Posted by
Martyn Drake – April 17, 2009
Now, I'm all for respecting copyright (but damn it – we need clearer fair-use rights here in the UK). But one thing that drives me around the bend and smacks of distrust is the major film and record labels use of DRM in their products (DVD, Blu-Ray, etc). Nothing says "We don't trust you" more than DRM.
Now, it's a GOOD thing that record labels are moving away from propritary DRM on services such as iTunes, but the movie companies are still clearly nervous about it. DRM has prevented film producers themselves watching their own movies on certain services because they're Mac users, and the content has been protected with Windows Media.
I'm about to enter the world of Blu-Ray thanks to a work laptop.
From what I've been reading, there have been many changes to firmware, specifications and such to thwart pirates. The inconvenience comes to the consumer who has to keep applying the updates, the software and everything else to please the film studios just so that you can watch a film. Quite frankly, it's bloody outrageous.
Posted by
Martyn Drake – April 15, 2009
I'll admit it. I'm addicted to thinking up stupid/silly movie titles on Twitter. Here are some of mine over the past 24 hours:
The Princess Bridge
Once Were Pancakes
Jacob Marley & Me
Bob Marley & Me
Armageddon 2: Armageddon Outta Here
Dell Boy 2: Windows' Barmy
Pan's Pipes Labyrinth
The Seven Taxmen
Sleepless in Canvey Island
The Sound of Muzak
Gorillas on the Piss
Gorillas on the Piste
The Dead Victoria
Dragonball ZZZZzzzZZZzzzzzZZzzzzzzz
Laura Ashley in Loom Raider: The Knitting Cradle of Wife
The Carrie Fisher King
Very Noisy Movie
The Cannonball Fast-Walk
Booger Nights
The Ocarina
A Lion Versus Predator
Airlines Versus Predator
The 27p Opera
Scumbag Thousandaire
Dr. Who and the Taka Dal Invasion of Eartha Kitt
Heterosexual Vampire Killers
Genetically Modified Chicken Run
M. Night Shyamalan's The Butler Did It (and He Was Really Dead)
Terminator 6: Blue Screen of Death
Terminator 5: Segmentation Fault
Bicentennial Pigeon
The Perfect Snow-Globe
The Nut-Allerg-Y Professor
E.T – the Extra Taramasalata
Herbie Goes Hybrid
Mr. Magorium's Fudgepacker Emporium
Other people's suggestions can be found here.
Posted by
Martyn Drake – April 12, 2009
Planet of the Dead was okay-ish, but what really stood out for me was the badly modelled CG bus that looked dreadful when you put it against real backdrops.
I expected the Mill to produce higher quality modeling than that even on their budget and time constraints. It made Thomas the Tank Engine seem real in comparison.
Hell, even the visual effects of the new Red Dwarf: Back to Earth "mini-series" is better – with better quality visual effects provided mainly by volunteers, and on a budget far less, I'm sure, than Planet of the Dead.
Is the BBC beginning to get a bit stale?
It didn't help that the script was pretty flat to boot.
I'm also getting a bit fed up of Doctor Who's campy monsters and the silly masks from Neil Gorton and his team, whom I know can do better work than that. It's getting back to the Space Precinct days. Why can we, the British, not afford quality science fiction drama like the Americans and Canadians produce? We do have the money to do it, I'm sure, but why aren't we commissioning decent home-made stuff?
Look, I know Doctor Who is technically a kids show (but then again, what would you call the Sarah Jane Adventures – a show for toddlers?). However, it'd just be nice to have a proper mainstream sci-fi show just for adults. I don't particularly think Torchwood can be considered that. It still gets too campy at times.
Posted by
Martyn Drake – April 12, 2009
The Good
The show looks great having been shot on Red One digital cameras. Makes a massive difference even in standard definition. Hope they bring this out on Blu-Ray and even consider showing it at special cinema screenings to take advantage that they shot this in 4k resolution.
Everybody's back in character, just like the old times. Honestly, it doesn't feel as though they've ever been away for over a decade. Good to have the Boys from the Dwarf back.
The visual effects. From what I gather, the VFX guys pretty much did this for free (or at least, for very little money), and yet the quality is very good indeed – it more than serves the purpose.
The Bad
Plot line feels very similar to the film version of the League of Gentlemen: Appocolypse, in which the characters from the show become self-aware that they are fictional characters and attempt to seek their creators.
Each episode is far too short for a commercial TV station, with abrubt endings after the first two parts, and commercial break getting in the way of allowing the plot to flow along.
It feels like one long, very expensive advert for the TV channel: Dave. There's multiple references to Dave (owned by UKTV) in the story. The fact one is watching this on Dave makes it somewhat redundant mentioning it. If you'd buying the DVDs, why do you want to pay for a glorified commercial?
The Budget
For what they've achieved on a low budget – to produce 90 minutes of filmatic sci-fi comedy/drama is most excellent. Plot issues aside, this I think, should be considered a great success and hope that it leads on to a proper TV series (or film, or mini-series) with a larger budget. Imagine what they could do *then*!
