Flavours of the Month: May 2011...

LOOKS:

Treevenge - after their contest-winning Hobo With A Shotgun grindhouse trailer, Jason Eisner & Co sought to make a short film to prove they could handle a narrative, and they did just so quite nicely with a witty little short that could have sat nicely amongst all those themed horror movies you used to see as a kid scaled high up against the wall in the video shop entitled "Horror". Knowingly over-the-top, this takes the notion of getting a genuine Christmas tree for Christmas in a whole new gore-ific direction. If you're easily offended though, you might want to skip the last five minutes, otherwise get yourself onto YouTube and have a look for yourself.

Scream 1-3 - the original movie was a decided breath of fresh air for the genre which, in the mid 1990s, had descended into the torturously dull. It's a shame therefore that Wes Craven & Kevin Williamson's meta-thriller with a horror outlook was picked upon like a vulture's roadkill lunch in the proceeding years with a series of self-aware 'slasher thrillers' which dispensed with scares and, ironically, originality and smarts, in favour of sub-Scream copycatting.

The first sequel had something to say, commenting on both itself and the first movie simultaneously. There was still life and ideas in the franchise, particularly in Williamson's scripting (although the line in Aliens is most definitely "Get away from her, you bitch!"), and while it lost momentum in the final act, it was a solid entry.

Sadly, the second sequel - a Hollywood-set trilogy-closer - royally jumped the shark. Williamson was fed up, and it shows painfully in the quality of the final script, which contains none of the crafted 'who dunnit' intrigue, nor the sexy and playful self awareness. Dull, boring, lame, witless, with little in the way of redeeming features - at least they gave Neve Campbell something of substance to bite into, mind.

This all coming on the heels of seeing Scream 4 at the cinema last month, my thoughts on which you can find HERE.

The Losers - not as enjoyable the second time around, but still softcore action fun nonetheless. Chris Evans remains the highlight of the movie for me. His tech guy Jensen was easily the best character out of the lot.

Get Him To The Greek - I had a mixed response to it in the cinema (I much preferred Forgetting Sarah Marshall, from which this was a spin-off), and I must say that the second time around wasn't much cop. A few funny bits here and there, but for me it was a damp squib this time.

Jean Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors - I don't really 'do' reality TV, but I ended up watching this show about The Muscles From Brussels, and it was curiously intriguing. On the one hand it's a bit strange in a good way, and on the other the makers turn every minor incident into an epic drama when they say apprehensively "coming up next" as dramatic music and editing works it's magic (kinda).

Campus - I never got into Green Wing. I tried to initially, but I was at uni at the time and had a hard enough time remembering what day it was (because they all blended together, not because of booze or whatever, you cheeky monkeys), let alone when the show was airing. Now though, thanks to the wonder of the Hard-Disk-Recorder, I made sure I cued up the entire series of this follow-up from the makers of Green Wing. It's essentially the same show, but at a university, with the same brand of askew humour and general sense of oddity.

Doctor Who - the latest series is underway, and it's a mixed bag for me. They continue to 'do' the Doctor well, but some of the episode plots are a bit underwhelming - not least this Island-esque two parter about some sort of white gloop that can generate clones. Plus, for goodness sake, if you're going to keep referring back to a developing series-long plotline (the Postive/Negative thing, the appearing/disappearing slide window thing), actually develop it each time we see it. At least they finally gave us something more at the arse-end of that rubbish two-parter.

The Sopranos - I'm now into the second season, having totally missed this show the first time around, and I continue to thoroughly enjoy my weekly dose of New Jersey mafia business.

Machete - a second viewing of Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse spin-off has elevated my opinion of it. Not that I didn't have a blast with it at the cinema, it's just that I was so insanely looking forward to it that I could only end up feeling a twinge of disappointment. However, a few months down the line and I could enjoy it on its own terms, and it was damn enjoyable - even if it remains about 10 minutes flabby around the edges.

Scary Movie - I gave this spoof another spin as it was on one night and it's okay. It's no Airplane by any means (but the scattergun pattern of gags and parodies is decidedly similar), but then it's no Scary Movie 3/4/Meet The Spartans/Disaster Movie/whatever load of old utter-and-total crap either.

Wild At Heart - I haven't seen David Lynch's incendiary road trip flick since I was a teenager, but I think now that I'm much more familiar with his work (and cinema in general) that I 'got it' much more than I did way back when. The tale of two young runaways (Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern) seeking a better life is a typically dark and twisted offering from Lynch - most notably in its clash of 1950s Americana and the era in which it was made (1990).

U-Turn - it's been years since I've watched Oliver Stone's telling of Sean Penn's indebted loser having the worst day of his entire life, but it's still good. It's what I'd call "an everything just keeps getting worse" movie. It just goes to show what Stone can do with the right script, but it also makes me wonder what on earth has happened to him of late with the likes of World Trade Center, and W.

The Black Dahlia - working the homicide desk in Team Bondi/Rockstar's L.A. Noire got me in the mood to re-watch Brian De Palma's novelistic film adaptation. It's impressively stylish and the stuff closest to the titular case is the most interesting, but it's when it strays from that central path and attempts to explore various interconnected sideplots and back stories within its two hour running time that it runs into trouble.

Short Circuit 1 & 2 - I had a bit of a nostalgia trip with these two flicks. I used to watch these constantly as a little kid, and they've not lost their charm. I dearly hope they don't do a remake, and quite frankly, with WALL.E essentially being a re-incarnation of Johnny 5, what would be the point?

SOUNDS:

The Black Angels "Directions To See A Ghost"

Daft Punk "Tron Legacy"

Moby "First Cool Hive", Dillon Dixon "I Don't Care", Birdbrain "Youth America", SoHo "Whisper To A Scream" (from the soundtrack to Scream)

HIM "Venus Doom"

White Zombie "Super Sexy Swingin' Sounds"

Rob Zombie "American Made Music To Strip By"

45 Grace "Partytime" (as heard in Return of the Living Dead)

Airborne "Runnin' Wild" and "No Guts, No Glory"

VIBES & FLAVOURS:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - I finished Philip K. Dick's book, which later became Blade Runner, which was a decidedly different telling of basically the same story in mostly the same sort of world (bar the distinct difference in population numbers from one to the other). I really enjoyed it.

New educational DVD - the editing cap is back on for a new DVD project, this time on the issue of Abortion. Considering the topic we've had to think a bit harder about how to approach it visually, and so far some of it is moving in a more metaphorical, even mystical, direction which has proven successful so far. Finding footage and photographs has even extended to me digging through all my old sketch pads from my days of GCSE and A-Level art for any drawings, paintings or photographs that could possibly be of use somewhere. Plus, when talking about things like when does "life" truly begin, I've been able to get a little bit 'out there' with some of the visuals too - so this should prove to be a good creative opportunity.

L.A. Noire - Team Bondi's sandbox detective thriller, published by Rockstar, has really grown on me. I've been intrigued by it ever since I saw the very first teaser trailer years ago when the project was first announced, and the last few months have really cranked up the anticipation. While it's imperfect in some respects, the fresh approach is a welcome change of direction - and who wouldn't want to play as a 1947 L.A. detective? Cruising the detailed period streets of Los Angeles, scouring crime scenes for clues, and interrogating suspects to discover the truth has led to some genuinely exciting chase sequences, and genuinely tense interrogations (that piercing note that hovers in the background as you decide whether you do or don't have evidence to prove someone's lying has inspired the odd sweaty palm gripped around the controller, I have to say). It's a bold step in a different direction, and an extremely stylish and involving one to boot. At the time of writing I'm onto the second case of the Vice Desk, situated in the Hollywood Division, and I can't wait to get even deeper into the twisting tales and devious crimes that need deciphering and solving. It's like a videogame version of L.A. Confidential, and what's not to like about that?

Flavours of the Month: January 2011...

LOOKS:

Kick Ass (Blu-Ray) - still a great flick. I'd forgotten how thrilling the action set pieces were, too.

Scott Pilgrim VS. The World (Blu-Ray) - three of the four commentaries and another viewing on top, plus all the special features. I must have heard the menu music a hundred times by now.

Inception (Blu-Ray) - Nolan's mind-bender blockbuster is still as spiffing as it was in the cinema, if not more so.

The Expendables (Blu-Ray) - Ultimate Recon Mode is quite impressively done, and one of the best Picture-in-Picture tracks I've seen so far. While I generally prefer Rambo to this, it's still a bloody good time and I look forward to a sequel.

Black Books - years late to the party, but we barged through the rest of the complete box set.

Boardwalk Empire - it took a couple of episodes to get into it, but you find yourself becoming really quite invested in the characters and the complexities of their relationships. Plus the re-creation of the 1920s is superb.

Clarkson: The Italian Job - I think his DVD from 2009 was better, but it was still good for a bit of a Top Gear-like fix. The best sequence was the race at the end.

Lost: Season Three & Four DVD Extra Features - now I just need to get my mits on the last two seasons.

Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide - 3 discs of video nasty goodness, and surprisingly informative. Definitive, most definitely.


SOUNDS:

The Black Angels "Directions To See A Ghost" - I love their first album (Passover), and I've come to really dig this second outing too.

Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy Soundtrack - the flick was the visual and aural treat of 2010, so Daft Punk's superb soundtrack has been in my CD autochanger ever since.

Sex Bob-Omb, Metric "Black Sheep", and Nigel Godrich "Hillcrest Park" - there's been a distinctly Scott Pilgrim flavour to January, so that naturally extended to the aural world too.

Kick Ass OST - not only was it a great action superhero movie, but it had a cool score to boot.

Black Spiders "Just Like A Woman" - as recommended by a fellow fan of Airbourne.

Bo Diddley "Hey, Bo Diddley" - as heard during one of the Mafia 2 cutscenes.


VIBES & FLAVOURS:

Cold - I haven't had one since January 2009, so that was a rubbish few days. I do maintain however that some people who say they have "the flu" actually have a cold, and they're just trying to sound tough. Cold or Flu, they both suck. As if the time of year when you're packing away all the festive decorations wasn't depressing enough, eh?

Script Writing - working on the new version of the short version of zombie mini-epic "The End" (working title), as well as working on an idea to enter for a Public Information Film.

The Big Book of Top Gear 2011 - it's just a bunch of silly old nonsense mostly, but I do love Top Gear.

Cyanide & Happiness Vol. 2: Ice Cream & Sadness - my favourite online webcomic in book form for a second year running.

The Walking Dead Vol. 5: The Best Defense - I continue to make my way through the trade paperbacks for the first time, and while the dialogue is still needlessly filled with unrealistic exposition, the scenarios are intense and gripping. By the end of this volume I was gagging to read the next.

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Vol. 1) - the Scott Pilgrim feel to January extended to the first two (of six) volumes of the graphic novels.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Vol. 2) - it's interesting to see that volumes 1 and 2 basically make up an hour of the movie (which runs for an hour and 50 minutes), but it's also cool to see further exploration of the characters and entire sequences that never made it to the film version (such as Ramona and Knives' library battle).

Call of Duty: Black Ops - the second time around, like with the previous CoD, it's not about the hype and all about playing the game on its own level. It also helps that you know what to do, so you don't have moments where the action gets too confusing, which has been the case with first-runs for the last couple of CoD games.

Mafia 2 - I fancied some 1950s gangster action, so I gave this another spin. It's no GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption (essentially being a linear game in a sandbox world), but I still found myself really enjoying it as the story continues to make you invest in the characters. I even got to nab some more achievements and collectibles I'd missed the first time around.

Jeremy Klaxon - Driving Us Insane (A Parody) - just a bit of fun, and one of those pleasant surprise gifts you get at Christmas.

Tron Legacy 3D...

The original Tron was a very important moment in cinematic history. It employed the first use of computer graphics in a motion picture and inspired a whole new way of filmmaking - and included in the tidal wave of inspiration was John "Pixar" Lasseter. However, looking back on the original flick just recently, the script is a bit iffy. It's filled with cringey computer jargon that feels thrown in for the sake of it, and the plot - that essentially boils down to 'computer programmer's games are stolen by somebody who clearly doesn't look like a games maker at all, ends up regaining his intellectual property by accidentally ending up inside one of his creations, only to win and become the boss man' - wasn't all that great.

What was great was the world of 'the grid' itself, and that has been the reason for the enduring power of this out-of-the-blue 1980s milestone.

This sequel came as a little bit of a surprise on one hand, but on the other - considering the current, advanced state of CGI technology that the original movie set in motion - it makes total sense. What's more the plot is much more interesting than that of the first - even if certain areas could really do with some beefing up - being that it's essentially a son trying to find his father after a two decade absence.

Fortunately, after hearing a bunch of reviewers go on about a "disappointing plot", I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually much fuller than I'd been led to believe, albeit with some shading and definition left undone. However, Tron Legacy does two things very well - the looks, and the sounds.

Building on an already iconic look established in the first movie, Legacy finds us in a world of cool blues and threatening oranges - a maze-like world of neon glow and glassy surfaces. The visuals of the movie as-is are so strong in fact, that they totally over-ride the use of 3D. I saw it in 3D and suffice to say I barely noticed. This will partly be down to the overpoweringly good visuals of 'the grid', but also because you don't often get a sense of planes of distance - the very thing that provides 3D with its ability to make stuff poke out of the screen.

So despite disappointingly unnecessary 3D (the 3D previews were far better in that respect), the look of the Legacy clearly marks it as the visual experience of 2010 without a shadow of a doubt.

Moving on to the aural experience, and Tron Legacy boasts a superbly suited soundtrack from Daft Punk - something which has had the internet giddy with excitement since the announcement. The marriage of Daft Punk's electric orchestra sounds with Legacy's awe-inspiring digital vistas and cityscapes is perfect. Suffice to say that as soon as I left the cinema I bought a copy of the soundtrack CD.

So, all-in-all, it's a truly impressive and memorable visual and aural, with a plot that could use some extra shading - but which was nowhere near as flimsy as I'd been led to believe - and featuring solid performances from Hedlund and Bridges. Speaking of which, it's cool to see the elder Flynn after all these years, chilled out zen talk and all, with Hedlund successfully depicting a junior Flynn who is every bit his offspring, and every bit the modern day extreme sports playboy that you'd imagine he would have been all along.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this again on Blu-Ray ... in 2D. Here's hoping we get a quality package to go along with this thoroughly enjoyable techno-flick.