Out to own today:
RIDDICK
“There are bad days, and legendary bad days,” Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel)
A bit part in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) and the voice of the machine in Brad Bird’s THE IRON GIANT (1999), it was PITCH BLACK (2000) that launched Vin Diesel into the pop culture cinema melee. Like TREMORS, PITCH BLACK is an A-movie masquerading as a B-movie. Riddick, a brilliant character, was born. A resourceful, lethal anti-hero feared throughout the galaxy. The sequel in 2004 did not do him and the actor any favours, miring the lean thrills with space opera jargon such as the “under-verse” and “Necromongers”. The violence surrounding the lead was toned down too. THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK wanted to run before it could walk. The world building needed further instalment(s) to grow its mythology (and fan base) before a big budget spectacle should have been launched. Underwhelming on many levels, that looked to be it for the most wanted convict in the star system. Thankfully, and like its eponymous protagonist on many occasions, the franchise has been given a reprieve. [To read more, click here.]
A bit part in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) and the voice of the machine in Brad Bird’s THE IRON GIANT (1999), it was PITCH BLACK (2000) that launched Vin Diesel into the pop culture cinema melee. Like TREMORS, PITCH BLACK is an A-movie masquerading as a B-movie. Riddick, a brilliant character, was born. A resourceful, lethal anti-hero feared throughout the galaxy. The sequel in 2004 did not do him and the actor any favours, miring the lean thrills with space opera jargon such as the “under-verse” and “Necromongers”. The violence surrounding the lead was toned down too. THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK wanted to run before it could walk. The world building needed further instalment(s) to grow its mythology (and fan base) before a big budget spectacle should have been launched. Underwhelming on many levels, that looked to be it for the most wanted convict in the star system. Thankfully, and like its eponymous protagonist on many occasions, the franchise has been given a reprieve. [To read more, click here.]
THE GREAT BEAUTY
“I’m not a misogynist, I’m a misanthrope,” Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo)
THE GREAT BEAUTY has surely cemented director Paolo Sorrentino as one of Europe’s elite filmmakers. As focus Jep talks of his own misanthropy, that noun may be an accusation levelled at Sorrentino after viewing his second two features – THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE and THE FAMILY FRIEND. There is a hopelessness (with humanity sprinkled). IL DIVO was a visual masterclass; the camera roving and swirling like liquid. There was coldness and resignation seeped into the look at rotten politics. Then came a shock, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, a road trip oozing warmth. The sequence introducing David Bryne left my jaw agape. Perhaps not as embraced as Sorrentino (or myself) would have liked, the director has licked his wounds, and now delivered his most consummate work to date; continuing his arguable preoccupation with detachment, and suffusing it with more accessible empathy. [To read more, click here.]
THE GREAT BEAUTY has surely cemented director Paolo Sorrentino as one of Europe’s elite filmmakers. As focus Jep talks of his own misanthropy, that noun may be an accusation levelled at Sorrentino after viewing his second two features – THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE and THE FAMILY FRIEND. There is a hopelessness (with humanity sprinkled). IL DIVO was a visual masterclass; the camera roving and swirling like liquid. There was coldness and resignation seeped into the look at rotten politics. Then came a shock, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, a road trip oozing warmth. The sequence introducing David Bryne left my jaw agape. Perhaps not as embraced as Sorrentino (or myself) would have liked, the director has licked his wounds, and now delivered his most consummate work to date; continuing his arguable preoccupation with detachment, and suffusing it with more accessible empathy. [To read more, click here.]
YOU'RE NEXT
“For people with money, you’re lucky,” Erin (Sharni Vinson) to Crispian (AJ Bowen)
Bearing similarities to THE PURGE, though YOU’RE NEXT premiered first two years ago at the Toronto International Film Festival, the premise of a wealthy family set upon in a brutal night of home invasion by masked murderers is even more thrilling. Director Adam Wingard delivers carnage with gusto and macabre glee. [To read more, click here.]
Bearing similarities to THE PURGE, though YOU’RE NEXT premiered first two years ago at the Toronto International Film Festival, the premise of a wealthy family set upon in a brutal night of home invasion by masked murderers is even more thrilling. Director Adam Wingard delivers carnage with gusto and macabre glee. [To read more, click here.]
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