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Il racconto dei racconti - Tale of Tales (2015)
Tale of Tales (2017)
Tale of Tales is an intriguing selection of interspersed narratives involving three separate kings of phantasmagorical kingdoms, inspired by the fairy tales of 17th century Italian poet Giambattista Basile. All of the tales are set in a beautifully lush, Gothic, faux medieval world. Where mythical creatures and magic exist around every hidden corner. Each tale is a metaphorical fable exploring the perils of obsession and its effects.
The first king (King of Longtrellis) played by John C. Reilly is extremely obedient to his saturnine, morose Queen of Longtrellis played by the brooding Salma Hayak who desperately desires to mother children. The queen is approached by a mysteriously odd stranger who outlines a prophecy that a sea serpent will need to be sacrificed, the serpents heart cooked by a virgin and eaten by the Queen in order induce her pregnancy. King of Longtrellis dutifully obliges and grapples with the ginormous albino sea serpent in 17th century deep sea diving gear. After an underwater battle, reminiscent of early 20th century silent cinema such as Georges Melies, the king defeats the serpent to retrieve the prized heart but is gored and killed during scuffle. The grieving queen then devours the grotesquely large heart. The vibrant claret red a stark contrast to the pure white elaborate room. As a result of this, as prophesied, she falls pregnant. However, the Prince also has an albino twin mothered by the virgin servant maid exploited in the process. Several years later the Queen denies the Prince access to his pauper brother. The story changes direction when the brothers rebel the wishes of Queen of Longtrellis with dangerously unforeseen circumstances.
The second King (King of Highills) played by Toby Jones, inhabits an enormous castle with his sweet but loquaciously opinionated daughter. The Princess truly desires to get married to escape the confines of the castle and explore the world. The distracted King intensely becomes obsessed with a flea – which he nurtures and allows to feed on on his royal blood in secret. After a long period of nurture and continued reclusiveness. The flea grows to an unnaturally large size, then subsequently dies causing great dismay to the King. The flea's giant epidermis or hide is then extracted. As the hide is unexplainably big for a flea and is far more likely to be a large calf it is used for what the King sees as an impossible task for his daughters potential suitors. The suitors are tasked with guessing the animal which the hide belongs to, if successful they will gain the Princesses hand in marriage. The Princess is delighted with the early suitors however all are unsuccessful until the grotesquely deformed ogre steps forward. He guesses correctly and to the great distress of the Princess she is taken on a dangerous journey away from the comfortable confines of the castle by the neanderthal esque captor, will she survive?
The third King (King of Strongcliff) played by Vincent Cassell is a libertine of Casonova like proportions. He falls for soulful song and elegant voices of the mysterious sisters in the dank, boarded up clothe dye workhouse. He pursues one of the sisters, who invites his lustful advances but refuse to show their aged and scarred selves in fear of rejection. After much discussion behind a closed door, one of the sisters agrees to meet the King of Strongcliff in cover of night in his castle bed chambers. After a night of blind passion, the King is shocked to find the aged hag in his bed in the cold light of day. Under King's orders she is thrown from his castle tower balcony to her doom. A tree saves her fall, she is then given her restored youth from a passing forest witch in an unconventional manner
Later in the story she draws the King towards her once more with her new found beauty. Her obsession damages her relationship with her adoring sister and puts them in further danger as her looks deteriorate as the story pans out.
Tale of Tales is an exotic selection of dark fairy tales for adults, set in the idyllic Italian vista and dramatic coastline which only adds to the spectacle. The film is enjoyably unpredictable, brutal in places with protagonists being flayed, a murderous rampage, organ consumption and flamboyant debauchery. This is a dark film with black humour for fans of the dark fantasy Pan's Labyrinth, a sense of European epic adventure and spontaneity in the same vein as the likes of director Alejandro Jodorowsky. The film can be frustrating with the sometimes laboured pacing, some limited characters and a slightly disappointing conclusion after an entertaining journey. However, due to its surreal style, colourful characters, unpredictable tale story lines and its own brand of mythological fantasy, this is entertaining cinema.
Fallout 3 (2008)
Fallout 3 - Retrospective Insight
Opening Story:
The player is introduced to their protagonist via the literal birth of the character in Vault 101, where the bond between the protagonist as a baby and his father voiced by Liam Neeson is initially established. You are first introduced to Vault 101 from birth canal perspective on the hospital bed, the narrative builds as you experience influential events in your character's early life. You meet the vault inhabitants at a childhood birthday, then encounter bullies and complete exams to your own discretion to build the personality of the main character through moral decisions and conversation choices.
The exit of your father to the expansive and unyielding wasteland, signals the move away from the dingy, dark vault to the agoraphobic, dangerous landscape of the wasteland. A harsh world, full of large radiated wildlife, aggressive super mutants, Forbidden Planet inspired robots and confrontational Mad Max esque gangs to name only a few potential foes.
The imaginative stories behind the vaults that pickle the wasteland keep the Fallout narrative diverse and entertaining with ensued doomed black humour. The chaotic scenes in each vault are caused by the sadistic scientific Pavlovian experiments of the militant Enclave. One vault was filled entirely of possessed clones of the original inhabitant called Gary. Another vault contained inhabitants that were informed that they would need to vote annually to decide which vault inhabitant would perish until a remaining group rebelled to discover the truth behind the cruel experiment. After venturing the vast, unforgiving apocalyptic wasteland each vault acts as an unpredictable and enjoyable oasis.
The pockets of story and lore are encountered throughout the main storyline and in the smorgasbord of side-quests. As with all Bethesda titles the engrossing side missions can grow and act as a welcome distraction from the main quest to further explore the geography and meet a range of the wasteland's occupants. The engaging main mission continues until the dramatic yet disappointing crescendo at the water purification plant. This was universally seen as a poor and somewhat abrupt conclusion to an excellent title when the player could have so much more of the game to explore. However, thankfully Bethesda have rectified this with release of the Fallout: Anchorage DLC. The DLC allows the player to progress past the original games main ending and further continue the experience in the wasteland.
Style and Technology
A cutscene of Fallout 3 can be instantly recognisable – due to the juxtaposition of the imagery of the apocalyptic future with its futuristic technology set in 2277. Jarring with the Art Deco period architecture and interiors frozen in time by the catastrophic events of nuclear war. It is distinctive as your character can stomp past an Art Deco tower block in their Brotherhood of Steel power armour whilst shooting gargantuan super mutants with a futuristic plasma rifle. All while an uplifting yet ironic wartime hit such as 'I Don't Want To Set the World on Fire' by The Ink Spots (1941) is playing on your pipboy radio.
The adaptable and distinctively tactile weapons and technology in Fallout 3 and 4 are products of the world around you. Each weapon mimics the personality of the apocalyptic and mechanic environment, each weapon can be adapted, improved and reflect each fallen tribe member that they are scavenged from.
The aesthetic representation of the apocalyptic colonies, military factions and predicted futuristic, scientific advancements create an entertaining and engrossing world. Full of black humour to contrast the harsh civil war raging in the wasteland. The distinctive style, VATS weapon targeting system, artistic design down to the appearance of the mutated two-headed cattle (Brahmin) separate this game from your average, generic first person shooter to make this one of the pioneering epic games of the 21st Century.
Game of Thrones: Dragonstone (2017)
Dragonstone - A Splendid Start to the Series
The behemoth of a show has now returned with a vengeance and confident swagger. The year since the climactic end to Season 6 has moved with a glacial pace, with heavy speculation fuelled by glimpses of narrative collated from sparse ambiguous trailers. Episode 1 promised much, it achieved in getting the epic narrative cogs in motion and sliding the feuding armies into place like gigantic pieces on a Westerosian chess board.
This is epitomised by the long awaited arrival of Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister and their unsullied army at her ancestral home Dragonstone. Daenerys along with expert tacticians Tyrion and Varys gather around the table in the war room to conduct their battle strategy which will have massive impact on several episodes to come.
From the first few seconds of the show commands your attention with a satisfying shock The appearance of Walder Frey indicated either a flashback or a subtle illusion.
The North certainly remembers and has never forgotten the tragic Red Wedding. Arya concocted a the devious demise of the Frey's to wipe out a miner family in one fell swoop.
In King's landing Cersei Lannister and Jamie Lannister appear stranded with enemies in every direction. After losing allies and burning too many bridges along the way. It is likely that we will loose another Lannister before the season's end.
At the newly occupied Winterfell holds Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Littlefinger and the armies of the north. Jon is dealing with the weighted responsibility of being King of the North, with trivial house politics with his continued obsession focused on the ominous invasion of the armies of the frozen dead.
On their way to assist with the battle against the hordes of white walkers and the undead are the Men Without Banners. This includes Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane, Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr. The Hound is now on an intended path of righteousness after joining the religious cult and will undoubtedly play a greater part in the latter part of the season. With Brandon Stark has now reached the relative, if temporary safety of Castle Black under the protection of the Knights Watch.
The ominous, ever-present threat to the inhabitants of Westeros is the Night King and the White Walkers. The ungrateful dead appear from the gloom throughout the episode encroaching ever nearer. There are now three ice giants to pit against three fire breathing dragons, this can only be a hint at what's to come later in the series.
My full review at: www.wafflecast.wordpress.com
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
A Pleasant Surprise!
Starship Troopers meets Source Code meets Groundhog Day meets Mass Effect, with the Hollywood action treatment and gloss of a Tom Cruise piloted blockbuster. The film plays out like an incredibly challenging video game where the viewer is confronted by continuous 'game over' scenarios where the whole scene is repeated again from the perspective of Cruise's character Cage, this allows the film to be unpredictable and thus more entertaining.
It was surprising how engrossed I was by a film that appeared to be lacking originality and unpredictability after viewing the formulaic trailer. However, the pace of the film combined with the trial-and-error existence of Cage in the unforgiving alien war zone is intriguing and allows the film to shake off the formulaic predictability of the other high testosterone films in the Hollywood action genre.
The entire plot hinges on the magical, time-controlling powers of blue alien blood from the Alpha Mimic alien behemoths which infects protagonist Cage. This is essential to allow the plot to travel to its conclusion with the connection to the alien hive via the blood allowing Cage to see visions through the alien consciousness and locate the alien armies' Achilles heel. This enables the human army to win the war,when it appears that the human race is doomed to extinction by a far superior foe. The climax of the action is satisfying and hits the levels promised at the beginning of the film. The chemistry between Cage and Rita, played by the intense Emily Brunt is pitched correctly and their relationship has sufficient enough authenticity to propel the slower more reflective moments during the middle of the film until the climactic, Parisian crescendo.
Overall the film is an entertaining yarn, with enjoyable thrills, alien blood spills and unpredictable twists to keep the audience entertained until the curtain falls. It's a good Saturday night blockbuster with alien brains and even a bearded appearance from Locke from Game of Thrones!
Read my full review at: Wafflecast.wordpress.com