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The Fountain

2008-07-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

Just saw this the other night and was blown away. It’s the most wonderful, beautiful, amazing film I’ve seen in ages. It looks phenomenal, sounds phenomenal, features stunning performances from Jackman and Weiss and the story is incredibly, deeply, spectacularly moving. In case you can’t tell, I liked it.

Now this was a surprise as almost every review I’d seen totally trashed it. Even the positive ones referred to its ‘flaws’. Seriously, how badly reviewed do you have to be before the only pull quotes you can put on the DVD include: “rises above its flaws” and “go with the flow and you’ll be rewarded”. There’s talk about its difficult and confusing structure, with the 3 stories across the 3 time periods intercutting throughout the film. It’s been called “time-travelling kabbalistic balderdash”. It was booed at the Venice Film Festival by critics. I can only assume that they either a) saw a completely different film or b) have no soul. Oh, and can’t understand the concept of metaphor.

Anyway, I can’t recommend it enough. Buy the film, buy the soundtrack and buy some tissues as you will be crying by the end.

Alex and Rocio

2008-07-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went off to our first wedding abroad: Alex and Rocio in Valladolid, Spain. Needless to say the ceremony was beautiful, with Alex giving his vows in Spanish and Rocio in English, after which came the Ave Maria and much throwing of rose petals (and confetti mortars!). Then it was on to the reception with bilingual speeches from a nervous groom and an even more nervous best man. The whole evening was wonderful with plenty of drink, dancing and delight. The first dance was ‘Beyond the Sea’ which I’d recommend to all couples for their wedding (*cough* just in case you’re reading this S *cough*). We hit the floor for a while, but the music quickly changed from crooners to euro pop so we called it a night. That was a 1.30am. 5 and a half hours later the party ended. I don’t know how some of the guests made it to the brunch (though I think the sunglasses even when down in the basement helped), which by the way had the best beef I’ve ever tasted. Then there was more wine and shots and unsurprisingly most people went back to sleep it all off, or catch a train to Madrid, while Naomi and I checked out the city.

Valladolid is gorgeous, with tall buildings and narrow streets and wide piazzas all with fountains, statues and cafes serving ‘cafe con leche’. We did the 3 walks in the guidebook, checking out the park complete with peacocks and lake, the Christopher Columbus museum (the explorer, not the director of sugary pap – Bicentennial Man I’m looking at you), and dozens of churches and galleries (sadly all closed because it was Sunday). We had a fantastic time, and then it was all over, with a short flight back and a long train ride home.

To Alex and Rocio, wishing you every happiness for your future together.

Cloverfield

2008-02-09T03:37:00.000-08:00

I had a few preconceptions going into this: I knew it was going to be handheld but had though that meant zero budget, bad acting and mainly people waiting around in the dark for some unseen horror to strike for 80% of the movie. Boy was I wrong.

First things first, Cloverfield is brilliant. It might not have much to say about the human condition, but as an action/horror it’s at the top of its game. Exhilarating, terrifying, funny, and with a great ending to boot, it just shows what can happen when Hollywood allows creative people to be, you know, creative.

Now the monster rampage (and especially the mini-monsters) might be swiped straight from Godzilla (gee, I wonder why the lead was going to Japan…) but here it’s used to devastating effect, no doubt aided by our new conditioned reaction to seeing tall buildings fall in clouds of white dust. Each moment has clearly been carefully planned by the director and writer, yet when watching seems like a natural progression into a situation spiralling increasingly out of control, as the characters stumble from one set piece into another.

I won’t list all the highlights, but the subway attack and crossing between the skyscrapers particularly floored me (though that may have something to be with my aversion to heights and the dark). Quite how they’ll make the sequel without ruining the original I don’t know, so make sure you check it out now, before the follow ups and spin offs and pale imitations start turning up in their droves.

Ashes to Ashes to Ashes

2008-02-09T03:16:00.000-08:00

So, after almost a year of waiting, the follow up to the excellent Life on Mars has arrived. Now I loved Life on Mars, and whilst I was sad to see it end, they were right to stop while they were ahead. The question was, could a reboot of the series concept work, transposing Gene Hunt and his team to 80s London? Could it work: yes. Did it work: spectacularly no.

Now I’ve been hearing that things pick up in episode two and it’s only because of that, and the genius of Life on Mars, that I’m going to keep watching. The first episode really was that bad. There are many reasons why LoM was brilliant, but I’d say part of it was making a modern cop show but with characters that behaved like they would have back in the Sweeny. In Ashes to Ashes, they decided to put 80s characters in an 80s show: everything big, loud and over the top. Forget engaging storylines, forget logic, forget art direction that enhances the drama rather than engulfs it: welcome back to the overblown nonsense of the A-team, Airwolf and Knight Rider. Now those shows had a few things going for them: they were American, which somehow gave them licence to exaggerate real life, and the characters were funny and interesting and, important this bit, likeable. Without that, they’d have just been a string of ridiculous explosions and set pieces (and yes, I know many will say that’s all they were, but think about how fondly these shows are still remembered).

Ashes to Ashes made the fatal mistake of putting a neurotic, unbelievable and, worst of all, irritating character in the centre of the story. D.I. Alex Drake is that unforgivable creation: a character devised by committee in a reality vacuum. Yes she may sound interesting on paper, but stick her in a cop show and she’s like Godzilla in New York (destroys everything and make for a dire movie). To be fair to the writers it might not be entirely their fault. At least some of the blame has to be carried by the awful direction and the (I’m running out of superlatives here) utterly appalling performance of Keeley Hawes.

I’m truly hoping thing pick up next week and will save any more comment until then. Let’s just hope they don’t destroy the legacy of such an, original fantastic first show.

Dexter and Dirt

2007-08-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

Finally caught up with these US imports the other night.

Dirt was okay: the plot was predictable, Pee-Wee Herman felt out of place and the ongoing B-plot was hard to pick up. On the other hand, Ian Hart as Don Konkey was great in what little screen time he was given, and the show managed to tread the fine line between glorifying the tabloids and showing the muck underneath the glossy surface. Will give it another shot as I keep hearing fantastic things about Ian Hart, but it felt like the show hadn’t really found it’s feet: that it was holding back.

Holding back is certainly not something you could accuse Dexter of: death, drugs and dismemberment all rolled into one Miami sun-baked package. What makes this different from other cop shows (like CSI: Miami) is that instead of having a lead who spends the whole show posturing (like CSI:Miami) or being smug (like CSI:Miami) or wearing shades even at night (like CSI… oh you get the idea), the lead in Dexter is a charming, confident team player who works in the police lab by day whilst murdering killers the police can’t nail at night. Oh, and it’s a black comedy. Jet black. The opening sequence of Dexter getting up in the morning makes this abundantly clear as blood oranges are squeezed, steaks are stabbed and floss wire is pulled tight. A wonderful, dark, warped and gripping show that I wished I’d seen from the beginning.

Libelled Lady

2007-08-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

A fun film from the thirties staring Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, and most importantly: William Powell and Myrna Loy. If those names don’t mean anything to you, don’t watch the film yet. Instead, get the Thin Man collection and watch them all. Half my wife’s and my enjoyment came from recognising the cast from the Thin Man and seeing them play off each other in a different situation. The film could almost be a prequel, showing how Nick and Nora got together.

The plot is lightweight and Tracy and Harlow are more annoying than comic, but Powell and Loy bring the screen to life. Tracy’s newspaper publishes a story about Loy that turns out to be untrue. Loy intends to sue for 5 million, so Tracey hires Powell to save the paper by faking a scandal about Loy using Harlow (Tracy’s betrothed) as Powell’s wife, but Powell falls for Loy. Which leads to lots of comic sparing, a touching romance and the best worst trout fishing you’ll ever see.

Shelves

2007-08-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Spent the Bank Holiday weekend picking, buying, carrying, opening, returning, assembling, moving and stacking shelves. I never want to build another shelf again. Some important things I’ve learnt about them:

-As soon as you buy one shelf, it will become impossible to buy any more in the same line, forcing you to have mismatched shelves or to start all over again.
-The only free walls in the house will have electrical, gas, water or all three running behind them.
-If the shelf parts were made level, your floor wasn’t.
-Stores clearly use an equation to convert from storing CDs to DVDs instead of actually counting them as shelves never hold the DVDs they claim.
-Shelves are extremely heavy, but can just fit on the No. 28 bus.
-You always need one more shelf than you bought.

Pilots, Pilots Everywhere

2007-08-24T13:25:00.001-07:00

It’s the start of the Edinburgh International Television Festival today, and most of the channels are cancelling vast swaths of their existing shows (goodbye Celebrity Big Brother, we’ll not miss you!) to make way for a range of exciting and innovative home grown programming. In other words, the old popular shows are costing us too much so lets ditch them for something cheaper. Now in general I approve, but it really depends on what they replace the timeslots with. Channel 4 is going to spend more with small indies (ones with less than 2 million turn over) to help support growth in the sector, or do they want companies that are a little more… eager for work and willing to get paid a little less? I’m sure it’s not that. Then there’s the big furore about trust in broadcasters (cue Paxman, exit pursued by an angry controller). That’s going to eat up the training budget and cause the less-then-body-builder-physiqued producers the more than occasional hernia when they try to carry the new editorial standards guidelines into meetings.

There’s also been a few interesting general trends in commissioning lately. Both BBC3 and Channel 4 have upcoming series of one off pilots. BBC3 has 6 dramas coming later this year:
Six For Three
and Channel 4 has ‘Coming Up’, a series of 8 original half hour dramas:
Coming Up

It’s nothing new, and has worked very well in the past (Seven of One led to Porridge, Open All Hours and the less successful The Magnificent Evans) but this feels like a way to test the waters before commissioning a full series, rather than intentionally constructing a series of short dramas. Why does that make a difference? Well, for one thing I’d be interested to know what budgets these got, and for writers, creating a one off drama so that it can also be turned into a series can lead to a confused mess of open ended plot points and sudden resolutions. Hopefully these won’t fall victim to these problems, but the fact that most of the BBC3 shows feature “a group of teenagers in [insert location/situation here]” isn’t a good sign. On the other hand, one of them features a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf flat sharing, so it’s not all predictable.

Four Films

2007-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

The Bourne Ultimatum

Go. See. This. Film. It's worth rewatching The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy first as there's lots of shout outs to the previous installments. The film's cracking and Paul Greengrass is a stunning director. Oh, and in case your wondering, no the title doesn't make any sense.

Transformers

Bad acting. Bad dialogue. No plot. Shakey cam. But it's *Transformers*! If that doesn't mean anything to you, you either skipped the film or thought it was a waste of time. And it is. But it's *Transformers*! (Oh, and Shia LaBeouf is great. Looking forward to him in Indi 4)

The Simpsons Movie

Really enjoyed this. I know a lot of people say it isn't as funny as the series but a) the series hasn't been funny for years, b) the original series didn't have to sustain a 90 min plot and c) spider pig. Can he swing from a web? Course he can't, he's a pig.

Hairspray

Wasn't looking forward to this for one reason: John Travolta. In drag and in a fat suit. And he very nearly ruined the film for me. But the rest of the cast were wonderful, Christopher Walken dances, and the whole thing is so fun and uplifting it's hard not to leave with a big grin on your face.

Moving House

2007-08-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

We've moved!

After several weeks (months?) we're finally settled in our new home 4 doors down from our old one (we love Wandsworth). We've our dining table, bed, coffee table, TV, Sky+, piano and in a few weeks should finally get our sofas (we're on a futon for now). Oh, and we have internet!

Some tips for other movers:
-Sky needs a BT line. BT take ~a week to get a new line set up for you. So time your Sky set up to happen the day after BT install the line. And book them both before you move in to save time.
-Sky take up to 3 weeks to get you online *after* BT confim the line. And BT take up to 5 days to confirm the line. So be prepared to be without the internet for up to a month, even if you plan things carefully.
-Argos suck. Their online system sucks. Their store ordering policy sucks. Their customer service is great. Just kidding, it sucks. Once you actually get the stuff in your house, it's pretty good. But just trying getting it there...
-PJ's Emporium in New Malden does gorgeous oak furniture. And they're friendly. And they delivery quickly and within a small time window. We love PJ's.
-John Lewis sucks. Their delivery service sucks. Their phone system sucks. Their customer support sucks (apart from Denise who actually knows how to help you). Again, once you actually get the stuff it's pretty good, but my goodness it's a battle to get it (Agincourt with fewer French).
-Parents are wonderful. This is true in general, but especially so when moving house.
-You *never* finish unpacking (seriously, we have a box from 18 months ago that we never opened at our last house. Or maybe that's just us being lazy. Think I know which it is...)
-Work for an understanding company who let you work from home so you can take delivery of things. In turn, make sure you actually *do* the work, and plan for your day in advance so you can cope without internet (see above).

Well, that's the highs and lows of my wife and I's last month. How have you been?

Bullet Proof

2007-07-22T10:31:00.001-07:00

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.

We Still Kill The Old Way

2007-07-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

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.

I Spy

2007-07-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

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.

I Put a Spell On You

2007-07-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

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).

Throw Away Your Television

2007-07-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Zombie, a.k.a In Your Heeeee-ed

2007-07-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Sail Away

2007-07-10T13:29:00.001-07:00

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.

Holding Out For a Hero

2007-07-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Big Crash

2007-07-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Internet went down Saturday morning. Beginning to lose faith in Sky Broadband. It's finally back but who knows for how long.

Blondie

2007-07-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

Monkey Business. Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe. Watch it with someone you love.

Piece of the Action

2007-07-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

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.

Weapon of Choice

2007-07-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

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.

Miniature Disasters

2007-07-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

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…

Say Goodbye Hollywood

2007-07-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Serge A. Storms and Coleman are back in Tim Dorsey’s ‘The Big Bamboo’, his 8^th 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.

Even Better Than The Real Thing

2007-07-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

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.