I guess it's time for another update. SInce last time I went to see Tori Amos (amazing, she's simply fabulous live), went to a friend's birthday where everyone dressed up like pirates (a good laugh, except being hit on by a gay historian), helped out on the Hasbro stand at Star Wars Celebration Europe (surprisingly it was a terrifying and not particularly fun experience) and nipped up to Yorkshire to see and old friend and his other half (and their stupid over-sized dog).
Also had to put in some weekend time for work sorting out our cabinet at London Telecity. Our telecoms service had been driven by an old HP machine running NT4 and which hadn't been given any love since it was installed in 2000, and we finally got around to upgrading and pulling the old machine out. Luckily things went ok and I didn't have to be there for that long. To be honest although I might moan about my job being as boring as hell, my new bosses are pretty cool, and they really seem committed to invest and push everything forwards. As the go-to guy for the day-today management of our platform, in theory I'm in a pretty cushty position if it all takes off. For those of you who might want to try an high-quality alternative to Skype with voicemail, call forwarding and great calling rates check us out at www.coms.com (for UK users) or www.callunion.com (for overseas users).
On the flip side I am very tempted to jack it all in as my favourite games companies CCP and White Wolfare advertising for a shedload of vacancies. I've put my toe in the water but I think its a longshot. It would also mean being paid peanuts (especially compared to what I'm on now) and also relocating to Reykjavik or Atlanta. *shrugs* I can't help feeling that my life needs some massive change but I'm not sure if that's what I should be doing. *scratches head* Right now it just feels like I'm treading water and the months just keep slipping by...
Otherwise I've been filling my time watching Stat Trek: Deep Space Nine in the new slipcase DVD format, and catching a bunch of movies at the cinema and from my 'to watch' pile:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was quite a while ago now but deserves a mention for being a pretty damn cool way to wrap up a trilogy. Verging on the outright surreal, it was as exorbitant, convoluted and swashbuckling as you could hope for. Great performances all 'round and it was great to have Geoffrey Rush back again as Barbossa. The stone crabs were pretty cute too. Can't wait for the DVD come xmas-time so I can watch all three back-to-back!
I went to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with some trepidation as the first movie was pretty terrible. Luckly this time around the script was a lot better and it felt less like a vehicle for merchandising and more like a genuine family movie. I still felt though that Jessica Alba (lovely though she is) was again completely miscast, and once again Doom was total s***. The realisation of the Fantasticar was pretty rubbish and pointless too. The Johnny and Ben moments were spot on though, and I did like the way they handled Galactus. Still pales compared to other Marvel sequels (Spidey 2, X2, Blade 2) but it could have been a lot worse (X3, Ghostrider, The Punisher).
Ocean's 13 was a nice bit of fluff with more than a few good laughs thrown in for good measure. It's not quite as good as the first, but apparently way better than the sequel (which I've avoided so far). Pacino is a worthy bad guy (quite frankly he's a worthy anything) and it's nice to see Eddie Izzard holding his own against the rest of the stellar cast. The Mormon brothers crack me up, even if they didn't get as much to do as last time. Plus the to-be-expected, well-executed heist, although there are fewer surprises this time 'round.
Die Hard 4.0 also filled me with some trepidation as the preceding films in the series were a tough act to follow. In my opinion the original Die Hard revolutionised the genre, matching real drama, plotting and tension with the high-octane action formula of the 80s. The story for the new film tried to follow in the same footsteps by having a story centred on electronic, computerised terrorism, but to be honest it just boiled down to big, dumb fun. The action set-pieces were so ridiculous that it was almost like Len Wiseman had turned into Luc Besson. Far from disaappointing though, and well worth a look, particularly for the casting of Timothy Olyphaunt as the bad guy (he's magic in Deadwood and deserves more time on the big screen) and Kevin Smith (a kudos-worthy cameo).
Also saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Yawn. I really don't care what the critics or the fans might say, I just found it dull and unengaging. Having read the book I found the film adapation very pedestrian and by-the-numbers. Seeing it on the screen did highlight though just how contrived the whole Ministry denial thing really is though. The whole thing was just padding, with the only genuine excitement right at the end where it kicks off between the good guys and the bad guys. Harry Potter is totally overrated, and this latest installment was utterly forgettable compared to the other films that have been released so far this summer.
I've had Brick on DVD for ages now and finally got around to watching it the other day. It took me about 20 mins to get into the rythym of the thing - the hard-boiled dialogue is quite hard to swallow at first, but once you've got your head around its classic film-noir ambitions it's actually great. In actual fact I may have to watch it again to really appreciate some of its subtleties. I don't think we've seen an indie film like this since Donnia Darko. A great effort from a bunch of unknowns, and possibly cinematic history in the making.
Severance was also on my DVD pile. A British comedy-horror flick with the guy who played Percy in Blackadder II, it was kinda fun but I am not sure if they got the tone right. You didn't really care that much for the characters, and it was definitely more nasty than funny. It also seemed a bit run-of-the-mill compared to the brilliance of Shawn of the Dead. One to see out of curiosity, but not one to get excited about.
After the disappointing rubbish of Sunshine on the big screen I decided to rewatch Solaris. it reminded me just how much the the latter is superior to the former is almost every single way. Solaris is more beautiful, more philosphical and more poignant. And very creepy in places when you really think about it. George Clooney's performance it something to behold and it's incredible to think that this is the same guy from the Ocean films and From Dusk Till Dawn. Listening to Soderburg's commentary with James Cameron is interesting too - these guys really know their stuff and there's never a dull moment - they're possibly the most talented and influental people of their generation in the business today. (I'm so intrigued to see what Cameron's next projects Avatar and Battle Angel are going to be like.)
Phone Booth gets a mention as one of the shortest films in my collection. Very tight in its execution, the film shows just what you can do with a small cast and an even smaller budget. It's possibly Colin Farrell's second-best role (after Tigerland). Apparently it was shot in only 12 days by Joel Schumacher when he was in-between projects. Pretty incredible really when you think about it - a huge-inspiration for wannabe film-makers.
I was really unsure about Transformers. Michael Bay is the pits in my opinion, and pretty much everything he'd made to date is brainless pap punctuated by testosterone and explosions (and not in a good way). Armageddon and the Rock annoy the s*** out of me and Pearl Harbour makes me cringe. However it would seem that hanging out with Steven Spielberg has had an influential effect on him, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was Transformers not s***, but it was actually pretty damn good. In fact I would be tempted to say it was better than Die Hard 4.0 and perhaps the best popcorn-action film I've seen since MI:3 a year ago. The film gives a lot of space to character, and is littered with jokes and comedy moments. Bay even goes as far as taking the piss out of himself, which is cool in my book. Shia Labeouf is great casting, really good indeed as the awkward kid under pressure. And the effects are just amazing (even if they are spoiled a litle with the heavy-handed use of shaky-cam, no doubt used to obscure any possible defects or rendering problems). Top stuff. Go see. Now!
Back to the DVD pile for Lord of War a pretty bleak story of a gun-running businessman who's perhaps too good at his job. I guess there was a moral in the story but the take was pretty noncomittal and uncontroversial. it avoided the whole 'guns are cool' thing but Ncholas Cage's character was pretty unsympathetic, and the whole thing just makes you shrug. Meh.
Also on the pile was Swimfan a bland concept for a slahser-flick which makes for a very-slightly-less-bland movie experience. A Fatal Attraction for the teenage generation, perhaps the only reason it's not rubbish is because of the genuinely psychotic performance of Erika Christensen.
Finally, yesterday I went to see The Simpsons Movie which proved to be stupid and yet brilliant in so many ways. The whole thing was like an excercise in how not to write a feature film, and yet it worked superbly anyway. Pluts lots of in-series in-jokes and homages to various other films, as you would expect. Worth seeing just for the 'Spider Pig' song if nothing else.
Also had to put in some weekend time for work sorting out our cabinet at London Telecity. Our telecoms service had been driven by an old HP machine running NT4 and which hadn't been given any love since it was installed in 2000, and we finally got around to upgrading and pulling the old machine out. Luckily things went ok and I didn't have to be there for that long. To be honest although I might moan about my job being as boring as hell, my new bosses are pretty cool, and they really seem committed to invest and push everything forwards. As the go-to guy for the day-today management of our platform, in theory I'm in a pretty cushty position if it all takes off. For those of you who might want to try an high-quality alternative to Skype with voicemail, call forwarding and great calling rates check us out at www.coms.com (for UK users) or www.callunion.com (for overseas users).
On the flip side I am very tempted to jack it all in as my favourite games companies CCP and White Wolfare advertising for a shedload of vacancies. I've put my toe in the water but I think its a longshot. It would also mean being paid peanuts (especially compared to what I'm on now) and also relocating to Reykjavik or Atlanta. *shrugs* I can't help feeling that my life needs some massive change but I'm not sure if that's what I should be doing. *scratches head* Right now it just feels like I'm treading water and the months just keep slipping by...
Otherwise I've been filling my time watching Stat Trek: Deep Space Nine in the new slipcase DVD format, and catching a bunch of movies at the cinema and from my 'to watch' pile:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was quite a while ago now but deserves a mention for being a pretty damn cool way to wrap up a trilogy. Verging on the outright surreal, it was as exorbitant, convoluted and swashbuckling as you could hope for. Great performances all 'round and it was great to have Geoffrey Rush back again as Barbossa. The stone crabs were pretty cute too. Can't wait for the DVD come xmas-time so I can watch all three back-to-back!
I went to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with some trepidation as the first movie was pretty terrible. Luckly this time around the script was a lot better and it felt less like a vehicle for merchandising and more like a genuine family movie. I still felt though that Jessica Alba (lovely though she is) was again completely miscast, and once again Doom was total s***. The realisation of the Fantasticar was pretty rubbish and pointless too. The Johnny and Ben moments were spot on though, and I did like the way they handled Galactus. Still pales compared to other Marvel sequels (Spidey 2, X2, Blade 2) but it could have been a lot worse (X3, Ghostrider, The Punisher).
Ocean's 13 was a nice bit of fluff with more than a few good laughs thrown in for good measure. It's not quite as good as the first, but apparently way better than the sequel (which I've avoided so far). Pacino is a worthy bad guy (quite frankly he's a worthy anything) and it's nice to see Eddie Izzard holding his own against the rest of the stellar cast. The Mormon brothers crack me up, even if they didn't get as much to do as last time. Plus the to-be-expected, well-executed heist, although there are fewer surprises this time 'round.
Die Hard 4.0 also filled me with some trepidation as the preceding films in the series were a tough act to follow. In my opinion the original Die Hard revolutionised the genre, matching real drama, plotting and tension with the high-octane action formula of the 80s. The story for the new film tried to follow in the same footsteps by having a story centred on electronic, computerised terrorism, but to be honest it just boiled down to big, dumb fun. The action set-pieces were so ridiculous that it was almost like Len Wiseman had turned into Luc Besson. Far from disaappointing though, and well worth a look, particularly for the casting of Timothy Olyphaunt as the bad guy (he's magic in Deadwood and deserves more time on the big screen) and Kevin Smith (a kudos-worthy cameo).
Also saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Yawn. I really don't care what the critics or the fans might say, I just found it dull and unengaging. Having read the book I found the film adapation very pedestrian and by-the-numbers. Seeing it on the screen did highlight though just how contrived the whole Ministry denial thing really is though. The whole thing was just padding, with the only genuine excitement right at the end where it kicks off between the good guys and the bad guys. Harry Potter is totally overrated, and this latest installment was utterly forgettable compared to the other films that have been released so far this summer.
I've had Brick on DVD for ages now and finally got around to watching it the other day. It took me about 20 mins to get into the rythym of the thing - the hard-boiled dialogue is quite hard to swallow at first, but once you've got your head around its classic film-noir ambitions it's actually great. In actual fact I may have to watch it again to really appreciate some of its subtleties. I don't think we've seen an indie film like this since Donnia Darko. A great effort from a bunch of unknowns, and possibly cinematic history in the making.
Severance was also on my DVD pile. A British comedy-horror flick with the guy who played Percy in Blackadder II, it was kinda fun but I am not sure if they got the tone right. You didn't really care that much for the characters, and it was definitely more nasty than funny. It also seemed a bit run-of-the-mill compared to the brilliance of Shawn of the Dead. One to see out of curiosity, but not one to get excited about.
After the disappointing rubbish of Sunshine on the big screen I decided to rewatch Solaris. it reminded me just how much the the latter is superior to the former is almost every single way. Solaris is more beautiful, more philosphical and more poignant. And very creepy in places when you really think about it. George Clooney's performance it something to behold and it's incredible to think that this is the same guy from the Ocean films and From Dusk Till Dawn. Listening to Soderburg's commentary with James Cameron is interesting too - these guys really know their stuff and there's never a dull moment - they're possibly the most talented and influental people of their generation in the business today. (I'm so intrigued to see what Cameron's next projects Avatar and Battle Angel are going to be like.)
Phone Booth gets a mention as one of the shortest films in my collection. Very tight in its execution, the film shows just what you can do with a small cast and an even smaller budget. It's possibly Colin Farrell's second-best role (after Tigerland). Apparently it was shot in only 12 days by Joel Schumacher when he was in-between projects. Pretty incredible really when you think about it - a huge-inspiration for wannabe film-makers.
I was really unsure about Transformers. Michael Bay is the pits in my opinion, and pretty much everything he'd made to date is brainless pap punctuated by testosterone and explosions (and not in a good way). Armageddon and the Rock annoy the s*** out of me and Pearl Harbour makes me cringe. However it would seem that hanging out with Steven Spielberg has had an influential effect on him, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was Transformers not s***, but it was actually pretty damn good. In fact I would be tempted to say it was better than Die Hard 4.0 and perhaps the best popcorn-action film I've seen since MI:3 a year ago. The film gives a lot of space to character, and is littered with jokes and comedy moments. Bay even goes as far as taking the piss out of himself, which is cool in my book. Shia Labeouf is great casting, really good indeed as the awkward kid under pressure. And the effects are just amazing (even if they are spoiled a litle with the heavy-handed use of shaky-cam, no doubt used to obscure any possible defects or rendering problems). Top stuff. Go see. Now!
Back to the DVD pile for Lord of War a pretty bleak story of a gun-running businessman who's perhaps too good at his job. I guess there was a moral in the story but the take was pretty noncomittal and uncontroversial. it avoided the whole 'guns are cool' thing but Ncholas Cage's character was pretty unsympathetic, and the whole thing just makes you shrug. Meh.
Also on the pile was Swimfan a bland concept for a slahser-flick which makes for a very-slightly-less-bland movie experience. A Fatal Attraction for the teenage generation, perhaps the only reason it's not rubbish is because of the genuinely psychotic performance of Erika Christensen.
Finally, yesterday I went to see The Simpsons Movie which proved to be stupid and yet brilliant in so many ways. The whole thing was like an excercise in how not to write a feature film, and yet it worked superbly anyway. Pluts lots of in-series in-jokes and homages to various other films, as you would expect. Worth seeing just for the 'Spider Pig' song if nothing else.
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
rxdxt:
Yes it'll be on the screen next summer.. in the US. UK, still to be seen..
creamygoodness:
Wotcher fella, was good seeing you saturday night. I had to spend most of sunday recuperating, it just got more hedonistic back at the flat