Stephen Kay
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Budgets for horror films have changed a lot since the first appearance of Raimi's infamous Sam-O-Cam, mounted on two sawhorses and being hand-pushed through the woods in 1983's "The Evil Dead," but the concept remains the same.
Genre fans will no doubt come expecting better thanks to the film's Ghost House production pedigree from Sam Raimi and producing partner Bob Tapert (late of Lawlessâ Xena), who recently brought Takashi Shimizuâs The Grudge remake to screens and have a full slate of upcoming horror shows including a remake of Raimiâs nascent The Evil Dead.
Since then, Ghost House has announced a full slate of movies including the inevitable Grudge 2, an adaptation of the cult comic book 30 Days of Night and, most bizarrely, a remake of Raimi's own horror classic The Evil Dead.
While I respect that the filmmaker is going for a hardcore, Get Carter -like energy, unfortunately he ends up inadvertently channeling the risible 2000 Sylvester Stallone remake more than he does the 1971 classic which helped make Michael Caine an international star.
Ramsay carries two touchstones in her pocket – the oft-imitated British crime drama Get Carter and the amorality fable Hardcore – and, like both of those classics, her work is far from afraid to drag the audience through a little mud.
The adults play second banana throughout to the kids, with Carla Gugino (1998's "Snake Eyes") and Antonio Banderas (1999's "Play It to the Bone") underused, but effective, as the kidnapped parents, and Alan Cumming (2000's "Get Carter") a standout as the allegedly villainous Fegan Floop, who may or may not be slowly growing a conscious heart.
The villains, while correctly cartoonish, don't fare quite as well with Alan Cumming ("Company Man," "Get Carter") playing an odd sort of Captain Kangaroo mixed with Pee Wee Herman role, Tony Shalhoub ("Galaxy Quest," "A Civil Action") embodying his appropriately titled minion, and Robert Patrick ("All the Pretty Horses," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day") as the head villain.
Alan Cumming of "Get Carter") plays a complex character named Fegan Floop.
Unfortunately, the assignment turns out to be a trap set by villainous Fegan Floop (Nicely played by Alan Cumming, "Get Carter") and his accomplice, Mr. Minion (Tony Shalhoub, "Galaxy Quest").
But then you notice that the stars are Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) and Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), which is certainly interesting enough to make one look a little closer, and note that the supporting cast includes people like Michael Caine (Get Carter), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), Sinead Cusack (V for Vendetta), Brendan Gleeson (28 Days Later), Jason Flemyng (Below), and David Thewlis (The Big Lebowski) … and if you’re any sort of film fan, you then peer in for an even closer look.
Among its many resonances, Drive reminded me of Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa, another tale of a driver teetering between innocence and cruelty; of Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy and Once Upon a Time in the West, with their nameless, laconic protagonists and meticulous buildups to spasms of sudden violence; of the original 1971 Get Carter and its intoxicating pitilessness; of Halloween in its use of—well, you'll see.
English critic Kim Newman pretty much nails “Kill List” as “Get Carter,” rewritten by Harold Pinter and then by Dennis (no apparent relation) Wheatley.
This decision by director Martin Campbell ( GoldenEye) and his writers (Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis) to tilt Bond more toward Get Carter brutishness, rather than To Catch a Thief charm, is a calculated risk -- nobody would call Craig "suave."
Concocted from vague memories of The Exorcist and Hebrew school by the screenwriting team behind Boogeyman (2005) and Knowing (2009), The Possession is 93 minutes of stuff you've seen before, plus a third act full of ominous Hasidic Jews, which, to be fair, is something you probably haven't seen before.
Writers Juliet Snowden & Stiles White ("Boogeyman," "Knowing") follow the same old template, distrusting the 'less is more' approach for sensationalism that goes far beyond anything in the lore and Danish director Ole Bornedal (" Nightwatch ," " Just Another Love Story ") compounds the issue by orchestrating with a sledgehammer.
The movie actually gets moderately interesting by this point, but director Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch) and screenwriters Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (Boogeyman, Knowing) don’t take it as far as it could go, probably to preserve a lucrative American PG-13 rating (an earlier “R” cut was rejected).