Films

Bright Falls – The Prequel to Alan Wake

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1 year ago
by John Pennycook in , , ,

The deer is dear to me.

The deer is dear to me.

Yesterday I started playing Alan Wake – the unboxing and review of which will be appearing here shortly — but have taken a break in order to catch up with (and finish) the six-episode live-action miniseries Bright Falls.

The series is very reminiscent of David Lynch’s masterpiece, Twin Peaks, and is a prime example of a game tie-in done well.  It introduces a few of the game’s characters and locations, and makes it very clear that strange things are happening in Bright Falls even before Alan Wake arrives.

I’d be lying if I said that I understood everything that was going on, but that’s just an excuse to watch it all again.  Whether you’re interested in Alan Wake, a fan of Twin Peaks or maybe even both, it’s well worth a look.

For anybody lucky enough to have Silverlight, you can view all six episodes (and some additional bonus goodies) by pointing your browser at the official Xbox website.

If, like me, Silverlight is out of the question for you, Machinima.com has helpfully uploaded all of the videos to Youtube:

  1. Episode One – Oh Deer
  2. Episode Two – Time Flies
  3. Episode Three – Lights Out
  4. Episode Four – Local Flavor
  5. Episode Five – Off the Record
  6. Episode Six – Clearcut

I haven’t added up the times exactly, but it shouldn’t take more than 40 minutes to rock through them all.  Enjoy!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

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3 years ago
by John Pennycook in ,

Yesterday evening I went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, mainly because it is a Tim Burton film.

Like most Tim Burton films, it stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the lead roles, but also features a young man who looks quite a lot like Keira Knightley. Oh, and Ali G is in it too.

I don’t know how anybody could not know the story of Sweeney Todd, but for those who don’t: Sweeney Todd is a barber and serial killer. His barber’s chair is a trick one, and after slicing his customer’s throat with a razor he can drop the corpse through the floor. Mrs Lovett, his partner in crime, then makes meat pies out of the bodies.

It sounds quite gruesome, and the fact that this is an 18 makes you expect there to be a lot of blood and gore. This really isn’t the case, though; the blood that spurts from Todd’s victims is nothing but bright red water, and besides the swearing I really see no reason why the BBFC gave it such a high rating.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a musical — adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s stage musical of the same name — so it probably makes sense to talk about the music. The singing is not half-bad, but Depp’s lip synching seems a little over-the-top and some of the lyrics seem to be padded rather pointlessly with childlike repetition of words.

However, these faults are but mildly distracting, and Burton manages to bring the story to life in a very interesting and sometimes humorous fashion. There’s even a twist at the end, and one that for once I didn’t see coming.

P.S I Love You

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4 years ago
by John Pennycook in ,

Last night, my girlfriend and I went to watch P.S I Love You, the new-ish film adaptation of Cecilia Ahern’s book of the same name.

You may think this review is bound to be biased, me being a man and disliking soppy chick flicks out of principle, but it was actually my suggestion; I’m a fan of Ahern’s work.

So, you can imagine my disappointment when roughly 2 hours of my life were wasted watching something that turned out to be incredibly dull and confusing.

The story is that of Holly Kennedy, an American woman living in New York with her Irish husband of 9 years. When he dies of a brain tumour, she begins to receive letters he has written her (prepared before his death) that aim to help her move on with her life, each one closing with the words “P.S. I love you.”

It’s sweet and very heart-wrenching, sure, but unfortunately the premise alone is not enough to carry the film to greatness; all of the Irish men in the film look near identical and each carry three or more jobs, so the fact that Holly continues to bump into certain characters seems rather forced and not very believable.

Fans of the book may also be upset to learn that several of the characters don’t even exist in this adaptation — for example, Holly has no father and no brothers — and that Holly and Gerry are no longer childhood sweethearts but met by chance (several times) whilst Holly was in Ireland in her gap year …yawn.

If all you want is a good cry — or to see your significant other crying — then go and see the film; even though it’s not very good, the fact that you begin to wonder just how you’d cope should they drop dead is bound to twang your heart strings.

If, however, you’re looking for an enjoyable experience and something that makes a little more sense, go and buy the book. It probably won’t cost you much more than your cinema ticket, and you’ll probably want to use it more than once.

The Golden Compass

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4 years ago
by John Pennycook in ,

Before I actually say anything about this film, I must say I’m a little disappointed that it was released under the name The Golden Compass; if we can re-name The Philosopher’s Stone just for an American release, why can’t they re-name this film for our benefit? Northern Lights is a better name, anyway.

Having only just returned from the cinema, I’d definitely recommend it over any of the other children’s fantasy books-turned-films. The child-acting from first-timer Dakota is pretty terrible at times, but it’s still on a par with that of the first Harry Potter offering and doesn’t get in the way of the story too much.

For fans of His Dark Materials changes to the script may be a little disappointing; Dust and parallel universes are explained in detail during the opening moments of the film, the Church’s role is downsized, the events of the book are re-ordered and the ending has been changed significantly.

It’s still a film that everybody should see, if only to snap people out of their Harry Potter fandom and get them interested in Phillip Pullman’s works, but it could have been much improved by following the original a little more closely.

Here’s hoping the film makes enough money to encourage New Line to pick up the second book and eventually finish the trilogy… and that fans of the series make enough of an uproar about its failings that The Subtle Knife turns out a little better.

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