This was originally a reply to one of Danny's comments on a previous blog post of mine, but I wrote so much I decided to make it into its own thing.
There's not really much music that gets me going on this script, but there are certain tracks that fit certain scenes.
Such as "You Look So Fine" by Garbage, or on a script I wrote in 2006 I listened to certain tracks by M83 that would fit certain scenes to inspire me in writing them. There was also "Adagio for Strings" (from "Platoon"), that inspired me in that script from last year (a practice script really) in which there was a paint balling sequence.
Also on that script from 2006 I found that "Can't Even Tell" by Soul Asylum (end credits of "Clerks") inspired me, which also does a little on this script...but not much.
I just generally listen to my music in general to get a vibe going. What helps me most of all is getting into a routine, because it keeps me plugging away at it, but it also gets me into the necessary mindset.
Recently when fiddling around with "IAZM3" prep, I was listening to the "Day of the Dead" soundtrack to get me going...and with that there were certain tracks that fitted certain scenes. The "Rocky" best-of soundtrack was also a big inspiration for writing "IAZM3"...so I guess that script had more in the way of a soundtrack-to-the-writing, certainly more-so than this current feature script I'm doing.
...
As an aside, I've just had the shittiest wake-up call ever - massive indigestion/heart burn. Seriously, I felt like John Hurt in "Alien" just before he explodes all over the dinner table...absolute agony would be a good description. But after a good half hour of sitting/standing up (whilst wincing an awful lot), sipping milk and then taking a chewable Gaviscon I'm sitting pretty again.
...
I should have the Richard Hammond book finished today, it's been a bloody good read, just a mere 60 pages left. Also, "The A-Team" is still awesome as I progress into Season 4 with gusto, and "PGR4" is proper good fun.
Friday, 28 December 2007
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Merry December the 27th people...
Hope you lot had a groovy Christmas, mine was a good one, got a good haul and have been taking pictures like there's no tomorrow with my new digital photo camera. I've also been getting stuck into some A-Team: Season 4 as well as Richard Hammonds book "On The Edge", which is absolutely bloody brilliant and I'm steaming my way through it. A superb read, especially for "Top Gear" fans such as myself.
Anyway, I'm taking a well deserved rest from the comedy feature script at the moment being that it's Xmas and all, but I'll soon be back to it to fine tune the second act before heading onto the third act - after which, one of two horror scripts I have in mind.
I've also done the dialogue recording/editing for "IAZM3", although I might want to re-record one character's lines again.
Anyway, just stopping by to throw some blog in your faces, boshty.
Anyway, I'm taking a well deserved rest from the comedy feature script at the moment being that it's Xmas and all, but I'll soon be back to it to fine tune the second act before heading onto the third act - after which, one of two horror scripts I have in mind.
I've also done the dialogue recording/editing for "IAZM3", although I might want to re-record one character's lines again.
Anyway, just stopping by to throw some blog in your faces, boshty.
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
The new (now old) flesh...
Admittedly there has been a nigh-on two week lull since I said I had recaptured the muse (regarding my feature comedy script)...although that time has been filled with a couple of filming/editing gigs as well as various bits of IAZM3 prep so it's not all bad. However to celebrate my return to said script, and now onto the second act no less (I'd previously found myself going over the first act again and again to get the tone and vibe right intentionally for the benefit of the rest of the script), I will regail you all with a tale from my formative years regarding VHS culture...something dear to my heart.
Now as great as DVD is - admittedly my ambivalence/anger towards the format after its release was really towards the people who were ditching VHS in a heartbeat and dissing it in the process (this leaded to a short film I made called "VHS") - VHS just has something extra, that I feel has been lost in the oft-promoted clarity of Digital Versatile Discs.
From a very young age I was using a VCR to record films (which I obsessively watched repeatedly with a spell-bound fascination), and so VHS tapes were part of my life from very early on. Around about the time I was crossing into the teenage threshold I had started to purchase official VHS tapes (my first was "Critters 2", closely followed by my then New Year's Resolution (to acquire) "Terminator 2").
At this time I was also heavily getting into the horror genre, something which grasped my imagination and never let go - the genre that has ultimately brought me to the chosen career path of filmmaking. This time was also important because the British Board of Film Classification changed leadership in 1999, which resulted in a sequel of sorts to the 1980s 'Video Nasties' era. Previously banned horror movies and other 'nasties' came pouring into the UK, many completely uncut (others which were not, now are).
This meant that these films were new to the video rental shop in town, and at this time I was a keen VHS renter (well, technically it was my parents). Either first-hand through the video rental shop, or via the second generation dubs from school friends (which I then made my third generation copies for further viewing), I was gradually experiencing the horrors & violence of two decades of cinema all within a couple of years. A baptism of fire if you will.
Where does the VHS culture really fit into this memory lane session? Well, as I'd said, I was watching these newly unleashed horrors - such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (banned for 25 years in the UK) on VHS tapes - more specifically second or third generation dubs. Finally being allowed to see such films (with an edge of taboo-breaking within my household) was a key experience in my formative years. There was something illicit about it all, these taboo films spooling through my VCR...the sound was degraded, the picture was gritty and rough...and it was all encased within this black plastic case - an item rendered so brilliantly sinister in David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" (methinks "DVDrome" just wouldn't work).
The VHS tape became a symbol of my formative years, of my ascension into my teenage years. A symbol of self-discovery (ultimately guiding my career choice). While I am gradually more accepting of DVD discs as a tangible item, VHS tapes just feel like a movie to me. There's something to grab hold of (rather than delicately transfer from disc drawer to disc case).
A film on a VHS tape was just that - the film - the primary, powerful focus of all your attention. There's something mini-monolithic to the appearance of a VHS tape, and a VCR itself. There is an essence of simplistic brutality there, rather than the high-browed, slim-line elegance and diet-thin presence of DVDs. Videotapes had no special features, no commentaries, no menus, no deleted scenes, no unfunny gag reels - and no fucking warning screens you can't skip through.
I feel that with DVD, the film is no longer the prime focus. I mean, yes it's what is selling the package, but - and I myself am one such person now - you find people disappointed, rabidly so, by 'vanilla' DVD releases. You feel cheated, you expect a myriad of information to drown the main feature itself. You expect multiple discs and fancier packaging (although same-artwork cardboard sleeves can fuck right off). DVDs have pitch-perfect audio, they have clean and crisp images that never falter, never warp and degrade or bleed.
Of course, a clean picture that retains its quality is superb, but with that superiority comes a lack of soul. I will point out that one problem with the picture quality of VHS tapes was the abominable Pan & Scan, which zoomed in on images (dreadfully so from 2.35:1 original ratios) and thus degraded the quality (as well as chopped the image maliciously). With videotapes there was a hint of danger, a hint of a transitory mystique - you got a sense that the more you watched this tape, the closer it approached it's final play...perhaps a home-bound version of film prints, one might say.
This image degradation of course, was one of the driving forces of the inherent power of such films as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It made them scarier, more taboo ... but watching the same film on a digitally remastered DVD with a host of special features that answer every possible question you once had, removes some of the scares...the taboo is gone, it becomes acceptable. There's a soul that videotapes had that DVDs do not possess...a sense of character, a sense that everything didn't have to be perfect and intensely pin-sharp.
My exploration of the horror genre, and the effect it had on me, has just as much to do with the videotape as it does with the films themselves. If I was at the same stage, but 10 years on (by which I mean the present day) and viewing these films on DVD, a large chunk of the power would be lost...the rich texture of the culture which surrounded that time in my life (thanks to the videotape) would be absent.
While I'm a big fan of DVDs (my own collection totals well over 300, including all the films that made such a splash with me during my formative years), the VHS tape will always hold a special place in my heart ... perhaps it's odd to get so deep over a media format, but unless you shared this experience...you just don't get it.
Now as great as DVD is - admittedly my ambivalence/anger towards the format after its release was really towards the people who were ditching VHS in a heartbeat and dissing it in the process (this leaded to a short film I made called "VHS") - VHS just has something extra, that I feel has been lost in the oft-promoted clarity of Digital Versatile Discs.
From a very young age I was using a VCR to record films (which I obsessively watched repeatedly with a spell-bound fascination), and so VHS tapes were part of my life from very early on. Around about the time I was crossing into the teenage threshold I had started to purchase official VHS tapes (my first was "Critters 2", closely followed by my then New Year's Resolution (to acquire) "Terminator 2").
At this time I was also heavily getting into the horror genre, something which grasped my imagination and never let go - the genre that has ultimately brought me to the chosen career path of filmmaking. This time was also important because the British Board of Film Classification changed leadership in 1999, which resulted in a sequel of sorts to the 1980s 'Video Nasties' era. Previously banned horror movies and other 'nasties' came pouring into the UK, many completely uncut (others which were not, now are).
This meant that these films were new to the video rental shop in town, and at this time I was a keen VHS renter (well, technically it was my parents). Either first-hand through the video rental shop, or via the second generation dubs from school friends (which I then made my third generation copies for further viewing), I was gradually experiencing the horrors & violence of two decades of cinema all within a couple of years. A baptism of fire if you will.
Where does the VHS culture really fit into this memory lane session? Well, as I'd said, I was watching these newly unleashed horrors - such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (banned for 25 years in the UK) on VHS tapes - more specifically second or third generation dubs. Finally being allowed to see such films (with an edge of taboo-breaking within my household) was a key experience in my formative years. There was something illicit about it all, these taboo films spooling through my VCR...the sound was degraded, the picture was gritty and rough...and it was all encased within this black plastic case - an item rendered so brilliantly sinister in David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" (methinks "DVDrome" just wouldn't work).
The VHS tape became a symbol of my formative years, of my ascension into my teenage years. A symbol of self-discovery (ultimately guiding my career choice). While I am gradually more accepting of DVD discs as a tangible item, VHS tapes just feel like a movie to me. There's something to grab hold of (rather than delicately transfer from disc drawer to disc case).
A film on a VHS tape was just that - the film - the primary, powerful focus of all your attention. There's something mini-monolithic to the appearance of a VHS tape, and a VCR itself. There is an essence of simplistic brutality there, rather than the high-browed, slim-line elegance and diet-thin presence of DVDs. Videotapes had no special features, no commentaries, no menus, no deleted scenes, no unfunny gag reels - and no fucking warning screens you can't skip through.
I feel that with DVD, the film is no longer the prime focus. I mean, yes it's what is selling the package, but - and I myself am one such person now - you find people disappointed, rabidly so, by 'vanilla' DVD releases. You feel cheated, you expect a myriad of information to drown the main feature itself. You expect multiple discs and fancier packaging (although same-artwork cardboard sleeves can fuck right off). DVDs have pitch-perfect audio, they have clean and crisp images that never falter, never warp and degrade or bleed.
Of course, a clean picture that retains its quality is superb, but with that superiority comes a lack of soul. I will point out that one problem with the picture quality of VHS tapes was the abominable Pan & Scan, which zoomed in on images (dreadfully so from 2.35:1 original ratios) and thus degraded the quality (as well as chopped the image maliciously). With videotapes there was a hint of danger, a hint of a transitory mystique - you got a sense that the more you watched this tape, the closer it approached it's final play...perhaps a home-bound version of film prints, one might say.
This image degradation of course, was one of the driving forces of the inherent power of such films as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It made them scarier, more taboo ... but watching the same film on a digitally remastered DVD with a host of special features that answer every possible question you once had, removes some of the scares...the taboo is gone, it becomes acceptable. There's a soul that videotapes had that DVDs do not possess...a sense of character, a sense that everything didn't have to be perfect and intensely pin-sharp.
My exploration of the horror genre, and the effect it had on me, has just as much to do with the videotape as it does with the films themselves. If I was at the same stage, but 10 years on (by which I mean the present day) and viewing these films on DVD, a large chunk of the power would be lost...the rich texture of the culture which surrounded that time in my life (thanks to the videotape) would be absent.
While I'm a big fan of DVDs (my own collection totals well over 300, including all the films that made such a splash with me during my formative years), the VHS tape will always hold a special place in my heart ... perhaps it's odd to get so deep over a media format, but unless you shared this experience...you just don't get it.
Thursday, 6 December 2007
The Great Malvern Christmas Lantern Parade 2007...
Following on from an earlier blog, and with several days in between to reflect more realistically, the sense of post-filming blues vanished by the morning after (as I've already said). That day I uploaded the footage, and save for a few audio problems in the first few minutes (didn't matter as I wasn't using the audio anyway) and a few blown shots (in a swarm of people it's sometimes hard to avoid kid's faces getting in the shot - so said shots have to be ditched) it was actually all good.
Come Sunday, two days after the actually event which was on the Friday, I set about editing the footage into the final 5 minute piece that was required. The actual filming session was a challenge - poor weather, limited different things to film (icons of the evening, if you will) and it being a 'last minute' job that I'd accepted - so it made the editing process tougher than any filmmaker would prefer. However, I was still able to cut together a solid five minutes (obviously, there's things you'd change or would have liked to do better, but that's the power of hindsight...something which doesn't take into account the 'then & there' of the situation).
Anyway, afterwards I decided to punch up the visuals a bit, so I turned to the trusty Magic Bullet - a superb software plug-in you simply must have if you're an editor. Notice in the credits of shows/documentaries where it says "colourist" - that's where Magic Bullet (or similar softwares) come in...a prime example of it's use would be a personal favourite of mine - "Top Gear".
So yes, I used one of my own presets that I'd created, and now all the colours were stronger. The blacks were deeper and the array of multicoloured lights on display now all kicked out a nice shimmer of white diffusion. While DVX100B footage looks great, if you add Magic Bullet to the mix, it looks even better.
Magic Bullet - once you use if, you wonder how on earth you managed without it! If only they made glasses so you could see the world through the eyes of Magic Bullet...ahhhh...one day maybe.
Come Sunday, two days after the actually event which was on the Friday, I set about editing the footage into the final 5 minute piece that was required. The actual filming session was a challenge - poor weather, limited different things to film (icons of the evening, if you will) and it being a 'last minute' job that I'd accepted - so it made the editing process tougher than any filmmaker would prefer. However, I was still able to cut together a solid five minutes (obviously, there's things you'd change or would have liked to do better, but that's the power of hindsight...something which doesn't take into account the 'then & there' of the situation).
Anyway, afterwards I decided to punch up the visuals a bit, so I turned to the trusty Magic Bullet - a superb software plug-in you simply must have if you're an editor. Notice in the credits of shows/documentaries where it says "colourist" - that's where Magic Bullet (or similar softwares) come in...a prime example of it's use would be a personal favourite of mine - "Top Gear".
So yes, I used one of my own presets that I'd created, and now all the colours were stronger. The blacks were deeper and the array of multicoloured lights on display now all kicked out a nice shimmer of white diffusion. While DVX100B footage looks great, if you add Magic Bullet to the mix, it looks even better.
Magic Bullet - once you use if, you wonder how on earth you managed without it! If only they made glasses so you could see the world through the eyes of Magic Bullet...ahhhh...one day maybe.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip...
There's a mere couple of episodes left to run on the series here in the UK, but I couldn't resist the gripping lure of the K&R storyline and had to see the final episodes before they aired here, and might I say they were bloody brilliant. It's a real shame that the show was cancelled, a genuine shame. By the sounds of it one of the main problems with the show's original airing in America was the schedule - gaps that lasted weeks, changing times and so on - something which often means death to a show, and obviously dwindling numbers as nobody knows when it's on or if it's on.
I still maintain that the Americans are absolute idiots when it comes to scheduling their shows - take season 3 of "Lost" for instance. They rush it out before Christmas and show a mere 6 episodes, at which grippingly exciting point they piss off for a break - a THREE MONTH LONG break.
It destroys continuity, it pisses the audience off, and it's just not cricket...to put it in a very English way. But seriously, it's just idiotic and it appears that "Studio 60" suffered typically American scheduling cock ups where 'a week off here, two weeks there, a month over there' is perfectly fine - shock/horror, it fucking isn't whoever you dimwits are that decide such schedules!
Apparently "Studio 60" was highly rated for 'record for later' audiences (and if it's getting shown late on a work night, of course people are going to record it for a more convenient time, another shock/horror but the audience are not slaves to a network's every whim and ultimately wield the most power when it comes down to it - the power to switch off, the power to record and watch later. And of course the power to fast foward through adverts, turn the sound off during them, switch to another channel during them, or heaven's forbid use the time constructively by taking a piss or getting more munchies.
To be honest, 'sponsored by' advertising works a lot better in this day and age where the public mass and increasingly seeking to do their viewing how they want...but still, even sponsoring a show doesn't guarantee somebody will drink your booze or drive your car.
Back to "Studio 60" and while it sagged a bit mid-season (but then again, many shows do, such as "Lost" which routinely does so), the first and last thirds of the season were intriguing, entertaining, enjoyable and in the latter third's case, absolutely gripping - genuinely quality television. The acting is top notch, the dialogue and the scripts are top notch - and yet it was still cancelled.
An absolute travesty when the likes of "Nip/Tuck" - arguably one of the weakest of the current spate of 'quality dramas' (a show which I've watched since the beginning) doesn't even have half the tension, intelligence, quality or interest that "Studio 60" had. "Nip/Tuck", while a nice enough distraction, is generally as shallow as it's profession-of-focus, lunging from one lecherous plot line to another. The protagonists make one stupid decision after another - the fifth season's meth-head storyline makes barely any sense and is nestled in as subtly as a rabid badger in a flopsy-the-bunny sanctuary.
Seriously, the characterisation feels blunt and unwieldy - tabloid-like, or soap-opera-like - meanwhile the absolutely excellent "Dexter" (thankfully renewed for a third season recently) has deep and troubled characters. You can at one point hate someone and then 40 thoughtful minutes later you pity/like/love them instead...such as LaGuerta in season one.
So with "Nip/Tuck" being generally 'meh', why on earth was the intelligence and genuine wit of "Studio 60" cancelled after merely one season?! Was the routine attack at back-stage corporate TV politics too close-to-the-bone? Was it too smart? Or were those in charge of the big red "yes" and "no" buttons just too stupid to get the show. Then again in a world where "Futurama" was cancelled, then anything superb can be cancelled...but then again, at the very least "Futurama" has finally made a return with the first-of-four DVD movies recently.
It's an absolute shame that "Studio 60" was shit-canned. For another solid reason for it's greatness, Matthew Perry had found a character who wasn't Chandler. He had successfully moved on with a new persona who was complex and intriguing. The entire show was filled with such protagonists.
May a thousand angry red-arsed baboons descend on those who made the decision to shaft such a quality slice of television.
The Post-Filming Blues...
Perhaps not as melodramatic as the title suggests, but I just wanted to wax lyrical for a moment regarding what I'd call a very real phenomenon amongst filmmakers. Think of it as the filmmaking specific rendition of 'the artist is never happy with their own work' - and while that sentiment is still true of filmmakers (each case to varying degrees, so it's far from an exact science), I think filmmaking has it's own slightly different addition.
By which I mean the 'come down', if you will, from the act of filmmaking itself. I've discussed this with a few people I've worked with and they themselves testified to the same experience on occasion. Sometimes you can feel elated and really pleased after a day's filming, like you really achieved something and you just know it's going to work - that's usually on a day when everything has gone according to plan.
More often than not though, the opposite feeling occurs when things haven't gone according to plan - but are not exclusive to such a troubled day however.
The reason I'm having this mini-rant about it, is because I got a call (inconveniently when I was still in the shower) and it was a collegue of mine passing on some last minute work in nearby Great Malvern. The task - to film a lantern procession which preceded the Christmas lights being turned on (thankfully note, no sign of "festive lights" in the remit, ha!)
After getting the basics - which was all I ended up acquiring (my whole involvement was last minute, and as seems to be the case with these sort of events the behind-the-scenes appeared to be hectic), I got a post-code (little did I know that it was for the entirety of Great Malvern - and neither did Multi-Map, which pointed me directly to Landsdowne Crescent) and headed off on my way. Now, I haven't been to Great Malvern in over a year at this point, and I didn't drive - in fact it was when I picked up my sexy new DVX100B from H Preston's who are situated there.
Now, my navigational skills are about as keen as that of James "Captain Slow" May from "Top Gear", so I immediately went to Preston's as it was the only place I knew in Great Malvern. This of course, as I later found out, was beyond Church Street - where the parade was happening. After heading into what must have been Little Malvern (seriously, there must be about 100 'Something' Malverns in the same area) at which point I admitted male defeat and asked for directions - at which point not one single bastard would let me exit onto the main road. I felt I was poking out onto the main road and didn't want to get clipped by a truck, and when I tried to reverse I just got a rude horn blare from the idiot behind me who had dicided to drive right up my exhaust and half way into the backseat...at which point swearing was bellowed by me, but who wouldn't?
Eventually I got much nearer Church Street, but thanks to an absolute legend in a High Visibility Jacket, I was pointed in the specific direction I wanted to go - Lansdowne Crescent. Of course, once I got there I found out (after several failed phone calls ... signal troubles or something) that this wasn't supposed to be where I was heading - although no meeting point had been arranged anyway, I might add. So while cursing Multi-Map (which annoyingly refuses to load empty gray areas - which are always where you want to actually look - when zooming in), I saddled up and headed up Church Street to the location of the parade.
I will mention that it was raining, it was cold and it was dark - so it was pretty much November, put simply. I will also mention that true to my generation's occasional failing for being procrastinators, I didn't have a rain cover. But in true A-Team style, I fashioned one to cover the important guts of the DVX100B - which also thankfully is built like a fucking tank. A drippy lens case and eye piece isn't so bad. Of course, if was lens-wiping-a-go-go throughout but eventually you must admit defeat (which came after the whole parade/lights-on-thing had been done). The rain was too obtrusive and I had to halt filming...fortunately I had enough footage for a 5 minute film - which I'm still to edit at this 'day after' stage, at the time of writing.
As if rain wasn't enough, there was a foam machine firing foam snow into the air, so I got doused with that and was forced to retreat into the nearest building - the local Tourist Information - where a very kind woman gave me some paper towels to dry off my gear and myself - before I headed out again for the final shots before retreating to my car.
At this point I'll say I proudly made it back to the car without injuring myself. On my last filming session I'd re-sprained my left ankle, but I didn't slip, twist or fall - which considering the wet surfaces (some covered in foam snow) deserved saluting I say. Of course, the weather wouldn't let me off lightly, so no sooner had I removed my drenched waterproof jacket, than the rain became torrential. So in the mere seconds from closing the boot, to getting inside the car, I was drenched anyway.
I headed homewards, which was better than the journey down - this time I didn't need to read the signs, which was an impossible task on the initial journey. It was dark, it was raining, blaring headlights were in my eyes constantly, and there was always somebody seemingly bearing down on my rear bumper at all times. Although I will say, I was behind - at two different times - the slowest white vans I've ever come across. Evidently 'white van man' was cautious that night.
But back to the initial point about post-filming blues, after the challenge that was that evening's filming, I was tired, damp and obviously grumpy. More to do with the circumstances surrounding the event rather than the event itself - although getting absolutely stuck in a huge crowd, which made for nigh-on-impossible filming at one stage wasn't great either.
So indeed, the post-filming blues struck last night - you just feel crap in general, you reckon the footage is going to suck and not cut together, you doubt your skills and end up non-plussed with almost anything. This happened to me last night, something which hasn't happened in a long time - nor struck as hard.
However, the saving grace of post-filming blues is that the morning after is always so much better. Once you've slept on it, and then actually looked at the footage - everything isn't a disaster anymore. You feel more confident, and you're confident you can get a film out of it after all, so in other words - it's all good once again.
Perhaps a round-about way of getting to the point, but I guess this post was also just to relay a challenging night's filming...now onwards to actually edit the thing, which should hopefully not be clouded by rain, foam snow and road rage, ha!
By which I mean the 'come down', if you will, from the act of filmmaking itself. I've discussed this with a few people I've worked with and they themselves testified to the same experience on occasion. Sometimes you can feel elated and really pleased after a day's filming, like you really achieved something and you just know it's going to work - that's usually on a day when everything has gone according to plan.
More often than not though, the opposite feeling occurs when things haven't gone according to plan - but are not exclusive to such a troubled day however.
The reason I'm having this mini-rant about it, is because I got a call (inconveniently when I was still in the shower) and it was a collegue of mine passing on some last minute work in nearby Great Malvern. The task - to film a lantern procession which preceded the Christmas lights being turned on (thankfully note, no sign of "festive lights" in the remit, ha!)
After getting the basics - which was all I ended up acquiring (my whole involvement was last minute, and as seems to be the case with these sort of events the behind-the-scenes appeared to be hectic), I got a post-code (little did I know that it was for the entirety of Great Malvern - and neither did Multi-Map, which pointed me directly to Landsdowne Crescent) and headed off on my way. Now, I haven't been to Great Malvern in over a year at this point, and I didn't drive - in fact it was when I picked up my sexy new DVX100B from H Preston's who are situated there.
Now, my navigational skills are about as keen as that of James "Captain Slow" May from "Top Gear", so I immediately went to Preston's as it was the only place I knew in Great Malvern. This of course, as I later found out, was beyond Church Street - where the parade was happening. After heading into what must have been Little Malvern (seriously, there must be about 100 'Something' Malverns in the same area) at which point I admitted male defeat and asked for directions - at which point not one single bastard would let me exit onto the main road. I felt I was poking out onto the main road and didn't want to get clipped by a truck, and when I tried to reverse I just got a rude horn blare from the idiot behind me who had dicided to drive right up my exhaust and half way into the backseat...at which point swearing was bellowed by me, but who wouldn't?
Eventually I got much nearer Church Street, but thanks to an absolute legend in a High Visibility Jacket, I was pointed in the specific direction I wanted to go - Lansdowne Crescent. Of course, once I got there I found out (after several failed phone calls ... signal troubles or something) that this wasn't supposed to be where I was heading - although no meeting point had been arranged anyway, I might add. So while cursing Multi-Map (which annoyingly refuses to load empty gray areas - which are always where you want to actually look - when zooming in), I saddled up and headed up Church Street to the location of the parade.
I will mention that it was raining, it was cold and it was dark - so it was pretty much November, put simply. I will also mention that true to my generation's occasional failing for being procrastinators, I didn't have a rain cover. But in true A-Team style, I fashioned one to cover the important guts of the DVX100B - which also thankfully is built like a fucking tank. A drippy lens case and eye piece isn't so bad. Of course, if was lens-wiping-a-go-go throughout but eventually you must admit defeat (which came after the whole parade/lights-on-thing had been done). The rain was too obtrusive and I had to halt filming...fortunately I had enough footage for a 5 minute film - which I'm still to edit at this 'day after' stage, at the time of writing.
As if rain wasn't enough, there was a foam machine firing foam snow into the air, so I got doused with that and was forced to retreat into the nearest building - the local Tourist Information - where a very kind woman gave me some paper towels to dry off my gear and myself - before I headed out again for the final shots before retreating to my car.
At this point I'll say I proudly made it back to the car without injuring myself. On my last filming session I'd re-sprained my left ankle, but I didn't slip, twist or fall - which considering the wet surfaces (some covered in foam snow) deserved saluting I say. Of course, the weather wouldn't let me off lightly, so no sooner had I removed my drenched waterproof jacket, than the rain became torrential. So in the mere seconds from closing the boot, to getting inside the car, I was drenched anyway.
I headed homewards, which was better than the journey down - this time I didn't need to read the signs, which was an impossible task on the initial journey. It was dark, it was raining, blaring headlights were in my eyes constantly, and there was always somebody seemingly bearing down on my rear bumper at all times. Although I will say, I was behind - at two different times - the slowest white vans I've ever come across. Evidently 'white van man' was cautious that night.
But back to the initial point about post-filming blues, after the challenge that was that evening's filming, I was tired, damp and obviously grumpy. More to do with the circumstances surrounding the event rather than the event itself - although getting absolutely stuck in a huge crowd, which made for nigh-on-impossible filming at one stage wasn't great either.
So indeed, the post-filming blues struck last night - you just feel crap in general, you reckon the footage is going to suck and not cut together, you doubt your skills and end up non-plussed with almost anything. This happened to me last night, something which hasn't happened in a long time - nor struck as hard.
However, the saving grace of post-filming blues is that the morning after is always so much better. Once you've slept on it, and then actually looked at the footage - everything isn't a disaster anymore. You feel more confident, and you're confident you can get a film out of it after all, so in other words - it's all good once again.
Perhaps a round-about way of getting to the point, but I guess this post was also just to relay a challenging night's filming...now onwards to actually edit the thing, which should hopefully not be clouded by rain, foam snow and road rage, ha!
Monday, 26 November 2007
Super-Double-Big-Score-Agent Grooviness...
Futurama: Bender's Big Score:
Praise be, "Futurama" has returned, albeit in the form of four films over the next 12 months (essentially the animated version of a TV movie, as it didn't have the flashy visuals to match The Simpson's Movie, but instead was more akin to the original show itself - ergo - animated TV movie). But that's not to bitch, far from it, because - just like the show itself - "Benders Big Score" was absolutely hilarious. While at times the gags slow down to make way for the all-important story (not sarcasm, "Family Guy" would do well to take note) but when that can take a back seat, the jokes - which were already flowing steadily - come thick & fast in a veritable deluge.
The plot is similarly entertaining, while the internet spam angle is a bit late-1990s the story is intricately woven and, true to it's sci-fi origins, folds back on itself in a mind-bending manner as the very fabric of the space-time-continuum is fiddled with to head-scratching extents.
I certainly look forward to the following three "Futurama" movies, because if they're anything like "Bender's Big Score" they're going to be leaving us all in stitches.
Superbad:
It's taken me a while to get around to seeing this Apatow-blessed coming-of-dick-joke-laden-age flick, but I was lucky enough to receive the Region 1 DVD damn near two weeks before street date - ahhh bless pre-ordering and early stocking. Anyway, not being the sort to turn a good dick-gag down, I found "Superbad" to be absolutely hilarious...I think Jonah Hill might very well have to be crowned the official dick-joke king after this performance.
I was similarly pleased to see genuine heart amidst the field of dick drawings, the central theme of two male best friends facing the daunting end to High School and the separation that University inevitably brings - something many have, are and will face in their lifetime.
Clearly, anything touched by Apatow (and likewise the superb Seth Rogen) turns to gold, and judging by the preview clip of "Pineapple Express", that too is going to leave many-a-face aching from laugh-jaw. Back to "Superbad", how on earth could you resist a film that includes a "Real Ghostbusters" lunch box filled to the brim with increasingly absurd dick-doodles?
...
Otherwise, I was proud to complete "Splinter Cell: Double Agent" the very morning that "Superbad" dropped on my door mat. Having snuck my way through it for two weeks, I was chuffed to finally complete this game. Initially I was wondering whether the purchase had been wise, as I was struggling with the joypad controls (I'd played the previous three games on the PC), but I stuck with it and was soon zipping around cracking safes and dangling from pipes over the seemingly mandatory 'glass-room-in-a-Sam-Fisher-game-bit'...although I was rather gutted there was a distinct lack of cut-scenes. The previous games were loaded with them between each mission, but in "Double Agent" there was the odd bit here and there...I guess they were trying to go for a more 'Half-life' style where it all unfolds in-game, which I guess is admirable.
Regardless, as a fan of the franchise, it was a welcome entry...even if I was rather late to the party, ha!
...
Finally, following on from recent exclamations I'd reclaimed my muse, I'm slowly following up on the claim...with thanks going to "Superbad". It re-inspired me to get on with my feature comedy script (even though they both have almost nothing in common - but that's not how inspiration works really is it). I went back and added in a few lines to one scene, and now must re-read the first act to get myself back into the mindset of the script, also re-read all my notes and really wrap my head around it all again before I proceed with the second act...but fingers crossed I've regained my muse for real!
Only time will tell...there's no point rushing and coming out with ropey-old-pish at the end.
Praise be, "Futurama" has returned, albeit in the form of four films over the next 12 months (essentially the animated version of a TV movie, as it didn't have the flashy visuals to match The Simpson's Movie, but instead was more akin to the original show itself - ergo - animated TV movie). But that's not to bitch, far from it, because - just like the show itself - "Benders Big Score" was absolutely hilarious. While at times the gags slow down to make way for the all-important story (not sarcasm, "Family Guy" would do well to take note) but when that can take a back seat, the jokes - which were already flowing steadily - come thick & fast in a veritable deluge.
The plot is similarly entertaining, while the internet spam angle is a bit late-1990s the story is intricately woven and, true to it's sci-fi origins, folds back on itself in a mind-bending manner as the very fabric of the space-time-continuum is fiddled with to head-scratching extents.
I certainly look forward to the following three "Futurama" movies, because if they're anything like "Bender's Big Score" they're going to be leaving us all in stitches.
Superbad:
It's taken me a while to get around to seeing this Apatow-blessed coming-of-dick-joke-laden-age flick, but I was lucky enough to receive the Region 1 DVD damn near two weeks before street date - ahhh bless pre-ordering and early stocking. Anyway, not being the sort to turn a good dick-gag down, I found "Superbad" to be absolutely hilarious...I think Jonah Hill might very well have to be crowned the official dick-joke king after this performance.
I was similarly pleased to see genuine heart amidst the field of dick drawings, the central theme of two male best friends facing the daunting end to High School and the separation that University inevitably brings - something many have, are and will face in their lifetime.
Clearly, anything touched by Apatow (and likewise the superb Seth Rogen) turns to gold, and judging by the preview clip of "Pineapple Express", that too is going to leave many-a-face aching from laugh-jaw. Back to "Superbad", how on earth could you resist a film that includes a "Real Ghostbusters" lunch box filled to the brim with increasingly absurd dick-doodles?
...
Otherwise, I was proud to complete "Splinter Cell: Double Agent" the very morning that "Superbad" dropped on my door mat. Having snuck my way through it for two weeks, I was chuffed to finally complete this game. Initially I was wondering whether the purchase had been wise, as I was struggling with the joypad controls (I'd played the previous three games on the PC), but I stuck with it and was soon zipping around cracking safes and dangling from pipes over the seemingly mandatory 'glass-room-in-a-Sam-Fisher-game-bit'...although I was rather gutted there was a distinct lack of cut-scenes. The previous games were loaded with them between each mission, but in "Double Agent" there was the odd bit here and there...I guess they were trying to go for a more 'Half-life' style where it all unfolds in-game, which I guess is admirable.
Regardless, as a fan of the franchise, it was a welcome entry...even if I was rather late to the party, ha!
...
Finally, following on from recent exclamations I'd reclaimed my muse, I'm slowly following up on the claim...with thanks going to "Superbad". It re-inspired me to get on with my feature comedy script (even though they both have almost nothing in common - but that's not how inspiration works really is it). I went back and added in a few lines to one scene, and now must re-read the first act to get myself back into the mindset of the script, also re-read all my notes and really wrap my head around it all again before I proceed with the second act...but fingers crossed I've regained my muse for real!
Only time will tell...there's no point rushing and coming out with ropey-old-pish at the end.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Clutching on a re-sprained ankle...
Well it was back to Hereford for a couple more pick up shots for "Contempt of Conscience", which is tantalisingly close to completion. I should be seeing a near-complete cut soon as well.
So yes, it was back to Hereford this morning for said shots, but it seems I was just going to have one of those days.
Having finally bedded down somewhere after midnight, I was planning on getting up at 7am, at which point I'd lie in till half seven, but that went arse over as I slept in till past 8am, even with my hi-fi blaring HIM's latest album, I must have been that tired. Fortunately I felt refreshed after sleeping in longer than anticipated and soon I was heading off to Hereford, with an ankle (which I'd sprained on November 4th in Bristol) which was looking much better thanks to the recent decision to switch from normal bandaging to tubi-grip stuff or whatever it's called.
So we did the bulk of the filming with no issues, then it was time to get a pick up shot outside the city's magistrates court, which completely unbeknownst to us, is apparently now illegal to do - a new anti-terrorism law has literally just come into being, so fresh it's umbilical cord to central government is still uncut. So, after having gotten the shots, we were cornered in a 'from both sides' manner by two chaps, security guards I think.
Fair enough, I can understand where they're coming from, and had we known about this kicking & screamingly-new law that had come into play, we'd have steered clear. Although in fact, we only had to delete (tape over) about 17 seconds of footage, the rest was perfectly fine, so said the security chaps, and we were once again on our way.
On the way back to my car we collectively rolled our eyes at the government's penchant for new criminal laws (for any Americans reading, Labour have created a boatload of new laws, even to an unprecedented level), and all because of - you guessed it - terrorism, which isn't terrorising for the vast majority of the time...it's just a bloody nuisance. Forgive my mini rant, it's no secret I'm not a fan of the current British government, but it feels as if more trouble is caused defending against terrorism (up to the eyeballs perhaps), than by the terrorists themselves...while the situation is certainly not happy-happy-joy-joy, I question the climate of fear the government pedals to us (and likewise in the USA, whose news networks adore the climate of fear). Clearly the security establishments are doing a superb job already and have been for quite some time, but are we really on the brink of epic terrorism?
I don't mean to be flippant about terrorism, far from it in fact, but you just end up questioning the true extent of the problem - bad, but not imminent death, one could say.
Anyway, I digress and fair play to the security guards who were doing their jobs, we co-operated fairly and it was respect all round, especially after we explained the situation and showed them the footage (again, a mere 17 seconds had to be deleted - stuff which wouldn't have been used anyway - and all was smiles).
So now, mere yards from my car, a moment of distraction led to me slipping on the pavement (an unforeseen greasy patch) and I re-sprained my not-far-from-healed left ankle, thus sending my injury back in time about 10 days. Fortunately I was able to double-double-up (4 layers) my tubi-grip support and managed to use the clutch all the way home - even if 3 tractors added a certain level of grievance to the journey...literally an insult-to-injury, you might say.
Thankfully, this time, I won't have to walk 4 miles on it and I'm using this excellent tubi-grip stuff from the off, so fingers crossed...still, talk about shite luck today, eh?
So yes, it was back to Hereford this morning for said shots, but it seems I was just going to have one of those days.
Having finally bedded down somewhere after midnight, I was planning on getting up at 7am, at which point I'd lie in till half seven, but that went arse over as I slept in till past 8am, even with my hi-fi blaring HIM's latest album, I must have been that tired. Fortunately I felt refreshed after sleeping in longer than anticipated and soon I was heading off to Hereford, with an ankle (which I'd sprained on November 4th in Bristol) which was looking much better thanks to the recent decision to switch from normal bandaging to tubi-grip stuff or whatever it's called.
So we did the bulk of the filming with no issues, then it was time to get a pick up shot outside the city's magistrates court, which completely unbeknownst to us, is apparently now illegal to do - a new anti-terrorism law has literally just come into being, so fresh it's umbilical cord to central government is still uncut. So, after having gotten the shots, we were cornered in a 'from both sides' manner by two chaps, security guards I think.
Fair enough, I can understand where they're coming from, and had we known about this kicking & screamingly-new law that had come into play, we'd have steered clear. Although in fact, we only had to delete (tape over) about 17 seconds of footage, the rest was perfectly fine, so said the security chaps, and we were once again on our way.
On the way back to my car we collectively rolled our eyes at the government's penchant for new criminal laws (for any Americans reading, Labour have created a boatload of new laws, even to an unprecedented level), and all because of - you guessed it - terrorism, which isn't terrorising for the vast majority of the time...it's just a bloody nuisance. Forgive my mini rant, it's no secret I'm not a fan of the current British government, but it feels as if more trouble is caused defending against terrorism (up to the eyeballs perhaps), than by the terrorists themselves...while the situation is certainly not happy-happy-joy-joy, I question the climate of fear the government pedals to us (and likewise in the USA, whose news networks adore the climate of fear). Clearly the security establishments are doing a superb job already and have been for quite some time, but are we really on the brink of epic terrorism?
I don't mean to be flippant about terrorism, far from it in fact, but you just end up questioning the true extent of the problem - bad, but not imminent death, one could say.
Anyway, I digress and fair play to the security guards who were doing their jobs, we co-operated fairly and it was respect all round, especially after we explained the situation and showed them the footage (again, a mere 17 seconds had to be deleted - stuff which wouldn't have been used anyway - and all was smiles).
So now, mere yards from my car, a moment of distraction led to me slipping on the pavement (an unforeseen greasy patch) and I re-sprained my not-far-from-healed left ankle, thus sending my injury back in time about 10 days. Fortunately I was able to double-double-up (4 layers) my tubi-grip support and managed to use the clutch all the way home - even if 3 tractors added a certain level of grievance to the journey...literally an insult-to-injury, you might say.
Thankfully, this time, I won't have to walk 4 miles on it and I'm using this excellent tubi-grip stuff from the off, so fingers crossed...still, talk about shite luck today, eh?
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Night/Day Watch...
I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss about "Night/Day Watch" is for. I mean yes, the Russians don't make movies like this normally and yes there are some spectacular ideas in it and the effects sequences are great...and while I dig all those things about the films, I found myself mercelessly bored at times.
I get the impression that the film is punching above it's weight in terms of story importance, trying to be the "Lord of the Rings" of vampire films or something, mythical for myth's sake...if that makes sense. At times, especially with the first film, I felt like the film was shoved right up it's own arse...it felt like it knew it was unlike anything from Russia before, plus I found the story a tad on the needlessly complex side...at times it feels as if weird stuff is just happening for the sake of it, like being weird and oddly mythical is superior to letting your audience get what you're on about.
My main gripe though, are the moments, sequences or flat out stretches of the films where you're left tired out waiting for something exciting to happen, rather than scenes that don't feel at all necessary ("Day Watch" just didn't need to be 2 and a half hours long) or scenes that just drag on too long, or just plain drag.
Particularly with "Day Watch", it feels bloated. It needs to be more direct, not as poncy about it's storyline and just get the job done efficiently...they both had the potential to be great films, but their down sides really bleed over onto the good sides and muddy the over all quality of the films, which is a real shame in the end. At times it feels like the makers were finally given access to the toy box, but just went crazy rather than play constructively and decisively.
Maybe it's just me, but I do honestly feel these gripes are justified as I do feel these films are unfortunately flawed in their execution, robbing them of their deserved greatness.
I get the impression that the film is punching above it's weight in terms of story importance, trying to be the "Lord of the Rings" of vampire films or something, mythical for myth's sake...if that makes sense. At times, especially with the first film, I felt like the film was shoved right up it's own arse...it felt like it knew it was unlike anything from Russia before, plus I found the story a tad on the needlessly complex side...at times it feels as if weird stuff is just happening for the sake of it, like being weird and oddly mythical is superior to letting your audience get what you're on about.
My main gripe though, are the moments, sequences or flat out stretches of the films where you're left tired out waiting for something exciting to happen, rather than scenes that don't feel at all necessary ("Day Watch" just didn't need to be 2 and a half hours long) or scenes that just drag on too long, or just plain drag.
Particularly with "Day Watch", it feels bloated. It needs to be more direct, not as poncy about it's storyline and just get the job done efficiently...they both had the potential to be great films, but their down sides really bleed over onto the good sides and muddy the over all quality of the films, which is a real shame in the end. At times it feels like the makers were finally given access to the toy box, but just went crazy rather than play constructively and decisively.
Maybe it's just me, but I do honestly feel these gripes are justified as I do feel these films are unfortunately flawed in their execution, robbing them of their deserved greatness.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
All guns blazing...
Shoot Em Up:
I'd heard little bits about this film on the internet, things like "delivers a baby during a gunfight, shags during a gunfight", so I figured this was John Woo meets thrash metal meets speed & cocaine in a blender. And indeed it was with brass-shelled-gusto.
Admittedly I didn't really bother following the twisty-weird-story, I guess every film needs a story (of some sort) even a film that takes indiscriminate action up to 11 like this film does, but who cares when Clive Owen is chomping on carrots and blazing pistols? It's genuinely entertaining, the whole film just getting more and more ridiculous with every passing minute and gunfight.
Clive Owen is beginning to carve out a niche as a gun toting badass of late, what with this and 2005's "Sin City" where he played Dwight. Everybody involved is clearly having the best time ever, and in turn the viewer has a bloody good time too. This film is sheer entertaining committed to celuloid, 'nuff said.
I'd heard little bits about this film on the internet, things like "delivers a baby during a gunfight, shags during a gunfight", so I figured this was John Woo meets thrash metal meets speed & cocaine in a blender. And indeed it was with brass-shelled-gusto.
Admittedly I didn't really bother following the twisty-weird-story, I guess every film needs a story (of some sort) even a film that takes indiscriminate action up to 11 like this film does, but who cares when Clive Owen is chomping on carrots and blazing pistols? It's genuinely entertaining, the whole film just getting more and more ridiculous with every passing minute and gunfight.
Clive Owen is beginning to carve out a niche as a gun toting badass of late, what with this and 2005's "Sin City" where he played Dwight. Everybody involved is clearly having the best time ever, and in turn the viewer has a bloody good time too. This film is sheer entertaining committed to celuloid, 'nuff said.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Continuing Contempt, and you know, stuff...
Just got back from filming a couple of insert shots for "Contempt of Conscience", we're just filling the odd little gaps, or rough spots. The film should be done sometime soon, when it's done I'll post up more information. Further projects to follow soon.
Obviously, this meant a jaunt off to Hereford, so it was a chance to test out my ankle, which is feeling better but still a bit swollen and a little iffy. 50 miles of clutching and a quick nip into GameStation for "Splinter Cell Double Agent" and "Tony Hawk's Project 8" on 2-for-£20, which is pretty darn good.
And having just watching the season 19 Simpson's Halloween episode, what the hell does Mr & Mrs Smith have to do with Halloween? It's supposed to be horror, sci-fi and maybe fantasy - not action movies. The last few Halloween specials have been a bit lame or really lame because of such things, but then again you can't compete with the one where Bart & Lisa raised the dead...season 4 if memory serves, it was the third Halloween special anyway.
Obviously, this meant a jaunt off to Hereford, so it was a chance to test out my ankle, which is feeling better but still a bit swollen and a little iffy. 50 miles of clutching and a quick nip into GameStation for "Splinter Cell Double Agent" and "Tony Hawk's Project 8" on 2-for-£20, which is pretty darn good.
And having just watching the season 19 Simpson's Halloween episode, what the hell does Mr & Mrs Smith have to do with Halloween? It's supposed to be horror, sci-fi and maybe fantasy - not action movies. The last few Halloween specials have been a bit lame or really lame because of such things, but then again you can't compete with the one where Bart & Lisa raised the dead...season 4 if memory serves, it was the third Halloween special anyway.
Friday, 2 November 2007
The post-Halloween round up - part 2...
Additionally I checked out "SAW IV", which from the off I felt was unnecessary. To be honest it was tied up nicely at the end of the third film, but they've found a way to keep it all going (albeit a bit of a naff one, just find a new apprentice in pretty much the same way as before).
I am a huge fan of the original "SAW", it was fresh, unique and the ending left my jaw on the floor (although not hacked off in a pool of blood thankfully). The follow-up however, I didn't really like. The premise wasn't as good, the characters were cut and paste bastards - whore, junkie, whiny little bitch teenager, panicky white collar worker, school-of-hard-knocks black guy and so forth. No wonder it wasn't as good, it was based on Bousman's own script for a completely different film, and James Wan did not have a hand in the script (only Leigh Whannel). However, those two chaps did have their hands in the script for "SAW III", which produced a much better film than "SAW II" I feel, the ciclical nature of the film - treading alternate and unseen angles of plot from the first two films - was what I enjoyed most ... and yes, rotted-pig-slush-device-thing was the grossest thing I've seen for a long time.
As for "SAW IV", with damn near everybody from the previous three films slaughtered - including the main man himself - you just think, what's the point? Sooner or later everyone is going to die, even if they do escape a trap, they'll just be brought back and continue to not think outside of their own boxes so they'll just get hacked up again. With the first three, particularly the first and to a lesser extent the third, you actually cared and wanted people to escape their fates (I could have barely given a thrupny toss about those in part two, bar Donnie Wahlberg).
Another gripe is the sheer scale of the tricks, devices and so on. The scale of the devices is getting a bit silly now, particularly the main set piece in this fourth outing. It's just too big, too flashy and too designed. The great thing about the first film was it was just some grotty old bogs in a grotty old tiled room and the premise of their predicament was fairly simple, yet still terrifying and horrific.
Inevitably this was going to happen to the franchise, everytime you show a bit more and get a bit more outlandish, you have to go further the next time...but can't you just make it more mentally torturous than visually icky? 100 ick units and 0 mental units (to use a bizarre equation I've just cobbled together) is nowhere near as good as 50 ick units and 50 mental units.
The sheer thought of the predicament in the first "SAW", plus the adequate (and at the time actually fairly extreme) gore was an ideal combination. No doubt this won't be the case for "SAW V" or "VI" (which are to be shot back-to-back apparently - not a good sign, most back-to-backs usually suck, and this late in the day as well - have they not seen "Return of the Living Dead 4 & 5"?!)
But to end on a higher note, what I did enjoy about "SAW IV" was the continued way the franchise circles around the same area of events and characters, minor parts from earlier films become main parts (with varied success), and events flash back to earlier events as well as parallel events. You could say that the "SAW" franchise is the new "Friday the 13th" franchise for the 2000's, but in terms of horror in general, at least this franchise seeks to link the films together with at least some depth and complexity.
I appreciate what they're doing with the franchise immensely, but they really need to look back at the first film and regain control over themselves before it gets completely ludicrous and out-of-hand. The best way to make a good sequel is to properly understand the films that preceded it, rather than the cliche of "bigger this, this and this".
I am a huge fan of the original "SAW", it was fresh, unique and the ending left my jaw on the floor (although not hacked off in a pool of blood thankfully). The follow-up however, I didn't really like. The premise wasn't as good, the characters were cut and paste bastards - whore, junkie, whiny little bitch teenager, panicky white collar worker, school-of-hard-knocks black guy and so forth. No wonder it wasn't as good, it was based on Bousman's own script for a completely different film, and James Wan did not have a hand in the script (only Leigh Whannel). However, those two chaps did have their hands in the script for "SAW III", which produced a much better film than "SAW II" I feel, the ciclical nature of the film - treading alternate and unseen angles of plot from the first two films - was what I enjoyed most ... and yes, rotted-pig-slush-device-thing was the grossest thing I've seen for a long time.
As for "SAW IV", with damn near everybody from the previous three films slaughtered - including the main man himself - you just think, what's the point? Sooner or later everyone is going to die, even if they do escape a trap, they'll just be brought back and continue to not think outside of their own boxes so they'll just get hacked up again. With the first three, particularly the first and to a lesser extent the third, you actually cared and wanted people to escape their fates (I could have barely given a thrupny toss about those in part two, bar Donnie Wahlberg).
Another gripe is the sheer scale of the tricks, devices and so on. The scale of the devices is getting a bit silly now, particularly the main set piece in this fourth outing. It's just too big, too flashy and too designed. The great thing about the first film was it was just some grotty old bogs in a grotty old tiled room and the premise of their predicament was fairly simple, yet still terrifying and horrific.
Inevitably this was going to happen to the franchise, everytime you show a bit more and get a bit more outlandish, you have to go further the next time...but can't you just make it more mentally torturous than visually icky? 100 ick units and 0 mental units (to use a bizarre equation I've just cobbled together) is nowhere near as good as 50 ick units and 50 mental units.
The sheer thought of the predicament in the first "SAW", plus the adequate (and at the time actually fairly extreme) gore was an ideal combination. No doubt this won't be the case for "SAW V" or "VI" (which are to be shot back-to-back apparently - not a good sign, most back-to-backs usually suck, and this late in the day as well - have they not seen "Return of the Living Dead 4 & 5"?!)
But to end on a higher note, what I did enjoy about "SAW IV" was the continued way the franchise circles around the same area of events and characters, minor parts from earlier films become main parts (with varied success), and events flash back to earlier events as well as parallel events. You could say that the "SAW" franchise is the new "Friday the 13th" franchise for the 2000's, but in terms of horror in general, at least this franchise seeks to link the films together with at least some depth and complexity.
I appreciate what they're doing with the franchise immensely, but they really need to look back at the first film and regain control over themselves before it gets completely ludicrous and out-of-hand. The best way to make a good sequel is to properly understand the films that preceded it, rather than the cliche of "bigger this, this and this".
The post-Halloween round up - part 1...
Well, tis the season no more ... until Guy Fawke's night ... and then the inevitable shit-fit-frenzy of the run up to Xmas.
What did I get up to horror wise? Well, I checked out the European Cut of "Dawn of the Dead" (original & best, obviously not the pointless remake), and I have to say that it's nowhere near as good as the Extended Cut aka Cannes Cut (my personal favourite, which is 139 minutes of sheer heaven). The Euro Cut is understandable, Argento recut to suit Euro audiences, who would subsequently be inundated with 'zeds-n-muff' naffness like "Zombie Lake" - although I actually really enjoyed "Zombie Lake" because it was so silly.
However, even though it's understandable, it's still not very well done. The unseen-in-English-speaking-gaffs scene extensions are a Dawn geek's treasured treat, but the exclusions - particularly NO HELICOPTER ZOMBIE, pure madness incarnate - and the soundtrack are a real shame. Superb moments are either chopped out (sometimes in favour of more footage of roaring motorbikes), or the scenes are rendered a clunky and uncomfortable because of Argento's insistence on a purely Goblin-lent soundtrack. Romero used Goblin tracks sparingly and sensibly, they fit the scenes and provided background tension. Argento uses them in a scattergun approach, fades them out abruptly, cuts them off a beat-too-late or just plonks them in the completely wrong place where they become overpowering or just unsuitable.
It is however interesting to see a movie I'm so familiar with (yes, I quote the film as it plays) in a different light, but from a technical and critical standpoint, it certainly isn't an exceptional cut of the film - now, the Extended Cut, that is the glory. All of GAR's flair and choice editing, but in greater detail. One could say that Dawn was truly Romero's epic - it's got everything plus a pie-fight after all.
Also in my Halloween season line-up was the Halloween theme latest episode of the excellent show "Reaper", certainly one of the most interesting shows to come across the pond in recent times. Otherwise, I also dug myself into "SAW IV", but I'll blog about that in a new post (above).
Monday, 29 October 2007
Long Way Down...
Nothing much to say except hooray for a new McGregor/Boorman motorbike adventure in "Long Way Down". I'm a massive fan of "Long Way Round" and likewise Boorman's solo effort in "Race to Dakar" (even though the latter's themetune was nowhere near as good as the superb Stereophonics track for LWR).
Strange though that they're using the same track from LWR for LWD, but it's been edited so that he warbles "down" rather than "round"...some sort of fancy jigger-pokery, but it's a bit uneven at the change...just thought it was kind of odd.
Anyway, just wanted to say something regarding the new show, it's a big inspiration and enjoyable to watch. Perhaps one day I'll get to play the Jimmy Simak role on something similar (Simak was the support crew cameraman by the way, also on LWR).
And I certainly know one thing I'll be wanting for Christmas - the LWD DVD, oh yes.
Strange though that they're using the same track from LWR for LWD, but it's been edited so that he warbles "down" rather than "round"...some sort of fancy jigger-pokery, but it's a bit uneven at the change...just thought it was kind of odd.
Anyway, just wanted to say something regarding the new show, it's a big inspiration and enjoyable to watch. Perhaps one day I'll get to play the Jimmy Simak role on something similar (Simak was the support crew cameraman by the way, also on LWR).
And I certainly know one thing I'll be wanting for Christmas - the LWD DVD, oh yes.
Monday, 22 October 2007
The End! ...
No, not the end of the blog, but "The End" as in the title of my new short script I started hammering out today ... I say hammering, which is quite dramatic, but it's more ponderous and considered than that ...
Anyway, yes, "Signing Off: The End" aka "The End: Signing Off" aka "The End" has begun being written. I was pacing about my room huffing and puffing with boredom and then just said "fuck it" and started writing ... this being the usual tact that gets me to start writing or editing, oddly enough. "Signing Off", the script I have in mind for Sean, is a spin off/prequel of this original idea. The idea with "Signing Off" is to have a version which I could film myself, whereas with the version I am now writing (the original idea), is an epic short. The central idea is very visual, and the visuals are vast and expansive. Ultimately I'd like to see it animated, in a quite graphic, somewhat-film-noir style - very dark and striking. With some of the visuals I'm putting down on the page, I can envision such a style suiting it down to the ground.
I might do some rough sketches of scenes from this, perhaps even get my paints out - which should hopefully still be okay and no all dried up (I did leave the caps screwed on tight!) ... I have been wanting something to have in mind that I could actually paint, really put some expression into it, rather than accuracy or realism - more an impression, a feeling for the scene. Back in high school/sixth form I took 2D and 3D art courses, so I used to do a lot of drawing/painting/etc ... but once I packed off to University that all went in sharp decline. Aside from rough storyboarding, the last thing I sketched was ... if memory serves ... in January - 2006. I feel quite guilty now, squandering a talent (although as the theory goes, the artist never likes their own stuff, or is at least ambiguous about their own artistic merits and success)...
Okay, getting too deep for this time of night ... perhaps an antithesis-reaction to a programme just on about Karl Pilkington? Hmmm...
Anyway, yes, "Signing Off: The End" aka "The End: Signing Off" aka "The End" has begun being written. I was pacing about my room huffing and puffing with boredom and then just said "fuck it" and started writing ... this being the usual tact that gets me to start writing or editing, oddly enough. "Signing Off", the script I have in mind for Sean, is a spin off/prequel of this original idea. The idea with "Signing Off" is to have a version which I could film myself, whereas with the version I am now writing (the original idea), is an epic short. The central idea is very visual, and the visuals are vast and expansive. Ultimately I'd like to see it animated, in a quite graphic, somewhat-film-noir style - very dark and striking. With some of the visuals I'm putting down on the page, I can envision such a style suiting it down to the ground.
I might do some rough sketches of scenes from this, perhaps even get my paints out - which should hopefully still be okay and no all dried up (I did leave the caps screwed on tight!) ... I have been wanting something to have in mind that I could actually paint, really put some expression into it, rather than accuracy or realism - more an impression, a feeling for the scene. Back in high school/sixth form I took 2D and 3D art courses, so I used to do a lot of drawing/painting/etc ... but once I packed off to University that all went in sharp decline. Aside from rough storyboarding, the last thing I sketched was ... if memory serves ... in January - 2006. I feel quite guilty now, squandering a talent (although as the theory goes, the artist never likes their own stuff, or is at least ambiguous about their own artistic merits and success)...
Okay, getting too deep for this time of night ... perhaps an antithesis-reaction to a programme just on about Karl Pilkington? Hmmm...
Sunday, 21 October 2007
Two's down, Three to go...
Well, I've literally just finished playing Half-Life 2: Episode Two for the second time through. For the past 4 days I've been completely addicted to this superb game. The single down side being the short length, something which plagued Episode One, but at least this one is a tad longer - but another couple of hours wouldn't hurt.
My only other minor niggle with it would have to be all the running around in underground caves in the first portion of the game, it's good, but perhaps there's a bit too much of it - something which is common in the Half-Life 2 series - too much of certain areas, but at least you're extra-pleased to see new ground once you've moved on.
Anyway, point being, it's a superb game. The graphics are perhaps a tad rusty around the edges now that the current-next-gen has come along, but in other areas the graphics have excelled - the key one being the use of High Dynamic Range lighting. It was obtrusive and sluggish-at-times in Episode One, so in-your-face in fact that it became a bit unrealistic and over-the-top, but thankfully it's been reigned in with Episode Two. Now it's used with subtlety, selection and realism.
The new car - the hot rod - is awesome fun to drive. The new countryside locale is fantastic fun to explore (even though you're a bit train-tracked, which was pretty much the case with the previous installments). But what is on offer along the way is so visually arresting that you wouldn't want to be bothered looking at other things because the scenes set before you are rich in texture and concept; key scenes if you will.
My main cheer for the game, however, has to be down to the story - the script and the performance by the voice actors (and likewise the 'acting' by the computer-generated characters). The key honour going to the character of Alyx Vance, you actually care for this character, which makes the ending all-the-more powerful - a rare feat in videogaming.
It's not often that you actually give a stuff about the characters, but the interplay is so finely tuned it's as if you're watching a movie (although here you're inside one). The quality of voice-acting, as well as how the creators have translated the performances into these CG characters is astonishingly good. If only more games had this much emotional investment and true sense of scale, of drama. It is indeed a true epic, and while Episode One was good (shakey, more-of-the-same, like a tacked-on second ending to the original game...admittedly), Episode Two is affecting. You're invested within the story, you actually care what is going on, rather than barging on to see what shit you can blow up next.
Although that said, when stuff does blow up it's awe-inspiring (the wooden buildings in the final battle with the Striders being the key example). Another enjoyable addition (or tweak) is the extent of puzzle solving throughout the game. It's not mind-breaking, far from it, but rather it's enjoyable and often results in something cool happening.
A bloody triumph, Episode Two is certainly the cream of the videogaming crop right now, and importantly - will stick close with me for a good while before it rightfully takes its place with the other classics of videogame history. Episode Three can't possibly come soon enough!
My only other minor niggle with it would have to be all the running around in underground caves in the first portion of the game, it's good, but perhaps there's a bit too much of it - something which is common in the Half-Life 2 series - too much of certain areas, but at least you're extra-pleased to see new ground once you've moved on.
Anyway, point being, it's a superb game. The graphics are perhaps a tad rusty around the edges now that the current-next-gen has come along, but in other areas the graphics have excelled - the key one being the use of High Dynamic Range lighting. It was obtrusive and sluggish-at-times in Episode One, so in-your-face in fact that it became a bit unrealistic and over-the-top, but thankfully it's been reigned in with Episode Two. Now it's used with subtlety, selection and realism.
The new car - the hot rod - is awesome fun to drive. The new countryside locale is fantastic fun to explore (even though you're a bit train-tracked, which was pretty much the case with the previous installments). But what is on offer along the way is so visually arresting that you wouldn't want to be bothered looking at other things because the scenes set before you are rich in texture and concept; key scenes if you will.
My main cheer for the game, however, has to be down to the story - the script and the performance by the voice actors (and likewise the 'acting' by the computer-generated characters). The key honour going to the character of Alyx Vance, you actually care for this character, which makes the ending all-the-more powerful - a rare feat in videogaming.
It's not often that you actually give a stuff about the characters, but the interplay is so finely tuned it's as if you're watching a movie (although here you're inside one). The quality of voice-acting, as well as how the creators have translated the performances into these CG characters is astonishingly good. If only more games had this much emotional investment and true sense of scale, of drama. It is indeed a true epic, and while Episode One was good (shakey, more-of-the-same, like a tacked-on second ending to the original game...admittedly), Episode Two is affecting. You're invested within the story, you actually care what is going on, rather than barging on to see what shit you can blow up next.
Although that said, when stuff does blow up it's awe-inspiring (the wooden buildings in the final battle with the Striders being the key example). Another enjoyable addition (or tweak) is the extent of puzzle solving throughout the game. It's not mind-breaking, far from it, but rather it's enjoyable and often results in something cool happening.
A bloody triumph, Episode Two is certainly the cream of the videogaming crop right now, and importantly - will stick close with me for a good while before it rightfully takes its place with the other classics of videogame history. Episode Three can't possibly come soon enough!
Sunday, 14 October 2007
I've got the scripting bug, people...
Well, the third draft of "Signing Off" is done, I've done a 'write up to bank' of "Penalty" (an idea I never followed through with back in 2005) - by which I mean, have a short script for something that could be filmed as-and-when, in the 'bank' so-to-speak, rather than having nothing 'in the bank'...you never know when you might need to whip out a short script for something.
So with that in mind, and with the short script for "VHS-2" also banked, I'm going to write yet another short script, which will be a write-up of the original idea for "Signing Off", but I'll re-title it "The End: Signing Off" or "Signing Off: The End" or just "The End" ... my thoughts being that I'd seek to have it animated by someone (because the scale of the idea is huge, compared to the small-scale-low-key vibe of "Signing Off", which is kind of a live-action-prequel to "The End"). I'd also be thinking of setting "The End" in America, so I'd be on the look out for an American to do the voice over work...again, this is for the DeadShed Productions script bank, so who knows when it'll get done - or if - if you wanna be 'glass half empty' about it all, ha!
With all this script-banking in mind, I've even dug out some other rough-note ideas I've had hanging around, including one for an exploitation type comedy-parody-thing, an idea I came up with long before I'd even heard mention of "Grindhouse", so no - the idea isn't a rip-off.
So this kind of puts my feature comedy script - which admittedly is a long-term project, as opposed to the short-time vibes of these short scripts I've been hammering out 'for the DeadShed bank' - is currently living up to it's name ("Generation Procrastination"), because I've been faffing about with it a bit - however, when I do get into a session writing it (after all, it's something I'm chipping away at) then I bash out the pages like nobody's business - anyway, point being it'll get done all in good time, when it feels right to continue writing it, as-and-when that might be, then well ... that's how it'll be. And as I've said before most likely, once that is done, I've got a feature horror script in mind I want to write.
Then of course ... there's the issue of "I Am Zombie Man 3" ... a project which is on the horizon in a "when we can get to it" sort of situation, I don't want to force it, because I want to make it a fantastic cap-off to the trilogy, really push the boat out - certainly because I'll be dropping some cash on it, unlike previous shorts I've made which have been 'done-for-nout' experiments/works of passion.
Okay, I've rambled on again, so I'll shut up and go prepare for the brand new Top Gear episode, a mere hour away! :)
So with that in mind, and with the short script for "VHS-2" also banked, I'm going to write yet another short script, which will be a write-up of the original idea for "Signing Off", but I'll re-title it "The End: Signing Off" or "Signing Off: The End" or just "The End" ... my thoughts being that I'd seek to have it animated by someone (because the scale of the idea is huge, compared to the small-scale-low-key vibe of "Signing Off", which is kind of a live-action-prequel to "The End"). I'd also be thinking of setting "The End" in America, so I'd be on the look out for an American to do the voice over work...again, this is for the DeadShed Productions script bank, so who knows when it'll get done - or if - if you wanna be 'glass half empty' about it all, ha!
With all this script-banking in mind, I've even dug out some other rough-note ideas I've had hanging around, including one for an exploitation type comedy-parody-thing, an idea I came up with long before I'd even heard mention of "Grindhouse", so no - the idea isn't a rip-off.
So this kind of puts my feature comedy script - which admittedly is a long-term project, as opposed to the short-time vibes of these short scripts I've been hammering out 'for the DeadShed bank' - is currently living up to it's name ("Generation Procrastination"), because I've been faffing about with it a bit - however, when I do get into a session writing it (after all, it's something I'm chipping away at) then I bash out the pages like nobody's business - anyway, point being it'll get done all in good time, when it feels right to continue writing it, as-and-when that might be, then well ... that's how it'll be. And as I've said before most likely, once that is done, I've got a feature horror script in mind I want to write.
Then of course ... there's the issue of "I Am Zombie Man 3" ... a project which is on the horizon in a "when we can get to it" sort of situation, I don't want to force it, because I want to make it a fantastic cap-off to the trilogy, really push the boat out - certainly because I'll be dropping some cash on it, unlike previous shorts I've made which have been 'done-for-nout' experiments/works of passion.
Okay, I've rambled on again, so I'll shut up and go prepare for the brand new Top Gear episode, a mere hour away! :)
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Scripting round the bend...
Tried to create a funky title, but failed miserably...so on with the blog-juice.
Finished my "Round the Bend" memory-lane sesh, it has to be said that Doc Croc is officially awesome, nuff said.
Also fancied a re-watch of Jake West's excellent "Evil Aliens", after reading an interview with him in the Guerrilla Filmmaker's Handbook. I loved the film when I first saw it, still love it. It's superb British indie horror-comedy at it's finest, plenty of gore, plenty of flesh, plenty of gags, and plenty good ideas well executed.
Also recently re-watched the cast commentary on "Deadlands: The Rising", all inspired to do so after seeing some of the behind the scenes pics and video for "Trapped", Gary Ugarek's new indie zombie flick that's currently filming and is sure to be awesome. I certainly look forward to seeing it.
But what with being ousted from the TV room because of the Rugby, I sat down to do some script writing. Both 'banking' a one-page-script for a football-themed comic short (strange for me as I despise football), but it's based on (or really just a proper script write-up of) an idea I had for the Nokia Shorts 2005 competition - something which I ended up not getting around to filming. I'd entered the year before with an experimental short using footage shot during a location scout for "my NIGHTMARE" in the summer of 2004.
The main thing though, is that I knuckled down - again with a reluctant muse evading me - and bashed out the second draft of "Signing Off". I might do a small polish for a third draft, but I don't know - depends if there's anything I suddenly think of wanting to add to the monologue. I think I said before, but can't be arsed to look, but I'm writing it for Sean Connell, brother of Ben Connell who played 'BenZee' in "I Am Zombie Man 2", and appeared in the likes of "Smack Addict" and "Trapped" - speaking of "Trapped", Sean also appeared in that and officially became a legend when he took a throat-load of fake blood (food colouring & washing up liquid) after his brother over-zealously gushed a load of it in his face. Bravo to Sean for providing some quality gory-blood-dribble shots before literally washing his mouth out with soap - ergo - LEGEND.
More information on "Signing Off" will be posted as-and-when, same goes for "I Am Zombie Man 3", on which I've been trying out some rough ideas for the title sequence, rendering out raw shots to use later - get some of the leg work out of the way, you know.
Finished my "Round the Bend" memory-lane sesh, it has to be said that Doc Croc is officially awesome, nuff said.
Also fancied a re-watch of Jake West's excellent "Evil Aliens", after reading an interview with him in the Guerrilla Filmmaker's Handbook. I loved the film when I first saw it, still love it. It's superb British indie horror-comedy at it's finest, plenty of gore, plenty of flesh, plenty of gags, and plenty good ideas well executed.
Also recently re-watched the cast commentary on "Deadlands: The Rising", all inspired to do so after seeing some of the behind the scenes pics and video for "Trapped", Gary Ugarek's new indie zombie flick that's currently filming and is sure to be awesome. I certainly look forward to seeing it.
But what with being ousted from the TV room because of the Rugby, I sat down to do some script writing. Both 'banking' a one-page-script for a football-themed comic short (strange for me as I despise football), but it's based on (or really just a proper script write-up of) an idea I had for the Nokia Shorts 2005 competition - something which I ended up not getting around to filming. I'd entered the year before with an experimental short using footage shot during a location scout for "my NIGHTMARE" in the summer of 2004.
The main thing though, is that I knuckled down - again with a reluctant muse evading me - and bashed out the second draft of "Signing Off". I might do a small polish for a third draft, but I don't know - depends if there's anything I suddenly think of wanting to add to the monologue. I think I said before, but can't be arsed to look, but I'm writing it for Sean Connell, brother of Ben Connell who played 'BenZee' in "I Am Zombie Man 2", and appeared in the likes of "Smack Addict" and "Trapped" - speaking of "Trapped", Sean also appeared in that and officially became a legend when he took a throat-load of fake blood (food colouring & washing up liquid) after his brother over-zealously gushed a load of it in his face. Bravo to Sean for providing some quality gory-blood-dribble shots before literally washing his mouth out with soap - ergo - LEGEND.
More information on "Signing Off" will be posted as-and-when, same goes for "I Am Zombie Man 3", on which I've been trying out some rough ideas for the title sequence, rendering out raw shots to use later - get some of the leg work out of the way, you know.
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
My war isn't over, Adrian...
Well, after finishing "A Bridge Too Far", I decided to re-visit the "Rambo" trilogy (soon to join the legion of "4th in the series of" sequels of recent times (the trailer looking awesome), and I have to say, the first movie is awesome. The 2nd and 3rd are good, but not awesome, nor shite...but not superb, although I get their reason for being - 2nd movie is Rambo returning to Vietnam, 3rd movie is Rambo's modern day Vietnam, after ending his personal war with Vietnam he needed a new war to fight, so it ended up being in Afghanistan ... although being thoroughly perplexed by Middle Eastern politics, I don't know where "Rambo 3" fits in with all the shite going on over there now.
All this talk of "Rambo" though, does remind me of the hilarious, yet fully justified, rant from the Angry Nintendo Nerd regarding film franchises and the titles - such as these films:
1) First Blood
2) Rambo: First Blood 2
3) Rambo 3
4) John Rambo
There's not the consistency of Stallone's other franchise, that is the utterly superb "Rocky" series - solid Roman Numberals all the way till the last one, which as we all should know is "Rocky Balboa" - although that is fully justified, it was such a long gap since "Rocky V", and it exists in a different time, whereas the previous films were all quite quick-fired out, or within the same range of time ... it's why I guess "Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0" makes sense ... technically ... I say technically, because both those titles suck - just call THAT film "DIE HARD 4" and leave it be, but as Stallone is actually a Jack of several trades, he does inject his own soul into his heroes - particularly Rocky - so I think it makes complete sense of cap-off his two biggest characters by titling their final films after the protagonist.
I recently re-watched the second half of "Rocky II", recent as in yesterday morning when I was waiting to use the internet, and it just reminded me of how awesome those films are (well, the fifth is a bit tosh, but with all the Tommy Gun crap taken about, it's actually still pretty good, because it advances the story of Rocky Balboa onwards). Plus - the soundtrack is just awesome, I listened to the 'best of' compilation whilst doing some title sequence tests for "I Am Zombie Man 3", and considering the story of "IAZM3", whilst listening to the "Rocky" soundtrack, it just fit really well ... the vibes being somewhat similar.
All this talk of "Rambo" though, does remind me of the hilarious, yet fully justified, rant from the Angry Nintendo Nerd regarding film franchises and the titles - such as these films:
1) First Blood
2) Rambo: First Blood 2
3) Rambo 3
4) John Rambo
There's not the consistency of Stallone's other franchise, that is the utterly superb "Rocky" series - solid Roman Numberals all the way till the last one, which as we all should know is "Rocky Balboa" - although that is fully justified, it was such a long gap since "Rocky V", and it exists in a different time, whereas the previous films were all quite quick-fired out, or within the same range of time ... it's why I guess "Live Free or Die Hard/Die Hard 4.0" makes sense ... technically ... I say technically, because both those titles suck - just call THAT film "DIE HARD 4" and leave it be, but as Stallone is actually a Jack of several trades, he does inject his own soul into his heroes - particularly Rocky - so I think it makes complete sense of cap-off his two biggest characters by titling their final films after the protagonist.
I recently re-watched the second half of "Rocky II", recent as in yesterday morning when I was waiting to use the internet, and it just reminded me of how awesome those films are (well, the fifth is a bit tosh, but with all the Tommy Gun crap taken about, it's actually still pretty good, because it advances the story of Rocky Balboa onwards). Plus - the soundtrack is just awesome, I listened to the 'best of' compilation whilst doing some title sequence tests for "I Am Zombie Man 3", and considering the story of "IAZM3", whilst listening to the "Rocky" soundtrack, it just fit really well ... the vibes being somewhat similar.
Another charge through a bunch of stuff...
As I sit here re-listening to the excellent "Venus Doom" album by HIM, I figured I'd catch up on some blogging and barge out some thoughts...
1) Danny's Underground Slacker Blogcast was actually rather entertaining and enjoyable (even if I didn't get all the stuff about Japanese videogames and such), bring more on says I, it's like a UK version of SModcast, but all about nerdy media-based chit-chat.
2) Having finally tracked down "Blastazoid" online, I can now agree with many by saying that yes, it's a complete load of tosh - I think even Dico, one of the chaps behind it, thought it was pish.
3) Recently I've been on a PGR3 mish, barging through it some more after having had a brief return to the excellent Crackdown so I could jump around more rooftops and go orb collecting. However, I've suddenly had a change of heart and returned to Rainbow Six Vegas to try and get past a bit that caused me to put it on my shelf after getting stuck and huffing & puffing with frustration, dropping the f-bomb every-other-word ... and as per usual, once returning, another 3 or 4 tries and I'm past the bit that stuck me so often before, with ease (it happened at two points on Gears of War - the first Beserker and then at the petrol station). So now I'm all about R6V again.
4) The reason I'd gone back to bosh out some more PGR3 being, I wanted to get more out of it in case I decided to take the plunge and cash-out for PGR4, which does look lush, it has to be said...but now I'm figuring I might hold off, because of playing PGR3 - I'm now on the lookout for more shooting, hence a return to R6V ... but does this mean after Vegas I will go for PGR4, or does it still mean I'd fancy dropping the dosh on Call of Duty 4, which - again - looks absolutely 'tastic-groovy. It was a 50/50 for a while there, until earlier when I spied the Limited Edition, which does look tasty for an extra fiver ... so perhaps the deal is already sealed in my head, who knows ... yes I know, it's all about the major, key decisions in life with me isn't it?! HA!
5) As said recently, I've been on a scripting mish of late, but battling the lack of creative muse most of the way, well, sine last time I've actually sat down and powered out the rest (which was the majority) of the first draft of "Signing Off", a script for a short film that's kind of about zombies, but doesn't feature any zombies - it's a short that I want to make which is almost entirely based around the central performance. The idea is it would be a nice 5 minute short, something easy to achieve, but something that will look and play well and add to the over all filmmaking experience - this time I want to focus more on performance.
6) It seems to all be about text recently, either I'm writing it or I'm reading it. With the latest Total Film dispensed with, bar a couple of features I've still got to bosh through, there's been "World War Z", which I've been thoroughly enjoying (here's hoping the film adaption, should it happen, will be rather spiffing and put some much-needed thought back into the zombie genre without having to wait for George A. Romero to come back and do some good, but GAR will always be the zombie master). Anyway - then at the same time I'm pouring over "Grindhouse: The Sleaze-Filled Saga of an Exploitation Double Feature" making-of book regarding, well, "Grindhouse"...the superb, yet Weinstein-wasted, slice of underappreciated genius.
7) South Park is back - and fucking-dick-shit-blood-belchingly hilarious...not my words, Eric Cartman's words ... okay that's not true, but he did swear a shitting boat load throughout, which yes, I found absolutely hilarious, while still maintaining that tourettes is a terrible affliction (hey, Big Brother 7 - I was behind Pete all the way) ... but you know how it is, South Park nails another great episode - you've got to love a stream of unsuspecting paedophiles blowing their brains out in front of Chriiiiiis Haaaansaaaaaahhhn, roflburgers!
8) Top Gear is back! Oh yes!
1) Danny's Underground Slacker Blogcast was actually rather entertaining and enjoyable (even if I didn't get all the stuff about Japanese videogames and such), bring more on says I, it's like a UK version of SModcast, but all about nerdy media-based chit-chat.
2) Having finally tracked down "Blastazoid" online, I can now agree with many by saying that yes, it's a complete load of tosh - I think even Dico, one of the chaps behind it, thought it was pish.
3) Recently I've been on a PGR3 mish, barging through it some more after having had a brief return to the excellent Crackdown so I could jump around more rooftops and go orb collecting. However, I've suddenly had a change of heart and returned to Rainbow Six Vegas to try and get past a bit that caused me to put it on my shelf after getting stuck and huffing & puffing with frustration, dropping the f-bomb every-other-word ... and as per usual, once returning, another 3 or 4 tries and I'm past the bit that stuck me so often before, with ease (it happened at two points on Gears of War - the first Beserker and then at the petrol station). So now I'm all about R6V again.
4) The reason I'd gone back to bosh out some more PGR3 being, I wanted to get more out of it in case I decided to take the plunge and cash-out for PGR4, which does look lush, it has to be said...but now I'm figuring I might hold off, because of playing PGR3 - I'm now on the lookout for more shooting, hence a return to R6V ... but does this mean after Vegas I will go for PGR4, or does it still mean I'd fancy dropping the dosh on Call of Duty 4, which - again - looks absolutely 'tastic-groovy. It was a 50/50 for a while there, until earlier when I spied the Limited Edition, which does look tasty for an extra fiver ... so perhaps the deal is already sealed in my head, who knows ... yes I know, it's all about the major, key decisions in life with me isn't it?! HA!
5) As said recently, I've been on a scripting mish of late, but battling the lack of creative muse most of the way, well, sine last time I've actually sat down and powered out the rest (which was the majority) of the first draft of "Signing Off", a script for a short film that's kind of about zombies, but doesn't feature any zombies - it's a short that I want to make which is almost entirely based around the central performance. The idea is it would be a nice 5 minute short, something easy to achieve, but something that will look and play well and add to the over all filmmaking experience - this time I want to focus more on performance.
6) It seems to all be about text recently, either I'm writing it or I'm reading it. With the latest Total Film dispensed with, bar a couple of features I've still got to bosh through, there's been "World War Z", which I've been thoroughly enjoying (here's hoping the film adaption, should it happen, will be rather spiffing and put some much-needed thought back into the zombie genre without having to wait for George A. Romero to come back and do some good, but GAR will always be the zombie master). Anyway - then at the same time I'm pouring over "Grindhouse: The Sleaze-Filled Saga of an Exploitation Double Feature" making-of book regarding, well, "Grindhouse"...the superb, yet Weinstein-wasted, slice of underappreciated genius.
7) South Park is back - and fucking-dick-shit-blood-belchingly hilarious...not my words, Eric Cartman's words ... okay that's not true, but he did swear a shitting boat load throughout, which yes, I found absolutely hilarious, while still maintaining that tourettes is a terrible affliction (hey, Big Brother 7 - I was behind Pete all the way) ... but you know how it is, South Park nails another great episode - you've got to love a stream of unsuspecting paedophiles blowing their brains out in front of Chriiiiiis Haaaansaaaaaahhhn, roflburgers!
8) Top Gear is back! Oh yes!
Blog juice, it doesn't come in a jar...
That's right, blog juice comes from who you are ... if you don't remember or appreciate that kids summer camp-based reality TV show for kids, that used to be shown in the UK on Channel 4 during the summer holidays, then you're a ... a ... nob, ha!
Why the random glance back in TV time? I've been strolling down TV memory lane at Homepage of the Dead with fellow TV afficianados, and was promptly over-joyed when I was kindly reminded of the glory that was "Pugwall's Summer", again a Channel 4 summer holiday must-watch ... at least I think it was Channel 4, most shows were - like the likes of "Alex Mack", that toxic teen who'd puddle under doors and so forth.
Anyway - point being, I've been on a massive Round the Bend bender, yes pun-tastic wasn't it...and actually surprisingly anarchic and non-PC ... oh those were the days, back when a Cockney crocodile living in a sewer could call his viewers "benders" and not mean it to mean anything other than someone who watched Round the BEND...glorious. You can't beat a show which runs a horror serial styled like a 1950s B-Movie called "False Teeth from Beyond the Stars", to be honest.
So indeed, it's been a slew of YouTube visits for the likes of Fun House, Finders Keepers, Huxley Pig ("oink oink"), Crapston Villas (although yes, that was an adult animation back in the day that I'd try my utmost to craftily record or watch whenever possible like any other self-respecting kid my age) and most importantly above all (yes, even above Round the Bend) - The Real Ghostbusters, my absolute favourite cartoon from my kid-hood...all the better for the nerdgasm being that Bill Murray (who played real-life Peter Venkman) played the voice of Garfield in the CGI movie, a character who was voiced (in the cartoon version) by proper leg-end Lorenzo Music, who also voiced the cartoon version of Peter Venkman ... even more nerd-tastic (yet kinda naff), was that apparently (according to fellow Ghostbuster obsessive Bassman311 at HPOTD) Murray had LM fired as the voice of cartoon Venkman because it made him sound too much like Garfield! Now that's some crazy shit ... I hope I got that last bit correct, it's new to me - just going to show that my chap Bassman311 is a larger GB fan that I, well not necessarily larger, he just obsesses more than I over it ... and I absolutely love the movies and show and had a shedload of the toys as a kid (most of which I still have in my possession)...
Anyway ... onwards ... to something, I duno...
Why the random glance back in TV time? I've been strolling down TV memory lane at Homepage of the Dead with fellow TV afficianados, and was promptly over-joyed when I was kindly reminded of the glory that was "Pugwall's Summer", again a Channel 4 summer holiday must-watch ... at least I think it was Channel 4, most shows were - like the likes of "Alex Mack", that toxic teen who'd puddle under doors and so forth.
Anyway - point being, I've been on a massive Round the Bend bender, yes pun-tastic wasn't it...and actually surprisingly anarchic and non-PC ... oh those were the days, back when a Cockney crocodile living in a sewer could call his viewers "benders" and not mean it to mean anything other than someone who watched Round the BEND...glorious. You can't beat a show which runs a horror serial styled like a 1950s B-Movie called "False Teeth from Beyond the Stars", to be honest.
So indeed, it's been a slew of YouTube visits for the likes of Fun House, Finders Keepers, Huxley Pig ("oink oink"), Crapston Villas (although yes, that was an adult animation back in the day that I'd try my utmost to craftily record or watch whenever possible like any other self-respecting kid my age) and most importantly above all (yes, even above Round the Bend) - The Real Ghostbusters, my absolute favourite cartoon from my kid-hood...all the better for the nerdgasm being that Bill Murray (who played real-life Peter Venkman) played the voice of Garfield in the CGI movie, a character who was voiced (in the cartoon version) by proper leg-end Lorenzo Music, who also voiced the cartoon version of Peter Venkman ... even more nerd-tastic (yet kinda naff), was that apparently (according to fellow Ghostbuster obsessive Bassman311 at HPOTD) Murray had LM fired as the voice of cartoon Venkman because it made him sound too much like Garfield! Now that's some crazy shit ... I hope I got that last bit correct, it's new to me - just going to show that my chap Bassman311 is a larger GB fan that I, well not necessarily larger, he just obsesses more than I over it ... and I absolutely love the movies and show and had a shedload of the toys as a kid (most of which I still have in my possession)...
Anyway ... onwards ... to something, I duno...
Friday, 5 October 2007
Oh memory lane...
I've recently discovered 12 episodes of "Round the Bend" on YouTube, gawd bless it, and have been watching my way through those gradually...well, I've done 3 so far. Anyway, oh the memories that came flooding back, some quality kids TV with a real anarchic bite - moreso than I remember - plus it's quite politically incorrect and has a lot of toilet humour, which is just what you want as a kid ... then that bitch Mary-fucking-Whitehouse came along and spoiled everyone's fun and it got shafted off the air, thanks a lot.
Still - "False Teeth from Beyond the Stars" - how could you not love this show?!
Oh well, "A Bridge Too Far" has been polished off, very good indeed, next up I'm going to go on a "Rambo" bender with all three films...
...
Otherwise, I've been in a bit of a creative dip these last couple of weeks, the muse has escaped me. After ploughing through to the end of the first act in my feature script, I took a break and started thinking of another script idea - for a short I'd wanna film - it's called "Signing Off", and I started writing it, but again, the muse fucked off home. So I forced myself to plan some of it out, and I'm going to make a concerted effort in the next few days to sit down and right the damn thing, it's only a short piece, so I just want to get it written and "in the bank" so-to-speak.
Then I can go back to the feature script, after which I've got another feature to write, as well as an alternate version/sequel/follow up to "Signing Off"...in fact, the short idea I'm writing is actually a prequel/alternate version of the original idea in fact. The original idea being of quite a large scale (I was thinking of it in terms of animation too), but the version I'm trying to get written at the moment would be live action.
Let's just hope I can get that bloody muse to get off her arse and lodge back in my brain...oh delicious...
Now though - new My Name Is Earl and Danny's Underground Slacker blogcast.
Still - "False Teeth from Beyond the Stars" - how could you not love this show?!
Oh well, "A Bridge Too Far" has been polished off, very good indeed, next up I'm going to go on a "Rambo" bender with all three films...
...
Otherwise, I've been in a bit of a creative dip these last couple of weeks, the muse has escaped me. After ploughing through to the end of the first act in my feature script, I took a break and started thinking of another script idea - for a short I'd wanna film - it's called "Signing Off", and I started writing it, but again, the muse fucked off home. So I forced myself to plan some of it out, and I'm going to make a concerted effort in the next few days to sit down and right the damn thing, it's only a short piece, so I just want to get it written and "in the bank" so-to-speak.
Then I can go back to the feature script, after which I've got another feature to write, as well as an alternate version/sequel/follow up to "Signing Off"...in fact, the short idea I'm writing is actually a prequel/alternate version of the original idea in fact. The original idea being of quite a large scale (I was thinking of it in terms of animation too), but the version I'm trying to get written at the moment would be live action.
Let's just hope I can get that bloody muse to get off her arse and lodge back in my brain...oh delicious...
Now though - new My Name Is Earl and Danny's Underground Slacker blogcast.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
Reaper...and you know, stuff...
Well, the monster sesh of American TV has kicked off with the likes of all the classic 'toons (especially South Park - woohoo), but of all the shows kicking off recently, "Reaper" fucking rocks more than most, and actually has me laughing out loud, which is something I rarely do when viewing stuff on my own.
So if you haven't seen it, check it out. I forget the character's name, but the lazy chunky side-kick guy is pure genius and the funniest thing on the planet right now for me pretty much.
...
On other things, I'm still watching "A Bridge Too Far", rather good stuff - an odd mix between classic British stiff-upper-lips, American bravado and 'early Saving Private Ryan'-ish focus on bloody deaths...a true epic, back in the day before CGI came along and made everything easy, no...these guys were actually out there with a shedload of planes parachuting people and blowing up buildings, respect where respect is due.
...
Also, "Contempt of Conscience" is almost finished, it's just a case of plugging some small gaps and the final editing sessions, then it's all about getting it out there, so I'll be posting up new info as-and-when on that project.
...
And now ... off to see the new episode of "South Park", play more PGR3 (gotta get some more money's worth out of it before PGR4 turns up and no doubt "pwns" ass left-right-and-centre), get some reading done (juggling the new issue of Total Film, "World War Z" and the 'making of' book of "Grindhouse").
So if you haven't seen it, check it out. I forget the character's name, but the lazy chunky side-kick guy is pure genius and the funniest thing on the planet right now for me pretty much.
...
On other things, I'm still watching "A Bridge Too Far", rather good stuff - an odd mix between classic British stiff-upper-lips, American bravado and 'early Saving Private Ryan'-ish focus on bloody deaths...a true epic, back in the day before CGI came along and made everything easy, no...these guys were actually out there with a shedload of planes parachuting people and blowing up buildings, respect where respect is due.
...
Also, "Contempt of Conscience" is almost finished, it's just a case of plugging some small gaps and the final editing sessions, then it's all about getting it out there, so I'll be posting up new info as-and-when on that project.
...
And now ... off to see the new episode of "South Park", play more PGR3 (gotta get some more money's worth out of it before PGR4 turns up and no doubt "pwns" ass left-right-and-centre), get some reading done (juggling the new issue of Total Film, "World War Z" and the 'making of' book of "Grindhouse").
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Another slew of new movie viewings...
Well, it's been a while since my last round up of new flicks I've recently checked out, so here goes with as little ramble as possible:
"The Host" - a foreign monster movie without (for a lot of the time anyway) a monster. At least it isn't a guy in a suit falling on styrofoam buildings, but I felt it was overlong, the central plot being a bit too thin and a bit too "meh" in general. I appreciate what it's trying to do, or what it's there to do, but I personally wasn't bothered by it in general. It was okay, but yeah...
"Ocean's 13" - it's certainly not as good as the first in the new-version-chise - but it kicks the nuts right off "Ocean's 12" which was just a bunch of stuff happening in Europe, with the majority of the so-called 12 getting nary-a-look-in...which was partially the case with 13 as well, but nowhere near as much. It felt much more like the first, even if Pacino was kinda wasted for the most part (no real "GREAT ASS!!!" type moments here I'm afraid). Over all, it's fun, it's intensely stylish (if only more Hollywood fair was pieced together this excitingly) and you can kick back to it quite easily, if you liked the first you'll no doubt dig this one...but leave "Ocean's 12" well alone, it's just cack...stylishly edited cack though.
"1408" - John Cusack = awesome. New Stephen King adaptation = awesome. "1408" = alright, a bit up & down. It starts well, and it continues that way at least up until the half-way point, perhaps a little further. But it is as soon as all the really obviously supernatural stuff starts happening (i.e. the stuff beyond a crazy alarm clock and scary window), that it starts to crumble a bit, taking a bit of a detour, and then re-adjusting to a solid-enough ending (part of which I found to be quite visually arresting, many kudos going to Cusak's performance). Definitely worth a watch, not superb, but there are far worse King adaps out there...although "The Shining" this is not.
"Knocked Up" - what can I say? Absolutely balls-out hilarious, maybe a little less-so than "40 Year Old Virgin", but probably only because this film is a chunk more sentimental (but not sickeningly so, rather in a growing up & moving on kinda manner). The extended version is definitely better than the theatrical (same as with "40YrOV"), because there is a decent dollop more in the way of irreverent guy-gang trash talk and dick jokes. Seth Rogen is a LEG-END, nuff said. I absolutely cannot wait to see "Superbad" - NICE!
Yes, I know it seems like all I do is watch movies all day, but I don't ... I play Xbox too! :)
"The Host" - a foreign monster movie without (for a lot of the time anyway) a monster. At least it isn't a guy in a suit falling on styrofoam buildings, but I felt it was overlong, the central plot being a bit too thin and a bit too "meh" in general. I appreciate what it's trying to do, or what it's there to do, but I personally wasn't bothered by it in general. It was okay, but yeah...
"Ocean's 13" - it's certainly not as good as the first in the new-version-chise - but it kicks the nuts right off "Ocean's 12" which was just a bunch of stuff happening in Europe, with the majority of the so-called 12 getting nary-a-look-in...which was partially the case with 13 as well, but nowhere near as much. It felt much more like the first, even if Pacino was kinda wasted for the most part (no real "GREAT ASS!!!" type moments here I'm afraid). Over all, it's fun, it's intensely stylish (if only more Hollywood fair was pieced together this excitingly) and you can kick back to it quite easily, if you liked the first you'll no doubt dig this one...but leave "Ocean's 12" well alone, it's just cack...stylishly edited cack though.
"1408" - John Cusack = awesome. New Stephen King adaptation = awesome. "1408" = alright, a bit up & down. It starts well, and it continues that way at least up until the half-way point, perhaps a little further. But it is as soon as all the really obviously supernatural stuff starts happening (i.e. the stuff beyond a crazy alarm clock and scary window), that it starts to crumble a bit, taking a bit of a detour, and then re-adjusting to a solid-enough ending (part of which I found to be quite visually arresting, many kudos going to Cusak's performance). Definitely worth a watch, not superb, but there are far worse King adaps out there...although "The Shining" this is not.
"Knocked Up" - what can I say? Absolutely balls-out hilarious, maybe a little less-so than "40 Year Old Virgin", but probably only because this film is a chunk more sentimental (but not sickeningly so, rather in a growing up & moving on kinda manner). The extended version is definitely better than the theatrical (same as with "40YrOV"), because there is a decent dollop more in the way of irreverent guy-gang trash talk and dick jokes. Seth Rogen is a LEG-END, nuff said. I absolutely cannot wait to see "Superbad" - NICE!
Yes, I know it seems like all I do is watch movies all day, but I don't ... I play Xbox too! :)
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Surfing through new viewing adventures...
Or, in other words, me catching up with films I've had recorded off TV on video for years and have only just got around to watching! It's always the way, too many movies, not enough time to watch them all...and inevitably you end up with a bunch unwatched (I've even got "The African Queen" on DVD which I bought years ago but still haven't watched, hell, a friend borrowed it and watched it years ago and I've still not sat down and checked it out).
Anyway, first up it was "The Thing From Another World", and for what it is (guy in a suit, loosely based on the source story), it's actually pretty good fun, took me back to my Uni days watching old black & white films...obviously, Carpenter's rendition is infinitely superior (and still utterly terrifying), but the old rendition was quite enjoyable...I don't know why it took me so long to get around to watching it, I had it polished off in no time (despite it not being the longest film anyway, sometimes it can take me a while to get through a film I've been putting off for a long time, but not in this case...I would have seen it straight through had I not had some filming to do elsewhere that day...)
Next up, and on the same videotape, "The Wild Bunch", another film I'd been leaving for ages unwatched. Well...I think I'm more a "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" kinda guy personally, although when the action kicks off in TWB, I have to admit it's rather spiffing and I certainly do appreciate it's place within Westerns but also Western Cinema...mind you, I prefer "Straw Dogs" in terms of Peckinpah (a film I must re-watch sometime soon, much like "The Crazies", which I've been hankering for of late...and yes I know, that's a George Romero movie...but you know what I meant regardless).
Then - "Chopper" - I'd had this recorded for me whilst I was away at Uni, if memory serves, and FilmFour were doing one of their free weekends (back when they had cash and were a extra-fee-based service). Eric Bana - brilliant in this - a charming nutter brought to life. Not really sure whether there was much over all point to the film, or over all arc to the story, it almost felt like a collection of moments or sections of time in the title character's life (yes, I know he's real, but again, you know what I meant). Fortunately it was of mere running time, so it didn't out-stay it's welcome.
And finally - and currently - "Blue Velvet". I've often seen the same bit on Sky (with Kyle Mc-thingymy in the cupboard watching Hopper go nuts), and once again, never really got around to sitting down to watch it. So far I'm 30 minutes in, interesting...but I'll have to finish it off before I'd even attempt to comment, not that I predict I'll really understand most of what is going on - take "Eraserhead" for example. I famously took a good 2 or 3 months to actually finish the film, watching it for no longer than 10 minutes at a time because it wigged me out so much, it was just too much weirdness and freakiness and that damn bird-person-baby-thing wailing just sent me off every time...a wailing baby just creeps me out man *picks nose* ... (if you didn't get that vague reference, pfft, whatever mate, yeah? lol...)
So yes...I must try and crack on with "The African Queen" as well, and get that return-viewing of "The Crazies" done and dusted as well...
Such a hard life isn't it? YARGH!!!
Anyway, first up it was "The Thing From Another World", and for what it is (guy in a suit, loosely based on the source story), it's actually pretty good fun, took me back to my Uni days watching old black & white films...obviously, Carpenter's rendition is infinitely superior (and still utterly terrifying), but the old rendition was quite enjoyable...I don't know why it took me so long to get around to watching it, I had it polished off in no time (despite it not being the longest film anyway, sometimes it can take me a while to get through a film I've been putting off for a long time, but not in this case...I would have seen it straight through had I not had some filming to do elsewhere that day...)
Next up, and on the same videotape, "The Wild Bunch", another film I'd been leaving for ages unwatched. Well...I think I'm more a "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" kinda guy personally, although when the action kicks off in TWB, I have to admit it's rather spiffing and I certainly do appreciate it's place within Westerns but also Western Cinema...mind you, I prefer "Straw Dogs" in terms of Peckinpah (a film I must re-watch sometime soon, much like "The Crazies", which I've been hankering for of late...and yes I know, that's a George Romero movie...but you know what I meant regardless).
Then - "Chopper" - I'd had this recorded for me whilst I was away at Uni, if memory serves, and FilmFour were doing one of their free weekends (back when they had cash and were a extra-fee-based service). Eric Bana - brilliant in this - a charming nutter brought to life. Not really sure whether there was much over all point to the film, or over all arc to the story, it almost felt like a collection of moments or sections of time in the title character's life (yes, I know he's real, but again, you know what I meant). Fortunately it was of mere running time, so it didn't out-stay it's welcome.
And finally - and currently - "Blue Velvet". I've often seen the same bit on Sky (with Kyle Mc-thingymy in the cupboard watching Hopper go nuts), and once again, never really got around to sitting down to watch it. So far I'm 30 minutes in, interesting...but I'll have to finish it off before I'd even attempt to comment, not that I predict I'll really understand most of what is going on - take "Eraserhead" for example. I famously took a good 2 or 3 months to actually finish the film, watching it for no longer than 10 minutes at a time because it wigged me out so much, it was just too much weirdness and freakiness and that damn bird-person-baby-thing wailing just sent me off every time...a wailing baby just creeps me out man *picks nose* ... (if you didn't get that vague reference, pfft, whatever mate, yeah? lol...)
So yes...I must try and crack on with "The African Queen" as well, and get that return-viewing of "The Crazies" done and dusted as well...
Such a hard life isn't it? YARGH!!!
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Run, Fatboy, Run!
Went to the cinema last night and checked out the new Simon Pegg film and I have to say it was great, really funny. It had the entire audience laughing in unison, and at one point all going "ewwww!" (the blister scene).
Sure, some elements of the story are a bit cut and paste or tried & true, but it's a comedy so who cares - it's a feel good flick, so who cares if you already know how it's going to end. There's really only one way for it to end, and that's positively, because if it ended on a down note - who the hell wants to see that flick?!
Also, David Schwimmer proves that he's more than "Ross off Friends". Heck, he'd already shown a different side with "Big Nothing", I mean - would "Ross off Friends" throw a dodgy-porn-purveyor into a septic tank? No - so give the man a break, he did a solid job directing Run, Fatboy, Run.
All-in-all, a solid flick, lots of fun and really up lifting. I'll give it an equally solid 4 stars out of 5.
Sure, some elements of the story are a bit cut and paste or tried & true, but it's a comedy so who cares - it's a feel good flick, so who cares if you already know how it's going to end. There's really only one way for it to end, and that's positively, because if it ended on a down note - who the hell wants to see that flick?!
Also, David Schwimmer proves that he's more than "Ross off Friends". Heck, he'd already shown a different side with "Big Nothing", I mean - would "Ross off Friends" throw a dodgy-porn-purveyor into a septic tank? No - so give the man a break, he did a solid job directing Run, Fatboy, Run.
All-in-all, a solid flick, lots of fun and really up lifting. I'll give it an equally solid 4 stars out of 5.
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Death Proof - extended
Just saw this recently (I'd seen Grindhouse in it's proper form a while back, downloaded it as such as soon as I heard we in the UK were getting fucked over by the Weinsteins).
Anyway, I dug it then, although after the rather fast paced and violent Planet Terror, it's a real gear change, and probably should have gone first in the double-bill line up. Dug it so much in fact, I'd rather like to see it in the cinema-proper when it finally limps over the white cliffs of Dover.
Anyway, saw the extended cut and I really dug it, more than last time. The new footage doesn't add much more Stuntman Mike, but it does add more - and that's the point, both of Mike but also the girls (mainly the girls I guess). Anyway, the dialogue isn't as superb as Tarantino is known for, but I duno, I think that's become a "buzz argument" over the film, but watching it again I appreciated it more and it did feel like classic Tarantino, and what's more, it pulled me in and I actually got into the vibe of the two sets of girls' stories - night out on the town, and in search of a thrill ride.
One annoying thing though, the first half has a lot of the grindhouse scratches and glitches and reel changes and splices and such - but then this almost completely vanishes in the second half, which is really, really, really odd. Is this just an oversight? Is this to suggest it's two movies about the same psycho-tagonist spliced together? Notice that at the beginning the "original" title for the film is shown before it cuts to white text on black renaming it "Death Proof".
Anyway, aside from that one annoyance, I totally dig the film. Out of DP and Planet Terror, it's the one which feels the most like a true grindhouse film. It's fairly simple things that would be do-able on a lower budget (mainly talking, "normal" car stunts and some gore), whereas Planet Terror has a lot of stars (more than Death Proof I'd say) and has loads of gore, lots of big action set pieces and so on - basically, Planet Terror wouldn't be do-able on a grindhouse budget, but Death Proof feels as if it could be (aside from the odd crane or dolly shot which take it beyond the usual grindhouse constraints).
Basically, take a film like "Don't Look in the Basement", it's mainly talking with little action, but it's entirely advertised around the action...so when you look at the grindhouse flicks of the era, and then look at Death Proof, it really does feel like that sort of experience...whereas Rodriguez took certain ideas and then modernised them, while Tarantino tried to emulate low budget exploitation flicks of 30 years ago.
As for the film itself, brilliantly edited by Sally Menke, it really completes Tarantino's vision (I don't think his flicks would be as good without her on board, and similarly his films are probably the best she's worked on...or at least I could imagine her saying that in an interview). The choice of music is typically Tarantino and really works well within the movie, to the point that you feel "this song was made for this scene", not just picked at random. It feels like a cultural experience, many vibes and styles brought together to accompany the on-screen goings-on.
It could do with the odd improvement, and more Stuntman Mike...but considering the sort of films QT emulating, it makes a lot of sense in how it was put together, almost to nerd-riffic proportions, like a checklist of genre themes, styles, do's and don'ts.
All in all, I really dig it.
All said and done though, I ain't buying squat of either DP or PT until they pimp out a proper DVD, with the film as-it-should-be, including the extended stuff allowing you to view 'as-you-want' (a bit like they did with Sin City) and more extras than the separate discs are offering. I'm not ditching cash only for it to be wasted in favour of a better edition a few months later, and I'm sure other Grindhouse fans think the same thing.
Anyway, I dug it then, although after the rather fast paced and violent Planet Terror, it's a real gear change, and probably should have gone first in the double-bill line up. Dug it so much in fact, I'd rather like to see it in the cinema-proper when it finally limps over the white cliffs of Dover.
Anyway, saw the extended cut and I really dug it, more than last time. The new footage doesn't add much more Stuntman Mike, but it does add more - and that's the point, both of Mike but also the girls (mainly the girls I guess). Anyway, the dialogue isn't as superb as Tarantino is known for, but I duno, I think that's become a "buzz argument" over the film, but watching it again I appreciated it more and it did feel like classic Tarantino, and what's more, it pulled me in and I actually got into the vibe of the two sets of girls' stories - night out on the town, and in search of a thrill ride.
One annoying thing though, the first half has a lot of the grindhouse scratches and glitches and reel changes and splices and such - but then this almost completely vanishes in the second half, which is really, really, really odd. Is this just an oversight? Is this to suggest it's two movies about the same psycho-tagonist spliced together? Notice that at the beginning the "original" title for the film is shown before it cuts to white text on black renaming it "Death Proof".
Anyway, aside from that one annoyance, I totally dig the film. Out of DP and Planet Terror, it's the one which feels the most like a true grindhouse film. It's fairly simple things that would be do-able on a lower budget (mainly talking, "normal" car stunts and some gore), whereas Planet Terror has a lot of stars (more than Death Proof I'd say) and has loads of gore, lots of big action set pieces and so on - basically, Planet Terror wouldn't be do-able on a grindhouse budget, but Death Proof feels as if it could be (aside from the odd crane or dolly shot which take it beyond the usual grindhouse constraints).
Basically, take a film like "Don't Look in the Basement", it's mainly talking with little action, but it's entirely advertised around the action...so when you look at the grindhouse flicks of the era, and then look at Death Proof, it really does feel like that sort of experience...whereas Rodriguez took certain ideas and then modernised them, while Tarantino tried to emulate low budget exploitation flicks of 30 years ago.
As for the film itself, brilliantly edited by Sally Menke, it really completes Tarantino's vision (I don't think his flicks would be as good without her on board, and similarly his films are probably the best she's worked on...or at least I could imagine her saying that in an interview). The choice of music is typically Tarantino and really works well within the movie, to the point that you feel "this song was made for this scene", not just picked at random. It feels like a cultural experience, many vibes and styles brought together to accompany the on-screen goings-on.
It could do with the odd improvement, and more Stuntman Mike...but considering the sort of films QT emulating, it makes a lot of sense in how it was put together, almost to nerd-riffic proportions, like a checklist of genre themes, styles, do's and don'ts.
All in all, I really dig it.
All said and done though, I ain't buying squat of either DP or PT until they pimp out a proper DVD, with the film as-it-should-be, including the extended stuff allowing you to view 'as-you-want' (a bit like they did with Sin City) and more extras than the separate discs are offering. I'm not ditching cash only for it to be wasted in favour of a better edition a few months later, and I'm sure other Grindhouse fans think the same thing.
21 hour Friday...
http://www.tcm.ac.uk/RVE26dae6fc87f24277a0e4c150e6708b3c,,.aspx
http://www.edmundjolliffe.com/page15.htm
My second time working for Chris Smart of Silva Productions was yesterday, filming a performance of "The Handless Maiden" by students and Opera performers at the Trinity College of Music in London, a bloody long day indeed, so here's the breakdown of my bloodshot-eyed-day:
Thursday night - watch about 35 minutes of BASEketball after getting hot under the collar for it after hearing Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about it during various South Park commentaries that I'd be listening to over the last couple of weeks (I'd seen the film a few times before). Then two hours of comedy genius. Mock the Week and Saxondale on BBC2, then Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on More4 (why-oh-why did they cancel this show in America, are they feckin' idiots?!)
Then odd to bed to attempt an early night at just after 11pm (I'm definitely a night owl sort - or at least, not an early riser), but come midnight I still wasn't asleep. Then, the horrid noise of my mobile phone giving me a wake up alarm at 4:50am (I need plenty of time to warm up for a day, especially one this early starting and long in duration). I was surprisingly quick to get up, probably because I'd barely gone to sleep and had maybe scratched together a frequently interrupted and unsettled 4 hours of kip (I'm the sort of person who just simply needs 8 hours).
I watch the rest of BASEketball and get breakfast, grumbling at the fact it isn't even dawn yet. The sun does come up and I do final equipment checks before getting picked up by Chris at 7am. We barge it to London - a city which I famously despise and resent in equal measure, a city which I've not been to in about 6 years. The last 12 miles of the journey takes TWO HOURS due to London traffic and a SatNav which can't cope with dense urbanisation and is about 10 to 20 seconds behind real time, so wrong turns aplenty in London.
What a hodge-podge London is. We had to drive through most of it, and not the glamorous side, at best the normal and mundane, at worst, the broken down and depressing side - full on East Enders, haha. Traffic and people within the traffic are officially insane, like a diluted version of India - people just barge out into traffic whether they're in a vehicle, on a bike or on foot. I'm entirely glad I wasn't driving.
We get to the Trinity College of Music, on the South bank of the Thames just after 12pm and set about getting our gear set up and meeting the people involved in the project. We do some interviews in the afternoon, and then the main performance kicks off just after 6pm - an Opera, performed and crewed by a mix of able-bodied and disabled folk, a story about a poor family who accidentally sell their daughter to the devil. Afterwards there was a Q&A and a demonstration of how a Wii-mote was used to provide signals to one of the blind performers to guide them in their movements around a pre-set track.
After all that, we have to pack up the lights and then set off at around 9pm for a less-than-trouble-free journey out of London, although this time getting to see the posh side and some of the sights - The Oval, the place where they're doing the BBC Proms (forget the name now - Albert Hall?), the Apollo, Parliament & Big Ben, the West End, Harvey Nicholls and so-on.
A long-ass journey later, I arrive home just before 1am. I proceed to cover up those bloody lights on my new extension lead which have been belching light out into my room for the last week (I kept forgetting to cover them up). I then decompress, watched a bit of Gone in 60 Seconds on ITV2+1 and then nodded off around 1:50am for a nice, long kip-in until 11:15am.
http://www.edmundjolliffe.com/page15.htm
My second time working for Chris Smart of Silva Productions was yesterday, filming a performance of "The Handless Maiden" by students and Opera performers at the Trinity College of Music in London, a bloody long day indeed, so here's the breakdown of my bloodshot-eyed-day:
Thursday night - watch about 35 minutes of BASEketball after getting hot under the collar for it after hearing Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about it during various South Park commentaries that I'd be listening to over the last couple of weeks (I'd seen the film a few times before). Then two hours of comedy genius. Mock the Week and Saxondale on BBC2, then Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on More4 (why-oh-why did they cancel this show in America, are they feckin' idiots?!)
Then odd to bed to attempt an early night at just after 11pm (I'm definitely a night owl sort - or at least, not an early riser), but come midnight I still wasn't asleep. Then, the horrid noise of my mobile phone giving me a wake up alarm at 4:50am (I need plenty of time to warm up for a day, especially one this early starting and long in duration). I was surprisingly quick to get up, probably because I'd barely gone to sleep and had maybe scratched together a frequently interrupted and unsettled 4 hours of kip (I'm the sort of person who just simply needs 8 hours).
I watch the rest of BASEketball and get breakfast, grumbling at the fact it isn't even dawn yet. The sun does come up and I do final equipment checks before getting picked up by Chris at 7am. We barge it to London - a city which I famously despise and resent in equal measure, a city which I've not been to in about 6 years. The last 12 miles of the journey takes TWO HOURS due to London traffic and a SatNav which can't cope with dense urbanisation and is about 10 to 20 seconds behind real time, so wrong turns aplenty in London.
What a hodge-podge London is. We had to drive through most of it, and not the glamorous side, at best the normal and mundane, at worst, the broken down and depressing side - full on East Enders, haha. Traffic and people within the traffic are officially insane, like a diluted version of India - people just barge out into traffic whether they're in a vehicle, on a bike or on foot. I'm entirely glad I wasn't driving.
We get to the Trinity College of Music, on the South bank of the Thames just after 12pm and set about getting our gear set up and meeting the people involved in the project. We do some interviews in the afternoon, and then the main performance kicks off just after 6pm - an Opera, performed and crewed by a mix of able-bodied and disabled folk, a story about a poor family who accidentally sell their daughter to the devil. Afterwards there was a Q&A and a demonstration of how a Wii-mote was used to provide signals to one of the blind performers to guide them in their movements around a pre-set track.
After all that, we have to pack up the lights and then set off at around 9pm for a less-than-trouble-free journey out of London, although this time getting to see the posh side and some of the sights - The Oval, the place where they're doing the BBC Proms (forget the name now - Albert Hall?), the Apollo, Parliament & Big Ben, the West End, Harvey Nicholls and so-on.
A long-ass journey later, I arrive home just before 1am. I proceed to cover up those bloody lights on my new extension lead which have been belching light out into my room for the last week (I kept forgetting to cover them up). I then decompress, watched a bit of Gone in 60 Seconds on ITV2+1 and then nodded off around 1:50am for a nice, long kip-in until 11:15am.
Sunday, 26 August 2007
20 hour Saturday...
http://www.severnproject.co.uk/events_diary.html
http://www.severnproject.co.uk/press_launch.html
http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/shropshire_news/severn-project.shtml
Well, it was a long old Saturday the 25th of August 2007 for me alright. After a pretty naff near-six-hours-of-kip (I'm one of those people who really needs their sleep), I was up at 6:30am to start getting my brain in gear and my camera kit loaded up, before heading off at 8:30 to arrive in Bridgnorth at around 10am, before hoofing it over to the Quayside to film the Arrival of the River Inspectors and their subsequent "walk about" performances across the town for the next 2 or 3 hours.
Then, after a long & hot wait at Severn Park (the main performance area), it finally rolled around to 8pm, at which point the main portion of the day's events kicked off, with a procession of town's folk and the crazed River Inspectors wheeling the Sturgeon on a gurney towards the field, at which point the main show kicked off. It was all a mad dash to get the filming done, very "run & gun", just grab as many shots as possible, run back and forth, avoid the water fountains that gushed out a few times, grab as many audience shots as possible, captures the performances and the fireworks and so-on.
What on earth was all this I hear you mutter at your monitor? A Shropshire Council street-art "Severn Project" called "Sturgeon Moon", relating to a breed of fish which used to live in the rivers in the area.
Finally, the performance came to an end at 10pm, with an hour of pottering about and checking the footage afterwards, I ended up getting back home at 1am, rather weary that's for sure - but not weary enough to go without watching the last 25 minutes of Back to the Future, which I spotted on ITV2+1 on the freeview box I got for my bedroom - so, off to bed at 2am.
A long day yesterday it was indeed, just a shame I didn't get a good night's kip last night either. I kept waking up for some reason, hopefully tonight I'll regain the sleep I've lost the past couple of nights, hehe.
http://www.severnproject.co.uk/press_launch.html
http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/shropshire_news/severn-project.shtml
Well, it was a long old Saturday the 25th of August 2007 for me alright. After a pretty naff near-six-hours-of-kip (I'm one of those people who really needs their sleep), I was up at 6:30am to start getting my brain in gear and my camera kit loaded up, before heading off at 8:30 to arrive in Bridgnorth at around 10am, before hoofing it over to the Quayside to film the Arrival of the River Inspectors and their subsequent "walk about" performances across the town for the next 2 or 3 hours.
Then, after a long & hot wait at Severn Park (the main performance area), it finally rolled around to 8pm, at which point the main portion of the day's events kicked off, with a procession of town's folk and the crazed River Inspectors wheeling the Sturgeon on a gurney towards the field, at which point the main show kicked off. It was all a mad dash to get the filming done, very "run & gun", just grab as many shots as possible, run back and forth, avoid the water fountains that gushed out a few times, grab as many audience shots as possible, captures the performances and the fireworks and so-on.
What on earth was all this I hear you mutter at your monitor? A Shropshire Council street-art "Severn Project" called "Sturgeon Moon", relating to a breed of fish which used to live in the rivers in the area.
Finally, the performance came to an end at 10pm, with an hour of pottering about and checking the footage afterwards, I ended up getting back home at 1am, rather weary that's for sure - but not weary enough to go without watching the last 25 minutes of Back to the Future, which I spotted on ITV2+1 on the freeview box I got for my bedroom - so, off to bed at 2am.
A long day yesterday it was indeed, just a shame I didn't get a good night's kip last night either. I kept waking up for some reason, hopefully tonight I'll regain the sleep I've lost the past couple of nights, hehe.
The Zombie Diaries
Well, I just finished watching the film and might I say, jolly good show. :)
It's great to finally get a proper UK zombie film (28 Days/Weeks Later doesn't count - they're rage infected humans :p), it makes it all the more realistic for us Brits (and will hopefully provide international audiences with another viewpoint, rather than the oft-American viewpoint in the zombie genre - not that I'm bitching about that, but you know...). I think it gets to a point whereby with zombie films almost always coming from America, they lose any sense of realism because it's kind of a "default setting", if that makes any sense...but there's so few zombie films set in the UK, and especially presented in this sort of way, that it packs much more punch and terror.
TZD - a fresh location for a zombie film, a different society in which it all takes place, and the way in which you see mumblings of sh*t hitting the fan throughout before things get increasingly worse, make it a great flick.
The gore on offer is rather tasty, and leads to a some rather f*cked up scenes...the sort of scenes that when you think about the surrounding intricacies or reasonings behind the actions, it just makes it all the more messed up.
My only real gripe with the film is the delivery of some of the dialogue, at times it didn't feel as real as it could have, or I felt there were a few moments where there were gaps between different people's lines. So at times I felt the dialogue wasn't always delivered as realistically as it could have been, as in it [I]felt[/I] staged at these moments...but it's really only a minor gripe that isn't carried throughout the entire film, just on occasion.
Over all the film is great, I really enjoyed it and there's some really messed up moments or even downright scary moments, made all the more powerful due to the way it was filmed.
...
I've been through the deleted scenes, and I can understand why many of them were taken out, they felt a bit stagey. While there's content within those scenes that was good, I guess just the way the scenes came out it wouldn't have worked in the main film.
Next up I'll go and check out the making of, which I rather look forward to and then in due course, the commentaries.
I'd definitely recommend for zombie fans to pimp out the cash for a copy, it's worth it. :cool::)
It's great to finally get a proper UK zombie film (28 Days/Weeks Later doesn't count - they're rage infected humans :p), it makes it all the more realistic for us Brits (and will hopefully provide international audiences with another viewpoint, rather than the oft-American viewpoint in the zombie genre - not that I'm bitching about that, but you know...). I think it gets to a point whereby with zombie films almost always coming from America, they lose any sense of realism because it's kind of a "default setting", if that makes any sense...but there's so few zombie films set in the UK, and especially presented in this sort of way, that it packs much more punch and terror.
TZD - a fresh location for a zombie film, a different society in which it all takes place, and the way in which you see mumblings of sh*t hitting the fan throughout before things get increasingly worse, make it a great flick.
The gore on offer is rather tasty, and leads to a some rather f*cked up scenes...the sort of scenes that when you think about the surrounding intricacies or reasonings behind the actions, it just makes it all the more messed up.
My only real gripe with the film is the delivery of some of the dialogue, at times it didn't feel as real as it could have, or I felt there were a few moments where there were gaps between different people's lines. So at times I felt the dialogue wasn't always delivered as realistically as it could have been, as in it [I]felt[/I] staged at these moments...but it's really only a minor gripe that isn't carried throughout the entire film, just on occasion.
Over all the film is great, I really enjoyed it and there's some really messed up moments or even downright scary moments, made all the more powerful due to the way it was filmed.
...
I've been through the deleted scenes, and I can understand why many of them were taken out, they felt a bit stagey. While there's content within those scenes that was good, I guess just the way the scenes came out it wouldn't have worked in the main film.
Next up I'll go and check out the making of, which I rather look forward to and then in due course, the commentaries.
I'd definitely recommend for zombie fans to pimp out the cash for a copy, it's worth it. :cool::)
Monday, 30 July 2007
A recent spot of weird dreaming...
I've been known to have some really weird-arse dreams, and bearing in mind I once had a dream where I attended a news conferance held by my barber, in my high school hall (facing the opposite way to normal), about her going on holiday ... can women be classed as "barbers" or is that more a male label, like "actor" versus "actress" ... then all of a sudden we're in a sewer system just underneath the main hall with gerbil assassins trying to kill me as I surf a pepperoni pizza atop green, gooey water gloop which rushes through a system of toy fire stations from Ghostbusters (anyone remember those brilliant toys from the 1980s, swivelling fire pole and everything...brilliant)...so aye, I've had some corkingly odd dreams before...where the following two fit, by comparison, I certainly don't know.
Nature must have been calling because not being able to get into a toilet was a key theme...basically, I was some kind of agent - along the lines of Agent Mulder - so it's a bit X-Files, but less stoic...anyway, myself and my fellow agent are staying with some Indian family - because for some reason we're in India.
This family literally has about 100 kids - but oddly of all colours - and I just wanna use their bog, but there's a constant stream of kids flocking in and out constantly (as there's so many of them) trying to use it, there's no lock and the curtains for the windows have one of those pulley thingies you yank on, although you have to pull it for AGES to make it move a mere distance.
Ultimately I give up when a swarm of these various kids of this family swarm into the bathroom and scare me out so I suddenly end up on the outskirts of this town at the side of some dirt road with my agent partner investigating some sort of mass murder case - turns out the family we'd been staying with/are staying with are the murderers. So we freak out about that...but then all of a sudden we're sifting through various decomposing - and REALLY F*CKING GROSS - remains (severed hands mainly). Anyway, they're absolutely disgusting, they absolutely stink and they're all slimey and falling apart as I pick at them with tweezers until eventually I'm confronted with a picture list of all the body parts found and there's this one of a severed head with the face all mashed up like a rotten piece of fruit and at that point I start gagging in my dream and then snap awake where I'm also actually gagging, seriously just about to chuck up all over my bedroom wall, hahaha...fortunately I didn't, but how bloody weird.
Then I went back to sleep, concentrating hard on *NOT* thinking of that picture list of rotting body parts found in the town's outskirts, and end up having a new dream where I end up going to some hotel type building which I vaguely remember living at - but due to a car accident I don't even remember, it f*cked up my memory...I know I lived at this place, but have no recollection of it...so I'm there to see if they remember me or not and they seem to, but they're about ready to call up the psychiatric ward and get me thrown away...and this is where it gets really bizarre.
Now, this dream is set in a Miami type place, but in England - just as a side note of information. Anyway, the weird bit, I'm there at the reception with ... dun-dun-dun ... both an Alien and a Predator, but they aren't enemies, mainly because the Alien doesn't know the Predator also hunts his kind.
We end up scarpering up the elevator shaft (me being pulled up by the Alien and the Predator) and we end up at this apartment that was apparently mine before this mystery accident...anyway, inside it's actually the Predator's apartment and having seen Predator 2 I know there's gonna be an Alien skull somewhere, so I'm running around trying to find it so I can cover it up, lest the Alien see it and go mental. There's a load of really bizarre skulls all over the walls and it looks like the Predator ship at the end of Predator 2...
And then I woke up...there was a bit more at the start of that second dream, but I forgot it...anyway, bloody weird dreams, eh?
Nature must have been calling because not being able to get into a toilet was a key theme...basically, I was some kind of agent - along the lines of Agent Mulder - so it's a bit X-Files, but less stoic...anyway, myself and my fellow agent are staying with some Indian family - because for some reason we're in India.
This family literally has about 100 kids - but oddly of all colours - and I just wanna use their bog, but there's a constant stream of kids flocking in and out constantly (as there's so many of them) trying to use it, there's no lock and the curtains for the windows have one of those pulley thingies you yank on, although you have to pull it for AGES to make it move a mere distance.
Ultimately I give up when a swarm of these various kids of this family swarm into the bathroom and scare me out so I suddenly end up on the outskirts of this town at the side of some dirt road with my agent partner investigating some sort of mass murder case - turns out the family we'd been staying with/are staying with are the murderers. So we freak out about that...but then all of a sudden we're sifting through various decomposing - and REALLY F*CKING GROSS - remains (severed hands mainly). Anyway, they're absolutely disgusting, they absolutely stink and they're all slimey and falling apart as I pick at them with tweezers until eventually I'm confronted with a picture list of all the body parts found and there's this one of a severed head with the face all mashed up like a rotten piece of fruit and at that point I start gagging in my dream and then snap awake where I'm also actually gagging, seriously just about to chuck up all over my bedroom wall, hahaha...fortunately I didn't, but how bloody weird.
Then I went back to sleep, concentrating hard on *NOT* thinking of that picture list of rotting body parts found in the town's outskirts, and end up having a new dream where I end up going to some hotel type building which I vaguely remember living at - but due to a car accident I don't even remember, it f*cked up my memory...I know I lived at this place, but have no recollection of it...so I'm there to see if they remember me or not and they seem to, but they're about ready to call up the psychiatric ward and get me thrown away...and this is where it gets really bizarre.
Now, this dream is set in a Miami type place, but in England - just as a side note of information. Anyway, the weird bit, I'm there at the reception with ... dun-dun-dun ... both an Alien and a Predator, but they aren't enemies, mainly because the Alien doesn't know the Predator also hunts his kind.
We end up scarpering up the elevator shaft (me being pulled up by the Alien and the Predator) and we end up at this apartment that was apparently mine before this mystery accident...anyway, inside it's actually the Predator's apartment and having seen Predator 2 I know there's gonna be an Alien skull somewhere, so I'm running around trying to find it so I can cover it up, lest the Alien see it and go mental. There's a load of really bizarre skulls all over the walls and it looks like the Predator ship at the end of Predator 2...And then I woke up...there was a bit more at the start of that second dream, but I forgot it...anyway, bloody weird dreams, eh?
Oceans 13/Disturbia/Dead Silence...
I recently posted these short reviews on the forum over at the excellent Homepage of the Dead (my online hang out/speak easy/place where everybody knows your (online) name, if you will), but I plan to post up my movie musings here as well as a more organised record of them.
First off, as the title suggests...
Ocean's 12:
Generally cack, the style of the film has that effortless sense of cool, like the main characters, but beyond that the plot was daft flitting around all over the place getting in and out of trouble, the first (of the new breed) was better, just concentrate on one bank job thank you...also, many characters seemed to have piss all to do because Clooney and Pitt were hogging all the scenes.
Disturbia:
Was skeptical at first because I'd heard it was PG-13 and had been successful in America, so I figured teeny-bopping mug-fest, but actually it was really good. Even though it'd be nothing without "Rear Window", it's a smart new take on the themes without being a remake and brings it into our age. Parts were all well played, the lead in particular was convincing and his next door neighbour girlfriend person was smoking hot, yes please! Also quite funny in places, so over all a really enjoyable flick.
Dead Silence:
Again, I was skeptical - PG-13 horror about a doll...which isn't that an enticing summary to be honest, but I sat down and gave it a chance - as it was made by the guys behind SAW (Leigh Whannell and James Wan) - and I, again to my surprise, totally dug this flick. It's styled like a classic ghost story and feels like one of the classic horrors of the 1930s, just filmed today. It was genuinely creepy with a few moments that really dig give me the willies, and all from a PG-13...just goes to show that if you fashion a film to a particular rating to begin with, you're more likely to come up trumps ... unlike cutting down to a rating *cough* Die Hard 4 *cough* when the film comes out worse off as a result, fortunately though Dead Silence was enjoyable, creepy and felt smart, all down to it feeling - as I said before - very much like a Universal horror movie from the 1930s, just filmed today.
So 2 out of 3 ain't bad, for my next mini-bender will be:
The Host (should hopefully be fun)
Wild Hogs (expecting relative cack)
Black Snake Moan (expecting to see Christina Ricci getting shagged a lot)
I will say, that just a couple of hours ago I checked out Wild Hogs, but I'll comment on that in due course.
First off, as the title suggests...
Ocean's 12:
Generally cack, the style of the film has that effortless sense of cool, like the main characters, but beyond that the plot was daft flitting around all over the place getting in and out of trouble, the first (of the new breed) was better, just concentrate on one bank job thank you...also, many characters seemed to have piss all to do because Clooney and Pitt were hogging all the scenes.
Disturbia:
Was skeptical at first because I'd heard it was PG-13 and had been successful in America, so I figured teeny-bopping mug-fest, but actually it was really good. Even though it'd be nothing without "Rear Window", it's a smart new take on the themes without being a remake and brings it into our age. Parts were all well played, the lead in particular was convincing and his next door neighbour girlfriend person was smoking hot, yes please! Also quite funny in places, so over all a really enjoyable flick.
Dead Silence:
Again, I was skeptical - PG-13 horror about a doll...which isn't that an enticing summary to be honest, but I sat down and gave it a chance - as it was made by the guys behind SAW (Leigh Whannell and James Wan) - and I, again to my surprise, totally dug this flick. It's styled like a classic ghost story and feels like one of the classic horrors of the 1930s, just filmed today. It was genuinely creepy with a few moments that really dig give me the willies, and all from a PG-13...just goes to show that if you fashion a film to a particular rating to begin with, you're more likely to come up trumps ... unlike cutting down to a rating *cough* Die Hard 4 *cough* when the film comes out worse off as a result, fortunately though Dead Silence was enjoyable, creepy and felt smart, all down to it feeling - as I said before - very much like a Universal horror movie from the 1930s, just filmed today.
So 2 out of 3 ain't bad, for my next mini-bender will be:
The Host (should hopefully be fun)
Wild Hogs (expecting relative cack)
Black Snake Moan (expecting to see Christina Ricci getting shagged a lot)
I will say, that just a couple of hours ago I checked out Wild Hogs, but I'll comment on that in due course.
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