“I'm going to go find some damn water and take all my damn pills then we going to get this damn party started."

Hello Everyone :-)

‘The Hangover’, how do we all feel about ‘The Hangover’? Personally, I don’t mind the first one but that’s as far as I’ll go; I found number 2 so abrasive and cruel that I never bothered to see number 3.

‘The Hangover’ trilogy, however, has been phenomenally popular and some soulless marketing droid has clearly cottoned on to this, factored in the current craze for geri-action (see: The Expendables, RED, Escape Plan, The Last Stand, Bullet to the Head and the upcoming Grudge Match) and decided the premise of sending older actors on a Stag-do was a good one and seemingly ‘Last Vegas’ came into being.

Billy (Michael Douglas) is in his late 60’s when he informs his three best friends – Paddy (Robert De Niro), Sam (Kevin Kline), and Archie (Morgan Freeman) – that he’s getting married. The four childhood friends converge on Vegas and set about giving Billy a suitably memorable Bachelor party with hilarious consequences.

My Nan loved this film and I really liked it too. I mean that in the best possible sense.

The first, most crucial, question is “Is it funny?” Humour is obviously subjective but I thought that, for the most part, ‘Last Vegas’ was consistently funny. I was surprised by how much of the humour was derived from pointing out the ridiculousness of the young rather than constant references to how the four leads are ‘too old for this shit’ (I’m looking at you ‘Expendables 2’…). In particular the attitudes of a young nightclub go’er and the quartet’s host for the weekend, Lonnie.

There are a couple of cringeworthy attempts to crowbar some youth culture into the film. Two cameo’s in particular made me wince. It’s really not necessary to do this. The concept and performances are funny enough without showing me LMFAO thrusting in Robert De Niro’s face…

As far as performances are concerned Michael Douglas and Robert De Niro are pretty much dialling it in as Billy the perma-tanned party boy and (understandably) grumpy Paddy. A well timed love triangle does a bit to boost their story when interest starts to wane.

The cause of that love triangle is the utterly delightful Mary Steenburgen. She is properly lovely and a great example of a character older woman in a film who can still be funny and smart and gorgeous. More of this please.

The best bits of the movie are Kevin Kline and Morgan Freeman as Sam and Archie. Morgan Freeman cements his position as The President Nelson Mandela God the coolest man in the world by rocking a red velvet suit and having Archie be the smoothest guy ever, despite the fact he’s on so much medication he practically rattles as he walks.

Kevin Kline is, frankly, not in enough things and here he gets to bust his comedy chops as Sam, the man that’s been given a ‘free pass’ by his wife for the weekend. Kline (Total Silver Fox) gets all the best lines in the film and delivers them with impeccable timing; he is so much fun to watch. We don't see you enough Kevin, don't be a stranger!

I don’t think it’s a bad thing for a movie to aspire to be pleasant. In the same vein as ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, ‘Last Vegas’ doesn’t want to be anything more than a heart-warming tale of people enjoying their dotage and that’s ok. Whilst it’s pretty genteel Freeman and Kline help give the film a cheeky side. After all… it’s nice to be nice.

Also, this.

Now Mr Freeman has finally cleared up what the Fox said let’s have a look at some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. Sherlock Series 3 is out on Blu-Ray and DVD! Series 3 garnered a bit of a backlash which I think was unwarranted. I really loved it and you can now get all the series in a lovely box set :-)

2. Peter Capaldi’s (are we calling him the 12^th or the 13^th Doctor? Oh who the fuck knows any more…) Who costume has been revealed. It’s a shame he’s not wearing his Cardinal Richelieu get up but still… I bloody LOVE it :-)

That’ll do for now!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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"I hate space"

Hello Everyone :-)

When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up? Football player, Actor, Singer, Ballerina, Vet? Me, I wanted to work for NASA.

When I was growing up I got an Encyclopaedia for my 7th Birthday (once a Nerd always a Nerd!) and I was obsessed with it. I read it cover to cover but I particularly fell in love with the bits about space. I poured over pages about shuttles and rockets and the planets of our Solar system until I announced that I wanted to work for NASA prompting the reply from my Dad, “If you end up working for NASA I’ll drop my trousers in front of Tescos’. Needless to say my Father’s dignity remains intact…

With my predisposition for all things astronomical I really wanted to see Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Gravity’ and in the aftermath of New Year, I went on a little bit jaunt to the cinemas to do just that.

The film is set during a mission in Space. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a medical engineer on her first space shuttle mission aboard the Shuttle Explorer. Her team is led by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who is commanding his final expedition. During a spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope, Mission Control in Houston warns the team about a Russian missile strike on a satellite, which has caused a chain reaction forming a cloud of space debris which is heading their way. Mission Control orders that the mission be aborted but before the team have a chance to escape, high-speed debris strikes the Explorer and detaches Stone from the shuttle, leaving her tumbling through space.

This film is a lesson to us all that Murphy’s law is out to get you. Also, Space is a c**t.

Watching ‘Gravity’ is a ridiculously stressful experience. I get emotionally involved in an awful lot of films, I can’t help myself, but with ‘Gravity’ I must have looked ridiculous. I was practically in brace position the entire time. It is arm-wavingly, breath-holdingly, all-consumingly tense.

There has been lots of talk of the visuals of this film but I must say they are stunning. As a space nerd, stuff like Hubble deep space images and shots from the Cassini-Huygens orbiter make me giddy so every glorious, sweeping view of earth in ‘Gravity’ made my head spin.

Cuarón uses a series of long shots with the camera dancing around the action like a waltzing princess to great effect. When the first cut does come (about 20 minutes in) the camera changes from POV shots, objective and subjective perspectives which intentionally disorientates the audience as we spin away from Earth. And, as everyone else in the world has said, it’s one of the few films that is worth seeing in 3D, if possible in IMAX 3D.

In a film full of celestial bodies Sandra Bullock is a massive star. Bless her, Ryan goes through the wringer in this film and considering that a lot of what you hear is Bullock hyperventilating, she manages to get across the enormity of the situation she’s in. Gorgeous George is gorgeous but it’s her face that really sells this film in a performance that is arguably more worthy of an Oscar nom than ‘The Blind Slide’.

As with all good Sci-fi an ostensibly simple idea is used to express a thousand thoughts. The set-up is pretty straightforward; an old pro and a rookie face adversity. Further to that though, the film draws upon the idea of shipwreck, wilderness, how small humans are in relation to the ever-expanding universe and ultimately, resilience in the aftermath of catastrophe. There’s a bit of cod psychology in there which comes across as a bit clunky, but this film is so great I’ll forgive it a little bit of mumbo jumbo pontificating.

This film is far scarier when you discover just how plausible this situation is. ‘Gravity’ is a taut Sci-fi horror where the villain of the piece is the sheer enormity of the bastarding universe. After 90 minutes of armrest- gripping tension I was almost thankful that my childhood career ambitions went unfulfilled :-)

‘Gravity’ is still in cinemas and will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on 3rd March.

Now let’s have a look at some

Reasons to be cheerful :-)

1. The trailer is out for the documentary‘Who’s Changing?’ is out. This Doctor Who fan film (DocWho-mentary if you will…) has been put together by the gorgeous Cameron K. McEwan who runs the brilliant 'BlogtorWho’. It might just be me wearing my rose tinted Who glasses but I think this looks really lovely :-) The DVD is available to pre-order from Amazon ahead of it’s release on 27th January.

2. TRAILER FOR ‘X.MEN: DAYS OF FUTUREPAST’!!! This looks immense. And you know… PETER FUCKING DINKLAGE!

3. A bit more Marvel let’s have a look at the trailer for ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. Seems to be very different in tone to the last film, ‘Winter Soldier’ is more like a political thriller with Superheroes thrown in. I’m a huge fan of Captain America as a character so I’m really REALLY looking forward to this :-)

That’s everything I’ve got for you today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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"We have a story tonight involving an affair, a cut off penis, and a car chase."

Hello Everyone :-)

By the Beard of Zeus I love ‘Anchorman’! I think it’s brilliant. I quote it all the time but it’s one of those films I like to watch sparingly, about once a year, in order to preserve it.

My lovely family and I are all fans of Ron Burgundy and Co so with high hopes we took advantage of Odeon’s Cheap Ticket Tuesday and went to see ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’.

Several years after the events of the first film, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) are married and co-anchors for a news network in New York City. One day, Veronica gets promoted; making her the first female nightly news anchor in the history of television and Ron gets rather unceremoniously fired.

A few months later, Ron is back in San Diego

, but is recruited by Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker) for a job with the Global News Network, the world's first 24 hour news network. He reassembles his news team (Steve Carell as Brick Tamland, Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana and David Koechner as Champ Kind) and the gang set about beating rival reporter Jack Lime (James Marsden) in the ratings.

As Adam Sandler has demonstrated many, many times, comedy is hard enough to get right the first time round, let alone in sequels. If you do manage to make a consistently funny comedy there are very few who manage to achieve the same level of quality on a second outing. Like a home hair-dye botch job, ‘Anchorman 2’ is a bit patchy.

It is great to be back in the company of Ron Burgundy. At this point Burgundy

comes so naturally to Will Ferrell it’s like breathing. In fact all of the characters from last time are back and as brilliant as they were before.

There are the obligatory cameos, all of which are bigger and more A-list than last time.

From the host of new characters the stand out is Kristen Wiig as Chani the most inept secretary in the world and kindred spirit for Brick. I loved their weird romance and wanted to see more of it.

Everything in this film is bigger than the last which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. I loved the New York

setting and using the advent of 24 hour news is a shrewd move. It pays off giving the film a bit of a satirical edge and a nice, thinly veiled dig at the Antipodean Voldemort of Media. Some things, however, don’t work as well when turned up to 11. Take for example one of the highlights of the original film, the barbershop quartet version of ‘Afternoon Delight’ the team perform in Ron’s office. There is a impromptu musical interlude in ‘Anchorman 2’ but it’s got a big backing track, massive sweeping tracking shots and cuts to here there and everywhere and yet it doesn’t have the same comic impact of 4 blokes in an office singing a song about funsies in the daytime.

The trouble comes when the film tries to recreate things from ‘Anchorman’ that seemed so organic first time round. Take the opening to this post ‘By the Beard of Zeus’ or any of the lines from the original film’s outtakes “Great Odin's raven”, “By the hammer of Thor”, “Sweet grandmother's spatula”, etc. Those lines, and countless other moments in the first film, are clearly improvised. There are a couple of incidences in ‘Anchorman 2’ where they try similar lines and it just sounds wrong. I could be completely off the mark and those lines may be improvised too but it just didn’t sit right.

Thankfully for every line that falls flat there’s a joke that gets it right and you won’t leave ‘Anchorman 2’ without your funny bone being tickled. There’s a brilliant ‘Muppets take Manhattan’/ ‘The Muppets’-esque sequence where Ron has to round up his news team (without the aid of a conch shell) from the various situations they’ve fallen into following the disbanding of the Channel 4 News Team. The laughs are fairly spread out which is possibly why ‘Anchorman2’ feels a little disjointed at times, but when it’s good it’s great.

You can’t be too hard on ‘Anchorman 2’. In spite of its flaws it’s still one of the funniest things I’ve seen in the cinema in ages and the characters make the film eminently watchable.

‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ is still in cinemas now.

Now for some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. The National Television Awards were last night! Super happy for Doctor Who as it won both ‘Best drama’ and ‘Best Drama Performance’ for Matt Smith’s sterling efforts. Also chuffed for ‘Educating Yorkshire’ for best Documentary Series. The only weird thing is the fact that there’s a category called ‘Best TV Detective’ which is new and seems oddly specific and I’m sure was originally called ‘The Benedict Cumberbatch award for excellence in playing Sherlock Homes’…

2. This isn’t really a reason to be cheerful; in fact we should just call it ‘What’s Quentin Tarantino done this time?’ Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino has dropped his latest project, a Western called The Hateful Eight, after the script was apparently leaked to Hollywood

agents. Tarantino goes on to speak to Deadline and throw his toys out of the pram about how depressed he is. I mean it’s obviously a less than idea situation but ‘Django Unchained’ leaked in 2011 before it was released in 2012/13 and that went on to clean up at the box office, win a stack of awards and feature in pretty much every ‘Top Films of 2013’ list I’ve read in the past month. I hope he doesn’t shelve this project entirely, it sounds good and Tarantino’s last Western was great (if a little long).

That’s all for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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Rachel May and the DVD Hallows Part 2

Hello Everyone :-)

Time for part 2 of my DVD catch up!

Now You See Me
‘Now You See Me’ has such a good premise when you hear it you’re surprised you haven't seen this before. Four illusionists, specifically a street magician, an escapologist, a mentalist and a sleight of hand specialist (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco respectively) team up to form the Four Horsemen and perform a series of elaborate tricks in order to steal money. Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is an FBI agent assigned to investigate the Four Horsemen who always seem to be one step ahead.

One of the key components of magic is misdirection and ‘Now You See Me’ is, in itself, an act of misdirection; with all its glitter and pizzaz it distracts you from the fact that it’s not as clever as it thinks it is.

The best thing ‘Now You See Me’ has going for it is it’s pretty awesome cast. The ever-watchable Jesse Eisenberg is on snappy Zuckerberg-ian form, Isla Fisher is the most fun she’s ever been, Woody Harrelson is at his misanthropic best and Dave Franco is a sparky screen presence. Unfortunately we don’t spend nearly enough time with those four, we spend most of the film with Ruffalo’s Agent Rhodes. I think Mark Ruffalo is a brilliant actor and here he makes a nicely grumpy FBI agent but, however good he is he’s just not as enjoyable as the Four Horsemen.

That’s not to say it’s unfunny. There have been plenty of films this year that aren’t as amusing or shiny as this one. The big reveals of how the Horsemen pulled off their feats are especially entertaining and greatly improved by being narrated by the dulcet tones of Morgan Freeman.

‘Now You See Me’ unravels towards the end but it doesn’t make the preceding hour and 20 any less entertaining. Plus there is definitely some merit in trying to go out with a bang and losing a couple of threads as opposed to pissing your ending away through lack of effort. In the same vein of ‘Ocean’s 11’, ‘Now You See Me’ is enjoyable, sparkly fun :-)

‘Now You See Me’ is available on DVD and Blu-Ray now.





Good Vibrations

‘Good Vibrations’ is the story of Terri Hooley (Richard Dormer). A music-lover and part-time DJ, Terri lives in 1970s Belfast when the infamous ‘troubles’ shut down his city. As all his friends take sides and take up arms, Terri opens a record shop on the most bombed half-mile in Europe and calls it Good Vibrations. The film follows Hooley as he discovers punk music and tries to forge his own record label all the while believing in the healing powers of vinyl.

This is the second film from directing duo Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn. The pair’s first film, ‘Cherrybomb’, also tries to capture the exuberance of youth and music but doesn’t quite manage it. This time however, the directorial duo has nailed it.

Filmed on a tiny budget, ‘Good Vibrations’ relies on the charisma of it’s leading man. This film is all about Richard Dormer. He dominates every scene with his boundless energy and enthusiasm. It would be so easy to be cynical about a film who’s central message is ‘music fixes everything’ and trust me I am a ridiculous cynic, but I don’t think you can help but be swept up in it’s warmth and loveliness.

‘Good Vibrations’ isn’t going to change the world but this film has a spark that you can’t quite put your finger on. Somewhere in this cocktail of bad wigs, nostalgia and epic soundtrack, magic has been made. I, along with almost all of my fellow cinema goers, stayed seated well into the credits to see the archive photos but mainly to savour the afterglow that seemed to linger well after the film had finished.

'Good Vibrations' is available on DVD and Blu-Ray now.

 

Trance
Simon (James McAvoy) is an auctioneer and he has collaborated with a band of thieves to steal Goya’s ‘Witches in the Air’ painting in order to pay off his gambling debts. The plan goes awry when Simon gets bludgeoned over the head and forgets where he’s stashed the stolen canvas. When brute force fails to jog Simon’s memory, mobster Franck (Vincent Cassel) insists that he try hypnosis to retrieve the information from his subconscious. This leads him to the office of serene and sultry hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson).

This story takes place in the psyche of an unreliable narrator and as such there is a constant sense that ‘this might not be actually happening’. This is aided (or made worse, depends how you feel) by the visual style which is often distorted, reflected, and generally messed around with a soundtrack that is also designed to twist your melon. 
All this makes it quite obvious that you shouldn’t believe everything the film is showing you. This is both a blessing and a curse for ‘Trance’. On the one hand the film’s constant wrong-footing keeps things interesting and makes it far harder to work out the twist in the tale, but at other times the film attempts to be so mystifying it ties itself up knots.

The main thing is ‘Trance’ looks like Danny Boyle having a whale of a time. He’s made this film whilst doing the Olympic 2012 which could be why it feels a little bit patchy but it’s plain to see he is completely letting off steam, throwing everything at this and seeing what sticks.

The film is very much a result of three pretty good performances. Vincent Cassel makes a great grumpy mobster, James McAvoy is always a nice on-screen presence but it’s Rosario Dawson that come out on top. She is excellent as the femme fatale character and every moment she is one screen the film is elevated to more than what it actually is.

At the heart of it ‘Trance’ is a daft, sexy, slightly over-indulgent crime caper. ‘Trance’ is all surface albeit, very shiny, very colourful surface. Worth a watch if you’ve got a free Friday night and are in the mood for something silly.

The Great Gatsby

For those who haven't read 'the great merican novel' (first published in 1925) it follows Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) a Yale graduate, veteran of World War 1 and most recently a resident of West Egg. Nick has just moved into a small house on West Egg adjacent to a huge mansion belonging to the mysterious Mr Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) who throws lavish parties for the beautiful people of the city every weekend.

Nick catches up with his second cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who lives opposite West Egg in the more up-market Village of East Egg and is married to the unbelievably awful Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton).

What follows is a story of excess, money, social politics, love and the American Dream.

I liked ‘The Great Gatsby’ and considering I think the novel is a Mary Poppins (practically perfect in every way) that’s not bad going. It is by no means a perfect film but I think it does a good job of straddling the divide between ‘Gatsby’ purists and the general movie going public.

Luhrmann’s adaptation serves one half of the novel very well. His depiction of Gatsby’s lavish parties and the hedonism of the story’s main characters is spot on; it makes you want to dive in and neck a magnum of champagne. Some may find the modern soundtrack jarring with the period setting but I didn’t, I think it added to the riotous feel of the party scenes, in fact someone bought me the soundtrack for my birthday and I really like it.

The film is far too long. There is an entirely unnecessary framing device in which Nick Carraway commits Gatsby’s tale to text on the advice of a psychiatrist on 29^th December 1929 whilst in a sanatorium. I don’t understand why these scenes are there in the first place; it would have shortened the film considerably had they not been and it wouldn’t have hampered the story at all.

Speaking of Carraway, Tobey Maguire is a bad fit from the off. Nick is less an aloof observer and more child-like and intrusive. The only time he feels like he’s supposed to be there is during his scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio. The relationship between Carraway and Gatsby is done with genuine affection.

Carey Mulligan makes a good Daisy. Beautiful, effervescent, shallow, melancholic and happy to let you believe she’s dumber than she really is. Her accent carries the hint of southern belle and is absolutely “full of money”.

Joel Edgerton is perfect as Daisy’s Husband, Tom Buchanan. Tom is crass and awful with a sense of entitlement that makes you seethe when you see him.

The Ace up the sleeve of ‘The Great Gatsby’ is the casting of the titular hero. Leonardo DiCaprio is exactly how I envisioned Gatsby. He is effortlessly charming with an ethereally cool veneer that covers his desperate desire to truly belong in the upper echelons of society.

The fact that DiCaprio has never won an Oscar is the stuff of memes but seriously, why the hell not? I’m not saying this particular performance isn’t Oscar worthy but Shutter Island, Django Unchained, Inception, Catch Me If You Can, The Departed; DiCaprio is one of the most consistently great actors currently working in Hollywood and ‘The Great Gatsby’ continues his upward trajectory.

F. Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in 1940 so never got to see his book appreciated as the seminal work that it is. Whether he would approve of this adaptation… I’m not sure. Luhrmann’s vision captures the frantic parties and excessive living of those who had more money than sense and, although it doesn’t dispense with it completely, I can’t help but feel this has come at the expense of the emotional detail. It was always going to be hard to adapt ‘Gatsby’ to its fullest but there’s still much to love in this bright, spectacle of a movie.

‘The Great Gatsby’ is out on Blu-Ray and DVD now. 

I've still got a few of these left to do so I'll post another one of these in a bit. As for now I think I need some...

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. Following on from the mid-credit 'Iron Man 3' teaser we have Guardians of the Galaxy news! We've got a bit of a plot synopsis and the first photo which is all terribly exciting. It sounds a little along the lines of 'The Avengers' which isn't a bad thing, I'm looking forward it! I'm a big fan of Chris Pratt, he's gorgeous and funny and I'll pretty much watch anything he's in, Karen Gillan is a villain and Bradley Cooper is a talking, gun toting Raccoon! What's not to like?!?!?!

2. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's awards season! The 2014 Oscar nominees are in! At a glance it all looks as is to be expected. For me notable by it's absence is 'Blackfish' in the 'Best Documentary' category. I know that 'The Act of Killing' is a shoo in but 'Blackfish' at least deserved a nod, I defy anyone to watch that film and not want to storm the headquarters of Sea World like French revolutionaries at the Bastille.

That's it for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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"Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of your enormity, O Smaug the Stupendous..."

Hello Everyone :-)

As per New Year tradition on 30^th December I made my way to the pictures with my lovely family to see ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ (just ‘Desolation of Smaug’ from now).

‘Desolation of Smaug’ picks up (after a brief flashback) where we finished at the end of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ with Bilbo and the Dwarves of Erebor travelling across Middle earth to the Lonely Mountain by way of the Mirkwood and Lake Town. Our heroes encounter shape changers, giant spiders, Elves, Orcs, power-hungry Politicians and finally the titular Dragon himself.

Half of me doesn’t even want to bother writing this. In fact it’d be far easier to copy and paste my ‘Unexpected Journey’ post and sub in Smaug’s name for Gollum’s.

Right. Let’s begin with some good things.

It’s still lovely to be in Middle Earth. Peter Jackson builds this world with such ease I can’t imagine it in anyone else’s hands. It’s very much like a safety blanket, 10 minutes in you’ll let out a little sigh and sink into the cinematic equivalent of a reassuring cup of tea and a plate of biscuits.

Some of the set pieces are great. The scene with the Spiders in Mirkwood, the scene with the barrels (excluding the unnecessary POV barrel shots) and the entire Lonely Mountain chase scene are great fun. These all help spur the action on at a faster (albeit marginally faster) pace than the previous outing.

There are a few great performances in ‘Desolation of Smaug’. Evangeline Lilly’s ‘Tauriel’ is nice. Lilly is far more capable than the lot her character has been given and, although she is a lovely inclusion in what is a massive sausage-fest, her character isn’t as fleshed out as it should be.

Luke Evans’s Bard the Bowman is an excellent addition to proceedings. He’s lifted straight from the books and I really loved his earnest take on the character. His is one of the few new faces that is nicely developed; the introduction of his young family and the revelation of his ancestors’ role in Smaug’s conquest of Erebor makes him a sympathetic character in a sea of people I don’t really give a monkeys about.

As before Martin Freeman is a perfect fit for Bilbo. The best scene in the whole film is the one in which Bilbo confronts Smaug for the first time. ‘RMLM' favourite Benedict Cumberbatch, performance captures the fuck out of that dragon and he’s awesome. It’s a brilliant, brilliant scene which makes it all the more infuriating when other scenes are not given the same amount of due care and attention.

The film is 2 hours 41 minutes, or in other words FAR TOO LONG. 161 minutes is simply too many and my attention started waning when we got to Bard’s house in Lake Town. But then ‘Desolation of Smaug’ is 8 minutes shorter than the last one so that’s something…

Another weirdly uneven thing about this film is the CGI rendering. Some bits look fantastic, like you could reach out and touch Smaug but others (Legolas’s fight in Lake Town, Legolas on a Horse, Legolas’s chas… oh you get the idea) look awful. The reliance on CGI for the Orks in particular is a massive retrogressive step. Azog has got nothing on the Uruk Hai from LOTR.

Exactly the same as with ‘Unexpected Journey’, ‘Desolation of Smaug’ falls down when it forgets it’s ‘The Hobbit’ and starts ramming the LOTR Trilogy down your throat. It’s as if the film is going,

“LOOK! Remember how much you loved Legolas in those other films? Well, he’s back! And look, It’s Gimli’s Dad! And you remember the love triangle from the last Trilogy? Well now we have another one!” (Just as an aside, if you thought the Arwen/Aragorn/Eowyn love triangle was unconvincing and pointless just wait till you see this one…)

The vast majority of the audience for the Hobbit films have already invested a great deal of time watching the LOTR trilogy, as such we do not need reminding of what happens in it. Show me something new Mr Jackson; make me care about these new characters! Almost all of the Dwarves are still interchangeable; we’re still not spending enough time with Bilbo and we’re still pissing about foreboding the events of a trilogy that WE’VE ALREADY SEEN! 

‘Desolation of Smaug’ is not a total loss but if it carries on like this I can’t see The Hobbit Trilogy being held with the same affection as LOTR. Whilst Middle Earth still has me on side, my patience is wearing thin, like butter over too much bread.

‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ is still in Cinemas now.

Right, I need something nice. Let’s have some…

Reasons to be cheerful :-)

1. First picture of Peter Capaldi of from his first day of filming Series 8 of Doctor Who! Don’t get too excited, he isn’t wearing his costume; he’s wearing Matt Smith’s costume off the back of ‘The Time of the Doctor’, but still very exciting :-) I have every faith in Peter Capaldi. I think if he can bring the passion, sincerity and fun of which we know he’s capable to his tenure as The Doctor then we’re going to have something pretty special on our hands.

Also, I will be writing up my ‘Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary’ Excel Event with pictures and all sorts so you can have a look at how the day went.

2. The first trailer has landed for Game of Thrones series 4! It looks like a lot of the events of Book 3 part 2 are present and correct here :-) I’m currently on Book 4 ‘A Feast for Crows’ and I must say after a little break I am so happy to be back into it! Game of Thrones Series 4 premiers on Sky Atlantic on 7^th April at 9pm and Game of Thrones Series 3 is out on Blu Ray and DVD on 17^th February!

3. Ben Kingsley is filming a 14-minute short about the Mandarin that will be part of the extras on Thor: The Dark World's Blu-ray, and will provide a conclusion to the events of Iron Man 3. I don’t know about you but I LOVED Iron Man 3 and think the way they dealt with the potentially Un-PC character of the Mandarin. Personally I can’t wait for Kingsley to reprise his role as Trevor Slattery the Toast of Croydon :-)

And that’s it! That’s all for today :-)

Goodbye till next time :-)

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"Remember who the real enemy is"

Hello Everyone :-)

Anyone who read my garbled post about ‘The Hunger Games’ knows how much I like this series of books. I credit them with getting me back into reading and basically acting as a gateway drug to my current ‘Game of Thrones’ addiction. My favourite of Suzanne Collins’s trilogy is ‘Catching Fire’ which I went to see the other week.

We pick back up with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) just before they embark on a tour of the districts to celebrate their victory in the 74th Hunger Games. Ably assisted by the booze soaked Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) and Capitol pet Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) they set off and soon discover all is not well amongst the people. Katniss takes centre stage but ends up in the firing line of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) who tries to get rid of her once and for all.

This is brilliant stuff. Really, really brilliant :-) In fact in spite of a few minor quibbles ‘Catching Fire’ may be… dare I say it… better than the first one.

Rather than the child on child violence of the first film ‘Catching Fire’ focuses more on a public beginning to revolt against their government. You get to see a much bigger picture of Panem and there’s a definite shift in tone from governmental oppression to one of slowly unfolding chaos. This works really well because ultimately this film copies the same template as the last one (setting the scene in the district followed by training at the Capitol and finally the games proper)and in lesser hands it could have looked like a cut and paste job with some different costumes added in.

Francis Lawrence has taken over the reins from ‘The Hunger Games’ director Gary Ross and does a really good job with it. Gone is the shaky hand-cam that annoyed me so much from the last film but ‘Catching Fire’ keeps the essential lived in future feel and stunning aesthetics. It’s brilliantly paced, full of action, probably 15 minutes too long but in spite of that you’re never bored.

The cast acquit themselves beautifully.
Harrelson and Banks are polar opposites as Haymitch and Effie but both are great in reprising their roles, Banks in particular reveals a whole new facet of Effie when she delivers the line “You both deserve so much better.”
From the haul of new characters the two stand outs are Sam Clafin as Finnick Odair and Jena Malone as Johanna Mason. Clafin fits Finnick like a glove; sexy, aloof and a tiny bit haughty he pitches in such a way so that the (non-book reading) audience doesn’t know whether or not to trust him.
Meanwhile Jena Malone makes the biggest impact in a minor role that I have seen in a long time. She is pure fury and anger and does it all in a ridiculously small amount of screen time. I can’t wait for the next instalment so we can spend more time with her.
The star of the show is, once again, the epically awesome Jennifer Lawrence. Building on the promise she showed in the last film, Katniss is a more rounded, powerful and positive female lead than we’ve had in many a year. She’s strong but we never forget that she’s only 17 and everything that happens in ‘Catching Fire’ profoundly affects her. I adore her.

This franchise is shaping up to be a perfect example of how big money blockbusters can be interesting and thought provoking while still being huge and exciting. I particularly like how they’re shaken off the ‘Twilight’ comparisons by having the love triangle take a back seat. Katniss has feelings for both Gale (Liam Hemsworth doing his best but still being robbed of screen time) and Peeta (coughTEAMPEETAcough) but she never lets herself get carried away as she clearly has bigger fish to fry.

The entire film is an example of how a film series can grow and improve with each movie. So many series adhere to the rules of diminishing returns but ‘Catching Fire’ proves you can follow up a brilliant first instalment with an even better sequel. ‘Mockingjay part 1’ can’t come soon enough :-)

‘Catching Fire’ is still showing in cinemas now.

So after all that lets have some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
1. The officialtrailer for ‘How to Train your Dragon 2’ has landed! ‘How to Train your Dragon’ was a sparklingly funny piece of animation from Dreamworks and this follow-up seems rather good too. Can’t wait :-)

2. Keeping with the animation theme the full trailer for ‘The Lego Movie’ is here! From the Directors of the excellent ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ and the hilarious ’21 Jump Street’ Phil Lord and Chris Miller have previous good form. I think this is going to be BRILLIANT.

3. OMGSHERLOCKISBACK!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
Returning triumphant from a two year hiatus the world’s only consulting detective is back! Episode 1 is on the IPlayer till 19^th January. As I was watching the show there are a couple of moments where I’m pretty sure I could feel certain corners of the Internet going into meltdown. As for the episode itself, I loved it :-) Episode 2 ‘The Sign of Three’ will air on Sunday 5^th January at 8.30pm on BBC1.

That’s all for today! I’ve got various bits and bobs in the pipeline including my top films of 2013 so I’ll keep you posted!

Goodbye till next time :-)
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