Haywire

Haywire is a so-so film that would be filed in the bin marked “experimental” for Soderbergh were it not for the fact that the main protagonist is a woman and a woman that can certainly handle herself. Carano plays Mallory Kane an ex-Special Forces Operative (like Arnie in Commando), working for a private security firm (like Denzel Washington in Man On Fire), who is sold out by her employers (like Matt Damon in the Bourne films) who must use all her skill, training and grit to prove her innocence and survive (like oh so many other films).

Gina Carano in Haywire

We have seen female action heroes before (Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor for example) but Carano is something else, she doesn’t play an ordinary mother pushed to breaking point, taking revenge as only a last resort. Carano’s Mallory starts out hard as nails right from the opening scene and doesn’t let go until the credits roll. Probably because she can walk the walk as well as talk the talk, she can actually fight for real rather than just act like a fighter Carano is a commanding presence when she is on-screen flexing her muscles. This put her (and by default the film) above such typical Hollywood female fighters as Keira Knightley who looked as robust as a Ming vase as bounty hunter Domino Harvey or Angelina Jolie who looked far too much like Lara Croft to be taken seriously in Salt.

Haywire’s narrative is as old as Hollywood itself, it’s a sub-Bourne, super-soldier betrayed by their employees and taking revenge. Yet it’s injected with no imagination, originality or real drive beyond the facts that this special operative is a woman. This is a real shame, and we expected better from Soderbergh, who took the limp and lifeless heist movie and gave it a thorough shake up and makeover delivering Ocean’s Eleven one of the most fun films of the past 10 years. Haywire, as a film is nowhere near as entertaining as it could (or should) have been with all of the enthusiasm and imagination and wit seemingly used up on the casting.

The film is littered with a barrage of male movie stars, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton (as her dad), Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and newcomer Michael Angarano as a temporary sidekick who makes Commando’s Rae Dawn Chong look like an integral character). Yet we never see a female spin on James Bond’s kiss kiss bang bang with any of these characters, which is a real shame.

At one point Malory’s boss who is responsible for setting her up commissions a hitman to kill her and warns him that “you shouldn’t think of her as a woman, that would be a mistake.” This is the film’s biggest problem; Mallory is a woman and whenever the filmmakers have the opportunity to highlight or celebrate this they instead pull their punches, leaving Haywire little more than a direct to video revenge action flick. It’s a real pity that Seidenberg didn’t set his sights on any higher than a 2012 reworking of a Cynthia Rothrock classic.

The film works best when Carano is on-screen and allowed to let rip and lay some smack down, however between chases and fights the film shies away from anything that might have a bit of balls about it. For example, after (a decent) Barcelona-set chase culminating in a satisfying highkicking fight a colleague of Mallory’s asks her why she gave chase, when the mission was pretty much accomplished without it, she replies “I don’t like loose ends”. The audience, the guy who asks the question and Carano all deserved a better response than that.

In short, Haywire should be regarded as an audition tape for what (I hope) will be a great action career for Gina Carano.

Our Rating: 6/10
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Lem Dobbs
Stars: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender
Release Date: 18 January 2012 (UK)

Ladies vs Ricky Bahl

As the title suggests Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is focused on a tussle between a dashing con man Ricky (Ranveer Singh) and his three ladies Dimple (Parineeti), Raina (Dipannita) and Saira (Aditi). The real calamity begins when Ricky disappears with the money of the ladies under disguise of fictitious names.

Raina is the smartest of the three and plans along with the other two to avenge Ricky. They seek help of a small time sales woman Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma). But later she also falls in love with Ricky. Even Ricky also claims to be all hers. The story then progresses with a question will Ishika revenge Ricky or will she stay loyal to him?

Review

Talking in terms of story treatment, Aditya Chopra has written the script with many twists and turns which makes one glued to the seat. The story is well treated with a paced plot. The fans of Ranveer and Anushka might get disappointed at times when the focus is centered around the other three ladies of the film.

Star cast of the film is superb as Ranveer steals the show with his performance and Anushka entertains with her appearance and acting skills. The three ladies also play their parts interestingly.

You guys must go for the film for three reasons brilliant performances, expert direction, good cinematography and catchy screenplay which are the high points of Ladies V/s Ricky Bahl.

Stars: Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma
Director: Maneesh Sharma
Genre: Romantic, Comedy
Release Date: 23 December 2011

Smash Cut

He drowns his sorrows by indulging in a bit of voyeurism at the local strip club and here he meets a girl who glories in the name of Gigi Stops. Unfortunately, the car which runs her down does not live up to her name and Abel is left wondering what to do with the body. He could of course just call the authorities and have done with it but that wouldn’t make for a very satisfactory viewing experience. He decides therefore, to cover his tracks at the strip club by using the various body parts as props in his next movie, a horror film which to his delight is received to rapturous praise, particularly in the design. Abel decides to repeat his success but to do that, he is going to need more body parts….However he has reckoned without a reporter who decides to go undercover as an actress to find out what happened to her sister, a trail which will lead her inexorably to Abel’s door where an interesting fate awaits them both.

David Hess stars as Abel and gives an eye rolling performance as a man who becomes obsessed with his own success at any cost. It’s not intended to be taken seriously at any point and Hess’ performance is perfectly judged for the material, as are those of the supporting cast. Sacha Grey reveals that she has a little more acting talent than the average porn star but to be honest, no one is watching the movie for her performance and Hess walks off with every scene he is in. It’s a gloriously funny comedy horror that has a lot to say about the exploitative side of the entire genre and as such has a little more going for it than might be immediately apparent. Not a magnificent piece of celluloid but certainly one worth watching, probably on an evening with mates and beer. Enjoy!

Director: Lee Demarbre
Writer: Ian Driscoll
Stars: David Hess, Jesse Buck and Michael Berryman
Release Year: 2009

Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas

Written and directed by Michael Fiefer, it is an absorbing tale of the darkness that exists in the mind of man and how it can bubble to the surface with horrifying consequences. Staring Antonio Sabato Jr as Henry, a man who on real life confessed to over 600 murders. It was never discovered how many of them were deaths at his hands and how much of his confession was narcissistic invention and this movie explores the man’s mind beautifully. This isn’t one of those run of the mill cash in pictures, it is a thought provoking piece and is intelligently made, belying its low budget, which is nevertheless put to effective use here. The movie doesn’t skimp on the horrific details of Henry’s childhood, with a mother who beat him every day. It’s really no wonder he turned out as he did but fortunately, the movie doesn’t descend into the trap of using his background as an excuse for his behaviour, merely a reason, one piece in the tapestry of events that conspired to send him over the edge.

Sabato is good as Henry, convincingly portraying a very twisted individual who takes a strange delight in keeping the facts of his activities uncertain. A peculiar power trip and he plays well against the guest cast of whom Kostas Sommer and Kelly Curran really stand out. Sabato is given a lot to get his teeth into in the movie and the director isn’t afraid to linger on scenes a little longer than normal, just to make sure that they have the required impact. This is a very confident style of filmmaking And it’s good to see it on display in such a low budget piece. The cinematography is unexceptional visually but is well judged for the tone of the movie, giving the actors all the space they need to portray their roles, which again benefits Sabato. It’s tightly scripted with not a moment of screen time wasted and although hardly a masterpiece, it is nevertheless a very watchable and in it’s way entertaining film. Fans of the slasher genre will enjoy it as there are plenty of on screen murders and followers of serial killers will get a kick out of the fact that it is a very true to life retelling of Henry’s story. Not the most demanding movie in the world either, this is very good for curling up with a loved one for a late night chill, and of course, there’s always that strange pleasure to be had from exploring the darkest side of human nature. Though at a distance!

Director: Michael Feifer
Writers: Michael Feifer, Christopher Ryan
Stars: Antonio Sabato Jr., John Diehl and Kostas Sommer

The Gunrunner

Ted Beaubien, an itinerant wanderer is kidnapped and forced to watch as his girlfriend is killed. Having managed to escape from his torturers, he unsurprisingly vows revenge and throws caution to the wind to go on a mission to collect guns and smuggle them back into the country so that he can exact vengeance. With his family destitute he sets off on his deadly mission but then meets and falls in love with the nightclub owner Maud, who can introduce him to the people he needs but of course, love is always going to complicate a simple revenge story.

This movie is very melodramatic and frequently over the top. And that’s fine, it’s designed to entertain which it does. Kevin Costner stars as Ted and produces a very un Costner like performance, perhaps due to the fact that this was early in his career. It’s none the worse for that however as to my mind it allows him to show the range of his acting abilities, rather than churn out the same performance that made him a star. He underplays the part surprisingly in such a melodramatic movie. He is well supported by  cast that have got the idea of how the movie should be played and no one really puts a foot wrong. However the real star of the film is the time in which it is set, with the 1920s being gloriously and realistically realised, and the melting pot of events that led to the sparking off of the Chinese revolution provides an absorbing backdrop to the plot.

An interesting and unusual movie, this one is well worth a look. There’s a good balance between character scenes and action moments and the direction is very complementary towards both, being smooth and unshowy, a sure sign of a team that knows what they are doing.

Director: Nardo Castillo
Writer: Arnie Gelbart
Stars: Kevin Costner, Sara Botsford and Paul Soles

Growth

The story concerns the very oddly named Cuttyhunk island, where there is a scientific research institute dedicated to dealing with parasitism. As a by product of their research, the scientists discover something that will be a massive leap in the evolution of man, giving the subjects enhanced abilities As a result, most of the population of the island was wiped out. Yep, one of THOSE advances.

Twenty years later, Jamie Ackerman who fled the midland when she was a child, returns to the centre of the horror which killed her mother back in 89. She has come to sell the family home but there are dark secrets waiting for her and she is going to have to come to terms with her horrific past. What is more, a resistant strain of parasites has developed and is now terrorising the community so Jamie has to not only guard for her life against them, but also make sure that she escapes the clutches of Larkin, the leader of the community who knows far more about her inheritance than he is letting on.

An inventive little horror/thriller with a lot of twists and turns on the way, though none of them hugely unpredictable. This is in some ways very standard fare, seeming not a million miles away from “Tremors” in some respects but nevertheless stands up well on it’s own as a piece of entertainment. The cast are all up to scratch and perform well, particularly when facing off the parasites which are in themselves superbly realised. In a movie like this, the verisimilitude of the effects is paramount and the team working on this did a fine job of bringing the slithering screeching parasites to frightening life. the plot is well thought through and doesn’t meander and get lost so all in all this is another one to sit back and enjoy of an evening when you want something easy on the eye and undemanding on the brain.

Recommended.

Director: Gabriel Cowan
Writers: Gabriel Cowan , Gabriel Cowan (story)
Stars: Mircea Monroe, Christopher Shand and Brian Krause

The Condemned

The story is set on an island, covered in cameras, Big Brother gone mad and used purely for the purposes of entertainment. In this way it is actually a clever satire on the WWE itself, and has a few observations to make on the public’s demand for gladiatorial combat, even to this day. The island is filled with convicts who are going to be executed and so here they have a chance to fight for survival, while the producers reap the financial rewards of their tribulations. It’s an effective basis for a script and one that is used well throughout as a plot device, whenever there hasn’t been an action scene for all of five minutes or so, the producers can step in and manipulate events to stir up a hornet’s nest of trouble for the lumbering participants.

Steve Austin (wasn’t he the six Million Dollar Man?) stars as …well basically himself (or his WWE persona) and as such doesn’t do much in the way of soul searching and character development. He picks people up and slams them to the floor an awful lot, then kneels on them a bit. The fight scenes are well shot but do get a little repetitive as the same OTT moves are deployed again and again and again. The supporting cast do largely the same thing, in a variety of entertaining outfits and thoughtfully chosen close ups and it is only when Vinnie Jones (who can actually act!) turns up that things really start to kick off and develop very slightly.

You might have gathered that plot wise there isn’t very much to this movie. Well apart from a nice central premise and lots and lots of fighting, there really isn’t much else to recommend it! If you’re looking for a film that will leave you thinking or breathless with an adrenalin rush, weeping or laughing, then this really isn’t going to be it. If you’re a fan of the WWE however and their particular style of entertaining wrestleballet, then this is an absolute must see!

Director: Scott Wiper
Writers: Scott Wiper (screenplay), Rob Hedden (screenplay)
Stars: Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones and Nathan Jones
Release Date: 27 April 2007 (USA)

Cleaner

A simpler life than being a detective you would think but oh no, life is never that easy for Tom as he finds himself catapulted into a cat and mouse situation when he realises that his last job was actually set up as a cover . Suddenly, everyone is asking him questions and trying to tear his life down to get to the truth. Tom is also having problems at home, with his young daughter now starting to ask why her mother was murdered ten years ago. It’s all enough to drive a man to drink and the relationship between father and daughter becomes increasingly difficult and strained.

Renny Harlin has made an excellent film here, building on his previous high octane successes such as Die Hard 2. He knows exactly how to handle this taut and well written script, wringing the maximum amount of angst out of it as well as the maximum amount of action. Visually,. His direction is superb with a lot of set pieces to watch lout for and some very subtle handling of the scenes between Tom and his daughter. Samuel L Jackson was one of the co producers of this movie and his belief in the script shines through in one of his better performances, giving the script exactly what it needs and becoming a compelling central protagonist, a man out of his depth both emotionally and in terms of experience. He really doesn’t know where the blows are coming from next and the viewer very much empathises with him.

An original, thrilling and sometimes moving action thriller, this is a must see and is another film that can be watched again and again.

Director: Renny Harlin
Writer: Matthew Aldrich
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris and Eva Mendes
Release Date: 18 January 2008 (Finland)

Christmas Snow

Well, “Widow” Mutterance to be accurate. Directed by Gus Trikonis and released in 1986, the story is that of Widow Mutterance’s Christmas, which threatens to be ruined from the outset by the fact that her landlord, Snyder (a glorious performance by the much missed Sid Ceaser) who lives on the floor above Mutterance’s candy store. Sales have been in decline and he has decided to clear her out and turn the place into a Laundromat. As you do. Naturally, in true Scrooge form, no amount of heartfelt pleading from Mutterance and her two children makes the slightest bit of difference to Snyder but then one glorious day, with the first fall of snow, Snyder disappears….While the kids are delighted at that apparent stroke of luck, Widow Mutterance finds that her innate good nature won’t let even Snyder be lost out in the snow and they undertake a search for him. It’s all very Christmassy and exactly what the family audience it is intended for should expect from the source material.

Katherine Helmond is given every chance to express her comedy talents in this charming little film (it’s only 45 minutes long) as does Sid Ceasar who is of course, always a joy to watch. They are absolutely opposite sides of the coin, Mutterance is positive, upbeat and cheerful, a glass half full person epitomised by the cheery décor and lighting of her beloved sweet shop. Snyder on the other hand acts exactly as his name sounds, miserable, downbeat and positively refusing to see any mind of silver lining to any situation. Amy and Wallace, the kids, played by Melissa Joan Hart and Kimble joiner are both tolerable and don’t make fools of themselves as so often happens in this kind of film. The real star however is the setting which is Christmas card perfect, especially when the snow first falls. Perfect for the days leading up to Christmas and something that will occupy the minds of both kids and adults.

Director: Gus Trikonis
Writer: Paul Theroux (story)
Stars: Katherine Helmond, Sid Caesar and Melissa Joan Hart
Release Date: 1986

Chaos

Detective Quentin Connors, based in Seattle is suspended completely unfairly after a misplaced shooting incident which left a hostage and kidnapper both dead. His partner, Jason Yorke reigns in sympathy and when Connors is reinstated, he finds himself in charge of a desperate situation with a rookie cop as his new partner. The situation turns out to be a bank job but the strange thing is that the thieves apparently have not stolen anything from the bank. The leader of the criminal gang, Lorenz has been killing off his accomplices one by one and Connors discovers that the job has been an exceptionally clever one perpetrated using chaos theory, to steal from many different accounts in order to cover the criminals’ tracks.

Jason Statham is known mostly for shoot em up action movies and this certainly delivers on those sequences. However there is a lot more going for this film that fight scenes. “Chaos” theory states that every action is in some way interconnected (as in the butterfly effect) and this is demonstrated brilliantly in this clever movie, where the viewer has to pay close attention throughout to discover what is really going on. Statham is excellent in the lead but it is Wesley Snipes who walks off with the acting honours for his portrayal of the brilliant Lorenz (a clever reference to the French mathematician instrumental in the explanation of chaos theory). Snipes makes Lorenz a genuinely chilling threat, his towering intellect is his primary weapon and several times it seems like Connors is fighting a loosing battle against such a mind. The film is worth it for the interplay between these two alone but the guest cast all put in creditable performances.

It’s the ending which really makes this movie a bit special however. I won’t give anything away here but it’s worth staying to the end for a truly unexpected finale. One to think about as it progresses; this is an unusual and clever action movie, highly recommended.

Director & Writer: Tony Giglio
Stars: Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe, Wesley Snipes
Release Date: 15 December 2005 (United Arab Emirates)