Good morning folks. Just a quick little post to get the day off and running.
Monday I wrote a little over 1400 words and yesterday I wrote just over 800 words. All of which were on War Child.
I also completed Halo:Combat Evolved yesterday as well. Damn that was a lot harder than I remembered. I’ve not played Halo since it first come out and it was so much fun! The way they remastered it all is beautiful. I’ll post some pictures comparing the two versions soon, because you could play the remastered one with the original graphics.
Right, I’m about to start my day job. Have an awesome day, folks!
This movie tells the story of two couples; Lacey and Dennis (referred by his surname Farrell) They’re on the run from the law (played by Shea Whigham and Rachel Kerbs) and the other couple, Seth Belzer and Polly Watt, who have attempted to camp out fo their anniversary but due to a tent disaster they decide to find a motel (Paulo Costanzo and Jill Wagner). Along the way they stop as a distressed woman appears, who’s boyfriend then pulls a gun on them and kidnap them. They run over an animal and have to change a tire, but the radiator is also damaged and they have to stop at a petrol station. Then the shit hits the fan!
I liked the pace it had and the conflict between the two couples was really good, but so was the conflict within each of the couples. There is some really good gore in the film, but it’s not slapped in your face. The effects are fantastic, and really freaky! Between the practical effects, camera work, lighting and so on they make this creature scary, but you add in its behaviour then it brings it altogether very nicely.
There are moments where I literally said out loud ‘don’t do that’
The acting is pretty darn good, with each of the main actors pulling you in and making you feel for them. Even Farrell, you see what his aim is. Shea Whigham makes you dislike his character, but when you watch the film you see there’s a depth to him that I didn’t expect.
Rachel Kerbs as Lacey clicks well with Whigham and I thought she gave a moving performance, and you believed her and Farrell’s affections to each other.
One element I like in this movie is how Farrell is different to Seth. Dennis Farrell is a hardened criminal, while Seth is more academic. Pretty much the opposite of Farrell. Polly is shown to be more handy than Seth quite early on. The derision that Farrell has for Seth because of this works really well, and Costanzo shows how his jibs hit.
Costanzo’s Seth and Jill Wagner’s Polly make a believable couple, especially in the early scenes when they are at the plot of land where they’re planning to camp out. They’re relationship is tested, and there was a few times where I wasn’t sure how things between them were going to go.
I liked how the film was brought to its conclusion, it’s not really something I’ve seen recently and made a nice change of pace from other films and TV shows I’ve seen recently.
It’s well worth a watch and one I’m seriously thinking about adding to my physical movie library.
Good evening, Ive written 1439 words on War Child today and edited a short story today.
What I wrote feels a little messy but its progressing the story well, building up character and atmosphere.
After I wrote I played a little GTAO and then got stuck into Halo again. I’m so glad I’m replaying this game. The vibe it has, the story telling as well as the game play is filling me with an excitement for a game I’ve not felt in a long time. GTAO is okay, but it’s easy. I’m nearing level 500 now and have pretty much everything in the game possible. So playing a game that I’m having to think hard about is firing some neurones that haven’t been been lit for a while.
Right, I’m off to wind down for the night. Have an awesome one, folks!
I wrote 980 words today on War Child. I’ve come to realise I’m essentially working on a second draft. Not quite writing it from scratch but I have rewritten the first couple of scenes. It’s a case of it being easier to do this than it is to add in the details I need to. Starting War Child during last years NaNoWriMo was a good idea as it got the story off the ground, but it has also hampered it. Where I was writing a bit here and a bit there a lot of the time I wasn’t able to be as deep with it as it needs to be. At the moment it feels like NaNo served as an in-depth outline for the story. It helped me get an idea of the story I want to tell, and how broad it is turning out to be. I think I’ve said in previous posts that I was loosely planning three books, a trilogy that would tell this story. Well, where book one was originally meant to end is a long, long ways off. At the moment I think this is going to be a good five book series, which I think I got overwhelmed by. Even now I feel like the scale of this is too big for me to get my head around. I think this has led to me not working on it too much since the start of the year, but that time has given me time to process what I need to do to get this first book done.
Dizzy doing what cats do 🙄
Watching the science fiction I have recently has given me a lot of ideas, as has diving back into the Halo video game series. I spent a fair chunk of yesterday afternoon replaying the first game, and boy had I forgotten how good it was. I’m playing the Master Chief collection which is remastered and damn it looks good. Plays fantastic too (I’d forgotten how hard those damn Warthogs are to drive though!). I’d not really played any game aside from GTA for quite some time, so I was worried the different game mechanics would have a negative effect. But thankfully they didn’t and I really got stuck in. It was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to playing it again in the next few days.
To make sure I don’t get distracted by it, I won’t be gaming until I’m done with any bits and pieces at home I need to do, and I’ve written. I’m going to be starting kind of small with it, a scene a day for example. But I’m hoping that I’ll get into a flow with the story and this will increase each time I sit down to write.
Good evening, folks! I’ve written 476 words on War Child today. First words this month. I was a little disheartened after I accidentally deleted 1200 words from the story last week. My own mistake and one I won’t be repeating.
I feel like I’ve got a decent path to travel at the moment with this story. I can see what needs to be done and hopefully I’m going to be able to get well stuck into it over the next few weeks.
I am getting into some research for War Child. Watching military science-fiction shows and films, and listening to them too. I’m focused on the Halo world at the moment. I’m also about to start a rewatch of Battlestar Galactica. Although I’m taking ideas from these it’s more a vibe I’m hoping I get from them. I feel I’ve got a decent tone for War Child building. So I want to be careful with how I proceed.
Right, I’m off for the night. Have an awesome one, folks!
Good morning folks! It is early here in the UK as I’m about to start a shift at my day job. I’m not near awake despite the amount of sleep I’ve had recently. For the last week I’ve been hit with some bug which has knocked me off my feet. I’m finally feeling a little better but still very tired.
This has meant I’ve not been writing. I’ve got next to nothing done this month but I did manage to get my arse in gear yesterday and cracked some words out.
I think I’ve figured out what I’ve got to do with War Child as well. I’m not going to go into details but I hope I’m going in the right direction with it now.
Thankfully I am beginning to feel a lot better. Once I’ve been finishing work this last week I’ve been crashing out, but each day feels a little less like I need to just pass out when I get home. So hopefully I’m well past the worst of it.
I don’t really need to say much about this one do I? It’s one of the most iconic films of this century, both in horror and British cinema.
In a telling of the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse we follow twenty-something Shaun, his bbf Ed, girlfriend Liz, mum and two of Liz’s friends, Dianne and David. And it’s very British!
Edgar Wright directs, and helms a movie that nails each element. From the gore, to the pain of lose the characters go through during these few days. To get the balance between horror, comedy and pulling at the viewer’s heartstrings is not easy and Shaun of the Dead does each perfectly.
For me, this is a rare perfect film. There’s no real plot holes, no characters who aren’t believable. Even the conclusion of the movie sits well. The soundtrack and score are odd and silly at times, but fit perfectly in building the tone of the movie.
Red glow for atmosphere 😈
If you haven’t seen this movie, please change that and check it out.
Next up in my watch of David Court’s top 35 horror movies of the 2000s is the movie Pontypool.
I had no idea what to expect with this movie, although for some weird reason I thought it was set in Wales. So going in, I had no preconceptions on what to expect. I had no idea it would be this though.
If you want to watch this movie, stop reading now….. seriously. Stop and watch the movie. Don’t google it, don’t look it up on IMDB. Don’t ask friends. Just please, go and watch it.
Have you watched it? No, go and watch it!
Okay, I’m guessing you’ve watched it now.
So, this is set in a radio station as a shock jock sort of DJ(Stephen McHattie) is starting his morning stint on the station he works out with a producer (Lisa Houle) and an engineer (Georgina Reilly) ( I think those are the two ladies roles), and as the morning rolls along they start getting reports of an incident that is going on.
That’s enough for the plot. The acting is beautiful, the lead actor nails the character while the two other main characters play their parts with a solid strength. The producer character sparring off with the erratic DJ is particularly interesting to see.
The script the actors are working with is beautiful, and gets a lot of depth across. The actors, in particular the fella playing the DJ, really nail their respective lines and characters. I don’t think this film would work without these actors, what they bring to the film sells the story. Their execution of the dialogue has to be spot on as I think movies where its filmed in one location need that strength to hold the viewers interest.
The story plays out well, and there are explanations to what is going on. The ending hits a little hard, and there’s an odd little scene at the end of the film, which shouldn’t work but it does.
Pontypool is a new favourite of mine. Intriguing and from a story tellers point of view, it’s fascinating.
This is the second film off of David Court’s 35 best movies of the 2000s.
I haven’t seen this since it came out for rental, but surprisingly I remembered a fair bit of it, and also a lot I didn’t remember.
Overall I enjoyed it, probably more than I did first time around. It gave me a big smile when there was a cover of Disturbed’s Down With The Sickness, one of my favourite songs that I wasn’t familiar back on my first viewing.
The movie is well paced, acted superbly, written with a skill to both tug at the heartstrings while also adding a little humour. Kind of what we’ve come to expect from a script by James Gunn.
There’s some good gore, some interesting kills, and one of two moments that made me roll my eyes. There’s one moment in the film when the main characters need to help another isolated person hold up during this zombie hoard, only for their initial plan to go pair shaped. There are two other ways they could have helped this fella which is demonstrated in the following moments.
Despite that, this film is well worth a watch and deserves the praise it does get.
I started my journey of the top 35 horror movies of the 2000 by David Court last night with Severance.
This is a horror comedy set in a forest in Hungary where an arms company’s weekend retreat goes pear shaped!
The plot is fun and straightforward, it doesn’t hit you over the head or try to make a big statement about one thing or another. It’s well executed, shot, written, and acted.
This film manages to be serious, but has a good sense of humour and isn’t afraid to do things which are very nearly unbelievable. I don’t want to say too much, because I wouldn’t do it justice.
Please check this movie out. It sits in part of the general which is easily screwed up but here they nail it.
Peter Germany's World 