By Aaron Potter 

If you’ve listened to an episode of the podcast, you’ve probably noticed that there is quite a large gap within my film knowledge. Blasphemous I hear you say for a person who hosts an entire show dedicated to talking about film, however rest easy I’m trying to do something about it.

My history and experience with anime actually goes as a far back as the late 90’s, like many youngsters who grew up around that time, I was able to experience this little known show called Pokemon. Not that I realised it at the time, but this would be my first experience of anime as a medium, and like most I gobbled it up!

Beyond this my experience of anime has since been limited especially as an adult. However, as I grow older and actively educate myself about different strands and genres of film it’s become apparent to me that anime is without doubt one of the most detailed and expertly crafted forms of animation that the average person can consume media-wise. As such, I fail to understand why some people seemingly take it upon themselves to not give it a chance as I am, instead actively avoiding it.

On the show I’ve already been able to experience some of the essentials such as Akira, Grave of the Fireflies amongst others, but most recently indulging in some of Studio Ghibli’s beloved classics also. Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away I’d heard were some of the most smiled upon, and I have to say these opinions were in no way unfounded.

After viewing both movies, it’s easy to see why they have been taken into the hearts of so many, even garnering high praise from the many experienced animators at Disney. There’s a lost art to the detail that goes into 2D animation, and in a modern world where bombastic 3D-animated rollercoaster rides seem to plague the cinemas and multiplexes, it’s nice to know that there is great entertainment to be had at the opposite end of the spectrum.

What both Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away were able to provide me, was an opportunity to escape into the fantastical, to experience another world and to some extent get lost in it. Both films throw all sense of logic and understanding out of the window, instead asking you to just go along with it and accept the various irregularities as part of the norm. in other genres this would typically annoy and confuse me, but the charm found here was too addictive to ignore.

I’m not too sure what i’d hope to achieve in writing this blog post, but if there is one thing I would implore any lover of film to do, it’s to indulge in a full-length anime feature film and experience the whimsical and innocence I did. I realise that I am quite late to the party and still have much to consume within the genre. But it absolutely seems like a path worth travelling, why not join me?

By Aaron Potter

It’s official! Deadpool has successfully dominated the global box office, remaining at the top for two weeks in a row. Following this claim, much has been discussed by how Fox will interpret this runaway success, with many claiming that modern cinema audiences have finally received the R-rated comic book movie they deserve!

Like most people, I hope the big conglomerate movie studios recognise the genre for how original it can be, rather than opting to produce carbon copy after carbon copy, in the hope that something will stick. Deadpool works as a movie because it stays true to the character, not bound by mandatory 3D integration or any other creative corrupting external force.

Deadpool is a great movie, all three of us on the podcast loved it, but let it be known that although Deadpool is the first R-rated comic book movie to achieve what some may deem ‘runaway success’. There are plenty of other awesome mature comic book movies out there that admittedly struggled to find an audience. Here are 5 that are well worth your attention, and can help you soothe that hard-core comic book fix.

Blade II

Way back when, in a time before cinematic universes and excessive tax avoidance, there existed an interpretation of the Blade series. Although the original Blade released in 1998 is a perfectly decent action movie, it’s sequel released in 2002 amped up the stakes and action in almost every way.

With Guillermo Del Toro at the helm, he was able to bring a sense of high-fantasy to Marvel’s favourite Daywalker, making the vampires the good guys (and this is before they were shiny) and taking a successfully gritty stab at a grounded and focussed, superhero vampire movie. Shame about the sequel though!

Reason it didn’t hit: I would say, ahead of its time. We just weren’t ready for such awesomeness.

Dredd

I’ll never stop saying it, I love Dredd. Perhaps the most underrated film on this list, Dredd is exactly the same as Deadpool in the sense that it aimed to return the character to its original idea, having previously been botched in a previous film. Karl Urban may not have the chin but he has the snarl, add just a dash of gritty voice and also the vital element of NOT REMOVING HIS HELMET! And it’s a sure-fire recipe for success!

Unfortunately, upon release, Dredd suffered from being shown in 3D exclusively, siphoning off a huge portion of the market who quite rightly either didn’t want to pay the premium price or just simply can’t be doing with the 30% light loss. Alex Garland’s script was solid and the choice to lock it down into one building perfectly allowed us to identify with the character, such a shame it didn’t hit.

Reason it didn’t hit: Doomed to die by being shown exclusively in 3D.

V for Vendetta

Alan Moore’s genius near future epic, V for Vendetta perfectly expands upon the idea first presented by George Orwell in a little known book called, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Commentating on what would happen in a pseudo-realistic setting if one man chose to stand up against the idea of omnipresent government surveillance, the film treated audience members in mature manner.

While there is spectacle to be had in the film, you cannot help but notice the sophistication present in some of the themes the movie aims to tackle and the rapport between Portman and Weaving is unmatched in terms of a non-romantic relationship between a man and a woman, not often seen in cinema. London acts as a unique backdrop, not often seen in superhero movies too!

Reason it didn’t hit: Sophisticated plot that doesn’t really work for your average comic book blockbuster.

So there you have it! I could go on of course, we haven’t even touched 300, Oldboy, Watchmen or Sin city but maybe that’s for a part two next week who knows. The point still stands though, whilst Deadpool is currently killing it (quite literally in some sense), don’t forget to recognise the films who laid its groundwork.

Potter out!

I had a good run guys. 5 weeks, 5 well researched, cerebral (maybe a bit of a stretch but it feels right) blog posts. I felt like a champion. I could hear the wind whistle as it grazed the ornate etchings of my crown. But it’s all changed, I’ve grown tired leaving said wind to knock me free off my high horse (Insert comical whistling fall sound thing here) Thud. 

Having lost my Shield of douchery in the fall, I had nothing to avert it’s gaze. We locked eyes. Mine puffy and bloodshot: his shimmering with dollar sign retinas.

“What he did next will amaze you.” he hissed.

“No, I will never stoop so low.” I cried.

“You won’t believe what she found when she opened the trunk. Make your penis bigger with one simple trick. They couldn’t have predicted what it meant.”

“Okay okay, I’ll do it. I’ll write the damn post. I’ll write some... clickbait.

Three Films I Love That The World Hates No. 3566 will make you shit yourself in disbelief 

Everyone has a movie that they love, a movie laced with nostalgia that tickles that throbbing, bulbous red thing... their heart. I’m talking about their heart. C’mon guys get your minds out of the gutter. These movies rarely come up in conversation, with discussion being all but relegated to limp sub reddits where hush tones are compulsory. But why? Because the world fucking hates them, and so should you. They’re terrible, they stink and they kill brain cells (not scientifically proven). Nevertheless we all hold a few of these travesties dear. Here are a few of mine;

John Dies at the End (2012)

‘Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe’ The first words uttered after a seemingly endless string of non-descript logos burrow their way into your subconscious. You interested? What follows is an opening like no other. An oddly edited sequence overlaid with a beautifully poetic monologue that ponders an abstract philosophical idea. A little vague I know but so is the movie itself. It consistently offers up interesting concepts and ideas though refuses to offer any closure. As a result the film is as fascinating as it is infuriating. 10/10 would movie again.

Grown Ups 2 (2013)

It’s dumb, poorly shot, lazily edited, cheaply made, sexist, painfully unfunny and the cast is wasted, but my god does it have a lot of heart. From the brotherly bond between Sandler and pals to the touching sing song in it’s final act, it’s everything I want to be when I reach the wrong side of 40. Say what you will, I love this movie.

Lucy (2014)

‘Lucy’ is my favourite Luc Besson movie... and on that bombshell goodnight. Only joking (about the goodnight part that is). I really do love this movie. It may not have the emotional depth of ‘Leon’ or the garish style of ‘The Fifth Element’ but it is far gutsier than both. Opting for a female lead, a convoluted premise (lifted straight out of 2011′s ‘Limitless’) and a final act that leaves you cross eyed and drooling. Seriously what more could you want.

Honourable Mentions

The Internship

Mars Attacks

Face Off

The Purge

By Aaron Potter

It’s no secret. Videogames are becoming more and more cinematic every day, or at least a section of videogames are!

Whilst the act of going to the cinema and sitting down to play a video game act as entirely separate experiences, the line is increasingly becoming blurred. Both mediums aim to take you on a journey emotional or otherwise, both are capable of telling complex stories with in-depth characters and both can be well-crafted experiences constructed from one person’s vision.

During their dominance in the 80’s, videogames were designed to be cruel, money-grabbing experiences, intended to be re-playable in order to keep you engaged as long as possible. They provided challenge, required skill and were originally confined within the walls of what was commonly known as an ‘Arcade’.

Nowadays games are becoming more and more cinematic, incorporated themes and elements that help them become more effective ways of telling engaging stories, and I for one couldn’t be happier. As I become older and busier, my time is becoming more and more precious and as a result, I gravitate easier to a focussed and attentive experience, that movies are far more capable of providing.

Games like The Last of Us, Firewatch and Everybody’s gone to the Rapture all break the conventions of what most people would typically define as a game, instead opting to tell a hard hitting story that puts you at the centre of the experience. In some ways this allows for a much more effective result. By playing through games such as this, not only do you have the experience of a selected character, but you have the ability to influence their actions, this gives their motivations more meaning (at least I feel).

There is a danger however for games to be too cinematic however, causing some contemporary debate as to what makes a game actually a game. Whilst I believe that anything the has to be ‘played’ should be considered a game, some feel that this lack of challenger or skill prevents these experiences from being such. Likening games such as Telltale’s The Walking Dead to more of a guided movie experience rather than an act of play.

Overall both mediums act as fully engrossing methods of enjoyment, and I can only hope that one day the everyman will treat videogames with the same respect that they treat movies. Thankfully technological advancements can only help contribute towards this and with the onset of virtual reality, the game will literally be changed once again.

As it stands I have room in my life for both forms of entertainment albeit that the videogame I choose to play isn’t a mindless shooter that seeks to sometimes eat up all of my time (sometimes this can tend to happen, I’m looking at you Destiny!). Who knows maybe one day in the near future, teenagers will be settling down to play videogames for a first date, a guy can dream can’t he?

By Jed Whippey

‘I think civilization is an agreement, and once in a while you're going to run into people who didn't get the memo.’ 

David Fincher (Director of Fight Club)

With a black heart and rotting flesh ‘Fight Club’ manages to drive a satirical nail  into the grotesque face of capitalism... Cheery right?  

Taking cues from the likes of David Lynch and Terry Gilliam, Fincher leads us into the violent, yet darkly comic world of 'The Narrator’ (Edward Norton): a white-collar everyman who’s suffering from chronic insomnia and a bad case of the 9-5s. Well, that is until he meets ‘Tyler Durden’ (Brad Pitt): a soap maker who causes his life to spiral into black eyes and broken ribs as they form a fight club, which boasts a rule so iconic it is still discussed today. Ironic really, as you know, you shouldn’t talk about Fight Club.

The movie itself is a gratuitous behemoth. It aims for the jugular and hits with machine like precision, leaving blood to spit, gush and drip onto the floor of a sterile white room. It’s messy. Really fucking messy. I mean everything about it just oozes filth. From the bludgeoned faces of the fighters to the twisted ideology of ‘Project Mayhem’.

It’s vulgar.

It’s repugnant.

It’s beautiful.

Though underneath all this violence is an intelligent deconstruction of ‘advertising’ culture, and of how the values it invokes has left a generation numb and demoralised. Strong stuff for a movie about fighting.

Fincher crafts a world that's tearing apart at the seams. A world that doubts materialism and the ‘grow up, get a job and get married’ structure of modern life. Sound familiar?

He then fills it with identifiable characters and dialogue that hits so close to home, you're forced to question both the benefits and drawbacks of conformity. 

Of course none of this is possible without the stellar pairing of Pitt and Norton who are both utterly captivating. They deliver performances as unhinged as the script itself. With Pitt’s monologue about the rules of ‘Fight Club’ being a particular stand out, his delivery is simply electric. Add to this a bile drenched sack of misfits made wholely relatable by the supporting cast (Meat Loaf’s ‘Robert Paulson’ being of particular note) and you have a trip into a deranged psyche that leaves you asking ‘Are they crazy, or am I?” In a world where mainstream cinema is as shallow as a puddle, that’s quite an achievement.

By Aaron Potter

As an avid movie goer and film lover, I constantly find myself trying to extend my understanding of the medium. As well as an expressive form of entertainment, I like to believe that the act of sitting down between 90 - 180 minutes and escaping into the world of another person’s life and journey (fictional or not) can have a deeper meaning. Filmish, the new book by cartoonist Edward Ross is one such venture that helps reinforce this sentiment.

Knowingly described as “a graphic journey through film”, Filmish is a book that seeks to explain the impact that film has had upon its viewers, pretty much since its inception. It guides you through film’s history and various techniques, all while using your favourite movies as examples. What’s brilliant about it is that it’s completely accessible to any reader no matter how ‘schooled up’ they are about the subject, largely thanks to its graphic novel style presentation.

Rather than simply reading walls of text that you’d traditionally find when researching the history of film, Edward Ross successfully explores this inventive medium by referencing films we know and telling us things about them that we never knew existed.

Before reading the book I had never considered how the film-makers behind Blade Runner differentiated the replicants between humans by having them engage more with their environment or how in films like High Noon, it’s real-time progression served to reinforce how tense the central character is becoming, with the hope of translating this same sense of hopelessness to viewers.

Filmish is full of these analytical passages that make you understand why you might enjoy certain films such as Aliens, Terminator or Inception even if you didn’t fully realise yourself. The best part is that rather than look elsewhere to research where these various notions originated, Ross does the job for you, inserting quotes from various historians, film-makers and critics.  If you’ve ever wondered why cinema has largely been expressed from the viewpoint of the heterosexual white male or what sets and architecture can tell you about the mind of a character, it’s all here in this book.

Putting it down, I instantly came away feeling more knowledgeable about the thing that I talk about every week on a podcast, seems crazy right? Sometimes people get so swept up into thinking that a film is either good or bad, never considering the efforts that may have actually went into the film-making process or where these processes came from.

When I discovered Filmish sitting there on a lonely Waterstones shelf in-between the colossal stacks of DC and Marvel, I couldn’t believe my luck. It was a graphic novel that analysed, combining my two favourite mediums to result in something that I didn’t know I needed. But believe me I did need it.

If you have any passing interest in film whatsoever and also like to partake in the regular comic every now and then, Filmish is the perfect culmination of everything you love, researched well and conveniently presented to leave you feeling instantly more knowledgeable! Die Hard is the perfect example of how the use of urban space is explored in film? Who knew!  

By Jed Whippey

Indie movies should play it safe while blockbusters take risks.

Sounds Crazy right? I mean after years of generic, big budget, action romps the average cinema goer has become a fickle beast. One that demands big set pieces and a plot that kills brain cells. God forbid anyone tries to shake up this paradigm with a bit of good old fashioned creativity... wait, creativity? Are you mad? The movie industry would collapse, cinemas would close, movie goers would parade Michael Bay placards, demanding the return of big explosions and ‘tasteful’ up skirt shots. 

Wouldn’t they? Probably not. 

If Christopher Nolan’s creative Sci-Fi blockbuster ‘Inception’ is anything to go by, people will go nuts and flock to the cinema to the tune of $825 million. Fact. Then why are the likes of ‘Inception’ so rare? Just take a second and try to think of another high concept blockbuster. Struggling? Of course you are because there are so damn few, especially if you ignore Nolan's back catalogue.

Okay then, what about intelligent indie movies? Got one? No of course you haven't, you’ve got fucking fifty of ‘em. ‘The Machinist’, ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’, ‘Eternal Sunshine’, ‘Primer’, ‘Donnie Darko’... the list goes on.

So what if ‘Inception’ had been made and marketed on an ‘indie’ budget? Would it have seen the same success? Look no further than the Spierig brother’s mind bender ‘Predestination’: a film similarly rich in concept and quality, but not in box office take. It managed a meagre $4.3 million which to some extent shows that no, ‘Inception’ would not have ‘banked it more’.

What’s my point though? Making a film like’ Predestination’ is a huge risk. It has zero major studio backing, a money starved marketing team, no bankable stars and a budget that is often coming out of the filmmaker’s own pocket. Whereas the likes of ‘Inception’ have huge budgets, big stars and big fucking posters on the sides of buses. But do you wanna’ hear the real kicker? Well, you’d better get your jock straps ready because this boot’s rocking a steel fucking toe cap. There is literally no financial risk. None at all. Zero. Nada, and it’s all thanks to the home media market, DVD, VOD and Netflix Syndication. Here, even the most hardened of flops can turn a profit. ‘John Carter’: Profitable. ‘The Lone Ranger’: Profitable. Hell, even ‘Waterworld’ came out on top. Yet in spite all of this, Hollywood still takes very few risks when it comes to their big budget flicks, this leaves independent filmmakers no choice but to take out loans, re- mortgage their homes or do whatever else it takes to get their movie made.

It’s depressing.

I’m depressed.

But hey, at least I can go to my local cinema and drown my sorrows in a barrel of popcorn and some poorly scripted action sequences. Now who said capitalism never gave us anything?