Flavours of the Month: May 2010 - 500th post spectacular!

There have been many vibes this month, which kicked off with a nostalgia fest - digging into the slave drive (before it conked out and subsequently replaced with data intact) and going way back to 2003 and 2004 to watch experimental shorts "Back in the Day" and "Experiment in Exposure" as well as my fake-blood-soaked "my NIGHTMARE".

I laughed my arse off at the "Wasssabi" episode of The Annoying Orange, and thoroughly raised a bemused and amused eyebrow at 'the worst wedding DJ ever', both on YouTube.

Following on from Iron Man 2, there's been a lot of AC/DC filling the audioscape of my bedroom this month, and the bathroom when I was decorating it, and speaking of odd jobs around the house I ended up shovelling two tonnes of gravel.

The General Election happened, and it lead to a crescendo in my political interest - which was thoroughly obsessive in the months and even years leading up to the election, but which has somewhat vanished now - not from disappointment or a jaded sensibility, but rather the result of an intense period of obsession leading to the need for a decided break from the world of politics.

I've also been digging out DVDs from my collection that I haven't watched in a good while (in most cases several years). The titles have ranged from Japanese zombie flicks to Italian slashers and 1940s noir films among others. Plus, with two of my favourite shows coming to their respective conclusions (24 and Lost), I've gone and gotten myself into season one of Prison Break.

It's been a good month for gaming too, what with Alan Wake finally getting released (a thoroughly high quality game - despite a few minor flaws), and the coming of Red Dead Redemption - an expansive and involving wild west sandboxer.

There was even a heat wave for a week this month, which was frustrating (I don't do heat, and I'm not a fan of summer), but nevertheless we did get a couple of rather tasty BBQs out of it.

Finally, this month saw me turn 26 years young ... for the optimists ... and for the pessimists, I've only got 4 years remaining of my 'teenage twenties' until I hit *gulp* 30.

...

Oh yeah - this is my 500th blog post - hazah!

Cop Out...

Limping into UK cinemas long after its February premiere across the pond, us Brits finally got our mits on Kevin Smith's latest offering (albeit he wasn't the writer, just the director). I have to say I was a bit disappointed by it ... there was an air of 'most of the best bits are in the red band trailer' about it, which is a shame, but then again there are a range of other jokes that serve you well throughout (the monocle gag really tickled out funny bone).

Plot-wise though, the film feels a bit threadbare. Side characters are more often than not relegated to two or (if they're lucky) three minor scenes, and the central conceit (a baseball card) feels a bit flimsy.

I enjoyed myself, don't get me wrong, but Cop Out felt like it was cut-short. The script felt it had been forcedly diluted, and the running time felt like it had been forcedly trimmed and trimmed and trimmed. A couple less side characters, a stronger central conceit, and a few more full-on guffaws would have been really nice and taken everything up a couple of notches.

Seeing Cop Out was a fun time, especially on a sweltering Sunday (providing us with much needed darkness and air conditioning), and I'll naturally check it out again ... it's just that it felt like a light snack rather than a full meal. In terms of Kevin Smith's career it's a good step up on the ladder, he's been able to try out new things and new territory and direct a feature script that wasn't his own ... but I do wonder about what the movie would have been like if Smith himself had penned it.

A good time, but sadly not great.

Hot Tub Time Machine...

It's been a couple of weeks since I saw the flick, and that's not a reflection on the quality, I just didn't really know what to write about it - it's a tough flick to wax lyrical about, you know? American Pie meets Back To The Future is a good, off-the-cuff summary of it's basic vibe, and while it's not as 'this could be insanely great' as the trailer suggested when you first saw it, HTTM is a good, fun time.

Plus, as is my rule, it's automatically worth seeing because John Cusack is involved - a dude who's always a joy to watch who can always bring a sort of hang-dog pathos to his roles, even the more daft ones like the opportunity-making, bill-paying 2012 (I'm not judging, I say fair play, it's how the Hollywood system works) or indeed Hot Tub Time Machine with it's free-and-easy 'for shits and giggles' vibe.

A fun flick to see with your mates, and ideal 'cheer-me-up' material ... plus you can roll around in some 80s nostalgia, and quite frankly, who doesn't love a bit of 80s nostalgia?

Iron Man 2...

Iron Man was a bit of a surprise, a romping stomping superhero flick with a comic smirk and Robert Downey Jr on top form as the boozing, gambling, seducing playboy Tony Stark. So when the trailers for the sequel surfaced (particularly the second), everybody went bat-shit crazy with anticipation - the kick ass AC/DC soundtrack in the latter certainly helped give you a boost of excitement.

The movie itself however - while maintaining the quality of the first movie, as well as the style and humorous streak - doesn't live up to the giddy hype of the hard-rocking trailer. The first flick's plot had a direction to be heading in at all times, and the structure of the plot was more even ... the sequel doesn't have either. Iron Man 2, at times, drifts off into certain directions that don't quite convince, or are left somewhat undercooked, and you can occasionally feel adrift in the plot.

The balance of action is mostly shifted into the second half, so the first half can become a bit quiet. Indeed when all the action kicks off, you've gotten used to the slower pace, and then find yourself blind-sided by all the arse-kicking robot action, which is tip-top by the way ... that said the final ruck does feel oddly short-lived.

It could also do with a bit more AC/DC throughout, I've gotta say ... but before I make this sound like I disliked the movie, I must say that I still rather enjoyed it. Sure, it didn't convince like the first movie, but I was invested throughout, enjoyed the characterisation and the rough-n-tumble was a ruddy good time.

If only the plot was a bit more balanced and focused. Iron Man 2 is an enjoyably solid effort that never quite lands the killer blow, but I look forward to seeing it again when perhaps I'll be able to view it more on its own terms, rather than in comparison to the first flick which was the surprise hit of 2008.