From Dusk Till Dawn: Film Trilogy (1996-99)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Dir. Robert Rodriguez

Two criminals on the run take a few hostages and head for Mexico. Seth Gecko (George Clooney) is smooth and calm under pressure. His brother Richie (Quentin Tarantino) is a trigger-happy prick who needs protecting from his own impulses.

It's a movie of two uneven halves. For a while it's an edgy crime flick with some Tarantino-penned dialogue. It doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting, but there's at least the feeling that it might.

The latter part of the film, however, has no such aspirations. Instead, it goes all out to please fans of a very different genre.

I'll say no more, to avoid further spoilers, but the direction it takes will either float your goat or it won't. My goat was thoroughly sunk, but credit to the creators for trying something so outrageously divergent.

She and Her Cat (2017)

She and Her Cat (2017)

Author: Makoto Shinkai | Illustrator: Tsubasa Yamaguchi | English Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian | Page Count: 180

'She always waits for the phone to stop ringing, then checks to see who called.'

It's possible that I've used the word 'wistful' in the past in a less than complimentary way, but in this instance it's very much in the form of praise. Shinkai's ability to express in an understated but powerful way the regretful longing that the word implies is heartbreakingly sincere and rarely ever saccharine.

The blurb on the back cover does a good job of explaining what the book is about without spoiling anything, which is a rare achievement. The story isn't particularly deep, but it will have a poignant resonance for some folks. It's adapted from Shinkai's own short OVA of the same name, which came out in 1999. I posted a very brief review of it HERE.

The Big Boss (1971)

The Big Boss (1971)

Dir. Wei Lo

TBB was Bruce's first major film. In it he plays Zheng Chao-an (alternatively spelled Cheng in some previous editions), a Chinese man fresh off the boat and working in a Thailand ice factory. All goes well enough for the new worker until he discovers that the ice factory is more than it initially seems.

It successfully established the template for much of what followed, while also highlighting his quiet, respectful persona that resorts to violence only when all other practical options have been exhausted. As such, it's not until well into the running time that we get to see the martial arts star in blazing action. But before too long there’s some WOOO-oooo-OOOO-WAHHH! and Bruce ends up angry, shirtless and bloody.

Red Dead Redemption (2010)

Red Dead Redemption (2010)

Genre: Third Person Shooter / Action / Sandbox | Players: 1 / Online Multi

Developer: Rockstar San Diego

I love a good Western! When I say those words out loud it usually means I'm thinking of a classic genre film, or even a TV show, but not this time - this time it's a PS3 game.

If you were to take all that's good about the film and TV medium and mix it with biting satire and social commentary (Rockstar style), then you'd have the formula for Red Dead Redemption, which is what the acclaimed developers appear to have done.

You've maybe heard it described as Grand Theft Auto: Wild West, and while that's essentially true, they're both sandbox games sharing many features, it's also a disservice to the scope and underlying heart of RDR, which is something that GTA typically lacks.

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)

Dir. Kazuya Nomura

It's not stated on the box art, but Dir. Kazuya Nomura's film is a continuation of the Arise version of GitS and a sequel to the Pyrophoric Cult (2015) episode(s), so before viewing it would be beneficial to watch all of Arise.

Set in the year 2029, it begins with a hostage situation that doesn't quite go to plan and the assassination of a very public figure.

Working independently of Public Security Section 9, Motoko and her team investigate further, discovering new and elaborate twists and turns alongside the unfinished story of the Fire-Starter virus that P Cult toyed with.

As any modern computer user will know, progress is happening at an alarming rate, often leaving hardware and software developers playing catch-up. The alternative to keeping up is to abandon the current model and work on a newer, more compatible one; but the new tech will eventually succumb to the same fate and the cycle begins anew.

Dead Ringers (1988)

Dead Ringers (1988)

Dir. David Cronenberg

When Cronenberg helms a story about identical twin gynaecologists who specialise in treating female fertility problems and who share their patients and their lovers, you would expect to find an uncomfortable mixture of sexual practices with clinical ones.

And you will, but Dead Ringers goes to even deeper levels of unease. The pair live an ordered lifestyle, are outwardly confident, professional and well-respected by their peers, but it's the twofold shadow cast by the privacy of their complex relationship that the viewer needs to pay close attention to. 

Like in a single body or organism, when an interdependent part falls out of sync with its connecting organs, malady occurs.

British actor Jeremy Irons is amazing in a dual role, skilfully feeding himself emotional triggers and responding to the same situation, sometimes in two very different ways.

Quatermass II (1955)

Quatermass II (1955)

Dir. Rudolph Cartier | 6 episodes, approx 30 mins each

I skipped the first Quatermass and went direct to the second because, unfortunately, two-thirds of Series One, named The Quatermass Experiment (1953), is lost. Episodes Three, Four, Five and Six are gone, believed to no longer be in existence.

It's possible to watch the first two episodes as filmed and finish up by reading the available photocopied scripts of the remaining four if you really want to, although it's not necessary because, while it does reference what came before, Q II is a new story with a new threat.

If you did watch the previous two episodes, however, you'll notice that Professor Bernard Quatermass is no longer played by Reginald Tate.

Tragically, Tate died less than a month before shooting was due to begin. Instead of respectfully postponing the project the producers moved forward and quickly recast the role, which is how John Robinson came to be the titular scientist.