Mandrill (2009)

I've waited my whole life for this

Antonio's parents were murdered in front of his eyes when he was a child.  He has spent his life since then seeking revenge for their deaths.  And he finally gets his opportunity.  The first hour or so of the film was great, one part James Bond, one part Austin Powers and one part Oldboy (a Korean revenge flick).  I lost interest after that as the tone of the film and the characters themselves changed.  The film becomes almost a caricature of itself, which might have been the director's intent.  Directed by Chilean director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza, this action film is very stylized with acrobatic choreography and slow-mo enhanced sequences.  The fighting is more akin to dancing than martial arts.  It could just be a style I've never seen before. 

A good solid action film which pays tribute to the 1970s, Mandrill gets respect with 3 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Writer: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Starring: Marko Zaror, Celine Reymond and Alejandro Castillo
Rotten Tomatoes: 63% (audience reviews only)
Metacritic: not reviewed

Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Don't go into the woods

A group of friends go off for a weekend in the woods.  The cabin they're staying in seems a bit creepy, but the group chooses to make the most of it.  Then the zombies come.  The rest, could be fairly predictable, even cliche, if not for Joss Whedon doing a bit of reconstruction on the horror genre.  This is one of those great genre films that manages to pay tribute to the genre while exceeding it at the same time.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

Cabin in the Woods scares up 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Drew Goddard (Cloverfield,  Alias, Lost)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dollhouse, The Avengers),  Drew Goddard
Starring: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Fran Kranz (Dollhouse), Bradley Whitford and Anna Hutchison
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Metacritic: 72%

Beyond the Black Rainbow

A long strange trip

Elena is held in a facility, seemingly against her will.  She is controlled by a glowing pyramid.  And yes, it gets weirder.  Set in 1983, this film is billed as an homage to sci-fi thrillers of the 1980s.  The visuals are very striking, the cinematography is great, but Beyond the Black Rainbow lacks a lot.  The story is very thin, and at times is non-existent.  This is resolution to the story at the end, but it could have been arrived at in half the time.  It might have worked well as a short film, but fails as a feature.  To say it is weird is an understatement. 

Beyond the Black Rainbow gets 2 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Panos Cosmatos
Writer: Panos Cosmatos
Starring: Eva Allan, Michael Rogers and Scott Hylands
Rotten Tomatoes: 42%
Metacritic: 49 out of 100

The Town (2010)

One more hit

When a group of Boston thieves decide to pull one last big job.  That's pretty much it.  But the writers and director make this way more exciting than I did in that sentence.  I like Affleck much better as a director than an actor.  He is a great actor, but I feel like he is best when he is writing and directing.  There is a great story here (based on a novel), great characters, and some great action.  An intelligent, well made film.  I am a Ben Affleck fan.

The Town gets 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Ben Affleck
Writer: Peter Craig, Ben Affleck, and Aaron Stockard
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, and Rebecca Hall
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Metacritic: 74 out of 100

The Missing Person (2009)

Who's after who?

A hard drinking private detective is hired to track a man down.  As he follows him across country, the detective realizes something is not quite right.  Michael Shannon (Take Shelter) does a superb bit of acting playing an archetypal PI in this neo-noir flick.  He manages to act either drunk or hungover in a very convincing way.  Amy Ryan does a great job deadpanning as Miss Charlie.  Definitely worth watching. 


The Missing Person gets a respectable 3 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Noah Buschel
Writer: Noah Buschel
Starring: Michael Shannon, Frank Wood and Amy Ryan
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Metacritic: 57%

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

Did we just walk into a video game?

A swat team enters notorious tenement to take down a local crime lord.  They learn very quickly that they have bitten off more then they can chew.  The rest of the film is pure fighting mayhem as the swat team tries to fight their way to the top, then fight desperately to escape.  Gareth Evans (Merantau) returns with a vengeance in this grimy, yet slick, action flick.  And oh yeah, this film is awesome.  I've been foaming at the mouth to see on DVD like a couple of other recent films that I've reviewed.  This film is very easily better than 90% of all Hollywood action films. Even if the story was worthless (which it definitely is not) the fight choreography alone would make this worth watching. 

The Raid: Redemption kicks its way to the top with 5 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Gareth Evans
Writer: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais (Merantau), Ananda George and Ray Sahetapy
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Metacritic:73%

Battle Royale (2000)

Kill 'em all!

When young people in Japan become virtually uncontrollable, the Japanese government organizes the Battle Royale.  Each year, one class is chosen, taken to a remote location, and is forced to kill each other as punishment.  Sound remotely familiar?  It is a little like the Hunger Games but this film satisfies where the Hunger Games disappointed.  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the Hunger Games (the book more so than the film), but Battle Royale is like the Hunger Games on speed.  And that is a good thing.  B.R. has lots of action, some humour and a certain band of quirkiness that only the Japanese can manage.

Battle Royale gets 4 out of 5 Poblanos!

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Writer: Koushun Takami (novel), Kenta Fukasaku (screenplay)
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda and Tarô Yamamoto
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Metacritic: 81 out of 100