Category Archives: Movie

Avatar – initial thoughts

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So, just got back from Avatar (Digital 3D).  Totally engaging movie experience.  The time flew by.  I’ll write a longer review (maybe) later, but for now, here are my initial thoughts.

  • 3D worked well in some places (looking through windows, heads-up displays, floating embers), didn’t really get in the way, not sure how much it added to the experience having not see the non-3D version.  It does give you a headache afterwards, because (I’m guessing) your brain gets pissed off with seeing in 3D but not being able to choose what to focus on.
  • The CGI – breathtaking.  Really, just astonishing.  It’s a step and a half up from anything I’ve ever seen, anywhere.  There’s plenty of stuff on screen that I truly have no clue if it was CGI, model work or real.
  • The story – go with an open heart and let it affect you, and you’ll love it.  Go and don’t open up to it and it’ll look cheesy.  I hope you can empathise and get involved because it’s truly, honestly, moving.
  • Some people will call it Dances with Wolves meets Dragon Riders of Pern meets Aliens meets World of Warcraft.  Maybe they’re right, frankly, I don’t care.  It rocked.
  • The trailer, no matter which one you have seen, does not do the movie justice.

Will Avatar change Cinema? No, I don’t think so.  Is it groundbreaking?  Yes, in parts.  Is it a fantastic fantasy/sci-fi movie with a heart?  Yes, totally.

Every so often a movie comes along that not only begs to be seen on the big screen, but requires it.  Avatar is one of those movies.  If you do not see this on the big screen, if you do not let it fill your vision, your heart and touch your soul, you’ll not be seeing the same film as those people who do.

Go and see it, please.

A tale of two movies

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I’m going to describe two movies to you.  I think you’ll guess one of them, see if you can guess the other.

Movie 1 Movie 2
Based on a comic book character Based on a comic book character
Our hero watches as his family is killed by members of a crime gang Our hero watches as his family is killed by members of a crime gang
This turns our hero in to a dark vigilante This turns our hero in to a dark vigilante
He’s male He’s male
He wears black, a lot He wears black, a lot
A young eager crime gang member is elevated to crime lord boss when the boss is killed A young eager crime gang member is elevated to crime lord boss when the boss is killed
Our hero badly disfigures the face of the gang member that is to become the crime boss while trying to catch him Our hero badly disfigures the face of the gang member that is to become the crime boss while trying to catch him
The police while publicly denouncing the vigilante, have at least some members who actually help him out The police while publicly denouncing the vigilante, have at least some members who actually help him out
The facially disfigured crime boss seeks revenge The facially disfigured crime boss seeks revenge
There’s a woman – there always is There’s a woman – there always is
This one, I watched all the way through many, many times, and was critically acclaimed when it was released This one I just switched off half way (maybe less?) through today, because not only was the acting woefully embarrassing, but the story was such a cliche that it made me sad inside.
Cinema Release: 1989 Cinema Release: 2008

LoveFilm – online movie rental

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We joined LoveFilm a little while back, because we found ourselves in our local movie rental store every few weeks renting four movies at a time, but wanted something a little easier and more accessible.  It’s taken a few months to get used to the service and initially I was disappointed.  Not really unhappy with the service (which is excellent, 1 or 2 day turnaround on films), or the price (which works out better for us than what we were paying locally), but that it didn’t seem to fit with how I actually wanted to watch films.

They send you a random disc off your list, we have 2 lists and get 2 discs at a time.  But sometimes I wasn’t in the mood for that film and it sat there for a week or so unwatched.  We ended up using one list for TV series and Grete is ploughing through Scrubs at the moment and it works really well for that.  You add the series to your list, they send you a disc when you send one back.  The other list we use for films, but I was still struggling to work out why it wasn’t as good as I had expected.

A few days ago it finally dawned on me.  When we joined, we’d been through a period of watching quite a few things in the cinema, renting a lot of stuff, and buying a few DVD’s.  There wasn’t anything recent that I wanted to rent, we’d seen them all.   We’d also bought a whole load of cheap stuff from Amazon to fill in our favourite movies (like WarGames, Goonies, etc.) so we didn’t need to rent those either.

Now that a few months has passed, there have been plenty of movies on in the cinema that we didn’t go and see, and quite a few new releases coming up, so I’m more excited about the service going forward.  The turnaround is really quick, it seems like good value if you watch as much as you can and the website is okay.

I don’t think physical movie rental stores can survive much longer, and when LoveFilm finally get their digital delivery system in place for everyone and I get some way of linking my PC to the TV, it’ll be the final nail.  I’ve now got about 16 items on my main movie list reserved for when they get released over the coming months, and I’m looking forward to them arriving one disc at a time, through the door, with no effort.

LoveFilm has a referral scheme, if you were thinking of signing up, this link gives you a one month free trial and I get a bonus.  I didn’t write this post to get referrals, I’d been thinking about writing something for a few weeks, but if you were thinking about signing up, I won’t turn down more referrals.

Avatar – the trailer

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So, it’s out, Avatar’s trailer, the best place to see it is on the Apple site in HD, here.  Does it look impressive? Yes.  Do the CGI characters move well and have emotion in their eyes? Yes.

Do they still look like CGI? Yes.

Does it look a bit like WoW the movie? Yes.

The International

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A thriller about the banking industry?  You’d be forgiven for assuming it would be dull and full of tedious exposition, but with minor reservations you’d be wrong.  Clive Owen plays an Interpol agent trying to track down the truth about a giant bank’s involvement in weapon sales, money laundering and other illegal activity.   He is assisted or thwarted by various individuals and organisations along the way including an American DEA, Italian police and the bank itself.

The International is long but engaging and although I wouldn’t describe it as always gripping, it does demand your attention and keep you hooked through to the end.  Not least as a result of excellent performances from Owen and the cast around him.  I was particularly engaged by Armin Mueller-Stahl’s presence on screen, understated and calm yet totally real.

The story has a few holes and you have to wonder why it takes the police so long to arrive to a gun fight in a major public place in New York, but there’s nothing there that ruined the experience for me.  I do wish more movies took more time to avoid the little niggles like this, but I wonder if any film actually manages to achieve that.  The cinematography was subtle but really supported the cast and dialog.  There aren’t many action set pieces so it wouldn’t be true to call this an action-thriller but the one major set piece is certainly thrilling.  The writers opted to avoid any twists and instead build tension through Owen’s growing frustration at the cases progression and the threat on the lives of those around him.  I give them credit for that.

The end is downbeat, but rather expected and the newspaper headline snapshots during the closing credits do justice in wrapping up a couple of questions the main ending left you with.  Overall this was a surprisingly enjoyable film which probably deserved more credit than it got from the critics.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

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First off, all my cards on the table.  I’ve read the first few books of the Potter series, I think it was the first 4.  They were okay, but I usually don’t enjoy reading about the tortured love lives of teenagers so I didn’t make it to book 5 or beyond.  I’ve seen all the movies.  My wife loves the books and the movies, so I know what happens in each book, and I knew what was going to happen in this film.

There are spoilers in this review.  You have been warned.

Continue reading →

Reviewing Fast Food as if it was Haute cuisine

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I’ve posted a few blogs about this recently and in the past, and I’m doing it again although I’m taking a slightly different slant.  The world of food is full of variation and range.  Within different types of food there are certain qualities that are universally accepted as bad (does the food give me food poisoning? does it make me want to vomit?) and qualities that can vary between different types of product.  I reject the idea that only one type of food is considered right and that all other foods are inferior.  I believe that depending on the situation, the person and the immediate desire different foods can deliver the required experience (enjoyment).

Sure, there’s no doubt that certain foods have the right nutritional quality and some don’t, but if what you seek is enjoyment from eating then I posit that some days you may get that enjoyment from a Burger King Whopper and other days from  Haute cuisine Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce.  If what you expected and wanted was a Whopper and what you got was Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce then you may end up being disappointed and vice versa.  Of course this doesn’t always work out, if you expected a Whopper and got Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce, you might really enjoy the Quail and be pleasantly surprised, but it doesn’t mean you don’t like Whoppers.  It is possible to enjoy a whole range of different food types on their own merits without dismissing the existence of other foods types.

None of this should come as a surprise to most people, in my view.  I think most people realise that enjoyment varies and that what gives you enjoyment on different days can be different things.  Where we get a clash is when people who express an opinion about Food as a subject matter fail to realise that different foods all have their merits and they review that food with a single palette of words and expectations.  If you review a Burger King Whopper using the same standards as Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce then the review might claim the Burger King is a watery mush of over excited tastes smashed together in a microwave oven which no one could possibly enjoy. If you reviewed Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce using the same expectations you had when you reviewed a Whopper you might conclude it’s overly fussy expensive chicken in a sauce you wouldn’t feed to the dog.

Good reviewers and good critics understand the context in which the product or food they’re reviewing exists.  If you do nothing but review haute cuisine then sure, you’re free to stick to a single palette of experience and vocabulary and likewise if your job or hobby is to review fast food then your comparisons are all at the same level.  However if you’re keen to review a range of food types you have to be very careful with your expectations.  Yes, you should demand and expect fast food to be of the highest fast food quality, but you shouldn’t expect it to display the same qualities as Haute cuisine, and of course if you found haute cuisine to be delicious despite the fact that it took 18 seconds to cook and came in a bun you might think you’re reviewing fast food all over again.

Additionally, and again this should not surprise anyone, it’s perfectly possible to not enjoy any fast food.  To decide the whole genre of food is bland and tasteless and beneath you.  It’s also possible to decide that haute cuisine is pointless over frilly and can’t be beaten by a good home cooked sunday roast.  But you shouldn’t dismiss them as valid sources of enjoyment for other people just because you don’t like them.  Nor should you get upset that some people can make a good living out of making food you don’t enjoy, or that people you know enjoy food you hate.  Does making Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce require more skill than a Burger King Whopper?  I don’t think anyone would deny that was true.  It certainly requires a specific set of skills.  Does serving a Whopper require no skill?  Certainly not, they’re just different and more readily attainable than those required to be a top chef.  And of course if we look at the middle ground, perhaps a local restaurant then the skills required are similar to those of top chefs with an added hint of the speed and customer service required in a fast food joint.

What’s the point of this overly long, tedious statement of the obvious?

It’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, clearly.  To some extent it’s also Star Trek and Terminator Salvation.  Those films set out to entertain.  They set out to engage an audience and provide a couple of hours of escapism and fun.  They did not set out to question your beliefs, to expand your conciousness, to develop your interest in physics, they did not set out to make you question history or help you understand your place in the world.  There are films that do that, they set out to do exactly that.  There are films which want to tell the truth, to make you look at the truth in a new way, to make you weep and cry and question everything.  There are films which tell stories where the characters matter and films which tell stories where the explosions matter.  All of these films are valid.

Different people enjoy different movies at different times for different reasons.  But reviewing a film and describing it as awful because it’s missing certain elements is silly, if the film wasn’t even trying to bring those elements to the screen in the first place but is still entertaining.

Was Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen entertaining?  Yes, I had a really good 2.5 hours of popcorn movie enjoyment.  I laughed and sniffed a little, and I felt engaged and interested and, well, entertained.  I don’t expect everyone to feel like that, and I expect some people who do understand the context of the movie still thought it was a bad example of the genre.  That’s fine, but I don’t accept people think it was a bad movie because it didn’t give them what they expect from a drama or a noir crime thriller.

This is a good review of Transformers 2.  I don’t agree with all of it, and I rate the movie higher.  I was able to ignore the bits the reviewer didn’t like and they didn’t ruin the movie for me.  But the guy writing the review got the context and reviewed the movie within that context.  He didn’t review Transformers 2 as if it was a period drama.

Five ways to make sure you don’t enjoy a movie

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I originally wrote this a couple of weeks ago while I was feeling bitter about something or other.  I kept looking at the draft and thinking I’d reword it so it made more sense, but frankly,  I don’t have the energy so here’s the raw post as-is.

  1. decide beforehand (either consciously or unconsciously) how the story must or should go, how it should be played out, how it should end.
  2. expect a specific style of storytelling and get that confused with the actual story itself.
  3. assume that a sequel or franchise movie must have the same style and flavour of the previous movies.
  4. believe that a pivotal role can only be played by a certain person.
  5. go in expecting your version of the film and not with an open mind about how someone else might do it.

Bad Guys & Good Lines

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I was thinking a few days ago, that in a lot of movies the good guys get the best lines.  Certainly much of the movie quoting that goes on is focussed on lines delivered by the heroes or the good guys.  However, there are times when the bad guys get the good lines, and I thought I’d put together a random list, for my own entertainment.   Some of them are no-brainers (the ones at the top of the list!) but maybe a few will make you want to go back and watch the film again and there’s bound to be some which I include only because I remember and quote them but they don’t count as truly cool.  Stick any more you can think of in the comments.

  • The Terminator – “I’ll be back” (The Terminator)
  • RoboCop – “Can you fly, Bobby?” (Clarence Boddicker)
  • Die Hard – “Alas, your Mr. Takagi did not see it that way… so he won’t be joining us for the rest of his life.” (Hans Gruber)
  • Die Hard – “I’m going to count to three, there will not be a four.” (Hans Gruber)
  • The Shining – “Heeere’s Johnny!” (Jack Torrance) ((Suggested by Sue))
  • Highlander – “I have something to say! It’s better to burn out than to fade away!” (Kurgan)
  • Highlander – “Father! Forgive me , I am a worm!” (Kurgan)
  • Highlander – “Happy Hallowe’en, ladies! Nuns. No sense of humour.” (Kurgan)
  • Highlander – “I am in disguise!” (Kurgan)
  • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – “Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!” (The Emperor) ((Suggested by Sue))
  • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – “This bounty hunter is my kind of scum” (Jabba the Hutt)
  • Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope – “I have you now” (Darth Vader)
  • Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope – “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” (Darth Vader)
  • Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope – “When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master.” (Darth Vader)
  • Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope – “The Force is strong with this one.” (Darth Vader)
  • Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope – “Your powers are weak, old man.” (Darth Vader)
  • Star Wars Episode V : The Empire Strikes Back – “All too easy.” (Darth Vader)
  • Superman II – “Come and kneel before Zod!” (General Zod) ((Suggested by Sue))
  • Ghost Busters – “There is no Dana, only Zuul!” (Zuul via Dana) ((Suggested by Sue))
  • Ghost Busters – “Are you a God? …… Then Die!” (Gozer)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl – “You best start believing in ghost stories Miss Turner. You’re in one.” (Captain Barbossa) ((Suggested by Sue))
  • Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl – “… the code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” (Captain Barbossa)

That’ll do for now, I’ll maybe come back and add more later.

Do we expect too much?

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There are some minor spoilers for Terminator Salvation in this post.

I’ve read reviews of Terminator 4 which lambaste the movie for the parts of the plot which don’t make any sense, and appear only to exist to allow a particular shot or to justify a particular action sequence.  I understand the concerns.  For example, why is only one T800 used to try and kill Connor in the SkyNet lab, why not hundreds?  What I don’t get is that movie makers have been doing this for ever, and the ‘original’ movies we love and revere are just as much at fault but the reviewers don’t seem to want to acknowledge that or accept it.

In the original Terminator movie, the excuse given for being able to send a Terminator back through a machine which can only send living organisms is that it’s covered in flesh.  Being covered in flesh does not make you a living organism when you’re also 3/4’s of a tonne of metal alloy inside, at best it should transport the fleshy bit and leave the alloy behind.  Personally if I was Kyle Reese I would have smuggled a powerful weapon through by having it surgically implanted in an animal and sending that through at the same time.  Or, get a couple of 24oz steaks and wrap them around a good gun while they’re still fresh and bring that through with you.  The whole concept of how they can send a machine wrapped in skin is an excuse to prevent them having anything on them from the future, because they couldn’t afford the effects.  But we forgive them that because the film is good.  It’s still just as silly though.  In T4, they didn’t use all the Terminators because it defeats the purpose of the story, full stop.

Bond villains don’t employ ex-special forces snipers with high powered rifles to kill James Bond as soon as he steps out of his hotel room because what’s the point?

That’s why we’re forced to suspend our disbelief.

Now I admit, that if you didn’t enjoy a movie because it didn’t engage you enough, then it’s harder to forgive the silly bits.  Totally understand that.  If you don’t find yourself engaged, the silly bits stick out even more.  But please, don’t claim ‘the original’ or ‘other films’ aren’t as silly.  They are.

Aliens, it’s a superb movie, lots of people think so.  In the first movie Ripley lives through the terrifying process of her entire crew being killed by a single alien, which she witnessed bursting from the chest of a friend, after seeing a facehugger implant the egg.  In the second movie she goes to sleep with a small child in the same room as several containers in which are living examples of those same facehuggers.  Why?  Why on earth would she do that when she knows what they do?  Why take any risk at all?  Totally stupid.  Designed entirely to create the next scene where Burke releases them.

In Aliens, we have technology capable of building androids and travelling hundreds of millions of miles, but apparently, no way of sending down an android to the plant surface to check out if it’s safe to go in before sending live humans.  Slightly less tense but much easier.  We ignore that because it would kind of ruin the story.

In Terminator, The Terminator goes into a gun store to buy some guns.  He has a long conversation with the guy in the shop and then shoots him.  Why does a killer robot need to ask for guns?  He walks in, kills the shop owner with his bare and impressive robot hands and then takes the guns he needs, or he asks for one gun and shoots the guy with that before taking the rest.  It’s a really cool scene as it stands, but it’s totally stupid as well.  The whole scene exists so that The Terminator can say “You’re wrong” and blow the guy away with the gun, and so that we know how many weapons he’s got.  Again, why does The Mighty Terminator need to drive a car into the police station to break in?  He can just step through the wall himself, he’s tough enough to do it.  And many more examples.

If you enjoy the film you forgive the sillyness, if you don’t enjoy it, you linger on the silly parts.  That’s okay, I get it.  I do the same.  But please, don’t pretend that all the movies we loved were perfect and had nothing silly in them – that just makes it sound like a lame excuse.

NB: It’s really quite late, and I’m not sure how well this reads through, but it was in my head last night and made it hard to get to sleep so I had to write it down today, warts and all.