Year: 2008
Director: Sacha Gervasi
Starring: Steve "Lips" Kudlow, Robb Reiner
Being in the arts is hard. So hard that most people give up when their still quite young. They give up and start writing miserable blogs about artists and creators that are actually successful.....er......
I digress.
It's hard to make it in the artistic world and once you make it, it's hard to stay on top. Fame is a cruel bitchmaker which straddles it's helpless slaves and rides them like a drunk 18 year old on a mechanical bull. But many still crave the spotlight and at one point it looked like Anvil, a Canadian metal band had said spotlight; having moderate success with their brand of metal, supporting Bands such as Bon Jovi. Anvil tells us of a band who looked like they could have gone to to great things if it wasn't for a cruel twist of fate. In 1984, the thrash metal "big four*" came through and made metal a big thing, and somehow Anvil were left on the wayside. The film hints that it may be the fact that they were from Canada that made things difficult, but nothing is justified.
Skip to the present and Anvil are STILL around...well two of the original band members: the Lead singer "Lips" and drummer Robb Reiner . They are in medial jobs (well Lips is while we know nothing about Robb) but still live by their vow to rock until they drop. Despite being in their 50's, their quest for true fame lingers on 30 years after forming.
Critically lauded and rightly so Anvil is a heartbreaking film about two men who just simply don't know when to quit. Many have talked about how funny it is but within some of the films funniest lines come the most heart wrenching moments. What makes Anvil so watchable is the fact that the two leads are totally devoted to each other (read co-dependent) and will do anything to achieve a dream which even their long suffering wives have released, may have faded a long time ago. They're unrelenting in their pursuit, they know what they want and are unlikely to compromise for anyone especially the A&R men that hold the keys to the doors that the two desperately want them to open.
But their blinkered perspective along with their bizarrely youthful optimism, shows you why they are where they are. The first half provides the most laughs we follow the group on a tour with a naive promoter who has booked them in clubs all over Europe because of her love of the band. She can hardly communicate with them, she forgets simple things such as double checking the travel, and is so bad that it is agreed with by the band and a fan (a lawyer) who happens to find them at a dive of a bar that they were playing (and didn't get paid for) that she is "bad management".
You get the feeling that Anvil have had a lot of this in the 30 plus years they've been around and you laugh at the absurdity but each giggle is a painful one. The film has been likened to Spinal Tap (a shot of an amp going to 11 and a trip to Stonehenge help matters), but plays out more like Chris Smith's American Movie (1999). It's a story a screenwriter couldn't make up. Nothing seems to phase these guys and their drive is admirable (if not slightly insane). But what makes this documentary a winner for me is the fact that due to their unwavering point of view, their reason for soldiering on is because they love music and they love who they play for.
One of the reasons Metalica: Some sort of Monster is painful to watch is your watching a band who've done it all and seem to have no idea what to do with themselves any more**. Their fame has clouded their judgement and their in house fighting appear to merely be petty squabbles for power. Anvil fight because they're passionate and have something they know someone, somewhere will love. They have no pretension, no pomposity, and are clearly focus on making a person rock to their music. These days finding a band like that is hard to find.
*The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth
**I say this about Metallica due to when Some Kind of Monster Came Out, I have been told that Death Magnetic is v good.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Year: 2009
Director: Gavin Hood
Screenplay: Skip Woods, David Benioff
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Renolds, Danny Huston#
Film Synopsis is here
So we all know about the whole hoo ha about the fucking work print being leaked, the reviewer who watched it getting fired and the rest of it. Lets feel bad for a studio trying to make an buck on a popular franchise. And lets also lambaste the same studio for insulting it's paying audience by giving us a weak ass film that almost deserved to be watched for free.
No don't get me wrong.I didn't expect it to be a masterpiece or classic, I didn't even expect Wolverine to be the exuberant film that X2 is. But I did expect it to be fun. I didn't want it to take the piss out of me for watching it. I expected the filmmakers to release that I have watched The x-men series to see that I would invest time and effort into watching their movie.
While I understand a film like this wishes to stand it's own two feet and not need the help of their counterparts to prop them up, I don't want aspects of story changed willy nilly just for the sake of it. Wolverine is full of little issues that make the film more ridiculous than it already is. This is a film about a indestructible man....silly right? Well at least make it coincide with the other silly films featuring said indestructible man! The screenplay is full of inaccuracies that made my viewing of the film and depressing one. Much like Lucas when he wrote the "already written" prequels, we get a screenplay that has appeared to have missed the very films that it's based on. I won't go into too much detail but I will say: HOW DO YOU KNOW THE BULLETS WILL DO THAT? When a film gives me questions like this I get annoyed. The reason: Lazy ass writing.
The lazy ass writing also gives a shed load of characters with nothing to do. The screenplay gives us cliched cheese ball lines that were amusing the first time you heard them (back in 1989) but not any more. We are giving a script that reminds me that even if your film is a big dumb actioner, you still need structure, you still need to be witty and you still need to give a damn about who your writing about. I saw none of that here.
But what about the action? the effect shots that were missing from the bootleg etc...Well they're nothing special. In fact expect for the last climatic fight, they're rather flat and forgetful. The CGI is weak and looks far better in X2 (6 years ago) than now.
However, despite this being one of the worst films I've seen this year, some of the acting was very enjoyable. Liev Schreiber has a great time chewing on scenery as Sabretooth and is easily the best thing about the film. Hugh Jackman plays what I can only say is a softer Wolverine than before, but in softening the character he loses some of the the ruggedness that made him so watchable in the first two Xmen films. Ryan Reynolds shows why a Deadpool film could be a great laugh in a role that is nothing more than extended cameo. Talyor Kitch plays fan boy favourite with a lot of urgency but as a character with no real purpose other than to make comic fans grin, we find him quite wasted. Danny Huston does his best Brian Cox impression and ultimately fails, which is a shame as I find him quite an overlooked actor.
Wolverine is big and dumb, but it has forgotten it's fun at the door. Despite having some OTT comic book moments and it's light tone, it has none of the identity issues and depth which made the first two xmen so memorable and none of the spectacle that Brett Ratner tried to place in X-men the last stand. In the end the film is the most lackluster entry to the franchise. The imdb ratings say something different from what I've said and that's fine but lets just say I'm happy enough never to grace the film with my presence again.
Director: Gavin Hood
Screenplay: Skip Woods, David Benioff
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Renolds, Danny Huston#
Film Synopsis is here
So we all know about the whole hoo ha about the fucking work print being leaked, the reviewer who watched it getting fired and the rest of it. Lets feel bad for a studio trying to make an buck on a popular franchise. And lets also lambaste the same studio for insulting it's paying audience by giving us a weak ass film that almost deserved to be watched for free.
No don't get me wrong.I didn't expect it to be a masterpiece or classic, I didn't even expect Wolverine to be the exuberant film that X2 is. But I did expect it to be fun. I didn't want it to take the piss out of me for watching it. I expected the filmmakers to release that I have watched The x-men series to see that I would invest time and effort into watching their movie.
While I understand a film like this wishes to stand it's own two feet and not need the help of their counterparts to prop them up, I don't want aspects of story changed willy nilly just for the sake of it. Wolverine is full of little issues that make the film more ridiculous than it already is. This is a film about a indestructible man....silly right? Well at least make it coincide with the other silly films featuring said indestructible man! The screenplay is full of inaccuracies that made my viewing of the film and depressing one. Much like Lucas when he wrote the "already written" prequels, we get a screenplay that has appeared to have missed the very films that it's based on. I won't go into too much detail but I will say: HOW DO YOU KNOW THE BULLETS WILL DO THAT? When a film gives me questions like this I get annoyed. The reason: Lazy ass writing.
The lazy ass writing also gives a shed load of characters with nothing to do. The screenplay gives us cliched cheese ball lines that were amusing the first time you heard them (back in 1989) but not any more. We are giving a script that reminds me that even if your film is a big dumb actioner, you still need structure, you still need to be witty and you still need to give a damn about who your writing about. I saw none of that here.
But what about the action? the effect shots that were missing from the bootleg etc...Well they're nothing special. In fact expect for the last climatic fight, they're rather flat and forgetful. The CGI is weak and looks far better in X2 (6 years ago) than now.
However, despite this being one of the worst films I've seen this year, some of the acting was very enjoyable. Liev Schreiber has a great time chewing on scenery as Sabretooth and is easily the best thing about the film. Hugh Jackman plays what I can only say is a softer Wolverine than before, but in softening the character he loses some of the the ruggedness that made him so watchable in the first two Xmen films. Ryan Reynolds shows why a Deadpool film could be a great laugh in a role that is nothing more than extended cameo. Talyor Kitch plays fan boy favourite with a lot of urgency but as a character with no real purpose other than to make comic fans grin, we find him quite wasted. Danny Huston does his best Brian Cox impression and ultimately fails, which is a shame as I find him quite an overlooked actor.
Wolverine is big and dumb, but it has forgotten it's fun at the door. Despite having some OTT comic book moments and it's light tone, it has none of the identity issues and depth which made the first two xmen so memorable and none of the spectacle that Brett Ratner tried to place in X-men the last stand. In the end the film is the most lackluster entry to the franchise. The imdb ratings say something different from what I've said and that's fine but lets just say I'm happy enough never to grace the film with my presence again.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Russell Brand to become Fred (Drop Dead Fred Remake)
= 
I have a love/hate relationship with Russell Brand. I had work experience for a company and people HATED him. Mostly because it seemed the fame had got to his head and he kept fucking around with said company (who were paying to get him in).
I'm not a massive fan of his comedy and find it quite bland, and I don't find him as outrageous as people would like to think. Compare him to this guy:
Yeah...that prank call? Nothing compared to that.
However his performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall was pretty damn funny. It seems that give the man the right material and he seems more then bearable.
So I found some news on the net that Brand may be in talks for Universal's remake for Drop Dead Fred.
The film was a critical and commercial flop but became a cult hit with quite a few fans (me included). Now the idea for a remake of this film is a good one in my eyes. The film is dated, didn't do too well and could easily find a bigger audience now that attitudes and tastes have changed.
I will say that Brand as the titular Fred? Seems a bit lazy to me I would rather Nick Frost instead:
I reckon Frost as the imaginary Fred would be hilarious. The humor would be different as well as opposed as the easy option. With this said the makers are stating: "The take for the new "Fred" is to make a film in the tone of "Beetlejuice," building a universe around the concept of imaginary friends. Brand would play the trouble-making pal."
Brand and Beetle juice? If written well then this could be quite amusing.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
David Lynch + Danger Mouse = mindfuckery
+ 
=
The Main Article is here but basically...
David "ideas are like fishes" Lynch (follow his twitter) and Hip Hop producer Danger Mouse are collaborating on a new music project. The collab is with a host of other musical talent (Black Francis of the Pixies and The Flaming Lips to name a few) but the main surprise for me has to be David Lynch the creator of Mullholland Drive and Eraserhead and this piece of what the fuckery(catching on?):
Yeah exactly. David Lynch mixing his mind with a guy whose music videos can look like this:
Now I'm a fan of both....something tell me that these two getting together: end of the world.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Review: Notorious
Year: 2009
Director: George Tillman Jr
Screenplay: Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker
Starring: Jamal Woolard, Angela Bassett, Naturi Naughton, Antonique Smith, Derek Luke
Plot summary is here
Christopher Wallace (A.K.A The Notorious B.I.G, Biggie Smalls, Frank White etc) was my Kurt Cobain. I remember exactly where I was when he died. I used to walk with some friends to the bus stop to catch a coach to school. I had just made it around the girls house and the news ( Channel 4's Big Breakfast program) had come on announcing his death. The report then detailed how a truckload of rap artists had now brought bulletproof vehicles. Seriously, time fucking stopped.
I was 13 at the time and the news hit me for six. It was around that year I picked up Life after Death and got started to get into my hip hop. Bad Boy Record's helped shape one segment of my music listening tastes. Biggie and other are the reason I love East Coast Hip-hop over almost ANY other kind. So when I heard this movie was on it's way I had to watch it.
Now that I've shown you my bias...lets get on with the review. Notorious is SO cliched it's unbelievable. It's hard to watch a film like this after watching spoofs such as Walk Hard, because not only the latter film was so on point with it's piss takes, Notorious decides to almost follow them all. It's hard coming out of a movie like this when two of my favorite films of this year (The Dammed Utd and Frost/Nixon) have "biopics" in the loosest term of the word.
Wallace's life was a brief one it's still hard to place all the volatile elements of that life into two hours of film. Here the filmmaker try and do that, seemingly learning from T.V movies such as this*. One of the main differences between say Frost/Nixon and Notorious is quite simply focus. By concentrating on one moment in time Frost/Nixon provides an tense and dramatic film. Here we see Wallace struggle with jail, drug selling, infidelity, gang warfare you fucking name it. The film buckles under the strain with a script that glosses over insight to just a basic overview. Notorious' story works best when the focus remains on scenes of Biggie's relationship with one Tupac Shukar (One that has already been placed on film before). It's these moments are the most memorable due to Tupac's extreme personality which keeps his character from being a generic caricature.
However, lets not get things too twisted though as there's a lot of good here too. Despite the film's faults, The film helps by having Jamal Woolard in the lead role. After learning all of Biggie's raps and getting the vocal patten right, director George Tillman gets a solid performance out of the big man. Woolard not only looks the part but puts alot of effort into the role. If I want to nitpick about his turn...I'd say rap-wise it's easy to tell Jamal apart from The Notorious one simply because for a big guy Biggie pace and breath control was phenomenal. While Jamie Foxx has been impersonating Ray Charles on Kanye West songs, Woolard is at a tad slower than Wallace and it's probably to make sure he keeps the vocal sounding the same...which in all essence is fine.
Woolard carries the film by being likable to an audience that may still have no idea why they should give a damn. The most of the support give brave turns despite being mostly first timers or mostly unknowns. Naturi Naughton is feisty as Lil Kim while Antonique Smith is sweet as Faith Evans. Derek Luke gets Puff Daddys dancing down to a T while Marc John Jefferies makes the most out of a thankless Lil Cease role. Angela Bassett on the other hand is cruising on autopilot, you can almost see the producers shortlist for strong black mothers to have only her name on it.
Nototious is a typical rise and fall story that will probably only appeal to biggie fans which is a shame because the directors had a good chance to interest more people. Some sloppy storytelling stops the films from being as strong as it could be. 8 mile was a loose fictional account of aspects of Eminem's life but Curtis Hanson's economical direction shows how pull of a cliche movie with aplomb.
When Notorious gets it right however it's an entertaining movie. A lot of scenes carry good weight and I was never truly bored throughout the story despite knowing most of it. I love the music of course and despite the so much of the dialogue being crudely placed lines of biggies songs, it's not as cringe worthy as they could be. I've made this review a bit of a downer but please believe me when i say that I enjoyed the movie, just remember I'm a biggie fan.
It is unfortunate that the focus is as sloppy as it is. The scene's between Tupac and Biggie are short but more revealing than they seem to realise. If the filmmakers had worked more on that relationship and the bizarre and tragic circumstances I would have enjoyed the film even more.
Director: George Tillman Jr
Screenplay: Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker
Starring: Jamal Woolard, Angela Bassett, Naturi Naughton, Antonique Smith, Derek Luke
Plot summary is here
Christopher Wallace (A.K.A The Notorious B.I.G, Biggie Smalls, Frank White etc) was my Kurt Cobain. I remember exactly where I was when he died. I used to walk with some friends to the bus stop to catch a coach to school. I had just made it around the girls house and the news ( Channel 4's Big Breakfast program) had come on announcing his death. The report then detailed how a truckload of rap artists had now brought bulletproof vehicles. Seriously, time fucking stopped.
I was 13 at the time and the news hit me for six. It was around that year I picked up Life after Death and got started to get into my hip hop. Bad Boy Record's helped shape one segment of my music listening tastes. Biggie and other are the reason I love East Coast Hip-hop over almost ANY other kind. So when I heard this movie was on it's way I had to watch it.
Now that I've shown you my bias...lets get on with the review. Notorious is SO cliched it's unbelievable. It's hard to watch a film like this after watching spoofs such as Walk Hard, because not only the latter film was so on point with it's piss takes, Notorious decides to almost follow them all. It's hard coming out of a movie like this when two of my favorite films of this year (The Dammed Utd and Frost/Nixon) have "biopics" in the loosest term of the word.
Wallace's life was a brief one it's still hard to place all the volatile elements of that life into two hours of film. Here the filmmaker try and do that, seemingly learning from T.V movies such as this*. One of the main differences between say Frost/Nixon and Notorious is quite simply focus. By concentrating on one moment in time Frost/Nixon provides an tense and dramatic film. Here we see Wallace struggle with jail, drug selling, infidelity, gang warfare you fucking name it. The film buckles under the strain with a script that glosses over insight to just a basic overview. Notorious' story works best when the focus remains on scenes of Biggie's relationship with one Tupac Shukar (One that has already been placed on film before). It's these moments are the most memorable due to Tupac's extreme personality which keeps his character from being a generic caricature.
However, lets not get things too twisted though as there's a lot of good here too. Despite the film's faults, The film helps by having Jamal Woolard in the lead role. After learning all of Biggie's raps and getting the vocal patten right, director George Tillman gets a solid performance out of the big man. Woolard not only looks the part but puts alot of effort into the role. If I want to nitpick about his turn...I'd say rap-wise it's easy to tell Jamal apart from The Notorious one simply because for a big guy Biggie pace and breath control was phenomenal. While Jamie Foxx has been impersonating Ray Charles on Kanye West songs, Woolard is at a tad slower than Wallace and it's probably to make sure he keeps the vocal sounding the same...which in all essence is fine.
Woolard carries the film by being likable to an audience that may still have no idea why they should give a damn. The most of the support give brave turns despite being mostly first timers or mostly unknowns. Naturi Naughton is feisty as Lil Kim while Antonique Smith is sweet as Faith Evans. Derek Luke gets Puff Daddys dancing down to a T while Marc John Jefferies makes the most out of a thankless Lil Cease role. Angela Bassett on the other hand is cruising on autopilot, you can almost see the producers shortlist for strong black mothers to have only her name on it.
Nototious is a typical rise and fall story that will probably only appeal to biggie fans which is a shame because the directors had a good chance to interest more people. Some sloppy storytelling stops the films from being as strong as it could be. 8 mile was a loose fictional account of aspects of Eminem's life but Curtis Hanson's economical direction shows how pull of a cliche movie with aplomb.
When Notorious gets it right however it's an entertaining movie. A lot of scenes carry good weight and I was never truly bored throughout the story despite knowing most of it. I love the music of course and despite the so much of the dialogue being crudely placed lines of biggies songs, it's not as cringe worthy as they could be. I've made this review a bit of a downer but please believe me when i say that I enjoyed the movie, just remember I'm a biggie fan.
It is unfortunate that the focus is as sloppy as it is. The scene's between Tupac and Biggie are short but more revealing than they seem to realise. If the filmmakers had worked more on that relationship and the bizarre and tragic circumstances I would have enjoyed the film even more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)