Films

V for Vendetta - 10th April 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

By the brothers who did "The Matrix". Not good. From Wikipedia:

Alan Moore remarked that his comic had been "turned into a Bush-era parable by people too timid to set a political satire in their own country.... [This film] is a thwarted and frustrated and largely impotent American liberal fantasy of someone with American liberal values standing up against a state run by neo-conservatives — which is not what [the comic] 'V for Vendetta' was about."

A bit weird to see British policemen getting all shot/cut up as though they were American. Some nice touches: contemporary news reels were created, dealing with "Avian Flu" etc., all the cars were Rovers, the Houses of Parliament blew up spectacularly, Natalie Portman is gorgoeous (but with fluctuating accent).

The Proposition - 27th March 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Screenplay by Nick Cave! Lots of beautiful scenes, not sure about the narrative momentum. Really harsh at times, potentially due to the sound effects more than anything else.

Mirrormask - 4th March 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman demo reel gone nuts. Not much story, which was a shame. The visuals, though, were amazing. Very British! London underground font all over the place, fractal detail. They can do anything they want, they just need a good reason. Would be great to get them together with someone who could write actual dialogue and had a proper story.

Lady Vengance - 27th February 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Last in Park's revenge trilogy - harsh, stylish, beautiful and funy! Less violent, more feminine than Oldboy. Had people in the audience making many groaning noises, including me.

Ghost In The Shell 2 - 21st February 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Beautiful animation, definitely a good follow-up to the first film. Far too much monologue bullshit, pretty much as in the first one. A woman in front of me said it lost stuff in the translation, so it may be an unfair comment but they strung saying after saying after saying together almost completely replacing any actual conversation. Properly good sci-fi though, with some amazing city-scapes and cyber-punk touches galore. Made me want more good sci-fi. Where's it gone?

13 - 14th February 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Black and white with many good shadows. Young handyman gets involved in a sort of Russian Roulette. Very tense, made me think about what I'm doing with what's left of my twenties, made me wedge my knees into my eye sockets.

Jarhead - 29th January 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

A weird sort of blend of the first half of Full Metal Jacket, Buffalo Soldiers and Three Kings. Outstanding bits: the marines getting very emotional and worked up watching Apocolypse Now, the depiction of the Highway Of Death, the marines trying to walk through and sleep in the oil fields with wells on fire. Erm, it was a great film - i can't think of much to say about it: I was already convinced.

Match Point - 14th January 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Unlike other Woody Allen films. Unsettling and tense, not much humor. Bits of it you had to sort of internally cut, but after that was really good. Woody always does a good job of representing part of me in a character, it's just that normally it's the anxious hypochondriac.

Matador - 7th January 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Hitman's mid-life crisis. Hitman who's loosing it tries to make a friend. It was a bit too feel-good I think - at one point it almost took a dark turn but then avoided it. Not bad, but not amazing.

After Midnight - 7th January 2006 - Showroom Sheffield

Lovely romantic comedy. Geek who runs a museum of cinema falls in love with a beautiful girl. Girl falls in love with geek except already has a boyfriend. Situation! Some lovely shots, nice inclusion of old film stock (laurel and hardy, buster keaton etc..)

March of the Penguins - 29th December 2005 - Showroom Sheffield

Personification of penguins. Penguins fall over, get cold, snuggle. Cute baby penguins fall over, get cold, snuggle. Occasionally penguins are eaten. Nice photography. Morgan Freeman narrates a bedtime story. Why was this so popular?