Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Courtesy of Arrow Video

 

They always say, the second album is the hardest to make, but when it comes to sequels, they can sometimes outshine the original. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was a hit, with a modest box office result and ended up with a cult following to boot. The story that followed this one really had to be something special. Following 3 years later, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey arrived but with a slightly different vibe. With Peter Hewitt at the helm, this being his directorial debut feature and though time travel was involved, this time our unlikely heroes were going to hell and back again, with much more than a school project at stake. Getting the Arrow Video treatment in 4K, alongside the extras including EPK footage from the year of release, documentaries exploring the making of, an indepth look at the production design and the usual Arrow extras that make these release stand out, its great to see the sequel in this series get a bit more attention.

Full review over at Filmhounds. 

Holy Days

Courtesy of Lightbulb Film Distribution

 

It's strange how a story featuring nuns trying to save their convent and a young boy still grieving the death of his mother should in some way involve prayer and a closeness to God, but there is barely a religious bearing in the entire film, and oh my it is refreshing! Nat Boltt’s script, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Dame Joy Cowley, and directorial debut feature is a film that fit very well in the genre of surprisingly uplifting New Zealand based, incredibly wholesome and funny to boot films that have been released in recent years. Through all the action packed, crime ridden, violent angry films out there, its actually a pleasant diversion to go on a journey with three elderly nuns in a nearly broken down car in search of very important paperwork.

Full review over at Filmhounds.

The Legend of Ochi

 
Harking back to the adventure films of the 80s and 90s where things felt more innocence and slightly more exciting, writer-director Isaiah Saxon takes us into a new world, strange yet still familiar. The island where these characters live, described as a small island and yet there are mountains, rivers and a vast landscape that takes days to cross. Possibly compared to the rest of the world the island is small but here provides a magnificent backdrop to a story of courage, curiosity and connection. The Legend of Ochi is an adventure as well as a fantasy that could just about capture the imagination of any age.

Yuri, a young farm girl living on the remote island of Carpathia, has been brought up to never go out after dark and fear the mysterious reclusive creatures known as the Ochi. Her eccentric father is obsessed with killing the creatures and trains a group of young volunteers to protect the village. But when Yuri finds an injured baby Ochi, she decides to journey across the island to return it to its home.

Full review over at Filmhounds. 

The Island of Lost Girls

 

Family videos are usually only fun to make and watch for those involved and can be a personal adventure that doesn’t quite translate well when shared outside the circle. The Schmidt family have tried to make a combination of a fictional story mixed in with real family members playing a version of themselves. The Schmidt family are no stranger to this way of filmmaking, having debuted another film, The Incredible Adventures of Jojo (and His Annoying Little Sister Avila) at Fantasia back in 2015, but with this follow up, they’ve taken risks which on the whole do pay off.

Full review over at Filmhounds HERE.

Thor: Love & Thunder

 

SPOILERS

There seems to be a not so universal love for Thor: Love & Thunder out there in the Marvel fan universe. This is surprising, due to the very warm welcome Thor: Ragnarok received. Applauded for the comedy, story and bringing Thor back from the brink of the Dark World debacle. Director Taika Waititi was an out the box choice for a Marvel film and it paid off. Giving the director a second chance at recreating that magic, plus picking up Thor’s character after all the grief and loss he experienced in the previous films was no easy challenge.

Including the trend of the last few Marvel films where other characters from the Avengers films make a more prominent appearance, so do the Guardians of the Galaxy, minus Gamora which isn’t talked about because rightly so, this isn’t their film. But with Star Lord and co there to ground the story in the universe, like the left fielders themselves, Thor is then transported to his own story. It’s a hilarious and a needed intro, bringing the focus to Thor and a hint to where the Guardians will be when we next see them, finally.

Similar to the Multiverse of Madness did before, Love & Thunder brings back an old flame from a previous film. Unlike the pointless and dull Dr Christine Palmer and Doctor Strange that have no chemistry, Dr Jane Foster and Thor did. The reappearance of Jane was either going to be a passing of the mantle or it was going to mean a farewell. From the minute its revealed (very early on) that she has stage 4 cancer, it was always going to be the latter. The twists and turns of her becoming the Mighty Thor were also going to be patchy and thin but it didn’t matter because it meant Jane was back and she was going to get a proper farewell. The grief and pain that Thor has had to go through is reaches the highest with the loss of the love of his life. But Jane’s death was needed in the grand scheme of things, even though some believe that that Valhalla scene means the dead could come back.

For a story that sits outside Phase 4 of the Marvelverse plan, a decent villain was needed. Gor the God-butcher seemed like a good choice; a man infected by the sword that kills gods in his thirst for revenge. Played with the utmost dedication by Christian Bale, he embodies a man who worshipped a god who did nothing for his followers, letting them perish and die. Gor actually brings up fair points in the god killing and how it could be justified but because Thor is a god himself, we can’t have the villain kill all gods. New Asgard is where the drama is set and stakes are not about saving Earth or the universe or whatever, the story is contained with Asgardians it feels like a huge relief that the story only expands to other gods. The comedy is also amped up just making this film more fun. The moments of seriousness and sadness, which are inevitable, are treated carefully and don’t over power nor feel out of place, there is a balance.

Thor is broken man, or space viking or god, he seeks clarity and in the end is given purpose which makes the film feel like a closed story which is far more refreshing that what the other films in Phase 4 are doing. The fact that this phase is far bigger and too vast to contain all the characters with their own shows and films and spin offs, its too much to take in. The picture is too wide and with no direction but this is why Thor: Love & Thunder works so well, stepping outside the chaos to deliver a great story which we’ve been missing.

Gamera and Stockhom Syndrome

To review the latest limited edition boxset  I had immerse myself into the world of Gamera. All I knew was that Gamera was a gigantic turtle and was created in rivalry to Godzilla, basically a 'rip off' of the king of monsters. Little did I know once I was in too deep with this weird kaiju monster, I would soon turn from sceptic to actual fan of the monster films. 

Despite balancing between the ridiculous and pure action, I started to see a pattern in the films, not just the fights scenes between people in costumes, which I started to appreciate more and more as the films progressed, but there were patterns in Gamera's behaviour and its evolution. There was more to this franchise that I initally thought. But this might because I spent a whole week and one very intense day watching all the Gamera films, I may have just convinced myself that Gamera and all its weird ticks are amazing. For anyone wanting to explore the franchise, I would suggest the first film, Gamera, the Giant Monster, then possibly skip the 'vs' films as they are very similiar, and go straight to the 90s trilogy as these are hidden gems in the action film world.

Previously published at Vulturehound HERE.

The monster universe is as vast as it is humungous. For every kaiju monster hero there are several enemies. They fight, destroy cites, maybe even save a few lucky individuals, and ultimately, very entertaining, no matter how ridiculous everything seems.

After the success of the ‘Godzilla’ franchise, Gamera was set up as a rival, even appearing in a film together, but since those initial beginnings of rivalry, Gamera has become a cult icon in his own right. Spawning 12 films in the franchise, spanning from 1965 to 2006, Gamera is known for his affection for children, constantly saving those in peril and even sharing a psychic bond with them in the later films.

The whole story begins not with the monster’s origin but instead with his emergence from the ice in Antarctica. In the first film, we are just getting to know Gamera so there is no evil monster to battle with. Poor Gamera is left to contend with gunfire, bombs, being frozen, even though he saved that one boy who fell off a cliff, he’s still seen as a nuisance. The mistake that Gamera is actually a friend not an enemy is a reoccurring part of each film. What followed the success of ‘Gamera, the Giant Monster’ was an annual release of a film featuring the monster every year until 1971 and then later in 1980, ‘Gamera: Super Monster’ where he had to fight off all the evil monsters from previous films in the ‘vs’ part of the franchise. These years were named the ‘Shōwa period’ with the bulk of the films being directed by Noriaki Yuasa.

Moving into the 90s, Gamera is given a reboot, complete with upgraded look, modern visual effects and even, a better storyline, despite the use of an old foe, the bird like create Gyaos. The 90s reinvigorated the franchise, bring Gamera into the Heisei period. The trilogy serves as a condensed version of the ‘vs’ films, managing to cover space creatures and of course, aliens with questionable motives, another reoccurring theme within the Gamera universe. Including all the delightful 90s action film tropes, the final film (so far) in the franchise, ‘Gamera the Brave’ deals with abandonment with the main character looking back to when his father was killed right behind him and he himself was saved by Gamera. Of course, by 2006, gone are the amazing miniatures that were needed for explosions, gone are the actors dressed up as Gamera, gone are the nice homely touches of the handcrafted house and the kitsch feeling throughout. It’s fascinating to see the many changes over the years and literal evolution of the huge turtle in black and white to more modern Gamera. But change is good, in this case its progress. The stories are still the same, they have a routine and they follow it to the letter.

What’s fascinating about of Gamera is that he is already present in people’s minds. Seen as a myth or legend, closer to a folk hero by some and revered by others as ‘the devil’s envoy’. Of course, when Gamera first shows up, due to his sudden appearance and gigantic size and the fact that he breathes fire, he is a seen as a threat so of course the military and the government decide to bomb him. But as it turns out, appearances can be deceiving, well expect to those who are killed while Gamera is just having a stroll through a city. Gamera is in fact a gentle (to a point) giant monster. He saves children and protects Earth from all the evil monsters out there. The fact that Gamera has soft spot for children is brought up in nearly every film, the other monsters even learning about this weakness. He seems closer to the boys in the earlier films but during the 90s films, his allegiance switches. Labelled as a friend to children and carefully skirting the PG mark, until the 90s films, this is even a child friendly monster film, of course you have to overlook the alien cannibals and the aliens that use mind control on a couple of parents, but still, not as gruesome as other monster films.

Arrow Video is celebrating this lesser known kaiju monster franchise with a limited-edition boxset including all of the films in the franchise along with a few extras that would satisfy any lifelong fan and entertain those newcomers. After watching all the films, especially back to back, you could convert just about anyone to become a fan.

A gigantic turtle that breathes fire and can turn in to a fly saucer sounds like no match for Godzilla, in a fight and in films but if you add in the myriad of foes he’s had to battle, on Earth, in space and on unknown planets plus his gymnastic skills, Gamera could definitely give the so called king of monsters a run for his money.

Still Lost in La Mancha

The ill-fated production that started back in 2000 is quite the different one that eventually was released in 2018 at festivals and general release in January this year. The story behind the now infamous film that director/writer Terry Gilliam tried to make for 30 years may be the better one. Although there are redeeming moments, actors and of course the design, the Gilliam fairy tale flare, the film isn't quite what you would have hoped for.

Previously published on Vulturehound HERE.

Within the film industry, there are certain films that gain a reputation due to controversy, infamy or some strange tale of behind the scenes. But there are some films that known through film history because of their problems and back luck that plagued them. ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ was nearly 30 years in the making before it was finally completed and released in January this year (in the UK). Director and writer Terry Gilliam started working on the film back in 1989, secured funds in 1998, started shooting in 2000 but due to a string of unfortunate events, the production was shut down. Fast forward to 2018 where the film made its way to Cannes and a standing ovation. It seemed that Gilliam had finally had his dream realised. Until the reviews were released.

Having gone through a few rewrites before and since the ill-fated production in 2000, the story was settled as this; Toby, a successful commercials director returns to shoot in the same region of Spain a decade since he shot his graduation film featuring all local non-actors, ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’. After travelling back to the village, he finds that the old man, a cobbler, when they first met, believes that he is the real Don Quixote. From the moment these two are reunited, they end up on a trail of weird and maybe no so wonderful adventures together, Don Quixote believing Toby to be his squire and companion, Sancho, causing further problems for Toby.

It’s unfortunate to immediately feel as if the film has indeed gone through changes, mostly due to the segmented nature of the story and how it plays out. There are too many ‘pocket’ stories with minor characters that either feel too long or pointless and actually provide little impact to the film and story on the whole. The original story had Toby travelling through time and meeting Don Quixote in 16th Century Spain, which would have been more exciting and playing on the ‘man out of time’ genre. Instead, Toby flits between dreams, reality and his own delusions, not mention his own mental breakdown, unless you can explain the ending any differently.

One of the main saviours of the film is Jonathan Pryce, a frequent collaborator of Gilliam’s and thankfully an excellent character actor. From the moment we meet Javier the cobbler, just like Driver’s Toby, you know he’s something special. He embraces the full force of Quixote and his delusions of grandeur as well as the smaller moments of vulnerability where his facade is broken. Literally filling the armour of other great actors before him. You don’t doubt that Pryce was right for this role. Flitting between terrifying and playful, Pryce and Driver’s chemistry is also fun to watch and their scenes alone are by far the more interesting and entertaining. Driver too can be commended, again taking over from previous actors, playing Toby as someone who is equally lost and needs a purpose. It’s just such a shame this cast wasn’t given the story to go along with their talent.

Terry Gilliam has an eye for the fantastical and fairy tale like images but likes to twist and turn his stories into something bigger and bolder, not always achieving what you could only guess at what’s in his head. His last few films tried to go above and beyond but fell flat. ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ feels as if its clinging to the past, where maybe it should have stayed. The look and feel of the film is mesmerizing but not quite enough to bring back the magic of his earlier films.