Thursday 26 October 2017

Geostorm (2017)

Geostorm is essentially White House Down in space. It even has a bit with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. If that sounds appealing, then you'll probably enjoy it.

As a throw-back to the sci-fi/disaster films of the 1990s/2000s, it fits somewhere between Independence Day and Armageddon in terms of how ridiculous it is. If you're able to completely suspend all critical thought (don't try reasoning out the logic, it'll probably cause your brain to explode), then it's reasonably entertaining.

Happy Death Day (2017)

Something strange happened while I was watching this film.

Happy Death Day has been described as Groundhog Day meets Scream. It's the story of a college student who keeps relieving the day that she is murdered with the reset occurring at the point of death.

As the film was most of the way through the second iteration of the day, the picture cut out for a few seconds. When it cam back again, we were watching the moments leading up to the main character's death again. Only she had gone out of her way to avoid the events of that particular death, so how did we get back here in those few missing seconds?

The scene continues to play out exactly as it has before: she died, woke up, and then ran through the events of the previous day, being the only person who knew that the day was repeating. Except she only had the memory of the first day, not the second. This wasn't a continuation of the film - it was the film ten minutes ago.

Was I experiencing my own death-induced timeloop? If so, I only had ten minutes to solve my own murder.

Or I could wait and hope that the film didn't repeat again.

Fortunately, it appears that it was only a temporary technical malfunction, and aside from having to watch ten minutes of the film twice over, I haven't experienced any further repeating time.

Anyway, the film was good fun. It won't necessarily appeal to the hardcore horror fans - it's more comedy-thriller than slasher movie - but for anyone who isn't tired of films about time loops with a bit of stalkery murder thrown in for good measure, it's a decent watch.


The Death of Stalin (2017)

I studied Russian 20th century history for 'O' Level (taken in one year, allowing me to study archaeology for the remaining year). Most of the course was concerned with the Russian Revolution, but we did continue into the days of Stalin. The primary take-away from that was that he was not a very nice man.

The Death of Stalin is a comedy. A comedy that revolves around a man responsible for the death of millions. The film does not in any way gloss over this fact. Nor does it avoid the fact that its subjects are engaged in very unpleasant activities. Murder is second-nature to them; there are references to torture; allusions to rape and child abuse.

None of these subjects are treated as jokes. The filmmakers appear to have erected a Chinese Wall between the horror and the humour. What could easily have been distasteful is perfectly handled.

As for the rest: the performances are brilliant (Jason Isaacs' role as a Yorkshire-accented general was genius), the film is very funny, and the depiction of the events fascinating enough to make me want to reach for the history books again.

Thursday 19 October 2017

Poster Girls




Poster Girls is the latest exhibit showing in the London Transport Museum's Media Gallery. It showcases female artists who created posters for London Transport, starting from the early 1900s and ending in the 21st Century.

The exhibition is broadly arranged in chronological order, focusing on key artists within each key period - although when an artist's career spans a couple of decades, the periods stretch a little.

London Transport's commissioning practices seem to have been progressive when it came to the gender of its artists - although there is a noticeable (and commented upon) gap during the Second World War when female artists were not being commissioned.

The line-up of artists included Freda Lingstrom, creator of Watch With Mother, who in her pre-BBC career designed a number of posters for the Underground.

It probably took me about 45 minutes to tour the exhibition, which included reading all the text and coming back to some of the posters a couple of times. Alone it doesn't really justify the Museum admission price - but it's a good enough reason to stop putting off a planned visit to the London Transport Museum. It's also a welcome break from the noise and crowds of the rest of the museum.

And for those who can't make it to the exhibition, the museum shop does a nice range of related merchandise (and no one's paying me for that endorsement).




Tuesday 17 October 2017

The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)

The problem I have going to see animated movies is that I am often a single man sitting in a sea of children (and parents), which does garner odd looks on occasion.

The key issue here though is not other people potentially doubting my intentions of going to see what is marketed as a kid's film, but the fact that so many people who are not parents missing out on the joys that watching a bunch of animated bricks can bring.

Lego Ninjago is something that post-dates my involvement with Lego (which was back when you might have a generic Lego spaceman/racing car driver (basically you had one helmet fitting all purposes). I will confess to indulging in a little Lego Star Wars on the Playstation - but my involvement was hearing stories about people stepping on Lego with no shoes on.

Then came The Lego Movie, which was a game-changing film in terms of movies based on toys.

This year we've already had Lego Batman - great fun, although a bit overlong, and not quite as good as The Lego Movie, so it seems that Lego is starting to complete with Marvel for the number of movies in a franchise one studio can release in a year.

Ninjago does not come close to matching the brand-awareness of Batman, so suffers a little in the recognisability stakes in comparison. I assumed it had something to do with Ninjas (it does), but that was about all I could tell you.

Fortunately, you don' really need much background in the property. Ninjago is the city in which the film takes place, and it is under attack by the four-armed Lord Garmadon, who is continually being defeated by a Power Ranger-like group of teenage Ninjas, including (unknown to Lord Garmadon) Garmadon's estranged son.

Like the Lego Batman movie, the film's theme is wrapped around a dysfunctional family unit. Like Lego Batman it's not as good as The Lego Movie, but it's funny, an entertaining watch, not quite as saggy as Lego Batman, although visually at times it's a bit too overwhelming for my poor brain.

The ending is a bit of a mixed bag. It defies convention, but overdoes it a bit on the preachy sentimentality - but it's a minor concern in an entertaining film that more adults should see without having to resort to the excuse of taking their kids.

The Snowman (2017)

Firstly, this is the film adapted from the Jo Nesbø thriller, not the Raymond Briggs children's book. It's definitely not something for all the family, unless your family happens to be one that appreciates bleak, sometimes gory, Scandinavian crime fiction. 

Which I do.

At least I've enjoyed the Bridge (more correctly Bron|Broen, which is a much more elegant title, in my opinion), a bit of Wallander (although I've only seen the English version), Trapped, and Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.

I haven't read the book that the film was based on, so I have no idea of whether it was a faithful adaptation. However, it felt as if the film was a presentation of the highlights of the book, throwing out the narrative logic that strung those highlights together
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The end (and no direct spoilers) provides a couple of twists, but no real surprises, and even worse doesn't really supply much in the way of an explanation, beyond a bit of pop psychology. There's an explanation of why the killer kills, but not a real explanation of why he did what he did. The set-up implies that there is some plan, some rational behind certain actions, but then drops it all in favour of randomness and coincidence.
There's also the unpleasant undercurrent of nasty things happening to women throughout the story, which is briefly addressed at one key point, but overall didn't do enough to wipe the grubby treatment of the the female characters.


On the plus side, the scenery is gorgeous and the photography makes the most of it, and the actors (particularly Fassbender and Ferguson) generally make a decent job (although I'm not sure what to make of Val Kilmer's rather weird appearance).




Wednesday 11 October 2017

Opera: Passion, Power and Politics (runs until February 2018)



Opera: Passion, Power and Politics is the first exhibition to be mounted in the V&A's new Sainsbury Gallery. Like the Pink Floyd exhibition (which was extended to run until 15 October (although I think all tickets have probably now been sold)), it uses a multimedia format with location-based audio playing out into a set of slightly too tight headphones (they're fine for the first hour or so, but after that I was finding my ears a bit squashed).

Unsurprisingly you get to hear a lot of opera. Fortunately for the casual listener to classical music, it's largely the better stuff stuff like The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves or The Marriage of Figaro.

The exhibition starts with the early history of opera in Italy, quickly moving on from its origins as an entertainment for the nobility to its early form of public entertainment in Venice, and its spread throughout Europe.

As well as displaying the artifacts relating to the operas, including various spin-offs, such as the miniature paintings of castrati (who were apparently the boy bands of the day), the exhibition also provides socioeconomic context, providing a glimpse into the societies that influenced opera, as well as the effect that opera had on society (including the Soviets banning Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, apparently because Stalin didn't enjoy it).

The final piece of the exhibition is a run-through of a number of operas running through most of the twentieth century up to the present day - some of which were great (Summertime from Porgy and Bess for the Gershwin lovers), and some of which were awful (which I've convenient blotted from memory).

Probably a good two hours is needed to properly go around the exhibition (potentially more if you go on a busy day, as I went on a Monday).













Tuesday 10 October 2017

Blade Runner 2049

First confession: I don't think the original Blade Runner is a good movie.

Aesthetically, it's revolutionary. The rain-drenched dystopian Los Angeles makes for some incredible images, and there's a palpable sense of the society that inhabits it. As a piece of world-building, I think it's brilliant.

Storytelling and characters though failed for me. I think I only managed to follow the story at the time because I had previously read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, so I understood some of the context that was missing from the film.

As a result, I had high hopes for the sequel - a fascinating universe in the hands of someone who wasn't Ridley Scott (great on visuals, lousy on story).

And to an extent, the film delivered. The storytelling felt more cohesive, the characters felt slightly better rounded, and I felt that the story better delivered on some of the themes (slavery, unreliable memory) than the original.

Visually the film looks great too, although it doesn't feel as revolutionary as Scott's original vision, and although there are glimpses of the background society, the action largely seems to take place on an elevated level, and not down in the gutters like the first film, which made it feel a bit lacking.

The social commentary also seemed a bit absent when it came to female roles. There are some great performances by some of the female actors, but the acceptance of the role of women (either as holograms or replicants) as sex toys is not presented in any fashion that condemns such exploitation, but rather in a way that seems to accept it with no criticism. Granted there's a comment about male replicants, but that too is presented in such a way that it seems to normalise the concept, by the off-hand way in which it is mentioned.

Then there's the pacing, which has been much criticised by audiences. The film could easily have been considerably shorter to no ill-effect. Replacing Jared Leto with someone who didn't pause so ponderously would have been a good start. A bit less lingering over really dull moments would have helped too.

I saw it twice, napped a bit during some of the slower parts the second-time around (nature's fast forward), but aside from those slow parts, it generally held up well for the second-viewing - there were additional details early in the film that made more sense on the repeat view.

Overall, I think I found this more watchable than the original film, but less important.


Friday 6 October 2017

Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas


In addition to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Sha Tin is the home to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.

After leaving the monastery, I dutifully followed my GPS map - which was spoiled slightly when I spotted Sha Tin Park and decided to take a brief wander through.




After leaving down the park, my confused GPS managed to lead me through a shopping mall and through the centre of Sha Tin New Town.

The main street (Sha Tin Centre Street) felt like a generic modern retail centre - aside from the heat and the Chinese touches, it was oddly reminiscent of central Southampton, which is no great accomplishment.

One of the lessons I learned in my short time in Hong Kong is that aside from carrying a bottle of water everywhere, shopping malls (of which there is no danger of a deficit) are a lifesaver. Not because of the shops, but the air conditioning.

Another lesson I've learned is that where there is an MTR station, there is a mall. So my route cleverly took me via the Sha Tin station and the surrounding air conditioning.

Which made absolutely no difference to the impression I was doing of the Wicked Witch at the end of the Wizard of Oz.

Past the station, via another shopping mall (brief respite thanks to the air conditioning - although overall still no real impact), I dutifully followed the directions provided by Google Maps, which led me around to the entrance to the parking for the mall and an apparent dead end.

However, a squint-and-you'll-miss-it entrance to an alleyway opposite the car park entrance seemed to offer a potential solution.

My trust that the path wasn't going to lead me into someone's back garden paid off as I found signs directing me along a pathway through bamboo groves to the bottom of the staircase leading to the monastery.

A staircase with over 400 steps.

Steep steps.

Did I mention I was a bit hot?

The staircase is lined by statues of arhats, some of which appeared to be wearing lipstick, which I believe is one of the physical characteristics of the Buddha, and intended to represent scared speech - but you might want to check a more authoritative source on Buddhism rather than believing me.


Arhats, from my poor understanding, are enlightened followers of the Buddha rather than Buddhas as such - so I don't think these contributed to the 10,000 figure.





431 steps-worth of statues later and just before I can keel over with heat exhaustion (at this point in time I probably looked as if someone had thrown a bucket of water over me - heat, humidity and exercise are not an attractive combination), I arrived at the lower level of the monastery.

Technically it's not a monastery because it's lacking the one real requirement for being a monastery - monks. The monastery is run by lay-people, which makes it a layestry , or something.

The lower level features a nine-storey pagoda in the centre. However, by this time I was only thinking about drinking water and trying to cool down, so my photography was a bit halfhearted.

No, I wasn't drunk when I took this.


Skanda Pavilion

After re-hydrating a little, I progressed to the upper level of the complex (more steps, sigh). Photography was not permitted within the halls there, so I probably erred on the side of caution with my subject matter.


However, to the far right-hand side, I seemed to be free from the risk of photographing people at worship, so was able to aim my lens a little bit higher.







A better view of the 9 storey pagoda
As I was in desperate need of air conditioning by this point, I decided to end my visit at this point, which meant I never did find the 10,000 Buddhas (although there are apparently 13,000, so the "monastery"'s name is doubly inaccurate).









Monday 2 October 2017

Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)

Before watching Goodbye Christopher Robin, the only thing I had heard about it was a headline from Peter Bradshaw's single-star Guardian review, which contained the word 'joyless'.

I've noticed that my tastes often run contrary to Bradshaw's, so I was hoping this was going to be one of those cases - particularly as there seems to be a lack of films playing in the cinema that I haven't already seen.

The film tells the story of A.A. Milne and the relationship with his son, the real-life Christopher Robin (although everyone calls him Billy Moon), and the effect of being catapulted into the spotlight by the runaway success of the Winnie the Pooh books.

I knew a little of the story before seeing it - for the sake of fully enjoying the film, I knew just about enough, but not too much of the real-life events. There are of emotional moments in it - one of them is telegraphed from the beginning of the film - where not knowing the full history of Milne worked in the film's favour for me.

Unlike Bradshaw's take on the film, I found it completely charming. There's a sub-genre of films based on the lives of popular English writers (Miss Potter springs to mind) that this fits nicely into, and for my money (based on my current spending on my cinema pass, that's about £100 for this ticket), one of the better examples.




Hong Kong Railway Museum

For a little bit of context, I've been fascinated by trains for most of my life. I can't make any claim to being a true fanatic - my...