Magnet is a company on the rise. Specializing in the home video market, the company has released such films as Rubber, Monsters and Hobo With a Shotgun, and is also responsible for bringing the foreign films Let the Right One In, Red Cliff and 13 Assassins to American shores.
From its foreign film collection comes Black Death out of Great Britain. The film stars Sean Bean as a member of the Knights Templar on a mission to investigate why a certain village has managed to wholly escape the terror of the Bubonic Plague (or the Black Death).
Along the way he and his crew pick up a young monk-in-training (Eddie Redmayne) to serve as their guide. Their quest is made difficult by bandits, the living dead and the plague itself. These elements combine to create a victorious piece of Gothic horror.
Although Bean gets top billing on the film, that's really just for marketing purposes. His character, while essential to the film's progression, plays a supporting role to Redmayne's monk. His character develops the most (of the three that do) and is one of the most powerful tragic heroes I've seen in a long time.
Helmed by Christopher Smith (director of 2006's horror-comedy Severance), the film pays homage to Gothic horror master James Whale while simultaneously telling American horror directors, "This is how it's done." It has its gory moments, but it doesn't focus on the bloodletting so much as the chills.
Black Death might not be the best horror film to come out of Great Britain, but it's still miles ahead of the current horror landscape in American cinema (I direct you to the forthcoming Shark Night 3D).
Black Death - 3/5
There isn't really a solid way to describe the film Rubber. It is one of the latest entries into the so-called "absuridist cinema" and it is futile to try and understand what you're seeing. As we are told at the very beginning, this film is an homage to no reason.
After one of the characters tells us (and the audience within the film) how to approach the following film, the audience within the film turns their attention to the desert behind them, where the absurdity continues.
An old, rubber tire comes to life and begins rolling through the desert. It comes across a plastic bottle, an aluminum can and a scorpion, and crushes them all in turn. When it comes to a beer bottle it finds that it simply can't roll over it. It then begins to shake and before long the beer bottle shatters.
The audience within the film lend their theories as to what just happened. This is pretty much how the whole film goes: the tire eventually blows someones head up and is then pursued by the police, who originally thought they were only in a movie themselves only to find that it's not over yet. Confused? Good, that's how you should be feeling. As I (and the movie) said, don't try and understand it.
There isn't much, style-wise, to comment on, other than its formidable absurdist attempts. The cinematography is nice and the dialogue only ups the ante.
It isn't a long film, clocking in at 82 minutes, which is probably the best thing to be said about it. Although it isn't meant to be understood, films of the absurd weren't meant to be more than 20 minute shorts (just ask Salvador Dali & Luis Bunuel).
One of many releases from the Magnet company (slowly proving that it is a powerhouse in home video distribution) Rubber is commendable, to say the least.
Rubber - 2.5/5
From Ruben Fleischer, the man behind Zombieland, comes 30 Minutes Or Less, which is an advertising ploy for a pizzeria within the movie, but also the amount of time in which you will lose interest in the film.
The film is nothing more than a jumble of things happening, one after the other. Jesse Eisenberg plays Nick, a pot-smoking pizza delivery boy who is kidnapped by Dwayne (Danny McBride) & Travis (Nick Swardson), who strap a bomb to his chest and force him to rob a bank. He then enlists the help of on-again off-again best friend Chet (Aziz Ansari).
Dwayne and Travis' reasoning for doing so is to get $100,000 to pay off a hit man (Michael Pena) to kill Dwayne's father (Fred Ward). While this may set up the rest of the story Fleischer doesn't approach it well at all and stops the film dead in its tracks whenever he cuts back to it.
Eisenberg does what he can with the role but he's essentially playing a recycled, less-likeable version of his character from Zombieland. And while Ansari is right at home in his role, the writers and execs have him doing too much of what he does (that is, yelling mostly unfunny things to no one in particular).
McBride & Swardson have their moments, but their back-and-forth comes off as more annoying than funny. And the rest of the cast, well, it's all just sort of a lost cause.
Fleischer doesn't tackle this material the same way he did Zombieland. Gone are the self-aware references, the clever use of super impositions and Woody Harrelson. In their place is something that is more reminiscent of his work on the TV series' Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory.
The nonsense dialogue and unnecessary plot points make this buddy comedy light on both buddy-buddy-ness and comedy. It lacks the charm and wit that a film like this should have.
30 Minutes Or Less - 2.5/5
Explosions. Shattered glass. An assortment of deadly tools used to kill victims in past films. David Koechner. All of these elements make up the opening credits to Final Destination 5. It is also the first sign that the fifth installment in the supernaturally torture pornorific is all about bringing things full circle.
It is this self-aware throwback that gives FD5 an almost imperceptible fresh boost to the supernatural schlock of a series. It has also cut down on much of the humor that previous installments have aired (FD3 and FD4 are the big culprits).
Directed by Steven Quale (who has done much 3D work with James Cameron), FD5 seems, at first, to be trying to live vicariously through its predecessors. This is partly true, but it's not quite so simple to see the big picture at first (though, through simple observation and problem-solving anyone can pick up on where it's going in the first 10 minutes).
The basic premise is that eight people survive the collapse of a suspension bridge (due to one young man's premonition of the event) and are then hunted one-by-one until death has made good on its quota. And though it's apparent that the writer and the execs had to stretch for some of the kills, they're still not pretty.
One death involves an overheated laser from lasik surgery while another takes place inside a massage parlor with acupuncture needles (and Buddha). And while FD5 manages to include some story (an improvement from The Final Destination, which had absolutely none) it still follows the simple process of one-kill-after-another.
We are also treated to lightly comedic performances from David Koechner (Waiting...) and P.J. Byrne (Horrible Bosses), who are also the only two actors that don't seem to be forcing their lines out (Emma Bell (Frozen) is hit-or-miss).
Returning to the franchise is Tony Todd (most horror movies you've ever seen) as the coroner Bludworth. While his character is featured in more films than any other, it's kind of a disappointment that more time isn't devoted to developing his character. In any case, his purpose this time around is to tell the survivors/victims that to save their life they must kill another (thereby gaining that person's lease on life). Morbid.
While not the worst entry in the series (that will always be reserved for The Final Destination (with FD3 as a close second)) Final Destination 5 strives to be more than it really is.
And while this would be the perfect point to let the series end (before some exec 20 years down the road wants to reboot it) I foresee a Final Destination 6 in the near future. Now, where would they set the opening kill scene? A concert auditorium (just imagine light fixtures falling on unaware concert-goers)? Or perhaps a collapsing skyscraper (or maybe that's too soon)?
Final Destination 5 - 2/5
Takashi Miike is a Japanese filmmaker famous for over-the-top gore, flourishing action scenes and wonderfully climactic situations. His resume (which chronicles more than 70 films) includes Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001) and Sukiyaki Western Django (2007). One of his latest films is titled 13 Assassins and it contains near everything we've come to expect from a Miike film.
Combing elements from both Ichi the Killer and Sukiyaki Western Django, 13 Assassins tells the story of 12 samurai hired to assassinate the brother (named Lord Nartisugu) of the current shogun near the end of Japan's feudal era (somewhere around 1835). They devise a plan and during their journey they pick up a 13th warrior (who isn't a samurai but a bandit).
The film covers the basic Eastern themes of honor and loyalty and Miike does an excellent job of building the dramatic tension as the samurai journey to meet their fate. From the start it is clear to the viewer that this task is a point of redemption for the samurai and none of them expect to return.
One of the most powerful plot lines involves the leader of the samurai assassins (named Shinzaemon Shimada) and Lord Naritsugu's captain-of-the-guard Hanbei Kitou. These two men are childhood friends who were always competing on equal footing. Their rivalry comes to an emotional head near the film's resolution and it can be seen as the film's main focus.
There has always been the long-standing theme in Eastern art that there are things bigger than men. This can be shown through scenes of a mountain looming over a village, a man standing in the shadow of a tree, or any other comparison showing how small man is in this world. In 13 Assassins it is the entire film that emphasizes this theme. These men know that if they fail to kill Naritsugu then Japan will be plunged back into the age of war. Their mission is bigger than all of them and nothing should come before it.
Takashi Miike has always been a favorite of mine because he has the ability to take seemingly well-tread material and make it uniquely his own.
13 Assassins - 4.5/5
Although Bean gets top billing on the film, that's really just for marketing purposes. His character, while essential to the film's progression, plays a supporting role to Redmayne's monk. His character develops the most (of the three that do) and is one of the most powerful tragic heroes I've seen in a long time.
