Let the wrong one in (5 Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

After the previous dreadful film, I was hoping for something better. Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed. "Let the wrong one in" is a brilliant Irish horror comedy. People in the theatre were laughing out loud.

A couple in Dublin are getting married. The bride has her hen party (bachelorette party) in Transylvania. While they're running through the streets waving their plastic penises in the air, they're attacked by a vampire. The bride and her friends return to Dublin and start turning people into vampires.

Matt and Deco are brothers. Deco becomes a vampire after flirting with one of the girls. A local vampire hunter, played by Anthony Head, wants to kill Deco, but Matt protects him. He loves his brother.

I can't recommend this film highly enough.

Sweeney Todd (4½ Stars)

If you'd asked me 10 years ago, I would have said that Johnny Depp was my favourite actor. He made some fantastic films in the 1990's and 2000's. I was irritated by his performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates Of The Caribbean films. The films themselves were quite good, I just don't think that he's funny. He has a lot of talent without acting like a buffoon. He's better as a serious actor, or at least he used to be. In his recent serious roles he tends to shuffle around and mumble. There's no passion in his acting. Sweeney Todd was probably his last great role. He's dramatic and awe-inspiring in his madness.

I haven't read the 19th Century stories on which the film is based, but the musical as presented is full of pathos and tragedy. Benjamin Barker, who changes his name to Sweeney Todd to avoid detection, doesn't start out as a bad man. He's a loving husband and father who's mistreated by an evil judge who abuses his position. He sings a tail of woe:

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit,
And the vermin of the world inhabit it,
And its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit,
And it goes by the name of London.
At the top of the hole sit a privileged few
Making mock of the vermin in the lower zoo
Turning beauty into filth and greed. I too
Have sailed the world and seen its wonders
For the cruelty of men is as wondrous as Peru,
But there's no place like London.

Maybe I wouldn't call London the worst place on Earth, but it's certainly a place of evil. Those who are rich trample on those who're poor, believing there's a natural order that gives them the right to do so.

The film's imagery backs up the evil character of London. People walk the streets in suits and top hats. They're the fine gentlemen. Benjamin's friend Anthony is a young sailor who dresses in scruffy clothing. Nobody thinks of him as a gentleman. That's something I recognised years ago. Being a gentleman isn't about being kind to others, it's about how you dress. If you dress well, you're seen as one of the elite. It's assumed that you know how to behave. A gentleman doesn't start a fight on the streets; he beats up poor people in the back yards and alleyways where nobody can see him.

Benjamin Barker himself isn't a gentleman. He's a tradesman, a barber. He returns to London after 15 years at sea, sentenced to banishment for a crime he didn't commit. He wants revenge on the judge who did him harm. Nobody can blame him for that. This wish for revenge is strengthened when he finds out that his daughter Johanna has been adopted by the judge. I still have sympathy with him.

The problem is that the hatred in his heart grows. It starts off with him believing that the judge deserves to die, but it progresses to the point when he looks out of his window at the gentlemen in the street and says that they all deserve to die. Maybe they do deserve to die, but what right does he have to judge them?

The real monster in the film is Mrs. Lovett, played by Helena Bonham Carter. Sweeney Todd's excuse for killing is revenge. Mrs. Lovett's excuse for killing is love. She loves Sweeney Todd and dreams of marrying him. She keeps him happy by supporting him in his quest for revenge. When his lust for killing grows out of hand she doesn't hold him back, she supports him, thinking that if she shares his passion for killing he'll love her too. She's the one who helps him dispose of the bodies. Mrs. Lovett doesn't kill a single person, but she's more than an accessory to the crime, she's a motivator.

The two are a perfect pair in their path of destruction. Are they insane? I'm always slow to call anyone mad, because insanity can be used as an excuse for evil. A lack of morality doesn't mean you're mad, it just means you're a bad person. I would call Sweeney Todd insane, driven mad by the pain of losing his wife and his daughter. He could have been cured if he'd had an understanding lover at his side. Mrs. Lovett isn't mad, she's just cold-hearted and evil. Whatever a court of law might say, she's the real criminal.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

This excellent film is only available on DVD in America and England. You can buy it on Blu-ray from Germany. I did.

Feedback (3 Stars)

This is the ninth film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Jarvis Dolan and Andrew Wilde were the hosts of a successful radio talk show. They took a break for a few months because of rape allegations brought against Andrew, but now they want to get back on air. The studio boss suggests that Jarvis does the show by himself, but he insists on Andrew joining him. After all, Andrew was never officially charged with rape.

On their first day back two masked men break into the studio, intending to force Jarvis and Andrew to confess to the rape. Andrew confesses at gunpoint to having raped a girl. Jarvis refuses to confess, because he says that he wasn't in the room when the rape took place.

Despite the tense atmosphere, this is ultimately an unsatisfying film. Most of the film is made up of repetitive dialogue, the same questions and the same answers being repeated over and over again. Whatever the intention of the film is meant to be, it fails.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (3½ Stars)

After looking at the Blu-ray cover of the film I was curious about the single word "Brilliant" quoted from the Daily Star. I consider it one of Marvel's weakest films, so I couldn't believe someone would really sum up the film like that, so I searched for the review online. It was written by Alan Frank on 17th February 2012, and I've taken the liberty of quoting the full review below. The word "Brilliant" is taken slightly out of context, since it refers to the directors, not the film itself, but overall the review is good. Mr. Frank liked it, even though he only rated it 7/10.

Interestingly, on his personal blog, published on the same date, Alan Frank only rated it 6/10. The text on his blog is roughly the same, but the paragraph containing the word "brilliant" is missing. Did the Daily Star change the review to make the film sound better?

Not happy with this, I did some research into Alan Frank. I'd never heard of him before, but he's evidently a man who is well known as a film critic who has specialised in reviewing horror films for the last 40 years. One of my fellow bloggers calls him "the industry's most easily-pleased film critic". That's not a bad thing. I'm also easily pleased. Whenever I watch a film for the first time and feel disappointed I try to look for its positive features.

Alan Frank

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Alan Frank, 17th February 2012

“I’m the guy who made the deal with the Devil,” he says, adding: “The darkness inside me only gets stronger”.

And he proves it with the mounting flaming body count that piles up when he starts blazing.

Too many sequels suck. Happily this explosion of action and startling special effects does just what it says on the tin without trying to be trendy or clever.

The hot stuff begins when monk Idris Elba persuades Cage to save a young boy from Satan himself.

Cage agrees, hoping to undo his pact with the Devil by doing a good deed and the screen fills up with freshly barbecued evil-doers.

It’s action, action and action all the way, with just a few (very few!) pauses for thought and for the plot to kick in.

Otherwise it’s multiple mayhem, gunplay, hair-raising road chases and Cage relentlessly roasting all the villains he can.

It would be useful to know his character in the cold weather we’ve just had since he can transform himself into a white-hot killer skeleton that shoots flames that would melt an iceberg in an instant.

But those same shooting flames also make him lethal.

Writer/directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who cracked out Crank, definitely do the thrilling business here.

They are brilliant at showcasing Cage’s fiery punisher whilst also letting Satanic Ciaran Hinds, Elba and company have their flings.

VERDICT: 7/10

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de

A Street Cat named Bob (4 Stars)

The name of this film is a mouthful. I prefer to just call it "Bob".

"Bob" has been advertised as a comedy, but it's a very serious story, moving and heart-warming. It's based on a autobiographical book by James Bowen called "A street cat named Bob, and how he saved my life". That's even more of a mouthful! The book sold over a million copies in the UK alone, and it spent more than 76 weeks at the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list.

In 2007 James Bowen was living on the street in London. He was a heroin addict, and he was earning a small amount of money by playing guitar on the streets. He was given a house to live in on condition that he began a drug rehabilitation program with methadone. Shortly after moving into the house he found a stray cat which attached itself to him after he fed him. Cats are like that. The cat was called Bob by his neighbour, Betty. More precisely, she was a hippy-ish character who claimed the cat told her his name was Bob. In the following weeks Bob accompanied James when he went out singing, resulting in bigger crowds and bigger tips. Bob also helped James by giving him companionship and helping him overcome his addiction.

Methadone is a controversial substance. In many countries, including England, it's the main drug used to cure heroin addiction. In many other countries it's illegal. Even in countries where it's used there are many critics. The social worker in the film tells James that coming off methadone is more difficult than coming off heroin.

So, is methadone good? I don't know. In the last 15 years I've known two people who succeeded in becoming clean with the help of methadone. Critics say that for every person that methadone helps there are 10 failures. It's a drug that has a similar effect to heroin, but it has two big advantages. First, it's consumed as a liquid, not by injection, so there's less chance of an infection. Second, it's given on prescription, not bought illegally, so crime isn't needed to get money to pay for it. Under medical supervision the methadone dosage is slowly be reduced until it can be stopped altogether, but the final drop to zero is the hardest time. Critics of methadone say that it's better to break heroin addiction by locking an addict in a room without drugs until the addiction is broken, however long it takes. That has the same success rate as methadone. Unless there are any unbiased studies that I don't know about, it seems to be a matter of opinion which is better.

The most amazing thing about the film is that the cat who plays Bob is the real Bob himself. After attaching himself to the real James, how could he become attached to a new, fictional James? He must have been given a lot of cat treats to bribe him.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (3½ Stars)

Johnny Blaze has fled from the USA to Romania and lives as a recluse in an attempt to control the Ghost Rider's power. He's approached by Moreau, a member of a holy order, and asked to find a young boy called Danny. This boy is the Devil's son, and in three days time the full power of the Devil will be transferred to him, resulting in Hell on Earth.

While not the worst Marvel film ever made, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" is certainly disappointing. I agree that CGI is necessary to portray a character with a flaming head, but the film relies too heavily on CGI. It could have been toned down a little.

There are some discrepancies to the first film. At the end of the first film the Devil offers Johnny Blaze his soul back, but he refuses it because he wants to retain his power to fight the forces of evil. In this film we see him desperate to get his soul back. Couldn't he just have asked? As well as that, in the first film he only turns into the Ghost Rider at night. In this film he can transform at any time.

The Ghost Rider franchise is due to be rebooted next year. I hope the next film will be better.

Sweeney Todd (4½ Stars)

This is my second film for today starring Alan Rickman. In it he proves that he isn't just an actor, he can sing as well. That's not something that can be taken for granted. Have you ever heard Pierce Brosnan try to sing, for instance in "Mamma Mia"? It's embarrassing. Then there's Alyson Hannigan. When a musical episode was written for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" parts had to be re-written because she wasn't able to perform all her songs. I don't understand this, because the few lines she does sing in the broadcast episode are adequate. She's not as bad as Pierce Brosnan, and nowhere near as bad as Richard Gere.

Of course, Alan Rickman's singing is over-shadowed by Johnny Depp, who is a magnificent singer. If he had never become an actor he could have embarked on a singing career. Another first class singer is Anthony Head. Those are the only two actors I can think of who are excellent singers. Most others are okay, but they're not good enough to give up their acting.

I enjoy this musical, especially because of the dark humour, but it doesn't live up to other musicals in my collection. I prefer "Tommy", "The Wall" and "Evita".

Alan Rickman plays an evil character in the film, Judge Turpin. I've heard it said that only the best actors can play bad men. That's certainly the case here. It takes an actor of Alan Rickman's stature to portray the nuances of the evil judge. We almost feel sympathy for him, because however bad he is all he wants is to be loved. Almost. We still cheer when Johnny Depp slashes his throat.

The Iron Lady (3 Stars)

I'm disappointed, I really am. After all I'd read about this film I expected it to be better. First of all, let's say what's good about the film: the two actresses who play Margaret Thatcher, Alexandra Roach and Meryl Streep, are both outstanding. So what's bad about it? Everything else!

There is hardly anyone more fascinating in recent British history than Margaret Thatcher. She was a girl from a humble background, a shopkeeper's daughter, who grew up to be the first ever female prime minister. A film about her was overdue. This film is so poor that we need a better attempt. I'll name the biggest faults, there are too many for me to name them all.

Too much time is dedicated to showing Margaret in her state of senile dementia in 2010, when the film was made. 20 minutes at the beginning, 10 minutes at the end, and repeated views throughout the rest of the film. A single display of the great lady in her old age at the beginning would have sufficed, no more than 10 minutes. Better still would have been to leave it out altogether.

The film assumes that the viewers already know the history of Margaret Thatcher and what happened when she was in power. I know it, of course, but what about younger viewers or people who aren't from England? The scenes of rioting, bomb blasts and rubbish bags piled in the street must be confusing.

So many of the characters aren't named. The casting department did an excellent job in finding actors who looked like the politicians of the time, such as Michael Heseltine, Michael Foot and Geoffrey Hume, so I recognised them when I saw them, but they aren't named.

A much better way to make the film would be to start with the assumption that the audience knows nothing. Present the young Margaret Thatcher to us. Show us her development through school and university into politics, so that we win a real love for her. Show us her steady advance through parliament and her various jobs in the cabinet, such as education secretary. Show her relationship with Edward Heath. Show the problems that brought down Edward Heath's government, because these were vital in forming her policies when she became prime minister. It wouldn't be too much of a diversion to show the infamous three day week of 1974. The war against Argentina should be shown in more detail, including Michael Foot's opposition to the war. The miners' strikes, the rail strikes, the changes in the laws concerning striking and flying pickets. The poll tax should be explained. Her non-elected political advisers who she trusted more than fellow politicians. Her relationships with Ronald Reagan and Helmut Kohl. There are so many important things that "The Iron Lady" either omitted or showed too briefly.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (3 Stars)

"Ghost Rider" was one of the best comics of the 1970's. It was well written and well drawn, and it had more of an edge than the Marvel comics of the previous decade. This film, in comparison, is a shambles. The only thing in its favour is that the special effects are slightly better than the first film. Apart from that, the story is silly and the acting is dreadful. There's already talk of a third Ghost Rider film. It can only get better. Can't it?

It's a shame, because the Ghost Rider character has such promise. The series is in serious need of a reboot. As much as I usually like Nicolas Cage, he's totally wrong for the role. We need someone 20 years younger with long blond hair.

Sweeney Todd (4½ Stars)

I'm afraid that I slipped up here. This should have been my Five Star Month. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (to give it its full title) isn't quite as good as I remembered it, so I had to deduct half a star. While it's enjoyable, as are all films made by Tim Burton, it doesn't quite live up to the other musicals I've watched this month, "Evita" and "Tommy". The film loses some of its quality by not being sung 100%. The spoken interludes deduct from the film's power. Nevertheless, Tim Burton portrays London with a bizarre gothic beauty. I would still recommend that my viewers watch the film.

The story is allegedly based on the life of a real criminal, though many people doubt that Sweeney Todd really existed. Johnny Depp stars as Benjamin Barker, a barber who is sentenced to 15 years in Australia by a judge on a false charge, because the judge wanted his wife. After his sentence he returns to London using the fake name Sweeney Todd, and he once more works in his old barber's shop. More than anything else he wants revenge on the judge, especially when he finds out that the judge is holding his daughter Johanna as a prisoner in his house.

Sweeney allies himself with Mrs. Lovett, his landlady and the owner of the pie shop below where he works. After he kills another barber who threatens to expose him as Benjamin Barker Mrs. Lovett suggests that he should give her the body as meat for her pies. Over the next few weeks he kills many of his customers to help her business. Helena Bonham Carter is deliciously evil as his accomplice.  The viewer can feel some sympathy for Sweeney himself, but Mrs. Lovett has no redeeming qualities.

This is a good film, a very good film. But it doesn't quite deserve the full five stars. Watch it and decide for yourself.

Click here to view the somewhat overlong trailer.

TV Series: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

So why should I be writing about this series years after it finished? Easy question to answer: because I'm watching it on DVD now. Besides, it has regular reruns on English television, and some people are only just discovering it now.

It's hard to believe that I actually disliked the show when it was first shown in 1997. It bugged me that the vampires were so weak. One stab with a broken chair leg and they were gone! I gave up watching after a few episodes and didn't pick it up again till the middle of the second season. Then I finally got it. The show isn't about vampires, it's about Buffy and her problems fitting in at school (or college) while battling to save the world. In retrospect the seasons I liked most were the ones while she was still at school. When she went to college it seemed like everyone around her was secretly a demon or a demon-slayer. Apart from the innocent victims, of course, whose numbers were deplenished week by week.

P.S. The box set was a lot cheaper when I bought it. I suspect it's getting more expensive because it's no longer being made, and the stocks are dwindling. If you really want it, my advice is to buy it sooner rather than later.