Mission: Imprimatur

So I went to the flicks yesterday, despite having no money, as it was a Bank Holiday and I felt I should do something so went to my favourite which as most of you know is the IMAX. I love the IMAX it reminds of what films used to be like when you were a kid: big, imposing and overwhelming. I wasn’t actually that fussed with seeing Mission Impossible 4 to be honest what I was interested in, as anyone who knows me will have gathered, is that there was the 6 minute prologue to the new Batman film attached to the beginning. Unfortunately my preconceived notions about both of these was reversed by the end which is an uncomfortable position to be in for a life long Bat-Fan. Why? I shall explain…

Mission Impossible –

Let’s get this straight first, I really like Mission Impossible 1. It was well written, fun, exciting, well directed and return to the traditional ‘European’ school of spy thrillers. Brian De Palma did a great job and I thought Tom Cruise and Jon Voight were great. The other two I also like. They weren’t amazing but they were decent enough action flicks (2 having a particularly fun third act) so in general I like them but I doubted whether it would stretch to a fourth film.

Brad Bird takes the helm to Direct, this being his first live action film having only directed all my least favourite PIXAR films prior to this. Oh yeah and Iron Giant which is great. *ahem* Point being its a bold move for the producers (Cruise himself and previous director JJ Abrams) to dump him in the driver’s seat and to be honest it was a bad move.

You see M:I 4 is a strange one. There are so many bad things about it I should hate: AWFUL dialogue, crap performances, lousy editing, poor directing but weirdly all these are cancelled out by the things it does right. I’ll try to explain; The dialogue is dreadful but the plot is a lot of fun, the villain is non-existent and in no way threatening but the stakes are high and it really drives the plot, the actors in the team are ALL dreadful but Tom Cruise is actually really good (still macho as all hell but brings some of his very real charm to the role), the action sequences are badly directed and confusingly edited but the set pieces themselves are really original and very exciting, there are cheesy lines (“Mission Accomplished!”) but they then get skewered by a funny line (“You actually said that?”) and both female characters in the film are hot but one is a much better actor and interesting character than the other.

You see it becomes this weird vortex where all the really shitty bits are cancelled out by the genuinely really good bits creating this weird balance of an okay film. It is not fantastic but seeing it on IMAX helped the experience a lot (the breathtaking ‘tower heist’ section is a lot of fun). The biggest problem I think was putting the (to be blunt) inexperienced Brad Bird at the helm. I don’t like him as a Director anyway but this honestly does not help his case. The plot and set pieces (which are what drive a good action film) are solid, very good in fact but due to a Director who seems not to like the weird fleshy things on the screen and who subsequently cast actors who are about as interesting and deep as a puddle of spit, it falls way short of being a really great film. Either way, I enjoyed it just for the set pieces and fight scenes which are great fun and for the same reasons I used to hate Brad Pitt I have now acknowledged Tom Cruise is actually a pretty good actor, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. Definitely worth a look.

–

The Dark Knight Rises prologue –

Okay, let’s get this straight first. I love Batman. In any form. Comic, cartoon, film, computer game, action figure I love the daft, tight-wearing, mopey bastard and forgive him all the stupid things he does (Batman & Robin mainly) so it’s a small knife in the back when I am yet again let down by him, not least also let down by one of my favourite Directors Christopher Nolan.Admittedly it was only six minutes but there was too much going wrong in those six minutes for me to say I enjoyed it.

There was a lot of hype prior to it about it being “amazing” and “spectacular” but the set piece it leads into is not as amazing as everyone had me believe. It involves an audacious aeroplane heist reminiscent of the corridor scene in Inception and Hong Kong heist in Dark Knight. In short my problem is Nolan is repeating himself in this regard, he has never been great at action but the prologue for Dark Knight was so much more entertaining and edge-of-your-seat. Being confronted by the guy from Queer as Folk was weird too.

Then there’s the editing. I know it’s an exciting hook to start the story but there is a LOT of exposition Nolan is trying to get across in a very short space of time and he has crammed it in waaaaay too tight. Much has been made of Bane’s indecipherable dialogue (more on that in a minute) but to be honest everyone’s dialogue raced past so quick I didn’t get a lot of it. This is not, as many nerds are claiming, creating an exciting ‘race to catch up’ with the plot, this is unclear story telling. Fine he may explain it all later in the film but Nolan is better at signposting than this, see Memento and Prestige. Inception roared ahead like a freight train and had a brain melting plot but everything was clearly and concisely explained every step of the way. This scene is not.

The sound mix. This is the real problem with this scene. Sound is the most underrated part of film yet also the most essential. An audience will tolerate bad picture, they will not tolerate bad sound. To begin with Zimmerman shoves a bassy rumble in the mix so loud the seats shake. Now bass frequencies are impressive because you feel more than hear them but it can be over powering which this one was. Even through a great sound system, which IMAX has undoubtedly the best, and a good three band compressor you will blast out the other frequencies if it is too loud. The rumble of the aeroplane and whistling wind are given WAY to high a precedence, as such dialogue is smothered. It is not just Bane who suffers, all the characters in the scene do but for one small detail. The human brain can get away (particularly when watching films) with not hearing everything, in the same way it can understand a sentence and not read every word, so long as it can lip read. Bane, with his mask, is at a disadvantage – you can’t read his lips but his voice is as loud as everyone else’s, louder in fact (Nolan probably predicting the complaints).

In short it races through things loudly and brazenly with none of the pacing or beats of the Dark Knight prologue. My big worry is this is due to pressure from Warner Bros. They want another Dark Knight/Inception level hit which they ain’t gonna get but means they are probably exerting more pressure on poor Nolan for the same amount of money as the last one. I am hoping he has not caved because this felt rushed and incomplete for a Nolan film.

There are three things that keep me interested, however. One is the ‘Transfusion’. During the frantic mid-air heist, Bane begins a blood transfusion which was clearly dealt with and quite arresting creating an actual cliffhanger. I do really want to know what that was about. The second was the pleasant absence of CG which the trailer had me worried about, mainly that awful shot in the stadium. The third is very obvious and to be honest, kind of saves the whole thing.

Bane

Tom Hardy is absolutely magnetic. Despite having a muffled voice and half his face covered he leaps off the screen and is totally absorbing. You know immediately who and what he is and he is honestly as scary if not scarier than Ledger’s now legendary Joker. He manages to project beyond the mask and really engage you. Unlike Brad Bird, Nolan clearly knows how to cast a film and Hardy is shaping up to be a great character actor. This prologue made me want to see this film if only to see more of Hardy’s performance. Bane has always been a divisive character and this looks set to be his best outing since Knightfall (it’s the comic this one is based on).

In summary, Mr. Nolan, I hope this was a rush job and you will re edit and remix this section between now and the Summer. In the meantime my breath is still very much held.

Bright Lights, Big CD

So finally, after a looooong wait, the moment you have all been waiting for… Yes, its the release of the 3rd official Psychotic Reaction LP!: I See Lights When I Close My Eyes

Williams and I went into BigSqueak in March 2008 for a long weekend and nearly four years later the fruits of our labours are finally released into the wild. I played drums on all the tracks and a bit of piano and keyboards here and there but mainly was sounding board/wrist-slapper during development. I am really proud of the album and honestly think it is great, I joined the band because I felt the same way about the second album (I still think of Rumble as the first real album though) and this one is even better. Ordinarily with albums I like/love I’d give them a review but obviously that is out of the question as I am in the band and would therefore be biased…

HOWEVER

I was this evening emailed an astonishing review of ISLWICME set to appear in the next issue of Rolling Stone. I thought you might like to read it:

“The Psychotic Reaction have been through several line up changes in the last ten or so years but their powers remain undiminshed. This is proved by their latest album:  I See Lights When I Close My Eyes and it is this generations Sergeant Pepper. This comparison is particularly pertinent as the album’s production is so evocative of 60s Psychadelia as to create waves of synthesia without the aid psychotropic drugs. Swirling guitars open the album and a late sixties style ‘jam’ ends it but it covers all points in between. Despite describing it by an era I cannot possibly describe it by genre as it defies genre. Some part punk, others balladry, some part avant-garde free jazz, some parts metal, others Pop-tastic yet it never feels schizophrenic or uneven.

This is largely down to the mysterious Alex Williams (who it is said once had an affair with Raquel Welch before he was born) at the helm. The albums’ producer, songwriter, guitarist, racket maker and Tea enthusiast, anchors the whirlwind of creativity with preternatural skill. Guitar sounds range from familiar note perfect emulations of Clapton and Hendrix-esque crunch and Fuzz, to Branca/Moore noise via sounds and audioscapes until now never committed to record. What he lacks in vocal dexterity he makes up for in verve and lyrical ability. Songs range from seizing the day and sex to mental illness and modern music culture but what else would you expect from the man who co-founded British Leyland in 1968 and helped Jim Marshall develop his amplifier under the pseudonym Dudley Craven?

The counterpart to the capricious and tempestuous creative core of The Psychotic Reaction during the album’s protracted development was Leo Cookman (who’s army of Owls regularly patrol the night sky in search chocolate buttons). Cookman mainly plays drums and as you will no doubt have guessed what with John Bonham and Joe Morello lauding him until their untimely deaths where upon they reputedly “passed the baton” to him. We will say nothing more of the almost metronomic skill yet loose “groove” of this generations’ Buddy Rich but instead focus on Cookman’s as yet unheard of piano and keyboard playing. Adding textures sympathetic yet driving the collaboration can only be described as like that of Keith Jarrett and Miles Davies circa ’71. Cookman was also instrumental in the albums development, working with Williams on song selection, production analysis and helped design the sleeve.

In addition to the two mainstays the addition of the then regular Bassist and modern Jaco Pastorius, Alex Powley (who it is said can digest an entire ungulate without chewing) on several tracks completed the triumverate and brought new definition to the word power trio.

The material had been well gigged at the now legendary performances in and around Canterbury (think the Manchester Free Trade Hall but BETTER. And LOUDER) so they were a tightly knit unit able to improvise without fear and develop, examine, reinvent and undermine contemporary music in the most enjoyable yet catchy way. Admittedly the time in recording was long and some fools leapt to the assumption that money ran out or the drummer moved to Manchester or Williams’ artistic temperament caused several revisits but whatever the rumours the development time was worth the wait. We finally have the game-changer. The bench mark by which all future music must be judged. In the same way the Beatles hoovered up the surrounding societal shifts The Reaction have created an album almost quixotic in its design but somehow prescient in its audiences attitude to their own music and therefore nothing less than a masterpiece.

It is, at the moment, available as Download only but I would expect nothing less from a band this forward thinking yet practical. In the same way Radiohead changed the way music was bought and paid for the Reaction have taken it a step further by realising the market is driven in this way (that is not to say there won’t be a CD and 12″ release soon). In short this is the album we have all been waiting for since the birth of the album as a concept in the sixties to which this album so ably doffs its cap. These three Gentlemen from the south should be congratulated on creating music for another time and a stone cold classic of now.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to finish this review of this really good and in no way dull, boring and insipid Coldplay album before my meeting with Steve Jobs.

Five Stars

Pull Quote: “If Hendrix had made another album, it wouldn’t be as good as this. Thank God for The Psychotic Reaction and buy this album”

Blimey! Well I can’t say more than that can I? Except that it is available at CD Baby now to download and will shortly be available on iTunes and Spotify as well as on CD in the near future. Please check it out it would make having sold my old drum kit feel worth something… *sniff*

We built this City…

Regular readers will know my love for all things Batman but lately I have been spoiled rotten. As a kid I was blessed with some of the Dark Knight’s best comics, the utterly brilliant Tim Burton films and the equally fantastic animated series but in my teens up until my 20’s there has been a distinct lack of ‘Good’ Batman material. Things started getting better with Hush and then when Grant Morrison started RIP (which also contained the killer Neil Gaiman edition) but there was little else. Then there was Mr. Nolan’s dramatic reconstruction of the Batman films and the world went Caped Crusader Crazy. These days there is a wealth of Batman stuff available but unfortunately the quality varies wildly. However, earlier this year I purchased Arkham Asylum on the xBox 360 and loved it. Well written with a solid atmosphere, stunning look, great voice acting and perfectly balanced gameplay meant this was an absolute hit for me. Nothing makes you feel quite like Batman than gliding around and pounding thugs faces in. I then heard about a sequel and awaited with bated breath…

I bought the game on Wednesday and I can safely say nothing could have prepared me for what I got. Whatever my expectations were they were not high enough. Arkham City, by the time the credits rolled on the main story, had smashed in at my number one spot alongside Half-Life 2. Why? I can honestly only think of one quibble with this game. The Penguin’s accent. Ubiquitous, smug voiced, computer lead actor du jour Nolan North voices the Penguin with the worst faux cockernee accent since Dick Van Dyke. Which is a shame because the character is well written and looks flippin’ ACE. Instead of the snooty monocle he has the bottom of a glass bottle jammed painfully around his eye, so it’s a shame a lot of his visual menace is instantly dismissed by “Oi’ve gut a liddle sahproise for yuh dahn nare”. But that is it. I was honestly trying to think of other problems but all I could come up with the most petty gripes and are overshadowed by everything else ten fold.

Arkham City is set in a walled of section off Gotham that since the closure of Arkham Asylum in game one has become the prison, a la Escape From New York. Bruce Wayne is vocal in his dislike for the new Arkham run by the mysterious Hugo Strange and whilst at a press conference denouncing it is kidnapped and brought inside as a prisoner. Once inside Bruce suits up as the Dark Knight and goes  about beating things up till he can figure out what is going in there. I won’t go into the story anymore as this is its strongest point for me and revealing anymore than that will ruin the surprises. I will say that people’s complaints about there being too many villains in this one are unjustified. It deepens the crisis and keeps it fresh, the characterisation is also dealt with further in-game logs and voice recordings you pick up along the way. Batman has always had the best bad guys and this one really goes to town.

The gameplay itself is so intuitive anyone who’s played a computer game before could pick it up instantly. It does not deviate from the controls of the first game but does expand on them. Batman’s movements are also dramatic and fluid enough to be immensely satisfying. The combat borders on the sexually gratifying (for me anyway) the punch, kicks and counters all revolve around one button and perfect timing and are almost balletic in their bone-crunching, pant-tightening violence. I know that makes me sound like a psycho but if anyone (particularly a man) says they do not get a large amount of Schadenfreude pleasure out of punching a huge, muscled bound, thug’s teeth down their throat after they’ve been goading and insulting you is LYING. The stealth mechanics are also incredibly well-balanced and with new gadgets makes appearing-smashing through a wall-dangling a guy from a gargoyle-then disappearing a piece of cake and also hugely satisfying.

Catwoman makes a playable appearance in the main game too. Her story is bitesize yet essential but not quite as fun to play. She doesn’t have the same weight in combat but she is faster and more acrobatic in her stunts which are a pleasure to watch. She does add a nice touch of diversity to the game though which is welcome in such a long game.

The game world isn’t as big as say Grand Theft Auto but is expansive enough and sacrifices the size for the detail. Everywhere has the utmost care paid to it and looks, and most importantly, feels like a Gotham slum down to the rubbish in the streets. The graphics are superb, the lighting being a particular jaw dropper for me, I played this on a 42″ screen in HiDef and was so immersed in the whole thing it took a moment to adjust when I stopped playing. The sound is also note perfect, the score is operatic (literally) yet subtle and the sound FX are spot on. You can tell Batman’s boots are made of Kevlar by the sound they make. Nuff said.

The side quests add more than even the most psychotic OCD sufferer could want from additional thing to clean up. The story finished I was told I had barely completed 40% of the game. Yikes. The rest comes in the form of villain side quests (which I wont spoil) and riddler trophies. There are some four HUNDRED dotted around the game world and will keep you playing for days. Unlike Arkham Asylum there is a purpose to this in that The Riddler has kidnapped people and put them in Saw-type puzzle/torture rooms that you can only find once you have collected enough trophies. The methods by which you obtain them range from fiendishly clever to stupidly simple but are always satisfying once obtained. The villain quests are also incredibly cool and add the feeling of being a real detective to the mix.

This is all but the perfect trimming on a wonderful cake for me however. What I love most about this game is what it represents. As I said earlier the story is the strongest part about this game and that made me so happy. The opening cut scenes set up the atmosphere and raises the perfect amount of questions within minutes (namely “what am I doing here?”), it reminded me of The Raiders of the Lost Ark opening where you have an adventure on its own first and then get to the real nuts and bolts of the story. The stakes are high from minute one and the sense of urgency in the story almost makes you ignore the hundreds of side quests you need to take so you can level up to help with the next section. But what they do with the actual platform of gaming is so brilliant it made my jaw drop.

The first game used the Scarecrow and his magic fear powder to alter the reality of the game, making the rooms themselves change in front of your eyes, playing with layout by making you go back through the door you came in and end up in the same room, making truly scary set pieces and even changing your avatar in to the little boy Bruce Wayne. This was playing with not just the conventions of games but storytelling too. This had (to my knowledge) not been done to this extent before yet could have been done for years. Arkham City takes this idea and runs with it. Arkham City has a wealth of ideas contained in the story campaign alone; at any one time you could be beating up a shark, fighting man-pigs on giant pocket watch, duelling in a cinema, climbing a giant clock-tower, negotiating a lost city underground, removing robots memories for video feeds, battling female ninjas, tip toeing over ice floes or simply gliding over a gang ruled prison city yet it never feels schizophrenic or spread too thin. The cohesion of Paul Dini’s writing keeps everything together with a solid atmosphere encompassing every section. The developers and level designers also forge new territory too. They haven’t completely retooled the console or control layout but what they have done is taking very well established and simple ideas and run with them. There are bits of this game which, in no particular order, doff their cap to Mario Brothers, Zelda, Starfox, Sonic, Super Metroid, Pong, Doom, Streets of Rage and they even take the mickey out of Lost. All the greats in any field should be able to “show their working” by wearing their influences on their sleeve but making it inherently their own. This is what pushes things forward and Arkham City definitely does that.

When I reached the end trouser wettingly brilliant finale I literally smacked my gob in awe. Only a handful of books and films can not only involve me but move me to that extent and the level of immersion afforded by the game is simply a work of honest to goodness genius. The development team (Rocksteady are a British developer no less) should be given the laurels on every count for their re-imagining not just of a well established mythos but of the platform of gaming itself. A new bar has been set for quality in gaming and storytelling that will be hard to top for a while.

Admittedly, as I said at the beginning of this open sexual invitation to the developers, I love Batman so I am biased but honestly and truly this is the way games should be going and I hope other developers follow suit. It will get abuse because it is a super hero game and because it is a computer game full stop but the critics would do well to ignore their prejudices and give this game a try as you will not play anything else like it for a long time.

Batman Returns.

Half way to a Hybrid Heaven

So, I like computer games. I have established this in previous posts. I also like, comics, poetry, books, films, photography and music. The reason I like all these things is … well that’s for another post but one of the main reasons is what my ex ex Girlfriend and I used to call ‘Wow Moments’. They are exactly what they say on the tin. I have had Wow Moments in real life, like, maybe twice but get them far more regularly in art. And dammit all of the above listed ARE ART. This is what this post is about as I am going to talk about two WMs of my own. One brilliant one I had recently but also one I had a long time ago. They both involve computer games. This will hopefully relate to non-people-who-play-computer-games (I hate the phrase ‘Gamer’) why games can be great and important and everyone should dip their toes in and stop being snobby.

Ahem

• Hybrid Heaven

Hybrid Heaven is a game for the N64 from 1999 and is my favourite game of all time. You can put that on the box art, Konami. It’s a funny game and polarised opinion on release and has been pretty much forgotten in recent memory but I love it. Why? A little background first…

Konami have a reputation for making odd and genre pushing games; Castlevania (a game that spawned an entire genre), Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill and Killer7 to name but a few, they have also made some shit. But the fact is they are a solid games company with a loyal following. Hybrid Heaven received a modicum of hype prior to release due to it being one of the earliest and embryonic styles of games called ARPGs (Or Action Role Playing Games for the layman). This manifested in it being about beating people up but the combat being turn based where you can ‘level up’ and learn new moves. Anyway on release the general consensus was that this element didn’t work and we should forget all about it and move on with our lives. I had read a little about it and I wanted it based solely on a description of the plot I had heard. So I asked for it for christmas. I got it. God bless Ma & Pa. That week until just after New Year I barely emerged from my bedroom. And some of that time I was playing the game! (Ba-Dum-Tish) I loved it and still have my N64 just so if I feel the need I can dig it out and play it again. I could probably get an emulator but where’s the fun in that?

ANYWAY!

Why do I love it? Like I said, the plot initially drew me to it. Here is the opening cutscene;

So from there you begin the game as the villain. This intrigued me to begin with and only got weirder as you walked round a strange underground lab populated by people who all greeted you nicely while you silently went around avoiding security devices and unlocking cages filled with hideous monsters. Slowly your former colleagues, a colorful array of weirdos, realise you are up to no good and send you deep into the bowels of the complex to have you ‘processed’. You are then kidnapped by a mad scientist to take part in ‘research’ and from there the plot goes even more doolally. But what I loved about the game was that nothing is explained outright. Japenese games love En Medias Res. This is when you are dumped in the middle of something and left to figure it out and catch up. It’s great for games because it means you are dumped straight into the action but also means you can create suspense by not revealing everything. In this case they solve the “I have amnesia” plotline by just drip feeding you info. Where are you? WHO are you? What are you doing running around destroying things? Why is there a giant monster chasing you? And this is the main reason I love this game; The Atmosphere.

The mystery is very immersive but it’s the environments that I love the most. Every room is vast and empty, footsteps echoing hollowly around you as you run silently deeper inside an alien facility. Neon lights glow dimly along floors as you snatch occasional glimpses of ever larger areas about you. You battle a colourful and inventive array of creatures in the much touted turn-based fist fighting which I found equally immersive. Essentially that is the game. Run through stunning location to stunning location via traps and one on one encounters but due to the eerie sound effects, sparse music and twisty-turny plotline you never feel like you are running from room to room for no reason.

The turning point for me came when your were kidnapped for ‘research’ which involved running away from a giant monster you can’t fight via increasingly hazardous methods, culminating in a breathlessly intense race down a long corridor where the camera suddenly switches from being behind you to being side on as you run, watching the creature get ever closer. That was my Wow Moment. I then got another as you run past a set of jet boosters the size of Big Ben, as the camera again suddenly switched to side view. And then I got to the end and sat back slack-jawed at the bonkers, slow-burning yet gripping and intense game I had just played and started it all over again. It is, to this day, the only game I have played and completed on every difficulty setting.

It ain’t perfect. The movement system is a piece of shit, the camera has nothing but contempt for your desire to look at things like an abused spouse who can’t look at you, there are waaaaaay to many fights with room after room being just encounter after encounter, the nadir of which being a part in the middle with four controller-breakingly frustrating bosses one after the other with no save points in between. The traps range from bewilderingly easy to the harrowing and the puzzles merely consist of “find the thing that regenerates your key card but here’s a couple of fights while you do that”. But despite all this the game still grips me and I love wandering for hours in its empty, cathedral sized halls and sublime ramp towards an epic battle at the bottom of the elevator shaft you came in on wreathed in fire at the very end of the game.

It’s not perfect but for all its faults it is a gripping and immersive experience.

• Half-Life 2

Okay I’ll admit, I was late to the party on this one what with it coming out in 2004 and I only completed it last week but considering it is the game that game nerds frequently ejaculate thick, black, geeky, love wee over, I had given it a wide berth. I remember seeing a tech demo of the Source physics engine Valve invented for it and being impressed but thereafter ignoring it whole heartedly. Slowly, as years passed, more and more brilliant games used the Source engine (Bioshock and Arkham Asylum being the two that sold me on it) so my curiosity was piqued. It was only when I played the utterly sublime Portal and decided I had to have it I bought the ‘Orange Box’ which was on sale on Steam. This included Team Fortress 2, Portal and Half-Life 2. So I downloaded it and played Portal over a very enjoyable weekend. That is another game I love but I wanted more and whilst I love it, it is short, so I thought I might try Half-Life 2 finally after all these years…

The best thing was, despite it winning every game of the year award and the equivalent of 10 Gaming Oscars, I knew nothing about the game other than that nerds LOVED it. It is unsurprising then that I now love it too. The first HL revolved around the main character, Gordon Freeman – an inexplicably, badass action hero who also happens to be an MIT physicist that looks like a beatnik, causing a portal to open up in a research facility and letting in hideous creatures from another dimension. It ended with a master stroke which I won’t spoil but basically he is put in stasis until he awakes bleary-eyed 20 years later in a dystopian future where the alien creatures have taken over the entire planet and are ruling it under a machine gun wielding jackboot. However, your sudden arrival turns out to be what the people of earth were waiting for and so begins your journey to free earth from the evil dictators.

What begins as a few skirmishes with well armed Stormtroopers and the odd, hauntingly visceral, zombie encounter escalates slowly (occasionally punctuated by a frenetic helicopter battle) from enclosed gutters and darkened alleyways, slowly and carefully expands until it becomes an enormous, epic battle for freedom, rallying the masses for revolution as you tumble through destroyed streets and along rooftops battling giant tripod gun walkers. The pacing is frankly exquisite, almost poetic in its rise towards its gut clenching conclusion, the voice acting is better than most performances in mainstream cinema, the concept design is sparse yet detailed, the staging is utterly brilliant but the best part of it is the sound design. From the rattling of empty shells, and shuffle of troopers armour out of shot, to the earth shattering boom of the shotgun the sound in the game is beautifully subtle. The nuances are what make it so immersive. The distant call of birds, the Taos-Hum of outdoors, the subtle changes of reverberation depending where you are, the gut churning wail of the poor souls encased by the head crabs, the ear-splitting screech of the Striders, the bowel loosening silences all contribute to the feeling of reality which so many games overlook. You are normally bombarded with a score and flashy effects and quips galore throughout a game but  HL2 is stingy with its gifts so when you get them they make that much greater an impression.

I wish I could tell you which was the biggest WM for me but I think it was just the whole game from start to finish. It is pretty much the perfect game. And I mean that sincerely. It is utterly engrossing, to the point where I could only stop when I realised I hadn’t eaten or I was so close to the screen I could no longer see what was going on. I enjoyed it so much I am going to buy it on xBox so I can play it in the comfort of my living room not at my computer desk. I can find no fault with it and it came at just the right time for me.

In summary, I love games that aren’t necessarily about gameplay or graphics or other nerdy things, I like those games for the same reasons I love books, photography, music, films and poetry. Their artistry and the fact they really move me and grip me and let me escape and feel the giddy thrill of excitement or the heart in the chest, the lump in the throat or that gasp of shock and awe and tingly goosebumps when you are truly surprised. You know. The things everyone enjoys. which is why I hate that computer games generate such contempt in so-called “intellectual” circles. They aren’t rubbish, they don’t lack intellect, they aren’t all noisy and violent. You just haven’t found the right game yet.

I have. I found two.

Is it that time again? I must be going now. I’ll see you up ahead.

Dancing Jax

I realised I’ve never done a book review on this blog which is a somewhat shameful admission for someone claiming to be a ‘writer’. So here you go…

Not so long ago I wrote about the death of one of my favourite authors, Brian Jacques, in that post I mentioned another writer called Robin Jarvis who is now my favourite living writer. After a pretty quiet ten years or so he has finally produced a more substantial book rather than the somewhat slight  ‘Deptford Mouselets’ books. His last major book was Deathscent which I thought was fantastic and tantalisingly hung the carrot of a sequel in front of me. 10 Years later still no sequel. Same with The Thorn Ogres of Hagwood. What’s up with that Robin, huh?!

Dancing Jax is a return to what Robin Jarvis does best, bleak and disturbing adventure/horror. The best way I can describe the book is as a cross between Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Wicker Man. The plot revolves around a group of petty criminals going to a haunted house to rob it and discovering more than they bargained for. A cellar filled with the mysterious books ‘Dancing Jacks’ is discovered and then slowly distributed around the nearby town of Felixstowe, whereupon the school children find themselves literally unable to put the books down.

I love Robin Jarvis because he really doesn’t pull his punches and this book is irrefutably his most ‘adult’ despite the fact it is resolutely a Young Adults book. He has never shied away from violence or mature subject matter in an effort to really scare you. It is never lascivious or gratuitous just very functional and fulfills its purpose well. Unlike The Deptford Mice, Whitby Witches or to some extent, The Wyrd Museum he is aiming at a more teenage market with this one and I think that’s a good thing. He is an intelligent writer that can appeal to a younger audience without patronising them and, somewhat subversively, teach them something at the same time. Jarvis is clearly well versed in folklore the world over as he has proved in his previous books but this one adopts a lot of the more real, and therefore creepier, British Folklore, mainly revolving around the suits from a deck of cards (hence the Dancing Jacks). What I love the most about Jarvis is despite all this he does not skimp on the more spectacular set pieces. I have always been of the opinion an action or dramatic set piece is far more impressive in a book than on film. This is because in your head you can conjure up the appropriate emotion and make the scene far grander than can be constrained in a box on-screen. Jarvis has cars exploding, foot chases, molotov cocktails, electrical storms, battles with werewolves, car chases with Demons and much more. Come on! That’s a book I want to read! This in my opinion is a balance more writers should strike. Fantasy writers often bog the reader down in the lore and ‘rules’ of their land which inhibits the excitement of the set piece and certainly the pace, whereas ‘literary’ writers just don’t bother but have the right ideas that could benefit from the odd explosion or car chase. I realise this is a very puerile appraisal of literature but I genuinely think the use of a ‘set piece’ is a highly effective attention grabber and appeals to a wider audience. The balloon chase in Enduring Love was the only bit I liked in that book.

Anyway, Jarvis knows this and whilst tension bubbles away and the character’s sanity is slowly peeled away it jars with the odd moments of violence which is very effective. Also present is Jarvis’ love of the frankly bizarre and I don’t mean courtiers, monsters and hallucinogenic fruits. One of the ancillary characters turns out to be one half of a cross dressing comic duo a la Hinge & Brackett. It also brings to the fore his sense of humour something his other books lack somewhat. There are some great one liners and hilarious puns in this book which you wouldn’t traditionally expect of Jarvis, another sign he is appealing to an older audience. People have often mentioned being ‘switched-off’ him due to him writing about anthropomorphised Mice and magical places. My first response is “Grow up” but my second would be that symbolism and projection is one of the most important ways the human mind deals with problems. Ironically distance creates a greater empathy in the human mind. When my life went south and I returned to Manchester, my friend James, whose sofa I was sleeping on, leant me a book by Samuel Johnson (the writer of the dictionary) called The History of Prince Rasselas. It was very short and more a collection of essays set in 18th century Ethiopia but with chapters about poetry and finding a path in life I felt a lot better about myself after reading it. I couldn’t be more different from Rasselas in the same way as I couldn’t be more different from the mice that live under Deptford but Jarvis uses this and creates an empathy for our characters and uses this escapism to great effect. This book, however, is resolutely set in our world. I love the way he picks nondescript towns in England to set his books (Whitby, Glastonbury, Deptford) and the choice of Felixstowe is no exception (a habit I myself have picked up, setting my last novel in Reading). This, however, is my only criticism of the novel, the one thing I loved and disliked the most about the book.

Dancing Jax is going to date. Badly. If it hasn’t already. Nary a page goes by without a mention of something that is currently in the news or around at the moment. Russel Brand, Noel Fielding, xBoxes, Jordan, Big Brother, Ricicles, BAFTA, every Science Fiction programme, Facebook, Wikipedia and much, much more are all mentioned. Jarvis is normally quite savvy about this, setting books in the past so they don’t date or setting them ‘now’ but never mentioning anything more current than a TV or a car. As my girlfriend pointed out maybe this is why he has chosen this book to indulge his gripes about our current culture and society. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a book that gives a damning indictment on the world and God knows the world does need damning and these very clear and unpleasant flaws in our society should be pointed out to a younger audience so maybe they will realise the good from the bad. BUT whilst doing this and using this as a main theme in the plot – the idea the world is going to Hell anyway and therefore taking that pretty much literally – he is also nailing, bolting and riveting it to the mast of ‘NOW‘ which means in even 2 years time this is going to seem terribly out of date. The reason I loved the Deptford Mice is because they’re not human and their problems are going to directly affect our world. The less time I spend in this world by reading (another theme of Dancing Jax) the better and books set where all things I hate in the world (which is quite a lot) are no longer there give me a warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy. However, due to the, admittedly necessary, barrage of modern imagery I was wincing fairly often and wishing he had found another way of expressing the need for control in a very real world where “No one likes anything about themselves now: the way they look, their jobs, where they live.” A writer I am honoured to be able to claim is at the very least an acquaintance, the great novelist Paul Magrs, also follows this idea with his Brenda and Effy series (another Whitby based barrage of magic and mayhem) but that particular theme is dealt with in a more subtle fashion amidst the Supernatural Sleuthing.

This is my only criticism of Dancing Jax, though, and for that reason alone makes it a very important read. I would encourage everyone to read it not just because I am biased and love Robin Jarvis but because it is very thought-provoking, creepy, intelligent, funny, exciting, well written and just plain. Good. Fun. I would highly recommend his other books as well. Especially Deathscent. Yeah! That’s right. Buy it by the truckload then he’ll have to write a sequel. According to the end of this book a sequel is scheduled for February next year. WHERE’S DEATHSCENT 2?! Huh, Robin? WHEEEEEEEERRRRRRRREEEEEEEE?!

*ahem*

Dancing Jax is great and I look forward to the second installment. It is available from all good book stores and Amazon.co.uk

Blessed be…

Never Stop & Buried

I realised I don’t do reviews as much as I used to so here in lieu of Gamer Baiting *wink* is a review post. As I have a free evening and have been doing lots of exciting things lately and am in a good mood I’m giving you two for the price of one. Aren’t I generous?

So my favourite band are the Bad Plus at the moment and they have just released a new album called Never Stop. They are an acoustic Jazz trio who rock-the-fuck-out but are still a bit ‘free-jazz’ and strange. They achieved notoriety/fame by doing deconstructions and loving homages of classic pop/rock songs (Lithium/Heart of Glass/Iron Man/Life on Mars?). This meant a lot of people described them as gimmicky and too clever for their own good. Now whilst I don’t like 50% of their output I do not agree with this. People seem to be ignoring two really rather glaringly obvious facts if you were to listen to an album by this amazing group. First, they are consummate and gifted musicians of which there are few achieving the kind of fame they have in this day and age of hyper-production and digital rescuing, Second, they write a lot of their own material. This album is their first album made up totally of original material.

Whilst the whole album is yet again not to my taste, it is ambitious and shows what a wide range the Bad Plus and what fantastic songwriters they all are. Reid Andersons’ (upright Bass) pieces are undoubtedly the stand out tracks, Dave King’s (Drummer) tunes are also epic and beautiful, even Ethan Iverson’s (Piano) are more listenable than usual, preferring aleatoric, math Jazz as he does. As I say they are not all perfect and at the moment (as I listen) there are only 4 tracks I would say I like as complete tunes. Which, to be honest, is an average ratio for their albums. However, there are wonderful moments in each piece.

The album was recorded ‘live’ at Pachyderm Studios (where Nirvana recorded, no less) and this is audible. They normally have a very close, dry sound in their mix which makes them sound bigger but on this album you can hear the room more and gives it more of an ‘organic’ feel. The drums especially benefit from this more expansive sound design which, when it’s Dave King playing them, is always a good thing. In this respect it is a very traditional jazz album – all the tracks were recorded as first takes, for instance – but it is its compositions which make a truly progressive album. And I don’t mean progressive as in strange men in beards and capes playing songs that go on for 30 minutes.

‘The Radio Tower has a Beating Heart’, ‘People Like You’ and ‘Super America’ are utterly brilliant pieces immaculately performed but it is the title track that sweeps the board. With pumping beat, obscure syncopation, power ballad chords and kickin’ last 60 seconds or so this tune should put them in the pop sphere. It won’t but this is no stranger than many other dance tunes played in clubs at the moment it’s just played entirely acoustically which apparently makes it weird. In short, this is simultaneously their most accessible and least accessible album but it represents a giant leap forward for them (again) and places them squarely at the forefront of any type of music, people just seem to be ignoring them. I doubt they care. And neither do I if they maintain this level of quality. Catch them live when they tour here in November if you can.

–

Buried is a film by Spanish Director & Editor Rodrigo Cortes. The crew is entirely spanish also. It is made by The Safran Company, Versus Entertainment, Dark Trick Films, Kinology and Studio 37 as funding studios, it cost less than $2 million to make and was shot entirely in a 6 foot wooden coffin. No this is not some art house foreign ‘think-piece’ this is a-balls-to-the-wall, nail-biting thriller starring one person trapped in a box for an hour and half with no cut-aways, flashbacks or other characters appearing on-screen at anytime. The ‘person’ in question is (weirdly) Ryan Reynolds who I knew as the bastard who took Scarlett Johanssen off the market and starring in some really shit comedies but apparently the boy can act! Who knew?! Not only can he act, he can do it well. Considering he is the only person in the whole film essentially, he carries the whole film and is utterly believable as a macho jock brought to real terror and desperation.

Lots of people refer to the film’s conceit (like the Bad Plus) as a ‘gimmick’ which is true but I take issue with the derogatory nature with which it is applied. In the same way as restrictive forms of poetry prove even more illuminating and make the artist more creative by having to think (pardon the pun) outside of the box. It is the same with this film. Hitchcock knew this, hence why he restricted himself to long, single shot takes in Rope or single window views in Rear Window. Buried has garnered much the same praise since its premier at Sundance but for once soundbite hacks have hit the nail on the head. This really is Hitchockian and all the better for it.

Essentially, Ryan Reynolds wakes up in a box buried underground – illustrated with a daring 2 minute starting shot of total darkness and no dialogue – and from their we watch as how he got there and what he has to do to get out is revealed via a mobile phone, a zippo and some glow sticks. Not once does the film cutaway or flashback, everything is left to your imagination, yet the brilliant script keeps you guessing throughout and, not only that, keeps the tension ramped up right till the last frame. The camera work too is exceptionally varied and interesting so for a visual medium it works perfectly well, if not better than most films. The whole thing is incredibly inventive and brilliantly executed. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

It is not a story of hope, however. There is no let up in the claustrophobic atmosphere, ratcheting tension and utter, utter despair, so if you’re up for a laugh go and see Zac Efron look like a tit as a Cloud (or whatever the hell that film is called). The whole film is NOT hollywood and is all the better for it. The fact there were no money men making demands and forcing concessions out of the script makes it all the more pleasing. But not only all that what I love most is its highly critical tone towards… well… everything. The lead is not a hero in any respect and no one on the other end of his lifeline seems to sympathise or care about his situation as he is bumped from call centre to call centre desperately pleading for rescue. Not only that American Foreign policy is damned throughout and corporate evils are savaged in a particularly harrowing way too. Also there is an English accent in the film and at no point does he either a) Turn evil b) Die or c) Express a love for tea and crumpets. Progressive thinking indeed… This is not the product of bang for your buck Hollywood Blockbuster yet has all the gloss, look and feel of it. If this is still the kind of produce we can expect out of independent filmmakers and studios from abroad I still don’t know why more people don’t pay attention.

Buried is a very unpleasant yet very enjoyable, very exciting and very brave bit of cinema and I think the filmmakers should be rewarded with your money for making a film that would never have got made in these parts. Ryan Reynolds has also gone way up in my estimations not just for his performance but also his savvy for picking the role up when any other C-List comedy actor would have sneered it down in favour of some Eat, Pray, Shit toss.

Kudos Ryan. I’m still not forgiving for stealing Johanssen though. You bastard.

Inception’s Reception

Okay. Having spat out the last of my bile and the week from Hell being finally OVER, the moment you’ve all (not) been waiting for…

Upon leaving the cinema last night my overriding feeling (other than – “holy-shit-that-was-the-most-awesome-thing-I’ve-ever-seen!”) was that movies suck these days. I don’t mean Inception sucks I mean pretty much every other movie, blockbuster or otherwise, out this summer has been utterly tepid if not down right shite. Inception proves incontrovertibly what can and should be done with cinema and story telling in general. All the greatest artist we know and love today were innovators (by and large). Many say they ‘re-wrote the rules’ I never got this. Shakespeare doggedly adhered to Iambic Pentameter, Picasso was a very fine portrait painter to begin with and the Beatles were a Rock ‘n’ Roll covers band for years, it is the fact they used these rules and expanded on them exponentially that made them innovators. Taking what was old and easily understood and then updating them in the most incredible ways so the audience/public would follow them into these bold new realms. Cinema is still way behind. We took a massive leap forward 11 years ago with the one-two combo of Episode I (yes that Star Wars was innovative assholes!) and The Matrix in the same summer. They were both cerebral – a fact that worked against one and for the other – and both practically re-invented digital effects and what was possible with special effects. All anyone has done since is tread water. We’ve been given the keys to the ocean and the best most directors can do is splash around in the shallow end.

Inception is neither a remake, reboot, re-imagining, sequel, prequel or adaptation so already it is streaks ahead of almost aaaaaaaalllll the films out in the last 10 years without even having seen a frame but it takes that intent of deliberate unfamiliarity and runs with it. This is an Honest-to-God original movie. As I said above, you can see the influences, a lot of it has been done before but never like this and I have a horrible feeling this will be the last time it happens in a few years. Again. The reason for this is the reason a lot of (stupid) critics have maligned the film. “I don’t get it.” Has been the immediate response. Yes, fine. If you liked and understood Sex and the City 2 and Transformers 2 then no, you won’t like this film. Sorry. Bye bye. But as far as I can tell this is the kind of film that audiences and fans of all western cinema in general have been crying out for. A film that doesn’t patronise you, that treats you like an adult and doesn’t give you a predictable plot through line you can sum up on a napkin. Independent Cinema and European or ‘Foreign’ Cinema is always seen as ‘too-thinky’ or cerebral by the big guns of Hollywood but the fact they ran Four Lions, Persepolis and Dog-tooth in the city centre cinemas of Manchester means people like these films. Trouble is, people do want a bit of eye candy too. For that you go and see your Transformers blow shit up. What movie-makers should be doing is what Christopher Nolan does best. Makes grown up films. They’re not designed by committee, not butchered by studios, not meant to appeal to the widest demographic they’re his movies. And they’re fuckin’ AWESOME!

As such Inception is brain-fryingly complicated story – this does not mean, however it is confusing, it is not deliberately saying it is cleverer than you and if you can’t keep up then you shouldn’t be watching, it just knows you are film literate and should be able to follow, which you do – which I am not going to explain because A) It is too complex and B) It will ruin it when you see it and YOU ARE GOING TO SEE IT. Needless to say a lot of the exposition and explanation is kept at the front of the movie and about a 3rd of the way through it kicks into overdrive and utterly screws with your head. Without trying to give too much away, the last half of the film is technically set within 3 minutes while, for one character at least, it’s 50 years. If that sentence screws with your head imagine the poor bastard who wrote it and directed it and then had to edit it. That poor bastard is Christopher Nolan, a man who I can safely say has usurped Spielberg and Kubrick as my two favourites with this film. The editing alone should win every award for making a mind-bending idea feasible, understandable and amazingly viewable. The idea of a ticking-clock and a race against time has never been this palpable. The script, plot and narrative are so solid with so few holes you couldn’t fit a fag paper in. There probably are problems with it but only one person knows what it is and he’s gone mad. But it is Nolan’s Direction that should get the Prestige (pardon the pun). In Memento the twist(s) at the end are so reliant on the audience having paid attention to the most subtle little details and tiny shots you can be forgiven for not getting it at all but Nolan grips you with an intriguing and intense plot with interesting characters so much so that you miss nothing and, if possible, pay closer attention. Nolan uses brilliantly subtle motifs throughout to thoroughly ground the viewer so as they don’t get lost. Like a great composer these should all gel neatly at the end for a good climax. The best way to describe the way Nolan Directs this film is it is like throwing a thousand piece jigsaw in the air and marvelling as it lands on your table, complete. It’s like a magic trick.

The cast is superb. Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt being the scene stealers with the most fun moments and lines but I think Cillian Murphy is my favourite. Caine’s cameo is brief but essential, Marion Cotilliard is gorgeous and, frankly, terrifying while Ellen Page does a wonderful job of making a purely functional character believable and human. Page barely speaks a line that isn’t for the audiences benefit or for the Plot’s which is a shit role for most people but it is so well written and performed you warm to her immediately. The camerawork is so amazing I literally smacked-my-Gob at one point, that scene being the high point of the whole film for me. A gravity defying punch up in a corridor that makes Neo and Agent Smith in the subway look like a game of happy slaps. And not a single frame in CG. This was greatly enhanced by the IMAX screen but is incredible anyway you look at it. Honourable mention to the sound design team who never over do a gunshot and single-handedly made the most wince-inducing and realistic sound for someone getting hit by a car. In short, this is pretty much a perfect film for me with almost nothing wrong with it. Almost…

Okay, Cons; DiCaprio

WHY DOES THIS MAN STILL GET WORK?!?!? I HATE THIS GUY!! He doesn’t bloody change his expression! I feel like Will Ferrell at the end of Zoolander; “Has everyone taken stupid pills?! It’s the SAME look!!” Okay, prejudice aside, DiCaprio is at least functional but for fuckssake anyone could have delivered that performance. He is, next to Sean Penn, THE most overrated, under talented, overpayed, boring actor in Hollywood to my mind. I heard a great quote about Sean Penn which I apply to them both; “A man who confuses not smiling for acting”. I couldn’t put it better myself. Leonardo offers nothing to this movie whatsoever except a pretty face and a guaranteed £2 million gross. Whenever I mention the brow-furrowed dope I get the same-fucking-response every time; “Well he was good in The Departed and Gilbert Grape”. The Departed and Gilbert-fucking-Grape. Both roles were frickin’ Oscar bait at best and everyman-banal at worst. Okay, look at it this way. What makes a good actor? His/Her performance, right? This comes down to how you are cast (Meryl Streep, though brilliant would have made a lousy Harry Potter) and how believable you make that character to the Audience. The only reason DiCaprio portrays a floppy-haired, brooding, pretty boy with a permanently furrowed brow as if he’s constantly being asked questions on ancient egyptian algebra so well is because THAT’S JUST WHAT HE BLOODY LOOKS LIKE! His performances are about as nuanced as panel beating. There is a laughably poor moment when he is telling Ellen Page how dreams work where, to add emphasis, he raises his eyebrows. 1) This is the only time he moves his bloody face in the whole film 2) It’s so stupidly inappropriate it pulled me out of an excellent bit of exposition. I can only wonder what this film would have been like with a proper character actor in the lead. As it is, DiCappucino is merely functional. A boring locomotive behind which the emotional story is driven. People bang on about this being a career best for him, they’re probably right but it isn’t saying much. He certainly doesn’t ‘hold the movie together’ as another review stated. Those laurels go to Ellen Page.

Other than that twit, it rumbles in at a cosy 2 hours 20 minutes which is bold for such a complex feature and whilst I didn’t feel it, you need some balls to push the audience past the 2 hour mark and not have begun your climax/resolution ramp. This is largely down to the fact Nolan sets up an ending that amounts to little more than just a quick stroll but means so much and is so perfect but at the same time is a complete and fulfilling ending all in the space of about a minute and a half. As such the story rattles along at a cracking pace right up to the wire and crashes to a close with your brain being mopped up by the cinema attendants. This has stayed with me for the last 24 hours and really makes you ponder its main themes long after the credits roll. An admirable achievement. So much so in fact it had prompted me to want to write about my feelings on dreams in general on this blog which I will do in time.

There will be backlash too. There always will be. It’s going to be big and successful and it’s good and everyone will be talking about it so naturally anyone trying to look cool or different or just being plain antagonistic (I’m looking at my brother mainly here) will say it’s rubbish for a number of fairly minor or redundant reasons. I don’t care. Nolan has set the bar now and audiences will want to be challenged again and directors and studios are going to want to rip him off (if the Dark Knight hadn’t already made that an inevitability) so Cinema’s future has been made a little more bright and if nothing else, I got to see my own ‘2001’ or ‘The Birds’.

In short, grumbling  pretty-boy fizzog aside, this has slam-dunked in at number 3 for my all time favourite films and if it had lightsabers in it, it would have made number one. As a fan of Kubrick and Hithcock myself, Nolan is the best we’ve got in a mainstream innovator alive today and if he keeps doing his thing I will keep watching. And believe me I will be watching this one again at IMAX and then again and again when I get it on DVD. The most Mary Poppins film ever for me. Practically Perfect in Every Way.

GO AND SEE IT.

NOW!