Three Movie Reviews: Django; Mayhem; Eleven Samurai
Three
enjoyable movies I’ve seen recently on DVD
and YouTube. Django is a bio-pic
about the famous French “Gypsy” jazz guitarist of the 1930s and 40s, DjangoReinhardt (23
January 1910 – 16 May 1953) . The movie is set during the German occupation of
France, and depicts two years in the musician’s life as he manages to play his
music and walk a fine line with the German and French Vichy authorities. As a
Roma, he and his family stood the chance of being herded off on trains to Nazi extermination
camps. The movie depicts his time in Paris and his eventual escape across the
Swiss border into freedom. The movie ends with his return to Paris in 1945, and a
concert he performs in memory of all the Roma who lost their lives during the
war. Interesting to get a glimpse (however fictionalized) of this legendary guitarist's life.
Mayhem was a surprisingly entertaining
movie. It is about Derek Cho (played by The
Walking Dead fan favourite, Steven Yeun), an employee of a shark-infested
corporation who is unjustly fired due to the manipulations of a fellow
employee. As he is being escorted from the building, the CDC and a host of SWAT
teams surround the building, placing it under quarantine. It seems a chemical
the company has been developing has been released in the building, causing
people to become extremely violent. It sounds like the making of a bloodfest
and it is, but in the best Bruce Campbell,
Evil Dead tradition--sans chainsaw--though there is a small bone saw that comes into play in a satisfying
manner at one point. The corporation is peopled with the most unpleasant human beings
imaginable, and the plot centers around Derek and a client making their way to
the top floor executive suite to demand redress for himself and his client
whose home mortgage has been foreclosed. The festering, fetid corporate environment of
greed and avarice explodes into violence and chaos as fellow employees, under the influence of the escaped virus, take
revenge on each other. It sounds like a nightmare and a horror show, and it is. It is bloody and violent. And quite funny.
The violence is tempered by humorous scenes and asides, and camera work that give the movie an overall 'comic book' feel. You end up rooting for the two as they bash and slash their way through all those unpleasant folk, some of whom perhaps will remind you of your own coworkers. Revenge is a dish that is best served cold. Though not always.
The violence is tempered by humorous scenes and asides, and camera work that give the movie an overall 'comic book' feel. You end up rooting for the two as they bash and slash their way through all those unpleasant folk, some of whom perhaps will remind you of your own coworkers. Revenge is a dish that is best served cold. Though not always.
The Eleven Samurai is a B&W 1966 Japanese
period piece
set in November 1839, during the final decades of Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate.
It involves the Oshi fief being falsely blamed for transgressions against a neighbouring lord. With
the threat of their fiefdom being disbanded, a group of its warriors seek to
assassinate the son of the former Shougun, to prevent this from happening. The plot
of gaining access to the evil and cowardly Nariatsu is exciting, as are the
fight scenes between rival samurai bands. The movie is set in the backdrop of
an empire in decline, with corrupt officials and warlords that the band of
wronged Oshi fiefdom samurai are determined to vanquish. Little guys versus the
big guys. Sword fights. What more do you need?
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