Archive for Films
Quantum of Indifference
So earlier this week I saw Quantum of Solace, the next instalment in the revamped James Bond series. Unfortunately, after the wonders of Casino Royal, I felt it was a bit of a let down. It was still an alright action film, just not up to the ridiculously high standards set by its predecessor.
There were two main problems, the first of which was the plot. There didn’t really seem to be much meat on it, just the lingering aftertaste that it was simply there to thread one action sequence into another. The film opened immediately with a car chase, and because it wasn’t set up in any way – who were these people, and why were they chasing Bond – I found it a little difficult to get into. All it needed was about 30 seconds before hand to give us some idea of what was going on.
The second problem was the action. In Casino Royale, all the action had been fairly realistic, or at least plausible. This time, the action felt a little more ‘comic book’. Would Bond really have survived falling off a roof, through a large glass window, and landing on metal scaffolding? Well, maybe - he is awesome after all – but wondering about that drew me out of the film.
Although the action may have been more comic, the locations were still all realistic, which I think jarred slightly. If Bond is going to be blown up and thrown around in an over-the-top action style, he needs to do it somewhere appropriate, such as the interior of a hollowed-out volcano lair, or atop a giant radio telescope. Wondering around a desert doesn’t quite cut it I’m afraid.
Nevertheless it wasn’t terrible by any means. If you like Bond films or action films in general, then there’s no good reason not to see it. Just don’t expect another Casino Royale. Final score? 7/10
About Damn Time!
*Heavenly choral music*
At last!
http://www.cthulhu-themovie.com/video.html
Hooray! As much as I loved the fan effort, it’s about time Lovecraft got the big-budget treatment. It looks for the trailer like they’re re-interpreting ‘Shadow Over Innsmouth’, which makes me wonder, will we see Cthulhu at all, or will he just me mentioned in ceremonies and the like? Maybe we’ll see him briefly in visions, but the trouble is that if Cthulhu is up and about, it’d be difficult to write in a happy ending, which is unfortunately a pre-requisite of Hollywood films these days.
Release date says 22nd August this year, but that might be in the US. Either way, it should be with us soon, and that makes me very, very excited! 
Cloverfield
I saw Cloverfield at the weekend, and now I’m going to talk about it briefly. While I’m not going to give away any plot details, there’s a risk that some of my comments might reveal certain things, so if you haven’t seen it yet and are planning too, then stop reading now. You’ve been warned! 
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Ok, so on the whole I enjoyed this film. I really liked the “point of view” concept. I thought the start and general build-up was very tense and well paced. The middle was gripping and exciting.
But I was a bit unsure about the ending. The final, final clip from the original film on the tape of the outing to the fair was just pure cheese, but I can live with that. :p
A more interesting debate is whether there should have been a summing-up. It was presented as a military intelligence video after all, so there could have been a ‘debriefing’ where an analyst tried to make sense of what we saw, and fill in some info. This was kind of what I was expecting, although I’m pretty much 50/50 on whether this would have been a good idea or not. The artistic half of me says “no”, as this would have detracted from the impact and ‘amateur’ feel of the rest of the footage, but the half of me that wants to know what the f*ck was going on begs to differ. 
So minor complaints aside, it was a good film. On a side note, click here to see an apparent concept sketch from the film, when they were still deciding on what the monster should look like. I actually think this concept is better than the final version!
Oh, also I’ve heard a rumour that there’s going to be a Cloverfield 2, about the same event, but from the POV of a different group of people. I think this is actually quite a good idea, but hey’d have to come up with some interesting new twist to keep it fresh. Maybe there were actually two monsters? Who knows…
Cancel the Froth
I received a rather alarming text message this morning, from a closet “Trekker” who shall remain nameless, that read as follows:
“Oh my god. Tom Cruise is playing Spock in a new Star Trek film.”
Now I quite like Trek – I think the pseudo-science angle appeals more than the pseudo-fantasy angle of Star Wars – and I quite dislike Tom Cruise. These two emotional rip-tides combined to form a devastating whirlpool of a scathing post in my mind; a dangerous undertow of geek internet frothing (the very worst kind). Luckily, before posting I checked for some corroborating evidence.
Thankfully (!) none was forthcoming. The actual story – as seen here, here and here – is that Cruise is also a “Trekker” at heart, knows the guy who is directing Star Trek XI, and so has volunteered for a cameo role. There was nothing to indicate that he would in fact be playing Spock.
Panic over, back to your normal life citizens.
[Review - Film] Crank
Erm…whoops. I went to see Crank, starring Jason Statham, about a week ago – but subsequently forgot to review it. So let me give you the run-down…
Genre: Action, Plot: Entertaining and Non-Linear, Visual Style: Fast, Drug Induced and Kooky, Effects: $$$
The general premise revolves around the main character being poisoned with drug for which the only known antidote is adrenaline. So as you can imagine, it’s in his best interest to keep moving and doing – exciting – things. This all become apparent within the first minute or two, so I’ve spoiled nothing, but I won’t divulge any more information, so you can saviour the plots delights as they unfold.
Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter) does a good job of playing the hard man again, a role that’s fast approaching type cast for him. Everyone else did an okay job, but he stoically bares most of the camera’s burden. This is fine by me.
FINAL SCORE (out of 10) – 7.5
Very Excited (part 2)
As mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been expecting a Call of Cthulhu DVD. Well it finally arrived yesterday! I was intending to review it, but that would be a futile exercise as I’m hopelessly biased in favour of all things Lovecraft. Suffice to say I thought it was brilliant; capturing the mood and atmosphere of the story perfectly, with little significant screen deviation from the written plot. If pressed I will admit it was low budget, and one or two shots looked slightly cheesy, but the HPLHS (H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) put a lot of effort into making it, which really shows. I certainly can’t fault the acting, although I think the guy who played Old Castro should have been the main character instead, he was ace!
No idea what I talking about, but intrigued none the less? Click for online trailer.
[Review - Film] Snakes On A Plane
“Get these motherf***ing snakes of this motherf***ing plane!” This line, spoken by Samuel L Jackson’s character tells you all you need to know about this film. ‘Snakes on a Plane’ takes the unlikely ingredients of snakes, a plane and Samuel L Jackson doing his best ‘hard ass’ act, and mixes them all together to produce a surprisingly tasty cinematic cocktail.
I will admit that when I first heard about this film I had pretty low expectations – the title alone didn’t inspire a great deal of confidence – but it was actually an enjoyable romp. As long as you enter the cinema expecting something that is essentially an uncomplicated B-Movie, then you won’t be disappointed in the slightest. But be warned, they certainly don’t spare the gore, or snake bites in, erm, unfortunate locations. If you’re squeamish, then caution is advised. But despite the gore, I didn’t really think there were that many ‘jumpy’ moments, but the few that existed were good.
Regarding the plot, there was actually a bit more too it then I realised – or that the trailer reveals (apparently a common occurrence these days). I was hoping there’s would be a good explanation for why there were so many truly pissed-off snakes on a single plane, and thankfully there was. I would have liked to see a bit more plot resolution at the end though, but I think this is my only complaint, and it’s a minor one. I think the characterisation deserves an honourable mention, as the script writers managed to achieve a fresh take on all the stereotypical disaster movie character types (the only one absent was the nun/priest).
I’m told there was a huge Internet movement regarding this film, a movement that actually got it renamed “Snakes on a Plane” from some other title as well as insisting on more lines for SLJ’s character (including my opener). A major parody site can be seen here, as well as this offering from Weebl.
Conclusion? If you have even a moderate liking for disaster movies and are reasonably desensitised to violence, then see this film! Snakes motherf***er!
FINAL SCORE (out of 10): 8
Very Excited.
As you may have guessed, I’m very excited! Currently winging it’s way to me from across the pond is a DVD of the Call of Cthulhu. This silent movie adaptation was made last year by the H.P. Lovecraft appreciation society, intended to capture the atmosphere of the original tale’s 1920s setting.
I’ve already identified myself as a Lovecraft fan here, so I won’t bother reiterating. Of those people who would be interested in his works, I imagine 95% are already aware and probably know a great deal more than I do! However, I will be sure to review the DVD once I hold it lovingly in my sweaty palms…
EDIT: While on the subject of the Cthulhu mythos, I just read this interesting short story, ‘A Colder War’. Not really in Lovecraft’s style as such – but still good – it suggests what might have happened if the cold war factions had returned to the plateau featured in ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’. Worth a read if you’re a fan of the genre.
[Review - Film] Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
Yarr me hearties. Ahem, sorry but I felt it necessary to open the review like that. So after the sold-out-first-weekend-debacle – which shall never be spoken of again – we got to see PotC2:DMC this Sunday.
I liked it. It was undemanding comic action adventure, with pirates, an undead monkey and cool sea monsters, and who could object to that? Johnny Depp made a good repeat as the permanently stone Cpt. Jack Sparrow, and I thought Bill Nighy was very good as Davy Jones. He just does that “I’m the evil bad guy” bit so well. I can’t help but wonder if he walks around all day in a flowing black cape.
Where there any bad points? Well, I ailed slightly at the three-barrelled gattling cannons on the front of Davey Jones’ ship, but as Sven pointed out he probably has nothing better to do while roaming the seven seas than devise fiendish upgrades for his ship. As ever with fantasy films, and can suspend disbelief about sea monsters and zombie primates, yet manage to complain about things like this. Weird.
And now for one of my patented conclusions. If the original PotC:TBP was 100% pure scurvy-nibbling pirate action, then this was 85% on the same scale. However, that still earns it a respectable score of eight.
FINAL SCORE (out of 10): 8
[Review - Film] My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Finally, we have My Super Ex-Girlfriend, starring Uma Thurman. The trailer seems to tell us that a hapless Matt breaks up with his girlfriend, only to discover that she’s the super heroine G-Girl, and wacky hi-jinks ensures as she seeks revenge for the break-up.
The trailer lies. There’s more to it than that. For a start, Matt knows that his girlfriend Jenny is actually G-Girl, but can’t handle her neuroises a second longer. Interestingly enough there’s also a super villian nemisis and a slightly deeper plot.
Before seeing this film, we were worried that the trailer had shown us all the fresh-squeezed funny parts, and once in the cinema there’d be nothing left to do but wade through the pulp. Fortunately this was incorrect and the audience laughed out loud on several occasions.
It looks like this review is going to be shorter than the previous two, as although I was amused by this film, there was no real depth to it, so I don’t believe there’s anything remaining that I can add. If you’d like to see a different comedic take on the normal superhero clichés, then I whole-heartidly recommend this film.
FINAL SCORE (out of 10): 7
