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Deliverance, a review by Jon

Deliverance
5 out of 5



Four friends set off an a canoe trip down a Georgia river to experience the incredible wilderness before it's destroyed. They get far more than they bargained for and the experience will change them forever... 

Deliverance is an astonishing achievement, all the more so for its modesty. It's powerful yet it delivers in an even tone that feels authentic and consistent. While not a horror as such, there is suspense, there is fear, yet those scenes (and one so famous you probably know it anyway) don't feel in any way exaggerated. Which just adds to the spell.

All the elements are perfect. John Boorman is a master technician and a poet, who took a very fine screenplay written with James Dickey (author of the novel), four brilliant actors and then filmed them on a beautiful yet unpredictable river. The gorgeous cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond ranges from picture postcard to dark violence and there is an ever-present sense of foreboding from at least the night camp when some of their confidence has given way to suspicion. There's a fantastic shot that should stick out like a sore thumb, yet like an earlier moment (passing under a bridge), it feels organic. Boorman never does anything just for the sake of it.

The cast couldn't be better; two theatre players (Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox), a method actor (Jon Voight) and a movie star (Burt Reynolds) all fit their parts like a glove. When Reynolds was being serious there were few to touch him, but here he outdoes himself. Some of his lines are like poetry, yet he sells them every time. They all have their moments and give raw performances (Beatty especially) while the story unfolds in a surprising way.

It's a story about nature and about men. You could write pages (don't worry, I won't!) exploring the relationship between the two. Suffice to say, they bite off more than they can chew and after a brief morality play, have to deal with the consequences of awful violence. Boorman makes you feel it as well. Every grimy moment.

It's a superb film that epitomises the freedom of the 70s while filmmakers were still mavericks, yet it will likely never date, because it's subject is timeless and it should stand forever as a testament to what film can do and what it can mean. To be honest, this has been a hard review to write and I'm sure I haven't come close to capturing the essence of it. So do me a favour; if you have any interest in cinema, just watch it. And if you don't like it, watch it again. 

(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 6th, 2009)

Planet Terror, a review by Jon

Planet Terror
4 out of 5

I watched this in a double-bill with it's Grindhouse twin, Death Proof. It's great fun and actually far more successful as part of the experiment than Tarantino's contribution.

The story could just about work as a genuine stand-alone multiplex movie, but it's characters and effects frequently defy logic and could only work as seats of the pants grindhouse style filmmaking. I loved it. Rodriguez has long been a favourite of director for me because he's the sort of filmmaker who could make anything watchable. Send him two elastic bands and a milk bottle top and he'll give you something worth paying to see. His style has always been grindhouse exploitation and the 10 minute film schools you usually find on his DVDs are always a joy.

The story is... erm, something about some sort of chemical weapon... er... Sod it. Zombies. That enough for you?  Raging viruses, body parts swimming in gore, hilarious characters with fantastic dialogue and questionable ethics, it's just great fun. No motivation of any kind except to entertain and take the piss out of cliches. That said, on one of the Death Proof featurettes, they mentioned that they were inspired to hire Kurt Russell after thinking of this movie as the one Carpenter should have made between Escape From new York and The Thing. I know what they mean, and the spirit certainly is there, but surely he never made anything quite this mad?

Look, there's a girl with a gun for a leg. Think about it just for a moment. She could have stuck with the peg leg (hilarious sex scene because of that!) and used both of her working hands to aim and fire properly, but that would have been far too sensible. And just how does she fire the damn thing? Who cares? Watching her spin on her arse while blowing heads of zombies is far more important than mere logic!

Don't bother trying to follow the story. There's even a missing reel and when it rejoins the movie a fair bit seems to have happened. I know Pete reviewed this film before and was disappointed that so much effort was made on this score. But I really got what they were trying to do and I reckon I could watch this thing every week! It's not as good a film as Death Proof, but it's certainly more fun and more successful as a grindhouse flick.

 



(From Planet Terror on June 15th, 2008)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Rick

Letting Go AKA = Even Steven 

Another good story. Another good guest star. Another good ending to the episode.
Rating:


Season 1 recap:
I'm really glad I am watching this show again. There are so many things about the show that simply put make it great TV entertainment. I am looking forward to season 2. 


(From "Due South" marathon on July 29th, 2009)