Tuesday 31 August 2010

Scott Pilgrim

I saw the trailer for this film back when I saw Kick Ass in the early part in the year (no doubt targeted marketing?), and thought that the film look kinda fun and would be worth a watch. So fast forward about 4/5 months and I've now watched it.

The whole idea of this film is guy meets girl, guy asks girl out, they date, has to defeat evil ex's, battle ensues and boy and girl learn lesson (ok so that takes it to a sort of caveman level). Right from the first noise / image of the film title sequence people who are over 23 think back to the EARLY days of gaming on Master System, SNES, NES, Game Boy Attari, Commadore ... etc (don't need to go on do I?). From here on in the video game refference so of come at you thick and face from the classics such as Zelda (in my own words the whole film plays like an ode to Ocerina of time) and Mario righ up to modern games such as Rock Band.

While were on the subject of music, the film has both a score and soundtrack which suits it to the ground. On the OST they pick the perfect writing artist in the form of Beck who covers the main band songs from the film (with the oh so blatent game refference band name Sex Ba-Bomb) which works really well.

Overall this film feels like a game being played out and has an out there sense of humor which relates to its target audience. Acting wise the film holds well with Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead both pulling off their roles rather well and the film also has great comic moments with guest slots in the form of (the one time Superman - studio words not mine!) Brandon Rooth and Chris Evans (the former Human Torch of FF fame and now Captain America).

So is it worth watching? YES! But I would say that people who don't really get the comic book / gaming / geek culture no doubt will poo poo the film (รก la Vanity fair) while those who are too into the culuture (yeah I think I belong in the shallow end of that pool) will drool over it, and rest will give it a go.

Monday 16 August 2010

Inception - HAROOMPH!!! The Audience is listening Mr Zimmer


Right so I will honestly say that from watching the trailers for this film I had no frigging clue what the hell was going on here in regards a story I had to read / watch some review just to get an understanding of what I thought looked cool (after all trailers have deceived me before – I’m looking at you Clash of the Titans and Dorian Grey). So Inception comes from Director Chris Nolan (who as the media keeps saying is British by birth and raised in the USA so he’s a Brit doing well in the states who sounds nothing like us but he’s ours so hands off!) the man behind things like The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, and The Illusionist. The easiest way to describe this movie is a reverse heist i.e. it is not the stealing but the planting of an item, in this case an idea. The film progresses in a logical manor and follows the very simple rules of movies such as set the rules, show what can and cannot be broken and what happens when you try to break them. The film does this very well and has some superb action in it (this mainly takes place in a hotel and in Zero-G (sort of)) and while good old Hans Zimmer has an excellent score (even though he throws musical grenades every now and again to make sure the audience hasn’t zone out completely to the plot (that just be my experience on the IMAX screen with 12,000W speakers)) there is something which lacks in this film and it comes from the actors – we call it emotion! Yes I didn’t buy it from Leo he just did nothing for me while Ellen Page ....... sorry I zone out there, Ellen Page ........ Oh damn it!!! Her (got it!) really shows what a good actress she is and can play serious well (unlike Juno where I wanted to kill her for almost the entire movie!). This is a movie that is nothing like the Matrix in the sense of the story / plot but is entirely like the Matrix in the fact that it leaves its interpretation entirely open to the viewer making it a pleasure to watch over and over again (unlike some films – ergh Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions)

Toy Story 3 - Time to retire yet?


You know it’s been 15 years since we first saw Woody and Buzz on the screen and to be honest not much has changed since then.  Disney right on trend releases this film in Disney Digital 3D (DD3D?) so it look beautiful again (but as always the glasses (that’s the 3D ones not my own) add a barrier to the whole film). So this time around we see Andy is off to College (that’s University for us real people) and like most people who go off to this place they have to have a sort out of all of their stuff which include many childhood items. Chaos ensues when Andy’s mum mistakes a bag of toys for donation (on a side note you think she would check this time as previously she has had a habit of throwing things out by accident – see Toy Story 2), so Woody to the rescue or so we think as they toys end up at a sort of retirement home for toys (also known as Day-care or Nursery), which is run by an evil teddy bear – they stay Woody goes, Woody returns, they break out ... blah blah blah – yeah it’s a Pixar movie so you know it’s going to be good. What I thought was spectacular was a scene where all of the toys realise that this is the end and that there is now no way out (at this point ¾ of the audience are in tears while the other ¼ (which includes me) are sitting there going “This is a Disney film isn’t it? So I expect the heroes to live!). Again what could be a fitting end to the series but if Disney wants to spin even more money out of this poor cow then it is possible.

Shrek – Forever After / Shrek - The Final Chapter / Shrek - please can we come up with something better to show this is the last one please (after)


After that nightmare that was Shrek the Third we finally get back on track with this final Shrek film and we go back to that good old story what if I’d never been born story (like we haven’t seen this before!). We start the film with everything being good but we slowly see how life isn’t so green (excuse the pun) when you have to grow up (Me? It’s never going to happen). So he makes a deal with the villain of this film, Rumplestilskin – hilarity ensues as Shrek must convince the world of who he is and show Fiona what true love is. I suppose the story would echo well with the male member of the family who now have kids, while the kids think the whole film is hilarious – me? I thought the film look great and once again 3D proved useless (sorry not a fan of the thing) and only added to the one scene where Puss really was given depth as he jumped (or rather tried to since in this film he is a VERY fat cat) in the air as Donkey jumps into the conversation and poor Puss’s fur is all on end. All in all a good family movie and a fitting end.

3 for 3


So far this year I have seen quite few films but as for the summer blockbusters I’ve see 3 so far (Iron Man 2 doesn’t count in my book due to it being an early launch). When I watch films (as some people will testify to your honour) I tend to sit watch and analyse (I do the same with trailers and it’s why I’m King of the Trailer Game tm!).  So the next few posts will be 3 of the most recent blockbusters that I have seen this summer.

Post 1

Right so here goes nothing!

This is the first (of what might well just be many!) posts. After countless failed experiements with various formats etc I have decided to give this little site a go. Basically I'm going to use this as a way to mind dump whatever the hell I feel like so from the start let me say this: this blog contains my views and my views only on all things concerned and at no point represents the views of anyone I work with / know.

Boring shit out the way this could be kind of fun, thats if I dont get bored - so feedback or comments (if I can figure the things out!) are welcome as always!