Rest In Peace

Two more songs:

You're not ready, for the world outside,
You keep pretending, but you just can't hide,
I know that I said that I'd be standing by your side,
But I...

The path's beaten, and it's all uphill,
And you can meet it, but you never will,
And I'm the reason that you're standing still,
But I...

I wish I could say the right words, to lead you through this land,
Wish I could play the father, And take yo by the hand,
Wish I could stay here,
But now I understand, I'm standing in the way.

The cried around you, you don't hear at all,
Cause you know I'm here to take that call,
So you just lie there, when you should be standing tall,
But I...

I wish I could lay your arms down, and let you rest at last,
Wish I could slay your demons, but now that time has passed,
Wish I could stay here, You stalwart, standing fast,
But I've been standing in the way.

One more:

I died, so many years ago,
But you can make me feel, like it isn't so,
You're scared, ashamed of what you feel,
And you can't tell the ones you love, You know they couldn't deal,
Whisper in a dead man's ear, it doesn't make it real,

That's great, but I don't wanna play,
Cos being with you touches me, more than I can say,
But since I'm only dead to you, I'm saying stay away,
And let me rest in peace,

Let me rest in peace, let me get some sleep,
Let me take my love and bury it in a hole that's six foot deep,
I can lay my body down, but I can't find my sweet release,
So let me rest in peace!

You know, you've got a willing slave,
And you just love to play the thought, that you might misbehave,
But till you do I'm telling you stop visiting my grave,
And let me rest in peace!

I know, that I should go, but I follow you like a man possessed,
There's a traiter here beneath my breast,
And it hurt me more than you've ever guessed,
If my heart could beat then it would break my chest,
But I can see that you're unimpressed, so leave me be,

And let me rest in peace, let me get some sleep,
Let me take my love and bury it in a hole six foot deep,
I can lay my body down, but I can't find my sweet release,
And let me rest in peace,

Why won't you let me rest in peace?

Good Riddance

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road,
Time grabs you by the wrist directs you where to go,
So make the best of this test and don't ask why,
It's not a question but a lesson learnt in time,
It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs and still frames in your mind,
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time,
Tattoes of memories and dead skin on trial,
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while,
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

So make the best of this test and don't ask why,
It's not a question but a lesson learnt in time,
It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

By the way, Casablanca is now the best film ever made, and has joined the list of "Films I watch when the world goes to hell - along with High Fidelity and The Rules of Attraction"

The list now goes - Casablanca, American Beauty, The Godfather, The Rules of Attraction, Chasing Amy.

Quote of the day - "Here's looking at you kid"
Song of the post - The Lover After Me - Savage Garden
Song of the moment - The Lover After Me - Savage Garden

50 Films you must see before you die....

Apparantly.

Anyway I'm gonna go through the list, agreeing and disagreeing as we go:

50) Badlands

No idea, never seen it - looks good though. I'm sure they're playing the main theme of True Romance in the background.

49) Secrets and Lies

Know of it, but never seen it. I'm sure I've seen bits of it before - and the more I watch of these clips I think I have seen it - but I don't remember it.

48) Aguirre - The Wrath of God

Obviously I've lead a very sheltered life, because I don't recognise many of these. I think later on I may get on better, but I've never been good catching foreign films. Apparantly it's based on Heart of Darkness much alike Apocolypse Now and Peter Jackson's King Kong (apparantly).

47) Brazil

Know of it (obviously, being a Gilliam fan) but I've never seen it. I'm actually studying it next year and I'm waiting before I see it - just looking at this opening clip makes me want to see it. It actually reminds me of V For Vendetta (thought I understand that maybe blasphamy for those of you who may have seen it) and dear God! Michael Palin is the villian! Blimey.

46) This Sporting Life

Once again, no idea - Richard Harris - who is rightly compared to be "our Marlon Brando" quite so.

45) Cabaret

If this is here then Grease must be very high. "it changed musicals forever" - so Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Chicago didn't?

44) Raising Arizona

Please got put this on TV or show me where I can get it on DVD - cos I am busting a gut to see it! The Coen Brothers do an out and out dark comedy (not like Fargo) yes please!

43) Princess Mononoke

Who picks these films?

42) Dawn of the Dead

It's the original, which no I've never seen. Seen Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead but this one I ain't seen, and yet I've seen the re-make and I can't wait to see this one - Like Raising Arizona I'm desperate to see it! Once again, someone give me the DVD or show it on TV.

41) Manhunter

Once again, seen the re-make and seen the sequels and read the book. Haven't seen the film yet. Not doing very well here am I?

40) The King of Comedy

Scorcese and De Niro in one of their first films. Doesn't mean I've seen it. It's supposed to be very dark and very different. Doesn't mean I've seen it though.

39) The Ipcress File

Funny this should be on the list, but not Bond. It's another film I have to watch for my course this year, but it does seem truly brilliant, and I can't wait.

38) Mulholland Drive

See above a) haven't seen it b) want to see it

27) The Searchers

Holy Crap! I've seen this one! It is possibly the best western ever written - I love it to little pieces, even though its got bits that looses it completely and other bits that were it just blows me away. John Wayne is at his absolute best - as Rob and I said the other day if any western ever made John Wayne would damn well make a place for himself in the film. And the final shot when he's on the porch? Still unbeaten in the history of iconic shots.

36) Fight Club

Once again, seen it - but I don't really remember it that well. i really need to watch it again to re-appreciate it. Brad Pitt is just a force of nature - that much I remember. I deifnatly remember being underwhelmed by it - I still don't think it's as awesome as people say.

35) The Ladykillers

The original, not the re-make. Haven't seen either.

34) The Royal Tenabaums

Once again, see A and B above.

33) Three Colours Blue

Once again, See A and B above.

32) Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Now we're talking! Terminator 2 is one of the best follow ups ever made. It's quite possibly the best action films ever made with certainly the best set pieces and best cocking of a shotgun ever on film. Cameron really did show that he was a master of action - he would have made an amazing Spiderman. And even now with effects show as some of the best ever, every single effect is there for a reason. I saw it at 11 and certainly my kids won't!

31) Scarface

Tried to watch this one, and failed. Tried again and got about 25mins in and failed again. Then 3rd time I got over half way, and then failed. Still I think it's a fantastic film, and I'm sure I'll try again soon - and to think that John Travolta was the original choice for Scarface. The end is supposed to be amazing - I can't wait.

30) All About Eve

See A and B above

29) Pink Flamingo's

See A and B above

28) Fanny & Alexander

See only A above

27) The Breakfast Club

See A & B above

26) Hero

See A and B on every single level above

25) Trainspotting

Like Fight Club I've got to watch this again, because I remember watching it and being totally stunned by it - I think it's one of the best films I've ever seen, but as I said I need to re-examine it.

24) Erin Brokovich

How this is ahead of T2 and Trainspotting I'm not sure. Still absolutly awesome though.

23) A Night At The Opera

See A above

22) Heavenly Creatures

See A & B above

21) Come and See

See A and B above

20) The Player

See A and B above

19) Boyz In The Hood

Jimmy D tried to make me see this for ages, and I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it. See A and B above.

18) Black Narcissus

See A and B above. Star Wars should be in here somewhere.

17) Walkabout

See A above. Where's Apocolypse Now? (no.1?)

16) Touch of Evil

See A and B above

15) Pulp Fiction

Only at 15? What the hell? If Reservoir Dogs is higher, no problem - and obviously if I haven't seen the films above then I can't comment - but Fiction is just absolutly amazing. It is the film that made me want to make films myself - it just blew me away - and continues to do so whenever I see the film. Maybe not make films, but certainly write them, and just the Wolf Sequence is just amazing, and if something shite does better in the list then this:

"I ain't ever forgiving your ass for this shit"

14) Once Upon A Time In India

Dear God....Bollywood? This high? why?

13) The Shawshank Redemption

For the end sequence alone, this deserves to be higher. And to think it was beaten to Best Picture by Forrest Gump. Please.

12) Lost In Translation

I left half-way through at the cinema, I had just seen Scary Movie 3, and I had to get to a rehersal. When I see it all the way through tommorow then I'll comment more.

11) Alien

Now we're talking! The ultimate Haunted house story - a crew being attacked constantly with a creature they can barely see and cannot kill. The scariest thing of course about Alien is that you cannot see the beast really in the film until the very end. Aliens of course gave us hoards of them, and that makes it terrifying, but still nowhere near as scary as the original which preys upon our own fears of something we cannot understand and cannot compare to. Truly amazing.

10) Manhattan

See A and B above - I'm going to have to do some serious film buying after this.

9) Donnie Darko

Hmmm. This is a truly interesting film, it's about £2 in HMV right now, and I think I need to re-visit it again I think, becuase it's a truly amazing and involving film. What type of film is it? I go for Sci-Fi personally, and yet there is a sense of horror in the film, becuase the horror in it is truly terrifying (the rabbit 'Frank' I think) scares the hell out of me. The imagry in the film too is very creepy, the black and white skull is very gothic in a very suberban setting. Once again I don't remember it very clearly, but I remember enough to remember its brilliance.

8) Au Boc De La Souffe (or something like that)

See A above. I think

7) North By Northwest

See A and most certainly B above

6) 2001 A Space Odessey

I cannot stress enough how much I have to see this film. Film buying is definatly in order after this!

5) Sexy Beast

It's on tommrow. I'll have to watch it to see why it beats Pulp Fiction.

4) Chinatown

Sick of saying it but see A and B above. William Goldman worships it, and therefore so do I.

3) City of God

See A and B above - very much because I've heard so much about it.

2) The Apartment

Why this and not Some Like It Hot

1) Apocolypse Now

It's amazing, it's different and by God its long.

So there you go, 50 films to see before you die. I have my own lists to do that I may do later, but my muse has run off with a Brandon Routh lookalike with a red cape.

Quote of the day - "You know that article you wrote Lois?" "Why the world doesn't need Superman" "no the other one" "which other one, I was pratically his press agent" "When I 69'd Superman" - From the Superman outtakes.

Song of the moment - N/A

Song of the post - 18 Till I Die - Bryan Adams

MTV Movie Awards 2006

It's on now, and like the Oscars I'd like to do a blow-by-blow analysis of what happens. First the intro, bloody wonderful piss-take of MI3, followed by the wonderful Google take, who is the guy who plays Google, i'm sure I know it - and I love Jessica Alba's feet.

Best Hero - can't remember the nominees but Christian Bale won for Batman - no problem with that - Batman gets presented by Superman, class. I think I know who'll win next year.

Breakthrough performance - Andre Benjamin (Four Brothers), Taraji something for Hustle & Flow, Isla Fisher from Wedding Crashers (fine by me, she's hot), Nelly in the Longest Yard, Romany Malco in the 40 year old virgin (once again fine) Jennifer Gardner in the Exorcism of Emily Rose (a film I'm desperate to see) and it goes to Isla Fisher for Wedding Crashers! Woo! She was damn good, and she's so damn cute! And she played herself in the film? Movie gossip traded for her number!

Best Fight next, Revenge of the Sith has gotta be up there somewhere - note the amount of people who wanna fight Jaime Foxx - nominees are Brad Vs Angelina in Mr. And Mrs. Smith, the one from Kung Fu Hustle, Kong Vs the planes (please don't let this get anything tonight) Revenge of the Sith (obviously) - and the winner is Mr. And Mrs. Smith - not sure about this one (stuck in traffic apparantly - aren't they shagging now?)

God I could kill for a piss, but I don't wanna miss a thing (see what I did there! did you see!)

Next, best kiss - no idea who will get this, but surely Team America has got to be up there; Clive Owen in Sin City - I'll go with that (best film ever!) something from Hustle & Flow, Anna Faris in Just Friends (major tongue action) the guys in Brockeback Mountain interesting choice and unsurprisingly Mr. And Mrs. Smith for the shagging kiss sequence - and the winner is Brockeback Mountain - interesting.

Apparantly Jim Carrey is honoured tonight - and the hornouring is done by a great comedian...Will Ferrell - something wrong there. And we have to listen to Justin Timberlake, why is this guy still around? I never hear anything about him anymore.

Not liking the hiding shadow joke - who is this annoying tosser. Hall of Hosts has Jack Black, I would have paid money to see that. And Ben Stiller? Will Smith? Piss take of the Di-Vinci code here, excellent stuff but he's an annoying bastard - love the "Mona Lyndsey" - soon as the annoying guy dies it actually gets funny - but the Di-Vinci Code is kinda easy to take the piss out of. Might wind up seeing it tommorow.

And we're back - some random guy who is making no sense and is not funny. WHAT THE HELL! it's guys dressed in Star Wars uniforms! Storm Troopers and Darth Vader! Rebel Piolets (spelt wrong I know) and a Boba Fett! Chewbacca playing the drums! Obi-Wan on the Keyboard! Imperial officers on strings! This is just an awful song, but I can forgive that cos they're in Star Wars uniforms! It's a wonderful idea - imagine some one really good doing this - Imagine Shayne Ward (no scrath that) ok, someone good (yes Ben isn't into current music - deal with it). Let's take this boring moment for me to say again please God don't let King Kong win anything tonight!

Oh and big up to anyone from Kaotica who's reading this! Have just done some blatant advertising on their site! How's it going lads? My Undead blog is going up soon!

Next is best villian, I'm thinking Vader - and yes Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers was a hero - first is Scarecrow in Batman Begins; The Ice Queen in Chronicles of Narnia; Toni Bell in some horror film, looks like Saw; and then there's Vader in Revenge of the Sith; Ralph Fiennes in Harry Potter (still hate the nose!) Have I ranted about that much? Oh and look! It's Vader in Revenge of the Sith - bit of a no-brainer that one wasn't it? He is the ultimate bad guy!

next sexiest performance - Jessica Alba in Sin City - or just anyone in Sin City - woman in Pink Panther - what the hell - the chinese girl in Memoirs of a Geisha - the guy in Deuce Bigalow Male Ghigalo - and then there's the girl from Dukes of Hazard - and it's Jessica Alba! Woo! Up to the pervs who voted for me! Class!

Next is Adam Sandler, this should be good. Click looks like a lot of fun, i'm looking forward to that (Sandler's new film) Best Performance is next, (and yes Kate Beckingsale is good in Underwear) Terrance Howard in Hustle & Flow; Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line (didn't she get an Oscar) Steve Carralell in the 40 Year Old Virgin; Jake "I can't spell his name" in Brockback Mountain and Jocquin Phoenix in Walk The Line - and the winner is (I don't especially like any of them) and it's Jake for Brockback Mountain a film I did really love, but I thought Heath Ledger was better.

Another break, I can't believe Willis and Mickey Rourke should have been mentioned for Sin City - and hopefully it'll turn up in Best Film. I've never watched this show before, and it's certainly helping to pass the time. On another noteI can't believe it's the last House of the season - has it really been that long since this season started.

And on another totally random note, who is the girl in the Walker's Sensations advert who calls Gary Lineaker a muppet? Is it Charlotte Church? Not sure. And does anyone know what's going on in Smallville and ER at the moment? I haven't watched for so long, and I really miss it. I have been watching loads of Scrubs recently - the first 3 seasons in fact.

And the football? It's ace, really ace. Even I, a major anti-football guy am loving it. I see us getting to the semis, but after that I can't see us beating the likes of Italy and Brazil. But I can't believe in the next episode of House they shoot him!

Nice Kong piss take, but taken from a bad film, so it doesn't help. Have muted the Christiana Agulera song, becuase I'm really not interested. Half watching ER at the same time, which doesn't help. Will Ferrell is on now, actually being pretty funny. Its best comedic performance - with a technical screw up first - Steve Carralell 40 Year Old Virgin; Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers; Tyler Perry some Family Renion; Adam Sandler in the Longest Yard; Vince Vaughn The Wedding Crashers; and it's Steve Carrell - I loved 40 Year Old Virgin so I've got no problem with that. He's wonderfully dead pan - reminds me of Jack Dee a little. And I love Kelly Clarkson too.

Note, if you're not watching this, then some of the stuff may not make sense. Deal with it.

LL Cool J now, God help us. Silver Bucket of Excellence next - an award for a film from the past, and it's Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing in 1989. Looks like a good film - and next we have Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock - responsible for one of the best action films ever made (Speed of course) with best on screen team - the Wedding Crashers - the three of them from Harry Potter The Dukes of Hazard, The Guys from 40 Year Old Virgin; The Fantastic Four. And it goes to the Wedding Crashers - awesome - they did work so well together.

And Will Ferrell is back, now in a suit, to present an excellence award to Jim Carrey. Look he's deserved to have a recognistion award for both comedy and for the serious stuff, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one that comes to mind. A montage of Jim Carrey - has to have loads from Ace Ventura. Even though I prefer Liar Liar, Ace Ventura is still beyond brilliant. And let's not forget The Mask or Batman Forever and then there's always Bruce Almighty, and The Truman Show, and so many others I can't think of that I'm sure I will later. This speech should certainly be interesting. Yup, he rocks. He is still the name in comedy, there will never be another who could possibly beat him. Think of the manic stuff in Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events and you wonder how he could do stuff like Ace Ventura When Nature Calls - but even that has great stuff (aaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllrrrrrrrrrighty then!) And even this is ignoring Dumb & Dumber which I still haven't seen - and I've heard it's his best film! And even with all this stuff, there's his early stuff, like his role in Peggy Sue Got Married with Nick Cage. And then there's The Majestic which is exactly that, Majestic.

But back to the MTV awards - Next we have best frightened performance (bitch you gonna die!) I love my horror films so here we go - Rachel Nichols The Amytiville Horror; Dakota Fanning War of the Worlds; Derek Something Hostel; Jessica Something; and House Of Wax which I believe was on my worst films of the year list. And the winner is The Exorcism of Emily Rose which I swear I will see next week.

Samuel L Jackson is coming up, but now we have JD himself Zach Braff with the best student film. And it's Beautiful Lie - and just looking at it I like it loads. I really wanna get myself a camera next year, and give this whole film lark a try - it look slike my sorta thing.

And now we have the bad motherfucker himself SLJ. He's is the biggest powerhouse in the business and he's doing Best Movie. A bit of a promotion for Snakes on a Plane - he's cocky but he and we don't give a damn. Best Movie this year, Batman Begins; Wedding Crashers; Sin City (come on!) The 40 Year Old Virgin; King Kong (NOOOOOOOOO) and it's Snakes on the Plane (nah) it's Wedding Crashers.

Ok fine, it's a great film, and it's absolute hilarious - it reminds me loads of There's Something About Mary but I don't think it's as good as the mighty Sin City.

Well that's it for me. I'm gonna go and think about Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz and wonder where I can get my own Mask.

Quote of the Day - "Snakes on a Plane" is gonna be the biggest film of next year. Casino Royal? No snakes there! Shrek the third? No snakes there! I'm gonna be winning the best film of next year, unless I decide to make a film called "More Motherfucking Snakes on More Motherfucking Planes"

Song of the moment- In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett

Song of the post - 3am - Busted (cos it's 3am...geddit?)

No Angel

Yep, that's me down to a tee isn't it :p

Back on nights now, so I'm working my way through a number of TV shows and films to pass the lonely hours. But like last time I had a long session of nights, I've got full intention of filling these lonely hours with posting here every now and then through the twelve hour shift. I actually had the idea of writing a film script based on this place - I think I could write a damn good script based around the sora random stuff that happens around here - all I need is a centeral character (maybe me? or maybe around a group of people) based around a bunch of old motown tunes (lean on me comes to mind) with a dose of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and maybe The Virgin Suicides - could be fun.

But onto the films! I watched My Kingdom the other night which is a fab recreation of King Lear - a fab play in itself but with the genius casting of Richard Harris in the lead makes the whole thing even better. I'm actually seeing Ian McKellen in the role later this year, which makes it all the better.

My latest DVD buy has been due mainly to the immenant return of the Man of Steel in 11 days - yup I finally got round to buying the Superman boxed set on DVD - £17.97 (i.e. about 2 hours pay for me) which is an absolute steal considering everywhere else it seems to be at least £30. So here we go, time for me to have a little rant about Superman related stuff.

Right, the first film - Superman The Movie - I've just entered the title sequence - even to this day the opening cords of John William's theme still sends a chill up my spine and makes me want to rip my shirt open. You have to remember that when the film was first released a lot of people did not see a Superman film being anything less than a very corny and over the top affair - certainly the type of role that Gene Hackman seems to play as Lex Luthor. There was a massive search for someone to play the pivotal role of Ka El and Clark Kent - the original idea being that they could cast a big star to play the man in question - however no actor would take the role - Warren Beatty put the suit on and wandered around his pool for about an hour then took it off because it was "too silly". Eventually they had the idea of casting Christophor Reeves as Superman and surrounding him with stars - Marlon Brando (in his infamous 15 minutes for 15 million) and Gene Hackman at the front.

Now the film for me works until about an hour in perfectly. The opening on Krypton is marvelous - setting things up perfectly for Superman II of course with the capture of the three villans (Terrance Stamp who played the marvelous General Zod actually wound up playing Jor El in Smallville a show I will come to later) and then of course Marlon Brando's speech about the future destruction of Krypton - it all folds in wonderfully and follows the comics. Richard Donner did what I'm hoping that Bryan Singer will do with Superman Returns and that's make a fun film that is full of the stuff that made the original stories so great. Remember that the TV show that was made in the 1960's was very much the sort of thing that was in the 1960's Batman show and that would never have worked as a Superman film.

After the destruction of Krypton then we reach Smallville. Now the young Clark Kent never works for me until Jonathen Kent repremands him and he shuffles in a wonderful "gee whizz pop" sorta way. And once we reach the Fortress of Solitude and then Metropolis the film kicks into overdrive - with us finally seeing the big blue boy scout in action. You've got to remember, this is before ILM and CGI ever really kicked in - and the concept of the special effects we saw in the Star Wars prequels being put to use with Superman is just a drool worthy concept.

Then about an hour into the film it just seems to enter an almost slapstick moment with the introduction of Otis. Now I've always wondered why in the name of God the "greatest criminal mind of an age" decides to a) associate with an idiot like Otis and b) has such a lame ass scheme. There's a great line in the trailer for Superman Returns when Lois says "but millions of people will die" and Lex replies "billions!" in an almost manic way. I still think that Kevin Spacey is truly perfect casting for Lex, and he seems the kind of totally mad genius that Lex is supposed to be, rather than the rather camp genius that Hackman was (I'm sure there's a better word to describe it, but that's all this tired mind can think up right now - remember I finish work in 4 hours)

Then we have the great stuff - with the exception of the "Can you read my mind" sequence which I've never entirely bought and the execution of Lex's plan - it's the bit of the film I never seem to be able to remember because I pay so much attention to the opening hour, then I loose it around then.

Let's talk about Christopher Reeves at this point - because you can't discuss Superman without talking about the man who made us believe a man could fly. The true tragedy of Christopher Reeves is that he of course had the tragic accident of being cripples at such an early age. But he did truly personify Clark Kent and Superman - and it' s been my biggest worry about the new film is that Brandon Routh would be able to fill those shoes, but from what I'm reading about early previews of the film is that he does anil it - but I'll believe that when I see it. That'll be the major thing with the film - whether they can find a sutible replacment for Christopher Reeves. And Reeves showed how he was truly Superman when he made an apperance on Smallville as a Doctor who fills Clark (Tom Welling) in on important Superman info conerning Krypton. When he tragically died just before he was to make another apperance then Margot Kigner who played Lois Layne filled in to tell Clark about his death - and the dedication to him when he died was truly moving.

Now the first film, except for the Otis related stuff (Otisberg I ask you?) is almost perfect - it's the superhero film that all directors who want to make other films should aspire to meet. Then of course came along Superman II which raised the bar. Now the problem with Superman is that he's so damn perfect that it's hard to give him a really good run for his money - but with the second film they gave him three opponents with his powers (and it has the best end sequence in any film with the Diner sequence)

I'll talk about parts III and IV tomorrow whenI've watched them again (it's been years) in the mean time some kids have turned up causing trouble so I have to do the whole Security Guard thing - post again later (I hope)

In memory of Christopher Reeves, he made us believe a man could fly


Quote of the Day - "So many of our dreams, at first they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable" - Christopher Reeves

Song of the moment - None

Song of the Post - I'm No Superman - Scrubs Theme

The Second Coming

Is this thing alive?

*pokes*

No seriously is it?

And thus from the ashes of the old (written by a 1st yr student) rises the new musings of the Crazy Movie Buff. Though I must confess that I haven't been visiting the silver screen as much as I should (hell, I saw Final Destination 3 and didn't see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang & Walk The Line for Gods sake!) But I'm still on a quest for truth, peace and something to look forward to now that Revenge of the Sith has passed me by.

One part of the quest has certainly been found in Superman Returns. With all the media attention that X-Men: The Last Stand has been getting, most people seem to have forgotton that the new Superman film is coming - and contrary to popular belief it's not a remake (unlike most of the big films this summer, Posidon for one, The Omen another, and Casino Royale) but actually a follow up to Superman II - the basic idea being that after Superman realises there could be survivors of Krypton (for the uneducated that's his homeworld where...hold on? If you don't know that, then just skip down to when I start talking about X-Men and The Omen) and he finds it's how his father described, a devastated rock. So after this evilly long flight, he decides to return to Earth, so he builds a ship to do said job, and when he returns (hence Superman Returns) he finds the world a changed place, and his fortress of solitude has been discovered by none other than Lex Luthor (played utterly wonderfully by Kevin Spacey)

Speaking of returning we have X-Men The Last Stand. Now this ones interesting because Ain't It Cool News (which I have been going off more and more recently) has been absolutly slandering it, and yet with every bad review I read I seemed to get more and more excited - yet when I eventually saw it I was decidedly unimpressed. Then when I saw it again my view changed, because I suddenly wasn't expecting so much, and I saw it for what it was which was just a fun bit of film. I loved Wolverine and Magneto and Colossus, the Sentinal ESPECIALLY Magneto. I hated Jugganaught because they abused the character and I hated how the characters who did die (no name mentioned) died - it felt like they just wanted to be ejected from the series as quickly as possible.

I'd love to go into more detail about X3 and I suspect I will in a week or so when more people have seen the film, and I don't spoil it for more people. But speaking of resurrection (I'm stretching the joke I know, bear with me) I saw the return/re-make/whatever of The Omen tonight which was...interesting. Let's get the obvious out the way first, I'm not a huge fan of the first film - and those who claim it's a classic horror film - I think you have stuck the Omen in the wrong genre...and yet how can a film about the son of the Devil NOT be a horror film? When the film uses genuine suspense rather than gore and 'shock' tactics, something which the remake does not.

Now that we have the obvious stuff out the way (my not liking the original) then we can move onto the less obvious stuff. My main problems with the re-make were 3:

(1) The film didn't need to be re-made. Full stop

(2) The kid wasn't scary - and in a film where the story is set around the damn kid, when he's not scary you have got to wonder what the casting agents were thinking.

(3) The obsession with red/the attatchment to the original. Look if you're going to re-make a film like the Omen then change something! Sticking solidly to the original script just doesn't work nowerdays - give me one film which is made shot for shot like the original and I'll take that one back, but I certainly can't think of one. It was like the writer (who also wrote the original Omen trivia fans) just took his original script and wrote the whole thing down again, adding the word red to every other line. There is a serious obsession with red in this film, and since the directing and cinematography is so utterly poor then they seem to rely on stuff like this to try and pull this film together. They must have looked at American Beauty and thought "hey, they used red to make stuff stand out, let's try that" they tried, and failed.

Godammit now I'm getting angry.

And the acting; Mia Furrow was supposed to be utterly evil in this one - the saving grace of the film. The scene with her and Julia Styles in the hospital was supposed to shock us and make us believe this film could hold a candle to the original - I obviously missed something, because I saw was the most apalling murder sequence in a film I've seen in a long time AND IT WAS COVERED IN BLOODY RED! I'm sure in the original she jumped out a window.

Robert Thorn (can't be bothered to remember the name) was a shadow to Gregory Peck. The Kid doesn't act or show any kind of emotion - he just looks (he reminded me of Jake Lloyd actually) and as I have said, in a film that depends so much on the smallest of actors, then you cannot afford to not get the perfect little critter for it. The mother Julia Styles was ok to begin with, but then started phoning in the performance. Pete Postylwaite was ok, but then again he's playing a doomed character who even in the original was more interesting dead than alive. Micheal Gambon - well, he was an embarrasment to himself and film, by far the worst cameo you will see this year.

Is there any saving grace in the casting? Well, the dog looks sutibly creepy and then there is David Twyles. He plays the reporter who in the original has his head removed by a large sheet of glass courtesy of "Dad" - He truly is the saving grace of the film, for playing a really good "rough round the edges" character - I still only remember him for playing Lupin in Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban a role which he did hold very well, and I still maintain aside from Gary Oldman he was the best thing about the film - and here he really does bring everything together nicely.

So The Omen? 2/5

I've just watched Dracula AD 1972 which is actually surprisingly good. It's the first time that I've seen a) Hammer Horror and b) Christopher Lee as Dracula - funny that since I studied the original text in a module this semester - honest :)

Right, It's late and I'm tired, so I shall post again tomorrow when I'm my shift - till then, adiue.

Quote of the Day - "Honey! I'm home!" - The Flintstones
Song of the moment - "Sleeping With the Light On" - Busted
Song of the post - I'll Always Be Right Here - Bryan Adams

14th November 2005, 56 total posts

Yep, the last time I posted (sometime at uni I think) and the amount of times I have posted. When I get my laptop back I'll actually be able to post the reviews for various films that I've written in the last month!

Well, I've finally seen Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen, which is the sort of thing I wait years for and when it finally comes around I can't actually get it out of my system. it was one of these original print things, with the crackling in the background, and all of the original sounds in it - thus minus the "digitally re-mastered surround sound" that we have come to love and take for granted! Next I want Star Wars, Back to the Future and Temple of Doom.

But anyway, what I came on tonight to talk about - my yearly tradition of going through the best and worst films of 2005, since the end is quickly approaching. So, beginning with the 15 best.

(1) Sin City
(2) The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
(3) Constantine
(4) A History of Violence
(5) Ray
(6) Serenity
(7) Sideways
(8) The Aviator
(9) Mr. & Mrs. Smith
(10) Team America: World Police
(11) Land of the Dead
(12) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
(13) War of the Worlds
(14) The 40 Year Old Virgin
(15) Bad Santa

There are probably more, but after thinking about this all morning, these were the best I could come up with. The only four films which didn't quite make it onto this list were Kingdom of Heaven, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Four & The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.

The good news is that one the other end of the scale is that I have seen so few terrible films this year. Last year I had the same amount of horribly awful films that I did for good. This year I doubt I can make ten!

(1) King Kong
(2) Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire
(3) House of Wax
(4) DiG
(5) Million Dollar Baby
(6) Hitch

That's it! That's all I Can come up with. Over the next two weeks I'll probably catch more films, but off the top of my head that's all I can do. Out of my favourite films this year, the best has to be without a doubt Sin City which was a film I truly adored. The worst is without a doubt Hitch which was so horrendously bad that I felt like crying every time they cracked a joke. And "Cracked" is completely the right word, because every joke felt like it had been forcebly torn from a man with no sense of humour who still chuckles at fart jokes. And the dance sequences? Don't talk to me about the Dance Sequences, they actually excreted agonising pain. What gets me is, like Matrix Re-Loaded not only did eveyone seem to love it, the premise was so damn good! However, unlike King Kong at least I wasn't checking my watch every few minutes.

Merry Christmas everyone, if I don't post again soon.

Quote of the Day: "We all run on instinct" Rules of Attraction
Song of the moment - "Prepare Yes The Way of the Lord" from Godspell
Song of the post - "It was a very good year" Frank Sinatra

Best of Three

Trilogies...well...it doesn't take a great mind to work out which is my favourite (read any of my posts with the words "Star" and "Wars" in the posts to work it out. But there are others you know, other trilogies which in many ways are just as majestic as Star Wars. Shall we have a look?

(9) The Matrix Trilogy

You know, the second film is mostly trash. The third film is ok-ish. The first one was groundbreaking. As a whole, I'm still not 100% sure to make of The Matrix. I still believe that the first one was great and worked fine alone, with what went on after best left to the imagination. Then when I read the first draft of Re-Loaded I don't believe I took my eyes from the screen for a moment - I still treasure the draft as one of the greatest scripts I ever read. It was so wonderfully different from the Matrix with lots of different ideas they explored. Simple things like, what happens when Neo drinks for the first time? How do Zion people spend their lives? What are Zion's outer defences? Can Neo manipulate everything? (In this draft when a tramp asks him for a quarter Neo instead makes a quarter of a million dollars in his bag) and is Neo human anymore? All of these questions were answered and it left me salavating for the film - then when I saw the second draft I wondered if it was Revolutions. It was horrible, horribly different. Like most re-writes things tend to die out. I love The Punisher but the first draft was far superior. I've read so many drafts like this, and I suspect that if I hadn't read that draft I would have loved Re-Loaded. But (back to the trilogy) I think the first one put so many ideas in the air - and they were never explored. The 2nd act of any play (I will come back to this) is almost always the best because things go to hell in many ways. Re-Loaded was too upbeat (btw talkbackers do NOT tell me things are bad at the end of this one - Neo's in a coma? who cares? Look at Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers! Hell look at the 2nd act of King Lear if you want to see downbeat in a second act). I suppose if Neo showed he was a God more I might be happier. Or if they had made the first draft.

(8) The Terminator Trilogy

Not one most people would think of as a great trilogy. The first film is fabulous amazing independant filmaking (a film which made Cameron the "king of the world" which could be argued is good and bad) it was truly downbeat and evil - and for the first time since Darth Vader (I gotta stop talking about Star Wars) we were truly afraid of our villain. Arnie was perfect here, and he's never been this good in a film since. Actually he was, in Terminator 2 when Arnie became "our guy" and Cameron gave us "the biggest film ever made" (which held until 1997 when he did it again with Titanic) which gave us a very satisfying ending to his films. Let's face it, at the end of the day the franchise had been taken as far as it needed to go. It was suffering from "Re-Loaded syndrome" where a sequel was deemed "necessary". If Cameron had taken the reins I would have been more interested and when he didn't I didn't pay the film much attention. When I got my hands on an early draft I became more interested, but Re-Loaded killed any faith I had in any blockbuster. Bad Boys II changed that quickly, and it when I saw T3 I was pleasently surprised. Did you know that the only two actors who have been in all three films have been Arnie and the actor who played the shrink? Sarah Conner and Kyle Reese should not have been in this one, and I'm glad they weren't. It worked well on its own. But we don't want another one. Please?

(7) The Hannibal Lector Trilogy

Or rather the Anthony Hopkins Hannibal Lector trilogy. If we ignore Manhunter and concentrate on Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. Red Dragon is a thriller and a damn fine one. It's attention to detail in second to none - notice Edward Grahem's armpits coated in sweat when he finishes with Lector - and its involving to watch him work. The performances are second to none with each part playing its way through with no extra baggage to speak of. And the end moment leads perfectly into The Silence of the Lambs. Whereas Dragon is a superb thriller which makes us wonder how it will end, Lambs is a lesson in fear. I saw it for the first time many years ago, and like many films I saw then I mis-understood it. When I saw it again earlier this year I was terrified and stunned by the film - there is very little like it. The we made the jump from Jodie Foster who was simply cold as ice with hardly any emotion - if she had it if she had hidden it when her father died - Julianne Moore I feel nailed the Starling of the books far better (I'm aware I may be eaten alive for saying this - pun intended) As for Hannibal, well like many final acts it is flawed - but whereas Lambs is a object lesson in fear, then Hannibal is an object lesson in terror. I'm watching it as I write this post, and I'm openly terrified by many of the things I'm seeing and hearing. few films make me feel as enclosed and terrified like this - make me jump at shadows. But this, and the next film I'll talk about are two of them.

(6) The Alien Trilogy (1-3)

Resurrection I won't talk about - even though I like it. The original three Alien films are the original and best. Alien is not object-terror like Hannibal - it's true terror. There is not a moment of Alien where the audience is not on the edge of their seat, and they're in the air for most of the second act as the Alien slowly knocks off the entire crew. Then in Aliens Cameron took it where Scott did not, removed the fear of a single demon of the night, like a Vampire or Werewolf that acts alone, but made an army of them, which far from removed our fear of the Aliens and replaced it with the terror of many. Just because you were heavily armed did not make you safe - the guys with the big guns were cut down just as easily as the rest. The with Alien 3 we went back to the seclusion of Alien which in many ways was good. It was fabulous that there were no weapons, and Geiger's design of the Alien moved beyond the machine and animal hybrid mix that was Scott and Cameron's Alien into something far worse that only lives in the bottom of our nightmares. Like Michael Myers and Hannibal Lector something that is as dangerous as it looks. Lets just not talk about Aliens Vs Predator

(5) The Indiana Jones Trilogy

Perfect example of the darker second act. Technically these three films are not a trilogy, technically Temple of Doom comes before Raiders of the Lost Ark. But the films are simply fantastic, less so for cinematic geneius like Godfather or Aliens but simply for the same reason that "other sci-fi flick" is in this chart somewhere, for simple fun and excitement. Raiders is pure adrenaline, there is a frantic pace to the first film which has to be admired. Much alike many films of the time, much in the vein of Star Wars due to the feeling that it arose in the late 1970's and early 1980's, a feeling which gave birth to many other films like Die Hard or Beverly Hills Cop or Conan the Barbarian. Speilberg lost the plot slightly with The Temple of Doom which wanted to be a very dark Indiana Jones film, but with the material in question it is a little difficult to create this film. There is a ruggedness to Jones' character which demands that he be given somewhat lighter material, and yet still have his action edge, so to speak. So where Speilberg missed the mark somewhat with Temple of Doom he completely nailed what he was aiming for to begin with when he began work on the trilogy when he directed The Last Crusade. The genius here of course was the introduction of Indiana's father Henry Ford (Sean Connery) the chemistry on screen between them being completely perfect. The humour in the film is not intentional - Howard Kitchnar whilst filming The Empire Strikes Back always noted that "I needed humour, but not laugh out loud belly gags". The same is true with The Last Crusade. There is no moment when the audience feels that laughs are forced upon them, with the most humourous moment being when Ford throws a Nazi from the Balloon and says "No ticket". Much alike the shooting of the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark the moments seem to fit into the whole flow of the film. Not like the humour in Batman Forever which is forced upon us, trying to make us laugh. Indiana Jones is an icon, and wheras I doubt Harrison Ford's portrayel of him will exceed that of Han Solo, but generations of children will still yell "It's Indiana Jones time!" whenever they go for a walk in the country. This and Star Wars will be the films that I raise my children on.

(4) The Lord of the Rings trilogy

There is little I can write about The Lord of the Rings that has not already been said. I've made a point of not talking about the trilogy on this blog for many reasons - the foremost of this is that I do not fancy myself as a great writer and its impossible to write in any matter of depth about Lord of the Rings without drawing comparion to the great books of Tolkein. I have only read the trilogy of books once, Fellowship of the Ring shortly after seeing the film (to my shame) which allowed me to paint a perfect image in my head. After reading it (I was in Russia at the time) I immediatly started reading The Two Towers which I had a specific image for, and strangely this didn't ruin the film for me, in fact I wanted to see what Jackson did with the text. I think that the decision to move Saruman's demise by Gandalf to Return of the King (extended cut) and Shelob really made the film a better. Return of the King is my favourite chapter, while everyone raves about the black gates and Minus Tirith but for me the best bit of the film is little interaction between Aragon and Merry when Pippin is taken off by Gandalf. And anything involving the Witch Queen was great in my book. The extended cut of Return of the King as with the rest makes the films complete. There is stuff in the extended cut of Fellowship of the Ring that should have been in the original release - the gift giving comes to mind - but the films, with or without the extras are the closest we will ever get to a Fantasy film perfection (I will rectify this when I reach "that film")

(3) The Evil Dead Trilogy

Like The Matrix trilogy this isn't really a trilogy - Evil Dead II - a film I rave about as being the greatest horror film ever made - is just a remake of The Evil Dead. But Evil Dead is as different to Evil Dead II as the original Spiderman is to Ramii's Spiderman. Watch the sequence when Octupus' tentacles take control - it is a massive tribute to Evil Dead. Bruce Campbell has taken a part in both of the Spiderman films, which shows that the ties that were made on the amking of The Evil Dead go very far. The first one is a fantastic horror film, which not only shows tribute to many other horror films, specifically The Hills Have Eyes, but was the beginning for low budget film makers. According to the commentory on the Evil Dead II disk Ramii was taken to see a drive in film by a friend (who would be a producer on the Evil Dead) and told Sam "this is the sort of thing we're trying to do". The film in question was Halloween - Ramii's comment was "Jesus, I didn't know it would have to be this good" - Well he did good - Evil Dead was inventive and different - the low budget showed but the film still had the driving force of a screwdriver through the skull. Evil Dead II took the same concept, but changed the body count from close friends to complete strangers. The whole visual style of the film is amazing - the camera work with the eye and the corpse dance are fantastic. The genius of ED2 was to turn Ash from this cool character into a cool ass kicker. And frankly without this major change we would never have had Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness and this had the Ash that we wanted to see, and until Bubba Ho-Tep last year it was the last time we got to see "The Bruce". And until/if we see Evil Dead IV I doubt we will again.

(2) The Godfather Trilogy

Like Lord of the Rings it is impossible to truly describe The Godfather. The first film is truly awe-inspiring with Pacino and the rest of the cast on top form. The restaurant hit is one of the greatest pieces of film ever made, equalled only by Brando's death amoung the orange trees and the final set of hits, set in time with the christening of Connie's child. It's equally impossible to talk about The Godfather without talking about the magnificent performance of Marlon Brando who was considered to be commercial suicide when he was cast as Don Coleone but he made the role his own. His reactions throughout the film are to be watched, my personnal favourite being when he hears that his son Sonny (Caan) has been killed and his only sign is leaning on the drinks cabinet for...just....a....second....and then he's back to his strength that he carries through the film. Duvall is the one who has to give him this news, and Duvall carries somewhat a nervous nature through the film, and yet he's one of the principle strong characters. Then in Part II he takes control, he becomes the Godfather while Michael (Pacino at his best) goes out to increase his empire. Part II also has the role of Robert De Niro who won his first best supporting actor award - an award which he should have won for Goodfellas, and though I find the film difficult at times its certainly well worthy of the only sequel ever to win an oscar award (until last year when The Return of the King bagged best picture). I have to admit I've never seen the third part, but I have asked for the DVD trilogy for my birthday (should be arriving anytime soon joy :D) and then I'm going to have an italian night with pasta, red wine and the Godfather truly the greatest crime film trilogy ever made and quite possibly the best "film" ever made.

(1) The Star Wars Trilogy

It had to be this didn't it? Tempted though I was to simply end the post here, I thought it might be time to re-write my infamous "post that vanished" on Star Wars which took me hours (so i'm getting comftable now).

Nah, sorry can't bring myself to write more about Star Wars. Needless to say, it's my favourite trilogy, and it's one of the few none-Disney films I can watch that makes me like a little kid.

Good night ladies & gents, the CrazyMovieBuff is back in bussiness!

Quote of the Day - "That's one damn fine coat you're wearing" - Sin City
Song of the moment - just switched to "Every Breath You Take" Sting and the Police
Song of the post - "Two Times" Ann Lee

Bad....so bad....

Apologies for not posting for a while, I've been underground with work (both money work at the hospital and uni work which is drowning me at the mo) so I thought I'd make a return with a list of the worst films I've ever seen. This has been prompted by me watching Alexander last night, apparantly the worst film ever made, but I quite liked it. I've also seen The Fantastic Four recently which was supposed to be awful, but once again I quite liked it.

So without further ado, in no particular order:

(1) Troy

I'm talking about Troy first because I don't think it's as bad as I first thought. Yes there are no Gods but the film is from the mortals perspective, and as Gemma pointed out they wouldn't see them. Yes they didn't read the story and kept Paris alive and killed Menelaus but that was to keep the female fanbase happy. Yes they kept mis-pronouncing the names (a mistake Stone made a point of not doing in Alexander) but the battle scenes are good and Pitt and Bean are sound as Achillies and Odysseus. Still think Paris should have died though.

(2) Spiderman 2

Gods I really hate this film. "Raindrops are falling on my head" is a crime against humanity. The whole film is just rancid from start to finish. The one moment when it suprasses every other superhero film made is the fight on the train - then Rami screws it up when the people on the train try to protect Spiderman. I can only hope that the third one picks things up, because this one had so much potential. I still find it hard to believe that people give this hunk of rubbish 5 stars and piss all over The Punisher which is one of my favourite comic book adaptation. How could Empire give Spiderman 5 stars and Sin City only 4? It's a mystery...

(3) Sin City

Nah just kidding

(4) Batman & Robin

The mother of all bad films (followed by Plan 9 From Outer Space) but you can't blame this one dying on Cloony. You can blame it on Arnie's terrible Mr. Freeze, Uma Thurman's plant...thing, Chris "Give me a personality" O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl. The only way WB saved the franchise by going back to the beginning.

(5) Blue Streak

Thankfully this has vanished from the world with the exception of 2nd hand shops who are overflowed with it. Complete cack

(6) Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets

Makes Blue Streak look like a classic. The first one was ok-ish it hit the mark of an early Potter film. But this one, based on the worst book, had no charm whatsoever. The only good thing about was the level of detail in Columbus' direction, and the fact it had Richard Harris. There is no other appealing feature, except maybe Hermonie...

(7) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Not the re-make, the original. I just don't like this film. At all. Nothing. There is nothing good about it, and I have severe problems with anyone whe finds it a good film, less one of the best horror films. It's clunky (I have no problem with low budget horror by the way, one of my favourite horror films is the Evil Dead) but this one isn't scary, and it feels like it has been throw together to make things as gory and shocking as possible, but not scary.

(8) Finding Nemo

Yuck. I watched this a second time lying on my girlfriend's bed and I didn't enjoy it anymore then when I watched it in the cinema. Visually it's stunning, much more stunning then the equally poor Shark Tale but this difference is that this one is full of sentimental shit that it gets bogged down in its own entrails. Please let it's critical praise be at an end, just like Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

(9) Legue of Gentleman Apocolypse

I must have been drunk to pay good money for this.

(10) Legue of Extraordinary Gentlemen

This could have been good. This could have been really good. It had the cast, and the budget and the story to draw on. And yet the director screwed it all to hell by making this a screw up of gigantic proportion. The fact the British are insulted so badly in the opening sequence doesn't help. The saving grace of the film is that Connery's Alan Quartamein is well done, but there is nothing else to reccomend this film.

(11) Hulk

I didn't think that this could be screwed up. I thought Ang Lee was a weird choice for something like this, and I didn't know enough about Eric Bana to make a comment. I loved Bana in Troy and I'll watch anything with him in now. But Hulk hurt to watch, from the confusing storyline involving Bana's father to the split screen sequences which were horrible and then the end fight with his father which was confusing and hard work. And then the biggest crime in the film which was the Hulk showing emotion when he saw a goddamn flower! Not really worth the time of day this.

(12) The Matrix Re-Loaded

You know what scares me the most about this? Joel Silver has said that Re-Loaded and Revolutions were one film. And this is the Matrix Trilogy so what scares me is that there maybe another one, even though Neo died in Revolutions which was a film that I actually liked. Re-Loaded however was pap from start to finish, they took the Matrix and made into a commercial film by adding big buck sequences like the fighting 100 agent Smith's and the unecesasary dance sequence in Zion. The car chase and the fist fights with Neo are good enough. But overall this was terrible.

So have I seen anything good recently? At the cinema I saw The Fantastic Four, War of the Worlds and Sin City again. On DVD I've seen Alexander, The Aviator, Ray, Million Dollar Baby and Sideways. Therefore with the exception of Closer I've seen all of the main Oscar films. I now firmly believed that Million Dollar Baby did not deserve best director (that should have gone to Scorcese for The Aviator) or best film (I don't think any of them truly deserved it, but out of all of them I'd have to go for Ray) and certainly didn't deserve best actress (I would go for Cate Blanchett in The Aviator) I'm glad Foxx got best actor for Ray. That was good.

Be back soon with the best Comic book films ever made. Guess Sin City will be on the top.

Quote of the day - "You know the problem with Hollywood? They make shit" John Travolta Swordfish
Song of the moment - "Accidentally In Love" - Counting Crows
Song of the post - Bad to the Bone

My films! Just mine! All mine! hehehehe

Ok, yep, I've got my eye on 4 films at the moment.

(1) Alcoholics From The Bench
(2) Orpheus: Don't Look Back
(3) Hunter
(4) Life For Rent

It's generally because I'm writing them! Hunter is a horror film, slightly in the vein of Jeepers Creepers but not the samebecause I can't stand the film! It's going to be the first of a trilogy - I hope - I've even got storylines for all three films. Orpheus is based on the White Wolf Roleplaying game based around the game I'm playing at the moment (hopefully I'll be ST'ing a game soon enough). Life For Rent I concieved after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and it's a drama about heartbreak and loss. Alcoholics is my attempt at wiritng a comedy about 6 students who are forced to put down the pints in order to save the world from being hypnoticed by a Sean Penn look-a-like who is brain washing them all - the students are only saved by their high intake of a previously unknown type of alcohol.

Life for Rent is the only one I've made any progress on - Alcoholics doesn't really have a title yet - I'm working on that. I was thinking of doing something like Shaun of the Dead with students and Vampires - but it would be more of a horror film than a comedy - it would of course help if I had a sense of humour - but at the end of the day, this is going to be a film written by students for the enjoyment of students (much alike Shaun of the Dead)

Oh, and if you're a fan of The League of Gentlemen then you will probably like The League of Gentlemen Apocolypse - I've never seen the series and with a couple of exceptions I absolutly hated the film with a horrible passion. I really should have watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Oh well, only a few more days until Batman Begins

Quote of the Day - Those were the best days of my life "Summer of '69"
Song of the moment - N/A
Song of the post - These Words - Natasha Bedingfield

Revenge of the Sith Part VIII

Due to exams and other odds and ends (i.e. Gemma) I haven't posted in ages. Very sorry.

Well I've seen Revenge of the Sith three times. And it's everything I hoped it would be. The lightsabres are amazing, even if the Yoda/Sidious duel was not what I expected. I would talk about it for a lot longer than this, but a) I've been warned not to because of spoilors - and you can't really review it without doing that (i.e. saying who fights who) and b) I wanna talk about Sin City.

Sin City has replaced American Beauty as the best film that I have ever seen.

I can say no bad thing about Sin City. I advice that anyone who reads this should see the film at a late night showing like I did, it gives the film something else that I feel would be missing if you saw it during the day. I think that this is truly the best film that everyone involved, actors and production crew have ever put together.

What else on the film front? Well, I've heard that Pierce Brosnan will be back as James Bond, though I've heard so many rumours about who's being Bond that I've given up. Fantastic Four, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and War of the Worlds are currently vying for the place that Sin City holds as the best film of the summer (though in the best film catagory none of them have a ice-cubes-chance-in-hell). Also this Russian one Night Watch looks like it could be interesting.

So the best films this year so far have been Sin City, Revenge of the Sith and Constantine. I do a top 5 films every year - and usually the best films of the year come out towards the end. We've got to remember that The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and the fourth Harry Potter film have yet to come out, so things could still be interesting. Then there is also Serenity the Firefly film which should rock heavily.

I've also heard that there is a new director on X3 the third X-Men film - Brett Shatner? Does this mean anything to you guys?

Oh, and I've seen Kingdom of Heaven which was good and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which was extremely good. The use of Martin I thought was just right, as was Eddy, a character I had completely forgotton about. Zaphod Beeblebrox wasn't done right though, and I'm not sure why.

Tonight, on the night shift, I've watched The Punisher, Hollow Man, Freddy Vs Jason and I've just started Terminator 2 - I think this is the best way to pass the night.

Apologies for the lack of replies, but now I'm back at work I should be able to post more often.

Quote of the day - "You're not God Frank, I am" Hollow Man
Song of the moment - N/C
Song of the post - My Time of Day

Revenge of the Sith Part VII

Less than a day to go. 13 Years of waiting, and it's finally here.

Quote of the day - "Consumed by the Dark Side young Skywalker has become"
Song of the moment - The Imperial March - from The Empire Strikes Back
Song of the post - If Tommorow Never Comes

Revenge of the Sith Part VI

God it's going to be so good! So Good! Gemma looked fairly scared as we watched the trailer earlier - seeing it on the big screen is one of a adrenalline rush!

In other news, I've seen The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Kingdom of Heaven. Hitchhikers Guide is a terrible adaptation of the book, but a brilliant film. Kingdom of Heaven is a good film, but nothing special. Still loved it mind.

Quote of the Day - "Life, don't talk to me about life"
Song of the moment - "She's Like The Wind"
Song of the post - "I'm so excited!"

Ain't no paintbrush big enough....

Right! That's Enough! No more bloody Zombies! I've been painting them constantly for tommorow, and I still have 40 to go! In a minute I've gotta go downstairs and paint constantly for the rest of the night. It would help if I didn't have Bucky O' Hare playing constantly on the TV - and if I wasn't horribly tired (which I can't explain for the life of me, given that I've had a really good nights sleep for two nights on the trot now).

Film wise, well I have my Episode III tickets now, and the date is getting closer. We're planning to do the whole lot on the release day, have Episodes I & II just before the film, then IV, V & VI afterwards! There will be drinking, quoting and ordering food for those of you in the Aber area who fancy coming down?

Ho-hum, I've been watching lots of Firefly again recently - we saw the new trailer on Tuesday night (the second it was released) and it does look rather good.

I also found a French made film with Ash against Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and then against Conner McCloud (Highlander) who has just fought Blade. It's manic as hell, but it's also a damn good laugh! it features the return of "The Hand" (of course) and who do you think wins? Find out in Ben's next post! Oh, you can find it on Ain't It Cool News as usual!

Quote of the day - "All we have become is Echoes of the Great Song"
Song of the moment - "Torn" Natalie Imbruglia
Song of the post - Zombie - The Cranberries