Well? Have you? Because if you haven't (the four people that actually read my blog), then you probably should have. Wreckamovie is a website that tries to get movie fans and people who think that they can make movies (but don't happen to live in Hollywood or are related to anyone who does) together, so that they can make movies. Or at least try to. Or at least discuss it.
See, Wreckamovie sounds like any other random website of nerds that want to talk more ideas than they have ability to act upon. The thing that makes it different, is that it's worked recently. More than two and a half thousand people got involved in a project that's been in development for the last six years, and it's being released today. Limited release, granted, but it's done.
It's called IRON SKY, and rest assured, I'll be reviewing it pretty soon, just got a few other to get through.
Now, don't get massively excited and sign up right now (although definately check out the website, http://www.wreckamovie.com/), because it takes a lot of hard work, effort, cash and people not being selfish to get anything off the ground. Iron Sky has more than two and a half thousand people supporting it and it took six years to get the thing made.
To be honest, I'll hold more judgement back until I've seen more projects come out of this website. I mean, if you think of the potential that this site can offer, this could undermine the major movie studios and bring film into indepedant hands, the hands of a hundred million movie fans sitting at home with their laptops. Will that happen? Probably not.
But it could. And I'd be interested in seeing it. As the website says, this could be Future of Film.
In other news, my D&D game is going weird, I'm not sure I'm a fan of join DMing, perhaps I'm more of a control freak than I thought, especially when it comes to stories. My housemate wants me to commence writing a script that he's suggested and wants to contribute too... I'm willing to give it a shot, but how well do I play with others?
Anyway.
AVENGERS
ASSEMBLE
Well, what can I say? I mean, we've been waiting about five years for this, since that last scene in Iron Man 1 back in 2008. Since then, Robert Downy Jr. has had two outings as the man in the Red and Gold Metal suit, Edward Norton made a Hulk Movie that shouldn't neccessarily be counted in the cannon, a pair of overly handsome men called Chris were given a Hammer and a Shield respectively, and now they're all here together.
Is it good? Is it up to the hype? I can sum it up in one sentence.
This film is *exactly* what we were promised. No more, no less.
I don't want to rant too much about it, because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. I don't want to praise it too highly, because it's not a perfect film, there's a very basic story that's pretty much taken straight from The Ultimates and it's in 3D (and you know how I feel about 3D). But you know what I mean by that sentence back up there?
This movie is FUN.
This movie is so much fun, that I went to see it twice, and the second time I even went alone (and I hate going alone to the movies). If you've ever seen a superhero movie, especially one of the five that came before this one, then you owe it to yourself to see this film. It may not be film of the year, it may not be a work of high art, but the Avengers deliver. It simply doesn't get any more awesome than this.
Next time: Some actual culture.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Skins... All Of It
So am back in Newbury, lounging around on my sabbatical and playing far too much D&D with whichever nerd is hanging around my house at the time (and since I live with three of them, that's quite a lot of the time). I survived the rampages of puppy Bailey, he's now experienced the horrors of being shut in, but then he does have another dog to keep him company, so I'm sure he'll cope.
One of the other things I've been doing while on my Sabbatical is watching Skins. All of it. It's all up on 4OD and I read that the seventh season intends to be the last one, so I shall take a look at the six that have come before it and offer my opinions on them, because there was a time not too long ago when it was all about Skins, there was a lot of press coverage and opinions flying about. So, my two cents.
SKINS
(this could be a long one)
GENERATION ONE:
Tony & Michelle, Sid & Cassie, Jal & Chris, Maxxie & Anwar, the Elusive Effy. The first season of this show kind of caught the British public unawares with it's massive presence, frequent drug use, frequent language, frequent sex, frequent teenage angst and frequent just about everything else. With it's colourful cast of characters and cheerful but otherwise mundane setting in middle England, this series was out to make you look at the nearest teenager and think 'really, you guys do that all the time?'. I know I didn't when I was their age, but then I'm not the poster boy for normality.
There are parties, there's pills, there's hormones, there's booze and desperate attempts to have sex by the frustrated. But beneath all this shiny, glossy, vomit-smeared exterior, there's actually a much deeper story about being too young to understand love but still having it rule your life. There's some truly questioning moments about why a gay lad and a muslim lad shouldn't hang out together and exactly how far can you push a friendship based on mutual self-loathing. If you want, this series can be just about the sex, the parties, the drugs and the jokes. If you want, this series is so much more.
So, the characters. Tony's manipulative, shallow, domineering and, oddly enough, our main hero. His girlfriend Michelle adores him but is constantly frustrated by him, his best friend Sid worships the ground he walks on, the rest of the gang seem to look to him for a lead. The only person he really seems to care about is his sister Effy, who takes everything that Tony does and amplifies it by about ten degrees. Sid is more sympathetic, he's just not good at anything and all he wants is Michelle. Or is it Cassie. Or is it Michelle? No, wait, it's Cassie, if only she'd eat a hot meal or nineteen.
Chris is the party animal who seems to get dumped on by life more than anyone could have thought possible, yet still comes up with a blood-smeared grin. Anwar's our not quite strictly adhered to Muslim boy, who can't quite reconcile the partying and pills with his faith. Maxxie is an unusual character, in that he's still considered 'one of the boys' despite being gay, also a talented dancer. Jal is quite repressed and under the pressure of her succesful father whom she resents heavily. That's our cast, nine miscreants and headfucks.
So series one sees Tony working his magic through the gang, trying to get them all to dance to whatever tune he wants. It starts to come apart when other people have ideas of their own and he makes an enemy or two along the way. Just when he's trying to pull it together, he's hit by a bus. Series two sees his rehabilitation, along with everyone else trying to grow up without him pointing the way, often getting it wrong and sometimes getting it superbly right. Another character, Lucy, was introduced, but I feel that they probably shouldn't have bothered, she didn't do anything to shake the series up.
One of the reasons this was such a good show is also one of its downsides, each episode focuses heavily on a single character, often at the detriment or ignorance of the others, so often things that seem incredibly important in one episode never seem to crop up again, like Michelle's step-sister, Chris's abandoment, Jal's young musician of the year entry and so on. This being said, only Lost has had such a heavy focus on its characters and we know how that went. This, on the other hand, seems to get it spot on, with each of our young cast being able to shine under their own spotlight, then work on helping the others shine in theirs. When the second season came to an end (which was accused of being more serious than the first, what with all the death and mortality), I felt that we'd achieved a good end to a story. But oh wait, Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain weren't quite done with us yet, were they.
GENERATION TWO:
Freds, Cook and JJ. Effy and Pandora. Tomas. Naomi. Katie and Emily. Term was back in at Roundview Collage and an almost completely new cast of faces. With only Effy returning from the previous two years, would seasons three and four be able to measure up and find their own way compared to the previous cast? The answer in my opinion was, hells yes. They did it, they managed to keep the underpinning theme and feel of the show the same while reinventing the look and swish of the characters. The trio of best buddies that's torn apart by a girl, the burgeoning homosexual relationship between two girls that can't quite help drag everyone else into it, the problems of an immigrant boy who doesn't really like where he has come to live. It's the same, but it's new.
As with the previous generation, our main character goes through a massive character shift. This time it's Effy, Tony's younger sister from the first generation, and she goes from being queen of the universe to depressed, alcoholic, emotionally shut off and suicidal, all over the situation that she's landed herself in over these three boys. Freds begins to hate his former best friend Cook, who gets to sleep with Effy whenever he wants, while JJ feels torn apart because those two used to be the centre of his world. All the while, there's the usual partying, drugs, sex, alcohol and occasional violence that lands people in all the trouble they seem to deserve, especially Cook.
Cook's probably the most interesting character in this generation, to be honest. JJ is far more loveable, Emily and Katie have their very twincestuous issues, Effy's fucked in the head, Pandora's naive and innocent, Tomas is decent and reliable, Cook is violent, dominant and abusive. He believes fiercly in loyalty and he's always, always getting into trouble. He's kind of like an attention magnet, really. For all the hating that you feel towards him, since he's a screw-up that doesn't apologise for anything, shags everything that's even remotely female nearby and is just generally detestable, you can't help but watch him and wonder why the hell he's like that. I thoroughly dislike the kid, but he's certainly got the presence.
Much like the previous generation, the second season (so fourth overall) of this generation got more serious than the first, what with Effy turning suicidal, Katie and Emily feuding and the death of the girl in the club in the very opening moments of the series, leading to a police investigation that runs through the course of the season. While for the first generation this change of tone was unexpected, for the second generation it brings into focus just how different the characters were from their predecessors and how they want to measure up to their parents. A note on parents, for all the kids in all the generations, their parents are played by a variety of well-known and talented actors, who all seem to have about ten minutes of screen time put together, which was an interesting choice in casting, but probably a good one.
I think I actually prefer this generation to the first, I found the character dynamics and the almost hard-to-watch storytelling to be much more engaging. And it helps that Cook has the end scene of the fourth series, a scene that turns all of your dislike for him on its head. Oh hells yes, that was a good end.
GENERATION THREE:
Franky. Rich & Alo. Mini and her minions, Liv & Grace. Nick & Matty. While the second generation had Effy to tie it to the first generation, this generation didn't have any links to the previous two, which alienates it from the start. I didn't feel that the writing was as strong on this one. The characters, most of them, are still pretty good and they're easily watchable. Franky goes from being isolated and shy to being an outspoken self-destructive rebel, Rich goes from being defensively aggressive to being loving and accepting, Alo goes from being childish and irresponsible to realising that he has to grow up, Mini goes from being icy popular girl into scared mother-to-be. But while the last generation felt fresh and yet similiar, this generation felt like it was clutching at the gaps left behind by the past four years.
It's not that I disliked these two seasons, it's just that I felt they weren't as strong competitors compared to what they've just followed. Matty was a character that I just didn't understand, he was flitty and I didn't understand how anyone found him attractive. His brother Nick seemed like a straight and boring mirror to him, but actually turned into the more interesting character, what with discovering what family's all about. If this generation sounds like I'm not giving it as much attention as the previous two... well, that's about right, to be honest. It was a fainter shadow of stronger personalities. The partying, drugs and sex were all upped for this generation and by the end of it, it felt kind of sickly and bitter, seeing just that much debauchery and finding that I don't really find it alluring. And Grace got creepy.
So yeah, that's Skins. It was controversial, it was decried, it was beloved and it's almost over. There's another series next year, but that'll be the last swansong for all three generations, rather than introducing a fourth. I can't help but wonder if the series would have been better simply sticking with the first generation over these seven years. What with the two year-thing being based on A-Levels that they're all supposedly taking in the background, I wonder if maybe it would have been best to see Tony and Michelle at their seperate universitys over three years, or see how Sid got on in the States, or if Maxxie and Anwar could ever afford food. Maybe, but they went a direction that hadn't been tried in TV before and I applaud them for it. The only thing I dislike was that they had to remix the opening credits tune every year. I liked how it was to start, that was good, why couldn't they have kept that? Oh well, not the end of the world.
It's all on 4OD. Go watch if you want.
Next review: AVENGERS.... ASSEMBLE!!
One of the other things I've been doing while on my Sabbatical is watching Skins. All of it. It's all up on 4OD and I read that the seventh season intends to be the last one, so I shall take a look at the six that have come before it and offer my opinions on them, because there was a time not too long ago when it was all about Skins, there was a lot of press coverage and opinions flying about. So, my two cents.
SKINS
(this could be a long one)
GENERATION ONE:
Tony & Michelle, Sid & Cassie, Jal & Chris, Maxxie & Anwar, the Elusive Effy. The first season of this show kind of caught the British public unawares with it's massive presence, frequent drug use, frequent language, frequent sex, frequent teenage angst and frequent just about everything else. With it's colourful cast of characters and cheerful but otherwise mundane setting in middle England, this series was out to make you look at the nearest teenager and think 'really, you guys do that all the time?'. I know I didn't when I was their age, but then I'm not the poster boy for normality.
There are parties, there's pills, there's hormones, there's booze and desperate attempts to have sex by the frustrated. But beneath all this shiny, glossy, vomit-smeared exterior, there's actually a much deeper story about being too young to understand love but still having it rule your life. There's some truly questioning moments about why a gay lad and a muslim lad shouldn't hang out together and exactly how far can you push a friendship based on mutual self-loathing. If you want, this series can be just about the sex, the parties, the drugs and the jokes. If you want, this series is so much more.
So, the characters. Tony's manipulative, shallow, domineering and, oddly enough, our main hero. His girlfriend Michelle adores him but is constantly frustrated by him, his best friend Sid worships the ground he walks on, the rest of the gang seem to look to him for a lead. The only person he really seems to care about is his sister Effy, who takes everything that Tony does and amplifies it by about ten degrees. Sid is more sympathetic, he's just not good at anything and all he wants is Michelle. Or is it Cassie. Or is it Michelle? No, wait, it's Cassie, if only she'd eat a hot meal or nineteen.
Chris is the party animal who seems to get dumped on by life more than anyone could have thought possible, yet still comes up with a blood-smeared grin. Anwar's our not quite strictly adhered to Muslim boy, who can't quite reconcile the partying and pills with his faith. Maxxie is an unusual character, in that he's still considered 'one of the boys' despite being gay, also a talented dancer. Jal is quite repressed and under the pressure of her succesful father whom she resents heavily. That's our cast, nine miscreants and headfucks.
So series one sees Tony working his magic through the gang, trying to get them all to dance to whatever tune he wants. It starts to come apart when other people have ideas of their own and he makes an enemy or two along the way. Just when he's trying to pull it together, he's hit by a bus. Series two sees his rehabilitation, along with everyone else trying to grow up without him pointing the way, often getting it wrong and sometimes getting it superbly right. Another character, Lucy, was introduced, but I feel that they probably shouldn't have bothered, she didn't do anything to shake the series up.
One of the reasons this was such a good show is also one of its downsides, each episode focuses heavily on a single character, often at the detriment or ignorance of the others, so often things that seem incredibly important in one episode never seem to crop up again, like Michelle's step-sister, Chris's abandoment, Jal's young musician of the year entry and so on. This being said, only Lost has had such a heavy focus on its characters and we know how that went. This, on the other hand, seems to get it spot on, with each of our young cast being able to shine under their own spotlight, then work on helping the others shine in theirs. When the second season came to an end (which was accused of being more serious than the first, what with all the death and mortality), I felt that we'd achieved a good end to a story. But oh wait, Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain weren't quite done with us yet, were they.
GENERATION TWO:
Freds, Cook and JJ. Effy and Pandora. Tomas. Naomi. Katie and Emily. Term was back in at Roundview Collage and an almost completely new cast of faces. With only Effy returning from the previous two years, would seasons three and four be able to measure up and find their own way compared to the previous cast? The answer in my opinion was, hells yes. They did it, they managed to keep the underpinning theme and feel of the show the same while reinventing the look and swish of the characters. The trio of best buddies that's torn apart by a girl, the burgeoning homosexual relationship between two girls that can't quite help drag everyone else into it, the problems of an immigrant boy who doesn't really like where he has come to live. It's the same, but it's new.
As with the previous generation, our main character goes through a massive character shift. This time it's Effy, Tony's younger sister from the first generation, and she goes from being queen of the universe to depressed, alcoholic, emotionally shut off and suicidal, all over the situation that she's landed herself in over these three boys. Freds begins to hate his former best friend Cook, who gets to sleep with Effy whenever he wants, while JJ feels torn apart because those two used to be the centre of his world. All the while, there's the usual partying, drugs, sex, alcohol and occasional violence that lands people in all the trouble they seem to deserve, especially Cook.
Cook's probably the most interesting character in this generation, to be honest. JJ is far more loveable, Emily and Katie have their very twincestuous issues, Effy's fucked in the head, Pandora's naive and innocent, Tomas is decent and reliable, Cook is violent, dominant and abusive. He believes fiercly in loyalty and he's always, always getting into trouble. He's kind of like an attention magnet, really. For all the hating that you feel towards him, since he's a screw-up that doesn't apologise for anything, shags everything that's even remotely female nearby and is just generally detestable, you can't help but watch him and wonder why the hell he's like that. I thoroughly dislike the kid, but he's certainly got the presence.
Much like the previous generation, the second season (so fourth overall) of this generation got more serious than the first, what with Effy turning suicidal, Katie and Emily feuding and the death of the girl in the club in the very opening moments of the series, leading to a police investigation that runs through the course of the season. While for the first generation this change of tone was unexpected, for the second generation it brings into focus just how different the characters were from their predecessors and how they want to measure up to their parents. A note on parents, for all the kids in all the generations, their parents are played by a variety of well-known and talented actors, who all seem to have about ten minutes of screen time put together, which was an interesting choice in casting, but probably a good one.
I think I actually prefer this generation to the first, I found the character dynamics and the almost hard-to-watch storytelling to be much more engaging. And it helps that Cook has the end scene of the fourth series, a scene that turns all of your dislike for him on its head. Oh hells yes, that was a good end.
GENERATION THREE:
Franky. Rich & Alo. Mini and her minions, Liv & Grace. Nick & Matty. While the second generation had Effy to tie it to the first generation, this generation didn't have any links to the previous two, which alienates it from the start. I didn't feel that the writing was as strong on this one. The characters, most of them, are still pretty good and they're easily watchable. Franky goes from being isolated and shy to being an outspoken self-destructive rebel, Rich goes from being defensively aggressive to being loving and accepting, Alo goes from being childish and irresponsible to realising that he has to grow up, Mini goes from being icy popular girl into scared mother-to-be. But while the last generation felt fresh and yet similiar, this generation felt like it was clutching at the gaps left behind by the past four years.
It's not that I disliked these two seasons, it's just that I felt they weren't as strong competitors compared to what they've just followed. Matty was a character that I just didn't understand, he was flitty and I didn't understand how anyone found him attractive. His brother Nick seemed like a straight and boring mirror to him, but actually turned into the more interesting character, what with discovering what family's all about. If this generation sounds like I'm not giving it as much attention as the previous two... well, that's about right, to be honest. It was a fainter shadow of stronger personalities. The partying, drugs and sex were all upped for this generation and by the end of it, it felt kind of sickly and bitter, seeing just that much debauchery and finding that I don't really find it alluring. And Grace got creepy.
So yeah, that's Skins. It was controversial, it was decried, it was beloved and it's almost over. There's another series next year, but that'll be the last swansong for all three generations, rather than introducing a fourth. I can't help but wonder if the series would have been better simply sticking with the first generation over these seven years. What with the two year-thing being based on A-Levels that they're all supposedly taking in the background, I wonder if maybe it would have been best to see Tony and Michelle at their seperate universitys over three years, or see how Sid got on in the States, or if Maxxie and Anwar could ever afford food. Maybe, but they went a direction that hadn't been tried in TV before and I applaud them for it. The only thing I dislike was that they had to remix the opening credits tune every year. I liked how it was to start, that was good, why couldn't they have kept that? Oh well, not the end of the world.
It's all on 4OD. Go watch if you want.
Next review: AVENGERS.... ASSEMBLE!!
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
End Of An Era?
(Edit: most of this post written about a month ago)
Seems like this site has had a makeover from the Dashboard side, which means that you on the reading side won't actually realise, but everything is in a slightly different place to how it was a few weeks ago. Weird, but ultimately pointless except to tie ever so loosely into what I was ambling at talking about. And judging by that last sentence, ambling was the word.
Basically, I'm going to be experiencing some new beginnings around here, I only have four shifts left to go at work. That's three days. At 11:00ish on Thursday night, my Sabbatical officially begins and I won't be employed at the Corn Exchange Newbury for six months. Is this a big deal? I think so, I mean, I've been there for six years, including my time in Southampton.
I've worked with a lot of the staff there for almost that entire time, so I figure that I'd say something about the ones I like and get on with. So...
KREN
If you look at Kren, you'd think she was late thirties. She's actually fifty, just kept youthful by the constant stream of stress and nervous energy that's a result of her working far too hard. She's genuinely the hardest working girl in showbusiness and she's the best boss I've ever had. I'll miss her.
DEBBIE
Debbie's on the Box Office as Assistant Manager and she's lovely. She can be a bit rough around the edges, but she's got a heart of gold and always has time to talk to you and help her customers. Give her a coffee with some chocolate sprinkles on top and she's a happy bunny, as well.
HANNAH
Talented artist, happy-go-lucky barmaid and all round attractive lady, Hannah got married last year, to the collective depressed sighs of about half the guys I know. She can talk the back legs off a donkey, but she's good fun to work with 'cause she gives as good as she gets.
SHIRLY
The bar used to be called Bar 1861 and we joke that it was named such because that was when Shirly started working there. She's been with the Corn Exchange since it opened as a theatre and that was about seventeen years ago. She's a grumpy old pro who believes that men should do all the heavy lifting.
ROY
Roy is the happiest man you'll ever meet. Whenever he does the announcement for people to take their seats you can almost hear 'scream if you wanna go faster!' in the subtext. He's also something of a movie nerd (not quite a gaming nerd, but he does like his sci-fi) and thus we have a good chat.
There's others, I enjoy working with Rhia and Kev, Vicky was there for pretty much every day of the cafe and she's a gamer, Julie Ann (although a traitor and going to Greenham) was one of the best duty managers, Clara on the box office has a smile that could light up the heat death of the universe and Mummy Jo is always a laugh. There's a lot of staff there, and they're good people. I'll see them again in six months. I hope.
YOUNG FRANKENSTIEN
So I'd completely forgotten I'd put myself down to steward this, because it was an special booking for a birthday party. I mean, I normally end up reviewing one golden oldie film a year, it just seems to crop up around autumn time. So, Young Frankenstien, eh? Koo, Tim's fiancee, swears by it's comedic gold and after a few stilting openings I was swayed as well.
It's an odd one, don't get me wrong. The story of Frankenstien must be one of the most often twisted and turned and reimagined and recreated for whatever ends. There's a dvd of Frankenhooker not ten feet from where I'm sitting. But this one? I think this one stands above the rest, I mean, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder certainly knew a thing or two about comedy back then, eh?
I think the show is stolen by Marty Feldman, who plays up to the audiance the most, and is clearly the most absurd role in the movie. Having just read his bio on imdb, he seemed like a guy I probably would have liked to know.
So, what with the overpronounciations and corny ba-dum-tsss jokes that fill the script, what with the overarching shieking and feverish trembling that characterised Wilder's performance, what with the brutish meowing Peter Boyle, this film retains its classic charm. It hasn't aged well in some places, but in most, it's still just as funny as it was in 1974.
Next up: WHITE HEAT
(A BBC TV series)
Seems like this site has had a makeover from the Dashboard side, which means that you on the reading side won't actually realise, but everything is in a slightly different place to how it was a few weeks ago. Weird, but ultimately pointless except to tie ever so loosely into what I was ambling at talking about. And judging by that last sentence, ambling was the word.
Basically, I'm going to be experiencing some new beginnings around here, I only have four shifts left to go at work. That's three days. At 11:00ish on Thursday night, my Sabbatical officially begins and I won't be employed at the Corn Exchange Newbury for six months. Is this a big deal? I think so, I mean, I've been there for six years, including my time in Southampton.
I've worked with a lot of the staff there for almost that entire time, so I figure that I'd say something about the ones I like and get on with. So...
KREN
If you look at Kren, you'd think she was late thirties. She's actually fifty, just kept youthful by the constant stream of stress and nervous energy that's a result of her working far too hard. She's genuinely the hardest working girl in showbusiness and she's the best boss I've ever had. I'll miss her.
DEBBIE
Debbie's on the Box Office as Assistant Manager and she's lovely. She can be a bit rough around the edges, but she's got a heart of gold and always has time to talk to you and help her customers. Give her a coffee with some chocolate sprinkles on top and she's a happy bunny, as well.
HANNAH
Talented artist, happy-go-lucky barmaid and all round attractive lady, Hannah got married last year, to the collective depressed sighs of about half the guys I know. She can talk the back legs off a donkey, but she's good fun to work with 'cause she gives as good as she gets.
SHIRLY
The bar used to be called Bar 1861 and we joke that it was named such because that was when Shirly started working there. She's been with the Corn Exchange since it opened as a theatre and that was about seventeen years ago. She's a grumpy old pro who believes that men should do all the heavy lifting.
ROY
Roy is the happiest man you'll ever meet. Whenever he does the announcement for people to take their seats you can almost hear 'scream if you wanna go faster!' in the subtext. He's also something of a movie nerd (not quite a gaming nerd, but he does like his sci-fi) and thus we have a good chat.
There's others, I enjoy working with Rhia and Kev, Vicky was there for pretty much every day of the cafe and she's a gamer, Julie Ann (although a traitor and going to Greenham) was one of the best duty managers, Clara on the box office has a smile that could light up the heat death of the universe and Mummy Jo is always a laugh. There's a lot of staff there, and they're good people. I'll see them again in six months. I hope.
YOUNG FRANKENSTIEN
So I'd completely forgotten I'd put myself down to steward this, because it was an special booking for a birthday party. I mean, I normally end up reviewing one golden oldie film a year, it just seems to crop up around autumn time. So, Young Frankenstien, eh? Koo, Tim's fiancee, swears by it's comedic gold and after a few stilting openings I was swayed as well.
It's an odd one, don't get me wrong. The story of Frankenstien must be one of the most often twisted and turned and reimagined and recreated for whatever ends. There's a dvd of Frankenhooker not ten feet from where I'm sitting. But this one? I think this one stands above the rest, I mean, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder certainly knew a thing or two about comedy back then, eh?
I think the show is stolen by Marty Feldman, who plays up to the audiance the most, and is clearly the most absurd role in the movie. Having just read his bio on imdb, he seemed like a guy I probably would have liked to know.
So, what with the overpronounciations and corny ba-dum-tsss jokes that fill the script, what with the overarching shieking and feverish trembling that characterised Wilder's performance, what with the brutish meowing Peter Boyle, this film retains its classic charm. It hasn't aged well in some places, but in most, it's still just as funny as it was in 1974.
Next up: WHITE HEAT
(A BBC TV series)
Monday, 26 March 2012
Perception
So in my latest dive bomb failiure attempt at having a love life, I managed to get dumped and called an insensitive prick before I even met the girl in person, oh the joys of internet dating. But it actually came about because of a discussion about, of all things, X-Men. Now, I'm not a massive X-Men fan and that's what kind of started it. It got long and convoluted and I figured that I should probably talk about it here because it was something that I feel strongly about, no matter if I'm right or wrong.
Perception.
Basically, after this got started, she stated that X-Men is a great representative story for minorities and being recognised and not ashamed of being who you are and that there's someone in there for everyone. I wanted to say that I never got on with the series because I found there to be far too many characters with less developed super powers than some of the more stand along heroes (Iron Man, Captain America and Doctor Strange being some of my favourites, along of course with Green Lantern over on DC). But I didn't say that, instead I said that any hope provided by the story is a kind of false hope, since any actual minority can't protect itself in the same way that Mutants can in X-Men.
Basically, this devolved into a philosophical difference of opinion, in which I stated that stories are for entertainment first and everything else second. When you strip away every factor from a story, all that's left at the core to justify its existence is an attempt to entertain.
Now this didn't go down well with her, who stated that she knows for a fact that she wrote stories to help herself heal from the various bad things that had happened in her life. I get that, that's fair enough, but I still stand by my statement and I feel that I didn't get to explain why.
Basically, to entertain means to lift your spirits. It doesn't matter what form that takes, whether it is to make you less depressed, if it is to make you laugh, if it is to help work through your issues, it all comes under the term of entertainment. When I explained it to Marsh he said that I had a purer view of the word than most people take it to mean and I can see why there was a great deal of confusion, although I'm not sure about the offence. My second offending statement was that, in reference to X-Men representing minorities, is that depth is in the eye of the beholder, like beauty. Now, this is as true a statement as any in this field, because stories are Art, not Science, and Art is about opinions, Science is about facts.
Basically, how we percieve stories is all that matters about them. It doesn't matter what the author intended, because he's not here right now explaining his thoughts. It doesn't matter what some crusty old critics say it means, because all their learning can't relate to everyone who might read that story.
So the only understanding of a story that you can ever rely upon is your own, unless you feel that you are virtually empathic with someone on a very deep level, in which case you'll probably get how they get it. That's all I was trying to say, that any depth you see is there because you want it to be there. Hell, I can sit and listen to a Kelly Clarkson song right now (and trust me, I've done enough of that lately) and empathise with the lyrics because of all the woman drama that's been happening to me. Someone who hasn't had my rubbish love life will listen to it and think 'that chick has issues' or someone else can think 'catchy tune' or 'this is whiny crap'. They all percieve it differently.
Perception.
Now, when it comes down to it, I've already said that Art is all about opinion, not fact. There are no facts when it comes to stories, there is only one way to see it or any one of a hundred thousand others. The truly good stories give everyone a slightly different memory of them. Imagine that three people are reading a book and all of them are picturing it in their head, because that's what people tend to do. One of them pictures Brad Pitt in the lead role, the next one pictures Colin Farrell and the third thinks it'd be better if they went with Will Smith instead, to flip it about a bit. They're all reading the same story, they're all being entertained by it, but their perception of it is different.
So somehow this got to me being accused of not caring about anyone else's opinion and how I don't let anyone else speak, since I choose to speak for them... and I don't really know how that happened. It got petty and spiteful after that and I'm just not sure how this keeps happening to me. And there was me trying not to talk about all the crap in my life anymore. But I felt that was worth saying, no matter what I just wanted to get it off my chest, and what else is a blog for, eh?
Women: 3
Al: 0
And now in change to your scheduled programming:
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Yeah, didn't get a chance to see either of the two films I had wanted to or hoped to, but I had initially thought I wasn't going to get to see this film and then it turned out at the last moment I could. So yeah, the Woman in Black. When I looked it up before I went to see it I was surprised to see that the book had only been written in 1985, I had thought that the stage play was older than that but I was clearly wrong.
It's considered an utter classic of a ghost story, where Arthur Kipps, a struggling junior soliciter, is sent to the back o' beyond to an abandoned house that everyone in the nearby villige regards with suspicion and children seem to keep dying in mysterious and tragic circumstances. In this incarnation (since it's been adapted before), Kipps is played by Harry Potter. I mean Daniel Radcliffe. No, I mean Harry Potter.
Radcliffe gives a pretty good account for his non-wizarding performance and Cirian Hands is an excellent supporting character in Daily. Liz White is chilling as Jennet, the titular character and I think the casting agent just went through all the local schools looking for the creepiest looking children they could find. Several of them have iMDb pages as well, which was just a bit weird. Anyway, what did I think?
Bloody spooky.
I mean, this is how to do a proper horror film, or ghost story at least. There's absolutely no gore, no violence, no real horrifying images. This is just pure, pure atmosphere. There's long and protracted sequences in that eerie house where it's all just chasing shadows and the mirrors and... man, it's chilling. I mean, you should see it. Really, just see it, it's got my vote. This is a very effective movie. Very effective.
Next time: I really don't know, still hoping for John Carter.
Perception.
Basically, after this got started, she stated that X-Men is a great representative story for minorities and being recognised and not ashamed of being who you are and that there's someone in there for everyone. I wanted to say that I never got on with the series because I found there to be far too many characters with less developed super powers than some of the more stand along heroes (Iron Man, Captain America and Doctor Strange being some of my favourites, along of course with Green Lantern over on DC). But I didn't say that, instead I said that any hope provided by the story is a kind of false hope, since any actual minority can't protect itself in the same way that Mutants can in X-Men.
Basically, this devolved into a philosophical difference of opinion, in which I stated that stories are for entertainment first and everything else second. When you strip away every factor from a story, all that's left at the core to justify its existence is an attempt to entertain.
Now this didn't go down well with her, who stated that she knows for a fact that she wrote stories to help herself heal from the various bad things that had happened in her life. I get that, that's fair enough, but I still stand by my statement and I feel that I didn't get to explain why.
Basically, to entertain means to lift your spirits. It doesn't matter what form that takes, whether it is to make you less depressed, if it is to make you laugh, if it is to help work through your issues, it all comes under the term of entertainment. When I explained it to Marsh he said that I had a purer view of the word than most people take it to mean and I can see why there was a great deal of confusion, although I'm not sure about the offence. My second offending statement was that, in reference to X-Men representing minorities, is that depth is in the eye of the beholder, like beauty. Now, this is as true a statement as any in this field, because stories are Art, not Science, and Art is about opinions, Science is about facts.
Basically, how we percieve stories is all that matters about them. It doesn't matter what the author intended, because he's not here right now explaining his thoughts. It doesn't matter what some crusty old critics say it means, because all their learning can't relate to everyone who might read that story.
So the only understanding of a story that you can ever rely upon is your own, unless you feel that you are virtually empathic with someone on a very deep level, in which case you'll probably get how they get it. That's all I was trying to say, that any depth you see is there because you want it to be there. Hell, I can sit and listen to a Kelly Clarkson song right now (and trust me, I've done enough of that lately) and empathise with the lyrics because of all the woman drama that's been happening to me. Someone who hasn't had my rubbish love life will listen to it and think 'that chick has issues' or someone else can think 'catchy tune' or 'this is whiny crap'. They all percieve it differently.
Perception.
Now, when it comes down to it, I've already said that Art is all about opinion, not fact. There are no facts when it comes to stories, there is only one way to see it or any one of a hundred thousand others. The truly good stories give everyone a slightly different memory of them. Imagine that three people are reading a book and all of them are picturing it in their head, because that's what people tend to do. One of them pictures Brad Pitt in the lead role, the next one pictures Colin Farrell and the third thinks it'd be better if they went with Will Smith instead, to flip it about a bit. They're all reading the same story, they're all being entertained by it, but their perception of it is different.
So somehow this got to me being accused of not caring about anyone else's opinion and how I don't let anyone else speak, since I choose to speak for them... and I don't really know how that happened. It got petty and spiteful after that and I'm just not sure how this keeps happening to me. And there was me trying not to talk about all the crap in my life anymore. But I felt that was worth saying, no matter what I just wanted to get it off my chest, and what else is a blog for, eh?
Women: 3
Al: 0
And now in change to your scheduled programming:
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Yeah, didn't get a chance to see either of the two films I had wanted to or hoped to, but I had initially thought I wasn't going to get to see this film and then it turned out at the last moment I could. So yeah, the Woman in Black. When I looked it up before I went to see it I was surprised to see that the book had only been written in 1985, I had thought that the stage play was older than that but I was clearly wrong.
It's considered an utter classic of a ghost story, where Arthur Kipps, a struggling junior soliciter, is sent to the back o' beyond to an abandoned house that everyone in the nearby villige regards with suspicion and children seem to keep dying in mysterious and tragic circumstances. In this incarnation (since it's been adapted before), Kipps is played by Harry Potter. I mean Daniel Radcliffe. No, I mean Harry Potter.
Radcliffe gives a pretty good account for his non-wizarding performance and Cirian Hands is an excellent supporting character in Daily. Liz White is chilling as Jennet, the titular character and I think the casting agent just went through all the local schools looking for the creepiest looking children they could find. Several of them have iMDb pages as well, which was just a bit weird. Anyway, what did I think?
Bloody spooky.
I mean, this is how to do a proper horror film, or ghost story at least. There's absolutely no gore, no violence, no real horrifying images. This is just pure, pure atmosphere. There's long and protracted sequences in that eerie house where it's all just chasing shadows and the mirrors and... man, it's chilling. I mean, you should see it. Really, just see it, it's got my vote. This is a very effective movie. Very effective.
Next time: I really don't know, still hoping for John Carter.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
DVD Roundup (1)
So yeah, in order to be positive and cheerful, I've decided to talk about the one thing I know I'm always good for: films. Now, see, I don't really buy many DVD's, but when I figured out how to get the best out of my weekly shopping budget, I now pick up a DVD or two every three weeks or so, just as long as I don't spend more than £3 on it. So here are the ones I've been buying...
NINJA ASSASSIN
J. Michael Straczynski rewrote the script for this random action film in 57 hours. It shows. Good fun, though, not to be taken seriously in any regard.
BLACK DEATH
You know those films that are just action and could almost have had a decent story if they'd cut down on some of the fight scenes? This movie is the exact opposite.
THE BUCKET LIST
Four of us watched this while we were having dinner and it was a truly excellent way to spend an evening. I'd forgotten how heartwarming a film about cancer could be.
THE INVASION
Yea-No. Nice try. Actually not even that.
STARDUST
If the final sequence in the witches lair hadn't taken 40 odd minutes then this would have actually been stupendously good, as it is, it'll have to settle for pretty good.
TAKEN
I love a movie where the bad guys are characterised only to the point where you want Liam Neeson to brutally murder them in inventive ways. Over and over and over again.
RUN, FAT BOY, RUN
A lot of people dismissed it as second rate and pointless and... well, I still find it amusing. It's not brilliant, but it's relatively harmless on a sunday morning.
So that's some of my recent film acquisitions, I was tempted to put down who I watched each one with, but I'll refrain from being that anal retentive. And now... talking about another film. Big surprise there, then.
THE BEST EXOTIC
MARIGOLD HOTEL
FOR THE ELDERLY
AND BEAUTIFUL
The only problem I've found with multi-protagonist narratives is that you're often following just one too many people, or perhaps two. With seven lead characters in this film, as well as Dev Patel's manager character, this film felt just a little too thinly stretched over all that it tried to achieve.
That being said, this is a wonderfully funny and warm, sunny film that I think just about anyone would like. The script is sharp and fresh, the characters are genuinely loveable and whole thing shows a side to India that most people probably hadn't considered unless they'd actually bee there.
I'm sure at least one lecturer of mine will point out how it affects Post-Colonialism as a statement, what with this former 'owned' country now welcoming people who are of a generation who can remember a time when it was beneath our boot... but I think the film was trying to talk about now, a time past that.
Either way, very funny, very enjoyable.
Next up: I'm actually not sure
Either JOHN CARTER or EXTREMELY
CLOSE AND INCREDIBLY LOUD
NINJA ASSASSIN
J. Michael Straczynski rewrote the script for this random action film in 57 hours. It shows. Good fun, though, not to be taken seriously in any regard.
BLACK DEATH
You know those films that are just action and could almost have had a decent story if they'd cut down on some of the fight scenes? This movie is the exact opposite.
THE BUCKET LIST
Four of us watched this while we were having dinner and it was a truly excellent way to spend an evening. I'd forgotten how heartwarming a film about cancer could be.
THE INVASION
Yea-No. Nice try. Actually not even that.
STARDUST
If the final sequence in the witches lair hadn't taken 40 odd minutes then this would have actually been stupendously good, as it is, it'll have to settle for pretty good.
TAKEN
I love a movie where the bad guys are characterised only to the point where you want Liam Neeson to brutally murder them in inventive ways. Over and over and over again.
RUN, FAT BOY, RUN
A lot of people dismissed it as second rate and pointless and... well, I still find it amusing. It's not brilliant, but it's relatively harmless on a sunday morning.
So that's some of my recent film acquisitions, I was tempted to put down who I watched each one with, but I'll refrain from being that anal retentive. And now... talking about another film. Big surprise there, then.
THE BEST EXOTIC
MARIGOLD HOTEL
FOR THE ELDERLY
AND BEAUTIFUL
The only problem I've found with multi-protagonist narratives is that you're often following just one too many people, or perhaps two. With seven lead characters in this film, as well as Dev Patel's manager character, this film felt just a little too thinly stretched over all that it tried to achieve.
That being said, this is a wonderfully funny and warm, sunny film that I think just about anyone would like. The script is sharp and fresh, the characters are genuinely loveable and whole thing shows a side to India that most people probably hadn't considered unless they'd actually bee there.
I'm sure at least one lecturer of mine will point out how it affects Post-Colonialism as a statement, what with this former 'owned' country now welcoming people who are of a generation who can remember a time when it was beneath our boot... but I think the film was trying to talk about now, a time past that.
Either way, very funny, very enjoyable.
Next up: I'm actually not sure
Either JOHN CARTER or EXTREMELY
CLOSE AND INCREDIBLY LOUD
Friday, 9 March 2012
Worthless
I'll admit, I've been feeling pretty worthless lately. What with everything that's been going on (and it's pretty much all in these blog posts), I haven't been having a good year so far. I look back to even a few weeks ago and it all seemed to be looking up. And I have to wonder why everything went wrong?
I can't really come to much more of a conclusion than 'Fate hates me this year', which I'm inclined to believe. (I should point out that, despite my overly rational and logical viewpoint, I am a believer in Fate) But I can't let that get me down, so I will have to try something different, something I'm not so good at.
I'm gonna try and be more positive.
And it's gonna start right in here.
I'm not gonna whine or bitch anymore in my blog, because quite frankly I've done enough of that in the last few months to last a lifetime and I'm not that badly off. I may be miserable and worthless in my own mind, but not everyone agrees with that and I should work on it. So I shall try to find some positive things to talk about from now on. So if I'm quiet for a while, you know why.
TYRANNOSAUR.
Jesus, I mean... Jesus. Any film that has brutal dog murder within the first minute, and then makes you sympathise with the guy that did it, that film is immense. And this was an immense film. Not in scope, I think, since it was about a bitter, grumpy, jobless widower who kills dogs and has nothing to live for. But it was immense in just how powerful it was.
As I said, the first minute of the movie is very difficult to take and if you don't want to sit through that, I wouldn't blame you, this film really does come with a warning, but if you can stomach that, then it's well worth sitting through. It's gritty, powerful stuff, the kind of thing that we haven't seen since Made In Britain and Poor Cow. God Bless Paddy Considine.
The performances by Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman (who has been waiting a long time for the recognition she got for this film) are unbelievable in their depth, as well as Eddie Marsan grimacing those rat-like teeth to full effect. The name of the film can be slightly misleading, since he explains part way through about his wife and how that name came about. But it's not about her.
It's about him. He's the Tyrannosaur.
Next up: THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.
I can't really come to much more of a conclusion than 'Fate hates me this year', which I'm inclined to believe. (I should point out that, despite my overly rational and logical viewpoint, I am a believer in Fate) But I can't let that get me down, so I will have to try something different, something I'm not so good at.
I'm gonna try and be more positive.
And it's gonna start right in here.
I'm not gonna whine or bitch anymore in my blog, because quite frankly I've done enough of that in the last few months to last a lifetime and I'm not that badly off. I may be miserable and worthless in my own mind, but not everyone agrees with that and I should work on it. So I shall try to find some positive things to talk about from now on. So if I'm quiet for a while, you know why.
TYRANNOSAUR.
Jesus, I mean... Jesus. Any film that has brutal dog murder within the first minute, and then makes you sympathise with the guy that did it, that film is immense. And this was an immense film. Not in scope, I think, since it was about a bitter, grumpy, jobless widower who kills dogs and has nothing to live for. But it was immense in just how powerful it was.
As I said, the first minute of the movie is very difficult to take and if you don't want to sit through that, I wouldn't blame you, this film really does come with a warning, but if you can stomach that, then it's well worth sitting through. It's gritty, powerful stuff, the kind of thing that we haven't seen since Made In Britain and Poor Cow. God Bless Paddy Considine.
The performances by Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman (who has been waiting a long time for the recognition she got for this film) are unbelievable in their depth, as well as Eddie Marsan grimacing those rat-like teeth to full effect. The name of the film can be slightly misleading, since he explains part way through about his wife and how that name came about. But it's not about her.
It's about him. He's the Tyrannosaur.
Next up: THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.
Monday, 5 March 2012
One Month To Go
I made a choice. What with everything that's going on, having lost the cafe franchise to the other group, having Moina break up with me and then be somewhat inconsiderate with my feelings, and then some pretty bad interaction with a co-worker... I'm going to leave the Corn Exchange. I'm done for now.
I've put six years into the place and I don't really think that I've been treated the way I deserve, especially after the last six months of cafe supervision that I tried to perform, no matter how much my arms were tied behind my back and I didn't have any real power to do anything apart from serve drinks.
Over panto I spent about twelve hours a day in that place, when the cafe opened I did much the same for the first two weeks, as well as having to learn all the skills to run the espresso machine and then teach everyone else the very next day. I've done a lot for this place recently and my reward is to lose my promotion.
So yeah... I'm leaving. For now.
I'm sure I'll be back, there are two kinds of people that work in that place. Shifters and Stayers. I'm a Stayer, even if I want to take some time away. Shifters don't stay for very long. Stayers put in fifteen years minimum, it would seem. However, since there's no real chance for promotion within the Corn Exchange at the moment... I'll be moving on for a while. Not sure I know how to feel about it all, but that's what I'm going to do. So yeah, I've got one month left to go, as I leave on April 5th.
So, time to look for a new job.
J. EDGAR
The main problem with this film was there was too much film in it. They desperately tried to pack in too much story and it left the bulk of the movie a little jumbled and difficult to follow. Which is a real shame, because this was actually a pretty good film when you got down to it. There was an absolutely storming performance from DiCaprio (and to think, 15 years ago I'd have cut out my own tongue for uttering those words), as well as an authentic sense of historical accuracy that I've come to expect from Clint Eastwood's direction. Armie Hammer is also worthy of note as being overly handsome and talented.
I was truly impressed with how bold the film went when talking about his closeted (and rumoured, nothing is confirmed) homosexuality, especially since it was written by a Gay Activist and could well have gone too far in either direction, outing him or denying it. The film picked a very difficult line to follow for it and managed to stick to it brilliantly. Which is again a sad point in concern of just how jam-packed this film was to its detriment. If perhaps they'd just focussed on the Lindbergh case, or the creation of the FBI itself (since that didn't recieve as much augustation as it should have).
Is it good? Yes. Is it too long? Certainly. Could it have been better served by not having the narration and possibly being a two-part biopic instead? Definately. Still worth a watch, though.
Next time: TYRANNOSAUR
I've put six years into the place and I don't really think that I've been treated the way I deserve, especially after the last six months of cafe supervision that I tried to perform, no matter how much my arms were tied behind my back and I didn't have any real power to do anything apart from serve drinks.
Over panto I spent about twelve hours a day in that place, when the cafe opened I did much the same for the first two weeks, as well as having to learn all the skills to run the espresso machine and then teach everyone else the very next day. I've done a lot for this place recently and my reward is to lose my promotion.
So yeah... I'm leaving. For now.
I'm sure I'll be back, there are two kinds of people that work in that place. Shifters and Stayers. I'm a Stayer, even if I want to take some time away. Shifters don't stay for very long. Stayers put in fifteen years minimum, it would seem. However, since there's no real chance for promotion within the Corn Exchange at the moment... I'll be moving on for a while. Not sure I know how to feel about it all, but that's what I'm going to do. So yeah, I've got one month left to go, as I leave on April 5th.
So, time to look for a new job.
J. EDGAR
The main problem with this film was there was too much film in it. They desperately tried to pack in too much story and it left the bulk of the movie a little jumbled and difficult to follow. Which is a real shame, because this was actually a pretty good film when you got down to it. There was an absolutely storming performance from DiCaprio (and to think, 15 years ago I'd have cut out my own tongue for uttering those words), as well as an authentic sense of historical accuracy that I've come to expect from Clint Eastwood's direction. Armie Hammer is also worthy of note as being overly handsome and talented.
I was truly impressed with how bold the film went when talking about his closeted (and rumoured, nothing is confirmed) homosexuality, especially since it was written by a Gay Activist and could well have gone too far in either direction, outing him or denying it. The film picked a very difficult line to follow for it and managed to stick to it brilliantly. Which is again a sad point in concern of just how jam-packed this film was to its detriment. If perhaps they'd just focussed on the Lindbergh case, or the creation of the FBI itself (since that didn't recieve as much augustation as it should have).
Is it good? Yes. Is it too long? Certainly. Could it have been better served by not having the narration and possibly being a two-part biopic instead? Definately. Still worth a watch, though.
Next time: TYRANNOSAUR
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