Category: REVIEWS

Here is where you would find our film reviews on BRWC. We look at on trailers, shorts, indies and mainstream. We love movies!

Back In Time: Review

To be honest, I seem to be one of the few film fans whose imagination was not captured by Back to the Future. I saw the films on Sunday evenings as a child, but unlike with Star Wars and the Indiana Jones adventures, I’ve never been inspired to revisit the trilogy since the mid-90s. So I was hoping that Jason Aron’s feature-length documentary about the movie might remind me of some of the magic I may have missed.

Purporting to explore the cultural impact of Back to the Future, Back in Time collects two years’ worth of interviews with cast and crew – including Robert Zemeckis, Michael J Fox, and Steven Spielberg – alongside items on the hardcore fans of the film, and even footage from Secret Cinema’s immersive experience event from 2014. We’re introduced to a few guys with custom converted DeLoreans, a cosplaying covers band, and one fellow that constructed a Back to the Future-themed crazy-golf course in his back garden.

Unfortunately, the whole film falls somewhat flat. It lacks much behind-the-scenes drama and insight, fails to explore any cultural or historical context, and is instead content to heap on gushing praise with fanatical fervour, but little flair. A far cry from the nostalgic fun of Zemeckis’ iconic flick, Back in Time is dull, repetitive, and shallow. While it’s hard to deny that Back to the Future truly has resonated through time, this documentary fails to investigate why, beyond shouting ‘Back to the Future is awesome!’ for 95 minutes.

With so little weight or merit as its own feature film, this documentary feels more like an extra on a special edition DVD and Blu-Ray re-release of the original movie. And sadly, it did not motivate me to go back to the future.

21st September 2016
Blair Witch: The BRWC Review

A lot has happened since The Blair Witch Project came into the world like a cinematic wrecking ball back in 1999. Even though it wasn’t the first feature to use the “Found footage” … it was certainly the most successful and when coupled with a marketing campaign that genuinely had people wondering if it was all real or not then it was inevitable that it would bring about a slew of copycats trying to recapture that magic again. I enjoyed the original immensely as a fresh faced 15 year old when it first came out and I have since had varying degrees of love and indifference to the smorgasbord of other found footage horrors that have since hit the scene.

This brings us to today, mid-September 2016, and a surprise release from Adam Wingard who is one of the most exciting of the new breed of horror directors that have been steadily proving their worth over the last few years. What was reported to be an original piece of cinema called “The Woods” was suddenly revealed to be a direct canonical sequel to the original Blair Witch Project and, as expected, the internet went bonkers and the hype machine began.

I must admit I got very excited. In my opinion Adam Wingard’s previous films have all been extremely well made and all have a wonderful sense of what makes these genre pictures so much fun. His last two in particular (You’re Next and The Guest) have received a warm critical response and, in turn, much wider cinematic releases. The thought of him taking this film that originally redefined the horror genre and making it his own was extremely exciting to me. It is with this is mind that it somewhat pains me to say that although there are a few cool “modernisations” made to the original it is mostly a retread which isn’t quite the shot of blood to the genre that I was hoping for or expecting.

The first ten minutes are entirely dedicating to documenting all the new gear and tech they can utilise. There are things like earpiece cameras that go some way to answering questions like “If you’re being chased in the woods why not drop the camera”? and drones that can fly above the trees and give them an aerial view. This seemed clunky but acceptable as it needed to be established one way or another. What then follows is about 40 minutes of the most generic and bland characters and plot development i’ve seen in a while. There’s the awkward burgeoning romance between our main protagonist and the young filmmaker documenting him, there’s a black friend who is forced to work with a confederate who may or may not be a massive racist, there’s the typically strange and slightly unhinged locals who believe the legends a little too much. It all felt very “by the numbers” to me and unfortunately took me out of the experience a bit too much.

Luckily the final act is exactly what I was hoping for! It is unnerving, intense, jumpy, and a lot of fun. I found myself gripping the chair, jumping at something and then laughing if off afterwards on multiple occasions and it was so much fun! These final moments are right up there with the original and they are genuinely creepy. I just wish we had more interesting characters and a better developed story arch leading up to it.

I’m glad I caught this on the big screen because the sound design and the scares really deserve to be seen as such. I recommend the film for fans of the genre and I will certainly see it again at some point although I believe this is a step back for Wingard in the sense of his inventiveness and subverting of genre tropes. I hope his future projects are a little more envelope pushing although i believe they are an English language remake of Jee-woon Kim’s masterful 2010 feature “I Saw the Devil” and an adaptation of the Japanese anime “Death Note”. Seems I may be waiting longer than I had hoped.

20th September 2016
Review: 101 Most Influential Coming Of Age Movies

There is an understandable temptation for a writer to begin what is essentially a ‘History of…’ at the very outset of cinema. The author, Ryan Uytdewilligen, strives to be thorough, so wouldn’t want to risk missing anything out. In this instance he should have ignored that temptation and cut straight to the 1950s. The first four decades (chapters) are a hard slog. Any gems of wisdom better saved for an appendix.

From the start Uytdewilligen sends us mixed messages, as he can’t seem to pin down what ‘coming of age’ means. I was expecting a book about teen flicks, something akin to 2014 documentary Beyond Clueless (worth a watch), covering the ages of 12-21. In the introduction he suggests that it is possible for a person to ‘come of age’ in their 80s, but that is plainly untrue. 101 Most Influential Coming of Age Movies is a great premise, but he comes unstuck within the first few pages. His position becomes clearer in the section on Mary Poppins (seriously), where he reveals that he equates coming of age with learning a life lesson, in the case of Mary Poppins: “There is a time for fun and a time for work”.

The author’s voice is inconsistent: chatty, casual passages interspersed with virtually unreadable prose: “If only this lesson was as exciting and climatic in real life as it is in Peter Pan, because it would be found loud in clear”. Okay dude. He includes numerous juicy pieces of trivia (Adolf Hitler wanted to kidnap Clark Gable; MGM wanted to cut ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from The Wizard of Oz) but these are often lost amid authorial ramblings. You probably paused at the mention of Mary Poppins – I certainly did. It wouldn’t be the first title that springs to mind when thinking about coming of age movies, and neither would Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Red Balloon, National Velvet, The Jungle Book or Bambi. It is odd that Uytdewilligen should choose so many child-focussed films when he seems very passionate about the experience of teenagers at school: “After the cruel social experiment known as high school”

He attaches a ‘Greatest Influence’ to each of the listed films, but these make little sense after a while: “How Green Was My Valley: Imploring and expanding on the multigenerational period family drama.” There’s scant evidence about why most of the films can be labelled ‘influential’, though he does express decent reasons for some (kickstarted a particular genre; pioneered realism/method acting).

He includes a good number of highly influential films: The Graduate (1967); Carrie (1976); Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982); Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986); Clueless (1995); Napoleon Dynamite (2004); Blue is the Warmest Color (2013), but in his attempt to be generous to each decade has squeezed more recent years, which are the most fruitful for teen movies. I’m sorry to see he has left out Heathers, The Lost Boys and Empire Records, but any list like this will be open to debate.

101 Most Influential Coming of Age Movies is a labour of love. It’s also a list. A thorough, well researched, carefully curated one, but a list nonetheless. A steadfast editor could transform it into a decent read. Failing that, just grab the list and run.

17th September 2016
Review: The Brother

The Brother is a very stylish British thriller echoes of Layer Cake that draws you into a murky world leaving you time to think what is this all about: family; crime; both or something altogether different.

The opening scenes provide a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. The narrative is sparse. The scenes give minimal information – Reuben is a terrible man and someone Jack has spent the last 18 month in a Colombian Jail. “The future’s unwritten they say son, your past will always be following you.” What’s the point so is this the sins of the father on the sons or is it Cain and Abel?

With Reuben being jealous of Richard and yet it was Richard who always saved Reuben. Adam, the brother, we learn at the beginning of the film is a cloakroom attendant but it slowly transpires that he withdrew from the family business. The other brother, Eli, a musical genius – a sort of fingers. This is one of the clichés in the film. The violence and it does come is brutal a sort of shot of adrenaline – the type of clap by the ear that has you pull your jumper over your head. What all this means is you, the audience, have to engage your mind as well as your eyes and that is great.

This is a far superior gangster flick – the sensory deprivation and use of music to show deafness is impressive and shows a certain level of mastery. Gangster films have come along way from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to last year’s film of North v South a retelling of Romeo vs Juliet in a gangster setting. This though feels far more superior and incredible to watch.

Misdirection is a useful filmmaking tool but less is more and unfortunately in this film it was somewhat overused. It doesn’t detract from the film and what he sought to achieve but actually it wasn’t needed.

The Brother opens in cinemas across the UK on Friday 16 September.

16th September 2016
The Almodóvar Collection: The BRWC Review

As Pedro Alomdóvar’s latest film Julieta hits cinemas, we dove into a new boxset celebrating his early work.

Dark Habits/Entre Tinieblas – 1983

Finding herself in trouble after her boyfriend dies of a heroin overdose, a cabaret singer commits herself to the most unconventional of convents. Seeking salvation, Yolanda (Cristina Sánchez Pascual) instead finds a swamp of drug-fuelled masochism spiked with musical melodrama. A curious – if not entirely satisfying – watch, it is nevertheless probably the only opportunity you’ll have to see an acid-tripping nun play bongos to a tiger.

What Have I Done to Deserve This?/Qué He Hecho Yo Para Merecer Esto! – 1984

A pill-popping part-time cleaner and part-time housewife is run ragged by her brute of a husband, her delinquent drug-dealing son, and loveable yet loopy mother-in-law. Throw in a prostitute, a paedophile dentist, and some telekinesis and you have a surreal but sour kitchen-sink drama that’s sorely lacking in Alomdóvar’s cheek and charm.

Law of Desire/La Ley del Deseo – 1987

Mixing thriller with theatrical melodrama, Almodóvar’s outrageous seventh film features a young Antonio Banderas and an even younger Manuela Velasco (the [REC] franchise) alongside Eusebio Poncela’s film and theatre director Pablo Quintero. A post-modern exploration of artifice, obsession and sexual identity, it’s a striking film notable for a Banderas performance full of promise, intensity and charm.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown/Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de ‘Nervous’ – 1988

Earning Almodóvar his first Oscar nomination and international success, the film sees Carmen Maura’s Pepa fall out with her lover and into his marital mess – a mentally-ill wife and adulterous son. Were that not enough, there’s a subplot of international terrorism and tranquilizer-laced gazpacho. This chaos his held together by black humour and arresting cinematography, resulting in a tense yet tenuous study of sex and psychology.

Kika – 1993

Veronica Forque plays the titular make-up artist in this sordid soap opera of murder, incest, voyeurism and rape. A mess of absurd plot strands and questionable taste, Kika explores the mainstream media’s increasing infatuation with gratuitous sex and violence in Almodóvar’s unique, if tactless, style.

The Flower of My Secret/La Flor de Mi Secreto – 1995

Marisa Paredes’ Leo Macías is a writer torn between her philosophical principles and her profession as a purveyor of trashy romance novels. As her marriage dissolves, she falls into drink, despair and the understanding arms of her newspaper editor. A far more subdued and sombre affair than the rest of this collection’s chapters, The Flower of My Secret tones down Almodóvar’s colourful characters and lurid locations for a more emotionally engaging portrait of sorrow and soul.

With sound and image restoration supervised by the filmmaker’s brother Augustín Almodóvar, and a host of brand new interviews and extras, The Almodóvar Collection will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray through Studiocanal on 19^th September.

9th September 2016