S.W.A.T.

I want to start this review with an undebatable fact: Samuel L. Jackson RULES. He is one of the things in live that just exudes awesomeness. He makes good things even better, and makes bad things tolerable. He was, in actuality, the only redeeming feature in the new Star Wars trilogy, and those films REALLY needed saving. So, in 2003, when Jackson starred as a police sergeant training up a group of cops to stop an evil French drug-lord, here was a movie you had to see, S.W.A.T.

Directed by Clark Johnson (Boycott, The Sentinel), S.W.A.T unites Jackson with Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J, James Renner & Oliver Martinez. As I briefly mentioned, the film deals with Sgt. Hondo (Jackson) putting together a S.W.A.T team consisting of several promising young police officers, who are forced to deal with an international criminal from France, who has been taken into custody. While it's nothing special, it's a solid little film that does nothing to insult it's audience, while doing everything it can to entertain them.

The film opens with a hostage situation in a bank, and the S.W.A.T team are called in to deal with it. 2 of the team, Jim Street (Farrell) and Brain Gamble (Renner) are in a position to resolve the situation, but are told to hold back. Gamble, seeing an opportunity to take out the perpetrators, disobeys the hold, and accidentally shoots one of the hostages. This results in Street being kicked off S.W.A.T. and Gamble losing his job, as well as his respect for Street.

For the next 6 months, Street accepts his new position in the Police Station gun cage. At the same time, Hondo is assigned to put together a new S.W.A.T. team. With Streets help, Hondo recruits Deacon Kaye (Cool J), Chris Sanchez (Rodriguez) and finally convinces Street to rejoin the force. After obtaining 2 more cops, Boxer & McCabe, the new team is complete, and Hondo puts them through their paces.

Meanwhile, Alex Montel (Oliver Martinez), an international druglord, arrives in America, but is quickly apprehended, and found to be a fugitive. When the newly formed S.W.A.T. team are transporting Alex to the police station, he turns to the nearby mob of reporters and announces that he will give $100 million to whoever can break him out of custody. From here, the group are caught in a fight for their lives, as one particularly determined group is keen to take Montel up on his offer.

The movie is, in simple terms, a pretty standard action movie. There's shoot-outs, fist-fights, back-stabbings, explosions and, of course, car chases. Nothing really unique or never-before-seen elements. But with that said, it's easy enough to enjoy. It doesn't try to be flashy or pretentious. The characters are likeable and the action, while fairly cliched, is entertaining. It has it's funny and serious moments. The climax of the breakout is pretty epic, and it ends on a triumphant note. On top all this, it has Samuel L. Jackson in it! Few things make a film feel more epic, and, as ever, he gives a very solid performance. That's really all I can say. If you like action films, it's a pretty decent effort, so give it a shot.

This Is Spinal Tap

Have you ever wondered what rock musicians are like when not on stage or on TV? What they are like in their private lives: Personal habits, interests, tendencies, characteristics. Well fear not movie fans, there is 1 film that explores each and every one of these aspects; Rob Reiners note-perfect Rock/Mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

Released in 1984, This Is Spinal Tap was Rob Reiner's (When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men) directorial debut. While the film was not a box office success, and received a lukewarm critical reception, it has since gone on to become a cult classic, and in 2002, was selected for preservation in the U.S National Film Registry. Siskel & Ebert gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, calling it: 'One of the funniest, most intelligent, most original films of the year.' Trust me, it's THAT good.

The film features a director called Marti DiBergi (Reiner) who joins heavy metal band Spinal Tap on their American tour of their new album Smell The Glove. He conducts interviews with the bands 3 central members: Guitarist & Lead Vocalist David St.Hubbins (Michael McKean), Lead Guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Bass Player Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer). In the first interview with the band, DiBergi discovers that the band has been through dozens of drummers, all of whom died under mysterious and very unusual circumstances, such as choking on another person's vomit, being killed in a 'bizarre gardening accident' and possibly the most surreal, exploding on stage.

DiBergi joins Spinal Tap on their tour across the United States, where it appears that public interest in the band is dwindling, with them being booked into smaller and smaller stadiums, as well as many of their gigs being cancelled altogether. After several unfortunate events and occurrences, the bands come up with an idea to rejuvenate their reputation. While this leads to one of the funniest scenes in the film, it backfires drastically for the band, continuing their ever continuing downward spiral into obscurity and mediocrity.

The infamous Stonehenge scene

That's all I really want to say about the plot. It's about the decline and triumphant resurgence of the 'World's Loudest Rock Band'. The result, one of the smartest, most original and laugh-out-loud hysterical films ever made. Not only does it satirise the pretensions of rock stars, it also mocked the tendencies of documentaries of the time, especially their propensity to portray musicians as being almost Godlike, as if they had no flaws whatsoever.

Many prominent rock star, including Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Glen Danzig and Ozzy Osbourne have been quoted as saying that the film is closer to reality than Reiner may have realised, stating that many facetious incidents in the film have actually happens to them during their careers. Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith was allegedly unable to laugh when he seen the movie, awestruck by how accurate it was.

Since its release, describing a band as being 'Like Spinal Tap' has become a common insult among musicians, used to describe a band who displays ostentatious and often infantile traits.

Everything that I could say about this film has already been said a million times before. Memorable scenes, timeless characters, great musical numbers, countless quotable lines, and a startlingly accurate exposé into the personalities and escapades of the people who rock our world.

10 Things I Hate About You

Time to take a look at Heath Ledger's second film on my blog, and my personal favourite of his. I know you probably can't believe that I would pick a film like this over 'The Dark Knight' or 'Brokeback Mountain', and while I do respect those films, this one has always been the one I enjoyed the most, and still enjoy no matter how many times I watch it.

The directorial debut of Gil Junger, who until that point had only worked on TV shows, 10 Things I Hate About You was released in 1999 and stars heath Ledger & Julia Stiles, at the time relative newcomers. It co-stars Joseph Gordon Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz and Larry Miller. A moderate box office success at the time of release, the film is ranked 10th on the list of highest grossing Teen Romances, and 18th highest grossing High School Comedies. The film itself is a modern reworking of Shakespears' 'The Taming Of the Shrew', and centres around an attractive high school girl who is forbidden from dating until her unpopular, nonconformist sisters does so. Believe me, its nowhere near as melodramatic as it sounds.

The film begins with a boy called Cameron (Gordon Levitt) being introduced to Padua, his new school, by friendly geek Michael (Krumholtz) when he espies Bianca Stratford (Oleynik), and immediately falls for her. Yes, its A Knights Tale all over again!

Michael informs Cameron that, while Bianca is beautiful and deep, she is vapid, conceited, and barred from dating until she graduates by her overprotective and paranoid father Walter (Miller). But after a confrontation about this rule, Walter makes an amendment, stating that Bianca can date when Kat (Stiles) her socially antagonistic sister starts doing so. Learning of this adjustment, Cameron and Michael look for somebody who will willingly date Kat, with limited success.

The duo then come across Patrick Verona, a high school rebel and outsider, and decide his is there guy, but when they find out he will not date Kat without getting something in return, they decide to pay him. Having no money, they approach Joey Donner: Rich kid, jock and douche-bag, who is also interested in Bianca. Joey pays Verona to date Kat, but she is initially hostile towards his advances.

Should you be drinking alcohol if you don't have a liver?

Really, that's all that really needs to be said of the story. Patrick tries his best to woo Kat, while Joey and Cameron both compete for Bianca's affections. Its one of Shakespears' classic plays brought to the big screen, and I'm delighted to say that it doesn't disappoint. The film is an absolute riot from beginning to end. I've seen it countless times and, like with Beavis & Butthead, even though I know what lines and scenarios are approaching, I laugh just as hard at them each time. The writing is fantastic, the characters are so loveable and witty, even the nasty ones. The romance is more palpable than in A Knights Tale, and I think that Ledger is more suited to his role in this film. All the actors are perfectly cast. Ledger makes a great high school rebel, Stiles effortlessly pulls of the misunderstood antagonistic, Cameron and Michael make the most adorable nerdy double teem, and Larry Miller is as reliable as ever when it comes to his comic timing, giving some of us the movies best 1 liners. But overall, like Napoleon Dynamite, it's just a very, very nice film, and sometimes, that's more important than anything.

So that's all I'm gonna say. It's been one of my favourites for years, and it's one I never tire of. See it today, add it to your collection, and enjoy it forever more.

The One

For those of you who have ever seen a martial arts film, you will know that their plots are often fairly straightforward. One guy knows martial arts, the other guy knows martial arts, one is good, one is evil, they fight repeatedly and the good guy eventually comes out on top. Simple yet effective. Well if there is one martial arts film that can combine good old fashioned hand to hand combat with a needlessly contrived and wildly over explained plot, it's The One.

Released in 2001 under the direction of James Wong (Final Destination) and starring Jet Li, Jason Statham, Delroy Lindo and Carla Guingo, The One depicts a reality in which there is not a single Universe, but many, a 'Multiverse'. That means that every person in the world has a counterpart in every universe. If one of the counterparts die, their energy is distributed between the others. So the more counterparts that die, the stronger the remainders become. In the middle of all this is a an L.A. cop called Gabe Law, who has noticed that his strength, both physical and mental, has been increasing over the past few years. If that synopsis makes no sense to you, then you are not alone. So lets try and dissect this cinematic enigma.

The movie begins with a prisoner called Lawless (Li) being transported to another prison. But before the transfer can occur, Lawless is killed by YuLaw (Li again), who has been travelling around the other parallel universes, killing his counterparts so he can become 'The One', a being of supreme power. With Lawless dead, only 1 counterpart remain, Law (Li yet again). Yu Law tracks him down and tries to kill him, but Gabe is always aware of his presence, and so his plans are repeatedly foiled.

Hot on the tail of YuLaw are 2 men: Rodecker & Funsch (Lindo & Statham respectively). They are Multiverse Agents, members of an organisation which polices the travel between universes, and YuLaw has been breaching their regulations. Gabe continues to attempt to avoid YuLaw with the help of the agents, who try and tell Gabe what has been happening to him and why, but he is reluctant to believe them.

Judo Kick!

So, did you understand any of that? I didn't think so. The plot is by far the films biggest letdown. It's so nonsensical to the point where you think it might just as well have been an afterthought. The film falls into the trap that the Matrix films did. The more it tried to explain, the more confusing it became. Answering 1 query just resulted in a bunch more springing up. The whole Multiverse issue is pretty interesting but it still raises questions. If every person has an identical counterpart, does that mean every time someone is born in one universe, they are born in all the other universes simultaneously. Does that mean the people in all the universe are also procreating at the same time too? What if a woman has a miscarriage, do all the unborn counterparts die as well? It's just not a solid enough idea. It's like films about time travel, they always have some pretty glaring holes in them.

With that said, the rest of the film is actually not bad. The characters are fun, the shoot-em-up scenes, while being a bit of a Matrix rip-off, are cool to watch, the fight scenes are great thanks to Li's skills, and if your willing to suspend your reasoning and logical mechanisms, then you'll have a good time watching it too. Just switch off your brain and let the bullets, kicks and punches fly.

Sleepy Hollow

Back in 1820, Washington Irving wrote 'The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow', a short story about a schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane who is pursued by a mysterious Headless Horseman, the stories antagonist. Since then, a multitude of adaptions have come to fruition, and the 1999 film adaptation Sleepy Hollow is the one I'm going to look at today.

Directed by Tim Burton and starring, predictably, Johnny Depp, alongside Christina Ricci, Christopher Walken, and Michael Gambon. It tells the story of Crane (Depp) a Police Constable who is dispatched to Sleepy Hollow, a small town in upstate New York, to investigate a series of brutal decapitations. Here he tries to unravel the mystery that has been plaguing the town. The result is a visually impressive, well-paced and engaging movie steeped in atmosphere and beautiful Butronesque dark and Gothic tones.

New York Police Constable Ichabod Crane, a firm believer and pioneer of forensics and empirical practises, is sent by his superiors to investigate a series of murders in the quiet town of Sleep Hollow. When he arrives, he meets the town leader Baltus Van Tassel (Gambon) and his daughter Katrina (Ricci). The town elders inform Crane of who they believe is responsible for the deaths. They tell him it is a Headless Horseman (Walken), the resurrected body of a Hessian Mercenary, notable for his ferocious appearance and extreme blood-lust. After meeting his demise, he was buried in the towns Western Woods, has subsequently returned from Hell, and is currently reeking havoc on the area.

Crane, being a man of science and not of superstition, is initially reluctant to believe these stories, until he himself encounters the Horseman. Whilst he is shaken by the incident, he makes an important discovery: The Horseman does not kill indiscriminately, and is being controlled by the person who removed the skull from his grave.

As the film continues, we find that the Horseman is merely a pawn in a complicated conspiracy that harks back to the time when the Horseman was alive, and when one of our main characters was robbed of everything she had, and swore revenge on those who destroyed her life.

Rough Morning?

While I am not a big Tim Burton fan, I really enjoy this film, and regard it as one of his best. One of it's greatest aspects is the beautiful set designs. Rarely have I seen a historic flick where the locations and visuals are so rich and authentic. Every scene is encased in a tenebrous air, and the town of Sleepy Hollow is frequently blanketed by a layer of thick, pernicious mist. Dark tones are one of Burton's established trademarks, but they are pulled off so well here you stop caring that Burton has done pretty much the same thing in pretty much every one of his films.

Other than that, the story is very interesting, me being a sucker for grim historic epics. The actors hold up well, and the bond between Ichabod and Kristina is pretty likeable. The scenes of Horseman killing his victims are pretty intense, as are the sword fights and the movies fantastic climax.

After doing a little research, I was alarmed to discover that the film differs so vastly from Irving's story. I can't list the diversions her as I would end up giving away some major plot points. Let's just say it stuck to the original story as well as Uwe Boll's 'Alone In the Dark'.

With that aside, the movie is well directed, well acted, has an interesting plot and looks absolutely gorgeous. If you're a Burton fan, you'll adore it. If not, you'll still have a good time.