"Blistering Barnacles Tintin!"

Hello Everyone :-)

I’ve been promising to go and see this for weeks but on Saturday I seized my free morning, went and got my friend a nice bottle of something for their engagement party, blitzed Coventry City Centre for some Christmas shopping and, as a reward for doing Santa’s work, took myself off to the cinema to see ‘The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn” (I’ll just call it ‘Adventures of Tintin’ from now on).

Based on some of the titles from the classic Hergé comic books (‘The Crab with the Golden Claws’ 1941, ‘The Secret of the Unicorn’ 1943 and ‘Red Rackham's Treasure’ 1944) ‘Adventures of Tintin’ follows the titular young journalist as he uncovers clues to a mystery held by a model ship named the ‘Unicorn’.  Through his own investigations Tintin joins forces with the Whiskey soaked Captain Haddock and the two set off on an adventure to uncover the secret of the Unicorn.  

Oh Mr Spielberg! Come in from the cold, it’s lovely to have you back! This is a directorial return to form after some questionable choices Spielberg has made (COUGHcrystalskullCOUGHtheterminalCOUGH!). Unlike those other endeavours, ‘Adventures of Tintin’ is a joy to behold.

I haven’t read any of the source material but I’m aware of it (aware enough to get the joke at the start of the film). As I understand it, the plot is an amalgam of three different Hergé stories and I can see how this would annoy the purists (but then everything annoys purists…) however it never came across on screen; it didn’t feel patched together. I think it was a very old school adventure. The way the story darts from a European city to a boat in the middle of the sea to made up middle-eastern country felt very much like those bits in Indiana Jones when he’s travelling from one country to another and a map comes up and a picture of a plane and a red line tracks his journey! I like that about it, it makes it feel like a proper global adventure :-)

The film has been shot using Performance Capture. Please note the use of the word ‘Performance’ as opposed to the more commonly used phrase, ‘Motion Capture’. I’m deliberately calling it that because in this film they are definitely performing and not just moving about.
Many reviews have praised Andy Serkis (who plays both Captain Archibald Haddock and his ancestor Sir Francis Haddocke) and they’re right to do so. It’s a stunning turn, highly comedic, enjoyable for adults and children alike and it’s cemented him as the irrefutable King of this technology.
I think, maybe because Serkis turns out such a blinder, Jamie Bell has been forgotten slightly and I don’t think that’s very fair. It’s not a flashy performance but I really think Bell got the energy and youthful exuberance of the Tintin across. He’s the kind of character you could say has ‘moxy’ and I liked him. I also liked Snowy who has been added post-production. He’s going to be a favourite with children the world over and for me he had a bit of a Gromit from ‘Wallace and Gromit’ quality about him in the way that he faithfully gets his master out of so many scrapes…
Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are good as Thomson and Thompson (try and spot the difference, there’s at least one). I found their little sub-plot story with Aristides Silk (played by Toby ‘Dreamlord’ Jones) quite funny and will appeal to fans of slapstick.
I was a bit let down by Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig). Not that I think he’s soft or anything (quite the contrary, I think he could potentially be brilliant), it’s just for me he was a bit underwritten. There wasn’t a great deal to him other than standing around looking ominous, I think he needs ramping up to ‘Jafar from Aladdin’ levels of bad-assery.  

The script is excellent. It drags you in to Tintin’s world and I was pleasantly surprised that, seeing as three people had a hand in it, the dialogue felt like one voice. It never got too heavy and was always family friendly. I also want to applaud who ever came up with the name ‘Karaboudjan’ because it’s a great name to hear and to say!

The set pieces are fantastic. There is a flash back sequence set on the Unicorn that is nothing short of breathtaking. Likewise the chase sequence around Bagghar, the airplane scene, the scene on the Karaboudjan, they’re all stunning. I’ve heard some people say that it just goes from one big set piece to another big set piece; I’d disagree. I thought, for a film that travels around the world as much as this one does, it fits together quite nicely and I never felt the action sequences were at the expense of the story.

I went to a 3D screening and I don’t think it added anything to my overall enjoyment of the film; in fact there were bits where the camera swoops and spins around where my eyes just couldn’t keep up and it all went a bit blurry. The animation (it’s doing it a disservice to call it animation but I can think of no other word) is sublime. The depictions of the characters are a mix of real life and caricature which I quite like. It’s real enough to be impressive (the wind blowing through Tintin’s hair is awesome) but they’ve all got a slightly cartoony, round faced (all except Sakharine who has a bad guy, angular face) quality which I found really endearing.

There is an argument that it’s a ‘boy’s own’ adventure and I’m inclined to agree. The screening I was in was me and an audience full of young boys and their dads, which I thought was rather sweet. It is male orientated but I’m a girl and I never felt alienated by it. As far as I’m concerned a good film is a good film, end of.

So, aside from a slightly under-developed bad guy and unnecessary 3D I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Adventures of Tintin’. Wholesome enough for kids, funny and engaging enough for adults with actions sequences that will leave all ages speechless. I’ll fess up, it wasn’t until I read a review of this on ‘Den of Geek’ that I decided I wanted to see it, I thought the animation might freak me out or the story might be a bit non-existent but I’ve never been happier to be wrong. Great snakes indeed :-)

It’s Tuesday, it’s grey and cold, I fancy some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. The next JJ Abrams ‘Star Trek’ film has a release date! It’s looking like a Mid-May 2013 US release, which sounds like a long way away but with the ‘Avengers’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ coming out next year 2012 is going to be RAMMED with cinematic Sci-fi nerdery so perhaps 2013 is a better bet. Also, this might just be me, but there isn’t enough room between sequels anymore. As much as I love Chris Hemsworth I do not need to see three films featuring Thor (get you teeth round that one!) in as many years (Thor in 2011, Avengers in 2012 and Thor 2 has a 2013 release date), I think a 4 year gap is fine between films. There’s no mention of a UK release date yet but considering the last film was a day and date release (released on the same date both here and across the pond), it stands to reason that we’re also looking at 17^th May 2013. Hang on in their Trekkies!

2. Good lord aren’t these men attractive?!?!? Two lovely men in one film (all my Christmases etc etc). ‘This Means War’ pits Chris ‘Kirk’ Pine against Tom ‘Bane’ Hardy in a story of two CIA Agents and best friends that fall for the same girl (Reece Witherspoon). The trailer looks alright if a bit cheesy. But hey, even if it is tosh, those boys are very very pretty :-)

3. Official Christmas ‘Who’ info! So after the first (rather uninformative) picture and the subtle trailer we have a trio of pictures from the Christmas special and the official plot synopsis. It sounds delightful, Christmassy fare and I’m looking forward to it!

4. I’ve read one of the first reviews for ‘The Muppets’. I was almost in tears reading the review so it’s entirely possible I’ll have a full on emotional breakdown when I go and see it next February. 73 days to go!!!

That’s all I’ve got for you today. I’ll be back later this week with a review of Misfits, series 3 episode 5 :-)

Goodbye till next time :-)
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Oi, Hitler! Why’ve you gotta be such a dick?”

Hello Everyone :-)
Now I don’t want to brag but I’ve had a fantastically busy weekend so on Sunday night, when I’d usually be on the way home from the quiz, I was in tears watching Will Young do a wonderful version of ‘Running up that Hill’ (one of my absolute favourite songs) so I missed half of ‘Misfits’ episode 4. But yesterday evening I caught up on 4OD and this is what I thought. As before, I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible.

So this episode links back to the fantastic Christmas special where the ‘ASBO 5’ sold their powers to Seth the gorgeous powers dealer. The man that bought Curtis’s time travel power goes back to WW2 and tries to kill Hitler. Unfortunately for him things go awry, he drops his mobile, Hitler finds it and uses the technology.  We are then flung back to present day and an alternate reality where the Nazis won the war and they have Seth hostage, making him take the powers of others.

Ok, here’s where I get hypocritical… I don’t mind the use of time travel in this episode. I have whinged about the use of Curtis’s original power in the past but in this it really works. My previous gripe was that a whole episode would happen and then Curtis would just rewind time and fix it all. In this episode the crucial difference is that the time travel power is intrinsic to the story. It’s kind of like a massive game of relay but with powers, it goes from Curtis to Seth, to the bloke that brought it, back to Seth and so on. It’s fun and new to see a power used in this kind of way.

The Nazi element is actually done really well and unlike other Sci-Fi shows that have set episodes within the world of the Third Reich (COUGHdoctorwhoCOUGH) it is very much part of the narrative. For pure balls I commend them, there aren’t many shows that would have one of its main characters go back in time and nut Hitler… I also like the exploration of the characters in this alternate reality, Simon is part of some kind of Nazi youth, Kelly is still doing community service but now with a massive swastika on her uniform, various deceased characters are still alive (try and spot them, there are 3) and Shaun (Craig Parkinson) the probation worker has a similarly relaxed attitude to his position of Nazi prison officer.

Speaking of Craig Parkinson I must say he’s doing a bang up job as Shaun.  Brought in in season 2 as a replacement to Sally the probation worker (the one that gets offed by Simon and kept in a freezer…) and he’s amused me ever since. His attitude ranges from indifference to flat out uncaring and his deadpan delivery is priceless.

Kelly and Seth’s relationship has begun to take flight in this episode and the ‘will they won’t they’ becomes a simple ‘when will they’. Looking ahead to next week their relationship is to be explored even further so our favourite gobby Misfit may still get her happily ever after.

I really enjoyed this episode. The most ensemble episode of this series so far, although Lauren Socha stands out as the wonderful “tart with a heart” and definitely has this episode’s best lines. What it lacks in out and out comedy it makes up for in drama and tension. An acquired taste amongst ‘Misfits’ fans, a bit more humour might have pulled it up to a universal favourite but I like it just the way it is :-)

Right! I need some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
1. ‘My Week with Marilyn’ takes to screens this week. Bringing together two ladies I adore, Michelle Williams and Marilyn Monroe, this has been on my cinematic radar for a while. Also starring Emma ‘Hermione’ Watson ‘My Week with Marilyn’ is 100% Oscar bait and if this review is anything to go by, Michelle Williams should have a gong or two heading her way. ‘My Week with Marilyn’ is released on Friday 25^th November.

2. Also released on 25^th November, ‘The Deep Blue Sea’ makes the leap from Stage to Silver screen. I do like Terence Rattigan. ‘After the Dance’ is a fantastic play, I know people mock that he just writes about posh middle class people but I think the themes in his work are universal.  I’ve not seen the play but ‘The Deep Blue Sea’ looks like it could be something special, what with Rachel Weisz and Tom ‘Loki’ Hiddleston in the starring roles.

3. There’s a whole host of new ‘Doctor Who’ shizzle doing the rounds. Here is the first official photo and a very exciting trailer for the Christmas Special ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’ to get your teeth into! I know I have not yet addressed the giant Sonic Screwdriver wielding elephant in the room but I’m getting round to it, there’s a lot to weigh up, so watch this space :-)

4. The video has been released that persuaded Amy Adams to join the cast of the Muppets. If someone made something like that for me I think I’d be persuaded to do just about anything. I mean how any one can say no to Jason Segel is beyond me but just in case he alone was not enough, Kermit stepped in to seal the deal. Btw… 79 days to go!

5. New character Banners for the ‘Avengers’ have been released. The Bruce Banner/Hulk one is a highlight. I’m developing a massive crush on Jeremy Renner, especially his arms…

6. Pictures from Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ have emerged. I haven’t written about this before now but I’ve been keeping tabs on it. Up until this point ‘Prometheus’ has been a mystery shrouded in an enigma wrapped in unanswered questions, all we’ve actually been told is that it will exist in the same universe as ‘Alien’ and it's a kind of prequel. But today we have some actual pictures showing a massive stone face and some of the lovely cast. Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Rafe ‘Son of Timothy’ Spall and (my current obsession) Michael Fassbender are all in it. I’m excited :-)

Well if that lot doesn’t make you cheerful I don’t know what will!

Goodbye till next time :-)
x x x x x x x x x x x x x

365 days

Hello Everyone :-)

This isn't a proper post, just a little mini one!

It’s one year to the day that I started writing this daft blog and I’d just like to say thanks for sticking with it thus far :-)

I’ve had a lovely year, watching all the lovely (and not so lovely) stuff I’ve been yapping on about. I really enjoy making these inane rambling posts and I hope you enjoy reading them.

Thanks :-)
x x x x x x x x

The Mis-fortune of others

Hello Everyone

The third episode of ‘Misfits’ series 3 was broadcast last Sunday night. I rushed home to catch it on E4+1 after the pub quiz (we came fourth, not best pleased) and this is what I made of it. FYI I’ll try and keep it as spoiler free as possible.

Continuing with the character focused episodes theme of the series so far, we have a Simon centric instalment. Simon stops the mugging of, Comic Book Fan, Peter. Peter becomes infatuated with Simon and believes he is a Superhero, then Simon begins behaving very strangely which makes Alisha suspicious.

You know I said last time that I like light and shade? Well there’s some serious light and shade in this episode. It’s quite dark (not as bad as last week, definitely less ‘rapey’) but thankfully the episode is punctuated with moments of levity, Rudy and his clone’s incident with the Community support officer is highly amusing but then the scenes with Peter and Simon are very unnerving, increasingly so as the episode progresses.

I think this is an inevitable shift in tone that will affect the whole series. Simon has stepped up to be the main character of the show and the nature of his character dictates that instead of the jovial Nathan leading a largely comedic series, it becomes more steepened in its own, more serious, Simon lead, mythology.

We really get to explore the relationship between Alisha and Simon in this episode which is nice. Theirs is definitely the biggest character shift since the show began. No one could have seen where those characters were heading after the first showing of episode one. They’re so tender with each other it’s just adorable. Thomas and Rheon seem very comfortable together and that absolutely comes across on screen.

The subplot of Kelly and Seth developed nicely. I like that Kelly has a new love interest after her relationship with Nathan didn’t come to fruition. Plus Seth is so cute! I like learning what the characters powers are because it tells you something about them, like Simon being invisible because no one really saw him and Curtis being able to rewind time because he regrets his drugs mishap. I couldn’t work out why Seth had his power; he can pass powers from one person to the next but can’t use them himself. It all fell into place when Seth confessed to Kelly that before the storm he was a drugs dealer that got his girlfriend hooked on drugs and she died of an overdose. I like where their relationship is going, he seems to be a man with demons and I think Kelly could be the girl to save him in her own gobby way :-)

Unfortunately after his great first episode Rudy is relegated to light relief which is a shame because I like his character. The same fate befalls Curtis too in this episode. There’s not a great demand for anyone to change gender at will in this episode.

The episode is more comic book inflected than any of the previous episodes and I do wonder why they left it till now. The style suits it SO WELL! I like the fact they actually come out and use the word ‘Superhero’, they’ve hinted at it before but it’s more blatantly obvious that this is where the show is heading.

So I thought it was a very strong episode. Full of tension with some good comedic nods and lashings and lashing of Simon :-)

Now I fancy some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. FirstTrailer for Pixar’s next outing ‘Brave’ is out! I think it looks really good! It seems to be in the same vein of DreamWorks’s excellent ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ but obviously it’ll have its own Pixar identity and I’m super excited to see it :-)

2. ‘Fresh Meat’has been given another series! Yay! ‘Fresh Meat’ is the story of 6 University Students living in a Student house after failing to get into Halls. It’s been a quietly brilliant, hilarious series with excellent performances from the ensemble cast. It’s hard to pick out a favourite because they’ve all been brilliant. Zawe Ashton, Greg McHugh, Joe Thomas, Kimberley Nixon, Charlotte Ritchie and Jack Whitehall make up the main characters but I must give praise to Adam Gillen who plays the supporting role of Howard’s friend/enemy/stalker Brian, he is hilarious. I’ve been loving it! Catch up on the series on 4OD.

3. The first trailer for ‘The Hunger Games’ has been released. I still haven’t got round to reading the books but it looks good :-) I’ve said before, I love a dystopian future movie and I’ve got a massive crush on Luke Hemsworth so I’m sold!

4. ‘My Transsexual Summer’ was on last night! I caught up with the first episode on Saturday on 4OD and totally loved it. I find it a bit odd that the concept of gender identity is still taboo in the public consciousness and I’m glad that shows like this exist to encourage discussion about it. Yes, some of the documentary has been done before; showing the stresses of coming out to family and friends, the reaction of strangers, the obligatory surgery scenes and those aspects of the show are very important but what I like is how it makes you think about what it means to be a man or a woman and the difference between sex and gender. ‘My Transsexual Summer’ is on Tuesdays at 10 o’clock on Channel 4 and you can catch the first two episodes on 4OD.

5. Justin Timberlake has accompanied a US Marine to the Marine Corp Ball! All together now… AWWWWW! Not only is he super cute, a great singer and a good actor he's a nice guy too!!!

6. Have some Muppets parody posters! 85 days to go!

That’s all for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

x x x x x x x x x x x x x

P.S I said the other week I was quite interested in seeing the new Tarsem Singh Snow White film... well the trailer's been released and after seeing it I'd like to retract that statement...

Fits of Giggles?

Hello Everyone :-)

‘Misfits’ is Back! Yaaaay! No, not the American Horror Rock band, the E4 anti-superhero teen drama! Much has been made in the press of the departure of Robert Sheehan so let’s have a look at the post-Nathan world of Community Service in episodes 1 and 2 of ‘Misfits’ series 3.

In episode 1 we rejoin the gang in their new lives and with their new powers. Simon (Iwan Rheon) can see into the future but doesn’t have the ability to choose what he sees, Alisha (Antonia Thomas) has the ability to see through the eyes of others, Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) can turn himself into a girl (he says it himself “all the good ones had gone”) and Kelly (Lauren Socha) has genius-level knowledge of rocket science (but rather amusingly no one will believe her).
We then head back to the community centre where new boy Rudy (Joe Gilgun) is sporting the iconic orange jumpsuit and making friends with two girls who are also part of the ‘Community Payback’ team and trying to keep his power under wraps.

There were two things this episode needed to do: 1, introduce us to Rudy and 2, get the team back in the orange overalls. The first is pretty self explanatory but it was essential to get the characters back into the confines of the community centre because it grounds the series.

So firstly, it’s a very Rudy centric episode but there’s nothing wrong with that; we know all the other characters so it makes sense to concentrate on the one we’ve not met. A quick look over Facebook and Twitter will tell you that people aren’t happy about Nathan’s departure and I’ll be honest, I did harbour some concerns, but you’ll be happy to hear all is well in the land of Orange jumpsuits. Rudy is as funny, crass and loud as Nathan ever was but also has a softer side. Rudy’s power is emotionally induced cloning, i.e. when he gets upset he grows a clone that tells everyone what he’s feeling. This automatically sets him apart from Nathan who never seemed to show any emotions at all (except lust) and endears him to me a lot more. They tie the character into the ‘Misfits’ world with a bit of back-story with Alisha which works nicely.

The Christmas special left us on a massive cliff hanger; the gang had all that money to spend on powers, what would they choose? I’ll admit Curtis’s is a bit of a let down but the others seem quite good, Simon and Alisha’s powers seem to fit in with the ongoing storyline and Kelly’s looks as though it’s going to provide a lot of humour and be potentially useful in an ‘A Team’ making a helicopter out of things you find in barn, kind of way. As for “getting the band back together”, they do it very simply and it works out quite well (not for the gang of course!).

So for the first episode back, I enjoyed it; A clever introduction to a new character, a brief look at the team’s new powers and a great set up for the rest of the series.

Episode 2 is a Curtis based episode. Curtis is missing running competitively and decides to use his ability to change gender in order to compete as his female alter ego (Melissa) in competitions. Curtis is unprepared for the male attention he gets as Melissa and things take a turn for the sinister when his coach’s hands start wandering.

I’ll come out and say it. Curtis is my least favourite character in the show. I always found him a bit up himself, a bit of a killjoy and his power to rewind time was a massive cop out when it came to the plot. I don’t think I’m alone in this opinion so this episode takes Curtis back to basics and sort of re-launches him. The results are actually quite good despite Nathan Stewart-Jarrett not being on screen for a great deal of time.  Praise must go to newcomer Kehinde Fadipe who gets Curtis’s character down pat. It’s not just a girl version of Curtis, it’s a girl version of Curtis with all his mannerisms and intonations, Fadipe has clearly put the hours in researching the character.

It’s not a typical ‘Misfits’ episode, it’s quite light on the humour and instead opts for a more sinister tone. I don’t mind this, there have always been more ominous episodes in the show and they act as a counterweight to the more comedy driven ones, which isn’t a bad thing, I like a bit of light and shade. I also like that the antagonist in this episode doesn’t have any powers, it’s nice to remind the audience that not everyone is as special as our ‘ASBO five’.

What I don’t like is the women’s lib attitudes of this episode which are a bit OTT. Melissa does this monologue about how men keep talking to her tits and the stresses that are put on women. Really? ‘Misfits’ is tackling gender equality? It doesn’t feel right. I admire the sentiment but I never actually felt that this show had a problem with sex politics, Kelly and Alisha have always been very strong minded and, whilst they’re definitely not role models, they certainly don’t take any truck. It just seems a bit unnecessary.

Over all, whilst it lacked the humour of the first, the second episode of this series revelled in the awkward body-swap nature of Curtis’s power. I liked it, a solid second outing.

‘Misfits’, it’s safe to say, has taken everyone by surprise. I think at the time it was first broadcast people thought it was going to be ‘Skins’ but with superpowers.  In reality I think it’s far superior to ‘Skins’. The show is more entertaining, characters are more likeable and (super powers and murders aside) a hell of a lot more realistic. They don’t dress like jumped up scene kids, they don’t have £500 a day coke habits; they have a drink, have a dance, have a laugh and long may they continue.

Episode 4 of ‘Misfits’ series 3 airs Sunday 13^th November on E4 at 10 o’clock (or if, like me, you’re at a pub quiz till half 10, 11 o’clock on E4+1).

Now it’s time for…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
1. Just in case you’ve been away for the week, the new Bond film has had its first press conference. It’s going to be called ‘Skyfall’ and will still have Daniel Craig as Bond (the campaign to make Michael Fassbender Craig’s successor starts HERE!) and Judy Dench as M but the film will also star Javier Bardem, Albert Finney Bérénice Marlohe, Naomie Harris and, Nerdy Rachel May favourite and star of ‘The Hour’, Ben Whishaw.
Sam Mendes is the Director and he says the film will shoot at Pinewood, Whitehall in London, China, Istanbul and Scotland, which all sounds very nice. I’m optimistic but cautiously so after being burned by ‘Quantum of Solace’. So let’s watch this space.

2. We’re in double figures people; it’s 92 days to go! Let’s celebrate this drop into double figures with DOUBLE MUPPETS MAGIC! How about some New clips of the Muppet Movie and A Bollywood themed Muppets trailer?!?! BOOM! How’s that for some green felt based happiness?!?!?!

3. ‘The Human Centipede 2’ has TANKED at the box office, grossing £942 after its UK opening last weekend. Ahahahaha! Oh its things like this that brighten my day :-) After reading the reviews and all the ridiculous promotion (the banning by the BBFC and then cutting about 2 and a half minutes being splashed all over the papers and various movie news sites) I was fully prepared for it to do well . As a fervent film fan (alliteration WIN) I’m oddly proud of this because it’s a total triumph for film criticism, they said it was shit, people listened and didn’t go. Film critics one, Tom Six Nil.  

4. The first promo pictures of Nicholas Hoult in Warm Bodies has been released. It looks decidedly ‘Twilight-ey’ but I don’t think the premise lends itself to that kind of melodrama. It's just a picture, it’s probably too early to tell anything about the end result so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be excellent because the story sounds mental (in a good way).

5. Wilfred Mott gets an OBE! Yay!

6. Stephen Merchant and Warwick Davis have been talking about their upcoming show ‘Life’s too Short’. I’m SUPER excited about this; I adore Stephen Merchant, Ricky Gervais and Warwick Davis (whose autobiography is well worth a read even if you’re not a fan of his films) so having them all in one show together is a total boon. ‘Life’s too Short’ starts on Thursday at half 9 on BBC2.
Oooh! Whilst I’m on the subject, I went to see Stephen Merchant on his live tour on Tuesday this week. It’s one of the best stand up shows I’ve seen in ages. His willingness to make fun of himself is so endearing and the audience I was in totally related to his mishaps with the opposite sex. I’d recommend it to anyone, don’t dismiss him as Gervais’s second in command, he’s a great comic in his own right.  You can find dates for Stephen Merchant’s tour ‘Hello Ladies’ at livenation.co.uk.

That’s it for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)
x x x x x x x x x x x x

Nerves of Steel

Hello Everyone :-)
Way back when, my Mum and I went to see ‘Senna’ (21^st June seem SUCH a long time ago! Btw ‘Senna’ is out on Blu-Ray and DVD, buy it, rent it, whatever, just see it if you haven’t already) and before the film they showed the trailer for ‘Real Steal’. Me and Mum looked at each other with massive grins on our faces. We love Hugh Jackman and, even though I had reservations about the Transformers-ey-ness of the trailer we agreed to go and see it when it came out. So, 4 months later, abusing my Orange Wednesdays discount we went en family to see it.

In the not too distant future of 2020 Robots have replaced Humans in the arena of Boxing. ‘Real Steal’ follows Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) an ex-boxer who now makes a living beg, borrow or stealing robots to fight at underground competitions in the US. Charlie is informed of the death of his ex-girlfriend with whom he has a child, Max (Dakota Goyo) and gives custody to his ex’s sister on the condition that he looks after him for the summer. Much to Charlie’s annoyance Max blackmails Charlie into taking him with him to Robot boxing matches. After Charlie’s Robot is trashed in a fight, the two break into a scrapyard to steal anything with which they can make another Robot but Max discovers a fully formed, generation 2 robot and demands that they take him home. Together Max, Charlie and Robot ‘Atom’ work their way up through fights, fighting more advanced robots and, against all odds, triumphing until they come up against their most formidable foe.

This film reeks of cliché. The estranged son teaching his Father about what really matters, the former hero reduced to a ne’er do well and in need of a second chance, the childhood friend who has loved him all along. There’re all there, every cliché in the book but it never bothered me because the characters are so well realised.

I liked Evangeline Lily as Bailey, Charlie’s lifelong friend and landlady who harbours a soft spot for him (who wouldn’t?!?!). She’s not simpering and she’s not a doormat, she’s the slap in the face that he needs. I really warmed to her character because in the scenes where she’s watching the fights, she starts shouting and waving her arms around and that was exactly what I was like watching this film!
Hugh Jackman breaks from type a bit here and plays Charlie as a proper arse in the beginning. I mean save for his good looks, when we meet Charlie he has no redeeming features what so ever. At one point he sells his son, that’s how bad he is, he sells his own child! I love the redemption of Charlie’s character, it’s a bit corny but because his relationship with Max is so lovely it didn’t bother me.
Dakota Goya (his Dad’s called David, Mum’s called Debora and has two siblings called Devon and Dallas, I shit you not…) plays Max and he is just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Child actors can be irritating but I found it hard not to love Max. He’s got such big blue eyes and loves Atom and his relationship with Charlie develops to such adorable levels. I unashamedly got swept up in the loveliness of it all.

This film is so American I’m sure that if you cut it, it would bleed stars and stripes. From the first few opening shots of vast fields, sunsets, state fairs and gingham clad country girls to the basic ‘underdog triumphing against adversity’ story line, ‘Real Steel’ shows a wholesome, rose tinted vision of the good old US of A. Oddly in a Blockbuster film such as this, I particularly like the soundtrack, the bluegrass inflected tones that accompany the wide prairie vistas and the electro beats of the Robot boxing ring. I found the mix of Score and ‘proper music’ worked really well, snaps for Danny Elfman!

The fight scenes are awesome. They were done using ‘Simul-cam’, the same technology used ‘Avatar’ where you film the actors portraying the robots (or in the case of ‘Avatar’ 8ft Smurf Cats) and simultaneously on a monitor you can see what the digitally altered outcome looks like. It’s so much better than the old green screen technology where actors would be staring at an empty scene and guessing at an eye line that would invariably be different to the one their co-star was looking at. This technique helps the whole thing look a lot more tangible and ultimately makes a slightly unbelievable premise seem entirely possible.

I’m impressed with Shawn Levy. Levy has previously directed the two ‘Night at the Museum’ films which I like in a ‘family friendly’ kind of way and ‘Date Night’ which I haven’t seen but if my friend Mark’s review is anything to go by (which it always is), he seems to have made a more cohesive picture with ‘Real Steel.

I’ve tried to avoid the obvious comparison to the ‘Transformers’ franchise but I can hold back no longer. This is the family friendly robot based movie that Transformers purports to be. We all know (even if some won’t admit it) that the ‘Transformers’ franchise is a thinly veiled attempt to make various shots of fast cars and women’s arses into as lucrative a venture as possible which means making them 12a features. Having seen all of the ‘Transformers’ films I would question this rating. I won’t go into it now (this is not the time nor the place but trust me, that time and place is coming) but I’m not sure films that feature such homophobic and racist themes, plus the depiction of women as either sex objects or idiots, should be deemed a 12a but hey, who am I to question the BBFC. Thankfully ‘Real Steel’ has none of that. There are robots hitting each other there’s one brief scene of violence but other than that, no racism, no homophobia and although there are few female characters, the lead female is strong, owns her own business and never degrades herself by being pictured sporting a push-up bra, arse in the air posing over a motorbike.

 I really really like ‘Real Steel’. It’s fun, action packed and (in spite of my cynical soul) I found it surprisingly heart warming. I wouldn’t advise taking very young children but anyone from 10 up would enjoy this. Entertaining through and through :-)

Now I fancy some…

Reasons to be Cheerful

1. NEW PICTURES FROM THE HOBBITT!!!! Yeah I might be a bit excited… The photos show the set of The Shire, Bag End and Frodo Baggins himself, Elijah Wood! From what I gather from this great set report it looks like Frodo is returning to the silver screen to help connect the dots between ‘The Hobbit’ and the existing LOTR films. On any other film I’d suspect he was doing it for the paycheque but in a project such as this, it’s clearly not the case. There’s such great affection for the Trilogy and having the prequel (I’m sure calling it a prequel is doing it a disservice) in the hands of Mr Peter Jackson can only be a good thing. I can’t wait :-)

2. A new trailer for ‘The Dark Knight Rises is going to be playing before screenings of ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’. I was going to see it anyway because I adore Guy Ritchie’s first ‘Sherlock Holmes’ but now I’m even more excited :-)

3. 10 o’clock Live has got a second series! Granted they get a 10 episode run instead of 15 and the running time is being cut from 65 to 45 minutes, but still, it’s coming back! In all honesty the cut running time might be what the show needed all along, hopefully the producers will streamline the show because it was obvious to everyone that there were certain things that worked really well (‘Listen to Mitchell’, Jimmy’s round up of the week’s news, Charlie’s more acerbic look at one aspect of the news) and some things that just didn’t (Lauren Laverne’s skits about Bankers or the privatisation of the NHS and Jimmy Carr’s weird comedy sketches where he dressed up as Kate Middleton/A riot Policeman/God, etc.). While I’m here I’d also like to suggest moving the shows place in the schedule and re-titling it accordingly. Putting a current affairs show on at 10’clock is madness, unless it’s half an hour long. ‘Newsnight’ airs at half 10 and to put anything in the firing line of Paxman and co is surely suicide. It’d be interesting to do a survey of ‘Newsnight’ viewers because I think a lot of them are younger that you’d think. Check twitter on a week night at about 11 o’clock. 9 times out of ten at least one of the top 10 trending subjects in the UK will have something to do with ‘Newsnight’. What nutter thought that this fledgling show should go up against an already established current affairs giant? The best thing to do would be to move it to 9 o’clock, call it ‘9 o’clock Live’ and then it’s accessible to the people that would otherwise be watching Paxman screaming “did you threaten to overrule him?” or whatever, that way everyone’s happy :-)

4. 100 days till the Muppet Movie!

That’s all from me today.

Goodbye till next time :-)

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Shut up and Drive

Hello Everyone :-)

As you may have gathered over the past 11 months, I like watching films. There are some I’m perfectly happy to go and see on my own and there are some that it’s nice to go and see with other people. One such film was ‘Drive’. The showing was 10 o’clock on a Friday night and I went with one of my best mates (a fellow cinephile) to see what all the fuss was about.

The story is that of an unnamed driver (played by Ryan Gosling, we’ll just call him ‘The Driver’) who moves into a flat in Hollywood. He’s a stunt driver and car mechanic by day but moonlights as a getaway driver. The Driver starts spending time with his neighbour Irene and her son when he becomes embroiled in a robbery with Irene’s Husband who has recently been released from prison.  The robbery turns sour and The Driver sets about putting everything right.

I came out of ‘Drive’ unable to decide if I’d liked it or not, actually it felt like I was in a bit of a trance. It had obviously gotten my attention, I appreciated it and I thought it looked beautiful but did I enjoy it? Well it’s more than two weeks after my cinema visit and I’ve come to the conclusion that I did enjoy it. I think the fact it’s been playing on my mind for over a fortnight tells you a lot about ‘Drive’.

The central cast are great. Bryan Cranston (of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ fame) is really good as Shannon. He’s a kind of Father figure to The Driver but exploits him for cheap labour so he’s simultaneously a bit nice and a bit of a bastard (which works nicely as a microcosm for the whole film).
The never knowingly bad Carey ‘Sally Sparrow’ Mulligan (unsurprisingly) pitches Irene perfectly. She is naive but world weary and so very delicate in a way that few but Mulligan could deliver, anyone else would have sugar coated Irene which would have spoilt her wonderfully tender relationship with The Driver.
Speaking of The Driver, I’ve been a huge fan of Ryan Gosling for a while and in ‘Drive’ he didn’t disappoint me. He’s such a charismatic screen presence you can’t help but get drawn into his character’s story. Watching him as The Driver I was reminded of Gary Oldman’s in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ because it’s an equally stripped back performance and, like George Smiley, The Driver doesn’t have that many lines. The Driver embodies the idea that the world makes sense behind the wheel of a car and anything beyond that just complicates things so the dialogue is suitably sparse.

I have conflicting feelings about The Driver, mainly due to the level of violence of which he’s capable. It’s definitely a conscious decision on Director Nicholas Winding Refn’s part to make the two aspects of the Driver’s personality so disparate. In the scenes with Irene and Benicio he’s so soft and gentle (who can resist a man that’s good with kids) but when he’s with Blanche at the Motel he’s so scary, likewise the scene in the lift with the hit-man, he’s terrifying. Ultimately though you do root for him because none of the violence comes from a malicious place, he just wants to set everything right, but he’s by no means a squeaky clean superhero so fans of unambiguous, good vs. evil type films, tread carefully.

The look of ‘Drive’ is clearly important to Nicholas Winding Refn and I understand completely, aesthetic is key when films are this thin of dialogue. The colour pallet is very cold and in some instances quite neon which shows L.A off to its painfully cool, gorgeously urban potential.

Gosling and Winding Refn seem to be building a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp sort of relationship as Gosling is set to star in two of Winding Refn’s future projects (one due to start filming in 2012 is called ‘Only God Forgives’  and the other is a remake of ‘Logan’s Run’ which as of yet doesn’t have a production date). I’m fine with this. Winding Refn has got a great performance out of Gosling, very restrained and then totally animalistic, raw bursts of violence, they obviously have a great working relationship and as long as it keeps giving us films of this standard I hope it continues.

I’m not sure to whom I would recommend ‘Drive’ but, as long as you’re ok with pretty shocking levels of impromptu violence I’d say seek out a screening. Guaranteed to linger in your mind, part tender romance, part gangster film and part exploitation B movie; ‘Drive’ had me captive from start to finish.

I think we need some…

Reasons to be Cheerful
1. More is being eked out about ‘Shame’ starring the gorgeous Michael Fassbender. In an interview for the Culture Show (on the Iplayer till Friday 4^th November), the Good Doctor Mark Kermode spoke to Steve McQueen (no, not that one) who directed the film. ‘Shame’ marks the second collaboration between Fassbender and McQueen and looks set to be equally as fruitful. The first film by this cinematic union was ‘Hunger’ a look at the imprisonment of Bobby Sands, leader of the 1981 Hunger Strike. I won’t lie, it’s a tough watch but it’s so engaging and features a totally star making performance by Fassbender. ‘Shame’ looks like a brilliant companion piece to ‘Hunger’, one film about depravation and the other about uncontrollable addiction. ‘Shame’ hits UK cinemas on 13^th January 2012.

2. More ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Pictures! I think this is the first properly clear shot we’ve had of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt, we’re still not 100% on the significance of his character ‘John Blake’ but hey, it’s all exciting stuff :-)

3. Muppet Move Countdown! 101 days to go!

All I’ve got for you today.

Goodbye till next time :-)

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