Month: December 2014

LET’S BE COPS (2014)

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Errr, let’s not.

How to make a joke-free comedy.

This is a terrible film with an on the nose script and all the usual clichés and nothing original to offer, except for the idea.

Two mates have to go to a dress-up party and end up going as cops, quickly getting addicted to the perks and status elevation this gives them.

Jake Johnson is clearly very funny and gets the most interesting part here as a man-child who has no focus in his life. Damon Wayans Jr, on the other hand is far too weak as the other friend who is trying to sell his computer game idea to his company. Johnson and Wayans are friends who both appeared in the tv show New Girl. A shame this film couldn’t deliver as Johnson is a talent that deserves more.

Before long they get involved in a convoluted plot that includes mobsters and dirty cops. Director Luke Greenfield takes elements of the 21 Jump St remake but it just doesn’t gel.
Rob Riggle (21 & 22 Jump St) appears as a bumbling cop and brings his usual very funny schtick to the table. Andy Garcia gives good baddie and Keegan Michael-Key (one half of the very funny Key and Peele) plays a criminal informant, Pupa, and clearly has a lot of fun with his character.

This film falls way short of the laughs it promises from the trailer and there may be a sequel, which will be a travesty but probably an inevitability.

There are too many films like this out there, comedies desperate to hit the funny lottery but unfortunately their numbers come up way short.

BUY THE BLU RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

1.5/5

A TOUCH OF SIN-Tian zhu ding (2013)

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Winning the best screenplay at Cannes last year and despite being passed by the censors in China, this indictment of certain aspects of Chinese society has still not been given a release date by the authorities.

Four disparate stories, each based on real events that happened in different parts of Modern China within the last 15 years are woven together by arthouse director, Jia Zhangke, commenting on the current state of society in mainland China and dealing with issues of corruption and violence.

Moving from extreme revenge, injustice, protecting oneself, the thrill and power of the gun and feeling trapped (which applies to all the characters in one way or another) this film takes us on a journey that highlights the desperation these characters have to deal with.

Each episode of violence comes quickly and is over in a flash, highlighting the shocking nature of it and eschewing any kind of gratuitous sensationalism.
At one point, there is a bus journey and the passengers are watching Johnnie To’s Exiled, which is filled with the action violence we are so used to seeing. Maybe this is a comment on our desensitized nature when it comes to violence on the screen.

The first part has a very western feel to it as in Ford/Leone as opposed to imperialist dogs, as does the second part to an extent. The third part has a touch of the Kill Bills/Lady Vengeance and the final chapter, the most downbeat one comes across as a realist commentary.

Getting some finance from Office Kitano, Takeshi Kitano’s production company and making such a splash on the international critical scene means that China will find it difficult to ignore. Talks are still happening as far as a release date in China.

Working with his long time collaborator and wife Zhao Tao, Jia creates a world full of realism and human challenges and gives a nod to the wuxia classic A Touch of Zen. The literal translation of the Chinese title, Tian zhu ding, is ‘Determined by the fate’ to which each character is subject to.

This film falls short in its economy of time and pacing, at times slow and slightly rambling, it is clearly a film of import, highlighting the difficulties that modern China is facing, wanting to be part of the world stage yet at the same time needing to assert and keep in place old ideals.

A Touch of Sin is worth a look for a serious piece of social commentary on this ancient land.

BUY THE BLU RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

3/5