Category: Entertainment

The Sitter / Haywire

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsYay for mothers-in-law. A babysat evening allowed us to cram two films in at the local Cineworld. Unfortunately, one of them wasn’t The Darkest Hour which Cineworld Parkhead had decided to shove on for a single 2D performance a day. At lunchtime. And they can get bent if they think I’ll waste money on a 3D performance.

The Sitter

“I’m more of a ‘sit on the couch, do what I say or I’ll kill you’ type of babysitter.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: College dropout is forced into babysitting three troublesome kids. A night of chaos/hilarity/adventure ensues.

See it if you like: Probably stuff like Adventures in Babysitting or Role Models.

Jonah Hill is somewhat like Seth Rogan in that he always plays the same character. He’s toned down a little for this one, probably as it’s got a young cast. Mind you, any movie with a young girl saying “****** up” is going to score giggle points.

It’s not a new plot – there were at least two films with a similar story released in the 1980’s – but it’s still a good little story. Hill plays Noah Griffith, a college dropout whose father walked out on him when he was a youngster and who now lives with his mother. Our story opens (after some oral sex shennanigans) as Noah is convinced to baby sit so that his mother can go out and hook up with someone who might make her happy.

Of course, the kids he’s to look after turn out to be a bit of a handful. And, of course again, he has to end up in some dodgy situation that places them all in danger. Like, I don’t know, being hunted by a drug dealer and his boby-building henchmen. The usual.

Throw in a wobbly bit of romance, a ton of swearing and a little bit of “finding himself” and you have a shade over 80 minutes of fairly entertaining schmaltz.

Gillian thought it was a little slow, but I was fine with it. Not great, not bad but far better than I expected it to be.

Haywire

“You want me to be eye candy?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell – female secret agent finds herself being used as part of a dodgy bit of work, so goes rogue to try and find the culprit. I think.

See it if you like – weak thrillers with top-notch fight scenes

Steven Soderbergh is known for making high-end “classy” films, and he turns himself to the spy thriller genre for this 2-hour plodge. It’s well-filmed with some excellent fight scenes, but overall the plot doesn’t match up to the cinematography.

The cast is superb and it is well-acted. Gina Carano is both hot and tough as Mallory, the CIA contractor who finds that things weren’t quite what they seemed in her last mission. The story starts with her recalling events to … I’m not sure. Some random she seems to have met in a coffee shop. I don’t think we actually find out who he is. This takes up the first 45 minutes or so of the film and then we step into the present day.

Now I’m not sure if the plot is as complex as the more upmarket reviews make out. Certainly, I didn’t go “wow” at the supposed twist at the end. Partly as I didn’t quite get it (I was tired – Friday night after a long week) and partly as I’d stopped caring. The story just didn’t grab me the way a more action-oriented film would have and I just had a feeling that I’d seen it all before.

Admittedly it is well filmed. It looks lovely and makes good use of non-famous areas of cities such as Barcelona. Alleyways and regular streets rather than landmarks. The fight scenes are superb, not just in their vicious nature but by the toning down of the sounds. Gone are the usual Hollywood smacks and bass thuds with each punch. Instead each fist lands with a dull thwack which sounds a lot more realistic.

I think we both agreed with the person behind us when the trailers started to roll. He turned to the person next to him and stated, “Well, that was crap.” Typically Soderbergh in that the film magazines trip over themselves to rate it highly when the general cinema-going public would, I feel, be more entertained watching something like RED.

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Judgement and Wrath by Matt Hilton

Judgement and Wrath
Judgement and Wrath by Matt Hilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great second novel from a a writer who deserves far more recognition than he’s already got. On the basis of the two I’ve read I’d put him up there with Stephen Leather and Lee Child – though Child *just* nudges it as the Reacher books are insanely good.

Joe Hunter is a great lead character. The background given to him in Dead Man’s Dust has been fleshed out a bit in this second novel, and the addition of a character biography at the back is a little like the aforementioned Reacher novels. Other than that, he’s a different individual with different skills. Unlike Reacher and Leather’s Sam Shepherd, he does work as part of a (small) team so don’t go thinking this is some kind of rip-off.

It didn’t get the full five stars only as I managed to guess one of the “twists” a good few chapters before it was revealed. Other than that, it’s a great book which ploughs through the plot without drawing breath. Even the chapters are an ideal length with that “just one more” feel to them.

I only picked this novel up (and the previous and following novels) as Asda had them on sale for a quid some months ago. Definitely worth the money and I’m really glad to hear that Hilton is currently working on the ninth episode with the eighth due for release in February. Plenty more adventure to go!

View all my reviews

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This year’s books

For the last couple of years I’ve been struggling to get through many books as I used to. Partly down to watching more TV (damn you, torrents), partly due to work and study. When I was travelling I did a fair bit of reading, mainly on buses and flights – but still nowhere near as much as I did when I was at school.

I would reckon when I was in my late teens I was managing something like 80+ books a year, and that’s a conservative estimate. What with a paper round and public transport to and from school, I had a fair bit of time to walk/sit with a book in my hand. There was no internet either, so less time sat on blogs/facebook/games than I do now as well.

I discovered a very useful site during the year called GoodReads. Primarily I used it as a way of ensuring I didn’t re-purchase a book I already had sat on a shelf somewhere, but spotted that they do an annual “challenge”. You set yourself a target number of books to get through by year end and log them as you progress.

I initially set myself a target of 20, and am glad to say that I managed to finish number 29 last night. Now I think you can see them by following this link to my 2011 challenge on Goodreads, but I’m not certain. So just in case, here they are:

Title Author Mark
The Sacred Vault (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase, #6) Andy McDermott 4
Empire Of Gold (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase, #7) Andy McDermott 4
42 – Douglas Adams’ Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything Peter Gill 3
On the Edge Charlie Carroll 4
Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider #9) Anthony Horowitz 5
Rough Justice (Dan Shepherd, #7) Stephen Leather 5
Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet Volume 1 HC Kevin Smith 3
Odd Hours (Odd Thomas Novel, Book 4) Dean Koontz 2
The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 3
Road Trip to Hell: Tabloid Tales of Saddam, Iraq and a Bloody War: Tabloid Tales of Saddam, Iraq and a Crazy War Chris Hughes 5
Lifeguard James Patterson 4
Dave Gorman Vs the Rest of the World: Limited Edition with Bowling Voucher Dave Gorman 3
The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1) John Buchan 3
Self-Defense (Alex Delaware, #9) Jonathan Kellerman 2
Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant, #2) Derek Landy 4
Risk Dick Francis 3
Dead Men’s Dust (Joe Hunter, #1) Matt Hilton 3
The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant, #3). Derek Landy 5
Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant, #4) Derek Landy 5
Mortal Coil (Skulduggery Pleasant, #5) Derek Landy 5
The Templar Salvation Raymond Khoury 4
Twice Shy Dick Francis 3
Undead Kirsty McKay 4
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge 2
The Greek Who Stole Christmas (Diamond Brothers, #7) Anthony Horowitz 3
To the Hilt Dick Francis 5
Silverfin: A James Bond Adventure (Young Bond) Charlie Higson 4
Horowitz Horror: v. 1: Nine Nasty Stories to Chill You to the Bone Anthony Horowitz 3
The Enemy (The Enemy #1) Charlie Higson 3
The marks are out of 5 so not a bad year. Yes, there’s a lot of “teen” and “young adult” stuff on there, but that’s because it’s a world better than the equivalent when I was that age. On the other hand, I’ve discovered that much as I’m not a fan of horse racing, Dick Francis was a brilliant author of thrillers. I’m glad he left such a sizeable legacy as far as number of published titles goes.
So with 29 read in 2011, I’m going to aim for 35 in 2012. I currently have three on the go – one paperback, one on my phone and a Kindle one… although I don’t have a Kindle. I’m waiting until I get my tablet in January (with luck) to start reading that.
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Puss In Boots

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsIt’s been an age since we took the kids to the cinema, and this being the holiday season we really didn’t have an excuse what with all the films being aimed at sprogs that come out. The other advantage is that movies aimed at children almost always have a 2D version as well as the irritatingly over-screened 3D performances.

Puss In Boots

“Fear me, if you dare!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: The back story and “legend” of the popular character originally appearing in the Shrek films

See it if you like: the Shrek films, for starters, and high quality children’s films overall

Puss In Boots seems to have taken months to get to the UK. The adverts have been on display since summer, or so it seems, and the US release was back in October. The kids have been at us to see it since then so it was a no-brainer to take them once it finally arrived.

Antonio Banderas‘ lead character is joined by Zach Galifianakis as Humpty “Alexander” Dumpty and Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws. Jumping straight into the action, the plot drifts into back-story on two occasions so that we can learn more about the central characters. Despite starting as a throw-away character, Puss has rightly graduated into a central personality and his history is a good one.

In fact, the story for the overall film is pretty impressive. If there’s a problem with it, it’s that it may be a little too hard to follow for the younger members to follow. There are also some moderately lengthy conversational sections which can mean those who need a bit more action in their film-viewing could drift a little. Having said that, Little Mister was pretty much glued to the screen for the whole thing which makes a change from him attempting to sit in every single seat in the theatre.

There are buckets of jokes, some of which will go right over the little ones’ heads – particularly the catnip line. The action sequences are superb and the quality of the animation seems to be improving with each of DreamWorks‘ releases. Humpty, in particular, looks like a human face projected onto an egg so smooth and detailed are the facial movements.

With plenty of giggles, and a story that actually tells you more about the characters as well as moving at a decent pace this is well worth a watch for fans of animated features. The cute factor is enough to keep most children interested as well.

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Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsWow. Just one film for a change. With luck we’ll catch a couple more with the kids at the weekend. Gillian can’t stand Tom Cruise (something to do with him being a) a jumped-up little **** and b) a scientologist, apparently) so I went by myself for this one.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

“I have arrived at the party!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Someone is trying to blow up the world, Tom Cruise and a couple of friends have to stop them

See it if you like: The last three films

This is the first time Brad Bird has directed a live action film – his previous record includes the excellent The Incredibles and Ratatouille. It seems like quite a departure, but one that works. Ghost Protocol isn’t the “biggest” of the MI films to date as far as the scale of the action sequences goes, but it’s probably got the best – and most Bond-esque – plot.

Cruise, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg reprise their roles from the previous film with Ving Rhames popping up for about three minutes (for which he reportedly earned twice what he did for his supporting part in M:I3). It’s a quote from Pegg’s character Benji that I’ve used above. Truly, Pegg has arrived at the party with this film. From obscure Channel 4 comedy to fully fledged supporting role in one of the most profitable current franchises alongside one of the world’s most bankable stars. Well done, sir.

There’s a nice dollop of humour in the film, most of which revolves around Benji, while the action is – as ever – focussed around Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. Jeremy Renner joins the cast as Brandt, a senior analyst and apparently a character who could be fleshed out should Cruise ever decide to leave the franchise. Token kick-ass female falls to Patton’s Jane.

As I said, the plot’s rather Bond-like with it’s twisted, psychotic villain and threat of global thermonuclear devastation. A terrorist named Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) has developed the somewhat bonkers theory that the earth undergoes some sort of “cleansing” every few hundred thousand years. Meteors, ice ages and so forth have helped this go ahead in the past. This time, though, we’re in need of a kick-start. So he’s after some nuclear launch codes to trigger global devastation and a fresh start.

Bonkers.

After things go wrong for our small band of troops at the start of the story, they are officially disavowed by their government and forced to operate completely along – under the Ghost Protocol of the title. This leads to a new set of challenges as they only have access to the kit they can scavenge – there is no longer an IMF for them to be a part of.

The set pieces are good and the characters varied enough yet well gelled. If two characters are a little similar, it’s Hunt and Brandt for the reasons mentioned above. The bad guys are suitably cold, there are plenty of close-up combat scenes and the glamour is in full evidence with huge buildings, flash concept cars and the like being fully utilised.

Sure, you have to suspend your belief a bit (not least of all as to how them manage to make Cruise appear of regular height during the entire film), but it’s well worth it. Unlike Fast Five which just made itself bigger and more silly to up the ante for it’s latest instalment, M:I-GP has gone more for plot. The explosions are more “ouch, that must have hurt” than “wow, what else is there left in the world to blow up?” making for a more enjoyable film overall.

The best thing about it is that it’s not just more of the same. A good balance, a good cast and a good film as a result.

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