We Gotta Get Out Of This Place - UK Cinemas August 15

"Texas Danger"​
By Chris Olson

​

Noir crime drama from brothers Zeke and Simon Hawkins, in a film that shows just how hard it is to move on from your small-town origins…especially when maniacs, gangsters and an enveloping ménage-á-trois surround you…



Bobby (Jeremy Allen White) is a boy on the cusp of manhood - hoping to leave behind his stifling hometown life for the promise of college. Happy to forget his controlling mother, weird best friend, and the local loons, the only thing Bobby will miss is his friend’s GF Sue (Mackenzie Davis) - whom he longs for. This longing goes unnoticed by B.J. (Logan Huffman), Bobby’s bestie and Sue’s BF, who attempts to celebrate the upcoming rite-of-passage of both Bobby and Sue (who is also off to college), by robbing his employer and using the money to have one last wild hurrah.



The celebrations are short-lived though, once B.J.’s boss (Mark Pellegrino) starts looking for the culprit, shooting a Mexican dead simply because he was meant to watch the money. What unfurls is a dark and compelling plot of impending tragedy, as loyalties and truth threaten not just Bobby and Sue’s departure, but also their lives.



Fantastically moody and gripping, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place is the perfect combination of pulp-fiction rawness and on-screen maniacs. B.J.’s boss Giff offers a phenomenally reckless character, whose relentless animosity towards law and order is utterly thrilling.



Whilst the main plot develops, the complicated threesome of Bobby, Sue and B.J. Too is arguably just as compelling. In particular Huffman, who delivers an engrossing character arc.



Superbly plotted, delivered with style and poise, the Hawkins bros are seamless in their direction, offering a wonderful take on a coming-of-age tragedy.

Test (2013) - Director Chris Mason Johnson

“Dancing in the Dark”

1985 San Francisco is an artistic haven, where vibrant creativity roams nearly as free as the love, and it’s home to a burgeoning gay scene. Frankie (Scott Marlowe) is a modern dancer, looking for his breakthrough opportunity within a brutally demanding dance company, where he is an understudy.

Frankie’s boyish frame, pale skin, and preppie hair cut give the immediate impression that this is a coming-of-age story, which director Chris Mason Johnson reveals it to be…but not just for Frankie. For this is also the origins story for the HIV test, the first to be able to diagnose Aids, which, in the 1980s, was forcibly pushing its way through the San Francisco streets like a deadly game of Chinese Whispers.

Attempting to find career breakthrough, whilst exploring his increasingly adventurous sexual lifestyle, Frankie finds a companion to share his concerns with, in dance partner Todd (Matthew Risch). Todd’s blasé attitude towards sexual congress (having sex for money) makes him a prime candidate for the deadly virus which is circulating, whilst his nihilistic attitude towards life makes him a source of intrigue for Frankie.

With some of the most mesmerizing choreography, Test is Johnson’s salute to the world of dance, coupled with a story that is harrowing and compelling.

Marlowe delivers both on and off his quick feet, with a composed performance that is riddled with subtlety. Risch, the older man, is the perfect contract to Frankie’s naiveté, offering viewers a stoic insight into this controversial world.

Many scenes utilise the San Francisco sun which bleeds through the window blinds like a heavenly dawn, this effect superbly offsets some of the film’s darker matter, whilst installing the city as a third character to this superb drama.

Exceptionally moving and superbly executed, Test is Black Swan meets Philadelphia, with a light-footed stomp of the viewer’s heart.

Revenge for Jolly!

A dark comedy tail with extra bite, that shows the great lengths people will go to when their dogs die, especially when their dog is strung up from a lighting fixture.



Brian Petsos plays Harry, a deadbeat who is pushed over the edge when some troublemaker kills his dog Jolly, as a message that he, Harry, owes some important people money. Instead of, ahem, rolling over, Harry takes the bloodier path, unscrupulously rampaging across town in search of the dog killer. He brings his brother (Oscar Isaac) along with him, and the two use extreme force to interrogate anyone who may know who killed Jolly.



Twisted humour and outrageous violence can often be a nasty combination when it comes to Comedy films, but Revenge For Jolly deserves a treat for its efforts. There is a beautiful combination at work here, with a Pulp Fiction foundation, a Harold and Kumar brotherly love, and some of the best cameos in recent years. Including: Kristen Wiig as a trailer trash bride, and Elijah Wood as a bartender whose misplaced words put him in the, ahem, doghouse.



The cold-blooded rampage of Harry may put many squeamish viewers off, failing to understand his murderousness. And some may be violently sick when they witness Adam Brody’s long hair! It’s enough to make you play dead…for real.



Fantastic fun and quite endearing by the end, Revenge For Jolly is the murderous pet movie we have all been longing for…well since Cruella De Ville.

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Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz

"The Fright Wing"
By Chris Olson

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Two elements which make a volatile cocktail of monstrous proportions are Nazi science and the undead. The Outpost franchise just got a little bit more terrifying, as the Russians and the Germans face off in a battle to the death - and beyond.



For those unfamiliar with the Outpost films, a quick run-down. Nazi’s wanted to make zombies.



Now that you are all caught up, we can explore the gratuitous killing field that is Outpost 3: Rise of the Spetsnaz. We see the origins of the Nazi super-soldiers, who are created in a lab using a lethal serum that turns them into brutal war machines. A special group of Russian soldiers, the Spetsnaz, are captured by Germans and taken to the science facility where they are to become guinea pigs in the experiments taking place. However, Mother Russia doesn’t take kindly to oppressors, and the Spetsnaz fight back in an inglorious fight to the death against this ruthless regime.



Average to watch, and lacking in its gimmicks, Outpost 3 feels like drinking a White Russian after having a Molotov Cocktail thrown down your throat (liking the Russia references? Yeah you are!), there is just not enough bite. Somehow, even with zombies and Nazis, the film feels subdued. The gore is enough to churn a horror newbie, but veterans of the genre will roll their eyes and wait for a revelation…which will not come.



A promising plot is spoilt by developments which lead it into murky waters, and the final result feels like an unwarranted smorgasbord of merciless killing without any real point.



For fans of scary Nazi films, I suggest Schindler’s List.


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