Ikea is fantastic for affordable, generally easy to assemble and get home furniture. The concept is simple, they give you all the parts and relatively easy instructions to build said furniture.
I think Babylon AD is the film equivalent of an Ikea table but they didn’t bother with the instructions and put it together really quickly. All the pieces are there for a really cool science fiction action film but there are bits and pieces stuck together the wrong way.Â
Yeah sure it is a film but it’s not a very good one and you certainly wouldn’t want to sit down and eat a bowl soup on it.
You see with Ikea furniture there are certain conditions where you can put the item together in not quite the right way and it feels wrong but still serves its purpose. A left piece is put into the right-hand slot and it fits but it puts it off a little.
I know the director and Vin Diesel have both expressed their disappointment with studio interference (I think it was studio based, I hope they didn’t do this to themselves!!). I figured I’d watch it anyway, it couldn’t be as bad as they feared.
I was wrong.
Visually it looks really interesting in parts but it also feels like I passed out in certain areas and missed important storyline and dialogue. Unfortunately the rest of the film left me feeling smarter than the film ( a LOT smarter).
To be honest I’d avoid this unless you are a hardcore Vin Diesel fan and can’t live without seeing all his films (mind you if that were me I’d wait to see Fast and the Furious 4).
When I saw the trailer for In Bruges I though to myself ‘that looks bloody hilarious and fun!‘
And it was.
But it was also a whole lot more, yes there is plenty of humour, thanks mainly to the incredibly sharp dialog and the wonderful performances by everyone involved.
The film has a lot more to it than the initial impression given by the trailer. Â The story and the characters have a lot of layers to them, they are complex, troubled and hilarious. Â The actors play them with attention to detail and honesty and Bruges itself is simply breathtaking.
We follow two hitmen who have been ordered to hide out in Bruges whilst the heat dies down back in London (I assume London). Â The young brash hitman played by Colin Farrell could not think of anything worse than being stuck in Bruges and is restless and bored. Â His older partner (Brendan Gleeson)Â though shows his maturity and experience through his patience appreciation of the extraordinary city. Â The film is best likened to this man as it methodically, carefully and even gently reveals more and more about our main characters.
As I said this is funny though, hilarious encounters with racist dwarfs, potty mouthed bosses, gun dealers obsessed with alcoves, Americans and soft skin-heads keep the pace of the film flowing forward.
It’s actually one of the better films I’ve seen this year and has renewed my faith in the watchability of Farrell who I could have taken or left of late (even though I was really impressed with him in Tigerland). Â It’s also weird and dissapointing that the film is only just now making it to Australian cinemas even though the DVD was released in the US around June. Â I guess it was only limited released and I should be happy it is getting any big screen time here.
If you’ve seen it, tell us what you thought, if not check it out and get back to us :), it could be worse I could be suggesting you go see Disaster Movie.
Taking this idea and running with it I’ve been giving a huge amount of thought to Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Â You see I find the film barely passable, it was reasonable enough to divert your attention for an hour or so but it never really feels like it’s doing anything more than scratching the surface of a good Hellboy movie. Â Is it better than the first? Â I don’t know, a lot of people are saying it is, but then a lot of people didn’t care for the first one.
I didn’t mind the first one, this second one doesn’t really generate enough spark for me to make a real decision as a result I’m probably more apathetic towards it.
So if I was the man in charge of bringing Hellboy to other media outside of comic books I would certainly have approached it differently (this is taking up the mantle after the first film):
A BPRD television series
The BPRD have such a wonderful group of characters that all deserve story lines and fleshing out that no movie could really do them justice, not in an ensemble cast and since I don’t think they could each individually carry a film this is the best option.
The key here is to follow suit of the comic book series and have the BPRD series focus on the supporting cast, Liz, Abe, Johann, Roger etc. Â The approach to the show would be one of individual standalone episodes, mini-movies each one at first bringing the individual characters out in front (not origins as such) and then follow an X-Files season one monster/myth of the week.
Hellboy would make infrequent guest appearances for key mythology episodes but would essentially be a only a guest character, saving him for the big movie.
The other thing I would have done in the approach to the series is remove the Del Toro. Â I like him, I think he’s visionary, I also think that he high jacked the Hellboy look and feel. Â It’s too Pan’s Labyrinth and not enough Mignola. Â Write the whole season out before filming anything. Â I would want to know where the series was going and filter stuff through it for the second season and the sequel film.
Hellboy 2
The essential storyline is fine, I’m happy to keep the whole concept of The Golden Army in fact given  seeding throughout the series the villains within the film could have been given a whole lot more depth and urgency.
They were fine as baddies go, just needed more storyline, more motivation.
I would drop the humour, or at least tone down the Manning character, he was a buffoon in this and the BPRD agents all incompetent. Â I would also drop the Liz romance too, I don’t know, I just didn’t get interested in it.
The cast though would remain untouched, they are all so perfect in their roles that to change those would be a travesty and in my mind impossible.
Theme music for the BPRD series opening sequence: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Red Right Hand - not the cover version featured in the first one.
It’s been a while since we’ve gone and seen a non-big screen required film at the cinema, by which I mean your heavily special effects laden extravaganzas or action pieces (like Dark Knight) or the must see so nobody spoils it film (Sex and the City).
Which is not to say that Pineapple Express should not be seen at the cinema, in fact quite the opposite, I recommend going and seeing this movie as soon as you reasonably can, I mean don’t quit work to go see it, unless you really hate your job and were going to quit anyway and why not wrap your afternoon up by going to the cinema.
It’s just with the Apatow comedies we’ve generally found them to be just as satisfying seeing them on DVD and really I suspect that Pineapple Express is probably just as good on TV as it is on the big screen but why should you wait until it makes it to DVD to have a hearty chuckle and enjoy some entertaining action sequences? Â Especially considering there isn’t anything out at the moment and you really should have seen Dark Knight by now (still selling out sessions here btw).
No Pineapple Express is just a bit of joyful fun, some very slight political commentary on weed and some great performances especially from the Green Goblin’s son who is almost unrecognisable as the stoner Saul who really helps to make this film.
Seth Rogan is, as always hilarious and extremely likeable. Â I don’t think I’ve disliked him in anything to date and he plays the reluctant action hero very well.
All in all a fun outing to the cinema, well worth the time spent, great soundtrack too.
The film has a lot more to it than the initial impression given by the trailer. Â The story and the characters have a lot of layers to them, they are complex, troubled and hilarious. Â The actors play them with attention to detail and honesty and Bruges itself is simply breathtaking.
Taking this idea and running with it I’ve been giving a huge amount of thought to Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Â You see I find the film barely passable, it was reasonable enough to divert your attention for an hour or so but it never really feels like it’s doing anything more than scratching the surface of a good Hellboy movie. Â Is it better than the first? Â I don’t know, a lot of people are saying it is, but then a lot of people didn’t care for the first one.
The key here is to follow suit of the comic book series and have the BPRD series focus on the supporting cast, Liz, Abe, Johann, Roger etc. Â The approach to the show would be one of individual standalone episodes, mini-movies each one at first bringing the individual characters out in front (not origins as such) and then follow an X-Files season one monster/myth of the week.
