Sunday 16 December 2012

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Warning: if you haven't read the book(s) there may be spoilers...

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Directed by Peter Jackson
Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro and J.R.R. Tolkien

Cast
Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins
Ian McKellan as Gandalf The Grey
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
Hugo Weaving as Elrond
Christopher Lee as Saruman The White
Sylvester McCoy as Radagast The Brown
Ian Holm as older Bilbo Baggins
Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins
Andy Serkis as Gollum
Lee Pace as Thranduil
Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield
Graham McTavish as Dwalin
Ken Stott as Balin
Aidan Turner as Kili
Dean O'Gorman as Fili
Mark Hadlow as Dori
Jed Brophy as Nori
Adam Brown as Ori
John Callen as Oin
Peter Hambleton as Gloin
William Kircher as Bifur
James Nesbitt as Bofur
Stephen Hunter as Bombur

Nine years ago, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King wrapped up what is possibly the greatest movie trilogy in history in stunning style. Since then, there had been rumours of Peter Jackson returning to the realm of Middle-earth to adapt the story of Bilbo Baggins for the big screen. This seemed to be put to rest when the co-founder of New Line Cinema announced that "Peter Jackson will never direct a film for New Line again". That's that then, right?

Wrong. A few months later it was announced that Peter Jackson would be involved in the production of The Hobbit, but would not direct, and by the following year Guillermo del Toro had been brought on board to direct. After a string of false starts, delays and disappointments, which eventually led to del Toro's departure, and Peter Jackson once again sitting in the director's chair, we were left to wonder whether these movies would ever actually see the light of day.

Well, this week saw the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of a new trilogy of movies (with The Desolation Of Smaug coming next year, and There And Back Again in 2014). Was it worth the rollercoaster ride of a wait? Yes. Yes it was.

Opening with Ian Holm reprising his role as Bilbo from the previous trilogy as he tells the story of the dwarf kingdom of Erebor, and how it was lost to the great dragon Smaug, we then get a brief scene between Bilbo and Elijah Wood's Frodo set directly before the start of The Lord Of The Rings (it's actually the first scene in the book), and for fans of the series it's nice to see these two familiar faces, and even better to hear the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit". We are then transported 60 years into the past, where Bilbo looking more like Martin Freeman gets a visit from a wizard named Gandalf who invites him on an adventure. Of course, being a respectable Baggins, he refuses, but it's not quite that easy to refuse the will of a great wizard. That night a company of 13 dwarves on a quest to reclaim Erebor arrive uninvited for dinner, and before you know it, young Bilbo is recruited as the group's burglar.

There have been criticisms of this first hour, with people saying that it takes far too long to get going, but on the contrary, I think they spent exactly as long in the Shire as they needed to to introduce the characters, explain what they are up to, and to give Bilbo a chance to decide that he rather would like to go on an adventure after all. All in all, I don't think they spend any more time in the Shire than they did at the beginning of The Fellowship Of The Ring. In any case, once they leave the Shire, things proceed at a breakneck pace for the next hour and forty minutes, as our heroes are faced with hungry trolls, a group of orcs on the backs of warg's led by the villainous Azog with a vendetta against Thorin Oakenshield - the leader of the dwarves, and rightful king of Erebor, and travel to the elf city of Rivendell where we are given glimpses of some familiar faces.

As with Lord Of The Rings, Rivendell appears here as the brief calm before a storm, as even more dangers await the group once they leave, including the Goblin City in the Misty Mountain, and a deadly game of riddles with Gollum. The latter being the 15 best minutes of the entire movie. It's nice to see Gollum again after so long, and as ever Andy Serkis' performance is brilliant. I particularly liked the inclusion of Gollum's split-personalities into the riddle game... "Ooh, we knows! We knows! SHUT UP!!" being one of my favourite lines in the film.

However, all of this is stuff from the book. That's not all that's going on in this movie, as in order to fill up the running time of three movies, Jackson and co. have delved into the Appendices of The Lord Of The Rings and some of the Unfinished Tales to incorporate a different threat into the movie... the Necromancer. It's not as people feared - they haven't just made things up, all of these things were going on during The Hobbit, but just weren't in the book. And in doing this, they have effectively given The Hobbit a direct link between the two stories beyond a few of the same characters appearing. The scenes with Radagast the Brown (on his rabbit-pulled sled) and the White Council really serve to remind you that there is more at stake in the world than the fate of Erebor.

Tonally the movie is as expected far lighter than the Lord Of The Rings, but they've thankfully toned it down a bit to bring it more into line with what we've already seen. The dwarf songs are presented here, though, which is definitely a good thing. And with the exception of the deadly serious Thorin Oakenshield, the dwarves in general seem to work as 6 pairs of Merry and Pippin's. All of them aren't given time to shine, but they have all been given distinct personalities even if you aren't given the time in this first movie to get to know all of them. This is far more than Tolkien did, who just seemed to treat most of them as background characters.

There are only really two big criticisms that I can level against the movie, one regarding the story and the other regarding the presentation. Firstly, the scene with Bilbo finding the ring isn't the same as it was in the prologue of The Fellowship Of The Ring (or the book). This wouldn't be a big deal if they weren't going to such lengths to link the two trilogies, but as they are the scenes should match up both times they are shown.

The second, is that with the exception of Gollum, the visual effects just don't measure up to The Lord Of The Rings. If ever you are faced with a dilemma between which you prefer, CGI or miniatures/prosthetics, just watch these movies back-to-back. After nearly a decade, this movie should far surpass those movies, but just prove that there's really no substitute for physical objects. I can understand using motion capture when it's needed (like for Gollum and the Na'vi in Avatar), but with the excellent prosthetic work on the original series there was no need for all of the orcs to be rendered in CGI. It made the battle scenes seem less real. I'm pretty sure the first time you see the elves on horseback, they are all CGI, too... why? Actors on horses work far better... they should know. They've done it.

Overall, though, An Unexpected Journey is a highly entertaining movie, which though quite different from its parent series still stands up to it. And I'm expecting my enjoyment of the movie to grow - as it did with Lord Of The Rings - when I'm able to watch all three of them (the Extended Editions, preferably) back-to-back (on seperate days, obviously... I like to sleep).

Wednesday 25 July 2012

More Dark Knight Rises (only for people who have seen it)

I can't keep quiet about The Dark Knight Rises it seems, so I've decided to post this that contains MAJOR spoilers for the movie. If you haven't seen it you, you really shouldn't read this.

Further Reading
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First off, if you aren't a reader of the comics yet, and would like to read some of the story's that inspired the movie, you should definitely try 'Knightfall', which is the story arc that introduced Bane to the comic book world. Just as Bane releases all of the prisoners at Blackgate in the movie, he breaks all of the patients out of Arkham Asylum in this story. Unlike in the movie, this is his first step in his plan to take over Gotham, by waiting patiently as Batman exhausts himself trying to to round up all of the escaped patients and then confronting him at his lowest ebb. This results in the first time that Batman has been so utterly defeated, with Bane breaking his back in the exact same way he does it in the movie.

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You should also read 'No Man's Land', in which a massive earthquake has leveled Gotham City, and instead of providing aid, the President cuts the city off from the rest of the world - it should be noted that at the time, the President was Lex Luthor. When the story starts, Batman has been missing for six months. The actual reasons for both the city being cut off, and Batman's absence are very different in the movie, but it's obvious where the inspiration came from.

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The final obvious reference is to Frank Miller's infamous 'The Dark Knight Returns', which follows an aging Bruce Wayne returning to the role of Batman after a ten year absence. Thankfully, that premise and one piece of dialogue are all that the movie really takes from the story, because Frank Miller's Batman is a truly nasty and brutal piece of work with no redeeming characteristics.

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By the end of the movie, there are a couple of other books that while their use as inspiration aren't as obvious as the first three, I still think they are vital to get a little background on who turns out to be the "Big Bad" of the piece. The earliest stories that feature Talia al Ghul are featured in the collection, 'Tales Of The Demon'. Possibly the most significant story until recent years to feature her is 'Son Of The Demon'. Both the 'Legacy' storyline and 'Bane Of The Demon' feature Bane working for Ra's al Ghul as his potential heir and husband of Talia. Finally, I think 'Death And The Maidens' should be read, as Talia in the movie feels betrayed by her father and is a lot more definitely evil, similar to her sister - Nyssa Rytkko - who launches a plan to murder her father in this story. It's relevant, because Talia in the comics is conflicted between her loyalty to her father and the League Of Assassins, and her genuine love for Batman, but in the movie is only sleeping with Bruce to gain his trust and actually despises him.

Talia al Ghul
File:Talia al Ghul (The Dark Knight Rises).jpg File:Talia.jpg

Talking of Talia, there had been rumours since Marion Cotillard was cast in the role of Miranda Tate there had been rumours that she was actually going to be Talia. I was convinced that they were only rumours, and even with the whole "Child of Ra's al Ghul" storyline (that they carefully remained gender neutral whenever referring to her should have been a hint), it managed to take me by surprise when suddenly Miranda stabs Batman in a weak point in his armour and announces, "He's not the child of Ra's al Ghul. I am." Looking back on it, there were a few hints to Miranda's true identity. The viewer and Bruce were supposed to believe that when she asked him how he could justify spending so much money on a plan to save the world only to abandon it that she was talking about the energy project their characters had been working on together. In hindsight though, it seems obvious that she was talking about Batman. There were also a few subtle but knowing glances between her and Bane after she and Lucius Fox were taken hostage. And when Lucius refused to activate the core which would destroy the city, it was she who stepped up to activate it herself.

John Blake


One of the biggest surprises of the movie is how important Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character turned out to be. The trailers would have you believe that John Blake would just be another cop with only slightly more to do than Matthew Modine's Peter Foley. But John actually turns out to have one of the most important arcs of the entire film, going from beat cop, to Detective reporting directly to Commissioner Gordon, to what is essentially Batman's partner, to... well... the final shots of the film reveal that his legal name is Robin John Blake.

Despite what you may think, John Blake is not Robin. That was just a nod to the fans. Batman's advised him to wear a mask if he's going to work alone, and the climax of the film ends with him quitting the police force and entering the Batcave, so it looks like he's taken his advice. But that does not mean he's going to become Robin, because that's a stupid idea. Why would you wear a mask to protect your loved ones if you're then going to go by your real name?

It goes back to the first conversation between Blake and Bruce, in which the former tells the latter that he figured out that he was Batman when he visited an orphanage and noticed that his smile was fake, just like his own. A bit far-fetched, I think... any child whose had their parents murdered in front of them is going to still be emotionally affected by it as an adult. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to dress up like a bat and beat the crap out of criminals. But bear with us here, because in this conversation, Bruce tells Blake that "it was supposed to be a symbol. Batman can be anyone".

At first, I was a bit disappointed that Blake was an original character and not someone from the comics - though he shares Dick Grayson's idealism, Jason Todd's streetsmarts and bad temper, and Tim Drake's skills as a detective - but I've now come to the conclusion that it's very important that he was an original character. It reinforces the point that Bruce was making in that conversation... "Batman can be anyone". If Blake's name turned out to be Tim Drake like I had previously assumed (or Dick Grayson as other people had guessed), it would have been just one comic book character passing on the mantle to another comic book character. But with someone we've never seen until this movie becoming Batman - even if it is only implied - it drives the point home. Batman may have sacrificed his life to save Gotham, but that doesn't mean he's dead. Anyone can be Batman. All it takes is the will to do what is right.

EDIT: Bruce's Return
I thought I'd address one of the biggest criticisms being leveled against the movie. The fact that Bruce, after escaping the prison in what looks like it could be the Middle East (the exterior was actually shot in Jodhpur in India) he could so quickly get back to Gotham without any money, or a passport.

The brief answer is, he didn't. Just before the scene in which he makes his great escape - which is a brilliant reference to him falling down the well in Batman Begins, this time rising out of something of a similar shape - there was a scene in Gotham where they talk about how four months have passed since Bane took control of Gotham. Remember that the bomb was set to go off in five months. When Bruce finally arrived back in Gotham, they had less than a day to stop the bomb going off. It took him a month to get home. He must have hitchiked and stowed away all the way back.

It's amazing the amount of supposed plot holes in all fiction that you would realise aren't plot holes if you'd been paying attention...

The Ending
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(this image isn't necessarily important to the ending... I just couldn't not put a Catwoman picture in here)

Like Inception, the ending of The Dark Knight Rises is pretty ambiguous to some people. Early into the movie, Alfred tells Bruce that when he was missing, every year he'd go on holiday in Italy and he'd eat at the same restaurant. Every time he hoped that he'd see Bruce there with a wife and possibly some children, and even though they wouldn't speak to each other, he'd know that Bruce was going to be okay.

So, after Batman has made the ultimate sacrifice to save Gotham City, and after the heartbreaking funeral of Bruce Wayne (in which Michael Caine gives one of the greatest performances I've ever seen), we cut to Alfred at that restaurant in Italy, where he notices that Bruce and Selina are sitting across from him. They share a smile, and Alfred leaves. Happy ending, right? Well, there has been some debate about that. Some people believe that it could have been a hallucination. Others that it was just a dream that Alfred had, etc.

Me? I believe that Bruce is alive and well, and sharing a new life with Selina thanks to the mysterious Fresh Start software that Selina was looking for. A lot of people point out that the Bat had no autopilot, so he would have had to have been piloting when it exploded, but Lucius told Bruce that he left the autopilot for him to fix himself earlier in the movie. So why did he say that it still had no autopilot before flying off with the bomb? Because he wanted everyone to believe he had died. Selina had asked him to leave with her a little while before, and while he dismissed the idea at first, I believe he realised that this is what he wanted, but he couldn't do it without "dying". Besides... he knew Gotham would be in safe hands. John Blake isn't going to let anything happen to his city. The world still needs Batman, but Rachel was wrong... he doesn't need Batman any more.

That's my thoughts for now... I may end up adding more later. What can I say? I haven't thought this much about a movie since... well, since Inception, actually.

Monday 23 July 2012

The Dark Knight Rises

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There will be a couple of spoilers from the movies first hour or so, but I'll try to be as vague as possible.

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Written by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer

Cast
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Tom Hardy as Bane
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake
Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
Gary Oldman as James Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate

It's pretty difficult to review a movie like The Dark Knight Rises after only one viewing. The movie is nearly 3 hours long, with every minute so eventful that it's hard to take it all in. But I'm going to do my best.

Picking up eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, a retired and reclusive Bruce Wayne spends all of his time in the East Wing of Wayne Manor living with the injuries to both his mind and body, still being served by loyal butler and father figure, Alfred who worries about Bruce's choice to shut himself off from the world. Meanwhile, Commissioner James Gordon is dealing with the aftermath of the lie he and Batman came up with eight years ago, framing Batman for the crimes committed by Harvey Dent. A lie which has finally wiped out organised crime in Gotham City with the introduction of the Harvey Dent act (which I interpreted as kind of like Gotham's version of the Patriot Act), but at a heavy cost to Gordon's soul.

The relative peace couldn't last for long, though, and after a gunfight leads Gordon down into the sewers, he is captured by an army living underground. He escapes, but is so injured that most of the police dismiss his warnings as delirious rambling. Except of course for the idealistic new recruit to the police force, John Blake. He has deduced Batman's true identity and it isn't long before he has convinced Bruce Wayne to return to his night job. Bruce for his part has already been investigating a burglar known by the media as "The Cat" who managed to crack his uncrackable safe and steal his pearls ("Oops... nobody told me it was uncrackable").

Surprisingly early into the film, Batman meets the leader of the sewer army, named Bane. It's at this point when all hell breaks loose. There had been people questioning how it was possible to top the anarchy caused by The Joker in the previous movie. Well this movie provides the answer... this is the greatest threat that Gotham has ever faced, with Bane setting out to break the city before he ultimately destroys it with Batman powerless to stop him (exactly how and why I won't say).

Needless to say, this is a huge movie in every sense of the word. Thousands of extras, mass destruction and massive action scenes are all present here. But this isn't just an action movie... it's a Christopher Nolan movie. Which means that as well as providing all of the thrills and spectacle of the usual summer blockbuster, you also get some of the greatest actors in the business giving the performances of their careeer. None more so than in the case of Anne Hathaway, an actress that like Heath Ledger before her drew skepticism of her ability to portray Selina Kyle, and like Heath Ledger before her, not only proves capable, but steals every single scene she appears in. Both one of Batman's most famous villains, and one of his greatest love interests, Selina has always been a complex character who plays by her own rules, and Hathaway nails every facet of the character seemingly effortlessly. Similarly, Christian Bale, who I've always said is the only person to be able to play all three characters that his part calls for - Batman, public Bruce and private Bruce all have very different personalities - actually manage to improve upon his previous two performances of the character to completely blow any memories of Michael Keaton still lingering in people's minds away. Michael Caine and Gary Oldman also manage to exceed themselves in some of the movies most emotional scenes, and Morgan Freeman is given more to do this time around.

Other than Hathaway, there are three more newcomers in The Dark Knight Rises in Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard. It might get boring if I just praise everyone in the entire movie, so let's just say that for the most part, everything I said in the last paragraph also applies to these three - with one minor but notable exception towards the end of the movie. Tom Hardy's Bane is no Joker (who, though less powerful than Batman managed to be genuinely terrifying), but he's still one of the best villains the franchise has ever had in any format. And despite being a remorseless terrorist and brutal murderer (why shoot someone in the head, when you can snap their neck?), when we begin to delve into his backstory, you'll find it quite tragic... even moreso during the big reveal.

Seriously... see this movie. It's dark, brooding and builds slowly to one of the worthiest endings a movie series has ever had. People are obviously going to be comparing it to The Avengers, but it honestly doesn't have enough in common with that movie for any comparison to really be taken seriously. I believe they are both equally good, but in totally different ways. Christopher Nolan has delivered again... not just a great Batman movie, or even just a great comic book movie, but one of the greatest movies of any kind. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel an immense feeling of dread when you see how far Gotham has fallen and remember all the times you've been reminded that this is end... Batman might not survive!

PS: There's been a lot of talk about this being a Capitalist movie that demonises the "Occupy movement". The script was finished in February 2010... about 18 months before Occupy Wall Street began. Whilst there is an element of the villain causing ordinary citizens to rise up and punish the wealthy ("There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne") the "resemblance" to Occupy ends there. In fact, it's played pretty ambiguously, as out of all of the richest characters in the movie, only one or two aren't shown as corrupt in some way... and one of those is the title character.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Prometheus

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There will be spoilers

Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring:
Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender as David
Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland
Idris Elba as Janek
Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway
Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers
Rafe Spall as Milburn
Sean Harris as Fifield
Kate Dickie as Ford
Emun Elliott as Chance
Benedict Wong as Ravel
Patrick Wilson as Elizabeth Shaw's father

As you should know, Prometheus marks Ridley Scott's return to both the sci-fi genre and the Alien universe he helped created way back in 1979. You should also know that Scott and the cast have been promising that though the movie is set in the same universe as Alien, 30 years before the events of that movie, it would be a standalone story and not a prequel.

The fact of the matter is that they lied. As a standalone movie, Prometheus is perfectly enjoyable, but you'll get a lot more from it if you have seen Alien. The movie opens with a mysterious looking pale man standing beside a river, just dropping dead, literally falling apart. Unfortunately we'll never find out the significance of this, as the action immediately jumps to Elizabeth Shaw and her boyfriend Charlie Holloway discovering an ancient cave painting in Scotland with the same image as has been found on artwork around the world.

Three years later, Shaw and Holloway are in hypersleep aboard the Prometheus - a ship being sent to the system that they believe the ancient artwork was pointing to, that could provide the answer to where humanity came from. Living a lonely existence aboard the ship whilst everyone else sleeps is the project's resident robot, David - played by Michael Fassbender, in the movie's best performance - who spends his time playing basketball and learning how to act human from watching old movies. Watching Lawrence Of Arabia causes him to change his speech patterns, mannerisms and hairstyle to match Peter O'Toole's. After the rest of the crew is woken up, a bit of time is taken up getting to know the rest of the crew, including the icy Meredith Vickers, and the ship's captain Janek, before an expository scene featuring an unrecognisable hologram of Guy Pearce explains the crew's mission. And then, the ship lands...

It is here that the links to Alien begin to really build up, as the Prometheus crew explore the ruins of a H.R. Giger-inspired building, featuring a lot of dead creatures that look a lot like the dead alien found with a burst chest in the original movie. Unfortunately for Shaw and her colleagues, that's not all that's there. What starts out as a mysterious oil very quickly evolves into a variety of creatures that maim, kill, transform and impregnate the exploring humans. It's not made obvious until the very last shot, but what these things turn out to be are the early evolutionary forms of the xenomorph from the alien franchise. The Empire review of the movie complained that the aliens in this movie are obviously just poor stand-ins for the xenomorph... how they managed to miss that the point is that it is the early form of the xenomorph, I don't know. I figured it out the first time a tentacle forced itself down one of the characters' throat, and then the fact that they have acid blood and new versions grow inside one of the lead characters just drove the point home before what was intended to be the reveal.

And about that impregnation. One of the stand-out scenes in the movie features said impregnated character's desperate attempt to remove the alien from her body. By the end of the movie some of the (unasked) questions about the origin of the "Engineers" are answered, but it seems that a lot of them have been left open for a sequel. Not sure how that's going to happen, as there are so few survivors left by the end (come on, that isn't exactly a spoiler, is it) that the next movie will effectively have to be a one-man/woman show.

As a whole, the movie is excellent in both its story (though less thought-provoking than people had perhaps expected) and its visuals, with some fantastic performances from most of the principle cast. Taking her first lead role since the original Swedish version of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, Noomi Rapace proves herself more than capable of carrying a big sci-fi action movie, and should be a massive star if she keeps up the pace. As the ambiguous duo who work for the company, Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender excel. Of the supporting cast, though, only Idris Elba is particularly memorable. That's okay, because they're role is mainly that of alien fodder, though. So in the end, Prometheus is nowhere near as revolutionary as Alien or Blade Runner were (though at the time, Blade Runner was hardly well-received), but it is a great movie in its own right, even if you need at least a basic knowledge of Alien to get the most out of it.

Next up, Ridley Scott is working on a sequel to Blade Runner. Let's hope it's at least as good as this is.

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Guns N' Roses at the O2 Arena - May 31st 2012

Ordinarily, I like to write reviews of gigs within a day of being there, but as mentioned in my previous post, I had a busy few days after this one so this is my first chance to sit down and talk about it.

The O2 Arena is strange in that we can be really late arriving to queue before the doors open, and still manage to get a great view in the first few rows. Which is absolutely perfect as I managed to get into the second row coincidentally right behind a friend of mine on the barrier who'd been queuing since 11am. Thin Lizzy hit the stage at about 8pm. It was my second time seeing this particular incarnation of the band - the first being at Download last year when Richard Fortus of Guns N' Roses was actually touring with them. That time I wasn't sure what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised. This time, they managed to blow me away.

From start to finish they were really energetic and exciting, even when playing the songs that I didn't know as well. I'd never seen a support band get as warm a reception as these guys got, with the highlights being when Richard came out to perform 'Don't Believe A Word', and of course, the singalong of 'Whisky In The Jar'. After playing for over an hour - the longest set I'd ever seen from a support band, too - they finished with the always popular 'The Boys Are Back In Town'.

Everyone always talks about Guns N' Roses' lateness negatively. So I'll just say that they hit the stage at around 10:40pm, and even those most loudly complaining about the wait seemed to shut up and enjoy themselves for the next three hours of music. The lights went down, and 'Splitting The Atom' by Massive Attack could be heard over the PA as the intro video began and in the darkness you could see various members of the band taking their positions. Then Dj Ashba appeared behind Frank Ferrer's drum riser silouhetted against the backdrop playing the opening chords of 'Chinese Democracy'. Immediately it was evident that things were different in the crowd this time around. Whereas before, every time a new song was played people ranged from quietly listening and appreciating the new music, outwardly disgusted that they would dare play a song they didn't know, and just plain bewildered. This time however, the songs from the latest album were received with just as much enthusiasm as the tracks from the classic albums. At one point during the show I was shocked as Axl's voice was drowned out by the crowd singing along to 'Shackler's Revenge', a song that even among that album's biggest fans doesn't seem to get talked about much. Next followed the three tracks from 'Appetite For Destruction' that opened every show between 2001 and 2007, 'Welcome To The Jungle', 'It's So Easy' and 'Mr. Brownstone'. My only complaint of the whole night is that the start 'Welcome To The Jungle' in the exact same way they began it when they were using it to open the show, which worked great then. But now it seems like there are two introductions to the show, with the intro of both 'Chinese Democracy' and 'Welcome To The Jungle' both drawn out to build up anticipation. That's a minor complaint however, compared to the rest of the night.

The setlist in general is the most varied and well-rounded setlist I've ever seen Guns N' Roses play. The set used to be almost entirely dominated by tracks from 'Appetite For Destruction' and 'Chinese Democracy', with a couple of tracks thrown into the mix from other albums. This time around, the 'Use Your Illusion' albums were represented just as much with plenty of tracks I'd never heard the band play before like 'Estranged', 'Civil War', and 'Don't Cry'. And then of course was what to many will be the highlight of the night, with former guitarist Izzy Stradlin taking to the stage to play '14 Years' for the first time since 1991. The version of the story behind that song I've heard is that it was coming up to 14 years since Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin first met, and their friendship at the time was all but fallen apart. Both men began writing songs about the deterioration of their friendship entitled '14 Years' and when they both found out about each other's songs they decided to combine the two. For this reason - among many others, including Izzy not liking the attention and most of the vocals of the song are handled by him - I didn't think we would ever get to hear that song live again (not even any of the various solo projects that former members have been a part of have ever played it live). Later on in the night, Izzy returned to the stage to perform 'You Could Be Mine', a cover of 'Dead Flowers' by The Rolling Stones, 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door', 'Nightrain' and 'Paradise City'.

Contrary to popular belief, of course, this is a band, and as such almost every member of the band is given a chance to take some of the limelight with solo pieces. Dj Ashba and Richard Fortus both impressed with guitar solos especially composed for the tour, but the highlight for me is two of my favourite musicians stepping up to play some of my favourite tracks from their solo albums. Tommy Stinson played 'Motivation' from his 2004 album 'Village Gorilla Head' and Ron Thal played 'Glad To Be Here' from 2008's 'Abnormal'. The two of them rarely tour in this country in their solo careers, so it was an added treat to get those songs. During 'Glad To Be Here', Frank Ferrer even gets a bit of a drum solo to show off in. Not the kind of overly-long one from those drummers that like to think they're John Bonham that end up being really boring, thankfully. Just enough to be impressive without outstaying it's welcome.

At 1:20am, Axl announced that he'd just been informed that there are only ten minutes before the trains stop running so they won't be playing as many songs as they had planned before going straight into 'Paradise City'. His willingness to end a show before he planned on it was surprising, but fortunately from looking at other shows it looks like there were only two songs cut ('Patience' and 'Madagascar'), and I'm not overly bothered because they're both songs I've heard them play tons of times already. Also, after playing for near three hours, I don't think anyone could complain of being short-changed. The band are the best I've ever heard them, and everyone seems in good spirits and glad to be out there. Richard had a huge smile on his face through most of the show, and Axl was joking with the band all night during songs. There was one mix-up during 'November Rain' which meant the outro had to be restarted, but other than that there's not much more I could ask for. One of the best shows that I've ever been to. And is there a better song to play while people are leaving the venue after a Guns N' Roses show than Frank Sinatra's 'My Way'? Can't wait to hear what these guys cook up next.

Thin Lizzy Setlist
Are You Ready (from Live And Dangerous)
Jailbreak (from Jailbreak)
Waiting For An Alibi (from Black Rose: A Rock Legend)
Killer On The Loose (from Chinatown)
Dancing In The Moonlight (from Bad Reputation)
Whisky In The Jar (non-album single)
Suicide (from Fighting)
Angel Of Death (from Renegade)
Emerald (from Jailbreak)
Don't Believe A Word with Richard Fortus (from Johnny The Fox)
Rosalie (Bob Seger cover from Fighting)
Roisin Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend (from Black Rose: A Rock Legend)
Cowboy Song (from Jailbreak)
The Boys Are Back In Town (from Jailbreak)

Thin Lizzy Line-up
Ricky Warwick - vocals, guitar
Scott Gorham - guitar
Damon Johnson - guitar
Marco Mendoza - bass
Brian Downey - drums
Darren Wharton - keyboards, vocals

Guns N' Roses Setlist
Intro (Splitting The Atom by Massive Attack)
Chinese Democracy (from Chinese Democracy)
Welcome To The Jungle (from Appetite For Destruction)
It's So Easy (from Appetite For Destruction)
Mr. Brownstone (from Appetite For Destruction)
Sorry (from Chinese Democracy)
Rocket Queen (from Appetite For Destruction)
Estranged (from Use Your Illusion II)
Better (from Chinese Democracy)
Motivation with vocals from Tommy Stinson (from Tommy Stinson's Village Gorilla Head)
14 Years with Izzy Stradlin (from Use Your Illusion II)
Richard Fortus guitar solo
Live And Let Die (Wings cover from Use Your Illusion I)
This I Love (from Chinese Democracy)
Shackler's Revenge (from Chinese Democracy)
Dizzy Reed piano solo (The Who's Baba O'Riley)
Street Of Dreams (from Chinese Democracy)
You Could Be Mine with Izzy Stradlin (from Use Your Illusion II)
Ballad Of Death (Dj Ashba's guitar solo)
Sweet Child O' Mine (from Appetite For Destruction)
Instrumental Jam (Another Brick In The Wall Parts 1 & 2)
Axl Rose piano solo (Gran Torino/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road/Someone Saved My Life Tonight)
November Rain (from Use Your Illusion I)
Glad To Be Here with vocals from Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (from Bumblefoot's Abnormal)
Bumblefoot guitar solo
Don't Cry (from Use Your Illusion I)
Civil War (from Use Your Illusion II)
Dead Flowers with Izzy Stradlin (Rolling Stones cover)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door with Izzy Stradlin (Bob Dylan cover from Use Your Illusion II)
Nightrain with Izzy Stradlin (from Appetite For Destruction)

ENCORE
Instrumental Jam (Aerosmith's Chip Away The Stone)
Paradise City with Izzy Stradlin (from Appetite For Destruction)
Exit Music (My Way by Frank Sinatra)

Guns N' Roses Line-up
W. Axl Rose - vocals, piano
Richard Fortus - guitar
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal - guitar
Dj Ashba - guitar
Tommy Stinson - bass, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed - keyboards, piano, percussion, backing vocals
Chris Pitman - keyboards, sub-bass, backing vocals
Frank Ferrer - drums

Thursday 31 May 2012

Sci-Fi (From Blade Runner to Prometheus)

Tomorrow afternoon - after having spent the night before kept up by Guns N' Roses - I will be returning to the O2 to watch Ridley Scott's return to the universe he helped create with Alien, Prometheus. Set before Alien, Scott has promised that rather than a prequel it will be a standalone story. We'll see.

Not only does Prometheus mark the director's return to the Alien universe, but also his return to the genre of science fiction since 1982's classic Blade Runner. As anyone reading this may have gathered, I'm a bit of a sci-fi geek (of both the 'hard' kind, and the more fantastic kind), and a lot has happened in the genre in these last 30 years. I thought I'd take a bit of time to talk about some of my favourites...

Return Of The Jedi (and the prequels)
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By 1982, the two most critically lauded of the Star Wars movies had already been released, and Harrison Ford had just started to make even more of a name for himself as Indiana Jones (probably his most iconic role... it takes a lot to have something else be your most iconic role when you've already been Han Solo), before signing up to star in Blade Runner as Rick Deckard. I may get a lot of shit for saying it if any "real" Star Wars fans read this, but The Empire Strikes Back was always my least favourite Star Wars film, with Return Of The Jedi easily trumping it as my favourite.

It's not only because of Leia in that bikini either. It simply comes down to two points, the first being the culmination of the story with the eventual redemption of Darth Vader and the final battle between the Rebels and the Empire. It's exciting stuff with hardly a break for a breather, which brings me to the second point... more impressive set-pieces. Luke vs. the Rancor. The battle on Jabba's ship above the Sarlacc. The speeder bike chase. The battle on Endor. The Rebels vs. the new Death Star. Luke vs. Darth Vader vs. the Emperor. The movie is just chock-full of excitement, where The Empire Strikes Back left it all for the first and last half an hour. It was a fitting end to the trilogy. And yes, I do like the ewoks.

Of course, it wasn't really the end, because 1999 saw the much maligned prequel trilogy. There are some valid complaints about those movies, like the over-reliance on CGI, the script having some truly awful dialogue, and the performances of most of the principal cast, excluding Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and Ian McDiarmid, but most notably including Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman (how George Lucas managed to get a performance so bad out of such a great actress, I don't know). But a lot of the complaints I feel are quite unfounded. People are annoyed that they focused so much on politics. The movies were always going to be about the eventual downfall of a Republic, a massive war and the rise of an Empire. How do you think they were going to do that without focusing on politics? And for every Jar Jar Binks, I'll raise you a Darth Maul and Mace Windu. People also tend to forget that some truly impressive action scenes were hidden amongst the awful dialogue including the podrace, Qui Gon and Obi Wan vs. Darth Maul, the final battle in Attack Of The Clones, and pretty much everything that happens in Revenge Of The Sith, which thanks to Ewan McGregor manages to be heartbreaking, too.

At the end of the day, despite Harrison Ford's awesome sarcastic take on Han Solo, Star Wars has never been about the acting or witty dialogue. It's always been about just sitting back and enjoying the spectacle. The prequels offered more of that, and they delivered. It may be shallow, but Star Wars never pretended to be anything else.

The Terminator saga (also, Aliens)
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In 1985, a former B-movie director whose most recent work was as writer and director of Piranha II: The Spawning revolutionised the sci-fi genre by combining a story of robots from the future with the kind of action that had been becoming popular in that decade. The Terminator made a star out of both Arnold Schwarzenegger (unfortunately an actor only convincing when he is playing an emotionless killer robot), and James Cameron (the director who would go on to spend increasingly ludicrous amounts of money on continuously revolutionising special effects, and making even more money back for it).

On the face of it, the story is pretty simple. An advanced robot made to look like a human from a future that has been overrun by a war between human and machines that the machines are losing is sent back to 1985 to kill the mother of the leader of the human resistance before said leader is born. Kyle Reese - a young man who is a protege of the human resistance leader named John Connor - is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor from this Terminator. From there, people get shot, things explode, and the Terminator turns from gun-packing bodybuilder to terrifying skeletal monster before getting crushed... literally. Also, for an added mindfuck, Kyle - who is killed during the course of the movie - turns out to be John Connor's dad. Surprisingly with all of the carnage going on, without the pace ever slowing down for exposition, the nature of the future the Terminator and Kyle come from is extremely well-explained. Usually whilst on the run.

In 1991, Schwarzenegger, Cameron and Linda Hamilton returned for round two, this time with Edward Furlong along for the ride as the juvenile delinquent John Connor. But there's a twist... this time around the Terminator is the one sent back to protect the Connor's, whilst an advance liquid metal shape-shifting version that looks like the brother of then Nine Inch Nails guitarist/future Filter frontman Richard Patrick is the one sent to kill them. This movie had even more impressive action than the last, and there was even more of it. And again, they still found time to give you all of the details, as well as some career best performances from the entire cast (unfortunately not difficult when you're Edward Furlong, whose only other decent movie is American History X). It's not many sequels that manage to be better than the original, but Terminator 2 is one of those examples.

But then, James Cameron had experience of making a more action-packed sequel. Between those two movies, he also tackled the sequel to Alien with an entire nest of the vicious bastards attacking Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and a squad of marines. Imaginitevely called Aliens, James Cameron not only managed to become just as iconic as the previous film ("Get away from her, you BITCH!" and "They mostly come out at night. Mostly." are still two of the most quoted lines from movies), but also inadvertently invented most of the videogames available today. You know. The ones where you play a space marine fighting of hordes of alien attackers with huge guns? Sounds familiar, right?

Unfortunately, both the Terminator and Alien franchises went downhill after their second entries, both of which receiving two further sequels that whilst not entirely unsuccessful (there are some great moments in all of those movies, and I actually think Terminator Salvation is pretty good), suffered from being more of the same. Hopefully the Alien universe is back on track now that Ridley Scott has returned to the driving seat.

The Matrix trilogy
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I've just realised that I love a lot of science fiction that have sequels or prequels that have been critically mauled. What a great time to talk about The Matrix trilogy... for a long time my favourite franchise ever. Just as George Lucas managed to get an appalling performance out of Natalie Portman, the Wachowski Brothers managed to get a great performance out of the usually laughably bad Keanu Reeves. Mainly thanks to the fact that The Matrix is the only material that he's been given that it seems like he believed in.

It's that battle between humans and machines again, except this time the machines have found a way to use us for energy whilst making us believe that we're living in the late 20th century in an extremely advance virtual reality program. There are those who've managed to be broken out of the Matrix into the real world by those humans who managed to escape to the city of Zion, though. And with the help of the Oracle, and various training programs, these escapees are turned into warriors that battle the machines from inside the Matrix, breaking others free. Aware of this, the machines have what is effectively antivirus software known as Agents that track these rebels down.

Cue an action movie that uses the budget available to Hollywood productions, combined with techniques from the world of Hong Kong cinema, as well as some brand new video technology that allows you to do a 360 around a character whilst they're in slow motion. All of these elements, combined with the philosophical themes present throughout helped make The Matrix one of the most impressive action movies ever made, and is easily my favourite movie of the 90's.

Unfortunately, the sequels didn't receive as much praise as the original entry, but I really don't know why. The only reason that most people give is the Architect. Which is true... it would be boring if you're only interested in the action scenes and not the mythology of the movie. But if you're not interested in that mythology, why would you be watching it anyway? It could just be that I'm a fan of the kind of thing that the Wachowski's were influenced by when writing the trilogy (namely, science fiction anime), and though in the first movie it was very evident but didn't overpower the rest of the movie, the sequels made those influences very overt. Or maybe people wanted to know exactly what was going on, and the ending of The Matrix Revolutions was so ambiguous that you have to really come up with your own interpretation of what the hell happened (kind of like the ending of Lost, which I also thought was amazing). Whatever the reason, I believe the only bad point about the entire trilogy is the part in The Matrix Reloaded which is basically a music video and was just completely unecessary other than to give Neo and Trinity time to have sex. Other than that, they included everything I was looking for.

The Fifth Element
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Finally! A movie I don't have to defend! In the realms of science fiction, this definitely falls on the more light-hearted, action-oriented fantastic side of things. It's pretty much the furthest thing from the likes of Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey that you can find. But it has no pretensions. It knows it's just a stupid big budget action movie, and it revels in it.

Bruce Willis stars as a flying taxicab driver who is thrust into a plot to destroy the universe by an amazingly over the top Gary Oldman when a half naked Milla Jovovich lands in his cab from a great height. That's pretty much all you need to know about the plot, as it's ludicrous, mindless and bizarrely fun. This movie cemented Milla Jovovich's role as an action-girl, which she has made great use of in the Resident Evil movies since then, and that's about it. The aliens and costumes are mostly at the Doctor Who level, but the CGI is mostly impressive, especially for the time. The only thing that nearly makes this movie unbearable is Chris Tucker. If you haven't seen this film yet, be warned... you will want to press mute every time this man opens his mouth. If you got annoyed with him in the Rush Hour movies, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Ghost In The Shell (and Akira)
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As I said before, I'm a big fan of science fiction anime. Specifically, I'm a big fan of the Ghost In The Shell franchise. Probably the most directly related to Blade Runner of any of these movies, Ghost In The Shell focuses on a future Japan in which cybernetic replacements for body parts have become commonplace. You can even have a cybernetic brain, but still be considered human thanks to your "ghost" - an intangible thing that defines a human being that is usually referred to as a soul in everything else. Of course, there is a problem with the potential for "ghost-hacking"... a hacker can take control of the human mind and implant artificial memories (such as that of a wife and children, etc.).

Enter Public Security Section 9, a secret government agency with agents ranging from the 100% organic Togusa who has an inferiority complex due to his nature as a completely unupgraded human, and the 100% cybernetic Major Motoko Kusanagi (the heroine of the franchise) who has issues reconciling whether or not she's really human any more, or even if she's always just been an android who's been programmed to believe that she was once human. What follows is a movie that questions the very definition of life whilst still finding time for some kick-ass action.

In 2004, director Mamoru Oshii returned to the world of Ghost In The Shell with the even more visually impressive, even more thought-provoking and even more confusing Ghost In The Shell: Innocence. Whilst the first movie focused on the partnership of Kusanagi and her best friend Batou, Innocence focused on Batou and his new partner Togusa. To tell you why Kusanagi isn't around would be to ruin the ending of the original movie, but her presence is still felt without her physically being there. This one begins as an investigation into why sex-bots (called gynoids) are starting to malfunction and kill their masters, but eventually evolves into something a lot darker and disturbing.

There is also a TV show called Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, which is unrelated to the movies despite focusing on the same characters. The TV show is generally more light-hearted than the movies, and tends to focus more on action, but both seasons of the show have a season-long story arc that turn out to be every bit as smart and interesting as those of the movies. I prefer the second season, myself. To top it all off, the TV show has a movie spin-off of its own called Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.

Any talk of science fiction in anime would be incomplete without talking about Akira, the movie that first brought anime to widespread consciousness in the West back in 1989. Unfortunately, a lot of the press liked to focus on that film's violence (which is admittedly there is a lot of) without focusing on the story which weaves together delinquent biker gangs, a corrupt government, super-powered children and a resistance movement in post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo. One of these superpowered children - Akira - was the cause of the nuclear explosion that destroyed the original Tokyo, and now Tetsuo - the lead character's best friend - has managed to gain the same kind of power. Being a Japanese movie it's a lot more complicated, confusing and insane than that, but it's difficult to explain it any better without it sounding a lot worse than it really is. At the time it was the biggest budget anime movie in existence, and without it, I doubt very much that Ghost In The Shell would exist.

Avatar
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James Cameron again, once again revolutionising cinema, if not science fiction. This movie is currently the most successful movie ever made (there's a chance The Avengers may beat it eventually, but it's unlikely), so you probably don't need an explanation.

I realise I'm going to have to go on the defensive here again, so here it is. Some stories are so timeless that they keep coming up again and again. The story of a man sent in to an indigineous population to infiltrate them only to take their side come the climax is one of these stories. This is why you can find so many movies that follow this formula. In fact it may go further back than this, but the first instance I can think of is Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book - in the book, Mowgli ends up killing everyone in the human village as revenge for them torturing the animals that raised him. What matters isn't that the story is unoriginal, but if it's told well. And James Cameron is a master storyteller. Unlike George Lucas who uses technology to disguise poor writing, James Cameron puts the story first and then worries about how he's going to put it onto the screen.

So yes, whilst what most people were talking about was the flawless motion capture technology, and the first time 3D has been used even moderately well, it is still a great movie in its own right that is actually enhanced by the technology (if the Na'vi were just people in blue prosthetics, no one would be able to take it seriously). Sure, it's lacking in originality, but I challenge any of you to write a story that is completely original with no elements used in previous stories. Then I'll direct you to TV Tropes.

Star Trek
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The previous film that was universally applauded as the best Star Trek movie ever made was The Wrath Of Khan, that was actually released a couple of weeks before Blade Runner, so isn't something I'll be talking about here. After that, Star Trek movies just kept on coming for the next 20 years, wildly ranging in quality from very good to appalling. Unfortunately, none of them ever reached the status of "great movie in its own right" that Wrath Of Khan did.

Eventually, interest in Star Trek waned and after Star Trek: Nemesis (featuring a pre-fame Tom Hardy as a clone of Jean-Luc Picard) the entire series was pretty much laid to rest. A couple of years later Batman Begins happened and made a ton of money, thus showing studios that they could keep even their retired franchises alive by means of a "reboot" wiping out all that had gone before and starting again. Generally, this idea has proven to be a bad thing, but like Batman Begins, with Star Trek it actually worked.

The first major obstacle was "how to wipe out all that had gone before without enraging all of the obsessive fanboys?". The answer, was of course alternate reality! Everything that happened from the Original Series all the way up to Nemesis (possibly including the prequel TV-show Enterprise, too) did happen. But then something happened to send the villain and Spock back in time to change the past and now an alternate reality has been created! A reality where James Kirk is an orphaned juvenile delinquent without any sense of responsibility. Where he and Spock can't stand each other. Where the plant Vulcan is about to be destroyed making Vulcan's an endangered species. Yes... with that last move the writers proved that now anything can happen.

And it's all the better for it, with the tone of the movie veering closer to Star Wars than the Star Trek most of us have grown up with, this rebooted Star Trek is a fun action-packed blockbuster that manages to entertain despite a few flaws (like what have Nero and old Spock been doing in the 19 years since they entered this timeline. Waiting for Kirk to grow up?). Of course, despite anything having to happen, one thing has to happen. The crew of the original series (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhuru, Scott, Chekov and Sulu) have to meet. They have to become friends, and they have to win. But other than that, there are quite a few surprises (and coincidences that push the realms of believability). As a reboot of one of the most beloved creations in sci-fi history though, it managed to mostly please casual fans and hardcore nerds alike... something that a few years before was thought to be impossible. Well done J.J. Abrams.

Minority Report
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Minority Report is the movie most closely related to Blade Runner in that both movies are based on stories by Philip K. Dick. In pretty much every other way, though, the movies are pretty different. Blade Runner's grim grimy city is nowhere to be seen in Minority Report's generally new-looking world.

Set in a future where Tom Cruise works in the "pre-crime" department of the police, a murder hasn't been committed in years thanks to the precognitive skills of three psychics predicting the murders and the pre-crime department tracking down the killers before the murder happens. Unfortunately for Tom, he is identified as the killer in a future murder and he is forced to go on the run to prove his innocence. This puts the movie firmly in the highly specialised sub-genre of "Tom Cruise running from things" (see also: the Mission Impossible series, The Firm and War Of The Worlds).

On his quest, Cruise uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the precog programme, and includes demons from his past. This movie is great, despite a couple of unecessary gross-out moments.

Inception
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Directed by the flawless Christopher Nolan, and starring Leonardo diCaprio, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Lovett and Ellen Page, Inception is one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the decade so far. In between Batman movies, Nolan likes to work on more personal projects (such as the also brilliant The Prestige), but nobody could have prepared us for what he was cooking up for the time between The Dark Knight and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.

Leonardo diCaprio stars as the leader of a group of criminals that create a dream world for their victims in order to steal vital pieces of information from their minds. Their latest client (played by Ken Watanabe) however wants them to do the opposite, and plant an idea in the mind of Cillian Murphy. Although this is theoretically possible, it's extremely difficult and is going to involve a newly formed team having to go further into the dreamworld than ever before. And then there's the problem diCaprio's past coming back to haunt him in the shape of his dead wife, Mal, who invades on his dreamworld missions at every opportunity.

It's hard to pin down Inception as just a science fiction movie, as there are elements of James Bond movies, and psychological thriller thrown in, as well as some truly impressive and mind-bending special effects (both physical and CGI). Although the emphasis is on the action, including an attack on an Arctic secret base - in their minds of course - and that infamous spinning hotel corridor fight, I consider this movie to be the first "hard" sci-fi of the 21st century. It's exciting, thought-provoking and revolutionary in all of the same ways The Matrix was 11 years earlier, but with a more realistic (though definitely not real) take on the genre. This is what Christopher Nolan does so well, and why his Batman films are so fantastic... taking a fantastic concept and grounding it in a reality with well-defined rules that make it all seem like it's actually possible somehow. It's going to take Prometheus doing something really special to beat this (to date this decade, in my opinion only The Avengers has).

Prometheus
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For anybody who doesn't know about Prometheus, as I've said before it's set in the Alien universe, roughly 30 years before that movie, but is apparently not really a prequel.
The movie stars Noomi Rapace (the original Lisbeth Salander), Michael Fassbender (who was fantastic as Magneto in X-Men: First Class), Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron as a science team aboard the Prometheus following a map found on ancient artefacts that lead to what they believe is the genesis of the human race.

Naturally, things don't go according to plan, not everyone aboard the ship is going to survive, but up until this point, that's all we've really been told about the film. Still, from trailers and images I've seen, it looks like it's going to be one of the highlights of the cinematic year.

I've got a busy weekend ahead of me, so it probably won't be until next week, but I'll get a review of both this movie and the Guns N' Roses show I'm going to tonight as soon as possible.

Sunday 13 May 2012

50 Best Movies Since 2010 Part 5

10) X-Men: First Class (2011) - English
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Written by Sheldon Turner, Bryan Singer, Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Lawrence

9) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2010) - Swedish
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Written by Stieg Larsson, Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
Starring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace

8) The Fighter (2011) - English
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Written by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Scott Silver
Directed by David O. Russell
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo

7) Kick-Ass (2010) - English
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Written by Mark Millar, Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mark Strong and Nicolas Cage

6) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - English
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Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Directed by Joe Johnston
Starring Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke and Stanley Tucci

5) Toy Story 3 (2010) - English
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Written by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich and Michael Arndt
Directed by Lee Unkrich
Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Blake Clark, Estelle Harris and Jodi Benson

4) 13 Assassins (2011) - Japanese
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Written by Shoichiro Ikemiya and Daisuke Tengan
Directed by Takashi Miike
Starring Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura and Mikijiro Hira

3) Hugo (2011) - English
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Written by Brian Selznick and John Logan
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Jude Law and Christopher Lee

2) Inception (2010) - English
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Written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Leonard DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger and Michael Caine

1) The Avengers (2012) - English
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Written by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon
Directed by Joss Whedon
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L. Jackson

Saturday 12 May 2012

50 Best Movies Since 2010 Part 4

20) Reign Of Assassins (2010) - Mandarin
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Written by Su Chao-pin
Directed by Su Chao-pin and John Woo
Starring Michelle Yeoh, Jung Woo-sung, Wang Xueqi, Barbie Hsu, Shawn Yue, Kelly Lin, Guo Xiaodong and Jiang Yiyan

Note: This movie has not been released outside of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate Pictures have had the rights to release the movie in the US and UK since before production was completed, but despite the involvement of John Woo and Michelle Yeoh have for some reason not to do anything with it. It is available to watch on Youtube, though, and I suggest you do so.

19) The Muppets (2012) - English
File:Muppets ver4.jpg

Written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller
Directed by James Bobin
Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and Rashida Jones

18) Source Code (2011) - English
File:Source Code Poster.jpg

Written by Ben Ripley
Directed by Duncan Jones
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright

17) The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (2010) - Swedish
File:The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (film).jpg

Written by Stieg Larsson, Ulf Rydberg and Jonas Frykberg
Directed by Daniel Alfredson
Starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist

16) Aftershock (2010) - Mandarin
File:Aftershock.jpg

Written and directed by Feng Xiaogang
Starring Zhang Jingchu, Chen Daoming, Lu Yi, Xu Fan, Zhang Guoqiang and Li Chen

15) Salt (2010) - English
File:Salt film theatrical poster.jpg

Written by Kurt Wimmer
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski and August Diehl

14) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) - English
File:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Poster.jpg

Written by Stieg Larsson and Steven Zaillian
Directed by David Fincher
Starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara

13) Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011) - English
File:Sherlock Holmes2Poster.jpg

Written by Kieran and Michele Mulroney
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly and Rachel McAdams

12) Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010) - English
File:Scott Pilgrim vs. the World teaser.jpg

Written by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall
Directed by Edgar Wright
Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh and Jason Schwartzman

11) Iron Man 2 (2010) - English
File:Iron Man 2 poster.jpg

Written by Justin Theroux
Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson and Mickey Rourke

Monday 7 May 2012

50 Best Movies Since 2010 Part 3

30) Ponyo (2010) - Japanese/EnglishFile:Ponyo.jpg
Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Starring Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, Tomoko Yamaguchi, George Tokoro and Kazushige Nagashima, or Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett

29) Bodyguards And Assassins (2010) - Cantonese/Mandarin
File:Bodyguards and Assassins poster.jpg
Written by Chun Tin-nam, James Yuen, Chan Wai, Guo Junli, Wu Bing and Joyce Chan
Directed by Teddy Chan
Starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Leon Lai, Wang Xueqi, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Hu Jun, Eric Tsang, Simon Yam, Li Yuchun, Mengke Bateer, Fan Bingbing, Zhou Yun, Wang Po-chieh and Cung Le

28) Let Me In (2010) - English
File:Let Me In Poster.jpg
Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist and Matt Reeves
Directed by Matt Reeves
Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, Elias Koteas and Richard Jenkins

27) Attack The Block (2011) - English
File:Attack The Block 2.jpg
Written and directed by Joe Cornish
Starring Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones, Simon Howard, Luke Treadaway, Jumayn Hunter and Nick Frost

26) True Grit (2011) - English
File:True Grit Poster.jpg
Written by Charles Portis, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper and Hailee Steinfeld

25) How To Train Your Dragon (2010) - English
File:How to Train Your Dragon Poster.jpg
Written by Cressida Cowell, Will Davies, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders
Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig

24) Easy A (2010) - English
File:Easy a australian.jpg
Written by Bert V. Royal
Directed by Will Gluck
Starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Cam Gigandet, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Alyson Michalka and Stanley Tucci

23) The Girl Who Played With Fire (2010) - Swedish
File:The Girl Who Played with Fire.jpg
Written by Stieg Larsson and Ulf Rydberg
Directed by Daniel Alfredson
Starring Michael Nyquist and Noomi Rapace

22) Machete (2010) - English
File:Machete poster.jpg
Written by Robert and Alvaro Rodriguez
Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis
Starring Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Lindsay Lohan and Don Johnson

21) The Lovely Bones (2010) - English
File:Lovely bones ver2.jpg
Written by Alice Sebold, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Michael Imperioli