Hyped: Prometheus

Prometheus. 

That word on its own should have a lot of people buzzing. 

For those that don't know, Prometheus, produced and directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator), is set within the world of Alien and is technically somewhat of a prequel, while aiming to set up its own complex story and mythos. In comparison to the huge timespan since the first film, I'm relatively a new comer to the franchise. My first exposure to the infamous xenomorphs was as a young thirteen year old in around 2004 when a friend introduced me to the PC first person shooter Aliens vs Predator 2 (2001). If the thought of AVP leaves a bad taste in your mouth, know that not all mediums have dealt with the premise as horrible as the films; this was a hell of a game. After that I inevitably watched the films, experiencing their relationship to the games in a very backwards manner: "OMG, the APC is just like it is in the game!" *nerdgasm*. And then, with mere months under my belt as an Alien devotee, I watched as the franchise was seemingly squandered by the Alien vs Predator franchise. 

Until: A New Hope. News began to trickle down the vines that Ridley Scott, having put down the idea at the start of the AVP franchise, was once again in talks to direct a new Alien film. Although initially a direct prequel, Damon Lindelof (Lost, Star Trek) was brought on board in 2010 to rewrite the initial script as a standalone film of sorts, with the potential to spawn a new franchise. As many Lost fans can attest to, such news brought about instant glee followed by sudden fear. This man is a great writer; he knows how to deal with multiple characters whilst creating an intriguing world and forcing viewers to keep watching as a stream of mysteries and exciting story developments are thrown at them. He also has a reputation for breaking hearts by not fully delivering on said mysteries. Having said that I still love seeing his name attached to a project, and what harm could he do to my heartstrings in one, two hour sprint, right? Right?!

Then came the trailer. I'm not talking about the teaser trailer that I watched on a shared computer in a backpackers in Cape Town with a pair of dodgy headphones. I'm talking about the second trailer. The one that sent chills down the spine of every Alien fan who saw it. This one:

This trailer just gets me, you know? From the first amazing wide shot to the jam packed final moments, I'm on the edge of my seat every time. This trailer obviously stands on its own as something of beauty, but the trinkets of Alien mythology scattered throughout it really speak to the fans of the franchise: the derelict spacecraft from LV - 426 (in flight!!), the hint of a new species that might very well be the predecessor to the xenomorphs, and the most exciting, the supposed promise of an origin story for the Space Jockey from Alien. While having a minuscule amount of screentime in the origin film as a dead relic, fans have speculated the creature's origin ever since the original films release, with Scott himself spurring theories that the creature might have played a part in the origin of the xenomorphs. Luckily, that now waits to be seen.

It is already evident that the film is faithful to the atmosphere of the series, with what looks like a perfect mix between the style of Alien and its sequel Aliens by James Cameron. While drawing its feelings of isolation, claustrophobia, and exploration from both, the scale of this film is reminiscent of Aliens, and looks to be even bigger. With Aliens being hailed as one of the best science fiction films of all time, and my favourite of the franchise, that can only be a good thing. Even the cast fits the mould of an Alien film, with a multi-gender/racial cast featuring strong female characters, and the token creepy android.

The ultra-futuristic style of the trailer at first had me concerned that the film would go the route of Star Wars before it, using the excuse of advancements in CG to completely change the style of the universe. However, as Lindelof has pointed out in interviews, the Nostromo was a mining ship, and its gritty retro-future design as opposed to the design of ships in the trailer can be accounted to its own age and place within the world. Still, I hope traits of that design are evident in the film, along with the alien style created by H. R. Giger for the first. 

I am very interested to see how this film plays with the framework of the original films and then goes on to raise new questions and explore new themes. Scott and Lindelof have both expressed the importance of the themes in the upcoming film, stating that the film deals with questions regarding the origin of humanity itself. I expect that this theme itself will connect with the origins of the space jockey, the unnamed creatures from the film, and the xenomorphs from the original franchise.

All in all, my excitement for this film cannot be overstated. With two weeks until its release, it wont be long until I can devour its gloriousness with my eyes and see for myself whether it lives up to its hype. If you haven't at least seen the first two Alien films yet, do yourself a favour; it will only add to your excitement for this film.

Tom

Game over, man. Game over!

Akira (1988)

This may be the film that messed me up. Take note psychiatrist.

When I was 11 I developed something of an obsession with Anime. Having been exposed to it casually mixed in with my usual morning cartoons, I felt something of an affinity with its strong (if not melodramatic) stylisation. Unfortunately at the time, a wide variety of anime were not available to me, not showing at a reasonable hour on television (at least for an 11 year old) and very few apart from what I had seen were in stock at the local video store. There were, however, 2 titles that I could get my grubby hands on, 1988's Akira and 1994's Ghost in the Shell. Now, my poor dad, holder of the rental card was unaware that there was a substantial maturity gap between the Pokémon and Dragon Ball of Cheese TV and these 2 cult classic sci-fi anime. He did notice that Ghost in the Shell has nudity and sexual references and so he rented me Akira...Retrospectively, of the two- he made the wrong choice. 

Too bad for him, awesome for me.

Throne of Badassery

Akira neatly summarises a lot of the clichés established in the west of Japanese Animation, in fact as one of the first anime features to be heavily exported to the states, it is largely responsible for these clichés (admittedly these are fading as anime becomes more widely popular). The piece tells the story of Neo-Tokyo, a city in the not-so-distant future, riddled with economic problems, where the youth are running free and violently. A group of these youths in a biker gang are quickly drawn into a government controlled mystery when one , Tetsuo, crashes into an escaped esper (psychic) and then quickly begins to develop abilities of his own. His best friend and gang leader Keneda launches a quest to save his friend, from the government and ultimately- from himself. All the while, the tale behind the mysterious titular Akira, begins to unfold, forming a tale that echoes many modern anxieties we have regarding the changing attitude and empowerment of young people as well as the control our governments have over us.

This totally isn't the kind of movie that
will scar you for life... 

The film has been masterfully directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, a veteran of Japanese Anime features. The score is incredible, utilising silence in such a stark way as to evoke the deep contemplation this movie begs of you.  The characters are what really make this film shine- they are rich and multi-layered. The dialog between them feels very real, despite the outlandish content. This is a movie that is going to require more then one viewing to be truly appreciated as there is simply too many facets to completely ingest in a single sitting.

Is it something you should be showing to an 11 year old? Probably not. This is a dark fantasy that is going to manifest some dark contemplation. That said, if you enjoy anime, science fiction or simply want to tick of another cult-classic from your list of films, Akira cannot be missed. 11 year old Alex came out of Akira feeling thoroughly confused, but 9 years later, but thirsting for more. I can say that this is one of the most fantastic anime films I have ever seen and is definitely responsible for my further journeys into eastern cinema.

Akira is available now on Blu-ray and DVD… go out and feast upon it.

Alex

Cyberpunk since 2003.

The Muppets (2012)

With the approaching American Summer film releases, I can feel the great buzz thats beginning to ripple through casual popcorn chewers and cinema die-hards. I know for one Thomas is anxiously vibrating in anticipation for Prometheus in early June. When January first rolled round, if you had asked me what movie I was most looking forward to I would have mimicked pulling a cape over my mouth and growled "Dark Knight.... Rises" (because I am cool like that).... but now I am not so sure if it will take the crown for best movie of this year. This may be a case of a frog devouring a bat.

Brushing your teeth, never looked this fun.

I decided to take two of my young family friends to the movies as an excuse for me to go and see Jason Segel's 'The Muppets'. Now, I am absolutely a sucker for a kid's movie, that much I will never argue against. I like to think that whilst I can appreciate and love movies of an artistic pedigree, I can also chill out for a night with a bit of old fashioned family fun. That said, I did not expect to love the muppets latest hijinks to the ridiculous degree that I did.  The opening segment had me, I was blasted into the mayhem, 5 minutes was all it took and I was not only entertained, but so so so emotionally invested. I don't think that the story particularly resonated with me, its themes are nothing special: but damn if you are a sucker for nostalgia this one is gonna knock you out in the first round. The humour is everything you would expect from Segel, but tailored to be family friendly.... at least for the most part.

The muppets are fantastic, but despite their homunculus construction, these creatures at no time feel heartless and despite their charicature design they in no way steal the show from the very human tale of Gary (Segel) and his muppet brother Walter (Peter Linz). Its a story that like I mentioned is nothing we haven't seen before, but it is one that rolls along nicely. Its one of those stories about brothers trying to find their own place in the world and independence all paralleling the story of the muppets trying to figure out if they have a place in a world that has evolved a long way since they first played the music and lit the lights.

And this movie kinda summarises what I want in any film or television show (and no it is not muppets [even though I genuinely believe there is not a single movie ever made that would not benefit from their presence {except Spanglish.... that movie is beyond salvation... not all the muppets in the world}]). It has a heart. Now that heart can happy and full of song like the muppets, it can be dark and brooding, sweet, sorrowful, angry, infatuated, dying or jolting between any combination of these... but it has to have that pulse. Now, I immediately understand having typed this how ridiculously pretentious and corny that sounds (but thats OK.... blogs are meant to be pretentious right?) and I know that this is something that cannot be gauged without having seen the movie... beginning to end. Each movie or item of pop culture needs to be assessed on a case by case basis, otherwise gems like the muppets can sadly slip under the radar.

'The Muppets' is available on Blu-ray and dvd on May 16th here in Australia, which incidentally is my birthday.... Here's looking at you Universe.

Alex

Life's a fillet of fish.... yes it is.

Introducing Alex!

Alexander Clark was born on a windy night atop Mount Irodotomous in the month of May. On that particular night the tranquil force of the winds and the kinetic energy of the magma beneath the volcano merged, their joint power now incarnate in a young child. Striving in everything he does, Alex has since lived up to his legend. In his travels he has studied and learned from wise elders and mythical beasts alike, forging an identity as a strong charismatic youth with the heart of a lion. With a tongue that could sweet talk a lass and build an empire in the same breathe, I stand to gain from his sage findings about the pop-cultural realm.

Alex leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the world of pop-culture. His knowledge and love of everything from mainstream live-action to obscure anime make him a driving force of this blog. Wielding a keen critical eye, he leaves plenty of room for admiration with creations of the cheesy and the sentimental. He, like myself, hopes to create a space with this blog where we can share our excitement for future and current projects whilst giving a personal and insightful look into the past and the areas of pop-culture that have inspired us. Alex is an awesome friend and I am glad to him on my side as we pit ourselves against the online world. 

Tom

Apparently it's forbidden to transport perishables between universes.

Introducing Thomas!

When Thomas and I recently began discussing how we were going to start this blog we concluded that it was important to begin with something of an introduction... The problem was we both found it a very strange exercise to try and write about ourselves and rather then attempt self-introduction (which would perhaps break the narcissistic chain and create a ethereal state of self-awareness) we decided it was best to introduce each other.

 So... Thomas was labelled Woman's Day's Sexiest Bearded Man in 2009 and 2010, declining from entry in the years since to focus on other priorities. As a co host he makes me extremely aware of my distinct inability to grow facial hair of any variety. I have seen him fight a bear with his bare hands although he relinquished victory when he discovered the bear was having a bad day and probably needed a morale boost. Thomas has been known to lurk in tall grass in search of wild Pokemon and at this very moment he has informed me he is sniffing a fresh footbag..... Awesome. 

Thomas has an affinity for pop-culture in its many forms and due to his fairly relaxed, meditative nature often forms very interesting and compelling conclusions. Thomas is zen when I am chaos which makes for an awesome dynamic and i know he and myself are both looking to share are ideas and see what others think of our exploration of popular culture! Thomas is pretty cool, I am glad to be his friend and co-host.

Alex

This could be the end of life as we know it...