OK, for those of you (like me) who’ve not had a chance to catch the new Indiana Jones film, here’s an amusing Lego version which spans the quadrilogy.
I’m off to see Crystal Skull tonight with any luck. Whoop!
New Indy film online!
Category: Entertainment
Review – Iron Man
Always nice to have something to write about so why not my first trip to the cinema in months? Talia and I popped out to see Iron Man when I was over in the UK at the weekend, and a worthwhile return to the theatres it was for me. Talia knew nothing about the character, and I’m vaguely familiar courtesy of a handful of Marvel comics from when I was a nipper.
It’s the latest in a long line of comic adaptations, a line set to continue as licenses are being bought up left, right and centre. Fortunately, most seem to be pretty good and this one definitely falls into that camp. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s the best Marvel adaptation since the first of the recent Spiderman films.
The way the scene is set kicks the film off well. Is the central character nice, or a bit of a ****? Shoudl we feel sorry for him or feel he’s getting what he deserves? Either way, a ton of bullets and a huge amount of explosions is just how an action films should start.
Robert Downey Jr is, simply, fantastic as Tony Stark. He’s dry, unassuming, completely straight-faced when dealing out some very witty lines and his timing is spot on. The only crying shame is that just about every one of these classic moments of dialogue is in the trailer.
Jeff Bridges was the other standout cast member for me. Apart from one other person, who I can’t name for fear of spoiling the post-credit sequence. Yes, folks – don’t miss the last 60 seconds after all the names have rolled!
There are a gazillion better film sites out there that can review this better than I can. But from a middle-of-the-road fan’s perspective I can definitely recommend it. The plot’s a little “by numbers”, but the effects are superb, the acting top-end and the whole look of the film just spot on. All the little things like the incidental graphics and hardware that Stark uses add to the whole thing without making it seem over-the-top.
Go see. Definitely worth it on the big screen.
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Vocal metal!
Came across this lot through a random posting on the Metal Hammer news pages. Van Canto are from Germany. They consist of 5 vocalists (1 hot female, four men – you judge if they’re hot or not, I don’t swing that way) and a drummer.
They’re a metal band.
With no bass, guitars, keyboards… They’ve done a cover of Metallica’s “Battery” (below), while the (better) video for “The Mission” is on their web page. And it’s superb.
Who’d-a thunk it? Rank them up there with Apocalyptica as “it shouldn’t work… but bloody hell, it does”.
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Tom yum goong
For those with a knowledge of Thai, “Tom yum goong” translates as “prawn soup”. Something I’d normally find rather repulsive, but when it’s the title of a Tony Jaa film I’m prepared to give it some leeway. It’s Western title was The Protector which isn’t quite so classy. if you can, get hold of the Thai version (subtitles help) as it’s almost 15 minutes longer than the international release.
First off, this is not the sequel to the superb Ong Bak – that’s still being worked on and is due out later this year. Tom yum goong is a completely separate film and, though not as good as Ong Bak, certainly has its moments.
It can be a little hard to follow as times as the action jumps from Thailand to Australia about half an hour in. At the beginning, it’s all in Thai. Once we reach Oz, the film features Australians, Thai and Vietnamese. In many instances – and sometimes for no apparent reason – characters interact in badly-accented English. Not too hard to understand, but I think it would have made more sense for the Asian characters to converse in Thai and leave the subtitles for us slow Westerners to follow!
The editing early on is also a little over-zealous. Often things happen far too quickly or appear disjointed. Whoever story-boarded the boat chase has some great ideas, but the director could do with studying the Bond films a little more before his next outing. Regardless, it’s pretty spectacular for something coming from a country not (yet) famous for its cinematic output.
Productions values can seem a little low, and the sound effects in particular hark back to ye olde days of Bruce Lee with over-loud smacks, cracks, crunches and pops as various acts of violence are done upon fleshy bits. This isn’t too bad, but in the earlier sequences it does seem out of place. The scenery in the gangsters’ den, for instance, is very 70’s and makes it look almost like a film from that period.
Then we jump to Australia, as I said. And one of the best martial arts action sequences I’ve seen since Jackie Chan was in his prime. In fact, this sequence in my eyes puts Tony Jaa up there as the only actor in modern Asian cinema worthy of taking Jackie Chan’s crown. Let’s be honest – Chan was a master. Now he’s sunk to using wire-work and simpler films with big budgets from American studios. Fair enough – he’s 54 for crying out loud. He’s earned the right to take it easy after the huge archive of classic films he’s created.
The scene I’m talking about takes place in a warehouse as Jaa is attacked by around 20 extreme sports enthusiasts on rollerblade, BMXs, moto-x bikes and a quad-bike. The camerawork is sublime and as there are virtually no cut scenes – it’s almost all just one, continuous take.
The thing is, this feat is partially topped later in the same feature as a fight sequence coming in around the 4-minute mark is completed with no cuts whatsoever. Just some amazing choreography, superb editing and bloody hard work from those involved. When watching it, I did think that Jaa looked dead on his feet – and rather sluggish – by the end. This is why. He’s filmed it six times, on the trot, being treated with smelling salts between each as they re-set all the breakables.
OK, he’s not broken most of the bones in his body, and you can’t see his pulse via a hole in his skull like you can with Chan. But this is the kind of work ethos that makes a man a star. He deserves is a hell of a lot more than most of those Hollywood lot.
Tom yum goong (or however it’s spelt – even Jaa’s official page has two or three variations) is no classic plotwise. Which is why I’ve not bothered going into that. OK, if you insist. Boy grows up with elephant. Bad man kidnaps elephant. Grown boy goes in search of elephant and kicks ass. Happy now? Thing is, the “plot” is just something to hang some outstanding fight sequences off. And there aree some cool elephants in it as a bonus. Oh, and a pretty cool CGI animation segment.
If you like this kind of stuff, then make sure you don’t miss this film. It really does rock. I can’t wait for Ong Bak 2 to come out. Hell, I’m crossing my fingers that the release date is when I’m in Thailand. Where better to go and watch it?
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Raffles and The Match-Fixing Syndicate by Adam Corres
I know the guy who wrote this, and he gave me a free copy to review so it seems fair that I give it as much coverage as I can. The original review is up on Amazon and you can get the book there as well.
Let’s be honest about two things before I start this review:
1) I know the author. Not well, more through other people than first hand but I do know the chap.
2) I hate cricket. Which is a shame as that’s what the novel is focussed around. However, it does mean that I wasn’t expecting to like the book from the off.
Thing is, I did like the book. It almost makes cricket sound like an interesting sport until you get to the end realising that you still understand nothing about it and it’s all just terminology designed to confuse the layman. I’ll stick to rounders (that’s baseball to you lot in North Am) and football (that’s football to you lot in North Am – you’ve got the name wrong).
Corres starts off with what seems like a few short stories, which don’t seem linked until the book gets past the halfway point. Almost like anecdotes, but enough to introduce the two main characters. The tales themselves are just on the right side of ridiculous (or maybe incredulous), but like the great Frank Carson “it’s the way he tells them”.
The language can take a little to get your head around, but it’s just right given the subject matter. Our storyteller (and other side characters) are often twisted in mwental spirals by Raffles. Raffles, on the other hand, never seems to break linguistic sweat. Which is how it should be. For fans of old novels (or like me, old-ish TV series) imagine the likes of Jeeves and Wooster. “Bunny”, the narrator, is a far cry from the blustering and useless Wooster but Raffles is very close to Jeeves. Always knowing what to do and manipulating people into doing things that we’re not even aware need doing as yet. And when confronted, acting as if he was aware that everyone must have known what he was up to all along.
It just reads well. Despite the frivolous use of a thesaurus in it’s making, the story is never hard to follow. There are many genuine “laugh out loud” moments – a couple of people nearby when I was reading certain episodes will attest to that fact.
I like a book that makes good use of language – it’s why I love the likes of Adams and Pratchett. Raffles and the Match Fixing Syndicate certainly fits into that camp. The story isn’t on a par with either of those authors’ best, but this is only Corres’ second outing. In honesty, I found the very last chapter (the Postscript) didn’t fit well with the rest of the book. The story ends well, but this last tiny chapter just seemed tacked on.
It didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the rest of the book, though. I’ll certainly try and dig out a copy of Corres’ previous novel and keep my eyes out for anything he does next.
I just hope it’s not about cricket.