Friday 27 April 2012

Double Bill Mini Musings: Trying out a formula...

Bug:
What's it about?
A waitress gets drawn into the paranoid world of a drifter, who is convinced there are insects growing in his blood, in William Friedkin's film adaptation of the stage play.
Who would I recognise in it?
Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jr.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Set almost entirely within the confines of a run-down motel room, the creeping sense of paranoia becomes extremely convincing. You're not sure whether Shannon's drifter really is crazy, or if he really is telling the truth. It's stylishly put together, features moments of bloody violence in the second half, and boasts spectacular performances - a scene where they try to piece together the apparent conspiracy is chillingly convincing in its sheer delusion. Great.

Click below to read about The Inglorious Bastards...


The Inglorious Bastards:
What's it about?
An Italian rip-off of The Dirty Dozen. A band of disgraced soldiers (many of whom have accidentally killed their own guys) try to make it to Switzerland, but en route fall in with the French resistance, with whom they must hijack a train carrying prototype V2 rocket technology.
Who would I recognise in it?
Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson (From Dusk Till Dawn), and the title was later used in 2009 by Quentin Tarantino for his WW2 wish fulfilment flick.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
It's pretty good fun, even if the script is lean at best, and in a way it's kind of like an episode of The A-Team - formulaic and unrealistic, but it's boy's own fun and adventure the whole way. There are some impressive moments of scale at times, and knowing full-well that the script is half-arsed at best, they don't hang around too long in-between bouts of gunfire and explosions. Old school spaghetti exploitation. Good.

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