Colin Parton's Blog, page 5

Near Dark

Near Dark - Kathryn Bigelow

This is the most authentic and original vampire film I have ever seen. While you immediately think that this is a vampire film you keep waiting for the expected story beats to happen and they never do.

The story opens with the tried and tested – human lured into darkness by lust for one of the vampires. But that is where the familiarity ends.

Caleb is a cowboy somewhere in rural America who tries his luck on the wrong girl who turns him into a vampire. We immediately expect the next steps to be inculcation into this world’s vampire mythos.

But that doesn’t happen. We are even left guessing that Mae is a vampire. We are only given clues – animals are frightened of her and she is terrified of daylight. Oh yeah, and she bit his jugular.

He is then collected by Mae and her fellow creatures of the night. All he is told is that he has to kill or they are going to kill him.

Then we follow Caleb coming to grips with what has happened through normal mundane things – like the fact he can’t eat food anymore.

The pressure for Caleb to move across and join the coterie as a fully-fledged member and his desire to return to his family is the underlying struggle. Tied to this is his wish not to die – whatever that means for what he has become.

The lack of explanation and just seeing what happens is great storytelling. The justification is also great. You get the impression that the others do not want to tell him anything about his new state of being OR they don’t know much themselves.

Mae definitely would have told Caleb but I don’t think she gets a chance with all the pressure that both she and him are under for him to become a killer.

Caleb wants to be part of the group – for what looks like Mae’s sake but maybe he also is intrigued. So he helps them out of some tight spots – especially during the crisis when they are surrounded by cops in daylight.

Looking more into the film it was interesting to see many familiar faces from Aliens & the nod to the film with it showing in one of the towns the group passes through.

In the background to the main story is the story of Caleb’s family and the cops trying to find him and his kidnappers. This is also done well in that it is believable. The cops couldn’t care less and they don’t think he has been kidnapped. His family do and work very hard to get him back.

By not including any of the usual exposition about being a vampire we just get to see the night-to-night lives in action. Great storytelling and the bar scene after they give Caleb his ultimatum is truly something to behold.

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Dark Victory

Dark Victory - Edmund Goulding

A headstrong lady is cured of a brain tumor but during the treatment, her doctor learns that she only has months to live.

The doctor and her best friend decide to keep the secret to themselves hoping to give her a happy last few months.

This backfires and almost costs them all their relationships.

This is an interesting concept for a film but many of the steps along the way have left it very dated.

The biggest problem is taking away the agency from the great character that Davis plays. She is not just a two-dimensional wealthy lady used to getting her way – though she is also all of this.

The is a complex character – clearly used to making her own decissions. This is proved true as soon as she finds out about her diagnosis and lets the doctor and her friend have it.

She comes around to their view shortly and decides to live out the rest of her time in happiness.

The real issue for her here is that while she has been duped by them she has married the doctor and it is only by mistake that she finds out.

Story this means that she isn’t the driving force for the catalyst – the decision to hide the true outcome of the operation from her.

Through the film from this point up until she finds out the truth about the crisis she is a passenger in her own story.

Apart from this section the rest of the plot is well constructed and has reasonable points. None of it is exciting and is all just fine.

All of the intros to the characters are succinct and well handled. I found it disconcerting that before the opperation the doctor wouldn’t tell her anything about what was going to happen.

It’s just so out of place for today. It is also very odd to see Bogart in such a tiny support role. The lead – Brent – is completely forgettable even with all the time on the screen. Bograt has two maybe three scenes but is so great in all.

Watch Bogart in almost anything else – Maltese Falcon would be my suggestion. Even though Davis won the Oscar here for her performance she was just as good in All About Eve – and the film is better.

The pacing is good throughout – a big problem with other films of the time – apart from the end. Judith’s death seems to take FOREVER.

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Mr Robot

Mr Robot - Sam Esmail Season Four

(This is my rating for all four seasons. I’ll add my notes on seasons 1-3 when I find them)

Overall this season was good but it was really just the post script to the brilliance that led up to this point. We learn about the Deus Group – the organization that Whiterose controls. All this added detail was unnecessary – this could have been the ruling council of the dark army.

So the plot for the start of the season is to take down the Deus Group so that Elliot can survive post the shipping of Whiterose’s project to the Congo.

So we are just here to see the end of all the plots with all the characters that have emerged throughout the rest of the story and to be honest most of them are not very interesting. Once Angela lost her mind she ceased to be an exciting part of the story.

We learn, but not clearly, that Whiterose plans to merge two parallel universes. Somehow this is supposed to make everything better.

And then bam it looks like it has worked. But the new world is too good to be true and it quickly unravels when Elliot tries to take the place of his counterpart.

Then we see the intrusion of Elliot’s other personalities that we have seen waiting in the wings and we know there are more.

Elliot learns the true nature of this world – it is in his mind and he is a prisoner. What I hated about the whole reveal of Whiterose’s plan was that everything has been explained to us throughout the seasons.

We begin to see her plan revealed but the explanation leaves a lot to be desired. The reveal that Elliot himself was a personality was interesting but kinda unnecessary.

Like Mr. Robot’s creation makes complete sense.

But the creation of another Elliot? The only explanation that we get from the real Elliot in the prison-fantasy world is that his life is too boring so he creates Elliot because being a super hacker would be fun. Come on.

One sequence that I did enjoy was the return of Fernando. His return doesn’t make a lot of sense but the sequence that follows is spectacular. His dialogue is crisp and refreshing and the secrets he forces Krista to get out of Elliot are amazing.

Overall they just spent too long on everything this season. It did feel like the end and the only reason it was made was because it was so popular.

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Jonh Frances Daley & Johnathan Goldstein

This film has a well-constructed non-linear plot. It is super fun and has lots of nods to fans as well.

I did not expect much going into this given the last movie crossover attempt – so I was pleasantly surprised.

From the get the film is in its element. It knows what it is and pulls no punches. It is a fun and engaging adventure with likable characters with understandable and believable motives.

Our party’s leader is a charismatic bard, Edgin, played by Chris Pine. His too-trusting companion, Holga, played by Michelle Rodriguez, is ever present as the stalwart fighter.

These are the main two characters and we meet them well into the story.

The film opens with them captured in an icy fortress and we waste no time getting our introductions to the glib-tongued Edgin and the ferocious Holga.

This leads us into the first telling of their backstory – as they plead for release from jail. We get all caught up and meet all the rest of the party members.

Hugh Grant as Forge, the hapless rogue, and Justice Smith as Simon, the even worse sorcerer.

This is great as we can skim over the adventures and the years that led to this point.

We learn of how Edgin and Holga ended up in jail and we meet the villain – an evil sorceress. If we had gone through the story linearly and actually watched all of the rather than Egdin telling it to us it would have taken forever.

Egdin and Holga escape and we are all caught up. Eight or so years and multiple adventures backstory told in a few minutes. Brilliant writing.

We soon learn that Forge was in league with the sorceress leaving them to be caught. Simon leads them to a stalwart druid, Doric played by Sophia Lillis.

The plan to take down Forge and rescue his daughter is put into action. A funny and at times poignant adventure takes place with all the expected tropes.

Doric wild shaping through the castle to learn about their plans is a brilliant sequence of events. So much fun to watch.

The Paladin is hilarious. Played to a tee by Rege-Jean Page.

The literal way he takes everything is so on point. The hither thither staff is just excellent as well.

The scenes where they use it to get into the treasure carriage had me laughing out loud.

There is a big reveal very near the end that Edgin is actually to cause for everything that has happened. He stole some treasure from the original red wizard’s horde leading them to his doorstep. This is the catalyst of the story and why he is doing what he is doing.

He is trying to atone for bringing death to his wife and leading everyone down this path.

Apart from the fabulous story structure and the really fun moments there is sincerity and believability with all the characters. Holga may be a little dumb but not comically so and she is true and sincere.

Simon’s failing as a sorcerer is rooted in his lack of belief in himself – which we see throughout the film.

Even Forge who might appear to be a charismatic fool looking to make a quick buck from the sorceress is no fool. He has an exit plan and doesn’t plan to die, even though he is happy for everyone else to. I highly recommend this for fans of the game and newcomers alike!

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Planet Earth

Planet Earth - David Attenborough

This incredible series is constructed in a very different way from everything else I have seen Attenborough do. Rather than look at a particular species or place on the planet this series is broken up into different biomes.

This is such a neat idea and allows us to focus on different species all over the world without the jarring this would cause if it was completely disconnected. As always Attenborough is great. I had never considered this before but one of the reasons he is such a great presentor is because of his passion and care for the subject.

I loved every moment of this and by the end was shocked that it was over – much too short. I think that this is a great sign at the end of a show that has 9 hours of footage.

When something like this is just so good all I can say is what I liked. The sharks in episode one were spectacular.

I really enjoyed all the bears but the polar bears and grizzlies raising their cubs was just fantastic.

The snow leopard was great and such a fantastic example of how precarious the mountain slopes they live on are if a creature that has evolved to exist in these conditions has such issues.

Overall I felt that the caves episode was the best. It has the most spectacular visuals and just crazy stuff – like the entire ecosystem built on bat dung. Then to end with the crystal caves, there is just such huge variety in this episode – amazing.

I enjoyed the freshwater episode – some truly spectacular waterfalls. The otter versus crocodile fight – this episode has it all. I cannot recommend this mini-series enough. You must must must watch it.

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The Piano

The Piano - Jane Campion

This is a strangely mesmerizing film that looks at a love triangle set in early during New Zealand’s settlement.

In a bold move, Campion decides to have a mute lead. We hear her speak twice in the film – both in internal monologues. These are right at the beginning and right at the end.

This puts a lot of weight on Holy Hunter’s shoulders. She has to show us all the emotions that her character is feeling. She does this incredibly well.

Her communication with the rest of the characters is left to her daughter who can translate her signing.

Her strength is palpable throughout. It raises to a fever pitch the moment they land on the beach in New Zealand and doesn’t let up for one second.

The story follows Ada who is married to Alisdair, Sam Neil’s character, and shipped to New Zealand. Sam makes the fatal flaw of not recognizing the piano’s significance to Ada as he leaves it on the beach after their arrival.

Left to her own devices, Ada enlists Banes, Harvey Keitel, to transport it from the beach. But Baines hatches a plan and trades the piano from Alisdair for a large tract of land.

So the piano ends up at Baines’ house and he begins trading it back to Ada in return for ‘favors’.

Sam eventually catches on to what is happening after Ada’s daughter all but tells him point blank.

But even when he sees them sleeping together he doesn’t do anything to stop them. It is a weird series of scenes where he ends up watching his wife sleeping with his best friend.

Then he bars Ada in his house and there is a back and forth until he moves to free her. She ends up declaring her love for Baines but her daughter betrays her and takes the message to Alisdair instead.

This culminates in one of the most harrowing scenes in any film I’ve watched.

In a fit of rage Alisdair chops Ada’s finger off. It is silent apart from the rain and her daughter weeping as she watches on. Ada doesn’t make a sound. This makes it much much worse than if she had screamed.

The trauma that this would have done to her daughter as she watches the direct result of her actions is incredible to think about.

But Ada gets what she is after and she is released from her marriage and flees with her daughter and Baines away from New Zealand.

So the story is simple but great and well told. Some really strong moments and good performances all round.

The locations stick with you. The scenes of Mauri hauling the crates and the piano up the soaked gorges in the forest are incredible.

And the mud – the mud is almost a character of its own. It is everywhere and the scenes of the ladies fully dressed up crossing it is just something else.

Holly’s performance is truly magical. She brings to life Ada’s pragmatism and stalwart nature from the get-go. When she is dropped with her belongings on a deserted beach and the Captain offers to take her to the town they are heading to so they can meet up with Alisdair later her blunt refusal to return to the filthy boat is hilarious. Just great.

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Spider-Man: Across The Spider-verse

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson  9/10

Miles Morales returns as Spider-Man from an alternate dimension but this is much more than his story this time around. The overall premise of this story is that there are cannon events in every Spider-Man life that must happen – if they don’t then the multi-verse can be destroyed.

In order to illustrate this the story starts with Gwen. The opening is extremely well written and we get here entire back story in a few minutes.

She is quickly unmasked in her world and her dad goes to arrest her. This whole situation is devastating.

Something I absolutely love about this film is the way they change the animation to show the movement between universes. Such a neat and easy visual clue that we have moved.

The washed out water colours of Gwen’s world contrasted with the haphazard almost scribbled backgrounds of Pavitr’s is great.

By starting the story with Gwen it allows the writers to portray Miles as a jerk in the opening of the film – which they do with aplomb

The desires of the individual characters are contrasted with the overall premise to save the spider-verse by removing anomalies and ensuring cannon events occur is interesting.

We get to see both views of this contrast through Miles and Gwen. Miles sees it from the outside as he and we are inculcated into the spider-verse. We also see it from Gwen’s perspective as someone who has already gone through this.

We are shown things that give good examples that if anomalies are allowed to occur and cannon events are interrupted it can wipe out entire worlds.

Given all of this Miles is still keen to fight against what he sees is wrong. Gwen is torn between what she sees as the right thing to do – save the worlds – and what she individually wants – Miles and a return to her world and a relationship with her father.

Because of the way these things are portreyed to us we end up on Miles’ side. This is very strange because logically we are supporting the destruction of the spider-verse.

I really enjoyed the villain – spot – learning his powers throughout the film. This was very funny to watch.

Miles’ mum’s speech to him about going out into the world to do what he wants is amazing – just stellar writing.

Every aspect of India-Spiderman (Pavitr) is brilliant. The chai-tea bit links brilliantly to Miles ATM bit from the start.

They do some great references to the comics with little boxes of descriptions etc coming up on the screen – the film opens with an animated ‘Cough’ on the black screen before the titles.

The boxes allow them to introduce a brit punk rock Spider-Man that speaks in his local lingo and we get translations through the boxes – also just a great character in general.

We learn that the whole reason that all these anomalies are happening is because of Miles – the spider that bit him is from another earth so he is an anomaly.

The film ends with a rebellion group of the spider-men who join together to fight the main group of spider-men who are protecting the spider-verse from destruction.

I have a problem with how this all came together. The punk rock spider-man is stealling stuff constantly from the spider-man HQ and he builds all there own portal devices. But he destroys his original one when he quits. My question is why? All the others do need him to make one for them because they no longer have one.

Miles ends up in the wrong dimension because he is sent back to where the spider that bit him came from. And in this dimension he has become the ripper from the first film.

Big BOOOO to the ending finishing on a cliff hanger. So this film has some serious issues with the narrative structure because the climax doesn’t answer the central question – obviously because this is part one of the story. The film still manages to score 9 out of 10 for me because of how brilliant the rest of the pieces are.

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Skyrim

Skryim - Bethesda Game Studios  8/10

I only finished playing this recently after playing on and off since release. The time I spent playing this game verges on the ridiculous. More ridiculous was my fixation on completing every facet of the game.

Reflecting back on the game as a whole I must say that overall I found it good, great even in parts but not the fantastic game that it was lorded (and still is) to be.

The main plot follows the return of dragons to the world as well as the Dragonborn (you) who are here to defeat them.

This takes place on the backdrop of the civil war in Skyrim as the xenophobic Nords, seek to retake take their land, and leave the empire.

As you navigate your way through these two main storylines you meet many other people of note throughout Skyrim and also run across a number of the Daedric gods.

You have the opportunity to end up leading the Wizard’s College; the Thieves Guild; the Dark Brotherhood assassin guild; and the Companions.

And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the people you meet and aid across the country. 

With so much to sink your teeth into it felt like this was a no-brainer 10/10. The problem was that it all felt a bit bland. I found that I ended up not being able to identify with any of the groups.

So you end up as a lone wanderer, who can be a member or even leader of a group that they don’t identify with. Even if you lean into the group’s goals I felt that you either ended up having to do something that didn’t sit right or it was a bit lack-luster.

The main quip I always hear is about the civil war – this is low-hanging fruit because the Nords are racist and you are encouraged to support them without knowing this at the start. You escape from execution by the empire – so why would you side with them?

The companions were a group I felt was much more interesting. While they do have the same – we love nords attitude – theirs is rooted in history. While their history does see them participate in wars they stand apart now and are more interested in personal choice and honor.

What makes them very interesting is that they have a dark secret. They are infected with lycanthropy. Their story sees you join the head of their group in his quest to rid himself of the curse so he can enter the Nordic afterlife.

What is great about this story is the player gets to choose whether they end up following this example or join others in the group who relish the hunt. Great stuff. But the problem I found is that it was a very quick quest line compared to the others.

Gameplay itself was fun and allowed you to play whatever sort of character you liked. I enjoyed the skill development, especially the crafting skills. Allowed you to tinker and develop the types of items that you wanted to create.

After all these years something still made me want to come back and finish it properly. And when I did I felt more relief than accomplishment.

So while there were some great parts and the gameplay worked well the thing I have to thank Skyrim for is making me realise that there is no need to 100% complete a game.

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David Copperfield

David Copperfield - George Cukor This is part of my unedited thoughts series  6/10

The film felt pretty true to the source material. The problem was that lots of the characters seemed to have forgotten that they were in a Charles Dickens adaptation.

Dickens’ characters are larger than life and if you don’t lean into that the acting will be awful. There is a great contrast in the opening scenes between David’s aunt and his mother. The aunt gets it and she is brilliant to watch throughout the film. His mum comes across as a melodramatic fop.

When I was reading the novel I felt that a lot of the plot centered around the machinations of Uriah Heep. This is because his ploys affect both the true target of David’s affection and his lodger – David. It was happening throughout the book as David was lodged with this family from fairly early on. Without this, there doesn’t seem to be any real antagonist.

I also felt that the whole Emily plot could have been cut. This is a great look into the world in which David lives it holds no baring on the central plot. That is unless we see Emily as a potential love interest. For this to happen David needs to give us a sign. All the early setup is there and until he is asked outright we could believe that it was a possibility.

I hate the way this film opens with a quotation from Dickens about how much he loves David Copperfield. Then we see the first page of the book. Yeah, we get it. This is an adaptation. The fact that it is an adaptation and Dickens liked the story has no bearing on the story itself.

The three girls are central to holding the disparate parts of this story together. Emily, Agnes, and Dora. Emily the early remembrance of his early life and represents simple poor folk.

Agnes, his lifelong friend during his days at school. Who loves him dearly. She is also key to being fought over by David and Uriah, even if David cannot see it. Then we have Dora. Dora is David’s idea of what he should be aiming for. Some sort of phantasmical beauty well above his station.

The thing that David doesn’t seem to understand – despite it being thrown in his face the entire story – is that happiness is all that matters. The money the status that he seems to (only really half-heatedly) long for is unimportant. His blindness to this leads Emily to ruin and breaks Agnes’ heart when he chooses Dora.

I just happened to be reading Nicholas Nickleby at the time when I watched this and it got me thinking about some other Dickens that I had read. I haven’t read these books recently but I have read Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, and Hard Times. The last was so long ago I barely remember it at all. 

I feel that Dickens has a well-worn troupe. There is a young boy left in destitution. Generally, his family or relatives are horrible to him and he has to leave to make his way in the world. He is generally naive and blind to the love of a girl (or girls). This is fine because I do feel that the lead in these stories is more of a window in the world of fantastic larger-than-life characters that Dickens creates.

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The Great

The Great - Tony McNamara Season One This is part of my unedited thoughts series  10/10

This show is just fantastic. The casting is great as are the performances in all the key roles. This first season follows Catherine The Great from her arrival in Russia to her attempt to take the throne from Peter.

I feel overall the story is super tragic. This is because of how flawed Peter is. At his heart, I feel he is a good man but is a product of his terrible upbringing.

All the characters are interesting and have different goals on the court. They are different and flawed and the script explores these things well.

The best part about the show is its ability to handle its monumental tonal shifts with aplomb. The show is hilarious in a ludicrous almost theatre of the absurd way. This is because of the absolute nonsense that is happening around the court – generally just to keep Peter happy.

This absurdity is also because of the period it is set in. Serfdom is the norm in Russia and ideas a flourishing in Paris and across western Europe.

This is where the tonal shift comes in cause some of the things that are happening are truly horrible and Catherine is seriously trying to do something about it.

The marrying of the comedy and tragedy could easily be a disaster but it is done so well that it makes this show magic.

When Peter is poisoned in a fit of anger by one of his friends Catherine is thrust into the spotlight as it looks like she will get the power she has been dreaming of. Unfortunately, she turns out to be terrible.

This drives her to be ready for the next time she has an opportunity. We see some truly wild takes on some great historical characters from Voltaire to the King and Queen of Sweden.

The season ends with the coup beginning. I am extremely excited to see where the story goes next because at this point this is one of the best tv shows I have ever seen.

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