Category: Entertainment

Who said metal is for the uneducated?

Well, my parents for two. Anyway, there are numerous reasons to say that this is rubbish – other than the fact that I like it an I iz ded smart, like.

I could point you in the direction of Iron Maiden‘s back catalogue. They’ve got a 13-minute opus based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge‘s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Alfred Lord Tennyson‘s Charge of the Light Brigade inspired “The Trooper“. Sci-fi is embraced with “To Tame A Land“ (Frank Herbert‘s Dune).

Let’s not forget that singer Bruce Dickinson is (as well as a qualified commercial airline pilot and near-Olympic standard fencer) a history student. As a result, a large number of their songs are about historical events and characters. “Alexander the Great”, “Run To The Hills” (the genocide of the American Indians), “Where Eagles Dare” though based on a film and novel is set during WWII – as is “Aces High”.

Anthrax went for the more simply-titled Indians in their work about the destruction of the native American population. Their song “Among The Living” is based on Stephen King’s novel The Stand. “I Am The Law” is based on literature, though that’s the comic book character Judge Dredd! “Black Lodge” was inspired by David Lynch‘s Twin Peaks and which the series’ score conductor Angelo Badalamenti helped write.

Metallica got in on the act with songs such as “For Whom The Bell Tolls” based on the work of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. Slayer are well known for documenting serial killers and war-related atrocities in their songs. Megadeth have tackled freedom of speech.

These are just well-known examples.

Now, however, I give you something new. To me, anyway. Thanks to Andy for sending me the link to this new way for children to be taught Shakespeare – using the power of MMEETTTAAALLLLL!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkzHU_U45s

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Film Friday

Spreading the films around this week… today’s serving consisted of horror/thriller Triangle and comedy Couples Retreat.

Triangle

First off, it’s hard to review this one without giving too much away. Suffice to say that the film doesn’t so much have a twist at the end so much as it is, in its entirety, one big twist.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Six friends go boating and get stranded. A huge ship rescues them, but it seems unpopulated. Bad things then happen. Again and again and again…

It’s a nice short film at around 90 minutes, so it’s punchy. No drawn-out nonsense. Also, once the twist starts to make an appearance the director drops the whole “things jumping out at you” horror schtick to make way for the more interesting story.

To say much more would be to risk spoiling the film. It’s definitely worth watching, even for those not really into “pure” horrors. There aren’t many true horror moments, it definitely is more of a Twilight Zone-esque movie and it’s very well made.

Couples Retreat

Am I alone in thinking this movie’s title really needs an apostrophe? As far as I can tell they’ve inadvertently changed the “Retreat” into verb and the title overall into an order instead of a description of where couples would go to – that being a “Couples’ Retreat”.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: a youngish couple have problems conceiving, their marriage is struggling so they opt to go to a paradise island with some of their friends to try and get over it. Of course, their friends are all couples in various states of relationship issues.

I expected to pretty much hate this film, or at the very least sleep through it as I was knackered. To its credit it actually held my interest for the near 2-hour running time and did actually offer a few decent laughs. It’s no classic, and Vince Vaughn plays the same character he always plays (a nice guy with some issues who, at the end, turns out to be… a nice guy). No surprise given he also co-wrote the film.

There are some moments which, in a less classy film, could end up being squirmy and unwatchable in a Börat or Mr Bean kind of way. However, in this case they’re given just the right amount of screen time and then passed on. The “couple counselling” sessions are just right and none of the characters is too over-the-top, except perhaps Trudy – the 20 year-old girlfriend of a recent divorcée.

In case you’re wondering where it was filmed, you want to hop on a plane to Bora-Bora. Be prepared to fork out around $1300 per night for one of the nicer shacks, though. Urgh.

Worth a watch if there’s nothing else on. Especially The Invention of Lying which this will doubtless be better than as it doesn’t feature Ricky “for crying out loud, just give up – you’re not funny” Gervais. Despite having a cinema pass I’ve still not bothered with that one.

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Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

I finally caught Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs today, three weeks after it came out and just – I think – before it vanished from the screens. I paid extra for the 3D performance as it was the only one that fitted in with the times I was free.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: a young inventor reaches desperation point trying to make himself popular and creates a “water to food” converter which promises to change the fortunes of his remote town. Of course, it doesn’t all go to plan.

CwacoM is a very well put-together film with a ludicrous plot. What really made it for me was the comic timing. From slapstick moments to montage events and dialogue, the directors seem to have post-graduate degrees in the study of when to drop a joke onto an audience.

As with any animated film, the characters are of great importance and here we have a wild and varied collection to hold the interest. From Flint Lockwood and his father Tim (with his amazing facial hair), to the corrupt mayor (Bruce Campbell), through police officer Earl (Mr T) to the surprisingly talented cameraman Manny. Oh, and Steve – the monkey.

There are a lot of plot devices. Almost everything that appears early in the movie makes at least a comedic re-appearance later on. Keep an eye out for the remote control television… Basically, nothing is wasted.

Well, nothing except the 3D. Really, nothing stood out for me for my extra £1.50 in this film. If you have the chance, save the cash and plump for the regular 2D version.

Definitely one worth seeing for adults and children alike. I’m definitely glad I managed to catch it before it vanished from the theatres.

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Up

Just a quick mid-week film review as I caught Disney Pixar‘s Up tonight with Tracey in Bradford.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: grumpy old man decides to get away from it all by inflating a bazillion balloons and floating his house to South America. A young “wilderness scout” accidentally tags along. Adventure ensues.

I won’t wax lyrical about the visuals. Typically of Pixar they’re simply superb with every tiny detail adding to the depth of the film – moreso if you watch it in 3D, I assume. To give you a level of the attention to detail, watch the bad guy’s eye twitch when Russel slides past his airship.

What makes Up stand out from other Pixar movies is the depth of information about the characters, and how emotionally involved the storyline is. If you thought that Nemo being torn away from his father was tear-jerking, just you wait till Russell tries to explain about his father. Or when “grumpy” Carl rewards hi mat the end.

Topping the bill, though, is a 5-minute introduction to Carl Fredricksen. The movie opens with a sequence lasting a couple of minutes with Carl as a young boy and then moves onto what could be a short film in itself. This absolutely enchanting five-or-so minutes is played purely to music and takes us through Carl’s life up until the point where the film proper starts. And if your eyes don’t moisten by the end of it, you’re a cruel monster.

I’d not rank Up as being quite as entertaining as the likes of Cars or Monsters Inc. However, as an actual film is beats anything else they’ve done hands down, purely due to the emotional involvement.

Great as that is, however, the kids will still be asking for Finding Nemo to be shoved on repeat on the DVD player rather than this one come the middle of next year.

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Film Thursday

Pandorum
Pandorum

Due to unforeseen technical hiccups (i.e. Cineworld’s web site lying to me) there are only three films reviewed today. I was also hoping to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs but the performance I scheduled into my little planner didn’t exist. Grr.

Zombieland

A film with titles being displayed to the backing music of Metallica’s For Whom The Bell Tolls obviously has something going for it. When those titles are put together with imagination and a touch of humour, as well as some nice little technical bits’n’bobs you do feel your in the hands of a good film-maker.

And such is Zombieland.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Man eats burger with mutant strain of mad cow in it and starts zombie plague. Lone teenager hooks up with mad psycho to travel cross country. Bonding and blood-letting occur.

This is a rare film these days. One that’s actually even better than the trailer suggests. There’s an added depth to it, particularly towards the end, that isn’t even hinted at in the previews. My one disappointment is that some of the gags are *BAM* slapstick and if you’ve seen those trailers then it does spoil a little of the humour.

There’s an awesome cameo about two thirds in and some lovely grisly moments. The CGI does look a little CGI-ish – the blood spurts and so forth are very recognisable as effects – but it works on a cartoony level, which is ideal for this film. I also loved the use of computer graphics over the film at points, detailing the rules of surviving the apocalypse.

If you can handle gore, then this is definitely worth the entry money.

Pandorum

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, though I originally thought the trailer was for a film version of the video game Dead Space. It has that feel to it. However, it turned out to be a mix of horror, sci-fi and thriller.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Two crew members wake up on a seemingly uninhabited space ship. Where are the rest of the crew? What are they supposed to be doing? Why is the place falling apart?

Pandorum falls into a few stereotypical pit-traps of this genre. The most annoying is using loud screeching noises to induce trouser-browning jumps. OK, that’s just me because I’m a wuss. Towards the end as the plot starts to come together and characters are revealed, the director has also gone a little ape with the effects and causes a few strained eye muscles. Sometimes less is more!

The plot isn’t that bad, either. I didn’t think it would stretch beyond a poor man’s Alien, but an extra depth is found and it works quite well. A small cast (barring monsters – yes, there are monsters… no spoiler) and some nicely claustrophobic moments keep the movie plot-focussed. Any action sequences are generally tense rather than overblown.

Although hardly mind-taxing, it’s a good enough film and – like Zombieland – better than I was expecting. I gather some reviews are slating it which is a shame. It’s in a genre that has had a handful of classics and a lot of crap. To its credit, Pandorum does look down on the crap from a fair height.

Creation

Not so much banned in the US as finding it hard to get a distributor due to the fact it’s about a man who said that God didn’t exist, this is a classy piece part-made by the BBC.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: This is the story of one Charles Darwin, author of On The Origin of Species. Go read some books and learn something, kids. And not that one the men in church try to force on you.

The thing is, the film doesn’t exactly rock any boats. Nor does it say that Darwin was right or wrong. It’s focusses on Darwin as a person and the effects that his writing and the death of his daughter had on him and his family. It speaks volumes that distributors in America are scared of the reaction of religious nutjobs to such a harmless piece of film-making.

It is lovingly made, however, and the acting is simply superb. Costume drama with out the overacting that sometimes engenders this genre. Paul Bettany is simply superb in the lead role and even the children are amongst the best you’ll see in cinema.

Rather than being a 108-minute crusade against the church, it is a carefully structured piece about a family. At the core of it, it’s a superb example of how a family can go through some incredibly trying times and yet still hold together. Were it about anyone who hadn’t upset them, churches would likely be citing it as perfect non-offensive entertainment.

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