Reading Behind The Lines

"Behind Enemy Lines".  I know what you're thinking.  In the name of hell why are you reviewing an off the wall action flick.  Well here's my answer.

I recently re introduced myself to the common action film only to find myself again in the shoes of a twelve year old boy shouting at the screen "WOW!" and "Did you see that!".  It's amazing how simple something has to be to bring out the child in you and the deeper and deeper i look into the reason the more and more i find myself in a hole trying to dig upwards.  There may be no reason at all for this funny feeling i get when i watch a film like this, those little outbursts that make us all human when we're watching a film like this, and ones like it, such as Die Hard and Hard Rain.  From other aspects i may see this film as a landmark for Owen Wilson's peak as an actual actor rather than some bonehead he has played in his recent films.  I'll admit i'm being a bit harsh, i find his films funny, but i see so much more potential for this man, he may have been kicked in the stomach and portrayed as a suicidal maniac in later years but i still believe he has potential as a fantastic actor in both the action and the drama scene.  But when watching the film that point becomes mute.

Here's a little exercise for you - Watch the film and you will come to a scene where Burnett (Wilson) is made out to be dead (KIA) by the "enemy", then you will be emerced in slow motion following a strange man wearing a black balaclava who even waves and the leading enemy soldier.  He walks further and further from the war and finally passes a rumbling tank sitting warming the air.  Cue dramatic choir music, driving drum kit and inspiring orchestral backing - The man turns to face the war zone behind him, pulling off the balaclava, the screen is filled with golden hair and a face fit for sore eyes, blackened by smoke.  He turns back and begins to run, still in slow motion as we watch him, run away from his captors.  He made it, he got out alive.  

I challange you to watch that one scene and not feel like a little kid again because that, my good friend, will bring a smile to my face any day!  

You've Just Been "Scrooged"

Well what can i say about this film.  "Scrooged" was sticking out like a soar thumb in tesco the other day, bringing back old memories of laughter and that little x-mas spirit.  Now i refer to x-mas spirit opposed to the original christmas spirit for a reason.  This film may be a christmas film but certainly is aimed at a more adult audience considering the swearing, guns and crazed taxi driver ghosts, but it still has that little something which seems to spark the little kid inside of me, bringing a smile to my face in that final moment when Bill Murray calls out to the audience to sing.  The story is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin (Bill Murray gets Scrooged), a scornful, heartless tv exec is visited by 3 ghosts (however crazy and moronic they may seem) and is shown the errors of his heartless ways which results in a fantastic happy ending (in a sort of warped way).  We see that this is an up to date version of Charles Dickens classic and it is very well done, but yet in a comedic fashion, it is entirely built up on the comic aspect, and that is why i have chosen to catagorise this as a x-mas film, but not as a pure christmas film, which films such as It's a Wonderful Life and the original Scrooge lie.  

If your looking for a good film to get you into the spirit, with laughs and that occasional moment of Bill Murray craziness (refer to the final ten minutes), definitely give this one a good watching.  Ba Humbug !!

Diving In

A fantastic take on the real life situation of boy meets girl.  "River Child" sees two young girls travel to the river, walking through a course of beautiful fields and forests with the sun always at a perfect angle at a side view such as sunrise would show or even a sunset but the film is set during the daytime assuming its the afternoon that the event takes place.  The title "River Child" makes me believe that the younger of the two girls feels that the river is her home and possibly where she belongs in the world around her.  She doesn't seem to fit in out of the water.  We are shown this from the younger boys reaction to seeing the younger girl and not being as attracted to each other as the two older people are.  The world that the girl enters when under the water seems almost a perfect image for her, a place of tranquility and peace that the girl can show her true maturity and belonging.  Speaking of maturity, this brings to mind the event that the film basis around, the little drowning boy who lies unconscience in the river, and has to be revived by the younger of the two girls, and when her job is done she returns to the river, her natural habitat.  The mere fact that she showed how responsible she is when confronted with a problem thrown in front of her showing the confines of a human life in someone else hands is enough to show the sheer beauty of someone who belongs in a natural place, for this little girl it was the river she so found at home in.  The end of the film is the girl returning to the river, returning to her natural home.  The screen pauses on a shot of the girl underwater with a smile on her face.  This one scene managed to make me smile, and that effect that i would usually have after doing a kind deed, or completing  a test kicked in, that butterfly effect when something so beautiful appears in front of you and all you can do is smile.  That is exactly what this film is; beautiful.  So i suppose, this whole experience is like diving into a wonderful snapshot of how some people find their true meaning in life.  

"Choke" on this!

"Choke". What more is to sayabout a film with a title as short as this. Short and straight to the point as I felt all the way throughthis film, as though Sam Rockwell's chracter was choking until he could finally find some sort of truth about his past. The film is about Victor, a sex addicted bastard with a mother suffering from dymentia. As the film goes on, it gets harder and harder to find what Victors desire actually is. His mindless sex crazed antics all resolve around his childhood and his crazy lifestyle with his crazed mother. Yet the film has some sort of confidence as it redeems itself with quirky comedy and a fantasic character, who has a likeable quality, considering his role in life as an arsehole. The introduction of Doctor Paige Marshall adds more meaning to the story as she stretches to find Sam Rockwells past aswell, but she also lends a fatastic twist in the story, to help in Rockwell's problems. Clarke Gregg has succcessfully connected victor with the audience, with a film which is infact and emotionally impacting film about love and family but wrapped in the comic life of a sex addict.
*****

Did you know Donnie Darko?

This film needs no explanation from any singular person. What it needs is about 60 billion explanations from every person who has taken careful time to watch it in the entire world of cinema goers. What it also needs is a bigger audience. Although most seem to think this film is aimed at a particular audience does not mean that the other 99.99% of people cant watch the film to advance their own though process of how it all works in Gyllenhalls head(thats Jakes by the way not Maggie's, although it is interesting how she plays his sister, kind of plays off of real family fueds (hmm?)). But yes this film is trully a masterpiece of its generation (if ye know wat a meen man!!).
A fellow film critic Paul Forest stated that he think Donnie is superhero film, of coarse a very warped version of a hero film but nonetheless this is but one of many diffirent perceptions of Donnie's crazy world of the 80's.

Donnie Darko is a film which can be percepted into any ideal the audience wants, in any individual view, that's what makes it the film it is that's why its for the new generation, this is a new kind of cinema, the viewers cinema, "open to suggestions" cinema. I knew Donnie Darko.

This One's For Cameron!

You may have all noticed the crappy attempt to explain my favourite film "The AByss : Special Edition" but what i failed to output most is the technical aspect of the film.
The film is about a group of engineers attempting to complete the first ever underwater oil rig. The evnt that changes it all is the sinking of an America (as per) nuclear submarine, which brings the rig to be put under military use, sending down a team of marines led by Michael (psychopath) Beign. During their time down in the depths they are cut off from the ships above and are left to fend for themselves running low on oxygen and power. Suddenly from the abyssal trench beside the rig, strange lights and beautiful glows begin to appear and the taem all suspect strange goings on related to beings living way below the diving limit that humans cannot reach. It isnt until Ed Harris takes it into his hands to try and do what has never been done before, that they find a whole new race living below, watching and waiting to determine the human races fate. "When you stare into the abyss, it stares back at you!"

This film is a huge inspiration to me. Possibly because i have always enjoyed James Cameron films but moreso this one, possibly because against all odds, over budget, over running and over exhausted the cast still made it through and eventually put together the final edition of the film which has manage to make it an all time favourite for me. I especially like the lighting to the film considering the dark abyssal trench that lies all around the rig. Usually only one light is use in the background to highlight the sillhoette of the rig in the black background, this is also a fantastic use of miniatures as we can tell that a rig of this size could never be trully built. Or could it?!

Offcoarse it could - Its James Cameron people, he'll go all out.

A full sized rig was built inside an old abandoned nuclear power station and to this day remains one of the hardest set peices to shoot in in film history.

This film set th ebar for a new kind of hollywood blockbuster as it was the first of its kind to use these kind of special effects which we use for granted everyday. The effects used to create the water tenticle the the mimicing face became very popular once the film had been released.

Although all these amazing features were shown off in the trailer there was still the problem of completing the film in time fior thwe summer blockbuster onslaught. Therefore the producers cut the film about half an hour short in preperation for the advertising campaign. (bastards!). This proved to be a bad idea considering that the film may have not raked in the deserved amount of money that it should have compared to what the special edition did.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Th 30 minute addition to the story brings a whole new outlook to the Alien's intentions of hwo to treat the human race after seeing all war and techonolgy being used for bad, and they even at one point consider wiping out the human race, but our faithful character "Bud" (Ed harris) manages to save thwe day by showing that hes not all hard bitten.

All in all this film seems to hold a very emetional grasp on me which i will possibly never overcome but maybe one day you too will appreciate a film such as i have done with a simple film such as the abyss!

Good Night and Good Luck (Good God!)

Well now the latest feature we've watched in our Television class has been the fast paced and highly entertaining "Good Night and Good Luck". Being completely honest and serious i thought the film was slightly slow and did not appeal to those who watch film for purely entertainment issues, considering the lack of incidental score or emotional background, yet still i was convinced it is a film i could like if i saw it in the form of a documentary. The black and white effect ( produced to keep the viewer engaged with the true interviews from McCarthy. Trully the film is very informative and contains some fantastic historical moments in US history, and this month being the 50th anniversary of Edward R. Murrows speech it was an appropriate choice to watch. Overall, Goerge Clooney's film about the challenge against McCarthy's communist blame, lacks entertainment, but in a film such as this, entertainment isnt always the issue!

Welcome all (DFTV woo!)

Ladies and gentlemen, good (morning/afternoon/evening)

welcome to Graeme's blog, lotsathingsiwannatalkaboutbutdontgettimeinclass.com (try readn that harhar!)

just a little intro to the weird and wonderful things i intend on typing about on this here websitey thingymajig!

Enjoy!