Conviction

 It is Thursday night as I write this but I actually saw this out at Havelock North yesterday afternoon. Have spent all day in bed with a migraine so haven't been able to get busy with my fingers earlier.

 The flyer to Conviction states that Hillary Swank's performance in this film is so good that she'll be pushing for an Oscar nomination. Maybe, maybe not. She is good but not as good as in Million Dollar Baby. Sam Rockwell is very good. He plays an errant brother with a criminal history that is set up by a vindictive female cop. This sees him wrongfully jailed for murder. The great thing about his role is we are never made to feel sorry for him. Although he is innocent he is still an unsavoury character.

 There is something of the Erin Brokovich about Conviction. Poor lower class woman who makes good. It is based on a true story and is better than many critics are reviewing it as. Most of the reviews I have read have called it no more than a made for television movie. I think this is harsh. It isn't the greatest film made sure, but it isn't the worst either, and certainly not in the made for Television catagory.

 For me this film is about the story, and doesn't waver from it to be something it isn't meant to be. Story, and the people involved. Swank and Rockwell are very solid and bring real credibility to the point of the film. Swank is very good as a sister who knows her brother, Rockwell, is innocent.  After exhausting all legal avenues she decides to go back to school to graduate and then go to law school. It is quite an achievement and takes her 16-18 years to finally get her law degree so she can legally represent her brother.

 There are some very moving moments, and like many good films based on people it creates empathy within the viewer. I shall never forget the scene where Swank finally finds the evidence that had so long thought to have been destroyed and that will clear her brother. It is quite good because at that stage of the film it seemed as if all hope had been lost. When it happens you can feel a lift within yourself as you can see what she has put herself through finally coming to fruition. A good film that takes you down into the pits of despair and then pulls you out again.

  Overall this isn't in the great realms of films. But it isn't bad either. It has got some very memorable performances. The whole cast is good, and for any male Minnie Driver fans out there then you'll want to see this. At one stage she slips herself into a very nice tight black skirt and boy, for a woman of her age she looks mighty fine! All class and sexy to boot! It is a good story about the failings of the justice system and the incredible fight one woman went to clear her brother. Imagine spending almost two decades of your life in educating yourself to do that. It really was an incredible thing to attempt and achieve. You, as the viewer, really are with her every step of the way, even though her brother was a less than desirabe character. Innocent yes, but no more likable.

 And this is what makes the film memorable rather than remarkable. A very good story with some genuinely moving moments, with good performances to back it up. I would recommend you see it at some stage whether on the big screen or not. It is a good watch and better than some would have you believe. The Kiwi audiences I spoke to all agree.

Click here for a synopsis and more:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1244754/

Here for more:

http://rottentomatoes.com/m/conviction_2010/

And here for the official site:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/conviction/

Coogan's Bluff

 I topped off my nostalgic trip down horror lane of  last night with a classic Clint Eastwood film, Coogan's Bluff. I couldn't believe my eyes when I uncovered this on DVD at my video store. I saw this many times on television about the same times as I was at the flicks watching Hellraiser etc. More than any of those three horrors this movie really rolled back the years.

 Coogan's Bluff was one of the staples of New Zealand television during the 1980's. It is like The Towering Inferno which I reviewed several weeks ago. Both aired repeatedly anytime the stations needed a movie to fill a vacant slot. You know, like Inferno, it must be 25 years since I last saw this film and I was really looking forward to seeing it again. I always liked it as a teenager so I left it to last after the  horrors.

 Well I wasn't disapointed. I am surprised that I remembered  nothing of this film even after having seen it so many times. The great thing about this Eastwood outing is he was inadvertantly between characters. He had by 1968 left behind Blondie/The man with no name and had yet to become Dirty Harry. It is an important film in his career as he left behind the trap of being stereotyped as a western only actor.

 It is an over looked film in Eastwood's career. It is surprisingly good but certainly not his best film. What I particularly liked is that here he plays a deputy sherrif with a streak of mean but also with a very light heart. This is Eastwood leaving behind the hard image he had created for himself. In Bluff he is very much a ladies man and this is one of the few films he ever made like this. He is tough with the crooks when he needs to be but he has a very soft side to. He can certainly 'charm' the women!!

 It is this dual type personalilty that makes Bluff so interesting. The next time Eastwood appeared on screen as a cop he was a hard bitten mean basterd by the name of Callahan. It is interesting to speculate whether Bluff was an experiment by Eastwood and the film industry to see if he could fill the role of cop with an eye to giving him the future role of Dirty Harry. To me it feels like it.

 But this must not detract from Bluff as a stand alone film. Eastwood is good, and especially as the ladies man. He wears a cowboy hat and boots well,  and is both soft, reasonable, and hard within one character. The typical Eastwood humour is there and I really laughed out loud at a couple of lines.

 I just cannot tell you how much I enjoyed watching this movie after so many years. I loved it then and still do. It is a change of direction for Eastwood that ulimately led him to super stardom as he hefted a .44 magnum. It isn't his best film, but when you really think about it Eastwood never appeared in anything really bad. Average maybe but never bad. I suppose Coogan's Bluff is average but it is that all important step Eastwood took to becoming one of the most immortal cops ever filmed.

 Thoroughly enjoyable! And like The Towering Inferno, a film that has stayed with me.

Click here for a synopsis and more:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062824/

RIP Jane Russell

 I just picked up the paper about an hour ago to find that Jane Russell had died on the 28th February. I admit to not knowing much about her but as this is a cinema/film blog I had to mention it. She was certainly one of the first acknowledged sex-bombs of the big screen during the 1940's and 50's, but whose career fell away in the late 50's due to booze and never recovered.
 Never a great actress it is always sad to see our own mortality mirrored in the death of such a public name and figure.

Re-Animator

 This is the last of the three horrors I watched within the last few hours. It is by far the best of them, and unlike the other two it hasn't dated as badly.

 I am surprised because after the first two 80's horrors I was expecting this one to be the same. It was made in 1985 and has stood the test of time remarkably well. I would put this down to the fact that it is very similar to the Saw films in use of the effects. They really haven't changed much in over 25 years. To call Re-animator a horror is a mis-nomer. It is more a comedy/gorefest. And a damn fine one!

 Yes!! It has tits in it! So lets get that 80's clique out of the way first ( and they are yummy! ). This film  has actually got some reasonable acting and a semblance of a plot. It isn't too much of a burden on the brain to watch, but it just so enjoyable! I just loved every minute of it. The character Herbert West is well portrayed, so dead pan and serious whilst his experiment is causing bloody mayhem around him.

 I especially like it when he cut off doctor Hill's head and re-animated it in a metal surgical dish. Hilarious, and for its age still looking good. Like I stated if you have seen the Saw films then you'll know what to expect gore wise in this film. But I would rather watch Re-Animator any day over Saw. I have a real problem with the Saw fims. How do we watch that stuff as entertainment?? Re-

Animator has a comedic element so it can't be taken too seriously. It is so stupid that it is highly entertaining.

 Another 'cult' classic, and with this one I can see why. Stupid?, yes, bloody?, yes, great fun? ABSOLUTELY!!!  An 80's horror/comedy/gorefest that has stood the test of time remarkably well over many other films of its type from the era. Well worth seeing if you are into the genre or are broad minded enough and watch anything involving celluloid.

Click here for more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Animator

Night Of The Demons

 This film was made in 1988 when I was about 16 or 17. I'm sure it had an R18 rating so this will be why I didn't see this at the flicks way back then. I can remember it being released on VHS but for some reason it never made it home. 

 From what I can gather Night of the Demons has something of a 'cult' status, ( good word cult for a horror don't you think!! ). I suppose all horror films have their followers and detractors. I've even read of a horror lover saying he didn't think much of The Evil Dead! Sacriledge!!

 Like Hellraiser, Night of the Demons has dated, and not dated well. In its day this would have been scary as hell, but I found it no more than a nostalgia trip .The make up and effects are very typical 80's and while great then are now laughable. Sorry horror fans but you have to admit they do pretty old and somewhat lame now.

 But if you look at it through the eyes of the time then this wasn't a bad horror. I actually enjoyed it in a funny kind of way, maybe I was possessed?!!. Sure it is old but it is reasonably constructed, but slow to get to the horror, and would have scared teenagers silly in its day. It has the usual 80's horror cliques, teens, sex, boobs, scary old funeral palour with a history of murder, booze etc, but horror was about scares not plot.
 This film pre-dated  Demons and Demons 2 by several years. I saw both when I was 17 and remember plenty of 'willies' moments. After seeing this film the demons make up was obviously in vogue and the height of scary back then.
 Again, like Hellraiser, it is showing its age, but I enjoyed it in a nostalgic kind of way. It is a real snapshot of what teenagers in the 80's done for scares on a Friday night.
Click here for more:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093624/

Hellraiser

 Off to the video shop with me to return with nine DVDs and VHS!! Have just watched four!! After visiting some of the better looking horror blogs, and there are some good ones out there, I thought I'd hire some of the films I saw as a teenager.

 It is amazing how many films you can see and forget! Some of those blogs have brought some real memories flooding back for me. I didn't realise how many horrors I saw as a young fella. It also shows how many I didn't see and how many I have never heard of. I have admitted in some of my earlier posts that I'm not a horror fan per se, but I do occasionally endure, oops, partake!

 Well I rented Hellraiser because I saw this in 1988 in Wellington with a cousin and a couple of his mates. By god I'll tell you now that it scared the living daylights out of me. Twenty three years later I couldn't remember much except the opening few scenes. I vividly remember the guy opening the box and the chains with fish hooks flying out of the walls and jagging him. I also remember when he was brought back to life by the dripping blood on the floor boards. And of course the torn apart face being pieced back together. But that was it.

 What I saw just hours ago made me laugh! And hard. How the hell it scared me  is beyond belief now! My god how it has dated!!!!!!!! And that is the crux of it. In its day the special effects were on the cutting edge but today look extremely lame. But because they are dated doesn't mean they are irrelevant. I love watching older films to see how far special effects have developed. By god they have come along way since 1987 when this was made.

 Hellraiser is interesting in that it doesn't have the obligatory and cliqued 80's horror boob shots. Hmmmmm..... I was a teenager then so now I remember why I went to horrors, it is all coming back to me!!!! 

 I remember seeing Hellraiser 2 the next year and being equally as scared!. Don't think I'll bother spending the money on that one as they really are just so dated. But what great fun to visit the past. I can see why horrors have the following they have. Even dated stuff like this is still viewed today by afficianados of the genre.

 Scary once, and I mean in 1988 this was GENUINELY scary, but not anymore. I found both Paranormal Activity films creepy and looking back at Hellraiser I wonder, how will they  stack up in twenty three years time when I give them a nostalgic viewing?

Visit Emily C at The quest to watch every movie made ( great title for a blog and it makes me wish I'd been more imaginative in naming my own,  and I hope she succeds because I'm trying to do the same thing!) for a good horror selection, and Horror movie a day, which is soley horror orientated and damn good. Both have clickable links on my blog.

Click here for more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellraiser 

Million Dollar Baby

 From a film I liked but found flawed to one that is just outright perfection. I really knew nothing about Million dollar Bay except that Hillary Swank had won her second Oscar for this outing. So I settled in with just the basic knowledge that Clint is great!!

 Well he blew me out of my chair, and then the room with this one. At the end I was stunned to say the least, and it lasted well after I went to bed. I kept tossing and turning thinking of what I had just seen. I'm sure you all know what I mean. There are just some films that grab you in some way and just never let you go....ever. Million Dollar Baby is one such film for me. For as long as I live I'll think this is one of the very, very best films ever made. 

 It is the type of film you finish watching and want to stand on your roof yelling to the rest of the world just how good it was. Well I did anyway!! Enough of the praise as I'm sure you get the idea. I like this film, and immensely.
 It is interesting to have reviewed Josey Wales only days ago to reviewing one of Eastwood's more recent efforts. Josey Wales is good but in Baby you can see how far his talent has progressed. Furthermore after my review of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil it is fair to say Baby is by far the superior film, in every respect.

 I can't think where to begin with Baby. Everything about it is just brililant. Eastwood's craftmanship is stamped everywhere and there isn't a flaw to be seen. He is just such a perfectionist and I absolutely love his film making. The acting is some of the best you could ever hope to see. Eastwood is usual gruff self, but I like how his character breaks down towards the end, he even comes the closet I think anyone will ever come to seeing him cry on screen! This is emotional terrain that Eastwod has never trodden before and he plays it well. 

 Eastwood has played this role many times and no-one does it like him. He is superb, and Freeman is just as good. I initially had concerns about Freeman narrating as it smacked of his role in The Shankshaw Redemption. But my fears were allayed as I never felt or saw a similarity throughout. This film pulls you into it, and it alone. While these two fine old campaigners were at their very best it really is Hillary Swank's show, and she is just magnificent.

 Swank now has two Oscars and must surely be ranked as one of the finest actresses ever. The brilliant ( and down right beautiful ) Vivian Leigh won two so how can Swank not be rated as good? Many fine actresses have never won an Oscar let alone two, so I believe this puts Swank's achivements in context. She is outstanding. ( At this stage I haven't seen her recent film Conviction, but there is already talk of her being nominated for a third Oscar. If so she is only one behind the legendary Katharine Hepburn. Personally I think politics will enter the equation and the judges will not violate Hepburn's legend by awarding anymore to Swank. A situation to keep our eyes on ).

 It is somewhat funny to be reviewing this film after having seen The fighter recently. It is hard not to compare the two. I think overall Baby is the better film. The Fighter is more a bio-pic and straight boxing film . Baby is about character more than boxing. But the boxing scenes in Baby aren't bad. Swank must have put a huge amount of effort into geting fit for the role. Watch her skipping rope in her tight blue track suit pants, my god the sight is enough to make a grown man cry!! What a superbly toned figure!

 Her fight scenes are good. The camera angles are just right, and the neck snapping and blood convincing. Again one can only marvel at the amount of work Swank put into make herself believable as a boxer. This just shows the professionlism of her as an actress and also Eastwood's for casting her, and then getting the best out of her. It is convincing and so much the better film for it.

 But it is not all boxing. Of course Swank's character is hospitalised after a king hit, and here Swank steps up to another level. She looks ill, and we can empathise with her not wanting to live that way. The film has copped some critism for its end, but I like it. Not all stories have a happy ending, and this one is no exception.

 I like this film more because it didn't go down the sentimental feel good route. It delved into something deeper. Eastwood plays a man who is dealing with emotional gain and then loss extremely well. You can see the inner turmoil of not wanting to help Swank die and yet realising by not he is slowly killing her anyway. Great stuff and superb acting by both Swank and Eastwood. 

 This is one film I can praise to the cows come home, so somewhere I have to stop. I really like this film and believe it will go down as one of the best films ever made. Hillary Swank puts in one of the all time great female film performances ever, and thoroughly deserved her second Oscar. It is Swank's show and she is incredibly well suppoted by those two old war horses Eastwood and Freeman who at no stage try to outshine her. It isn't about them, it is about Swank's character. Eastwood's film making skills are laid bare here for all to see. Everything is just perfect, and I yet again marvel at his perfectionism and craftmanship. He is an extraordinary film maker.

 Watch and quite literally be blown away by Swank. This is as good a film as you can ever hope to see. By the end you'll be stunned and want to stand on your roof yelling  to everbody to see this film just like I did!!!

Click here for a synopsis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_dollar_baby
Here for more:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405159/
And more:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/million_dollar_baby/