The popular consumer culture that was satirised so well in 1978 in Dawn of the Dead has provided the framework for a million zombie flicks since and in Dead Set it is updated to take a stab at that most vile of TV productions Big Brother.  Of course setting your zombie tale within the Big Brother house means that we viewers have to suffer the kind of people that appear on the Big Brother program.  Now perhaps elsewhere in the world Big Brother attracts reasonable people with some mildly perverse idea that it could be an interesting experiment (I suspect not), but in the UK the viewing public demands it be populated with the most irritating, nymphomaniac, fame-starved, wannabees our wee island can produce.  An interesting challenge for Dead Set to take care of.

Needless to say that first episode where we are introduced to the range of characters was heavy going, an hour of these people is portrayed in very accurate fashion.  We have the ludicrously camp cross dressing nurse, the big-breasted bimbo, the manly beefcake, and the clinically depressed cynic.  Thankfully they’re balanced by their polar opposites from the outside, Kelly the pragmatic every-girl who starts the program as a runner for the show and the impressively abrasive producer Patrick.  When the zombies start to appear the characters quickly find that the house is actually quite secure but the program never really slows down.  After the first hour long episode the next four were a mere 25 minutes long each.

In an attempt to keep the program moving quickly and keep each episode interesting this makes for very little time to get to know the characters any further.  Once it becomes apparent the cameras are off for the housemates, they indeed shed their acts and become much more human.  Jaime Winstone playing Kelly becomes the core of the group as the only one from the outside that knows what’s going on.  The clueless housemates merely become assistants to her survival plan.  Meanwhile Patrick is trapped with one of the more irritating housemates within the studio.

When DV’s Kurtodrome mentioned on the boards this program was written by Charlie Brooker an array of dots were connected for me.  My main contact with him has been his Screenwipes program, a half hour show in which he tears the previous weeks TV to pieces, but he also was a writer for the Eleven O’Clock Show and Brass Eye.  His acerbic sarcastic style seemingly dominates anything he touches.  Indeed Patrick embodies that contempt for a popular culture he depends on.  Brooker’s target is not just BB contestants, viewers, and the people that make the programs but also to show the utter contempt with which those in the industry hold the viewing cattle, I mean population.

Despite a couple of lifts from 28 Days Later (these are the fast moving zombie variety) and Dawn the show actually has some original twists mostly facilitated by the ever present evil self centred character of Patrick.  It’s unfortunate that the half hour format limited it so much.  While the initial episode dwelled a little long for comfort on the most irritating facets of the housemates the later episodes were too driven to fit in at least one scene of action in each part.  And that’s what unfortunately the show is, all action.  There are few scares but plenty of gore, swearing, shouting, and running.  28 Days Later may be the only one so far to get away with fast zombies and keep them scary, possibly by making sure there were very few of them.  I do wish future film makers would take note of the scare factor in the slow zombies, the ominous inevitability.

Oh course having said that this is by far the most interesting British TV drama I’ve seen in a long time, a zombie gift one friend called it.  It would also be unfair not to mention a spectacular finale that virtually saves the whole shebang, leaving me one pretty happy consumer.

6.5/10

For those of you who missed it, the DVD release was available as of Monday 3rd November.

1. No Country For Old Men 10/10
I’ve watched this a couple of times now and I’m not prepared to say it’s anything less than fantastic.  Read the review for the full details.

2. Son of Rambow 9/10
I’m eagerly awaiting next month’s DVD release so I can see this again but it sticks firmly in my mind as a brilliant vignette of 80’s childhood nostalgia in only the good ways.

3. Once 9/10
A musical with great music and real soul, a rare beast indeed.

4. I’m Not There 8/10
It’s a more cerebral than emotive capturing of Dylan but an interesting one none the less.

5. In Bruge 8/10
Black comedy at it’s best, even bigoted hitmen have souls.

6. Wall:E 8/10
I’m trying not to get swept up by this and stick it even higher in the list but it’s a nimble, skillful dig at everything that makes Disney its money and manages to do it with more sentiment than 100 Sleeping Beauty 2s.

7. In To The Wild 9/10
The thinking man’s Robinson Crusoe, if it makes you think too much maybe your employer should be worrying about your retention prospects.

8. Persepolis 8.5/10
As beautiful and touching as you could ever expect a history lesson to be.

9. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters 9/10
An honest documentary masterpiece.  Gamesmanship, drive, ambition, and a bad guy, all the things a good sports film needs applied to Donkey Kong.

10. Shoot ‘em Up 8/10
Stupidity incarnate but all in good spirits.

The not quite good enoughs:
2 Days in Paris 8/10
I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK 8/10
Juno 7.5/10
There Will Be Blood
Chocolate 7/10
El Orfanato 7/10

Still I always liked 24/7 and I’d had too many recommendations to ignore.  It was an exceptional film that never took the easy road, those watching this to see some good times gang violence will be sorely disappointed.  The thugs in this film are for the most part not the simple stereotypes and the film successfully portrays the ways some people can fall into the worst kind of racist groups.  Stephen Graham may get to do the star psycho turn (and very well I might add) but it’s the young Thomas Turgoose that’s so engrossing.  His turn as the young initiate is more than a simple blank slate observer role.

Meadows recently released Somers Town again starring Turgoose and I’m looking forward to getting to it.  For UK viewers this seems to be on Film4 reasonably regularly check it out.
8/10

Hancock
Embarrassingly I actually enjoyed this, I may as well admit that I have a tendency to see most of the big blockbusters although I don’t report them here and it’s basically a given that I’ll see the Superheroes ones.  Well apart from pretty rough effects I really enjoyed this.  If you’ve seen the trailer you can basically guess the entire film.  Hancock has basically all of the power of Superman but lives the life of a drunk.  His help is unwanted by the city as his temper and unpredictability make him a liability.  It gets a bit ropey towards the end, but you always knew in a film starring Will Smith he’d make good eventually.  The best bit though is when he’s bad he’s proper bad.  I found it funny anyway
6/10

Wall:E
Just when you thought Miyazaki had a monopoly on touching enchanting children’s entertainment, Pixar trumps him by rolling it up with one of the most biting satires I’ve ever seen in a Hollywood picture.  What seems to start out as a vague eco-fairy tale with a charming central character in the second half of the film starts taking digs at popular culture the likes of which I’ve not seen since Fight Club or Idiocracy.  And Pixar have managed it all while working for Disney!

I went home thoroughly impressed and with perhaps even a slight dampness in the corner of my eye.
8/10

The Dark Knight
As interesting a production as a Hollywood studio could ever make and one that had me thinking more than I had any right to expect.

There are a few problems, firstly for a film that takes itself so seriously there are some bits that are just really silly, the batvoice has to be reined a little for a start.  It’s comic origins work against it in a few segments as well, they do a spectacular job of making the film really feel like an exaggerated real world but still lose it from time to time.  Also the critically adored performance of Heath Ledger is a little slight, sure it’s great but he has what seems like 10 minutes total screen time.

This is a far braver transformation than Batman Begins though and when I was 15 and addicted to the animated series this would be my dream film, even more so than Burton’s Returns sequel.

The thinking part came from the politics suggested.  I am in no way coming round to the point of view it promotes but certainly it made me think more critically of my politics than any film I can think of (most films seem to support my positions than question them).  A very strange prospect indeed.
7/10

We quickly realise this will not be a traditional biopic when we are introduced to 11 year old version played by the young black actor Marcus Carl Franklin.  He lives a transient life in railway cars playing his music to whoever will listen and going by the name of Woody Guthrie.  He is painted as full of pragmatic optimism and streetwise life experience.  While Christian Bale, furthers that idealism as a fervent protest song writer and later the 80’s dedicated Christian Dylan.  Heath Ledger gets to play the part of the superstar actor losing his touch with people at large and building a general ambiguity.  Cate Blanchett gets the interesting role as the nihilistic and belligerent transitional Dylan who first goes Electric.  Finally Richard Gere plays an older Billy the Kid, Dylan in his later years.  An ambitious plan but is it more than a gimmick?

Hayne’s trick is to all of the different Dylan myths and build a picture of them through it.  All biopics and especially those of musicians play on the rock and roll myth but this is the first time I’ve ever seen the myth used as the subject of the film.  By piecing together the stories in such an interesting way Haynes eliminates any discussion of what is fact and fiction.  Dylan’s biographer could well be at a loss to make such divisions.  Indeed Dylan has promoted many a falsehood about his origins, and indeed it is Dylan’s duplicity and managed character that make for the real subject of the film.  The stories flashes between these characters with each being treated as completely separate persons.  While any one on its own would be a wafer thin depiction together it makes for a much more interesting portrait.

The film does not open up any magical insights into the man and indeed in one of the extended sequences following Blanchett’s character I began to wonder if it had anything to say about him at all.  Its conceit is that it is only the full picture of the film’s strands that makes any sense.

Each segment is treated very differently with Bale’s part played as a documentary complete with retrospective interviews and others more like a drama.   Each actor does a convincing and effective portrayal.  After an initial adjustment period you won’t have much trouble working from the styles, filmstock, and character exactly what era you are facing.

This is a new benchmark for biopics and I will be looking out for Safe in the near future to make sure my faith in Haynes has not been misplaced.

Oh and the music’s great throughout (of course I’m assuming you know if you will like the soundtrack or not already).
8/10

The DVD is out now for about £12 all over the web.

So slightly delayed but the Edinburgh summer inspired me (I can currently see about 200m at the most).  Anyway as promised after viewing The Mist I gave John Carpenter’s classic ghost story The Fog a viewing.  While the Mist’s failings were mostly acting it had a very interesting character dynamic and interesting conflict.  The Fog’s characters are more traditional, there aren’t any arcs here just chess pieces to positioned in varying degrees of peril.

There are strange goings on in a small town on the California coast.  A malevolent fog has descended and it appears something hiding within is taking its revenge on the townspeople.

Carpenter can shoot a good ghost flick and he skilfully manages his phantoms and manages to keep them scary with just makeup and well placed lights.  The low budget is only occasionally glaring but the film’s supernatural elements obviously make it easier to ridicule than his breakthrough production Halloween.  Still between Carpenter’s talent with the smoke machine this has aged surprisingly well.

The gore by today’s standards is extremely tame but the violence has a certain enthusiasm that still carries bite.  It’s amusing that the film was actually recut by Carpenter before release to insert more gore and to compete with other films of the time.

Its classic status is assured but don’t go expecting anything deeper than a well made ghost story and you’re sure to have an enjoyable evening.
7/10

The Special Edition DVD is available for a mere £7 from Amazon.co.uk with two documentaries.

Aragami finds two badly wounded samurai arriving at a small temple only to be brought back to health by a mysterious swordsman.  As per the rules you can see where this is going, more so if you’re familiar with Ryuhei Kitamura.  His films range from spectacular crap like Versus and Azumi to spectacularly crap like Godzilla: Final Wars, which makes Aragami actually the classiest work of his I’ve seen.  There’s a great element of mystery and while the twists might not be so shocking when they come brilliantly choreographed fights and some barbed dialogue make this far more interesting than you may suspect.  There are a couple of occasions where Kitamura’s affection for crap shine through (I could’ve done without the epilogue) but this was an enjoyable surprise.

2LDK is a very different beast indeed, two aspiring actresses seemingly alike in only profession are chasing a crucial role that will either entirely validate their chosen life choices or crush their dreams, oh and they share an apartment.  When they separately arrive home from the audition petty arguments about shampoo and food develop into a much deeper assassination of each other’s character.  This is no tense drama and soon enough the house becomes full of prospective weapons.  I am completely unfamiliar with Yukihiko Tsutsumi but on this form I’ll be on the lookout for other films.  Please stick any recommendations in the comments.

Amazon will sell you the double-pack for a mere £9.

Aragami 7/10

2lDK 8/10

I’ve been reading an interesting paper by Nick Bostrom the Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University in which he considers the possibility that we’re not real.  That we are living in a computer simulation developed by a future evolution of the human species studying their own origins.

It’s a subject that has to have crossed the mind of every amateur self-psychoanalysist sci-fi fan.  Anyway, the whole subject got me to thinking how long it’s been since I last saw a sci-fi movie that really made me consider my existence.  Blade Runner, The Matrix, Open Your Eyes, even a film I reckon I might the only person anywhere to like AI.  I have a review round-up coming at the end of the month in which you’ll hear my thoughts on Wall:E.  It’s a film I loved and in the tradition of all of the best sci-fi gets you to consider how you live your own life, albiet in basic terms that can be understood by children.

I do like a film that really has my mind racing in an academic sense something modern sci-fi has almost entirely abandoned.  The last film to really do that to me was the amazing Primer.  Anyone care to recommend another film that sent you in loops?

Update:  There is also a reverse point of view The Truman Show disorder (via BoingBoing)

Some talented chappies were given the chance to create original movie posters for some classic cult films in their own vision.  Unfortunately the London exhibition is finished only running till 13th June, but a flickr gallery collects many highlights of the show.  It also offers those with a good chunk of extra cash a chance to pickup a very nice print.  Some of the highlights include Wild Zero, Soylent Green, Metropolis, Logan’s Run, and Rear Window.

via Neatorama

A selection of the posters can be seen here
Exhibition Site here

There is a more comical theme to this than other Liu films I’ve seen and the Kung-fu is not exactly prompt in making it’s appearance.  Your patience will of course be rewarded though.  When it comes in a Mr. Miyagi style revelation the kung-fu is fantastically entertaining and you can be sure that “scaffolding kung-fu” is unlike any style you’re familiar with.

A touch more original (if in tone and style rather than plot) than many of it’s peers this is an impressive classic.
8/10