matt northam.


'film' stuff

so i saw the dark knight..

Wed 30.07.08

the dark knight

You’d have to have been living under a rock at the bottom of a particularly large and intriguing cliff on Mars for the past year or so to not know that there’s a new Batman film out. And if that were the case, you’d be a fool. Some sort of alien fool in fact. I’ll presume that’s not the case and therefore urge you to go to see The Dark Knight as soon as you possibly can. It’s batfreaking awesome.

I don’t really do reviews - just ‘mentionings’ really - so when I say that the film pretty much lived up to the expectations I had (and more), that the Joker is unfuckwitable, that Batman kicks ass, and that I haven’t enjoyed a film so much in a long time - take that as a 5 popcorn boxes, two thumbs up and a certified fresh tomato rating.

I didn’t see it on IMAX due to the general retardedness that seems to surround our local eyesore in Bournemouth but still, thanks to a comfy seat quite close to the screen, I got a fairly decent experience anyway :) Really, there’s little I could say that wouldn’t ruin it if you haven’t seen it yet, so I wont. Just go and see it. Tis amazing.

Oh, and the pencil trick = mental. Wow.

so i saw cloverfield..

Mon 04.02.08

Cloverfield

It’s been a while since the 1-18-08 shizzle sparked my curiosity, so it was only right to go and see it in the cinema. Aside from the pricks in front of us eating nachos with salsa dips (seriously, why fucking eat in the cinema?! Is an hour and a half too long to cope without food? The shit stinks to high heaven, and then they go and drop it all over the floor. Pricks.), - apart from that - it was an enjoyable experience :)

The film is good. I liked it. Not sure what the reports of people being sick because of motion sickness are about because it really wasn’t that bad (to me. But then, I don’t suffer from motion sickness so who am I to judge?). It was like a better, more monsterific, more enjoyable Blair Witch. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone that’s not seen it but you do see the monster fairly clearly. It’s big.

Good stuff all ’round.. If you go and see it, keep an eye on the sea by Coney Island at the end.. and also, stay til the end of the credits… Oooh yeah.. Extra goodness (well, kinda)..

on the trail of the dark knight

Mon 17.12.07

The Dark Knight

You ought to know by now that there’s a new Batman film on it’s way. Next summer apparently. I cant wait. It looks the bees knees. There’s a 6 minute ish preview taken from the IMAX showings of ‘I Am Legend’ that you can watch here if you’re quick. The Joker looks sooo sick (both in the mental sense, and in the ‘whoa dude, that’s sick!’ sense).

I Miss My Mommy

What I’m really liking though, is the teaser stuff viral build-up they’re doing online with the various sites tied into the film. I’ve mentioned the Dark Knight and the Harvey Dent ones before but they’re increasing by the week it seems.. There was We Are The Answer for Harvey Dent, and then there’s been whysoserious (and it’s sub-sites) and Rent A Clown and rory’s death kiss which rather splendidly get people to engage with the Joker in ‘real life’ (if I wasn’t afraid of looking like a prick, I’d don the face paint and send a photo in). And then more recently, there’s A Taste For The Theatrical with its links to the high quality preview for the film, and the Gotham Times. Then there’s The Ha Ha Ha Times which is an alternative version of the Gotham paper.

Not to mention the other promo stuff, like this Joker cake or the Gotham Novelties box..

Super stuff! I love it. How cool would it be to be working on this project(?!) Note: WB, if you’re looking for some extra Photoshop work or CSS type of stuff, get in touch. I’ll do it for free. Fact.

I’m sure there’ll be more to come before the film gets released. It’s doing a superb job of building up anticipation (for me anyway) and I’ve no doubt the film will meet all my expectations :). My spidey-sense says so. (Oh wait, wrong film…)

opening credits from ‘the kingdom’

Thu 11.10.07

The Kingdom Opening Credits

To be honest, I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing the film, but these credits are very nicely done and have slightly changed my mind. I have no idea how historically accurate the ‘facts’ are and I’m not really fussed.. They’re put together superbly. Good work.

Go and watch the massive HD version here: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thekingdom.html?showVideo=1

SiCKO

Thu 21.06.07

sicko

sicko
The latest filum from Michael Moore is rather good and worth watching.. full of worrying, yet entertaining facts and stories. Worrying if you’re American, entertaining if you’re not. (I jest!) Either way, it’s required viewing. When I read things like 50 percent of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are due to medical expenses, it makes me glad to have the NHS. Good good good.

Edit:
I’m not sure that the above wordage really conveyed how this film made me feel.. and probably came off a bit jokey. I was thinking about it a bit more last night and really, how can a country like America not have a social healthcare system. It baffles me. Also baffles me when people complain about our NHS for waiting times etc, but when you think about what they actually do, it’s amazing. (And there’s always BUPA if you want to try it the American way.) Blah. I’m not sure I have any point; just watch the documentary when it comes out. The bit at the end in Cuba: awesome.

movie fun! batman & rambo

Mon 21.05.07

the dark knight

Despite the title of this post, batman & rambo aren’t in the same film. That’d be mental. This is just a couple of links to some upcoming (at some date, sometime in the future, possibly) films which are shaping up nicely.

Firstly, The Dark Knight. I’ve always loved me a bit of batman. Quite possibly my favourite superhero. He’s the shizzle. I used to call myself ‘batmatt’ as a child. Really. But anyway, no trailer for this as yet, but I do like the approach taken thus far with these sites. I always like it when marketing takes this approach and I’m hoping that there’ll be more in this vein. It’s only a wee taster but it’s enough to get me anticipating the film.

Official site: http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/
Harvey Dent’s campaign site: http://ibelieveinharveydent.warnerbros.com/
Harvey Dent ’support’ site: http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/

The ’support’ site started off as just the defaced poster, with a form which generated an email to you, with some coordinates that revealed a pixel of the poster. And if you replied to the email, you got a reply like: “People always ask me about my charming boyish smile. Jessica used to love it. She was the loneliest girl in high school, and my first big kiss…” or “I always say, you never know what a man is truly made of until you peel the skin off his face one piece at a time. Here is your chance to help:“. Very cool. If you go to the site now, you can see the full ‘reveal’. It’s cool. (In case you’re wondering, Harvey Dent is Two-Face.. and my first cat is called Two-Face. That’s largely irrelevant but still cool).

Secondly, there’s a new kinda of trailer floating around for John Rambo (Rambo IV) which is ridiculously gory and stupidly violent. It’s delicious! Watch it here.. http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/05/19/john-rambo-iv-feature-trailer/. Killing’s as easy as breathing..

so i saw 300..

Mon 26.03.07

Let’s give them something to drink
..and lo, it was great.

I’ve been waiting for it to come out for months and months now so it was only right that I saw it in the cinema (I don’t go to the cinema a lot nowadays.. more of a DVD type of person.. but some things demand that big screen experience don’t they? :)).

It really is visually stunning, and I can’t help but get caught up in epic battle scenes.. gets me every time. And it doesn’t get much better than in this film..

Go see it. It’s superb.

film titles collection

Tue 16.01.07

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

I intended to start this off by saying something about how film title sequences are under appreciated and it’s nice that there’s now a site dedicated to them.. But they’re not. Everyone loves titles now, and rightfully so. I blame Kyle Cooper.

But recognition aside, it IS still nice that there’s a site dedicated to those first few minutes of celluloid which is all-too-often ruined by people still trying to work out where they’re sitting. Head over to ‘Forget the film, watch the titles‘ and enjoy. There’s only a modest collection at the time of writing, but they do have some nice sequences which you may not have seen before. Or at least, I hadn’t. Good stuff.

Just for good measure, while you’re waiting for those links to load, here’s the opening sequence from ’seven’. Never gets old.


new trailer for 300

Mon 15.01.07

The 300

I know I’ve blogged about this film before, but really, I can’t emphasise enough quite how much I’m looking forward to it. There’s a new trailer available here: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/300_hd.html and it’s unfathomably dope.

Seriously; this film looks fucking quality.

I can’t wait.

random other post..

new music bonanza!!

Featuring Doomtree, The Game, GZA & Ice Cube

Continue reading this post..


all material by matt northam unless otherwise stated. mmvii etc. word.