Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Karate Kid (2010)

Kesuke MiyagiImage via Wikipedia
Morita immortalised the part of the wise, old Asian mentor, and Ralph Macchio, though prone to overacting a bit in places, was endearing and convincing as an awkward out-of-favour kid with issues (single mom, new city, etc).

Add to that John G. Avildsen's talents for emotive framing and that training montage, and you have a movie that's practically cinema's gift to Saturday afternoon TV.

The Karate Kid 2010, on the other hand, is at the outset a commercial enterprise, hoping to cash in on an audience that's likely never seen the original. For them, the movie will work well enough, even at a surprisingly generous running time of 131 minutes.

But for those of us who saw the original as part of a double feature at the Cineplex for about R5.50, it comes off as a slightly less honest translation of a book... where the Japanese are the Chinese, and the back stories of the characters are slightly unfocused in the employment of better film technology some 25 years later.

read more

5 Artists Every Idols Performer Must Hear

Idols presenter ProVerb lists 5 artists that every entertainer in the business should be listening to.


Read the story here

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Expendables

The ExpendablesImage by Paul Lowry via Flickr
Never mind the plot. The basic idea of The Expendables is overpowering. Get some of the toughest guys from the action movie world together, build a plot that will involve lots of explosions – of both stuff and of people – and have some fun.

That it does, as everyone from Sly, through Willis, Rourke, Li and even Eric Roberts seem to really love being B-movie badasses. There's no need for them to act in this movie, because it essentially collides all their respective action movie roles into a flattened collage of popcorn and Coke.

But there's an unexpected flag in what should have been a straight sprint to the box office. The key fumble in the mix is that the subplot involving the big, tortured lug played by Dolph Lundgren is more intriguing than the main thrust of the story.

To paraphrase, in one scene, a bit of dialogue goes: "What's (Lundgren) doing?"
"He's hanging a pirate"
"No, really what's he doing?"
"No really, he's... hanging a pirate."



Friday, September 10, 2010

New writers are like happy pills

ANTALYA, TURKEY - MAY 23:  Singer Tom Jones ar...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
One of the great pleasures of working in this business for me (the content production business) is when job shadowers get to do a task for you and what you get back is much more than what you expected.

Job shadowers are high school or varsity students who get to spend couple of days with us to see what we do. Usually, when they get to me I just give them an assignment and say "do this". Of course I try to give them a little guideline (I'm not evil).

In this case, I handed young Shirvonne my "Guide to writing our CD reviews" and a CD and said... read this, listen to this and write it...

DIFFICULTY: The CD I handed her was what i call an A-list review – meaning an artist that has following and is known, and will be read by fans.One Mr Tom Jones of Wales, and his new release Praise and Blame.

I'm going to take the credit for what happened... my guide, my teaching methods, my brilliant skills as a nurturer... all these things...

Because the result I got back was pretty darn decent for a first timer. Praise me. I am good.  Seriously, though, great job Shirvonne. It may not be 1972 Rolling Stone yet, but hey, it's a pretty good kickoff to (hopefully) a career in varied writing platforms (not the kind you wear) and styles and formats.

And to get back to the point, it's great feeling when you can tell someone that the first time they've done something was a pretty good effort. Makes that part of the job worth it. Word (260).

Here's the review: Tom Jones - Praise & Blame

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

ProVerb on ProVerb

Had a chat with local superstar ProVerb for Channel24 and got to ask him some cool stuff. He's a real nice guy  and has his head pretty sorted. And a real friendly dude as well. Win.

If this video doesn't work properly here, check it out here

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Salt

Director Philip Noyce has a talent for action flicks with a touch of political intrigue to them – The Jack Ryan movies with Harrison Ford are testament to this. Noyce has a knack for making a suspenseful action film move along at just the right clip, and never jolting the audience into hectic changes of pace or plotting.

In a certain regard, Salt is a little more ambitious than Jack Ryan's adventures. It doesn't – can't, really – appeal to a sense of "it could happen" like, say, Clear and Present Danger did. Covert ops in South America? Totally believable. Sleeper agents whacking the US prez? Wo'eva!

Instead, Salt is like the bus from Speed... once it leaves the stop, it never drops below 55. And despite the fact that you'll need a healthy dose of 'Brain Missing' to get into the movie, you'll find yourself nodding along amicably through most of it once you get on.

full review here...
Related Posts with Thumbnails

Followers