Back to the Feature ;-)

I’m back. Back to the Feature. Meaning I will occasionally post “Reviews” of movies/TV shows and or things of other cinematic interest.

Been like 2 years, in which I have seen a lot of movies, some good some bad, but almost every one of them has had something that I could have mentioned something about. So why not get back on the horse. And back on the horse we shall get.

During these 2 years I have among other things seen a lot of TV series.

One of them being

McLeod’s Daughters

Pfft you might think. Dork and horse/girly crap you might think. While you are allowed to think that I shall try to persuade one of you that I am correct in stating that McLeod’s Daughters is perhaps the best Aussie day time TV show.

Yes I know a few of you will cry out “What about The Flying Doctors, Skippy or Neighbours?” And while they are tremendous successes and good shows, they are lesser compared to other similar shows. McLeod’s Daughters is however in my humble opinion a more original series, and with better content.

Quick synopsis for those of you who have no Idea what I’m talking about.

Farmer Dad (Jack McLeod) while working hard to sow and reap the land, sows and reaps a lot of daughters too. Two of which grows up together for a few years, then following the demise of his current relationship mother and one daughter moves away. Fast forward 20 years. Dad dies and the two sisters meet again after they both inherited the vast property.

Claire, the one who has grown up on the farm all her life sees life on the farm as the proper life. Tess who grew up in the city sees this as an opportunity to sell her part and open a café in the city.

Things don’t go as either of them planned and they end up managing the farm together.

Throw in a couple of farmhands and some nosy neighbours (and some good looking ones too) and you have a show. Basically the McLeod’s estate is run by women and the majority of the neighbouring farms run by men. This invariably leads to a lot of battle of the sexes and a lot of unspoken desire. However the show doesn’t really indulge in sex or romantic forays. While it is there as an flavoring undercurrent the main focus is actually on these women who try and do the best they can with what they got. Disease, famine, drought, storms, floods, politics and a lot of mustering animals gets mixed up with humor and excitement and a bit of love. And a lot of death. Perhaps the main thing that this show teaches you is how easily people can die, and how different you can cope with it. It also teaches you that you should Always talk to each other, cause no one seems to be doing that in Australia according to this show.

It had basically anything that you could want in a TV show. And horses too. 😉

224 episodes of horsing around rates it a sturdy 7 out of 10, a slight minus due to it causing me to think that Australian people are retarded (I Know they are not, generally) since no one in the show just said what they felt until after anything that could go wrong did.

 

Be on the look out for great actors like John Jarrat (John Weirs wonderful “Picnic at Hanging Rock” 1975), actor and musician Craig McLachlan and Anna Torv whom we all know from Fringe to name but a few.

Movie artwork – Delad kärlek (Parted Love)

Just wanted to share my obvious homage to certain movie posters from my youth. Slasher movies and thrillers from the 80:ies are an eternal source of inspiration. This is a Poster I designed for a short film I was involved with. Luckily the director liked my design and used it.

Robocrap 2014

I recently saw Robocop (2014) and felt I had to write something about it.

I’d kept my expectations rather low regarding this remake hoping that would allow the viewing to be less disappointing. 

I mean I grew up seeing Robocop with Peter Weller, and thought “Robocop’s the Man“. The TV series wasn’t altogether bad either.

So this new incarnation of it surely had some hard competition.

First of: Joel Kinnaman (fellow swede) has stepped it up. He hasn’t really stood out before, but in this film I though he did a solid job. And I think he’s been doing some work with a voice coach to. Sounded less Swedish than in other films. He portraits Alex Murphy very good, with a lot of humanity and emotion, something that Peter Weller didn’t really get a chance to do, probably due to editing. Even if the element was obvious in the original film this movie felt more within (if only by a fraction) Alex Muphy.

Having said that however we come to my second point:

What the heck happened to the dystopic future? In my book, Robocop works so well because Verhoeven pushed so hard on the crappy future.

The police are corrupt and on strike, the populace is either doing drugs or making the drugs. No one has a brighter tomorrow ahead of them. And like a Metal Messias Robocop comes and saves the day.

This is totally absent in the remake, if anything they almost try to portrait the future (or is it almost present) as a brighter one.This involuntarily makes the Need and use of Robocop into something more like a toy. A gimmick perhaps. And the suit(or armour if you will) certainly makes him look like a toy. It looks like Batman and Daft Punk had a love child and conceived it in K.I.T.T. (for you ignorants that’s the K.A.R.R. from Knight Rider)(And those of you that got that joke- Well done you are a Nerd).

So this movie went from being a strong and poignant critique on society and humans to being a movie about greed and robots and guns and…

Yes it is in there but its tucked away so well between explosions and gunfights its rather hard to notice, but the main issue here is family and love and what it is to human. Also a little bit about ethics and greedy corporations. Just like in the original, it however surpasses this film in getting the massage to the viewer. In my opinion. 

This movie sadly just became one of the other films that are just about making money. The one original idea I found worth mentioning about the remake is that they replaced the character Lewis, played by Nancy Allen, with a man also called Lewis played by Michael K. Williams. And I mention this because It’s a bad idea. Lewis in the original was hard, tough, and showed you that a woman could kick ass too. Now the character is just the stereotypic black co star who’s only contribution to the story is being shot. Basically that role is none essential. But the original Lewis was an integral part of Robocop.

We also see Gary Oldman, Samuel Jackson and Michael Keaton in this film. They are very good actors and do what they are paid to do. But even they cant revive this D.O.A., it really needed Euthanasia or a Script-transfusion.

 

Spring jam in MonkeMountain Studios.

After spring cleaning my studio I just had to play something on all the synths I’ve kept tucked away under all the crap I could fit in there.
So here goes.

The Legacy of TRON music.

See what I did in the title, Successfully incorporated both the movie Tron and its successor Tron Legacy. 

Both of which to me are pivotal soundtracks in discovering that music in films actually is made by someone, and deserve raised attention.

As a young dumb individual, as opposed to old and dumb, I gave music in film little or no attention. There are a few exceptions where music stuck etched in my mind. Tron is one, alongside select tunes from defining films like The Goonies, Gremlins, Alien and Contact to name just a few scattered over the years. 

I’ll admit that Tron blew me away in so many ways that I can’t go through them all. The Movie in itself was amazing, fantastic and really blew my mind. The things you could do, truly amazing.

Was it really like that inside computers? It seemed to good not to be true.

It had a great story, and excellent actors. Cutting edge technology and, what seemed to me, an totally awesome score.

Before this I did not know what a synthesizer was, my world consisted of perhaps my brothers various rock bands and our family piano. All the other instruments simply was not. Until Tron.

Someone told my about this strange character called Walter Carlos who dabbled with this strange electronic instrument called synthesizers. Hmm, I thought, interesting.

Did you know that Walter actually is named Wendy now, He had a sex change.

Whaaaaat? I was doubly amazed. (first time I heard of this) A Man/Woman who made these amazing sounds on little (or not so little in most cases) electronic doo-whackies. I remember having to do a mental reboot.

Lets talk a little about Wendy Carlos.

She is perhaps not the biggest pioneer in electronic music, but to me she is perhaps the most influential in making synthesizers publicly acclaimed as “real” instruments. 1968 saw the release of Carlos’ “Switched on Bach” an album of Bach compositions recorded entirely on Synthesizer, and especially the Moog synthesizer. This album is so impressive in some ways and not so much in others.

It was recorded track by track on monophonic synthesizers layering together chords and “orchestras”. This was after all before MIDI or other systems. An incredible feat. Some really nice programming of sounds and as i said it validated the synthesizer. But it sounds a bit like a small and overly ambitious ensemble. If you like the classical music, a real orchestra is better. If you like synthesizers, then it is an absolute must hear. If only to hear how well she’s emulated certain instruments and some quirky imaginations of sounds. 

After that she recorded a few similar albums including the aptly named “Sonic Seasonings” before going into film music. 

She got off to a great start with Kubrik’s “A Clockwork Orange”, and then “The Shining” before making an explosion on my radar with Tron.

The score is Very orchestrated compared to other electronic scores which were at the time mostly utilizing synthesizers for strange noises or over-accentuating strangeness. Tron is skittish and gleeful and ominous and dark all at the same time. Beautiful passages interwoven with fanfares or staccato “brass”. Listening to it doesn’t lull you to sleep.

 She made good use of various synthesizers and it really shows (hears?) that she is well schooled, having received education both at Brown and at Columbia. 

The thing that really stand out with her score apart from being a orchestra of synthesizers (And yes London Philharmonic are in there too) is that it actually doesn’t work as well on it own. When combined with the film it is outstanding. Accentuating with both pomp and subtlety everything going on in the film. But on its own it feels a bit “empty” for lack of better words. This is a good example of that her music doesn’t exceed the boundaries of the film, it doesn’t take control of it or surpasses it. It just helps and ties it all together. Now I can listen to it and see in my mind the film to the music, that helps a lot. The same goes for “A Clockwork Orange” and “The Shining”. 

Then 28 Years later…

Tron Legacy arrives. If you are a fan of the original Tron (like me) you probably wet your pants when the first trailers were released (again like me). Revisiting Tron, I though, what an awesome idea. And Daft Punk will make the music? Well, here I admit I was doubting the decision and feared a close to techno/dancehall score, doing more harm than good. Granted I wasn’t too familiar with Daft Punk, heard a few songs, and liked them but it was always a bit too edgy, too fast or too much for me.

But that wasn’t going to stop me from seeing the movie, no way. Once a follower of Flynn, always a follower of Flynn.

And so… Premier night.

BAM.

The music blew me away again.  “Overture”, soft orchestra at first, strings and woodwinds, and then enter the synthesizers (though doubtfully anything too Analog) along with the orchestra, the whole room starts shaking, a really fat bass. And a really compelling simple beautiful melody. This is later reinvented throughout the whole score.

Then “The Grid”, lovely bit-chopped drums and even more sweet synthesizers. And I’m hooked. Granted, hearing “Flynn” talking again added some spice. 

Some tracks are mostly drums and synths being used in unison as a more rhythmic than melodious tool. These tracks are the weak link in this score. But like with Carlos‘ score these tracks are almost impossible to listen to without the actual film. 

But then there’s “Adagio for Tron” almost a 3 piece suit where I’m sure a good orchestrator and his 85 piece orchestra has lent a valued hand, nevertheless it it absolutely stunning. Wonderfully emotive and compelling, it pulls you in to a world more reminiscent of Carlos‘ original score for Tron than the rest of the score for Tron Legacy. I’d say either it was done as an homage to the predecessor or it was done to salute the orchestral side of Tron. 

The one thing that stands out with Daft Punks score is Simplicity. That doesn’t mean it is dumb or stupid only that it is exactly what it needs to be.Another parallel to Carlos‘ score. Don’t be more than the images being projected. Its simplicity lets us quickly add resemblance to themes, recognition and ultimately an “understanding” of the music. an understanding of what the music is meant to project. 

And It was a nice experience to once again publicly state that synthesizers are real instruments. That electronic music can hold every bit of worth and meaning as classical music. 

 

And if I have to pick a winner?

Tough call. But I’d have to say Wendy brings it home, for effort and for perhaps having a better film to work with. I’d like to say that on one hand her score is more evolved but on the other hand I listen to Tron Legacy a lot more. And then especially previous mentioned tracks. The simple and effective “Son of Flynn” from Tron Legacy is also played a lot. 

 

So there you have it. If you haven’t listened to Wendy Carlos (really listened) I dutifully invite you to do so, if not for anything else than to marvel at her compositions and what a painstaking procedure recording them must have been. She is also a very interesting person both in music and in other aspects.

And if you haven’t heard Tron Legacy, I suggest you start with the first 3 tracks “Overture”, “The Grid” and “Son of Flynn”, and then skip to “Adagio for Tron”. And if you still want more the proceed to hear the rest. 

Happy listening/viewing.

Michael Crichton.

I feel like writing about something other than film, or at least not only about film.

There are many good authors out there and I just want to make clear that by writing about Crichton I am not rating him compared with other authors. I just want to write about what his books and films mean to me.

And writing something about Crichton is impossible without writing of film, but I will try to keep it on the down low.

First of all, lets look at how many books he wrote. (Fictitious work).

1966 Odds On as John Lange
1967 Scratch One as John Lange
1968 Easy Go as John Lange (also titled as The Last Tomb)
1968 A Case of Need  as Jeffery Hudson (re-released as Crichton in 1993)
1969 Zero Cool as John Lange
1969 The Andromeda Strain
1969 The Venom Business as John Lange
1970 Drug of Choice as John Lange (also titled Overkill)
1970 Dealing as Michael Douglas (with brother Douglas Crichton)
1970 Grave Descend as John Lange
1972 Binary as John Lange (re-released as Crichton in 1993)
1972 The Terminal Man 
1975 The Great Train Robbery
1976 Eaters of the Dead also titled The 13th Warrior
1980 Congo
1987 Sphere
1990 Jurassic Park
1992 Rising Sun
1994 Disclosure
1995 The Lost World
1996 Airframe
1999 Timeline
2002 Prey
2004 State of Fear
2006 Next
2009 Pirate Latitudes posthumous publication
2011 Micro posthumous publication (unfinished)

 

Right away we recognize a lot of film titles. And within that I would like to bring out one fact about Crichton‘s books that I really admire.

He would apparently go to great lengths to study what ever subject he was writing about, making the final product not only “Factitious” but also plausible enough so that when someone had the idea to make a film out of it, they didn’t need to rename or rewrite his work.

Or perhaps want to.

Yes there is things changed and omitted in almost all Crichton adaptations. But the difference here I think is that who ever made the film/screenplay Wanted to leave the title intact as a homage to the original author. And the titles are short, catchy and to the point. Unlike for instance Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) or The Thing (Who Goes There?).

27 books.

And how many have been made into film?

13, so far. Not a bad outcome.

They are:

• A Case of Need (The Carey Treatment) – Enjoyable book, and Enjoyable film.
• Binary (Pursuit) – An exciting book, haven’t seen the film.
• The Andromeda Strain  – One of my personal favorites, suspense and intrigue with that Crichtonesque smart simple solution to a problem.
• Terminal Man – A good book, a slightly less good film. But NOT a bad one.
• The Great Train Robbery – An enjoyable book and an equally enjoyable film. Who can say no to Sean Connery in a top hat?
• Eaters of the Dead (The 13th Warrior) – Perhaps my least favorite book, but not the worst I’ve read. And the film wasn’t that enjoyable either.
• Congo – A really good book, filled with suspense and action – the film was however a lesser experience, with Laura Linney as the only enjoyable element.
• Sphere – A fantastic book, full of mystery and suspense. The film, well, so and so. It didn’t quite make it all the way to the end. But a B- for effort.
• Jurassic Park – Once again a Fantastic book, with a fresh idea. Filled with action and wonder. And the movie. Well need I say the magic word? Spielberg, there I said it. Great film, looking forward to seeing it in 3D as soon as my copy arrives.
• Rising sun – A suspenseful “whodunnit” book, I think I read it in one sitting. The film lost something along the way though but is very watchable with a solid cast.
• Disclosure – An Amazing book, also a one session read. The film was also very enjoyable, even though I really don’t like Demi Moore.
• The Lost world – We need more dinosaurs. And we got them. A surprisingly good sequel in text. And a slightly less impressive film, still the magic word is there. Spielberg, ha I said it again.
• Timeline – A really great book, had me at “the edge of my seat”  (mostly lying in my bed though) the whole time. Intresting story filled with action and mystery and timetravel. (Who wouldn’t like that). The film sadly was a let down, It just wasn’t as exciting. Perhaps due to the fact that I had read the book first. The only good thing in it was Billy Connolly really, and he’s just good because he is Billy Connolly.

 

Well that being said. I would like to say that I would welcome anyone to make a film out of State of fear, which perhaps is my favorite Crichton book. It caught me head on and still hasn’t let go.

And I would also like to mention that Crichton wrote the following scripts:

Extreme Close-up, Coma, Westworld, Looker, Runaway, Twister and perhaps another that I failed to remember.

 

 

The Darkest Hour indeed

The Darkest Hour popped up as a trailer on one of my DVD’s and I thought “That might be something I’d enjoy seeing”.

So I watched it.

It is in fact better than the rating it receives on IMDB. it is an pretty good Science Fiction movie, borrowing themes from all the great SCI/FI films. You can see parallels to a lot of great film in it. It however “borrows” with dignity, it achieves it’s own right or value.

Synopsis:

A bunch of young people come together in the face of disaster when Moscow (and eventually the rest of the world) falls subject to a massive Alien invasion. Invisible beings that disintegrates humans upon contact arrive en mass in search for precious metals which are found in abundance on earth. These aliens destroy anything electrical or rather eats up all the electricity.

We follow these youngsters as they navigate the city in search of rescue, learning more and more about their foe along the way. 

Eventually reaching the pseudo-ending we are familiar with from films like 28 days later or anyone of George A. Romero’s zombie apocalyptic films.  

Let me begin with pointing out that this is an Science fiction movie, so those of you who cant use your imagination needn’t even try. And just because it is a fairly new film with young people doesn’t mean it is filled with half naked girls like most of the other films are. We get some scenes which have people showing some skin, but for the most part the focus lies on telling the story. Cred to the filmmaker there.

The CGI/effects are nicely done and look plausible. A lot of buildings being imploded and humans disintegrated. And the aliens are pretty well done. You don’t get to see them a whole lot  which is good. I’m a firm believer of “The less you see the more frightened you will be”. 

The story also is mostly plausible and drives the story forward to it’s non ending. There are certainly lots of room for improvement. But being rated as a SCI/FI action movie we can let a lot of things slide.

Except for ONE crucial thing.

The screenwriter has obviously no understanding of how a Faraday cage works. They find a radio inside a birdcage crudely constructed as a Faraday cage. It’s antenna routed outside the cage. They then proceed to bring this radio inside a huge room build as a Faraday cage, which shields our “heroes” from the Aliens vision, not routing it’s antenna outside. And behold they get a signal and listens to a message pivotal to the story.

Lets break it down a bit. A Faraday Cage blocks external static and non-static electric fields. “Faraday cages cannot block static or slowly varying magnetic fields, such as the Earth’s magnetic field (a compass will still work inside). To a large degree, though, they shield the interior from external electromagnetic radiation if the conductor is thick enough and any holes are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the radiation.”

What this mean is that if they were able to get a radio signal inside due to the size of the holes in the “mesh” surrounding the room, surely the electromagnetic fields from their bodies should slip out. For doubters look here where we can see that Radio waves are a lot longer than IR waves which most of our body’s radiation consists of. Hence, if Radio gets in, then the significantly smaller waves from their bodies gets out. Effectively punching a hole in this plot. Boy I just love to do this…

Another smaller “plot-hole” is that they use light bulbs for warning devices against the aliens. bulbs light up when aliens are near. So they throw a lot of them around. And I don’t know if anyone of you ever tried throwing light bulbs on concrete or stone. But they tend to break, which they in fact visibly do in the film (sloppy digital editing?). And when they break they don’t usually work so well seing that the vacuum is no more. But they do in the film. Every single one of them. Impressive throwing. 

 

Aside from that, it was an entertaining film, a lot better than I had hoped. And Emile Hirsch is contrary to his looks a rather good actor.

We also see newly appointed Robocop, Joel Kinnaman, in one of the roles as a egotistical whining gunslinging dumbass.

I give this film 6 out of 10, It gets this high grade mostly due to the look and theme of the film (love a good apocalyptic story) and because a lot of the main characters die (even a few surprising ones). It would be higher if the ending was more definite and if the filmmakers had paid attention during physics class in high school. 

Not 2 cool for school.

 

 

Probably the best film in the world

Babe.

 

 

Just hearing the title makes me smile. Get me all warm and fuzzy.

To be honest I’m very biased. There’s so much speaking for this movie. 

• Great actors such as James Cromwell and Magda Szubanski.
• A fantastic song by Randy Newman (Sung by none other than the equally fantastic Peter Gabriel). 
• A terrific story full of compassion, cruelty, suspense, Big Big philosophy, humor and even romance.
• A wonderfully crafted visual frame. Kitsch and rural landscapes meet in a imaginative mix.
• Recommended for ages Newborn – Almost dead.

Quick synopsis:

Babe is born in poverty to a slave mother. He is then separated from mother and sold to be given away as a prize for stupid humans. Stern yet increasingly humane farmer wins Babe. Babe tries to earn a place in a new environment, meeting mostly harsh words from fellow animals. Eventually with the aid of sensible sheepdog he starts to become his own. Learning and earning respect from before mentioned farmer. Albeit comical counterparts try to drag him into mischief and mayhem. 

Finally being confronted with an seemingly insurmountable feat he earns the respect and love of his fellow earthlings.

There are sooooo many things in this movie that is worth talking about, and for those of you who have seen it, worth pointing out to others as the truly pivotal moments in this film. 

But instead of writing 80 pages I will boil it down to a few:

1. Never give up! If you try and try and try and try and try again. You CAN make it. You might get shot down along the way, but get up again and keep at it.
2. Race, color, creed, accomplishments, looks, intelligence. It ALL goes out the window. The only thing that matters is love and caring and the want or need to help. “A dog and a pig friends? Preposterous.” Only if you can’t dream and keep an open mind.
3. Animals are sentient beings too, they feel, think and need pretty much the same as we humans. (Granted some are easier to understand, and some are “cuter”)

In conclusion:

I dare anyone of you that has not seen it to see it! And if you disagree with me please comment so I can do my best to change your opinion. This movie should have won more than the Best Effects, Visual Effects Oscar(TM) in 1996, I mean Braveheart wasn’t that good, or original. Babe was after all nominated in 7 categories.

And for those die hard Babe fans, don’t forget the wonderfully whimsical Sequel: Babe – Pig in the city.

 

 

Predator 3D

I’ve had a productive weekend or rather I’ve had time to watch several films this weekend. So far I’ve seen, Thor 3D, Wolverine 3D, Police Story 2013, and Predator 3D.

I thought I would give my 5 cents worth on this classic action film getting a chance to be a part of the “latest” technology. As we all know (or at least should know) 3D films have been around since the late 1890’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_film#Early_patents_and_tests) but not until the 50ies it was really feasible to screen films for a bigger audience. Then it fell into the abyss and reappeared in the 70-80ies when slasherfilms such as Jaws 3D and Friday the 13th among others brought the medium to the public once again. And history repeats it self, if kind of drifted into the obscure again, until Avatar came and changed everything.

Now even I have a 3D-TV at home. And you can download pretty much all the 3D titles and watch. Films like the Wizard of Oz and Top Gun are being processed for 3D.

So why not Predator. 

And after watching it, I say, Indeed why not.

Predator is for me a culmination of an highly unlikely crossbreed. Action and Science/Fiction. Previous to this films had either been one or the other. Obviously a Science/Fiction movie could have action in it and still only be a Science/fiction film. But Predator somehow changed that. Firstly by starting off as a completely machismo special forces film. Arnold and co show up, flex their big biceps and spit a lot. Then put on makeup and head into the jungle, so far so good. We’ll throw in a few sexist jokes for good measure as well. Once in the jungle the machismo bravery continues. They track a group of Guerrillas and once the find them. Unleash all their macho weaponry on them, all but annihilating the entire group of guerrillas. Luckily for them, and for the viewers, one person survives, and it’s a girl; without a brassiere (hooray for Boobies). I mean we get to see Arnold and co’s Boobs a lot in this film, but even that becomes blasé. 

Then the film completely changes. From action to Science/Fiction. They find out that they are in fact the hunted, not the hunters. This we have seen in countless films. But in Predator it works especially good. And the flip comes rather unexpected.

There is something in the trees…

The predator, which we the viewers get to see, sort of, has stolen a cloaking device from the Romulans. So Arnold and co can’t see it, only the trail of entrails that it leaves behind as it is taking them out one by one.

Now even the dumbest of us out there can understand that it all comes down to Arnold vs Predator. And the final battle leaves behind weaponry, seeing these two mastodonts battling it out mano y mano. 

The thing that makes me like this film so much is of course the Predator. It is so evil, or perhaps not evil, just totally indifferent to its prey. The predator is a hunter, that hunts for fun. And in this it makes the perfect allegory for humans, and as we are rooting for Arnold to save the day, we are in fact rooting for the end of humanity. (Deep huh?) And would it have been hunting for it’s own survival (initially not just in the end) this allegory would not have worked so good. The laws of necessity outweigh the laws of cruelty. 

And also I really like that is set in the jungle. And with the addition of 3D the jungle becomes really claustrophobic and dense, something that was missing in the 2D version. And also I’ve alway wondered how the F**K the Predator could see anything in the grainy pixelated thermal image we saw in the 2D version. But whoa in 3D it is much, MUCH easier to understand.

OF course you can’t make a Hollywood Action/science/fiction film without getting some kind of physics/science mixed up. Like when Arnold is crawling out of the river , gets all muddy and the Predator can’t see him. Great for the story, not so great for the sciences.

• First: The muck which he covers himself with would be a couple of degrees colder than the roots in which he hides.

                   (But wouldn’t the mud heat up from his body temperature?) 

                   Yes probably, but as we are implying that the mud shields (apparently indefinitely) his body temperature from the rest of                      the world and that apparently that process is tremendously slow, therefore it’s initial temperature would also be regained.

• Second: He does not cover his eyes with the mud!, his eyes would stick out like 2 lanterns in the Predators vision, but no… All we see are blue shades. And I’m guessing even his breath would be visible at such close proximity. Thinking about it the Predator should most certainly be able to smell him as he climbs past him in the tree. Provided he has some kind of olfactory sense of course. I can’t really tell if he has a nose somewhere in his face…

But in the end Predator is a exciting film, with a good cast and a good score. An believable story (If you have the SCI/FI-genome) and probably the coolest villain in movie history. Perhaps only rivaled by that darn chimp in Monkey Shines by George A Romero. Truly horrifying caretaker.

I give this film a Rubberbooted 8.5 out of 10, It is after all one of the few movies where Arnold has successfully transmitted an compelling emotion. And like I said, the Predator is da MAN, or thing, or crab or some kind of leech perhaps…

 

 

Gravity of love

Gravity, Oh boy I could almost feel my expectations exceeding the limits of my imagination with this one.

One one hand we have Alfonse Cuarón who gave us “Children of Men” and on the other we have Miss Congeniality teamed up with That crazy kid from “Return of the Killer Tomatoes”, could this be a new classic?

Mr Killer Tomato’s last foray in to space “Solaris”, was almost utterly pointless and fell in under the “Americans can’t watch foreign movies”-genre. Say what you want, Tarkovski’s “Solaris” is an outstanding film. Steven Soderberg’s version was bland and pretty.

Anyway about Gravity, I felt right away that this film didn’t really need to be heard as well as seen. You could probably watch it without sound and still understand the plot. The sound/Music is however almost there, just right. Almost as real as 2001 soundwise, the few transgressions can probably be attributed to a desire to hear what the main character hears.

The plot in it self is perhaps improbable but not impossible. It has a firm hold on reality with only minor disregards to the laws of physics (such as when she is spinning rather fast out into space, and her flailing and panting actually seems to slow her spinning down), except for one crucial moment in the story. (Spoiler Alert), When Miss Congeniality is trying to start the soft landing rockets on the Soyuz capsule I would say that a great deal of Hollywood magic was good to have. Steering would be quite hard. But I can live with that.

George Killer tomato doesn’t add much to the story other that being a well recognized face, his acting is like always good and steady but the greater actor in this film was Sandra Bullock.

She plays the part quite good and with a lot of emotion, quite convincing at times. And the development of her character is believable. She certainly has risen in my ranks in the last few years.

I’d say that even though there is a lot going on in the film, stressful situations and a lot of dialogue from time to time. The movie moves as a slow (not boring) pace. You can easily comprehend what is going on and anticipate what will come, yet when it happens you are as surprised and stunned as the characters in the film. You are drawn to the wonderful vista of space, but as the movie progresses you are more and more happy to be located in your sofa.

It is not the best movie in the disaster/Science Fiction genre, but it certainly isn’t the worst.

I will magnanimously give this a 6.5 out of 10. Where the setbacks are the liberties taken with the laws of physics and the fact that she actually made it. Can’t help to look at films where the main character dies with a certain fondness. Such as “They Live” for instance.