Well another year has gone and a new one is upon us. I looked into my cinema ticket archive from the last year. It proved interesting reading (well at least to me).

I only saw 11 films at the cinema this year, and 2 of those were the same film

Defiance
Slumdog Millionare
Watchmen
Star Trek
Star Trek IMAX
Harry Potter 6
Moon
Surrogates
Up
An Education
2012

Of those I think I only really loved 4 of them and some I didnt like at all. Some months I saw 2 films others none.

The point of this? Absolutely none whatsoever

Anyway for the new year? Well Ive just seen Avatar in 3D. Very good but made me feel very sad for some reason.
And for myself? A job would be nice, a continuing growth in my relationship with my girlfriend (whom Im quite enamoured with as it is! ), and oo something even more adventurous !!

This is a small experiment to see if there is much demand for this. Ive compiled a DVD of some of my best footage and am selling it on eBay. At £10 this is an absolute bargain as most stock footage I’ve seen costs £80 for just 30 seconds. Here you get 22 clips, most over 30 seconds.

More information is available here :  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230084387202&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:UK:31

Just been to see the new Bond film (yeah I know, a little behind the world). Although I appreciate the change of direction (new Bond actor, prequel style story) I found it irritating and boring. Not so much in terms of lack of gadgets or explosions, but more in terms of how it was all presented.

 The pacing of the film was pretty poor and reminded me of Star Wars Episode I, in that it starts out well then nosedives soon after. It promised so much in the opening 30 mins and had lots of good story angles… then dives out and we are treated to late night Channel 5 style poker game watching, possibly one of the dullest games to watch. It seems the director could sense this would be a dull part so we are treated to random acts of violence to break it up which add a little to the story but not a great deal. So much more could have been made of the initial action scene, but it was wasted which is a great shame.

 The overall story while plausable was sadly very unBond like. The trouble is that Bond films have a niche in that no one expects to have to think too hard and expects certain plot elements (a decent nemesis, a grand finale etc). While this effort has its points in terms of storyline I found it all too predictable. This wouldn’t have been bad if it was the average Bond film where you are expected to find it predictable, but this tries to hide behind a “We’ve got a good plot line and twist you’ll not get” facade, which doesnt work and is painful in places.

I can see what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to get to Bonds roots, to explain how he became how he is, however it is done in a bit of a clumsy way and does much to alienate the fans, reminiscent of TV execs trying to find the “new audience” in Sci Fi series.. and just pissing off the fans and missing any new viewers as well. It feels ham fisted. A brave attempt but missed the mark somehow. It was a close thing tho.

I quite liked the last Bond. I even have it on DVD. The trouble with this new one is… its just not Bond. Its trying to be a bit Bourne Identity but becoming more a Bond Indentity Crisis! Actor wise I cant fault Daniel Craig as his performance is very good. Its just a pity the story sucked so much. I hope to see a marked improvement on the next one.

Spotted an odd thing today. Was out walking with Hannah (my ex from a year ago who was up visiting) in Black Park which is near Slough (A421) and we spotted various barriered places in the park with signs saying something like “Set for Red Lion Films”. We walked on and found large stretches of plastic road used to allow a large number of vehicles to and fro without turning the ground into a quagmire.

Further into the park we saw a large train carrage on one of the paths with the effects of a steam engine coming from around it. As we made our way round (as it appeared to be surrounded by a fence) we saw that they had built some kind of station in the middle of the woods. Very bizarre. I couldnt tell you what the film was or the genre (although if it had a steam engine in the woods it limits the time frame to around 1880- 1950)

A further search on the internet has produced very few results especially for this Red Lion Films company. There is an entry in Company House stating its housed in London, in Warner house, and interestingly there were signs all over the park saying things like “W.B. Loc” or “W.B. plant” thus leading me to think it may be tied with Warner Bros. However this is a bit bizarre as why would a major studio try to film in a park thats heavily used by the public, when they could set up somewhere more remote and not be bothered? Another interesting point is that the park is situated right next to Pinewood Studios.

Anyway back to Red Lion Films. The only reference I can find of any previous work seems to be a film called Lisa which was made in 1962. I have also found reference to a Red Lion Films linked to 20th Century Fox back in the 60s as well as the name of the film unit for the University of Tasmania!

If anyone has any info I’d be interested to know what was being filmed and why on earth it was being filmed there of all places.

Went to see V for Vendetta last night. It was .. ok. Good in places but I left the cinema thinking it was missing something. It had some good dialogue and the setting was interesting. After thinking about it I think it needed more background. More about what was happening to the country as a result of a totalitarian government. More about the world. It felt… almost claustraphobic in a way. Hugo Weaving was his usual Agent Smith self with a nice Brit accent (not bad for an Aussie). Natalie Portman was a little ropey tho. Her accent kept faltering, detracting from the narrative and her emotional portrayal was a little weak at times. This was mostly shown up by the worst part of the script [SPOILER] where she comes out of “prison” where she’d been for x weeks/months only to be slightly pissed off with V then letting it all go. A bit hard to believe I felt. [/SPOILER]

 However it was worth seeing and I like the style but its possibly one I will miss when it comes to DVD.

I liked the masks tho