Two posts next week

Going away for a few days and currently in a rush.

-Max Gettler

BATMAN (1989)

Before Christopher Nolan did his dark reboot of the Batman saga in 2005, there was Tim Burton. In 1989, he rebooted the Batman saga which was ended with Batman & Robin in 1997 for obvious reasons. This instalment is a mix of dark and cartoon. Michael Keaton plays Bruce Wayne: at daytime he is a wealthy businessman but at night he is a masked vigilante who fights crime in Gotham City. Meanwhile, underworld figure, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) becomes known as the ‘Joker’ after falling into a vat of chemicals that horribly disfigured his face – but he doesn’t care, the only thing he cares about is taking over Gotham City. So it is up to Batman to stop the Joker from his evildoings.

I’ve never really been big on the Batman franchise but from what I’ve seen, this is one of the best instalments, if not the best, even though it is somewhat dated, especially when compared to the later Batman movies by Christopher Nolan. But with the help of deepening the characters, Bruce Wayne in particular, Burton did a good job rebooting a family fun superhero series into something much more dark, even though it is a bit cartoon-y. What also makes this film really good is the acting; I’m no Michael Keaton fan but he certainly is enjoyable as Bruce Wayne. But the one who steals the show is Jack Nicholson; he portrays his character with absolute gusto, from his evil laugh to his dancing of the songs by Prince. But is he better than Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the same character? To be honest, I’m not going to bother comparing the two because they are two different Joker’s; Ledger’s was more realistic and Nicholson’s was more like something out of a comic. But all that matters is that both Joker’s are portrayed brilliantly.

Fans of the recent Batman films, especially The Dark Knight may not enjoy this as much when compared. But to any Batman fan out there, this movie is essential.

5 really long revolvers out of 5

THE STREET FIGHTER review

The Street Fighter franchise was quite popular in the 70s but was almost forgotten after that decade until mentioned by Quentin Tarantino in the 1993 action crime movie, True Romance. With thanks to him, he has repopularised quite a number of forgotten classics and in this case, it’s The Street Fighter.

The Street Fighter is the film that made Sonny Chiba a martial arts icon; he plays a really tough bodyguard, named Terry or if you watched the original Japanese dub, Takuma. He is given an offer by the Yakuza to kidnap the daughter of a deceased billionaire but turns it down. The Yakuza don’t take too kindly of him turning down their offer so they decide to kidnap the daughter themselves. Once Terry finds out about the kidnapping he decides to rescue the daughter from the mob in a blood soaked adventure.

The camera work can be really shoddy at times, since a lot, if not all of the panning shots are really jerky. The English dub is really poor, sometimes laughable but then again, what do you expect from an English dub of a 70s martial arts movie? And the storyline can be quite hard to follow. But this is a movie that does not rely on depth, all it just wants to do is entertain and believe me it does. Sonny Chiba may not be as talented as Bruce Lee in terms of martial arts, but he is arguably about as, if not more entertaining, as we see him breaking bones, gouging eyes and even tearing people apart (!) in awesome fight scenes. But if there was one negative about those scenes, it would be that they are a bit heavy-handed in the gore department.

That said, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a Kung Fu film about as entertaining as this. Action fans will absolutely cherish this movie and without a doubt add this to their collection. This is definitely the greatest of all the bloody martial arts movies and is tons of fun.

4.5 references to the Zatoichi franchise out of 5

NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF OZPLOITATION!

Not Quite Hollywood is a really entertaining documentary about the Ozploitaition (Australian exploitation) filmmaking era, where it started from the early 70’s and finished when VHS became popular in the mid-1980’s. The film has three different segments: the first segment is about the comedies and sexploitation films, the second about the horror films and the longest, which is the third about the action films.

We are shown interviews by the people who were involved in the making of the Ozploitation movies and they all seem to have a good time talking about their memories of being involved in those sorts of films. They tell us funny and amazing stories such as the critics who reviewed an actress’s boobs rather than her acting to what martial arts filmmaker and actor, Jimmy Wang Yu was like as a person. But out of everyone in the movie, Quentin Tarantino is the one who is interviewed the most, since he is the expert on Australian exploitation cinema – and he loves talking about all he knows.

Not Quite Hollywood features footage from possibly every single Ozploitation movie ever made – and the funny thing is that it glorifies all the featured films from the big-budget Mad Max to the really trashy b-grade Howling III .

I had a ball watching Not Quite Hollywood. As a matter, this is probably the most entertaining documentary I have ever seen. If you’re a cinephile, you will dig this movie and after watching it, you will feel the urge to rent an Ozploitation film.

4.5 people puking off the Eiffel Tower out of 5