This made me laugh - probably accidental comment on Italian ("macaroni combat")World War
II movies on wikipedia
The red highlight is mine
II movies on wikipedia
The red highlight is mine
Monday, 1 December 2014
Shock horror - new Imperial Stormtrooper is B.. British
Anyone reading some of the comments on the Star Wars trailer would have been pretty shocked to read allusions to riots in Ferguson and fried chicken.. (I spotted them first - depressingly - on the ailing aintitcoolnews)
In response to that this is a good article - Of Course There Are Black Stormtroopers in Star Wars
It alludes to one slightly overlooked stereotype in Star Wars -
"Everyone we meet in the Imperial officer corps, for example—the chain of commanders that Darth Vader is always Force-choking out—is white (and seemingly British)."
So having established the Imperial officer class is British the VII trailer reveals that at least one of the Stormtroopers is as well. Aside from the race thing... and lets not forget Chiwetel Ejiofor as a posh British Imperial officer in Joss Whedon's "Serenity"... it is entirely consistent.
Most obvious Imperial villainy in movies for last 40 years has had a a massive Union Jack on it all the way through and there has never been a peep about it over here (Nothing like say, The Patriot).
Nearly 20 years after we handed Hong Kong back - it's just nice to be noticed.
In all seriousness if Max Von Sydow (Swedish) turns out to be an Imperial officer this is obviously further dispersing the racial/national stereotypes set previously. It's almost as if someone has given this some thought.
If you look at the the back of the suit incidentally- I think Boyega is a TIE pilot, probably shot down in battle with the Falcon in the trailer. So look out for more fuss when it turns out the black guy is more than just a grunt.
And one more shout out for Attack The Block. It is kind of like watching the original version of The Blob with Steve McQueen, it's an ingenious, fresh, fun movie lit up by a star obviously on the way to bigger things.
In response to that this is a good article - Of Course There Are Black Stormtroopers in Star Wars
It alludes to one slightly overlooked stereotype in Star Wars -
"Everyone we meet in the Imperial officer corps, for example—the chain of commanders that Darth Vader is always Force-choking out—is white (and seemingly British)."
So having established the Imperial officer class is British the VII trailer reveals that at least one of the Stormtroopers is as well. Aside from the race thing... and lets not forget Chiwetel Ejiofor as a posh British Imperial officer in Joss Whedon's "Serenity"... it is entirely consistent.
Most obvious Imperial villainy in movies for last 40 years has had a a massive Union Jack on it all the way through and there has never been a peep about it over here (Nothing like say, The Patriot).
Nearly 20 years after we handed Hong Kong back - it's just nice to be noticed.
In all seriousness if Max Von Sydow (Swedish) turns out to be an Imperial officer this is obviously further dispersing the racial/national stereotypes set previously. It's almost as if someone has given this some thought.
If you look at the the back of the suit incidentally- I think Boyega is a TIE pilot, probably shot down in battle with the Falcon in the trailer. So look out for more fuss when it turns out the black guy is more than just a grunt.
And one more shout out for Attack The Block. It is kind of like watching the original version of The Blob with Steve McQueen, it's an ingenious, fresh, fun movie lit up by a star obviously on the way to bigger things.
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
William Gibson Keynote Talk at BFI Southbank - UPDATED
We were told not to take pics as this would be up online as video at the BFI website - but I can't find it.*
Of Tron : WG said it was the first most exciting representation of interacting with events in the cyber environment he's ever seen. Typing he believes is not exciting or dynamic and he avoids mention of it throughout Neuromancer.
On Pattern Recognition he said the Buzz Rickson jacket in black didn't exist until the book was published - then the clothing company asked him if they could produce a version!
On dystopias he said they are perhaps too much a thing of the moment, and the world of Neuromancer is no more dystopian than this one if you are in the wrong part of the world.
He gets a lot of inspiration from the bitter wit of Steeley Dan lyrics.
One book that he thinks that needs to be a movie - Them Bones by Howard Waldrop
He dropped several hints that he and Ridley Scott has discussed a movie version of Joe Haleman's (absolute classic) Forever War but interviewer ignored them all to ask the same boring questions about Blade Runner we've been hearing for the last 30 years.
WG's own dramatic highlight was his X-Files episode, The Kill Switch
And finally, in response to an audience question, he wondered if the future of novel writing was writing for an audio book audience.
I'm currently listening to Difference Engine.
*I'm not generall impressed by the BFI at present, the £45 I spent on a years membership got me a staggering £1.50 off an £80 booking fee last week, and the film print they showed last night (of Robert Zemekis's Contact) was the worst I've seen since the Scala Cinema club days
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
EL TREN FANTASMA - For Your Halloween Listening Pleasure
If you like your Samhain to be a little more chilled and respectful than the norm can I recommend my musical discovery of the year...
Essentially a guy making audio recordings on his holiday in Mexico, it is actually a beautifully produced audio record of the last journey on a rail system about to be scrapped and lost forever.
If gentle train noises make you a little hypnotic, or you just loved those old BBC sound effects records, you need to get this, which even when you've fought through London transport is a soothing and slightly creepy trip into an alternative dimension
(courtesy of Stu Maconie's freakzone - as usual)
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
"A somewhat unconventional unit"
Finally caught up with Rough Riders..
In the dark days before HBO....John Milius, half mad writer of Apocalypse Now and first two Dirty Harry films (and dir of The Big Wednesday)
ends his directing career making a way over budget 4 hour mini-series for Ted Turner's TNT
about the insanity of the first American invasion of Cuba - where over-keen future president Theodore Roosevelt (Tom Berenger) leads an army of cowboys and boater wearing gentleman volunteers to save Cuba from the dastardly Spanish
its up here
you'll be surprised how good this is. A strange hybrid western/period war film with enough crazy detail about this era to make it quite believable. Starts with a well written but typically Reaganist tone, ending would be almost within eyeshot of Peter Richardson's classic Charge of The Light Brigade (in that both cover totally amateurish 19thc military fiascoes) if it wasn't a ringside seat to the birth of American imperialism
Gary Busey as a sozzled ex-confederate cavalry general is a highlight
"We got them damn yankees on the run!"
"The Spanish sir - we've got the Spanish on the run"
The excellent Hardcore History podcast of the same historical insanity is up here
Sunday, 12 October 2014
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