Get flicked

I took the opportunity this long weekend to watch an odd mix of old and new filims

First up was the Arctic Monkey's live DVD which I thought on some level might make up for me being too lazy/tight to go to their recent gig at the Town Hall. It didnt, and don't bother watching it - it's filmed in such a way that it comes across more as a recording of a studio gig like you would find on Letterman, rather than a concert in front of thousands of people. The tracks were good, but the lack of personality meant you may as well chuck on the album.

I then watched Salute, a doco on Peter Norman, who was the white Australian in the Silver Medal position on the dais when Tommie Smith and John Carlos made their protest at the 1968 Mexico Olympics (pictured) and what became one of the iconic images of the last 50 years. Norman supported what they did, gave them the idea for sharing the gloves and wore a human rights badge up there. "He didn't raise his fist, but he lent a hand". The movie backgrounds the protest and reaction afterwards, including how Norman was the only Australian medal winner not to be invited to the Sydney Games, but it also tells the story of the race which naturally got lost in the aftermath. The 200m was supposed to be an American 1,2,3 but Peter Norman upset everything and actually his time for the Silver would have won Gold in the 200m at the Sydney Olympics. Fascinating story and I guess the worrying question is, would the public reaction be any different today? I think what they did was really courageous, but really doubt it would be greeted any differently.

I then watched a couple of higher profile films, the festival favourite, Son of Rambow and Oscar favourite Slumdog Millionaire. Rambow is the story of a young Plymouth Bretheren boy and his mate who remake First Blood - its all very heart warming and well... nice and is worth checking out. Most of you will see Slumdog regardless of what I say, but I really enjoyed it and it definitely is Danny Boyle's best work since Trainspotting. Like Trainspotting, Boyle pulls no punches and fully explores the grimy underworld and its actually quite an uncomfortable watch at times with its confronting nature. The only down side is the constant bewilderment of Jamal, who is played by Dev Patel from Skins, which gets a bit annoying after a while, but other than that its great and like all Boyle films - it has a great soundtrack.

To follow all this up I watched Morgan (Super Size Me) Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, it was kind of a US foreign relations 101 which is clearly aimed at a US audience, and while that made it a little basic in its analysis, it was still quite a good watch. As with Super Size Me, I do wonder if he is just preaching to the converted at times - his films act as more of a reinforcement of your existing beliefs rather than win people over.

I finished everything off with a couple of solid b-graders - Romero's Land of the Dead and the early 1980s Kurt Russell flick, Escape from New York. Land of the Dead was Romero's 2005 follow up to Day of the Dead and is kind of typical of his Zombie flicks after Dawn with his over the top efforts at commentary on society and class structures. That aside there are some awesome blood and guts scenes and if you look closely at the cover you can find Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead fame) who both have cameos. Escape from New York? Well its rubbish isnt it? lol