I repeately maimed the Devil

Revenge has never been more merciless or repetitive in I SAW THE DEVIL, a new film from South Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim. It's a simple game of cat and mouse, taken to uncompromising extremes of violence and hatred.

A brutal serial killer (Min-sik Choi, of OLD BOY) approaches attractive and helpless women in the dead of winter night. He drives a small bus for school children but hidden in his vehicle is a tool that represents his real intentions. His latest victim is the a woman in a car that has a flat tire. Her husband is a cop (Byung hun-Lee) who is given much time off by his superior to grieve after her grisly death. He only requests two weeks, not to mourn, but to avenge. He sets off to track down the man responsible. But killing him isn't satisfying enough. He must stalk him, beat him, cause him injury and then let the son of a bitch live so he can do it over and over.

I SAW THE DEVIL is a clear cut revenge story, told in direct and horrific fashion. The violence and gore is pervasive and relentless. The cop is so single minded, even sloppy and irresponsible, in his mission that he allows his target to suffer and even get away to claim more innocent victims. Min-sik Choi gives a powerful performance as the sick deviant who plays it quiet and creepy in his first scene only to reveal himself through out the film as a mad, repellent pig who first needs to intimidate his victims before exacting unspeakable action. Think Anton Chigurh from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN crossed with Frank Booth in BLUE VELVET. On the opposite end is Byung hun-Lee who does a good job embodying pent up rage coupled with a selfish agenda of seeing his enemy bleed and moan in pain. His family members speak to the cop over the phone, pleading him to stop his endless game of vengeance. "Revenge is for the movies." his sister in law tells him.

Director Jee-woon kim has a lot of style to spare. Even the sound editing adds to the atmosphere of unforgiving dread. There's a shot of a mass murder in the film done at 360 degrees that represents how far this film is willing to go to portray how truly evil it's villain is. But what stops this movie short of greatness is the thin plot and characters that lack depth. The rampant scenes of violence are impressively handled but they become repetitive after a short while. There's only so many way to beat someone over the head with a fire hydrant. With a two hour plus run time, it manages to be well paced and engaging but a more complex story with more insight into the characters would have been welcome. Still, I SAW THE DEVIL delivers frenetic thrills through masterful filmmaking that proves why South Korea is a force to reckoned with in the world of genre cinema.

I'm on The Drunken Master Revue!

I now have the wonderful privilege of being a regular on a radio program known as the Drunken Master Revue which airs every Monday morning 9-10am on 93.1 CKCU-FM in Ottawa. It's a show for movie geeks by movie geeks and it's quite funny and informative. We review the latest releases and just generally bull shit about movies good and bad.

If you aren't up that early on Monday, the episodes are archived as podcasts available right here:http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/90/info.html

Since I'll be seeing more new movies, I'll be reviewing films here on the blog as well as on the show.

Check out the show and enjoy!

See you in radio land.

Second podcast show w/more with Gary Kent!

Here is the second part of my conversation with movie maverick Gary Warner Kent, author of the great book SHADOWS & LIGHT. Gary discusses his many years in the B-movie field, directing, producing, writing, acting and doing stunt work. He has many colourful stories to tell! Check it out!

My first podcast!

My new podcast, an audio version of this blog, is an exciting new project for me. In my first episode, I have a very interesting discussion with stuntman, actor, and filmmaker Gary Kent (www.garywarnerkent.com) He's the author of a great book SHADOWS AND LIGHT: JOURNEYS WITH OUTLAWS IN REVOLUTIONARY HOLLYWOOD. This first episode is part one of our long and entertaining conversation.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

R.I.P. Sidney Lumet

I know, I know. I'm late in paying my respects to Sidney Lumet, who died last weekend at 86, but I find that writing obituaries is useless since all the wire services and popular film sites did that. All I can do is personally express that Mr. Lumet was a very talented, insightful and skilled filmmaker who really understood the art of making a film. Films like SERPICO, NETWORK, DOG DAY AFTERNOON and THE VERDICT are standout titles that are the work of a man who had a diverse and prolific career. He didn't have a singular style that was displayed in his 45 features as a director. He was a simply professional craftsman who knew how to work with the best actors and technicians in the business. Lumet started as a child actor so he certainly had an education himself.

His career began as a live TV drama director in the 50s and his work in feature films continued for six decades. He didn't believe in retirement as he continued to make films up until as recently as 2007 with his final film, the devastating crime drama BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. He left behind an enormously rich body of work. Many of his films I have never seen, so I better get to viewing them.

How hard it was to KILL THE IRISHMAN

KILL THE IRISHMAN begins with Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson), a stubborn and fearless Cleveland mobster, barely escaping an explosion in his car. This of course mirrors the opening of Martin Scorsese's CASINO, in which Robert DeNiro also survives a car bombing. Although KILL THE IRISHMAN may be deemed by some as subpar Scorsese without the grand exuberance, it is nonetheless a thoroughly entertaining and supremely acted tale about an Irish criminal with too much foolish pride who locked horns with the Italian mafia in 1970s Cleveland.

Greene starts out as a dockworker, tough but also quite an intellect, reading books in a pub while his buddies drink and hustle women. When he becomes sick of the bullheaded union leader, he becomes the new one simply by beating up the outgoing president's bodyguard after he brought a pistol to a bare knuckle fight. Then all he has to do is kick the former union boss out of the office by way of some sharp slaps to the face.

Soon, Greene moves his way up the racketeering ladder and becomes a force to be reckoned with amongst the ruling Italian mafioso. They're led by the hard bitten Jack Licavoli (Tony LoBianco). Greene groups together his own small mob who aren't fearful of the Italians and during the power struggle that never seems to end in the world of the mob, many occupied cars explode all over Cleveland.

The film contains the many expected cliches of the mob genre, from the tense sit down meetings, to the rapid fire violence to the on screen dates that foreshadow a real life mobster's grisly demise. The female characters are the two hopeless women in Greene's life: his wife Joan (Linda Cardinelli) a frustrated housewife who takes off with the kids after throwing her hands up in the air too many times. His second lover (Laura Ramsey) is attracted to Danny's dangerous lifestyle but arrives well after Danny's in over his head in mafia reprisals. Both these roles are severely underwritten, especially Ramsey's, and are too typical. Having a female play a more interesting part in the proceedings would have elevated the material much like Sharon Stone in CASINO or Lorraine Bracco in GOODFELLAS allowed their characters more to do than just be the angry wife.

But flaws aside, what makes the film fly is the impeccable casting and performances. Stevenson, a tall, authoritative actor, makes a real impression as Danny Greene: charming, smart, cunning, ruthless but honorable even in a lawless fashion. He's considerate enough to help an old lady cross the street to get her out of the way of the car he's about to blow up. Dark humour is provided in the many scenes in which attempts on Greene's life are bungled. Ethnic tensions and resentments between the Italians and Irish also add a unique touch reminiscent of Denzel Washington's black drug lord vs. the mafia in AMERICAN GANGSTER.

A much welcomed supporting cast includes the criminally underrated Vincent D'Onofrio as the sole Italian gangster who is allied with Greene. Val Kilmer is a no-nonsense cop who has conflicted feelings about Danny, a childhood pal from the neighborhood. Mike Starr appears as a enforcer, Robert Davi as a soft spoken hitman, Vinnie Jones as a collector and the incomparable Christopher Walken who has some good scenes as a Jewish numbers runner. Walken is always a treat to see and writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh is wise enough to provide him with a great first line: "Do you like stroganoff?" Paul Sorvino is a standout in a memorable cameo as a New York crime boss.

A mafia film is only as good as it's actors and acting. KILL THE IRISHMAN treads too familiar territory but it does so with fine direction and a first rate ensemble that keep it very engaging.

A bloody fistful of shells: HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN delivers what it promises and it's the first Canadian film in years that is soaked in grimy, visercal exploitation. It harkens back to the years of the tax shelter boom in Canada in the 70s and 80s in which sleazy B-movies (many good, many bad) received government tax breaks and funding. But this movie is unusual in that's shot in the Maritimes (Halifax and Dartmouth, N.S.) and has a venerable Danish character actor in the lead, the one and only Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER).

Hauer is a homeless man who just steps off the rails and enters the town of Hope but quickly discovers that the town's name is a major misnomer. Hope is a cesspool of vile, immoral and anarchic violence and destruction. It's ruled over by a merciless dictator named Drake and his two equally evil and reprehensible brat sons who take great joy in everything from intimidating the town whores to incinerating a bus load of school kids.

The titular hobo grabs a shotgun from the local pawn shop and goes to work as a vigilante, while becoming a ally to a good hearted prostitute (Molly Dunsworth) who is smarter, tougher and more resourceful than she looks. Blood is shed (or to be accurate, sprayed) bones are broken, limbs are severed and every crafty and shocking way a person can be killed is on display in all it's gory glory, though never for a second is anything remotely believable (nor is it intended to be). Director Jason Eisener originally shot HOBO as a fake trailer in a contest inspired by the release of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez's GRINDHOUSE. It's popularity resulted in this feature version, which has the spirit of a grindhouse film mixed with the over the top cruel black humour of a Troma movie.

Hauer brings much more pathos and baggage to the character than you'd expect. Eisener is skilled and creative behind the camera, never taking any prisoners with his warts and all approach that earns it's very hard R rating, which in Canada is similar to the U.S' NC-17. The cinematography and production design are inspired and first rate, with sharp neon colours to accentuate the ultra seediness of what the film offers. The music is evocative of John Carpenter's classic synth scores from his films like ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13.

There's even a hint of DEATH WISH 3 in this production as a poor urban setting is transformed into a chaotic slice of hell in which average citizens are constantly abused or killed by punks. You could even be reminded of another film about ultra violent punks: CLASS OF 1984, although compared to this, that had far more restraint, even though it didn't seem that way at the time. I don't think for a second that HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN will seem more restrained as it ages, but then again, who would expect or wish that?

**Footnote: Notice the bouncy 80s pop song during the end credits. Remember what animated TV show that was from? What a strange choice, eh?