Election day and other plans

Well its a sunny morning in New Zealand and the start of a big day. Today the country goes to the polling boothes as Election day has arrived. To be honest its been a lacklustre campain and pundits are predicting an obvious outcome. I await this evenings results with subdued interest just to see if their predictions for a National outright win come to fruition.

My cinema going was curtailed last week due to the arrival of Twilight. I cannot understand the poplularity of this series. I have tried to watch it but without success. Its one film series that has passed me by. Instead I caught up with my sky plus recordings and watched a blu ray I purchased from our local Wellington JB Hifi bargain bin. Flash Gordon in alls its garish glory. Time might not have been kind to this blast from the past, but with its pounding Queen Soundtrack, weak dated special effects and another outstanding Brian Blessed performance I was once more in hog heavon. This film plays like a pantomime and though a good presentation on blu ray, I was a little put out by the lack of extras as I am sure there is an interesting behind the scenes story to be told about the making of this film.

But normal service will be resumed today myself and the Mrs, are going to experience the new Titan Xtreme cinema screen at Wellington's Courtney central. It promises to be a bigger, louder movie going experience so I will be seeing if the Hype matches my expectaitions. Were going to see the Immortals so hopefully it will be a good trip and my thoughts will follow later today, or early tomorrow.

The Thing 2011

Theres no real need to go into the story, for the first 40 minutes goodwill is intact, this is a prequel to the John Carpenter body horrer and by exploring the Norwegians backstory this film  aims to play smart and fast. Unfortunately thats what this film aims for and so badly misses.
   First the good,Joel Eggerton and Elizabeth WInstead are believable and credible in their roles. Eggerton however is criminally underused and his character poorly sketched out. At first he seems background fodder, then in one major scene we are left hanging concerning his fate. Nothing is spelled out in this film and its biggest failing in comparison with the original it so wants to ape is that the characters are Thing Fodder and as such have little emotional pull for us the viewer. This film just doesnt deliver anything new or exciting, the potential is there, but what you are really served up is The Thing as a remake, all the beats are the same, but with CGI twists which only highlight how great a job Rob Bottin did in the original, this film doesnt best them.
    Matthis Van Heijnigen directs competantly and I just cant believe how much of a miss this film is. I sat alone in the theatre wanting to jump, but this just comes accross like a hollow cinematic carbon copy of the original with variations enough to claim some orginiality but lacking in tension, gross out effects and logic for the creature. Compared to Carpenters original where the creature was underhand and manipulative this incarnation is dumb and stupid.
   I don't know if this failure is down to studio intereferance, poor directorial choices or a lack of vision. But this film dispoints on all levels and once again proves that CGI is not always the answer when it comes to horror effects. Save your money, and if you want the genuine article then John Carpenters version is still the king.