The youngsters steal the show...

With it's current run on Sky Movies Premier, I watched Super 8 again the other evening.

I remember leaving the cinema when I saw it first time round, with the feeling of disappointment at what I considered to be a sickly and overly sentimental ending.  I specifically remember sitting on the edge of my seat, saying "please don't let go of the locket" repeatedly.  Needless to say, Joe let go, and I was reminded that one of the producers was the same man who brought us E.T and *batteries not included, and I did indeed have my heart warmed.

Watching Super 8 again achieved 2 things:

- Dispelled the feeling of disappointment I felt following my first viewing.

- Reminded me that the child acting in Super 8 is some of the finest I have ever seen.

The last time I remember seeing children carry a story so well on the big screen was Stand By Me, and for me that film has to much of a special place in my heart to ever be bettered.  And whilst Steven Spielberg wasn't involved in Stand By Me, he has been responsible for bringing some fantastic child acting performances to our cinema screens:
- E.T
- The Goonies
- Empire of the Sun (featuring a very young Christian Bale)
- A.I Artificial Intelligence (with one Haley Joel Osment)
It's quite clear that among many of his talents, Spielberg has an eye for picking out a great child actor.

If you have yet to see Super 8, get on it.  The same can be said for any of the other films I have mentioned above.  If you haven't seen Stand By Me, every moment you spend from now not watching it, is time wasted.  Thinking about it, it's time I watched it again myself.

Sometimes you just feel like a bit of a snack...

We all like a snack every now and then.  I particularly like an onion bhaji.  My local Indian takeaway, Everest Tandoori, do a lovely onion bhaji (among other things) that is roughly the size of an average burger patty.

Retuning home from work a few evenings ago, I was excited to see what treat my lovely wife had in store for me.  All day she had been sending me messages, saying she had bought me the greatest gift.  It went without saying that the gift was a food item (the way to this man's heart, is indeed through his stomach), and when I arrived home she opened the oven and the familiar aroma of onion bhaji came wafting out to greet me.

As my wife pulled the oven tray out though, I could see that this was no ordinary bhaji.  It was a monster!  Larger than my fist:

To try and put it into context a little better, I also took a photo of the bhaji next to a tin of baked beans:

Now I'm not a huge frequenter of curry houses, I like Indian food, but the majority of that I eat is takeaway.  But this is the biggest onion bhaji I have seen (in the flesh so to speak).  And larger than an apple, it was almost a meal in itself.  Definitely something to brush your teeth after eating though!

I'm a fan of larger than average foodstuffs, and I'm an even bigger fan of people who make things as large as humanly possible.  So needless to say, I've had a rummage round the internet to find the World's biggest onion bhaji.

The current record is held here in the UK, by a team who created their behemoth at Bradford College's International Food Academy (IFA).  Their gigantic creation weighed in at 95kg, and measured almost a metre around the middle.  Even the engineering department had to get in on the action, to help design bespoke cooking equipment!

Please aspiring record breaker out there, attempt to go one bigger.  And let me come and help eating it!!

Old fashioned values...

I often enjoy revisiting the good old action films of the 80s and 90s.  The wise cracking good guy, the (usually English) bad guy, with pet/sidekick/shady boss person at the other end of a video link in tow.  The good guy always wins, gets the girl, then the credits roll.

Why do I enjoy the trip down cinematic memory lane?  Because it's good fun.  Simple.  Mindless.

I'm not always in the mood for a Requiem for a Dream, The Piano, or Momento style trip to the outer reaches of my psyche.  Sometimes after a hard day at work, I want to relax, crack open a beer, but most importantly, not have to think to hard.

With the above in mind, Lockout is a return to good old fashioned 'action film making' values.

Elevated from B movie status, in my opinion, with the inclusion of Guy Pearce, it offers, thrills, spills, wise cracks, and is strictly uncomplicated.  Add to that, a seemingly genuine chemistry shared by Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace, especially in the closing scenes (see my post 'High School Drama Productions' http://brightsidegerman.blogspot.com/2012/04/high-school-drama-productions.html for why this scores points with me) and you have good value for money from your trip to the cinema.

The only fly in the ointment is a decidedly dodgy motorbike chase at the beginning.  With it's heavy use of CGI and wild camera work, it feels like an amusement ride at Universal Studios.  It could quite easily have been left out, at no detriment to the film.

Parallels to Snake Plissken, and John Carpenter's Escape from New York and L.A films have been drawn in a great many reviews.  It's understandable why.  Guy Pearce's wrongly accused and disgraced CIA agent Snow is forced into a seemingly suicidal rescue attempt of the President's daughter (sounds familiar).  Only this time it's in space, and instead of the deadly threat of Plutoxin 7 as an incentive to play ball, Snow has a space station cum prison facility full of psychotic, escaped convicts for motivation.

The antagonists come in the form of brothers Alex and Hydell.  The latter played by Joseph Gilgun, who is a particular favourite of mine from shows such as This Is England, and Misfits.  Apart from a hideously out of place scottish accent from Gilgun, his character has menace still without taking himself too seriously.  The main of the two brothers, Alex, then ends up seeming a damp squib by comparison.

It's not a hot tip for the Oscars, and it won't be breaking any records at the box office.  But long live films like Lockout.  Making regular trips to the cinema enjoyable since 1983.

In a world gone PC mad...

Unite, the union for truck drivers, fighting for the right's of drivers throughout the UK, may have missed a trick.  Whilst causing havoc over the Easter period, locked in negotiations to secure better conditions, pay and working hours for it's members, they've missed a grievous wrong being exacted on truck drivers, even as you read this.  Call me liberal, but I don't think I can live in a world where this kind of blatant prejudice is allowed:

I remember my parents, battling against a tyrannical system that wouldn't accept the use of their left hand dominantly over the right.  Hands were tied behind backs, knuckles were rapped with rulers, many naturally left handed people were lost.  They were dark times.  And it seems whilst we have taken huge steps forward in becoming a more tolerant and accepting society, we may have taken one big step backwards.

I've seen many left hand drivers, and they drive just as well as right hand drivers.  So to be labelled in this way is outrageous.

Truck drivers, unite!  Take action against this wrong! Viva la left hand resistance!

Things I thought I'd never see on the big screen...

I never thought I'd see a Unicorn, stab a man through the gut with it's horn and kill him.

That's right, a Unicorn like this.  Mythical creature, popular in the Middle Ages, symbol of purity and grace, supposed only able to be captured by a virgin.

Not only that, but I never, ever, thought I'd see it during the film Cabin in the Woods.  About 20 minutes in and you're scared that this highly anticipated film is going to be just another teen slasher flick.

Boy, would you be dead wrong.

I was deeply impressed by the creativity, ingenuity and humour of the film.  If you haven't seen it yet, go, now.  I mean, RIGHT NOW.

I recently read an article on the BBC website, saying that the trailers for the film gave too much away; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16972394 and whilst I agree it gives away a little, there is no way it 'spoils' the film.

I really enjoyed the film, and will talk about it more at length later.  But for now I don't want to give away any more details until you've had plenty of time to see it.

Until then, enjoy.

Getting older and Joseph Gordon-Levitt...

As a Father, you see time pass quickly.  You have a child growing and learning rapidly before your eyes.  It gives you a great ability to enjoy the smaller, seemingly less significant things in life.  Ask an 18 year old to sit and watch a child playing at playground for an hour, and you will probably be met with a roll of the eyes and a sharp tongued quip about it being an amazingly boring way to spend an hour.  Yet I in fact spent such an hour (several in fact), just last week when I took my children to an adventure park.
Another ability, imparted by age, is the use of the phrase, "when I was a lad/lass" (delete as appropriate, and spoken with a broad yorkshire accent).  And I'm finding with the rapidly changing world we live in today, courtesy of the technological advances of our time, the use of this phrase comes to us all the sooner.

Now, you're probably thinking what the hell this has to do with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL).  It all started when I was looking for information on upcoming releases for this year, finding that 3 bigs one star none other than JGL (Looper, Lincoln, and of course TDKR).  JGL is, quite rightly, on the up and up with regards to his big screen career.  A rise that started when he played the role of Arthur in Inception (a role that was originally meant for James Franco before he pulled out).  Here's how he looked when he hit out screens in 2010.

Inception was a 12A, meaning that people old enough to see the film, may not have been old enough to know JGL from his earlier career success in television.  Between 1996 and 2001, JGL starred in TV sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.  Here's how he looked back then:

This is how I remembered JGL.  Needless to say, when he hit the big screen in 2010 for Inception I was amazed at the transformation.  Made all the more profound by the fact that we are very similar in age.  Looking at his filmography, it's clear to see that JGL has had a slow burning, and successful career.  One that leads him to his position now, one of the most talented actors of his generation, with a very busy 2012 on the cards.

I'm really looking forward to JGL's contribution to the coming year.  I'm off to watch some 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Why not go watch some yourself?

High School Drama Productions...

...In my opinion, should remain where they are...school.

At the weekend I went to see;

If we're to take the ticket literally, I'm the tit in question.  My wrath due to my waste of time and money seeing the film (which was in fact Wrath of the Titans).

I watched Clash of the Titans, and was unimpressed.  It is very rare that I am not fooled into liking a film that is visually spectacular, but Clash of the Titans marked one of those rare occasions.  So needless to say I was very surprised that it was given a second outing, in the form of Wrath of the Titans.  That surprise turning to slack jawed wonderment, when I read that it had a budget of $150,000,000.  That's $25,000,000 more than Clash, although Clash did somehow manage to take nearly $500,000,000 at the Box Office.

So I decided to suspend my disbelief, and my cynicism and give Wrath of the Titans a go.

The day before I went, I did however read a particularly scathing review on aintitcool.com.  Here's the link if you want to read it yourself:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/54586

Quint has now written a slightly less scathing one since, which may help to balance opinion for anyone still considering going to see it.

The film starts 10 years on from the last.  Perseus has a son, and some other stuff has happened.  Or should I say, some other stuff has been hastily written into the opening bits of dialogue to give some back story, with no Gemma Arterton to narrate it.  This I was able to forgive, as we then plunge straight into the action.  Which for the most part is none stop. The brief pauses in the action, to introduce new characters, and move the story forward, are just that...brief.  So they don't get boring.  There's even comic relief in the form of Bill Nighy's Hephaestus, and whilst I'm not entirely sure about the broad Yorkshire accent he has, I would dearly love to know who's idea it was for him to have it!

So up until the last 20 minutes of the film, I have to say that I was enjoying myself.  It's no masterpiece, but it was fun.  Then, I was brought back, snap, to reality.  With scenes so cringeworthy and amateur, that it spoiled my enjoyment completely.

Let me set the scene...

Perseus has saved the day, and is surveying the aftermath.  A mixture of injuries and celebrations, when his gaze comes to rest on his son, Helius, playing with Queen Andromeda.  A smile crosses his face, and then his cousin (another demigod) Agenor, catches his eye.  Agenor gestures with his head (the equivalent of a nudge and a wink), urging him to go and speak to Andromeda.  Agenor then calls Helius over to him, so that Andromeda is on her own.

** At this point, 2 things have also happened during the course of the film;

- They have shoe horned in back story about Perseus and Io being wed, having a child, with Io then dying.

- Andromeda has given Perseus ONE 'look', which Perseus does not see or acknowledge.  Beyond that there is no chemistry between the two. **

We then cut to Andromeda in her tent, and it is at this point that I began to cringe.  It is like a high school production, where they are doing a first run through. As the scene starts, it's almost as if I can hear the director reading from the script;

"Andromeda move things around on the table at random,"

Perseus then strolls up to her, and kisses her.  At this point, I would like you to read back the two points I mentioned above.  There is zero chemistry between them, and Perseus has managed to stop giving a shit about his dead wife in record time.  The film should have just ended, very abruptly, three minutes earlier.  That would have been a better way to finish.

But then they drive the final nail into the coffin...

Perseus' final promise to his dying wife, Io, was that his son would never pick up arms and fight as a soldier.  So what better way to end than with an emotionally stunted Perseus handing his sword to his son, saying it was time to train him to use it.  The dialogue may as well have been,

"Here, take this, it's about time you bloody learned how to use it you scrawny little git."

After these two terrible scenes, I then can't help but begin to pick apart the rest of the film, until I come away feeling aggrieved at having had my time wasted.  Which you can probably tell from my rant.

They're already talking about making a third....