Basket Case 3 – A whole new film

I’ve watched the whole ‘Basket Case’ trilogy now and, like many who have a soft spot for cheesy eighties horror, enjoyed the first one’s entertainment value.  It deserves its place as a ‘cult classic’ from its title alone.  However, it’s sequels were less well known.  This was possibly because the second one seemed to veer so far away from the overall dark and horrific feel of the original that it seemed like a completely different movie.  And that was just ‘part II!’ Now we have the third instalment and it’s practically unrecognisable as part of the franchise.  One of my main complaints about the second instalment was that it didn’t really feature the titular ‘basket case’ monster, dwelling more on a whole new cast of characters and freaks.  At least now our murderous anti-hero gets the screen time that he was possibly robbed of in the middle film, but, even so, this feels like a totally different film when compared to the original. 

Like the first followed closely from the second, the third picks up right where the predecessor left off.  There’s a whole house-load of monsters who live quite happily with their human ‘aunt,’ but the basket case and his, only slightly less creepy, human brother can’t seem to fit in – expect many murders to follow. 

The first two thirds don’t really seem to go anywhere and feel just like extended padding for the final act.  If you’re really going to find enjoyment out of this cheeky little movie then the pay-off is what you’ll be waiting for.  In the last third you get the majority of the gore, the majority of the silliness and even a couple of plot points that I didn’t see coming regarding characters. 

Realistically, it’s not a bad little horror film.  It’s not big budget and doesn’t have a single recognisable face (with the possible exception of a talk-show host!), so if you don’t mind that then you’ll be party on your way to get something out of this.  You will certainly need an appreciation of eighties horror (yes, I know this was technically filmed in the nineties, but it’s eighties at heart!) and the silliness that came with it.  The best gore and prosthetics all come in the final third and, when they do, they are kind of fun.  However, if you were a die-hard fan of the original, you probably won’t believe how far the series strayed from the original.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – The Fifth Element’s distant cousin

‘Star Wars, Star Trek, Valerian.’ Spot the odd one out.  Well, apparently, all THREE are major players in the sci-fi world.  The problem is that only one of them is a major comic in France ONLY (and that’s ‘Valerian’ in case you wondered!).  Therefore, there weren’t that many people getting particularly excited when it was announced that it would be coming to the big screen, courtesy of visionary directly, Luc Besson.  Therefore, the only real piece of trivia to help promote its launch was ‘The most expensive French film ever made’ hardly set the pre-ticket sales at the Box Office alight.  And, subsequently, it didn’t really live up to its full potential.

Luc Besson was also the writer/director behind ‘The Fifth Element’ – a sci-fi film with a decent budget that only really did ‘okay-ish’ at the Box Office, before truly finding its place in cinema history throughout the years after its release.  It did a lot better on the small screen and eventually became quite a (profitable!) cult hit, now regarded as one of the best sci-fi films of the nineties.  I’m not saying that ‘Valerian’ is quite up there with ‘The Fifth Element,’ but I certainly enjoyed it more than its disappointing Box Office takings suggested.

First of all, the wonderfully-haunting song (‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie) plays over a montage of shots showing humanity building a space station around Earth which went on to become a beacon of intergalactic trade for numerous species and, eventually, got so big that it had to be released into the cosmos forever.  Skip forward a few hundred years and we meet our two young peace-keepers-of-the-future, Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne) who are generally charged with the task of saving a peaceful race from ultimate destruction.  I won’t go into too much detail regarding the plot because it is pretty standard and there’s nothing really new there that hasn’t been done before. 

What follows are just over two hours of beautiful, colouring settings which really do put the ‘Star Wars’ films to shame in terms of detail and imagination.  Of course much of the scenery and aliens are computer-generated, but it’s not as jarring as it could be and, once you get used to it, you really do feel these weird and wonderful creatures and places are there.  Plus there’s plenty of great futuristic tech on display to go with the –inevitable – action-related set-pieces – my personal favourite being a market in another dimension that you can only see wearing special glasses (it’s also a tourist hot-spot of the future!).

So, ‘Valerian’ does a lot right.  However, what may go some way to let it down is ‘Valerian’ himself, i.e. Dane DeHaan.  I’ve seen him in other films and he’s a good actor, sadly here he just doesn’t seem to cut it as a believable action hero/leading man.  I don’t know whether he just struggled acting against so much CGI, but all I could focus on was having the saviour of the galaxy and the bags under his eyes!  I know some people slate Cara for her acting ability, but I found her far more believable as a ‘space cop’ and almost wished she was the sole hero the film was based on.  The plot also wanders here and there and you feel like there are a few ‘sub-plots’ which don’t really go anywhere and probably could have been removed.

However, the film overall was great fun and if you’re looking for a beautiful space opera with plenty of neat tricks and action, you’ll get what you’re looking for here.  Hopefully, like Earth’s long-lost space station itself, this will eventually find its place in the universe.  Guess we’ll probably never get the sequel that could have been based on its comic-roots.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that

The Shape of Water – Del Toro does it again

‘The Shape of Water’ is the latest movie from Guillermo and, if you’ve seen anything he’s done before, you should have a good idea of what you’re going to get.  I’d say, out of all his previous work, this is closest to the much-lauded ‘Pan’s Labyrinth.’ Personally, I enjoyed that one, too, but I do recall one of my friends saying something about how he went into the film expecting a monster/sci-fi/fantasy film and all he got was a war film with a couple of fantastical scenes.  Okay, so his appraisal was technically correct, however I stand with the majority of audiences when I say I didn’t mind that – just like I didn’t mind that ‘The Shape of Water’ was basically a war film with a monster thrown in there.

However, that than being a subtitled film set during the Second World War, this time we go a little closer to present day and find ourselves in ‘Cold War’ America where government agents have captured a mysterious humanoid/reptilian life-form and intend to use it in their space-race (I’m not sure how this was to be achieved, but never mind!).  Again, anyone who has seen any of Del Toro’s previous films where a humanoid aquatic creature is involved, can probably picture what this one looks like (especially as it’s even played by the same actor!).  And, it’s fair to say that this weird-looking half-fish-man isn’t having a whale of a time (pun intended).  He’s routinely tortured by scientists and equally-creepy men in black (primarily) by Michael Shannon – who’s probably more of a monster than the monster itself thanks to his overuse of an electronic cattle-prod device of torture!

However, just when it looks like our fishy friend is doomed to a life of torture and dissection, he’s befriended by young cleaning lady (Elisa, played by Sally Hawkins) who’s also completely mute.  They then form a bizarre friendship which – hopefully – will lead to a better life for both of them.

I enjoyed ‘The Shape of Water,’ but I can see that it’s probably not for everyone.  If you’re a fan of Del Toro’s other work then you’ll like it.  The sets and period details and perfect and a wonderfully-magic atmosphere is created out of a normally mundane setting.  At first I found it a little weird, having a protagonist who never uttered a word for the entire two-hour runtime, but Hawkins is a capable lead and uses all other bodily actions and expressions to convey just what she’s thinking and feeling (plus she can curse using sign language!).  Like I say, it is two hours and, although beautiful to watch, does tend to feel a little overly-long here and there.

Richard Jenkins plays Elisa’s friend and provides some much-needed ‘heart’ and humour into the film, but the stand-out goes to Michael Shannon, who portrays the most sinister man in black since ‘Agent Smith’ from ‘The Matrix.’

Don’t expect wall-to-wall action, think of this as more of a ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ type film just with more ‘signing’ and less subtitles.  Also, if you have a soft spot for cats, you may want to close your eyes mid-way through – or just never bring a wild monster home if you have pets.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that

Coherence – Only just coherent

If you’re like me, you may well cynically see today’s crop of sci-fi films as nothing more than the same story involving superheroes flying around New York fighting aliens repeated over and over again.  Therefore, I do try to check out slightly lower-budget offerings which rely on story over effects and characters over star-power.  Therefore, I thought I’d give ‘Coherence’ a go as I stumbled across it on a popular internet streaming service.

Six friends (who are only just slightly different from Joey, Ross, Phoebe and co!) are having a dinner party when their night of social small-talk and cheese and biscuits is interrupted by a comet hurtling over their heads.  And, as pretty as it looks in the background of one of their selfies, it proves to split reality creating an alternate version of reality before they’ve had a chance to down their second glass of wine.

Now, whenever a film presents the audience with ‘countless realities’ or time travel, or some other concept which requires careful attention to details when it comes to plot, really does need to keep things clear for viewers without confusing them. ‘Coherence’ just about managed that.  It’s certainly not a film you can go into too much details about when it comes to plot, as most of what I say may give away spoilers.  The main thing I’d say is that you really do need to pay attention, so don’t you dare risk a toilet break without pausing the film as you may end up returning to a completely different set of characters compared with who you left!

The cast do their best with what they’re given in terms of script – mainly it involves looking confused and/or scared while trying to offer theories as to what’s become of their evening.  There’s certainly no big name stars (unless you count ‘Xander’ from the ‘Buffy’ TV show!), but they do enough to make you believe that they’re a close-knit bunch of friends who have known each other for a long time.

If you’re desperate for a science fiction film that does its best to offer a concept that is completely ‘special effects and explosions-free’ then you’ll certainly find one here.  I did find it a little hard going in places and it feels more like a straight-to-DVD film than anything you’d actually pay to watch in the cinema.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights

The Cloverfield Paradox – Only just ‘Cloverfield’

It seemed that the majority of movie-goers enjoyed the first ‘Cloverfield’ film where an alien the size of Godzilla rampages its way through New York (even if most of us didn’t quite understand why the film was called ‘Cloverfield’ in the first place.  Then came it’s ‘sequel’ (notice the use of quote marks there?) which used the ‘Cloverfield’ name in its title and yet bore little similarities to the original.  Now, we have ‘The Cloverfield Paradox.’ I guess that at least this time I didn’t expect it to instantly tie in to either of the previous two – and I was kind of right.

‘Part III’ seems to be a pretty generic horror movie set in space with a couple of scenes thrown in there which sort of pull it into the ‘shared universe’ that’s apparently being created.  It feels a lot more like ‘Alien’ or ‘Event Horizon’ where the crew of a space station orbiting Earth suddenly find themselves teleported to the other side of the sun, wondering how they got there and what the mysterious happenings are on board.

It’s worth noting that this film has been released straight to Netflix, which is becoming the new way we used to say ‘straight to video/DVD.’ It’s budget is acceptable and the sets are reasonably space age, until you have things that happen involving severed limbs which can move on their own.  Then I started raising an eyebrow at the blatant use of CGI.  The ‘strange happenings’ on board soon start becoming fatal and our cast begin to drop one by one, leaving it feeling more like an old-school ‘slasher’ film set in space.  It does its best to try and make up for this by being a little more scientific than your average ‘monster movie in space’ and for that, it does succeed.

There are those films where you can easily check your phone or pop out for a cup of tea.  Probably not best to do that here, as it won’t just be a case as you’ve missed a crew-member’s demise, but the story has skipped settings (I won’t go into detail about what I mean by ‘settings’ as I don’t want to give away too much!) and you’ll actually miss a vital plot point.

Now, it may just be my love of the ‘IT Crowd,’ but – for me – the stand-out performance went to Chris O’Dowd, who possibly relied on his ability for humour to own every scene he was in.  The rest of the cast are also functional for what they’re used for, but you probably won’t really remember any of the characters; names (I even just referred to Chris O’Dowd’s engineer-character as ‘Roy!’).

If you have Netflix and are generally a fan of sci-fi and/or horror then this is a decent enough little film to while away an hour and a half.  However, don’t look at it as much to do with the first two films – see the ‘Cloverfield’ films as more of a sci-fi anthology than a continuous series.  This is one sequel where you really don’t need to have watched anything that came before it to really understand what’s going on (okay, maybe apart from the very last shot of the movie!).

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that

Paper Towns – One for the youth

There are some films designed for multiple generations.  Which adult hasn’t enjoyed ‘Toy Story’ equally as much as their child (only on different levels!)?  However, ‘Paper Towns’ seems to be one of those ‘young adult’ tales that can only really be believed if you haven’t really lived that long in life (yes, I’m an old cynic).  It’s the typical ‘boy meets girl’ story where the two of them grow up together – as friends, obviously – only for her to start partying hard during her late teens, while he studies hard for later life.  Naturally, once their circles have moved in different directions, he assumes they’ll never get together – until she appears at his bedroom window one night, asking to borrow his car. 

Now, the boy and girl in question – Quentin and Margo – are both likable enough (and played respectively by Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne – who, despite what some people say, is actually quite a good young actress who can put on a decent enough American accent), as are their group of friends.  So the cast are a fun bunch of people who you will feel drawn to (even if they do offer little new in terms of ‘stereotypical American teens’).  The problems I can with ‘Paper Towns’ simply came in the form of its pacing and general believability. 

The first third of the movie is Nat and Cara, cheering fully tearing up the town in a wild night of throwing caution to the wind and general mayhem.  This is fair enough if this is how the whole film was.  However, and hopefully I’m not including a spoiler here, Cara then disappears in one of her character’s trademark ‘mysteries’ leaving the rest of the cast wondering where she’s gone and how they can find her.  And so, for fans of Cara, they may feel a little short-changed by her sudden lack of screen time, as the rest of the movie is taken up with the rest of the cast’s road-trip as they try to solve the mystery of where she went to and why.

I think I’ve probably said enough about the plot, so I won’t spoil what happens, only to say that – despite the lack of the ‘other half’ on the love interest part of the story – there are a few things even a hardened cynic such as myself didn’t see coming.  It seems that whether people love or hate this film depends on how they feel about its ending.  Personally, I really enjoyed how they wrapped it up – my only beef was about how the rest of the story was pretty unbelievable.  However, what do I know?  I’m clearly not this film’s demographic – my thirteen year old daughter absolutely loved it, so fair play to the millennials if they appreciate it more than me!

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back

The Bridge on the River Kwai – Captain Ahab must get his bridge

There are many Second World War films that will definitely stand the tests of time and be looked at as – almost – ‘historical’ representations of the events that transpired.  I’m not entirely sure that ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ will be one of those, as it’s far too ‘niche’ to maintain its popularity, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad film.  For a start, if you’re looking for huge ‘Saving Private Ryan’ style battles involving the heroic Allies blasting their way through legions of German troops, you’ll be very disappointed here.  With the exception of a couple of brief shoot-outs and the odd knife to the back, there’s little in the way of action here.

It’s about an unfortunate bunch of British (mainly) prisoners of war who are incarcerated in a Japanese POW camp.  There, they’re forced to help build a bridge (over the river Kwai, believe it or not!) in order to aid the Japanese war effort.  You may think that a WWII film based around a POW camp would mean that our plucky Brits would spend their time and efforts devising new and ingenious ways to tunnel their way out of there.  Not here.  The camp doesn’t even have any fences due to it being on an island, therefore there’s nowhere really to escape if they tried. 

Instead, the story predominantly focuses on two character – one is the Japanese warden who runs the facility and the other is the British officer ‘in charge’ of the captive prisoners (there’s also a sub-plot regarding how the rest of the Allied war effort perceives the camp and what they’re doing about it, but that’s secondary to the one-on-one between the two leads in my opinion).

Now, I wouldn’t go as far as saying you’d be able to ‘identify’ with the Japanese guard, but you will definitely get to know him and his motivations and, dare I say it, his character even develops as the film progresses.  However, the most interesting character is his British opposite, played by none other than (the original) Obi-wan Kenobi himself, Sir Alec Guinness.  He’s a man in charge of both keeping his soldiers’ morale up, but also the ‘good name’ of the British army/Empire.  He’ll go to almost any lengths to ensure that neither are brought down in reputation in any way.  And, his choices lead to some interesting outcomes which I won’t go into in great details here.

So, if you’re looking for an outright war film, you won’t really find it here.  Instead, you’ll get (quite a long) character study about stubborn madness, maybe even a little ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and – what I perceived as – a variation on the ‘Captain Ahab and his whale’ type story.  Alternatively, if you’re just looking to see what old Ben Kenobi looked like without a lightsabre, you’ll find that here, too.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that