The following is a list of all the flicks I caught at the cinema in 2009 (replete with the dates on which they were viewed - yes, I do keep my ticket stubs), with short summaries beside those titles which didn't make it into my Top Ten or Honourable Mentions of 2009.
Role Models - 11/1/09 ... good fun, but not a lot more.
The Wrestler - 18/1/09
Friday the 13th (Remake) - 20/2/09 ... good Jason, good violence, good sex, bad script and direction.
Gran Torino - 8/3/09
Watchmen - 15/3/09
Lesbian Vampire Killers - 22/3/09 ... fleetingly amusing, but more filler than killer.
Crank 2: High Voltage - 19/4/09
I Love You, Man - 26/4/09 ... solidly entertaining, gotta love the Rudd/Siegel paring.
Observe & Report - 26/4/09 ... dreadful.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - 3/5/09 ... weak, but it's still Wolverine.
Drag Me To Hell - 31/5/09
Terminator Salvation - 7/6/09 ... "meh", and then gets increasingly worse with repeat viewings and an online article that condemns the 'super Terminators' of T3 and T4.
The Hangover - 14/6/09 ... surprisingly fun comedy romp.
Doghouse - 14/6/09 ... good for a laugh, laddish turn from Evil Aliens' Jake West.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 21/6/09 ... utterly stupid guilty pleasure that leaves you feeling a bit dirty.
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra - 9/8/09 ... some spiffing action, Levitt is awesome, but Tatum and the plot are god-awful.
Inglourious Basterds - 16/8/09
Funny People - 30/8/09 ... unmercifully overlong, but still funny with a slice of reality thrown in.
District 9 - 6/9/09
Adventureland - 13/9/09
Gamer - 20/9/09 ... occasionally fun, but clearly lacking due to the directing duo's lack of knowledge about videogaming beyond the 1980s.
Surrogates - 27/9/09 ... churned-out Bruce Willis factory action that didn't live up to an interesting trailer.
The Invention of Lying - 4/10/09 ... neat premise with moments that are crushingly emotional, but the lack of laughs throughout leave this one wanting, so go and watch Ghost Town instead.
Zombieland - 11/10/09
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - 8/11/09
The Men Who Stare At Goats - 15/11/09 ... quirky comedy that never lands the sucker punch, gotta love that bit of Boston though.
2012 - 22/11/09 ... like driving a monster truck made out of cheese burgers, loaded with dynamite, through an exploding volcano made out of buildings that have a propensity to fall over, explode and fall over while exploding.
Avatar (3D) - 20/12/09
Coming soon will be my Top Ten of 2009 list (with Honourable Mentions included), complete with short summaries of why I dug them so much.
Showing posts with label round. Show all posts
Showing posts with label round. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Comin' round to meet you...
Having recently read the excellent book version of Long Way Round, by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, and having then re-watched the show itself on DVD (for at least the fifth time admittedly) I felt I just had to pimp up a blog about it.
Long Way Round is a truly inspiring adventure, as well as a piece of filmmaking in itself. I've often said of late how I'm full-blown filmmaker-jealous of 2nd Unit DP Jimmy Simak, who rode with the support crew and helped film the whole thing, particularly the prep stage (which was before the main DP Claudio von Planta was hired).
It must have been a truly fantastic journey, getting away from everything you know and just surviving on a basic level - like McGregor said on the Road of Bones - it was just about getting their vehicles to Magadan, and that was it. Why the Jimmy jealousy? Well, at the moment that's where I'm at as a filmmaker - acting as a cameraman - and I have shot in what you'd call 2nd Unit capacity before...also it's an envy grounded in practicality - I don't ride motorbikes, unlike Claudio von Planta.
It might sound strange to some of you lot, but whatever, I was really inspired by Long Way Round. It showed you a whole variety of cultures in an easy-to-digest way, from the perspective of two chaps on my own cultural level (i.e. a British westerners). It also really continued to put life in perspective, I find myself thinking "well it could be a hell of a lot worse than this, I could be some abandoned child living under the streets of Ulaanbatarr", or if a bit of filming is getting you down on a long day you think "well I'm not riding through a boggy valley in Mongolia and falling over all the time, so it's totally fine".
That kind of thing, that's how Long Way Round has inspired me, it's also planted a seed in me somewhat - which brings me back around to the 'Jimmy jealousy' - to be able to be a part of a filmmaking team and just getting out there to see the world with a camera in my hand, tagging along in a merry band of adventurers. One day maybe, eh?
Anyway, I figured I'd blog up some thoughts regarding the fantastic Long Way Round (check it out if you haven't already). Next up, to read Race to Dakar and then inevitably re-watch the companion show on DVD again, another inspiring and charming tale of man versus the world.
Long Way Round is a truly inspiring adventure, as well as a piece of filmmaking in itself. I've often said of late how I'm full-blown filmmaker-jealous of 2nd Unit DP Jimmy Simak, who rode with the support crew and helped film the whole thing, particularly the prep stage (which was before the main DP Claudio von Planta was hired).
It must have been a truly fantastic journey, getting away from everything you know and just surviving on a basic level - like McGregor said on the Road of Bones - it was just about getting their vehicles to Magadan, and that was it. Why the Jimmy jealousy? Well, at the moment that's where I'm at as a filmmaker - acting as a cameraman - and I have shot in what you'd call 2nd Unit capacity before...also it's an envy grounded in practicality - I don't ride motorbikes, unlike Claudio von Planta.
It might sound strange to some of you lot, but whatever, I was really inspired by Long Way Round. It showed you a whole variety of cultures in an easy-to-digest way, from the perspective of two chaps on my own cultural level (i.e. a British westerners). It also really continued to put life in perspective, I find myself thinking "well it could be a hell of a lot worse than this, I could be some abandoned child living under the streets of Ulaanbatarr", or if a bit of filming is getting you down on a long day you think "well I'm not riding through a boggy valley in Mongolia and falling over all the time, so it's totally fine".
That kind of thing, that's how Long Way Round has inspired me, it's also planted a seed in me somewhat - which brings me back around to the 'Jimmy jealousy' - to be able to be a part of a filmmaking team and just getting out there to see the world with a camera in my hand, tagging along in a merry band of adventurers. One day maybe, eh?
Anyway, I figured I'd blog up some thoughts regarding the fantastic Long Way Round (check it out if you haven't already). Next up, to read Race to Dakar and then inevitably re-watch the companion show on DVD again, another inspiring and charming tale of man versus the world.
Sunday, 10 February 2008
And the assassination of Jesse James continues...
Well, it's been a little while since I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and it's still sticking with me. The mournful score is still floating around my head at night when it's all quiet, the jaw-dropping cinematography still painted on the inside of my eyelids ... well, not literally because that'd be silly, but you know what I mean.
Point is - what a great piece of filmmaking! :)
Otherwise, I'm currently chipping away at a brand new show-reel, it's taking a while as you've gotta pick a song (from a list of 4,000 in my case) that matches the vibe of most of the footage at the very least...then you've got to pick which films you're made that you want to include clips from...then you have to actually edit the clips you want out of the files, or even capture the clips all over again...then you have to process all the footage, cropping it all to 1.85:1 and playing around with Magic Bullet where appropriate or suitable for experimentation...then you've got to render all that stuff...then it's gotta be transferred into some other editing software (where I do all the basic editing actions nice and swiftly) and then you've gotta edit the damn thing!
Well, I'm currently about a minute into the show-reel edit ... but before that, I had to fiddle with the chosen music track because the MP3 wasn't recognised properly, so I had to go and Cool Edit that sum'bitch into a file that worked fully.
*sigh*
Bloody nora ... still, to get the inspiration flowing, I'm re-watching Long Way Round after having recently finished reading the book, what a bloody good show it is too!
Point is - what a great piece of filmmaking! :)
Otherwise, I'm currently chipping away at a brand new show-reel, it's taking a while as you've gotta pick a song (from a list of 4,000 in my case) that matches the vibe of most of the footage at the very least...then you've got to pick which films you're made that you want to include clips from...then you have to actually edit the clips you want out of the files, or even capture the clips all over again...then you have to process all the footage, cropping it all to 1.85:1 and playing around with Magic Bullet where appropriate or suitable for experimentation...then you've got to render all that stuff...then it's gotta be transferred into some other editing software (where I do all the basic editing actions nice and swiftly) and then you've gotta edit the damn thing!
Well, I'm currently about a minute into the show-reel edit ... but before that, I had to fiddle with the chosen music track because the MP3 wasn't recognised properly, so I had to go and Cool Edit that sum'bitch into a file that worked fully.
*sigh*
Bloody nora ... still, to get the inspiration flowing, I'm re-watching Long Way Round after having recently finished reading the book, what a bloody good show it is too!
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.
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
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.
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