Hoth on a Space Hopper - LFF sweded Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back film

Here is a little film me and the boys did one snowboarding holiday a few years ago. It was one of those days when the snow was coming down hard and the mountain was closed. Being stuck in the apartment we drank, ate and chatted about things. Eventually we got the idea to do some filming in the snow (we'd already been videoing ousrselves doing stupid stuff - but wanted to make something a bit more substantial...but still a bit stupid).

Someone mentioned how it looked like Hoth outside so we got our gear together, wrapped up warm and headed outside. On the walk down we quickly went through what happened in those opening scenes of Empire Strikes Back. Luke sees the meteor strike, gets hit by a Wampa, escapes from the cave, sees Obi-Wan, Han sets off on Taun-Taun to find him. Cool and the gang but we had no Taun-Taun. Luckily we had a space hopper and that worked splendidly. The lightsaber was a can of deep heat I think and it went pretty well (although it got cut short as the cold ate into the battery time.

Everyone did a cracking job, especially Rob who, as Luke Skywalker, was willing to stay in the snow even though he was freezing. I did the filming, Jinja was Han Solo, Andy D was Taun-Taun wrangler and Obi-Wan, Ian was Chewbacca, Rich and Chisholm were rebel soldiers and prompts.

Jinja did the editing and matched it up perfectly with the sound track. He also flipped the image so Luke was hanging from the ceiling as I didn't think to turn the camera upside down on the day!

I keep trying to figure out how we can do the speeder bike chase from Return of the Jedi using vacuum cleaners.

Have a look and let me know what you make of it. Brilliant, while getting the embed code for it from Youtube I've just seen that it has had over 8,000 hits. I'll post the other bits of film we've done over the next few days.

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What's your viewing pleasure? Andy D tells all

Many, if not all of you, watch films at home. With the prices for cinema tickets increasing and the credit crunch, it does save a bit of cash once you have all the kit sorted out to watch it. With that in mind I thought it would be cool to see how, where, what, why, when, if and more single word type questions that apply, people watch films at home. Are you DVD or Blu-Ray? Still holding onto VHS? Does download rule? Plasma, LCD or cathode ray? Surround sound or mono? Deckchair or luxury recliner? You get what I mean.

What I would like is for you to drop me a line with an answer to the questions at the bottom of this post. Also if you could include a photo of your setup that would be fantastic (I'll try and get some kind of form thing set up to make it easier for you to send the details, but at the minute email is king).

To get us started here is regular LFF reviewer Andy D's home cinema set up.

Andy, as a major user of the Blu-Ray format I understand you have devoted a room to all things blu-ray. Could you take us through your cinema room? I hear you have a rather cool sofa

The sofa was a genius find. I couldn’t believe how perfect it was when I saw it. I had just moved house into my current affair, which was where the idea of a dedicated movie room really began and I had minimal decent furniture from my old house to bring over, so it was a case of seeing the sofa whilst shopping at DFS and being blown away. It looked awesome, not just for its resemblance to the curved couch in the Millenium Falcon, but for the fact that it would span wall to wall of the room and neatly curved into and out of the bay window. The curve to the sofa enables all views to have a comfortable view of the TV on the opposite wall.

Tell us about the player and surround sound system.

The player is a Panasonic DMP BD30 which was the first affordable one to be released which bitstreamed true HD audio through the HDMI cable and had final profile compatibility (except the Ethernet thing). I previously had a Samsung BDP1000 which was the single most expensive waste of money I’ve ever experienced. Except for maybe the rusty left hand drive Toyota Surf I bought which blew a head gasket. The Samsung was a borderline impulse purchase which would only play first gen single layer Blu Discs, even after several firmware updates.

The cinema amp is an Onkyo TXSR 605 which was an upgrade from the bundle LG cinema system which Currys threw at me when I bought my first HD TV. The LG was a combined dvd player and amp and got binned when the Samsung Blu ray player came along. I bought the Onkyo because it was the best priced amp on the market that actually processed the HDMI signal, hence didn’t need a separate Optical lead or anything for audio. The magazines gave the Onkyo such a good review plus it heats the room up really well after a couple of hours of use! I landed on my feet with the Onkyo as it turned out it could process full HD audio and was capable of 7.1 surround, which is the best blu discs will put out. I gradually bought more speakers to put into the system and now it’s running the full 7.1ness. I have 2 tall floor standers behind the couch giving rear left and right, I have 2 floor standers either side of the couch giving exact left and right, two half decent Tangent monitors wall mounted either side of the screen giving the front stereo, plus a center speaker and a half decent Dale powered sub woofer. The whole thing sounds awesome when its cranked up.

Aren’t you going to ask about the TV???? I just need to tell everybody to buy plasma not LCD’s. I had a 42” Plasma that wasn’t full HD but it beat the Cr@p out of the 57” all singing full shebang 24fps, 1080p LCD screen I upgraded to. And all because of LCD motion blur. Even at a supposed 120hz or something the LCD leaves horrible traces on pans and fast movement. I should have spent more and got the big boy Kuro plasma instead. If I change anything I will change that, but not until I’ve got some spare cash to throw at it. I’ll stick with my choice for as long as it’s necessary.

What inspired the layout?

The room size and shape really. You can’t hang the TV on the wall with the doorway, or the one opposite the doorway (because you’d open the door into the back of the sofa) so it had to be hung on the wall opposite the bay window. That’s why I was so into the curved five seater sofa because that couch made the best use of the space in the bay. Space which would have been lost with a straight sofa. There’s nothing else furniture-wise in the room either, no coffee tables or cupboards to distract from the rooms purpose. Just a big TV opposite a big couch surrounded by speakers!!

What was the first film you watched when it was all set up?

Hmmm. Tricky one really because the set up has grown and warped. The first Blu ray movie I bought to watch on the BDP1000 was Open Season because I wanted eye candy and nothing else. The first movie I watched on my first HD TV was bound to be an upscaled DVD from the collection... it might have been Swordfish actually, again for the eye candy of the ball bearing explosion at the start.

The top 5 essential films people should own on Blu-Ray?

2001 Space Odyssey. Its just a gob smackingly beautiful film with an amazing soundtrack and tonnes of really interesting bonus features. This film will test your set up for the black and white contrasts of space and the glorious colour swatches in the opening sunrise vistas and the spooky audio.

Ratatouille: some amazing eye candy and some of the best HD surround sound. The scenes in the rain near the start use all the speakers and its 100% convincing that you’re in a rain storm. Plus a really good family film about one of my favourite topics (cooking/restaurants/food) set in one of my favourite countries (France).

I, Robot: Pin sharp and gorgeous in HD, brilliant intelligent sci fi story and packed with brilliant bonus features.

Batman Begins/Dark Knight combo. Brilliant films, brilliant extras, brilliant value for a 3 blu-disc set.

Finally, I think I’ll choose V For Vendetta just for the message ; )

If you were a real ale what ale would you be?

Is there one called Stink Foot?

What film most surprised you with its improvement on Blu-Ray?

I tend to buy Blu Rays that I don’t own on DVD because it’s hard to justify re-buying stuff like that. The only film which I have re-bought is Men In Black because I have a soft spot for that movie. The DVD I had was a pretty recent one so it was pretty good quality anyway so the upscale was decent and in hind sight I shouldn’t have bought it . How’s that for a non-answer? LOL

If you were Supreme Overlord of Earth what would your first decree be?

Obviously I already have detailed plans that would require several decrees but the first one I would instigate would be the removal of all nation states and their borders. All global disputes would then disappear in a puff of smoke and all we’d have to do is get on with our neighbours whilst my AI computer ran the global logistics of keeping everybody watered, warm, fed and safe from invading alien species and asteroids.

Either that or I’d ban organised religion.

Or, (bare with me), I would decree that all weapons manufacturers and government war budgets be redirected into exploring space and creating warp drives and antigravity and robots and stuff ... all for peaceful purposes of course.

If you were going to be killed by any movie villain or monster who or what would it be? What would your last words be?

The Stay Puffed Marshmellow Man!!!! At least it would be a soft and gooey ending. My last words would probably be “Mmmmmm... marshmellow”

Do you watch the extras on the films you buy? What have been the best? The most interesting? The worst?

I watch all them. I bleed the discs dry until I’ve sucked everything out of them. The best and the most interesting... probably I,Robot as mentioned above because the extras cover Robotics, AI, Philosophy and much more all in a proper full length documentary

The worst... probably one of the ones without any extras, LOL like the Predator Blu Ray. Does that count? LOL

Andy D thanks for your time.

There you have it. That's the format. Hopefully you'll send me details of your home cinema setup. Here are the questions - answer as many or as few as you wish and a photo would be cool:

-Describe the layout of the room where you watch films? Any unusual or cool pieces of furniture? -What inspired the layout?
-Tell us about the screen, player and sound system.
-What was the first film you watched with your current setup?
-The top 5 essential films people should own on Blu-Ray / DVD?
-If you are Blu-Ray what film most surprised you with it's improvement on the new format?
-If you were Supreme Overlord of the Earth what would your first decree be?
-If you were going to be killed by any movie villain or monster who or what would it be? What would your last words be?
-Do you watch the extras on the films you buy? What have been the best? The most interesting? The worst?
-Is there anything else you wish to share about your home cinema viewing?

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Christmas Shopping followed by Jesse Green + Skazzmatic

Afternoon all,

Yesterday was spent Christmas shopping with the Wife in Chester. It was all Christmassy and misty. A few drinks were drunk in the wonderful Old Harker's Arms and many gifts were bought.

Then the evening was rounded off meeting up with old friends at The Groves to see the legendary Jesse Green (he drummed with Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley don't you know) perform - my mates Neil and Lee played guitar and drums respectively (their pics are below) - in his new band Skazzmatic. It was a great night, and I don't like reggae but the band rocked and I boogied on down. Jesse Green is a great showman and I recommend you see the band if you get the chance.

Hello to everyone who was there including Jinja, Sara, Street Pete, Del, Andy D, Paul, Little Bitch, The Dude and Emma, Rich (who came all the way from Darlington to see the band), Will, Kev (who may be having his first visit to the site today) and all the people with dreadlocks.

Here is a video of Jesse Green back in the day.

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Rhys Ifans to be Mr Nice Guy in Howard Marks bio-pic

Andy D passed me this story from The Telegraph.

Rhys Ifans is to play the role of fellow Welshman Howard Marks in a British film about the life of the reformed drug smuggler.

The actor will star alongside Chloe Sevigny and David Thewlis the adaption of the former cannabis dealer's best-selling autobiography.

Ifans, 40, is in final negotiations to play the part of Marks, who spent seven years at Terre Haute jail in Indiana after his hashish empire was busted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

During his 20-year career as a drug dealer, the Oxford graduate cultivated ties with members of the IRA and was apparently recruited as a spy by the British secret services.

Bernard Rose is writing and directing the film, which is based on Marks's 1996 autobiography, Mr Nice.

Sevigny is in talks to play Marks' wife Judy, who lived with him for most of the time that he was dealing drugs. She was herself imprisoned for two years and separated from her three children as a result of her involvement in Marks' affairs. Thewlis will play the IRA man with whom Marks conspired to traffic cannabis through Ireland and on to Britain.

Marks said he was pleased at the news and disclosed Ifans had been a fan. "We met in the 1990s at a Super Furry Animals gig," he said. "I didn't have a clue who he was but he wanted by autograph. He brought over all these cigarette papers and asked me to sign them.

"I thought I was doing him a really big favour but since them he has become so famous it's like he's doing me one."

Marks studied at Balliol College, Oxford in the 1960s before turning to drug dealing out of boredom. By the 1980s, he has 43 aliases, 89 phone lines and 25 worldwide companies trading as money-laundering vehicles for his dope business.

He was released from prison in April 1995 after serving seven years of his sentence, and claims he was never violent to anyone during his criminal career. He stood for parliament in 1997 on the issue of leglisation of cannabis.

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W. (2008) - Movie Review

Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Josh Brolin, Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Stacy Keach, Thandie Newton, Ioan Gruffudd
Running Time: 131 minutes

This review by John Hiscock of the Telegraph. Cheers to Andy D for forwarding it on.

Oliver Stone has said he wanted to understand, not to hurt, George W Bush and to give a fair and true portrait of the man. And with W, the filmmaker - who stirred a firestorm of controversy with JFK and Nixon - has presented a relatively even-handed and entertaining portrait of the current US president, although it is sure to raise White House hackles, nevertheless.

W covers Bush's life from the age of 21 up to his invasion of Iraq, portraying him as both an arrogant, egotistical bully and a confused, sad and almost tragic figure manipulated by his aides and helplessly unable to come up with an exit strategy for Iraq.

Stone made the film in a quickfire 48 days on a £15 million budget to have it ready for release in the US before the November 4 presidential election, but the production values are excellent and there are no obvious signs of it having been a rush job.

As the title character who is in almost every scene, Josh Brolin has done his homework well and offers a convincing interpretation of George W, effectively capturing his mannerisms and style of speech.

Thoroughly researched and based mainly on available documentation, W opens with a post-9/11 cabinet meeting in the Oval Office.

In a series of flashbacks, we then follow Bush's early days as a hard-drinking, rambunctious womaniser and ne'er-do-well, his conversion, at the age of 40, to born-again Christianity, his sobriety and his career in politics.

Stone and writer Stanley Weiser, who also collaborated on Wall Street, place a great deal of emphasis on the father-son relationship, taking the position that George H Bush (James Cromwell) favoured his younger son Jeb and considered George W the black sheep.

Consequently George W is shown as constantly striving to demonstrate he is stronger than his father, castigating him for not finishing the job and taking out Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War and for losing the 1992 election by running a poor campaign.

Among the mainly excellent supporting cast, Richard Dreyfuss is downright scary as Richard Cheney, Britain's Toby Jones is outstanding as Karl Rove and Stacy Keach has some good scenes as the preacher who aids W's conversion.

Thandie Newton, with little to do, bears a startling resemblance to Condoleezza Rice and Ioan Gruffudd makes a brief appearance as Tony Blair.

Inevitably, because the story of the George W Bush administration is still being written, the film's ending is ambiguous.

Poignantly, the smug and self-righteous president is seen struggling at a White House press conference to define what he thinks his legacy will be.

'W' will be released in the UK on Nov 7

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Cool 2000AD Canvas Prints

I saw these over on Firebox and thought, "that's cool I wouldn't mind one of them." Then I thought hold on I could do something like that myself. Then I thought £89.95 a pop. I should be doing that and selling them. Then I thought,"I need more time."

Andy D has a piccy I did of Rogue Trooper hanging in his house. Chisholm has a Marv I painted and Jinja has a Gotham by Gaslight. Oh and Rich has a Spider Jerusalem. I must get them posted on the site. Fella's send me a photo of them when you can.
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New Photo from Che movie?

Is this a photo from the new movie Che? Actually, nope it ain't. Its a photo of Andy D and the Chisholm in the back country. I apologise for the pixalation but it seems its technically impossible to actually capture Chisholm on camera. In fact its theoretically impossible to capture him with anything.

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The Wave (Die Welle) - Experiment that turned a school into a police state

Thanks to Andy D sending me news on this film.

It is the ultimate classroom mind-game. A charismatic teacher suddenly introduces strict discipline into his lessons and, far from rebelling, the students embrace it with gusto. Within a week, they have devised a uniform, insignia, salute and banners, and eagerly spy on and intimidate schoolmates. The movement swells to more than 200 members who, on the last day, flock to a rally.

Dennis Gansel, whose new film, The Wave, tells this story, has a colourful, very German family history. "My grandfather was in the Wehrmacht, a big supporter of Adolf Hitler, and my father was a 1968 anarchist. Christmas dinner at our house was always explosive," says the 34-year-old director. His two last features dealt with Nazis and the Red Army Faction. The Wave is another typical - even stereotypical - German subject, with an improbable, highly melodramatic premise.

In fact the experiment - known as the Wave - actually took place, in April 1967 at Cubberley High School, Northern California. Ron Jones, the teacher, had arrived there straight from training college. He soon became famed for his unorthodox methods: making students at the almost all-white school use different toilets to demonstrate apartheid, for instance.

Former students describe Jones as brilliant, by far the most popular teacher in school. "He was boyish and appealing - he could sell air-conditioners in Alaska," recalls Philip Neel. "Everyone wanted to be in his class. So at first we thought the Wave was him doing something funny."

At the end of the week - in life and in the film - the teacher announces a new national political party, with a new leader. Only then is the hoax revealed. "We were in a state of shock; there were kids crying," recalls ex-pupil Mark Hancock. "He wound that class up as tight as a drum."

Read more here.

This looks pretty good. What do you think of it?

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Neal Asher writing story for new Heavy Metal movie?

Neal Asher is one of my fave Sci-Fi authors of the moment. Check out Gridlinked and follow it up with the rest of the Cormac saga. They are all high concept, mega violent stories with lots of cool war droids, AI spaceships, Terminator like Golem, Mr Crane, secret agents, immortal pirates, nasty aliens called Hooders, Gabbleducks, and a giant alien thing called Dragon. I have long wanted to see some of his work on the big screen. Cheers to Andy D for sending me this little snippet.

This from an interview back in March:

John Markley: Have anyone expressed interest in adapting your work for television or film?

Neal Asher: A company called Blue Train Entertainment expressed an interest in Gridlinked (they were involved in The Tuxedo along with Dreamworks) but nothing came of that, then recently I got a query from a story editor at Twentieth Century Fox about Hilldiggers, which again came to nothing. However, another query/request has come up through my own internet connection, y’know, all that compulsive communicating. It’s presently turning into something very interesting about which I am only allowed to say that "I’ve been working on some ideas for a ‘Heavy Metal’ feature". I’m afraid that if I said any more I’d have to shoot you. More about this, possibly, in a month or so.

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Slipstream, 2007 - Movie Review

Director: Anthony Hopkins
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Christian Slater, Monica Garcia
Running Time: 96 minutes
Score: 7 / 10

This review by Andy D.

This movie will no doubt draw a line in the sand for movie watchers. Many will not cross that line and claim it is a jumbled mess, a confusing brew of hectically edited scenes in a deliberately confusing screen play, lacking direction, clear story line or conclusion. These people might be lacking in empathy for the older generations and will probably prefer “movies on a plate “ ™ with hand-holding narratives in nice step-by step chewable plastic scripts. Others will take this film to heart and immerse themselves in what Anthony Hopkins wants us to experience which is to go along with Felix for the ride into dementia and experience with him the gradual loss of his mental faculties in a colourful and sometimes explosive storm in a mental tea cup.

Beware of the spoilers lurking within this review. If you’re interested in giving this movie a chance on the back of my opening paragraph, then just do it! And do it with open arms for this is a very brave debut by Hopkins as writer/director. I would guess that he is tackling a topic that is probably very important to him. If you’ve read poor reviews of this movie and you’re not totally sold on it and yet, you are still curious, then please have a read of my take on this film. I will try and describe what I liked about it.

Slipstream explores the lucid dream like state of a mind gripped by the effects of early dementia which I suspect is probably Alzheimer’s Disease. Our protagonist, Felix struggles in the last days of his career to make sense of the script he is working on. He struggles to comprehend the events of reality around him as his dementia blurs his fictional world with his real world. Anthony Hopkins drags us into Felix’s mind as he struggles with many of the classic dementia problems including the break down of attentiveness, the break down of abstract thinking, an onset of total apathy, the loss of recognition of perceptions, and finally, delusional symptoms. Near the end we experience the start of the breakdown of motor skills and coordination as Felix stumbles around in the hard shoulder of a busy highway.

Hopkins demonstrates the confusion experienced by Felix from a mainly internal point of view but now and again we see it from an external point of view too. The most memorable example of this is probably the traffic shooting incident… Felix is impassive and watches numbly as though he is experiencing a scene from a movie being played out in front of him as a road rage incident degenerates into a shooting tragedy. He is numb to its reality even when a shot is fired directly towards him by the road rage psycho. The shot narrowly misses Felix and leaves a bullet hole in the windscreen. At the time we wonder whether the fracas actually happened or was it in Felix’s mind, yet the persistence of the bullet hole throughout the rest of the movie tells us it was real. A later scene showing the shooting event on TV reinforces this to us, that it really did happen and that Felix had almost been killed that day. Felix’s dementia it seems almost cost him his life early on in this movie. It is almost certainly a deliberate direct repeat of the theme of this shooting scene that is used at the conclusion of the movie where Felix meets his final fate. Indeed it’s almost the exact same location on the highway and once again it is his dementia which places him in harms way.

There are constant ripples of reoccurring elements in the movie reminiscent of the ripples on the surface of a pond reflecting back on themselves from the edges. The SUV driven by the bar tender in which he gets shot by the fictional Christian Slater Villain is the same SUV that hits Felix at the very end of the movie. In this scene the bar tender is no longer the driver of the SUV but he is the highway cop along with Christian Slater as his side kick who had pulled Felix over just before Felix staggers onto the busy highway lane in front of the SUV. The first meeting of this SUV, in which the bar tender is shot in the head by Christian Slater, appears to be part of Felix’s film and we get then a familiar vibe to the shooting incident on the highway, which might go to explain Felix’s inaction at that time.

The deliberately confused blurring of fiction-dream with reality are smoothly transitioned and the two states are not delineated in any way. We aren’t given any clues like David Lynches red curtains or ‘zoom through holes’ to when we’re moving from reality into dream world or back again. This is the reality of dementia, there are no signals or boundaries and yes, it must be very confusing…. confusing to the point of mental breakdown as the disease takes more of the mind. We are constantly asking who is real and who isn’t in the film and what roles do people really play. This is what Felix is mainly struggling with. We get hints during a scene where Felix is dreaming of his fictional characters as though they live inside his computer, staring out at him. But alongside his fictional characters in this dream he places his very real Producer. His producer is ‘real’ in Felix’s reality that is, but he acts in quite a surreal way. He is barely in touch with reality himself. This, I take it, is a jab at some real producers that Anthony Hopkins has had to deal with over the years but also the surrealness of the character works to dislodge Felix’s mental state even further.

This film moved me. I knew what to expect with its style so I didn’t try and follow it like I tried very hard to follow Inland Empire (somewhat unsuccessfully I might add!). I let it wash over me in a very passive way and I think this is the approach that Anthony Hopkins would want us to watch it. He wants us to experience ourselves what it is like to suffer from senile dementia. In a way he is preparing us for what is very likely to happen to many of us as we age into our twilight years. How many of us have suffered the pain of watching loved ones lose their minds due to Alzheimer’s Disease? Certainly, at least, all of us have seen or will see our parents age into frail OAPs, and, eventually they will be gone forever. Slipstream offers us a glimpse of what it is like on the other side of the degenerating mind. It offers us an idea of what we will likely become ourselves and helps us to understand those of us in our society who are already living in a world of senile dementia.

7/10 A brave debut

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Cloverfield, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Matt Reeves
Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David
Running Time: 85 minutes

Score: 7.5 /10

This review by Andy D

I'm writing this literally as the closing credits roll up the screen. I'm mainly doing this because my laptop was right to hand, but also because I wanted to catch all my thoughts as fresh as possible. The thought I have at this very second is... bravo Hollywood for not having a soundtrack to sell! The only music we get is during these closing credits! That's very 'off-script' for Hollywood. They usually have a full package of crap to sell us including the themed dinners at McDonalds and the video game. Is there a video game for Cloverfield? Maybe I missed that one. Also 'off-script' I would say is the refreshing lack of product placement not to mention big-name movie stars to distract us, lack of obvious happy ending and lack of rubbish lame narrative. Bravo indeed Hollywood. You have done well.

Ok, the credits have just finished... does anybody know what exactly is said over the radio at the end? I've just rewound it 3 times to try and understand it. I can't quite fathom what's being said. Now its bugging me. I need some answers. I might open a forum thread if no-one can answer me this immediately! Or I might just google it.

Oh, yes. I'm reviewing Cloverfield. That's right. Ok... why am I reviewing Cloverfield in August '08? Why am I reviewing Cloverfield seven months after it was released? In short its because I hate movie hype. The more a movie is hyped the less I want to go to the pictures to see it. I consciously avoided all Batman TDK trailers in order to savour as much as possible on the screen at the cinema when film was released. As for the Crystal Skulls... I actually sat at the pictures, plugged my ears, closed my eyes and shouted “nah-nah-nah-nah-nah” during the lego advert which was played just before the movie came on... I DONT WANT TO SEE THE LEGO VERSION OF THE MOVIE BEFORE I ACTUALLY SEE THE REAL MOVIE!! yes, sorry. I have issues with hype and advertising. Cloverfield was being hyped something rotten when it came out so quite simply I refused to go and see it. Yeah... up yours Paramount.

This film would have been astoundingly good if it wasn't for two major hang ups. One: We all knew it was a monster movie done in a Blair Witch style before it even came out. Two: It was shot in 24 frames per second so it never felt like a home movie. These two points aside I thought it was excellent. It would have been mind blowingly excellent if all the surprises were intact and for it to be shot and presented in 60 FPS. Did I mention there were no surprises? Hell, I even saw the plastic toy of the monster in Forbidden Planet the week the film was released. How soul destroying is that? The film was wrecked simply by walking into a shop the week it was released. I sense the same has happened with Outlander: Vikings Vs Aliens. We all know what the monster is and the film hasn't even been released yet. Oh, and if you don't know what the monster looks like have a look at the trailer: http://liveforfilm.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html ...oops, sorry did I spoil it for you? Damn. Wasn't my fault, sorry.

That's my main bitch in a nut shell. These days Hollywood wrecks most of its films during the hype period. Take the new Hulk movie. I'm a huge comic book to movie fan, but I haven't gone to see the new Hulk movie because er... I've seen it. I've seen it in the commercials for the movie. I know exactly what's in store. There are are no surprises!

Enough of this whining I hear you call. Ok ok, I'm sorry. My review of Cloverfield viewed in HD over cable is very positive. I really enjoyed it for the romp it was. I actually got drawn into the social issues in the 15 minutes before the shit hit the fan. And that's why I enjoyed it overall: I cared about the characters. I was worried about them. I found myself wondering if I would have gone back for my loved ones... well yes I reckon I would actually but another question would be: would I have followed my best bro to go back for his girl? Ya see that's a toughy... because that was a big fuckin scary monster and it was kicking the shit out of New York. Yep and everybody was dying. The film made me think of stuff like this whilst also providing the eye candy of a block buster. And, ok yes, the realism worked. It just should have been at 60 frames a second dammit!
7.5/10 Cloverfield crushes Godzilla

Discuss in the forum.

The Joker's Magic Trick T-Shirt

Pretty cool. Cheers for Andy D for pointing it out. You can buy it here.

Discuss in the forum.

Sequel News on a load of movies

Lots of news on various sequels. Thanks to Andy D for putting them altogether. They are culled from MSN so blame the dreadful puns on them!

Ghostbusters 3

Who you gonna call? Well, probably not Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis. Unfortunately, those classic comedians are a bit old to be busting ghosts with electricity. But rumour has it that the original ghostbusters will be teaming up with a new crop of comedians: Judd Apatow's crew (Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, etc.) to film a second Ghostbusters sequel.

The Evil Dead 4

Director Sam Raimi was asked about this possibly project while promoting his latest movie, Drag Me To Hell. Raimi's response? "That's in the wheelhouse. I'd like to work on it." Well, we're not sure if we'd like to see it, but whatever kills your zombies.

Beverly Hills Cop 4

Word on the streets of Hollywood is that this next instalment is all but camera-ready. Brett Ratner is set to direct, screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Hass of Wanted and 3:10 To Yuma have been hired, and Eddie Murphy will reprise his role as Axel Foley. Let's face it, Murphy doesn't have much else going on (see Meet Dave…oh, wait, no one did), and to be honest we'd love to see him get back to his comedy roots. Bring on the cuss words!

RoboCop 4

Director Darren Aronofsky has been linked to this film, although it's unclear yet if the movie will be a prequel or a sequel. Aronofsky's other works have included the fantastical The Fountain and the depressing Requiem For A Dream. We're interested to see where he'd take a 'part man. Part machine. All cop.'

Dirty Dancing 3

We were shocked to hear about this after the dismally bad Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights bombed at the box office. Granted, that was a prequel, and it didn't have the power of Swayze! This could also be a result of the mega-hit stage musical. Supposedly, despite his recent battle with pancreatic cancer, Patrick Swayze will put on his dancing shoes for this sequel. Nobody puts Patrick in a corner!

The Untouchables: Capone Rising

Rumour has it that a prequel to classic crime caper The Untouchables is in the works, and that director Brian De Palma is spearheading the project. We have to admit this could be good - of course we hope De Niro's not slated for Capone again. He's twenty years older, this picture will show Capone twenty years younger… it's simple maths.

Alien v Predator 3

These movies, much like both the alien and the predator, will seemingly never die. After numerous Alien films and several Predator movies throughout the 80s, the Alien v Predator franchise was born to the delight of geeks over the globe. The most recent one made a stack of cash, so it seems studios are looking to profit again - no matter how many innocent people have to perish!

Rambo 5

The most recent Rambo film was released in January 2008 with the tagline "heroes never die." And we believe it. As long as Sly Stallone is alive and kicking, Rambo films will be made. He's 62 this year, and Rambo 5 is slated for late 2009 or early 2010.

The Boogeyman 3

It's hard to call this The Boogeyman 3 for certain, as since The Boogeyman 2 came out in 1982 the franchise has been peppered with straight-to-video releases (1994's Return Of The Boogeyman) and remakes. But, perhaps this installment will bring back some of the horror of the original. Or… it will just be horrible.

The Lost Boys 3

Sequel to the original The Lost Boys, The Lost Boys: The Tribe, was a straight-to-DVD title released in 2008. Producers supposedly think its lack of popularity was due to its lack of Corey Haim. Haim appeared in the film, but not half as much as his drug-free friend Corey Feldman. The Tribe's ending was a set-up for a follow-up; hopefully Haim will be more camera-ready this time.

Discuss in the forum.

Dragonball - Japanese Poster

This is the Japanese poster for the movie Dragonball. It stars Justin Chatwin who was the son in War of the Worlds. Directed by James Wong who did a load of TV stuff such as The X-Files, Space Above and Beyond as well as Final Destination 3, Black Christmas and The One. I know next to nothing about the anime, Dragonball Z. However, Andy D knows a bit about it so over to him:

In my experience the cartoon had mastered the art of stringing out a single cliff hanger incident over a dozen or so episodes to the point of tedium!! The fighting was cool, when they got round to it, and we were always waiting for Goku to go "Super-saiyan" and kicks somethings' ass.
The protagonists go through an unending cycle of fighting, winning, losing, learning important
lessons, then returning to the fight. As the series progresses, the heros continue this cycle by using miraculous devices to achieve life after death, continuing their on-going battles, with the dead heroes continuing to learn lessons in order to defeat their challengers. There're 519 episodes across all the volumes... so brace yourself.

Straight out of Wiki, LOL. I like the last sentance... that summed it it...
A monkey-tailed boy named Son Goku is found by an old martial arts expert and raised as his grandson. One day, during a full moon, Goku transforms into a giant ape and accidentally kills his adopted grandfather, but later has no recollection of it. Several years later, Bulma, on a quest to retrieve the seven Dragon Balls and have her wish granted by the dragon that will appear, meets Goku, now living alone with the four-star Dragon Ball that he treats as his dead grandfather. Goku decides to accompany Bulma on her quest, and along the way, meets and befriends many martial artists, undergoes rigorous martial arts training regimes and educational programs, and faces various challengers and villains, often at the Tenka-ichi Budokai.
As the series continues, Goku goes from childhood into adulthood, and his first child, Son Gohan goes through similar experiences. As Goku evolves, so do many his rivals, including Piccolo and Vegeta, with some changing from evil to good. Goku himself dies and comes back to life several times, and becomes the top martial arts superhero in the universe.

Discuss in the forum.

There is always one!

Thanks to the D for this one. Vader gets everywhere!

Discuss in the forum.

Incredible Hulk Extras

The madder Hulk gets the stronger Hulk gets. The more releases the Hulk gets the longer Hulk gets is another phrase, dripping in innuendo, that could soon apply when the DVD hits. This from Andy.

Apparantly there was over 3 hours of footage for the new Hulk film and the director wants most of it reinstated for the forthcoming DVD and blu ray releases. Could be an additional 70+ minutes on the film length including stuff on the pre-release trailers that didn't make the theatrical cut and some stuff with Norton in Antartica related to Captain America and the Super Soldier Program. Could be good for Ultimates fan boys. Or it could make it into a huge yawn-a-thon.

Sounds immense in my opinion. What do you think?

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Blu Ray Review

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain

Running Time: 141 minutes

Score: 10/10

Another review from Andy.

A classic and influential Sci-Fi film like this is surely a must-buy Blu Ray disc from the word go. But does it transfer to hi-def acceptably? Is it a quick lazy production or did Warner Brothers dedicate a bit of effort for this flag ship space epic?

Well Chisholm and I sat down last night to debut this disc. We were both very familiar with the film but neither of us had watched it for many years. I first saw the film about 20 years ago but I was a bit too young to understand everything that was going on... at the time seeing space ships was cool enough. I'd watched at again some time later and, being a bit older, followed it better. But it was as a teenager reading Arthur C Clarke's book and then hoovering up all the sequel novels that the story really gripped me. And so it was last night that I returned to 2001 for the full theatrical, hi-def, cinema roomed, blu ray'd epic viewing.

First off, some comments on the Hi-defness. Perhaps most people reading this will already be familiar with the movie and are only interested in whether it’s worth buying again on Blu Ray. Space Odyssey fans can relax... nay, not relax, …get positively excited! This is an incredibly good transfer to Blu Ray with lots of bonus material. There was no graininess that could have been expected from the original tapes, the picture is very sharp and the colours nothing short of gob-smacking. Particularly impressive are the sunrise vistas extensively presented in the “Dawn of Man” chapters of the movies. This is perfect wide screen eye candy. The hues of the clouds bathed in the early morning sunshine where rich and well saturated, the barren landscapes impressively huge and pin sharp in 1080p. The contrasts of brightly lit greys and deep space darks in the subsequent chapters based on the moon where equally impressive for their lack of colours letting the pin-sharpness of the hi-definition show itself off in a very stark environment. We did detect some minor tape damage (or something) at some points in the movie, but it was borderline irrelevant and easily ignored. The master tapes are in very good condition for their age, 40 years old this year, and the quality has come across in this reproduction.

The soundtrack is only in stereo so there's no 7.1/5.1 True HD or DTS, however the film simply doesn't need such modern cinema tricks like surround sound. The quality of the sound track was CD-perfect with no noticeable hissing or back ground white noise. The voice tracks where very clear and the music of Strauss is beautiful and haunting. The excellent heavy breathing we hear during the first EVA make us claustrophobic as though we too were in the Pod. The echoes of Bowman's movements in the alien 'cell' at the end heap on us the feelings of loneliness and emptiness that surely Bowman is feeling.

The special effects in this movie are gob-smacking to say the least. Whole sets were built to rotate with a fixed camera to give us the impression of zero gravity corridors, and the ingenious torus of the Discovery hub. The shuttle landing at the lunar base still looks better and more realistic than any modern day CGI efforts and I can say with earnest that this movie has not dated one iota since 1968. Hell, even the furniture and fashion is back in style. What this film does, cinematically, is hold a huge mirror up to modern day directors so that they can very embarrassingly see how lazy they've become with special effects and dumbed down narrative. 2001 doesn't have any narrative! Instead it relies on the audience to actually process what they're watching and then coming to conclusions as to what is being portrayed. This is the most powerful approach to story telling. And Arthur C Clarke's stories are amongst the most profound and brilliant out there. It demands further watching as you thirst to gleam more from it. Stanley Kubricks' genius is also exemplified in this film. Obviously the two giants worked very closely with each other to create such a masterpiece so stooped in accurate scientific detail yet so careful played out so to make everything seem so everyday.

Everyday, that is except for the last 15 or 20 minutes. Here Kubrick goes nuts with gloriously gaudy oil on water effects during Bowman's journey to the alien habitat. This version on the Blu Ray is completely uncut and this trippy segment lasts much longer than I can remember from my previous viewings.

I woke up this morning still thinking about this movie. How even the apes at the start out-acted most of today's plastic Hollywood stars. How the unsaid in the movie is just as powerful as the said. How fantastic and realistic it all looked. And how subsequently copied it has been over the years. The look of Star Wars is taken directly from this film. Event Horizon too mimics it in many ways. Space 1999, Red Dwarf, Star Trek.... all of them owe something to Kubrick and Clarke. This story has always been one of my favourite Sci Fi novels, but having watched the Blu Ray last night and got so much enjoyment out of it I think I can now upgrade the movie from “a film I like but haven’t seen for years” to be amongst the best movies I've ever seen. Possibly now my favourite film... for this week at least! The Chisholm and I where grinning from ear to ear for much of the length of this movie, for it is incredible. It’s well worth the Blu Ray price tag, and I'm now going head back into the movie room and absorb all the featurettes and extras for another few hours. Oh, and watch 2010: The Year We Make Contact, for the first time....

10/10 Perfection.

5 Word Reviews

Chris
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 8 /10 The knights who say 'ni'
The Lawnmower Man - 4 /10 Great at time, crap now
Blood Diamond - 9 /10 DeCaprios Best Performance to Date
Cypher - 7.5 /10 Amnesia, espionage, giant cigar tubes!
A Knight's Tale - 8 /10 Medieval modern day comedy romance!?
Phone Booth - 6 /10 Colin Farrel in a box

Paul
Clockwork Orange - violent, pacey, queer, classical, alright - 6/10
The Dark Crystal - Dark Henson breeds Kermit Killers - 7/10
The Bone Collector - surprisingly good, poor mans Seven - 6/10
Fargo - timeless masterpiece set in snow - 8/10
Top Gun - bit gay, nice planes - 8/10

Alan S
Clockwork Orange - 8/10 - "Bit of the old Ultra-violence"
The Dark Crystal - 7/10 - "Jim Henson's finest hour"
The Bone Collector - 6/10 - "Quadraplegic Washington instructs rookie Jolie"
Fargo - 9/10 - "Modern day classic - with snow"
Top Gun - 5/10 - "A chick flick for guys"
Hostel - 7/10 - "Never go back packing alone!"
The Fast and the Furious - 2/10 - "Chewing gum for the eyes"
Napoleon Dynamite - 8/10 - "Surreally funny - Vote for Pedro!"
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 9/10 - "Arthurian tale with a surreal twist"
A Knight's Tale - 4/10 "Jousting to a Queen-esque soundtrack"
Phone Booth - 7/10 - "Crackling with tension; claustrophobic situation"

Andy D
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - L.M.F.A.O. 9/10

Rich
Holy Grail – Bloodthirsty Bunnies in Arthurian Antics 9/10
Lawnmower Man – Before-Bond Brosnan’s Binary Bore. 2/10

5 Word Reviews

From Chisholm:
The Shining - 8/10 - Some shine and some don't
Spartacus - 8/10 - The Blockbuster of its day
Pitch Black - 6/10 - better than I was expecting
Monsters Inc - 7/10 - Fun for the whole family
Hellboy - 11/10 - suck it 10/10 fan boys
The Punisher - 6/10 - great when it gets going

From Rich:
The Shining - 8/10 - All work and no play...
Pitch Black - 5/10 - Myopic Muscleman in Mediocre Monsterfest.
Monsters Inc - 7/10 - Animated Antics in Imaginary Industry.
Bad Taste - 6/10 - Spoon - Brain. Brain - Spoon. Yum.

From Andy D:
Pitch Black - Quality sci-fi, thinking mans aliens - 8/10
Monsters Inc - enjoyable as a one off - 6/10
Hellboy - average: lets the comic down - 5/10
Bad Taste - A hint in the name? - 8/10

From Del:
Hellboy - 6/10 - Big Red Monster Kicks Ass

The Fountain, 2006 - Blu-Ray Review

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz
Running Time: 96 minutes

Score: 5.5/10

Thanks to Andy D for this review.

Ok, in theory this is a good film but I’m only going to give it 5.5/10. I know this is in contradiction to the 5 word review, but I guess you’ll have to live with this and put it down to an individuals personnel opinion. I’ll give the film some credence before I explain the middling score I have awarded it. On the plus side it’s got a deep philosophical message and a well imagined vehicle to introduce its philosophy to us and cinematically it’s very well filmed (it looks gorgeous on Blu-ray)… but I have a problem. Some people who know me may say that I have several problems, but what I mean is this film didn’t grab me in the way it should have done. This is a shame because it could have and it should have grabbed me. I’m the perfect target audience for this type of film: I have a great imagination, I enjoy hard philosophical ideas and debates, I’m always willing to meet a film/book/piece of music half way in order to give it a chance to entertain me and I’m well–versed and really enjoy the more challenging surrealist and cloaked approaches to story telling (I’m a huge David Lynch fan).

I’ll sum up right away what didn’t work for me in The Fountain: I simply didn’t care about the main characters. I didn’t care that Rachel Weisz was slowly dieing from malignant cancers and I didn’t care that Hugh Jackman was losing it and unable to control his imminent lose. This film is described on this site else-where as a tear jerker… but not for me it wasn’t. I’m prone to feeling a little choked up from a good movie and this is where my good imagination is at its best. I can normally really feel empathetic with the characters in good movies and I end up feeling what they seem to be feeling. With the Isabel character (Rachel Weisz) I simply wasn’t bothered about her, in fact she slightly annoyed me by being a bit of a martyr. Tomas (Hugh Jackman) was just a to$$er who ends up wrecking her medieval novel by being a typical bloke and taking it in an obscure sci-fi and action-adventure direction. It reminded me of the old e-mail joke about the two school kids trying to write a short story together, ones a typical boy and ones a typical girl. The joke can be read here.

Some people I’ve spoken to about this film didn’t enjoy it for another reason and that was they simply couldn’t follow what was really going on. The film appears to jump from the present to the past and to the future with similar stories being enacted in each era.

If you allow me I will try to explain what I interpreted the film to be doing:

Boy meets girl. Girl slowly dies of cancer. Boy stubbornly and infuriatingly wastes the last precious weeks of their time together trying to find a cure instead of "being there for her". In an attempt to communicate with her idiot boyfriend girl writes a story about her philosophy on life and death which involves the tree of life as a metaphor for returning to the earth on death and being reborn in the flora and fauna of the planet. Girl is close to death, realises she will never complete the book and makes boy promise to finish it in order for him to finally understand her philosophy and so not feel pity for her …and to get over his own selfish miserable outlook on his imminent loss. Boy wastes more time killing monkeys with cancer. Girl dies. Boy becomes even more annoying by storming off during her funeral in a strop, yet is haunted by her request to finish her book. So he gives it a go and, like the typical bloke in the joke above, takes it off in an action-adventure direction which culminates in a fight with a priest at the top of a temple in front of the tree of life. The books' protagonist gets mortally wounded in the fight but embarks on a transcendence in a space bubble with the tree of life which mimics the boys real life transcendence to understanding his girlfriends philosophy. Once he finally understands what his girlfriend was banging on about he realises how she wanted the story to be concluded (the protagonist kills the priest and drinks from the tree of life to cure his wound… which it does by turning him into a bush, and so he lives on, achieving the tongue in cheek immortality …ish) and finally returns to his girlfriends burial place and plants a flower over her grave so she will live on in plant form… once the roots get into her decaying maggot-ridden remains that is. Ah-men.

Here’s my own 5 word review… Man the f*ck up Thomas. 5.5/10