The Raid Redemption

The Raid Redemption tells the story of a raid gone terribly wrong. A 20-man swat team is brought in to raid a large apartment building, with the goal being to get in and get out fast and undetected. Things don’t go quite as planned when a small boy sets off the alarm in the building almost immediately after they arrive. The team didn’t expect that the crime boss, who lives on the top floor, had recruited, well, everyone who lives in the apartment building. The place is populated by either foot soldiers or tenants required to fight for their stay. Thus, the team is now tasked with making their way floor by floor, slowly and painstakingly to the top. Will they make it? Will they get their man?

This movie is really great. While it’s full of action movie clichés (there’s an old cop on the verge of retirement, a rat in the group and a rookie who has to step up and take over the leadership role and on and on), somehow it feels fresh and unique. Maybe that’s because the action is so good that it makes up for the cut and paste plot. The lead, played very well by Iko Uwais, has great chemistry with his brother in the film, also played well by Donny Alamsyah and man the choreography is good. In fact, Screen Gems just picked up the rights to do a remake, but part of the actual deal is that they also get the choreographer. That gives you a glimpse at how much ass is kicked in this flick. There are moves, fights and kills that are really powerful. Interesting stuff. So, if you’re in the mood for a movie that is simple, straight forward “say hello to my boomstick” action, then pick this one up. Don’t wait for some glossy, vapid, uninteresting remake. Be able to tell you friends, “well, it was alright, but it wasn’t as good as the original.”

S’good.

Night and the City

Night and the City is a film noir drama that tells of the sharp and sudden rise and fall of hustler Harry Fabian. The film is set in London and follows Fabian as he attempts to turn the lemon that is his life into lemonade. Though it’s not explained, it appears that Fabian hasn’t always been so obsessed with success, but, whatever the cause, he is now and man is he obsessed. Day and night, all he can think about is how to ‘get on top’ and be one of the rich and powerful that he idolizes. He keeps many irons in the fire constantly and, thereby, often finds himself short on capital and overextended. In short, this makes him a very small step from living like a bum at any given moment of the day.

Suddenly he meets a wrestling legend and realizes the legend is personally training a protégée that he doesn’t want to end up in the hands of his son, who just so happens to have a strangle-hold on the wrestling scene in London. So, seeing opportunity, Fabian says he’s a promoter as well and would be happy to promote the protégée. All he needs now is the capital to perfect the scam that he’s a legit promoter and he could potentially make tons of cash off this fight. Icarus’ downfall came only when he flew too close to the sun and like Icarus, this ambitious venture may well prove to be Fabian’s downfall.

I liked this movie quite a bit. It’s noir, so the plot is a bit predictable and Richard Widmark’s performance as Fabian is a bit of a caricature, but outside of that I have very few complaints. The cinematography and production design are fantastic. The cinematography in and of vehicles was especially good and ahead of its time. This was clearly a labor of love for the director, Jules Dassin, and this can be seen in his treatment of Gregarious the Great, the wrestling legend. The ancillary characters are absolutely perfect in this movie and none better than the aged legend, his son and the two wrestlers featured. Why do their performances feel so natural? Well, part of it, I’m sure is the superb direction, but it also helps that they are from that world in real life. The aged legend is played by Stanislaus Zbyszko, a real life legendary strong man from the wrestling and vaudeville circuits of way back. The two active wrestlers are played by actual wrestlers, including one who won bronze at the Olympics. In other words, it felt legit. If you like noir and like to watch the obsessed become consumed by their obsessions, check this one out, fo sho.

S’good

Au Hasard Balthazar

Au Hasard Balthazar is a 1966 French New Wave film by one of the movement’s best, Robert Bresson. It tells the tangled story of Balthazar, a donkey, and his owners, a shy farmer and farmer’s daughter. Well, sort of. I want to start out by saying I love Bresson. L’argent is one of my all time favorite movies and there’s no doubt the dude was talented and influential. But, frankly, I couldn’t stand this movie. If I had to sum up the crux of the problem, it would be that the series of events in the picture seemed to have neither cause nor effect. Everything happened seemingly at random, the characters seemed either completely disinterested or helpless and then there seemed to be no real outcome from the actions. In other words, it’s a random pile up of events that appear to have no real purpose.

Bresson has said that the movie is a series of lines that intersect to serve as metaphors for the seven cardinal sins and the Christian journey. Godard thought it was one of the greatest achievements in cinema history. The late great film critic Andrew Sarris said it was “one of the loftiest pinnacles of artistically realized emotional experience.” Well, in my mind, it was a polished turd. I’ll give you a prime example. Here is a scene from the movie that is indicative of the movie itself. Marie (farmer’s daughter and girl of her very early teens) drives up on a country road, parks and walks over to pet Balthazar. Says nothing. A boy, who she does not know, of similar age walks up looking sinister and then gets into Marie’s car’s passenger seat. Opens the door, puts her head in (doesn’t look at him, just stares forward) and yells for him to leave. He says nothing. She stares forward, glances at him, stares forward, glances at him. She then gets into the car and stares forward. He goes to touch her, she pushes him away, gets out crying and runs toward Balthazar. The boy walks over, she starts to run away, falls, cries, then watches as the boy goes and gets back into the car. She then gets a resigned look on her face and gets into the car as well. The scene cuts to the car driving away and the boy zipping up his pants, while walking away.

There is zero explanation and, remember, she did not know this boy. It’s as though anything can happen at any moment and there is no need whatsoever for any cause. I said, at a point in the film, to the people with me “I feel like anything can happen, like things are so random that someone could just open fire on the characters and I’d be like, yep, sure, why not?” As I was finishing this sentence, someone opened fire on the characters in the scene. They were walking across a field. We were never shown who was shooting or why. It happened and then, that was it, scene over, no other acknowledgement of it or explanation. Sure, why not? I actually was watching this with a film critic from DC and I marveled to him that most consider this movie a classic and he said, I’d only use one word to describe it…”bomb.”  I agree. I love you Mr. Bresson, but this movie didn’t do it for me.

U

I'm Back Y'all

Hey kids, I'm back. I'd like to start this thang up again. I haven't posted a review since March. Things have gotten crazy and I have become neglectful. Please keep reading, suggesting and posting comments. Holla!

Being Elmo

Kevin Clash is one of the most influential, powerful and successful people in television history and I have little doubt that the vast majority of you have never heard of him. I bet, however, you’ve heard of his friend, Elmo. Kevin Clash is Elmo and one of the executive producers of Sesame Street. Clash grew up in a poor section of Baltimore and early on in life became obsessed with puppets. This was largely due to falling in love with the work of Jim Henson. He wanted to be just as good and idolized Henson and those Henson worked with. He makes his own puppets and puts way more of himself into it than the average person. He wiles away doing local television and community events when he gets the opportunity to meet Kermit Love, a man who is as close to Henson’s right hand man as possible.

Love created Big Bird for god’s sake and he immediately is impressed by Clash. He puts him to work on Sesame Street and Clash takes to it like a duck to water. He’s not just good, he gets it, gets the Henson message and what Sesame Street is all about. As such, he’s given more and more responsibility. One day a fellow puppeteer on Sesame Street says he’s sick of a puppet he can’t make work and Clash asks to give it a shot. The puppets name is Elmo and Clash’s life and Sesame Street has never been the same.

This doc tells the story of this unique man and his unique puppet and about how Clash went from nothing to creating one of the most recognizable and marketable characters in history. It’s a great trip from humble beginnings to being the man behind a character and a show that influences millions around the globe. It’s an interesting story to say the least and this flick tells it well.

S’good

Attack the Block

Attack the Block tells the tale of a group of unlikely comrades who must bind together to stay alive. As Sam is heading home, she is mugged close to home by a group of teenagers. Almost as soon as Sam moves on something falls from the sky right into a nearby car. This ‘something’ turns out to be very nasty, cuts the leader of the gang of teenagers, Moses, and, thereby, incurs his wrath. After beating this thing to death, they head back to the tenement where they live. Once they get there, they celebrate by bringing the body of this thing to the weed dealer, who lives at the top of the building, for a little smoke and advice.

Once they arrive, all hell breaks loose. From then on, they can’t leave the grounds of the tenement, as it is straight up under attack by hoards of aliens. People star dying left and right and the survivors in the building must band together and figure this shit out. Ironically, this group consists of the gang of teenagers, grade-schoolers, teenage girls from the building, a weed dealer and his customers, and Sam, the woman they’d robbed just moments before.

I’m a big fan of sci-fi and horror and, as such, I feel like we’re years into a drought period for these genres. There is basically nothing good being made in this genre and, what this means is, when something good does come out it’s usually good because the filmmaker decided to actually put some focus on story. What I mean is, sci-fi and horror now nothing but eye candy, either full of beautiful, but vapid young actors or nothing more than one series of CGI sequences after another. In this movie, there is almost no CGI, the actors are unknowns who just generally aren’t all that attractive and the story has actual meat to it. The characters develop, the story has meaning and the performances seem natural. It’s not without it’s faults, but it’s a darn good flick and, if you’re a fan of the genre, definitely worth a watch.

S’good