Well, since December 5th, this is my second day off. My first was Christmas Day.
Happy New Year guys. I like New Years. I get a day off. Why the hell am I still typing?
THE THING
I did enjoy this film, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel that it just didn't quite live up to the work of John Carpenter. That's an iconic film and I don't think that anyone should have tried remaking it without some seriously new ideas about what to do for it. This film did not have some seriously new ideas, it just had some new CGI.
The main problem was that the aforementioned CGI was so shiny that the producers clearly wanted it cranked out as quickly as possible, thus making the film just a bit too suspense-less, since we saw the monster within the first twenty or so minutes. Don't get me wrong, it was cool looking, though, they ceratinly got what the whole body horror thing was about.
I'd give this film about a 5.5 out of 10 if I were going by a number system, there was some decent action and a few bits of nice imagery, one very neat ending sequence that neatly ties it into the John Carpenter film (of which this is supposed to be both a remake and a prequel) and smoe bearable acting. On the whole though, too much noise, too many non-characters.
But Mary Elizabeth Winstead is still hot.
First of Next Year: HUGO
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Friday, 30 December 2011
So Very Tired
So what with all the work I'm doing at the moment, and the dental surgery, and the helping my brother where I can, I was also attempting to move house. It turns out that I'm probably not going to get the flat that myself and Kerry were after, since both of our employers let us down on the credit rating checks. To be honest, we probably shouldn't have tried to move at Christmas time.
But that doesn't make it any less annoying to us. I mean, both our bosses are busy people, we know this, they work as hard as we do (he says, not quite believing it), but they could have done a better job of this for us. It's our future they're screwing over by not being on the ball. I know for a fact that I'm more prompt and more reliable at my job than my boss... but I don't want to sound like I'm bitching, so I won't talk about it anymore.
Gah, I'm not going to think about it anymore. I mean, trying to move house straight after all this panto work would probably have finished me off. I woke up this morning with sexy blues singer voice, or hacky death voice as Moina would put it. I started coughing a lot, the dressing on one of my teeth came off completely today, so it's fully exposed now and... I...
I'm so tired I could cry.
YOUNG JAMES HERRIOT.
Don't know why I wanted to talk about this show, but when I was looking around for one last thing to review for the year, I could only think of this, so this I shall talk about. I don't mean to be stalking the burgeoning career of Iain de Caestecker, but will be the second show in which he took a leading part that I'll be talking about in the last few days.
The series follows the beginning of university for young man by the name of James Herriot, who would go on in reality to become an exceptional vet and renowed author. Of course, in reality James Herriot was a page name for James Alfred Wight, while the series simply calls him Herriot, thus pushing it even further into the 'fictionalised' zone.
The main thing that struck me about this series was the underused potential. Like all BBC produced period pieces, it's gorgeous and has all the right Scottish accents. But like all BBC produced series that feature Amy Manson (a survivor of Being Human and Outcasts), something went wrong. Not that Amy was the cause, but she just seems to be around when it happens.
Basically, with all the build up to the Mid-War Politics (including some fiesty racism) and all the gender issues that were being thrown about, as well as the general meat and potatoes that goes with a character like Herriot learning his new trade and making all the mistakes and engaging in learning and all that... I was kind of expecting something a bit heftier.
Part of the problem was that there were only three episodes, making it quite difficult to get to grips with itself, it didn't quite find its own groove, despite having all the right pieces in the right places, none of it actually came together. It's like having all the right ingredients for a good cake and then accidently buying a prepacked one that looked better than it tasted.
Mind you, it got good performances out of Curran, de Caestecker and Mason, so it could have been worse. What does confuse me about the whole thing in the first place was why did anyone at the BBC think, James Herriot, everyone knows who he is, right? Everyone will want to see that. I'll watch almost anything, but even I was hesitant about this. Still, at least Ab Fab was indeed Fab.
Last for the year: THE THING
But that doesn't make it any less annoying to us. I mean, both our bosses are busy people, we know this, they work as hard as we do (he says, not quite believing it), but they could have done a better job of this for us. It's our future they're screwing over by not being on the ball. I know for a fact that I'm more prompt and more reliable at my job than my boss... but I don't want to sound like I'm bitching, so I won't talk about it anymore.
Gah, I'm not going to think about it anymore. I mean, trying to move house straight after all this panto work would probably have finished me off. I woke up this morning with sexy blues singer voice, or hacky death voice as Moina would put it. I started coughing a lot, the dressing on one of my teeth came off completely today, so it's fully exposed now and... I...
I'm so tired I could cry.
YOUNG JAMES HERRIOT.
Don't know why I wanted to talk about this show, but when I was looking around for one last thing to review for the year, I could only think of this, so this I shall talk about. I don't mean to be stalking the burgeoning career of Iain de Caestecker, but will be the second show in which he took a leading part that I'll be talking about in the last few days.
The series follows the beginning of university for young man by the name of James Herriot, who would go on in reality to become an exceptional vet and renowed author. Of course, in reality James Herriot was a page name for James Alfred Wight, while the series simply calls him Herriot, thus pushing it even further into the 'fictionalised' zone.
The main thing that struck me about this series was the underused potential. Like all BBC produced period pieces, it's gorgeous and has all the right Scottish accents. But like all BBC produced series that feature Amy Manson (a survivor of Being Human and Outcasts), something went wrong. Not that Amy was the cause, but she just seems to be around when it happens.
Basically, with all the build up to the Mid-War Politics (including some fiesty racism) and all the gender issues that were being thrown about, as well as the general meat and potatoes that goes with a character like Herriot learning his new trade and making all the mistakes and engaging in learning and all that... I was kind of expecting something a bit heftier.
Part of the problem was that there were only three episodes, making it quite difficult to get to grips with itself, it didn't quite find its own groove, despite having all the right pieces in the right places, none of it actually came together. It's like having all the right ingredients for a good cake and then accidently buying a prepacked one that looked better than it tasted.
Mind you, it got good performances out of Curran, de Caestecker and Mason, so it could have been worse. What does confuse me about the whole thing in the first place was why did anyone at the BBC think, James Herriot, everyone knows who he is, right? Everyone will want to see that. I'll watch almost anything, but even I was hesitant about this. Still, at least Ab Fab was indeed Fab.
Last for the year: THE THING
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Just Painful
I was gonna talk about another writing project but quite frankly, I've been having an absolute dog of a month and I thought I'd just whine about that instead. That's kinda what a blog's all about, isn't it? An excuse to vent? Or at least a venue to do so. So yeah... my ridiculous month so far.
I was in Brighton to visit my Moina and came back on the 5th. I then immeadiately had my first dental appointment, to have three fillings and then a rather tough extraction. I then had work at Rios, pretty much straight away. After that, I worked nineteen more days. The majority of those were more than twelve hours.
In this time, I had nine more fillings and another extraction, as well as trying to arrange the new flat that Kerry and I are looking to move into. On top of this, my brother is having a bleak period and I had to bend over backwards to try and arrange a Christmas for him despite not being in the same town as him.
So yeah.
I had Christmas Day off and had to make a snappish return to work on the morning of Boxing Day and I've been doing twelve hour days apart from today itself. Today I had my fourth dental appointment in this series of operations. The fillings went just fine (three more), but then my dentist said that the last one should probably just be extracted, since it was pretty badly rotted. I said fine, and he then attempted to get it out.
No such luck.
After being late for work due to this appointment, I then found that the dressing put on this now-mauled tooth started to crumble almost immeadiately and my tooth started to ache if I put it in certain positions. Added to this, Mark of Rios may have screwed over our chance at getting the new flat by telling the Credit Check agency that Kerry has already left Rios and so therefore will go registered to them as unemployed.
Not a good day. Still, it's only four more days until the end of panto and things go back to normal.
WE HAVE A POPE.
This film was a surprise to me, I didn't see it coming at all. A comedy about the selection of the successor to the Pope? Brilliant! The choice gets cold feet at the last moment and the Vatican has to cover up that he's gone into hiding? Fantastic idea! This was a film with so much potential.
The sad part of this film was not that it didn't reach that potential, beacuse it did about 95% of the time. It was an incredibly warm, thought provoking film about the pressures that we can put on a single man's shoulders. The cardinals playing volleyball was an inspired sequence, that's for true.
Things that didn't work, the first psychoanalist character, what purpose did he serve? I genuinely thought that they were going to get him to track down the runaway Pope, that's what it seemed like he was heading for plot-wise. No, instead he stayed indoors and organised the volleyball for the first (and only) heat.
No, the true 5% downer was the end of the end of the movie. Why, movie? Why did you hurt me? Why was that last line neccessary? Couldn't we have had the happy ending that the film was actually building towards? Should I bring out the Donkey Punch reference again? For old times' sake?
Tomorrow: Young James Herriot.
As a side note... this appears to have been my 100th post in this blog. Hmm. Cool.
I was in Brighton to visit my Moina and came back on the 5th. I then immeadiately had my first dental appointment, to have three fillings and then a rather tough extraction. I then had work at Rios, pretty much straight away. After that, I worked nineteen more days. The majority of those were more than twelve hours.
In this time, I had nine more fillings and another extraction, as well as trying to arrange the new flat that Kerry and I are looking to move into. On top of this, my brother is having a bleak period and I had to bend over backwards to try and arrange a Christmas for him despite not being in the same town as him.
So yeah.
I had Christmas Day off and had to make a snappish return to work on the morning of Boxing Day and I've been doing twelve hour days apart from today itself. Today I had my fourth dental appointment in this series of operations. The fillings went just fine (three more), but then my dentist said that the last one should probably just be extracted, since it was pretty badly rotted. I said fine, and he then attempted to get it out.
No such luck.
After being late for work due to this appointment, I then found that the dressing put on this now-mauled tooth started to crumble almost immeadiately and my tooth started to ache if I put it in certain positions. Added to this, Mark of Rios may have screwed over our chance at getting the new flat by telling the Credit Check agency that Kerry has already left Rios and so therefore will go registered to them as unemployed.
Not a good day. Still, it's only four more days until the end of panto and things go back to normal.
WE HAVE A POPE.
This film was a surprise to me, I didn't see it coming at all. A comedy about the selection of the successor to the Pope? Brilliant! The choice gets cold feet at the last moment and the Vatican has to cover up that he's gone into hiding? Fantastic idea! This was a film with so much potential.
The sad part of this film was not that it didn't reach that potential, beacuse it did about 95% of the time. It was an incredibly warm, thought provoking film about the pressures that we can put on a single man's shoulders. The cardinals playing volleyball was an inspired sequence, that's for true.
Things that didn't work, the first psychoanalist character, what purpose did he serve? I genuinely thought that they were going to get him to track down the runaway Pope, that's what it seemed like he was heading for plot-wise. No, instead he stayed indoors and organised the volleyball for the first (and only) heat.
No, the true 5% downer was the end of the end of the movie. Why, movie? Why did you hurt me? Why was that last line neccessary? Couldn't we have had the happy ending that the film was actually building towards? Should I bring out the Donkey Punch reference again? For old times' sake?
Tomorrow: Young James Herriot.
As a side note... this appears to have been my 100th post in this blog. Hmm. Cool.
Lockdown
Well, Lockdown. I started work on Lockdown back in 2007, before I even went to university. It turned quickly into a sprawling epic of space, crime, magic and murder. Frequent, frequent murder. You see, Lockdown was the first time that I'd tried to actually write down one of my role-play games into story form. My group for this game were Andy, Marsh, Ade, Dave and Jon.
I figured, why not? My part in this game was that of ST, which means Storyteller, so surely it'd fit into a novel, right? Kinda. I mean, there was a lot from the game that simply didn't make it into the novel, there was a lot of trimming and subtle character alterations, mainly because I had no idea what my players were doing half the time. Not sure they did either.
What I recall most fondly about the game of Lockdown was that I had a nice, neat plot laid out, I had options for them and where I wanted them to go and what I wanted them to do... then they shot it all in the first session and all I could think to do afterwards was let them do what they want and I'd try to kill them every week. That's how the game worked, really.
So yeah, Davan, T, Grissom, Torn, Shore Bound and Twitchy. They were a motely crew of murderous scum whose morals were so ambiguous that half the time they were as likely to attack their allies as they were their enemies, but always come up with a reasonable justification for it during or slightly afterwards. These were my heroes, and I had to define my story around them.
To be honest, I'm still proud of what I managed to pull out of that game and try and forge into a coherent story. On the isolated space station of Neutral 3, a Lockdown means being trapped on the station while a war rages in the cold void of space around them. It can last for days or it can last for years. For our protagonists, it lasted around six months and Lockdown is the story of just what they had to do to survive within those sealed walls. With crime lords, gangers, witches and freaks, it's no surprise that these guys left a bloody swathe behind them. And it was fun.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
This was not fun. I've never read the book, but I'm told by everyone who has that it's a painful, dark, dreary, bitter story about horrible people who eventually all get what they deserve. Or so I'm informed. I think my brother described it as a book that hates people. If so, then they've completely captured it for this adaptation.
This was a dark, dreary, dragging, demorilising film (I couldn't think of any more D-words, but imagine a few more downheartening ones on top) that simply made me want to get up and walk out of the cinema. There was nothing worth watching in this film apart from maybe the girl that played the younger Cathie, she was good.
Oh, and all the dog murder. Not cool.
Overall, I'd recommend to completely avoid this film. It's a dreadful, depressing film that will only serve to make you loathe humans more than you thought possible. The directional style was jarring and uncomfortable to watch, the performances seemed half-arsed most of the time and I just can't talk about it anymore.
Avoid. Avoid at all costs, my friends.
When I get back from work: We Have A Pope.
I figured, why not? My part in this game was that of ST, which means Storyteller, so surely it'd fit into a novel, right? Kinda. I mean, there was a lot from the game that simply didn't make it into the novel, there was a lot of trimming and subtle character alterations, mainly because I had no idea what my players were doing half the time. Not sure they did either.
What I recall most fondly about the game of Lockdown was that I had a nice, neat plot laid out, I had options for them and where I wanted them to go and what I wanted them to do... then they shot it all in the first session and all I could think to do afterwards was let them do what they want and I'd try to kill them every week. That's how the game worked, really.
So yeah, Davan, T, Grissom, Torn, Shore Bound and Twitchy. They were a motely crew of murderous scum whose morals were so ambiguous that half the time they were as likely to attack their allies as they were their enemies, but always come up with a reasonable justification for it during or slightly afterwards. These were my heroes, and I had to define my story around them.
To be honest, I'm still proud of what I managed to pull out of that game and try and forge into a coherent story. On the isolated space station of Neutral 3, a Lockdown means being trapped on the station while a war rages in the cold void of space around them. It can last for days or it can last for years. For our protagonists, it lasted around six months and Lockdown is the story of just what they had to do to survive within those sealed walls. With crime lords, gangers, witches and freaks, it's no surprise that these guys left a bloody swathe behind them. And it was fun.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
This was not fun. I've never read the book, but I'm told by everyone who has that it's a painful, dark, dreary, bitter story about horrible people who eventually all get what they deserve. Or so I'm informed. I think my brother described it as a book that hates people. If so, then they've completely captured it for this adaptation.
This was a dark, dreary, dragging, demorilising film (I couldn't think of any more D-words, but imagine a few more downheartening ones on top) that simply made me want to get up and walk out of the cinema. There was nothing worth watching in this film apart from maybe the girl that played the younger Cathie, she was good.
Oh, and all the dog murder. Not cool.
Overall, I'd recommend to completely avoid this film. It's a dreadful, depressing film that will only serve to make you loathe humans more than you thought possible. The directional style was jarring and uncomfortable to watch, the performances seemed half-arsed most of the time and I just can't talk about it anymore.
Avoid. Avoid at all costs, my friends.
When I get back from work: We Have A Pope.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Council Of Unity
You thought you knew the true depths of Al's Nerdhood? You thought that you understood just how far from sanity and coolness he had strayed? You knew nothing, my friends, you do not understand until you know about The Council of Unity. You do not understand until you realise that Al has committed the gravest of sins...
Fan Fiction.
Alright, enough of that. Yes, I've done fan fiction and specifically that of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In all fairness, what with video games such as Dawn of War and Space Marine, ol' 40K is picking up momentum in the public eye, but that doesn't mean that it isn't based off a model and dice wargame.
And yes, I've been a gamer for most of my life and will probably continue to be for a very long time. The most immersive part about it, to me, is that of the background and history of this universe and the best part about that again is that it's just so open. There's very little set down, and yet so much.
Hence...
The Council of Unity is about Space Marines. Space Marines are elite super-soldier-monk-knight-killing machines type guys that exist purely for war. There is no peace time for them, they simply go from one warzone to the next, always fighting the enemies of mankind, despite not really belonging to mankind anymore.
They are formed into thousand-strong armies called 'Chapters', each of which have thousands of years of history, tactical individuality and hidden secrets. Space Marines tend not to work together so much, since they are a bunch of proud, introverted bastards. But I thought... what if some of them did start working together?
Hence...
So Five Chapters of Space Marines all appear to be working together for some reason which hasn't been fully explained, and these stories are the various threats they face within the Valice Sector, the area of space they are responsible for. I only really did these stories as something to type up, that was about it.
Thing is, is that I started on my very first day of uni and this was the first project that kicked me off on writing something every single day. So it holds a special place in my heart, since every day at uni I would add another page to this chronicle. And just to annoy Nathan, each story is thirteen pages long and I did sixty.
In a year and a half.
POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS:
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER
SOLD!
Now this, this is worth watching. As Documentaries go, this is hardly the most educational or moving, it's hardly Senna or even Bobby Fischer, but it's fun. It's out there to tell you about how much advertising goes into your movies without you even realising it and how much it affects your decisions.
I can't really say much about this movie, other than to say that it's Morgan Spurlock at his best, I would happily rate this film above Super Size Me, even though the element of personal risk in this one was put in, depsite it not being present at all, for him in this particular endevour.
Definately look this one up, it's amusing.
Tomorrow: Wuthering Heights.
Fan Fiction.
Alright, enough of that. Yes, I've done fan fiction and specifically that of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In all fairness, what with video games such as Dawn of War and Space Marine, ol' 40K is picking up momentum in the public eye, but that doesn't mean that it isn't based off a model and dice wargame.
And yes, I've been a gamer for most of my life and will probably continue to be for a very long time. The most immersive part about it, to me, is that of the background and history of this universe and the best part about that again is that it's just so open. There's very little set down, and yet so much.
Hence...
The Council of Unity is about Space Marines. Space Marines are elite super-soldier-monk-knight-killing machines type guys that exist purely for war. There is no peace time for them, they simply go from one warzone to the next, always fighting the enemies of mankind, despite not really belonging to mankind anymore.
They are formed into thousand-strong armies called 'Chapters', each of which have thousands of years of history, tactical individuality and hidden secrets. Space Marines tend not to work together so much, since they are a bunch of proud, introverted bastards. But I thought... what if some of them did start working together?
Hence...
So Five Chapters of Space Marines all appear to be working together for some reason which hasn't been fully explained, and these stories are the various threats they face within the Valice Sector, the area of space they are responsible for. I only really did these stories as something to type up, that was about it.
Thing is, is that I started on my very first day of uni and this was the first project that kicked me off on writing something every single day. So it holds a special place in my heart, since every day at uni I would add another page to this chronicle. And just to annoy Nathan, each story is thirteen pages long and I did sixty.
In a year and a half.
POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS:
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER
SOLD!
Now this, this is worth watching. As Documentaries go, this is hardly the most educational or moving, it's hardly Senna or even Bobby Fischer, but it's fun. It's out there to tell you about how much advertising goes into your movies without you even realising it and how much it affects your decisions.
I can't really say much about this movie, other than to say that it's Morgan Spurlock at his best, I would happily rate this film above Super Size Me, even though the element of personal risk in this one was put in, depsite it not being present at all, for him in this particular endevour.
Definately look this one up, it's amusing.
Tomorrow: Wuthering Heights.
Servants of God
Yes, I'm going to talk about Servants of God. Most of you who are reading this will probably be familiar with this particular project, it was my final script for my Degree course, roughly equivilent to a dissertation in weight of marks. At least that's what we'd like to believe.
I've always been fascinated by history and how it got us to where we are now. I mean, if you look at the world a thousand years ago, doesn't it just seem so alien and distant? How did anyone think the way they did back then? The Crusades are a prime example of how much and little things have changed.
In 1095, Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade and an army from all across Europe was gathered and set out across the Middle East to lay siege to a city that most of them had only heard of in the same breath as Adam and Eve. People were that dedicated that they were willing to give up their entire lives and take the Crusade, to journey across (what was then) the known world and attack a group of people that they had never met before, whose only crime was to have a different name for the same God.
In 1191, after the Great Sultan Salah Al-Din retook the city of Jerusalem from the Christian occupiers, King Richard the Lionheart launched the Third Crusade, an attempt to reclaim Jerusalem for Christianity. He spent seven months in the desert and ultimately left without succeeding in his objective. It was my objective to give an overview of those seven months within one hundred and twenty pages of script and then hand it in. I wrote four complete drafts and four half drafts, equalling about seven hundred pages.
The very last draft was an almost complete rewrite that was done within a single 24-hour period. I was very proud of how it came out in the end, following a young mercenary crossbowman who followed Richard's campaign and gradually found that the reason people came all this way to die, was because they wanted something to live for. A bit sappy, but it worked. And he was scottish, which helps. In the end, I had to cut a lot of characters, but kept in all the major battles and hope I kept in the spirit of the time.
I got a 63%, which is a 2:1. Not bad.
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN:
THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Well, you know what, this just wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had many, many terrible expectations and this managed to beat just about all of them. For parts, it kind of felt like Steven Spielberg trying to apologise for that God-Awful 4th Indiana Jones movie by having something of a rip-roaring adventure with plenty of action, swashbuckling and humour.
I'd say that the voice cast was good, but it was very confusing. Jamie Bell was obviously Tintin, but I was amazed to find that Captain Haddock was played by Andy Serkis, who genuinely managed to put on the best Gerard Butler impression I've ever heard. Likewise I'd thought that Sakharine was voiced by Richard E Grant or someone equally aristocratic. Nope, Daniel Craig.
That being said, it was clearly obvious which roles Pegg and Frost were down for from the start.
I'll say that I quite enjoyed ol' Tintin and I do hope that Peter Jackson follows up on his promise to make a second, after Spielberg's first outing in the series. If there was one massive area of pain to watch, it was the airplane sequence, which didn't so much stretch my suspension of disbelief as it did donkey punch it and leave it out in the road, weeping.
Not entirely sure that the empty fuel tank of a propeller plane can be fuelled by the beer-soaked breath of an alcoholic Sea Captain, but never mind, eh? Oddly, I found that Snowy didn't test my limits of disbelief, but the flooding/floating building sequence near the end almost got there. It was a little too kid-friendly (see my comments on Sammy's Adventures for that), but it still worked.
In a few minutes:
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
I've always been fascinated by history and how it got us to where we are now. I mean, if you look at the world a thousand years ago, doesn't it just seem so alien and distant? How did anyone think the way they did back then? The Crusades are a prime example of how much and little things have changed.
In 1095, Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade and an army from all across Europe was gathered and set out across the Middle East to lay siege to a city that most of them had only heard of in the same breath as Adam and Eve. People were that dedicated that they were willing to give up their entire lives and take the Crusade, to journey across (what was then) the known world and attack a group of people that they had never met before, whose only crime was to have a different name for the same God.
In 1191, after the Great Sultan Salah Al-Din retook the city of Jerusalem from the Christian occupiers, King Richard the Lionheart launched the Third Crusade, an attempt to reclaim Jerusalem for Christianity. He spent seven months in the desert and ultimately left without succeeding in his objective. It was my objective to give an overview of those seven months within one hundred and twenty pages of script and then hand it in. I wrote four complete drafts and four half drafts, equalling about seven hundred pages.
The very last draft was an almost complete rewrite that was done within a single 24-hour period. I was very proud of how it came out in the end, following a young mercenary crossbowman who followed Richard's campaign and gradually found that the reason people came all this way to die, was because they wanted something to live for. A bit sappy, but it worked. And he was scottish, which helps. In the end, I had to cut a lot of characters, but kept in all the major battles and hope I kept in the spirit of the time.
I got a 63%, which is a 2:1. Not bad.
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN:
THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Well, you know what, this just wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had many, many terrible expectations and this managed to beat just about all of them. For parts, it kind of felt like Steven Spielberg trying to apologise for that God-Awful 4th Indiana Jones movie by having something of a rip-roaring adventure with plenty of action, swashbuckling and humour.
I'd say that the voice cast was good, but it was very confusing. Jamie Bell was obviously Tintin, but I was amazed to find that Captain Haddock was played by Andy Serkis, who genuinely managed to put on the best Gerard Butler impression I've ever heard. Likewise I'd thought that Sakharine was voiced by Richard E Grant or someone equally aristocratic. Nope, Daniel Craig.
That being said, it was clearly obvious which roles Pegg and Frost were down for from the start.
I'll say that I quite enjoyed ol' Tintin and I do hope that Peter Jackson follows up on his promise to make a second, after Spielberg's first outing in the series. If there was one massive area of pain to watch, it was the airplane sequence, which didn't so much stretch my suspension of disbelief as it did donkey punch it and leave it out in the road, weeping.
Not entirely sure that the empty fuel tank of a propeller plane can be fuelled by the beer-soaked breath of an alcoholic Sea Captain, but never mind, eh? Oddly, I found that Snowy didn't test my limits of disbelief, but the flooding/floating building sequence near the end almost got there. It was a little too kid-friendly (see my comments on Sammy's Adventures for that), but it still worked.
In a few minutes:
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Resistance
My other writing project, which I'm doing parrallel to Imperia, is called Resistance. It's a set of TV series scripts for a show about super-heroes in a post apocalyptic future. Now to me, that's exactly what I want to be seeing on television. I know that it ticks a couple of boxes for many of my friends as well, hence why I'm cracking through it with such gusto.
At time of typing this blog entry, I'm a few lines away from finishing the last episode of the second season of Resistance. Each episode is forty-two pages long (making an episode roughly forty-two minutes), each season is thirteen episodes, meaning that since I started back in February, I've produced one thousand and ninety two pages of this series. That's a fair amount.
My central superheroes are:
Stonewall - An Earth Elemental with great strength and the ability to manipulate the earth and stone around him. He takes on the leadership role of the team.
Rush - An Air Elemental who has similiar powers to Stonewall, but based around air. She's the only one who can fly. Acts as Stonewall's surrogate daughter.
Maelstrom - A freak accident has invested her with a constantly moving air wave, resulting in hurricanes if she loses control. Emotionally unstable, a British Exile.
Regiment - A Russian Genetic Weapon, a soldier who can multiply himself and act as a small army by himself. Deserted his post but remains loyal in his heart.
Network - A martial arts expert who uses a super-computer and a chemical in the water to take control of people's minds and bodies. Morally ambiguous, also rich.
They're a fractous team that didn't even properly assemble until the end of the first season. They've faced greedy businessmen with their own armies, giant telepathic crystals from space, enemy settlements and a great deal of wandering supers who either want to kill them or steal their stuff.
Pretty standard, really.
The setting is a city called Resistance, built not far from the Great Lakes. In this world, the Divided Russians and Britain are the super-powers that are in a state of conflict over the remains of what was once America. Freaks and monsters prowl the wastes and Transtates (people with super-powers) aren't trusted at all.
It's the kind of series I would watch, and there's no other reason as to why I'm writing it, really. It wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting made, but it entertains my friends and myself, so I can't really ask any more of it, can I? Got three more seasons of it planned as well, all to be done next year.
THE AWAKENING.
Now, as British films go, I was incredibly impressed with the style and presentation of this movie. The Brits, we love a period piece and to see something set post-WW1 with ghosts was a treat. This was a very well put together film with some excellent pacing and some good acting.
Ever since he got back from that over-hyped borefest The Wire, Dominic West has been doing some really great work, exercising those distinctive dimples to the max. In this film he plays a war veteran turned boarding school teacher who tracks down a professional Ghost Disprover.
The reason why? His school has a ghost, so it would seem, and he wants her to deal with it. Rebecca Hall (who is just gorgeous, by the way) is she, and she promptly sets about looking for the 'ghost', eager to prove that no such thing exists. The only problem is that she's starting to see the very things that she normally does her best to discredit.
I very much enjoyed this film, but there were a number of points that I felt stuck out. Firstly, it felt very close to Spanish film 'The Orphanage'. I'd say that the Orphanage is a notch above this, but they are incredibly similiar in theme and tone. Secondly, I felt that the ending and explanation was very neatly wrapped up in a bow, perhaps a little too neatly.
These are minor complaints, however, and overall I'd heartily recommend this film as a chilling and intelligent ghost story.
Tomorrow Morning: Tin-frickin-Tin
At time of typing this blog entry, I'm a few lines away from finishing the last episode of the second season of Resistance. Each episode is forty-two pages long (making an episode roughly forty-two minutes), each season is thirteen episodes, meaning that since I started back in February, I've produced one thousand and ninety two pages of this series. That's a fair amount.
My central superheroes are:
Stonewall - An Earth Elemental with great strength and the ability to manipulate the earth and stone around him. He takes on the leadership role of the team.
Rush - An Air Elemental who has similiar powers to Stonewall, but based around air. She's the only one who can fly. Acts as Stonewall's surrogate daughter.
Maelstrom - A freak accident has invested her with a constantly moving air wave, resulting in hurricanes if she loses control. Emotionally unstable, a British Exile.
Regiment - A Russian Genetic Weapon, a soldier who can multiply himself and act as a small army by himself. Deserted his post but remains loyal in his heart.
Network - A martial arts expert who uses a super-computer and a chemical in the water to take control of people's minds and bodies. Morally ambiguous, also rich.
They're a fractous team that didn't even properly assemble until the end of the first season. They've faced greedy businessmen with their own armies, giant telepathic crystals from space, enemy settlements and a great deal of wandering supers who either want to kill them or steal their stuff.
Pretty standard, really.
The setting is a city called Resistance, built not far from the Great Lakes. In this world, the Divided Russians and Britain are the super-powers that are in a state of conflict over the remains of what was once America. Freaks and monsters prowl the wastes and Transtates (people with super-powers) aren't trusted at all.
It's the kind of series I would watch, and there's no other reason as to why I'm writing it, really. It wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting made, but it entertains my friends and myself, so I can't really ask any more of it, can I? Got three more seasons of it planned as well, all to be done next year.
THE AWAKENING.
Now, as British films go, I was incredibly impressed with the style and presentation of this movie. The Brits, we love a period piece and to see something set post-WW1 with ghosts was a treat. This was a very well put together film with some excellent pacing and some good acting.
Ever since he got back from that over-hyped borefest The Wire, Dominic West has been doing some really great work, exercising those distinctive dimples to the max. In this film he plays a war veteran turned boarding school teacher who tracks down a professional Ghost Disprover.
The reason why? His school has a ghost, so it would seem, and he wants her to deal with it. Rebecca Hall (who is just gorgeous, by the way) is she, and she promptly sets about looking for the 'ghost', eager to prove that no such thing exists. The only problem is that she's starting to see the very things that she normally does her best to discredit.
I very much enjoyed this film, but there were a number of points that I felt stuck out. Firstly, it felt very close to Spanish film 'The Orphanage'. I'd say that the Orphanage is a notch above this, but they are incredibly similiar in theme and tone. Secondly, I felt that the ending and explanation was very neatly wrapped up in a bow, perhaps a little too neatly.
These are minor complaints, however, and overall I'd heartily recommend this film as a chilling and intelligent ghost story.
Tomorrow Morning: Tin-frickin-Tin
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