186 Dollars To Freedom (2012)

Alex Meraz as vicious inmate Nicaragua, the most watchable character.
I think he's one of the Twilight wolves.

Peruvian beauty Anahi de Cardenas.

At a glance:

Camilo Vila's cool-soundin 186 Dollars To Freedom (2012), previously known as the less marketable The City Of Gardens, is a U.S.-Peru effort by Four Fish Films that superficially explores the sociopolitical horrors of Third World South America. Based on the true story of the film's writer-producer, Monty Fisher, we're clued in on a young blonde surfer livin happily with his beautiful girlfriend in 80s Lima, Peru, who naively lets his visa expire and finds himself behind bars in the notorious El Sexto prison. When ruthless Peruvian pigs discover the gringo in prison, they plant coke in his backpack to extort money from him and his Beverly Hills family. Wayne refuses to grease the wheels and quickly becomes a non-person, even to his own Embassy. The movie purports to depict the grim system of corruption, torture, prison violence and wholesale murder. Title is in reference to the precise amount he didn't wanna pay.

Bad news on the doorstep:

John Robinson is the lead while Johnny Lewis plays a Hare Krishna follower.
There always seems to be one in every prison movie, huh.

Iffy first words set us off on the wrong foot, but all the good camerawork and moody photography is undone by lead star John Robinson (Gus Van Sant's Elephant) who seems to take the dramatic weight away from the movie because it's difficult to care for his naive character or his languid performance. This unremarkable approach would've worked in a documentary but not here. Supportin characters appear very staged due to the corny narrative.

Michael DeLorenzo plays bent cop Gutierrez.

Perennial wonderment:

Village Voice writer Nick Pinkerton observes: "If one were to base one's knowledge of South America solely on the movies set there that make their way into theaters in these United States, one could be forgiven for taking away the impression that the continent's entire population is evenly divided between unwashed prisoners and aviator-shade-wearing secret police, and that its only industries are dilapidation and torture."

Reminds me of:

Mel Gibson's Get The Gringo (2012), an infinitely more enjoyable movie.

Watch out for :

Anahi de Cardenas who plays the female lead is easy on the eyes but she doesn't get too much to do. There's also a run-out here for one-time sex siren Deborah Kara Unger. Sure looks like it's been ages since the time she got fresh with Michael Douglas in The Game (1997).

"Take him, he's got a tighter arsehole!"

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We definitely feel on location but the experience is not very emotionally rewardin. Oh well, at least it's not as pretentious as Oliver Stone's Savages (2012). For more information, check out its official website or its Facebook pages new and old. Me, I'd rather rewatch somethin like Prison On Fire (1987) any day. ★★1/2
Bonus material:
Here's Monty Fisher's statement about his first-hand experience and how the movie came about.

Alex Meraz and John Robinson in a brawl.

"I was waiting for a plane flight back to the United States. I had just escaped from the El Sexto prison in Lima, Peru and had secretly journeyed by car, bus and on foot more than a thousand miles to cross the border to freedom in Ecuador. I was exhausted by my ordeal, but I had one last night to "enjoy" in Latin America. I decided to see a movie. The movie was "Midnight Express", the true story about the American who almost lost his mind and life in a Turkish prison. I left the film shaking and in a trance. I could barely speak. Somehow, some day I promised myself that night, that I also would tell my story about my time in a Peruvian jail, and I too would show it on a big screen.

Bronson (2008)

Tom Hardy goes full frontal as Charles Bronson.

At a glance:

When Tom Hardy isn't beatin Batman to a pulp in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or beatin Channing Tatum to a pulp in Warrior (2011) or beatin mythical monsters to a pulp in Minotaur (2006), he's beatin prison guards to a pulp in Bronson (2008), a stylised, comical and surreal biopic of Charles Bronson. Not the similarly bemoustached American actor in Western flicks, mind you, but the incorrigible problem prisoner that has gained international attention as Britain's most violent detainee. Born Michael Gordon Peterson, the bane (sorry, couldn't resist) of all correctional facilities across England has a well-documented life behind bars (30 years in solitary confinement!), stretchin decades and formin a catalogue of wonderful ball-breakin material to work with. He's still in jail as far as I know and has Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn to thank for fuellin his narcissism. Fans of his Drive (2011) and his powerful Pusher films will attest to the director's precision in filmmakin.

Matt King in a standout supportin performance
as a mastermind poof.

Bad news on the doorstep:

It's a first person narrative play, you know. You might not like the drollery if you thought this was Un Prophète (2009) meets Chopper (2000). Bronson is portrayed as an inarticulate, attention-seekin slab of muscle with a penchant for theatrics. His excesses are crude, futile and disaffectin to watch. However, a resplendent Tom Hardy does give a very disturbin intensity to him - an underclass anti-hero who just doesn't seem to know any better. Your views on crime and punishment will come into play when relatin to such a crass character, which in turn may determine just how much you enjoy the film.

"You shouldn't mess with boys bigger than you."

Perennial wonderment:

Can someone like this be helped? I'd buy ol' Charlie some nasi kukus ayam berempah and maybe he'd lighten up a little, after so many years under Her Majesty's Pleasure.

Reminds me of:

I don't know. How many ex-cons do I know who's also a Moslem apostate (Charles Ali Ahmed), post office robber, exercise book author, bare-knuckle boxer, Tesco worker, painter and cartoonist? Is it any surprise that he's apparently also a friend of the Kray twins?

"Fancy a cup of British char?"

I can't remember if I cried:

Go visit the official website where they tell you Charles Bronson has been in jail since 1974 for stealin £26.18. He's only still inside because he keeps fightin back and not because that's the sentence for petty theft. Still it's agonisin to read such a summary. I also felt a strange despair watchin Bronson's zoned-out girlfriend Allison (Juliet Oldfield) dump him for havin no ambition. I guess that's Tom Hardy's talent, herein proven to be a commodity that's beyond the 100 pounds of muscle he put on for the role.

Most memorable line:

Nothin he says particularly stands out but the throwback soundtrack really hits all the right notes. It includes the Walker Brothers' The Electrician and Pet Shop Boys' It's A Sin - definitely worth a download.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

★★★ 1/2 for an innovative, unexpected approach. Variety's John Anderson notes that Bronson has cult hit written all over it and that gleeful brutality and intellectual mischief have become the bloodstained callin cards of Nicolas Winding Refn while Film Four's Jonathan Crocker says he has framed this anti-biopic of Britain’s most notorious prisoner as a 21st century Clockwork Orange (1971), damned near pullin it off. Well, here's one for the Sorry True Stories tab, eh. So, when's a Mike Tyson biopic gonna be made?
Bonus material:

"Why so serious?"

If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle (2010) @ Eu Când Vreau Să Fluier, Fluier

At a glance:

Originally a theatre play, this is a Romanian drama set in a borstal, starrin mostly non-pros and rookies to achieve that documentary feel. First time actor George Piştereanu (pic) plays Silviu, an incarcerated youth with a few days left to his sentence, who discovers that his estranged whore of a mother has returned and is now tryin to take his little brother away. He tries to figure out how to stop this, while befriendin a sympathetic female social worker (Ada Condeescu).

Bad news on the doorstep:

Overrated and lethargic, over 20 stagnant shades of hand-held grey. Florin Şerban sure got a lot of backin for this, didn't he? I mean, he had access to real cons and yet managed only several scenes of prison horseplay. Nothin insightful here. Wasted opportunity. One cannot feel the desperation of its characters. Even the premises were borin.

Florin Şerban

Perennial wonderment:

Can we get more upliftin stuff out of the old Communist bloc?

Reminds me of:

The greyness of Lilja 4-Ever (2002) but that was a good film.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

I watched this on the strength of its fierce title but I can't say this was very good at all. Plenty of potential here but the intensity and climax is compromised by its decidedly experimental execution. Simply not compellin enough.

Mantra (2010)

Mantra: Looks like that scene from Joan Of Arc (1999), innit?

At a glance:

Santau (2009) gets a thematic sequel with Mantra (2010), Metrowealth’s 38th in its catalogue and one that wishes to echo the RM 4.3 million success (collections from Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei) of the first movie last year. In Mantra, Zul Suphiaan (stage name Zul Handy Black, the dodgy neighbour in Santau) plays Muzir, a man who gets involved with dark powers and inadvertently gets thrown into jail for a crime. He loses his wife (Ana Dahlia) and while to another man, his one-time friend Hasbi (Hasnul Rahmat). In Pudu Jail (yes, you get to see several scenes shot inside it before its famous demolishin) he dabbles with the occult again by learnin black magic from an old prisoner (Rozaidi Abdul Rahman). With his newfound powers, Muzir manages to poison the warden (Hamdan Haji Ramli) and frees himself to seek revenge and reclaim his family.

Bad news on the doorstep:

Zul Handy Black

The recycled horror formula is simple – take an original research about black magic and add a strong revenge theme with an all-new cast of fresh faces, lettin it all bake in some decent CGI and sound work. You can say Mantra is better than Santau in all aspects, and can even lay claim to some artistic respectability due to its difficulty in producin – save for one sore point which is minimal character development, resultin in a compromised storyline. In the earlier 2009 film, the CGI work and the performance of its lead actors may not have been better but there were clear cut protagonists and antagonists who were easy to follow. In Mantra, the focus on the titular subject may (to the point of using “real” chants and incantations) seems to have backfired considerin the approach has come off a little too successful, takin away the appreciation of the 89-minute feature film as a whole. In other words, Mantra commands respect for its faithful adherence to the demonic subject but in terms of entertainment, we may not remember it as a particularly scary or successful film.

"Did you or did you not pick up the bar of soap?"

Reminds me of: 
The movie is one of the last to be filmed in the now demolished colonial relic Pudu Jail in Kuala Lumpur. Wished I had the chance to visit it but it was too late.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

In a nutshell, Mantra was probably a hell of a script but this screenplay doesn’t give it an engagin justification. Santau had a certain Stephen King appeal to it but Mantra just comes off more like a dramaticised documentary. Let’s hope the next horror movie from Metrowealth – Ngangkung – will set it right.★★★
Bonus material:

Pudu Jail, Kuala Lumpur. Now demolished.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

At a glance:
Who hasn't seen Shawshank, so often misguidedly acclaimed by the cod philosophers as the greatest movie of all time? You can read that it does have some claim to bein the most rented movie in the world, although I'm not sure how anyone can account for that, just like, say, most downloaded pornstar on the web (whom by the way is often said to be Jenna Jameson). Well, many do rate it as their favourite movie and it's easy to see why - fluid, easy-to-understand and soaringly inspirin, Stephen King's short story gets Frank Darabont's best known direction in a nearly two-and-a-half-hour prison break drama that is simply so attractive and rewardin whatever section of the cinemagoin market you represent. It even makes bein a con look cool.
Perennial wonderment:
How three great Hollywood movies were all released in 1994 - Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump and this.
Reminds me of:
In perhaps my fifth viewin yesterday, the other Darabont projects like The Green Mile or The Mist. All so soaked in their settings.
Watch out for:
Raquel Welch's secret, of course.
Most memorable line:
"That tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass" - this was my favourite expression from the film, although "what is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey spunk" has been more useful in my line of work.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Four stars. I'd have liked more memorable music and perhaps a more elaborate escape but I guess that would've made it another movie. Still, I remember bein so awed by this when I first watched it. Taught me the term institutionalised and also what shitty pipe dreams can mean, if you pardon the pun.