As Buffy goes through the struggles of teenage life - boyfriends, parents, school - she also struggles with the forces of darkness. This second season begins in the same vein as the first one with high-quality acting, drama, comedy and horror but midway through the season a shocking turn of events escalates the show to a new level. From then on the season is tense, suspenseful, heartbreaking (while still maintaining comedy elements) as one of Buffy"s closest allies betrays her.
As a season this one is much more fully realised than the first and for novice Buffy watchers would probably serve as a better introduction to the series. It is still cited by some as the best season in the show's run and it certainly shows the full range of the regular cast particularly Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz. Stand-out episodes from this season include 'Innocence', 'Passion' and the two part finale 'Becoming'. It is also the season that introduces characters that become key in later seasons such as Spike, Oz and Drusilla.
The box set has very few special features and on possibly some of the most important episodes of the series the lack of commentary is startling. However there is a good commentary on 'Innocence' by Joss Whedon. The picture quality holds up better than the first season but is still not perfect due to the film it was recorded on and there is no way to improve upon it (luckily this is changed in later seasons).
A silly and misleading title if ever there was one; for what looks like a movie that's about to blow the lid on Anakin Skywalker's secret obsession with pullovers and the occasional sweater-vest, is actually an entertaining, if inherently absurd, sci-fi actioner based on a popular set of novels by Steven Gould. Hayden Christenson is the kind of superhero we'd all be given half a chance; a jumper (i.e. teleportation powers) who, like a surreal combination of 'Marvel's' Nightcrawler & Madcap, uses his gifts for larking about, robbing banks (all whacked off of Scooby Snacks) or picking up women. Needless to say, Hayden's intercontinental gambado eventually draws the unwelcome attention of silver haired villain, and fellow Jumper Samuel L. Jackson (good to see old Jedis going tête-à-tête with the world as their battleground). Director Doug Liman, whose helmed three of my favourite movies from the last decade ('Swingers', 'Go' and 'The Bourne Identity') seems in as great a hurry to move onto his next project, as our protagonist is to escape the clutches of Jackson's ruthless anti-Jumper death squad (he's more of a all-in-one thermals man). Hayden Christensen continues to impress, despite receiving an awful lot of flack from audiences & critics alike, people don't seem to appreciate that Hayden embodies the moody, aloof, mildly rebellious demeanour of classic Hollywood actors like Robert Stack & Sal Mineo Jr. Christensen, in much the same way as he did in 'Episodes II & II', grounds his character in a universally identifiable reality, though the script, which seems to exist solely as a springboard for future 'Jumper' sequels, gives him little to work with in terms of back story, and in that respect he's a lot like Jason Bourne; not so much interacting, as colliding with would-be ally / jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell), vacuous love interest Millie (Rachel Bilson from the 'OC') and a variety of exotic locations. Some of the tricked out, hyper-kinetic camerawork was reminiscent of Kip Pardue's euro trip in 'Rules Of Attraction' whilst a lot of the action scenes took their cues from John Woo's 'Paycheck', the only problem being, that after 'Heroes'; super feats that once wowed movie going audiences the world over, are now considered commonplace and mildly impressive, whilst the comic book sci-fi genre itself seems a little passé. 'Jumper' isn't a great movie by any stretch; riddled with numerous plot holes and annoyingly obvious sequel set ups, it just about makes up in pace what it lacks in substance; and since they've honed the teleportation effect, it can only be a matter of time before some bright spark gives Alan Cumming a call to reprise his role as Kurt *Bamph* Wager a.k.a. Nightcrawler. With good performances and a breezy, undemanding storyline, 'Jumper' ought to keep you entertained for 90 minutes, but will have teleported itself into the realms of obscurity, long before the end credits. Stylish, forgettable fun.
In "I Think I Love My Wife" Chris Rock plays frustrated married man, who instead of having sex with his wife is day dreaming illicit affairs with the women he sees around him. He is also too responsible to act on this and merely looks on, enjoying his fantasies as fantasies, that is, however, until the beautiful Nikki, ex-girlfriend of an old friend, comes along. Whether or not you like "I Think I Love My Wife" depends a lot on whether you think it is a standard comedy or a more serious film about marriage, middle-age and infidelity. It was written, directed and stars Chris Rock, which suggests it is a comedy, but is loosely adapted from Eric Rohmer"s (icon of the French new wave and pedlar of morally ambiguous characters) 1972 "Love in the Afternoon", and Rohmer is not best known for his out-and-out comedies. Does this, however, cause "I Think I Love My Wife" to suffer some sort of personality crisis? I don"t think so. The cast is a good one. Where the actors are funny, and Rock and Steve Buscemi are funny men, are funny, so is the film. There is nothing wrong with that, however, as life is a bit like that too. The comedy doesn"t over power the film"s themes, its interests or its characters. For me, this leaves on apprehension about the film, and about Rohmer"s work more generally: Is it misogynist? It does feature the fey temptress undermining the frigid wife - two sexist stereotypes that are abound in our cinema and other art. Rohmer undermines rather than avoids these stereotypes, in my opinion, by employing a sarcastic tone to his movies. In this film, Rock and his actors do one better, avoiding them by creating rounded and complex characters. Gina Torres who plays Rock"s wife does a particularly great job. Ultimately, although far from perfect, "I Think I Love My Wife" is definitely worth seeing, as a movie and so that you can witness Rock expanding his artistic horizons.
The story line of this movie is the link between punk to post punk / newe wave era.
The soundtrack contain good songs from punk to slow (will you).
At this movie you can watch the music industry at it's worst habbits.
"Assembly" has been discussed as the Chinese "Saving Private Ryan". It does share similarities with that film, though it is missing the spectacular opening, which, for me, was the only great thing about "Saving..." What it shares are what I imagine to be fairly realistic battle scenes, and heroic struggle(s). The first struggle in "Assembly" is not as silly as that in its USA counterpart - a regiment is sacrificed for the battalion rather than a group of men for a single man and the sentimentality surrounding him. Then the one survivor struggles to have that regiment recognised as heroes (rather than being ignored by the authorities). This takes him from the Chinese Civil War to the Korean War and back again, thus the struggle achieves something of the epic scale of "Saving..." However, pleasing as all this may be, it still seems like fairly standard war film fare - it does what you expect it to do. It does do this well: the acting is good, the art direction interesting (the almost black and white image at the beginning of the film gradually gains colour as the film and years unfold), and the special effects are not gratuitous and do not detract from the human elements of the film. (I found some of the out of battle, out of dialogue sequences particularly interesting.) Where the film becomes more interesting than your average well made war film, is in the delivery of its message. It is essentially an anti-war film, critical of the revolutionary government"s initial failure to recognise the little men who were sacrificed to make its creation possible. However, it achieves this in, not only the guise of, but, I believe, an actually pro-Communist Party of China film - the fallen soldiers are, ultimately, recognised and posthumously awarded medals for bravery. Therefore, "Assembly" is blessed with a rare and interesting balance, which is not unsettled by over-bearing sentimentality, but which is engaging. Rather than stuffing rhetoric into your pupils and ears, "Assembly" is a war film that allows you to think about what you see and hear. For that reason I recommend "Assembly" to anyone who likes to both enjoy and think about their films.
Let"s hope that you are watching this fully aware that it"s a musical; unlike some cinema-goers who, apparently not realising this fact, upped and left. Well, they missed a good film; it wasn"t a hit musical on stage for nothing, the music draws you down, down, and down into deepest darkest Gothic London, superbly so under Dariusz Wolski"s cinematography and the direction of Tim Burton.
Depp is mesmerising as Sweeney, there"s no other word for it. His ongoing pain at losing his wife silently screams from his eyes in every scene; very much deserved of his Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
You literally can"t take your eyes off him. By no means denigrating the performances of either Helena Bonham Carter, or the quality support from a terrific Sasha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, it"s Depp"s film.
Given that the character is out for vengeance, thinking nothing of slashing his barber shop customers" throats, he does have a whirlwind of bloody scenes with which to lead the film. So maybe not for the faint hearted, but you can always shut your eyes!
Bonham Carter, as Mrs Lovett - she of the famous pies made from dubious sources - fits right in here; her unrequited love for the Demon Barber is identifiable agony, and all but the hardest (or luckiest!) of hearts will palpably feel her despair.
The songs drive the story along; once again Depp is in a league of his own here; not being a conventional or "professional" singer, some critics pinned this neatly as being like David Bowie and/or Anthony Newley (which to be fair I can see), but that"s too dismissive of a wonderful vocal performance, some of which will pleasantly haunt you for days.
Batten down the hatches buy in bulk the popcorn and coke because once you start watching season 3 you cant stop. it gets more and more exciting with one of the ships exploding ( i wont tell you which one but its a battlestar) buy it from this website cause its the cheapest at the mo. Excellent
Season 3 carries on where season 2 left off exciting start to season 3.
Amazing film the songs just make you want to get up and sing (trust me i was singing for 2 weeks) The cast gel with each other. It made me Cry the first time i saw it.
Great Film when having anight in with your mates the film will make you laff until it hurts (trust me) Just an amazing film the cast was super. Watch it!!!
This is fantastic!! I have a 9 year old son who loves Indiana Jones, this is a great way for him to own the three films.
I watched this season on TV and loved it. me and my mum are hooked on without a trace and i am sooo excited that it is coming out on Dvd because then i can watch it whenever i want. I can't wait until the 14th July!!!!
I would reccomend this programe to anybody who likes CSI, NCIS, Alias, or Numbers.
It's great and you should definately buy it, as it continues its high standards from the end of season 3!!!
Shorter than later seasons due to being a mid-season replacement and with camper villains that make it appear slightly dated now Buffy"s first season still sparkles due to great writing and acting. Buffy is a mixture of genres, most prominently horror, comedy, action and melodrama but it also enjoys subverting the very genres it exists within. A clever show Buffy the Vampire Slayer has always struggled to overcome it"s title and cult status to get mass appeal, but the world of Vampires is just a metaphorical construct for the pains of growing up. This first seasons separates this version of Buffy from the film version and creates a darker world with a more complex heroine. But that isn"t to say it"s not good fun as well. With a strong start and a strong finish the season wavers a little after the first few episodes but even wavering Buffy episode usually has something to take delight in.
Though the tone changes in later seasons this first season is a good example of what Buffy the series is like. It works as a self-contained 12-episode storyline, so if you wished you could finish watching after episode twelve satisfied by having given "that strange vampire show" a chance. But I think you"ll be hooked.
As with all Buffy DVDs the extras are disappointedly sparse. However the commentary on the first two episodes by creator Joss Whedon is one of the best commentaries in the entire series as he describes casting and shares anecdotes between jokes and technical insights.
Sixteen year old Buffy Summers joins a new school, Sunnydale High, hoping to get away from her past. But things aren't that simple because Buffy is The Slayer. On her first day of school someone finds a dead guy in a locker and it's all downhill from there for Buffy's hopes of a normal life. In this first series Buffy meets her two best friends, the social-outcasts that are Xander and Willow, and her stuffy Watcher Giles and together with their help fights the forces of darkness while still yearning to be a normal girl.
Enthralling, though occasionally embellished, dramatisation of events surrounding the Pakistani-American covert resistance campaign against Russian Communist forces occupying Afghanistan, circa 1980. Legendary Hollywood director Mike Nichols ('The Graduate', 'Catch-22', 'Primary Colours') just about manages to find a suitable tone for this enjoyable, structurally complex picture, with 'Charlie Wilson's War' gravitating back & forth from an austere treatise against imperialism, to broad in-house political satire. Master screenwriter Alan Sorkin ('The West Wing', 'Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip', 'A Few Good Men') is usually at his best when he's working on an original idea, but here, Sorkin has to rely on source material; namely George Crile's snappily titled book 'Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times', which, as was the case in 'A Mighty Heart', always leaves room for error. Wilson (played with sly, smirking Southern charm by Hanks) is a maverick in every sense, an instantly likeable figure, if only because he reminds us of politicians from a bygone age; an era when spin wasn't king, and order, in spite of rampant political sleaze, prevailed through accountability. Tom Hanks puts in a fine performance as Wilson, and its great to see Hanks pull back some that edgy comic timing which served him so well in the 1980s, though I would've loved to have seen Nichols regular; Jack Nicholson in this role, as it suits him down to tee. 'Charlie Wilson's War' charts the tumultuous origins of an impressive, albeit unlikely, alliance formed to topple Soviet Communism's marauding 'empire of evil' on the front line in Afghanistan. Sold as a just war pitting Godless tyranny against Islamic-Christian values (no mention of the fact that Soviet forces, notwithstanding their unforgivable crimes against humanity, were there to back the Communist coup in Kabul): our man lobbies Washington subcommittees for cash under the puffy shoulder pads of glamorous, proselytizing Christian socialite / sixth richest woman in Texas; Joanne Herring (played with righteous conviction by Julia Roberts) a heady mix of money, power & world class machinations soon ensues, as Joanne's close friend; Pakistan's leader General Zia Ul Huq (laconic brilliance from Om Puri), Greek born CIA spy Gust Avrakotos (Phillip Seymour Hoffman in fine form) an Israeli arms dealer (Scot actor Ken Stott) and Egyptian defence minister (Iranian actor Shaun Toub of 'Crash' & 'Iron Man' fame) all play a part in reorganising and rearming the Afghani Mujahadeen. An insightful comment undercuts any hope of a long-term alliance, as Wilson wisely remarks: "sooner or later God's going to be on both sides", in response to influential, evangelical senator Doc Long's (Ned Beatty) speech to the Afghanis. For Sorkin uses this scene as a ver batem allusion to then U.S. policy maker Zbigniew Brzezinski's (who, incidentally, was one of the architects of the so-called 'war on terror') "Go and wage Jihad" speech before Muslim freedom fighters at the Afghani-Pakistan border, on the eve of 'Operation Cyclone'. A film that's serious and silly in equal measure, 'Charlie Wilson's War' boasts a razor sharp script chock full of clever, 'West Wing'-esque one-liners, delivered with vim & vigour by its cast of seasoned pros, though Nichols ought to have held back on some of the movie's more absurdist elements (e.g. the sexy, but ludicrous, belly dance sequence) and stick to the facts; for his film is at its strongest when it shows how individuals can affect real world consequences without ever changing how things work, i.e. the more things change, the more they stay the same. I think the timing of 'Charlie Wilson's War' is something to consider, for Mike Nichols has essentially made an anti-war film by proxy: the brutal policies of the Soviet military machine corresponding to modern day Anglo-American-Israeli atrocities in Iraq, Palestine and, of course, Afghanistan again. Grisly scenes with mutilated toddlers & amputees, victims of disguised Russian landmines, act as chilling mirrors held up to reflect similar tactics by present day U.S. forces in Iraq, through the use of cluster bombs dropped in the guise of food parcels. For when the camera pans out to reveal the sprawling, Afghani refugee camp in Peshawar, we're suddenly sobered up to how desperate a situation it really was, Nichols' A-camera high crane is an excellent, breathtaking shot; one of the best of the year so far, which accurately manages to convey the human tragedy of displacement. A post-victory, pre-credit title card runs Wilson's quote: "These things did happen and they were glorious, but then we f***ed up the end game", well yes & no, for in reality, and brace yourselves for a big dose of it: Imperialism's only interest in Afghanistan was, is and always has been narcotics (i.e. Heroin), for a wealth of incriminating evidence proves Washington, like 'The British Empire' before it, runs 'The Golden Triangle' drugs cartel in Asia. Hence their first move was to assassinate Pablo Escobar thus eliminating his Meddlian cartel in Columbia and taking out their main rival. They then proceeded to fund Afghani warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and factions of the 'Northern Alliance', the same group we've put back in power under criminal mastermind / alleged pederast George H.W. Bush senior's former colleague, erstwhile oilman and U.S. stooge; Hamid Karzai. This intentionally disastrous manoeuvre only served to plunge the nation into another decade of war-torn chaos (ideal conditions for imperialism to prosper). After an unexpected, unifying Taliban victory over all groups in 1995, America intensified its plans to impose agreements for the 'Enron' / 'Unocal' Caspian Sea oil pipeline; to be lain through South Asia (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) with tributaries up into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, through Iraq (which Zionist neo-cons had already planned to invade & occupy) past Jordan ending up to provide an on-tap supply of crude for Israel in its numerous wars for the spread of Zionism (i.e. Eretz Israel through the global fascist state and, as Malthusian neo-con Christian Zionists hope, Armageddon followed by a quick Rapture to Yaweh). It was only when a Taliban emissary rejected George W. Bush's bribes on a visit to his Texas ranch in 1997, that the 'New World Order' (as outlined in their mad, 1996 plan for world domination: 'Project For The New American Century') drew a bead on Afghanistan. Their minds made up for invasion a year later when the Taliban, or the "Tallies" as Peter Berg's CO kept calling them in 'Lions For Lambs', successfully cut Heroin production to its lowest level in history. Now blindly criticizing the Taliban has become almost fashionable, even amongst anti-war and progressive anti-imperialist thinkers in our hemisphere, though the Taliban Jirga was the undisputed vanguard of a legitimate, grassroots Afghani revolutionary campaign. One which took power back from the warlords, restored order and bought with it its own brand of decisive, albeit later extremist, justice that, whether our genteel sensibilities can approve it or not, stopped the 10 year, U.S. funded racquet of rape, murder, prostitution and drugs dead in its tracks within a matter of weeks. Admittedly, the Taliban theocracy hadn't refined their concepts of statecraft or continuous revolution, thereby gradually losing control of the outer regions where police brutality and irrational misogynist dogma soon replaced Islamic teaching and municipal administration. Today, Afghanistan's Heroin production, under U.S. control, has skyrocketed to the highest level in history whilst the Anglo-American-NATO occupation is stuck in the same Soviet quagmire depicted in films like '9th Company', 'Rambo III' and 'The Beast Of War'. Needless to say, 'Charlie Wilson's War' doesn't go into any of this, as it'd just put a damper on the celebratory mood, though Gust's Zen master story covers a lot of bases. 80's aficionados will notice that this isn't just a film set in the 1980s, but its an actually an 80's film; i.e. shot using techniques synonymous with the era, e.g. musical montage, shouting boss, rebellious colleagues etc, which only adds to the realism, its closest thematic cousins being 'Three Kings' and Nichols adaptation of Joseph Heller's antiwar masterpiece 'Catch-22'. I've seen this movie twice now, and it stands up in spite of the aforementioned omissions, listen out for some subtle humour such as Wilson telling Jewish arms dealer Zvi to commit to his strategy "...for the love of Christ!", introducing Avrakotos as Papadopoulos and Gust's killer line "...it's just been my experience that when people with money and too much free time get involved in politics, pretty soon, I forget who it is I'm supposed to be shooting at". Not for 'The Blackhawk Down' crowd, but a fast paced, well written, acted and directed account of an era that, in light of current events, no one could ever have predicted would someday come to be known as the good old days.
I've ready some sniffy reviews of this film over the years but this film has a terrific scipt, good direction, a fantastic cast and great acting. This film has everything it should for a conspiracy thriller. The period setting and bleak time of year add more than a little to the cold war feel of the time.
Highly recommended
A German journalist at the time of the Kennedy assasination is given the diary of an an ex concentration camp inmate and uncovers high level conspiracy stretching back to the war...
Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell) is an angry young man. His mother died in mysterious circumstances leading him to retreat away from the world in almost every sense. His father, Julius (Ciaran Hinds) is ensnared by the alluring Verity (Claire Forlani) but Hallam is distrustful of his new step-mother believing her to have played a part in his mother"s death.
To say that Hallam has a flair for the dramatic would be an understatement. Hiding in the confines of his woodland tree house near his home he uses make-up as a kind of war-paint, wears what can only be described as a badger-skin hat and one of his mother"s dresses. He also plays out his rather unedifying habit of spying on his step-mother, in an attempt to uncover her guilt, as well as terrorising local al-fresco lovers.
A voyeur, Hallam is overtaken by his inner turmoil. Insecure and afraid his attraction to Verity grows until, whilst still under her seductive power, they confront each other in a fit of rage and passion, culminating in a brief and fumbling sexual liaison. Was it part of her plan to force Hallam out of home? Hallam"s father believes it to have been nothing more than a clumsy pass on his son"s part. But embarrassed Hallam believes his only resort it to go it alone and soon he finds himself on the unforgiving streets of Edinburgh homeless and penniless.
At street level it"s a city of grime and grittiness - the harsh realities of life apparent - homelessness, drug abuse and prostitution rule everyday life here. But from the rooftops, that Hallam makes his own, Edinburgh is a city full of life, of vibrancy or colour and opportunity.
Hallam spots Kate, a young woman with the outward appearance that is the ghost of his mother. He finds himself drawn to her, and although unsure of whether he wants simple companionship or a sexual relationship, he takes a job as a lowly-paid kitchen porter in the hotel where she works so that he can spend time with her.
In the clock-tower of the hotel, Hallam once again finds a hideaway refuge and once again he looks through his binoculars, but now at the beautiful Kate.
Jamie Bell"s performance is a wonder. Unafraid to make himself in many ways unattractive as Hallam his performance is mightily impressive. And here his energy and charm shines through.
Sophie Myles also deliveries a fine performance and has several tough scenes which she handles flawlessly.
The audience will ask themselves why would they like Hallam? Why would they follow him on his journey? Frankly his weirdness makes him at least mildly unsympathetic. He"s a stalker, a confused, angry loner, detached from the world that most of us live in. A a damaged soul, at his best, Hallam is an intelligent, creative, thoughtful and truly unique young man while at his worst he treads a very fine line with perversion and a pathological fear of intimacy. Yet somewhere within his love of Kate, he finds redemption.
When the Ratcliffe family from Bingley in North Yorkshire, led by family patriarch Frank (Iain Glen), defect to West Germany they find, not the Marxist utopia that they were expecting but the nightmare of rationing, censorship and bureaucratic oppression.
Set against the backdrop of the rebellious 60s perhaps it"s no wonder that the heroine of the film, Dorothy Ratcliffe (Catherine Tate), is at first shy and retiring, the epitome of the British housewife of the times. It"s only later, when Frank realises the mistake that he has made and their family is in danger, that she becomes stronger and bolder than ever, much like the stunning Fraulein Unger (Heike Makatsch) who has taken a distinct interest in Frank.
Also in the mix are the Ratcliffe family"s two young daughters who both outshine their mother in varying ways. Mary (Jessica Barden) - Bingley"s youngest communist - is just eleven years old but she has happily taken to being a Stasi informer whilst rebellious and sexy seventeen year old Alex (Brittany Ashworth) is corrupting the young German boys.
Mrs Ratcliffe"s Revolution is a well written story, taken from real-life events, however I"m sorry to report that it still failed to capture my imagination. It seemed a little too farcical in places and although Catherine Tate is a perfectly fine straight performer able in general to engender the fashion and spirit of the times I still didn"t really find the film very enthralling.
There are moments of comedy and of drama that work well and the locations, sets and costumes are all adequate but I still never believed that I was watching a family struggling against oppression, literally afraid for their lives in the 1960s Deutsche Demokratische Republik.
I'm not convinced that I can say enough about how wonderful it is so I'll have to break it down into sections. I'll start by saying that I've read the book, although not until after I'd watched the dvd, but, for those that are interested, personally, I think that this adheres quite closely to the novel, and it definitely stays with the characters. The characters as they are on the screen is also how they are on the screen.
Now, the series itself. The actors are perfectly chosen. I was horrified at the idea of Gillian Anderson as Lady Deadlock, but she's superb, she's got the slightly empty feeling in her voice and in her performance that is so perfect for the character. And I cannot enthuse enough about how wonderful Burn Gorman was as Guppy. I can't think of any actor who has made me cringes so much that I was physically trying to burrow backwards into the sofa with my shoulder blades, he was brilliant. Mention also has to be made for Denis Lawson and Anna Maxwell Martin who were just perfect in their roles.
It's an Andrew Davies dramatisation, which is pretty much a BBC mark of excellence, his dramatisations are so good, and this is no different. It was originally screened in half hour episodes, which I struggled with, but you don't have to deal with that on the dvd, as you can just let it run straight through.
Long and short, it was absolutely brilliant, and I recommend it to absolutely everyone!
The idea of scent is, for obvious reasons, not usually expressed through the medium of cinema. This film tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a young man born into the rotten core of 18th century Paris, possessing the most acute sense of smell in the world. Guided by narrator John Hurt, we follow this strange boy"s life from birth and abandonment among the putrid fish innards of a market stall to a career as a perfumer in a town in Provence. His every action is led by one obsession: To create the ultimate perfume by capturing what he considers to be the scent of beauty and the essence of love he cannot feel. For this higher purpose he feels justified in clubbing young women to death. CKone won"t do then?
But how do you describe an aroma without getting a whiff of it? Grenouille himself cannot find the words: "something...something" he utters when his nose finds another delicious smell. Patrick Suskin"s bestselling book on which the film was based was declared by Stanley Kubrick as "unfilmable". Yet ironically, by concentrating on our other senses, director Tom Tykwer gives us such an impression of what a smell should look and sound like, that the slap of a greasy fish or a close-up of a fleshy yellow plum carries us into the olfactory realms of Grenouille"s world.
It is an almost silent but incredibly striking performance from newcomer Ben Whishaw, whose fragile physique and dark features give the character an autistic, practically animalistic intensity. He brings us Grenouille, not as a sadistic killer but an amoral outsider whose frustrated desperation somehow inspires our pity. Whishaw even manages to outshine scene-stealing turns from Alan Rickman and a camp Dustin Hoffman.
This film is worth seeing for the intoxicating cinematography alone, and in spite of an implausible finale which might have some scratching their heads, the complete result is one of the most creative adaptations for a long time. Its scent will stay with you for days.
Burma is a beautiful country. Enslaved by 'The British Empire' for over a hundred years and used as a base for imperial drug cartels / colonial prison camps, her people fought tirelessly for their freedom; an independence bravely won in the late 1940s, sadly, interethnic strife soon transformed this land of plenty into a perennial battleground, site of one of the longest civil wars in history. Its good to know Sly Stallone cares about narrative continuity if nothing else, after all; he's back in Thailand which, as fans will recall, was where Col. Trautman (the late/great Richard Crenna) recruited him for their last hurrah (way back in 1988): Running those Godless Russians out of Afghanistan, no less. Setting up the old one, two after a box office TKO with 'Rocky Balboa' Stallone revives world weary killing machine John Rambo for a forth, and hopefully final, outing in his unimaginatively titled, yet unremittingly violent, 80s style actioner: 'Rambo'. Pushing his newfound faith with all the subtly of an anti-aircraft gun (and you wouldn't want to be on the business end of one of those, as a few Junta soldiers fond out in this movie) Stallone is recruited by vivacious Christian missionary and former 'Angel' actress Julie Benz, to ferry her fellow band of asinine God botherers from Thailand onto the dark, pagan shores of Burma: very good, very Rudyard Kipling. But that's where the similarities begin and end, for it seems that the Junta, when they aren't massacring Karen natives in a protracted campaign of ethic genocide, have some rather unpleasant penchants for drug dealing, mutilation, kidnap, rape and torture, thus when the missionaries are taken hostage, guess who their benefactors and Brit actor Mathew Marsden call upon to save them? John Rambo, who just stops short of saying 'I told you so', is soon persuaded to extract the hapless, annoyingly earnest, captives from heathen hands: maybe it was a believer's religious obligation, maybe it was a soldier's sense of duty or maybe it was just the hypnotising glare of rain reflecting off Julie Benz's ample chest, that inspires our man to go once more into the breach, on a bloody search n' rescue deep into Junta held territory. Now Stallone's portrayal of Burmese Asians is, shall we say, less than flattering: Not since Alan Parker's risible 'Midnight Express' (1978) have such racist caricatures been put up on screen, and I suppose it's a credit to their Communist reserve and stiff upper sickle, that Burma's hardcore hatchet men didn't come a looking for 'The Italian Stallion' at his world famous eatery! 'Rambo' depicts the Junta as some kind of archaic monster lurking in the shadows of a misty land that time forgot, when in reality, it's a fully integrated military regime that sits with other monsters in the corporate board rooms of North America and Europe: with Condeleeza Rice's company 'Chevron' with France's corporation 'Total' in consortium with Dick Cheney's 'Halliburton' with British 'Rolls Royce', 'Aquatic' and 'Orient Express'. In fact, I would've loved to have seen Sly acknowledge that 'Halliburton', 'Chevron', The Junta and 'Total' built a lucrative gas pipeline in Burma's offshore oil fields by using slave labour, or mention, in passing, that the worst, most feared and brutal elements of Burma's secret police are exclusively trained and armed in Israel, Australia and Italy. But no;;best dumb it down for the masses, after all, its a lot easier to pander to lowbrow delusion & oriental stereotypes, than it is to tell an honest story. In the battle of the old timers, Stallone is 2-1 up on his 'Planet Hollywood' partners, and though I liked 'Live Free Or Die Had' (mainly because of Maggie Q, who's fit in spite of being saddled with a name better suited to a cartoon cow standing in alphabetical order on an unregulated dairy farm). Now according to our former Green Beret: "Killing is as easy as breathing"...but its not though, is it? I mean breathing is breathing; killing, I imagine, requires a little more effort, a bit of thinking perhaps, maybe even the odd weapon coupled with a fair bit of aggression harnessed into an explosive, finely sculpted sphere of inner turmoil, premeditation and bloodcurdling fury, which, on reflection, is nothing like breathing...at all. Insane, gritty, well choreographed ultra-violence can't quite compensate for a ropey script and shocking bouts of overacting, for if one were to revisit 'First Blood' (1982) or even 'Rambo III' (1988), you"ll quickly come to realise how nonsensical 'Rambo' (2008) is in terms of story and character. 'First Blood' was a low key masterpiece; an introspective, realistically harsh and often melancholy treatise on what it feels like to have fought in the wrong war, and how hard it is to readjust into the very system that betrayed you. 'Rambo III', though outrageous in places, mocks the folly of imperialism, 'Rambo II' (still the silliest of the series) was a case of sour grapes for losing in Vietnam, whilst 'Rambo' attempts to say something about justifiable intervention in an age of career minded bureaucracy: worth watching once for the action, but not a patch on the original. Give it up granddad.
Get caught up in the lives of rookie TJ Tilcox and others as they challenge the Ice Road in North Canada to get crutial supplies to the multi million dollar diamond mines. Watch them fight through white outs, a road that cracks and moves and race each other to be the best Ice Road Trucker of the season.
Must see viewing for any avid truckers and adventurers
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