Tag Archives: Hannibal

Jun 24 2023
Leave a comment
Art, Crime, United States

Hannibal – blimey.

I think I’d wander into the spurious were I to declare Hannibal the best TV show ever made, but for its sheer entertaining unpredictability, the majesty of its visuals, and the simply captivating Mads Mikkelsen, it’s up there and not quite such a ludicrous statement.

In many a show I have moaned like a wee bitch about constant switching allegiances and a deus ex machina chucked in the mix every other episode, but with Hannibal it’s like this from the off so never feels desperate. You’re living in a world of absolute loons here and it’s a perverse pleasure to be exposed to the nether regions of the human experience.

It’s as flawlessly engrossing as anything I can think of in recent years, and even the dialogue exchanges are cutting edge; I found myself googling just exactly what the fuck the characters are alluding to in their psychobabble exchanges, but it’s never pretentious in the way they do it. The show defines world-building.

What a treat.

Tagged , , , , ,
Apr 24 2023
Leave a comment
Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized, United States

Red Dragon (2002). Shame.

This was pathetic from the very first second, the opening a superhero movie-style newspaper headlines montage to make up for the lack of a well-written exposition.

It’s so dull, the script going like this:

Character one: “Something is happening.”

Character two: “What is happening?”

Character one proceeds to explain what is happening and then reeling off a line with a time and date of an event in order to segue to the next scene.

What else? No one in it appears to be affected by anything that happens to them in a case of ordinarily excellent actors phoning it in. It is so badly edited, cut to the max in desperation yet still dull. Framing is without purpose. Music is better suited to a two-hour sequence shot of a pigeon napping. This movie is an abomination. 

Watch Manhunter (1986) instead.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Jan 12 2020
Leave a comment
Cinema, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized

Great scenes in otherwise forgettable/bad movies.

Most films are rather terrible, either your average generic copycat picture (sequel, superhero, franchise) or a total disaster zone. A very small elite of films are incredible, and then we have a hefty batch of escapist fare which feature a sublime scene deserving to live within a better movie.

Blade (1998).

Operation Blade (Bass in the Place), a song so synonymous with late ’90s techno it defines it. And that is the essence of the scene. Ropey CGI, Wesley Snipes struggling to make the choreography work, but the 100% chav tune papers over it all. It is a ghastly movie and the sequels likewise. Incredible music, though.

Deep Blue Sea (1999).

This film was dire, but Samuel L. Jackson’s stirring speech interrupted by extreme-close up bite-action was something else, totally unexpected, utilising the Hitchcock technique to perfection. If it happened later on in the movie it would have been wiser, as after this scene of madness there is no point in watching the remainder of it.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003).

An unabashed muddle, a shambolic mess as coherent as The Architect’s monologue. The highway chase, though. That’s what a short movie should be. And that’s what sequels should have been – short snippets.

Hannibal (2001).

I think the first hour of Hannibal (2001) is a mightily classy affair. You’ve got Florence and vistas and art chat and Hannibal running the show. If they kept the movie there it could have approached masterwork status. But they didn’t and it descends into calamity as soon as Italy is discarded. Sad.

 

Tagged , , , , , , ,