Silent comedy, bumbling Private Eyes, vexed Vice Presidents, mouthy Mercs, and flippin' fast cars - just some of what's been setting the tone of my June 2016...
Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Saturday, 25 June 2016
"Blood Simple" - original 'fake trailer' emerges, influenced by "The Evil Dead"...
The Coen Brother's first film - "Blood Simple" - took a some initial inspiration from Sam Raimi and "The Evil Dead", so it seems, from a recently unearthed 'fake trailer' that was used to sell the film to investors....
Click "READ MORE" below to continue, and to see the trailer...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue, and to see the trailer...
Sunday, 19 June 2016
"Deadpool" in (belated) review - will Hollywood learn the right lesson?
What's it about?
The saucy-tongued, fourth-wall-breaking, pain-in-the-arse to the goody two shoes of the Marvel universe - finally - comes to the screen in a faithful adaptation. Wade Wilson is a goon for hire - the 'Merc with the Mouth' - but his world all goes a bit wobbly once he finds love, only to have his bright future torn away by a terminal cancer diagnosis. Undergoing procedures to bring forth mutant DNA in his blood in order to cure his cancer, he's gifted extraordinary healing powers but becomes horribly scarred in the process. Now he's sworn revenge against his maker.
Who would I recognise in it?
Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
There's little to say about the quality of the film that hasn't already been said. Deadpool is a big slab of blood-spewing, bullet-spraying, sword-slicing, tongue-lashing awesomeness. Sure, the revenge plot is straight-forward and not what you'd consider remarkable (Ajax, the villain, sufficiently detestable as he is, rarely feels close to out-right besting Deadpool), but it does provide the structure on which to hang the real draw here - Ryan Reynolds as the snarky, goofy, and ever-so-violent Deadpool. Considering it was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who were behind Zombieland, you can hazard a guess at what delights are in store.
The film's key strengths, riding roughshod over its few weaknesses, are its sense of fun and franchise anarchy. Deadpool is a razor sharp pin prick into the increasingly bloated and serious-minded superhero movie mindset...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue the review...
The saucy-tongued, fourth-wall-breaking, pain-in-the-arse to the goody two shoes of the Marvel universe - finally - comes to the screen in a faithful adaptation. Wade Wilson is a goon for hire - the 'Merc with the Mouth' - but his world all goes a bit wobbly once he finds love, only to have his bright future torn away by a terminal cancer diagnosis. Undergoing procedures to bring forth mutant DNA in his blood in order to cure his cancer, he's gifted extraordinary healing powers but becomes horribly scarred in the process. Now he's sworn revenge against his maker.
Who would I recognise in it?
Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
There's little to say about the quality of the film that hasn't already been said. Deadpool is a big slab of blood-spewing, bullet-spraying, sword-slicing, tongue-lashing awesomeness. Sure, the revenge plot is straight-forward and not what you'd consider remarkable (Ajax, the villain, sufficiently detestable as he is, rarely feels close to out-right besting Deadpool), but it does provide the structure on which to hang the real draw here - Ryan Reynolds as the snarky, goofy, and ever-so-violent Deadpool. Considering it was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who were behind Zombieland, you can hazard a guess at what delights are in store.
The film's key strengths, riding roughshod over its few weaknesses, are its sense of fun and franchise anarchy. Deadpool is a razor sharp pin prick into the increasingly bloated and serious-minded superhero movie mindset...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue the review...
Tuesday, 14 June 2016
"For Want of a Nail" - a bit of news...
Just a quick post to say that "For Want of a Nail" - which started out as a short story, but which I then adapted into a short screenplay - has made the shortlist for a script competition. Lovely stuff!
For more information on the story itself go HERE and scroll down.
For more information on the story itself go HERE and scroll down.
Sunday, 5 June 2016
The Hateful Eight - a quick review...
What's it about?
Quentin Tarantino's eighth film (second western) in which a disparate array of ne'er do wells find themselves trapped together in a lonesome cabin in the middle of a blizzard. Someone isn't who they say they are, and with thousands of dollars worth of bounty at stake, tensions soon run high.
Who would I recognise in it?
Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Zoe Bell, Channing Tatum.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Taking a few cues from John Carpenter's seminal 1982 film "The Thing", QT's western is at times, more like a horror movie. Utilising deftly-chosen cuts from Ennio Morricone's score for that film, numerous scenes are afforded an unrelenting sense of tension and menace. As QT said himself, it is as if the blizzard is the monster swirling around outside, trapping the characters together inside. Indeed, Morricone provides QT's first custom-fit score - a sumptuous aural feast - while the tone of Carpenter's film bubbles under the surface. Both films feature a strong cast of characters, whose egos and suspicions clash ferociously. Here, each character is afforded much to work with, everyone standing out in their own regard. That said, Jackson, Russell, Goggins, and Leigh shine out in particular - the latter of whom sinks her teeth into the role with such relish that you can't help but be reminded of John Travolta's savouring of Pulp Fiction. Hopefully we'll see a grand revival for Jennifer Jason Leigh worthy of her impressive showing here...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue the review...
Quentin Tarantino's eighth film (second western) in which a disparate array of ne'er do wells find themselves trapped together in a lonesome cabin in the middle of a blizzard. Someone isn't who they say they are, and with thousands of dollars worth of bounty at stake, tensions soon run high.
Who would I recognise in it?
Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Zoe Bell, Channing Tatum.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Taking a few cues from John Carpenter's seminal 1982 film "The Thing", QT's western is at times, more like a horror movie. Utilising deftly-chosen cuts from Ennio Morricone's score for that film, numerous scenes are afforded an unrelenting sense of tension and menace. As QT said himself, it is as if the blizzard is the monster swirling around outside, trapping the characters together inside. Indeed, Morricone provides QT's first custom-fit score - a sumptuous aural feast - while the tone of Carpenter's film bubbles under the surface. Both films feature a strong cast of characters, whose egos and suspicions clash ferociously. Here, each character is afforded much to work with, everyone standing out in their own regard. That said, Jackson, Russell, Goggins, and Leigh shine out in particular - the latter of whom sinks her teeth into the role with such relish that you can't help but be reminded of John Travolta's savouring of Pulp Fiction. Hopefully we'll see a grand revival for Jennifer Jason Leigh worthy of her impressive showing here...
Click "READ MORE" below to continue the review...
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