5. Assassination Games (2011)

 

Starring:  Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Atkins, Ivan Kaye

Director: Ernie Barbarash

Two of the top assassins in the World are both hunting the same target. One for money and one for revenge. Little do they know that the job has been set-up by dirty Interpol agents looking to cover their own tracks.

 

More of a thriller than the pure action romp that I expected, this was apparently JCVD's first theatrical release in more than a decade, although I suspect it was a straight to DVD job in most of the World. I'd have enjoyed this more were it not for the ridiculous beige tint that the entire film was shot in. It genuinely annoyed me and took me out of the film constantly. Anyway, that aside this isn't bad stuff. Van Damme is icy-cold assassin and violinist Vincent Brazil who only cares for money until a hit sees him face to face with Atkins' hell-bent-on-revenge Roland Flint. At the same time a pimp and one of his girls, October played by Marija Karan, moves in next door. Vincent learns to respect Roland and is taught by October that there are more important things in life than the money. "All you need is love" says October. Or maybe that was John Lennon. I don't know.

This is fairly predictable stuff by fairly enjoyable nonetheless and is arguably a better film than it has any right to be. When I wasn't being distracted by the annoying beigeness I did spend some time initially working out where I knew Scott Adkins from. Yeah I had seen him in The Bourne Ultimatum and a couple of other films but that wasn't it. Of course, it is from Sky One's premier budget airline based masterpiece Mile High which had kept me and many dozen others nationwide thoroughly entertained throughout University. He's alright in this but it is a shame that he isn't given more action scenes to get his teeth into. There's a couple of fairly brutal scenes of violence towards the two main female characters in the film which have stuck in my mind in the few days since I watched it but I don't think there's much else here that I'll be thinking about in a couple of months time. that said, definitely worth a watch.

4. Assault on Wall Street (2013)

 

Starring: Dominic Purcell, Erin Karpluk, Edward Furlong

Director: Uwe Boll

Jim Baxford is a security guard working long hours to meet the bills whilst his wife recovers from a serious illness. When the economy collapses he loses everything. With nothing left to lose he decides to strike back at the Bankers and Corporate fatcats who gambled, lost and left others to pick up the pieces.

Dominic Purcell (the brother from Prison Break who didn't really, really annoy me) is not an actor who I expected to see carrying a feature film. I always quite liked him in Prison Break but he never really convinced in much beyond action scenes. This films definitely bills itself as being an action film but it's about an hour in before Purcell picks up a gun in anger. The first hour is spent utterly destroying everything in the life of Jim, who seems up until the point in which he snaps, to be a thoroughly decent guy. It is difficult after that first hour not to feel very sorry for him and the utter bleakness of the situation that he has found himself in through some some fault of his own. Because there is some fault here for him - he chooses to invest his savings and, as one of CORPORATE WANKERS points out at the start, he and people like him would not have been complaining had they turned a tidy profit. 

Anyway, as I said the first hour is very heavy but is effective and props to all involved for that. The last half an hour is where we finally start to see some action though as Jim, armed with a number of very big guns and hand grenades, starts to take out those responsible for losing his money and the money of millions of other innocent Americans. The film does seem rather confused as to whether we should be seeing Jim as being the hero of the piece or not. There's more than simple moral ambiguity going on here - the closing voice-over by Purcell claiming Jim to be fighting on behalf of the people of America is played with a straight bat but Jim is no modern Robin Hood - for the previous 15 minutes he has slaughtered everything that moves. Apparently, if you wear a tie then you deserve to be gunned down whilst standing at a window or blown to pieces with a grenade whilst cowering under a desk.

The influence of the brilliant Falling Down are clear to see with the under pressure family man snapping and things rapidly escalating. There's just enough goodwill built up for Jim in that first hour of the film to allow you to go with him on his murderous rampage through downtown Manhattan at the end but it is a close run thing.

3. Click (2006)

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken
Director: Frank Coraci

An overworked father of two attempts to buy a universal controller for all the gadgets in his house. The gadget he purchases gives him the ability to skip through the DVD of his life, skipping boring conversations, muting his wife's annoying friend and getting to witness earlier chapters in his life. Whilst he initially loves the powers this gives him he soon discovers that it is actually a curse.

I got a bit of stick from Mr Laurence Pawley when it popped up on my Facebook profile that I'd just watched this on Netflix, but you know what? It isn't bad. Adam Sandler is an actor who I've never really been exposed to - I only watched my first Adam Sandler film (The Wedding Singer) two years ago and it was really good. Not good enough to make me go out and watch anything else by him as two years later this is now only the second Adam Sandler film that I've seen, but it was good. This is nowhere near as good but it was very watchable on a Sunday morning. Sandler plays Michael Newman, a decent guy who is trying to juggle a demanding boss, played by THE HOFF, a neglected wife (Kate Beckinsale) and two young kids.

The message in Click is very straight forward - live in the moment, put those you love ahead of work and never take them for granted. Michael works to earn the promotions to give him the money to make a better life for his family but in going on auto-pilot in his home life until he can achieve this he ends up losing those who he was working for in the first place. They very much load the comedy into the first two thirds of the films and then hit you with the heavier stuff towards the end. I thought that was well done and there were a couple of genuinely emotional moments as Michael tries to make amends with the family who he had frittered away.

Sandler and Beckinsale are good but the supporting cast get most of the laughs. Christopher Walken is great, how can you not love The Hoff and there's good cameos from the likes of Henry Winkler, The Simpsons' Julie Kavner, Sean Astin and Jennifer Coolidge. Worth a watch.

2. Robot & Frank (2012)

Starring: Frank Langella, Peter Sarsgaard (voice), Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler
Director: Colin Trevorrow

In the near future, an ageing and forgetful retired thief is bought a robot by his son to help him around the house. Frank doesn't like the robot until he realises that he can be trained to become the perfect accomplice. 

 

This is a small 'indie' film about a man struggling with a battle with dementia. Frank has moments of brilliance throughout the film, particularly when he starts to plan jobs and cover his tracks as the police move in on him but as the film goes on it becomes more apparent just how bad his memory has gotten. I'm not sure that I overly bought the little twist towards the end but that's a minor quibble. 

The film is set in the near future and has a robot a starring role but this isn't a Sci Fi film. It is a story of an unlikely friendship. Frank hates the robot initially until he realises that it can be manipulated to help him to pull off a couple of final heists but the friendship definitely grows from there.When he tells his daughter that the robot is his friend he is partially manipulating her to get her to do what he wants but I think it is definitely true and the fact that he risks discovery by going to extreme lengths to avoid wiping the robot's memory bears this out. Of course there's definitely a parallel there with Frank's own fight to avoid losing his own memory.

I recognise Frank Langella from a few guest roles on TV shows and background film roles but am not massively familiar with him but he was very good here. I thought the supporting cast were strong too and this is the first time I've seen Liv Tyler in anything in a long time. I can see why it wasn't a box office smash but it's a lovely little film for an evening at home.

1. American Psycho (2000)

Starring: Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Willem Dafoe
Directed: Mary Hallon

What is it about?
Christian Bale stars as Patrick Bateman, a wealthy business man in 1987 Wall Street. He has a good job at his father company, a limo, a girlfriend, a hot mistress, strong opinions about music and nice business cards (although not as nice as those of some of his co-workers). He's also an emotionless killer who is getting worse.

What did I think?
Literally thousands of movies to choose to start with and me being me I was too indecisive to pick one. So I let 'Max' on Netflix pick one for me. This is one of those films which I've been aware of for a long time but never got around to watching. I enjoyed deconstruction of 80s Wall Street which particularly resonates a lot in today's austere times. I enjoyed the musical choices and particularly Bateman's musical rants which usually preceded a brutal killing.

The death scenes were fairly brutal and graphic in places but this never felt like a slasher thriller. It is a story about one man's descent into madness and leaves you wondering at the end just how much of what you'd seen was supposed to have taken place and how much was in his head.  I've not seen much pre-Batman Christian Bale and I thought he was very good in this. I'm not a massive fan of Willem Dafoe, to be honest, and I'm not sure why. Either way he was ok as the Detective who seems to suspect that there's more to Bateman than meets the eye. I always like Reese Witherspoon and Chloë Sevigny was good as the innocent secretary with the crush on her killer boss. I enjoyed it.

The Mission

The mission was simple. To watch 500 new films as quickly as possible. To qualify this, 'new' means 'new to me'. There are many, many classic (and many, many mediocre) movies out there which I've not seen up until now and they are definitely eligible for this. And 'as quickly as possible' could mean anything. I'm hoping that this will give me the impetus to get off my arse - or rather get on my arse - and watch a load of films which I've been meaning to watch for a long time but I'm not going to get through 500 films in six months. Knowing me there will be a few weeks when I watch a load of things and a few weeks when I don't even think about watching anything.

I'm no writer so my 'reviews' will be nothing to shout about. A few lines for most films I'd have thought. I know my limitations. This whole thing is for me and if I get a few comments from friends on a couple of the films then so much the better.

Anthony Cameron
19th April 2014