The Boondock Saints

This movie is a huge heap of rubbish. For some reason, it has a cult following, and from that following I had heard many recommendations to watch it. Normally, I think even a fairly bad film is worth watching once, but this is beyond bad. The characters are as thin as anorexic paper, the script is embarrassingly corny and unrealistic, the violence is gratuitous, the acting is laughably over the top, the editing is a mess, and the story is completely stupid.

The Boondock Saints follows the story of two Irish brothers (played unconvincingly by two annoying B-list actors) in Boston, that have been assigned by God to eliminate all the criminals in the city by mercilessly killing them. An outrageous gay FBI detective is leading the investigation into the killings (a cringe worthy performance by Willem Dafoe). That's pretty much the plot. One of the film's many problems is that it has no suspense or mystery because you already know who the killers are, so watching the lengthy crime scene investigations is utterly pointless. Speaking of which, Willem Dafoe was even worse than David Caruso in CSI: Miami, with his cheesy dialogue delivery. There are quite a few moments where this film attempts humour and fails miserably. The funniest thing about it was watching Dafoe doing a little Irish jig.

The writer and director Troy Duffy was clearly desperate for his film to be a Reservoir Dogs or a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It was definitely meant to draw adjectives like "cool", "slick", "badass", and "edgy". It doesn't come close to any of those things though. It's stylised but in a Chickenfeed sort of way. Troy Duffy is not Quentin Tarantino and this film will look quite dated in the future, if it doesn't already, 10 years on.

The Boondock Saints has the nerve to end with a blatant attempt at a serious moral dilemma (is it wrong to kill bad people?). A question that doesn't deserve to be answered in the context of this film. Duffy doesn't take his film seriously for the the first 90 minutes and then, all of a sudden he changes the film's tone. That's an awful lot to ask of an audience.

I haven't disliked a film this much for a long time. It was a struggle getting to the end of this one. I can't understand why it has such a large legion of fans. It's just a terrible, terrible film. Stay away from it.

Top 10 Nicolas Cage Films

It's Nicolas Cage's birthday today. A lot of people underrate him as an actor, but I think he's pretty good. Here are some of the best films he's been in:

10. 8mm - Creepy and seedy detective thriller, in the same mould as 'Se7en'.

9. The Weather Man - Very funny and under appreciated black comedy.

8. Wild At Heart - Weird and, at times, disturbing David Lynch film... wait that's all of them.

7. Raising Arizona - An 80s classic from the Coen brothers.

6. National Treasure - A very fun adventure, and a great role for Cage.

5. Leaving Las Vegas - Harsh, depressing, bleak film that won Cage an Oscar for playing a suicidal alcoholic.

4. Matchstick Men - A very slick Ridley Scott tale about con artists.

3. The Rock - An action classic. Cage plays the nerdy chemical weapons specialist really well.

2. Bringing Out The Dead - Another wrist-slitter, this has Cage, directed by Martin Scorsese, as an ambulance officer. It's very grim but I consider it a hugely underrated film. Watch it when you can't sleep.

1. Adaptation - One of my favourites. I love the multi-layered realities, and the characters. This is Nicolas Cage's finest acting performance. He plays two characters; twins that are almost opposites in personality. Somehow he pulls it off so well that you forget it's the same actor playing both!

Some Recent Viewings

Into The Wild (2007) - Very enjoyable, beautifully filmed true story about a man that abandons society in order to live in the wild. It has a lot to say about finding genuine happiness and meaning in life. Directed by Sean Penn who's proving to be quite good behind the camera. I heartily recommend this one.

Silent Hill (2006) - Based on a computer game... not usually a good idea. A film that begins as a noble attempt at horror but gets worse and worse as it progresses. By the film's end, it becomes an over the top, B-grade, gore fest. There are too many stupid looking monsters in this movie for it to be in any way scary, and the script and music don't help either.

Rear Window (1954) - I watched this after watching 'Silent Hill' and it was already a better film after the first 10 minutes. Really cool story about a man, confined to his house, spying on his neighbours, and becomes convinced one of them has murdered his wife. The suspense is as well executed as anything made today. Scratch that - it's better than most films made today. Hitchcock always impresses me and this is surely one of his best. A real classic.

The Orphanage

The Spanish film 'El Orfanato' (The Orphanage) is a really good horror film. Some people will watch a horror film, fail to become frightened, then decide that the movie wasn't very good. I think that's a silly approach - a film can be good regardless of how scary it is, even if it's marketed as a horror. You're going to dismiss so many decent films if you rate them by your level of terror. 'The Devil's Backbone' (directed by Guillermo del Toro - producer of 'The Orphanage') is a really well made ghost story that just isn't that scary - but there is still a lot to appreciate in it. 'The Orphanage' is beautifully filmed, has good acting, and an intriguing story. I also found it to be very scary!

It's a ghost story that takes place in a creepy old house, formally an orphanage - the type of place you'd never go into, let alone live in, if you were sane. There are some intense scenes which made me jump (2mm into the air), and there are some interesting, freaky characters. The film borrows a few classic horror techniques, but puts them to good use. I was totally sucked into this movie.

'The Orphanage' treads a fine line between supernatural horror and psychological thriller and it never descends into b grade gore-fest action. Another thing that added to the suspense, was the depth of the characters - I actually cared about them, so I was drawn into the tense moments of the film, much more than I would have been had there been cardboard characters involved. Also, it's in Spanish, which can be quite a scary language.

A couple of modern classics...

Last night, I revisited 'Ocean's Eleven' (the modern version). It has got to be one of the coolest films of all time; the suits, the soundtrack, Vegas, the dialogue, George Clooney... it's all cool. But the best thing about it is the detail of the plot - it's so meticulously put together. Even though I'd seen it a couple of times before, I was totally hooked on the suspense. That's why 'Collateral' was so average; there was no attention to detail given to the script or reasons why the characters even existed. 'Collateral' took itself too seriously, when it really wasn't much more than a popcorn flick. 'Ocean's' knew exactly what type of film it was, and played to that strength.

Another film I re-watched recently was 'The Prestige'. This is another example of a totally gripping, twist 'n' turn, modern classic. You just can't fault the writing. I love watching movies that are made by people that so obviously care about their film and have managed to get the best out of everyone involved. One of the great things these two gems have in common, is that they take a particular topic (casinos and magicians) and brilliantly summarise the vibe, adding elements of mystery. The themes that are explored in these movies seem totally appropriate to their subject matter. A story about magicians and magic will conjure up (if you'll forgive me) thoughts of obsession and deception. Casinos and gambling - the same things.
I reckon these two films could go the distance and remain popular after several decades have past.

Collateral

I watched the much-hyped Michael Mann film 'Collateral' on the weekend. I've been meaning to see it for a while and was looking forward to doing so because it's in a genre that I have a soft spot for - the Thriller. I love these kind of films.

I was a bit disappointed with 'Collateral' though. I still enjoyed it, and there's a lot about it that's impressive - Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxxxxx are both excellent, and Michael Mannnn's treatment of Los Angeles as a setting is really cool. There are a lot of shots from unusual angles to bring out the city's skyline... LA was basically as good as a supporting actor in this film - much like New York is in Lumet's and some of Scorsese's work (gee, how much of a wanker do I sound like?!)
However, I was unmoved by the attempt at profound dialogue between Cruise and Foxxxxxxxxx. Also, the story was quite empty; I really wanted to know more about the characters and why Tom Cruise was killing them all - apart from just (POSSIBLE SPOILER) "they're all involved in some court case". Maybe I missed some key explanation due to the terrible sound quality on the TV I was watching.

In my opinion, a more intricate back story would've elevated this film from OK to excellent. The ending was an anticlimax too. But there was a cool, slightly surreal, vaguely symbolic scene with a wolf (or maybe a coyote?). I really liked that scene.

Am I the only one...

...that can't stand this movie?



It seems inexplicably popular to me. I love a good adventure and fantasy story as much as the next bloke, but this one is just annoying. The thing I hate most about it, is the part when the grandpa is telling the Fred Savage kid the story. Not only is this cheesy and dated (talk about 80s!), it is completely pointless. Why does it have to be a story about a story? Why can't the story about Westly and Butterhead be enough for the film? It devalues the fantasy and makes people cringe.

Also, the quotes. People quote this film to death. And they aren't even good quotes! "As you wiiiiiiiiish", "inconceivable" - inconceivable is a common English word and somehow people think you're referring to this film if you use it... and the worst one: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Now, in what situation can this quote possibly be of any relevance? That's right, none. It's so specific to the context of the movie that it doesn't even make sense to quote it in real life. But people do. Inconceivable.

I don't think 'The Princess Bride' is a bad film at all, just a reasonable one that's been overrated by people that go on about it. There are other good movies out there you know...