Runaway Train

I’m going to talk about this 1985 gem of a movie. Based on script by Akira Kurosawa that he never got to film and co-written by Edward Bunker. This movie really blew me away…its not the first time I’ve seen it and I think I had forgotten how good it was until I saw it again. Jon Voight acts his socks off. There is this truly amazing scene towards the end of the movie where the three main protaganists confront each other about their motivations which may not sound that great but really takes this movie to another level.

Also the quote at the end of the movie ended up as the title to a brilliant book by Edward Bunker.

Sara: You’re an animal!
Manny: No, worse! Human! Human!

Watchmen Review *spoilers*

You knew it was coming right? So what did I think of it? Generally I thought it was good, and I enjoyed. However I’m going to spend the remainder of this blog bitching about what’s wrong with it purely because I feel like it.

• No Giant squid! I’ve been thinking about the ending a lot. I understand that the giant squid has its problems as in the graphic novel, however I am of the opinion the Dr M. being ‘the bad event’ that brings people together is just as weak, if not weaker…why should a man made god who blows up cities bring people together in peace? What would actually happen is that all countries would blame America for creating the monster i.e. we would still be back to cold war square one.
• Acting Sucked – apart from Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
• Soundtrack was a bit weird – Some of the choices were good but others just made me laugh/cringe…especially Cohen’s Haleluliah over Nite Owl and Silk Spectre getting it on..
• Zack Znyder is not a particularly intelligent director – Some scenes needed subtlety and others didn’t and Znyder didn’t quite find this balance. For example the final ending of cities being blown up…where was the carnage? I wanted to see bodies, because of the lack thereof, the whole scene lost its power. OK 30 million people died lets see the bodies…also when Rorshach dies you have nite owl screaming nooooo!!!!!. How hollywood is that? In the comics Dr M kills him and no one knows about it ( Nite Owl is off boning Silk Spectre since its the end of the world as they know it ) …subtle yes but also much more powerful for it…..

OK you may think that I hated the movie for all my criticisms, but I didn’t, I thought it was good. I just think its no masterpiece. I like to be a bit more subjective and not one of those drooling fanboys who think its a work of genius..it isn’t..the graphic novel, however, is…;)

Brian and Co

Just a quick post to big up a documentary by a friend of mine called Brian and Co. It’ about Brian Haw and other peace protestors that protest outside parliament square. I enjoyed it having no previous knowledge of Brian’s Work..well that’s not true I ‘knew’ about his protest but not the reasons as to why. Check it out.

Public Enemies Trailer – Trailer Addict

A lot of people have been moaning on line about the digital look to the movie. However I don’t really see what’s wrong with it. I actually like it, some of the shots look amazing, as you would expect from a Mann movie…I’ll reserve judgement till I see the movie, but on a first pass I am impressed by the trailer.

more about "Public Enemies Trailer – Trailer Addict", posted with vodpod

</sp

Neil Marshall where did it go wrong?

Dear Mr Marshall

I have been a huge fan of your work, I loved Dog Soldiers and The Decent truly shocked me but then you had to go and spoil it all by making one of the worst movies I have ever seen; Doomsday. Half way through the movie I started to think that it had been directed by Uwe Boll and had to check the cover to make sure I was not mistaken. Where did it go wrong? You lifted elements wholesale from ‘Escape From New York’, ‘Mad Max’, and umpteen other post-apocaliptic movies and seemed to just bash them together to form some weird incoherent mess. Punk gangs? Medieval Knights? A Pristine Bentley in the middle of nowhere with a full tank of Petrol, that can’t seem to outrun a bunch of delapidated old cars on a straight road? Need I go on? OK granted that most of the films that you lifted ideas from are pretty unbelievable when examined from afar but the essential difference was that at least you never questioned their absurdity when watching them, you were absobed into their world, but not with your movie…You had this whole sequence where the leader of the Punk gang was dancing in front of a bunch of people in kilts that was the most tedious, self indulgent and silly thing I had ever seen…it wasn’t even funny in a ’so bad its funny’ way. And the ending? My sister went to sleep half way through the movie and asked me, the next day, what happened at the end, and you know what? I struggled to explain it to her and that’s not because the plot is complicated, because trust me it isn’t.

This film is up there with Ultraviolet in my list or worst movies ever madeand when i say ‘worst’, I don’t mean so bad its good like Showgirls…I mean just plain old fashioned bad…