Lucky Bastard (2014)

Sex. It can make you do funny things. And sex is everywhere nowadays, especially on the internet. Don't ever make a typo that puts the word "porn" into your search bar because it's guaranteed to leave you wide-eyed and red-faced. Or, I guess, breathless and horny, of course.

Lucky Bastard is all about sex. Set in the world of porn, it's a found footage movie all about a young man, Dave (played by Jay Paulson), who finds that he's about to have his dream come true. Thanks to the titular website, Dave is going to get up close and very personal with gorgeous porn star Ashley Saint (Betsy Rue). But will he be able to perform when it comes to the main act, bearing in mind that he's being filmed for Lucky Bastard?

An interesting look at the dynamics of the porn industry, and independent movie-making in general, Lucky Bastard has a few more interesting insights than you might expect. It's just a shame that the movie, despite being good, never seems to move into top gear.

That may be due to the inevitability, and predictability, of the events as they unfold, or it may point to a need for some sharper dialogue. Either way, it's the script, co-written by Lukas Kendall and director Robert Nathan, that proves to be the biggest hurdle. It's not terrible, and none of it rings untrue, but it just needs to be a bit tighter and sharper. And the structure would have been improved, in my opinion, if the guys had just gone from A to B, without a small prologue showing C and then moving back to A.

Nathan does fine with the direction, however, and he's helped by a decent selection of performers. Paulson does well as the man who seems a bit strange, but may just be too sweet and naive for the experience lined up for him. Rue is pretty convincing as a professional porn star. No, I don't mean that as a derisory comment. She's comfortable with the nudity that has to be part of the film, and manages to show that she's been around in the industry long enough to know a lot of the tricks of the trade, as well as whatever she finds acceptable and unacceptable. Don McManus is equally convincing as the man orchestrating the action. He may be a "porn baron" but he also just tries to make the best out of any bad situation, like anyone used to working in the independent movie business. Catherine Annette is a lot of fun as someone trying to break into the business, while Chris Wylde and Lanny Joon are both fine as the two guys working to capture enough footage to make into the next popular episode of Lucky Bastard.

Small niggles aside, Lucky Bastard is a solid piece of entertainment. It has some interesting points to make, it builds to a decent climax (no pun intended), and it stars Betsy Rue. What? I can choose to deem that fact a major bonus point if I like, and I do.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Bastard-Don-McManus/dp/B00KGLN4BK/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1408908460&sr=1-3&keywords=lucky+bastard

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The Revenant (2009)

The Revenant is one of the many movies that I've had on my shelf for some time and just not taken the time to watch before now. Once I buy films any sense of urgency disappears. I own it, I can watch it whenever I like. Which, unfortunately, often leaves me with a hell of a big backlog of stuff that I really should watch. Thankfully, friends (both online and offline) tend to prod at me until I watch titles that they highly recommend and this was the case with The Revenant. Not for the first time, and surely not for the last, I am glad that I took the advice of others and finally got around to watching this one.

Bart (David Anders) is on active duty in the military when he's unfortunately killed by death-dealing enemy bullets of death. His funeral takes place and then his loved ones, including his best friend Joey (played by Chris Wylde), try to deal with the loss in their own particular ways. The grief process can take a long time and take many strange turns but Joey finds things extra complicated when Bart turns up on his doorstep, apparently having left his grave and somehow come back to life. It's all very confusing, and quite disturbing, but doesn't take long for Joey to go with the flow and try to convince Bart of the best ways to use "the dark gift".

Written and directed by Kerry Prior, this is a whole lot of fun that mixes in some decent blood and gore with a bit of pondering on the very essence of good and evil. A cross between a vampire, zombie and vigilante movie, there are also numerous nods to beloved classics and at least one scene featuring a decapitated head that was the best decapitated head scene I can recall having seen since Re-Animator.

The acting from the two leads is fine, not the best I've seen in the genre but far, far better than a thousand other low-budget films you could pick up from your nearest movie store. David Anders is likeable, despite the potential danger that his character brings with him, while Chris Wylde is entertaining enough before his personality take a bit of a downward, darker turn in the last half hour or so. Louise Griffiths is quite lovely and Jacy King plays a character who could have been potentially annoying but ends up simply trying to convince others to use common sense.

It's perfectly paced, running at about 110 minutes but with plenty packed in there, and full of energy and I can't imagine any horror fan taking a major dislike to this one. Just damn good fun.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Revenant-DVD/dp/B005NVMMDE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341092164&sr=8-1