Kermode Gives Quality Rant to Transformers 3

If you haven't already heard it, get yourself over to BBC Radio 5 Live's website and check out Mark Kermode's review of TRANSFORMERS 3:DARK OF THE MOON. It's absolutely priceless.

Sci Fi Franchise Hell

RESIDENT EVIL:AFTERLIFE in 3D emerged onto cinema screens this week and proved not to be the much better than the original. This got me thinking about sci fi movie franchises and how there just aren't any good ones.

Immediately an army of STAR WARS fans leap to the fore and demand apologies, but the prequel movies aren't that great, special effects advances are not, and there aren't that many people STAR WARS fanboys or not who would be able to argue with that.

The STAR TREK fans would be the next ones up to complain, but be honest STAR TREK V THE FINAL FRONTIER is just plain pants. The original STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE was not nicknamed the slow motion picture without reason either. For every good one there's a not so good one.

The ALIEN franchise might have a claim after the first two films, but ALIEN 3 didn't rock most people's world and ALIEN RESURRECTION was generally found to be lacking. When it merged with the, frankly average, PREDATOR franchise things went seriously downhill with the ALIEN VS PREDATOR movies.

The MATRIX movies had a hell of a start in the original movie but he architect's nonsense put an end to that even before the dodgy rave/orgy scene in REVOLUTIONS.

So what does that leave us with? And if anyone suggests the bloody awful TRANSFORMERS films they might just get a punch in the mouth.

It leaves us with the superheroes. The X-MEN movies had a chance, but THE LAST STAND and WOLVERINE certainly put a crimp in the quality of that and THE FANTASTIC FOUR could only manage and OK Two. Robert Downey Jr's IRON MAN films might make it, but the second film was just the first film reheated and ought to have seen the end of that particular franchise. SPIDER-MAN 3 was so poorly received that the whole franchise is to be rebooted from the start only a few years after it was started.

Only the reborn BATMAN franchise shows any sign of managing to create a franchise with any consistency of quality and that's because the studio aren't about to hurry the creative team into a rush job when they are getting successes like INCEPTION out of them.

Science fiction has never been a genre that has lent itself to the franchise market (PLANET OF THE APES aside), but with many potential franchises not even getting past the sequel, things have never been as thin as they are right now.

TRANSFORMERS storm the Razzies

The Razzies were taken by storm this year with TRANSFORMERS:REVENGE OF THE FALLEN taken numerous awards in the ceremony that celebrates the worst in mainstream Hollywood output.

Though we would like to say that it doesn't deserve the brickbats, we can't because it is a dreadful waste of a couple of hours. Michael Bay, a regular nominee, didn't show up to claim his reward, though Sandra Bullock gamely did, winning a Razzie the day before she won an Oscar. Now there's a lass with a sense of humour.

LEGEND OF THE LOST also managed to take an award and thoroughly deserved it as well. They should all be ashamed of themselves.

Oscar Nominations for Sci Fi Movies - what's up with that?

The 2010 Oscar nominations are out and it doesn't come as no surprise that AVATAR leads the science fiction field whilst much better films MOON and LET THE OTHER ONE IN don't even get a mention.

The list is

PICTURE - Avatar and District 9 (neither of which deserve a nomination let alone the award. I mean they were fun, but best picture of the year? I don't think so.)

DIRECTOR - James Cameron for AVATAR (can you direct a film made inside a computer?)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - DISTRICT 9

ART DIRECTION - AVATAR and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS (OK, so AVATAR was very pretty so we might forgive them this)

CINEMATOGRAPHY - AVATAR and HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE (Does a film made in a computer actually have cinematography?)

Sound Mixing - AVATAR, STAR TREK and TRANSFORMERS:REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (Transformers? Really? Crash, bang, wallop! is mixing sound?)

SOUND EDITING - AVATAR and STAR TREK (apparently editing is different from mixing and STAR TREK sounds good.

MUSIC SCORE - AVATAR (Did anyone actually notice the music?)

COSTUME - THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS (What, nothing for the loincloths of AVATAR?)

FILM EDITING - AVATAR and DISTRICT 9. (Again, as AVATAR was made in a computer how much film was edited?)

MAKEUP - STAR TREK

VISUAL EFFECTS - AVATAR, DISTRICT 9 and STAR TREK.

So, once again, to get a nomination for the Oscars you have to be American, big, successful and not too complicated or containing a thoughtful plot. Show some aliens and then blow them up is the way to the American Academy's heart. We can only reflect on the fact that they only give genre films the big awards when the absolutely have to, so the question is whether AVATAR's made enough money that they don't feel they need to reward it any more for things it doesn't deserve.