The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

An avante garde thriller, directed by John Cassavetes, from the 1970's. A night club owner Cosmo Vittelli (Ben Gazzara), in debt to gangsters, is asked to murder someone else who owes them money.

I can't really recommend the film to anyone much: Vittelli owns possibly the most awful night club I've ever seen, everyone channelling Bertolt Brecht (I actually fast-forwarded through the worst bits, pretty much all of them), although the thriller parts are handled well enough. Apparently, it was significantly cut on release and still bombed.

As an aside, when John Cassavetes died in the 1980's, 2000AD commemorated the event by issuing a Judge Dredd story (Issue No. 627) in the style of the director called "John Cassavetes is Dead", about an old man who's arrested for collecting newspapers.

A Canterbury Tale

This is an obscure Powell and Pressburger film from the 1940's, via my LoveFilm subscription. A G.I. Sergent, his British counterpart and a Land Army girl try to solve the mysterious attacks of the "Glueman" in a Kent village.

The film is less about the mystery of who is attacking young women by pouring glue on their hair and more about the effect the war is having on the individuals and the country at the time (Canterbury was bombed in 1943 as part of the so-called Baedeker raids). It's also a big slice of nostalgia, showing a world that was fast disappearing even before the war.

Dead Man Down and The Numbers Station

Two films from my LoveFilm subscription. The first is a spy thriller with John Cusack and Liam Cunningham. After failing during an assassination, burnt-out CIA agent Emerson (Cusack) is sent to guard a cipher clerk at a remote radio transmission station.

Although the film has a good premise, it lacks substance. Cusack is good enough, and he has good support from Malin Åkerman and Cunnigham, but there's the feeling that there should have been a proper adversary for him, although the limited budget doesn't really help. An opportunity missed.

The second film is a rather good revenge thriller starring Colin Farrell. The vengeance of a criminal, "Victor" (Farrell), against his fellow gang members is jeopardised by his involvement with a neighbour.

Although the film promises to be quite bleak, and even run-of-the-mill, it's raised by the unlikely and awkward romance between Victor and Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), and good support from Isabelle Huppert and Dominic Cooper. Recommended.

Codes and Ciphers - Cicada 3301

Most of my interest in cryptography is fairly light, more along the lines of general theory and a few easy algorithms, but there is something more serious afoot in th' Internet. It's known as the Cicada 3301 problem, an annual competition, or rather challenge, to the best of the best to crack a series of interlinked cryptography and stenography puzzles. This years puzzle (blogged about by one of the solvers) reads like some kind of techno-thriller without any characters.

The idea seems to be that when someone finds a solution, they are then given instructions on how to post it and an address for a formal interview. There's speculation that it's a convoluted recruitment process for a government agency (NSA? GCHQ?) or the commercial equivalent.

Goon

This is an ice hockey film through the LoveFilm Instant service. Doug Glatt, a bouncer at a local bar, attends an ice hockey game with his friend and accidently gets involved in a fight with one of the players, resulting in him being recruited as an "enforcer" (someone who's job is to wade in when a fight starts and lay out the opposition, protecting the better players from getting hurt).

Based on a true story, it's Forrest Gump meets Slapshot. Seann William Scott is suitably monosylabic as Glatt and Liev Schreiber enjoys himself as Glatt's nemesis, Ross "The Boss" Rhea, but the plot is pretty much the trailer, so it compares badly to either of the other two films. An average pizza move, but perhaps more meaningful if you like ice hockey.

The Place Beyond The Pines

Through the LoveFilm Instant service, this is a story of two men, the crime that joins them, and the consequences for both them and their sons.

An unusual crime drama, this is three stories told one after the other. The first is about circus motorbike rider Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) who, on finding he has a son, takes up robbing banks in a misguided attempt to support the boy and his mother Romina (Eva Mendes). He is finally cornered by policeman Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) and the second story is what happens to Cross afterwards when he discovers police corruption in the wake of the confrontation. The third story is about their sons who encounter each other fifteen years later and discover what happened.

It's quite a long film, which is hardly surprising given the content, and it does drag a little in places. Gosling does his best as the troubled Glanton, but he can only play one note and that's getting a bit tiresome now. Bradley Cooper does better as the principled, but ambitious, Cross, and the support is good, if somewhat muted. All-in-all a good movie, but requiring some patience, especially at the end.

Deadfall

Another through my LoveFilm subscription, this is a suitably chilly crime story. After their escape from a casino heist has gone wrong, siblings Addison (Eric Bana) and Lisa (Olivia Wilde) split up to make their way to the Canadian border, only to meet up accidentally at someones Thanksgiving dinner.

Not a bad little thriller, with a good cast (notably Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson), but the plot is a bit thin and the dialogue could do with a bit of sharpening up. Good pizza movie, though, and much better than Killing Them Softly.

Cloud Atlas

Through my LoveFilm subscription, this is the adaption of the book by David Mitchell. Six interlinking stories are told interleaved: the journal of an 19th Century man on an Pacific ocean journey; a young composer in the 1930's trying to work for an aged genius; a 1970's journalist investigating the death of a nuclear scientist; a present-day publisher trying to escape from a care home; a recently freed clone in the 22nd century; a primitive goat-herder in a post-apocalyptic future.

I read the book a while ago and it's probably best that you do in order to enjoy the film, or at least make sense of it. To be able to translate such a conceptually complex book into a film is quite an achievement, and it almost works. The visual effects are quite stunning and there must be an Oscar somewhere for the best make-up: Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving and Hugh Grant are unrecognisable in some of their roles. Both the main and supporting cast are top drawer, especially Jim Broadbent, but what brings the film down, as in the book, is trying to link disparate stories together: it's too flimsy. Still, the film is worth watching.

RED 2 - Getting the Band Back Together

The first film of the new year is the sequel to the comedy\thriller adaption of local hero Warren Ellis' comic book. Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is trying to settle down with his new girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), but his former life intrudes in the form of a mad scientist (Anthony Hopkins) and a foxy counter-intelligence agent (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

While not quite as good as the original film, this is an entertaining two hours with lots of bangs and crashes. Willis plays to his strengths; Parker is her usual sparky self, especially when confronted with Zeta-Jones as Frank's former flame; the supporting cast is good, with Mirren and Cox enjoying themselves again, John Malkovich typecasting and Hopkins trying not to be Hanibal Lecter. Byung-hun Lee is also good as Frank's supposed nemesis, and Neal McDonough takes a break from Mob City to be a ruthless government agent. The plot lacks a little substance and the dialog could have done with sharpening, but, as sequels go, it isn't nearly as bad as the Expandables 2.

McDonough is also in The Prototype, a thriller based on the notion of the singularity, a concept talked about by the London Futurists quite a bit.

Looks like fun!

True Grit

Happy New Year, everybody.

While seeing in the New Year with my Aunt and Uncle in the wild and wooly North West, I brought over the remake of True Grit to watch. Fourteen year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) hires aged Federal Marshal Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to bring her father's killer to justice:

Although the original is considered a classic, I was never that enamoured of it. This improves on it slightly, and definitely has the weirdness of a Coen brother's movie, which can be a little arresting in places, although I imagine it stays very true to the book. The support is good, too, if a little underused (with the exception of Matt Damon reprising Glen Campbell's role as the Texas Ranger LeBoeuf). Not a bad little pizza movie, but requiring a little patience.

Mud - A Tale from the Riverbank

Merry Christmas, everybody.

An excellent film through my LoveFilm subscription, a modern day Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Ellis and his friend Neckbone (Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) find someone living in an abandoned boat they had hoped to take for themselves.

A story of love, fate and growing up, Matthew McConaughey shines as the troubled and desperate Mud. The plot moves at a brisk pace, the dialogue sounds great, and the supporting characters are well played, especially Reese Witherspoon as Mud's girlfriend and Sam Shepard as his father figure. However, this is really the tale of Ellis as he struggles to figure out a complex and dangerous adult world. Very recommended and I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the running for best film or screenplay at the Oscars.

Now You see Me

Through LoveFilm, this is a nice little caper film. Four illusionists (Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson and Isla Fisher) are brought together to stage the ultimate act of their careers, but a much grander show is being played out.

It's a pretty good film, with a good cast (Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman supporting) and a reasonable plot, if a little preposterous, plus the magic tricks are imaginitive. A good, if undemanding, pizza movie.

Killing Them Softly

Via my LoveFilm subscription, this is an adaption of another novel by the author who wrote The Friends of Eddie Coyle. After two small-time crooks rob a poker game, hitman Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) is tasked to sort out the problem.

If Samuel Beckett decided to write the screeplay for a crime film and got Andrei Tarkovsky or Ingmar Bergman to direct it, you'd end up with something like this. I suppose it's meant to be a black comedy, and it is funny in places, but the bulk of it is deadly dull, weary even. In fact, I'd say that it's better to watch the trailer: those are the best bits. Not recommended.

Gangster Squad

As part of my LoveFilm subscription, I watched this merry little cops-and-gangsters tale centred around Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is tasked by L.A. Police chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) to take down Cohen and his gang.

What might otherwise have been a run-of-the-mill, and more violent, Untouchables clone is enhanced by a half-decent plot and good supporting cast. It's Penn and Brolin's movie, though, and you can feel every punch in the final showdown as they take each other apart. A decent, if undemanding, pizza movie.

Mob City, a series just started in the U.S., covers much the same story, but seems to have a more ambiguous tone:

A few years ago, I read (or tried to read: it's fairly heavy going) City of Quartz, a social, political and cultural history of Los Angeles by Mike Davis.

Despite it's style, it's a fascinating book on a fascinating subject.

P99:L8:W11	P241:L35:W1	P225:L18:W6
P163:L11:W13	P60:L26:W9	P130:L2:W2

Oxfam Sunday - Wombats and Dodgy £20's

I went up onto the top deck today to take over from Lautaro (it's a Spanish name, but he's a Scotsman), and he'd left on the CD player a reasonably decent compilation, in which was this catchy number from those lovable scousers, The Wombats:

It was a fairly uneventful shift: people seem to be concentrating on getting presents for Christmas and leaving us except for cards and wrapping paper.
I'd run out of £10's at one point and asked Mark to bring any up. He examined one of the £20's in the till and started holding it up to the light. He explained that he had a conversation with one of the tellers at the bank and he got a few tips on how to spot a fake. I compared the one he was looking at with another and they were almost identical, but there is a watermarked £20 which was slightly off in the "fake" note:

If it is a fake, it's a good one! It passed the marking test with our security pen.

I also got a Penguin Special from John, The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard:

It's about advertising, S185, published in 1960.

Dragonmeet 2013

For a change of pace, I went to the games festival Dragonmeet at Kensington Town Hall. There were the usual stalls, including Chessex, the dice makers:

Yummy!

I indulged a little and bought a card game I've played before, Love Letter by Aldaric Entertainment:

It's a lovely little game, very easy to play.

I only managed to play one game while there, Camelot by Wotan Games. They were introducing the game and it was delightful to play. It's a tile laying game, interior designing for King Arthur.

The designer, Julian, is the chap in the middle.

All-in-all a nice day out.

Parker

No, nothing to do with Thunderbirds.

After being double crossed and left for dead following a daring robbery, thief and robber Parker (Jason Statham) plots his revenge.

What could have been an ingenious crime and revenge thriller is let down by the meandering plot, mediocre direction and Statham's lack of enthusiasm, as well as being outclassed by supporting actors like Nick Nolte, Michael Chiklis and Wendel Pierce, who are woefully underused. I'd like to say it's better than nothing, but it isn't. Watch something else.

Drugs 2.0 by Mike Power

Today, I went to see a scouser about drugs! Mike Power is a freelance journalist who's written a very intriguing account about the combination of the Internet and the illegal drug business, topical considering the recent arrest of the creator of the Silk Road web site, and he gave a presentation about the background to the book to the London Futurists.

Mike started out, as every Liverpudlian is obliged to do, with the Beatles and he showed this rare photo of them with a common stimulant at the time, Preludin (or phenmetrazine, which is the chemical name).

He'd got interested in the business and culture of drugs while being based in Columbia, which, at the time, was producing 600 tonnes of cocaine a year. He saw first hand the ridiculousness of the War on Drugs, relating a story about visiting a Coca farmer who, upon being raided and having a field of crops destroyed, told him that it would be replaced within six months. It was a similar story with another drug of choice, MDMA, or Ecstacy. This is usually produced using a substance called safrole, extracted from the roots of a type of camphor wood tree from Cambodia, and much time has been spent in vain blowing up stills in the forests there.

When the credit crunch happened, there was a drop in the demand for both drugs, creating a demand for "legal" highs, initially Mephedrone, and the subsequent moral panic leading to the odd situation of an alarmist article on a new drug on the Daily Telegraph web site alongside a Google advert for the same drug.

This all intrigued Mike and he then set about figuring out how easy it would be to make his own designer drug, a variation of phenmetrazine. Not easily, as he found out, but, through contacts and some considerable study, he managed to find a small, professional pharmaceutical lab in China that produced a small amount of his new drug and shipped the substance via the mail system. It was all a bit dodgy and there was lots of anonymity involved (false names, referring to the drug as "metal cleaning powder", post office boxes, etc.) but he got the drugs, all perfectly legal. Or not illegal. Yet.

He then highlighted the role of the Dark Web, specifically the Silk Road web site and it's many subsequent inheritors, pointing out that it's not sleazy, addled dopers who are doing this but very bright tech people with PhD's. Combined with legal highs, there's a very compelling and rational business case and a lot of money to be made. He also pointed out the scale of the problem: there are currently 200+ new, legal, highs, including two derivatives of LSD.

His solution was somewhat predictable, but based on an unusual premise. The derivatives are usually inferior to the original. He pointed out that only two people died at Woodstock in 1968, and one of those was run over by a tractor, despite there being 500,000 people stoned out of their minds on "normal" drugs. This he contrasted with Brownstock, a festival in Essex attended by 5000 people, where some middle management chap died (and his girlfriend nearly did) taking some new drug, 5-MAPB, hardly anyone had even heard of. So why not, on a case-by-case basis, make the old drugs legal, or at least not criminal.

It was a fascinating presentation about a real, and slightly scary, adventure told in an engaging way.

Almost Human

That Karl Urban, he doesn't half get around. If he's not calling Bruce Wilis "grandpa", or playing Bones McCoy, he's being Judge Dredd, and now he's in a futuristic cop series over in the 'states.

It seems a bit formulaic, but it's nice to have a bit of cyberpunk to balance out all the horror\fantasy stuff.

Oxfam Sunday - Fun Lovin' Criminals & B.R.M.C

Today I did an afternoon shift at the shop, up on the top deck. We did a reasonable trade, but I didn't bring any CD's with me, so I had a scout around and spotted an old album by the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club:

Not bad, but it tended to lag towards the end. Next up was the Fun Lovin' Criminals:

Again, a few hits, but falling off afterwards.