Just seen this a few minutes a go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec8kG0gti9Y
Been quite looking forward to the Christmas special, but surprised to find out that this Titanic is a spaceship.
Futurama has done this before and I read that Douglas Adams (creator of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has done it before then).
Despite that, the ship still looks good (like something out of Star Trek.
But with this, and Torchwood getting castrated, AND the return of Billie Piper next year as Rose Tyler, it seems the new Doctor Who may be going down hill a bit.
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Prince Caspian Trailer
Blooming 'eck, the next Narnia looks rather good! It looks better than the OK first one (though Caspian seems a bit wet).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqzYukVDqy4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqzYukVDqy4
Captain Jack Gets Castrated
The next series of Torchwood will be shown in two versions.
One will be the uncut adult version; and the other will be edited to make it "suitable" for family viewing.
Doesn't this destroy the whole point of Torchwood?
If kids want to watch it, just watch the [rather good] Sarah Jane Adventures (a former Doctor Who companion leads a bunch of young people in investigating alien activity).
One will be the uncut adult version; and the other will be edited to make it "suitable" for family viewing.
Doesn't this destroy the whole point of Torchwood?
If kids want to watch it, just watch the [rather good] Sarah Jane Adventures (a former Doctor Who companion leads a bunch of young people in investigating alien activity).
Sunday, 25 November 2007
David and Goliath: The Movie
Today, it looks like I will be making a low-budget movie of David and Goliath with my Church youth group.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Job at Blockbusters
I probably should've put this up a couple of weeks ago, but I now have a gap year job at my local Blockbuster Video.
Thursday, 6 September 2007
"Christian Films" and Fearless Faith
There has recently been talk on film-related Christian webpages regarding so-called "Christian films". From what I can gather, these kinds of films (the more Hollywood kind, not the indie-like evangelistic films) are films that have "Christian values" and are made to be more "clean" and "wholesome" etc. I haven't seen many of these films, except Amazing Grace, which contained the odd use of the word "bloody", but I didn't hear complaints and when I read about this kind of thing on the Internet, most if not all of the complaining about content and values etc. come from American websites.
That is not to say I am anti-American, certainly not. I am in support of the Christians who are willing to look at films as art and base their opinions on the artistry rather than how "clean" they are.
Today, I received a book I ordered written by John Fischer and called Fearless Faith, which discusses the "safe Christian subculture" and how we are not to live in that way. I think this should be the way forward and I intend to read this book and see how I can apply the ideas to how to be a Christian in the real world.
That is not to say I am anti-American, certainly not. I am in support of the Christians who are willing to look at films as art and base their opinions on the artistry rather than how "clean" they are.
Today, I received a book I ordered written by John Fischer and called Fearless Faith, which discusses the "safe Christian subculture" and how we are not to live in that way. I think this should be the way forward and I intend to read this book and see how I can apply the ideas to how to be a Christian in the real world.
Monday, 9 July 2007
Doctor Who: Series 3 Overview
Well, it's been over a week since another new Doctor Who series concluded (they seem to pass quite quickly now!). Having seen each episode at least once, here is a brief overview and general opinion (though I hope to go into more detailed analysis later).
Having had his friendship with Rose Tyler cut off by parallel worlds, a less-hyper Doctor meets more mature and accomplished Medical student Martha Jones and so starts a new "era" in the new series. Like the previous two series, little clues have gradually built up to a climatic finale. But whereas Series One felt new and Series Two had a set format with a good structure of episodes that fitted the time of the year it was broadcast, Series Three seemed a bit more confused in its structuring and the tone was darker (during the period of Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks one of my friends said it was getting a bit boring).
Interestingly, due to a week's break, it felt like the series were set to two halves (the "Coming Up" trailer showed an exciting group of episodes).
Despite a structure of varying types of episodes, a lot of them have been very good and have dealt with interesting themes.
The Shakespeare Code looked at the power of words and brought up the subject of science vs. the supernatural.
42 shows show the female captain is willing to try an save her sun-possessed husband (marital faithfulness?)
And then of course, the mid-series two-parter Human Nature/The Family of Blood (perhaps a new Classic?) has the Doctor becoming human (a story that writer Paul Cornell said on Doctor Who: Confidential has being in stories like Superman II and the life of Christ). This particular story has moving and had amazing performances from everyone.
I should also mention Blink, a brilliantly original "Doctor-lite" episode which was indeed scary.
And then of course, there was the finale, which turned out to be of three episodes. I thought Utopia would be a pre-finale episode in which the Doctor saves the human race at the end of the universe. But then Derek Jacobi took a Time Lord fob watch out of his pocket and we have a heart-pounding last few minutes in which we find out what the Face of Boe's "You are not alone" meant (which I had nearly forgotten). There had been rumours that at the end, Derek Jacobi would regenerate into John Simm as the Master, and the hints were certainly there early on (the Sound of Drums, the Professor's face on seeing the TARDIS). But what a performance from Derek. From a nice old man to a transformation into his five minutes as the Doctor's arch enemy (helped by another fantasticly exciting music from Murray Gold).
And then there was the regeneration - into John Simm, who had been announced as playing Prime Minister Harold Saxon, a name that was first discreetly hidden in Series Two (a newspaper heading) but I first noticed in Torchwood and I guessed would be the new "arc word". I was able to watch John as the Master and not think of him as being from Life on Mars.
I'll finish this article later...
Having had his friendship with Rose Tyler cut off by parallel worlds, a less-hyper Doctor meets more mature and accomplished Medical student Martha Jones and so starts a new "era" in the new series. Like the previous two series, little clues have gradually built up to a climatic finale. But whereas Series One felt new and Series Two had a set format with a good structure of episodes that fitted the time of the year it was broadcast, Series Three seemed a bit more confused in its structuring and the tone was darker (during the period of Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks one of my friends said it was getting a bit boring).
Interestingly, due to a week's break, it felt like the series were set to two halves (the "Coming Up" trailer showed an exciting group of episodes).
Despite a structure of varying types of episodes, a lot of them have been very good and have dealt with interesting themes.
The Shakespeare Code looked at the power of words and brought up the subject of science vs. the supernatural.
42 shows show the female captain is willing to try an save her sun-possessed husband (marital faithfulness?)
And then of course, the mid-series two-parter Human Nature/The Family of Blood (perhaps a new Classic?) has the Doctor becoming human (a story that writer Paul Cornell said on Doctor Who: Confidential has being in stories like Superman II and the life of Christ). This particular story has moving and had amazing performances from everyone.
I should also mention Blink, a brilliantly original "Doctor-lite" episode which was indeed scary.
And then of course, there was the finale, which turned out to be of three episodes. I thought Utopia would be a pre-finale episode in which the Doctor saves the human race at the end of the universe. But then Derek Jacobi took a Time Lord fob watch out of his pocket and we have a heart-pounding last few minutes in which we find out what the Face of Boe's "You are not alone" meant (which I had nearly forgotten). There had been rumours that at the end, Derek Jacobi would regenerate into John Simm as the Master, and the hints were certainly there early on (the Sound of Drums, the Professor's face on seeing the TARDIS). But what a performance from Derek. From a nice old man to a transformation into his five minutes as the Doctor's arch enemy (helped by another fantasticly exciting music from Murray Gold).
And then there was the regeneration - into John Simm, who had been announced as playing Prime Minister Harold Saxon, a name that was first discreetly hidden in Series Two (a newspaper heading) but I first noticed in Torchwood and I guessed would be the new "arc word". I was able to watch John as the Master and not think of him as being from Life on Mars.
I'll finish this article later...
Finished college.
I have now finished my two-year Media course and am entering into a gap year before doing a three-year Film Studies course at University. It's been a great two years and I may miss going to college.
To celebrate the two years, my friend and fellow Media student Joe O' Keeffe made this video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1urbnLbDrpQ
To celebrate the two years, my friend and fellow Media student Joe O' Keeffe made this video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1urbnLbDrpQ
Saturday, 16 June 2007
Amazing Grace
Yesterday, I was able to see Amazing Grace at my local cinema. It's one of those films Christians promote to the friends etc. though perhaps not in the same way as The Passion of the Christ or The Chronicles of Narnia.
I think it is certainly well-filmed (the detail is rather excellent) with more than reasonable performances. But as with most films, there is a flaw or two in it. It wasn't until the film was finished that I realised that there was a lack of depicting the slave trade concerned in the film.
We only get a glimpse of it, with at least only two Africans seen on screen, while African boys are shown in a dream that William Wilberforce has. It would have been nice to at least have seen WHAT was being abolished rather than talkingabout it. There are references to the cruelties but instead of seeing slaves being abused, we see a fallen horse being whipped. I would have settled for seeing how slaves were treated in London without it being gratuitous.
It is essentially a slave trade movie without the slaves. Now, Quentin Tarantino described his film Reservoir Dogs as "a heist movie without the heist", but that film was good in how the heist concerned wasn't important in the plot, but the characters involved and what happened after it all went wrong. The Passion of the Christ is another example, focusing on Jesus' suffering and death, with a few flashbacks to earlier in his life and hinted at the Biblical epic that could of been. This could justify the critics' view that the film was mainly preaching to the converted. It would have been interesting to see why this man was being tortured to death.
Getting back to Amazing Grace, it is faithful to William's Christian faith and I was surprised at the subtle line from a character "I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Saviour." though some may take it as propaganda.
I think it is certainly well-filmed (the detail is rather excellent) with more than reasonable performances. But as with most films, there is a flaw or two in it. It wasn't until the film was finished that I realised that there was a lack of depicting the slave trade concerned in the film.
We only get a glimpse of it, with at least only two Africans seen on screen, while African boys are shown in a dream that William Wilberforce has. It would have been nice to at least have seen WHAT was being abolished rather than talkingabout it. There are references to the cruelties but instead of seeing slaves being abused, we see a fallen horse being whipped. I would have settled for seeing how slaves were treated in London without it being gratuitous.
It is essentially a slave trade movie without the slaves. Now, Quentin Tarantino described his film Reservoir Dogs as "a heist movie without the heist", but that film was good in how the heist concerned wasn't important in the plot, but the characters involved and what happened after it all went wrong. The Passion of the Christ is another example, focusing on Jesus' suffering and death, with a few flashbacks to earlier in his life and hinted at the Biblical epic that could of been. This could justify the critics' view that the film was mainly preaching to the converted. It would have been interesting to see why this man was being tortured to death.
Getting back to Amazing Grace, it is faithful to William's Christian faith and I was surprised at the subtle line from a character "I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Saviour." though some may take it as propaganda.
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
United 300
I am not normally one to complain about "offensive" material in the Media, but it is interesting to see that the recent MTV Movie Awards awarded the new "Spoof Award" to United 300, effectively a spoof of the claustophobic docu-drama United 93, which reconstructs the 9/11 events on Flight 93, and the comic book epic300.
I have watched the short film on YouTube now and the plot is essentially the same as both films but involves German hi-jackers as opposed to the original terrorists. I admit the low-budget send-up of 300 was creative, with the costumes and the near spot-on impersonation of Gerard Butler. But one would wonder if this film is an insult to those who died on 9/11.
One could adapt the claim against Monty Python's Life of Brian and say that if 9/11 didn't happen then this film couldn't have been made - at least in the way it was.
Then again I included actual footage of 9/11 in my college music video of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".
I have watched the short film on YouTube now and the plot is essentially the same as both films but involves German hi-jackers as opposed to the original terrorists. I admit the low-budget send-up of 300 was creative, with the costumes and the near spot-on impersonation of Gerard Butler. But one would wonder if this film is an insult to those who died on 9/11.
One could adapt the claim against Monty Python's Life of Brian and say that if 9/11 didn't happen then this film couldn't have been made - at least in the way it was.
Then again I included actual footage of 9/11 in my college music video of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".
College Final Major Project
I finally got my FMP completely edited and mastered today. It is a ten minute factual programme on the Church's past clashes with cinema (Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ etc.). All I have to do now is finish the paperwork.
Sunday, 3 June 2007
Citizen Kane
Today, I finally watched the film that is hailed is [one of] the greatest films of all time. And who am I to argue with that? The techniques used to film Citizen Kane were new back then, so I've heard. The angles, lighting, montages, narrative structure (interviews followed by long flashbacks that make up the film) are excellent, though shouldn't be done too much in filmmaking otherwise a film would be remembered more for how a story is told rather than the story itself.
I was slightly mistified by the final revelation but overall a great piece of filmmaking. And THAT performance by Orson Welles! I knew very little of him before seeing this.
I was slightly mistified by the final revelation but overall a great piece of filmmaking. And THAT performance by Orson Welles! I knew very little of him before seeing this.
Saturday, 2 June 2007
The Family of Blood
Watched "Part Two" of the latest new Doctor Who adventure that began with Human Nature. This is perhaps one of the best new stories so far and perhaps an all-time classic. Performances were excellent and the ending was especially rather moving.
In last week's Doctor Who: Confidential writer Paul Cornell compared the story to past ones such as Superman II (in which the Man of Steel gives up his powers to be with Lois Lane) and the story of Christ. As in THE story? He could be referring to how Jesus as the Son of God gave up his place in Heaven to come and live on Earth as a human being (albeit with his divinity).
But watching this episode, I was reminded of the controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ in which Jesus is tempted (in a vision by Satan) to be completely human and live a normal life with marriage and children. I refer to the scene in the episode where "John Smith" and matron Joan envision a possible marriage, children, and John dying an old man. All this takes place in "The Last Temptation". But in both cases, the characters give up this possibility to face their destiny as saviours - Christ dies on the cross as a sacrifice; John Smith becomes the Doctor (again).
In last week's Doctor Who: Confidential writer Paul Cornell compared the story to past ones such as Superman II (in which the Man of Steel gives up his powers to be with Lois Lane) and the story of Christ. As in THE story? He could be referring to how Jesus as the Son of God gave up his place in Heaven to come and live on Earth as a human being (albeit with his divinity).
But watching this episode, I was reminded of the controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ in which Jesus is tempted (in a vision by Satan) to be completely human and live a normal life with marriage and children. I refer to the scene in the episode where "John Smith" and matron Joan envision a possible marriage, children, and John dying an old man. All this takes place in "The Last Temptation". But in both cases, the characters give up this possibility to face their destiny as saviours - Christ dies on the cross as a sacrifice; John Smith becomes the Doctor (again).
Children's TV On Trial
Anyone been watching the "Children's TV on Trial" season on BBC Four? The key feature has been the five part series looking at kid's TV from the 1950s to now. How things have changed!
We have gone from one channel to hundreds, black and white to multicolour, formal to as informal as you can get, puppets to CGI, taste and decency to well... things that may appear to be "indescent" but deal with important issues. From patronising kids to over-patronisation (e.g. Cbeebies).
I just hope they make more programmes like the older ones though some of the new stuff looks interesting, such as In the Night Garden from the creators of Teletubbies.
We have gone from one channel to hundreds, black and white to multicolour, formal to as informal as you can get, puppets to CGI, taste and decency to well... things that may appear to be "indescent" but deal with important issues. From patronising kids to over-patronisation (e.g. Cbeebies).
I just hope they make more programmes like the older ones though some of the new stuff looks interesting, such as In the Night Garden from the creators of Teletubbies.
Powerpoint for presentation
Well, I have at least a day to finish my powerpoint presentation which I started yesterday, but I have my notes and stuff to do it.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Media Assignment: Representation
For over half-term we have had to make a powerpoint presentation on "Representation" and choose one of three options. So I chose Youth, with examples of a film, TV shows and a magazine. We are to look at the issues and ethics surrounding how each part of the media represents our chosen subject.
First Day
Well, here I am on my first day at blogspot! I can express my views and opinions on different topics and I am open to debate.
Regards,
Joe
Regards,
Joe
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