Archive

Tag Archives: Exploding Heads

Danger 5 Season 2 David Ashby, Natasa Ristic, Sean James Murphy, Amanda Simons, Tilman Vogler, Pacharo Mzembe, Elizabeth Hay, Fumito Arai, Robert Tompkins, Nathan Cain, Daniel Becker

Danger 5 (Season 2): the team of global super spies are re-united, this time in the 1980s, to stop another of Hitler’s quests for world domination. It’s soon apparent that this is – paradoxically – undeniably Danger 5, but also quite different to the previous season. The writers tampered with the cocktail recipe a little too much; Pierre has totally changed for no explained reason, another lead was swapped out for a ridiculous brat-character, most of the established running jokes dropped, and 80s throwback has been done to death lately – giving it a less cool / kitsch feel than the 1960s format. On the other hand the show manages to remain funny, wacky, surreal, psychedelic, and a celebration of satire (there’s an episode called “Back to the Führer” – come on!). I hate using the word ‘random’, but the ‘randomness’, madness and surrealism of the gags is the main thing that raises Danger 5 and sets it apart from the mediocrity that you expect of most modern comedies. All of the changes add up to fewer laughs per episode, but despite this Danger 5 Season 2 is still a great show, that is equally bonkers – but has a significantly different look and feel.

Score: 7/10

Danger 5 Season 2 3 David Ashby, Natasa Ristic, Sean James Murphy, Amanda Simons, Tilman Vogler, Pacharo Mzembe, Elizabeth Hay, Fumito Arai, Robert Tompkins, Nathan Cain, Daniel Becker Season 5 Season 2 4 David Ashby, Natasa Ristic, Sean James Murphy, Amanda Simons, Tilman Vogler, Pacharo Mzembe, Elizabeth Hay, Fumito Arai, Robert Tompkins, Nathan Cain, Daniel Becker Danger 5 Season 2 2 David Ashby, Natasa Ristic, Sean James Murphy, Amanda Simons, Tilman Vogler, Pacharo Mzembe, Elizabeth Hay, Fumito Arai, Robert Tompkins, Nathan Cain, Daniel Becker

Rubber [Blu Ray]: For reasons unknown, a discarded tyre comes to life, and starts a murderous rampage using its psychokinetic – head exploding – powers. There’s an awesome short movie in here, but in order to ‘beef it up’ into a film, several (ridiculous) elements are thrown in that don’t really do it for me. A film that’s punctuated with meta sequences and references should have a better reason for doing so than simply adding to the runtime; the entire observer side-story just broke up and detracted from the fantastic personification of a demented tyre. The SFX and direction are impressive – the tyre’s personality is built up piece by piece as he shakes, moves, inquires, turns, breathes, rolls, crushes and showers all on its own. Moreover, the film has an art exhibit / music video style and feel throughout, with fresh visuals and great cinematography featuring the Californian desert. The BD picture is among the best I can remember watching, every texture is rendered crisp and sharp; audio is generally flat, but bouncing when the music kicks in. I liked Rubber, but really wanted to love it – ultimately, it should have either been a 20 minute intense short, or full-on 80 minute character study of the tyre.

Score: 7/10