Tom Hanks and Leo DiCaprio star in this film based on the true story of Frank Abignal Jr, conman extrordinaire in the 60s and 70s. A really quite engaging story – you can’t help liking Frank, despite him defrauding several million dollars – he’s got panache! And it’s sort of everyone’s dream, to put on a pilot’s uniform, and waltz in to an airport and get free flights to wherever! And it’s telling how he gets sucked into that world without noticing that he has – he’s quite at ease in a posh restaurant (with chilled salad forks!), wearing designer clothes, that sort of thing. But he still keeps his childlikeness – he is clearly also out of his depth on several occasions, and resorts to telling the real truth.. and every time he does nobody believes him. I suppose most of all it’s a story about broken family relationships, and the effect it has on the 16 year old who is forced to choose between whether his mother or father has custody over him! (answer, it makes him run away and become a conman!)
Been pondering the nature of fame, mainly because we’ve been following Fame Academy on the Beeb in my house (sad, but true). Why is it that some of the contestants just look `right’ on stage performing (Louise, Peter, Alex, to some extent James, …), while others look like they’ve clambered up on stage at their local’s karaoke night? (most notably Barry – what’s he still doing there – but some of the others already gone too). I was actually a bit disappointed with this week’s results – I can’t see how Barry really deserves to be there over any of this week’s bottom three.
So of course weblogs are an attempt to grab some of this limelight – even the Church Times did a little feature on them last week. And how post-modern ironic is it for a (would-be) blogger to speculate on the meanings of blogging. Or something.
On a different note, came across a couple of most groovy websites recently – first mention goes to tv.cream.org, a site which (despite the title) is jam packed full of TV memorabilia, including MP3 theme tunes of all those fab 70/80s TV shows (Bagpuss, Thunderbirds, the A-Team, Airwolf, The Adventure Game, Treasure Hunt, …). Sad man that I am I keep listening to the theme to Knight Rider as I do my research. Also, remember The Fall Guy? (Lee Majors as “Colt Seavers” – great lyrics too:
I’m not the kind to kiss and tell, but I’ve been seen with Farrah I’ve never been with anything less than a nine – so fine. I’ve been on fire with Sally Field, gone fast with a girl named Bo, But somehow they just don’t end up as mine! It’s a death defying life I lead, I take my chances. I’d die for living in the movies and TV. But the hardest do I ever do, is watch my leading ladies Kiss some other guy while I’m bandaging my knee,
I might fall from a tall building or roll a brand new car ‘Cos I’m the unknown stuntman that made Redford such a star.
I’m fairly sure that ‘Farrah’ would be Farrah Fawcett, who I’m also sure occasionally appeared on the show, which makes it all deliciously self-aware (the best known female co-star was, of course, Heather Thomas). The site also has a description of each TV programme, the highs and lows if you like (I’ve gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs (who??), blown up for Rachel Welch” – Ahh, the mighty Goggle tells me Cheryl Tiegs was a model at the time that tune was written.)
Dragging myself away (It’s me no-no, small robot you know), the next site to get a mention is… um.. well I can’t remember what it was now! Having the “Tales of the Unexpected” thinkling in my ears probably isn’t helping my concentration. Well, probably enough for one day anyway (Goodie goodie yum yum).
What a great fun game, especially the online whatsit! The basic premise is that you are a SEAL commander, charged with leading your team of 4 on a number of sorties against those nasty terrorists (who are planning world wide disruption and must be stopped). That’s the offline game anyway, but plug it in to the network adaptor, and it’s a whole different ball-park. You choose to be either a SEAL or a terrorist, on teams of up to 8 players a side, in what really amounts to a death-match. There are some extra hooks in the games – some of them the aim to is get to a bomb and blow up the opposition’s camp, in others you have to rescue/predent the rescue of hostages. However it mainly seems to come down to whichever team survives! The real magic of this game is the headset – yes you can talk to the other people on your team via a rather nifty headset!! Life is never quite the same after you’ve spent a couple of hours shouting “Tango, 3 ‘o’ clock” or “I’m going for the bomb”, or “hostle sighted in the temple” at your TV! The game is not perfect – The controls take some getting used to, and online it’s dead frustrating when you first start out and get killed within 5 seconds (this does get better with practice) not to mention the glitches and lag. The offline game is somehow a little unsatisfying too, although it is quite fun issuing commands to your team through the headset “Bravo, lead to charlie” “Team, fire at will”. That said this game is huge fun – and I’m queueing up to by SOCOM 2 already.
Update I’ve taken the plunge and got it from ebay – much better value at 15 or 20 quid. I was perhaps a bit harsh – the lack of proper flight-sim stuff does still rankle, but after a bit of practice with the controls and a lot of playing, I’m actually a bit of a fan now. Finished off the adventure mode, which is satisfying, and might one day get around to unlocking all the special craft…
I know I’m often at odds with other people about films, but I really don’t think the Matrix II deserves the slating it’s getting from the critics. At one point in the film I was a little bored, and thinking “get on with it”, but in the main I was right on the edge of my seat – even ducking at times!! I think it’s biggest problem is that it’s a sequel to the Matrix – and that’s an awful lot to live up to. That said, where “bullet time” was very in your face in the Matrix, here it’s so subtle you almost don’t notice it. At times I found the bullet time bits to be a necessary breathing space, like “phew – ok, so Neo is there with a pole, and so and so is there, and they’re coming up.. WOOOOAAA off again” The plot was a little weak (although in many ways the plot was never going to be the strong point), but there were some *great* characters (the twins are good, as is Merovingian, plus an old friend makes a great comeback(s)), and lots of unanswered questions to be resolved in III – plus an amazing ending.. much more like a two episode Star Trek ending then a film ending! “We couldn’t fit this into one film, so we’ve split it in two” type thing.. I can just see III starting “previously in the Matrix…” or something. So anyway, I hugely enjoyed it – I thought it was technically better than the orignal, although not as strong on the plot, and it suffers (ironically) from being a post-Matrix 1 film!
I’m told the official name for this sort of thing is a “blog” – I presume it’s short for “weblog” or something like that. I was talking to a friend over coffee yesterday, who got very excited when I mentioned I occasionally scrawl inanities on here, and promised to look, so I sort of feel obliged to put something up.
In other words, blame her! 🙂
But I did go and see The Matrix Reloaded yesterday, and I have to say that I think the critics are wrong in slating it. Sure it’s not going to win any oscars, but for me it really hit the spot. I could have done without some of the ‘real life’ zion scenes – for me they didn’t really add anything, and at times slowed the whole pace of the film down, but otherwise it rocked. I’ve written a more in depth review over there somewhere.
Surprising I haven’t done a review for Shanghai Noon, of which this film is the sequel, and is a film which I rate extremely highly! Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson star once again, this time the action is displaced to London, and Jackie is joined by his ‘sister’ (the highly watchable Fann Wong). There’s nothing really wrong with this film (although some of the ‘in jokes’ are laboured), but it also doesn’t hit the spot. Where Shanghai Noon succeeded, this somehow fails to capture the magic again. I wonder if Jackie is just getting a bit too old for this physical stuff – the fights and stunts just look choreographed, and I never once found myself ‘lost’ in the action; I could follow all the moves easily. Somehow the spontaneity was missing, and that’s a gret shame. Still, worth renting out from the video shop I’d reckon. Seen at Ster Century, Leeds.
From the makers of Jak and Daxter comes a game that’s just possibly even better! “Like J&D with guns” is how I’ve heard it described, and that’s not far off, but it doesn’t do it justice. Synopses and the storyline of the game are ubiquitous on the net, so I’ll only add my personal opinion. It rocks! I have played this, and played this, and played this. Straight after finishing it once I went back to the start and played it again (it lets you restart the game with all your guns and some special items). Perhaps I need to explain a little – as the game progress you get the chance to pick up or buy weapons, all of which have their specific strengths and weaknesses. My favourites are the suck cannon (which sucks in little enemies, and turns them into explosive projectiles) and the morph-o-ray (which turns the enemies in chickens?!?). But the gameplay again is pitched perfectly – perhaps a little easy for some, but I never found myself stuck for too long, even though some parts were quite challenging. All in all an awesome game, well worth getting hold of.
Very enjoyable film, although the friend who lent it to me led me to believe there was a romantic/emotional subtext involving a woman, which I spent the whole film looking for!!
