Tag: review

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The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

So, I went to see this film at the IMAX cinema at Bluewater last night. I have written about the previous films Part 1 and Part 2 if you click on the links. So, it would turn out that I haven’t written about the first film. That means I have no idea when or where I saw that film. Maybe (seeing it was released at the end of 2012) I didn’t get to see it at the cinema as that was a disaster year for me. I may have seen it at the cinema but not written about it in this particular forum. I just don’t know. I can recall listening to podcasts talk about High Frame Rate from the distant past. Sorry, let’s move on.

This, latest and last, part of the film series was OK. I think my rating of OK just reflects the fact that over the last 15 years we have seen plenty of orc armies fighting the elves and hobbits helping out. The Lord of the Rings films had the element of awesomeness as that sort of thing just hadn’t been seen on the big screen before. For this film to be brilliant I needed to see something new. Overall, this film ended the series perfectly well.

There was quite a bit of wistful staring straight into the camera. The film could have been a lot shorter without all that stuff.

As a hint to the peoples of Middle Earth, if you think you’ve killed a big monster, cut the head off or stab the thing through the heart again. It makes simple battle sense.

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Mastodon – Brixton Academy

I travelled to the lovely Brixton Academy last night, although it might be called something other than that. In my [not really] long time on this glorious planet I have always known the Academy as the Academy and so it shall remain in these communications.

Mastodon were the band of choice last night. I would describe them as a modern 70s rock outfit. Complex musical riffs and tunes, pretty impressive drumming and harmonious vocals leading the way.

Anyway, the first band up were Krokodil. They did nothing for me. Had they lost a guitarist and then had some singing instead of shouting then I could have been persuaded but I spent most of the time considering the audience and surrounds. The Academy is a lovely building, an ex theatre, with a sloping floor so everyone gets a good view. The art-deco interior makes this a high class venue compared to the underground grot [meant nicely] that is Elektrowerkz.

Before Big Business
Before Big Business

Big Business were a two-piece, bass and drummer. Their music was initially impressive and powerful but after a while I was bored. The attraction of just a bassist and drummer wore off and the songs lacked something. I wasn’t moved.

Big Business
Big Business

Mastodon came on at around 21:20. Like most bands they started with their last first song from the latest album. They played until around 22:45 and played lots of songs. I have no idea what songs they played because I don’t know the names of the songs. I could hum them to you, but that wouldn’t work well in this forum.

Mastodon
Mastodon

They were impressive. The sound was heavier than I was expecting as the I have earmarked the albums as 70s rock. There were simple rock riffs and complex twiddly bits. It was nice to hear different singers but sometimes the levels were a bit low, not sure if they turned the microphones down between songs or if I was just slightly in the wrong position to hear correctly, I was near the front directly in line with the SL guitarist.

Mastodon
Mastodon

Overall this gig is rated as SOLID. The music was good and I enjoyed it but there are other bands I would enjoy more. Combichrist is soon and I am rather excited for that!

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There’s a few things I’ve remembered from the show. An odd thing was that once Mastodon had finished the drummer came forward and spoke for what seemed liked ages but was probably only a few minutes. I think he was saying that London “gets” Mastodon. It was nice but very strange. Also, there was no encore. This is great. Play your stuff and then get off.
More! Some young girls (probably about 20) were smoking in front of me. A little part of me was jealous of the carefreeness of this, part of me was annoyed at the smell and part of me was proud of the rebelliousness.
Even more! A plectrum from one of the guitarists fell right in front of me. I put my foot on it and I thought I’d pick it up once people had moved away but one of the aforementioned girls went down to pick it up. She offered it to me, but I let her have it. It’s a plectrum.
And even more! I bumped into an ex-pupil who was at the show with his girlfriend. He was in a metal band while he was at school and they were pretty good. They don’t get together much now but he’s working on new stuff. I wish him all the best. When he left school he gave me a book about Metallica. Good kid.

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Enter The Grave – Evile

If you want thrash metal. This album is for you. It’s fast, angry, heavy and can’t be taken too seriously. If you like Slayer, you’ll love this.

Song titles are:

  • First Blood
  • Bathe In Blood
  • We Who Are About To Die

It’s lovely comic stuff. Or possibly slightly scary if you can’t cope with thrash.

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Eliminator – ZZ Top

What is there about ZZ Top that isn’t to like? Their sound is a unique blend of well-polished down and dirty guitar rock.  This album was a commercial success and had many singles that zoomed to the top of the charts. If you understand the American music taste then you’ll see why these songs worked so well.

All the songs on this album and toe-tapping head-banging great. Probably the sort of stuff you could play while your mum visits and she’d say she likes it. On my version I think “Legs” is the weakest song, but it was the biggest hit, maybe because of the video. I also think that “I need you tonight” is a lovely love song, it should be on every “intro to metal” mix tape, as it once was on a tape I made.

Alongside the comments I wrote about Boston, this is a great driving album.

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The Imitation Game

I went to see The Imitation Game at the Cineworld cinema in Rochester, except the cinema is in Strood and not Rochester. It actually located at the intersection of four main transports links through Kent! It’s almost as if these were ley lines [made-up shit] that indicate that the confluence of these lines are important!

cinema ley lines

In this map you can see that the numbers correspond to the numbers below, like it was planned!
1) M2 Medway Bridge. Two parts. Four lanes each way. Interesting construction.
2) High Speed Rail Link, Paris to London, River Medway Bridge.
3) Strood Railway line, I’m not sure where it goes, I’ve never used it!
4) The River Medway. Used to be used lots. Not so much now. The bricks that made parts of Buckingham Palace were crafted at Burham Brick Works and then transported along this river, see here for more information.

Anyway, I digress. I should mention the film. As ever I rated this on IMDB and I broke my rules which can be viewed here.

I shall explain a little. But first, The Prologue . . . .
[bit of a tribute to a classic television series there]
The Film.

I already knew quite a bit about Alan Turing, his work during the second world war, his death and his work on computers and nature. He was a titan of modern mathematics. It was such a shame that he committed suicide at 41 years old.

I liked this film. It was filled with humour. You couldn’t help but like Alan Turing, which was odd because he pisses off everyone in the film. The cinema was reasonably full and I hope that everyone there realises just how much he contributed to our society and the world as a whole. The guy was stupendous. There were some obvious points of “dramatisation” and I am willing to forgives these. I guess when you make a film you have 120 minutes at most to get across certain stories and sometimes you have to compress what would really happen. Some parts felt a little clunky but it didn’t matter too much. This film is well worth seeing.

I rated this film a 9. This doesn’t fit into my rating scheme. This film is worth more than just its value as a film. It shows how mathematics and mathematicians change the world. Everything out there is influenced by our use of mathematics. It’s such a shame that mathematical ignorance is admired and boasted about in this country. “I can’t do maths” or “I was never any good at maths” are common things that people I meet say. What sort of society boasts of being innumerate?

This film highlights what our country did to homosexuals over the time it was deemed illegal by our society. We see this treatment and we should be rightly horrified. Yet, this treatment and far WORSE is going on in our world today. There are plenty of countries where homosexuality is illegal. I get angry when I think about this and the ignorance of people who run these countries. My solution? Education. Society and everyone needs to be educated to at least secondary level. The problem with that? An educated society tends to be a more liberal society, a less religious society. This causes control issues for leaders and governments. Notice how bigoted and mostly religious countries refuse to educate their populations. Currently the main offenders of religious leaders happen to be Muslim in our current time, however, Christianity and other religions have been equally guilty of repressing their populations in the past. All governments should be secular, giving their populations the choice of religion [or not].

A good education and free access to ANY books leads to equal rights for all.

Education leads to a wealthier country, greater life expectancy, lower population growth, lower fertility, greater stabilisation, higher GDP. Nothing in this list is bad. It just also happens to lead to people wanting more say in the rules that govern them.

Cracking the enigma code was kept secret for over 50 years as explain by the film. I already knew this. In fact we [the UK] didn’t tell anyone because there were plenty of governments still using the enigma machine for years after the second world war and we just quietly listened over all that time. Remarkable.

I thoroughly suggest that you read anything you can find about breaking the enigma code and Bletchley Park. It is a fascinating story.

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Interstellar

I went to see Interstellar on Friday at the IMAX theatre in the Bluewater shopping complex. As with all my reviews you might want to check out how my ratings system works. I rated this film 10/10 on the IMDB.

I didn’t know a great deal about this film before I went. I loved it. I would go to the cinema to see it again and I would watch it again at home. Therefore, it gets 10 on my rating system.

I liked the story, I loved the visuals and I liked the suspense. Overall the film made me feel great and I still have parts of it whirling around in my head. After seeing a film with sciency stuff I read the reviews of people who really understand this stuff and having read them I have the following to say:

[there now follow SPOILERS]

Thinking about the film and some of the criticisms given by science buffs I have to agree with them. There are some glaring errors in science. These I can forgive.

The dialogue in some places was terrible. It was clunky and poorly written. This I can forgive.

The politics of the future where the world’s food production and economy has gone to shit and yet the government can fund a huge NASA budget AND headquarter them in a mountain is utter bullshit but conspiracy twats will love it. I’m not sure this is forgivable.

Most of the motivations of the characters were terrible. This is forgivable.

Cooper explains to the high school teacher that not only is he a NASA pilot but he is also an engineer. Just in case we doubted his cleverness.

The exposition of certain scientific principles to the main character who is a NASA pilot and Engineer is ridiculous. It’s there to help stupid people understand how parts of the film work but it won’t help them because they would accept anything if they don’t get wormholes.

GRAVITATIONAL SPAGHETTIFICATION

This film could be 11/10. The script could have been improved by being good. I can forgive the sciency problems. It’s ok to bend science to fit your film. It’s not ok to have a bad script. I still loved this film. The overall thing just left me amazed.

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Akira

A few days ago I went to see the film “AKIRA” at the National Film Theatre on the South Bank. It was part of a Sci-Fi series of films they are showing. I have already rated it on IMDB because it is of my favourite films.

By the pure definition of my IMDB rating system Akira gets 10. This was the first time I have seen the film in a cinema but I have purchased it in many formats, VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray. I have the books. It is a film I have watched many times.

I think I first saw this film in around 1990 or 1991 or so. I remember John had a copy and we must have watched it one evening. I was instantly fascinated. It was a cartoon, hand drawn, but it was violent, it was futuristic, it had biker gangs, it had teenage angst, it looked bloody brilliant and I didn’t understand what the fuck was going on. Until that point cartoons had always been childish, happy, Disney and Looney Tunes. They left me nostalgic for my childhood and growing up. Cartoons used to be innocent, but incidentally full of violence. Akira changed all that. It, whatever it meant, was DIFFERENT.

I went and bought it on VHS.

Akira – the story of a post world war Tokyo where the government struggles to maintain power, religious sects rebel, biker gangs fight each other, the military experiments on telekinesis subjects and it all goes to shit-town. Who is Akira?

Every time I watch this film I see new things. I notice new stories. I am amazed by the ending. There aren’t many films that do this. I thoroughly recommend watching this but be prepared to be shocked and freaked out.

My next main memory of the film was living at Winchendon Road with the Fulham Five. Rich and I must have watched Akira at some point, it’s always worth seeing once every few years. This ANIME thing was rare, different, exciting and “underground”. Rich had read the story when it was released in magazines and we quite likely spent a while discussing the film, while wearing sunglasses in a dark room and with Megadeth playing. So, we found other Manga films, most notably

Urotsukidoji

It is at this point that you realise that Anime and Manga is different. It is great stuff but is quite likely to mess your head up a bit. None is the sort of film to show your parents.

Here’s a problem: Akira was my first Anime film. Akira is probably one of the best Anime films. Therefore, most films I see after that always fall short. I love the Japanese animation films. They still excite me and simultaneously make me question everything and I struggle to understand what it happening quite often.

A good Anime film leaves you stunned at the action and amazed by the story.

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The Judge

I went to the early showing of The Judge today. Actually it was the only showing at Rochester cinema and just happened to be at 10:25. As with other films I have watched at the cinema which can be seen here and here I rated the film on IMDB. See this page for a discussion of my ratings.

So, I liked this film and I rated it an eight accordingly. I don’t often go to see dramas be they courtroom or family. I just don’t like seeing stuff that reminds me of real life. That’s why I go to see science fiction or action movies, I don’t have to reflect upon my own life. This film explored the reunion of a estranged brilliant son and his family and dad after the mother dies. The dad is a judge. Hence the title.

If we ignore the actors and their star attraction I just liked the complex nature of the back history and how the story was weaved together. It doesn’t really matter what happens and the outcome of this film. It’s really about families and what they are, how they work, the tragedies and the loves. There were a few funny moments that lightened the mood but it is not a film I left feeling happy. It made me realise that life’s a bit shit really. The times when you are cradled in your parents’ arms and truly happy and safe are short. The times when you are carefree and crazy are short. The times when you hold your own children close to your heart and feel true love are short. Life is constantly changing and you have to keep up. You have to make the most of every moment and treasure all those little moments you are given. One day, there’ll be no more me, so I should do the best I can while here.

Went a bit heavy there! Look, films are an art form and art is meant to make you emotional and affect your emotions in some way. This film affected my emotions [normally quite easy to do though], but more importantly I loved the story and wasn’t bored. My mind didn’t wander. I just paid attention. This is why I gave the film 8/10. I probably won’t watch this film again, but I did like it.

This was filmed somewhere in the States and it looked like a really nice place to live. If I searched the interweb thingy I could probably find out where. I loved the river, the bridge and the weir and white water. It is somewhere I would like to visit, although there are still many places like that in the UK where I haven’t been. I nice restaurant next to a rushing, rapids section of a river should be easy to find over here. Oh, an we don’t have tornados in the UK.

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Elephant – White Stripes

This was the second album by The White Stripes that I owned. I really like the first one I owned and I guess it’ll be written about eventually in this place.

This album is much the same as the other one. I haven’t really played it a great deal in the last ten years but I really do appreciate the barebones sound and writing. I think it shows that every now and then the popular taste in music comes full circle.

One thing I would say is that this is the album with Seven Nation Army blasting off as the first song. It’s a great song with an amazing riff that has been ruined by every sports ground ever since.

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Electric Ladyland – Jimi Hendrix Experience

Look, I am perfectly aware that this is a classic album. I’m also perfectly aware that it’s hard to criticise things that are considered classic. For instance; I’m not that keen on The Beatles, they don’t really do much for me. I feel much the same way about this album. It’s OK. I can see that it’s considered a classic and I can even see why but it does little for me. I don’t really play it often.

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