Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence

Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence (TBA)

Dir. Dan Cregan

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

As my dear mum said to me at an early age "everyone has violence in them", it just seems that ‘Princess’ voiced by Paula Garcés has more than most though – she’s the 12-year-old star of this stunning short animated prequel to the forthcoming full feature film ‘Red Princess Blues’.

Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence is the work of Dan Cregan - Creative Director of the visual effects house known as ‘Numb Robot’ and it comes on like Elektra Assassin: the early years meets MTV’s The Maxx.

Filmed from the point of view of ‘Princess’, this is the scene-setting tale of how she discovers the ‘Book of Violence’ and her seemingly innate talent for handling weaponry… which bodes well for a possible rampaging orgy of vengeance that we can look forward to in the main film. Think Natalie Portman in ‘Leon’ preparing to be something like Anne Parillaud in 'Nikita' (two of my favourite films there) = high expectations!!

The animation on offer here is impressive; bringing a unique style, which I hope, will be mirrored in the live action feature film. As tasters go Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence certainly whets the appetite and should certainly be checked out by anyone who enjoys anime / adult friendly animation. This is seven minutes you will not forget in a hurry!

DARKMATTERS RATING SYSTEM (all ratings out of maximum 10):

Endorphin Stimulation: öööööööö (8)
- Sets the scene nicely...

Tasty Action: ööööööö (7)
- Palpable tension

Gratuitous Babeness: ööööö (5)
- Princess is likely to be hot when she's grown up in the main film!

Mind Blight / Boredom: öö (2)
- Only 7 mins so no time to be dull

Comedic Value: öööö (4)
- Not going for a comedy vibe

Arbitrary final rating: öööööööö (8)
- A strong and intreguing prequel

Liable to make you:
"poke around your nearest bookshop - looking for books of violence"

DM Poster Quote:
“Some people have a talent for violence... meet Princess”


"Open with caution - this is the 'book of violence'"

Darkmatters: H O M E

In the Valley of Elah - review

In the Valley of Elah (15)

Dir. Paul Haggis

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


The Valley of Elah is the middle-eastern place noted in the Bible where the young shepherd boy (and one day King) David managed to kill the Philistine giant warrior champion Goliath – with nothing more than a well-aimed slingshot. This is the epic recreation of the that famous battle, no actually this is Paul ‘Crash’ Haggis’ cutting anti-war film that rips the jugular out of any romantic notions that signing up for the armed forces is cool or praiseworthy.

Tommy Lee Jones is on top form as Hank Deerfield, a retired Sergeant whose soldier son Mike has mysteriously disappeared after coming back from his latest tour of duty in Iraq. Charlize Theron plays detective Emily Sanders who gets dragged into the investigation when it looks like there may be foul play – and a possible military cover-up due to ‘something that happened involving Mike overseas’.
Jones is awesome as the devoted father, determined to find out what happened to his son, sketchy clues to which he uncovers on media files recorded on Mike's mobile phone. Haggis who wrote as well as directs stirs up a veritable hornets nest of rage and anguish, grief and betrayal, but all of it is ratcheted up in a slow burning way. Whilst In the Valley of Elah is no action thriller, it is a gripping, smouldering fuse that leads all the while to something very nasty.

If looking for a feel good or life-affirming movie, you should move along – watching Elah is like taking a depressing punch to the frontal cortex (that part of the brain generally thought to be where higher-level thinking takes place). The plot unfurls at a walking pace but you won’t be able to help yourself thinking ahead, all the while trying to figure out ‘whodunit’ and perhaps more importantly ‘why did they do it’?

There is excellent chemistry between Jones and Theron (in a wonderfully friends trying to help each other way); plus there are moments of stunning cinematography that elevate this over and above your average ‘war screws you up’ political effort. Elah hasn’t been very well received in the States, which doesn’t surprise me as it makes for a pretty damning case against the current administration’s foreign policy on Iraq. With this and No Country for Old Men, Jones has found a superb vein of recent form and this film has brought him an Oscar nominations to boot.

NEW DARKMATTERS RATING SYSTEM FOR 2008 (all ratings out of maximum 10):

Endorphin Stimulation: öööööö (6)
- 'thinking' rather than being 'blown away with excitement'

Tasty Action: öööö (4)
- not masses but some bursts of tension

Gratuitous Babeness: öööööö (6)
- Theron is hot in an understated way here

Mind Blight / Boredom: öööö (4)
- this won't keep everyone on the edge of their seats (brain required)

Comedic Value: öööö (4)
- Not a comedy by any definition

Arbitrary final rating: ööööööö (7)
- Quality film, powerfully made and packed with decent acting but maybe not a classic

Liable to make you:
“vow not to sign up for the armed forces"

DM Poster Quote:
“if we create killing machines, can we expect them to stop?”

"so I heard you have a thing about Oscar nomated stars!?"

Darkmatters: H O M E

No Country for Old Men - review

No Country for Old Men (15)

Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

In the land of the free they say that ‘there are no clean getaways’, and No Country for Old Men takes that notion and splatters it large across the screen in a stunning, violent modern classic. Opening with a fantastically barren Texas vista, a captivating voice-over sucks you immediately into the world of central protagonists Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) and washed up sheriff Ed Tom Bell (a never better Tommy Lee Jones).

So one day Moss stumbles upon and takes a bag containing millions of dollars, the previous owners of which are now conspicuously dead in a rather obvious drug deal gone wrong. This is the trigger to a nail-biting odyssey that sees all manner of very nasty characters on the trail of the ill-gotten bounty. The plot is a faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's highly charged but desperately bleak novel, which the Coen brothers have taken and wreathed in classy noir western, hard-boiled road movie styling.

Thrillers just don’t come much tenser or with a more palpable air of danger – No Country for Old Men plays like a super charged western style sequel to my favourite Coen brother’s film up until now - their debut Blood Simple.

Here is a movie where everything is up for grabs; the gathering storm that whirls around the loot evokes a feeling of how one bad choice can lead to unprecedented life wrecking repercussions.
Credit must also go to Woody Harrelson who delivers over and above the call of duty as a slick hit man ‘cleaner’ sent in by a crime boss to try and sort out the escalating situation. But even he can’t hold a candle to the unstoppable killing machine psycho named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bordem), the scariest cattle abattoir gun wielding, remorseless bad guy you’ll ever wish to meet. Here’s a tip, if you meet a blank faced bowl cut styled lunatic like Chigurh, the chances are he’ll be the last thing you ever see – and if he asks you call ‘heads or tails’ on a coin toss, at least you’ll have a fifty percent chance of living…

No Country for Old Men is an awesome experience - a perfect storm of a talented cast, quality source material and stunning direction, mixed with jaw dropping cinematography and the best use of sound in a film ever? The first contender for film of the year already!!

NEW DARKMATTERS RATING SYSTEM FOR 2008 (all ratings out of maximum 10):

Endorphin Stimulation: ööööööööö (9)
- This will make you think 'dear God is there hope for any of us in the face of unfathomable evil?'

Tasty Action: öööööööö (8)
- Some wicked shoot outs, chases and stand offs

Gratuitous Babeness: öööööö (6)
- Kelly 'Diane from Trainspotting' Macdonald is still cute

Mind Blight / Boredom: ö (1)
- Long but only those with ADHD will get at all bored

Comedic Value: öööööö (6)
- Sly dark humour, but certainly not a comedy

Arbitrary final rating: öööööööööö (10)
- An awesome cinematic experience!

Liable to make you:
“Saddle up and search the prairie for $2million in drug money, or buy an abattoir cattle gun ”

DM Poster Quote:
“Somewhere in the darkness of men's souls lies redemption… just not here...”

Darkmatters: H O M E