Empire of the Desert Ants

Desert ants, who'd have them?! Well as it turns out the Arizonans. If you're intrigued by the many intricacies of the natural world, like some bug-eyed ten year old, then this 'little' documentary will be right up your gravel strewn street.

Empire of the Desert Ants is simply fascinating. Stylistically narrated by Andy Serkis as some sort of socio-historical dramatisation, you'll feel like you're watching the ant-ics of the Romans or some long lost civilisation. But the narration itself is just the final touch on a truly epic endeavour. Most impressive is the remarkable macro videography, which spans a whopping eight year period in order to cover the lifespan of a single 'super-power' ant colony, consider this and you can begin to understand the immense dedication, artistry and meticulous science invested in this film. I've consciously chosen the world 'film' because it watches as such: the story arc of conception and destruction, the power struggles, the different characters of ant classes... It's all there, enjoy.

More than a Hair type, less than a Human

Oookay...so you're an individual...erm, on a conveyor belt with a plastic mannequin smile. Shouts individuality and personality to me. Ah but it's okay, they searched and searched for hours and finally discovered the perfect, underground electro beat to really send the message of 'be different, be an individual'. For me, the best part is our penultimate shot; our 'more than a hair type' woman truly stands out from the crowd with the latest 'blue-steel'. Where's the storming out of the factory pay-off?! Where's the defiant personality, oh wait, it's the VO5 factory... VO5 have their messages all mixed up here. Poor effort.

In truth this could of been spun to work, change up the acting of our leading lady, add a bit of humour through her confusion and shock at being placed onto a mannequin body? Still though, weird.

Shining a light for Charity Ads

'We are all born to dream, born to achieve, born to discover... Some are born to be the fastest, the greatest or simply the bestest. But while some are born to grow old and wise, many more will never grow up at all.'

The words in themselves are plain and cliched, if they were the narrative of a careers ad we'd have switched off. But, and this is a credit to our female narrator, she delivers these simple lines with such well-weighted poetic tone and rhythm, managing to stir something really contemplative, a thing which all charity ads hope to achieve but many struggle to do. The combination of this child-like "bestest" yet aspirational dialogue against the positive images of children smiling at role-models sends an optimistic message for me. Rather than ramming a desperate plea down our throats we're almost made to put ourselves in their shoes.

The final bit 'many more will never grow up at all' is very clever; the bulk dialogue builds you up onto a positive plane and then casts all those dreams, all that childhood potential down into doubt. You can't help but feel the cruelty of it and at the same time you don't feel guilt tripped into these feelings.

Concrete Circus

'Breath-taking', 'eye-opening' and 'heart-stopping' are a number of lazy cliche's I could adopt to describe this far from disappointing watch; all of which would fail to do justice this remarkable documentary, and luckily my propensity for cliches and substance of this programme are in no way aligned.

Concrete Circus examines four of urban sub-culture's most enigmatic pass-times: Parkour, Trail Biking, Flat-Land BMX and Freestyle Skateboarding. By documenting, in a very human way, the craft of five young British pioneers Concrete Circus follows the progress of process as each individual pushes himself to accomplish their second online viral showcase more ground-breaking than before.

'Sport' would be an inadequate definition of exactly what these urban athletes actually do, and that is the shifting nature of these break-through entities. Even skateboarders flinch when you try to pin them to terms like 'extreme', how dated does that sound?! And that's part of the beauty of this documentary. Although each 'sport' has its differences, it's blatantly clear that these individuals are united by their need for personal expression and, refreshingly, unpretentious straightforward fun. If you've ever hit the streets for long periods of time this one will appeal to you, and I don't mean curb-crawling in the way you're thinking..

Unfortunately the entire documentary isn't up on 4OD, why I can't tell you, but keep checking though. Here instead is my favourite of the four short-films produced.

Enjoy.

That 'Yes' Moment

Love this advert; it's soo good to once again feel that 'yes' moment from watching an ad. The creatives responsibe don't even need to generate much of a build up, a few brief scenes of the band promoter receiving indifference from the mostly disinterested general public are enough to strike a pang of recognition with the audience's own attitude. Let's be honest, a large majority of us nurture an embarrassingly well-developed indifference and distrust towards the homeless, street charity volunteers and others around us in our cities. This advert turns that underlying attitude on its head. By championing optimism and denoucing cynicism, ideals which naturally appeal to the young and idealistic, through both the dialogue and the drama this Bulmers ad becomes a great example of using a resonating brand sentiment to lead the way into the hearts of a target audience.

The Tree of Life

This was my first visit to Cornerhouse, Manchester's premier destination for all things visually artsy. The Tree of Life, the most recent offering from acclaimed writer/director Terrence Malik is the story of a 1950's post-war American family struggling to deal with life and each other.

Brad Pitt's role as the stern and emotionally constipated father, a breed which seems to have all but died out, was originally to be played by the late great Heath Ledger. Being the key benefactor to the film Pitt decided to step into the lead role himself and although it would of been wonderful to see Ledger adapt to such a character for me Pitt carries the fish-out-of-water father so well, not without some help from a powerfully posed underbite.

Lacking a clear linear plot or entirely cohesive set of events, many viewers will be forgiven for feeling frustrated at times; Tree of Life is prone to the odd 20 minute tangent. The mother's drawn out, grief-laden introspective narratives for instance, which accompanied by some of the film's most beautiful imagery deal with the nature of existence, meaning of life and God, do leave the viewer feeling cast adrift or bemused rather than empathetic or philosophical. Given, Malik is trying to convey the emotional state of grief but with only a superficial character development of the middle son, who's lost, I can't help feel these contemplations are contrived. Much of Malik's efforts are focused on capturing pivotal snapshots like memories in this way, and this gives the audience a feeling of drifting through each secular individual's emotional consciousness rather than watching a family collective.

This may leave you for a large portion of the film clawing to get into something more concrete and entire characters seem to only scratch the surface like the mother, Sean Penn's character and the youngest brother.

Thankfully Malik compensates the film's abstract, introspective sections with day to day life scenes and some good dialogue, such as the dinner table scene when the middle son tentatively mirrors the father's abusive behaviour, the scene follows:

Father to eldest son: 'Can you only speak to me if you have something important to say...and don't speak, just nod or shake your head. Did you have a good day...answer me..'

Eldest Son shakes and nods.

Middle Son to father: 'Shut up.'

Father: 'What did you say to me?!'

Middle Son: 'Please? Shut up...please?'

This one telling response beautifully encapsulates so much of the family's dynamic and the films key themes of fatherhood and childhood. Most definitely the Tree of Life is to be seen on the big scene, even if it's just to be left feeling a little dazed and confused. For me, a second watch is order, if only for the pretty pictures. 7/10

The right sort of 'over-the-top' ad

Yeah but it's not flying...is it though?! Nicely opportunistic though; grabbing a prominent spot at the centre of attention as it undergoes renovation. Not feeling it in that red, looks better in blue. And, the penny's just dropped; I've just done yet ANOTHER car ad blog, FML. What's the opposite of car blogs? Bicycle, walking...do a walking ad? Okay, challenge is set, i'll find a walking-esque ad.