Movie review - "Razorback" (1984) ***1/2 (rewatching)

 Every still is like a painting. Arkie Whiteley so lovely. Bill Kerr tremendous. Chris Haywood and David Argue heaps of fun, if awful people. Script feels odd in places. Kerr gets a depressinh death. Why kill the dog. 

Movie review - "In Like Flynn" (2018) **

 Why did this get financed? Who was the market? It doesn't have enough action to be an action film. The budget, while decent enough for an Aussie film, wasn't enough for Indiana Jones type adventures. There's no humour. No romance. No sense of adventure.

No differentiated characters - I had trouble telling the leads apart. No stars. I forgot which one was Errol Flynn at times.

He kind of has an ex, played by Isabel Lucas in an astonishingly bland way. There's boxing matches.

David Wenham perks things up as a dodgy mayor. Callan Mulvey hangs around too. Both would have been better as the leads.

A brief moment all these hookers are on the boat and you go "now that's an Errol Flynn film". But this bit lasts two minutes then it's over.

It's so dull. And annoying.

Looks good.

Top Ten Use of Queen's Music in Film

honour of watching "Bohemian Rhapsody" I thought I'd do a top ten of my favourite uses of Queen's music in other films:
1) In the Space Capsule - in "Flash Gordon" (1980) - seriously the whole soundtrack to this is amazing, the title song, the Football Fight, the Attack of the Hawk Men... but limiting myself to one song, I'll pick the theme that plays when Flash, Dale and Zharkov fly to Mongo
2) We Are the Champions in "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984) - like so many 80s sex comedies there are problematic aspects to this film - but it does have a great soundtrack! in particular the finale with the nerds embracing allies to the strains of Queen's greatest anthem
3)One Vision in "Iron Eagle" (1986) - remember the days when studios made films about young men who flew missions into Libya in order to rescue their dad? this was one such movie - and the man played a mix tape while blowing up Arabs, including "One Vision" - which actually is the perfect tune to do such things
4) Who Wants to Live Forever? in "Highlander" (1986) - another great soundtrack by Queen, with It's a Kind of Magic being a superb single... but... for effectiveness on screen I don't think you can go past the montage of Chris Lambert losing his mortal lady love to this song (used well in Bohemian Rhapsody)
5) Bohemian Rhapsody in "Wayne's World" (1992) - I'm still recovering from the shocking badness of Mike Myer's turn in Bohemian Rhapsody but his use of that song in Wayne's world was very funny and definitely captured a time and a place
6) You're My Best Friend in "Peter's friends" (1992) - remember this film? great cast, good moments, dodgy direction, fantastic soundtrack
7) Don't Stop Me Now in "Shaun of the Dead" (2004) - I actually don't like this song that much but love how it was used in the film
8) Under Pressure in "Studio 60 on Sunset" pilot (2006) - ah this flawed flawed show - the pilot is pretty great though and "Under Pressure" (which pops up a LOT in films) is used very well at the end
9) Flash's Theme in "Blades of Glory" (2007) - I found a way to use more Flash Gordon songs! This brilliant track is used superbly in one of the best sports comedies
10)Radio Ga Ga in "Metropolis" (1927) - okay i'm cheating here but stay with me... in the early 80s Giorgio Moroder released his own version of Metropolis with a new soundtrack including a Freddy Mercury track... in return Queen could use clips from the film in their video for this song which is one of my favourite Queen songs... and was my introduction to silent cinema. True story!2

Movie review - "Razorback" (1984) *** (warning: spoilers)

A beloved 80s cult film - the review site Oz Movies says its perhaps the best of the Ozsploitation films of the 10BA era. I'm not sure I'd agree - Roadgames, Patrick and Long Weekend would match it at least.

But it is easy to see it's appeal to cultists - the title, the concept, the imported American star, Judy Morris' American accent, Bill Kerr's emoting in the opening sequence, Everett de Roche writing the script, the stylish video clip imagery, Iva Davies' score, the duelling banjos act of David Argue and Chris Haywood, the fake pig.

It doesn't work as a film, though, not really. I remember really looking forward to this when it came out and being disappointed - and watching it years later it's still disappointing. You want it to be good - I mean, a film about a killer pig, who doesn't instinctively love that? - and there are great moments, but overall it doesn't come together.

Sometimes spotting what's wrong with a film is easier. Am fully aware this is wisdom in hindsight but I do like the play the game "how would I have fixed this?" With Razorback it was trickier.

Story seems to be number one. All the elements are there for a good movie, but it doesn't come together. Greg Harrison is a bit bland but he has a bland character to play. I was unsure what his character was - he doesn't have any special skills, I was unclear even what his job was. Why not make him a doctor? Or an accountant completely out of his depth? It was also a mistake to have him chop up a kangaroo.

Bill Kerr's character on the other hand is fantastic. Captain Ahab out to get his Moby Dick, the Razorback. Kerr's emoting in the opening sequence is poor and completely over the top (in a bad way) but once he relaxes (or, rather, intensifies) into tormented vengeance seeker, he's awesome - full of hate and fury. But once the film sets up this driven Razorback hater full of potential they don't really do anything with it. There's lots of potential - he could say clash with Gregory Harrison over how to get revenge... Or he could have endangered Arkie Whiteley by his actions? Or the townsfolk? Most of all he should have been given a spectacular finish, being killed doing real battle with the Razorback. Instead the filmmakers throw him in a shed, defenseless and weak, and he gets gored to pieces without putting up any sort of fight. It's depressing - they completely cut his balls off. Maybe they were trying to subvert tropes, but it just made me feel bad for the guy.

David Argue and Chris Haywood are brilliant as the dodgy meat operators - loathsome, but funny villains. But are they too loathsome? Argue tries to rape Judy Morris and tries to kill Bill Kerr. They overtake the film to a large degree - it really should be about a killer razorback but these two keep pulling focus. They even deliberately run over a dog just to be mean - the razorback is never that mean. Sure he gorges people but he can't help it - unlike these two. As a result you get more upset about the two brothers, which maybe wouldn't be a problem but the brothers are all over the last act. It's as if the mayor of Amity went along on the final shark hunting trip in Jaws.

Director Russell Mulcahy and DOP Dean Semler have come up with some amazing images - characters traipsing across the desert, dead animals in the mud, people listening to ghetto blasters on the back of camels, etc (there's a lot of artists on the soundtrack who Mulchay did the video clips for - Duran Duran, Elton John, etc). But a lot of the choreography of the scenes don't make sense. I wasn't exactly sure how Gregory Harrison wound up the top of a windmill, or how Chris Haywood wound up in a mine with Harrison having control of him, or what happened to Arke Whiteley in the final battle (how did she end up tangled in those chains), or what was going on in that final battle. The scenes involving the Razorback are loud and destructive rather than suspenseful and/or scary .

Let's take a walk on the sunny side. I loved the performances, the visuals, and Iva Davies' score. I love the ambition of the film. Arkie Whiteley is gorgeous - not a fantastic actor, but very pretty and likeable. The locations are amazing. I truly wish it was a better film. I wish Everett de Roche had had a strong co-writer to elevate his fabulous ideas.

But it is different - it sticks out. It promised a more interesting career from Russell Mulcahy than the one that eventuated.

Movie review - "Rambo III" (1988) **1/2

Rambo II made so much money it would have been rude for Sylvester Stallone not to return for a third installment; the result did not attract the same level of "hot button" controversy at the time - though it's become notorious in later years because some think Rambo was helping the same forces America would be fighting from 2001 on wards. It's also not as good a movie.

It's still beautifully shot with lots of impressive explosions and stunts involving helicopters; and the basic set up isn't bad: Rambo turns down a chance to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, but decides to go there when his old mentor Richard Crenna is captured.

But the story isn't as good as Rambo 2  - the absence of James Cameron perhaps? The structure isn't as clean: Rambo turns up in Afghanistan, goes to rescue Crenna, fails, then goes back and rescues him again, then fights off the Soviets, is in a hot spot, but the Afghans rescue him and he goes home. It lacks the personal resonance in the second film, where Rambo was returning to his old stomping ground, and trying to win a war that had been lost; it also lacks the twists - in the second film Rambo decided to rescue a POW (twist), was not picked up by the US who betrayed him (twist), was rescued by his girlfriend who died (twist), then went on rampage. There's no sense of progression.

And it also lacks characters. This movie only has two real characters of note - Rambo and Trautman, plus some random evil baddy, and random helpful tribespeople. In Rambo 2 there were plenty of random people (even Steven Berkoff's character) but there were more who had resonance for Rambo: a fellow veteran POW, a CIA spook who betrayed him, a woman he kind of fell in love with. This movie has opportunity for such characters but doesn't take him - Kurtwood Smith's shady operative cried out for some betraying of Rambo but he disappears; that kid soldier cried out to bond with Rambo as a kid role but he doesn't.

The best moment is when Trautman lectures the Russian:  There won't be a victory. Every day, your war machines lose ground to a bunch of poorly-armed, poorly-equipped freedom fighters. The fact is that you underestimated your competition. If you'd studied your history, you'd know that these people have never given up to anyone. They'd rather die than be slaves to an invading army. You can't defeat a people like that. We tried; we already had our Vietnam! Now you're gonna have yours.

If only George W had seen the film!

In short: not as offensive as the second film but not as good either.

Movie review - "Highlander" (1986) ***

I wonder what it would have been like being a New York City parking attendant in the mid 80s - doing your boring job calmly, then getting a call from an irate customer about two men duelling with swords on Level 4. 

The core of this film is one of those gloriously over the top concepts that really work - the lonely chosen, who can't die. The fights are well done but the most moving thing is the sequence where Christopher Lambert stays with his true love, despite the fact that she ages and he doesn't - this is really good (as is the actor who plays her, whereas Chloe Webb, who is Lambert's 20th century love, is a bit bland making the last third a bit of a chore). 

Lambert himself is a bit awkward and stiff, but Sean Connery provides some much needed spark and Clancy Wilson has a high old time as the baddie.