Tuesday 31 July 2012

Aches and Strains

So I finished watching Smallville and I've been going to the gym a lot. That's pretty much all I've got going for me at the moment and I can't really think of much else to say that doesn't relate to my views on the film I'm about to talk about.

So.... yeah, just the film then.

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN

While I'm certain that the title 'The Acceptable Spiderman' or possibly 'The Average Spiderman' don't sound quite so inspiring or as likely to sell tickets, they probably would have been more apt in describing the film. I mean, this isn't a terrible film, in fact I actually quite liked it, but it's nothing groundbreaking or in any way all that 'amazing'.

I liked the majority of the cast, although I wasn't sure about Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey, there's something in her voice that indicates she's much older than the teenager she's supposed to be portraying. I mean, I know that's pretty much par for the course in teenage movies (they're all played by 30 year olds), but something made the disbelief unsuspend.

The choice of villain was interesting, but I feel that the Lizard's face looked kinda wrong, there was something unintimidating about the shape of its mouth, coulda done with more jaw, I think. His plot was reasonable, but there was very little justification for many of his actions. When you think about it, Lizards a cold blooded and therefore have no real emotions and that kind of makes it work, it's just they never said any of that in the movie. The decision to keep Norman Osborne off the screen probably wasn't a great one, but they didn't want him overshadowing the film, I suppose.

It's long, but I didn't feel like I was being forced to sit through it, I felt more like I was getting my money's worth. It's worth a watch, I think, but if you can't be bothered then I won't blame you, the Tobey McGuire ones are still just as okay. Well, not the third one, lets not talk about the third one.

Next up: The Source

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Title Sequences

You know, what with all the television shows I've been chain watching lately, I started thinking about title sequences. Why did I start thinking about title sequences? Well, the reason for this is simple. Take Smallville for example, the title sequence lasts for about a minute, showing me all the pretty faces of all the pretty people that are in it, mostly in slow motion with extracts from the show framing them. Why is this important?

It means I have just under a minute to pry myself off the sofa, dash to the kitchen, grab snack food/liquid/badger/whatever and get back in time for the rest of the episode to start. But you look at some other shows, and wonder where the noble art of the title sequence went. Lost is a prime example, there's about five seconds of the title lazily flying into focus and then it passes and that's it, the credits are in the episode itself.

Now that's all modern and stuff and more importantly, has cut down the title sequence from fifty five seconds to just five, so that's fifty seconds more episode you're getting. But is that worth the trade off from a good, strong, title sequence complete with good theme music and pretty people in slow motion? I dunno, I mean, some shows would be terrible without the title sequence, look back at Babylon 5, that updated it every season.

Personally, I was thinking about what I'd like as a title sequence for the tv shows I tap away at. I think November's Children would probably warrent only the title itself, then get on with it, while Resistance probably wants to more lavish pretty-people-slow-motion-go-to-the-kitchen kind. Of course, there's never enough time to go to the bathroom in those sequences... you have to pause the dvd for that.

STORAGE 24

I'll always feel obligated to watch Noel Clarke stuff, mainly because he's good at what he does and he's pushing the British angle into world cinema. In this he was one of the initial writers and the main character, as oppose to lead writer or director, so it's had less input from him than say Adulthood, but it certainly feels in the same vein.

Well, as much as a film about a group of people trapped in a 24-hour Storage facility and being hunted down by a recently crashed alien hostage can be in the same vein as the gritty urban realism of Adulthood and Kidulthood. And if that premise doesn't tempt you into seeing it, you're a wrong'un. This is a very well shot film, well worth seeing.


The pacing is phenomenally good, it's incredibly atmospheric, tense and dark. The acting's pretty good as well, but I wasn't sure about the ex-girlfriend character, there's something about her face I'm not a fan of. Check it out, it's a good little British sci-fi flick and we need more of those. It's kinda like Attack the Block for thirty-somethings.


Next up: The Amazing (detect sarcasm) Spiderman

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Physical Exertion

So just after I hit 'publish' on last week's blog post, I then got up, packed my backpack and joined my housemate Kerry on our new mission. We're going to the gym.

Now, for those of you who know me personally, take a moment while you pick yourself up off the floor, from where you have been doubtless rolling with laughter.

Kerry suggested this ages ago, he said he has a two week vacation coming up and he wanted to spend it in the gym. He said I should come too. I made some kind of grunt as a reply that he has since reminded me of, and now I'm paying £35 a month to Northcroft Gym. So I guess I'd better go to it then, if I'm spending my precious, precious coins upon it.

As you can gather, I'm not in very good shape, I prefer a hearty cheeseburger to a jog anyday. I hadn't actually been to a gym for about ten years, and a swimming pool for a good few years before that. Now I'm going to both about five or six days a week. Well, in this last week I've been five times, since I signed up. Does it hurt? Yeah, kinda.

To be honest, I'm probably not pushing myself hard enough when I'm there, I don't really end my hour or so in pain, but at the very least I'm getting more exercise.

We'll see how it goes.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
VAMPIRE HUNTER

Is this movie as cheesy as it sounds? Of course it is. Is it actually worth a watch anyway? You bet it is. Me and Dave went to see this on his birthday for a laugh and you know what, it was actually fun, satisfying and just serious enough to make it a pretty decent film. For something that takes an actual historical character and insists that he hunted vampires before he was elected president, it takes itself very seriously and that's probably one of the best bits of ths film.

I was a big fan of pretty much everyone who was in this as an actor, with special note going out to Rufus Sewell, who I love as is. Ben Walker gave a good showing as Honest Abe himself (who, of course, can't be all that honest) and I was even enamoured of Dominic Cooper, who I take on a case by case basis. Was the 3D worth it? Of course not, but it didn't detract as much from the film as I thought it would. Maybe I'm just getting used to having to wear glasses for no reason in a movie.

I found the laws of vampirism interesting in this one, a better and more creative use of hunters than I'd seen previously. The only thing that really qualifies as a touchy area was the whole 'demonising' of the South, showing them as being in league with the stalkers of the night. I have no personal qualms against it, but I wonder how it'll go down over in the States. Hmmmm. Oh well, check it out, it's amusing.

Next time:
STORAGE 24

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Somebody Saaaave Me...

So yeah, I've been chain-watching Smallville. I got the complete box set (all 10 seasons) a couple of weeks ago and only just got round to cracking it open last week. This is because I was chain-watching Stargate (both SG-1 and Atlantis, but not Universe, I don't own it) before that. After I'm done with Smallville I'm going back to Battlestar Galactica.

Kinda makes you wonder why I do it, I mean, every time a chain series finishes, I tend to feel all bereft of purpose. Like my life has just become a little emptier. But then I muddle through, as if life somehow goes on. Which, I'm informed, it does. So yeah, after about a week, I'm two and a half seasons in. I probably have too much time on my hands.

In other news... not sure I have any. My Sabbatical is reaching the 'I definately have too much time on my hands' phase, not quite sure what I'll do to fill it, but it's been good to have a couple of months where nobody really expects me to do anything. Actually, they probably do, but I'm not sure that I give a toss what other people expect of me.

Ah well.

THE ANGEL'S SHARE

Well, the thing with Ken Loach films is that you have to go into them expecting to be thoroughly depressed, mildly vindicated and wondering about if there's anything you can do to change the social order. He makes films about Scotland, the terrible bits of Scotland, the bits we don't want to see. This one? This one's funny.


Now that's the last thing I was expecting from a Ken Loach film, but it starts off as you'd expect, people who have crappy lives having to do community service and things just seem to get worse and worse. And then? And then they discover a love of proper whisky and embark on a cheerful heist together.


A. Cheerful. Heist.


You read that correctly. I highly recommend this film, it's funny, heartwarming and has just enough of a bitter social realism edge to remind you of the man that made the film. Also, some excellent product placement for old Irn Bru, there. Very clever, am very impressed with that.


Of course it helps that my Dad's originally from Glasgow, so I could understand most of what's being said, I gather that was a problem for the less Scot-aware.

Next up:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
VAMPIRE HUNTER



Friday 6 July 2012

Puppy Training

(Edit: due to me not figuring out how to update stuff, this post for some reason got movedfrom 9/05 to now. This annoys me. It vexes me. Ah well).

So I'm once again up in the frozen northlands known as the land of Scots. I've been sent here for an incredibly important mission, and this mission is to puppy-sit. Yes, you heard me. Puppy-sitting. It all started like this.


Back before Christmas my parents were called up by a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, who is now just a friend. This lady has a beagle lady by the name of Bailey. This lady would like her Bailey impregnated.


Enter Basil, my parent's beagle, an ever-timid hound that has a decent pedigree and the soul of a quivering leaf. Of all the dogs we've had over the years, Basil has definately been the one who stands out, not having a disobedient bone in his body. He's a lovely dog. And he was then hired to do some mounting. Now, knowing Bas as I do, it was pretty difficult to imagine him gettin' it on, as they say, but apparently he managed it (twice, so I'm told, that stud) and now twelve weeks later here we are.


Puppies.


That was the whole idea, of course. And when it comes to hiring out stud dogs, the owner has a choice of payment, which is either a sum of monies (I don't know the numbers involved, it may change on how successful the pregnancy is) or their pick of the litter. Naturally, my parents don't need the money and decided that they wished for the pitter patter of tiny beagle paws. And what did we decide to call him? Our newest? Why, Bailey, of course. 'Cause that won't get confusing at all.


So I've been up in scotland for a week and a half, the pup having arrived about 24 hours before I did, and I've been sitting with him, playing with him, making sure he doesn't wee in the house, attempting to train him and not be chewed too much.


It's been a difficult week and a half, to be honest. You know how absolutely adorable these things are? If you measure out that adorableness, it about equals their destructiveness. He is the destroyer or toys, gardens, serenity and sleep patterns.


But he's gorgeous.


I'll get some pics.


Back down south tomorrow. I'll miss the blighter, he's certainly lively, but I won't miss the constant sitting around and waiting for him to realise that outside is for bowel movements, not the living room carpet. Fun times.


WHITE HEAT
(from the BBC)


Now much like James Herriot, I wasn't sure why I wanted to talk about this series. Much like James Herriot, it had a decent historical setting, and again didn't use all of the potential that it offered. Since most people didn't know it existed, allow me to lay it out for you.


In 2012, six men and women gather to clean out the flat of their former seventh flatmate. All these people met back in the sixties, when they moved into the same flat together as students. Now, forty seven years later, the only one of them to still live there has died and the rest arrive.


It's a bittersweet series and most of the action takes place in flashback, the first episode is 1965, then the second is 1967 and it goes through to 1990 for the last one, with the changing ways of these people's lives, the choices they made and how Britain changed with them.


One of my problems with the series is also it's great strength, are we supposed to be watching the country or the characters? We can see the politics sprawling out in the background and how the characters get involved in it, but there are times when I'm not sure if we should be focussing on the characters themselves or the world behind them.


This being said, it's a kind of haunting look back at the world that we left behind just a short while ago and it makes you wonder if we should have, if things have really changed for the better. I'm no political expert, but time has yet to tell me that we're doing better now than we were under Thatcher. Nice shout out to Greenham Airbase in ep6, however.


(that's not far from my house)


The one thing I would definately say was that with the talents of the cast provided (and they were good, Clare Foy and Paul Copely being favourites of mine, as well as the under-rated Lee Ingleby), I don't think there was enough of this show. True to BBC form, 6 episodes is all you get, but the premise provided for those 6 episodes could easily have done for 6 seasons. I feel that we rushed through these many years far too quickly and there were times that it was hard to fill in the gaps in my own mind as to what had happened in between. Slowing down might have been a good idea, since the whole series was rather sedate, yet rushed at the same juxtaposed time.


Wasn't sure about Tamsin Grieg's lunatic mother character, didn't think she fitted too well.


Yeah, that about sums up my opinions on it. Good show, worth a watch when it next crops up.


Next time: Skins. All of it.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

DVD Roundup (4)

Man, I seem to get through a lot of cheap DVD's... and a few of them are now ones I've already reviewed. I mean, that's come up already, but I think it's important to give films a second viewing if you weren't sure of them. Why do I still buy DVD's? Why don't I download or use Lovefilm or something? Something about owning them, something about having a collection, it's... reassuring. So these are some of my recent acquisitions to that collection.


IRONCLAD
Yeah, still as awesome as it was when we saw it at the cinema. The shaky-cam combat effects that weakened the earlier parts of the film just aren't as bad on a smaller screen. Still overly manly a film. Overly, overly manly.


THE SORCEROR'S APPRENTICE
You know, I could write an essay on this film. I liked the ideas of how magic worked, I liked many of the set pieces, but the acting was God-awful, the script was diabolical and who thought of 'Prime Merlinian?' Seriously?!


ELIZABETH
Surprised myself that I hadn't seen this before. Found it to be an approapriately dark portrayal of Elizabeth I's early years, was a fan of Kathy Burke's performance, and Geoffry Rush simply owned in this one, as he often does.


LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN
Don't get me wrong, it's slick, smooth and very clever, but the overall experience led me to think that they could have made it just a bit better. Lucy Liu's character was kinda pointless and the double cross came out too early.


THE CONSPIRITOR
You know what, this was a great drama, I was pretty amazed that I hadn't heard of it before. The aftermath of Lincoln's assassination and the fervour of mistaking justice for vengeance. Really, really good film, look it up.


CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE
OF MEATBALLS
Frickin' love this movie. It's cute, it's moving, it's funny, it's got frickin' ratbirds. I love this movie. That's about all I can say about it.


SHERLOCK HOLMES
You know, the more times I see these movies, the less sure I am about them. They're still fun... but there's something a bit hollow about them I can't shake.


Anyway, that was some movies. I shall now mix it up by talking about another movie.


MEN IN BLACK 3


There's not much I can say about this one, I mean, two weeks after seeing it and I can barely remember the details. Will Smith was fine, Tommy Lee Jones just looks tired of it, Josh Brolin does an excellent impression of Mr. Jones, but that's not enough to save this movie from mild disappointment.


Time travel is always a bad idea (although the thought that chocolate milk helps alleviate the effects of it is mildly amusing), and it certainly didn't help this movie. Also, it's been 14 years since the first Men In Black (the good one) and I've got to wonder, who thought they should make another?


The twist was well thought out, I'll give them that, but the rest of the movie is bland and uninteresting. Oh well.


Next time: The Angel's Share