Wednesday 28 May 2008

Lack of Posts.

Sorry about the lack of posts. It looks set to carry on as such for the next few weeks, 'cos I have got exams. Wish me luck!

England v USA

That was so boring. There is literally nothing to take from that game.

Played football today, in the park. It rained. That didn't stop me, but it did ruin a perfectly fine cheap top.

Monday 19 May 2008

Searching for TV tickets...

My summer holidays stretch invitingly before me, once I have escaped the fear of exams. I have a few theories on how to kill my time, one of which does excite me very much. It suddenly occurred to me that all these television shows that are "filmed in-front of a live studio audience" must require people to be in that “live studio audience”. Upon enquiry it appears that these tickets are freely available, as long as you apply in the right places at the right time, long in advance, to see shows filmed at odd times on weekdays. This suits me fine. One problem is that the tickets do not guarantee entry, the right is reserved for you to be turned away on the day. But I can deal with that later, and they are free tickets.

This does seem to be a difficult process, requiring dedication and focus, but if the result is tickets to go and see QI or Top Gear live, that would be awesome.

There will be updates when I know more...

Sunday 11 May 2008

Iron Man - Review

So, Iron Man is finally out, and the review is finally here. I don’t know if you can remember my thoughts on the Iron Man trailer, all the way back in February, but I made a few crucial points back then, a few things I felt Iron Man needed to avoid. My first point was to keep the origin story plotline to a minimum. The second suggestion was to make the villain interesting and therefore the resulting conflict dramatic.

Iron Man failed to heed either of these suggestions. It is all origin story, and the conflict between hero and villain is disengaging for the audience to the extent that we really just don’t care at all. The villain is terrible, and the actual heroic of Iron Man are kept to a minimum. All he does is deal with his own self-important morality crisis and then defend his own life. He does not even get a kitten out of a tree once. He is really not mush of a “hero”.

The good news is that Iron Man is still awesome.

And I claim that is because of my third point: make a hero who is both super-strong and still super relatable. This is based upon one key principle, Robert Downey Jr.

The casting as a whole is superb, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges do good jobs at supporting the tone of the film, even if their characters are a bit flat. Special kudos must go to Robert Downey Jr, who turns a potentially disastrous character into a watchable, relatable hero. His delivery is perfect, he carries scenes on his own.

He is perfectly supported by the effects work. Iron Man truly looks like he is flying. He truly looks like he can do what he does, and the division between computer effects and a man in a suit are brilliantly done.

Unless, that is, you decide to pay real close attention. Under scrutiny, you can see some flaws. My advice, don’t watch properly. Just let it float on over you. One good point I should add is that Iron Man does a good job of showing the audience what is going on, something becoming rare in a post-Bourne world. Yes, Transformers, I am looking at you.

Iron Man stays away from the traditional love story that most superheroes films focus on. Iron Man also stays away from the traditional Bad-Guy-needs-to-be-stopped-from-doing-evil story that typifies the genre. There is not even a natural disaster on an accident that needs to be averted. There is a small amount of love, and there is a small amount of evil that only serves to make the last half hour of the film quite disappointing.

What Iron Man does do is split itself neatly into three segments. In the first, the main character, Tony Stark, is captured by terrorists who want him to build them a superweapon, and he embarks on a plan to escape. After these first 40 minutes (exactly), the second period is spent with Stark working out the mechanics of building a working suit. The final fragment involves Stark using his new suit to try and stop another suit inhabited by the oh-so-obviously evil baddy. This division works well, but it does give the impression that you are watching three short films, that are only loosely interconnected. There is no feeling of true continuity to the feel and tone of the film. And then the film ends just when it has found it’s feet.

Making matters worse is the pathetic predictability of the whole film. Every scene plays out almost exactly as you would suspect. This is a traditional superhero film. It is quite well done, but if you are not a fan of the genre this will not be the film to convert you.

This brings me to my main point. The morality of the film is questionable, the view of death and of violence I found disturbing. I know I shouldn't find a popcorn film like this troubling in any way, but the choice to place much of the film in the middle-east, with terrorists, did not sit well with me, personally.

Nonetheless, Iron Man is brilliant for what it is. It is well made, well acted, and the action is well done. But that is all it is. "well" sums up all aspects of this film. I left the cinema feeling content, but the more I thought about what I had seen the less impressed I was.

What pissed me off most was the feeling that I had just waited months to see the beginning of a story. Iron Man is setting up a sequel, and I hate it for this, because as soon as Iron Man is ready to go, we stop.

Ironically, this may read like a bad review, but Iron Man is actually quite enjoyable. I would recommend going to see it. Luckily for you, you already know if you want to see Iron Man or not, it is so formulaic and so traditional. My first impression was that it was Awesome. It is Awesome. It is just not as awesome as I had hoped. But then, I was hoping for it to be the best thing ever.

I am not too happy with this review. I don’t feel I did the film justice. It is, actually really good. I am just bitter, because it falls for every trap I hoped it would be smart enough to avoid. That aside, Robert Downey Jr portrays the best main character in a superhero film, and the film is an enjoyable way to pass a few hours. And from this point on, I will build up in my own heart the hype for the nest film.

In three words? Predictable. Anti-climatic. Formulaic.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Hancock Trailer

One of the wonderful things about the release of Iron Man, apart from the film itself, is the importance of the month of May to film distributers. You see, the more people who go and see these early summer blockbusters, the more people will see the trailers for the big end-of-summer blockbusters. This is brilliant, because with Iron Man we get to see some new trailers for some of the biggest films of the summer. And I am always excited by trailers.

There were many that I got to see for the first time. A new Dark Knight trailer, a new Hulk trailer and a new Indiana Jones trailer all got me buzzing with anticipation, but they are all films that I have already been very excited about. Luckily for me there was a new trailer, for a film that seemed to have slipped in under my radar. This is remarkable for a script that has been around Hollywood for years, that is heavy on special effects and stars Will Smith, and, Oh God, was it an awesome trailer.

Trailers suffer in general from providing you the impression that you have seen the whole film, and are not excited by the prospect of going to the cinema. Making a trailer is an art, and it can be screwed up. This was a brilliant trailer, because it provided the premise for the film, but left my imagination to build up the content, while being amazed by some brilliant effects work. Luckily, it was helped by my love of Will Smith.

For those of you who remember my Iron Man excitement, you may be able to pick up that I love the idea of superheroes. These films constantly disappoint, with X3 one massive example. They are often flawed. But I based my “Iron Man will rule!” argument of two theories; the character and the ability. Spiderman was relatable, and this is a good thing. Superman was strong, and this was awesome. A relatable and strong character, based around Will Smith, who has proved he can carry a film while using his comedy to build character, as in I am Legend, coupled with super strength and flight, and potentially more, makes this an exiting prospect.

Finally - have you seen how awesome Hancock looks! He flies! I believe he can fly! He throws a beached Whale back into the sea! If Smith can pull this off, based upon a great script, solid direction and convincing effects, then it will be amazing!

July 2nd cannot come soon enough!

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady

Crap, there goes my master plan. Love and World Domintion will need to be comletely re-thought...