Thursday 30 June 2011

Nothing on TV for the Tea Party.

Unsurprisingly a book published by an arm of the Rupert Murdoch media empire claims that American TV is full of left wing bias.

Unsurprising because, well it's published by the owner of Fox and because well it's obviously right. Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing but saying that this is something surely obvious to everyone.

The world of mass entertainment is and has for a long time been liberal, looking all the way back to the days of Hollywood pushing against the limits of the Hays code until broke.

Today even the 'safest' comedy mega-hits are arguably rather liberal. Until the breakdown of Charlie Sheen "Two and a Half Men" was basically the biggest sitcom on American TV and whilst no-one can accuse of it being cutting edge and it's comedy is quite safe in terms of content if you look closely it's quite the liberal.

Think about it revolves around a divorced single father, his idiot sun and (until recently) his unmarried playboy brother who barely works. At one stage his ex-wife has a same sex relationship and pretty much every episode features extra marital sex of some kind or another.

The previous comedy hit to really dominate the landscape, 'Friends' is also full of relationships and situations that would probably drive conservatives mad. But it's not just comedy, it seems true of drama too. The West Wing is of course the obvious example but also take a look at the likes of Six Feet Under, E.R., Dexter and even the likes of Law & Order.

And of course Hollywood itself is still way out there. Whilst it may produce the odd right leaning film for everyone of those there is probably at least five closer to the likes of "Bridesmaids". I can name quite a long list of films made in reaction to the conflict in Iraq and the war on terror, they may have mostly been avoided by unkeen audience at the box office but they got made and a good few are far from what you'd call Indie Dramas.

So whilst it sounds like the book has some interesting inside views I don't think it tells us anything that wasn't obvious. Ok, there is some counter examples, (many would cite 24 but even then I'm not convinced it's prevailing right wing in it's bias) but in world where Fox itself broadcasts The Simpsons, Family Guy and more I don't you can say the theory is wrong.

Sunday 26 June 2011

True Grit




Now, a much better film I've seen recently but not written about thus far is the Coen brothers version of True Grit.

It'll come as little surprise to hear that I think is another gem from the brothers. It's not as bleak as their modern take on the western 'No Country For Old Men', not quite as tragic as 'Fargo' but not as funny as 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'. In truth it lies somewhere in the middle of those three in terms of tone.

It has moments of comedy (the Coen's love of language games), but these are for the most part low key and the coda underlines the message of what vengeance can make of a person and that nothing in life comes for free.

Praise was rightly given to Jeff Bridge's turn as Cogburn, this time interpreted as a man with a distinct sense of wrong and right but with a sometime questionable interpretation of them. An almost broken man doing his best to try and do some right (we're given some brief glimpses into his life and how he got to this point in some of the stories he tells).

Matt Damon is also strong as the Texan ranger LaBoeuf who at first is presented as rather unlikeable but ends up developing an almost Odd Couple partnership with Bridge's Cockburn. One almost the idealised version of the old west and the other muckier reality.

But the true standout is Hailee Steinfeld as the young Mattie Ross. As determined as Marge Gunderson and as forthright as Holly Hunter's Penny from 'O Brother', she truly is the star of the show. As convincing as when she hard bargaining a horse trader as when Mattie lets the 14yr old girl occasionally break through her steely determination to see justice done for her father.

After the hot and uncomfortable West of 'No Country' this time around the Coen's present the cold and uncomfortable West where an untimely end is and ever present danger with the odd splash of surrealism thrown in.

So think Unforgiven with a lighter touch and a couple of jokes and you're pretty much there.

Akira

Ok, I admit I was half a bottle of wine, a bottle of cider and some whisky down and I was watching it in the early hours of the morning but I have to say I really don't see that much in Akira.

Yes some of the animation is quite nice but apart from that the film basically boils down to teenage boy gets super power, is an asshole. Destroys Tokyo. The end. And that's about it. Even the hero of the tale is only slightly less of an asshole than the kid that destroys the city, only the military authority figure, who I'm guessing we're supposed to not like, is worthy of any sympathy since he's just trying to keep as many people alive as possible.

In short the Internet may be throwing it's toys out of the pram regarding a muted Hollywood remake but honestly the existing version isn't exactly good to start with.

Monday 6 June 2011

X-Men : First Class.



To put it straight forwardly this summers return to the X universe in X-Men: First Class is pretty much what it says on the tin. First Class.

This time around we're back in the '60s as the Cuban Missile Crisis looms and Charles Xavier is taking the first steps to creating his superhero team alongside his friend and ally Eric Lehnsherr. As from here it's very much the tale of how these two men who inspire others differ in their worldview and end up on opposing sides.

Both James McAvoy and Micheal Fassbender excels as Charles and Eric respectively. The first making Charles a cheery good hearted man (prone to a bit of partying) put into a position where he has to learn to lead and show the way whilst Fassbender's Eric is a bristling presence of anger, power and determination.

Backing them up is a decent cast (with extra points for having Micheal Ironside in it!) although with the number of characters floating around some of them don't get a lot to do. Standouts are Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and Nicholas Hoult as Hank (aka Beast). It's their relationship and interactions with the lead pair that helps illustrate how people end up on either side of the equation.

In fact Eric's distrust of humanity is served well and it's almost his film in this respect as he struggles to be the man Charles believes he can be before being the man (villain of the piece) Sebastian Shaw as made him. A line of his late in the film is particularly telling "I'm been at the mercy of good men under orders before. Never again".

If there is one area where the film is weakest it is probably in it's villains. Kevin Bacon is nice and smarmy as Shaw but never really feels too threatening whilst his gang are basically characterless beyond January Jones' Emma Frost and even then her main characteristic appears to be her wardrobe (or rather lack of it)

Director Matthew Vaughn fresh off making a satire of comic book films here (and with the guiding hand of Bryan Singer) takes relish in making a real one and does a fine job of balancing the character driven drama (although one or two moments in the script are a little heavy handed) with bursts of comedy (including a smart little cameo) and the inevitable mutant power driven set pieces, with Eric pulling a submarine from the sea a standout moment.

There is also a dark edge running through the film which gives it something extra from Eric's early Nazi hunting (with a scene appropriately reminiscent of Inglorious Basterds) to a standout disturbing moment as Eric gets his vengeance through the unexpected death of one of the class.

And it's all draped in a wonderful '60s vibe that echoes the Bond franchise in it's prime with chic costuming and set design really giving a sense of time and place. Vaughn even takes it further by using edits and wipes reminiscent of 60's cinema during a couple of montage sequences.



For those concerned about continuity it all pretty much fits with the existing films and the one or two reworkings aren't major (and certainly no worse than those seen in the source material itself)

It won't surprise anyone to learn that things are left in place of another outing with this new generation of mutants and I for one do hope we see it, more so if they can make the same type of jump up in scale and quality as made between the first two films.

This may well be the best of the tentpole pictures this summer and certainly is up with the first two X-Men films in terms of quality and entertainment. Highly recommended.


Sunday 5 June 2011

Trailer of the day : The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

When I thought before Fincher would be a good fit for this, looking at the below I think I was right. The original film is excellent but I think this might well eclipse it.

Great little cheeky tag line too..

Behind the Scenes - A quiz!

Ok, another guess the film quiz and this time the twist is all the below are behind the scenes production photos. Some easy, so not so...(but if you ask me they're mostly easy!)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Thursday 2 June 2011

Babylon AD



Babylon AD is a feel which I honestly had no clue what it was supposed to be about when it finished. Ok, yes it's about Vin Diesel gruffly protecting a girl in a future dystopia but why, from whom and why she's significant I honestly could not tell you.

It does have a few nice bits of design and one or two interesting ideas (an onscreen credit for a refugee camp features a constantly rising population count) but sadly it all ends up a bit ramblingly incoherent and as such you don't invest in any of the characters which kind of nullifies any tension or excitement.

Also it loses points for suggesting a Humvee can be run off the road by a Landrover.