I've never been that big a Bond fan, I didn't really like the character and the quickly established formula of gadgets, girls and explosions never grabbed me for some reason. I think they came across as too English and couldn't match that bit of otherworldness that American action films had.
Now though after diminishing box office returns and a more realistic style of action film the move was made to update the franchise. Casino Royale stripped out the majority of the globe trotting and went for a more straightforward story, by and large this was successful although the much hyped emotional core of the doomed girlfriend didn't quite work, it fell into the trap most movies do of saying a relationship was important because it just is instead of trying to build it up realistically.
With Quantum of Solace acting as a direct sequel to Casino Royale the story picks up with Bond kidnapping someone to be interrogated by MI6 and then…
That's the problem, the story is convoluted, boring and veers very closely to treating Bond as an English version of the Terminator. Although Daniel Craig is a good actor he's given nothing to work off, he receives a kicking, gets up, kicks back harder with seemingly no personal damage, rinse and repeat.
The attempt to humanize Bond in Casino Royale seems to have been jettisoned with the odd nod to hunting down someone related to Vespa's death as a nod to some kind of humanity, the rest of the time he's smacking people in the head.
This brings up the action scenes, I've got to say that I'm sick of epilepsy inducing editing and weird camera angles, since the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan directors have been trying to outdo each other in throwing the handheld camera around. The difference between them and Spielberg is that he knows how to put you in the middle of the action but still tell the story and not confuse you. While not as bad as the fight scenes in Batman Begins, Quantum of Solace suffers from showing the stuntmens ear rather than what's happening.
Although Marc Forster has done a couple of nice character pieces like Stranger Than Fiction and Finding Neverland, he seems to be out of his depth in this. Set pieces such as the opera sequence that should show the scope of this new evil underground organisation fall flat and when the story is as all over the place this compounds how confused the film seems.
It's a shame that something as simple as another pass at the script seems to have been jettisoned to make sure the writers strike didn't stop filming but when the film makers literally copy and paste the Euro fag villain from Casino Royale over there has to be criticism at that level of lazyness.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Guns n' Roses- Chinese Democracy
The self proclaimed most anticipated record EVER has finally turned up, after 14 years of adding a bleep here, an orchestra there and turning up the guitars a little bit in the cans please, Axel has sent his new record out into the world.
The problem is that a lot of people with access to the interspaz and the knowledge of nefarious sites have heard the demos and early mixes of these songs over the last few years so there's zero surprises here. Apart from the odd name change and Axel's Sade phase from 1998 actually making it onto the album nothing jumps out as being shocking.
Well apart from the record not being a total car crash and actually being quite good. Anyone expecting another Appetite for Destruction will be let down, taking the BIG sound and Queen fascination that the Use Your Illusion records showed and really going for it.
There are waves of guitars (each song averages 5 guitarists), thousands of multi tracked Axels and keyboards filling any gaps that the other instruments have missed and that's just the first 30 seconds of the opening track. If you're going to employ 4 or 5 producers over the years then I guess you want something to show for it but Chinese Democracy is so polished that a lot of the immediacy and smacking you around the back of the head aggresion that made the original band so popular is gone now.
That's not to say that the songs are lacking, they've just been buffed to within an inch of their lives and there's a couple too many piano driven big ballads but songs like the title track, Better, There Was a Time and Prostitute stand out for having great tunes and they'll translate on record or live.
Whether anyone will actually care and buy the record in big enough numbers to make this profitable's highly debatable but at least it's finally done and the pigs can get ready to fly.
The problem is that a lot of people with access to the interspaz and the knowledge of nefarious sites have heard the demos and early mixes of these songs over the last few years so there's zero surprises here. Apart from the odd name change and Axel's Sade phase from 1998 actually making it onto the album nothing jumps out as being shocking.
Well apart from the record not being a total car crash and actually being quite good. Anyone expecting another Appetite for Destruction will be let down, taking the BIG sound and Queen fascination that the Use Your Illusion records showed and really going for it.
There are waves of guitars (each song averages 5 guitarists), thousands of multi tracked Axels and keyboards filling any gaps that the other instruments have missed and that's just the first 30 seconds of the opening track. If you're going to employ 4 or 5 producers over the years then I guess you want something to show for it but Chinese Democracy is so polished that a lot of the immediacy and smacking you around the back of the head aggresion that made the original band so popular is gone now.
That's not to say that the songs are lacking, they've just been buffed to within an inch of their lives and there's a couple too many piano driven big ballads but songs like the title track, Better, There Was a Time and Prostitute stand out for having great tunes and they'll translate on record or live.
Whether anyone will actually care and buy the record in big enough numbers to make this profitable's highly debatable but at least it's finally done and the pigs can get ready to fly.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
From Hell Review
From Hell (2001)
As adaptations go the Hughes brothers set themselves up for a huge task by taking on Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's phone book of a comic about Jack the Ripper. There was no way that a 2 hour film could coherently cover all of the points that Moore did (these include architecture as a spell and the sexual and social morals of the era) so the film concentrates on more of a whodunit approach whereas the book told you within the first 30 odd pages who the Ripper was.
On a story level this is fair enough but shoe horning in a relationship between Johnny Depp's character of Inspector Abberline and Heather Graham's Mary Kelly is an error, it's totally unneeded in the context of the film. That said they're of totally different genetic stock to everyone else in the film so who can blame them for gravitating to each other?
Depp and Robbie Coltraine are fine as the 2 policemen trying to track down the Ripper although Depps cockney accent does veer a little too close into Dick Van Dyke territory now and again. It's a lot more successful than Heather Grahams though, she just doesn't work as a 19th century prostitute, you have to wonder what went on in that casting session if she was the best the film makers could come up with.
The other notable performance comes from Ian Holm as William Gull (the Queens physician at the time), you know he'll always do a good job no matter what he's in but he's extra creepy in this.
Visually the film has some nice touches such as Abberlines hallucinations and CGI additions to the practical sets to extend the scope of the films version of London without relying on the standby of adding lots and lots of fog.
While not a success as an adaptation of its source material this is a fair addition to the Ripper library. One thing I will say is that the first time I saw this I fell asleep during the last 10 minutes and thought a character had died and that when you see them at the very end of the film it was a final hallucination for Abberline. When I watched it again I realised this wasn't the case, stupid films with their inserting happy endings into my death, destruction and despair…
As adaptations go the Hughes brothers set themselves up for a huge task by taking on Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's phone book of a comic about Jack the Ripper. There was no way that a 2 hour film could coherently cover all of the points that Moore did (these include architecture as a spell and the sexual and social morals of the era) so the film concentrates on more of a whodunit approach whereas the book told you within the first 30 odd pages who the Ripper was.
On a story level this is fair enough but shoe horning in a relationship between Johnny Depp's character of Inspector Abberline and Heather Graham's Mary Kelly is an error, it's totally unneeded in the context of the film. That said they're of totally different genetic stock to everyone else in the film so who can blame them for gravitating to each other?
Depp and Robbie Coltraine are fine as the 2 policemen trying to track down the Ripper although Depps cockney accent does veer a little too close into Dick Van Dyke territory now and again. It's a lot more successful than Heather Grahams though, she just doesn't work as a 19th century prostitute, you have to wonder what went on in that casting session if she was the best the film makers could come up with.
The other notable performance comes from Ian Holm as William Gull (the Queens physician at the time), you know he'll always do a good job no matter what he's in but he's extra creepy in this.
Visually the film has some nice touches such as Abberlines hallucinations and CGI additions to the practical sets to extend the scope of the films version of London without relying on the standby of adding lots and lots of fog.
While not a success as an adaptation of its source material this is a fair addition to the Ripper library. One thing I will say is that the first time I saw this I fell asleep during the last 10 minutes and thought a character had died and that when you see them at the very end of the film it was a final hallucination for Abberline. When I watched it again I realised this wasn't the case, stupid films with their inserting happy endings into my death, destruction and despair…
Monday, 29 September 2008
REC Review
It's nearly October and that can only mean 2 things.
1. It's getting dark and blowy at night so there's no distractions from writing bum about films.
2. Halloween, horror films are great to write about until I've made myself feel ill and desentisized by the brutality. Until then friends bravely onwards...
REC (2007)
REC is a Spanish horror film by directors Jaume Balaguero and Luis Berdejo, a kind of mix of Diary of the Dead and Blair Witch Project. The conceit is that a reporter and her cameraman are filming a firestation and the men that work at it in Barcelona so when the call goes out to attend to a situation in an appartment bloke they tag along.
Once there events rapidly spiral out of control as both firemen and residents are infected with a virus that turns them into pseudo zombies, events aren't helped when the building is sealed off to stop the virus spreading further. The survivors have to decide to hide or find an escape route while their numbers are being reduced.
In a first person film like this you won't get beautiful lighting or gliding cameras, it's all rollercoaster, throw you from one end of the story to the other with a couple of breathers to build a little character and provide exposition. This helps cover up for a lack of budget and while you have to accept that someone would carry on filming while running for their life from people who want to rip you limb from limb it does make the jumps more effective.
The final few moments provide a cause for the virus and that's where the real surprise of the film comes in, it gives you a religious explanation that you just wouldn't get from an American film. After the initial few moments you take to process this it makes for an interesting change from the usual radioactive goop.
As a zombie film and as an exploration of the single camera set up this is a lot more successful than Romero's Diary of the Dead as the acting is of a much better standard and there's no heavy handed voice over to carefully explain to the slower members of the audience what's going on.
All in all a nice solid horror film.
1. It's getting dark and blowy at night so there's no distractions from writing bum about films.
2. Halloween, horror films are great to write about until I've made myself feel ill and desentisized by the brutality. Until then friends bravely onwards...
REC (2007)
REC is a Spanish horror film by directors Jaume Balaguero and Luis Berdejo, a kind of mix of Diary of the Dead and Blair Witch Project. The conceit is that a reporter and her cameraman are filming a firestation and the men that work at it in Barcelona so when the call goes out to attend to a situation in an appartment bloke they tag along.
Once there events rapidly spiral out of control as both firemen and residents are infected with a virus that turns them into pseudo zombies, events aren't helped when the building is sealed off to stop the virus spreading further. The survivors have to decide to hide or find an escape route while their numbers are being reduced.
In a first person film like this you won't get beautiful lighting or gliding cameras, it's all rollercoaster, throw you from one end of the story to the other with a couple of breathers to build a little character and provide exposition. This helps cover up for a lack of budget and while you have to accept that someone would carry on filming while running for their life from people who want to rip you limb from limb it does make the jumps more effective.
The final few moments provide a cause for the virus and that's where the real surprise of the film comes in, it gives you a religious explanation that you just wouldn't get from an American film. After the initial few moments you take to process this it makes for an interesting change from the usual radioactive goop.
As a zombie film and as an exploration of the single camera set up this is a lot more successful than Romero's Diary of the Dead as the acting is of a much better standard and there's no heavy handed voice over to carefully explain to the slower members of the audience what's going on.
All in all a nice solid horror film.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Spider-Man
Spider-Man (2002)
I’ve decided to have a bit of a backtrack through my dvd collection and watch some runs of films before banging down my feelings on them. To begin with I’m watching the Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man films, in the interests of full disclosure I’ll admit that Spidey is my favourite superhero and has been since I was about 4 or 5 so finally getting to see full on bebby action a big screen was a huge thrill.
So how does the first film hold up after several years? Well pretty much the same as when I saw it the first time around, you can feel the love that Sam Raimi has for the characters and although he’s a lot more restrained in terms of throwing the camera around than he did in his Evil Dead days, having a sad sack hero to beat up on him still clearly appeals and the god that is Bruce Campbell appears briefly.
Although the Green Goblin costume that Willem Defoe is put in is suspect to say the least the films main problem is Tobey Maguires understated to the point of sleep performance. Although you don’t want to be overplaying to the nose bleeds his version of emoting is to stare blankly ahead and possibly cry. Kirsten Dunst is more successful as Mary Jane, making her work as the girl next door.
Crying is something that happens A LOT in these films.
The CGI can be a little variable but when you’ve got the fantastic JK Simmons as a perfect J Jonah Jameson it’s forgivable, he’s the franchise in waiting, forget Wolverine, a Daily Bugle film would be the dream.
I’ve decided to have a bit of a backtrack through my dvd collection and watch some runs of films before banging down my feelings on them. To begin with I’m watching the Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man films, in the interests of full disclosure I’ll admit that Spidey is my favourite superhero and has been since I was about 4 or 5 so finally getting to see full on bebby action a big screen was a huge thrill.
So how does the first film hold up after several years? Well pretty much the same as when I saw it the first time around, you can feel the love that Sam Raimi has for the characters and although he’s a lot more restrained in terms of throwing the camera around than he did in his Evil Dead days, having a sad sack hero to beat up on him still clearly appeals and the god that is Bruce Campbell appears briefly.
Although the Green Goblin costume that Willem Defoe is put in is suspect to say the least the films main problem is Tobey Maguires understated to the point of sleep performance. Although you don’t want to be overplaying to the nose bleeds his version of emoting is to stare blankly ahead and possibly cry. Kirsten Dunst is more successful as Mary Jane, making her work as the girl next door.
Crying is something that happens A LOT in these films.
The CGI can be a little variable but when you’ve got the fantastic JK Simmons as a perfect J Jonah Jameson it’s forgivable, he’s the franchise in waiting, forget Wolverine, a Daily Bugle film would be the dream.
Monday, 4 August 2008
Metal Hammer & Superman 678
Metal Hammer
I’ve had the very bad habit of letting things pile up for months (approaching years) on end, at the moment the worst victims are the magazines I subscribe to and books. So with that in mind I’ve made a concerted effort to try and work through the pile of magazines that lurks at the side of my bed and this means I’ve read about a years worth of Metal Hammer magazine in the last 4 days, this run included a change in editor so the shift in tone has been interesting.
The main outcome of this shift seems to be a backtrack to the denim jacket with a backpatch style of metal, Iron Maiden installed as the greatest band ever and the catchphrase Defenders of the Faith being over used. Maybe it proves that trying to keep your hand in on what’s happening musically is a young mans game but I’ve gone from having a good handle on who the bands written about are to feeling non plussed and vaguely swamped with the steady stream of Metalcore and generic Old Skool style bands that make up their interviews and reviews.
I guess it just goes to show I’m a step closer to my impending midlife crisis with the view that the kids are wrong and wouldn’t know good music if it pushed them over in a pit, I enjoyed Metal Hammer when it was a bit more inclusive of different genres of metal rather than it’s current slightly insular view.
Superman #678
James Robinson (writer) Renato Guedes (penciller)
This is James Robinson’s second issue since taking over from Kurt Busiek and I have to say so far it’s been slightly disappointing. Plotwise things seem interesting enough with new superstrong character Atlas being set onto Superman by a shadowy science police type organisation, it’s more a case of the bizarre scripting tics letting things down. Characters will speak a sentence and then repeat it in a shortened slightly jumbled way and it’s really offputting. Offputting to speak shorter and jumbled…
I’m going to stick around as Robinsons work on Starman showed that he’s a slow burner and once everything clicks into gear you get some great work, also Guedes artwork is very nice, reminiscent of Carlos Pacheco.
I’ve had the very bad habit of letting things pile up for months (approaching years) on end, at the moment the worst victims are the magazines I subscribe to and books. So with that in mind I’ve made a concerted effort to try and work through the pile of magazines that lurks at the side of my bed and this means I’ve read about a years worth of Metal Hammer magazine in the last 4 days, this run included a change in editor so the shift in tone has been interesting.
The main outcome of this shift seems to be a backtrack to the denim jacket with a backpatch style of metal, Iron Maiden installed as the greatest band ever and the catchphrase Defenders of the Faith being over used. Maybe it proves that trying to keep your hand in on what’s happening musically is a young mans game but I’ve gone from having a good handle on who the bands written about are to feeling non plussed and vaguely swamped with the steady stream of Metalcore and generic Old Skool style bands that make up their interviews and reviews.
I guess it just goes to show I’m a step closer to my impending midlife crisis with the view that the kids are wrong and wouldn’t know good music if it pushed them over in a pit, I enjoyed Metal Hammer when it was a bit more inclusive of different genres of metal rather than it’s current slightly insular view.
Superman #678
James Robinson (writer) Renato Guedes (penciller)
This is James Robinson’s second issue since taking over from Kurt Busiek and I have to say so far it’s been slightly disappointing. Plotwise things seem interesting enough with new superstrong character Atlas being set onto Superman by a shadowy science police type organisation, it’s more a case of the bizarre scripting tics letting things down. Characters will speak a sentence and then repeat it in a shortened slightly jumbled way and it’s really offputting. Offputting to speak shorter and jumbled…
I’m going to stick around as Robinsons work on Starman showed that he’s a slow burner and once everything clicks into gear you get some great work, also Guedes artwork is very nice, reminiscent of Carlos Pacheco.
Monday, 7 July 2008
The one where he tries to go for brevity
Astonishing X-Men 25
Warren Ellis (Writer) Simone Bianchi (Artist)
After the lovingly retro 80's feel of Joss Whedons run on this book the one person that you'd expect to come in and deliberately shake things up and be contrary is Warren Ellis so it's a bit of a surprise that this feels similar just with his dialogue twitches rather than Joss'.
It's not a bad read and obviously there's time for a chain smoking Englishman in a trench coat to show up, it just feels a bit by the numbers as the X-Mens new San Francisco base is introduced. Warrens recently ended run on Thunderbolts felt like he was having more fun writing about a bunch of bastards.
The art by Simone Bianchi is nice if a little muddy, this seems to be a problem common with pencils being directly scanned rather than inked although with the amount of work that obviously goes into them you have to wonder how he'll consistantly hit a monthly scedule.
It's early days obviously so 2 or 3 more issues to let the story develop and see if this is required buying like Nextwave.
Echo 4
Terry Moore (Writer/Artist)
It's been interesting to compare this book against the recently launced Rasl by Jeff Smith, Echo has felt like an alternative world version of Strangers in Paradise while Rasl is a complete change in direction from Bone and for that Echo has been the more satisfying read.
Combining a healthy level of soap opera dramatics and X Files/Heroes style mystery, the pace has been picking up in each issue. This issue deals with a murder scene, more information on the organisation and test pilot involved with the mystery metal and a confrontation between Julie the main character and the army this is looking to be a nice change in pace from Strangers in Paradise.
I really enjoyed Strangers in Paradise but the recent annoucements about Moore taking over Runaways and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (to a lesser extent) had me a little worried about moving into the world of capes but this book has allayed those fears.
Walking Dead 50
Robert Kirkman (Writer) Charlie Adlard (Artist)
Following on from the horrific events of the jail siege this book is currently taking a breather and keeping things simple. Maybe having the conclusion of the siege fall into this landmark issue would have been more appropriate but this is a book that's never done the things that were expected of it.
With no real story in this issue as Carl tends to his sick father Rick it's left to Adlards art to carry the issue and he does a great job. When he originally took over from Tony Moore the shift in style left me a bit disappointed but his storytelling ability has more than changed my mind, Adlard's an overlooked talent at the moment.
The Boys 20
Garth Ennis (Writer) Darick Robertson (Artist)
Continuing The Legends history lesson to Hughie and the Homelanders stand off with The Butcher this book continues to impress. After the initial ad campaign of more Preacher than Preacher this has moved past the gross out aspect and is now telling its story with the odd diversion into willys, puke and gore.
Ennis is moving things along smoothly while allowing the odd look into his favourite subject of the history of various wars without it feeling shoe horned in. I've always had a soft spot for Darick Robertsons work since he was on New Warriors and he's only got better since then. My only criticism would be that when he inks himself his work doesn't look quite as smooth as it should but that's a minor criticism of a well put together book.
Warren Ellis (Writer) Simone Bianchi (Artist)
After the lovingly retro 80's feel of Joss Whedons run on this book the one person that you'd expect to come in and deliberately shake things up and be contrary is Warren Ellis so it's a bit of a surprise that this feels similar just with his dialogue twitches rather than Joss'.
It's not a bad read and obviously there's time for a chain smoking Englishman in a trench coat to show up, it just feels a bit by the numbers as the X-Mens new San Francisco base is introduced. Warrens recently ended run on Thunderbolts felt like he was having more fun writing about a bunch of bastards.
The art by Simone Bianchi is nice if a little muddy, this seems to be a problem common with pencils being directly scanned rather than inked although with the amount of work that obviously goes into them you have to wonder how he'll consistantly hit a monthly scedule.
It's early days obviously so 2 or 3 more issues to let the story develop and see if this is required buying like Nextwave.
Echo 4
Terry Moore (Writer/Artist)
It's been interesting to compare this book against the recently launced Rasl by Jeff Smith, Echo has felt like an alternative world version of Strangers in Paradise while Rasl is a complete change in direction from Bone and for that Echo has been the more satisfying read.
Combining a healthy level of soap opera dramatics and X Files/Heroes style mystery, the pace has been picking up in each issue. This issue deals with a murder scene, more information on the organisation and test pilot involved with the mystery metal and a confrontation between Julie the main character and the army this is looking to be a nice change in pace from Strangers in Paradise.
I really enjoyed Strangers in Paradise but the recent annoucements about Moore taking over Runaways and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (to a lesser extent) had me a little worried about moving into the world of capes but this book has allayed those fears.
Walking Dead 50
Robert Kirkman (Writer) Charlie Adlard (Artist)
Following on from the horrific events of the jail siege this book is currently taking a breather and keeping things simple. Maybe having the conclusion of the siege fall into this landmark issue would have been more appropriate but this is a book that's never done the things that were expected of it.
With no real story in this issue as Carl tends to his sick father Rick it's left to Adlards art to carry the issue and he does a great job. When he originally took over from Tony Moore the shift in style left me a bit disappointed but his storytelling ability has more than changed my mind, Adlard's an overlooked talent at the moment.
The Boys 20
Garth Ennis (Writer) Darick Robertson (Artist)
Continuing The Legends history lesson to Hughie and the Homelanders stand off with The Butcher this book continues to impress. After the initial ad campaign of more Preacher than Preacher this has moved past the gross out aspect and is now telling its story with the odd diversion into willys, puke and gore.
Ennis is moving things along smoothly while allowing the odd look into his favourite subject of the history of various wars without it feeling shoe horned in. I've always had a soft spot for Darick Robertsons work since he was on New Warriors and he's only got better since then. My only criticism would be that when he inks himself his work doesn't look quite as smooth as it should but that's a minor criticism of a well put together book.
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