Created Races

Rally race through the Murrieta oil fields designed for the RC Bandito. RSC Link: https://socialclub.rockstargames.com/job/gtav/7Dw3oewsmEiu-tCkTsQphA Video:

What I Watched This Week #140 (Sep 2-8) Song of the Sea dir. Tomm Moore/2014/1h33m The second feature from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon is based on the myth of the selkie, half-seal, half-humans who can transform from one to the other at will. After being sent to live with a relative in the city by their father Conor (Brendan Gleeson), ten year old Ben (David Rawle) must get his young sister Saoirse (Lucy O'Connell) home after discovering she is the last selkie and will die if she can't sing her song by the ocean by dawn. To make things worse they are being hunted by the owl queen Macha (Fionnula Flanagan) who turns people to stone by stealing their emotions. This is a beautifully animated film with a very distinctive style that uses flattened perspectives to brilliant use. It's different stylistically to their previous film, The Secret of Kells, which looks like a medieval manuscript, but you can tell it's from the same team as it has that same care and attention to the details in the backgrounds, and they are unafraid to get slightly expressionistic at times in order to heighten the emotions being felt by the characters. The films also both share a passion for Irish folklore and mythology and bring that to life in a really entertaining and engaging way, with the traditional score helping on that front. The performances are solid all round, with Gleeson bringing a lot of emotional heft to his role as a grieving husband and a father who just doesn't know what to do. Rawle has to carry a lot of the film, as Saoirse is mute for most of it, and he does a good job of playing the frustrated but still protective older brother. The emotional ending had me in tears, but it does end on a happy note. 8/10 Moor Mother: Jazz Codes dir. Cyrus Moussavi/2022/14m This short film is basically a promotional video for the 2022 album Jazz Codes by Moor Mother, the stage name of Camae Ayewa, who delivers spoken word beat-like poetry over a chaotic yet dreamy blend of jazz and trip hop, with visuals that depict scenes in the desert bathed in unnatural red and blue light as well as the band performing in a garage in LA. The result is hypnotic but feels like it's trying too hard to be enigmatic and I think I would have preferred if they picked either one of the acid soaked desert freak-out or the chill jam session and committed to it as I don't think they blend well or compliment each other much. I did really like the music, but if modern jazz isn't your thing I don't think this will do too much to change your mind. This is a real vibe but I think overall the visuals detract from the excellent music. 6.5/10 The Polka King dir. Maya Forbes/2017/1h35m Based on a true story, Jack Black stars as Pennsylvania polka singer Jan Lewan who is beloved in his small community. Using that love and trust he is able to scam them out of millions of dollars, getting them to invest in his band and various other enterprises over the course of several years. He is exposed after bribing the judges at a Mrs. Pennsylvania beauty pageant to ensure that his wife Marla (Jenny Slate) wins. Once you get past Black's awful Polish accent you'll find a decent film about a man chasing the American dream at any cost. And it's not that Jan isn't hard working or sincere, he just wants more and he can't resist taking these old folk's money because they make it so easy for him. Not that that's any justification, but the film doesn't present him as some evil schemer, just somebody getting in way over their head. Black is good in the lead with the highlights obviously being the various polka songs he performs, but he can also handle himself in the more dramatic scenes, something which I think he should do more of. This reminded me a lot of Bernie, another true crime film starring Black, but that is a better overall film with a better performance from him. Not that this is bad, but I think it leans too much on the comedy at times. 7/10 Skate Story: Shortplay Depth I dir. Sam Eng/2024/9m I don't know why this was on Mubi as it's just a video showcasing the first level of a VR video game in which a skateboarder made of glass skates through an abstract hellish landscape before heading to the stars in order to eat the moon. It looks cool but why is it on a film streaming service? I'd rather play it. 5/10 A Snake of June dir. Shinya Tsukamoto/2002/1h17m A Snake of June is an er*tic thriller starring Asuka Kurosawa as Rinko, a young woman married to the older, cleaning obsessed Shigehiko (Yuji Kotari). She is being blackmailed by a stranger who has compromising photos of her and commands her to perform humiliating s*xual acts in public. This is a hard to read film full of symbolism that doesn't explain itself easily, repeated shots of a snail, a scene with a roomful of men wearing masks that restrict their vision being made to watch a couple have s*x are the two main ones that stick with me, but under all of that is a story of s*xual awakening disrupting a stale marriage, I think. This is surreal in an almost Lynchian way, and the whole thing is shot through a monochromatic blue filter with a constant downpour of unrelenting rain that makes everything feel unreal. 7/10 Prey dir. Dan Trachtenberg/2022/1h40m The latest film in the Predator series acts as a prequel, being set in early 18th century America. Amber Midthunder stars as Comanche tracker Naru who wants to prove herself as a hunter. She thinks she has found her chance when a new threat appears in the woods, but it turns out to be an alien looking for the most dangerous prey to hunt. I guess he wants to prove himself too. I love I when a long running franchise tries something different and it really pays off here because I thought this was excellent. There are nods to the original like the scenes set in the woods and someone saying “if it bleeds we can kill it” but it never feels like they're winking at the camera when they do it as if to say remember this? Midthunder is a captivating lead and I really like the way everything she needs to defeat the Predator is introduced naturally so it's believable when it happens, with her quickly realising, like Arnie in the first film, that you can't fight this thing, you have to out-think it. There are a few pacing issues early on but those disappear once the hunt begins, and none of the supporting cast really stand out, but this is still the best Predator film since the original. If you're watching this on Disney+ there's an option to watch a Comanche language version which I highly recommend. 8/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Man on Fire dir. Elie Chouraqui/1987/1h33m The original version of Man on Fire – remade in 2004 with Denzel Washington – stars Scott Glen as burnt out ex-CIA agent Creasy who is hired by a wealthy Italian family as a bodyguard for their young daughter Sam (Jade Malle). When she is kidnapped by the Mafia he sets out to rescue her and get revenge. This is a simple film that is heavy on moody atmosphere with Glenn pretty convincing as a man haunted by the things he saw in Vietnam. He and Malle are pretty sweet together, with him becoming like a father figure to her since her parents are absent most of the time. This makes his trail of bloody revenge more believable. He is helped on that path by his former partner David, played by Joe Pesci who in one scene plays an acoustic guitar and sings Johnny B. Goode. It's pretty f*cking awesome. Very by-the-numbers and predictable but it's still action packed and a fun watch. 7/10

A track running through the Mirror Park area built for the RC Bandito. RSC Link: https://socialclub.rockstargames.com/job/gtav/rVMHtZNvaEac5CNTV9g1wQ Video:

I wanted to create a race but didn’t have much of an idea other than the location. So, I started putting down props without much thought of where it would go. I improvised the entire formation. 🙂 A rally race of sorts. Restricted to rally style vehicles. Best at night with HSW off. RSC Link: https://socialclub.rockstargames.com/job/gtav/WLf3MEANmUaIrboXVrQClQ

Arrival (2016) dir Denis Villneuve 12 alien space ships simultaneously appear at different locations around the globe. Linguistics expert Louise (Amy Adams) is brought into the team trying to communicate with one that landed in Montana, lead by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) where she forms a strong working relationship with physicist Ian (Jeremy Renner). It's serious sci-fi rather an action film. It explores how we would communicate with a species that obviously not only does not speak our language, but does not even communicate in the same way we humans do. It also has sub plot concerning Louise and her daughter running through it that I can't say much more on without major spoilers, but this does add a lot ultimately. Another part of story is about how the 12 different countries the spaceships landed in work together, what they are willing to share with the others and what their governments decide needs to be kept secret. It's very well made and acted with some good music and the special effects are impressive. My one criticism is the plot is not well thought out in a couple of places. For example, early on when Col Weber asks Louise to translate a recording of the aliens speaking she shouldn't need to explain to him that he asking the impossible. How can she possibly instantly understand a language she not only does not speak but has never heard anything remotely similar to before? It's going to take time to understand the aliens. I don't think the audience needs to be told that. Another example is to do with the subplot I don't want to spoil. But I'll just say I think they missed an opportunity to bring in a little real physics to try and explain something the characters find inexplicable. Also if this ever did happen in reality then I don't think we would need to translate the alien language, because those way more advanced aliens, capable of interstellar travel and hiding their spaceships, would surely already have done similar to what Louise and her team do, to understand Earth languages before they arrive (by watching our TV!). But then this would be a rather short film, so I can let them off on this point. Overall very well worth watching if you like this sort of non-action sci-fi. 8 / 10