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.
Star Wars Vs Saul Bass
Smashing.
Project Grizzly
Found this on the ever excellent PSOTI today.
I actually watched the whole film a few years back and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s brilliant.
A man (who apparently got attacked by a bear) invests all his cash and life into building a bear retardant suit. He tests it by hurling boulders and logs at himself and getting his mates to baseball bat him into submission. The genius bit is that in order for the suit to remain ‘bear proof’, it becomes practically useless in any scenario that involves any kind of contact with bears.
Ratatouille - DVD
I was having a conversation last week about the apparently arbitrary way in which I like or dislike a film that’s narrative is based solely on it’s genre - over any actual ingenious plot or creative idea. Pixar’s Ratatouille is one such film, as I guess are all Pixar features. And, like I said, my like / dislike of said films seems totally arbitrary. I liked Finding Nemo, Cars and Incredibiles and I didn’t like Monsters Inc, Toy Story and Bugs (you see how this works). Each one of those films is basically the same, but my responses differed wildly. I guess what I’m trying to say is that they all share an equal amount of merit, the ‘good or bad’ element is based solely on personal preferences, mood, preconceptions etc.
I liked Ratatouile, I can’t really seriously offer a lot of reasons why, considering my opening gambit. It might be that the animation is awesome, the vocal work and script is fantastic and the central (largely familiar) conflict between family and the pursuit of an ideal, is subtly and very cleverly handled.
Most likely reason: I’m tired and hungover.
Vader In Love
Don’t know where this came from - it looks like it’s a BBC production?
Anyway, it’s 6 mins of sillyness.
Flight Of The Conchords - Season One DVD
For those of you that haven’t seen it; Flight of the Conchords follows Jemaine and Bret (a New Zealand ‘digi-folk’ band) and their shenanigans as they bumble around NYC attempting to latch on to fame and fortune without any money or contacts. They do have a fan, Mel, who’s essentially a nutbag female stalker; and a manager, Murray (the standout for me), who’s the deputy cultural attaché at the New Zealand consulate.
It’s brilliantly understated, the characterization, casting and the ‘parodies of pop’ (once or twice an episode the action is punctuated by a satirical musical interlude), are all an absolute joy to behold.
I loved this show, it’s incredibly well written, fresh, funny and manages to use a lot of solid comedy basics to good effect - without ruining the delivery of the narrative or the quality of the ensemble.
Brilliant. Watch it.
Holographic Movie Promo
Holographic water display in Tokyo to hype the upcoming film Water Horse: Legend of the Deep. The hologram is probably a lot better than the film, which I think, a brilliantly conceived piece about a boy who has no friends, except of course, an inordinately large sea monster. Then I imagine the secret gets out and the authorities come to get the monster and then the boy has to save him, but you’re not really meant to know if he will, but I guess he does…
£8 (£16 if you’re thinking of taking your girlfriend) - Thanks.
Transformers - HD DVD
Let’s get our facts straight; Transformers is based on some 1980’s toys and a cartoon that had a rubbish/brilliant theme song. In Transformers world there are goodies (Autobots) and baddies (Decepticons). The goodies are led by a lorry, called Optimus Prime, and the baddies by a robot whose original “alternate mode” is a Walther P38 (funny how they didn’t mention that in the movie). Anyway, these robots have come to Earth from planet Cybertron to find an all-powerful cube thingy that could, in the wrong hands, destroy humanity forever by turning washing machines into trained killers.
Given that I knew a lot of this before I sat down to watch the film, I can hardly claim it’s rubbish. Plus the Transformers do look absolutely incredible (the best CGI I’ve seen) and it’s basically a binge fest of giant robots/guns action.
Sweet.
Be sure to watch it on the loudest biggest screen you can find (that’s not a baddie “robot in disguise” obviously).