Back…At Last!
Where have I been this last ten days or so you may be wondering and the short answer is offline. Thanks, apparently, to a technical problem that coincided with Virgin Media moving all the old NTL customers to a new server, I’ve been without internet access since the 26th April, as they were unable to sort the problem until the migration was complete. Having been plunged back into the dark ages, before the wonders of the web, for over a week, I’ve realised how dependant I’ve become on it for everything from banking to looking up bus times or just finding the answer to a question. Anyway I finally got back online yesterday so here’s a round-up of what should have been on here the weekend before last –
The Friday Night Fright: The House on Sorority Row
Oh the joy of Music Zone and their 97p DVDs! I’ve got a high tolerance for crap movies, particularly horror, and I picked up some real stinkers from the now defunct Music Zone chain. This isn’t the worst of them, which is a shame as some were so appallingly bad they entertained for all the wrong reasons. No, The House on Sorority Row is just a very ordinary and cheap (so not even any decent gore) slasher flick from 1983.
Written (or maybe that should be cut and pasted) and directed by Mark Rosman, the film takes elements from Black Christmas, Halloween and Friday the 13th (with a little Animal House thrown in for good measure) blending it together to create 90 minutes of boredom. The only time the film shows anything like originality, and even manages a little tension, is when the mad doctor (yes it even has a mad doctor, although he’s not really mad enough to be entertaining) drugs the last surviving sorority girl and uses her as bait to catch the deranged killer. Unfortunately the scene only lasts a couple of minutes before she gets away and we’re treated to more Halloween-style chasing round the house.
The Weekend Western: Posse
Not your usual manhunt western, this is an oater with political aspirations. Kirk Douglas is the lawman with his eye on being elected senator and all he has to do to get there is bring in train robber Bruce Dern, which, as it turns out, is much easier said then done.
Douglas is excellent, as is Dern as the charismatic outlaw. He’d come a long way since being shot down in a gunfight with Douglas and John Wayne in The War Wagon.
It’s not going to top any “greatest westerns” list but it’s solidly directed by Kirk and clearly a reaction to the political climate of the times (mid-seventies). It’s the political subtext and the somewhat unique ending (which may put of those looking for flying lead) that makes it standout. Well worth a look if you like a more leftfield western.
Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting: DOA - Dead or Alive
Films adapted from games are usually duds and DOA is no exception but it’s a dud that’s full of scantily clad ladies kicking ass, so there’s some entertainment to be had.
This treads similar ground to Charlie’s Angels but, unlike that films ADD suffering director, DOA at least has a man at the helm who knows how to put an action sequence together. Hong Kong action maestro Corey Yuen even manages to craft some decent, if decidedly silly, fight scenes with the beautiful stars he’s given, aided by stunt doubles, snappy editing and a lot of wirework.
SF & Fantasy Sunday: Children of Men
It seems if you put Clive Owen in a film with a pregnant woman you’re on to a winner, with both this and the utterly deranged but hugely entertaining Shoot ‘Em Up forcing me to confess that I’m actually starting to like the actor.
But this couldn’t be farther from Shoot ‘Em Up if it tried. It a unrelentingly grim look at a future Britain, something we rarely get to see, and it makes Blade Runner look like utopia by comparison. Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s view of the Britain’s future may not be flattering but it does feel real. I’ve watched his breakthrough film, Y tu mamá también, and found it entertaining enough but there was nothing in that film to suggest he could handle action as well as he does here. There’s a genuine sense of peril as the bullets fly, partly because it seems unlikely the film will have a happy ending, but mostly because the battle scenes are so realistic.
One of the best and most intelligent SF films of the 21st Century.
That’s the round-up over, next week things will (fingers crossed) get back to normal. As for the rest of this week, well you’ll almost certainly see a review of The Sandbaggers Season 1, possible a review of the classic American war series Combat – Season 1 Part 1 (if I get the last few episodes watched). And maybe even a review of Iron Man.
