eevilmidget

Hellboy II

Not entirely sure the queuing is worth it. Nor the sitting on hard concrete even if you do have a blanket. Also not comfortable with the 'cool' factor of this sold out event. But we're here, we've paid and we're drinking. No big headed people in front, and despite my friend's rain dances, the weather is clear.

Edit: Was it worth it? Meh. It was cheesy, and disappointed by the style over substance outcome by Guillermo del Toro.

chiaroscuro

I have been very very annoyed by all the hype surrounding The Dark Knight... that mostly focused on the deceased actor Heath Ledger's "show stealing performance" as The Joker.

I tried to avoid reading the reviews before watching the film, but through media exposure, I inevitably saw far too many Heath-led (grrr) headlines containing:

... superlatives about Heath Ledger's acting to the point of hyperbole
... feverish tittle-tattle of a posthumous Oscar win for Heath Ledger similar to Heat magazine mania
... thesaurus definitions aplenty on the malevolence of Heath Ledger's celluloid personification of the Joker
... more fucking Heath Ledger may he rest in peace

In my petulant and prejudiced response to the bastard press that ruined a percentage of the film for me, I actively wanted to fully hate Heath Ledger's acting.

But I could not, and I did not.
But I am not jumping on the Heath Ledger bandwagon of fanaticism.
I nod to Tim Teeman of the Times for writing:

"The Dark Knight will stun and surprise, delight and terrify, and it won’t be the special effects, gizmos and bat-heroics that will keep you pinned to your seat, but the moral force of the script..."

Hoorah. Someone actually mentioned the script.

Dead or alive, Heath Ledger was always going to be a talking point I guess. So I'm getting over this issue. What has truly irritated me is when people don't get the story - especially when the essence of the superhero cult is in comic books. Yes, there's the graphic design, the pictures, the artwork, but for me, reading comic books was also about the text.

Fine, Ledger makes for a superb crook clown, but I crave for the chronicles and conversations of comics.
I appreciate the brilliant contribution of the actors who were undoubtedly well-cast, because they were the vehicles of the story and they delivered the narrative credibly. I don't care much about their careers really. When it concerns the DC universe, it has to be about the storytelling.

What I saw in the film were the interplays of the black and white, the old adage that evil triumphs when good men do nothing. What scared me was the cowardice of selfish men and women who lose their humanity in their blind fear and panic, not The Joker. Gotham City continues to mirror times of the now and the real. The Batman is but a man who makes choices and sacrifices. He is a three dimensional human, not a hero like the invulnerable alien from Krypton. The Batman is only one man and yet he makes a difference.

Finally, the use of echolocation technology was totally geek awesome!

The Kingdom

Not a bad film at all. From the trailers I assumed it was going to be another Team America theme-tuned story, but I guess Michael Mann likes his shades of grey.

I’ve been studying about plots and conspiracies in England during Queen Elizabeth's reign from 1571 until King James I in 1605 (the very year when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up Parliament, though more on this on a separate post nearer the 5th Nov). Oh how history does repeat itself. Heretics. Traitors. Infidels. There's always someone or some group claiming divinity and righteousness.

It's not about race, class, wealth, or religion. I think I will agree with Bertrand Russell - "Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few find it difficult to admit the impossibility." Just as this planet lives on the energy of the sun, so its inhabitants' existence is determined by power struggles.

Sting's song about the Cold War has the following lyrics:

"We share the same biology, regardless of ideology. What might save us you and me, is if the Russians love their children too."

Unfortunately, it's too mushy for most people, especially when one can rather chant "For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever"...

Dorkish Delight

Saw the early 11.55pm (digital) showing of Transformers last Friday at the Empire cinema in Leicester Square. I'd forgotten that proper film theatres used to be huge, unlike the new ones that try to squeeze in as many screens as possible in the shoebox a-la-mode that is London. Anyway, it's typically cheesy as one would expect from Michael Bay, but still enjoyed the new version of course as the CGI robots were very very cool. It's the only instance when I am interested in vehicular name checking. A shame they didn't do the cartoon soundtrack though, even if I do uh, like what Linkin Park have done.

More action followed with Die Hard 4.0 on Saturday. Have concurred with the Supreme Commander that it's one of the better series in  terms of consistency, and Bruce Willis is brilliant at what he does best. However, (spoiler warning) I was particularly tickled by Kevin Smith's cameo as The Warlock and his line about bringing a cop in his "command centre". Almost as good as the pizza line from the first instalment.

Speaking of the dreaded Web 2.0 reference, have just read this Guardian article on Andrew Keen and The Cult of the Amateur. Most interesting. completely agree that Wikipedia is dumb in that I am an avid fan of being library-literate with encyclopedias. As for lack of reading books, well, I'm currently being polygamous with Harry Potter, Generation X, Power by B.Russell, and Daring to be a Teacher by R.Richardson.

As for bedtime stories with my children-to-be in the future, it will most likely be comics with shakespeare, so thank you, no problem at all.

Das Leben der Anderen

During my studies on contemporary history and art, I always found German culture particularly interesting.
At the age of seventeen, I saw Leni Riefenstahl's banned Nazi propaganda film Triumph des Willens as part of our preparation for Oxbridge interviews.
At university I preferred the context of Otto Dix and George Grosz's paintings to that of Picasso's and the Cubists. My personal tutor was German too. I remember a classmate who during a field trip, did not immediately understand the word 'gorgeous' when used to describe a garden landscape, and so we discussed linguistics.
Coincidentally, two dear friends of mine have an affinity towards speaking Deutsche.
And if I were to travel back in time, I would like to have witnessed the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the installation of Christo's Wrapped Reichstag in 1995.

As for the film, I'm glad to have finally seen it and understand now why it was hailed better than Laberinto del Fauno. I was sufficiently stirred that it rendered me speechless at the end, though I eventually resorted to inarticulately swearing an f word and agreeing with Gin Gilbert how beautifully brilliant it was. If I end up becoming a history teacher, it's going to be in a lesson.

The F Word

Film. Fanatical about film. Reading my Feb issue of Empire...
So Stalone has done a sixth instalment of Rocky Balboa, which I am NOT going to see. However, check out these future film followups lined up for 2007, in order of preference -

• Spider Man 3 (geek goody trio of villains with Venom + The Sandman + Green Goblin Jr)
• Live Free or DIE HARD! (Yeaaaah! Bruce is back)
• The Golden Age (sequel to Elizabeth, the best English monarch)
• Harry Potter 5 (the noughties' new Tolkien)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (more irritating Keira K, but check out Chow Yun-Fat)
• Ocean's 13 (twelve was a turkey. Pacino might make this one special)
• Shrek The Third (with Justin Timberlake, recently proving his comedic talents with SNL)
• FF2: Silver Surfer (from four to five)
• Bourne Ultimatum (ugh. Matt Damon is a retard, but it's an action film so why not)

Also looking forward to Curse of the Golden Flower and Transformers...

James Blonde

Daniel Craig is a Guardian reader too. And more importantly, this article has confirmed what I've been saying about the film - which I'm gearing to see tomorrow.

"The aim was to rebrand Bond: they wanted to create a new 007 with interesting psychological flaws to enable him to compete with troubled modern icons such as Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne."

My friend Lady CB has organised a Festive Spy Soiree in December. Rather irritatingly it clashes with tickets to see Placebo that very night... Hmmm... What would a 007 do...

Joke vs Jerk

Last night I saw Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat and the film’s vignettes delivered the promised (if not expected) comedy; generally slapstick funny with moments of pure hilarity, asinine and ludicrous, but so completely audacious that one cannot deny the talent and method to the Jewish jester’s madness.

I guess the fine line that separates the joker from the jerk, is the audience who are either clued-up with the intended humour, or ‘NOT!’…Though this in itself is tricky as I quite frequently find it difficult to distinguish whether someone is being a satirical genius or simply a jackass.

For example, check out the YouTube post Re:Re: The Simpsons vs Star Trek. If I didn’t know the guy any better, I would have immediately thought he was a twat fool. Only after watching the video post that he'd replied to, did I understand the context of his response, which is, I am guessing, in ridicule of the teenager...

Unless of course Mr. Blarmey was really just being equally inane and conceited. Not that I am particularly bothered, as more amused to see the current Jesus look of Carlos, who really is a bit of a dork. Likeable, but a dork nonetheless with a predilection for saying "awesome" far too many times in a conversation. Thanks to Monica by the way for sharing the link which features our mutual friend.

la vie dulce du dauphine

I never pay attention to critics and their film reviews. After all, I have an unlimited cinema pass, and would rather judge films for myself. So after dinner and a couple of chocolate éclairs, I saw Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette last night, and really liked it. Willing in fact to purchase the DVD in future.

Of course it was visually stimulating and picturesque, though not necessarily all style no substance as has been suggested. Despite its sumptuous package, I felt that the film remained subtle, in the same way that Lost In Translation was hushed whilst located in the bustling Tokyo metropolis.

I haven’t seen Virgin Suicides yet, but I can understand why people are talking about MA as part of a Sofia Coppola Trilogy; beautiful quiet intimacy. And though the term ‘existentialist’ is now often scorned at, I do think there are similarities in this regard with Waiting for Godot, the play summed up where “Nothing happens. Twice”. Others may think tedious vacuity, but I see delightful and direction.

Anyway, weirdly enough, this morning I received a cordial invitation to a masked ball of ‘unusual magnificence and mischief’, in the grounds of Château Chantilly in France. It’s a work social scheduled for next week. Qu'est que c'est ennui?

Everything is not going to be ok

I've not read any of Philip K Dick's novels, though am now tempted to, after having just seen A Scanner Darkly. The film ends suitably with a track from Thom Yorke's album The Eraser | Black Swan - 'This is fucked up, fucked up...'

So I made a short list of things that I think primarily make up snafu and are methods of controlling society:

• Drugs - illegal substances, or as legal pharmaceuticals
• Human Traffic - prostitution/sex trade, slave labour
• War - arms industry, politics, power struggles
• Consumerism - material goods, luxury, entertainment, travel, celebrity cult, poverty, debt

They say money is the root of all evil, but really it is in the root of all money, which ultimately is in the looters of all money, which are people.

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness" - Joseph Conrad

And if evil only succeeds when good men do nothing, then therein is our only hope, that good men will eventually DO something, and that there are already some out there. I want to believe in superheroes.