Finding myself uncharacteristically unable to give a flying fuck about what is in the news today and therefore unable to murder helpless pixels merely to write about politics or world events, I took advantage of my inamorata being away on business to escape the Ivory Tower and go bathe in the blood and beer of popular culture… yes, I just saw Doomsday, a post-Apocalypse Mad Max-meets-28 Days Later action splatter flick.
It is a movie that sets its sights low and consistently hits the target. Okay it does get a bit wobbly when any character has to speak for more than fifteen seconds, which thankfully occurs rarely. That said, much as I enjoyed this exceedingly low-brow gore-fest, Rhona Mitra is simply better than the movie. She is superb as the quipping but mostly taciturn harder-than-nails action chick with the one thing so many action heroines lack: physical presence. Also this movie has the best and most brutally ended action-girl-on-action-girl fight scene, well, quite possibly ever.
And the ‘eye thing’… very cool.
But I am not writing this to praise Rhona… well, actually I am…
…no…no… the purpose was to repeat what an old Scottish chum of mine said to me on the phone this evening when he unexpectedly called me up and I told him I had seen Doomsday.
“Oh yes, that film is a hoot!” he replied, “but it just made me wonder, maybe the Apocalypse is just Glasgow at chucking out time on a Friday evening, only it never ends. And people who can eat deep fried Mars Bars will eat anything.”
I remember being very impressed by her in Boston Legal, although I had no idea what her name is. Presence in abundance. BTW, what other action heroins are there? Angelina-fat-lips-Jolie? Give me a break.
You mean it is not yet illegal to show movies that have guns in them over there?
Alisa – do you consider China White to be an “action heroin” ?
Har har… personally I have always thought of it as a club in London.
She does dirty up nicely 😀
well then, it ah… it could happen, someday.
and, she is pretty enough… so like I said, it could happen.
ummm, did you sneak an irish type drink into the theatre too, that I could do this and get away cleanly with it always helps me…
Ah, Rhona Mitra…
Actually, Boston Legal was a great show (was because I can’t watch it anymore). The amount of eye candy in there was phenomenal – even Candice Bergen still looked fairly good.
But yes, Rhona Mitra. Rhona, Rhona, Rhona.
I’m sorry, what was this post all about again?
Alasdair: unfortunately, I can only discuss movies in this context.
Gregory, you were “between relationships” at the time, weren’t you?:-P
So what’s wrong with deep fried Mars Bars? Here in the Deep South (US) they’ll deep fry anything. Carnival booths sell deep fried Oreo cookies; deep fried green beans are in all the best restaurants; and the only way okra is remotely edible is deep fried. I’ve come to believe that nearly anything is better deep fried. (Of course, I’ve put on 20 pounds, but so what?)
Oh, the ignorance!
The only thing better then deep fried Mars Bars is deep fried twinkies!!!
Try it you will like it 😀
Actually in the movie its deep-fried special forces operative (well, spit-roasted but what the hell).
Considering the rioting in Manchester last night…it seems to have spread a bit south.
I was wondering what that movie would be like.
Facile junk is facile junk however you dress it up. Get a life of your own.
Steve, grow up and stop being so pretentious. People like you seem to forget that entertainment doesn’t have to have some sort of deeper meaning and can simply be enjoyed for its own sake. Give me Iron Man, Spiderman, Die Hard, and Bad Boys over some of the overly cerebral drivel that is being bandied about these days. At least these films don’t even try to be anything other than entertaining and succeed marvellously at it, whilst some of the more purportedly intellectual pieces I’ve seen fail to be either intellectual or entertaining.
I’ll be checking this out as the opportunity arises, Rhona Mitra used to be the real life face of Lara Croft you know.
Bathe her and bring her to me.
, what other action heroins are there? Angelina-fat-lips-Jolie? Give me a break.
I’m surprised Perry hasn’t jumped in here: Milla Jovovich.
BTW, since Angelina Jolie was mentioned, I was always disappointed that Rhona Mitra was not chosen to play the part of Lara Croft. After all, the developers of the Tomb Raider game originally used Rhona Mitra on which to model their creation.
just saw Doomsday, a post-Apocalypse Mad Max-meets-28 Days Later action splatter flick.
You missed another post-apocalyptic movie tie-in that blatantly influence the film: Escape from New York!
Doomsday was pretty good, and I liked how it was “you’ve seen the bad guys… now meet the other bad guys” rather than the obvious bad guys versus good guys screed. Scenes in that car chase were blatantly ripped off from Mad Max 2 though (that’s The Road Warrior for you yanks).
Agree with a whole lot of the comments.
Given the opportunity, I’d like to see her cast as Molly Millions in an honest-to-goodness, authentic version of Burning Chrome or Neuromancer.
And please. Don’t try and tell me they did it with Johnny Mnemonic. They tried. They failed.
Anyway, I’m off for a cold shower.
Dear Rhona…er, Alisa. Yeah, Alisa. I meant Alisa. Always did.
As for Candice Bergen, let’s just say I do have a soft spot for the ‘older woman’, IYKWIMAITYD.
BTW, did you know the Mithraists copied from Christianity and not the other way around?*
*Gratuitous way of sneaking Rhona Mitra back into the conversation
But you know who else? Navi Rawat from Numb3rs. Yeah, brains get me going to. Not to mention her looks.
I think I’ll stop now.
Alisa,
Is there something wrong with being between relationships?
Candace Bergen does little for me. On the other hand, Shawn Colvin…I don’t care if she’s got two decades on me and is a democrat besides. I still can’t listen to “Whole New You” without thinking about her in an impure manner.
Or Mila Kunis…or ANY of the actresses on Firefly….
I’ll be in my bunk.
OH, shit, Firefly…
Yeah, I think I’ll be in my bunk too. After work. And dinner.
1/2 hour to go before long weekend. See ya guys later! 🙂
Sunfish: no, nothing wrong. As to Candice, it’s not the age at all. I never liked her looks so much, although I do like her personality (which includes the brains, of course). OK, you all enjoy yourselves, meanwhile I am going to see if there is anything on cable with Clive Owen in it…
Yeah, something about Candy Bergen in Soldier Blue that always was a great turnoff for me.
Suppose the Apocalypse came to…
What would they look like—the Horsemen—the killers?
Oh, I know what the movies almost always show. The gruesome makeup, the outlandish costumes, claws, powers, catseyes, and enlarged teeth.
But, we know what they will really look like. We have seen them—the ones who can kill and kill and never tire of killing. We have seen the riders of Apocalypse—don’t you remember?
The pasty faces, the mousy appearence, the glasses and moustaches and dead, dead eyes. The fancy uniforms over middle aged and puny bodies. The withered limbs, the mannerisms, the bombastic speeches, the adoring followers, the certainty, that deadly certainty…
I’ve been watching my DVD’s of the old BBC series “The World at War.” Listening to Olivier try to describe the indescribable, explain the unexplainable.
Watching madness. Enduring the unendurable.
Wondering how we ever survived an assault of evil so pure, so refined, the Borg in hotel doormans’ uniforms, smoking pipes and touring camps where death was the only product, the only purpose.
Watch the news today, tomorrow, the next day. Their children are there, center stage, mouthing the same cliches, calling for the blood of the scapegoats, demanding that everyone believe—or else.
Those who live only in other people’s lives, who exist only in their power over other men and women.
Do you hear the horses’ hooves in the distance, getting closer, closer. Listen….