Sunshine Blogger Award Q&A

Thanks to Ethan at Embarr Films for the nomination!

The Sunshine Blogger Award is a chain-letter project to celebrate and recognise the work of bloggers that you follow and appreciate.

As part of this ceremony, I've been posed 11 questions to answer.

1.What is your favourite childhood film and why?

The Jungle Book I reckon. It’s the one I remember watching the most anyway. Pretty much every Disney movie to be honest. Every child sees most of the classics before they 5, don’t they? My parents tell a story of us all going to see The Aristocats and me laughing so much at the backfiring car your fella drives in it that we had to leave. I remember watching Song of the South a lot too on VHS. That’s a film which is a little, shall we say, problematic, thinking about it now. I think Disney discontinued it. 

2. What is your favourite film of the year so far and why?

Unfortunately I’ve not seen that many this year, probably only just edged into the double figures to be honest, and most - if not all - of them have been the big blockbuster tentpole pictures. So I’m going to be incredibly boring and say Civil War; just as a culmination of everything thus far in those movies it’s incredibly satisfying. And it has Giant-Man in it.  For a more film critic-y position though it has to be 10 Cloverfield Lane, drenched in tension with two incredible performances. Came out of nowhere and knocked my socks off. 

3. Which is your social media of choice – Facebook or Twitter? And why?

No love for Google+? Ha. No, it’s Twitter without a doubt. Facebook is fine and all but I rarely if ever get into discussions about…anything with people there. On Twitter, it’s all I do. Well, that and make fun of Donald Trump and try to make a joke that goes viral. To date, I have not succeeded. What’s the line, Facebook is filled with people you know and never talk to, while Twitter is full of strangers you can’t stop talking to?

4. What is your favourite season and why?

Summer. Cause it’s warm, duh! Also, no schoolkids on the train. Yes, I am a grumpy old man. Winter’s good too, because you get to come home from work, put the heating on, lock the doors and hibernate. Yes, I am a grumpy old man. 

5. What is your favourite television series and why?

Either Buffy or Battlestar Galactica. Buffy was a show that really spoke to me as a teen, the whole high school is hell thing. Even though school for me wasn’t too bad, as somewhat of an outsider in the school social scene Buffy always resonated. Also cool fights. BSG just hit me at the right time, those first two and a half seasons are glorious propulsive daring television, the kind of which I don’t think we’ve seen since. Both shows went off the boil in the later seasons but what show doesn’t. Lost, too, is another one that I fell in love with hard. Oh, and obviously The Simpsons. 

6. Which would you prefer and why- dream job set for life or travel the world (two years max)?

Dream job, man. Unless this is one of those deals where choosing one precludes me from doing the other. But even then having a job that you love, considering you have to do it every day, over two years max travelling the world? Easy. 

7. You have the chance to interview five people from any aspect of films and film-making, dead or alive, who would you pick?

Anne Hathaway, because she seems like fun (also gorgeous). Edgar Wright, to pick his brain and then feel inadequate (also gorgeous). Bruce Willis, to ask him at what point did he stop caring and maybe some questions about Die Hard. Stan Winston, to ask him just how he comes up with some of the stuff he has. And James Cameron, to ask him what his secret is. Although I would be a terrible interviewer and just end up babbling. 

8. What is your favourite film genre?

Prrrrrrobably science fiction because you can tell any kind of story with it. Allegories and metaphors for the human condition, but with like robots and aliens and junk. What’s not to love? 

9. What is your least favourite film genre?

I’m not overly fond of Westerns. I don’t dislike them but given a choice I will not pick a Western. 

10. What 2016 film release are you looking forward to the most before the year ends?

Rogue One. Star Wars but not. It’s an incredibly exciting prospect and one I hope succeeds wonderfully. There’s no chance it’ll fail commercially but seeing something different but still set in the Star Wars universe is something I’ve wanted to see on screen for ages, but didn’t know I wanted to see. I cannot wait. 

11. Which character is your favourite, Han Solo or Indiana Jones?

Well, they’re the same character, aren’t they? If I had to choose, surprisingly, I think I’d go for Indy. He’s got that dirty, grimy sexy thing going on. Han’s a scoundrel but Indy’s a man, y’know. Yes, I would 100% bang 1980’s Harrison Ford, alright!

You would too. Don't lie.

That was fun. I’ll get to nominating.

I Done A Podcast

Have a listen if you like. All about retail with my chum Adam Fox.

Love ya.



JC

Film Flip Flopping

I recently saw X-Men Apocalypse. I wasn’t too enamoured with it. Now I’m saying that as a pretty big fan of/apologist for the X-Men film franchise so all the signs were pointing to the fact that I should have at least liked it. But I didn’t. It’s leaden, by the numbers and worst of all boring. Isn’t it? 

Because I’ve started to doubt myself a little. A changing opinion on a film isn’t a bad thing of course, but after reading reviews that have been more positive than I was I’m starting to think maybe I was too harsh on it. So it got me thinking, does the environment in which we see films and the people we see them with contribute to our overall opinion?

For example, at a press screening I'll likely be harsher on it than I would be on a date night.

— Jonathan Cardwell (@Jonny_C85) May 20, 2016

It seems the answer, after consulting some of my delightful cine-literate friends*, is…maybe. It depends.

Hmmm…

I saw Apocalypse at a press screening as the +1 of fellow amateur reviewer so immediately I have my film reviewer head on, which is similar to my regular head but slightly more critical. I was also in the company of people whose writing I admire and whose film opinions I greatly respect - though don’t necessarily always agree with - and when I’m with like minded reviewer types I feel I judge a film more harshly than it might deserve. Maybe, subconsciously or no, I’m trying to present a more highbrow version of myself than the one that actually exists while in the company of my peers. I’d like to think not, as I’ll watch a Paul Thomas Anderson film as readily as I will a Paul WS Anderson one (Death Race rules!) but brains are weird.

We all have that friend who’s a film snob (and if you don’t…well, this is awkward) and often my enthusiasm for a film wanes when the lights go up and I see them make an exasperated face. Immediately I think ‘Oh, maybe I didn’t like it that much.’ I’m guilty of it myself. In fact the second we exited X-Men I did exactly that, puffed out my cheeks, made a face and probably dampened any enthusiasm that my friend might have otherwise had. And I felt bad. That post cinema high is an easy balloon to puncture. “Well, I enjoyed that.” “Really?” Oh no, I’m someone’s film snob.

Then I thought would I have had the same reaction to the film had I solely been going for enjoyment? On a date night with my wife when I don’t have to review it, at least officially, and can just sit back and let it wash over me? I think it’s fair to say I might (might!) have enjoyed it a touch more on a Saturday night with punters as opposed to a Monday night with critics. I respect my wife’s opinion as much as anyone’s but on a date night we’re both less demanding in our standards (add your own joke here); I mean, we’ll not say a terrible film** is good, but an average film is a perfectly adequate 3-starrer date movie when it might be a 2 star critical review.

@Jonny_C85 I think that must apply to most. When you're going in with the intention of critiquing you'll always pick up more issues?

— Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcher89) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 if I'm with someone whose film opinions I respect, it will make me more open to a contrary view (i.e they liked it, I didn't)

— Woowar (@mswoowar) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 sometimes audiences help. packed opening night for GONE GIRL remains a highlight, the GASPs

— BelfastFilm (@belfastfilmblog) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 Yes! Sing Street with @EunoiaMBs was the perfect cinema experience, straight after work on my own could have been v diff.

— CJohnston (@CJohnstonNI) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 I'm going to be very vague and say both yes and no. Seeing Thor 2 with my oldest friend probably amplified my enjoyment of it.

— Becky Lea (@beckygracelea) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 yeah it does. I generally like films I love a lot less once I watch with my dad and his disapproving eyes.

— Ethan M Barr (@ethanbarr2) May 20, 2016

Think of comedies. They’re almost always better watching them in a packed cinema with everyone enjoying the fun than with only half a dozen people chuckling, or at home on your sofa. That’s one area I feel where you cannot argue that the company you’re in doesn’t affect your viewing experience. The Simpsons Movie was one of my favourite movie going experiences and it’s not a great movie, but the atmosphere was. An average 3 star comedy could easily tip over into 4 because of the surroundings you see it in. A great film will of course always be a great film, but everything adds to the experience whether it’s on screen or in a packed theatre.

Is that bad though? Some people I spoke to on Twitter before writing this have stated categorically that the company they attend the cinema with in no way affects their opinion.

@Jonny_C85 nope. I enjoy a film even if there's apathy around me. It is great though when the general consensus is the film was awesome!

— Lee Allen (@LeeAllen35) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 nah. A film will get the same reaction from me regardless of who i see it with. Company won't change how good/bad it is

— Garry McConnachie (@TheGMcConnachie) May 20, 2016

I’m not for a second suggesting they’re lying but more often than not you get out of a film what you bring into it. I realise there’s no way to quantify this; you aren’t able to tell if a different arena would have altered your opinion but if your mood, personal circumstances and even the views you hold can affect your experience surely it isn’t unreasonable to suggest the tone of the room/viewing companions can too?

@Jonny_C85 @elenam52 Quite often for me it would work in reverse, I'd like it more to spite him.

— James Ellaby (@jamesellaby) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 yes My mum isnt critical of films at all so then I'm not but one friend is v critical so it makes me look at the film differently

— Elena Morgan (@ElenaM52) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 Yes. I think if you see something with friends or an audience who are up for it, like opening night of a comic book film, it's

— Curt Milner (@CurtMilner) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 -a much different experience than if you go with someone who's not as into it, or you go to an empty screening etc.

— Curt Milner (@CurtMilner) May 20, 2016

@Jonny_C85 @NotNazir exactly. Everything effects the experience

— lost mountain man (@NotNazir) May 20, 2016

I don’t think I’ve ever had a complete about face and been convinced that I don’t/do like a film I’ve previously loved/hated because of a friend’s opinion of it. I’d like to think I have more willpower than that. In fact, I know I have. I’m still steadfast in the opinion that my friends who hate Serenity are wrong, because of course they are. That’s just a fact. Overall it’s a good thing though, the world would be boring (although perhaps more peaceful) if we all agreed about everything, especially the important things like whether an X-Men movie is good or not.

So I guess my point is…well, I don’t know what my point is. I just wanted to write some words but after much deliberation and questioning it seems the consensus is…maybe. It depends.

Hmmm…

*Thanks to all who answered my question earlier. You’re all champs.

**My wife picked Date Movie for a date movie one night (though admittedly more to do with a lack of options). It’s still one of the worst cinema experiences of my adult life. I’ll never let her live it down.

@Jonny_C85 No, its mostly my husband and he is always wrong....

— Penny & Dime (@Kryptonkara) May 20, 2016

Moral Complexity in Modern Gaming

I recently finished Firewatch (short review: it’s great) and it got me thinking: when did games become so introspective and judgemental?

Let me explain.

Lately, as I’ve talked about before, my gaming choices have become more about experiencing well told stories and investing in characters rather than gunning down faceless foes in the online arena. It’s a type of game I find myself wanting to play more of now, where there’s little in the way of action but lots of interaction. I posited before that maybe it was an age thing, and I’m more certain than I ever was before that this is the case.

I’m a married man and a father, and am 100% in love with these types of games now. Where my own personal life experience informs my choices and drives the narrative forward. When I was playing Halo or Call of Duty into the wee small hours I was living at home, responsibility free and the biggest concern I had in life was…I can’t even think of what my biggest concern would have been, so worry free was my existence. Now? I have so much more to draw on. I don’t mean I’m now just a human meatsuit filled with neuroses and worries but I have real life experience. To coin the favourite phrase an old wanker of a manager I once had I’ve been to the ‘university of life.’ Although he said that mostly because he hadn’t been to an actual university.

SPOILERS FOR FIREWATCH AND THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 2

I’ve been through enough in my short life so far that a decision that would have once been simple(r) to make because of my lack of experience suddenly becomes that much harder. To bring it back to Firewatch, early on in the game Henry, the player character, has to choose between several options on how best to deal with an ailing spouse who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s heartbreaking. In most cases there isn’t a good choice and a bad choice, just varying degrees of awful. Just like real life. I made my choice, one that I was ‘happy’ with in the moment and what felt like the decision I would make were I ever in that situation. My wife, sat beside me on the sofa, looked away when I was making the choice. She said she ‘didn’t want to know’ my decision. This never happened playing Sonic the Hedgehog.

Aw, jeez. 

Then, near the end when I was talking to Delilah, my companion throughout the game who you’ve become friendly with and possibly developed amorous feelings towards albeit on over walkie talkie, about the future, everything in my usual gaming brain - and the 'get the girl' mentality I've been instilled with from most media - made me want to run away with her but I couldn't make that choice. It didn’t feel right. It wouldn’t have been what I would do, and therefore I wouldn’t have made Henry do it. Technically I (Henry) was still married, even if his wife was thousands of miles away and wouldn't remember him. Earlier in the game Henry had, off screen, removed his wedding ring when his relationship with Delilah was blossoming. When the choice came later in the game to put it back on, I did. My own situation and experiences informed my choice so much so that I denied Henry a potential shot at happiness, going against everything my brain wanted for him in the moment. The caveat here is, as with most of these choice based games, the outcome is possibly inevitable and whatever was going to happen happens (I’ve only played through it once so can’t say for sure) but the great thing about these games is that they really hit you where you live. Your choices may not affect the ending, but you better believe they’ll affect your soul.

Which brings me to The Walking Dead.

Season two piled on the pressure, putting players in the shoes of Clementine, your charge in season 1, and forcing you to make life or death decisions in the face of hordes of undead. But those aren’t the ones I remember. They’re not the ones that almost a year later I still feel bad about. Legitimate pangs of guilt and regret. A major plot point in the finale concerns a new born baby. A year ago my son was around 6 months. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this affected the decisions I made in the game greatly.

Through a sequence of events I’ll not go into in too much detail, Clementine has been more or less convinced that one of the remaining members of her group (Jane) has killed the baby because it will make traversing the zombie apocalypse that much harder, with all the crying and shouting that babies are wont to do. Kenny (a fellow survivor of season 1, whose life has really gone to shit over the two seasons) is outraged and lashes out at Jane for her actions and tries to kill her. Clementine can either do nothing or kill Kenny. I chose to do nothing and let Kenny kill her. That’s not what I feel bad about. Soon after, you discover the baby is not dead and you have to take care of him. Kenny and Clementine then come across a safe haven at which you could either remain outside in the wilderness with Kenny and the baby when they refuse to let all three of you in, or go into the compound but without Kenny. I chose the latter. I’M SO SORRY, KENNY!

Telltale Games excel at this type of complexity, as evidenced by their successes in whichever franchise they pick up and adapt (Game of Thrones, Tales of the Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us) all of which deal in the murkier areas of the human psyche. But where games were - and still are, in most cases - normally a bit of an escape from ourselves where we could live out fantasies of actions untethered to the mundanity of reality, these games dive head first into our brains and force us to ask questions of ourselves and whether or not we’re good people, be it as a forest ranger or surviving a zombie apocalypse.

Even a game as trashy as Until Dawn deals in similar themes. In it you’re practically encouraged to kill certain characters at certain moments but I found that I couldn’t bring myself to kill (or let die) the most hateful character, Emily. And she’s a straight up bitch.

Bitch.

Am I putting too much thought into this? Maybe it’s just me but I know when I’m thrust into a game where I have to make decisions constantly I always try to make the decision that in real life I feel like I would make, not the decision that’s best for the characters in the game.

Anyone else?