Author: Mosh

Footie shirt winner!

Front of shirt
Front of shirt

Raffle entries closed yesterday and a huge “thank you” to the entrants, of which there weren’t many but each was very generous indeed. Please, if you missed the competition do consider still making a donation. As happens annually, the east coast of Vietnam has taken a weather-related battering and Blue Dragon needs your funding to help them rebuild their homes, and eat in the meantime.

I snipped up a few bits of paper and dropped them into a hat (actually a Tesco carrier bag, but let’s not be picky). A quick rummage and the winner that came out was…

*drum roll*

Janice!

Which is good for me as I think she’s the only UK-based entrant so it will keep the postage cost down. I actually met her a few days ago and I could have handed her the football shirt personally. Instead, I will trust it to our increasingly dodgy postal service. Keep an eye open for it in a week or so, Janice.

Again, thank you all for your entries and generosity!

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Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

I finally caught Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs today, three weeks after it came out and just – I think – before it vanished from the screens. I paid extra for the 3D performance as it was the only one that fitted in with the times I was free.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: a young inventor reaches desperation point trying to make himself popular and creates a “water to food” converter which promises to change the fortunes of his remote town. Of course, it doesn’t all go to plan.

CwacoM is a very well put-together film with a ludicrous plot. What really made it for me was the comic timing. From slapstick moments to montage events and dialogue, the directors seem to have post-graduate degrees in the study of when to drop a joke onto an audience.

As with any animated film, the characters are of great importance and here we have a wild and varied collection to hold the interest. From Flint Lockwood and his father Tim (with his amazing facial hair), to the corrupt mayor (Bruce Campbell), through police officer Earl (Mr T) to the surprisingly talented cameraman Manny. Oh, and Steve – the monkey.

There are a lot of plot devices. Almost everything that appears early in the movie makes at least a comedic re-appearance later on. Keep an eye out for the remote control television… Basically, nothing is wasted.

Well, nothing except the 3D. Really, nothing stood out for me for my extra £1.50 in this film. If you have the chance, save the cash and plump for the regular 2D version.

Definitely one worth seeing for adults and children alike. I’m definitely glad I managed to catch it before it vanished from the theatres.

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Up

Just a quick mid-week film review as I caught Disney Pixar‘s Up tonight with Tracey in Bradford.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: grumpy old man decides to get away from it all by inflating a bazillion balloons and floating his house to South America. A young “wilderness scout” accidentally tags along. Adventure ensues.

I won’t wax lyrical about the visuals. Typically of Pixar they’re simply superb with every tiny detail adding to the depth of the film – moreso if you watch it in 3D, I assume. To give you a level of the attention to detail, watch the bad guy’s eye twitch when Russel slides past his airship.

What makes Up stand out from other Pixar movies is the depth of information about the characters, and how emotionally involved the storyline is. If you thought that Nemo being torn away from his father was tear-jerking, just you wait till Russell tries to explain about his father. Or when “grumpy” Carl rewards hi mat the end.

Topping the bill, though, is a 5-minute introduction to Carl Fredricksen. The movie opens with a sequence lasting a couple of minutes with Carl as a young boy and then moves onto what could be a short film in itself. This absolutely enchanting five-or-so minutes is played purely to music and takes us through Carl’s life up until the point where the film proper starts. And if your eyes don’t moisten by the end of it, you’re a cruel monster.

I’d not rank Up as being quite as entertaining as the likes of Cars or Monsters Inc. However, as an actual film is beats anything else they’ve done hands down, purely due to the emotional involvement.

Great as that is, however, the kids will still be asking for Finding Nemo to be shoved on repeat on the DVD player rather than this one come the middle of next year.

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Film Thursday

Pandorum
Pandorum

Due to unforeseen technical hiccups (i.e. Cineworld’s web site lying to me) there are only three films reviewed today. I was also hoping to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs but the performance I scheduled into my little planner didn’t exist. Grr.

Zombieland

A film with titles being displayed to the backing music of Metallica’s For Whom The Bell Tolls obviously has something going for it. When those titles are put together with imagination and a touch of humour, as well as some nice little technical bits’n’bobs you do feel your in the hands of a good film-maker.

And such is Zombieland.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Man eats burger with mutant strain of mad cow in it and starts zombie plague. Lone teenager hooks up with mad psycho to travel cross country. Bonding and blood-letting occur.

This is a rare film these days. One that’s actually even better than the trailer suggests. There’s an added depth to it, particularly towards the end, that isn’t even hinted at in the previews. My one disappointment is that some of the gags are *BAM* slapstick and if you’ve seen those trailers then it does spoil a little of the humour.

There’s an awesome cameo about two thirds in and some lovely grisly moments. The CGI does look a little CGI-ish – the blood spurts and so forth are very recognisable as effects – but it works on a cartoony level, which is ideal for this film. I also loved the use of computer graphics over the film at points, detailing the rules of surviving the apocalypse.

If you can handle gore, then this is definitely worth the entry money.

Pandorum

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, though I originally thought the trailer was for a film version of the video game Dead Space. It has that feel to it. However, it turned out to be a mix of horror, sci-fi and thriller.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Two crew members wake up on a seemingly uninhabited space ship. Where are the rest of the crew? What are they supposed to be doing? Why is the place falling apart?

Pandorum falls into a few stereotypical pit-traps of this genre. The most annoying is using loud screeching noises to induce trouser-browning jumps. OK, that’s just me because I’m a wuss. Towards the end as the plot starts to come together and characters are revealed, the director has also gone a little ape with the effects and causes a few strained eye muscles. Sometimes less is more!

The plot isn’t that bad, either. I didn’t think it would stretch beyond a poor man’s Alien, but an extra depth is found and it works quite well. A small cast (barring monsters – yes, there are monsters… no spoiler) and some nicely claustrophobic moments keep the movie plot-focussed. Any action sequences are generally tense rather than overblown.

Although hardly mind-taxing, it’s a good enough film and – like Zombieland – better than I was expecting. I gather some reviews are slating it which is a shame. It’s in a genre that has had a handful of classics and a lot of crap. To its credit, Pandorum does look down on the crap from a fair height.

Creation

Not so much banned in the US as finding it hard to get a distributor due to the fact it’s about a man who said that God didn’t exist, this is a classy piece part-made by the BBC.

Plot-in-a-nutshell: This is the story of one Charles Darwin, author of On The Origin of Species. Go read some books and learn something, kids. And not that one the men in church try to force on you.

The thing is, the film doesn’t exactly rock any boats. Nor does it say that Darwin was right or wrong. It’s focusses on Darwin as a person and the effects that his writing and the death of his daughter had on him and his family. It speaks volumes that distributors in America are scared of the reaction of religious nutjobs to such a harmless piece of film-making.

It is lovingly made, however, and the acting is simply superb. Costume drama with out the overacting that sometimes engenders this genre. Paul Bettany is simply superb in the lead role and even the children are amongst the best you’ll see in cinema.

Rather than being a 108-minute crusade against the church, it is a carefully structured piece about a family. At the core of it, it’s a superb example of how a family can go through some incredibly trying times and yet still hold together. Were it about anyone who hadn’t upset them, churches would likely be citing it as perfect non-offensive entertainment.

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Have I mentioned Steel Panther yet?

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this bunch of nutters before but they have a new video out. Steel Panther apparently started off as a parody act purely ripping the piss out of glam bands. They did a show on Broadway or in Vegas or something. Google them to find out. It’s not important.

What is important is the fact that they’re incredibly entertaining, rude and don’t take themselves at all seriously. Very rock’n’roll!

They have also gone down the standard metal road taken by their forebears – Queen, AC/DC, Spinal Tap and Hayseed Dixie amongst others – and released a song about fat birds. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “Fat Girl [Thar She Blows]” (courtesy of Metal Injection)…

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