OMG I'm loving this right now. New album out next week!
Comics, films and television...oh my!
OMG I'm loving this right now. New album out next week!
It's Tarantino and he's baaack:
Ridley Scott's prequel to his own game-changing 'Alien' promises much but never quite delivers. It's a highly impressive epic, with special effects to make George Lucas' head turn, but it's badly hindered by an unfocused script, although no shortage of ideas. In the late 21st century archaeologists Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green discover what they determine to be prehistorical interstellar road maps, which suggest humanity's origins were extraterrestrial. A few short years later they awaken on the star ship Prometheus, heading to what they believe is the planet of said godly 'engineers', but what they find isn't quite what they anticipated.
It's a great series of premises: what if everything you knew about the human race was wrong? What if you actually got to meet your maker? What if that maker was actually a monster? Scott loads his film up with concept after concept - why do children break away from their parents? Can belief survive the full knowledge of our origins? If this were a largely philosophical piece it could have easily stepped out of the ominous shadow cast by 'Alien', but Scott repeatedly breaks for averagely crafted horror, which only barely works given the average performances and every character's threadbare characterisation. There are numerous, tense set pieces, but they very rarely stand up to scrutiny: why does robot Fassbender infect Marshall-Green? Why do the human explorers so readily keep their helmets off in alien environments which they know have biological risks? It's an irony that the script is co-written by Damon Lindelof - as with his TV creation 'Lost' far more questions are posed than answered.
This makes it sound worse than it actually is. It looks incredible (the cinematography is genuinely amazing), and the sheer scope of what Scott tries to do drew me right in. But it never knows where the line needs to be drawn between philosophy and horror, the dialogue is invariably poor, and great actors are wasted: why give Idris Elba so little? Why make Noomi Rapace (who isn't a patch on Sigourney Weaver) British when her accent suggests otherwise? Why not give us a reason for caring about her boyfriend's death? For that matter why not keep the internal logic of the film stable? The origin of the bipedal Alien comes at the very end, but it's at odds with two different characters' infections earlier in proceedings. Thank goodness for Michael Fassbender, who with his robot David combines a childish, Lieutenant Data-like joy with a real sense of menace.
There's no doubt in my mind it's worth watching at the cinema, particularly in 3D, but a more decisive script and less attention to special effects would have made this a truly great film. It unsurprisingly sets up a sequel, and we can only hope that before embarking on it Scott notes the failings of this outing, given the scale of what he sets up. But at least now we know who engineered the Alien monsters, who the Space Jockey was 33 years ago, and we're treated once more to HR Giger's designs. It's far from perfect, but is highly entertaining, if not remotely emotionally engaging.
I wasn't expecting much from this, and I wasn't proven wrong. I've never been crazy about Tim Burton, but I found his last outing Alice in Wonderland particularly weak. I also find Johnny Depp plays the same character over and over, but it also looked from the trailer like this might be a bizarre reimagining of the Addams Family. It never manages even that, at least not consistently. Depp's vampire comes out of a 200-year captivity to find the world changed around him, although not as much his contemporary relatives. Cue an opportunity for Burton to play with amusing and ironic contrasts between the 18th century and 1970s, but far too much is instead taken up with the love-story-that-isn't between him and his captor - witch Eva Green.
That element of the story is in play from the ill-advised (and unnecessary) prologue through to the barely intelligible finale, and it's a shame. It's used as the backbone to the film, but is all outdated stereotypes in a film needing nuance and subtlety; it's such a waste of such a talented cast! Depp's vampire is gently amusing, but he's acted off the screen by Michelle Pfeiffer, who knows just what touch to lend proceedings, and Chloe Grace Moretz, who proves Hit Girl wasn't a flash in the pan. When the three are on screen (the women chewing every scene up with relish) genuine sparks fly, but Burton always returns to Green's witchly shenanigans, which although amusing, are a dull and predictable distraction.
Not a single character is given any room to breathe, and by the end you're no clearer about why you're supposed to care about their fates. It denotes a poor script, and it's a shame Burton went with it. It's a film ultimately out of its time, sitting far more comfortably with Pfeiffer's Witches of Eastwick then with the far more advanced Avengers, which, unlike this mess, is a masterclass in blending magic, action, sci-fi and character development. For Burton completists only - this isn't Edward Scissorhands.
Live and Let Die: fun blaxploitation sendup, but through to Moonraker? View to a Kill?
The Living Daylights: 80s darkness with characterisation for a change, but Licence to Kill was unwatchably bad.
Goldeneye: Sublime rethink of the franchise, but remember Bond surfing on a tsunami in Die Another Day?
Casino Royale: Edgy, gritty complete reboot, shouting its Bourne influence from the rooftops, but even Craig accepts the script for Quantum of Solace was a dud.
Mendes needs to blend traditional 007 (the rebooted Q is making his first appearance) with a definitive voice for the franchise; continuing the Bourne send-up will just put people off. Can he do it? For me the jury's out - the producers have never allowed his predecessors to succeed, but that teaser gives off all the right signals. We'll see in November.
Yup. Very excited indeed now.

At once both heartwarming and bittersweet, Bavo Defurne's debut feature Noordzee Texas has firmly wedged itself into my consciousness, and it won't let go. Telling the story of gay teenager Pim in late 1960's Belgium, the film charts his relationship with his mother (Eva van der Gucht), who longs for the glory days having a child deprived her of, and of his burgeoning relationship with older neighbourhood boy Gino (Mathias Vergels). Defurne and producer Yves Verbraeken tell their story with a pared back, almost sparse script, leaving the artistic cinematography and actors to deliver the emotion, and it's Jelle Florizoone's performance of Pim which makes this film an absolute must see.
Introverted Pim emerges into the adult world when bike-mad Gino acts on his growing attraction for him, and he finds himself equally attracted to him in turn, the two then embarking on an intense, happy but secret sexual relationship. It's Gino however who later considers it time to 'move on' to a relationship with a woman, and it's the conflict this generates between the two, but also the issues it raises for Pim's own sexuality which gives the film its necessary and brilliantly illustrated subtle edge. Where Gino finds easier social acceptance, Pim finds strength in his own identity, and Florizoone (in his debut role) imbues Pim with incredible (and largely silent) dignity, be it in his rejection of Gino's sister Sabrina (Nina Marie Kortekaas) or in his edgy confrontation with Gino on the beach.
It's a film with huge charm, but also a wry humour. Pim makes a play for the family's returning lodger Zoltan (Thomas Coumans), but is darkly outmanoeuvered by the ever-scheming Yvette, who ever more relates to her son more as a rival than an equal. Director Defurne publicly stated though that he refused to go down the stereotpyical path of portraying the circumstances of Pim's first love as dark and doomed, but his story is by no means a fairy tale either - the film has more than its fair share of tragedy and loss. Instead there's a sense of gritty optimism that permeates this beautiful coming of age tale, and Defurne and Verbraeken are genuinely blessed with a superb cast (and Floorizone in particular) to bring it to life. North Sea Texas has lessons (and memories) for us all.
9/10