Sunday 10 July 2011
Monday 4 July 2011
Film du jour for July 4
Film du jour
So it’s July 4. In America the fireworks are lighting up the sky as they celebrate their independence from us. In Monty Python the joke is that the Americans have had their fun and now it’s time they came back home to mother and settled in for dinner. But in celebration of this day I need a film du jour. So here’s a brief line-up July 4 related movies and my film du jour.
The Patriot
Mel Gibson swings from one side of the fence to the other and then upsets pretty much all of Blighty and ends up using a hatchet in a rather interesting fashion to dispatch some of the Redcoats who rape and pillage and pretty much upset all of the colonies.
Team America: World Police
One word: A-meh-he-rik-ka. Don’t go up against Alex Baldwin and Matt Damon. Seriously, Kim Jong-Il take note, these American actors mean business. And woe betide any city containing thousands-years old monuments that gets in the way.
Dave
This is what the American Dream is all about. Yes, anyone can become POTUS. Just look at Kevin Klein. He’s got charm, he’s your average man, he’s self effacing and he will do anything to make sure they can find that extra one percent in the budget. If only all the American Commanders-in-Chief were like him ...
Mr Smith Goes To Washington
OK, Dave was lucky, but Jefferson Smith had a mountain to climb after his poor fortune. He might have thought that getting into the senate was a golden ticket to representing the boy rangers, but he soon realises that’s not the chance. Still, as the motto goes: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again...” And anyone who doesn’t cry at the end has a heart of stone. Go Jefferson, go!
Independence Day
This is the film du jour. Yes, it’s cheesy, but what’s not to like: Will Smith kicking alien butt, a corny speech delivered by an even cornier Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum showing that the geek c’est chic. Oh, and the White House gets blown up. But when the chips are down, those Yanks will show the world how to do it. It might have more cheese than a McDonalds cheeseburger, but you gotta love it. God Bless America!
So it’s July 4. In America the fireworks are lighting up the sky as they celebrate their independence from us. In Monty Python the joke is that the Americans have had their fun and now it’s time they came back home to mother and settled in for dinner. But in celebration of this day I need a film du jour. So here’s a brief line-up July 4 related movies and my film du jour.
The Patriot
Mel Gibson swings from one side of the fence to the other and then upsets pretty much all of Blighty and ends up using a hatchet in a rather interesting fashion to dispatch some of the Redcoats who rape and pillage and pretty much upset all of the colonies.
Team America: World Police
One word: A-meh-he-rik-ka. Don’t go up against Alex Baldwin and Matt Damon. Seriously, Kim Jong-Il take note, these American actors mean business. And woe betide any city containing thousands-years old monuments that gets in the way.
Dave
This is what the American Dream is all about. Yes, anyone can become POTUS. Just look at Kevin Klein. He’s got charm, he’s your average man, he’s self effacing and he will do anything to make sure they can find that extra one percent in the budget. If only all the American Commanders-in-Chief were like him ...
Mr Smith Goes To Washington
OK, Dave was lucky, but Jefferson Smith had a mountain to climb after his poor fortune. He might have thought that getting into the senate was a golden ticket to representing the boy rangers, but he soon realises that’s not the chance. Still, as the motto goes: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again...” And anyone who doesn’t cry at the end has a heart of stone. Go Jefferson, go!
Independence Day
This is the film du jour. Yes, it’s cheesy, but what’s not to like: Will Smith kicking alien butt, a corny speech delivered by an even cornier Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum showing that the geek c’est chic. Oh, and the White House gets blown up. But when the chips are down, those Yanks will show the world how to do it. It might have more cheese than a McDonalds cheeseburger, but you gotta love it. God Bless America!
Sunday 3 July 2011
Clunking juggernauts roll into town again.
THE THIRD instalment of that juggernaut of a franchise Transformers rolls into the cinemas this weekend but it seems that most people will be rolling their eyes rather than rolling into their seats.
The first film was lively despite the heavy commercialism but then the second instalment just dragged, and dragged like a clunky tractor making its way down a country road in Wales.
So after Shia LeBoeuf admitted that they had “dropped the ball” there was the chance maybe they would correct their mistakes.
It now seems like they have only repeated them.
But should anyone really care?
After all, it’s just yet another blockbuster, yet another film franchise that will have its core fan base so won’t care whether it is good, bad or indifferent.
I think most people are fed up with the Transformer series for various reasons but yet again style has managed to power over substance, and people are beginning to get fed up.
Huge clunking robots whacking ten tons of steel out of each other; salacious imagery; tired clichés; rapid-fire imagery – all these problems add up.
Michael Bay has always been a fan of machine-gun speed editing –and, like MTV, it is something he has made his name on.
But whereas MTV can thrive on the 30 minute shows it creates by using style over substance, movies can’t.
Anyone who sits through more than 60 minutes of frenetic action would inevitably begin to feel like their brain has melted.
But Transformers fall down again because it throws in the clichés which only add to the audience’s frustration.
Beyond all of this it is hard for many mature audiences to feel any empathy for a bratty nerd who complains about his girlfriend. And his super-duper car.
It is hard for most adults to warm to the MTV style, especially when it is aimed at teenagers who prefer style over substance anyway.
Should we be preachy if teenagers get their kicks from the Tranformers franchise?
The first film was lively despite the heavy commercialism but then the second instalment just dragged, and dragged like a clunky tractor making its way down a country road in Wales.
So after Shia LeBoeuf admitted that they had “dropped the ball” there was the chance maybe they would correct their mistakes.
It now seems like they have only repeated them.
But should anyone really care?
After all, it’s just yet another blockbuster, yet another film franchise that will have its core fan base so won’t care whether it is good, bad or indifferent.
I think most people are fed up with the Transformer series for various reasons but yet again style has managed to power over substance, and people are beginning to get fed up.
Huge clunking robots whacking ten tons of steel out of each other; salacious imagery; tired clichés; rapid-fire imagery – all these problems add up.
Michael Bay has always been a fan of machine-gun speed editing –and, like MTV, it is something he has made his name on.
But whereas MTV can thrive on the 30 minute shows it creates by using style over substance, movies can’t.
Anyone who sits through more than 60 minutes of frenetic action would inevitably begin to feel like their brain has melted.
But Transformers fall down again because it throws in the clichés which only add to the audience’s frustration.
Beyond all of this it is hard for many mature audiences to feel any empathy for a bratty nerd who complains about his girlfriend. And his super-duper car.
It is hard for most adults to warm to the MTV style, especially when it is aimed at teenagers who prefer style over substance anyway.
Should we be preachy if teenagers get their kicks from the Tranformers franchise?
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