Quicky

Sorry for the lack of short posts, I really am. Will get something out soon. In the meantime, read this brilliant piece by the brilliant John Walker.

Reason for quietness

I’m working on something which will hopefully be popular, and boost views to this site. It will hopefully be funny, and sorta plagiarising some stuff I’ve seen on the net. Hence the quietness.

BAFTA Results

Disappointing. Slumdog Millionaire swept the board, nabbing several BAFTAs, including editing, which is extremely annoying, because I wanted Lee Smith of Batman to get it. In Bruges received only 1 award, and Rourke nabbed Best Actor. Still, there’s the videogame BAFTAs in March to look forward to.

New links on the left

Ok, I’m adding a new category of websites; lolz. Rather than meaningful blogs, these will be slightly random, but amusing websites. The links will be on the left.

In Defence of Mr. Bale

So, pretty bad, eh? There’s been tons of people on forums condemning him for this, so here’s my official defence of him.

First off, the life of an actor is stressful. Bale might have done this scene over half a dozen times before this, and he specifically says this is the 2nd time the DP (Director of Photography has done it. “It”? What is “it”? I hear you ask.

When an actor does a (especially intense) scene, the crew is expected to be extremely silent. In fact, they don’t yell “lights, camera, action”, they yell “silence on set, rolling, action”, to make sure everyone is aware of what’s happening. The crew is then expected to stand still, so as not to distract the actors. The DP decided to check a light in the middle of Bale’s scene, which to be honest, certainly is amateur-ish. Especially when the DP does it, as he’s meant to be the second-in-command to the director.

Bale also could have worked for several hours before this, and it might have taken several takes to get each scene, so stress is understandable.

You might also notice the wimpy director’s voice in the background. If an actor goes nuts, it’s  the director’s job to calm them down. Having a guy that sounded as patronising as that probably would have pissed me off as well.

EDIT: Here’s a remix.

Best Search Ever

WordPress does a neat little thing that shows you the most used search terms that were utilised to find your blog. I have no idea what this one is, and I don’t think I wrote about whatever the searcher wanted to find, but it made me laugh out loud.

“ what is the song that is like cult 44 but its not a good song”

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

This is one of those films that without a doubt, certainly and absolutely, will divide people. Its like Burn After Reading in that its an observation of human psychology, politics and philosophy (although in Burn it was more about morality). Here’s the premise, without spoilers: 2 american tourists go to Spain, are approached by Javier Bardem, and offered a weekend of wine, candle-lit dinners and… well… sex.

The plot progresses from there, the 2 american tourists acting as each other’s foil. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is the sensible one, with perfect ideas of what she wants from love, and Cristina (Scarlett Johnasson) is the wilder, bisexual one, with a more Nietzschean approach to love, resigned to suffering, but knowing she could obtain some happiness from it.

Throw in the womanizing, bohemian Javier Bardem as Juan Antonio, and the neurotic and crazed Penelope Cruz as his ex wife, and you have a pretty damn good romantic drama, with love quadrilaterals, depressing looks at the committment involved in marriage, and philosophical bitterness.

Bardem and Cruz absolutely nail their roles, creating a completely believable yet dysfunctional couple, who’s desire for Cristina add another dimension to what could have been a plain ol’ three-way love triangle.

Woody Allen brings great direction, creating a beautiful portrayal of rural Spain, but this is eclipsed by the story, which takes a dominant role over the aesthetic part of the film.

Some called this a return to Woody Allen’s classic humour, but I totally disagree. Not once did I laugh (not necessarily a bad thing), compared to Love & Death where I giggled every other sentence.

So why will this film divide people exactly? It’s the ending, and it brings to mind There Will be Blood. You’ve invested in the film, care about the characters, want some conclusion, and it’s just open-ended and vague. Now as a film buff I can deal with that, but others won’t. They’ll stomp their feet and wonder why its not a happy ending, and how nobody’s learnt anything, and that its the directors job to literally tell you what happens, giving no room for any personal creative thought.

So let me simplify things; this isn’t a conventional film. Neither was Blood or Burn, and this is in the same vein, so if you didn’t like those two (brilliant) pieces of cinema, you’re not going to like this one.

However, the soundtrack is absolute gold, with spanish guitars and female vocals singing tales of love (pienso, hablo poco espanol) over the well directed film. There’s no numerical rating for this one, because it will most certainly be different for each viewer.

Heretic Pride Review

So here’s the second music review on EG by popular request (actually it was just Dom asking for it). It’s the album Heretic Pride by the Mountain Goats.

Sax Rohmer #1

In my opinion, the first song of an album has to show what the rest will be like. You need some lyrics, some choruses, some acoustic guitars etc. Sax Rohmer has all of these, but twists it in a peculiar way. Kinda depressing lyrics, mixed with happy and cathartic drums and acoustic guitars makes an incredibly good sounding track.

San Bernardino

Here’s the song for the softies – a tale of love amongst “yellow and blood red bits; like a kaleidoscope.” There’s no hint of sorrow in this track, but there’s a sacrifice of energetic sounds, for a slightly more repetitive group of strings. There’s twinging of guitars, and is that a violin I hear? (I listen to the songs as I write this, to be as accurate as possible. You may also have noticed I never use the music jargon for 2 reasons; I don’t know it, and it’s slightly exclusive to solely those who know it.)

Heretic Pride

The track which the album is named after, and its probably the best. While the Goats never blast me away with their melodies, the lyrics are just incredible. They fit in perfectly, are sung with conviction, and engross me every time I hear them.

“Crowds grow denser by the second
As we near the center of the town
And they dig a trench right in the main square right there
And they pick me up and throw me down”

This song is probably the best, due to the fantastic story backing it. Its also a great example of a typical Goats song.

I’ll finish this review later by editing the post, I’m a tad busy right now. Expect part 2 within the day or by tomorrow.