COMPLIANCE

I just finished watching this film, about which I had heard mixed things. Some people had praised it for being tense and unflinching and I had heard negative comments that it was exploitative.

Honestly, about an hour after sitting through it, I'm still scratching my head. While I enjoyed every minute of it, I'm still a bit shaken.

It's definitely a horror movie, but it's not a horror film that goes for jump scares or gore... It just makes you think that this could (and did) happen.
It made me think about what we've become used to as being normal in society and how we conform to it, without really questioning it. The film haunts me. Therein lies it's brilliance.

A fast food restaurant manager gets a phone call from a "police officer," claiming to have a victim of theft with him and that the thief is a staff member of the restaurant.
The manager is told to hold the worker, search her belongings, strip searcher and on it goes, growing more and more twisted all the time.

What I liked about the film, was that the stakes are constantly raised and that you can't see where this is going to end up.
What frustrated me about the film is that very few people stand up for the victim of the film and that she takes orders so easily. I know this is the point, i just feel a bit dirty for watching it play out.

I don't know if I'll watch this movie again, but it certainly left an impression.

There's more to say about this film, but I'm still ticking it over, so for now:

FOUR FUCKS

!!FRIDAY NIGHT FURY!!

New thing I'm going to do: Friday Night Fury!! Wherein I shall pay tribute to a film from one of my favorite genres: Martial Arts.

I'll try to cover all kinds of martial arts movies, from the Hong Kong classics, to the American made martial arts movies of the 80's and 90's. I'll try to do some reviews of films within the last couple of years too.

Hope you enjoy!

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Funny thing about Tarantino. His fans are VERY loyal. Those people are probably not going to like what I have to say about this film and that's fine.

On the surface, this is a very colorful, entertaining and at times, hilarious film. If you go in, not thinking about anything, chances are you'll have a great time. Gawd bless ya, go ahead and have fun, I wouldn't want to take any enjoyment away from you.

My problem, other than the fact the "N" word is way, way, WAY overused, is typical of the problems I have with Tarantino's other recent films: Overlong, fat, bloated films with scenes that take ten minutes just to get to the point.
 Make no mistake, this film is LONG, at 2 hours and 45 minutes, this could easily lose an hour and you'd have a tighter, better film. When you compare Tarantino's earlier work, when he had his co-writer Roger Avery and his editor Sally Menke, to his later films, you'll notice a big difference. Those two people are sorely missed here. It seems as if Tarantino has so many "Yes" men around him -- same problem as George Lucas, that he gets to do whatever he wants, but lacks the discipline to stay true to his craft. I wish he had someone who wasn't sucking his dick, to pull in the reigns on him.
 I'm not trying to hate on Tarantino, I love Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and True Romance, but, as typical with writer directors, they tend to get worse as they get older.
 Perhaps Tarantino has said everything he wants to say, maybe he's just sitting back and enjoying or reliving the movies he saw as a kid and playing with them. I wouldn't really blame him for that.

The look of the film is gorgeous. The cinematography here, truly feels epic. The performances are terrific, no one was bad here (apart from Tarantino's cameo.) I especially loved Samuel L Jackson's performance as the guy-behind-the-guy.
 Christoph Walz is really charismatic and you really pay attention, as is Leonardo Di Caprio (best thing about the film,) for Jamie Foxx... To be honest, you forget he's in it. Let me be clear: Django is NOT the main character in this film. He should be, but he gets swamped by everyone else.

The first half of the film is badass. Two bounty hunters going around, killing dudes, collecting cash with lots of jokes in between. 2nd half becomes an hour of Leonardo Di Caprio and Christoph Walz talking. No lie, an hour and a half of those two guys chit-chatting, with little scenes of violence here and there that simply do not fit naturally in the film.
 The soundtrack - a staple of Tarantino films, for the most part works well, until they bring in the hip hop, which takes you right out of it.

Ah well, this review seems unnecessary. If you're a fan of Tarantino, you're going to watch it and you'll probably love it, not seeing the faults. As I said before: Bless your cotton socks.
 For me, it was just a very uneven film, walking the line of crazy cartoon comic book popcorn fun and dark, brutal exploitation, which -- for me personally, didn't mesh well.

What works, works well. What doesn't, is noticeable. Take that for what it's worth.

THREE FUCKS

Oh, fans of crazy blood spurts are going to be happy. It's like red custard flying out of people!

ROBOT & FRANK

Wow.

I can't tell you how many hours I've put into genre movies, like action, horror, sci-fi and I think I enjoy them and give a lot of credit. Then, occasionally -- rarely these days, a simple, economic film comes along and blows them all out of the water.

Robot & Frank did that for me.

In the near future, a retired cat burglar (Frank) with deteriorating mental health, is becoming increasingly difficult for his grown-up children to take care of. One of his children provides him with a robotic caretaker, to aid him in his mental and physical health. Frank at first, can't stand this thing, following him around, giving him orders and just pretty much imposing on every aspect of his life. That is, until, Frank discovers the robot has a talent for learning and the ability to use his knowledge. It doesn't take long before the cat burglar teaches his ways to the robot and the two become a team, planning and executing a heist.

I thought this would be some kind of Hollywood fodder: Machine learns about life from man, man learns about life from machine. It has SO much more than that.
 The movie was charming, funny, profound and at times, really emotional.

I mentioned earlier that it was economic. A lot of the film is made up of master shots, so there's not a lot of fast cutting in between characters, allowing us to sit back and let the actors perform - which is such a pleasure to watch. Everyone in this movie was fantastic, the writing was clever and concise, with characters you become fond of in such little time, something happens in every scene and at 90 minutes, it never outstays it's welcome. The ending, which I won't give away, is very subtle and the best ending I have seen for a long, long time.

This is a deceptively clever film, very simply told and holds more depth than pretty much anything I've seen in the last 12 months. It is definitely something I shall watch again and again, I really can't recommend this enough.

So, quite obviously, I'm giving this a hard

FIVE FUCKS

THE COLLECTION

I was looking forward to this for a long time, as I was a big fan of "The Collector," since I saw it back in 2009. What I expected that film to be, was a cheap, loud, overbearing Saw knock-off, since it had the writers of parts IV, V & VI, as was so advertized.
 I found it to be quite a smart, muted horror film - that is until the carnage started occuring and I found myself squirming uncomfortably at certain scenes -- which is exactly what I want from this kind of film.

Four years on, I managed to get a hold of "The Collection" and I eagerly shut off the lights, switched on the DVD player, cranked the sound up and sat as close to the TV as I could, without blowing my eyeballs out. I was ready to be pumped full of adrenaline, biting my nails nervously and checking my heart rate... I got something different from what I was expecting.

And, by no means, do I mean that different is bad.

This movie, it should be noted, is somewhat of an action movie -- kind of like the way Aliens is to Alien. The set up is textbook B movie action plot, minus Chuck Norris or Michael Dudikoff: Rich guy's daughter is taken, so a team is assembled to go in and rescue her, with the help of the kidnapper's last remaining survivor. That's all the story you get here. That's all you need and it's all the better for it.

The film is quite bloody, it's first "kill" is probably the goriest of the bunch, so gore hounds may feel that this sequel is a bit lacking, or that it blew it's load too soon. Personally, I didn't feel that way, as from that moment on, the movie didn't stop for breath, like a perfect rhythm, it's beats went boom boom boom.
 That's another thing, it's short running time may leave people thinking, "Was that it?," but I think the film was as long as it needed to be. Get in, tell your story, get out. I love that. More films need to do that.

There was never a point in the movie where I felt scared, or a sense of dread, just an eagerness to see what was coming next. There were a few characters in here, that I felt didn't need to be, but nothing that was too imposing.

I'm never keen on horror movies, where the characters stand up to the antagonist and put up a good fight, I think it takes power away from the killer/monster -- whatever it may be. This is a personal thing, because when you identify with the "hero," and you see him or her kicking the bad guy's ass, you too feel that you could do the same, foregoing all that fear you built up in the previous scenes/movies.
 There a couple of those scenes here, but, as I said - This really felt like an action movie to me, more than a straight up horror, so I didn't mind too much.

There are some cool scenes that will make you wince, say "Oooh fuck!" or giggle devilishly, as I did.
 I think The Collection is going to be a film that has people divided. You're either going to go with it, or you're not. I did and had a good time.
 There are some moments you do have to call bullshit on, but they don't take away from the overall film. I give The Collection a positive

THREE FUCKS

Savages (Unrated)

You know what bugs me most about modern movies? They're loud, bloated, ostentatious things, that are longer than they need to be.
Such is the case with Savages: the story of a whore, a hippy and a tough guy, who, as dope dealers, land themselves into a whole heap of shit, when bigger boys come into town.
You have O, our narrator, a young lady who never stops yapping over the movie, pretty much every time a new character is introduced, (never stopping - even well into act 3.) And her two lovers, Ben the hippie, who "makes love" and tough guy (pft) Chon who -- and this made me laugh, "has wargasms."
Anyway, the long and short of it is, O gets kidnapped and held hostage, while Cheech and Chong -- sorry, Ben and Chon jump through a bunch of hoops to get her back.

The problem is, you just don't care. They rub it in your face what an easy life they have, growing and selling dope, so all they do is hang out at the beach and fuck, (while the rest of us work our hands to the bone to try and make ends meet.) O doesn't say that, but that's what I got from it.
They live such a fantasy life, that you just can't relate to them. And, really, they're fucking scumbags when you think about it.
The saturation and the blaring soundtrack make the thing seem like a cartoon, so you never really buy into the reality of it. That's fine, if that's the tone you're going for, but at least make it fun with some humor or some quirky dialogue. Maybe a few more action beats, because this movie drags itself along.

The high points of the movie for me, were whenever Benicio Del Toro was on screen. That guy is great. He comes in on his first scene, just loving what he is doing then later in the film, he's scarily baleful.
Salma Hayek is good here too and she still looks hot as hell. She plays her part well, but you could never believe she is the boss of a drug empire. That's a fault of the writing, not her performance.
John Travolta also plays a role as a corrupt DEA agent, playing both sides against each other and he does a good job, as a weasley little fuckface.

The film is well shot and there's some good stuff in here. The cinematography is gorgeous, California looks beautiful, the landscapes, the beaches -- if you're wanting a film just for the aesthetic, i would highly recommend it.
The action sequences are intense and there were a few "Holy Shit!" moments in there too.
The film would be a lot better if you chopped an hour out of it, there's no way this needs to be 2 hours 20 which is the unrated version i saw.

While the bad outweighs the good, there's still some enjoyment to be had, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

THREE FUCKS

REVIEW SYSTEM

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Silent Hill Revelation

I wanted to like this. I really did. The director is a good guy, I am a fan of the Silent Hill videogame series and I enjoyed the first movie, despite it's faults.
 However, awful dialogue, a contrived plot and actors who phone in their performances does not a good film make. For the first 20 or so minutes, I stuck with it as hard as I could, "Just wait till they get to Silent Hill, the dark world is going to kick off!"
 What happens at the end of Act 1, when the protagonist does fall into that dark world? Fuck all.
The bitch walks around for 40 minutes with John Snow (who isn't the greatest actor in Game Of Thrones, anyway) until we reach one of two climaxes, yes, TWO! And when one finishes, the other one seems unnecessary. The ending feels like a cheap "The Outer Limits" knock off.
 It's not all bad, the costume design and make up effects are actually very decent, it's just spoiled by bad CGI and a lack of scope that really make you feel like you are in the world.
 I would say rent it with friends, as there is very little under the surface going on and it might be fun to have something on in the background, while you snack and chat.
 All in all, I give this film:

TWO FUCKS

because, while the story wasn't interesting at all, there wasn't anything in there that made me hate it, either. I was just completely nonchalant about the whole affair.

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At Medicated Fiends, we offer honest movie reviews without agenda, other than to share ideas and invite conversation and/or debate.

All types of movies shall be reviewed here, not only the latest thing hitting your theaters. From Hollywood blockbusters, to schlocky B Movies -- No one is safe!!