NA HONG-JIN’S THE CHASER — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

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The Chaser is a masterfully directed South Korean thriller from filmmaker Na Hong-jin, who tipped his hat to Seven and other thoughtful and visceral detective procedurals, while still providing his own directorial stamp all over the proceedings, playfully skewering the expected tropes from this type of storytelling. This is one of the most startling and confident filmmaking debuts that I’ve seen, and serves as a reminder that some of the better films in recent memory are originating from all over the world, and not the tidy confines of traditional Hollywood storytelling. Released in 2008 and focusing on the cat and mouse game between an ex-cop-turned-pimp (Kim Yoon-seok) who uses his old police contacts to help to track down a serial killer who is seemingly targeting his stable of women. He narrows down his search to a prime suspect, played with casual lethality by Ha Jung-woo, and after various encounters, advances, and setbacks, has to decide just how far he’s willing to go to get his man.

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This is a riveting film, unnervingly tense in many scenes, with two ferocious lead performances, and some absolutely insane bits of violent action that puts most movies to shame. Lee Sung-jae’s brilliant cinematography shows you just enough without ever getting overly grotesque, while the film is aided immensely by the tight editing from Kim Sun-min. The Chaser does all the things you least expect it to do, killing off characters you think for sure will live to see the end credits, and going to some brutal places both narratively and physically. The film was a massive box office hit in its native country, and will probably receive the unnecessary remake treatment by Hollywood any day now. The less you know about this twisty, twisted, and totally intense thriller the better. It knocked my socks off and then some.

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B Movie Glory with Nate: Sensation 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

Sensation is a very erotic thriller that breathes hot, heavy and hard all over its audience, almost overpowering the murder mystery at it’s center with the large number of sex scenes throughout. It’s essentially trash, and wouldn’t be worth much of a mention if it weren’t for some great actors, and an opening score that sets an eerie mood the film hardly deserves. Eric Roberts is Dr. Ian Burton, a college teacher who is looking for people with vague psychic abilities, for some sort of research. Enter stunning Lila Reed (Kari Wuhrer), a student with the unique ability to experience an object or person’s past simply by physical contact. Roberts is in fact looking for the person who murdered his lover, unbeknownst to her, and jumps at the chance to use her talent for his investigation. Many suspects run about, there’s sex scenes between Roberts and Wuhrer, in which her abilities flash back to… even more sex scenes from the past, and it’s all a wee bit disorganized, but oh well. Ron Perlman, always welcome, shows up as a Detective who thinks he can crack the case, winding up in over his head as well. There’s also a bizarre and inexplicable cameo from a creepy Ed Begley Jr. who hassles Kari in a bar and runs off as quick as he showed up, never to be seen again. It’s sleazy late night cable fun, without much to go crazy over except the actors, and that score I mentioned. Oh and.. you know… all the naughty bits, of which there is an overload 

Remembrance: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

On a chaotic summer day among the poor souls in a horrific Polish concentration camp, 1944, young inmate Tomasz  (Mateusz Damiecki) is desperate. German jew Hannah (Alice Dywer) is almost certainly meant for death at the hands of the nazis running the facility. The two have fallen hopelessly in love, and he knows he must get her out and far, far away before it’s too late. In an impossibly courageous effort and in a scene that will pummel your nerves, he uses a stolen SS officer’s uniform, scoops her up from the workhouse wing and quietly leads her right out the front gate. The two disappear into the neighboring Polish woodland in what is one of the only escapes from a nazi concentration camp ever documented. It’s a bold, thrilling, stirring way to start the film, whether or not you know of its origins in actual history. That kind of escape from a place so hellish is a collective sigh of relief from both audience and characters, and it’s one nail biter of an emotional ring of fire we all are forced to jump through. But we know this isn’t the end, the resolute happiness we so wish for these two, because the film has only just started. In the confusion near the end of the war, the two of them are separated, and move forward in life each believing the other to be dead. This is all interspersed with visions of Hannah’s life far in the future of 1976, now married, in her 50’s and played by the sensational Dagmar Menzel. In a dry cleaner shop one day she happens to see a talk show on European television, where a man recounts his daring rescue and escape from Auschwitz. The details are eerily similar, and Hannah’s mind races. Could this be Tomasz? Could he be alive after all these years and most importantly, should she go to him despite the gulf of time that signifies their prolonged separation? The film tugs at your heartstrings in so many different ways and moments, effectively hanging your tear ducts out to dry. No one can say no to a good wartime romance, because the formula is just too workable. Amidst all that confusion, terror and violence it is essential to find some sort of good with which to combat the dark, and what better way than the strongest force of all, love? Dywer and Damiecki are beyond convincing in their roles, so clearly blessed and burdened with that go for broke, die for one another type passion that we all look for and seldom find. American actor David Rasche plays Hannah’s husband in New York, clearly torn up by the tumultuous past rearing it’s head in their lives, but willing to empathize with the woman he loves and strive to do what’s best in this difficult situation. Menzel is conflicted, hurt, hopeful and utterly, convincingly reactive in a role that’s just not an easy one to pull off. Director Anna Justice uses majesterial skill to get the flow of story just right from scene to scene. Narratives which skip backwards and forwards in time can often feel jagged and unfounded in cohesion, but this one ebbs and flows from moment to moment without a single beat skipped or turn of plot out of place. I did some research on the true life tale this is based on, and for the most part they have stuck to fact to bring us as story that’s almost unbelievable, and deeply emotional. Remembrance is a keeper. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

 How To Train Your Dragon 2 takes what made the first adventure so special and blasts it even further into the stratosphere of animated thrills and creature comforts, all set to one of the finest scores I’ve heard in recent years, in a cartoon or otherwise. Sometimes sequels forget the ‘less is more’ adage and pile on way too much in order to outdo their predecessor, but this one gets the formula, adding in all the right places while keeping the core of the story alive. There’s also impressive and eye boggling new dragons, which let’s face it, are the reason we show up to these movies anyway. We rejoin again with Hiccup (wiry Jay Baruchel) after he has tamed the gorgeous night fury dragon Toothless, earned the respect of his grouchy father Stoick (Gerard Butler) and proved to his entire viking settlement that dragons are useful friends when treated kindly and understood on their own terms. Life is good, but not for long, as the pair of them discover a mysterious ice cave far on the border of their lands, home to thousands of new breeds of dragons, and watched over by the Dragon Rider (Cate Blanchett), who has a connection to Hiccup’s past. They are all of them under threat by tyrannical warlord Drago (a fearsome Djimon Hounsou) who commands an army and operates out of fear, putting everything the Vikings hold dear in danger. Hiccup must rally all his friends, family and every dragon in their land to fight this menace, all captured in devastatingly beautiful CGI animation that really is a marvel in the medium. Craig Ferguson returns as crusty Gobber the stable master, as do Jonah Hill, America Ferrara, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, T.J. Miller and newcomer Kit Harington. The best part for me was seeing Toothless again. She’s a stunning, adorable little viper of a rascal who won me over fully in the first film, and it was a joy to see her return. There’s all manner of elaboratly rendered dragons on display, and they’re fantastic no doubt, but she just has that winning charm and unique appearance, not to mention flawless efforts by animators in bringing her to life. This sequel, dare I say, tops the first in many ways, without ever overshadowing it or resorting to show-boating. It’s the perfect companion piece. 

The Specialist: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

The Specialist is everything that action was about in the 90’s, and simply one of the most exhilarating Stallone flicks out there. This is the type of early career stuff he tried to infuse into his meta action extravaganza The Expendables, and while fun, those films always seemed like a mimicry of original gold like this, trying a little too hard to recreate feelings from a bygone era. This one is right up there with Nighthawks and Rambo as one of his best, despite a lukewarm reputation that has long since settled. You can’t even find a decent dvd of it, which is kind of sad. Sly plays Ray Quick, an ex explosives special ops tough guy who turned in his talents after a falling out with former livewire partner Ned Trent (a rabid James Woods) resulted in needless bloodshed. He spends his days moping around Miami until his services are once more required, by a woman in trouble. Sharon Stone is mysterious May Munro, whose entire family were slaughtered when she was but a young’n hiding in the closet. The mustache twirlers responsible are Cuban mafia don Joe Leon (Rod Steiger juggles his accent like three filing cabinets) and his brash, violent son Tomas (Eric Roberts, never scummier). They have anticipated Ray’s involvement though, and as soon as bombs start decimating their lovely beachfront nightclubs, they hire none other than (guess who) James Woods, now a berserker of a freelance mercenery, to hunt our hero down. It’s big, bold and full of explosions, machismo, gunfights and old school bad boys doing what they do best. Woods nearly walks off with the whole film in a performance so robust it almost outshines the pyrotechnics themselves. Stallone dispatches hordes of baddies using both fists and fancy C-4 gadgetry, bringing home the action bacon enough to sate the fans. Using the sweaty, neon spattered locales of Miami as a playground for these heightened characters to leer at one another and blow everything to smithereens, the filmmakers have forged what I consider to be one of the best in the genre for the decade. 

HECTOR BABENCO’S IRONWEED — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

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The critically acclaimed 1987 powerhouse period piece Irownweed pulls no punches. This is spectacular dramatic cinema with blistering performances from Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, both of whom seemed utterly smashed all throughout the production. I was not prepared for how grim this movie would be, and I credit the director, Héctor Babenco (Kiss of the Spider Woman, At Play in the Fields of the Lord), for never allowing the material to escape his firm grasp, as this story could easily have gone the cheap and easy route towards the end. It doesn’t. And because it doesn’t, it resonates. Nicholson has rarely been better than he was in Ironweed; for some reason his quiet and soulful work in The Border came to mind while watching him in this film. Set during the Great Depression and taking place in and around Albany, NY (where it was shot on location), this is one of those slow-burn pieces of cinema that sticks to the ribs. Playing a deeply depressed former baseball player who could be responsible for the accidental death of his infant son years ago, Nicholson nailed the wobbly and boozy character with tremendous gusto, yet never went too far over the top into overwrought histrionics. Has Streep ever been bad in a film? I doubt it. In Ironweed, she plays a woman beyond the reach of help, and her tired eyes and sickly visage helped to create a portrait of a woman who is literally falling apart on both the inside and the outside.

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The two lost souls search for some sort of meaning in their broken lives, while probably knowing deep down inside that they are three sheets to the wind and unlikely to find solace. And even if the worldview is bleak and limiting, the strength of the performances and the forceful nature of Barbenco’s directorial style keeps the film extremely watchable, despite the obviously tough subject matter. William Kennedy adapted his own Pulitzer Prize winning novel for the big screen, so as a result, one gets the impression that this is precisely what the original author would have wanted to see. The deep supporting cast includes   Carroll Baker, Michael O’Keefe, Diane Venora, Fred Gwynne, Nathan Lane and Tom Waits. The filmmakers also wonderfully evoked a very specific time and place, with Lauro Escorel handling the un-showy, measured cinematography, which made great use of the authentic, lived-in production design by the great Jeannine Oppewall (L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville). The costumes also played a big part, with designer Joseph G. Aulisi (Nobody’s Fool, The Pope of Greenwich Village) stressing tattered garments and dirty, disheveled garment pairings to amplify the sorrowful mood. The flashbacks and frequent introspective beats allow for a dream like vibe, and when the unrelenting ending comes around the corner, there’ll be no escaping it. Because that’s how it had to go. Both Nicholson and Streep were rightfully nominated for Oscars. Ironweed is available as a free HD streaming option on YouTube via the Paramount Vault channel.

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Lasse Hollstrom’s The Shipping News: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

Lasse Hollstrom’s The Shipping News is two thirds of a great movie, but unfortunately has a first act which introduces it’s main character in the most heavy handed of ways, and sort of shoots itself in the foot. It helps that the rest of the film is lovely, but it takes some time to get the sour taste out of your mouth. Kevin Spacey is Quoyle, a meek milquetoast dude who has spent his entire life moping and whining, constantly being walked all over and never standing up for himself, starting right from his childhood relationship with his father (Jim ‘sippy poo’ Lahey, the glorious bastard). He’s so pathetic and such a loser that one wonders where can you go from here, and why did Spacey choose to start his arc at such a sad extreme, instead of livening it up a bit? By chance (and I mean chance) he marries Petal ( half mad Cate Blanchett), a wayward woman-child with barely an ounce of sanity or sensibility in her, and has a daughter with her. She runs off to a tragic self inflicted end, and he is left to raise the girl. Suddenly he receives news that a relative has passed in a small coastal fishing village his ancestral home of Newfoundland, so he packs it in and the two of them head on out there to begin anew. From there it’s an awakening for him, and bit by bit his character becomes believable and tolerable, two traits that were simply not there up until this point. He meets a long lost relative (a salty Judi Dench), befriends a local gal (Julianne Moore), starts working for the gruff local newspaper magnate (Scott Glenn, wonderful) and essentially finds a self within him that he never had before, a life to fill the pointless void he’s lived in for his whole existence so far. The town is charming, the atmosphere authentic and the acting terrific, including Rhys Ifans and the late great Pete Postlethwaite. I just wish the first act could have measured up to the rest and not stuck out like such a misplaced and noticeable sore thumb. Hallstrom has an ear for intimate, rural set family drama (check out An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford fpr his best work), and for the most part, this one delivers the goods. 

Notes On A Scandal: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

Notes On A Scandal shines an unblinking and often bitterly tainted spotlight into what makes people tick, how they interact with one another and what a slap in the face it can be when you see what they really think and feel, independent of how they may carry themselves in public. Judi Dench is acid personified as an older woman and veteran teacher at a local high school, who’s ranks have recently been joined by a younger art instructor (Cate Blanchett). Dench is jaded, her only friend being her cat Portia, and has an insidious habit of keep a diary in which she writes down prickly little barbs about everyone and everything around her, often cruel and judgmental in nature. She takes a shine to Blanchett, who is married to a much older and renowned man (the excellent Bill Nighy) and has every vibrant thing in life that Dench is bereft of, left with the vacuum of her own empty existence. She envies, aspires to and resents Blanchett’s existence, and pours a malicious cocktail of verbal attacks into her journal, safe in the knowledge that it’s just as personal and private as her own thoughts, and that she’ll never be found out. Or will she? I’ve lived long enough to know that secrets you try to hide have a way of working their way to the surface, becoming known and hurting those you love or try to connect to. Speaking of secrets, things get incredibly complicated when Blanchett gets caught up in a torrid affair with a teenage boy she teaches, lured in by lust’s song and deaf to consequence, which is something that befalls us all more than we’d care to admit. Dench thinks she can use her knowledge of the affair as leverage to get what she wants, which she may not even be sure of at all, beyond it obsessively involving Blanchett. The two of them are dynamite as two sides of the many faced coin of ambiguity. The human behavior in this film somewhat defies the usual story structure and parameters of character we are used to in film. Decisions are arbitrary, ugliness is exposed, people are contradictory and confused in a way that leaves them stranded without beats to fall back on with their work. High praise is deserved to a piece this honest and willing to explore these places. 

Phil Joanou’s Heaven’s Prisoners: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

Phil Joanou’s Heaven’s Prisoners is a great little sweaty southern crime yarn that, as I recall, went through a modicum of production hell which some people seem to think stunted any chance it had. I for one think it came out just fine, a moody little neo noir with an intense yet laconic turn from Alec Baldwin, a gorgeous lineup of femme fatales to contend with played by some of the most talented gals out there, and a wily supporting turn from a cornrow sporting Eric Roberts. Baldwin plays Dave Robicheaux, an ex New Orleans who is rousted from tranquil relaxation on the bayou when a mysterious Cessna plane crashes into the marsh near him. Upon exploring it he turns up a considerable amount of drugs, no doubt on their way from somewhere bad to someplace worse. This is the catalyst for a whole whack of trouble falling into his lap, literally and figuratively. He is drawn into a lethal dragnet involving corrupt DEA, his old pal and drug lord Bubba Rocque  (Roberts, a prince in the limited screen time he gets), his dangerous moll (Teri Hatcher, sexy and malicious), and more. Baldwin navigates it all with a cold eyed cool of a professional who has been to these places before, both as actor and character. The stakes are high though, as he has a wife of his own (Kelly Lynch) who could potentially be dragged into the mess, and a former flame (Mary Stuart Masterson) who blows back into his life like a tropical storm cell. This film is based on a series of novels by James Lee Burke, all starring Robicheaux and chronicling his hard boiled adventures. You can also check out the excellent In The Electric Mist, another of these yarns from 2008 where Tommy Lee Jones takes up the mantle. Joanou knows the ropes and rigs of film noir, and paces this baby nicely, never too loud or proud and always with the laid back, simmering vibe of the south. 

THE LIMEY – A Review by Frank Mengarelli

by Frank Mengarelli, posted in Film Review

Steven Soderbergh’s THE LIMEY is the epitome of a hard nosed genre film, fused from the late 1960’s to mid 1970’s films that rarely get made today. Sure, every once in a while we get a token film here or there, but few live up to the masterful craftsmanship of Steven Soderbergh.

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The film’s tone is set instantly. The gravely voiceover by Terence Stamp that quickly cuts to him stoically sitting on an airplane with The Who’s THE SEEKER drowning out anything your mind is thinking about, forcing you quickly focus solely on the film.

Soderbergh, who’s career has taken a precise and taut trajectory, created something of an anomaly with this film. While he’s relied on the brilliance of Cliff Martinez scores, he never quite dabbled in the usage of popular music like he did with THE LIMEY.

THE SEEKER completely sets the tone, as well as the story instantly. Stamp is a man on his way into a bombastic suicide mission of finding the man or men responsible for the death of his daughter, and killing them and anyone who gets in his way.

As phenomenal as Stamp’s intro music is, Soderbergh one ups himself by using The Hollies KING MIDAS IN REVERSE to introduce us to one the coolest cinematic antagonists ever to be on film, Peter Fonda as the sleek, yet smarmy, Teddy Valentine.

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Soderbergh’s casting is paramount in this revenge thriller. Along side Stamp and Fonda, are seminal actors from the era of the film’s kinship including Leslie Ann Warren, and Barry VANISHING POINT Newman.

The most fascinating aspect of the film is Sarah Flack’s editing. I’m not saying she’s Alan Heim, but she’s pretty damn close. The timeline jumping, fast paced editing is unlike any other film, and not only is it convenient as a plot device for foreshadowing, but it completely and utterly turns the film into a quick paced, nonstop clinic on not only filmmaking, but film editing.

THE LIMEY remains my favorite Soderbergh film, among a body of work that is made up of sheer quality and proficiency that can be comparabled to the works of Woody Allen. If anyone is studying filmmaking, in particular film editing, you need to watch ALL THAT JAZZ and THE LIMEY. On repeat.