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Category Archives: Media (Films & Music)

More Films of January 2008

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Posted on January 25, 2008 – 01:19

King of California, Superbad, and Everything's Gone Green

More films I’ve watched this month:

Superbad 4.5 / 5
The realists American Pie, one of the best comedies I’ve watched in a long time, and a film as funky as its soundtrack: Superbad is the coming-of-age movie that I wish was released when I was doing just that.
Being male may help in order to fully enjoy this film, but who cares: Superbad reinvigorates the tired movie stereotype of a bunch of inept teenagers attempting to score for the first time. My opinion may be biased due to the fact that Michael Cera is one of my favourite comedy actors, but I’ve already seen this film twice so you should see it at least once.

King of California 3.5 / 5
The slightly eccentric script keeps this film ticking along nicely but its the cast that makes it not just watchable, but enjoyable too. With Michael Douglas giving a heart-warming performance as a father recently released from a mental institute and Evan Rachel Wood as the daughter trying to keep both of their lives together, this most unlikely of stories is kept grounded through the reality of mental illness and familial bonds.

No Country for Old Men 4 / 5
Lacking both the dark comedy and memorable soundtrack that has typified the Coen brothers’ films since the mid 1990s, No Country for Old Men is a straight forward film noir parable. However, for a better take on the genre try Miller’s Crossing – a film where they didn’t have to rigidly stick to the original story.
This is a damn good film – I’m not denying that – I just don’t think it’s the classic it’s being made out to be.

Air Guitar Nation 3.5 / 5
The second ‘fringe’ documentary I’ve seen this month and by far the better of the two. When originally suggested to me I had no intention to watch this film – let alone enjoy it – but, after approaching with trepidation, my cynicism soon waned and I found myself totally engrossed in the stories unfolding before me. Strange? Definitely. Deep and meaningful? Maybe not. Peculiarly compelling? Definitely.

Everything’s Gone Green 3.5 / 5
I’ve had Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs (and JPod) highly recommended to me, so when I had the opportunity to watch Coupland’s debut screenplay I jumped at the chance – and I’m glad I did. An excellently quirky feature reminiscent of The Station Agent and Garden State, Green is a lush, feel-good movie, ideally suited to first dates or lazy nights in.

All-in-all, a good couple of weeks of film watching.

Films of January 2008

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Posted on January 9, 2008 – 18:14

A few films I’ve seen in the first week of 2008:

Gwoemul (The Host) 3 / 5
Think Jaws mixed with Godzilla… in South Korea. I had heard great things about this film, some said it was genre redefining, others that it was to be the “thinking person’s monster movie” (Entertainment Weekly). I beg to differ. There’s no doubt that the special effects are impressive, but it’s the veiled attempts at anti-American political satire that fall far short of the mark for me – it’s just a bit too obvious. Still, it left me satisfied.

Wristcutters: A Love Story 4.5 / 5
“Soon after I killed myself I found a job here at Kamikaze Pizza. It’s not a great job but it’ll do for a while.”
This offbeat, dark comedy is what I imagine Eternal Sunshine would be like if it was directed by the Coen brothers. Given its grizzly subject – an exploration of life and love after suicide – it’s eerily uplifting and optimistic. And don’t forget bizarre… after all, this film follows the ‘life’ of its protagonist, Zia, after committing suicide over his ex-girlfriend and it’s set in a place where others who have committed suicide also live. I found myself smiling from the very beginning. Well, not the very beginning, but shortly after the impressive opening scene.
“Who could think of a better punishment, really? Everything’s the same here, it’s just… a little worse.”

King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters 3 / 5
King of Kong is a documentary following the story of Steve Wiebe as he attempts the world record for the highest score in Donkey Kong. Yes, that’s Donkey Kong as in the arcade game.
Portraying Twin Galaxies (the organisation that tracks video game world records) as an elitist group who try dirty tricks to keep people outside their clique from obtaining high scores on classic games, King of Kong feels like true ‘car crash TV’: especially when – at the one hour mark – Mark Alpiger describes his glove choice: “This is actually, technically, a weight-lifting glove… I discovered in the 80s that you could buy a weight-lifting glove which was fingerless… See the double padding? Occasionally I use this to avoid callouses from certain joystick games.”
So why did this film get such high ratings on so many Internet movie databases? Because – let’s face it – 80′s arcade geeks love the Internet and this film is one of their own. If you’re also one of them, then you’ll love this film too.

Bottle Rocket 2 / 5
I’m a big fan of Wes Anderson so decided to check out his directorial debut from 1996. As it’s also the debut of Luke and Owen Wilson I was expecting good things, but now realise that I should have checked out IMDB’s listing for the film first. There – nestled away in the trivia section – it states that “The film scored the worst test screening points in the history of Columbia Pictures at the time.” Suffice to say, I can see why.
After a quirky, promising, and typically Wes Anderson beginning, it turned into a pretty lacklustre performance for all concerned.

Interview 4 / 5
Let’s look at the premise of this film: a remake of a Dutch classic – directed by Steve Buscemi – wherein a fading political journalist is forced to interview a US soap star “better known for who she’s sleeping with and her fluctuating breast size.” Two people. 90 minutes. Sounds intriguing: this could turn out to be pretentious as hell or a pretty good drama. When Steve Buscemi casts himself as the journalist, things start to look up, but then you notice that Sienna Miller is cast as the actress/interviewee. Hmmm…
However, she’s now dispelled any myths that she’s just a pretty face and can’t act: for what could easily be a painful hour and a half, this sometimes jaded script is brought to life and made not just watchable, but thoroughly enjoyable by some great acting.

I’m all ears if you’ve got any recommendations for week 2!

My Top 10 Top 10s of 2007

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Posted on January 5, 2008 – 15:30

I’m afraid I’m lying to you all… this is not a list of my top 10 top 10s of 2007: one of these lists has 19 items on them and one even has 7. I’m sorry. Oh, and some of them don’t even have ’2007′ in the title. I’m a bad person – I know I am – and for that I apologise.

Regardless, below are my top 10 lists of 2007. You know the ones – they proclaim to contain the best 10-or-so of something from the 12 months that have just passed? Come, soak up the nostalgia:

As a bonus, have the following too:

Top 10 Stories of 2007 (According to Digg, Time and The Times)

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Posted on January 2, 2008 – 13:27

2007 News Roundup

As 2007 comes to a close, I decided that it was time to have a round-up of the big stories of the year. I like to do this every year as I find that you’ll undoubtedly be surprised: either by a ‘big’ story that somehow managed to pass you by, or just by realising how fast the year has gone. So, how to do this summary of events? After all, a year is a long time in news and news is different everywhere you look!

One of the best barometers of stories that made it big on the Internet is, of course, Digg – the news aggregation service that I do not visit often enough. So, what were the big online stories of 2007? Here they are – in reverse order – according to Digg:

We can’t spend all our time online and ‘real world’ news is important too, right? So, here’s another list of the top 10 news stories from around the world, according to Time and The Times Online:

  • Pakistan’s Political Crisis – From the pressuring of Musharraf to give up command of the Army to the assassination of Bhutto; Pakistan’s politics hasn’t been out of the news all year.
  • US Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis – When the US housing bubble eventually popped it wasn’t just the US that suffered – markets around the world felt the impact as banks reeled in their debts.
  • Burma Protests – A bad year for democracy in Burma. As tens of thousands of monks took to the streets to protest against a rise in petrol prices (and thus the price of other staples), the military junta cracked down by raiding monasteries and tackling the peaceful protests head on.
  • Goodbye, Harry Potter – At last, it’s over!
  • Iraq War - The Iraq war was for oil you say? The only surprising part of this ‘revelation’ is that it came from the man who was head of the US Federal Reserve for 18 years – Alan Greenspan.
  • Chinese Toy Recall – Made in China took on a new meaning this year as millions of toys made there and exported to the US were recalled for using lead paint, having loose parts, and burning children. Of course “buying local” is still an alien concept to half the western world and a little mishap over some paint isn’t going to make a difference, is it?
  • Virginia Tech Massacre – There was more to this story than just another school shooting. Not only did the gunman mail manifesto-style tapes to the media halfway through his rampage; he was also pronounced by a judge to be mentally ill and in need of hospitalisation – yet still managed to legally buy his arsenal of weapons.
  • iPhone – Enough already!

Yes, I know that’s only 8 stories, but it was hard picking another two that had world-wide status: was the Madeleine McCann story known throughout the world? Was the saga of Alan Johnston’s capture and eventual release as big in the US as it was here in the UK? Can the rise and rise of Facebook be classed as ‘real-world news’ (it only went fully public in late 2006)? How about 2007′s ‘Data Chernobyl‘? It’s a tough choice.

Ricky Gervais (in Extras) on the Modern ‘Freak Show’ that is ‘Reality’ TV

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Posted on December 21, 2007 – 11:33

I’ve always had a bit of an on-again, off-again relationship with Extras – Ricky Gervais’ post-The Office endeavour. I’ve always felt it a bit hit-and-miss in both character development and comedy. However, I’m now a converted man after watching two episodes last night: Sir Ian McKellan in S02E05 and the Christmas ‘special’ (due for release in the UK on Boxing Day but shown in the US 5 days ago – good idea!).

The Sir Ian episode is a magnificent return to form for Gervais and it repeatedly hits my satire G-spot dead centre with it’s mix of sheer comedy genius and social commentary – but it’s the Christmas episode which really had me appreciate the series.

In it, Gervais’ character (Andy Millman) makes a final speech admonishing reality TV; the producers and networks that produce the shows; and more poignantly the viewers and the ‘celebrities’ involved in them who “hand in their dignity at the door” when they partake in this so-called entertainment.

It’s a great commentary on the current television landscape we often find ourselves watching and the public’s obsession with fame and celebrity. Searching for the quote to share with you, I came across the following which describes the moment perfectly – The New York Times: Going Out, Gervais Picks Bang Over Whimper:

“The Victorian freak show never went away,” Millman rails in a soliloquy that serves as a climax of the “Extras” final episode and a moment of redemption for the character, whose life and friendships have been corrupted by fame. “Now it’s called ‘Big Brother’ or ‘American Idol,’ where in the preliminary rounds we wheel out the bewildered to be sniggered at by multimillionaires.”

To the networks, he says: “You can’t wash your hands of this. You can’t keep going, ‘Oh, it’s exploitation, but it’s what the public wants.’ No.”

To the audience watching at home, he says: “Shame on you. And shame on me. I’m the worst of all. Cause I’m one of these people that goes, ‘I’m an entertainer, it’s in my blood.’ Yeah, it’s in my blood because a real job’s too hard.”