Noirvember: Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (1995)

Director Gary Fleder has a strange, but not uninteresting, filmography. He's done a lot of TV work in recent years, and started his directorial career with a TV movie (which also paired him up for the first time with writer Scott Rosenberg), but he's also delivered a few real gems throughout the last few decades. Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead is one of them, and maybe that's as much to do with the fact that it was Fleder's first theatrical release as it is to do with the script and execution of the material. Or maybe he just does well with star-studded ensemble casts (considering that Runaway Jury is also up there with his best work).

Andy Garcia plays Jimmy "The Saint" here, and he's a man who ends up between a rock and a hard place when a big boss (The Man With The Plan, played by Christopher Walken) tells him to put a team together in order to give some young guy a fright. Jimmy ends up working with Pieces (Christopher Lloyd), Franchise (William Forsythe), Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), and Critical Bill (Treat Williams). If all goes well then the team will end up in the good graces of a very powerful individual, but the title may have already clued you in on the fact that all doesn't necessarily go well.

Read through that list of names again, but let me add to it by mentioning Gabrielle Anwar, Fairuza Balk, Steve Buscemi, Jack Warden, Bill Cobbs, Marshall Bell, Don Stark, Jenny McCarthy, Don Cheadle, Tiny Lister Jr., and Josh Charles. You may not recognise all of those names, but anyone who appreciates '90s cinema will recognise their faces as soon as they appear onscreen. Not only is that a truly stacked cast, everyone feels perfect in the role given to them. Garcia stays cool and calm for most of the runtime, Walken enjoys getting to wax lyrical in a couple of scenes, and Williams almost steals the entire film with his portrayal of someone who seems to be a real liability. While both Anwar and Balk are slightly sidelined, both get to do a bit more than may be expected, and their inclusion certainly lifts the film above the complete sausage-fest it otherwise would have been.

Fleder may not indulge himself too much, this is a straightforward tale told in a straightforward manner, he knows how to make the best of Rosenberg's screenplay, which could easily have been ruined and made more forgettable by an attempt to match the many other Tarantino-esque crime thrillers (of which this is certainly one) from this time. The dialogue feels natural to the characters, as opposed to trying too hard to be super-cool in every exchange, and the cast are allowed to give enough substance to their performances to make them feel like more than just stereotypes/archetypes.

It's easy to see why some who didn't see this back when it was first released would continue to ignore it. It's a specific type of film from a specific time that makes it a risky proposition. I would say that it exceeds any expectations, however, and the traditional approach to the material, including the score from Michael Convertino, as well as every other element, allows it to feel more timeless and enduring than many other titles that just had the idea of putting criminals at the heart of the plot and trying to give them all memorable soundbites.

9/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Dashing Through The Snow (2023)

A film in which Ludacris plays someone named Chris Kringle, obviously. Oh no, wait, he plays someone named Chris Bridges. No. No, no, no, that is also wrong. Chris “Ludacris” Bridges plays Eddie Garrick. That is how I wanted to start this review. It would seem, from his billing here, that Ludacris may be wanting to creep towards having a name that is a bit less, well, ludicrous. Which is all well and good, and understandable, but I am still going to refer to him as Ludacris for the rest of this review. It’s just much easier, it’s advantageous for him, and we will wait and see if he eventually drops the moniker completely.

So, to summarize, Eddie Garrick is a man who doesn’t really believe in the magic of Christmas. He tries his best to help others who might be struggling with the season though, using his skills as a social worker to help defuse any situation when someone is going through a crisis. Picking up his daughter for a Christmas Eve visit, Eddie then ends up encountering an individual who claims to be Santa. Whether or not he is, he is in trouble, having accidentally picked up an iPad that belongs to some bad people while misplacing his own (which has Santa’s list on it - tech changes, but the Santa basic’s don’t).

Written by Scott Rosenberg and directed by Tim Story, this is a film not lacking in talent behind the camera. Both of those men have been involved with some enjoyable blockbuster movies. They are tasked here with delivering not just a Christmas movie, but a Disney Christmas movie. This is fairly obvious and unsophisticated fare, mixing in some father-daughter bonding, a Santa who never feels like he might not be Santa, and the kind of inept criminals who would be outsmarted by a small child in the later Home Alone sequels.

Ludacris is fine in the main role, being as grumpy and cynical as he needs to be up until the inevitable turning point. Madison Skye Validum is also very good, playing the daughter who easily accepts the potential for magic and might help her dad see things a bit differently. She’s unfazed by the events unfolding around her, happy to be on such a crazy adventure with her dad. As for the Santa figure, that’s Lil Rel Howery in the red suit, and he’s a lot of fun in the role, being as jolly and carefree as expected, yet also slightly manipulative while helping teach someone a lesson. Teyonnah Parris is stuck in a very minor supporting role, Oscar Nuñez is the brains behind the criminal shenanigans for the evening, and there are one or two other familiar faces in the cast (including Mary Lynn Rajskub).

Although obviously a family film, this often feels like it  is trying to appeal to younger kids ahead of anyone else. That’s fine, especially in the scenes that work well (and most children will be very pleased by a finale that brings in a fun “cavalry” to help our main characters), but it’s clear sometimes that the film holds back from being as creative or silly as it could have been. Someone wanted this to “skew young”, but not at the same corner of more general appeal. Which makes it slightly less satisfying, because it feels like two tonally different films forced together like a couple of jigsaw pieces showing different parts of the same picture. You could say, mayyyyyybe, that it would have benefited from being a bit more ludicrous, ironically enough.

5/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Gone In 60 Seconds (2000)

A slick Bruckheimer-produced action movie from the year 2000, Gone In 60 Seconds is an easy film to dismiss when you think of some of the other bombastic vehicles he has put his name to (two of those, Con Air and The Rock, also starring Nicolas Cage). But it holds up really well for what it is, which is a fun 2-hour film with lots of nice cars being stolen.

Giovanni Ribisi is Kip Raines, a young man trying to steal a load of cars for a major criminal, Raymond Calitri AKA The Carpenter (Christopher Eccleston). He fails, which enrages The Carpenter. With a ticking clock, he arranges to get Kip's older brother, Memphis Raines (Cage), on the case. Memphis left that life behind a long time ago, but, as the life of his younger brother is on the line, he reluctantly puts a team together. That team includes 'Sway' (Angelina Jolie), Otto (Robert Duvall), and The Sphinx (Vinnie Jones, in a largely non-speaking role). The plan is to scope out the cars and grab all fifty in one night. That's a tough order, made even tougher by the two cops (Delroy Lindo and Timothy Olyphant) who sense something big about to go down.

Based on the 1974 movie by H. B. Halicki (I've not seen it, no idea how closely the two match up), Gone In 60 Seconds has a decent script by Scott Rosenberg and solid direction from Dominic Sena. They know the right level of passable implausibility to go for, and keep things moving in between nice car moments with some great exchanges of dialogue between characters (particularly any scene involving Lindo and Olyphant). And then, despite taking such a long time to get there, the cars get to shine when they're onscreen. Especially in the finale, involving a Shelby Mustang GT500 given the name "Eleanor". 

There are some good montage moments, a soundtrack that has some fantastic choices to accompany the visuals (The Chemical Brothers are on there, as are Apollo Four Forty, Moby, and War), and enough great stunt sequences to please most action movie fans, although they are sparingly spaced out throughout the third act.

Now let’s get to that cast. Cage has fallen out of favour in recent years. I am still a big fan, no matter where on the Cage spectrum of craziness his performance falls, and he became a surprisingly good action movie star once given a shot. The same, more or less, could be said of Jolie, who works very well here as the cool female really into her cars. Duvall, Jones, Scott Caan, Chi Mcbride, Scott Caan and all of the other crew members fit their roles perfectly, Ribisi gets to be slightly bratty, and Will Patton once again delivers some fine Will Patton-ness. Eccleston is the weak link, not as charismatic and intimidating a villain as he could be, but he’s okay. The bigger threat comes from the “heroes” being caught by the cops, headed up by Lindo and Olyphant, who complement one another brilliantly, making a very entertaining double act. 

Maybe not as rewatchable as some other movies in this vein, Gone In 60 Seconds is still a very fun ride, using a great ensemble cast to keep everything ticking over nicely before it finally puts the pedal to the metal.

7/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthewsIf you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

With pretty much everyone returning, unless I am forgetting someone, Jumanji: The Next Level is an enjoyable lesson in how to put everything together competently enough for a sequel to a blockbuster family film.

A few years have gone by since the events of the first film. All is well, sort of. Spencer (Alex Wolff) just isn't feeling right though. Things aren't exactly awful, but he remembers how much better he was when stepping into the world of Jumanji. So he heads back in.  His friends understandably want to rescue him, as soon as they realise what is going on, but they don't get to pick their characters this time. They also have two new players with them, Spencer's grandfather (Danny DeVito) and his friend, Milo (Danny Glover). Once in the game, it is time to have more fun with Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Dwayne Johnson, and Kevin Hart. Which is what viewers really want to see.

Nothing here is as good as it was in the previous movie, but, and this is important, nothing here is a lot worse either. As well as deriving fun from the new players being befuddled by everything, Jumanji: The Next Level also throws a couple of tricks in there to keep everyone on their toes. The emotional content doesn't work, but it is well-intentioned enough, and played well, to make it bearable. Familiarity doesn't breed contempt (dance fighting moves are displayed, Johnson gets to smoulder, and both Black and Hart get plenty of moments to act amusingly frustrated or bemused), but there is wisdom in mixing just enough fresh faces to help it not feel like a complete retread.

Jake Kasdan once again directs, and once again helped to write the screenplay with Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, and he does well, handling the action-packed set-pieces as well as the smaller moments of comedic interplay. He's helped by a cast that all seem to emanate that feeling of slipping into familiar and comfortable clothing.

All of the main players are as good in their roles as they were the first time around, and they get to enjoy showing some different sides of their personas, while both Akwafina and Rory NcCann are solid additions, with the latter especially good as the new main villain causing problems in Jumanji-land.

If you liked the last movie then you will like this one. That's all it wants to do, keep fans happy and entertained. I would watch it again. And I would watch a third adventure. Job done.

7/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Venom (2018)

The more I think about Venom, the more I find to like about it. The fact that it is such a strange . . . mess (not unlike the titular character) just adds to its appeal, and Tom Hardy gives a fun central performance, both physically and vocally.

The basic story goes like this. Hardy is Eddie Brock, a journalist who has a habit of pushing things too far in order to get to the heart of any story. His latest story concerns shady happenings at a science facility, overseen by Carlton drake (Riz Ahmed). He ruffles feathers, he gets sacked, and he ends up with a symbiote attached to his body. This is a creature that can stay hidden within Eddie for some time, but breaks out when the host body is put in danger, or when it gets hungry. It can appear at other times but those are the two main motivators. But will it destroy Eddie, or will the inevitable pile of corpses end up with his own being the last one upon it?

I just described the performance by Hardy as fun but that's really the word that I should use to describe this entire film. It's fun, it's a romp, and there are times when it's madder than a bag of badgers. Full marks must go to the cast and director Ruben Fleischer, because everyone somehow knows the best way to work with material that has the potential to vary wildly in tone, yet manages to remain consistently darkly comedic.

The script, written by Kelly Marcel, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg, manages to stay just the right side of dumb. The characters aren't very complex, the main baddie is obvious from the very first scenes, and it seems that everyone understands that viewers want to see Tom Hardy developing new powers and transforming into something that will happily bite the heads off people.

This is Hardy's show, from his conversations with himself to his manic nervousness as he tries and tries to get his body back under his own control, and he's a star completely unafraid to throw himself completely into things. It's easy to praise actors as fearless when they're cast in roles that require them to bare themselves completely, both emotionally and physically, but Hardy is equally fearless in a different way. In fact, it's at least partially down to his sheer presence and force of will that this ends up being as entertaining as it is. Ahmed is fine, although there are a number of scenes when his more understated performance feels a bit out of place, and Michelle Williams plays her part, which leaves her sidelined for a lot of the movie, with a twinkle in her eye that suggests she got paid a decent amount for a role that let her have more fun than many of her more prestigious turns.

Is there anything here to dislike? Of course there is. The CGI is varied in quality (sometimes excellent, sometimes eye-searingly awful, especially in one or two scenes that have far too much going on), the grand finale is a bit of an anti-climax, and, perhaps worst of all for fans of the character, Venom has been turned into a softened version of the beast that comic readers have enjoyed for many years. That will upset some viewers. But it doesn't harm the film in any way, and I already have high hopes for the inevitable sequel.

8/10

Venom is available to buy here.
Americans can pick it up here.

Disturbing Behavior (1998)

Disturbing Behavior is a film that I have a lot of fond memories of. It came along when I was just starting to upgrade my movie collection from VHS to DVD, the trailer was a great one, and it just kept intriguing me until I could finally get my hands on a copy. Of course, almost inevitably, I was left a bit disappointed when I finally got to see it, but a recent rewatch actually shows that it holds up as one of the better teen thrillers to come along in the '90s. It may be slick, and it may Katie Holmes failing at being a bit tough and edgy, but it's also impressively subversive throughout.

James Marsden plays Steve Clark, the new kid in town (with his younger sister, played by Katharine Isabelle), a young man who stands almost at the exact halfway point between the more rebellious kids and a group of teens who are so well-behaved that it's spooky. When he's warned about events int he local area by Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl) he shrugs it off as paranoia, the kid obviously smokes too much weed, but that doesn't spoil their friendship, especially when he gets to spend time with Rachel (Holmes). Unfortunately, it turns out that Gavin is the only one who realises the horrible truth of what's going on, and before you can say "Stepford teens" things get dangerous for Steve and Rachel.

Written by Scott Rosenberg, and directed by David Nutter, this is a film that contains a surprisingly high number of really great moments, many of them jarring nicely with the rest of the teen thriller framework. Even the opening sequence, which starts out like so many other teen movie moments, takes a very dark turn, and should clue viewers in to the fact that they're about to watch something that may not be as advertised. And the scene with Lorna Longley (Crystal Cass) trying to seduce Steve is one that won't be forgotten any time soon.

Marsden is just fine in the lead role, although he's never been leading man material (sorry to say, I like the guy but it's true). Holmes is okay, I guess, but a bit laughable at times with her desperate attempt to portray someone cool and tough. Stahl is the highlight, as sweet and likable as he is jittery and helpless. The rest of the young cast, including Cass, Isabelle, A. J. Buckley and Chad Donella all do fine work.The adults, including Bruce Greenwood, Steve Railsback and William Sadler, are all good, with the latter particularly amusing in his role (a man who knows a lot more than he lets on).

You may not end up liking Disturbing Behavior as much as I do, but I recommend giving it a try, especially if you've avoided it over the years because it looks like "just a teen thriller". It IS that, but it's much better than many others that have been released in the last two decades.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disturbing-Behaviour-DVD-James-Marsden/dp/B00004D37A/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1394042971&sr=1-1&keywords=disturbing+behaviour