A bunch of guys on TV recently that I have been seriously impressed with.
1 - Jon Richardson (Trevor Travel Planner)
2 - Kieth Allen (what a top arsehole cop)
3 - Miles Jupp (still seriously funny)
4 - Joe Dempsie (come along since Skins)
5 - Arthur Darvil (seriously, the best reason to have been watching Who)
So yeah, in the interests of bisexual equality, I'd shag those guys as well.
TINKER,
TAILOR,
SOLDIER,
SPY.
What can I say, really? We wanted a slow-burning, intense, beautifully presented spy thriller and we got a slow-burning, intense, beautifully presented spy thriller. This film 'apparently' doesn't match up to Alec Guiness' 'original', according to a great many old people who came to see it, but you know what? Screw them, this film wasn't for them, it was for us.
It was for people who adore films, for people who want to see a truly great story of such intricacy that you need to keep a notebook next to your seat. For people who want to see truly talented actors doing exactly what they do best. The cast list alone is mouth wateringly good, Oldman, Strong, Cumberbatch, Firth, Hurt, Jones, Hinds, Hardy, Graham... it don't get much better.
As often noted, I don't like going into too much detail about films that I really liked, so I'll keep this one short. This film is pure genius. Once again, this film is one of those that people who've had to suffer through such shit as Green Lantern and Transformers get as a reward. It's a real film made by real filmmakers who really, really knew what they were doing.
Enough said.
Next: The Deep Blue Sea
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Lists (1)
Women I've seen on TV recently that I kinda fancy and possibly shouldn't.
1 - Sarah Millican (Oh I love that accent)
2 - Katy Brand (No idea why, but I would)
3 - Clare Rushbrook (watch The Fades, guys)
4 - Lorraine Kelly (Nope, no excuses here)
5 - Wummi Mosaku (needs to do something with her hair, though)
Noticed that many of my friends have just done blog entries that are lists. Good idea, that.
JANE EYRE.
Many people that I discussed this film with were surprised that I would be interested in seeing it in the first place. Just as an aside, I'm not really sure how to take that. It's a classic piece of literature that has survived with interest intact into making many, many adaptations of it and it's a compelling story to start off with. Why would I not be interested in seeing it with Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell and Dame Judy Dench in some of the lead roles?
Basically, this is a classic tragedy with a lavish cast, location and attention to detail. It's a gorgeous representation of the story and I felt it was very well put across. Any gripes I may have had with the ending simply come from the way stories were told at the time, with a neat bow to make sure that everyone ends up mostly happy, if a bit angsty. Jamie Bell's character, although well played by one of my favourite actors, probably wasn't much use to the plot all in all.
I recommend this film quite heavily, it's intelligent enough to engage but not to offput, it's love-driven enough to make even a jaded cynic like myself appreciate it. Check it out.
Next up: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
(why hells yes, my brother-fuckers).
1 - Sarah Millican (Oh I love that accent)
2 - Katy Brand (No idea why, but I would)
3 - Clare Rushbrook (watch The Fades, guys)
4 - Lorraine Kelly (Nope, no excuses here)
5 - Wummi Mosaku (needs to do something with her hair, though)
Noticed that many of my friends have just done blog entries that are lists. Good idea, that.
JANE EYRE.
Many people that I discussed this film with were surprised that I would be interested in seeing it in the first place. Just as an aside, I'm not really sure how to take that. It's a classic piece of literature that has survived with interest intact into making many, many adaptations of it and it's a compelling story to start off with. Why would I not be interested in seeing it with Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell and Dame Judy Dench in some of the lead roles?
Basically, this is a classic tragedy with a lavish cast, location and attention to detail. It's a gorgeous representation of the story and I felt it was very well put across. Any gripes I may have had with the ending simply come from the way stories were told at the time, with a neat bow to make sure that everyone ends up mostly happy, if a bit angsty. Jamie Bell's character, although well played by one of my favourite actors, probably wasn't much use to the plot all in all.
I recommend this film quite heavily, it's intelligent enough to engage but not to offput, it's love-driven enough to make even a jaded cynic like myself appreciate it. Check it out.
Next up: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
(why hells yes, my brother-fuckers).
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
What's A Day Off?
Unless things start to look less pear-shaped, today (tuesday the 11th) will be my only day off in the entirety of October. This is good in one regard, I definately know that I've got a few pennies in my account in the future. On the other hand, it does make me a little bit more irrational and crabby with my fellow staff, who are just as hard-working as I am, if not more so. But the sheer amount of hours I put in last week was certainly wearing on me by monday and I'm happy to say that I had a decent and productive day off. Sort of.
Kerry and Tim both had days off as well, so we tried to hammer out a proto-game of Territory, something that I still need to sit down and properly work out rules for, but then that's what playtesting is for. The scenario we came up with was interesting and certainly has some potential. I seem to fill my spare time with gaming these days, what with my renewed interest in 'The Thirteen Games of Corridor Thirteen' and how to make them work. I still have my core gamers and it's a good way to focus my excess creativity and plot this epic, spanning world.
I think after November's Chalice is completed (what with November's Children finished and November's Chosen begun, Chalice would be the third in the trilogy of November games), we may well do The Isis, a game hell-bent on ripping off Pirates of the Carribean. I've put a few mentions of the Isis into some of November at the moment, almost like I'm J.J. Abrahms. Speaking of which, Kieran was saying how he was disappointed that he hadn't heard anything regarding the next Star Trek film, whether it was in development or it had begun filming or anything.
I frickin' hope not. The last one sucked.
JURASSIC PARK.
Oh yes, you read that right. A few weeks ago (in fact, on my last day off), myself, Kieran, Marsh, Alex and Carl all went to go see Jurassic Park on the big screen in Newbury Vue. Because the trilogy of Jurassic Park films are being released on Blu-Ray there was a brief cinema re-release and I felt obliged to go and see it, since it was one of the first films I avidly remember going to see at the cinema when I was a kid (that wasn't a Disney animated film, at the least). That was 18 years ago.
My only real comment is thus:
It is still as good as I remember.
There are one or two instances where maybe the special effects don't quite hold up (especially when you first see the Brachiosaur, and yes I had to look up how to mispell that), but the story is still excellently paced, still visually stunning and still very characterful. Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Laura Dren, Richard Attenbrough, they are all still brilliant, but the stars of the show really are Sam Neill and Bob Peck. I mean, hats off to the pair of them (pun intended).
I'd just like to comment on just how often I quote that Jurassic Park contains one of my favourite moments of movie history and if you don't know what it is, then I clearly haven't ranted enough about it. But you know which scene it is. So do yourself a favour, dig out your dvd or video of this movie, whack it on and remember just how freakin' good it was. And it's only a little because it got to use it's own merchandise in the film itself. If that isn't meta forethought, then nothing is, to be honest.
Clever girl.
Next up: Jane Eyre.
Kerry and Tim both had days off as well, so we tried to hammer out a proto-game of Territory, something that I still need to sit down and properly work out rules for, but then that's what playtesting is for. The scenario we came up with was interesting and certainly has some potential. I seem to fill my spare time with gaming these days, what with my renewed interest in 'The Thirteen Games of Corridor Thirteen' and how to make them work. I still have my core gamers and it's a good way to focus my excess creativity and plot this epic, spanning world.
I think after November's Chalice is completed (what with November's Children finished and November's Chosen begun, Chalice would be the third in the trilogy of November games), we may well do The Isis, a game hell-bent on ripping off Pirates of the Carribean. I've put a few mentions of the Isis into some of November at the moment, almost like I'm J.J. Abrahms. Speaking of which, Kieran was saying how he was disappointed that he hadn't heard anything regarding the next Star Trek film, whether it was in development or it had begun filming or anything.
I frickin' hope not. The last one sucked.
JURASSIC PARK.
Oh yes, you read that right. A few weeks ago (in fact, on my last day off), myself, Kieran, Marsh, Alex and Carl all went to go see Jurassic Park on the big screen in Newbury Vue. Because the trilogy of Jurassic Park films are being released on Blu-Ray there was a brief cinema re-release and I felt obliged to go and see it, since it was one of the first films I avidly remember going to see at the cinema when I was a kid (that wasn't a Disney animated film, at the least). That was 18 years ago.
My only real comment is thus:
It is still as good as I remember.
There are one or two instances where maybe the special effects don't quite hold up (especially when you first see the Brachiosaur, and yes I had to look up how to mispell that), but the story is still excellently paced, still visually stunning and still very characterful. Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Laura Dren, Richard Attenbrough, they are all still brilliant, but the stars of the show really are Sam Neill and Bob Peck. I mean, hats off to the pair of them (pun intended).
I'd just like to comment on just how often I quote that Jurassic Park contains one of my favourite moments of movie history and if you don't know what it is, then I clearly haven't ranted enough about it. But you know which scene it is. So do yourself a favour, dig out your dvd or video of this movie, whack it on and remember just how freakin' good it was. And it's only a little because it got to use it's own merchandise in the film itself. If that isn't meta forethought, then nothing is, to be honest.
Clever girl.
Next up: Jane Eyre.
Friday, 7 October 2011
For I Am The Work-Bunny
Yeah, there's been far too much of that old 'work' thing taking up my life at the moment. See, the Corn Exchange has just undergone a mild upheaval, the ladies that ran the day cafe have left us and now the Corn Exchange has extended the bar into the daytime to make a cafe-bar. Meaning that I had to learn how to use an Espresso machine on monday morning and then teach everyone else how to do it on tuesday evening.
So this week alone I'm down to do about sixty hours between my two jobs and I'm beginning to wear a bit thin, especially since I haven't had a day off since September 25th. I appreciate that there are people out there who do a hell of a lot more than me in terms of hours and difficulty of their job, but this is what I've got and it's slowly go a little stir crazy. If my hours keep up, the next time I get a day off is November 13th.
Me and Kerry of Rios were talking about it. We're both unmarried and childless men in our mid-to-late twenties, we can both work almost every hour going and will do so for just a fraction above minimum wage. This pretty much secures our livelihoods throughout this recession, but it probably won't be much fun, to be honest with you. Still, I don't have time to be thinking about such things, I've got work in an hour and a bit.
BOBBY FISCHER
AGAINST
THE WORLD.
Now this man had problems. Bobby Fischer is a name that is vaguley recalled by my parents as the Chess Champion that went nuts. And this documentary neatly sums up exactly how Bobby Fischer became a Chess Champion and then really, really did go nuts. There are barely words to describe just how frickin' nuts, really.
But yes, I shall say that this was a very well layed out and very well put together documentary concerning the rise to fame and context of Robert Fischer. As a ten-year-old with an obsessive mother in the 50's (who was obsessed with a great many things that were not her son) he began playing chess.
Quickly proving himself to be a national champion, Fischer became the hope and focus of the United States and used principally in the next stage of the Cold War, what with a Russian holding the title of World Chess Champion, Boris Spassky. Needless to say that the intellectual battle between them was intense and hard-fought, but respectful and honourable, which made Fischers deterioration into character death later in life even more remarkable. He was always a strange one, but he really did lose it later on.
I highly recommend this documentary simply because there's nothing more to highlight the incredible than itself and if there is one word to truly describe Fischer's life, it is incredible. Look it up if you so wish, it's a good use of your time.
Next up: Clever Girl...
So this week alone I'm down to do about sixty hours between my two jobs and I'm beginning to wear a bit thin, especially since I haven't had a day off since September 25th. I appreciate that there are people out there who do a hell of a lot more than me in terms of hours and difficulty of their job, but this is what I've got and it's slowly go a little stir crazy. If my hours keep up, the next time I get a day off is November 13th.
Me and Kerry of Rios were talking about it. We're both unmarried and childless men in our mid-to-late twenties, we can both work almost every hour going and will do so for just a fraction above minimum wage. This pretty much secures our livelihoods throughout this recession, but it probably won't be much fun, to be honest with you. Still, I don't have time to be thinking about such things, I've got work in an hour and a bit.
BOBBY FISCHER
AGAINST
THE WORLD.
Now this man had problems. Bobby Fischer is a name that is vaguley recalled by my parents as the Chess Champion that went nuts. And this documentary neatly sums up exactly how Bobby Fischer became a Chess Champion and then really, really did go nuts. There are barely words to describe just how frickin' nuts, really.
But yes, I shall say that this was a very well layed out and very well put together documentary concerning the rise to fame and context of Robert Fischer. As a ten-year-old with an obsessive mother in the 50's (who was obsessed with a great many things that were not her son) he began playing chess.
Quickly proving himself to be a national champion, Fischer became the hope and focus of the United States and used principally in the next stage of the Cold War, what with a Russian holding the title of World Chess Champion, Boris Spassky. Needless to say that the intellectual battle between them was intense and hard-fought, but respectful and honourable, which made Fischers deterioration into character death later in life even more remarkable. He was always a strange one, but he really did lose it later on.
I highly recommend this documentary simply because there's nothing more to highlight the incredible than itself and if there is one word to truly describe Fischer's life, it is incredible. Look it up if you so wish, it's a good use of your time.
Next up: Clever Girl...
Friday, 30 September 2011
Indian Summer
I know that one of my jobs involves working in a grill kitchen that has a pretty high average temperature, so it may just be me... or is it just really frickin' hot for the end of September? Newbury seems to be awash with people in shorts and sunglasses... and it's October tomorrow! What's with that?!
I'm not really a summer person, I'm much more of a winter person, as many peolpe may know about me. Possibly because they've met me. My friend Coates once got confused because I said I didn't like Christmas and then took a second to analyse all he actually knew about me. It made more sense after that.
I like cold weather, I'm pysically more suited to it (being a fatass actually has a use) and most of my 'wardrobe' (and I use the term in the loosest possible sense) is better fitted to colder weather. I just don't know what to do in summer, other than burn slightly and bitterly complain, which is what people do during winter, so I guess it evens out.
Still, we're stuck in this Indian Summer for at least another weekend and I'm gonna have to put up with 'my time' of the year being taken over by people saying just how wonderful it is that we can be sweating uncomfortably in our tshirts. Ech, bring on the sodding snow.
POETRY.
I watched this film the same day as Beginners and it was a pretty difficult slog, I'll tell you that. I'm not saying that this is in any way a bad film, it's very well put together, it's got some decent performances and the story is... well, I'm not quite going to say compelling, but it was least interesting. An elderly Korean woman decides to take a poetry class and is the only student in that class dedicated enough to actually write a poem.
All the while, she must deal with the early stages of Alzhiemers developing (a plot factor that was woefully under-developed considering how topical it can be) and that her grandson, who lives with he full-time is part of a gang of schoolboys that raped a girl and left her suicidal. She has problems at all angles, really and the film is about her trying to cope with them in the ways that she can, all while trying to look at the flowers.
I'm not entirely sure where I stand on this film, but I think I'll say that it had a great deal more potential that was actually realised within it. The intricacies of Korean (and to a lesser degree Oriental in general) culture continue to astound me. The family of the girl who committed suicide are willing to accept money from the families of the boys who did it... in order that they don't go to the police or press? If I were a parent of one of those boys I'd drag them there myself, but that must be the Westerner in me thniking that.
All in all, this film is trying to be a bit more beautiful than it is, but isn't a bad effort. It's a little depressing, but not as bad as first feared.
Next up: Bobby Fischer Against The World.
I'm not really a summer person, I'm much more of a winter person, as many peolpe may know about me. Possibly because they've met me. My friend Coates once got confused because I said I didn't like Christmas and then took a second to analyse all he actually knew about me. It made more sense after that.
I like cold weather, I'm pysically more suited to it (being a fatass actually has a use) and most of my 'wardrobe' (and I use the term in the loosest possible sense) is better fitted to colder weather. I just don't know what to do in summer, other than burn slightly and bitterly complain, which is what people do during winter, so I guess it evens out.
Still, we're stuck in this Indian Summer for at least another weekend and I'm gonna have to put up with 'my time' of the year being taken over by people saying just how wonderful it is that we can be sweating uncomfortably in our tshirts. Ech, bring on the sodding snow.
POETRY.
I watched this film the same day as Beginners and it was a pretty difficult slog, I'll tell you that. I'm not saying that this is in any way a bad film, it's very well put together, it's got some decent performances and the story is... well, I'm not quite going to say compelling, but it was least interesting. An elderly Korean woman decides to take a poetry class and is the only student in that class dedicated enough to actually write a poem.
All the while, she must deal with the early stages of Alzhiemers developing (a plot factor that was woefully under-developed considering how topical it can be) and that her grandson, who lives with he full-time is part of a gang of schoolboys that raped a girl and left her suicidal. She has problems at all angles, really and the film is about her trying to cope with them in the ways that she can, all while trying to look at the flowers.
I'm not entirely sure where I stand on this film, but I think I'll say that it had a great deal more potential that was actually realised within it. The intricacies of Korean (and to a lesser degree Oriental in general) culture continue to astound me. The family of the girl who committed suicide are willing to accept money from the families of the boys who did it... in order that they don't go to the police or press? If I were a parent of one of those boys I'd drag them there myself, but that must be the Westerner in me thniking that.
All in all, this film is trying to be a bit more beautiful than it is, but isn't a bad effort. It's a little depressing, but not as bad as first feared.
Next up: Bobby Fischer Against The World.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Making The Numbers, Al's Own Style
Obviously I've mention just how OCD/Anally Retentive I am about the whole posting thing and when to post and how many in a month and blaah blaah blaah.... well screw that, to be completely honest. I am who I am and apparently people like that about me, so in order to make up for what I'm calling 'The September Gulch', I'm doing one a day until we hit October and am then going to six a month until the end of the year. Next year, I'm going to do four a month and that's gonna be it.
I work out how many blog posts I do these days based on how many films I see and I do tend to see a lot of them. Back in Southampton I had a couple of friends who worked at Cineworld and they used to be kind enough to let me in with buying a coke. Now that I'm working back up at home, I get to see the films we show in Screen One of the Corn Exchange (best cinema screen in Newbury and it isn't in the Vue) as long as I steward for them, which entails checking people's tickets and selling sweets.
But I get to see the film, which is awesome. Obviously back in Cineworld the films shown were much more mainstream, so I saw a lot more of the blockbusters and stuff, while in the Corn Exchange we focus on showing a lot more arthouse stuff, which is why you may have noted the shift in my reviewing to that sort of film. It's not because I've started wearing a beret and thinking myself better than going out to the Vue every week, it's just because it's what's put in front of me.
Since I don't have all the money in the world, it's neccessary to pick and choose when I go to the big cinema and when I don't, which leads to me being very reserved about big films. Actually had to pay to see Conan and that sucked, so I'm trying to be more wary about what I want to go see.
BEGINNERS.
Now this really wasn't the film people were expecting. They saw a bright, cheerful poster that declared the film was about Love, they saw Ewan McGregor standing there with a big smile on his face and thought 'hey, a romcom that looks a bit more intelligent, let's go see that'. And that is definately not the film they got, leaving a noticable number of our audience at the Corn Exchange rather disappointed in what they saw.
It's not a bad film, but much like Hanna a few months ago, I think it takes itself far too seriously. Christopher Plummer gives an astounding performance and the movie most certainly makes you rethink all you knew about homosexual life. McGregor and Laurent both give good shows, but are overshadowed by Plummer and Goran Visnjic (thank you IMDb for correct spelling there) and their exploration of homosexuality.
The film is thoughtful and provoking in it's own, quiet way, but there's too much artistic lavish placed on Oliver's view of the world, which can be quite pretentious and alienating to the people that have to sit and watch it. His art is a central theme and how he sees the world is quite interesting, until about the third time he launches into 'this is 2003' and then you just want it to go away, because by that point the film should have ended.
In fact there were about three points roughly half an hour/twenty minutes from the end where the film could have ended and it'd probably have been better for it. But that's just me. All in all, it's worth a watch, but don't get surprised if you feel that it's talking down to you, because it is. The dog, however, is easily the best character.
Next up: Poetry.
I work out how many blog posts I do these days based on how many films I see and I do tend to see a lot of them. Back in Southampton I had a couple of friends who worked at Cineworld and they used to be kind enough to let me in with buying a coke. Now that I'm working back up at home, I get to see the films we show in Screen One of the Corn Exchange (best cinema screen in Newbury and it isn't in the Vue) as long as I steward for them, which entails checking people's tickets and selling sweets.
But I get to see the film, which is awesome. Obviously back in Cineworld the films shown were much more mainstream, so I saw a lot more of the blockbusters and stuff, while in the Corn Exchange we focus on showing a lot more arthouse stuff, which is why you may have noted the shift in my reviewing to that sort of film. It's not because I've started wearing a beret and thinking myself better than going out to the Vue every week, it's just because it's what's put in front of me.
Since I don't have all the money in the world, it's neccessary to pick and choose when I go to the big cinema and when I don't, which leads to me being very reserved about big films. Actually had to pay to see Conan and that sucked, so I'm trying to be more wary about what I want to go see.
BEGINNERS.
Now this really wasn't the film people were expecting. They saw a bright, cheerful poster that declared the film was about Love, they saw Ewan McGregor standing there with a big smile on his face and thought 'hey, a romcom that looks a bit more intelligent, let's go see that'. And that is definately not the film they got, leaving a noticable number of our audience at the Corn Exchange rather disappointed in what they saw.
It's not a bad film, but much like Hanna a few months ago, I think it takes itself far too seriously. Christopher Plummer gives an astounding performance and the movie most certainly makes you rethink all you knew about homosexual life. McGregor and Laurent both give good shows, but are overshadowed by Plummer and Goran Visnjic (thank you IMDb for correct spelling there) and their exploration of homosexuality.
The film is thoughtful and provoking in it's own, quiet way, but there's too much artistic lavish placed on Oliver's view of the world, which can be quite pretentious and alienating to the people that have to sit and watch it. His art is a central theme and how he sees the world is quite interesting, until about the third time he launches into 'this is 2003' and then you just want it to go away, because by that point the film should have ended.
In fact there were about three points roughly half an hour/twenty minutes from the end where the film could have ended and it'd probably have been better for it. But that's just me. All in all, it's worth a watch, but don't get surprised if you feel that it's talking down to you, because it is. The dog, however, is easily the best character.
Next up: Poetry.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
We Didn't Like The Wallpaper, Right?
So my new bed did arrive yesterday, shortly after I posted that last blog entry. Here I am sitting upon it and it is pretty damn comfy. They're futon mattresses, which is great. It has a top single bunk and a lower double bunk and the lower one actually folds out to become a sofa. This is also great.
Now all I need is some kind of TV to put in my room and I may never leave it again. I barely have any other furniture in here and it's quite a large room, so I do tend to notice just how empty it can be a lot of the time. Still, at least with this bed in here now I'm a bit more invested in the place.
Although the wallpaper on the stairs... yeah... my bad, I'll cover that. Moving it up wasn't quite as good a fit as me and Vicky thought it'd be...
Still, Vicky's now a member of the gaming group, which means I've got four regulars on a sunday afternoon now for November's Chosen, which is all cool.
You may have noticed that I'm filling in the gaps with the ones I left behind, by which I mean blog entries. For the new batch that I've started at the end of September, there are still unpublished ones dated the end of July and most of August to get through, and I will get through them, I promise.
Don't want to let this blog slip, I do actually like doing it and, as I was explaining to a friend last night, that's the only real reason to do something.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN
(2011)
You know what is good in life? *Arnie voice* To crush your enemies, to drive them before you and hear the lamentation of the women *end Arnie voice*. This remake does none of those things. It doesn't capture the huge, expansive world of Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age (despite trying to show you more of it than the Arnie film ever did) and it doesn't capture the sense of mystery and violence combined that the last one did either (despite having more of the violence, but that's to be expected).
Credit where credit is due, Ron Perlman and Jason Momoa both did pretty good jobs, I was rooting for Momoa to get this leading role for quite some time, he is ideally suited to it after his extensive experiance with Stargate Atlantis and Game of Thrones, although he was severely let down by the movie in general. The sequence of Conan as a boy had undoubtably the best and most brutal fight scene of the movie, but was also the least neccessary part of the story and probably should have been cut.
All it really did was serve as a reason as to why Conan was hunting down this particular badguy (who managed to spend just enough time on his massive quest to become an even bigger cliche for Conan to grow to manhood and gain the neccessary fighting skills to defeat him) and for the badguy to introduce his array of increasingly ethnic sidekicks. I don't know about anyone else, but as soon as all these colourful sub-characters that got about two lines each were introduced all I could think was that Conan will now go on to have a showdow with each of them in sequence. Oh look at that, that's what he did. And that there was the entire film. The bad guy spends the whole thing tracking down an ancient mask and the bloodline of an order of necromancers to activate it and.... it does what? Make him slightly more likely to be beaten up by Conan? Right....
All in all, pretty poor effort, nothing really in it and why was there a ship being carted around the jungle by a dozen elephants for no reason? Jog on guys, Arnie's still got this one.
Next up: Beginners.
Now all I need is some kind of TV to put in my room and I may never leave it again. I barely have any other furniture in here and it's quite a large room, so I do tend to notice just how empty it can be a lot of the time. Still, at least with this bed in here now I'm a bit more invested in the place.
Although the wallpaper on the stairs... yeah... my bad, I'll cover that. Moving it up wasn't quite as good a fit as me and Vicky thought it'd be...
Still, Vicky's now a member of the gaming group, which means I've got four regulars on a sunday afternoon now for November's Chosen, which is all cool.
You may have noticed that I'm filling in the gaps with the ones I left behind, by which I mean blog entries. For the new batch that I've started at the end of September, there are still unpublished ones dated the end of July and most of August to get through, and I will get through them, I promise.
Don't want to let this blog slip, I do actually like doing it and, as I was explaining to a friend last night, that's the only real reason to do something.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN
(2011)
You know what is good in life? *Arnie voice* To crush your enemies, to drive them before you and hear the lamentation of the women *end Arnie voice*. This remake does none of those things. It doesn't capture the huge, expansive world of Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age (despite trying to show you more of it than the Arnie film ever did) and it doesn't capture the sense of mystery and violence combined that the last one did either (despite having more of the violence, but that's to be expected).
Credit where credit is due, Ron Perlman and Jason Momoa both did pretty good jobs, I was rooting for Momoa to get this leading role for quite some time, he is ideally suited to it after his extensive experiance with Stargate Atlantis and Game of Thrones, although he was severely let down by the movie in general. The sequence of Conan as a boy had undoubtably the best and most brutal fight scene of the movie, but was also the least neccessary part of the story and probably should have been cut.
All it really did was serve as a reason as to why Conan was hunting down this particular badguy (who managed to spend just enough time on his massive quest to become an even bigger cliche for Conan to grow to manhood and gain the neccessary fighting skills to defeat him) and for the badguy to introduce his array of increasingly ethnic sidekicks. I don't know about anyone else, but as soon as all these colourful sub-characters that got about two lines each were introduced all I could think was that Conan will now go on to have a showdow with each of them in sequence. Oh look at that, that's what he did. And that there was the entire film. The bad guy spends the whole thing tracking down an ancient mask and the bloodline of an order of necromancers to activate it and.... it does what? Make him slightly more likely to be beaten up by Conan? Right....
All in all, pretty poor effort, nothing really in it and why was there a ship being carted around the jungle by a dozen elephants for no reason? Jog on guys, Arnie's still got this one.
Next up: Beginners.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
