Serenity: Better Days

Just as fun and exciting as Firefly, Serenity: Better Days is like an extra episode. It doesn't bridge any of the gaps between Firefly and Serenity, but it still is a must read for any fan of either.

Knowing

This film is by no means perfect. Nicolas Cage's acting is quite inconsistent in terms of the standard of his acting. Sometimes it is really good, sometimes it is really bad, but most of the time it hangs around in the middle and is pretty average. The Visual Effects were also very dodgy. Whilst they did the job, you could tell they were visual effects.

Although saying all that, I actually quite liked the film. There were moments when I thought, "I should probably be bored now," but some how I wasn't. Perhaps it was because the story was excellent and the way it was told was as well.

If you're expecting pure sci-fi though be warned. I found that whilst this film appears to be being advertised as a sci-fi film, I thought it was more of a horror with some sci-fi elements. This horror really comes across with the music. I still have mixed feelings about the music. I couldn't quite work out if the music worked or not. Part of me was saying yes it does, and part of me was saying no it doesn't. But I'm not sure if I just felt this because as a fan of film music I didn't really find it that enjoyable to listen to. Then again, this could have just been adding to the horror.

I could definitely feel the i, Robot and Dark City in the film, which were also directed by Alex Proyas, and which are both better than Knowing. But Knowing isn't exactly a bad film and if you don't mind a bit of horror/sci-fi then I'd say it's worth watching.

Bronson

I don't usually 'slag' films off, because I am a film maker myself and I know how much hard work goes into these films and how soul destroying it can be for the film makers when they aren't well received. However, with Bronson there was very little that I actually liked.

This film is based on a true story. It is about Charles Bronson, Britain's most violent criminal. Taking this into consideration you would expect there to be a lot of violence in the film. However, there is not. But that's okay because you would expect the violence that there is to be top notch. But it's not. I've seen student films that have had better fights in them. It wasn't the choreography, it was the actual fighting. It just looked... shit. It looked like Bronson was pretending to hit people instead of actually hitting them.

But sadly this isn't the only bad thing about the film. I found that throughout most of the film, nothing happened. The first half an hour was just a series of shots of him sat in his cell. Or at least that is what it felt like. And even these shots were bad.

The shot composition was awful. There were several times when it actually bugged me, and I was sat there thinking, "Why on Earth would someone use a shot like that? It is so ugly." And to make things worst a lot of the shots were held for too long. It was like, "Why are we still looking at this?"

Even the structure of the story was bad. Some of it was set in a theatre where Bronson would talk to the camera and basically tell his story. There's nothing wrong with this idea itself, except that he didn't really tell his story at all, it was as though he was just messing around on stage. And the rest of the film didn't really go anywhere. Just at the end it seemed to make some kind of progress in terms of story telling and then it just stopped and went back to how it started.

This film literally is a mess. The sad thing is that it could have been done way better. My advise, if you want to watch a great film set in prison then watch The Shawshank Redemption. And if you want to watch a film about violent criminals then give The Krays a go. It ain't perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than Bronson.

The International

After I saw Run Lola Run I really wanted to check out the rest of Tom Tykwer's films. The International is the only other one I've managed to check out, so I can't really compare this film to any of his previous ones. Although I have recently bought Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer which I'm hoping to watch soon.

The International, however, is not what I thought it would be. Or perhaps I should say it's not as interesting as I thought it would be. Story wise it does what the trailer says, it is about a bank that is killing people and Clive Owen is trying to stop them.

Unfortunately though is just seems to be lacking something, a better pace perhaps, I'm not entirely sure. Either way if I had the chance to go and see it for the first time again, then I'd give it a miss. It's not that it is a terrible film, but there are definitely better ones out there, such as Run Lola Run.

Watchmen

First off, I haven't read the graphic novel. However, I am a little interested in reading it now that I've seen the film. Not because the film was bad or because the film was good, but because I'd quite like to know what the ending is, as it was changed for the film.

But talking about the film being good or bad I would have to say that it is good. But this ain't your usual superhero story, which you can probably tell seeing as it has an 18 certificate. Something that definitely made the film better, due to how graphic the violence was.

The story is basically a murder mystery. A superhero called The Comedian has been killed and Rorschach is trying to find out who by. However, at 162 minutes the film would have to have a lot more to it than that, and it does. Each of the characters have their own back story that the film goes off and explores. But there is always the goal of finding out who the killer is. Because of this The Comedian pops up in most of the characters back stories and gradually reveals more about him. The back stories also delve into why someone would want to kill him and any other costumed hero. There is still more to it than that but you get the general gist of it. Basically the film has an overall story ark, although it is mostly about the characters and the reason for their motivations.

It sounds quite boring when you write it down like that, but it really isn't. I'm always quite sceptical when going to see a long film at the cinema because normally if you find a film slightly boring then it tends to drag. But if a 3 hour film drags then you've got a whole other hour to sit through before you're free again. Luckily this wasn't the case with Watchmen and I found it very interesting. Along with some great cinematography, visual effects and music that really works well on screen I found myself immersed with in the world of the film right from the beginning up until the very end. I will definitely be getting the director's cut when it comes out on DVD.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (Soundtrack)

There isn't really a lot to say about this soundtrack as it is mostly just atmospheric music. Because of this the listening experience wasn't all that great and overall the soundtrack is pretty average.

Whilst there weren't any outstanding cues, there were a few I did like. However, I'd only recommend this to people who like atmospheric soundtracks or who are fans of Tyler Bates. Although if you're fans of The Matrix scores or John Murphy's score to Sunshine, then it might also be worth checking out since I found this soundtrack reminded me of them a little bit.

Heroes Webseries Catch Up

Since Heroes: Volume 4: Fugitives started on Monday I thought I'd take this moment to catch up on the latest Heroes websieres.

The first one is Heroes: The Recruit which is a five part webseries and follows on from the Heroes graphic novel Stuck In The Mud, which was released after the episode titled Dual (which was the last episode in Volume 3: Villains).
Here is the promo:



The second is Heroes: Hard Knox which is a four part webseries, which was released between Volume 3: Villains and Volume 4: Fugitives.
Here is the first webisode, Part 1: Choices:



When these webseries first started I was really into them because I thought that they would tie into the show and would simply provide avid fans like myself a little more info and story to enjoy. However, it seems to me that each webseries ends on a massive cliffhanger, and none of them have yet crossed over into the show itself (I'm am excluding Heroes: Hard Knox from this review as it is actually just a set of deleted scenes from the show). Whilst I'm not too bothered that they haven't crossed into the main show, I am a little bothered that they all end on a cliff hanger. It feels like we are getting fed all these cool characters and stories and then simply getting cut off from them.

If NBC are to continue with these webseries spin-offs then I hope that we will get some closure on these stories, whether it is in the show itself, in more webseries or in the graphic novels.

James Bond: Quantum Of Solace (Soundtrack)

This is David Arnold's fifth Bond score and it is by far his best in my opinion. I felt that his first three bond scores were a little heavy on the electronics. However, Casino Royale seemed to throw all that out the window and go back to using the orchestra.

Quantum Of Solace continues along the same lines as Casino Royale and has improved along the way. There are plenty more action cues on this soundtrack, which I felt were lacking from Casino Royale, but that is just down to the film content.

And as a result of the films content this soundtrack is packed full of action cues. However, this isn't exactly a bad thing because most of the action cues sound very impressive and are quite fun to listen to.

But the soundtrack is not without its slower moments and splits itself about even in terms of the amount of action cues versus slower cues. Whilst I do love the action cues, there is still a lot to enjoy listening to with the slower cues. The sweeping strings may not take the foreground like with John Barry's Bond scores but they are definitely there in the background. One thing I quite liked was the soft piano motif from Casino Royale that showed up in the Quantum Of Solace track "What's Keeping You Awake?".

Whilst this album is missing the James Bond theme which is on every other Bond soundtrack there is, this is still most definitely a Bond soundtrack. It is all in the details, and the details are most definitely there. David Arnold has definitely tuned into the Bond music scape that John Barry created.

The only bad thing about the soundtrack is the main title track called "Another Way To Die". Tagged on the end of the soundtrack, this track was written by Jack White and features Alicia Keys. If you've seen the film then you've probably formed your own opinion on this track. All I can say is that I think it is the worst bond song ever. If only David Arnold had been involved in the song, then perhaps it could have been as good as the rest of the soundtrack, and it might have made the movie slightly better.

Bolt (in 3D)

Since I watched this film in 3D I'm going to first review the film itself, then as a 3D film and then 3D cinema.

Part 1: Bolt

It might seem like the story of Buzz Lightyear all over again, but Bolt is so much more than a re-imagining of it. It puts a certain amount of freshness in an old story and gives it new life.

Bolt is a story about a dog called Bolt that stars in a TV series called Bolt (which to save confusion I'll call Bolt TV). In Bolt TV, Bolt plays a super dog. However, Bolt thinks that he really is a super dog and doesn't realise that he is simply on a TV show.

The film opens with Bolt TV and unfortunately I think the trailer shows too much of this, because the whole sequence is pretty much in the trailer. Nevertheless I still found Bolt TV very exciting and funny to watch. In fact I think that they should actually make Bolt TV into a film of its own because it really was that good.

Continuing into the rest of the film, Bolt accidentally escapes the TV studio and ends up in the real world where he meets a cat and a hamster, and they embark on an adventure to save/get Bolt back to Penny, Bolts person (who is Bolts owner in Bolt TV).

They come across many challenges on the way, including dangerous stunts, but also emotional challenges. This film has the ability to make you laugh and cry, and along with some great characters, a great story, and some brilliant directing it really is an enjoyable film for all the family.

Part 2: Bolt In 3D

This happens to be the first 3D film that I've seen, and I must admit it was very impressive. However, I found it a very different experience to watching a normal film.

I think in terms of Bolt in 3D it just kind of works as a gimmick, because it was made as a normal film, so doesn't use any of the advantages of a 3D film. Therefore if you get the chance to go and see Bolt, I would recommend the normal version.

Part 3: 3D Cinema

In terms of 3D cinema I think that it seems to be in beta (i.e. in a test phase) because there are definite advantages of a 3D film, however they don't work for every film. Framing seems to be an issue that I found because when you saw an object at the front of the 3D image move from off screen right to on screen and then off screen left (for example) it kind of lost the illusion of the 3D world. Therefore I don't think the 'rules' of framing for shooting a normal film really apply to a 3D film, and that it needs its own set of 'rules'.

Although I think that developments in the 3D experience need to be improved, such as having a panoramic screen, before the filming of 3D movies changes, because when the film is released on DVD it is just a normal film and not in 3D, so the normal 'rules' of framing would then apply again.

There could definitely be a good future for 3D movies, however, at the moment I think that we are a long way off and that now they are simply more of a gimmick. But James Cameron's Avatar could change all that.

Burn After Reading (Soundtrack)

Whilst I wasn't that keen on the film itself, when it comes to the soundtrack it is a whole other story.

I really like the soundtrack to this film and whilst it is rather short, lasting only 35 minutes, it is definitely worth the money. There are some really great themes throughout the soundtrack that are very dark and powerful. They're not exactly epic in scale, but then they don't need to be because they were composed for the film to build tension.

But they aren't just strings gradually getting louder like some tension building music. The soundtrack is full of fully fledged out themes that are orchestrated really well too. In fact I've found myself humming the themes on numerous occasions. My favourite cues have to be "A Higher Patriotism", "Linda Looks For Love (Part 1)" and "Night Running".

The soundtrack is a little repetitive, which is probably why it is so short, but then I didn't really mind, because I loved the themes so much that I just kept wanting to hear them again and again anyway.