Catering Equipment, Guns, Blades, Hands – What Makes A Good Fight Scene?

I got bored on my lunch break today and started cruising the YouTubes for film fight scenes (there wasn’t much going on at lunch and I’m feeling a little too fragile for Nando’s) and got to thinking about the anatomy of a good scrap. Should people be getting smacked in the head with catering equipment, shot in the face with a gun bigger than most cars, sliced up with a nifty looking sword or taking a good, honest pasting from someone else’s fists?

Avatar Review or How High-Def Ruined the Cinema for Me

I don’t go to the cinema that often; the last film I saw there was Terminator: Salvation. In that time, there’s been a lot of hi-definition gaming, upscaled DVDs, digital downloads and blu rays and maybe – just maybe – I’ve become spoiled.

I went to see Avatar last night; normally I’d wait until it was out on blu ray or digital delivery, but my mate insisted that it needed to be seen on a huge screen for the full experience. I have no idea why I listen to him, but I did. I paid £8.45, paid another fiver for some sweets and a drink and sat through half an hour of adverts which only featured two trailers (both for romantic comedies too – are we really that far from any good releases?), only to be disappointed.

Just Another Day On Planet America

The big summer blockbusters tend to be events which a lot of people throughout the world get excited by; the marketing’s everywhere, people really want to see them, they’re all the kids can think about and we all make plans for dinner, drinks and a film. They’re almost giant corporate events for pirates, too.

Where’s the Originality?

I watched Saw VI last night (having friends in the media means I sometimes get to go along to premiers and review showings) and although I’m not allowed to provide any form of review under pain of being crushed under a Hollywood legal case, it did get me thinking about the nature of film and TV, especially when it comes to the horror genre.

I think Battlestar Galactica said it best: All this has happened before and will happen again.

Why Must Films Ruin Our Childhood Toys?

I wasn’t one of those kids that had all the toys; that’s probably why I spend so much money on expensive electronic gadgets now, but the toys I did have as a kid seem to be making a comeback for all the wrong reasons.