REVIEW: "Rubber" (2010)

PIAR spends and evening having the mickey taken out of him and still isn't sure how he feels...

Marketed virally as a "so-bad-it's-good", B-movie flick, 2010 film "Rubber", by French director Quentin Dupieux, is far from what the trailer makes it out to be. Instead of a tribute to the genre's revival, brought about by the Rodriguez/Tarantino "Grindhouse" project, it is difficult to say whether "Rubber" is anything at all.

Ostensibly a film about a killer-tyre going on a killing spree in a desert town, "Rubber" both makes fun of and demands its audience's desire to search for meaning. The film opens with main character (if indeed he is a character) Lieutenent Chad giving an ironic speech about the amount of things that happen in life for "no reason." This immediately sets the jokey-tone the film takes towards applying reason and motives to a film about a killer wheel.

As such its difficult to comment at all on the events, characters and themes of "Rubber" without falling into this trap and being part of the joke of the whole movie. Perhaps this is the reason that the film met with such negative reception at Cannes when it was debuted? - movie critics are being made fun of for doing their job and trying to read "Rubber" as a text and they don't like this!

Yet it cannot be ignored that "Rubber" does have something to say on the topic of how we regard and encounter film. Another key block of characters in the film are the "the audience" who are watching the escapades of the tyre from their god-like vantage point. The different personalities within this group stand for different types of film audience. There are the "film nerds" who comment and joke throughout the film, the casual-viewers who get annoyed at these nerd interruptions and then, finally, there is the obsessive fan stalwartly refusing to let the film end until he is embroiled personally in it - (the fate of the genetleman in the wheelchair).

To an extent it is true that the film within the film ( the plot concerning the tyre murders) has no meaning or reason, yet it is untrue that the film proper ("Rubber" as a whole) does have something to say on the themes of film-making and audience perception. Well...either that or PIAR is just another victim of Dupiex...

In conclusion do not watch this if you want an evening of ironic or dumb B-movie schlock. But if you're willing to be challenged or mocked (or both) then there is plenty here to get confused or angry about...

3 strange, bicycle-wielding men out of 5

SHOUT-OUT: Beastie Boys new album stream and a gorilla?

Want to hear the new Beastie Boys album streaming live? Want to see a man dancing to it in a gorilla suit? Of course you do...

http://beastieboys.com/

SHOUT-OUT: Marble Hornets

Recently put on the trail, PIAR puts its hands in the hornets' nest and gets stung... 

Even if you aren't willing to get directly involved in an ARG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game)
they are incredibly fun to follow. This is easily the case for the terrifying and gripping "Marble Hornets" that has been raking in the youtube hits and forum posts for the last year.

Based mainly on youtube (link at bottom) and backed up by a multitude of fan forums and blogs, "Marble Hornets" is the haunting tale of a group of student film makers who stumble into contact with supernatural forces. Based on the internet-based urban legend of "The Slender Man", the non-linear story is full of warped dialogue and video recordings with plenty of hidden messages for ARG fans to decode.

With new episodes cropping up weekly, it is not too late to get involved on any level. Whether participating in the mystery or just watching it unfold, "Marble Hornets" is a prime example of the sort of online entertainment and quality of writing that make those tv-executives start to sweat...

watch "Marble Hornets": http://www.youtube.com/user/MarbleHornets

explanatory website: http://marblehornets.wikidot.com/slender-man

RETRO-REVIEW: Tomb Raider (PS1)

Not knowing how to spend a slow and quiet Spring evening with nothing much on tv (until the 11pm BBC 3 Family Guy double of course) the trusty, old PS1 was dusted off and set up next to the TV for the first time in years. A trip to Oxfam and £1.50 provided the evening's entertainment - PIAR's long-belated delve into the world of Lara Croft... 


Tomb Raider is certainly a legendary series and with the recent release of the spin-off/reboot "Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light", it feels like time to go back to where it all began. After chortling at the crude 3d of the opening cut-scene (check out Larson's choppy hand in the game's opening FMV...) the first thing that strikes the player is the iconic theme tune - such a simple melody , yet filled with the promise of adventure. The lack of music in the overall game is at first a disappointment, but when that violin line breaks the silence and an awe-inspiring lost temple fills the screen, you can feel the hairs stand up on Lara's neck as the camera leans in close to her shoulders to witness the majesty unfold...

The equally iconic training level in Lara's house provides the basic moves a player needs to master in order to get Lara through all sorts of danger. This framing device for the tricky-at-first control scheme is a masterful piece of design being both intuitive and fun. On top of this, the game designers are able to begin to characterize the protagonist and set the tone for the rest of the game before it has even begun, giving the player a glimpse into Lara's opulent upbringing.

Immersion is perhaps the major achievement of Tomb Raider. Soon into the game, all thoughts of the sometimes frustrating controls and blocky graphics are banished from the player's mind, deep in the snowy caves of Peru. The level names are exciting and atmospheric (the "Tomb of Qualopec" being perhaps the coolest) and the enemy roster is diverse and often terrifying - the undead moans and weird "clicking" noises of Egypt's mummy-mutants is something I still hear in the dead of night.

That said come the game's concluding stages, the immersion seems to trail-off somewhat, and after the well-thought-out Natla's mine level  (seeing Lara unarmed and lost underground) the Atlantis level is underwhelming. It looks like it is set in an amateur H.R. Giger picture; disgusting and frankly annoying mutants leap out of incubation pods and the lava flows and blood rivers suggest the work of whoever did the interior design for DOOM II. Suddenly the game feels less like Indiana Jones and a little confused with the player unsure of where the game has taken them.

But these are arguably criticism's brought about by the numbing fact that the game is about to end. The player is left with that queasy feeling of returning home from a long-trip, happy to be back in comfort but depressed to be out of the way of excitement and adventure. This draws you closer to the feelings of the game's charismatic heroine returning to her manor-house luxury. Both you and Lara are locked in that one depressing moment, when the door has closed behind you and you can't wait for the next chance to plunge into the luring darkness of some lost, eternal city...


4 undead moans out of 5

REVIEW: Aiden- Disguises

The Chicago horror-punks' fifth release "Disguises" has divided critics since its release in the UK at the end of March. Slated by Rocksound but lauded by Kerrang, PIAR braces itself for the worst when loading the tracks onto its ipod and donning a black hoodie...

Recorded in lead singer Wil Francis's "Sleepy Hollow" studio Disguises continues the raw and angry sound of 2009 album Knives. The band builds on this darker tone with a welcome reintroduction of catchy riffs - sadly lacking since their post-punk/new-wave homage Conviction.

Before punk fans are fully put off by this "metalcore" guitar work, the band make great use of Misfits style "woops!", "whoas!!!" and "aiaoghhgshsgs!!!" on several tracks, along with a liberal helping of standard, gang-vocals.

Lyrically some of the choruses are a little dumb and cliched, a niggling worry that the band has never fully ironed out, but Francis shows a clear knack for keeping things memorable and oddly poetic in the verses - "I watched as the black sky parted / Through fields of tar and thread" Hysteria is an obvious gunner for lead single with its stylised music video. Another warning goes out to Christian fans who may have the wind taken out of their sails once more as the blasphemy is back in full force.

As a final product the album is a well-rounded piece with great accompanying artwork depicting creepy kids and lots of sheep masks. The band certainly can't be accused of following the flock and even Victory Records haters should be pleasantly surprised by the bands gathering maturity in the wake of the bizarre emo period of the mid 00's. PIAR might go as far as saying that they carry the horror-punk genre's credibility and popularity almost entirely on their shoulders...


4 sheep masks out of 5 xx

Coming up...

Coming up in the next weeks will be a review of Aiden's new album "Disguises" out on Victory Records and a live review of The Blackout on their current UK tour.

Non-musical posts are in the pipeline, more on that soon!

R

What and why

So, first post!

PIAR is a thoroughly unoriginal blog with articles on alternative music, (pop) culture and comment. Coming up on the agenda will be reviews of new albums, retro flashbacks (like every man and his dog) and shameless attempts at being something worth reading. Hopefully these will evolve into regular features.

By no means a unique project, PIAR exists purely in the spirit of internet "grass-roots" journalism as a vain stab at creativity. Its amazing how far a pretentious name can get you...

I hope you find something worth your browsing.

thanks
R