The Game (1997)

On paper the story (and plotting) of The Game seem interesting, but at two+ hours it's a case of too much for too long - it needed some major tightening up. And for about 80% of the running time Michael Douglas didn't hold my attention. He stars as an investment banker (read: wanker) who signs up to participate in a life-changing 'game' that he knows almost nothing about, and in order to keep the mystery of that situation I feel obliged to say nothing more about it. It's a decision that seems out of character for him, to begin with, and while things remedy somewhat as they go on the random/not random happenings and his response to them left me bored and sleepy. The film gambles on the notion that a twisty pay-off will make up for a protracted middle; its popularity suggests that for many folks it does, but it didn't for me.

2½ deeper understandings out of 5

Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994)

aka Highlander III: The Magician / Highlander III: The Final Dimension / Highlander: The Final Dimension / Highlander 3: The Final Conflict

Wisely ignoring the existence of the second film entirely, part III is a direct sequel to the first. Connor MacLeod—seen on the cover reaching up, desperately trying to grasp hold of the character’s escaping credibility—is back for more sword-wielding, era-hopping, fantasy action. It sticks close to the formula of the original, coming across like an ‘80s movie made in the ‘90s. I mean that in a good way, but unfortunately the rest of it is pants.
Mako features! Mako is charismatic even when given the worst dialogue imaginable, which is just as well because he gets some prime examples.

2 places to belong out of 5

Crash (1996)

A married couple with an active but unrewarding sex life delve deep into a bizarre subculture of people who fetishise car crashes. It's consensual within the group, but their hidden world is hazardous to our world.
Reading the J.G. Ballard novel (1973) upon which Crash is based isn't much fun, but it’s essential to understanding the otherwise impenetrable aspects of the film. Somehow Cronenberg translated the insipid moments into filmic intensity. He distorts the traditional role of the viewer by putting us too close for comfort, turning viewer into voyeur—a position of distanced participation. It’s uncomfortable and I believe the main reason that most people shy away from even discussing the film in public. It’s a shame, because it’s a powerful work with some outstanding acting, but it'll take a very open-minded person to see past the taboo wall.

3½ reshapings out of 5

PAYBACK (Theatrical Cut) [1999]

Brian Helgeland makes his directorial debut with the violent action/thriller, Payback starring Mel Gibson as low-life criminal on the warpath for bloody vengeance. 

The film is noticeably lighter than the 2006 Director's Cut, by adding in a noir-ish voice-over narration, more humour and a vastly different final act.
If not for Gibson's knack for portraying the ultimate crazed "protagonist" with a taste for violence the film wouldn't be nearly as entertaining.  It's predicable and not much worth noting but it's always nice to see one of the bad guys become the one you're cheering for. 

3 boiled eggs out of 5

FEAR X [2003]

Fear X is an immensely unsettling psychological thriller from Pusher director Nicolas Winding Refn and Requiem For A Dream writer Hubert Selby Jr.
With it's confusing storyline, discomforting drones, bizarre color palate, camera angles, dark hallways, seemingly haunted house and a strange sense of dread that there's always someone watching I couldn't help but feel this is the long lost film by David Lynch.  John Turturro turns in a great performance as a troubled man in search of the man who murdered his wife and that's about all I could make sense of the story.  Beyond that I felt frightened from the very get go and that quenched my thirst for a new Lynch film.

3½ elevators in red out of 5

SILENT HILL: REVELATION [2012]

The original Silent Hill film was surprisingly good compared to the standards set for video game film adaptations before it.

Sadly, the sequel completely shits the bed with it's horrible performances, excruciating dialogue that falls onto hokey monologues way too many times, amateurish direction and CGI that jumps between pretty good to downright sloppy.   Sometimes some clever editing can occasionally save shitfests like this but all parties involved in Silent Hill: Revelations don't seem to know or care what they're doing.   

Silent Hill fans who have been waiting for six years for this deserve much better than this insult to the senses. 

1 Carnival from Hell out of 5

SILENT HILL [2006]

Normally film adaptations of video games are best avoided like the plague but somehow Brotherhood Of The Wolf director Christophe Gans and Pulp Fiction writer Roger Avary make Silent Hill work.

Sure, it's got some awkward performances, questionable character actions and bad script rewrites but it's all made up for in it's haunting atmosphere, gorgeous visuals and twisted philosophies that are genuinely faithful to it's source material.  

It's not an instant classic but will certainly please fans and anyone tired of terrible video game "adaptations" starring Milla Jovovich.  

3 reflections of Centralia out of 5

White Noise (2005)

Horror/thriller about the dead communicating with the living through what is known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP). WN uses a number of tricks that Hollywood has learned from the Japanese over the years. For a while it’s successfully implemented, but by the third act it’s dumped into a large bag of missed opportunity and dropped down the shitter.
Michael Keaton played Mr Serious well, but the role needed more than that. I like Ian McNeice so it was fun to see him. Everyone else had little or nothing to do and had a similar level of impact on the story.

2½ breaths of dead air out of 5