Mind of a Genius, Mouth of a Simpleton!!

Take Shelter - 07/11/11

2011-11-08T10:10:00.001Z

I would like to start by saying that this film is awesome!
While nothing particularly happens throughout, the sense of foreboding inherent through the film is incredibly strong and there is an air of creepiness and tension running within it.

The lead performance by Michael Shannon is excellent and as he steadily starts to lose his mind, he never overplays his gradual decline into what he believes is the start of a mental illness.

An excellent film all round, this is definitely one of the picks of the festival so far and is one of the best I've seen at any of the festivals I've been to in the last 7 years.
When it gets a general release you need to see it.

Score: 5/5*

The Fatherless - 06/11/11

2011-11-07T13:53:00.003Z

This was one of those films that I literally had no idea about when I picked it, going just on the fact that it was in the same place as the one I wanted to watch before.
But, I am pleased to say that I did really enjoy it.

A story about a fragmented group of adults that is the product of a free-spirited commune and has spent many years apart coming together for the funeral of the "father" of the group, this was a film about recovering a lost childhood, discovering and accepting secrets, remembering the past and shattering previously-close bonds.

It is very tactfully handled and explores the strange world of communes and the problems inherent within them, as children with different mothers but the same father and have spent most of their lives apart, all become apparent and cracks start to show as they spend more time together and think about the situation they were in and where they are going to in the future.

An interesting little find due to to strategic planning, but that's what the festival is about!

Score: 4/5*

The Other Side of Sleep - 06/11/11

2011-11-06T20:07:00.002Z

This was an enjoyable, interesting film from Ireland and spanned a few genres covering murder-mystery, grief and a need for redemption.

Intelligently shot and very well preformed by all the cast, there was a lot going on in a short space of time (running at 88 minutes), but that was in no way a bad thing and maintained a sense of pace and momentum throughout.

Score: 5/5*

The Thing - 05/11/11

2011-11-06T14:10:00.003Z

This prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter film doesn't really have much scope for what it can do and where it can take us.
We know 'The Thing' must survive to the end of the film so it's just a case of waiting to see how all the rest of the cast die!

Focussing on the mainly Norwegian research team, it shows a bit about how the creature was found and battled the first time round before Kurt Russel got there in the original.

Quite unnecessary but quite good fun and if you look at it as part of the bigger picture with the second one, it works quite well and does get the honour of having much better creature effects.

Score: 5/5*

Psycho - 05/11/11

2011-11-05T18:03:00.002Z

I don't know why I'm bothering to even review this!

One of the greatest horror films ever created, it still stands as one of the most perfect examples of genre cinema to this day.

The phrase "often imitated, never bettered" applies here!

Score: 5/5*

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - 05/11/11

2011-11-05T15:02:00.002Z

Even if you've never seen this (which, to my shame, I hadn't until today), everyone knows the story of the aliens arriving on Earth and replacing humans.

Using alien invasion as a metaphor for the fear of communism during the cold war is nothing that hadn't been done before many times but this is still quite timeless and has aged well, being relevant today in these times of fear as it was back then.

Score: 5/5*

Human Centipede Part 2: Full Sequence - 04/11/11

2011-11-05T01:40:00.003Z

Well, if you have seen the first one, you know what to expect.
Only this time, expect A LOT more!!

Sickening, offensive, violent, gorey and in places very funny, this is a film that morally should not have been made, but secretly we're all glad it was!
Tom Six has taken things to an extreme and it showed as the BBFC ripped it apart and left us with a diluted version of the film, but even that is very likely to be the worst thing you have ever seen in the cinema.
Fingers crossed on getting the uncut version released on home media because there seems to be a lot more to it!

There are a few films I have been left aghast at after seeing them, welcome to that list Human Centipede 2!!

Score: 4/5*

Guilty of Romance - 04/11/11

2011-11-04T23:04:00.003Z

This is another high quality export from Japan that was a highly erotic film that was at times quite shocking and funny in parts that explored sexual repression and expression to a high degree that I would think pushed a lot of boundaries in a country that is known for its conservative views of explicit imagery.

The production values were high and the writing and acting was of the calibre I have come to expect from the Japanese cinema shown over the years at the festival.
Just don't watch it with your Nan!

Score 4/5*

The Prize - 04/11/11

2011-11-04T20:10:00.003Z

It's a bit of a bad indictment of British cinema when a 7 year old girl is a better actor than the whole cast of Wuthering Heights!

Expertly shot and very well acted, this drama has a sense of hopelessness and helplessness running through it that is matched by the bleak Argentine landscape in which it is set.

Score: 4/5*

Wuthering Heights - 03/11/11

2011-11-03T22:16:00.006Z

The first film of the Festival was Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold.

Having not read the book, I was unsure of what to expect, but the result I saw on screen did honestly not encourage me to go out and grab a copy.
The whole film, while being competently shot, seemed very fragmented and jumped from scene to scene in time frames that apparently spanned months at a time.
It never really gained any momentum and lacked a cohesion throughout to get me dragged into the story.
The dialogue seemed to play second-fiddle to the visual and this also made it difficult for a Bronte novice like myself to really understand what was going on.

And I'm all up for gathering new, local talent but the acting left quite a bit to be desired from pretty much the whole cast.
It all felt very stilted and forced, and while James Howson's performance as Heathcliff was quite powerful physically, it seemed to falter when he was required to talk and show emotion.
That causes problems when you end up with one of the most famous love stories written lacking in any sort of raw emotion needed to pull it off successfully!
It sort of ended up like they were just really good friends who kind of fell out, then met again and fell out again... but hey, those were simpler times and maybe that's what it is actually about.
Like I said, I haven't read it!

Final Rating: 3/5*

A Wild Film Festival Approaches!!

2011-11-03T00:47:00.004Z

It is that time of year again!
That time of year where I fail to get any natural sunlight due to being in various cinemas around Leeds during the International Film Festival!!

I have plenty planned this year, and I would like to review each one, but writing a whole review for each one like I did last year got pretty tiresome, so this time round I have decided to do short, quicker reviews straight after each film from my phone (assuming it works!) to save time and to be able to get them done while it is still fresh in my mind.

While these will be hastily written and most likely pretty nonsensical, if you want to have a read of a particular film then come on over and check it out.
If I can steer you towards the gems of the festival and keep you away from the duds, then I'll feel a little better about it all!

My full list of films is as follows:

Thursday 3rd

• Wuthering Heights – Town Hall @ 7:15pm

Friday 4th

• The Prize – Hyde Park @ 6pm
• Guilty of Romance – Hyde Park @ 8:15pm
• Human Centipede Part 2 – Hyde Park @ 11:15pm

Saturday 5th

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Town Hall @ 1pm
• World Animation Short Film Competition 1 – Town Hall @ 3:15pm
• Psycho – Town Hall @ 6pm
• The Thing – Town Hall @ 8:30pm
• Night of the Dead – Hyde Park @ 11pm

Sunday 6th

• The Day the Earth Stood Still – Town Hall @ 1pm
• World Animation Short Film Competition 2 – Town Hall @ 3:15pm
• The Other Side of Sleep – VUE1 @ 6:30pm
• The Fatherless – VUE1 @ 8:30pm

Monday 7th

• World Animation Short Film Competition 3 – Town Hall @ 6pm
• Take Shelter – Town Hall @ 8:30pm

Tuesday 8th

• Breathing – Hyde Park @ 7pm
• Inbred – Hyde Park @ 9pm

Wednesday 9th

• El Sicario: Room 164 – Town Hall @ 5pm
• Las Acacias – Hyde Park @ 7pm
• She Monkeys – Hyde Park @ 9pm

Thursday 10th

• Mitsuko Delivers – VUE2 @ 6:15pm
• Heat Wave – VUE2 @ 8:30pm

Friday 11th

• Together – VUE1 @ 6:15pm
• Let the Bullets Fly – VUE1 @ 8:30pm

Saturday 12th

• Snowtown – Hyde Park @ 8:45pm

Sunday 13th

• Kill Me Please – Hyde Park @ 3:45pm
• Juan of the Dead – Hyde Park @ 6pm
• Smuggler – Hyde Park @ 8:30pm

Monday 14th

• Colorful – VUE2 @ 6pm
• Mars – VUE2 @ 8:30pm

Tuesday 15th

• Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below – VUE2 @ 6pm
• Karate-Robo Zaborgar – VUE2 @ 8:30pm

Wednesday 16th

• Detroit Metal City – Town Hall @ 6:15pm
• Symbol – Town Hall @ 8:45pm

Thursday 17th

• Sound of Noise – Town Hall @ 6:15pm
• Yakuza Weapon – VUE2 @ 8:30pm

Friday 18th

• Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods – Town Hall @ 6pm
• Shame – Town Hall @ 8:30pm

Movies Round-Up: Super 8/Cowboys & Aliens

2011-08-18T15:52:00.003+01:00

I meant to do a review of Super 8 a little nearer to the time I actually went to see it but one thing and another made me forget to do it so thought I'd stick it in a double header with Cowboys & Aliens to save time and space!

Kind of like a less interesting Doctor Who!

Super 8 is the new film by JJ Abrams, of Lost, Cloverfield and Star Trek fame, and is a nice hark back to the old kids adventure films that Stephen Spielberg used to do so well in the 80's.
This is probably because he was the Executive Producer on the film.
I think the closest thing to it would be The Goonies in that it has a group of children heading out on their own to solve a mystery that some adults are ignoring, some adults are covering up and others adults are unaware of.

To be honest, I was very unsure of what this was going to be like but I had heard good things about it and was intrigued by the trailers available.
I went in expecting a monster movie, like Cloverfield, and in some ways it is, but without spoiling it for everyone it is a lot more than that as well.
The element of the film that I can talk about without ruining it is the more important feature of the story.

At it's heart, this is a story of childhood and the emotions, trials and adventures that come with it.
The struggle of the loss of a parent, the difficulties of a collapsing relationship with a father who is too busy, battling the hormones inherent with the uncertainty of first love.
The group of kids at the fore of the event are a close group and there for each other, despite what they are going through.

It seems that the 'creature' is more of a metaphorical comment on puberty than a physical entity in some respects.
As is usual in Abrams' TV shows and films, the big reveal never fully happens until the very end, with fleeting glances here and there, but it is the creature that begins to cement the friction within the group, with parents that have become distant and with the town as a whole.
It is the creature that forces the kids to grow up and introduces the strange, new emotions to them.

Overall, I was very impressed and enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected to.
The trailers gave an impression of a dark, foreboding movie full of scares, but as I said before, it is more akin to if The Goonies were the ones doing the filming in Cloverfield!
I just wish nobody had told Abrams about lens flare, because while it isn't quite as eye-burningly obvious as in Star Trek, it is still very visible!!

I give it 8 balls of wool out of 10 on the Feline Film Form.

Directed by: JJ Abrams

Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot
USA, 2011

A film called Cowboy & Aliens doesn't have to deliver much to live up to the promise of the title, and luckily, Jon Favreau (Iron Man) manages to provide both Cowboys AND Aliens!!
I know, it's crazy but somehow he manages it!

The title also allows you to walk in knowing pretty much what to expect.
I will be honest, I didn't know anything of the source material other than that it was based on a graphic novel, and little bits I had picked up from previews, articles etc.
I don't think this hampered me as there wasn't much of what most people would call 'a story', but don't get me wrong and think that's a bad thing.
Favreau said he wanted to make a 'Western' film and that's what he's done.

A (relatively) peaceful town in the Wild West is harassed by an invading force that comes to steal all the world's gold and take away their loved ones time and again and it is up to 'a-man-with-no-name' (and amnesia) to step up, gather a posse and save the the townsfolk.
The fact that they're aliens just makes it all sci-fi and explodey!
To be honest, it could have been "Cowboys & Dragons" or "Cowboys & Particularly Aggressive Rodents" and the end result would have been just as silly and enjoyable.

The aliens are a seemingly unstoppable opponent until Daniel Craig (whose character actually has a name, it appears!) works out how to use the alien bracelet he has somehow got on his wrist and starts killing him some alien scum in a Will Smith in Independence Day style, only with less "Welcome to Earth" and "Hell naaaaaaaw!", but it is set in the 19th Century so Will Smith hadn't been invented then.

I was a little unsure of how good this would be.
Iron Man is probably one of my favourite ever films and I had high hopes that Jon Favreau could do something as enjoyable away from something he was obviously very comfortable with.I think he has achieved it.
While I don't feel it is as good as Iron Man, it still stands as a very well directed, aesthetically pleasing film.

I would recommend you go see it as it is good fun and quite silly, but what do you expect from a film about cowboys fighting aliens?
A film that is a thinly-veiled metaphorical interpretation of the international economic-crisis and the fear of terrorist attacks that we both fear and fail to fully understand?
Oh, wait... hang on... Through mocking it did I just inadvertantly uncover some deep meaning in it?
I would probably ignore that, leave your brain at the door and just enjoy it for what it is!

I give this 8.5 slices of pizza out of 10 on the Teenage Turtle "Talkie" Tally!

Directed by: Jon Favreau
Universal Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures
USA, 2011

FALLOUT (from my brain): A cynical view on the video game industry from a former optimist

2011-07-28T11:28:00.000+01:00

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am a big gamer and a fan of games.
From previous articles you will know that I keep buying the things so I must have something that keeps me doing that.
It’s just that it has become too much of, for want of a better word, a “business”.

Again, don’t misjudge me on what I mean by that.
“Of course it’s a business, it is the creation, promotion and selling of a product you dongwanger!” I hear you cry inside my mind.
Just allow me to explain myself!

A “business” in my eyes is just that; Creation, Promotion and Transaction.
I work for one of the biggest clothing retailers in Europe and it is definitely run on that manifesto.
There is no real human side to it and we are constantly told we are aiming for profit, profit, profit.
The video game industry has seemingly gone the same way, losing much of the ‘fun’ of creating games for people to play.
And this is the part where I try and justify that statement, let’s see how that goes!

Born in 1982, I was raised on a diet of Commodore 64, Spectrum ZX2 and NES.
Then the social services came round and said I also had to eat real food so I expanded my tastes and regained the power of my legs.
These were glorious days of low-res, no story, no verifiable audio and we were happy because we had seen the future!
And it came in a multiple of colours sometimes!

The lack of technology meant an abundance of imagination that, while hard to visually realise, came across in the love obviously put into the game.
There was always the stories of lone bedroom programmers churning out games where they have done everything themselves because there wasn’t really that much to do.
It didn’t really seem to be done for the money either, with freeware being thrown about and, in the case of the Spectrum, easily duplicated software if you, or someone you knew had a double cassette deck to hand!

But nobody seemed to care.

Even the “Video Game Crash of 1983” couldn’t halt something which would ultimately become a multi-billion pound industry, but just why did it become a multi-billion pound industry?

We’re back to that “business” word again.

There have always been the big names in the industry.
Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft to name a few more recent ones, but these were also leaders in hardware so business-wise, it made sense to try and get enough software out for their user-base.
I have no problem with that, honestly, I’m cool!

I think the problem has come from the increase in the (as I have dubbed them) “Super-Publishers” such as Activision, THQ and, perhaps the most “super”, Electronic Arts.
Electronic Arts (or EA to its friends) have been around for donkey’s years, churning out FIFA, NBA, NFL and NHL games year after year.
These initialled behemoths have dominated all-format top tens every Christmas for a couple of decades now and seem to show no sign of stopping.
They have since branched out into all sorts of genres, buying up game studios all over the place and cementing themselves as one of the fore-runners in game output, and I think that is where the problem lies.

They are the fore-runners in game output because they are running it as a business.
Mergers and takeovers are commonplace in business and the idea of the big faceless corporation is a well-known facet of the media, it has just sucked the ‘fun’ out of gaming, and I would imagine not just from a consumer point of view.

There is big money to be made from video games now and the budgets they are given are sometimes akin to blockbuster movies.
There are also big losses to be made if handled badly.
Take the recent hiatus of the Hero series of games that have been supposedly suspended for the time being due to poor sales across the brand.
People still enjoyed them and would have continued to buy them, but because the numbers haven’t added up and the money doesn’t cut it, say au revoir to that series.
“Business time”

You were obviously fore-warned of the cynicism in this article and I feel I have not disappointed, but there is a glimmer of hope in these troubled times.
There are still developers who appear to do it for the love of the format (as well as the love of money, obviously).
The teams behind Call of Duty are obviously very committed to their cause as seen by the court case that dragged Activision’s name through the mud slightly.
Cliff Bleszinski, the lead developer on Gears of War is quite clearly very happy with his lot in life and enjoys doing what he loves.
The big Japanese names such as Hideo Kojima, Suda51, Yuji Naka and Shigeru Miyamoto all wax lyrical about how proud they are to be working in an industry they all care deeply about and this takes us back to the days of the bedroom programmer.

Caring enough to see a project through to completion and put care and attention into it is what the industry needs.
We don’t all need multi-million dollar projects with “cutting-edge” graphics and “ear-bursting” audio.
We need games to become personal again and give us something we can immerse ourselves in.
There have been times when it has been very right, and as a previous article stated, I have managed to find something to keep my interest long enough, such as Uncharted and Dragon Age.
I am just finding myself more and more disillusioned with the whole thing.
Sure, spend the money to make the games look gorgeous and reach new levels of realism, just give us something to do behind it all.

Inter-media crossovers in the videogame industry

2011-07-21T15:52:00.004+01:00

-or-
“If you want the full story, buy the game/comic/DVD/novel/music CD!”

Within the movie industry, cross-fertilisation on properties is nothing new.
Upon a big summer blockbuster release, there would be the inevitable influx of novelisations, magazines, annuals, toys, t-shirts, comic adaptations and, usually, a lacklustre (though not always!) video-game tie-in.

This is understandable, as a film is only a few hours long, in which time character immersion is lacking, so people would like to spend a bit more time with getting to know who they are watching, so books and comics that explore more of their journey will help fill in gaps and give the reader a bigger picture.

This really came to the forefront in gamers’ minds with the release of Enter the Matrix (Shiny Entertainment/Atari, 2003), a multi-platform “episode” in the Matrix (Larry and Andy Wachowski, 1999-2003) trilogy of films.
We all saw the films (unfortunately) and at the beginning of Reloaded we briefly hear how a message was passed to the humans by the crew of another ship but we never see how this is achieved.
To get the full story, we are required to first watch the episode of The Animatrix (Manga, 2003) entitled Final Flight of the Osiris that shows the message being posted and then sit down and play a whole video game based on picking up the message and delivering it to the council.
What started out as 3 cinema tickets or 3 DVDs, suddenly became 3 cinema tickets or 3 DVDs, watching another DVD for the particular episode and then £40 for something that could have been in the film.

While that may seem cynical (hey, it’s what I do!) that seems to have been a one-off.
Film tie-ins are never totally faithful to the source material because that would be logistically unsound, but they keep the general feel of the film and don’t expect you to fill in the gaps with something else.
Games, however, seem to be taking a bit of a turn into this world and it could get quite expensive!

The first time it really struck me was how many comic tie-ins there are now.
Being a regular visitor to the comic shop, there are a lot of game properties that now have regular, or mini-series being published.
A lot of the time these are external to the games themselves, looking at different adventures or events using the characters, but now and again there are series that tie things together within the games themselves.

Mass Effect (Bioware, 2007) has a limited issue series based on the search for Shepard’s body during Mass Effect 2 (Bioware, 2010), something which actually happens at the beginning of the game.
I now feel I should play the first 10 minutes of the game, pause, read 4 issues of the comic to fill in that gap and then resume play.
Obviously, it isn’t feasible to have something so story-driven within the game as it would be slightly boring and would upset the strong narrative based on Shepard him(or her)self.
He is dead, therefore we as players should also be “dead” during the same time, that however does nothing to satisfy the curiosity of how you managed to stop being dead!

We are introduced to a few major players within the comic too so am I supposed to read that at the correct time, then spoil the surprise of who is who and what their agenda is?
I have read the series and it does tie up loose ends, but I would recommend either finishing the story first and going back, or being prepared to have certain things come as less as a surprise within the game.

Other series include Halo, Gears of War, God of War and Dragon Age but most of these are ‘prequel’ stories or side-stories so whether you want to read them is up to you and will not spoil your enjoyment of the game.
Indeed, the Dragon Age comic (IDW Publishing, 2010) seems to have little, if anything to do with the playable side of it and only shares the same factions and locations found in the game.

While comics seem to be growing as a by-product, we are also seeing a lot of visual tie-ins, the majority of which are animated, to fit in with the style of the games.
When I bought Dead Space (EA, 2008), I was unaware that I was playing through a story that started a lot earlier.
It was only when I found the animated movie prequel, and then the animated motion comic that I realised it was the back end of quite a long narrative.
Again, as with the Matrix game, a lot of what was shown would not fit as a game, but why not give us at least a cutscene with a bit of backstory and then give us the choice of whether or not we explore that world further, rather than not giving us any option except paying out for (or “borrowing”) the film.

Resident Evil (Capcom 1996-present), Crackdown 2 (Microsoft Game Studios, 2010) and possibly even Halo (Bungie, 2001) with the series of short promotional films, are all guilty of doing this and dropping us into a story with no idea how we got there.
Hell, even games on the Spectrum gave us a screen of text to let you at least know why you had to defeat a wizard or find something.

It is getting quite clear that the game industry wishes to emulate the film industry in terms of cross-media products, but they have the time within the games to show us more than you can get in a 2 hour film.
I would be quite happy to play, and have played, ‘tutorial’ levels that go some way to explaining why things are happening.
A good example of this would be Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (Ubisoft, 2003) where you actually play through up to the point where he takes the dagger and things go tits-up!
Even something like Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, 2007) has you playing a few minutes while reminding you how to jump and move until the inevitable Bowser attack before the game properly starts.

I am in no way criticising this use of other media, because I like the fact that there are other avenues with which to explore more of games that I have become immersed in and feel a connection to characters within.
There’s nothing wrong with a grown man collecting comics or keeping toys in the boxes! ;)
On the other hand, I am also not condoning the restrictions that are being inflicted upon us, as gamers.
It’s not really fair to expect us to fork out £40-50 on what we expect to be a full product, only to be told that part of the story will cost around £15 extra.

I like merchandise and I understand the economical and logistical reasoning behind it, I would just like the choice to get the full experience when I pay to do so.
I would prefer not to play through a game for a few hours or through a series of games, only to be told I am seeing part of the story and if I want to know how the world is how it is, I have to go out and find the comic or book or DVD.

So come on game companies, we all know that you could at least give us a clue as to why we are waking up on a mysterious spaceship populated with monsters, or how we became the technologically advanced half-human/half-robot killing machine we are.
If that just means sticking a quick animation or a motion comic as an extra on the disc then so be it, you have the space.
Stop leaving us short-changed story-wise!

The Playstation Network is BAAAAACCCKKKKK!!!!!!!!

2011-05-24T13:46:00.003+01:00

Erm…. Good?

So, as the whole world and their mother knows (trust me, both myself and the guy who sits opposite me at work got phone calls from our mothers when the news hit!), the PSN got hacked by a really awesome, cool group of really awesome, cool guys (Sarcasm? Me?) who managed to take out the entire system for around 4 weeks.
It’s hard to see the point of what they were hoping to accomplish by removing the online side of the PS3 and PSP, unless every single member of that group are all Xbox users and so would not suffer.
The fact that they alienated over 70million users worldwide did not, I feel, do much for their cause, whatever inane reason that may be!

So where did that leave me?
Pretty much in the same position I was in 4 weeks ago to be honest.
The only thing that really annoyed me was that I am a Playstation Plus member and I couldn’t get my free store content for that month!

As I have mentioned before, I struggle to really sit down with a game lately, and the lure of playing online has never really been something I take part in.
I like to play a game at my own pace instead of being forced into conflict or co-operation with some impatient 13 year old American kid who has just discovered ‘gay’ as both and insult and an adjective.
The thought of going on to play games with people who are the opposite of me and do spend hour upon hour playing them over and over slightly puts me off.
I want to enjoy playing my game, not constantly have to respawn every 2 minutes because aforementioned 13 year old American knows the map off by heart and ends up right behind a respawn point.

That isn’t to say I am totally anti-social when it comes to gaming.
Far from it!
Some of the most fun nights gaming are when you get some friends round, crack open some cold beers and play Wii Sports or get a full band on Rock Band.
So I think that’s it.
I would rather play with my friends who don’t take it so seriously and won’t cry and disconnect if you beat them, but also I would rather play with my friends who are actually in the room, not some voice on the end of a headset.

I have played online but it’s only really been with friends, which to be honest, I didn’t enjoy half as much as being in the room with someone.
It’s a disappointing indictment of things to come where fewer and fewer games are allowing split-screen co-op, favouring graphical power over local fun, because you really can’t beat getting your mates in a room and being able to physically punch them if they annoy you!

So maybe I am selling the whole online service short.
Obviously it is *slightly* popular with games like COD and World of Warcraft but I assume it’s just not for me, so I honestly can not say the PSN being down affected me at all. Maybe I should venture online to give it a proper go before coming to the conclusion that I don’t like it, but I really don’t feel like it at the moment.

Who knows, I may end up writing one of these about that one day and my opinion will have totally changed.
Maybe.

So welcome back PSN.
Everybody has missed you, just some a hell of a lot less than others.

Why Can't I Commit.... To Video Games?!

2011-04-13T10:04:00.010+01:00

I have a problem!!

I buy games that I never play!
Usually, these are because they are emblazoned with those magic words... "Collector's/Special Edition" and I can't resist forking out over the odds for that over-sized packaging with the promise of an extra costume for a character or an extra mission!

There are times, admittedly, where I refuse to buy anything less than the Special Editions for games that I really want to own and actually play such as Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed and Dragon Age, but invariably, I have been scouting through the games sections of online shops and seen a Special Edition of a game that I previously had no real interest in but feel compelled to buy just in case, ya know, I get round to it or it becomes quite valuable on eBay or something?

This would be fine if I could actually commit to playing them but at this time, especially now with having a 9-5 job and cherishing my weekends, I find myself struggling to sit down and say 'right, today I shall start a game and only play that game until I have finished it!' and this leads to a lot of games that I have hardly seen anything of.
There are games that I have done that with though, don't get me wrong.

I shall never forget the magical 4 days whilst I was unemployed where I clocked up 42 hours on Mass Effect while still somehow finding time to eat and sleep.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on the Gamecube kept me playing for 2 evenings, clocking up in-game time of 7 hours, not accounting for the actual real-world time of dying again and again and again and again! (I had a lot of rage set aside for that game but I persisted anyway!)
Dragon Age was one of the rare games that I tried to play, didn't really enjoy that much, put away and then returned to only to find that including DLC I have notched up around 52 hours in total. I am just waiting for a chance to start Dragon Age 2 in case I get caught up in that too.
The 3d Legend of Zelda games have always kept me playing until completion along with the 3d Marios except, strangely, Super Mario Sunshine which I struggled to connect to.
And most recently, Uncharted on the PS3 managed to grab me enough to want to see it right through to the end.

There are games that I pick up and play, get really into and then leave and never return to and even more that I try, do the tutorial and then banish to the shelf to await the fateful day that I find time to give them another go. And there are games that I have never even removed from the box, let alone put anywhere near my disc-tray!
I have original Xbox games from about 8 years ago that I have never touched.
I bought GTA: San Andreas on my 21st birthday.
I am 29 in August 2011.
It has never been used.

All this leads me to ask myself: Why?
And it is a question I ask myself a lot.

I am pretty sure I have upwards of 350 physical games (those on discs) and adding in Game Boy, DS, Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and Nintendo Virtual Console downloads, I am easily looking at 400+.
I can probably count the number of games I have completed on my fingers and toes (possibly having to borrow another hand from somewhere, but I'd have to check that).

1) Is it that I don't enjoy video games?
2) Do I have the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD?
3) Is there something wrong with the games that prevent people from being able to connect on an intellectual level and want to stick with it?

The answers appear to be:
1) No, I do enjoy games or I wouldn't want to spend money on them in the first place.
2) Probably, but if I try and ignore shiny things I can generally concentrate on something for more than 10 minutes.
And 3) No, the games are fine. Some of the games I own are the best-selling games of their genre so there's probably nothing wrong with the games themselves in terms of drawing people in.

I honestly do not know what it is.
Some games seem fun at first but I hit a snag and put it away for months.
Some seem fun at first but then I get another game that I’ve been wanting and so that takes precedent and I never return.
Some games just fail to grasp me although everything about them tells me that I should, in theory, be enjoying it.

I feel it may be mostly due to the story or how the game flows from start to finish.
Studying film at University and being an avid collector of DVDs (gotta love those 2-disc Collector’s Editions!!), I think I just like to see an interesting and thought-provoking narrative throughout.
That is certainly what captured me in Mass Effect and Uncharted.
The Assassin’s Creed games are extremely well written and contain that ‘just-one-more-hour’ mentality which I generally reserve for TV shows such as 24.
The good-conquering-evil story is as old as time but Nintendo do a great job of interspersing that with side-quests that, again, make you yearn to see what happens when you get that new sword or go explore a mysterious dungeon that somebody just told you about in Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess.

I certainly am in the mind-set that if it can’t spin a good story around the gameplay and make me actually want to see how it ends, I will probably never see how it does end and that is a shame.

So how does that explain the small number of games that don’t really have such a huge cinematic aspect to them?
Prince of Persia compelled me to the finish but that can’t really be said to have a great storyline.
Dragon Age, while having a major plot-point and destination, seemed too fragmented and sparse to really lead you through from one point to the next but again, as I said earlier, 52 hours later I finished it.

There is a lot of talk about video game addiction but I don’t really think I have suffered from that even in the most extreme circumstances.
Yes, I played Mass Effect for 4 days straight but I wasn’t working so it’s not like it took over my life and I skipped work or whatever.
If I had other things to do I would have done them instead.

So I am still unsure about why certain games can drag me in while others fail to impress.
I cracked on with Uncharted and finished that quite quickly yet Uncharted 2 has been started and left for a few weeks while I do other things.
Is that a case of familiarity breeding contempt and I just yearn for something a little less similar?
My plan was to finish Uncharted 2 and then get onto Dragon Age 2 but will I see the same thing?
I finished Dragon Age months ago but will it just be too similar and bore me before I put in the time it deserves?

There are so many games I have to play that I own and still I have more pre-ordered yet to arrive so I could do with getting the answers soon!
I keep thinking to myself that I should play my games in order from A-Z and not play anything else until they’re done, but that would require me being in the right mood for whatever game came next, something I find myself lacking in for certain games these days.
Maybe that’s it.
Maybe I just require certain moods to play certain games?

If I just feel like playing something but not sure what, I’ll just put on something quick and silly like Joe Danger on PSN or IloMilo on XBLA.
Something I can dip in and out within the space of a level sometimes.
Other times I just fancy something I know I can play easily and not have to think about too much so I’ll stick in Rock Band and give it a few tracks or go for a full mammoth rocking session.
In rarer times I’ll sit down and play something a bit more in-depth and get into it, and on that occasion the minutes turn into hours and hours into days.
Those are the rarer times that I seek and will hopefully find again.

I really need to play GTA: San Andreas at some point!!!

Blogging from my phone!

2011-02-07T13:45:00.001Z

I saw on the interweb that there's an android app for this here blogging site so thought I'd check it out.
Can't actually see if it works though so I'll take it on blind faith that it does!

A Nintendo player’s journey to the Dark Side! - Part 1

2011-02-02T11:03:00.003Z

Or: How I quite liked the look of some PS3 games and needed a blu-ray player!

I feel I would like to clear up the fact that I am not a Nintendo “fanboy”, although I have had every version of each console released up to the DSi so I have followed the Big N since I can remember gaming.
That said, I have recently seen myself wavering away from Nintendo and find myself leaning more towards the Xbox 360 in terms of my ‘go-to’ machine for gaming.

The recent influx of high-calibre, home-brewed titles such as Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Metroid Other M and Donkey Kong Country Returns, along with impressive third-party support in the likes of Tales of Symphonia, No More Heroes, Little King’s Story and the DS Professor Layton games have always kept me loyal to the scrappy underdog that Nintendo would appear to have become (at least to the public eye, monetary evaluations would surely tell a different story!).

That leads me to feel a slight sense of concern about what I, very much intentionally, bought myself on Sunday the 30th of January, 2011.
Yes, while currently owning a Gamecube, Xbox, DS, Wii and Xbox 360, I bought myself a Playstation 3.
If current-gen gamers that own a Wii and a 360 call that a ‘Wii60’, I guess that makes it… what? A WiiS360? Can I trademark that?!

I have never been dead-set in one camp or the other and was never a ‘hater’ of the Playstation.
Indeed, my brother has had all 3 versions of Sony’s console from the original one and there were times when I found myself at the mercy of Time Crisis or Tekken but at the end of that session, I would always go back to the N64 or Gamecube and to the comfort of Mario and his strange friends, driving karts, playing tennis or golf or football or baseball or another version of tennis or golf or football, having a party that nobody would ever accept an invitation to or just sprinting through strange worlds trying his best to wipe out an entire species by jumping on them.
This was the world I grew up with and this was the world I thought I would never leave.
There was just nothing that really spoke to me in a way that Nintendo couldn’t say louder, brighter and a bit more fun, especially with friends.

The early 2000’s (00’s?) saw the previous generation of consoles come out with the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox and obviously, the Gamecube was ordered and bought as soon as it was announced and in the shops.
The lacklustre effort on behalf of first and third-party publishing left a bit of a gap in my gaming and so it was to Microsoft that I turned, once again shunning Sony despite the huge catalogue of games available, some of which I knew I would enjoy.

I can’t really say why though. Perhaps it was the games?
Though the big release that everyone was after was Halo and I didn’t actually get round to buying that until at least 16 months after buying the console.
There were a few exclusive titles on the Xbox that I wanted, such as the Splinter Cell games, Project Gotham Racing and a few others, but there were exclusive titles on the PS2 which I know I would have snapped up had I gone the other route.

I can’t really think it was the controller, though that has been an absolute hatred of mine for all of Sony’s hardware as it is, in my opinion, a pointy, badly laid-out design but the Xbox’s gigantic controller wasn’t exactly appealing until the good sense was made to go with the S Controller as standard.

I think it might have just been the lack of commitment from the beginning.
Like I said, I’ve had every Nintendo console that has been released, and I bought the original Xbox so maybe I just felt like if I’m going to spend money on a new generation of consoles, it should be one that I had already spent time with and was familiar with. So I went for a Wii (on release day of course) and, a few months later, a 360.
I was happy with my gaming again.

And I stayed happy, and I would still be happy as I was, but then something not related to gaming made me rethink about my commitment to these two consoles I had stuck with since from release and through all their changes, something that made me believe I could finally allow this previously ignored third company to place some hardware in my bedroom and software in my time.
And that was Blu-ray.

It wasn’t the gaming that changed my mind on the PS3 though there are a number of titles exclusive to the machine that I have picked up quite quickly, it was the introduction of HD films and my recent acquisition of a 50” Plasma TV upon which they look incredible, that made me think “Yes, I think I would like a Blu-ray player now, so why not get one that also plays some games?”

So I did.
And the world is good in HD.

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 12 - 15/11/10

2010-11-15T10:22:00.005Z

The Wayward Cloud

Right, I am really struggling where to begin with this review.
If you saw it you know what I mean!
But, while I am finding it hard to talk about, it was still an interesting film.
Very well shot, this was a bit of a tour de force of sexual repression, sexual expression and, in a slightly twisted way, love.
The story revolves around a drought in Taiwan and the relationship between a young girl and a young guy who get drawn into a bizarre world through the guy being a porn actor without her knowledge.
There are strange musical numbers thrown in too, but I couldn't really tell why they were put in as they never really accomplished anything but they were enjoyable.

This is a very explicit, sexual film which could put people off, but if you see past the sex, there is a love story beneath.
It is nicely shot to a high standard and the acting is good, it's just all a bit confusing, especially whenever watermelons are involved. Which is a lot!
Overall though, I did enjoy it because it was something different, which is the whole point of a film festival.

Overall Score = 4*

Hunger

I would like to think that knowing the source material to this film might have helped to heighten the enjoyment of it, but I'm not 100% sure that would have added much really.
The film revolves around an out-of-work writer, struggling to find money to feed himself and find somewhere to live.
He manages to write what he feels to be his masterpiece and gets the offer of it being published as long as he rewrites it to be more suitable to a particular audience.
And that leads me into one of the major gripes about the film.
The character is just so vehemently unlikable.
At first he appears to just be a bit of an eccentric but as he goes on, he just alienates the audience by being, for want of a better word, a dick!
He is given money on a few occasions and each time gives it away or wastes it.
While that is quite a humane thing to do, it just means he has to do more annoying things to get money again.
And when he is asked to redo his article for which he will be paid quite well, he avoids doing any work on it in order to pursue a woman he keeps seeing in the street and then forcing himself on her.
He is just an irritating man and by the end I was lacking in any sort of sympathy for him because he didn't do anything to help himself.

The film itself was reasonably well produced. It was shot in the 50's but it seemed to have a vibe of old silent movies and films from the 30's, which may or may not have been intentional, but seemed to work well for the film.
If the main character was playing for unsympathetic, annoying guy then he pretty much nailed it.

Overall Score = 3*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 11 - 14/11/10

2010-11-15T10:18:00.011Z

The Pack

With films such as Switchblade Romance, Martyrs and, to a certain degree Irreversible, French cinema has taken on the violence/gore/torture genre of horror films and really made it their own.
The Pack is another strong entry although it does have its shortcomings.
Based around the old cliche of a family or crazy people living out in the countryside, the Mother and Son here lure people in as bait for supernatural beings that grow from the mine below.
Faking a hitch-hiking is a risky way to do it though as it is quite reliant on the victim either falling asleep and letting him drive (as in this film) or taking on board the suggestion to stop at the saloon where the kidnappings happen.
But hey, it's a horror film, people do dumb things.
While not reaching the sort of graphic 'torture porn' seen in the Saw and Hostel franchises, there are still moments that could be uncomfortable to watch, especially for someone new to the genre.
The creature effects are well done, and while being revealed early, you don't really see their true menace until the final act when they are shown as being invincible, unstoppable and apparently innumerable.

This could have failed miserably and turned into a cheesy, childish horror with little to few scares, but it works enough to cause the odd chill.
The pacing seems to be a little off with it though, being very slow to start with, hitting you with the monster reveal, then slowing down again until the final few scenes.
It is still enjoyable if you enjoy monster movies.
Also, Phillipe Nahon from Switchblade Romance pops up in an excellent comedic role which, somehow, fits in perfectly.

Overall Score = 4*

Savage

There are few film titles that could be said to convey the content of a film, but this manages it quite well.
While possibly not reaching the true heights of 'savagery', this revenge drama certainly gives it a good go.
Following the life of a photographer who is badly beaten and castrated, the film is broken into sections, or chapters, profiling stages of psychological progression one could undertake after such a horrific attack.
So, we see the stage of 'Fear', 'Control', 'Anger' and 'Revenge' which do pretty much sum up what each section contains.
The progression through each of these moments is well-used though perhaps each stage is achieved too quickly, although that may have been a scripting or editing problem rather than a direction issue.

The whole film was well directed and handled sensitively and emotionally.
It is something that you would never be able to imagine unless you have gone through it personally but I think it was an accurate representation of a range of emotions which someone must go through.
The director himself said there were slight scripting issues which he was aware of but aside from the quick transitions of the character, the only thing that I picked up on was the way the castration was revealed.
Until a police report on the incident is broadcast, there is no mention of it happening so it is mentioned almost nonchalantly and thrown away when it is something that should have taken a more prominent position.
Other than that though, this sticks in my mind as one of the highlights so far.

Overall Score = 5*

Catfish

I think I should have at least read the write-up for this film because I had no idea it was a documentary but was still pleasantly surprised by it.
Following a photographer who has been receiving paintings from an 8 year old girl, he starts to contact her and her family via Facebook, phone and texts and strikes up what he hopes will be a meaningful relationship with the attractive older sister.
It is at the midway point where things start to go a bit strange.
He begins to realise that certain things don't add up, such as claiming to have bought a gallery to display the paintings, songs they supposedly recorded for him being copied from the internet and mistakes in communications.
He decides to confront the family and discover the truth, which leads to quite a strange, creepy sort of ending.

I wondered from the start whether the film itself is genuine or fake and at times I could believe I was watching an actual documentary, it just started to appear later on that this situation was so disturbing that there was no way it could be real.
Then when he meets the family and discovers what has been going on, the Mother is so calculated and pretty much crackers, that it just cemented my feeling that it's all too absurd to be real.
But then, I kind of wanted it to be real.
I wanted this extraordinary tale to be true, even though it would mean that the woman actually did all the things she seemed dedicated to do.
It was a good film and, if it was genuine, a great documentary but I could never really settle into it without fully knowing for sure.

Overall Score = 4*

Amer

This is a film in 3 parts, which didn't seem to gel well together.
One issue with it is that it never seemed to decide what kind of film it wanted to be.
The first section is actually quite creepy with an old woman draped in black, a dead relative and lots of shadows and dark spaces but it soon becomes bizarre with a dream sequence filled with glaring red, green and blue lights, a locket which brings the relative to life and causes things to move and a constant dripping from the roof.
This is brought about as the girl faints from seeing her parents partaking in rough, quite violent sex, something which apparently forms the basis for the rest of the film.
I say apparently, because the second section seems misplaced as we see the now teenaged daughter and her mother walking around their village and going to the hairdressers.
While the mother gets her hair done, the girl almost kisses a boy, chases a ball through the streets and then the two go home.
The whole scene plays out with very little dialogue, much like the rest of the film, but there are a lot of signs that the girl is sexually repressed, but the resistance to act up on it means the film drags that premise out right through the third act.
The basis of this third act being that she is still incredibly sexually repressed and going back to her family home brings this to the forefront in a violent way.
Imagining she is in danger she acts out and, strangely, kills the taxi driver who took her to the house and just appears for no reason.

There has always been a reason I didn't like French New Wave cinema and this didn't help matters.
It did put me in mind of films such as Repulsion and Persona for various reasons, but it failed to captivate me, instead it just confused and bored me in places.
I'm all for experimental cinema and some great work has been created becaue of that urge to try something new, but this all just seemed TOO experimental and, while I can understand that it is an homage to the 70's Italian films in this genre, it felt too fragmented and lacked the cohesiveness it needed.

Overall Score = 3*

A Horrible Way To Die

I went into this expecting an over-the-top, violent film in the vein of Saw and Hostel, as the title implies its going to get pretty nasty, but instead I was left kind of disappointed by what turned out to be quite a generic thriller.
I say 'quite generic' because it did have little bits that made it slightly different from your average Hollywood thriller.
There is a non-linear structure within the film, flipping back and forward in time to keep revealing small glimpses of the life of both killer and victim and while this is insightful, it does get confusing, causing me to use the length of his beard to help pinpoint which time we are actually watching in.
It's an interesting use of flashbacks and time but it did detract something from the storyline because I felt it was too fragmented.
Visually, it was quite hard to look at in places because of the director's insistence on shooting through a string of fairy lights with the lights glaring and getting in the way of the action and every scene change was preceeded by a wobble of the camera and unfocusing which got annoying quite quickly.

It wasn't a bad film, the acting was good pretty much across the whole cast, it just didn't live up to the title at all and therefore I wasn't able to get fully immersed as I hoped.

Overall Score = 3*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 10 - 13/11/10

2010-11-15T10:16:00.008Z

Invention for Destruction

I was immediately captivated by this film which combines hand-drawn and stop-motion animation with live-action footage.
The most striking thing about it was the sets on which the action takes place.
The whole thing was seemingly built in a series of smooth boxes or 2D planes which were then hand-detailed for things such as bricks, bolts or decorations.
This was obviously a great help for the transition between live-action and animated sections as the set was 'hand-drawn' itself, but it also harked back to the old silent movie era and this shone through.
The story itself was not incredibly strong, being very loosely based on Jules Vernes visions of flying machines, great ships and submarines but it had moments of comedy and light-heartedness which fit in nicely.

While not being the strongest film I have seen in the narrative department, this film is very hard to dislike.
Looking like a 20's or 30's film, it was very impressively filmed with it being hard to tell when its actually using animation at times and it was obviously lovingly crafted by all involved.

Overall Score = 4*

Sweet Little Lies

Much like Tuesday, After Christmas, this film deals with the emotional and physical problems within a marriage, only in this case both parties stray away from their marriage.
The struggles they share at home are emphasised by the fact that the husband locks himself in his room to play video games on an evening and the wife has to ring him on his phone to contact him.
It is not that they are unhappy with their life together, on the contrary, both characters repeatedly state that they are happy and when they are in the same room they seem content with each other's company, it is just lacking in passion, something which both of them strive for but fail to find with each other.
The affairs each embarks on seem to be filling in the missing pieces of their marriage and only by realising that they need to do things together can they hope of staying as a couple.
While there is no evidence that they will, or even should, separate both of them ultimately belong to each other and although there is no happy ending as such, it ends with the audience having a good idea that they will be happier in life.

I thought this was a very intimately, thoughtfully shot film and one that maintains the high level of workmanship that comes out of Japan.
Japanese cinema has a great pedigree for films like this and has a great choice of very versatile actors who can play a range of emotions and characters.
Much like Tuesday, After Christmas, this is a slow-burning film and does not get up to a fast pace but there is a lot within the film that will hold your attention until the end. Unless the film breaks and melts like it did at our screening at Hyde Park, but that was only a minor distraction.

Overall Score = 4*

The American

This was always going to be a high-profile showing at the festival and with the Hollywood backing it was destined to stand out from a regular festival crowd of films.
That isn't to say it shouldn't be here though, it is a more thoughtful, understated film when compared to more mainstream films which Hollywood can produce in wake of things such as Wanted, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the Bourne films.
Going against the all-out action route that those films follow, this is a story of a hitman wanting to back out of his career after being targeted by mysterious assailants.
Doing one last job of creating a weapon for another killer, he becomes more paranoid that he is being caught up with and begins taking steps to ensure his safe retirement, something which he may, or may not, have achieved by the end.
George Clooney can either impress or be lacklustre in some films but here he plays a great role, showing an obviously cold, calculated man slipping away from that control as his life gets turned around unintentionally dragging other people along with him.
The supporting cast also impresses with no real weak links in a solid group.

I really rate this film and enjoyed it throughout.
The pacing of the narrative created tension and kept focus throughout without ever having to resort to cheap shots to keep you attentive.
There is violence within it, it's a film about a contract killer, but it is never gratuitous, focusing on the character himself rather than the work he does.

Overall Score = 5*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 9 - 12/11/10

2010-11-15T10:14:00.007Z

Zebraman 2

Having not seen the first Zebraman film, I was a bit wary that I wouldn't be able to get into this sequel, but it soon became clear that an intimate knowledge was not necessary as the previous film was recapped in flashbacks and news reports anyway, but the way it is written makes it almost a separate entity with a self-contained plot, with only a few allusions to what has passed previously.
The whole film is full of the usual Takashi Miike style so if you have seen any of his work you should know the irreverance and absurdity that is inherent within his works, but the production values on this are bigger than anything I have personally seen of his films.
Being filmed on the same sort of level as a recent Hollywood comic adaptation, although keeping his usual tongue-in-cheek aspects, this is very visually pleasing, with a mix of comic book imagery, stark cityscapes and very stylish music sections.

There is a certain sheen and polish to both visuals and sound that make this a step above some of the lesser superhero movies (cough... Spider-man 3... cough) and it's a good calling card if Takashi wishes to move into more mainstream cinema, though as films such as Gozu, Ichi the Killer and Dead or Alive show, he's much better off where he is!

Overall Score = 5*

Zonad

This quickly established itself as being one of my personal highlights of the festival so far.
The story of an escaped rehab patient (not a convict as stated in the write-ups) who somehow manages to convince EVERYONE in a village that he is an alien is very funny and hits all the right notes jokeswise.
The naive villagers makes for a great comedic element as they revere and worship Zonad as this voyager from outer-space.
It is only the arrival of his fellow escapee under the guise of Bonad that causes him to fall from grace, but this is rectified with a very funny fight sequence near the end.
Irish comedy has always impressed me and the absurdity and unusualness of both the topic itself and the direction reminded me of Graham Linehan's work on Father Ted, Black Books etc.

I really did rate this film and it would be easier to mark on a 10-star scale as 5 stars means it is settled with other films that, while great and deserving of 5-stars, do not meet the standard of this flm.
It is a shame it missed out on the Melies prize as it deserves a lot more recognition.

Overall Score = 5*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 8 - 11/11/10

2010-11-15T09:23:00.003Z

Tuesday, After Christmas

This story of a marriage breaking down due to the husband having a divorce was very sensitively handled and well shot throughout.
The script is well written and the slow boil of the breakdown is evident throughout, but doesn't come to the surface til the third act.
The marriage, while seemingly stable, is obviously a loveless one especially on behalf of the husband, but the betrayal is sensitively and realistically handled. Eschewing outright rage, the moment is played slowly and calmly until it becomes too much and the wife snaps, not wanting to hear what is happening.
The aftermath is also handled very well, with both parties showing the difficulties of separating while maintaining the illusion of being together and happy for their young daughter and the husband's parents.
The film ends on a poignant moment as the presents for Christmas are placed under the tree while the child is distracted by carol singers.
This helped to emphasise the importance of keeping up appearances so as to give their daughter a happy Christmas, despite what they are going through.

All in all, while it never really picks up any substantial pace, this still kept my attention as it was very well acted and, as I said before, very well handled in the subject matter.

Overall Score = 4*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 7 - 10/11/10

2010-11-11T09:46:00.002Z

Dr Strangelove

I don't think I need to say much about Dr Strangelove.
It has aged surprisingly well, the comedy is still spot-on and the lines are still as quotable as ever.
If you still haven't seen this, please please please rent it, buy it, steal it, download it or whatever you need to do because it is one of the classics of cinema.
I hadn't seen it on a big screen before so that was a pleasure and it's a shame that we lost Peter Sellers too soon.

Overall Score = 5*

The Art of Negative Thinking

This, along with Kitchen Stories is another great example of Scandinavian comedy that hits the perfect balance of humour and emotional content.
The story of a 'Positive Thinking' group recruiting 2 new members is both touching and very funny.
The group consists of 2 wheelchair-bound members, the husband of one of them, a woman with many minor problems and the psychologist in charge.
When they try to recruit the new member, another man in a wheelchair, he brings an element of chaos and negativity which soon spreads throughout them all.
Questioning both the methods and the success of the group, he begins to pick away and unearths the actual roots of the issues each one of them has.
As it carries on, it is soon apparent that the only ones with the real emotional 'problems' are the fully-abled people.
While they suffer physical disabilities, airing all their grievances and being allowed to communicate them to the others and themselves helps them to make better judgement on their lives, whereas the able-bodied members are living lies, trying to convince themselves they are better off because they can walk and move around freely.

The sense of catharsis is very prominent within the film, giving us chance to look inside ourselves and see what we take for granted in our abilities.
The guilt the characters feel towards the disabled characters is not needed, and is indeed resented, and this brings to light our own misunderstandings about disabilities.
People in wheelchairs or with disabilities do not want our pity, and although the main male character is seemingly quite angry about being in one, he is evidently very independent and as the doctor points out to his wife; her pity and understanding is making him weak.
Overall, I think this was incredibly funny but still handled its subject with a great knowledge and understanding of what it must be like in that situation.
I really enjoyed it on a few levels and if you see it, I hope you would as well.

Overall Score = 5*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 6 - 09/11/10

2010-11-10T09:10:00.003Z

The Old School of Capitalism

It wasn't 100% clear from the beginning whether this was going to be a documentary or a character-driven film because the shaky, handheld stlye using footage from a political demonstration also included footage of protestors seeming to talk directly to the camera, but after that initial use of that it reverts back to a structured, fictional narrative.
It is a good technique to draw us into the story being told as the low quality, handheld camera gives it a more realistis view of the action and we can really feel part of what is going on.
Although, it will be hard for most of us to relate to the subject matter.
The tale of Serbian workers attempting to fight back against the capitalist bosses who have sold all their land and factories and neglected to pay the wages.
They break down the factory and share out the bricks and any other items they find and go round to intimidate the boss at his own house, though he is not there so his wife tries to appease them with food from her fridge.
With their plight picked up by a socialist magazine, a group of radical socialists 'help' them out by staging a kidnapping and forcing the bosses to recoup the costs they owe.

This was a quite humbling piece, which shows both the good and bad side of living in a capitalist country which works, as opposed to the squalor and harsh reality shown within the film where the people are protesting to return to communisn and break down the government.
It was well shot despite being of low quality and, while it did feel like it may have gone on a long time, being 2 hours long, I did feel like there was a lot of scope for it to continue further and tell us more about this group of workers.

Overall Score = 4*

Kitchen Stories

This bizarre tale of men watching and making notes on other men's activities in their kitchen doesn't initially seem like it has much to wrok with but gladly, this was not the case.
The film starts with one observer receiving a frosty reception (quite literally as he is left out in the snow!) but after a while is let inside although he is still given the cold shoulder.
Making attempts to meet on common ground, even though the rules forbid contact between the two, their relationship starts to thaw and they begin to strike up a friendship.
The observer is soon on thin ice though as he starts to break all the rules of conduct, finding something inside himself which lets him see how he has been wasting his life.
The old man opens up more and more until it comes to a head and the observer is fired from his job.

This was a nice, feelgood comedy that was at times laugh-out-loud funny but also brought with it a warm, heartfelt meaning that made it hard not to smile throughout.
The ending was quite unexpected and tugged at the heartstrings a bit but it works out in the end.
Scandinavian cinema is bringing a great range of comedy out lately and there are a few at this year's festival which are worth seeing.
This is definitely one of them.
I apologise for the cold puns! (Thank you, I'm here all week!)

Overall Score = 5*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 5 - 08/11/10

2010-11-09T14:26:00.006Z

Huacho

This is an interesting, thoughtful film which I enjoyed despite being quite a sad subject matter.
It is edited in a way to show each of 4 family member's day in individual sections.
From getting up in the morning and sharing breakfast time as a family, we see how each of them goes about their daily lives.
The sadness is inherent in each of their stories living in what amounts to borderline poverty, three generations sharing a very small shack in the Chilean countryside.
The grandmother spends her morning travelling to and from a local farm to collect milk to make cheese which she sells on the roadside til dusk, struggling to scrape enough together to make her next lot of cheese and pay towards her family.
The mother goes to work in a hotel kitchen but is struggling to pay for the electric bills, having to resort to asking for a wage advance and taking a dress back to pay it.
The son is shunned at school by his friends and misses out on getting to play with video games because he is a 'peasant', a name he is continuously called throughout.
And the grandfather who, as a man of his age, should not have to go to work fencing a very large field but does so to help put food on the table.

There is a very depressing undertone to the film, watching them struggle through their own adversities, either monetary or emotionally, but the resolute strength that they all show throughout is incredibly humbling when looking at how the family can sit in the dark and still share a laugh and not complain about having to go through it all again the next day.

Overall Score = 4*

The Bothersome Man

I will have to try to keep my opinion of the meaning of this film to myself because it certainly caused a discussion afterwards about what the mysterious city, the strange inhabitants and what it is actually all about and I wouldn't want ayone to go into this film with a preformed opinion on something that is just a personal view.
The fact that it can cause that level of afterthought is a great response for the filmmakers as it does leave you questioning just what is going on.
Iceland seems to be coming through more prominently in Festivals and this is a good thing because this film has hit a great balance of with the comedy and surrealness of the content without ever feeling forced or too absurd.
Obviously, there is a level of absurdity present within it, especially if my version of it is true, but it is downplayed enough to get a required sense of reality within it.

This is an incredibly intelligent, well-written piece which impressed me throughout and is well worth catching if you can.

Overall Score = 5*

Upperdog

This is a well-written film looking at the separation of a brother and sister as they are adopted by different families, and the consequent reunion through a series of coincidences.
The story uses this serendipity to quite a large extent; the best friend of the sister just happens to be the maid of the family of the brother, who just happens to break up with his girlfriend and move back home, then he gets together with the maid who just happens to live next door to the guy who the sister starts seeing.
Obviously, without that there would be no film, but suspend disbelief and it is a good story of loss and reunion for the two characters and shows the struggle that they both face with being apart.
The sister had to face knowing that she can not see her brother, while he has no idea she even exists so the moment they meet is a hard moment for both of them.
One feeling guilt, the other feeling the pain of what has happened.
The maid plays a pivotal role in the joining of the two siblings, but there is no real reason for the ex-soldier to be in the film other than a love interest for the sister.
Again, coincidentally, he happens to be in a photograph that the brother is working on at the time he breaks up with his girlfriend, but other than that there is no real reason to explore his past, or indeed his present so feels a bit external to the plot.
It could have been interesting to have a film to himself as his story is quite a poignant one, leaving the army under this photograph of him aiming his gun at children and his subsequent retaliation against the photographer, but as I said, it seems to be ancillary to the main plot.

I did enjoy the film as it had moments that were funny, heartwarming and sad in equal measures and at the right times so as to not disturb the flow of the film.
It was well acted thoughout but I couldn't help but think that a film where the characters spend half their time talking English doesn't need subtitles for those parts, especially when they are different to what is being said!
That is just a minor aesthetic gripe though and by simply not reading them, that is avoided.

Overall Score = 4*

Leeds International Film Festival - Night of the Dead - 06/11/10

2010-11-09T09:05:00.006Z

Night of the Dead X was, as always, a lot of fun with a great atmosphere.
The shorts shown ranged from the excellent (Legend of Beaver Dam, Papa Wrestling) to the... not so excellent (Man in a Bag, Bathroom Blonde).
I'm glad the organisers didn't relocate it to the Town Hall because it would ruin the atmosphere of what is always an awesome night.
The film line-up wasn't as strong as it has been in previous years but, to be honest, I didn't check what was playing before buying the tickets anyway so that was never really a concern.

The Films

Silent House

This was quite a generic, formulaic scary house film, but one that kept some interest by (supposedly) being filmed in one continuous take.
There were a couple of moments of tension (the polaroid flashes being a particular standout) but generally, it was nothing that hasn't been done before better elsewhere.
The idea was good but the ending let it down.
The idea behind the ending was restricted in bringing you in due to the nature of the single take. If you've seen Switchblade Romance you'll see the similarities in the way it works but as opposed to that film's obvious starting point for the mastubatory fantasy that follows, there is no indicator that we would ever come to the conclusion we are given.

This would have been scarier alone, with the lights off and the sound turned up. Being part of the evening though, it struggled to work well enough.
It wasn't terrible and as I mentioned, there were moments that worked well, it just didn't maintain enough interest throughout and the end failed to shock as you'd hope it would have.

Overall Score = 3*

The Loved Ones

Another Australian film that showed the strong talent coming from Down Under.
Very reminiscent of the English film, Mum & Dad, this tale of kidnap and torture hits a nice balance between comedy, violence and batshit crazy families.
Striking a mix between Leatherface and Barbie, the girl is that perfect combination of psycho and social misfit so as to draw us in to her world without ever feeling any sense of empathy towards her so that when she gets her inevitable demise we're going to enjoy it!

It's gorey without being too gorey.
It's funny without being too funny so as to distract you from the violence.
It's weird without crossing the line into absurdity.
It's really good, go see it or buy it on DVD and watch it.

Overall Score = 4*

Cemetary Man

I really wanted to enjoy this film but there were a lot of things dragging me away from it.
Rupert Everett didn't really fit into the role so the lack of interest mainly came from not really caring about what happens to him.
The whole thing was shot like a really, really unfunny Carry On film without any double entendres and nothing was ever really explained.
I like films that leave you asking questions, but not when the question is "how can I reclaim the time I lost to that film?"
Speaking of which, it dragged. It dragged a LOT!!
I don't actually know how long it was on for because time became an abstract concept halfway through this film after watching it at 4am but I do know it was at least 90 minutes too long.

It had a good idea and it could have been so much more if they had made it as a 20 minute short film without the unnecessary padding of the plot.
As it is though, it falls short of being 'enjoyable' and instead becomes 'passable'. Just!

Overall Score = 2*

Choose

It is pretty evident of how generic a film is when you can guess who the killer is within the first 6 minutes of it starting.
Jumping on the Saw bandwagon of putting people in situations where they have to make choices that reflect on their lives, this had a slightly original concept for the killings, but it was severely let down by just not giving a crap about the main characters or even the killer and why they're killing.
Nobody in the film seems really bothered either and the killer actually has to basically just give them his name and location or else they would never have found him.
And when they do, it takes about 2 minutes to finish him off.

It could have been a lot better because the idea behind it was quite good, it was just the execution and lack of caring that drags it from being a good film to being a mediocre, middle of the road film.

Overall Score = 3*

Mutant Girls Squad

After the prvious years' showings of Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl (or Frankenstein Girl Vs Vampire Girl, whatever!) I was pretty certain I'd know what to expect from this, and yes, I got what I expected.
I would like to talk about the plot but i don't think it really had one.
It may have been because I had been in the cinema for 17 hours before it started but I don't think it had much in the way of a narrative except for 'girl finds out she has mutant powers, ends up with other girls with mutant powers then they kill a lot of people'.
That aside though, it was fun to watch.
The over-the-top levels of gore are pretty much a staple of this genre and are put to good use here with people split in two, heads chopped into 3 individually spinning pieces and other ridiculous ways to die.
The characters themselves are equally as absurd with mutants powers such as a butt-chainsaw and sword breasts but they still feel comfortably at home in the world surrounding them.

Slapstick humour and giant prosthetics are present and correct and it a combines into a film that you will either love or hate, unfortunately there is no middle ground with these kinds of films.
Luckily, I liked it and it was a good way to end an excellent 12 hours!

Overall Score = 4*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 4 - 07/11/10

2010-11-09T09:01:00.007Z

The Taste of Tea

Japanese cinema has an impressive talent for making quite surreal situations seem very commonplace and normal within the context of the story being told.
This film is no different.
Each of the characters are decidedly odd with their individual quirks and nuances that, as I said, seem perfectly at home.
The young girl who is being followed by an imaginary giant version of herself.
The older brother who has 'girl phobia' until a new girl arrives and he plays Go against her.
The Father who is a hypnotherapist and regularly hypnotises his family members.
The Mother who is an anime animator and is always trying out new poses.
The Grandfather who helps to pose for the anime while also working on his own art in secret in his room.
And the Uncle who tells a ridiculous story about going to the toilet on a giant egg and being followed by the ghost of a Yakuza until he did a backflip on the horizontal bar in the playground.

All the characters come together to create a whole that works well and it is brilliantly acted by all involved, especially Tadanobu Asano who quite clearly seems to be able to do no wrong in my opinion.
It may take a while to really understand what is going on but when the film is this nice and at times very heartfelt and meaningful, does it really matter if you don't get why there is a giant girl or why Grandpa is recording a song about a mountain with the Mother's boss?
The answer to that is no, just let it happen and enjoy the ride.

Overall Score = 5*

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

I can honestly say I didn't fully understand this film and was left a bit baffled by it pretty much all the way through.
The story of Uncle Boonmee heading through life towards his death from kidney problems seemed to be a straightforward tale of the inevitability of our own mortality and how we reflect on what we have done in life, but then the ghost of his wife appears and his son turns up covered in black hair because he has turned into a ghost-monkey after mating with one!
I thought it was beautifully shot and is a testament to the thought-provoking, technically impressive work coming out of Thai cinema in the last decade but it was just a bit confusing, especially after being awake til 10am and only having 3 hours sleep before going back into the cinema for 5 hours!

I got a sense of the underlying theme of life/death, accepting the past/admitting your mistakes and the appearance of the wife and son helped Uncle Boonmee to come to terms with things and prepare for death, it just seemed to falter a bit towards the end where his sister-in-law and a monk are seen to go out for food together whilst also being sat in a hotel room watching television and this is left painfully unexplained.
Perhaps I missed something in my sleep-deprived brain but I don't recall there being a reasoning for that.
Overall though I thought it was very well shot and full of feeling and emotion and while I may not have understood it, I did enjoy it as a piece of cinematic art.

Overall Score = 5*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 3 - 06/11/10

2010-11-09T08:56:00.006Z

Kosmos

Kosmos was a very strange film. There's no other way to put that really.
This story of a thief who can supposedly perform miracles never really seemed to settle down into a set narrative, seeming more like a number of stories that all involve the main character somehow but yet still seem separate.
That isn't to say I didn't like it.
I enjoyed the quirkiness and absurdity of Kosmos himself and the strange inhabitants of the village he arrives in but there was obviously a strong religious undertone that was never fully explored.
The miracles Kosmos performs seem to do nothing to push the story forward other than the first one which gets him ingratiated into the community in the first place.
His continual thievery seems to be in the film to help set him up as some kind of 'Robin Hood' type character by giving the money to anyone who needs it, but again, there is no real payoff to this as nobody seems to benefit from his actions.

It does sound like there isn't much I liked about this film but despite it's misgivings, there was something about it which drew me in and I did like aspects of it, it just felt a bit sporadic and cluttered in places.

Overall Score = 3*

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

I always find it hard to give a review about documentaries as the subject matter and the content are pretty much set in terms of getting what you expect.
Not knowing too much about Burroughs himself, I thought it would have been a study about his writing and the work he has done so I wasn't expecting some of the stories and content present within.
Being a study of the man himself, this was respectfully handled even when talking about the sometimes quite shocking aspects of his life, using footage from people who obviously loved and cared deeply for him despite all the problems he evidently suffered from.

This is a pretty standard documentary but the way the subject matter is handled and the way it was shot with a great understanding and respect for Burroughs helped to keep it entertaining and thoughtful throughout.
The only gripe I would have with it is that the title sequence and some of the chapter introductions were quite hard to read at points, but that's just an aesthetic thing and you could pretty much work it out when they began to talk.

Overall Score = 4*

Animal Kingdom

I would like to start this review by saying I honestly can not praise this film enough.
Australian cinema has been producing some incredible work and this is one of the best I have seen from there and other places for some time.
This story of a family that revolves around crime but attempting to get out of bank robbery and to hopefully live a 'normal' life is a triumph in dramatic structuring.
It draws you into this family from the beginning, being taken in by the nephew of the criminals who moves in when his mother dies from an overdose of heroin.
The director does a great job of creating an empathy for these men who are in reality, terrible people, so when the first one of them is killed it is a truly shocking moment, one which incites a vicious revenge attack.
Despite that, we still have no choice but to want them to get through the film alive and, more importantly, happy.
The acting is excellent throughout from the seemingly emotionless nephew to the police officer trying to bring them to justice while showing a caring side to the boy dragged into that life, played perfectly by Guy Pearce.

I don't want to go into too much detail about this film as I implore you to see it for yourself.
It put me in mind of another Australian film, Noise, which was shown at LIFF a few years ago, in terms of the pacing and underlying tension within it.
Both films grab your attention as they always seem to have something bubbling below the surface which, when it is revealed is both shocking and, for want of a better word, 'thrilling'.
It was only the 3rd day of the Festival and I think I have already seen the best film of the year.
I hope I haven't because if there is a better film than this, THAT will be worth watching.

Overall Score = 5*

Leeds International Film Festival - Day 2 - 05/11/10

2010-11-05T23:20:00.007Z

To Walk Beside You

This is an often very funny, very touching film.
Underneath the story of a teacher 'eloping' (they never get married) with a student to Tokyo, there is a great sense of loss and how people deal with that.
All of the main characters have lost somebody in their life and we see their individual grieving processes.
The need to help each other is where most of the comedy comes from, the moment with the boy in the library being a particular standout moment.
The sense of loss and remorse is obviously present with the introduction of a pregnant schoolgirl who the couple help to escape having to 'give up' the child, something the teacher deeply regrets doing.

I really enjoyed the film and thought the mix of comedy and more heartfelt moments were well balanced.

Overall score: 4*

Son of Babylon

This is an incredibly touching story of a young boy travelling with his grandmother across Iraq to find his father who has been missing since 1991.
Set 3 months after the fall of Saddam, the stark, desolate backdrop is a harsh reminder of the futility and pointlessness of war in general.
The emptiness of the landscape also echoes the emptiness of the boy's journey, going from prison, to grave, to grave with no success.
The journey itself is a kind of 'coming-of-age road-trip' for the boy and his father's whistle is a poignant prop for the boy's trip.
Starting out almost resenting the whistle, he aspires to be a soldier like his father but as he is following the trail of his missing father and seeing the mass graves which could contain his body, he begins to shed off the desires for going into the army, something his father was forced into leaving behind his dream of becoming a musician.
As the film ends, we see a change in his face as he stares back at Babylon and begins to play the whistle. This idea of ending with the character watching as the past moves away as he heads for his future is a good allegory for the country of Iraq itself, moving away from the past and into a, hopefully, brighter future.

I liked the film and I was impressed to know that it was produced by a local company on what seemed to be a shoestring budget but there were members of the audience that had lived through that experience and I would never be able to feel as much empathy towards it as they would.
There is obviously a great deal of love and respect for the source material and the fact that the director was originally from Iraq shows in the experiences prevalent within the story and in the deeper meaning of the story.

Overall score: 3*

Town Called Panic

When I saw the preview pictures and write-up for this film, I thought it looked similar to the Cravendale milk adverts, so it was no surprise that it was from the same creators of them.
If you have ever seen those adverts, you already know what to expect from the style of animation and pacing of the film, but I never expected it to be quite so frenetic and fast-paced.
The creators set an incredibly quick pace for the entire 90 minutes which never lets up, fitting in as much as something like The Lord of the Rings fits in over 6 hours, without losing any of the story or humour.
The utter ridiculousness of the style of the entire film is where the majority of the comedy comes from with even little things such as a horse driving a car or using a computer getting big laughs from the audience that it would get a laugh even if it was a more serious topic, but luckily the story is also incredibly funny and offbeat throughout.
The animation is not perfect but it never sets out to be. The jerky, hapdash style of using what look like cheap newsagent style farm sets adds to the comedy because they are funny characters without even doing anything.
It shares a lot of the zany, away-from-the-norm style of humour with Aardman's other work away from Wallace & Gromit, but this is only a good thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and don't think I ever stopped smiling or laughing from pretty much the moment the curtains opened on the screen.
It's very funny, very visual and very, very French (whatever that means!!)

Overall score: 5*

My Leeds International Film Festival 2010 list!!

2010-10-10T11:19:00.017+01:00

This is the list of films I have tickets for during the Leeds International Film Festival between Thursday 4th November and Sunday 21st November.
There has been an incredibly varied collection of films this year and some have stood out more than others.
This list has all the scores given on the rating slips at the end of the films but there are more in-depth reviews elsewhere on this blog.

Friday 5 Nov
- To Walk With You = 4*
- Son of Babylon = 3*
- A Town Called Panic = 5*

Saturday 6 Nov
- Kosmos = 3*
- William S Burroughs: A Man Within = 4*
- Animal Kingdom = 5*
- Night of the Dead X -
Silent House = 3*
The Loved Ones = 4*
Cemetary Man = 2*
Choose = 3*
Mutant Girls Squad = 4*

Sunday 7 Nov
- The Taste of Tea = 5*
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives = 5*

Monday 8 Nov
- Huacho = 4*
- The Bothersome Man = 5*
- Upperdog = 4*

Tuesday 9 Nov
- The Old School of Capitalism = 4*
- Kitchen Stories = 5*

Wednesday 10 Nov
- Dr Strangelove = 5*
- The Art of Negative Thinking = 5*

Thursday 11 Nov
- Tuesday After Chrtistmas = 4*

Friday 12 Nov
- Zebraman 2 = 5*
- Zonad = 5*

Saturday 13 Nov
- Invention for Destruction = 4*
- Sweet Little Lies = 4*
- The American = 5*

Sunday 14 Nov
- The Pack = 4*
- Savage = 5*
- Catfish = 4*
- Amer = 3*
- A Horrible Way to Die = 3*

Monday 15 Nov
- The Wayward Cloud = 4*
- Hunger = 3*

Tuesday 16 Nov
- R U There? = 4*
- Erratum = 4*
- Bad Family = 4*

Wednesday 17 Nov
- I Am Not Your Friend/I Will Not Be Your Friend = 4*
- The Robber = 5*

Thursday 18 Nov
- Kidnapped = 4*
- Vital Signs = 4*
- All That I Love = 4*

Saturday 20 Nov
- The Secret of Kells 4*

Sunday 21 Nov
- One Piece Film: Strong World = 5*
- Mardock Scramble = 4*
- Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance = 4*
- Redline = 5*

So, that's another year over with and it has been a great one as always.
I was quite disappointed by the small number of Asian films this year as there is usually a strong showing from Japan and Korea but there wasn't too many this time round.
It was still an impressive line-up though!

My top 5 personal choices for best film are:

1) Animal Kingdom
2) A Town Called Panic
3) Zonad
4) The American
5) The Robber

with special mention to films such as Savage, One Piece, Redline, The Bothersome Man and The Art of Negative Thinking.

Who I will be voting for in the General Election...

2010-04-19T23:19:00.004+01:00

Yep, I will vote for a sleeping cat over the other options.
I believe my tax money and the welfare of the country will actually be in better hands... paws.

[Review] Kick-Ass - Directed by Matthew Vaughn, 2010, Lionsgate

2010-04-14T11:45:00.008+01:00

Having never read, or really seen much at all, of the graphic novel this is based on, I was unaware of what the story, characters, style etc of the film would be.
I had heard (mainly) very good things about it from various reputable, and not so reputable, sources so I left reading the book so that I could go in fresh (Well, that and the fact I was already buying £68 of comics and couldn't afford it!)

For those of you who have never heard of it, Kick-Ass is about a teenager, played by Aaron Johnson, who asks the question of why there are no superheroes running around like in the comics he loves.
Ruling out the fact that most of them are given super-powers by extraordinary methods (Spider-Bites, Gamma Ray Bombs, Secret Experiments, Alien DNA, etc) he remarks that someone like Batman has no powers and is a great hero.
This leads to an ill-advised purchase of a green wetsuit and a trip out into the city to solve crimes, ultimately leading him to a lot of pain.

I think going in without prior knowledge of the book gave me a different perspective on the film from an avid fan.
I knew the basic premise from spending time in comic shops (yeah, I'm a geek, I'm fine with that!) and talking to people about it but wasn't fully aware of the little nuances that made it more enjoyable.
Watching a 12-year old girl shoot people while swearing like a docker was very funny, but if I knew the full extent of it, I probably wouldn't have found it as good as I did.

Things like that really made the film for me. Matthew Vaughn obviously has a lot of respect for Mark Millar's work and this showed in the care and consideration he put to the filming process.
He kept the film very visual, with lots of things to look at on screen, much like you would find in a comic, all bold colours and big action.
While not going to the 'ripped-straight-from-the-pages' style of Sin City and 300, you could imagine the film being in the pages of a comic.
The casting and acting was pretty faultless too.
Mark Strong always plays a good bad guy (though I kept picturing him with a 'tache as he will be playing Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern film) and the relatively young cast did a great job with the roles given to them.

To say it was a film about Kick-Ass though, he didn't really seem to do all that much, instead, the action focus being mainly on Big Daddy and Hit Girl, played very well by Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz.
This is assumably how the book plays out, but they seem sort of out of place with the premise of the world it is set in.
When Kick-Ass is created, he sets out to prove that a normal, every-day guy can become a superhero with nothing other than determination and skills he has learnt. Big Daddy and Hit Girl, however, seem to be the direct antithesis of what he is trying to prove, being more like the over-powered, skilled heroes of the comics.

I did really enjoy this film and despite those little niggles that come from the source material rather than tampering with it pre-production, I can say that this is the best film I've seen (so far) this year and once Mark Millar writes the sequel, I'll hopefully enjoy that too.
And I will definitely be buying the book next time I go to the comic shop!!

[Review] Clash of the Titans 3D (2010) - Directed by Louis Leterrier, Warner Bros. Pictures

2010-04-13T11:56:00.011+01:00

As you probably (and definitely should) know, this version of Clash of the Titans is a remake of the 1981 version (Desmond Davis, MGM), but for all the promise of what it could have been, it loses some of the charm of the original.
Don't get me wrong, it looks a lot better than the '81 version but I think that is where part of problem lies with it.
Watching the Ray Harryhausen models come to life in the 80's was pretty special and added to the feel of the film, but in this generation of quite literally anything being possible in film, can we honestly say we're that impressed by yet another giant CGI monster attacking yet another CGI city while a CGI enhanced hero saves the day?
I just can't help but feel that there is something missing, something to really draw you in to the story and to empathise with the citizens of Argos (something which I found very amusing when they kept saying they had to save Argos!), and more importantly, the hero of the film.

Speaking of the hero, I did feel that Sam Worthington was quite miscast as Perseus, eschewing the more Eastern European look that Harry Hamlin managed to bring to his version of the role in favour of a more rugged, Western looking character with a strange, almost Australian accent despite being born in Surrey.
His shaved head seems totally out of place against the longer, more 'Greek' style hair of the other characters around him, and his transition from humble fisher-man who has never held a sword into realising that he is a demi-god and as such suddenly becomes unbeatable with a weapon happens over the course of 1 or 2 scenes causing the pathos of the struggle to be lost. Even Rocky had a montage after all!

The supporting cast were nothing to really stand out either, even Liam Neeson seeming to have been side-lined as Zeus, and Hades falls short as an antagonist because he just seems bored rather than plotting to overthrow his brother.
The relationship between them seems more like squabbling children than gods.
Liam Neeson shouting "Release the Kraken" is probably going to be all over the internet at some point soon though.
And one of our finest actors, Pete Postlethwaite, is totally underused with him appearing for around 5 minutes at the beginning of the film.

This is in no ways a 'terrible' film, it is just hard to justify it being a 'great' film. As I said before, it looks very nice and the action is sufficiently cheesy enough to hark back to at least The Mummy (Stephen Sommers, 1999, Universal) and it's sequels, if not reaching the height of the 80's cheesiness that it should have strived for in keeping with the original and to at least admit that was what it was trying to achieve.
Keeping it as serious as it appeared to is the cause of the lack of charm in my opinion.

So, by all means go see this film, but when you go in leave your brain at the door, you wont be needing it.
Also, try spot the nod to the original. In a nice touch by the production team, an old friend pops up in a very brief cameo.

*Extra* I really can not recommend you see the 3D version of this film. The effect was added post-production rather than being filmed in 3D and it shows. At times it seemed hard to tell it was supposed to be in 3D at all and I think seeing it in 2D would not have detracted from the experience any, so save the extra £2 and go for the regular version.
If you want to see proper use of 3D with Sam Worthington, go see Avatar (James Cameron, 2009, 20th Century Fox).

Some questions from the back of The Highway Code: Twatbag's Edition!

2010-04-07T17:36:00.007+01:00

Q: When I'm waiting at a junction impatiently and there is a space in quite quick-moving traffic, what is the best way to join it?

A: When waiting at the junction, don't bother to look very hard at the traffic as this will merely distract you from the thumping tunes you currently have playing out of your overpriced stereo system. Instead, merely stick your indicator on in the appropriate direction and then edge slowly and continuously forward until the oncoming traffic has no choice but to stop for you.
Then proceed to pull out and drive on.
Don't bother about thanking them in any way, knowing they have helped you on the way with your important life is thanks enough.

Q: I find entering dual carriageways from slip-roads nerve-wracking and sometimes quite difficult. What is the most sensible, safest way to do this?

A: Upon approach down the slip road to the main road, place your foot firmly on the accelerator and turn your indicator on. Don't be nervous, there are 2 lanes on the road, any cars that are selfishly in the lane they may want to be in will simply move over into the other lane at no personal risk to themselves of any other traffic being next to them.
Again, no thanks is necessary.

Q: If I am on a dual carriageway and my turning is quite far down the road, but there is traffic annoyingly filling my lane, how can I effectively get across to my exit?

A: When you know your exit is coming up, enter the lane next to you, place your foot firmly on the accelerator and break the speed limit until you are 6 feet away from the desired exit. Once that time occurs, put your indicator on and force your way through the half-car length gap without even attempting to slow down or wait for a bigger gap. You'll be on your way down that slip road in no time.

Q: Similarly, if I am approaching traffic lights with 2 lanes and my lane has 3 cars in front of me, how can I assure that I get away quick enough in order to move across all the lanes that are between me and my destination?

A: Much like the slip road manoeuvre, just swap lanes until you're in the one with the least amount of traffic in. When the Green Man disappears, don't even wait for the red/amber lights, just floor it and shoot off, ensuring that you try to change lanes immediately after passing the car next to you. Indicators are just a waste of your time here.

Q: I am always unsure of how to indicate at roundabouts. When do I need to indicate my turning?

A: There's no need to indicate at roundabouts, it's not like it's difficult for others to see where you're going when you just drive round in a circle, they have to wait anyway so it saves you precious energy if you don't have to reach the 2 inches to indicate. If you feel like you want to indicate, just do it when you've actually started to turn off from the roundabout.

What I think about Cheryl & Ashley Cole, Sandra Bullock & Jesse James, Tiger Woods and his whores

2010-03-28T15:19:00.003+01:00

That's right!
When I hear about the break-ups, affairs and generally twattery of celebrities, I think of a kitten in a pop-tarts box!
It's much more entertaining and of around 1500% more value to the world than those vacuous morons who should keep their private life private instead of crying about the lack of privacy to every media outlet who'll listen!!

It's funny, but not Seinfeld funny!

2010-03-28T00:32:00.003Z

What's the deal with those shaver ports in aeroplane toilets?
Are people shaving in there?!

Cinema Etiquette!!

2010-03-27T23:58:00.005Z

Too many things came to my attention about my hatred for cinema-goers during the Film Festival in Leeds last November!! Join me as I go through a few (warning: contains a rant!):

1) The twats that come into a practically empty cinema and sit on the row in front of you and, yes, the seat in front of you! Of all the seats, their massive head ends up in front of your face for the entire film!!

2) In opposition to that, the people who turn up as the film is starting then wander around an almost full cinema looking for seats then pissing around trying to get people to move so they can have 2 together when they would have had no trouble had they turned up when they were actually supposed to!!

3) The people who arrive for what is most likely to be a sold-out showing and then sit one seat away from the person next to them, thus causing the people from point 2 to have to ask them to move to get 2 seats together!

4) The ass-tards that have already seen a film and proceed to tell the person they have dragged along with them to see it for the second time bits to watch out for or to be 'prepared' for!!

5) Pretentious film-nerds that talk about things when they really don't know anything about it. I've done 3 years of film studies and watch a hell of a lot of films, and while I don't know everything, I know enough to shake my head and die a little inside while they prattle on trying to sound intellectual when in fact they sound like the retarded cousin of an even bigger retard.

6) The dick-heads who have paid their £6.50 like everyone else, then proceed to have a full discussion at regular volume during the film! They may well have paid money to have a conversation they could have anywhere for free, but I didn't pay to hear it!

7) The guy I heard during one screening that said to his friend, and this is pretty much verbatim: "It's a good job you didn't stay around for the Bright Star screening after The Men Who Stare At Goats. I was enraged cos they had some of the sponsors there to talk before the film!"

What an absolute twat-bag that fellow is!
Why shouldn't the sponsors (ie the companies who actually give money to put the thing on in the first place) get to say a few words, and by a few words, the guy from Northern Rail was on stage for about 2 minutes.
I'd be quite happy for there to be no sponsors if that toss-piece is willing to pay for it himself, then he can decide who gets to speak before the films!

8) Those people who, while everyone else is quite clearly queuing to go into the cinema, wander to the door with their tickets in hand expecting that their 'special' tickets get them early access. It inevitably doesn't and rather than head back to the end of the queue like any normal person would do, they hover round the door, not quite in the queue, but close enough to manage to get in first because they are obviously far too important to not get a choice of ALL the seats in the cinema.

Well, that was pretty cathartic :)
Hopefully at next year's Film Festival, assuming I've managed to keep up with this, I'll try put a short(ish) review of all the films I see so if you can't be bothered to continue reading but are interested in that, check back in November!

A blog about.... Blogging!

2010-03-27T23:48:00.003Z

First of all, if you've got this far then you must have a slight interest in what I've got to say about things, so I suppose I should make an effort to make it worth reading.

Being new to this whole blogging thing, I don't really know what I'd like to put on here.
I thought it would be amusing and perhaps interesting to read (from a psychiatrist's point of view) my views on the world, things I've read and watched, pointless ramblings and the spouting of pure hatred for life itself when it rubs me up the wrong way which some of you are used to by now!
If I see something that fits into one of those categories then I'll stick it on here, probably for the first few months, then I'll get bored and stop doing it, but in the meantime I'll try keep up with it.

I might even put a few pieces of writing on too if I can sit down and actually be bothered to do anything.

After writing that short introduction to something that is primarily about writing, I have realised that I lack the proper motivation to sit and write something.
This endeavour may not be the most fruitful thing I have ever done but I shall certainly try.

So I hope you enjoy whatever I churn out and remember, names will be changed to protect the innocent, unless I really feel they deserve it :)