Film-a-day: Week 5: 13-19 Feb 2011

We'll start with a film I watched purely because 65daysofstatic were doing a live re-score of the film at the Glasgow Film Festival. The rest are, as usual, behind the cut.

Silent Running (1972) ***

Silent Running [live re-score by 65daysofstatic] ****

Not that I was, but if I were in any doubt before, now I'm certain. Music can dramatically change the impact of a film and how it's ideas and messages come across. Silent Running by itself is a bit of a strange beast. The story is a little on the perplexing side for one, especially for the rating it was given. Keep in mind that this was given a U for universal in the UK and G for general audiences in the USA. The main character kills three of his crew, two of them are blown up and the other strangled. I had this argument with a friend about whether the message outweighed the reason for ratings, and to be honest I kinda felt like rating this a so low is pretty irresponsible. Still, that has more to do with the BBFC and MPAA, but it does shine a light on where the film has this character.

Bruce Dern does no wrong here as the main man, left at his wits end trying to protect the worlds last forest from everyone else in the universe, who have plans to turn this sanctuary ships into cruise liners. He shines in a film that was built to have one strong main character tell his own story, and the look of the ships is incredibly well done too, especially considering how long ago it came out. However, the plot drifts a lot in the middle when the idea falls to it's basic elements, and the soundtrack is one of the worst I have ever heard. Which is where 65daysofstatic come in. I've never been to a live re-scoring before, but this was definitely a match made in heaven. The band used their post-rock to set the scenes and used their electronic side to ramp up the sci-fi element perfectly, and left me feeling more for the issues at hand than the first viewing ever could. It was a perfect marriage, and I came out wanting that to be the final cut of the film; wanting them to record the re-score and have Universal release it on the films 40th anniversary next year. Who's with me?

After The Cut: The Terminal, Marley And Me, The Cocoanuts, Choke, Paper Heart and The Goods (Live Hard, Sell Hard).

Doctor Who series six prequel

I'm a big Doctor Who fan, and I'm damn excited to see the return of the show in April. Before we get there though, Steven Moffat has written a little prequel to the first episode 'The Impossible Astronaut' and here it is in all it's creepy glory. Enjoy...

Film-a-day: Week 4: 6-12 Feb 2011

More Film-a-day from the past month, kicking off with a double header from the Glasgow Film Festival.

Boy (2010) ****/

This is actually my second time seeing this New Zealand based gem from Taika Waititi, and it was just as good as the first time. I absolutely love all the character and the way they interact with each other, especially in regard to Waititi as Alamein, the Boy in question's father. The relationship between the two is interesting to say the least and gives the film some of it's finest moments, although either of them could hold the film in their own right, which is a great compliment to James Rolleston who played Boy. Not only was this his first acting experience, but he was only picked from a cast of extras when it turned out that their first choice had grown up too much since the casting. He has a wonderful comic timing and is downright perfectly cast, and does an incredible job of playing the lead at such a young age. Boy is an insightful, lovely, funny, sweet, surprising and touching film that should be seen by all. So go see it, egg!

Paul (2011) ****/

My lovely fiancée and I caught this at the festival too, and found it to be a hilariously entertaining film, which adequately filled up my geek quota for the week, as I thought it might. It's puts Simon Pegg and Nick Frost back together again, this time with director Greg Mottola instead of their usual cohort Edgar Wright, and sets them off on a road trip through points of extraterrestrial importance. The relationship between the two is, yet again, wonderful and helps carry the film when it hits the tiniest of dry spells. Don't worry though, they don't last long, and even the highly annoying Kristen Wiig is brilliant here, so something must be going right. The whole film is an utter triumph that solidifies the bond between the two actors as a vital double act that should work together in every second film. Even though separately one is definitely stronger than the other, together they are unbeatable, and this film proves that even without the incredible Wright directing they are still a force to be reckoned with.

After the cut: Mean Girls, Cop Out, Fanboys, The Informant! and Knowing.

Two teasers for Spielberg produced telly

Spielberg has produced not one but two shows set to hit your televisions this year and in the past week they've both had teasers put out. One is a time travel epic called Terra Nova which sends a group of humans from the future, 2149 to be exact, back in time 85 million years in order to 'get it right' this time. It seems like a little too far back to actually change anything of importance, unless they plan on just pressing a reset button on the entire human race. Which is a bit bold. It also doesn't take into account that something is going to wipe all the dinosaurs off the face of the earth... All will inevitably be revealed, I guess.

The other is a chaotic look into the future, which sees the human race battered by an invading alien force and trying to survive further attacks. This one needs less CGI and more human drama I think and thus I'm much more interested in how this one turns out. Falling Skies is the first to appear in June, with Terra Nova starting later in the year.

Captain America full trailer

Holy fuck yes. This is what I'm talking about. This makes all the other comic book films this year look bad. Even ones from Marvel. Keep an eye out for Tony Stark's dad!

Two teaser pics with polar opposite effects

Over the past week or so, two images have hit geek websites everywhere and have been divisive to say the least. I want to chime in with my two cents on the images. Both are from upcoming TV projects that it's fair to say will at least draw a big crowd on opening night. Both are to tease the fans with just a little sip of the forthcoming. However, while one set my geek motor running, the other left me cold.

First up, Ronald D Moore's newest show that isn't a spin of from Battlestar Galactica is 17th Precinct, which is a cop show with a supernatural edge which has been described as 'harry potter for adults'. That last part made me take a step back at first, but finding out not one, not two, but three of my favourite BSG co-stars would make the main cast had me coming straight back for more. About 10 days ago the three came together on set for a group photo, which was later posted on twitter, and I love it. L-R: Tricia Helfer, James Callis and Jamie Bamber.

Source

The other one? Wonder Woman. I'm a big comic book fan, and I was excited about this once upon a time (mainly when Whedon was still involved) but this image has just made me want to forget it ever existed. It's just too shiny... oh, and she's wearing trousers for some reason. I know that's a new look for wonder woman, apparently since last month (how convenient) but I don't recall that previously (happy to be proved wrong though. However, I think that this looks just plain weird and wrong.

Source, and a good article on how silly the whole darn thing is too.

Film-a-day: Week 3: 30 Jan-5 Feb 2011

I've really neglected this over the last month, so I figured I'd get caught up with the notes I've got for the films I've seen. As usual, the best is at the top, the rest follow after the cut!

Con Air (1997) ****

I don't know if I mentioned, but I am currently on a bit of a crusade to watch all of Nicolas Cage's films. One of which that came most highly recommended was Con Air, and I had a great time finding out why. From the outset, it's one of the dumbest films I've ever heard of, but that is its charm, and why it works so darn well. The whole cast are at their nutty best, and the whole two hours is spent ramping up every situation to it's most ridiculously plausible conclusion. The fact that a sequel is in the works to help Cage fund his IRS problems is superb.

After the cut: The Rescuers, Sherlock Holmes, Extract, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and The Other Guys.

Super 8 trailer

Wow. The two teasers we had before this were really good and already had me geared up to see it, but this full length trailer? I got shivers. The excitement and wonder that you would have in the first few minutes of ET, before you know what's going to happen, is right here in this trailer. The best part is, it doesn't even give very much away. I'll let the trailer speak for itself...
Super is released on the 19th of August.

'Super' Trailer

Very excited about seeing this, and the inevitable T-shirts that will follow. I'm a little gutted at the very little Nathan Fillion we're getting here, but I'm sure the trailers that follow will give us a little more!