A Sunbeam in the Abyss

The House Next Door's Matt Zoller Seitz posted a great reactive piece about Owen Wilson yesterday. I too was saddened to hear the news and it's heartening to see a piece that echo's many of my own veiws on Wilson as a performer and that treats him with the dignity and respect all people deserve, famous or not and I join Matt in wishing Owen a speedy and successful recovery and peace for whatever it is he is dealing with at the moment:

His specialty is feather-light comedy spiked with unselfconscious yearning. He's at once knowing and sincere -- an almost impossible trick. To paraphrase Pauline Kael's review of E.T., he clears the bad thoughts out of your head. When I saw Meet the Parents in a lower Manhattan movie theater on opening weekend, I didn't know that Wilson had a small part in it, and I was surprised and glad to see him up there, unbalancing his soon-to-be inseparable screen partner, Ben Stiller, by casually referring to Jesus Christ as "J.C." I was even more gratified when the audience applauded his first appearance, then clapped again when he showed up presiding over the wedding ceremony. The character's hippie cleric robes seemed appropriate. Wilson's a good-time shaman; when he appears, you smile, because know you're about to have fun. He makes good films better and bad films tolerable. Onscreen, he's a human sunbeam.

It was also particularly inspring to see the wealth of comments added to the article and the goodwill poured out from fellow fans, and to see an intenet story with comments that hasn't descended into bickering or childish arguing. So I encourage you to read the article but also check out the whole site, it has a wealth of fascinating film and TV criticism and theory and is one of the best places for educated and thought provoking debate on the interweb. - A Sunbeam in the Abyss

A Casual Problem

One of my most anticipated games of year has just been released in the US, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the sequel to two of the best games on the GameCube and a game aimed squarely at the more experienced gamers. For months there has been increasing speculation that Nintendo is moving further and further away from traditional game players towards the new casual market with games such as Brain Training and Nintendogs, so far that Wii Sports and Wii Play have become the best selling games for the Wii consoles. But can they have their cake and eat it? Is it possible to attract these new gamers and different demographics without alienating their original fans? Or will the Wii end up pleasing only those after short, unique experiences rather than those who like the more complex and challenging nature of traditional games. Well the problem lies in that very notion, that there are two camps of gamers, and therefore two types of games now. The industry has been going through massive change, with the Wii proving so popular and the more traditional tech heavy consoles struggling, the whole nature of the industry could be seeming to change. The problem comes when the traditional gamers see the casual ones as invading their hobby, and enjoying games that aren’t even really games. Is Brain Training a game? Sure, but there are no levels, bosses, you can’t die and some would argue it’s not even fun. Same with Wii sports, whilst it more resembles a game there are no real levels or challenges with it and the simplistic (but fun) controls leave many gamers baffled. Similarly those who love these games frown upon the complicated and impenetrable hardcore games, sci-fi shooters, RPG’s and first person shooters. My point is why can’t these games simply exist and people play whatever they want to. The simplistic notion that casual gamers who may never have played before only want a certain type of game is unfair and elitist, what if they are intrigued by other games, or styles of play, surely this is what expanding the market is all about? Similarly surely experienced gamers should be allowed to try out these new types of games and, heaven forbid, actually enjoy them. The two are not mutually exclusive; you do not have to fall into one camp or another. Nintendo’s philosophy is not to abandon the traditional gamer but to simply add to their numbers. Just like with other mediums such as TV or cinema you need different genres, different games for different people without preconceived notions of who is going to enjoy it. Take music for example, I am happy to say that I love both classical music and film scores, and acts such as Linkin Park or the Mars Volta. Or Jazz music, or dance music or even some pop music, so why can’t gamers like allsorts too, why must they be classified down into specific types and advised about what they will or won’t like? What really sparked this debate off, at least with myself, was variety’s review of Metroid prime 3. You can read the article here, but this excerpt highlights the point I am trying to make:

In addition to being borderline nonsensical, "Metroid Prime 3" is also difficult. It has the audacity to say, "Welcome to this strange place. Now go figure it out." … Too much of the time, though, "Metroid Prime 3" is more tedious than epic. This is particularly true of the boss battles, which are exhaustive affairs requiring dedication, patience, and most importantly, a familiarity with the vocabulary of videogames: double jumping, circle strafing, shooting weak points for massive damage, etc. Those who previously used the Wii only for party games will need a 13 year-old boy to explain it all.

The audacity of Retro studios! Goodness knows what they were thinking making a game that requires skill, patience and a familiarity of the vocabulary of videogames! Ridiculous as these remarks are they raise an interesting point, is the nature of the console influencing opinions of the games on it? If the same game had been released on the Xbox 360 or the PS3 then the elements that are criticized here would surely be praised instead, the complex controls, the focus on exploration and freedom of movement, the cleverly designed boss battles and the challenging nature of the game itself. Now the sad fact is that this magazine is obviously not aimed primarily at typical gamers, so it only serves to further these bonds between the two rather than valuing the game on its own merits and allowing the readers to make up their own minds. Going back to the music analogy from before this review is akin to reviewing the latest Oasis album and criticising it for being full of guitars.

If the Wii is really to appeal to all types of people then surely it has to take all sorts of games. In the same way that mainstream reviews may look down their noses at the latest party game these casual fans should not feel the same about games like Metroid. With the release of this, Mario and Smash Brothers Nintendo is proving to its hardcore fans that it still caters for their needs, but they have to also be aware also that they are not the only players any more. There are 10 million people out there with a Wii and if this expansion in gamers can be fruitfully harnessed and some kind of unity be accomplished then there is no reason why this situation can’t be good all round. But whilst publications and gamers alike continue with these labels and stereotypes then the harmony of new and old gamers, could easily turn into bitter contempt. Ultimately it is down to our individual attitude, are we willing to try something new and see where it takes us, or stick with the old and fight tooth and claw to have everything our way?

31 Days of Spielberg

Just a quick note to mention one of my favourite websites at the moment, Windmills of my Mind which is taking the month of August as a time to spend 31 days with Steven Spielberg, day by day charting his career from the very start up to date in great detail. The site posts one article a day and they are all fascinating and wonderfully written and researched. Spielberg is one of my favourite directors and so it is especially interesting for me to find out more about the man and see his career thus far dissected so skilfully. The articles already up cover many of his classic films including ET and Jaws and include a lot of background detail and anecdotes as well as plot descriptions and critical appraisal.

So if you have some spare time I highly recommend you give it a look, the site is currently up to 1991 and the film Hook and look out for new articles to be appearing there up until the end of the month.

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Windmills of my Mind

Transformers

Michael Bay is a director whose films split most people. His bombastic style and excessive noisy action sequences, often at the expense of structural logic or character development, have led many to see him as the embodiment of all that is wrong with Hollywood, style over substance, and yet I have always felt that while this is often the case, the hate poured against him was largely unjustified. Directing action is a skill, directing action films doubly so and Bay seems one of the only directors left (aside from James Cameron who has been out of the game for nearly a decade now) able to create memorable sequences and shoot action films that satisfy in terms of destruction, stunts and visuals. All his films from the Rock to Armageddon to Bad Boys 2 stand out amongst all recent action films and there is no director out there who can touch him for visceral thrills and pure carnage. It is with this in mind that you come to understand why the movie version of Transformers is such a perfect fit for Bay’s style. If the idea of 50ft robots beating the hell out of each other and several city blocks is enough to get you excited, wait until you see it realised on screen. Loud dumb but masterfully enjoyable Transformers is one of the most purely cinematical blockbusters in years delivering on nearly every level and with a readily judged tone that captures the nonsense in a way that is simply fun to watch. It actually makes a refreshing change from the multitude of films lately, sequels like Pirates of Caribbean, Harry Potter and Spiderman 3 that have seen fit to play up the darkness of their stories, the humanity that prevails in pain and loss, here there is little of that and it works, this is not a story that should be told with any level of gravity or seriousness and Bay knows this and this lightness of tone breezes through the film. The film also benefits from the touch of executive producer Steven Spielberg whose hand can definitely be seen in the suburban family scenes that counter the military posing that makes up the other half of the film. Shia LaBouf excels in his role as the awkward teen charged with saving the world and his winning and infectious performance is another large reason that the movie works so well. In fact early on as we are introduced to his character and the story is set up I almost wished we stayed with it longer, the frequent cutting away to the military investigation felt unwanted and while it was necessary for the plot it was never as engaging or intreguing to me. Once the film reaches the half way stage however all hell starts to break loose and as the plot unravels and is revealed to be pretty thin, the robots start to take centre stage. ILM have done an incredible job with the effects on this film, in an age where we are swamped by CGI filled movies every other week it takes something really special to stand out from the crowd, and that is what we have here. There is presence and a reality to the effects that has hitherto been impossible and it makes the rather ridiculous premise believable. The characters are well established and the destruction they wreak is unlike anything you would have seen. In fact the opening action sequence of the film would be bigger than most films finale, and it only gets bigger from there onwards. This is definitely a film to see on the biggest screen you can and Bay’s slick style suits the action perfectly, he shoots the robots with a car and attention most wouldn’t and the fact he is not afraid to put the camera right in their faces and slow down the action shows how much faith he has in them as living breathing machines, and it works to draw in the audience and involve them in the action. The pace is break-neck and the score suitably bombastic, basically you get from the film exactly what you would expect, but in a good way. This is a blockbuster that delivers on the premise of action and effects but that also manages to find a humourous and entertaining tone and toss in some interesting and engaging characters. Yes the plot doesn’t make a great deal of sense and there are unnecessary scenes and characters who don’t really work, but for what it gets right and for how it has been constructed Transformers is a resounding success and may well be Michael Bay’s best film to date. Just don’t take that as a bad thing, you get the feeling this was the film he was born to direct, and for that I am glad. Loud, visually stunning and ridiculously entertaining this is top-notch action cinema with likeable leads and non stop pace. Striking just the right tone of humour and silliness this is the action film of the summer and a welcome change from the recent flood of sequels. Watch it on the biggest screen you can find.

A Console Retrospective

So we are now in August and the long barren early months of the year are about to yield for the oncoming flood of titles that populate the gaming horizons between now and the new year. Whatever console you own there is plenty to look forward to, and so I will have a brief look at what to look forward to in the coming months mixed with some reflection on the current state of play.

The year so far has been surprising in many ways with a current situation few would have predicted a couple of years ago. Struggling Nintendo have bounced back to dominate this generation so far and sales of the Wii are set to pass those of the Xbox 360 in a couple of weeks despite the fact that the latter console was released over a year beforehand. Such is the popularity of the console all over the world, and yet for many it has yet to truly prove its worth, the big holiday release of titles will come as a big relief for those (like me) whose consoles have been scarcely used these past months.

Europe gets Super Paper Mario next month (the US got it in April) with Metroid Prime 3 seeing a US release in the next couple of weeks, it arrived here at the end of October. As well as this Super Mario Galaxy should ship to all regions by the end of the year and the US will get Smash Brothers Brawl as well, a stellar line up to be sure and it should ensure that the Wii tops the best seller list this Christmas, ensuring Nintendo manage to supply enough consoles to meet demand. While the over abundance of lazy ports and party games has been a shame the truth is that the Wii has surprised everyone and so a lot of companies, EA in particular, have been late to the game and are only now developing stand alone software, so expect this problem to be less of an issue next year with more games making use of the unique controls and audience. The Xbox 360 sees a slew of big releases as well, however the delay of GTA IV has dented both theirs and Sony’s end of year line up,. Still of the two Microsoft have the big guns with developers able to get more out of the console than ever the line up of Mass Effect, Halo 3, Bioshock and many more make it a good choice for the hardcore gamer this Christmas. However constant talk about the Xbox’s reliability has hit Microsoft hard with them having to fork up over $1 billion to extend all current consoles warranties, word is that improved consoles are making their way to the market but first Microsoft need to get rid of all the old stock, this coupled with falling sales and a lack of a price cut (they have only just announced one for the US now after 20 months at the same price) coupled with the fact that they have failed to capitalise on Sony’s PS3 has rather left them afloat.

Truthfully with the line up they have, the head start and the online capabilities of Xbox live the 360 should be far ahead of where it is, and the general apathy amongst consumers to both it and the PS3 may be an indicator that their strategies are not totally in line with what the public want. A couple of recent surveys have highlighted this point and whiles some may be amazed by the findings I am not at all surprised. Just because those of us who follow the games industry and are fairly tech savvy know the capabilities of these machines does in no way mean the mass market do. The whole HD situation is in flux at the moment and a bit of a mess as I have talked about, and frankly I think a lot of people just don’t care. They want to sit down and play games and don’t worry about HD graphics, Blu-Ray players or the online marketplace. Still with the price cut and some good bundles in stores Microsoft should have a strong second half of the year, but until their reliability problems are sorted and their message to the consumers clearer (seriously, 3 versions of the same console? Really?) they will fall short of what they should be achieving.

Finally we get on to Sony, who to be honest have had a pretty tough year. Currently the PS3 has sales of just over 4 million units, not bad but les than 40% of the sales of the Xbox and the Wii. The thing is, again, this should have been expected, I mean they released a very advanced piece of kit, but at far to high a price. Sony focused far to much on the tech rather than the consumer and just arrogantly assumed people would follow. Now the problem lies in that they can’t afford to drop the price any more, their recent price cut in the US may only be temporary, to get rid of the 60GB models from the shelves before returning to the $600 price point with the new 80GB consoles. Notice a pattern here? Like Microsoft Sony have made a complete pigs ear of marketing their console to consumers, what is wrong with having one version of a console and having that same console everywhere? Why have both Sony and Microsoft seen fit to firstly release 2 versions, one essentially a stripped back version of the ‘proper’ more expensive version? Well again this backfired as just a few months after launch Sony announced they had stopped making the smaller 20GB models of the PS3, but now they go and put another version out there, as have Microsoft with the Elite Xbox 360. If this is confusing to you reading this then I rest my case, something can only achieve mass-market success by being at a popular price point ($200 is the usual) and by being simple and not confusing. If you wanted to get an Xbox and were faced with 3 models at 3 different prices you may well feel overwhelmed and confused, not empowered.

As for games Sony have some good looking stuff for the rest of the year, Heavenly Sword looks very impressive visually for example, but a lot of their big guns are scheduled for next year, MGS4, GT5 and now GTA IV but with some decent software on the shelves (another reason the PS3 has failed to ignite sales-wise so far) it could see an improvement to the end of the year. Still as long as that price remains so high the PS3 will remain a high-end electronics device rather than a mass market product and frankly the damage done this generation so far has made it impossible for Sony to reclaim its position at the top that it claimed so well last generation. It shall be interesting to see what the future holds and whether there is any way of saving the PS3 from anything but being seen as a failure in the long term.

Personally I am looking forward to dusting off my Wii-motes and spending some time with Mario and Samus this holiday, and if I could afford it (or had the time) the Xbox 360 makes a very tempting proposition for the future, but as for the wider world? Who knows, all I know is that we have an almost unprecedented slew of top quality games coming in the next 5 or 6 months and no matter what the politics behind the consoles themselves, it has always been the games that count, to forget that is to forget why we play in the first place.

The Number 23

Well colour me disappointed. I have been a fan of Jim Carrey for a while now and much as I liked his comedy work it is his forays into ‘serious’ acting that have impressed me, both the Truman show and Eternal Sunshine were wonderfully unique and well crafted films and in both Carrey was a key role in their success, rather than a hindrance. He has an earnest vulnerability and is able to incorporate his manic persona into characters more grounded in reality. In the Number 23 he plays Walter Sparrow an animal control officer whose life is turned around by a book he receives on his birthday. As he reads the book he finds strange parallels between the author’s life and his own, and when the book takes a disturbing turn the enigma of the number 23 and its impact on people’s lives begins to take hold.

Now normally a mystery thriller such as this would be right up my ally, the premise itself is intriguing and the film is stylishly shot at times, but unfortunately that’s about all it gets right. From the very start the film fails to get into any kind if rhythm and establish the characters as anything more than vague outlines. Jim Carrey phones in his performance for most of the film, his character not believable enough in his decent to madness and the reasons for this decent are so murkily explained that it is hard to connect or understand exactly why he becomes so obsessed with the book. Adding to this are the hammily filmed noir-ish scenes from the book which we see acted out featuring Carrey as the hero, however the tough-guy dialogue and over the top nature of these make is hard to take seriously and it is unclear if the clichéd nature of the story is intentional or not. Individually these faults are acceptable but in a film of this nature they pile up distracting from the good that lies buried beneath, little things jar in the mind such as the fact that Carrey takes to long to read the book he is obsessed with when it is a slim volume, easily read in one sitting. The whole mystery of the Number 23 is fumbled as well having little connection to the story or reason, still now I have no real idea what it means or why it causes the reaction it does in the characters.

I will admit the film kept me watching and the central mystery was enough to keep me engaged but the big reveal ending falls apart under closer inspection and leaves the whole film feeling like an exercise is style over substance. Ultimately this is a mis-step for all involved. Joel Schumacher continues to blow hot and cold and while the film looks nice enough he fails to get a grip on the characters of create any kind of narrative tension. The script is messy and inconsistent and lazy, opting for the big show rather than the meaningful insight. If you like a good mystery film then there may just about be enough here to warrant a rental but truthfully this is one to avoid, and personally I hope Carrey’s next serious role is chosen with a bit more care.

Un-engaging and incoherent this is a shadow of the film it could have been. Unsure of tone throughout the serious themes are oddly balanced against the pulpy style of the novel it revolves around and it ends up being neither an intelligent thriller nor a guilty pleasure.

The Simpsons Movie

When I was younger I used to live and breath the Simpsons. It will always be a cherished part of my childhood living in the UK I guess I was just the right age to catch the phenomenon. Even though the Simpsons started back in 1989 it wasn’t shown on the BBC until the mid 90’s, my earliest memory of the show was on a family holiday to America, but at the time I didn’t get it, or understand what it was all about. Once it had started over here I remember vividly when a friend of mine used to even tape the new episodes from Sky and I would watch the whole tape fanatically, even cataloguing episodes as they were shown on my own videos.

So why the long pre-amble? Well because the Simpsons movie is actually really difficult to review or quantify. The Simpsons are so ingrained in my life and modern culture that it is impossible to step back enough to judge. I really enjoyed the film, I laughed a lot, it was constantly entertaining with no lulls (something very difficult for comedy films) and it didn’t feel over stretched, al all. In fact the format fitted the big screen like a glove, something I definitely wasn’t expecting, the longer length allowing for more breathing space, something the series sometimes feels like it needs. But did I love the film because I love the Simpsons? If I went in with no knowledge would I have enjoyed it as much? Probably not, but even though the series is by general consensus not as good as it used to be, the movie transcends a lot of the recent seasons remaining its own beast entirely.

For the record I think series 4 through 10 are some of the most consistent and brilliant seasons of TV ever created for television, since then the show has gone downhill, but remains amusing and clever at times, but with a show that’s approaching its 20th birthday, the fact that it is still even remotely watchable is an achievement in itself. Say what you want about the show but to create a movie this chock full of gags, ambition and character and find something new to say about the town, the characters and the world after 400 episodes and do so in a way that is true to the TV series, yet befits the spectacle of the cinema screen, is a near miraculous achievement. The 11 (count ‘em) writers serve the story well and while it is a shame some regulars get so little time (Mr Burns for example) the sheer amount of people who they fit into the film and who are able to shine is remarkable.

However the film is not perfect, the main ‘baddie’ voiced by Albert Brooks (who did such a fantastic job with Hank Scorpio) is not nearly memorable enough and the expansive nature of the plot negates at times the small-town mentality that the series captures so well. It’s also interesting to note that in the movie world the ‘flexible reality’ that has long been a feather in the Simpsons cap can actually be a hindrance, a lack of continuity and consequence means that the emotional moments (and there are some great ones here) hit a little less hard, and threats and danger become less palpable. One of the things that separates cinema from TV is the ‘anything can happen’ mentality, no-one is safe, nothing is fixed, but in the Simpsons it is and the knowledge that more seasons are being made means that the chances of anything dramatically changing are slim.

But maybe that’s why the show works so well, these characters don’t ever truly grow or change, they remain slaves to who they are. Familiarity can be a valuable asset to an audience and the Simpsons movie harnesses 20 years of goodwill to provide an experience that is uniquely familiar. And at the end of the day in this ever changing world there is something immensely comforting about the little yellow family that stands firm amongst the chaos.

A success against all the odds this is a funny, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable movie that takes advantage of its big screen format whilst giving its giant cast equal room to shine. Clever, subversive and ultimately full of heart this emphasises what has always made the Simpsons so great, without tarnishing its reputation.