So actually a fair few things have been going on for me in the last few months, I just hadn't been around to report on them in this vast online forum that hundreds of people read. Oh wait, about five people read, sorry, my mistake. So I should either talk about the zombie hunting some more, or the Hindu wedding I went to a few weeks ago, or the new business I'm trying to set up. I could talk about how my gaming group is getting on and there's more DVD's that I've got that need a four line review.
I could talk about how my beloved tennants in Southampton have made me do a massive facepalm, but that might be pusing the boundries. I've also had some massive trouble concerning this sodding flat I'm living in, so I'll get round to that at some point. To be honest, I'm not sure where to start, so I'll start next time. There's changes afoot at Rios, and I just want to shout out my kinsman, Wiggy, who's been a staple in front of the grill there for five and a half years, he's moving on to Reading.
Gonna be weird working there on a friday and saturday night without him. Probably a bit less stressful, 'cause he does tend to make things that bit more stressful, but then he is a chef, and that's just what they do. He's a good bloke and he deserves this fresh new start to go well. With him gone and the new girl being an unknown quality (as in, it's unknown if she made it through her first week at the job), I'll be doing more hours and at more responsibility than before. We'll see how that goes.
See you, buddy.
BRAVE
While I do immensely enjoy this film, it's not the best that Pixar have ever produced. In my personal opinion, that's still WALL-E, but this is an achievement in itself for Pixar, being the first time they've tried a film with a female protagonist. It's an interesting one, gender politics in film. On the one hand, there's actresses who complain that there aren't enough powerful female roles available (*cough* Heigl *cough*), but on the other there aren't as many female writers out there.
The correlation seems obvious to me, men write men best, women write women best. Unless your surname is Whedon, in which case, do as you will.
However, kinda strayed off topic here, so. Brave. Clearly divided between it's two director/writers, it seems very much a film of two halves.
While the story seemed to be going in one direction, what with the whole clans gathering and highland games and that, it took a very different turn with the witch and the curse and then everyone was turning into bears... well, it's good fun and the animation is some of the best Pixar has ever produced, but there was some further refinement of the script that should have been done, but really wasn't. It's still a perfectly good film, very heartwarming, very well animated and very entertaining. I'm not going to say that it's a 'must see', but it's worth it.
Also, that chick's hair? Unbelievable when you look back at what they were boasting about Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, eh? And what Scottish movie wouldn't be complete without a bit of Billy Connolly as her dad?
Next up: DREDD 3D
Saturday 20 October 2012
Tuesday 16 October 2012
That's where I left my Blog...
Huh, so... miss me? I decided that I really had neglected my blog for faaaar toooo looooonnngggg and that I should attempt to get back into the habit. Not entirely sure why I let it slip this time, but it's not the first time I've done that and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last, either.
So there's a whole bunch of things that have happened to me over the last few months that I should probably talk about, but I'll start with what I did yesterday, which was go to London and see Gaslight Anthem for the third time. For this, I went with my friend Coates from my uni days.
They are still awesome. They're a great band with good energy and they really bring the room alive when they start playing. For some reason they always seem to pick one good support act (Twin Atlantic, Chuck Raegan and David Hause) and one terrible support act (The Sharks twice now and Blood Red Shoes). It was a good gig and we stayed on the sidelines for this one, normally we try to get further up to the front. Oddly, they didn't play a cover this time, which Coates complained about their lack of playing Baba O'Rielly. Even so, was good times.
Also visited Ed's Diner in Leicester Square, which provided some inspiration and an awesome burger. It seems like a good business model, but we'll see how it works out when we get round to working on opening... The Movies...
So. A film I really should have reviewed already.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
The Dark Knight Rises. I mean, what a film. As Batman movies go, this is definately in an uneasy position to start with. It has to follow The Dark Knight, a movie that pretty much everyone in the world declared the best thing to ever happen period. It then has to deal with the death of Heath Ledger, the man who made that previous film as amazing as it was. It then had all the negative press around the hideous mess in Aurora. So how did it do, with all that weight around its neck?
Pretty good.
I'm not gonna say that this one was better than the last two of the Nolan Batman films, it's probably the weakest of the three, but if you took it out of that context, you'd hold this film up as a work of high art compared to the Burton/Schumacher Batman films of yesterdecade. The beginning of the plot has a few questions that I wondered about. Basically, he has to learn how to be Batman again, after a long hiatus. Then he goes out and does Batman things. Then he does the fight with Bane, Bane does the thing he is most famous for (a large cracking noise), and then leaves Batman in a pit. Batman then has to remember to be Batman again. Didn't we... didn't we do that already? Pretty sure that we could have cut out half an hour of the movie around there somewhere. Not that there was that much Batman in the movie in the first place...
But that being said, all the other performances were pretty spot on. Marion Cotillard was as enchanting as ever, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is well and truly no longer the kid from Third Rock From The Sun anymore, he's a movie star now. Gary Oldman is still my hero, he's probably the most active actor in this entire film, to be honest. JGL was more of a main protagonist than Batman himself at times, but I don't think this makes the movie weaker, I think it shows that Bruce Wayne knows that his time has come. Michael Caine is as touching as ever, despite the small role he was given. Wasn't entirely sure about Anne Hathaway's Catwoman, but she does look good in that suit, so we'll let her off. And that just leaves Tom Hardy. Nobody thought they could do a badguy as good as Heath Ledger's Joker. All those people? They be wrong.
'Nobody cared who I was before I put on the mask'.
Bane carries every scene that he's in with an unbelievable power, authority and grace, despite his massively lumpen muscled frame. It's hard to believe that this is still Tom Hardy who was so slim and refined in Inception, so freakish is Star Trek Nemesis. This guy is one of the absolute stars of our age and we're lucky to have him on our screens. I don't want to be a downer on Christian Bale, but we always know that, just like Batman himself, Bale isn't normally all that interesting compared to his enemies.
So all in all this is a worth film to finish the franchise on, despite everyone's claims that they can make a fourth one, no they shouldn't and they really won't. Batman has a future, maybe, but it'll be rebooted and made more Justice League friendly, so we'll see how the new Superman film pans out. As it stands, this is a fitting way to see out Batman. For now. The Dark Knight began, fell, rose and then flew. It doesn't get much better than these three films in a franchise. Beware the Dark.
Next up:
BRAVE
So there's a whole bunch of things that have happened to me over the last few months that I should probably talk about, but I'll start with what I did yesterday, which was go to London and see Gaslight Anthem for the third time. For this, I went with my friend Coates from my uni days.
They are still awesome. They're a great band with good energy and they really bring the room alive when they start playing. For some reason they always seem to pick one good support act (Twin Atlantic, Chuck Raegan and David Hause) and one terrible support act (The Sharks twice now and Blood Red Shoes). It was a good gig and we stayed on the sidelines for this one, normally we try to get further up to the front. Oddly, they didn't play a cover this time, which Coates complained about their lack of playing Baba O'Rielly. Even so, was good times.
Also visited Ed's Diner in Leicester Square, which provided some inspiration and an awesome burger. It seems like a good business model, but we'll see how it works out when we get round to working on opening... The Movies...
So. A film I really should have reviewed already.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
The Dark Knight Rises. I mean, what a film. As Batman movies go, this is definately in an uneasy position to start with. It has to follow The Dark Knight, a movie that pretty much everyone in the world declared the best thing to ever happen period. It then has to deal with the death of Heath Ledger, the man who made that previous film as amazing as it was. It then had all the negative press around the hideous mess in Aurora. So how did it do, with all that weight around its neck?
Pretty good.
I'm not gonna say that this one was better than the last two of the Nolan Batman films, it's probably the weakest of the three, but if you took it out of that context, you'd hold this film up as a work of high art compared to the Burton/Schumacher Batman films of yesterdecade. The beginning of the plot has a few questions that I wondered about. Basically, he has to learn how to be Batman again, after a long hiatus. Then he goes out and does Batman things. Then he does the fight with Bane, Bane does the thing he is most famous for (a large cracking noise), and then leaves Batman in a pit. Batman then has to remember to be Batman again. Didn't we... didn't we do that already? Pretty sure that we could have cut out half an hour of the movie around there somewhere. Not that there was that much Batman in the movie in the first place...
But that being said, all the other performances were pretty spot on. Marion Cotillard was as enchanting as ever, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is well and truly no longer the kid from Third Rock From The Sun anymore, he's a movie star now. Gary Oldman is still my hero, he's probably the most active actor in this entire film, to be honest. JGL was more of a main protagonist than Batman himself at times, but I don't think this makes the movie weaker, I think it shows that Bruce Wayne knows that his time has come. Michael Caine is as touching as ever, despite the small role he was given. Wasn't entirely sure about Anne Hathaway's Catwoman, but she does look good in that suit, so we'll let her off. And that just leaves Tom Hardy. Nobody thought they could do a badguy as good as Heath Ledger's Joker. All those people? They be wrong.
'Nobody cared who I was before I put on the mask'.
Bane carries every scene that he's in with an unbelievable power, authority and grace, despite his massively lumpen muscled frame. It's hard to believe that this is still Tom Hardy who was so slim and refined in Inception, so freakish is Star Trek Nemesis. This guy is one of the absolute stars of our age and we're lucky to have him on our screens. I don't want to be a downer on Christian Bale, but we always know that, just like Batman himself, Bale isn't normally all that interesting compared to his enemies.
So all in all this is a worth film to finish the franchise on, despite everyone's claims that they can make a fourth one, no they shouldn't and they really won't. Batman has a future, maybe, but it'll be rebooted and made more Justice League friendly, so we'll see how the new Superman film pans out. As it stands, this is a fitting way to see out Batman. For now. The Dark Knight began, fell, rose and then flew. It doesn't get much better than these three films in a franchise. Beware the Dark.
Next up:
BRAVE
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