Super 8

Went to see the Spielberg-wannabe JJ Abrams movie madness called Super 8 last night.

The best word I can use to describe it is cute.  It is cute.  With a dash of old skool monster movie thrown in.  All the child actors in the group are fantastic, nothing is better than a child actor that can really hit the nail on the head.  The main protagonist, Joe Lamb, played by Joel Courtney is fantastic.  He emotes every feeling with just a simple look.  I swear his cute little eyes were going to cry at every opportunity.  He reminded me of the actor Joey Cramer, who was the lead in Flight of the Navigator (another one of my fave films).  Delicate acting with maximum effect.

All the children were really great, and if the film had just been about them, I think it would have ended a lot differently.  But this is a Hollywood monster movie with serious consequences, so some adults needed to feature.  Kyle Chandler plays Joe's dad, the policeman thrust into the limelight when all the madness starts.  On a separate point, the man never ages.

Anyway, I think its a fairly solid film but there were serious faults with the story.  There should have been more focus on the monster and where it came from, why it was there, what other tests they did etc.  Instead, there was too much focus on stuff I wasn't too bothered by, the death of Joe's mother and their grief.  There were a couple of good scares on there but overall outweighed by the excessive amounts of schmaltz that it got a bit sickening.  

I remember watching the teaser trailer a year ago I think it was, and thinking wow.  This film is going to be great, Cloverfield but better.  Instead I got a family movie I could have taken my nieces and nephews to.

Like I said before, its cute.  but I won't be watching it again in a hurry. 

Craptain America

As some of you may know, The Avengers Movie is coming out soon and there are a tonne of new comic book hero films coming out to introduce us to the Avengers team.  One being Captain America, with gorgeous Chris Evans as the man himself and lovely Hayley Atwell as his love interest.  But not even the man's buff bod after transformation could make this film get any better.

The story was rushed, not explained, filled with mad effects and stunts and ends in the biggest anticlimax ever.  In truth, it was crap.  The only good thing was his power, how he got his power.  Far better than Green Lantern and you know how I felt about that film. I mean really, a green man comes from the sky and he gets his power by wearing a green ring and touching a lantern?  Absolute tosh and not even Ryan Reynolds could save that one.

I only hope that all this rushing of films makes The Avengers a more thought out comic amalgamation of heroes and villains.  But something tells me it won't be.

p.s. Another gripe I have is the use of 3D.  This film does not lend itself to 3D, so why fucking bother?  Not everything needs to be in 3D you know, it pisses me off that some cinemas don't even show a 2D version so you can chose.  BASTARDS.  Rant over.

SNL Skits

I am a big fan of the SNL comedian Andy Samberg, right from when he did his first released comedy song 'Lazy Sunday'.  I have bought The Lonely Island albums (although the second one is not that great).

Some of you may remember Dick in a Box, released a couple of Christmas' ago which featured Justin Timberlake in a good comic role.  See here. Dick in a Box

The follow up to this song was Motherlover from their second album.  Same team singing about their friendship and each mothers in a strange and pervy way. See here. Motherlover

The recent addition to this 'story' is 3 Way.  It starts from the end of the Motherlover video and goes into another direction.  I am not a fan of Lady Gaga but like that she could take the piss out of her self a bit in this one. Check it here. 3 Way featuring Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga

Enjoy!

Horrible Bosses

Went to see Horrible Bosses today.  Just fancied going to the movies and 2 of Hammersmith Cineworld's screens were filled with Harry Potter so my only other option was Cars 2 3D.


I was not about to go and see that, EVER.


Horrible Bosses is as funny as I thought it would be.  A little rushed with the story line and could have gone into more depth into the disastrous relationships each main character has with their boss.  The real highlights of the film were Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell's roles.  These people really know how to take the piss out of themselves and go to the next level in order to make their comedic role the funniest it could be.


I liked Charlie Day too.  I haven't seen him in anything before but I really liked his acting in this role. Both Bateman and Sudekis were doing the same roles they have done in most films I have seen them in.  Quirky funny man, tame and a bit boring actually.  Its because of their under acting, that Aniston, Farrell and Day shone through.


Bridesmaids was definitely funnier but I do think this was fairly funny too and worth a watch.

Amy Winehouse - A powerhouse voice with many flaws

Sadly, the news over the past few days has been just awful.  Firstly a terrible massacre in Norway by a crazed Neo-Nazi man who killed 100 people for no real reason.  


And now someone whose voice is just so beautiful and invested every word with true emotion.
She died today of what is reported to be a drugs overdose.  Fame hit her fast and hard at a tender young age, unprepared for what life had in store. She fell in with a bad crowd, she fell into the drug scene.  Drugs and Alcohol then took over her life to a point where her talent was lost.


The people around her didn't support her, and probably enabled her more.  Leeches like her ex husband fed off her fame so he could enable himself more on drugs.


This story is not new, its not a surprise either.  People won't stop taking drugs and no one will learn from this.  I can only feel very sad that we lost a great singer today, and I hope her family will learn to heal day by day.  


I hope Amy is in a better place in death than she ever was in life.



Amy, you will be missed. RIP

Bye Bye Harry Potter 'sob, sniff'

Ah Harry.  The Boy Who Lived. The past 8 years has been a bit of a roller-coaster watching those films.  I never read the books as that kind of book has never interested me.  I can't read books like that as I imagination can only go so far.

But I have been a huge fan of the films and really loved the story telling, the great directing and above all the compelling cast.  Who can't find those kids cute is beyond me!

The first 3 films where just that, cute.  Stories of misadventure while Harry tries to find out more about his murdered parents and who he really is.  Sweet films that help to pass the time.

Film 4 was the ground breaker for me.  The one that made me see them as teenagers, mini adults acting as they would in ten years from now.  Real teenage stuff and you all know I love a teen movie as much as the next.

The Deathly Hallows were just fantastic.  The weaving together of the complicated stories from the years gone by.  I have to say I got a little emotional watching these last 2 films.

Harry has grown.  He has become the man his parents always knew he would be and then some.  The final challenges he faced would be the hardest, to accept his fate as well as see the last story through.

The biggest surprise is Neville Longbottom.  What a fine young and courageous man he has turned out to be!  My friend The Manc called me a 'Horny Grandma' as technically at my age I could be a grandmother.  Cheeky git.  Look, I think I can appreciate a good looking man in the same way a grown man can fancy an 18yr old woman.

My favourite of all would be Rupert Grint, his character Ron is just genius.  Scaredy cat turned dependable best friend.   Also my fave ginge of all time.  I wouldn't turn him down ever!

Joking and teasing aside, the last instalment in the Potter franchise is fantastic.  Well written, acted and directed. Made even better by the fact that my 3D glass were round Potter glasses.  I don't really like 3D films but loved the experience of this one.  After all, some films aren't about the art or the creativity, some times is about the cinematic experience as a whole.

Hackgate - The end of the News of the World and News Corp

I hope none of you have been hiding and have been keeping abreast of the News of The World 'Hackgate' scandal that has rocked the media world lately.

NOTW and NEWS Corp has been behaving despicably in the past 10 years and has gained insider information on news stories by paying off senior policemen and hacking phone calls of murder victims and dead soldiers alike.  They even fooled a family in thinking that their murdered daughter was still alive as they thought she was missing and still listening to her voicemails.

The behaviour of this gutter press is disgusting.  The hacking got them a story no better than a true investigative journalist would. NOTW is gutter press, titillating stories about celebrities sleeping with their brother's wives, falling out of clubs with coke still smeared on their faces, and hoping that voicemails of a murdered girl will bring them closer to a killer.

Their behaviour didn't solve any crimes, it didn't make the world a better place.  It just ensured that the illiterate, uneducated masses of the UK had some actual shit to read.  Surely this is also a sign we should invest in real news papers and the public should take a long look at themselves and educate themselves.

NOTW's behaviour was illegal, as was Fox News in the US if the allegations of phone hacking of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy are to be believed.  

I have made it no secret that I hate Murdoch and his corporation.  I don't pay for Sky (which does have premiere programming that I want to watch) but I refuse to give his establishment any money for television that I believe should be free.  I don't buy any of his papers and I certainly speak out on how factually incorrect and racist Fox News is.

This whole scandal only proves to show that Murdoch has had his day and needs to allow young blood to come in and reshape this industry and make it right and lawful again.

Bridesmaids

I don't know about you but I loved The Hangover. Part 2 not so much, but the first film was refreshing, funny, smart and revitalised the comedy film with a new take.  We know now that it can't be replicated successfully, as Part 2 clearly showed.

Bridesmaids was touted as this years 'female hangover'. That is a very high accolade for a film lead by an entire female comedienne cast.  I have been wanting to watch it for ages, what could be funnier than fantastic comediennes from the US who have cut their teeth in the SNL circuit?

From the first 30 minutes, I felt they went for the obvious.  Silly and crazy sex and a very nasty diarrhoea sequence all felt like they were just going for the gross/crude comedy audience.

What followed was cleverly crafted sequences that really got how women really behave to a tee (with exaggerations for movie comedic effect of course).  Some wicked lines and hilarious parts of this film that also made me tear up a bit.  Having organised a wedding a couple of years ago, I know the stress and the madness that can drive a woman crazy from the bridezillas to the over zealous best friends.

In particular the drunk airplane scene is quite funny.  Really go and watch it peeps.   Women comediennes at their best.

Its also worth watching the credit sequence.