I would like to thank all the people who have stopped by and viewed my blog. Although I make no money from it (try as I might) I write from my heart on whatever is in my mind at the time. Sometimes it's amusing and sometimes not. I never plan these things and my poor use of grammer is attributed to the fact I free form everything I write.
Once again my thanks. I hope to put more crap on paper in 2010.
Monday, 21 December 2009
Sunday, 20 December 2009
RIP Brittany Murphy
I first saw her in Clueless. She was a cute, chubby (in a hollywood sense), little pixie who lit up the screen. Then came her role in Drop Dead Gorgeous as a similar character.
But I realised I had a crush on her when I saw Drive. An under appreciated martial arts comedy that snuck in on DVD and managed to stay off my radar because the cover was horrid. It looked like every other piece of crap we got into the video store and so I never gave it a second glance.
I have no idea what made me decide to watch it that day but I did and instantly found one of my all time cult classics. About half way into the movie there appeared that same chubby pixie girl... and I finally learned her name. She played the part of a lonely motel owner's daughter who flirts like crazy with Kadeem Hardison's character... but instead of just being a typical flirt, she had something extra. It would be something I would look for in all her performances.
She played it unhinged.
Like - slightly psychopathic. She had all these ticks and mannerisms that smacked of borderline insanity... and I loved it. I had never noticed this same characteristic in Drop Dead Gorgeous but found it on repeat viewings.
I was hooked. I rented Cherry Falls for her name alone and got a much more subdued character - and a blonde this time too. However, her career went in a different direction to my viewing tastes. Girl comedy was never on my list and so, I bid farewell to her.
Today I am doing the same. Laugh if you want but I have her rendition of Somebody To Love from Happy Feet on my ipod. I may just listen and lament this tragic news.
But I realised I had a crush on her when I saw Drive. An under appreciated martial arts comedy that snuck in on DVD and managed to stay off my radar because the cover was horrid. It looked like every other piece of crap we got into the video store and so I never gave it a second glance.
I have no idea what made me decide to watch it that day but I did and instantly found one of my all time cult classics. About half way into the movie there appeared that same chubby pixie girl... and I finally learned her name. She played the part of a lonely motel owner's daughter who flirts like crazy with Kadeem Hardison's character... but instead of just being a typical flirt, she had something extra. It would be something I would look for in all her performances.
She played it unhinged.
Like - slightly psychopathic. She had all these ticks and mannerisms that smacked of borderline insanity... and I loved it. I had never noticed this same characteristic in Drop Dead Gorgeous but found it on repeat viewings.
I was hooked. I rented Cherry Falls for her name alone and got a much more subdued character - and a blonde this time too. However, her career went in a different direction to my viewing tastes. Girl comedy was never on my list and so, I bid farewell to her.
Today I am doing the same. Laugh if you want but I have her rendition of Somebody To Love from Happy Feet on my ipod. I may just listen and lament this tragic news.
Friday, 18 December 2009
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Halloween II - the first 45 minutes
Usually when I watch a film and I check the time, to find 45 minutes have passed and not 10, it's a sign of a good film. So colour me shocked when this happened as I watched Rob Zombie's Halloween II... well the first 45 minutes.
I think the main reason for my shock was when I realised I actually was enjoying it. The aftermath of the first (shitty) movie was felt pretty heavily and Laurie Strode was a mess. The scene of them operating on her many wounds was something quite rare in horror - maybe a character might limp in the sequel but rarely get this screwed up. I also kinda liked the gore effects such as them removing a nail from a damaged finger, sewing up a huge X gash on her cheek and, my favourite, her splattered little finger. Yes I winced and yes I felt sick but a Rob Zombie Halloween film had made me feel 2 extra emotions instead of the usual rage.
When a doctor mentioned Laurie would need plastic surgery I thought this would mean a scar free Scout Taylor Compton for the rest of the film and, oddly, I was wrong again. It seemed like the film had me over a barrel... but his was only the opening few minutes.
The 2 guys transporting the bodies - I have no clue who these people actually are or who they work for - engaged in some almost witty banter. When Guy #1 said "What's the difference between Jam and Jelly?" I groaned at what I thought was smart dialogue but it was actually the set up to a minor smile inducing joke. Guy #2 and his obsession with wanting to screw a dead body was also pretty fun. Especially how Guy #1 had no idea how to take it.
Then came the 20 tonne concrete roadblock of a Cow. I have never hit a Cow with a large van nor have I ever seen this happen to someone else. I am pretty sure it wouldn't smash up the front end and only push the cow back a foot. I am certain the cow's legs would shatter and the van would suffer some damage and have bits of cow in the grille. It wouldn't be like hitting Superman with a Pinto. Anyway, Michael arises and kills Guy #2 by sawing his head straight off. Which was also quite fun.
Somehow, Rob Zombie believes White Horses symbolise something. He believes this so much that he has Michael seeing his dead Mother with a white horse everywhere. This serves 2 purposes: Number 1 - it allows us to equate Horses with Rage and so when Laurie sees a White Horse in a Rorsach picture we can go "Oooh" then not give a fuck. Number 2 is pretty obvious: It allows Rob Zombie to force more of his wife's horrible acting on us. Fuck you Rob Zombie.
So Laurie is in the hospital and she goes to visit Annie - Danielle Harris' sliced and diced character from the first. It's a genuine testement to how abnormally bad a killer Michael is. He spent almost 20 minutes carving Annie up like a goose and here she is stitched up with all her internal organs held in by HUGE stitches... then later we see Michael completely botched up Killing Loomis. Pathetic. Or maybe the Haddonfield hospital is just REALLY good at saving people.
Then Michael arrives and kills THE HELL out of a nurse. Seriously stabs her to death and beyond. He then stands there as Laurie runs off and gets pretty good distance on him. Laurie isn't the best at running however due to her leg being in a cast. I was amused at this for 2 reasons - the first being that when the nurse was helping Laurie back to her room I realised despite their technological breakthroughs in saving gutted people they don't seem to have one single wheelchair in the building! Secondly Laurie limps along with an IV drip stand and holds on to it with the right side of her body. Her right leg is in a cast and repeatedly hinders her movement, so she is obviously an idiot as by changing sides she would move much better. When the chase is on she loses the stand and slides down some stairs to work her way to the seedy side of the hospital. You know this place - we've been here many times in horror films - the rain runs through the roof and everything is filthy. Finally, as if this whole thing didn't already seem like an obvious dream sequence, she falls into a HUGE pile of bodies.
Then she makes her way to the gate and instead of hitting the guard station right away (with it's light on an everything) she runs up to the closed gate and wails. Boy does this girl wail.
The guard returns and it's Buffy's first Watcher and the guy from Wing Commander 4. I love this guy but it's obvious his death is mere moments away which sucks. He refuses to listen to her and talks over all her wailing. I'm thinking dream sequence or no that guy is an idiot.
Anyway it all ends rather rubbish but the scene has had some pretty tense moments. All in all I am enjoying Halloween II which is enough for me to let the little things slide.
So it's all a dream. We are now 2 years later and Laurie is a spoilt bitch living with the always brilliant Brad Dourif and Annie. Suddenly Danielle Harris looks the age she is whereas in the first film I was amazed she was playing High School at, what, 40? She actually feels like Brad Dourif's wife which is odd and she still looks hot. It makes you realise just how pathetic and immature Laurie is especially when she is whining and complaining about what she dealt with to a girl with scars all over her body. At this point kill Laurie and have Annie become survivor girl is my main thought - They went through the same ordeal and survived so she has what it takes.
Laurie goes and sees her therapist played well by Margot Kidder, who is no stranger to therapy, and the White Horses are brought up again. Then we follow Laurie to her... job? I think it is as a man tells her she is early for a change. She has a pretty hot friend there - hot until I realise she may be the speedy girl from Heroes - and another girl comes in who is a bit of a slut.
Here is where everything goes horribly wrong. Suddenly the girls start talking and it is with the same horrible "no girl talks like this" banter that killed Halloween 1 for me. I immediately want these girls to die. I want them to die horribly. I want it to be graphic and violent. I would instinctively masturbate.
Which I think Rob Zombie wants? I believe he wants to show us inside the mind of a sick, twisted psychopath SO MUCH he will try to turn you into one. For more on this just go read my Halloween 1 rant.
We then see what Michael has been up to for 2 whole years. He is a hobo living in the middle of nowhere living off dead animals probably. Some local farmers from Buttcrack, Texas (just outside of Chicago - Google Map it!) start giving Michael shit and he kills them.
Then he sees his Mother in a vision who tells him he must unite the family. This obviously entails brutally murdering his sister right? Makes total sense. So after TWO WHOLE YEARS Michael decides to go and get Laurie... and he eats a dog. Go figure.
We then see Brad Dourif talk about films for 5 minutes and Laurie throws up insinuating a psychic connection to her brother. This also makes no sense.
So, yeah, that was 45 minutes. I will be going back to get shit on some more but for now I am taking a calm break. Fuck you again Rob Zombie.
I think the main reason for my shock was when I realised I actually was enjoying it. The aftermath of the first (shitty) movie was felt pretty heavily and Laurie Strode was a mess. The scene of them operating on her many wounds was something quite rare in horror - maybe a character might limp in the sequel but rarely get this screwed up. I also kinda liked the gore effects such as them removing a nail from a damaged finger, sewing up a huge X gash on her cheek and, my favourite, her splattered little finger. Yes I winced and yes I felt sick but a Rob Zombie Halloween film had made me feel 2 extra emotions instead of the usual rage.
When a doctor mentioned Laurie would need plastic surgery I thought this would mean a scar free Scout Taylor Compton for the rest of the film and, oddly, I was wrong again. It seemed like the film had me over a barrel... but his was only the opening few minutes.
The 2 guys transporting the bodies - I have no clue who these people actually are or who they work for - engaged in some almost witty banter. When Guy #1 said "What's the difference between Jam and Jelly?" I groaned at what I thought was smart dialogue but it was actually the set up to a minor smile inducing joke. Guy #2 and his obsession with wanting to screw a dead body was also pretty fun. Especially how Guy #1 had no idea how to take it.
Then came the 20 tonne concrete roadblock of a Cow. I have never hit a Cow with a large van nor have I ever seen this happen to someone else. I am pretty sure it wouldn't smash up the front end and only push the cow back a foot. I am certain the cow's legs would shatter and the van would suffer some damage and have bits of cow in the grille. It wouldn't be like hitting Superman with a Pinto. Anyway, Michael arises and kills Guy #2 by sawing his head straight off. Which was also quite fun.
Somehow, Rob Zombie believes White Horses symbolise something. He believes this so much that he has Michael seeing his dead Mother with a white horse everywhere. This serves 2 purposes: Number 1 - it allows us to equate Horses with Rage and so when Laurie sees a White Horse in a Rorsach picture we can go "Oooh" then not give a fuck. Number 2 is pretty obvious: It allows Rob Zombie to force more of his wife's horrible acting on us. Fuck you Rob Zombie.
So Laurie is in the hospital and she goes to visit Annie - Danielle Harris' sliced and diced character from the first. It's a genuine testement to how abnormally bad a killer Michael is. He spent almost 20 minutes carving Annie up like a goose and here she is stitched up with all her internal organs held in by HUGE stitches... then later we see Michael completely botched up Killing Loomis. Pathetic. Or maybe the Haddonfield hospital is just REALLY good at saving people.
Then Michael arrives and kills THE HELL out of a nurse. Seriously stabs her to death and beyond. He then stands there as Laurie runs off and gets pretty good distance on him. Laurie isn't the best at running however due to her leg being in a cast. I was amused at this for 2 reasons - the first being that when the nurse was helping Laurie back to her room I realised despite their technological breakthroughs in saving gutted people they don't seem to have one single wheelchair in the building! Secondly Laurie limps along with an IV drip stand and holds on to it with the right side of her body. Her right leg is in a cast and repeatedly hinders her movement, so she is obviously an idiot as by changing sides she would move much better. When the chase is on she loses the stand and slides down some stairs to work her way to the seedy side of the hospital. You know this place - we've been here many times in horror films - the rain runs through the roof and everything is filthy. Finally, as if this whole thing didn't already seem like an obvious dream sequence, she falls into a HUGE pile of bodies.
Then she makes her way to the gate and instead of hitting the guard station right away (with it's light on an everything) she runs up to the closed gate and wails. Boy does this girl wail.
The guard returns and it's Buffy's first Watcher and the guy from Wing Commander 4. I love this guy but it's obvious his death is mere moments away which sucks. He refuses to listen to her and talks over all her wailing. I'm thinking dream sequence or no that guy is an idiot.
Anyway it all ends rather rubbish but the scene has had some pretty tense moments. All in all I am enjoying Halloween II which is enough for me to let the little things slide.
So it's all a dream. We are now 2 years later and Laurie is a spoilt bitch living with the always brilliant Brad Dourif and Annie. Suddenly Danielle Harris looks the age she is whereas in the first film I was amazed she was playing High School at, what, 40? She actually feels like Brad Dourif's wife which is odd and she still looks hot. It makes you realise just how pathetic and immature Laurie is especially when she is whining and complaining about what she dealt with to a girl with scars all over her body. At this point kill Laurie and have Annie become survivor girl is my main thought - They went through the same ordeal and survived so she has what it takes.
Laurie goes and sees her therapist played well by Margot Kidder, who is no stranger to therapy, and the White Horses are brought up again. Then we follow Laurie to her... job? I think it is as a man tells her she is early for a change. She has a pretty hot friend there - hot until I realise she may be the speedy girl from Heroes - and another girl comes in who is a bit of a slut.
Here is where everything goes horribly wrong. Suddenly the girls start talking and it is with the same horrible "no girl talks like this" banter that killed Halloween 1 for me. I immediately want these girls to die. I want them to die horribly. I want it to be graphic and violent. I would instinctively masturbate.
Which I think Rob Zombie wants? I believe he wants to show us inside the mind of a sick, twisted psychopath SO MUCH he will try to turn you into one. For more on this just go read my Halloween 1 rant.
We then see what Michael has been up to for 2 whole years. He is a hobo living in the middle of nowhere living off dead animals probably. Some local farmers from Buttcrack, Texas (just outside of Chicago - Google Map it!) start giving Michael shit and he kills them.
Then he sees his Mother in a vision who tells him he must unite the family. This obviously entails brutally murdering his sister right? Makes total sense. So after TWO WHOLE YEARS Michael decides to go and get Laurie... and he eats a dog. Go figure.
We then see Brad Dourif talk about films for 5 minutes and Laurie throws up insinuating a psychic connection to her brother. This also makes no sense.
So, yeah, that was 45 minutes. I will be going back to get shit on some more but for now I am taking a calm break. Fuck you again Rob Zombie.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Harry says shit about STUFF I DON'T CARE ABOUT!
Before the internet came into my life I heard the story of Harry Knowles. Although the story I heard was he was some big guy who ate too much and had the internet put in his room because he had no life. I don't know Harry nor do I care to. Like most people I can avoid him and let him live his life in peace.
Sadly, I often tire of the internet and all it's shortcomings (seriously I thought this place was a one stop shop of everything - I get peturbed to find it's limits) and I break off to see what is going on at Ain't It Cool News.
Now I am a lowly nobody who occasionally bumps away at his keyboard for fun, and lack of a girlfriend, so who am I to judge these folks? Well I am a person who gave up on SFX magazine when it seemed apparent that the writers were smug pricks, I am a reader of CHUD.com - Devin Faraci is a God to me - and I am a frequenter of websites... so there.
One look at AICN and you can see it's a mess. No clear interfaces just loads and loads of text, the majority of which is indecipherable. Robert Langdon would probably give up on this. Also, the posters rely on their Net Handles and post as these psuedonyms.
Ahoy! boasts Quint... He chose his name from a great film but still I get this image of this guy not being let into some shindig and proclaiming "Don't you know who I am!? I am Quint from AICN!"
Mr Beaks, Capone, some Wyrm guy... everything about this site puts me off. However, my main gripe is down below. At the bottom is a special section for Harry Knowles which features Headlines all beginning with "Harry..."
Harry says that LOVELY BONES is a lovely brutal film!
Harry mourns a listless melodrama buried under the Spectacular Effects of 2012...
Harry loved Zemeckis' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, but with mild trepidations...
Harry feels there is almost no ASTRO BOY in this ASTRO BOY movie
Harry calls WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE the best film he's seen this year!
and so on...
All I can say is "Who the fuck does Harry think he is?"
I make my assumptions on film by my own preferable taste and by word of mouth from people who write out of love for the craft. Devin Faraci for example, a man who I may not always agree on but his reviews are well thought out and written from a comedic and crafted peice of writing. I have also taken advice from Brad Jones - The Cinema Snob - who thankfully made me finally watch Inglourious Basterds and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans just by having so much passion in the reviews.
Harry Knowles has been accused of pandering to the studios who give him the early screening or fly him out to a set visit. Personally, I think he is a media whore who believes his hype because some folks put him (or a character of him) in their film.
So if I want real reviews from folks who aren't just grabbing at attention in the hope of getting put on a movie poster I'll stick with Devin and Brad thank you.
Ain't it cool?
No Harry, Quint, Beaks et al... it AIN'T cool.
Sadly, I often tire of the internet and all it's shortcomings (seriously I thought this place was a one stop shop of everything - I get peturbed to find it's limits) and I break off to see what is going on at Ain't It Cool News.
Now I am a lowly nobody who occasionally bumps away at his keyboard for fun, and lack of a girlfriend, so who am I to judge these folks? Well I am a person who gave up on SFX magazine when it seemed apparent that the writers were smug pricks, I am a reader of CHUD.com - Devin Faraci is a God to me - and I am a frequenter of websites... so there.
One look at AICN and you can see it's a mess. No clear interfaces just loads and loads of text, the majority of which is indecipherable. Robert Langdon would probably give up on this. Also, the posters rely on their Net Handles and post as these psuedonyms.
Ahoy! boasts Quint... He chose his name from a great film but still I get this image of this guy not being let into some shindig and proclaiming "Don't you know who I am!? I am Quint from AICN!"
Mr Beaks, Capone, some Wyrm guy... everything about this site puts me off. However, my main gripe is down below. At the bottom is a special section for Harry Knowles which features Headlines all beginning with "Harry..."
Harry says that LOVELY BONES is a lovely brutal film!
Harry mourns a listless melodrama buried under the Spectacular Effects of 2012...
Harry loved Zemeckis' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, but with mild trepidations...
Harry feels there is almost no ASTRO BOY in this ASTRO BOY movie
Harry calls WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE the best film he's seen this year!
and so on...
All I can say is "Who the fuck does Harry think he is?"
I make my assumptions on film by my own preferable taste and by word of mouth from people who write out of love for the craft. Devin Faraci for example, a man who I may not always agree on but his reviews are well thought out and written from a comedic and crafted peice of writing. I have also taken advice from Brad Jones - The Cinema Snob - who thankfully made me finally watch Inglourious Basterds and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans just by having so much passion in the reviews.
Harry Knowles has been accused of pandering to the studios who give him the early screening or fly him out to a set visit. Personally, I think he is a media whore who believes his hype because some folks put him (or a character of him) in their film.
So if I want real reviews from folks who aren't just grabbing at attention in the hope of getting put on a movie poster I'll stick with Devin and Brad thank you.
Ain't it cool?
No Harry, Quint, Beaks et al... it AIN'T cool.
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Breaking News!
I am officially NO LONGER a nerd/geek/fan.
I have realised this due to my liking of:
The Star Wars Prequels
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Superman Returns
Transformers Revenge of The Fallen
Good day to you all.
I have realised this due to my liking of:
The Star Wars Prequels
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Superman Returns
Transformers Revenge of The Fallen
Good day to you all.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
How the hell do you screw up V?
Back in the 80's when I was just a child, a TV show came along which absolutely blew my mind. It featured giant spaceships, lizard people and BALLS!
V was the shit in terms of awesome TV. It had a modest budget which seemed thinly stretched over a series of bad special effects and some of the worst acting seen this side of Saffron Burrows career. In order to pad this piece I will give you a storyline (although memory not great and too lazy to wiki it):
We start with Mike Donovan, TV camera-guy, and his chum reporting from some iffy country in the middle of a war. Despite the incredibly tight denim to the contrary, Mike Donovan has balls. As gunmen bear down on him a giant spherical ship looms in the background. The Visitors have arrived.
They offer peace and friendship but soon we learn that they have an evil motive - THEY WANT TO EAT US! At least I think that's what it is. They are evil lizards after all. Soon a resistance forms against them of good folk who know the truth... and Ham Tyler. Tyler is a mercenary who just seems to want to kick ass whatever the reason.
The show was amazing for it's time. The special effects are still very poor but for the 80's it's practically ILM worthy. The matte shots of the interior of the mothership are obviously that. However it works, it looks amazing even now. Marc Singer is one of the worst actors ever, although V is the only basis I have for this, but his character is so over the top hammy that it works. Almost every line he delivers makes me giggle and his way of aiming a gun where his other arm crosses his chest is terrible... but in a good way!
Jane Badler as Diana, the evilist of the evil lizards, was a childhood crush of mine. Her portrayal was taken straight from the soap operas that littered the airwaves at the time. The only word to describe her was "Bitch" and in a good way!
I could spend my whole life watching V. It was the precursor to so many TV shows today - the ensemble cast coming from different places and becoming a group against a common foe, a story arc that provided continuity and a multi layered story as well as having the balls to kill of characters. It was a show ahead of it's time.
So, how the hell do you screw up V? By remaking it into a cold, bland TV show. Flicking through the channels you could be forgiven for passing V as just another show. NOTHING in this show seems new or original and it's stumbling block is trying to be too good and failing. Many people have compared the show to Flashforward and they are right - you could easily move characters around these shows and you wouldn't really know.
The most annoying thing is whereas the original V had a huge cast it utilised them all. You truly got the sense it was a global thing and watching these characters find their way toward each other was well thought out and new to TV. As you all probably know the Visitors in the 80's were the Nazi's from space - this is something that could have been used in the new version.
"Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it" - the story can be told again and again. V 2009 stupidly forgets one important fact - NINE/ELEVEN. No way would humanity be so trusting especially the Americans! Yet within no time the Visitors are setting up shop and being granted access visas.
The 80's V had the Visitors arrive... and sit there getting the world into a frenzy of paranoia before appearing to reassure us... they were us! This was a time to give all the key players of the series a chance to be shown in their lives - their lives BEFORE the V's.
This is something we have not had and unless the new V bounds in with the tired cliche of the 00's - flashbacks - we never will. Our new V has about 5 characters and none of them have one ounce of the charisma Marc Singer put on screen.
The character of Tyler joining the Visitor's Youth thing is a prime example of where this show's heart lies. In new V he is doing it for a girl and 95% of his screentime involves having this annoying grin plastered on his face. Sure the girl IS hot and I would do the same but from a storytelling level this is inane. In the original series a young man joins up because he has no direction and is swayed by the V's promises. He is a sociopath who begins to abuse his power becoming the darkest character on the show - one who sides with the enemy at the expense of his family.
Also, the elderly Jewish man in the original that shows the kids how to spray-paint properly, adorning a Vistor poster with a huge red "V" is an important scene in the original. It shows us many different things - an old man teaching the young, a generational gap being broken, the beginnings of resistance. Above all else it shows heart - the old man, who would've shouted at kids doing this, realises it's a way to spread the message. I get chills at that scene in good and bad ways.
If new V is to succeed it needs to do ONE THING:
STOP! Kenneth Johnson made V. For that reason alone he is a genius and the father of modern Television (seriously we would not have Lost without this guy) and he has a future for V himself.
All the glossy effects and fast storytelling in the world cannot compare to a show with heart and balls.
V was the shit in terms of awesome TV. It had a modest budget which seemed thinly stretched over a series of bad special effects and some of the worst acting seen this side of Saffron Burrows career. In order to pad this piece I will give you a storyline (although memory not great and too lazy to wiki it):
We start with Mike Donovan, TV camera-guy, and his chum reporting from some iffy country in the middle of a war. Despite the incredibly tight denim to the contrary, Mike Donovan has balls. As gunmen bear down on him a giant spherical ship looms in the background. The Visitors have arrived.
They offer peace and friendship but soon we learn that they have an evil motive - THEY WANT TO EAT US! At least I think that's what it is. They are evil lizards after all. Soon a resistance forms against them of good folk who know the truth... and Ham Tyler. Tyler is a mercenary who just seems to want to kick ass whatever the reason.
The show was amazing for it's time. The special effects are still very poor but for the 80's it's practically ILM worthy. The matte shots of the interior of the mothership are obviously that. However it works, it looks amazing even now. Marc Singer is one of the worst actors ever, although V is the only basis I have for this, but his character is so over the top hammy that it works. Almost every line he delivers makes me giggle and his way of aiming a gun where his other arm crosses his chest is terrible... but in a good way!
Jane Badler as Diana, the evilist of the evil lizards, was a childhood crush of mine. Her portrayal was taken straight from the soap operas that littered the airwaves at the time. The only word to describe her was "Bitch" and in a good way!
I could spend my whole life watching V. It was the precursor to so many TV shows today - the ensemble cast coming from different places and becoming a group against a common foe, a story arc that provided continuity and a multi layered story as well as having the balls to kill of characters. It was a show ahead of it's time.
So, how the hell do you screw up V? By remaking it into a cold, bland TV show. Flicking through the channels you could be forgiven for passing V as just another show. NOTHING in this show seems new or original and it's stumbling block is trying to be too good and failing. Many people have compared the show to Flashforward and they are right - you could easily move characters around these shows and you wouldn't really know.
The most annoying thing is whereas the original V had a huge cast it utilised them all. You truly got the sense it was a global thing and watching these characters find their way toward each other was well thought out and new to TV. As you all probably know the Visitors in the 80's were the Nazi's from space - this is something that could have been used in the new version.
"Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it" - the story can be told again and again. V 2009 stupidly forgets one important fact - NINE/ELEVEN. No way would humanity be so trusting especially the Americans! Yet within no time the Visitors are setting up shop and being granted access visas.
The 80's V had the Visitors arrive... and sit there getting the world into a frenzy of paranoia before appearing to reassure us... they were us! This was a time to give all the key players of the series a chance to be shown in their lives - their lives BEFORE the V's.
This is something we have not had and unless the new V bounds in with the tired cliche of the 00's - flashbacks - we never will. Our new V has about 5 characters and none of them have one ounce of the charisma Marc Singer put on screen.
The character of Tyler joining the Visitor's Youth thing is a prime example of where this show's heart lies. In new V he is doing it for a girl and 95% of his screentime involves having this annoying grin plastered on his face. Sure the girl IS hot and I would do the same but from a storytelling level this is inane. In the original series a young man joins up because he has no direction and is swayed by the V's promises. He is a sociopath who begins to abuse his power becoming the darkest character on the show - one who sides with the enemy at the expense of his family.
Also, the elderly Jewish man in the original that shows the kids how to spray-paint properly, adorning a Vistor poster with a huge red "V" is an important scene in the original. It shows us many different things - an old man teaching the young, a generational gap being broken, the beginnings of resistance. Above all else it shows heart - the old man, who would've shouted at kids doing this, realises it's a way to spread the message. I get chills at that scene in good and bad ways.
If new V is to succeed it needs to do ONE THING:
STOP! Kenneth Johnson made V. For that reason alone he is a genius and the father of modern Television (seriously we would not have Lost without this guy) and he has a future for V himself.
All the glossy effects and fast storytelling in the world cannot compare to a show with heart and balls.
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