Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
The story of Frankenstein has been told many times before.  From Boris Karloff, whose work still stand up today, to last year’s I Frankenstein, which didn’t even stand up then.  To do something different with the story is hard, but that is what Paul McGuigan’s Victor Frankenstein is attempting to do.
Christmas films, much like Christmas music, have a rather poor success rate.  For every It’s a Wonderful Life there are ten Home Alone 2s.  Standing out among the crap is hard.  One surefire way to not get ignored is to base your film around an evil Santa Claus, Krampus.
While in a perfect world you want to enter every cinema free of expectations and ready to be wowed, there are times when you know what to expect.  No one goes into the latest churned out Paranormal Activity film expecting greatness.  While walking into a Steven Spielberg directed, Coen brothers‘ scripted and Tom Hanks‘ starring film is more like slipping into a hot bath.  You kind of know you are in safe hands.
Telling a story is always hard. Â Sometimes you need a million words, lovingly crafted into a tale of beauty. Â Then again, sometimes you just need eight minutes worth of punk rock.
Following Inside Out was always going to be tough for Pixar.  It is arguably one of their best, which is no short order in a filmography as strong as theirs.  The decision to release another film in the same year was just asking for comparisons to be made.
Oscar season tends to see us being served up a lot of crap.  Overly emotional films stuffed with showy performances designed to catch the eye of the Academy.  For every work of art, there is ten that just outright stink.  However, every now and then one comes along that blows everything else out the water.  A film that nails real emotion on the big screen.  Carol is one of those rare breeds.
Covers. Â They are as much a part of music as anything else. Â A great cover can put a band on the map while murdering a classic is never a good career move. Â So what makes a cover stand up? Â Why are people like Marilyn Manson and Johnny Cash as well known for their interpretations of someone else’s music as they are their own? Â While others efforts are scorned.
The Dressmaker is a mess of a film. It wildly dives from comedy to melodrama back to comedy (but this time with a darker tinge) and perches all of that on top of a classic Western revenge story. Yes, it as mental as that sounds. So why the hell do I love it?
The first time I saw Bring Me the Horizon they were supporting Machine Head and were treated with something just a bit short of disdain.  Yet those snotty punks gave as good as they got and that got my attention.  In the years since a lot has changed and as they walked onto stage at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange it was clear that this crowd adores them.
Continue reading “Bring Me the Horizon w/ Neck Deep and PVRIS, Edinburgh Corn Exchange”
Making a film about the recently deceased can be difficult. It can easily descend into a cynical cash grab, taking advantage of people’s sudden need to honour a dead person they didn’t care about much when they were alive.  These biopics are often long, dull and sentimental as they desperately spread their legs towards the Oscars in an attempt to gain critical acclaim. Steve Jobs somehow manages to dodge this problem. Directed by Danny Boyle and scripted by Aaron Sorkin it avoids the clichés of the biopic genre and creates something genuinely interesting.
