This matter is soon to be definitively settled, but a Universal source is telling me that American Gangster runs two hours and 38 minutes, even longer than previously rumored Interesting, indeed. For the film’s trailer, click here.
UPDATE 9/26: American Gangster runs two hours and 36 minutes, credits inclusive. I’ll have more thoughts on the film soon.
Wasted Orient, a
film about Chinese punk band Joyside, plays like a soused travelogue document —
an alternately rowdy and curiously lulling waste of time for anyone not
directly connected to the movie’s subjects or its maker.
proudly notes that he applied for an overseas internship as a joke, and ended
up at
prestigious
to study Chinese. There, he met Joyside’s band members in 2003, and began
filming their tour that same year. Obsessed with Johnny Thunders and the
philosophies of American punk, Joyside decide to spread their beer-soaked
message of apathy across the countryside, filming everything along the way. This
mainly means countless binge drinking sessions, a few performances captured in
tight, handheld fashion (songs include “I Don’t Care About Society,” “I Want
Beer” and “I Wanna Piss Around You”), and band members traipsing through public
toilets and their cigarette-littered apartments. There are also a few muddled interview
segments, but mostly Wasted Orient offers
up a grab-bag collection of random footage, like someone pouring hot candle wax
on their tongue, or a mosh-pit kid dealing with a busted eye.
of base behavior for truth, and refuses to dig deeply at all into the personal
lives and backgrounds of his subjects — a group that includes perpetually bleary-eyed
frontman Bian Yuan (a figure somewhat reminiscent of G.G. Allin), as well as Liu
Hao, Fan Bo, Xin Shuang and Yang Yang. Viewers learn more from a random sticker
(using the first letters of the band’s name to spell out its ostensible “likes,”
which include: “Johnny Rotten, Orgasm, Your Money, Slut, Ice-Cold Beer, Drugs,
Every Fucking Day!”) than from anything that Fritz manifestly offers forth.
with a tri-fold, full-color insert that includes a lengthy and surprisingly
well-reasoned director’s statement on one side and a smattering of Joyside
photos and illustrations on the other side. The English subtitles touted on the
back cover are not present on the disc, which is a huge additional strike on this title, since it leaves one to
decipher the ramblings of Bian Yuan on their own. Sometimes he slips into
English and one can follow him (he deems rock ’n’ roll “an addiction to chaos,”
and says that he has no relationship with the world, and isn’t interested in
one), but just as frequently one is left grasping for straws. The disc’s
sole bonus feature consists of six extra minutes of footage rather pointlessly divided
into three chapters; here we see another performance and… hey, some vomiting! Yawn.
To purchase the movie via Amazon, click here.
D+ (Movie) D+ (Disc)
A movie of intermittent action catharsis and reliably
deafening sound design, the altogether middling Resident Evil: Extinction takes the videogame action franchise to
the desert, allowing star Milla Jovovich to energetically lop off zombie heads
in a manner that will please series aficionados but leave newcomers mostly fidgety
and baffled.
 was subjected to biogenic<br />
testing that left her genetically altered. With an experimental T-Virus<br />
having been accidentally unleashed on the world, <b>transforming most of the<br />
population into a scourge of shambling zombies with a taste for flesh</b>, <st1:City><st1:place>Alice</st1:place></st1:City><br />
now wanders about, trying to help pockets of survivors while also avoiding<br />
detection by her former employers.<o:p></p>
<p></o:p>Alice soon meets up with a caravan led by Claire Redfield<br />
(<a href=)
Ali Larter), a group of around 30 people that includes Carlos (Oded Fehr) and
L.J. (Mike Epps), reprising their roles from the franchise’s second installment.
The convoy decides to head north to Alaska — their last, best hope for refuge
from the undead — but first have to make a pit-stop in Las Vegas to refuel. There, hidden beneath an abandoned radio tower, are the Umbrella Corporation’s sleek research facilities, where Dr.
Isaacs (Iain Glen) works to create a docile work force, stripping zombies of
their baser instincts by using antibodies from
blood. When
located by satellite, Dr. Isaacs becomes obsessed with finding and capturing
her, dead or alive.
Whereas the first Resident Evil unfolded in claustrophobic fashion in
a contained space, and the second film took place largely at night, Extinction opens things up much more. Visually,
the film takes inspiration from dusty apocalyptic movies like The Road Warrior, with original Resident Evil cinematographer David
Johnson providing a dusty backdrop for Eugenio Caballero’s stirring production
design work.
Paul W.S. Anderson’s script is familiar, from the obligatory character trying
to keep a zombie bite secret to loose, hazy strains of conspiracy. Narratively,
everything is in play and on the table, as at times
can control objects and summon forth a force-field with her mind, while at other
times she seems to have to rely on martial arts. With no explication of the
particulars of her powers, each subsequent set piece becomes more shruggingly
inconsequential from the point of any emotional investment. For the full review, from Screen International, click here.