The Hollowmen is a new Rob Sitch comedy on the ABC that uncannily mirrors the world I have lowered myself into. You can watch each week’s episode online after it airs on Wednesday nights. Required viewing for those seeking to, or who already are, involved with the gub’ment.

Posted in Silverscreen on Friday July 18, 2008. Shoutouts.

A brief email conversation on Battlestar Galactica:

“In hindsight, renting the last two DVDs and watching the final two episodes again, in time for the new season, was not such a good idea. I’d forgotten how much rage I had for those episodes. I hope they can dig themselves from the hole they have created. I really do.”

“My suspicion: They will dig themselves out of the hole and find themselves inside an even vaster, more awesome hole.”

“Brutal reality: Hole just gets bigger. Ladder insufficient.”

Posted in Silverscreen on Monday April 21, 2008. Shoutouts.

Charlton Heston, holder of a big stick, hater of monkeys, and the official government-sanctioned voice of God has died. I think you know what that means…

Posted in Silverscreen on Monday April 7, 2008. Shoutouts.

10th annual Revelation Film Festival starts today, so if you’re in Perth and love cinema, get into it. There are a bunch of great films on (PDF timetable here) and this year in particular we are lucky enough to have a special touring program, Focus on Tezuka – curated by the multi-talented anime and manga expert Philip Brophy – which will feature several pieces by Osamu Tezuka. There’s more information, and an interview with Philip Brophy over on LovingPerth.

Posted in Silverscreen on Friday July 13, 2007. Shoutouts.

Today I was made very happy when I realised that there is a tonne of Dr. Katz on YouTube including the Dave Chapelle Aquaman skit and the whole of the Mitch Hedberg episode (Part 2 and Part 3) and even Drinky the Drunk Guy. Some therapy for a slow Sunday arvo.

Posted in Silverscreen on Sunday January 7, 2007. Shoutouts [2].

Another childhood memory crushed underfoot like so many shards of glass. Why Disney. Why?

Posted in Silverscreen on Wednesday December 13, 2006. Shoutouts [2].

“Rock ‘n Roll is NOT over, baby! Rock ‘n Roll NEVER DIES!”

“The DVD for Wild Zero features a drinking game wherein a drink is taken whenever someone says ‘Rock and roll,’ something explodes, something burns, a zombie’s head is blown off, or someone combs their hair. At several times throughout the film two or three drinking symbols appear on-screen.”

This must be done. When I went to buy tickets for Guitar Wolf last weekend, the guy at the counter admonished me for not having seen Wild Zero. Said Planet had it, but it was always out. Time to book it and order a carton, it’s Wolfin’ Time.

Posted in Silverscreen on Friday November 10, 2006. Shoutouts.

If you’ve seen the excellent sci-fi movie Primer (reviewed here) and want to blow your mind, go check out the Wikipedia page for the film on which rabid fans have created an incredibly detailed run through of the, admittedly, incredibly detailed plot. If you haven’t seen Primer, and like a movie you can talk about for weeks afterwards, go and track down a copy. You’ll probably hate it.

(Spotted on the ABC’s Articulate Arts Blog)

Posted in Silverscreen on Friday October 20, 2006. Shoutouts.

A destined-for-print article about the Cult of Star Wars that never quite made the cut and then got relegated to the writing kill-file. Now freshly resurrected and squeaky clean for your enjoyment.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a Star Wars nerd. No, I don’t own a Stormtrooper suit, I’ve never lined up for a Star Wars movie in costume and I couldn’t tell you the name of the actor inside R2D2. However, I have seen all the films in the original trilogy at least once, could probably quote a significant proportion of them and will freely admit to feeling mildly outraged when Mr. Lucas altered the special edition so that Greedo shot first. Nerd: Card carrying, thank you very much. So, understandably, I’ve been looking forward to the latest Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, for quite some time.

For some reason, the press surrounding the “simultaneous worldwide release” of Sith neglected to mention that Japan doesn’t fit into “the world” as defined by studio executives. We were expected to wait until mid July for the privilege of paying roughly $20 to see it. Well, like good children, we all waited patiently and last weekend I headed to Ako to finally catch the flick.

Sith is supposed to be the triumphant climax of the Star Wars saga. To be the bridge between the first two prequels and the events that transpired during the original trilogy. To tie up loose ends and provide closure. However, after the less than stellar first two outings by Lucas into prequel land, there was some trepidation as to whether he was going to be able to wrap up the series in a way that provided adequate closure for fans. I should clarify what I mean by “less than stellar” because, despite Lucas’ best efforts, I did actually enjoy both the first two movies.

For me, the biggest downfall of the prequels was that I hated feeling embarrassed for enjoying them. I hate feeling like I have to justify spending my money on stilted dialogue, wooden acting and generally embarrassing characters. Just look at the prequels: How do you avoid raising your eyebrows as little blue aliens make poop jokes? How can you do anything but laugh at the deadly serious delivery of the “Oh boy, but do I hate sand so very, very much” speech by Anakin in Episode II. How do you explain away Jar Jar and “Meesa gonna whomp whomp” to, well, anyone?

In the end though, you don’t have to justify anything. Why? Because your friends are the ones standing behind you in line to put down their cash for what is, ostensibly, a movie for children. So, why don’t we just say, “This is a kid’s movie. I don’t want to see this.”

Because this is different. This is Star Wars.

It’s what you used to play in primary school with Lacrosse sticks that made buzzing noises as they whipped through the air. With broom handles that magically cut off hands (as they were judiciously shoved into sweater sleeves) and made sparking electrical noises (depending on the mimicking ability of the person you were fighting) when they crashed together. It’s the prank calls to friends made with deep voices and respirator noises. “I sense much beer in you.” It’s using video editing software for the first time and wondering whether you can use it to make a lightsaber effect. It’s the fact that the mythology of Star Wars is so inexorably tied into popular culture that pop bands sing songs about Alderaan, characters in seemingly unrelated movies discuss the finer points of Darth Vader and almost everyone of our generation knows what a Wookie is. Who Yoda is. Why speaking like this I am.

So with that kind of shared nostalgia, it was weird watching the familiar yellow text scroll away for perhaps the last time. Weird seeing how many times you could read the text before it was too small to make out. Weird wondering where the camera was going to pan to this time.

This time, it panned down to a space battle. This was the beginning of the end.

Remember in Return of the Jedi when the Rebel fleet drop out of hyperspace and rushes towards the Death Star only to realise the shield is still up. They panic, make evasive manoeuvres and suddenly, the whole fleet is getting absolutely shot to shit. There are ships flying everywhere, lasers crisscrossing the screen and general pandemonium. If you multiply that by about a billion, you’ve got the opening few minutes of Sith. It is epic.

Epic is a word that describes Sith well. Indeed, everything seems bigger, brighter and badder than before. The set-pieces have an enormity that was lacking from the two previous outings. It’s very much the same of Star Wars though; the villains posture and strut, Anakin and Obi-wan make wise cracks to each other as they slice shit up with lightsabers, the Jedi council are as obtuse as ever and Palpatine sits in the background and pulls all the strings. In fact, for the first half of the movie it does feels a lot like Episodes I and II and then something strange happens. It gets dark.

It almost seems as if Lucas wasn’t happy with the way things were going and, half-way through, suddenly spun the knob labelled “intensity.”

As we watch as Anakin’s inexorable slide towards the dark side continues, we se him start to make some shitty decisions and, suddenly, everything comes crashing down. The final hour of Sith is as fine a piece of cinematic escapism as I’ve ever seen. You can feel the pieces slotting into place as half explored storylines and forgotten connections come thudding together and it all starts to make sense in a big picture kind of way.

As Martin said, “It actually feels like a movie this time.” He’s right, Sith has a cinematic scope far beyond that of the first two episodes. The juxtaposition towards the end between Anakin and Padme, the long shots while the temple burns, the abrupt end to storylines, these all finally fit into the big picture. Sure, it’s no work of art. The dialogue can be clunky and stilted and Anakin is at times hopelessly one-dimensional but in the end none of this really bothered me.

My inner ten-year-old was cheering all the way through.

Posted in Silverscreen on Tuesday September 26, 2006. Shoutouts.

“What, are we not allowed to call them flicks anymore?”
“Flicks?”
“As in ‘I’m going to see a flick?”
“Flicks? No. No, and we never were allowed to. Like how you’re not allowed to pronounce cinema like you’re a Pirate. It’s just the way of things”
“Law of the jungle, huh”
“If it worked for the Painted Jaguar, it can work for you.”

Arrr:

• The Fountain
• The Oh in Ohio
• The Illusionist
• Running with Scissors

Posted in Silverscreen on Sunday July 23, 2006. Shoutouts [1].