THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

I don't know about 10/10 but I thought it was great.
A nice, very nice late afternoon out.
Apart from me and Mrs Ramone only 7 people in the cinema.
Also we had all the 'weird stuff on the walls to the sides' - what will they think of next eh precious?

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Been to the cinema over the bank holiday weekend to see 2 films which absolutely fulfilled the cinema experience:

Jaws imax 3d:

I havent seen this movie in so long it was like watching it for the first time again, a year is usually sufficient to have this effect for me aside from a couple of movies that i could recite word for word scene for scene.

Well this was truly a glorious experience. There were moments you felt like you could reach out and touch the water less than an arms length away. There were scenes the bowsprit was figuratively passing by getting closer to your face as the boat turned on a semi circle. And the absolute creme de la creme was that scene where something very loudly and abruptly rolls into your path (thise that know know) no matter how many times youve seen the film this moment in 3d with the booming surround sound will make you gasp, me and my girlfriend jumped out of our skin.

Overall this truly was a magical experience filled with nostalgia as well as a fresh look in 3d that really did spoil us. Well worth going to the cinema to see in all its glory in 3d now its had that imax re release.

Top gun maverick:

Filthy has said everything i wanted to say about this. The original was a classic but very cheesy and doesnt exactly hold up in todays generation, my partner having never seen it before didnt get it like we that hold it with nostalgia. Id say for todays generation and any first time viewers under 25 it doesnt hold up well.

Fast forward to the follow up and seldom does a reboot nail the landing in the way maverick has, excuse the pun. It truly delivered everything, nostalgia, nod to the original, a story that holds up on its own, gripping, emotional, viewers invested in the characters and the action sequences, camera work and sound on the big screen truly are a generational leap forward. For me putting the nostalgia aside this follow up movie surpasses the original in every way purely on a cinematic experience. The action is much, much more engaging and breathtaking and the acting is far less cringy and much more tolerable for a first time viewer.

Overall id say top gun maverick rightfully will go fown as the benchmark for blockbuster cinema for the early 2020’s. Not been a film this visually impactful in a long time with the modern releases. It should go down as a classic and the true benchmark of cinema much like avatar did when it was released with it being visually a generational leap forward. For me this top gun movie is both visually, audibly and emotionally superior to anything considered a hollywood blockbuster a la fast and the furious in some time!

Both films for me delivered in different ways but arguably both are the highlight of my cinematic experience this year. Both set the bench mark in different ways. Next up avatar in imax 3d saturday and sdvanced screening of the latest horror blockbuster “smile” monday.

Watched this last night. Can't disagree with any of this. I like Leto, think he's a fine actor. He was good in this. Matt Smith was as good as he ever is, which seems to be good at playing Matt Smith. But the always wonderful Jared Harris was woefully underused.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Elvis

I just wrote a long (and, in my view, high quality) review of the latest Baz Luhrmann film. But the forum's server logged me out and ditched the entire draft. Fuck sake.

I'm so pissed off, I can't be bothered trying to recreate it. I'll just say it's a fantastic film, with a wonderful lead performance.

9.5/10

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Returned it to sender as it were.
That's heartbreaking.
You weren't away from home and staying in a hotel were you?

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Steady on Ali, you really are a Devil in disguise

Got to agree, Elvis is one of (if not) the cinema highlight of the year so far for me. I was a little hesitant in advance at the run time but once the lights went down this was one of those films that just seemed to slide effortlessly by, and suddenly finished leaving me wanting more

As you would image it's intensely visual with a sumptuous set design that spares no expense. Interestingly told in part flashback from Colonel Parker's perspective it allows the plot to move swiftly trough the various stages of the King's career without feeling too stodgy and chronological. It's wonderfully edited and has a real zip to it, but at the same time moves slowly enough to capture the angst, loss and exploitation experienced by pretty much all of the main characters. Highly visual, highly musical, high energy stuff

This was significant challenge to take on, but full credit to Baz Lurhmann and team this really does deliver in pretty much all areas

At the time and with a pause for reflection I'm still going for a 10 out of 10



(Geek note - Austin Butler is currently filing as Feyd-Rautha in Dune Part two - can't wait for that! )

Dogtown and Z-Boys

A 2001 documentary about the legendary mid-70’s Zephyr skateboard team from Santa Monica, A.K.A. Dogtown.

I absolutely loved these guys. Adored them. In fact one of my all time heroes is still Tony Alva. He was cool then, and at 65 he still is, and he’s still skating. They were extraordinary. Their whole ethos was a dedication to style, which this movie (directed by original Z-boy turned filmmaker, Stacy Peralta) hammers home time after time. They looked amazing, taking their cues from the surfing style of Larry Bertelmann. Bertelmann had a style that focused on a low center of gravity. Constantly crouched low on his board, while touching the wave. Look at any picture of the Z-boys and they all have one hand on the asphalt. It looks amazing.

The undisputed poster boy of the group was Jay Adams. When sponsorship started arriving, and the team inevitably broke up, he steadfastly refused to have any interest in money, and just wanted to skate. The others all followed the money, with Peralta going on to make stupid amounts. Alva went down another route by forming his own company, Alva Skates. Which is still a going concern to this day. Adams continued to skate. Got into drugs, and in his own words "Just partied". When this was filmed he was in prison for drug offenses, and has substantially died of a heart attack back in 2014. He was a beautiful young guy, but looking at him in this shows a body ravished by drugs.

I loved skating. Indeed I continued well into my 40's. Watching Alva carve an empty swimming pool is still one of life's joys for me to this day.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

This is odd. The exact same thing happened to me this morning. Watched it, wrote a review, and instead of copying and pasting I deleted it. I'll do another when I have the time.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Elvis

It’s good. It’s really good. I’m not normally a fan of Lurmann. I find his hyper-saturated pallet somewhat of an acquired taste. One that I haven’t acquired. Likewise the bursting into song is intensely annoying. There’s none of that here. It’s actually a really good biopic.

Starring the astonishingly beautiful Austin Butler (what you wouldn’t give for lips like that) as our titular hero, and Tom Hanks as the villainous Colonel Tom Parker. Ably supported by an outstanding cast. Especially Richard Roxburgh as Vernon Presley. He’s a great actor.

The opening scene where a young Elvis sends the audience wild is something to be seen. We all remember fat Elvis, squashed into a rhinestone encrusted jumpsuit. Most of us forget the beautiful young Elvis. Clad in a pink baggy suit, he takes the stage and sends the female members of the aforementioned audience into rapture. It’s beautifully shot. The reaction of the girls is almost as good as watching Elvis himself.

Obviously the music is fantastic. The ‘69 comeback special the highlight. I read a biography of Elvis years ago. The story of how this came about tells you everything you need to know about Presley and Parker’s relationship. Continually told by The Colonel that he was the most famous face on the planet, he found himself trapped in an ever decreasing circle of appalling movies. Wishing to break that circle, he contacted a pair of high profile television producers with the view of following in the footsteps of The Stones, who had become the most famous band in the world. In the book one of the producers basically tells him that he’s a has-been, and takes him on the street where everyone walks right past without casting a second glance. The scene set in the Hollywood hills where he’s told that his career is in the toilet serving a similar purpose. There’s a wonderful scene where he tells his band how he’d like them to play on his debut Vegas show. It’s outstanding. Going around each member, telling them what to play is brilliant. You actually forget that above everything else, he was a fantastic musician.

It’s basically the tale of a man caught in a trap, pun intended. Elvis gradually comes to realize that far from having his best interests at heart, Parker is actually bleeding him dry. Hanks is an outstanding actor. The finest of his generation. The scene where a wasted Presley fires him from the stage, before coming to the horrific conclusion that without the old huxter he’s actually broke is genuinely shocking. We all know what happened to the old fraud after The King’s untimely death, and Hanks excels himself in these scenes. Both him and Butler are fantastic in this.

It’s not to be missed.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
This is as much a love letter to Chadwick Boseman as it was a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. A story built through grief of losing the actor and I thought that loss was handled really well in the story too with how the character's death motivated and affected those in the film.

The actual plot is the sort of thing I like as well. Two powerful, secretive nations coming to blows over similar but still differing ideologies. Namor and Talokan (Atlantis) is a character and plotline I've wanted for a while and I thought they were handled pretty nicely, but for all the action, the best parts for me were the emotional beats. I don't like Letitia Wright's stance on Covid and vaccines, but she can certainly act. Angela Bassett meanwhile stole the show with her role as Queen Ramonda and deserves some kind of award recognition.

The first film was possibly better, but this one was very good too.

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Those that we love never truly leave us. There are things that death cannot touch. Paint... and memory... and love.