Displaying items by tag: James Bamford

THE LAST GUNFIGHT

US, 2025, 98 minutes, Colour.

Jon Voight, Adam Woodward, Charlotte Vega, Eloise Lovell Anderson, Rade Serbedzija, Daniel Bernhardt, Andy Lister, Sam Symons.

Directed by James Bamford.

A succinct and accurate synopsis from the IMDb:

In a brutal underground tournament, the world's top assassins face off against a rogue crew with a deadly plan: infiltrate the competition, survive the bloodbath, and defeat the mastermind behind it.

While not particularly worth watching for itself, even those who say they enjoyed it do not praise it as a film for plotting, performances, dialogue…

The film is a useful test case for assessing sensibility in watching depictions of violence, in appreciating different sensitivities towards the visualising of violence. The audience watching this underground brutal assassins’ elimination competition, affluent, gambling recklessly, vicious in their response, callously happy, no value in any loss of human life.

In assessing a film like this, it can be said that the “what” of the action is 21^st century equivalent of gladiatorial combat and audience participation. The question of its value and sensitivities is in “how” it is presented. As one reviewer said simply remarked, it is killing for the sake of killing.

Some say they turn their minds off and just watch the action. But, there must be some moment when audiences should not turn their minds off. They are watching violence but they are watching, at times, mindless and merciless brutality – especially in the figure of a man in a clerical cassock, nicknamed The Reverend, giving absolution to victims, condemning those who don’t have the correct faith, praying with the sign of the cross. He symbolises the ugliness of what we are seeing despite the earnestness of the hero, the plotting behind the scenes, some of the characters with friendly and comic touches.

So, given the excess of the setup of the game, assassins killing assassins, graphically shown (although, of course, there are some films with more graphic gory detail), what is the value of watching this kind of action, its potential for coarsening sensitivities?

HIGH GROUND

US, 2025, 91 minutes, Colour.

Charlie Webber, Jon Voight, Katherine McNamara, Henry Thomas, James Oliver Wheatley, Dustin Ingram, Skyler Shaye, Charlotte Weston.

Directed by James Bamford.

High Ground is a county in Colorado. This contemporary action drama plays something like a modern Western combined with gangster action.

The film focuses on a former criminal, Nathaniel, played intensely by Henry Thomas, who has found religion in his illness and has broken from the criminals and is prepared to testify against them. The chief gangster, played by James Oliver Wheatley, intensely, sometimes hyper-intensely malevolent, gathers his thugs to kill the witness. Initially they fail, so Marcus rounds up even more thugs to track down Nathaniel.

He flees to Colorado, is involved in an encounter with the police for speeding and is taken to jail. Always reading and quoting his Bible. And, Marcus and his gang make their way to High Ground, no scruples in killing and one who gets in their way – and they do.

In the meantime, the new sheriff, Jake (Charlie Webber) son of the old sheriff for 35 years, Ezra, played by Jon Voight (who appeared in director, James Bamford’s strange time travel tale, The Man with No Past). He is letting go of the authority, has a huge ranch, comes into town to chat with Rosie at the local. And, there is the eventual romantic interest, Cassie (Katherine McNamara) who proves, early in the piece, that she is an accurate shot.

So, ugly and sinister villains, no scruple in torturing and questioning and then killing the local sheriff whose wife is expecting. No sentiment here. And, a number of people in the town are killed as well as in the local bar.

Jake takes Nathaniel to the ranch for a final siege, Jake, Ezra, Cassie and Nathaniel against a whole range of attackers, shrewdness on the part of the sheriff, and accurate shooting…

Audiences who can sit back and relax at this kind of old-time, B-budget, straight to video kind of action will enjoy it. Bloggers on the IMDb who did not like it felt no restraint in their condemnations!

1. Combination of Western-style, Colorado settings, sheriff’s, prisoners, and gangster vengeance movies?
2. The setting, Colorado, the county, the ranch, the town, the jail, police office, the bar, the surrounding countryside? The musical score?
3. Nathaniel, his character, with the criminals, repenting, the Bible, his illness, shooting his attackers, prepared to witness against the boss, driving away, the speeding, the police, in the jail, the Bible, the reaction of Jake, Sharon, Billy? Researching his identity? Information about Marcus and the criminals?
4. Jake, his character, war service, return, the effect of the war, friendship with Cassie, the shooting and accuracy sequence, his relationship with his father, Ezra and 35 years sheriff, the oldies still thinking of him as sheriff?
5. Life in the town, Rosie and Dan at the bar, the locals, meals and drinks? Cassie and her work? The attraction to Jake?
6. Marcus, his character, the range of henchmen, relentless, to kill Nathaniel, coming to the town, the encounter with Billy, questioning, torture, his saying he was about to be a father, Marcus still killing him? Coming into the town, for the meal, the interrogation, his men outside, filling up the vehicles, shooting the proprietor?
7. The reaction of those in the bar, Rosie, Dan, interrogation, going out, Marcus returning, the confrontation, the shooting? Bashing Rosie?
8. Jake, out in the countryside, finding Billy? Difficulty in communications? Sharon, her role, information? Hiding, Marcus killing her?
9. Jake and Nathaniel, suspicions, the religious dimension, Jake taking him to the ranch? Ezra, in town, the confrontation with Marcus?
10. Cassie, her determination, everybody going to the ranch?
11. The siege of the ranch, tactics, accurate shooting, Ezra wounded, Cassie saving Jake, Nathaniel and the shooting, the confrontation with Marcus, his death?
12. And the happy ending, Cassie and Jake, Rosie and Ezra…?

UTOPIA

US, 2024, 91 minutes, Colour.

Moe Dunford, Charlotte Vega, Michael D. Xavier, Alex Milleret, Wanda Banda, Lucy Ackhurst, Sean James Sutton.

Directed by James Bamford.

Utopia is an ultra-luxurious hotel resort complex built in a remote fictitious former Soviet Union country. The film opens with a sexual encounter, a leering man, a seductive woman, her getting a sword and decapitating him.

In many ways, for a popular entertainment, the film is quite a disturbing experience. Although, this is not the comment from most of the bloggers on the IMDb.

Women watching this film would generally be appalled at the intensity of the lustful male gaze, the exploitation of the women as sex slaves, the behaviour of the women and the discovery that they were being manipulated as replicants of their real selves, the replicants complicit in the dominance of the males, their whole existence to make the males happy, the presumptuousness of the male characters and the implicit misogyny of the exploitation of the women.

Men watching the film may be disgusted at the situation and the presentation of male exploitation of women – though, on the other hand, many men in the audience may well identify with the male characters and their attitudes towards women, exploitation, sex slaves…

The framework of the film, written, directed and produced by men, has a central hero played by Irish actor, Moe Dunford. He is in a relationship with Alexis, played by Charlotte Vega. They clash because of his work, his connection with MI5 investigations and his linkup with fellow officer, played by Jason Fleming. Then the audience sees that she is abducted and we see her then as one of the women in Utopia.

There is a large cast of women in the resort and Utopia contains a great deal of leering, ogling, sexual attitudes of the men and the complicity of the replicant women. The range of male characters include the entrepreneur who has created Utopia, his staff of technicians, various thugs in his employ, and a leering businessman who wants to invest in the future development and who takes a liking to Alexis. There is even a bespectacled nerd, ridiculed by others but just as leering and, eventually, wanting to invest in the future developments.

Moe Dunford infiltrates, discovers Alexis, participates in many of the fantasies, especially the recreation of Paris in 1943, the Nazi occupation, the burlesque, and he as an American in Paris.

But, he is in contact with Jason Fleming, gaining sympathy with some of the women who have lost their memories, tries to activate them, various pursuits and fights, the discovery of the actual women sedated and the creation of their replicants.

Final climaxes, fights, stances of the replicants, the revival of the women, the confrontation with the entrepreneur, some split-second timing…

Here is a futuristic film which speculates about AI, the recreation of the clones, the creation of live replicants – but it is presented in the context of male exploitation and misogyny, images of female submission. The original intention might have been expose and challenge but on the way there is a great deal of exploitative titillation.

MAN WITH NO PAST 

US, 2025, 102 minutes, Colour.

Adam Woodward, Jon Voight, Marton Csokas, Charlotte Vega, Philip Winchester, Charlotte Weston, Jeff Alexander.

Directed by James Bamford.

A thriller with a difference – but whether it will appeal to audiences is another question.

Adam Woodward plays a man was lost his memory, wakes up in a hotel, is taken in by the proprietress and becomes friends with her daughter. There are local troubles, a wealthy entrepreneur wanting to build in the district, protests against the project, and a sinister character who is an advisor to the entrepreneur but has a group of folks at his disposal. His name is Soach = chaos in reverse!

While this is something of an expected narrative for the present, the hero, Ryder, involved in the exposure of the project, there are three flashbacks in which all the characters reappear in different guises.

There is World War II, 1943, the entrepreneur now a military leader with his sinister adviser, the rounding up of patriots, their executions and Ryder confronting the authorities. There is also a return to the 16^th century, and the atmosphere of witchcraft and persecutions. And, it is back to the Roman Empire with a variation on the same scenario, dangers, the Emperor, his advisers, the women in variations on the theme and Ryder as the hero.

Of particular interest for film buffs, Jon Voight is the entrepreneur as well as the authoritarian figure in the flashbacks. And, expertly sinister, Marton Chokas is chaos personified, malevolence personified.

1. The title, the focus on Ryder? The present, the various sequences in the past?
2. Science psychological fiction, possibility, credibility?
3. The present, filmed in Bulgaria, the city views, the bar, high-rise, executive offices? Neighbourhoods and slums? The World War II setting? The Roman setting? The mediaeval English setting? The musical score?
4. Setting the tone, 1943, Nazi occupation, the commander, his adviser, his henchmen, the troops, the hostages, the plea, the executions? The two sisters? Ryder, his immersion, destruction of the Germans? The return to the sequence? The commander more sympathetic, the subordinates and their business?
5. The present, Ryder awakening, not knowing who he was, the accommodation, going to the bar, the encounter with Stella, with Morgan, at home, accommodation? The psychological experiences, going back to back into the past? The constant presence, the commander, the Iago-like adviser, the ruthless henchman?
6. The Roman setting, gladiator, combat, the Emperor returning thumbs up? The English section, the Middle Ages, the defence of the poor?
7. The issue in the present, the businessman, building the city, owning the land, his advisers? Soach, the opposite of chaos? Iago-like? His presence, sinister, appearance, in each age, having the ear of the controller, his own agenda, commanding Jack? The plans, the abduction of the businessman’s daughter? Setting it in motion, the range of foot soldiers, Ryder included? Businessman and his wife? The plans?
8. The businessman, his calling off the abduction? Ryder, his reaction, the foot soldiers and their shooting, Ryder killing them all? The wounding of the businessman? The final encounter with Jack? The buildup to the final encounter with Soach?
9. The background at the bar, Morgan, her friendship, her reappearing in the past, the young girl, the businessman’s daughter and the threats, Stella, stepping in in each past scenario, friendly, supportive of Ryder? The romance?
10. Ryder, his death, the funeral, the body in the coffin, the women and the businessman present, Morgan turning around, Ryder dead, smiling – and into his future?