It’s five years since metal lost one of its most talented guitarists in the shape of one Dimebag Darrell. Formerly of the now-defunct Pantera and at the time playing with his brother, Vince Abbott, in the band Damageplan.
December 8th, 2004 is a date that will be remembered by pretty much everyone in the world of metal. Sure, people die all the time. There have been some sad cases over the last year or so alone. But none could be as shocking as Dime’s murder – live on stage, and right in front of his brother.
I won’t name the perpetrator. He doesn’t deserve the recognition.
But that night he took away one of the liveliest guys the metal world has ever known. I am lucky enough to say that I met a very drunk Dimebag after an aborted gig at Newcastle City Hall many years ago. He was – as were the rest of the band – just a great laugh. None of this “high and mighty, I’m in a band” crap. This was a guy who was living life for the hell of it.
You often hear that a musician would be happy if he died on stage doing what he loved.
But not like that.
RIP Dimebag. Your memory and your music lives on.
[Please tweet the hashtag #DimeRIP if you’re on Twitter – let’s make it trend to mark the day]
Next up was a much better film and the first one starring Gerard Butler I think I’ve really enjoyed.
Plot-in-a-nutshell: Man’s family are killed in front of him, killer gets a mild slap on the wrist, man goes after… the justice system as a whole. As you do.
Guys – there are explosions and dead people. Girls – there’s Gerard Butler’s bum. Something for all the family. Law Abiding Citizen plays at being a thriller pointing out the weaknesses in the American justice system. In reality it’s just an excuse to blow things up and see people killed in squelchy detail. I’m awaiting the DVD release with the full dismemberment scene.
It is more of a thriller than an actioner, but only just. The plot’s not that bad and it does just about keep you guessing to the end. It’s certainly far more watchable than 2012.
While Harry Brown is far more gritty, LAC has bigger explosions. It’s hardly The Shawshank Redemption even if there is a prison involved, but it’s still worth doing the time to watch it.
Yes, yes, I know it’s Thursday and I saw the films on Monday. I just haven’t had much time to draft posts recently. With Monday being St Andrew’s Day and East Renfrewshire council really pushing the Homecoming celebrations we got the day off and I decided to use it partly to veg out at the cinema.
I’d hoped to catch up to 8 films over the weekend, but workload cut me down to two. First up:
2012
What a remarkably silly film. A lot of the impact of this insane effects-fest was lost on me as screen 7 at Cineworld in The Forge Shopping Centre is about the size of my old front room. I swear the TV I bought a few month ago is larger than the screen.
Plot-in-a-nutshell: the earth’s going to end, people panic, things explode or get washed away and the companies that sell software to make shonky CGI giggle into their bankbooks.
It’s Roland Emmerich, the guy who washed the world away in The Day After Tomorrowand blew up the White House inIndependence Day. Only this time he’s not messing. Why blow up a few buildings when you can tilt an entire town on its side and drop it into the ocean?
This is a disaster movie on a grand scale. The shame is, the scale’s so big it’s just hard to comprehend and it seems to lose all impact as a result. Look at the classic disaster films like The Towering Infernoor The Poseidon Adventure (even the remake wasn’t bad). Big-name actors in a tight situation with peril at every corner and they could die at any time. Your wage bill had no say on whether you survived or not.
There is just no sense of peril in 2012 at all. At no point was I tensing up thinking “are they going to get out of this?” because they always do. There isn’t a bit of originality in it apart from the size of the thing.
John Cusack is adequate as the lead character – a divorced father who ends up trying to save his kids (very Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds). Danny Glover is adequate as the President of the USA. Woody Harrelson is adequate as a nutjob. Everyone’s adequate. It’s a plot-by-numbers.
SLIGHT SPOILERS: I rarely put these in so you’ve had a warning. This is like Independence Day with earthquakes and water. The President sacrifices himself to help save others. The White House explodes. A man saves his family. Someone gives an impassioned speech about humanity that brings everyone together.
It’s all been done before. And even the effects aren’t that great. They’re simply too big to be taken seriously. And despite all the money thrown at it, the limo in the early “chase” sequence still has all the realistic physical motion of one of the vehicles in PIXAR’s Cars.
But, you know, switch your brain completely into standby mode and it’s watchable. Just don’t even consider thinking about the pseudo-science involved. That way lies bad headaches.
Joe’s made a couple of comments on some of my older posts and he asked me to have a look at his website. I admit, the first time he left a comments I thought “spam”… Â but the fact is he read the blog post and wrote a pretty darn lengthy and appropriate response. Not the acts of a spammer, just of a guy who’s interested in blogs and happens to work for a web-based company.
I’ve been buried with coursework over the last few weeks and I’ve been meaning to review his site for ages, feeling guilty every time I saw the email reminding me “starred” in my inbox. So here it is!
Joe’s site is Broadband Genie and it is genuinely useful. It’s not so much a sales site as a consumer advice one and therefore I’m happy to give it the once over. Now is an ideal time to have a look, actually, as there’s a special section on all the package deals on mobile broadband being offered by a few of the netbook and laptop retailers.
I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed a website before, but here goes!
First impressions are good. It’s well-enough laid out that you could think it’s commercial. However, it isn’t. It’s funded by people clicking on links to providers once they’re decided – using the information on the site – which one they want to go with. The links are sponsored and BG get a little kickback.
Having looked through everything (well, a lot of it!) I’d say their claim to be unbiased is a true one. All the information you could need to decide on a UK broadband provider (home or mobile) seems to be here and in a nice, easily-readable format. There’s also a regularly-updated blog and a forum where you can air your views publicly.
If you’re in the market for a new broadband provider, this certainly seems to be a site worth visiting to help you come to a decision.
I managed to get an afternoon off work due to the school going on fire and everyone being given the rest of the day off. Taking this as a sign from some random deity that I was being overworked (despite it being a day when I had no lessons all afternoon anyway), I took the opportunity to head into town and see a film or two.
Harry Brown
The timings worked out well for me to walk right into Harry Brown which certainly lived up to the trailer. This is one of the best films I’ve seen this year and proves that Michael Caine is every bit the actor he ever was.
Plot-in-a-nutshell: Harry (Caine) is a pensioner living on a really dodgy housing estate. One of his OAP friends is killed by scum on the streets, the police aren’t helping and Harry used to be in the army…
The opening scene, filmed as if by a scrote on a moped, is both harsh and harrowing. It sets the tone for this dark film perfectly. There is tension throughout, uniformly superb performances and great direction. You really want to reach into the screen and batter the chavs – kudos to the actors playing them.
For a film to fill you with revulsion in the way this does is testament to all those who worked on it. The only bad thing about it is that it’s too realistic – not a fault of the film itself, but of life in Britain these days. There is simply nothing in it that couldn’t (perhaps even doesn’t) happen in this sad state we call real life.
Yes, that’s a depressing review but that’s how the film makes you feel. But that’s the point. It makes you feel.
Harry Brown is so gritty you could use it to make the entire length of the M1 safe to drive along during the frostiest of winters. It’s harsh, hard-hitting, taught… and British.
So I guess we do have something to be proud of in this country after all.
Off the other end of the scale we have Taking Woodstock directed by Ang Lee who’s most recently famous for gay shepherd chick-flick Brokeback Mountain that I avoided like the plague after sitting through the first 15 minutes in Phuket.
Plot-in-a-nutshell: a Jewish boy, Jake (Henry Goodnam), sees a chance to get a concert going on land near his parents’ motel to drum up trade for the summer. Things get ever so slightly out of hand…
Apparently if you remember Woodstock then you weren’t there, but there’s enough documentation around it to allow Lee to make a pretty good “this is how it happened… maybe” film. The film is “based on” some stuff or other and how true it all is is anybody’s guess. However, what’s important is that it makes both a good story and a good film.
Imelda Staunton is fantastic as the Russian Jewish mother who seems to hate the entire world and is probably the best character in the film. Seeing as there are Jewish people in the film, they are legally obliged to find a part for Eugene Levy and he pretty much plays Eugene Levy. Enigmatic at first, then turns out to have some smarts after all.
It’s a great film to look at and has its feelgood moments. One thing it’s lacking, though, are downers. What little hiccups appear through the film – townsfolk rebelling, teen nazis trying to cause trouble, mafia protection trying to muscle in, council officials with health violations – all are dealt with so swiftly that it just seems pointless including them in the plot.
What could have been a film about an event, and as such ended up being more of a documentary, ends up focussing on the characters and this makes it much better. We see most of it through Jake’s eyes which makes it all the more interesting as the whole thing is astounding to him.
I particularly liked the little bits in the background and short sequences which are based on classic footage and images of the event. Top of these has to be the three nuns finally agreeing to raise their fingers in “peace” signs. It’s right in mid-background of one scene.
Oh, and there are boobies. And other bits. Which is a bonus.
One thing, though – does Ang Lee really have a thing for guys kissing? Seriously, don’t let him do a kids’ movie.
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