Movie Catchup: I'm As Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Going To Take This Anymore!

I've been blasting through movies at a fair clip over the past few weeks, so here's the highlights.

Network
A 70's movie, a last great golden age in my view before everything went all blockbuster and sentimental, and also Peter Finch's last. Howard Beale, a veteran news anchor, has a breakdown on live television, but it doesn't have quite the effect anticipated.

Perhaps it's not as shocking now as it was then, what with Celebrity Big Bother and Judge Judy, it does show it's deficiencies in plot and styling, but the acting is still great and not surprisingly won umpteen Oscars the following year.

Out of the Past
A classic film noire from 1946, starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) is running a garage in a backwater town in the California hills when a he's contacted by a past acquaintance with a job offer he can't refuse.

Although the plot is good, it's let down by Mitchum, who hadn't quite got the hang of acting at that time, and Greer who's more neurotic than fatal (she was no Ava Gardner). The highlight is Kirk Douglas, as the menacing Whit Sterling, who could act, and proceeds to do so, stealing the scene from Mitchum every time.

Need for Speed
A vehicle, if you forgive the pun. for Aaron Paul after his success in Breaking Bad. Having been framed for the death of his friend, Tobey Marshall (Paul) drives across America to compete in an unlicensed road race and revenge himself on the man (Dominic Cooper) who set him up.

Not a bad little pizza movie, if undemanding. There's almost no plot and the script sounds like it was written in an afternoon, but this is more than made up for by the car chases, which are breathtaking.

Snitch
Dwayne Johnson plays John Matthews, a construction and transportation owner whose estranged son is arrested in a DEA sting operation and makes a deal.

Dwayne continues his acting lessons, this time with the help of Susan Sarandon as an ambitious D.A., Jon Bernthal as an ex-con who gets unwittingly involved, and Barry Pepper as Matthews D.E.A. handler. Dwayne doesn't do too bad, and it's a good role for him, with a bit of action as well as acting. Give the guy a break: he's really trying!

I, Frankenstein
Dr. Frankensteins creation (Aaron Eckhart) is saved by the Gargoyle army to help save humanity from the demon horde.

Yeah, whatever. I couldn't really summon up the enthusiasm for this. It just seems like a group of media types got in a room and randomly threw Gothic stories around until something stuck. Watch only if you're bored.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
And finally, one of the best comedy films ever made, and certainly one of the most original. Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) is asked by Juliette Forrest (Rachel Ward), daughter of a noted cheese scientist, to solve the mystery of her father's death.

Funnier than a pack of hyenas in a laughing gas factory, Martin and Ward spark off each other wonderfully, but it's the "bit" players and the fantastic editing of all the 40's and 50's film clips that make it such a treat. Watch again and again.

Better Call Saul
Ooooo, speaking of Breaking Bad, a new series has started in the 'States about one of the characters. Jimmy McGill a.k.a. Saul Goodman, one-time hustler and con-artist, now tries to keep his head above water as a public defender.

Although I was a little disappointed with the ending of the parent series, this looks a little more promising.

A Man Who Wants Nothing Cannot be Bought - Hercules and Godzilla

A few more films from my Amazon subscription, both based on legends old and new.

The first is based on one of the oldest Greek legends. After completing his twelve labours, a war-weary and haunted Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) and his companions Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and his nephew Iolaus (Reece Ritchie), are hired by King Cotys of Thrace (John Hurt) to defend his kingdom from ruthless bandits.

Despite a slightly shaky start, this turns out to be quite a good film. It's a good story and deceptive enough to keep you second guessing almost until the end; the special effects aren't too bad; and the acting is more than adequate, the effect of all the class British thesps in supporting roles encouraging Dwayne to raise his game above previous attempts. Recommended as an above average pizza movie.

In contrast we have as my second film, Godzilla: a remake of a remake of a modern Japanese legend. Fifteen years after his wife dies in a mysterious accident at a Japanese nuclear power plant, engineer Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) breaks into the quarantined area with his estranged son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to get answers.

I suppose that if you like the original Japanese movies, this will be quite a good experience, even nostalgic. For me, however, it was a little tedious. Most of the "A" listers had gone by the time the movie got going and all that was left was three huge monsters slugging it out in San Fransisco. In the dark.

Throne of Blood - "A Man Without Ambition is Not a Man"

Film 4 are currently running a Kurosawa season at the moment, and the latest one was this classic retelling of Macbeth. Samurai Commanders Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) and Miki (Minoru Chiaki), on their way to see their feudal lord Tsuzuki (Takamaru Sasaki), Lord of the Spider Web castle, encounter a fortune-telling demon.

Famous for the final "arrow" scene, I don't think it's as good as Yojimbo or, my favourite, Sanjuro, although the Scottish Play does translate rather well to feudal Japan. Mifune is excellent as the increasingly paranoid and tyrannical Washizu, driven by both his wife (Isuzu Yamada) and his own ambition to fulfil his destiny, whatever the cost, and the whole film has a creepy foreboding quality.

Contrasting with this (through my LoveFilm subscription), and also a story of ambition, is Pain and Gain, a crime "comedy" starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Body builder and personal trainer Daniel Lugo (Wahlberg) decides that he wants the high life that he sees some of his clients enjoying.

Although it does have a few funny moments, it's mostly a rather silly and somewhat grim crime caper. Wahlberg isn't too bad, and he's got suitable support in Johnson as a Christian ex-con and Ed Harris as a private eye trying to convince the police to take the whole thing seriously. The real suprise, though, is that it's all true(-ish), making the whole thing rather sad (the protagonists are currently on death row in Florida).

Faster

Whatever it is, just Faster! My LoveFilm Instant is a bit wonkey at the moment, but I managed to watch this through it. A former getaway driver (Dwayne Johnson) is released from jail and seeks revenge on the men who killed his brother and tried to kill him.

It's not a bad revenge film with a really good twist at the end that I didn't see coming and two decent car chases, enough to be called Drive. There are one or two problems with it though. The first is good ol' Dwayne, who can't really act that well. He tries his best, poor love, but he's up against Billy Bob Thornton, who seems baffled as to why he's in the same movie. Second was the assassin going through a existentialist crisis, which was just silly and distracting. Overall, everyone seems just a little weary, but maybe a better director would have made something superior, perhaps the Coen brothers?