“Mr Wayne…”Â
I am so up for this. Tickets have been bought, opening weekend is in (IMAX style, natch) and, of course, the Nokia campaign is kicking off very shortly in full swing…
Check. It. Out.
^Bonus Dark Knight Rises Wallpaper
There might be a few more tricks up their sleeves between now and launch.
Watch closely…
There be spoilers here. Non-spoiler review also available.
DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN PROMETHEUS
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Still here? Right. Let’s do this –
Poster + trailer both
Bring it.
Spoiler free.
To say I’ve been a little bit excited about this film coming out would be perhaps somewhat of an understatement. I am a huge Ridley Scott fan and of the efforts he has made in the genre of science fiction, both films are in my all time top fifty*.
What with experimental Twitter campaigns and a whole bunch of different trailers (some perhaps giving away a bit too much for my liking) – excitement was at fever pitch. The question is: did it live up to the hype?
I think I can quite safely say, for me at least: Yes. It did.
However, Prometheus is not perfect. Not by any stretch. In fact, at one point in the film (after probably the most intense scene of 2012 to date) I let out an audible ‘WTF?’ when something pretty major just gets brushed to the side without question… Just, mental. But, as an immersive return trip to the shadowy world of the Weyland Corporation and everything around and therein, Prometheus wins.
We’ve been too long without a decent return trip to this universe of morally ambiguous androids and engineers. Admittedly, seeing the film in 3D at Britain’s biggest cinema (London’s BFI IMAX) definitely helped, but Scott’s hand and vision is clear throughout and we, the audience, benefit for it. Much has been lauded in the past about Ridley’s attention to detail, his penchant for creating actual things that exist in real time and space (as opposed to leaning too much on the sometimes clunky and too easy to spot CGI), and rightly so. Fans will be pleased to hear that, in Prometheus, that reputation continues unabashed.
Everything from the space suits (SUIT UP!) through to the choice of spatulas in the mess kitchen (no joke) has been thought through and it shows. That’s not to say that the film is CGI free, of course it can’t be, however, when employed, it too excels.
That’s the visuals taken care of, what of the cast?
Michael Fassbender is perfect casting as the ship’s resident android, David. Cold, quiet and utterly believable – it’s actually really hard to put a definition on what it is exactly that he does that nails the dead-behind-the-eyes, only-human-in-appearance robot. He’s part H.A.L., part Pinocchio and very, very well done. Good job.
Noomi Rapace, as the conflicted scientist and Ripley heir apparent, Dr Elizabeth Shaw, is also brilliant and shines here in her first (proper) English-speaking role. Shaw’s story-arc is probably the best and most interesting of all and, after one particularly harrowing scene, the entire theatre was on the edge of their collective seats – myself included – just waiting to see what she would do next. Arresting stuff.
Charlize Theron does well also, as does Idris Elba, but special mention must go to Brit-actor-playing-an-American number two, Rafe Spall. I had no idea he was in Prometheus so it was a pleasant surprise to see his face pop up out of cryo-sleep 15mins in. I’ve seen him in stuff before and I am a fan; his comedy grin helping him steal the short scenes that he appears in, wonderfully.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STORY, JAMES?
Well, yes. Quite.
The tagline ‘The search for our beginning could lead to our end’ is pretty spot on. There are obviously Alien elements throughout and, when the film closes, there is no doubt left as to where we came from and, maybe more importantly, where the eggs are laid for the Nostromo and her crew over the years ahead. Yes, there are a couple of gaping plot holes (and some really dumb ass character decisions), yes some of the scripting is on the clunky side but, oh my, there are some fantastic elements to Prometheus and I am bloody glad I saw it in the way I did.
In fact, I’m actually quite tempted to see it again.
And, while it doesn’t have the depth of suspense or the over-arching wrapper of horror/fear as its predecessor (as it will of course be forever continually compared against), Prometheus is a rather good sci-fi film and – faults aside – is one I would definitely recommend you go see.
Whatley out.
*I’m a filmy. I don’t do top tens or top fives. It’s top fifties all the way.
Arresting, harsh and, at times, harrowing. ILL MANORS is no easy watch.
But oh my God, is it worth it.
A spoiler-free review -Â
The directorial debut of Ben Drew – aka Plan B – and featuring a cast of relative unknowns (many of whom were from the streets where ill Manors is set), this is a film with a message: your surroundings define who you are – but there is always a choice.
Stark, intimidating and dirty against such hopeful (yet faded) iconic landmarks of the future; first, the former Millenium Dome, once a sign of development and symbolic of the hopes of East London, left dying by the government (until the o2 conversion). Then second, the stadia of the forthcoming Olympics; again a herald of hope. Again, an uncertainty around what happens afterwards – the symbolism here will not be lost on many. London has never been more real, or more frightening.
Drew, who not only *wrote and produced*, also provides the soundtrack to our journey into the East End of London; narrating the back story of each and every lost soul we meet along the way. And what a journey it is.
The stories told throughout Manors are multiple; twisting and turning, entwined and continual. They swing in and out of their own timelines as each new character enters our view and, slowly but surely, we find out their past – with our poetic narrator in tow – before the car crash of the present day slams back into vision. Messing with perspective, showing the same scene from multiple, time-varying points of view, Manors is smart and surprising. There’s darkness in (nearly) everyone and, as the madness grows, and the tension-wrought second act comes to a close, you wonder where Manors will take its residents next.
Think GO. Think Eyes Wide Shut. Think Pulp Fiction. Think Requiem for a Dream. Think Ben Drew. This is a man of a generation: telling the story of a lost generation. And he tells it incredibly, frighteningly well. Both in displaying the raw underbelly of what lies East of our capital city as well as in the deftness of his craft.
This is his debut. His first time.
I was lucky enough to catch Ben speak, so eloquently, at the Tedx Observer a while back. He was engaging and open about the causes of London’s riots last summer and, watching Ill Manors, you begin to see what he was getting at. Run down city streets, limited resources to inspire the youth of today and gang culture everywhere – the message here is clear: our kids need saving.
Manors is not without its faults, admittedly, but most can be shrugged off as the mistakes of the yet-to-be-honed technical skills of a film-making newbie. In a summer of mental movie blockbusters, Ill Manors is like a cold bucket of water over the head. Refreshing, cold, awakening.
See this film.
And Ben, if you’re reading… Please, make more.
Plan B goes on general release in the UK on June 6th, 2012.
For Bond, at least; Skyfall.
The trailer has just been released and I can’t stop watching; it is excellent.
Admittedly I am a huge fan of Craig’s Bond, arguably closest to the Bond of the books that there ever has been, but again he looks fantastic in Skyfall.
There is so much in this trailer that makes brings me to the edge of my seat. First and foremost: the imagery. Already this looks like quite possibly the most gorgeous Bond film to date. The colours, the composition; all of it just looks so visually sumptuous the teaser just compels you to watch it over and over and over.
Second up, the feel of the film. Alright the trailer above is only 90secs but still, I get a definite distinct feeling of difference between this and anything, of recent years at least, that’s been before. With Sam Mendes in the driving seat, I am unsurprised. Both American Beauty and Road to Perdition deal with the man-under-pressure (albeit varying degrees and kinds of pressure) situation with equally satisfying self-destructive aplomb and if Craig’s Bond is anything, he is self-destructive.
Several years ago, right after Die Another Day came out, I bought the full set of Bond movies (the one in the fancy metal case) and watched them all, one a night, over three weeks.
AND IT WAS AWESOME
Things I learned:
And finally, the one thing that stands out is that, believe it or not, there is a single thread that flows throughout. They just connect somehow. Even though they feel different, from film to film, they are all interlock together. So what if Moonraker was brought forward (and taken out of the order of the canon) as a response to Star Wars, who cares if some of the jokes during the 70s were TERRIBLE; the films just work.
Pierce Brosnan did a superb job of reinvigorating the franchise (albeit later than originally planned) and now, Daniel Craig is here and his films are undeniably good. The darker, more vicious Quantum of Solace is a fave.
In closing: with the tonality of Craig and the emotive & visual depth of Mendes, the third of this generation’s Bond is set to be the best one yet.
Between now and then, do yourself a favour and read the books
Whatley out.
How do we fix them?
To find the solution, we first need to fully understand the problem.
2screen / dual-screen / second-screen — all are different names for the kind of integration that I’m referring to and it’s something I’ve been kicking around in my head ever since I went to my first 2screen event back in October 2010.
It was a big deal then and it’s a bigger deal now.
With the increase of iPad penetration and the continuous growth of the smartphone market, the notion of 2screening is becoming more and more commonplace. In fact, a recent Neilsen survey found that 80% of tablet and 78% of smartphone owners used their device while watching TV at least once during a 30 day period.
In the app-world, services such as ZeeBox and Sky Sports for iPad are doing very good things indeed. Both integrating news, stats and social media streams into your second screen; providing a suitable data-based accompaniment to your visual consumption.
However, I want to talk about television-based social media integration (not app-based).
This kind of stuff –
That’s how Sky One’s ‘Got to Dance‘ handles it and many other broadcasters follow suit. BBC One is getting in on the act too, here using a Twitter wall backstage for the UK edition of ‘The Voice‘.
What do these examples all have in common?
Fundamentally, they are all bringing (or at least attempting to bring) the conversation from the second screen, to the first. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, kind of defeats the object of the second screen.
Whether it’s reading out tweets during the credits of Celebrity Juice on ITV2 or talking about Facebook wall posts inbetween programmes on BBC3, broadcasters seem to be obsessed with sharing (read ‘owning’) viewer social media.
Recognising that conversation takes place away from their platform(s), TV + social media work best together when television directs its audience to the conversation medium, as opposed to smashing them in the face with it via another.
Sorority Girls, an E4 TV show, flashes up their hashtag both at the start and at the end of their show as well as when going into ad breaks.
This is good! This is television saying –
‘Hey, perhaps some people are actually watching our shows when they’re on and, instead of going to the kettle during an ad break, they’re turning to Twitter!’
– and giving the audience a your hashtag at this point is a very good idea. You own it, you guide it, you track it.
Ignoring The Voice for a second, the BBC actually do this quite well, both with Question Time and Have I Got News For You, for example:
via Roo Reynolds
Little pointers like this give you, the viewer, the option of tracking (and joining) the back-channel. If you understand what it means, you join the conversation. Perfect.
I guess this is one big plea to broadcasters to just stop reading out tweets and Facebook updates on the telly. Seriously, it just doesn’t work.
Finally, and returning to the opening image of this post, the new trailer for Prometheus aired recently during the first break of Homeland. Channel 4’s own announcer was employed also, asking viewers to tweet their reactions using the hashtag #areyouseeingthis.
So far, so good. Right? Right.
Except that, 20mins later (during the next ad break), those very tweets were displayed onscreen for all to see.
via Digital Examples
Yes that’s actually a TV ad you’re seeing there, with (clearly moderated) tweets displaying instead of your usual commercial break. Mental.
Reports state that this activity reached a potential audience of 15m users. (Note: POTENTIAL audience. That’s the number of every tweet with the hashtag, multiplied by their sum of their followers – ie: not a real number). And while this kind of exercise is a great advert for Twitter, it leaves existing fans and users feeling a bit… empty.
In closing, encouraging viewers to join an online conversation is one thing, replaying that conversation to them 20mins later is just a pain in the oculars.
Discuss.
Hmm… a double-post of trailers this week (not my usual thing, but) The Amazing Spider-Man just dropped its third and final trailer and well, take a look
I’m not frothing at the mouth half as much as I was when I first caught the original preview (I think it trailed in front of a Harry Potter or something) but still, it doesn’t look that bad.
Early previews give good promise too. It’s a big year for comic book films this year: Avengers is done (and is killing it), Dark Knight Rises is next, then The Amazing Spider-Man steps up.
What do you reck’?
Seeing it?
Stop what you’re doing right now and watch this –
No, not a goal line score from their last match up, more an amazing discovery of a whole bunch of cutting room floor footage from Superman IV.
You’ve all seen Superman IV right? If you haven’t you’re not missing out on much; I touched upon it recently as being ‘by far and away the worst of Reeve’s tenure‘ – and I stand by that (it’s still good though).
If you have seen it, then you’ll recognise the chap on the right above as Nuclear Man, the brawn created by Supes’ arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor.
However, on a recent journey around the more geekier corners of the internet, I happened upon an amazing nugget of footage that I never knew existed. Apparently, the Nuclear Man we know and love recognise is actually Nuclear Man V2. Version 1 was originally in the film too, and Superman (as you’ll see very shortly) disposed of him easily – hence Lex Luthor going back around a second time and coming up with v2.
Thing is, v1 was eventually cut (I can’ think why) and we only ever knew of v2.
What the HELL am I talking about?
Watch for yourself –
Just when you thought Superman IV couldn’t get any worse, right?
I’m just… lost for words.
Via iO9, with extra info (and lols) via i-mockery.
whatleydude.com 