Review: The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)

Quite possibly the most beautiful film I have ever seen. Words cannot describe...this movie is pure art.

First time I have ever seen a Terrence Malick film and I don't know what to say, it was an experience I have never felt before. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of euphoria, I felt like I was in a dream. Every frame, every scene, every piece of dialogue was a line of a beautiful poem. I was overcome with sheer wonder, beauty, sadness, loss and tragedy. This film had it all, but most of all, it felt honest and "pure". Natural sights and sounds of the world without a single glossy shot of artificial CGI to ruin the pure, real beauty of the Earth and it's inhabitants. It's like I was there with them, the editing and camerawork fleeting around so naturally that it all felt real. The fight with the natives was probably one of the most realistic fights i've ever seen because it looked authentic- this is exactly how a fight would be. This film was completely free of all the conventional trademark trappings of a typical Hollywood film, it was done so differently, no cliches or anything. The movie rule book was thrown away. Everything unfolded as it would in real life and shot that way. This was a visual, sensual and sensory wonder, incredibly immerse and unique. The expression and emotion of love and sadness was so real and authentic, it was pure life, heart and soul captured on film- never have I seen such simple purity shown in a film before. The ending is probably the most powerful piece of imagery I've ever seen, and that in itself is simply a 5 minute sequence that is incredibly simple on it's surface, but in context, unbelievably moving.

It's simply an incredible piece of work and I was stunned with beauty as I was watching it. As it ended, I was still speechless. Afterwards I slept and dreamt but none of my dream could even come close to what was presented in this film. Here I am the day after and i'm still speechless, trying to recollect my thoughts of what happened. It's an experience I have never felt before and one I will never forget. Masterpiece isn't even the word. It goes beyond that.

The worst thing is, I will probably never experience anything like it ever again.

Castlevania:Lords of Shadow demo thoughts

So, I just downloaded the new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow demo, and here's my thoughts so far: Overall, it's decent so far.

Gutted I couldn't move the camera since I like to be in control of it all the time (and Gabriel looked really small on screen for me), but otherwise the demo was decent. The presentation in particular is excellent- the book which opens up to show you the moves, the little hand drawn animations of the character as it does a move that you want to learn, the art drawings in sketchbook style which show as part of the cinematics were beautiful. Voice acting is great so far of course (how can it not be, with the likes of Robert Carlyle and Patrik Stewart involved, to name a few) and the graphics are sublime. Combat was decent as well. Cinematics are excellent and the atmosphere, art and design in the game are of a very high standard.

Now, the cons...

I know the art style isn't Castlevania (it being a reboot and all) but i didn't think they would remove the music as well. It doesn't seem very "Castlevania" at all. It actually sounds like the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings movies (in particular, The Two Tower), and looks like it too. Castlevania's music is very central to the series but there are no motifs here or any homages or references. Seems like a proper fresh start, which is a shame for a long term fan like me who at least wanted some connections to the roots, more than a whip and sub weapons.

Also, everything seemed too scripted and they use cinematics too much as part of the fighting system. The part where you have to impale that Warg (more LOTR similarities there) is a bit lame because it's just an animation that plays to kill him, and if you miss to trigger it the first time, it'll just repeat again until you get it right. Same with the horse riding; you just press the button when it prompts you to trigger the long cinematic to kill things. Unlike God of War where at least you control every part of the killing animations (to a degree), here all you do is press one button to start the animation, and then you just sit back and watch pre-scripted cinematic....whilst it looks nice and is very movie-like, it doesn't require any effort at all, and thus defies the purpose of me actually playing it.

Still, it all looks great, but I'm not doing much in it. That's my major gripe at the moment- I'm watching too much rather than playing....Kojima's influence there, no doubt :)

Other than that, it's shaping up pretty damn well, and i'm interested to delve into this world further. Roll on October 8th.

Castlevania: A 3D Retrospective

In the light of the new "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow" game, I thought I'd talk about the last few attempts at bringing the Belmont legacy to life in 3D.

The N64 ones are some of the most underrated games ever made. As a Castlevania fan, i think they perfectly converted what was so good about the old-skool series into 3D- straight up platforming action. People complained about it's difficulty, camera and controls but i never had a problem with them. I'm glad people are warming up to them now in time and they are seen somewhat as "cult classics". I personally love them (though it's really just one game- Legacy of Darkness is the definitive N64 title), i played through it over a dozen times back when it was first released and I had a blast with it, very fond memories.

Lament of Innocence was a great start to a new 3D series. Acting as a prologue/prequel, i think it set the series up nicely for a new, fresh run. It wasn't perfect, but it was a brilliant shot- more combat and action orientated whilst utilising some of the RPG elements that IGA introduced (but not all, it was severely minimised as it was intended to bring in newcomers to the series), it had an excellent fighting system, fantastic atmosphere and visuals, art+ design and absolutely superb music as usual (long term CV veteran Kojima's score should have won soundtrack of the year at a game award ceremony but unfortunately it went to Halo 2 instead- very lame). Although there wasn't much to the game itself (it all whittled down to a series of rooms where you have to kill everything in it, then unlock the door and move on to the next room), i admired the attempt and it remains among one of my favourite Castlevania games. The camera wasn't as great as it could have been though because it was always fixed and set high up looking down, and all you could see was the room at hand- they could have utilised it more and shown off some more of the environments, as the game did have excellently modelled setting but you could never see them properly because the camera never allowed it. I always used to jump up just to see some of the more beautifully designed interiors and ceilings..shame no-one else could see them if you were playing casually. Though, it always focused on the action and i guess that's what counted.

Curse of Darkness, however...that was the killer. Having been impressed with LoI, i was really looking forward to where they would go next...but Curse was a really big disappointment. Sure, this time they completely implemented the RPG system that IGA was known for, but this time it wasn't enough- the visuals suddenly looked dumbed down than before, the environments looked really bland, and the gameplay was repetitive as hell. They improved on LoI by having bigger environments to run around in but there was never anything to do, all you were doing was running around from one part to the next and fighting the same enemies over and over. The weapon forge system was decent but none of the weapons were good to wield- every weapon felt the same, nothing was different about any of them. The Devil Forge thing was a lame gimmick that never took off- like a Pokemon style familiar that follows you around, this was a good idea but just not implemented well enough.

The music was excellent as usual from Kojima as was the art and design, but it was wasted on a poor game. It just didn't do anything it tried to well enough- just boring, bland, repetitive and uninspiring. The bosses were also quite lame and it had one of the gayest villains i've ever seen (Isaac).

A shame as they set up the series really well with LoI and it looked like it was finally going places, but then they single handedly ruined it with CoD. I know there are fans of it, but i hated it. It's sad because the series did get a ton of new fans who were finally introduced to this gothic and beautiful world crafted by Kojima, IGA and Yamane but now they have abolished it because of the reboot. I know they still make hand-held versions of their universe, but it's not the same...and their last attempt (Harmony of Despair) was pretty horrible.

So, i think the best ones were the N64 ones and then LoI. Though they aren't as bad as people claim to say, sure Curse wasn't all that but there's still stuff in there that makes it a decent entry, if not heavily flawed.

From the looks of it, Lords of Shadow has giant bosses you have to climb, very much like Shadow of the Colossus and God of War. One think that i'm worried about are the lack of throwbacks to the original games- i hope there are some nods and references to the previous games, like musical cues, weapons and such, but so far there doesn't look like there are any and some reviews say that it's not very old skool CV. A shame really as i'd love to be running through the castle Clock Tower or something with an orchestral version of Vampire Killer or Bloody Tears playing in te background. But this game looks like a total new revamp altogether, molded off another game entirely with the Castlevania title tacked on it seems (the game was originally a new IP called Lords of Shadow but then Konami came into it and then developed it into a Castlevania game). It shows.

Reviews: Piranha 3D (2010) and Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

Piranha 3D (2010) aka PORNAHA 3D

Sun, sand, sea and SEX! This is basically 2 hours of non stop T and A with hot chicks, as well as great cameos with some of the hottest stars in porn. Riley Steele, Gianna Micheals, Ashlynn Brooke AND Kelly Brook- all naked, tits out....on the big screen, in 3D. (Is it sad that I know all these porn stars?....)

Oh yeah, and there's some crappy story about killer piranhas tacked on. Well, there has to be a "story", ya know.

Anyway- lots of fun. The movie itself is absoloute crap of course, but we didn't come to see a movie- we came to see hardcore gore, kills, carnage, monstrous piranhas ripping the sh!t out of everything and everyone and lots and LOTS of hot girls strutting their stuff in 3D....which easily makes it a great A* film! At times it was like I paid just to see a 3D strip show...but a lot cheaper, of course. This is the first film which actually uses the 3D for the best purpose ever- PORN! And the audiences can't get enough! We want more! If you want to see a proper 3D movie in the cinema, then this is easily the best since this year's How To Train Your Dragon.

10/10 (though, realistically, it's like a 4/10- pure cheesy, bad, utterly ridiculous and completly predictable exploitation cinema...and I loved every second of it. The 70s/80s are back, yay).

Next:

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

Wow, I didn't think this kind of movie could get any better after the awesome Kick-Ass earlier this year, but this matched it equally! Edgar Wright does it again! Super fast, super clever, super witty, super inventive, super NINTENDO awesome film! I was entertained throughout and loved it, there never a dull moment whatsoever. Definitly a film for geeks and video game fans- but I loved that it is very self aware and never took itself seriously, and always broke the third wall (or 7 in this case!). I had a blast and can't wait to see it again- this is not only one of the best films of the year but also one of the best comic book/graphic novel adaptations ever. I have never seen anything like it- it's genre-breaking, highly creative and definitly ORIGINAL! (Something that is missing in 99% of films these days, and all of a sudden this comes along which is PACKED full of it).

10/10. Loved it! Too bad it's not doing as well as it should at the US box office...please support it! Us guys in the UK love it, though! Go and see it! This is Wright's best film after Shaun (and in some cases even better, i felt!). Could be his finest hour! I actually wanted to hate the film at first becuase I can't stand Micheal Cera, but this was a really good movie, and it's impossible to hate it for me. There's just too much coolness in it. Hilarious.

2010 is easily one of the best years for film for me! How can it get any better?!

Review: The Wolfman (Joe Johnston, 2010) (Extended Director's Cut)

Another full moon means The Wolfman returns in this special extended director's cut Blu-Ray and DVD!

Now, I loved the theatrical cut and hailed it as "perfect", but upon finding out there was an extended cut i was more than happy- how could something I already found good become better? Flushes of images of the LOTR extended cuts washed over me and couldn't wait- if Johnston put the effort in as Jackson did with his trilogy and made something amazing even better with excellent extended scenes, it would be truly great, especially since there were so many scenes for the film anyway which were cut due to the troubled history of the film and it's many changes. Well, having finally seen the extended Wolfman, I think it's good that it's almost an entire re-cut of the film (and almost completely different to the theatrical), but I don't think it actually works now and I actually didn't like it as much as the theatrical! (Though I did love the old-skool Universal logo at the start, which should have stayed in the theatrical, don't know why they didn't leave it in!)

I admire that they have tried to give the first half more weight but it actually works against the movie now, it's too boggy and heavy now, and dare I say- a little boring as well! It seems as if these scenes have just been shoved in there because of the complaints that the first half was too fast, but with little thought of pacing and direction. First half doesn't seem to go anywhere and is all over the place, it drags on too much and the extra scenes really do not add anything extra to the story or character relationships that the theatrical version didn't already do. We know there's something wrong in the house and that eventually Gwen and Larry feel for each other, but these do not need to be emphasised by scenes between them which drag on as they talk about, well, nothing in particular. Giving them more time together doesn't necessarily mean a relationship is strengthened, especially when they don't do much in those scenes.

Thankfully, more scenes regarding the backstory of the tragic Talbot family have been included

Just because there's more doesn't make it better. The theatrical did it and it was more concise and to the point- There's a death in the family, Gwen writes to Talbot and he comes down, meet and greet, and then we find the troubles and sinister background to the family. Done and done. The extended is pointless banter back and forth between the three principle characters (Gwen, Larry and John) which really doesn't give any weight to their relationships, in fact I think it worked better in the extended when it's all done faster because the major points are ticked, rather than it going on and on with no substance. The theatrical did it better- the scene by the lake where Larry teaches Gwen to through rocks was tiny but i think worked very well- a traditional little scene from the classic days of film where love can be sparked from the smallest of occurrences (just like in the original Wolfman and the flirting in the Antique Shop). But in the extended it seems that they want to give more substance to their relationship by putting them in more scenes together, but it doesn't work at all. The theatrical hits the notes better regarding them both.

I liked the scene on the train though where he gets his cane, that was great, And other small scenes of carnage and gore were good. It's a shame that we can't choose what scenes we'd like to view and what not to see with a special DVD/Blu-Ray feature, as i'd love to do my own personal cut of the film, especially with all those other extended and deleted scenes.

More scenes between Gwen and Laurence have also been added...but at what cost?

Other tiny scenes are okay but again not really needed (like the small shot of the CG werewolf at the start just before it roars into the camera- that was awful, why couldn't they have used a practical version instead of bad CG?). I was disappointed to see some of the other extended London Chase scenes cut out but upon viewing them in the deleted scenes section i was glad they weren't in the film as they were horrible! Lawrence (forgetting he's a monster) and casually walking going into the ballroom (where everyone mistakes him for a Halloween costume) and getting smitten and all puppy dog eyed over the singer because it reminds him of Gwen i guess, then causing rampage? Was that a parody joke scene or what? Completely did not fit. He should have barged in there and caused havoc, not walk in there calmly and have everyone think that it's a costume- completely does not work with the vibe of the film (who directed that, it was atrocious). The alternative endings i liked i guess, i thought it was cool that Larry kills Gwen but is still alive himself- but then the camera rushes towards his face and he turns to smile at the camera!? Again, was that a joke or what?

Benecio Del Toro and Rick Baker argue over which version of the film they thought was better- theatrical or extended?

Disappointed that these were not in the film but all for the better as the extended cut makes it longer than necessary. So anyway, after consideration i prefer the theatrical as it is faster and to the point, the pace has rhythm and it works better as a tighter film, not baggy and bloated with unnecessary scenes when those scenes already convey (more meaninglessly) that Larry and Gwen feel something for each other and that something bad happened between Larry and John. These were already shown perfectly in the theatrical, more subtlety of course but it worked better that way for me. Otherwise the extended version is just too long, and not evened out enough (too long and baggy in the first half because of the longer added scenes, resulting in the second half being too fast because it's relatively unchanged). It doesn't blend together as a whole, because now the film is longer with the drama and so needs more scenes of action (of which there really aren't many to begin with in the first place but that's fine for the theatrical) but now doesn't work when the extended cut is longer with the drama, now the action scenes are too little too late.

Unfortuneatly, Hugo Weaving's eccentric Inspector Abberline doesn't have as many scenes put in

More to the first half is of course a great idea, I just felt this extended cut went the wrong way about doing it with the extra scenes added in- there's too much of them which show too little, if you get what i mean. There's not enough substance in these scenes and not enough driving force. Havin Gwen come and see the performance and then tell him to come didn't work at all, it was forced, and the performances between both actors was dead, nothing there, and not convincing at all- it really was not needed as no spark is there; watch the scene again to see zero emotion. It should have been left out in favour of something else, something that was relavent and worked.

I'll have to read the novelization, i've heard that it's good and would love to see how a proper extended version would have worked.

Anyway, it's a long time i've been to this board but i did say i would come back upon seeing the extended! It wasn't as good as i had hoped and i'm slightly gutted, but it doesn't matter since i still love the theatrical and that's the version i will most probably always like. I'm glad that they have kept both versions on the Blu-Ray and DVD for future viewing and haven't automatically regarded the extended version as the "definitive" one now and completely disregarded the theatrical. The cinematic version is i think a lot better!