Old images reborn

I was going to use the blog today to lament the sad news of the separation of this blog's patron saint, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver. The timing of which shows an eery prescience to the beginning of this blog. I'm not saying I'm a prophet to be worshipped. I'm just saying.

What's knocked me off this irreverent train of thought? A wall mural on the Newtownards road area of Belfast. A bloody wall mural.

To those of you who have visited Northern Ireland, the wall murals in and around the traditionally loyalist and republican areas of Belfast (and other towns) have become a tourist attraction, which thousands of visitors coming to take pictures of the ominous, shadowy figures clutching their machine guns tightly whilst proclaiming fealty to their particular religio-political cause. For a generation it's been almost impossible to drive anywhere in Belfast without passing a handful of these, as each mural signified the affiliation of that area to a particular terror group, or the presence of its members within it.

Since the IRA and UVF/UDA ceasefires in the late 90s and throughout the (comparatively) peaceful 2000s, many of the aggressive murals depicting gunmen and celebrating the violence of 'the troubles' have been replaced by many inoffensive, pro-active, cross-community designs hinting at a brighter future ahead for the province.

One such mural celebrated the victory of local Irish League club Glentoran, over the Detroit Cougars in 1913, winning the Vienna Cup. I've passed this mural countless times in the last 6 years, and have always thought it a very positive celebration of the football club, which has deep roots in this part of east Belfast.

It ain't pretty but consider the subtle shades around the Goliath crane

Coming home today I noticed that the design of this mural has changed somewhat, with less emphasis on international football, and more focus on blokes with guns.

I'd have got a better picture if it hadn't been for those pesky masked loyalist painters!

On the opposite side of the road, two masked men were busy painting another wall with a similar 70s gunman motif, on top of a gantry, in broad daylight, on a busy road. This may not ultimately be significant. It's just a wall after all, and what's two new murals depicting a show of strength to a loyalist group in the grand scheme of things.

It's just with the recent rise of violence in Northern Ireland, with high profile killings and attempted murders of policemen and rumblings or internecine violence within republican and loyalist circles, this is a simple but stark reminder of the savage tribalism that has blighted this country/province/piece of ground with soil and trees (delete as per political stance) for too long.

'HOBO with a SHOTGUN' : Tarantino and Rodriguez have a lot to answer for!

The hype around Grindhouse, the double feature homage to 70s exploitation films directed by Robert Rodgriuez and Quentin Tarantino, didn't really live up to expectations on its release in 2007. What was intended to be a 3 hour double feature was broken up into their individual parts and released seperately, 'Planet Terror' by Rodriguez (daft but entertaining), and 'Death Proof' by Tarantino (daft but mind-numbingly dull).

As part of the hype surrounding the film, a series of spoof adverts were released along with the theatrical and dvd versions of the films hyping other fictional exploitation features. One of those, 'Machete' was made into a full length film in 2010, and now another, 'Hobo with a Shotgun' is due for release in the summer. Made in Canada, and costing $3m, 'Hobo' looks like it is going to be a straight-to-dvd release, but at least it provides a starring for one of my favourite 'under-appreciated' actors of all time Rutger Hauer (The Hitcher).

The latest 'Big Issue' promotional campaign had taken a slightly dark turn

Hauer made his name in his native Holland in the early 70s, working with his compatriot Paul Verhoeven, who directed him in a number of films like 'Turkish Delight' and 'Soldier of Orange', both of which I'm keen to see. Hauer is better known for the Hollywood films he acted in, finding himself in great demand throughout the 1980s, usually as a psychopathic villain or unhinged outsider in the likes of 'Night Hawks', 'The Hitcher' and, most famously, as Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'. The 1990s and early 2000s saw Hauer disappear from the mainstream, appearing in a number of low budget B movies and cameos in TV shows like 'Smallville' and 'Alias'.

Hauer has since had small but notable roles in 'Sin City' and 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', and remains a fascinating actor capable of conveying his emotions through his body language and tone, of considerable subtlety (check out the first 40 seconds of the trailer below and you'll see what I mean). Although 'Hobo with a Shotgun' is unlikely to be a good film, depending on your expectations and views on exploitation films, Hauer's presence will be enough to make me hunt it out on dvd.

                                               This trailer is unrated and is fairly graphic so NSFW

THOR 3D

The recent revival in Superhero films has been a bit of a mixed blessing, with Marvel putting together extremely glossy productions, starring top actors like Jeff Bridges (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot), Don Cheadle (The Rat Pack) and Robert Downey Junior (Weird Science), but which lack substance once you get beyond the CGI missiles and movie-themed ACDC soundtracks (I'm looking at you Iron Man 2).
The latest addition to the Marvel Studios pantheon (is that even the right word? Maybe conveyor belt fits better) is THOR, or THOR 3D if you go to the Belfast Odeon evening showing, where 2D is not an option. Not being a massive comic book reader as a kid, THOR wasn't a character I was particularly familiar with outside of the goofy winged helmet and massive hammer. Lets face it, very few kids want to dress up as THOR.

I'd  have Perseus ahead of him, but that's just my opinion...

As ridiculous a concept as THOR is ('legendary God of Thunder!! The mightiest warrior of all mythology!! User of many exclamation marks!!), it's actually a fairly enjoyable, popcorn film. Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again) directs the proceedings with a gusto more in common with one of his Shakespearean adaptations, bringing a certain gravitas de camp (not quite Flash Gordon, but definitely sailing close) to the whole thing.

With Sir Anthony Hopkins (Freejack), Idris Elba (Obsessed) and Stellan Skarsgard (Exorcist: The Begining) delivering 'the ACTing', the role of Thor could easily have been reduced to a grunting, monsylabic stump of wood. Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) defies these expectations and is a charismatic actor who manages  to walk the fine line between tongue in cheek and taking himself too seriously. Not an easy thing when running around shirtless with a large hammer called Fffffffffynar (or something close).

As an origin story, it's pretty solid, nicely setting up THOR as an arrogrant and brash man of war, who 'SPOILER' is humbled by his father Odin (Hopkins), King of Asgard, and betrayed by his brother Loki (the guy from Wallander apparently), and forced to undertake a journey of discovery involving comedic mug smashing, beating up security guards, and wowing Natalie Portman with his quaint chivalry. It all feels a bit stuck together, as if the whole thing has been assembled wholesale from a giant acme-Marvel-genre-kit. It's not as good as Iron Man, but nowhere near as bad as Wolverine. On par with Iron Man 2 I think. I prefer to think of THOR, not as mindless popcorn film designed to sell toys, bedspreads,  and over priced 'replica' Ffffffffffffffffffynars to 40 year old men with no kids and too much disposable income, but as a warning on the perils of unchecked adoption.

It is a damning indictment of the welfare system of THOR's homeland Asgard, and the negligence of the local authorities in vetting the suitability of Odin as a foster parent for Loki, whom it turns out is really a frost giant (evil nemeses of the Asgard people), 'rescued' by Odin after  the old man had presumably rampaged his way into the frost giant creche following a major battle. Loki understandably has a massive chip on his shoulder based around the fact Odin clearly favours his brother, and that his foster parents didn't tell him of his adoption until he ws 37. Also, the fact Odin steals the baby Loki from the frost giants, without so much as leaving a note, leads me to believe that the Asgard social services must have turned a blind eye to this child abduction. THOR should really look into this abuse of power as soon as he gets a free moment from smiting frost giants and pining after Portman, because it's this sort of institutionalised corruption that gives a royal family a bad name.

Maybe it's due to the involvement of Branagh (Belfast born, and Linfield fan, according to Wikipedia) and Lisburn's own Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone), that I take a kinder view of THOR. A kinder view isn't something I would ascribe to watching this in 3D though, with the film close to inducing flash epilepsy for 'her that would be obeyed' and giving me a mild out-of-body experience whenever THOR took to flying accross the electro-rainbow bridge of cross-dimensionality. I'm firmly in the Mark Keromode anti-3D camp and on the basis of this, am unlikely to be shifted.

Already a big seller for Halloween 2011 by all accounts.

Welcome to yet another blog...

I know what you're thinking.

Yet another blog. Yet another frustrated soul crying out for someone to recognise their voice and deem them worthy. I bet he's in his late 20s/early 30s, probably holds some sort of journalism degree, which is completely redundant in his day job, and judging by the title of the blog probably retains an adolescent fascination with Arnie films.

You'd be right.

Jack's enthusiasm at the news of yet another blog was undisguisable

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  While the above is quite true, I've been thinking about getting a blog up about my main interests (Film, TV, Culture, Getting run over by cars and claiming insurance) for a while now and I've finally got off my arse to do it. It's very primative compared to most of the other blogs out there, which hopefully will change as I get used to editing and design. Either that or it'll go the way 99% of blogs do and die a quick death as soon as the author's ADD-addled brain moves onto something new. Let's see!