Shear Le Boofont

OK. I won’t write a long drawn out defence of the film. I just want to say it was bloody good fun watching robots hit each other. Sure, there’s not enough of the actual Transformers in there, and Shia LeBoufont’s girlfriend cannot act and is a waste of time. And Patrick Dempsey is looking old and portly. But there are some important reasons why you have to see it;

1. The action is astounding. What they do to Chicago is mental and must be seen. Good, total annihilation of humanity. A little reigned in to get a kiddy friendly certificate but good stuff all the same.
2. John Malkovich is a mentalist. Just plain old mental. He didn’t just take the pay cheque and run. He took the pay cheque and used it as an excuse to be a nutter. The man deserves an Oscar. He’s like the living incarnation of the phrase “mad as a box of frogs”. Worth paying money for. The tan….the teeth….MY GOD!
3. You can see what’s going on. 3D helped Michael Bay clam the hell down and stop forcing people into epileptic fits every time a Decepticon breaks loose. Thank the Maker…
4. It just bloody Transformers. Leave your brain at the door and enjoy it. Don’t take it seriously…roll out.
5. Bay does manage to conjure up a sense of impending doom. You do think that the story’s protagonists are up for a good hiding and although you know they will come through it, they take a bit of a pasting. It’s silly stuff, but it is good silly stuff with a heart.

For a 32 year old man to think he had money well spent at the pictures watching superfluous guff of the highest calibre has to be a good thing, right?! And if it is any consolation, Shia LeBoofont has publically signed out of the prospect of any future TF movies. Well done butty! You made a good choice…

After that debacle, I finally got to see X-Men last night, and boy was it worth it. It is good. It is very good. After the majesty of Kick-Ass, I was confident that director Mathew Vaughn and writer Jane Goldman had the writing chops. Coupled with Bryan Singer back in a story and production role I was quietly confident. But they have knocked it out of the park with style and visual flare that you don’t normally see in the superhero genre.

The balance is spot on, with elements of action and comedy tempered with heartfelt drama and disturbing scenes of violence. I think this pushes the 12A certificate quite a bit with even a well timed ‘f’ word so be warned if taking weenies. The content is mature, and while the laughs temper the drama, when the director wants you to be unconfirmed he does not shy away. This starts right away in an extended scene from the first X-Men film where we discover the young Erik Lensherr in a Nazi concentration camp and does not let up in virtually throughout the entire film. That’s not to say it is bordering on horror or high drama, but this is far removed from Saturday morning cartoons.

I am a self confessed X-Men geek and to me, ‘First Class’ is X-Men to it’s core. That is how the comics are in characterisation and ethos, and after seeing it you realise the deficiencies of the previous three films. X1 and 3 aren’t bad films, and X2 is certainly the high point, but this blows it out of the water. I think this is helped by the period setting of the Cuban missile crisis and in a similar way to the Indiana Jones series, the globe trotting escapades of our characters seems rooted in an era gone by and are yet also timeless. Deft touches by Vaughn such as the split screen training sequence are engaging without looking camp, while the tonal variations and colour casts in other scenes add to the world that is depicted in a genuine, and not forced way.

Fassbender’s vengeful Erik plays perfectly opposite a idealistic Charles Xavier played by James McAvoy. This is not the same Professor X of the later movies though. Charles is young and has a whole world of potential before him and through the course of the film you understand how his character develops to make the decisions that are so pivotal to later events. In early scene;s, McAvoy is hilarious and thoroughly engaging.

McAvoy and Fassbender steal the show.

One criticism though is that we don’t see enough of Magneto hunting down the Nazi captors of his childhood, and I could have happily watched 90 minutes of this on it’s own. There is no room for it but these scenes are so good you just want more, with tension building superbly in a highlight scene where Fassbender travels to Argentina to confront two exiled Nazis.

But I would largely ignore the criticism of critics such as BBC’s Mark Kermode. The opening scenes featuring scantily clad women fit perfectly the sexist tone of the early sixties. And after this the amount of bare skin is kept to a minimum so I don’t see why this merits criticism…it is a plot device. The insinuation of showing skin for the sake of it is directly countered by the Emma Frost character in the movie, who shows disdain for the male objectification that she is party to.

Also, the influx of mutant characters has been commented as being to much, but again I would say the balance is spot on. You find out just enough of the main protagonists to enable them to add to the story without affecting the pace of the film, the only casualties appearing to be two of Kevin Bacon’s cadre (including the very red Azazel played by  Jason Flemyng).

I have to repeat, THIS IS X-MEN.and I find it hard to see how it could get better. But even if superhero flicks aren’t your thing, this stands solidly as an action adventure of the highest order. Roll on number 2….NOW!

5 out of 5

Dark of The Moon is released on July 1, 2011.

X-Men: First Class opens June 1st in the UK (two days before the yanks!).

I think YouView is a great idea and I have gone through every possible avenue trying to get BBC iPlayer on my TV. Without buying a new one, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way, and combining this with 4OD would be gold dust.

The gloss of watching iPlayer on the Wii faded a good while ago. It’s a great idea but the quality is terrible – almost as bad as downloading a dodgy DivX copy. But there lies the rub; until Auntie and her cronies make it as easy as flicking a switch on your remote, you will always have people reaching for BitTorrent to catch their fix of Doctor Who which they missed. Sky+ goes some way to address this, but then there’s the hefty price tag that goes with being enslaved to Murdoch.

Let’s hope that Virgin’s hissy fit does not scupper YouView’s roll out. I reckon the platform is a clear winner and with a little uptake could rocket as a standard content delivery platform not just as a set top box, but more pervasively built into TV hardware. Sony love that sort of thing.

More from here: http://www.youview.com/

Who the hell does James Cameron think he is to abuse the fans in releasing Avatar again? Taking the somewhat over used concept of a Directors Cut is common place for home video, but to do this in the cinema while the original is still playing is plain wrong.

But I’m glad to see that I’m not alone. People like the Director of Phirana 3D have accused him of cashing in on the fans good will and make no bones: this is cashing in.
But why? I went to see Avatar twice and spent enough money on it. And unfortunately it is just not good enough to own on Blu-ray. Incidentally there is a copy in my player which seems to be on permanent loan from a member of my family and they don’t seem to be clamouring to have it back.
The simple reason is that Avatar is just not good enough. After you’ve seen it, all you’re left with is the spectacle. It’s not a bad film, and while it was a game changer for cinema, it is no classic. I won’t be sitting down in 25 years time all grey and infirm thinking about what to put on my 100″ holographic display and think “ooh…Avatar!”. No. It’ll be Star Wars or North By Northwest or Fight Club. Besides, how is 3D gonna work when we are nothing but floating heads in a jar?

Well…sorta. I have been huge Matthew Good fan for many years now, and it amazes me with such drivel in the UK music scene, how Canada’s most famous unknown is not well…um…known in the UK. And on this one issue, I have to say I am grateful to iTunes for providing Matthew Good exposure outside of North America.

Vancouver is Matthew’s fourth album after dissolution of the Matthew Good Band in 2002 and I would argue his strongest. His music, often deeply personal invariably offers a sometimes scathing commentary on the issues of the day. Both these concepts are in abundance in Vancouver.

The album is very accessible musically and lyrically, but provides additional depth to those fans who frequent his blog and are aware of the issues that lead him to describe himself as an ‘activist’. But that’s not to say the album is an inside joke for devotees. I would find it hard if someone could not see something special and human through the turmoil depicted in ‘Silent Army In The Trees’ or ‘Great Whales of the Sea’.Social commentary being the primary aim for the album, with ‘Vancouver National Anthem’ and the afor mentioned ‘Silent Army…’ highlighting thought provoking issues which are dealt with in a firm but not overbearing kind of way. The messages are clear but the songs stand up for themselves and it’s not a case of being preached at with the themes running riot over musicality.

The other thing you can count on MG delivering is at least one monumental angry rocker and ‘Fought To Fight’ is once such tune, and a stand out track. Sometimes sampled sound bites can be contrived but Good has the knack of keeping these reined in.

Album opener ‘Last Parade‘ is for me the album in a nutshell. A medium paced, atmospheric build up recalls songs from MGB’s ‘Audio of Being’ and quickly envelopes you in a tide of angst and sardonic social commentary set to a backing track which I can only describe as ‘optimistic melancholy’. It is one of those songs that hoists you on it’s shoulders for a wild rumpus through the woods at 80 miles per hour. By the time the five plus minute track is over you are already hitting the back button to start it all over again. Truly astonishing and one of Good’s most accomplished songs to date.

For more about Matthew, click here for his frequently updated blog.

* Note: I know this album has been out for a while…I forgot to finish this post off about 6 months ago!