Joyous Film Review

Game of the Year 2010 - Feature - PlayDevil

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Finally for this glut of blog posts, I was among the writers who contributed to PlayDevil's Game of the Year 2010. Click below to see which five I selected, with a little blurb to explain each of my picks.

As with films, there were plenty of titles I missed in 2010, but I confident most of my selections would challenge for a place in any end-of-year list. Apart from Pokemon. Don't judge me!

Give this link a top click and revel at the revealed revelations.

Film of the Year 2010 - Feature - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:47:00 +0000

The hive mind at Den of Geek broke down into its collective parts and each submitted their top 5 films of the year. I was one of these humble nodes and you can click the link below to find out what I selected.

The overall winner is definitively not what I would of chosen. Not that I think Toy Story 3 is bad, it's just definitely not as good as everyone else seems to think it is. So there!

Otherwise, if I missed something awesome it's probably because I didn't see it. There were so many fine looking features I missed in 2010, but DoG wanted personal selections and that is what I gave them. I'd encourage you to check out anything from my five you haven't see. I know from scouring my colleague's lists that there are plenty of films I'll be doing my best to catch up on in 2011.

Click here for the mammoth Den of Geek top film list.

Epic Mickey - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Anyone clued in to the roster of upcoming video game releases might have been more than a little excited by the prospect of Epic Mickey. After all, the idea of combining the mind behind cult favourite Deus Ex with Disney's disc-eared avatar seems intriguing. Words like "dark" and "world-altering" were thrown around during the development, creating a small pocket of intense hype.

That tiny bubble burst into a cascade of disappointment following the game's release, which proved more rote than Epic. Still, it isn't bad and if you weren't caught up in the quagmire of prerelease hysteria, you might find that Epic Mickey scratches your 3D platforming itch for a little while.

Epically click here for the full review.

Reikland Revolutionaries - Supplement - Liber Fanatica

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:11:00 +0000

This is one for fans of roleplaying and/or Warhammer. I know you're out there. Don't deny it! I can see that D&D 3.5 rulebook stuffed under your shirt and those paint-stained fingers thrust into pockets. You don't fool me, ultra-nerd!

Trying to describe roleplaying is notoriously difficult. I usually fail to find a palatable middle ground between 'collaborative storytelling' and 'men with beards and dice pretending to be wizards'. I'm not sure which sounds worse, but all you really need to know is, yes it's very nerdy, and, yes, it's very fun.

For this unofficial supplement to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3, I've concocted a series of revolutionary groups who make their home in the fictional province of Reikland. It's some added background flavour for players and GMs, along with fodder for potential campaign ideas and plot points. This forms a nice prelude to the work I'm currently undertaking for WFRP 3 proper, which should see the light of day during the late spring to early summer.

You can download the full thing for free, here!

Turner Prize 2010 - Review - Aesthetica

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:50:00 +0000

In what is becoming a worryingly monthly trend, I have just now found the time to update my blog. I would promise to be more punctual with these posts, but I suspect I'd be too busy to keep my word. I'm afraid you'll have to put up with binge blogging for now.

Early in December I wrote my first article for the Aesthetica Blog, sister to the modern art magazine of the same name. What better place to start than the Turner Prize, an award that many people consider emblematic of what is both right and wrong with art today. As evidence of the strong feelings it evokes, check the second comment on the post, which contains such gems as, "Are u really that dumb that you think what u believe matters ?" Stirring stuff.

Clique here to read what I thought of the whole hoopla.

DeathSpanks: Thongs of Virtue - Review - PlayDevil

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:58:00 +0000

Despite the curious title, this isn't some kind of bizarre sex game, but the latest computerised offering from Ron Gilbert - of Monkey Island and general LucasArts fame. In the much-aped vein of Diablo, DeathSpank is all about murdering monsters with increasingly awesome sharp/explosiony implements.

The gameplay is satisfying, but the real reason you come to a Gilbert game is for the witty wordplay. Every single line of dialogue is delivered with a charmingly over the top panache from the stellar voice-cast. The quips are not exactly Stoppardian, but there are enough chucklesome lines to get you through the game with a smile on your face.

Click here for my brand-spankingly new full review.

Comic Jumper - Review - PlayDevil

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:33:00 +0000

Twisted Pixel have just announced Ms. 'Splosion Man, a sequel to their debut XBLA title, 'Splosion Man. Sandwiched between the two combustibles is Comic Jumper, a sidescrolling shooter that revels in the kind of fourth-wall bursting sillyness that has become Twisted Pixel's trademark.

The action itself is a little suspect, but it has the rare honour of being a genuinely amusing video game.

Click here to jump straight to the full review.

The Problem With Sex as a Video Game Goal

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:14:00 +0000

Over at the mighty Kotaku, an editorial of mine has been posted on the subject of sex in video games. More specifically, the way in which video games that attempt emotional narratives often treat intercourse as the completion, or pinnacle, of a relationship.

It's a thrill to write for Kotaku and, judging by the number of comments, the article seems to have struck a minor cord. Plenty have chimed in tell me how wrong I am, or suggest games where romantic relationships are depicted more successfully. There are even a few who sympathise with my arguments, but then there's no accounting for taste.

To see people engaging with your work is all very gratifying and lovely. Hopefully a harbinger of things to come.

Dip your mouse in the murky world of simulated amour by clicking here.

Super Meat Boy - Review - PlayDevil

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 16:39:00 +0000

This is a game that makes me happy to be living in 2010. A world in which indie developers can invent a ridiculous piece of entertainment and have it distributed on a major console platform.

Team Meat's daring platformer is both a warm embrace and a kick in the balls, challenging you to fling a small slab of meat around platforming levels full of buzz saws and missiles. It's difficult, but very rewarding.

Click here for the full review.

Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter - Review - PlayDevil

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Next up for PlayDevil is this review of Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter. The Serious Sam games are a turn-of-the-century love letter to the first person shooters of the mid-nineties. They were deliberately dated when they were released and now that they've had a graphical overhaul for Xbox Live Arcade, they're practically archaic.

The outdated adage that you can't make an FPS for consoles is actually true of Serious Sam. The controls just aren't snappy enough to deal with the never ending waves of enemies you have to fend off. Overall its a frustrating experience. Unless you have a desperate need for some pretend nostalgia, I can't think why you'd choose to play this over a more modern shooter.

Point your gunmouse here and fire to see the full PlayDevil review.

Sonic Adventure - Review - PlayDevil

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:50:00 +0000

I'm now writing video game reviews for PlayDevil.com. Getting a regular game writing gig is something I've wanted to do for a while, so I'm glad to have been given this opportunity. Here's my first offering, a downbeat review Sonic Adventure for Xbox Live Arcade.

For my 13th Birthday, my parents bought me a Dreamcast. It was a total surprise. Up to that point they had expressed fundamental opposition to me owning a games console. For that reason I've always had a slightly over-emotional attachment to the SEGA's final console and, it appears, Sonic Adventure. Divorced from the heady days of my youth, the game is shown up as tawdry piece of software. The only saving grace are the charming Chao, whose microcosm of evolution remains just as fascinating to me.

For the full lowdown on the Blue Menace, click here.

Los Olvidados - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:31:00 +0000

I must offer you my sincerest and most apologetic apologies, oh follower(s). I prostrate myself at your sweet-smelling feet, writhing around in the dust making a face-down snow angel. I've been neglecting my little corner of the internet of late, in favour of other stuff like "work" and "having fun". But no more! I am back. No longer will you have to struggle through the day without knowing what it is I've written recently. Without further ado, if any of you are still alive, here's a thing I did a while ago.

Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel is most famous for his zeitgeisty erotic drama Belle de Jour, but twenty years previous he was labouring in obscurity. After being cast aside by moustachioed melty-watch man Salvador Dali, he ended up dubbing films in Hollywood and working at the New York Museum of Modern Art. He sought artistic refuge in Mexico and began making low budget gritty movies about real people. His most successful offering, and the film that brought him back to the attention of the world, was Los Olvidados. Check the link below to see what I thought of it's new DVD release.

Click here for the full review.

I'm Still Here - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:59:00 +0000

Chances are you might have heard about Joaquin Phoenix's high-profile retirement from acting in 2008. The two-time Academy nominee quit the profession to embark upon a career as a hip-hop artist. To aid his cause he began behaving like a lunatic and grafted sunglasses and a homeless man's beard to his face.

His film star brother-in-law Casey Affleck (brother of Ben) has been following him around with a camera since 2008 and this documentary is the result. Whether or not its depiction of a celebrity going slowly mad is a hoax or not is still up in the air, but either way it's film well worth watching.

My review is still here and if you click on this sentence you can read it.

Dogtooth - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:52:00 +0000

This film did really strange things to my head. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I felt messed up for the whole evening after watching it. It's a quality piece of cinema, but not a particularly pleasant one to sit through. The comedy is so bleak as to be practically non-existent and the set-up is fiendishly depressing.

Three adult children are kept trapped inside their large Greek home, brainwashed into believing that nothing it wrong with their twisted lives. The addition of an outside influence begins a very slow and unnerving unravelling of their domestic situation.

Click here for the fullest of full reviews.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:03:00 +0000

Hey! You remember Fantasia right? And I bet, when I mentioned Fantasia, you thought of that really famous bit with Mickey Mouse and some unruly mops. Well, Disney, the clever chaps that they are, decided to turn that animated short into a full length live-action feature staring Nicholas Cage and Jay Baruchel. Don't furrow your brown like that, it might be good!

No, you're right - it isn't.

The cast and crew make a valiant attempt at sorcerous family entertainment, but fall short on most counts. Baruchel is a charming nerd and he has a good love story sub-plot, but there's little else to get excited about. It could have been a star or so better were it not for some vicious editing and strange pacing that undermine the story. Also it's disappointing to see Cage playing it safe, when his role is so perfectly primed for some Class A batshit nonsense.

Click this sentence for the full review.

The War Lord - Review - DVD Outsider

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:49:00 +0000

For some reason I forgot to post this review when it went up. Luckily the film is a good 50 years old, so I'm not sure a weeks delay in reading the review will do it any great disservice. Also, the it isn't very good. The War Lord knows what it wants to be - a grand historical epic - but it just doesn't have the chops to pull it off. Even Mr. Epic himself, Charlton Heston, can't make it work.

Interestingly, the editor for DVD Outsider actually quite likes this film, but graciously posted my review without massively editing it or cutting my head off. See below for the full skinny.

Click here for the full review.

Le Grand Jeu - Review - DVD Outsider

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:44:00 +0000

The 1934 French classic Le Grand Jeu recently fell under my beady eye and a review of the film is now up at DVD Outsider. I loved it, perhaps more than many other critics. Wikipedia tells us that:

"Critics have subsequently tended to find weaknesses in the acting of the two principals, now overshadowed by the supporting contributions of the better-known Charles Vanel and Françoise Rosay."

I think that's rubbish. Vanel was a caricature and Rosay was good, but Marie Bell and Pierre Richard-Wilm put in far and away the best performances. I wonder whether the much more illustrious careers of Vanel and Rosay have had an impact on how critics from the last 50 years have perceived the film.

To read my review, without all this egotistical introspection, click on the link below.

Click here for the full review.

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:22:00 +0000

My second review for the wonderful Den of Geek is another DVD release, this time a documentary about the film Inferno (L'Enfer). The endless perfectionism of renowned French director Henri-Georges Clouzot and an excessively lavish production all conspired to ensure that Inferno was never completed. Documentary makes Serge Bromberg has unearthered hours of footage thought lost and combined it with new cast and crew interviews to create a film that is interesting and engaging without ever being compelling.

Click here for the full review at Den of Geek.

The Lovely Bones - Review - Den of Geek

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:17:00 +0000

My latest review has just popped up on Den of Geek, covering the DVD release of The Lovely Bones. This is the first full length feature from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, since 2005's King Kong. It tracks the story of Susie Salmon, a young girl who watches her family from "heaven" after being murdered in the film's early stages. It's a visually arresting picture, with some good performances and some a fatally damaging flaws. Click the link below for the full review.

The Lovely Bones DVD Review

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors - Review - DVD Outsider

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:49:00 +0000

My review of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Sergei Parajanov, a Soviet filmmaker who rebelled against the communist cinematic conventions of the 1960s. He faced persecution and repeated imprisonment thanks of his stubborn aesthetic vision. He is undeniably a very interesting man, but his seminal work is even more so. It is a film full of strange methods, weird sounds, and poetic acting. Focussing on the idiosyncratic Hutsul people of the Carpathian mountains, it follows the life of Ivan - a man for whom love and loss are constant companions.

Click here for the full review

What Comics Can Learn From Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:58:00 +0000

An article I wrote for Den of Geek, exploring what comics can learn from video games in their attempts to shed that geeky stigma, while making a push for mainstream cultural acceptability. In years gone by, video games were also considered "just for kids and geeks" for a large section of the population, now the release of the next Modern Warfare has people queuing up for midnight launch events. For more cutting insight, mined straight from my brain, click the link below.

What Comics Can Learn From Video Games

Robin Hood - Review - DVD Outsider

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:45:00 +0000

I recently caught the new Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe interpretation of Robin Hood. The film is a disjointed, distended epic with satisfying fights and visual splendour - but is it really Robin Hood?

Robin Hood Review

Stonewall Uprising - Review - DVD Outsider

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:54:00 +0000

I saw this documentary at the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival and thought it pretty snazzy. The film itself is nothing special, but the riots at the Stonewall Inn which it relates are extremely interesting. Especially if you have more than a passing interest in human rights (shouldn't everyone?).

Stonewall Uprising Review

Blog Redesign

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Hello loyal follower(s).

Since most of my film work is now done for websites and publications, this blog has been sorely neglected. For that reason, I'm going to transmorpherize it into a general repository of my collected works, so that anyone who cares to keep up to date with my writing can do so with consummate ease. Hopefully that means that it will be updated more regularly and with more interesting thingamyjobs.

Joe

P.S. Keep up to date with me on twitter @JoeOE18

Alice in Wonderland 3D (PG)

noreply@blogger.com (Joyous Film) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:52:00 +0000

Ever since the 1989 Batman reboot, Tim Burton has been Hollywood’s most bankable twisted imagination. He has consistently produced break-out cult oddities like Edward Scissorhands alongside box-office golden tickets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd. Through a policy of auterish control and selectiveness he has managed the near-impossible task of remaining an artistic visionary to his many fans and a reliable money-spinner for studio executives. This exclusive club also counts Johnny Depp as a member; the enigmatic actor with whom Burton shares a seamless working relationship. So when a new adaption of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland began floating around the cinematic ether, the Burton & Depp dynamic duo seemed like the perfect choice to turn it into silver screen gold. The lyrical tale of a little girl’s journey into a fantastical land, filled with weird and wonderful creatures, is the perfect platform for flights of Burton’s wild imagination. While, in the Mad Hatter, Carroll’s fiction presents a screwball character tailor made for Depp to stretch his well-worn overacting muscles.

Burton’s Alice is not directly sourced from the books (like Disney’s 1951 version), instead focussing on an adolescent Alice who is convinced that her previous adventures in Wonderland were just dreams. Mia Wasikowska does a serviceable job of playing the grown-up lead as a reluctant aristocrat in training, lost in sea of upper-class clichés and about be married off to a sneering young lord. This short staging ground serves only to root the character in the real world before we plunge head-first down the rabbit hole, into the ‘Wonderland through a Tim Burton lens’ that we have all been waiting for.

Anyone at all familiar with any version of the Alice story will find themselves immediately at home. Shrinking drink, expanding cake, and a tiny door test Alice’s resolve before she can step out in the weird wide open country. So far so Alice, but from here the film begins to deviate from the accepted pattern. Our hero quickly runs into a random assembly of characters from her previous adventures, anxiously awaiting her return. The pipe-puffing Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) tells a doubtful Alice that her arrival is part of an ancient prophecy that culminates with her wielding the Vorpal Sword to slay the Jabberwocky - a fearsome dragon under the sway of The Red Queen. Seasoned Wonderland scholars will recognize sword and beast from the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem featured in Through the Looking Glass, conceived as a demonstration of linguistic ingenuity rather than a story. Cherry picking elements from Carroll’s two Alice novels and moulding them into an overarching narrative is, at first glance, a sensible idea, but in practice it carves out the heart of what makes Wonderland wonderful.

All the famous oddballs make an appearance, including Tweedledee & Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and a superb Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), but instead of being a traditionally disconnected set of characters, they - along with the Mad Hatter and cohorts - form a kind of revolutionary cabal intent on bringing down the Red Queen. The need to constantly further the narrative robs these delightfully strange inventions of the screen time they crave to really establish themselves. We barely have a moment to enjoy each stellar piece of voice-work from the respected British cast before we are whisked off to the next plot point. Even Depp’s Mad Hatter, who has considerably more exposure than the other Wonderland natives, spends most of his time on story exposition instead of cutting loose into the full blown effeminate madness his performance hints at. As the villainous Red Queen (a conglomeration of both The Red Queen and Queen of Hearts), Helena Bonham Carter is given the most free reign. Her petulant monarch is good fun and even more impressive when thrown into sharp relief by the bland Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover). A tart thief in the books and a one-eyed general in the film, his largely vacuous existence is the most blatant and disheartening example of the vivid emanations of Lewis Carroll’s imagination being transformed into dull narrative cudgels.

Alice is at its most rewarding when the little Burton-esque touches break through the relentless march of plot. The Queen’s executioner with a heart shaped axe or the violently lunatic March Hair bring a brief smile to your face, but are all too quickly brushed aside by the need to push on to the next snippet of cod-fantasy story. All in all, Alice in Wonderland is a very underwhelming experience that hints at a potential it depressingly refuses to realise.

Joseph Ewens