LOOKS:
Mafia 2 - for a sandbox game it's pretty restrictive, and the plot isn't all that original (but was it ever supposed to be anything but a loving homage to The Godfather et al?), but I had a lot of fun with it regardless. The setting is involving, there is a lot of appropriate humour throughout, and the collectibles are a nice touch.
Robot Chicken: Season 4 - great as always, but the incessant Obama-love-in littered throughout some of the extras (which were shot on election day) is eye-rollingly blunt and self-congratulatory (something which is annoying regardless of politics).
The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut (Blu-Ray) - the only changes are utterly pointless 'comic book transitions', which provide no worthwhile information, nor do they make the movie make more sense. Fortunately they're not that common, and only the last two are genuinely intrusive. The flick's still cool though, and it looks good on Blu.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Blu-Ray) - being an utter whore for making of documentaries, I finally got to see the story of Fincher's sentimental yarn (the UK didn't get a 2-disc DVD, and the R1 was decidedly over the piffling UK import limit).
Sweeney Todd (Blu-Ray) - having recently been in Edinburgh, where I visited The Dungeon, I found all the featurettes concerning the myth and the possible reality to be quite fascinating (especially as Sawney Bean was connected to the creation of the Todd myth - Bean being one of the segments at the Edinburgh Dungeon).
Dead Rising 2 - as enjoyable and as frustrating as the original game, but with some nice additions, the best obviously being the weapon combo mechanic. Using Gems and a Flashlight to make a light sabre is my personal favourite way of dispatching the undead hoardes around Fortune City.
SOUNDS:
The Black Angels - "Passover"
Rammstein - "Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da"
VIBES & FLAVOURS:
Holiday - straddling the end of August and the beginning of September, I had great time doing all the touristy things. Seeing some events at the Festival before it ended, doing The Dungeon, the Castle, a bus tour, visiting North Berwick for a real nostalgic trip, and everything else was a very welcome and enjoyable change of pace.
Decorating Room - I've been avoiding this for years, and my room was last done ten years ago, but with me out of the house I had a 60 Minute Makeover pulled on me (but not literally).
Chuck Palahniuk - "Tell-All"
Thursday, 30 September 2010
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.
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.
Friday, 24 September 2010
Octuple Bill Mini Musings: September 2010 #2...
Gacy:
Compared to the likes of other real-life-serial-killer movie biopics (of sorts), such as the superior Dahmer (starring Jeremy Renner) and Ed Gein (starring Steve Railsback), this isn't much cop ... nor when compared to the likes of more lurid films such as The Hillside Strangler (the one the guy from all those terrible Asylum movies) or Ted Bundy (which Tom Savini worked on). However, when compared to the bizarre, confusing and even dull Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders, and Ed Gein: Butcher of Plainfield - in which Kane "Jason" Hodder (a large, intimidating dude) plays the slight, quiet and odd farmer who inspired Psycho's Norman Bates - Gacy stands taller. Not by an awful lot though. The pace is unsure, the plot is confusing and while the first four titles I mentioned all give a far better sense of time, escalation and motivation, Gacy isn't strong in any of those fields.
The Blues Brothers:
I remember a friend loaned me his VHS copy back in high school - more from his recommendation than from my own interest - and I gave up on it pretty quickly. Then again my interest in film was far more limited in those days, and my movie-viewing stamina was surprisingly all over the place (I'd often watch movies in 10-20 minute chunks and have several on the go at once, skipping from one to another). Anyway, I wouldn't have appreciated it in my high school days, but now I recognise why it's considered a bit of a classic. It's absolutely bat-shit crazy, and the epic scenes of destruction are all the more impressive as there's not a sliver of CGI to be seen - being that it wasn't invented yet. It's utterly barmy - in the good way.
17 Again:
I didn't really intend on watching this movie a while ago, but ended up seeing several portions, so figured I'd just watch the whole thing. I have zero interest in High School Musical and all that, but I can understand why this Zac Efron guy is so popular. He's a talented dude and has a real screen persona that's interesting to watch - even in this fairly paint-by-numbers flick. You know exactly how this movie is going to play out, but it's just a bit of fun. It's a cheeseburger of a movie really ... but yeah, it'll be interesting to see if Efron takes up more challenging roles.
Black Mama White Mama:
Inspired by the documentary American Grindhouse, I got myself into a bit of a blaxploitation/Pam Grier flick kick ... although BMWM is really a women-in-chains/prison movie, not a blaxploitation/soul flick. It's properly good grindhouse though - but it does lose its momentum by the third act. If you like your grindhouse cinema though, it's definitely worthwhile - Pam Grier, nudity-galore, Sid Haig as a cowboy pimp, outrageous side characters, oddball scenes ("eight ... three and a half") and shot in the Phillipines.
Coffy:
It could have used a little more of Pam Grier toting a shotgun and bringing her brand of justice to the scum of the streets, but again it's properly good grindhouse fun - and Sid Haig's in it as well.
Foxy Brown:
It starts off a little bit unsure, but it really finds its feet in the second act and then goes out with a strong finish (including Grier driving a prop plane - owned by Sid Haig's bit part drug trafficker - through a bad guy!) - yep, you guessed it, properly good grindhouse fun.
The Boston Strangler:
Never mind 24, the use of split-screen is something to behold. Not an awful lot to say about it, but over-the-piece, it gets a thumbs up.
The Longest Day:
Saving Private Ryan really dunked you head first into what it might feel like to be one of those brave men storming the beaches during the Normandy landings, but this true epic really coveys the sheer sense of scale to the operation that turned the whole war around. Not only that, but the tension on the side of the Allies, and the cocksure predictions of the Axis, is writ large. It's an honest-to-God epic - no wonder if had three directors (one each for the American, British and German portions ... but I wonder who directed the French parts?) Beautifully shot, large scale, it doesn't ignore the big players who didn't happen to be Americans (the French and Germans characters wisely speak in their own language to boot) and surprisingly for a film that's just shy of three hours long - it doesn't drag.
Some of the knowing pontificating about the nature of war and the importance of the invasion are a bit 'too movie', but equally, verbalising the fact that the Brits (and as an extension, the French) had been slogging their guts out and really struggling through for years before the Americans got involved, is a welcome dose of fact that's so often ignored with more recent WW2 movies - a criticism that can most certainly be levelled at Saving Private Ryan, despite its highly commendable way of presenting warfare on film in an entirely new, involving and radical way.
Compared to the likes of other real-life-serial-killer movie biopics (of sorts), such as the superior Dahmer (starring Jeremy Renner) and Ed Gein (starring Steve Railsback), this isn't much cop ... nor when compared to the likes of more lurid films such as The Hillside Strangler (the one the guy from all those terrible Asylum movies) or Ted Bundy (which Tom Savini worked on). However, when compared to the bizarre, confusing and even dull Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders, and Ed Gein: Butcher of Plainfield - in which Kane "Jason" Hodder (a large, intimidating dude) plays the slight, quiet and odd farmer who inspired Psycho's Norman Bates - Gacy stands taller. Not by an awful lot though. The pace is unsure, the plot is confusing and while the first four titles I mentioned all give a far better sense of time, escalation and motivation, Gacy isn't strong in any of those fields.
The Blues Brothers:
I remember a friend loaned me his VHS copy back in high school - more from his recommendation than from my own interest - and I gave up on it pretty quickly. Then again my interest in film was far more limited in those days, and my movie-viewing stamina was surprisingly all over the place (I'd often watch movies in 10-20 minute chunks and have several on the go at once, skipping from one to another). Anyway, I wouldn't have appreciated it in my high school days, but now I recognise why it's considered a bit of a classic. It's absolutely bat-shit crazy, and the epic scenes of destruction are all the more impressive as there's not a sliver of CGI to be seen - being that it wasn't invented yet. It's utterly barmy - in the good way.
17 Again:
I didn't really intend on watching this movie a while ago, but ended up seeing several portions, so figured I'd just watch the whole thing. I have zero interest in High School Musical and all that, but I can understand why this Zac Efron guy is so popular. He's a talented dude and has a real screen persona that's interesting to watch - even in this fairly paint-by-numbers flick. You know exactly how this movie is going to play out, but it's just a bit of fun. It's a cheeseburger of a movie really ... but yeah, it'll be interesting to see if Efron takes up more challenging roles.
Black Mama White Mama:
Inspired by the documentary American Grindhouse, I got myself into a bit of a blaxploitation/Pam Grier flick kick ... although BMWM is really a women-in-chains/prison movie, not a blaxploitation/soul flick. It's properly good grindhouse though - but it does lose its momentum by the third act. If you like your grindhouse cinema though, it's definitely worthwhile - Pam Grier, nudity-galore, Sid Haig as a cowboy pimp, outrageous side characters, oddball scenes ("eight ... three and a half") and shot in the Phillipines.
Coffy:
It could have used a little more of Pam Grier toting a shotgun and bringing her brand of justice to the scum of the streets, but again it's properly good grindhouse fun - and Sid Haig's in it as well.
Foxy Brown:
It starts off a little bit unsure, but it really finds its feet in the second act and then goes out with a strong finish (including Grier driving a prop plane - owned by Sid Haig's bit part drug trafficker - through a bad guy!) - yep, you guessed it, properly good grindhouse fun.
The Boston Strangler:
Never mind 24, the use of split-screen is something to behold. Not an awful lot to say about it, but over-the-piece, it gets a thumbs up.
The Longest Day:
Saving Private Ryan really dunked you head first into what it might feel like to be one of those brave men storming the beaches during the Normandy landings, but this true epic really coveys the sheer sense of scale to the operation that turned the whole war around. Not only that, but the tension on the side of the Allies, and the cocksure predictions of the Axis, is writ large. It's an honest-to-God epic - no wonder if had three directors (one each for the American, British and German portions ... but I wonder who directed the French parts?) Beautifully shot, large scale, it doesn't ignore the big players who didn't happen to be Americans (the French and Germans characters wisely speak in their own language to boot) and surprisingly for a film that's just shy of three hours long - it doesn't drag.
Some of the knowing pontificating about the nature of war and the importance of the invasion are a bit 'too movie', but equally, verbalising the fact that the Brits (and as an extension, the French) had been slogging their guts out and really struggling through for years before the Americans got involved, is a welcome dose of fact that's so often ignored with more recent WW2 movies - a criticism that can most certainly be levelled at Saving Private Ryan, despite its highly commendable way of presenting warfare on film in an entirely new, involving and radical way.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Dead Genesis - watch the opening scene now!
Follow this link to see the first scene from new indie zombie flick Dead Genesis.
PLEASE NOTE - the clip contains scenes of strong violence and gore, and scenarios that some may find disturbing (this is a zombie horror flick after all).
http://vimeo.com/15054393
I've been following the progress of this flick since Reese announced it over on HPOTD and it looks like properly good stuff. Well done to Reese and the whole DG team!
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650516/
Website: http://web.me.com/reesterfx/Dead_Genesis/Dead_Genesis.html
PLEASE NOTE - the clip contains scenes of strong violence and gore, and scenarios that some may find disturbing (this is a zombie horror flick after all).
http://vimeo.com/15054393
I've been following the progress of this flick since Reese announced it over on HPOTD and it looks like properly good stuff. Well done to Reese and the whole DG team!
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650516/
Website: http://web.me.com/reesterfx/Dead_Genesis/Dead_Genesis.html
Triple Bill Mini-Cine-Musings: Scott, Cyrus and a Schmuck...
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World...
It's hardly surprising that Scott Pilgrim didn't fare so well at the Box Office. The film is so insanely niche that it most likely confused and alienated vast swathes of the audience, and let's be honest, some people are getting a bit tired of Michael Cera's style - he really needs to mix up his movie roles a bit too.
Ideally you'll be under 30 and will have read the graphic novels, but you should enjoy yourself with just one of those ... but at least knowing a bit about the franchise might be a good idea as even though the movie takes its time to establish the world around us, there's an awful lot to cram into the 112 minute running time (essentially six volumes worth of content).
It's enjoyably brash and colourful and the whole 'hipster' thing is - as a style of living - mostly not annoying, and Edgar Wright's typically whip-pow look is well at home with this content.
Scott Pilgrim is a hard thing to sell though, and it's tricky to write about. Naturally I'll be getting the home video release and the six volumes of the graphic novel are on the list for Santa this year, so yeah ... niche. Very niche ... but enjoyably daft and hip and nerdy.
Dinner For Schmucks...
I'm not entirely sure why this has received such a drubbing in many reviews, because aside from the opening fifteen minutes where it's nothing but joke-free plot establishing, the rest of the movie (pretty much from where Steve Carrel's idiot turns up) is a bloody good laugh.
It's not deep and it's not going to be a comedy that really lasts to become a classic, but it's just a barrel of fun.
Cyrus...
I never saw the trailer, and went into it thinking along the lines of 'Jonah Hill a la Superbad and Funny People' and 'John C. Reilly a la Talladega Nights and Step Brothers' ... however, it's neither. Belonging to a subgenre of indie fare apparently dubbed "mumblecore", it carries few chuckles. You won't be laughing out loud any time soon, but it's actually something very different than what I had in my head. It's all awkward silences and twitchy zooms, nothing is broad or obvious and then ending comes to you unfinished and suddenly.
It's a strange flick ... I kind of liked it, but I also kind of didn't. I would have rather seen it on Sky Movies than stumping up more than six quid at the cinema for it though.
It's hardly surprising that Scott Pilgrim didn't fare so well at the Box Office. The film is so insanely niche that it most likely confused and alienated vast swathes of the audience, and let's be honest, some people are getting a bit tired of Michael Cera's style - he really needs to mix up his movie roles a bit too.
Ideally you'll be under 30 and will have read the graphic novels, but you should enjoy yourself with just one of those ... but at least knowing a bit about the franchise might be a good idea as even though the movie takes its time to establish the world around us, there's an awful lot to cram into the 112 minute running time (essentially six volumes worth of content).
It's enjoyably brash and colourful and the whole 'hipster' thing is - as a style of living - mostly not annoying, and Edgar Wright's typically whip-pow look is well at home with this content.
Scott Pilgrim is a hard thing to sell though, and it's tricky to write about. Naturally I'll be getting the home video release and the six volumes of the graphic novel are on the list for Santa this year, so yeah ... niche. Very niche ... but enjoyably daft and hip and nerdy.
Dinner For Schmucks...
I'm not entirely sure why this has received such a drubbing in many reviews, because aside from the opening fifteen minutes where it's nothing but joke-free plot establishing, the rest of the movie (pretty much from where Steve Carrel's idiot turns up) is a bloody good laugh.
It's not deep and it's not going to be a comedy that really lasts to become a classic, but it's just a barrel of fun.
Cyrus...
I never saw the trailer, and went into it thinking along the lines of 'Jonah Hill a la Superbad and Funny People' and 'John C. Reilly a la Talladega Nights and Step Brothers' ... however, it's neither. Belonging to a subgenre of indie fare apparently dubbed "mumblecore", it carries few chuckles. You won't be laughing out loud any time soon, but it's actually something very different than what I had in my head. It's all awkward silences and twitchy zooms, nothing is broad or obvious and then ending comes to you unfinished and suddenly.
It's a strange flick ... I kind of liked it, but I also kind of didn't. I would have rather seen it on Sky Movies than stumping up more than six quid at the cinema for it though.
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