Stop it. Watch The Wire

I am halfway through Episode Four of Season Three of The Wire, and it is so Fucking good that I had to log in to this website and exclaim this publicly. Watch The Wire. It is worth your time.

Primer

Primer is the brainchild of a Shane Carruth - a first time director, first time actor, first time screenwriter, first time producer, composer, editor - the list continues. Needless to say, this film is an incredibly admirable achievement for a debut filmmaker. What is it about? One of my favourite subjects of human science and philosophy - Time Travel.

It might be because this is an independent film, with little resources and funding, that it differs so enormously from other films within the same genre - such as Back to The Future, or Donnie Darko. Those films used Time Travel as a tool for adventurous and excitement or existentialism. Primer actually tackles its subject matter head on, and conveys a sense of realism that almost approaches a Docu-style vibe. Shane Carruth is a former engineer with a degree in mathematics, which is probably what made this film is so meticulous in its details.

Quentin Tarantino once said - "It's okay to be confused, as an audience - as long as the movie makes you feel like you're in good hands. Otherwise you'll tune out" - or something like that. Carruth handles the exponential complexity of how the use of time travel affects reality really well, which is already admirable enough to like the film.

Apparently, he's working on his follow up, currently titled "A Topiary", which is also within the confines of the Science-Fiction genre. And needless to say, I can not wait for what this guy does next.

David Sullivan, who stars in Primer, was apparently very happy about me praising the film on twitter.

When asked whether or not he'll be part of Shane Carruth's next project, another Sci-Fi based film currently titled "A Topiary", he responded once again.

The Brothers Grimm Bloom

For those who have never seen BRICK, stop reading and leave your computer and find it. Watch it.

Rian Johnson's first film was a fusion of a Neo-Noir, Western, and High-School films. Throughout Brick, it is obvious that Rian Johnson is one hell of a writer, not to mention his direction - some of his shots are just aesthetically pleasing and feel creative and fresh. There are sound cues and visuals that one would rarely expect of a first time director, and the on-screen talent just perpetuates our awareness of it all. But enough about Brick.

A filmmaker's second film seems to be the true test. We expect that person to do not just as well - but better. Tarantino seemed to have aced this test with his debut follow up, Pulp Fiction. David Fincher, Se7en. Christopher Nolan, Memento.

Anything Rian Johnson seems to make, encompasses a palette of creative easter-eggs. That is to say that any shot is specifically framed (and if it isn't, then it certainly feels like it), the colours of any new scene actually means something, and the story - whilst it isn't necessarily anything new - feels like a fresh take on con-man movies, and the result is an awesome new yet classic tale.

There is much symbolism in this film. There is a scene in which Stephen and Bloom meet for the first time in a long while. Stephen, for whom everything seems to work out all the time, is upbeat and energetic. Bloom looks like shit, sad - as if he bears all the pain in the world, constantly. Rian Johnson expresses this visually, in the following manner: Bloom reaches for the sugar, tries to pour some into his coffee - he tries twice, nothing comes out, and he gives up, with such an existentialist look in his face, downtrodden. Stephen also likes his coffee sweetened, so he grabs it, and whilst replying to something, simply pours it into his cup - with no problems whatsoever.

If it seems like I'm making a big deal about a small scene like that - just know that this is the simplest example of intelligent filmmaking this film contains. There is a lot more.

The music, for example. The music is simply and honestly glorious. Rian's cousin, Nathan Johnson, created BRICK's soundtrack in his kitchen with Ace Hardware supplies - and it was epic. A more jazzier, funkier, more upbeat score is what we get with this, and it totally fits.

While there may be a special place in my heart for Brick, I do admit that Brothers Bloom is a better crafted film - with a palpable Heart and Soul.

500 Days of Summer

This is a film I have been looking forward to with joyful excitement for a long time. And I fucking Loved it. Once the film was over, I didn't want to leave my auditorium. I wanted to watch it again.

False Salvation

In retrospect, the build up to Terminator Salvation was brutally unfair. It felt like this could actually be Great. The weeks leading up to its release were riddled with exciting news, awesome posters and production stills, interviews that felt genuine, etc. It also looked good. And most importantly, even the script became promising. There was talk of Jonathan Nolan having some sort of creative control over it, even news of a substantial rewrite by him. All of this made me believe that this would definitely be of a particular level of quality. Christian Bale was involved, and he's an actor that challenges himself, picking roles that have some sort of emotional purpose and Life to them. All throughout pre and main production, McG was saying the right things. And I, Marco the Fool, was sold. I felt some sort of tiny amount of hope and chance that it could actually take advantage of this awesome plot. Terminators. The future war.

The result is, of course, an antonym translated version of the above paragraph. For some reason the finished product was a scathingly ridiculous piece of unemotional bullshit, riddled with way too many plotholes, way too little character development (I know we know these characters, but give us some reasons to care), and horribly written monologues. The machines capture Kyle Reese and use him to capture John Connor. Why? Kill Kyle Reese instead - John Connor would never have be born. Easy. Or how about the older Terminator model (Marcus Wright's) being more realistic and 'normal' than the newer model (Arnold's) ?. These things don't make any sense whatsoever, and ruin the film immediately.

Christian Bale, one of my favourite actors of our time, does nothing in this film. I don't even remember him well in it. Why? Because he was not really acting. He assumed an identity of complete seriousness, and differentiated his character's moods by altering the volume of his voice. There was no life in him - even when he was screaming his soul out through the screen at me.

But. Yes, McG films action well, and there's a cool Helicopter shot.

Besides that, though, I can't really recall much else to be exited about.

No rewatch worthy here.

Fuck This Film

The bastards of Hollywood have done it again. After Indiana Jones, Die Hard and Star Wars another franchise has been run into the ground (I don't count Terminator 3). McG really proves that he is a worthless director who should go back to making Charlie's Angels AND change his fucking name.
I mean I tried...I tried hard, I really did but after days of lying to myself and fooling myself that this had actually been an OK film, my mind had had enough and I had to give in. This is not the film that I had waited for, this is not the future that Sarah Connor had warned us about...although someone should have warned us about the garbage that we had to endure.
But why was it so horrendous? Was it the poorly written script riddled with plot holes, was it the lack of character development or was it Christian Bale's Batman voice?
It was all of the above and more. From silly one liners to a confusing story line which screws up the Terminator world, which had been so wonderfully set up during T1 and T2.
There are so many things horribly wrong with this film that I wont even bother listing them.
The main problem with the film (apart from letting McG direct it) is that it tries to bring together two story lines in one, we get very little character development (especially from Bale) and therefore don't develope an emotional relation to any of the characters.
There is no epic battle, John Connor comes across as a "subway crazy" who may or may not have throat cancer and the film just has too many ridiculous scenes which destroy any chance of taking this piece of shit seriously.
The Terminator franbchise ended with T2 and sadly it remains dead, even the Dark Knight couldn't revive it. They should have just released the trailer as the feature film.
No wonder Bale flipped out.

Marco say something about this please

Congratulations SIR Christopher Lee

Just a quick congratulation to the newly Knighted Sir Christopher Lee. A brilliant decision by the queen. Christopher Lee has been around for ages and has been my favorite bond villian for some time now. Most people will probably know Sir Christopher as Saruman and/or Count Doku (although we should all forget those movies) and of course as the one and only Dracula (yes he defeats Bela Lugosi in my books). Thruought his career Lee has played a huge part in the horror genre especially due to his frequent work in Hammer films (which I urge everyone to see).
Congratulations to Scaramanga, the one man that could have defeated Bond.