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Yamada: Way of the Samurai

January 25, 2012
Film Reviews
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Yamada – Way of the Samurai: (AKA The Samurai of Ayothaya): A betrayed Japanese samurai is nursed back to health by Thai villagers, and by fusing the national fighting techniques, becomes a great warrior. This has the hallmarks of a co-production between the two countries; great because it brings together the best / most famous aspects of both cultures, but feels a little back-patting at times. It features some brutal Muay Thai boxing… very realistic, impressive and visceral: they’re real champion Thai boxers. The bigger action set pieces are well-edited, but the CGI swords, blood, and other effects look cheap. In typical Thai style there’s a ‘musical’ feel to the soundtrack and national style of acting – young girl and underplayed love interest are most guilty of hamming it up. Being based on a historical figure, the story’s a little clunky, but the locations, sets and costumes all look great, and are captured well by the director. Yamada may not have the most gripping/original story, or best/most famous cast in the world, but there’s more than enough gorgeous Scenery and brutal Thai fighting skill for the film to fall back on and keep you watching for the duration.

Score: 5/10

The Town

December 9, 2011
Film Reviews
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The Town [Blu Ray]: while befriending a ‘kidnapee’ (why not?) from his last heist, a bank robber juggles escaping his lifestyle, one last big job and the FBI chasing his tail. I really wish that people wouldn’t do another Irish-American / Boston film as it’s genuinely the worst possible combo for accent suicide – I swear Affleck settled in Jewsh Grandparent territory. To top off the ear-grinding vocals, the dialogue itself is beyond cornball: the script is laden with cheesy and clichéd lines. Fortunately, the story is very good and the action is executed as any of the Hollywood masters would – intense and impressive – particularly the penultimate heist car chase and final shootout. Cast-wise, Glen Childs (Welliver) and Don Draper (Hamm, who I didn’t rate until this) both turned decent performances. Unfortunately, Ben is terrible, wooden and has clearly written himself in as the super-uber dude who can evade the law, mastermind heists, juggle girls and be as cool as possible – quite the little vanity project, and it ruins the central character for me because you just can’t empathise with such a massive, boring douche. The Blu Ray picture and sound are solid – fantastic sweeping shots of Boston and action that challenges the speakers; don’t be tempted by the extended cut though – it’s beyond overlong and filled with boring/ridiculous back-story (not necessary when characters are all this flat-pack). Despite having a decent cast and all the makings & style of a true heist classic the final product is disappointingly average; and I really wanted to like it more.

Score: 5/10

MisFits (Season 2)

December 8, 2011
TV
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Misfits (Season 2): 7 episodes: our favourite gang of reprobates are back to carry out more community service and save the day using their bizarre set of superpowers. Compared to season one, the biggest difference is that this is far darker, grittier, and a helluva lot sexier! Most importantly, it’s still quite fresh, the episodes are interesting and there’s some legs left in the story – a credit to the writers. It’s more emotionally drawing, because we know the characters better, and a 6th staple (Craig Parkinson) is added as the new probation worker. The overall tone remains youthful and contemporary (drugs, raves, slang etc). Each episode plays well on its own, with a few longer story arcs and it ends on such a cliffhanger that they couldn’t – and didn’t – pass up the chance at a third season. The soundtrack’s still massive indie/dance rock tunes, and production reaches new heights and it looks fantastic. The only weird thing is that as the body count reaches double figures the kids remain unphased! Not much else to say on this other than they kept the winning formula of season one but added even more crazy the stuff that keeps you tuning in. More great British TV programming.

Score: 8/10