The general population is raving about this film, about how he (and the real person it's based on) struck rock-bottom and then made it big as a stock-broker.
And how he took it to the limit in sacrificing everything in order to grab the unpaid internship he did for 6 months before qualifying as a broke.
About how he was courageous, faithful to his dreams, determined, a devoted father, etc.
I find that last bit odd, because in order to achieve his dream, he:
Dragged his kid away from his mother, for no valid reason that I can think of.
Slept rough on the streets with the kid (in a subway toilet, if I remember correctly).
Slept in hostels ... with the kid.
And so on.
Anyone else think he'd have been a better father (albeit a poorer one) if he'd just got a fucking job to keep a roof over his kid's head?
But it's all OK, as he went on to make more money than most of us can dream about. That's all right then.
I can see a new film coming: about how a father sacrifices everything to achieve his dream, including sleeping rough in hostels etc, and the kid catches TB and dies from lack of medical care because Medicaid didn't cover it.
Don't think they'll be praising the father's determination and faith in this movie, will they?
Three little words: "Ends", "Means", and "Justification".
Movies that use the shaky camera technique strive for a realistic approach to better "connect" with the audience. Sure, in theory it's realistic. People move and so do our eyeballs. But our eyes are so well adapted that trying to replicate them is useless. No camera even comes close to capturing the details our eyes can.
Although I would have said "But our brains are so well adapted...." because it's the visual cortex that sorts out the eye-shake and makes everything look crisp and clear.
But what the hell, I'll let them have that one.
And they follow-up with something I've felt since paying 10 zillion pounds to see Star Trek in Imax:
If this camera feature is supposed to be so authentic and realistic, how come I always feel like I'm missing so much of the action? Action movies are great; the adrenaline, the jumps, the fights. But with a shaky cam, I feel as though the movement detracts from the pivotal action. I want to see the bad guy getting his face kicked and during car chases; I want to see the car we're supposed to be chasing; I definitely want to see the monster I've been waiting for all movie.
The Visitor Director: Thomas McCarthy - directory/writer of The Station Agent Production Company: Groundswell Productions (owner is Michael London, producer of Sideways - the one with Paul Giamatti in the CA. vineyards)
And what a great film it was. Exlosions. Guns. Wise-ass comments. The Man talking to another man on a walkie talkie. Stunts where you're both impressed by the event, but still saying "did they really just do that?" (eg, the "I ran out of bullets", taking out the helicopter with a car stunt, if you've seen it) .
Pure class. Does just what it says on the tin. And even the good lady liked it. In fact, it was her choice to watch it after seeing the trailers for the DVD.
Hah! Make me redundant, will you? Try to make me work my notice + pay tax, instead of 7 weeks off and no tax, will you? Stitch this. Working from home and watching movies are back on the menu!
You won't mess with me again, will you, ya fuckers!
Normal service resumes...
So, had to watch it. I'm getting to like the books (not read the last one yet, managed to avoid spoilers, la la lah, not listening!), and the movies are getting better.
But boy do they miss a lot of what makes the later books richer than the movies. Not surprising really, given the books' sizes.
The movie was... well. OK. Some nice effects at the end in the battle between the powers of light and dark, and some not bad acting on the part of Daniel Radcliffe, but otherwise kind of bleeurgh. Nothing special. Things thrown in for no reason (eg, Sirius Black's family house-self - great in the book, on-screen for 2 minutes and thus pointless).
Great acting by Imelda Staunton, as usual, as the political force that tries to take over Hogwarts, and she definitely stole the show.
I guess it was worth watching only for continuity between the last film and this one.
Loved it! (The beauty of keeping a list of films that came out months ago and watching them now, is that the ones with shit reviews get removed from my list, so I keep seeing great films).
Somewhat predictable twist to give the dynamic tension that a plot needs, but well played nevertheless. Nice ending. Action was pretty good, characterisation OK, acting good - some old names in it as well as Mark Wahlberg (spelling?). All round, a well-spent 90 minutes or so
Song of the Week: Budget Meeting
An odd title for the music overlaying the main battle scene in the much-maligned King Arthur, and the tune (in fact, the entire soundtrack) is Hans Zimmer amped up. Everything he developed starting with Crimson Tide - drums, male choir, brass, etc - to make his recognisable sound has been thrown in here and the dials twisted to 150%. A lot of people have reviewed it saying "Hans, do something different for a change", but I feel that this is archetypal, yes, but still powerful.
This particular track is 7 or 10 minutes long (one version is the one from the film, the other version is a different mix), so it comprises several different sections with slightly different feels. A powerful bit, possibly my favourite of this "triumphant" music, kicks in around 4:30 into the film version. A real driving drum beat, with a choir soft in the background, and muted brass giving a motif that can be heard in a few of the tracks in the OST.
For MadJock's benefit, it starts at 2:37 into this Battlestar Galactica mash-up thing:
Edit: Actually, for some reason when I watched this on youtube.com, I could see the time since start + total time, but when embedded here, it's "time left" that I'm seeing. In which case it's 3:55 remaining.
Odd.
Anyway, another one that I want to listen to when I get the surround sound fitted. Or when I get a car with a nice stereo. I think the car's coming sooner....
World Of Warcraft Update
Two words: Pish. Uninstalled.
How they call it "role playing" I'll never know. RPG via a PC changed the day that Baldur's Gate was released. I know WoW is "MMORPG", but it's really "MMO Hack And Slash". Old idea. Very boring. Great for 14 year old virgin American geeks.
But it reminded me I had a copy of Warcraft III, a "demons, zombies, and elves" version of Command and Conquer, and I'm happily playing that when I get some spare time. Good game, even now.
What a fantastic film. Nothing like what I expected, at least not in the second half, but fantastic anyway.
From the trailers, I expected a gung-ho, funny-ironic, action film. Lots of guns, bullets, and funny characters. But it turns into this almost gut-wrenching tale of loyalty, revenge, love, betrayal, and justice.
You know the plot: Various hitmen (sorry, hit-people, as some are female) are after a mob informer. Obviously, what happens is they all end up killing each other and the mob guy gets away.
Or at least, that's what I thought. And there is a bit of that, to be fair.
But as the tension mounts, a (somewhat predictable) twist changes the game, and mayhem ensures, including a shoot-out with the biggest sniper rifle I've ever seen outside the Halo games.
Some of the characters are a bit cardboard cut out, and some of the faux-nigga dialogue was a bit hard to follow for a pasty white lard-ass like me, but some gems shone through. The two female assassins started out as wise-ass sistas, but developed a little depth when one of them is injured in the firefighting. The two FBI agents were well played by Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta, and Ryan, to his credit, played the role just right as the twists were unfurled, and the final scene, basically involving just him, was sublime.
"Ed Norton and Paul Giamatti", I thought. "Gotta be good"
And lo, it was true.
Ed Norton plays a stage magician in love with a noble woman who is also feted by the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Paul G is the chief of police, who acts on orders of the Crown Prince, but becomes increasingly concerned for said Prince's plans.
The noble woman wants to run off with Ed, having been childhood sweethearts originally; the Prince tries to prevent her; trouble ensues; spoilers go elsewhere.
Great film, some fine acting. Visually, it's very sepia-toned, to add an "old age" feel to it, which at times comes across a bit dark (particulary scenes at night), but that was the only downside.
Worth a watch if you're after something a bit quieter.
It covers the effect two men have on each other, in 1980's East Germany: One, a playwright, supposedly the only artist not under surveillance by the Stasi (the GDR's secret police) as he supports the socialist state. The other, a Stasi officer assigned to monitor him when higher-authorities decide that there must be something he's hiding. Slowly, the Stasi officer comes round to empathising with the artist, while the artist starts to act against the state. And a few twists and turns towards the ends.
The acting was understatedly powerful, the direction good (by which I mean unintrusive), the set-pieces authentic, in as much as they look like 1980's East German is supposed to look, not necessarily how it did look, I suspect.
Recommended if you're after something without guns, sex, swearing, hippity-hop music, or huge mega-stars in it. Oh, and subtitled.
I really want to like this one. It had quite a lot going for it: Danny Boyle, character-based rather than bug-eyed-aliens-and-fancy-weapons based, etc.
And it kind of worked.
If you ignore some stuff. Like:
The way it went from psychodrama-thriller to shock-horror
The visual effects on the guy in the shock-horror bit
A computer that can override one command decision (removing manual flight control when the oxygen garden was burning, in order to save the flight), but not another (change course to intercept Icarus 1, even though that puts the ship in danger cause the twat forgot to repoint the heatshield)
Icarus 2 used a sling-shot effect, looping round Mercury 3 or 4 times, to get enough speed to reach the sun. But then has enough fuel and accuracy to stop stationary alongside Icarus 1. I suspect that the fuel used to manoevre like that would have been an interesting amount for someone who aimed to come home afterwards.
Why was Cillian Murphy the only one who could set off the bomb? Looked like all he did was pull a lever....
And I'm sure there were a few others. The use of gravity on the ship was one alarm bell that rang.
So... should have been good. Looked impressive. Didn't quite deliver. Too much like Event Horizon at the end (although I like Horizon more).
I know this film got a bit slated by everyone, but there was no way I was passing up the opportunity to see some more of Keira "Posh Totty" Knightly.
And I don't think the film was that bad. Clive Owen (as Arthur) comes across a bit wooden, but I think that's because of the lines he had, not his acting. I know he's supposed to be the future King of England, but I'm sure he relaxed a bit occasionally, and didn't speak in sound bites.
The fight scenes were pretty good. Ray Winstone (Bors) and Mads Mikkelson (Tristan) were pretty good, standing out from the others in their own way. And Stellan Skarsgard (aka Bootstrap Bill from the Pirates movies) was good as the uber-calm but menacing leader of the Saxons.
Overall not bad. Although I did wonder where the woads suddenly got their trebuchets from.... if they had them all that time, why not use them against the Romans earlier.
Oh, and it was nice to Ken Stott doing a non-Scottish accent. He was still playing Ken Stott of course, but that's what he's best at :-)
OK, so everyone and there dog has seen this already, but given my social life, it's not surprising that I haven't.
And it's probably the best sequel I've seen. Loved it. Same shlock-horror as the first one. Actually, a bit more, unless my memory fails me - eg, Robert Carlyle squishing people's eyeballs instead of eating them straight away.
Great use of unusual shots - overhead shots (internal and aerial), through sniper scopes with and without nightsight, through CCTV, etc.
Great use of sound - alternating between silence and auditory cacophany.
And some pretty good CGI, eg where London is strafed to take out the new infected. The scenes where the fire (napalm, I assume) is running through the canyoned streets and spreading up side-streets is fantastic.
