The Room Live! At the Prince Charles Cinema, 11/2/12

After I first watched The Room (and reviewed it here), the film exploded in popularity with my friends and I. Multiple viewings for other friends so they could see it, and even a ill-fated drinking game. Sadly, the film had so many repetitive moments, the game was derailed after about 30 minutes, when everyone was too drunk to remember when they were supposed to drink.

After that, The Room laid low for a while, but when we heard the news that there was a screening at the Prince Charles Cinema in London, with director/star/producer/writer Tommy Wiseau and star/producer Greg Sestero in attendance, it came back!

We arrived at the cinema about an hour before the doors were going (any attendees reading this, we were at the 7pm screening on the Saturday night), to find no one queuing. Having nothing else to do, we decided to wait. As Tommy himself might say, this was "Good thinking!"

After a while of waiting (in the company of, it has to be said, some rather surly security people), who should we see walk up the street but Tommy and Greg themselves! Now bear in mind that the most we thought we'd see of them was inside as part of the introduction/Q&A portion of the evening, so when we were able to say "hai" and shake hands with them, we were ecstatic!

Not long after that, we were let in and quickly entered to find the merchandise table (selling shirts, posters, the DVD and a Johnny Bobblehead doll!), as well as Tommy and Greg waiting to meet and greet everyone! At this point, excitement levels pretty much went off the chart. I bought a shirt (in hindsight, I probably should have bought a second DVD, as washing it is going to be a pain, but I didn't care at the time!), which Tommy signed. I was so shocked, that I forgot to get Greg to sign it also, sorry Greg! Then we got photos with them, that you can see below...





After that, we bundled into the screen and got some killer seats in the front row, right in front of the stage. An employee of the PCC quickly ran through the ground rules, making sure we knew about the spoons. I should add at this point, it's tradition to throw spoons every time a spoon photograph is seen in the background. If you're reading this, and haven't seen The Room, I'd stop now, go find it, then come back.

Tommy and Greg then hit the stage, for a frankly bizarre Q&A session. If people are wondering if Tommy's weirdness is just an act, or it's real, well I still don't know. Judging by his erratic behaviour and answers to the questions ("Move on, next question" was repeated a lot!) and the fact he was wearing his belt half way down his trousers, I'd opt for the latter.

Meanwhile, Greg, who didn't get too many questions, just seemed bemused by the whole thing, and seemed to not even be listening at one point, although when Tommy starts going on about how "retarded" the character of Denny was, or trying to do a French accent (at least, that's what I think he was trying to do), you can't really blame him for zoning out a bit. He did convince Tommy to perform some of his Shakespearean sonnet, which he did. In a way. I should mention, that no matter how strange any of this sounds, I'm not making any of it up.

The screening begun to a huge reaction, and the shouting began! Shouting along to the dialogue, swaying arms, singing and clapping along to the songs, throwing the aforementioned spoons, and just generally heckling the film were all part of the experience, and I even discovered new things to do during the film...

I'd heard the term "wine and neck" used about a scene in The Room before, but not until I saw it on the big screen did I realise what it meant. Next time you watch it, check out Lisa's neck during the scene with Michelle before the amazing "You're tearing me apart!" scene. Screams of terror resonated throughout the screen!

Other new fun to be had included counting the amount of passes during the games of "throw the ball", and chanting "GO GO GO" during the repeated establishing shots of the Golden Gate Bridge ("Meanwhile, back in San Francisco..."), it was all just amazing fun!

The film ended, and everyone gave it a standing ovation, and as we all left the building, looking at the queue forming for the next screening, we were satisfied. But it wasn't quite over yet...

Earlier in the evening, Stacey had her American football confiscated by the grumpy security people, and we had to grab that before we left, it was £12 after all! But as we asked, out bounds Tommy Wiseau, with Stacey's ball in hand, wanting to play "throw the ball"!

Needless, to say I ran over, and sure enough Tommy THREW ME THE BALL! And I threw it back! If the previous few hours weren't Room dream fulfillment enough, actually playing "throw the ball" with Tommy was the icing on the cake!

We then watched on as a huge circle formed, and Tommy threw the ball back and forth with people for a while, then went back in to get Greg. All this time we were very aware we needed the ball back before we left, so we waited. But then, Tommy went in, ball in hand, and we turned into the little kids next door - "Can we have our ball back please?"

Eventually we got it back, but it's typical isn't it? You go to see a film at the cinema, and the director and star steals your American football. I don't know!

After that, we stumbled back to the tube, in a dream like state. In fact, the dreams I had during the night that followed were more realistic than the events of Saturday evening. I can only hope that Tommy and Greg do indeed return next year, as they were "99% certain" it would happen. I can't miss another evening like that. But the scary thing is, other than that, where can we take The Room from here?

Film Review: Starcrash

In 1977, Star Wars was unleashed on the world, and cinema as we know it changed forever. Even though George Lucas, seemingly pissed off that he made a good film which people loved, has been trying to ruin it ever since, at the time, the 'blockbuster' movie was truly born, knocking the auteur's like Francis For Coppolla, Martin Scorcese and Peter Bogdanovich into a cocked hat.

After 1977, if you had a film, or an idea for a film that included the word 'Star' in the titles, or was very clearly set in outer space, you could guarantee it would get made. 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, based on the popular TV show, was made as a knock on effect of Star War's success, and seemingly was brought out in such a rush they barely bothered with a  plot, thinking glory shots of how cool the Enterprise ship and outer space looked was enough to keep an audiences entertained. However, it made a ton of money, but was deathly dull, so it kind of worked.

But the worst of all the films that followed has to be Starcrash. Everything about the film screams shoddy knock off. In fact the opening shot of the Death Star in A New Hope, is flat out copied at the start of Starcrash, except the ship is clearly made of Lego, or similar plastic blocks.

Instead of R2-D2 and C3PO, we have Elle, a robot who seems to have the voice of Sheriff Buford T. Justice from Smokey And The Bandit, and Princess Leia's iconic 'bun' hairdo? Well, that ends up on Count Zarth Arn (Joe Spinell) who is not the movies love interest, but the villain!

The plot, for what it's worth, concerns a mission to save the son of an Emperor (Christopher Plummer) by a pair of smugglers, Akton (Marjoe Gortner) and Stella Star (Caroline Munro), who after the rescuing the son, Simon (David Hasselhoff. Yeah, really) must stop the evil Count's plans to use a mysterious weapon. Or something.

Everything about Starcrash is pretty terrible. It's like Plan 9 From Outer Space...in outer space. For a film you can sit and watch with friends it's a total laugh riot, but as a film it's a mess. And quite how actors like Christopher Plummer and Joe Spinell (Willy Cicci in the first two Godfather films, and Tony Gazzo in Rocky) ended up in this mess is beyond me. It can't have been the money, because there doesn't look like there was any spent!

To make matters all the more embarrassing, pretty much all the main cast are dubbed, and the sets look like toys. And really cheap toys at that. The space battles are headache inducing, and the special effects include such highlights as footage of clouds being used so poorly they blur into other objects in the same shot (shockingly, mountains are not transparent.)

If you're looking for one of 'those' films, where you can sit back with friends, crack open a few beers and tear it to pieces, Starcrash is for you. If you're looking for a worthy (or even average) sci-fi film in the tradition of Star Wars, you couldn't be looking in any worse a place. Any film where you wait 50 minutes for David Hasselhoff to show up in the hope it will get good, is never going to be.

*
An utterly dire attempt to make a bit of money by surfing on the wave of Star Wars. Only redeemable for being one of those 'so bad it's good' movies. But it is still better than Phantom Menace.

Gig Review: Mastodon/The Dillinger Escape Plan/Red Fang. UEA Norwich, 9/2/12

Whilst I haven't followed them that closely their whole career, and really only started listening to them in the last year or so, it seems obvious to me that Mastodon are one of those bands who do whatever they want, in terms of music. Whilst remaining 'heavy', no two albums of theirs really stay the same. And no more so than their latest album, The Hunter.

Whilst it's predecessor, Crack The Skye adopted a more progressive feel to it, with epic long songs such as The Czar and The Last Baron, The Hunter goes for shorter songs, a move that angered many people, who seem unable to enjoy watching a band as talented as Mastodon evolve.

To say The Hunter went down well critically is a bit of an understatement. Recieving glowing reviews across the board from places you'd expect it to, like Kerrang, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer to places you wouldn't, such as Q, The Guardian. Hell, The Times named it their album of the year for 2011!

The album even bothered the top 20 album charts in the UK, and they featured on an episode of Later With Jools Holland on the BBC. As you may gather, Mastodon are not just another metal band.

What I like so much about them is that they don't try and sound like a tribute to older bands. When you have seemingly every metal band out there emulating Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden etc., Mastodon, again, do what they want and have a style that's almost their own.

Opening for Mastodon at the UEA was Red Fang, a band about as close as you can get to Mastodon musically. And I mean that in a good way. From Portland, Oregon and on their first tour ever in the UK, the band really impressed. A stoner-style mix of big riffs and dazzling solos, won everyone at the sold out UEA over almost instantly. A great start to the night.

What didn't fit that well on the bill however, was the inclusion of The Dillinger Escape Plan. Whilst they were hugely popular with the crowd (many of whom were clearly only there to see them) and did at first hold my interest with their energetic and crazy performance, I just couldn't maintain the excitement levels others had for them. I've never been a huge fan of screaming vocals, but DEP play extremely well, but after a little while, the vocals, and the lack of memorable songs (they really did bleed into each other after a while) really started to turn me off. There are plenty of Mastodon's contemporaries that could have fit the bill, it's a shame that didn't happen.

All such issues with the support bill were soon forgotten when Mastodon hit the stage. What followed was over 90 minutes of pummeling metal, with no breaking for any between-song talking, a lot of which was from The Hunter (9 songs out of the 23 played in fact), and those seemed to be the songs that got the biggest response from the crowd, from where I was standing anyway. Songs like Dry Bone Valley, Black Tongue, Curl of the Burl, and Blasteroid got huge cheers, up there with the reaction when they played the older hits such as I Am Ahab, and Blood and Thunder.

As is becoming tradition at gigs, the people around me didn't seem to share everyone's enthusiasm. While Mastodon were on stage, some kids to the left in me (wearing DEP shirts) seemed more interested in throwing a shirt about the crowd, and a lot of the time weren't even facing the stage.

But the worst thing by far was the young guy in front of me who I saw UPDATE HIS FACEBOOK STATUS whilst Mastodon were on stage, moaning about how dull they were, and how he wanted them to play the older stuff. Even though the name of the tour was The Hunter. Just astoundingly ignorant, and possibly the worst thing I've ever seen at a gig.

Apart from the idiots who refuse to accept a band must release new material to continue to have a career, the crowd reaction to Mastodon was one of the loudest I've ever heard at the UEA (which was either sold out, or extremely close to) throughout the set. The performance reminded me in a way of when I saw Dream Theater at High Voltage last year, just amazing musical skills, but utterly grueling, in the best possible sense.

Where Mastodon go from here is anybody's guess. They seem to be able to do no wrong for the last few years (they even emerged unscathed from doing the score for the terrible Jonah Hex movie), so the only way is up. At this rate they could be the band that finally changes the public's perception of metal. It'd be about time.

Mastodon played...

1. Dry Bone Valley
2. Black Tongue
3. Crystal Skull
4. I Am Ahab
5. Capillarian Crest
6. Colony Of Birchmen
7. Megalodon
8. Thickening
9. Blasteroid
10. Sleeping Giant
11. Ghost of Karelia
12. All the Heavy Lifting
13. Spectrelight
14. Curl of the Burl
15. Bedazzled Fingernails
16. Circle of Cysquatch
17. Aqua Dementia
18. Crack The Skye
19. Where Strides the Behemoth 
20. Iron Tusk
21. March of the Fire Ants
22. Blood and Thunder
23. Creature Lives

Film Review: Bug (2006)

I'm sure I've seen Michael Shannon in other films, but it wasn't till his fantastic turn as the unstable Agent Nelson Van Alden in HBO's Boardwalk Empire that I really sat up and took notice. I've seen a few of his films, and while he seems to be playing equally unhinged characters, he always seems to add something different to each one. And to make things really interesting, he's playing General Zod in the forthcoming Superman reboot, Man Of Steel. Inspired casting.

But, so far, the best film I've seen him in is Bug. Made in 2006, and directed by the legendary William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection, To Live And Die In L.A.), Bug stars Ashley Judd as Agnes White, a lonely woman who ends up holed up in a hotel room with a damaged war veteran, Peter Evans (Shannon), who convinces her that the room is crawling with an insect infestation. But is there really a bug outbreak? Or is it all in their lonely and delusional minds?

Bug is an uncomfortable watch throughout, but make no mistake it is not a 'Insects eat Ashley Judd for 90 minutes' picture, it's a film about loneliness, paranoia, and if you really read into it, drug addiction. Friedkin has made a career making films about the darkness in people, just look at Regan in The Exorcist, Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, Richard Chance in To Live And Die In L.A. or Steve Burns in Cruising. Bug is no different. Both lead characters are tortured souls, whether its loneliness or the after effects of war.

The leads are simply phenomenal. In the hands of lesser actresses and actors, the film would have crossed a line into wildly O.T.T. nonsense, but such is their skill, they keep it both utterly believable without ever appearing silly. Fans of Shannon in Boardwalk must see this, as this is by far the wildest of his performances I've seen.

As it's based on the play of the same name (which Shannon starred in, reprising his role here), most of the action is confined to the Motel and has a relatively small cast of characters. Lynn Collins plays R.C., a 'friend' of Agnes' who introduces her to Peter, and Harry Connick Jr. plays Agnes' dodgy ex Jerry, who shows back up on the scene early on. But it's really a two person show. , and what a show it is, and at the same time, probably Friedkin's best film since 1985's To Live And Die In L.A. Quite the statement.

*****
A truly superb film. Ignore the trappings of the DVD case which make it look like a trashy horror film, and enjoy a superb, albeit at times difficult to watch, character study into paranoia, loneliness and addiction. Couldn't recommend it highly enough.

Film Review: The Artist

A film like The Artist is always going to be considered a bit of a novelty. A silent movie being released when everything is getting louder and louder. Huge IMAX screens churning out (usually) dreadful films in 3D, normally based on a range of toys, or a sequel,a  prequel, a re-imagining. To release a silent, and black and white, movie these days seems crazy.

But, aside from the inevitable stories of dimwits demanding refunds because they didn't know it was a silent movie (how they managed to evade that piece of information is beyond me), the film has been a huge success, made even more so by being nominated for every award under the sun. Although, some of those awards don't exactly hold much luster.

Directed by French director Michel Hazanavivius, who has previously filmed tributes to 60's style spy movies in his home country, The Artist is an unashamed tribute to Hollywood (which is probably why it's picked up so many Oscar nominations), starring Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, a silent movie star whose career is threatened by the advent of the 'talkie' picture. He discovers then-unknown starlet Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) who becomes a huge success, while Valentin's star starts to fall, rather rapidly.

The Artist shows that you don't need talking to make a good film. The only sound you hear (save a short dream sequence and at the very end of the movie) is the score by Ludovic Bource. The music in the film hasn't been so important in recent memory, and it's wonderful, and really captures the moods of the film throughout. So much had to ride on it, seeing as it's all you hear, and it does a marvelous job.

Dujardin is superb as George Valentin, it's a tremendous performance. Even more so as it's a performance where not a single word is uttered. A man who has been a huge star, finding himself on the Hollywood (or Hollywoodland as it was back in the 1920's) scrapheap almost overnight, leaving him without work, then eventually divorced and broke, with only his little dog (played by amazing wonder dog Uggie) and his driver Clifton (James Cromwell) left.

There are a few other recognizable names too, other than James Cromwell. Most prominent is John Goodman as Al Zimmer, the producer who ditches the silent movie for the talkie, and smaller roles for Penelope Ann Miller and Malcom McDowell (who only has the one scene.)

If anyone fears the silent movie novelty will detract from the film, with all it's pauses to display what is being said, they have nothing to worry about. The Artist's story and acting performances are better than the majority of it's contemporaries on the big screen today. It took me about 10 minutes to get used to it, and then I was hooked for the rest of it. Remember, films used to be like this! Didn't mean they are no longer worth watching!

The only thing I fear, is that other people will try and ride on the coattails and make another silent picture. It just wouldn't work. The Artist is a wonderful one-off and it should be kept that way.

*****
The Artist is an absolute triumph in every respect. Brilliantly acted and directed, it's a true one-off in this day and age. Let's hope no one tries to do another, though.

Film Review: The Descendants

Alexander Payne has been making enjoyable dark comedies for a while now. Not a huge output, but with films like Election, About Schmidt and Sideways under his belt, quality far exceeds quantity. His latest, The Descendants, is a bit softer than those films, but is still enjoyable, with an outstanding lead performance.

George Clooney plays Matt King, a land baron living in Hawaii, trying to deal with the fallout of with his wife Elizabeth being in a coma after a jet ski accident. He's trying to re-connect with his daughters Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller), and things are made all the more complicated when he discovers Elizabeth was having an affair...

Clooney is truly superb as Matt. It's probably one of his best performances, and he perfectly captures every nuance on a character in a surreal situation such as he is in. I am hard pressed to think of any other actor that could have played him, such is the power of Clooney's performance.

The rest of the cast are good too, albeit with one or two slightly iffy casting decisions, with Beau Bridges being the main issue I had, playing one of Clooney's cousins, Hugh. In the films subplot, Clooney and the rest of his cousins have to make a decision on a land deal that would turn a Hawaiian beauty spot into a tourist are, full of houses and shops. Bridges just doesn't fit well into the film, I thought.

The writing is wonderful, and conveys nicely the sentiment that just because Hawaii is known as a tropical paradise, doesn't mean there aren't people there who have the same problems as the rest of us. But as stated earlier, it's all slightly more sentimental than you are used to with Payne.

Hawaii is shot brilliantly, in both ways you'd expect, the beaches, sea and tropical foliage we have all seen a million times in shows like Lost (shot in Hawaii) and Magnum P.I., to the suburbs of Hawaii, because real people do live there after all.

Overall, The Descendants did miss a little something for me. It's a marvelously acted film, with Clooney putting in a performance of a lifetime, and an intelligent, touching and witty script, but it just missed that extra edge you normally get in an Alexander Payne film.

****
A great film, although not up there with the directors other work. George Clooney is superb in the lead role though, and makes any other inadequacies with the film nearly irrelevant. Nearly.

Film Review: Love Birds

I've got a lot of time for Rhys Darby. Like most people, I first saw him in the excellent Flight Of The Conchords (and when I say excellent, I mean the first season only, the second one went off the boil quite a bit) as the bands incompetent manager Murray.

Since then he had a great supporting role in Jim Carrey vehicle Yes Man (a film I still really like), and has done his stand-up tour around the world (in fact, I'll be seeing him in Ipswich in July) and has written a book. He's also found time for more movies, including Love Birds.

Darby plays Doug, who after his self-obsessed girlfriend Sarah (Faye Smythe) dumps him, finds himself nurturing an injured duck that runs into his garden. Not knowing what to do with the wounded quacker, he meets zoo veterinarian Holly (Sally Hawkins), and the two start a relationship that has to overcome all the usual hurdles you'd find in a film like this - the child who doesn't want a new Dad, the ex coming back on the scene, and some that are not, the trials and tribulations of looking after a duck called Pierre.

There's a lot to like about Love Birds. The two leads are great, both separately and together, and have a really good chemistry with each other, and Doug's relationship with Pierre is equally sweet, although that gets a bit far-fetched on one or two occasions (I'll come back to that later), and there's some good comedy moments to be had, mostly coming from Darby, obviously.

But that about does it for the plus points, unfortunately. The plot in romantic comedies are never going to be especially complex, but when you're watching a film with people and everyone is calling what is going to happen later, you know your film is a little too formulaic.

The supporting cast is pretty poor also. Doug's workmates are set up to be comic relief, but when you have someone like Rhys Darby supplying the laughs already, it just doesn't work. And the character of Sarah's friend Brenda (Emily Barclay) is so one dimensional, that all she talks about is relationships and/or sex. She literally has nothing else to say.

As I mentioned earlier, things do get a bit silly as the film progresses. A scene where Doug has to chase his car as it is being towed away as Pierre is inside seems almost as if it was shot just so it include 'Bicycle Race' by Queen, who contribute a lot to the soundtrack, with varying degrees of success.

Also a scene where Doug, who has lost Pierre, opens his car doors and blasts out 'Who Wants To Live Forever', again by Queen, in order to find him is pretty ludicrous.

Another thing that started to grate on me was how similar the words Doug and duck were. In a New Zealand accent they sound quite similar, surely they could have given Darby's character a name that didn't sound like duck (and things are made worse when another character says Dad in a thick NZ accent, that sounds like Doug and duck too!)

If you're a fan of Darby, it's worth a one time only watch, but there's a lot better out there if you are looking for an original rom-com.

**
Likable enough lead characters, a nice performance from Rhys Darby and the odd amusing moment throughout, but overall Love Birds is a generic, predictable, poorly written in places romantic comedy, albeit with an adorable duck thrown in.