Shit Goin' Into Other Shit...In Focus

I love all things Kevin Smith; his movies, his books, his stand-up Q&A's...all exctremelly entertaining. Only Jersey Girl, a not entirely sucessful experiment to inject more genuine emotion into his comedy, has lived up to expectations.
Smith evolved since then...first with the glorious Clerks II (still arguably the best on his CV), and now with Zack & Miri Make A Porno.
As with most of Smith's films, this is just a filthy rom-com. Zack and Miri are best friend. The laws of rom-coms dictate thart they eventually fall in love. It being a Kevin Smith movie, they're obliged to do it with his trademark wit, smutty banter, pop culture references and a dose of unpredictable plotting.But it's because of this signature style that elevates it above most rom-coms out there. This is certainly the best directed movie Silent Bob has ever shot; the cinematography lush and the camera moves more confident. The soundtrack has a variety of styles...and is ace. Most importantly, with each film, Smith isable to perfect the fusion of mainstream romance with R-Rated comedy.
Casting classy performers like Rogan and Banks only strengthens this fusion further. They're talented performers who can master the subtle emotions that Smithg observes in his script andthe outrageous situations that the characters find themselves in.
Some quick observations... Justin Long, Brandon Routh and Traci Lords are all great in cameos. There is a ton of nudity (mainly dues to an always willing Jason Mewes) which is what probably upset the US censors.And there is a gag...so profoundly filthy..that made me laugh till I urinated blood...that is worth the price of admission alone.

Six Million Dollar Snail.

Just watched the classic Six Million Dollar Man episode "The Bionic Woman" introducing Lindsay Wagner as Jamie Sommers.
Three observations for you:-
1/ My parents used to tease me as a six year old that I had a crush on Linsay Wagner. At the time, the headstrong six year old dismissed this; Wonder Woman was much hotter. In retrospect, they were right.
2/ It's very slow, by todays standards. The plotting is slow. The dialogue delivery is so slow its practically stilted. And action sequences aren't made thrilling when 'bionics' are defined by the trademark ultra-slow motion effect. Please hurry up and jump over that bleedin' fence!!!
3/ Lee Majors is a legend. But that doesn't mean legends should be allowed to sing on the soundtrack.

Despite these observations I am compelled to watch the infamous Bigfoot episodes soon...

What A Complete W.

Oliver Stone Directing American Politics... There is no bad in thar statement.

A film of 2 halves. The lighter, comedic flash-back sequences interspersed with the later events of the Iraq War build-up.The later is amusing while the latter is gripping. The combined effect is a tradgic comedy; funny cause he's a naive fool. But tradgic because his ignorence is shaping the world future, for the worse.

The cast are extremely effctive with Brolin due much praise for not making Bush a caricature, but he still doesn't quite capture the man's arrogence and cluelessness exhibited during press conferences.

Richard Dreyfuss as Chaney, Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell and Scott Glenn , while not looking exactly like theie real-life counterparts,capture their personalities perfectly. James Cromwell, as Bush Snr, while looking nothing like the bloke, captues his persona. It's only Thandie Newton's Condy Rice which lets the side down; spot on visually butacted like something out of a SNL skit.

Very entertaining, but I feel there's a deeper, angrier movie within Stone thats still to be revealed.

'Ataboy.

Long Live The Franchise!

You may be aware, from other entries on this blog, that I'm a fan of the 'fantastical' type of action movie, where plot and acting ability are secondary to logic-defying action and cool one-liners. I call this genre "Bullshit Action"; not cause the films are crap, but because of the lack of reality in situations. They are generally very fun, despite the lapses in logic, and don't apologise for it.

They used to be produced aplenty in the 80's and early 90's from the movies of Chuck Norris to Arnie to Rutger Hauer to the productions of Joel Silver, like Commando and Action Jackson.

These days "Bullshit Action" is limited mainly to direct-to-DVD (with aging stars like Segal, Van Damme and Snipes) or failed big-budget studio thrillers like Max Payne or Hitman (movies that aren't nearly as intelligent or fun as they would like you to think).

Thank God for Luc Besson. He is the most consistent producer of Bullshit Action today with movies like District B13, Taken and the Transporter series to his name. With stars like Jason Statham and Jet Li, the genre continues with style.

Transporter 3, while not as 'batshit crazy' as its predecessors, is still a fun ride. It's a little slower than the other flicks as it incorpoates a lurve story for Statham. But when the action sequences do arrive, they're memorable with an acceptable dollop of batship crazy in each. And in case I haven't alrady winged about this long enough, these set-pieces are shot and edited more effectively than the recent Bond movie.

I look forward to Statham's Crank 2 in April, as well as Transporters 4 to 10 in the years to come!

Don't Mention The War!

There's a handful of films I think will be great entertainment this year; Star Trek, Transformers 2, Terminator Salvation. There's a few film this year that have the potential to be great; Avatar, Watchmen, Up. The more you anticipate these movie events the greater the disappointment if they let you down.

Thankfully, one film I had on both lists, Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, does no such thing. Charting the final of 15 failed attempts by German Citizens to assainate Hitler, is a brillient exercise in precise, considered film making.

The cast are uniformly suberb; no great backgroung detail is provided (it's simply not important when you've got actors of Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy and Kenneth Branagh performing amazing feats of subtlty to communicate character and emotion). Cruise, while not stretching his ability is well cast as the appointed leader of the hit squad, providing a dynamic and self-assured centre to hold the plot in motion.

But Singer is the real star here. As with all his movies, the script is stripped to it's bare minimum of scenes and dialogue, making it lean, mean and tightly focused. He chooses a perfect composition, a steady, long take and a finely judged character reation or dialogue deliver to generate tension and develop characters over choppy editing or forced action sequences.

It's refreshing to see a strong, old fashioned thriller over a 'modern action thriller like Eagle Eye (which I do really like, but not nearly as much as this) that gernerates thrills through the way the story is told, not just whats happening. There's virtually NO action..it's all through fear of capture and discovery that the dramtic screws are tightened.

So that's the first Top Ten movie of the year then. What movies are gonna join it?

Watchmen: One Big Joke

The 1986 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons was something I (kinda) read several years ago... but I sped through it, and didn't really take in the details. With the movie adaptation about to hit the big screen in the next few weeks, I thought I'd refresh my memory with the original, aclaimed work...this time slowly enough to truely appreciate it.

On the face of it, it's a simple story; a masked 'super-hero' is murdered, and the remaining superheroes try to solve this mystery, as they may be the next target. However, what you get is something much richer.

It sets up a rich back story of an alternative Earth where costumed heroes have existed since WWII, as well as establishing two generations of complex character history and relationships.
It uses unconventional narrative techniques to tell the story...dialogue overlapping onto story panels that don't relate (directly) to what's being said.
It mixes flashbacks with present day. It inserts 'non-comic book' media between chapters (news articles / book extracts / character profiles). Add to that periphical characters that appear frequently to comment on unfolding events plus a parallel comic-strip story "The Black Freighter" that's interwoven throughout the main story..and you have something you have to pay attention to.
It subverts the superhero genre, asking things like, 'if superman was sooo powerful, would he really give a shit?' or 'would Batman be psychlogically stable if he beat up too many people?'
It examines faith, science, society, politics and questions the morality of humanity. Deep stuff that reminds me of where The Matrix and The Dark Knight would venture in the years to come.
Also, much like Alan Moore's suburb V for Vendetta, it tried to make the comic book format more paletable to adults, by stictly formatting each page to equal sized panels and by eliminating 'childish' sound effect and motion elements from the drawings.

A brilliant work, from masters of the comic book form.

Don't Moan about the Clone(s)

It's expected these days to bash new Star Wars. Not the Holy Trilogy of course, but movie Episodes 1 to 3 and beyond.

Well I'm here to tell you I love Star Wars The Clone Wars, Lucasfilms new half our CG animation airing on the Cartoon Network. In the Star Wars timeline, it is essentially Episode 2.5. The Clone War is in full swing Anakin is a Jedi Knight and has taken on a young teenage padawan.

Many don't like the move away from thr Tartovsky 2D animation that represented Clone Wars before this series. But this series style is far richer than any other 'cartoon' action show I've ever seen. The characters have a stylised 'puppet' look to them (a bit like what Del Toro was doing with his intro to Hellboy II) which give the show a fresh look while justifying the limited animation that ANY animated TV show must utilise to keep the production schedule.

The voice cast talent is uneven. Anakin is bog standard hero voice (but Is an improvement over high-pitched whiney Hayden Christensen), Yoda, Palpatine and Mace adequete, with the standouts being Obi Wan and Dooko (slightly unauthentic, but cool). New Padawan Ashoka was a concern initially (coming across like a Jedi Miley Cyrus) but the teenage hot-head fits in with a slightly more contemporary feeling Star Wars. The only downside (unsurprisingly) so far are the two Jar Jar-centric episodes. The comedy here is overdone, and while original vocalist Ahmed Best performs the initial Jar Jar-fest, another less convincing actor performs the later episode, bringing it down a little further. It should also be noted that, on occasion, the comedy droids have their moment. But this IS a kids show..and their banter never intrude on an episode the way Binks can.

What really makes this programme work is that it's a WAr show. A ball to the wall, everything but the kitchen sink, combat show. Huge imaginative space battles, sabre fights, massive troop movement, alien locations. If you've ever liked WWII movies like Where Eagles Dare or The Guns of Navarone..then this is a chance to watch that, big scale, on a weekly basis. Except in the Star Wars universe!

Binx and Comedy Droids be damned. Gimme more now!

What really makes thi

Bashing The Bland British Buffy

ITV's new family fantasy series, Demons, is essentially a British version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The upside of this is a frequent tonal darkness to the series, a strong foundation of backstory ( Luke Van-Helsing, the decsentant of the actual Abraham Van-Helsing, is the Chosen One, destined to fight Demons) and a recognisable collection of archetypes which we can relate to.

The downside is, it's too familier, without being unique or different enough. Buffy had wit and strong characterisation in abunence...Demons does not.

But its not bad..just exactly what you'd expect from an ITV adventure show. The cast are good but not spectacular; Phil Glenister provides the most interesting character, but is saddled with an annoying American accent. The lead lad and his best friend are adequet while Zoe Tapper has zero character...except for blindness and telepathy traits. Whoopee! (At least Tapper has the advantage of having a beautifully, plummy English accent while being insanely gorgeous).

So no way near as good as the BBC's Doctor Who...nowhere near as boring as the BBC's Robin Hood or Merlin...but perhaps, eventually, on a par with ITV's Primeval. Maybe....

Frak-a-doodle-doo!

After a 9 month absence (thanks to the 2008 writers strike) Battlestar Galactica's 4th season resumes on it's 11th episode, following the mighty mid-season cliffhanger they left us on.

May I just say... Fraking Hell. Fraketty Frak Frak. Mother Frakers.

Galactica's a great show but after the high drama of the cliffhanger, and the solid, small scale story of the recent webisodes, I anticipated a slow build up over the course the final 10 episodes.
Nope! No such thing here. Major, major revelations are made here. Characters are pushed to there VERY limits... in some cases over them.

And it's bleak. Many characters are confused, struggling to cope with events. Others are crumbling under the weight of events. And just when you think there a couple of regulars to carry a torch of hope and optimism, the writers rip it from you.

Amazing stuuff. This is Galactica at its best; perhaps the best episode they've done. This is television at its best. Full stop.

Rollnrocka

I haven't seen Swept Away...yet...but I truley adore Guy Richie's other flicks...including the much misunderstood Revolver.

Rocknrolla, while pushing no bounderies whatsoever, is a grand addition to his body of work. Richies photography is at once glossier and grittier than whats come before. His cast are Oscar winners/nominees/Spartans. His scripts witty and situations memorable. And his direction fun, inventive and contemperary.

Strange then that this is my least favorite on his CV. Not as broadly funny as Snatch or Lock Stock or as outrageously intriguing as Revolver... but a classy reminder that Richies is an A-game player.

Roll on Sherlock Holmes with Downey Jr.

Jack on the Box

24 is back on telly after a 2 year absence...thanks to the writer's strike and Kiefer's spell in prison for drink driving. It's damn good to have it back though.

The change of setting to Washington DC along with a near complete overhaul in the cast makes this season feel fresher. And it's great to have Jack Bauer back into his good ol' fashioned torturous ways (even incororating the legal consequences into the storyline).

However unoriginality is hovering in the wings. We already have a Die Hard 2 style storyline (with the villains threatening to crash airlines via hijacked air traffic control systems). Plus two regular 24 plot devices have appeared early... the traitorous mole working inside the government agency... and the assumed dead, but actually not, cast member from a previous season... returning in a suprise twist.

Despite always being compulsive viewing, seasons 5 and 6 were getting extremely unbelievable in their contrived plotlines. Hopefully, this strong start to this season will be a return to form the series deserves

Stuntman Pliskin for President!

Kurt Russell is the greatest. Snake Pliskin, Jack Burton, McCready...and now Stuntman Mike.

People complain about the slow start and dialogue heavy front half when talking Death Proof, expecting a standard Serial killer flick (of which this is Tarantino's take.) But they miss the subtext of the exploration of feminism through the ages... the first set of girls ultimately being submissive to blokes...while the second group are empowered...taking on Kurt's killer.

The car chases are (as you'd expect from self taught film student Quentin) amazing as are the adorable cast from the cute MNary Elizabeth Winstead, the sultry Vanessa Ferlito and the radiant Rosario!

Coolest, laugh-out-loud moment in movies in 2007 = The girls leaving the car park on their fateful journey while Kurt breaks the forth wall, turns to camera and smiles. Go get 'em Mike!

Sun's brutal, isn't it !?!

Brit director Danny Boyle has picked up a lot of praise recently for 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, but his 2007 Science Fiction effort Sunshine frequently gets overlooked.



Plot wise its very similar to Event Horizon, Supernova and The Black Hole with spaceships on a mission to rescue other spaceships, only to run into freaky psycho-fastasy horror situations.



Mixed into the tense astronauts-in-jepardy plot though is an uplifting spitual experience which is very much aided by John Murphy's cool score. A strong cast is topped off by the lovely Rose Byrne as "The Astronaut You Would Most Want To Survive If Crashing In To A Star".

No doom in Doomsday

Ah, Neil Marshall. While Christopher Nolan is the UK smarts and Danny Boyle is the raw, indie spirit... director Neil Marshall is its talently rabid geeky heart.

His third film Doomsday doesn't live up to the classic status of his previous efforts, the black comedy horror Dog Soldiers and the ever-better horror thriller The Descent.

Its an open homage to 80's actioners Escape From New York, Mad Max 2, The Warriors with some Aliens, Knightriders and 28 Days Later thrown in for good measure.

Not only is it nostalgic to see these plots revisited and combined but the barmy fast paced action combined with limited characterisation reminds me of those unashamedly cool action flicks the 80's were known for. Only a slightly uncharismatic Rhona Mitra and hyperactive action editing spoil the show (Oh, and burning the Pertwee of course.) Otherwise, grand, insane stuff!

No Egg On My Face! Not A Glob!

Looks like Sin City. In parts, it feels like Sin City. But this aint no Sin City. By the time you get to the end of the first confrontation between hero, The Spirit, and villain, Octopus, you know your watching something really, knowingly silly. And like Hudson Hawk or SpeedRacer that came before it, your ability to enjoy "silly" will determine how much you enjoy this.

The cast are uniformly great. Sam Jackson hasn't been this fun in years and its a blast seeing him in Nazi gettup. Scarlett is yummy in a snooty sidekick role. Eva Mendes is, hands down, the sexiest woman of 2009. Pure and simple.

Its fun and its funny...in a kind of Batman The Movie kind of way. The Spirit talks plot points ernestly to himself, much like Adam West might to Burt Ward...except The Spirits companion is the city itself. The Octopus's clone henchmen are only there for comic relief and the dialogue is self referencial (mention of The Elektra syndrome / Scarlett drives a Ditko van).

An aquired taste then. A taste not to everyones liking. But if you understand comic book, FRank Miller's warped brain and have the capacity for silliness...this just might be for you.

A Whore for Tokyo Gore

Maybe the Japanese had decided there was nowhere left to go in the whole J-Horror thing.
Maybe they felt that a new direction was needed.
If the answer is YES then Tokyo Gore Police is the expression of that decision.

The privatized Tokyo Police for battle "Engineers", mutants with biomechanical extensions.

Off its tits and loving it. Very much in the vain of Braindead and Evil Dead 2, this isn't a story of significance, rather an experience of artistic exuberance.


Oh, and being attacked by an ex-policeman with a mutant cock is really not a pleasent way to go.
For anyone.

Jail House Rock

If your gonna watch Michael Bay films then there are rules.

1/ Never watch Pearl Harbour (unless you skip directly to the main assualt or airfield attack)
2/ Watch The Island with sound only (to marvel at the athletic Scarlett without the baggage of that story)
3/ The more barking the movie the better the Bay (Transformers and Armageddon then)

So it was a very pleasent re-discovery to rewatch the 1996 action classic The Rock then.
Its more grounded from the Bay-fests of late and gains from that. Connery shows exactly why he is a movie star of the highest caliber and Cage demonstrates why he is always one of the most interesting A-Listers in Hollywood.

It doesn't hurt by having the greatest film score of the 1990's (TM). Most modern scores kind of sound like this... but unfortunately without the catchy compositions which makes this sooo great.

Cornell Smell Hell

Tis only 4th of January but I may have stumbled across the most hateful tune of 2009.

Chris Cornell's "Scream" as produced by Timbaland. I'm all for estasblished artists trying something new. And contrary to other internet haters, I don't think Cornell has sold out his rock roots. I don't actually dislike the song writing on display here.

But the dire, souless RandB production has stripped the soul and uniquness from Cornell's vocals and replaced it with coma-inducing formulaic blandness in the mix. For the most part, I fucking hate RandB. For something that has its roots in soul...it no longer has soul. Rather a generic, emotionless drone. These days that drone is enhanced by subjecting the vocalist to a Cher-o-matic...a device used to electronically alter the vocals, ensuring any talent the singer once displayed is removed from the recording.

If RandB producers want to carry on the tradition of ass-raping the RandB genre...go ahead. I you guys wanna swim in shit..carry on, cause it aint my pond.

But don't reduce one of the greatest vocalists of our day to passionless anybody with a wanky RandB vampiric producer.

Leo is frank & ernest. In LA he's Frank and NY he's Ernest!

A Solid, if unspectacular effort from Ridders. Body of Lies charts the efforts of a CIA operative working in the Middle East (Leo), working with his Langley based handler to bring down a top ranking Terrorist. They form an alliance with an excellent Mark Strong, head of Jordan's Intelligene community.

It always interesting, never dull and of course looks great. But there are no great shocks or surprises here. Leo is a great, beleivable leading man...exactly as he was in every-other-movie-he's-been-in-in-the-last-ten-years lind of way. Crowe adds another fine character piece to his CV. But the plot never sparks and the set pieces feel minor.

Grade C Ridders.