www.list.co.uk/film
the eternal battle of good vs (ml. The truce is Once again threatened as both Sides scrabble for posses3ion of the Chalk of Fate. which has the power to rewrite history.
It's an exhilarating ride. packed With glossy set-pieces and sophisticated SFX though it does have a tendency to drift into mystic mumbo Jumbo. But who cares when the finale whips up a maelstrom of CGI as supernatural forces lay waste to Moscow, a crazed mix of The Matrix and Ghostbusters 2. Bekmambetov loves camera tricks and the tWitchy editing can infuriate at times. but more often adds to the frenzied pacrng. Be warned. though. Night Watch is essential prior VieWing or the denouement will be frankly baffling.
This Director Cut includes a further eight minutes, With a ‘making of‘ film and trailer as exhas.
(Henry Northmore)
SPOOF DOCUMENTARY KENNY
(15) 99min
(Contender DVD rental/retail) O.
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When a film comes billed as ‘one of Australia's best ever comedies, it's difficult to know whether to be eXCited or petrified. From a nation who has given us the rank hospital sitcom Let the Blood Run Free and the gruesomely overrated
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This follows ’i'ie 0t life's losers. Kenny Sin/tn ‘Stlétll‘: .Jacobsor‘i. as he takes his Splastidowr‘ coriipaiiy wares to tackle lavatorial needs around the Australian festival circuit. But there is only so many times that the words ‘shitf or 'shitter' can be laughed at when uttered by a man whose speech impediment results in his difficulty at pronouncing the letter ‘s'. With extras Lifting the Lid. a documentary about this spoof dOCLimentary and equally unfunny bonus footage. Kenny is toilet humour at its most pungent. (Brian Donaldson‘i
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(18) 93mins
(Fox DVD rental/retail)
'Direct to DVD' is the kiss of death in most genres. but as any self- respecting horror-phile knows. it can offer bizarre and tviisted gems that would never find a cinema audience. Wrong Turn 2 fits nicely into this natural habitat. A grOLip of wannabe reality TV stars head into the woods and find themselves battling against a defOrmed family of inbred redneck cannibals. Henry Rollins is the only name yOu'll recognise (though Texas Battle gets an honourable mention for haVing one of the best names in moviedomi. but Wrong Turn 2 isn't about stars or plot it's ab0ut deIICiously inventive slaughter strung together by a passable story. The film
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Chiefly notable for an early screen appearance from Edinburgh's most famous former milkman, this somewhat pedestrian 1961 British film noir features Sean Connery in one of his last supporting roles. here playing a cat burglar the year before he was cast as super spy 007. The mainstay of the action, set in London's West End but shot at Shepperton Studios. revolves around an unlawful partnership between Herbert Lom's debonair acCOuntant and Alfred Marks' spivy racketeer and the attempts by John Gregson's maverick policeman to break their burgeoning crooked cartel.
lt woold be churlish to blame the film‘s lack of authenticny on Scotland Yard-appouited technical adVisor Sidney Careless. but a marvellous moniker like that warrants shoe- horning into this reView. The real fault rests with writer directOr producer team John Lemoth and Leigh Vance fOr knocking Out a low-rent cops ‘n' robbers caper fOr UK B-mowe distributor Anglo- Amalgamated. Still.
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In lieu of the remake starring Jason Stratham, which Will be released later this year. comes the very welcome DVD rer release of Paul Eating Raoul Bartel's wonderfully amoral 1975 cult gem. Set in the then far off year of 2000 the film follows the progress of cross country racing drivers who are taking part in a brutal race which includes gaining points by mowing down pedestrians. Produced by the great Roger Corman and directed by Bartel as a blackly comic counterpoint to the more po-faced Ro/lerhi’i/l (made in the same year). Death Race 2000 is giddy. Violent fun and features impressive early performances from DaVid Carradine and Sylvester Stallone. Extras include Roger Corman interview and biographies of Corman, Carradine. Stallone and Bartel. «Paul Dalei
CRlME DRAMA SUGARHOUSE (15) 90min (Contender Films DVD rental. retaill .0
While this debut feature from Brit TV actor and director Cary Love refreshingly steers clear of the very worst excesses inflicted on UK cinema by the legacy of Guy Ritchie. itS voyeuristic air of sduaiid. drug-enabied ‘.’IO|€DC€ and sometimes heavy- handed oaer-emoting places it iust too close to the realm of the student protect.
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It's would be fair to sai. sucress wirit it“ to his tousled blonde head at the hiwiiit i)? Polnareff's popularity iii 1071’. he planter. d l’ “1‘. With huge posters of his own nakeil biitti ii :k. With the slogan 'Vive l a Revolution" underneath. This political statement fittltv‘li, misunderstood. and by 10H Poliiiiii-fl iiad fled to America. writing his stunning titt'tflffi‘ own country from exile letter to l raiii w' lhttp: tinyurlcorii :lafotSi.
By the 80s. Poliiareff had become a .irtiial recluse. only ever sighted behind huge wraparound shades. and his planiient ‘i‘loii ballad 'Kamasutra' was accompanied b, a self made film of the lonely Polnareff stalking the corridors of a posh hotel. lhttp: rtlllyllflCOlll.373/C81. The <_;r,iii:trloi.niz in the corner of the screen records the passing days and months in exile before Polriareff had the crucial cataract operation that was to save
Polnareff enjoyed a brief ’;()lll(3l)£i(;k iii March 2007 when 170.000 Parisians flocked to Reicy Stadium to see him play an emotional homecoming gig lhttp: tinyurlcoiii it‘le‘irlln. Polnareff‘s life—story siriiply begs to iriade into a biopic. Until then, Vive La Polnareffolutiorif
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recomniendations. however. Although the stylised warehouse location where Ashley Walters (best-knov‘in as So Solid Crew's Asher D) twitchy crack addict D attempts to sell Steven Mackintosh's trOubled yuppie Tom a gun stolen from psycho drug-overIOrd Hoodwink (Andy ‘Gollum' SerkiSi is a throwback to the scripts theatrical Origins. the framing street scenes feel very authentic. While Tom is a rather smug character and Serkis' performance amounts to little more than a cartoonisth overplayed take on Ben Kingsley in
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Sexy Beast. V‘i/alters is a real find. He not only steals the film and riiir affections. but rrianages to do so pia/ing what should be an ugl/ character. Extras include t'EillE.’ arid Spoof Cribs featurette.
lDavid Pollock}
Jr: Feb '2’}: THE LIST 61