DEPARTMENTS: MAX BARASHENKOV (MB), SARAH JAYNE FELL (SF)
dvd REVIEWS THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008)
Directed by: Ryûhei Kitamura Starring: Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, Brooke Shields Category: Slasher Noir
Take a Clive Barker sci-fi/horror short story, add to it a Japanese director responsible for some of the best underground gore of the last decade, run it through a filter of unprecedented cinematographic quality and skill, and in the end you’ll get The Midnight Meat Train. The story centres on a photographer (Cooper) shadowing the mysterious butcher Mahogany (Jones) and starts off as a run-of-the-mill slasher, but quickly develops into so much more. The film twists its way through some of the most nail-biting horror sequences ever (the final showdown in a train carriage full of strung-up bodies is too good to describe) and climaxes in the most bizarre way. This one is for the books. (MB)
Choke
(2008)
Directed by: Clark Gregg Starring: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston Category: Adult Comedy
RocknRolla (2008)
Directed by: Guy Ritchie Starring: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton Category: Cockney Crime Caper
Mr. Ritchie sticks to what he does best in his latest offering. RocknRolla screams with the fast paced editing of Snatch and the suave soundtrack choices of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Gerard Butler plays an ever-so-enigmatic gangster who ends up embroiled in a high stakes property scam and has to tangle with underworld heavyweights left, right and centre. The first film of a speculated trilogy, RocknRolla leaves a lot of loose ends and, to be honest, does not match up to the knock-out-punch effect of Ritchie’s other works. It does however contain scenes that are utter gems and lays an alluring groundwork for further gangster exploits. (MB) 84
one small seed
Those of you who don’t read might have missed out on the brilliance of Chuck Palahniuk’s prose, but the good folks in Hollywood sure haven’t. Choke is the second of Palahniuk’s books to be adapted for the screen (the first being Fight Club, surprise surprise) and, as with most adaptations, it will probably disappoint die-hard fans. Several parts of the story have been dropped, or at least downplayed, in order to construct a coherent on-screen narrative. This isn’t to say that Choke is bad. Quite the opposite: as a stand-alone film it kicks ass. From the outright hysterical to the deeply disturbed, the cast (headed by the talented Sam Rockwell) and the story will have you on a rollercoaster you don’t want to get off. (MB)