The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) Dir: Ben Palmer

Big screen outing for the smash hit comedy from the UK's Channel 4.

The plot:
Will, Jay, Simon and Neil are finished with school. With a rousingly hate-filled farewell message from Greg Davies' Mr. Gilbert, the foursome contemplate joining the depressing, responsibility laden world of adulthood but, with Simon lovesick for Carli, the gang decide to head off to Crete for one last hurrah: sex, booze, flange, gash, klunge and flaps all available on tap.
Inevitably, all does not go quite to plan.
Arriving at their hotel, the building is more reminiscent of a dilapidated prison than a luxury apartment complex.
Heading into town, they are tricked into going into an awful nightclub and, worse news for Simon, it seems Carli is in town.
Will the four of them find the 'love' they so desperately crave?
Will Jay be able to stop spouting bullshit long enough to even talk to a woman.
And will Neil be able to resist shitting in that bidet?

Sitcom transitions are fraught with pitfalls: the thirty minute format overstretched by the runtime; the characters being removed from their usual surroundings; the need to appeal to a wider audience.
Though not perfect, The Inbetweeners movie does a pretty decent job of avoiding these problems, save for the runtime, which does flag, particularly in the middle third.
With a guaranteed following that has seen the movie take the number one spot in the UK from the excellent Planet of the Apes reboot, this is one that will divide audiences, for sure, into those that know and love the series and those that don't.
If you've never seen the TV show, this would be a really bad place to start.
With plenty of gross-out humour, more cock and balls being shaken around, quite literally, on screen than is commonplace, and plenty of hideous language, I for one rather enjoyed this.

4 out of 5

Death Note: The Last Name (2006) Dir: Shûsuke Kaneko

Conclusion of the live action version of the critically acclaimed anime series.

The plot:
As L continues his investigations, believing himself to be tightening the noose on Kira, whom he suspects to be an alias of Light, his thoughts are confused by the apparent emergence of a second Kira, Kira II, who seems more ruthless than the first. whereas the original Kira would only kill convicted criminals, Kira II will kill anyone he / she deems worthy of death.
Can L uncover the secret of the Death Note and the Gods of Death before Kira II becomes unstoppable?

A direct continuation of the first movie, this has all of the strengths and weaknesses, too.
Plot-wise, this is intriguing, and well played by all concerned.
The addition of the second Kira adds a new element of suspense, and everything plays out in a logical, well-presented manner.
Still the gripe holds that the appearance of the Gods of Death is a little bizarre, though representative of the anime versions, but mixed in with the live action, it all just feels a little bit Roger Rabbit.
Still, an exciting, gripping conclusion to the story.
Liked it a lot.

4 out of 5

Miami Vice (2006) Dir: Michael Mann

Updating of the smash 80's TV series - one that never interested us here at Smell the Cult HQ, incidentally - is a fairly turgid affair.
The plot:
Colin Farrell and the always magnificent Jamie Foxx play the lead roles of Crockett and Tubbs, Vice Detectives in, ahem, Miami, who become embroiled in a rather silly, rather incoherent plot involving trafficking of both weapons and drugs.
Along the way there is some guff about White Supremacists, a romantic intermingling of goodies and baddies and the requisite glamour shots of Miami and it's night life.
And it really is a mess.
Farrell and Foxx mumble their way through the script, seeming semi-comatose at times, barely even looking at each other throughout the near two and a half hour run time. Seriously, halfway through I began to suspect this may be a Brechtian reinvention of the detective movie, with Mann implementing the requisite alienation techniques but, alas no, it was simply a little bit dull.
Sure, the speed boats look great.
Sure, the location work is stylishly executed and, yes, Jamie Foxx only really has to be on screen and there is a glimmer of interest.
But there is little else here to hold the attention, save perhaps Farrell's ludicrous moustache and mullet combo which seems to morph into different preposterous combinations with each passing shot.
A desperately dull movie, certainly by Mann's standards, and one that only M.V. purists should bother with.

2 out of 5

Sweeney! (1977) Dir: David Wickes

Cult British police show classic The Sweeney spawned two spin off movies, the first of which – Sweeney! – by far the better of the pair.
The plot: A politician, known for an occasional dalliance with ladies of vice, is threatened with ruination when a prostitute he has been 'visiting' is found dead in his hotel suite. Rather than face up to his misdemeanours, he instead chooses to hide his involvement. All seems well, until a friend of the dead woman asks hard smoking, hard drinking, hard punching Detective Regan to investigate and, when he starts asking the right questions to the wrong people, a plan is set in motion to discredit him. Suspended from The Flying Squad on a drink driving charge that was only partially erroneous – he had been drinking though, to ensure a conviction, he was pulled over by a couple of crooked police sorts, kidnapped and forced to swallow an entire bottle of spirits – Regan must go it alone to uncover the truth, with even his ever faithful partner Carter reluctant to get involved.
Gritty is a word often batted about when The Sweeney is mentioned and, in this case, it is absolutely applicable.
Locations are chosen for their levels of dereliction and the dialogue is stripped to the bone, with barely a sentence passing by without an expletive or three offered, the conversations ribald and profane, though never without good reason. Inevitably, some of the language would be deemed inappropriate in this day and age, specifically in terms of attitudes towards race and women but, some allowance must be made given the context.
I’m not saying it’s OK, I’m just saying it’s understandable given the age of the movie and the type of characters portrayed.
Look, I said it’s not OK.
Heh!
What the hell are you doing? Why are you handcuffing me? Oh Christ, it’s the moral acceptability police come to take me away....and they're wearing Kevlar vests with the word OUTRAGED writ large across their chests.
With lashings of violence, though sporadic, and a crackling atmosphere, this is one TV to movie spin off that managed to make the transition without losing too much credibility.
Good stuff.

4 out of 5

Serenity (2005) Dir: Joss Whedon

After the appalling network treatment of the excellent series, Firefly, it seemed only fitting that director and creator Joss Whedon was given the opportunity to complete his tale with this full scale, cinematic outing.
Serenity, a Firefly class salvage vessel, populated by a band of likeable vagabonds who take whatever work they can find, legal or otherwise. Among their number, Simon and River Tam, a brother and sister act, he a doctor, she a troubled sort, having been genetically and mentally 'altered' by The Alliance, the ruling force who, several years prior, won the war against the independents and now lead with an iron fist.
The Alliance are very keen to get their gauntlet clad hands on River once more, as Simon busted her out of their high security facility, but Captain Mal Reynolds is determined to keep them both safe.
An unnamed operative is sent by The Alliance to track down River and bring her back, dead or alive, with kill privileges in place as necessary, but River won't be easy to reclaim, not with Reavers in the area....
Effectively a scaled up version of one of the untransmitted episodes (Objects in Space) here the character of the bounty hunter Jubal Early is replaced by The Operative, though their raison d'etre remains the same.
With a bigger budget, the effects and action scenes are ramped up accordingly, though the beating heart of the series - the character interplay - is not forgotten, the script as witty and warm as anything seen in the series.
Fusing Western and Sci-Fi stylings may seem a strange idea at first but, even if you have not seen the TV show, you will quickly adapt to the oddness; the archaic language used on occasion, the swearing in Chinese, the combination of high and low technology and, unless you truly are the kind of monster who can only find entertainment nourishment from soap opera or reality TV blandness, you will be hard pressed not to be engaged right from the get go.
An excellent sci-fi adventure, here at last being given the respect it deserves, this is simply great.

Quatermass 2 (1957) Dir: Val Guest

Hammer's movie version of the BBC sci-fi serial is utterly stunning.
The plot: Professor Quatermass is very annoyed that his initial proposals to colonise the moon have fallen on deaf ears, grumbling and muttering his discontent, but his attention is diverted when a steady stream of meteorites is detected crash landing in rural England, meteorites that seem to occur with monotonous regularity. Heading to investigate, Quatermass discovers the landing site, several meteorites present but, when one is investigated by his companion, it bursts open, spraying noxious gas into his face, blistering instantly. At that moment, a convoy of military sorts arrives, wielding weapons. Talking them down, Quatermass investigates further, discovering a project that bears alarming resemblance to his moon colony scheme, though this time it is alleged the project is to create synthetic food to feed the world.
But, if that is the case, why are they producing huge amounts of ammonia?
And why does it seem there is an alien lifeform inhabiting the domes?
Spooky, with a level of sinister dread that modern sci-fi/horror can only dream of, this is the stuff of nightmares. Yes, the budget is low and, yes, the production values suffer as a result, but this is the product of a fertile imagination and a blatant desire to create something new, something fresh.
Watching it now, it is truly hard to believe that this is a movie made in the 50's, even taking into account the clunky acting style and black and white filming.
It is also worth noting the direct influence the TV show this was based on, as well as the movie version itself, would have on Doctor Who, particularly the early Pertwee era. I'm thinking Spearhead from Space and Ambassadors of Death for those in the know.
As good as anything else Hammer ever produced and, frankly, as a lifelong devotee of both horror and sci-fi, about as good as either genre ever manages, this is creepy and intense viewing that should be more renowned than it is.
Excellent.

5 out of 5