David M. Brown's Blog, page 40
August 4, 2013
Film Review: Avengers Assemble
Marvel makes cinematic history as it unites the super hero team-up of a lifetime. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Captain America (Chris Evans) assemble together for the very first time ever in this epic, action-packed blockbuster alongside Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Director Joss Whedon creates an unprecedented universe that has become a global phenomenon. Packed with spectacular visual effects, and exclusive bonus features, including Marvel’s first-ever gag reel, never-before-seen Marvel short, and an interactive second screen experience, Marvel’s The Avengers will blow your mind!
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson
Directed by: Joss Whedon
Runtime: 143 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: Avengers Assemble
Marvel superhero films have been one of the big box office draws for the last few years so fans across the globe must have been in ecstasy with the emergence of Avengers Assemble, uniting the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Thor into one movie. No easy task. The story sees Thor’s nemesis Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as the main villain who meets with the Other, the head of an extraterrestrial race, that offers a deal of subjugating the Earth in exchange for the Tesseract, an energy source being studied by various scientists led by Dr Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), who appeared in Thor. Loki arrives on Earth and destroys the facility where the Tesseract is located but not before enslaving security agents and also Selvig who follow him in an escape. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. is powerless to stop Loki but he has a team to summon for war.
Fury begins gathering the Avengers, a group of elite agents and warriors including Natasha aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who is ordered to recruit Dr Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) who has stayed calm for a while but soon has a tendency to get a little angry. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) soon joins, as does Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) soon appears intent on taking revenge against Loki. Pretty soon the Avengers are facing off against Loki and trying to retrieve the Tesseract and even though they manage to capture him, Loki is too cunning to be held prisoner for long. Very soon Loki is able to open a wormhole and gain the support of the Chitauri army that the Other promised him. Can the Avengers save the world or is Loki destined to become the supreme ruler?
Avengers Assemble inevitably boasts some terrific visuals and the battle scenes are often fantastic. For such a mouth watering cast, director Whedon handles things well with decent screen time allotted to everyone involved. It never feels like precedence is given to one big name over another. Downey Jr was an undoubted highlight as were Hemsworth and Johansson, while Hiddleston appeared to be enjoying himself far too much at times which is always good to see. The rest of the cast were all fine as well, drawing on a myriad of abilities and demonstrating their individual egos only to realise that teamwork is fundamentally the way to go. Perhaps it could be dismissed as corny but it never feels that way. One of the good things about the film is the plethora of interactions between the main characters, sacrificing a cascade of effects and action scenes to given substance to the characters and it pays off handsomely. This could have just been an action and visual fest but it tells a story too.
Avengers Assemble is one the best of the superhero films I have seen. Individually these films will divide the fans based in some part on their favourite superhero but with this ensemble you really can’t go wrong. A great cast, good visuals and a decent script give this one a lot to shout about.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Avengers Assemble | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
August 3, 2013
Book Excerpt: The Cuckoos of Batch Magna – Peter Maughan
Today Peter Maughan stops by to share an excerpt from his book, The Cuckoos of Batch Magna.
Excerpt from The Cuckoos of Batch MagnaAt the top of the hill, Phineas left the road and crossed the two humped fields called Peny Brin, Bill Sikes, with a sudden show of interest in the morning, scattering rabbits feeding among the moon daisies and buttercups, Phineas’s boots shining like wet tar in the dew. And up into Cutterbach, a stretch of ancient woodland flushed each September by the Batch Valley Chase, home to badgers and owls as well as foxes, and fallow deer, relics of an ornamental deer park and a time when the Strange family and the village were young still.
They were on the very edge of the wood overlooking the valley, on a ride rutted with the recent weather and punched with the hooves of horses, when with no hint of its coming, the sun rose, and hung there, burning the trees on the skyline black, before ballooning above them as if released, a cock somewhere below crowing as if caught napping as its light swept across the valley.
Phineas felt it touch his face, warming it like a cow’s summer breath, fragrant with flowering grasses and meadow herbs and clover. With all the scents of summer ripening in the valley, under a creamy, blue and white marbled sky.
He stood looking down at the scene, as if coming on it for the first time. A field of buttercups seemed to slide, glistening, off the side of a hill, as if melting under the sweep of the sun, and among the trees above them the pale fire of rhododendrons. The meadow grasses falling away below him glinting here and there under frail webs of dew and mist, catching the light like things hidden. And the river, smoking in the sudden warmth, with the houseboats, the four paddle steamers that had once plied the home waters and a Victorian Thames, now tied permanently to the land, held there on their ropes, and the island called Snails Eye sitting at the heart of the river, where it bulged on a meander like a lake.
The small black and white farms of the valley among orchards, and the houses and half-timbered cottages of Batch Magna, a Marcher village, the cross of St George, flown from the Steamer Inn, a riposte to the red dragon of Wales above the door of the Pughs’ post office and shop. The cricket field and pavilion behind the churchyard, and the great, immemorial yew, the centuries in its vast girth corseted with rusting iron bands, shading a church which bore in its nave the marks of Norman chisels, and among its gravestones a sundial which told the time in Jerusalem.
And the tall, star-shaped chimneys and gabled black and white timbers of Batch Hall, home to the Strange family for over four hundred years, set with Elizabethan ornateness in what was left of its park, its lawns, under horse chestnuts heavy with bloom, running down to the Cluny. And the castle, a fortress once against border incursions and the forces of Cromwell, open now to Welsh rain and rabbits, the archers’ loopholes in the ruined towers blinded with creeper, its red sandstone turning to coral in the sun.
The forgotten country, this part of the Marches had been called. A country largely ignored by the rest of the world, apart from a trickle of tourists on their way to somewhere else, and the odd company rep who had taken the wrong turning, in a place with need for few road signs. A valley lost among its ancient wooded hillsides and winding high-banked lanes, on a road to nowhere in particular.
Phineas had arrived there by accident, after taking a wrong turning himself, when on a road to nowhere in particular. Falling into the valley, as he came to see it, like Alice, and five years later was still there.
He thought occasionally, in a vague sort of way, about moving on, getting back to what he vaguely thought of as the real world. But there never seemed to be any particular hurry to do so.
And that of course was the trouble with the river, as he’d had occasion to point out before, to himself and to others, sparing no one. Whether boating up and down it, or simply sitting on it, there never seemed to be any particular hurry to do anything.
Well, now he had the feeling that all that was about to change. That now, with the General no longer at the wheel, they stood exposed to more unsettled weather. That the real world, which had always been over there somewhere, beyond the blue hills, was perhaps about to come to them.
He whistled for Sikes, busy putting up a few panicking pheasants and the smell of wild garlic as he blundered through the undergrowth after the scent of fox or badger.
They had walked this wood together in all the seasons. In autumn, when it ran like a damp fire through the trees, and in weather that had shrivelled Sikes’s testicles as he padded warily through undergrowth crackling with ice or got himself buried in snowdrifts along the rides. The winter bareness like a ruin now in early summer, overgrown with new growth, letting in the sun and with the sound of birdsong up under its roof.
The sunlight lay among the drifts of bluebells and red campion, and reached with long slender fingers deep into the wood, where the new grass and ferns were tender in the shade between trees. And above him, high in the green and golden heart of an oak, a blackcap opened in sudden song. The sweet, poignantly brief notes flung, carelessly, on the morning air like a handful of bright coin.
The Cuckoos of Batch Magna (2013)
When Sir Humphrey Miles Pinkerton Strange, 8th baronet and huntin’ shooting’ and fishin’ squire of the village of Batch Magna in the Welsh Marches, departs this world for the Upper House (as he had long vaguely thought of it, where God no doubt presides in ermine over a Heaven as reassuringly familiar as White’s or Boodle’s), what’s left of his decaying estate passes, through the ancient law of entailment, to distant relative Humph, an amiable, overweight short-order cook from the Bronx. Sir Humphrey Franklin T Strange, 9th baronet and squire of Batch Magna, as Humph now most remarkably finds himself to be, is persuaded by his Uncle Frank, a small time Wall Street broker with an eye on the big time, to make a killing by turning the sleepy backwater into a theme-park image of rural England – a vacation paradise for free-spending US millionaires.
But while the village pub and shop, with the lure of the dollar in their eyes, put out the Stars and Stripes in welcome, the tenants of the estate’s dilapidated houseboats are above any consideration of filthy lucre and stand their ground for tradition’s sake … and because they consider eviction notices not to be cricket.
Each disgruntled faction sees the other as the unwelcome cuckoo in the family nest.
So, led by randy pulp-crime writer Phineas Cook, and Lt-Commander James Cunningham DSO, DSC and Bar, RN (ret) – a man with a glass eye for each day of the week, painted with scenes from famous British naval victories and landscapes that speak of England – the motley crew run up the Union Jack and battle ensign and prepare to engage.
But this is Batch Magna, a place where anything might happen. And does …
Amazon USAmazon UKGoodreads About Peter Maughan
I am an ex-actor, fringe theatre director and script writer, married and living in the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales, and the backdrop to a series I’m writing, the Batch Magna novels, set in a village cut off from whatever the rest of the world gets up to beyond the hills of its valley. All the books in the series feature houseboats, converted paddle steamers on Batch Magna’s river the Cluny, and I lived on a houseboat in the mid-1970s (the time frame for the novels) on a converted Thames sailing barge among a small colony of houseboats on the Medway, deep in rural Kent.
An idyllic time, heedless days of freedom in that other world of the river which inspired the novels, set in a place called Batch Magna.
Book Excerpt: The Cuckoos of Batch Magna – Peter Maughan | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Film Review: Hugo
Legendary storyteller Martin Scorsese invites you to join him on a thrilling journey to a magical world based on Brian Selznick’s award-winning, imaginative New York Times best-seller, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Hugo is the astonishing adventure of a wily and resourceful orphan boy whose quest to unlock a secret left to him by his father will transform Hugo and all those around him.
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Runtime: 126 minutes
Studio: Paramount Studios
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: Hugo
Martin Scorsese’s 2011 adventure dazzled the Academy Awards, garnering 11 nominations and winning for such aspects as its visual effects and cinematography. Set in 1931 the film tells the story of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who lives in the walls of a Paris train station and repairs the clocks whenever they develop a fault. This prevents the need for anyone to venture into Hugo’s home and investigate. His late father (Jude Law) worked in a museum and instilled in Hugo a passion of mechanics, especially with clocks. Prior to his death, Hugo’s father had been working on a robot known as an automaton which Hugo now painstakingly tries to make work while pilfering food wherever he can and evading the station guard (Sacha Baron Cohen) who is hampered by a metal leg, having lost a limb in the war, but shows no mercy to orphans who are packed off to the nearest oprhanage.
Hugo’s life changes when he is caught stealing mechanical parts from Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), a toy maker who has a shop at the station. Georges takes Hugo’s notebook that his father had filled with diagrams and instructions Hugo is trying to decipher to make the automaton work. Eager to get the book back, Hugo enlists the help of Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is Georges’ goddaughter. Hugo ends up working for Georges to earn back his notebook but as he continue to work on the automaton, a mystery unfolds and he begins the search for a heart-shaped key that may ultimately bring life to the automaton.
Hugo is a pleasant family from start to finish with a fascinating mystery for Hugo to solve. The legacy of his father ultimately leads him to uncovering some secrets about the bitter Georges. The film boasts an impressive cast with Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer and the late Richard Griffiths all to be found at the train station. I didn’t realise train stations could be so cool. Only in Paris, I imagine. Ultimately the film has a feel good ending as the orphaned Hugo forms a close friendship with Isabelle and by the end you will find it’s been a rewarding journey. I’m not sure the film was worth its 11 Oscar nominations to be honest but it’s still a pleasant experience.
While not Scorsese’s masterpiece, Hugo has a lot of good qualities and should be enjoyed by all the family. Quirky characters, a good cast and some fabulous settings make this one stand out. Showered with praise at the Academy Awards, I don’t agree with all of the accolades but this is still a fun experience for all ages and it’s not often you can say that about a lot of films.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Hugo | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Film Review: 13 Tzameti
Hard-hitting French thriller. Sebastien (George Babluani) leads an impoverished life with his immigrant family, constantly struggling to find the money for their next meal. When hired to repair the roof of the morphine-addicted Godon (Philippe Passon), Sebastien eavesdrops in on a conversation which appears to offer a quick and easy solution to his money troubles. Taking on the identity of Godon, Sebastien follows a series of clues which lead him ever closer to his impending fate. The trail eventually leads Sebastien into the heart of the French countryside and face to face with a ring of clandestine gamblers who bet on human lives. From this point on there is no turning back.
Starring: George Babluani, Aurélien Recoing, Pascal Bongard, Fred Ulysse, Nicolas Pignon
Directed by: Géla Babluani
Runtime: 93 minutes
Studio: Palm Pictures
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: 13 Tzameti
It’s very much a case of wrong place and wrong time for Sebastian (George Babluani) who is repairing the roof of a residence owned by a troubled drug addict, Godon (Philippe Passon). When Godon dies, Sebastian is horrified to find Godon’s widow (Olga Legrand) cannot pay him. He decides to complete the work anyway and overhears the widow talking with another man about a job her husband was going to do with a substantial payment and that a letter had been sent to him with tickets and a hotel reservation. Sebastian has come into possession of the letter by chance and decides to go on the job himself, not realising what is waiting for him at the end.
Though Godon’s associates are stunned to find Sebastian coming to them, they reluctantly take him along to an isolated house where a group of men, all given numbers, are to take part in a game of chance. Sebastian is number thirteen and he is unable to turn his back on what is in store. Gambling enthusiasts are each supporting one man and betting on their survival in a group game of Russian Roulette. The thirteen men are made to stand in a circle, each armed with a gun they point to the back of the head of the man in front and in the first round they are given one bullet and instructed to pull the triggers at the same time. Sebastian is understandably hesitant but once forced into the act he begins a deadly game where the betting continues until only one man is left. If Sebastian can survive he will win a substantial amount of money to support his poverty stricken family but every other man there is hoping for the same.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when 13 Tzameti started but once it became apparent about the game Sebastian would be taking part in I felt the film really came to life. It is a dark subject, certainly, but the film is tense for the second half as the game of chance unfolds. When only four remain, two are chosen at random to face off in a gripping decider. It is literally a winner takes all contest and for the loser there is nothing but death. Babuani’s film is in black and white which enhances the experience and mood of the overall narrative, minimising the violence of what we witness.
13 Tzameti is a dark but absorbing drama of one young man’s curiosity leading him down a dark and terrible path. Often uncompromising, Babluani’s film never lets up with the tension once Sebastian reaches the end of his journey and he is destined to never be the same again.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: 13 Tzameti | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
August 2, 2013
Film Review: Ghost in the Shell
In a futuristic world where cyberspace, artificial intelligences and cyborg cops are the norm, only the Ghost (the indefinable element of human consciousness) exists to determine who is alive and who is purely a creation of the Net. Major Motoko Kusanagi is an elite officer in the Shell Squad who has been so heavily modified that little more than her Ghost remains. She is assigned to finding a computer criminal who is skilled enough to hack into the minds of his victims, and she finds that he uses humans as puppets to do his evil deeds. Things soon take on a more sinister twist. The special edition box set features the original subtitled version of the film and a documentary into the making of the piece.
Starring: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Richard Epcar, Akio Ôtsuka, Tamio Ôki
Directed by: Mamoru Oshii
Runtime: 83 minutes
Studio: Palm Pictures
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: Ghost in the Shell
Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell depicts an advanced technological future where human consciousness known as “ghosts” is the main defining factor between humans and machines. The world is connected through an intricate network and it is possible for these ghosts to leave one body and transfer to another. While beneficial there are also problems with such a world. A dangerous hacker known as the Puppet Master is at large and it is down to police officer Major Motoko Kusanagi to hunt him down. She is aided by Batou and Ishikawa, all members of Section 9 which recruits cyborgs whose enhanced abilities allow them to access networks at breakneck speed and absorb a vast array of information.
As heroines go, Kusanagi is both intelligent and strong, but such are the many technological enhancements she has that there is little in the way of emotion left in her near lifeless eyes. Away from the dangerous assignment to hunt down the Puppet Master, Kusanagi risks her life by immersing herself in the ocean while Batou waits on board a boat nearby. This is a rare moment where Kusanagi can let herself go and just be carried by the currents. Many aspects of the film made me think of Blade Runner where replicants are separated from humans only though their absence of emotions. In the midst of the action, Kusanagi is focused and brilliant, but in the film’s more ponderous moments she seems somewhat lost in a world of daily innovations.
Ghost in the Shell has built up an impressive reputation over the years and is regarded as a key influence behind The Matrix. Combining some fantastic battles with intimate discussions between the characters, Oshii has crafted a terrific piece of sci-fi that boasts impressive visuals, fascinating characters and a great script. While I still lean towards Akira and the work of Studio Ghibli as the best anime has to offer, Ghost in the Shell is certainly one of the better films from this versatile medium.
Ghost in the Shell should be watched for its influence alone. A landmark piece of anime, the film’s only downside is the brevity but it balances the change of pace well, is beautifully animated and has a tough heroine at the heart of the story. What more can one really ask for?
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Ghost in the Shell | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Film Review: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
Jeffrey Donovan, Erica Leerhsen. The eagerly awaited sequel to The Blair Witch Project ! A group of students fascinated with the curse of the Blair Witch go camping in those storied Maryland woods. But after they awaken with no memory of the previous night, an evil force begins to overtake them.
Starring: Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Barker Turner, Erica Leerhsen, Kim Director, Tristine Skyler
Directed by: Joe Berlinger
Runtime: 90 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
The sequel to The Blair Witch Project follows the popularity of the first film as fans descend on Burkittsville, Maryland to search for the Blair Witch. This does not go down well with the locals as you can imagine. Our focus is on one local in particular, Jeff (Jeffrey Donovan), who acts as tour guide for Stephen (Stephen Barker Turner) and his pregnant girlfriend Tristen (Tristine Skyler). They are also joined by a wiccan, Erica (Erica Leerhsen) and a Goth who is also a psychic, Kim (Kim Director). One hell of a crew, right? Their first stop is deep in the woods at Rustin Parr’s house where footage from the first film was discovered. When the group awake one morning they discover they have no knowledge of the night before and it isn’t just because of the alcohol.
After Tristen suffers a miscarriage and is briefly in hospital, Jeff takes the group to his home in an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere. Recorded footage from their time in the woods begins to shed some frightening revelations and when the group begin to have a series of strange hallucinations all hell breaks loose. The question is whether these sightings have anything to do with the legend of the Blair Witch or are they simply down to the group’s imaginations? Even worse, is a member of the group not who they say they are?
I wasn’t one of the fans that embraced the first Blair Witch film and I have to say the sentiment has not changed here. In many respects this is a better film than the first one. There isn’t any seemingly endless wandering around the local forest but that doesn’t mean this is good either. For some reason I was expecting the group to encounter the Blair Witch and for us to get a good luck at this local legend. Sadly, the encounters in the woods are brief at best and what follows may maintain the interest for a while but it’s a pretty pointless experience by the time the end credits roll.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is arguably better than the first film but that’s no great achievement. The investigation into the mystery of the Blair Witch soon takes a back seat and we are left with a group of people isolated and under siege by spectral beings. There are no great surprises or shocks by the end and the only hope you will be left with is that a third film in this series is not attempted.
Verdict: 1/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
August 1, 2013
Film Review: Good
Political drama based on a stage play by C.P. Taylor set in Germany in the years leading up to World War II. Viggo Mortensen stars as literary professor John Halder. Halder is an essentially decent family man who becomes drawn into the ascent of national socialism after he writes a novel advocating compassionate euthanasia, which is subsequently seized upon by powerful politicians looking for propaganda to support their campaign.
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Steven Mackintosh, Mark Strong, Gemma Jones, Anastasia Hille
Directed by: Vicente Amorim
Runtime: 96 minutes
Studio: National Entertainment Media
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: GoodSet during the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in 1930s Germany, Good tells the story of John Halder (Viggo Mortensen) who is a German college professor, devoted husband and father. He is also a novelist who publishes a work of fiction that includes a defiant stance in favour of euthanasia. Halder’s hectic life undergoes some big changes as German society is turned upside down by the Nazis. First, he leaves his family for a student Anne (Jodie Whittaker) and he then finds himself being courted by the Nazis who want him to join the party. Previously reluctant, Halder is now tempted with promises of an advancement in his career. The Nazis, it seems, are especially interested in his work on euthanasia.
While Good focuses on Halder’s adaptation towards a new personal and working life, there is the complication of his life long friend, Maurice (Jason Isaacs). Maurice is disgusted with Halder for joining the Nazis but he beseeches him to use his influence to help him escape Germany. Maurice is Jewish and the Nazi hatred towards the Jews is clearly apparent. Halder is faced with a difficult dilemma. Does he focus purely on his career and the secure future of marriage with Anne, or does he risk it all to aid Maurice and help him escape to France?
This is very much a character study of Halder, an honourable German citizen that works hard and cares for his family, looking after the children as well as his ageing mother, and supporting his wife who struggles to cope at home, only finding solace in playing the piano. Halder’s pursuit of career advancement comes at a heavy price as his work on euthanasia is embraced by the Nazis not as a humane alternative to those who are in pain and suffering, but for a much more brutal objective. The film concludes in the midst of the Second World War as Halder witnesses what his work has led to. Mortensen is good in the lead as the placid Halder while Isaacs brings humanity to his role as Maurice, the scenes between the two men conveying a strong friendship that is irrevocably broken by Halder’s ambitions and loyalties.
Good is an interesting focus on the impact of Nazi Germany on two friends forced onto opposite sides. Halder is a fascinating character, a pillar of society, but one who is arguably a monster by the end. Though covering a painful period of history, Good offers another much-needed perspective about the severe impact the Nazis had on their own people.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Good | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Film Review: End Call
Japanese horror. A group of high school girls, struggling with exams, fending off the advances of a lecherous teacher and unable to find boyfriends, are ready to sell their souls if it would bring them a spot of luck. So when they hear an urban legend about a secret telephone number that, when called, makes the caller’s dreams and desires come true they figure they have little to lose. Little do they know that the devil himself is on the other end of the line…
Starring: Yuria Haga, Asami Usuda, Tasuku Nagaoka, Rina Matsuki, Taro Suwa
Directed by: Kiyoshi Yamamoto
Runtime: 92 minutes
Studio: Cine Asia
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDB Review: End CallFour school friends – Mai, Sayoko, Ryoko and Mako – are all unhappy with their current lives, be it the pressures of school work, family or not having boyfriends. The four girls learn about a number that you can ring at midnight. It puts you through to the Devil and he will grant you any wish you desire. In exchange, the duration of the call will be the amount of time the Devil takes away from your life. Given this is a matter of minutes it doesn’t seem that big a deal right? The four friends are tempted to better themselves but their actions have tragic consequences.
While Sayoko wishes for freedom, both Mai and Mako use the number to get themselves boyfriends but Mai doesn’t realise her new boyfriend – Dojimo – was dating Ryoko. This proves severely damaging to Ryoko whose home life isn’t good, her grades are poor and she is the latest target of a lecherous school teacher who is hands on with his students and gives them his email address should they wish to meet him outside of school. When Ryoko dies in an apparent suicide, footage of her death is posted online which leads to Sayoko investigating further as does Mai’s boyfriend Dojimo who knows of an urban legend about the number. It seems the Devil is very generous at first but when Mai and Mako receive phone bills for 15,000 they are both stunned. What price is one wish?
End Call is a low budget horror and it does show in places sadly. One of the issues with the film is how unforgiving it can be if you get distracted, even for a second. You will need to stay focused throughout. The narrative jumps around rather than plays out chronologically and I’m not sure why this was necessary. There is a twist at the end but unless you are vigilant the first time you may need to watch this a second time to fully comprehend what the hell happened. I’m still in two minds about what the final twist was to be honest. That said, I still found much to enjoy in the eerie feel of this film, something Asian cinema does so much better than we do here in the West.
End Call has some merit but compared to the likes of Dark Water and The Grudge it’s an inferior effort. The story is told out of order when it didn’t need to be and it’s very easy to lose track. There needed to be more substance in the script to tie everything together, while the final twist may be embraced by some as clever, but others will be left scratching their heads.
Verdict: 3/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: End Call | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
July 31, 2013
Game Review: Double Dragon
One of my earliest gaming memories is beat ‘em up Double Dragon. I used to play this at my father’s house on the Atari ST and am proud to say in two player mode I completed it at a very young age. Looking back the game is a lot more straightforward than I remember but what memories this evokes.
The premise to the story is twins Billy Lee (dressed in blue) and Jimmy (dressed in red) who set out to rescue Marian. I think she might be Billy’s girlfriend but it’s unclear to be honest especially at the end. Marian has been kidnapped by the Black Warriors and our two heroes must fight their way through four levels in order to rescue her.
Unsurprisingly showing its age a bit now, Double Dragon still manages to be quite fun. As you face enemies you have access to a series of martial arts moves you can call upon to defeat them. You can even acquire baseball bats and nunchucks to take our your foes from a relatively safe distance. Your journey begins in a city, moving onto a factory, then traversing woodland before reaching the hideout of the Black Warriors and their gun toting boss who has a large reward on his head.
Most of your enemies are the same height as you but there are one or two giants thrown in there to keep you on your toes. That said, they are not that much more difficult to defeat than their fellow gang members. The final boss, with his lack of fair play, will probably pose your biggest challenge but if you’re in two player mode this won’t be the case. If you complete the game in two player mode you are forced to fight each other to the death. This decides which of you Marian will choose to be with! As if the poor girl hasn’t been through enough already! I hated this element of the game and remember getting very upset with my brother for defeating me after we’d worked so hard to get through the game.
Double Dragon was undeniably at its best in the arcades. It’s still fun but visually suffered when ported to the likes of the Amiga. It’s a very short experience as well which is a real shame but it represents the early days of gaming and given that it’s 25 years since it was first released on Arcade I don’t think it’s turned out too badly.
Verdict: 3/5
Game Review: Double Dragon | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
Film Review: Evil Dead II
Ash (Bruce Campbell), the sole survivor of THE EVIL DEAD, returns to the same cabin in the woods and again unleashes the forces of the dead. With his girlfriend possessed by the demons and his body parts running amok, Ash is forced to single- handedly battle the legions of the damned as the most lethal – and groovy – hero in horror movie history! Welcome to EVIL DEAD II, director Sam Raimi’s infamous sequel to THE EVIL DEAD and outrageous prequel to ARMY OF DARKNESS!
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Danny Hicks, Sarah Berry, Kassie Wesley, Theodore Raimi
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Runtime: 84 minutes
Studio: Lionsgate
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The sequel to Sam Raimi’s classic 1981 horror sees us reunited with Ash (Bruce Campbell) who returns to the cabin from the first film with his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler). Ash discovers a tape from an archaeology professor which he foolishly plays and discovers it is the professor reading passages from the Necronomicon or the Book of the Dead. The incantations release a malevolent force that possesses Linda and forces Ash to kill her. The evil comes back for Ash though and what follows is another frightening siege for our macho hero! Ash isn’t alone though.
The Professor’s daughter, Annie (Sarah Berry), her research partner Ed (Richard Domeier) and another couple – Jake (Dan Hicks) and Bobby Joe (Kassie Wesley) – soon arrive at the cabin. Anne has uncovered further pages from the Necronomicon but instead of finding the Professor she finds Ash all bloodied and armed. Believing Ash has murdered her parents, Annie has him tied up but it soon becomes apparent that something evil is still around and it’s down to Annie to find a way to stop it while Ash takes on the duty of guardian in battling the demons with whatever he can get his hands (that should be hand really!), including a chainsaw which he uses in a rather inventive way.
I enjoyed Evil Dead but wasn’t astounded by it. Evil Dead II is a much better film, combining gore with some hilarious exchanges. I seem to have watched this series completely out of order, having loved Army of Darkness (the third in the series) for years before watching the first two films, so it was interesting to see how Evil Dead II links up with that one. Bruce Campbell is brilliant in the lead once again, often hapless in fighting the forces of evil but certainly composed and ruthless as the film enters those final reels. As horror films go this is undoubtedly one of the classics with the humour making it stand out in not being just another gore fest.
Evil Dead II is a far superior film to its predecessor. Though essentially a similar story, it is funnier by far and that end sequence leading up to Army of Darkness is just brilliant. I probably still have a soft spot for Army of Darkness but Evil Dead II is certainly one of the best horror films I’ve seen for quite some time.
Verdict: 4/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Evil Dead II | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
