Hey Fools! It’s been a while since I roamed my video store for those overlooked little films that get relegated to the status of Definitely Not Michael Bay sections, so I thought I'd use a quiet weekend to do just that. Sometimes those films are at the right place out of painful badness, but once in a while a true little gem gets thrown in there for no one to watch, which is a damn shame.

The latter is the case for one flick I keep pimping out in here and spotted in said section, between the latest Segal and some obscure thriller with Daniel Baldwin; NOT a good place to start your shelf-life, folks! So I grabbed it; hopefully one of you will soon give it a better home! I also scouted for something I never heard about from an indie director who looked to have surpassed himself –at least on some level- which left me wanting a refund, and got something I’ve been waiting to see for a long time but still can't decide if I liked or not.

MUST SEE:

Feature debut from Brit indie director Rupert Wyatt, which got him into Cannes and a boat load of hot festivals but never got a proper theatrical release. A shame because I equate that one to what Following is to Chris Nolan or 500 Days of Summer  to Marc Webb – an incredible first swing that promises Wyatt to be a power hitter soon enough. So good in fact that most players in it give each among their best performances ever; even Joseph friggin Fiennes is amazing, something you won’t read very often coming from me.

The film opens right in the middle of the story where a group of maximum security convicts are launching into a complex and breathless prison break. As the film unfolds we see them labour toward their goal while switching back to the events that got each of them involved. Leading the pack is the great Brian Cox who truly gives himself so fully it’s a travesty he’s been overlooked by the Academy. Along for the ride are the aforementioned Fiennes as a brutal nose-breaker whose fists solve more than one kind of problem, young Dominic Cooper as an unfortunate new convict, the much-underrated Liam Cunningham as the troop’s engineer and Damian Lewis playing... Nah, this is too good – I’ll let you enjoy Damian’s role without spoiling.  Huge fan of his btw.

It’s one of those films where every element is so perfectly welded in to one-another you can’t help be swept along, even without any special effects and little to no action sequence; the pacing is absolutely perfect and maintained throughout, the score is subtle and exciting at the same time, performances are top-notch and the complex narrative is nothing short of an achievement in being both extremely clever and easy to follow. All bathed in mute-toned photography that perfectly conveys the cold and dangerous world these characters inhabit.

Above all though, Wyatt served Shyamalan his own a** on a platter in giving a lesson on how to spread twists and turns not only at the end but all throughout the film, and doing so to serve the story and not some cheap thrills. The big final twist which by M. Night would’ve had viewers up in arms is handled in a way meant not so much to surprise but to maximize the emotional intensity of the moment.  Do yourselves a favour Fools, check out The Escapist. You’ll thank me, I kid you not.

Favorite Bit: The diamond “extraction”.

Verdict: 9/10

ASK FOR A REFUND:

Fools, I do stand by smaller filmmakers who keep labouring outside the studio system and steadily refuse to submit themselves to diluted mass production. And I gotta say for a film with virtually no budget I was genuinely impressed at the visuals and sets in this one.  But damn was the mark completely missed in every other possible way!

To begin with is an 8-minute opening narration explaining what the hell is happening so the viewer won’t be too confused; kind of ironic that after only 2 minutes I was either lost or completely away from any possibility of interest. And even with that idiotic narration, soon as the actual film starts things get even more convoluted and dense! But then HE appears...

The film merges a whole bunch of well known Sci-Fi stories and concepts, ranging from Andromeda to Blade Runner and of course Star Wars. The central character, supposedly the last actual human after the race evolved and the originals got exterminated, is clearly the most unsubtle and tragic attempt at emulating Han Solo since George W. Bush. I mean the guy is so f*cking unbearable after a minute of watching him I was genuinely convinced he was just a cartoonish supporting character designed to make you appreciate the hero when he comes along and puts him out of his misery; alas he IS the hero.  So I lovingly dubbed him Han Shutup.

I’d love to offer a more fair and balanced view at this piece of undigested two-weeks-ago BBQ, butI had to relieve my poor DVD player after only 20 minutes of this insanity. Again, kudos to the director for an impressive visuals job on no money at all, but for crying out loud ask your brother in law to write your scripts. And maybe to replace your actors too!

Humanity’s End is director Neil Johnson’s ninth feature film and his first “produced in Hollywood”, supposedly expanding his “vision” from 2 previous films with the same subject. I do encourage the guy to keep trying, but I dread ever being forced to watch his previous 8 films... Message to criminals: that’s the way to make me talk...

Favorite Bit: When I pressed Stop on the remote.

Worst Bit: Everything before that.

Verdict: 2/10

Trailer Here (at your own peril...)

OUTSIDE HELP:

I’ve been eager to see this one ever since the trailer got out last year, alas it never got any distribution deal in U.S., even with a strong and unusual voice cast that includes Vincent Gallo, Juliette Lewis, Udo Kier, Peter Skarsgard and his son Alexander.  And I gotta say I did like it, to a point.

The film mixes CG with still pictures to produce a complete different kind of animation; think Ralph Bashki circa 1975 had been given a Mac. The story take splace in a near-future where depletion of the planet’s resource leaves the world industrialized but poor and desolated, reminiscent of 1984 meets Blade Runner. One company rose through it all by connecting the whole of Europe with a mego subway system, which the central character fears; his insistence on remaining free-spirited in a completely automated world leads him to the brink of sanity amidst paranoia of mass conspiracies.

As cool as the animation looks, the novelty wears off pretty quickly and leaves the audience seeking depth of characters and story; unfortunately the narrative takes a back seat and just drags along slowly through a story often before told. Not badly done, just not as original as the concept lets on. Still I wasn’t sure what to make of it, so I asked a couple of buddies who know their ABCs –from A Boy and His Dog to Zero Effect-  to watch it as well and share their thoughts.

First off is a cool gentleman known as Watusi512 :

I would love to expound on this, of what I feel is the penultimate vision of our potential future...Utilizing state of the art animation, this movie digs deep into a psyche that really helps to create a dark and seemingly dismal glimpse into the possibilities of what is yet to come...Yet there is a glimmer of hope that seems to keep us wondering if our hero will in the end overcome the immense obstacles that lay before him. It utilizes much that is ever present even in our daily world, but takes it to the Nth degree. I myself was truly moved, and as a true Sci-Fi addict feel that this is a must see for any officianado of this genre, and gets my five stars for it's purity in it's representation!

After that comes my good gal-pal Ladyhawk, a movie aficionado whose wits are rivalled only by her sweetness:

Ok, I finished Metropia last night, and all I can say is "wow." This was not what I expected...I was blown away in the first 10 seconds by the animation...so surreal and life-like, as if they superimposed real-life graphics over the animation. The story was interesting and kept my attention the entire time...I love futuristic, "big brother is watching" type movies, and enjoyed this one very much. It had me guessing what was going to happen to the very end. Very different than the other animated movies out there in the mainstream...

Prognostic so far is that the film impresses in technicality and provokes in substance, yet I maintain it could’ve had more juice in it narrative. So I’ll ask Fools who’ve seen it or intend to shortly to pitch in and share your thoughts on the film with us; we’ll compile them in a nifty Reader Review!

Trailer Here