Relient K – Five Score and Seven Years Ago

Back in 2001 I was introduced by a friend to this band called Relient K, they were a Christian rock band of sorts with a penchant for catchy tunes, pithy lyrics and some really great tunes. Their current album at the time, The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, became a frequent resident of my CD player and I was hooked. Since then Relient K have gained quite a reputation in America, their constant touring and devotion to their fans and their music have quietly gained them a following and it was only with 2004’s ‘Mmhmm’ that they approached the mainstream. With that album came not only success but a new maturity in their sound and song writing, unlike some bands that stagnate over time Relient K have never been afraid to mix things up and a combination of heavier and more emotional tracks was neatly balanced with the lighter catchier songs more akin to their early days. What always separated them for me was the blend of great music, with meaningful and interesting lyrics. Whilst they have a similar style to many other bands I have liked in the past, Blink 182, New Found glory et al. they have always attempted to put a fresh spin on pop/punk tracks, and applying subtle and interesting reminders and messages about their faith in relation to everyday life has made their songs relevant and meaningful So often Christian music is all lumped into a specific type and it’s nice to see someone breaking the mould and talking about these issues in a real way, rather than repeating worn out idioms and mantras.

This week I purchased a copy of their latest album Five Score and Seven Years Ago, their fifth album (in seven years, hence the title) and after a few listens I already love it. It is another step forward for the band, sound wise it remains close to Mmhmm, but the songs seem to come even easier now, each is great and in terms of variety, consistency and pacing this album already stands out from their others. Of all the bands I like Relient K have had probably the biggest impact on my personally, a combination of the right music at the right time I guess and in fact it’s from a Relient K song that I found the title for this blog, Forward Motion was a track that resonated strongly with me and I think it sums up my attitude to life and the approach I take day by day.

So if you’ve never heard of Relient K I recommend you check them out, unfortunately they are relatively unknown in the UK but check out their website here and thanks to the internet it’s easy enough to buy or download their albums from the likes of Amazon and iTunes. Well now that this shameless plugging is over with I’ll get back to my flurry of movie reviews, apologies that they have been rather flooding the blog ahead of other stories lately but I want to keep up to date with my movie viewings. Anyway I’ll have some more of them soon but also a piece on Super Paper Mario, the latest news on No Saints my five-a-side football team and maybe, just maybe, some original writing - you never know…

Evan Almighty

I find within film criticism there are two camps of people, those who like easily, and those who hate easily. Those that like (and I would include myself in this category) look for the good in films, try to see past any initial faults and generally go into a film wanting to like it, wanting to be impressed. Those who easily hate on the other hand go into films wanted to dislike them, they easily pick up on the bad and can be very hard to please. Those people will not like this film. At all. Yet for me it is hard to hate this, like all of Tom Shadyac’s films (Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, Patch Adams) it wears its heart on it’s sleeve, it can be really overly cheesy and sappy and relies heavily on family friendly broad slapstick, but it has a good moral message and so to hate it seems like kicking a puppy – unnecessarily mean and with no real purpose.

A sort of sequel to Bruce Almighty, Evan sees former anchorman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) moving to Washington with his family having recently been elected as a local Congressman. To be fair the film tries to tie this story in to the original film but Carell’s character bears little resemblance to the rather mean reporter he played before, it is clear with his newly found fame the makers chose to elaborate on the original rather than develop an entirely new character which may have worked better, but the discrepancy is minor and doesn’t significantly affect the film.

As in Bruce Almighty Even may be a success at work but he has bigger problems with his family that he if unaware of, until God appears to him and charges him with making an Ark in the neighbouring housing lots, and saving himself in the process. At first Evan protests but as eventually becomes convinced as he becomes the laughing stock of the neighbourhood and his antics begin to threaten his home life as well. These early sections of the film are fairly amusing, as Carrel’s quest for a quiet life come a cropper as tonnes of wood is dumped on his lawn and pairs of animals begin to follow him around In fact the whole film could be summed up thusly, fairly amusing. It was watchable and Carrels natural charm lends a lot of likeability to the character, especially when people turn against him, the message about perseverance and trusting in God is well handled without being overly preachy. What’s a shame is that virtually no-one else is developed at all, Carell’s family are bland and left with little material other than for minor family drama, Morgan Freeman sleepwalks through his role as God once again, but still outperforms most people and Evan’s work colleagues tend to annoy more than entertain (Wanda Sykes take a bow) whilst John Goodman hams it up as an evil senator.

Still the film boasts some impressive special effects at the end and a timely, if overly simplified message about the environment and religion and some good jokes as well that seem broadly placed to as wider audience as possible (though the mere thought of the combination of cute animals + children + religion has probably already put those of a certain disposition into some kind of hate fuelled coma.) I guess that’s one of the problems with the film, how safe it plays it, everything in the film is black or white, problems get solved, people are made ok again and everything works out for the best. It is a very simplified version of reality that will no doubt infuriate some, and yet it is done with genuine feeling, something rare in mainstream movies these days, which somehow makes it work, there’s nothing shameless about a positive message if you mean it, and you get the feeling that Shadyac really does, whether you agree with him or not.

And yet with all these reasons not the like the film, I kind of did. This is the kind of film I can imagine watching in the future with my family and children, and so to hate on it for the kind of film it is seems rather moot. As much as there is a place for serious emotional drama, and violent horror there is a place for films with a message, films that put a smile on your face and make you feel good about humanity for a while. Evan Almighty is not a masterpiece; neither is it a particularly great film in itself, but it has enough winning charm and sincerity to work despite this.

Predictable and obviously targeted as wide as possible Evan should have been a disaster but through Carell’s charms and a solid message (and some impressive effects) this manages to just stay the right side of overblown sappiness and provide an entertaining enough feel good film that will definitely not be to everyone’s tastes.

Cars

After a couple of horror reviews it feels nice to lighten the tone with a look at Pixar’s latest offering (bar Ratatouille which is yet to be released over here) the aptly named Cars. In the same way that previous Pixar films could have been named ‘Toys’, ‘Bugs’, ‘Monsters’ and ‘Fish’ Cars takes the premise of a world populated entirely by automobiles, but unlike their other films, in which the objects always existed in a world where humans also exist, here the cars seem to be the only characters, something that actually takes something away from the film, that layer of reality and believability that always tied these stories to our world is missing here, and while it is an animated fantasy the niggling questions about how are cars made, how do they exist, how does the society as a whole work, are never answered.

However this doesn’t totally detract from the rest of the film and while it never quite scales the heights of some Pixar efforts this is still a cut above all other animated films with a look and attention to detail that once again push the boundaries of the medium.

The story concerns a young hotshot race car by the name of lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) who, on his way to the final championship race of the season, gets stranded in Radiator Springs, a small desolate town on Route 66. Like all Pixar films there is a focus on character and story at the heart of the film and the contrast between the high speed fast cutting world of NASCAR racing and the quiet idyllic nature of Radiator Springs is well realised and the beautiful scenery and locations make the place a convincing and endearing place. The characters that inhabit it, whilst amusing and at times very funny, don’t match up to, for example, the toys from Toy Story, there isn’t all that much to some of them and there are places in the film where the laughs are thin on the ground.

Luckily the main characters are wonderfully realised and voiced and while the film moves at a fairly slow pace it is never boring, always keeping the momentum of the story going and revealing a deeper side to the story and the nostalgic feel that perpetuates the film is more likely to appeal to adults than the kids. Of course being Pixar there is plenty here for everyone to enjoy and the visuals are absolutely stunning, from the subtle reflections and detailing on the cars to the luscious almost photo-realistic scenery (complete with car shaped mountains and clouds) the films is a visual tour-de-force and again proof that Pixar lead the bunch when it comes to computer imagery. It’s not just the technical aspects that impress, it’s the subtle details and care and love that goes in to all of their products, the fact that these talking cars work at all and convince as people with feelings and emotions is an achievement in itself.

However compared to their previous films Cars is a bit of a letdown, it can drag a bit in the middle and a lot of the humour is lacking, resulting in smirks but no big laughs (aside from the end credits joke which is hilarious). It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what doesn’t fit in the film, but I think it all stems from my initial point, that by making these Cars exist in their own world it alienates the audience and we never really connect as much as with their previous efforts.

But when the faults of a film are so slim and rely so heavily on the impeccable quality of Pixar’s back catalogue then there is little really to complain about. Compared to other animated films this is still leagues ahead and there is much to enjoy here, if you can get past your expectations.

As creative, gorgeous and detailed as you would expect from the Pixar stable, however under the hood Cars lacks the instant likeability and hook of its predecessors. Regardless this is a high quality product that manages to avoid a sluggish mid section for a thrilling finale and that works even when, technically, it shouldn’t.

Hostel

Hype can do a lot for a film, in the case of some it can lead to disappointment and overblown expectations, but for others it can bring them on to people’s radars and create a hit from nowhere. Hostel, when it comes down to it, is not the film I expected, nor really the film it is advertised as. Eli Roth’s fratboy sensibilities don’t mingle well with the ideals for a full blown serious horror film and the end result is proof that having grimy posters and shoving Quentin Tarantino’s name above the tagline do little to alter what is in essence a tarted up splatter movie, with ideas above its station. Most people know the premise of the film, some friends that are backpacking around Europe for their summer are drawn into a seedy world where people pay to torture and kill people, and despite the protests of the makers that this is somehow a highbrow effort looking at truths about how we treat each other, the exploitation of people (how the guys objectify the women is how they themselves are objectified by the end) and the good old notion of naivety breeding ignorance, this is little more than an immature, if at times very watchable, revenge film. Hostel starts out in the vein of various teen movies, guy friends looking to get laid and have some fun, and whilst normally this portion of the film is used to build character and set up the events of the film to come, here it seems an excuse to show women wearing very little and clumsily composed scenes of lads being lads that seem like they wear dreamed up by a bored teenager. Roth may be good at shooting the horror elements of the film, but he clearly struggles to make much of the rest rise above mediocre, characters don’t ring true, the dialogue is pretty lacklustre (the overemphasis on swearing in this case seems to genuinely indicate a lack of imagination) and there is a falseness to it all that feels like a cheat and stops you getting at all attached to these characters. Add to this the fact that they come off as unlikeable jocks and there is little tension built towards the horror. The most misleading aspect of the way the film has been sold and promoted was the focus on the torture, while those scenes are rather graphic and intense they don’t last long and in fact the focus on the film is not this at all. That said the scenes are the best directed and executed in the whole movie, as if you could feel Roth gleefully relishing the fact he gets to put these images on screen after faffing about in Amsterdam for the first half an hour. Like it or loathe it he constructs the environment well and the way the factory was realised and presented was the most effective part of the film. The torture I bought, but it seems like that was all Roth cared about as well. As soon as it passes the film changes gear again into a chase / revenge thriller with some unintentionally funny moments and bizarre character decisions. It’s hard to say why I was so put off by this, but again I think it comes back to insincerity. I just didn’t believe it and so the tension is lost, the pay off is unnecessary (though that may have been the point) and by the end the whole thing is verging on farce, its attempts at serious moral choices come off as ridiculous leaving the exercise floundering. The overly serious tone conflicts with the fanboyish sense of glee at all the violence leaving the message murky at best. Ultimately Hostel falls short because it just can’t come clean about its true colours. Taken as an over the top gore fest this could have worked for the niche horror market, but as a mass market horror film that falls woefully short posing as something more serious but without anything beyond the bluster. Eli Roth is clearly a horror fan, but the human aspects of the story clearly don’t interest him and that emanates from the whole film leaving a rather nasty taste in the mouth. A triumph of marketing over substance this is average horror fare endowed with the requisite shallow characters and teenage sensibilities, but that it aims for a higher moral ground makes it more offensive than if it had simply stopped pretending it had anything important to say.

The Grudge 2

Takashi Shimizu must be a man who loves the idea of The Grudge, well either that or he’s tied to some hellish contract that demands he make these movies for the rest of all eternity. Counting the Japanese sequels and remakes he has now made 7 (count ‘em) Grudge films, and with this latest effort you can almost feel the cogs spinning as he goes through the motions. Creepy dead people appearing to certain characters? Check. Characters entering haunted houses for a laugh, then being punished? Check. Lots of silent built up tension followed by loud noise? Check. What makes this film even more unremarkable is that it isn’t really a new story. Confusingly (bare with me here) this is not a remake of the Japanese Grudge Sequel (Ju-On 2), instead it takes the elements from the first Japanese film that were left out of the first remake, and mixes them with new plots. So it’s basically Ju-On the remake, part deux.

What seems to have got lost in translation is any kind of cohesion in the story elements. Shimizu seems to think cutting between three separate stories automatically links them together, but instead all it does is cause frustration and confusion. In the film we follow a group of schoolgirls who visit the house, Aubrey, the sister of Karen the main character in the first film who has been sent to Japan to bring her sister back, and a mysterious family who have also seemingly been exposed to the Grudge as it affects their life (I have since found out that this thread of the story takes place in Chicago not Japan and is set after the other events of the film. That fact that I had to find this out now speaks volumes for the cohesion of the films plotlines). However that is about all you get in terms of narrative drive and character exposition. Characters don’t talk in this film, well not about any deep, or much at all. They meet up, split up and get creeped out in predictable ways.

As with the previous Grudge movies the victims of the initial series of murders haunt those who have been in contact with the house, a little boy and a woman, and yet the impossible and random nature of their attacks somehow make them less scary. They can seemingly manifest at will, and yet often just appear to freak out individuals rather than harm them. They can appear anywhere at any time and yet there is no pattern, no reason seemingly for their behaviour. The nearest we get to an explanation in the lot is that it cannot be stopped and it will keep growing, the kind of ominous threat that serves as evidence of the Shimizu / hellish contract theory. The trouble is that the film once again is well made, it had good art design and direction and some of the ideas and scares are pretty effective. Despite the best efforts of the script writer and the story team some bits of the film are pretty effective and reminds you that the actual premise can be fairly scary if used effectively, the trouble is it is used very rarely in this film.

So at the end of the day I think it’s fair to say that this is one series that really should either be put to rest or radically altered. It is stale and repetitive and nonsensical and whilst Shimizu will probably go on to make these movies in his sleep for the rest of his life he is clearly more talented than that. This film is a waste of all the talent involved and the redeeming features are quickly washed away by the horribly vague characterisations and seemingly random story developments (clue: there are none). If this was the first in a series then I might be more forgiving but even more so than the other recent Japanese remake sequel (The Ring 2) this feels like a hollow effort, an excuse to slap the memorable scares around yet more people for no good reason other than to establish a franchise, and that really is the kiss of death for any horror film. There is nothing frightening about the familiar and unfortunately there is no better word that sums up this film.

A tired and confused mess this is an all too familiar film that adds little to the mythos of the Grudge and whilst is has some good ideas and sequences it falls down at the first hurdle by having characters you don’t care about in situations that aren’t explained. A waste and a sure sign of a series in dire need of killing off itself.

My Games #1: Super Mario 64

A new regular feature I have decided to add to the blog is a retrospective look at some of the games and films that have influenced me or that I have particularly enjoyed or connected with over the years. Often these may not be critically impressive, but each has impacted a certain part of my life in a very real way and looking back it is interesting to see what games and films have such an impact upon me and how they have shaped the person I am now and to share those memories on this site.

Back in 1997 Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 games console, off the back of the massive success they had with the SNES. However this was the generation that Sony would enter the console race releasing their Playstation console a year and a half previously. Whilst the N64 was more powerful it struggled with its choice of cartridges over CDs and to match Sony new and fresh take on the industry. However it was the release of Mario 64 with the console that brought it worldwide attention, simultaneously re-inventing the platform game and exemplifying the potential within 3D worlds the game was a landmark title and one that proved to be my real introduction to console video gaming. Whilst my family had owned an Amiga back in the day the first console me and my brother ever got was the N64 for the Christmas of 1997, almost 10 years ago. Until the point I had no particular bias to choose Nintendo over Sony, the only reason I can think of choosing it was that the games appealed to me more, and I distinctly remember playing a demo of Mario in a local shop and deciding that was the game I wanted to play.

So Christmas rolled around the N64 and Mario was turned on and I was hooked. It’s easy now to look back and forget what was so revolutionary about Mario 64 at the time, it was the first game to really take advantage of the concept of 3D worlds but retained the tight platforming and level design that made the older Mario games such classics. What remains amazing about the game today is how much it accomplishes that had never been done before. The game is huge with 15 distinct worlds each with their own challenges, enemies and secrets. Add to this the castle which was the perfect ‘hub’ world and showcase for the graphics and controls. Rather than walk you through a 20 minute tutorial on how to the play the game Mario 64 brilliantly lets you work it out for yourself at the start as you simply explore the landscape. It is an inspired idea and something that, even now, few games tend to implement successfully.

What makes Mario stick in my mind so much is that it is one of the few games I continue to go back to. There is something wonderfully fun and enjoyable about the game that I find myself itching to play it every now and again, not just play it mind, but complete it. It is just the right side of challenging and the collecting element of the game allows you to decide between completing the game, or continuing to get everything before the big finish. The game is also remarkably solid in design and feel, there are a few glitches but generally the rigorous testing that Nintendo employ is visible in the sheer quality of the game. In a way it is sad to look back nearly ten years on from Mario 64 and see that the platform game has not greatly evolved or changed in that time, in fact platform games are much less common these days with more realistic shooters and racing games prevailing as the dominant genres within gaming. But, largely due to this single game, it will remain a type of game I always have a soft spot for, and as a result of this the reason I still look back at the N64 with such fond memories.

Nowadays platformers seem to be the easy choice for film tie-ins and it seems once again it has taken Nintendo to really play about with the conventions in the upcoming Mario Galaxy which is due for release in November and which may be the first game in all this time to eclipse Mario 64. Of course nothing can really replace the change that Mario 64 represented within the industry or the impact it still holds today. It was the first console game I ever owned, played and completed and remains to this day one of the best. If you have never played it I urge you to check it out either by buying an old copy or downloading it from the Wii’s Virtual Console, like good films and music great games will always remain great despite the primitive graphics and technology and there is no finer example of this than Super Mario 64.