Cobra Kai - A new TV show we should all be watching

In 1984 in the final of the under 18 All Valley Karate tournament Daniel La Russo used a crane kick to take out Johnny Lawrence and win. It was an immense moment. 34 years later it's still one of my all time favourite movie endings. It's satisfying as hell seeing a young lad take on the bullies and win.

It wasn't good for everyone though.

30 years later Johnny Lawrence is still reliving that night. His life has never taken off. He drinks way too much, his ex wife hates him and he's lost contact with his son Robby. A chance at redemption appears in the form of his neighbour Miguel. Miguel is being bullied and he turns to Johnny for help after he stands up for him one night. Johnny sees this as a chance to reopen the Cobra Kai dojo where he learned karate as a teenager and start teaching self defence.

Life has been somewhat better to Daniel LaRusso. He's the owner of a big car dealership in San Fernando Valley and he's happily married to Samantha and has two kids Amanda and Anthony. Even with all he has going for him he's still trapped in the past and trading off former glory. A car accident brings them both into contact after all these years and it's obvious resentment still seethes about former events.

This show is so much better than it had any right to be. It takes a storyline 34 years old and brings it roaring back to life. And brilliantly it does it using the same two main cast members. It would not have had a fraction of the impact with other actors but Ralph Macchio and William Zabka are perfect as the leads with all that life experience etched on their faces. It actually feels quite emotional seeing them stepping back into their roles and it fitting them like a glove. Brilliantly neither character's personality is changed but in this new context we come to look at them differently. Daniel's brash smugness takes on a different light when he's a grown man and Johnny's hard edged ways see him become a figure to be pitied rather than hated when you realise why he's the way he is. One of the advantages of a TV series over a film is the shades of grey that can be afforded to characters and here we see a full spectrum of the colour. I was 7(ish) this first time I saw the film and if you told me that 32 years later I'd be siding with Johnny over Daniel I'd have laughed in your face. In a meta touch neither Zabka or Macchio's careers ever took off either after the films and it's good to see them return to their finest hour.

The series format (10 x 30 minute eps) allows for more depth and this extra depth is well used. The show becomes a study of the damage done by toxic male role models as well as the damage done by a lack of a decent male role model. All the main characters are broken in some way due to their relationships or lack of one with their fathers/father figures. Johnny and his stepfather (a genuinely nasty Ed Asner) and his former trainer Kreese who both set him on a path towards darkness. Daniel and his absent father and Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita sadly passed away in 2005 but his presence looms large over the show) who set him on the right path but didn't teach him enough about humility. Miguel who is another young man without a father and who begins to learn the wrong things from Johnny and then finally Robby, Johnny's son who has grown up without him and as a result has ended up in a bad place. The one well adjusted character in the show is Daniel's daughter Amanda but even their relationship gets strained soon enough. Mistakes of the past cast a shadow over proceedings but the show has an optimistic take that shows even ingrained behaviour can be unlearned.

It sounds dark doesn't it? It is in places but it also manages a lovely lightness of touch too and even some great laughs courtesy of Johnny's seriously out of touch personality. His teaching style and attitudes towards his students will make you cringe laugh but the training dojo scenes are a delight and it's great fun seeing him eventually come around to modern ways of thinking. It's here we get to meet the younger cast of the show too and all do well especially the students who use the training to come out of their shells. (Hawk!) I expected the show to suffer when the leads were off screen but it doesn't at all. Every character is well drawn and each is struggling with their own issues and all get a moment in the limelight. Even one off characters get fun and memorable moments.

Great writing makes it all work and there's some intricate storytelling in here that could rival Game Of Thrones, especially the plot machinations used to put everything into place as the series comes to a close and rivalries build. You see it happening, you know what's going to happen but it never feels forced. And it's always deadly when there's no clear cut character you want to see succeed, when there's people on both sides you are shouting for. God it makes for satisfying viewing and there's one moment in a school canteen will have you roaring "YES!!!!!" at the tv screen.

I thoroughly enjoyed Season 1 of this. It's probably my favourite new show of the year. It's a reboot of sorts but one that's very reverent of it's source material. That said it puts a modern spin on proceedings too and both styles don't clash at all but rather compliment each other perfectly. The little nods to the original film sprinkled throughout will make you grin too especially the late reveal that will have you champing at the bit for season 2.

A genuine surprise and something that's really worth watching. Available on youtube red now. 

12 films worth watching on TV this week

Riddick   Sat   28/7   CH4 @ 22.50

The third film in the Riddick series sees Richard Riddick left for dead on a desolate planet and before long he's facing predators out for his blood, both human and not.... A tense, blackly funny, cheesy and in places bloody scifi thriller that continues the series in fine style. Vin Diesel does his monotone growl and Katee Sackoff, Dave Batuista and Jordi Moller make for fun support.

San Andreas   Sat   28/7   RTE1 @ 21.50

A long overdue and much predicted massive earthquake hits California destroying both San Francisco and Los Angeles and it's up to one man to protect his family. Luckily for him his daughter is just as handy as he is. This CGI packed disaster movie wears it's silliness on it's sleeve which makes it a very enjoyable watch. Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino and Alexandra Daddario all have a whale of a time. 

Se7en   Sat   28/7   RTE2 @ 23.20

Two detectives, one young and hungry and one near retirement hunt a heinous serial killer in a dark and dreary city. Sounds cliched doesn't it? It may well be but it's also one of the best films of the 1990's. A ferocious, dark, clever, nasty and stunning film that expertly straddles the line between cop thriller and horror movie. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow all do expert work.

Death Becomes Her   Sun   29/7   Syfy @ 21.00

A vain and narcissistic actress resorts to extreme measures when she realises a rival, both in love and work, is looking a lot better than she should be. A darkly funny and knowing look at the pressures placed on woman by an industry that discards then as they age. Deadly special effects and great performances from both Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn make it an effective watch. 

Free State Of Jones   Sun   29/7   BBC2 @ 22.00

Alienated by the confederation, a soldier deserts his post during the American civil war and together with farmers and freed slaves creates a new state. Things do not go smoothly. Gary Ross's 2016 film is a good recreation of a piece of American history that rarely gets mentioned. It's as brutal and ugly as you'd expect but superb acting from Matthew McConnaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw & Mahershala Ali eases the pain.

Tabu   Mon   30/7   Film4 @ 01.30

Three woman live in Lisbon and one is thinking back on her past life as farmer in Africa. A hard film to talk about in a few words but one that's well worth a watch. Some may find it pretentious but there's no denying that it's a romantic, unique and intoxicating watch. Teresa Madruga and Laura Soveral do fantastic work. Beautiful black and white photography makes it a sumptuous watch.

An Education   Tues   31/7   BBC4 @ 22.00

Jenny is the perfect teenager, good at school, polite and well mannered. Then she meets and falls for a man twice her age.... A top notch coming of age film about the hard truths and rude awakenings teenagers have to deal with on the road to adulthood. Carey Mulligan is perfect as the lead and gets fine back up fro Peter Saarsgard, Alfred Molina and Olivia Williams.

Spotlight   Wed   1/8   RTE1 @ 21.35

In 2001 an investigative team of journalists from the Boston Globe newspaper began to investigate catholic church sex abuse cover ups. What they discovered shocked America. Tom McCarthy's 2015 stunning and rage inducing drama is a tough watch but it's one worth sticking with. The outstanding cast includes Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and Michael Keaton who all nail their parts.

Senna   Wed   1/8   ITV4 @ 23.10

A stunner of a documentary about the life and death of the famous Formula One driver Ayrton Senna. Even if like me you couldn't give a flying fig about the sport you'll still find yourself gripped by this absorbing, dramatic and tense story. It paints a gripping portrait of a driven charismatic chap and even though you know how it will end you'll still find yourself hoping for a different outcome.

Badlands   Thur   2/8   TCM @ 21.00

In the heartlands of the United States, a young couple go on a crime spree and that brings them to national attention. The first film from Terence Malick is a true masterpiece and a film that is still being homaged over 40 years later. A dreamy, beautiful but stark and shocking film full of super acting. Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen are both amazing and this is the film that paved the way to stardom for him.

Straight Outta Compton   Thur   2/8   RTE2 @ 21.30

N.W.A. were the most notorious rap group of the 1980's and this film charts their meteoric rise from the mean streets of Compton to their spectacular and egotistical fall. A big, brash, profane film that skips over a lot of the more troubling aspects of the group but still manages to be very entertaining. Excellent performances from Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins and O'Shea Jackson Jr ( as his Da Ice Cube) make it all work.

Train To Busan   Fri   3/8   Film4 @ 22.55

A zombie apocalypse hits South Korea and a father and daughter find themselves fighting for their lives on a train out of Seoul. Yes it's another Zombie flick......no no come back......but seriously it's a brilliant watch. It's full of heart and for once you'll genuinely care about the characters being menaced. Plus it's really clever and the attack scenes are astounding. Yoo Gong & Su-an Kim as Dad and Daughter are on fire.

Mission : Impossible - Fall Out

Franchises aren't supposed to get better as they continue. It's just not supposed to happen. It goes against the rules of the universe. Sequels are supposed to mean repetition and diminishing returns. There's something in the water lately though. First with the Fast and Furious series that gets more crazily entertaining and outlandish with each installment and now with the Mission Impossible series that is improving with each new movie. It's a modern phenomenon and one that's very welcome after decades of piss poor film franchises that are made as cynical cash grabbers with scant regard for audience enjoyment

Ethan Hunt and the IMF gang are on the hunt for stolen plutonium. A rash decision sees the plutonium turned loose on the world and that same decision sees the gang under scrutiny from the US government in the form of CIA agent August Walker. Their mission which they of course choose to accept is to prevent global annihilation.

This film rocked. It's so much fun. Big ridiculous over the top fun. Helicopter chases through mountain valleys, a stunning bike chase in central Paris, a bathroom fight that makes the one in True Lies look like 3 toddlers wrestling and all the rubbery mask goodness and backstabbing intrigue we've come to expect from these films. Plus longtime IMF members Benji and Luther finally get to do something other than crack jokes in the background. That was much appreciated. You have to wonder how each film seems to top the last. Did star Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie sign some kind of Faustian pact with the devil? It's the only thing that makes sense. It's easily the best blockbuster of the year so far and for a franchise movie on it's 6th installment to manage that really is something else. 

It's not all perfect of course. 2 hrs 27 mins is a stretch for a film like this and you will feel a lull in the first half of the movie when the story line starts getting unnecessarily convoluted and seemingly pointless characters are introduced. One character in particular only seems to turn up so we'll remember her face in future installments. It does damage the pace of the movie but just as your arse starts getting numb the second half kicks off and you'll forget where you are. Setpiece after setpiece punctuated with laughs and brutally efficient fight scenes. It really is breathless stuff.

The best special effect in this film is Tom Cruise. He's brilliant. There's no better way to suck an audience in a film like this than to show your leading man in genuine danger. Here we see him hanging off cliffs, leaping between buildings (The stunt where he broke his leg is shown but thankfully cuts away before any unnatural bending of limbs) and dangling below helicopters and it's always clearly him. No cheap inserts. It will have you grinning like a loon.It's not all about the stunts though. Ethan Hunt may be a hero but he's not a superhero and the film goes to lengths to show the toll the job is having on him both psychologically and physically. It's adds a nice depth to the film that was lacking before. Cruise as always sells it perfectly. 

It's Cruise's movie but the supporting cast gets to shine too. Simon Pegg as Benji gets put through the wringer in this one and Ving Rhames as Luther gets a couple of lovely moments that show he's far more to the team than just the driver. Rebecca Ferguson and Sean Harris as Elsa and Solomon who both first appeared in the fifth installment return again. Sadly Ferguson has a smaller role this time around but Harris as always plays a genuinely unsettling part. I'm sure he's a lovely chap in real life but he's going to be typecast as creepy bad guys forever after this. The big new addition is Henry Cavill as Walker. He brings an immense physicality to the role and gets a few laughs too. One moment of him sitting nonplussed in a chopper will make you snort.

This is director Christopher McQuarrie's 6th collaboration with Cruise and it's his best so far. He's a great actor director. Big stunts are shot clearly and unfussily, it's easy make out who's who and what's going on. Too many action directors (cough Christopher Nolan) think shakey cam and quick cutting makes things exciting but it just gives audiences a headache. We want to see what's going on and here we do and seeing Ethan clearly in the middle of it all makes for very exciting viewing.

I hope this duo stick together for the next installment. It's a combination that clearly works. After John Woo's disastrous 1st sequel back in 2000 you wouldn't be blamed for assuming the Mission Impossible series was dead in the water but 18 years later it's quite possibly the best continuing franchise on cinema screens. It's easily the most fun.

I wish cinemas outside Dublin were a bit braver in what they show

I've no idea about how cinema businesses work and therefore this will probably come off as incredibly naive but whatever.

There's three big cinema chains in Limerick. Vue, Omniplex and Odeon.

Between them they are playing 3 big films 58 times each day. For example today, Wednesday the 25th of July.

Ridiculous. 58 screenings taking up 20 screens. A lot of these screenings, especially the early showings will only be showing to a handful of people. So few that it will actually cost the cinema money to show the film. Limerick isn't a big place. Dublin can have busy screenings at any time of the day but it will never happen here. And when I talk about Limerick I'm really talking about everywhere outside of Dublin.

So why not free up some of those screenings for lesser known movies. Why not take a chance on the breadth of fare shown?

Show the type of films that don't tend to get released outside of Dublin or the Palas cinema in Galway. The types of films that would entice an audience alienated by bombastic blockbusters and CGI filled comic book films back to the cinema. Treat them well and they'll keep coming.

Cinema chains claim to care about their customers. They don't though. If they really did they'd offer a wider choice. They'd aim films at foreign langauge speaking customers because maybe they haven't noticed this but Ireland is getting pretty multi cultural as of late. Showing more foreign movies would help broaden the tastes of Irish audiences too. Asian action films for example tend to piss all over Hollywood fare and if more people got the chance to see these films on a big screen they would do very well. I still remember the audience reaction during screenings of The Raid movies and it would be brilliant to experience that again.

So far this year we've missed out on critically acclaimed movies like Revenge, A Fantastic Woman, The Square, Loveless, You Were Never Really Here, Lean On Pete, Leave No Trace and First Reformed to name a few. Big important movies that dominated movie discourse online during Oscar season and we aren't even afforded the chance to see them in the cinema. That's a big shame. We've even missed out on Irish films here like The Cured, Kissing Candice and Citizen Lane. It's a sorry state of affairs when Irish cinemas won't even support Irish fare.

There's a lot of money to be made here. And cinema chains could get their hands on it if they had the balls to change things up a bit. 

Hotel Artemis

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
'Relax' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!

Hotel California - The Eagles. They knew what time it is.

Los Angeles. 2028. Water has been privatised and the company in charge of it has turned off the taps. Riots ensue on a city wide scale. In the midst of all the carnage is the Hotel Artemis which is ran by Jean Thomas and her porter Everest. The Hotel Artemis is a different kind of hotel though. It's a safe house for criminals and it's a members only establishment. On this night of chaos the hotel reaches full occupancy and it isn't long before trouble kicks off inside as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's quite silly, some scenes go nowhere and a it's good example of style over substance but it just hits the spot. It's lean, it's economic, it's amusing, it has a fine cast all having fun, it sets out it's stall within 90 seconds and it features a very annoying character getting his head smushed in a 3D printer. 3D printers have so far been under utilised in scenes of movie violence but I sense they might have a future. It's not the action packed film trailers have sold it as but when it all finally kicks off it's crunchy and very satisfying and it captures the chaos and growing tension of a city under siege effectively.  Los Angeles 2028 is a dark place and the film isn't shy on placing the blame.

"We'll fly south below the wall." A pointed reference right there. If that stupid tangerine tinted tool in the White House gets a second term he'll be there until 2025. This film shows a very possible result of that worse case scenario. Criminality gone through the roof. The 1% with more than ever and the 99% sick of it all and rampaging and privatision of arguably the most vital resource on Earth. The core of the film might seem far fetched but the events surrounding it all are scarily close to coming true. 

It's a modern story with a 90's feel. The location and it's occupants brings to mind the Continental Hotel from the John Wick franchise but the cast and dialogue all have an early Tarantino feel to them. A diverse group of criminals firing zippy one liners around will always feel like him tbh. The cast is what elevates it from it's B movie origins too. It's always good to see Jodie Foster onscreen and here her fragile and damaged Jean gives the film something resembling a heart as her backstory is teased out via snippets of flashbacks. Dave Bautista is great value as a "Health care professional"/bouncer who gets the funniest lines in the film. He's carving himself a nice niche in the hulking yet comic sidekick market. Sterling K. Brown as one of the hotel's guests plays a smaller part than you'd initially think but has a good time with his part of a career criminal who wants out. There's too many characters for the short running time though (90 mins) and not everyone gets a good showing. Sofia Boutella has fun as a master assassin but her story just kind of......ends. Charlie Day once again proves he's shit in everything except It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Brian Tyree Henry (so good in TV's Atlanta) is utterly wasted. One other actor makes an appearance late in the film but I'll keep his name a secret. You'll smile when you see him though.

It's a fun watch. You'll enjoy yourself during this one. Yeah the short running time and certain story lines feeling rushed or cut short give the impression that there's a longer version out there but I enjoyed it's pared down feel. There's too much bloat in films these days and too many films run long because they have to spoon feed every plot point to audiences. Here you use your imagination to fill in the blanks and apart from one character I mentioned earlier getting shortchanged I like that feeling.

A Prayer Before Dawn

Prison fighting films might seem like a niche genre but there's loads of them out there. In Hell, Penitentiary, Death Warrant, Pit Fighter, numerous Undisputed films and even Out Of Sight touched on it. There's a guilty pleasure to be gained from watching men, trapped like animals, fighting it out amongst themselves while we sit on comfy couches a million miles from the grime trying hard not to think about why we enjoy this violent spectacle. A Prayer For Dawn slots perfectly into this film category while simultaneously standing head and shoulders above it. It's an assault on the senses. That is the only way to describe the it. You'll feel like you've been kicked in the head when the credits roll.

Billy Moore was a small time criminal and boxer from Liverpool who in a bid to escape his demons and his former life ran to Thailand only to find himself sinking into the mire there as well. After a drug bust he ended up slung into Klong Prem prison and here he found himself on the very bottom rung of the prisoner hierarchy. Being a pale redhead in a foreign prison made him stand out and his skills with his fists and a ferocious will to live were his only way of surviving.

This sounds like a Van Damme film doesn't it. Kickboxer crossed with the aforementioned Death Warrant. Death Boxer if you will. Better than Kick Warrant anyway. Which in fairness would be a fun film but nothing compared to this one. It's a blistering watch. A brutal, nauseating, terrifying, scalding look at culture not only alien to most of us but one that's unimaginable as well. Like Billy we're dumped into at the deep end. The lack of subtitles makes us as lost as him and it puts the audience squarely in his shoes. It makes for very immersive viewing. The intense and intoxicating sound design and roving camera of director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire force us to nearly suffocate on what we see and hear. If you watch this because you liked The Shawshank Redemption.......well you've got a reckoning coming.

You'll nearly smell the odor when Billy is dumped into a small cell with 50 other men. You'll definitely feel his fear when he tries to go to the toilet on his first night and witnesses the kind of thing that burns itself into your mind forever. As the film moves on though we slowly learn the to's and fro's of prison life and things ease up a bit. A bit. Subtitles become more common and you'll allow yourself to breathe a little easier. Then amazingly, in a moment you would never see in an American production, the film even finds time for a small slice of tenderness. That's not the say the film ends on an easy note. Oh no. But here it turns into something we've seen before. Which isn't a bad thing, just a step down from what we experience in the earlier part of the film.

All the cliches of prison life are here and get ticked off one by one. Corruption, gangs, violence, sexual violence, goods smuggling and so on. All the cliches of a fighting film are here too. Training montages, first losses, victories, acceptance, injury. All the stuff we've seen a million times in Rocky films. It's all done so well though. That first 30 minutes or so is nightmare inducing stuff, the kind of intro to life behind bars that would put you on the straight and narrow forever. Joe Cole who plays Billy puts in an amazingly primal show too. There's no stunt doubles, it's all him. The script mightn't call for much dialogue but goddamn he shows some serious skill in and out of the ring. A one take round of Thai boxing is brilliantly done, the camera bobbing and weaving like the fighters but in a way that doesn't call attention to itself like a similar moment in 2015's Creed. Every slap of glove on skull, shin on solar plexus, every splash of blood. You experience it all. You may have guessed by now this ain't a film for the weak of heart. 

A superb performance from Cole is the centre of the film. His character Billy a hard one to love from the start but as the film moves forward you'll oddly start to empathise with him even when he falls back into old ways. His humanity starts to shine through and a smile from him about 2/3's of the way through genuinely feels like a breath of fresh air. A lot of this is down to his burgeoning friendship with a transgender inmate called Fame, played by Pornchanok Mabklang in a striking turn, she's the one person he can find solace with and be open to. Their scenes are a much needed bit of relief in an otherwise bruising movie

You'll be relieved when it's over but you'll be glad you watched this. It transcends it's genre roots to become something special. Yes it eventually caves to predictability but it's all so well done you just won't care.  Be wary though because it fully earns it's 18 certificate.

11 films on TV this week that are well worth your time

Kingsman : The Secret Service   Sat   21/7   CH4 @ 21.00

Have you ever wanted to see Colin Firth decimate a room full of bigots in hideous ways? This is the movie for you. A teenage tearaway from South London finds himself inducted into a ring of gentlemanly spies and chaos ensues as they try to save the world. A hilarious but vicious spoof of Bond films that will offend some. It's quite rough. Taron Egerton and Samuel L.Jackson are good fun but this is Firth's film.

Bridge Of Spies   Sat   21/7   RTE1 @ 21.40

Cold war intrigue abounds in this gripping drama from Steven Spielberg. An American lawyer hired to deal with a Russian spy finds himself sucked into a negotiation involving a downed U.S. pilot in a Berlin divided in two. Initially slow moving and confusing, but when it settles it turns into both a very entertaining watch and a history lesson. Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance and Amy Ryan are all on fine form.

The Boxer   Sun   22/7   RTE1 @ 00.10

Danny Flynn returns to a very divided Belfast after a long prison sentence and sets about rebuilding his life and his community. Sectarian hatred doesn't like change though. Jim Sheridan's powerful 1997 drama is dark, grim stuff and a damning indictment of the troubles and the pointless chaos caused by it all. Daniel Day Lewis as always is immense and here he gets excellent support from Emily Watson and a detestable Gerard McSorley.

A Little Chaos   Sun   22/7   BBC1 @ 23.35

While working on a royal garden for the King at Versailles a landscaper named Sabine falls for the chief designer. Issues of class abound. A slight but agreeable and charming film that makes the most of it's lovely looking design and a cracking cast. Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Stanley Tucci, Helen McCrory and the late and much missed Alan Rickman all do splendid work.

Tucker And Dale VS Evil   Mon   23/7   The Horror Channel @ 21.00

Bloody hijinx ensue when holidaying hillbillies find themselves staying near a bunch of partying students in the woods. This takes the tropes of 80's slasher films and turns them on their heads in hilariously gooey ways. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk are perfect as a pair of seemingly gormless fools who then turn out to be anything but. You'll get the most out of this if you've seen Friday The 13th etc but its still great craic if you haven't.

Evil Dead II   Tues   24/7   Syfy @ 21.00

Ash Williams returns to the cabin in the woods in this fantastic sequel that is probably the most amusing horror film ever made. A group of friends on a holiday find an ancient book and make the mistake of reading from it. Bedlam ensues. Director Sam Raimi delivers an amazingly inventive film that mixes the slapstick of Looney Tunes cartoons with gallons of blood and the end result just rocks. Bruce Campbell's all time best role.

Blue Is The Warmest Colour   Wed   25/7   Film4 @ 23.35

In Lille in northern France a girl called Adèle meets woman called Emma. They fall in love. We bare witness to the relationship from beginning to end. This film is famous for some pretty explicit love scenes but there is far far more to it than that. It's deep, compelling, multilayered stuff filled with superb acting and spun all around a heartbreaking tale. Léa Seydoux & Adèle Exarchopoulos both give brave, brilliant performances.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark   Thur   26/7   CH4 @ 01.25

From the pen of Guillermo Del Toro comes this spooky story about a young girl and her family who move into a dilapidated mansion with the intention of restoring it and of course they realise dodginess abounds in the basement below them. Scary, atmospheric stuff that pleasingly commits to it's silly premise fully. Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison all do good work as the family in peril. 

Boiler Room   Thur   26/7   TCM @ 21.00

In an attempt to impress his father a young man takes a job in a brokerage firm. Once there he slowly realises the place is as dodgy as a 3 euro note. Loosely based on the story of Jordan Belfort this shows a more human side to the story than The Wolf Of Wall Street did whilst being equally as compelling. Giovanni Ribisi is first rate in the lead role and the supporting cast is a who's who of familiar faces including Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck.

3.10 To Yuma   Fri   27/7   TG4 @ 21.35

Infamous outlaw Ben Wade has been captured and is to be taken to Yuma by train to be hanged. Rancher Dan Evans needs money so takes a job escorting Ben to his death. This 2007 remake of the classic western of the same name is more bombastic and over the top than the original but a trio of great performances from Christian Bale, Russell Crowe and Ben Foster save the day.

Disturbia   Fri   27/7   BBC1 @ 23.40

A troubled young man is placed on house arrest after a school incident and while stuck in his home he begins to suspect his neighbour is up to no good at all. This modern take on Hitchcock's Rear Window is a fun watch and is rather ingenious in the way it manages to stay fresh and exciting despite only taking places inside two houses. Shia LaBeouf does well in the lead and David Morse is a suitably sinister foil.

Conchata Ferrell - yet another unsung hero of Film & TV

Imagine kicking off your TV career in Maude. One of the most fearless and taboo breaking TV shows ever made. Now imagine kicking off your film career in Network, one of THE seminal films of the 1970's. That's a tough act to follow. You mightn't know her name but Conchata Ferrell is an actress you'll definitely recognise. She's been in the background of our film & TV watching for nearly 44 years now and it's always a nice surprise to see her. Most people will know her from Two And A Half Men but she's been around for far longer than that show and done far better things.

She's been in Oscar winning Sidney Lumet and Steven Soderbergh films and awful Oliver Stone films. Had her hair styled by a man with Scissorhands. Played tired casting agents written by Tarantino. She's been arrested by Cagney & Lacey and defended by Matlock. Been murdered in Sunnydale high school by mutant fish teens and had a relaxing time onboard the Love Boat. Put up with Charlie Sheen's nonsense for far far too long. Been in both ER and E/R. She's been the cause of Ross Geller's third divorce. She's been in 70 different TV shows and appeared in just about every type of genre picture there is. 44 years is a fine length for a acting career and you can check out her full career here.

Greatest hits

Two and A Half Men -  Bertha the housekeeper. Without a doubt the best thing about the show and definitely the only likeable character in a programme full of arseholes.

Krampus - Adds her unique touch as the briary Aunt Dorothy in this fun horror comedy that's just the ticket if you are sick of traditional Christmas movies.

True Romance - Mary Louise Ravencroft. The world weary casting director working on a reboot of TJ Hooker who gets to experience Dick Ritchie's special acting skills. Only one scene but it's a very funny one.

Mystic Pizza - Leona, the proprieter of Mystic Pizza. The film made Julia Roberts famous but Conchata steals the show. 

Previous heroes

Dick Miller
Veronica Cartwright
Edie McClurg
Barry Shabaka Henley           
Raymond Cruz                        
Reg E.Cathey                          
Elizabeth McGovern               
John Amos                              
Bruce Greenwood                  
Mary McDonnell                     
Gerald McSorley                       
John Rothman                        
Margo Martindale                   
Kurtwood Smith                     
Paula Malcolmson                 
Luis Guzman                          
David Morse                           
Linda Hunt                              
Keith David                             
Zeljko Ivanek
Fiona Shaw
Xander Berkeley
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
C.C.H Pounder
William Forsythe
Beth Grant
Sven-Ole Thorsen
Regina King
Ric Young
Mark Rolston
Illeana Douglas
Jeanette Goldstein
Al Leong
Allan Graf
Bill Nunn

Thomas Rosales Jr

Cop Land. A masterpiece.

A hearing impaired man sits listening to Bruce Springsteen's Stolen Car on vinyl because listening in stereo doesn't work for him. Across from him is the woman he lost his half his hearing for. They speak of regret and lost hope and share a kiss. He's in love with her and knows he can never be with her. She knows it too. It's almost too upsetting to watch.

"And I'm driving a stolen car, on a pitch black night, and I'm telling myself I'm gonna be alright, but I ride by night and I travel in fear, that in this darkness I will disappear"

The woman is Annabella Sciorra who is always magnificent. The man is Sylvester Stallone and it's the finest piece of acting he's ever done. 

Cop Land is a brilliant film. I love it. It's one of the most underrated films of the 90's and one that needs to be revisited by a lot of folk. Sadly it's one that gets ignored by too many people because of who plays the lead role. 

Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a town called Garrison in New Jersey, right across the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan. The town is home to a lot of NYPD cops who can't afford to live in the city and who don't want to live amongst the people they police. An accident in Freddy's youth rendered him deaf in one ear and therefore not eligible for a job in the Police department. Freddy is in awe of real cops but they look at him and treat him like a joke. One night an unlawful police involved shooting and it's subsequent cover up causes Freddy to re-evaluate his opinion of some of the people he looks up to. He's averted his gaze for far too long.

Copland is a complex tale and one that has almost too much story for one film. Plot points that other films would base entire stories on are passed by as mere lines of dialogue and it's left to the audience to keep up. There's no character in the film to stand in as proxy for us watching. No one to answer questions we need answered and thus we are left to read between the lines of what's being said to figure out certain things. It's great. It forces us to take notice and listen, forces you to put down your phone and use your brain. A film that doesn't spoon feed its story to us is always welcome and because of that, this is a rare film that improves with repeated viewings. I'm always a fan of a shorter movie but for this I'd happily make an exception. I dream of a three hour version of this. A director's cut released on DVD restored about 15 minutes which was just not enough for me. I'm a greedy fucker. 

Director James Mangold's writing and directing creates an amazing sense of place. Garrison, New Jersey IS Cop Land. It's wild but on the surface it seems serene. Under the surface the cops that live there run amok. Law makers are wanton law breakers. They rule the roost and they know it. Traffic rules mean nothing to them and they've no issue with anything up to and including murder either. They feel like gods because they know no-one will do anything. Even Freddy isn't immune to corruption. He drinks and drives and he looks the other way when he discovers the truth of the shooting. Him and his deputies harrass black people driving past (it's not hard to notice the town is all white). The town has infected him and he knows it and needs it to stop.

The cast is amazing. Stallone of course blows away all the baggage brought with him from his He-Man days of the 80's. A fantastically conflicted Ray Liotta as Gary Figgis, a cop torn in two by his own conscience. Harvey Keitel oozing pure malice as the beyond corrupt Ray Donlan, the de facto leader of the town., Annabella Sciorra is heartbreaking as Liz, the woman Freddy loves but who is married to a cop and Robert De Niro on his best parroty form as an Internal Affairs member who won't give up. Then there's the supporting cast. Michael Rapaport, a pre stardom Edie Falco, Cathy Moriarty, Robert Patrick in absolute bastard form, Jeanne Garafalo, Paul Calderon, Noah Emmerich, Method Man, Peter Berg and numerous faces from tv shows like The West Wing and The Sopranos. Every speaking part is someone you'll recognise. It's an immense cast for a director only on his second feature.

It's Freddy's film though and he is a real honest to goodness cinema hero. He's overcome his disability to make something of himself. He's far smarter and accomplished than anyone gives him credit for. And when it comes down to it he has the balls to do the right thing and take on evil by himself. He's a Will Kane for the turn of the Millennium. A Rooster Cogburn. A modern day Wyatt Earp. Copland may feel like a mish mash of genres, police drama, thriller, gangster movie, conspiracy story but at it's heart it's a western. One good man standing up against the nonsense. Cars instead of horses. Pump action shotguns instead of Winchester repeating rifles. Even the name of the town, Garrison, conjures up an image of a frontier outpost. The climax of the film evokes High Noon. Stallone as Gary Cooper's Will Kane, left alone by cowardly friends and counting down the hours before he must do his duty by facing off against the enemy all on his own. Imagine this film as an actual western. It's easy to see James Stewart as Freddy, Walter Brennan as a cowardly fellow cop, Grace Kelly as Liz, a gruff Ben Johnson as Ray Donlan and L.Q. Jones and Lee Van Cleef as his sidekicks. The story is timeless.

It's a gem of a film and one that's aged beautifully in the 21 years since it's release. Give it a whirl if you haven't seen it. I think you'll love it.

The Secret Of Marrowbone

One of my favourite things a horror film can do is commit to it's premise. When the story goes where you hope it will go no matter how silly and far fetched things get. It's why I love films like The Omen and The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby and more recently It Follows and Hereditary. I love a horror that has the balls to embrace all the silliness inherent in scary movies and just go with it.

I didn't love The Secret Of Marrowbone. I liked quite a bit of it though.

Rose Marrowbone and her 4 children turn up in America in 1969. They are on the run from England and wind up back in her childhood home. The journey across the Atlantic was a tough one and it takes it's toll on her already weakened health. Her dying wish is that the family not be split apart and the only way to do that is for the eldest, Jack, to keep them hidden from society until he's 21 and old enough to take custody of them. But.....

This was ok, not bad, alright......grand, it was grand. It's very well acted, has bucket loads of atmosphere, it's gorgeous looking in places, asks intriguing questions about the siblings and the home they've built for themselves (what is up with the ceiling and the mirrors??), has one or two genuinely unsettling moments and then..... then it just chickens out. Instead of going for the jugular it gives you a puck in the arm instead, a half hearted "aren't we clever" kind of a puck. A couple of knowing moments that play with genre expectations work well but get muffled as the film descends into familiarity towards the end. You get the feeling it all would have worked better if the writers and director had decided to either make the film a straight drama or gone all out down a horror film route. As it is it feels like a messy mish-mash that wants to have it's cake and eat it too.

A committed performance from George MacKay as Jack does it's best to keep everything in place though, even when you feel like scoffing at the screen, he'll keep you glued to it. The oldest child, the only one who gets to go out into the world, a budding romance with their neighbour and local librarian Allie (Anya Taylor-Joy) his only outlet from the secrets kept by his family. Happiness and rage clash behind his eyes, he's a young man burdened by a promise kept to a dying woman and the toll it's taking on him is plain to see. He's really good. Genre fans will get a kick out of the rest of the casting too. Charlie Heaton as brother Billy will be familiar to many from his work in Stranger Things. Taylor-Joy is building a fine horror career for herself with this, The Witch, Morgan and Split. And Mia Goth as sister Jane who turned up in last years underrated A Cure For Wellness and is soon to star in the Suspiria remake. All do good work but there's something quite unique about Taylor-Joy. She has a kind of ethereal look about her that will see her go far in the horror/fantasy movie world.

Another thing I liked about the film was it's odd sense of time and place. At moments you wouldn't be blamed for thinking the film had a 19th century setting until a touch of the modern jars you, be it a glimpse of an automobile, a brief glance of one the most famous pieces of 20th century news on a TV or a very famous pop song. It's unsettling and strange and well done and gives a film lacking in scares a welcome eerie feel. And then that final third of the film kicks off and lets the side down.

It's grand. There's plenty of good here but it's let down but a script that's afraid to commit. Had it done so, that combined with atmospheric locations (Spain doubling for America) and great acting could have added up to something special. Writer/Director Sergio G. Sánchez has fine form in the field having written the 2007 horror film The Orphanage. There's definite echoes of that film here but none of its scares. It's a wasted opportunity.

When films are too much

I watched Notting Hill on Netflix the other night. I'd never seen it before. I've seen other films from director Richard Curtis like About Time and The Boat That Rocked and I despised them so I didn't hold out much hope for this. I needed a comedy though. Something light and easy. I was genuinely surprised when I enjoyed it. It was nice. It made me laugh. A much needed laugh. The night before I'd watched a film called Wolyn and it genuinely broke me.

I like going into films cold. There's a certain joy in watching a film I know nothing about and it reminds me of days of old before IMDB and wikipedia when watching movies still held some form of surprise. The downside of going into a film cold is you may have a certain idea of what a movie is about only to have the rug pulled grimly from under you. I knew Wolyn was a Polish World War 2 film and for some reason I expected a guerilla warfare film akin to 2008's Defiance. What I got was a film about residents of a region in Eastern Europe called Volhynia being ethnically cleansed by Ukrainian insurgent forces.

It was horrifying and I don't say that lightly. I've seen some messed up films but this genuinely made me feel ill. Men tied between horses and split in two. Shrieking men being skinned alive. Pregnant women disembowelled and young children set alight and left running around screaming while men laughed. TBH, if Id seen this stuff in a horror film you could contextualise it because horror is inherently silly but because it was based on real events it just made it too disturbing. It was distressing. I hated it and I turned it off. It felt exploitative, it made me feel dirty. It felt pornographic to be honest. I know these past events can't be swept aside and lessons need to be learned from history but jesus it didn't all need to be shown so leeringly. 

Films this graphic, who are they made for? Relatives of the victims? Seeing this would break them. Time might have dulled the horrors of the past for them but having their faces rubbed in gruesome detail would be too much for anyone. Historians? They know the details of these atrocities but do they want to see them depicted so graphically. I think not. Horror fans? I don't think so. Anyone that could take enjoyment from a film like this would need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. 

Spielberg's Schindler's List was a brutal look at another terrible period in Polish history but as violent as that film was, he knew when to hold back. He knew the stuff that did not need to be shown. He knew that the things left to the imagination were often far worse than what he could ever depict. Son Of Saul was another similar film. Set in a concentration camp you knew you were in for a tough watch but this was another film that showed it's horrors in a..........it's hard to describe this......they were never shown head on. It happened at the edge of the frame or just off screen which made it even more disturbing. There's something to be learned for film makers here. Are they showing all this to be meaningful and teach a lesson? Or is it all just for shock value? 

Anyway. Thank fuck for films like Notting Hill. Sometimes a bit of entertainingly fluff is the best medicine.