Past, Present and Future

Oh the humanity!

As promised, my view of two very different films with similar sounding titles. First up is the low-budget 'District 9' from South Africa. Initially, I was thinking that this was another poor ripoff of 'Alien Nation', but I was thankfully wrong.This is a film that would have 'bombed' if it had been a typical Hollywood sci-fi feature with lots of money and hi-profile actors. The use of relative unknowns means that you can identify with the character and not the actor, the lack of money meant that the filmmakers had to be creative and imaginative. The use of a documentary style throughout made the film more 'real' and the parallels with pre-Mandela South Africa are obvious but not laboured, This was a thinking mans (and woman's) sci-fi film that deserves to be seen. I wasn't sure if I would like the film, but I was drawn into the story right at the beginning and was on the edge of my seat throughout. Well done, guys!

Now for something completely different (thanks, Monty Python) - the animated '9'. Again, I wasn't quite sure about this one, but the beautiful quality of the film and animation had me hooked. It was easy to see that this was just an expanded 'short' but, somehow it didn't seem to matter. The only objections I have with the movie is that it is far too short for character development and the story seems rather too rushed. There are many scenes that could do with 'fleshing out' a bit more and, because of the speed at which you are rushed though, the ending seems difficult to understand. It makes a nice little diversion for the children and a thoughtful lesson in humanity for us older types.

In closing, today is the 75th anniversary of the London to Australia air race of 1934 - this is the one that I am making a game of. Actually, the game is pretty much done and I had a few plays with the missus. If anyone is interested in playing this game - all are welcome.

Fading magic

I must post more often - making a new game is taking way too much of my time. Mind you, I have been able to do some film watching and I'm happy to pass on my views - whether you like it or not! I recently sat through the new Harry Potter epic and came away rather disappointed and deflated. The special effects were, as usual, absolutely wonderful and seamless, the acting has improved (although Michael Gambon isn't my idea of Albus Dumbledore) and the general 'magical' feeling is still evident. Unfortunately, far too much was cut out of the original story and extra unneeded pieces were added that were just taking up time. Now, I don't expect absolute adherence to the book as written, but  this just lost too much in the translation. It's a pity, as I had high hopes for the series and was just amazed at the closeness to the books that was evident in the first and second films. Will I watch the two parts of The Deathly Hallows? I suppose I must as I've invested so much in all the previous Potter outings, it just that it will be with some trepidation and a sinking heart.

Now, the second film I want to talk about was a much better way to lose a couple of hours. It was last years blockbuster 'Iron Man' staring Robert Downey Jr. My son had recommended it when he saw it and I finally was able to sit down and munch popcorn to a thoroughly enjoyable comic-book hero flick. What a blast! Excellent scripting along with decent acting and special effects that enhanced but didn't overwhelm the viewer - that suit is mind blowing. It felt like the Saturday morning films that I used to see when I was (very) young. The action was non-stop with much in the way of cartoon violence, plenty of explosions and mayhem and just a hint of romance. This was far superior to most other comic hero adaptations and I really want to see what they do with a sequel. Highly recommended.

Next post I will give you my insights to District 9 and 9. Both excellent, but in very different ways.

Wolverines!

Goodbye Mr. Swayze and thanks for all the wonderful memories - a class act indeed. It amazes me that we see all these clips from Dirty Dancing and Ghost but nothing from his first film with Jennifer Grey - Red Dawn! Now, this wasn't a particularly 'great' film and the script and acting was a little forced in places, but there was great attention to detail and the filmmakers did their best to get things right. Seeing it now is rather like a guilty pleasure and definitely not a politically correct thing to do. In my opinion, it's a terrific movie and just great fun and very much a film of it's time. It's a film that suited the political times of the day and a Reagan/Bush fantasy. It's nice to see these actors on the cusp of greatness and an insight into the way actors change and improve and find their acting 'niche'.

On another historical note - today is Battle of Britain Day and we should take a few moments to remember the sacrifices of the brave men and women who help save Western civilization from a new and terrible dark age. The battle was not only of personalities but also machines and scientific wonders. Without the development of the radar systems ringing Britain and the network that supported them from the land lines to the observer corps, the battle would have been very different. The brilliance of Mitchel's Spitfire and the dependable Hurricane from Sydney Camm meant thet the RAF could meet the enemy on equal terms. Today is a day to thank a veteran for their steadfastness in those dark times of WWII.

Picky, picky, picky

There's been a bit of a long gap between posts as I've been busy getting ready for a gaming weekend at Tabscon on Saturday. I'm looking forward to a full day of gaming goodness and the playing of my new game. On another front, I've been in a military state of mind and have been making my way through a number of movies in the last few days. My only problem is one that used to drive my mother up the wall; my brother and I would constantly complain about films that weren't historically correct. A case in point is the blockbuster 'Midway' from 1976. I applaud the filmmakers idea of saving money by reusing scenes from Tora! Tora! Tora! and the use of period films. However, the continuity between scenes was just terrible; Wildcats taking off and suddenly we are seeing Hellcats, bombers on route with no bombs or torpedoes loaded and various unrelated shots of burning Catalinas and crashing B-17's. Then there was 'Patton', George C. Scotts' crowning acting achievement. I suppose it's hard to get enough German WWII tanks for any battle scene, but it's so ironic that the Afrika Corps is using M48 'Patton' tanks as their preferred weapon of choice. It's interesting how more modern WWII outings are more 'correct' as witness Band of Brothers and it's wonderful use of correct uniforms, weaponry and vehicles. This inattention to detail can sometimes be ignored if the film in question is well made - Patton is a great film and the focus is on the man and not the machines; Midway is more focused on the command decisions and the sinews of war - meaning that the use of incorrect weapons is a real pain. There is also the sprawling film 'Waterloo', where it's almost a sport spotting the various uniforms used - a brief shot of Brunswick black is easy to miss. I suppose, as my mum would say, it's better to watch these film by myself.

In closing, I must recommend the following blog that my nephew has started. Please give him your comments and support.

' I can't do that, Dave'

I'm still stuck in the '70's watching movies that I never watched then. The other day it was 'Colossus: The Forbin Project' released in 1970. From what I understand, this wasn't a particular blockbuster of a film as it didn't contain any well known names and was rather an obscure and odd title. If you are familiar with the HAL 9000 and the Skynet of Terminator fame, then Colossus is the grand original that they came from. It's actually quite a gripping story, well acted and very chilling in places. The rather scary thing is, we lose to the machines. It amazes me, that even using 1970's technology, humans are easily manipulated using their own fears and paranoia. The scenario would be even easier to envisage now with the ubiquitous spread of technology into every corner of our lives. Tales of computers dominating us and using us as brute workers and servitors is not new and, to be honest, is a very likely consequence of our development of AI in computer science. The question is, when does AI become self-awareness? Humans may become just a nuisance to our mechanical overlords much as we appear in the story 'The Men in the Walls' by William Tenn. The real scary thing is that some people may prefer machines to take over and tell us what to do 'for our own good'. After all, with the increases in simulated inteligence, they may indeed know what is best for us. We may yet hear the cries of 'exterminate!' and 'delete!' from our mechanical masters.

My eyes hurt!

There are some sci-fi films that I have always meant to see, but never did. I rectified that the other day by watching that cheesy 1974 flick 'Zardoz' starring James Bond - oops! I mean Sean Connery. Since that film, Mr. Connery made further forays into the sci-fi and fantasy world including 'Outland', which was just 'High Noon' in space and the wonderful 'Time Bandits'. For some reason, I never got to see the rather strange and weird 'Zardoz' when it was released and, to be honest, I'm not sure if I missed anything. Seeing Connery in a very brief costume may do something for the ladies and some men, but not me. You can see that the film was made on a shoestring and the special effects (such as there are) are fairly basic. The acting is so-so and the general effect is of a stage play brought to the big screen. Obviously Mr. Bond needed some work after working for Universal Exports. It's certainly a film that you have to watch carefully as it's easy to miss a vital part of the story. The ending is suitably enigmatic and raises as many questions as answers. As with many films of it's type and time, there are the self absorbed and 'arty' type moments and many hidden meanings and sly hints of more depth that we see. The story itself, of a post-apocalyptic world where you see the 'haves' and the 'have not's' at odds with each other, is not unique and has been worked on many times before and since. The nature of the new dark age is not specified, but seems like a gradual fall from grace rather than an all out devastating sudden end. Obviously, just like many stories of this nature, it tries to serve as a warning to humanity. Watching this film was a bit like watching a train wreck - you can't look away. Enjoyable? I suppose it is in a rather odd way. I DO suggest you see it if you haven't, just to say you have. It won't hurt too much and may give you some bragging rights in a game of Trivial Pursuit.

How much history?

I'll have some book reviews soon, but I'd like to give you a movie review this time. First off, I must say I like Daniel Craig as 007, he brings back the inherent roughness of the original James Bond. Having said that, I really like seeing him playing different roles and his part in the recent movie 'Defiance' is amazing. This just released film portrays the incredible story of the Bielski brothers who, through their brave actions, saved more that 1200 Jews from the clutches of the Nazis. I was aware of the many Jewish partisan groups that operated in the forests on the Eastern Front, but was unaware of this particular group and their story. The tales associated with all these groups shows that not all Jews went as lambs to the slaughter. This is a big story and shows well on the big screen. Overall, the attention to detail and the showing of the real horrors of war make this more than a typical war story. It's nice to see real attention paid to 'getting it right' - the Panzer III was a nice touch. Unfortunately, and here's the rub, it's hard to know what amount of the story as presented is true. Obviously, you can't take everything at face value and it's hard to believe that the brothers always acted in good faith or that the group always behaved in an exemplary manner. It's imortant to remember that this is a movie. In this case you should always go to the sources to really see what happened. The point of a film like this is to show the inherent nobleness of the human spirit and to bring to light some of the reasons for the fears and paranoia of those of the Jewish faith. It's sad to think that the village life seen in films like this and Fiddler on the Roof vanished for good under the iron heels of the Nazi death squads after years of vicious Russian persecution.

Terminator: Genesis

The original Terminator carved it's own niche in film history and made Arnold our favorite quotable character. Unknown to the general viewer and, I suspect many of my readers, is the fact that Terminator did not arrive on our movie screens without help. The progenitors of Kyle Reese and his nemesis came mainly from the pen of the amazing Harlan Ellison and his contributions to The Outer Limits and specifically season 2. The stories most cited as main influences are 'Soldier' and 'Demon with a Glass Hand'. If you watch these now, you can easily see the beginnings of the Terminator timeline. There is an urban myth that Harlan tried to sue James Cameron for plagiarism, but it's not so and James made sure that Harlan's name was on the credits of Terminator. For those who are interested, I can recommend much or Mr. Ellison's work to you. His rather strange book and subsequent film of 'A Boy and his Dog' will certainly send shivers down your spine and the reading of his later graphic novel will round the story out well. He was also involved in much of the background of Babylon 5 and the series does bear re-watching. I wonder how I, Robot would have looked if they had let Harlan continue with his involvement - we'll never know - pity.

What is a fairy tale?

I hope Santa was good to you and yours last week. I received some nice new books and will report on those when I've finished reading. I do, however, want to give you my view on two seemingly dissimilar movies that could both be seen as fairy tales rather than realistic views of the world or history. The first was Paul Gross's paean to Canada in the blood and mud soaked fields of Passchendaele. This particular film has been panned by critics for many reasons including a poor script, bad acting, predictable characters and, with the home front, numerous plot holes and stereotypical people and situations. Hmmm - guess they didn't like it. My view - it could have done with better editing and needed to lose about 1/2 hour of screen time. If you were looking for a truthful view of the battle and the traumas suffered by the participants and those left behind, then this isn't for you. I found that the horrors of the scenes at the front perfectly balanced the almost detached life back home on the prairies. There was the expected Colonel Blimp and well as the German hating rednecks. The silly and contrived love story did get a bit too much in some places, but then it was a very different society than today. The battle scenes were suitably nasty and, I felt, really gave a good idea of the hell that was the Western Front. I recommend seeing the film once and taking it for what it is - a fairy tale with an expected ending and, unfortunately, unremarkable characters. The next film is certainly one to see and a solid Oscar contender, Slumdog Millionaire. Although it does offer a close look at the reality of the slum dwellers of India's cities, the whole film is a delicious fairy tale that has it's roots deep in the Bollywood traditions of good and evil, love triangles and ultimate redemption. I cannot recommend this film to you highly enough. The acting, story and music all combine to make an amazing whole. If you don't see this one, you are missing something. The soundtrack is awesome!

As bad as they wanna be

What is it with me? OK, don't answer that. I mean, with my desire to watch films that the critics rip to pieces and even movie goers hate. Typically, I've found that many of these films are nowhere as bad as they have been made out to be. Or maybe I just have a high threshold of pain. The best comedy films I have ever seen are '1941' and 'Lucky Lady' - Spielberg disowned the former and the other sank beneath the weight of negative and hostile reviews. So, it was with some trepidation that I watched 'The Happening' yesterday afternoon. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought. Now that's not to say it was a good film. The story was rather thin, the acting and characters were sub-par and the film really didn't 'go' anywhere. It was very much like 'Signs' where there was no real feeling of completion to the story. There were some scary and thought provoking pieces in the movie and, viewed as a whole, gave a chilling view of our vulnerabilities to a hostile Mother Nature. This film could be seen as either a minor horror film or as a morality tale for our modern age. I also have a very twisted mind (no, really) and I felt like laughing when the scene (spoilers ahead) showing the construction workers jumping off the buildings came up. All I could think off was 'The Weathergirls' 1982 hit, 'It's raining men'. Sorry, but that's just me - I'm a sick man. Is the film worth watching? Well, I wouldn't pay money to see it.