Waking The Dead
season 7

Directors: Tim Fywell, Daniel Percival, Robert Bierman, Edward Bennett, Sam Miller, Philippa Langdale
Stars: Trevor Eve, Sue Johnston, Wil Johnson, Félicité du Jeu, Tara FitzGerald
Roadshow

HAVING never watched this UK cold case police/forensic procedural, my decision to pre-view seasons one and two, launched in 2000, quickly proved that the unique, two-hour split episode format utilised with Waking The Dead offers an effective and thorough examination of police procedures not available to the majority of 45-minute cop shows—providing deeper, more layered whodunnits with far less predictability.

The cold case team is run by the driven (and extraordinarily blunt) Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd (Trevor Eve), and the division is tasked to work old cases when presented with new evidence. The chemistry between the often impatient Boyd and his team, psychologist Dr Grace Foley (Sue Johnston), Detective Inspector Spencer Jordan (Wil Johnson), forensic pathologist Dr Eve Lockhart (Tara FitzGerald), and Detective Constable Stella Goodman (Félicité du Jeu) is realistic and, refreshingly, ebbs and flows just like relationships do in the real world.

Season 7 originally aired in the UK in 2008 and features 6 stories across12 episodes. Highlights include: Pieta (DNA from the blood of a man who assaulted a police officer is matched to a murdered mother and son whose corpses were unearthed in the wake of the Bosnian war); Skin (an anonymous email leads to the mummified body of George Andrews, a man who disappeared 20 years earlier after aligning himself with an extreme right wing group), and Missing Persons (a woman saves a man who falls from a train platform but flees when police attempt to question her, CCTV matches her as person of interest in an unsolved 1983 murder).

Waking The Dead delivers better-than-average TV and should prove a welcome relief to crime fans who are tired of knowing whodunnit within the first 10 minutes.

22 Bullets

Director: Richard Berry

Stars: Jean Reno, Daniel Lundh, Kad Merad, Marina Foïs, Jean-Pierre Darroussin

Roadshow Films

One only has to look as far as Léon/The Professional, Mission Impossible or Ronin to see that Jean Reno, the inimitable French actor, has sufficient onscreen presence to help carry a film. However, 22 Bullets relies more on the actor’s gravitas than on delivering an original plot.

22 Bullets tells the story of retired mobster Charly Matteï (Reno) who is dragged back into the grizzly underbelly of organised crime after surviving a murder attempt by way of a ski-mask-wearing firing squad. As he recovers from the attack, Charly implores his  three remaining friends to find out who’s behind the hit.

Charly’s pals round up a low-level thug who has enough information to coax Charly out of his hospital bed for a round of atypical warehouse “questioning”. The type where you get tied to a chair. And beaten. Charly takes a surprisingly compassionate approach with the thug and, against the advice of his posse, cuts him loose after he spills the beans on who ordered the hit. Anyone familiar with this type of storyline won’t be overly surprised by the early reveal of who wants Charly six-feet under.

As much as romanticised narrative notions may want us to believe that there is honour among thieves, there isn’t any in this film. Charly’s decision to release the whistle-blowing thug is met with a close-to-home reprisal that pushes Charly into battle-stations mode and it’s not long before he dons his chef’s hat to serve up a dish cold.

As would be expected from a film with the tag line, ‘From the producer of Taken’, the action sequences in this film work particularly well. There are also some genuinely compelling interactions between Charly and his victims, particularly when he takes the time to talk to them before exacting his revenge. The main problems come via the rest of the film, with convoluted family drama that’s both unnecessary and frustrating as the respective family member’s issues pale in comparison to the overall drama of warring families.

Because of the interwoven family drama 22 Bullets slowed at times, which jars because this is a high-energy film that, given the context of the plot, felt 20-minutes too long by the time the credits rolled on the ending. This film certainly had potential from the outset; it’s just a shame that the more interesting over-arching storyline got lost in the subplots of secondary characters that really weren’t all that interesting. For fans of shoot-em-ups, however, this will certainly sate the appetite.

Review: Nathan Lawrence

22 Bullets is available on DVD/Blu-ray May 19, 2011

SOLOMON KANE

DIRECTOR: Michael J. Bassett

STARRING: James Purefoy, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Pete Postlethwaite, Alice Krige, Mackenzie Crook, Max von Sydow, Jason Flemyng

ROADSHOW

If you like your historical fantasy steeped in mud, rain, blood, fire, steel and black magic, then this is the flick for you. It’s no dumb-arse actioner, though—the title character was created by Robert E. Howard, who also gave us Conan, so there’s a mythic feel to the whole thing. You might even call it epic, with plenty of story packed into the 100-odd minutes.

It is the 1600s and, after a life of murder and plunder, privateer Solomon Kane (Purefoy) is confronted, inside an Ottoman fortress, by a minion of the Devil sent to claim his rotten soul. He narrowly escapes the creature, returns to his native England and seeks refuge in a monastery, renouncing violence and scarifying his body with holy symbols. However, when the Abbot decides the order can no longer harbour him, Solomon is turned out into a country enslaved by the forces of a sorcerer named Malachi (Flemyng). Mugged and left for dead soon after, he is nursed back to health by a puritan family (which includes Hurd-Wood, Postlethwaite and Krige) and begins travelling with them, relishing their gentle ways. Inevitably, Malachi’s forces, led by the mysterious, mind-controlling Masked Rider, attack the group and Kane is forced to choose between watching his new friends die or taking up arms again and thereby ensuring his soul remains damned.

As you can see, the cast is strong, with cool cameos from Crook as a priest with some warped ideas about religion, and von Sydow as Solomon’s estranged father. Purefoy is perfect in his role as a mercenary redeemed, and the same level of care with which the players have been chosen extends to the rest of the movie—the music, CGI, titles, etc. are all above average. As for the DVD extras… they’re only OK, but the deleted scene (a battle the director couldn’t quite squeeze in) and especially the gallery of production art are worth a gander.

FOR VALOUR

Director: Serge Ou

UMBRELLA ENTERTAINMENT

RECIPIENTS of the Victoria Cross leave behind a legacy worthy of the highest honour. For Valour details the remarkable true stories of these men.

The most coveted and honoured decoration available to members of the Australian Defence Force—the Victoria Cross ratifies the achievements of our most highly decorated soldiers. The iconic cross is made from remnants of a 19^th century canon.

“More than one million have taken up arms but less than 100 have won the Victoria Cross”

For Valour was the highest rating program on The History Channel in 2009. The documentary, hosted by Neil Pigot, is presented as a road trip, taking in the Remembrance Highway from Sydney to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, stopping at the 22 rest areas situated along the route, each featuring a plaque or cenotaph constructed in memory of the few, the fair and the brave—winners of the Victoria Cross.

The rest areas and cenotaphs were erected by the government in lieu of grave sites to represent the thousands of soldiers killed in the Great War who were buried overseas, offering families a site to honour the fallen, whose graves could not be visited.

Featuring dramatic re-enactments and interviews with recipients and war historians,  For Valour explores the mateship, camaraderie and personal courage of our nation’s defenders—from World War I to the Vietnam conflict.

“Courage in support of others is the high ideal”

Victoria Cross stories told include: Neville (later Major General) Howse, who faced enemy fire during the second Boer War to rescue a fallen trumpeter. Despite being shot in the neck and chest John Edmondson risked his life at the siege of Tobruk to aid an officer in distress, and during the Vietnam War Keith Payne entered enemy territory to aid the rescue of “about 40″ injured and lost soldiers.

“One man amidst the madness who hasn’t lost it”

Additional interviews with Keith Payne VC and Ted Kenna VC are especially enlightening. Other war heroes remembered via re-enactment and profile include:

Pilot Officer Rawdon Hume Middleton, VC – died: 1942, in the English Channel

Cpl J.H. Edmondson, VC – died: 1941, Tobruk, Egypt

Arthur Stanley Gurney, VC – died: 1942, Tel el Eisa, Egypt

Percy Gatwick, VC, age 40 – died: 1942, North Africa

James Gordon, VC, age 77 – died: 1986, Western Australia (fought the Vichy French in the Syrian-Lebanon campaign)

Arthur Roden Cutler, VC, age 86 – died: 2002 (artillery’s only VC winner and Governor of NSW for 15 years)

Hughie Edwards, VC, age 68 – died: 1982 (Governor of WA, and the most highly-decorated Australian serviceman of the Second World War)

Charles Groves Wright Anderson, VC, age 91 – died: 1988 (served in Malaya, age 44, Japanese P.O.W. for 3 years, Member for Hume)

Pilot William Ellis (Bill) Newton, VC, age 24 – died: 1943, Salamaua (one of 23 soldiers executed by decapitation on orders of  Admiral Fajita, and the only Australian airman to earn the decoration in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the only one while flying with an RAAF squadron)

Bruce Steel Kingsbury, VC, age 24 – died: 1942 (one of only two Australian VCs of the Kokoda campaign, for the Battle of Isurava, New Guinea)

Lieutenant Albert Chowne, VC, age 25 – died: 1945 (also awarded the Military Medal, buried at Lae War Cemetery in New Guinea)

Cpl John Alexander French, VC, age 28 – died: 1942 (former bodyguard to both King George V1, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Buried at Bomana War Cemetery Port Moresby)

Thomas Currie “Diver” Derrick, VC, age 31 – died: 1945 (Australia’s most decorated soldier of WWII)

Albert Jacka, VC, age 39 – died: 1932 (awarded Australia’s first Victoria Cross of the First World War. Won the Military Cross and a bar to that award in 1917. Mayor of St Kilda)

Frank John Partridge, VC, age 40 – died: 1964 (the youngest VC in WWII also one of just three people to win all 40 boxes on 1960s game show Pick-a-box. Hero of Bougainville and the last VC of WW2)

Mark Donaldson, VC, born: 1979 – the first Australian serviceman in almost 40 years to be awarded the VC under its new title of ‘The Victoria Cross for Australia’ for his actions in Afghanistan. Trooper Donaldson is the first VC ever awarded to a member of the Australian Army’s elite Special Air Service Regiment.

Australia awarded four more VCs in Vietnam: two posthumously.

Rayene Simpson, VC, age 52, – died: 1978 (Did three tours, and was renowned for his “conspicuous gallantry”. For his actions during fighting on 6 and 11 May in Kontum Province, near the Vietnam/Laos border, Simpson was awarded the Victoria Cross. For actions during fighting near Ta Ko on 16 September, 1978, Simpson was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.)

Keith Payne, VC, born: 1933 – for rescuing wounded soldiers in Vietnam, moving more than 40 men to safety, Payne was awarded the Victoria Cross. He received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star from the United States. The Republic of Vietnam awarded Payne the Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star.

Major Peter John Badcoe, VC, age 33 – died: 1967 (led his company in an attack that turned what seemed certain defeat into victory, at Huong Tra, Vietnam)

Kevin Wheatley, VC, age 28 – died 1965 (joined the armed forces at 19 and died protecting his wounded mate. His Victoria Cross was personally approved by HRH Queen Elizabeth.

FOR VALOUR, Umbrella Entertainment, $24.99: http://umbrellaent.com.au/

DIE HARD (1988)

Director: John McTiernan

Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald Veljohnson

20TH CENTURY FOX

Review: Nathan Lawrence

THE LOWDOWN

JOHN McCLANE (Bruce Willis) is an everyday New York cop flying in to Los Angeles in the hopes of a Christmas miracle that will mend things with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). She’s in upper management at the Nakatomi Corporation and is allowing herself a night off from the kids to kick it old school at the Christmas party on the 30th floor of the still-under-construction Nakatomi Plaza.

Before John and Holly can explore the perks of post-separation nookie, a mob of faux terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) crashes the party with gunshots, German accents and enough gear “to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger”. McClane escapes the initial kerfuffle by the skin of his bare feet, leaving him with the arduous task of being the man on the inside versus a gaggle of heavily armed goons.

NUTS AND BOLTS

Even before the cameras started rolling, Die Hard was a powerhouse of potentiality: John McTiernan, fresh off the awesomeness of Predator; up-and-coming action star Bruce Willis; and Alan Rickman in his debut feature. The film is based on a novel by Roderick Thorp called Nothing Lasts Forever, and although many key elements made it into the original script, McTiernan insisted on several changes to make the flick less dark and more entertaining. One of the film’s more subtle instances of breaking the ‘fourth wall’ is in Hans Gruber’s whistling of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy—a piece of music featured heavily. Composer Michael Kamen was initially opposed to ‘bastardising’ the work, until McTiernan cited its use in A Clockwork Orange: touché.

DVD EXTRAS

The Blu-ray version is surprisingly devoid of additional content, with director/production designer commentary and personal scene selections being the only decent extras. The Definitive Edition, on the other hand, sports some really fantastic additions. These include a variety of commentaries and a whole second disc filled with special features, such as humorous out-takes, the script and some behind-the-scenes footage.

VERDICT

It may take 18 minutes before the first shot is fired, but from then on Die Hard is one of the finest action flicks of the late ’80s—a time when an M-rated movie could still entertain you with boobs, bullet wounds and blood.

Confidential Report (aka Mr. Arkadin/1955)

Cast: Orson Welles, Robert Arden, Paola Mori, Patricia Medina, Akim Tamiroff, Michael Redgrave, Mischa Auer, Katina Paxinou, Suzanne Flon

MADMAN

Written and directed by, and starring Orson Welles, Confidential Report (1955), also known as Mr Arkadin in Europe, is often referred to as being a darker reimagining of Welles’ classic Citizen Kane (1941). But at the time, the film was considered Welles’ last shot at Hollywood’s big budget pictures, in fact, his three previous films—The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Stranger (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1948)—had performed so poorly that Welles had to stop-and-start Confidential Report in between taking acting jobs to finance the film.

When Guy Van Stratten (Robert Ardin) hears the name “Arkadin” from the lips of a dying man muttered to his partner in white-collar crime Mily (Patricia Medina), he senses an opportunity.  After some research, Van Stratten finds the mysterious Arkadin (Orson Welles) in Italy, suffering amnesia.  Attracted by his vast wealth and his feisty and lovely daughter, Raina (Paola Mori), Van Stratten accepts a proposition from Arkadin: to prepare a report detailing the now-forgotten events of his life in order for him to recover who he was.

Motivated by greed, Van Stratten delves deep into the history of Mr Arkadin, traveling the globe in search of witnesses to help him uncover the mystery. But as his witnesses begin to turn up dead, Van Stratten realises there is something more sinister than a missing persons report waiting to be uncovered… Arkadian is lying about his amnesia: he plans to use Van Stratten’s findings to track down anyone who knows about his criminal past, and kill them to ensure their silence.

Welles had written a deep story structured around flashbacks; however, financier Luis Dolivet and second editor Renzo Lucidi eliminated most of this in favour of a straightforward script.  According to Welles, scenes crucial to developing Arkadin’s character were also deleted.  One version of the film was released in the U.S.A. in 1962. Another (Confidential Report) opened in Europe in 1955. Still other variants, some of terribly low quality, have appeared on video. Welles disowned every version he saw in his lifetime

Welles played the part of Arkadin himself. For the lead role of Van Stratten, he cast Robert Arden, a veteran of the stage whom Welles worked with in radio. English/Spanish actress Patricia Medina was cast as Van Stratten’s girlfriend Mily, the scheming showgirl he discards in his pursuit of Raina, the Italian Countess di Girfalco, Paola Mori (later to become the third Mrs Welles).

The director of photography was Jean Bourgoin, who shot Jean Renoir’s La Marseillaise (1938), and later Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus (1959). Confidential Report is fascinating because it is not one film but many. A unique film in that its many incarnations remain available to view.  Film buffs can witness the dissembling of Welles’ ideal into a streamlined and superficial (yet still rewarding) film.

Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Film By Banksy

DIRECTOR: Banksy
STARS: Thierry Guetta, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader
MADMAN

THIS highly anticipated film by Banksy is not what many of us expected—especially if what you had in mind was something along the lines of the 1992 hip-hop documentary Style Wars. Though Exit Through The Gift Shop’s biggest draw is that it’s a documentary focused on established street artists and their craft, the film quickly becomes about the documentary-maker himself. Continue reading “Reviews – DVD: Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Film By Bansky” »

BEST OF WWE: REY MYSTERIO

DIRECTOR: N/A

‘CAST’: REY MYSTERIO, EDDIE GUERRERO, KURT ANGLE, RANDY ORTON, CHAVO GUERRERO

SHOCK

WHEN the WWE toured Australia in July/August with SmackDown Live, the superstar who received the biggest cheer was Rey Mysterio. Admittedly, The Undertaker and CM Punk were absent, but still, it’s no surprise the Mexican ‘luchador’ was chosen to be the subject of the first volume of the new budget-price Best of WWE range.

For $12.99, this disc gives you four of Rey’s classic battles from 2005-07: his ladder match against Eddie Guerrero, supposedly for custody of Mysterio’s son Dominick; a three-way heavyweight title bout in which he takes on Kurt Angle and Randy Orton; and two of his in-ring tussles with Chavo Guerrero, one of them under ‘falls count anywhere’ rules.

Despite the age of the footage, there’s no denying the quality of the wrestling, and it’s hard to complain about the price when you get 90 minutes of the masked marvel in action. According to the press release, the Best of WWE range isn’t available in the US, so for that reason alone Aussie Rey Mysterio fans may want to add this DVD to their collections.