Category: TV, Film & Video
Six films of 2009
District 9
Now-school sci-fi thriller abundant with interesting themes including body transformation horror, refugee life, slavery, alien social structures, international politics, the arms trade, conspiracy, third-world aid and the duelling threads of interwoven personal motivations all backed up with awesome special effects and fashionable camera technique.
In The Loop
Hilarious and insightful film about the bumbled politics of war-making from the stables of hilarious and insightful TV series The Thick of It, both essential viewing.
A Serious Man
Personal, layered and exquisitely peculiar Coen-brand cinema among their finest. Both deeply sad and life-affirming in a triumphant alchemical mix.
Zombieland
Inventive, galvanising zombie fun to remind us of life's priorities. Rom-zom-com of the year.
Harry Brown
Exciting and snappy contemporary re-take of the vigilante thriller taking full advantage of Michael Caine's advanced years and boasting fine cinematography, soundtrack and sound design.
Moon
Polished, bleak yet cosy British sci-fi that rewards careful inspection and reeks of a fine knowledge of great sci-fi film-making that has come before.
Five films of 2008
The King of Kong (Seth Gordon)
imdb amazon
Personal, amazing and often amusing look into the trials of obsessively competitive classic arcade video-game players.
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
imdb amazon
Epic parable of ambition and family, selfishness and power, driven by the incredible performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as the ruthless and charismatic Daniel Plainview and a vivid rendering of early twentieth century America. I drink your milkshake!
No Country For Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
imdb amazon
Beautifully rendered, exhilarating criminal mayhem and the elegiac ruminations of an aging sheriff. Best haircut award to Javier Bardem.
Du levande (You, The Living) (Roy Andersson)
imdb amazon
Funny, unassuming yet fantastical dream about a set of people that seem peculiarly Swedish. Table-cloth trick lol
Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal)
imdb amazon
A study of the work and subject of photographer Edward Burtynsky, who photographs the artificial and affected landscapes created by industry around the world. Featuring astounding, memorable and significant images, particularly of China.
The Boys From Brazil - a comedy?
Quotes from The Boys from Brazil (1978) starring those well-known comic turns, Gregory Peck as Dr. Josef Mengele and Laurence Olivier as Ezra Lieberman, all backed by a wonderfully melodramatic score by Jerry Goldsmith.
Lieberman - Feel free to ignore your responsibilities while my property is being ruined!
Landlord - You have no right to bring these heavy cabinets in here.
Lieberman - All right, all right! So next time rent to a feather merchant!
Lieberman - Mr Kohler, it may be a blinding revelation to you that there are Nazis in Paraguay, but I assure you, it is no news to me. And if you stay there much longer, there will still be Nazis in Paraguay, but there will be one less Jewish boy in the world.
Lieberman - He's been there... some weeks. I told him to go home and he hung up. What did he want? Applause?
Beynon - How are you getting along?
Lieberman - Can't complain. Who'd listen?
Beynon - I'm so sorry, I'm late for lunch.
Lieberman - Always such a prodigious appetite!
Beynon - What?
Lieberman - Eight times last week I called you, and each time you were at lunch. Maybe you have a tapeworm?
Beynon - Have you any idea how many men in their mid-60s die every day?
Lieberman - I try not to think about it.
Simon Harrington - Don't you understand English, you arse?
Lieberman - If you want to ask the questions, you pay for the phone call!
Gertrud - Get a doctor!
Mengele - I am a doctor, idiot!
Gertrud - Don't you come near him!
Mengele - Shut up, you ugly bitch!
Doctor - Then he was nothing more than a sadist, really.
Lieberman - A sadist with an MD and a PhD.
Lieberman - Well, some people would say that's a perfect definition of a scientist.
Lieberman - Did you kill Wheelock?
Mengele - No... he's in the kitchen, mixing us some cocktails!
Mengele - A Hitler tailor-made for the 1980s!
That's not even to mention the bit with the puppet. imdb defines the genre as "Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller". We could add Comedy to that list, but it is better to consider if great drama always invokes comedy (and vice-versa).
Tales from the fringes of the K-T Boundary
65 million years ago, on a small greenish blue planet, several giant lizards were discussing last night's television.
"I love that Can't Hunt Won't Hunt," said the first one.
"I’m not a fan of reality TV," said the next.
"I know what you mean," agreed his friend.
The last of the great beasts considered this and said: "Shit! What’s that?"
At that moment a meteor of gargantuan proportions screamed overhead.
This was the last conversation any dinosaur ever had. Makes you think, eh?
mr huggotron's myspaz here
Local telly archives
Thanks to the BBC Creative Archive, UK folks can now download archive video of those media hotspots, Lincolshire and Humberside, as well as some other areas.
Of course, this service isn't just serving historical interest in such events as the opening of the A65 South Docks Road in Hull, above, or the massive chemical works explosion at Flixborough. It's to give the public back some of the content their licence-fees have paid for as raw materials for new creative works. Right now, I can't think of anything to do with video of the opening of Scunthorpe Steel Works beyond gaping in awe:
last night in notts
Two short clips of Virus Syndicate with incredibly overdriven bass:
http://www.youtube.com/?v=XYnrngpeVPU
http://www.youtube.com/?v=t88KTQMLGcI
UPDATE: Check out these much better official videos: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=loomfestival
Top Ten Spaceships #10: Mon Calamari Cruiser
Perhaps not the most obvious Star Wars space-ship to feature in this definitive list (ahem, the Millennium Falcon); the Mon-Calamari Cruiser is however both the back-bone of the rebel fleet and can stand up to an Imperial Star Destroyer one on one, not to mention the fact that it translates as "My Squid"!
This globular vessel has size, firepower and speed on its side; making it a fearsome opponent in battle. The location of its "bridge" is not obvious to the enemy, which is somewhat unique across the entire spectrum of sci-fi, and is especially clever of the hull designers considering it's usual designation as a fleet command ship.
Yello - Desert Inn (from Stella; see also Stella [Remastered])
Elephants march past Super Eagles
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/4683462.stm
Well it's a shame Nigeria had to go out before the final, Jon Obi Mikel has shown some great touches, what a player he'll turn out to be. Just hopefully not at Chelsea, where he'll be turned in to some mindless automaton whose only weapon is pace - i.e. Duff, Cole, Robben. But I put a quid down on Ivory Coast to win the cup at 8-1. They beat Egypt and that's nine quid back for me. They lose and that'd one less quid to worry about. I can't see Senegal pooping any parties. Tune into Eurosport to find out, eh?
Oh, and there's troubles with the server, no mp3s for a while, don't panic.
The only joke Eric Idle can remember
A man goes into a bar, and another guy comes in and hits him over the head with an iron bar.
The first guy says 'was that meant to be a joke?'
The second guy says 'no, it was serious' and the first guy replies;
'Good, I can't stand jokes like that.'
(from the Aristocrats)
The Surgery - More Weed!
Alternative 3
Brian Eno - Alternative 3 soundtrack (excerpt)
from Alternative 3 - Science Report, April 1st 1977
Alternative 3 on imdb, Wikipedia, Museum of Hoaxes
