21 word reviews for the 21 Bond Films. Part 3 of 3.
The Living Daylights – Ah, *that* theme tune. Fun, exciting, dangerous, action packed, dark, dramatic. Really wish Dalton had been allowed to do more films.
Licence to Kill – Love the concept, but Bond needed to do more manipulating. Given the increased violence, surprised they didn’t decide to go further.
Goldeneye – One of my favourite Bond films. Strong characters, fast paced and stunning action (the bungee jump still takes my breath away).
Tomorrow Never Dies – And then it all went so wrong. Action is fantastic, everything else is frankly rubbish. Pryce is awful; Yeoh is wasted.
The World is Not Enough – Enjoyed more on rewatching. Richards is still daft but she’s trying very hard. The drama is great, the action less so.
Die Another Die – Actually enjoyed it, that is, until Toby Stevens arrived. Not his fault, but his entrance marks the turning point into farce.
Casino Royale – Martin Campbell (Goldeneye) returns to direct one of my other favourite Bond films. Craig is a revelation. The freerunning is amazing.
Sunday, 22 July 2007
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
We Still Kill The Old Way
21 word reviews for the 21 Bond Films. Part 2 of 3.
Live and Let Die – Moore not too comical and the story feels gritty and dangerous. One of the best bond girls and most memorable villains.
The Man With the Golden Gun – Great idea of Bond’s dark alter ego, not so great in execution. Britt Ekland feels like an afterthought and weak finale.
The Spy Who Loved Me – Used to love this, but no so keen after recently rewatching. Sadly Bond becomes extremely sexist, but the action remains spectacular.
Moonraker – Dull and preposterous, the only things going for it are the stunning production designs and impressive (for their time) visual effects.
For Your Eyes Only – Re-grounds the series but Moore is getting too old, the humour doesn’t work for me and the set pieces feel unfinished.
Octopussy – Chilling opening that pulls you in, but then the film loses pace. Berkoff is typically barking, the finale is surprisingly small.
A View To a Kill – Walken is chillingly unbalanced, but sadly so is the script. Moore’s practically embalmed, Roberts’s too ‘blond’ and the series distressingly americanised.
Live and Let Die – Moore not too comical and the story feels gritty and dangerous. One of the best bond girls and most memorable villains.
The Man With the Golden Gun – Great idea of Bond’s dark alter ego, not so great in execution. Britt Ekland feels like an afterthought and weak finale.
The Spy Who Loved Me – Used to love this, but no so keen after recently rewatching. Sadly Bond becomes extremely sexist, but the action remains spectacular.
Moonraker – Dull and preposterous, the only things going for it are the stunning production designs and impressive (for their time) visual effects.
For Your Eyes Only – Re-grounds the series but Moore is getting too old, the humour doesn’t work for me and the set pieces feel unfinished.
Octopussy – Chilling opening that pulls you in, but then the film loses pace. Berkoff is typically barking, the finale is surprisingly small.
A View To a Kill – Walken is chillingly unbalanced, but sadly so is the script. Moore’s practically embalmed, Roberts’s too ‘blond’ and the series distressingly americanised.
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
I Spy
21 word reviews for the 21 Bond Films. Part 1 of 3.
Dr No. – A strong, surprisingly brutal opening to the Bond franchise, confidently establishing the look and feel of Bond for the entire series.
From Russia With Love – More grounded in reality than before, Russia features a great performance from Connery and impressive set pieces, but is also chauvinistic.
Goldfinger – When the franchise took off, thanks to the gadgets, girls and larger than life villain. Just the right side of extravagance.
Thunderball – Wonderful underwater cinematography and fighting; with the action above the surface mixing humour, romance and danger. Enjoyable, if a little formulaic.
You Only Live Twice – Where the series got too big for itself. Loved the volcano scenes as a kid: think they’re a bit OTT now.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service –Some elements of the plot are wonderfully original and have previously unseen dramatic depth, others are just plain silly. Not great.
Diamond’s Are Forever – Too farcical at times and Connery’s too old, but there are enjoyable moments such as Bond breaking into Willard White’s penthouse.
Dr No. – A strong, surprisingly brutal opening to the Bond franchise, confidently establishing the look and feel of Bond for the entire series.
From Russia With Love – More grounded in reality than before, Russia features a great performance from Connery and impressive set pieces, but is also chauvinistic.
Goldfinger – When the franchise took off, thanks to the gadgets, girls and larger than life villain. Just the right side of extravagance.
Thunderball – Wonderful underwater cinematography and fighting; with the action above the surface mixing humour, romance and danger. Enjoyable, if a little formulaic.
You Only Live Twice – Where the series got too big for itself. Loved the volcano scenes as a kid: think they’re a bit OTT now.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service –Some elements of the plot are wonderfully original and have previously unseen dramatic depth, others are just plain silly. Not great.
Diamond’s Are Forever – Too farcical at times and Connery’s too old, but there are enjoyable moments such as Bond breaking into Willard White’s penthouse.
Sunday, 15 July 2007
I Put a Spell On You
The fifth Harry Potter film, ‘The Order of the Phoenix’, is upon us, with all the cast returning alongside newcomer director David Yates. Yates directed the phenomenal TV series ‘State of Play’ so I was really looking forward to what he did with the franchise, and for the first 10 minutes he really delivers. The opening set piece feels different to anything done previously in the Potter films: pacy, moody, exhilarating and scary. Whilst the look returns to the series standard once we get to Hogwarts, the pace doesn’t let up, forging a clear and speedy path though the longest of the Potter books.
The middle still sags slightly and some of the other set pieces don’t deliver quite the same punch as the opening, but once it gets to the final act in the Ministry of Magic things pick up again. The 3 part finale is sinister, action packed and visually spectacular. Reading the book, I though the ending descended into a cheap Star Wars knock off, with wands replacing lightsabers. The film, however, avoids this trap, making the magic feel different and truly powerful. The use of white and black smoke like effects to mask the teleportations works extremely well, giving the film a wonderful stark yet ethereal look: black, white and grey with dashes of bold colour.
My other big gripe with the book was Harry propensity to TALK IN CAPTIALS FAR TOO MUCH. Yes, he’s angry but the great thing about a book is that we can know what the character’s thinking, so the anger can bubble under the surface instead of physically manifesting itself on the page. Daniel Radcliff and Yates handle this superbly, the seething rage behind Harry’s eyes for the first third is palpable, making the moments he does lose his temper all the stronger.
It’s pleasantly surprising to see how many of the cast from the previous films have reprised their roles for what are little more than cameo appearances: Thompson, Thewlis, Gleeson et al. Hopefully they’ll all stick with it through to Deathly Hallows.
Overall it’s an enjoyable film, not as good as Azkaban or Goblet but that’s more the fault of the book than the filmmakers. Some scenes could have been tighter (it would be wonderful to see what Hitchcock would have made of it) but I left the cinema happy and looking forward to the next one. That is, until I remember how bored I was by Book 6 (tum-te-tum-te-tum, oh look nothing’s happening for 400 pages, Zombies, Death, the End).
The middle still sags slightly and some of the other set pieces don’t deliver quite the same punch as the opening, but once it gets to the final act in the Ministry of Magic things pick up again. The 3 part finale is sinister, action packed and visually spectacular. Reading the book, I though the ending descended into a cheap Star Wars knock off, with wands replacing lightsabers. The film, however, avoids this trap, making the magic feel different and truly powerful. The use of white and black smoke like effects to mask the teleportations works extremely well, giving the film a wonderful stark yet ethereal look: black, white and grey with dashes of bold colour.
My other big gripe with the book was Harry propensity to TALK IN CAPTIALS FAR TOO MUCH. Yes, he’s angry but the great thing about a book is that we can know what the character’s thinking, so the anger can bubble under the surface instead of physically manifesting itself on the page. Daniel Radcliff and Yates handle this superbly, the seething rage behind Harry’s eyes for the first third is palpable, making the moments he does lose his temper all the stronger.
It’s pleasantly surprising to see how many of the cast from the previous films have reprised their roles for what are little more than cameo appearances: Thompson, Thewlis, Gleeson et al. Hopefully they’ll all stick with it through to Deathly Hallows.
Overall it’s an enjoyable film, not as good as Azkaban or Goblet but that’s more the fault of the book than the filmmakers. Some scenes could have been tighter (it would be wonderful to see what Hitchcock would have made of it) but I left the cinema happy and looking forward to the next one. That is, until I remember how bored I was by Book 6 (tum-te-tum-te-tum, oh look nothing’s happening for 400 pages, Zombies, Death, the End).
Thursday, 12 July 2007
Throw Away Your Television
Took part in the first half of Ofcom’s workshop on the PSP today (missed the second half due to an unfortunate meeting clash). One of the most interesting things to come out of both the first three speakers and the audience questions was the obvious divide between the people there. There was one group who were ahead of the emerging technologies and very aware of their possibilities, and those who were only just beginning to see what could be done. I think the former group is going to produce amazing work individually or in small teams, but in terms of the PSP as an organisation there needs to be a realisation that most of the industry hasn’t caught up with them yet. There needs to be both an understanding of this from those with the knowledge and a more systematic approach to informing those still getting up to speed on what’s already out there. I’m working on something for kids at the moment, and one of the things we’ve recently become more aware of is how much information and understanding we take for granted as adults. That’s not to say I see the two groups at the workshop as kids and adults, but more how in building a new idea we needs to ensure all parties properly understand the foundations.
Oh, and we should definitely be working with more comic writers.
Oh, and we should definitely be working with more comic writers.
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Zombie, a.k.a In Your Heeeee-ed
Picked up Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition at the weekend. I’d heard of the series before but not played any of the games (at this point your either thinking ‘philistine’ or ‘oh, he’s blogging about a computer game, I’m off’’ but don’t go yet, you’ll miss the Zombies!). You play Leon, a secret service agent assigned to protect the President’s daughter. In the time honoured tradition of video game plot lines she’s kidnapped the day before you start work, leaving the agents who botched up behind in comfy Washington while you start day 1 at the new job by traipsing off to [insert random eastern European country name here] where there’s been reported sightings of her.
Arriving at the village she was spotted in, you discover the locals are somewhat less than friendly, in the sense that they hurl knives in your general direction and charge at you with chainsaws. So far, so East London. It’s when you shoot them in the head and they keep getting up you start to worry.
I’ve not got very far into it so I’ve no idea where the plot takes you, but I have, after much painstaking research, discovered the game kicks ass (if you’re wondering how I can do painstaking research but not get far into the plot, it’s called dying. A lot).
You move Leon around using the nunchuck. If you don’t know what that is, ha-ha you don’t have a Wii. Fix this immediately. Anyway, you move Leon around until you see something you want to shoot, or something sees you and the OMINOUS MUSIC OF DOOM kicks in. It’s at this point, you pull the trigger on the Wiimote (B button) to switch to gun mode, and aim the Wiimote at the screen. The downside of gun mode is that you can’t move, the upside is this means you can point the Wiimote right at the edge of the screen and not turn around, giving you phenomenal accuracy. So, you line up the Wiimote with an oncoming zombie’s head and press A. Then sit back and relax as your gun blasts the zombie’s head off. Ahhhhhh. Sadly, the relaxation period is short lived, as Mr. Zombie has brought the wife, the neighbours and the local Millwall football supporters along with him, and they don’t like the fact their friend/husband/bloke they drink down the pub with has just had his block knocked off. Begin the onslaught.
You get a range of different weapons to play with (all hail the shotgun) and items to pick up, some of which you can combine in fun experiments; there’s mini puzzles to solve; lots of cut scenes; and several sequences where you have to shake the Wiimote like a loon to, for example, outrun a boulder. This last element is particularly great, as you’re already unnerved from fighting one zombie horde when suddenly you have to do real exercise, which gets your adrenaline pumping, just in time to face another zombie horde.
Play at night, in the dark, with no one else in the house. Then seek therapy.
Arriving at the village she was spotted in, you discover the locals are somewhat less than friendly, in the sense that they hurl knives in your general direction and charge at you with chainsaws. So far, so East London. It’s when you shoot them in the head and they keep getting up you start to worry.
I’ve not got very far into it so I’ve no idea where the plot takes you, but I have, after much painstaking research, discovered the game kicks ass (if you’re wondering how I can do painstaking research but not get far into the plot, it’s called dying. A lot).
You move Leon around using the nunchuck. If you don’t know what that is, ha-ha you don’t have a Wii. Fix this immediately. Anyway, you move Leon around until you see something you want to shoot, or something sees you and the OMINOUS MUSIC OF DOOM kicks in. It’s at this point, you pull the trigger on the Wiimote (B button) to switch to gun mode, and aim the Wiimote at the screen. The downside of gun mode is that you can’t move, the upside is this means you can point the Wiimote right at the edge of the screen and not turn around, giving you phenomenal accuracy. So, you line up the Wiimote with an oncoming zombie’s head and press A. Then sit back and relax as your gun blasts the zombie’s head off. Ahhhhhh. Sadly, the relaxation period is short lived, as Mr. Zombie has brought the wife, the neighbours and the local Millwall football supporters along with him, and they don’t like the fact their friend/husband/bloke they drink down the pub with has just had his block knocked off. Begin the onslaught.
You get a range of different weapons to play with (all hail the shotgun) and items to pick up, some of which you can combine in fun experiments; there’s mini puzzles to solve; lots of cut scenes; and several sequences where you have to shake the Wiimote like a loon to, for example, outrun a boulder. This last element is particularly great, as you’re already unnerved from fighting one zombie horde when suddenly you have to do real exercise, which gets your adrenaline pumping, just in time to face another zombie horde.
Play at night, in the dark, with no one else in the house. Then seek therapy.
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Sail Away
Yesterday I talked about harking back to a golden age, where imagination and fun were all the rage. I recently got around to watch two fantastic films from the 40s and 50s that encapsulated that spirit of adventure and exuberance in very different ways: ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ and ‘Across the Pacific’.
‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ stars Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as lounge singers from Little Rock who take a cruise to Europe, France. Monroe is waiting for her fiancé to persuade his father to let him marry her (he thinks she’s just after his money) before heading over for the wedding, Russell acting as Marilyn’s chaperone whilst looking for love herself (and meeting the entire American Olympic Athletics team). The film is fast and funny, full of dazzling musical numbers, surprisingly risqué, features strong and bold female leads, and Marilyn will take your breath away (both men and women, though for different reasons). Highly recommended (unless you hate musicals, films that don’t look like an MTV video, or have no pulse. Yes, I know that means you’d be dead, but I think you get my point. Or you’re a Zombie. In which case: Hi! And welcome to the internet.).
‘Across the Pacific’ stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet as passengers aboard a Japanese ship sailing to the orient by way of New York and Panama, each with their own secrets and agendas. The cast previously worked together on The Maltese Falcon with director John Huston, who returns for helming duties here. It’s a great spy/adventure movie with a lot of comedy from Humphrey and Mary (a pseudo Nick and Nora from the Thin Man), and plenty of twists and turns. It moves at a cracking pace, has plenty of mystery and intrigue and the cast are superb, clearly building on the off screen relationships they established during the making of Falcon. Again, highly recommended.
Watch them as a double bill.
‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ stars Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell as lounge singers from Little Rock who take a cruise to Europe, France. Monroe is waiting for her fiancé to persuade his father to let him marry her (he thinks she’s just after his money) before heading over for the wedding, Russell acting as Marilyn’s chaperone whilst looking for love herself (and meeting the entire American Olympic Athletics team). The film is fast and funny, full of dazzling musical numbers, surprisingly risqué, features strong and bold female leads, and Marilyn will take your breath away (both men and women, though for different reasons). Highly recommended (unless you hate musicals, films that don’t look like an MTV video, or have no pulse. Yes, I know that means you’d be dead, but I think you get my point. Or you’re a Zombie. In which case: Hi! And welcome to the internet.).
‘Across the Pacific’ stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet as passengers aboard a Japanese ship sailing to the orient by way of New York and Panama, each with their own secrets and agendas. The cast previously worked together on The Maltese Falcon with director John Huston, who returns for helming duties here. It’s a great spy/adventure movie with a lot of comedy from Humphrey and Mary (a pseudo Nick and Nora from the Thin Man), and plenty of twists and turns. It moves at a cracking pace, has plenty of mystery and intrigue and the cast are superb, clearly building on the off screen relationships they established during the making of Falcon. Again, highly recommended.
Watch them as a double bill.
Monday, 9 July 2007
Holding Out For a Hero
In 10 years time, the comics world is going to look back on Alan Moore’s ‘Supreme: The Story of the Year’ with the same regard as Watchmen (also by Alan Moore). And if it doesn’t, it should.
If you haven’t read Watchmen, stop reading this now, go and buy it, then come back. All done? Good. Wasn’t it amazing! And yes, it’s very depressing. And yes, Heroes did totally steal the ending (more on that in a later post). But Watchmen is also the greatest graphic novel ever. Rich characters, densely plotted, multilayered art, technically bold and inventive; it showed the world that comics could truly be an art form. It won the Hugo, and is on Time’s list of top 100 books (the only graphic novel on there). Anyway, enough about Watchmen. Let’s get back to Supreme.
Supreme was a comic series created by Rob Liefeld for Image comics. It was an overly violent, dumb, unoriginal copy of Superman. In short, it sucked. And then came Alan Moore. Moore had worked on a couple of other titles for Image (Glory, Youngblood, Violator), but he was basically paying his bills. With Supreme, he was to create something much, much more.
Moore took the idea that Supreme was essentially a carbon copy of Superman and embraced it, using the character to explore what comics were and could be, and brining a level of fun, imagination and inventiveness back to comics that hadn’t been seen since the Golden Age. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. There’ve been plenty of great comics since the Golden Age. But what Supreme did was to being all of this together with such style, brains and humour that it marks the pinnacle of a new dawn in comic history. Just as Watchmen ushered in an era of bleak, violent and angst ridden characters and stories, Supreme will bring, and is bringing, the light back.
The 12 issue ‘Story of the Year’ arc was so packed with ideas, Moore could cherry pick the best and turn them into an entire comics imprint (America’s Best Comics). The League of Infinity became the Extraordinary League of Gentlemen; the Supremacy became Promethea’s Immateria (mixed with New Jack City from ‘The Return’ and real Magic); The Allied Supermen of America became Tomorrow’s Stories; Supreme himself became split between Promethea (the notion of previous incarnations) and Tom Strong (inventor and with stories told from the character’s past, in retro style).
Supreme showed you didn’t need to make your protagonist a drug addict or psychopath to make him interesting; that whilst comics could show the gritty realities of the world, wouldn’t it better if they fired our imaginations; brought a sense of the wonderful and fantastic into our lives; made us believe the impossible could happen; showed us that goodness and light could prevail.
If you haven’t read Watchmen, stop reading this now, go and buy it, then come back. All done? Good. Wasn’t it amazing! And yes, it’s very depressing. And yes, Heroes did totally steal the ending (more on that in a later post). But Watchmen is also the greatest graphic novel ever. Rich characters, densely plotted, multilayered art, technically bold and inventive; it showed the world that comics could truly be an art form. It won the Hugo, and is on Time’s list of top 100 books (the only graphic novel on there). Anyway, enough about Watchmen. Let’s get back to Supreme.
Supreme was a comic series created by Rob Liefeld for Image comics. It was an overly violent, dumb, unoriginal copy of Superman. In short, it sucked. And then came Alan Moore. Moore had worked on a couple of other titles for Image (Glory, Youngblood, Violator), but he was basically paying his bills. With Supreme, he was to create something much, much more.
Moore took the idea that Supreme was essentially a carbon copy of Superman and embraced it, using the character to explore what comics were and could be, and brining a level of fun, imagination and inventiveness back to comics that hadn’t been seen since the Golden Age. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. There’ve been plenty of great comics since the Golden Age. But what Supreme did was to being all of this together with such style, brains and humour that it marks the pinnacle of a new dawn in comic history. Just as Watchmen ushered in an era of bleak, violent and angst ridden characters and stories, Supreme will bring, and is bringing, the light back.
The 12 issue ‘Story of the Year’ arc was so packed with ideas, Moore could cherry pick the best and turn them into an entire comics imprint (America’s Best Comics). The League of Infinity became the Extraordinary League of Gentlemen; the Supremacy became Promethea’s Immateria (mixed with New Jack City from ‘The Return’ and real Magic); The Allied Supermen of America became Tomorrow’s Stories; Supreme himself became split between Promethea (the notion of previous incarnations) and Tom Strong (inventor and with stories told from the character’s past, in retro style).
Supreme showed you didn’t need to make your protagonist a drug addict or psychopath to make him interesting; that whilst comics could show the gritty realities of the world, wouldn’t it better if they fired our imaginations; brought a sense of the wonderful and fantastic into our lives; made us believe the impossible could happen; showed us that goodness and light could prevail.
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Big Crash
Internet went down Saturday morning. Beginning to lose faith in Sky Broadband. It's finally back but who knows for how long.
Friday, 6 July 2007
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Piece of the Action
For many people, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy stands as the most famous part of the great composers last symphony (No.9). To the rest of us, it represents Bruce Willis in a blood stained vest.
Yes, Bruce is back as John McClane in ‘Die Hard 4.0’ (or ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ if you’re in the U.S. For once, us Brits get the better title. XXX2: The Next Level, I’m looking at you.), fighting internet terrorists. Yup, internet terrorists. Doesn’t exactly jump up, grab you by the throat and scream ‘Watch me or die!’ In fact, it sounds suspiciously like a totally different movie (possibly staring Sandra Bullock or Jodie Foster) that’s had a half dozen action set pieces added and Bruce and his trusty vest thrown into the mix. Which is exactly what the movie turns out to be: an average action film with some expensive and spectacular scenes of destruction bolted on, and Bruce showing us why he should still be doing this.
Bruce is great in the film: funny, charismatic, slightly unhinged and totally up for the explosions, shooting, punching and kicking liberally scattered throughout the movie. Here’s hoping he gets to do more action movies as a result of this. Timothy Olyphant as the villain tries very hard but just doesn’t have the material to work with, whilst Justin Long as Bruce’s internet savvy sidekick does well in a role that could easily have become highly annoying very quickly.
There’s some nice touches (the Agent Johnstone reference, presidents spreading the terrorists message) and some fun new ideas (fire hydrant verses helicopter, oncoming traffic in the dark) but after a fast paced opening, the momentum severely sags in the middle and the ending is rushed, confusing and unnecessary (truck verse jet fighter: yes, it looks cool, but it comes out of nowhere and is totally pointless). Mainly the fault seems to lie with the writers: they simply don’t appear to have cared enough about the movie. Now I know it’s an action film and not a work of high art, but the original Die Hard still stands up as a exciting, well made, well shot slice of action cinema, with some great characterisation to boot. Dear Hollywood, you’ve got the talent within you, so please try harder.
Yes, Bruce is back as John McClane in ‘Die Hard 4.0’ (or ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ if you’re in the U.S. For once, us Brits get the better title. XXX2: The Next Level, I’m looking at you.), fighting internet terrorists. Yup, internet terrorists. Doesn’t exactly jump up, grab you by the throat and scream ‘Watch me or die!’ In fact, it sounds suspiciously like a totally different movie (possibly staring Sandra Bullock or Jodie Foster) that’s had a half dozen action set pieces added and Bruce and his trusty vest thrown into the mix. Which is exactly what the movie turns out to be: an average action film with some expensive and spectacular scenes of destruction bolted on, and Bruce showing us why he should still be doing this.
Bruce is great in the film: funny, charismatic, slightly unhinged and totally up for the explosions, shooting, punching and kicking liberally scattered throughout the movie. Here’s hoping he gets to do more action movies as a result of this. Timothy Olyphant as the villain tries very hard but just doesn’t have the material to work with, whilst Justin Long as Bruce’s internet savvy sidekick does well in a role that could easily have become highly annoying very quickly.
There’s some nice touches (the Agent Johnstone reference, presidents spreading the terrorists message) and some fun new ideas (fire hydrant verses helicopter, oncoming traffic in the dark) but after a fast paced opening, the momentum severely sags in the middle and the ending is rushed, confusing and unnecessary (truck verse jet fighter: yes, it looks cool, but it comes out of nowhere and is totally pointless). Mainly the fault seems to lie with the writers: they simply don’t appear to have cared enough about the movie. Now I know it’s an action film and not a work of high art, but the original Die Hard still stands up as a exciting, well made, well shot slice of action cinema, with some great characterisation to boot. Dear Hollywood, you’ve got the talent within you, so please try harder.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Weapon of Choice
Catherine Tate is the new companion for Series 4 of Doctor Who. I’ve never been a fan of Russell T Davies but even I’m surprised at him casting such a polarising actress in such a prominent role. The comments I’ve seen about this decision have so far ranged from: she was brilliant in the Christmas Special but it was a one note character (The Stage) to the more succinct ‘Noooooooooooooo!’ (SFX).
The strangest thing is, the production team must have known how the public perceived her immediately after the reviews came in for the Christmas Special, but still went ahead with this choice anyway. My only theory is that since this is Russell’s last season (Hurrah!) he’s decided to bring the entire franchise down with him.
And I’d been really looking forward to Series 4. Oh well.
The strangest thing is, the production team must have known how the public perceived her immediately after the reviews came in for the Christmas Special, but still went ahead with this choice anyway. My only theory is that since this is Russell’s last season (Hurrah!) he’s decided to bring the entire franchise down with him.
And I’d been really looking forward to Series 4. Oh well.
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Miniature Disasters
So, watched the series finale of CSI on Five. Only I needn’t have bothered as the newspaper review, despite smugly claiming not to give the plot away, did, in fact, give the entire plot away. You see, they told you everything right up until the cliff-hanger. Yes, the cliff-hanger. Way back in season 5, the show put Nick in a box, buried him underground, and made you sweat over whether or not the team would find him in time. They told the story over two episodes, but showed both of them at the end of the series, rather than making you wait several months to find out if he made it or not (he did). This was great: built up the tension and gave you a satisfying pay off. Tonight’s episode built up the tension, only to leave you hanging. And I’m not on the edge of my seat. I’m annoyed. And I’m also aware enough of the past problems with some of the actors ‘contract negotiations’ to know that whether or not Sara makes it will not be decided by good story telling.
Anyway, as to the episode itself: the miniature killer is back (or in my case, has arrived, having not watched the rest of the season) leaving behind a dead guy in a bathroom. Turns out the killer is a woman with a photographic memory for rooms and the objects within them (real life dioramas if you like). She’s always been crazy, having killed her sister when she was 6 because her dad cared more about the sister than her. After a long and slow built up that becomes increasingly creepy, we learn that the dead guy was killed by accident but was also the miniature killers foster brother. Grisson and the team now know the killers identity, but they’re too late: she’s kidnapped Sarah and put her in an overly elaborate and not-so easily escapable death trap. Well, she dumped a wrecked car on top of her. The team pick up the killer, finally discover Grisson is in love with Sara (because they’re such good investigators they’ve been unable to spot the couple making goo-goo eyes at each other for 8 years), but the killer isn’t talking. Will the team find Sara in time? Tune in next… year! Yes, next year. Nice one Five.
Overall: the build up was way too slow, stealing the door scene from Silence of the Lambs was just cheap, and most of the team didn’t get much to do. On the plus side, the killer’s father was great and the animatronic miniature hand was extremely unnerving. It’s not the CSI I remember, but it has reminded me of how much I enjoyed it, so I’ll probably be rewatching the first four series on DVD. Altogether now: ooooooo, ah-oo, oo-oo, oooo-oo, oh I really want to know…
Anyway, as to the episode itself: the miniature killer is back (or in my case, has arrived, having not watched the rest of the season) leaving behind a dead guy in a bathroom. Turns out the killer is a woman with a photographic memory for rooms and the objects within them (real life dioramas if you like). She’s always been crazy, having killed her sister when she was 6 because her dad cared more about the sister than her. After a long and slow built up that becomes increasingly creepy, we learn that the dead guy was killed by accident but was also the miniature killers foster brother. Grisson and the team now know the killers identity, but they’re too late: she’s kidnapped Sarah and put her in an overly elaborate and not-so easily escapable death trap. Well, she dumped a wrecked car on top of her. The team pick up the killer, finally discover Grisson is in love with Sara (because they’re such good investigators they’ve been unable to spot the couple making goo-goo eyes at each other for 8 years), but the killer isn’t talking. Will the team find Sara in time? Tune in next… year! Yes, next year. Nice one Five.
Overall: the build up was way too slow, stealing the door scene from Silence of the Lambs was just cheap, and most of the team didn’t get much to do. On the plus side, the killer’s father was great and the animatronic miniature hand was extremely unnerving. It’s not the CSI I remember, but it has reminded me of how much I enjoyed it, so I’ll probably be rewatching the first four series on DVD. Altogether now: ooooooo, ah-oo, oo-oo, oooo-oo, oh I really want to know…
Monday, 2 July 2007
Say Goodbye Hollywood
Serge A. Storms and Coleman are back in Tim Dorsey’s ‘The Big Bamboo’, his 8th novel, and this time they’re going Hollywood. It’s fun ride, but not one of his strongest (far preferred book 9, ‘Hurricane Punch’) mainly due to the plot structure.
Up until now, all of Tim’s books have been set almost exclusively in Florida, but with Bamboo he has the dynamic duo heading off to California to get into show business. Trouble is, he spends the first half of the book setting up why they go. This means we spend a lot of time in the company of Mark and Ford, a wannabe director and scriptwriter who get chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood system. It’s not that their story isn’t interesting (they hit more bars and parties in a week than Paris Hilton can manage in a month. When she’s out of prison that is. I’m not sure what kind of night time entertainment they have in the Lynwood’s Century Regional Detention Facility) but it does take the focus off Serge. And just when you find yourself getting used to this, he goes and switches back to Serge and you find yourself missing Mark and Ford.
There’s still the usual mix of sex, drugs, violence and imaginative murders (death by seal impersonation is a good one), but the whole thing feels less focused than usual. It’s still funny, but by choosing to parody a single target, namely the film industry, the book looses a lot of Serge’s free wheeling energy. There’s also the twist ending, which completely fails to work when you think about what happened before. I don’t want to give it away, but it falls into the usual trap of ‘people who know certain information behave as if they don’t even when in private, because otherwise the reader/viewer would know what was going on’. Yes, this could have been intentional, sending up the usual ‘Hollywood logic’, but the book deserves something cleverer than this.
Worth picking up if your already a fan of Serge, but if this is your first time I’d suggest getting Florida Roadkill or Torpedo Juice instead.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Even Better Than The Real Thing
I’m hearing the term ARG (Alternate Reality Games) a lot more lately, which is a great thing. Only trouble is, people seem to have very different interpretations of what it is. Even what the acronym stands for is inconsistent, with Augmented Reality Games cropping up in some places.
So what is an ARG? A community driven, trans media hoax? An internet game with phone calls in the dead of night? A marketing stunt where you don’t tell anyone what you’re selling?
Here’s my definition:
1. It’s a story.
2. It’s told through at least one electronic media, not including a television.
3. You need to follow at least two sources of information to understand it.
You’ll notice I don’t include communities, or pretending it’s real (TINAG) in the definition. That’s because I don’t believe they’re essential to an ARG. They can be extremely important, and for a long time they’ll be closely linked, but for ARGs to break out into mainstream media we need to be willing to move away from them. A thriving community will always build around a great story (take Doctor Who or Buffy), but if you force people to join one in order to take part, either as part of the registration process or because of the breath of information needed to advance in the story, you’ll drive a large proportion of your potential audience away.
Similarly with pretending it’s real: for a lot of people this is part of the fun, but at some point you need to let your audience in on the trick or risk confusing and losing them. The recent World Without Oil did this perfectly. The site treated the crisis as if it were real and even the help page didn’t tell the truth, but right at the bottom was a link: ‘I still don’t get it?’ which spilled all. It also helped that the story was close enough to be real, but far reaching enough that if it were true we’d have heard about it on the news.
There’s a lot of fun to be had in hoaxing your audience (See Orsen Wells’ War of the Worlds broadcast, or BBC 1’s Ghostwatch), but people get tired of being tricked. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. ARGs will never gain wide reaching appeal until people feel safe with them. You can always turn a TV off, or walk out of a Theatre, but with an ARG, how do you stop it? Or even pause it? Until people know they can walk away at any time, most of them will never sign up.
So what is an ARG? A community driven, trans media hoax? An internet game with phone calls in the dead of night? A marketing stunt where you don’t tell anyone what you’re selling?
Here’s my definition:
1. It’s a story.
2. It’s told through at least one electronic media, not including a television.
3. You need to follow at least two sources of information to understand it.
You’ll notice I don’t include communities, or pretending it’s real (TINAG) in the definition. That’s because I don’t believe they’re essential to an ARG. They can be extremely important, and for a long time they’ll be closely linked, but for ARGs to break out into mainstream media we need to be willing to move away from them. A thriving community will always build around a great story (take Doctor Who or Buffy), but if you force people to join one in order to take part, either as part of the registration process or because of the breath of information needed to advance in the story, you’ll drive a large proportion of your potential audience away.
Similarly with pretending it’s real: for a lot of people this is part of the fun, but at some point you need to let your audience in on the trick or risk confusing and losing them. The recent World Without Oil did this perfectly. The site treated the crisis as if it were real and even the help page didn’t tell the truth, but right at the bottom was a link: ‘I still don’t get it?’ which spilled all. It also helped that the story was close enough to be real, but far reaching enough that if it were true we’d have heard about it on the news.
There’s a lot of fun to be had in hoaxing your audience (See Orsen Wells’ War of the Worlds broadcast, or BBC 1’s Ghostwatch), but people get tired of being tricked. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. ARGs will never gain wide reaching appeal until people feel safe with them. You can always turn a TV off, or walk out of a Theatre, but with an ARG, how do you stop it? Or even pause it? Until people know they can walk away at any time, most of them will never sign up.
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