No one gives a toss about Charlton Heston

Bronson (2008)

I kind of ignored this when it came out. I heard it had some pretty good reviews and a lot of praise for Tom Hardy but it slipped me by.

Then, at the monthly film quiz held at the Quad cinema in Derby, a clip was shown and it was completely unlike how I had imagined. So much so I did not recognise what movie it was though one of my team-mates did. It looked like a film from the '70s. Something Ken Russell might make.

Now having caught up with it on film4 whilst at the parents over Christmas it really does fit that impression.

Stylish, off-beat, theatrical and with a terrific central performance (and with lot's of full frontal nudity so I believe the cliche term would be 'brave') it (along with Drive) marks Refn as a director I should be paying much more attention to (someone has lent me Valhalla Rising, I shall have to see about getting hold of the Pusher films).

Why am I Pluto? It's not even a planet anymore!

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

An interesting companion piece to Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. Both eschew numbers in their titles and both waste someone from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In this case Michael Nyqvist is saddled with a horribly underwritten villain (he hates nuclear war so will start one - err ok?) with a couple of moments that suggest more (why the reveal with the mask?) but nothing is forthcoming.

That said the movie is pretty exciting. The action brisk and fun (though a slightly messy fight between Cruise and Nyqvist doesn't really work because it's hard to care).

Simon Pegg has a much extended role since the last film and makes the most of it, delivering the requisite comic relief but looking badass enough in a couple of points to pass as an IMF field agent.

That's not fair

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Much the same as the first one. It emphasizes Boys Own adventure stuff over actual detective work and feels more like a James Bond film than a Sherlock Homes one but is mostly pacy and fun.

Jared Harris is good as Moriarty, feeling a worthy foil and making for a good climax. Moran (much, much different to how I had just read of him in Kim Newman's excellent Moriarty short stories) gets the best line as the Holmes and Watson bits often fall to silly business with little genuine wit.

Noomi Rapace is horribly wasted, an interesting actress given nothing to do.

We'll see who's powerless now!

Wall-E (2008)

Some may suggest that I am reaching in my last couple of days worth of entries. That rather frivolous assumptions are all well and good but don't actually represent what is happening on screen. And that's true. I am of course being rather tongue in cheek. 

But (apart from one stretch that I will own to you) today's reading is all from exactly what happens in the film.

Basically I believe the main star of Wall-E to be less as presented on the poster and more this:

It's Jeffrey Dahmer for those lucky enough not to know.

We initially see our 'hero' cannibalise others of his kind. I assume (though it's not particularly supported by the text) that he has in fact murdered the rest of the Wall-E units in order to survive this long by dismembering them, stripping them of vitals. It can't be just luck that has him being the only one left - we start after all that has happened but clearly see the cannibalism. It may be hard to argue a sexual charge from this act but this depraved loner is benefiting from a form of necrophilia.

When we finally see him interact with another person he is quite aggressive, not taking no for an answer and consistantly rebuked. This forces him to take rather drastic action and on offering her something that seems fairly benign she shuts down completely. 

So after drugging her, with the robotic form of a roofie, he continues a relationship that she can literally not say no to. That heart warming bit in the trailer where they hold hands? She's unconscious. Creepy as all hell.

Tomorrow: Bambi is Hitler.

So you got an arrow right in your chest.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

I loved this film as a child. I had an E.T. bedspread and have vague recollections of watching a pirated copy and owning a vinyl record connected to it in some way.

I pretty much hate it now though.

A friend of mine has some weird fear of the alien itself, having nightmares of it eating her foot.

bad photoshop of what that could look like.

But today (continuing the trend set with Predator) we shall talk about the hidden meaning in E.T.

Little known fact but E.T. was remade as the Martin Clunes 1994 vehicle Staggered. The plot summary on IMDB of which is - 'Very much in love, Neil's wedding plans are sabotaged, beginning when he is abandoned, naked, on a Scottish island. A road trip ensues, with Neil encountering many obstacles as he makes his way to London for what he believes is to be his wedding day. Or is it?'.

E.T. is almost exactly the same. Left naked and almost certainly drunk or stoned (check out his examining the flower or his slurred and nigh incomprehensible speech) by his best man, he encounters many obstacles all in order to phone home, or at the very least a taxi that can get him to the church on time.

It's in the treeeeees

Predator (1987)

The gun is not a gun.

The return of filmaday (with some new new rules but essentially same as before) and many of you will have heard me go on about this before but I feel it deserves a place here on my blog. 

A brief examination of the sexual politics of Predator.

The  1987 Science Fiction actioner is staple viewing. Endlessly quotable (Arnie's accent making it so much more fun), pacy and exciting. I watched this so many times on a version taped off the telly that when I finally bought it on video (yes, it was a while ago) found whole chunks had been missing (Carl Weathers arm being shot off still feels like a deleted extra to me).

What's interesting about Predator is just how scared it is of women. The whole thing is driven by the usual macho bullshit of course, guns being very obvious phallic analogues. Schwarzenegger asserts his place within the movies narrative by the film itself killing off anybody who could put claim to being more 'manly' (having a bigger gun).

The lone actual female is seen as of so little consequence the film can't even be arsed to kill her or indeed give her much to do (though of course the second, the very second, she picks up the artifact of male dominance it is swatted from her hands and she is barely seen from again).

One character reflects that he 'ain't got time to bleed' reinforcing an idea that men would not let things like menstrual cycles impact on them (though later he does have some time to bleed if only briefly and spectacularly).

The Predator itself represents Feminism. An invading force that tears apart the male power paradigm. It has an almost literal Vagina Dentata. To be defeated Arnie must shake off the shackles of femininity and to this end gives (re)birth to himself without the aid of woman/womb, coming out of the primordial mud which gives him the advantage he needs.

And the manner he crushes the threat? A giant phallus.

The Patriarchy is defended once again.

It's that time of year again.

2011: An Incomplete Odyssey.

Is this still done live? Such a daft decision.

For various reasons A Film A Day broke down late into last year. But at least a couple of people asked what happened to it so I am bringing it back. The way it works shall be slightly different but not by much. I still intend to have the rule that if you lend something to me I have not seen I have to watch it. But now am expanding this slightly so that if you have requests for 'reviews' (I hesitate to call them that) of any film I have already seen I will do so as long as not already covered by the blog. 

So the big rule that is changing is that the films no longer have to be ones I haven't seen before and will allow me to cover some old and new favourites if I so wish.

I imagine the write ups will still generally be very short and contain very little information but anybody reading this should be use to that by now.

Anyway here is a bunch of stuff I found interesting in the last year.

Top 5 of the Year (in no particular order)

Actually I normally do a top 5 but this year seemed especially good for film (there's a still a few I suspect could make this list but I didn't get around to seeing), so I shall do Top 10 instead

1. Submarine

2. Drive

3. Kill List

4. The Skin I live in

5. The Guard

6. 13 Assassins

7. Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy

8. True Grit

9. Tree of Life

10. Attack the Block

Bubbling under: Paul, Animal Kingdom, The Fighter, Rango, Melancholia, 127 Hours, Black Swan, Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, Win Win, Source Code, Super, Hugo, Arrietty, 

Bottom 5 of the Year (no order)

1. Sucker Punch

2. Transformers 3

3. The Change Up

4. Just Go With it (can't find my entry for this so no link)

5. Johnny English Reborn

Most overrated by critics: not sure on this one (very easy choice last year) I didn't like Animal Kingdom or Hugo as much as some but still them a great deal.

Most overrated by fanboys: Sucker Punch, not just because I found it thematically repugnant but because it's action scenes are horrid.

The 'Borat' Award for best naked wrestling: The Skin I Live In (she's not so much naked as wearing a form fitting skin coloured suit but for the purposes of this it'll work dammit).

The 'Assault on Precinct 13' remake Award for best 'that was surprisingly decent' film: Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The 'I wish I had actually paid the extra to see this in 3D' Award: Hugo