Benson’s latest Death Issue model got the tactical espionage action treatment in our product review section from Moose, who was pulled out of retirement for one last review.
A clip surfaced late last night of Benson shredding Livi and even fitting in some ‘street’ action too. ATV! Get to it ya fucking lassies.
Dainton took his Sunday cam to the Cardiff Plaza official opening jam to put together this banging edit, featuring hammers from the Kill City lot, the CSC, Crayon heads and Manhead.
Have a look below for a glimpse at one of the best new parks in the UK and stay tuned for a couple of exclusive edits of the park in its early days in our Spot Check feature on the park coming soon.
20th Century Fox
predators-movie.com
It’s often difficult to squint back into the past and remember a time when the predator franchise didn’t suck comically oversized balls. Despite the best efforts of a series of sequels so increasingly awful, the original still has a certain 80’s muscle bound, tongue firmly in cheek, firearms fully loaded, Austrian accented charm about it, that somehow managed to remain intact regardless of atrocious crimes against mankind like Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.
It’s clear from the get go that director Nimrod Antal and producer Robert Rodriguez both feel similarly about what has become of the predator over the years, hence this production desperately tries too hark back to the original and clamours to reclaim some of what made that film pretty special. Unfortunately…. it sort of… well….fails.
Though, that’s not because it’s a “bad” film per say. Rather….it’s gut wrenchingly, frustratingly average. A group of strangers wake up in free-fall heading towards a large jungle….they soon learn that each one is in their own way an extremely adept killer (so you get Walton Goggins as a serial killer, Danny Trejo as a Cartel hitman, Louis Ozawa Changchien as a Yakuza assassin etc.) and rather quickly it becomes apparent that something very big and pissed wants to hunt them down and fuck them up. The problem here is that a really good predator movie…the one that will finally do justice to the original’s legacy, needs to be much, much more than just a bunch of two-dimensional stereotype tough people getting picked off one at a time by a big grumpy alien.
A major issue I had was with the casting of Adrien Brody’s nose (and the actor attached to it) as an action lead. If he wants to try and expand his repertoire out in this direction, this was not the correct vehicle to show it off. Simply adopting a gravely Christian Bale Batman voice and getting all buff ’n’ shit does not an action star make. He’s a fine actor, as he’s proved time and time again, however, this character is such a shallow, uninteresting, lazily written part, lacking in any charisma or charm…that his presence just seems jarringly out of place and wrong.
It’s a film that really needs to be a lot more than it is…and probably could have been, instead of harking back to the original, it comes across more as a damp echo of it, reverberating still with many of the unwanted trait’s of the awful sequels.
Ultimately, any movie where an alien with dreadlocks that can turn invisible and has a shoulder mounted laser cannon and swords on it’s wrists and infra-red vision and a myriad of other pieces of outlandish technology all designed for hunting and killing things can actually make you feel bored half way through should hang it’s big floppy head with a spiky vagina mouth in shame.
Jonathan Day
Lionsgate
Psychosis is the new British horror film from director Reg Traciss. It stars Charisma Carpenter, if you’ll recall she was the assertive cheerleader from Buffy the Vampire Slayer many years ago and British model Paul Sculfor in his debut-acting role.
Successful horror novelist Susan (Carpenter) moves with her husband David (Sculfor) from sunny California to a secluded home in the rural English countryside to find peace and tranquillity to work on her new novel. Soon after the move, Susan begins getting disturbing images of death and murder and has some unsettling encounters with their creepy gamekeeper. Before long her worlds of reality and imagination begin to intertwine and she is no longer sure what she can believe in.
With such an intriguing and terrifying plot, expectations are high for Psychosis to be a frightening tale of one woman loosing her mind as her imagination gets the better of her. Unfortunately this is not the case. Although the narrative that follows Psychosis is a good one, when ideas from paper are put to film, it is no match. The house in which all the action takes place is not very scary and it has not been used to its full potential. If given the right lightening and direction, it could have literally come alive with terror in much the same way the hotel of The Shining did. Carpenter may have made watching Buffy enjoyable, but she doesn’t have the same effect on this film as her screams seem extremely phoney and don’t add anything to this film’s already limited believability. The actions of her husband are also dull with the majority ineffective in creating any more sense of the story. The only time sense is actually made, is during the concluding segment when you understand what Susan has actually been though, before given an unexpected twist at the end; this was probably the most shocking event in the movie and it only took 80 minutes to get there. It is also at the point the opening ten minutes that at first appeared to have no connection with the remainder of the film, finally make you go ‘ahhh’ with acknowledgement.
Do not expect a typical scary movie with Psychosis, as you will not be getting it. What you will get on the other hand is dullness, lack of interest and some darn right ridiculous goings on. Some will likely love Psychosis while others will not. Which side are you on?
Michelle Moore
I popped into my local skateshop the other day, just to have a peek and see what was being offered these days in the world of wheels. Blimey, there’s a lot of choice these days. After narrowing it down to just ‘white’ and ‘no gimmicks’ you’re left with essentially all that a wheel should be. Round.
There’s that phrase isn’t there, about re-inventing the wheel? You could try, but you will never improve on an already historically proven design that’s so simple that even a caveman thought of it. So the humble skateboard wheel is definitely something that doesn’t need taking back to the drawing board.
And Drawing Boards know exactly this. Don’t mess with success. Their new range of wheels are clean, simple urethane with just one goal; making your board go forwards and backwards smoothly.
Basic urethane wheels like this are what every skateboarder always returns to after a quick dabble with the gimmick-market, where once you discover that having hollow cores or liquid centres or LED lights inside them really are a waste of time. Look at anyone who has skated for more than a year and you’ll see lumps of plastic on their trucks just like these Drawing Boards 55mm wheels, because they work well.
So why buy these over any other plain simple wheel you ask? Well, as you should know by know, supporting British skateboarding by buying British products is what keeps our beloved tradition alive in this country. Drawing Boards riders Jak, Jerry and Matt can be seen repping their team at almost every UK skate event. They’ll skate their arses off at demos and it’s only right that their dedication is rewarded through you putting your money back into UK skateboarding and buying their stuff.
Drawing Boards also put out a ton of free, absolutely banging video content for you for nothing as often as they can over at their website. Go check out what they’re doing and the next time you’re faced with a dilemma of which pink-spangley-go-faster whizz balls to put bearings into, just do yourself a favour and pick up some of their wheels instead.
Moose
You never know, but one day you might get caught skating behind enemy lines at that sick bank to wall spot round the back of President Mugabe’s house, and suddenly you’ll need to dive for cover in some nearby bushes to avoid the gunfire. Hiding is no good without camouflage, as they’ll see your little face poking out between the branches.
Lucky for you, you got yourself this new Death Skateboard deck just the other day and it has a full camo print on the bottom, perfect for hiding your head behind. At 8.125”, there’s plenty of room to cover even the fattest of faces. The only slight problem is the massive white Death logo and Benson’s name underneath, these white marks may give your position away.
Should this happen and you need to make a quick escape, dashing for your helicopter pick-up point, you’ll be pleased to know that this board’s width gives you a lot of control and manoeuvrability to weave in and out of tracer fire. Any obstacles that block your path, there’s more than enough pop to get over fallen trees, trip-wires and landmines. Maybe even chuck a cheeky kickflip in there, deflecting a few bullets with the underside along the way.
Confronted with armed guards, you’ve got a couple of options with this deck. Either go a bit tech and knock out a tre flip, giving them the worst shinners they’ve ever experienced. Or go for the gnarly option, rag it as fast as possible and bodyjar those fools in the head. Both methods would be no problem for this fine piece of wood.
You’ve nearly made it to the rendezvous point, but there’s one final problem. The bridge up ahead has been taken out and your only option is to frontside lipslide the remaining rails. This is where the slow motion mega-action ‘I am Rambo’ bit happens, your war-torn board becoming another film icon as you slide down that rail, John Woo explosions going off in the background, landing and popping your board into your hand as you commando roll into the chopper.
So, in short, this Death Benson board will suit you down to the ground should you ever find yourself on the frontline of a jungle conflict, or if you’re just hacking it round your local concrete jungle.
Moose
The very slick new video has surfaced online for Georgia 5-piece rock outfit Dead Confederate’s new single ‘Giving It All Away‘, scheduled for release on August 16th.
The song, which features J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. playing guitar like only he fucking can, appears on the band’s new album ‘Sugar‘, due out on August 30th.
Watch the new video below, directed by Jason Miller it features the band getting dissected by children found on Craigslist. Something different…
The spectacular new Les Savy Fav album was sadly leaked way ahead of its scheduled release date on September 14th. To make up to those good true types who want to support the band and don’t want to download it the NYC indie rock kings have released it digitally on iTunes a month early.
The album is out now. Get it. It’s rad.
T’is the time of year for creative events! Lots of great ideas for jams and nights have been put out there in the UK this summer and the Queen Of Kings is no exception.
On September 18th, Kings Park in Bournemouth will be hosting the Queen of Kings jam where you have to be fully kitted up in costume to be allowed to skate. It’ll pay off though so get your Vans high heels on for a chance to win some more Vans or something from the other sponsors, Santa Cruz, Indy and YDNA. Prizes will be dished out to the best dressed, the best shralpers and the ultimate tranny on trannie comp!
Head over here to the Flip Skateboard’s website or look below to witness the shredding and hijinx that’s already gone down on the Flip/Volcom ‘Thrilla In Manila‘ tour.
Luan Oliveira, David Gonzales, Louie Lopez and Willow get stuck in during this first installment, like fully stuck in. Hardflip to front noseslide anyone? Anyone?