Double Bill Mini-Cine-Musings: The Other Guys in Town...

The Other Guys:
Solidly funny and entertaining throughout, it was far more engaging than Kevin Smith's unfortunately underwhelming (if only he'd written the script) Cop Out from earlier in the year. Wahlberg continues to prove he's at his best working in an ensemble with an impressive sense of downtrodden comedic timing, and for an action comedy there's actually some very decent action set pieces throughout. There's a lot of praise heaped on Talladega Nights, but personally found this an easier flick to enjoy over the aforementioned flick which was, to me, a bit too indulgent and which felt - at times - like an alternate-takes reel.

The Town:
I don't understand the Ben Affleck hate that's out there with some people, but once again he's proven himself to be a more-than-competent director with this authentically Boston-set crime thriller. You know how the major pieces of the puzzle are going to slot together in advance, but certain pieces are less easy to predict. The action sequences (essentially one heist per act) are genuinely tense and well constructed, and it was an easier watch than Affleck's other Boston-bound directorial effort Gone Baby Gone. Now though it would be good to see Affleck tackle a subject that has nothing to do with Boston - he does the Boston thing very well and very authentically - but it'd be good to see him explore some different turf with his next outing.

See the Other Side (2005)...

This was the second of two group projects shot for the Documentary Video Production course at the University of East Anglia, and it was all about providing a semi-experimental, visually interesting interpretation of a location – in this case, the seaside town of Great Yarmouth.


Working together as a group more consistently on this second project compared to the first, we yomped around the town, the back streets, the beach, the pier and everywhere in between. Our inspiration was the look and sound of “Requiem for a Dream”, and it certainly came out that way.