Underworld Awakening (DVD Review)

DVD review of Underworld Awakening, starring Kate Beckinsale; the fourth film in the highly stylized Underworld universe which pits vampire vs werewolves.

Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
© 2012 Lakeshore Entertainment Group LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Dir: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein (Shelter - podcast review)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Charles Dance
USA, 2012

Reason to see: Selene, the vampire death-dealer protagonist, is one of my all-time favourite film characters and it's on My Most Anticipated Films for 2012

Underworld Awakening technically follows Underworld: Evolution chronologically in the series but if you aren’t overly familiar or haven’t revisited the series recently they do help with a little memory jogger, which is the lead into the current world where humans were not only made aware of the vampire and lycans existence, but also defeated them in a ‘cleansing’ leaving the remaining numbers very small. I found that a bit of a challenge to buy into, that the humans would prevail, but that’s the world they create so you kind of have to go there to experience the film. In this near future world we travel with death dealer vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who awakens after the said ‘cleansing’.

A brief personal history of how I weight in on the Underworld series is that I absolutely adored the highly stylish full-tilt vampires vs lycans (werewolves) action film that was the original Underworld, but was completely dismayed by some random gender crap in the sequel Underworld: Evolution that made me hate the film, which is a statement I don’t make very often. And then I flipped back to enjoying the series with the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans which features Michael Sheen and was the only film in the series without Kate Beckinsale. So, personally I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with the series but I can’t help but the gorgeous stylings, amazing action and cool vampire & werewolves throughout.

In terms of the action and art direction of how the film it looks and feels, I loved it. It’s a little dingier than the original film so you have to take that into account as it aligns with this whole living on the fringes with low resources which doesn’t really read ‘vampire’ to me, but it is something new. I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the actors in the film including Theo James (‘Bedlam’), Charles Dance (Aliens 3) and Kris Holden-Reid (‘Lost Girl’) who I really think they could have had more in the film. Plus, to make sure it doesn’t go without saying, Kate Beckinsale was fantastic to see, I love her as Selene a fierce and beautiful death dealer who kicked a whole lot of butt in the film and makes no qualms about the fact that she is completely in charge.

I was pretty surprized to see that it was only 88 minutes with around 10 of those being credits, but I still felt like I got 1-films worth of enjoyment for the film. The story and world may not have been perfectly what I was looking forward but they stayed true to what they created and I respect that. In terms of the series I’d still say the first one is my favourite, and then Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, then Underworld Awakening and finally Underworld: Evolution. It was one of my most anticipated films of the year so I was excited and looking for a bit more than what we got here, but I certainly was entertained and engaged while watching.

In terms of the story, I took me for a bit of a surprized that I don’t think the themes will appeal to everyone; but it also feels like it’s one of many periods within this world and therefore we’ll have more to enjoy to come. However, for supernatural action fans this is a total fun ride with lots of action, and interesting story and continuing the journey through the cool world they have created so for that I do think it’s a success.

DVD Extras:

• Feature Commentary with Filmmakers: producer Richard S. Wright, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer & visual effects supervisor James McQuaide and directors Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein. I really enjoyed listening to this commentary, and 5-person commentaries can sometimes be a challenge but it's really clear they enjoyed working on the film and enjoy the Underworld universe so there is lots of notations about about it's fits in visually or story/character wise with the other films as well as great stories about working with the cast and crew plus also a great technical perspective in terms of the effects, 3D, what's CG vs practical/suits, the locations and editing. I loved hearing them talk about the editing and the choices made and different variations that they tired and why they went with that they went with, that was fascinating. The talk a lot about the 3D (and 3D films in general) and what was shot in 3D and what was 2D vs 3D in the film, and the challenges of the film including introducing new characters to the audience, keeping mystery of the story of the film, the shots they love in the film including favourite blood spatters which is hilarious. Also touch on examples of good hommages, the balance of using violence in film, the advantage of have Len Wiseman who directed the first two films as a producer on this film, the changes and development of the character of Selene in this film, the neo-goth look of the film, the moments and shots that were in the trailer and working with the cast especially Kate Beckinsale along with Charles Dance, Theo James & Michael Ealy.

Underworld Awakening is available on DVD, BluRay and 3D BluRay on May 8, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca (DVD, Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray) & Amazon.com (DVD, Blu-ray and 3D Blu-ray)

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it repeatedly
I'd recommend it to fans of the series & vampire/action film fans

See also

• Spoiler-filled awesome discussion of Underworld Awakening over at Before the Dawn
• Spoiler-free review of Underworld Awakening on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2012
Originally reviewed for Theatrical Release - February 12, 2012

Haywire (DVD Review)

DVD review of stylish action film Haywire starring MMA Superstar Gina Carano


Image Courtesy of Alliance Films

Dir: Steven Soderbergh (Solaris, Oceans 11, The Girlfriend Experience)
Cast: Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton
USA/Ireland, 2012

Reason to see: Female protagonist action films are always on my to see list

Haywire stars Mixed Martial Artist Gina Carano, and is directed by Steven Soderbergh which I miraculously kind of forgot about before going in because all I really needed was an MMA star in a film to pull me to see it. But Soderbergh directed Oceans 11, 12, 13, the Solaris remake and The Girlfriend Experience, and it’s no doubt he is a very stylish director which you could really feel that in the film. The pacing and the storytelling style were very different than I was expecting; a lot of action films go for a very high-paced style but Haywire feels much more like a drama, with action. It feels like an American espionage drama with action and a female protagonist as opposed to an action film. Although the action is fantastic and Gina Cararo is amazing and certainly will be a draw to the film, the most important part of the film which is her character journey and the story which has some welcome mystery elements to it.

I do wonder if some people will think the pacing is too slow, and I found myself spending time while watching literally interpreting and experiencing the film from the perspective of the fact that it wasn’t what I was expected. But, once I settled into realizing what they were going with and just relaxed into it, I really enjoyed it and I particularly enjoyed that it has a slow burn with a lot of visual storytelling. We get to watch Mallory (Gina Cararo), as she herself is watching, interpreting and reacting to what is going on around her in a very visual manner. I was very impressed by this, the completely visual storytelling that was accompanied by a groovy soundtrack were a huge highlight of the film and something sets it apart from many current-day action films proving that you don’t have to shock & scare us with stuff to entertain us, you can also appeal to our logical minds as we try to piece together the puzzles, be they ones of action or espionage. It was very impressive.

It was fantastic to see Gina Cararo was so good in this role as an action star, so much so that it actually pushes buttons and boundaries of things that we don’t normally see; for example if she is fighting a guy in the film – they are really going all out at each other. She’s not treated differently and she’s certainly not treated lightly, she’ll get thrown around just as much as anyone else who is in an action film. It’s literally a new primer when there dynamics of the fight aren’t re-adjusted to balance for any strengths or weaknesses of either fighter; they are treated as equals. Although theoretically I cheered and the balance, it took a while to adjust to seeing that. They did also call out on some action film tropes to be a more clear counter-reaction to what we often see gender wise, that didn’t work in the film quite a smoothly as the action balance did, but considering it’s such a new shift I think its’ entirely fair to expect some growing pains. To be honest, I’m happy to take those growing pains if the counter is seeing an amazing, capable, and believable action star. And that is exactly what we got: Gina Cararo is amazing, capable, believable and very dynamic action star and I look forward to seeing her in more films in the future. The story was good too, and I was impressed I could keep up considering espionage can be a bit of challenge for me but I suspect seeing it in open captioning help (see more on the experience of open captioning here).

Overall, the action, score and tone were all amazing plus I enjoyed the story as well. But Gina really was the pull to the film, and she pulled me right in and kept me for the entire time.

I would definitely recommend it to action, espionage and mystery film fans and especial to fans of female protagonist films.

DVD Extras:

• Gina Carano in Training (16 minutes) Behind the scenes footage, film clips, MMA fighting footage of Gina Carano, pre vis choreography footage, and interviews with Gina Carano, World Extreme Fighter founder/owner Jamie Levine, special ops technical advisor Aaron Cohen, fight choreography J J Perry, actors Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum and Ewan McGregor on working together, on her physicality and aptitude, fighting, MMA, women fighting in the MMA, training including a section on weapons training, fight choreography and + clips from a film Q&A with Steven Soderbergh on when he first saw Gina Carano and the idea to build a movie around her. I loved how they would show progression of several of the fight scenes from pre vis choreography, to behind the scenes of filming to the finished film; that was pretty freaking awesome.
• The Men of Haywire (5 minutes) behind the scenes, film clips and interviews with Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum and Antonio Banderas on what drew them to the film, the feel, look and tone of the film; the realism of the characters in the film, training for the film, working together and especially the experience of working with director Steven Soderbergh.
• Characters of Haywire (9 minutes) This includes a set of tailored trailers, but each one shows the character of Mallory (played by Gina Cararo) paired with the other characters in the film including what her relationship is to them; and then one that purely focuses on Mallory; Plus snippets and film footage of the interviews with Gina Carano, Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender both from the previous extras as well as additional interviews with Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Bandares and Channing Tatum on their characters. I'm a little surrpirzed this doesn't have it's own menu to see the footage character by character, but rather it has 6 trailers in a row, then the 2 sets of interview footage.
  

Haywire is available on DVD as of May 1, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I can't wait to watch it again
I'd highly recommend it to fans of action films & female protagonist films

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2012
Originally reviewed for Theatrical Release - February 12, 2012


Gina Carano stars in HAYWIRE, and Alliance Films release. Photo Credit: Claudette Barius


Gina Carano (left) and Channing Tatum (right) star in HAYWIRE, an Alliance Films release. Photo Credit: Claudette Barius

Safe Movie Passes Giveaway (Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa & Winnipeg)

Image courtesy of Alliance Films

Want a chance to win movie passes and see up the upcoming action flick Safe starring Jason Statham as a down and out-er who wants to save a smart girl for big bads? How can you not? Statham! Kicking butt! Protecting an awesome smart little girl! Soudns all good to me! If you are in Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa or Winnipeg then you are in luck as I have passes to giveaway for advance screenings.

Safe Synopsis: "A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change…until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute, haunted by guilt, and tormented by the knowledge that he will always be watched, and anyone he develops a relationship with will also be killed.

But when he witnesses a frightened twelve-year-old Chinese girl, Mei, being pursued by the same gangsters who killed his wife, Luke impulsively jumps to action…and straight into the heart of a deadly high-stakes war. Mei, he discovers, is no ordinary girl, but an orphaned math prodigy forced to work for the Triads as a "counter." He discovers she holds in her memory a priceless numerical code that the Triads, the Russian mob and a corrupt faction of the NYPD will kill for.

Realizing he’s the only person Mei can trust, Luke tears a swath through the city’s brutal underworld to save an innocent girl’s life…and perhaps even redeem his own."

Sage stars Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, James Colby, Barry Bradford, Robert John Burke, Matt O’Toole and Jay Giannone; and is directed by Boaz Yakin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toronto Screening Details:
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012; Showtime: 7:00 PM
Location: AMC Yonge & Dundas 24, 10 Dundas Street East in Toronto, ON M5B 2G9
Click here for Toronto Screening & Enter PIN of SAFEWITHMOXIETO

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Halifax Screening Details:
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012; Show Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Empire 8 Park Lane, 5657 Spring Garden Road in Halifax, NS B3J 3R4
Click here for Halifax Screening & Enter PIN of SAFEWITHMOXIEHALI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ottawa Screening Details:
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012; Show Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Empire 7, 111 Albert Street in Ottawa, ON K1P 1A5
Click here for Ottawa Screening & Enter PIN of SAFEWITHMOXIEOTT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winnipeg Screening Details:

Date: Thursday, April261, 2012; Show Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Empire Grant Park 8, 1120 Grant Avenue, Unit 127 in Winnipeg, MB R3M 2A6
Click here for Winnipeg Screening & Enter PIN of SAFEWITHMOXIEWIN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are a limited number of passes for the screenings, so act quick!

Missed your chance? See Safe in theatres when it opens in wide release on April 27, 2012!

Want to increase your chances for next time? Sign up for any of the Movie Moxie Newsletters as subscribers get first chance at any contests or giveaways. You can sign up here.

Thank you to Alliance Films for the movie passes giveaway - huzzah!

Safe Trailer:



Mei (Catherine Chan) and Luke Wright (Jason Statham) in SAFE. Photo credit: John Baer


From left to right: Detective Mears (James Colby), Detective Benoit (Barry Bradford), Captain Wolf (Robert John Burke), Luke Wright (Jason Statham), Detective Lasky (Matt O’Toole) and Detective Kolfax (Jay Giannone) in SAFE.

Monster Brawl (DVD Review)

Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Writer/Dir: Jesse T. Cook
Cast: Dave Foley, Art Hindle, Robert Maillet, Rj Skinner, Holly Letkeman, Kevin Nash, Lance Henriksen (voice)
Canada, 2011

Reason to see: I love monster and love fighting films, so Monster Brawl is win/win!

Monster Brawl brings us an ultimate monster showdown, giving us a Pay-Per-View-style monster fighting championship full on with sports commentators (Davey Foley and Art Hindle who were often hilarious), event personality played by Jimmy The Mouth of the South Hart himself, as himself with pretty ladies at his side and monsters galore from classic fan favourites of Werewolf and Frankenstein to the new permutations of Swamp Gut and Witch Bitch.

I adored that each character got their own introduction, and those in it of themselves felt like short films provide some awesome character origin stories and hilarious monster action (Frankenstein & Swamp Gut were my faves) with great pre-show ramblings that really parallel the wrestling model well with over the top bravado, mouthy managers and setting up the character story line to pitch the fight. I truly loved the character intros, they were so much fun and some I would be happy to watch over and over.

I loved the enthusiasm of Monster Brawl and how it really went for and used the model of the ultimate showdown, but the structure of it did feel familiar after a couple of fights which which actually make it read very well on TV because you can feel where the breaks would be. It's hard to give it a hard time on feeling like you know where it's going, because using the model of wrestling has that element to it - there could be an upset here and there but really you know where that is going to so you have to just give in and let it take you away and pretend you don't see that foreign object/foul play/manager interference happening... even if you might know it.

There were lots of gem moments, often with the commentators played by Dave Foley and Art Hindle or event "voice" Lance Henriksen that really have me laughing. Monster Brawl was It was a lot of fun and I had a blast revisiting it on DVD. It's amazing just how many monsters they made the creativity and drive that went into the film. For us fans of monsters and wrestling, it's certainly a must-see.

DVD Extras:
If you are a fan of extras, the DVD has lots to enjoy including an entertaining commentary and extensive behind the scenes look at how the film was put together. Here are the details of the DVD extras:

• Audio Commentary with writer/director Jesse Thomas Cook and producers Matt Wiele & John Geddes discussing the concept of combining monsters with the wrestling format, the design & aesthetic, the small crew that worked on the film, the dedication of the actors and everyone involved in the film, how actors played multiple roles, the classic horror riffs they used, cameo appearances, the locations, the special effects, inspiration for the characters and their back stories, the acting experience of the wrestlers, how different actors got involved with the film, the challenges of working and shooting the different sections separately, the process of the stunt coordination for the fighting and shooting the fights, the work that the actors have gone on to do since starring in the film, The Brothers Gore work on the make up in the film, the audience reaction to different characters especially when it's different than expected as well as fan favourites, scenes and segments that didn't make the final cut, the multiple hats people wore during the film (which is amazing, so many people did an extraordinary variety of work on the film) and even homages to specific wrestling matches. And entertaining listen and
• Monster Brawl: Beyond the Grave (23 minutes) Behind-the-Scenes featurette including Pre-Production including inspiration of the film, amazing concept art, monster character selection and character outlines, creating the indoor Graveyard set, 7 practical locations incorporated into the film often to establish back stories, The Cast with a special focus on people who played multiple characters like Jason Brown who played 3 characters as well as the set of amateur wrestlers who made up the majority of the monsters and icons from the wrestling, MMA and the Canadian film icons who worked on the film, Gore & SPX behind the scenes with The Brothers Gore creations from outlining each of the monsters as well as the zombie extras monster and creature suits, gore gags and effects, Crew awesome section giving kudos to the dedicated crew as well as fun Q&A asking folks their favourite monster. Fun behind the scenes that has tons of footage from filming from of putting the set together, on location, shooting, fight choreography and I love how the sections are often injected with the harsh realities of working on a micro budget but always with a sense of humour.
• Tales from the Hart: Jimmy Hart Outtakes (6 minutes) behind the scenes chattingwith Jimmy Hart including lots of wrestling stories including the history of the megaphone used in the film, working with lots of different people and wrestling matches, being in and working in Canada, choosing favourite monsters (and tag teams), working on the film and working with the cast & crew.
• Trailer
  

If you want even more extras I have a bunch of videos from when I was lucky enough to first see Monster Brawl at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival in 2011, where many guests where in attendance including director Jesse T Cook, cast members Robert Maillet (Frankenstein), Jimmy Hart (The Mouth From The South!) Rj Skinner (Werewolf), Holly Letkeman (Witch Bitch) for a post show Q&A and also some pre-show shenanigans (see clip here). You can see all the videos here and my vlog review of Monster Brawl.

Monster Brawl is available on DVD here in Canada on March 27, 2012l check it out over at Amazon.ca. US release date Monster Brawl is June 12, 2012; check it out on Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again & again
I strongly recommend it to monster movie fans and highly recommend it to wrestling fans.

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2011 - 2012
Originally reviewed during Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011


Dave Foley and Art Hindle in Monster Brawl - Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment


Robert Maillet as Frankenstein - Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Movie Moxie Podcast 65: Cinéfranco, The Raid, Being Elmo & Black Swarm

This week the Movie Moxie Podcast is chock full of awesome from a preview of the Cinéfranco Film Festival, celebrating The Raid: Redemption release with looking back to the afternoon screening from TIFF 2011 including the intro and Q&A with Gareth Evans, Iko Uwais & Joe Taslim (spoiler warning: they talk about the fights pretty in depth so be forwarded). Plus, I review the documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey, chat about the new Bloor now Hot Docs cinema and have a look at DVD releases of the week including reviewing the fun b-horror film Black Swarm.

0:00 - 1:45 Intro
1:45 - 21:05 Cinéfranco 2012 Preview
21:05 - 27:20 Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey
27:20 - 34:35 The Raid Review from TIFF 2011
34:35 - 57:19 Intro and Q&A for The Raid from TIFF 2011 with dir Gareth Evans, actors Iko Uwais & Joe Taslim
57:19 - 59:10 Black Swarm DVD Review
59:10 - 1:00:30 DVD Release March 20, 2012
1:00:30 - 1:01:30 Upcoming Next Week
1:01:30 = 1:02:35 Outro

Show Notes

• Check out the Cinéfranco website here
• See my Cinéfranco Preview here
  
• See my vlog and review of The Raid from TIFF 2011 here
• See videos from the Intro and Q&A for The Raid from TIFF 2011 afternoon screening over at the Movie Moxie Facebook Fanpage and also this awesome vid of Iko Uwais in action!
• I mention my giveaway to passes to The Raid: Redemption, and remember for 1st shot at any giveaways join any of my mailing lists
• See DVD releases for March 20, 2012
• See recent Theatrical releases in my weekly Film Fan Fridays & DVD Releases in my DVD Tuesdays Post

Movie Moxie Podcast - A 100% spoiler-free film review podcast
You can also subscribe to the Movie Moxie Podcast here:
Subscribe through iTunes here.

The Raid Redemption - Movie Passes Giveaway to Advance Screening

Image Courtesy of Alliance Films

Want to attend an Advance screening of upcoming action film The Raid: Redemption? Here are the details for giveaway for double passes to The Raid: Redemption:

Where: Scotiabank Theatre, 259 Richmond Street West in Toronto, ON M5V 3M6
On: Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7:00 PM
Doors open at 6PM

Click here to enter your PIN Code.
PIN Code: 198 904 CEA

Please Note: there are a limited number of passes for the giveaway

I'm so excited that the amazing Indonesian action flick The Raid: Redemption is hitting up theatres in Toronto this week. I saw it at TIFF in 2011 where it won the Midnight Madness Audience Award and I loved every minute of it - fantastic fighting, intense performances and the force that is Iko Uwais (see him in action here!); this is an film that all action fans NEED to see.

From the Synopsis:
"Iko Uwais stars as RAMA a member of a special team (JAKA by Joe Taslim, BOWO by Tegar Satriya, ARI by Ananda George, WAHYU by Pierre Gruno and BUDI by Verdi Solaiman) arrives at a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord named TAMA played by Ray Sahetapy. The apartment block has never been raided before, never been touched by police. Seen as a no go zone, the building has become a sanctuary to killers, gangs, rapists and thieves seeking accommodation in the one place they know they cannot be touched. Making their move in the break of dawn, they work their way up the building under the cover of silence, steadily controlling the location one floor at a time. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover, TAMA orders a lock down on the building with all lights out and all exits blocked. Now stranded on the 6th floor with all communications cut and with TAMA sending out a call to arms, the special force team must fight their way through every floor and every room not just to complete their mission, but to survive their bloody ordeal."

A big thank you to Alliance Films for the giveaway. Cheers!

The Raid: Redemption opens in Toronto on March 23, 2012 and in wide release on April 6, 2012

Sinners and Saints (DVD Review)

Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: William Kaufman (The Prodigy, The Hit List)
Cast: Johnny Strong, Kevin Phillips, Costas Mandylor, Louis Mandylor, Sean Patrick Flanery, Clifford "Method Man" Smith, Kit Coates, Bas Rutten, Tom Berenger, Jürgen Prochnow, Bas Rutten, Jolene Blalock
USA, 2012 (DVD Release)

Reason to see: Heard great things about it & I'm always up for a good action film.

Sinners and Saints takes on the tried and true action themes of cops, criminals the mystery of what keeps them apart and brings them together, along with challenge of or camaraderie between partners as well as drive, vengeance and a dash of sorrow. Although those are all things that are fun to watch, what really reeled me in what where it choose to stand apart and in that sense I thought it was a really gutsy action films on several levels. Sinners and Saints pushed the boundaries of intensity and ideas when it came to the brutality, which may not be my favourite thing personally, but it was a choice that work for the film. I loved how it went with a more realistic with work relationships with the cops, instead of over-the-top antagonism, conflict and shouting matches between character but rather when for respect, active listening and letting people do their work. I didn't realized how often I had come to expect to see disagreements, fighting, handing in the badge, etc. in cop films which made this a refreshing change of pace. There was way more enough conflict to go around to give us a bit of a breather and not have it at the cop shop.

In terms of the action, Sinners and Saints is volatile, explosive and doesn't hold back. You could feel the heat and intensity of the New Orleans setting that serves as an urban war zone of destruction. If you are a fan of gun fights heavy action films, this is definitely one for you as there are lots of bullets flying around and is pretty bloody to boot. We also get some nice car action and fighting scenes too, which I quite enjoyed and many involve the extensive supporting cast full of many familiar faces to enjoy. It leans very heavy on the brutal side of things, especially where torture is involved, so keep that in mind if it's not what you normally go for. But, what drew me in and kept me in was the fantastic and understated performance of Johnny Strong as Sean, I seriously want to see more of him. He completely held the film together and provided not only a believable physical performance but also gave us a character with a strong emotional resonance of someone who has gone through a very trying time. I'm mystified that we haven't seen more of him, but I hope we get to see much more of him in the future.

Warning: Torture

DVD Extras:

• Sinners and Saints Behind-the-Scenes (3 minutes) behind the scenes, prop training, rehearsal of gun work & fight choreography of action sequences and film clips. Heavy focus on the action here with lots of footage of the guns fights, chase sequences and car stunt scenes.
• Deleted Scenes (7 scenes, 7 minutes) scenes establishing Ganz family life and Sean connecting to their family, increasing tension scenes between both the cops and criminals, and a few scenes that are bookends between action-centric scenes.
  

Sinners and Saints is available on DVD as of January 10, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I really enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I strongly recommend it fans of harsh action films

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Haywire

Dir: Steven Soderbergh (Solaris, Oceans 11, The Girlfriend Experience)
Cast: Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton
USA/Ireland, 2012

Seen: January 25, 2012 at the Rainbow

Reason to see: Female protagonist action films are always on my to see list

Haywire stars Mixed Martial Artist Gina Carano, and is directed by Steven Soderbergh which I miraculously kind of forgot about before going in because all I really needed was an MMA star in a film to pull me to see it. But Soderbergh directed Oceans 11, 12, 13, the Solaris remake and The Girlfriend Experience, and it’s no doubt he is a very stylish director which you could really feel that in the film. The pacing and the storytelling style were very different than I was expecting; a lot of action films go for a very high-paced style but Haywire feels much more like a drama, with action. It feels like an American espionage drama with action and a female protagonist as opposed to an action film. Although the action is fantastic and Gina Cararo is amazing and certainly will be a draw to the film, the most important part of the film which is her character journey and the story which has some welcome mystery elements to it.

I do wonder if some people will think the pacing is too slow, and I found myself spending time while watching literally interpreting and experiencing the film from the perspective of the fact that it wasn’t what I was expected. But, once I settled into realizing what they were going with and just relaxed into it, I really enjoyed it and I particularly enjoyed that it has a slow burn with a lot of visual storytelling. We get to watch Mallory (Gina Cararo), as she herself is watching, interpreting and reacting to what is going on around her in a very visual manner. I was very impressed by this, the completely visual storytelling that was accompanied by a groovy soundtrack were a huge highlight of the film and something sets it apart from many current-day action films proving that you don’t have to shock & scare us with stuff to entertain us, you can also appeal to our logical minds as we try to piece together the puzzles, be they ones of action or espionage. It was very impressive.

It was fantastic to see Gina Cararo was so good in this role as an action star, so much so that it actually pushes buttons and boundaries of things that we don’t normally see; for example if she is fighting a guy in the film – they are really going all out at each other. She’s not treated differently and she’s certainly not treated lightly, she’ll get thrown around just as much as anyone else who is in an action film. It’s literally a new primer when there dynamics of the fight aren’t re-adjusted to balance for any strengths or weaknesses of either fighter; they are treated as equals. Although theoretically I cheered and the balance, it took a while to adjust to seeing that. They did also call out on some action film tropes to be a more clear counter-reaction to what we often see gender wise, that didn’t work in the film quite a smoothly as the action balance did, but considering it’s such a new shift I think its’ entirely fair to expect some growing pains. To be honest, I’m happy to take those growing pains if the counter is seeing an amazing, capable, and believable action star. And that is exactly what we got: Gina Cararo is amazing, capable, believable and very dynamic action star and I look forward to seeing her in more films in the future. The story was good too, and I was impressed I could keep up considering espionage can be a bit of challenge for me but I suspect seeing it in open captioning help (see more on the experience of open captioning here).

Overall, the action, score and tone were all amazing plus I enjoyed the story as well. But Gina really was the pull to the film, and she pulled me right in and kept me for the entire time.

I would definitely recommend it to action, espionage and mystery film fans and especial to fans of female protagonist films.

It was very exciting that January 20, 2012, had not only one but two action films with female protagonists that opened here in Toronto. I decided not to choose between them therefore I saw both Haywire & Underworld Awakening.

See also: Haywire DVD review

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I can't wait to watch it again
I'd highly recommend it to fans of action films & female protagonist films

Also see my review of Haywire on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Underworld Awakening

Dir: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein (Shelter - podcast review)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley, Charles Dance
USA, 2012

Seen: January 25, 2012 at the Rainbow

Reason to see: Selene, the vampire death-dealer protagonist, is one of my all-time favourite film characters and it's on My Most Anticipated Films for 2012

Underworld Awakening technically follows Underworld: Evolution chronologically in the series but if you aren’t overly familiar or haven’t revisited the series recently they do help with a little memory jogger, which is the lead into the current world where humans were not only made aware of the vampire and lycans existence, but also defeated them in a ‘cleansing’ leaving the remaining numbers very small. I found that a bit of a challenge to buy into, that the humans would prevail, but that’s the world they create so you kind of have to go there to experience the film. In this near future world we travel with death dealer vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who awakens after the said ‘cleansing’.

A brief personal history of how I weight in on the Underworld series is that I absolutely adored the highly stylish full-tilt vampires vs lycans (werewolves) action film that was the original Underworld, but was completely dismayed by some random gender crap in the sequel Underworld: Evolution that made me hate the film, which is a statement I don’t make very often. And then I flipped back to enjoying the series with the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans which features Michael Sheen and was the only film in the series without Kate Beckinsale. So, personally I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with the series but I can’t help but the gorgeous stylings, amazing action and cool vampire & werewolves throughout.

In terms of the action and art direction of how the film it looks and feels, I loved it. It’s a little dingier than the original film so you have to take that into account as it aligns with this whole living on the fringes with low resources which doesn’t really read ‘vampire’ to me, but it is something new. I really enjoyed seeing a lot of the actors in the film including Theo James (‘Bedlam’), Charles Dance (Aliens 3) and Kris Holden-Reid (‘Lost Girl’) who I really think they could have had more in the film. Plus, to make sure it doesn’t go without saying, Kate Beckinsale was fantastic to see, I love her as Selene a fierce and beautiful death dealer who kicked a whole lot of butt in the film and makes no qualms about the fact that she is completely in charge.

I was pretty surprized to see that it was only 88 minutes with around 10 of those being credits, but I still felt like I got 1-films worth of enjoyment for the film. The story and world may not have been perfectly what I was looking forward but they stayed true to what they created and I respect that. In terms of the series I’d still say the first one is my favourite, and then Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, then Underworld Awakening and finally Underworld: Evolution. It was one of my most anticipated films of the year so I was excited and looking for a bit more than what we got here, but I certainly was entertained and engaged while watching.

In terms of the story, I took me for a bit of a surprized that I don’t think the themes will appeal to everyone; but it also feels like it’s one of many periods within this world and therefore we’ll have more to enjoy to come. However, for supernatural action fans this is a total fun ride with lots of action, and interesting story and continuing the journey through the cool world they have created so for that I do think it’s a success.

Underworld Awakening opened in Toronto on January 20, 2012, and it was excited to see not just one but two action films with female protagonists released on that date with both Haywire & Underworld Awakening. I saw ‘em both. Good times.

See also: Underworld Awakening DVD Review

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll buy it
I'd recommend it to fans of the series & vampire/action film fans

See also a spoiler-filled awesome discussion of the film over at Before the Dawn and a spoiler-ree review on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

The Viral Factor

Writer/Dir: Dante Lam (Fire of Conscience, Beast Cops)
Cast: Jay Chou, Nicholas Tse
Hong Kong, 2012

Seen: January 28, 2012

Reason to see: Hong Kong action films are always a yes!

This film is from Dante Lam and when I original heard the name it sounded familiar, and it turns out that it’s the same director as Beast Cops which was a film I had on my second 100 Film in 100 Days Challenge, but sadly one I didn’t get to because I just didn’t have much access to. Now, I feel like I’m rekindling the connect by getting to see The Viral Factor! The film is am action crime-centric thriller with an espionage-ish feel spanning multiple countries, that is what makes it feel technically like an espionage film, although I don’t think there was much actual spying going on.

The Viral Factor stars Jay Chou (The Green Hornet) and Nicholas Tse as two men on the separate sides of the law, but both fighting for the just cause of doing the best they can for their families. I went to see it during a morning screening, and I think just about everyone in front of me was also going to see it which was great to see because it wasn’t opening weekend so for the time the crowd was pretty good! The acting was pretty solid, although I do suspect one of the baddie characters has their part voiced-over for the English lines, although I was surprized that some of it was actually in English – something I didn’t expect for in a Hong Kong action thriller. The story was also different than I was expecting, as the plot had an international political theme even though at heart it was really an action film that had the bonus of character-driven drama providing quite an engaging combination.

I really enjoyed the action in the film, particularly the action sequences in confined spaces that read extremely well. I find sometimes when there is a running theme or specialty in an action film where the go back to and re-emphasize a particularly look or feel it can get tired, but not here as it was fresh, fast and furious especially in those close quarters. I really appreciated that you could really see what was going on in the action sequences too, it was cutting and clear. It was pretty brutal though and the story was brutal too, including a very emotion theme that totally hit me out of left field and even made me cry. Who knew there would be some sweet emotional moments? The audience didn’t seem to expect that either and I heard some rumblings during the emotional scenes in the film. From that I found it really presented an interesting viewpoint of how different circumstances can affect people differently, and how that can change the path or course of someone’s life, which was an interesting layer to add to what could have been a straight-up action thriller.

I thought it was good, I enjoyed it and I was really happy to get a chance to see it – it was only released in Hong Kong itself this year and we’ve already had the opportunity to see it here in Toronto which is fantastic. If you are looking for an action film with a strong character driven elements as well, definitely check out The Viral Factor.

The Viral Factor opened on January 20, 2012 in Toronto at the AMC Yonge & Dundas.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it to action and crime film fans

Also see my review of The Viral Factor on Episode 60 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

The Expendables 2 Poster & Trailer

I've tried to hold back chatting about 2012 films yet because I'm still in wrap-up mode for 2011 but I can't help but be excited for The Expendables 2. I loved The Expendables from 2010 and I really enjoyed how it capture the awesomeness of action films, had a great cast and fantastic fights.

I'm totally ready for that to happen again, and lots of the cast is back for more including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews; plus new to the line up is Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD), Yu Nan and Chuck Norris and it will be directed by Simon West (The Mechanic). It's going to be epic.

Let's take a look and an updated synopsis of the film

"The Expendables are back and this time it's personal...Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren),Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) -- with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that's nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother."

See more at the Official Website, IMDb Page, Facebook Page and of course The Expendables 2 Trailer (below):