September 05, 2007
quick reviews
Movies:
Hot Fuzz: It's by the same folks who did Shaun of the Dead, and it shows, and in a good way. Slow-burn opening that's primarily to set up a machinegun series of joke moments later; tongue-in-cheek dry humor building to general insanity. Basically, what Shaun does for zombie flicks--being simultaneously a comedy version of them, and a damn fine zombie film in its own right--Hot Fuzz does for action cop movies.
Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon: This was one of those great occasional discoveries that justifies my netflix subscription above and beyond all the other justifications. Some hapless film school types are shooting a documentary on our hero Leslie Vernon, who's aiming to be the next big name in unstoppable supernatural slashers. His dream is to be referred to in the same breath as the greats like Voorhees and Myers and Krueger once were.
It's all very self-aware of its genre, poking fun of and fond of at the same time. It reminded me somewhat of Scream, only I liked it much, much more--"Scream" was, in effect, mugging at the camera and oh-so-very pleased with itself; "Behind the Mask" pretty much plays it poker-faced straight.
Game:
Bioshock: A good game, but somewhat overrated--not really worth the thundering praise it's getting elsewhere. Where it shines is its lovingly polished art direction, and narrative that's competently executed with decent voice-acting throughout--which of course puts it lightyears ahead of most videogames. It's no spoiler to note that the plot has its twists, and most of the weaknesses of it come about as a direct result of that, as pretty much all plots that get twisty don't bear too much scrutiny around them.
posted by Gar @ 8:41 PM
Hot Fuzz: It's by the same folks who did Shaun of the Dead, and it shows, and in a good way. Slow-burn opening that's primarily to set up a machinegun series of joke moments later; tongue-in-cheek dry humor building to general insanity. Basically, what Shaun does for zombie flicks--being simultaneously a comedy version of them, and a damn fine zombie film in its own right--Hot Fuzz does for action cop movies.
Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon: This was one of those great occasional discoveries that justifies my netflix subscription above and beyond all the other justifications. Some hapless film school types are shooting a documentary on our hero Leslie Vernon, who's aiming to be the next big name in unstoppable supernatural slashers. His dream is to be referred to in the same breath as the greats like Voorhees and Myers and Krueger once were.
It's all very self-aware of its genre, poking fun of and fond of at the same time. It reminded me somewhat of Scream, only I liked it much, much more--"Scream" was, in effect, mugging at the camera and oh-so-very pleased with itself; "Behind the Mask" pretty much plays it poker-faced straight.
Game:
Bioshock: A good game, but somewhat overrated--not really worth the thundering praise it's getting elsewhere. Where it shines is its lovingly polished art direction, and narrative that's competently executed with decent voice-acting throughout--which of course puts it lightyears ahead of most videogames. It's no spoiler to note that the plot has its twists, and most of the weaknesses of it come about as a direct result of that, as pretty much all plots that get twisty don't bear too much scrutiny around them.
posted by Gar @ 8:41 PM
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