Everybody Wants Some!!

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Craig M

Viewed – 14 October 2016 Online-rental

As soon as I heard about this I wanted to see it. Director Richard Linklater’s as he puts it ‘spiritual sequel’ to one of my all-time favourite movies; Dazed and Confused. This like Dazed follows a group of high school students but is now set in 1980 rather than that movie’s 70s and on the eve of starting college as apposed to the last day of school. It primarily follows baseball pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner) as he arrives at a frat house and becomes acquainted with the rest of the college baseball team; a group of guys who seem obsessed with getting high, partying and getting laid.

It’s hard to not make comparisons with that earlier movie, as I kept being drawn back to it for everything this one lacked. Jake is the only particularly likeable character here but even he has very little ark but for a tacked-on romance towards the end. Everyone else are simply obnoxious stoners or loud-mouthed jocks who despite being believable … I really wouldn’t enjoy being in the company of. Also Jake’s story is the only one we follow, nobody else has a ‘journey’ or any real defined personality and frankly several of the characters are very similar to one another. Also situations rarely had any pay off, like an early scene with a water bed and a little later on one character having to leave for the weekend because his girlfriend might be pregnant … but when he returns, it’s never mentioned again.

That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have it’s merits. Linklater’s keen observations of the era and setting are well done and the soundtrack on the whole is decent (the movie starts off well with The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’). And well, It all looks pretty good too, shot with an early eighties vibe that works a treat. Just a shame the wafer thin characters and lack of interesting situations means that unlike ‘Dazed it’s unlikely this one will achieve anywhere near the same cult status.

Verdict: 2.5 /5

Update

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Craig M

I feel I’ve been neglecting my readers of late and not posting as much as I should. What can I say, life get’s in the way and yes I have a life. But apart from that I really do like posting on this blog even if only a handful of people ever read it…those handful are important though! Anyway I digress. What I wanted was to give you the heads up about a few things I’ve been doing of late. There’s been an emphasis on gaming and well, I got myself some games I need to get around to finishing before the big slew of releases leading up the Christmas. There are too many good games coming out to actually manage to play them all let alone complete – but I have my beady eyes on a few.

For now though two games are on regular rotation, that being Uncharted 4: A Thieves End on PS4, arguably the best looking PS4 game and a rather polished adventure with that as expected Naughty Dog mastery of detail and game design. I won’t say for such a game it’s grabbed me as much as Rise of the Tomb Raider did, but then that game was more about survival and this game’s more a summer blockbuster. But I’m enjoying it. The other game I took a gamble with and downloaded is the much underrated Recore for XB1, like Uncharted an exclusive but nowhere near as well received, which is understandable – Uncharted is clearly a flagship title for PS4 and Sony whereas Recore was under-marketed and isn’t really meant to be a system seller as much as the forthcoming Gears of War 4 will be. However what it is is a rather classic throwback to platform shooter / exploration games like Metroid and I’m enjoying it a lot. I love exploration, puzzle solving and platforming and this does those three things brilliantly. The surrounding game, it’s story and it’s character design isn’t anything to write home about and it suffers from a few technical issues here and there … but it’s nowhere near as bad as the media will have you believe. I’d say If you like the sound of it, give it a chance.

I also have Mafia 3 pre-ordered on the XB1 and have asked for Watchdogs 2 on PS4 for my birthday (note for your diaries readers, it’s 14 November lol). I also would like to dive into the latest expansion that’s been released for Destiny namely ‘Rise of Iron’. I really like Destiny and it’s world and the upgrading of my character and weapons and exploring etc. keeps pulling me back far more than The Division seems it ever will. But to save money and give me a chance of completing those two games above, I’m holding off on taking the leap as of yet. I can also see even Dishonoured 2, a game I’m particularly excited for being put on the back burner until there are not so many games to play.

TV is taking up some of my time too and I’m trying to finish off current seasons of certain shows that I like, such as having just finished Daredevil season 2 (it was great, sometimes amazing, started a little slow but really delivered half way through. I think I still favour season 1 more though). Also nearing the end of the current season of Orange is The New Black which I feel has failed to really hit it’s stride this season apart from a strong opening and the return of a favourite character…I just wonder where it’s going. I’m also watching House of Cards season 2 … yes I’m waaay behind but love it. Its been pretty strong this season too. Also enjoying British police drama Luthor…I think I’m on series 3…but I lose track. Suitably violent and disturbing and well, Idris Elba is fantastic. I’ve also lined up two more Netflix Marvel shows to get into, Jessica Jones which I keep hearing good things about and the imminent Luke Cage which looks a lot of fun. I may focus on Jones first as the two shows seems to connect with one another by looks of it.

Now back on topic … for movies I have a few in the pipeline you’ll be seeing reviews of. I need to get around to watching Everybody Wants Some! Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel to one of my all time favourite movies, Dazed & Confused. Also I’m hoping to see The Magnificent Seven with friends from work next week sometime. Did I also mention that I have a special edition of Donnie Darko coming? Look out for an in-depth review of that and how it stacks up on Blu-ray. Also there’s that final Studio Ghibli movie When Marnie Was There that‘s out soon so I can’t wait to get my paws on that.

I’ve not forgotten about my continuing series My Gaming History which will have a new post in the coming days so look out for that. But for now that’s what’s going on with me as far as a few of my hobbies, interests and this blog is concerned.

Craig.

Dazed and Confused

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Craig M

Viewed – 25 January 2015 Blu-ray

This for a long time has been my go-to movie to just chill out and relax with. Something about this 70’s set high school comedy-drama just feels very comfortable. I’ll put this on occasionally because hell, I enjoy being in the company of these characters probably more than any movie I can think of.

Set on the last day of school this follows the (mis)adventures of various school kids as they go to parties, hang out, drive around, cause a bit of mischief, contemplate their futures and learn a little bit about themselves along the way. You could say the main character is a freshman called Mitch (Wiley Wiggens) who is one of several targets for drop out thug O’Bannion (a before he was famous Ben Affleck) who likes to spank these kids with a softball bat as some sort of ‘initiation’. Mitch gets into various encounters and we follow his story but at the same time we have quarterback ‘Pink’ who’s trying to figure out if he’s going to stay on in the college football team, and along the way we meet several other fascinating and interesting personalities like super-sleazy but super-cool Matthew McConaughey and a stoner hippy chick Mila Jovavich.

I think there is a character in this movie for anyone to relate to, someone was one of these characters when they were at school – were you the cool guy the girls all looked at, or the geeky kid that just wanted to fit in, or someone in-between? That’s the magic of this and add Richard Linklater’s assured, very authentic and (clearly in love with the subject matter) direction, mixed with a soundtrack to die for (Ozzy, Deep Purple, Cooper…they’re all here) … and I think this is one of the best high school movies ever made – if not THE best high school movie ever made.

The Blu-ray that I imported from the U.S. may not be the bells-and-whistles Criterion release (I reviewed the Criterion DVD release HERE). Yet this Universal edition boasts a picture full of fine detail even if the colours lack a little vibrancy (but seem to suit the 70’s look and feel). However the big showpiece here is the soundtrack with clear dialogue, decent use of surrounds and most importantly the iconic music given major, thumping treatment to really show off your speakers (has Alice Cooper’s School’s Out ever sounded better?). Extras are rather limp however with no commentary and little more than deleted scenes and a music feature that you can bring up with Universal’s U-Play mode. Very disappointing for a movie that that for me, is a stone cold classic.

Verdict:

(the movie) 5 /5

(the Blu-ray) 3.5 /5

A Scanner Darkly

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Craig M

Viewed – 23 October 2009 DVD

Wow. This was a wierd one. I rented this as I felt I had been neglecting the career of my favourite actress, namely Winona Ryder, and had heard many positive things about this sci-fi yarn based on a Philip K Dick short story, and co-starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. Now one of the immediate points of interest in this movie is it’s animated ‘look’, a process where the whole movie is actually filmed with regular actors, locations etc … then given an animated post-processing style to create the look of an animated movie. This being my only experience of such a process, I have to say it is both startling and bonkers.

scannerdarkly

Keanu Reeves plays an undercover cop in a not-too-distant future who becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result. This was a difficult film to like for several reasons, firstly it has a group of mostly unlikable odd-ball characters that I guess are meant to be lovable loosers but come off more as annoying loosers, with no direction but screwing each other over, and secondly Keanu wears a wierd disguise that hides his identity, which is an interesting but mind-bending effect showing the character’s appearance changing every second. Now apart from the obvious visual style that does earn this movie a viewing recommendation, the story is confusing and rather bland, with not much point or purpose, apart from a well warn image of drug-culture that can’t hold a hat to the likes of Trainspotting or Drugstore Cowboy. The ending is mystifying too. Acting wise all do a fine job with the material with Keanu and Winona especially standing out, but it’s the visuals here that pack the greatest punch, and some of the imagery and ideas are amazing – but sadly the story they surround isn’t.

verdict: 2 /5