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Films I saw for the first time in February 2011

10:19 PM / Cinema / No Comments

• Sunday, February 6, 2011: THE WRESTLER (USA/France, 2008) 8/10
• Thursday, February 17, 2011: FRANK AND OLLIE (USA, 1995) 6/10
• Sunday, February 20, 2011: THELMA & LOUISE (USA/France, 1991) 9/10
• Friday, February 25, 2011: ARMY OF SHADOWS (France/Italy, 1969) 8/10

BDs and DVDs I bought or received in February 2011

10:15 PM / Blu-ray / 3 Comments

• Tuesday, February 15, 2011: L'ILLUSIONNISTE/LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE (BD, Region B, France)
• Tuesday, February 15, 2011: THELMA & LOUISE (BD, Region A, USA)

BD impressions: Thelma & Louise

10:05 PM / BD Impressions / 1 Comment

The film: And now it's time for episode #436 of "Michael catches up with a significant movie he's never seen before"... Well actually, I did see the final 20 minutes of THELMA & LOUISE on TV years ago, but knowing how everything would turn out in the end really didn't spoil my enjoyment of Ridley Scott's "chick flick", which manages to be surprisingly uplifting for a film that's ultimately about... nope, sorry, no spoilers today.

In the audio commentary accompanying the film, Scott disavows the notion that he is in anyway a feminist filmmaker, despite claiming that the film itself has a "feminist subject". Still, he describes Ripley in ALIEN as something of a forerunner for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon's characters in this film, and it's tempting to see what is superficially a "girl power" movie as the culmination of something that started back in 1979 with what is in my opinion one of the most progressive films ever made from a gender perspective (although its progressiveness stemmed primarily from its disavowal of the concept of gender conventions - for Thelma and Louise, being women is a major part of their identity).

I was slightly surprised by just how laugh out loud funny the film is on occasions. Scott is not exactly known as a "funny" director, and while it's true that most of the laughs originate from Callie Khouri's script, Scott on numerous occasions shows himself to be adept at comic timing with the deft editing her employs. It may be somewhat removed from its director's usual sensibilities, but in terms of its look, it's pure 80s Ridley Scott. Lens flares, murky blue-tinted interiors and smoke up the wazoo rub shoulders with striking desert vistas make this arguably the most visually striking chick flick around, and ultimately help to make this a real triumph on every level. Now I really need to seek out THE DUELISTS... 9/10

Image quality: In terms of the presentation of Ridley Scott's films on BD, the pattern goes something like this: if Scott supervised and/or approved the transfer, expect great things (à la ALIEN and the re-release of GLADIATOR), but if he had nothing to do with it (as with HANNIBAL and the initial release of GLADIATOR),* expect to be disappointed. THELMA & LOUISE is a lot closer to the former than the latter, and while there's no indication as to whether or not Scott had any say in the new HD master, I'm going to assume its probable, particularly given the keen interest he takes in home video releases of his films. Detail isn't always razor-sharp, but I assume that's mainly down to the soft focus of the photography. At any rate, the grain is plentiful and natural-looking, the compression is handled very well, and there's no sign of ringing, edge enhancement and the like. All in all it's a fine presentation, albeit one that falls slightly short of the likes of ALIEN. 8/10

* I should clarify: while I assume Scott was involved in the creation of these films' masters, they were done over a decade ago, intended for standard definition viewing. Slap old and technically subpar material on to a BD without involving the director, and the results are unsurprisingly disappointing.

Thelma & Louise
studio: 20th Century Fox/MGM; country: USA; region code: A;
codec: AVC; aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Fresh from Model Rail Scotland

3:47 PM / Model Railways / 5 Comments

I've just got back from the annual Model Rail Scotland convention, held at the SECC in Glasgow (it runs from Friday through to Sunday). It was great seeing so many impressively detailed layouts (in a variety of gauges, from N to OO right up to O) up and running, most of which left me feeling somewhat inadequate given that I'm unlikely to ever have the time, skill, money and space to build something on even the level of even one of the smaller displays.

The place was absolutely heaving by about midday, so I decided to call it a day, but not before I was relieved of some of my hard-earned cash. Exhibit #1, below, is a weathered A4 Pacific ("Sir Nigel Gresley", named after the locomotive's designer) in early British Rail blue (late 40s to early 50s) livery, produced by Bachmann, Hornby's main competitor in the OO gauge market.

This is the first Bachmann model I've ever owned. Everything I've ever bought until now, both during my original experience with the hobby and since my rediscovery of it this year, has been produced by Hornby. I did very briefly own a Wrenn locomotive (also a Sir Nigel Gresley, coincidentally), bought for me as a Christmas present when I was five or six years old, but it performed horribly and was swiftly replaced by the Hornby equivalent. That experience was so disastrous that I decided to stick with what I knew and always buy from Hornby, but the positive write-ups Bachmann's products have received, and the allure of the rarely modelled early BR blue livery, made this one too tempting to pass it up when I saw it at the Doon Valley Models stall. (The image below shows it alongside the Hornby A4 Pacific "Falcon", in later BR green.)

And I have to say it runs very nicely, about as well as any of my Hornby trains. The motor is a bit noisier than the others, but I've heard plenty of reports of certain Hornby models, particularly older ones, creating quite a din, so I doubt this is a manufacturer-specific thing. Fortunately, the couplings Hornby and Bachmann use are compatible, so hooking it up to my existing Hornby coaches (it's currently pulling the Heart of Midlothian service) is not a problem. In terms of detail, is seems to be somewhere between one of Hornby's "Super Detail" models and one of their more basic Railroad models. It also has a rather nice touch: a driver and fireman. (Some Hornby locomotives come with these as well, but I've never had one that did.)

One aspect I'm not crazy about is the free-moving rear wheel bogey (under the cab). This is an inaccuracy (the real locomotives had fixed rear wheels) designed to allow the locomotive to navigate sharp curves. On more recent Hornby models, the rear wheels are fixed but are slightly raised and simply "float" above the track when navigating curves, a less than ideal effect but one that I prefer to the Bachmann (and earlier Hornby) approach of a bogey that slides from left to right and leaves an unrealistic gap between the wheels and the cab. (This photograph on the LNER Encyclopedia forum shows a particularly good view of the problem. See here for the - in my opinion - preferable Hornby solution.)

As for the weathering, I'm somewhat undecided. Plenty of people swear by the weathering effect, and it certainly looks quite convincing on this model. Especially in the latter years of steam, many of these locomotives were not particularly well cared for and often looked absolutely filthy, so the pristine appearance of a non-weathered model is not especially realistic. Still, it does look a little out of place alongside the rest of my collection, and part of me feels a deep urge to give it a good scrub (despite knowing that that wouldn't make any difference).

Oh, and I also picked up a random selection of wagons (Bachmann as well, currently filled with Lego bricks given the absence of anything more realistic):

Movie Matters #6

12:37 PM / Podcast / 8 Comments

The Movie Matters podcast continues with a Darren (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) Aronofsky special, putting his latest film, the critically acclaimed BLACK SWAN, under the microscope, as well as his previous offering, the similarly acclaimed THE WRESTLER.

• http://rapidshare.com/files/449609230/moviematters-episode6-24-02-11.mp3
• http://rapidshare.com/files/449788727/moviematters-episode6-24-02-11.mp3
• iTunes

The music sampled in this episode is from BLACK SWAN (Clint Mansell/Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) and THE WRESLTER (Clint Mansell), as well as the latest addition to the Blu-ray hall of fame. Special thanks to David Mackenzie for audio support.

http://moviematterspodcast.blogspot.com

Updated Friday, February 25, 2011 at 02:54 PM: Added working RapidShare link.

Fooling around

3:39 PM / Model Railways / 3 Comments

Short video showcasing my two favourite of my currently operational locomotives - A4 Pacific "Falcon" and Princess Coronation "City of Chester" (plus a special appearance by 9F "Evening Star"). The track layout is just a slight extension of the bog standard Hornby oval plus extension packs A, B and C on the TrakMat. It's on my bedroom floor and not currently pinned down (hence the slight up and down movement of the track in some shots). I'll be starting work on a permanent layout before too long, but this is basically just to give me something to do until I've got a proper baseboard and enough track for my first "real" layout.

Apologies in advance for the less than ideal image quality (I used the record function on my old Canon Ixus 40 camera, which isn't exactly Hollywood-like) and my messy, messy room.

BD impressions: Alice in Wonderland

9:42 PM / BD Impressions / 3 Comments

The film: Disney went through a period of making some very meandering, largely inconsequential films with minimal plotting, and ALICE IN WONDERLAND is probably both the best and most obvious example of this trend. It uses the same "It was all a dream!" structure as THE WIZARD OF OZ, but this doesn't feel like much of a cheat as it's blatantly obvious from the outset that this is what's going on. Also, whereas later films in this vein like THE JUNGLE BOOK and the interminably uneventful THE ARISTOCATS had a tendency to drag in places, the various set-pieces in ALICE IN WONDERLAND are all so good that clock-watching doesn't become an issue. Alice herself is as bland and pedantic a Disney heroine as you could hope to meet, so it's up to the colourful array of characters she meets to give the film its personality. While the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter and Red Queen are justly remembered with great fondness, my favourite segment is actually the Walrus and the Carpenter, a delightfully stupid little instalment based around an absurdly catchy ditty.

It may not look particularly substantial compared to something like LADY AND THE TRAMP (probably my favourite of Disney's output from the latter half of the golden age) or THE LION KING (good, but in my opinion overrated), ALICE IN WONDERLAND has a simple charm that's hard to resist. It's also delightfully fucked up in a way that few Disney movies are, at least to such an overt extent. Which can only be a good thing. 8/10

Image quality: I continue to be fascinated and grudgingly impressed by Disney's ability to completely alter the look of their films to the extent that they no longer look like... well, film. ALICE IN WONDERLAND was of course shot on 35mm, but you'd think the master for this BD was created by digitising the original cels (it wasn't, in case you're wondering). Grain is completely removed and looks like it was never there to begin with. The purist in me hates this revisionist approach and everything it stands for, but at the same time I must admit that there's something quite stunning about the results. I can only assume that the source was an extremely fine grain print. Artefacts are for the most part non-existent, though some mild to moderate artefacts do occasionally crop up (see Example 2 and Example 15). It's the best-looking of these Disney "revisionist restorations" so far, which to a certain extent is damning it with faint praise as I'd much rather these films were simply presented as they were originally shot, but the realist in me accepts that this isn't going to happen until Disney has a profound change of attitude about the presentation of its catalogue titles. 8/10

Alice in Wonderland
studio: Buena Vista; country: USA; region code: ABC;
codec: AVC; aspect ratio: 1.33:1

The price of honesty

9:26 PM / Technology / 9 Comments

This evening, my copy of Adobe Photoshop (CS5 Extended student edition, which I bought last year for a fraction of the price of the non-student version) abruptly decided to stop working. No, scratch that, it decided that the software had been installed on two different computers and that it wouldn't work on my main rig until I deactivated it on the rogue machine... which is utter bollocks, of course, as it's only ever been installed on a single machine.

Nevertheless, I decided to persevere, eventually contacting Adobe's online chat support once I'd exhausted all the possibilities (restarting Windows, reinstalling the software, standing on my head and counting backwards from 10,000). What follows is a conversation that took place over the better part of an excruciating hour, with the representative's name changed. Please mentally add a pause of up to five minutes before each of "Deepak's" reponses.

You are now chatting with Deepak.

Deepak: Hello. Welcome to Adobe Customer Service.

Deepak: May I please have your email address registered with Adobe while I review your request?

Deepak: Hi Michael

Me: Sure: [email address removed]

Deepak: As I understand that you have issue with the Activation of Photoshop CS5 Extended on your computer, Is that correct?

Me: Yes

Me: It has been working fine until today, when it suddenly told me that I had reached my activation limit.

Deepak: Thank you for the information.

Deepak: May I know the serial number of the product please?

Me: [serial number removed]

Deepak: Thank you for the information.

Deepak: I checked with my resource and found Activated on 2 computers please Deactivate the software.

Me: I only have it installed on one computer, so that isn't possible.

Deepak: Sorry for the wait. Please do stay online.

Me: OK

Deepak: I'll be right with you.

Deepak: Thank you for the information.

Deepak: Since you are unable to deactivate,as an exception, I'll go ahead and make changes to your license key so that you are able to activate your software.Please stay online while I do changes.

Deepak: Steps to Activate the product

Deepak: If you have not activated the product during the install, please launch the product and under the 'Help' menu you will find the Activation option from where you can activate it.

Me: There is no activation option in the help menu, just a greyed out Deactivate button.

Deepak: Place the cursor for 2-3 minutes to Activate the software on your computer.

Me: Where do I place the cursor?

Deepak: If you have not activated the product during the install, please launch the product and under the 'Help' menu you will find the Activation option from where you can activate it.

Me: As I already said, there is no Activation option from the Help menu, just a greyed out Deactivate button.

Deepak: You will find Activation option before Deactivation option.

Me: No, what comes before the Deactivation option is "Complete/Update Adobe ID Profile".

Deepak: Thank you for the information.

Deepak: Since you are unable to deactivate,as an exception, I'll go ahead and make changes to your license key so that you are able to activate your software.Please stay online while I do changes.

Deepak: Steps to Activate the product

Deepak: If you have not activated the product during the install, please launch the product and under the 'Help' menu you will find the Activation option from where you can activate it.

Me: As I already said, there is no Activation option from the Help menu, just a greyed out Deactivate button.

Deepak: Thank you for the information.

Deepak: Sorry for the wait. Please do stay online.

Deepak: I'll be right with you.

Deepak: Please reinstall the software to Activate the software on your computer.

Me: OK, I'll do this now. Please stay on the line.

Deepak: Please reinstall and Activate the software on your computer. If any error please contact us back on Live chat.

Deepak: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Me: Can you wait while I reinstall it in case I continue to have issues?

Deepak: Thank you for waiting. One moment please.

Deepak: Sorry for the wait. Please do stay online.

Deepak: I'll be right with you.

By this stage, I had managed to locate the install CD and was in the process of reinstalling Photoshop. At around the 60% mark, the saga continued...

Deepak: Please reinstall the software to Activate the software on your computer.

Me: I'm doing it.

Deepak: If any error please contact us back on Live chat.

Me: I still don't know if it will work yet.

Deepak: Thank you for the information.

Deepak: Sorry for the wait. Please do stay online.

Deepak: I'll be right with you.

Me: OK, I've reinstalled the software, but it's still saying my activation limit has been exceeded and the option to deactivate it is still greyed out.

Deepak: If you have not activated the product during the install, please launch the product and under the 'Help' menu you will find the Activation option from where you can activate it.

And so on and so forth.

Eventually, some considerable time after I'd stopped copying and pasting a record of this conversation into Word, the problem was finally resolved and the feckless Deepak sent me on my way with a "good day". Looking back at the above log, I'm actually quite impressed with myself for managing to remain so calm and resisting a burning desire to call Deepak a fucking useless stupid twat. It's all sorted now, but if it happened once it can (and I'm sure will) happen again, and I'm not particularly looking forward to another bout of this farce.

In the software world, Photoshop is among the most pirated applications out there (after Windows itself, of course), and I'm proud to say I'm not one of those shameless leeches. (Seriously, if you're not willing to pay for your image editing software, why not give the freeware Gimp or Paint.net a go?) Experiences like mine, however, aren't exactly a ringing endorsement for becoming a paying customer. The sad fact is that I could probably have downloaded a crack that solved my problem in a fraction of the amount of time it took Deepak to pull his finger out. But, good boy that I am, I chose to go down the legit route - more fool me.

#1038: Thelma & Louise

11:03 PM / Blu-ray / No Comments

(BD, 20th Century Fox/MGM, Region A, USA)

#1037: L'illusionniste/Les triplettes de Belleville

11:03 PM / Blu-ray / 3 Comments

(BD, Pathé, Region B, France)

Buried OAR blunder alert

4:17 PM / Blu-ray / 11 Comments

A word of advice to anyone thinking of picking up Icon's UK release of BURIED: don't. It is in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 rather than the theatrical 2.35:1. I don't know whether it's open matte, cropped, or a combination of the two, but either way this is a far less than optimal presentation - particularly when Lions Gate has released it in the US in its correct ratio. My copy arrived while I was down south - now that I've discovered this gaffe, I'll be returning it.

Maintain radio silence

11:35 AM / General / 1 Comment

No updates until the weekend, folks. I'm flying down to London tomorrow morning and from there heading out to Elstree for a three-day course on story structure.

Image comparison: Szamanka

6:40 PM / DVD / 1 Comment

Apologies for the tardiness of this comparison, but SZAMANKA was unfortunately plagued by supply issues and I wanted to wait until more people had got their hands on a copy before posting this.

[Continue reading...]

Track layout ideas

7:54 PM / Model Railways / No Comments

With the help of a great program called AnyRail, I've been experimenting with various ideas for permanent model railway layouts. As I mentioned before, I have a finite amount of available space on my bedroom floor, exacerbated by the fact that I really need to be able to move around the room. My plan, therefore, it to build a portable layout - one that makes use of as much space as possible but can be lifted up and propped against the wall when not in use. Having done some measurements, I've come to the conclusion that the largest feasible size of baseboard I can go with is somewhere in the region of 230 x 180 cm. (Theoretically, it would be possible to go for a 230 x 230 square, but this would present problems for storage - 230 cm is not all that far off the height of my ceiling.)

230 x 180 is pretty reasonable when all said and done - it's not massive, but it gives me room for something a heck of a lot more interesting than the bog standard oval that comes with Hornby's entry level train sets. Here's what I've managed to cook up:

With apologies to Hornby, from whose most recent track plans book the above layout draws heavily - specifically TrakMat Extension 1 (the terminus station at the bottom) and Layout 4/13 (the turntable and sidings).

Basically, it's a three-line affair, allowing me to run three locomotives at once - one on each line. Technically you can run more than one train on a single line, but given the inherent variations in speed (even between different models of the same locomotive type), and the fact that with standard DC operation (as opposed to the flashier and more expensive DCC) you technically control the TRACK, not the train(s) on it, collisions will invariably occur sooner or later. According to AnyRail's handy calculator, this layout has a total track length of a shade under 33 metres - not bad when you consider the size of the board. This includes the three main loops (blue, orange and purple in the diagram above), sidings (green) and other miscellaneous areas (grey).

I consider the concept of a continuous loop (i.e. with the trains going round and circles) a necessary evil. While there's something to be said for the added realism of an end-to-end layout, I can't say I'm thrilled by the idea of having to constantly sit next to the controller and continually stop and start the train as soon as it reaches the end of the line. That said, I've tried to give the impression that the railway is in fact larger than what's visible on the baseboard: at the top and bottom left hand side I've added branches of straight track that lead off into nothingness, and will probably end up concealing the fact that they just lead to dead ends with a couple of tunnels or something similar. I've also tried to make the best use of the available space and work in as much straight track as possible - the curves in model railways are, as a necessary evil, far tighter than they would be in reality, and long trains can end up looking a tad silly going round them. I suspect I'll ultimately end up trying to conceal at least one set of corner curves (probably the top right) with the addition of some raised terrain and a tunnel.

I'm getting slightly ahead of myself, though. This layout is far from finalised (I designed the bulk of it this afternoon, and have at least a dozen alternate designs ), and I haven't even built the baseboard yet, let alone started accumulating all the track and materials for scenery I'm going to need. This will ultimately be something I create in stages, governed by time and money. My plan it to have a fully functional layout at all times if possible, but I'll be starting small and piecing it together bit by bit. Things like tunnels and raised terrain (something I've never attempted before) will no doubt be the final pieces added to the puzzles, so initially this is all going to look a bit basic. Still, even at its most rudimentary stage I'm sure it'll be a big step up from the TrakMat layout:

I'll keep you updated on the project's progress.

BD impressions: The Social Network

2:55 PM / BD Impressions / 10 Comments

The film: I purposefully avoided writing this post until after the release of Movie Matters Episode 5, because otherwise it would have been blatantly obvious what my personal number one film of 2010 was. That film is indeed THE SOCIAL NETWORK, pipping TOY STORY 3 to the post at the last minute and a welcome return to form for David Fincher after the toe-curling THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON.

Someone (I forget who) recently wrote (I forget where) that Fincher is in his element when he gets to indulge his misanthropic side, which I suspect is why, for me, BENJAMIN BUTTON was such a disappointment: it was sickeningly sentimental and an incredibly ill fit for the director of SE7EN and FIGHT CLUB. Happily, THE SOCIAL NETWORK finds him back in his old stomping ground, aided by Aaron Sorkin's biting and frequently hilarious script about the man who created the world's most popular social network but in the process found himself with no friends. There has been a lot of debate as to the authenticity of the film's depiction of Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook, but I can't say it worries me unduly. If THE SOCIAL NETWORK was a complete work of fiction it would be no less brilliant than it is: a riveting two-hour account of the creation of a web site... except it's about a lot more than that, and it's in the film's exploration of loneliness and betrayal that its real strengths lie. Fincher has more than redeemed himself after the blip that was his previous film, and I now await his take on THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO with some anticipation (which is quite an achievement, given that I'm still not sure it's a film that has any valid reason to exist). 10/10

Image quality: Fincher continues down his post-PANIC ROOM digital path, and the resulting image is on some occasions brilliant but on others slightly disappointing. Close-ups are often highly detailed, but wider shots tend to suffer, with less detail than I would have expected and some noticeable ringing. 7/10

The Social Network
studio: Sony Pictures; country: USA; region code: A;
codec: AVC; aspect ratio: 2.39:1

How to stop your model train from squeaking

1:21 PM / Model Railways / No Comments

You will need:

• One (1) bottle cork
• One (1) unbent paperclip
• One (1) bottle of lubricating oil (approx. £3)

Using the paperclip and cork as a makeshift eye-dropper, apply a single drop of oil to each of the pivot points on the valve gear, linkage and axel bearings of your squeaky locomotive, plop it on the track and watch it glide away with nary a squeak or a squeal. This is hardly a hallowed trade secret - the instruction manual that comes with any Hornby model will tell you to do the above (including the nifty cork/paperclip trick) - but I'm amazed at how quickly and easily the most obnoxious of squeaks can be cured. My Evening Star started making an almighty racket after less than twenty-four hours and I was terrified something was wrong with the motor, but it turns out it just wasn't sufficiently lubricated at the factory. Now it's once again the quietest and smoothest-running of my three working locomotives (soon to be four, provided Hornby finally manages to release its long-delayed Rare Bird set, and provided I managed to get my pre-order in before all 1,000 pieces were snapped up).

By the way, I'm still trying to figure out the best solution to fitting as large a layout as possible into my bedroom. I'm still leaning towards creating some sort of portable baseboard, possibly on legs, that can be put away when not in use, but another solution would be to scrap the baseboard idea completely and simply construct as large a layout as possible running around the outer edges of my room. Of course, that would mean foregoing anything beyond the most basic scenery and would also be a nightmare from a vacuuming point of view (and for some reason this house gets incredibly dusty), so it may not be a feasible solution. It would let me have a much bigger layout, though.