Top ten sci-fi
Much like horror this is a very difficult genre to pin down because it can cover such a wide range of styles. Someone once told me a quote from a well-known sci-fi author who said something along the lines of “Science fiction depicts events that show us where technology and science might lead us in the future.” Which lead to a debate about Star Wars and how by that definition it couldn’t be sci-fi because by its own admission it takes place “A long, long time ago” not in the far away future. Of course this is completely absurd and nobody would deny that Star Wars is a sci-fi film I simply use it as an example of how hard it is to boil down the essence of sci-fi.
Usual disclaimers for my top ten apply.
- These are not what I objectively consider the best. Just the ones I enjoy the most.
- They are in no particular order.
- I constantly change my mind so I might forget much better movies.
Anyway onwards for glory.
10 – Aliens. Godamn this movie is just good fun. What’s most surprising is that it actually runs with the canon of the original but Cameron manages to make it jump from sci-fi horror into a pure adrenaline fueled action film but maintaining the same stark visual style and tension of the original.
9 – The Matrix. The concept of a virtual world isn’t anything new (hi Tron) most films tend to stick with placing the action squarely in one of the two worlds. The Matrix totally ditched this and has the heroes fighting battles on two fronts both equally important to the central story. While some of the effects look a bit dated and bullet time has become the most over used technique in action movies now it’s still a brilliant and original sci-fi movie. Oh and the sequels aren’t that bad.
8 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day. A second entry for James “King of the world” Cameron, while some of the most famous lines people remember actually come from the original this is unarguably the better film. The effects still look great today and it works just as well as a sci-fi and an action film and like Aliens manages to cross over to appeal to both audiences. The sequels are that bad.
7 – Jurassic Park. Another film where the effects still stand up as well today as they did when they first hit the big screen. While the obvious warnings about playing God and the trope of messing with things best left alone are handle with all the subtlety of a rhino tap dancing through your living room it’s still a brilliant film that balances tension and action to great effect.
6 – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Apart from having one of the most over used quotes in sci-fi this earns its place simply for being one of the most emotionally engaging sci-fi films of all time. It perfectly balances plot, character development and (admittedly still kind of corny) effects to deliver a truly amazing story. If you don’t shed a tear during Spock’s death then I fear for your emotional well- being.
5 – Starship Troopers. Everyone these days loves to talk about its lampooning of wartime propaganda but at its heart this is just a brilliant sci-fi action flick. The action barely lets up for more than a few minutes at a time and the character development is completely underappreciated as are the characters themselves who manage to rise above their stereotypes and be genuinely likeable despite all their jock posturing.
4 – Serenity. I’m not a died in the wool brown coat and if I’m honest didn’t really enjoy the series that much but the film is brilliant. The pacing is brilliant, the humour never feels forced, and the action scenes are a joy to watch and even if you’ve never seen the series before the film manages to make you emotionally invested in the characters and genuinely care about their mission and their ultimate fates. Even if you hated Buffy, Angel, Dr Horrible and everything else Joss Whedon has done this deserves to be checked out at least once.
3 – Dark City. This is nearly impossible to describe without spoiling the plot but it involves a vast conspiracy about alien parasites done in a neo noir thriller style. It doesn’t move at a break neck pace but at no point is it boring and the entire cast deliver great performances including Richard O’Brien as the incredibly creepy Mr Hand.
2 – Planet of the Apes. It’s a testament to the strength of the story and the amazing cast that you completely forget you’re watching men and women in rubber ape suits and completely suspend disbelief for the entire film. Even today with the cold war over the emotional impact and themes of the film still resonate as much now as they did in nineteen sixty eight.
1 – The original Star Wars trilogy. OK I cheated but it’s difficult to pick favourites and really the overarching story of the trilogy makes each film equally important. Even ignoring the fact that they pioneered techniques which changed the way films are made they are just extremely well made and fun films that appeal to sci-fi fans of all ages and are still finding new fans with each passing generation.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Thundercats 2011
Reboots, the word alone makes critics and fans shudder with fear and shit bricks and not without good reason. For every good reboot out there are ten terrible ones. By that token it’s easy to see why anyone would be wary of expecting too much of the new Thundercats reboot. Thankfully the hour long opening episode shatters the worst of those fears.
The plot has been changed significantly from the original series and introduces the reimagined cast of teenage Thundercats. The move from an almost all adult cast to a teen or young adult cast is quite bold but works well here and frees up the writers to play around with the back story. Lion-O and Tygra are recast as foster siblings (the latter being the foster child), Cheetara is recast as a junior cleric and apprentice to Jaga, Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat are street children relying on their wits to survive and finally Snarf is largely now mute (thank Bob) and just Lion-O’s pet rather than the annoying accident prone hostage victim many people will remember.
Some of the cast like Jaga, Claudus (Lion-O’s father), Panthro and the main villains are only seen briefly enough to establish them in and it’s doubtful the first two will be recurring characters unless the writers go down the same path as the original series and have them return as spirits.
The pilot largely just sets up the story arc for the first season. Mumm-ra and his henchmen attack Thundara killing off or enslaving most of the Thundercats in the process while Lion-O and company escape with the Sword of Omens and set out to explore Third Earth in search of the fabled Book of Omen. There is enough left over from the old series for old fans to feel comfortable and see what’s coming - including the famous “Thundercats ho!” and Mumm-ra’s transformation incantation - but just enough changed that it doesn’t feel like a complete retread.
The sound production overall and particularly the voice acting is top notch and includes Larry Kenny who voiced Lion-O in the 1980s series returning to voice his father Claudus this time around while Will Friedle (Batman Beyond and Kim Possible) takes over duties for Lion-O. The rest of the cast reads like a who’s who of great voice actors from animation and video games stretching back over the last forty years. The only notable exception being Emmanuelle Chriqui best known for her role as Sloan in Entourage appearing as Cheetara in her first animated role.
Sadly there’s no theme song in the pilot episode so we’ll just have to wait and see if the team have come up with something to match that iconic 80s theme song.
The character designs and art are well done and update the costumes quite nicely and no doubt you’ll be seeing more than a few of the new outfits at Comic Con in San Diego later this year. Sadly the art is let down slightly by the animation which at times feels a bit rushed and jerky at times and silky smooth at others but given that that a lot of this was probably due to budget constraints with the pilot hopefully it will improve in the coming episodes.
Where the show truly succeeds is updating the setting and story enough that it remains fresh for older viewers many of whom will have grown up as fans of the original and old enough to have children of their own now and might be discerning about how much and what they let their children watch. Even the hardened cynic who knows it’s just a marketing tool for the toy company will find it hard to resist saying to little Jimmy “Hey son Thundercats is on do you want to watch it?” for themselves as much as the kid. Unlike the spate of Transformers reboots which have been massively hit and miss and arguably none of which have managed to truly capture the spirit of the original. Also finally it’s a cartoon that older geeks don’t have to be ashamed to admit they watch *cough*friendshipismagic*cough*
The plot has been changed significantly from the original series and introduces the reimagined cast of teenage Thundercats. The move from an almost all adult cast to a teen or young adult cast is quite bold but works well here and frees up the writers to play around with the back story. Lion-O and Tygra are recast as foster siblings (the latter being the foster child), Cheetara is recast as a junior cleric and apprentice to Jaga, Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat are street children relying on their wits to survive and finally Snarf is largely now mute (thank Bob) and just Lion-O’s pet rather than the annoying accident prone hostage victim many people will remember.
Some of the cast like Jaga, Claudus (Lion-O’s father), Panthro and the main villains are only seen briefly enough to establish them in and it’s doubtful the first two will be recurring characters unless the writers go down the same path as the original series and have them return as spirits.
The pilot largely just sets up the story arc for the first season. Mumm-ra and his henchmen attack Thundara killing off or enslaving most of the Thundercats in the process while Lion-O and company escape with the Sword of Omens and set out to explore Third Earth in search of the fabled Book of Omen. There is enough left over from the old series for old fans to feel comfortable and see what’s coming - including the famous “Thundercats ho!” and Mumm-ra’s transformation incantation - but just enough changed that it doesn’t feel like a complete retread.
The sound production overall and particularly the voice acting is top notch and includes Larry Kenny who voiced Lion-O in the 1980s series returning to voice his father Claudus this time around while Will Friedle (Batman Beyond and Kim Possible) takes over duties for Lion-O. The rest of the cast reads like a who’s who of great voice actors from animation and video games stretching back over the last forty years. The only notable exception being Emmanuelle Chriqui best known for her role as Sloan in Entourage appearing as Cheetara in her first animated role.
Sadly there’s no theme song in the pilot episode so we’ll just have to wait and see if the team have come up with something to match that iconic 80s theme song.
The character designs and art are well done and update the costumes quite nicely and no doubt you’ll be seeing more than a few of the new outfits at Comic Con in San Diego later this year. Sadly the art is let down slightly by the animation which at times feels a bit rushed and jerky at times and silky smooth at others but given that that a lot of this was probably due to budget constraints with the pilot hopefully it will improve in the coming episodes.
Where the show truly succeeds is updating the setting and story enough that it remains fresh for older viewers many of whom will have grown up as fans of the original and old enough to have children of their own now and might be discerning about how much and what they let their children watch. Even the hardened cynic who knows it’s just a marketing tool for the toy company will find it hard to resist saying to little Jimmy “Hey son Thundercats is on do you want to watch it?” for themselves as much as the kid. Unlike the spate of Transformers reboots which have been massively hit and miss and arguably none of which have managed to truly capture the spirit of the original. Also finally it’s a cartoon that older geeks don’t have to be ashamed to admit they watch *cough*friendshipismagic*cough*
Monday, 25 July 2011
Troll Hunter
Shaky cam mockumentary style films are very much a love or hate style. Personally I don’t like the vast majority so on the odd occasion that a movie like Troll Hunter comes along and actually makes the style work it’s a welcome surprise.
Like the vast majority of films made in this style Troll Hunter purports to be found footage of real events, in this case three Norwegian university students who set out to try and get an interview with a suspected bear poacher.
The first act really is all set up as little tidbits are revealed to show that there’s something more going on than the students really suspect until the eventual reveal that (spoilers) Hans is really a troll hunter and the only one in the country directly employed by the government to hunt down trolls who wander outside their designated living area.
Part of the problem with these mockumentary style films is that often the audience is only shown brief glimpses of the monsters and as a result they never seem real. Thankfully Troll Hunter offers enough static shots as the students try to hide from the trolls that we get some great shots of them and for some reason the almost cartoonish appearance actually works in the films favour and syncs up perfectly to the fairy tale descriptions of trolls.
Not only that but the often contradictory descriptions of their appearances are explained by Hans when he explains that there are actually five sub species of trolls, why some have three heads, why some turn to stone in sunlight and why some explode. It’s an extremely nice touch that adds some credibility to such an outlandish idea.
The story itself is well written and is mostly Hans’ story not the film makers and his desire to change the system the government has put in place for dealing with the trolls. He is also the only character we really gain any personal insight of as he interacts with the handful of other people who are aware of the trolls existence.
The humour is mostly spot on and plays on the skepticism and beliefs of both the film makers and the audience and our refusal to believe in things which are seen by most people as just old folk stories. There’s one scene in particular where the film makers meet up with a new member who is a Muslim and launch into a brief theological discussion about whether it is just Christian blood that trolls can smell or all religious blood that end with Hans perfectly seriously saying “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”
One major fault with this style of film is sadly still present – the lack of a proper ending. Because they are always presented as found footage and therefore unscripted there’s no real sense of closure. For some people this will be interesting and for others infuriating.
It's a shame because apart from the very final scene the climax of the film is so well done that it ruins what is otherwise an amazing ending.
Overall this is definitely one of the better films made in this genre and a good monster movie in its own right regardless of style.
Like the vast majority of films made in this style Troll Hunter purports to be found footage of real events, in this case three Norwegian university students who set out to try and get an interview with a suspected bear poacher.
The first act really is all set up as little tidbits are revealed to show that there’s something more going on than the students really suspect until the eventual reveal that (spoilers) Hans is really a troll hunter and the only one in the country directly employed by the government to hunt down trolls who wander outside their designated living area.
Part of the problem with these mockumentary style films is that often the audience is only shown brief glimpses of the monsters and as a result they never seem real. Thankfully Troll Hunter offers enough static shots as the students try to hide from the trolls that we get some great shots of them and for some reason the almost cartoonish appearance actually works in the films favour and syncs up perfectly to the fairy tale descriptions of trolls.
Not only that but the often contradictory descriptions of their appearances are explained by Hans when he explains that there are actually five sub species of trolls, why some have three heads, why some turn to stone in sunlight and why some explode. It’s an extremely nice touch that adds some credibility to such an outlandish idea.
The story itself is well written and is mostly Hans’ story not the film makers and his desire to change the system the government has put in place for dealing with the trolls. He is also the only character we really gain any personal insight of as he interacts with the handful of other people who are aware of the trolls existence.
The humour is mostly spot on and plays on the skepticism and beliefs of both the film makers and the audience and our refusal to believe in things which are seen by most people as just old folk stories. There’s one scene in particular where the film makers meet up with a new member who is a Muslim and launch into a brief theological discussion about whether it is just Christian blood that trolls can smell or all religious blood that end with Hans perfectly seriously saying “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”
One major fault with this style of film is sadly still present – the lack of a proper ending. Because they are always presented as found footage and therefore unscripted there’s no real sense of closure. For some people this will be interesting and for others infuriating.
It's a shame because apart from the very final scene the climax of the film is so well done that it ruins what is otherwise an amazing ending.
Overall this is definitely one of the better films made in this genre and a good monster movie in its own right regardless of style.
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Recently a good friend linked me this picture.
http://imgur.com/7sS0D
Initially I laughed and thought it was quite a clever statement but soon a feeling started to creep up on me, a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. That maybe there was an element of elitism to the attitude displayed in the picture and despite the massive success of the Harry Potter series it is still in many people’s minds a children’s or at best a teenagers book while so called epic fantasy is more grown up because it’s “gritty” and “realistic”. Yeah well so is Grand Theft Auto IV but I’d still rather play Liberty City or the original 2D GTA. At least they had some colour and visual flair and weren’t all shades of grey and brown. But I digress.
I put it to you like this. Harry Potter is at least as well written as A Song of Ice and Fire. Let’s start with the big points raised by the original image, death and in particular the death of Ned Stark and the death of Dumbledore. Ned Stark’s death is perhaps one of the biggest moments in the series. His death is the point in the first book and arguably the series that really sets off the chain reaction that is the main focus of the first few books. If he hadn’t went sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong then he would have never been killed – although I admit there’s a bit more to it than that but I’m not here to summarise the entire series – and his son Robb would have never gone to war and possibly Cersei would never have killed Robert. She only does so out of fear for her children’s safety which Ned threatened by promising to expose her infidelity and incest (one of the few taboos which survives as much in Westeros as it does in our world). As much of a hate figure as she is her actions are justifiable. She’s just an admittedly deranged mother defending her children.
Contrast this to the death of Dumbledore. While inevitable much like Ned’s death it comes as a bigger shock than his because it comes out of left field and from an unexpected source. However much like Ned’s death it is the final point in a long series of events that finally forces Harry to accept his destiny and become a man much like Ned’s death did for Robb.
Arguably Dumbledore’s death is even more important because while Harry has friends when Dumbledore dies he loses the closest thing he ever had to a father figure and a mentor. Robb on the other hand while the eldest child still has his family to support him while Harry now doesn’t even have that. When Dumbledore dies he virtually loses everything because the only real family he had left died in Order of the Phoenix (citation needed). While he still has The Weasleys as a surrogate family they are no substitute for a real family. Yeah yeah yeah he still has his auntie, uncle and cousin but be honest they’re about as far from a real family as you can get to the point of being that slightly bigoted uncle that always gets invited to Christmas dinner but you feel vaguely ashamed to talk to.
Anyway that’s it for today. Coming up in part 2 – Khal Drogo and why character death in A Song of Ice and Fire is a total MacGuffin.
http://imgur.com/7sS0D
Initially I laughed and thought it was quite a clever statement but soon a feeling started to creep up on me, a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. That maybe there was an element of elitism to the attitude displayed in the picture and despite the massive success of the Harry Potter series it is still in many people’s minds a children’s or at best a teenagers book while so called epic fantasy is more grown up because it’s “gritty” and “realistic”. Yeah well so is Grand Theft Auto IV but I’d still rather play Liberty City or the original 2D GTA. At least they had some colour and visual flair and weren’t all shades of grey and brown. But I digress.
I put it to you like this. Harry Potter is at least as well written as A Song of Ice and Fire. Let’s start with the big points raised by the original image, death and in particular the death of Ned Stark and the death of Dumbledore. Ned Stark’s death is perhaps one of the biggest moments in the series. His death is the point in the first book and arguably the series that really sets off the chain reaction that is the main focus of the first few books. If he hadn’t went sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong then he would have never been killed – although I admit there’s a bit more to it than that but I’m not here to summarise the entire series – and his son Robb would have never gone to war and possibly Cersei would never have killed Robert. She only does so out of fear for her children’s safety which Ned threatened by promising to expose her infidelity and incest (one of the few taboos which survives as much in Westeros as it does in our world). As much of a hate figure as she is her actions are justifiable. She’s just an admittedly deranged mother defending her children.
Contrast this to the death of Dumbledore. While inevitable much like Ned’s death it comes as a bigger shock than his because it comes out of left field and from an unexpected source. However much like Ned’s death it is the final point in a long series of events that finally forces Harry to accept his destiny and become a man much like Ned’s death did for Robb.
Arguably Dumbledore’s death is even more important because while Harry has friends when Dumbledore dies he loses the closest thing he ever had to a father figure and a mentor. Robb on the other hand while the eldest child still has his family to support him while Harry now doesn’t even have that. When Dumbledore dies he virtually loses everything because the only real family he had left died in Order of the Phoenix (citation needed). While he still has The Weasleys as a surrogate family they are no substitute for a real family. Yeah yeah yeah he still has his auntie, uncle and cousin but be honest they’re about as far from a real family as you can get to the point of being that slightly bigoted uncle that always gets invited to Christmas dinner but you feel vaguely ashamed to talk to.
Anyway that’s it for today. Coming up in part 2 – Khal Drogo and why character death in A Song of Ice and Fire is a total MacGuffin.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
El Dorado (part one): Temple of Sun
A bit of a break from horror and B movies for today to delve into the world of made for TV movies.
El Dorado: Temple of Sun is the first the two parts of this movie with the second being City of Gold.
The plot is simple enough and could easily have been a lost pitch for National Treasure or Indiana Jones. Jack Wilder played by Shane West (he of gravelly voice and chiseled face) is left a book (praise be to the MacGuffin) by a former colleague which leads to a clue underneath a church in Cusco which starts him on a journey to find El Dorado. Eventually he's captured by the Peruvian police/army and bailed out by his former lover Maria Martinez (played by the stunning Natalie Martinez) and all the while he's pursued by former SAS turned mercenary Colonel Sam Grissom (Luke Goss).
Eventually there's a sub plot about why Goss is pursuing the heroes but for the first part at least it feel pretty unimportant and comes across as a bit of a cheap dig at greedy mega corps and capitalists.
The cast overall do a good job with what is at times some pretty cheesy dialogue and the inevitable romance sub plot is about as deep you'd expect from this type of film but this isn't meant to be one of histories greatest romances and it's not like Indy or Benjamin Gates (National Treasure) exactly had extremely well written or developed love stories.
Gordon played by Elden Heston comes off the worst for this because he plays the "comedic" sidekick. At times he does get some funny lines but because he's the obvious tech geek forced out of his comfort zone he spends most of the film whining which makes him more annoying than endearing.
For a made for TV movie the production is damn good and being shot on location in Peru gives provides some absolutely stunning landscapes and the action scenes are great fun to watch and don't fall into the recent trappings of fast cuts, super close ups and the Zack Snyder slow mo to full mo action.
***Special mention spoiler***
The completely over the top escape from the mountain cave where Wilder for whatever reason has managed to pack a parachute into the same rucksack he uses to store all his normal gear.
The fight scene with the native tribesman just because capoeira looks cool as hell.
I never noticed how much Shane West appears to be channeling the spirit of William Shatner until I rewatched the trailer. Actually the trailer itself is worthy of review.
El Dorado: Temple of Sun is the first the two parts of this movie with the second being City of Gold.
The plot is simple enough and could easily have been a lost pitch for National Treasure or Indiana Jones. Jack Wilder played by Shane West (he of gravelly voice and chiseled face) is left a book (praise be to the MacGuffin) by a former colleague which leads to a clue underneath a church in Cusco which starts him on a journey to find El Dorado. Eventually he's captured by the Peruvian police/army and bailed out by his former lover Maria Martinez (played by the stunning Natalie Martinez) and all the while he's pursued by former SAS turned mercenary Colonel Sam Grissom (Luke Goss).
Eventually there's a sub plot about why Goss is pursuing the heroes but for the first part at least it feel pretty unimportant and comes across as a bit of a cheap dig at greedy mega corps and capitalists.
The cast overall do a good job with what is at times some pretty cheesy dialogue and the inevitable romance sub plot is about as deep you'd expect from this type of film but this isn't meant to be one of histories greatest romances and it's not like Indy or Benjamin Gates (National Treasure) exactly had extremely well written or developed love stories.
Gordon played by Elden Heston comes off the worst for this because he plays the "comedic" sidekick. At times he does get some funny lines but because he's the obvious tech geek forced out of his comfort zone he spends most of the film whining which makes him more annoying than endearing.
For a made for TV movie the production is damn good and being shot on location in Peru gives provides some absolutely stunning landscapes and the action scenes are great fun to watch and don't fall into the recent trappings of fast cuts, super close ups and the Zack Snyder slow mo to full mo action.
***Special mention spoiler***
The completely over the top escape from the mountain cave where Wilder for whatever reason has managed to pack a parachute into the same rucksack he uses to store all his normal gear.
The fight scene with the native tribesman just because capoeira looks cool as hell.
I never noticed how much Shane West appears to be channeling the spirit of William Shatner until I rewatched the trailer. Actually the trailer itself is worthy of review.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Hybrid
I'm trying to imagine being a fly on the wall while this movie was being pitched.
Pitcher: OK get this it's about a shape shifting car that eats people.
Studio exec: You sir are a genius. Here's a half a million dollars go make me a movie.
It's really hard to say which is more insane the fact that someone had the balls to pitch this or that there was a studio besides SyFy that was insane enough to green light it but either way while it's far from perfect this is a decent wee B movie.
Part of what makes it good is that the cast manage not to burst out laughing at every scene because it's an incredibly silly movie to the extent that it's hard not to think that everyone involved realised just how ridiculous it was and decided to play it dead straight just to mess with your head.
The scene about one third of the way in where one of the characters figures out what the car is and explains it highlights exactly what I'm getting at.
The actual idea isn't terrible and while this is marketed as a straight horror movie it's definitely a B movie in spirit. Having the the movie set in an underground garage helps it retain some tension as the car stalks the staff and if it was set out in the city then it would have probably made the concept a lot harder to buy into (if that's possible) because it would just jump from death scene to death scene because there wouldn't be any real need for the cast to work together when there's a whole city worth of people to use as fodder.
Some of the death scenes are fairly well done and creative but lack any real punch due to the lack of gore and some shoddy editing.
The biggest let down is the special effects in the final act. It might have been better just not to show the whole creature because the CGI is pretty bad and the creature itself looks like a cross between The Blob and the creatures from The Langoliers.
Apparently parts of the movie were shot in 3D so I wonder if this was one of them because a lot of the scenes with the monster seem designed to highlight the technology.
The monster/possessed car genre is pretty niche and by nature requires you to suspend your disbelief a lot but if you're having a night in with friends and want something fairly ridiculous to watch that doesn't require a lot of thought and you can poke fun at like you would a friends crappy second hand car then it's worth at least checking out.
Pitcher: OK get this it's about a shape shifting car that eats people.
Studio exec: You sir are a genius. Here's a half a million dollars go make me a movie.
It's really hard to say which is more insane the fact that someone had the balls to pitch this or that there was a studio besides SyFy that was insane enough to green light it but either way while it's far from perfect this is a decent wee B movie.
Part of what makes it good is that the cast manage not to burst out laughing at every scene because it's an incredibly silly movie to the extent that it's hard not to think that everyone involved realised just how ridiculous it was and decided to play it dead straight just to mess with your head.
The scene about one third of the way in where one of the characters figures out what the car is and explains it highlights exactly what I'm getting at.
The actual idea isn't terrible and while this is marketed as a straight horror movie it's definitely a B movie in spirit. Having the the movie set in an underground garage helps it retain some tension as the car stalks the staff and if it was set out in the city then it would have probably made the concept a lot harder to buy into (if that's possible) because it would just jump from death scene to death scene because there wouldn't be any real need for the cast to work together when there's a whole city worth of people to use as fodder.
Some of the death scenes are fairly well done and creative but lack any real punch due to the lack of gore and some shoddy editing.
The biggest let down is the special effects in the final act. It might have been better just not to show the whole creature because the CGI is pretty bad and the creature itself looks like a cross between The Blob and the creatures from The Langoliers.
Apparently parts of the movie were shot in 3D so I wonder if this was one of them because a lot of the scenes with the monster seem designed to highlight the technology.
The monster/possessed car genre is pretty niche and by nature requires you to suspend your disbelief a lot but if you're having a night in with friends and want something fairly ridiculous to watch that doesn't require a lot of thought and you can poke fun at like you would a friends crappy second hand car then it's worth at least checking out.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Rammbock: Berlin Undead
And now weighing it a mighty one hour, one minute and thirty five seconds (including credits) we have Rammbock: Berlin Undead a brilliant albeit short foray into the zombie genre. In case it wasn't obvious from the title this is a German movie just to clear that up.
It's refreshing in the modern horror climate where so many films are seeking to emulate Twilight or going down the torture porn route that good simple movies like Rammbock still exist. The story itself is sort of survival horror love story. The main character Michael comes to Berlin to give his ex girlfriend back her keys and hopefully get back together. When he gets to her apartment he is almost immediately attacked by a handy man doing repairs and inadvertently rescued by his assistant Harper. From there on it goes straight up survival horror as the two of them together with the other residents of the tenement try to defend their home. There are other romantic sub plots in the film and they all tie together to highlight different parts or types of relationships.
There are only a handful of characters and some are more developed than others because of the time constraints but there's enough of each to get a feel for them so that some of the twists are obvious before they happen.
For what looks what a pretty low budget movie the effects are well done and the survival aspect of a zombie apocalypse are well highlighted by the scarcity of food and some brilliant use of household items to make weapons and tools.
Some purists might dislike the use of the 28 Days Later style zombies especially because the claustrophobic nature of the setting really don't call for it but there are reasons for using them as well so either one would have been equally effective with some minor changes to the plot and/or setting.
As I said at the start this is a relatively short film but that works in it's favour because it let's it do what it needs to without over staying it's welcome or adding unnecessary padding so it's well worth checking out of you're a fan of the genre.
It's refreshing in the modern horror climate where so many films are seeking to emulate Twilight or going down the torture porn route that good simple movies like Rammbock still exist. The story itself is sort of survival horror love story. The main character Michael comes to Berlin to give his ex girlfriend back her keys and hopefully get back together. When he gets to her apartment he is almost immediately attacked by a handy man doing repairs and inadvertently rescued by his assistant Harper. From there on it goes straight up survival horror as the two of them together with the other residents of the tenement try to defend their home. There are other romantic sub plots in the film and they all tie together to highlight different parts or types of relationships.
There are only a handful of characters and some are more developed than others because of the time constraints but there's enough of each to get a feel for them so that some of the twists are obvious before they happen.
For what looks what a pretty low budget movie the effects are well done and the survival aspect of a zombie apocalypse are well highlighted by the scarcity of food and some brilliant use of household items to make weapons and tools.
Some purists might dislike the use of the 28 Days Later style zombies especially because the claustrophobic nature of the setting really don't call for it but there are reasons for using them as well so either one would have been equally effective with some minor changes to the plot and/or setting.
As I said at the start this is a relatively short film but that works in it's favour because it let's it do what it needs to without over staying it's welcome or adding unnecessary padding so it's well worth checking out of you're a fan of the genre.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (movie)
This is a difficult movie to review objectively because it's largely based around the allegedly true stories which can read on tuckermax.com which despite their vulgarity and offensive nature never fail to be funny.
Overall it's not a terrible movie and sits somewhere between The Hangover (released the same year), American Pie and Animal House. It's particularly hard not to compare it to the Hangover simply because it feels like it was rushed out when the buzz surrounding The Hangover was at its peak and as a result it feels only half finished.
When it's done right the dialogue is delivered perfectly but there are some throw away lines that just don't work outwith the context of the original stories or are just delivered badly and this is most evident when Matt Czuchry who plays Tucker delivers his lines with virtually no emotion behind them apart from one scene near the end which seems strangely out of place with everything else we have learned about the character up to now. While Jesse Bradford who plays Drew delivers his lines with a perfect blend of cynicism, emotional withdrawal and heart break.
The stories themselves are a fairly mixed bag with two scenes standing out - the jail scene with Geoff Stults as Dan and the hotel recounting of the aftermath of the hotel lobby scene.
The main problem though is that the quality of the writing simply does not measure up to the writing on the website and in the actual book of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell both of which have more material and are far funnier than the movie and give the stories context where the movie just comes across as a collection of skits with a paper thin story to tie them together.
Altogether it's not much worse than The Hangover but the former was helped a lot by a much stronger cast and going for all out slapstick while IHTSBiH just feels like a frat movie from the 80s without the charm or anarchy.
As an aside, if you're a fan of the Tucker Max website you'll probably get a bit more enjoyment out of this due to some lines and references that will go over the heads of the average viewer such as "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." and the Slingblade reference.
Overall it's not a terrible movie and sits somewhere between The Hangover (released the same year), American Pie and Animal House. It's particularly hard not to compare it to the Hangover simply because it feels like it was rushed out when the buzz surrounding The Hangover was at its peak and as a result it feels only half finished.
When it's done right the dialogue is delivered perfectly but there are some throw away lines that just don't work outwith the context of the original stories or are just delivered badly and this is most evident when Matt Czuchry who plays Tucker delivers his lines with virtually no emotion behind them apart from one scene near the end which seems strangely out of place with everything else we have learned about the character up to now. While Jesse Bradford who plays Drew delivers his lines with a perfect blend of cynicism, emotional withdrawal and heart break.
The stories themselves are a fairly mixed bag with two scenes standing out - the jail scene with Geoff Stults as Dan and the hotel recounting of the aftermath of the hotel lobby scene.
The main problem though is that the quality of the writing simply does not measure up to the writing on the website and in the actual book of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell both of which have more material and are far funnier than the movie and give the stories context where the movie just comes across as a collection of skits with a paper thin story to tie them together.
Altogether it's not much worse than The Hangover but the former was helped a lot by a much stronger cast and going for all out slapstick while IHTSBiH just feels like a frat movie from the 80s without the charm or anarchy.
As an aside, if you're a fan of the Tucker Max website you'll probably get a bit more enjoyment out of this due to some lines and references that will go over the heads of the average viewer such as "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." and the Slingblade reference.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Top 10 horror
Defining horror is something that pretty much nobody can do. It covers such a wide range of motifs, themes and sub genres that virtually anytime the word is mentioned in connection with something then someone else is going to say “That’s not real horror.”
Do you mean the slow creeping horror of Lovecraft? The in your face blood and guts horror of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the like? Or do you prefer the off the wall tension and believable horror conjured up by filmmakers like Hitchcock? The list of styles literally goes on and on. Please try to keep that in mind as I go through this list and it’s quite likely I’ve left some things I would have liked to include purely out of forgetfulness. Also these are in no particular order since I tend to reassess and change my mind constantly.
10 - The Birds. A concept that sounds so absurd that in the hands of a lesser director it might have fallen flat on its face. I think I saw this when I was about fifteen and while I had already seen films with better special effects and much more in your face terror I think this is the first movie that truly terrified me. A lot of people would argue that Psycho is the better film and it's hard to disagree so this is largely a matter of preference.
9 - Ginger Snaps. Apart from An American Werewolf in London this has to be my favourite werewolf movie. While the subtext about puberty and womanhood practically oozes out the screen, the film still manages to tell a good story and Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins are brilliant as the Fitzgerald sisters.
8 – Scream. Say what you like about it but whether it was an intentional satire or a postmodern horror movie Scream still stands out among modern horror movies for having memorable and likeable characters as well as one of the most iconic killers of modern times. Not to mention some genuinely great death scenes.
7 – New Nightmare. A second entry for Wes Craven here and again it’s an interesting twist on an old concept. Instead of being the character from the movies Freddy Krueger is a malign entity seeking to invade the real world. The best part of this all is that Craven really brings Freddy back to his roots as a killer and sheds the comedic aspects that became more prevalent as the series progressed. In my opinion the best of the Elm Street films. It plays a lot with the concepts of reality, dream and the supernatural in equal measures so at times you really don’t know what to believe.
6 – The Thing. Where to begin? Kurt Russell for a start is brilliant but the paranoia and tension are the stars of this film coupled with some amazing special effects. A lot of horror fans will probably argue for Halloween but for me John Carpenter is never going to top this film for real pant shitting terror and tension and it even beats Alien for the title of best sci-fi horror. It’s also possibly Kurt Russell’s best non action or comedy role.
5 – The Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. Not really a lot to say here. Watching it now the effects are a bit dated but given that it was made on a very small budget it still looks better than some modern films and it’s maybe not as scary as I remember it being as a kid but it’s still a brilliant movie and when you look at the story history behind it then it becomes even more admirable because it is a movie made from a genuine love of the the genre and film making as an art form.
4 – Brain Dead/Dead Alive. Another comedy/horror and one of the goriest movies of all time. Like Evil Dead there’s not really a lot to say. The plot that exists is simply there to hurry the movie on to the next act of hilarious violence. Hugely quotable, funny and gory in equal measure.
3 – An American Werewolf in London. The second werewolf film on the list and still a milestone in makeup effects after thirty years on. I recently watched this again and forgot just how funny it was. Actually I looked up the credits on IMDB I never even realized that it’s directed by John Landis who also directed Animal House and The Blues Brothers which probably goes a long way to explaining the humour which despite being a bit slapstick at times never does so to the films detriment.
2 – Seven. If I was pushed to pick a favourite psychological horror this just beats Silence of the Lambs because of the visuals. Both are excellent films but the pay off at the end of Seven and the amazing cast just make place it a step above most other serial killer movies. Plus looking at modern franchises like Saw you can see the lasting influence that this has left on the genre. Actually maybe that isn’t a point in its favour.
1 – In the Mouth of Madness. I’m not entirely sure how well known this film is but by Bob it’s worth watching. Sam Neill stars in this brilliant homage to HP Lovecraft and other great writers of horror fiction. At times it can be deeply unsettling and the ending despite being depressing is extremely satisfying.
As I said there are probably films I would put on here that I’ve forgotten since I haven’t watched them in a while and some like The Birds where it was a tough choice to pick just one film from the directors career since an entire list could be made just from Hitchcock and some other writers, directors and actors on this list.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Pretty Little Liars, Season One
With the second series of Pretty Little Liars just two episodes in now seems as good a time as any to talk about the first season of the show.
Initially it would be easy to dismiss PLL (look acronyms are cool OK) as just another teen drama but to do so would be to ignore an extremely enjoyable show which despite being aimed at the teenage demographic has enough going for it to appeal to a wider audience. Admittedly the plot can be a little convoluted and nonsensical at times which is the biggest flaw but the strong cast bring a lot to the table and it's obviously been successful enough for ABC to renew for a second season despite some fairly mixed initial reviews and a lot of critics are now realising the shows appeal even if it's just as a guilty pleasure.
It's also gone on to win several Teen Choice Awards and been nominated for the People's Choice Award and a GLAAD award so it's definitely been a mild hit among it's target audience.
In a nutshell the plot of the show is that the girls are trying to figure out who the mysterious presence known only as "A" is while at the same time dealing with their regular lives. Every episode ends with a cliff hanger and a mysterious figure identified only by a gloved hand.
The show centers around the four main characters Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily and the faceless protagonist known only as "A".
Where the show truly shines is in making the four girls likeable despite their many flaws.
Aria despite having a good heart finds it extremely hard to trust others and finds it hard to let go of grudges.
Spencer is loyal to a fault at times is fairly promiscuous and a massive over achiever.
Emily...actually I find it hard to see where her faults lie apart from expecting others to hold up to her own values and standards and can be a bit of a bitch when people fail to live up to her expectations.
Hanna is extremely likeable but because of her past and family issues acts out in sometimes oddly defiant ways. There's also the underlying but never stated fact that she may have an eating disorder but this is debatable since it's never actively talked about in the show.
The show is driven along in two ways. The first by flashbacks to the night of the groups former leader Alison went missing which reveal the back story of the group and how they all came to be friends.
The second by notes, texts and email from the mysterious "A" who is initially taken to be the missing Alison.
The supporting cast are fairly strong as well particularly Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz the English teacher torn between his job and the woman he loves. The show handles his relationship with Aria extremely well considering that it is quite a touchy subject and is usually portrayed as either the older man/woman seducing the impressionable young pupil or the emotional youngster who falls head over heels for the unobtainable older mentor.
Special mention has to go out to Holly Marie Combs of Charmed fame who plays Aria's mother and Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh. The latter is definitely one of the more interesting characters in the show and looking at the actors IMDB page he's not been in a lot of shows but after his performance in this I hope he starts getting more work because he's a talented young actor. Actually that comment could go for most of the main cast none of who are extremely well known but all give solid performances here.
Pretty Little Liars isn't breaking boundaries or reinventing genres but like most of ABC's summer lineup it's a light entertaining show that fills the gap as the big names go on hiatus for another season and with season two just started it's a good time to go back and check out the first season.
Initially it would be easy to dismiss PLL (look acronyms are cool OK) as just another teen drama but to do so would be to ignore an extremely enjoyable show which despite being aimed at the teenage demographic has enough going for it to appeal to a wider audience. Admittedly the plot can be a little convoluted and nonsensical at times which is the biggest flaw but the strong cast bring a lot to the table and it's obviously been successful enough for ABC to renew for a second season despite some fairly mixed initial reviews and a lot of critics are now realising the shows appeal even if it's just as a guilty pleasure.
It's also gone on to win several Teen Choice Awards and been nominated for the People's Choice Award and a GLAAD award so it's definitely been a mild hit among it's target audience.
In a nutshell the plot of the show is that the girls are trying to figure out who the mysterious presence known only as "A" is while at the same time dealing with their regular lives. Every episode ends with a cliff hanger and a mysterious figure identified only by a gloved hand.
The show centers around the four main characters Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily and the faceless protagonist known only as "A".
Where the show truly shines is in making the four girls likeable despite their many flaws.
Aria despite having a good heart finds it extremely hard to trust others and finds it hard to let go of grudges.
Spencer is loyal to a fault at times is fairly promiscuous and a massive over achiever.
Emily...actually I find it hard to see where her faults lie apart from expecting others to hold up to her own values and standards and can be a bit of a bitch when people fail to live up to her expectations.
Hanna is extremely likeable but because of her past and family issues acts out in sometimes oddly defiant ways. There's also the underlying but never stated fact that she may have an eating disorder but this is debatable since it's never actively talked about in the show.
The show is driven along in two ways. The first by flashbacks to the night of the groups former leader Alison went missing which reveal the back story of the group and how they all came to be friends.
The second by notes, texts and email from the mysterious "A" who is initially taken to be the missing Alison.
The supporting cast are fairly strong as well particularly Ian Harding as Ezra Fitz the English teacher torn between his job and the woman he loves. The show handles his relationship with Aria extremely well considering that it is quite a touchy subject and is usually portrayed as either the older man/woman seducing the impressionable young pupil or the emotional youngster who falls head over heels for the unobtainable older mentor.
Special mention has to go out to Holly Marie Combs of Charmed fame who plays Aria's mother and Keegan Allen as Toby Cavanaugh. The latter is definitely one of the more interesting characters in the show and looking at the actors IMDB page he's not been in a lot of shows but after his performance in this I hope he starts getting more work because he's a talented young actor. Actually that comment could go for most of the main cast none of who are extremely well known but all give solid performances here.
Pretty Little Liars isn't breaking boundaries or reinventing genres but like most of ABC's summer lineup it's a light entertaining show that fills the gap as the big names go on hiatus for another season and with season two just started it's a good time to go back and check out the first season.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Dylan Dog in Dead of Night review
This film is a bit of an oddity and very nearly slipped under my radar until I noticed that the main star was Brandon Routh of Superman Returns fame. Just a couple of points before I start.
1) In my opinion Brandon Routh was the sole redeeming feature of that Superman Returns and since he's been in it I've only ever seen him in Chuck and Scott Pilgrim vs The World and he was excellent in both of them. For some reason I can't help but think of him as a less schlocky version of Bruce Campbell and wish more directors would start utilising him as a comedic actor which he clearly has the talent for.
2) A little history lesson behind the film though since I had to do some research myself. Apparently it's based on a series of surreal Italian comic books but the movie deviates heavily from the source. The wikipedia page sums up the differences so I won't go into them here since they're largely inconsequential for the sake of this reviews.
The film starts out looking like a standard murder mystery albeit with some sort of large hairy creature being the culprit (spoiler - it's a werewolf) and then we get a brief explanation of the setting from the title character. I really dug this intro and it gives the film a vaguely noir tone. The problem is the film fails to stick to this tone or indeed any tone throughout and becomes a confusing mish mash of styles so you can be left confused wondering what sort of balance the director was trying to strike. Overall it comes across as mostly comedy/horror with undertones of action and noir.
The comedy largely comes from the interaction between Dylan and his sidekick Marcus played by Routh's fellow Superman alumni Sam Huntington. While the comedy is fairly predictable and extremely hit and miss the two work well together and really seem to enjoy their roles.
The noir comes from the fairly bog standard story. There's a damsel in distress and through a series of events Dylan is drawn into helping her discover the identity of her fathers killer and eventually track down a stolen object of great power before it can be used for evil.
The action scenes are largely forgettable with the exception of the warehouse scene where Dylan and Marcus battle a horde of cannibal zombies. Yes you read that right but more on that shortly. While the rest just kind of plod along and aren't very well shot or choreographed.
The setting will be familiar to anyone who has watched a supernatural series or film in the last decade. The vampires and werewolfs have an uneasy truce and there is one human (Dylan) who is stuck bang in the middle having been assigned the role of peace keeper between the two.
The take on zombie lore is fairly interesting however and as far as I can recall has never been done before but my memory is fairly bad so no doubt someone knows better. The zombies are completely sentient but can only eat dead or rotten food and anything else they throw back up. As previously mentioned there are cannibal zombies though who have gone insane from hunger and eventually started eating each other.
While you see plenty of vampires, werewolves and zombies in the film there's really only one main character of each. For zombies we have Marcus as mentioned previously and for the vampires we have Taye Diggs as Vargas and the werewolves are headed by Peter Stormare as Gabriel.
Both actors do admirable jobs. Vargas is extremely over confident and cocky that his plan will succeed while Gabriel much like Stormare's character in Prison Break runs his werewolf clan much like a mafia family.
The special effects are passable for the most part apart from the final scene where the boss fight looks like something out of a made for TV movie.
Dead of Night has atrocious ratings on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes neither of which I really think this film deserves. The final scenes are where it really goes downhill and feels a little bit rushed and is obviously meant to lead into a TV series or a series of movies which it probably won't get.
It's definitely not up there with the greats of comedy horror but if you're looking to pass a night and can look past the script which is fairly predictable at times and some comedy which just completely misses the mark then it's a perfectly solid B movie.
1) In my opinion Brandon Routh was the sole redeeming feature of that Superman Returns and since he's been in it I've only ever seen him in Chuck and Scott Pilgrim vs The World and he was excellent in both of them. For some reason I can't help but think of him as a less schlocky version of Bruce Campbell and wish more directors would start utilising him as a comedic actor which he clearly has the talent for.
2) A little history lesson behind the film though since I had to do some research myself. Apparently it's based on a series of surreal Italian comic books but the movie deviates heavily from the source. The wikipedia page sums up the differences so I won't go into them here since they're largely inconsequential for the sake of this reviews.
The film starts out looking like a standard murder mystery albeit with some sort of large hairy creature being the culprit (spoiler - it's a werewolf) and then we get a brief explanation of the setting from the title character. I really dug this intro and it gives the film a vaguely noir tone. The problem is the film fails to stick to this tone or indeed any tone throughout and becomes a confusing mish mash of styles so you can be left confused wondering what sort of balance the director was trying to strike. Overall it comes across as mostly comedy/horror with undertones of action and noir.
The comedy largely comes from the interaction between Dylan and his sidekick Marcus played by Routh's fellow Superman alumni Sam Huntington. While the comedy is fairly predictable and extremely hit and miss the two work well together and really seem to enjoy their roles.
The noir comes from the fairly bog standard story. There's a damsel in distress and through a series of events Dylan is drawn into helping her discover the identity of her fathers killer and eventually track down a stolen object of great power before it can be used for evil.
The action scenes are largely forgettable with the exception of the warehouse scene where Dylan and Marcus battle a horde of cannibal zombies. Yes you read that right but more on that shortly. While the rest just kind of plod along and aren't very well shot or choreographed.
The setting will be familiar to anyone who has watched a supernatural series or film in the last decade. The vampires and werewolfs have an uneasy truce and there is one human (Dylan) who is stuck bang in the middle having been assigned the role of peace keeper between the two.
The take on zombie lore is fairly interesting however and as far as I can recall has never been done before but my memory is fairly bad so no doubt someone knows better. The zombies are completely sentient but can only eat dead or rotten food and anything else they throw back up. As previously mentioned there are cannibal zombies though who have gone insane from hunger and eventually started eating each other.
While you see plenty of vampires, werewolves and zombies in the film there's really only one main character of each. For zombies we have Marcus as mentioned previously and for the vampires we have Taye Diggs as Vargas and the werewolves are headed by Peter Stormare as Gabriel.
Both actors do admirable jobs. Vargas is extremely over confident and cocky that his plan will succeed while Gabriel much like Stormare's character in Prison Break runs his werewolf clan much like a mafia family.
The special effects are passable for the most part apart from the final scene where the boss fight looks like something out of a made for TV movie.
Dead of Night has atrocious ratings on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes neither of which I really think this film deserves. The final scenes are where it really goes downhill and feels a little bit rushed and is obviously meant to lead into a TV series or a series of movies which it probably won't get.
It's definitely not up there with the greats of comedy horror but if you're looking to pass a night and can look past the script which is fairly predictable at times and some comedy which just completely misses the mark then it's a perfectly solid B movie.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
The best of YouTube (IMO) Part 1
Welcome to the first in what I hope will be a semi regular column on the sometimes wondrous world of You Tube. Today I'll be talking about a channel that's quite rightly becoming huge at a bit over half a million subscribers.
Ladies and gentlemen please put your hands together for Simon and Lewis aka The Yogscast.
I first came across these guys while looking for dungeon guides for World of Warcraft and thought the humour and sense of fun they brought to their videos made a welcome change from the more often than not bland commentary of other guides.
Here were a couple of guys who were obviously having fun as casuals in WoW without treating it like a second job like so many others. If you've never played WoW before then it's kind of hard to understand why this seems so odd and if you have played it with friends or a social guild you realise that the fun is never conveyed through most video commentaries.
Sadly the guys stopped playing WoW because after you finished five mans there really isn't much to do unless you want to commit to raiding which is for many when the game just stops being fun and becomes a second job even if you manage to find a casual raiding guild.
A few weeks/months later they started a lets play series of videos on Minecraft and this is when they started their meteoric rise to You Tube fame and in fact their videos are the reason I bought the game.
I very rarely buy games solely on recommendation or reviews but thanks to the sense of fun Simon and Lewis convey in their videos I just had to try this one out.
Perhaps the key to their appeal is that they don't appear to try with their videos. It all comes across as so natural that a lot of people have made the mistake of assuming that they are professionals working from a script. While they've admitted in interviews that as the show has progressed some elements of it are pre prepared it's only Lewis that really knows even vaguely what's going on.
The other key to their appeal is the obvious differences in their personalities. Lewis is for the most part what would traditionally be considered the good cop or the hard put upon straight laced guy and Simon is the whacky side kick.
That's not to say both aren't hilarious it's just that there are times when you can almost picture Lewis sighing as his partner in crime does something that's blatantly a bad idea.
The duo have since added a second channel where they do voice overs and reviews for game trailers and lets play series for other games all in their own inimitable style.
If you haven't seen their shows yet then give them a shot and for the love of Bob if you're going to leave a comment please say anything but "When is the next Shadow of Israphael?"
Ladies and gentlemen please put your hands together for Simon and Lewis aka The Yogscast.
I first came across these guys while looking for dungeon guides for World of Warcraft and thought the humour and sense of fun they brought to their videos made a welcome change from the more often than not bland commentary of other guides.
Here were a couple of guys who were obviously having fun as casuals in WoW without treating it like a second job like so many others. If you've never played WoW before then it's kind of hard to understand why this seems so odd and if you have played it with friends or a social guild you realise that the fun is never conveyed through most video commentaries.
Sadly the guys stopped playing WoW because after you finished five mans there really isn't much to do unless you want to commit to raiding which is for many when the game just stops being fun and becomes a second job even if you manage to find a casual raiding guild.
A few weeks/months later they started a lets play series of videos on Minecraft and this is when they started their meteoric rise to You Tube fame and in fact their videos are the reason I bought the game.
I very rarely buy games solely on recommendation or reviews but thanks to the sense of fun Simon and Lewis convey in their videos I just had to try this one out.
Perhaps the key to their appeal is that they don't appear to try with their videos. It all comes across as so natural that a lot of people have made the mistake of assuming that they are professionals working from a script. While they've admitted in interviews that as the show has progressed some elements of it are pre prepared it's only Lewis that really knows even vaguely what's going on.
The other key to their appeal is the obvious differences in their personalities. Lewis is for the most part what would traditionally be considered the good cop or the hard put upon straight laced guy and Simon is the whacky side kick.
That's not to say both aren't hilarious it's just that there are times when you can almost picture Lewis sighing as his partner in crime does something that's blatantly a bad idea.
The duo have since added a second channel where they do voice overs and reviews for game trailers and lets play series for other games all in their own inimitable style.
If you haven't seen their shows yet then give them a shot and for the love of Bob if you're going to leave a comment please say anything but "When is the next Shadow of Israphael?"
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
The joy of bad movies
I'd like to take a moment to talk about bad movies.
The Bad - The "red movies" as I call them. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then the easiest example would be Scary Movie. Typically all of these spoofs have similar cover art which is big red text on a white background with characters from the movie cut and pasted in.
I loved Scary Movie and I'll defend it as a brilliant spoof anytime but at a certain point the X Movie just got ridiculous and ceased to be a parody and more a collection of bad pop culture references with some vague allusion to the movie they're supposed to be parodying.
I pretty much gave up after the atrocious Date Movie or maybe even before that but that's the one I really remember as being the worst offender.
There's really no need to go and rip these movies apart because they are just that bad.
The "Good" - Asylum Studios and SyFy (eugh) originals. Oh dear God I love these guys and their like. Almost everything about their movies is objectively terrible yet I can't stop watching. By definition they should be terrible but they have some sort of X factor charm that reminds you of being a child and thinking "Wow I wonder who would win in a fight between a scorpion and a shark?" If this hasn't been done by the way and someone from SyFy comes across this I demand royalties.
Actually there is a third category where we find Uwe Boll, Tommy Wiseau and their ilk but I honestly think they defy categorisation and bring their own kind of sadistic entertainment and have to actually be viewed as some sort of extreme art project in bad film making.
Coincidentally I'm not sure what's going to be more amazingly tasteless, the upcoming pro life horror film or Uwe Boll's film about the Holocaust.
There's just some sort of great joy in bad movies. Unlike a bad computer game or a bad book they don't ask for any commitment for you other than suspension of disbelief and an hour and a half of your free time.
The Bad - The "red movies" as I call them. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then the easiest example would be Scary Movie. Typically all of these spoofs have similar cover art which is big red text on a white background with characters from the movie cut and pasted in.
I loved Scary Movie and I'll defend it as a brilliant spoof anytime but at a certain point the X Movie just got ridiculous and ceased to be a parody and more a collection of bad pop culture references with some vague allusion to the movie they're supposed to be parodying.
I pretty much gave up after the atrocious Date Movie or maybe even before that but that's the one I really remember as being the worst offender.
There's really no need to go and rip these movies apart because they are just that bad.
The "Good" - Asylum Studios and SyFy (eugh) originals. Oh dear God I love these guys and their like. Almost everything about their movies is objectively terrible yet I can't stop watching. By definition they should be terrible but they have some sort of X factor charm that reminds you of being a child and thinking "Wow I wonder who would win in a fight between a scorpion and a shark?" If this hasn't been done by the way and someone from SyFy comes across this I demand royalties.
Actually there is a third category where we find Uwe Boll, Tommy Wiseau and their ilk but I honestly think they defy categorisation and bring their own kind of sadistic entertainment and have to actually be viewed as some sort of extreme art project in bad film making.
Coincidentally I'm not sure what's going to be more amazingly tasteless, the upcoming pro life horror film or Uwe Boll's film about the Holocaust.
There's just some sort of great joy in bad movies. Unlike a bad computer game or a bad book they don't ask for any commitment for you other than suspension of disbelief and an hour and a half of your free time.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
X-Men: First Class and X-Men Retrospective
First post in this long neglected blog.
So yeah First Class was surprisingly good. Considering I really wasn't expecting much from the trailers it put the previous X-Men films to shame. Looking back at the original trilogy (let's just ignore Wolverine: Origins *shudder*) they haven't really stood the test of time. As summer action films they're pretty good but watching them in light of First Class made me realise that despite being fairly faithful to the source material they didn't really make me invest in the characters despite the great casting. Maybe this was down to having such a large cast that only a handful of main characters got any real development and even then they played second fiddle to the action scenes.
First Class on the other hand manages to strike a near perfect balance of action, plot and character development.
The plot really captures a sense of time well and conveys the uncertainty that was prevalent at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. By the end we see all of humanity finally ending the cold war and getting ready to move into the modern world but at the same time entering a new age of fear and using that new found cooperation to start a new war against mutant kind.
Kevin Bacon is marvelous as Sebastian Shaw and pretty much drives the entire plot along by playing the various factions off against each other and really plays the role like a great Bond villain who just happens to have super powers.
It's hard not to draw comparisons to Bond but also the Austin Powers films with the Hellfire Club which is so kitsch it's almost laughable.
For all this is billed as the story of Charles Xavier and Erik Leshnerr the two of them are never really developed and apart from the comradely of being mutants we're really just told that they're friends and never really shown why. It's a shame because James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender work so well together that you still buy the friendship despite the lack of substance.
The rest of the cast don't slouch either despite being made up of largely B list X-Men characters and the younger cast members seem like much more of a team than the members from the chronological sequels. There is one point where we see the younger members partying which seems aimed at the teenage audience but just comes across as a bit cheesy and pointless.
Still for every bad scene there is a great one. Watching Xavier and Magneto train the youngsters in a 80s style montage is absolutely brilliant and has some genuine laugh out loud moments in particular Banshee's training and everyone's favourite Canadian furball makes a welcome cameo.
The action scenes deserve a special mention because these days it seems like too many films go with endless fast cuts and mass battles but First Class keeps it simple and you're never left wondering what you just saw but still have a sense of epic scale. Remember how bad ass that scene with the bridge in X3 was? Well it rivals that several times.
Perhaps the biggest flaw is the films need to keep continuity with the previous films so inevitable sequels.
If the makers had just billed this as a straight reboot then it would have been fine but now they've painted themselves into a corner where they're going to have to keep it up but as long as they continue to make them as well as they made this one then I'm willing to forgive the odd slip up.
***Slight spoilers***
I just have to mention Mystique here. For me she was the most interesting character in the movie and watching her be rejected by some of her own kind including Xavier who she thinks of as a brother is genuinely moving.
Some people have complained that it detracts from the movie but I disagree. At a time when mutation isn't out in the public eye it's understandable how even other mutants would still have more normal standards of beauty and why it's easier to fit in when your mutations are easily hidden. If anything it humanises the other mutants and stops them from coming across as flawless.
So yeah First Class was surprisingly good. Considering I really wasn't expecting much from the trailers it put the previous X-Men films to shame. Looking back at the original trilogy (let's just ignore Wolverine: Origins *shudder*) they haven't really stood the test of time. As summer action films they're pretty good but watching them in light of First Class made me realise that despite being fairly faithful to the source material they didn't really make me invest in the characters despite the great casting. Maybe this was down to having such a large cast that only a handful of main characters got any real development and even then they played second fiddle to the action scenes.
First Class on the other hand manages to strike a near perfect balance of action, plot and character development.
The plot really captures a sense of time well and conveys the uncertainty that was prevalent at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. By the end we see all of humanity finally ending the cold war and getting ready to move into the modern world but at the same time entering a new age of fear and using that new found cooperation to start a new war against mutant kind.
Kevin Bacon is marvelous as Sebastian Shaw and pretty much drives the entire plot along by playing the various factions off against each other and really plays the role like a great Bond villain who just happens to have super powers.
It's hard not to draw comparisons to Bond but also the Austin Powers films with the Hellfire Club which is so kitsch it's almost laughable.
For all this is billed as the story of Charles Xavier and Erik Leshnerr the two of them are never really developed and apart from the comradely of being mutants we're really just told that they're friends and never really shown why. It's a shame because James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender work so well together that you still buy the friendship despite the lack of substance.
The rest of the cast don't slouch either despite being made up of largely B list X-Men characters and the younger cast members seem like much more of a team than the members from the chronological sequels. There is one point where we see the younger members partying which seems aimed at the teenage audience but just comes across as a bit cheesy and pointless.
Still for every bad scene there is a great one. Watching Xavier and Magneto train the youngsters in a 80s style montage is absolutely brilliant and has some genuine laugh out loud moments in particular Banshee's training and everyone's favourite Canadian furball makes a welcome cameo.
The action scenes deserve a special mention because these days it seems like too many films go with endless fast cuts and mass battles but First Class keeps it simple and you're never left wondering what you just saw but still have a sense of epic scale. Remember how bad ass that scene with the bridge in X3 was? Well it rivals that several times.
Perhaps the biggest flaw is the films need to keep continuity with the previous films so inevitable sequels.
If the makers had just billed this as a straight reboot then it would have been fine but now they've painted themselves into a corner where they're going to have to keep it up but as long as they continue to make them as well as they made this one then I'm willing to forgive the odd slip up.
***Slight spoilers***
I just have to mention Mystique here. For me she was the most interesting character in the movie and watching her be rejected by some of her own kind including Xavier who she thinks of as a brother is genuinely moving.
Some people have complained that it detracts from the movie but I disagree. At a time when mutation isn't out in the public eye it's understandable how even other mutants would still have more normal standards of beauty and why it's easier to fit in when your mutations are easily hidden. If anything it humanises the other mutants and stops them from coming across as flawless.
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