Saturday, July 25, 2009

EIFF Film Reviews

In my continuing effort to catch up with my backlog of un-reviewed films, I should probably mention the two movies I saw at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last month. Whilst two films isn't exactly a particularly good effort on my part, it's still better than last year where I somehow failed to see anything at all...


The first film I saw was a light-hearted crime caper starring Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H Macy as art gallery security guards who decide to steal each of their favourite artworks to prevent them from being shipped off to a gallery in Denmark. While this may sound fairly mainstream, due to various legal wranglings the film hasn't made it to cinemas despite being shot a couple of years ago and may well never get a significant release.

I did enjoy The Maiden Heist - let's face it, with that cast it's quite hard to go wrong! It is very much a gentle, inoffensive comedy and as such I wouldn't say it was anything particularly special, but it is entertaining and does have a few genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.

VERDICT: Harmless fun.



The second film I saw was another comedy, but this one very much fell into the "offensive" category... but in a good way. Black Dynamite is a loving homage to the classic 70's Blaxploitation movies (Shaft, etc.), but with its tongue planted quite decisively in its cheek. Great care and attention has been spent on getting all the details correct, right down to the grainy film stock, dodgy editing, wobbly camera focus and blatant recycling of stock footage. All of these moments provide opportunities for giggles, but on top of that is a frankly hilarious script that quite proudly makes no sense whatsoever but regularly had the packed audience laughing hysterically.

It does have to be said that despite a brief running time of only 85 minutes, there were times when the film dragged a little, which is a shame. Regardless, the many moments of comic genius more than make up for its shortcomings and as a result Black Dynamite is destined to become a future cult classic and ideal fodder for alcohol-fuelled movie nights.

VERDICT: I can dig it!


And as an added bonus, here's the trailer:


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