Recent Viewing Part IV

I have seen The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies. I enjoyed it but I think Desolation of Smaug was better. Some things were stupid and many things were good. I did a marathon saturday. I watched all three movies. Yum.

By the way I just listened to the preview clips from the score and I think the score of BOTFA is better than DOS. So I'm happy.

Interesting. I love keeping track of child actors who went away, and of course with JP being one of my alltime favourite films, it's extra intriguing.

I agree with you -- the pictures seem rather kitschy, but there's lots of talent there.

^
That is why I'm pretty sure these are from photos.

Well, I already had a small crush on her back then. We're about the same age.

Another 'child actor' from my time in the 80s and 90s that I googled not too long ago, was Tina Majorino who played the girl in WATERWORLD. She's still a cutiepie too. But except for NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, she hasn't done a lot of stuff since then, and it's mostly TV.

RV: Be Cool (2005)
A sort-of sequel to the superior Get Shorty, this film follows the exploits of loanshark John Travolta who now, for no apparent reason, feels like breaking into the music production business.

I'd summarise the plot, but it's really waferthin (cute R&B singer needs release from contract with Evil Producer to do a gig with rock legends Aerosmith. Yeah...), and without any consequence.

The film features a star-studded cast (Travolta, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel and a slew of cameo appearances) and it's clear the actors are having fun...but it all comes across as a bit of an insider party where we're not invited.
In the words of another reviewer: "the film is so laid back it actually falls over".

There are some funny moments, but overall it's all rather lukewarm.
Very best items:
- The insanely over-the-top stereotypical black 'posse' with their black SUVs, gold-grip guns, rippling muscles in baggy shirts, rap beats blaring, sort of led by the slightly psychotic rapper André 3000.
- Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in a VERY surprising role as a homosexual bodyguard. I really applaud him for doing that, knowing the world of preofessional entertainment wrestling is NOT a very gay-friendly environment. (On the other hand, he's The Rock, world heavyweight champion at the time...who the hell was gonna dare say anything? )
- An excellent funky, swinging Powell score. Really, it totally outclasses the film! It's just too bad the soundtrack is mostly one-minute cues, but still: a great and fantastically entertaining listen! I miss that Powell.

So: skippable movie.
Buyable soundtrack.

Key & Peele

A recent discovery for me, apparently they've been going since 2012. They're brilliant. Lots of sketches on YouTube.

The Mr. T sketch is one of my favourites.

Yes, sorry, I meant their current show. I first saw them in Fargo.

Brian Pern: A Life in Rock

A silly, amusing three-part BBC mockumentary about an ageing rock star. Lots of good cameos, including one by David Arnold, and the most unexpected appearance of Jerry Goldsmith music at the end, Ave Satani accompanying the second coming of Peter Gabriel.

My Christmas day viewing:

A Grand Day Out
The first Wallace and Gromit. A bit more "basic" than what followed, but witty and delightful. As always when I watch these things I wonder why the music hasn't been released. Not even a Silva recording of the exceptional main theme. I award this film three stars (out of four).

The Lego Movie
It's creative and witty for the most part but doesn't quite stay consistent throughout and ends up going on a bit too long. Still, it's funny and entertaining. I award this film four stars (out of seven).

Star Wars
This is brilliant. If I hadn't seen it so many times I probably wouldn't notice most of the nit-picks. John Williams provides the best "score what you see" film score there's ever been. When people equate what Howard Shore did for Middle Earth with this, they're out of their minds. I award this film five stars (out of five).

I watched How To Train Your Dragon 2. Everything about it was done well - the effects, the cinematography, the editing - John Powell gave us the best score he's ever written - but at the end of it, I didn't feel like I'd been entertained. It felt like a more mature film within a wrapper of a kids movie, and I can't quite put my finger on which age range it was intended for.

Sorry, but that's fanboy nonsense. Like Korngold, Hermann, Rozsa, Waxman and others had never existed, like Williams was not standing on their shoulders when he wrote STAR WARS.

His leitmotiv-Wagnerian musical story telling is one possible way of scoring among others. What Shore does is technically quite coparable. If you like his music is up to you.

Volker

My point was that Shore's strict adherence to the technique is at odds with Williams's more fluid interpretation.

*cough*

Brilliant indeed. It's not all their sketches that work for me, but the ones that do I find absolutely hilarious. They are both great actors and their parodies of films and film clichés are spot on. I also enjoy their use of music, and they have used Two Steps From Hell in many of their sketches.

Peter

I have no clue what you're all talking about.

But in general, I gravitate towards British comedy (or more absurd types) than the more concrete, point-based American variant.

When talking about art surely it's implicit that everything is our opinion or do we need to preface everything we say with, "in my opinion"?