Don't just leave your food!
Time for another weekly journal methinks! I reckon it will be a big one.. provided I don't fall asleep :P
Well I am well into working at the Odeon now, today was my fourth day there. I've only been on screens and ushering which I quite enjoy doing; seems I do like interacting with people! :) I say that because Saturday's shift was really quite destroying for me; our store manager was in and acted very frostily to everyone, Hannah Montana the Movie released making for some full screens and a lot of rubbish. As I was the last one of the screens staff on that night... I had to deal with the end result myself. That... was a lot of rubbish :( *pun intended*
But! Today was much, much better. Firstly the manager was back but actually seemed nice (damn managers and their mood swings) also I got to properly premiere seat check (we actually do it!?) which allowed me to see a bunch of trailers.... one of which was Transformers 2 =D Tickets....? Yea whatever!
I think I was supposed to get retail training today... but didn't, I'm very worried about that... far to much stuff to watch over. That'll be tomorrow (err.. today) no doubt.
But ultimately, I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine today too =D I 'm glad I did... I was a little worried working in the cinema would kill my desire to watch films there, but no, it was good! Worth paying for too.
Major problem I have though... people leaving food in the cinema! Bottles of juice, bags of sweets! C'mon. Take it with you! What's wrong with you??
I've seen a lot of films this month... in fact I wrote the reviews ahead of time! Lovefilm is back with a vengence. Read at your leisure (I wonder who actually reads all of these o.o;)
The Orphanage
More of Guillermo Del Toro's films is always a good thing and The Orphanage has a lot of trademark imagery that the dark fantasy director is famous for. But as far as comparing it to Pan's Labyrinth and other works, this film feels a lot slower. Based in a haunted orphanage, the story takes along the lines of a “treasure hunt” making the plot develop slowly.
It is well paced and intense, while Del Toro's fixation on childhood imagination is ever present. (the game of Grandmother's Footsteps being one of the film's more haunting scenes) A good ghost story that isn't overly predictable.
Sexy Beast
Based around the life of a “retired” modern British gangster living the high life in the Mediterranean, this film naturally takes up a black comedy theme. Our protagonist, Ray Winstone, finds himself called back to Britain for a job, but is happy to stay were he is. The first half of the film is this reluctance and pressure of leaving paradise and the arrival of Ben Kingsley's character, who is both grossly intimidating and a joy to watch.
The film is full of clever camera usage; attaching the camera to a car door, so when a character leaves, the camera swings out with the door, then swings back shut to see the reaction of the remaining occupant.
A short, but effective film.
Dreamcatcher
What a bizarre film. Entirely a body-snatcher, alien invasion popcorn film with some quite comic yet unpleasant scenes. The story follows four friends who have strange, otherworldly abilities as they take a trip to a cabin isolated in the woods. Yes, sounds cliché alright. But when they find a man astray in the woods and take him in, they realise he isn't just infected with an alien parasite... but also how they came to have these psychic abilities.
Very much an entertainment film, Morgan Freeman brings some integrity as a derailed military commander send to deal with the imminent alien threat.
American Graffiti
One of George Lucas' first films and his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg and featuring a young pre-Han Solo Harrison Ford, making American Graffiti a milestone in American film history.
A very simple undertaking too, following several High School graduates in the space of one night in the 1960s, this film for me was subtle but funny and witty, taking you back to a very carefree time and culture.
Cronos
Now this is how vampires should be done! Trust it to be Guillermo Del Toro once again. This is a very different take on the vampire to what we are used to now; there's no leather on show, no excessive use of sunglasses, no crosses or garlic, no werewolves and certainly no glitter!
The film follows a kindly old man running an antique shop, who by chance finds an ancient insect like device, which sends his life spiraling into a new, bloody, direction.
The film deals with the idea of immortality very realistically, which is why I enjoyed it so much. Interview with a Vampire is probably the only other vampire film I feel deals with the subject in a similar way.
American PsychoThis film is just odd, but black comedies usually are! We follow Christian Bale's character Patrick Bateman, who is a narcissistic egomaniac bent on conformity and wealth. His inhuman superiority complex proves at first something is wrong with him, yet he seems to blend in with his colleagues as they bicker over what typeface looks best on a business card.
But as we discover, Bateman's self-indulgence and cleanliness is only a mask for a steadily growing psychotic persona. We see the (now considered “normal”) narcissism replaced by increasingly bloody and insane murders and cover ups, while Bateman realises the depths of his condition.
A film that isn't so much thrilling or tense as it is just bloody. Christian Bale does excellent work changing from an unsettling human being into a full psychotic, but the film feels awkward; the final acts are ridiculous (no one in the building hears a woman screaming and pounding on doors? Not even the man running after her with an active chainsaw?) and the ending is nebulous and confusing-for-the-sake-of-confusing.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
I put it to you, surely if you are born in one of the most unpleasant, foul smelling places in medieval Paris, you would not have a supernatural sense of smell?
Perfume is based off a book which many believed was “unfilmable”, so why film it? Because studios have no imagination anymore. We follow a man with such a powerful nose he can detect scent for miles, naturally he is captivated by the role of the perfumer. When he is told of a legendary scent found in a Pharaoh's tomb, he becomes obsessed to create the perfect scent.
We are introduced to the fact that he is also obsessed with the scent of women and while this is classic serial killer doctrine in itself, the idea of dead women's smell being the ingredients for the perfect scent is laughable.
The film has an interesting idea buried under preposterous nonsense and English speaking Frenchmen. While the film could have ended with the murderer being (obviously) just a warped human being, it ended with his vision being realised; causing a massive city-wide naked orgy. Which... is something to see as far as film is concerned... but no less hysterical.
Goddamn were did my last ingredient run off to!? Time to active uber-smelling power! *crazy camera rush over the landscape*
Ice Cold in Alex
Classic war film. I don't watch enough of these. Following four individuals from the British army lost on the northern deserts of Africa during the second world war, their small ambulance housing what little supplies they have.
A film about endurance and integrity under pressure, such a simple device in keeping everything more or less within the confines of one vehicle as they brave sand dunes, quick sands and of course Nazi forces.
It's simplicity makes it somewhat clear cut and predictable but I still enjoyed it; the characters were real with their own faults and issues brought to the forefront in their situation. The end of this film makes you feel rewarded and satisfied. Sometimes they just don't make films like they used to.
The Wild Bunch
Classic Western, though I admit from the word go I had no idea what was going on. This film follows two bands of outlaws, both lead by two old mercenary comrades who went their separate ways. One band, still intent on raiding and stealing, is determined to pull one final job, while the other is hired to chase them down or face execution.
Naturally you assume the robbers are the enemy and the hired guns are the heroes, when as the film progresses you find the robbers both charming and endearing, while the hired guns are in fact brainless thugs. Both gang leaders are tired of their predicament, one never wishing to be on the hunt, the other reluctant to carry out one final job.
The film concludes with one of bloodiest, most violent shoot outs in the genre's history, which while it felt inevitable, it also felt too sudden an end for such a long film.
Games of April:
Gears of War
It's so brown!
Now I thought people were exaggerating about this but no, GoW makes an art form of being overly brown, grey, black, desaturated and overly detailed in bump maps. You will have trouble seeing anything from anything else, it is just a mass of texture that sort of looks like Gothic architecture and sort of looks like a load of enemies shooting at you.
To make matters worse, the enemies look like your allies. I thought “Locusts” were going to be distinctly alien looking but no, they are almost identical to your allies if you excuse *slightly* paler skin. I was shooting my allies as much as the enemies and I like to think I have good eyesight for first-person shooters!
But what really gets me about this game, is its juvenile tone. This game is probably the worst example for attracting underage gamers. Throughout the entire thing I was thinking... this game is an 18 yet is behaving as if to say “Yo kids, play Gears o' War! It's awesome!”
The characters are all two dimensional stereotypes with no depth whatsoever, I didn't connect with any of them; beefcake white hero guy busted from prison? Beefcake black man who can't say a word without following it with DAAAYMN?
Controls were sluggish too, someone explain when running over ammunition and automatically collecting it went out of style? Why do I have to stop and press X to pick up every single piece of ammo? You shouldn't have to do that!
Overall I think Gears is overhyped and is merely following on Halo's coattails.
Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
This game felt a lot like Michael Mann's film Heat if it were turned into a game. Actually now that I think about it... it took from Collateral too, another of his films.
Basically, the plot is cops and robbers, playing from a third person perspective. Overall it was a solid game to play and I imagine that the co-op mode is even better. The graphics were alright, the control scheme was pretty fluid while the characters were convincing.
The only flaws were some overly frustrating sections of gameplay, namely you versus a gigantic dumptruck. Another case was how even though you have a squad of five or more allies, the enemy snipers only go for you. There is a little window that comes up, showing you what the sniper can see (which is a nice idea) so you have to make sure you can't “see yourself”, but even if you are hidden, the sniper will continue to fire at your position even if your allies are standing in plain sight.
Overall I liked it and its realism, but I was more than eager to finish it by the end.
Unreal Tournament 3
A lot of people complain about Unreal Tournament 3 and how it isn't a patch on Unreal Tournament 2004. Now I played UT2k4 to death and loved games like Quake 3 Arena; games were split second reactions are most important.
Games like these are old school FPS compared to the likes of Halo 3 and Gears of War, but I prefer it. I prefer my health bars and my health packs, I like how you can be shot to pieces yet can escape if you are good enough. Regenerating health in FPS ruins the reaction times and it also forces people to retreat. UT3 is all out action and timing from the word go.
I much prefer UT3's art style to Gears. While they are very similar, UT3 has more... y'know... colour.
The single player campaign is laughable, as everyone will tell you. If someone made a film about Unreal Tournament, it would be like this. Based in a war with an alien race, the Tournament champion Malcom is hired as a General due to “respawners” being used in warfare. That's right, this game tries to explain respawners and flags as if they were actual important warfare scenarios. If you want a flag to be some kind of energy generator... why don't you just replace the flag with something else?? Don't have silly dialogue explaining how this really doesn't work.
Overall, I'm tempted to get it. It was refreshing to play after the stale gameplay of Halo and I enjoyed all the different battle modes and the vehicles are fun and inventive.
I've just played Mirror's Edge to completion. Quite good I thought, if a little... glitch-affected here and there. Also just watched Resident Evil Extinction...... siiiiiiigh.
I am hoping to live a healthier lifestyle too these days. I think I've discovered with an overly fast metabolism like mine, I am not eating as much as I should/could be. Not that I am not eating enough! I think I am constantly balanced, but I think quantity is something that can be slighty increased :) Also not sitting around as much... Odeon is helping with that too :P
The months are going reeeaally fast o.o I'm a little shocked at this.
Well I am well into working at the Odeon now, today was my fourth day there. I've only been on screens and ushering which I quite enjoy doing; seems I do like interacting with people! :) I say that because Saturday's shift was really quite destroying for me; our store manager was in and acted very frostily to everyone, Hannah Montana the Movie released making for some full screens and a lot of rubbish. As I was the last one of the screens staff on that night... I had to deal with the end result myself. That... was a lot of rubbish :( *pun intended*
But! Today was much, much better. Firstly the manager was back but actually seemed nice (damn managers and their mood swings) also I got to properly premiere seat check (we actually do it!?) which allowed me to see a bunch of trailers.... one of which was Transformers 2 =D Tickets....? Yea whatever!
I think I was supposed to get retail training today... but didn't, I'm very worried about that... far to much stuff to watch over. That'll be tomorrow (err.. today) no doubt.
But ultimately, I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine today too =D I 'm glad I did... I was a little worried working in the cinema would kill my desire to watch films there, but no, it was good! Worth paying for too.
Major problem I have though... people leaving food in the cinema! Bottles of juice, bags of sweets! C'mon. Take it with you! What's wrong with you??
I've seen a lot of films this month... in fact I wrote the reviews ahead of time! Lovefilm is back with a vengence. Read at your leisure (I wonder who actually reads all of these o.o;)
The Orphanage
More of Guillermo Del Toro's films is always a good thing and The Orphanage has a lot of trademark imagery that the dark fantasy director is famous for. But as far as comparing it to Pan's Labyrinth and other works, this film feels a lot slower. Based in a haunted orphanage, the story takes along the lines of a “treasure hunt” making the plot develop slowly.
It is well paced and intense, while Del Toro's fixation on childhood imagination is ever present. (the game of Grandmother's Footsteps being one of the film's more haunting scenes) A good ghost story that isn't overly predictable.
Sexy Beast
Based around the life of a “retired” modern British gangster living the high life in the Mediterranean, this film naturally takes up a black comedy theme. Our protagonist, Ray Winstone, finds himself called back to Britain for a job, but is happy to stay were he is. The first half of the film is this reluctance and pressure of leaving paradise and the arrival of Ben Kingsley's character, who is both grossly intimidating and a joy to watch.
The film is full of clever camera usage; attaching the camera to a car door, so when a character leaves, the camera swings out with the door, then swings back shut to see the reaction of the remaining occupant.
A short, but effective film.
Dreamcatcher
What a bizarre film. Entirely a body-snatcher, alien invasion popcorn film with some quite comic yet unpleasant scenes. The story follows four friends who have strange, otherworldly abilities as they take a trip to a cabin isolated in the woods. Yes, sounds cliché alright. But when they find a man astray in the woods and take him in, they realise he isn't just infected with an alien parasite... but also how they came to have these psychic abilities.
Very much an entertainment film, Morgan Freeman brings some integrity as a derailed military commander send to deal with the imminent alien threat.
American Graffiti
One of George Lucas' first films and his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg and featuring a young pre-Han Solo Harrison Ford, making American Graffiti a milestone in American film history.
A very simple undertaking too, following several High School graduates in the space of one night in the 1960s, this film for me was subtle but funny and witty, taking you back to a very carefree time and culture.
Cronos
Now this is how vampires should be done! Trust it to be Guillermo Del Toro once again. This is a very different take on the vampire to what we are used to now; there's no leather on show, no excessive use of sunglasses, no crosses or garlic, no werewolves and certainly no glitter!
The film follows a kindly old man running an antique shop, who by chance finds an ancient insect like device, which sends his life spiraling into a new, bloody, direction.
The film deals with the idea of immortality very realistically, which is why I enjoyed it so much. Interview with a Vampire is probably the only other vampire film I feel deals with the subject in a similar way.
American PsychoThis film is just odd, but black comedies usually are! We follow Christian Bale's character Patrick Bateman, who is a narcissistic egomaniac bent on conformity and wealth. His inhuman superiority complex proves at first something is wrong with him, yet he seems to blend in with his colleagues as they bicker over what typeface looks best on a business card.
But as we discover, Bateman's self-indulgence and cleanliness is only a mask for a steadily growing psychotic persona. We see the (now considered “normal”) narcissism replaced by increasingly bloody and insane murders and cover ups, while Bateman realises the depths of his condition.
A film that isn't so much thrilling or tense as it is just bloody. Christian Bale does excellent work changing from an unsettling human being into a full psychotic, but the film feels awkward; the final acts are ridiculous (no one in the building hears a woman screaming and pounding on doors? Not even the man running after her with an active chainsaw?) and the ending is nebulous and confusing-for-the-sake-of-confusing.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
I put it to you, surely if you are born in one of the most unpleasant, foul smelling places in medieval Paris, you would not have a supernatural sense of smell?
Perfume is based off a book which many believed was “unfilmable”, so why film it? Because studios have no imagination anymore. We follow a man with such a powerful nose he can detect scent for miles, naturally he is captivated by the role of the perfumer. When he is told of a legendary scent found in a Pharaoh's tomb, he becomes obsessed to create the perfect scent.
We are introduced to the fact that he is also obsessed with the scent of women and while this is classic serial killer doctrine in itself, the idea of dead women's smell being the ingredients for the perfect scent is laughable.
The film has an interesting idea buried under preposterous nonsense and English speaking Frenchmen. While the film could have ended with the murderer being (obviously) just a warped human being, it ended with his vision being realised; causing a massive city-wide naked orgy. Which... is something to see as far as film is concerned... but no less hysterical.
Goddamn were did my last ingredient run off to!? Time to active uber-smelling power! *crazy camera rush over the landscape*
Ice Cold in Alex
Classic war film. I don't watch enough of these. Following four individuals from the British army lost on the northern deserts of Africa during the second world war, their small ambulance housing what little supplies they have.
A film about endurance and integrity under pressure, such a simple device in keeping everything more or less within the confines of one vehicle as they brave sand dunes, quick sands and of course Nazi forces.
It's simplicity makes it somewhat clear cut and predictable but I still enjoyed it; the characters were real with their own faults and issues brought to the forefront in their situation. The end of this film makes you feel rewarded and satisfied. Sometimes they just don't make films like they used to.
The Wild Bunch
Classic Western, though I admit from the word go I had no idea what was going on. This film follows two bands of outlaws, both lead by two old mercenary comrades who went their separate ways. One band, still intent on raiding and stealing, is determined to pull one final job, while the other is hired to chase them down or face execution.
Naturally you assume the robbers are the enemy and the hired guns are the heroes, when as the film progresses you find the robbers both charming and endearing, while the hired guns are in fact brainless thugs. Both gang leaders are tired of their predicament, one never wishing to be on the hunt, the other reluctant to carry out one final job.
The film concludes with one of bloodiest, most violent shoot outs in the genre's history, which while it felt inevitable, it also felt too sudden an end for such a long film.
Games of April:
Gears of War
It's so brown!
Now I thought people were exaggerating about this but no, GoW makes an art form of being overly brown, grey, black, desaturated and overly detailed in bump maps. You will have trouble seeing anything from anything else, it is just a mass of texture that sort of looks like Gothic architecture and sort of looks like a load of enemies shooting at you.
To make matters worse, the enemies look like your allies. I thought “Locusts” were going to be distinctly alien looking but no, they are almost identical to your allies if you excuse *slightly* paler skin. I was shooting my allies as much as the enemies and I like to think I have good eyesight for first-person shooters!
But what really gets me about this game, is its juvenile tone. This game is probably the worst example for attracting underage gamers. Throughout the entire thing I was thinking... this game is an 18 yet is behaving as if to say “Yo kids, play Gears o' War! It's awesome!”
The characters are all two dimensional stereotypes with no depth whatsoever, I didn't connect with any of them; beefcake white hero guy busted from prison? Beefcake black man who can't say a word without following it with DAAAYMN?
Controls were sluggish too, someone explain when running over ammunition and automatically collecting it went out of style? Why do I have to stop and press X to pick up every single piece of ammo? You shouldn't have to do that!
Overall I think Gears is overhyped and is merely following on Halo's coattails.
Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
This game felt a lot like Michael Mann's film Heat if it were turned into a game. Actually now that I think about it... it took from Collateral too, another of his films.
Basically, the plot is cops and robbers, playing from a third person perspective. Overall it was a solid game to play and I imagine that the co-op mode is even better. The graphics were alright, the control scheme was pretty fluid while the characters were convincing.
The only flaws were some overly frustrating sections of gameplay, namely you versus a gigantic dumptruck. Another case was how even though you have a squad of five or more allies, the enemy snipers only go for you. There is a little window that comes up, showing you what the sniper can see (which is a nice idea) so you have to make sure you can't “see yourself”, but even if you are hidden, the sniper will continue to fire at your position even if your allies are standing in plain sight.
Overall I liked it and its realism, but I was more than eager to finish it by the end.
Unreal Tournament 3
A lot of people complain about Unreal Tournament 3 and how it isn't a patch on Unreal Tournament 2004. Now I played UT2k4 to death and loved games like Quake 3 Arena; games were split second reactions are most important.
Games like these are old school FPS compared to the likes of Halo 3 and Gears of War, but I prefer it. I prefer my health bars and my health packs, I like how you can be shot to pieces yet can escape if you are good enough. Regenerating health in FPS ruins the reaction times and it also forces people to retreat. UT3 is all out action and timing from the word go.
I much prefer UT3's art style to Gears. While they are very similar, UT3 has more... y'know... colour.
The single player campaign is laughable, as everyone will tell you. If someone made a film about Unreal Tournament, it would be like this. Based in a war with an alien race, the Tournament champion Malcom is hired as a General due to “respawners” being used in warfare. That's right, this game tries to explain respawners and flags as if they were actual important warfare scenarios. If you want a flag to be some kind of energy generator... why don't you just replace the flag with something else?? Don't have silly dialogue explaining how this really doesn't work.
Overall, I'm tempted to get it. It was refreshing to play after the stale gameplay of Halo and I enjoyed all the different battle modes and the vehicles are fun and inventive.
I've just played Mirror's Edge to completion. Quite good I thought, if a little... glitch-affected here and there. Also just watched Resident Evil Extinction...... siiiiiiigh.
I am hoping to live a healthier lifestyle too these days. I think I've discovered with an overly fast metabolism like mine, I am not eating as much as I should/could be. Not that I am not eating enough! I think I am constantly balanced, but I think quantity is something that can be slighty increased :) Also not sitting around as much... Odeon is helping with that too :P
The months are going reeeaally fast o.o I'm a little shocked at this.