties with this classic tale but it is ruthlessly faithful in many areas, and it's because of this that I think it is the superior version, and only the wonderful songs in the Disney film make that one stand out in comparison.

Belle, played by a radiant Josette Day, is one of four children; she has two wicked sisters, Félicie and Adélaïde (who seem like they stepped right of Cinderella), and Ludovic, her brother, who is a bit of a wastrel who spends much of his time hanging out with his friend, and fellow scoundrel, Avenant. The once rich family has fallen on hard times, much to the chagrin of the Belle’s two sisters who believe they should have been married to Dukes and Princes, and Belle has been reduced to being basically a scullery maid. She is not forced into this position it’s just that if she doesn’t none of the work will get done, as her sisters spend all there time complaining about their lot in life while the brother drinks and loafs around with Avenant. The “friend” is constantly pushing himself on Belle and urging her to marry him, she begs off saying she must stay and help her father, but the real reason is plainly that he is a colossal jerk.
Then good news comes, a merchant ship believed lost has come to port, and with the goods on board the family may be rich once again. When the father readies to depart Félicie and Adélaïde bombard him with request for dresses, jewels, and even a monkey. He asks Belle what she would like and all she wishes for is a simple rose as none grow in the area. Unfortunately when he arrives at the port city creditors have seized his goods and he must return home through the dark foggy forest at night, as he cannot even afford a single nights lodging. He is soon lost as high winds besiege him, and when the end seems near for the poor man trees magically part revealing a large castle. He walks his horse onto the castle grounds and is startled as the stable doors open on their own and his horse steps in freely. He calls out but gets no response. He approaches the castle and the main doors open onto a long hallway lined with candelabras. This the point where I would see about getting my horse back as the candelabras are held by arms that just jut out from the walls, and they point and guide him further into the castle. Belle’s father is a far braver man than I as he hits sits down at a dinner table that has an arm sticking out of it’s center, and which pours a glass of wine for him. He falls asleep in the chair under the watchful eyes of the castle’s living (and very creepy) statuary. Come morning he wakes up and wanders the castle grounds once again calling out for his host, it’s then he spots a rose push and remembers Belle’s wish, but the moment he plucks it the Beast appears and tells him he was free to take anything he liked but the roses as they are his most cherished possession (you’d think it would have been a good idea to maybe post a sign or something), and now for this breach the poor man must die. When he begs for his life and mentions he has three daughters to care for the Beast offers him a way out, he can leave now and send one of his daughters back to take his place, but if none want to die in his stead he must return on his own. He is given a magical horse (it is revealed later that the castle doesn’t quite exist completely in our world, and one wonders how the father stumbled upon it) that will take him too and from the Beast’s castle.
The horse quickly carries him home and there he regales his family with this latest turn of events. The sisters quickly blame Belle for this as she requested the rose in the first place, of course the father had no intention of sacrificing any of his children he only came back to say good-bye to them, but Belle is insistent that she takes his place, while Ludovic and Avenant want to slay the Beast. The father tells them the Beast is much too powerful, and then proceeds to pass out from some feverish illness. Taking this opportunity Belle mounts the magical horse and rides to the castle of the Beast, but instead of being killed and eaten she is made mistress of the house and any whim she has will be answered. She is provided a lavish room with a magical mirror that allows her to see anything she wishes, and the only stipulation is that every night at 7:00 when she dines the Beast will appear. Each night he does and on each night he asks, “Belle will you marry me?” She of course declines the offer but slowly her feelings towards horrible looking creature turns from fear, to pity, to a deep caring. It is a lonely existence in the castle, though she has come to really look forward to her dinners with the Beast, but it isn’t enough as she misses her father and wishes to see him one more time. The Beast tells her that if she leaves and does not come back that he will surely die. She promises to return in one weeks time, and the Beast, to prove his faith in her, he gives her the gold key to his treasure trove and source of his power. The Beast than gives her one of his gloves which when put on will teleport her back home instantly, and though it be night here in the castle it will be day at her families home.
She bids the Beast adieu, puts on the glove, is transported back home (she comes through the wall of her bedroom in a rather cool in camera affect), and then places the key and glove on her nightstand. Of course not all are glad of her return, and upon seeing the bejeweled gown and tiara that Belle is sporting the sisters instantly start plotting against her. The two wicked sisters suck Ludovic and Avenant into their plot promising they will all be rich if they can get the Beast spoils. After rubbing onions into their eyes to work up some tears, the girls run to Belle and tell her how much they love her and can not bare the thought of her leaving again, and that they will die of she does (this the only part in the film where my sympathies for Belle waned, as anybody gullible enough to believe these two women deserves what ever she gets). While hugging and crying they manage to steal the gold key and get Belle to promise she will stay with them a little longer. Unfortunately the hiccup in their plans is that none of them know how to get to the Beasts castle, but lucky for them the lonely Beast has grown despondent for his missing Belle and has sent the magical horse to retrieve her. Avenant and Ludovic, golden key in hand, mount the horse and ride off to rob and slay the Beast. Unbeknownst of these events Belle checks on the Beast with the magic mirror and sees him lying still near the castles pond. She puts on the glove and instantly finds herself in her bedroom, but quickly realizes she has forgot the key, and she pops back home to get it. She frantically searches the room, but to no avail as the key is no where to be found, so she puts that glove back and rushes to find the ailing Beast.
Meanwhile Ludovic and Avenant arrive at the castle and spot the treasure room. When Ludovic sticks in the gold key the door is infused with a glow, and Avenant yanks it out fearing that if they open the door it may set off a trap (okay if you’re not going to use the key what was the big deal about getting it?), and so the scale the walls and peak down through the skylight. Below them is a glorious golden hoard, treasure worthy of a dragon, but no such serpentine creature guards it, just a statue of Diana goddess of the hunt, and so Avenant smashes the glass of the skylight and has Ludovic lower him down.
Over by the pond Belle finds the dying Beast who tells her that now that she has returned he can die happy. Belle will have none of that talk and tells him how much she loves him, and that she cannot live without him, that she will gladly be his wife.
Back in the treasure room the statue of Diana turns and fire her bow, and nails Avenant right in the back. He falls to the ground and as he dies he transforms into the visage of the beast.
Belle is startled when her dying Beast suddenly turns into a handsome prince. (Jean Marias of course played the Beast, Avenant, and Prince Charming). At first she is quite taken aback by this change and comments, “You remind me of a friend of my brother,” and not as if that is a good thing. Belle has realized that the beauty within is much more important than any outward appearance. The Beast then tells Belle that he will now take her to his home, and they ascend into the clouds. Where they are going is left to the imagination.

Now the one thing you won’t get from my rather long-winded review is just how beautiful this glorious black and white film is. From the spooky forest, to the haunted halls of the castle the look of the film never ceases to be anything but a perfect fairy tale, with some of my favorite moments of Belle running in slow motion as if in a dream like state, and her letting the Beast drink from her cupped hands. I just can’t recommend this film enough.

Killer Workout (1987) – Review

I was kind of hoping this film would be about Jane Fonda going on a killing spree or maybe Suzanne Summers knocking people off with her killer thighs, but that, unfortunately, is not the case. Instead, we’re treated to over a dozen deaths, most of them committed with a giant safety pin. Yes, you heard that right. No chainsaws, no axes, no gardening implements dripping in blood, not even a sensible kitchen knife with ambition. The makers of this film went for the most original weapon they could think of, and somehow forgot to give the writers a reason for it to exist beyond “wouldn’t this be quirky.”

The film opens with Valerie (Marcia Karr), a young model whose life peaks early when she receives a dream modelling offer in Paris that requires only one thing: a tan. Because nothing says international fashion career like vitamin D desperation, she rushes to a tanning salon and promptly gets cooked alive when the machine malfunctions. It’s a brutal enough sequence in theory, though the execution feels like the film is discovering horror filmmaking in real time, one melted scream at a time.

 

So, this thing had a “well done” setting?

Five years later, the movie remembers it has to continue, so we’re dumped into Rhonda Johnson’s (Marcia Karr) aerobics empire in Los Angeles. Rhonda runs a fitness club filled with relentlessly cheerful workout devotees who behave like they’ve been hypnotized by protein shakes. She is also permanently furious, snapping at employees like Jaimy (Teresa Van der Woude) while dealing with the gym’s resident human red flag, Jimmy (Fritz Matthews), who treats misogyny like a full-time hobby. Everything is bright, sweaty, and aggressively upbeat in a way that feels deeply suspicious given the murder rate.

 

Can we move this guy to the top of the Kill List?

Then the killings begin. Rachael (Teresa Truesdale), a client who makes the classic slasher mistake of showering alone, is stabbed to death by a masked figure wielding that absurd oversized safety pin. It’s the film’s signature move, though “signature” implies intention rather than accident. Jaimy later discovers the body stuffed in a locker alongside a blood-soaked knitting needle that turns out to be irrelevant, because this film introduces clues the way a toddler drops toys: constantly and without purpose.

 

Let’s just say that Hitchcock has nothing to worry about from this thing.

Detective Morgan (David Campbell) arrives to investigate, bringing a level of urgency best described as decorative. He questions Rhonda and Jaimy, while Chuck Dawson (Ted Prior), an undercover investigator hired by the gym’s mysterious senior management, inserts himself into the story like a subplot that forgot to knock. Meanwhile, the gym continues operating at full capacity, because apparently serial killings are just part of the wellness package.

 

Death is the ultimate exercise routine.

More deaths follow with impressive enthusiasm and minimal clarity. A group of vandalizing teenagers are slaughtered after spray-painting the gym, Tom (Richard Bravo) is killed in the locker room, and Jaimy herself is found hanging inside the club. The film’s solution to rising tension is simply to keep adding bodies while refusing to change tone, structure, or logic. The gym remains open throughout, as if corporate wellness policy includes “ignore homicide unless it affects attendance.”

 

If you are murdered, do you get a membership refund?

Eventually, Morgan stumbles onto the big reveal: Rhonda is actually Valerie, the tanning accident survivor who faked a twin sister, changed her identity, and then concealed her extensive burns beneath wigs and Lycra. The implication is that she is killing out of jealousy toward the beautiful bodies she can never have again, a potentially strong idea that the film treats with all the depth of a discarded gym towel. Unfortunately, Jimmy kills Chuck, and then confesses to murders he didn’t quite commit, so that kind of puts Rhonda in the clear and everything collapses into a confused attempt at resolution where guilt is more of a suggestion than a conclusion.

 

And Rhonda blows good ole Jimmy away.

The ending goes full existential shrug. Morgan drags Rhonda into the woods for a philosophical monologue about his vigilante father, then immediately turns his back on her like he’s trying to speedrun his own demise. She obliges by killing him with a shovel, because at this point the film is just checking boxes on a list labelled “things that happen in slasher movies.” Rhonda returns to the gym, is celebrated as a hero, and fondles her beloved safety pin like it’s the world’s most dangerous charm bracelet.

 

Coming Soon…Killer Workout 2: Aerobic Boogaloo!

Stray Observations:

• A woman is brutally stabbed to death with a giant safety pin, and somehow the film manages to generate an impressive blood supply without ever actually showing where any of it is coming from, which is either innovation or anatomical chaos.
• The killer’s signature weapon is, in fact, a giant safety pin, but for some reason the script never bothers to justify it.
• Detective Morgan finds what might be the murder weapon and immediately picks it up with his bare hands. Nothing says “elite homicide investigation” quite like contaminating the evidence before the opening credits have finished settling.
• One male customer wonders whether Rachael was raped before being murdered, adding that he certainly would have raped her himself. Can we just forget the ’80s ever happened?
• The gym is packed with people who look like they escaped from Olivia Newton-John’s Physical video and never got the memo that it was meant to be a music video, not a lifestyle. They smile constantly while exercising, a level of joy that becomes deeply suspicious once the body count starts rising.
• Characters repeatedly split up and wander into danger like it’s part of their cardio routine. Have they never watched a slasher film before?
• The detectives investigate with all the effectiveness of the Titanic’s watertight doors, technically present, aesthetically reassuring, and completely useless when anything remotely serious happens.
• The music includes inspirational aerobics chants like “She’s a knockout, you better watch out, she’ll take you out!” Not much in the way of subtlety, are they?
• The killer’s identity is obvious from roughly the first ten minutes, which is generous. Yeah, it’s not quite an M. Night Shyamalan level twist.

 

But it is quite the reveal.

David A. Prior’s direction feels less like control and more like observation. Scenes are staged, filmed, and left to their own devices without much in the way of pacing or suspense. Aerobic sequences are lingered on with a kind of fascinated detachment, as if the film genuinely believes the real horror is cardio endurance. The result is a thriller that forgets to thrill, opting instead for repetition, awkward framing, and edits that occasionally feel like they were assembled during a power outage.

 

I hope you like scenes of women working out, because we get lots.

The cast do what they can, which is mostly sweat, shout, and occasionally deliver dialogue like they’ve only just been handed it. Marcia Karr anchors the film with a double role that demands more coherence than the script is willing to provide. Ted Prior drifts through the story as Chuck with the energy of someone who knows he’s not surviving the edit. Frank Birney’s Detective Morgan is less a character than a narrative obligation. Everyone else functions as either gym décor or future body count, depending on the scene’s needs.

 

“Tell me, do we look ridiculous?”

The kills themselves should be the film’s saving grace, but they’re staged with such reluctance and obscurity that they rarely land. There’s variety, sure, but little impact. Stabbings, hangings, and blunt trauma are all present, yet none of them feel designed for tension or payoff. Even the safety pin, theoretically the film’s defining gimmick, never achieves icon status because the movie refuses to commit to showcasing it properly.

 

Somehow, a film with a dozen kills still manages to be boring.

In conclusion, Killer Workout is a slasher built from neon lighting, aerobic repetition, and a baffling commitment to the least interesting version of every idea it introduces. It has bodies, it has kills, it has music that sounds like it was composed inside a malfunctioning smoothie blender, but it never finds rhythm or purpose. What remains is a strangely inert experience that keeps moving without ever going anywhere worth the effort.

Cursed

When it comes to horror movies the werewolf has always been treated like the vampires ugly stepsister. Where the vampire are often portrayed as a suave, mysterious, and charismatic creatures of then night, the werewolf is usually just a slobbering monster that will either tear out your throat or maybe piddle on your carpet. When you’re turned into a wolf you don’t get to spout lines like, “Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.” At the most a werewolf gets to do growl and howl at the moon a lot. So you are not going to get Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt type actors clamoring for these types of roles, instead you get B-list movie actors, or in the case of Cursed you also get refugees from Dawson’s Creek and Gilmore Girls.

The number of good werewolf films can probably be counted on one hand, for every Howling and An American Werewolf in London you have to wade through a lot of cheese like Teen Wolf, Underworld, and Van Helsing. This brings us now to Wes Craven’s foray into the genre, where he is once again teamed with writer Kevin Williamson. In this film these two men trot out every cliché and stereotype in the book, and guess what ladies and gentlemen the end result is a movie that never once takes itself seriously, and if you come along for the ride you will have a lot of fun.

The film starts with two gorgeous women Jenny and Becky (Mya/Shannon Elizabeth) wandering the midway of a fairground where Mya spots a gypsy fortune teller and wants to find out if Shannon’s love interest is ever going to call again. But instead of getting a bunch of expected hokum about their true love they are both told their future is full of BLOOD!

Meanwhile Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) the school nerd is making moves on the typical school princess who though nice is always dating the school jock/asshole. We then jump to Jimmy’s sister Ellie (Christina Rici) who is having relationship problems of her own with Jake (Joshua Jackson) a seemingly nice guy who appears to have commitment problems.

Later Ellie picks up her brother and its while driving home that things take a turn for the worst. Something big and hairy bounces off their windshield and their car careens out of control, sideswipes another vehicle and sends that one of the road and down a wooded embankment. Trapped in the car is Becky, and she is a little freaked out because she smells gas and is afraid the car may explode…if only she were so lucky. Just as Jimmy and Ellie are about to get her free something hairy and with a whole mess of teeth grabs her and drags her into the woods. The brother and sister try in vain to save the girl but are only rewarded with bites of their own.

For those of you who have seen the Jack Nicholson film Wolf you won’t be surprised that are two leads start developing some new characteristics. They become more confident; their senses are heightened, as well as increased strength and agility. The brother, being a geek, quickly figures out that it was a werewolf that bit them, that they have been cursed, and that it’s only a matter of time before they start sprouting hair from unwanted places.

The film has a lot of fun with the genre much in the way Craven and Williamson had fun with Scream series. The film isn’t really frightening, and only provides you with the occasionally jump scare, but it is very entertaining, with few nice story turns, and many good laughs. My only real complaint would be the lack of the rules. In every vampire or werewolf film it is important for your audience to know which rules from the canon of film history are going to apply in this one. In An American Werewolf in London the change was triggered by the full moon, and silver wasn’t needed just plain old lead bullets was fine. Now in the Howling you could change into your bestial form at will, but silver was required to dispatch the beast. In Cursed both the moon and silver are mentioned, but silver doesn’t kill the creature it only hurts it, and apparently the werewolf can change back in forth from its furry form as along as it’s during a full moon. How that actually works is never really addressed, but that’s just nitpicking at what is basically a “Check Brain at Door” type of movie and if you go into the theatre with the right mindset you should have a good time.

Mindhunters

First off this film does not star Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, despite what the ads may imply, they possibly worked a couple of days, cashed their cheques, and then took off as fast as they could to the nearest strip club or casino. This is truly another Renny Harlin masterpiece and moves him closer into the realm of Uwe Boll, as there isn’t an ounce of originality in a single frame of this film. The rest of the cast consists of relative unknowns with the exception of LL Cool J and Jonny Lee Miller. The story revolves around a young group of FBI agents who desire to be profilers (that’s people who try to get inside the heads of serial killers and the like), and Val Kilmer plays Jake Harris an eccentric teacher at the academy who takes the group to an isolated island for their final training exercise.

The film wastes no time in turning into just another run of the mill slasher flick, (that is if Jason or Freddy were into Rube Goldberg type death traps) where we are dished out the old Agatha Christie routine of “and then they’re were none” as each character is knocked off one by one, and everyone suspects everyone else. If you’ve seen My Bloody Valentine, April Fools Day, or any of the psycho killer flicks from the seventies or eighties then you won’t find anything new here. Characters constantly walk off alone when off course the most sensible thing to do when you don’t know who the killer is to just all stay in one room together until help arrives in the morning. No, instead we are treated with great dialogue such as, “You stay here and watch him while we check this out.” The moments that follows that kind line never bodes well for the characters. There is one scene in particular that just had me rolling my eyes in disbelief; while examining a staged crime Christian Slater activates one of the Rube Goldbergian traps that is in the form of a series of falling dominoes. The fact that the entire group just stands dumbstruck as they watch the dominoes click-clack their way across the room is truly astounding as not one of them has the brains to think, “Hey if a psycho killer set this up maybe it would be a good idea to…oh I don’t know…stop them?”

Now in all fairness there were some pretty suspenseful scenes, and the acting overall was more than adequate, but the fact that I had guessed who the killer was at about the fifteen minute mark made enjoying the rest of the film that much more difficult. Even if you don’t figured out from the first subtle clue Mister Harlin provides there’s a few more that are served up like beach balls. So all the finger pointing an accusations made by each of the characters just comes off as annoying when it’s so obvious who the killer is.

That this film was originally planned to be released in 2003, then postponed, and then lost for a time isn’t surprising. Why it didn’t just go straight video is what I can’t quite understand

Sin City

For those of you that are fans of the Frank Miller graphic novels you are in for a treat as this the most faithful translation of a comic to screen that has ever been done, and for those people who haven’t read the original Millar stories get ready for movie that grabs by the lapels and drags you kicking and screaming into a world of sex and violence and style.

Robert Rodriquez and Frank Millar have created a modern day film noir classic. Their use of black and white with the rare infusion of colour is simply gorgeous to behold. And I’m sure guest director Quentin Tarantino had a ball playing around in this world. The movie contains four stories from the Frank Millar graphic novel; Sin City, which was the first book and featured the Frankenstein like anti-hero Marv played beautifully by Mickey Rourke, That Yellow Bastard which stars Bruce Willis a one of the few good cops in Sin City, Clive Owen plays the killer with a new face in The Big Fat Kill, and Josh Hartnet brackets the movie with a bit I believe is from The Babe Wore Red.

For those who haven’t read the book I’ll give you a quick breakdown in the three main stories.

Hartigan (Bruce Willis) is an honest cop in a city full of corruption, and it’s his last day before he’s forced to retire due to heart condition. He could just take it easy but there’s a little girl out there that needs his help, a pedophilic murderer has her and time is running out. Hartigan’s partner (Michael Madsen) wants him to just hang back and wait for back up as the rapist (Nick Stahl) is the son of Senator Roark (Powers Boothe) a very powerful man, and it’s best to let things go. All I’ll say is he doesn’t. The second story revolves around Marv (Mickey Roarke) who spends the night with a woman named Goldie (Jamie King) who takes him to heaven and back, but when he wakes up from his drunken stupor she’s dead and the police are closing in. Realizing he’s been set up he literal burst into action and the carnage that ensues on his quest to avenge her death is awe-inspiring. The third story is about Dwight (Clive Owen) a murderer that had his faced change to keep out of the gas chamber. He’s hooked up with Shelly (Brittany Murpy) a girl with a past who has problems with her ex-boyfriend Jack Rafferty (Bencicio Del Toro) who likes to smack women around. Dwight falls right into the roll of Lancelot and chases Rafferty and his pals into Old Town (The area of Sin City ruled by the prostitutes) where they run into trouble with the girls, and it’s all Dwight can do to prevent a war from breaking out.

Now the women of Sin City are something to behold; there’s Jessica Alba as Nancy the stripper with the heart of gold, Rosario Dawson as the tough as nails dominatrix Gail who holds Old Town together. Devon Aoki as the silent but deadly Miho a ninja who helps Gail keep the girls safe, Carla Gugino plays Lucille a lesbian parole officer who supplies meds to poor confused Marv, Jamie King as Goldie the woman Marv vows to avenge, Alexis Bledel is working girl Becky (This is quite the departure from her Gilmour Girl role), and Brittany Murphy as Shelly a woman trying to get out from under a real nasty ex-boyfriend. And those are just the highlights as the city is just overflowing with gorgeous women.

The film plays with time, much in the way that Pulp Fiction did, the stories overlap, as you’ll see one character in the background that we saw dead in an early story, and this is much in keeping with the books in that aspect. The film is very Rated R and the violence is extreme, and I believe the only reason it won’t get an NC-17 is that much of the gore is in black and white. So those of faint heart beware as it’s a pretty intense film, but it’s one hell of a ride.