A Million Ways to Die in the West

There does certainly seem to be a million ways to die in the west, as we constantly being told by Seth MacFarlane's Albert Stark. It's as if he needs to remind the audience of this every five minutes, as though we have forgotten the title of the film we bought a ticket to see. It seems as though MacFarlane has invested a lot in this movie, having written, directed, produced and starred in it, and while it's not entirely unfunny, it isn't quite hilarious the entire way through.

But what more can we expect from the man who created Family Guy. Now I don't want everyone to jump to conclusions and accuse me of hating Family Guy (I do love it), but it is a show known for not being consistently funny. The majority of the jokes in the film are lavatorial in manner and that did appeal to the 10 year old in me, but the jokes that referenced classic western comedies appealed to the film nerd in me.

And there are plenty of references to these comedies. Films like Back to the Future: Part III, Django Unchained and the original western spoof Blazing Saddles are all referenced and done well. I even spotted a homage to probably the best western ever made, The Searchers.

One thing I found slightly distracting was the use of modern slang. Now while I can understand using the f-word (I mean Deadwood used much worse words on a regular basis), some of the language seemed out of place. It was almost like there was a deleted scene at the start in which Stark used a time machine to get back to the old west.

There are a lot of fantastic actors in this film as well. It's a shame they are all underused compared with the role MacFarlane has given himself. Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson are both extremely talented actors and are just used as scenery in scenes with MacFarlane. There are a lot of great cameos, including Gilbert Gottfried, Ryan Reynolds and Ewan McGregor. Bill Maher also does a western themed stand up set.

Verdict: Funny, but I feel as though MacFarlane could share around some of the bigger jokes to his co-stars to make a better film.

Fargo & the Value of the Hollywood Remake by Edward Christie

So I have my first exterior submission for a review and it's a little different from what I normally post. My friend and fellow film student, Edward, has submitted an essay entitled Fargo and the value of the Hollywood remake. Remember, if you want to submit a review or essay of your own, you can email me at jackreviewsubmit@gmail.com

Fargo & the Value of the Hollywood Remake

by Edward Christie

As the text “This is a true story” began to fade in over the long snowy road covered in darkness, the first thought that hit my mind was, “Oh here we go again, another hollywood carbon copy”. Thankfully within the first half of episode one, it became apparent that this was not the case. The TV series “Fargo”, rebooted by Foxtel’s FX channel is not a mere remake of the classic Coen Brother’s 1996 film of the same name, nor does it carry on from those events as some form of sequel. Instead, the series takes the premise of the characters and the environment, and weaves them into a new, intriguing and amusing plot. Unlike some other reviewers, I would not describe the characters as brand new, as there are many crucial similarities between the series’ characters and their film counterparts.Rather, I see the series as more of a ‘What if?’ scenario, exploring a parallel universe with similar quirky characters that experience a comparable yet provocative series of events that you will find absolutely impossible to stop watching until the close.

The acting from the cast is superb all round, but especially from Martin Freeman, who certainly does justice to William H. Macy’s Academy Award Nominated performance. I found the cinematography to be a little bit more active here than it was in the film - which in my opinion contains some of the most provocative static shots in film history - yet overall it manages to uphold the same aesthetic that Roger Deakin’s & the Coen Bros. created, which is crucial to the unusual feel of the film. Overall, I cannot recommend the series to you more, especially if you are a fan of the original movie. But of course, I’m sure you’ve heard the same advice from countless reviewers by now.

There was one question though, that really gnawed at my brain throughout: Is it the fantastic acting, directing and writing that I find truly enjoyable about the series, or is it more the weird, sadly humorous and utterly depressing universe that the Coen Brother’s created that keeps me coming back for more? I cannot understate the importance of the aforementioned qualities of the series but the core concepts that make it so enjoyable - the town, the people, their accents, the original crimes & the offbeat humour - are all undeniably present in the film (albeit in different forms). It is therefore challenging to decide who truly deserves the acclamation for this series.

There are other instances where this is also the case. Another contemporary example would be Netflix’s House of Cards - a remake of the original BBC political drama - which so far has been brilliant in almost every respect. Yet despite possessing the unmeasurable talent of Kevin Spacey, who in my not so humble opinion is probably the greatest actor of his generation, I find it difficult for his Underwood to surpass Ian Richardson’s scheming, cheeky, quintessentially British Francis Urquhart. Of course, this is all down to a matter of opinion, but I personally believe that no matter how outstanding the remake/sequel/spin off, whatever you want to call it, will be (and don’t get me wrong, both Fargo and House of Cards certainly do justice to their predecessors), I will most likely always turn off my TV or walk out of the theatre thinking, “Well that was brilliant, but was it really necessary?”.

So I’d like to summarise this article with three ratings:

Fargo (1996 Film): 4 stars

Fargo (2014 Television Series): 3 & ½ stars

The concept of Hollywood Remakes: 1 star.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Enough with the X-Men already! Is what I was thinking before watching this movie. It's not that I'm not a fan, it was more that I thought I was all X-Men'd out. This movie showed me I wasn't.

One of the great things that was in the movie was the number of characters. In any other movie, I would say that this would be too confusing, but it made this one so much better. There are all the characters from the original trilogy (Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and, my favourite, Iceman), characters from First Class that we all loved (the young versions of Professor X, Magneto and Mystique) and new characters that will definitely be your new favourites, like Quicksilver (who I think everyone will love), played by Evan Peters (Kick-Ass). The only problem with Quicksilver is that he'll be appearing in the next Avengers flick played by a different actor, James' Kick-Ass co-star Aaron Johnson (he won't be as funny).

I won't go into too much plot, but basically the mutants of now (or the future?) send Wolverine back in time to prevent a war between mutants and humans breaking out. He teams up with young Magneto and Professor X to make this happen.

I will go into the 70's setting though. It is amazingly accurate (or maybe it just seems that way to me). Instead of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the historical moment that is the backdrop is the end of the Vietnam War. Like First Class, this adds an extra level of tension that the audience can relate to. Director Bryan Singer also handles the dramatic moments of the story really well.

The other thing this movie handles really well is the comedy. The last couple of X-Men movies have been pretty good at mixing comedy and drama, but this time it is perfected. The jokes aren't rammed down your throat so that they are overplayed, rather they are well timed and don't interfere with the films more serious situations.

I had a couple of issues with the continuity of this film in the timeline. The last time we saw Patrick Stewart's Professor X he was torn to shreds by Dark Phoenix, yet this film is set years after that and he is fine. Maybe if it was made clear that this was an alternate timeline it would be okay, but I don't think it is.

Verdict: I had a lot of fun watching this movie, revisiting old characters and meeting new ones was great. The story was pretty simple, but at the same time engaging enough that you didn't lose interest.

Godzilla

I have known about Godzilla my whole life. Even before 1998's Godzilla came out, I knew of this massive beast that went about causing destruction and chaos in Japan. I even have some of the Japanese films on DVD, so I understand the excitement and strange hero status surrounding the creature. Needless to say I was skeptical about a new American version of the character.

It wasn't until I saw some of the creature design pictures of how Godzilla would look in this movie that my confidence was restored. It was going to be the same as the old Japanese films I used to watch as a kid. In fact in watching the movie, it's amazing to see that they went one step further and somehow made the monster look like a guy in suit.

I was a bit disappointed however that as soon as the monster arrived on the scene, the human story that they had built up in the first thirty minutes of the movie, was thrown to the wayside. In the older films they still maintained the human character's, well, character.

And there are some truly talented actors in this film. Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is really good at playing a hysterical character and David Strathairn (The Bourne Ultimatum), one of my favourite actors, plays a badass US Navy Admiral. On the other hand I felt as though they underused Elizabeth Olsen, who is a really talented actress.

Verdict: A proper anglicised version of a fantastic franchise. At many times the audience was cheering for Godzilla.

80's Action Movie: Lethal Weapon (1987)

Prior to watching this, the only experience I had with any Lethal Weapon movie were the 'sequels' made in the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. While these short sketches are absurd, they did prepare me for the actual movie, in a way. For me, on the surface, Lethal Weapon was shaping up to be a generic buddy cop movie, but it soon showed me that it was a lot more.

Straight away the premise of this movie drew me in. Both Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) and Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) are polar opposites when it comes to police work. But that's a given in buddy cop movies. No, it's the depth that's given to both characters. Murtaugh is an aging family man, ready to find a solution at the first inclination of an answer. Riggs is volatile and suicidal after the death of his wife and will take down crooks regardless of his own safety. It's amazing that this movie was allowed to show just how close Riggs is to suicide, showing him putting a gun in his mouth multiple times.

This is a great movie for Gibson to show off his talents (although I was unsure if he was doing an Aussie or American accent, he was just beginning his Hollywood breakthrough). I have also identified it as a turning point for his insanity in real life. Another person with whom this movie correlates with their real life insanity is Gary Busey, who plays psychopathic mercenary Mr. Joshua. It just goes to show that playing a psycho on film can sometimes bleed over to real life. Also another bit of trivia, this isn't the last time that Glover and Busey would appear in a movie together, they also play opposite each other in (my favourite Predator movie) Predator 2 in 1990.

The only problem that I have with this movie is the soundtrack. The jazz saxophone that is played throughout genuinely made me laugh. The mix of soft rock, jazz and orchestral score may have worked in 1987, but it doesn't really work today.

Verdict: A pretty deep action movie that has some decent acting, it's a shame about the soundtrack.

80's Action Movie: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

'But Jack,' I hear you cry, 'Wikipedia tells me that this is a fantasy martial arts comedy film. I would hardly classify it as action.' And to you I say, it's my blog, I'll be the judge of that. Besides, there's guns and that's good enough for me. The reason I wanted to review this film is because it is the first film I remember watching. Well sort of. I have vague recollections of Kurt Russell and an overly stereotypical Asian man with long nails.

It turns out that I have a better memory than I thought because both of these things feature prominently. The only thing I didn't realise about this film is how funny it is and not in a 'because it's so bad' way. The comedy comes from Kurt Russell, who plays Jack Burton, an all American trucker who is doing a pretty good John Wayne impression. Burton stumbles around Chinatown misunderstanding Chinese customs and overestimating his own strength.

Burton comes up against Lo Pan (James Hong), an ancient Chinese sorcerer who has taken his friend Wang Chi's (Dennis Dun) fiance hostage. Well his more of a sidekick, very reminiscent of Shot Round in Temple of Doom. Aiding them in their adventure is Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) and Egg Shen (Victor Wong), another sorcerer who moonlights as a tour bus driver around Chinatown.

The most egregious stereotypes come with the characters of Lo Pan and Egg Shen. Lo Pan is like a Chinese emperor of a forgotten age. James Hong (he was the maitre d at the Chinese restaurant in Seinfeld) is hilariously over the top. Egg Shen on the other hand is like Mr. Miyagi on cocaine. There are also some characters which ultimately became Raiden in Mortal Kombat.

Verdict: A super over the top martial arts movie that is really funny. I think the only thing that would make this movie offensive is if they added chop suey music.

Chef

Writer director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf) has made a really fun movie about following your dreams. It is extremely uplifting and you'll finish watching it feeling good about your life. You'll also be extremely hungry. Painfully hungry, in fact. It also tackles soft issues like responsible uses of social media, family and, most importantly, how to seduce people with food.

The driving force in the story is that head chef Carl Casper (Favreau) has been introduced to Twitter by his 10-year-old son, Percy. After an unfavourable review by food blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), Casper engages in an online feud which culminates in an unflattering confrontation that goes viral and ruins Casper's career.

Supported by his family, Casper goes to Miami with his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) to help take care of Percy. There, Inez puts Casper in touch with Marvin (Robert Downey Jr.), her other ex-husband. Marvin gives Casper an old taco truck that he can use as a food truck. Casper calls Martin (John Leguizamo), his old friend, to come help him. Once they fix it up, Casper, Percy and Martin drive back to Los Angeles, selling food along the way.

And that brings me to the food. There is so much food in this movie that it gets it's own montages (that's right, food montages). And there isn't just one style of food in this movie, there's lots. There's fine dining at restaurant food, food truck food, food cooked at home, food as a substitute for foreplay, all the food. And it's shot in such a way that it dominates the screen.

Verdict: A tortuous movie if you're hungry and an uplifting film if you're down. People with the munchies beware.

80's Action Movie: Die Hard (1988)

I think the secret to good Bruce Willis acting must have been in his hair. Also the simplicity of having one man fighting off twelve terrorists rather than an army of goons like a video game is much more believable.

Apart from Pulp Fiction, this is the only role Willis has done that I like (admittedly I haven't seen that many). His portrayal of tough New York cop John McClane isn't as contrived as I thought it would be. His reactions to the situations he finds himself in seem genuine enough. The wisecracks he spouts are just about on par with the ones said by James Bond, so that also scores points in my book.

The other performance that has ensnared me is Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series) in his debut performance in a film as terrorist leader (or is he?) Hans Gruber. Rickman's performance is bafflingly good for someone in his first movie role. It feels like a performance from a veteran actor and yet he does a better job on his first go than many distinguished Hollywood actors have given in other films.

Another thing I love about this film is the overall vibe of the film. It hasn't dated like many other action films from the 80's, nor does it have that cheesy feeling that was so prevalent in any film from the decade. Instead it has a sort classy style, the fashion is not too horrendous and the decor is not too garish to distract this modern viewer from the story. (Although I did grow up thinking a stretch limousine like the one in the movie was the coolest thing possible. It has a TV in it!)

And I like this story. It's simple yet when you look at it closely there are some deep layers. A group of so-called terrorists break into a Los Angeles corporation building to steal $640 million in bearer bonds. (See, they were kind of bank robbers after all). But of all people to be trapped in the building with them is the aforementioned New York cop, who really doesn't take kindly to being taken hostage and begins his one man war on the bad guys (but this one man war is much more believable and realistic than in Commando, trust me).

See, this one man war does have guns and it does have explosions, but apart from one massive explosion, all the fighting is relatively small and contained (and I use relatively lightly, there's a lot of property damage done). The setting of an office building really helps this along.

Verdict: Actually a very decent action movie that isn't too over the top.

Fading Gigolo

I can see how this film could be perceived as Woody Allen film. The familiar Manhattan setting, the insecure characters, (not to mention that it also stars Allen) are all the elements that make up one of his movies. However, it is not, and if you look closely it differs from an Allen film just slightly.

This has to do with director John Turturro, who should be familiar with audiences of all ages having been in over sixty films. The film has a sort of faster pace than I originally thought it would have. In the first scene, we get straight to the action, there's no messing around introducing characters. Murray (Allen) gets straight to the point and asks his friend Fioravante (Turturro) whether or not he would be interested in the idea of being a male escort.

It happens just like that and we the audience are just as confronted by the idea as Fioravante. As he contemplates the idea, we get to see into Fioravante's life. Very soon he accepts and starts to do his duties as gigolo with a number of women, including Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) and Selima (Sofia Vergara).

Allen of course plays his old role as always. There are some very funny scenes where he is out and about trying to find women in his role as pimp. He soon comes along Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), a Jewish widow living in Brooklyn. She is watched over by Dovi (Liev Schreiber), a neighbourhood watch officer, who believes himself to be a suitor of Avigal.

Schreiber is a great foil to Turturro and could be menacing if his character wasn't such a wet rag. There was one scene that he was involved in where I was confused and this involved an underground Jewish court trial.

Verdict: Turturro has made a very funny film that features some very beautiful women. I don't know if I would like to be picked up by four burly Jewish guys in an SUV.

Bad Neighbours

There's something about a movie that bridges the divide between generations that I like. Bad Neighbours is definitely one of those films. On one hand it's about growing up, whilst on the other it's about retaining your youth as you grow older.

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) are a couple with a newborn baby who have just bought their first house. Soon after moving in, the large house next door is also up for sale and after much guessing over who will be moving in. They soon discover that it will be a fraternity from the nearby university. The president Teddy (Zac Efron) assures them that if they are ever too loud, Mac and Kelly should come to him instead of calling the cops and also invites them to party if they ever feel the need. Teddy loses his trust in the couple when they eventually do make a noise complaint and vows to make their life a living hell.

Zac Efron is a true powerhouse of acting in this movie, showing off his range in a variety of scenarios. One moment he is chilling with Mac smoking weed and the next he is menacingly devising ways to destroy his life. He also has some very touching moments when he realises that he isn't as smart as he thinks.

Dave Franco also stars as the accomplice and frat brother of Teddy, Pete. Pete is the more emotionally stable of the two and begins to feel remorse about what they are doing to their neighbours. His relationship with Teddy is hilarious, sometimes bordering on homoerotic.

Both Rogen and Byrne are funny, but the humour in the movie comes more from the insane antics of their neighbours than their reactions, then again they are playing the straight characters in a comedy and that role traditionally doesn't allow for too much wackiness.

The jokes in this movie are fantastic, most of them relying on the generation gap between the two sets of characters and the misunderstandings that this can cause. Some of the jokes early on where Rogen and Byrne are trying to endear themselves to the fraternity are just cringeworthy, but funny all the same.

Verdict: A really funny comedy about how the generation gap can cause wacky misunderstandings. It was great to see Efron in a slightly villainous role.

80s Action Movie: Commando (1985)

Out of all the movies on the list, this movie is probably the most bland. It is a very generic 80s movie on the whole and trivia surrounding the movie is more interesting than plot line...

...which is probably a good thing because a complex plot would probably get in the way of the 109 deaths in the movie. Now while that's not the biggest body count in a movie by far, but it's more that the large majority of these deaths come within the last 20 minutes and are caused by the main character.

Now why would someone want to kill 87 people in rapid succession? Easy. They had kidnapped his daughter. The man in question is John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger), an ex-commando living in retirement with his young daughter (Alyssa Milano). After his old squad kidnaps his daughter, Matrix is blackmailed into going to the Latin American country of Val Verde to kill a president he himself help to install in power.

(I should probably take this time to remind everyone to remember Val Verde, because it won't be the last time we see or hear of it).

But with such a rebellious spirit, Matrix won't be told what to do and instead goes on a murderous revenge rampage around the state he will later govern, killing everyone who gets in his way, as well as spouting many puns that we've come to expect in a Schwarzenegger movie ("Let of some steam, Bennett" when he impales his nemesis with a steam pipe is a classic).

One of the most interesting facts that I found out about this film is that an early draft was written by comic book writer Jeph Loeb. While not everyone will know that name, the nerds among us (and I am most definitely one) will recognise him for being one of the better Batman writers out there.

Verdict: Now while it may seem that talking about this film seemed like a futile gesture considering how bad it is, I wrote this more because this is a gateway movie for the rest of the films on the list. It's non-stop action gets you pumped up for the films that follow. Commando also has a very interesting connection to the next 80s film I will review, Die Hard. See the script for Die Hard was originally going to be a sequel for Commando, but Schwarzenegger refused to reprise his role from this film (I wonder why?)

May Is '80's Action Movie Month

Muscles, martial arts and montages! This month in addition to all the new release films that are coming out, I'm also going to be reviewing action movies made solely in the 1980's. The great thing about action movies of this time is that they sum up the socio-political feelings of the time, whether that be the Cold War fears of Red Dawn or the issue of POWs that is looked upon in Missing in Action.

While I can't review every single action movie that came out that decade (and there are a lot of them), I will be reviewing movies from a broad group of actors who were known for different types of action films (although, you could say that they are all similar).

If you wish to join in and watch the movies with me, here is a list of the films I will be watching and reviewing.

• Commando (1985)
• Bloodsport (1988)
• Lethal Weapon (1987)
• Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
• Road House (1989)
• Above The Law (1989)
• Missing In Action (1984)
• Red Dawn (1984)
• Die Hard (1988)

• Aliens (1986)
• Predator (1987)
• The Terminator (1984)

The first movie that I am going to be reviewing is Commando, but after that it will be a completely random choice.