Right.. rather than go back over the mountain of films I've been watching I'm going to do yesterdays viewings...
Suicide squad
Problems? Yeah this film has its fair share. Going through the deleted scenes for example (there is a LOT of them detailed online) Harley Quinn/Joker relationship was much more abusive and her character arc came across more as her getting her independence from Mr J and finding a new set of friends. Tying in with deadshots almost fatherly concern for her in the final half this would make a lot more sense. It's been cut down however and now its all about her & joker being soul mates and becomes more of a love story. Its an Interesting change but the Joker now comes across as some sort of Twilight-esque romantic figure rather than the clown prince of crime which sort of irritated me. Harley herself is great but I felt sorry for her as her costume looked dreadfully uncomfortable. Deadshot is great, its one of Will Smiths best gigs in a while. Jai Courtney actually finally manages to be good in something as Captain Boomerang. Killer Croc was done well (some ropey CGI aside.) Amanda waller is terrific, so is Rick Flagg.
Compared to Batman V superman the film is Marvels civil war, its a much better film than that mess. BVS was a series of sometimes cool scenes strung together by a mess of a script and a dreadful villain that really irritated the f**k out of me. Suicide Squad is a straigh ahead action flick that goes from A-Z without any saggy moments of crucial plot points left on the cutting room floor. David Ayer is a much better film-maker than Zac Snyder. Synder clearly read all the Frank miller Batman and came up with some cool interesting scenes inspired (lifted) from millers Graphic novels with very little idea on what to do with them. Ayer has said 'screw that' and focused on delivering a solid action film. Its not great, as pointed out on this thread its clearly a film thats been tampered with and some stuff falls flat on its face but its a genuine step in the right direction for DC.
The Blob
In the pantheon of terrific remakes, this one remains an awful lot of fun courtesy of Frank Darabont and Chuck Russell who take the 50's B classic and give it a gory re-invention. The Blu-ray for it is almost too good in places as the rear screen projection for some of the Blob scenes is a bit too apparant. It's still a worthy pick-up until somone decides to create some special features and release a special edition but it'll do for now.
Night of the living dead 90
A great double bill with The Blob, Savini's remake got largely ignored on release but has built up something of a following over the years. Savini does a good job directing and the film manages to create a grimm atmosphere but George A Romeros script really helps sell it as not just a remake of the original but as a companion as well. The real departure for the film is the depiction of Barbara who is transformed from mute to tough as nails action chick. Making her the focus of the film transforms the dynamic in some interesting ways as now the squabbling between Harry cooper and Ben now feels much more destructive and pointless. The Aussie blu-ray is solidly presented and worth a look.
 |