Kiss of the Spider Woman

I really like the book by Manual Puig and wanted to see how it translates to screen.

It doesn't.

I'm not entirely sure why not. It's got two very meaty main roles but neither Raul Julia or William Hurt nail them and I think William Hurt got his oscar more for daring to play a queen which back in the 80s was a a bit riske, rather than the quality of his acting.

The film takes place mostly in their shared cell which gives the whole film a very theatrical feeling. Raul is a political prisoner who initially finds Luis's effeminate manner and tendency for escapism difficult to respect however this changes and they become intimate friends.

The spider woman of the title only makes a very brief appearance as the character of one of Luis's film stories that he tells Valentin to pass the time and distract them both from their grim circumstance.

NO - gay shawshank without the escaping

The Runaways

Their music is actually a bit shit but the formation of the band makes for an interesting story.

Masterminded by producer Kim Fowley, The Runaways were a 5 girl band in the 70s who were 15, 16, 17, 17 & 20 years old. We see them practise, play for free, get signed and get big in japan before the unsurprising crash and drug burn of singer Cherie Currie.

Stand outs are Michael Shannon as the hilarious nefarious Fowley and Kirsten Stewart as punky Joan Jett.

There's way too many over styled scenes that look like magazine shoots with lingering static shots of Joan posing smoking at sunrise, smoking in the bath or Cherie with sunlight obscuring her face - but this is director Floria Sigismondi's first feature coming from music videos.

YES - Joan Jett is still going strong and if you're wondering what Cherie is up to these days look no further than - chainsawchick

Boy

Just out of prison Alamein or Shogan as he prefers to be called, returns home to the delight of 11 year old Boy who just wants to hang out with his cool dad. Unfortunately his dad is a complete loser, selfish and delusional who is only sticking around long enough to find a package of money he buried.

So Boy learns the hard way that just because someone is an adult it doesn't make them right, honest or capable of looking after themselves let alone their children.

All the young actors are exceptional with the character of Rocky being stand out. I love the beautiful scene of him roller skating out of the darkness to hand his dad a sparkler.

Taika Waititi writes, directs and stars in this lovely film which reminds me a lot of The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

YES - just the right balance of real, fantasy, comedy and wrenching reality.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

I don't know shit about the tv series but I do know that it's a huge deal in Japan and supposedly more convoluted and badly resolved than the x files.

Earth is being systematically attacked by giant entities known as Angels. These things are well realised especially the completely alien floating blue diamond geometric shape shifter. Earth's weapons are giant robot suits called Evangelions which for some reason can only be piloted by teenagers - weird sulky or emotionless ones with red eyes.

There's plenty of scenes of preparing/repairing the robots which are strangely compelling and there's some philosophical musings about free will to make this something more than dress up robots.


NO - but serves as a good crash course on Evangelion mythology

Trash Humpers

make it don't fake it.

It takes a while to settle into the tone but once you do this is really entertaining.

There's no plot or extended conversations just scene after scene of 4 young people with reasonably realistic old peoples masks on singing, riding bikes, drinking, killing, tap dancing, smashing stuff and yes dry humping trash (the trash humping is actually the least interesting part of the film)

This made me cry laugh out loud and also feel a bit sad watching the real old guy doing his pretty good train impression over and over.

YES - if you're after some art but if you want a nice story then this is probably not for you.

Inception

dont believe the hype.

No credits just straight into this relentless film which is a smart and complex mystery but no way near as mindblowing as reviews are making it out to be.

In the future it is possible to enter others dreams. Leo Dicaprio has this ability and uses it to implant or extract information for money. His latest job is to implant an idea into a billionaires mind - he assembles a team, each person with their own particular dream skills and they get to work however there's something that he has neglected to warn them about, someone that he hopes won't be waiting for him in the dream.

Leo is as on form as always but it's Tom Hardy as Eames (the thief) who stands out in this as the character with the most life, everyone else is pretty cold and for a film set in the dream world it's pretty unimaginative, just empty streets and crumbling buildings.

Stand out scenes are the wonderful wideshots of Mombasa, Paris and Osaka and also the flawless no-gravity scenes however the action scenes are pretty shitty - too close, maybe he's going for kinetic but it just comes off as confusing and a chase on snow mobiles? come on whose dreams are that corny.


YES - but it won't be like the first time you saw the matrix.