A good old fashioned star vehicle for Cruise and Diaz, looks like a another take on the Bird On A Wire formula (now disturbingly twenty years old), which makes it looks rather promising in terms of being a couple of hours of solid entertainment.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
I have been watching - The X-Files : I Want To Believe
When I previously said I'd watched all of the X Files, I was lying since I still had to catch up with this, the second film released a couple of summers ago.
As the story starts (the film itself starts with a simple but effective intercutting of two time frames) Scully has taken a full time position as a Doctor at a religious hospital and Mulder is still doing what he always did, just not with a government pay cheque and keeping it low key.
Scully is approached by two FBI agents who are dealing with a case involving a missing bureau agent, a case where the best lead is a disgraced priest who claims to be having visions about the kidnapping.
Mulder is reluctantly talked into getting involved but soon finds he is drawn into the case and unable to walk away without getting to the end, just has Scully finds that she no longer can face up to what she calls 'the darkness' anymore.
Thus we have a case and dramatic tension for the two leads to work through. The tension in the relationship between the pair (and does anyone else find it strange they still user each other's surnames?) does feel a little forced at times but in the end rings true. But you do wonder how well people who haven't seen at least a good chunk of the TV show will follow seeing as it touches on Mulder's sister and Scully's lost son amongst other things.
In fact it is the low key moments in the film that interested me the most, those little pieces of character driven storytelling. Where as the case being investigated is never quite as tense as it should be and remains pretty much within 'Without A Trace' territory despite taking a bit of Fringe style serve towards the end.
The main source of X-File weirdness here is Billy Connolly's priest and even that is underplayed throughout with questions over if he really is telling the truth or hiding something more sinister and there is where the film's title comes in. Mulder wants to believe but Scully is no longer sure she can. Again this leads to some interesting character drama rather than finger biting tension of a race against time.
What the film does lack is a sense of being a 'theatrical event', the first film did have it's share of spectacle from exploding buildings to UFOs to expansive vista's but this time out it really does feel like an extended episode and doesn't appear to have had much more budget to play with than it did in it's days as a series.
Having said that if you view it as something of a double length episode than it is I feel a strong one with well realised thematic beats, flashes of the old humour (note the scene when the pair return to the old FBI halls they used to haunt), AD Skinner and a couple of if not plot twists than plot bends along the way.
As for those who complain that it makes no direct reference to the way the series ended I think there is enough there. Scully just wants to have as much a normal life as she can and Mulder has clearly not given up judging by his new office.
And hey I'm sure Reyes and Doggett are still on the case.
As the story starts (the film itself starts with a simple but effective intercutting of two time frames) Scully has taken a full time position as a Doctor at a religious hospital and Mulder is still doing what he always did, just not with a government pay cheque and keeping it low key.
Scully is approached by two FBI agents who are dealing with a case involving a missing bureau agent, a case where the best lead is a disgraced priest who claims to be having visions about the kidnapping.
Mulder is reluctantly talked into getting involved but soon finds he is drawn into the case and unable to walk away without getting to the end, just has Scully finds that she no longer can face up to what she calls 'the darkness' anymore.
Thus we have a case and dramatic tension for the two leads to work through. The tension in the relationship between the pair (and does anyone else find it strange they still user each other's surnames?) does feel a little forced at times but in the end rings true. But you do wonder how well people who haven't seen at least a good chunk of the TV show will follow seeing as it touches on Mulder's sister and Scully's lost son amongst other things.
In fact it is the low key moments in the film that interested me the most, those little pieces of character driven storytelling. Where as the case being investigated is never quite as tense as it should be and remains pretty much within 'Without A Trace' territory despite taking a bit of Fringe style serve towards the end.
The main source of X-File weirdness here is Billy Connolly's priest and even that is underplayed throughout with questions over if he really is telling the truth or hiding something more sinister and there is where the film's title comes in. Mulder wants to believe but Scully is no longer sure she can. Again this leads to some interesting character drama rather than finger biting tension of a race against time.
What the film does lack is a sense of being a 'theatrical event', the first film did have it's share of spectacle from exploding buildings to UFOs to expansive vista's but this time out it really does feel like an extended episode and doesn't appear to have had much more budget to play with than it did in it's days as a series.
Having said that if you view it as something of a double length episode than it is I feel a strong one with well realised thematic beats, flashes of the old humour (note the scene when the pair return to the old FBI halls they used to haunt), AD Skinner and a couple of if not plot twists than plot bends along the way.
As for those who complain that it makes no direct reference to the way the series ended I think there is enough there. Scully just wants to have as much a normal life as she can and Mulder has clearly not given up judging by his new office.
And hey I'm sure Reyes and Doggett are still on the case.
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Avatar ... Lol Cats : The movie?
Click to see a pithy summation of Avatar. No spoilers of any note but it is really funny
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Trailer of the day : IronMan 2
Chedle, Johansson, Rourke, Paltrow, Rockwell, Jackson...it can only be IronMan 2. And judging by the witty and action packed trailer it is going to be everybit as entertaining as the first installment.
Oh and WAR MACHINE!
Oh and WAR MACHINE!
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Brittany Murphy has died.
Actress Brittany Murphy has died at the age of 32, which is very sad news as I was always a fan of hers and thought her massively under-rated. Variety has the report.
I recommend David and Lisa, 8 Mile, Girl, Interrupted and of course Clueless as her best performances but she was always watchable.
Sad news indeed.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Trailer of the day: Halo : Reach
The Halo saga gets in on some of that prequel action as it takes us to the fall of Reach.
Saturday, 12 December 2009
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