The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans - 2010

I can't remember the last time I saw Nicolas Cage on the big screen, apart from Kick Ass where he played a supporting role. There simply hasn't been a film he's featured in which has appealed to me. As mentioned on a previous review he has for a while now been choosing some really dreadful films, but this seems to be the most serious, and maybe for him most important role he's had for a while. "The Bad Lieutenant" was a film in 1992 but this isn't a remake, its more of another chapter featuring another corrupt Lieutenant. I'm hoping to see Cage back at his best - here's to hoping...

Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) is a cop who due to a back injury becomes a drug addict, who uses more than "what the doctor prescribes".  He Steals from the evidence room, accepts drugs and sex as bribes and takes any opportunity to search and confiscate contraband from criminals for his own personal use. On top of all this he has a hooker girlfriend (Eva Mendes, who's not really known for her major roles, but none the less never disappoints), owes $10,000 to a dodgy booky and another $15,000 to a crime family in compensation for slapping and stealing from a guy who mistreated his girlfriend.

All this is set in New Orleans and the story at the forefront of the film is that of a murder investigation and the protection of the 15 year old boy who witnessed it.

In the opening of the film we see a water snake sliding through a rippling stream lit only by the glow of nearby street lights. As we watch we hear soft jazz style sax playing in the background which immediately reminds me of the classic 80's cop movies, like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, and you'd be forgiven in thinking that this is one of those buddy cop movies as in the first five minutes we see Steve Pruit (Val Kilmer, who I'm not a big fan of) and McDonagh working together. In fact this is the scene we see in the trailer with the drowning drug addict. Pruit wants them to let the addict die but McDonagh saves him, ruining his expensive pants. This act not only leads onto his promotion to Lieutenant, but also reflects the nature of the man. Although his actions are somewhat questionable (at one point he threatens an old lady!) his ultimate motive is to get the right result, using any way possible. Kilmer seems to then (thankfully) disappear from most of the film, and the rest of the journey we're with McDonagh, "The Bad Lieutenant".

Cage's performance is nothing short of brilliant - he's not your classic all American hero - he's an intelligent detective but his drug addiction has made him crazier than a road running lizard (which he hallucinates on several occasions when he's tripping). His trips and actions during them are very ammusing and lighten the situation during the darker moments of the film.

The supporting roles from Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer and surprisingly Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner are all excellent along with the script and the entire feeling of the film. My only criticism would be that as excellent as the film is, it fails to get my heart racing. There aren't any particularly exciting bits of the film which made me stop and think, "Wow this film is amazing" though saying that, it is very very good throughout.

So if you're a fan of the classic cop movies which we got in the 80s and 90s, thrillers, seeing Cage at his best or just a fan of great films then I very much recommend this. Lets hope that Cage's films continue in this manor and he's given more opportunities to play more demanding and interesting roles.
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans is out for general release (that's right readers my first preview!) on May 21st and you must go and see it. 8.5 out of 10

Russ x

Hot Monocles

Hot Monocles Fan Page
Well well well, this is all getting pretty exciting. We've been given a preview of "The Medium and The Message" from the delightfully talented Hot Monocles in the form of the track "7 Sticks" on the band page section of the fan page - check it out. I could go on about how much I love these guys filling my ears with creamy dollops of loveliness, but I won't I'll just let the music do all the talking - just go listen - NOW!

G.I Joke...

G.I.Joe : The Rise of The Cobra - 2009

Well after missing this at the cinema, I was actually looking forward to seeing this on Bluray - from the trailer the film looks like an immense action film - which to a certain extent it is, however what goes along with the action isn't exactly brilliant.

Before I started watching this, a friend told me to stay away from it and not bother wasting my time, but I thought I'd give it a chance. From the off set I was still pretty open minded, and besides, Sienna Miller is in it and she's pretty fit, so in my eyes it was worth a watch.

In all fairness is wasn't as terrible as my friend made out, it was worth the watch - but only because there was nothing else on. The action sequences are pretty good, and it all looks pretty in HD, however it has to be said that the bulk of the acting is awful, especially from Marlon Wayans (who I can't really stand anyway), some of the concepts are ridiculously far fetched (more of that in a sec) and the script is pretty awful too. Stick all that in a film with a couple of totally expected twists and you've got yourself a film which just passes the time.

So onto these crazy ideas. Now I'm certainly one to have an open mind to sometimes ridiculous concepts, if all films stuck to reality and didn't exaggerate the truth somewhat, we'd be presented with fairly bland films, however this film really pushes it. I accept the super suits which make humans super strong and fast because I kinda feel I have to - what I don't buy is our two main characters (Ripcord played by the annoying Marlon Wayans and Hauser played by Channing Tatum) who accidentally get involved in the G.I Joe's agency - then being the only two people who use the suiots in the film - despite being the least experienced. All we get is a cliche montage seeing them train, and when the world is at stake I don't buy that the secret agency would put the world in the hands of these two - especially Ripcord who can barely walk in the super suit.

There's also another part which actually made me swear out loud at how ridiculous it was, and this was after accepting a suit which made you invisible - (the concept being minicameras and screens all over the suit - much like the bond car in Die another Day) at least there was a logic to the idea. But at one point the scientist pokes two rods into a dead mans head and the scene plays out like this;

The team approach the dead soldier

Ripcord: Hey, what are you doing?
Breaker: Plugging into his Cerebral Cortex.
Ripcord: I hate to break the news to you but I don't think he's going to give you much in his dead condition.

Breaker sticks to probes in the temples of the dead soldier (wait for it....)

Breaker: The brain survives a couple of minutes after death.
Scarlett: We can retrieve the electrical impulses from from his most recent memories and convert them to images.

Shortly after this we see the team watching a small screen with what the dead guys last few memories were - thus finding the baddy's base.
So by sticking some prods into this dead guys head you can see the last few things he saw...brilliant! Of course you can... Totally ridiculous! They can do that but they can't track a van without one of their team strapped to the roof of it - I don't understand. That was one step too far for me. I continued watching the film laughing at most of the "science" through the rest of the film. Thankfully though, we're left with the sense that there's going to be a sequel. Great. I can't wait - I really doubt there will be though.

Ok - so  there we have it - this film is poorly acted and poorly written with some ridiculous concepts, but in a sense it did entertain me throughout. There are some amusing parts and the action sequences are really good, the film does have a bit of a fun feeling throughout. I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone but if it's on or you can't think of anything else to watch, let it play out. It's stupid but mildly entertaining - if you can forgive its ridiculousness then fair enough - I stuck it out, I wasn't particularly impressed, I found myself shaking my head throughout - but I didn't totally hate it either. 5 out of 10.

Russ