Trainspotting

If I asked you to empty your mind and think of a Scottish film, you would almost certainly say 'Braveheart', and you would be forgiven for this. It won 5 Academy Awards, and represented, accurately or not, arguably the most famous Scotsman ever to have lived: William Wallace. But for today's review, I'm going to check out another Scottish movie, one that received critical acclaim upon release, and remains a favourite among movie lovers: Trainspotting.

Released in 1996 under the direction of Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire), and based on the Irvine Welsh book, Trainspotting stars Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle and Kevin McKidd. It focuses on a group of heroin addicts and the events that transpire over the course of an indefinite period of time. Voted the Best Scottish Film by a general poll in 2004, it's gritty, harsh, and portrays drug addicts in an unbelievably stark manner. Let's dive right it.

The movie opens on Princes Street, Edinburgh, where 2 of our main characters, Renton (McGregor) and Spud (Bremner) are seen running from the authorities after a failed robbery. This leads into an introduction of our other central characters, Sick Boy (Miller), Tommy (McKidd), and Begbie (Carlyle). Renton, Spud and Sick Boy are heroin addicts, spending their time shooting up in their dealer's flat. After one of his hits wears off, Renton declares that he is quitting Heroin, and going to live a normal life.

After the inevitable withdrawal, Renton, along with Spud and Sick Boy (who have also quit) go about like like ordinary citizens. But the realities of their lives which they have been avoiding through Heroin use hit them full-force, and after several unfortunate incidents to hammer the point home, they take to Heroin once again. Unfortunately, this only serves to fuel their descent into misery and depression, as everything around them falls apart, and the group slowly begins to dissolve.

To escape his fruitless life in Edinburgh, Renton leaves for London, where he finally sets himself up for a life of peace and sobriety. But escaping his past proves harder than he first imagined, as several of his old 'friends' pay him a visit, bearing increasingly bad news.

The movie is about as frank an account of drug addiction as has been seen in cinema. It did for drugs what 'The Lost Weekend' did for alcohol, presenting a warts-and-all story of how it affects everyday people, and how out of control their lives becomes when they are dependent on such a manipulating and destructive force. But it doesn't just look at the dangerous of illicit substances, it looks at the volatility of friendships as well. Begbie is one of the most horrible, uncaring characters ever committed to celluloid. He doesn't need drugs, he gets his kicks from violence and chaos. Bar fights, brawls, or just picking on somebody who was making too much noise for his liking, nobody is safe from his wrath. We can only assume that our protagonists remain friends with him due to the fact that it's better to be with the Devil than against him.

All of this adds up to a very shocking and memorable flick. Unflinching, uncompromising, decadent, depraved, but also with it's humorous and optimistic moments, Trainspotting is a must-have for an movie buff. There's no movie like it, and there probably never will be.

The Big Lebowski

For my 1 year anniversary review I took a look at the movie 'Withnail & I', and during the review I remarked upon the film's quotability; i.e, it's plethora of recitable lines that people use in day-to-day situations. While making this comment, I mentioned a movie of a similar disposition; one where almost every line has been used by it's fans in their own lives, much to the amusement of themselves and others. From the productive minds of the Coen brothers, it's their 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski.

Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, David Huddleston and Steve Buscemi, The Big Lebowski follows a humble slacker who is mistaken for a millionaire businessman, and in turn, becomes embroiled in a kidnapping and random scheme. Unappreciated in it's times, the movie has since become one of the world's pre-eminent cult films, spawning posters, t-shirts, bumper stickers and even it's very own festival. Funny almost beyond description, it deserves a mention on this blog, so here it is.

The movie opens in LA, where we are introduced to our hero, and I do mean hero: The Dude. Aside from being one of the coolest, funniest, and most likable characters in cinematic history, he's played by Jeff Bridges, one of the acknowledged 'dudes' of the film world. Trust me, he kicks ass.

The Dude is an unemployed stoner and bowling enthusiast who returns home one night and gets attacked by thugs who mistake him for the wealthy Jeff Lebowski, which also happens to be The Dude's real name. After not getting what they want, one of the thugs urinates on The Dudes rug, much to The Dude's annoyance. Believe it or not, this minor act of soiling becomes, essentially, the driving forces of the movie. No, I'm not kidding.

The Dude discusses his woes with his bowling team-mates: Walter (Goodman), an overzealous, easily angered Jewish Vietnam veteran; and Donny (Buscemi), a naive, good-natured, pro-bowler. The Dude decides to visit the 'Big Lebowski' (Huddleston), a prominent achiever who has no sympathy for The Dude's predicament, dismissing him as a 'bum'. But when Lebowski's wife Bunny gets kidnapped, he ropes in The Dude to get her back, completely forgetting the whole, 'good for nothing deadbeat' thing.

With the involvement of The Dude and Walter, what should be a very simple abduction story-line becomes wonderfully over-complicated with elements such as broody feminists, German Nihilists, private detectives, and blue movie directors. Thought a film could be more difficult to follow than Memento? Well this would give it a run for it's money.

Seeing this movie several years ago, it quickly shot up the list of my favourite comedies, and despite the number of times I've seen it, I laugh just as hard everytime. Much like comedy classics like 'Fawlty Towers', you not only laugh at the jokes, you laugh in anticipation of them. I start tittering when I know a funny scene is approaching, and throughout the scene, I'm in stitches.

As mentioned previously, it's the dialogue that makes this movie. 'Shut the fuck up Donny', 'They peed on my fucking rug', 'That's just, like, your opinion man', 'The Dude abides' the list goes on and on. I use so many lines from the film in my everyday life, and many hundreds of thousands of other people do likewise. The Coen brothers were definitely on-the-ball when they wrote the screenplay, and I could hear the words over and over again.

Finally, as I hinted previously, the film contains one of the most perfect casting choices in history. The Coen brothers themselves said that they wrote the film with Jeff Bridges in mind for the part, and Bridges himself has stated that it is the role he identified with most. When you watch the film, you don't see an actor, you see The Dude. He has no job, no prospects, no respect or sympathy from the majority, but he doesn't care. He's just living his life the way he wants to. A legend to some, a God to many, and the centerpiece of one of comedies most endearing achievements. The Big Lebowski; if you haven't seen it then beware, someone may just come along and cut off your Johnson!

Bad Boys II

Well, after looking at Bad Boys last week, it's only fitting that we take a gander at it's sequel, Bad Boys 2. If you thought the first one was insane, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Released in 2003, directed again by Michael Bay, and starring retuning actors Will Smith, Martin Lawrence and Joe Pantoliano alongside Gabriel Union and Jordi Mollà, Bad Boys 2 picks up the, ahem, story, 8 years later. This time our wise-cracking heroes are tasked with bringing down a Cuban drug lord, and investigating the trafficking of Ecstasy into Miami. This first film wasn't exactly restrained, but compared to this one, it was like watching The English Patient. Even by Bay's standards, it's wildly excessive, but is it enjoyably excessive? Let's find out.

The movie opens with the Miami Police Department's Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) tracking a shipment of Ecstasy coming in from Amsterdam. Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) are sent in undercover to intercept the shipment and apprehend those responsible. Unfortunately, the raid goes awry in almost every sense of the word. Back-up is delayed, the radios malfunction, Mike and Marcus are caught amidst a gun fight, and Mike even manages to shoot Marcus in the ass. Ouch!

Marcus has been re-evaluating his partnership with Mike, deciding to transfer to another department, feeling it is best for himself and his family. But unbeknownst to Marcus, Mike has been dating his sister Syd (Union), and is afraid to reveal this, believing it will create further tensions between them.

If that wasn't awkward enough, Syd is an undercover agent for the DEA, also attempting to bust the Ecstasy shipments, which turn out to be run by Johnny Tapia (Mollà, who ironically played a drug dealer in Blow), who imports his drugs via boat and distributes them via nightclubs run be reprehensible Russians gangsters

                                                         Just another day at the office

So just like in the last film, Mike and Marcus bend, and even break, numerous rules in order to bust the bad guys and save the day. Insert every action cliché in the book: Car chases, shoot-outs, explosions, and the obligatory one-liners. All make it into this film, and Bay exploits them like there is no tomorrow. Watching the 2 films back-to-back, you would never guess the were made by the same person, the first one wasn't exactly subtle, but it had it's grounded moments. In this movie everything is fast paced, loud, in your face. The quiet scenes are truncated to make way for longer and louder action scenes. The plot is toned down so it doesn't interfere with the crashing and smashing. On some levels, it's incredibly annoying. It felt like when I was on the Khao San Road in Bangkok, where everything is up close and unrelenting.

But on other levels, it does what it needs to do: Give you an unadultered shot of adrenaline straight to the eye sockets. The brash nature of the action scenes actually do make them a lot of fun to watch, and nearly every single one of them is memorable; about the only parts of the movie that are.

Received by critics even less favourably than it's predecessor, Bad Bays 2 is a stupid film, but it's a knowingly stupid film. It isn't intelligent, but never gives the impression that it is. Bay is doing what he does best; directing mayhem and marketing it to the teenage demographic. While it is tiresome and utterly incomprehensible, I still enjoy it. It's the type of film that, with select friends and a copious supply of alcohol, makes the perfect night in. Bad Boys 2:  Possibly the dumbest film you will ever admit to enjoying.

Bad Boys

Today readers, I'm going to review a Michael Bay movie. Apologies in advance.

Yes Michael Bay is almost on par with M. Night Shyamalan when it comes to cinematic punchlines. Whenever you see either of their names in a movies pre-credits, you simply can't stifle a giggle. But it's not unjust; both have earned their negative reputation. But today's film I wasn't even aware was directed by Bay until doing research for movies for this blog. That's not the crazy thing however. What is crazy is that I really, really like this film, and I bet you do too. This is Bad Boys.

Released in 1995, and starring Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Tea Leoni and Joe Pantoliano, Bad Boys follows 2 police officers trying to track down a stolen drug stash by switching identities. Like most Bay films, it was an enormous financial success, but failed to please the majority of critics. In most regards, it's a guilty pleasure in every sense of the phrase, but with a completely over-the-top buddy cop crime caper starring Martin Lawrence, what else could you be expecting?

The movie opens with a group of masked criminals stealing a considerable volume of Heroin from a Miami Police Station. Mildy peeved by this, Police Captain Howard (Pantoliano) calls in 2 Narcotics Officers, handsome, smooth talking Mike Lowrey (Smith), and hot-headed family man Marcus Burnett (Lawrence). Did I mention this was buddy-cop movie?

With Internal Affairs convinced the raid was an inside job, and giving the cops only 5 days to recover the dope before the department is shut down, Lowrey & Burnett immediately start investigating. After an informant friend of Lowrey's is found dead with remnants of the stolen Heroin nearby, they discover a surviving witness from the crime scene, Julie (Leoni), who can identify the perpetrators. Unfortunately, she will only divulge her knowledge to Lowrey, who is out of action with a head injury. Desperate to find out what she knows, Howard orders Burnett to assume Lowrey's identity. Initially unconvinced, Julie rebuffs his attempts to help her, but eventually relents.

                                                       Must resist Men In Black joke!

Well it's a Michael Bay film, so I guess we should begin with the negatives. The concept, old as history. The plot, weak and often incomprehensible. The action, same old. It's a tired formula pretty much on it's last legs. Nothing new, no nutrients added, no waste material removed.

But now the positives, because there are a few that stand out. First of all, the supporting performances. Not Oscar-worthy, but everyone does a convincing job in their respective role. Pantoliano as the perpetually frustrated Captain, and Julie as the reluctant informant and occasional damsel in distress. The villain, while clichéd, is good fun to watch. Even when he smiles and seems happy, an air of menace always following him, even if his ultimate motivation is nothing more than money.

But what makes this movie is it's 2 leads. Smith and Lawrence work off each other perfectly. It's very much the way you would go on at your best friends, slinging verbal abuse and taunts at one another, and at the end of the day saying 'So, see you tomorrow then?' Director John Singleton once said that you 'can't cast chemistry', and that true friendship between characters has to be natural in order to be realistic. This is very much the case here. The best parts of the film are watching Smith and Lawrence vocally toing-and-froing, unscripted in some cases. The screenplay is often very amusing, but Bay allegedly did not like significant portions of it, and encouraged Smith and Lawrence to free-associate, resulting in some of the films's funniest and most memorable scenes.

So, yeah, a worn-out formula, emphasised by raw Michael Bay vacuousness; but out of the muddy waters of  unoriginality slither performances and dialogue that almost pull it's head above the water. If you had no idea Bay directed this, you would think it was dumb. If you did, you would know it was. Take it for what it's worth. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Wayne's World

Today's movie holds a special significance for me. Why? Because the main character has the same name as me of course: This is Wayne's World.

Based on the popular 'Saturday Night Live' Sketch, Wayne's World was released in 1992 under the direction of Penelope Spheeris (The Little Rascals) and stars Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere and Rob Lowe. The story follows 2 best friends and their hugely popular cable-television show. One of the wittiest comedies ever made, it's an instant classic, and we're gonna look at it today.

Wayne Campbell (Myers) and Garth Algar (Carvey), 2 dim-witted but friendly guys from Illinois host a weekly TV show which is very popular with the locals. Ben Kane (Lowe), a TV executive, sees the potential profit to be made from the show, and after meeting our 2 heroes, buys the rights to the show from them for $10,000, keeping them as the hosts.

Around the same time, Wayne falls for a rock singer and bassist named Cassandra (Carrere) of the band Crucial Taunt. Unfortunately, Benjamin also takes a liking to her, and after sending Wayne and Garth off to an Alice Cooper gig, attempts to get close to her, offering her a record deal.

Upon hosting their first show under Benjamin's direction, they discover that they are being forced to interview the show's sponsor, and after Wayne threatens to walk out, they find out that all Benjamin wants is the rights to the show, and couldn't care less about whether or not our protagonists are involved.

With tensions mounting between Wayne, Garth and Cassandra, our hapless heroes are forced to do all they can to retake their show and get everything back to the way it was. Along the way they encounter cameos from Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, Fabio and Robert Patrick.

One of the few SNL sketches to make the successful transition to film, Wayne's World is a perfect example of a silly film done right. Much like Myer's Austin Powers movies, you don't take it seriously, but the film KNOWS you aren't supposed to take it seriously. None of it's outlandish elements are overdone or shoved in your face. It's a series of funny, likeable characters interacting through a series of peculiar and surreal scenarios. Our 2 heroes are impossible not to like. Their wide-eyedness, their naivety, the conversations they have and some of the quips they make are just hysterical. My personal favourite has to be 'Garth, marriage is punishment for shoplifting in some countries.' Awesome.

Nothing else to say really. Wayne's World is a great idea with a great delivery. Funny, smart, charming and undeniably lovable; what more could you possibly want?

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

So we come to it at last. The final movie in our celebration of arguably the worlds best known action star. A man whose body count is in astronomical figures. One who will happily punch man, woman, child, alien or camel. The master of explosions and cheesy quips now reaches his finest hour. The moment you've all been waiting for: Arnold Schwarzenegger's magnum opus Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Released in 1991, 7 years after the original, and directed once again by James Cameron, Terminator 2 stars Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick and Earl Boen. The central idea is similar to the first film, but this time we have 2 Terminators sent back in time to duke it out. It's a fitting conclusion to 'Schwarzenegger Month', as well as one of my favourite movie of all time; let's see why.

The movie takes place 11 years after the events portrayed in the original. John Conner (Furlong), now a 10 year old boy, lives a rebellious lifestyle in Los Angeles. His mother Sarah (Hamilton) has been committed for her fervent beliefs that the machines will rise up against humans, and that 'Judgement Day', a day in which almost all of mankind will be exterminated, is imminent. She attempts to convince her Psychiatrist Dr. Silberman (Boen, reprising his role from the first movie), that she no longer believes in this future, and is ready to transfer to a minimum security facility so she can be visited by John. Silberman believes that Sarah is simply telling him what he wants to hear, and will attempt to escape should she be moved.

John lives with foster parents, and has all but disowned his mother, of whom he is embarrassed, not buying any of her 'Leader of the Future Resistance' stories. But that all changes when Skynet sends, what else, a Terminator, back in time to kill him. This particular Terminator, a T-1000 (Patrick), is an advanced prototype with liquid metal skin, and the ability to imitate people, voices, and even create 'knives, and stabbing weapons'. Fortunately, the human resistance is able to send a Terminator of it's own, albeit a bog-standard one. A model T-800 (Schwarzenegger), reprogrammed to protect John, finds him at roughly the same time as the T-1000, and the battle for John Connor's life and his destiny as humanities last hope begins.

Just like in the first movie, also a masterpiece, the evil Terminator stalks it's quarry relentlessly. Now Arnold, John and his mother (who they broke out of the asylum), have the challenge of not only fighting off an unstoppable predator, but of also preventing the day in which mankind will be almost entirely decimated by weapons and equipment that they had designed to protect themselves, a theme explored more recently in I, Robot (2004).

                                          Governor of California? This guy? Yeah right!

What results is one of the most intelligent, well paced, earnestly acted and brilliantly directed flicks of all time. Say what you want about James Cameron, he knows how to do an action movie, and this is by far his finest achievement, as well as Arnold's. This film has some of the best action scenes in history. Car chases, shoot-outs, 1-on-1 battles, this film has them all, and each one is better than the last.

As well as the adrenaline-charged actions, the film is also backed up by a solid and well-developed storyline. It's great to see the concept of global destruction being examined, and the impact it has on the people who allegedly have the power to stop it is fascinating as well as compelling.

I also love the emotional turmoil John goes through. In his first feature film, Furlong is stellar in the role of a reluctant Messiah, realizing that not only has everything that his mother told him been true, but also having to come to terms with his role as mankind's soon-to-be saviour.

As with any film you adore, it's possible to talk about it for hours, but I'm just going to wrap it up here. One of my favourite movies, easily top 5, Terminator 2 is clever, thrilling, has great characters, groundbreaking special effects, and a legitimately emotional ending. A landmark in Sci-Fi Cinema, and culture in general.

Hope you enjoyed Schwarzenegger Month, another special month coming your way in August.

The Running Man

Today's movie will be familiar to anyone who has read/seen the recent cultural phenomenal 'The Hunger Games', in that it's core concepts are practically identical. The penultimate film in our celebration of the former Californian Governator, The Running Man.

Released in 1987, under the direction of Paul Michael Glaser (originally Andrew David) and starring Arnold along-side Maria Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto and Marvin McIntyre; it features, as I hinted before, a group of people fighting for survival in a brutal contest that is broadcast to the nation. It's another classic Arnold 'Kill and quip' thriller, and another one released from the golden age of action flicks. What does it have in store for you? Allow me to fill you in.

The film is set in the far future (2017). The world, would you believe it, has become a dystopia, in which the Government placates the hoi polloi by broadcasting a number of ultra-violent TV shows. One of the most popular of these is The Running Man, in which convicted criminals are placed in a gladiatorial arena, and forced to battle trained warriors. The winners receive a full pardon and are set free, the losers get exactly what they deserve. What you expect, sorry.

Enter Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger) a military pilot who, after refusing to fire on a group of starving civilians, gets himself arrested, and the entire incident is doctored to look like he not only fired upon the civilians, but did so out of disobedience and malice. Thus, Richards is imprisoned, and eventually blackmailed into competing in the show by it's charismatic host Killian (Dawson). Also forced to take part as 'runners' are 2 of Arnold's friends Laughlin & Weiss (Kotto and McIntyre respectively), and Amber (Alonso), who grassed him up and got him in this mess in the first place.

Our 4 main characters are forced to defend themselves against a host of choleric, bloodthirsty baddies who wield weapons such as chainsaws, flamethrowers and razor-sharp hockey sticks. To defeat them and bring down the smug, suit-wearing villain, Arnold is forced to summon all his bulging muscles and facetious one-liners, resulting in all of his trademarks coming out in full bloom.

The 80s and early 90s were rife with movies of this nature, and Schwarzenegger was most definitely in his element. Not being famed for his acting prowess, the filmmakers very wisely allowed Arnold's actions do the talking. As a result, many of the films were pretty samey, but if you liked the concept, you always got a kick out of them, and that's what we have with The Running Man. Anyone familiar The Hunger Games and the Japanese Battle Royal film series will be familiar with the set up. Unlike Total Recall, which had a very unique concept, The Running Man doesn't. Other criticisms include an uninteresting villain who's only real motivation is money and recognition, and a very bland female lead who's only job is to look pretty and be rescued from peril.

If you are looking for a run-of-the-mill Schwarzenegger film, this is a fair choice. If you are looking for more depth and substance, I would skip it. It's not the best movie he's ever made; far from it. But don't worry, we'll cover that film next week.