Mad Men Twitter
The twitter account of Don Draper (the creative director of Sterling Cooper from the show Mad Men). Or a really interesting way to promote Mad Men and add another dimension to a story. It’s well written and continues your relationship while the show is off air.
A brilliant idea.
Twitter is a great medium for story telling and is underused (I think) as such. It’s already a sort of autobiography, but wouldn’t it be sweet to be able subscribe to more stuff like this. It’s also a good place to write a novel etc.
Portable Film Festival
The Portable Film Festival is a festival that is free and available to anyone, anywhere, anytime with an Internet connection. All the content is downloadable to a laptop, iPod, PSP, 3G device etc. The audience can vote across the categories which include: Short Film, Music Video, Look At Me and First Hand Capture.
Rambos // Blu Ray // £13
There is little point being critical about this movie (you know as well as I do, it’s rubbish). I’ll explain the ‘plot’ : A group of religious people ask John ‘Rambos’ Rambo for assistance in taking them to Burma, so that they can give medicine and supplies to dying villagers. Rambos refuses.
Ahhhh, but that’s not quite it. After a ‘deeply moving’ motivational speech from a girl, he decides to do it. The missionaries (of course) get captured and Rambos has to go back to save them, taking a bunch of misfit mercenaries along as ‘help’.
He then single handedly kills everyone in Burma.
Job done.
Rambos.
They Live // Fight Scene
I got They Live (which is one of my favorite films) on DVD recently, and although I haven’t watched it yet - I can’t stop thinking about the 5+ minute (fist) fight scene in the middle. If you haven’t seen it, and you’ve got no life, here it is:
Genius. Carpenter at his best.
Death Proof // DVD // Borrowed
There are three things I always like about Tarantino films: the style, the dialogue and the cast. It usually doesn’t bother me much if the plot is a bit thin, as long as he gets the those three right, I’ll mostly enjoy the film
Be Kind Rewind // BluRay // £15
As much as I love Gondry, and as charming as it might be, Be Kind Rewind is not a very good film. It’s a good idea, but one that isn’t worthy of a whole film.
The Dark Knight // Vue // £21
Firstly, the film didn’t really cost £21, it was £8. But, by the time I had parked, had some popcorn and a coke I’d spent £21. Which is a lot, especially as I had to sit through almost 30 minutes of ad’s prior to the film starting and my seat smelled of wee. It’s not difficult to see why I rarely go to the cinema.
Anyway, The Dark Knight:
Control // DVD
Control is not a happy film (no surprises there). It is however a very well managed juxtaposition of Joy Division’s rapid rise and their lead singer’s swift demise; events that happened on the intimate stage of Ian Curtis’ personal life and in the larger arena of popular culture. Mr. Corbijn, to his credit, sticks to the former, rather than banging out yet another hollow biopic.
The overall tone and style is very intimate, while the enigma of Ian Curtis remains intact. It’s testament to the sombre elegance of Corbijn’s film, his expert direction (particularly in capturing Riley/Curtis on stage) and Sam Riley’s stunning portrayal, that this doesn’t detract from the films success. Control shows us Ian Curtis, but from a distance, which is probably about as close as anyone ever got.
Brilliant.
Star Draws
Wonderful high-res scans of Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept paintings and drawings created for the original Star Wars trilogy.
Movie DNA
Distilling a whole film (above is Taxi Driver) down to one single image. Be more interesting if it had a purpose, like a recommender or something.
Cloverfield // DVD
By it’s very nature, an unedited recording made by a hysterical man experiencing an attack on his city by a big monster (who narrowly escapes death several times and loses several friends and a relative), would not be particularly cohesive. It may well be sporadically exciting, but there would be little narrative, the characters would be shallow and difficult to empahise with and the camera work would be lamentable.
Unless, of course, this man thought that filming such an attack might be more important than saving his, or his friends, lives. And he happened to be a record/pause genius, who managed to catch only relevant (arguably contrived), dialogue and action. Both somewhat fortunately taped over the top of a previous recording, that occasionally appears to remind us of the validity of our ‘empathy’.
But I guess that might be a silly film, and one someone like me wouldn’t enjoy.
Green Porno
Isabella Rossellini is a f*@king loon.
Ironion Man
Some funny.
Deadwood // Season 1 / 2 / 3 - DVD
Deadwood is yet another brilliant series from HBO. It took me several episodes to get hooked, as it’s a bit of a slow burner, but it needs to be, as both the characters and story are so deep and intelligent they warrant further exploration.
Building these characters and storylines slowly and thoroughly, results in an experience that is arguably without peers, and is very immersive TV. You certainly don’t have to be a western fan to enjoy the dialogue, performances and scripting. The way the narrative unfolds is delicate and detailed, plus there’s a smart combination of fiction and real characters/events that creates a depth that is unique.
The show is gritty, harsh and is renound for it’s explosive dialogue; which is a casual juxtaposition of ’shocking’ swearyness and a kind of Victorian eloquence. The constant barrage of profanity seems a little excessive at first (even for me), but it slowly becomes a language all of its own, meaning you sort of become a part of Deadwood as soon as you hear it.
On top of all this the performances are excellent (throughout the entire cast, not least Lovejoy*), and it’s this that gives the show it’s grounding and helps make it such a joy to watch.
Like I said, brilliant.
*I am proud to have appeared in Lovejoy (as an extra) on several occasions during the early 90’s.
Physical Media // 3 in 1
I haven’t posted any film or TV based items for a while, which means I have a bit of a backlog. So, rather than expend energy unnecessarily, I am lumping 3 recent viewings together in this single post.
No Country For Old Men // This Is England // Family Guy - Blue Harvist.
