Episode 1: Killer Sheep, Cooking Rats and Naughty Rockstars
Ben Howard takes a look at the picks of the week's cinema and DVD releases. On this week's show... killer sheep, a classic rockumentary, plus the latest in rat-based entertainment.
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Hi, I'm Ben Howard, and welcome to Reel Weekend, your weekly guide to the finest films out this week. We're here to help you get the very best out of your weekend viewing by sifting through the latest cinema and DVD releases.
On this week's show we start with killer sheep, finish with a classic rockumentary and somewhere in between take a look at the latest in rat-based entertainment...
New Zealand is, of course, best known for three things: rugby, sheep and the films of Peter Jackson. There are no funny-shaped balls in the first of this week's releases, but the second two feature heavily in Black Sheep, a low-budget Kiwi horror comedy from first-time director Jonathan King.
The spirit of Jackson's early gore classics, Bad Taste and Braindead, run throughout this tale of a young sheep-o-phobic lad who returns to the farm he grew up on, only to learn that his big-chinned brother is performing dubious experiments on the local livestock. This inevitably leads to hordes of genetically-modified sheep stampeding over the countryside, looking to take their carnivorous anger out on our hero and his environmentally conscious lady friend.
The emphasis here is definitely on laughs rather than scares, but this enthusiastic mix of splat-stick, sheep-shagging gags and dripping mutant were-sheep should keep you horror fans happy, and provides an enjoyably idiotic contrast to the Hostels and Saws of this world.
The common rat hasn't had a great time on the big screen over the years forever in the shadow of his cuter cousin, the mouse, ratkind has had to make do with being sung about by freaky-faced pop has-been Michael Jackson in 70s horror flop Ben; hanging out with frogs, pigs and Michael Caine in The Muppet Movie; or causing chaos in Francois Ozon's demented Gallic satire Sitcom.
All of that has changed, however, with the release of Ratatouille, the latest movie from those clever chaps at Pixar. After a visit from the ghost of his culinary mentor, Remy returns to the failing restaurant in which he learnt his craft, and, hiding under the hat of garbage boy Linguini, uses his skills to turn the business around.
Pixar continues its unbroken run of hugely entertaining, groundbreaking animated movies here, with Incredibles director Brad Bird once again showing the mediocre likes of Shrek 3 and Ice Age 2 that it takes more than some fancy CG-animation and half-hearted celebrity voiceovers to make a kids' classic it takes heart, characters and a proper story.
Kevin Costner has starred in a variety of pretty disturbing movies over the years most notably The Postman and Waterworld but Mr. Brooks is the first time he's taken on a proper bad-guy role. Kev plays the serial killer of the title a brainy businessman and loving father by day who by night acts on his murderous urges and preys upon innocent victims in Seattle. Brooks has a split personality, and the novelty here is that his homicidal alter-ego Earl is played by William Hurt.
Director Bruce Evans frequently stops the action around Costner and Hurt so they can debate the moral issues of their bloody crimes. It's hard to know which is more unlikely Kevin Costner as a serial killer or Demi Moore as a cop on the edge but it's good to see Costner taking on more challenging roles, and any excuse to watch William Hurt tap into that same vein of demented psychosis that made him such a riot in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence should be taken.
Although Asian genre cinema has never been bigger over here than it is right now, it's been a long time since Hong Kong was the place that Western eyes looked to for its Hollywood-beating thrills. Nevertheless, prolific Hong Kong bullet-meister Johnny To continues his one-man crusade to put his island back on the filmmaking map with Exiled, the best of this week's DVD releases.
It harks back to the golden era of Hong Kong action cinema that time in the late 80s before John Woo decided to high-tail it to Hollywood adds a dash of spaghetti western king Sergio Leone, and stars Hong Kong veteran Anthony Wong as a weary mob killer who is given the task of offing a former member of his gang who has done a runner to Macau.
His target persuades Wong to betray his boss and perform you guessed it one last heist that will set them all up for life. Okay, so you've heard that set-up a hundred times before, but in To's hands it becomes one of the year's most exciting action movies, with any number of inventive, slow-motion drenched shoot-'em-ups, and a nice line in dark, nasty humour.
Finally, if you thought Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty were doing a good job of sabotaging their careers, then you should check out Dig!, the brilliant documentary or indeed, rockumentary just released in a deluxe two-disc special edition.
The film focuses on the fortunes, or otherwise, of two bands: The Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Shot over seven years, the film shows how The Dandy Warhols went on to considerable success earlier this decade with their derivative-but-commercial brand of Stones-esque indie rock, with the far more inventive Brian Jonestown Massacre forever in their shadow.
But most importantly, it focuses upon Anton Newcombe Brian Jonestown's paranoid, egotistical, drug-guzzling self-destructive frontman, who seems determined to ruin his career before it's even begun.
That rounds up this week's selection of film, but fear not we'll be back same time next week with more cinematic treats. I'm Ben Howard, enjoy the weekend.
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