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I attended a private viewing of this film, ahead of its Festival run.
It’s the debut feature of a friend of mine, and whilst I can’t divulge any details, I can say it was very good and completely inspiring! I’ve been talking about making a feature film for about 25 years and still haven’t made one, whereas this guy, who came to London about two years ago, and is still in his 20s, not only did it, but did it so brilliantly! Like I said, completely inspirational, and proof that it can be done! Bravo!
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 I never read ‘Frankenstein’, and I didn’t see the 1994 film either; I had a basic understanding of the story, but generally speaking, my concept of ‘Frankenstein’ was from the black and white movies starring Boris Karloff, which I vaguely remember from my childhood.
So I came to this version from ‘Guillermo del Toro’ pretty fresh. I liked it! I have no idea how faithful it is to the book, but I enjoyed the story, and the structure worked well. ‘Oscar Isaac’ was great as Victor Frankenstein, and ‘Charles Dance’, as his stern, punishing father, was brilliant. I was less taken with ‘Jacob Elordi’ as Frankenstein’s ‘monster’, not because the acting was poor; ‘Elordi’ does a great job. It’s just that he’s too ‘good-looking’ to be a monster! He’s this super tall, muscular, mysterious character, draped in black; chick’s love that shiz! So, a girl falling for him despite his appearance, is a bit of a stretch. The girl in question, ‘Elizabeth’ (played by ‘Mia Goth’) was the weakest of the cast; she just didn’t have the screen presence to suggest that a person would fall for her by merely catching a glimpse of her. She didn’t command the screen or give her character the necessary weight to imply she’s the centre of the monster’s world. The film had great production design and costumes, but I was let down by the cinematography; it had that same ‘well-lit’, lack of contrast that plagues all modern-movies. Many scenes were also bathed in fake ‘golden hour’ sunlight, which just screams artifice, making scenes that were supposedly real, look like they were shot using a ‘green screen’. It just looked like a Marvel movie, which isn’t a compliment! A good, and lavish film, but with a few tweaks, it could have been a masterpiece (at least compared to modern movies). Worth watching though!  I remember when the X-Men cartoon first came out, back in the early 1990s. I was SO excited, because I was an avid comic book reader at the time, and was collecting X-Men comics.
There was an X-Men cartoon that had come out a few years earlier, called ‘Pryde of the X-Men’, but it was only a one-off. The artwork in that cartoon was amazing, and in those days, thing’s only ever improved with every passing year, so I was expecting the ‘new’ X-Men cartoon to have art work of a similar standard, if not better! I was so disappointed when I saw it. The artwork and animation was sh!t! The storylines were also just diluted, weaker copy’s of the comics. Being a fan, I was loyal to the brand, so I watched the series in its entirety, but I never really liked it. It was Ok. Since then, the X-Men cartoon of the 90s has only grown in appreciation (not by me though), so much so that Disney/Marvel brought it back! I wasn’t going to watch it, but my older brother (who was also into comics back then) and his kids, said I should give it a go, so I did. It was actually good! The artwork (my main gripe with the original) and animation are both improved, as are the scripts! I don’t read X-Men any more, so I have no idea how ‘accurate’ the story is to the comics, but frankly I’m better off not knowing, because then I get to enjoy the cartoon for what it is! Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, and look forward to the next season!  Let’s be real. The world of film can be very elitist, and film festivals tend to mirror that elitism.
One of the great things about the ‘London Film Festival’ is that they make it open and inclusive for everyone, holding many free events, with tickets allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. The talks I attended were in that vein, and were very good. However, I didn’t take notes and don’t recall much about them! The thing I do remember, however, is that a girl fainted during one of the talks. The speaker was discussing the visceral effect of cinema, when based on true stories. She showed us clips from films to prove her point, one of them being the scene from ‘127 Hours’ where the main character cuts his own arm off with a pen-knife. All we heard was a loud thud, and the audience member was laid out on the floor, completely unconscious! She’d passed out due the harrowing clip from the movie! The power of cinema ladies and gentlemen!  This 1951 Italian Neo Realist film by Vittorio De Sica is very highly rated. I Saw De Sica’s other Neo Realist classic, ‘The Bicycle Thief’ at Uni, and really liked it, so was expecting big things from this movie…
It wasn’t for me. I just didn’t empathize with the protagonist, or any other characters in the film. Yes, it’s sad that the old people can’t survive on their pensions, but ‘Umberto’ as well as the other pensioners depicted, seem to lack any virtue. They’re ‘wheeler dealer’ type con men that lie their way into survival. Inevitably, that’s the only way they can survive, but it doesn’t mean that as an audience, I want to spend any time in their company. Other characters in the film also lack virtue, such as the pregnant girl who has two lovers; she also has to think about her survival through poverty, but again, as an audience member, I don’t really care for the dilemmas faced by people who cheat on their partners. Despite all the doom and gloom, the film has a hopeful ending; the main message being, ‘get a dog’! Because when you’re old and/or lonely, your dog will be your only steadfast companion. It was nice to see 1950s Italy depicted on film, but that’s about it.  As you all know, I loves me a good musical, and so I went to see this one, based on the story and songs of ‘K.C. and The Sunshine Band’.
I knew nothing of the story, but the songs are all recognizable, and very good. The actors did a good job, as did the backing dancers, but the overall story was weak. It kind of had the vibe of something that was just strung together so they could make a stage show featuring the songs. At the end, they invite the audience to stand up, and have a sing and a dance with the cast, which was fun, but may not appeal to everyone. I kind of get the feeling that they’re hoping for the ‘hen night’ or ‘drunken Saturday night’ crowd, which doesn’t really work for week-day performances! All in all, a forgettable show with great songs, which I enjoyed, but it’s not exactly something I’d recommend!  I’ve never seen any of the Timothy Dalton ‘James Bond’ films. I remember when they came out, and he just didn’t look like James Bond to me (my first Bond was Roger Moore), so I never bothered giving them a chance.
I finally watched his debut as Bond on ITV, completely spontaneously, just like we used to do back in the day. You flick through the channels, catch the start of a film and end up watching it, with no prior expectations. It was alright! Not only was Timothy Dalton a good Bond, but the film wasn’t bad either! Far-fetched action sequences aplenty, but not as ludicrous as other Bond movies by any stretch. I also liked the fact that he wasn’t depicted as a notorious womanizer, choosing instead to focus on a single female character throughout the entire movie. Anyway, looking forward to watching the next one now!  I didn’t have high hopes for this film. I’d seen the trailer, and I wasn’t impressed. I was disappointed to see that none of the main characters from the last movie were returning, and more importantly, neither were Daft Punk to do the soundtrack!
Still, I feel an obligation to support cinema, so I went to see it. I didn’t like it. Besides the weak, almost nonsensical story, the visuals were nowhere near those of ‘Tron Legacy’, and neither was the soundtrack. How is it that modern movies cost so much more, yet seem to have so little effort put into them, compared to films from decades ago? None of the characters were interesting, and the MacGuffin driving the plot was pretty ridiculous too. The only thing I enjoyed was seeing the original 1980s Tron set, featuring a cameo from Jeff Bridge’s ‘Flynn’, but even that couldn’t save this movie. I can’t even be bothered to break it down. It was crap. Yet more Hollywood slop; no wonder audiences don’t go to the cinema any more!  This film has one of the best soundtracks ever! That was immediately obvious when it was released. The story, however, didn’t quite hit the notes. ‘Sam’, the protagonist, just wasn’t as compelling as his father.
I liked this film when I first watched it, but I wasn’t blown away. Consequently, this was the first time I rewatched it since I first saw it in the cinema, all the way back in 2010! Man, this film is SO much better than I remembered! Yes, the digital Jeff Bridges still looks completely plastic (as he did in 2010), but everything else in the film is SO much better than most modern movies! The aesthetic is practically a work of art. All the design work; sets, costumes, vehicles, they’re all superb! The combination of an amazing soundtrack with amazing visuals, is.. amazing! It’s so enjoyable to behold! The story doesn’t seem as weak as it first did (times have changes, the bar is now lower), and although ‘Sam’ still isn’t as interesting as ‘Flynn’, he’s interesting enough. Olivia Wilde completely fits into the ‘visually appealing’ aesthetic of the film. It’s not difficult; create beautiful visuals, and populate them with attractive actors! Yet, time and time again, Hollywood fails to grasp this basic concept! Anyway, I really enjoyed revisiting this film. A rare case of it being so much better than I remembered!  I used to love ‘Tron’ when I was a kid (back in the 80s). A film set inside an Arcade game, featuring ‘futuristic’ visuals and cool vehicles, what was not to love? Even if the nuance of the story probably went over my head, it was all about how awesome it looked!
That said, it’s not a film I returned to over the years, and I don’t think I’ve seen it since the 80s. Anyway, in preparation for ‘Tron Ares’, I figured now was as good a time as any to re-watch it. It’s good! Almost surprisingly so! It makes more sense to me now that I’m an adult, with the idea of corporate takeovers etc. But the general story (a ‘fish out of water), about a guy in a strange place trying to get home, whilst making friends as he overcomes the bad guys, is timeless. It was definitely ahead of its time, so you can see why they’re still making sequels over forty years later. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s fun, and I can totally see why the kid in me liked it so much. Good film! |
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