For those of you that don't know, there is a new movie coming out on 26th of September called Death Race, directed by much maligned director Paul WS Anderson (Alien Vs Predator, Resident Evil), and starring Jason Statham (Crank, The Transporter, Lock Stock). Its a remake of a 1970s Roger Corman exploitation movie Death Race 2000. I was asked to attend the press junket for Death Race on behalf of Rotten Tomatoes to interview Anderson and Statham, which to me, was a really cool privilege. Now there is an embargo on reviews until the 19th of September, so will publish my review then when i can, a week before its release. But just to give you a flavour of the preparation and so on that goes into a press junket, i'll just write about a few of the surrounding things first. First i watched Death Race 2000 as homework.
Death Race 2000
The movie Death Race 2000 came out in 1975, and is set in a dystopian future which sees the United States governed by a shady government, headed by The President, who rules from abroad, and where the biggest form of public entertainment is the gladiatorial Death Race. A race which sees five racers hurtling across the States in a brutal road race, in cars tricked out with machine guns and razor teeth on the front. Think Wacky Races meets Running Man. The racers gain points from killing pedestrians, and the other racers, and as you can imagine, the movie itself is crammed with ridiculous cartoon-esque violence, and unnecessary nudity, so naturally it has a huge cult following. It stars a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone hilariously hamming it up as Machine Gun Joe, and his main rival is a mysterious racer known as Frankenstein, as he has been patched up so many times from previous races, played by David Carradine (Bill from Kill Bill). The film itself is ridiculous, with a few moments of political satire thrown in to lend it a certain amount of gravitas, but its the cartoon violence, hilarious acting and script. that give it a certain guilty pleasure that makes it instantly watchable.
4/5
Watch this when drunk. In fact make a drinking game which involves a shot with every death or nipple on show, and i will go down a storm.
Then i watched Crank, which according to the editor of Rotten Tomatoes, is the best of Statham's film, and which there is an imminent sequel in post-production.
Crank
This is the best all out action film i have seen in a long time. It won't be to everyones tastes though. The story centres on Jason Stathams character, hitman Chev Chelios, who wakes up one morning feeling woozy. He finds a dvd with "Fuck You" written on it. When he plays it, he discovers that a rival gang member has injected him with a slow acting poison which will kill him within the hour. Chelios soon discovers though, that by keeping his adrenaline levels high, he can keep the poison at bay. So he then proceeds to go on a full on high speed rampage on a mission to hunt down his enemy. The action is unbelievable, and the pace and direction is so urgent, that you can't help but get carried along with the film as it lurches from one ridiculous moment to another. The beauty is that its a knowing film, that never has any delusion of grandeur, never aims to be anything more than a balls to the wall action thriller, which it delivers in spades. Granted, the characters and plot is a bit cliched, but when you can see the actors and directors know that, and they play up to that, it gives the film so much charm, you can't help but laugh, and grin manically as the action is cranked up with every scene. Personally i can't wait for Crank 2, which Statham says takes the action to further crazy parts, outstripping the first film for pure entertainment value.
4/5
A brilliant, if slightly guilty, pleasure.
So i attended the junket today which was a slightly surreal experience. It was held in the Haymarket Hotel near Trafalgar Square, which is one of the most beautiful hotels i've ever been in. I was expecting a filmed interview, but it turned out to be a press interview instead, so i felt slightly underprepared, but met, and chatted with Paul W S Anderson for eight minutes. He's a lovely, chatty bloke, who invests a lot of care into his movies, but who has a bad reputation, for his many computer game adaptations, but i liked him. I liked Event Horizon, and Death Race, and i think we should be praising the guy as a Brit who has made in mainstream Hollywood. Us bloddy brits are so bloddy snobby about these things. Unless they are making arty Brit films like Shane Meadows, then we look down our noses at them. When people talk about great British filmmakers, they never mention people like Chris Nolan, or Anderson. Its as if we think they've sold out if they go to Hollywood. But come on... it's the pinnacle of modern cinema, where else would they go?
Jason Statham was an equally nice guy, full of charm, spirit, and enthusiasm for his work. He is clearly a mans man who enjoys his job. He's like a coiled spring ready to burst off. A really genuine nice guy, who has got where he is through good solid work in films like Lock Stock, Snatch, The Transporter, Crank, and also a small cameo in one of my favourite movies of the last few years Collateral. He gave me loads of insight into his forthcoming films, and it should appear on Rotten Tomatoes in the next few weeks. Good on you Jason, keep up the good work.
Modern art is not something i profess to know a massive amount about, but we've all heard of Damien Hirst, be it his pickled sharks and cows, or the spotted painted or the diamond encrusted skull, we all know who he is. He purported to have made $1Billion, which is phenomenal for a living artist. His latest way of subverting the art world is by creating a new collection of work, and sending it straight to the auction house for sale. Usually art is sold through galleries and dealers, before reaching the auction house, normally when they become five years old on the market. Hirst has turned this on its head by creating 223 new pieces and auctioning them straight off. Its expected to make over £65million over two days of auctions. The best part is, its all on public display at Sothebys to view, every day for the next two weeks, for free. I went for an hour today, and the collection is truly staggering. That one man could have so much output is incredible. Go down for yourself, before you miss out. There'll probably never be a better chance to see so much of Hirsts work in one place ever. The collection is full of many things, butterflies feature highly, with pieces made from butterfly specimens, even one in homage to Lincoln Cathedrals famous rose window. There are also many of the 'animal in formaldehyde' pieces he's famous for, my favourite being the unicorns decapitated head with a hacksaw in the case with it, or the flying piglet. He's really embraced bling too, with many cabinets being gold plated, and diamonds incorporated into many of the pieces. You should go check it out, it's well worth the zero entry fee!
So thats all for now. Next week read the full Death Race review here.
Til next time folks.
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