With even mellower greetings than before, it is I, Britgeek here with my second column focusing on what's hot in the ever-colourful landscape of UK-based geekery.
I hope you enjoyed my debut column last week. I greatly appreciate the positive feedback I received, as well as the negative! It is very much my intention to make this a weekly read with international appeal, because this is far from targeted solely at those of you in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Instead, this is my little corner of Cyberspace where I have the opportunity to tell the world about the film industry in the UK, allow film-makers to share with you their latest projects, spread the word and my thoughts on the latest news, and let you know what I think about movies, TV shows and more, as I see them. If readers from outside the UK are intrigued to know about how different our industry is to Hollywood and even the independent scene in the USA, for example, then right here is where you'll be able to gauge answers from home-grown talent. If you would like to know what a 21-year-old Brit (who would probably have taken the handle Quint if it wasn't for, well, Quint... JAWS is my favourite movie, too) thinks about certain movies, then right here is exactly where you'll be able to see me “waffle” on like a “buffoon”, as someone so eloquently put it in last week's Talkbacks.
So, without further ado, let's channel all that Brit-bashingly negative energy from last week's feedback into one big positive for us in the UK by mentioning that Marvel's mighty CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER was unable to replicate its red, white and blue overseas success by knocking HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 from its spot as this week's box office king, although it did debut at number two, pulling in £2,981,590 over the weekend. The bespectacled wizard is still dominating, however, taking £4,567,581, but it was perhaps to be expected with schools having just broken up for the summer. Maybe good old Cap'n A will get his turn next week?
Or maybe not, as J.J. Abrams' SUPER 8 finally opens this Friday, alongside, most notably, the latest Jim Carey vehicle MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS, THE TREE, KNUCKLE and SARAH'S KEY. I've seen the trailer for SUPER 8 a fair few times and am really looking forward to seeing it. If the trailer alone has a genuine and pleasingly-nostalgic Amblin feel to it, then I really hope the whole film does, too.
What do you think will come out on top this weekend? Will HARRY POTTER continue to work his magic, or will he meet stiff competition in the faces of SUPER 8's mystery and CAPTAIN AMERICA's superheroism?
THE COMPANY MEN (DVD)
Written and directed by John Wells, a prolific name in the land of television thanks to his illustrious work writing and producing the likes of ER and THE WEST WING, THE COMPANY MEN marks his debut (and a solid one it is) as a feature film-maker.
It's very much a tale of our times, revolving around the lives of three men (Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper) who each hold different positions at a major corporation until they find themselves faced with redundancy when their employers, feeling the burn from the recession, decide to downsize the company at any cost, even if it means sacrificing years of friendship. What ensues is a journey of survival for the principle characters as they are forced away from what they've been doing for most of their lives.
While it isn't particularly eye-opening (unless you've been living under a rock for the past three years), this drama is a realistic portrait of a ruthless and consuming modern world, where income is priority number one and ethics have fallen far out of sight. That cannot be said for Gene McClary (Jones), however, who still clings on to the old world values of loyalty and respect, and strongly opposes the idea of the bottom line being the be all and end all in business.
THE COMPANY MEN may feel a little too much like a TV pilot (and such a series set amidst the financial crisis would be appealing to me), it's still a well-made and enjoyable human interest story about men who are bitten by the very same hand that fed them for so many years.
No extras.
TOTALLY F***ED UP: F***ed Up Edition (DVD),
The first film in Gregg Araki's “Teen Apocalypse Trilogy”, 1993's TOTALLY F***KED UP is a slice of New Queer Cinema fuelled, primarily, by the angst suffered by a group of gay teenagers (four guys and two girls) living in Los Angeles. But it would be unfair to write it off as just another movie on the subject of adolescence and sexuality as it is far more interesting than just that. It's a film that most audiences will be able to relate to simply because everyone grows up, and everyone has their own little struggles at that point in life, whether they pertain to orientation or not. That said, to be contrarian, the way in which the film is presented is not for everyone. While it carries core themes that are as relevant today as they were back in the early '90s, TOTALLY F***KED UP is also very much a product of its time, set in the MTV Generation to a soundtrack of industrial rock and with characters who are unsure of the paths they want to pursue in their lives. It's an interesting film and very experimental. Some close-minded folks may even call it transgressive. At times, due to the way the narrative is segmented, it almost seems like a music video that has been woven through with a zany sense of humour, layered upon a constant feeling of dread.
Extras: A director's commentary and UK-exclusive trailer.
LAKE MUNGO (DVD)
Setting itself apart from the pack of found footage films, LAKE MUNGO, a supernatural horror-cum-drama from Australia, is actually presented as a convincingly real documentary. Rather than being a feature-length compilation of shoddy video clips, LAKE MUNGO has a story that unfolds for the audience as the characters reminisce for the camera, sharing a harrowing story of a family member's mysterious death. We hear from the parents, brother, friends and acquaintances of 16-year-old Alice, who drowned in a lake in 2005, and are given insight into the strange occurrences that befell the family for many months after the death. This is an effective ghost story that is every bit as eerie and unsettling as it is absorbing. Prepare to be caught up in the fiction and the TWIN PEAKS vibe.
No extras.
INHALE (Blu-ray)
With a young daughter suffering from a rare degenerative lung disease that will soon cost her her life without an organ transplant, parents Paul and Diane Stanton (Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger) chase the last possible option to save her life by stepping into the organ trafficking underworld of crime-ridden Juarez in Mexico, where life and limb must be risked in order to save another.
As thrillers go, INHALE is a passable enough way to spend 84 minutes. While its major flaws range from unbelievably coincidental plot points to the portrayal of Mexico as nothing more than a sun-scorched hotbed of crime, filled to its edges with street children, guns, drugs and illegally-harvested organs, the film ticks all the right boxes and moves along nicely until a particularly hard-hitting ending that is sure to divide audiences based entirely on their morals.
No extras.
ACROSS THE LINE: THE EXODUS OF CHARLIE WRIGHT (DVD)
This is a film centred on four kinds of people – mercenaries, cops, mobsters and men who have fallen from grace – and yet I only enjoyed the screen presence of two particular characters, them being individuals who conveyed the integral theme of the movie: redemption. The story told is a tale of two conflicting interests. A fraudulent banker, seemingly inspired by Bernie Madoff, who pocketed eleven billion dollars by operating a Ponzi scheme, flees to Tijuana, Mexico to escape trial. He quickly accepts the fact that he's done wrong and spends the rest of the film trying to repent. Similarly, a Mexican crime boss, regretful for what he has become, attempts to drive his brother away from the lifestyle that had consumed him. I was compelled by their desires to seek redemption for their actions, but their characters were lost beneath the film's focus on the police manhunt for the scam artist, and what felt like forced action scenes involving the mercenaries, lead by Luke Goss. I was really hoping that this movie would go more in the direction of a drama than a bullet-ridden thriller, but I was merely teased by hints of engrossing characterisation.
No extras.
SUBMARINE (DVD)
A coming-of-age story with a difference, indie Brit-flick SUBMARINE, the feature directorial debut of popular British sitcom actor Richard Ayoade (THE IT CROWD), is a charming comedy full of quirk and with lashings of heart and soul. Unfolding almost like a biopic in the middle of Wales, the film is told through the eyes of Oliver Tate, a 15-year-old who, while immensely precocious, still retains the common naivete of a boy his age as he deals with the ordinary struggles of teenage life – love especially – in a rather unordinary fashion. Consistently funny and with a terrific cast lead by one-to-watch Craig Roberts, the Ben Stiller-produced SUBMARINE is delightfully strange and incredibly enjoyable.
Extras: Piledriver Waltz music video, test footage, Q&As with director Ayoade, interviews, deleted scenes, extended scenes, a video message from Ben Stiller that was sent to the cast and crew during production, and Through the Prism, a 15-minute spiel involving an in-character Graham T. Purvis.
While we're on the subject of DVD and Blu-ray releases, it must be said that this is indeed a time for excitement. Why? Yes, I know STAND BY ME is out on Blu-ray next week, but Arrow Video, the best darn distributor of horror and cult movies on the face of the earth, have just announced their October schedule. Aside from ERIK THE VIKING and ArrowDrome's THE DEVIL'S KISS and CHEERLEADERS, we're also getting the blood-spattered wondrousness of MANIAC COP on Blu-ray, complete with all the usual Arrow goodies such as reversible sleeve artwork, a double-sided poster, collector's booklet and a healthy supply of extras.
Before I bid you farewell for another week, how about a parting gift in the form of a competition? Courtesy of Universal Home Entertainment, I have three (3) copies of INHALE and another three (3) copies of ACROSS THE LINE: THE EXODUS OF CHARLIE WRIGHT (both reviewed above) on DVD to give away. To enter, simply tweet me the name of your favourite English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish film, along with the title of the DVD you'd most like to win. Don't forget to follow me so I can get in touch if you're a lucky winner (to be chosen at random). This contest is open exclusively to residents of the United Kingdom. Sorry everyone else!
Speaking of Twitter, some other film geek is making it his mammoth mission to see every single film released theatrically in the UK this year. Check him out, why don't you.
22 days and counting until Film4 FrightFest 2011! Weekend passes are completely sold out so you better get moving on snapping up individual tickets if you're keen on attending the best horror and fantasy festival in Europe. And don't forget about yet more festival goodness in the form of Empire BIG SCREEN, which hits London's O2 Arena from August 12-14 and so far has a cracking line-up and guests. As you would expect, tickets are also going pretty fast.
See you next week, when, in addition to plenty of news and reviews, I may just have a fascinating interview for you.
Take care.
-Britgeek
