Film Review - Argo (2012)

Argo is the third film to be directed by Ben Affleck and the second in which he both directs and stars, the story here revolves around the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, six Americans escape and seek refuge in the Canadian embassy, but the clock is ticking to get them out and it may take a crazy article of faith to make it happen.

I went into Argo with a sense of enthusiasm as I was very impressed by Affleck's directorial work on his previous film the Town, so did he pull it off once more?

Happily, he most certainly did, the film is a nearly pitch perfect piece of filmmaking pie with not one tie the such left unturned, the scenes in Iran where war could break out with one false move are beautifully put together with a very real sense of tension that had me almost biting off both of my pinky fingers and if that happened probably doing the others as well, Affleck always makes sure his audience are brought along for the ride nor does he leave his audience confused or lost as to who the key players are, where the key locations are and how it all unfolds amongst the period of the film's setting, this is simply the work of a master of his craft.

But my praise doesn't end there, the film also has a fantastic cast with Alan Arkin, Kyle Chandler, John Goodman and Bryan Cranston all giving outstanding performances that are peppered with elements of tension, depth and humour, the film also is beautifully edited by William Goldenburg and beautifully shot by Rodrigo Prieto, the work of both these men captures the period beautifully as does the music and sound design.

So all in all, Argo is beautifully made and really confirms Affleck as the real deal in the director's chair, not since James Cameron's work have I been so impressed with a director, can't wait to see what he does next, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (1985)

First Blood Part II takes place after the original First Blood and sees John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) out of prison and being sent back into Nam to find American POW's who might still be held prisoner there, but there is more to this mission than meets the eye.

First Blood Part II is not a great sequel, in fact a lot of it feels very average with little life in the scenes, Stallone does his usual thing of not saying a lot and blowing up a lot with just about every weapon conceived by mankind and the action scenes in which that happen are either really boring or border on being ridiculous.

But the film's biggest problem is that it has no heart to it, the first Rambo film had the big action scenes and Stallone doing his thing but it also had a real heart to it in regards to the Rambo character in that he was just drifting through the US trying to find any survivors of his unit besides him and coming to terms with not only being the last of an elite group of soldier but also the treatment he received from his fellow countrymen for his service which culminated beautifully in that film's final scenes.

This time around he's just another run of the mill action man with a buff body creaming armies left, right and centre without so much as getting a scratch or sneezy nose and boy oh boy do you get bored with that very quickly.

But there were a couple of bright spots, first was the score by the late Jerry Goldsmith which highlighted when it used the underscore of "It's a Long Road" from the first film and the performances by Richard Crenna and Charles Napier, the two men play off each other very well and the scenes between them are easily the highlight of the film, it makes me sad somewhat that both men are no longer with us as they were good character actors.

So all in all, First Blood Part II is a very average follow up to a great original which still stands up today as a great action film, rent that film and avoid the other 3 films in the series as they're nowhere near as good, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - Get the Gringo (2012)

Get the Gringo concerns a "Gringo" or Foreigner in Mexico played by Mel Gibson who is busted crossing the Mexican border and thrown into Jail, but the "Gringo" has a few tricks of his own up his sleeve.

Get the Gringo is a very stylish film and also a hell of a lot of fun to watch, mainly due to Gibson himself, he may have fallen from grace over the last few years but this movie proves that he still has the charisma and presence that made him a star in both Mad Max and Lethal Weapon and its a lot of fun to watch him get up to no good in this movie.

The film also has a very stylish and grungy look to it as well within the Mexican prison and you really get a feel for it in a way that it becomes a character in the film in its own right and there is also a very cool performance by Bob Gunton towards the end of the film and it was sure nice to see him in a movie again after quite a while.

So all in all while the Gringo goes over the top too much with its violence, the stylish feel and Gibson's central performance make this worth checking out, 2 and a half out of 5.

Blu-Ray Review - The Terminator (1984)

The Film:

Released in 1984 (December 20th 1984 in Australia), James Cameron's the Terminator would not only become an iconic sci-fi film in its own right but would also launch the careers of not only Cameron but its star Arnold Schwarzenegger where to this day it would become one of his defining screen roles.

In the year of darkness 2029, the Machines rule the Earth with what's left of Mankind engaged in a bloody war with their mechanical masters for survival but the powerful computer Skynet isn't about to take this lying down and sends a "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, mother of his hated enemy John before he's even born but the resistance aren't about to let Skynet win by cheating the game, not if they have anything to say about it.

Though it has a small budget, Cameron throws his all into his direction of the film, showing his early flair for effects, character, heart and excitement that would later come to fruition with his 1986 sci-fi sequel Aliens, Arnold is an inspired choice for the role as his muscular build and physical presence sell the idea of the unstoppable Terminator who "can't be bargained with, can't be reasoned with, doesn't feel pity or pain or remorse and it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

The Image:

One Word: WOW

I could end it there but really, this is an image that has to be seen to be believed as it looks absolutely spectacular, hard to believe it was shot on such a low budget as it almost looks like a new film.

The transfer also has a very natural feel to it as well, it doesn't feel to artificial nor does it feel like how a film today might look due to extensive digital color grading, nope the film has a natural look to it with the night time scenes looking great with the night lights on the streets and the day time scenes looking nearly spotless with many details of the streets, signage and clothing becoming apparent as you watch the film.

The transfer also has a nice grainy feel to it as well, adding to your feeling that your watching a new transfer that feels like a proper film print rather than a HDTV broadcast print might look, its clear Cameron had a hand in creating this transfer for the film and he delivered the goods once more as this is a marvelous restoration that makes the DVD release of the film look murky in comparison.

The Sound:

Presented in DTS-HD 5.1 sound, the Terminator also sounds great with dialogue, music and sound all sounding crystal clear.

The mix seems to be based off the 2000 5.1 mix created for the film which changed several sounds and re did all of the gun shot sounds, most likely due to the fact that the original gunshot sounds were either lost and weren't in a high enough quality to be added to the 5.1 mix, nevertheless the new gun sounds aren't too distracting and the mix also allows Brad Fiedel's great score for the film really shine as well, more than it ever did on the film's DVD release.

The Extras:

Sadly here is where the disc falls completely flat on its face for as great as the visuals and sound mix are, there are only a few extras on this disc so here we go:

Creating the Visual Effects and Music: Taken from the feature length making of "Other Voices" created in 2001, this looks at the creation of the film's visual effects and music score, within the "Other Voices" doco they were great but on their own they're not as good and makes you miss the full doco from the DVD release.

Creating the Terminator - A Retrospective: The only doco material to be ported over from the DVD release, this is a retrospective featurette from 1991 with Cameron and Arnold, the two have a natural and easy going chemistry between them that makes this featurette fun to watch, the feature also has a trailer for the film before it starts which makes it feel like it was taken from a VHS release of this featurette as the DVD version went straight into the featurette.

7 Terminated Scenes: 7 Deleted Scenes round out this very slim and very weak selection of extras, the scenes are okay with the final one helping to plant the seeds for Terminator 2 but all of them are best left out as the pace and structure of the film would be ruined if they were there, much like the longer version of Terminator 2 did when it had several scenes restored that were best left out as the film functioned just fine without them.

And that's it for extras and what a smegging shame that is as the DVD release had still galleries, early screenplay drafts, the full "Other Voices" doco, a commentary from Cameron on the deleted scenes and trailers and TV spots which included a teaser trailer for the film that featured some of Cameron's artwork and was narrated by none other than Optimus Prime himself Peter Cullen.

But what would've been REALLY cool is a new Audio Commentary track featuring Cameron and Arnold and it would've been fantastic to see these two men sit down together and reminisce about the film that made their name though given the scheduling required to make it happen it would've only been a dream but still it what this new release needs as well as a re-production of the original mono mix from 84 like the recent Blu-Ray release of Jaws had both its original and new sound mixes for fans.

Overall:

Despite an outstanding video transfer and sound mix, a near complete lack of extras really holds this disc back from being something special as the new transfer really gives you a feeling of what might have been if Cameron had been involved with this release as he was with the recent Blu-Ray of Titanic which was a near faultless release and one of the year's finest but oh well you can't win them all but still if you don't have the film on Blu-Ray then this release is the one to pick up.

Film Review - Action Jackson (1988)

Action Jackson takes place in Detroit and stars Carl Weathers as "Action" Jackson who is now a desk sergeant after an encounter with the son of local Auto magnate Peter Dellaplane (Craig T. Nelson) but Dellaplane has some big plans for the Auto industry and they may not be friendly.

Though it may look like a rip off of Beverly Hills Cop on the surface, Action Jackson is actually a lot of fun, mainly due to Weathers in the lead, he's charismatic, he has a good sense of humour and he handles the film's few dramatic moments well, the film also has a nice sense of humour to it with most of the film's one liners making me laugh more often than they normally would plus there were some moments that made me smile and some good action scenes as well.

But what really makes this film stand tall for me is the cast, not only do you have Weathers you also have Nelson, Sharon Stone in an early role, Bill Duke, Tom Wilson, Al Leong, Robert Davi and Sonny Landham in small roles and heck even the guy that played Argyle the limo driver in the first Die Hard shows up for a brief cameo.

Sadly however there is a big weak link in this movie and that is the role played by Vanity, whenever she appears on screen the film drags to the point where it almost dies as she just doesn't hold her own very well against Weathers or the rest of the cast and its a real shame too as this film has a lot going for it as well but as they say you can't win them all.

So all in all, this is a fun underrated little action flick that had it not been for its leading lady might have done a lot better than it actually did when released in 88 though it is easy to see why many might have dismissed it back then especially as the original Die Hard came out that year as well, oh well I had fun with this film and I'm sure others will too, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Taken 2 (2012)

Taken 2 is the follow up to 2008's Taken and again stars Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills but the story this time sees him, his ex-wife (Famke Janssen) and his daughter (Maggie Grace) in Istanbul but the family the men Mills murdered in the first film are there as well and they want revenge.

I went into Taken 2 with some degree of optimism as I really loved the first one, it was dark, it was exciting and it reminded me of the good old days of action cinema like Die Hard and the first two Mad Max movies, so did this sequel give me a worthy follow up?

Sadly, no, this film is very very disappointing for two key reasons each of which I'll outline:

Firstly, the film itself is just really boring to watch, the Istanbul location is not shot with the same excitement Paris was in the first film, Neeson sounds like he'd rather be somewhere else, the action feels very generic and has none of the impact the action scenes in the first film had and Janssen and Grace become somewhat annoying after a while.

But what's worst of all is that Neeson sits on the sidelines for a good 2/3rds of this movie and is either tied up, on his phone or barking orders like a stern general, it almost feels like a different character to the no nonsense man of action we met and liked in the first one and wanted to see again in this one, again its just very disappointing.

There was however one positive and it doesn't come from the film itself, it was from seeing the trailer for the new James Bond film Skyfall on the big screen, that had me genuinely excited and thinking "Bring it On."

So all in all this would arguably be my biggest disappointment of the year so far and all it does is just remind me of the other follow ups to films I loved; Highlander II, Iron Man 2, Robocop 2 and Die Hard 2 all of which I didn't like very much at all and this sits on the same shelf, 1 out of 5.