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Showing all reviews beginning with Ba
バトル ロワイアル (Battle Royale)
Battle Royale has to be one of my favourite films. It follows the story of a class of school children who are selected under the BR(Battle Royale) act. Under the BR act the class are taken to a remote island and have to fight each other to the death until only one remains. Each child is given a bag with a range of weapons, ranging from guns to knifes to less useful utensils with one boy being given a pot lid. The story follows the classmates as they each make the decision on how they are going to cope with the circumstances. In particular it follows a boy and a girl who feel there must be a way off the island without having to kill everyone. This film is violent, with dark comedy moments, all in all a great piece of cinema.
Bangkok Haunted
In a bar in Thailand, three women tell three ghost stories. The film follows through each story and so is kind of three short films in one. The story lines jump around quite a bit and it can get a little confusing, the camera work is great and at times the film is a little unsettling, although not as scary as other East Asian horror movies such as The Eye or Dark Water.
The first story tells of an antique drum, which is haunted and brings bad luck to the modern day finder. The second of a love potion which has some unsettling side effects and the third about a cop working on an apparent suicide case.
Overall, the film is a bit weird but very good. A lot of it didn't seem to make sense at the time, but thinking about it later it makes more sense.
Bangkok Dangerous
Another Tartan Asia Extreme Film, and another great film. The story follows a deaf mute hitman by the name of Kong and his partner. I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but the story centres on the assinations he carries out and his relationship with a young woman who works in a pharmacy. The story is not just of guns and violence but also of how his actions have repercussions for others. I highly recommend this film to any fan of Asian cinema.
Bad Santa
Bad Santa tells the story of conman, Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and his partner in crime Marcus (Tony Cox, Me, Myself & Irene). Every Christmas Marcus and Willie get jobs in the Santa's grotto of a department store, then rip it off on Christmas Eve, emptying the safe and disappearing until the next year.
Willie is the most unlikely Santa ever, he hates kids; has a foul temper and is an alcoholic who is always drunk on the job. Things take a turn for the strange when Willie ends up staying with a strange kid he befriends.
The humour in Bad Santa is very dark, Billy Bob Thornton is excellent in his role as the store Santa who hates Christmas. Almost every line is hilariously funny and incredibly well delivered. Although a Christmas movie, Bad Santa takes all the Christmas cheer out of it, a great movie for people who are sickened by the usual cheery Christmas movies.
Overall, a pretty funny Christmas film with a difference. If you go and see it look out for the best cameo ever near the end when none other than Sherrif John Bunnel of World's Scariest Police Chases fame.
バトル ロワイアル 2 : レクイエム (Battle Royale II: Requiem)
Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is one of my favourite films, it is extreme cinema at it's best. A dark premise with great performances from the whole cast. Because of this I was interested in seeing the sequel, Battle Royale 2. Whereas while making the original Kinji Fukasaku had the excellent novel by Koushun Takami to work with, BR2 is an entirely new story. The death of Kinji Fukasaku during the making was also a blow with Kenta Fukasaku stepping up to finish his fathers film.
The film is set 3 years after the first and sees Shuya Nanahara, a survivor from the first film forming an underground terror organisation and declaring war against the Grown-Ups. To try to end this uprising, the Government starts the 2nd BR program which sees a class of 42 students sent to the island where Nanahara is hiding to kill him. One member of the team is Shiori Kitano, the daughter of a teacher (Beat Takeshi) who Nanahara killed in the first film. This sees the unwitting students pitted against Nanahara's guerilla movement.
Although there are similar themes to the first one, the film has none of the shock or originality of its predecessor, the acting is terrible and special effects are dodgy to say the least. There is also a thinly disguised Anti-American vibe whereby we hear about a long list of countries which another nameless country (blatantly America) has bombed in the past 60 years.
Overall, Battle Royale 2 follows up from an important film which is destined to be a classic, removes all the importance from it and gives us what is basically an overacted action film with some political undertones which are never really explored properly. As an action film, BR2 is reasonable, as the follow up to Battle Royale, BR2 is as dissapointing as you could get.
Bad Guy
Director Duk Kim-Ki is no stranger to extreme cinema his film The Isle was pretty nasty in places, so it's no surprise that another of his films, Bad Guy is also a tale of violence and nastiness.
When Han-ki sees a pretty girl, Sun-hwa, on the street, he decides to go up to her and kiss her, needless to say she is less than impressed and her boyfriend steps in to give him a bit of a beating. Some passing Army guys also beat him up a bit and it all ends with Sun-hwa spitting on him. Han-ki isn't very pleased with this, so sets her up so she gets caught stealing a wallet; she is then forced to go to a loan shark to repay her debts and when she can't pay is forced into prostitution at a brothel for which Han-ki happens to be a pimp.
The film then continues from here telling the story of Sun-Hwa's life of forced prostitution and her feelings for Han-Ki whom she starts to fall for despite all the really shitty things he's done to her.
Bad Guy is violent and deals with some pretty messed up stuff, as a film it's not too bad, but not really cheery family viewing. Only really one to watch if you are a fan of extreme Korean cinema.
Baby Cart at the River Styx
The second film in the Baby Cart/Lone Wolf and Cub series of films; Baby Cart at the River Styx sees Ogami Itto take a job to kill a farmer who if he should fall into the hands of the Shogunate would give up a secret dye recipe. Meanwhile, the shogunate hire a group of females Ninja assassins in an attempt to rid the world of Ogami Itto once and for all.
The content of the film is much the same as Sword of Vengeance; a good old fashioned Samurai film with lots of over the top blood and some decent sword fights. The plot is decent and engaging throughout. While there's not much in the film to make it stand out as anything other than a reasonable Samurai movie it's worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.
Babycart to Hades
Film No. 3 in the Babcart/Lone Wolf and Cub series ([1][2]). Babycart to Hades sees Ogami Itto take a contract to assassinate the deputy of a fief. This leads to him being set up against an army of warriors armed not only with the deadly sword, but bows and guns.
As far as the Babycart films go, Babycart to Hades is pretty typical of the series, over the top violence, lots of blood and some amazing sword fighting scenes. This installment features a little more guns than the previous two and the cart has been kitted out with some extra tricks. There is a lot of samurai philosophy, perhaps more than would be picked up on by the casual viewer.
Babycart to Hades is a a worthy addition to the Babycart series, but newcomers should probably start at the start with Sword of Vengeance as by this point a lot of the characters and back plot has been explained and although not required 100% does add to the film.
Maybe not a film I'd recommend to the casual viewer but for fans of the Babycart series or Samurai films in general, definately worthy of a watch.
Baby Cart in Peril
Film number 4 in the Baby Cart series ([1][2][3]) and more of the same. This time we see Ogami Itto paid to assassinate a tatooed woman who has defected from her clan. Still being pursued by those from his past life who wish to see him dead.
In terms of content and style, the 4th film is pretty much identical to the first 3, over the top bloody violence, large sword fights and many a limb being chopped off. Although the film is definately no worse than the previous 3, the slightly lower score is because it brings little further to the table.
One to watch for fans of the Lone Wolf and Cub series and perhaps fans of Samurai films in general, although it's probably best to start at the start rather than jumping straight in to this film.
Batman Begins
Batman's fifth big screen outing and with Christian Bale taking up the role of Batman we go back to the start and follow Bruce Wayne as he takes up his role as Gotham's Dark Knight. Batman's first outing sees him go up against villains who plan to envelop Gotham in panic through the use of a fear inducing drug.
Batman Begins is a pretty good Batman movie all considered, Bale is decent in his role and while some critics have said it lacks humour, Michael Caine's character of Albert the Butler is campy as hell and has very few serious lines. The action is entertaing throughout although all the man to man fighting scenes are found lacking as the descend into a nasty mess of hundreds of cuts where you can't actually see what is happening.
Definately one of the better comic book adaptations and Batman adaptations in particular.
Babycart in the Land of Demons
The 5th and Penulimate film in the Lone Wolf and Cub Series ([1][2][3][4]) sees Ogammi Itto tracked down by 5 Ronin who wish to test his skill before offering him a mission. After defeating the 5, Itto must recover a scroll in order to preserve the integrity of the Kuroda clan.
There's not much to say about Babycart in the Land of Demons which I haven't already said about the previous four films; it's a good old fashioned Samurai flick with a reasonable plot, some great fight scenes and a lot of blood. One thing I would say is that by this point the same old Itto takes a job, fights some people and then kills a whole lot of people is getting a little overdone. If you've seen a couple of the Lone Wolf and Cub films, there's not really any need to see this one unless you are a die hard fan of the series.
Bad News Bears
When a foul mouthed, drunk, washed up ex-professional baseball star (Billy Bob Thornton) is recruited to coach a team of misfit kids he has a struggle on his hands. He must turn the group into a team which can beat the smug Roy Bullock in the championship.
With Bad News Bears starring Billy Bob Thorton cast as a foul mouthed drunk who has to deal with children, it sounds a bit like the excellent Bad Santa but that's where the comparisons stop. The jokes just aren't as funny, relying pretty much on how offensive they are rather than being particularly witty.
There are some mildly amusing moments however, although not enough to make the film any good.
Basic
When a squad of 6 Rangers and their Sergeant go into a live ammunition training mission in the Panama jungle, only 2 return alive, one with gunshot wounds to the leg and the other witnessed shooting one of his squad before he was retreived.
When the Ranger refuses to talk to a military investigator he demands another Ranger who he doesn't know is brought in to hear his story. The head of the base calls on an old friend of his ex-Ranger and DEA officer Hardy (John Travolta). Together Hardy and Osbourne (the investigator) must decipher what led to the death of the 4 soldiers and Sergeant West (Samuel L. Jackson).
The plot twists and turns as the story is told and then retold when it becomes clear that someone is being liberal with the truth. This leads to a movie which is engaging and enjoyable throughout as we discover more and more of what really happened. The acting is reasonable and the special effects during the Jungle scenes are decent.
The only bad point I would raise is that the end of the movie is a bit cheesy and could maybe have been toned down a little but overall Basic is a decent movie well worth a watch.
Bad Taste
When an alien invasion threatens New Zealand, the Government send in The Boys to defeat Lord Crumb and his gang of zombie like aliens who want to pack up the human race into boxes and sell them as snacks across the galaxy.
Shot on a very low budget, Bad Taste has a bit of a cult following, I hadn't seen it since I was about 17, but held fond memories of the movie. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't really warrant the following it has. Unsurprisingly the acting is terrible and the screenplay pretty dire; I found the film didn't hold my attention at all. On the plus side, there are some reasonably good special effects considering the budget.
A lot of the gore and gags probably appealed to me more when Bad Taste was something I had never seen before, but 8 years later, I've seen far more shocking cinema and most of the jokes just aren't that funny. Overall not a movie I'd be in a hurry to see again.
Babel
A tale of human communication is told through 4 interlocking stories, a Morrocan goatherder, a married couple on holiday, a Mexican maid in charge of two children and a Japanese schoolgirl who is deaf and mute. Well shot and told throughout as we flick between the storylines, each on a slightly skewed timeline so that the connection does not always appear obvious at first.
The plot is interesting and engaging and the acting from lead cast members, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Rinko Kikuchi is excellent. While 3 of the main plotlines have strong connections between them, the Japanese plot is only loosley related, which is a shame as it is perhaps the most heartfelt of the four.
All in all, a good movie which is worth watching even if it does have a few flaws.
Battles
Despite turning up on time for the published 7pm start time, the doors didn't open until at least 8, by which time we were really ready to listen to some good music.
First on stage were the Dirty Projectors who were pretty good and like Battles fall into a very hard to describe category.
After a short break, Battles started to set up on stage, their masses of equipment were brought on and the drums set up right at the front of the stage, complete with a cymbal on a stand which easily topped 6ft, we were pretty excited and hoped to be in for something special.
Unfortunately when the band took the stage we weren't disappointed, launching straight into the last track on their album, Race: Out. As the song built up, it was clear that although the Mirrored album is pretty good, but live, Battles are amazing. Starting with short musical parts, they build them together layer on layer, tied together through the drums to create an incredibly dynamic sound. This sound is then stripped back down and built up again.
With very little chat between the songs and the sparse vocals so effect laden as to sound like real singing, the set felt very much like a DJ set rather than that of a live band. Which is all the more impressive as it was obvious that the members of the band were playing their specific brand of complicated, technical music live.
Overall, an amazing set from a band who are a joy to listen to.
Bamako
Set in the Malian Capital of Bamako during a court hearing which sees the World Bank and IMF put on trial by the African people to decide whether they are to blame for the poverty in which many African's live, Bamako shows us scenes from the trial in which lawyers from each side argue their case interspersed with stories from around the court room telling the tales of ordinary citizens of Mali.
Bamako is well shot and presented and the question at it's core, are the World Bank and IMF to blame for the situation in Africa, makes for the parts of the film which explore this question, interesting viewing. Unfortunately the film has too many scenes which in my opinion are overly long and detract from the overall point of the film, 5 minute scenes of a man chanting, a strange cowboy film intro and 2 scenes of a woman singing all could have been, in my opinion, cut to make a more compact and succint film.
Having said that, the film is intelligent and well made, so viewers more interested in Africa and African politics will probably get more from it than I did.
Balls of Fury
Randy Daytona was a child Ping Pong star of the '88 Olympics, but when he loses his match and his dad is killed by the Triads for unpaid gambling fees he gives up competitive Table Tennis. 18 years later he is working as a showman in Vegas using his Ping Pong skills in an attempt to entertain the crowds.
When the FBI approach him for help in trapping Triad boss Feng (Christopher Walken) Randy is drawn into a world of underground illegal Ping Pong where losing means instant deaths at the hands of the merciless Feng.
Balls of Fury is a sporting comedy in the mould of Dodgeball, the plot is so ridiculous it only backs up the comedy and while most of the gags are either obvious or slapstick if you are a fan of stupid movies then there is a lot there to laugh at.
Overall, a pretty funny film but perhaps not one for the more discerning cinema goer.
The Barbarian Invasions
Remy, a university professor forced to retire when he was diagnosed by cancer lies on his death bed. His ex-wife calls his estranged son who travels from London to see him. Despite their differences, he arranges his father's medical care and organises for old friends from his father's past to come to the hospital where they reminisce about the old days.
The Barbarian Invasions is a touching story of one man's last days, despite his less than perfect life, when it comes to the very end, people are willing to forgive and forget and focus on the good times rather than bad. Driven mostly through the characterisation of the the main cast, the film has a dark comic feel in places which makes it very watchable.
All in all, a decent movie dealing with death, romance and sexuality.
Battleship Potemkin
Set in 1905, the 1920's silent film Battleship Potemkin tells the story of a group of sailors who mutiny and take over the emponymous boat, killing their commanding officers. They then go on to their home port of Odessa where their calls for revolution gather steam.
Although the film quality is reflective of the time, Battleship Potemkin contains a number of scenes, ideas and themes which have recurred in many forms since the film was made. The musical score is excellent, making up for the lack of dialogue and creating a feeling of tension as the film builds up to its more dramatic moments.
All in all, Battleship Potemkin is a classic film, but also one which is powerful and emotional.
Bad Day at Black Rock
Shortly after the Second World War, an express train stops in the mid-West town of Black Rock. The train hasn't stopped there in the past 4 years and the only person to alight is John J. MacReedy, a smartly dressed man who has only got the use of one of his arms. As he sets about his business in the town, the townspeople treat him with suspicion, scared he will dredge up a secret from the town's murky past.
While the main plot of Bad Day at Black Rock is pretty easy to guess from about 20 minutes in, the surprise is that towards the end of the film, we focus more on the characters involved than the plot itself. Spencer Tracy is pretty good in his role as the moody, secretive MacReedy and the photography of the sun bleached town is stunning, but for the most part, Bad Day at Black Rock offers little excitement and its relatively short run time makes for little time to fully explore the situation.
Overall, an interesting film, but it could have done with being slightly longer.
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Baader Meinhof Complex is a biography of the German left wing terrorist organisation the RAF (Red Army Faction). Active in the 1960's and 70's the group were responsible for a number of bombings. The film follows the group from their beginnings, following them through two of the founding members, Andreas Baader (played by Moritz Bleibtreu) and journalist Ulrike Meinhof.
The film does a good job of telling the story of the group and portraying the main characters involved without feeling too sympathetic towards them. With a reasonably long runtime of 150 minutes, the film feels a lot shorter, with a lot of history and events packed into the 2 and a half hours.
Extremely well made, with some great performances from the main actors, The Baader Meinhof Complex is easy to engage with and at times is effective in producing an emotional response from the viewer towards the scenes depicted on screen. All in all, an excellent film which is interesting to watch.
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre's book aims to let the reader in on the truth behind how science (particularly in regard to health and medicine) is reported in the mainstream media and the ways in which what is reported as fact is inacurate at best and just plain wrong at worst.
Along the way, he takes potshots at, amongst others, Dr. Gillian McKeith, the MMR and MRSA scandals and homeopathy. Part of the book focuses on teaching the reader the scientific method in order that they might be able to examine these "science" stories better themselves in the future.
With a writing style which is funny and immensely readable, Bad Science is a book which you can whizz through. Goldacre tends to hammer home his points a little too much, but for the most part it's enjoyable and entertaining. My only criticism is that for anyone reasonably interested in science, the book will cover a lot of familiar ground.
All in all, readable with interesting information and facts, but there is nothing amazingly challenging or surprising.
Backdraft
Backdraft follows two brothers, their father was a Chicago fireman who died on duty and the eldest brother, Stevie (Kurt Russell), is now a lieutenant in the Chicago fire department. When the younger brother, Bryan (William Baldwin) passes out and becomes a fireman too, he is assigned to Stevie's unit and the pair come to blows almost immediately.
Stevie's bullying forces Bryan to take up a job working with fire investigator Don Rimgale (Robert Deniro) and the pair are soon get busy investigating a series of possible arsons where people have been killed due to opening a door and being fried alive with the "backdraft".
What starts as a seemingly straightforward action film about herioc firefighters, soon descends into a web of conspiracy theories. Most of the actors are pretty mediocre and even Deniro doesn't get that good a role. While the fire sequences are genuinley well done, the film is a little boring in places and you feel that if there wasn't so much sibling rivalry and melodrama, much more could have been made of the scenario.
Overall, on the surface a film about firefighters, but underneath a melodramatic story with an all too cliched conspiracy theory twist.
A Battle of Wits
Another large scale Chinese war epic and another in recent years starring Andy Lau. A Battle of Wits follows a small walled city as they come under attack from a rival warlord. They beg for help from the Mozi warrior clan and the Mozi's respond by sending one of their own, Ge Li (Lau). Ge Li gets to work coming up with a plan to stop the invaders.
Battle of Wits has a great plot which is simple and effective. The acting and action sequences are excellent and there are some cool touches, including a scene where the enemy attacks in one man air balloons. The only downfall in the movie is the at times terrible CG, a couple of scenes look awful, but for the rest of the time the film is a visual feast.
Overall, a great ancient war epic, let down by dodgy CG in places.
The Band Wagon
Fred Astaire stars in this musical comedy as washed up Hollywood song and dance man Tony Hunter. When he visits his friends in New York, he is informed that they have written a new musical comedy for him to star in to restart his career, but when the bring on board a pretentious director, he turns the whole project into an over the top retelling of Faust with disastrous/hilarious consequences.
Considering my dislike of musicals, I found The Band Wagon disturbingly enjoyable. The plot is reasonable and although I didn't think any of the songs were amazing, they were upbeat and fun with some good dance numbers. The comedy element works well and the main characters are pretty good as over the top versions of real theatre types.
All in all, enjoyable and fun.
Basic Kanji Book Vol. 1
I have to admit that the only reason I own this book is that it's the Kanji book which my Japanese lessons tell us to use, so I was kind of forced into purchasing it. For a couple of years, I'd used it mainly for learning the 10 or so Kanji we need for our bi-weekly Kanji tests, but recently after deciding to go back and try and really learn the Kanji I'd been brushing over, I discovered how good this book really is.
It teaches you 251 Kanji, with the stroke order shown for each, along with various readings and up to 4 compounds. But where the book really shines is the end of chapter review sections. These include questions split into reading Kanji and writing Kanji. If you do them in order, they have the advantage that they build upon each other, so you aren't just testing your knowledge of the latest 10-15 Kanji you have learned, but are revisiting most of the Kanji from previous chapters as well. Every 10 units, there is also a recap which goes over all the previous Kanji again, but in more depth. This means that if you do a chapter at a time and learn the Kanji and do the exercises, the earlier Kanji become second nature because you are using them so much.
My main criticism of the book would be that the first 251 Kanji chosen are very different from other resources I am using, especially my Kanji flash cards, with some of the Kanji is this book not even appearing in the first 3 set of cards I have, to have a flash card for every character in the book, I need to buy the fourth set of cards which has the last 512 Kanji in it.
This is kind of understandable as many different resources decide which Kanji are more important, but also a bit annoying, especially since some of the Kanji presented in the later chapters of this book relate to quite complicated topics which are a bit ahead of my current vocabulary.
Overall though, this is an excellent resource, but beware it isn't cheap. To get a copy from Amazon costs about £34! Considering the Japanese list price is only 2,400 yen (£16 at the current [poor] exchange rate), you're best off trying to get hold of a copy next time you are in Japan. I got a copy of Volume 2 in a book shop in Tokyo for a much reduced rate.
Barton Fink
Barton Fink (John Turturro is a playwright working in 1940's New York writing for the stage. He is lured West to Los Angeles to write a Hollywood script after being offered a very good salary for doing so. Once in Los Angeles, he is almost immediately hit with writer's block and can't get started on his script. The film follows Fink as he tries to find inspiration while contending with a drunk author and his new next door neighbour.
Barton Fink is darkly comic and while the plot is hard to explain, it is not the main driving force in the film. Turturro's performance as the struggling writer, Fink, is excellent and John Goodman puts in a similarly good performance as Fink's next-door neighbour.
Overall, well worth watching, if a little hard to explain.
Bad Religion
I've been a fan of Bad Religion for at least 13 years now which seems like a long time, but when you consider that in 1997 when I first started listening to them, they had already been around for 17 years, you can see how long they've been around. With 30 years of history and 14 studio albums (soon to be 15) there's plenty of scope for coming up with a good set list (I have 91 tracks on my iPod alone and only own 6 of their albums, so not even half).
We turned up a little late after some issues getting a bus through from Edinburgh, so completely missed the support act. On the upside, we didn't have too long to wait until Bad Religion took the stage. The launched into a set which covered a lot of tracks off their last couple of albums along with pretty much every track from the 1995 compilation album All Ages. This made for a good mix of new stuff and classics and there were very few songs I can think of that I wish they'd included that they didn't.
As a band, they play well together and are still full of energy despite being in their mid 40's now. They rattled off numerous songs with little pauses for breath, they must have played 30-40 tracks in total. Greg Graffin's voice and vocal patterns have changed a bit and some of the songs didn't sound quite the same as the album versions, although it was a weird mix where both old and new stuff sounded different as opposed to the effect you get sometimes when a singer sings their back catalogue in the style of their latest album.
Overall, a great set list and a good performance.
バトル ロワイアル (Battle Royale)
Director:
Kinji Fukasaku
Year: 2000
Language: Japanese (English sub)
Country: 日本 (Japan)
Battle Royale has to be one of my favourite films. It follows the story of a class of school children who are selected under the BR(Battle Royale) act. Under the BR act the class are taken to a remote island and have to fight each other to the death until only one remains. Each child is given a bag with a range of weapons, ranging from guns to knifes to less useful utensils with one boy being given a pot lid. The story follows the classmates as they each make the decision on how they are going to cope with the circumstances. In particular it follows a boy and a girl who feel there must be a way off the island without having to kill everyone. This film is violent, with dark comedy moments, all in all a great piece of cinema.
Dave W - 16th November, 2003 - 14:28
Director:
Oxide Pang Chun
Year: 2001
Language: Thai (English sub)
Country: Thailand
In a bar in Thailand, three women tell three ghost stories. The film follows through each story and so is kind of three short films in one. The story lines jump around quite a bit and it can get a little confusing, the camera work is great and at times the film is a little unsettling, although not as scary as other East Asian horror movies such as The Eye or Dark Water.
The first story tells of an antique drum, which is haunted and brings bad luck to the modern day finder. The second of a love potion which has some unsettling side effects and the third about a cop working on an apparent suicide case.
Overall, the film is a bit weird but very good. A lot of it didn't seem to make sense at the time, but thinking about it later it makes more sense.
Dave W - 20th March, 2004 - 14:06
Another Tartan Asia Extreme Film, and another great film. The story follows a deaf mute hitman by the name of Kong and his partner. I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but the story centres on the assinations he carries out and his relationship with a young woman who works in a pharmacy. The story is not just of guns and violence but also of how his actions have repercussions for others. I highly recommend this film to any fan of Asian cinema.
Dave W - 21st September, 2003 - 16:17
Director:
Terry Zwigoff
Year: 2003
Language: English
Country: America
Bad Santa tells the story of conman, Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and his partner in crime Marcus (Tony Cox, Me, Myself & Irene). Every Christmas Marcus and Willie get jobs in the Santa's grotto of a department store, then rip it off on Christmas Eve, emptying the safe and disappearing until the next year.
Willie is the most unlikely Santa ever, he hates kids; has a foul temper and is an alcoholic who is always drunk on the job. Things take a turn for the strange when Willie ends up staying with a strange kid he befriends.
The humour in Bad Santa is very dark, Billy Bob Thornton is excellent in his role as the store Santa who hates Christmas. Almost every line is hilariously funny and incredibly well delivered. Although a Christmas movie, Bad Santa takes all the Christmas cheer out of it, a great movie for people who are sickened by the usual cheery Christmas movies.
Overall, a pretty funny Christmas film with a difference. If you go and see it look out for the best cameo ever near the end when none other than Sherrif John Bunnel of World's Scariest Police Chases fame.
Dave W - 7th November, 2004 - 13:55
Director:
Kinji Fukasaku
Kenta Fukasaku
Year: 2003
Language: 日本語 (Japanese) - English Sub
Country: 日本 (Japan)
Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale is one of my favourite films, it is extreme cinema at it's best. A dark premise with great performances from the whole cast. Because of this I was interested in seeing the sequel, Battle Royale 2. Whereas while making the original Kinji Fukasaku had the excellent novel by Koushun Takami to work with, BR2 is an entirely new story. The death of Kinji Fukasaku during the making was also a blow with Kenta Fukasaku stepping up to finish his fathers film.
The film is set 3 years after the first and sees Shuya Nanahara, a survivor from the first film forming an underground terror organisation and declaring war against the Grown-Ups. To try to end this uprising, the Government starts the 2nd BR program which sees a class of 42 students sent to the island where Nanahara is hiding to kill him. One member of the team is Shiori Kitano, the daughter of a teacher (Beat Takeshi) who Nanahara killed in the first film. This sees the unwitting students pitted against Nanahara's guerilla movement.
Although there are similar themes to the first one, the film has none of the shock or originality of its predecessor, the acting is terrible and special effects are dodgy to say the least. There is also a thinly disguised Anti-American vibe whereby we hear about a long list of countries which another nameless country (blatantly America) has bombed in the past 60 years.
Overall, Battle Royale 2 follows up from an important film which is destined to be a classic, removes all the importance from it and gives us what is basically an overacted action film with some political undertones which are never really explored properly. As an action film, BR2 is reasonable, as the follow up to Battle Royale, BR2 is as dissapointing as you could get.
Dave W - 7th November, 2004 - 14:24
Director:
Ki-duk Kim
Year: 2001
Language: Korean (English Sub)
Country: South Korea
Director Duk Kim-Ki is no stranger to extreme cinema his film The Isle was pretty nasty in places, so it's no surprise that another of his films, Bad Guy is also a tale of violence and nastiness.
When Han-ki sees a pretty girl, Sun-hwa, on the street, he decides to go up to her and kiss her, needless to say she is less than impressed and her boyfriend steps in to give him a bit of a beating. Some passing Army guys also beat him up a bit and it all ends with Sun-hwa spitting on him. Han-ki isn't very pleased with this, so sets her up so she gets caught stealing a wallet; she is then forced to go to a loan shark to repay her debts and when she can't pay is forced into prostitution at a brothel for which Han-ki happens to be a pimp.
The film then continues from here telling the story of Sun-Hwa's life of forced prostitution and her feelings for Han-Ki whom she starts to fall for despite all the really shitty things he's done to her.
Bad Guy is violent and deals with some pretty messed up stuff, as a film it's not too bad, but not really cheery family viewing. Only really one to watch if you are a fan of extreme Korean cinema.
Dave W - 9th January, 2005 - 15:18
Director:
Kenji Misumi
Year: 1972
Language: 日本語 (Japanese) (English Sub)
Country: 日本 (Japan)
The second film in the Baby Cart/Lone Wolf and Cub series of films; Baby Cart at the River Styx sees Ogami Itto take a job to kill a farmer who if he should fall into the hands of the Shogunate would give up a secret dye recipe. Meanwhile, the shogunate hire a group of females Ninja assassins in an attempt to rid the world of Ogami Itto once and for all.
The content of the film is much the same as Sword of Vengeance; a good old fashioned Samurai film with lots of over the top blood and some decent sword fights. The plot is decent and engaging throughout. While there's not much in the film to make it stand out as anything other than a reasonable Samurai movie it's worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.
Dave W - 6th April, 2005 - 20:50
Director:
Kenji Misumi
Year: 1972
Language: 日本語 (Japanese) (English Sub)
Country: 日本 (Japan)
Film No. 3 in the Babcart/Lone Wolf and Cub series ([1][2]). Babycart to Hades sees Ogami Itto take a contract to assassinate the deputy of a fief. This leads to him being set up against an army of warriors armed not only with the deadly sword, but bows and guns.
As far as the Babycart films go, Babycart to Hades is pretty typical of the series, over the top violence, lots of blood and some amazing sword fighting scenes. This installment features a little more guns than the previous two and the cart has been kitted out with some extra tricks. There is a lot of samurai philosophy, perhaps more than would be picked up on by the casual viewer.
Babycart to Hades is a a worthy addition to the Babycart series, but newcomers should probably start at the start with Sword of Vengeance as by this point a lot of the characters and back plot has been explained and although not required 100% does add to the film.
Maybe not a film I'd recommend to the casual viewer but for fans of the Babycart series or Samurai films in general, definately worthy of a watch.
Dave W - 16th April, 2005 - 17:49
Director:
Buichi Saito
Year: 1972
Language: 日本語 (Japanese) (English Sub)
Country: 日本 (Japan)
Film number 4 in the Baby Cart series ([1][2][3]) and more of the same. This time we see Ogami Itto paid to assassinate a tatooed woman who has defected from her clan. Still being pursued by those from his past life who wish to see him dead.
In terms of content and style, the 4th film is pretty much identical to the first 3, over the top bloody violence, large sword fights and many a limb being chopped off. Although the film is definately no worse than the previous 3, the slightly lower score is because it brings little further to the table.
One to watch for fans of the Lone Wolf and Cub series and perhaps fans of Samurai films in general, although it's probably best to start at the start rather than jumping straight in to this film.
Dave W - 10th May, 2005 - 10:52
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Year: 2005
Language: English
Country: America
Batman's fifth big screen outing and with Christian Bale taking up the role of Batman we go back to the start and follow Bruce Wayne as he takes up his role as Gotham's Dark Knight. Batman's first outing sees him go up against villains who plan to envelop Gotham in panic through the use of a fear inducing drug.
Batman Begins is a pretty good Batman movie all considered, Bale is decent in his role and while some critics have said it lacks humour, Michael Caine's character of Albert the Butler is campy as hell and has very few serious lines. The action is entertaing throughout although all the man to man fighting scenes are found lacking as the descend into a nasty mess of hundreds of cuts where you can't actually see what is happening.
Definately one of the better comic book adaptations and Batman adaptations in particular.
Dave W - 19th June, 2005 - 23:58
Director:
Kenji Misumi
Year: 1973
Language: 日本語 (Japanese) (English Sub)
Country: 日本 (Japan)
The 5th and Penulimate film in the Lone Wolf and Cub Series ([1][2][3][4]) sees Ogammi Itto tracked down by 5 Ronin who wish to test his skill before offering him a mission. After defeating the 5, Itto must recover a scroll in order to preserve the integrity of the Kuroda clan.
There's not much to say about Babycart in the Land of Demons which I haven't already said about the previous four films; it's a good old fashioned Samurai flick with a reasonable plot, some great fight scenes and a lot of blood. One thing I would say is that by this point the same old Itto takes a job, fights some people and then kills a whole lot of people is getting a little overdone. If you've seen a couple of the Lone Wolf and Cub films, there's not really any need to see this one unless you are a die hard fan of the series.
Dave W - 3rd August, 2005 - 09:16
Director:
Richard Linklater
Year: 2005
Language: English
Country: America
When a foul mouthed, drunk, washed up ex-professional baseball star (Billy Bob Thornton) is recruited to coach a team of misfit kids he has a struggle on his hands. He must turn the group into a team which can beat the smug Roy Bullock in the championship.
With Bad News Bears starring Billy Bob Thorton cast as a foul mouthed drunk who has to deal with children, it sounds a bit like the excellent Bad Santa but that's where the comparisons stop. The jokes just aren't as funny, relying pretty much on how offensive they are rather than being particularly witty.
There are some mildly amusing moments however, although not enough to make the film any good.
Dave W - 19th August, 2005 - 16:15
Director:
John McTiernan
Year: 2003
Language: English
Country: America
When a squad of 6 Rangers and their Sergeant go into a live ammunition training mission in the Panama jungle, only 2 return alive, one with gunshot wounds to the leg and the other witnessed shooting one of his squad before he was retreived.
When the Ranger refuses to talk to a military investigator he demands another Ranger who he doesn't know is brought in to hear his story. The head of the base calls on an old friend of his ex-Ranger and DEA officer Hardy (John Travolta). Together Hardy and Osbourne (the investigator) must decipher what led to the death of the 4 soldiers and Sergeant West (Samuel L. Jackson).
The plot twists and turns as the story is told and then retold when it becomes clear that someone is being liberal with the truth. This leads to a movie which is engaging and enjoyable throughout as we discover more and more of what really happened. The acting is reasonable and the special effects during the Jungle scenes are decent.
The only bad point I would raise is that the end of the movie is a bit cheesy and could maybe have been toned down a little but overall Basic is a decent movie well worth a watch.
Dave W - 3rd November, 2005 - 08:54
Director:
Peter Jackson
Year: 1987
Language: English
Country: New Zealand
When an alien invasion threatens New Zealand, the Government send in The Boys to defeat Lord Crumb and his gang of zombie like aliens who want to pack up the human race into boxes and sell them as snacks across the galaxy.
Shot on a very low budget, Bad Taste has a bit of a cult following, I hadn't seen it since I was about 17, but held fond memories of the movie. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't really warrant the following it has. Unsurprisingly the acting is terrible and the screenplay pretty dire; I found the film didn't hold my attention at all. On the plus side, there are some reasonably good special effects considering the budget.
A lot of the gore and gags probably appealed to me more when Bad Taste was something I had never seen before, but 8 years later, I've seen far more shocking cinema and most of the jokes just aren't that funny. Overall not a movie I'd be in a hurry to see again.
Dave W - 15th October, 2006 - 14:01
Director:
Year: 2006
Language: Various
Country: America
A tale of human communication is told through 4 interlocking stories, a Morrocan goatherder, a married couple on holiday, a Mexican maid in charge of two children and a Japanese schoolgirl who is deaf and mute. Well shot and told throughout as we flick between the storylines, each on a slightly skewed timeline so that the connection does not always appear obvious at first.
The plot is interesting and engaging and the acting from lead cast members, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Rinko Kikuchi is excellent. While 3 of the main plotlines have strong connections between them, the Japanese plot is only loosley related, which is a shame as it is perhaps the most heartfelt of the four.
All in all, a good movie which is worth watching even if it does have a few flaws.
Dave W - 30th January, 2007 - 14:47
Headline:
Battles
Venue: Liquid Rooms
Gig Date: 18th October, 2007
Support:
Dirty Projectors
Despite turning up on time for the published 7pm start time, the doors didn't open until at least 8, by which time we were really ready to listen to some good music.
First on stage were the Dirty Projectors who were pretty good and like Battles fall into a very hard to describe category.
After a short break, Battles started to set up on stage, their masses of equipment were brought on and the drums set up right at the front of the stage, complete with a cymbal on a stand which easily topped 6ft, we were pretty excited and hoped to be in for something special.
Unfortunately when the band took the stage we weren't disappointed, launching straight into the last track on their album, Race: Out. As the song built up, it was clear that although the Mirrored album is pretty good, but live, Battles are amazing. Starting with short musical parts, they build them together layer on layer, tied together through the drums to create an incredibly dynamic sound. This sound is then stripped back down and built up again.
With very little chat between the songs and the sparse vocals so effect laden as to sound like real singing, the set felt very much like a DJ set rather than that of a live band. Which is all the more impressive as it was obvious that the members of the band were playing their specific brand of complicated, technical music live.
Overall, an amazing set from a band who are a joy to listen to.
Dave W - 21st October, 2007 - 18:19
Director:
Abderrahmane Sissako
Year: 2006
Language: French (English Sub)
Country: Mali
Set in the Malian Capital of Bamako during a court hearing which sees the World Bank and IMF put on trial by the African people to decide whether they are to blame for the poverty in which many African's live, Bamako shows us scenes from the trial in which lawyers from each side argue their case interspersed with stories from around the court room telling the tales of ordinary citizens of Mali.
Bamako is well shot and presented and the question at it's core, are the World Bank and IMF to blame for the situation in Africa, makes for the parts of the film which explore this question, interesting viewing. Unfortunately the film has too many scenes which in my opinion are overly long and detract from the overall point of the film, 5 minute scenes of a man chanting, a strange cowboy film intro and 2 scenes of a woman singing all could have been, in my opinion, cut to make a more compact and succint film.
Having said that, the film is intelligent and well made, so viewers more interested in Africa and African politics will probably get more from it than I did.
Dave W - 13th December, 2007 - 21:05
Director:
Robert Ben Garant
Year: 2007
Language: English
Country: America
Randy Daytona was a child Ping Pong star of the '88 Olympics, but when he loses his match and his dad is killed by the Triads for unpaid gambling fees he gives up competitive Table Tennis. 18 years later he is working as a showman in Vegas using his Ping Pong skills in an attempt to entertain the crowds.
When the FBI approach him for help in trapping Triad boss Feng (Christopher Walken) Randy is drawn into a world of underground illegal Ping Pong where losing means instant deaths at the hands of the merciless Feng.
Balls of Fury is a sporting comedy in the mould of Dodgeball, the plot is so ridiculous it only backs up the comedy and while most of the gags are either obvious or slapstick if you are a fan of stupid movies then there is a lot there to laugh at.
Overall, a pretty funny film but perhaps not one for the more discerning cinema goer.
Dave W - 27th December, 2007 - 11:42
Director:
Denys Arcand
Year: 2003
Language: French
Country: Canada
Remy, a university professor forced to retire when he was diagnosed by cancer lies on his death bed. His ex-wife calls his estranged son who travels from London to see him. Despite their differences, he arranges his father's medical care and organises for old friends from his father's past to come to the hospital where they reminisce about the old days.
The Barbarian Invasions is a touching story of one man's last days, despite his less than perfect life, when it comes to the very end, people are willing to forgive and forget and focus on the good times rather than bad. Driven mostly through the characterisation of the the main cast, the film has a dark comic feel in places which makes it very watchable.
All in all, a decent movie dealing with death, romance and sexuality.
Dave W - 15th February, 2008 - 19:30
Director:
Sergei M. Eisenstein
Year: 1925
Language: Russian
Country: Russia
Set in 1905, the 1920's silent film Battleship Potemkin tells the story of a group of sailors who mutiny and take over the emponymous boat, killing their commanding officers. They then go on to their home port of Odessa where their calls for revolution gather steam.
Although the film quality is reflective of the time, Battleship Potemkin contains a number of scenes, ideas and themes which have recurred in many forms since the film was made. The musical score is excellent, making up for the lack of dialogue and creating a feeling of tension as the film builds up to its more dramatic moments.
All in all, Battleship Potemkin is a classic film, but also one which is powerful and emotional.
Dave W - 2nd May, 2008 - 12:29
Director:
John Sturges
Year: 1955
Language: English
Country: America
Shortly after the Second World War, an express train stops in the mid-West town of Black Rock. The train hasn't stopped there in the past 4 years and the only person to alight is John J. MacReedy, a smartly dressed man who has only got the use of one of his arms. As he sets about his business in the town, the townspeople treat him with suspicion, scared he will dredge up a secret from the town's murky past.
While the main plot of Bad Day at Black Rock is pretty easy to guess from about 20 minutes in, the surprise is that towards the end of the film, we focus more on the characters involved than the plot itself. Spencer Tracy is pretty good in his role as the moody, secretive MacReedy and the photography of the sun bleached town is stunning, but for the most part, Bad Day at Black Rock offers little excitement and its relatively short run time makes for little time to fully explore the situation.
Overall, an interesting film, but it could have done with being slightly longer.
Dave W - 25th July, 2008 - 16:50
The Baader Meinhof Complex is a biography of the German left wing terrorist organisation the RAF (Red Army Faction). Active in the 1960's and 70's the group were responsible for a number of bombings. The film follows the group from their beginnings, following them through two of the founding members, Andreas Baader (played by Moritz Bleibtreu) and journalist Ulrike Meinhof.
The film does a good job of telling the story of the group and portraying the main characters involved without feeling too sympathetic towards them. With a reasonably long runtime of 150 minutes, the film feels a lot shorter, with a lot of history and events packed into the 2 and a half hours.
Extremely well made, with some great performances from the main actors, The Baader Meinhof Complex is easy to engage with and at times is effective in producing an emotional response from the viewer towards the scenes depicted on screen. All in all, an excellent film which is interesting to watch.
Dave W - 23rd November, 2008 - 21:35
Author:
Ben Goldacre
Year: 2008
Ben Goldacre's book aims to let the reader in on the truth behind how science (particularly in regard to health and medicine) is reported in the mainstream media and the ways in which what is reported as fact is inacurate at best and just plain wrong at worst.
Along the way, he takes potshots at, amongst others, Dr. Gillian McKeith, the MMR and MRSA scandals and homeopathy. Part of the book focuses on teaching the reader the scientific method in order that they might be able to examine these "science" stories better themselves in the future.
With a writing style which is funny and immensely readable, Bad Science is a book which you can whizz through. Goldacre tends to hammer home his points a little too much, but for the most part it's enjoyable and entertaining. My only criticism is that for anyone reasonably interested in science, the book will cover a lot of familiar ground.
All in all, readable with interesting information and facts, but there is nothing amazingly challenging or surprising.
Dave W - 6th April, 2009 - 12:41
Director:
Ron Howard
Year: 1991
Language: English
Country: America
Backdraft follows two brothers, their father was a Chicago fireman who died on duty and the eldest brother, Stevie (Kurt Russell), is now a lieutenant in the Chicago fire department. When the younger brother, Bryan (William Baldwin) passes out and becomes a fireman too, he is assigned to Stevie's unit and the pair come to blows almost immediately.
Stevie's bullying forces Bryan to take up a job working with fire investigator Don Rimgale (Robert Deniro) and the pair are soon get busy investigating a series of possible arsons where people have been killed due to opening a door and being fried alive with the "backdraft".
What starts as a seemingly straightforward action film about herioc firefighters, soon descends into a web of conspiracy theories. Most of the actors are pretty mediocre and even Deniro doesn't get that good a role. While the fire sequences are genuinley well done, the film is a little boring in places and you feel that if there wasn't so much sibling rivalry and melodrama, much more could have been made of the scenario.
Overall, on the surface a film about firefighters, but underneath a melodramatic story with an all too cliched conspiracy theory twist.
Dave W - 17th August, 2009 - 22:37
Director:
Chi Leung 'Jacob' Cheung
Year: 2006
Language: Mandarin (English Sub)
Country: Hong-Kong
Another large scale Chinese war epic and another in recent years starring Andy Lau. A Battle of Wits follows a small walled city as they come under attack from a rival warlord. They beg for help from the Mozi warrior clan and the Mozi's respond by sending one of their own, Ge Li (Lau). Ge Li gets to work coming up with a plan to stop the invaders.
Battle of Wits has a great plot which is simple and effective. The acting and action sequences are excellent and there are some cool touches, including a scene where the enemy attacks in one man air balloons. The only downfall in the movie is the at times terrible CG, a couple of scenes look awful, but for the rest of the time the film is a visual feast.
Overall, a great ancient war epic, let down by dodgy CG in places.
Dave W - 15th September, 2009 - 12:48
Director:
Vincente Minnelli
Year: 1953
Language: English
Country: America
Fred Astaire stars in this musical comedy as washed up Hollywood song and dance man Tony Hunter. When he visits his friends in New York, he is informed that they have written a new musical comedy for him to star in to restart his career, but when the bring on board a pretentious director, he turns the whole project into an over the top retelling of Faust with disastrous/hilarious consequences.
Considering my dislike of musicals, I found The Band Wagon disturbingly enjoyable. The plot is reasonable and although I didn't think any of the songs were amazing, they were upbeat and fun with some good dance numbers. The comedy element works well and the main characters are pretty good as over the top versions of real theatre types.
All in all, enjoyable and fun.
Dave W - 17th November, 2009 - 22:35
I have to admit that the only reason I own this book is that it's the Kanji book which my Japanese lessons tell us to use, so I was kind of forced into purchasing it. For a couple of years, I'd used it mainly for learning the 10 or so Kanji we need for our bi-weekly Kanji tests, but recently after deciding to go back and try and really learn the Kanji I'd been brushing over, I discovered how good this book really is.
It teaches you 251 Kanji, with the stroke order shown for each, along with various readings and up to 4 compounds. But where the book really shines is the end of chapter review sections. These include questions split into reading Kanji and writing Kanji. If you do them in order, they have the advantage that they build upon each other, so you aren't just testing your knowledge of the latest 10-15 Kanji you have learned, but are revisiting most of the Kanji from previous chapters as well. Every 10 units, there is also a recap which goes over all the previous Kanji again, but in more depth. This means that if you do a chapter at a time and learn the Kanji and do the exercises, the earlier Kanji become second nature because you are using them so much.
My main criticism of the book would be that the first 251 Kanji chosen are very different from other resources I am using, especially my Kanji flash cards, with some of the Kanji is this book not even appearing in the first 3 set of cards I have, to have a flash card for every character in the book, I need to buy the fourth set of cards which has the last 512 Kanji in it.
This is kind of understandable as many different resources decide which Kanji are more important, but also a bit annoying, especially since some of the Kanji presented in the later chapters of this book relate to quite complicated topics which are a bit ahead of my current vocabulary.
Overall though, this is an excellent resource, but beware it isn't cheap. To get a copy from Amazon costs about £34! Considering the Japanese list price is only 2,400 yen (£16 at the current [poor] exchange rate), you're best off trying to get hold of a copy next time you are in Japan. I got a copy of Volume 2 in a book shop in Tokyo for a much reduced rate.
Dave W - 17th January, 2010 - 15:10
Barton Fink (John Turturro is a playwright working in 1940's New York writing for the stage. He is lured West to Los Angeles to write a Hollywood script after being offered a very good salary for doing so. Once in Los Angeles, he is almost immediately hit with writer's block and can't get started on his script. The film follows Fink as he tries to find inspiration while contending with a drunk author and his new next door neighbour.
Barton Fink is darkly comic and while the plot is hard to explain, it is not the main driving force in the film. Turturro's performance as the struggling writer, Fink, is excellent and John Goodman puts in a similarly good performance as Fink's next-door neighbour.
Overall, well worth watching, if a little hard to explain.
Dave W - 13th June, 2010 - 13:53
Headline:
Bad Religion
Venue: ABC
Gig Date: 25th August, 2010
Support:
Flood of Red
I've been a fan of Bad Religion for at least 13 years now which seems like a long time, but when you consider that in 1997 when I first started listening to them, they had already been around for 17 years, you can see how long they've been around. With 30 years of history and 14 studio albums (soon to be 15) there's plenty of scope for coming up with a good set list (I have 91 tracks on my iPod alone and only own 6 of their albums, so not even half).
We turned up a little late after some issues getting a bus through from Edinburgh, so completely missed the support act. On the upside, we didn't have too long to wait until Bad Religion took the stage. The launched into a set which covered a lot of tracks off their last couple of albums along with pretty much every track from the 1995 compilation album All Ages. This made for a good mix of new stuff and classics and there were very few songs I can think of that I wish they'd included that they didn't.
As a band, they play well together and are still full of energy despite being in their mid 40's now. They rattled off numerous songs with little pauses for breath, they must have played 30-40 tracks in total. Greg Graffin's voice and vocal patterns have changed a bit and some of the songs didn't sound quite the same as the album versions, although it was a weird mix where both old and new stuff sounded different as opposed to the effect you get sometimes when a singer sings their back catalogue in the style of their latest album.
Overall, a great set list and a good performance.
Dave W - 26th August, 2010 - 12:47
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