Search results for: “axe”

TV Trailer: Axe Cop

Posted in TV
By Sam Bathe on 22 Jan 2013

Fox is on a roll with their animated shows right now, and Axe Cop looks like it’ll be doing everything but buck the trend. Starring Nick Offerman in the titular role (yes, you’ve got us already), alongside partner Flute Copy they’ll be stopping Hitler’s zombie robot army, amongst other problems during season one. Axe Cop premieres July 27th.

Steve Sunk: Axe Man

Posted in Design, Short Films
By Sam Bathe on 24 Oct 2012

Steve Sunk looks like your classic, old age bladesmiths, if anything a little more rugged than his forefathers. But he still has a gracefulness and craft to make his blades unique, able to copy or make any design people bring in, Steve even makes the steel himself too. A big contract for a man whose dayjob is teaching as Master Chef at a university.

Swiss Army Surplus Axes

Posted in Design
By Sam Bathe on 11 Feb 2011

We like axes. Perhaps a little too much. But throwing caution to the wind, here’s another to tempt you, should you be after something a little more destructive than a Swiss Army Knife for your next woodland foray. Swiss Army Surplus Axes clock in at $37-$130 but you get a lot for your money as each are unused, 30-50 years old, and with under 200 on sale at each size.

Archival Clothing Rucksack, For Your Axe

Posted in Design, Products
By Sam Bathe on 9 Aug 2010

We’ve featured Best Made Co.‘s axes before, a handful of times. Well if you bought one, you’ll probably be wanting a bag for it by now.

Axe Sling

Posted in Design
By Sam Bathe on 3 Jul 2010

We’ve featured Best Made Co.’s axes before (and then again), so if you got tempted to buy one, you’re probably gonna want a sling to go with it. Show the rest of this post…

An Axe A Day…

Posted in Design
By Sam Bathe on 4 May 2010

I’ve never wanted an axe before, but I do now. Best Made Co.’s axes are like art.

Film Review: Red Joan

Posted in Film, Reviews
By Martin Roberts on 19 Apr 2019

The story of Melita Norwood – a British civil servant who was arrested while in her eighties for providing state secrets to the KGB over a roughly 40-year period following 1937 – should have been a compelling one for director Trevor Nunn to tell. The trailer for Red Joan suggested it might well have been the right film to tell that story. Show the rest of this post…

But Red Joan, which is inspired by Melita’s story, and reimagines the character as Joan Stanley, is a textbook example of how structural choices can derail a film’s intentions. Judy Dench stars as octogenarian Joan during the time of her arrest, while Sophie Cookson (Kingsman) plays Joan in her youth. Across both time periods, although primarily the latter, the film ruminates upon whether Joan ever actually ‘turned’ to the ‘other side’, and what her motives might have been. Was she, in fact, a traitor?

These questions unfortunately are far more interesting in theory than in the practice of this film, which for all its good intentions is rather disjointed and repetitive. The way the flip-flopping structure is used, while undoubtedly designed to provide linkages for the emotional and political motivations of the main character, actually serves to dilute the effect of both timelines, pulling us out of events whenever they begin to get interesting. It doesn’t help that the chopped-up sections are themselves internally repetitive: in the present, we mostly get scenes of Joan being questioned in oddly anodyne circumstances until the script summons her into a memory; in the past, we get a series of meetings between Joan and various supporting characters, many of which are rather similar. The structure makes the project feel a little bland and, occasionally, televisual.

It’s a shame, because when the film relaxes into one of its arcs (like, for example, a subplot involving Stephen Campbell Moore), there are individually effective scenes to enjoy. Sophie Cookson gives a likeable performance in the scenes set in the past, even if the relationships the character forms are not always as interesting as they feel they ought to be, and Judy Dench is effective, if criminally underused, as the older Joan. Dench has what should be the more emotionally interesting part of the script – the haunted, emotionally torn octogenarian who has been keeping secrets all her life – but has so little screen time the scenes don’t land as they ought to, while the character of her son, played by Ben Miles, comes across as hollow, and is saddled with some of the film’s most on-the-nose, slightly risible dialogue.

Meanwhile, George Fenton’s score is generally good, although at times it feels like it’s doing the work that the drama ought to be doing, and the detail in the sets and costumes is captured confidently enough that the film convinces  as a period piece. Unfortunately, the film is let down by its structure, and I was left wishing I’d seen a film about either of the two Joans portrayed, as opposed to both of them.

2/5

Film Review: Stronger

Posted in Film, Reviews
By Martin Roberts on 8 Dec 2017

In 2013, Jeff Bauman lost both of his legs below the knee in the Boston Marathon bombings. David Gordon Green’s film Stronger is an adaptation of Bauman’s memoir of the same name, and depicts Bauman’s struggles coming to terms with his new life dealing with disability and living in an area of Boston that is not exactly conducive to his needs. Show the rest of this post…

In the opening scenes we see Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) hanging around with his friends and trying to reignite his relationship with on-again-off-again girlfriend Erin (Tatiana Maslany). That seems to be going moderately well until Bauman attends the marathon as a spectator to cheer Erin on. In the aftermath of the bombing, their relationship will be tested again, but in wholly different and more stressful circumstances.

Green’s film is, of course, a story of triumph over adversity, but for the majority of its runtime it tries to sidestep most of the clichés that can creep into the genre, and in general avoids the kind of mawkishness that can derail emotional impact.

Although Stronger depicts people admiring Bauman as a hero, the film wisely doesn’t elevate him as such. In general, the focus stays on at ground level, and doesn’t try to deal with the political side of the story. Gyllenhaal plays Bauman as a likeable but flawed character, and the film wisely doesn’t shy away from either of those traits after the accident. In the first act there are some jarring tonal shifts that prevented me from really settling into the film, and some scenes with Bauman’s family and friends that felt like they were trying a little too hard, but once I relaxed into the characters I discovered a well made, if not exceptional, film.

If some of the scenes involving the supporting cast aren’t always as solid as they could be – despite the presence of Miranda Richardson as Bauman’s alcoholic mother – the leads are capable of carrying most of it by themselves. Gyllenhaal’s is a strong performance – there are moments when he’s called upon to emote in a fairly visceral way, but in general it’s a performance not afraid of subtlety. The real star of the film for me, though, is Tatiana Maslany, who is really impressive as Erin, a woman who gives up her time and emotions to a man who, prior to the bombing, she wasn’t technically attached to. Maslany convinces as a woman offering a lot but not necessarily receiving much in return, and makes the character of Tatiana as vital to the narrative as Bauman himself. She also gets the film’s last and best-delivered line of dialogue, which rounds things off on a powerful note.

Stronger is the second film in just four years to deal with the events of the 2013 Boston Marathon, after Peter Berg’s Patriots Day last year, although they approach the subject matter from very  different perspectives. Stronger takes a stripped-down approach and focuses in on the way that day affected the lives of just a few people, and is generally successful in doing so. It doesn’t stray too far from the conventions of the genre in which it sits, but there are a couple of scenes where it takes risks – most notably one in which Bauman has his legs bandaged – and is successful in doing so.

It treats its subject matter seriously and apolitically and makes the admirable decision to stay grounded. Even if not all of its elements are entirely successful – the supporting cast didn’t add a huge amount for me, beyond  one scene in a cafe, and the script is tonally a little inconsistent – Stronger is nevertheless a well-acted double header and worth a look for Gyllenhaal and Maslany alone.

3/5

Film Review: Neruda

Posted in Film, Reviews
By Martin Roberts on 6 Apr 2017

Pablo Larraín’s unconventional biopic Neruda comes hot on the heels of Jackie, which saw Natalie Portman garner an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the title character, although it was actually made before that film. Show the rest of this post…

Neruda is a pleasingly left field entry in the genre – indeed, the term ‘biopic’ is perhaps a little misleading as regards this film – and while its eccentricities didn’t always work for me, I found it to be an entertaining and enjoyable piece of work nonetheless.

The film contrives a game of cat and mouse between the poet Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco), who publicly denounces the Chilean president and must go into hiding to escape arrest, and a fictional detective, Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael García Bernal). Larraín divides screen time between his two leading men, if not equally, then equally enough to build them both up as worthwhile presences. Neruda is shown to be flamboyant and popular but also stubborn and flawed. This works in the film’s favour. Larraín is not interested in claiming that Neruda was a hero, just a flawed and talented man. As Peluchonneau, Bernal brings charisma and dry wit to a roll that is perhaps made to feel more important by the film than it actually is.

The film isn’t afraid to flirt with darkness but most of the drama takes place in a fairly light hearted tone. Larrain uses noir voiceover, and old fashioned rear projection during many of the film’s driving sequences, to bring a jovial sense of fun to proceedings, even when the subject matter is comparatively serious.

Larraín presents the story as a grand chase (albeit one whose political importance is revealed to be questionable) between his two central figures, although the significance of that narrative sometimes gets a little lost in the style. The relaxed tone means that while the film is enjoyable to watch, the central thrust of the story doesn’t have the weight it seems to be searching for. I also felt that although Gnecco and Bernal are on good form, their characters, although interesting on a surface level, weren’t as deeply explored as perhaps they could have been.

As the film goes on, the fleet-of-foot pacing of the earlier stages gives way to a more mannered, focused style, and this suits the conclusion perfectly. There is a sense, as the two characters get closer together, that they have become increasingly single minded in their respective goals, and the story ends with more conviction than it begins with.

Neruda is an interesting film with good performances and a well-established sense of place and time. I felt a little distanced from it as I watched, and unable to connect with the characters the way it seemed to want  me to, but that said there are plenty of excellent scenes to enjoy along the way, and an unusual tone that makes the film stand out among other cinematic portrayals of real figures.

3/5

Film Review: The Huntsman: Winter’s War

Posted in Film, Reviews
By Martin Roberts on 4 Apr 2016

In 2012, Universal devised a way to turn Snow White into an action film, in which the titular character fled from her torment at the hands of her wicked stepmother Ravenna (Charlize Theron), put together an army, and kicked ass. It wasn’t very good. Show the rest of this post…

The Huntsman: Winter’s War – which acts as both prequel and sequel to Rupert Sanders’ 2012 picture – makes the key decision to jettison Kristen Stewart’s Snow White character altogether, focusing instead on titular axe-wielding Scotsman Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and his love Sara (Jessica Chastain) as they battle against the forces of the Ice Queen (Emily Blunt), Ravenna’s sister. This was a wise decision. Stewart’s Snow White never really worked for me and so having more of Eric makes sense, but this film is also helped enormously by a better – and crucially, more fun – script.

With this storyline, the film is cheekily having its cake and eating it – reminding us at key moments that this is the same world but, despite the presence of Eric and Ravenna, it’s really a different beast. Whether it was always intended to be this way, I’m not sure – a widely publicised scandal revolving around the personal lives of the cast of the first film may well have contributed to Snow White’s absence from this project.

The film’s premise is explained to us – at rather laborious length – in an introduction (really, the first act) in which the Ice Queen is established as a domineering figure who, as a result of a tragedy in her past, demands that her subjects show no emotion and be as cold as she is. Two of those subjects, Eric and Sara, make the crucial error of falling in love and are separated. Later, when the magic mirror from the first film goes missing, King William (Sam Claflin, very briefly returning from the 2012 film) enlists the huntsman to help find it and prevent its power falling into the hands of the Ice Queen. Don’t bother yourself with questions about why the Ice Queen was never mentioned in the first film, or why she appeared to be sat around doing nothing while her sister’s empire was destroyed. If the film can ignore that, so can you.

the-new-character-posters-from-the-huntsman-winter-s-war-will-give-you-all-the-nerd-feels-716283

In truth the introduction, although well staged, is stodgy and overlong. After we jump forward seven years, things really pick up. The quest is established, Eric and Sara are reunited, and a supporting cast of dwarves – two men, two women – join Eric’s search party. Thanks to the length of the first act, the actual search for the film’s MacGuffin is rather underwhelming (and not really adequately explained), but proceedings are livened up enormously by the cast. Nick Frost (the only returning member of the eight dwarves from the first film) and Rob Brydon as bickering dwarf brothers bring some genuine laughs to proceedings, as do Alexandra Roach and, in particular, Sheridan Smith, as dwarf women who join the party. You’d have thought Chris Hemsworth would’ve practiced his Scottish accent a little after the first film but, alas, his word mangling continues, only this time he has a partner in crime: Jessica Chastain struggles valiantly with the same task. Thankfully, accents aside, the two of them are on good form. Hemsworth is as charismatic as he usually is, and funny, while Chastain, who kicks as much ass as her partner, is a winning foil.

The new director is Cedric Nicolas-Toryan, who was second unit director on the first film, and who was nominated for an Oscar for his visual effects work thereon. That choice made me nervous for this film – a first time director best known for action and special effects being given a huge budget could’ve gone wrong – but Winter’s War is, for all its flaws, a perfectly decent fantasy romp, and certainly better than the first one. Nicolas-Troyan has taken the visuals of the first film (which were one of its few saving graces) and improved upon them but, impressively, also shows a good feel for the dialogue sequences and helms the action well too. I saw the film in 3D, which added nothing. Are we still doing the 3D thing after all this time?

By the end, of course, Ravenna must be reintroduced to tie the two films back together (sort of) and Charlize Theron gets to walk around  being unbelievably silly in fabulous hair, this time with added spiky tentacles. I was enjoying myself enough by that point to ignore the cracks in the narrative and just go with it.

3/5

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