AN EYE FOR AN EYE // A FILM REVIEW OF "MEDIEVAL"

BY MATEO MORENO

Based on (or I should say "Inspired by") the true story of Jan Žižka, a famed Czech general who never lost a battle and is now a Czech national hero, MEDIEVAL is a tale of knights and swords, a kidnapping and rescue and everything in between. Žižka (Ben Foster) begins the film, in 1402, with he and his crew hired to save Lord Boresh (Michael Caine) from a political assassination. Boresh then hires Žižka and his men to kidnap the niece of the King of France, Lady Katherine (Sophia Lowe). She is married to Henry of Rosenburg (Til Schweiger), a shady nobleman who is doing some shady scheming with King Sigismund of Hungary (Matthew Goode). The kidnapping of Lady Katherine is a kidnapping for ransom, to help persuade Rosenburg to fund Prague's money troubles.

From that point on, we go between the companies, with Žižka, Lady Katherine and the crew to the behind the scenes dealings of Rosenburg and King Sigismund. Katherine doesn't immediately know what to think of her situation until she learns of her fiancée Rosenburg's dark side. We see common folk often come to the aide of Žižka, helping him escape and even fight, eventually leading to a brutal battle that takes away one of Žižka's eyes (he famously continued to lead with only one eye and even continuing after losing his sight). He continues on, aided by Lady Katherine and his loyal men and locals, leading up to a final showdown between Rosenburg and Žižka himself. 

MEDIEVAL is a rousing, if a bit formulaic, sword and action film with some beautiful cinematography leading the way. Ben Foster is stoic and strong, giving a muted but solid performance as the unstoppable warrior. Michael Caine is a delight as always and the multinational cast is put to good use here. Sophie Lowe has a very strong presence here, showcasing more depth and honesty than perhaps is even on the page. And mugging up the villany is Matthew Goode and Til Schweiger, both having a grand time. It never reaches a fever pitch excitement level of, say Gladiator, but Medieval is a worthy addition to the genre, with a lot of bloody fun action sequences. If you like this kind of film, Žižka's tale is worth your time.

GRADE: B

SCREENPLAY BY Petr Jákl STORY BY Jákl Sr. BASED ON A STORY BY Marek Dobes, Michal Petrus DIRECTED BY Petr Jákl STARRING Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe, Michael Caine, Til Schweiger, Roland Møller, Matthew Goode, William Moseley NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATRES

THE DRAMA CLUB // A FILM REVIEW OF "THE CLASS"

BY MATEO MORENO

The Breakfast Club, the classic 80's homage to teenage rebellion bonding over a Saturday detention, has been copied, parodied and repeated many times since it first appeared on the big screen. Such comparisons obviously lie directly in front of the new film THE CLASS, most notably because it stars original 80's Breakfast Club star Anthony Michael Hall in it. It even has 80's pop superstar Debbie Gibson as their teacher. Hall himself has brought up these comparisons in interviews. The Breakfast Club was truly original and (though there are definitely things that are problamatic looking back at in in a modern eye) it's chock full of charm, kids talking like actual kids, strong characters and solid dialogue. Sadly in, The Class, there is none of the charm, class or originality inside of this take on teenagers stuck at school on a Saturday.

The premise is based around six drama students at Olympia High have to take a Saturday make-up class in order to graduate. Already the idea is wading in ridiculous territory, but having Hall in the film gains a lot of good will. Hall plays the opposite of who his Breakfast Club character would have grown up to be. He's Mr. Faulk, the "Mr. Vernon" character of the piece, a stuffy high school administer who's attending this Saturday make-up class to make sure everything is on the up and up (But since there's also a teacher there, him being there doesn't really make sense). Gibson plays Miranda, the always upbeat drama teacher who believes in the kids and wants to see them succeed. The group of students consist of two Breakfast Club like characters and several others that are more modern day types. There's Michael (Michael Sebastian), the "Emilio Estevez" like jock and Jason (Charlie Gillespie), the "Judd Nelson" like troublemaker. In addition we have Allie (Juliette Celozzi), Jessie (Hannah Kepple), Max (Colin McCalla) and Casey (Lyric Ross). Miranda puts them into groups of two and tells them they have to write scenes and create characters to "help them find themselves." Mr. Faulk begins the film rolling his eyes and although we're not meant to be on his side, we are a good majority of the film. This class is ridiculous.

Almost immediately everyone is fighting, with even one of the students making semi-serious threats to blow up the school, something that as a writer feels horribly irresponsible to put into a teenage kids mouth that we're trying to bond with in a "comedy." A comedy without a Heathers kind of spin, especially in this day and age. Each of them begin to reveal secrets, none of which come out naturally. Some are pulled out of them with NO notice. One character gives an off-hand remark that maybe her partner's character is gay. Her partner freaks out immediately and... well, you can immediately see that his secret is that he's in the closet and that he's now been outed in the most clumsy way possible. One student has Cancer. Multiple students have childhood trauma. One character just wants to sing dammit! Sing out Louise! And she does, with a polished sounding studio song that absolutely doesn't feel like a shy kid who thinks they sound like crap. And all of these "secrets" are told with wispy indie elevator music playing behind them. It's painfully earnest in the best moments and just plain painful in the rest.

Anthony Michael Hall is the best thing in the film by far, which also shows how solid of an actor he is, because his character is the most underwritten in the film. He's more or less given the direction "stare," "contemplate" or try and sneak a peek inside a classroom where students are rehearsing. "Why would he do that," you ask? "Why would students who are forced for a make-up class be given privileges to roam anywhere in or outside of the school" you may also ask? "Why do the two main teachers keep exiting the room to argue, leaving the kids alone," you ask? If you're asking such reasonable questions, you've already overthought The Class. Debbie Gibson's constant note seems to be "always be smiling," so there isn't much of a character journey with her, but she comes out better than the rest. The students, sadly, are mostly pretty terrible, both with their dialogue, their delivery and their awkward interactions. Kids just don't talk like these kids. It's clear that this is supposed to be a lovely homage to The Breakfast Club, but instead it comes out as an awful wannabe sequel. At a running time of almost two hours, it also really overstays its welcome. Instead of attending this class, maybe just skip and go stream The Breakfast Club instead. Teachers orders.

GRADE: D-

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Nicholas Celozzi STARRING Anthony Michael Hall, Debbie Gibson, Charlie Gillespie, Hannah Kepple, Lyric Ross, Colin McCalla, Juliette Celozzi. IN SELECT THEATRES AND ON DEMAND SEPTEMBER 9TH.

BOXED UP // A FILM REVIEW OF "BURIAL"

BY MATEO MORENO

Set immediately after WWII, the new "midnight movie" BURIAL has a lot of heavy subject to tell in B-movie form, which is an impressive feat to try. The main story tells of a group of Russian soldiers who are tasked with moving and hiding Hitler's body, delivering it to Stalin in Moscow. They aren't exactly thrilled at this task, but they begin to do it anyway. They are being tracked by a group of Nazi soldiers, soldiers that are called "Werewolves." They burn a substance that causes hallucinations, rendering their opponent disoriented and off balance as they "see things." It's also a story being told by an older woman in 1991 named Anna Marshall (Harriet Walter). A man (David Alexander Parker) breaks into her home and reveals himself to be a Neo-Nazi who wants answers from her. However, Anna isn't the easy mark he had assumed. She very easily takes him down, chaining him to her radiator. The answers he thinks he has is only part of the story. And since he's there, she wants to set the record straight. So she tells him this crazy story of when she was a Russian soldier who was actually named Brana (Charlotte Vega) and how they continued to move Hilter's body from Poland to Moscow and the strange events that surrounded it.

Why they are transporting his body is clear: Stalin wants to look his fallen enemy in the eye and see his dead body for himself. For Brana, her reasoning of carrying out her duties is a bit different. She wants the world to see that he wasn't some sort of supervillain. He was just a man, and now he's dead. The soldiers following them want to capture the box they are carrying (which they assume is the body) and make some propaganda showing that it wasn't Hitler at all and that he lives on somewhere, to further their fear. Written and Directed by Ben Parker, Burial deals with some heavy topics but it is most definitely a B-movie with thrills that doesn't get bogged down with trivial things such as the Russian and German soldiers almost always speak English (why the Polish soldiers don't is also just another inconsistency). And even though the film starts to buckle under its own ambitions, Parker and the strong ensemble cast keep it spooky and suspenseful enough to keep you engaged. And a strong prologue and epilogue by Harriet Walter is very nicely done, making sure that it leaves you off balance just enough as you stumble back into the night.

GRADE: B

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Ben Parker STARRING Charlotte Vega, Tom Felton, Barry Ward, Harriet Walter OPENS IN SELECT THEATRES AND ON DEMAND SEPTEMBER 2ND. FOR MORE INFO: BURIAL