Ad Absurdum

Philosophical question for starters: why do so many of the actors I like star so many awful films?

I mean there was Dominic Keating, but I drew a line at Ninong. I still kinda want to watch Sherlock Holmes vs. Dinosaurs, though.

Then Nick Lea and I did suffer through cardboard-rubber monsters and slightly unconvincing thrillers. His filmography isn't even that filled with horrible-ness, but most of it (the better part, really) is impossible to find.

And now we have Sam Stockman whose acting career seems to contain roles in far too many ridiculously-hard-to-get-your-hands-on TV serials on one side and shite horror films on the other.

At least my favourite actresses fare better, though with Tilda Swinton I'm still preparing myself mentally for Derek Jarman's brand of artistic/symbolistic gay erotica. God, the things we do for the people we like.

Anyway, since I did embark on this stoopid quest, have some screeencaps. And commentary. And maybe a bit of a laugh. This time: The Task - a film from 2011, which is about "A group of unlucky reality show contestants who must survive the night in a haunted jail" (and I nearly burst into laughter after reading this synopsis. I am a horrible human being).

The esteemed Mr Stockman plays the character of Scelzi, a junkie cameraman who fortunately drops dead after about 40 minutes, so you don't have to suffer through all of it. Fun fact: he's killed via a spike through the eye but you can tell without any difficulty the "killer" aims beside his head and the spray of blood looks like something from a garden hose - though thankfully not that big. A sort of a miniature garden hose - and that should tell you all you need to know about the quality of the film.

( screencaps ahead )

Supernatural - "Time After Time" (S7E12)

I don't really watch SPN. I've seen one or two episodes and they were pretty OK, but I prefer my X-Files plots and my Buffy plots separate.

Anyway, this episode's brief synopsis (from IMDb): Sam and Dean tangle with the God of Time, who sends Dean back to 1944, where he is immediately arrested by none other than the one and only Eliot Ness.

And Eliot Ness is played by none other than Nick Lea. Which is kinda funny and awesome ("And how does that fill you with awe?") and very convenient for all sorts of crossovers. And even fics where Ness (Arntzen? Krycek's grandpa?) is a vampire - as one piece of dialogue so obligingly suggests, it could be canon.

The episode was fun to watch, and even though it won't make me a regular SPN viewer, at least it didn't feel like a waste of time.








gifs by obsessiveellinor

Time to write something about the new Holmes productions before I completely forget. For now, only the Guy Ritchie's film. I'll leave the BBC mini series till after the second season ends.

So, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a sequel and, I don't know, maybe I'm mellowing, but this one didn't piss me off the way the first Ritchie's Holmes film did. Or maybe I've just accepted the fact that his movies don't have much in common with the original ACD stories.

( cut for spoilers )

Have just bought Withnail & I on DVD - 20th Anniversary Edition, no less. And fuuuuuuu... that film. One of my favourite films of all time, and I've got exactly three of those.

Withnail & I is an absolute cult classic, especially among students who like to quote the lines at each other while drunk, from what I gather. As for me, well, the film got me through the most awful year of my life back when I was in high school. During that year there wasn't a week I didn't see it, so yeah, I've watched the film a LOT of times.

I can still remember the first time I saw it *trips down the memory lane* - home alone, 11 PM, flipping through the channels and planning to go to bed. Then I stopped at a regional TV station because some film was just starting and there was Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale which I was always pretty 'meh' about, but stayed to listen. The next scene (at the pub) had me hooked for good, though, because the humour clicked so perfectly. And by the time the film ended, I was convinced it was the greatest film ever made.

That TV station showed it again a little while later, so I taped it and the rest, as they say, is history. It was high time to buy the DVD; I haven't even got a VHS player anymore.

All right, embarrassingly personal info aside, here's what Wthnail & I is actually about:

London. The '60s. Two unemployed actors - acerbic, elegantly wasted Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the anxiety-ridden "I" (Paul McGann) - drown their frustrations in booze, pills and lighter fluid. When Withnail's Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) offers his cottage, they escape the squalor of their flat for a week in the country, but soon realise the've gone on holiday by mistake when their wits - and friendship - are sorely tested by violent downpours, less-than-hospitable locals and empty cupboards. (text taken from the DVD back cover)

The 20th Anniversary Edition consists of three discs: the 1st one contains the main feature, commentary by Paul McGann and Ralph Brown and commentary by director Bruce Robinson. The 2nd one contains Postcards from Penrith Featurette, The Drinking Game, Swear-A-Thon, Bruce Robinson interview, Behind the Scenes stills by Ralph Steadman, Withnail & Us - a 1999 documentary on the film and the original theatrical trailer. And the 3rd disc is the film's score: eight tracks, most of which are variations on the main theme.

Watch it/listen, if you've got an opportunity. Never a time better spent.

I think I should make "wonders of the Internet" a separate tag: yesterday I finally realised that BBC1 Sherlock is available on YouTube.
( Read more... )

So, I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film about three weeks ago. And it wasn't as bad as I feared. The cinematography was great, Victorian London suitably grim and music was a real treat. And yeah, that's about it as far as compliments go. ( cut for whining and spoilers )